#51 Boston - A Week of Culture and The Great Outdoors - May 26, 2005

Wow! What a week! A culture wave of sorts - a play, a musical, a concert, an Indie film screening, documentaries on Netflix on the cultural side, supplemented by a wonderful hike in New Hampshire to explore the Great Outdoors.

The weather here in New England has made every effort to keep us inside - it has been raining non-stop, and I mean, NON-STOP! Contributing also has been an extremely vicious wind, so any attempt to open your umbrella is pretty much useless. Might as well just get drenched. I admit to a certain level of insanity when it comes to my refusal to take the subway as opposed to getting in a nice long walk to and from the theater, but when I arrived at my apartment last night, soaked as can be, I myself had to question how far the psychosis has progressed.

The hike this past Sunday led up north to New Hampshire, Pawtuckaway State Park in particular, just east of Manchester (http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/Pawtuckaway/Pawtuckaway.html). The trail drifted through lusciously green and unspoiled woodlands, past hoards of impressive granite boulders ("glacial erratics" for the geologists among us) and mysterious caves at Devils' Den, to a most rewarding view on the North Mountain. The beaver ponds (again) revealed no beavers, and we encountered only a few souls on this gray, but perfect hiking day. Having done mostly local hikes on flat territory all winter, I definitely rediscovered some muscles, who had been in hiding all this time - pleasantly sore as they say, with a smile though, remembering a lovely day.

The cultural divertissements started off on Friday evening with the play "Shakespeare in Hollywood" at the Lyric Stage Company (http://www.lyricstage.com/). The company is a most charming venue right in the heart of Boston, and this play by Ken Ludwig, a farce featuring a Jewish movie producer who escapes to Hollywood from World War II Europe, captivated, enthralled and tickled a very hopped up audience with its wisecracking and drollery. Said producer is trying to bring a little "cultscha" to Tinseltown, and picks "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as his play of choice, only to have the real Oberon and Puck appear in some sort of time-travel trickery and all kinds of flimflam starts to happen.

Saturday, in a complete change of pace, the cultural locale was the Avalon, according to citysearch.com "the closest thing to a big-time New York Club you'll find in Boston". Excellent concerts there, not too overpriced and even pretty decent beer. The group performing this evening was "Snow Patrol" (MY NEW FAVORITE BAND!!!!!) http://www.snowpatrol.net/ . Their website describes their style as a "heart-crushing mix of distorted British pedal rock and US alternative guitar pop" - absolutely fun music, great band, terrific tunes! Check them out if they come your way!! (You can listen to "Spitting Games", "Run" and "Chocolate" on the web!)

Tuesday night, it was time for the next ushering job/ culture fix, this time at the Huntington Theatre Company for a musical called "Falsettos". Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the story centers around a family whose father, Marvin, leaves his wife for a guy named Whizzer and has the lofty goal of keeping everyone "one big happy Jewish family". Again, the Huntington affirmed its reputation for great stage display and original choice of playwright. Energetic performances by a stellar cast, in particular 12-year old Jacob Brandt, who plays Marvin's son Jason and whose vocal performance was quite impressive (very clearly, puberty has not hit this young man yet....).

Rounding out this week of fun, was yesterday's screening of a new movie called "Friends with Money". As volunteers for the Independent Film Festival, we were invited to this exclusive event, and were not told much about the movie beforehand. "Just be there, 7:30 PM, watch the flick, we would like to know what you think" - kind of event. I certainly enjoyed the movie - fits probably into the category "bitter comedy" - Frances McDormand, Jennifer Anniston and Joan Cusack were among a very absorbing cast of characters. Following the film was a discussion with writer and director Nicole Holofcener ( "Lovely and Amazing" is one of her earlier accomplishments) and feedback from the audience. Cool.

So, quite a week, eh? And a short one too, as I am heading to New York City tomorrow to meet up with my friend Lisa Miller for a fun-filled weekend.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and stay dry!

pet:)

#50 Boston - What happened in Florida and Other Useless Observations - May 19, 2005

I am back in town - returned from the Sunshine State, and the city of Boston welcomed us at the airport with a scorching 45 degrees!! Overall it was not that much of an adjustment as I spent most of my time in Orlando in the Orange County Convention Center, which featured about the same temperature. Conferences, in particular this one, are very exhausting, and I basically headed home Tuesday and slept for a day-and-a-half (some of it in bed).

