tek

tek's hanging 'em up today and we're soon going to hear all over again about all his baseball achievements, including being the only player to ever play in the little league world series, state high school finals, college world series, olympics, world baseball classic, and world series finals, too. he was a gold-glove switch hitting for-power catcher who even holds the records for most catcher triples in the world series (ok, just 2, but that's a lot if you've ever seen tek run the bases), and he's a hall-of-famer in my book, though you never know with those knuckleheads.

end of an era for sure.

but his stat of which i'm most impressed is having been the only catcher in mlb history to have ever caught four no-hitters. there have been 264 of these since pop snyder caught joe borden's back in 1875, and only 23 since the turn of the century, but the captain has four of them. FOUR of them.

boggles my mind.

it's also remarkable how many catchers have three of them--far more than there are pitchers--though nolan ryan with 7 has to top the entire discussion either way. other than larry corcoran who played during the dead ball era, there's only cy young, bob feller, sandy koufax and jim maloney to join that list on the pitching side. on the catching side, by rough count, i found 14 other catchers before tek who have caught as many as three no-hitters.

says to me that, overall, catching is a greater influence on no-hitters than pitching is--otherwise any old backstopper would be picking up the random credit and the concentration of success would be far more diluted. no, it's catching that makes the greater difference, and if derek lowe can get one, you know it was only because he had the good fortune to team up with tek for those glory years in boston and no other reason.

yaz, jim ed, and now tek. i've been fortunate to have been a fan for all of them. can't imagine the player who will ever succeed those three in these days of free agency and clubhouse childishness, but i'd like to meet him, whoever he'll be.

i'll bet you, until we find another captain worthy of tek's shoes, we won't be seeing another series victory now that tek's have been hung up. bittersweet, but for me today in my #33 home white replica jersey, nothing but sweet. tek, today you da man.

the pile grows

i prefer to file "needs attention" items horizontally, which is to say, not to let them slip out of sight beneath a pile or inside a file drawer. (this often frustrates house guests looking for more room at the dining table, but the older i get, the more "out of sight, out of mind" rules the day, so there you have it). the problem is whenever the amount of items in need of attention begins to exceed the amount of horizontal space available to display them. welcome to my present concert ticket world.

my current problem is, ironically, vastly complicated by the growing number of venues able to produce self-printed tickets via the web, which in all other ways represents a tremendous step forward in terms of purchase and delivery of same. where once there was a neat little line of variously-colored 2" by 5 1/2" ticket stock (think of what your regular season fenway duckets looked like the last time you went there, before you, like me, decided to boycott the 2012 season for the organization's disrespect towards wake) pinned to my bulletin board like so many little maids all in a row, there is now a fluttering confusion of 8 1/2" x 11" pages that eat up space like wake used to eat up innings back in the days when major league baseball was a sport worth following. but what can a horizontal guy like me do?

today, reviewing the lineup, only neil geraldo at the lynn auditorium on thursday, april 19th (ok, maybe his wife, pat, is going to be there hitting us with her best shot, too) is printed on an old-fashioned ticket. the 4/19 bull run show featuring amy's speace and black, the 4/22 bull run show featuring graham parker (and the figgs), the 5/10 lowell memorial auditorium show featuring weird al yankovic (it's a teenage kid thing, but, yeah, i'm also white and nerdy), and the 5/20 rancid show at the house of blues in boston all come in the full-page version off my home printer, and i try to fold them up to make them as small as possible, but finding a way to fold them so that both the date and the artist name are easily visible is not as easy as it sounds. when you add the mbta commuter rail schedule, doctor, dentist and haircut appointments, various dilbert cartoon clippings and my frequent-dining "appreciation" cards from life alive (not only can you get one for sandwiches, but for smoothies too!) along with the oversized 2012 big lebowski quote calendar, you get to the point i'm at now where "horizontal" needs to take on an additional vertical dimension, and items become at risk for being missed. (sacrificed in visibility today in order to post a new appointment reminder is the bertrand russell quote that "the infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists--that's why they invented hell", but i figured with rick santorum quotes being in the news on a daily basis, i'm at no loss for examples of proposed good-conscienced inflictions of cruelty, so i could let it pass beneath the music tix for a few weeks, though i'm not sure whenever it'll have the chance to come back to the surface, because i'm heading straight from here to the lowell summer music site to grab my george thorogood passes, and that's not until saturday, august 4th!!!)

if i miss a date with you, please understand i was trying to do my best...

and edited to add that even horizontal filing can't help the truly overmatched--did you notice the pat benatar and amy speace/black dates were the same? yours truly didn't when he bought all the tickets. i hate it when that happens. why don't these people clear the dates with me before they book themselves???????!

howl in lowell

i make no secret of my adoration for certain sun reporters (lisa redmond we love you) and my disdain for their certain and all-too-frequent editorial biases, omissions and idiocies, and my general point of view is that it would be great to love a true hometown news source if only we had one that more broadly and effectively acted that way. and so it is that i read with fascination and anticipation the news about howl in lowell (music. art. life. come out and play) and look forward to (FINALLY!) having a local music arts and entertainment guide to start to catch the tail of this sparkling comet of activity i see every night in this fair city. between HIL and bob mills you've gotta figure we'll finally have a chance to have a better portion of the nightlife covered around here.

the big reveal will be friday, but the better part is that rita savard and caroline gallagher, the moving forces behind the effort, are having their kick-off party this wednesday night at the back page, coincident with stephe clements' open mic that's become such a spark for community among our local musicianship. folks have been coming from all directions (boston, cambridge, new hampshire, etc) as well as from all over lowell and surrounding towns to be a part of things every week, and it seems to me like the perfect venue to sneak out to meet rita and caroline and get a taste of things howl while enjoying the music.

i don't know if the sun editorial nabobs quite understand the void they've always left for someone like caroline and rita to move into (i imagine one of the reasons rita left the sun after 7 years was from a constant headache from banging it into the walls there) but i figure the complementary nature of the publications can't help but be good for the both of them if they get it and they let it, or purely a huge loss for the sun if they don't.

and you know i won't be shedding any tears for the sun ownership for their losses. they could have been anything they wanted around here, and they haven't wanted to be a comprehensive local news source for a long time now. rita gets it. caroline gets it. and, soon, we all will be able to get it too.

howl in lowell. coming friday to the web always near you. can't wait!

edited to correct the brain-dead typo as noted by the comment. THANKS!!!

rainy days and thursdays

many good friends are passing through particular adversity these days, and the older i get and the wider my circles get the more i realize how hard life really is. (even so, i'm grateful and thankful it's not overly so for me, and that my sense of good fortune and consequent mantra of "nothing bad has ever really happened to me" can remain intact even after long decades of overuse is the luckiest part of all). the only conclusion i can draw from all the world's trials is that the age-old meaning-of-life question answers itself--the meaning of life has to be to help others.

to dare to tread upon another cliche question, i sometimes think that what separates us from the animals is our innate and collective disposition to care for others other than ourselves, and to be able to draw that circle far wider than any other species. (you've seen the feel-good photos of lions adopting baby antelopes, but, seriously, the reason such photos are remarkable is for how rare the occurrence, and how acutely such photos touch OUR emotions of caring well above that of the lion's). some/many/most/all of us have our pet charities, (no pun intended), and some of us are like betty white and devote our largest share of time to other species, which is a beautiful thing when you think about it, while still more of us are like jerry lewis and see greatest need among various groups of people facing their various special challenges. sunday, i'll be at the chelmsford elks supporting one particularly important friend in need, carter clements, (http://www.carterclements.com/february_26_fundraiser), and undoubtedly feeling profoundly grateful for being able. (not to mention being able to share a hall with so many truly generous and beautiful people).

let's face it--life is so often a lemon, and no there's no sugar to make lemonade that we don't all make for each other. and even then it's sometimes never enough. but it's in our DNA to try. i sometimes think that the saddest people are the ones who never get the chance to feel that their lives are making a difference, even if that difference is simply to become all they can be to reward the generosity of those who have shared their lives and their love with them. i try to be patient and kind (i know i fall short all too often--but that's all the more reason to keep trying) and i try to help others do the same. kindness can be something as simple as waiting another five minutes, even if it is making you late, so that you can go together with someone somewhere, and let them know how much you will enjoy the time with them. or it can be something much more than that.

