July 6 - 12, 2023
GREAT FUN!
Enjoy the arcade action with skee-ball, target practice, & other great games that won’t fit in a phone! Or try your luck with some actual casino action! For those seeking fun in the sun, try one of the rental rides outside!
Enjoy the freshest lobster, fish, and fine food at a summer sit down meal! Or grab a burger, hot dog, ice cream, or slush to get back to the action! Don’t forget those sweet treats to take home either!
july
Advertising Staff
Charlene Nichols
seacoast scene advertising sales Manager (603) 625-1855, ext.126
Charlene@seacoastscene.net
Roxanne Macaig
seacoast scene account executive (603) 625-1855 ext. 127 rmacaig@hippopress.com
Editorial Staff Editor Angie Sykeny editor@seacoastscene.net
Editorial Design
Brooke Fraser
Contributors
lily Hartman, Betty gagne, curt Mackail, amy Diaz, jennifer graham, Ray Magliozzi
Production
Brooke Fraser, Jennifer Gingras
Circulation Manager
Doug ladd, 625-1855, ext. 135 dladd@hippopress.com
Have an event or a story idea for the seacoast scene? let us know at: editor@seacoastscene.net
unsolicited submissions are not accepted and will not be returned or acknowledged. unsolicited submissions will be destroyed.
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SCOTT!
Don’t forget there’s plenty of prime parking next to all this awesome Food, Fun, and Shopping you will find at the heart of Hampton Beach, where music rocks the Seacoast, and summertime is extra special!
Pick up those summer fashions from our sidewalk sales, or get new beach gear to make a summer day on the Seacoast even better! From sunscreen to smokes, boogieboards to shades, we have it all!
Isla was transferred to the NHSPCA from an overcrowded shelter in Texas. This sweet Labrador retriever would be a fantastic companion. She walks easily on a leash and does not pull. She loves to be with her people. The staff at the Texas shelter described her as very chill and gentle. They believe that she would love to cuddle up on the couch and watch TV with her new family. Isla has a very vocal play style and plays rough with other dogs. She tends to get carsick, so she wouldn’t be a great match for someone who wants their dog to travel with them. Because she was a stray in Texas, Isla’s history with kids and cats is unknown, so she would need a slow introduction to either. If Isla sounds like the dog of your dreams, stop by the Adoption Center, open every day except Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., or email info@nhspca.org.
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during the summer, there’s a good chance you’ll hear music moving through the air. Perhaps that is somewhere on the Hampton Beach strip, where you may stumble upon a country concert taking place outside at the Sea Shell stage. Walk a little farther down the strip and you may catch a rock artist jamming on stage at Bernie’s Beach Bar in front of a dancing crowd on a Saturday night.
For a quieter, low-key experience, take a drive to downtown Portsmouth and immerse yourself into one of the smaller, more intimate venues in the area. Here you may discover a local upcoming artist you’ve never heard of playing their heart out on stage in front of a crowd. And before you know it you’ll be seeing their shows regularly.
While some enjoy the entertainment of upbeat rock and reggae with a cocktail in hand, others appreciate those warm summer nights when there’s a guitarist on stage slowing down the setting with the simple pick of a chord.
As the sun begins to set at 3S Artspace, a creative visual arts and
4, and a performance by hip-hop and soul artist Adrienne Mack-Davis for the last night of the series on Aug. 25.
ting, where string lights hang over the crowd and stage to create the perfect ambience.
“It just feels very summertime-concert vibes,” says Sara O’Reilly, the marketing manager at 3S Artspace.
Rhodes, a favorite of many audience members, kicked off the venue’s Loading Dock Concert Series on July 7. This summertime series gives the stage to a different performer each week. The series revolves around many local and regional artists and aims to give visibility to artists who may not be as represented in other parts of the community.
The week after Rhodes’ show, watch as Halley Neal plays and sings folk on her acoustic guitar with her backing band, Pretty Saro. Neal is from the Seacoast area and is a “wonderful, super-talented songwriter and performer,” according to O’Reilly. The audience can also enjoy listening to several other music genres and artists, such as Portsmouth native singer-songwriter Abrielle Scharff on July 28, folk-pop artist Kimayo on Aug.
If you’re a local walking through town or tourist visiting the area, you can buy a ticket to one of these shows starting at $12, with the option to contribute more. Ticket sales help the Artspace thrive by allowing them to host more events and pay the artists more.
“The more that they pay for that ticket price, the more we are able to pay the musicians at the end of the night,” says O’Reilly.
At 3S Artspace, everything they do is art-focused. O’Reilly says these shows contribute to their greater goal of allowing art to be accessible to everyone.
“Music is included and a huge part of that word ‘art,’” she says.
A few minutes down the road, venture into an 895-seat historic theater, a 116-seat club or an outdoor pop-up venue — all owned and hosted by The Music Hall — for live music. The venue hosts a summer concert series called Live Under the Arch on Chestnut Street. With a 250-person capacity,
locals can sit up front or stand in the back to enjoy live performances throughout the summer.
“This is the first year we’re doing it this big,” says James Paone, the programming manager at The Music Hall.
The series began on July 1 with a performance by Soul Rebel Project, a local and regional reggae band that won the Boston Music Awards international artist award twice, according to The Music Hall. The series lasts through Labor Day and includes several other artists and performances.
On July 29, singer-songwriter, guitarist and Massachusetts native Ryan Montbleau will perform. He is described as “a roots rock powerhouse and an inexorable road warrior” by The Music Hall.
On Aug. 19, folk and blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Buffalo Nichols plays. On Sept. 3, The Righteous Babes, three groups of female artists who support one another by singing each other’s songs, will perform together. The group includes Gracie and Rachel, a chamber-pop piano-violin duo; Holly Miranda, a sultry folk rock guitarist, and Jocelyn Mackenzie, a percussionist and electric ukulele player.
“We do a great job of bringing a mix of both those national household names but also featuring our local singer-songwriters that are kind of on their way up,” says Paone. “That’s something we really focused on in our mission this year — putting the spotlight on emerging artists.”
If you can’t make the outdoor series, catch a show by Mat Kearney in the theater on July 15. According to Paone, Kearney always puts on an awesome show with an acoustic, intimate focus. On Aug. 7, Margo Price, whom Paone says is “a fantastic, kind of fast-rising star in the country world,” is performing in the theater with a full band. If you want to check out the lounge for a ’70s country and folk performance,
Portsmouth-born-and-raised singer-songwriter Sam Robbins is taking the stage with singer-songwriter Jesse Terry on Aug. 17.
“We have the type of music that you’re going to like,” Paone said. “Whether it’s country, rock, pop, soul, blues, jazz — we’ve got it all covered.”
By offering both big touring artists as well as outdoor shows with local talent where tickets cost no more than $25 each, The Music Hall is a place where everyone can enjoy a show.
The Press Room, another music spot on the Seacoast, is a place where artists, listeners and musicians bring life to the space. At this venue that offers shows by local, regional and national artists, variety is their strength. Tristan Law, the general manager and operating partner at The Press Room, says, “We’ll host everything from folk and country, to punk, to metal, to electronic.”
On Sunday, July 16, John R. Miller takes the stage at The Press Room for the first time. He is a singer-songwriter-picker whose debut solo album, Depreciated, combines country, folk, blues and rock and reflects his life experiences and the complicated bond he has with the Shenandoah Valley. Law said the venue is also looking forward to hosting performances by Nashville-based country singer Julie Williams on July 27 and Philadelphia-based band Florry, who “does a lot of things, such as raggedy alt country, cowpunk, and country rock, but they mostly have fun,” according to The Press Room, on Aug. 7.
While the venue hosts a few big names, it’s also a place where many artists get their start with playing on stage in front of a crowd. Law encourages everyone to take a chance on an artist they haven’t heard of.
“It’s really special when you see an artist and are like, ‘Wow, they’re going to be famous,’” he says.
3S Artspace
319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth
Cost: Concert tickets start at $12; attendees have the option to donate more.
Summer shows: Halley Neal with Pretty Saro on Friday, July 14; Wildflower on Friday, July 21; Abrielle Scharff on Friday, July 28; Kimayo on Friday, Aug.
4; Cormac McCarthy on Friday, Aug. 11, and more; all shows in the Loading Dock Concert Series start at 7 p.m.
More info: Call 603-766-3330, email info@3sarts.org or visit 3sarts.org.
The Music Hall Historic Theatre, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth; The Music Hall Lounge, 131 Congress St., Portsmouth; outdoor pop-up venue on Chestnut Street, Portsmouth
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
Concerts
Venues
3S Artspace 319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth, 7663330, 3sarts.org
Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach, 929-4100, casinoballroom.com
Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club 135 Congress St., Portsmouth, 888603-JAZZ, jimmysoncongress.com
The Music Hall 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, 436-2400, themusichall.org
The Music Hall Lounge
131 Congress St., Portsmouth, 4362400, themusichall. org
Press Room
77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 431-5186, pressroomnh.com
The Strand 20 Third St., Dover, 343-1899, thestranddover.com
Summer shows: Ryan Montbleau on Saturday, July 29, at 8 p.m.; Buffalo Nichols on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 8 p.m.; The Righteous Babes on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. at 28 Chestnut St.; Mat Kearney on Saturday, July 15, at 8 p.m.; Grease Sing-Along on Friday, July 28, at 8 p.m. at the theater; Nora Brown on Friday, July 21, at 8 p.m.; Robert Kelly on Thursday, July 27, at 6 and 8:30 p.m.; Maddie Poppe on Monday, Aug. 7, at 6 and 8:30 p.m. at the lounge, and more.
