weekend........

my name's Marla..wheee!

Lisa -back o'the Fireside

Hah-vahd

nice, laid-back weekend...pleasant weather...70 on Saturday!...culminating in a nice trip to Foley's Fireside...Just one of the Foley Family bars...Their Berkeley Street locale is the oldest continually run Irish pub in Boston & Foley's Fireside is their dive-bar 'tavern' on the Roslindale/JP line, long a haunt of drunks, punks, vets & messengers...horrible service, bad taps, but the right attitude!...

just kicking around town...

...victory...

so...it's been a year since me & the wife have graced Razzy's. Mike has been the trivia king there as well as Charlie's, the Courtside & beyond...& damn it, we won! Against stiff competition too. The teams with their own t-shirts & all...A couple free pitchers for us next time! If any of you remember, Razzy's used to be Jon's Place, a great old-time Somerville dive bar full of Korean War vets & the like. Razzy's is the new incarnation. The difference? It's still nearly exactly the same with the exception of trivia night (oh, and some better beers---they actually have Rapscallion on tap, very nice). And, they still have a full fried menu, so beware!!!

Fall....

just a lovely Fall weekend in town this weekend. Although I've been contending with the 'flu all week, it was great to head out on errands this weekend. We stayed in to watch the Sox come back to tie the series with the Devil Rays, who unfortunately got their Tamp-on and beat us on Sunday...very sad day indeed. Sunday before the game was great, though. Skye & I tramped about town including a diversion to Ricky's in Union Square. Ricky's is a former gas station on the very busy intersection of Somerville Ave, Prospect Street & Washington Street. Dead smack in the middle of the square's chaos of traffic, it provides an escape and in its small area, convinces you if but for a moment, that you are distant from diesel-bleching buses, the Haitian Nation running red lights & every other sort of urban transport morass. Ricky's offers seasonal plants, flowers, trees, garden supplies, Christmas trees and most timely for us, pumpkins! All of their flora is from local New England farms and is noted as the most varied & best quality of such in the urban area. It is truly garden of tranquility ...

more Fall shenanigans...

well, Friday's Snap! Night found the wonderful company of the engagement celebration of Tom P. & Mirriam (not pictured unfortunately). There was dancing, drunkeness & people walking into signposts...what a night!

the weekend.pt.2

Ach! Oktoberfest! Although the city-fair/festival scene in Cambridge has become somewhat monotonously the same, regardless of its purported theme, Oktoberfest this year seems to have harkened back to its roots. Namely, beer. Oktoberfest, a seasonal beers (technically, only Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr are 'official' Oktoberfest beers) are pale lagers that have fermented sinch March (hence Marzen name) that were initially offered up to celebrate Bavarian King Ludwig I's marriage to Princess Therese in 1810. Well, our Oktoberfests here in the US are usually celebrations of German heritage, although the Mayan flute troupes, Italian sausage, Jamaican jerk sauce, Korean pot-stickers & Indian samosas might distract you from the weisswurst & sauerbraten here in Harvard Square. Music stages & street performers took up any space that wasn't some kind of food or craft table and the Square was devoid of any vehicles, although crowded completely with festival goers. There was even a showing of the world's longest couch on Church Street. The primary focus, however, was the beer-gardens erected throughout the Square by Samuel Adams, Harpoon, Z-Square, Charlie's Kitchen and others. Skye & I met up with Michaela & Jason & proceeded to get our Teut-On!

I was particularly gladdened by the fact that beer garden staff were likewise exuding true Oktoberfest spirit, by drinking away and expessing their own Gemutlichkeit! After the gardens, we naturally stumbled down to Shay's for a few, awaiting word about trivia at Charlie's later. And to Charlie's we went...joined by Will, Ellen, Haik, Pete & Beth and of course, Mike & Dawn.

And we won!

the weekend.pt.1

well, Friday night I dj'ed, as always...some regulars, but the place was PACKED! Many, many requests, particularly for 60's mod-rock stuff, like the Kinks. I wasn't certain whether Mully was going to join in (he didn't) & so I added some POW!-oriented mod stuff as well as the normal soul Snap! stuff. Saturday was a warm, bright Fall day that led us into a beautiful night showcasing the 10 year anniversary of the Konks at the Abbey. We missed the always great Tampoffs, but caught the 5 Dollar Priests (kinda James Chance & the Contortions meets the Fall), Imaginary Icons & the Konks. Many PBRs later, we bum-rushed the Druid for last call, before creeping home for a couple more with Mully...