GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, a bit cooler. We get a brief spate of high pressure today, along with drier air and lower temps than the past few days, thanks to yesterday's cold front. Temps should climb into the mid-40s by mid-afternoon, then will drop into the mid-20s overnight. Winds from the northwest today and probably more sun than clouds, though things will cloud over tonight ahead of a rain/snow system moving our way from the west.The wildlife around us.
Like this bobcat near Mink Brook in Hanover on Wednesday, from Nicola Felicetti.
And a mob of deer on the New London green earlier this week. I know. Deer. But Susan Ellison writes, "We always see deer in New London, but usually no more than 2 or 3 together, so this was quite a surprising sight."
Mt. Ascutney school board recount raises more questions about election process. For one thing, writes Mike Donoghue in the Vermont Standard, losing candidate Kaitlyn Gould tells him she was never notified of the recount's time or place. And in addition to the presence of her opponent, Windsor Town Clerk Amy McMullen, by the ballot box on election day, Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh has listed a series of election problems. "It went from the time when they should have posted the meeting to the time ballots should have been secured,” he told the Windsor selectboard. “Not one step was done correctly.” Canaan man charged in Lebanon knife attack. Wednesday evening, the Leb Police say in a press release, officers were called to a Parkhurst Street apartment building to check on a man who was walking around yelling and screaming. Directed to a nearby apartment, they found 22-year-old Riely Mavilla, who had allegedly attacked and stabbed a man who lived there, left, then returned and assaulted a woman who lived there. The man was treated at DH for non-life-threatening injuries; the woman "did not suffer any injuries," the report says. Mavilla is being held in preventive detention. “My whole philosophy is don’t look behind, just keep looking ahead.” Good advice if you’re bowling. Or 97. Or both, in Millie Marcroft's case. In the Herald, Tim Calabro speaks with the Randolph resident, who took up the sport years ago as something to do in the winter. She bowled three times a week until last year, when she had surgery, and now goes to the lanes weekly. She’s a bit slower than she used to be, she says, and her spin isn't quite as reliable so her scores have dropped, but the game still brings a big smile to her face.SPONSORED: Think global warming will end snowfall in New England? Think again! Despite ranking as the third warmest winter on record, the 2022-23 season still managed to produce some potent winter storms—reminding us that snow remains a force to be reckoned with here in New England. Hit the burgundy link to understand why snow remains in our region’s long-range forecast (think: more moisture, greater extremes), and why Solaflect's snow-shedding Trackers are the best solution to wintertime solar power production and your bottom line. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Hiking Close to Home—in mud season. There may be snow on the ground right now, but it won't be there much longer. And then it'll be time to choose some hikes that keep you on trails you won't destroy by walking on them. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance's Kaitie Eddington has put together a guide for the season, from the Mascoma River Greenway in Leb to the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, with plenty in between. (Note: Links work best on mobile and in Chrome; Firefox and Safari, you may need to copy/paste.)New London's Tomie dePaola to get a Forever stamp. The new stamp honoring the much-loved children's book author and illustrator, who died three years ago, will debut on May 5 in a ceremony at Manchester's Currier Museum. It's a detail from the cover of Strega Nona, the first in his series of books about an insightful, benevolent witch who uses her powers to improve life in her Italian village—and features Strega Nona, of course, carrying her magic pasta pot. For years, dePaola visited the Norwich Bookstore Thanksgiving weekend —"a festive day of laughter," remembers former co-owner Liza Bernard.With some Republican votes, NH House lifts penalties from 24-week abortion ban, votes to protect abortion rights under state law. The first of those, sponsored by Newbury GOP Rep. Dan Wolf and several Democrats, would remove the threat of civil and criminal penalties facing medical providers under the state's 24-week ban, reports NHPR's Paul Cuno-Booth. The second measure leaves the existing law in place, but bars the state from enacting further restrictions on abortion access. Both head to the GOP-controlled Senate, which axed a bill similar to the second measure last month.SPONSORED: Satisfy your wanderlust! This spring, the Hop offers a spectacular set of arts experiences from around the globe—all without leaving the Upper Valley. You'll see an exhilarating dance on ice show by Canadian skaters, traditional Sicilian marionette theater, a book-sized fairy tale from New Zealand-based puppet artists, a musical celebration of the shared history of India and Afghanistan, and the post-bop melodies of a South African jazz icon. And like last winter, the arts are everywhere! So grab a friend and come stretch your cultural horizons. Tickets are on sale now. Sponsored by the Hop.Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what did the Hopkins Center's former film director, Bill Pence, help create? And what did VT Fish & Wildlife warn it's time to do this week? And where was that woman who put her phone on speaker while calling in a fake bomb threat to the Seabrook NH Walmart? More at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what's been going on around the state this week—like, where did VT State Police recently bust up an underage drinking party?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings in the Granite State—like, what recently sickened five guests at a campground in Meredith?
