It’s “Movember” for more than 250,000 people worldwide, including about 100 in Greater Boston. The U.S. participants are raising money and awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Instead of embarking on a bike tour or a walk-a-thon, these guys are collecting pledges to grow ’staches this month.

Local employers with participating personnel range from big corporate players such as Canton-based Reebok and Boston-based Fidelity Investments to smaller firms such as Cambridge’s IdeaPaint and Gupta Media. The CEO of Fresh Tilled Soil, a marketing firm in Waltham, is growing a handlebar moustache and apparently persuaded his entire company to participate.

Adam Garone, CEO of the California-based Movember Foundation, tells me the initiative has grown significantly since its first year as a fund-raiser in Australia in 2004, when about 450 people participated. The global charity has raised more than $40 million so far over the years. Garone and some friends came up with the idea in Melbourne in 2003; he says they figured the next year that they should try to find a way to raise money for a good cause like fighting prostate cancer. “A lot of guys out there really want to know what they look like with a moustache,” Garone says, “and this is a legitimate reason for them to explore that.”

Winterbloom — Anne Heaton, Antje Duvekot, Meg Hutchinson and Natalia Zukerman — perform at the the WUMB Radio free member concert. Photo courtesy Jake Jacobson

On a wintery November night, four highly accomplished women singer/songwriters cast a warm glow over more than 200 people this past Wednesday night at one of WUMB Radio’s free member concerts. The quartet — which includes Antje Duvekot, Natalia Zukerman, Anne Heaton, and Meg Hutchinson — combined original and traditional holiday fare and presented it in a most imaginative way. The title of their brand-new, debut album says it all — “Winterbloom: Traditions Rearranged.”

Each woman has a successful solo career going for her, but the real magic materialized when they joined forces for this special seasonal project. They combined their voices and instruments (guitars, keyboard, and Dobro) on familiar chestnuts like “O Holy Night” and far lesser known gems like Anne Heaton’s “As You Are.” In each case, the arrangement was crafted with great care and creativity to produce a sound completely different from what might have been expected.

My personal favorite? It was “Silent Night,” actually sung in crystalline 4-part a cappella harmony in German! It was breathtaking. Just to hear “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” was worth the price of admission. Come to think of it, there was no price of admission for WUMB members. Thanks, WUMB! I complimented Antje on “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” and she said that’s the way she always heard it in her native Germany when she was growing up. What seemed so unusual to the audience was completely natural for her.

After this debut performance in Boston, the show goes on the road to New York City; Washington, DC; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Rockland, Maine; and numerous other stops in between. WUMB (91.9 and streaming live on the web at wumb.org) recorded the show for airing on two future dates including, of course, Christmas. Their web site should be offering full details about the broadcast.

— Guest column by Mac McLanahan,
artistic director, Rose Garden Coffehouse

Winterbloom — Anne Heaton, Antje Duvekot, Meg Hutchinson and Natalia Zukerman — perform at the the WUMB Radio free member concert. Photo courtesy Jake Jacobson

]]> http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/photoblog/2009/11/19/photo-of-the-day-soccer-synergy/ Staff Photo by Kirk R. Williamson Last week I got the opportunity to shoot a playoff game between Rockport High and Austin Prep. Rockport has never moved this far in the state tournament before and the boys really played well. I have watched most of these kids play since they were eight years old. So it [...] http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/photoblog/?p=13119 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:37:42 -0800

Staff Photo by Kirk R. Williamson

Last week I got the opportunity to shoot a playoff game between Rockport High and Austin Prep. Rockport has never moved this far in the state tournament before and the boys really played well. I have watched most of these kids play since they were eight years old. So it was great fun to talk with friends at the game during half time. The lighting in Reading is pretty good but still offers a challenge. I shot this with my Canon EOS1 MK ll and the 300mm f2.8 lens. The exposure was made at 1600 ISO at 1/400 sec at 2.8. The challenge at these night games is to get the exposure right and get peak action. Knowing where to stand is key. That being said I was on the wrong side to get the celebration when they won.

The West Roxbury-based chain (its headquarters is off the VFW Parkway) has been rapidly growing the number of its Uno Express locations: In the past year-and-a-half, about 160 Uno Express “shops” have opened, bringing the total to nearly 300. Unlike the 200 Uno Chicago Grill restaurants, the Uno Express sites aren’t run by Uno Restaurant Holdings or a franchisee. Instead, they’re quick-service counters or kiosks that are part of a larger operation – such as a sports arena concessions business, an airport, a college dining hall, a turnpike rest stop or a BJ’s Wholesale Club store.

The Uno Express concept represents an important way for Uno to expand its revenue sources at a time when restaurant growth, in general, is relatively flat.

All the food is made at Uno’s plant in Brockton, helping to gaurantee a consistent quality, Uno senior vice president Jamie Strobino tells me. He says the Uno Express menu is squarely focused on pizza options instead of the broader choices available in Uno restaurants these days.

While they probably won’t bring back the “Pizzeria Uno” signs anytime soon, it’s nice to see the folks at Uno Restaurant Holdings paying attention to the food that made their company famous.

Wicked Local Photo by Nicole Goodhue Boyd

Freshman Evan Dudney of the North Andover boys soccer team celebrates his second goal as the game-winner lands in the net to beat Triton in a Division 2 North quarterfinal game, 3-1 on Nov. 9. Tournament time is exciting! Both teams want it bad and it shows in how they play and celebrate. I am pretty happy with this shot. ( except for the fact half of his arm is cut…boo!) Usually the actual goal shot is not so exciting, but the reaction is what makes it! So, my advice, keep following the action even after the goal has been shot. BTW: The field is quite bright as high school fields come. It was shot with a Nikon D2H pushed to 1200. 1/250 @ 2.8 and with a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 lens.

Staff Photo by David Sokol

Fall in New England never seems to last long enough for me. It is my favorite time of the year. This year however I was unable to find enough time to create images of all the fall colors in the area. Most fall photographs can be taken with a wide angle lens, for dramatic scenery or a moderate telephoto lens, to help focus on colorful leaves. This image of the First Congregational Church in Stoneham was taken at a focal length of 55mm on a Nikon D300 digital camera. I used the colorful red leaves of this tree on the common to help frame the steeple of the church.

PB: What are some of your favorite films?

MH: “Star Wars,” “Creepshow,” “Local Hero,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Blue Velvet,” “Aguirre: The Wrath of God.”

PB: What about “Nashville”?

MH: With [Robert] Altman it’s difficult to choose [a favorite movie]. I guess I would keep coming back to “Nashville.” Then again, “McCabe and Mrs. Miller.” One of those two would be my favorite.

PB: Why was Robert Altman a great filmmaker?

MH: I love his daring more than anything else. Here’s a guy who toiled in industrial films for years. Here he was at age 40 getting an opportunity to make what [the studio] thought was going to be a dumb comedy. It flew under the radar when he made it. It was “Mash.”

I always like those artists who achieve success relatively later compared to what we hear about all the time. 40 years old is hardly old but to get your first big opportunity at 40… James Michener wrote his first successful book at 40. I look at those guys and think “I’ve got a little time left.”

I always find myself appreciating an artist who isn’t afraid to fail. Sometimes I find myself loving their failures because they’re working something out. Even if it’s not exactly a success, there are so many good things in it that I find myself inspired.

Then there are those instances where [Altman] has so many things going on in his films that you would say “There is no way he’s going to be able to pull this off in totality.” And then he gives you “Nashville,” which is just a stunning work of art.

Movies are a group effort and you can have the best script, the best writers, the best actors but you’re asking every single person to be on top of their game and produce their best all at the same time. When you write a novel you rely on one person.

It’s amazing that there are any good movies made. Altman I would say, critically he probably runs 50/50 on whether his films are successful or unsuccessful. For me I think it’s much higher than that, but a lot of people feel he blows hot or cold. I just find his stuff to be really intriguing, thought provoking, funny, sad all at the same time. That is a remarkable feat.

PB: Is “Quintet” Altman’s most profound failure?

MH: You could say “Quintet” because of the star power involved and it’s probably one of his most jaded efforts. But you can also say “O.C. and Stiggs” is a failure, yet he would have argued that that was one of his really good movies. I’ve watched “Quintet” five or six times myself and I still get something from it. I guess that’s the really cool part about it. For all the stuff that might be wrong with the movie, his hands are all over the movie and you can feel it. If you like that, you’ll like just about anything [Altman] does.

PB: Are Hollywood movies in a creative crisis right now?

MH: There’s no question about it. People making decisions about movies right now are absolutely the wrong people to be making decisions. It used to be film studios weren’t allowed to have their own TV network because it would be a monopoly. Now that’s changed because movies are struggling in terms of the box office so [the studios] need to have another avenue. Now all these remakes are made because the idea is “We can cross promote the re-release of this old TV series to be in conjunction with a movie version of the TV series. It’s nostalgic. People will like that. And we know we’ll make some money with it because it didn’t cost us that much because we already own the property.” That’s a really depressing thing if you ask me. It’s never about a great idea anymore.

It’s cliché to say that the best era for American movies was either the 1940s or the 1970s. For me it was the 1970s. That was basically because the studios admitted that they didn’t know what they were doing. They allowed the creative to actually be creative.

I know people who say “I don’t watch any movies post 1977 because after that it’s all been downhill. But if I find a movie that was made from 1968 to 1976, pre “Rocky”, then I’ll watch any of them.” It’s remarkably true. There’s just something about that era where you can feel the creativity was let loose. The movies weren’t that expensive to make but they were interesting

PB: One of your least favorite films is Paul Haggis’s “Crash” from 2005.

MH: I hated “Crash” It was a glorified after school special. Year after year you can count on Hollywood to make a message movie that they can pat themselves on the back for. Leave it to Hollywood to make a statement that’s about as mundane a statement as you can get, which is “Racism is bad.” All the people were caricatures. You clean up the language a little bit and take away the violence; it would be great for a 9-year-old to watch. It would teach them that yes, racism is bad.

PB: I think Don Cheadle’s speech in the opening scene is especially insulting. It sums up the movie’s theme in a few pithy sentences so the audience doesn’t have to think.

MH: Exactly. That’s the kind of “artistic film” we get nowadays. I think the director (Paul Haggis) is a talented person but maybe he’s been out in Hollywood too long. Maybe he knows something I don’t know.

Maybe he says, “The Midwest in this country needs to see this film.” Maybe he’s speaking to an audience that I’m not familiar with. I found it insulting. What it ends up being is a heavy handed simplistic outing.

PB: There have been a few films made this decade you enjoyed. For instance, “Memento” and “Ghost World.”

MH: I loved “Ghost World.” It gave me a peak into a lifestyle that I wasn’t familiar with and yet in some ways I was. I did know a few people that were in that record collector area. It was a neat little peak into a very real world. It reached a real human level that a lot of movies just don’t get. “Memento” I thought was a really hip and cool film. I don’t know how well it will stand up years from now, but at the time I can remember thinking it was a really creative idea that was well executed. That’s rare. Again, it’s an independent movie.

PB: Despite your distaste for Hollywood, you loved “Spider-Man.”

MH: Hollywood at its best makes a good blockbuster. For the most part I don’t think they’ve done them really well since the 1980s. At least in the 1980s they gave you just enough character where you felt you could invest your emotions a little bit. In “Back to the Future” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” you felt like you liked those people and you cared about them. Nowadays it’s all about the special effects and how many young people can you get into a movie. You don’t see a lot of older actors getting plum roles anymore. It’s not often. You get the occasional Ian McKellen or Patrick Stewart but for the most part everyone has to be young and hip and beautiful. To me, that’s boring.

“Spider-Man” I thought was great because Sam Raimi was a fan [of the comic book] and it showed. He really captured how I felt as a kid watching [the Spider-Man cartoon series] on TV.

