Story coming soon
November 13, 2018
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre
present
To Survive on This Shore:
Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults
featuring guests Grace Sterling Stowell and David E. Weekley
David Bromberg Big Band
Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
November 8, 2018
David Bromberg and His Big Band is a dazzling three-ring circus. For sheer musicianship, you’d be hard pressed to find a tighter, more accomplished group of players on any stage.
Bromberg is the ring master holding it all together center stage with his collection of guitars and stage presence; the quintet of saxophone/clarinet, French horn, trumpet, slide trombone and bass guitar lines up on his right; lead guitar, violin/fiddle to his left; timekeeper and drummer barely visible sits atop a platform behind; another platform to accommodates three Bromberg-ette singers. Several band members add vocals, and boy do they ever get into it.
The whole stage becomes is a marvelous kaleidoscopic performance - Bromberg soloing, playing with the quintet, playing with lead guitar and fiddle/violin, playing with the force of the his entire band.
Bromberg is having fun, singing with gusto in his slightly nasal baritone, with a good deal of body English to punctuate the lyrics. Gusto is good. His devotion to the spirit of the music and the sentiments from which it was born is better.
A student of American musical heritage and genres, Bromberg’s repertoire is wide and deep. In his fifty-year and counting career, he’s played with Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Emmylou Harris, and inspiring bluesman and mentor Reverend Gary Davis. Blues is Bromberg’s home territory.
Blues is story-telling set to music. Bromberg is channeling the emotions that created them with an easy going controlled vibrato, some downright righteous gospel inflected testifying he probably learned from his days of leading his blind mentor Reverend Gary Davis to the Sunday church services where he preached and sang, or crooning that perfectly projects the sentiment he wants to convey. I feel his energy all the way back in the second row of the mezzanine of the Wilbur Theatre.
For him, blues is like an ice cream parlor filled with equally delicious but different flavors. Classic songs by iconic Robert Johnson, or country blues (Kentucky Blues) or gospel infused blues (Yield Not) are from the same parlor but have their own distinct musical flavor. Bromberg loves them all.
Over the years Bromberg has played it all - Americana, Appalachian folk, bluegrass, jazz, pop, funk, gospel, and a ton of blues. All of it seeps into the band’s set tonight. If you detect an occasional nod to New Orleans style playing amongst the brass and clarinet and saxophone, you’d be right. The trumpet has plenty of lip, the slide trombone plenty of invention, the saxophone/clarinet flashes of Pete fountain. The French horn never had a chance to solo but softened the edges of everything the band played.
David Bromberg is clearly in command. Lots of eye contact with us in the audience and that big smile on his face is because he’s doing what he was born to do, play with feeling, mastery of his instrument, and deep knowledge of the origins of every song he sings.
In the business of live shows, attitude, engagement with the audience, pacing of the show, song selection, and a perceptive ability to read the audience to synchronize what you feel like playing with what your audience might want to hear requires confidence, not a small amount of ego, and abundant ESP.
Set list?
A moment after the first song, a fan in the audience shouts out a request.
“Thanks, you but you don’t know shit about how to construct a set list.” Can you think of any other top tier musician who’d have the chutzpah for that riposte to a die-hard fan? Most chuckle. They know the man.
The set is a totally organic version of the child’s game of Telephone. A moment after each song finishes, Bromberg turns to his right, says something to the bass player who passes it along to the rest of the quintet. Bromberg turns left, says a title to lead guitar who passes it on to violin/fiddle player.
The trumpet player riffs through his charts. Everyone else knows it cold. Bromberg plays a flawless intro, the ensemble gets in gear. He strides toward a musician, nods, and a spontaneous fresh solo floats, careens off or caresses the walls of the theater. Bromberg smiles like a proud papa after they play the daylights out of their solo. He’s a genius with the guitar, dobro, and mandolin resting on stands behind him. Endlessly inventive, he appears lost in the moment. I’ll bet he never plays a song the same way twice.
Bromberg sings “Walking Blues,” “Kaatskill Serenade,” “Why Are People Like That,” “This Month,” and "The Blues The Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues"from his 2016 “The Blues and Nothing But The Blues” album. He uses the stops (the rests) in his singing and playing as effectively and demonstratively as any musician I’ve ever heard.
In the middle of “Kaatskill Serenade,” a lyrical song that begins with “Where are the men that I used to sport with, what has become of my beautiful town…”Bromberg pauses, says, “This isn’t the same country I was raised in.” He gets pretty specific about his dim view about current politics. He’s not concerned whether you agree or not, but needs to say what’s on his mind. The applause shows that a bunch of his fans know what he’s talking about.
His rendition of “The Tennessee Waltz”, sung solo, is the purest, most affecting version I’ve ever heard. By the time I thought Bromberg had delivered as many surprises as he had up his sleeve, along came a slightly rumba-ish version of Sam Cooke’s “What A Wonderful World.” Awesome, dude!
I might have been the only first timer in the house. The crowd often applauded when they figured out what Bromberg was about to play. Favorites like the encore “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair” have fans singing the choruses. Showman and musical shaman, Bromberg is the best musician I’ve barely heard of.
Tonight is living proof that he’s earned the title of godfather of Americana music.
Photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
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Video and links about Bromberg
https://store.compassrecords.com/products/the-blues-the-whole-blues-and-nothing-but-the-blues
includes audio clips of each song
https://www.pbs.org/video/-canvas-david-bromberg/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jgk_p3kMmw
David Bromberg concept album "Use Me"
Biography, Discography from AllMusic
Fantasy Fest 2018: Wednesday, October 23, 2018
A few of today's events: Disco at Duval Central, Tarzan 'n Jane at the Green Room, Pet Masquerade (furry, feathery or slithery pets, proceeds to the Lower Keys Friends of Animals) at Truman Waterfront Park, Cheraoke (yes, THAT Cher) at The Gates Hotel, Performance Art by local talents at The Customs House, Dance Party at the Sunset Pier Mallory Square, Blue Party at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar , Homemade Bikini Contest at Smokin' Tuna Saloon, Fogarty's Red Party, Sex Bull Riding Contest (at Cowboy Bill's of course), ABC Party at Sandbar Sports Grill for starters.
Every event has a theme. If you think there's a tsunami of crimson at an Alabama home game, check out the Red Tide at Fogarty's Red Party. A cocktail of techno/disco music gives partiers a reason to shake their booties. The bar is packed, shots of rum vie with cups of cold beer to put a flush on our cheeks on a gloriously warm Key West night. Wearing red is not required, wearing a smile will do just fine.
It's nigh unto impossible to walk by the street-side patio without being drawn into the energy field called Fogarty's Red Party
Wearing red is not required to enter the party, wearing a smile will do just fine.
The sedentary are in a distinct minority; dancing, solo or with a like-minded celebrant, spontaneously breaks out often...
Sometimes on the floor, sometimes on a table top.
Red, white, and blue, the doctor is in...and the crowd soaks in the vibe.
Hugh and his bunny; did i say dancing is breaking out?
Well, you get the idea...over the top (or bottom) costumes get guffaws; satisfaction reigns.
A disco king and his court; this guy had all the moves to act out lyrics of the songs, was happy to teach then pose with everyone.
The usual vast array of costumes and people wearing them; other parties on Duval Street are inside the pubs. The Red Party at the edge of the sidewalk, is wide open...and not many can resist the beckon to step through the gate.
Little Red Riding Hoods, no wolves, only admirers in attendance.
The Riviera without the sand...
No doubt about it, music sets a mood.
Yes, ma'am that calls for a photo - the guy attaches a string to his ding and bobs it around like a yoyo.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Fantasy Fest, Wednesday, October 24, 2018, Key West, FL
A few of today's events: Disco at Duval Central, Tarzan 'n Jane at the Green Room, Pet Masquerade (furry, feathery or slithery pets, proceeds to the Lower Keys Friends of Animals) at Truman Waterfront Park , Cheraoke (yes, THAT Cher) at the Gates Hotel, Performance Art by local talents at The Customs House, Dance Party at the Sunset Pier Mallory Square, Blue Party at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar, Homemade Bikini Contest at Smokin' Tuna Saloon, Fogarty's Red Party, Sex Bull Riding Contest (at Cowboy Bill's of course), ABC Party at Sandbar Sports Bar.
No way anyone can defy Newton's Laws of Physics and take in all of these. Park yourself on a good observation post and chances are you'll see people coming or going to most of these events.
Red Party, Green Party, Blue Party? They've got it covered...well,mostly covered.
Promenading up and down Duval Street is a must do - and a must see!
Fun for spectators, fun for strollers in the limelight.
Whether you quietly observe or wear out your phone, it's all good.
The unofficial costume? A smile.
Everyone in a festive mood...
to pose for anyone who asks.
Amigos across from Captain Tony's Saloon is one of the best places to watch the goings on.
Rick's, Angelina's, Dirty Harry's... busy places.
Chilling and spectating; several blocks between Eaton Street and Front Street near Mallory Square are closed to traffic...a hot rod gets attention on Duval Street.
Pow wows and photo opps
YES...Cher!
A photographer all the way from Las Vegas and I have been wandering up Duval Street taking some of the same scenes of the same people. "Check out these folks who just walked by, you don’t want to miss that!" His smiling, good-natured companion? “We have been together since 1975 but she doesn’t think she knows me well enough yet to get official!“
Where to go next? Business in the miniscule sunglasses boutique is slow.
Ahoy there! The Captain Morgan float makes a nightly cruise up Duval Street.
Smile for the camera? Sure!
Caroline's, one of the best spots for food on Duval Street; How often do your fellow diners not dress for dinner?
Don't worry, the parades of people will still be there when you return to stroll down the street.
If you have a red Ts-hirt and some makeup, you're good to go. Whether you costume or get body painted or just wear your T-shirt and tennies, this is all about having an intention to have a good time; even an Easter Bunny makes the scene.
Pause to reorgaze; then get rolling again.
Bazoombas on parade!
The games people playl checking our the scene.
Top hatted and topless,,,
Heading home?
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Fantasy Fest, Key West, Oh Yes, Florida, Tuesday October 23...
