Mud Season Sampler a fully virtual season
Last week we let you know of a project to record local bands at the Bank of N.H. Stage that will be streamed as virtual shows. Since then, the Bank of N.H. Stage has released its schedule for the Mud Season Sampler, a winter/spring season of shows you can watch from home that will support the theater in your hometown. Local Bands Mixer, Side A will feature the recording sessions of The Special Guests with Lucas Gallo, Andrew North...
Plenty of winter fun around the capital city
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Outdoor dining begins April 1 During their February meeting, City Council approved the renewal of temporary expanded outdoor dining once again in the City of Concord. This temporary program is an effort by the Council to address the...
Bulletin board: Poetry and performance in the capital city
Poetry evening Gibson’s Bookstore will host a virtual night of verse with poet Arisa White on March 9 at 7 p.m. Her new collection, Who’s Your Daddy, is a lyrical, genre-bending coming-of-age tale featuring a queer, Black, Guyanese American woman who, while seeking to define her own place in the world, negotiates an estranged relationship with her father. She is joined in reading by poet Dara Wier, whose next collection of poems,...
Poetry: Life
Life is to be lived, time spent and invested wise, perhaps we are not all frugal, living our days under blue skies. Some may look but they do not see, make sure you see what is seen, love those you choose to love, embrace life don’t be mean. Walk under the sun, before you pass the shade of the tree, measure wealth in a different way, just look back and you will see. Remember those special moments, hold them close to your heart, take...
This week in Concord history
Feb. 18, 1942: Gov. Robert O. Blood urges coal and fuel oil conservation to aid the war effort. Homes should be heated to no higher than 65 degrees, he says. Feb. 18, 1842: The radical and conservative factions of the Democratic Party brawl in Concord’s town hall over control of a party caucus. An observer, Henry McFarland, writes that “seats and desks were smashed, wigs flew in the dusty air, and bloody noses were seen on most...
Beauty in a business book
Brand Brilliance By Fiona Huberstone (272 pages, nonfiction, 2017) Who are you? What do you stand for? How do you want to be remembered? These types of questions go into making your personal brand. Whether you want to brand yourself or your business, this book has everything you need. And best of all there are pictures! Most business books drudge on with just black and white text until your eyes glaze over. This one is full of big...
Looking back: My grandfather became a legend
It was the fall of 1892, the forest surrounding Concord was home to many hunters. They traversed the wooded land from North State Street, up over Rattlesnake Hill and onto the sloping hills above Long Pond. The air was chilled and the forest ablaze with the vibrant colors of fall foliage. If I close my eyes, I can imagine the scene my grandfather spoke of from his past. Enjoying a rare day where he did not work at the quarry,...
Bulletin board: Virtual programs and new art exhibit on view
Fitness book to help young people Dr. Dan O’Neill will visit Gibson’s Bookstore virtually Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. to share his new book, Survival of the Fit: How Physical Education Ensures Academic Achievement and a Healthy Life and discuss how we can set up our young students to get the most out of their education and get ahead in life. Young people in America are facing a health crisis of epidemic proportions – yet no one is...
Andrew North’s new album
No stranger to recording music on a tight schedule, Andrew North recently released a new quarantine “live” album on Feb. 5. Flannelog, Vol. 1, so named for the flannel shirts Andrew loves to sport while performing shows on his YouTube channel, is a collection of live tracks that he recorded in his basement studio. Andrew North is a pianist and singer, who’s been spotted performing around the Concord and Burlington, Vt., areas as a...
During ‘pause,’ Bank of N.H. Stage presses ‘record’
Though restrictions on large gatherings have kept the box office closed for some time now, all has not been silent at the Bank of N.H. Stage. Ten local bands partnered with the Capitol Center for the Arts to record a few songs at the smaller of the Capitol Center’s venues. The recording will be edited into a pair of mini-concerts with a mix from the bands. Joe Gleason, assistant executive director, said earlier in the winter, musician...
City announces new app to report issues
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: See, click & fix The City of Concord has partnered with SeeClickFix to implement a new citizen reporting platform and mobile app, making it easier than ever for the Concord community to report non-emergency quality-of-life concerns...
This week in Concord history
Feb. 11, 1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints John G. Winant of Concord to succeed Joseph Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. Winant, a Republican, is a former governor and served earlier in FDR’s presidency as the first administrator of the Social Security Administration. Feb. 11, 1965: The New Hampshire Senate agrees to reapportion its 24 seats, basing districts on population rather than wealth, as a 1964 U.S....
Book: Murder, an unlikely suspect and an untrained sleuth
The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne By Elsa Hart (344 pages, mystery, 2020) It’s London in 1703 and Cecily Kay, wife of a British diplomat in Smyrna, is a plant collector who has traveled back to England. She has gotten permission to study in the “Plant Room” in the house of Sir Barnaby Mayne. This is a very exciting prospect for Cecily, a learned amateur botanist. She has dried plants from Smyrna that she wishes to look up in his...
Popular CRVNA groups, classes now virtual
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association, the largest home health and hospice provider in New Hampshire, has reimagined several of its popular wellness programs and support groups for a virtual setting as Granite Staters continue to practice social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. “After nearly a full year adhering to physical distancing guidelines, the isolation is taking a toll on some, especially older adults,...
Check out programs offered online
Author event Maine author Susan Conley (Elsey Come Home) visits Gibson’s virtually on Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. to present her new novel, Landslide, a touching family novel about a family surviving one hit after another. Susan will be joined in conversation by fellow Maine author Kerri Arsenault (Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains). After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look...
