Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Sometimes in life it’s nice to play it safe with that sense of comfortable reassurance that everything will turn out fine. Of course there are occasions when taking the safe route might indicate you’re in a well-plowed rut

Anyone who had the good fortune (???) to read my book, Was That a Name I Dropped?, would know that I rarely followed that adage in the past, sometimes to my detriment.

The city of Concord, however, has countless opportunities for locals to step outside their own individual boxes when it comes to expanding their entertainment horizons. There is indeed something for every taste in film, music, theatre and dance and what better time to try some of these treats than now, as the exhausting campaign season winds down. Be really daring and attend the kind of event that you’ve always dismissed as being of little interest to you. You might be amazed to discover that it’s better than you would have imagined.

Have you ever weighed the option of attending a symphony concert but didn’t want to make the trek to Boston, take out a second mortgage to afford the ticket price and then pay the parking fees which are higher than what you’d pay for a ticket to the local symphony. The Granite State Symphony Orchestra, Concord’s resident fully-professional Symphony, is in its 19th Season and returns to the City Auditorium for the second concert of the season – Back to Baroque, on Saturday, Nov. 3. It’s certain to be an evening of great music, brilliantly performed

Members of the same orchestra will be providing musical support for Guy & Ralna, the most popular singing pair from television’s legendary "The Lawrence Welk Show."

The duo are coming to Concord to support the Symphony’s efforts to expand their offerings and increase their programming options to the community.

Even if you never watched the Welk Show fearing an ingestion of Champagne Bubbles, Guy & Ralna are first-rate singers who don’t rely on a sound board to create their exceptional vocalizing. They’ll be performing songs from the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s as well as paying special tribute to Veterans in a special segment in which they’ll be vocally supported by the NH Gay Men’s Chorus.

The Concord Community Players launch their current season in November with the exhilarating musical-comedy, "The Pajama Game."

I saw my first Community Player production in 1961, as a child, and had the good fortune to perform in a handful of their plays throughout the years. I know the work that goes into making the production a seamless effort for the hundreds of thousands who have watched their productions over the years at the City Auditorium. They’re well worth checking out.

If you want to delve into the world of music, you can find it all within a few miles.

The Gile Concerts bring talent from all over the world to Concord, and it’s free as are The Walker Lectures.

Concord has a new Jazz Club on Pleasant Street Extension and we also have the Concord Chorale, The Suncook Valley Chorale, Barbershop Quartets, The Songweavers – 150 plus strong, a Music School to rival any in this country and a schedule at the Concord City Auditorium and Capitol Center for the Arts that crosses the spectrum and a motto that should be something for everyone, to name but a few of the options available.

Red River Theatres regularly brings a cross-section of great and sometimes obscure films that will expand your appreciation for motion pictures far beyond what the multiplex cinemas offer.

If you are suffering from campaign overload why not find some relief locally by attending something you’ve never attended previously. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you discover about yourself and you don't need a party affiliation to enjoy it.