Fantasy fest is like the French Riviera without the sand. People are comfortable in their own skin, and I mean every-day people like your mailman or your kid’s teacher or for that matter your grandparents. Perfect 10 bodies are not necessary or required. Forget the ideals of classic Greek and Roman statuary. This is a celebration of the every-day anatomy of the 99% of the rest of us who vastly outnumber the mightily toned or endowed.
Attitude counts. Big time. And so does group mentality. This is why we are all here. And have permission to toss the norms of everyday street life out the window.
“My husband made me this chain link bodice for me,“ a radiant 60-something woman says proudly as she stands next to him obliging for a photo, radiant smile to complement lovely mature tatas.
I’ll bet they have been planning to come here for months. And that her husband, with gold Mardi Gras beads draped around his neck, was happy to indulge her to show off her beautiful features. A sense of playfulness has descended over Duval Street, transforming it into a Magic Kingdom for adults.
It is so wonderfully out-of-whack that when a perfect stranger asks to take your photo when you’re wearing next to nothing and you oblige. Heck, you take it as a compliment. Complimentary exclamations ring out from store front to store front in as heuristic an environment as there ever was.
With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning…Why Do I Love Fantasy Fest, Let Me Count The Ways.
In these troubled times, it is a healthy temporary escape valve from the torrents of divisive political intolerance, murderous rampages, fragmented social media, and unsettling news every hour of the day. I didn’t read a newspaper or watch the news for 96 hours. My citizen self went on vacation with me. My psyche felt like a dolphin swimming in a sea of endorphins.
It is a most welcome antidote for our brains that have been branded with images of populating fashion runways and the pages of People and Vanity Fair magazines. With one stroke of a Key West magical wand we feel that our own images are cool enough to be splashed on glossy magazine covers, and boy oh boy are we proud of it.
I got in touch with my childish sense of play, felt like I was frolicking around in a huge Caribbean sand box, kissed by the sun, with a bunch of fun-loving new best friends.
The scenes around Captain Tony's Saloon...a necessary digression...
The spirit of the late great Captain Tony Tarracino is alive and well. It's not often that someone declared "the man, the myth, the legend" lived up to all of it. Fleeing to Key West to escape the Mob in New Jersey (not a good idea to cheat the mob by using a telephone to get early race results), Tony re-invented himself to become a shrimper, a charter boat captain, gun runner, became owner of Captain Tony’s Saloon on 428 Green Street in 1958 and one-time mayor of Key West. Not bad for a kid born to Italian immigrants.
In a small town known for its colorful characters, Tony was and is its most endearingly memorable. Tony's love life, also legendary, included four wives, 13 children and enough grandchildren to form a couple of soccer teams. His last child was born when he was 70. His most enduring legacy: the warmth, generosity, empathy for one and all, and uncanny ability to fully live every moment of his life, that exuded from every pore in his skinny body.
Of all the encomiums bestowed upon him, I’ll bet he was most proud of “the conscience of Key West." If you want to be transported into the life and times of a very human legend, a born raconteur with a big heart and an appetite for living in the moment, read "Life Lessons of a Legend," as told to tourist then friend Brad Manard in 2008. The essence of that man's spirit still animates the personality of his beloved island.
No surprise. Many of the festival’s Queen Bees are hanging out in front of Captain Tony's Saloon. They're followed by a swarm of adoring worker bees eager to bask in the iconic aura of the saloon and take selfies to prove that this week hasn’t been a dream.
Could this happen anywhere else on the planet? What do you think? Personally I doubt it.
Photo section below...
A few of Tuesday's events: Tutu Tuesday Bar Crawl, Captain Tony's Party in Plaid, Green Parrot Green Party (It's Not Easy Being Green), 'Cocktails for Animal Tails' with proceeds to Florida Keys SPCA and a bunch more. Every day and night is filled with themed event, oh my... more
Tutus, plaid, green...Duval Street is a scene
Captain Tony's Saloon on Green Street is a magnet. Tony Tarracino (1916-2008) A legend in his own time, Tony's shadow still looms over his saloon and his spirit animates the goings on here. Captain Tony's Plaid Night at Captain Tony's is at a full boil.
Are we having fun yet? And how does that plaid stay put?
This pair of plaid partiers were deluged with asks for photo opps.
My favorite pair of photos of the week...represents the range of people, the level of affection, and unaffectedness, displayed by people who come here to play and be free, not free from morality, because this is about fun, not debauchery.
Showing up with the right attitude is what counts. Captain Tony would second that idea.
The counter at Amigos, across the street from Captain Tony's Saloon, offers a fabulous people watching perch.The Masquerade March on Friday afternoon, the local's parade,will feature hilarious statements about the political opinions of residents of Key West. It will be the only manifestation of politics during the whole week. See Thursday's post when published.
The Smallest Bar in Key West lives up to its reputation, the most colorful closet-sized bar anywhere.
Rums like Sailor Jerry's are best sellers...sip is as you promenade up Duval Street...this is Key West, what do you expect?
Yes, we were here!
Sloppy Joe's on Duval Street; a proud plaid-ster.
Every bar along Duval Street is on the pub crawl list.
You gotta love the range of attire; NFL fans got a kick out of this metaphorical statement about referees.
People line up for a photo opp with this celebrant ; those tatas are the bomb!
Sure you can take our photo! Love the guy's smile walking behind the red tutu.
