January 2013 FrEE

WWW.FEnWaynEWS.org

serving the Fenway, Kenmore square, upper BacK Bay, prudential, longwood area & mission hill since 1974 volume 39, numBer 1 decemBer 27, 2012-January 31, 2013

Topping-off Moves Berklee Dorm Goal Closer

task Force members Feel left out as northeastern readies imp Filing
ortheastern University has been meeting with a task force of representatives from the Fenway, Mission hill, and Lower roxbury as it prepares to file its new Institutional Master Plan (IMP). The most recent meeting took place on December 20, and task force members reportedly joined some city councilors to express some dissatisfaction with the situation. The IMP is part of the price institutions pay for being located in Boston. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) requires every university and hospital to file an IMP outlining the institutions plans for its physical plant for the next decade. The IMP becomes a public reference document on the institutions plans and a blueprint for its future physical growth. When an IMP expires, institutions can find it difficult to get licenses and permission to do even the most basic of improvements until they submit a new one. northeastern currently operates under a 2000 IMP, as amended five times and extended through the end of 2012. The first five years of the universitys new plan stresses on-campus construction, largely of academic and scientific buildings. It defers construction of dorms, planned as mixed use, to the second five-year segment. As the university has expanded, it has come into increasing conflict with its neighbors because it hasnt made sufficient provision for enough of its students to live

By Stephen Brophy

Early last month Berklee College of Music topped off the stell framing for its 16-story building under construction at 160 Massachusetts Avenue. When the building opens for the fall semester this year, Berklee will mark a milestone: housing all of its entering students for the first time. In addition to expected dorm features370 beds, practice rooms, common rooms, a fitness center and a dining hallthe building will add some only-at-Berklee bells and whistles, such as a performance space, recording studios, and music technology spaces. The ground floor will contain retail space, and the entire project carries a $100 million price tag.

Regina PizzeRia Buys uPPeR CRusts West Fens assets

Good newsmaybefor Fenway pizza fans: The shuttered Upper Crust location on West Boylston Street will reopen under the Regina Pizzeria moniker after Boston Restaurant Associates bid $175,000 for the location lease and equipment in a bankruptcy auction held on December 19. Upper Crust, once the darling of Boston foodies, began to unravel in 2008 when employees accused the firms management of exploiting Brazilian kitchen workers by violating employment laws on working hours and overtime. The workers later sued the firm for siphoning from their paychecks the overtime pay Upper Crust had been ordered to pay. As investigations of that allegation continued, the ownership group had a falling out, alleging the founding member diverted corporate funds for his private use, depriving the firm of money it needed to pay suppliers, landlords and other creditors. Now for the maybe part: Regina Pizzeria, long known as an authentic North End pizzeria, has refocused its business on shopping-mall food courts. How will that model jibe with Upper Crusts gourmet aspirations? Stay tuned.

on campus. As a result they spread out and occupy a big proportion of rental apartments in the Fenway and Mission Hill. This not only drives up the rents in these neighborhoods, but it has also driven up overall property values, making it much more difficult to buy a residential building on Mission hill now than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Councilor Mike ross, who lives on Mission hill, criticized the school for the many promises it has made to rectify this situation, promises that have not yet come to fruition. Councilor Jeff Sanchez, who represents part of the Back of the hill section of Mission Hill, joined Ross in this criticism. Both argued that the university needs to become more transparent in its dealings with surrounding communities; that it follow through on plans for community benefits promised in previous IMP filings; and that it upgrade the priority of on-campus housing in the latest filing. While the perennial problem of students in the rental market was rehashed, task Force members reported being more concerned that the university had filed its Project Notification Form (PNF)the first step toward BRA approval of the IMPwithout giving the group a chance to review it. Although this filing had to happen by the end of the year, the task Force has been meeting since spring, and many members were annoyed by this situation. They were even more annoyed that the current document no longer covers NortheasterN task force on page 3 >

Pulling Out All the Stops at St. Cecilia

niCe WoRk iF you Can get it

Two of Bostons most prominent institutions of higher learningboth with campuses that reach into the Fenwaypaid their presidents more than $1 million salary in 20092010. The information comes from a nationwide Chronicle of Higher Education survey of presidential pay at private colleges with budgets of more than $50 million. Northeasterns Joseph Aoun earned just under $1.1 million in 2010, a figure that includes bonuses and incentive pay worth about $165,000. BUs Robert Brown also pulled down close to $1.1 million, although that figure includes the value of the presidents university-supplied house in its calculations, and a five-bedroom mansion (to use The Boston Globes term) Brookline would not come cheap. According to the Chronicle, of nearly 500 institutions surveyed, 36 paid their presidents more than $1 million in 2010.

HonoRs to east FenWays kamal FoR WoRk on ReneWaBle eneRgy

Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light honored a local hero at its tenth anniversary on October 28 at First Church in Jamaica Plain,Unitarian Universalist. East Fenway resident Sajed Kamal received the groups the Rachel Carson Award for over 25 years of working to educate the world about the importance of moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. MIP&L advocates environmental stewardship and renewable-energy use among tfaith communities across the state.

PeteRBoRougH senioRs Donate to CenteR FoR Homeless VeteRans

Charlene Pontbriand, liaison for the New England Center for Homeless Veterans accepted a check in mid-December from the Peterborough Senior Center. Matti Kniva Spencer and Maria Rodriguez staged a fund-raising breakfast at the center in December, with all proceeds going towards the homeless shelter.In addition to the check, the seniors baked wonderful homemade cookies, for the homeless vets to enjoy.

CHang-Daz ReCeiVes national eDuCation aWaRD

On November 29, State Senator Sonia Chang-Daz received the 2012 Walter G. Turner Award from the National Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA). ChangDaz and her Education Committee co-chair, Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley, were honored for their work reforming the states system of education collaboratives. The collaboratives allow school districts to pool resources to achieve shared goals, such as serving severe-need special education students or professional development for teachers. State officials and the public called for immediate action last fall after investigations by the state auditor and Neighborhood NewsliNe on page 3 >

Organist Richard Clark was a happy man on Christmas Day after performing on a newly installed second-hand console organ in the choir loft of St. Cecilia Church. A fund-raising drive began in September to replace a worn-out console dating from 1929 with a used but technologically up-to-date model. Parishioners responded generously to the fund-raising campaign that began September, raising $24,000 double the original goaland doing it quickly enough to assure installation by Christmas. The replacement console came from an Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Phillip in Atlanta. Timothy E. Smith installed the retrofit for the 1999 Smith & Gilbert Organ, which he designed and built..

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On December 18, at about 7:20am, Boston Police responding to a call found the body of a deceased male seated on a bench in the Fens near the Fire Departments dispatch center at the top of Westland Avenue. Police set up a crime scene investigation and canvassed nearby residents and schools in search of any information they might have. The Boston Conservatory was asked to submit surveillance videos it might have produced between midnight to 7am. The man was subsequently identified as Stephen D. Hill, 54, of Boston, and BPD confirmed that he died of stab wounds. Boston Police asked that anyone with information that might contribute to the investigation call the Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. If you wish to report information anonymously, you can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 800-494-TIPS or text the word TIP to CRIME (27463). The department will stringently guard and protect the identities of those who wish to remain anonymous.

