sweetheart-mine

Fellow VCers. I'm moving to Beantown in a couple of weeks for school and work. I've only been up there a few times and I was wondering if any of you that are there locally (or have lived there at some point) can recommend some "must do" things around town. I'm not looking for touristy things per say, but I want to get to know the area. I won't have a car since I'm going to drive it to my parents in Atlanta, but I have great access to the "T". Thanks for any input!

hey tony, you are in for a great time. and it's way better that you won't have a car there -- driving is a nightmare and the T gets you almost anywhere you'd want to go in the whole boston area. in fact, just riding around on the T is a good way to get to know the area.

it's been a long time since i lived there, but was there for 15 years and have a few things to recommend. like movies? don't miss the coolidge corner theatre, an oldie but goodie. it's at 290 harvard street in brookline, but you can get there simply by taking the cleveland circle streetcar (green line) out brookline ave -- it'll drop you a block from the theatre. kenmore square (you'll see it on any T map, also green line) is full of casual pubs and dance places; it was always a big friday or saturday happening place and i'm sure it still is. fenway park is just around the corner from there, if you're a baseball fan (which i am) -- it's the most beautiful old ballpark in the country, in my biased opinion, no it really is!

i assume you've already spent time hanging out on the boston common and the boston public garden, where you can see the vast variety of humanity parading by in all its glory.

boston's "north end" is a really interesting ethnic (italian) area to walk around in, with wind-y narrow old streets and cool places to eat. you can walk there from haymarket square (big open farmers market) and quincy market (upscale shops, pubs, you name it, near faneuil hall).

as you probably already know, cambridge is just a few minutes' ride on the red line T over the charles river from boston. central square is even better than when i lived there -- it's full of great ethnic restaurants now, both along mass. ave. and down the little side streets. *most of those sailboats you see on the charles as you ride over the bridge are rented, by the hour; i forget the name of where you rent them and take off right there in the water, but it's near the esplanade, boston side, and it's a blast to do it on a hot day.

harvard square (after central square), what can i say? it too is full of restaurants, small, medium, and huffy, and endless shops, plus tons of bookstores (e.g., wordsworth, harvard bookshop, grolier poetry bookshop). don't forget to visit the harvard coop, which sells everything (i bought my first tv there!), including books. the harvard square theatre (10 church street) is great -- it was only one theater when i lived there, but it has expanded. it still shows art films and not just the films of today. one of its theatres shows the original "rocky horror picture show" all the time, i hear. there are several museums within easy walking distance of the square, and they're not just for tourists. the fogg, the seklar, the peabody -- all great to wander in over time.

if you take the red line T beyond harvard square toward alewife parkway (or maybe still a bus out huron avenue), you'll find fresh pond. lots of nature and greenery there, not to mention a pond! there's a path around it, for walking, running, biking, whatever. it's 2.5 miles around it. it's a nice oasis in the middle of citylike life.

ok, that's for starters. hope it's helpful. boston/cambridge are great places to live. thanks for the nostalgia!

no, really, i'm seriously stupid about this. now the spray has deteriorated to a drool over here.

p.s. it's from "when the roses bloom again." they were the first words i ever heard jeff tweedy sing,

after turning on the ovation channel and finding "man in the sand" in progress. about a year ago.

Guns N Roses, they never made it out to Maine, I guess?

ohhhhhh! no, probably not. the last guys to make it here were the dead and then dylan.

although i'd been in something of a musical cave for quite a while before finding wilco, so

ya can't go by me.

If you are sarcastically baiting me I will get an Appetite for Destruction...hint hint

 

though it is Sweet Child and not Sweetheart, but adding 'mine' brings up visions of a gaunt longhair from Indiana.

no, really, i'm seriously stupid about this. now the spray has deteriorated to a drool over here.

GNR . . . GNR . . . GNR . . . help me out, what does it mean?

There was a rumor circulating last week that Mr. Independent is considering running for Governor of New Jersey.

 

Maybe his first act would be to build a border fence around the state.

yah, it probably would be. i'd bet my stimulus check on it. lou needs to take a long trip

and discover his very own island.

I am relatively new the process and have only given money to one person, Ron Paul. Was on Barack's page the other day and would've given a couple bucks...but I was broke. Maybe when my stimulus check arrives I'll give a bit to Barry.

now that is really interesting, you know? some people coming from almost every direction you can think of are supporting or considering supporting obama, which doesn't mean he'll win, but i don't remember another presidential candidate's backing by citizens ever being as varied as it seems to be now. it may not say that much about him, himself, but more about the multi-partisan collective view that the government has gone so awry since 2000. suddenly, and this is noticeable both in personal conversations and in public letters, articles, and so on, people with widely diverse political viewpoints are discovering they have more in common than they thought. this is maybe the best discovery of all this year. this is the kind of political craziness that opens doors and gets me almost as excited as chris matthews, only i don't spit when i talk! well, almost never, HA.