Spontaneous photo opp, fore and aft.
Clowning around for fun; doncha love the matching green suspenders and tutus:)
Everyone wants a photo opp with this pair of partiers; that extra pair of hands is hilarious.
"Kiss End of the Road Farewell Tour" will happen soon but there will be no farewells for anyone dressing up as Gene Simmons anytime soon; plaid paradise.
Pectorals and paint, a fine combination; a fast way to cruise Duval Street.
Spectacular people watching day and night.
The Bull and Whistle on Duval Street; of course we'll pose for a photo!
The body paint artists were busy; one of the many great people watching seats, the street side tables at Caroline's.
Fantasy Fest 2018: TuTu Tuesday
https://fantasyfest.com
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Key West, Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic
Passengers sitting in the window seats are laughing out loud. The ground crew marshal waving the orange baton to guide the pilot to the line where the jet will power down is wearing a lovely accessory… a pink tutu!
Whaaaat?
Fantasy Fest 2018 is in full swing. It's Tutu Tuesday...read on...
Way back in 1979, four business owners sat down around a kitchen table and did what business owners do, tossed around ideas how to put a charge in the island during a big lull before the snow birds arrived, as predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano.
The idea they hatched is Fantasy Fest, a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it ten day street party. Thousands of those young at heart, young in spirit, will be parading around Duval Street by the time we arrive an hour later.
This year’s theme, “The Games People Play,” will dictate what thousands will wear …or not. Oh, and along with that there are annual events like Tu Tu Tuesday, Red Parties, Green Parties celebrated all around Duval Street. It got a head start right here at the airport and it’s been rolling since October 19, the first day of Fantasy Fest 2018.
This seed of the idea did not come out of nowhere. Maybe it was blown onto the island on a soft Caribbean breeze with the faint scent of pineapples, coconuts and lush fields of cane sugar. More likely it was inevitable, created by the residents of Key West who once declared an intention to secede from the United States (1982), celebrates its own Independence Day every April 23rd, and named itself and the keys to its north The Conch Republic.
The most endearing part of the first Independence Day (1982) The platform of the founding organization, “A Sovereign State of Mind,”as to bring more “Humor, Warmth, and Respect” to the world. That’s a living creed...I’ve felt that spirit every one of my four trips to Key West since 2009.
It’s not a reach to see the roots of Fantasy Fest, watered by love, rum, and a streak of independent and wholesomely eccentric spirit. Key West is the southernmost part of the United States. It’s not just the miles that separate it from the rest of us.
Walk around the island. Talk with people, the ones who were born here and the ones who came here and never left. They connect with the world on their own terms. Sure they have opinions and political affiliations. But their first allegiance is to the well being of their island and the others who share it with them.
They are geographically and culturally far enough away from the rest of us to be splendidly unaffected, perhaps defiantly unaffected, by life as the rest of us know it. Sure they depend on us tourists to float their economy but that doesn’t mean that they bow to our dollars. It’s more like we bow to the Conch Republic when we spend them there.
The photos and stories on the following pages give you a faint idea of what the festival is all about. There is no way that pixels can transmit the humor, warmth, respect generated on Duval Street. If you could attach a chip reader to your cerebral cortex as you view a photo you might be able to feel the utter sense of play amongst the thousands of people along Duval Street during the 10-day festival. There is a Code of Conduct. Everyone abides by it.
People you would never think in 1000 years would doff clothing and wear wildly creative costumes, mingle with each other as if they were at an annual Shriners convention. Tourists in Jimmy Buffett T-shirts and flip-flops are having a blast with their free spirited doppelgängers.
Key West is 160 road miles southwest of Miami by air. It might as well be on Mars.
Welcome to Key West...
and in case you weren't aware of the island's live and let live philosophy, there it is over the airport portal into Key West...
Playful ground crew poses; a sign in men's room, R/x for over-indulgers...in fact, I didn't see one person in need of the services during my stay.
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The theme of this years Fantasy Fest: "The Games People Play"
The games people play...I was invited to spin the arrows...you'll have to guess what the results were!
Tutus on parade; "My husband made this golden necklace for me,"says this proud Tuesday afternoon stroller on Duval Street
Duval Street is abuzz...tourists, celebrants, locals; spectators love it.
Get ready...the next stories will have scores of photos to go along with the text.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
October 19, 2018
"Let's visit the Watertown Senior Center. I helped my sister arrange the tables for their annual party and want to see how it worked out," says my neighbor Gerard.
His sister Rae is one of the managers. The party and dance is held in what was the gym of the Phillips School, the school he attended as a kid, now repurposed as part of the Senior Center.That brought some memories back for him.
The party is winding down. A fellow playing the keyboard, keeping it lively, hits a number and a dozen women begin a line dance. I can't resist. Halfway through the dance. a tug on my sleeve.
"Mr. Tamburello? You were my son's fourth grade teacher!"
I'm about to have a blast from the past moment myself. A few minutes of catching up ensues. Greg is 42, lives in Arlington with his young family, is a mechanical engineer. Su Wong and her husband still live in the Brookline neighborhood near the John Pierce School where I taught 4th grade for 34 years. Su loves to dance. They are regulars.