More info: Call 603-436-2400, email info@themusichall.org or visit themusichall.org.
The Press Room
77 Daniel St., Portsmouth
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
Summer shows: Emo Night Portsmouth on Friday, July 14, at 9 p.m.; John R. Miller on Sunday, July 16, at 8 p.m.; Easy Honey with Dune Dogs on Friday, July 21, at 9 p.m.; Julie Williams
The Word Barn 66 Newfields Road, Exeter, 244-0202, thewordbarn.com
Shows
• The Fabulous Thunderbirds Thursday, July 13, 6 & 8:30 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Bettye Lavette Thursday, July 13, 7:30 p.m.,
Jimmy’s
• Marvel Prone/Summer Cult Thursday, July 13, 8 p.m., Music Hall
• Survive the Sun Thursday, July 13, 8 p.m., Stone Church
• Halley Neal/Pretty
on Thursday, July 27, at 8 p.m.; Florry on Monday, Aug. 7, at 8 p.m.; Blanco on Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 8 p.m., and more.
More info: Call 603-431-5186, email info@pressroomnh.com or visit pressroomnh.com.
Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
Summer shows: The Struts on Friday, July 21, at 8 p.m.; The Fab Four – The Ultimate Beatles Tribute on Friday, July 28, at 8 p.m.; Melissa Etheridge on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 8 p.m.; Niko Moon on Friday, Sept. 15, at 8 p.m., and more.
More info: Call 603-929-4100, email info@casinoballroom.com or visit casinoballroom.com.
Bernie’s Beach Bar
73 Ocean Blvd., Hampton
Cost: Ticket prices vary; some are free admission.
Summer shows: Pop 2000s Tour on Sunday, July 16, at 7 p.m.; The Far on Friday, July 21, at 8 p.m.; MB Padfield on Saturday, July 22, at 1 p.m.; Pulse on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 8 p.m., and more.
More info: Call 603-926-5050 or visit berniesnh.com.
Blue Ocean Music Hall
4 Ocean Front N, Salisbury, Mass. Cost: Ticket prices vary.
Summer shows: Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes on Thursday, July 20, at 8 p.m.; 14th Annual Buffett Beach Blast on Friday, July 21, at 8 p.m.; Gavin Marengi on Thursday, July 27, at 8 p.m.; Albert Cummings & James Montgomery on Saturday, July 29, at 8 p.m., and more. More info: Call 978-462-5888, email info@blueoceanhall.com or visit blueoceanhall.com.
Saro Friday, July 14, 7 p.m., 3S Artspace
• Billy Keane & the Waking Dream Friday, July 14, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• The Rockingham Groove Friday, July 14, 8 p.m., Stone Church
• Dreams To Stage
Finale Friday, July 14, 8 p.m., Strand
• The HillBenders Friday, July 14, 8 p.m., Rochester Opera House
• Chris Botti Thursday, July 15, 7:30 p.m., Music Hall
• Mat Kearney Saturday, July 15, 7:30 p.m., Music Hall
• The Bulkheads/The Lonely Ghosts/June
Sexton Saturday, July
15, 8 p.m., The Strand
• Reed Foehl Sunday, July 16, 7 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Joe Lovano Quartet
Sunday, July 16, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• John R. Miller Sunday, July 16, 8 p.m., Press Room
• Jill Sobule Monday, July 17, 7 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Q-Tip Bandits Tuesday, July 18, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• George Porter Jr. & Runnin Pardners
Thursday, July 18, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Dirty Heads Thursday, July 20, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Watermelon Slim
Friday, July 21, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Wildflower Friday, July 21, 7 p.m., 3S
Artspace
• Beatlemania Again
Friday, July 21, 8 p.m., Rochester Opera House
• The Struts Friday, July 21, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Nora Brown Friday, July 21, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
What was the first concert you ever attended?
“ I saw George Strait at Foxborough Stadium in 1994. It took forever on the phone to get tickets. It was the one and only time I saw him.”
– L I n Da of aM esbury, Mass.
If you could see any band or performer, who would it be?
“ A Christian rock band called Casting Crowns. I’ve seen them many times and most recently at the Mullins Center in Amherst. They are my absolute favorite band.”
– Kathy of o ran G e, Mass.
What’s your favorite type of music to experience live?
“ I would say Christian first, followed by country. I’ve been following Christian music for over 40 years.”
– GeorG e of o ran G e, Mass.
Do you prefer live music in an intimate setting or stadium shows?
“I love any type of outdoor concert, so I guess stadium shows. Every year we go to Wildwood, New Jersey, for the country music festival. It’s live music on the sand on three stages. It’s the best.”
What was the best concert you ever attended?
“ AC/DC. I saw them at Gillette Stadium in 2015. It was truly an experience — they are my band. Check out my tattoo.”
What’s the farthest you’ve ever traveled for a concert? Who did you see?
“The Bank of NH Pavilion in Gilford. Pam and I go there a lot. We’ve seen many concerts there, including Peter Frampton and Don Henley. We’re going to see Foreigner there next month.”
–
DavID of Derry
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What is your background in tech?
My background is actually legal. I’m a licensed attorney. I spent a couple of years practicing, and then I ended up working for a big telecommunications company. I spent over seven and a half years in the corporate technology operations department. … When I entered the corporate world, I was a bit naive; I thought, you work hard, you get promoted, easy peasy. Then I started seeing women in the corporate world just weren’t getting promoted. … I ended up … working for another smaller startup company … as their chief growth and community officer, focused on legal technology. I started growing my name in the legal tech sector. … I started doing this show where I was teaching other lawyers how to leverage technology.
What are you doing now?
I wanted to continue my passion for tech education, which I did by creating my show, Get Tech Smart, which is focused on … educating people in a simplistic way on the emerging technologies that are being created right here in our state. I’m also a co-founder and chief operating officer for a tech company … [focused on] Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, but not just in a simple way of consultation and being like, ‘Hey, you should be diverse’; we actually have a platform that helps organizations successfully implement and launch their DEI strategic plan by utilizing data analytics. … That way, they can see clearly what’s working, and what’s not, celebrate their successes, but also see what areas need improvement, and then take action. … I also started doing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion networking events. I’ve done two events so far … [which were] so successful. … We managed to raise over $40,000 in professional development scholarships … which is very needed.
What are some of the biggest challenges women face in the tech industry?
One of the things I noticed when I started doing my show … was the lack of representation of women in the tech industry. … There’s a struggle to be seen, heard and paid our worth. … The weight of the invis-
ible glass ceiling is evident, with women earning only 80 cents for every dollar men make, and the disparity is even more significant for women of color. … Many women experience demoralization and imposter syndrome when they are undervalued and underpaid. …This leads to difficulties in advocating for ourselves, negotiating better salaries and seeking promotions.
What are some steps tech companies can take to be more inclusive?
Companies can address the issue of gender pay disparity by conducting self-audits to ensure equal pay. They should use data to identify and rectify any discrepancies in pay between equally qualified men and women. … Companies should also engage in surveys to gather qualitative data on employee sentiment and assess their sense of belonging. Analyzing hiring and retention trends can provide insights into diversity gaps within the workforce. … Companies need to be intentional in their hiring practices and establish community alliances to tap into diverse talent pools. It’s important to note that diversity encompasses more than just gender and race … [and] companies should consider other dimensions such as veterans, neurodivergent individuals and people with disabilities.
What would you say to young women interested in going into the tech industry?
The tech industry is a fantastic industry to get into. … I would tell them — especially girls that are in elementary school or high school — to not feed into the myth that math is for boys … or that people who want to get into the tech industry need to learn how to code and need to know how to do math. That’s not true. I’m terrible at math. I don’t even code. There’s more to technology than just coding and doing math. … I would tell them to not be afraid to explore the tech world. … I would also tell them that it’s challenging to break into the tech world, so you should start getting that exposure early on and start networking … with other women in the industry. Don’t wait until you graduate college. Go to STEM camps. … Do STEM programs. There are all kinds of opportunities out there. — Angie Sykeny
Exeter’s Main Street is festooned with banners bearing the motto “Shop – Dine – Stay.” And when it comes to dining, the town has it going on.
Downtown Exeter is undergoing a restaurant renaissance. Never before considered in the same league as dining destinations like Portsmouth or Newburyport, Exeter now attracts gourmands locally and from afar, drawn to a nucleus of fine dining and upscale casual eateries found in the center of town.
“The culinary scene here in Exeter has come a long way even in the seven years since I’ve opened. It’s great to see so many talented chefs and fabulous restaurants come in. I feel like Exeter is slowly growing into a town that people are purposefully visiting to dine,” said chef Lee Frank, proprietor of the popular Otis restaurant, geographically and figuratively at the center of the flourishing restaurant realm.
Tim O’Brien, chef and owner of Il Cornicello, a relatively new small downtown restaurant serving up regional Italian scratch-made specialities, said, “We’ve got it all in Exeter now, from fine dining to simple takeout and everything in between. Collectively, we have created a gastronomic destination for families, adventurous diners, and serious diners alike. And we’re just getting started. More will come in due time.”
The online tourist guide thingstodoexeter.com reports, “Restaurants in Exeter offer individually owned and hand-crafted menus. They range from exceptional fine dining with wine pairings to eclectic street food. You will discover specially made culinary art dishes, hand-made pasta, Thai and authentic ramen, international street food, burgers, pub fare, vegetarian fresh options, pizza, and cafe food. Choices are extensive with options for every palate or whim.”
