17 posts tagged “boston”
Yesterday Joe and I took advantage of the few hours of sunshine that Boston had and went down to check out the tall ship Stad Amsterdam which is docked at Rowe's Wharf for just a few days. The ship has luxury accomodations for special trips. Yesterday they had clearly done some sort of day trip and were just coming back to port. I wish I could have snagged some pictures with the sails up.
and finally, flowers are blooming in Boston!
Walked by Meg Ryan today. She was standing on the sidewalk near a ton of movie trailers lined up along the Boston Public Gardens. I had snagged a spot at the end of the blocked off street where there were just a few spaces open. No one was really around as I walked by the dozen or so trailers. Looking into the makeup and wardrobe trailers is cool--being able to see in is a treat.
As I said, it was pretty quiet along that sidewalk. It wasn't blocked off so I just walked past all the trailers along my way. Then I noticed a security guard sort of lingering near one of the trailers. Two women were standing near him talking. Lo! and Behold! It was Meg Ryan chatting with a dark haired woman with MASSIVE curlers in her hair. Three of them, I think, standing in a huge triangle around her head. I didn't really recognize her but in checking out IMDB to see what the movie was, I'm pretty sure she was talking to Debra Messing. And no, Meg Ryan's face wasn't all botoxed up and her lips looked perfectly normal, which was good. She's a beautiful woman who doesn't need to mess with all that crap.
It was so strange to see them. I literally nearly brushed shoulders with them because the sidewalk was a bit of a mess and I had to move around them. There was no one else around. I wanted to play the FAN but there are few instances where you can play the fan and not be the ANNOYING FAN (Joe and I talk about that everytime he sees Malkovich in Harvard...we decided there is nothing you could say to him without looking like an asshole) so I kept walking. She looked pretty much just like she does in the picture to the right. Her hair was a bit curlier though.
Turns out the film is The Women, starring a whole slew of well, women:
 | Eva Mendes | ... | Crystal Allen |
 | Meg Ryan | ... | Mary Haines |
 | Debra Messing | ... | Edith Potter |
 | Annette Bening | ... | Sylvia Fowler |
 | Jada Pinkett Smith | ... | Miriam Aarons |
 | Candice Bergen | ... | Mary's Mother |
 | India Ennenga | ... | Molly Haines (attached) |
 | Gloria Crist | ... | Editorial Assistant |
And of course, Eva scored the best name. But wow, what a cast! They've been filming for a few weeks now. The trailers take up major parking spaces downtown, which is a pain. It's great to see more movies being filmed here these days. For a long time the high costs of dealing with the various unions was a barrier to production taking place here but it seems to be changing up. I don't think we'll be on the same level with NY or LA but celebrity sightings are definitely more common these days.
Point
by Pablo Neruda
There is no space wider than that of grief,
there is no universe like that which bleeds.
Last night Joe and I went to hear a Grub Street reading that featured Debutante Ball bloggers Tish Cohen, Jennifer McMahon and Patry Francis
talking about writing and their debut novels. It was a very fun night
and I loved hearing about the process that these three women went
through when they were writing, publishing and dealing with the success
of their books. They also read selections from their novels and I found
myself really drawn into their stories. It's such a powerful experience
to be able to get into the heads of characters the way their authors
intended. I can't wait to read the books now.
What was interesting to me is that in the case of all three of them, the book that managed to be sold was the third or fourth book that they had written. They didn't let the lack of sales on their first books stop them--they just kept writing and kept working toward the next novel. Afterwards, when I was at the Porter Square Bookstore table purchasing their books so I can snag an autograph, I handed over my Visa which is decorated with Vincent VanGogh's Starry Night. I made some mention of how Vincent would be amazed that his painting graces the plastic that people use to fork over money--money he never had or ever saw for his paintings. It made me realize the parallel...the fact that it was the third book that sold for those authors and the fact that VanGogh only found success after he was dead and gone. The parallel there is that all of those creative souls had to put themselves out there, regardless of what happened to their end results. The authors kept writing. VanGogh kept painting. Success found them, but in the end, it was about the creative process that pushed and pushed them forward.