A retired ESL teacher in Boston, this is one of the fun parts of her retirement.
"We come here for line dancing every Tuesday!" she says.
Greg would have graduated from 4T in 1986! I love this.
October 3, 2018
The 24th Positive Spin for ALS, now named Ride To Defeat ALS, was held in Wayland, MA, on September 23, 2018. https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/09/ride-to-defeat-als-24-years-until-a-cure.html
Every year since 2001, Myke Farricker and I have made a ceremonial ride after our official fund raising rides have been completed. For the past ten years, we've driven to Truro, hopped on our bikes and made an eight mile jaunt to First Landing Park next to the breakwater at the end of Route 6A in Provincetown, MA, where we stand and honor the men and women whose lives have been changed by a diagnosis of ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. This is personal. Myke's brother Pete, and my dear friend Janet Speers were lost to ALS.
We are usually joined by Susan Lyman of Provincetown, whose husband, Doug Trumbo, was a popular member of the Provincetown EMS team and died of the disease in 1996. Susan read about my Positive Spin in the Provincetown Banner. She a and her kids Sam and Hannah met me at the Pilgrim Landing Park when I completed my "Spin" in 1998.
While on the breakwater this year, we met Moffat, the world traveling bunny rabbit, with his globe trotting owner Christy Howard and her husband Jim, who were on a tour of New England from their home in Colorado. The chance meeting was amazing for several reasons. One of Jim's mentors succumbed to ALS. What are the chances our paths would cross at the moment Myke and I rode to First Landing Park in Provincetown?
We're proud of our work to raise money for the ALS Association MA Chapter and to support men and women and their families who are coping with the disease. What...you've never heard of the Zarb Corporation? Myke will tell you about it!
I mean, how can you not start a conversation with two people carrying a well-loved stuffed rabbit?
Christy and Jim Howard celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a two week jam-packed tour of New England. Of course, Moffat was along for the ride. Moffat is the perfect intermediary for teaching history to her primary grade students. She's pretty good at it.
Christy was named 2017 State History Teacher of the year in Colorado by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She was nominated for National History Teacher of 2019, pretty rarefied territory.
Christy takes photos of Moffat, brings them back to her classroom and viola, uses photos of the peripatetic rabbit as teaching tools. Even Susan, Myke, and I got a photo opp on the jetty.
After we met on the jetty, we walked through First Landing Park.
She'll undoubtedly use the photo of Moffat on the plaque to talk about the Pilgrim's first landing and teach history, geography and maybe squeeze in some math.
One of the reasons they chose Provincetown? They're Teddy Roosevelt fans. President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the 252 foot granite Pilgrim Monument in 1907. And of course Moffat had to include that you-can-see-it-from-10-miles-at -sea tallest granite monument int the United States in his travels. (Photo by Christy Howard)
To complete the TR connection, they dined at the historic Red Inn where President Roosevelt and his wife dined on their visit.
Moffat is now part of the lore of our ride!
Sam participated in the ride in Wayland in his senior high school year in 2006. In 2007, his freshman and sophomore years in college, he joined me and Myke for three Post Spins Spins from the Outer Reach Motel in Truro to the First Landing Park. The whole family raised funds through 2009.
Sam hasn't ridden with us since moving to Baltimore but...thanks to Moffat, he's thinking about rejoining us next year!
"So this year is the 21st year of my family knowing you and sharing in your mission to ride to defeat ALS! What a ride and joy it has been!" says Susan.
Who knows, our ride and why we do it might even show up in Moffat's adventures some day.
Sunday September 23, 2018
24th Annual Fund Raiser for ALS...from Positive Spin for ALS to Ride To Defeat ALS
The Longfellow Tennis and Health Club, 524 Boston Post Road, Wayland, MA 01778
11 AM
Ashley Corbin, Special Events Manager Extraordinaire for the ALS Association MA Chapter, does the count down for the 25 mile Pete's Ride. Pete Farricker was a member of the 1982 World Champion Rude Boys Frisbee Team. Pete's joyous sense of team, community, competition and fierce but overwhelmingly fair demeanor was the embodiment of Ultimate Frisbee's Spirit of the Game. https://www.usaultimate.org/about/ultimate/spirit_of_the_game.aspx and https://www.usaultimate.org/spiritawards/#farricker
His teammates rallied around him when he was diagnosed with ALS in 1999. Pete died from the disease. His spirit did not. Their dedication lives on every year through the Spirit Rides held around the country http://www.spiritride.org/index.cfm The Spirit Ride is now also in memory of another Ultimate Frisbee legend, Kathy Pufhal. The Spirit Rides raise serious money for the ALS Association MA Chapter and for Cancer Research.
The most successful ride yet, staged from The Longfellow Tennis and Health Club in Wayland ...raised over $230,000 with 270 riders on the 25, 50, and 75 mile routes in and around the Wayland, MA area. A radio operator spent the entire day monitoring communications between water stops and SAG wagons along each route. Every rider was accounted for!
Six men and women coping with ALS were present (more than at any previous ride), two of them with huge retinues of riders and supporters...
Welchie's Team (John Welch in green cap) was a rolling green wave of support on the road and on the ground. "Some of my riders didn't know how to adjust the valve so they could pump up their tires!" John said cheerfully. Good for showing them how, John!
