The Public Garden Stage, the Greenway Frame

If you’re walking through the Boston Public Garden over the next two weeks and catch someone with headphones on staring at you, don’t be alarmed; they’re just your adoring audience. The pretentiously spelled ArtsEmerson program is sponsoring Susurrus, David Leddy’s “play without actors and without a stage,” according to the ArtsEmerson web site. As far as I can tell, both those assertions are lies.

The word “susurrus” means a whispering or rustling sound; but Susurrus is a recording, the sort of thing that used to be called a “radio play.” The actors are recorded, yes, but they did exist at some point in the past.  They tell stories in snatches and pieces about a man, his family, opera, the scientific investigation of sparrows, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. You can listen to a sample of a very Scottish-sounding version here.

The production also has a stage: the Public Garden, including its trees, grass, fences, water, and other visitors. Ticket holders are given headphones and a map of where they should listen to each scene, with musical interludes between scenes (presumably to allow the audience to get to the next spot). I don’t know exactly where the audience goes, but the Public Garden is full of excellent sets. The Boston Globe describes one scene at the Ether Monument, that curious tribute to an anesthetic. Does the play linger at the Japanese Pagoda Tree, or the Camperdown Elm? Perhaps. I hope the audience doesn’t end up diving into the Lagoon in search of lost ducklings, but I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the piece just yet, so I can’t be sure.

If you’d like to wander around the Public Garden smugly staring at passers-by without hearing a drama that includes suicide and child abuse, you can also download a free audio tour of the Public Garden, courtesy of the Friends of the Boston Public Garden.  You’ll hear more about trees, less about human misery, but either way, you’ll have a nice walk.

Susurrus runs through June 5. If you can’t score tickets, consider taking a walk on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on June 4-5 for Figment Boston, an interactive arts festival. There are all sorts of noble ideas on the Why Figment? manifesto, but it all boils down to this: more than 80 artists will let you wander through and mess around with their stuff. Last year Figment included a real car you could paint (with real paint!), buckets of rose petals to toss at anyone nearby, a billowing fabric walk-through maze, and a gigantic jelly fish made out of plastic bottles, among other things.

Bring the kids– afterwards, the entire family can always hose off at one Greenway fountains. I was always sure they’d come in handy some day.

Historic Boston Harbor Islands Photographs

One of the great things about the Internet for any history buff is the ability to access photographs and historical resources that were once buried deep inside archives and libraries. Case in point are the fantastic vintage photographs that the Boston Public Library posts on Flickr. The recent release of baseball photographs taken by Leslie Jones received considerable press, and deservedly so. (Check out this incredible shot of a Cubs player sliding into home at Braves Field.) But I was just as excited to see the recently posted vintage photographs of the Boston Harbor Islands.

Check out this photograph taken on Long Island sometime around 1930. It shows the contestants of the annual baby crib race down Long Island Head at the starting line. Gentlemen, start your cradles!

OK, just kidding. It’s a photograph of some of the children who were being cared for at Long Island Hospital along with some of the nurses out getting some fresh air.

The cool breezes and the open air of the islands were thought to have salubrious properties. Thus, the Boston Harbor Islands were a place of healing for generations of sick children from Boston. In addition to the hospital on Long Island, the Burrage Hospital on Bumpkin Island provided care and treatment for poor children with physical disabilities between 1902 and the start of World War I. And if you’ve always been confused as to why the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center is fully landlocked, well, it’s because that it dates back to the days when it actually did sail on Boston Harbor. For 33 years starting in 1894, the Floating Hospital sailed the harbor so that its patients could benefit from its supposedly healing breezes.

(Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library)

The Greenway Grows Up

I took a stroll on Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Tuesday afternoon so that you didn’t have to.

Yes, it was damp, as evidenced by the burgeoning mushroom crop:

There was also some new signage:

… but what I found most interesting was the trees.

They’ve really grown up in the last few years. It feels different on the Greenway now; less like a space between streets and more like a place, somewhere that people actually go, and stay.  I’ve read that the Greenway is “the world’s largest median strip” dozens of times; when was the last time you saw a median strip with 20′ tall trees?

In a week so so—if it ever stops raining—the giant alliums will bloom. For those of you who aren’t familiar with giant alliums, they’re in the running for “plant that most resembles a truffula tree” and they’re just plain silly. Go take a walk and enjoy them… next week.

Civil War Events and Reading List

The Boston Public Library has an outstanding array of programming to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, from May until December 2011. From the looks of it, the exhibitions and programs seek to demonstrate how the war was  experienced here in Boston as well as throughout the fractured nation.

