The Hippo: December 8, 2016

FEATURED FOOD  -  * COVER STORY *

Sweets Of The Season

From Candy Canes To Sugar Mints

Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

From candy canes to sugar plums, certain candies and confections are indelibly linked to the holiday season. While most of those candies are mass-produced nowadays, some local candy shops still use small-scale craftsmanship and Old World recipes.

Candy Canes

Nicoletta Gullace, an associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, said candy canes were on the ground floor when Christmas traditions were starting to become commercialized in the Western world.

“That dates back to the late 19th century … to try and enhance family ceremony and also to sell products — things like Coca-Cola and Christmas cards,” Gullace said. “It was already part of Christmas traditions.”

The candy cane’s origin story is a subject of some controversy. One story tells of a late 17th-century choir master in Germany who developed sticks of sugar that heralded the candy cane as a way to keep kids quiet during church service, but Gullace said that tale may be apocryphal given how expensive sugar was at the time.

There’s also some debate about the nature of the cane shape. Some believe the curved end is meant to signify a shepherd’s crook, calling to mind the shepherds who visited the baby Jesus in the nativity scene. Others think it’s meant to be a J for Jesus.

Whatever its true origins, candy canes appear to have become widely popular sometime around 1900.

Granite State Candy Assistant Manager Nick Polichronopoulos said they make their own candy canes, in the traditional flavor and in wintergreen. They also offer a candy cane dipped in chocolate.

Mary Ellen Dutton, co-owner of Kellerhaus in Weirs Beach, said their hand-made candy canes are heftier than most.

“Like a real old-fashioned candy cane,” Dutton said.

An Assortment of Sweets

Sanborn’s Candies in Hampton also makes its own candy canes, but its specialties are sugar mints and nonpareils, according to owner Bob Cooper.

During the Christmas season, Cooper sells gift baskets that include all kinds of candies like truffles, peanut butter cups and candy canes, and customers can request a custom-built gift basket. He said their nonpareils are famous for their dark chocolate variety, and they’ve been using the same 53-percent-cocoa recipe for 50 years.

Granite State Candy has an assortment of reindeer-shaped, root beer-flavored barley pops and Santa-shaped chocolates in multiple sizes.

“Another big thing for us too is the traditional hard candies,” Polichronopoulos said.

They have seasonal favorites like peach pillows, peanut butter puffs and chicken bones, which are candies encrusted with hard sugar and filled with creamy chocolate or peanut butter.

Sales tick up for treats like marzipan and petit fours every year around this time, but Granite State Candy doesn’t produce those in-house.

Kellerhaus makes nonpareil snowmen with jellybean eyes and nose and licorice smile and they also specialize in 3-D chocolate shapes like Christmas trees, a 1-foot-tall snowman and a 2-foot-tall Santa.

Ribbon Candy

Polichronopoulos said they’re well-known for their super-thin ribbon candy, which has been a mainstay for decades. He said someone recently dug up an old 1960s-era Granite State Candy advertisement showing the ribbon candy.

“That’s a huge, popular item during this time of year,” Polichronopoulos said.

Dutton said they still make their ultra-thin ribbon candy using a crimper from 1886 and it comes in nine flavors.

“It’s as thin as a potato chip,” Dutton said.

Caramel Corn

A sweet snack often associated with Christmas, mainly through gifts, is caramel corn. A century-old confection and caramel corn producer, Hutchinson’s in Londonderry makes large batches of caramel corn, and sales tend to pick up during the holiday season, according to co-owner Jim Beaumont.

Beaumont said Hutchinson’s most popular caramel corn flavors are the original and maple but they’re also known for unique pairings such as dried cranberry and almonds.

“It’s kinda like the Cracker Jack with the nuts kind of thing. We just use cranberry instead,” Beaumont said.

Holiday History

Prior to the late 19th century, sugar was rare and expensive, which made candy rare and expensive. Only the landed aristocrats and wealthy industrialists were likely to carry a hard candy in their pocket. But Gullace said all that started to change when sugar production rapidly expanded in the Caribbean and new factories were able to start mass-producing candies by the early 20th century.

But by then, certain candies had already monopolized their role in Christmas tradition.