Riders, teams and patients relax...
and wait to cheer team members as they finish the ride...
Hot and cold food, fruit, ice cream, snacks for all, donated by local businesses. Even a cold beer at the end of a long ride!
Executive Director of MA Chapter ALS Association Lyn Aronson and Channel 5 TV personality Cindy Fitzgibbin get ready for final announcements.
Apple employee Steve gave stirring and uplifting remarks as hundreds gathered after riders had finished. "Apple not only matches donations made by employees, but right now they are doing a double match – for example, Steve made a $1000 donation to his team, and Apple sent a matching gift of $2000. In addition, they donate money per hour for any employee who volunteers at an event, and with the amount of employees that were there volunteering and riding, they are getting $1500 donated to the ride!" said Ashley Corbin, the Special Events Manager.
Steve Mooney, alumnus of the 1982 World Champion Rude Boys Ultimate Frisbee Team, MA Chapter ALS Association Executive Director Lyn Aronson with Myke Farricker, co-owner of the Longfellow Tennis & Health Club. Members of the Rude Boys team show up every year to support the event, sort of a mini reunion, and donate thousands of dollars to the ride.
PT, Myke and photo bomber Ashley Corbin
This was one of the most seamlessly coordinated rides I've ever witnessed. Individual riders, teams of riders, and people who showed up to support the ride were met by volunteers who welcomed and checked in riders, answered questions, handed out T-shirts, served food and beverages. There was an air of certainty surrounding the event. As Patriots coach Bill Belichick would say, "Everyone did their job."
I organized my solo Plymouth Rock to Provincetown "Positive Spin for ALS" from 1995 - 2004 for ONE rider, myself. I spent months preparing for it every year. I cannot imagine the time and skill it takes to pull off something like the Ride To Defeat ALS. It took me ten years to raise $300,000. Today's riders raised almost that much in eight hours!
Organizing for over 200 riders is the tip of the iceberg. Planning meetings, recruiting reliable volunteers, assigning them to jobs, printing road signs, buying supplies for water stops, printing route maps or making Apps for riders to use on the road, asking vendors to supply food and drink, hiring a DJ, enlisting a TV personality to put the ride on the media map...I could go on. Event coordinator Ashley Corbin was the coolest cucumber at Longfellow all day long. Unflappable. As a former member the Board of Directors of the MA Chapter ALS Association, I fully realize the value, in terms of fund raising, positive infectious spirit, and creative thinking, Ashley brings to bear. She's a gem of an asset to the MA Chapter ALS Association.
Events like this are bittersweet. ALS has no cure. That's why we are here...with resolve in the face of daunting odds, to control what we can, fight grief with with action, and keep moving forward. Having the event work so sure-footedly is a blessing.
Speaking of photo bombers, there's Mr. Jonathan, the fabulous DJ who skillfully read the crowd and provided songs to fit every mood of the day, behind us. And the Elite Wheels Team T shirts, sponsored by the Zarb Corporation...to be explained in a later post.
Photos mostly by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
VIDEOS http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/09/ride-to-defeat-als-24-years-until-a-cure-the-videos.html
This post may be updated within 48 hours
Friday August 26, 2016
Bald Eagle Drive, Lafayette, LA
9:00 AM
A pastor opens meeting with a prayer asking the Almighty help us to find those in need and give us energy to do today’s work. The prayers are one part Jesus and three parts encouragement, statistics that show what a difference we're making, and at least one anecdote that brings it all home.
Pastor Jacob Aranza brightens our spirits (already pretty high in my opinion); he reports that last week we did 25 houses...as of this morning we’ve done 42!...calls us heroes, says it is likely that we are the only organization that is giving direct relief to so many people right now.
PT from Boston gets a shout out...Ken Myers, one of the prime movers of the Our Savior's Church recovery effort says, "I walked in here this morning and one of my favorite teams is the Boston Red Sox because I played semi-pro baseball up there. I introduced myself to a guy with a Boston Red Sox hat, he says I’m PT from Boston. I say I used to live in Wareham, MA, what are you doing down here? He says I came down here once, fell in love with the people and when I saw what happened I had to come down and help…You hear in church about the five gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John… and you!"
"I guess you could call me St Paul now!” says I, a lovely moment which I savored.
Crew chief Rob Babineaux talks over today's work with Bryan Rhinehart
Our Savior's Church is organized...all we have to do is show up ready to work...everything we need to get the job of mucking out flooded homes. The equipment is here. We've got the spirit pitch in and make a bunch of people's lives brighter.
Rob reviews today's assignment with the crew. Really specific details are printed on our work sheets, name of owner, address, jobs to be done, equipment needed, likely obstacles to deal with, length of time estimated for the job.
This house is a bear to clean up. Looking at it from outside, you wouldn't know it had taken on several inches of water since it is quite elevated from the road and there are no streams or creeks or rivers nearby. The drainage ditches that run along Bald Eagle Drive and every house in Lafayette were overwhelmed with a surge of water that started in Denham Springs from the north and like an enormous tsunami rolled into neighboring parishes.
Stealth mold: at casual glance, house looks intact. Close inspection shows that standing water inside for a period of days meant that anything that had been soaked had to be removed.