That’s one of the few blockbuster sci-fi movies over the last 20 years where they spent a lot of time developing the characters. I always find that any blockbuster movie that I watch, for the most part, when I get to the last 20 minutes I could turn it off. I don’t care about the crash bang special effects. It doesn’t look real to me. It suddenly feels like we’re cutting to an animated film. I always thought it would great to have a Spider-Man movie where there is no exciting climax. Maybe he’s just depressed because he couldn’t get Mary Jane and that’s it. I would like that personally, but you’re not going to get that.

PB: What does Hollywood need to do differently to make better movies?

MH: I think they’re starting to do it, but in a different medium. I think you’re starting the see the good stuff moving to television and I’m not talking about “CSI” and garbage like that. “Breaking Bad” for example could easily have been a 1970s movie. It’s all about character. It’s all about consequences. All that good stuff we all like to see. The more successful Hollywood movies tend to be the ones that embrace a moral dilemma that avoid doing it the way “Crash” does it. There actually is no dilemma in “Crash”. It’s totally understood that [racism] is bad. If you have a morality play with heavier [character] development, that would be a good way to start in Hollywood. But you’re never going to get really challenging stuff in Hollywood for the most part.

That’s why I was happy to hear the news out of U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt’s office today that the Patrick administration is pulling together a task force (something Delahunt suggested to state transportation chief Jeffrey Mullan last week) to deal with repair work at the two Cape Cod Canal bridges and the issues they cause for Cape businesses, commuters and tourists.

The backups getting off the Cape were much longer than a mile when the $5.5 million repaving project at the Sagamore first started in September – prompting the Army Corps to rearrange its plan and keep two lanes open in one direction (and one of two lanes open in the other direction) on weekends through Columbus Day. But the rearrangement slowed the project down: Now, it looks like the Sagamore project could last until next fall. It was originally supposed to be done next spring (the crews will take a break in the winter due to the weather, and then another break next summer to accommodate the crowds).

The congestion has definitely improved since September, partly because the tourism season has wrapped up on the Cape. But it’s hard not to blame people on the Cape for feeling like they were not fully informed of the consequences of this project.

Delahunt’s office says the task force will focus on near-term improvements to address the Sagamore construction in the spring, as well as long-term solutions (the Bourne bridge will also need to get a facelift at some point, too). Hopefully, one of the issues that will be addressed is the need to improve communications among all the affected parties – local officials, businesses and commuters – so there aren’t any big surprises in the future.

PB: Why did you decide to major in communications at Long Island University? Did your love of movies factor into that decision?

MH: Oh yeah. There’s no question about it. I really wanted to write. I thought “I could write for TV or movies or I could write for print.” I wanted to know all the different avenues in which my writing could get seen. Movies and books definitely impacted my choice in a major.

Picking the school I went to is certainly not the way one would want to pick a school. I went to [Long Island University South Hampton] and that was a marine bio school. But they had a communications department that was pretty well regarded at the time. I thought “Here’s a beautiful place that I could write in. I can sit here and look at the Atlantic Ocean and I’m sure I could write here.”

I ended up joining the theater there. I did a lot of acting. And I was able to be in a made for cable series. It was called the “Women’s Health Series” for Lifetime Cable and I play a guy who gives his girlfriend genital warts. I also got to be [an assistant] on that shoot. And I got to work with Dick Stone who was a legendary commercial director. He must have been in his late 60s or early 70s at the time and one of the real gentlemen I’ve ever worked for. I learned so much just watching him work. He was a real down to earth guy.

He made a name for himself making Boy Scout commercials believe it or not in the 1960s that got a lot of notoriety. He enjoyed a nice long career. It was fascinating to see how that worked and here it was at this marine bio school. It ended up being a good experience.

PB: You never acted before you went to college?

MH: I never did. When I was a little kid, I can remember playing with [two friends] and we would act out scenes that we saw on TV the night before. I can remember being the director at 5 years old saying “Okay you jump off that log!” I think my first love was always telling people what to do.

PB: How did you become a stage actor in college?

MH: I auditioned for “Amadeus” and little did I know [the director] cast me as Mozart. I thought, “I’ve never acted before. How could he possibly give me the lead?”

I was on the stage [for a callback audition] when the director was about to tell me [that he had the lead role]. He was just about to tell me, and I could see in the footlights coming down the stairs a kid who had just graduated. He was basically told by the professor that if he came back he would be cast as Mozart. It seemed like he wasn’t coming back. They had cast me. I didn’t know this. My professor ended up telling me “Mark I feel terrible. I was just about to tell you that you were going to get Mozart and Andy Sacker came back. We thought he had left town.’”

This was a combination student/community production. I ended up getting a really great part. It’s a part that’s not in the movie but is a huge part of the play. It’s one of the two gossip mongers that basically move the story along in between scenes. They finish each other’s sentences.

After that I realized I really liked what I was doing. I worked both in the crew and as an actor in theater. It was one of those things where I thought “Maybe I want to do this instead [of writing]” but ultimately I get more satisfaction writing. But then life happens and you don’t write as much as you want.

PB: Did you act in other plays in college?

MH: I did as many as I could do. I did “Life During Wartime” and a few other good ones. I was an extra in Woody Allen’s “Scenes from a Mall.”

PB: How did that happen?

MH: [The producers] found the Stamford Town Center Mall and they dressed it to look more like L.A. They ended up doing the film there.

Tom [Taylor] and I went [to the set]. It was a real cattle call type situation. The idea was that we were going to be in a movie because we were obsessed with movies at that point. I think I ended up getting picked and he didn’t.

[The production] was interesting. You got to see how a production was done. You also got a little exposure into the silliness that goes on and the pettiness of the actors.

Bette Midler was great from what I saw of her. You’re in this mall so you have a lot of extras near the actors. In between takes Bette would turn around and ask an extra “Is there a butcher shop in this mall? I want to get a nice piece of meat for dinner.”

Whereas with Woody Allen, there was an older woman who said something to the effect of “Mr. Allen, I just want you to know its been a pleasure watching you work.” That’s all she said. And Woody, without looking at her, called down to Paul Mazursky saying “Paul she spoke to me!” She was moved to another area where she was no longer on camera.

And then Woody wanted additional makeup on a scene. It was a shot where he was riding down an escalator, and Woody [said] “We can’t start yet. I need some makeup on my hands.”

And Paul Mazursky said, “Don’t worry Woody. We’re doing a wide shot and no one will know.”

[Woody responded] “My hands are blue!”

[Mazursky] said “Woody, no one’s going to know!” And [Allen] said “But I’ll know!”

It was that kind of thing. That’s not to take away from Woody Allen’s talents. I just don’t think he was that interested in doing that movie. It’s not a very good movie.

I was in one scene that they ended up cutting where I was talking on a telephone behind Woody and Bette as they’re riding down the escalator.

PB: Would that scene be available as an extra on the DVD?

MH: I doubt it.

PB: Did you talk to Paul Mazursky or any of the other actors during the shoot?

MH: I was never able to get close enough and I don’t know as though I ever would. You don’t want to be one of those star struck people.

PB: Do you prefer acting on film or on the stage?

MH: There’s something about theater that’s more special in a lot of ways. I’m not one of those people that thinks if you can do theater then you can do film, but not necessarily the other way around.

I think acting on film can be extremely difficult. I do think you have a benefit in film that you just do it again if you don’t do it right [the first time]. You can cover up a lot.

But at the same time to be in a moment that’s totally outside of itself where you’re crying or you’ve just found out someone has died and then [the director] cuts, that’s not easy. I think there’s definitely a skill that is different from theater acting. But at the same time I think you stand a better chance of being a good film actor if you’ve done theater.

There’s more of a community sense in theater. You can be pretty isolated on a film set if you want to be. Whereas in theater [the cast] is all there. You’re hanging out and you’re rehearsing and you’re spending a lot more time together than [a film cast]. I think there is something really special about a live theater experience where there’s no net. The audience, for the most part, is usually rooting for you. If you’re struggling, the audience starts to feel that and really gets behind you. Sometimes it gets you through a scene.

PB: How did you land the role of Eugene in Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound”?

MH: I reluctantly went down [to the North Fork Theater]. I wasn’t even going to audition. I was just going to introduce myself to the North Fork Theater Group and that was going to be it. The director insisted that I audition.

I said “I don’t have anything to offer. I don’t even have anything that I could read for you.” She said “Well go out to your car and find something. You must have something in your car.”

Ironically, the day before I had cleaned my car. I didn’t have anything in my car. So I opened up my glove compartment and pulled out the registration. I went in and I read the registration as though it were a great novel. I talked right to the audience.

I wasn’t familiar with the play. I didn’t know it was the third part of a trilogy. I didn’t know that the main character talks directly to the audience and here I was [reading the registration] almost as though I was a character talking to the audience. It got a lot of laughs and when I walked off the stage [the director] said “You’ve got the lead.”

There was one point on the opening night of the play where the place was packed and they were laughing at everything. There was one point where the character comes up with an idea and when I delivered the punch line I dropped my arms on both sides of the couch as I’m sitting there and the place roared with laughter. And I knew that as long as I kept my arms on the coach on both sides of me they were going to keep laughing. I was able to sustain that laugh just about as long as I wanted to.

That was the first time that I felt I had the audience wrapped in the palm of my hand. That’s a thrill. There’s no doubt about it. It’s something you would never get in a movie.

PB: Talk about the screenplays and teleplays you have written

MH: I’ve written three teleplays for “Star Trek”. Back then there was a producer [named] Michael Piller. He was actually from somewhere near where I grew up [in Darien CT]. He was one of those very few producers that remembered where he came from. He always believed in giving new talent an opportunity. He was one of the very few, if not the only major producer that accepted what they called spec scripts (scripts on speculation).

You write a script, they don’t know you from Adam, and you don’t get paid for it. If they like it, they’ll buy it.

[Mark’s college roommate] and I heard somewhere that 10 percent of the scripts that were submitted were actually used. In retrospect, I would be surprised if it was even one percent. We figured, “We’re in college. Let’s just go for it. The worst they can do is turn us down.”

We wrote the first script for “Star Trek: the Next Generation.” We heard back in two months and they said “Sorry. We didn’t even read your script because we’re entering the final season of ‘Star Trek’ and we’re trying to give all the staff writers a pay day.”

We didn’t even know if that script was any good or not. Then came “Deep Space Nine” and we said “Let’s give this one a shot.”

We ended up getting a rejection letter for that one but when we got the script back it had coffee stains on it, and it was bent and folded. It looked like it had really made the rounds. We thought that was pretty cool. Even though they didn’t like it, it looked like a lot of people looked at it. To this day over my computer, whenever I do write, I have both rejection letters framed.

PB: Talk about the teleplay you wrote for the “The Dead Zone” TV series.

MH: I wouldn’t necessarily have written that teleplay except Michael Piller had moved on from “Star Trek” to this series and was [accepting spec scripts]. Only to find out that he got pressured from USA networks to not accept spec scripts because of legal complications. So then I said ‘Well I have this script. I better bite the bullet and try to get an agent.”

I submitted the teleplay to a bunch of different agents and lo and behold one actually called me back and said she loved the script and wanted to represent it. She wasn’t going to represent me but she was going to represent the script to try to get it sold. Then if it sold she would take me on. I had six glorious months of telling myself that I had an agent. But she had no luck selling it. I think that had less to do with me or the script. She just had difficulty getting in the doors of any television production. At the time there was a looming writer’s strike and it was just a bad scene.

PB: Will you ever attempt to write another script or a novel?

MH: I definitely do want to go back [to writing]. I actually think it’s a therapeutic process to write. The act of writing is really healthy. I guess I’m leaning toward [writing] a novel but we’ll see.

PB: What are your responsibilities as director of sales at Historic Films Inc?

