Boston Blogs

Fri. July 10Eli “Paperboy” Reed might best be considered Boston’s entry into the new wave of blues/R B/soul-influenced singers that include Amy Winehouse, Duffy and James Hunter. Reed’s playing the Middle East Downstairs Friday July 10. The following is a version of a story I wrote on Reed for the Boston Phoenix …. Reed and the True Loves are rehearsing at Q Division Studios in Somerville, picking songs for an upcoming gig. Reed, in his impassioned tenor, is s... More ...

There are two registered voters in our household. Today in our mailbox, there were four of these: Were some of these misdelivered, you might wonder? Nope: They're both addressed to me. The address was just entered two different ways into the database. The spousal unit also got two mailings with the same duplication. When I've volunteered for campaigns, they've had me do such exciting tasks as, well, going through their database and taking out obvious duplicate voters, so as not to waste money/... More ...

From State House News Service's weekly email roundup*:  "We pulled back," Patrick said of the administration's 2007 retreat from a grassroots offensive against tax-resistant legislators, "and I'm sorry we did to tell you the truth, because it doesn't quite keep faith with the notion of democracy that citizen involvement would be … a deterrent to good policy. Now, we went back to this in the last few weeks with the reform agenda. And I think it was important, and I thi... More ...

...because Netflix now has IMAX films available for instant viewing on my home computer. What. ... More ...

You'll learn that and much more in this interview with the smartest man in the world.   Not to be confused with the Dos Equis guy.  Or Bill Belichick.   *You'll learn why Obama fired the general in Afghanistan and brought in the new guy.   *You'll learn the price that Russia wants in exchange for Obama's request that they help him on Iran. *You'll learn what China's been up to while we have been focused on Iraq and Afghanistan.   Best read I've had in a while!  Free... More ...

The moon hung overheard like a glowing pocket watch as Franklin and I pulled the car up to the docks. Through the fencing, we could make out the outline of a flivver, and we knew this is where our meat was hiding out. Quietly, we pulled the Scarlet Solver into a space and killed the engine. A cold pizza and cups of coffee were all that accompanied us on this chilly evening. Inside the complex, there was a small building, or maybe a retrofitted shipping container, with a light on, and this Frankl... More ...

Over at Bostonist, an otherwise good and informative website, “Grandpa Bostonist” had the following to say about fixed gear bicycles. Fixies are European fixed gear racing bikes that don’t have back brakes, designed to teach racers “pedal discipline” in the velodrome. On the clogged streets of the big city, however, they are little more than a pathetic compensatory status marker—the bicycle equivalent of a sports car. They are bikes for racing, not for getting ar... More ...

Driving Equality was unconstitutionally searched today. We left Niland, CA in the afternoon and headed toward Los Angeles. On our way, there was a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. We were not anywhere near the border, but still, every car traveling north on this road had to stop. We were asked our citizenship status and the contents of the van. I told the officer that we are American citizens and that we had film and camping equipment in the van. He asked me if he could look in the back of the va... More ...

If your team blows a big lead and you don’t see it, does it still sting? Not as much, says Cameron Martin, who slept soundly on Tuesday night while the Nation burned in Baltimore, going down after holding a nine-run lead. As for me, I woke repeatedly that night to our new cat scratching up our good-as-new bedroom carpet and was each time revisited by demons of that game before I could go back to sleep. Nights like those make me glad I’m not a Sox beat writer. Boston Blood Sox has the... More ...

This just in (email, no link): Governor Deval L. Patrick announced today that Arthur Bernard -- currently a Senior Advisor to the Governor -- has been appointed Chief of Staff in the Governor's office.  Bernard will replace Doug Rubin who is leaving state government to join the Governor's re-election campaign. "Arthur has become one of my closest and most trusted advisors since joining the team last year," said Governor Patrick.  "His experience, judgment and level-headedness have be... More ...

Tony Pierce, the blog editor for the LA Times says, "I love blogs more than any other person -- but I'll be the first to tell you that most of them are crappy. Which isn't to say that individual posts can't be great, and I think that's where newspapers should focus.' Pierce said he thinks blog networks are only the first step toward true engagement. Despite the hype over Web 2.0, not all content deserves to be highlighted for a newspaper's readership. To be truly innovative, he said, editors ar... More ...

As readers of The Boomer Chronicles know, I am a big believer in community building, co-housing, and other related phenomena. I just spoke to a Boston Globe reporter who is looking for people to interview for a story on unrelated adults living together. Are you going to rent out your first room to a stranger? Then drop everything and send an email to: Megan Woolhouse at MWoolhouse@globe.com. ... More ...

NPR: Exhausted, confused and extremely frightened, Owen immediately ran to the safety of a giant tortoise when we released him in Haller Park. Mzee, our 130 year old tortoise, just happened to be nearby and he was very surprised by Owen's odd behavior cowering behind him as a baby hippo does to its mother. Mzee quickly came to terms with his new friend and even returned signs of affection. The unusual relationship between this baby hippo and the ancient tortoise amazed people the world over an... More ...

With the long weekend ahead of us, hopefully the weather will cooperate and allow us to enjoy some traditional outdoor activities, like barbecues, fireworks, the beach, maybe camping. If not, and we’re stuck inside once again, your New England Patriots will be making a number of appearances on the NFL Network over the next few days. You might want to set your DVR for those outstanding “America’s Game” features on Sunday. As usual, I also scoured the upcoming schedule of a... More ...

What in the name of God is music journalism? Drawing insightful associations between whatever music is in question and art, literature, religion, etc.?  Offering arcane factoids about the artists? Tracing possible influences from one band to another? Relating subjective experiences? God forbid. If this was the case I would have retired long ago (or at least I tell myself I would have). Music journalism is… well before I say that I should say that music journalism often employs all of the... More ...

So how about this? A US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque after a male passenger removed his clothing mid-flight. Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, says Keith Wright, 50, of the Bronx disrobed while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft. Jiron says Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket. Oh, and that’s not all. Remember that Air France f... More ...

Running latte Definition: Showing up late to work because you stopped for coffee along the way. I told them I got stuck in traffic, but really I was running latte. ... More ...

Boston Globe editorial-page editor Renée Loth marks her departure with a classy farewell. Good to see she's going to write her new weekly column a short walk away from the Statehouse. Local politics has always been her passion, and her scrutiny will be welcome. A few pieces of unsolicited advice for Loth: (1) start a blog; (2) use it, along with Twitter and Facebook, to converse with your readers; (3) learn how to shoot and edit Web video. Not only will such activities not detract from your col... More ...

In my latest for the Guardian, I consider the implications of an idea put forth recently by influential U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner: making it illegal to link to copyrighted content without permission. Not only would Posner's proposal do enormous damage to the Internet, but it would destroy the doctrine of "fair use" as well. ... More ...

Trailing 5-1 in the ninth inning, the Red Sox rallied for four runs in the frame, and then pushed across a run in the 11th inning to pull out a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles yesterday afternoon. That ends the nine game road trip with a 6-3 record. Amalie Benjamin has the Red Sox turning the tables on the Orioles and staging a late inning comeback of their own. Sean McAdam says that this was just turnabout being fair play and all. Joe McDonald has the Sox bouncing back from their deva... More ...