Sugar plums, for example, had been a fairly common round hard candy but became woven into Christmas tradition through references in The Nutcracker ballet and the poem ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Gumdrops are another candy often associated with modern Christmas traditions but Gullace believes that may be due to their common use as a component of gingerbread houses.

The invention of miniature gingerbread houses owes its origin to the Brothers Grimm tale of Hansel and Gretel, two children who happen upon a house in the woods made of gingerbread and candy.

“After that, confectioners started to make these and they became part of the Christmas tradition,” Gullace said.

Where To Get Your Candy Fix

Get peanut brittle, fudge, decorative chocolates and more at these local spots.

Ava Marie Handmade Chocolates (43 Grove St., Peterborough, 924-5993, avamariechocolates.com) offers a variety of decorative specialty chocolates that include truffles, turtles, caramels and more. Gift boxes are also available.

Candy Kingdom (235 Harvard St., Manchester, 641-8470, facebook.com/candykingdom5) offers 15 different flavors of homemade fudge, as well as several kinds of favorite indulgences that include assorted decorative chocolates, white, milk or dark chocolate-covered popcorn, peanut butter cups, chocolate-covered pretzels and more. Products can be purchased from inside the store, or special orders can be made by calling or by direct messaging the store on Facebook.

The Chocolate Fanatic (76 Route 101A, Unit 5, Amherst, 672-7133, thechocolatefanatic.org) has dozens of treats that include truffles, barks, caramels and more. Popular items include the dark-chocolate-dipped Oreo cookies with peppermint chunks and peanut butter granola blocks. Products can be purchased through an online order.

The Chocolatier (27 Water St., Exeter, 772-5253, the-chocolatier.com) offers a variety of candies that include treats of the nutty, gummy and chocolatey varieties. Popular items include pecan turtles and a peppermint-flavored chocolate bark. Products can be purchased on the online store or by calling to order.

Chutters Candy Counter (43 Main St., Littleton, 444-5787; 165 Main St., Lincoln, 728-6144, chutters.com) is a candy-lover’s dream, offering more than 500 kinds of sweets, including fudges, gummy candies, jelly beans, homemade truffles and everything in between.

Dancing Lion Chocolate (917 Elm St., Manchester, 625-4043, dancinglion.us) makes its own chocolate bars and offers chocolate bonbons individually or packaged in gift boxes. Mayan-style drinking chocolate is also available.

The Fudge Folks (169 Governor Wentworth Highway, Mirror Lake, 569-2769) offers a call-to-order old-fashioned cocoa fudge available for purchase.

Granite State Candy Shoppe (832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885, and 13 Warren St., Concord, 225-2591, granitestatecandyshoppe.com) offers roasted nuts and 10-ounce bags of peanut and cashew brittle online and in its retail stores. You can also choose from a variety of gummy candies, fudges, maple sugar candies, gourmet chocolates and more.

Hutchinson’s Candy (10 Tinker Ave., Unit D, Londonderry, 926-3033, hutchinsonscandy.com) produces handmade peanut brittle as well as cranberry almond popcorn, chocolate-covered walnuts and more. They also make several types of fudge, with and without nuts. Products can be purchased online or at several area independent grocery stores, including Sully’s Superette in Allenstown and Goffstown, Farm and Flowers Market in Manchester, The Common Man General Store in Hooksett, and other stores in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. Visit the website for a full list of vendors.

Kandy Kettle Kitchen (Concord, 244-6199, kandykettlekitchen.com) sells handmade peanut brittle in small batches and an almond buttercrunch recipe using milk chocolate and toffee. Fudges are available in several specialty flavors, including candy cane, divinity walnut, pistachio and more. Products can be purchased online or at Nature’s Country Store in Epsom, Beech Hill Farm in Hopkinton, Carter Hill Orchard in Concord, Hackleboro Orchards in Canterbury, and LaValley Farms in Hooksett.

Kellerhaus (259 Endicott St. North, Weirs Beach, 366-4466, kellerhaus.com) offers handmade candy canes and ribbon candy, large 3-D chocolates shapes in milk, dark and white chocolate and nonpareil snowmen. Regular nonpareils are made daily. Their best seller is a ‘favorites tray’ which includes an assortment of buttercrunch candies, turtles and clusters. The shop is 110 years old and it sells items online as well.