MH: We supply clips to TV shows, feature films, documentaries. In “Bullets Over Broadway” our shot is the opening shot of the film. In “LA Confidential,” we have a bunch of stuff in the opening of that. In “Dolores Claiborne” there’s a scene where the characters are watching television of a beauty contest. [The producers] wanted a scene from a 1970s beauty contest so I submitted this one clip. They loved it and it ended up being featured in the movie in a pivotal scene. It’s nice to be involved in some way in [film production] but [supplying stock footage] is certainly the back door.

PB: Is there a creative element to supplying stock footage?

MH: There are some times when it’s a totally mercenary effort and you’re just filling an order. But when you get an opportunity where someone says “I need to convey this feeling” or I need something that will ring funny for this situation, then you get to bring your own creativity and your own knowledge of [the film] library. Then you actually feel like you’re doing something that’s part of the creative process and you might actually impact the way something is in a film.

When we worked on the movie “Cobb” with Tommy Lee Jones, we [supplied] an eight minute interview with Cobb when he was on a hunting trip.

We sent it off and we got a phone call back from the associate producer that just wanted to let us know that Tommy was blown away by the footage we had sent him. He was just so appreciative because [the footage] would help him shape the character.

Tomorrow: Part III of my interview with Mark Heidemann

Hewlett-Packard Co. is plugging into the Massachusetts technology scene with a $2.7 billion purchase of 3Com Corp. The Marlboro-based networking company was one of the few publicly traded firms to relocate to this state in the past decade. The HP deal follows last month’s news that Starent Networks of Tewksbury would be acquired by Cisco for nearly $3 billion. Now, people are wondering which Bay State tech company could be the next one to be gobbled up.

Procter & Gamble is continuing to shave local jobs tied to its 2005 acquisition of Gillette Co., with plans to close a research facility in Needham by mid-2012. Cincinnati-based P&G plans to offer all 105 of the facility’s workers jobs in other parts of the company, and many will be able to relocate to the Gillette campus in South Boston. But others will be forced to choose between moving out-of-state or leaving the company.

The news wasn’t all bad on the corporate consolidation front in the past week: Pfizer announced the research labs it plans to close in the wake of last month’s Wyeth acquisition, and the Wyeth lab in Cambridge was spared the ax. In fact, Pfizer said the Cambridge site eventually will be one of its five main drug research and development campuses.

My uncle Mark Heidemann, 38, has seen more movies than most film professors. He caught the film bug at 8 years old after watching the 1963 Sidney Poitier classic “Lillies of the Field,” and has since dabbled in acting and writing.
Mark’s community theater credits include the South Hampton Players’ production of “Amadeus” and the North Fork Theater’s production of Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.”
He was cast as an extra in Paul Mazursky’s 1991 movie “Scenes from a Mall,” and nabbed a small part in a mini-series for Lifetime Television.
He has worked as director of sales for Historic Films Inc. in Greenport Long Island since 1992.
His achievements aside, Uncle Mark is worth interviewing for his passionate opinions about film.
Mark is almost never indifferent about a movie.
He can spot a phony Hollywood blockbuster faster than Sherlock Holmes can catch a criminal.
His unique tastes in books, music, and movies have had a profound influence on me.

 PB: What is the first film you remember seeing?

 MH: The one I remember watching [first] was “Wizard of Oz.” The irony of that one was that I watched it on a black and white television set.

I watched it on a big old zenith that looked like a relic from 1952. It was one of those tall boxes with a wire wrapped around it so you could tilt it. It took about five minutes to warm up before you got a picture.

Then a year later I watched part of it [on a color television] and when Dorothy goes to Oz suddenly it turned into color and blew my mind. I actually think I got the same appreciation for it as someone who wasn’t used to seeing color film back in the 1930s got.

 PB: You’ve often said the film that made you love movies was “Lillies of the Field.”

 MH: I was in my room [watching] a little black and white TV. I can remember flipping through channels not knowing what was on and I came across this movie. I was playing with my matchbox cars and I wasn’t planning on paying much attention to it. I just wanted to hear some voices in the room because no one was around. Then up comes Sidney Poitier driving in the middle of the desert and out pop these German nuns. It was a totally bizarre image for me but I was fixated. The story moved really well. There wasn’t a lot of story to it. It was very simple which worked at my age really well. I’m guessing I was eight.

It spoke to me on a real basic level. I remember thinking “People need to see this movie!” because I felt like somehow I was the only one watching it at the time. Meanwhile it was this old movie that everybody had seen and won Poitier an Academy Award.

Up until that point I remember thinking John Wayne was the coolest actor there was. I can remember thinking [after watching “Lillies of the Field”] “Sidney Poitier is really cool.” He seemed more realistic to me. He spoke to me a little bit more. John Wayne was more like a myth.

 PB: Did you seek out other Sidney Poitier movies after that?

 MH: Not at the time. I was 8 years old and this is before VHS. You would just watch whatever television gave you. I was 13 when I saw “In the Heat of the Night” with Poitier and [Rod] Steiger. I was blown away. It was amazing.

 PB: It was especially amazing for that time. Before “In the Heat of the Night” Poitier was essentially a gentleman. In that film he actually hit a white guy in the face.

 MH: Exactly.

 PB: Did you grow up with friends who were movie buffs?

 MH: I had two people who I went to movies with and I usually separated them. I ended up seeing more movies than either one of them because I would go with one to one kind of movie and one to another.

When I used to go out with [Shawn Haynes] we pretty much kept it to stupid comedies and horror movies. With Tom Taylor it was art films, science fiction films, and Hollywood movies.

 PB: Growing up, you loved horror films. Is horror still your favorite genre?

 MH: I can’t say it’s my favorite genre now. But as a genre of film, it’s always the one I can go back to when I’m in a cruddy mood and want to escape. Especially period horror films from [the silent era] up to 1989. By the time you get into your early twenties the thrill of the horror movie is not quite the same. When you’re a teenager you’re a lot more tolerant of the bad trappings of a horror movie.

I was at the right age for a lot of the right [horror] directors. When I saw [David Cronenberg’s] “Videodrome” on video in 1983 I was 12 years old. It was a bizarre experience for a 12-year-old to watch that movie.

“Creepshow” had a big effect on me. I can remember watching that at Tom Taylor’s house. It was this amazing combination of horror and comedy. Outside of “Bride of Frankenstein” I don’t think I had seen a horror/comedy done that well.

Horror is such a mercenary endeavor nowadays. There’s not a lot of creativity going on in my opinion. It’s kind of sad when Rob Zombie is the seminal horror director along with Eli Roth. To me, it’s kind of tragic that these two are the ones that we’re looking at to create a good horror movie.

 PB: Why has the genre gotten so bad?

 MH: Money. Horror has a niche base, kind of like science fiction. [The producers] know that no matter what they put out, if they put a title on it that’s familiar, whether it’s “Friday the 13^th” or “Halloween”, they know that a certain portion of the population is going to go because they like to be scared in the theater.

It almost doesn’t matter how bad [the movies] are or how little money is spent because people jones for that thrill. Nobody ever went broke making a horror movie for the most part.

And I think [the PG-13] rating is a big contributor to the fall of horror movies. Now the only people going to the movie theaters are teenage kids so the [producers] want to make sure that these teenage kids will go see the movie.

Meanwhile when we were teenage kids we went to R rated movies and no one really looked that hard at our ages.

Now there can’t be anything of any real substance going on [in a horror movie] because they have to make sure they cater to a 13-year-old mentality. What kind of adult can really sit there and feel like they’ve gotten their money’s worth? I mean, nobody goes to a horror movie for intellectual stimulation but if there’s something that’s a little bit challenging, kind of like a [David Cronenberg] film from the early 80s, a teenager’s not going to get that. In some ways horror movies are more unpleasant than they used to be and that’s really all they can offer you now.

Unpleasant, I guess, gets past the censors. If there’s really nothing [in the movie] except grisliness, then I don’t understand the appeal. I don’t know that I would be a super big horror fan if I grew up in this era.

 PB:  But the horror movies of the 1980s, like “The Burning” and “Friday the 13^th,” were just as gory and trashy as today’s horror films.

 MH: The irony now is that those films come off better now than they did then because the quality of the material made now has practically fallen off the cliff. For me, the late 1970s and early 1980s had some really high quality [horror films] and some really low quality. By the time you get to 1988 it seemed like that’s when the good stuff was thrown out the window and they’re just going for the gore.

When Paramount put out Friday the 13^th (1980), they despised it. They basically held their nose and collected the money.

But there were still people having fun with the genre. When you look at “John Carpenter’s The Thing” (1982), he got abused for that movie. It was just so gross. I’ve always argued that that film is a terrific horror film. In its own way it’s on par with the original* because it’s a totally different experience.

The first film is a classic. Of course you’re going to say it’s a better film because it was first and it was quick witted and smartly written. But at least when Carpenter decided to do a remake he said “If I’m going to do this I’m going to do something different.”

[Carpenter’s film] was graphic but it wasn’t graphic for [the sake of being graphic]. [The graphic imagery] actually added to your disbelief.

In many ways I think the 1950s and 1960s horror and sci-fi films would have done the same thing if they had the ability to make [a monster] look like it wasn’t a guy in a rubber suit.

 PB: Did you see “The Thing” in a movie theater?

 MH: I didn’t see “The Thing” in a theater. I got the first dose of most of my horror experiences when VHS first came. I wasn’t going to the movie theater to see many horror movies. Nobody in our family liked them. No one could understand why anybody would want to be scared. It was not a very pleasant feeling to them. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was “Jaws.” They had re-released “Jaws” in 1977 and people were flooding back into the theater to see it. I was convinced I would come home and have nightmares and I didn’t. I remember thinking “I can actually watch a horror movie and it won’t do me in.”

That had a lot to do with me getting interested in horror movies.

Little did I know that [other horror movies] would scare me more.

 PB: You must have been excited when you got your first VHS player.

 MH: In 1987 and 1988 I saw over 100 movies in the theater each year so it wasn’t like I preferred VHS. I truly loved the theater experience. But at the same time I was able to see all these movies that I would never have been able to see otherwise through VHS.

In 1980 we ended up getting both a Betamax machine and a VHS machine because we didn’t know which one was going to end up being the one everyone went with. I remember being so depressed when Betamax failed because the quality was so much better. Even as a kid I could recognize that Betamax just looked so much better.

But VHS was a great way for me to get to see stuff that I wouldn’t have been allowed to see in the theater because Mom and Dad weren’t paying that close of attention.

 PB: Did you ever want to be a movie director?

 MH: When we were in high school Tom [Taylor] and I fantasized about being directors. Our thing was we were going to hire all the old character actors that used to be in the movies we loved that weren’t getting work anymore.

Actors like Hal Holbrook and Fritz Weaver. Certainly they could get jobs but we wanted to give them big roles that they weren’t getting anymore. My dream was to get [Peter Cushing] in a starring role before he croaked.

We used to go to the SoNo Cinema, which was the only art theater around us. It was in South Norwalk (Connecticut). That was where we got to see a non Hollywood film. You would see Ken Russell movies and David Lynch movies and that kind of stuff.

It was kind of my first taste of looking at film as an art form.

But that said, when I was watching “Lillies of the Field,” in retrospect I do think there was some part of me that opened up that hadn’t been opened up before.

And it’s not like “Lillies of the Field” is the greatest film ever made. It’s a good little film and certainly worth watching. It kind of made me say “Here’s a way that you can express yourself. I can feel something in a movie kind of like you can do with a book.”

Tomorrow: Part 2 of my interview with Mark Heidemann

*John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is a remake of the 1951 science fiction classic “The Thing From Another World” directed by Christian Nyby and produced by Howard Hawks.

Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet and the rest of the gang are all secret agents in the new game. Instead of wandering around a mansion, the players of “Clue: Secrets & Spies” hunt the world for clues, trying to foil the plans of the Criminal League of Ultimate Espionage and its top henchman, Agent Black.