Some observations (most of them useless) from my trip:

You have heard of a hammer toe, right? Well, the guy next to me in the plane (a fellow attendee as it turned out) had a "hammer thumb" - an enormous behemoth of a finger I must say. Freak.

Experienced one of those families we love and cherish on plane rides, in particular the 5-year old son, who delighted his mother and us fellow passengers with a barrage of statements like "Are you sure we are on the right plane?", "Is anyone getting play dough?" (Ain't gonna be me!")

First time I flew into Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC - right over the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. Cool.

Palm trees in Florida were a site for winter-sore eyes, ahh, warmth, feels good, sense memory comes back.

Westgate Lakes Resort - my hotel - aha, this is where families with eight or more children vacation.

Met a 2 1/2-year old alligator in hotel lobby (his mouth was taped shut, which was a good thing). Meanwhile MGH in Boston with all its construction displaces whole colonies of mice.

Playing the name game at the ASCO convention, discover participants named Donald Trump (no kidding), Kim Chi and (very cutting edge) Roger Rodgers.

Love the non-smoking sign at the Convention Center (remember this is a cancer conference):

"Smoking is prohibited"
"Smoking causes cancer"
"Secondhand smoking kills, too"
"Your fellow oncologists and patients appreciate you not smoking"

Lots of business dinners in the evening, highlight is the French Restaurant "Le Coq au Vin", absolutely the best food in Orlando. Ingestion of alcohol leads to indulgence and revelations - who knew the pharma industry rep has a degree in Middle Eastern Studies and used to sell fork lifts?

Cabbie gets completely lost on the way to the restaurant, and gives us the grand tour of Orlando - we pass a church named "Mary, Queen of the Universe" (??)

If you wonder where the bee line (that we take so often) is, I am happy to report that we discovered it in Orlando (Bee Line Parkway, right near the convention center).

Conference turns into reunion with many friends from California - hello all!! It was good to see you.

Highlight of the conference for me is a movie called "Frankl's Choice" which juxtaposes the life and teachings of Victor Frankl, the developer of existential psychology, with interviews of terminally ill patients and cancer survivors (among them my boss Bruce Chabner, who is an oncology physician, and his wife, Davi Ellen Chabner). Here is a quote from his book "Man's Search for Meaning" - "Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."

Aside from being THE meeting every year where scientific results in oncology get highlighted, this is also the mecca for marketers. The exhibit halls overwhelm with gargantuan booths, high-tech gadgetry, and every tschotschke known to mankind. Lots of cool little items, some of which now reside in my home..... at the end of the day you stagger out of there like a drunken sailor on shore leave and packed like a mule, just like after a sale at Filene's Basement....

Disney is unbelievable - those of you who have ever been to Disneyland in California know, it is in the hood, somewhere in Anaheim, in an uninspired neighborhood - just when you have given up all hope, there is the parking lot! Disney World in Orlando (if you are into that kind of stuff) is mind-boggling. You drive through the lush Florida vegetation, and all of a sudden the freeway signs turn Disney Color, you know just like at Toys R Us. Fake boulders appear out of nowhere, castles line the side of the road and you expect all vehicles to be driven by 6-year olds. 47 Miles of property are occupied by the different parks (Epcot, Disney, MGM, Universal) and all of them charge $65 a pop to get in!! The whole area reminded me of one of the old Star Trek episodes, where Captain Kirk and his crew land on a real pretty and clean planet, where all the people are smiling and have probably been drugged and brainwashed.

Back in Boston, work is insane, immediately following ASCO, organizing a huge meeting, which took place this afternoon, and went very well. Heading home now, exhausted, happy that it is Friday tomorrow.

Ciao for now!

pet:)

#49 Boston - Scuttlebutt and Limeys - May 12, 2005

Greetings from Sunny Florida, where I landed today - and let me tell you, it is a bit of a surprise that I got here at all. Not the airline's fault, but it can be entirely attributed to my early morning scatteredness. Went to the wrong terminal at Logan for starters, then hiked to the right terminal, found US Air, even though they do their best to hide, sat at the wrong gate for a while (looked at seat # instead of gate #), realized it in time (phew!!). Maybe I should switch away from decaf!