A decade ago, Exeter’s new foodie scene was awakening. At the time, a handful of downtown restaurants attracted mostly local residents to places that didn’t have a marquee chef and offered pretty much standard fare. But today several chefs have taken center stage as attractions in their own right by virtue of their pedigrees in the culinary world, unique styles, and menus with complex dishes.
Led by chefs Lee Frank at Otis Restaurant, Stanley Arnoldo Orantes at Ambrose, Tim O’Brien at Cornicello and Paul Callahan at Vino y Vivo, these gourmet cooks run chef-driven restaurants that share a dedication to scratch-made dishes and high-quality, local ingredients.
Other restaurants along Water Street (Exeter’s main drag) may not be noted for their individual chefs but nonetheless offer wide-ranging menus that draw top reviews on social media and a steady stream of evening customers. Restaurants comprising this group of downtown dining spots include Oba Noodle Bar, Laney & Lu, Capital Thai Kitchen and Bar, Khaophums II, Szechuan Taste, Sea Dog Brewing Co., OTTO, and Czar’s Brewery. With an estimated total of more than 600 restaurant seats in the central district, restaurant-goers occupy most nearby parking spaces and fill the sidewalks during peak hours.
And 100 more seats are planned for a new restaurant from The Big Bean’s owners Jon and Arley Wells. They’ll renovate the space formerly home to The Tavern at River’s Edge at 163 Water Street. (The Big Bean has other locations in Newmarket and Durham.) By their own description, the Wellses serve unique gourmet meals created from scratch in small batches, homemade breads, and produce from local farms.
The Big Bean joins other restaurants originating outside Exeter that chose the area for expansion, including The Thirsty Moose Tap House, OTTO Portland, 110 Grill, Street, and Khaophums Fine Thai Restaurant.
And within a short walk or five-minute drive of the center of town are other spots averaging four stars or greater from reviewers on social media hubs Yelp and Tripadvisor. These include Epoch Gastropub at The Exeter Inn, Lexie’s Test Kitchen, Las Olas Taqueria, and Sawbelly Brewing Co.
The center of the chef-driven restaurant renaissance also happens to be the center of town, marked by the historic Swasey Pavilion (commonly known as the Exeter Bandstand) at the intersection of Front and Water streets. Facing the intersection is the Inn by the Bandstand, a beautifully restored 1809 mansion in the Federal style. The inn offers eight luxurious guest rooms and houses two superior restaurants, Otis and
Ambrose, almost side by side but distinctly different.
Otis Restaurant was originally the Otis Sleeper Jewelry Store, dating to 1910. The architecture of Otis is a gem in itself. Stepping through the front door, you enter immediately into the 30-seat dining room. Ornate crown molding, the original ceiling and floors, pale blue walls, warm lighting and large windows overlooking the bandstand make Otis a visually appealing space. Seating is compact among floor tables and a long bar. Sound levels in the high-ceilinged space are on the loud side in the usually sold-out room. A four-person chef’s table at the far end puts you kitchen-side with the genial owner and chef, Lee Frank.
Frank says he wants to keep the dining experience simple and elegant.
“Our goal at Otis with our cuisine is to constantly push ourselves to perfect simplicity. We use familiar flavor profiles and hopefully present them in a way that might be slightly unexpected to the diner,” he said. “I think the thing that attracts guests to Otis is that we try to deliver a high-end product without the stuffy pretentiousness that’s often associated with fine dining. Our menu, which is constantly changing and evolving, keeps people coming back and everyone from a picky eater to the discernible palate can enjoy a meal here.”
Originally from the West Coast, Frank has been cooking in the Seacoast since 2005 with stints at Bonta Restaurant in Hampton, Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit alongside esteemed chefs Clark Fraiser and Mark Gaier, and Brazo Restaurant in Portsmouth. When Arrows Restaurant closed and its space sold, Frank moved on to run Anneke Jans in Kittery. From there he found his first ownership opportunity at Otis.
Otis doesn’t offer a traditional menu with named dishes. Instead, Frank chooses to describe his selections with flavor profiles. On a recent visit the menu offered duck, turnip, barley, carrot and sour orange. Also on the menu were lamb, potato, Brussels sprouts, garlic, shallot and sherry. Ala carte ordering is not available; instead, a five-course prix fixe tasting menu with two choices in each course is offered.
We asked Chef Lee what his favorite dish is at Otis.
“I actually don’t have a favorite dish. Our menu changes at a minimum of every week. We try not to repeat dishes so we are always trying to keep our guests and ourselves on our toes,” he said.
Another of the downtown’s chef-forward restaurants, Ambrose, is just steps away from Otis in a warmly lit elegant dining room within the Inn by the Bandstand. Headed by chef Stanley Arnoldo Orantes, the restaurant’s 30-seat indoor dining room oozes history and charm. A casual outdoor dining area with gardens, large fireplace and a fountain complements the formal dining room. The lovely walled outdoor patio is reminiscent of courtyard restaurants found throughout Orantes’ native El Salvador and Central America, said innkeeper Agostinho Nunez.
Chef Stanley serves mostly smallish tapas-style dishes meant to be shared, but some larger dishes could suffice as your own entree. The menu changes frequently. On a recent visit we found eggplant tapenade, salmon tartare, braised beef short ribs, pollo en chicha, haddock in plantain leaf, and Salvadoran riguas (corn cakes) among the 15 menu choices.
Orantes explained his culinary philosophy: “First and foremost is to introduce ingredients that are representative of my culture and those of my business partners. We have different cultural backgrounds, from El Salvador, Portugal, France and Mexico. However, we are not restricted by our cultures. We love to travel, and finding new flavors and ingredients is our passion. I would say that’s the beauty of our restaurant concept, offering international small plates as our signature experience. The second is to make an impression on our guests by presenting the diversity of our cultures in a unique and authentic plate,” he said.
Orantes, who formerly cheffed at some of the top restaurants in Boston, says he’s never forgotten his roots, telling others that his mother and grandmother were his greatest teachers.
“A few of my personal favorites that have been very well-received are the pollo en chicha, an authentic chicken dish from my home country, and riguas, sweet and savory corn cakes served with cream and cheese, also from my home country. We have a creamy risotto made with a very unique ingredient found in El Salvador known as loroco that gets people’s attention. Another popular dish is the smoked tuna carpaccio complemented with an Asian sauce that screams umami,” he said.
Asked about the current restaurant scene in Exeter, Orantes replied, “Having choices in Exeter is important to all of us as it gives locals and visitors a cultural perspective that’s almost unexpected in a small town. This unique environment gives us a competitive advantage to attract more tourism from near and far. Together with other great restaurants, we are making a splash.”
At Cornicello, within two blocks of Otis and Ambrose, you’ll see chef and owner Tim O’Brien at work through the street-side kitchen window, making fresh pasta and authentic regional Italian dishes from scratch.
Belying the chef’s Irish surname, his deepest roots are Italian. Photographs on the wall show O’Brien’s paternal great-grandfather and family, born and raised about 70 miles southwest of Rome in the mountainous San Donato Comino Valley region, an area known for exceptional food. The maternal side of O’Brien’s Italian family, also displayed in historic photos, comes from farther south — Sant’Andrea di Conza, a town in the mountainous area on the border of Basilicata. O’Brien says he emulates those indigenous cuisines passed down through his family in some of his dishes.
“I try to create dishes that are able to transport our guests back in time to a Nonna’s Italian kitchen, and present dishes that showcase local ingredients prepared simply in a manner true to Italian gastronomy,” he said.
The chef said he gained his cooking skills from his grandmother in her home kitchen. On a recent visit to Il Cornicello we found some 20 selections, all titled in Italian, on a menu leaning heavily toward the chef’s pasta dishes.
“We take traditional dishes found all over Italy’s 20 idiosyncratic regions, and recreate them with a slight twist brimming with authenticity,” O’Brien said. “There are very few individuals, let alone restaurants, that are knowledgeable and hard-headed enough to create all pasta by hand. It’s a texture that cannot be replicated with large pasta-making machines that extrude pasta rather than kneading and shaping the dough by hand. Many people assume all pasta is made with double zero flour and eggs, but we introduce many types of flours, oftentimes just semolina and water. The texture is unlike any mass-produced pasta one can find,” he told us.
“I especially love the creativity of making different agnolotti del plin, a pinched ravioli, based on local and seasonal availability of produce and proteins. They are small bites of stuffed pasta that carry a decidedly bold flavor,” O’Brien said.
Il Cornicello seats 30 in an open dining room surrounding a horseshoe-shaped bar. Picturesque river views may be caught from tall windows on three sides. Waitstaff are eager to guide you through the menu and suggest wine pairings from an all-Italian list. Italian decorations and effects grace the interior, including overhead antique opal pendant lights, creating a relaxed atmosphere.
Reservations at Cornicello are a must, and the wait list typically extends for a month. The menu changes virtually every day with the exception of pasta bolognese, which is a signature dish and customer favorite, a waitress told us.
Wine bar with a notable kitchen
Vino e Vivo is the fourth of Exeter’s distinctive dining destinations that largely propel the town’s restaurant renaissance.