It was a great night all around but for me the real excitement came when I told Tish, Jen and Patry about my Apicius book. I have been so enamored of the story but you know how there is always a little piece of you that wonders if your ideas are really good ideas or if the people close to you are just humoring you? I didn't get that sense at all when I told them about it...they seemed just as excited to hear about the story of Apicius and his feasts as I was to tell it, so that felt good. Tish's reaction was the best...she was so horrified at the end of the story, because it ends in a very shocking death. If you ever read her posts on the Debutante Ball, you'll know that she is more afraid of death than all the people reading this blog combined. She was really funny. She then told me a story that she heard about a man who was obsessed with apples and ate about 300 in one day and died--his stomach apparently exploded or dissolved or something of that nature. Obsessions do make for great stories though--it's certainly the basis for my Apicius story, his fear of losing all his money and starving drive his every waking moment.
I'm going to be doing some volunteer work with the Grub Street crew and I'm quite excited about that. I'll be able to help them get a PR program set up and ready to go forward. One of the events that they are starting to plan for now is a big fundraiser in the fall and I have some great ideas on how to publicize it. But the best part of all is the chance I'll have to work with other writers, to hear stories about how great novels are written, how ideas are generated and how people jump over hurdles to accomplish great things in their writing. It feels really good to be back in a community of writers.
Laurel came to visit so Jenna, her husband, Kelev, Raf and I headed down to Cambridge 1 and had some tasty pizza pies and great conversation!
One of the best things, to me, about Vox, is the fact that when Voxers get together in a meetup like we did last night, that there is already a camaraderie between us. As soon as I walked in and found Kelev and Laurel at the bar, we fell into very easy conversation, as though we were old friends, not like the three of us had just met. And when the others joined us, it was no different. I had met Raf previously and we talk a lot, but it was the same easy comfortability with all of us. Funny how some software and pixels on a screen can foster those kind of friendships. It was a fun night. A good time was definitely had by all.
I posted this to my Last.fm as well and rather than write something new I chose to be lazy...
Last night's Fountains of Wayne show at the Paradise here in Boston was absolutely great. We got there a bit early and scored balcony spots so we had a killer view. The show was sold out but being up high we weren't packed in with the masses which was nice--both Joe and I don't have any sort of height advantage so it was a very good thing to snag that spot.
They didn't play very long, unfortunately, because they got started late. They didn't have time for full setup before the show so they took 45 min after the opening band, Robbers on High Street, in order to do sound checks which was frustrating. Joe and I were shocked that ROHS said who they were--opening bands never tell you who they are and you end up leaving thinking--Oh, I would have checked them out but I never found out who it was. They were decent but their best song was the last song when the bassist suddenly turned into a horn player. They should go more that route--that was where they started to shine.
Back to the sound check--one of the most icky, horrible EXTREMELY GROSS things about the night was the way one of their roadies did sound checks--pretty much licking and pushing his entire mouth around the microphones. It was just plain nasty. Everyone around us was cringing and shuddering. Joe joked that if the entire band came down with "the hep" that we'll know why.
Unfortunately, they didn't play 
Red Dragon Tattoo,
which is one of my all time favorite songs by any band and that made me
sad. But other than that, it was a lot of fun. They sounded fantastic,
just very well put-together. Someone to Love was one of the best songs of the night, as was It Must Be Summer. I was surprised though, that they didn't do Hotel Majestic--that's one of the better tracks on the new album, IMHO.
I love their music primarily because the songs go beyond just a snappy beat. They tell stories about people that are really like you and me, in situations and with feelings that the listener can easily relate to. And well, they ARE very snappy and singable and fun.
Oh and it was even more awesome that we scored Kojak-style parking. We
drove up and lo! and behold! a spot RIGHT in front. Doesn't get better
than that!
Fountains of Wayne is playing at the Paradise on April 22 and Joe and I are proud ticket owners! WOOOHOOOO! He
New album comes out on Tuesday. YAY! Everything they put out I have found that I love...my one hope though, is that they play my fave song of theirs, Red Dragon Tattoo.
