#49 Boston - Earlier at the Bar - May 13 07

It was one of those weeks, where I simply decided to cut back a bit, and let tiredness get the better of me – so I canceled a few activities, mostly my running practices. I just did not want to drag my sorry butt down to the track, so simple. Monday the couch seemed much more appealing than anything else and Wednesday some questionable Chinese food did the trick and put me to bed early.

Of the events I did attend (don’t worry, there are still plenty left), the award for highlight of the week must go to my wonderfully literary cousin Rebecca, who just published her first book (“Later at the Bar”) and invited all her friends and local-based family to meet earlier at the bar for a little reading. The joint of choice was “The Public House” in Brookline (http://www.thepublickhousebrookline.com/) – a Mecca for Boston beer aficionados featuring some very delectable pub grub – and I must say their selection of beers made me quite dizzy (or it could have been the two cold ones I downed on my empty stomach). I could not make up my mind and just ordered the first beer on the menu, which was some Belgian beverage of sorts, which of course went straight to my head, so I must apologize to my friends if I talked a bit too fast or was more opinionated than usual. Anyway, quite a crowd had gathered to hear Rebecca read; it was nice to see everyone, meet family, friends, and friends of friends. You must promise me to read her book, which is a novel composed of stories, all centering around a bar in upstate New York and the lives of those who flock there for various reasons. Here is what I like about it. You have been there, we all have. The local bar at the corner, the favorite haunt, where you are known and where your life touches upon others – it offers alcohol-induced compassion from strangers just when you need it and no one else in the world would understand, provides a temporary social crutch near a new home; and to some may just be the center of their universe. Rebecca’s writing style is very accessible, with a wicked sense of humor thrown in at the appropriate places, and the book welcomes you in just as the bar would. Bottom Line for you, my friends: Extraordinary book. Buy it. Read it.

I haven’t told you about the Colin Hay concert and the day in the Berkshires yet, have I? OK, so we have to back up a bit. Sunday, Rick, Denise and I hopped in the car and drove out to the Berkshires (actually Denise and I hopped and Rick drove), a most beautiful area of foothills and mountains located in Western Massachusetts – perfect for the outdoorsy kind such as we are (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Berkshires&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2) . Some of its trails are part of the most famous Appalachian Trail; there are wilderness parks galore, one can canoe, kayak, hike and even get a little culture – The Boston Symphony Orchestra has its summer home in Tanglewood (http://www.tanglewood.org/bso), there are numerous music festivals and a series of smaller clubs. Its highest mountain is Mt Greylock at 3491 ft (1064 m) at and Bash Bish Falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_Bish_Falls ), with 200 meters is Massachusetts’ highest waterfall. Our destination was Monument Mountain near Great Barrington (http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/monument_mountain.html) – featuring beautiful views and a couple of cool stories. Did you know that Monument Mountain is where Hermann Melville got the idea for Moby Dick? Ha! Apparently young Hermann grew up there and after a stint in the navy decided to move back to his beloved Berkshires, write books and such. From what I was told he was actually a fairly upbeat writer in his early years, but that changed quickly once he met our morose little friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. The two of them headed up the mountain one day for a picnic of sorts (don’t ask), got stuck in a thunderstorm, had to hide in a cave at a place called “Devil’s Pulpit” and apparently Nate filled Hermann’s head with all kinds of ideas about sea adventures and such. Plus Mt Greylock reminded Melville of a whale, so there you go. We even managed to actually by Melville’s house later in the day drive (it really was by accident), which is easily recognizable as it has of course a sign with a whale on it.

Story #2 has to do with American romantic poet William Cullen Bryant, who stayed in the area sometime in the 19th century and came up with the name “Monument Mountain” – it stems from a poem of his who tells the story of a love sick Mohican maiden who had the hots for her cousin, and since that was a big no-no, she leapt off a cliff. There is a monument where she is supposedly buried (her remains were never found even by grave robbers who tried quite hard), hence the name. We could not even find the monument, but we’ll trust it is somewhere around there.

We had a nice coffee break at Uncommon Grounds in Great Barrington before being chased up another hill by Rick’s uncle John, who was definitely giving us a run for our money – but the views from Lenox Mountain in Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary were definitely worth it. (http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Pleasant_Valley/index.php). I forgot my camera, so all I can give you are some written memories and Web links, so you have to do a little work yourself.

Colin Hay, former front man of the group “Men at Work” played at the Club Helsinki (http://www.clubhelsinkiweb.com/) in Great Barrington (which is a very quaint touristy little hamlet), and after an initial few disconcerting moments, during which we were not sure if there was a place to sit (“I paid 45-freaking dollars for a ticket, and you tell me there is standing room only?”) of if we would get food, we found some chairs, ate some Finnish-inspired food with plates on our laps – so it all ended well,. Colin Hay, my friends, was phenomenal, and this was one of the best club concerts I have ever seen. Armed just with a couple of acoustic guitars, his trademark voice and only occasionally supported by his wife and saucy singer Celia Noel (http://www.colinhay.com/), he was simply wonderful. In between songs he entertained the crowd with a dry-witted stand-up routine about his life and its ups and downs that had all of us rolling on the floor (“Remember the song “Who could it be now? We were so stoned when we wrote it, the original version was 4 ½ hours long”). He has been busy continuing to make music throughout the years, but his song “I just don’t think I’ll ever get over you” on the soundtrack of Zach Braff’s indie hit “Garden State” reminded us why he is such a great songwriter. My favorite song of his (and the Men at Work) is and still remains “Overkill” – just a marvelous tune.

Moving on, Thursday night, Lyric Stage Company – ushering duty to see Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” which apparently was his first commercial success. Quite a wonderful comedic story which takes place in Bulgaria, where the daughter of a wealthy family, who is engaged to a war hero, hides a Serb soldier (who is actually a Swiss guy named Bluntschli) and falls in love with him. He is her chocolate-cream solider! When her father and the “war hero” fiancée, who is more pompous than anything else (and a coward, a womanizer…. you know the type), allegiances shift, the war hero ends up with the maid, the rich girl with the Swiss solider (who turns out to be even richer) and everyone is happy. All is fair in love and war, as they say. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw)

Saturday evening – theater again, this time in the charming town of Concord with the musical “She Loves Me”, a wonderful story about love and romance staged in a perfumery in Budapest. After a busy day of exercise and outdoor activity, and the beginnings of a cold, this was perfect entertainment, and by far one of the best community theater performances I have ever seen. I had a smile on my face the whole time. The cast was spectacular, their voices trained and perfect, the acting funny, light and spirited, I can’t sing enough praise about this performance. Bravo! http://concordplayers.org/

Well, since I skipped two running practices, I felt I needed to do a little somethin’ somethin’, so I started off the latest exercise craze yesterday morning with a 8-mile run with my friends Sheila, Eliza, Peter, Stephanie, and Jim from Community Running. Not quite enough I thought and headed out to Malden to meet my friend Dana for a hike at the Middlesex Fells (pictures to follow) which was a perfect thing to do on a perfect spring day. This morning I woke up and felt like crap. The dreaded lurgy had decided to attack me and what better to try to get rid of these evil spirits that inhabited my tired body than to go to a road race. It was Mother’s Day and it was Somerville’s 5th annual Mary O’Brien Memorial 5 K for Cancer, a wonderfully organized community-based run. There were runners, walkers, dogs, Harpoon Beer and Red Bones BBQ, tons of raffle prizes and a road race of course. Considering that I had a cold and my knees had been a little unhappy yesterday, I did quite well with a finishing time of 27:11, which is a pace of 8:44 min/mile.

Now of course I am on the couch, I swear, enjoying some peace and quiet and ready to watch some movies. I hope all of you have a great Mother’s Day and get to spend with your family or your friends.

All my love to you.

Pet:)