Kilwins (20 Congress St., Market Square, Portsmouth, 319-8842, kilwins.com) offers dozens of kinds of candies, including fudge, toffee, caramel, corns, brittles and more. Products can be purchased online or in the store.

La Cascade du Chocolat (264-7006, lacascadeduchocolat.com) offers truffles, gift baskets of decorative chocolates, homemade chocolate bars and more. You can find them at the Amherst Open Air Market, the Concord Winter Farmers’ Market and select local retailers. See website for details.

Mill Fudge Factory (2 Central St., Bristol, 744-0405, themillfudgefactory.com) offers dozens of classic and specialty fudges, available for purchase by the slice or several in a box. Special holiday sampler boxes can also be purchased. Popular flavors include Belgian chocolate, peanut butter and maple walnut.

Mountain View Fudge (18 Mulberry St., Claremont, 542-2051, facebook.com/flavoursofourregion) offers more than 30 varieties of fudge for purchase. Call directly or email iloveyourfudge@yahoo.com to place an order.

Must Have Fudge (130 G.H. Carter Drive, Danville, 382-7469, musthavefudge.com) offers homemade fudges that are sold at a variety of retail locations across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Call or visit the website for a full list of vendors.

Nelson’s Candies (65 Main St., Wilton, 654-5030, nelsonscandieswilton.com) offers hand-pulled peanut brittle, milk chocolate turtles made with pecans and cashews, and a butter crunch toffee topped with crushed almonds. Other popular products include cordial cherries hand-dipped in chocolate, dark chocolate ginger puff candy and chocolate marzipan. Products can be purchased online or in the store.

Our Sister’s Nuts (Hudson, 897-5415, oursistersnuts.com) is a homestead business offering several kinds of nut-based candies, including cinnamon almonds and mixed nuts made in milk and dark chocolate and oatmeal cookies. Products can be special-ordered online or purchased at The Cozy Tea Cart (104 Route 13, Brookline, 249-9111, thecozyteacart.com).

Pearls Candy & Nuts (309 S. Broadway, No. 2, Salem, 893-9100, pearlscandynh.com) offers dozens of candies, including milk- and dark-chocolate-covered peanuts, as well as turtles, cashews, peanut brittle, and chocolate-covered mixed nuts, available for purchase either online or inside the retail store.

Sama Chocolatier (6 Lakewood Road, Windham, 781-789-7464, samachocolatier.com) offers several custom-made fudges and decorative chocolates for purchase online or by calling to order.

Sanborn’s Fine Candies (143 Plaistow Road, Plaistow, 382-5547, sanbornsfinecandies.com; 293 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 926-5061) offers cashew and walnut turtles, as well as almonds, pecans and other nuts dipped in milk, dark or white chocolate. Several kinds of homemade fudges and homemade sugar mints are also available. Products can either be special-ordered online or purchased inside the retail store.

Van Otis Chocolates (314 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotischocolates.com) offers a variety of flavors of Swiss fudge, including milk, dark and sugar-free. Assorted chocolates are also available for purchase in a combo box. Other products include peanut brittle, caramelized almonds and other nuts, and candy-covered popcorn that comes in white chocolate, maple, caramel and other flavors.

FEATURED NEWS

Marijuana For PTSD

Will This Be The Year The State’s Medical Cannabis Law Takes a Big Leap?

Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

In separate bills, advocates are pushing to add a few more qualifying conditions to the state’s medical marijuana law, including fibromyalgia, chronic pain and opioid addiction. But it’s a bill that would allow people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to purchase therapeutic cannabis that might have stronger chances of passing than ever before.

Outgoing Republican state Rep. Joe Lachance of Manchester, a longtime marijuana advocate and user, submitted a legislative service request to create a bill adding PTSD to the qualifying conditions list. Since he lost his re-election bid, he said his colleague, Republican state Rep. Eric Schleien, will work as the bill’s prime sponsor in the next session.

The battle is a personal one for Lachance, an Army veteran who served in the 25th Infantry Division. He said he developed chronic pain from neurological damage in his right leg after countless parachute drops. He also suffers from PTSD.

