Just started listening. Getting a bit misty eyed listening to J-Rich's "Government Center."
I moved up to Boston (Somerville, for accuracy sake, but still) right after my now-wife, who just finished grad school at Northeastern when we met. I somehow never heard Jonathan or the Modern Lovers before, save for when they play "Roadrunner" at the end of PCU. I'm not sure how this escaped me. She was a huge fan and I became a huge fan as a result.
I was going through a really tough time when I moved up there. If you've read my brother's book (or more accurately, his letter to a kid who was talking about committing suicide) -- that happened when I moved up there, so I was really upset as a loving big brother. There were also some other family issues that emerged that were awful. On top of it, I learned that my best friend in high school (who separated himself from all of us in college) committed suicide. This all happened within the first few weeks of moving up there. I was also "teaching" at this after-school program in Dorchester; the kids were rad and hilarious but the program, in itself, was a major trust fund hippie thing which was not my deal at all. It was terrible. I also lived in the last remaining bad neighborhood in Somerville in a boarding house with non-stop creeps moving in and out. I also only had a handful of friends up there, a few of which were in law school which is to say it's really hard to hang out w/ people in law school. I also went through my entire savings when I lost that teaching job and then quit/let go from another place on Newbury Street (one block from the bombing) after a co-worker threatened to fight me in the office. And the winter's up there are absolutely brutal.
Things got better the next year. I moved in w/ one of my best friends (who introduced me to The Best Show at this time period) and had a great job down working for a newspaper. The paper, though, was in Plymouth, about an hour south from me. I spent a lot of my time down there. So I never really connected w/ Boston when I lived there. The best moments in my life have all pretty much happened in Philly.
That's not to say there weren't great things. The red line over the Charles is spectacular every single time. I took an economics class on the Harvard campus as part of their community program. I introduced one of my friends to a girl at The Burren and they're now married. My wife and I secreted our way into Fenway Park in the winter when they were doing construction. I also, another time, hung out in the Fenway bullpen and used the bathroom. My roommate and I spent so much of our time watching the Celts and the 7 Seconds or Less Suns. I saw Harry Shearer talk do a Q&A at the Coolidge Corner Theater only about Spinal Tap. But, still, the bad cloud that I was in defined my time up there.
The last time I visited was this past winter when my brother did a show up in Somerville. It was amazing weather for the season. We had such an amazing time and it was a completely perfect weekend. When we were up there, we briefly talked about moving up there -- I don't think we will because of jobs and our roots are here and the cost of living is still crazy up there. I completely fell in love with Boston and wish I felt that way about the area when I actually lived there.
Monday was absolutely awful. All of my friends were safe -- the stuff down by Boylston Street is very much a gigantic party, but thankfully no one I know was down there. But like I said, I worked a block away from where the second bomb went off so that hit home. But it was just dreadful for my wife because she went to the marathon non-stop.
Anyways, thanks for the songs, Tom.
