Who will be visitor # 1000?

Inching towards The Blapp Report's one thousanth site visit...

Things that make us happy...

1. Finding a Dairy Queen closer to home. The oh-so-lively Hadley Mall features a Dairy Queen and a roller-skating rink, so if Jay and I were in middle school we'd have the makings of a perfect date.

2. Free parking in Northampton (courtesy of the Northampton Business Association), making our Christmas shopping a little less expensive.

3. Bailey's Irish Cream, which I get to enjoy when I am done with my papers and finals (to do so before that time would probably make for funnier papers, but poorer grades)

Oh, and we're excited to come back to Minnesota in five days, too...Family, friends, and Leinie's Honey Weiss!

--hbc

The Hold Steady @ Pearl Street, Northampton MA 12-15-06

Heidi and I went to see The Hold Steady on Friday night at The Pearl Street, a small club here in Northampton. A really great show – both band and crowd were in good moods, lots of joking and banter. It’s not often that you see bands looking like they’re having a good time on stage, but these guys clearly were.

HS’s massive AC/DC-meets-Thin Lizzy riffs and Craig Finn’s manic narrative bark are tailor-made for a venue like this, and most of the crowd raised their beers and sang/shouted along at all of the appropriate ‘whoa-oh’ points. They ran through all of the tunes from the new album, plus a few favorites like “The Swish” and “My Little Hoodrat Friend” from earlier records.

Openers Catfish Haven were pretty cool too, despite that horrible name – acoustic/electric soul/punk, and they had one guy whose primary role was to bang the heck out his cowbell.

Show ended with Catfish joining HS onstage, and eventually lots of people from the crowd packed onstage too and surrounded the bands while Finn climbed up on the drum riser and led everyone like a big choir.

Pretty dang cool.

- JBC


P.S. As far as I know, Heidi was not involved in Friday's riot at UMass.

Puttin' on the foil.

Was great to see some live hockey. UMass pulled out an ugly, scrappy 2-1 victory over Boston College on Friday night -- the Minutemen were outshot, outmuscled, and didn't seem to understand what it meant to be on a power play, but they've got speed, and goalie Jon Quick stopped 39 shots en route to the victory. (BC promptly trounced UMass in the Saturday game, 5-2.)

Most of the sports excitement around Amherst this week is for the university’s football team, now on its way to the NCAA Division 1-AA national championship game after defeating Montana 19-17 in Missoula in the semifinal game. UMass plays defending national champs Appalachian State in the final on Friday night (ESPN2).

- JBC

"He was in the crease!"

It’s Friday, and the Blapps shall be experiencing the in-person wonder of Hockey East action as #16 UMass hosts #6 Boston College. It’s Mullet Night at the game.

I think the #16 ranking means that the Minutemen are only about 6% as good as the #1 ranked Gophers.

Still -- it is Mullet Night!

- JBC

Get your grub on!

One of our favorite finds is The People's Pint in Greenfield. The Pint is a microbrew with fabulous food and a great atmosphere. Live music, dark woodwork, a friendly host who never seems to take a day off--we love this place! Paired with: Jeff, Andi, and Dylan (we forgot to mention that they're kid-friendly!)

Signs that Christmas is coming...

The man who stands outside Whole Foods wearing a cape and playing a bucket added a Santa hat to his attire.

Turkey Day weekend in Massachusetts

We celebrated our first major holiday here in the commonwealth. We missed our traditional family gatherings but made the most of the four day weekend. On Thanksgiving Day we ate dinner at the Blue Heron restaurant. We ate there on our anniversary, so we knew it was good, but the four-course turkey dinner was amazing! Grandma Bauer and T.L. Bear make better turkey, though.

On Saturday we set out to explore New York City. We drove to New Haven, CT and took the train into Grand Central Station.

Jay can barely contain his excitement on the train.





Grand Central Station is a great welcome to New York City. The classical architecture is amazing, but the huge crowds are a little overwhelming. Jay compared it to the most crowded day at the Minnesota State Fair, minus the cheese curds and pronto pups!



