#26 Boston - A Tuba Christmas December 3 05

There is always something interesting to report about Boston - this time I stumbled upon a band of about 100 tuba players in front of Fanueil Hall playing what turned out to be Christmas tunes. Initially I thought that their repertoire was a bit on the dark, mysterious side, until I realized they were just tuning up the instruments, and hadn't actually started playing yet. Tuba Christmas (http://www.tubachristmas.com/) is actually not a fixed orchestra but takes place in 205 cities in the United States, and is basically a loose congregation of whoever plays the tuba or its higher-pitched cousin, the euphonium. If there is a Tuba Christmas in your town and you happen to play the tuba, come on over! The series was started as a tribute to William J. Bell (an icon in the brass world, not to confuse with the other William J Bell who was the creater of "The Young and the Restless"). Tuba Christmas was performed for the first time in New York City's Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink on Sunday, December 22, 1974. The Faneuil Hall tuba fest captured the holiday spirit very nicely, and just as if on cue, snowflakes started falling from the sky (only for about 5 minutes though).

I had ended up at Faneuil Hall at the end of my Christmas shopping spree which took all of three hours, and happened all in one street. This was a particularly grand achievement in lieu of the fact, that I was still gimping about in my surgical shoes and trying to avoid the crazy Christmas shoppers from stepping on my tender toes. I am now officially done with Christmas shopping, done, done, done!!

After a brief rest period, I shuffled over to the lovely city of Somerville, yet again - this time to see "Jimmy Tingle's American Dream" at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Theater on Elm Street. I had long wanted to check out what was up with this place (I usually walk by there on my way to my favorite watering hole, The Burren) - and my friend Amanda and I were treated to a very entertaining night with light beer, heavy comedy, savvy political commentary and a fat dose of humor - much of it targeted toward Masschausetts and Boston history!! (www.jimmytingle.com/). The New York Times called Tingle once "more than comic wit . . . so cheerfully intelligent he makes his audience optimistic in the face of appalling reality.” Jimmy Tingle is a local boy, right here from Cambridge and can boast a substantial career as a social commentator and humorist. He also just completed two seasons with 60 Minutes II on CBS as the humorist / commentator in the Andy Rooney spot.

The weekend continued with a lovely breakfast on Sunday morning at Trident, a place right after my heart. 'Tis a lovely bookstore on Newbury Street, an alternative bookseller type of place, with food!! What a charming place!! "The Trident", as it is called, has been around for quite some time, actually since the mid-1980s and is one of those places where you can easily spend an entire morning drinking coffee, eating, reading, reading, and reading.... Amanda and I had breakfast there before our planned Real Estate/ Open House expedition through the Back Bay, which proved to me, once again, that I might want to cast a wider net in my search efforts for a home that is slightly larger than a postage stamp.

Other activities for the day included a visit to Marge (parentless cockatiel), a visit to the cinema to see the newest "Harry Potter" movie (liked it with some caveats), and a visit to Fajitas and Ritas (http://www.fajitasandritas.com/) for some delish Mexican Food.

This week has been equally busy. Monday night I volunteered with Boston Cares, this time at RFB&D - Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (http://www.rfbd.org/Boston_Unit.htm). What a great thing to do! You get to sit in a sound booth, read books and record them!! I did pretty well, and had only a few bloopers, one of which threw me into a psychotic fit of laughter and made Bill, who was my monitor, question my sanity just a wee bit.
Wednesday night was running group (don't worry I was just hosting, no running for me yet- but I did manage to hobble over to the pub), which ended with a group of us drinking nice beers and toasting to "arch support" and last night, it was Boston Cares yet again - this time ushering at the Lyric Stage Company for "Crowns". http://www.lyricstage.com/Crowns.htm
"A joyous celebration of African-American women and their hats" Crowns was labeled to be a gospel musical - weaving the African tradition of adorning oneself with stories of family history, spiritual worship and friendship among women. The importance on how you carry and present yourself in life - to quote James Baldwin "Our Crowns have already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is to wear them." It was a quite lively performance, with a particularly supreme apperance by Darius Omar Williams, who had the audience leap to their feet.

Last night, in a complete change of pace, I met my friend Denise and a flock of her friends at the BankNorth Garden for a game between national league basketball teams the Bolston Celtics (http://www.nba.com/celtics/) and the Chicago Bulls! The home team did not pull of a win, it was a close game though, and the atmosphere was super! The crowd was completely riled up, and during one of the breaks there was even a marriage proposal on the court. The evening ended at one of my favorite sportsbars in Boston, Porter's Bar and Grill on Portland Street.

I am currently detained at my friend Rick's house in Windham, New Hampshire. Rick, Denise and Barbara (and Phoebe, the dog) are out hiking, but I was scolded yesterday by the podiatrist and told to stay off my feet some more. The toes have not been healing that well after surgery, mostly due to my wearing of sneakers instead of the jazzy surgical shoes. I am actually enjoying this prescribed laziness a bit, as I have to attend a three-day conference starting tomorrow at the Hynes Convention Center here in Boston.

That's it for me for this week. Be well my friends, and watch out for other people's toes, they might be hurting.

pet:)