someone once told me the secret of doing for others was not to make it about feelings of guilt, but to make it about "do it until it feels good". i like that sentiment a lot. if you feel guilty for not doing something, or that you may not have done enough, you're thinking about things the wrong way. feel good about what you do for others, and make doing more a personal pursuit of happiness and feelings of life-meaning, not some sort of perverse escape from feeling you aren't doing enough. everything you do, every little thing you do, is enough in and of itself for the good that it does. and all big projects to help are nothing more than the sum of all the little individual things that are done in that aim. to help mankind is to do the smallest of things.

i will tell you, in my experience, it works. or, at the very least, by some odd cosmic coincidence, i'm happy anyway.

i just looked out my window, and it isn't raining anymore...

what's your number

i am blessed with the means (i don't smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, or buy lottery tickets, if you'd like to know a few of the many ways others could afford to do what i do) to indulge myself sports memorabilia jerseys of my favorite teams (go riverhawks!) and it occurred to me early on that the most popular names (e.g. tom brady) are rarely the most interesting ones, nor necessarily the best choice to illustrate by example the better reasons i am a fan in the first place. i always love to see vintage #3 pokey reese jerseys (by the way, my son and he have the same first name, and, no, it's not pokey) in the stands whenever i go to fenway much much more than i care to be blinded by the avalanche of papi and pedroia-wear (not that i don't love papi and pedey--this isn't about that) and there's nothing like a well-chosen name and number to make your own personal-by-proxy statement. (remember pokey's opening day rbi double? i do! and too many folks forget that it was his flip to foulke to clinch the first sox world series title in 86 years--pokey! pokey!).

anyway, it is towards that end that i enjoyed to wear my #33 tek home whites to the playoffs at fenway in '04 instead of a copy of the ubiquitous manny and nomah and papi models flooding the stands. (switch-hitting for-average and for-power hitting catchers with great arms and unmatched pitcher-whisperer credentials are the stuff of world champions for sure). which is not to say the 2012 incarnation maybe or maybe not trying out for one last campaign is the player he used to be, but, see, that's the larger point--he IS the competitor he's always been, and you gotta love that about tek. and so it's a prideful pleasure to carry homage to that example on ones back. (my other sox jersey is the classic travel gray #25 mikey lowell model, for what i hope will be obvious home-town reasons).

and so it also is that the tek jersey is now being retired in favor of wake's #49 (the darker blue will hold up better under any potential rain of beer and hotdog mustard that you know is inevitable with me so there's that too) and the entire franchise can kiss my ass until wake is inducted into the franchise hall of fame. (i've decided the boycott for his not being given a contract this year is best extended until they honor him properly--that little press conference at the new park in florida is hardly enough). here's a once-dime-a-dozen infielder who was on the bubble to be cut from a single-A carolina league team for lacking in raw talent what he possessed in spades in heart, and who put his entire career on the line to learn to throw a knuckleball because that's what his team could use most.

did you know wake's first major league game was a 146-pitch, 10-strikeout complete game? (sporting news named him NL rookie pitcher of the year). did you know that his team, the pirates, made the playoffs that year, and wake won both his NLCS championship game starts, both over billerica's own (and multiple cy young award winning) tommy glavine no less, both by complete games, and the second one after only three days rest? (it was widely published he would have been hands-down the series mvp, if stan belinda hadn't blown that three run lead in the bottom of the ninth in game 7 to give the braves the pennant, and the ignomy of being the first amercan team to lose to a foreign one in the world series).

the way wake made it to the majors reminds me a lot of the way stephen neal walked onto the patriots training camp without ever having played a down of college football. (he was a back-to-back national collegiate champion wrestler, the second of which was won over future NCAA champion brock lesnar, so not necessarily a nobody, but even though one of his wrestling victories was over future nfl running back ricky williams, he didn't carry a whole lot of nfl cred at the start). here's a guy who was waived from his first nfl training camp, and ignominiously claimed off another team's practice squad as little more than an insurance policy for the final games of the '01 patriots' first super bowl championship season. (he never got to play). then, in only his second nfl game the next year, he suffered a surgery-requiring shoulder injury that caused him to miss not only the rest of that season, but also the entire next one, too. finally, in '04, he started the final 14 games of the season and every one in the playoffs, and he blocked his way towards earning his third super bowl ring, (via a very sweet victory over the eagles on whose practice squad he had languished all those years before), while i got to wear his number 61 on my back to a plethora of "who?" questions that even now have hardly subsided. just one of the best linemen in the game, who was a regular guy who thought he wanted to play pro football, and found a way to do it, and do it well, and do it well enough to become a champion. (my '01 model was a #4 adam vinatieri, purchased hastily immediately upon that second snow bowl kick that extinguished the raiders and started the run that started it all, and i will remind all that even with that hokey horseshoe on his helmet adam clearly deserves a spot in the nfl hall of fame, though they almost never admit kickers, which is a problem that needs to be solved whenever he retires, and if you disagree, look at jan stenerud's 1699 points--vinatieri already has more, and is still playing--and utter absence of clutch championship kicks and tell me vinatieri isn't a money bet, whether or not stenerud brought soccer style to the game for whatever that's worth).

but i digress.

my other is my pride and joy, my #4 bobby orr bruins sweater that has only been worn out during last year's stanley cup finals game 7. (not every hardest-working favorite player of mine is popularly obscure).

what's your number?

amy

black or speace? take your pick. better yet, get to the bull run in shirley on april 19th, and get to listen to them both. here's the info link, and here's the ticket link. $15. best of lowell plus the best of nashville just inches in front of you. can't get a better bargain than that!

pinch me i'm dreaming

you've heard perhaps of the story of carter clements, musical prodigy and guitarist extraordinaire. you've felt the knot in the pit of your stomach to know someone so young and so generous and so talented has to endure and fight through what he's had to endure and fight through. if you get the lowell sun, you've read this morning rita savard's outstanding piece on his latest successes and trials, and felt the surge of human indomitability even within yourself, knowing how many people are with carter in spirit and in extended hands to help in any way that they possibly can, and how he is there fighting as no human being ever ought to have to fight. (go, carter, go!)

so i mentioned the "care for carter" benefit this coming sunday afternoon at the chelmsford elks on littleton road, and you know it wasn't even the shortest breath's hesitation for me to be all in for nothing and nobody other than carter. but rita's piece clued me in to the availability of further information on the "care for carter" website. (where you wherever you are and enjoying the grace and good fortune of your life can pause for just a moment to donate whatever makes you feel good inside via wepay.com). so what and who can a dreaming person imagine might be on the bill?

things are sponsored and organized through curtis knight entertainment. curtis' was the band whom carter's parents, stephe and jeannie, met while playing together as drummer and singer. curtis knows how to put on a show.

MC? why carl beane, voice of the red sox at fenway park (the wakefield boycott does NOT extend to sox employees in the community doing great work such as this) with opportunities for photos with both carl AND his championship ring. house band? try "last laugh", one of the best cover bands in the state. guest performers? try charlie farren (yeah, that guy playing with jon butcher all over the place these days with that kick-ass new CD and some of the sweetest songs you've ever heard, and the guy sitting in with carter's band the vectormen last year from whom you've seen me link the video from carter and the vectormen's winning chelmsford battle of the bands show) and gary hoey (yeah, that guy playing guitar at lowell memorial auditorium this past christmas season with LITA FORD--sorry, got carried away there) who stands among the who's who of rock guitarists of this era that's all.

and if that isn't enough, check out the list of raffle items being given away throughout the afternoon: 22-passenger party bus rental from boston party tours. a dj gig by DJ scott. a free package at the radisson that throws in dinner AND breakfast wrapped around a free night's stay. (i'm thinking that's a trifecta right there--all your friends, a big party, and no driving!) scuba lessons and diver kit. skincare services. (why not for him!) lawnmower tuneups. (why not for her!) a 50/50 raffle.

so what's stopping you? it's at 2 in the afternoon, leaving you the morning to count your blessings in church, and the evening to rest up for monday. and you won't find a better lineup for any price next sunday or most any other day. you won't find a better reason to give of yourself and come together with people to support a better cause. and you won't find a better way to return home on a sunday evening and know that you're living your life to its fullest, and become energized to make of your week as much as you know carter will be vying to make of his.

let's do this!

no sox for you

is what they told wake, and so it's going to be no sox for me as a result.