Police Seek Leads in December 18 Homicide

gun threat at Buried treasures

At about 1pm on Dec. 5, District 4 units responded to a radio call about a person with a gun at Buried treasures, the small storefront at 28 Haviland St. Upon arrival officers arrested and handcuffed a suspect and pat-searched him for weapons. They found a large knife from a pocket of his jumpsuit and found a set of brass knuckles in another pocket. No firearm was found on his person. The suspect stated that he worked at the store and that he had been involved in an incident shortly before the police arrived. he said that he had been approached outside the store by a happy person who stuck out his tongue at him as he opened the store for business. He said he never showed a gun. A

sergeant arrived with a firearm-detecting dog and searched the store with no success. the caller said that when he tried to enter the store he struck the suspect with the door, who then blocked it with his foot and opened his jumpsuit at the waist to display a large black firearm tucked into his belt. The suspect was arrested for carrying the brass knuckles, and was found to also have two small plastic bags of marijuana in an inner pocket. He was issued city ordinance violations for both the knuckles and the drugs.
maJor Burglary on symphony road

they spoke with two victims who reported that they had left their apartment at 4pn. and returned at about 5:20pm to find the front and balcony doors both ajar. one of them found a keyboard and bass guitar missing, and reported that $5,000 in cash was taken from a suitcase, along with studio monitors. the victim told police that the sliding door, which leads to Symphony road, had been left unsecured. A note from the suspects was left behind and turned in as evidence.
diaper Bag stolen

on Dec 17 at about 5:40pm, officers were called to 49 Symphony Road. Upon arrival,

on Dec. 4 at about 4:50pm, an officer responding to a larceny call at 76 Peterborough St. found a victim who reported

that a diaper bag, her handbag, and wallet had all been stolen from the front foyer of the building. The wallet contained ID and debit cards, as well as a green card. The victim said she had left these items near the front door for a few minutes while she went back to an apartment she was visiting to retrieve her baby and carriage. The officer spoke to a property-management employee to view security camera footage of the area. Recorded footage seemed to have ceased around Nov. 6, while live-feed footage was broadcast throughout the buildings security system. A search of the surrounding area, back alleys, and dumpsters turned up nothing.

Lamented Exhibit Opens Window on Bostonians Attitudes Toward Death

Death Lamented: the tradition of Anglo-American Mourning Jewelry reminds us of something the folks at the Massachusetts historical Society do surpassingly well. They know how to make

In
bostoN public library via www.flickr.com/photos/bostoN_public_library/

By STeve WolF

an exhibit on a seemingly minor topic into engrossing entry point into an era, a practice, or the development of the nation itself. this look at the jewelry worn during mourning becomes a survey of the customs that surrounded death and burial in Massachusetts in the 17th and 18th centuries (then

BPL Dissects Iconic Boston Buildings in Five Shows

Rafael Guastavino stands atop vaulted arches built with his tile system in this 1889 photo of construction of the Boston Public Librarys McKim Building (view roughly southeast toward Huntington Ave.). The library and Guastavino are both subjects of shows in the Building Boston series now on view at the BPLs Central Branch. See story on page 5.

broadens to include national practices after 1800). It provides a glimpse of life in Boston at a time when a woman might die in childbirth, or disease might carry a child from full health to death in just a few days. Bostons early settlers drew on familiar english traditions, often using funerals to showcase a familys prominence. The Puritans loved their mementos mori, reminders that death always lurked around the corner. Rings often bore winged skulls or Latin phrases whose meaning boiled down to hey, pal, you could easily be next. (As with most shows based on the Historical Societys holdings, the wealthy and the well-connected are overrepresented here. Who else, after all, had the wherewithal to distribute special rings and gifts to mark a burial?) In the 1700s, personal sentiment began to soften a starkly religious view of death. An especially distinctive medium emerged in this period: locks of the departeds hair, often woven into intricate patterns and showcased in rings and lockets. other fashions waxed and waned over the next two centuries, but this one persisted almost to 1900. the exhibit traces changing practices in mourning jewelry and shows how external eventsGeorge Washingtons death, Queen victorias mourning for Prince Albert,

lincolns assassinationcreated new fashions. In fact, victorias lifelong period of formal and public mourning for prince Albert (can you even picture her in any color other than black?) gave rise to the expectation that any proper widow would progress through a two-year period of full, half, and light mourning, each with prescribed rules governing dressand jewelry. Industrialization also altered the equation, leading to mourning medals, widely produced to mark Washingtons death in 1799, the young countrys first experience with national mourning, and extending to the introduction of early photographs, often incorporated into rings and lockets (sometimes sharing them with, yes, hair). the beautifully mounted and understated exhibit occupies two modest rooms in the historical Society building at 1154 Boylston Street and takes less than half an hour to view. It draws on the societys vast reserve of documents and objects left by puritan worthies, colonial governors, and, of course, the Adamses, whose papers form a significant holding. For more information about the exhibit, visit www.masshist.org/exhibitions. Steve Wolf lives in the West Fens. In Death Lamented will remain on view through January 31.

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photo: steve wolf

FENWAY NEWS | JANuArY 2013 | 3

BeRklee alumni anD FaCulty eaRn 24 gRammy nominations

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominated 16 Berklee alumni and faculty for a total of 24 Grammy Awards. The nominees were recognized for their outstanding contributions across the spectrum of music, including pop, rock, hip-hop, jazz, Latin, and musical theater. Producers, engineers, arrangers, and composers were also nominated. Theawards will be broadast on Sunday, February 10. Berklee nominees included producer, songwriter, and engineer Jeff Bhasker 99, for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for his work on Some Nights by fun. John Mayer 98 is also a contender for Album of the Year. Esperanza Spalding 05, who won Best New Artist in 2011, again makes a splash with three nominations, including Best Jazz Vocal Album.

maDison HigH stuDents HelP menino go solaR

Two Madison Park High School students, working in a coop placement with Atlantic Power & Light, helped install solar panels on Mayor Thomas Meninos Hyde Park home last month The house was one of 116 in Boston that received solar panels for electrical generation through the Solarize Mass-Boston program this year. Solarize Mass-Boston has been an amazing success, increasing access to clean energy for many of our residents, Menino said. SolarCity, a company that owns the panels and leases them to homeowners, worked with IBEW Local 103, the electrical union, on the program. Local 103 runs an annual co-op program in which 8 to 10 seniors from Madison Park work with licensed electricians.The students get on-the-job training and experience that helps them compete for a limited number of slots in electrician-training and apprenticeship programs.

> NortheasterN task force from page 1 affordable housing, which had been discussed repeatedly as a community need at previous Task Force meetings. City Counselor Tito Jackson likely got a little more satisfaction from the process than most of the other attendees. He reiterated the need for a local business procurement program as part of the community benefits package in the overall plan. When the universitys representatives did their presentation on this package, that program was included, along with reconstruction of the Carter playground, improvements at the Mass.

Ave. MBTA station, a community resource/ education portal, and development of Parcel 3, a lot across Tremont St. from Boston Police headquarters and Northeasterns new International village. the next task Force meeting is tentatively scheduled for January 14, and the public comment period on the pnF ends on February 4. you can find the documents online at www.northeastern.edu/masterplan, along with minutes of previous meetings. this reporter was not at this particular meeting, but spoke to participants and reviewed meeting minutes.