That black-bear culture shift may, in fact, be happening, VT Fish & Wildlife bear biologist Jaclyn Comeau tells Vermont Public's Jenn Jarecki. With bears emerging from their dens, the two sat down to talk about what bears experience as they come out of their dens, the threats to bears (and, occasionally, humans) from human-bear interactions, and how to reduce them—garbage and food scraps in compost, along with backyard chickens and bird feeders, are the big issues.
VT bars and restaurants may be deep-sixed by insurance rates. If, that is, they can find liability insurance at all. In Seven Days, Chris Farnsworth reports that while rates are rising across the country, the issue has become especially acute in Vermont, whose liquor liability law puts it high on the list of states where insurers "run the greatest risk of big payouts in liquor liability lawsuits," Farnsworth writes. So insurers are pulling out. "It's not even a question of affordability right now," says a state Chamber of Commerce official. "It's whether or not a business can even get a policy."VT lawmakers face "deluge" from national groups as they consider right-to-repair measure. A bill they're considering in the House aims to give farmers, loggers, and others the ability to fix their own equipment in an age when manufacturers contend their parts are their own intellectual property or even qualify as trade secrets, requiring a trip to a specialist or dealer. Now, everyone from John Deere to what seems like every equipment dealers' association in the country is weighing in. "I've never seen anything like it,” the bill's sponsor tells VTDigger's Sarah Mearhoff.VT Symphony Orchestra names new director. Andrew Crust, who is music director of the Lima Symphony Orchestra in Ohio and, at just 35, has already been assistant conductor in Portland ME, Memphis, and Vancouver, will step into the VSO's top artistic role in September. He replaces Jaime Laredo, who stepped down in 2021 after 20 years at the podium. "All the things you need in a music director—an understanding of musicians' needs, knowing repertoire, being able to talk to anybody [from] kids to donors—[Crust] just ticks every single box," says VSO executive director Elise Brunelle.The cat who played with strings. Nothing new there, except that this cat came in on a high note. She wandered onstage while an orchestra in Istanbul was warming up, and spent a few minutes weaving around the feet (and all-too-tempting long black skirts) of the violinists and cellists before taking charge—don’t cats always?—and jumping on the conductor’s podium. The audience laughed, the conductor shrugged, and the orchestra played on. (This happened back in 2020, but it's circulating again, and for good reason.) For her part, the feline seemed to enjoy the music more than the fellow heard snoring at :49.And this doesn't happen often. Argentine goalkeeper Leandro Requena, playing for the Chilean team Cobresal, scored on a kick from his own goal area last week against rivals Colo-Colo. TNT Sports Chile says the ball traveled 101 meters—which would be a new record for the longest-range goal in history if Guinness verifies it. Guinness tells CNN they haven't gotten an application yet. You'll want the sound up on that video. Though maybe not too loud.The Friday Vordle. If you're new to Vordle, you should know that fresh ones appear on weekends using words from the Friday Daybreak, and you can get a reminder email each weekend morning. If you'd like that, sign up here.
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At 5 today, the White River Indie Film Festival gets underway in earnest with an opening party at JAM, with music by Route 5 Jive and Jamaican food masters Fulla Flava. Followed at 6:30 at the Briggs by Iranian film No Bears, then at 8:45 by VT filmmaker Liam O'Connor-Genereaux's The Butterfly Queen. Then back to JAM for an after-party from 10:15 to midnight. Here's Alex Hanson's writeup in the VN with background and a look ahead.
Starting this evening at 6, the Sharon Academy Middle School presents its annual circus performance, put together in a weeks-long residency by veteran clown, director, and consummate circus showman Troy Wunderle. Pre-show carnival at 6, circus at 7. This year’s plot is “Masquerade Ball”: It "features an evil queen who is hosting a ball to show her power. A band of Robin Hood-type heroes will try to stop her. Will they succeed? Come and find out!" they write. In the TSA High School gym.
