The hot issue
Hot heat! Hot chocolate! Hot exercise! Hot tickets!

January can get you thinking about hot — what’s was hot last year, what’s going to be hot this year, how hot can I make the heater and still afford to pay for it. Here is a brief guide to what’s hot — from hot chocolate to the hot new way to heat your house.

THEATER: Offer your two cents
Hear new plays in Concord
By Heidi Masek hmasek@hippopress.com

The lobby of the Concord City Auditorium is now the place to hear new plays in the new series “Page to Stage.” It’s held about one Sunday per month.

“I was fortunate enough to meet a person with great interest in developing new works for the theater,” said Carol Bagan of the Friends of the Concord City Auditorium. Their discussions led to a grant from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for the Friends.

LONGSHOTS: Will hall have Rice on the menu come July?
by Dave Long

I’m not usually indecisive when it comes to who gets in to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Because I know the numbers better than my own phone number, I generally make judgments that aren’t likely to change unless someone makes one heck of an argument for the other side. But in the case of Red Sox slugger Jim Ed Rice, the argument is compelling enough on either side that I haven’t been able to make a firm decision for 15 years.

FOOD: Once upon a time at the bistro…
Storytelling brunches in Danbury
By Linda A. Thompson-Odum food@hippopress.com

Starting this January, the Inn at Danbury will offer a new family-friendly activity. In the Alphorn Bistro, innkeepers Bob and Alexandra (Alex) Graf will host a storytelling brunch series for at least two Sundays each month, which will feature some of the state’s best-known word artists.