Boston is better known as a “Revolutionary War” city, of course. But it’s fitting that the city’s institutions hosts such programming, as Boston played an important role in the war. Indeed, Bostonians were behind some of the most integral social reform movements of the period: temperance, women’s rights, and abolition. We are the hometown of the fabled 54th Massachusetts infantry–the all-African American regiment that had to overcome Northern racism before getting to the Southern battlefields.  Moreover, Boston is home to what may be New England’s most important Civil War site: Georges Island in the Boston Harbor National Park Area. It was in Georges Island’s Fort Warren that Southern prisoners of war were incarcerated during the Civil War–including the Vice President of the Confederacy. The Boston Harbor Islands also have a slew of programs that are going to run this summer to commemorate the war, some of which include lectures on history, immigrant culture and the war, music of the period, and on July 9th,  living history demonstrations on the parade grounds of Fort Warren. This looks like a great event for parents who want to give the kids an easy dose of history!

If you’re interested in the BPL’s programs (which include lectures, genealogy seminars, and performances), check out what’s on deck at their site. If you consider yourself more of an armchair historian, have a look at their Civil War Reading Lists. There are lists for kids, teens, and adults. The adult lists are broken out into biography, campaigns, fiction and nonfiction. I have a copy of Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon that I’ve recently started (the BPL includes it on their fiction list) but I look forward to reading more, and to hitting some of these lectures and events on the Harbor Islands.

 

 

Get Your Grill On: Quick Recipes for BBQ Season

A beautiful day in Boston…for a BBQ! Actually, in our household, the first BBQ of the year coincides with Marathon Monday and Patriots Day (when it can still be a little chilly out). In any case, any warm, sunny weather is a great excuse to get grilling.

Here are some quick, easy recipes that’ll satisfy your meat-eaters, non-red-meat-eaters, and the vegetarians in the gang too.

BURGERS

In a bowl, combine ground beef (around 1/4lb per person), one egg, one onion (vidalias/sweet onions are great for this) diced, one clove of minced garlic & 1tbsp worcestershire sauce per pound, salt, pepper, fresh herbs if you have some (eg. rosemary, oregano, etc.), and panko bread crumbs (you want enough that it all sticks together but not so much that it dries them out).

As your create each patty, use your thumb to make an indent in the middle.

Place a cube of extra sharp cheddar, gruyere, or blue cheese in the dent, and seal it by putting the meat over it.

Throw (well, place it) it on the grill!

Turn to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything cookbook for grilling tips—or this article in The New York Times.

TURKEY BURGERS

In a bowl, combine ground turkey (around 1/4lb per person), one egg, one yellow/white onion diced, half a tart apple diced (can use more if you’d like), 1tbsp of maple syrup per pound, salt, pepper, and panko bread crumbs (you want enough that it all sticks together but not so much that it dries them out).

As your create each patty, use your thumb to make an indent in the middle.

Place a cube of strong brie, camembert, or blue cheese in the dent, and seal it by putting the meat over it.

Throw (well, place it) it on the grill!

Again, turn to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything cookbook for grilling tips.

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS

Clean the mushrooms with a moist paper towel.

In a small bowl, add minced garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs to high quality olive oil.

Brush the mixture on each mushroom and place on the top rack of the grill (or the part of the grill with lowest heat).

When they’re close to being done, add slices of gruyere on top.

When the cheese has melted, remove from the grill and add a handful of fresh baby spinach on top.

(The photos here are actually our stuffed portobellos, but are far more time consuming than the recipe above– feel free to email me for the other recipe)

Enjoy all of the above with an ice-cold beer!

For me, there’s little that can beat a homemade burger. This week, I’d love for local foodies and BBQ-fans to let us know where to find the best burgers around Beantown! I’ve yet to go to Craigie on Main and have a few solid burgers in mind, but share your favorites in the comments section.

Up Goes the Garden (Boston’s Gardens!)

If you missed my previous blog post on a green wall at the Citysprouts fundraiser, fear not! Internet information lives forever, and sometimes gets supplemented by radio hosts. This week Meghna Chakrabarti at Radio Boston interviewed Mike Menonno, author of The Naked Gardener Blog, about  Boston’s Berkeley Community Gardens‘ vertical gardens, i.e. places where plants grow up things.

