In his appearance last week on Radio Boston, Dan Grabauskas didn't discuss the issue of violence on the T. No one else asked him about it, either. But he has a lot to do now that a 15-year-old named Tiara Amarante documented the perils of riding the 23 bus. People riding the 23 are living in fear of thugs who pack heat, fight and intimidate riders on a daily basis. Amarante is a freshman at......

Radio Boston had MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas on the air on Friday, and he took questions from callers about the T. He likely realized that he was about to put his feet to the fire, as Radio Boston began the show with a few quotations, such as "I hate the people on the T, I hate the service, I hate everything about the T." When Grabauskas had his turn at the mike, he repainted......

--The Massachusetts House voted overwhelmingly in favor of preliminary approval to pour $1 billion into life sciences investment over 10 years. [WBZ Radio] --Of course Manny Ramirez would forget about $10,000 that the state of Massachusetts owes him. And if you think the state owes you some money, too, go to findmassmoney.com. [Boston Herald] --Is it just us, or is Bridget Moynahan looking better and classier than ever? Or is it just extended Super......

Ever "Written to the Top" to complain to the MBTA that a bus or train you expected never arrived? And maybe, just maybe, they wrote back in apology? It's likely they did it on purpose, according to a Herald article: Top MBTA officials acknowledge that for years the agency has been secretly cutting thousands of bus and train trips from published schedules to lower costs - a practice that has left legions of customers waiting......

With over 20 million accounts, Second Life has become a pop culture phenomenon. An Internet-based virtual world, the metaverse in which we can be the person we've always wanted to be (without putting in the hard-work of exercise or educational training) have very few competitors. Currently, there is an exhibition going on in Boston called Mixed Realities - an exploration of real and synthetic places made possible by computers and networks. There's an exhibition......

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

--Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House and radio host Tom Finneran cries. Conveniently, a camera is there. [Boston Herald] --Equally conveniently, the Herald finds someone to analyze the supposedly hot new trend of men crying. How come we never get asked to discuss this stuff? They ask if guys can cry, too. Uh, they have tear ducts, right? [Boston Herald] --Another winter day, another snow collapse, this time for a gas station canopy in Worcester.......

This won't work all the time. There are going to be nights when lollygagging it in the first half, then turning it on in the second, won't be enough. Last night was not one of those nights. The Celtics came out in the first half sluggish, especially on defense. "Their biorhythms are off," said radio announcer Sean Grande, and it sure looked like he was right. The Sixers, struggling all season and trying to welcome......

Last night WFNX radio put on their "Miracle on Tremont Street" Holiday concert at the Orpheum. The show featured recent alt-rock favorites Spoon, The Cold War Kids, Against Me!, and Mute Math. By the time Bostonist got there to check out the headliner Spoon, the crowd seemed to have thinned considerably. We're going to assume that the Tuesday night date and bitter cold helped to keep attendance lower than would be expected. The Orpheum's......

It seems wrong, somehow, to be focusing on the Red Sox in December. But given the fact that all of the other Boston-area pro sports teams - the ones now playing and, you know, winning - found themselves with a day off, Boston sports fans were drawn to the glowing-red hot stove action unfolding within the Red Sox organization. All day on Tuesday, the word was that it was close, this business between the Sox......

Bostonist just left the 2007 Boston Music Awards, and while we'll have ruminations on the awards ceremony for your Sunday reading pleasure, you can find below the crop of winners from the 20th anniversary ceremony, presented here in chronological order: Outstanding Funk/Jam Band of the Year: Westbound Train Outstanding Blues/Soul Act of the Year: Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves Outstanding DJ/Dance Act of the Year: DJ BC Outstanding Rock Band of the Year:......

Tim Blane Gregory Douglass Paradise Lounge Tonight, 9 p.m. doors, 18+, $10 MySpace Boston singer-songwriter Tim Blane isn't just the kind of musician who goes out of his way to talk about his music, he's the kind who will take a phone call when he's enjoying a day off in Florida - on his birthday. He won't mention this to a caller until the interview is already underway and laughs when the secret is revealed.......

A man has taken took people at the headquarters for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign hostage in Rochester, New Hampshire, and he wants wanted to speak to Hillary Clinton. [WBZ, MSNBC] Clinton is was not in New Hampshire. Here is the latest from the thread, with earlier information after the jump: 6:15 pm: IT IS OVER. A young man just ran out of the campaign office. The man who took the hostages followed him. He pulled......

BARONESS Friday, November 30th Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA w/ Witchcraft, Radio Moscow 18+ / $10 ADV / $12 DOS MySpace: Baroness The debut EP First by Savannah's Baroness was a bit of al ife-changer. More of a life-reinvigorator. Produced by Phillip Cope of Kylesa, the three tracks harnessed much that had been missing from the blend of technical metal with a heavy dose of stoner meticulousity. To call the Southeast band "metal" is......

We're not the biggest Japanese-movie-monster buffs in the world, but we honestly can't remember an entry in the series when the monster got to go home early because Tokyo didn't even make a token effort to defend itself. But Ghidorah was sent to the bench early last night; the "Big Three" were no longer needed amid the Celtics' utter annihilation of the listless Knicks last night. It was a 23-point lead at halftime, and when......

