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  Isabel’s Prince St. Laundry, A Community Friend In Boston’s North End Originally appeared on NORTH END WATERFRONT.COM  Link:   North End Laundromat Fosters Community The most important community spots are often the least celebrated. When I first moved to the North End in 1991, the Italian section of Boston had largely gone unchanged for decades. It was the affordable part of Boston back then. My street level two-bedroom apartment at 4A Prince (currently the location of the restaurant Artu) was $625 per month. The European, Florence’s, and Felicia’s were the go-to restaurants. Pizza could be had at Regina’s, Circle Pizza, Café Pompeii, and Umberto’s (although every pizza in the North End has its own distinct style and taste). Though Mike’s Pastry was already a local stop for tourists, traditional family-run bakeries like Parziale’s and Boschetto’s were the local haunts of those in the know. There was no Rose Kennedy Greenway, only the green expressway separating the historic Italian e
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LISA BASTONI – AMAZING SONGS AT AMAZING THINGS It was not my plan that night.   I had already driven 120 miles round trip to Lowell on two successive days to appear on a local radio show supporting my own songs and then traveled up to Arlington Heights to visit one of my oldest friends so we could play a few tunes together.   But when I received word that local singer-songwriter Lisa Bastoni would be playing at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham along with fellow songwriter Rachel Kilgour, I knew it meant returning to the road one more time.   The Amazing Things Art Center is a coffee house performance venue.   I decided to sit directly in front of the stage in a comfortable chair situated conveniently next to a small round table.   As it was already late and I was going to have to drive a considerable distance home following the show, I went over to the concessions counter where I was greeted by three pleasant volunteers.   I asked for a coffe
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PROTECT BASEBALL FANS FROM ADDITIONAL NETTING The Chicago White Sox announced that they will become the first team in Major League Baseball to install protective netting all the way around the field from foul pole to foul pole, the decision coming on the heels of a woman being plunked in the head with a foul ball at Guaranteed Rate Field and a 3-year-old boy who was injured by a ball in Cleveland a few weeks back.   This is yet another example of the powers that be in baseball attempting to reform the game by trying to keep the financial attention of a fan base that no longer knows how to keep its eye on the proverbial ball. The recent rash of injuries due to foul balls is not due to a problem in baseball. It’s more likely due to a problem in society.   Baseball has existed for well over one hundred years and although there were occasional instances where fans have been injured by foul balls (the most famous of which being 1982 when Jim Rice climbed into the stands at Ya
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HISTORY MUST PAY ATTENTION TO ROSS PEROT This column originally appeared on Wicked Local The passing of Ross Perot brings back memories of his spirited run at the presidency in 1992, and also brings to mind that our party system (not originally favored by our Founding Fathers) has become mired in a political rut largely offering the same two party directions for well over a century.   When George Washington took office in 1789, his tendencies were historically Federalist although the humble and astute Washington would have bristled at being given any label. Thomas Jefferson changed the nature of political leadership in 1801 taking office as a Democratic-Republican (a political party affiliation that would be sure to confuse our current president). Andrew Jackson was the first true Democrat in 1828 and Abraham Lincoln the first real Republican in 1860, both at their respective times entering the White House as political outsiders not much unlike a third party candidate might e
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LIFE’S THE SAME I’M MOVING IN STEREO The thing that I most regret losing in my recent divorce is something that never actually became part of our marriage. In the transition of selling one home and relocating to another, I was forced to basically empty the contents of my house so I could somehow stuff myself into my wife’s house. In this hurried process, I took all of my old stereo components that had been boxed up and stored in the attic and dropped them off at a second-hand store. They were heavy, cumbersome, appeared to have little value, and were basically obsolete.   The items that I dropped off included a beautiful Marantz analog receiver that I bought used at Audio Replay in Harvard Square in 1998 for roughly $100.   It was somewhat of a dinosaur even then. Living in the North End of Boston at the time, this receiver along with a cassette deck and a 5-disc CD player (vinyl had yet to make a comeback) became my source of pre-digital music. This system sounded great throu
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BROCKTON ACCORDING TO GILLESPIE This column originally appeared on Wicked Local                                           I decided to make a trip through Brockton after roughly thirty years away. Brockton is a city that, despite its questionable reputation in recent years, is one that I remember as being vibrant and lively when I was a kid. But the Brockton I found was sadly void of the energy that I remembered. Gone are the landmarks that once characterized Brockton East: Christo’s, the Brockton East Twin Cinema, Bradlees, Burger King, Friendly’s, Red Lobster, and even the old Jack-in-the-Box. They have been replaced by a handful of less than notable stores, a Home Depot, and an annex to Massasoit Community College.   The energetic vibe that once reverberated the downtown area of Brockton is also gone.   Main Street was once highlighted by thriving long-lasting businesses, the Brockton Enterprise, the YMCA, and a variety of inviting jewelry and furniture stores.   L