As a child of the ’70s, I was gratified to see Radio Boston’s reference to “gourds hoisted on high with panty hose”

Where to Watch: Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Hockey

This Saturday the Bruins begin their Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. If you aren’t one of the lucky fans to have a ticket to the TD Garden, the next best thing is to watch the game with a bunch of die-hard Bruins fans.

Notice I said “die-hard” not “bandwagon.” Tuesday’s edition of The Boston Globe featured an article on bandwagon Bruins fans complete with a reprehensible cheat sheet of hockey terms. (It made me long for the old New England Watch and Ward Society because that’s one piece of printed material that definitely should be “Banned in Boston.”) The article included interviews with people casually watching the game at Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar. Nice place, but the article gave a good insight into the hockey knowledge of the crowd, which appeared to be on par with a Hooters in Tampa.

So if you want to watch with some real die-hards, I have a place for you: Sullivan’s Tap. I’d give you a link to their website, but Sullivan’s isn’t a place that’s going to have a website. Sully’s is a shot and beer dive bar just down the street from the Garden. It’s basically a long hallway of drinkers stretching between Canal and Friend Streets. It’s not much wider than a bowling alley. You’re not going to get cushy seat or giant HDTVs. No fancy fru-fru drinks. What you get is grit and character, a perfect setting for hockey fans. And you won’t find any bandwagons double-parked outside.

Got any other places where the real die-hard Bruins fans show up? Post it below.

Sullivan’s Tap. 168 Canal Street. 617-617-7617.

Hockey Cheat Sheet in the Globe? You Cannot Be Serious…

Did The Boston Globe really publish a cheat sheet to hockey rules in today’s edition? In a hockey hotbed like Boston?

I’d maybe expect this from the Tampa Tribune or St. Petersburg Times in preparation for the upcoming Bruins-Lightning series. But isn’t this supposed to be “the hub of hockey”?

Thank Orr, Espo, Bourque, and the other hockey gods that at least this monstrosity didn’t appear in the sports pages, but in the G section in connection with a story on bandwagon Bruins fans. But anywhere in newsprint is too close to the sports page for my liking.

This is one feature that should have been kept on ice. (Ice for the uninitiated hockey fan is “frozen water.”)

Looking forward to a follow up for the Stanley Cup finals that includes a Zamboni definition.

May 14, 2011: Sports Walk with Christopher Klein

No American city is as sports-obsessed as Boston. It’s a fact.

On May 14th, join Christopher Klein and the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Adult Education to learn about the evolution of sports in Boston (its love of sports was hardly preordained).

The tour will cover landmarks in downtown Boston connected to the city’s rich sporting history: learn fun facts like those about a Founding Father who was also a swimming phenom, discover the birthplaces of national sports like football and baseball, explore old haunts of Boston legends such as John L. Sullivan and Francis Ouimet, and stand in awe at honorary statues of city greats like Red Auerbach and Larry Bird. Join Chris on this adventure through Boston’s sport history–and get ready to have your die-hard sports knowledge put to the test!

The tour will meet in front of the Old South Meeting House at 5pm and ends at Faneuil Hall at 7pm. Families are welcome and the tour will meet rain or shine. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes!

For more information (and to register):

Visit Lincoln-Sudbury Adult Education or call 978-443-9961, 781-259-9527

or visit Christopher Klein’s personal website.

Countdown to the Boston Harbor Islands Ferries!

Since the initial publication of Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands back in June 2008, Union Park Press has become increasingly involved with the Boston Harbor Islands. We’re thrilled to see how awareness of the Islands has grown in the past few years. According to the Boston Harbor Island Alliance’s 2010 annual report, the harbor islands welcomed 135,00 visitors by boat in 2009—a 44% increase in visitation from 2006, which we are certain will increase in 2011. Program offerings have been increased and now serve a wider demographic including: families, inner-city schools, outdoor enthusiasts, professional groups, and Boston newcomers. Camping has become more of an option, too!

We’re excited to see big things happen this summer. The Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway is certainly going to make a big difference in capturing the tourist trade. Programming highlights for this summer season include the ever popular Thursday night clambake by Summer Shack, youth yoga, Berklee jazz on Spectacle, plays in the park, the Junior Ranger program, history walks, and anything else you can dream up.

I’ve been to almost all of the islands (even the ones you’re really not supposed to go to), and each one really is it’s own little paradise.

There’s something about an island, after all. It takes effort to get there, and once there, you are more or less commanded by the environment.

How lucky we are in Greater Boston to have these gems within our easy reach.

To get to the islands by public transportation: Boston’s Best Cruises Ferry Service to the islands resumes this Saturday, May 7, 2011.