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Showing posts from March, 2009

Thank you, Roger Griswold

I've always appreciated the TV meteorologists who keep an eye on the sky for something more than weather. A quick hint during the evening newscast about a planetary conjunction or lunar eclipse is always welcome here. And the weather man ought to know if it's worth looking up; no point seeking Venus beside a waning moon if it's nothing but clouds up there. So tonight, when WCSH's Roger Griswold specified the start and end times for an overhead pass by the International Space Station, and added that it would be as bright as an "evening star," we made plans to step out into the clear night and crane our necks. He said "southwest" so that's where I was looking. Fortunately A- had motile eyes and said "What's that?" to a solidly bright object racing toward us from the south-southwest. Instantly we were all on it, our first-time view of the ISS blazing in the sun. Boy, that thing cruises!

Thank you, Brian O'Donovan

The host of A Celtic Sojourn on WGBH radio also hosted last night's event at the Berklee Performance Center. Quite an enjoyable evening with... Maura O'Connell (and her accompanists, John and...?) Masters of the Celtic Harp (Gráinne Hambly and Billy Jackson) Lóchrann (Diarmaid Ó hAlmhain, Caoilfhionn Ní Fhríghil, Aoife Greene, Eibhlin Healy, Pauric Stapleton, Brian Shinners; good luck in Philadelphia, Brian) Folk Arts Quartet (Ivonne Hernandez, Hannah Read, Julie Metcalf, Liz Davis Maxfield) Donnchadh Howard and...? Kieran Jordan and friends

Bacchante

No thoughtful patriot can fail to be interested in the conflict that is going on in Massachusetts over the Bacchante of the Boston Public Library. If the sculptor and the donor had been actuated by malice, and determined to throw into the classic shades of the library something in the nature of a Pandora's box, for the confusion of the culture of Massachusetts, they could not have succeeded better. The New York Times, February 6, 1897, Wednesday, Page 6 This statue by Frederick MacMonnies scandalised Bostonians when it was first sculpted, and was not allowed to be placed in the courtyard for which it was comissioned. 100 years later we are no longer quite so prudish, and so it was finally placed where it belongs follwing the recent restoration of the courtyard. muddyriver.typepad.com