Ode

I saw a dead butterfly
The other day.
I couldn’t help,
But feel responsible.

A long hiatus

Well GBA, it has been awhile since my posts have last lingered on the stained walls of this section of the internet. I have been hard at work at some other ventures of mine like UndergroundBoston.net, aldeluca.tumblr.com (my personal music and humor blog), and of course jobs that actually pay some bills.

I feel myself drawn back here though where my philisophical rants, questions for the world, and optimistic tidbits can remain unharmed. The other websites aren’t the proper outlet for such musings.

I’m returning to Boston soon, and many adventures await I’m hoping. I’m diving head first into the music scene, have gone vegetarian, switched to vinyl, and done other things my parents would roll their eyes at if they ever knew about.

Glad to be back

Undergroundboston.net

Well, I’ve recently opened my new site www.undergroundboston.net so if the updates are slow on here, thats the reason. I’ve started pretty much from scratch and only have one staff member so far, so its pretty time consuming. Hopefully you’ll all visit and I’ll get back to writing on here as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading guys!

-Al

NO SHIT moment of the week

As I was reading through the newspaper the other day (yes, they still make them), I came across the following headline on the FRONT PAGE. Get ready for this…

Parents told to monitor Grad Parties

You’ve got to be kidding me. Front page news?!? Oh hey my children are 18, they are having a party. They’ll be perfectly responsible. Right? … what Daily News? They won’t?! OMFG THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME.

shit.

Well even though its a dumb article, at least that means there must not be any more important news to report. The general public isn’t very educated on the economic crisis or coming election. Too bad there isn’t some sort of readily accessible medium to educate them about these issues through. OH WAIT THERE IS, but we are too busy telling parents that 18 year olds are 18 year olds.

Great Scott!

So this past week I got in the car, grabbed the best friend, and drove into Allston Village, right outside of Boston.

Now I have been there before briefly, but this is the first time I’ve actually spent a substantial amount of time in the place, and OH! how I enjoyed it. Everyone we encountered was very friendly, and it seemed like a very progressive and artsy part of Boston.

We started out eating a delicious dinner at Grasshopper, an asian inspired all-vegan restaurant. I ordered the no-name special and was STUNNED that it was vegan. It was dense, filling and had none of the tofu or soy aftertaste that some vegan dishes can have. They also have a vegan-”cheese”cake that is to die for. You’ll be amazed, trust me.

Next we walked over to the Great Scott where my friend’s friend’s band was playing. (Bearstronaut). They hail from Lowell Massachusetts and had a really great sound with electro undertones. They know how to work the stage too and were dancing and really getting into the music. Great performance for such a young crew.

So moral of the story? Go explore Allston for a day and grab a concert, almost all the venues are 18+ (screw downtown Boston and its 21+ shit), and most concerts are $15 or under. Future note: The Ting Tings, well known for their song on the current iPod ad are coming to the Great Scott June 19th, 18+ $10 at the door. See you there!!

http://grasshoppervegan.com

http://www.myspace.com/bearstronautmusi

www.greatscottboston.com/

Weekly Voice Off – PIRATES

So time to start a new little feature here on GBA. The weekly voice off is where you can voice your opinion on an issue that affects all of us, this weeks: internet piracy.

With artists getting little to no money from conventional CD sales; and many starting to release pay-what-you-want albums, where do you stand on “illegal” downloading or sharing of music? Do you do it? Why or why not?

Comment with your opinion

Be Happy!

Well here in New England it’s pretty rainy out today, so I thought some tips to keep you in a good mood might be in demand!

1. Spend at least 1 hour per day without TV or Computers or iPod on PURPOSE. Driving to work or doing homework does not count. Take time that you would otherwise spend in the virtual world, and read a book or go for a walk, you’ll find this gives you MUCH needed time to organize your thoughts and feelings.

2. Talk to childen; talk to the elderly. Smile while you do it. The combination of innocence and experience will make you step back and analyze your own life choices.

3. Eat healthy. This one is a biggy. Sure burgers make your body feel pleasure, but it is short lived and quickly you feel guilty about your decision. Have an apple instead of chips, half of a sandwich instead of a full one. Our stomaches are small and if you just give the food a second to reach it, you’ll be full on surprisingly little amounts. The best part is how PROUD you will feel afterwards.

4. Don’t hate anything. Think about reasons for people’s behavior and purposes of items or movements you don’t agree with. You don’t have to like it, but hate is a MEANINGLESS emotion. It literally accomplishes nothing. Same goes for worry and awkwardness. You only live once, don’t let these emotions steal any more time than they already have.

5. Take a deep breath and ask “In a year, will I care?” If the answer is no, don’t get worked up.

6. Try new things!! What is the worst that could happen? So you don’t care for that new food or music, so what? By trying new things you can find a new favorite band or dish, and you’ll love new experiences. A lot of the eternal bliss of childhood is that everything is new and different, bring that to your adult life.

7. Don’t be lazy. Often times even if it is a bit cold or rainy out, if you go out and DO SOMETHING with your day, you’ll be VERY glad you did, try and create lifetime memories every day.

8. Smile when you answer the phone.

9. Talk to everyone with your familiar tone of voice. Pretend you’ve already casually met everyone, when we talk to strangers we use different, defensive voices. Get rid of it, people will respond in a surprisingly positive manner. They too will take down the defenses if you start it. You’ll find suddenly strangers are almost all nice people.

10. Think of things you are grateful for, whenever you feel down. If you keep it going long enough, soon you’ll forget why you were feeling down in the first place.

That’s all for today, hope you enjoy!

Springtime

I saw this today on a walk downtown and thought it was pretty nice that even kids can get into making public spaces more beautiful. The poem isn’t going to win any awards, but its nice to see.

The wind is
howling.

The sweet
flowers are
blooming.

The weather
is warmer.

Magnificent!

A turn for the better

Well if you are from New England you probably noticed the weather finally decided to be merciful and spare us the famed April showers. Thankfully we’ve been having some pretty nice days and lots of people have been outside.

That being said, kids and teenagers around have been out as well, and the town where I’m living for a few months is kinda pissed.

Now if you know me, you know I have a great appreciation for street art. I think it brings a needed excitement and culture to the mundane brown buildings and gray roads. In Newburyport, however, the only street art I’ve seen so far is:

1. Three misshapen, messily drawn blobs of green yellow and red (obviously using a stock tip)

2. A stencil of Charles Manson

Now for a town where they have nothing better to do than send kids to jail for smoking pot, starting THIS particular kind of street art probably isn’t the best idea. Positive and optimistic themes might be a better track to take for a town that is so painfully puritan.

I have a feeling things won’t be getting any better for the under 30 crowd in Newburyport MA anytime soon. . .

Comment with suggestions
PS: I hate to ask, but a thumbs up on stumble would be nice, the more traffic, the more I’ll be inclined to post as often as possible

Just something small for today…

You are beautiful.

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