Results tagged “whenbostonist”

9:00 p.m., $8 for 21+ / $11 for 18+ more ›

When Bostonist entered Buckaroo's Mercantile, a pop-culture store across the street from T.T. the Bear's and the Middle East in Central Square, stocking stuffers were on our mind. The owner of Buckaroo's Mercantile, Brooks, layers retro images over metal wallets, night lites, light-switch plate covers, and more. more ›

When Bostonist heard that J.P. Licks’ October flavors include not just predictable seasonal favorites like pumpkin and caramel apple, but also a whole series of Thai-food-inspired ice creams, we had to give them a try. The Thai iced tea had a nice consistency—perhaps from the addition of condensed milk—but it had a milder tea flavor than we hoped for. If you hadn’t told us it was Thai iced tea, we might have mistaken it for... more ›

For a town that has a good number of vegetarians, Boston has surprisingly few vegetarian restaurants. Luckily, some of our favorite restaurants have veggie options that make even the most devoted carnivore think twice about their order. Chief among them is Mediterreanean- and Arabic-influenced Oleana’s six-course vegetarian tasting menu. Bostonist has tried it out several times, and it is never exactly the same twice—it varies from night to night with what’s fresh and best, and... more ›

When Bostonist were kids, pitching the tennis ball against the chimney for five hours straight, we often dreamed of the day we'd get called up to the Red Sox, in the heat of a pennant race, tabbed for a sudden start, and then go out and throw a no-hitter in our big-league debut. Clay Buchholz is a slacker. It took him until his SECOND Major League start to have a piece of memorabilia suitable for... more ›

Now that the July 4 hub-bub has subsided (quick recap: boo to rain, yay to fireworks, poor network branding choice to have the Scottish Craig Ferguson serve as an honorary MC for a July 4 celebration), we can note that we had earlier this week our first expereince observing baseball speed-dating in progress. Bostonist was on hand for Monday night's Sox/Rangers game - sometime late in the game, we turned to the center field jumbo... more ›

We wish we had an ongoing series of unfortunately named centers, because the James J. Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in Mathematics Education at UMass Dartmouth would be a top notch feature. Some could say that it's over before it began, dead in the water, or, quite simply, kaput. But it's not, it's only just begun. From the UMass Dartmouth press releaseThe goal of the Center is to democratize access to core ideas in... more ›

Chanel 5's Cindy and Jeff have a blog. It's about traffic. Today it was about grabbing a Taxi. When Bostonist has a flight to catch we've been known to walk ourselves to the nearest hotel so that we can grab the flat rate to Logan because it's almost always cheaper than a ride with the meter running. As fast as the Big Dig has made an airport run, traffic usually slows us down enough to... more ›

Grant Stoddard will read from Working Stiff at Harvard Book Store, 6:30 pm, Wednesday, February 7. more ›

When Bostonist scanned the list of those on Deval Patrick's inaugural committee, we thought, "James Taylor? Huh. James 'Fire and Rain' Taylor? Is he doing the Bono thing now?" We learned that was indeed the case, and rumors have now surfaced that the soft-rocker might be dropping a few tunes at the Deval Patrick Million-Dollar Bash. Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan write, "At his Boston concert before the election, Sweet Baby James dedicated 'Fire... more ›

When Bostonist saw this guy on a tricycle tooling down Washington street at 10:00 a.m. this morning with two cases of Corona in his basket, we thought he looked cool, so when he stopped to chat with a friend, we caught up to him and asked if we could take his picture. As he was saying yes, the friend hopped out of his wheelchair and posed too (we don't know why he decided to hold up his half-finished Diet Coke). We're fairly certain this is the only photo we'll ever take of a man with one leg standing next to a man on a tricycle. more ›

Bostonist had a chance to catch one of our favorite indie hip hop acts when Soul Position brought their "things go better with RJ and Al" tour to the Middle East. Soul Position is beat master RJD2 and fellow Columbus, Ohio homie Blueprint. RJ and Blueprint were on. Really on. Bostonist had a chance to chat with them before the show. They are both disarmingly easy going and, well, nice. And funny. When Bostonist... more ›

So after we walked by the store, we recalled hearing about this local designer that was recently copied by the hipster mega-chain, Urban Outfitters. It seems that Johnny Cupcakes approached Urban about carrying some of their tees in their stores. Urban passed on the offer and instead used the design for their own t-shirt. The proof is in the pudding...or cupcake for that matter. more ›

When Bostonist met a friend for lunch last week in Coolidge Corner, we automatically began walking to our favorite place, Zathmary’s. When we got there, however, we found locked doors and two bewildered little old ladies standing outside. “They’re closed for good!” one of the ladies said, and it was one of those moments that Bostonist thought only happened in movies where everyone gasps in unison. We glanced in the windows and sure enough, all the lights were off and there were bags of packed-up supplies. One of the ladies, who dubbed herself the town crier, informed us that the Needham Zathmary’s had closed a few days before and now this one had followed suit. The crier had heard rumblings of an illness in the owner’s family. Bostonist pulled our dropped jaws from the sidewalk and reluctantly headed a few doors over to Zaftigs. more ›

