Fenway

Not everybody a big fan of the big baby heads outside the MFA

adamg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:54:42 -0400

Dave Daniels writes:

If you've got an evil and sadistic brother like mine, it brings back memories of my little sister's doll's heads being removed from their bodies. And her youthful screams of horror. And a local dog running by with one of the heads in his mouth as he made for the forest with said severed heads. ...

Man who collapsed during arrest after Celtics victory dies; DA to investigate

adamg — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:58:43 -0400

Boston Police report that David Woodman, 22, of Southwick, died today at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 11 days after he collapsed while being arrested on Brookline Avenue in the Fenway following the Celtics win:

Officers observed an individual, crossing the street with a group of four others, drinking from an open container of what was believed to be alcohol. Officers attempted to conduct a threshold inquiry when the suspect attempted to flee. He was soon subdued by officers. The suspect began struggling with the officers as they attempted to handcuff him.

At that time, officers realized that he was in medical distress; they immediately began to administer CPR and summonsed EMS to that location. An ambulance arrived on scene and took over emergency CPR. He was rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center.

The Suffolk County DA's office, Boston Police homicide unit and Boston Police internal-affairs unit are all investigating. Autopsy results are pending.

The Herald had previously reported that Woodman had a pre-existing cardiac condition.

Finally: A bar for anal-retentive perfectionists

adamg — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:37:40 -0400

Everybody else, however, might want to avoid TC's Lounge on Haviland Street, Jason Feifer reports.

Re-opening the long shut Fenway entrance to the MFA

adamg — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:20:45 -0400

Joel Brown reports on the museum's re-opened Fenway entrance and new visitor center, which reporters, employees and big donors got a tour of today - and which everybody can see for free on Sunday:

... My favorite part of the Fenway project is "Day and Night," a two-part sculpture by Antonio Lopez Garcia, which has been outside the Huntington doors for a few months and flanks the re-opened Fenway entrance. Even [museum honcho] Rogers refers to the sculpture as "the giant baby heads," which sounds hilarious when he says it in that plummy accent of his. The sculpture adds an odd, arty, irreverent tone to the scene, which helps set off the forbidding monumentality of that face of the museum, with its 22 Ionic columns, each 36 feet tall. The baby heads are only 8 feet tall, and weigh about a ton and a half each, but they make a dramatically wacky statement in their present position. Kudos to Gail and Ernest von Metzsch for the gift. ...

Sorry, Globe: Dianne Wilkerson didn't qualify for the ballot with 3,000 signatures

adamg — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:42:01 -0400

The Globe reports on state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's desire to avoid another embarrassment like two years ago, when she, oops, forgot to file her nomination petitions on time. The paper writes:

This year, Wilkerson qualified for the primary ballot with a whopping 3,000 signatures, 10 times the amount she needed.

Not quite. As Linda Rodriguez at the South End News reports, Wilkerson actually only qualified with 428 signatures, just one more than her opponent, Sonia Chang-Diaz. This doesn't mean the remainder of her 3,000 signatures were bad, necessarily, just that elections officials stopped looking after a certain point.

Where's all the great shopping on Comm. Ave.?

adamg — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:06:58 -0400

Phill Jupitus is some British comedian and broadcaster who loves Boston, which is wonderful, but he writes:

The city also boasts some first-class shopping. The first place to go is probably Commonwealth Avenue but I also like Boylston Street.

Where is this first-class shopping on Comm. Ave.? In Kenmore Square? Along BU? He also says he likes the food in the Italian Quarter.

Stab 'n Flagon

adamg — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:04:52 -0400

Boston Police report a man was stabbed in the men's room at the Cask 'n Flagon around 1:30 this morning:

According to witnesses, they observed a male suspect (5'07", light skinned black male wearing a light green shirt, jeans and sneakers) run out of the bar holding a small knife. Witnesses further stated that the suspect appeared to have blood on his hands.

The victim was taken to Brigham and Women's for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Some murder cases are more equal than others

adamg — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:35:52 -0400

On Friday, the front page of the Globe's City & Region section featured a color photo of Neil Entwistle crying and a long story about how distressed he was to see video of his dead wife and daughter (the online version has video for you to enjoy).

You had to turn the page to see one-paragraph rewrites of press releases from the DA's office about a former Army sharpshooter being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting a man outside a Fenway bar and about a mistrial for two guys accused of killing a woman (and shooting out the eye of her companion) in Dorchester.

Over at the Herald, Peter Gelzinis today compares the stop-the-presses coverage of the Entwistle case with the almost non-existent coverage of the Calvin Carnes case (only some guy who is charged with gunning down FOUR PEOPLE in a Dorchester basement) and the case of Rodrick Taylor, accused of killing a young woman from Milton, then taking her body to Franklin Park and burning it:

Regardless of how despicable or merciless the crime, it is easier to numb ourselves when it happens "over there," in those places police classify as "hot zones." There are no manicured front lawns, no entrances secured with push-button combination alarms, no two-car garages.

The irony, of course, is that a pair of overlooked inner-city human dramas now unfolding in two Boston courtrooms have far more to do with murder as it actually exists, day in and day out, than the made-for-TV-movie playing out in Woburn.

Hmm, wonder what the Powers that Be at the Herald think of this column? Might be kind of hard to ask them, though, since they seem too busy filing Entwistle dispatches every 10 minutes ("We all got to see Dan Bennett, assistant district attorney, in action as he rolled out Neil's eBay wheeling and dealing. I'm sure he has juicier Web work to come.")

Of shovels and umbrellas

adamg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:30:10 -0400

Rather than try to summarize Mike Mennonno's saga of how he came by to lose his shovel at the Victory Gardens, I'll just suggest you go read it.

Maybe they're only culling the herd

adamg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:58:41 -0400

Jimbo notes that 108 representatives voted against casino gambling and so he wonders why the Teamsters have only targeted four of them for defeat this fall, including Carlo Basile of East Boston and Jeffrey Sanchez of Mission Hill, but not House Speaker Sal DiMasi, who probably had a lot more to do with our continuing non-casino status.