It gets even stranger: The announcement out of Hasbro’s East Longmeadow office says this will be Hasbro’s first “text-messaging enabled board game.” After checking in with “headquarters” at the start of the game, players have the option of getting real-time text messages that provide secret clues on their cell phones. Hasbro has committed to maintaining text messaging support through Dec. 31, 2011.

At least the folks at Hasbro opted against holding their Oct. 31 launch event for the game in the company’s decidedly unglamorous corporate hometown of Pawtucket, R.I. As it turns out, Hasbro probably couldn’t have picked a better venue for the event: the International Spy Museum in Washington.

As the Chef’s and managers began to develop the menu, we drew upon many past restaurant visits, job experiences, cook books, and some family background. “What’s the best Thai dish you have ever had?” “I once worked at a place with the best Fallafel”, “Can we pleeeeease have a Burrito!?”

With almost “shame on us”, “duh” type inspiration, as we recently began to plan our new 2010 menu, we took a look around and considered our staff and it’s origins. Staff members named Stefan (Polish), DiNatale (Italian), “Papi” (San Salvador), Francisco (Brazilian) and Chef Dadulas (Hawaiian), we were also represented by; Cambodia, Puerto Rico, Israel, Ireland, India, The Philipines, etc. We asked all to bring in a favorite ethnic family recipe. “What does your family eat and get together’s“? In return, we got Mofongo (early on), Perogies, Eggplant Malanzene, Seared Pork Belly, Arrancine, Coconut Shrimp and more.

On your mark. Get set. Taste!

And yesterday, as I entered the kitchen through the back door, I simultaneously detected the distinct aroma of corn while noticing all of the cooks huddled around the grill, watching intently, as our beloved “Anna”, was flipping round, thin patties of yellow cakes on the grill, giving each the blackened “stripes” we call grill lines. “Anna” has worked in our kitchen since opening, and is the 50- something Columbian sister of 50-something Dario, a 13 year employee of our first restaurant, Cobblestones. (by the way, they have 7 other sisters named either Maria or Anna which is a really great story for another day!)

As Anna, with silver streaked, jet black hair and smiling brown eyes, gave lessons on the finer points of making Arepas, mostly in Spanish with some English sprinkled in, and as we then tasted the final sandwich, a corn and cheese based “bread”, stuffed with slow roasted pork and avocado espuma, I thought; “Could it taste any better in the Andes”?!

Who knows…maybe one of these days I can convince Dario’s wife, Maria, to come in and give lessons on her delicious Empenadas with Pico de gallo!?

Scoop du jour;
Arepas (Ah-REP-us) is an unleavened cake or bread, made from ground corn, water and salt, originally from the Northern Andes. Now popular in many South American countries, Arepas can be fried, baked or grilled and are generally stuffed in “sandwich form” with meat, salads, eggs, cheese or seafood.

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Bio; Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

One of the 1.65-megawatt Vestas turbines was recently purchased by the town of Falmouth, and a spokeswoman for the MTC’s renewable energy trust says the MTC is getting close to announcing a deal for the other turbine.

The MTC signed a contract to buy these turbines in December 2005 for more than $5 million and took full ownership of them a year later at a time when Vestas turbines were in high demand; the agency was hoping to speed them along to the town of Orleans. But the Orleans project fell through in 2007, and a wide range of other locations were considered for the turbines. The MTC finally conceded, in the summer of 2008, that it would be willing to sell the turbines to an out-of-state buyer – even though the turbines were supposed to be used for a Massachusetts project.

Fortunately, it looks like that’s not going to happen now and the turbines are going to end up where they belong, here in the Bay State.

But the delayed transfer isn’t without its consequences: The MTC spokeswoman says the state’s renewable energy trust fund (which is funded by a surcharge on Massachusetts electric bills) needed to pay more than $270,000 over the course of the past few years to store the turbines and keep them properly maintained. You can bet that’s one bill that the folks at the MTC will be very happy about not having to pay anymore.

Staff Photo by David Sokol

This Veterans Day I was assigned to photograph the ceremony that took place in Saugus. There was a nice crowd of people who attended, including politicians, the high school marching band, police officers, veterans, and boy scouts among other school children and parents.

A ceremony like this presents an abundance of opportunities for photographs. Something that helps me get natural photographs during situations like this is to be as unobtrusive as possible. For instance when trying to create a photo of a child holding an American flag in the crowd I try to make sure they are unaware I am there taking a photo of them. Most people become self conscious and unnatural when they notice you pointing a large camera at them.

This photograph is of a little boy who wanted to be part of the ceremony just like his father who is a police officer in Saugus. He was all dressed up in his police officer uniform and was standing up with all the other officers. I knew this would make for a nice photograph. I tried a few different compositions and I liked how this photograph showed the little boy among the other men. This photograph was taken with a Nikon D3 and a 70-200mm lens.

Within the last three weeks, the Minnesota-based electronics retailer opened its first Best Buy Mobile stores in Eastern Massachusetts. All of five of them are in shopping malls – the malls in Peabody, Burlington, Cambridge, Braintree and Marlboro. Two more will open during the next week at the malls in Natick and North Attleboro.

The stores, of course, all focus on mobile phones and related accessories. The typical size is around 1,500 square feet – or about one-thirtieth the size of the typical Best Buy standalone big box store.

Scott Moore, vice president of marketing and strategy at Best Buy Mobile, tells me Best Buy will have about 80 Best Buy Mobile stores nationwide by the end of this year, up from 40 at the start of the year. The rollout is part of a broader effort on Best Buy’s part to gain market share in the cell phone business. Moore says the Best Buy Mobile store concept was born about three years years ago when Best Buy started Best Buy Mobile as a joint venture with Europe’s Carphone Warehouse. Aside from the cell phone stores, Best Buy has also revamped how it trains its staff and markets mobile phones within its traditional big box stores.

Moore says Best Buy Mobile is focused on expanding in shopping malls because they are already home to most major cell phone brands’ individual stores and they can provide a different target market than the folks who typically shop at Best Buy’s regular stores.

The effort seems to be paying off: Best Buy sales represented about 1 percent of the U.S. cell phone market in 2007, Moore says. Today, Best Buy’s market share is 3.8 percent. The company has essentially quadrupled its market share in less than three years – and the current store rollout shows that there’s plenty more room for Best Buy Mobile to grow.

The A list director attacked New York Times Critic Alessandra Stanley in a scathing article for the Huffington Post yesterday.

Levinson isn’t much of a writer, but his points are valid. It seems that Miss Stanley did not judge his new film “Poliwood” fairly.

Stanley seems more concerned with what the film should have been than what was actually presented on screen. Having not seen “Poliwood” of course, I could be wrong.

In any case, all this controversy has whet my appetite for the film.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-levinson/the-delusions-of-ms-stanl_b_352562.html

Staff Photo by Ian Hurley

The Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Studies in Medford recently hosted the Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour. The tour consisted of over 1000 sacred Buddhist relics available for viewing to the general public. Most of the relics were found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist masters.

Some of the relics will eventually be enshrined in a 500-foot bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha. The planners are aiming to make the statue last for 1000 years.

To learn more about the tour’s stop in Medford see the Medford Transcript article here

To learn more about the Maitreya Project and the relic tour, click here

Darren Beachley & The Legends of the Potomac, from left: Norman Wright, Mike Auldridge and Darren Beachley - photo by Stephen Ide

I had not heard of Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac until my recent visit to the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass. What I didn’t know was that it was a band whose members I actually DID know, though not by that name. In fact, I had seen Darren Beachley at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival just a couple of years ago when he was performing as a member of Doyle Lawson’s band, Quicksilver.

A couple of the members of the Legends of the Potomac really are legends in bluegrass music, so I had seen them or followed them in bluegrass for some time. Mike Auldridge (dobro) is best know for his signature sounds in the famed bluegrass band The Seldom Scene and later in the progressive folk-pop-rock ensemble called Chesapeake. Bassist Tom Gray was in the legendary group The Country Gentlemen and it was his snapshot of the band (also with Charlie Waller, John Duffey and Eddie Adcock) who were inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame. Other members of the Legends include Norman Wright and Mark Delaney.

The group will perform Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in Lexington, along with another group that showcased at the recent IBMA conference in Nashville: Audie Blaylock and Redline, which features some rising stars in bluegrass.

Sierra Hull

On Saturday, Dec. 12, celebrate the first day of Hanukkah with The John Cowan Band, featuring “The Voice” of New Grass Revival, along with 17-year-old mandolin phenom and singer Sierra Hull, who studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston when she’s not dazzling people on stage. Hull will open with a straight-out bluegrass set, while Cowan’s band will follow with an all-acoustic set of holiday music, with selections from their CD “Comfort and Joy” (Pinecastle Records).

The shows are sponsored by the Boston Bluegrass Union. Members of the BBU get show discounts. So it’s worth checking into that, if you are not yet a member. For tickets for either show, visit the BBU web site.

The new nonprofit organization, known as the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities, has collected $1,000 apiece from the dozen or so boats docked in the Point Judith harbor, as well as donations from a few others in the fishing industry.

But they’ll need much more money than that if they want to challenge the latest federal rules that are slated to take effect next May. These rules will significantly shrink how much groundfish can be caught off the coast of New England (I wrote about these changes for my column in the past weekend’s Patriot Ledger). Tina Jackson, the president of the AAFC, tells me she’s starting to put out feelers to fishermen in other states – as well as businesses that rely on the fishermen – to look for additional donations. She rightfully believes that this isn’t just a fight for Point Judith’s fishermen. It’s a fight for all fishermen in the Northeast.

Jackson says her group is working with law firm Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge to prepare a lawsuit against federal fishing regulators. She says her group will need to come up with $25,000 just for the retainer, and tens of thousands of additional dollars to launch any sort of real legal challenge to the rules.

The region’s fishing industry proudly consists of local, independent operators. That’s one reason why it’s been tough for the local fishermen to speak as a unified voice in Washington – where such a voice is needed if fishermen want to persuade Congress to modify the fish stock rebuilding timetables that are dictated by federal law. It’s also one reason why fishermen have had a hard time getting the critical mass necessary to challenge these rules in the courts. But it’s exactly that independent spirit that gives New England fishing ports their distinct identity, and it’s exactly that independent spirit that Jackson and her colleagues are fighting to preserve.

Mac McLanahan Guest writer Mac McLanahan runs the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Mansfield, a non-profit group that holds shows at the Congregational Church.

This sad turn of events is scheduled to occur on December 1 and is a result of WGBH acquiring the classical music station WCRB 99.5. All of WGBH’s classical programming will move to 99.5 and will be replaced primarily by news, information, and analysis. Although they are retaining “A Celtic Sojourn” and “A Prairie Home Companion,” their venerable shows “Folk on WGBH” and “Blues on WGBH” are ending up in the dustbin. Fortunately, WUMB 91.9 is still going strong with a mix that includes folk and becomes the only viable local outlet for this musical art form.

There is a movement afoot among the member coffeehouses of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association to contact WGBH and ask them to rescind this decision. Those wishing to add their voices and tell the station how important folk music is to the cultural life of this area can do one of two things. You can write a letter to Audience Services/ WGBH/ One Guest Street/ Boston, MA 02135, or you can send them an e-mail through this link: http://wgbh.org/about/contact.cfm.

If you disagree with WGBH’s decision to drop folk and blues programming, now is the time to speak up!

Mac McLanahan
Artistic Director
The Rose Garden Coffeehouse

[Added by Steve Ide]: It’s unfortunate that WGBH doesn’t see the value in the fact that all of their stations may not have geographic reach. Not everyone lives in Boston. If you live in southeastern Massachusetts, good luck tuning in the suggested alternative stations. Here is what WGBH posted on its web site:

“In December, WGBH is bringing WCRB 99.5 into our family of noncommercial, listener-supported public broadcasting stations, a move that preserves full-time classical radio in Boston.