wake is going out on his own terms with 200 wins, 3000 innings, and only walter johnson beside him with at least 4 wins over 17 consecutive major league seasons.

wake da man.

yup, the pen and tito francona's bogus managerial twitching cost wake a bunch of games last year that he and we will never get back, and the mephitic management "brain" trust is planning to throw us more of the likes of the 15.5million dollar morass who is john lackey and you can already see where this upcoming season is going to be going. (still no shortstop???)

you can seriously and for the upcoming season count me out. (i'm thinking a month for every win they didn't let wake earn to match and surpass cy young and that steroid-infused embarrassment they coddled for far too long back in the day is the least i can do to honor my favorite red sox player of all time). and, besides, nobody wants to have to look at botox bobby v popping out of the dugout to give us has-beens like bobby jenks in relief of never-was's like the nibbler (daisuke) and the yard man (lackey).

i'd rather be fishing. and so i'll be.

you learn something new every day

the meeting last night among lowell city council, license commission, neighborhood leaders, business owners, police and district attorney employees, and, most of all, concerned citizens, was, to me, a purely encouraging demonstration of the strength of our democratic and deliberative processes, and a positive reflection on the entire community. the license commission took the brunt of collective frustration and its share of lumps from the other speakers, but attorneys and license commissioners brian akashian and ray weicker (all best wishes to commissioner bayliss for his recovery from surgery that precluded his direct participation) were patient for their turn to speak, and creditably eloquent and constructively clear on the full extent and limits to their power as a commission, and fully positive with their suggestions on how better our police and community at large can assist them by bringing them the correctly documented incidents upon which they would be legally able to act. it was eye-opening to learn that, despite the across-the-board and significant increases in crime and liquor mismanagement incidents, the actual number of actionable incidents brought before the license commission has decreased(!!!).

the overwhelming consensus from residents, business owners, bar owners and community leaders was NOT to punish licensed establishments across the board for the misbehavior of a guilty few, and the entire room was collectively relieved and encouraged that no one had any interest in acting on the license commission recommendation to roll back hours across the city. (comments by commissioners made it clear that the nomination of which was more of a presentation of a stark alternative in order to motivate fair compromise than a serious suggestion, which is disappointing they lacked better trust in the other parties to have brought it up in the first place, but encouraging that they're right here with everyone else in wanting to preserve and protect successful, responsible enterprise). the police suggestions of altering closing-hour activities by barring late entry, stopping entertainment with enough time before closing to enable sufficient "winding down" for patrons, and monitoring doorways were accepted wholesale by the city council, and referred to city manager lynch for construction into actionable ordinances upon which they could vote at the earliest responsible opportunity. (perhaps not by this coming tuesday owing to the packet deadline of today, but likely within a week's time after that).

i like the sound of the proposals, will wait patiently for the city manager to craft the legislation and the council to properly deliberate and take action, and look forward to supporting my local establishments with my usual uninterrupted zeal. (the fundraising show at the old court for one of the victims of downtown violence, james mcswain, is tonight at 8pm, featuring the subprime lenders, the abbadons, and MED).

the license commission said loud and clear they want to be able to take action. it's now up to us to work with the city to craft the right legislative language for the new regulations, and to help the police in documenting any and all violations so that the entire process can be made to work to the advantage of all. everybody wants all the restaurants, bars and clubs to succeed responsibly. the owners want to succeed responsibly. let's help them!

you say it's your birthday

the open mic night at the back page turned one year old last night, and it's clear from the turnout and musical quality that there are a lot of people who see this (as i do) as reason to celebrate. i invited friends visiting from out of town to come along, and their comments before the night were to the effect, as so many people's comments around here are, that they're familiar with open mics from others nearby, and the un-uttered conclusion to their sentence would be far nearer to ho-hum than to rattle and hum. (ok, i'm not that big a U2 fan either, but the wordplay was too much fun to skip). so what's the attraction here?

somewhere after stephe clements kicked off the night with a set of both tasty covers and even tastier originals, including his homage to "29 again" in honor of a particularly comely bar patroness' 29th birthday celebration which made an especially nice bookend to the whole event's anniversary celebration, and somewhere before the capacity crowd wandered peaceably and respectfully back out into the neighborhood as too few places seem to do these days, my friends literally grabbed me by the arm to shake me to their attention to say that "omigod--these musicians are REALLY GOOD!!!" (this was done only a few minutes after they did something much similar in regards to the martinis that courtney sott was mixing from the bar).

yes. yes they are.

their favorite moment(s) of the evening was kaitlin dibble's, both fronting her own lineup, as well as singing backing vocals for arte kenyon during his 15 minutes in the spotlight. their second was everything carl johnson, except that it was also larry tremblay doing those johnny cash songs, and bob williams doing that tom waits thing that he does, and just about every other performer one after the other. and the summary was four words that tend to be very common among new attendees: "we had no idea".

being a bit better accustomed to the embarrassment of musical riches to which we're treated every week, i took note of two other salient points: first and foremost of all, the customer service and appreciation that was on display by courtney and pearl and the club's ownership. there's a high-top round table near the back of the club that has been adopted by an enthusiastic collection of artists from western avenue studios which has been full each and every night for the entire past year, and last night when i arrived early (i was impatient, what can i say) it was impossible not to notice the collection of beautifully-presented gift bags placed there at that table to say "thank you" for the loyalty and the patronage to the club contributed by this remarkable group of people. these are artists, not high-rolling fat-bar-tab casino whales, and their selfless approach to supporting their community and other artists is even hinted by their chosen eponym, "heathens anonymous". (long story, i think someone mis-read one of their group's names, which should have been "heather", and who knows if that's the real reason, but it makes sense to me). but, more important to me to remember--these are hardworking people who are giving back what little extra they can earn in order to support others who are working every bit as hard to add music to the painting and sculpture and smithing and etc. etc. etc. that's contributed each and every day to this beautiful city. that there's a business that gets this so beautifully well, and can earn its living catering to the creative spark that happens when so many talented people can come together in the right space, lends encouragement that, whatever our present difficulties, the underlying engine of human good here in the great city of lowell is still and will always be going strong.

second of all, which you might think now more of an asterisk than anything else, though i would suggest it's no less economically important, is that my out-of-town guests were all too happy to enjoy lunch at life alive in the afternoon, and dinner at etsogo in the evening, and make an entire day of their visit to lowell, and participate in the exact model of prosperity that was envisioned when first it was conceived to build residences in the downtown neighborhood to share the space with business and industry. even with the music being the singular compelling draw around which the rest of the day was arranged, any one of these businesses would have received no business were they to stand alone. but because all three (and more) are all here, they all become a magnet for people who appreciate the unique and tremendous experiences that happen here each and every day. and now there are two more people gone home to tell all their friends about the amazing experience they enjoyed here, and witnesses to refute any complaint, justified or otherwise, about the rest of the downtown experience of these past few weeks.

and that's the feeling i have most of all today.

i'm proud of lowell. i'm proud my friends can see it and share it and appreciate it as i do. i'm eager to go to the city council downtown summit meeting at 6:30pm this evening to add my constructive voice to making of this gem all that can be made.

it's about the experience.

it's one year old in one sense yesterday, but, nodding once again to the recent birthday anniversary of paul tsongas and the vision going on 40 years ago to make exactly this of the opportunity, it's the ever-renewing promise of a great city by a great river with great people all come together to do more.

happy birthday to you!

thanks, gerry

if you will follow this blog post you will find a link to this letter from attorney michael gallagher of the gallagher and cavanaugh law firm, recently moved into the recently renovated gaslight building on shattuck street. in it you will find reasonable and easily implementable suggestions to the lowell licensing commission in order to address present problems with alcohol establishments downtown. it's especially useful, since it's drafted from the point of view of encouraging downtown businesses to thrive, not running them out of town. it's highly recommended reading in advance of wednesday night's meeting at brian's ivy hall, and thursday's license commission and city council summit meetings. if you ask me, i'd consider our present work done if all of these recommendations were to be required and implemented.

it's really not a difficult problem, if everyone gets on the same page and works to resolve the issues.

aye aye captain

paul belley has some words on the proposed measures to help bars solve the behavior problems downtown on his blog. i've taken the liberty of commenting on the piece with my opinion. go ahead and hop over and read it there, and add your thoughts, too.

and then come on down to brian's ivy hall on wednesday, and the license commission meeting and special downtown summit meeting on thursday. be heard. make a difference.

