Pete Seeger’s joy (and Tom Smothers’ war on censors)

April 19, 2026

Phil Ochs’ despair

April 08, 2026

By Tom Brennan Fifty years ago tomorrow Phil Ochs committed suicide. He was the author and performer of many of the iconic folk songs of the social justice and peace struggles of the 1960s. Ochs was just 35, beaten down by drink, mental illness, a crushed larynx, and a not uncommon disoriented and disillusioned reaction to the post 1960s zeitgeist. My oldest brother first introduced me to Ochs during his senior year in high school, when he brought home his […]

The Monkey Trial at 100

August 14, 2025

Boy can Gilmanton hold a grudge

August 10, 2025

Modern Bond leaves me stirred but not shaken

October 05, 2024

By Jethro Maddox In October of 2021, the Granite State was party to a shameful exercise. The Park Theatre in Jaffrey, NH promoted seven dark horse candidates to be “the next James Bond.”  They also offered a glimpse of the latest heretical James Bond movie, “No Time to Die.” A title more suitable for the memoir of a washed up professional wrestler.  You see, Daniel Craig, Scrawny Bond, was retiring, and the Park Theatre thought they would advance some additional […]

Kinky

October 03, 2024

By Seth Ginsburg It wasn’t that Richard Friedman didn’t come from a good family. His dad was a loved and respected professor of Marketing at UT (University of Texas to you foreigners). His brilliant and charming sister was a Foreign Service officer for the USA. But Kinky (named by friends because of his kinky hair) was different. Obviously there was the creative talent. Kinky was a remarkably prolific creator of songs, books, and performances. I met him at a premier […]

Squirrelly Second Amendment Solutions

January 21, 2024

By Maynard Leon Today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day. Here in the Granite State, there has been some effort in the state legislature, and a lot of buzz in the media,  about making it easier to shoot certain kinds of squirrels. The initiative  comes from the usual suspects. Those with phallic insecurities, gun fetishes, affinity for nihilist politics and public policy, and inclination to bullying and cruelty are well known to us.  Since everything has to be political these days, […]

RIP Segway

October 25, 2020

BY LYNN LEVESQUE  While this might be called an obituary, and it is bad form to speak ill of the dead, this can not be called an appreciation. This is not a Covid casualty.  In June, Segway announced that it will cease production of the famous two wheel personal transporter, invented by New Hampshire’s own, the brilliant engineer Dean Kamen. It was introduced at the dawn of the new millennium, a gizmo dripping with modernity. It takes it’s leave as […]