It might just be a thing designed to make him look like he's stuck up.

no doubt, and it's funny how often that stuff works.

I don't know. I do know, however, that I rarely resist making a joke in this and all other threads on this board.

yah, but the rep is everywhere out there so i'm still wondering.

Turds are as organic as it gets.

i figured someone would point that out!

but it can't be found in my refrigerator, unfortunately,

so i'm choiceless, poor moi.

Sorry - Barack's "change," as it applies to you, will be "Goodbye fries, hello quinoa."

can anyone tell me how obama got this elite-food rep? are some people upset that he's

not eating ghetto food, or what? not that i know what he eats; i have no idea and am

just curious.

so, are you for the turd sandwich, or the organic gourmet one?

i don't do turd or gourmet -- i'm a refrigerator picker -- but i'll be choosing organic over turd.

wow, love that graphic!

the debates will be delicious.

Yea, that's what I can't remember if he ran more than once in the 80s. He certainly is the Engergizer Bunny for running and running and not getting anywhere. Actually in many ways he would make a great president; he is relatively liberal, has a long record in office and he really knows his stuff. I certainly support Barak (I finally ponied up some dough for him today when called by his campaign), but there certainly is a touch of truth to the fact that he is somewhat inexperienced.

 

Hopefully he will end up as some sort of cabinet secretary when Obama finally does take office. I think he has quite a bit to give in that situation.

 

LouieB

"He certainly is the Engergizer Bunny for running and running and not getting anywhere." that's for sure! i agree with your thoughts on biden as president. since he apparently isn't going to make it, a cabinet position (with much responsibility) seems in order. he kept entering my mind as a v.p. for obama, but i suppose he will need someone more centrist than biden is.

i suspect obama's having only a few years of experience in washington might be just right. he knows the basics yet hasn't been entrenched there since the revolutionary war or something -- so he would bring a lot of freshness to the place, not to mention to the country's relationships around the world. i can understand how his not-long d.c. experience might concern some people, but the chance of its being a good thing seems pretty high to me. he has other, more interesting experience to bring to the job, and with his smarts he'd make the most of the combination.

no other presidential campaign (and i think i'm the same age as you are, louieb) has inspired me to contribute $. and i've never had a lot of it to give, but my sense of obama's possibilities has made me do it! five times now i've sent off twenty-five bucks, what a shock! my elderly mother, mrs provincial if there ever was one, has been doing the same thing! the hope for a paradigm shift is taking some of us a bit outside our normal characters. i love it.

I'm guessing you were still a kid....Biden waited until some people forgot (or never know) and hoped for the best. Still wasn't long enough.

 

LouieB

wasn't biden one of the about twelve democratic contenders in 1984? i think the plagiarizing bit

came after that, though. too bad, because i kind of liked him too, but the true plagiarizing bit

didn't leave my mind (as opposed to the untrue plagiarizing accusation hillary tried to apply to barack

obama, which was desperate and ridiculous).

Exasperated x2. Glad I am not the only one this bothers, my friend. And as Chris Matthews would blurt, HA.

HA, i love that! some people can't stand chris matthews's style and i can sort of understand why, but i like him

especially because he's so irrepressible -- he's so into a discussion that he just can't hold back that HA when

something surprising amuses him.

I thought only the Mavericks said this, but it has crossed party lines...

 

Please stop using the phrase, "my friend"

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, driving me insane.

that was the only post i've ever made anywhere in my life that included the patronizing "my friend." it

was intended to highlight its obnoxiousness as used in public life by a certain presidential candidate. so

hey, believe me, i'm agreeing with your exasperation 100%.

I don't have time for this shit.

You win dude.

Obama rules.

He's gonna win by a landside.

He's Jesus Christ walking on earth.

He can do no wrong.

If elected, the United States will be Eden....gas prices will be 50 cents a gallon and we'll all be holding hands naked, smiling with each other.

And Conservatives all are dumb fucks who don't know shit.

But you do. You know all. You rock!

it's not easy to understand why you're so upset about this, my friend, and i'm mostly a fairly innocent bystander so far, reading from some distance.

no one said that stuff about obama ("gonna win by a landslide," "he's Jesus Christ walking on earth," and so on). it's hard to see where you got that. maybe it's just fear? i don't know.

neocons, not general and genuine conservatives, have been driving this country, and certain parts of the world, into the dirt for at least the past 7+ years. john mccain will continue 95% of the policies that led to this, so . . . ? logical conclusion?

for me, and many others i've talked to, the choice comes down to who has spent the LEAST time in what can be only be described by now as a profoundly disillusioning washington (including congress), who is intelligent and made something of himself against all odds on top of that, who used his intelligence and education not to make a fortune for himself but instead in public service, and who has enough basic common sense in addition to the smarts to make good decisions based on it, not to mention the willingness and wisdom to make honest attempts to engage in discussion with anyone in this complicated world -- because if we don't, my friend, as we always ultimately have before, there is zero possibility of understandings or liveable compromises being reached.

think about it in terms of a family or a neighborhood. people get pissed off, and what happens if they skip over trying to reach agreements and instead do the "eye for an eye" bit with that oh so tempting but oh so dangerous tunnel vision? yep, everyone's endlessly blind.

i actually don't know what barack obama will do if elected president. that's one of his greatest pluses -- the possibility, instead of the knowledge of what any other candidate would inevitably resort to.