Back surgery failed to correct the problem and opioid painkillers prescribed by the VA got Lachance hooked on a steadily climbing dosage of OxyContin, oxycodone and fentanyl patches. About three or four years ago, he detoxed from the opioids with the help of his family and began using cannabis.

“I can tell you first hand that the cannabis certainly helps,” Lachance said.

Before, he barely slept; he now gets a good five hours of sleep, which is a lot for him. Since his neurological damage and its accompanying pain are a qualifying condition, he now acquires marijuana legally at the dispensary in Plymouth.

“It’s more expensive, but you’re certainly looking at product that’s grown under controlled environment, no pesticides — you know what you’re getting,” Lachance said.

When medical marijuana first became legal in New Hampshire in 2013, Gov. Maggie Hassan signaled she would not support coverage of PTSD in any bill the legislature put on her desk. She said that was due to the position of the New Hampshire Medical Society, which opposed PTSD coverage because of a dearth of American scientific research supporting the claims that marijuana had benefits, preferring instead to lean on traditional psychotherapy.

Next year, a number of things will have changed that advocates like Lachance think significantly improve the bill’s chances of success.

“This is our year,” Lachance said.

The New Hampshire House has been historically friendlier to loosening up marijuana regulations, the Senate has seen a lot of turnover in the last election and Republican Governor-elect Chris Sununu may be more open to PTSD coverage than Hassan was, given his support of marijuana decriminalization.

“He seems like the type of governor that if we can show that there’s a benefit, he’s willing to give it a shot. Because it’s clear what we’re doing now is not working,” Lachance said.
Plus, he said, the tone of general opposition from the New Hampshire Medical Society has softened in recent years.

NHMS President Deborah Harrigan said the organization has yet to meet and decide whether they will support or oppose the bill, but given past shifts, Harrigan said it’s not impossible for them to come around on the issue.

“I think that if you look at the decrim, the medical society back three years ago had said, let’s oppose decriminalization, and then we changed our stance,” Harrigan said.
Still, she said, the key thing NHMS will look for is evidence to back up claims of medical benefit. To that end, Lachance said he plans to supply the effort with as much scientific research — most of which has taken place abroad in places like Israel — as lawmakers can read.

Matt Simon at the Marijuana Policy Project said that while there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence and foreign research, the gold standard of a double-blind placebo-controlled study just got underway this year. The results are expected to come in a few years. If the findings confirm what advocates argue is a real medical benefit, the drug will become far more valuable.

“There is no FDA-approved pharmaceutical to treat post-traumatic stress,” Simon said.

Until then, those suffering from PTSD in New Hampshire must make due with off-label antipsychotics and therapy or obtain marijuana illegally.

If PTSD is added to the state’s approved list of qualifying conditions, it may mean a significant expansion of the program. In some states, like New Mexico, PTSD patients make up the majority of the program. Officials at the state Department of Health and Human Services, reached by email, said no impact study has yet been done on such an expansion.

Medical Marijuana for PTSD

• 18 of the 25 states with medical marijuana laws (plus Guam and Washington, D.C.) allow medical cannabis use for PTSD.
• In a small study of 80 patients in New Mexico, clinicians recorded a 75-percent PTSD score reduction when patients were using cannabis.
• To date there have been no adverse effects or incidents among the 3,350 patients enrolled in the PTSD program in NM.
• A Canadian study found that 72 percent of PTSD patients who had been given a synthetic cannabinoid called nabilone experienced a cessation of nightmares or less severe nightmares.
Source: Marijuana Policy Project, CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics.

FEATURED ARTS

Artsy Gifts

What To Give The Artist or Art Lover In Your Life

Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)

Images: Courtesy Photo

Most people can’t get the artists in their lives Hamilton tickets or Paris trips to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum — but a Mona Lisa pillowcase? Totally doable. We reached out to New Hampshire artists for tips to help you with your 2016 holiday shopping, and they produced a variety of unique ideas, from a portable steam inhaler (for actors and singers) to restored typewriters (for writers).

Buy Art

When it comes to art shopping, take into consideration how well you know the person you’re shopping for. One option is to forego surprises and bring your friend or family member into a gallery to pick something out. Another is to go for the gift card.