At 7 this evening, the Thetford Arthouse Cinema (in the Martha Rich theater at Thetford Academy) is showing Marcel Carne's classic 1945 film, The Children of Paradise. It was shot in Paris and Nice during the Nazi occupation (its designer and composer, both of them Jews, had to work from hiding). The film centers on the courtesan Garance (played by the actress known as Arletty), and when it came out was compared to Gone With the Wind, though as Roger Ebert wrote years ago, "the movie is not a historical epic but a sophisticated, cynical portrait of actors, murderers, swindlers, pickpockets, prostitutes, impresarios and the decadent rich."
Also at 7, Grantham's Dunbar Library hosts an author talk with Annie Hartnett, who'll be reading from and talking about her book Unlikely Animals—a novel set in the fictional NH town of Everton and narrated by the inhabitants of the town's Maple Street Cemetery. "An absurdist, laugh-out-loud family drama about intergenerational healing," Kirkus wrote when it came out last year. Downstairs in Grantham Town Hall.
Also at 7, the Chandler in Randolph presents Basset, the Toronto-based acoustic folk duo of Sam Clark and Yasmine Shelton. They may live in a basement apartment, but their songs are inspired by their travels around northern Ontario and the Canadian and American prairies—as well as old blues music, vintage rock, and a shared classical background.
This evening at 7:30, and again tomorrow evening and Sunday afternoon, Classicopia presents "Black Brilliance"—works for violin, cello, and piano by black composers. Violinist Emmanuel Borowsky, cellist Frances Borowsky, and pianist Daniel Weiser present a program that includes ragtime arrangements by Scott Joplin, suites of spiritual arrangements by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Undine Smith Moore, and blues-inspired pieces by Florence Price and William Grant Still. Tonight's performance is at the Old South Church in Windsor; tomorrow's, also at 7:30, is at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon; and Sunday's, at 2 pm, is at Piano Prodigies Studio in Lebanon.
Also at 7:30 tonight, Court Street Arts in Haverhill presents veteran NH singer, songwriter, and rocker Brooks Hubbard, who returned to these parts a couple of years ago after six years in Nashville and has been busy ever since.
And also at 7:30, Bellows Falls' Wild Goose Players open their production of Urinetown, which runs both this weekend and next at the Bellows Falls Opera House. The Tony-winning musical, set during a devastating drought, takes up the question of what can be done when the government has banned private toilets and the only legal place find relief is run by the Urine Good Company. Which charges a hefty fee. After a sneak preview for all of Bellows Falls High School the other day, a teacher there wrote a rave review: "This production...would be top quality, a $75 ticket in any American city but New York, where it would be an off-Broadway production. Yet it will run this weekend in a small Vermont town where seats could be left empty. A tragedy best avoided, if you like musical theatre."
And at 9 tonight, the stage at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover brings in Hilltop, a four-member jam band based in Albany, NY: guitarist Aris Nieuwkirk, percussionist Reid Perry, bassist Dave Klang, and Reid's brother Stephen, also drummer. Doors at 8.
After a long pandemic hiatus, the annual Bach Marathon returns tomorrow to Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hanover, from 11:30 am until 5 pm.The event celebrates JS Bach's birthday (he'd have been 338 next Friday) with performers of all ages and abilities playing or singing solos, duets, or chamber works composed by Bach. There's a signup sheet at the link if you'd like to participate; there are a few slots left. The public is invited to sit in the sanctuary and enjoy the performances throughout the day.
And finally, tomorrow at 7:30 pm, Counterpoint, the Montpelier-based chorus founded by Robert De Cormier, which includes several Upper Valley members, will present "Living Water," a concert of Christian sacred music by composers of the African Diaspora: Trevor Weston, José Maurício Nunes Garcia, Ulysses Kay, Vicente Lusitano, Florence Price, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Features Woodstock organist Lubbert Gnodde. At the Norwich Congregational Church.
And to take us into the weekend...
You probably already put this in your calendar, but just in case you overlooked it, tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the first time Michael Jackson moonwalked in a performance. It was toward the end of “Billie Jean” at Motown's 25th Anniversary special, which took place at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on March 25, 1983. As Andy Greene later wrote in
Rolling Stone
, "The moonwalk only lasted two seconds and wasn’t even that original (James Brown had been doing it for years), but Jackson executed it with stunning perfection." When it was broadcast six weeks later, Greene writes, "It captured the attention of the entire world, and the next day kids all over America were trying out the move on the playground."
If you can't wait, skip to the 3:38 mark and listen for the screams from the audience. But honest, you'll regret missing the rest.Have a fine weekend! See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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