Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks a Hit in Harvard Square

22Nov09

Performance on Friday, November 21, 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
The line was already forming outside the First Parish Church as I cruised by at 7:15 p.m. in what I knew would be a vain attempt to find a parking space. I parked in a garage at the other end of Harvard Square and walked back. The line was still down the sidewalk, but the doors were open and Dan Hicks fans were filing into the church sanctuary.

I got in line and the 50-something woman in front of me turned and said, “Are you here to see Dan?”

“No, I’m just getting a good seat for Sunday’s service,” I wanted to say, thinking that was the kind of response that Dan would appreciate. Instead, I politely nodded yes when she asked if I’d ever seen Dan before.

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Tags: Boston, Cambridge, Cambridge MA, Cambridge Massachusetts, concert, Dan Hicks, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, Daria, Dave Bell, First Parish Church Harvard Square, Harvard Square, music, Paul Smith, Richard Chon, Roberta

Honoring Those Who Served

14Nov09

Veterans Day 2009 in Wakefield, Massachusetts

As featured speaker at yesterday’s Veterans’ Day exercises, US Army veteran Sam Stella delivered his remarks in an auditorium lined with the photographs of Wakefield soldiers who died in battles fought in distant places long ago. He focused his comments on the roles that United States servicemen and women played in World War I and World War II.

“They did what they were supposed to do,” Stella said of the veterans of both World Wars, “and that’s the reason why we’ve been able to continue in this country. When people get together and do things in unison, the job gets done.”

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Tags: Wakefield, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield MA, veterans, John Carney, Albert Turco, John Encarnacao, Veterans' Day, soldiers, Wakefield Choral Society, Galvin Middle School, American Legion, Wakefield Mass, Katherine Clark, Betsy Sheeran, World War II, soldier, Paul DiNocco, veteran, US Army, World War II Memorial, Patrick Glynn, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Air Force, Sam Stella, Gen. John Rogers Galvin, James Good, monument

Veterans Deserve Big Turnout on Nov. 11

05Nov09

Next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Wakefield, Massachusetts observes Veterans Day with ceremonies beginning at 11 a.m. in the Galvin Middle School Auditorium.

While Memorial Day each spring focuses on honoring deceased veterans, Veterans Day is intended to honor and thank all US military personnel who served in all wars, particularly living veterans and those currently serving in the armed services. As such, it is fitting that Wakefield’s Veterans Day observance each year is held in the school named for Wakefield native John Rogers Galvin. General Galvin’s 44-year military career included two tours of duty in Vietnam, and he ended up as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander in Chief, United States European Command from 1987 to 1992.

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Tags: Air Force, American Legion, Army, Daily Item, Gen. John Galvin, General John Rogers Galvin, Marines, military, Navy, US Air Force, US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy, veterans, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Wakefield Massachusetts

‘The Sparrow’ Soars at Stoneham Theatre

29Oct09

Play about a teenage girl with supernatural powers

From the very start, you know that there’s something different about The Sparrow, and that goes for both the play currently on stage at Stoneham Theatre and the title character.

The Sparrow is an inventive and original play that combines a comic book aesthetic and a cinematic style – achieving a result that is artistic yet accessible and approachable. The play was conceived by Nathan Allen, who directed the original production at the House Theatre in Chicago. Allen also directs the Stoneham production.

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Tags: Alycia Sacco, Ceit Zweil, Chris Mathews, Collette Pollard, Daily Item, Dillan Arrick, Elizabeth Erwin, Ilyse Robbins, Jamie Slatt, Joanna E. Murphy, Jonathan Popp, Josiah George, Kevin O'Donnell, Lucas Merino, Mark Lanks, Michael Griggs, Michael Ryan Buckley, Nathan Allen, Nicholas Cacciola, play, Russell Garrett, Samantha Cunha, Sparrow, stage, stage theater, Stephen LaMonica, Steve Gagliastro, Stoneham, Stoneham MA, Stoneham Massachusetts, Stoneham Theater, Stoneham Theatre, superhero, theatre, threater, Tommy Rapley, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item

Baseball’s October Bandwagon

09Oct09

It’s October and the Red Sox are once again in the post-season, so dust off that pink hat and try to remember where TBS is on your cable system. Because even if you have no idea what ALDS stands for, you’ll be watching anyway, rooting for the home team and hoping “we” go all the way this year.