Times Square hypnotized us with the flashing lights. For some reason we left feeling like we should buy something...I'm sure it had nothing to do with the dense concentration of ads we saw.
















We gave in to the pull of the street vendors and got hot dogs but resisted the temptation to buy "real" Prada handbags, although there was a lovely blue leather one that would look stunning with Jay's eyes...

Even though it hasn't been officially "lit" the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is impressive! We were surprised at how small the skating rink was, however.

We walked through the Theatre District right in the middle of the Saturday matinee rush. If you look closely at the people in the bottom of the picture you'll notice a man being arrested, which on its own isn't very entertaining, but it happened in front of the families in line for "The Lion King". Jay was particularly impressed with this scene.



Hanging out in Central Park enjoying the beautiful weather. We didn't see any celebrities during our visit (we tried, Sarah!) but Jay swears he saw a guy who looked exactly like Brian Lien in the Park. Hmmmm......

After Central Park we went to the American Museum of Natural History, where we came across this statue from the Olmec culture in Mesoamerica. Heidi was especially excited to find it since she had talked about them in a lecture she gave on the Olmec just last week. Jay was not expecially excited to find it, even though he sat through Heidi's practice lecture. He lost even more points when he laughed at the fact that the evolution wing of the museum was closed for renovation.











Before we left the museum Jay got a call on his cell phone from his grandma. When he told her where we were, her response was "Oh, for heaven's sake!"

Our final stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only had a little time to spend there so we went straight to the European wing. The Impressionist art is amazing! After the museum we walked down Park avenue to Grand Central Station to catch the train home.

-hbc

Today is Julia Child Day; Dylan in concert

Today, Thursday, Nov. 16, Smith College celebrates Julia Child '34 and her contributions to the college community. Her recipes are featured at the Campus Center Café and Smith College Club for lunch as well as in the Smith dining rooms and the café for dinner. “What I learned in the Kitchen,” a panel with Smith faculty discussing the pleasure treasures of a life well-lived and loved, will take place in the Campus Center at 4:15 p.m. and will be followed by a gala reception.

-------------------------

Last night’s concert deserves a ‘pretty good’, but not a ‘great’, in the humble opinion of this Blapp.

Openers The Raconteurs = indie songwriter stud Brendan Benson + the rhythm section of Cincinnati’s The Greenhornes + some manic fidgety guy named Jack White who plays a pretty mean guitar and sings a bit too. The flashes of Led Zep worship shown on Broken Boy Soldiers were in full effect live, and several songs were extended by bluesy psychedelic Page-esque noodlings that probably would have been much cooler in a small club setting.

White blew his voice out mid-way through the set, but gamely kept reaching for those high notes anyways. Ouch. Rhythm section was very solid, but clearly relegated to second-fiddle status backing up the Benson & White show. A noisy version of “Steady As She Goes” was the closer and highlight of the set, which ended promptly at 8:30 PM.

Dylan? Well, Dylan’s songs speak for themselves, but on this night he was definitely not a showman or a performer. He played the keyboard and the occasional harmonica line, facing his band, shoulder to the audience - his only verbal acknowledgement of the crowd was the mumbled afterthought of, “Thank you, friends” as he left the stage.

Interesting demographic mix in the audience, with an about-even mix of boomers, gen Xers and college-age troopers.

An excitable young fellow sitting near us apparently felt that giving the “devil horns” sign for each song was an appropriate tribute, and his friend’s yelled proclamation to anyone and everyone of, “He’d better f&*#ing play ‘Like a Rolling Stone’!” midway through Dylan's set was . . . um . . . charming.

Mr. Zimmerman and his band performed songs drawn almost entirely from the new record Modern Times, with the notable exceptions of “Highway 61 Revisited” and a driving version of “Like a Rolling Stone” as the crowd-pleasing finale. Dylan's voice was a bit ragged and scratchy; of course Dylan’s backing band was fantastic, propelling each song with precision and finesse.