Neighborhoods Coffee and Crepes joined the rebounding businesses on Restaurant Row in late November. The friendly young staff (including, left to right, Justine Park, Charlotte Mosinski, and Sean Randall) serves up coffee, tea, chai, and crepes both sweet and savory (think upscale wraps with inventive fillings). Neighborhoods makes all its baked goods except for its gluten-free offerings. The shop opens at 6 am on weekdays for commuters bent on snagging to-go coffee but also encourages neighbors to pull up a chair and an outlet to work on laptops during the day. Visit http://neighborhoodscafe.com/blog/ for more info.

Bidding Farewell to ymca gym Building

By AlISoN BARNeT

I took these photos of the demolition of the Central YMCAs gymnasium building on St. Botolph Street during the week of December 3. A developer will build a dorm (to be rented to Northeastern) in the gyms place. But can anything ever take its place? Since the gym closed in June in preparation for demolition, Y members have been crowded into the front of the Y building. Open the door on Huntington Avenue, and there we are, sweating in the middle of the beautiful dark-wood lobby. My class meets in the former library, among books and World War I posters never removed, exercising to music punctuated by the sounds of the wrecking ball. In the womens locker room, demolition is so loud and close we wouldnt be surprised if a hole appeared in the wall and exposed us in the all-together.

Youre invited...
...to a fundraiser for a documentary about the wave of arson that swept the Fenway in the 1970s.

January 17, 2013 7:00PM Jerry Remys in the West Fens Free admission Enjoy food courtesy of Jerry Remys, watch the movie trailer, meet the filmmakers, and maybe walk away with a raffle prize. Presented by Live Lobster Group and Fenway Properties.
InvItatIon/MoRE InFo at www.livelobstergroup.com/BurningGreed Upper left: There go the basketball court and the track. Only a couple of the tall, graceful windows remain. The sauna, steam room, and pool arent far behind. Isnt that the womens locker room beneath? Wait! I left something in my locker! Upper right: Note the American flag flying above it all. Shouldnt it be at half mast? Lower left: This green copper structure, which I used to see from the track, always reminded me of the old elevated Orange Line on Washington Street in the South End. No wonder, since both were built early in the 20th century. The pattern of the steel supports is also similar. Lower right: The YMCA sign turns its back.

the

photo: steve wolf

inspector general uncovered serious misuse of funds at the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative and at other collaboratives. After the Education Committee held a series of oversight hearings, Chang-Daz filed a collaboratives reform bill that became the first piece of legislation passed by the Senate this year.

Neighborhood Welcomes Neighborhoods

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Serving the Fenway, Kenmore Square, audubon CirCle, upper baCK bay, lower roxbury, prudential, miSSion hill, and longwood SinCe 1974

Sandy Hook Adds Another Sad Chapter to a History of Gun Violence

By JoHN RoSeNTHAl

INNoCeNT CHIlDReN among 27 DeAD at an elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a similar massacre at the Cleveland elementary School in Stockton, California, in 1989 (six children killed and 30 wounded) that finally led to the 1994 federal ban on assault weapons, which Congress and president Bush let expire in 2004. every day eight kids under 20 years old die from gun violence in America. Thats 56 kids a week, 340 a month and over 3,000 kids every year. In fact you could fill Fenway Park three times over with the 110,000 children killed by guns in the US over the past 30 years. When are we going to stop this calamity of innocent children being massacred every day? When are we going to protect our children, who have no one to protect them by us? Children deserve much better, and adults are to blame. We cant continue to blame each horrific and all-too-frequent mass shooting of innocent children on mental illness, video games, violent films, evil in our society and every other excuse except the insane public policy of allowing unrestricted access to easily concealed handguns and military-style assault weapons with high-capacity ammunition clips. Gun violence in America is out of control. every day 150 Americans are shot and 83 (including eight children) are killed by firearms. every year an average of 30,000 Americans die from firearms. Since former Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords and others were shot in Tucson in January 2011, there have been over 65 mass shootings in Americaan average of nearly three every month. Since 1970 over 1.4 million Americans have been killed with firearmsmore than all US service men and women killed in all foreign wars combined. Federal gun policy allows unrestricted access to all firearms, including military-style weapons, high-capacity ammunition clips and easily concealed handguns without criminal background checks or detection in 33 states and at over 5,000 gun shows annually. The gun lobby and Congress have made law enforcement the enemy of gun rights. Police are restricted from regulating gun shows and private gun dealers, who sell 40-50% of guns each year without a background check, proof of identification or detection. even federally licensed gun dealers, the only gun dealers required to run background checks, are legally allowed to set up shop anywhere, including from their homes, car trunks and backpacks. Gun manufacturers are also uniquely protected by Congress and are exempt from any regulation, including manufacturing, safety, and

20

marketing standards. And they have been given absolute immunity from lawsuits. As a result, manufactures legally sell plastic guns to evade metal detectors, guns resistant to fingerprints or capable of penetrating 48 layers of soft-body armor and even capable of shooting down an aircraft. Further, Congress has said even people on suspected-terrorist watch lists should be able to buy guns legally at gun stores. As long as people with mental illness havent been legally committed to a mental institution, they, too, are free to purchase assault weapons and concealed handguns. Is it any wonder theres a gun violence epidemic in America? time to wake up and smell the gunfire. We dont feel safe because we arent safe. Were the gun violence capital of the civilized world, and our children are senselessly dying at the rate of a classroom every three days. We have put our children at great risk while weve stood by as our president, Congress and state legislators have been bought off or intimated into submission by the special interest gun lobby and unregulated gun industry. We are to blame for the 20 children killed in Newtown. Just like the 36 shot and 13 killed at Columbine high School, the 52 shot and 32 killed at Virginia tech, the 13 shot and 6 killed in tucson, the 71 shot and 12 killed in Aurora, Colorado, and the 150 Americans shot and 83 killed, including eight more children, today and every day. This is not oK and not someone elses problem. Its no longer just an inner city problem that affluent white people and politicians in the suburbs can ignore. Senseless gun violence touches nice communities like Newtown or Columbine, or or Anytown, USA. Gun violence occurs because guns are virtually unregulated in America, and the gun industry profits from every sale. More guns result in more gun violence. More gun violence results in more fear and increased gun sales. Increased gun sales result in higher gun industry profits and more gun lobby contributions to elected officials...who continue to allow unrestricted access to firearms without detection. This is not rational public policy. We still live in a democratic society and we can change this epidemic of preventable gun violence. The time is NoW. Call President obama and members of Congress. Tell them to take action to protect our children NoW. If not now, when? John Rosenthal, the developer of the Fenway Center, a $450 million project nearing construction outside of Kenmore Square, is also co-founder of Stop Handgun Violence, Commonsense About Kids and Gun, and American Hunters and Shooters Association.

