The Cheap Seats

This was the view from the $60 seats for Cream at Madison Square Garden.
There were video screens and PA facing backward, so it was OK.
Plus, these guys aren't much to look at, anyway!!

Pea-NUTS

From the start of school, we were warned of the dire
consequences of sending peanut products to school.
Apparently there are a few students for whom peanuts
are the equivalent of sarin gas...or so the school would
have us believe.

"No peanut butter anywhere in the building!"

Then, one day, in a moment of weakness and panic
while trying to find something for my son to eat that day
(because he hated the lunch they were serving but
didn't think to mention it until three minutes before the
bus was coming), I said, "How about a peanut butter
sandwich?"

"DAD, we're not allowed to bring peanut butter to school.
We can only buy it in the cafe."

WHAT???

Yes, it turns out the school won't let you bring it in, but they
sell it. Apparently THEY can control the scent, the essence,
the oil...whatever...of the peanuts but nobody else can.

I'm thinking they've added epipens to the usual arsenal of
forks and spoons...?

Maybe someone needs to test these kids who are "allergic"
again, now that they aren't babies anymore. I'm not suggesting
harming the kids, but it's kind of like this:

If the other guy passes out, you just do half. Then call the
paramedics.

Totally Boring Plugs!

I have little to say today, but I owe someone a mention....
and while I'm at it, I may as well suggest some gift ideas.

My friend Maart sent me one of these last week. I hadn't thought
about using a different capo, since I like the ones I have....but
this thing is nice. My old brand may not see an instrument again!

Mr. L's holiday music:
http://www.brave.com/bo ("Holidays"....they've got a sampler
up on the home page and you can buy the disc at the site.
Everybody polka!!!)

http://www.shirim.com (I love their version of the "Nutcracker
Suite"....once again, samples and ordering at the site.)

Um....not holiday...but you could make someone else's holiday
better (I'm thinking of people in MY house...LOL) by buying
one of these:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/larryatb (BWA HA HA...couldn't
resist a cheap plug for myself....)

Or, if you like the samples there, you could always get in touch
here and I may, repeat, may, have several boxes of them
around here somewhere....I was thinking of offering some kind
of discount deal like Bud but I haven't thought it out. Could I
handle the rush all on my own??? LOL! Probably. Well, OK,
$10 inc post. How's that? Get in touch if you're interested,
and then we'll figure out the ugly payment deal!!

Cheap plug over!

Guys' Night Out (Again)

After going out for gelato with Mrs. L last night,
Master L and I attended the Celtics game at the
TD Banknorth Garden.

Really, now: these corporate-sponsored arena names are
getting out-of-hand. The old building was the much-loved
Boston Garden. What a pit that place was! It always
smelled funny, it was hopelessly dirty, and to make matters
worse....the circus always came to town just before basketball
season. Where does an elephant pee? Yes, you guessed it:
anywhere it wants. Who cleaned the (years of) elephant pee?
I think it was the demolition crew that finally tore the old
building down! And then there were strange, stringy cobwebs
(brown and black) that would occasionally float down from the
ceiling onto your head. Who knows what carcinogens were in
those things?

Ah .... but the Celtics used to win championships in THAT
building.

For the first 10 years, the new place was called the Fleet Center.
I guess the contract expired, or Fleet ran out of money...or patience.
When the new sponsor took over, they decided to acknowledge
that a lot of Bostonians would call the place "the new Gahden"
no matter WHAT is was really called!

We've had group tickets for a long time (the group dates back to
the pre-Larry Bird days). One of the guys who used to bring his
young son to the games told me last night that his son just finished
serving for the Marines in Afghanistan. Yikes! All the people I
hang around with sure are getting old!!!

In this building, we are at the very top of place - but it's nice up there.
And last night our group (maybe 10-15 people) were the ONLY
people in the entire top section of the building. Very weird.
I wish I'd taken a picture - on the way home I remembered that I had
a camera in my pocket, but I forgot while we were there!

Where else can you get two hot dogs and one coke for only $10.50?
I know, probably every OTHER sports arena!

Master L is getting pretty aggressive with his "DE-FENSE!!!" chant, but
it seems to work.

On the way home, he scammed a seat on the subway by giving a woman
"the cute face". What an operator. I wish I could harness his power and
bottle it!

Oh, yeah, they won: Boston Celtics 99, Memphis Grizzlies 98,
with a buzzer-beating go-ahead shot.

"We're 2-2! We're 2-2!" Hey, we'll take what we can get!

The "WTF?!?" Centre

This building (the glass phallus) suddenly appeared in the Boston skyline. I don't know what it is. From a distance, it's a hideous eyesore that ruins the view of the city I've always known. Up close, it's not quite so bad...but still...

Let's Hope the Talent Passes On...

Master L and Richard Thompson

A Day at the BSO

Today I was a "chaperone" for a school field trip to Boston
to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra presentation,
"Great Beginnings".

Beethoven (the 5th Symphony, of course)
Mendelsson (Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90)
Schubert (Symphony in B minor, D.759 Unfinished)
Prokofiev (Symphony No. 4 in C, Op. 47)
Bartok (Concerto for Orchestra)

Now, if you're familiar with these pieces, you will see that they
put the "nice" stuff up front. Then, it gets more challenging.
And then they finish up with Bartok. I guess they could
have hit the kids with some Berg or Webern, but maybe
those don't have "great beginnings"....

I thought it was kind of like seeing a war film, and then
seeing a recruiting poster on the way out of the theatre:
"If you can handle the gore, there may be a payoff in the
end for you".

Yes, you may have to play the sugary "favourites", but
there are some hairy pieces waiting for you, too.

Or, as someone once said, "Does this kind of life look
interesting to you?"

Sometimes the endings are greater than the beginnings,
but I guess you have to convince people to hang around
for them!