With the acquisition of 99.5, we are revising 89.7’s schedule to develop a new service for our listeners that focuses on news, information, and analysis. And our classical music will move exclusively to 99.5, where we will continue the tradition of an all-classical format.

Although we are very proud of the Folk and Blues programming we have offered, and of the many contributions that WGBH and our hosts have made to these genres, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Blues on WGBH and Folk on WGBH. As we refocus the 89.7 schedule on news and information, it became apparent that it would not be possible to retain all of the non-news elements of our schedule. We have chosen to keep a select group of programs, like “A Celtic Sojourn” and “A Prairie Home Companion” that listeners cannot find elsewhere in Boston.

We are grateful to folk hosts Naomi Arenberg and Brad Paul, and blues host Brendan Hogan for sharing their passion, knowledge, and experience with listeners over the years.

Folk music fans can continue to find options on WUMB 91.9FM Boston, WNEF 91.7 FM Newburyport, WFPB 1170AM Orleans, WICN 90.5FM Worcester, WOMR 92.1FM Provincetown, or New Hampshire Public Radio. Blues fans can tune in to WUMB 91.9FM, WHRB 95.3FM, WZLX 100.7 FM, and WUML 91.5 FM.

We appreciate your support of our work and hope that you will enjoy the new offerings on 89.7 WGBH and 99.5 All Classical. For the latest information about what’s on our air, please visit wgbh.org/listen.”

Red Molly ~ Click photo for more images

Red Molly is a hot female trio from New York playing fun, infectious Americana. They will perform at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse in Franklin on Saturday, November 21st at 8 p.m. Red Molly consistently brings concert-goers to their feet with stunning three-part harmonies, crisp musicianship, and a warm, engaging stage presence. Abbie Gardner, Laurie MacAllister and Carolann Solebello (shown above, left to right) have a lot of fun on stage, and it’s contagious.

Jake Jacobson Guest writer Jake Jacobson runs the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse in Franklin, a non-profit organization affiliated with Franklin’s First Universalist Society.

In 2006 their first full length CD “Never Been to Vegas” quickly climbed into the Top 30 on the Radio & Records Americana chart, a rare accomplishment for an independent album. And listeners of WUMB radio Boston voted the CD one of the Top 10 CDs of 2006. Red Molly’s newest release, “Love and Other Tragedies,” their first full length studio album, combines their original songs with traditional American gospel tunes, and standards from the bluegrass and jazz worlds. It reached #3 on the Roots Music Report chart (June 2008), and entered the Folk DJ Top Albums list at #1 (July 2008). A new, as yet unnamed CD, will be released next month.

“Everything Red Molly sings is delivered with tick-tight arrangements, crystalline vocals, and caramel harmonies. But what is most striking is the ardor they bring to everything they do, whether snuggling into the sweet parochialism of an old spiritual, or the gritty pathos of a Gillian Welch tune.” -Scott Alarik

Red Molly last January in Mansfield:

Austin singer-songwriter Molly Venter opens the show. Pairing creative hooky melodies, smart lyrics, and a voice that stops listeners in their tracks, Molly Venter successfully combines alternative folk pop with strong undertones of soul, gospel and a hint of country.

“Few singers turn first time listeners into eternal fanatics as effortlessly as Molly Venter… Her voice is like an unbelievable Burgundy; many notes, flavors, fragrances, and it all goes down like silk.” – American Songwriter Magazine

The Circle of Friends Coffeehouse is a non-profit organization affiliated with Franklin’s First Universalist Society. Concerts are presented in a smoke free and alcohol free environment at the Society’s handicapped accessible Meetinghouse, 262 Chestnut St. in Franklin, and begin at 8:00 PM; doors open at 7:30 PM. Beverages and gourmet desserts will be available. Admission is $20. Please call (508)528-2541 or visit http://www.circlefolk.org/ to purchase tickets or for more information.

Upcoming Shows
Dec 5th A Celtic Christmas with Robbie O’Connell and Aoife Clancy
Jan 9th Antje Duvekot with special guest Flynn
Jan 23rd Buskin & Batteau with special guest Danielle Miraglia
Feb 6th David Francey
Feb 27th Susan Werner with special guest Natalia Zuckerman

Staff Photo by Kirk R. Williamson

There is nothing better than a TV weatherman to answer all your weather questions. This was the case at the Dolbeare School in Wakefield last week. I was faced with a room full of first graders and thought to myself, looks like I’ll be shooting from my knees for a half hour. So while shuffling around on the floor on my knees with my trusty 28-70 I waited until someone asked a question. This young lady, missing her two front teeth was a very excited participant and asked a few good questions regarding clouds. She gave me the perfect expression to capture in one image this presentation by WHDH meteorologist Jeremy Reiner.

Cape Wind Associates faces yet another hurdle to cross in the developer’s effort to secure federal approval for a proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The executive director of the state historical commission has ruled in favor of the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag tribes’ request to have the sound listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a “traditional cultural property.” The decision isn’t a fatal blow for the project, but it will certainly add to the delays.

Nurses and hospital executives faced off yet again at the State House in the recurring battle over whether the state should impose mandatory nurse-patient staffing ratios for hospitals. Nurses argue that the ratios would provide for a life-saving extra level of patient care, while hospital managers argue that such a mandate would limit their staffing flexibility and hurt hospitals financially at a time when they are already struggling.

Rumors were crossing the Atlantic that New England’s second largest bank, Citizens Bank, would be sold as its parent company, The Royal Bank of Scotland, grapples with financial problems and a British government bailout. In the end, however, Citizens announced that it is not part of the assets that RBS needs to sell off as part of its bailout agreement.

The state’s two dog tracks may continue to operate after live racing ends on Jan. 1 now that the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would allow the tracks to continue simulcasting races that take place at other tracks. Massachusetts voters put an end to greyhound races by approving the ban in a ballot initiative that passed a year ago, but continued simulcasting would save some jobs at the tracks.

“They don’t clean their beer lines. I’ll never drink there again. I was ill after the last time”

“Hey, Did you notice how the hostess walked at our pace, and then actually waited for us to sit down, and then HANDED us the menus. How come we can’t get our hostesses to do that?”

“Oh my god, this drink is a-MAY-ziiiing”

I have just returned from visiting my eldest daughter, a progressing gastronomist, where she has excelled over the past year.
After attending an excellent college (graduating in 2008) receiving a first rate education in American Studies and Film, and moving to the Nation’s Capital (after receiving a coveted internship), I am very proud to share with you that she was just promoted to…Bartender!

In a previous post I burbled about my great love for the “research and development” aspect of my craft. (as eating and drinking needs any greater objective!) In that post, the joy of spending time with my brother in NYC was surely expressed in flavorsome fashion. My brother. New York City. Food and Beverage. Honestly, does it get any better?!

Perhaps not. But with one daughter in DC, and a 2nd attending Art School in Chicago (and hostessing at a Sushi Restaurant where “they actually complain when I help to clear tables”) I have no shortage of incredible “research” opportunities, and terrific and worthy (and beautiful, funny, intelligent) consultants to accompany me on these essential explorations.

The Chicago daughter, visisted the DC daughter, at the same time their Tyngsboro Dad (that’s me…mr cosmopolitan…) decided to “pop in” for a couple of days. While there, we had the greatest time critiquing everything from Buffalo Wings while watching football at The 51st State Street Tavern (“overcooked, not enough sauce”), to Taramosalata at Zaytinya (“the absolute best ever”), a Greek Tapas restaurant and one of many themed restaurants owned by famous Spanish Chef Jose Andres.

While there we likewise scrutinized several other “mezze”, without the assistance of a translator, such as; falafel, bantijan, spanikopita and kolokithokeftedes (pronounced as it’s spelled. Good luck!)

And, as we noted the saltiness of the carp roe in our “best ever” spread, or the earthiness of the Tulumu cheese (“Ew. It tastes more like Tulumu cow to me”), I thought with great pride how apples don’t “fall far from the tree”. And in my case, they may just end up as Baked Apple Tart with black cardamom and cinnamon gelato!

Scoop du jour;
Like their Spanish counterpart, Tapas, Mezze or Meze (both pronounced MEH-zay and depending on whether you are in Turkey or Greece or Lebanon) refers to small portions of indigenous food intended to accompany alcoholic beverages. In Eastern Mediterranean countries these “Small plates” often compliment an Anise based liqueur such as Arak, Ouzo (Greece) or Raki (Turkey)

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Bio; Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

The goal, of course, is to draw attention to the athletic designs used to craft DresSports shoes to make them more comfortable for everyday wear (Rockport, by the way, “run tests” all its shoes). The thinking goes, if you can run a marathon in them, they must feel really good just walking around the office. Rockport also is helping ING’s Orange Laces campaign by selling limited edition DresSports to help raise money for the financial company’s effort to combat childhood obesity.

So how effective were the shoes on race day? The Rockport team – a mix of Rockport executives and avid runners – didn’t exactly beat out the elites. But they weren’t slouches either. The first runner in Rockport dress shoes was Luan Ye Mao, an IT specialist from China: He didn’t run his best time, but still finished respectably, breaking 3:17. Rockport’s more athletically-inclined sister company, Reebok, had better watch out.

Staff Photo by David Sokol

Halloween around the North Shore is a big deal. Covering all the activity you see a lot of interesting people and costumes. While at a local event in Salem I was hanging around the pumpkin patch section trying to get a few photos of kids picking out there pumpkins, which I did, but was always on the lookout for something different. I noticed this grandmother wearing bright colored stockings, I liked the contrast of her legs with the green grass and the array of pumpkins scattered on the ground. I didn’t have much time to frame a shot. I originally photographed this scene just for myself, but decided to submit it to the Salem Gazette editor who ran the photo as a package with the other photographs I took at the event. Whenever I am on an assignment if I see something that I like I always try to photograph it, even if it is only for myself.

Kate Campbell - Photo by Stephen Ide

Kate Campbell brings her warm songwriting sensibilities to the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Mansfield on Saturday, Nov. 7. Kate, who has pretty much sold out the Rose Garden in the past, will also be offering a songwriting workshop to people working on their craft. The workshop will be from 3-5 p.m. The doors for the show open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8 p.m.

I recall hearing some of Kate’s early work, reviewing her debut “Songs From the Levee” CD back in 1995. Her songs blend folk, country and blues. Since then, she has released numerous CDs, delving into other styles including gospel, r&b and pop. She is known for having taught songwriting at the Summer Acoustic Music Week, held in New Hampshire, where students from all over get first-hand help and critiques from one of this country’s finest song-smiths.

Click the Play button above to hear a clip of “Miles of Blues.”

Click the Play button above to hear a clip of “Save the Day.”

Click the Play button above to hear a clip of “Freedom Train.”

To hear more clips, visit the Rose Garden web site or check out Kate’s discography page.

The stories in her music are part of the appeal; they are real or inspired by real life.

“I’ve always written stories about people and everyday living,” Kate writes in her bio. “I just find certain things interesting and pay attention to them. That’s the way I’ve always been.” Her latest CD, called “Save the Day,” is less thematic than other works, but no less poignant, with songs like “Looking for Jesus,” described as “a unique spin on modern-day pilgrimages.” In “Fordlandia” she tells of automotive pioneer Henry’s Ford’s failings of building a tire factory in the Amazon.

Visit the web site for the Rose Garden for tickets or to sign up for the workshop.

Here are some Youtube clips of Kate of varying quality:

Opening for Kate will be Mia Boostrom, a young lady from Dighton, Mass., who made it all the way to the quarterfinals on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” This is a unique opportunity for this 16-year-old phenom, who plays guitar with a blend of blues, jazz and pop.