SUNDAY
Grilled Twin Pork Chops - $11.99
Served with Mashed Potatoes & Veg
MONDAY
Burger Night - $9
Hamburger or Cheeseburger includes lettuce & tomato, additional toppings extra
TUESDAY
Taco Tuesday & Ladies Night
$3 Tacos All Day - 8pm-Close 1/2 Price Drinks for the Gals
WEDNESDAY
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THURSDAY
Wing Night$11.99
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FRIDAY
Fish n Chips - $15.99
12oz Prime Rib - $26.99
SATURDAY
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Fine dining
Ambrose, 6 Front St., at the Inn by the Bandstand. Tapas and Salvadoran specialities. Named for Exeter’s notable native son and benefactor Ambrose Swasey. Menu changes very frequently. Small plates $6 to $15, larger dishes $20 to $30. Cozy, quiet dining room seats 24. Outdoor patio dining, weather permitting. Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m. Reservations recommended but not required. 603-7727673. innbythebandstand.com.
Epoch Gastropub, 90 Front St., at The Exeter Inn boutique hotel. Self-described “New American Cuisine” with main dishes like citrus swordfish, pan-roasted salmon, pork shank puttanesca, wild mushroom gnocchi. Appetizers $10 to $20, salads $16 to $19, sandwiches $20 to $28, entrees $25 to $40. Tuesday through Saturday dinner, 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday brunch, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Reservations available but not required. 603-772-5901. epochrestaurant.com.
Il Cornicello, 11 Water St. Scratchmade Italian cuisine favoring pasta dishes — some traditional, some creative. Menu changes very frequently. Wednesday through Saturday, 4:30 to 8 p.m. Reservations required. 603-580-4604. ilcornicello.com.
Otis Restaurant, 4 Front St., at The Inn by the Bandstand. Gourmet five-course tasting menu organized by flavor profiles. Thursday through Saturday with seatings at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Reservations strongly recommended (by telephone only). 603-580-1705. otisrestaurant.com.
Vino e Vivo, 163 Water St. Wine bar and fine dining restaurant with expansive wine selections, many available by the glass. Small plates $8 to $19. Entrees $32 to $38. Wines by the glass, $12 to $14. By the bottle, $40 and up. Tuesday through Thursday,
bandstand, the establishment is the brainchild of owner and wine director Tony Callendrello, an Exeter resident. A changing seasonal menu offers eight to 10 small plates, cheese and charcuterie boards, and at least three gourmet entrees.
Head chef Paul Callahan creates the menu and runs the kitchen, aided by sous chef Jon Parsons. Callahan is a New Hampshire native who grew up with fresh scratch-made food at home. He credits an Armenian uncle from his youth, who had a large garden and a cellar filled with its canned goods, for much of his approach to the culinary arts today.
Callahan grew from age 13 working in New England restaurant kitchens. His success is marked by chef positions at fine dining establishments like Boston chef Barbara Lynch’s The Butcher Shop, L’Espalier (the legendary Boston French restaurant,)
4 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m. Reservations strongly encouraged. 603-580-4268. vinoevivo.com.
Sawbelly Brewing, 156 Epping Road, about two miles from downtown. Menu may change weekly, going well beyond typical brew pub fare to include dishes like grilled octopus, cauliflower shawarma, brisket poutine, prime rib, chimichurri steak kebabs. Appetizers $8 to $18, entrees $14 to $30. Tuesday through Thursday, 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Reservations available. 603-583-5080. sawbellybrewing.com.
Street, 8 Clifford St. Self-described New American cuisine with a nod to street food outside our borders. Menu includes Asian appetizers, sandwiches from exotic to basic, gourmet salads, soups including pozole, rice bowls, Korean bibimbap. Appetizers $11 to $16, larger dishes $14 to $23. Tuesday through Saturday, lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday brunch 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Takeout available. 90 seats. 603-580-4148. streetfood360.com.
Lexie’s, 56 Lincoln St. Specialty burger restaurant with creative sandwich toppings, ice cream milkshakes, fries and onion rings. Plain beef, chicken or black bean burgers start at $7. Specialty burgers, fish tacos and fried fish sandwiches from $10 to $12. Open seven days, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Takeout available. 603-815-4181. peaceloveburgers.com.
The Thirsty Moose Tap House, 72 Portsmouth Ave. Pub grub complemented by some specialty entrees including prime rib served Thursday through Saturday. Appetizers from $10 to $15, salads from $8 to $14, burgers from $17 to $19, sandwiches from $13 to $21, pizza from $13.50 to $18.50 before added toppings. Chicken wings from $12.50 to $35. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 603-418-7632. thirstymoosetaphouse.com.
the Herb Lyceum in Groton (Mass.), No. 8 Kitchen & Spirits in Amesbury, and Newburyport’s BRINE and Ceia Kitchen + Bar.
Although the menu changes frequently at Vino e Vivo, recent entree choices included duck breast with guajillo mole, nettle agnolotti in allium cream, and seared scallops with garlic scape gremolata. Among eight small plates, choices included duck fat beignets, beets and grapefruit, scallop crudo, aged foie gras, and crispy octopus.
Although the kitchen gains lots of praise from reviewers who patronize the establishment, wine remains pivotal at Vino e Vivo, the focus of owner Tony Callendro’s vision of a sophisticated but approachable neighborhood meeting place. The dining room seats 24 in a cheerful, compact space with tables and bar. Additional outdoor dining is available on a riverside patio at tented tables. A two-person chef’s table is a pop-
Sea Dog Brewing Co., 5 Water St. A brew pub with some added culinary flair. All the usual pub-style selections plus pasta, seafood, lobster and specialty salads. Appetizers
$10 to $24, soups $9 to $22, salads $12 to $18, sandwiches $17 to $33, entrees $23 to $34. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 603-793-5116. seadogbrewing.com.
OTTO, 33 Water St. A pizzeria migrant originally from Portland, the Exeter OTTO franchise features full-service dining, outdoor patio seating and a full bar. Pizza is the star, with unusual toppings like mashed potatoes, cranberries, mangoes and butternut squash. Large pizzas from $18 to $25. Salads $7 to $9. Open seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. No reservations. Takeout. 603-8106886. ottoportland.com.
Laney & Lu Cafe, 26 Water St.. Casual, health-focused, organic menu. Dining indoors or outside on an umbrella patio. Menu features gourmet coffees, teas, smoothies and “transformational and wellness beverages,” warm bowls, salads, soups and sandwiches. Sandwiches $11. Salads, $13. Warm bowls, $15. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Takeout. 603-5804952. laneyandlu.com.
Las Olas Taqueria, 30 Portsmouth Ave. Hand-built fresh burritos, tacos, bowls, quesadillas, nachos from $9 to $11. Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Inside dining. Takeout. 603-418-8901. lasolastaqueria.com
Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant, 93 Portsmouth Ave. Wide-ranging selection of Mexican appetizers ($12 to $15) and entrees ($14 to $19). Spacious Mexican-themed dining rooms and full bar. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 p.m. to midnight. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. Takeout until 10 p.m. 603-772-2274. margs.com
ular reservation, currently booked through January. Reservations for any of the restaurant’s seats are highly recommended.
Callendrello says he selects well-priced quality wines, offering a frequently changing list of some 20 wines by the glass and more than 50 bottles. His wine club offers special tasting events and the opportunity to purchase wine that may be difficult to find in the Seacoast area. Apart from the wine club, you may purchase any of Vino e Vivo’s wines, fine spirits or craft beers for carryout.
Callendrello is a certified specialist in wine with a Level 3 certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. He also passed the introductory sommelier exam from the Court of Master Sommeliers, an English organization that promotes education and improved service by sommeliers worldwide.
New Pine Garden Chinese Restaurant, 85 Portsmouth Ave. American-Chinese dishes plus a special traditional Chinese menu. Sushi and sashimi. Entrees average $15. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday, noon to 9:30 p.m. No reservations. Takeout. 603-778-3779. newpinegarden.com.
Szechuan Taste, 42 Water St. American-Chinese cuisine from $11.50 to $27. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. All-you-can-eat buffet Sundays, noon to 3 p.m. Takeout and delivery. 603-7728888. szechuantasteexeter.com
Capital Thai Kitchen and Bar, 97 Water St. Popular Thai cuisine plus interesting street food selections like fried quail eggs, deep-fried marinated quail, and northern Thai sausage. Appetizers $8 to $12, salads $14 to $18, entrees $17 to $26. Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., Monday, 4 to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Takeout. 603-580-2921. capitalthaikitchenandbar.com.
Oba Noodle Bar, 69 Water St. Gourmet-quality modern Thai cuisine and ramen. Small plates, $8 to $11. Main dishes, $17 to $25. Lunch, Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 and dinner 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 4:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, noon to 9 p.m., and Sunday noon to 8 p.m. Takeout. 603-693-6264. obanoodlebar.com
Khaophums Fine Thai Restaurant, 1 Portsmouth Ave. Classic Thai dishes in a small dining room. Outdoor dining at picnic tables under umbrellas. Menu price information not available online at this time. Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday noon to 9 p.m., Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Takeout. 603-418-7380. khaphumsnh.com.
Harrison Ford breaks out the hat and the whip to take another whirl as the titular archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
It’s 1969 and Professor Henry “Indiana” Jones (Ford) is a full-blown “hey kids, turn that music down!” grump who is retiring from his job of teaching antiquities to bored young boomers at a New York City college. He lives in a city apartment alone — he and Marion have split up and the movie also sidelined their Shia LeBeouf son, basically undoing most of the 2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull stuff. On the day of his retirement, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) appears in his class. He doesn’t recognize her at first but she later reminds him that she is the daughter of his old friend Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) — and Indy’s long-estranged goddaughter.