DQ!

An important update / correction to information posted previously in The Blapp Report:

New England DOES have Dairy Queens after all
I found one, in Springfield’s Holyoke Mall
My Blizzard purchase: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough,
I consumed it swiftly, I’ll have you know,
Blizzards taste great any season - winter, spring, summer or fall.

So...

We’re seeing some guy named Bob Dylan tonight – he’s in concert at UMass, with The Raconteurs opening. Looking forward to the show.

- Jay

Voting is neato, eh?

The election is over, which is fantastic because it means that my TV viewing will again be dominated by irritating product commercials rather than irritating campaign commercials. Bravo to the Dems for their successes this week – or, more appropriately, bravo to the voters for their success, right? (My political leanings are a lot like my preferences in dress shirts – blue, light blue, blue with stripes, and a little bit of green – so I’m pretty pleased about Tuesday’s results.)

MSNBC recently reported that over $160 million was spent solely on campaign advertising – the vast majority towards negative ads. Imagine the collective good that amount of money could have done if it was distributed to some school districts, health clinics, and business development organizations rather than to cruddy TV commercials...

Here in Massachusetts, Deval Patrick (D) won the race for governor by 20+ percent margin over the Republican challenger. He is a former civil rights lawyer who worked in the Clinton administration. He also had a high-power exec job with Coca-Cola for awhile, which briefly raised the ire of some uber-lefties a few months back, but they quickly got over it. He comes across as thoughtful, humble, and charismatic – a leader who doesn’t seem like he’ll result to “just folks” style pandering. Good stuff.

I will admit to being confused by Patrick’s campaign slogan, “Together We Can”. No announcement has been made about what it was that we are canning… Pickles? Tomatoes? Perhaps he’ll tell us when he formally takes office.

In other news, I saw Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth with her daughter while we were wandering around Northampton last week. This was cool as heck.

Which reminds me: Derailleur scored a gig at the Guthrie this Friday night. You should go.

Be good; be good at it.

- jbc

Visitors!

It has been a busy few weeks here in the wilds of western MA, so a little catching up is in order:

We recently hosted our first official visitors, starting off with the esteemed Mr. Adam Soderlind two weeks ago. Hiking, pool, pizza, and pandas were featured elements of the visit. We had a great time, and I shall be scouting out local off-road cycling trails in anticipation of his next visit.

Hiking up Mt. Holyoke.

Next, Heidi’s parents, sister Holly, and brother Troy flew into town, as Holly was visiting several colleges out here. During their time here we spent a day in Historic Deerfield (it was Archaeology Day!), trekked to the top of Mt. Holyoke, and, for old times’ sake, I defeated Troy at NHL hockey on my trusty old Playstation.

Putting Troy to work: loading up for a run to the garbage dump.

Another trip up Mt. Holyoke -- great views of the Pioneer Valley.

In Historic Deerfield: Holly expresses surprise when she realizes she doesn't already know everything, while Troy plots how to stump Jay with his next batch of Green Bay Packers trivia questions.

Randy with camera on Mt. Sugarloaf.

We really enjoyed seeing people and being able to show everyone around the area of our adopted home.

A final update: I’ve now begun my new job at Smith College in nearby Northampton, MA. I am working as a counselor for the college’s Career Development Office. Am really enjoying the work, and this position is closely related to my original professional goals when I decided to pursue graduate school. I miss my colleagues at Capella and will definitely miss the work and work environment of that institution, but am also very excited about this next step in my career.

- jbc

More fun in the local news...

From last Friday's Greenfield Reporter:

Shelburne woman seeks aid with stray cat tormenting her

SHELBURNE — Mechanic Street resident P. Goodwin complained to the selectmen this week that a stray cat has been tormenting her for three years.

She presented selectmen with a petition, signed by four neighbors, who would like to see the cat removed. Selectmen indicated that cats are not within the animal control officer’s jurisdiction, but said that Goodwin could have a warrant article at town meeting to have cats registered.