“If you know the person well, and you know they’d love that painting, then go for it, but you could also give them a gift certificate so they can buy something they like,” said Pam Tarbell, owner of the Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Garden.

The gift card could also be to a local art supplies shop so your friends or family members can buy the tools and supplies they want and need, or an art supplies subscription (like the one run and tested by local artists Tony and Kim Luongo, smilecreaterepeat.com) for a regular incoming of quality tools. If you have your heart set on getting something physical, Tarbell suggested something like utilitarian pottery, which is beautiful and practical.

Buy Art-Inspired Gifts

If you or your loved one is a regular at the Currier Museum of Art, you could check out its museum shop, which right now contains White Mountain-related merchandise to coincide with its current exhibition, “Mount Washington: The Crown of New England,” on view through Jan. 16. There are catalogues, books, glass quills, art prints reproduced on magnets, birch bark jewelry and a variety of toys and knickknacks you won’t find anywhere else.

Heidi Norton, manager of guest experiences and retail at the museum, curates the shop to be full of locally-made work, and she’s constantly switching things up to maintain an eclectic selection of metal, glass, fiber, visual and other arts. She pointed to hand-carved pens by Kay and Bill St. Onge and jewelry by Joan Major, who imports her beads from Italy.

There are art-themed calendars, playing and note cards and coloring books with reproductions of famous works by artists like Maxfield Parrish, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. For some art-themed dreams, go for the Mona Lisa pillowcase, which features her face on the front and the back of her head on the back.

“Lots of people into art found that pretty tongue-in-cheek to give to somebody,” Norton said via phone.

If you’re heading to the bookstore, Gibson’s Bookstore owner Michael Herrmann suggested The Art Book by Phaidon Press, an A-to-Z guide to the world’s greatest painters and sculptors. Younger artists might enjoy art puzzles and trivia games, like BrainBox: Art and the Professor Noggin’s History of Art card game, said Heather Roy, who works in the Gibson’s Bookstore kids’ section.

Buy For Theater & Film Gurus

Local composer and NH Theatre Factor founder Joel Mercier suggested a month’s worth of voice lessons for the thespians in your life — lessons, he said, present a chance for actors to learn more about their voices and add new songs to their audition repertoire. Other ideas, courtesy of Mercier, include erasable highlighters (which come in handy when you’re memorizing lines) or a portable steam inhaler, which you can buy at any pharmacy.

“Breathing steam is the best thing you can do for your voice if it’s tired during a tech week or a long run of a show,” Mercier said in an email.

Herrmann said the bookstore recently got some texts that film fanatics will favor, like The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop by Richard M. Isackes and Karen L. Maness, a coffee table book about painted backdrops and scenic artists in featured films, including The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. For your Godfather-obsessed friend or relative, get The Godfather Notebook, a never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola’s notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo.

Buy For Writers

The easiest gift for a writer is probably a gift card to a local bookstore, but if you’re looking for something a little more creative and experiential, Rob Greene, chair of the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, said to get your loved one a ticket to Writers’ Day 2017, which happens April 1 and features workshops, presentations and noted authors like Ann Hood and Bill Littlefield (nhwritersproject.org).

For something even more extravagant, you could shoot for the moon with a summer writers’ retreat at Murphy Writing/Stockton University in Sunapee (murphywriting.com).
Other ideas courtesy of Greene include a restored typewriter from RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, a subscription to Journal of the Month (each month you get a different literary journal in the mail, journalofthemonth.com) or a copy of The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel by Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers, which was published in September.

Where To Go Art Shopping

If the mall’s not your thing, here are some places you can find locally made art without the crazy parking lots, all which have curated shows or items aimed specifically at December gift-giving.