"let's have a meeting to discuss the meeting"

when i first worked in corporate america, i endured a boss so overmatched that we had to have meetings to discuss upcoming meetings, and it always left me with the (correct) impression that things were completely out of control. now that we here in downtown lowell have discovered our situation to be much the same, (we can all have our opinions on who it is that is overmatched here), and it turns out that similar efforts have become necessary.

to that end, the owners of brians ivy hall are opening their doors on wednesday evening at 7pm, with an open invitation to downtown neighborhood association members, business owners, residents and other interested and concerned citizens to discuss the thursday meeting scheduled at city hall this coming thursday night. observing that it's early enough to still get me to my usual wednesday night patronage of downtown hospitality establishments, i'm all for it. you should be, too.

nobody wants to see honest, legitimate and responsible businesses suffer because dishonest, illigitimate and irresponsible businesses are continually breaking liquor rules. in the absence of effective action (let's hope this situation changes on thursday) by the city license commission, it's up to everyone else to fill the void and pull together to see that a vibrant and recovering downtown is given room to continue to grow. we lost the dubliner recently. we all know nobody wants to be the last casualty in any war, but neither do they or we want there to never be one.

take a stand. get involved. don't take pot-shots here and elsewhere complaining nobody else is getting it right, and then never step forward to put your own opinions and efforts on the line. because then you're just part of the problem, aren't you.

be part of the solution. (or shut up about it while others are).

never too early

in the interest of supporting local establishments, march 31st will find the limbo souls at voices rock club over in beautiful downtown centralville. just sayin'. it's a saturday night. they've got great sound. and the limbo souls are one of the most talented collections of musicians anywhere. (members of which are key contributors to various boston music award nominees among many other things). think of it like a lowell supergroup. like asia. or toto. only good. ;-)

waiting patiently

the license commission meeting this week should be a good one. i'm encouraged that the commissioners may be motivated to (finally) do something in support of well-run downtown bars and restaurants, as well as other downtown neighborhood businesses and residents, not to mention the police who are putting their lives on the line in the interest of public safety to make up for the irresponsible serving of alcohol by the proverbial bad apples.

i did have to scratch my head why the public statements by various commissioners should go from no response to these sorts of blatant violations (e.g. the village smokehouse repeatedly serving underage patrons but receiving no penalty) to suggesting blanket rollback of serving hours for all city establishments, which would seem to me to penalize the well-run places and keep the playing field slanted towards the poorly-run places, which, as these things go, continue to cut corners and put lives and property at risk. nobody here (that i know of) is trying to shut down responsible places of business. in fact, speaking for myself and the majority of the people i know who live around here, we're actually happy to have more well-run places to go and good peaceful people frequenting them, and we're eager to do what we can (spending our own dollars here more than everybody else does put our money where our mouths are on this) to support local establishments.

with that in mind, i was encouraged that underage serving at mr. jalapeno recently did result in a suspension of their license, and i am hopeful that such sanction and more is meted out to the incredibly irresponsible ownership and management at fortunato's, who not only broke all the same rules and much, much more, but did so without sufficient provision for crowd control, nor calling the cops when the fights broke out inside their establishment. nobody wants rioting drunks in their neighborhood, and we certainly don't want them here in ours, nor the people bringing them in.

which is, i suppose a good time to point out that outfits like brian's ivy hall and hookslide kelly's, however we feel about the behavior of their clientele on the streets, have never been cited (to my knowledge) for underage drinking, overserving, or capacity violations, and do pay police details to be both outside and inside their establishments, and regularly call additional officers to their premises when patrons misbehave. this, of course, causes statistics to appear as if they are contributing more than their share of the problems, whereas i would suggest that this rather suggests that they are actually the models for part of the solution. (the other parts being license commission action, and the consistency of lowell liquor establishments acting together to manage the issues caused by out-of-town drunks and disorderlies). i've studied the police stats, and find that the raw numbers for BIH and hookslides are somewhat padded by non-violent things like counterfeit bills, but mostly by the number of disorderly would-be patrons that are turned aside at their door and reported to the cops for proper handling before they even set foot and turn glass bottom side up in their establishments. think about it--if all the bars took the knuckleheads out of line and sent them on their way, and did so consistently, then the knuckleheads wouldn't have much reason to come back here. the problem, as i see it, is that such knuckleheads find no difficulty in being served elsewhere, so there's no ultimate deterrent from coming back around the next weekend and trying it all over again. (and, yeah, in addition to the smokehouse, the bar that shall not be named is part of that problem for sure).

i'm just hopeful that cooler heads will see the essence of the problem, identify the offenders, (which is pretty easy when you read the police reports), and target the sanctions squarely upon those as justified and required by the regulations they have broken, and leave the legitimate and responsible businesspeople to their livelihoods. the best possible solution rewards establishments that run a tight, clean, customer-oriented ship, and provide some of the best entertainment and hospitality around. these folks ought to know that the entire community supports them, from the residents, to their neighboring businesses, to the police and city administration as well. and the best possible solution also should effectively punish establishments that run a loose, dirty, customer-disrespecting ship, and provide only anarchy and violence to everyone and everything around them. these folks ought to know that the entire community opposes them, from the residents, to their neighboring businesses, to the police and city administration as well.

hats off once again to the board of health for acting where others have not yet had opportunity to show what they can and will do.

now, about that afternoon meeting time...

what you can do

all of us horrified and heartbroken at the results of the violence downtown feel like we want to do more. i like to feel like the positive emotions and healing vibrations can be shared beyond just those individuals we know, and several events coming up are going to give us the opportunity for doing exactly that.

on friday, february 14th, "rock for james mcswain" is being held upstairs at the old court. james was tragically one of the earliest victims of this recent spate of downtown violence--jumped while generously walking another friend home this most recent december 15th. he is by all accounts one of the kindest and most generous of friends, and loyal of employees, and a great lineup of musicians is assembled to help as they can. the abbadons and subprime lenders head the bill, and DJ m.e.d. will be entertaining folks between sets--8pm start, with donations at the door, a 50/50 raffle, and the perfect opportunity to be one of those to stand up and be counted in refusal to stand by while people are being assaulted in the street, and to do what we can in the effort to aid james in his long road to recovery from traumatic brain injury. all the info you need is right here.

speaking of traumatic brain injury, those who have been to the back page open mic over the past months are well acquainted with carter clements, whose talents and generosity are both as remarkable as he is as a person. carter was in a car accident driving home from a job interview a few weeks ago (that he aced, by the way), and is now at the spaulding rehab hospital working on his own long road. his parents and friends have set up carter's own internet domain for the musical career we are all praying he resumes at his earliest ability, and used it to promote an upcoming fundraiser on sunday, february 26th, at the chelmsford elks. donations are $20, or your age if you're under 20 years old. included will be thank-you presentations to police, firemen, emt's and others who were instrumental in getting carter the medical treatment that likely saved his life, and have given him the chance to recover. everything on this event is right here.

and, meanwhile, to honor james' personal tragedy, and those of the others injured downtown here since, we should all set our calendars to head to the license commission meeting this coming thursday to let them know, too, how much we care about the young men who have been paying for our collective inability to do better for them and for all.

we all need to do what we can.