In the movie’s opening scenes, we see Basil and Indy attempt to steal back some stolen antiquities from the Nazis in the waning days of World War II. Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) isn’t interested in the “lance that pierced Christ’s side,” the principal historical item the Nazis have been charged with finding. What he wants is Archimedes’ dial, an advanced mechanism designed by the Greek mathematician from the 200s BC. As we eventually learn, Voller and Shaw both theorize that the dial may have some time manipulation abilities.
Back in the present, Shaw the father has died and Helena is in search of the dial for the archaeology of it all, she tells Indy, but later we learn she’s actually a shady dealer in stolen antiquities.
Voller and a team that is a mix of his own goons and CIA agents are following Helena as he also looks for the dial. The U.S. government is essentially indulging Voller in this dial thing; he’s now a Wernher von Braun type for NASA ― help us get to the moon and we won’t be so picky about any activities during the war.
When Helena asks Indiana to help her with her desire to retrieve the dial, he turns her down, but a shootout and chase has him wanted for murder and worried about the trouble Helena has gotten herself into. As Helena begins her quest to sell the dial, Indiana follows her to Morocco, setting up some familiar chases through Middle Eastern streets, where Helena is being hunted both by a local mobster and by the Nazis. She gets help in her schemes from young teenager Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Helena’s, like, conman intern.
My vague memory is that I liked Kingdom of the Crystal Skull better than a lot of people did. It was the kind of “hey, childhood stuff,
fun!” we were just starting to get served up and I think the novelty of it plus the “OK time at the movies for the whole family” quality won me over.
I think Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is probably a better movie but now, after so much everything-old-is-new-again IP, less exciting. And yet, if Crystal Skull was the Star Wars prequels, Dial of Destiny is The Force Awakens. It doesn’t give you a brand new thing in the familiar universe; it basically gives you the original thing again, all the stuff you like and expect, right down the middle, no deviations, but with enough real skill to pull it off. We get Indy, a lady and a kid; multiple chases through exotic locales; the Nazis — Dial of Destiny plays all the hits. We get some fun cameos, some nice callbacks and scenes of Indy and Helena walking into an ancient cave that have a vaguely amusement park ride entrance feel. It’s all perfectly fine, very “Indiana Jones movie.” It also reminded me of that odd spot these franchises — your Indiana Jones and Star Wars — are in in that they are basically adventure movies for all ages (or, you know, a lot of ages; there are Nazis and guns and skeletons), not quite kids’ movies but also not not kids movies. You get the sense that the movie worked to add just enough violence to make it to PG-13 so that grown-ups unaccompanied by kids would still buy tickets.
Harrison Ford is also fine — perhaps he, like the movie itself, is not crackling with energy the way the first set of movies did way back in the 1980s. (I mean, most of us who can remember the 1980s probably aren’t crackling with energy either.) But he gets the job done and reminds you of why you like the character.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny doesn’t dim the luster of the series and is fun enough, even if it is longer and at times adds some unnecessary “hat on a hat” elements to its action. B
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp and James Mangold, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is distributed in theaters by Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures and is two hours and 34 minutes long.
For much of the past 50 years, most Americans died in a hospital. That was a change from the first part of the 20th century, when most people died at home. Since 2017, more people are dying at home again, in large part because of the expansion of hospice care.
Hospice provides in-home support for a dying person and their caregivers, administering pain medication to the patient and providing other services. A new memoir from a hospice nurse provides a surprisingly upbeat look into hospice care and what people can expect at the end of life.
Hadley Vlahos was a single mom in her early 20s when she became a registered nurse, and then began working in hospice. She looked so young that families sometimes mistook her for a nurse’s assistant (and in one funny case, a stripper), but her youthfulness was also an asset, as when a dying man decided his new purpose in life was teaching this young woman everything she didn’t know about sports and current events.
But the main thing that Vlahos learned from her patients is that there is a liminal state between being alive and being dead, a state she calls “the in-between.” Her memoir is built around a series of stories about what past patients experienced during this time, from seemingly interacting with longdead relatives to having a premonition about a future event.
She tells these stories matter-of-factly; there is no mysticism or religious proselytizing in the book; in fact, Vlahos was raised in a religious home, but turned away from her childhood faith after the death of a friend. And she doesn’t speculate on anything that happens after she pronounces the time of death of the patient aloud (which is part of her job). She is simply relating the “in-between” experiences of dying people, to which her work makes her a witness. And those experiences are, put simply, rather riveting.
There was, for example, Carl, a bed-ridden patient whom one day Vllahos found walking around his house with a flashlight, looking under furniture and behind curtains. When asked what he was doing, he said that he was playing hide-and-seek with Anna, his 2-year-old daughter who had drowned
Literature
Author events
• PAUL TREMBLAY & JOE HILL, bestselling horror authors, will be in conversation at Water Street Bookstore (125 Water St., Exeter, 778-9731, waterstreetbooks.com) on Saturday, July 15, at 6 p.m.
decades before. Vlahos, who had been trained to “meet patients where they are,” accepted this calmly.
“But where was Carl?” she wondered. “It seemed as if he was in two places at once. Physically, he was in the room with Mary and me; emotionally and mentally, he seemed very much to be somewhere else, with Anna.” Carl also said to Vlahos that he’d had a conversation with his mother. He seemed otherwise rational and consented to go back to bed.
Consulting with a physician, Vlahos learned it wasn’t unusual for dying people to have a spurt of physical energy, similar to the flash of cognition called terminal lucidity that sometimes occurs shortly before death. The phenomenon that caused Carl to get out of bed is called “the surge” by medical professionals, and it often fools family members into thinking their loved one is recovering, when actually it’s a sign that they will likely die within a few days. And indeed, Carl went downhill the next day.
This is the sort of practical information that is useful for any family considering hospice, especially since so many of us have been far removed from the physical processes of death as it was relegated to hospitals and nursing homes. But the book is also surprisingly hopeful, given that it involves the last day of the terminally ill, some of whom are dying in what should have been their prime.
There is, for example, the story of Elizabeth, a 40-year-old woman who is dying of lung cancer despite having never smoked and having no family history, and Reggie, the 58-year-old who is dying from advanced liver disease brought on by alcoholism. (Reggie’s story has additional poignancy from the reaction of his devoted dog to his death.) Elizabeth is a beautiful woman who had clearly been athletic before she got sick; in one of her conversations with Vlahos, she tells her that she regrets she had spent so much of her life working on a treadmill and confides that she avoided being with friends on her birthday because she didn’t want to eat cake. “I wish I’d just eaten the damn cake,” Elizabeth said.
• COLSON WHITEHEAD will discuss his latest novel, Crook Manifesto, at The Music Hall Historic Theater (28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth; 436-2400, themusichall.org) on Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5 plus fees and the required purchase of a $30 book voucher per one or two tickets.
Vlahos, who has struggled with disordered eating because of something her father said in her childhood, takes Elizabeth’s advice to heart. In fact it is because of the wisdom that so many of these patients impart in their final day that she sincerely enjoys her work, despite the reaction she gets from others when they learn what she does. (That revulsion clearly doesn’t carry over to the general public; she has more than a million followers on TikTok and Instagram, where she goes by NurseHadley.)
The work takes Vlahos everywhere from elegant homes in beach communities to a homeless camp, and she interperses the stories of her patients with the timeline of her own life — growing up with a father who appears to have been emotionally abusive, having a child out of wedlock at age 20, finding love with a physical therapist and navigating the terminal illness of her new mother-in-law.
While her writing is best described as workmanlike — there are no soaring passages of prose — the book is memorable for the stories and the remarkable pattern of dying people reporting conversations with loved ones (who sometimes tell them — accurately, as it turns out — when they are going to pass). These experiences take place whether people are religious or staunch atheists. These are usually people on morphine, of course, and the experiences can easily be written off hallucinations or delusions caused by the medicine or the body gradually shutting down. And most of us know of the dying experiences of people who didn’t experience anything quite so dreamy.
While Vlahos (very carefully) does seem to eventually side with those who believe in an afterlife, she clearly is open to any thing as an explanation for what she has witnessed. “I don’t think we can explain everything that happens here on Earth, much less after we physically leave our bodies,” she writes. The observations of the living can neither predict or confirm the experience of the dead, but this memoir offers hope that dying may not be as terri fying as many people think — at least not with hospice care.
• SY MONTGOMERY & MATT PATTERSON will talk about their new nonfiction picture book, The Book of Turtles, at Water Street Bookstore (125 Water St., Exeter, 778-9731, waterstreetbooks.com) on Saturday, July 22, at 11 a.m.
• CHUCK COLLINS will discuss his new novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun, at Water Street Bookstore
(125 Water St., Exeter, 778-9731, waterstreetbooks.com) on Tues day, July 25, at 7 p.m.
• RICHARD RUSSO will discuss his novel Somebody’s Fool at The Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth; 436-2400, themusichall.org) on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $46 and include a signed book.
Charry, an India native and New Hampshire resident, published the novel — her first U.S. release — in May 2023.
What brought you to the United States, and more specifically, New Hampshire?
I came as a graduate student and then I finished my Ph.D. at Syracuse and I got a teaching job at Keene State College in Keene. I’ve lived in Keene almost 18 years now.
How did your journey begin as a novelist?
I’ve always written fiction on the side and I did publish some books in India and in the U.K. … but The East Indian is really the first novel that was published in the United States. I came across a reference to the first person of Indian descent to come to colonial America. I was very moved and inspired … and decided to write a novel based on that.
What is The East Indian about?