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INCONVENIENT TO A T This column originally appeared on Wicked Local When I was a kid my mother bought me the Boston Game, a board game that caused you to playfully navigate the entire color-coded system of the T.   We were in the city quite a bit, and she thought it would be an effective way for me to learn my way around town and potentially how to use public transportation just in case.   The T was an affordable way to travel back then and it was convenient. For short money you could go virtually anywhere in the city. When I finally moved into Boston permanently in 1990, the T was my principal mode of transportation. For years, my former workplace (Marriott Copley) offered employees T passes for $25.00 a month, making it more affordable and more convenient than driving.      But the T has changed.   This past week, I twice dared to take the T into Boston instead of driving, the first day opting to go to the Quincy Adams Station figuring the Braintree parking lot might
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SAYING FAREWELL TO JUMPIN’ JOE MASON This column originally appeared on Wicked Local I recently received the sad news that an old friend of mine’s father was gone. “I wanted to let you know that Jumpin’ Joe Mason passed away on Saturday night,” said the text message from his oldest son, Mark. “He had a heart attack last week and fought a good fight.” And with that, my mind spun into a myriad of memories from when we were kids. I had not seen Joe Mason in over thirty years, but I would be remiss if I said that I did not think of him often. In a kind of lifelong déjà vu, I am constantly driving by tucked away baseball fields on the South Shore that I only recognize because Mr. Mason had driven us to a game there at one point, fields in places that I would have trouble finding today even with the assistance of GPS. Joe Mason was one of those people that you assume will always quietly be there, but as we seem to be repeatedly reminded in life, no one can be there forever. Joe Mas
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EAST BRIDGEWATER 1980 - REFLECTIONS ON BASEBALL This column originally appeared on Wicked Local. Each year as the weather becomes more spring-like, I am taken back to 1980 in East Bridgewater, a memorable end of the school year with an extremely competitive little league season.   Baseball was the highlight of our spring.   There was no internet.   There were no AirPods.   There wasn’t even such thing as a Space Invader yet, unless you were talking about the ones that arrived on the big-screen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.     All players marched in the annual East Bridgewater Little League parade, and for the first time in what would become the norm, I opened the season at second base for the Lions Club team coached by twenty-one year old Terry Kingman.   Eamon (Terry’s little brother) was a fixture at shortstop.   Eamon Kingman and I were close friends, so we worked well together on and off the field like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, the duo that held down the
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NICK CAFARDO – ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS   This column first appeared on NorthEndWaterfront.com  and also appeared on Wicked Local. I am a Red Sox fan. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but I do remember specifically when it happened. It was a snowy February day in 1978, maybe on a day off from school during the Blizzard of ’78. I flipped through a few of our limited available channels and chanced upon the beginning of a Red Sox Grapefruit League game (spring training in Florida for those of you who are not up to speed). I am pretty sure the Red Sox were playing the Cincinnati Reds at the time.   It was sunny and colorful and, for lack of a better term, optimistic. I was hooked and later that year indoctrinated into official Sox lore with Bucky Dent’s round-tripper into the screen on October 2 nd .    I recall reading an article that summer titled Five Who Made a Difference – documenting the influence of newcomers Dennis Eckersley, Jack Brohamer, Jerry Remy, and two others
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DOG IS LAST IN THE LEAGUE IN WALKS   This column originally appeared on Wicked Local. Almost a month ago, a friend and I met at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham to walk Hannah and Bruce, a yellow lab and golden retriever respectively. As usual both dogs spent time frolicking in the water, Bruce being the ambitious swimmer leaping off the dock in pursuit of flying rocks (and virtually anything else) and Hannah more the observer usually willing to wade in about belly high and do some extremely cautious swimming.    On the way back down the trail heading back in the direction of our cars, Hannah and Bruce took a short detour off the path and disappeared into the woods. Vanishing for only a matter of seconds, Bruce emerged full of energy, but Hannah was slow to make her way back to the trail. Eventually, my yellow lab emerged from the woods struggling to get back onto the path with a noticeable limp. I ran back to see what was the matter thinking that she must have stepped on
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KATIE MCBRINE – A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE If there is one thing that we need today politically it is change, and State Senate candidate Dr. Katie McBrine is aiming to provide a prescription for that change. While there are few available candidates who are willing to break the chains of the status quo, who are courageous enough to take on issues that are sometimes easier left untouched, and who involve themselves politically not because it’s a job but instead because it’s a responsibility, Katie McBrine offers voters a renewed sense of political energy that should carry her to victory in the upcoming November election.   Originally from the South Side of Chicago, McBrine relocated to the Boston area cutting her teeth in the urgent care center at Children’s Hospital. She has been practicing as a Scituate pediatrician for the past seven years, but admittedly has become a bit restless with her commitment to care indelibly tied to the unfortunate yet necessary realities of the busi
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