Steve Chase Helen Cox Tracey Cusick Joyce Foster, president Rich Giordano Steven Harnish Duke Harten Barbara Brooks Simons Steve Wolf, treasurer
editor: Stephen Brophy weB teaM: Nicole Aubourg, Stephen Brophy,

Fenway news association Board oF directors

Its

guest opinion

Steven Kapica, Valarie Seabrook Production designer: Steve Wolf writers: Jon Ball, Alison Barnet, Conrad Ciszek, Jim Cooper, Helen Cox, Tracey Cusick, Margot Edwards, John Engstrom, Stan Everett, Lisa Fay, Lori A. Frankian, Joyce Foster, Marie Fukuda, Steve Gallanter, Galen Gilbert, Elizabeth Gillis, Katherine Greenough, Sam Harnish, Steve Harnish, Duke Harten, Sarah Horsley, Rosie Kamal, Sajed Kamal, Mandy Kapica, Steven Kapica, Shirley Kressel, Kristen Lauerman, Mike Mennonno, Letta Neely, Catherine Pedemonti, Richard Pendleton, Michael Prentky, Bill Richardson, Karla Rideout, Mike Ross, Barbara Brooks Simons, Matti Kniva Spencer, Jamie Thomson, Anne M. Tobin, Fredericka Veikley, Chris Viveiros, Michelle Wu PhotograPhers: Steve Chase, Lois Johnston, Mike Mennonno, Patrick OConnor, Valarie Seabrook, Matti Kniva Spencer, Ginny Such, Steve Wolf caLendar: Stephen Brophy, Carol Paige Rodriguez, Steve Wolf, ProoFreader: Tracey Cusick Business Manager: Mandy Kapica distriBution: Della Gelzer, Aqilla Manna, Lauren Dewey Platt, Reggie Wynn The Fenway News is published monthly by the Fenway News Association, Inc., a nonprofit corporation dedicated to community journalism. If you would like to volunteer to write, edit, photograph, lay out, distribute, or sell advertising, please contact us at:

The Fenway News PO Box 230277, Astor Station Boston, MA 02123 617-266-8790 editor@fenwaynews.org www.fenwaynews.org

Subscriptions $24/year ($15 for limited income) 2010 FENWAY NEWS ASSOCIATION, INC.

The Editors Final Words? Thanks For The Memories

Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

The founders of The Fenway News adopted this motto to express their mission of exposing and opposing the dangers the neighborhood faced in the early 1970sincluding rampant arson, unscrupulous landlords, and a destructive urban renewal plan. If the original motto no longer fully fits the neighborhood today, we continue to honor its spirit by working to make our neighborhood a better and safer place to live.

If

By Stephen Brophy

all goes well, this will be the last edition of The Fenway News published under my editorship; I hope to be training my successor next month as we lay out the February issue. When I returned to the Fenway in 2005 after about 15 years, I was surprised to find this publication in Whole Foods. I had been around when it was started nearly 40 years ago and would never have predicted its staying power. I was not among the original founders, but knew them well. We were all involved in stopping the BRA from tearing down the neighborhood to under the guise of urban renewal. The founders were mostly students or recent graduates of Northeastern, who mostly lived in a communal house on Symphony Road; the publication was one of many projects we amateur community organizers started because we wanted to be for a vision of community as much as we wanted to be against institutional encroachment. We organized a food co-op and a Free University, and we built the first iteration of the Edgerly Road Playground on a vacant lot. Many of us went on to more professional endeavors based on our volunteer experience in this struggle; for instance,

from the editor

I got a job in 1976 at the New England Food Co-op Organization (NEFCO), which effectively removed me from much participation in neighborhood politics. Seasons change and so do lives. I moved out of the Fenway in 1990, and spent the next decade and a half in Dorchester, Cambridge, and Roslindale. After leaving NEFCO I worked in two bookstores and then the MIT Libraries. When my job there was re-engineered from full-time to half-time, I became a movie reviewer, and gradually moved toward my present occupation as a teacher. It is the conflict between my current duties as a writing coach at MIT and this papers inexorable production schedule that finally forced me to choose between two occupations that give me great satisfaction. MIT pays me quite a bit more than The Fenway News does, but that only contributed slightly to my decision to move on. In fact, I wont be completely moving on. Once my successor is selected and weve got him/her trained, I expect to join the Fenway News board and to continue my involvement as a

The Fenway News reaches the stands every 4-5 weeks, usually on the first or last Friday of the month. Our next issue will be appear on Friday, February 1. The deadline for letters, news items, and ads is Friday, January 25. Contact our business manager at ads@fenwaynews.org
> aDvertising < > DeaDline <

> Frequency <

fiNal words on page 5 >

thanks to the Fenway news For Bringing Fire-safety issues to light

To THe eDIToR,

on behalf of the Mission Main Concerned Residents Committee, I would like to thank The Fenway News. your coverage of the Safety and evacuation procedures at the Mission Main housing complex, spurred management to follow through with some of our recommendations. Management sent the following notice to residents on December 6: Dear Residents, We have arranged with the Boston Fire Department for an evening presentation dedicated to discussion of Fire Safety and the Evacuation procedures for 69 McGreevey Way. The meeting is

LETTERS

compulsory as we believe you should hear firsthand about 69 McGreevey fire safety systems and how they operate. Also, the meeting offers everyone the opportunity to ask questions of a Boston Fire Department official. The meeting is scheduled as follows: Date: Monday, December 17, 2012 Time: 6:00 PM Place: Lobby-69 McGreevey Way

people, clean up after your dogs!

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I am a resident living in the West Fenway and a dog owner. There is a sign at the corner of Kilmarnock and Park Drive to the effect that dogs must be on a leash and owners must pick up their dogs waste! There are many dog owners who I know can read but choose to allow their dogs to leave tokens anywhere, including the sidewalks. Queensberry is another heavily soiled street If I pick up my dogs waste why cant those who dont face some sort of fine? Is this another unenforceable law?
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FENWAY NEWS | JANuArY 2013 | 5

> fiNal words from page 4 writer. My experience in these past six years has caused me to hope that The Fenway News can continue contributing to improving this unique community, and I still want to be a part of that. I hope its not presumptuous to say the best is yet to come. In the last few years I have come to understand just how special the Fenway is, much more than I was able to see when I was younger. We have two of the finest concert halls in the world, just one block from each other. We have a world-class art museum, and around the corner from that is one of the most interesting small museums in the world. We have five excellent schools for the arts and 15 or so other colleges and universities, giving us one of the most creative (if occasionally too boisterous) student populations anywhere. And of course we also have Fenway Park. And through it all runs one of the most beautiful urban parks in the world, designed by the originator of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted. The Fenway is the go-to destination for thousands of people every day, not only for culture but also for the concentration of excellent hospitals just to our west. While thousands of automobiles pass through every hour (is there a noisier intersection than Mass. Ave. and Boylston St. anywhere within Rte 128?), we have the smallest percentage of car owners of any neighborhood in the metropolitan area. We dont need cars, because were close to everything. Of course, this is not Utopiawe have plenty of problems in this extraordinary

community. The institutions that attract all those creative young people are constantly changing and growing. Since we all exist on a finite amount of land, that growth causes stresses between these institutions and the residential community. Fortunately, the struggle against urban renewal in the last century left a legacy of rules that schools and hospitals and museums all have to follow when they want to expand. That is why comparing the pages of any given issue of The Fenway News today with those of an issue from 30 years ago shows many more reports of community meetings between officials and residents and many fewer about public demonstrations of opposition. Residents have much more voice now than before. The relative social status of Fenway residents has also changed a lot since the paper started in 1974. Many more homeowners, and correspondingly fewer renters, call themselves Fenwickians these days. This is partly due to condo conversion in the 1980s and 90s and partly to development of new middle-income and luxury buildings in the past decade. Surprisingly, the amount of disagreement between these groups has not intensified as the balance has changed; while the Fenway Civic Association (mostly owners) and the Fenway Community Development Corporation (mostly tenants) dont always see eye-to-eye on issues, they dont work to block each others initiatives as they once did. All this history encourages me to keep hoping that we, the people of the Fenway, will keep working on a more perfect neighborhood. And in a slightly different capacity, I hope to continue my participation.