On a related music note, have any of you heard about iLike? It's a plug-in for iTunes that lets you share what music you are listening to, see what friends recommend and find out about new artists. If you are using it, let me know. I need more friends and to find out about more music! Here's my page. So far I'm finding it interesting. I like a fair amount of the free garage band music I've checked out. As this grows I can see it being a really great way to find out about new indie bands.
What a beautiful word that is, huh?
This weekend I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, one of my all-time favorite museums, to see the Borromeo String Quartet play the first three of fifteen of Shostakovich’s string quartets.
Wow!
That exclamation comes on a few different levels. First the bad.
On the whole, old people who attend concerts at the Gardner are grumpy, crusty, self-important assholes. That's putting it mildly, actually. I couldn't believe how pushy, bitchy and downright mean these old folks were. They weren't happy with the disorganization at the ticket/will call desk and by god they were going to let you and everyone around you know it. They were angry if they were unable to sit close up because they got there a bit late. And heaven forbid if you saved a spot for your husband who went to the bathroom or you were saving seats for your two friends who were late arriving. Oh boy...that was the ultimate in effrontery! How dare you save seats that they could have sat in! I also received my share of grumping because I came alone and had taken a seat early on--but that left an extra seat next to me, preventing many couples from taking the two spots. An elderly couple arrived nearly 40 minutes after I had and decided that rather than taking seats together farther back that they would split up--she would sit in a vacant seat in the row in front of me and he took the one next to me. They were terribly unhappy about this and definitely let me know it. You know, if they had just been slightly nice to me I probably would have agreed to trade into that extra seat but they were so awful I decided against it. Amazing. I just couldn't believe how rude and pushy the elderly at that concert were. They were angry and unhappy and selfish. It was horrible. The few young people there were very polite, discreet and quiet. Granted, one hipster didn't take off his knit skullcap and I do think that was poor manners, but that was far preferable to the horrid old people all around us.
Thank god that they shut up once the music started. That was magical in itself. As soon as the musicians sat down and prepared to play, a beautiful hush fell over the room. No one moved, coughed or spoke. For the space of an hour, save a 5 min intermission, all was sweet sounding heaven.
I wasn't familiar with Shostakovich. I really like a lot of classical music but am definitely just starting to learn more about it. I find that classical and new age music is really wonderful to write to and that's the stuff I tend to gravitate toward more and more when I work. I've got a good understanding of the more popular masters, Beethoven, Bach (the Cello Suites are probably some of my favorite music ever, actually--I have Rostropovich and Yo-Yo's versions), Mozart, Ravel, Chopin, etc. but need a lot more branching out. My first exposure to these quartets was such a wonderful experience. For me, I always try to make up little stories in my head when I hear music. I think of the era that best fits the story, the setting, who the stories may be about. For me, these quartets felt very gothic in a way. They were full of fits and starts interspersed with incredible tension and smooth, lingering sparks of long tempo. I kept thinking of something bordering on the Romantic nearly Victorian era, with a woman in tall laced boots and long skirts running through the woods. Who knows. I don't want to know the real story behind the music--I like the strange thoughts that percolate when I listen. Next time it will probably sound like something else entirely.
I like watching the musicians. I can't imagine how they can create such beauty with a piece of wood and a few strands of horsehair. I find more and more that I love the sound of the cello most of all. The underlying beauty, the more subtle strength that weaves a piece together. I really enjoyed watching Yeesun Kim play. She kept brushing her hair away from her face during pauses. And her arms were so toned! I realized that wow, what incredible exercise that playing must be. Her bio says that she plays a Peregrino Zanetto cello, circa 1576! How much gorgeous music has that instrument been responsible for? I would be terrified to touch that cello much less play it with such vigor!
All in all a really beautiful performance. I definitely plan to try and catch some of the upcoming performances in the series. I'll just be more prepared for the curmudgeons lining up when I arrive.
Here's the next project 365 installment:
Downtown Boston
The view as I drive into work every day...
The little acupuncture statue with all the points in my acupuncturist's office:
The emergency water wheel in the fire escape stairwell at work...
