New Thing #343: Play Me I'm Yours

I had written off Boston's version of 'Play Me I'm Yours' a while ago. It seemed like it could be a great New Thing, but it was only going to be around Boston through early October.

I knew it would be hard for me to get into Boston just to play a public piano at that time of year.

(If you don't know, 'Play Me I'm Yours' is a public art installation featuring pianos left around a number of cities. This edition had them in Boston and Cambridge in September and October.)

Turns out, though, that while the Boston and Cambridge pianos still in good condition were given to charities, two remained: one at Logan Airport and the other at Quincy Market.

Turns out, I ran into that Quincy Market piano last week when I went to the Bodies exhibit at Faneuil Hall.

I'll be honest with you: one of these last few Music Mondays I was going to publish a video of myself singing a song at the piano. That would be a very New Thing.

I tried a test run one morning on a recent weekend, recording myself singing, and it had been a while since I saw myself sing. It's not great. It always sounds good when I belt something out for the girls - they seem to love it. My wife seems to have grown indifferent to it.

But - and I'm not writing myself off forever as a casual singer…it could have just been a bad morning for my voice, and I'm convinced that certain songs are entirely within my singing ability (the holidays are always a good time - I think Christmas songs fall within that category) - I don't think I'm ready to put out a video of me singing and playing the piano.

Just playing the piano, though? I'm better at that. So that's what I'm doing today.

A couple of things I need to say about the following video: I went with Billy Joel's Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel). It's my go-to when I need to play something from memory. (This is the first time I've ever needed to play something from memory for an audience, unwitting though they were.) Over the years, though, I've lost some piano-playing memory. You might notice a couple of  spots in the video where I just forget the notes. It's not as egregious on video than it felt, though, when it was happening. (I think it frustrates my brother that I rely on note-reading so much when I play the piano. But I just don't have the ear for it. I'm getting a little better, I can kind of sense the appropriate chord in certain situations, but as you can see in the video it doesn't always happen that I play the appropriate chord or note. I admire those who can hear something and then re-create it with no notes on a musical instrument.)

Also, I went with the American Idol arrangement of the song - you know, I didn't feel like you needed to sit through two of the exact same verses, so I jumped from verse one to the bridge to the ending of the song.

I think that's about all you need to know. I was with my co-teacher for the exhibit, so she graciously took the video...and helped talk me into playing. So thanks to her for that. (And for cheering at the end.)

I'm kind of proud of myself for doing it - Quincy Market wasn't crowded, but it certainly wasn't empty. I got quite a rush, too, from playing in public. I hope you enjoy.

New Thing #302: Driving Into Somerville With Confidence

This is like Somerville: Redux. (Is that the proper use of redux? I'm not sure.) Back in January I shared with you the fact that I get awfully confused when I drive into Somerville/Cambridge.

I haven't spent much time there since, but on Saturday I took my daughters to a birthday party in Porter Square.

I almost blew it - coming off Route 2 I was in the wrong lane and I missed my turn onto 2A, which would take me right to the place where the party was.

But I popped the map onto my phone and immediately I knew what to do.

You can see 3/16 on the left of that map I've provided. That's where I was. And you can see 2A, where I should have turned. A little farther north I saw Broadway, so I took that turn.

Broadway veered slightly right at Holland Street. (This is the area where I went to Joshua Tree back in January.) Then, a little later, it veered a bit more right on Elm. Off of Elm was White Street, and that's where the shopping center was where the party was being held.

Also in that shopping center - a Shaw's Supermarket. This is the same Shaw's parking lot where I parked (not exactly legally) once in a while to attend graduate classes at Lesley University ten years ago!

Once I realized that connection, a lot of other pieces of the Somerville puzzle started falling into place.

It's only a slightly Newer Thing than the time I wrote about Somerville in January - but it's a pretty New Thing.

I don't think I'm intimidated by driving into Somerville anymore.

But there's a big negative to this:

No longer can I rely on my old crutch for when I'm late to something in Somerville.

Because it's just not true that I have no idea what I'm doing when I drive in Somerville anymore.

New Thing #288: Eleven Hours In New York...To Watch Football

I've done quick trips down to New York City before. Once, in college, a friend of mine convinced me to take a 7am Greyhound, spend a Saturday in the city, and then be on a 7pm bus back to Boston.

Then, in the past few years, I've done round trips in a car (or on a train) to go to a Jets game.

For years, though, I've been trying to figure out a way to get down to New York just to watch football with some friends.

And this year, Columbus Day weekend provided the best opportunity yet for that.