The goal was to create a completely free market for American contracters to dominate. The autonomous government thing is what's used as an excuse for staying, but the current administration doesn't really care of it becomes a reality and probably prefers that it doesn't because it would mean that the contractors would get kicked out. If that was the goal, they'd be working harder towards it and be putting more pressure on the Iraqi government than they are.

yes, and they're calling it "bringing democracy to the middle east," a goal even a village idiot ought to be able to recognize as impossible, off the radar screen, and, to top it off, arrogant. since it's impossible, that goal ensures that we'll be there forever if this administration and its offspring have their way.

mrrain422, i nominate you for obama's v.p.!

Sorry, haven't been here in a while. I'm sure my opinion was/is influenced by Tweedy saying that it was a record for his wife. Where I find that sincere and as good a reason as any to write songs, its the sort of thing I don't want to know about. Pandering was meant to address that aspect. Paul McCartney was often pandering and trite and he's Paul McCartney. And I'm less concerned about what he feels and experienced than I am about what I feel and experience by putting those headphones on or seeing the show. And I'm not married to his wife. I have tremendous respect for the band and the songs and all the records.

I didn't mean to sound like a jerk.

your "pandering" strike zone sounds wider than mine, i think that's what threw me. thanks for explaining -- i don't

feel that way but now understand it.

I think a piece of brain matter just came out of my nose.

oh that's lovely.

It is deeply anti-social. This person needs a good talking to, and then have Screamin' Jay Hawkins played at her as loud as possible.

sorry for the side road here but whoa, is that THE screamin' jay hawkins? the guy who screamed "i don't CARE if you don't WANT me, I'M YOURS!!!"?

memories.

After all the times I've heard it...this line still throws me.

 

"..But still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy.."

yah, it throws me too. i like it but/and always have to think it out for a minute.

usually i don't feel stupid (at least not all day!), but a similar thing happens with this

from You Are My Face: "when we're not sure we're not alone."

I hesitate to post this as I don't want it to come off as baiting. Please take this post as an honest attempt to try to understand what I'm missing as everyone seems to love On and On and On but me. To me the music is trite and boring and the lyrics are among the MOST trite I have EVER heard from Tweedy. What does everyone hear in this tune? Am I destined to just not "get" it and it's as simple as that?

it might be as simple as that, moe. i guess we're all affected by music as it relates to our whole musical and life experience, which obviously is different for everyone.

since i literally just finished listening to SBS, as i do every day, and "on and on and on" was (almost) the last song, it's fresh in my mind and i'll try to tell you what i hear in it.

to me it's about the life and death cycle, which repeats and repeats itself with all its pain and joy; about acceptance of death AND of the sorrow but also eternal-life-in-memory it leaves us with; and about trying to hang on, while we're here, to the few solid-as-possible attachments we form on this earth. i realize it may sound trite to some, but sometimes thoughts seem trite BECAUSE they are so true and huge.

often it's possible to look at different aspects of a wilco song -- the lyrics, or the meaning, or jeff's voice, or the musicality. this is one of the few songs where i think those aspects can't be separated. everything, including the underlying on-and-on-and-on rhythm of the instrumentals throughout, holds the same weight in this song. it all fits together and can't be taken apart.

i think it's an exceptionally beautiful song, and for the last few months it gives me chills every time i hear it. in fact, i flip back to track 1, "either way," to end my SBS listening because "on and on and on" leaves me a little sad yet grateful yet overwhelmed emotionally.

yea ... I also think that happening stone is a good way of describing an apple , like its like a stone exept its alive or happening

yah, and there's some sweetness to an apple -- so sweetness (or just plain old good taste and nourishment in anything) is part of the aliveness of being alone as a "happening stone." it really speaks to me because my husband and i have a very close relationship yet i have a large need for solitude too.

to me this image is one of the best on SBS.

"Im this apple this happening stone when Im alone" "oh but my blessings get so blured at the sound of your words"I think it is simply saying that the blessing is life being alive , you know when your alone and thinking strange thoughts and your like wow I fucking exist what a blessing or something...and then someone talks to you and all you focus on is the conflict the conversation w.e you forget the simple blessing and focus on the complexity of conflict. I think thats what hes saying.

oh i think you're right! i know how the sound of someone else's words can blur some kinds of blessings but wasn't sure what blessings he meant with "i'm this apple, this happening stone." they're the blessings of being alone, even though it's a mixed blessing.

thanks.