Sheetrock and insulation, all of it; time for lunch.
Homeowner and mom; crew before we leave first house on Breton Road in Lafayette.
The garage was holding area for salvageable items: when a moisture meter detected water behind this kitchen cabinet it had to be removed, a task that took several hours.
same thing in the bathroom...
and a bedroom...
and parts of the garage...
determining the most efficient way to remove kitchen cabinets took most of the day
so the cabinets are now piled in the street
and the debris needs to be cleaned up
standard procedure: cut away sheetrock at the 4 foot seams and remove insulation if its an outer wall
Fast effective method to remove wet sheetrock...
There's satisfaction of getting the job done but still...it's such a huge stress on everyone in Lafayette and the parishes surrounding it.
Many say there were plans to mitigate such flooding. Cities and towns got the message now. One hopes that late is better than normal. Deep down, everyone wonders if this is the new normal.
Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
There wouldn’t be as much joy in the Joie de Vivre Café without the bigger-than-life paintings that give the place a special sense of identity…you can thank Darryl Demourelle for that.
Joie de Vivre Café
August 18, 2018
The first thing I think of when a guy tells me his nickname is 'Demo' is that his closet if full of blasting caps and his idea of a good time is blowing something up.
Partly correct...but certainly not dangerous.
When Darryl Demourelle talks enthusiastically about blowing things up, he’s talking about his paintings you can see clear across the Joie de Vivre Café, which is where I met him.
“There are two types of paintings I do here, ‘up close’ and ‘at a distance’,” says the artist.
He points out two paintings that have become the visual calling card of the café “They're ‘at a distance’ paintings, usually one big portrait or subject in the frame. You get the idea all the way across the room.”
He leads me over to the small bar area in an adjoining room. “For the ‘up close paintings’, you need to walk up to them to see the details and they are in smaller frames.” Right now he is busy working on three portrait commissions and a razzle-dazzle painting he wants to airbrush onto his truck. “The work is never boring!“
Demo is the Kilroy of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. His signature style is all over town - murals splashed across the sides of buildings, wild looking trucks and automobiles, T-shirts, boats, RVs, oh, and an airplane and a bridge.
His career started by accident. In the Air Force, he began to paint his boots and service T-shirts with big bold colors. Guys in his outfit admired them so he offered to sell them, “I sold my stuff so fast I never needed to change my clothes!“
Self taught, he’s been painting since he was a kid. After his stint in the Air Force, he was hired to make signs to advertise Tupperware parties they were popping up all over in the 1980s. He opened his own company. He hasn’t been lacking for business since.
Demo sort of likes the idea of being an outlier. His Facebook page proclaims him to be “the best unknown artist in Breaux Bridge”. Unknown maybe. But good, oh yes.
He started working in Lafayette but moved to Breaux Bridge which, like himself, has a personality all its own. The little outpost of about 8000 is sprinkled with a surprising share of entrepreneurs, musicians, and artists along with farmers, fishermen and Cajun and Creole families that have lived there for generations.
He will paint anything. “I’m about to airbrush my truck so it looks like it has tractor treads running along the sides.” That should make a splash around town. Anyone with a lick of sense will give him the right of way at every intersection along Rees Street.
“Everybody needs signs!” Demo did the lettering for the Jim Bowie Museum in the Vieux Village in his hometown of Opelousas, 24 miles north of Breaux Bridge.
“Younger artists come to me when they are having trouble with their work and I show them tricks that I know. I’m not going to lose any business. Sooner or later everybody comes to me.”
Spoken by a man comfortable in his own boots, even though he doesn’t paint them any more.
May as well say Coffee & Culture & Art Café
"At a distance" ...you can almost get a whiff of that huge cigar.
and one "up close" lower left
What do you do with former truck transmission cartons? Make outlandishly colorful guitars that would steal the show from a musician brave enough to compete with it.
Papier mâché fish from Demo's studio, not the Bayou Teche!
Walk out the door of the café...you won't see that bemused fellow but you will see those buildings right across the street!
Walk inside the café on a Saturday morning...you just might find Darryl Demourelle sitting under one of his fabulous paintings.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Yvette Landry and The Jukes' CD release party at The Whirlybird
August 18, 2018
Yvette Landry had a coming out party last night. The Yvette that’s been on slow boil for about eight years, creating her singing voice, her stage persona, her style, got stoked to a full rolling boil tonight. She has sung with lots of really great musicians and been part of shows with lots of other fine voices.
She’s always sung with whatever the song called for, tender Cajun ballads and frisky two steps, classic country, Americana, dyed in the wool rock ‘n roll, a touch of rockabilly, and classic swamp pop.
A couple of years ago, Yvette’s teaming up with Roddie Romero and his band to create The Jukes sparked a transformation. Roddie Romero, guitar; Eric Adcock, keyboards; Chris French, standup bass; Beau Thomas, fiddle; Derek Huston, saxophone; and Gary Usie, drums, can light up any stage with the best of them.
When they play together as The Jukes, the stage all but ignites….and they are decidedly Yvette’s band.
“This group met at 4 PM for a sound check. We've played together at different times but not on the same stage. What ever you hear tonight is going to be the first time we’ve done it together,” she says.