Welcome back, casual fans. This is your time of year.

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Tags: baseball, Boston, fair weather fans, fans, Fenway Park, pink hats, playoffs, postseason, Red Sox, sports

Jack on Spring Street

08Oct09

My artist brother, Bob Sardella, painted this scene showing our chlidhood home on Spring Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts. In the foreground is Jack, the great dog we had for 15 years back in the days before leash laws, when dogs roamed free.

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Tags: Art, artist, Bob Sardella, dog, dogs, Family, Jack, painting, Sardella, Sardella Sign & Display, Sardella Signs, Spring St., Spring Street, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts

Hoag’s Castle Burned 35 Years Ago

25Sep09

Unique landmark in Wakefield, Massachusetts

I never got to see the castle before it burned down 35 years ago next month. But as a kid attending the Greenwood School, I certainly heard about it.

“Have you seen the castle?” was a frequent schoolyard inquiry. In that typical childhood way, the goal of the questioner was, as much as anything, to prove that he knew something before you did – as if being the first to know about the castle was second only to having built it.

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Tags: Acorn Ave., castle, Castle Clare, castle Wakefield, Clarence Hoag, Greenwood, Greenwood Castle, Greenwood MA, Greenwood Massachusetts, Greenwood School, Montclare Estates, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts

Selectmen Paddle School Committee

18Sep09

Canoe race raises $660 for World War II Memorial in Wakefield, MA

It was billed as the “War on the Water,” a contest where youth would challenge age in a canoe race on Lake Quannapowitt, with the more “seasoned” Wakefield Board of Selectmen taking on the relatively youthful School Committee members.

In the end, age triumphed over youth; experience prevailed over innocence, as the aging selectmen’s team handily defeated their fresh-faced school board rivals by several canoe lengths.

But the real winner yesterday was the World War II Memorial fund, as the event raised nearly $700 in donations toward the effort to build a new monument honoring the town’s veterans of the Second World War.

The much-hyped regatta had been the subject of a good deal of competitive “smack talk” in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s showdown, led primarily by the School Committee’s 23 year-old chairman, Anthony Guardia.

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Tags: Anthony Guardia, Betsy Sheeran, boat, boats, canoe, canoe race, canoes, Chris Callanan, Daily Item, John Carney, Kevin Piskadlo, Lake Quannapowitt, Lisa Butler, Pat Glynn, Patrick Glynn, Paul DiNocco, Phyllis Hull, Quannapowitt, school board, selectmen, Stephen Maio, Steve Maio, Wakefield, Wakefield Board of Selectmen, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield School Committee, World War II, World War II Memorial, World War II Monument

Have We Forgotten 9/11?

11Sep09

In a column earlier this year, I apparently offended a few people when I offered the following observation. “For too many Americans the emotional memory of the horror and outrage of 9/11 has faded.” On the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2001, it seems an appropriate time to address the matter of how we remember 9/11.

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Tags: 9/11, American Airlines, New York City, September 11, terrorism, terrorist, terrorists, United 93, World Trade Center

Russell Nelson, Teacher

05Sep09

93 year-old WWII vet taught in Wakefield, Massachusetts for 30 years

The school calendar is so engrained in most of us that the arrival of September each year invariably evokes memories our own school days. It may only be a passing memory of a classroom, a classmate or a favorite teacher.

I took things a step further this year and decided to look up my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Russell Nelson.

Mr. Nelson was born in 1916. He is a veteran of World War II and he taught in Wakefield (MA) public schools for over 30 years. He’s 93 years old, and I quickly realized that I was in the presence of the same sharp wit and playful sense of humor that I remembered from his classroom at Wakefield Junior High School in 1964.

“I was a pupil of yours?” he teased on the phone after I identified myself as a former student. He said he’d be happy to talk to me and invited me to come right over.

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Tags: Army, classroom, Ernie Pyle, Essex MA, Essex Mass, Essex Massachusetts, Ie Shima, Junior High, Junior High School, Leyte, Lincoln School, middle school, pupil, pupils, Russell H. Nelson, Russell Nelson, school, schools, student, students, tank, tanks, teacher, teachers, United States Army, US Army, veteran, veterans, Wakefield, Wakefield Auto School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield Schools, war, wars, World War II