WBOS Earthfest 2008 in pictures

At one point, the music stopped and the police got on the stage with Cracker. Not entirely sure what the problem was.

Zombiefied Earthfest

Zombies celebrate the Earth at WBOS Earthfest!

police confront the zombies (photo above)

(some of these photos were snapped by my friend Paul, as I was stuck in a line.)

Busy night skies

What's with all of the helicopters buzzing around my house tonight? One of them was even close enough for me to see that it was blue and white. (Life Flight? One of the local TV stations?)

Avon walkers make their way through JP

Captured some of the Avon walkers on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain yesterday. Love the gal with the pink hair.

Israelis for Obama

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Originally uploaded by LoveLyss

Parking lot of Whole Foods in Cambridge, MA.

Rude awakening

Every morning there comes a moment of awareness - I'm awake. [pause] Why am I awake? - sometimes it comes following the annoying buzz of the alarm clock, sometimes it's the dog needing to go out, and sometimes it's your kid is trying to tell you that she had a bad dream. Today I was roused to consciousness thanks to a REALLY LOUD BOOM followed by an eerie envelope of stillness. It was like when there's a huge clap of thunder that almost seems to make your entire house vibrate punctured by the silence that makes you notice that the thunder is gone. I glanced at the clock, which was blank. Confused, I tried to turn on the TV, and when that didn't work I stumbled out to find my cell phone. The time said 6:45am.

I was not the only one awake - I ran into a neighbor in the hallway who was coming inside with his young son (where were they coming from at 6:45 in the morning?). He said that he'd heard it too and noted that the building's 'power off' alarm was beeping and that the emergency lights were on in the hallway. Still confused and barely awake, I went back inside and called the local police station to ask what tha what the what had happened to my electricity. The person who anserwed their phone patched me through to 911, despite my sleepy protests that I didn't think it was an emergency, I just wanted to know what was going on. The 911 operator asked me what happened, I said I wasn't sure that this classified as an emergency, but was patched through by the police. I told her that I had been awakened by a VERY LOUD BOOM at around 6:45am and I had no idea what it was, but that my apartment complex seemed to be without power. Confirming that it was not a weekday and I wouldn't oversleep and be late to work, I fell back asleep.

I still don't know what happened to create such a cacophony. But by the time I woke up again around 10:30am, the power was back on. Weird way to start the week.

Rozzie Plain bloggers in real life

Somehow, the Interweb makes the world larger and smaller all at once. Went to the Rozzie Plain blogger get-together tonight. Was cool to finally some of these fine authors in person. Wish that I could remember the URL's of everyone I met. (Sorry if I didn't.)









(If you don't wish to have a photo of yourself on the blog, please notify me and I'll remove it.)

Starbucks sucks up street space

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Originally uploaded by LoveLyss

Why can't the Starbucks delivery tuck just park in the parking lot (which is right behind that small tree) instead of blocking a large chunk of Centre Street (and what seemed to be a bus stop) during rush hour?

Playtime

A little while ago some kids from the apartment complex were outside hitting each other with plastic strips that broke off from a chain link fence. I guess it's better than them being outside on a school night selling or using drugs.

Rural Wrentham

This morning I saw a man riding right through Wrentham Center on a small John Deere tractor. Tractor* Guy wasn't going very fast, but seemed to be obeying traffic laws. Reminded me of The Straight Story (except that the the guy in Wrentham was much younger).


*If it wasn't a 'real' tractor, it was a seriously large riding mower.

Something sounds funny

On tonight's Chronicle, during a segment on Dorchester's Peabody Square, the following (amusing) line caught my ear:

"...including a growing gay and lesbian community, a population that many say adds a creative element to the area..."

So, just because you're gay (or a lesbian), you're automatically creative?

Aftermath of violence

The Wake Up the Earth Festival took place today in the same park where a young man was killed recently. The basketball court where he died has become some sort of shrine to him.










More pictures can be found here.

Sweeping time

Whose bright idea was it to have the street sweepers out and about when people are trying to drive to work in the morning?

Reflections on violence II

Every time a siren can be heard I see my neighbors outside looking around more, instead of ignoring them like we usually* do. There are more parents outside with kids, gripping their hands as the sirens blare. Their body language indicates that they're wondering if something violent has occurred even closer to home.


*We live in proximity of a police station, so sirens aren't terribly unusual.

Reflections on violence

What a wonderful thing to come back to after a trip to NY to visit the family - there was a shooting near my house on Monday.

In a park that I often drive or walk by. A park that tends to be filled with children – on the playground, playing baseball, shooting hoops, etc.

I realize that I live in a city and that shit happens.

But it just seems kind of ballsy and brazen to shoot someone during the daytime in a park filled with people. JP isn’t perfect, but the areas between the Green Street and Stony Brook T stops tends to be a quieter, feel a little safer… until Monday.

Fantastic seats at Fenway

Pictures from the Red Sox game I went to on Thursday. More can be found on Flickr.

What's so bad about Bicon?

More trouble is brewing about the Bicon building in JP. It's right near my neighborhood, so I pass it frequently.

let me be honest in the beginning, my opinion is not unbiased, since I'm also a patient there. I've spent a decent amount of time there in the recent past. The staff at Bicon has been nothing but helpful since I set foot in the controversial building for some emergency oral surgery in February. As far as surgeons go, the docs there are conventionality situated (for me at least) and provide important services for those of us who suffer from rotten teeth that often need to be extracted and replaced with dental implants. (My mouth is full of bling... just not the kind that you see on MTV.) Bicon also offers parking in a small lot. (Think that's overrated? You try walking home after having oral surgery during which you were sedated.)

I understand the desire to keep Boston's neighborhoods leafy and keep them from getting overrun by rampant, soulless development. Let's be realistic here - it's not in a park in the proper sense - it's not surrounded by parkland in the traditional sense (ex: Tavern on the Green in Central Park). It's on a high-traffic rotary that isn't too attractive itself, save for the leafy entrance to Franklin Park.

I'll be the first to admit that the building itself isn't the most attractive, but it's already built. What does the opposition plan to do - tear it down?

Fanatics, up close and personal

J. got free tix to tonight's Red Sox v. Tigers game. Not only were they free but the seats were fucking awesome - right behind the 3rd base line... like 4 rows behind where the opposing players hang out when warming up for their trip to home plate. We sat behind these 2 crazy guys, J. said they reminded him of Statler and Waldorf (the 2 old hecklers on the Muppet Show). Another guy sitting near us referred to them as 'schizophrenic yellers.' One of them reminded me more of Randy Quaid's character in Major League II. He was yelling such things as "you have no ass!" (to Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez). He also seemed to get personally insulted if we were not enthusiastic enough.

Other gems overheard tonight.

Have some excellent pictures, but am too tired to upload them now.

Update:
I accidentally caught some of the more enthusiastic fans on film. And the wave too.

The Globe explores my 'hood

A nice job capturing some of the flavor of JP.

One suggestion for the whoever edits these videos at the Globe - just because JP is quirky, does not mean that you have to add annoyingly quirky background music.