Boston Marathon Bombing Benefit Concert

Last Thursday night, my friend Laura and I went to the Boston Marathon bombing benefit concert at The Garden.  I'm not usually a huge 'concert person', but when I heard the line-up and what the money was going toward, I knew I had to try to get tickets.  Travis was going to be in South Carolina at Furman University's new music festival, so I called Laura to see if she'd be my date for the evening (if I could manage to get tickets).  Luckily I managed to snag a few tickets as soon as they went on sale, because 5 minutes later the show was sold out.  (I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the pictures.  You weren't allowed to bring in 'cameras with removable lenses', so I was stuck with my cell phone.)

The evening started with the US Poet Laureate who had written a beautiful poem in honor of the marathon bombings.  How many rock concerts start with a poem read?  Probably not many.  Once he finished, Boston took the stage and started the music for the night!

It honestly felt like I was reliving my childhood.  I have a confession...I love 80's music...like LOVE it.  Growing up, we lived a few doors down from the community swimming pool.  I spent almost every day from open to close at the pool swimming, playing volleyball in the grass (dodging stickers), and hanging out with friends...with the radio blaring.  For this reason, 80's music, NuGrape soda, and Paydays bring me right back to 10 years old at the 'Family Pool'.

The evening's lineup is below, along with a few of the more popular songs they performed.

US Poet Lauret
Boston - Foreplay/Long Time, Peace of Mind, More Than a Feeling
Lenny Clarke (comedian)
Extreme - More than Words
Steve Sweeney (comedian)
J Geils Band - Freeze Frame, Love Stinks
Steven Wright (comedian)
Jason Aldean - She's Country, Dirt Road Anthem
Donny Walburg
Dropkick Murphys - Shippin up to Boston
New Kids on the Block - Hangin' Tough, Step By Step, You Got It (The Right Stuff)
Bell Biv DeVoe - That Girl is Poison
Boys II Men - One Sweet Day
James Taylor - You've Got a Friend, How Sweet It Is
Carole King - So Far Away, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
Jimmy Buffet - Margaritaville
Dane Cook (comedian)
Aerosmith - Dream On, Sweet Emotion  (Remember when I saw them in the fall?)

Jason Aldean

New Kids on the Block

Boys II Men

The evening was fantastic.  I can't possibly pick a favorite, but especially liked Boston, the NKOTB/Boys II Men/Bell Biv DeVoe set, and James Taylor/Carole King's set.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was Dane Cook (he wasn't that funny) and Dropkick Murphys.  Dropkick was the only group that did new stuff...everyone else did their greatest hits, which is what you should do at a benefit concert.  I guess they redeemed themselves with Shippin up to Boston.  :)







Want to hear more from the concert?  Boston Inno has a great compilation of videos from the night here.

Travis' Dissertation Concert & Celebrating at 51 Lincoln

Time sure does fly.  I planned on telling you about our dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants, 51 Lincoln, weeks ago...but am just now getting to it!  (Bad blogger.)  We love an excuse to go out for a nice dinner, so the fact that Travis finished his dissertation piece was no stretch of the rule - it was time to celebrate!  This time, our friends Ann, Terence, and Allyn came with us for a roaring good time!

51 Lincoln is in Newton, MA, just a few minutes down the road from us.  The restaurant is cozy and sophisticated and plastered with fantastic art!  The first time we ate there, we were mentioning to our waiter how much we liked the art, and we learned that the chef is both a culinary artist AND a visual artist!  I guess it should be no surprise that the two talents overlap - after all  cooking IS art.  (Here's a blog the chef wrote about his art if you're interested.)

When we all arrived it was time for appetizers.  Ann and Terence split a cheese and pâté plate, Allyn enjoyed the Pan Seared  Watermelon Steak (which I'd never seen before...it was interesting!), and Travis ordered his favorite - the Polenta Fries with Truffle Parmesan Dip.  The polenta fries are to die for, fluffy, and unassumingly heavy.  They're meant to be a side, so if you order them as an app, make sure you share or you won't want your dinner!  51 Lincoln also has the best corn bread and bread dip.  I don't know what it is made of exactly, but it's tomatoey, sweetish,...it's fantastic.  (You don't dip the cornbread.)  :)

For dinner, I had the Chicken Under a Brick.  The first time we visited 51 Lincoln this is what Travis got, and he couldn't stop talking about it for weeks.  Everywhere we went it was, "OMG CHICKEN UNDER A BRICK!,"  "Where can we get bricks," or "Let me tell you about the most amazing chicken ever!"  I decided to have it this time, and it was equally enjoyable as the last.  The only strange thing was a unidentifyable purple vegetable on my plate.  I took one bite and knew it wasn't for me.  After dinner, Ann wanted to give it a try (she's notably more brave about her food choices than I am) and she agreed...it was bad.  Note to self - radicchio is gross.