It’s a fictionalized account of this person. The historical record indicates that [he] came to Virginia in 1635 and seems to have been brought over by an English settler. The Indian’s name is listed as Toni Easton. Really nothing much beyond that is known about him. What I do in the novel is I sort of imagine what his journey might have been like. What I try to do is talk about the struggles and the triumphs that this young man might have been through. I wanted to write a coming of age story, but it’s not just any coming of age story because … [it] happens in the context of this huge movement that he’s made across the world. I also wanted to write an adventure story because surely this must have been an adventurous life, so it’s a little bit of both is how I approached the novel.
What was the writing and the research process like?
The research process really took up a lot of time because I do take that part of it very seriously. I got my doctorate in
Shakespeare so I know quite a bit about the 1600s in England … but I didn’t really know much about Virginia in the 1600s, so I really had to do a lot of research, and of course I had to make sure there really was an East Indian. Once I had all that it really inspired me to sit down and I wrote the novel. And of course when you’re writing a novel you’re not being a historian even if you’re writing historical fiction … but you let the research form your characters and the plot.
Where did you draw inspiration from to create this character and his life experiences?
I don’t know if I drew from anything in particular. It’s not quite clear whether the Indians who came here in the 1600s were slaves or indentured workers. For the novel I decided to make him an indentured laborer. Some of the inspiration came from reading about the experience of these young people. As a writer, what you try to do is put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and I tried to imagine what life must have been like in what is such a completely new scenario.
What about this story do you think will resonate with readers today?
It is a story of a lot of loss because this is someone who has left a lot behind and it’s not like he was voluntarily brought over, but I hope in addition to the loss and the tragedy of this person’s life, I want people to take away the sense of hope and survival … because I think in even the darkest of places people do find hope, and ultimately I did want to write a story of someone who survives and makes it.
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140554
t hursday, July 13
Exeter
Swasey Parkway: Marcy Drive Band, 6 p.m.
Hampton
Bernie’s: Adam Luffkin, 7 p.m.; King Kyote, 8 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.
CR’s: Rico Barr Duo, 6 p.m.
L Street: live music, 4:30 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Paul Lussier, 1 p.m.; Lewis Goodwin, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Nashville Line Dance, 6 p.m.; Alec MacGillivray, 7 p.m.; Chris Janson, 7:30 p.m.
Smuttynose: Johnny Friday Duo, 6:30 p.m.
Wally’s: Sheldon Benton, 2 p.m.; Reverend Horton Heat, 7 p.m.
Whym: music bingo, 6 p.m.
Portsmouth
Cisco Brewers: The Leafy Greens, 4 p.m.
Gas Light: Chris powers, 2 p.m.; Dana Brearley Duo, 7 p.m.
The Goat: Isaiah Bennett, 9 p.m.
Seabrook
Backyard Burgers: Jennifer Mitchell, 6 p.m.
Red’s: Chris Lester, 8 p.m.
friday, July 14
Exeter
Shooters: Tim Theriault, 6 p.m.
Hampton
Bernie’s: Sheldon Benton, 8 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.
CR’s: Greg DeCoteau, 6 p.m.
L Street: live music, 8 p.m.
McGuirk’s: Kieran McNally, 1 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Clint Lapointe, 1 p.m.; Ray Zerke, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Groove Alliance, 7 p.m.
Smuttynose: Mica’s Groove Train, 6:30 p.m.
Wally’s: Chris Toler, 3 p.m.; Scott Brown & The Diplomats, 9 p.m.
Whym: Mark Lapointe, 6:30 p.m.
Portsmouth
Cisco Brewers: Harper & Midwest Kind, 4 p.m.
Gas Light: Johnny Friday, 2 p.m.; Dave Ayotte, 7 p.m.;
Krystian Beal, 9:30 p.m.
The Goat: Chris Toler, 9 p.m.
Mojo’s: live music, 7 p.m
Seabrook
Chop Shop: live music, 6:30 p.m.
Red’s: Jumpstreet, 9 p.m.
Saturday, July 15
Exeter
Sea Dog: Team Independence Jam, 11 a.m.
Shooters: Todd Hearon & Friends, 6 p.m.
Swasey Parkway: Chad Verbeck, 6 p.m.
Hampton
Bernie’s: MB Padfield, 1
p.m.; Pop Daddy, 8 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.
L Street: live music, 3:30 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Ryan Williamson, 1 p.m.; Ralph Allen, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: The Midtown Horns, 7 p.m.
Smuttynose: ODB Project, 1 p.m.
Wally’s: Russ Six, 3 p.m. Whym: Tom Rousseau, 6:30 p.m.
Portsmouth
Cisco Brewers: Harper & Midwest Kind, noon
Gas Light Pub: Dave Clark, 2 p.m.; Radio Daze, 7 p.m.; Matt Langley, 9:30 p.m.
The Goat: Mike Forgette, 9 p.m.
Summer in the Street: Eleanor Ivy, 5:30 p.m.
Seabrook
Chop Shop: live music
Red’s: The Dudes, 9 p.m.
Sunday, July 16
Hampton
Bernie’s: Pop 2000s Tour, 7 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m
Community Oven: Nicole Knox Murphy, 5 p.m. L Street: live music 3:30 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Ray Zerkle, 1 p.m.; Sam Hammerman, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Public Water Supply, 7 p.m.
Smuttynose: Jordan & Clint, 1 p.m.; Dan Walker Band, 5:30 p.m.
Wally’s: MB Padfield, 2 p.m.
Whym: live music, 1 p.m.
Portsmouth
Cisco: Bonus Cat, noon
Gas Light: Doug Thompson, 2 p.m.; Dancing Madly Backwards, 6 p.m.
The Goat: Rob Pagnano, 9 p.m.
Seabrook
Beach Deck: Chris Michaels, 4 p.m.
Red’s: Zachary Newbould, 8 p.m.
Monday, July 17
Hampton
Bernie’s: Dillan Welch, 7 p.m.; Jimmy macWilliams, 7 p.m.
L Street: live music, 4 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Alex Roy, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Souled Out Show Band, 7 p.m.
Wally’s: Turner Harrison, 2 p.m.
Portsmouth
Gas Light: Chris Perkins, 2 p.m.; Tim Theriault, 7:30 p.m.
tuesday, July 18
Hampton
Bernie’s: Turner Harrioson, 7 p.m.; Mike Francis, 7 p.m.
L Street: live music, 4 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Clint Lapointe, 1 p.m.; Mike Mazola, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: The Apathetics, 7 p.m.
Shane’s: music bingo, 7 p.m.
Wally’s: Mike Forgette, 3 p.m.; musical bingo, 7 p.m.
Portsmouth Gas Light: Johnny Angel, 2 p.m.; Lewis Goodwin, 7:30 p.m.
The Goat: Isaiah Bennett, 9 p.m.
Seabrook
Backyard Burgers: music bingo with Jennifer Mitchell, 7 p.m.
Red’s: Steve Dennis, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 19
Hampton
Bernie’s: Luffkid Trio, 7 p.m.; Chris Toler, 7 p.m.
Bogie’s: open mic, 7 p.m.
L Street: live music, 4:30 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Ralph Allen, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Fighting Friday, 7 p.m.
Wally’s: Jonny Friday Duo, 3 p.m.; live band karaoke, 8 p.m.
Portsmouth
Gas Light: Casey Roop, 2 p.m.; Dave Clark, 7:30 p.m.
The Goat: Alex Anthony, 9 p.m.
Press Room: open mic, 5:30 p.m.
Seabrook
Chop Shop: DJ Manny awesome DJ event, 7:30 p.m.
Red’s: Ryan Fitzsimmons, 8 p.m.
thursday, July 20
Exeter
Swasey Parkway: Wheel of Awesome, 6 p.m.
Hampton
Bernie’s: Adam Luffkin, 7 p.m.; Dry Reef, 8 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.
CR’s: Steve Sibulkin, 6 p.m.
L Street: live music, 4:30 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Paul Lussier, 1 p.m.; Lewis Goodwin, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Nashville Line Dance 6 p.m.; Caroline Gray, 7 p.m.
Smuttynose: Another Shot, 6:30 p.m.
Whym: music bingo, 6 p.m.
Portsmouth Gas Light: Peter PAPPAS, 2 P.M.; Dapper Gents Duo, 7 p.m.
The Goat: Isaiah Bennett, 9
Seabrook
Backyard Burgers: Jennifer Mitchell, 6 p.m.
Red’s: Mockinbirds, 8 p.m.
friday, July 21
Exeter
Shooters: Feverslip featuring Sam Vlasich, 6 p.m.
Hampton
Bernie’s: The Far, 8 p.m.
Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.
CR’s: Steve Sibulkin, 6 p.m.
L Street: live music, 8 p.m.
Sea Ketch: Dave Clark, 1 p.m.; Ray Zerkle, 8:30 p.m.
Sea Shell: Maddi Ryan, 7 p.m.
Smuttynose: The Conniption
Fits, 6:30 p.m.
Wally’s: Chris Toler, 3 p.m.; Diezel, 9 p.m.
Whym: Matt Langley, 6:30 p.m.
Portsmouth
Cisco: Clandestine, 4 p.m.
Gas Light: Paul Warnick, 2 p.m.; Blue Matter, 7 p.m.; Krystian Beal, 9:30 p.m.
The Goat: Chris Toler, 9 p.m.
Mojo’s: live music, 7 p.m.
Seabrook
Chop Shop: live music, 6:30 p.m.
Red’s: DNA Acoustic, 9 p.m.