A couple of things came together to allow me to do it:

One is that my wife was able to clear her weekend of tutoring, which is usually a slight impediment to my football watching on Sundays. Another is that for the first time in my life I had a weekend where I could have gone to the Jets game - they were home against the Steelers - but my dad no longer has the season tickets. And the last is that I had friends who were available and willing to sit in a bar for seven hours-plus.

I took the LimoLiner into the city - it's great because it picks up in Framingham, 5 minutes from my house, and I could leave for a bus at 6:30 on Sunday morning without disturbing my family. That got me into the city at a little before 10.

I was able to do a few things in the city before I met up with my friends (more on that later this week), and then we sat and watched football from about 12:30 until the end of the Patriots game, at about 7:30.

I was not the only person who had the Sunday round-trip idea. (And it was successful enough that it won't be the last time I do it.) On the trip back I saw a couple of other familiar faces from the trip down earlier that morning.

But there were also some frustrating co-travelers.

I have to admit - it wasn't the best day of football. While I loved seeing and talking to my friends (and the fact that the football was not great certainly contributed to me being a better social presence because I paid less attention to the games), the Jets lost, I did not have a great day with my picks for my pool, and my fantasy league performance was not good either.

So I guess my patience was thin when it came to some of the other people on the evening bus.

A group of older ladies had the first couple of rows - they were clearly returning from a ladies day out type of thing. When an older gentleman walked on in a Patriots hat, they made a comment about the Pats game. "Good game," or something like that. (It's an interesting sports dynamic on a bus between New York and Boston. I was probably the only one heading to New York that morning exclusively for football reasons, but I never felt like the only Jets fan. Not that it came up. But on the way back, going to Boston, there was more of a "New York sports fan feeling like an outsider" vibe going for me.)

Anyway, the guy kind of rolled his eyes at the ladies and did kind of a guffaw or something. (I now realize maybe he thought they were New Yorkers teasing him.) I realized he didn't believe them. They repeated themselves, and he tried to convince them he saw the game and knew how it ended. "Brady threw an interception," he said, showing that was the last part of the game he saw. So the guy he was traveling with looked at me, and I said, "Brady threw a touchdown pass with 5 seconds left."

In a blatant show of gender bias, the second older guy turned to the hat-wearing guy and said, "No, they won. This guy says they got a touchdown with 5 seconds left." The male knows football.

So we've established these were clearly Boston fans who were not all that diehard. This was further proven when the attendant taking care of us on the bus, approaching the Massachusetts Turnpike, offered to turn the DirecTV on the bus to FOX.

"Don't bother," one of the women with the Patriots hat guy said. "They're getting killed."

I popped on my phone, expecting to see an 11-0 or 11-1 score in favor of the Tigers. It was 5-1.

As you probably know by now, that very inning the Red Sox rallied to tie the game, which they later won.

It was a great day for Boston sports fans...not a great day for this Jets fan.

But I'm proud of this: I didn't give up on the Jets at any point on Sunday. Heck. I haven't given up on them in 35 mostly terrible years.

New Thing #185: Boston 1775 Blog

The 4th of July seems like a good time to tell you (remind you, in some cases) that if I could travel through time to any point in history, it would be Boston, circa 1775. Sure, there would be less of the creature comforts I've grown so used to.

I'd have to adjust to the food.

And boy, would it be smelly.

But I just think, knowing what I know about that time period, it would just be so exciting.

Time machines, as you may or may not know, do not exist.

But I might have come across something just as good.

The Boston 1775 blog was cited often in Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill. It appeared so often in the Notes section of the book that I couldn't ignore it - and then every time it was mentioned it was about the most interesting topics.

So I made a mental note to check it out when I finished the book.

There is a ton of information on this blog. It's written by J.L. Bell, a Massachusetts writer who, says his bio on the site, specializes in the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. (My kind of guy!)

The blog was started in May, 2006, and Bell has posted almost every day since then.

I wouldn't exactly say I'm overwhelmed by the content on the blog...it's more that I'm pacing myself. I've only read a few of the entries at this point, but I plan on making my way through the entire thing. (I'm starting in May 2006 and working my way forward, but there doesn't seem to be a need for chronological reading. Probably like my blog - you can essentially pick it up anywhere and go in either direction. But I like chronology.)

I kind of feel the way I do when I have a bunch of shows I want to watch on the DVR (or podcasts in my queue) - at any moment of down time I can just pop onto the Boston 1775 blog and read a few entries. And I'll probably feel a big sense of accomplishment and a small bit of sadness after I make my way through...although the good news here is that there will be a new post almost every day...so long as Bell doesn't decide to quit blogging now that I've decided to start reading.