Concord golf course improvements underway
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Merrimack Lodge The Merrimack Lodge at White Park will be open this Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Due to COVID-19, occupancy in the building will be limited. Skate rentals will be available for $5. Outdoor skating All outdoor...
This week in Concord history
Feb. 4, 1908: In Concord, the St. Paul’s School ice hockey team defeats the Harvard freshmen 9-1. Captain Hobey Baker “played a wonderful game,” scoring three goals, the Monitor reports. Baker will later become a college hockey star, and the trophy awarded to the nation’s best male collegiate player each year will one day bear his name. Feb. 4, 1932: Skating on an outside rink in a preliminary match at the Olympic Games in Lake...
Poetry: Once
For the Monitor There was once an old barn, on the road near my home, boards weathered by past storms, overgrown fields where horses did roam. The rusted tin roof atop, sheltering from the floor to the loft, protecting all the farmer owned, the memory of the hay so soft. The years finally claimed the barn, slowly over many winters’ past, where there once was, some things just don’t last....
Series continues
How to Raise an Elephant By Alexander McCall Smith (242 pages, mystery, 2020) Precious Ramotswe, owner of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, loves her little white van, even though it is old and doesn’t go very fast. It gets her to where she needs to go and is like an old friend. When her assistant Charlie asks her for the loan of her van, she lends it willingly. But Charlie is evasive about what he needs the van for. He says that he...
Book: Mystery aboard
The Devil and the Dark Water By Stuart Turton (463 pages, mystery, 2020) The Devil and the Dark Water is a delightful take on the classic locked-room mystery — with this “locked room” taking the form of a Dutch East India trading ship traveling from Batavia (present-day Indonesia) to Amsterdam. No sooner has the galleon left port, than the strange goings-on begin. A supposedly-dead leper appears out of nowhere and curses all...
OLLI class registrations opens soon
OLLI, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, at Granite State College recently announced that there will be 81 affordable, non-credit courses offered on Zoom during the 2021 spring term which begins on Feb. 22. OLLI courses range from single sessions to six-sessions in categories such as: history, politics, arts and literature, philosophy and religion, computer and personal skills, health and food, science and environment plus more. To...
Book: Opportunity to change
The Midnight LibraryBy Matt Haig(288 pages, fantasy, 2020)This book is a New York Times bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick and A LibraryReads 2020 Voter Favorite. Several coworkers recommended it, so I thought that I would give it a try.Nora Seed is a young woman who has decided that she doesn’t want to live anymore. She has no job, no boyfriend, no husband, her parents are gone, her brother is distant, her friend has...
Poem: Rusted Railroad Tracks
Rusted railroad tracks, where do you go, where have you been, what do you know? You have taken men off to war, some never again seen, tears have been shed, what does it mean? You have withstood the elements, seen many winters, summers, and falls, ushered in new generations, new conductors with new calls. You have brought people together, and torn others apart, witnessed accidents and tragedy, as each journey did start. You lost your...
Cheers installs heated igloos to provide patio seating option for diners
Cheers owners Todd and Wendy Roy have taken outdoor seating to the next level – igloos. “My wife and I were talking about it, and we have this beautiful patio, so we wanted to use that and we started looking at these igloos,” Todd Roy said. The Roys found what they were looking for at TableBaseDepot in Blaine, Wash., and had four of them shipped to New Hampshire. “The customers we had in there last weekend were like, ‘We haven’t been...
Upcoming book discussions with Gibson’s
The Last Exit Michael Kaufman will visit Gibson’s Bookstore virtually on Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. to present his new thriller, The Last Exit! Perfect for fans of Ben Winters and Cory Doctorow. In this thrilling near-future novel, the secret to eternal life is closely guarded by people who will do anything to protect it – even if it means destroying everything in their path. Kaufman is the author of two novels and seven works of non-fiction....
Book: Painting problem
Next to Last Stand By Craig Johnson (336 pages, mystery, 2020) Custer’s Last Fight is a famous painting that was reproduced by Anheuser-Busch and has been viewed by thousands in saloons and barrooms across the country. At one point prints were distributed at a rate of over two million copies a year. The original painting was destroyed in a fire at Fort Bliss, Texas in 1946. But maybe it wasn’t? Maybe someone saved it before the...
City newsletter: New history display, winter activity updates
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Skating The White Park Pond, Beaver Meadow Pond and Rollins skating areas will be open for skating. The Merrimack Lodge at White Park will be open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Masks are required while inside the building and...
This week in Concord history
January 28, 1942: John G. Winant of Concord, the U.S. ambassador to England, tells a national defense luncheon in London that the United States will recruit an army of 7 million men. “Idleness has not been part of our national life,” he says. “That is not America.” January 28, 1986: The space shuttle Challenger explodes 72 seconds after liftoff, killing all aboard, including Concord High teacher Christa McAuliffe. ...
Icy celebration returns to downtown
The Hotel Concord and Intown Concord will again be hosting a Winter Fest for the third year in a row. The ice carving competition in downtown Concord will be held Jan. 29 and 20. Masked spectators will enjoy watching ice-carving demonstrations and meeting some of New England’s most talented ice carvers. All spectators will be expected to wear masks and keep social distancing per state and city guidelines. The schedule for the weekend...
Book: Pensioners look into cold case
The Thursday Murder Club By Richard Osman (Mystery, 2020) Four very different retirees live in Coopers Chase, a “luxury retirement village” in England. They meet in the Jigsaw Room to discuss cold cases. There’s “Red Ron,” the former trade union leader; retired psychiatrist Ibrahim; Joyce, a former nurse; and Elizabeth – once a spy, perhaps? No one knows exactly what Elizabeth was, and she isn’t telling. Elizabeth used to work...