• Currier Museum of Art Shop, 150 Ash St., Manchester, 669-6144, currier.org, which contains a curated selection of art gifts and items related to the museum’s latest show

• Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Garden, 236 Hopkinton Road, Concord, 226-2046, themillbrookgallery.com, features “Artful Gift Giving” now through Dec. 24, a curated selection of fine art and crafts

• Studio 550, 550 Elm St., Manchester, 232-5597, 550arts.com, which features its 4th Annual Cup Show and Sale and its WCA-NH 6x6 Panel Scholarship Fundraiser

• The Wild Salamander Arts Center, 30 Ash St., Hollis, 465-WILD, wildsalamander.com, features “Good Things Come in Small Packages”

• Intown Manchester’s Downtown Holiday Market, Brady Sullivan Plaza, 1000 Elm St., Manchester, Thursdays, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Craftworkers’ Guild Holiday Craft Shop, Oliver Kendall House, Meetinghouse Road, Bedford, facebook.com/CraftworkersGuild, which contains Guild gifts now through Dec. 22

• The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen has locations in Concord (36 N. Main St., Concord, 228-8171), Hooksett (I-93 rest area, 210-5181) and Nashua (98 Main St., Nashua, 595-8233)

FEATURED MUSIC

Make A Fan Happy

Holiday Gifts For The Music Lover

Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)

Images: Courtesy Photo

Losing David Bowie, Prince, Glenn Frey and Leonard Cohen made 2016 a tough year for music fans. What’s needed under the tree, then, is something soothing, a source for reflection.

Let’s Begin With Books

To remember lost lights, there’s the just-published Prince: Purple Reign by Mick Wall (Trapeze, $30) and David Bowie: The Last Interview (Penguin, $17). Although it’s a few years old, fans of Leonard Cohen will savor Alan Light’s The Holy or the Broken (Simon & Schuster, $15), a scholarly study of the late songwriter’s oft-recorded “Hallelujah.”

On many Top 10 lists is Marc Myers’ Anatomy of a Song (Grove Press, $26), a collection of 45 essays about groundbreaking songs spanning from the late 1940s to early 1990s. The right kind of reader will delight in learning that Robert Plant’s echo effect on “Whole Lotta Love” was an accident turned into a feature by Jimmy Page, or that Donna Summer was Debbie Harry’s role model for “Heart of Glass” and Merle Haggard made an old friend and tour bus driver rich by giving him half the royalties for one of his biggest hits because a complaint he made was the song’s inspiration.

Joel Selvin’s Altamont (Dey Street, $27) tells the full story of the 1969 free Rolling Stones concert that became “rock’s darkest day.” Selvin goes beyond the sanitized version in the documentary Gimme Shelter and the veteran San Francisco rock critic also reveals how music itself changed in the show’s wake. The Grateful Dead moved toward country rock following their untimely role (their manager recommended Hell’s Angels for concert security), while the Stones lost their souls.

If CDs are still on anyone’s list, it’s likely a deluxe box set stuffed with extras that can’t be downloaded. The best stop for the really special stuff is Popmarket, a members-only site (popmarket.com, and don’t worry, signing up is free and easy). There you’ll find items like alt-J Live at Red Rocks, with two blue vinyl records, a photo book and a limited-edition necklace, and Badmotorfinger 25th Anniversary Edition by Soundgarden, with rare tracks and a bevy of collectible extras. Don’t dawdle, though; some items, like an AC/DC box containing a working amplifier, tend to sell out fast.

To really make a fan’s day, give them an Amazon Echo, a cool countertop device that plays music on demand. Get hooked up with a Spotify account, and hearing the new A Tribe Called Quest album is easy as shouting, “Alexa, play ‘We the People’” — plus, it also keeps track of grocery lists, sets timers and reads the weather report.

Streaming is great for national acts, but buying physical product at the merch table is a better way to put money in a local musician’s pocket, while giving a great gift. If you want to do your bit for the regional music scene, hit a show at places like Shaskeen Pub, Penuche’s, True Brew, Riverwalk Cafe, Union Coffee Co. or the Press Room, and buy a CD.

Nashua singer-songwriter Justin Cohn released the fine All Aglow earlier this year, and he’s out playing almost every night of the week. A couple of Granite State institutions have multiple disc sets on offer — Roots of Creation made Livin’ Free, with a Man in the Mountain cover, and Truffle celebrated three decades with its 30th Bandiversary Bootleg Anthology.

Speaking of live shows, concert tickets make great gifts. Season passes for Bank of NH Pavilion at Meadowbrook are sold out (sorry), but how about a pair of seats for the venue’s kickoff show by Home Free April 28 at Concord’s Capitol Center?