The entries seem to include everything from short bios and informative texts to primary sources or links to related articles to events taking place today related to the study of the American Revolution. There's also an extensive list of tags on the right hand side of the page so you can click a topic of interest - almost anything or anyone imaginable connected with the Revolution.

If you're interested you can find the blog at Boston1775.blogspot.com.

New Thing #179: Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution

I'm kind of obsessed with the American Revolution. Not even the whole war - more like I'm obsessed with colonial Boston, 1770-1775 or so.

I keep reading books that focus on that time period, and I've tried to wean myself away from them so I can learn about other times in history...or even the rest of the war once the regulars left Massachusetts.

The latest addition to my library is Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution.

And I didn't even choose to read this one on my own.

I got a text from my wife one day in May. She was leaving work to enjoy a little bit of a nice day and decided to pop into the bookstore. Did I want anything? she wanted to know. I missed the text, and saw it hours later. (I worked straight through the nice day, I guess.)

When she came home, she had bought Bunker Hill for me - it was just out recently and was getting some good press. I had read about it, and how Philbrick is a good storyteller.

I said above that I didn't choose to read this book on my own...I should actually say that I didn't seek it out on my own. Once it was in my possession I jumped it up on my summer reading to-do list, and I plowed through it pretty quickly.

It's a good book about Boston in the 1760s into March of 1776, and Philbrick is indeed a good storyteller.

I expected, based on the title I guess, the book to focus more on Bunker Hill than it actually did. It was pretty typical Revolutionary Boston fare - talk of taxes, soldiers in Boston, Tea Party, Lexington and Concord, etc. - but it was one of the more detailed accounts of all of these events that I have ever read. And there were hardly any points where my eyes glazed over or something felt boring - it was very engaging throughout.

Another pleasant surprise was how prevalent Joseph Warren was in the book. I've enjoyed learning about Dr. Warren over the years - I definitely didn't learn about him in school and I've come to learn more the more I read - but this book serves as almost a mini-biography of the Boston doctor-turned political and military leader. He's really painted as a Samuel Adams-like ringleader in making things happen that led the colonies into a war with their mother country.

Philbrick offers unique takes on the Boston Tea Party and some of the actions of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, and he spends a couple of chapters going through the events of April 18th and 19th, 1775. I love reading about the messengers (led by Paul Revere) being sent out on the night of the 18th and then the engagements in Lexington and Concord on the 19th, and Philbrick devotes a couple of chapters to these events (and the ensuing chase back to Boston that began the Siege of Boston). As a matter of fact, he spends more time writing about all of that than the title battle.

And he provides some of the goriest details of all of those battles that I've ever read...which paints the writing as realistic, because those were some gory days. (I had never before read about 78-year-old Samuel Whittemore, who killed several regulars on April 19th, then "took a musket ball to the jaw and was bayoneted repeatedly before being left for dead." He then lived for another eleven years.)

I've written before, I think, about my love for Johnny Tremain - a young adult historical fiction novel by Esther Forbes. Much of the book is historically accurate...and some of the incidents in the book that I thought might be somewhat fictional were supported by fact in this book, such as the saying that the regulars marched out on the morning of April 19th whistling 'Yankee Doodle', but would hear it sung back to them before the end of the day, or something along those lines. According to Philbrick, that actually happened...give or take a few details.

One detail I was surprised not to read about in this book was that after Joseph Warren was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill (spoiler alert!), I had read that his body was so badly disfigured that it could only be identified by his teeth. I had heard this was done by Paul Revere (who made Warren's false teeth), but Philbrick writes it was done by Warren's brother.

I half-read/half-skimmed the notes at the back of the book - they're thorough, citing where Philbrick got all of his information. (And the way I read non-fiction books, I was glad he went with pages of notes at the end rather than footnotes - I always feel obligated to look up footnotes when I come across them. It's hard for me to read books that way.) They're also, by the way, indicative of Philbrick's writing ability - they're very readable. Anyway, I was hoping to see some mention of the Revere/teeth story in there but there was nothing. So I hope I'm not making that up.

I admire the work that goes into a book like this. Sometimes I wonder if I have a work of non-fiction like this in me - I certainly have the passionate interest in the subject matter...I just don't know if I know how to go about writing the book.

But that's what I leave you with today - this was a great book...and it's books like this that inspire me to think about someday writing something that comes close to it.