The next time the MBTA shuts down due to a trash fire, riders might get some advance warning of a problem through the brand-spanking-new MBTA alert text messaging service. The Metro is reporting that a pilot program will start this week. After the widely rejected "innovation" of T Radio, it seems that the MBTA brass has gotten the message and is rolling out something that is useful for its customers. Alerts will be sent out......

A fun shot today from new contributor charlieontheradio. He grabbed this shot while on one of Boston's ubiquitous duck boats, and we love the tight framing, bold lighting and cool effect from the glare of the sun. Another cool thing about charlieontheradio? He really IS on the radio - check him out mornings on WFNX......

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady visited his child with his ex-girlfriend, Bridget Moynahan, over the bye week. A visitation shouldn't be a huge deal in and of itself, but tabloids, celeb blogs, and the Track Girls fell all over themselves to report the fact that Tom Brady took the time to see his kid, "JET" Moynahan. People Magazine monitored his activities: "With the New England Patriots idle, Brady hung out on both coasts, and found time......

--Another man has been arrested for impersonating a police officer, this time in Cambridge. Alixson Marc, 21, was chasing three men on Mass Ave early in the morning on November 6. He sported a badge and a police radio. Does the Romney campaign have any openings? --A recently fired employee returned to his former place of work in North Andover and started shooting this morning. Robert Hassam, Jr., 25, of Lawrence, fired on employees of......

So we were driving home from a party Saturday night, and heard on the radio that BC lost. Almost reflexively, we went, "Figures; as soon as we start paying attention to BC, they start losi....". Then we stopped and thought for a minute. Being reflexively negative and miserable just doesn't cut it when four of the five pro teams in town are either undefeated, in the championship game, or current World Champs. We know we're......

--Veterans come home, but the trauma of war follows them. [Boston Globe] --The story behind the sculpture of an Iraqi soldier made out of 70,000 ball bearings. [Blue Mass Group] --Veterans Day closings for Monday. The Globe put liquor stores second on its printed list, third on the online list. Just so you know, liquor stores are open. [Boston Globe] --Ratings for local talk radio are sucking, and local radio stations are trying to......

Bostonist missed a few matters in the midst of Red Sox Mania, such as the fate of radio personality and Herald writer Howie Carr. Carr went to a state appeals court judge in an attempt to overturn a ruling stating that his old employer, WRKO, had the right to match an offer made to him by WTKK. Carr's contract shenanigans left him stuck between stations and without a radio gig. And that's not going to......

--Someone found a man in his 20s who had been killed by a gunshot wound to the head this morning on Westville Street. The Herald is reporting that the man was a relative of Andre Stoner, who was killed on October 17. Whoever killed Stoner's relative left him for dead in the John Marshall Elementary School parking lot. --Speaking of Andre Stoner and his family, Jessica Fargen of the Herald reports that the family has......

MBTA commuters connecting through Airport, North and South Stations had a touching reunion this morning... with the sound of their own thoughts. T-Radio has been suspended. And a month early at that. Evidently, hearing a steady stream of lite rock, celebrity gossip and commercials through speakers with the fidelity of a Fisher Price record player while held captive on a subway platform turned out not to be as popular among Bostonians as was once......

Update: Someone from 1190 KEX News Radio in Portland, OR, just let us know that, while Sam Adams, Mayoral Candidate, isn't using a domain that would annoy Sam Adams, Beer, this very second, his current website "will likely be moved" to www.samadamsformayor.com. And if he wins, his domain will be www.mayorsamadams.com. You could not buy this kind of publicity. The makers of Sam Adams are irritated because another person who happens to be named Sam......

"That's not the way we drew it up," said Colorado manager Clint Hurdle. "Obviously we have to change our game plan," added Todd Helton. "You can't make any mistakes," chimed in shellshocked starting pitcher Jeff Francis. If you're Colorado, what else can you say? The team that charged through September and most of October, and held Arizona to eight total runs in their mockery of an NLCS, looked like they hadn't played baseball in eight......

Today, Herald columnist and radio show host Howie Carr went to Suffolk Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel to try to stop WRKO from matching an offer from WTKK, the station where Carr wants to work. The judge told Carr that Entercom, who owns WRKO, still has the right to match WTKK's offer, and he was underwhelmed with Carr's attempts to play the victim: Carr is not, as he argues in his brief, ‘in essence,......

--Neighbors for Neighbors is concerned about what T Radio is going to do to the buskers who perform every day at various stops and provides a list of who to contact if you want to do something about it. --At Blue Mass Group, the president of NECN displays an obvious fear of bloggers. Yeah, we're really scary. --Susie thinks that her "obsession with all things pumpkin" will get out of control this fall. --Fabulously Out......

There is a lot to love about the MBTA. Its mascot is a man who began a nightmarish lifelong captivity 'neath the streets of Boston when he tried to take the T to Jamaica Plain. It offers Bostonians spontaneous trust exercises. It grants importance to our geographically inclined citizens. And, let's face it, it gets us to work. But America's oldest subway is poised to become America's most annoying. The concept is T-Radio, and it......

Are you a sci-fi kid who spent last night in Las Cruces Jail? Then saddle up and mosey down to the Middle East tonight as Two Gallants and Blitzen Trapper take the Middle East out west and down south for some down-home tunes that mix up AM radio, Old West swagger, and a modern hippie/hipster vibe to create loud and laid-back jams. You can almost hear sixguns cocking behind the rough guitars of San Francisco's......