FINALLY

someone at the city of lowell board of health has both a clue and the balls to act. this just made my day. and, no, not because some person or persons are potentially losing their livelihood at this particular bar. but because someone is finally being held accountable for all the livelihoods that they jeopardize through their irresponsibility, and are lost every day down the street because of injury and job loss. i had to step over a pile of puke on merrimack on my way to palmer and middle to take this photo, but i'll spare you the nauseating one and just give you the good one.

i'm reserving judgment on the license commission to see what they will choose to do in the wake of the melee and police injuries. i hope they take initiative to act with a strong and revitalized policy of zero tolerance on the license violations reported as part of the incident. (capacity violations, patron age violations, overserving violations, etc.)

more of the same will no longer do.

here's kudos to our city department of health for taking the action that is within their responsibility and authority. if all city agencies, departments and boards would now do the same, downtown lowell would be a much better place for it.

welcome home

NOT the news one wants to read upon touch-down at logan airport after a red-eye flight, and the sun headline says, if not all, then quite enough: downtown melee results in 13 arrests and 3 cops injured. and here's the follow-up piece with the details.

this is exactly what the superintendent of police A YEAR AGO warned was coming, and exactly what myself and other downtown residents have been imploring the license commission to understand, and something i should hope no one feels should be downplayed or rationalized or put off to "just downtown city life".

this is a neighborhood. this is a place of business. this is where people are raising children, and sending their children to school. this is where the best and the worst of lowell all come together, and put upon each and every participant the question of who and what they are going to acquit themselves to be.

i want to know from where these 13 originated. i want to know from where these 13 emerged potentially overserved. and i want to know what each and every license commissioner and city councilor will say and do next.

detractor? anonymous pot-shotter? opinions?

edited to add link to the more complete story that has become available. the police are promising to release the names and addresses today. can't wait.

let me get this straight...

we've all read by now the lowell sun's latest article summarizing this past year's downtown violence and the growing consensus that the license commission is failing to do their part, along with the defensive statements by the license commissioners excusing themselves from all culpability, citing, among other things, a limited number of concerned residents (four? really? you only count four downtown residents with concerns about this???) and that they're really doing everything they can since they cited on bar for an underage patron once.

here's are the two beauties from where i'm standing: "weicker [license commissioner raymond weicker] said all complaints about downtown come from the same four residents". and "the license commission cannot be out on the street at 2 in the morning akashian [license commissioner brian akashian] said".

really???

so lemme get this straight. the license commission says it holds its meetings at three in the afternoon because this allows for bar managers to be in their bars during the important hours. doesn't this also, or am i missing something, make it just as easy for the license commissioners to do the same thing in pursuit of the duty to which they have been sworn? or is the inconvenience of altering their schedule and ZERO commissioners showing up somehow different than the inconvenience of altering their schedule and at least four downtown residents showing up at their license commission meetings???

and, pardon me for pointing it out, but more than four residents go to their meetings and voice their concerns, despite commissioners then claiming that the meeting times can't possibly be an inconvenience since they are there, and more than four residents regularly attend the meetings hosted by the superintendent bringing together downtown residents, business owners and police to discuss the situation, (with nary a license commissioner in sight, i might further mention), and more than four residents regularly attend downtown neighborhood association meetings where police and city council members and others find it possible to appear, and more than four residents are out on the neighborhood streets at 2am on a weekend wee-hour morning to see what is really going on.

so who you gonna believe?

the cops who are out there getting spit on and resisted from doing their extremely dangerous and far-too-little-thanked job? the residents who are out there both at 2am observing the causes, and at 8am the next morning stepping over and around and through the effects? the busines owners, who are paying the cost of vandalism repair and the heartache of learning that their doorsteps are becoming the scenes of far too many crimes? (all of whom who are on record in the sun as in agreement that the license commission is at the very least late to this party). or the license commissioners who feel that the full extent of their responsibility is to meet every couple of weeks at 3 in the afternoon, and take bar owners at their word that all is well, and do damn straight nothing constructive at all?

but one last raspberry to the well-intended but self-revealed to be ignorant city councilor rita mercier, who says in one breath that she has, in words paraphrased by the sun, "spoken with downtown residents about the problems", but in the next saying "we need to have another type of downtown summit whereby we can meet bar owners and residents and have a healthy discussion..."

um, rita, i think it's been happening every couple of months at the invitation of your own superintedent of police, and you'd be more than welcome to join if you for a moment stop talking about yourself talking to people, and actually come out and talk to a few closer to what's happening, and what is being done about it.

but, let's not lose sight of the problem:

we have license commissioners overseeing bars without any feeling of responsibility to actually familiarize themselves with what is going on there.

that's gotta change.

ray, brian, and walter, come on out. i'll buy the beer. you just see what it is that you don't know about your job.

please????

there's no place like home

glass half full, i had near-center-ice seats, 15 rows up, for the sharks/flames match last night. you can't ask for better seats. glass even more full, i got to miss the shameful drubbing the sabres put on the b's last night in order to catch it.

watching the sharks i was instantly nostalgic for home and for the bruins. their arena is very good, with excellent sight-lines and proximity to the ice, but their habits for pre and in-game entertainment are a jarring reminder that in boston, it's all about hockey, while in a lot of places elsewhere, not as much. (the silly dry-ice-fog shark mouth out of which the team skates for introductions is particularly hokey). don't get me wrong, the sharks fans are active and enthusiastic, (i've rarely seen as many people in an arena all wearing team jerseys), but for rows and rows around me the confusion around almost every call was a sobering reminder that most of this country just doesn't understand hockey. i spent half my time explaining delayed offsides, hand-pass subtleties between attacking and defensive zones, and why, if the puck deflects off an attacking player's stick, they don't get to have the ensuing faceoff in their attacking zone, even if there's only a minute left in the game and they really really need the break. just doesn't work that way.

but all-in-all it was hockey with people who love their team, and that's always a good thing. (except in montreal, but you already knew that).

congrats to the eight red-sweatered flames fans amidst the sea of teal on their good fortune, and thanks to the city of san jose for the hospitality.

but i can't wait to be back in the tsongas arena for the rest of the riverhawks season, and home among the rest of the bruins nation for the run for their next cup.

go broons!

frat boy is as frat boy does

folks reading the comments here may have noticed an attempt to bait me including disparaging reference to a "frat boy" lifestyle. well, first of all, i do find it somewhat ironic that someone in one breath admonishing me to "get a life" would accuse me of living too much of one in the next, but most of all i find it of a piece with much of what i've experienced since my divorce by people who do not understand.

years ago i used to serve on the town finance committee where i once lived, and i would drive home from the school gym with all the rest of the town meeting attendees after each get-together and find myself nostalgic for a similar memory of summer camp when we'd all return to our tents after an evening campfire. (being such a small town, there was little other reason for cars to be on the road at such late hours in such numbers, much like numerous coincident walkers through nighttime mountain woods). i always found something inspiring in knowing my neighbors, and feeling connected to them, even in sharing something as individual as a trip home from being out in and among.

so it is, years later, that i found myself divorced and contemplating what sort of life i would choose to lead. the standard practice seemed to be buying a matching suburban/rural house to ones spouse, and trying to mirror the living space for the kids so they had something similar from which to shuttle back and forth. but that felt all kinds of wrong to me. why shouldn't my children have ONE home and no attempt to dilute that with another? why shouldn't i have a life beyond a suburban couch in front of a suburban tv, exhausted from raking leaves or shoveling driveways or cleaning gutters? (more time to spend with the kids, for one thing).

the answer i didn't expect was found on my first trip onto market street and meeting my auntie anita who had the keys to every sort of living choice right here in lowell. (you should all have such a kind and patient real estate agent).

i chose a condo because it came with a condo fee, and not a yard, driveway and gutter system that was any of my direct responsibility to maintain. i chose a downtown condo because i still had to choose between my couch and some other life, and maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was blind luck, but i chose a place where my living room could become my neighborhood. and i took many active steps to ensure it could be so:

1. i didn't have cable tv (for a couple of years actually) so i wouldn't have excuse to sit home when the bruins or other favorite team was on--i'd have to go out to a bar to watch. (after a couple years i had faith that i wasn't going to sit in, so i sprang for the cable for convenience and having friends over to watch with me).
2. i worked from home so my water cooler could become my neighborhood coffeeshops and lunch places. when the conference calls were over, and i felt like enjoying the warmth of human contact, i could walk out to the street and be among my neighbors instantly. no driving, no waiting.
3. i bought canvas shopping bags for walking to neighborhood grocery stores, and bike racks for transporting things longer distances, though i find i tend to just walk as far as i need, and the only places i ride would be my dealer (my car dealer, and, yes, i do have an addiction), and just for fun.
4. i familiarized myself with riverhawks hockey and spinners baseball and indulged myself live sports whenever i pleased.

but you all know what i'm really on about, and the major distraction slash reward was, is, and will likely always be the music.

when i was fresh out of college i lived and worked in brighton and virtually lived at the clubs there. willie alexander. the cars. jon butcher axis. j. geils. the neighborhoods. bands that got national record contracts and huge radio play, and bands that simply just couldn't be squeezed into the formats and were just as good if not better. i was experiencing something that was and is truly rare in this world--an explosion of musical creativity that fed on itself and just kept growing and getting better. i can't claim to be any more tasteful than the next person, but i can claim to be as experienced as most when it comes to live music.