For those living across river (or willing to hop the Red Line or #1), Bostonist thinks there’s no better place to grab a pint, munch on some gourmet pub fare (yes, there is such a thing) and hear our favorite local band than The Plough & Stars, reopening this Friday. more ›

When Bostonist first saw Sarah Sze's work a couple years ago, we thought a benevolent fungus or a swarm of very resourceful insects had made their home in the Museum of Fine Arts lobby. The sculptures couldn't have been mounted in place: we got the distinct impression that they lived inside the walls and had just now decided to creep out, sending tendrils into the museum to snare unwary found objects. Tonight, Harvard's Carpenter Center... more ›

The Mayor seems disposed to do anything conceivable to fight violent crime, except put more police on the streets. We've seen him blame t-shirts for lawlessness in Boston, and now he's focusing on pay phones. The theory, as detailed in a story in today's Globe, is that drug dealers and prostitutes use pay phones for their business and congregate around the phones. more ›

When Bostonist thinks of legendary bands from the U.K., Newcastle doesn’t immediately spring to mind as a hotbed of activity. Oh sure, the town produced Eric Burdon and the Animals, but it wasn’t really a player in the post-punk heyday of the early 1980s. So perhaps its no surprise that none of the hot new British bands to emerge in the past several years hailed from Newcastle. Until about a year ago that is, when Maxïmo Park hit the scene. more ›

When Bostonist has had it with the Au Bon Pain lunch scene, we turn to our co-workers for lunch suggestions and last week, we were led to a delightful place. Located on Church Street in Bay Village (that tiny area between Back Bay/the Theater District/South End), Rachel’s Kitchen is a tiny, bright place to pop in and grab a sandwich and a retro soda pop in a glass bottle. The place is not a place... more ›

Sure, Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday has been getting lots of press here in the city that strives to keep that American Revolution spirit alive. Well, there is another famous birthday coming up next week and a local museum has decided to dedicate a whole day to him. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is turning 250 years old on January 27th and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will be celebrating it all day long on Sunday, January 29 with their “Mozart Marathon.” There will be three concerts (10a.m., 1p.m., and 4p.m.); each will feature a violin sonata, a string quartet and an orchestral work. Why all three you ask? Because they want to showcase what a composer he was, that’s why. (Let’s just say that by the ripe old age of 20, Mozart had already composed 30 symphonies and 9 operas. When Bostonist was 20, we were lucky to have completed a college term paper.) more ›

When Bostonist received an e-mail notifying us that the results were in, we were expecting news about a new M&M color being introduced. It turns out the e-mail was referring to the latest survey from Men's Fitness magazine, which once again ranked the Fittest/Fattest Cities in the U.S. While Bostonist’s own fitness routine has dropped off in the last few months, it seems that our city has actually improved in health, moving from the 11th Fittest City in 2005 to the 10th Fittest City in 2006. The Fittest City overall is Baltimore, which was ranked 25th in 2005, while Chicago takes the Fattest City award (but that authentic deep dish pizza is definitely worth it). So, how did little ol' Boston get to the number 10 spot? Well, Men's Fitness created a report card of sorts to see how all the cities stacked up in 5 areas. Here is how we did: more ›

Ah, dumb crime - we can never get enough of it. When Bostonist did a clinical program in law school where we worked as a public defender for juveniles, we decided that if we could teach one thing to high school students, it would be a quick course on constitutional rights, so they wouldn't always consent to police searches they could have refused. Apparently, though, that wouldn't be enough - we'd also need to teach kids not to be so goddamned dumb. We reach this conlcusion based on news out of Shrewsbury that some teenagers there and in Farmington, CT, were arrested for using text-messages with photos to sell weed. The brilliant scheme broke down when - surprise! - someone's mom saw the illicit sales offers on his cell phone and alerted the cops (someone buy that woman a t-shirt). This allowed police to get warrants and conduct surveillance that eventually nabbed the dealers. more ›

Bostonist doesn't pretend to be a statistician, but we're a little perplexed by the worry being aired over new Census Bureau figures that show the Commonwealth has lost population for two years running. It's not that our feelings aren't hurt - they are, because we definitely love Massachusetts and want people to love it too - it's just that we're not sure what the big deal is. more ›

There’s the Duck Tour, the Trolley Tour (we’re not talking Green Line), Park Service Docents, the Freedom Trail, and dozens of biking and walking tours of the city. Steven Tyler may be local, but Bostonist has already seen the Old State House and we can’t be wasting our precious cell phone minutes to listen to him talk about it. With our attempt to find out some of those local hidden historical markers, we were very happy to find this “Hidden Historical Mania-in-a-can.” When Bostonist once again welcomes the parents to town for the Holidays this year, we’re sending them out, bundled up, for our new favorite tour of Boston. AudisseyGuides, produced by Robert Pyles. An intrepid, Boston-native, twenty-something entrepreneur, Pyles has pulled together a 27-stop tour of historic downtown Boston for sites we’ve passed by a thousand times and, now, will never think of the same way again. more ›

