BSO

BSO

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Hamp Spring?

 

Northampton. 

What a concept. 

 


 

Sorta nicer weather has caused the old downtown to be a bit livelier these days. Here's the Expandable Brass Band taking it to the street. 



Meanwhile, elsewhere downtown some Hamas sympathizers were holding a sit-in at the office of Congressman Jim McGovern. 




They finally gave up after a few days once they realized the futility (if not the stupidity) of their protest. 

 

Do kids today even know what a phone booth is? There are the ruins of one located between the Miss Florence Diner and the Florence Post Office. 



Some good head has undertaken to transform the communications relic into a means of transmitting some good time vibes from the Grateful Dead. 




There are Deadheads who follow St. Stephen, but Hamp multi-media dude Dann Vazquez brings us this message he came upon stuck on a mailbox warning against following St. Rachel.

 


 

 Pine Point 1991.




Is this group called the Three Bitches or the Three Witches? Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll (left), former Gov. Jane Swift (center) and Gov. Maura Healey.

 


It's a rip-off of a real Dunkin Donuts commercial featuring real celebrities that the public actually likes. 




Dunkin should sue those ladies for damaging their brand. 



Monday, March 11, 2024

Primarily

 

Last Tuesday I headed up the street to my quaint New England polling place to vote for biotech engineer Vivek Ramaswamy for the GOP presidential nomination 



Didn't I know that Vivek dropped out of the race over a month ago? Yes, of course I did, but I have always felt that you should vote for whatever candidate you think is the best without giving any regard to whether you think they can win. Only then can your vote be pure. 

Here are the results of the Massachusetts Republican primary. 

 

 

How embarrassing that NO PREFERENCE came in third, above the vote totals for five flesh and blood contenders! 

Since when has Chris Christie been so popular in Massachusetts? And who the fuck is Ryan Binkley? At least 611 Massachusetts residents know.

Speaking of presidential subjects, did you know that the presidential library and museum for Calvin Coolidge, the former Northampton mayor who went on to become the only person from the Pioneer Valley to be elected President, is located up on the second floor of Northampton's Forbes Library?

 


Cal and Gracie will be glad to greet you if you go.

 

 

 

My sainted mother worked for decades in Forest Park and was a friend of Springfield Park Commissioner Patrick Sullivan, shown below standing between the late City Councilor Clodo Concepcion and former State Senator Brian Lees in 2005. 

 


 

Sullivan is also the nephew of the infamous activist Eamon T. O'Sullivan. Last week Pat Sullivan announced his retirement after 37 years of service and my family wishes him many long and happy years to come. 

On a sadder note, I was sorry to hear of the death of local real estate magnate Paul Sears

 


 

Sears was a prominent political figure in Springfield in the late 1960's and early 70's, when he served on the City Council. The political issue that Sears is best remembered for is having cried out in warning that it was sheer folly to build the New North Elementary School (now renamed Gerena) on a sandy swamp down by the riverfront. Supporters of the boondoggle accused Sears of opposing it because of anti-Hispanic bias.

Millions of dollars later in foundation leaks, bad air circulation and constant repairs, the passage of time has proven Sears completely correct in his misgivings. In fact, the building has problems to this day. Rumors persist about who profited from such an obviously corrupt decision and prominent names have been mentioned. 

However, that controversy has by this point probably disappeared forever into that over-flowing file cabinet on Springfield political history marked, "Never to be Known." If only today's City Clowncil had half the healthy skepticism of government and concern for public finances that Paul Sears did. 

 


 



Monday, March 4, 2024

Newspaper Anniversary

 

This year is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Springfield Newspapers

 

 

As part of the celebration, the newspaper is re-publishing the front pages of some of the paper's most news worthy events, such as the Great Flood of 1936 shown here. Count how many articles appear on that front page. 

 


 

I count 17 separate stories starting on that one page of the paper. Now take a look at the front page of the edition of the Springfield newspaper published yesterday.


 

The modern version of the paper has two (count 'em) TWO stories on the front page. I realize the newspaper industry is in decline and has less staff to produce content, but this is simply pathetic. The great challenge for the Springfield Newspapers 200th Anniversary is to figure out how to celebrate the greatness of their past without inadvertently drawing attention to what a pale shadow of that greatness they are in the present. 


Meanwhile, this cartoon insulting north valley Congressman Jim McGovern appeared this morning on the window of the empty storefront where Faces once was. 

 

 

This Northampton panhandler has a cute donation can. 

 


A cuppa at the Woodstar Cafe



My new coffee hot-spot lately is Catalpa Coffee on Pleasant Street. 

 


 

View out the window of Catalpa Coffee



The house my Great-Grandfather built on Hood Street in Springfield had a Catalpa tree out front, although it has since been cut down.

When was the last time you visited the historic Miss Florence Diner, complete with their antique jukeboxes that still work? They are the exact same kind that once graced the booths of the late, lamented Russell's in Springfield's ol' Pine Point. 

 


Coming attraction. 

 


 



Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Too Red

 Someone ran around downtown Hamp on Valentine's Day spreading positive vibes.

 


Less uplifting is the depressing amount of evidence of left-wing extremism I've been seeing lately. 



This poster even brags about the shameful name of the UMass library. 



There are in fact conservatives at UMass, but the only interest in them appears to be as research subjects. 



"Names and details will be kept private" they say reassuringly. Good thing, or else participants might get a visit from the thought police. 

 

Land of legends in Springfield.

 


 

 Back when we used to have a sense of humor about our past. 


 

A badge of honor.