A better instant-gratification gift might be tickets to the Dec. 29 I Love The 90’s concert at SNHU Arena, starring Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa and a few other decade favorites.

Tupelo Music Hall is moving to Derry in the spring, and doubling capacity. The inaugural Peter Frampton Raw show on April 11 is sold out, though meet-and-greet tickets are still available. Don’t fret, as many more shows have been announced at the new location; any of them make a great gift. Early on, there’s Del and Dawg on April 14 and Almost Queen April 21. Further out are concerts by the Oak Ridge Boys (May 20) and ’70s stalwarts Ambrosia (June 4).

These are just some of the ways to make the holiday rock for your special fan. While you’re shopping, be sure to hum a few bars of “Merry Christmas, Baby” or “Run Run Rudolph” to keep your spirits high.

FEATURED FILM

Film Review

Loving (PG-13)

Written By Amy Diaz (adiaz@hippopress.com)

Images: Screenshot of Loving

A couple just wants to raise their children in the state they’ve lived in all their lives but Virginia’s laws against interracial marriage make that illegal in Loving, a look at the couple behind the Loving v. Virginia U.S. Supreme Court case.
The movie begins with Mildred (Ruth Negga) telling a delighted Richard (Joel Edgerton) that she’s pregnant. He buys an acre of land in the rural county where they live and shows Mildred where he’s going to build their house. He asks her to marry him and she says yes, happily rushing off to tell her sister, Garnet (Terri Abney). Mildred’s family seems to like Richard and Richard’s mother, Lola (Sharon Blackwood), the area midwife, seems to like Mildred.

But this is the late 1950s in Virginia and a state-sanctioned marriage between Richard, who is white, and Mildred, who is black, is against the law. They do it anyway, going to Washington, D.C., to get married, city-hall-style, and then bring their license back to Virginia, where Richard hangs it on the wall in the room he and Mildred share at her family’s house.

That license means nothing when the local sheriff shows up in the middle of the night and drags Richard and pregnant, pajama-clad Mildred off to jail. Richard is bailed out in hours, Mildred a while later (though not to Richard; the sheriff makes it clear he won’t let her leave if it’s Richard who attempts to bail her out). The Lovings hire a lawyer, Frank Beazley (Bill Camp), who makes a deal wherein the Lovings plead guilty, get a suspended sentence and agree to leave Virginia.

The movie does a good job of showing the unreasonableness of the requirement that they leave. Mildred and Richard, under the terms of their plea bargain, aren’t allowed to be in Virginia at the same time, even for a visit, so when Mildred wants to return so Lola can deliver their child, they have to essentially sneak back into the county. And somehow, a woman recovering from labor with her newborn and the husband caring for them are disturbing the peace enough to get the sheriff back out to arrest them. Frank gets the judge to let it slide but then tells them essentially that that was it, don’t call him again and don’t come back.

The Lovings stay in D.C., having more children and building a life. But Mildred longs for her children to grow up in the fresh air and big outdoors that she did and she longs for her family. After one son is injured while playing in the street, she packs them up and decides that, laws be damned, her children will grow up in the Virginia country.

It is around this time that Mildred writes a letter to Attorney General Robert Kennedy and gets a response from Bernie Cohen (Nick Kroll), an ACLU lawyer from Virginia. Though not a man of great trial experience (he borrows a colleague’s Alexandra office to meet the Lovings), Cohen thinks their case is the perfect case to test the interracial marriage laws in front of the Supreme Court.

Richard, meanwhile, just wants to live his life in peace and seems worried, from the beginning, about what the legal fight could mean for his family.

Loving is actually a fairly simple story — two people want to get married and raise their children where they’d like — and, to its credit, it also tells the story simply. Loving mostly avoids the Big Issues and sticks to the Lovings, their lives, their relationship and their family. Instead of having the injustice of the anti-miscegenation laws explained to us, we can feel it by the way those laws shove this one family to make decisions it shouldn’t have to make.

Nuanced, restrained acting — by Negga, Edgerton and surprisingly, even by Kroll (best known for big loud comedy) — really helps get the job done here. Nobody steps into the spotlight to talk about justice, to Sorkinize, I might call it, but that actually helps to convey what this case and its resolution mean all that much more. We see this slice of the civil rights fight from inside this couple’s relationship.