Travis ordered the bolognese, and has since taken up his regular "OMG 51 LINCOLN'S PASTA!!," "We need to learn how to do that!," "Let me tell you about the most amazing pasta" routine.  To his credit, it really was fantastic.  They make all of their pasta in-house and difference is obvious.

For dessert, the table split the chocolate lava cake (topped with hazelnuts and bourbon caramel) and their banana ice cream.  The perfect way to end an evening.

We had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back.

A few days later Travis had the premiere of his piece at Brandeis University!  Remember the Berry Basket Cake from last week?  It made its appearance at the reception.  Take a look & listen!

Aerosmith in Boston

Monday morning, as I was driving to work, I came across a large number of police and news vans in front of the first apartment husband and I lived in when we moved to Boston 6 years ago.  I didn't see an accident and there was no crime scene tape, so I didn't think anything bad had happened.  I also knew it couldn't possibly be a movie filming, because there's an endless number of streets that would be nicer for a film crew to pick, so I called Travis and had him Google what was going on!  Through the magic of the internet, we learned that Aerosmith was doing a covert concert there at noon!

Sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures - I would have brought our real camera if I'd known (and they hadn't been so sneaky about the whole thing)!  You get the idea tho...right?

Since I work about a mile from Commonwealth Ave (where the concert was), I HAD to go, so I trekked down the street at quarter til 12 and waited with Every. Other. Person. In. Allston.  There were SO many people there.  They'd shut down Comm Ave (that's a big deal), the T (subway) and all of the side roads in the area.  People filled both lanes of the street and the access roads as far as you could see.

Just after noon, the Duck Boats came rolling by carrying the Mayor and his crew, the owners of the Celtics & their posse, Tom Brady...and finally Aerosmith!

Turns out, Aerosmith lived in the apartment they performed in front of in the early 70's and wrote most of the songs for the first two albums there.  They practiced in the basement and recorded their first album in that building!  After the concert, they put a plaque on the building, and there was rumor they did a "walk of fame" type thing on the sidewalk in front of the building too.  I'll have to take a stroll down there another day to check those out.

I couldn't stay for too long, since I had to get back to work, but it was such a cool thing to be able to see such an iconic band!  Who would have thought our first apartment was so close to theirs!

As I walked back to the office, with Sweeeeeeeeeeeet Emooooootionnnnnnn blaring through the city, I decided this was definitely the coolest lunch break ever.  :)

Night of the Living Composers - A New Music Concert in Costume

Happy Halloween!

Prior to Sandy's sweep through New England, we managed to get in lots of Halloween-type festivities.  In addition to the Halloweenie dachshund meet-up in Boston Common and cupcake baking this past Saturday, I also attended the first New Music Brandeis concert of the semester.  Since the concert fell so close to Halloween, the performers decided to dress in costume, which made the evening even more fun.

The concert had pieces by Travis Alford (husband!), Victorial Cheah, Richard Chowenhill, Peter VZ Lane, Mu-Xuan Lin, Jared Redmond, and Rebecca Sacks.  Here's a shot of all the composers and performers for the evening.

Husband had two pieces on the concert - one that he wrote for a composer/performer group at Brandeis (The Gentlemen's Very (Very) High Art Society of South Waltham) titled Trickle Down Tango, and an art song titled I Felt A Funeral.  The latter was written for a summer residency at New Music on the Point in Vermont.  Our friend Kim Soby, an extremely talented soprano, happened to be in Boston and was able to sing the piece.

Travis has dubbed Kim "His Soprano" because of how they met at New England Conservatory (each working toward their Masters).  Travis had written a piece for strings and soprano - a setting of the Bill of Rights - which was to be performed in Jordan Hall.  He is known for writing really difficult music, and this piece was no different.  Three days before the performance, his Soprano lost her voice and recommended Kim as a replacement, but since it had taken the group weeks of rehearsing, we weren't really hopeful the piece would be ready for the concert.  That assumption was made before anyone had met Kim...and was completely incorrect, because Kim (in two days) sung it perfectly.  A-mazing.  She's the best.

Travis, Kim (soprano), and Alexander (piano) after the concert

Here are a few other shots from the evening!

Hey you!  Down in front!

 

Even the stagehands dressed up!

After the concert there was a reception, during which my pumpkin cupcakes were devoured.  I wrote a how-to blog earlier this week so you can make buttercream pumpkin cupcakes too!  Check it out!

Also, you should check out Kim's blog.  If her beautiful voice wasn't reason enough to love her, she also has a CUPCAKE BLOG!

Now to prepare for trick-or-treaters!  Happy Halloween!