special program at the Boston Public librarys Copley Square headquarters, celebrates public spacesthe architectural and cultural cornerstones that make Boston the city it is. Building Boston explores these parks, sports arenas, libraries, and transportation centersand their creators, builders, caretakers, and ever-changing users. The librarys Central Branch, 700 Boylston Street, serves as headquarters for lectures and tours organized around five free exhibits:. Boston sports temples showcases Bostons beloved sports venuesmost notably the Boston Garden, Fenway Park, Braves Field, and Suffolk Downsand their unique roles in the daily lives and hearts of New englanders. The exhibit continues through May 31 in the Johnson lobby. an elevated view: the orange line features 65 photographs from a 1985 project that documented Bostons elevated rail system prior to its 1987 dismantling. open through January 19 in the Wiggin Gallery. palaces for the people: guastavino and americas great public spaces highlights the work of Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish immigrant, innovative builder, and visionary designer known for a distinct structural-tile vaulting technique used in some of the most important American buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. open through February 24 in the Changing exhibits Gallery. Boston in the gilded age: mapping public places documents Bostons changing geography, evolving street pattern, and emerging park system from the late 1860s to the late 1890s. open through March 17 in the Norman B. leventhal Map Center. the peoples own: construction of the mcKim Building features historic photographs of the BPls McKim Building, designed by Charles Follen McKim of the architectural firm McKim, Meade, and White. The building opened in 1895. The exhibit continues through January 31, 2013, in the Rare Books lobby. Copies of the Building Boston brochure are available at all BPl locations and are available for download at www.bpl.org/buildingboston.

Bpl program looKs at citys puBlic spaces, iconic Buildings, and people who made them

Foreclosure-prevention tools help Families, neighborhoods

the past legislative sessions, I have worked with many organizations and advocacy groups on one issue that has been on my mind for some time: Foreclosure. These past few years have been tough economically, to say the least. That is why it is more important than ever that the residents of roxbury, Boston and Massachusetts know their rights when it comes to the foreclosure process. Foreclosureprevention measures are in place in the Commonwealth, but we have been working to make sure that the fullest form of protection is implemented for homeowners. every year, families lose their homes due to the predatory lending practices of large banks, and the recent economic downturn, which caused a substantial loss in income. even though the housing market has shown some signs of recovery, foreclosures have risen 47% from around this time last year. In the General Court, we have been working

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to pass legislation to protect homeowners Circle, one of my top concerns is the stability by creating a mandatory mediation process of families in Boston neighborhoods. The to help produce affordable alternatives to stronger families become financially, the foreclosure. stronger the neighborhoods become as a these include loan whole. The same goes if the opposite modifications, short sale, happens: Fiscally weaker families refinancing, or other options. and foreclosures make for weaker Mandatory mediation has been neighborhoods. shown to provide about 80% A study, Vacant Spaces, put of participating homeowners the economic impact of just one with alternatives to foreclosure. foreclosure in Boston at $157,058 and the mediation process must $1,028,862 in lost taxes, increased occur within the 150-day right crime, more city maintenance to Cure period. The Mass services and lost property value. Foreclosure Mediation program each vacated foreclosure costs would receive a notice of a nearby homeowners $966,744 in lost homeowner in default during this property value. Foreclosure not only period. The program staff would negatively impacts the homeowner; the fenway News it can also prove detrimental to the then notify the homeowner of asks elected eligibility for mediation. lender. The impact per foreclosure officials who Within 45 days the MFMP has been estimated to cost cities represent the would schedule a mediation between $5,400 and $19,200 per neighborhood with homeowners who opt foreclosure depending upon whether to contribute in, an authorized lender the property is actually vacated as columns on issues well as foreclosed (MAAPl). The representative, and a neutral of concern, which added costs of advertising foreclosed mediator. Following state and appear regularly in properties and holding auctions also federal guidelines, the parties fensviews. would come to agreement on add up very quickly. alternatives to foreclosure. housing Consumer education the objective of this legislation is to ensure Centers help teach people how to make that homeowners have access to a variety informed decisions about purchasing a of avenues to keep their homes from being home, renting an apartment or managing foreclosed upon. A program such as this has a rental property. They offer answers to a proven record of success. 80% of those many questions asked by tenants, landlords, who participate get an alternative solution prospective buyers and homeowners. to foreclosure, and over 65% achieve an these centers help reduce the number of affordable loan modification (MAAPl). homeowners who end up in situations where It is imperative that we keep homeowners they will not be able to afford their mortgage, in their homes, as eviction after foreclosure and as a result, need the mediation process. reduces the property values of surrounding While I serve communities within Boston, homes in the neighborhood and results in it is my duty as a state representative to the loss of taxpayer revenue due to fees facilitate the passge of legislation that will and increased crime in those areas. As the benefit not only the neighborhoods I represent, state representative for roxbury and parts but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as of Dorchester, the Fenway, and Audubon a whole.

Gloria Fox

bostoN public library via www.flickr.com/photos/bostoN_public_library/

6 | FENWAY NEWS | JANuArY 2013

cracked mirror of school shootings reflects values of gun culture adults have made
ikipedia, the online encyclopedia, calls the guns versus butter model in macroeconomics an example of a simple production possibility frontier. It demonstrates the relationship between a nations investment in defense and civilian goods. In this example, a nation has to choose between two options when spending its finite resources. It can buy either guns (invest in defense/military) or butter (invest in production of goods), or a combination of both. This can be seen as an analogy for choices between defense and civilian spending in more complex economies. I wrote this poem on December 5, a few days before the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary School, in newtown, Connecticut, Guns Versus Butter: on December 14. Prayer for the new year Adam Lanza, armed with three assault Ok, now that we all know Butter in gun shops weapons, rampaged about the guns and butter Butter in schools. through the school, thing, Butter, butter, butter! killing 20 children and and now that its already I know, youll sayhey, thats seven adults. Among December, too much butter! the adults killed was and now that we are about to Ill sayoh, really? Then, how the schools principal, step into 2013let me tell come I didnt hear many psychologist, four you people complaining too teachers, and Lanza what Ive already started much himself, apparently by praying for to happen next when these transformed butter his own hand. He had year. sticks were guns? killed his mother, a gun Id like to see butter Besides, I prefer a nice and collector from whom he everywhere: warm buttered toast over a got the weapons, before Every single gunof every gun anyway. he arrived at the school. shape and form Dont you? I dedicate this poem to miraculously Dont you also know that you the children killed at transformed into a stick of cant eat a gun? the school, as well as all butter! If you didnt know that the innocent children All over the world itll be before of the world who are Butter in the streets just look aroundI hope you killed by gunfire of any Butter in the battle fields know it now. kindunder whatever Butter in the War Rooms See how well the guns versus circumstances. Butter in aircraft carriers butter theory works? Children are children, Butter in drones All that a gun does iskill. and innocence is Butter in arsenals So, join me in my prayer innocence. Butter in gun clubs andtogetherwell chant Nothing justifies Butter in gun closets the mantra: their lives being cut Butter in bedrooms Butter not Guns! shortwhether they Butter in movie studios Butter not Guns! are ours or theirs, Butter in toy stores Butter not Guns! whether by murderous insanity or political expediency. And I call upon the conscience and courage of all people to re-think the global gun culturein all its implications and manifestationsof which the Newtown school massacre is a tragic and terrifying symptom. Buddha reminded us two and half thousand years ago: violence is bred by violence and leads only to more violence; a gun does nothing but kill. Sajed Kamal, a Fenway resident, is a poet, artist, psychotherapist, renewable energy educator, teacher-consultant at Corner Co-op Nursery School in Brookline, MA, and an adjunct lecturer at Brandeis University. Author of a dozen books in a wide range of areas, his forthcoming books include Doves not Bombs: Poetry for Peace.