You could’ve fooled us. What ensued was full-bore heavenly music that traversed genres from one end of the rainbow to the other, swamp pop in one pot of gold and southwest Louisiana rock 'n roll dating from the 1950's and 60's in the other.
The sense of occasion is not lost on the band. Born and raised in Breaux Bridge, Yvette has an ardent following. Playing to this particular audience, they were damn well going to pull out all the stops. The solos from Roddie Romero, Eric Adcock, Chris French, Beau Thomas, Derek Huston, and Gary Usie, can always mesmerize with sheer talent. Tonight they dug in to deliver inventive, inspired musicianship that all but levitated the Whirlybird and at its peak sprinkled us with rapturous fairy dust.
The Jukes sang every song from their new album and a bunch of rock and country classics, including Yvette's rowdy rock 'n roll-y “Do Anything But Stay Offa My Cowboy Boots.” When Yvette and Roddie launched into Swamp Pop, Louisiana’s gift to the American songbook, the thermal capacity pegged the meter on the compact Whirlybird's dance floor.
If the seven stars of the Pleiades were to form a band, Yvette Landry would be its most luminous. Tonight, in the hothouse August atmosphere inside The Whirlybird, she sang from a deep place in her core that I’ve never heard before.
I said as much as I talked with her as she signed the cover of “Louisiana Lovin’” after the show.
“I didn’t have to play guitar that much, it gave me time to let it all come through my voice,” she says after the show. Oh, yes.
Yvette has always had a streak of Loretta Lynn in her. Tonight she unleashed her inner Wanda Jackson. She went from singin’ pretty to singin’ gritty.
Roddie and tonight’s band were the gasoline. Yvette was the match. To my ears, this was a defining career moment, a voice and a presence whose depth that quite possibly took her by surprise, a new benchmark from raw, to raucous, to lyrical, to lonesome and back again. She’s never gonna’ be the same. And that’s a good thing.
The Whirlybird...the lull before the Jukes Storm...that tiny dance floor was mighty packed with deliriously happy dancers all night long.
The Jukes on stage...oh, my… and I haven’t even begun to talk about special guest, godfather of Swamp Pop Warren Storm…stay tuned...
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
August 17, 2018
I’m ready to leave after my visiting my friend Doug, who is recovering from a hospital stay.
The sky has opened, it looks like Niagara Falls outside with occasional thunder rumbles to boot.
“I’ll make you a Cajun raincoat,” says Doug. Born and raised in the bayou, he knows a thing or two about improvising.
He pulls a 30-gallon trash bag from the cupboard. “Poke a hole in the bottom to put your head through,” says he.
“Hold still,” he says as he cuts holes in the corners. ”Put your arms through here.”
“Now for a hat,” and he rummages through the recycle bin for a plastic WalMart bag.
Trying to match my style with his sense of ingenuity, the bag I tie looks like a chef’s toque with a fashionable tilt.
“You’re ready to go for it!” says he.
I bolt through the deluge, into the car just as dry as you please. My outfit cost about 2 cents and kept me as dry as any expansive creation from REI.
Let’s hear it for Cajun ingenuity. Thank you, Doug!
Thanksgiving: Alternate Takes About What You Learned In School
November 1, 2018
The New York Times weighed in. So did Readers Digest, not everyone's cup of tea, but as far as I know, it has no driving political motivation to fake us out. Nor does the New York Times. If nothing else, these stories will give you something safe to talk about around a Thanksgiving table. Feel free to weigh in with other 'safe' topics around the table.
https://plymouth400inc.org/OurStory
Squanto: brought to England as slave; returns to Plymouth and aids survival
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html
Squanto: complicated: He was captured by the English in 1614 and later sold into slavery in Spain, He spent several years in England, where he learned English. He returned to New England 1619, only to find his entire Patuxet tribe dead from smallpox. He met the Pilgrims in March He was captured by the English in 1614 and later sold into slavery in Spain, He spent several years in England, where he learned English. He returned to New England in 1619, only to find his entire Patuxet tribe dead from smallpox. He met the Pilgrims in March 1621; no turkey, no pie. Sorry.
first day of Thanksgiving in 1621, nope, a day of Thanksgiving had been celebrated for centuries by Europeans after successful harvests; 1863 Abe Lincoln declares a Thanksgiving for Union victories; first boatloads called themselves “Saints”, were Separatists looking to establish a theocracy, which they did. The company that sponsored them was a business looking for profits;
https://www.rd.com/culture/thanksgiving-facts-that-actually-arent-true/
First arrivals called themselves “Saints”; the term “Pilgrims” not applied generally until 20th century; third week in November? nope; likely late September/ mid October after harvest brought in; turkey? nope; the big dish was venison, something new to the newcomers; no buckles, tall hats, black clothing; Now, Thanksgiving is considered a National Day of Mourning for Native Americans since the event marks the negative influence of white settlers on their culture and livelihood; Franklin D.Roosevelt declared Thanksgiving to be a federal holiday.
https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving
All things Thanksgiving
Caveat emptor: There's the usual bunch of click-bait under each story...restrain yourself and steer clear!
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 01, 2018 in Commentaries | Permalink