Wicked Pissah

My friend Jonathan sent me this movie trailer, or rather "movie trailer", and in addition to causing me to LOL, as the kids say, it reminded me of Miss Lilly Rabel, a delightful and mysterious Professor of Linguistics who taught a course that I think was required when Jonathan and I were in grad school together. I do remember us taking the course the same Spring semester, and comparing notes about Miss Lilly as much as about the course material.

But I digress. Enjoy the trailer. And cheer whenever your town is mentioned. 

Only In Boston


Scott Zolak, a Boston radio sports host, was on an elevator at Gillette Stadium last Sunday , talking with a bunch of Patriots fans before the game.

I'll let Scott tell the rest of the story:

“Gisele Bundchen gets on, and her hair’s a little damp, because it’s raining out. The guys in the elevator don’t even give her a second look, they just kept talking to me,” Zolak laughed. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Only in Boston could a $34 million-a-year supermodel get on an elevator full of sports fans and they don’t give her the time of day!’”

Dropkick Murphys

Martin Scorcese understands how much the Dropkick Murphys represent the real Boston, which is why he made their music such an integral part of "The Departed."

The group is playing several gigs around town this St Patrick's Day weekend, and recording their performances for an upcoming DVD.

For Boston sports fans especially, things just wouldn't be the same without them.

From today's Globe:

"Dropkick Murphys don't just play breakneck Celtic-punk music. They proudly and dutifully represent a lifestyle inextricably linked to Boston, and they lay it on as thick as clam chowder and JFK's accent.

"With their odes to the city's working class and anthems to our sports teams - to the roaring delight of raucous fans in Red Sox and Celtics jerseys - these guys embody the street-savvy flip side to what the tourism bureau peddles."

This video was shot in East Boston, an important part of the city's history for its shipbuilding past, but way off the radar screens of tourists and suburbanites:

God Bless The Boston Ironworkers!

I was in an adjoining building a few years ago, during construction of a different wing of Dana Farber, and saw some names of young cancer patients painted on the beams. It was (and still is) a very moving experience, as this video demonstrates.

I pray, as one of the Ironworkers once said, that a cure will be found and they won't have to build any more of these.

(Thanks also to the Red Sox for supporting the Dana Farber Institute.)

Red Sox Nation

Of course I'm biased, but you can't help noticing that there are an awful lot of Red Sox fans at games the Sox play on the road -- to the point where in some cities it must be embarrassing to the other team when the Sox fans seem to outnumber the home team fans.

"Red Sox Nation" is much more than a marketing concept.

So because we're in that awful dead zone right now between the end of the football season and the first Spring Training game, and because my nephew Paul sent me this excellent video that a friend of his wrote and produced, it's time for baseball!

(You can get more information about the video here.)

Harvard Square


The imminent closing of Out of Town News, while sad, really doesn't surprise me.

For five years in the early 1970s, I managed one of the many bookstores in Harvard Square -- back in the analog day before just about everything in print was available online, most of it for free.

My store, Reading International, was one of four full-service bookstores within a few minutes of one another. Sprinkled throughout the same area were several specialty bookstores as well – poetry, foreign languages, architecture and design, etc. – each serving a specific clientele.

Back then, before amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, WaldenBooks and Borders, customers paid the price that publishers printed on the books. There were no discount bookstores because publishers and booksellers worked together to fix prices and preserve their profit margins. And consumers were content to pay full price.

In the 1980s, it all changed.

By then, I was buying books for chain stores, and negotiating quantity discounts from publishers, who eventually capitulated by rewarding their largest customers with the best pricing and promotional deals.

Then the internet kicked in; then the Kindle.

And speaking for myself as a fairly large consumer of the printed word, we're all (with the exception of independent bookstores) better off for it.

Harvard Square has changed in many ways, but so have we all. And it will always be fun to pass through or hang out there.

Visions of Johanna

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
(From "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez)

We recently saw Joan Baez in concert at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.

The concert was on the Sunday night before Election Day -- which made Election Day the day after tomorrow, which is the title of her new album and of the title track, a fine Tom Waits song that Joan performed midway through her concert.