in memor ia m

By SAJeD KAMAl

hwang Boosts young dramatists program at wheelocK

Playwright David Henry Hwangbest known for writing the 1988 Tony-Awardwinning drama M. Butterfly and collaborating with Elton John on a musical version of Aidahelped Wheelock College launch its Emerging Playwrights Program on December 8. An initiative of a new advisory board organized by Wheelock Family Theater, the program focuses on Boston Public School students with an aptitude for writing. It is designed to develop literary skills, creative expression, analytical thinking, self-esteem, and self-reflection through dramatic writing and staged readings. Adding a little more star power to the event, WGBH arts reporter Jared Bowen interviews Hwang on the Wheelock Family Theater stage.

ianist Jacob (Jack) Maxin, once described as the greatest of unknown pianists and who taught on the NeC faculty from 1968 to 2002, has died. He was 83 and had been living in a nursing home in Needham Heights. Suffering from Alzheimers disease, he died December 16 of complications of the flu. he was a much loved teacher and a performer of great virtuosity and probing insight, who nonetheless played very little in public. Connoisseurs, however, eagerly anticipated his infrequent concerts and counted among their most memorable experiences his performances in 1971 and 1991 of Busonis fiendishly difficult Fantasia contrapuntistica, his Brahms Second Piano Concerto with Gunther Schuller conducting the Conservatory Symphony orchestra, and several First Monday at Jordan Hall programs in which he played music of Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Webern, Saint Sans, Schoenberg/Steuermann, and Chopin. Born in 1929 in Philadelphia the youngest of five children, Maxin received his early musical training at the Settlement Music School and Swarthmore College with Irma Wolpe, and at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music before moving on to the Juilliard School, where he earned bachelors and masters degrees studying with edward Steuermann, who also taught his longtime friend, neC Distinguished Artist-in- Residence Russell Sherman. In his early years, Maxin performed often both in the United States and abroad. As a youth Contest winner, he appeared with the Philadelphia orchestra and eugene ormandy in 1954. He made his Town Hall debut in 1961, performed as pianist for cellist Leonard rose from 19571963, and toured with actor Claude Raines. Maxin was also a member of several chamber groups, including the Javedo Trio and Aeolian Chamber Players and made numerous solo tours. He participated in and won the title of laureate in the second International George enescu Competition held in 1961 in Bucharest, Romania. He was a finalist in 1963 at the First International Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland. And he was chosen for a coveted appearance in November 1963 on the young Artists Series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His recordings include the works of Gail Kubik and Stefan Wolpe. Before coming to NeC, Maxin taught at Juilliard, on the summer faculty at Brandeis University, at the University of Colorado, pomona College, and Bowdoin College. Interestingly, at Juilliard, he took on several of Steuermanns students after Steuermanns death so those young musicians could finish their degrees. one of those temporary students was Russell Sherman. Among his most notable students at NeC was the highly regarded collaborative pianist Warren Jones. Always adventurous in choosing repertory, Maxin was attuned to the idioms of contemporary music from an early age. Writing about the music of his mentor/teacher Stefan Wolpe, he said: The difference of Stefans music, the color of it, the vitality, the blazing non-legatos and staccatos, the excitement of it...that was what struck me the most in my youngest years. Not the harmonies, because my ears immediately responded to modern harmonies the minute I heard contemporary music. It didnt make one iota less my love and completely being encapsulated by Beethoven and Schubert. one of the things that Irma was constantly saying was that through contemporary music one understood the classics. Its very true, and I teach that to my students. Calling Maxin staggeringly gifted, Sherman observed that his friend had a small handa physical characteristic that might be thought to limit a players virtuosity. yet, it gave him a flexibility and tensile strength that were remarkable and amazing. Wha-Kyung Byun, also a longtime piano faculty member and Shermans wife, remembered Maxins amazing, compelling sound and touch. Whats more, she said, he had a phenomenal knowledge of repertory and performances. He knew every single performance of a work and not just piano works. He collected Golden era recordings and remembered every single detail. Gabriel Chodos, who was chair of the piano faculty for 25 years, pronounced Maxin omniscient. He knew everything about the piano, about piano playing, about performances, and performers. He knew everything about film. He went to the opera and knew everything about opera. He was very well read. He was just a fount of knowledge. Although his artistry was profound, Maxin experienced difficulty operating in the world, negotiating everyday practicalities. He was the most innocent of souls, totally devoted to music and following his own star, Sherman recalled. That star carried him along many different paths that made it difficult to conform to daily or academic schedules. He was a figure who could not be pinned down. He was a dreamer, but that dream world was of the greatest beauty. Ellen Pfeiffer is Senior Communications specialist at NEC.

Pianist Jacob Maxin Dies at Age 83; Loved as NEC Teacher, Admired as a Performer
By elleN PFeIFFeR

Free Lessons for Budding Players at Guitar Center

The Guitar Center, which bills itself as the worlds largest musical instrument retailer, will launch a new Music Mentor Series in 240 storesincluding its location on Boylston Street in the West Fens. The weekly training series will provide aspiring musicians with the knowledge and skills theyll need in order to fully-utilize their instruments and maximize their creativity, according to the company. The first program began the last week of December and will repeat all this month. the series focuses on beginning players, who must have purchased a new or used guitar through a Guitar Center store or its website. each onehour lesson will feature Guitar Center staff members demonstrating basic techniques, including proper playing position, tuning, basic strumming, chords and instrument care. After the first week, which offered multiple lessons on four days, all Guitar Center stores will continue the lessons each Saturday throughout January. The chain encourages you to register ahead of time at the Guitar Center Saturday lessons homepage (www.guitarcenter.com/SaturdayGuitar-Class-g26677t0.gc) to secure a spot at the store and time you prefer, and you may repeat the class as often as you like. each class will be limited to 1520 participants.

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FENWAY NEWS | JANuArY 2013 | 7

rising Jazz composer gilmore premieres a rambling stretch, complex multimedia portrait of Beauty, pain in his wyoming home

By ANN BRAITHWAITe

enowned composer Tyler Gilmore, a second-year masters student in NeCs acclaimed jazz studies department, premieres his multimedia work A Rambling Stretch on Wednesday, January 30, at New england Conservatorys Brown Hall. The concert, which features a 17-piece big band made up of NeC students, is free and open to the public. Gilmore grew up in Riverton, Wyoming, and the surrounding Wind River Indian reservation where his mother worked as a school counselor. A Rambling Stretch is a portrait of life in the area and includes Gilmores compositions for large jazz ensemble inspired by photographs of the Wind River area Gilmore commissioned from photographer Gary Isaacs. The photos will be projected as a visual element during the concert. on-site recordings of environmental sounds of the area also play a pivotal role in the music. A preview of the photos is available at http://ter-ter-ter.tumblr.com/ The Wind River Reservation may be one of the least-understood areas in the country. It is a place of societal tensions

and of stark open beauty, and has affected my aesthetic deeply, says Gilmore. What spurred me to do this piece was an article about Wind river in The New York Times, which mentioned a crime rate five to seven times the national average, despite attempts at reforms. The area still has a very high murder rate, lots of domestic abuse, alcoholism and a high teen pregnancy rate. That got me thinking about the place I grew up and its strange combination of vast openness and societal inequality. For help funding the project, Gilmore turned to the conservatorys entrepreneurial Musicianship Department, which awarded him a $1,500 grant to help create the work. eva heinstein, assistant director of the department, says, the review committee was immediately drawn in by Tylers vision to create a layered and personal portrait of the Wind River Reservation through original compositions, captured sound and potent imagery. The project dovetailed perfectly with
photo: gary isaacs