• Matthew Whitaker Saturday, July 22, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• The Garcia Project Saturday, July 22, 8 p.m., Rochester Opera House
• Dustbowl Revival Sunday, July 23, 4 p.m. & 7 p.m., Word Barn
• Once an Outlaw Sunday, July
23, 7:30 p.m., Music Hall
• Eliza Neal Sunday, July 23, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Social Distortion Tuesday, July
25, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Nicotine Dolls Wednesday, July
26, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Jose James Thursday, July 27, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Lola Kirke Thursday, July 27, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• Kirk Fletcher Band Friday, July 28, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Kendall Street Company Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., Press Room
• Abrielle Scharff Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., 3S Artspace
• Beginnings: A Celebration of the Music of Chicago Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., Rochester Opera House
• Chad Hollister Trio Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., Music Hall
Lounge
• The Fab Four Ultimate Tribute Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Goldenoak/The Wolff Sisters
Saturday, July 29, 6 p.m., Stone Church
• Rock My Soul Saturday, July 29, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• The Jerritones & Friends Saturday, July 29, 7 p.m., The Strand
• Draw The Line: An Aerosmith Tribute Saturday, July 29, 8 p.m., Rochester Opera House
• Dark Desert Eagles (Eagles tribute) Saturday, July 29, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Herb Alpert & Lani Hall Sunday, July 30, 7 p.m., Music Hall
• Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra Sunday, July 30, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Rainbow Girls Tuesday, Aug. 1, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• Gabe Stillman Wednesday,
Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• The Beach Boys Wednesday, Aug. 2, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Darlingside Thursday, Aug. 3, 5 & 8 p.m., Word Barn
• Walk That Walk Thursday,
Aug. 3, 8 p.m., Press Room
• Lucy Kaplansky Friday, Aug. 4, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• Kimayo Friday, Aug. 4, 7 p.m.,
3S Artspace
• Marc McElroy/Seth Warner & the Seldom Playwrights Present Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Friday, Aug. 4, 7 p.m., Press Room
Taconic Barrel Strength
Bourbon Item 4934
Rated 92.5 in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible - Taconic Distillery’s Barrel Strength
Straight Bourbon has a beautiful bouquet of spice and honey with gentle notes of vanilla coming out to provide for a smooth finish. Aged a minimum of 5 years at 115 proof.
On Sale for $57.99
Swear Jar Maple Whiskey
Item 7771
This exceptionally smooth whiskey has wonderful notes of vanilla, oak and honey, creating a crisp yet sweet nose. Sweet and crisp floral fragrances with notes of vanilla and oak. Hint of honey, warm vanilla and spicy oak with an exceptionally 100% single malt smooth finish.
On Sale for $19.99
• Blues Beatles Friday, Aug. 4, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Erick Baker Friday, Aug. 4, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Catherine Russell Saturday, Aug. 5, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Todd Hearon & Old Hat Stringband Saturday, Aug. 5, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Saturday, Aug. 5, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• The Huntertones Sunday, Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Scotty McCreery Sunday, Aug. 6, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Margo Price Monday, Aug. 7, 7:30 p.m., Music Hall
• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Tuesday, Aug. 8, and Wednesday, Aug. 9, 8 p.m., Music Hall
• Melissa Etheridge Wednesday, Aug. 9, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Legion of Skanks Thursday, Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Cindy Blackman Santana
Thursday, Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Joan Osborne Friday, Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Styx Friday, Aug, 11, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• The Reverend Payton’s Big Damn Band Aug. 15, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Nikki Hill Band Wednesday, Aug. 16, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Joe Pug Thursday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m., Word Barn
• Sam Robbins & Jesse Terry Thursday, Aug. 17, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• George Thorogood and the Destroyers Thursday, Sept. 7, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• The Soul Rebels Friday, Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Guy Davis Friday, Sept. 8, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Lucy Kaplansky Saturday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m., Music Hall Lounge
• Southern Avenue Sunday, Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• The Samples Thursday, Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• PROGJECT: The Ultimate Prog Rock Musical Experience Thursday, Sept. 14, 8 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Killer Queen Tuesday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m., Music Hall
• Pam Tillis Thursday, Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• John Primer Wednesday, Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Ana Popovic Thursday, Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Beth Hart Thursday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Ben Harper Wednesday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom
• Harper and Midwest Kind Friday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• The Weight Band (The Band tribute) Friday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Nicole Zuraitis Friday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• The Brubeck Brothers Saturday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s
• Natalie McMaster & Donnell
Leahy Friday, Nov. 3, 8 p.m., Music Hall
Comedy Venues
Casino Ballroom 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach, 929-4100, casinoballroom.com
The Community Oven 845 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 601-6311, thecommunityoven. com
The Music Hall Lounge 131 Congress St., Portsmouth, 436-2400, themusichall.org
Press Room 77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 4315186, pressroomnh.com
Rochester Opera House 31 Wakefield St., Rochester, 3351992, rochesteroperahouse.com
Stone Church 5 Granite St., Newmarket, 6597700, stonechurchrocks.com
• Kathleen Madigan Casino Ballroom, Saturday, July 22, 8 p.m.
• Gabe Mollica Music Hall
Lounge, Saturday, July 22, 8:30 p.m.
• Robert Kelly Music Hall Lounge, Thursday, July 27, 8:30 p.m.
• Jimmy Tingle Music Hall Lounge, Saturday, July 29, 6 & 8:30 p.m.
• Tom Papa Casino Ballroom, Friday, Aug. 4, 7:30 p.m.
• Cindy Foster Press Room, Saturday, Aug. 5, 7 p.m.
• Hampton Beach Comedy Festival from Scamps Comedy Production McGuirk’s, Wednesday, Aug. 16, through Sunday, Aug. 20, 8 p.m.
• Jen Kober Music Hall Lounge, Sunday, Aug. 26, 8 p.m.
• Pinky Patel Music Hall, Thursday, Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m.
• Bassem Youssef Music Hall Lounge Friday, Sept. 29, 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 30, 6 p.m., and 9 p.m.
• Michael Carbonaro Music Hall Lounge, Friday, Oct. 6, 7 p.m.
• Howie Mandel Music Hall, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Cask&Crew Walnut Toffee Whiskey Item 8083
With our Walnut Toffee Whiskey and its layers of caramel, vanilla, and honey plus bitter notes of nutty walnut, other whiskeys can only dream of tasting so sweet. It all makes for the perfect drink to sip while winding down after a long week or kicking off a great night with your crew.
On Sale for $21.99
Walrus Blood Rye Whiskey
Item 2697
Walrus Blood is an American Rye Whiskey uniquely bottled with a pair of Hungarian oak cubes which have been charred and then soaked in port wine for six months. In the bottle, the charcoal and wine from the cubes imparts flavor, darkening, and complexity to the whiskey.
On Sale for $37.99
Great whiskey enjoyed with great friends is the best recipe for connection. By giving our Straight Rye Whiskey a second dose of new, charred, oak barrel, we allow for a genuine connection between cask and whiskey—and between you and your crew.
On Sale for $29.99
Unaged and clean with intense aromas of fresh agave. Vibrant with lemon peel, black pepper, and minerals. Smooth as silk, with a slight sweet kick on a lengthy finish, which is so easy it’s criminal.
“96 Points” Tasting Panel Magazine. On Sale for $46.99
Distilled and bottled in Columbia, Tennessee. Finished in New American Oak barrels for a minimum of 4 years using a No. 4 Char inside the barrels. Mash Bill 80% of locally grown No 2 Dent Corn, 10% Rye, 10% Malted Barley.
On Sale for $27.99
A tequila with character and tradition which reminds us of its origin, capturing a robust flavor of slightly toasted oak and fresh agave.
On Sale for $47.99
Dear Car Talk: I have an Emily Post question that falls into the category of appropriate customer behavior when visiting your mechanic’s place of business. I’ve been going to this particular shop around where I live for several years and have given them quite a lot of business because I drive a very old car that I have been rehabilitating part by part.
By Ray MagliozziI had committed a mortal sin, so I closed the hood and apologized to him and to his crew, who eventually did fix the car (crankshaft pulley) on another day. Did I commit a major faux pas? And did I miss a lesson in garage etiquette in all my years of driving? — Tom
eye contact with every mechanic, waiting for people to drop what they’re doing and provide immediate service. That’s a faux pas. But that doesn’t sound like you.
The day after an expensive set of belt and pulley related repairs recently, I noticed there was still a squeaking noise coming from the area. Since I needed to drive over to the shop anyway because I left my credit card there the day before, I parked the car out front and opened the hood as a courtesy to whomever might come out to listen to the noise it was making. I was not expecting an immediate repair, but I did want to know if the vehicle was unsafe to drive.
In less than a minute, the manager of the shop comes running out and says, “If you want to royally tick off my guys working the bays, drive in and open your hood as you just did.” He was polite about it, but nonetheless did a really good job of making me feel like
I think the manager of the shop was having a bad day, Tom. He may have overbooked the shop, had two guys call out sick with hemorrhoidal flare-ups, dropped a car off the lift, and taken a sip of transmission fluid instead of orange soda with his burrito at lunch. A manager not having a bad day (or with better people skills), would have said, “Hi Tom, we’re pretty slammed today, are you able to wait a while, or make an appointment and come back?” You sound like a considerate guy, Tom. I mean, you even left your credit card there. That’s a sure sign of goodwill. They could have outfitted the shop with an array of wide-screen TVs on your dime. So, I think the manager overreacted.