so it is that i'm perusing the boston music award nominations, and can't help but notice how many lowell acts are up for the titles this year. melvern taylor. jen kearney. (the first two lowell bands with whom i fell in love on my birthday almost five years ago). dee tension. amy black. sir bob nash. (for production). and the list goes on. many people here don't see it, because they don't go out and they just don't know how good the music is and continues to become moreso here. but i begin to feel it the same way i felt it thirty years ago in boston. something more is going to come from this. someone. and it will become many someones, because they all know each other because they all share this amazing place with each other, and the creativity just builds on itself.

so, you tell me. should i be like folks who prefer their living room to be their living room, and their couch to be their only seat as they watch their life go by?

you know my answer. when the laptop shuts and the work is done and most folks are poking into their refrigerator for more ballast to keep them pinned to their couch cusions, i'm raking through cometolowell.com and facebook and everywhere else i learn these things are happening, and i walk across my living room which is really all of downtown lowell, and i choose my seat for every evening where i can have the life i prefer.

and when it's over for each night, i like the fact that i know the people walking home with me through the streets, and that we have this in common.

we support our city with our time and our money and our hearts. we are the lowell that is growing and thriving. and we don't need to make excuse for how many years we've been doing it, because we are doing it. i have friends who have lived all their lives here, and i have friends who just arrived. and i'm somewhere in the middle, where it is that i always enjoy to be.

get out. see what's happening here. it's a different life than you know, but it's one of the most rewarding i have ever known.

shangri-lowell. best place on earth.

stunned

another violent episode in the city, this one including a fatality, (this time not downtown, but the tragedy is no less) and i'm stunned at the close succession of these incidents. we all tend to try to rationalize our safety, (people commenting here have mentioned gangs and other groups to which they don't belong, which i take as much as a rationalization as i do an explanation), but the truth is that we all remain vulnerable as long as anyone remains vulnerable. i'm hopeful those responsible can be apprehended and fair and proper justice can be applied, even if only for the peace of mind of those most affected. it would be far better to be reading about other things in the morning to say the least.

hockey nation

one of the best things about being a hockey fan is being part of the whole of hockey fandom. not only do i have tickets to see calgary play san jose at the shark tank tomorrow, but i have a whole new set of friends. i'm even enjoying the ribbing from the north carolinian about their recent sweep of the season series. he agrees that montreal sucks which is really the glue that binds all real fans together. and who doesn't love anyone who feels that way?

bruins cap. check. tickets. check. hockey. doesn't get any better than this.

rob mills, we missed you

there are some individuals who make a difference in this city. anyone noting the precipitous drop-off in quantity and quality of lowell sun crime reporting over the past week know that rob mills is surely one of them.

rob's back, and he's written a follow-up piece about the beating on middle street a few nights ago. it would appear that $2000 is the opening bid for information that identifies the assailants. that, and the gratitude of a concerned city.

i'm daily learning more of the long and arduous path families must take when a loved one sustains a traumatic brain injury, as appears to be the case here as well. such injury itself is hard enough. but its impact on families and friends ripples through a community in so many devastating ways. if you can't feel it, at least feel grateful that it's something you do not yet know, and hope that you never.

yes, hope is something we all should share here.

why i love hockey

anyone remember tank stoning the caps yesterday? (i do).

the riverhawks are rising.

the bruins are there at the top and defending their turf.

it's a beautiful thing.

who gives a shit?

15 year old daughter rule.

when i moved to lowell, i was amazed at the number of people from lowell and its surroundings who told me that i had moved into a dangerous neighborhood into which they would advise i not go, let alone live. downtown obviously left quite an impression upon those people during their last trip here whenever that might have been, but it was pretty obvious few if any of them had spent any time here, because their stories of the place were so obviously from so many decades ago when all of it and more had become the stuff of legend. who even knows what's true about those days anymore? and it was all so easy to dismiss, because their ignorance of their own home town was so blatantly obvious (boardinghouse park? "never been there") and their perfidious lack of pride was all that needed to be said about their character and their credentials. not that it stopped them from sitting on their "high on crack street" high horse, and disdaining if not outright ridiculing anyone who hadn't earned residential stripes during the dark years.

such sentiment continues to be expressed now in an ironic twist on the ignorance, that the level of crime, violence and vandalism that does occur here these days is something about which newcomers ought not to complain. (i think the presumption is that since the stories of today can never quite live up to the stories of the worst of things 30 years ago from their often-hallucinogenic memories and imaginations, anyone sensitive to such must therefore be some sort of little lord and/or lady fauntleroy to have their pantywaist panties in any kind of bunch).

really?

so who really gives a shit about this city?

the self-appointed lifers (or been-here-longer-than-yous) who talk trash about the place everyday and twice on sunday based on having been scared once or twice or three times decades ago, and who so much prefer living in that fear that they refuse to actually live in the city they intend to talk everyone else out of visiting, let alone in which living? the self-ordained would-be urban coolsters who prefer to talk trash about everyone else who doesn't enjoy a little puke on their doorstep in the morning? the head-in-the-merrimack-mud armchair obstinates who insist that people getting shot and stabbed down here must obviously not matter, since they were stupid enough to be down here or something such like that?

posers.

all of them.

none of them gives a shit. the way my impressions have been formed, the first bunch apparently would rather have the place die so they can say they went down with a ship, i suppose in explanation and excuse for their own life's failure. (it was the city's fault!) the second bunch would rather hate on anyone not as urban coolster as they prefer to think themselves to be, i suppose so they can play the uber-bohemian game and try to impress people at parties. the third group are the title-takers, though, for having lost all semblance of humanity years ago, that they read the newspaper like some sort of bizarre and perverse parlor game, where the body count becomes more fun than considering the people and the families who endure tragedy here and everywhere else in the world. (bet they're having fun reading all about the missing toddler case up in nh right now).

know what?

lowell rocks. it's the most diverse, culturally rich, affordable, and hands-down best place to live anywhere. it's full of parochial and argumentative and well-fully-formed characters that provide endless fascination and personal reward for sharing the city with them. and it's not anywhere where wrong is allowed to stand.

those who were once from here, but who now cower in their parlors and living rooms and cling to the memory of days long since gone by really need to get out more--you're missing something special.

those who are now from here, and who now feel passionately enough about the place to get into it with anyone who also gets into it because we all want it to be all it can be, you rock.

but those who want to ignore their brothers and sisters beaten and stabbed and shot in the street, you can kiss my ass, and you ought to take a long, hard look at yourselves in the mirror, and wonder how it all got so far lost.

i give a shit.

it just keeps coming

the latest comment added here suggests, in answer to shootings and stabbings, that those unwilling to accept the status quo need to "get a life".

the utter absence of humanity in that statement is stunning, though it's put in better perspective by the concluding bit that people who are opposed to mortal violence must surely prefer something else that context suggests the commenter considers a socio-economic slur.

really?

well, i say ignorance is as ignorance does, (for example, boston's murder rate far surpasses lowell's), and anyone who considers standing up in opposition to mortal violence beneath them needs to take a long hard look at themselves and what they've become.

because it's an embarrassment, though they hardly seem to recognize it.

the second break

hockey games and full-night band shows have three periods/sets, and between sets 2 and 3 last night at furey's, arte k, carl johnson, steve esposito and justin beaulieu gave their stage to corey b for a great short set of songs that had the place good and rocking, just as it was during each of the three regular band sets. (between today's bruins 2nd and 3rd periods you get me typing this--you tell me who wins). it took a lot of courage, because the band had the room in the palms of their hands, and the lineup for people buying cd's at the end of the night stands as testimony to the quality of the show.

hope you got out and had even a fraction of the fun i had.

bruins are on--priorities!

the bruins are on, so this will be quick, and sans photographique, but i'll save the record on my phone if anyone needs the pictures:

1. new plastic booze-filled cup on palmer between market and middle.
2. at least 8 visible beer bottles in private trash can in the enterprise bank parking lot on middle.
3. empty mcgillicudy's fifth in trash can on middle
4. empty hennessey bottle in trash can on middle between smokehouse and old court
5. cracked window glass in clothing store on prospect
6. pile of puke in doorway on prospect
7. urine stain in doorway on prospect
8. broken bud light bottle in the middle of the sidewalk on merrimack near BIH
9. heineken 22oz bottle in can on merrimack down from BIH
10. bud light bottle behind fenced area in front of st joseph the worker shrine
11. urine stains in alley off prospect
12. plastic cup much like those used to serve booze in the bar not to be named in sewer grate on market

the very good news is that (i think) no one needed to be flown by helicopter to boston to save their life from visiting downtown lowell last night.