Take a listen to one of Mia’s demos on Youtube, and you can tell this young lady has vocals to spare:

This photo was taken at Marini’s Farm on Linebrook road in Ipswich. This photo was taken on my way to another assignment. I usually take 1A to get to Ipswich but this time I took route 1. I am glad I did. It is always nice to get a change of scenery and to break away from routine. Now back to the photo. As I got out of my car I saw a few families selecting pumpkins and then saw this mother setting up a shot of her tiny daughter with the pumpkins. I liked the green grass, leaves, the mother trying to get her daughter to look at her and the bright pumpkins. It was a mostly overcast day, with brief hints of sun. On those days colors pop. So remember keep your camera with you and keep on shooting even on grey days. (note: On grey days photos may seem slightly cyan but that is easily correctable by going to the neutral channel in Selective color and taking down the cyan a tad.)

Starting tonight, Nov. 4, the Brattle Theater will screen classic episodes of Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.”

The marathon continues Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

Tonight’s lineup includes “Where is Everybody,” “The Invaders,” “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street,” and my personal favorite “Walking Distance.”

“Walking Distance” stars Gig Young as Martin Sloane, a 36-year-old disillusioned executive who travels back in time to his childhood.

Nothing has changed when he stumbles upon his old neighborhood. Ice cream sodas are still just a dime and his parents look straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

These scenes are intensely relatable.

Who hasn’t fanaticized about escaping the American rat race to return to the comforts of home?

He runs into his younger self at 15 years old and implores the boy to savor his childhood.

“I only wanted to tell you that this is a wonderful time of life for you. Don’t let any of it go by without enjoying it. There won’t be any more merry-go-rounds, no more cotton candy, no more band concerts. I only wanted to tell you that this is a wonderful time for you,” he says breathlessly.

Sloane eventually does return to his normal existence, a wiser man, but those insidious longings still stir within him.

Serling reminds us that time has no bounds in the mind… or in the Twilight Zone.

 http://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/calendar.html#091103

Staff Photo by Ian Hurley

Sometimes you get lucky. I happened to be leaving Georgetown after several assignments and decided to stop by the high school to grab some football photos of the Royals game against Ipswich. I shot a few frames along the sideline as Georgetown started to drive down the field. I raced around to the back of the endzone in time to get Georgetown fullback Chris Esposito making a great run and touchdown capped off by his a dive into the endzone.

“Psycho” took the genre out of Dracula’s haunted castles and into an ordinary motel with a not so ordinary inn keeper.

Showering was never the same again.

George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) took things a step further.

Horror is not implied in this movie. A young mother is chopped to death with a trowel, innocent people are disemboweled and burned alive, and the hero is shot in the head and cremated.

American Movie Classics will screen a re-mastered version of the film tonight at 8 p.m.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Halloween than to relax with a tub of popcorn and revisit this classic.

It’s been 41 years since those pesky zombies first stalked America’s movie screens, but “Night of the Living Dead” still packs a wallop.

I digress. That’s not the funny thing I was thinking.

We were discussing “cross utilization”, one of the many keys to success in the restaurant business, and how the Specials Board serves as one of our greatest outlets to “move” product before it becomes unusable “cash in the trash”.

Characterizing a conversation between Chef and Owner, what came out of my mouth was; “I’m sitting on some Haddock”. And the image simultaneously occurred in my head, of me actually sitting on a pile of fish.
(Not filets mind you, but in the World that occurs in my head, they were whole, spikey, floppy, scaley, mean and ugly Haddock…)

And it occurred to me, that aside from the nature of my own personal images, we say some weird stuff in our business!

A server who was “triple seated” and can’t keep up with guest demand expresses that he or she is “In the weeds” (I think that’s akin to not being able to “see the forest for the trees”)

“On the fly” translates to “I am in the weeds and forgot to ring in this ladies Haddock and she is PISSED…please cook it faster”. At which point we may place it “under the Salamander”

“I just got stiffed” is the same as; “The lady who waited so long for her Haddock did not compensate me with a generous gratuity”

The “reach in” refers to a refrigerator that you reach into, as does the “refer”, which may also refer to the “walk in”, and not a 70’s term for what the waitstaff may be referring to later, once they have “been cut“. Of course the “walk in” may also refer to a guest that arrives without a “rezzie”.

And none should be confused with “the reach around”, which suggests a suggestive action when you were really just reaching for more lemon, from “behind you”. (A term used to warn others not to turn around fast with that late piece of fish because I am “behind you” with a hot pot of coffee)

“Fire it” means ready for “pick up”, and when the Chef too is ready, he “sells it”

Unless you requested that he “burn it”, which is not relevant to the hot coffee warning, as everyone knows that “well done” just takes longer.

When the cooks are “slammed” finding themselves in the weeds as well, not sure how many Haddocks they should actually be sautéing, they may ask the “expo” for “an all day”, discovering that a fish is “dragging” whereby a “rush” is a must.

And finally, when the “front of the house” has effectively “upsold” Haddock, to their many “4-tops” of “Q-Tips”, and they are left finally with “campers”, the Chef will shout “86 Haddock”…
…meaning, image wise, I am now sitting on solid “Turf”.

Scoop du jour;
“86” is a term in the restaurant business that means that something is no longer available, however it’s original origin is widely debated. One legend credits the term to a NYC Speakeasy located at 86 Bedford St, and the phrase signified the arrival of the Police. Another theory attributes NYC’s Delomonico Steakhouse, and number “86” on the menu that often sold out, and yet another suggests an old British Naval term, whereby a full crew was 85.

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Bio; Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

Dennis Hopper, 73, never seemed old to me until today.

When I read that cinema’s most charismatic bad boy had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, it chilled me to the core.

Hopper, and the rest of the hippes who coasted along the highway in “Easy Rider,” are now collecting their social security checks.

It’s a hard pill to swallow.

Remarkably, Hopper’s star has never faded in Hollywood.

He was promoting his new TV show “Crash” based on the Oscar winning film before he was hospitalized.

He’s been steadily working since 1955.

Aging hasn’t been easy for Hopper and the rest of the baby boomers. In the 60s they seemed invincible, always on the cutting edge of art, movies, and music.

“Bonnie and Clyde” ushered in America’s new wave and “Easy Rider” rode it to the top of the box office.

The stories behind “Easy Rider” are part of Hollywood folklore.

Hopper and Peter Fonda battled each other so ferociously on set that their friendship didn’t survive the production.

Hopper, who directed, was a loose cannon.

He would argue with Fonda for creative control in between physical fights with crew members.

The film’s remarkable success lead to his second directorial effort “The Last Movie,” a box office bomb.

It would be nine years before he mustered up the courage to step behind a camera again.

In between, he acted in such masterpieces as “The American Friend” and “Apocalypse Now.”

Maybe Hopper would have directed more movies if “The Last Movie” hadn’t flopped.

It’s impossible to say for sure, but everything eventually worked out for the best.

That film’s failure forced him to seek out more acting jobs, which eventually lead him to David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet.”

As the mad sociopath Frank Booth, Hopper achieved a new level of insanity.

Here’s hoping Hopper gets healthy and back on set as soon as possible.

I have a hunch the old codger still has some tricks up his sleave.

Check out this list of local talents I found on Suffolk University Cape Cod’s Web site.

http://www.suffolkcapecod.org/Film%20makers%20bios.html

Melissa Gosule - Click image to read article about the case.

Folk music touches people in very personal ways. Quincy’s Chris Pahud, a deep baritone singer and song interpreter, admits he doesn’t write songs very often. But when he was asked to write a song by the father of a murdered local woman, Melissa Gosule, Pahud couldn’t say no.

Pahud wrote “Song for Melissa” with the help of Melissa’s father, Les Gosule, and musician friend Jim Ryan. The song is on Pahud’s newest CD, “Red Sky in Morning.” Melissa Gosule, a 27-year-old Randolph, Mass. native who lived in Jamaica Plain, had been raped and murdered when her car broke down in Bourne and she sought help from a stranger in July 11, 1999.

Michael Gentile had more than 20 prior criminal offenses when he was charged with her rape and murder, and he now is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The case prompted the passage of “Melissa’s Bill,” which removes the possibility of parole for offenders after three felony convictions.

Chris Pahud

So Pahud went about writing the song. “The melody came to me in a dream along with the basic verses. We met again and he commented that many of my words were what he used in his eulogy for her,” Pahud said.

Song for Melissa

We’re gathered here together in remembrance of you
Your kindness and your goodness, your spirit shinin’ through
All that you stood for, so strong, so true
Compassion for others less fortunate than you.

Sleepless nights, didn’t know what to do
We were learning to live without you

How could we find hope, our hearts torn in two
How could we see again the world as once did you
Life to the fullest was the path you did pursue
Thoughts turned into actions was the wealth you would accrue

We have come together, hope you know it’s true
We’re still learning to live without you

We would give everything to see you once anew
But we’re still learning to live without you

Life to the fullest was a path you did pursue
Thoughts turned into actions was the wealth you would accrue
And we’re still learning to live without you

Click the Play button above to hear “Song for Melissa.”

“I had a deadline to finish it and I had to perform it with Phil Kissinger at her memorial in front of family and friends … I further tweaked the words and my friend Jim Ryan ‘gifted’ me the lyrics that became the chorus.”

The song later was presented to The Compassionate Friends, a group of people who have lost children. “It sort of went off like a bomb for some people. I got some moving letters,” Pahud said.

Before further distributing the song, he opted to polish the lyrics. And though he wrote a poetically “better” version of the song, he said, he dropped those new lyrics when woman who had lost two children said to him “‘Yes, the new lyrics are better and more poetic, but those are not the words we use amongst ourselves when we get together and talk about our dead children. We use words like you used originally.’ Who was I to argue with that?” Pahud said.

The song features Seth Connelly on piano and mandolin.

Somehow, it gained a cult following on DVD and has inspired a sequel.

“The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” has already been trashed by many critics but that probably won’t squash its chance at success.

Teens and twenty somethings really respond to Duffy’s Tarantinoesque direction.

I don’t understand the success of “The Boondock Saints” and probably never will.

The film is like a low rent version of “Reservoir Dogs.”

Still, I will approach “All Saints Day” with an open mind.

Maybe Duffy has learned a thing or two about filmmaking in the last ten years.

Next year, a silent movie will be screened at Sandwich Town Hall.

It makes sense that the oldest town on Cape Cod, so steeped in history, would revitalize a forgotten art form.

According to Sandwich resident Jonathan Shaw, kids would flock to Town Hall every week in the early 1920s to catch the latest silent spectacle.

A pianist would accompany the images on screen.

That all changed in 1927 when Warner Bros released “The Jazz Singer,” the first talking picture starring Al Jolson.

Suddenly, silent cinema’s greatest stars were out of work.

The great silent clowns like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were passed over for wise cracking comedians like the Marx Brothers.

Within 10 years, silent movies fell into obscurity.

Luckily, a like-minded committee of Sandwich residents has taken the initiative to resurrect them.

The Sandwich Save the Piano Committee is accepting donations to restore the original 1915 piano that accompanied silent films at Town Hall.

By next summer, the Sandwich community will enjoy the same music and movies that their great grandparents did.

Town Hall is currently undergoing renovations and is expected to reopen next August.

My favorite silent film is King Vidor’s 1928 dystopian classic “The Crowd” starring a forgotten actor named James Murray.

Murray plays Johnny Sims, a well-intentioned man swallowed up by an impersonal, industrial society.

To experience his downfall is truly tragic.

“The Crowd” is not the appropriate movie for such a happy event.

Instead, I recommend Buster Keaton’s 45 minute short “Sherlock Jr.” about a frustrated film projectionist who longs to be a detective.

The film, like all of Keaton’s classics, never ages. His stone-faced façade is as funny today as it was in 1924.

Read my article “Back in tune: Antique piano to be restored”

http://www.wickedlocal.com/sandwich/news/education/x366053537/Back-in-tune-Antique-piano-to-be-restored

Del McCoury

Celebrating 50 years in bluegrass music, the band released a commemorative set in 2009 called “Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury.”