It is my first time in Florida - I am attending the annual meeting of ASCO, the American Society for Clinical Oncology. 30,0000 cancer specialists will descend onto the city of Orlando (www.orlandoinfo.com) over the next few days. The conference is absolutely insane, overwhelming and as I experienced two years ago in Chicago, so huge that it is essential to have a decent, sturdy pair of walking shoes.

I am staying at the Westgate Lakes Resort and Spa, one of six million "resorts" on the outskirts of Orlando. The place is a huge, 1300-room sprawl. I occupy the most lovely studio - the design is definitely "Golden Girls", about the size of my apartment, with a view of Turkey Lake and a Jacuzzi!

As a great segue into my trip, the weather in Boston changed drastically and was nice for once over the past two days (and yes, again, the flip flops came out).

The past weekend was again rainy and drab though, so hiking was definitely not on the agenda. On Saturday, my stir-craziness drove me out of the house in the afternoon and led to a brief, rain-soaked stroll over to the Science Museum. I had wanted to see the Butterfly Garden, their newest exhibit, but since everybody and their cousin were there, the program was sold out. So I headed to the Charles Hayden Planetarium and listened to a presentation on stargazing, which was pretty decent. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the "hands-on" explorer section of the museum, where some six-year olds and I put all the right organs (or so we thought) on a human dummy. The Velcro strips were not so crisp any more and the kidneys kept falling down, but aside from that we did pretty good.

Saturday night, I went out with my Indian friends, Rohini and PJ for a superb dinner at the Silvertone Bar and Grill, definitely one of my new favorite places in the hub. The Silvertone convinces with a hip crowd, spectacular food (best Mac and Cheese ever) and very affordable prices! It was a most educational evening - Rohini is the world's best resource on - well, pretty much anything. Just like Barbra Streisand in "Hello Dolly" - "Just leave everything to me" - she dazzled us with one business card after the other. No matter if you need your eyebrows threaded, your car tires rotated or your neck adjusted - Rohini knows!

On Sunday, it was time to visit the final two stops on the Freedom Trail that I had omitted to visit until now: The USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument, both located in Charlie aka Charlestown.
The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" is a spectacular experience. The oldest commissioned warship afloat in the entire world, she is still part of the US Navy and can boast a colorful history. Her name, "Old Ironsides" stems from a historic battle with the HMS Guerriere in 1812. The British 380-gun frigate, famous for terrorizing the US naval fleet, should have flattened the Constitution. The Guerriere started firing like mad, only to see their cannon shots bounce off the sides of the USSC - so one of their sailors shouted "Huzzah, her sides are made from iron!!" - which gave the old girl her famous name. (The strength of the hull is actually due to a triple layer of white oak-live oak (very strong wood)-white oak - no iron whatsoever). After 20 minutes, the British were toast, and the HMS Guerriere was so badly damaged that they had to sink the ship.

The tour of the USS Constitution was equally engrossing, and a very dapper young naval officer gave us a glimpse of what life was like aboard the ship. 500 men were on duty, worked on the gun and spar decks and slept in their berths, always in 4-hour shifts (250 a piece). One of the artifacts on deck was the "scuttlebutt", the ships drinking water supply, which was the only place on the ship where you were allowed to chat (the "water cooler" of yesterday) - hence the word scuttlebutt is used for gossip. The barrel was a "butt barrel" with a scuttle opening. Needless to say the water allocated to every sailor (35 pints a day) was not used for personal hygiene that much, this made the whole 500-man-on-a-boat experience a bit of a smelly affair.
My other favorite amenity on board was the grog tub, which for the US Navy contained whiskey, not rum as one might expect. (The Royal Navy had rum). In order to prevent the all-prevalent scurvy, lemon juice was added, whereas the British added lime juice to their rum, hence the term "limeys".