Goodwin said that the cat has prevented her from sleeping because of its yowling. It also is frequently in fights with other neighborhood cats, and once intruded into her home, she said.

Goodwin indicated that Selectman Joseph Judd has tried to capture the cat with a Havahart trap but has not succeeded. The trap has only been successful in capturing a skunk, she said.

Goodwin said Friday she was unsatisfied with the selectmen’s response and plans to seek a gun permit so she can “defend” her house against the cat, which she said has entered her house through a cat window as recently as Thursday night.

--hbc

Fun with linguistics...

Since I still don't understand most of what I am reading, Jay and I decided I might as well have some fun with linguistics. The terms lend themselves quite nicely to insulting-sounding phrases. Our favorite so far: "Take your fricative dipthong and go aspirate yourself!" I don't think this counts as extra credit for the course, however...

-hbc

Turf Wars

Greenfield is a town just north of Deerfield; it's a bit bigger in population, more retail and restaurant options, and a bit more "stuff" going on -- Greenfield is the Brainerd to Deerfield's Baxter. The following item was reported in the Greenfield police log for October 2:

"5:05 p.m. -- Group of youths in front of Fiske Avenue location swearing and yelling at residents and refusing to leave, officers sent, spoke with involved parties having a turf war, one subject believes she owns the street, peace restored."

- jbc

A trip to Yankee Candle Company--Yippee!

The flagship store of Yankee Candle Company is right down the street in South Deerfield, and today we felt as if we had resisted its pull long enough. We ventured in to see what brings hundreds of cars and tour buses full of people each day.
Jay is amazed by the parking lot--this only shows about 1/5 of the cars.


Jay is having second thoughts once he gets a whiff of the place...



But once we get inside, Jay gets carried away in the scent sampling room. He carefully followed the instructions on how to properly sniff a candle, then made his way through the seemingly endless rows of shelves in order to choose his favorites.


Once he had selected his favorite scents (sadly, "pizza" and "chocolate chip cookie" are not among the options) he proceeded to the votive candle smorgasbord. This gigantic room is set up like the produce section in a grocery store with bins of votive candles organized by scent. You walk around with an egg carton-like container so you can mix and match your custom selection. Eighteen candles for only $19.99!

As exciting as the candle selection was the highlight for Jay was an encounter with the King Candle. Disappointment set in when he realized it was not for sale...

The visit proved to be a bit too stimulating for Jay, and he was grateful when we finally left so he could give his nose a break.

Jay perked up when we got home and he opened his custom mix of the best votives Yankee Candle Company has to offer! It may take a little while to get the scent off his clothes, though...

-hbc

Postseason!

Cover story in this week's Pulse...

For Twin Cities folk:

Track down a copy of the Sept. 20-26 edition of Pulse! The very cool cover story "Crossing the Great Divide: A bike trek through Bush country" was written by Heidi's aunt Anne. (That's Heidi's sister Holly pictured on the cover.)

If you can't find a hard copy, you can view the article here.

Along the trail: Holyoke Range

The Holyoke Range runs west-east just south of Amherst (one of the only mountain ranges in North America that is not aligned N-S) -- tons of hiking trails, great views of the Pioneer Valley. Last weekend we got out for a short hike to the top of one of the "peaks", called Bare Mountain.

On the trail.
Overlook, facing east, about two-thirds of the way up.
Looking north from top of Bare Mountain.
View south from top of Bare Mountain. If you click on this picture to enlarge the view, look closely near the left side of the picture -- you can see the modest skyline of Springfield, MA, roughly 25 miles away. We could also see Westover Air Force Base, home to the massive C-5B Galaxy transport planes that can often be seen lumbering over the valley.)

Belated pictures: Heidi's first day at school!

A tasty, nutritious, inspiring lunch...

nice new backpack and the good ol' Nalgene bottle...

and out the door she went...