EDITOR’S NOTE
November Songs Tom Waits, no ray of sunlight, wrote and sang of November: “November’s cold chain / Made of wet boots and rain / And shiny black ravens / On chimney smoke lanes / November seems odd / You’re my firing squad.”
of New Hampshire
Win this HC1 camper from Happier Camper! It's a super-cute, totally customizable, travel trailer perfect for when you're craving outdoor adventure! Retro-modern at heart with ground-breaking flexibility in an ultra-light package. Grand prize is the starter package plus some additional modules valued at $33,450. 1,000 TICKETS SOLD AT $100 EACH ON SALE UNTIL NOVEMBER 19TH
$20,000 OPTIONAL CASH PRIZE!
2nd Prize
3rd Prize
Snow Blower donated by Trimmer's Landscaping
Apple Watch customized by winner up to $799 value.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
DETAILS & TICKETS https://bit.ly/ginh camperraffle 603.882.6256 WWW.GIRLSINCNEWHAMPSHIRE.ORG
4
nhmagazine.com | November 2021
T
born-and-raised Tom Rush, introducing hat may seem like a bit of a downer music lovers to the fragile but immortal for a musical ode to the month, but lyrics of Joni Mitchell on his seminal 1968 as someone who edits a magazine album “The Circle Game.” When Rush filled with colorful images and engaging sings, in a voice that rocks and creaks like a events, I can attest that this isn’t an easy snow-draped white pine branch, “Now the month to package and sell. warriors of winter they give a cold triumIn many ways, that’s the charm of phant shout / All that stays is dying, all that November. The very heart and hearth of the lives is getting out ...” you know exactly what month is Thanksgiving, which stimulates month this story of love and change is set the travel economy — with folks streaming within for Mitchell’s “Urge for Going.” back to hometowns and family — and boosts Two musical artists who understood the grocery stores and farmers markets for a the seasons of the Granite State better than spell. But for the most part it’s a holiday, and most were the Shaw Brothers, Rick and Ron. a month, with little commercialization. They were folk artists of great stature in I guess that’s why I love it. It’s a month their own right, and they ultimately settled that no one really wants, a kind of temporal into the role as musical ambassadors for insulator between the opposing (but weirdly New Hampshire among other gigs as senior harmonious) feasts of Halloween and Christstatesmen of folk music. mas — the former a celebration of death and The Informer department this month the latter a celebration of a certain birth. is devoted to a new and enduring facet of As a state, a country and a world, we’ve the deep legacy of music and storytelling been preoccupied with death for quite a that the Shaw Brothers left us when Rick while now, calculating the risks of every Shaw passed away early this year. And while interaction and treating gestures of kindthe Shaws didn’t write any original songs ness, like an outstretched hand or a hug, about the month of November, the spirit of with suspicion. We all believe that a rebirth is the month was captured perfectly in their right around the corner, but which corner is rendition of Michael Peter Smith’s classic, the question. Christmas and the promise of “The Dutchman.” It’s a heartbreakingly sweet a brand new year is the answer to that quansong about dementia, of all things, that is dary. Every October has its December, we also an astounding tribute to the power of just have to make it through November. love. To those who know the song, the lyrics, And music, for all its rhythmic and “Long ago, I used to be a young man / And sensual charms, is the closest thing we have dear Margaret remembers that for me,” can to real magic for those who wait for healing, simultaneously create goosebumps, a tear freedom, justice and rebirth. and a smile. So, why the lack of November songs? Veteran journalist Lynne Snierson, Along with Tom Wait’s gut-kick of an anthem who also writes our Seniority department, to the leafless, frostbitten and dreary days of penned the story about the Shaw Brothers’ November, there are “love” songs like Guns final years and days and about the special ‘N Roses’ “November Rain” — not much woman and friends who stood, and sang, more uplifting though. alongside them. See if you can read her tribPerhaps the songs that best capture ute to the magical healing power of music the strange, harsh beauty of these days are without a tear and a smile. focused more on the spirit of the season than Sad, but uplifting. Doomed, but filled the name of the month. with hope. That’s November in a song. “But when the sun turns traitor cold / and shivering trees are standing in a naked row / I get the urge for going,’” sang Concord-
PHOTO BY LYNN CROW PHOTOGRAPHY
STRONG SMART BOLD