One of photographer Gary Isaacss photos for the multimedia presentation, A Rambling Stretch. University of northern Colorado Jazz Band I, the Playground ensemble, and the henry Mancini Institute overture orchestra, among others. His work is published by UNC Jazz Press and Minor Ninth Music. Photographer Isaacs understands the beauty of the American West. An internationally published and collected photographer known for his gritty depictions of western urban life, he has produced noted work for many musical acts, including the album cover of the most recent release by DevotchKa. NeCs Jazz Studies Department was the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved to incorporate jazz into the curriculum when he became president of the conservatory in 1967, the unprecedented program began offering classes in September 1969.. Ann Braithwaite is a publicist who specializes in jazz. For more information, call NECs Jazz Studies office at 617-585-1388 or visit www.necmusic.edu.

H&Hs Christophers Makes Queens Honours List

On December 11, the annual ritual of the Queens birthday honors took a Fenwayspecific turn: Harry Christophers, artistic director of the Handel & Haydn Society, was invested at Londons Buckingham Palace as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music. Roughly 75 people joined Christophers on the list, including actress Kate Winslet (for services to drama). Christophers expressed pride that this recognition comes at a time when the Handel & Haydn Society is going from strength to strength with our education programs, concert season and recording work. Congratulations, Harry!

two central goals of the grant programto advance innovative projects that introduce new value in a particular field of music, and to support projects that harness music to address or raise awareness about social issues, both in the US and abroad. Already an acclaimed composer, Gilmore won the 2009 ASCAP/Columbia College Commission in Honor of Hank Jones and won the ASCAP young Jazz Composers Award for three years running2008, 2009, and 2010. His music has been reviewed in DownBeat and performed by Jon Faddiss Chicago Jazz ensemble, Bobby Watson and The UMKC Concert Jazz ensemble, the

huntington names new playwriting Fellows

Huntington Theatre Company has announced its 2012-2014 cohort of Huntington Playwriting Fellows: Lila Rose Kaplan, Walt McGough, and Lenelle Mose, an artistically diverse group of writers who began their two-year residency in September. The program fosters the talents of local playwrights at all stages of their careers from emerging talent to established professional. During the twoyear residencies, fellows receive a modest grant, tale part in a biweekly writers collective, and benefit from access to the artistic staff and to the resources of the Huntington.

8 | FENWAY NEWS | JANuArY 2013

This symbol indicates a free event. For even more listings, visit www.fenwaynews.org

the Audience Award at the 2012 Boston Jewish Film Festival revisits the MFAs film program. The documentary Hitlers Children focuses on the children of other members of the Third Reich like Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler. Tickets are $7-$11 (depending on screening time and membership status) and may be purchased at www.mfa.org/film, by calling 800-4406975, or in person at any MFA ticket desk.
moN, JaN 7: The Huntington Theatre

wed, JaN 2-thu, JaN 10: The winner of

Caitlyn Henningsen, the gallery talk departs from the MFAs Scharf Visitor Center at 6pm sharp. Free with museum entry. Boston Jazz Chronicles: Faces, Places, and Nightlife 1937-1962 at 2pm in Rabb Lecture Hall at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. FREE suN, JaN 13: Want to find out why a 17th-century Japanese temple bell sits on a pedestal in the Fens? Emerald Necklace Conservancy docent Lola Heiler-Stillman will tell you all about it with an illustrated talk at the Back Bay Fens Visitors Center. 1pm; reservations recommended at 617-522-2700 or visit www. emeraldnecklace.org. FREE
thu, JaN 10: Richard Vacca will discuss The

NEC Plants 200 Candles on Verdis Cake

pick of the month

Company and the Coolidge Corner Theatre continue their Stage & Screen series with a screening of Spike Lees hot-button 1989 film, Do the Right Thing. Following the film, join a conversation with playwright and screenwriter Oren Jacoby and others from the Huntingtons production of Invisible Man discussing how Ellisons and Lees works have shaped the dialog about race in America. Tickets $7-$10; More information at coolidge.org/programs/stage-screen.

wed, JaN 16: The Idan Raichel Project,

uniting African, Middle Eastern, Eastern European and other cultural flavors into an accessible global-pop amalgam, visits Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave. For tickets ($30-$65) and information call World Music/CRASHarts at 617-876-4275 or buy online at www.worldMusic.org.

to mark the 200th annivesary of giuseppe Verdis birth, new england conservatorys Preparatory school faculty member tatyana dudochkin has organized a musical extra vaganza designed to remind audiences of the breadth of the composers art while showcasing the program's accomplished young musicians. wgBh radio announcer ron della chiesa hosts the evening at 7:30pm in Jordan hall. The program ranges over arias (featuring renowned known bass Mikhail svetlov and equally celebrated tenor adam Klein); chamber works; and vast choral/orchestral works. The program promises something for everyoneexcept, perhaps, for the elephants from Ada. tickets $15, 20. http://necmusic.edu/salute-verdi. in the Lowell Lecture Series about her remarkable body of work, which includes large-scale, site-specific installations; intimate studio artworks; architecture; and public memorials, not least of which is the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. 6pm, Rabb Lecture Hall at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. FREE

outside by immersing yourself in Splendor at the Royal Court: 1500-1789. Led by

wed, JaN 9: Forget the dark January days

fri, JaN 18: ArtsEmerson honors Martin

Luther King with a 6pm. screening of Freedom Riders, a harrowing documentary

a heapiNg helpiNg of first Night iN the feNway

of its historic-landmark building. Visit the work spaces of artists working in styles dayloNg celebratioN oN boylstoN plaza from abstract expressionism to postat prudeNtial ceNter | At the geographic modern realism as well as print-making, center of First Night a daylong celebradecorative art, and portraiture. Original tion includes music and eye-catching work will be available for sale. spectacle. Artists include John Powell, Qaor, Main Fader, Cortexelation, Solid 1pm4:30pm: Boston Public Library offers State Entity, LRAD, Whoarfrost, Of The free guided tours of the historic McKim Sun, Andrew Goldman, Patrick Chaney, Building, highlighting architecture and Julie Dion, Sam Perry, and Tanya Fedan. works of famed sculptors and painters. The 30-minute tours run on the half10am4:45pm: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers free admission to the first hour from 1-4:30pm Meet in the lobby of the McKim Building (Dartmouth St. 300 button holders. entrance). 10am5pm:Mary Baker Eddy Library offers free admission to button holders. 1:15pm2pm Festival of International Short Films, a perennial First Night There will be performances by the favorite. Recent short films from all Chinese Dulcimer Guzheng Youth Band (11:30am); Odaiko New England (1:30pm); over the world, curated by the MFA Film Department. Museum of Fine Arts. and Back Bay Ringers at (3:00pm). Allday activities include face painting, arts 3:30pm4pm Experience the Sensurand crafts, and free tours of the Mother round magnificence of Old South Church. Chiming concert on the plaza at Churchs 1921 Skinner orchestral pipe 2 and 9 p.m. organaffectionately dubbed the Copley Philharmonic Organ, demonstrated 11am2pm: The Gardner Museum offers by renowned organist Harry Huff. Old free admission to the first 300 button South Church in Copley Square. holders. Family activities in the studio. Here is a small sampling of First Night events in and around the Fenway:
123pm: Fenway Studios offers free tours