Loving makes a lot of really smart choices — including beautiful shots of the county where the Lovings want to live, room to let the actors fill in their characters and a light touch with the movie’s historical context (keeping the story as personal as possible) — that result in a really lovely movie about one brave couple and the legal wrong they help put right.

Grade: A

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Wrap Up A Good Read

Books For Under The Tree

Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

The Hippo’s book reviewers shared some of the books they’d recommend as gifts for all kinds of readers, from fiction fans to history buffs.

For Fiction Lovers

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

This is one of my favorite books I read this year. It follows an Englishman named Harold Fry who’s convinced he must cross England on foot to hand-deliver a letter to his oldest friend in order to save her life from brain cancer. It shocks his wife, who’s forced to look at her husband in a new way, and the country, who flock to join him.
— Kelly Sennott

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
When you finish this book, you can’t help but sigh. It is the story of an old man, his grandchild and the grandfather’s dementia. In poetic language it attempts to explain what happens to the person when their mind begins to escape. At times heartbreaking but always stunningly beautiful, this book helps to ease the pain of those who are left behind.
— Wendy Thomas

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
It’s Bad Moms, in book form, for the highly intelligent.
— Jennifer Graham

Moonglow by Michael Chabon
This is a perfect gift for anyone who loved Chabon’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay — along with any of Chabon’s other fantastic works. In Chabon’s latest work, which is presented as a memoir, the writer examines the lives of his maternal grandparents.
— Jeff Mucciarone

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
In Before the Fall, a plane carrying 11 rich people bound for Martha’s Vineyard crashes. Was it foul play? I don’t know, but I want to find out. Seems like a great choice for a mystery lover like me.
— Jeff Mucciarone

For People Who Like Poets

Upstream by Mary Oliver
Elegant and sometimes shocking essays on the wild life. Think Thoreau if he’d crawled on all fours through the woods and scrambled turtle eggs for his breakfast.
— Jennifer Graham

Christmas at Eagle Pond by Donald Hall
As expected from a former poet laureate of the United States, Hall uses poetic language to recount his memories of a 1940s Christmas at his grandparents’ farm in rural New Hampshire. Christmas at Eagle Pond will bring you back to a simpler time when Christmas meant celebrating with family and friends and appreciating what you had.
— Wendy Thomas

For Biography Fans

Belichick and Brady by Michael Holley
A deliciously intimate dissection of the most celebrated relationship since, well, Brady and Manning.
— Jennifer Graham

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from my Life by John le Carré
Told by the author, one of the great spy novelists of all time, this audiobook gives the listener an inside look at le Carré’s own life — he cultivated his own writing while working for British Secret Intelligence Service. Several of le Carré’s works have been adapted for film, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener. A great gift for fans of espionage novels and those looking for that glimpse inside a writer’s own life. Or, you can give it to me.
— Jeff Mucciarone

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
The Washington Post says Springsteen’s memoir “delivers enough punch and laughter, sorrow and succor to satisfy your soul and still, somehow, leave you wanting more.” Any Springsteen fans out there in need of a Christmas gift?
— Jeff Mucciarone

For Middle-Schoolers

Hundred Percent by Karen Romano Young
Filled with lovely language, a true voice, and compelling age-appropriate situations, this charming middle-grade book introduces us to Tink, a 12-year-old girl who is going through the typical tween angsty phase of figuring out who she is while wanting to fit in with the cool kids. Romano Young does an excellent job of introducing a new audience to what it’s like to be the odd duck who is just on the outside of the popular group.
— Wendy Thomas

For Foodies

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
This book would be a fun read for the foodie in your life; it follows a food prodigy named Eva who, against all odds, becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club. It’s a satire, poking fun at foodie culture (does locally sourced mean you got it at the general store down the street?), with each chapter telling the story of a single dish and character.
— Kelly Sennott

For History Buffs

Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre
In this work of nonfiction, Macintyre takes a close look at the history and evolution of military “special forces.” Any lover of military history would appreciate finding Rogue Heroes under the tree.
— Jeff Mucciarone