New Thing #140: Boston Strong

I'm not thrilled about doing a Boston tribute song on a day where the Rangers trail a series with the Bruins 2 games to none. But this was the new music for the week, so here we are.

It's a song called "Boston Strong", and the artist is a guy named Young Beedah.

I read about it last week in - of all places - Sports Illustrated.

And it was in the strangest of contexts.

Maybe this happened to you too - I was reading an article in SI about the Vanderbilt pitching staff. They have another talented staff, following in the footsteps of guys who have already made an impact in the majors.

But in the article they mention this guy named Tyler Beede, a pitcher on the team, who was playing in Fenway Park the week before. Playing, as in his song played over the loudspeakers - Jarrod Saltalamacchia chose it as his music coming to the plate.

It's called "Boston Strong." I guess it was originally going to be released this summer, but after the Marathon bombing, Beede moved up its release. He's from Auburn, Massachusetts, and I guess it was his way of dealing with everything.

I didn't know what to expect - I guess my expectations were low. But I rationalized and figured, if Saltalamacchia was willing not only to give the song a listen but also to use it as his at-bat music, it's the least I could do.

And it wasn't terrible. So our first rap Music Monday belongs to Young Beedah...and if I trust the YouTube description it's a remix of Macklemore's "Can't Hold Us."

Also, for what it's worth, the reimaging of the 4 major Boston sports teams' logos at the beginning of that video is pretty cool.

New Thing #135: A Rangers-Bruins Playoff Matchup

There have been a lot of high-profile New York-Boston matchups in my time in the greater Boston area. Of course, Yankees-Red Sox happened in the playoffs for the first time in a long time, I think, in 1999...then happened a lot through 2004.

But I didn't care all that much.

Then the Celtics and Knicks matched up a couple of times in the playoffs.

I cared slightly less.

The Jets and Patriots were high stakes - and there was a big win in there for my team.

But until now there had not been a Rangers-Bruins matchup in the playoffs...and it might end up being the most exciting of them all.

I texted with my friend Justin Monday night about the fact that I didn't think there had been a Rangers-Bruins playoff matchup since our college days...and he dug a little deeper to find it hadn't even happened in our lifetimes. 1973 was the last time the Rangers and Bruins met in the post-season. That kind of seems impossible.

But it makes this year's matchup a definitive New Thing.

And it'll be a good one - the past few years have featured a lot of tight games between the two teams...and they've both played a number of heart-stoppers in the post-season the past few years against other teams.

So I expect a lot of nail-biters in the series. Which is not something I am particularly looking forward to.

There's a whole lot that's troublesome about this matchup, in fact - if the Rangers lose I can expect to hear it from all sides (there is a very passionate Bruins fan base in Boston, which I acknowledge...but let's just say that since they won the Cup that fan base has spread wider and been more vocal), if the Rangers win I will only feel quiet satisfaction, and no matter what, I think the series will cause me some late nights and some more white hair.

I'll look on the bright side - the Rangers won their Game 7 against the Capitals Monday night. That means they have this second round series to play. For me that means that I have another week-plus of hockey that I care about. That helps me inch ever closer to the end of the school year - Rangers playoff hockey helps mark time through the month of May.

And it sure beats those years when they missed the playoffs.

And...who knows? Maybe I'll end up getting a ticket to a game in Boston.

New Thing #106: Identifying As A Bostonian

I grew up in Queens, New York. My whole family is still in New York.

I'm proud to be a New Yorker.

But the fact is, for the past 17 years (14 straight), I've lived in Massachusetts.

For about half of that time I lived in Boston.

And for the second time in my life I've seem somewhere I live and care about be attacked.

I happened to have a chance to reflect on this "where I'm from" idea quite a bit these past few days.

In Quebec I was asked a number of times, "Where are you from?"

Usually when I'm asked that question, I'll say something like, "Well, I live in Framingham, near Boston...but I'm from New York."

This weekend, though, that answer became simply, "Boston."

I don't know why. Maybe because it was easier to explain to people. Maybe because I knew they didn't care about my life history - they just wanted to know where our group was from.

Whatever it was, for the first time in my life this weekend I uttered the phrase, "I'm from Boston" with no qualifiers.

Then on the way home from Quebec I waited on pins and needles for updates from my wife as I heard awful news from Boston trickle in bit by bit.

By the end of the day I was proud of the Bostonians who responded at the scene...and I thought about how I or someone I know could have easily been among the victims. (More than 140 victims in a small city like Boston makes you feel like you have to have known someone affected.)

I've written before about how upset I was on September 11, 2001.

At the time I was only out of New York for five years.