Stephen Holden captures the essence of Joan's voice and style at this point on her journey in his review of her concert last month at Town Hall in New York:

"With many of her high notes gone, Ms. Baez’s bread and butter is now her middle range. This is the section of her voice that embodies motherhood more completely than any other folk singer does. You want to rest your head on her lap and be soothed by the sound of the cosmic lullaby emanating from within. Her comforting embrace promises shelter from the storm in a corner of the world where peace and common sense prevail."

Elsewhere on The Freeway, I've written about how much I had looked forward to this concert, and we were thrilled to see her again, especially in her Barack Obama tee shirt, from our seats in the front row. It was wonderful to re-establish the connection with her.

This cover of an overlooked Bob Dylan song (from Martin Scorcese's "No Direction Home") has become one of her signature songs, and is pretty representative of Joan today (and yes, she did goof on Dylan at the concert, too):

Happy Birthday, Joni!


As Jim Fusilli writes in the Wall Street Journal, "Joni Mitchell turns 65 years old on Friday. As a milestone, reaching that age doesn't mean what it once did, but any opportunity to celebrate Ms. Mitchell and her work is worth seizing."

"Gifted and fearless, she remains among the finest singer-songwriters of the rock era, a title that doesn't quite accommodate the breadth of music and the audacity of her career."

"As David Crosby told me when I called him last week, 'In a hundred years, when they ask who was the greatest songwriter of the era, it's got to be her or Dylan. I think it's her. And she's a better musician than Bob.'"

While I might disagree with David Crosby's choice of who was number one, Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest artists of her (and my) generation.

One of my most precious musical memories is having seen her Boston concert debut (with James Taylor).

I still get chills thinking about the music that night.

Francona To Manage McCain Campaign?

A report out of New York claims that the McCain Campaign has hired Boston Red Sox Manager Terry Francona to manage its final push toward the White House.

Based on the Sox Skipper's sterling track record of leading an organization back from the dead in several high-stakes situations (if only for a short time) Francona is an inspired -- if risky -- choice.

But time is running out for the McCain campaign, and drastic measures are in order.

Locks and Bagels


We recently took a ninety minute Boston Harbor cruise on a gorgeous Summer Saturday morning.

Unlike the better-known Boston Harbor Cruise, which departs from (and returns to) Long Wharf in Boston, ours (click on the title) departed from (and returned to) the Charles River, just outside CambridgeSide Galleria in Cambridge (weekend parking $3.99 in the mall garage). And you can get coffee and bagels at Au Bon Pain before you depart.

After passing by the Museum of Science on the Charles River, we waited under the Zakim Bridge for the Boston Harbor Locks to open so that we could enter Boston Harbor.

If you’ve never passed through any kind of locks before, being in a boat as it gradually drops ten feet is certainly a unique experience!

Gail and I must have been the only Bostonians aboard a boat full of tourists, so the Cruise Guide’s chirpy commentary was a little too general for us – especially his take on The Big Dig, which neglected all the ways in which that project has made it easier for us locals to get through and around town.

It’s always a great pleasure to see the USS Constitution, but for me the best part of the cruise was the opportunity it provided to see facets of the city visible only from the water. I never realized that so many beautiful waterfront greenspaces, parks and walking trails had been created as part of the new condominium projects in Charlestown and Cambridge, because they are not visible when you’re trying to navigate the area from behind the wheel of your car.

And in case you were wondering, the new Institute of Contemporary Art is one seriously ugly building when seen from the water. I much prefer the old building on Boylston Street.

Diamonds and Rust

I remember listening to Dick Summer’s show on WBZ radio in Boston when I was at Penn State and wishing that I could be part of the folk music scene he described at places like Club 47 and The Unicorn

I related more to the folk and “protest” songs from the singer/songwriters he played than I did to the stale pop songs that still dominated the music business at the time, extending the Fifties all the way into 1964

So a highlight one summer back then was seeing Joan Baez in concert at Rutgers, and then seeing her a year later in concert in Asbury Park – this time with Bob Dylan

We saw her at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967, but by that time the transition from acoustic music to rock and roll was beginning to pass her by

However, her commitment to peace and justice has never wavered over the years, and in fact she is right now in the middle of a world tour (click on the title for more information)

We’re going to see her in concert at The Berklee Performance Center in November, just a block or two from where The Unicorn used to be on Boylston Street