When Bostonist read that Senator Kerry served on a jury last week, our response was, "Uh huh. So?" Because Kerry is boooooring. He may be smart, sure, and maybe even a decent senator, but it's hard to imagine Kerry in the jury room wielding a knife to prove a point, Twelve-Angry-Men style. But when we heard that President Bush got the call in Waco, Texas, all we could think about was how to make sure a reality show comes out of the whole thing. Because Bush may not be smart, but dammit he's funny. Of course, Bush is, at this point, only part of the venire (Latin for "bunch of people sitting around a courthouse for a day") so there's a decent chance he won't get picked. Also, if it's a criminal case, Bostonist has got to believe the defense attorney will strike Bush from the jury. After all, if Tom DeLay can get rid of a judge in Texas for being a Democrat, surely someone could get rid of a juror for being not just a Republican, but the Republican. more ›

This weekend Bostonist made a little trip over to Wikipedia. We wanted to find out what else had been named “Black Friday.” Turns out that once upon a time it did refer to a stock market crash, one in 1869, like its brothers Black Monday (of 1987 and also 1929), Black Tuesday, and Black Thursday of Great Depression fame. There are a whole host of other Fridays that Black Friday has referred to, but presently, for most US consumers the term refers to the day after Thanksgiving when the Christmas shopping season commences. The neologism this weekend was “Cyber Monday,” coined in the anticipation that people, upon returning to work, would drop their productivity levels and use their work computers and broadband connections to shop online. Bostonist had recently told you about a web-store gone to bricks and mortar, and today we call attention to Lekker. It began as a store, with a door, and has branched out and experienced much of its sucess on the web. more ›

When Bostonist thinks of the theater scene here in the city, we immediately think of our beloved Mayor Menino front and center at a matinee viewing of "Kiss of the Spider Woman." Okay, so we never really thought of him hitting up the theater district at all, but Menino announced his "Mayor's Holiday Special" for this upcoming month of December. Teaming up with ArtsBoston.org, a non-profit association that oversees lots of the city's performing arts groups, Menino's "special" includes half-price tickets to many holiday themed shows, like the Boston Ballet's Nutcracker ($18.50), Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Wang Center ($27-$37), and ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular ($10). You can order all these tickets through the "special" website, where you can also buy full priced tickets if you are a high-roller. The Mayor also announced the annual, small perk for Boston drivers out there: free metered parking each Saturday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Bostonist must warn you all that they still do enforce the 2 hour limit though. Scrooge in the form of a meter maid will dampen your holiday cheer. more ›

Before Bostonist could make it to one of the hundreds of Dunkin’ Donuts locations to try their Caramel Creme and Mocha Almond latte flavors (just released for the holidays), we heard about a contest: Free coffee for life - could it be true? Dunkin’ Donuts is asking patrons to tell their story about the great lengths to which they’ve gone for a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. With a location within arms' reach* anywhere in the city, Dunkin’ Donuts is exceedingly convenient, but Bostonist has to admit that sugar and cream with a little bit of coffee tastes just as good no matter where we buy it. Entries in the contest must be received by next Monday (November 28) to qualify. If you’ve descended Mt. Washington, Mt. Everest, or Mt. Kilimanjaro just to grab a cup o’ arabica, Bostonist is sure you’ve got a leg up on this contest. John Glenn can’t claim a return trip to Earth for this contest, though: it isn’t open to Ohio residents. more ›

When Bostonist didn't get into Harvard Law School, we settled for another fine, albeit architecturally challenged, institution in the area (and married a Harvard grad student, which made us feel much better). But according to a story in today's New York Times, high school students rejected by Harvard College are increasingly doing bachelor's degrees at the Harvard Extension School, seeing it as the Harvard experience on the cheap. (Why not just go to community college, you ask? A Harvard writing instructor exlpains: "People say Harvard-trained, they don't say Bunker Hill Community College-trained." Ouch.) more ›

Bostonist has noticed that haircuts for women tend to be a big, expensive, high-stress affair. The people who do the job take an exceedingly long time to remove a very small quantity of hair at a very high price, and for this reason they are called "stylists," not "barbers." We have observed that these stylists are treated almost like mystic oracles - or at least like rock stars - by their faithful customers. ("I went to Gino today," says Mrs. Bostonist. "Hmmm," says Mother-in-law Bostonist, examining Mrs. Bostonist's hair critically. "He seemed preoccupied," explains Mrs. Bostonist apologetically. "Ahhh," Mother-in-law Bostonist responds.) Now Bostonist doesn't go in for all that. We like barber shops, where electric clippers are the tools of the trade, where appointments are not just unnecessary but unheard of, and where the total cost, including tip, seldom exceeds $20. But finding the right barber shop can be a tricky business, so we're setting out to share our haircut experiences, in the hope that other lowbrow Bostonians in need of simple cuts will benefit. We encourage our readers to chime in or, if they feel enterprising, to submit entire barber shop reviews for possible publication (and accompanying fame). more ›