Despite being in bluegrass for 50 years, Del has not been one to rest on his laurels, performing new material, delving outside bluegrass as he did with Richard Thompson’s “Vincent 52 Black Lightning” and always playing it fresh.

He and his band are among the hardiest players in bluegrass, having played at festivals all over the country this year, including his own, Del Fest. The band includes family members Ron (mandolin) and Rob (banjo), along with fiddler Jason Carter (fiddle) and Alan Bartram (bass).

The group has a new ensemble non-gospel CD due out Oct. 27, 2009, called “Family Circle” (McCoury Music), and they will announce the 2010 lineup for Del Fest that day as well.

The music is classic McCoury, high, emotive, and playful tenor vocals and some of the most dynamic musicianship out there today. And like on most of the band’s CDs, Del just sounds like he’s having fun and offering up a big grimace on the high notes and a big ol’ grin on the rest.

The CD is available online, and McCoury Music has offered a preview of the songs that you can check out below and on their downloads page:

David Francey - click image to see more photos

Well, folks, David Francey is on the road, but he authorized the following videos from the Rose Garden show on Saturday night. So get some coffee, kick back, make sure you have no emails to read, and enjoy this playlist of songs from this wonderful Canadian/Scottish singer-songwriter. Joining him is Craig Werth, who adds delightful instrumentation including an Indian instrument called a Shruti Box on “Leaving Edmonton,” and just the right harmonies. It was a great show, with an audience eager to sing along and enjoy David’s stories.

Click here to see videos of Craig from that same show.

Chris Pahud

Years ago, I became enamored with the music of Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. With his untimely death in 1983, I never thought I would hear a folk singer with a gut-deep baritone that could ever compare. Little did I know that such a singer would today be in my back yard. Quincy, Mass.’s Chris Pahud has a voice that reminds me of Stan’s, and has just released a new CD called “Red Sky in Morning.”

It is nice to hear Pahud’s voice right out front on this CD, despite including instrumentation from a half-dozen other musicians. In fact, it was Pahud’s choice of performers to join him and a tasteful production that serve to enhance the songs and his own voice. Below is a playlist that includes many of the songs included on his new CD:

Hatrack Gallagher

Joining Pahud are Seth Connelly on acoustic, electric guitars and mandolin and even Stan Roger’s brother, Garnet Rogers, who adds a touch of telecaster, steel guitar and vocals on a couple of songs and developed the meticulous four-part harmonies in the traditional “Around the Bay of Mexico.” Another nice addition is Hatrack Gallagher, whose salty-sweet harmonica works in beautiful contrast to Pahud’s warm vocals, particularly in songs like Tom Russell’s “Blue Wing,” a song about a destitute parolee. Gallagher also steams in Jerry Corbitt’s (Youngbloods) rocker “Grizzly Bear,” which also features Corbitt on bass and lead guitar.

Pahud chose a cross-section of other songs familiar to folk music fans in the past decade or two: songs like Bob Dylan’s “The Girl From the North Country,” Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” or a tender renditions of Dave Alvin’s “The Man in the Bed” and Lucinda Williams’ “Sweet Old World,” a song that draws on the suicide of a friend.

Besides the cover songs, however, Boston-born Pahud is true to his roots. The cover of the CD was shot one early morning on Wollaston Beach in Quincy, near the 1625 settlement of Thomas Morton. Pahud wrote music to accompany “The Songe,” written by Morton for his scandalous May Day celebration in the Merrymount section of Quincy. On the sleeve, Pahud says the project began as a project for the Quincy (Mass.) Historical Society: “Like the 17th century Beastie Boys, Morton and his men were ready to fight the Pilgrims of Plymouth for their right to party,” Pahud writes. “Alas they did it poorly, but some say the partying tradition continues along Quincy Shore Drive to this very day.” Here are some of the lyrics, no doubt scandalous in their day, as taken from a Wiccan web site:

“Give to the Mellancolly man
A cup or two of ‘t now and than;
This physick will soone revive his bloud,
And make him be of a merrier moode.”

“Drinke and be merry, merry, merry boyes;
Let all your delight be in the Hymens ioyes;
Iô to Hymen, now the day is come,
About the merry Maypole take a Roome.”

Pahud includes a couple other originals, including the bluesy, rollicking melody “Robbie and I” that draws on other songs and speaks of days spent in his youth with a friend in Vermont. “Song for Melissa,” meanwhile, draws on painful memories and is a tribute to a young woman murdered in 1999. Penned by Pahud with Les Gosule and Jim Ryan, its truthful and painful words “we’re still learning to live without you” are said to be those spoken by grieving parents.

Check out Chris at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at a CD release party at the Homegrown Coffeehouse, 23 Dedham Ave., Needham, Mass. Tickets are $16. For information, call (781) 444-7478.

Read more about Chris in an article from Jay Miller in The Patriot Ledger.

Craig Werth ~ Click photo to see more photos

If there is one good thing about the Red Sox not continuing in the playoffs this season it’s that about 100 people had the night off to come to Mansfield, Mass. to watch Craig Werth and David Francey.

Werth, who was raised in New York and admitted to at one time being a Yankees fan, joked that he smartened up when he moved to New Hampshire and became a fan of the Sox. He performed songs like “Something in Us All,” in which he learned about the world being a much bigger place than where he grew up. He also made the audience laugh with a performance of “Pidey Eyes,” the look he got when seeing a large spider in Australia.

Enjoy these videos below from Craig’s solo performance as the opener at the Rose Garden. When I get permission from David Francey, I will post a few videos from his show, too:

For those who don’t know, this happens frequently, and the result is always the same.
For all of the glamor that has recently come our way, Chef’ing is a good many things before glamorous. Chef’s, and their “brigade” are warriors. And perhaps the recent Celebrity Chef genre is no surprise to those of us in the business, who have known for years the grueling and painful aspects that occur “behind the scenes.” That which precedes what is ultimately delivered as meticulously prepared cuisine, clean and attractively presented, welcomed by well dressed guests, enjoying ambiance and sipping on cocktails while chit chat abounds.

What might be surprising to our ilk is how long it took for the public to take notice!

Chef’s generally are a breed all alone. “Freaks of nature” as one waitress once claimed.
My earlier post discussed how “Nuts” they are as a whole, but behind the eccentricity is a mindset that elicits the respect now being proffered.

For starter’s, merely on scientific terms, how many people can claim to have similar prowess in both left and right brain function? Great Chef’s are both creative and artistic, seeking brilliant contrasts in flavor, color and consistency while also requiring the discipline to manage temperatures, time, dollars, standard recipes and specific quantities, other “freaks”, perishable product, the demanding “always right” customers and relentless, impatient owners…the list goes on.

I ask you, is the artist in your family timely? Disciplined? Social? Tough? Sweaty and bleeding with dogged determination and seemingly endless stamina?

Add to the requirements of a great Chef, a career path that pays poorly early on, if at all, for the well chronicled long hours, double shifts, lunch through dinner, the nights and weekends and Holidays. Of course all restaurant employees endure the schedule. But the service staff benefits from a certain level of cozy relative to carpeting, music, soft lighting, air conditioning and the whatnots relative to comfort and relaxation intended for the guest.

But in the kitchen?! Florescent lighting, on their feet, in tight spaces, sweltering, surrounded by blazing hot equipment, and perpetually in a hurry, Chef’s wield razor sharp knives. (I’ve seen fingers come off) They use whirring, slicing machines daily (I have seen ½ a finger come off…numerous times). They chop and grind and whip, surrounded by moving parts. They juggle blazing hot pans in crowded spaces moving as fast they can on slick flooring. (Is he/she a Chef? Check out the forearms) Chef’s work with steam, boiling water, licking flames, combustible hot grease, slippery floors, constant demands and endless deadlines as each next order ticket is destined for a hungry table of diners who know how long their food should take. “The show starts in an hour”. “We had 7PM reservations”. “We are in a hurry”.

Twelve hours a day. Often 6 or 7 days a week. Christmas off.

And when they turn quickly to their right for more butter, and their arm meets the sizzling pan that is held by the Chef who was turning quickly left at the same exact time, and the singed skin makes that “fsst” sound, they wince briefly, hold steady, and then add the “more butter”. The burning sensation stops at about the same time the guest receives their re fill on wine, to accompany that perfectly reduced Special. Another battle scar, for a non Food Network star!

Chef Spooner?
He slowly drew in a deep breath, stood as tall as his 6’ 3” frame allowed, stared straight ahead “searching” for 2-3 seconds, and then with determined, restrained assertiveness, demanded rubber gloves (and a new cutting board) so he could resume his steadfast approach to finishing the dish.

And the Chef who took off two fingers?
As he and his assistant wrapped the bleeding hand and marched to the parking lot to drive to the hospital, through gritted teeth, he calmly reminded the assistant to wrap the finger tips in ice and bring them along in a plastic portion bag, just in case the doctor could sew them back on.

He worked the next day. Wearing a rubber glove.

~SPlath

Scoop du jour;
CHOPPED can be seen weekly, on Tuesday nights @ 10PM on the Food Network

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones of Lowell in 1994 and Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com or visit splath.com for more restaurant perspective!)

My very first exposure to a real Chef was as a 13 year old busboy in New York, where “Serafim” called me Scotda through the cigarette plume always rising from the filterless cigarette that hung perpetually from his lips.
“Scatda” is apparently NOT Greek for “Scott” as I had thought for months, but rather a Greek synonym for, well, “Number 2″ if you get my drift.

Serafim called every body else “Malakas”. “PICK UP YOUR FOOD YOU MALAKAS”!! He would scream loud enough to hear in the dining room. (It was explained to me then that “Malakas” in Greek references “balls”, but not the kind you see at the Sporting Goods store)

The next Chef I trained with, was in college. “Arthur”, fondly referred to by staff as “Arthursty” for his love of cooking with beer. Oh, and then later, mumbling incoherently, while everyone cleaned up around him, about the hours and the pay and “the man” and the injustice of it all.

After college, at a 4 star restaurant in NY, “Chef Edge” would slam the handle of a Chef’s knife down, with furious anger, on the stainless steel pick up window shelf “BANG” and menacingly glare at you with hawk eyes and nose to match, if as a staffer you ever sampled food in the kitchen not designated for you. He would then dare you to “try that again” in his best and believable Clint Eastwood growl. He was scary, at the very least, but just like a little kid when he would lightly “bump” the GM’s daily burger repeatedly with his “hips” to the glee of the kitchen staff, before delivering to the bosses office his self.

“Tony” ALWAYS had “it’s just flour” on his shoes, from the cornstarch he would apply to his malakas during shifts (to avoid chafing), and then joke to the disgust of the waitstaff that he always had a “slurry ready”.

Chef X (a consonant was changed to protect the guilty) left a trail of Heineken’s in his wake, as we would always find 5 packs in the beer cooler, and the empty 6th bottle stashed in the most creative places weeks or months later. Likewise, we would find him missing; asleep in his car..or at his desk…under a function room table… on the toilet. (True story. We have pictures)
For some reason he always looked at the ceiling behind your head when having a conversation.

Wannabe “Big time” Chef, Jason D, who “only has 2 or 3 beers after work”, would show up for noon shifts smelling equally of liquor and stale cigarettes from the night/morning before, while grinding his teeth at a furious rate and threatening the cooks to keep down the noise and his predecessor, “Bobby Fray”, couldn’t get to work on time EVER, even when his schedule was adjusted exclusively to noon shifts. While shifting from foot to foot, pale as a ghost, he would nervously explain it was the alarm clock!

