NH Day 8- The Art of Sculptures, Arcades, and Storytelling
Little Video (no longer coming soon because it's here):
The Augustus St. Gaudens National Historical Site was really beautiful, both in terms of the art and also just the landscape. There was a ravine trail that led down to a dam and swimming pool that had been made in the brook near the property which was really cool.
Between this and the Robert Frost property, it seems like it really paid to be an artist around the turn of the 20th century. Unless you were poor Mark Twain, I guess.
I cheated a little and went to Frazer's Place in Windsor, Vermont for lunch. It was a cute, old-timey drive up diner with good, cheap burgers and ice cream. It was the first burger I've had thus far on the journey, and boy did it hit the spot. The American Spot.
The Haunting Whisper Vineyard I impulsively went to was such a sweet find. It's in Danbury, NH and while I'm no sommelier I thought everything I sampled was pretty darn tasty. I loved getting to talk with the owner and hear his story. He had no wine-making experience before buying the property, but I really liked the advice he gave me which I feel applies to a whole lot more than wine: "I figured why reinvent the wheel. There's always someone out there who has knowledge, and if you're willing to learn from them you can really do anything. If you stop learning, you stop living."
After that was the world's largest Arcade, Funspot, in Laconia. Two of my cousins worked in an arcade in highschool into college, so I'd always go there while they working or if I was watching our younger cousin, Jason, and bug them. So I have sort of familial fondness for them beyond just enjoying old video games. PSA: Arcades can be a great place for kids with autism like Jason. He could just sit in a racing video game and watch the demo for hours and have a great time. They can also be very overwhelming on a sensory level though so obviously not great for some kids.
I cannot recommend the Tales Told Storytelling Open Mic enough. It's completely the kind of thing I was looking for on this trip. Just people telling stories, learning from each, and making one another laugh. There was only four people there (which the host said is fairly uncommon), and I was the youngest by probably 30 years, but I still had an amazing time. One of the four was actually, Greg Boggis, the host of two of the shows I saw this week. He lives the near the town where the coffee shop (Union Coffee Co. which is superlative) is and is good friends with Linda the host. It was cool having a seasoned standup there, and he was such a warm, funny guy, who didn't mind me pestering him with questions about comedy before the storytelling.
Because there was just a few of us there, there was a very intimate conversational vibe to everything, and I eventually shared stuff but I was so happy to just sit back and listen. The theme was Back to School. Greg told a funny story about his time as a campus security guard at a nearby college, and the differences between summer and term time. It was so interesting to get a totally new viewpoint into campus life. The fourth person, Zoe, (who's son owned the place) told a really interesting story about how her high school tried an experimental pilot program where they had quarterly system. School would go all year round, but students could pick which quarter they wanted off, in case they didn't want their break in the summer, and they could also opt to just not take time off and graduate early. It seems like a good program, it's a shame it didn't take off. I wish I had asked how it worked for the teachers. The last story was by Linda, the host, and it was a neat little story about the transition from a small time town in New Hampshire to college in Boston, and finding her confidence to not be scared all the time. My favorite detail was that she thought every time a car fired up it was a gunshot, so she thought people were getting shot all the time in Boston.
My own story was a bit of standup about back to school shopping, which very conveniently fit the theme. It seemed to go over well, which is nice to think it might be viable to do at open mics whenever I think making fun of white supremacists might not be received to warmly.
Some bonus stories that came out through just chatting: Greg's uncle was a prison guard who ran the arts program at his prison. One time he took, his ten year old son with him to a fair where they were displaying the prisoners' art, and he paid one of the prisoners to take his son around on the rides. When he got back home, his wife was horrified that their son had been hanging around a prisoner, but the son reassured her saying, "Don't worry Mom, he only murdered his wife."; Linda's son when he was a toddler used to sing Beat It with all misunderstood lyrics, which the family loved so they always sang his version to him. As he got older, this embarrassed him, so he would ask them to stop. Then at his wedding, he asked the DJ to play Beat It, and he invited Linda up, tears in her eyes, to sing his toddler version with him; An actor by the name of Erland Van Lidth De Jeude lived in nearby Mount Vernon, NH and he was not only an actor, but an olympic wrestler, a professional opera singer, and graduated from MIT with a bachelor's in computer science. Talk about a renaissance man.
Driving to Maine after the open mic, I stopped at a 7-11 for gas and ended up spending some time chatting with the two Middle-Eastern employees and another customer and trading jokes. It was a nice random moment of friendliness, in a place where I'm not generally very social. It was also great to get some non-white representation from my favorite jokes around New Hampshire, because good lord, is it a very white state. Third in the country for whitest actually.
Regional Observation: The Roads in New Hampshire are in way better condition than the ones in MA.
Favorite Random Sightings: A hockey rink sponsored by a Dentist's Office (feels like an old-timey fake radio announcement); Egg Etc!; The Good Shoppe Lollipop; A shirt that said "I've tried polygamy!" (I had to look this up, but apparently it's a local beer from brewery in Utah, I'll have to try polygamy myself when I'm over there); A man telling his daughters "I'm the real ice cream eater in the family"
Random Thought: The new season of Twin Peaks might be the greatest season of television ever.
Albums Listened To: American Jesus Single by Bad Religion; American Slang by The Gaslight Anthem; Americana by Ray Davies; Amkeni by Bukuru Celestin & Snarky Puppy (collaboration between an American jazz group and a Burundian musical prodigy); Ancient Melodies of the Future by Built to Spill; And Friends by the Slackers; ... And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid (probably the best 90's punk album depending on who you ask); And the Anonymous Nobodies by De La Soul (didn't love it at first, but really grew on me. Crazy scope for a rap album); Angel of the Morning: The best of Nina Simone (disc 1)
People's Favorite Jokes:
I don't like political jokes. I've seen too many get elected
This person's grandpa used to say this whenever they pulled up to a dark house: "Nobody's home but the lights, and they're out"
Knock knock. Who's there? Interrupting cow. Interrupting cow wh-MOO
The man on America's Got Talented who dressed like Trump and sang and danced
Life
The three stooges
*Warning: This next one's super offensive, but I'm still putting it because I don't think I should sugar coat what people tell me* I was fighting with my wife and it got really bad so I said, "Why don't you not see me for a while?" and she said, "Sure." Well one day went by and she didn't see me, and then the next day, and then after that swelling went down in her left eye but the right one was still pretty bruised. (Yikes, am I right? The guy that told me this waited for a young woman to leave the store before he told it. I don't know if that makes it better, but at least he knew it was offensive)
A man makes a deal with his wife that if he wins the lottery, she'll leave him alone if he gives her half of what he wins. He buys a card and wins one dollar, so he goes home gives his wife 50 cents and says, "Okay, leave me alone."
A man wants to win the lottery more than anything in the world. He's a very devout Christian, so he goes to church and begs God to let him win the lottery. That month he doesn't win so he goes back and he gets on his knees and begs, "Please God, I've been a good Christian I'll do whatever you want, just let me win the lottery." That month he still doesn't win so he goes back to the church and starts to beg, and God says "Jeff, at least meet me halfway. Buy a ticket."
New Hampshire Superlatives:
Favorite Coffee: Purely on taste, Prime Roast in Keene. Best all around: Union Coffee Co. in Milford.
Favorite Restaurant: Riverwalk Cafe in Nashua
Favorite Bar: Earth Eagle Brewings in Portsmouth
Favorite Local Beer: Great North Aleworks Robust Vanilla Porter
Favorite Attraction: Andres Institute of Art Sculpture Trail in Brookline
