Storytelling: Where Have You Gone, Rosie The Riveter?

“People really haven’t been riveting for quite a while,” said Mary Grieco, metals control engineer for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. “It’s a learning curve for everybody. There are no specifications anymore that tell you how to rivet, so we make the best engineering judgment on how to do it.”

 

 

On the heels of the excellent Marketplace story discussing the decline of – and the attempt to, er, “kick start” – American Industrial Design, comes a fascinating story in today’s local rag explaining just why it’s going to take so long to refurbish the iconic Longfellow Bridge spanning the Charles River between Cambridge and Boston.   Turns out it’s all about rivets and rocks … or to be more precise, the elusive, prized Rockport Granite – “The Granite of Character.”  Worth a read!

Description of Rockport Granite, taken from Sweet’s Catalogue of Building Construction, 1915

It Was 90 Years Ago Today…

…..the world heard the premiere of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”  I had the pleasure of sitting in an audience to hear the remarkable Gilmore Keyboard artist (and Berklee alum) Kirill Gerstein play the original 1924 version for jazz band with an all-star casts of Berklee students, alums, and faculty.   Yes, that’s the amazing Israeli artist Anat Cohen playing the opening clarinet lick…

Quote of the day from Gershwin: “True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time.   My people are Americans and my time is today.”

Happy New Year!

Soprano Courtney Huffman and baritone Andrew Garland in Bach’s wonderful “Coffee Cantata.”

A grand time had by all with Boston Baroque and conductor Martin Pearlman, ushering in 2014 with a live all-Bach concert at Sanders Theatre we’re sharing live with the nation via PRI.  Hard to believe that it’s my last radio production for the foreseeable future, so had to snap some “stage-side” shows to mark the occasion.    The audio for the entire program may be found here, thanks to the wizardry of online producer (and broadcast co-host) Brian McCreath, engineer Antonio Oliart Ros, and producer Alan McLellan.  Thanks, friends….let’s hope this great tradition continues!

Violinist Christina Day Martinson and recorder players Christopher Krueger and Aldo Abreu are the soloists in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with Martin Pearlman leading Boston Baroque

 

Post-Brandenburg bows for conductor and soloists …

WCRB’s Cathy Fuller chats live with Martin Pearlman

Eric Whitacre Singers in Boston: “Little Man in a Hurry”

A new sound from Eric Whitacre and his singers. Check it out – on stage at Symphony Hall in Boston!

Bach Around the Clock – with Archguitars

Archguitarists (what’s that?) Peter Blanchette and Elliott Gibbons bring down the house at our first-ever “Bach Around the Clock” event at First Lutheran Church in Boston.  You can see the complete line-up and listen to the entire webcast here.   Thanks to the amazing organist Balint Karosi of First Lutheran and the ever-energetic Joyce Painter Rice of the American Guild of Organists for making it happen!

Landed.

Boston-Bound

Heading back to Red Sox country after a quarter century!