I then met up with Elaine and we zipped over to the Bunker Hill Monument, a 221-foot obelisk, which marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution. "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" - untrained and ill-equipped to match up against the far superior British forces, the American colonists made up for their shortcomings with fierce determination. The Battle of Bunker Hill, fought in June of 1775 awarded the British of loss of half of their 2200 ground forces and artillery. The colonists did loose eventually, but not without inflicting serious pain and damage on their enemy. You can climb up all 294 steps to the top of the monument, which is a serious workout, but does reward with spectacular views.

Completely exhausted, Elaine and I retreated to her new and extremely comfortable new couch, and spent the afternoon with tea and cake, just as it should be. I also got to meet the newest addition to her family, Nipsy, a little budgie just like my Oscar. He was absolutely adorable, even though he tried to evade his first German lesson by hiding behind the refrigerator.

The weekend ended with a lovely visit by Melanie and Tom from California, which was celebrated by way of a delectable meal at Croma, one of the nice, but not too upscale eateries on Newbury Street. Their chocolate cobbler is definitely worth a visit.

On Monday, I made use of another resource for us rat-poor, cash-drained Bostonians - citystylist.com, where you sign up for a haircut with a student at one of the fancy schmancy hair salons in Boston. $15 dollars - I am now sporting a very snazzy, albeit a bit short do courtesy of Runway Salon.

My friends, it is bed time - all my love to you from Orlando......

pet:)

#48 Boston - Return of the Flip Flop - May 5, 2005

No, my friends, I am not talking about John Kerry, even though he does hang around here. This is another unsettling phenomenon, closely related to the quilt bag movement I eluded to in one of my earlier updates. The same women who last year, during my first encounters with New England urban culture, carried the flowery Vera Bradley bags (coined "diaper bags" by my friend Ruth) have now - at the first signs of spring and the sweltering 50 degree weather - pulled out their beach wear -flip flops, which go so well with their professional outfits (not!!). I don't know who started this people!! In addition, I have to say something to the guys accompanying these women - no matter how much you love your girlfriend, fiancée, wife, mistress, spousal equivalent - do not, I mean DO NOT carry their hand bags (in particular if it is one of those bedspread bags...). I know you mean well, but - no, no, no - very unbecoming....

Speaking of returning - this Wednesday, the resident Public Garden swans, Romeo and Juliet, have returned to their summer lagoon - they reside at the Franklin Park Zoo all winter. There was a little parade to welcome them back to the hub, led by none other than our own Boston Park Ranger Lt. Reginald Sampson.

At this point, I am pretty much convinced that no more snow is coming to Boston, and the weather has kept steady at temps in the 50s, albeit with not much sunshine, and last weekend was a rain-out, so any attempts at hiking were balked at by Mother Nature. This drencher of a weekend put a major damper on WBOS's Earth Fest, which took place on the Charles River Esplanade, and had actually a pretty nice line-up with The Wallflowers, Carbon Leaf, Five for Fighting as their headliners. I did not attend, but was able to hear some of it, as I was stuck in traffic on Storrow Drive with my friend Renee's mattress crunched right above my head. I was helping her out with moving and there was gridlock everywhere! All went well though, and Renee, Clover (the cat) and Rufus (the dog) are now comfortably settled in Somerville.

Saturday evening I headed toward Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street (http://www.emmanuel-boston.org/) to usher for Boston Cares. The evening featured a performance by the Spectrum Singers (www.spectrumsingers.org), one of the many choral ensembles here in New England, and definitely one of their finest!! They have been around for a quarter century and generally perform pieces from all periods of music history. English baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695 )(http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxpurcell.html) and his opera "Dido and Aeneas" were portrayed that night. Considering that I just saw the play about Dido and Aeneas at the ART, this was a fitting addition to my cultural program, and a spectacular performance by this choir. Bravo!!