To be fair, I’ve had customers who are not considerate. And sometimes it’s a matter of body language. I’ve had the rare customer drive right onto the shop floor, open the hood and stand there with hands on hips, making
My hope is that the manager of the shop regrets his overreaction. But now that you know this guy is particularly sensitive, leave the hood closed and end every sentence with “if it may please you, my liege.”
I recently purchased a 2013 Toyota RAV4 LE. After a few days of in-town driving, it began to make a high-pitched whining sound from the back end -- definitely not coming from inside the car. It doesn’t happen reliably, though when it does, it tends to begin after I’ve been on the road for 20 minutes or so. When I brake, the noise stops, then begins again when I let off the brake. Hitting a pothole once also made it stop mid-whine.
Another thing I noticed is that the sound doesn’t happen when the roads are wet, though this could be just coincidence. It’s anybody’s guess when it may happen, which has made it hard to convince my mechanic that it’s happening at all!
I’m hoping you, in all your wisdom, can tell me what it is. Thank you! — Charmon
It sounds like you may have a sticky brake caliper, Charmon. When you step on the brake pedal, the caliper squeezes the brake pads around the brake rotor — slowing the wheel.
If the caliper is old and sticky, though, it may not release quickly, or completely. So even though you’d taken your foot off the brake pedal, the pads may still be touching the rotor a little bit. And when the pads are just barely touching the rotor, they tend to vibrate, and that’s the noise.
If you move them one way or the other — either press the pads harder against the rotor, or move them fully away, the noise will stop. That’s why stepping on the brakes brings a temporary quiet. When you hit the pothole, it probably jolted the caliper to release the pads. And when it’s raining, the water acts like a lubricant and prevents the pads from vibrating and making noise.
So, it all makes sense, Charmon. Ask your mechanic to check both rear calipers. I think at least one is sticking and needs to be cleaned and greased. And get it done before it binds up completely and chews up your pads and rotor, too.
Falls, NH 03844 ∙ (603) 601 2554 www.route1antiques.com
All quotes are from Believe It: How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable, by Jamie Kern Lima, born July 16, 1977.
Cancer (June 21 – July 22) I’ve been CEO of a billion-dollar company, and I’m a mom. Being a mom is harder. We will not be taking questions at this time.
Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) Next time you have a win or something great happens to you, whether it’s big or small, share it and celebrate it with others. High five!
Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) One of the best things I’ve ever done is build a toolbox of things I can pull from when I get knocked down. … It’s an imaginary toolbox, but it’s filled with real-life stories and messages…. And cookies.
Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22) Wherever you may be stuck right now, that doesn’t indicate where you’re going in the future. Boring meetings don’t actually last forever.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) Just because the box artwork might look good zoomed in on a computer doesn’t mean customers will be able to read it when they’re walking by and see it on a store shelf from six feet away. Think bigger.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21) They might call you unqualified today, but one day they’ll tell people how they know you. And you will resist the urge to say, ‘Who?’
Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19) We don’t have to accept the labels that other people put on us. … We’re not a nickname someone gave us, or a regrettable incident we miscalculated. Nope, we’re not.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) Have you ever anticipated an exciting event … and instead of feeling excitement and joy, felt … genuine persistent stress about whether the clothes you planned to wear, or bought to wear, would fit? Then when you tried them on, you got so upset you didn’t even want to go? Make time for wardrobe angst.
Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20) Share, but focus on the areas where you best connect. If you can find them.
Aries (March 21 – April 19) It’s human nature — when other people want something, it makes us want it more. Tell them what you want, what you really really want.
Taurus (April 20 – May 20) I realized that morning, in the long line for coffee, that I felt a bit disconnected…. I mean, how often do we go through the coffee line on autopilot, not even making eye contact with anyone else, not because we don’t want to but because we’re numb or busy or distracted? It’s a long line…. Gemini (May 21 – June 20) It’s so empowering when you master the art of deciding who to turn up or turn down the volume on. Even if you haven’t mastered it, you can keep working on it.
But it wasn’t his job. Still, Beirut Report journalist Habib Battah got his hands dirty on a recent flight from Paris to Toronto, Canoe reported. “An hour into the transatlantic flight ... I kept smelling something gross and couldn’t figure it out,” Battah wrote on Twitter. While investigating, he discovered a large, “wet to touch” stain on the floor around his seat. The strap of his backpack, which was under the seat, was soaked in it, and a flight attendant only gave him some wipes to clean it up before “casually (noting) a passenger had hemorrhaged on a flight before ours,” Battah said. He said the Air France staff were shocked because a crew had removed the seats after the previous flight’s incident, but apparently hadn’t cleaned the bloody carpet. “This is not a customer service issue -- it’s a BIOHAZARD,” Battah wrote. “There is fresh human blood on your aircraft.”
The Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Croydon, Australia, a private girls’ school, recently had egg on its face after drone footage captured the suggestive shape of a new garden bed on the campus, The Sydney Morning
Herald reported on July 5. The garden was designed by an architectural firm; a school staff member said that as they considered chairs for the garden, they “sent a drone up to take pictures. At a certain angle from up high, the garden ... took on a phallic shape which was unintended and unexpected. As a result, the architects made some alterations which were completed within 72 hours of the drone pictures.” One unidentified former student said, “The immediate response was laughter ... Photos have been circulating among the school as memes, saying ‘oh good morning’ and various kinds of jokes.”
On July 2, as an American Airlines flight prepared to depart Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one passenger had a massive change of heart about her trip, The Dallas Morning News reported. The woman rose from her seat and headed to the front of the plane, yelling and pointing toward the back, “I’m telling you, I’m getting (expletive) off, and there’s a reason why I’m getting (expletive) off, and everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it. ... That (expletive) back there is NOT real. And you can
sit on this plane and you can die with him or not. I’m not going to.” The TikTok user who posted a video said the outburst delayed the flight by three hours, as passengers were forced to deplane and reboard; the woman was not arrested and, in fact, got back through security. American said the passenger was “met at the gate by law enforcement and removed from the flight.”
Chandler, Arizona, taxidermist
Rachel Lewis, 38, has found her niche in the world of preserving dead animals: She makes piggy banks out of stillborn piglets. Metro News reported that Lewis, a former hairdresser, took a taxidermy class four years ago and just came up with the piggy bank idea in May. “Most of my specimens I get from local farms around me,” Lewis said. “I feel like they get to live a second life ... it’s kinda cool.” She called her process “labor-intensive,” involving hollowing out the insides and adding a pork ... er, cork plug. “I have a larger pig that I plan on doing as a piggy bank, too,” she said. She also hopes to make objects with jewelry boxes and “secret stash” compartments.
Michael Banks, 36, told Brevard County (Florida) sheriff’s deputies that he decided to go “car surfing” after he left a Home Depot store on July 5 in Merritt Island, Click Orlando reported. Banks allegedly climbed on top of a van, then jumped from it onto a Nissan truck, an SUV, a Jeep, another SUV and a sedan, causing damage to each vehicle in the neighborhood of $1,000. He faces two counts of criminal mischief and was held at the county jail.
Alef Aeronautics has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the startup’s flying car, the Model A, to fly for purposes including research, development and exhibition, United Press International reported. The California company calls its invention a vehicle takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOL, which can drive and park like a normal car. While it is not certified (yet) for public road travel, the company says the FAA’s OK will place it closer to “bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute ... This is one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,” said CEO Jim Dukhovny.
27. Amounts owed
31. New Jersey players
35. Regatta racer’s implement
36. Le ___ (French seaport)
37. Decked out
38. “That sound! Is it a giant keyring?”
41. From ___ (effective immediately)
42. Baryshnikov’s company, once
43. Suffix for Nepal
44. Mumford’s backup?
45. Mombasa’s country
46. “Bullet Train” star Pitt
47. “Shameless” network, for short
49. Actress Vardalos
51. Either of my kids, compared to me?
58. Insults, when thrown
59. Obvious sticking point?
Across
1. Brooks who turned 97 this year
4. Planktonic crustaceans
9. Political Pelosi
14. Eggy start
15. Capital of Vietnam
16. “___ a couple seconds ...”
17. Source of coincidental thoughts
19. Manicurist’s expertise
20. Driver’s permit that’s only for the First Lady?
22. Have a sample of
23. Faux ___ (misstep)
24. Copy mistake
61. Monty Python member Michael
62. “Buenos Aires” musical
63. Matchbox Twenty’s Thomas
64. Concert venue
65. Spouts off without reason
66. Old-school icons, slangily
1. Actress Gretchen of “Boardwalk Empire”
2. Satan’s specialty
3. “The Avengers” villain
4. Cambodian language
5. Save point?
6. Wayside taverns
7. Big deposit
8. Rolling Stone article, often
9. Stealthy sort
10. “Henry and June” diarist
11. Part of NdGT
12. Biology class unit
13. Gridiron stat
18. Hi-C ___ Cooler (“Ghostbusters”-inspired drink)
21. “Call of Duty: Black ___”
24. Commuter train stops
25. Owner of Tumblr (until 2018)
26. Jumbo shrimp
28. Bring up memories of
29. Boston hockey player
30. Discworld creator Pratchett
32. Lawn tool
33. Second-largest city in Oklahoma
34. Go too fast
36. QVC rival (and corporate sibling)
37. “Captain Underpants” creator Pilkey
39. Included
40. “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” singer
45. “Kitchy-kitchy-___!”
46. ___ mi (sandwich on French bread)
48. “Laughing” animal
50. Small amounts
51. “ ___ she blows!”