The Twin Towers were a backdrop for so much of my New York experience, but they were never a place I spent a lot of time. In my life, I maybe spent a total of six hours in that immediate vicinity. I didn't know anyone who worked there. While shocked at the loss of life on September 11th, I did not spend much time thinking, "That could have been me."

But I've spent countless hours where the explosions happened on Monday.

And rare have been the moments I've been there by myself.

Usually I'm with friends or family - really, the people I care about the most in the world.

And if I'm not there, I know of numerous instances where friends or family have been there without me.

And these friends I mention -  friends I've spent time with there or who spend their time in that area - they're the friends I made in the city where I've now lived for half my life.

Explosions at the Boston Marathon. That kind of tragedy really hits home for me.

New Thing #19: Joshua Tree

Went to a new place last Saturday night. It's a restaurant in Somerville called "Joshua Tree".

I think I had heard of it, but I'd never been there.

But I had been in that area.

Here's the thing about Somerville - it's confusing. Really confusing.

There are all these squares: Davis Square, Central Square, Inman Square, Porter Square, and then Cambridge is there too with Harvard Square and others. (It's quite possible the other squares I mentioned are in Cambridge and not Somerville. Is Somerville part of Cambridge? It's difficult.)

After about 8 or 9 years of experience with Somerville (For my first 5 or 6 years in the area I rarely ventured across the river from the area around Boston University. And if I did, it was underground on the train and I think I had no idea where I was geographically.) I think I'm finally figuring it out - and Saturday was a big turning point for me. For the first time I got that Davis Square is slightly north of Porter Square, and I found my way home easily, which is not the norm for me coming from Somerville.

As for Joshua Tree (sorry about the fuzzy picture), even though it's the first new bar/restaurant on the list, I didn't really try anything new there. I'd like to tell you I at least tried a new beer, but they had Allagash White on tap, and "New Things" or not, I just couldn't pass that up.

So maybe I'll go back and try the food or something before the end of the year.

The good news is I'll have an easier time finding the place.

New Thing #7: The Modern Lovers

Each week on Monday I'm hoping to talk about some new music I've encountered along this journey of '365 New Things In 2013'. It may be brand-new music, or a brand-new band. It could be a single, it could be an entire album. It may be something that's been around forever that I've never heard before.

This week it's a band that I didn't know anything about, and it's perfect for a number of reasons as a kick-off for 'Music Monday'.

I'm going to be relying on some outside help for 52 weeks' worth of new music to write about.

One person I'll be turning to often will be my brother, a musician in his own right.

Another person whose judgment in music I trust is my friend Justin. Allow me to give you some background: Justin and I met as freshmen at Boston University. I think our first encounter happened at a meeting for the college radio station, and we paired up to do a sports show. Eventually that led to us also co-hosting a music show. My musical tastes were very narrow back then, and Justin exposed me to a lot of music then that it would be embarrassing for me not to know of now.

And now he'll do it again.

When I asked him for ideas his first suggestion was for me to go to YouTube and look up "Roadrunner" by the Modern Lovers. He calls it his favorite song to put on when he's leaving the house. "It's a great 'first song of a walk' song," he says.

So here's a little bit about the Modern Lovers, pieced together from a little research I've done and what Justin has told me:

They're a Boston band, and the great majority of their lyrics makes references to the greater Boston area. (And that's where I met Justin, so that's part of why it's perfect for this occasion!)

The lead singer and main songwriter is Jonathan Richman. Justin tells me he's also "the guy with the guitar who showed up from time to time in 'There's Something About Mary'." Wikipedia tells me he grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, which is the town that neighbors Framingham, where I now live. (Yet another reason this is a perfect starting point for Music Monday!)

The band recorded one album in their original time together from 1970-1974, the label didn't like it, dropped the band, and the band broke up. A couple of years later someone else at the label heard the album, loved it, and decided to release it. The record did OK, but the band no longer existed - one guy joined 'The Talking Heads', another co-founded 'The Cars'. "It's like this one perfect moment in time that was never recreated," describes Justin.

So that's The Modern Lovers. Justin also suggested I listen to a few of their other songs: 'Pablo Picasso', 'Government Center', and 'Modern World'.  ('Modern World' includes references to Boston University.) I don't love the songs (although a couple, after repeated listenings, definitely were growing on me), but I certainly don't hate them.

I learned something new about music, though, and that's the point. I wanted to share with you the video for 'Modern World' - it's from 1976, and it shows scenes from around Boston at the time. I'm a little obsessed with Boston before I lived up here. I was transfixed by it, and the song's not bad: