#25 Boston - The Banshees of Faneuil Hall - November 25 2005

The word banshee stems from the Irish Bean Si ("fairy woman), meaning a weeping harbinger of death. Generally they have very long, flowing hair and wear green dresses with grey cloaks. Their eyes are bright red because of their continuous weeping. Long ago, when someone in an Irish village would die, a woman would sing a traditional lament or modern Irish caoinadh (pronounced keenah) at the funeral. These singers are sometimes referred to as "keeners." Traditionally, some Irish families had a fairy woman associated with them, who would make an appearance after a death in the family to sing this lament. These days the term "like a banshee" is applied to those contemporaries who revel in expressing their emotions a bit too excessively - screaming, hollering, that kind of stuff.
Now the banshees at Faneuil Hall, mind you, were more of the passive-aggressive kind, mumbling curses under their breath and giving you the evil eye. These keeners (who were not wearing grey cloaks, but seemed to be members of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Brigades) seemed to harbor murderous thoughts toward our group of Boston Cares ushers at Faneuil Hall, since we were the "new" kids on the block, and of course, could not compete with their wealth of experience in having ushered at Faneuil Hall for the past 13 years or longer. Plus, it can of course not be appropriate at all for any of us to stand in the exact same spot where they usually perform their impressive ushering duties. Nooooooo! We were punished for this (and other) infractions by getting dirty looks, and receiving serious reprimands and public castigation!! They showed us, ha!

Ellen, Patrick, Dara and I decided to be fairly unimpressed by all this, retreated to our seats eventually and did enjoy the concert, though - just in case - we kept looking over our shoulders, making sure the banshees did not gang up on us behind our backs. The event of choice this time was our old favorite, the Boston Classical Orchestra (http://www.bostonclassicalorchestra.org/), this time with a supreme program, which included J.C.Bach (the youngest of Bach's composing sons), Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus. This concert made it absolutely clear why Mozart was such a superstar at the time (and still is) - the difference between him and the other two composers (who were not too shabby either) was striking to me and the Sinfonia Concertante (many of you might know if from the "Amadeus" soundtrack) was superbly performed by Grammy Award-nominated violist Kim Kashkashian and New England Conservatory faculty violinist Lucy Chapman Stoltzman. The audience leapt to their feet at the end of this performance, and boy did the orchestra deserve it! Bravo!!
The Cooleys and I then toodled over to Quincy Market and the Rustic Kitchen (http://www.rustickitchen.biz/), a slightly pricey, but pretty amenable dinner place, right in the heart of Boston's tourist trap area. They call themselves a "a lively and classic Italian-Mediterranean bistro" and I have to give them kudos for a well-prepared and enjoyable meal.

The evening prior I attended a play - Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor", performed by "Theater First", a Somerville-based community theater project. This is probably Shakespeare's most accessible play, even though I learned that in the Elizabethan era this play lasted about 5 hours, and going to the theater was an all-day event in those days. The story centers around two very lively, but faithful Windsor wives, who decide to teach the philandering Count Falstaff a lesson in how to behave, and to demonstrate to at least one of their husbands that jealousy is not something to be proud of and come to think of it, quite ridiculous. As you might imagine, the language during Shakespearean times was quite different - to cony-catch is to cheat; a cuckold is a man whose wife is unfaithful; if you are frampold, you are old and disagreeable; froth and lime means to dilute drinks; marry trap means to shut up; a sack is a wine from Spain; a tire was a headdress from Venice, and sluts and sluttery meant disorder and squalor. Some words I certainly had never heard off - an Antropophaginan is a cannibal, a booly rook an affectionate insult, a gallimaufry is a stew, a latten bilbo is a wobbly sword, mumbudget a children's game and oeillades are meaningful looks. "Still Swine Eat All the Draff" meant that it is "the quiet ones who make all the trouble." It was a most enjoyable evening, and the stellar cast, which included my friend and colleague Renee, definitely deserved a big hand!!!

Two big things happened this week, and my friend Stephanie was involved in both of them (Thanks Steph!). On Tuesday I had my toe surgery - both big toes were operated on, taking care of my longstanding problems with my toenails, and now my poppers are all bandaged up, I am wearing heavyweight wool socks and very swish surgical shoes. I am stylin! Stephanie, the good woman, picked me up after the procedure and put my dazed self on a sofa chair at home with a cup of tea, and the TV ready to play many many many movies. I have had a couple of rough nights this week, but am now on the mend. The doc promised that I would be ready to go running in about a week - I for one look forward to get my antsy and restless self out of the house as soon as possible. Event #2 of course was Thanksgiving, which I spend with Stephanie and her extended family in Norfolk, Mass, located about 45 minutes from Boston in an upper valley of the Charles River. It was originally settled in 1669, but only became a town in 1870, when it finally decided to break away from Wrentham and other communities and do its own thing (http://www.virtualnorfolk.org). We spend a most lovely evening with good food (as it should be on Thanksgiving) and in the likeable company of the Ryans (hosts), the Coopers (Steph and Dan, shuttle drivers) and Cunninghams (Go Bruce!). Thanks to Zak Ryan for teaching me how to bead and to Miss Daisy Ryan for just being her cute self!

Another little dusting with snow and a lovely temperature of 25 degrees F (4 degr Celsius) made it clear that winter is open for business here in New England and that it is time to stock up on supplies to make hot chocolates and hot toddies (http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink4355.html).

My friends, be well and enjoy the pre-Christmas frenzy that is heading our way!

pet:)