Tuesday is the New Thursday at the Middlesex Lounge

I was called out by my friends at Mash Ave, dj BC and Lenlow, for Bootie Night on Tuesday, August 12 at the Middlesex Lounge in Central Square. Their bootleg mashup hip-hop scene has been going for 3 or 4 years now, and has found a new monthly home in Central for the last six months.

It's been a while since I had ventured into Central Square and the Middlesex Lounge is on the far side, on Mass. Ave. a couple of blocks past Main Street towards MIT. The name Middlesex has always put me in mind of something you might have walked in on your parents doing when you were a kid - if you had regular parents, not mine. So it's the perfect name for a hip night spot.

Central Square has undergone another transition this summer. The angle intersection of Main Street and Mass. Ave. has been changed to impose a new plaza complete with outdoor tables and benches, flower boxes, and trees. Instead Main Street hooks left just before Mass. Ave. to intersect at a right angle. It's getting so you can't drive around Cambridge without swerving left and right to dodge all the street improvements.

The Middlesex Lounge sits discreetly across the street from the Asgard, with gauze covered windows to keep out the street. The walls are lined by comfortable benches, mounted on what look like hospital gurney wheels. The unisex bathrooms have progressed to the next logical step and are not even marked “bathroom” on the door. There is a bar and a kitchen and a big open space for dancing, which the Mash Ave. boys and their guest DJ got everyone doing.

We did slow down a bit to watch the women’s gymnastics at the Olympics in Beijing on the wide screen TVs. Someone asked, “Where are the Russians?” My remark, “recalled to the front in Georgia” seemed quite funny to me but not so much to the one woman present whose grandparents lived in Tbilisi. I believe the Russian women gymnasts actually finished fourth, but didn’t make the cut for much TV coverage. The Chinese women got the better of the American women on screen. On the dance floor, the gold went to the Indian women. I myself was awarded a 3 for technical difficulty and a 2 for artistic interpretation, but at least I completed the floor exercise without getting the red card for going out of bounds.

The next Bootie Night is Tuesday, September 9. Maybe I'll see you there.

Another Half Truth

Is F-Minus channeling the Barack Obama and John McCain discussion of what makes a man rich?


Click on image for larger size.

Eight If You Count His Ex-Wife's House

Asked in an interview how many houses he owns, John McCain replied, "I think -- I'll have my staff get to you." Apparently this question is below his pay grade.

A Boost in the Ass for Obama

Country music icon Toby Keith has defined red state culture in the 2000s, with songs like "How Do You Like Me Now?," "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" ("we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American Way"), "I Love This Bar," "American Soldier," and "As Good as I Once Was."

His duet "Beer For my Horses" with Willie Nelson got a little uncomfortable around the collar with lyrics "take all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys, hang them high in the street, for all the people to see." And a 2003 feud with the Dixie Chicks, who were ostracized from country music after making anti-Bush remarks in Europe, led to lead chick Natalie Maines wearing a t-shirt saying "FUTK."

Toby has self-identified as a "conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party." He endorsed George W. Bush over John Kerry in 2004. But he has also endorsed Democratic Congressman Dan Boren from Oklahoma and is friends with Democratic Governor and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson from New Mexico.

Now Toby Keith has made some remarks praising Barack Obama:

"There's a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up. So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things. So as far as leadership and patriotism goes, I think it's really important that those things have to take place. And I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton. And that's coming from a Democrat."

That's got to light up Barack Obama's world like the Fourth of July.

Let No One Question My Love of this Country

Speaking today at a VFW convention in Orlanda, Florida, Barack Obama challenged John McCain on the issue of patriotism:

"One of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can't disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

Campaigning later in the day in Raleigh, North Carolin, Barack Obama said:

"Our job in this election is not just 'win,' although I'm a big believer in winning. I don't intend to lose this election. John McCain doesn't know what he's up against. He can talk all he wants about Britney and Paris, but I don't have time for that mess."

Our poll tracking sources show Obama's lead ebbing, down to 275 electoral votes versus 250 for McCain in one, and 298 versus 240 in another. But the goal is to peak in November, not in August.

Is It All About Michael Moore?

Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore has published an article in Rolling Stone outlining “How The Democrats Can Blow It ...In Six Easy Steps.” Michael Moore had previously if somewhat tepidly endorsed Barack Obama. Now he has outlined the six ways he thinks Barack can lose the election in November:

1. Keep saying nice things about McCain.
2. Pick a running mate who is a conservative white guy or a general or a Republican.
3. Keep writing speeches for Obama that make him sound like a hawk.
4. Forget that this was a historic year for women.
5. Show up to a gunfight with a peashooter.
6. Denounce me!

It’s that last one that has got us thinking. Why would Barack need to denounce Michael Moore? Says Moore:

“Obama, at some point, might be asked this question: ‘Michael Moore has endorsed you. But he recently said (fill in the blank with some outrageously offensive line taken out of context). Will you still accept his endorsement, or do you denounce him?’”

Apparently Michael Moore plans to say some outrageously offensive things that will be taken out of context. This could of course be entirely avoided if Michael Moore would just keep his mouth shut. Or at least not say anything outrageously offensive between now and election day. But here’s the real rub, according to Michael Moore:

“So Barack, by denouncing me, you can help McCain get elected. Because when you denounce me, it's not really me you're distancing yourself from — it's the millions upon millions of people who feel the same way about things as I do. And many of them are the kind of crazy voters who have no problem voting for a Nader just to prove a point.”

Michael Moore did endorse Ralph Nader over Al Gore in 2000, so this is not an idle threat. But I could not help but notice that Michael Moore called the people who think like him “crazy voters.” Maybe these people have come to realize they’d have to be crazy to think like Michael Moore.

I’ve talked to several documentary filmmakers who have grown to dislike Michael Moore. His tactics make it very easy for officials at companies they want to interview to say no. They just point to Michael Moore’s films and say that they don’t want to be used and have their views distorted.

Certainly Michael Moore has made a lot of money off the misery of others. With the big money he made off Fahrenheit 9/11, you might even call him a war profiteer.

Year	Movie	U.S. Gross	Foreign Gross	Total Gross
1989	Roger and Me	6,706,368	-	6,706,368
1998	The Big One	720,074	-	720,074
2002	Bowling for Columbine	21,576,018	37,000,000	58,576,018
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	119,114,517	103,300,000	222,414,517
2007	Sicko	24,538,513	9,000,000	33,538,513

The Upper Crust

I must admit that when the Museum of Useful Things in Harvard Square closed I didn't really notice. I had been in the place once or twice, enough to know that it was some sort of shop and not a museum. And then one day it was gone.

So I was curious when there was suddenly a crowd of people outside, and even more curious when I discovered that the new establishment was a pizzeria called The Upper Crust. As the 49 Brattle Street location at the corner of Brattle and Story Street is just a block from my office, The Upper Crust required immediate investigation.

Unfortunately, the new place aspires to be one of those high-end pizza joints, with offerings like White Clam, White Shrimp, and the Hingham (scallops and bacon). The Lexington (lobster fra diavlo) tops out the menu at $25 for a large pie (most of the large pizzas are $17 to $21). Still I tried the “slice of the day,” which that day was spinach and broccoli with feta cheese. I will admit it was a nice thin crust pizza. Can’t beat the proximity.



The Upper Crust is now open for delivery and takeout only, but will open for in house dining August 12th. Love the delivery bikes with mounted pizza box.

Note: I see that the prices at my old favorite Bertucci’s are now in essentially the same $18 to $20 range. Harvard Square already has its high-end pizza joint in Cambridge 1 on Church Street featuring an ultra-thin crust that is in a different experience entirely.