I was determined to do some hiking on Sunday, but again - rain, rain and rain. Change of plans, time to hit the museums. For starters I had to visit the one museum in Boston that I had been negligent in visiting - the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. From the outside, you would never guess what a gem this place is - a 15th century Venetian Villa, right in the middle of Boston!! (http://www.gardnermuseum.org/). Isabella, bless her, was an art collector, philanthropist, music enthusiast and designed this marvel to inspire in people a love for the arts. It is one of the finest collections of paintings, tapestries, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts. The courtyard with its amazing display of flowers and, my favorite, the tapestry room, where concerts by the Gardner Chamber Orchestra take place, they just take your breath away. The museum opened in 1903 and has not changed since Isabella's death in 1924. The collection features objects from ancient Rome, medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world and 19th century France and America. Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent are among the artists displayed, and its archives hold thousands of letters from the likes of T.S. Eliot, Sarah Bernhardt and Oliver Wendell Holmes, in addition to original Dante manuscripts. This is a must for every visitor to Boston!

Artist in Residence Dayanita Singh provided an interesting exhibit on chairs - come to think of it, actually a pretty neat idea. Not all chairs are created equal (or seat equally comfortable), as they say!

Well, once I had exhausted myself there, I ambled over to the Museum of Fine Arts to make another attempt at seeing the Ralph Lauren Caaah Exhibit "Speed, Style and Beauty" and this time my quest was successful. (http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/cars/default.html). Quite the car enthusiast he is, our Ralphie! I was not quite sure what to expect, but I have to say, I got swept up in the excitement over the horsepower in that room. Contrary to my expectations, the audience was a pretty mixed bag (not just guys), but definitely different from the "Spring in Bloom" crowd downstairs, which leaned strongly toward the 70+ female demographic. The cars were absolutely cool!! You just wanted to hop into one of those bad boys and go (not that my little Ella is not fun too, but...). Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Porsches, Jaguars and Mercedes - up-close and personal!! My favorites were the 1937 Bugatti 57SC Gangloff Drophead Coupe, the 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe (with its airplane-type doors) and of course the Porsche Spyder. The McLaren Formula 1 all-carbon was quite stylish in a futuristically sort-of-way (also goes 240 mph). Write-ups on the walls depicted the inventors and designers of these cars - and some interesting tidbits about them. Walter Bentley was part of the "Bentley Boys", a "gaggle of British gentlemen, who drove fast cars and lived fast lives, with dusk-to-dawn parties and escapades all over Europe." (ooh, lala!!). Etore Bugatti apparently was a peculiar bird, he once refused to sell a car to King Carol II of Romania, because he did not like his table manners. And William Lyons, the Jaguar guy, once went to test race one of his cars with a friend. He forgot his glasses and instead of heading back to get them, he simply told the poor passenger to direct him where to drive (we are talking race car speeds here!!).

After that adrenaline-laden experience, I headed for a cozy little exhibit the MFA had on baseball and the Red Sox, the center piece of which was a famous Norman Rockwell painting called "The Rookie". It was the cover page of the Saturday Evening Post on March 2, 1957. (http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/rockwell_baseball.html). A small exhibit, but what a great collection of Memorabilia:
- a picture of the first game ever played in Fenway Park on April 20, 1912 between the Boston Red Sox and New York Highlanders
- Harry Hooper's Sweater (he still holds the Red Sox record for most stolen bases (300) and triples (130))
- Jerseys from Carlton Fisk, Carl Yazstrzemski, Ted Williams and Cy Young (did you know his first name was Cyclone??)
- Score cards from the 1915 World Series
- The famous promissory note to the New York Yankees for the partial payment for Babe Ruth
- Johnny Damon and Curt Schilling's cleats and other paraphernalia from the 2004 World Series
- The diehard Royal Rooters, who used to perform their baseball battle song "Tessie", which is still played at Fenway Park, now in its newest interpretation by the Drop Kick Murphys. (http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/dropkickmurphys/tessie.html)

At the end of this rainy weekend, I was suddenly attacked by a vicious virus of sorts and since then have been fighting a cold, that has pretty much afflicted everyone here at the hospital and in my circle of friends (not that I stated it!!). Raspy throat, runny nose (call me Rudolf), the whole works. I have been heading home every night this week and pretty much straight to bed, so nothing new to report.

Got my picture in the paper again, sort of - the Boston Courant had snapshots from the Back Bay Road Race, and while my friends Ruth and Eric can be seen quite nicely, Elaine and I are featured partially, but hey - I'm not picky.

Amigos, Happy Cinco de Mayo, I am head home now and will eat a truck load of chicken soup!!

Ciao,

pet:)