which reminds me of seeing the video outtakes from neil young's latest and soon-to-be released recording yesterday, and his words so poignant over 40 years ago:

how many more?

why it matters

the two main complaints received about the attention paid here in this blog to downtown disorder are bias and over-sensitivity--both delivered with the sentiment that each fault is counter-productive to the goal of a vibrant and vital downtown.

i wonder what the commenters might have to say about the photograph of the ambulance on middle street at 2am last night, and the comment contributed to that post suggesting it was at the scene of a severe beating delivered to a patron leaving one of the downtown bars? (we don't have professional journalism upon which to rely in the absence of rob mills, which is both an expression of sincere appreciation for all rob contributes to this community, as well as an indictment of the local paper that it doesn't bother to fill the void in his absence--we'd all be reading it if someone would be writing it).

bob tugbiyele volunteered a compelling presentation about the "broken windows" theory of neighborhood management and policing at a recent downtown neighborhood association meeting, and you can consider my posts here an homage to the sentiment. no, a glass of unfinished bar booze standing in the street the next morning is not a big deal in and of itself, but it speaks to several troubling possibilities that i find unacceptable: first of all, it's the responsibility of the bars to make sure patrons are not leaving with open containers of alcohol, and they are CLEARLY not doing that. (license commissioners are invited to offer opinions either here or in their meetings on the subject, and to propose sanctions for violations, if they have the balls to actually do their jobs, which, to this point, it is my completely biased and personal opinion that they are not). second of all, it's obvious that the police are doing what they can to respond to direct incidents of violence, like fights in the street and/or in the bars themselves, but unless and until everyone else down here refuses to look the other way while it is happening, the police alone are not going to be capable of being everywhere at all times. it's up to us to have the downtown we want.

a commenter here previously suggested a prior incident indicates gang presence based on the victim of a stab wound refusing to let on about how, where and by whom it was delivered. it's possible that's similar to the case of the beating last night, or it's possible that you or i could just as well have been the victim--who is to say. i say i am not willing to accept that anyone is being beaten or stabbed or even threatened as a result of choosing to patronize any of the establishments in downtown lowell. it's been further suggested that talking about it is why other people might choose not to buy or rent living accommodations down here, but i'm quite convinced that anyone not choosing to live down here as a result of someone being honest enough to talk about it is exactly the kind of person we wouldn't want down here anyway.

it's urban and it's mixed-use down here--which means noisy and dirty and congested at the best of times, and dangerous, dirty and empty at the worst. i'm voting in favor of noisy, clean(er), busy and safe. i think that is something that can work for everyone. now it's up to us.

a walking tour of downtown saturday shangri-lowell

you'll have to forgive the formatting on this one, as i really don't know an easy way to arrange these all via blogger. you'll also have to forgive what will appear to my detractor as "bias", as many of these come from the market/palmer nexus that's been our previous sticking point. i honestly tried as hard as i could to walk up and down every street downtown within the perimeter formed by middlesex street to the south, marston street to the west of the jambra section, central and bridge streets to the east, father morisette to the north, and shattuck street and kirk street to the west of the downtown downtown section. so with that as an outline, i made the complete tour, including all the interior streets as well, and just took in what i could see. the goal was to walk around every one of the four bars that the detractor called out, and catch everything in between as well.

the photographs, in order as best i can tell via the blogger composition tool, are:

1. the trash can outside the leo roy garage containing the 22 oz heineken empty that apparently came from someone "pregaming" (as that size isn't sold in any of the bars downtown) that's across the street from the bar that shall not be named but could have come from anyone patronizing anything on market or middle street using that garage as their home base as is frequently the case.

2. the remants of the mixed drink in the plastic cup placed atop the trash container on palmer street outside the bar that shall not be named that i'll suggest is quite likely from the bar that shall not be named because they're one of the only ones i know (the only ones i know, actually), serving in plastic cups downtown these days, but if you have better information on serving containers please improve mine.

3. the coors light empty on the ground on palmer street outside the bar that shall not be named.

4. the bud light and nip bottle on the ground in the alley off of palmer street outside the bar that shall not be named.

5. the broken heineken bottle in the park half a block down middle street from both the old court and the village smokehouse.

6. the half-empty plastic cup containing the remnants of a mixed drink in a doorway on middle street halfway between the old court (who does not to my knowledge serve in plastic cups) and the village smokehouse (which does not to my knowledge serve in plastic cups).

7. the bud light can and vodka bottle in the trash container on middle street outside the side door to the old court.

8. the empty bud light bottle on the ground across the street from savanna palace.

9. the red stripe beer bottle on the ground inside the fence on middlesex street on the other side of the early garage from garcia brogans.

what i did not observe was any alcohol-related trash off the premises of either hookslide kelly's or brians ivy hall, neither on merrimack street, bridge street, lee street, john street, paige street, kirk street, or father morisette boulevard. (an asterisk for the alley besides hookslide kellys that was rife with the detritus of outdoor drinking, which i'm unclear whether is considered on their premises or not--if not, then there are a bunch of photos deserving to be here that are not). this does not mean the crowds at BIH and hookslides didn't get into fights or otherwise cause disturbances with and without a police presence, just that last night there did not seem to be any trash or unfortunate bodily effluents or vandalism in that area of downtown to leave record of it. the majority of the leavings continue to be in the area fanning out from the intersections of palmer and middle street on one end of the block, and palmer and market streets on the other end of the block, and you can call it bias or anything else you like, but that's what i saw this morning. and, like i said, i walked all over lee john paige and kirk streets where some have suggested all the trouble generally is. it also doesn't speak to the ambulance call on middle street pictured in a previous post, the details of which aren't available because rob mills is on vacation and there clearly isn't anyone else like him writing about downtown and elsewhere anywhere in this city. (we miss you rob!)

if you have pictures, stories, or rebuttals, please contribute. this is just random picture-taking intended to provoke discussion, not draw conclusions.

as it happens

here's the enterprise bank parking lot just after 2am last night...

just plain rocking

wednesday nights i've taken to playing the musical roulette that is the open mic over at the back page, which is the best kind of roulette, because it's the kind you always win. and these past weeks those who have been there with me have learned that michael skinner is someone who can, to say the absolute and very least, sing and play his way around a song. (think a little martin sexton, and the best part is that, as good as he is, he's not been the first, nor is he going to be the last in this weekly game of "can you top this").

his is now the second home-produced cd i have proudly been able to purchase at the shows, and i say proudly because i want to stress that michael was giving the cd's to anyone who couldn't afford to pay him for 'em, and taking whatever people felt right about affording for the others. (now THAT is a distribution model for everyone). i can't say if other people paid more or less or nothing, i just know that this is one of the best $5 i've invested since i fronted for the glass of beer i enjoyed while listening to the songs being played live right in front of me. and i'm not just saying that because the fifth track on the five-track disc is a ukulele version of the beatles' all my lovin'. (support your local ukulele player!)

if you're not getting out on wednesday nights to catch this stuff, i can't even begin to describe all that you're missing. (well, i can begin, but you won't have patience to read through to the end). there's talent like mike's, and as at any open mic there's not so much, and it's all thrown together into one of the most collegial and well-served (say hi to courtney behind the bar and pearl your waitress for me) evenings anywhere in the city. the room is comfortable, clean, and, best of all, sounds GREAT. this past week, heather at the back table had her birthday party (i won't say which one) thrown by all her friends, and i know who heather is because i met her right there at that same table so many months ago just because it's the kind of room where everyone meets everyone else and becomes good friends along the way, and it's my proud pleasure to be able to be there to be part of it. kelly at the front table brought an entire box of john-lennon-style tinted round glasses so everyone could wear them in a group picture to send to carter clements who is recovering from injuries and hasn't been able to play these past weeks, who i met for the first time at that room, too. mickey, who i know well enough to know has dabbled with a ukulele, but not well enough to have learned his last name yet, pulled out his left-handed guitar and played through some arrangements of some amazing jazz standards and popular songs that left the room amazed and at the edge of every seat. some folks i've never met before came in late, and one of the best-legged women (she was wearing the short skirt to prove it--i wouldn't lead you on about something like this) you could imagine came up to larry tremblay as he was working his way through a little johnny cash on his d-tuned taylor and put some cash in his shirt like only happens at the funniest and most fun of parties. matt sang duets with cassie, lee sullivan opened the night on the piano, (leeroy!!!), mattie siopes was there after his gig at LTC and smiling that smile that suggests there isn't anyone enjoying playing downtown any more than he does, and the list goes on much longer than my memory is capable to recall.

