Play me, I'm yours . . .

Just outside the Berklee Book Store

If you can't perform inside Symphony, you can do it today, just outside it . . .

Thanks to the program streetpianos.com you can sit yourself down and plunk away.
The red piano below is just outside Symphony hall and free for your enjoyment. On my walk in Boston's Fenway area yesterday I passed by three of these uprights, each one uniquely hand decorated.

If you visit the official website: streetpianos.com/boston2013 you'll see a map of the city with the location of the rest of the 75 pianos that go live this Friday and await your touch.

An excerpt from the site: "Touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours is an arts project by artist Luke JerramLuke Jerram.*  When the project goes live in Boston on September 27, over 1000 street pianos will have been installed in 37 cities across the globe, bearing the simple invitation to Play Me, I’m Yours! The project has already reached more than four million people worldwide.
As a thank you to millions of loyal patrons and to celebrate its 75^th anniversary season, Celebrity Series of Boston is presenting Play Me, I’m Yours ‘the Street Pianos Boston Festival’ from September 27 – October 14, 2013. Located in public spaces in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline, 75 pianos are available for anyone to play and enjoy."

Check out the link to Luke Jerram, the British artist who birthed the project and you can read stories of the effect these pianos have had around the world. And there's a video of Luke telling the story of his moment of inspiration.

Deep in the heart of Fenway's Victory Gardens

Just outside of Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue. Just play it and you can say you've performed at Symphony.

Toilets of the World . . .

List price $5,800 for this Aged Bronze Water Closet by Jemal Wright Bath Design

Ever since taking a dump in a hole in Mumbai, where I had to sweep up any miss-aimed matter with a primitive broom that looked like the kind witches fly, I have had a fantasy of writing a book called, "Toilets of the World." My visit to a famous shrine in Kyoto back in the year 2000 brought me to a Japanese toilet that had so many lights and buttons and electronic components that I was unable to figure out how to flush it. Years ago in Verona, Italy, I visited a subterranean ladies room with walls and partitions plastered with pictures of Italian and American movie starts. Just last year in a train station in Palermo, Italy, I almost soiled myself because I couldn't figure out how to shove a euro note into a kiosk so the a door would open and let me into a western style toilet complete with a toilet seat. Travel blindness aside, I had to blink twice when I saw this fixture for sale for anyone wanting a super fragilisticexpialadocius custom bathroom in which to void vegan or carnivore waste. And you can see it's a low flow flush. How environmentally correct!

Laying off of sugar . . . help!

Every now and then I vow to get off of "the white stuff." Not talking about white powder one sees in crime shows, I'm talking about dairy, sugar, flour, and all combinations of same. Time for my next cholesterol screening is approaching and I always do much better after a few weeks off the white stuff. Something about this picture of a reclining "Hello Kitty!" that I took at the Prudential mall a few days ago keeps haunting me and has compelled me to make a post featuring her in what appears to be a sated position.