about the 1961 demonstrations by over 400 black and white citizens who bused through the Deep South in protest of segregated travel facilities. At 9pm Don Cheadle fans can revel in one of his best performances in Talk to Me, a Kasi Lemmons film that stole many hearts in 2007. Coming up over the weekend are four other films, including Akeelah and the Bee and Do the Right Thing. Tickets $7.50-$10; www.artsemerson.org. with a 10am Trombone/Tuba Fest at the New England Conservatory. Jointly led by BSO trombonist Norman Bolter and Empire Brass tuba artists Kenneth Amis, this promises to be a rousing fanfare for Sunday morning. in Pierce Hall. FREE
suN, JaN 20: Get the day off to a brassy start

tue, JaN 22: Boston Conservatory faculty

member Janice Weber and soon-to-graduate Oleksandr Poliykov present a program of works for two pianos. Poliykov might not have his degree yet, but hes already a worldtraveling concert pianist. Works by St. Sans, Brahms, Medtner, and Johann Strausss (yes, The Blue Danube, arranged for two pianos). 8pm, Seully Hall, 8 the Fenway. www. bostonconservatory.edu/perform FREE

thu, JaN 24: Berklee alumnus and faculty member Mirek Kocandrie is honored in a memorial tribute concert at Berklee Performance Center. Kocandrie played bass for Roy Orbison, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Platters, the Bee Gees, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, the Seekers, and many others. 8:15pm; advance tickets $8, $12 day of show. Visit http://www.berklee.edu/events fri, JaN 25: Kimberly Peirces Boys Dont Cry and Jennie Livingstons Paris Is Burning kick of a weekend-long exploration of gender identity at the ArtsEmerson film program. Other films in this mini-festival include Tomboy, XXY, and Transamerica. All films require separate admission. Tickets $7.50$10; www.artsemerson.org. suN, JaN 27: Weather willing, this could be a very good day to take a Winter Walk in the Back Bay Fens, led by one of the Emerald Necklace Conservancys knowledgeable docents. This is the first of three walks; the others take place Feb. 24 and Mar. 24. Each will be unique, focusing on a particular theme. 1-2:30pm. Call 617-522-2700. www.emeraldnecklace.org. FREE

wed, JaN 23: The Beehive presents a Tribute to George Gershwin with a trio of great vocalistsNadja Washington, Gabriela Martina, and Sissy Castrogiovannirecreating his signature folk opera vibe. Meanwhile, chef Rebecca Newell will serve up delicious food. No cover, cash bar, reservations recommended. For reservations or more information call 617-423-0069 or visit www. beehiveboston.com. thu, JaN 24: Architect Maya Lin speaks

meets at the South End Library, 685 Tremont St., 6:30pm. For more info, contact Janet at 617-267-0231 slovinj@aol.com tue, JaN 8: Senator Will Brownsberger holds office hours from 7-8pm at Thorntons, corner of Peterborough and Kilmarnock streets. Contact him at william.brownsberger@masenate.gov if you have concerns but cant make that time. thu, JaN 10: Get involved in the redesign of the Edgerly Road Playground at the first of three meetings held by the Parks & Recreaton Department at 6pm, Fensgate Community Room, 73 Hemenway St. (use ramp on the side and ring buzzer). For more info, call 617-635-4505 and ask for Sherri. tue, JaN 15: East Fens Police/Community Meeting, 6pm. Morville House, 100 Norway Street. tue, JaN 15: Fenway Family Coalition potluck meeting. Join other families in sharing resources, advocating for family needs, and implementing family projects. Please bring a dish to share. Call one week ahead to request child care for all children under age 13. 70 Burbank St., lower level. 6:30 p.m. For info or to request child care, contact Kris Anderson at kanderson@ fenwaycdc.org or 617-267-4637 x29.

tue, JaN 8: Ward 4 Democratic Committee

tue, JaN 15: Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association board meeting, Annex Room 3D, Harvard Vanguard, 133 Brookline Ave. Call 617-262-0657 for more information. tue, JaN 15: Senator Will Brownsberger holds office hours from 7-8pm at Starbucks Coffee, 755 Boylston St. Contact him at william.brownsberger@masenate.gov if you have concerns but cant make that time. wed, JaN 16: Fenway Liaison for Mayors Office of Neighborhood Services holds office hours from 3:30-5:30pm at the YMCA, 316 Huntington Ave. Email Shaina Auberg at shaina.aubourg@cityofboston.gov, if you have a concern and cant make it at this time. wed, JaN 16: West Fens Police/Community Meeting, 5pm, Landmark Center, 401 Park Dr., second floor. thu, JaN 17: Congressman Michael Capuanos liaison holds office hours from 1-2pm at Fenway Health, 1340 Boylston St. Call 617-621-6208 if you have concerns but cant be there at that time. sat, JaN 19: Boston Prime Timers, an educational, activities, and support network for older adult gay/bisexual men meets at Harriet Tubman House, corner of Mass. and Columbus Aves. Refreshments at 2:30, program at 3:30; $2 donation at the door. Speaker: Bob Linscottof the LGBT Aging

Project.Visit www.bostonprimetimers.org, email bostonprimetimers@uses.org, or call: 617-447-2344. tue, JaN 22: Fenway CDC Urban Village Committee. Get involved in monitoring development in the Fenway and advocating for the kind of neighborhood you want. 70 Burbank St., lower level. 6 p.m. For more info, contact Lilly Jacobson at ljacobson@ fenwaycdc.org or 617-267-4637x16. tue, JaN 22: Symphony Neighborhood Task Force meeting, 6pm. Location to be determined. Contact Johanna.sena@cityofboston.gov for details. thu, JaN 24: Congressman Michael Capuanos liaison holds office hours from 10-11am at Mikes Donuts, 1524 Tremont St. Call 617-621-6208 if you have concerns but cant be there at that time. moN, JaN 28: The Longwood Medical Area Forum sponsorscommunity reviewof large development projects under the Citys Article 80. Fourth Monday of every month, if necessary, at 6:30pm, location to be determined. Contact Rachel at rminto@ masco.harvard.edu for details and to be added to the notification list. For BRA meetings and hearings, check the calendar at www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/calendar/calendar.asp

suN, JaN 27: An all-day orgy of concerts closes out the spring semester for the NEC Preparatory School chamber music program. Young musicians in string, piano, woodwind, and brass chamber ensembles perform in simultaneous concerts in Brown Hall, Williams Hall, the Keller Room, and Pierce Hall beginning at 9:00am. http:// necmusic.edu/prep-chamber-music-festival. FREE.

The following events take place at the Peterborough Senior Center, located two blocks from Boylston between 100 and 108 Jersey St. (walk down the alley and look left). For more information, call 617-536-7154.

recurriNg
tuesdays

9:30amCoffee Hour 10amConversational English Class 11 a.m: Exercise with Mahmoud

wedNesdays

10noon: Blood pressure check with Joyce 1pm: Yoga with Carmen
thursdays

9:30amCoffee Hour 11amBerklee Students Sing-a-long

special eveNts
To find out about special events, call 617536-7154.