but mike's cd i have right here in my hand, and the songs ripped neatly onto my 'pod for walking and driving around listening. can't wait to find out what i'm going to discover next week.

rocking lowell rock and roll

anthony j resta has earned by rough count an even dozen (spit when you say it) RIAA certified gold and platinum and multi-platinum records, producing everyone from (spit when you say it) duran duran to elton john to blondie to collective soul, but none sound any better to me than the work he's done with lowell's own serial thrillers. it's practically impossible to get the address for the studio via cursory google-fu (i tried--depending on the web reference, it's a mill space either west or north of boston, and i'm not counting lowell out as a possibility, though i have no idea where it might be) but it's everywhere to get the sound of it. his studio operation, known as bopnique musique, publishes a "track of the week", and this week it's lowell's own serial thrillers, and they do indeed sound great. (my opinion--make yours by following the link). because that link will turn over soon, i'll also include the direct link to the soundcloud recording, in case that persists longer and you're reading this some time in the future.

besides anthony's and bopnique's amazing resume, i'll point out for the extremely musically inclined who may have been following the boston music scene since the early 80's, that one of anthony's testimonials is contributed by one mark zamcheck, the name of whom may not ring as many bells as his and his sisters' band, "the make". i love me mark zamcheck. i spent years tracking down the vinyl of the make's democracy EP, and got it right here in downtown lowell at RR records, which is yet another amazing musical resource for those with the ear. it's always a treat to see people you like liking people who are liking other people you like. which is a long way of getting around to say that i'm pretty sure i like bopnique a lot now, too, in addition to the make, and especially in addition to serial thrillers.

i've got (what i'm pretty sure are) both serial thrillers' official releases, and every track is money. if you like what you hear from the random track, don't hesitate to look the rest of 'em up via serial thrillers' own web site. paul ortolano does not play nearly enough live around these parts (last show of his i caught was at the hard rock in boston) but it's a show you need to put on your list the next time it comes around.

rock on!

rocking rock and roll

live show concert tickets are waaaaaay too expensive to see way too many bands. between live nation monopolizing all the quality venues and forcing charges through the roof as a result to take advantage of their monopoly, and casinos bullying fans every step of the rest of the way (artists taking the big money to play casinos are restricted in their ability to play anywhere else within hundreds of miles), it's to the point where even marginally entertaining acts can be an arm and a leg to see. some places, like johnny d's in somerville, and jonathan's in ogunquit, put together "dinner and a show" packages for priority seating to help offset the cost of the entertainment with a good meal for people able to afford to pay the freight, but if you don't want to be SRO in the back of the room with a mostly-empty wallet instead of further down front with a fully-empty one, there are fewer and fewer choices for you these days.

one strategy i highly recommend is local live music. here you have musicians every bit as talented as many if not most of these touring acts, (ask carl johnson for a list of his opening credits some time, and be prepared to sit awhile for the complete list, and if there isn't someone there who's been a favorite of yours, the next beer is on me--i saw him first opening for daryl hall), and they're playing most times for FREE in a barroom near you. (carl is with arte k over at furey's on saturday night, where i hope to be entertaining all you folks who don't believe i believe in $8 pitchers of PBR). the other strategy is to grow in loyalty with bands who refuse to soak their fans, and who have playing honest music for honest ticket prices ever since the beginning. case in point: rancid at the house of blues in boston on sunday, may 20th, 2012.

down front tickets to see rancid at the house of blues in boston on sunday, may 20th, 2012 are 22 bucks. throw in live nation's $6.55 "convenience charge" and even the house of blues foundation room access before and after the show for another $10, and you're still less than $40 for the evening. (ok, the $6 PBR's are going to sting a little, but it's the price to be paid for rock and roll sometimes). standing room for lauryn hill at that same venue STARTS at $57.50. (don't forget your "convenience" charge, too!)

somewhere somehow sometime this madness has to stop. the first show i ever paid to see (queen at the boston garden) was $5.50 for the ticket. Yeah, yeah, yeah, inflation, blah blah blah, but it's still gone literally crazy. we're talking the difference between a top recording artist in their ascendency for about the price of a recording, as opposed to i don't happen to have a lauryn hill album, do you? for 5 times as much, and climbing. (and i used to think that queen's day at the races LP jumping to a list price of $7.98 compared to night at the opera for $6.98 back in the day was news). i have friends who saw paul mccartney at fenway park and swear it was worth every penny of the several hundred dollars it took to procure the seat, but, seriously, how many artists can you afford to support over the course of the year with sir paul taking that kind of bite out of your budget for starters?

so, yeah, i love rancid. i've seen them at the fillmore west in san francisco, and i've seen them at the roseland ballroom in new york, and i've seen them at the palladium in worcester, and i've seen them at the house of blues in boston on their last trip, too. (yeah, i was the guy in the balcony singing slash screaming along to the elvis costello tunes during the break). i think $20 was the most i ever paid to get in to see them, (boston last time), and the palladium was $15 just a few years ago, and the roseland show was $10. (i had to run uptown from work on wall street in my suit and tie to stand in line with the punks to get my ticket). san francisco was so long ago i simply can't recall, but what i do remember about each and every show is that i've been able to afford extras from t-shirts to CD's to house of blues little VIP room nonsense each and every time, and left with a smile on my face and a ringing in my ears that can't be had like that at any price anywhere else.

it's called love.

rancid loves their fans. their fans love rancid. there's money involved because somebody has to pay for the bus and the venue and the PA and for the band to feed themselves and their families, but it's respectful money and never more than everyone can afford. the world needs more of this.

i have all their records. i have the uniform. (worn out t-shirt, yo). i have it so hard for this band, that i drop everything the moment their stuff goes on sale, and i get it. and i love it all.

find a band like that that you love, and that loves you. you'll always be happy.

i am.

quick pics

over at dick howe comes the thought that if everyone downtown with a cell phone camera started snapping pictures of the aftermath of late-night overserving at the bars, then a map might be constructed of the locations to start to suggest where the worst of it originates. (self-promotion alert--he's referencing a picture on this blog when he talks about it).

at the risk of unseemly self-interest, i'm still willing to say i think that's a great idea. of course, with a nod to the detractor, even so the results will remain HIGHLY subjective, (if i were to camp out in one spot and continually photograph there and only there, i might skew the results away from some other spot which remains randomly unphotographed, and invite someone who dislikes me for whatever reason to dismiss the results of the whole thing, but i still don't feel that's a reason not to try anyway), and hardly reliable in terms of setting public policy. however, and to dick's point, the results will likely focus attention in a way that's not yet been possible based solely on police-related incidents, and that i should think cannot be a completely bad thing.

i will endeavor to do my part by swinging up onto merrimack and beyond during my daily sojourns around downtown far more often than i do right now, so as to capture a wider swath of downtown, beyond the doorstep of the bar that's closest to my house. it's fair to observe and acknowledge that bias, as my detractor undoubtedly agrees, but i'll continue to offer the "geography" defense rather than any specific agenda beyond that. it's in front of me every single day--of course i'm going to notice it more frequently than those areas that aren't in front of me every single day. hopefully, others' doorsteps will help to balance that bias, and we'll at least get a fairer and more representative, albeit still flawed, picture of what's going on down here.

everyone is welcome to play along. just snap your snaps, and send 'em in.

just a quick pic

took this photo walking back from lunch today. i'm not sure how long it's been there. it's the remains of a schooner glass that's most likely from one of the bars near or on palmer street. (the doorway pictured is the side door to fortunato's, and i'm guessing fortunato's or village smokehouse was the source because the other bar closest to that spot usually serves in plastic cups and fuze folks are pretty sedate, but who knows).

this sort of thing is not an uncommon sight around this area of downtown, but i've only started to use the camera on my phone so i'll just keep putting things out here so people can see what the aftermath of "downtown disorder" tends to look like. (i'm sorry you missed all the puke from the other weekend, but i'll get you next time). this is the sort of thing business owners downtown have to deal with as a result of lax enforcement of liquor rules. of course, some businesses don't bother to clean up their doorways, so we get to enjoy the scenery for prolonged periods of time...