Years ago, a Chef at the iconic Hilltop Steakhouse, would remove frying items from the 350 degree fry oil with his fingers, and Kevin K., was let go from his head Chef job on the Cape when it was discovered by the management that he often worked behind the line with no pants on “just for fun”

And 6’ 5” 350lb Chef Big Mike would bark at the staff in a nasty and intimidating way, towering over all, blame them when the soup ran out, and refuse to re cook steaks that came back to the kitchen. (who was going to argue?) He would later close the office door and begin blubbering (tears, mucus, jowls a juggling) that he was “having a bad day”.
When he finally decide to leave his career as a Chef, his explanation was;
“This job is driving me nuts”

Scoop du jour;
A “slurry” is a mixture of equal parts water and cornstarch used by Chefs to thicken soups and sauces.
(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

Months later, when the shrimp cocktail came back to the kitchen, because it was cold, we were speechless. “What should we do?” the waiter asked reasonably. “We’ll heat it up, I guess.” was my not so assuring response. That was 16 years ago, when we first opened in Lowell. “Give the customer what they want” was our mantra from the gitgo, and one that has (almost) never wavered.

My very 1^st customer complaint as an owner? “You should be wearing a jacket and tie” admonished an elderly gentleman, as I visited the table to ask how everything was going.

He admitted, however, to loving the fish. I didn’t admit to my disdain for wearing blazers. Weddings, funerals and press ops only, I wanted to tell the Senior Fashionista.

“Excuse me, but please have the Chef cook me a new Swordfish. He burnt this one”

(The special was “Blackened Swordfish”)

“How are your scallops sir?” I asked on another evening. “Metza metz” he responded.

“I’m sorry sir” I continued, “What is wrong? Let us correct that.”

“I don’t know” he said.

I offered; “Are they cooked properly”. He said yes.

“Are they fresh sir”? “Yes, I believe so”.

“Sir, are they salty? Sandy? Chewy? Too small? Undercooked? Did we forget to peel the muscle?” “No, they’re fine.”

“Would you like something else sir?”

“Yes, for you to stop asking me questions!”

“Our Cosmo Martini’s are weak” we were told by a table of six ladies one night, clearly fans of Sex in the City, as all six ordered the same drink. Upon returning them to the bar, looking both hurt and confused, the bartender of 5 years explained to the manager,

“But cosmos are all booze.” “Yes, I know” the manager agreed, while overseeing the new batch “but just make them again. Who knows, maybe the ice was really watery last time”

As the “alpha” at the table sipped the new drink first, with the manager proudly concerned and anticipating appreciation; “Still weak” came the response. And then, “we know the poor dear is trying, but these are no better”. Grrr…

A blog review last year by an anonymous yelper complained that our new “Globally inspired menu” was “all over the map”. Er, thanks for..noticing?

And just last week, by way of customer comment card;

“Please stop clearing dirty dishes so frequently. It’s environmentally irresponsible”

From mean to green, the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Scoop du jour;

Both the quality and price of scallops are influenced by whether or not preservatives have been added. “Dry packed” scallops, those preferred in many fine dining establishments are without any additives. Less expensive scallops have often been treated with the chemical sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) and are called “wet packed”. STP causes the scallops to absorb moisture, thereby falsely creating a larger, more “bubble like” scallop and resulting in a better price per pound. In addition, the unpleasant flavor of the STP can often be detected.

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com). Don’t forget to check out my other blog, SPlath!

Bio;

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008

I recall years ago, at a BBQ and beer event at the then Lowell Brewery (now Lowell Beerworks), the vendor with the longest lines was grilling a whole rattlesnake. The clever fellow was also selling a bunch of sausage and pepper subs to the many onlookers, a few intimidated by the clearly dead rattler. Once in Paris, on a Summer Vacation intended to expose my young children to “some culture”, we ordered the Seafood Platter and along side the oysters and shrimp were “yuck” live snails, of which truly left a “snail trail” as they were lifted from their shells. Locally, we now eat raw fish by the school, mudlike sea urchin, rope grown mussels, ostrich steaks and pay top dollar for one of the ugliest creatures to ever come from the sea, our precious lobster!

Well, ugly or not, pass me the butter and an ice cold beer.

What’s the “weirdest” thing you have ever eaten?

Scoop du jour;
Although many snails are cultivated from the wild, there are over 200 Snail farms throughout France.
(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

Skip’s was one of the very first places I experienced after moving to this area over 20 year’s ago.

And while meeting a friend there for coffee early last summer, I’m pretty ceratin I had the same waitress! That waitress represented one of the many things that Skip’s did well. Retaining staff in the restaurant business? No easy task. It often seems like the vast majority of our employees are on their way to something else. (college, the border, “a real job”, prison…)

Skip’s embodied the term “old school”, from Meatloaf to Macaroni and Cheese, Milkshakes and home made pie. And don’t order a Milk shake if it’s a Frappe you want!

Breakfast, lunch and dinner, a hometown hospitality prevailed that seemed to bring much of the community together, to “chew the fat” or “spin a yarn”.

Since last summer, in fairly impressive fashion, the whole building has been razed and replaced by a brand new space, with a brand new concept, Café Madrid. Just recently, my wife, cousin and I visited Café Madrid for dinner and we were really impressed with how well the new owners, Yazmin and Larry Fadjo managed their transition. Many operators may have opted to dismiss Skip’s formula for success, confident in their ability to find their own niche. Not these guys. The new owners decided to keep with breakfast, 7 days a week, a bakery, the familiar (Chicken Fingers, Prime Rib) alongside the new (Paella, Chuletas) and most importantly, to greet guests with warmth and welcome, something we all should do so well! On a busy night, with a guitar and bongo player in the center of the room, the feeling of community was as present as it ever was, albeit, the stools at the bar didn’t spin and there were a few less “Q tips”!

Good for them if they can maintain such an operation with all they have going on.

Best of luck to all; Skips owners Fred Gafteas and George Burliss, and may the Fadjos match their success and prosper for (60) years!

-SPlath

Scoop du jour;
Spanish “Chuletas”, from the Valencian Xulleta, refer to a Steak from the rib section of the animal be it Pork or Beef and are often marinated in a sweet and spicy mixture prior to grilling, such as adobo, garlic, paprika, citrus and/ or vinegar.

So we contemplated; A ride to the beach for some steamers? Newspapers in the Hammock after a double thick local tomato sandwich?

As we transitioned from Rte 3 to the Lowell Connector, careful to maintain that 59 MPH, Kathy received a tweet or was it a mass text, or perhaps it was a facebook update, from our “mostest” friends the Thurstons.

It read simply; “Smoking on the patio. Drop by”

The Thurston’s excel in numerous categories; educated, supportive, geeky, networked, foodie, drinky, fun. They frequent many area restaurants and businesses on a near daily basis. True supporters of all that is local.

Smoking on the patio? More fun than a hammock, and considerably closer than the beach, we adjusted to a next exit and pulled in front of their home minutes later to plumes of smoke rising from behind the backyard fence, with the smell of hickory to match.

As we entered through the fence, a small crowd was gathered, foodies and Fenway faithful alike, and the hosts, one lounging by the pool the other in perpetual motion. Close by, the guest of honor smoking away, sat one of the Thurston’s many prized possessions; the “looks like a pig”, jet black smoker, filled with soaked Hickory wood and an assortment of sausages approaching a perfectly crispy outside while bursting juicy inside.
Hungry indeed.

We joined, and two more cold ales were offered, a local or “maybe you’re thinking IPA”, popped open with a giant, steel coulda-been-for-lug-nuts bottle opener that we were told is “impossible to misplace”.

Others arrived carrying various cuts of meat and we were soon sampling smoked steak tips marinated in (lots of) fresh, spicy ginger and soy. More tips? How about those marinated in Irish whiskey, followed by a shot of the same to “deepen our appreciation” for a perfect pairing.

After slurping on fresh chilled watermelon came the pork belly.
Holy smokes! I need to invent a slogan, like, perhaps, “Life is good” or something like that.

An hour later, as the lamb rack was next “in queu”, the lamb contributor Billy Bobblehead asked for an opinion on marinade. Mint or Rosemary was suggested. Lisa T promptly walked to her garden and returned with a handful of freshly picked …mint and rosemary. Serious stuff here, I thought, and watched as they headed for the extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. “Try the fresh mozzarella, smoked for only 3 minutes so it doesn’t melt into the fire”
Heaven in the backyard, sun on the face, feet in the pool, smoke in the eyes.

Eventually the time came to head for “it’s up there” New Hampshire, to spend more time with friends, as the sun waned, talking about how great it is to be together outside while the opportunity lasts, over lasgana and meatballs.

What a great day.

Here’s wishing all a safe and happy labor day weekend with your friends and family. What could be better?

-SPlath

Scoop du jour;
COBBLESTONES Chef “cold smokes” salmon, at a temperature of 100 degrees, after a 24 hour curing process of a sugar and salt mixture, a 1:1 ratio. After curing properly, smoking is not necessary, should you prefer “Gravlax”. Seasoning is up to you. The best I ever had? A tequila and orange juice rub before curing!

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.

So we contemplated; A ride to the beach for some steamers? Newspapers in the Hammock after a double thick local tomato sandwich?

As we transitioned from Rte 3 to the Lowell Connector, careful to maintain that 59 MPH, Kathy received a tweet or was it a mass text, or perhaps it was a facebook update, from our “mostest” friends the Thurstons.

It read simply; “Smoking on the patio. Drop by”

The Thurston’s excel in numerous categories; educated, supportive, geeky, networked, foodie, drinky, fun. They frequent many area restaurants and businesses on a near daily basis. True supporters of all that is local.

Smoking on the patio? More fun than a hammock, and considerably closer than the beach, we adjusted to a next exit and pulled in front of their home minutes later to plumes of smoke rising from behind the backyard fence, with the smell of hickory to match.

As we entered through the fence, a small crowd was gathered, foodies and Fenway faithful alike, and the hosts, one lounging by the pool the other in perpetual motion. Close by, the guest of honor smoking away, sat one of the Thurston’s many prized possessions; the “looks like a pig”, jet black smoker, filled with soaked Hickory wood and an assortment of sausages approaching a perfectly crispy outside while bursting juicy inside.
Hungry indeed.

We joined, and two more cold ales were offered, a local or “maybe you’re thinking IPA”, popped open with a giant, steel coulda-been-for-lug-nuts bottle opener that we were told is “impossible to misplace”.

Others arrived carrying various cuts of meat and we were soon sampling smoked steak tips marinated in (lots of) fresh, spicy ginger and soy. More tips? How about those marinated in Irish whiskey, followed by a shot of the same to “deepen our appreciation” for a perfect pairing.

After slurping on fresh chilled watermelon came the pork belly.
Holy smokes! I need to invent a slogan, like, perhaps, “Life is good” or something like that.

An hour later, as the lamb rack was next “in queu”, the lamb contributor Billy Bobblehead asked for an opinion on marinade. Mint or Rosemary was suggested. Lisa T promptly walked to her garden and returned with a handful of freshly picked …mint and rosemary. Serious stuff here, I thought, and watched as they headed for the extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. “Try the fresh mozzarella, smoked for only 3 minutes so it doesn’t melt into the fire”
Heaven in the backyard, sun on the face, feet in the pool, smoke in the eyes.

Eventually the time came to head for “it’s up there” New Hampshire, to spend more time with friends, as the sun waned, talking about how great it is to be together outside while the opportunity lasts, over lasgana and meatballs.

What a great day.

Here’s wishing all a safe and happy labor day weekend with your friends and family. What could be better?

-SPlath

Scoop du jour;
COBBLESTONES Chef “cold smokes” salmon, at a temperature of 100 degrees, after a 24 hour curing process of a sugar and salt mixture, a 1:1 ratio. After curing properly, smoking is not necessary, should you prefer “Gravlax”. Seasoning is up to you. The best I ever had? A tequila and orange juice rub before curing!

(If you have a question for either me or my Chef’s, please email splath@moonstones110.com)

Scott and Kathy Plath opened Cobblestones Restaurant in Lowell in 1994, and opened Moonstones Restaurant in Chelmsford in May of 2008.