July 2004

The Ocean Blue, one of my favorite poptastic bands during college (1991-1994) has somehow managed to linger on over the years. They’re going to be in Cambridge at TT The Bear’s on Thursday, September 16th. Fabulous!

Speaker Pelosi.com and the DCCC hosted a gathering called Blogger Bash 2004 at Meze Estiatorio in Charlestown late Wednesday night. I met a bunch of interesting people, saw a few familiar faces and took a handful of photos throughout the evening. Joe Trippi made a very brief “appearance” about 1.5 hours into the event. Janeane Garofalo came in towards the end of the shindig. The highlight of the evening was meeting Granny D. She’s a 94-year old political activist who is running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. A very inspiring woman. I talked to David Sifry of Technorati and he shared tales of his adventure covering the convention for CNN. His mantra this week is “Remember, it’s just television. Don’t take it too seriously.”

All the credentialed bloggers received special “goody bags.” I forgot to ask Michael Feldman what was in it before he left.

More photos from the evening are over in the photo album.

Howard Dean and a couple hundred of the old Massachusetts for Dean volunteers plus other supporters from his campaign days who were in town for the convention got together today at Hurricane O’Reilly’s near the Fleet Center. It was the first time in a long time that I’ve seen all the people I used to volunteer with on his campaign. Gabe (pictured with me in the second photo) agreed that it was sort of like a high school reunion. Dean gave a good talk and spoke about the importance of people running for office, not just voting.

The rest of the gathering’s photos are in my photo gallery at capricious.org

Last year I got a group of us together to see the Free Shakespeare on the Common performance of Macbeth. It was a lot of fun, so we’re doing it again this year for the final performance of Much Ado About Nothing on Sunday, August 1st at 7pm. We’ll meet at 6:30pm near the big water fountain in the Boston Common, a very short walk from the Park Street T Station.

Want to join us? Add a comment here or a trackback ping. Or send me an email. Everyone sits on the grass so bring a blanket and snacks/beverages, too.

“Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, it’s a full-blooded, passionate world and one that seemed particularly seductive. We are ready to move this year from the belligerence of Macbeth, last summer’s production, to a world where everyone loves everyone,” says CSC Artistic Director Steven Maler.

I set up a new category called 2004 Democratic Convention for whatever I write this week regarding the Democratic National Convention that’s in town. It’s also the same week I start a new project at MIT. I’m hoping to move my schedule around so that I can see a screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline on Tuesday at noon. Apparently Michael Moore will be there, too. I RSVP’d a few days ago but it looks like they aren’t taking them anymore.

When a friend suggested we see The Flying Karamazov Brothers at the American Reperatory Theater Thursday night in Harvard Square, the first thing that came to mind was not a whole lot of excitement. Flying? Brothers? Huh? Oh! Those goofy juggling people? Hmm. Curious. The description of the event on the A.R.T. website looked interesting and the company was good. So why not? The title of the show is “Life: A Guide For the Perplexed.” It turned out to be outstanding, amazing, wonderful and numerous other assorted adjectives. They managed to combine liberal-infused politics with humor, lessons on life, some music and oh, yeah … juggling. We were in the front row and at one point during the show, I got a smooch on the cheek from Alexei. (Who, I might add, is much cuter in person than the photo on that page might suggest). They’re at A.R.T. through August 8th. Go, go, go. Seriously. It’s good stuff.

Feedster, that little website I helped name last year, has been updated with new newness. They’ve got a “claim your feed” feature and apparently you need to blog a link for it to work. So, that’s what I’m doing.

A bunch of people showed up for last night’s Boston Blog Meetup. Quite a few of us had attended the blog meetup in the past and the general consensus seemed to be that nobody else had ever showed up. So it was great to see it come together last night. We had a big room at Marche Movenpick surrounded by glass on all sides overlooking Boylston Street. The free wifi seemed to be working for everyone. Food options are numerous but the quality varies, too. I think if we meet there again we should probably stick to dessert and beverages. I’m on the lookout for other spots in the Boston area (easily T accessible) that can accomodate a group of 25-30 for a social gathering. Wifi would be preferred. Suggestions welcome!

Paul Taggart, an aquintance of mine, is on assignment in Iraq as a photographer. He’s got a blog to document his stories and photographs.

The lyrics to this song are excellent. But hearing the tune is essential. I’m a bit of a latecomer to Rufus Wainwright’s music, finally catching up with him this year after his third album WANT one came out September 2003. D-e-l-i-g-h-t-f-u-l.

“Movies of Myself” - Rufus Wainwright (WANT one - 2003)

Stop me falling down, stop me making movies of myself
Put that old dog down, stop me making movies of myself
Bring the carriage ’round, get me to the garden of sleep
Make that high gate speak, Perrier out of a paper bag
Looking like a hag
And start giving me something
A love that is longer than a day
Start making my heart sing something that it doesn’t want to say
I’m handing it over, I’m saying that you’re the only one
Don’t run for the border, turn that corner
Already you’ve run in movies of myself
Darling don’t you ever let go
Wrap your loving arms around me
While the cold winds blow
Tell me what I really want to know
Cause I’m looking for a reason, a person, a painting
A Saturday Evening Post Edition by Jesus
An old piece of bacon never eaten by Elvis
So I’ll say start giving me something
A love that is longer then a day
Start making my heart say something it doesn’t want to say
I’m handing it over, I’m singing that you’re the only one
Don’t run for the border, turn that corner
In movies on myself
Oh I’ve seen it all before in movies of myself