Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

Writer's Notebook: Playing the Blues

I'm taking a break from writing to play with my band, the Basement Blues Band, at a gig tonight.  We play a mix of blues and rock, with a variety of influences, including jazz.  If you are in the southeast Massachusetts area, come join us at the FUSF church in Franklin, MA at 7:30 (Saturday March 13) for the annual Chestnut Street Review.  Here's a link for more details.  There's lots of talented groups and individuals playing, plus great snacks during intermission.  I listened from the audience seats last year and had a great time.  This should be a lot of fun for all. 

Writer's Notebook: Songs about Ireland

As readers of this blog know, I love to write fiction.  One of my other huge interests is music and from time to time I write songs. The reason I bring it up is that I'll be playing this weekend at an open mic night in Medfield, Massachusetts at North Street Coffeehouse.  

For the occasion, I've decided to play the two songs I wrote about my travels in Ireland.  As you might expect for a writer, there's a story behind each song.  Twenty-two years ago, I took my first trip to the isle and loved the unique character of its towns and villages.  I also had heard about Irish music, but the scene at small clubs just amazed me.  In place after place, musicians would gather in a corner and play a wide variety of Celtic music.  This was my real introduction to the Celtic sound and I couldn't get enough of it.  I thought about my experiences for quite a while, then I sat down and started to write a song.  The result was Irish Man.  I recorded a version for a song contest last year and you can hear it here on Gather.com.  

Last summer, I went to Ireland again, this time on a business trip to an area southwest of Dublin.  On the first trip, I hadn't spent much time in Dublin, so I made a point of taking a bus into town and checking it out.  Ireland had changed a lot since my first visit and Dublin is at the epicenter of the economic changes going on.  In Europe, the phrase they use to describe Ireland is the Celtic Tiger.  By the time I arrived, Ireland was beginning to feel it's own downturn, but the economy was still much stronger than what I'd seen on the first visit.  Dublin is a great walking city and I wrote about my walk through parts of town in another post here.  The city is steeped in history and in strolling from place to place, I kept running into references to the many writers who had lived and gone to school in Dublin.  I wanted to capture a bit of that, and that became the nugget for another song.   About a month ago, I decided the time and had and started writing words.  Perhaps thirty minutes later, I had all of the music and my first pass at the lyrics.  The song is called Dublin Walk and builds on the impressions built up by several walks through the city that week. 

I've played Irish Man in public many times, including once earlier this summer for a church group.  But this will be the first time I've played Dublin Walk for anybody other than my family.   I'm looking forward to it.  If you're in the area, stop by.   As an added bonus, my son has a band and they also will be playing.  The last time I went to this coffeehouse, we had a great night listening to all of the local talent and the headlining act.   This should be fun.  

First Day of Spring

It's the first day of Spring and a guy's thoughts naturally turn to Baseball!  Well, actually, a bit more than that at the moment.  The NCAA basketball tournament is going on and my favorite Uconn Huskies will be playing on Saturday, so I need to put aside time to check that out.   I've also been delinquent in watching the woman Huskies this year, who are heavily favored to win it all in their tournament, so I need to figure out when they'll be on.  

After a long winter, spending more time outdoors will be welcome. In my family, we like bicycling, so we'll be heading out to the back roads of our small town.  My youngest son plays baseball, so that season will also be starting up soon and we'll be out to root for him.  Winter laid a big load on Southeast Massachusetts this year, so the outdoor Spring cleanup is beginning and will keep us busy, but also give me another reason to get outdoors, which is a good thing.  

As a writer, I'll still spend time writing new pages in my spiral notebook and editing existing pages in my PC, but most of this will be in the evening, when the lure of the outdoors and a taste of Spring are not so prominent.  

So, Spring has arrived and in New England, we'll savor it all the more after the past 4 months of a severe winter.  

Snowstorm in Foxboro: A Patriots Experience

Woo-hoo!  My sons and I went to see the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium today, in the midst of a snowstorm and had a great time.   My wife likes to go to church fairs and our chance to go to the game resulted from her winning a raffle at our church.   Her prize:  four tickets to the local phenomenon, the New England Patriots.  A week ago, the weather forecast looked fine.  But it was not to be.  Beginning Friday, our area got slammed with a snowstorm that dumped over a foot of snow on the ground.   The good news?   The followup storm on Sunday was supposed to be only half as intense, with 3-6 inches predicted before turning into a wintry mix.   

Up until now, we'd always worked around the Patriots' game day, but today we would need to dive into it.   I consulted a couple of folks on parking and was given a lead on a spot in a private driveway.  Alas, when we got there, there was no sign of anyone managing parking, so we crossed over Route 1 and pulled into the first lot we saw.   I asked how much?   $50.   Whoa!  That would suck up much of the cash in my wallet.  But, we didn't know the territory well, so we paid it.  The location wasn't bad, just a couple of hundred yards away from the regular stadium entrances for parking.  

 

We headed over to the park and got pelted by snow all of the way over.  About twenty minutes later, we'd passed the new shopping extravaganza, Patriot Place and entered the outskirts of the stadium.   At the security edge, they patted all of us down and told us to throw our bottled water away.  Not a great start.  The Patriots like to offer this image of being customer friendly, but that was the last contact we had with the events staff, other than at the concession stand.  We approached the stadium and had to guess where to go.   Our seats were located in section 301.   We took a guess and walked up the first of several concrete ramps.   Fortunately, it turned out we were on the correct side, but this was the first stadium or other venue I've been to where nobody helped you at all.  I can tell you that the staffs at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium would never let that happen.  

 

We were already pretty darn cold, but walked up about 6 ramps in order to get to the landing below the entrance to our seats.   By now, it was noon, so we decided to spend the last of our money and get lunch. The prices were better than I expected.   My oldest son and I both opted for cold weather fare, a bratwurst on a bun and hot chocolate to drink.   My youngest and his buddy were less ambitious and elected to get popcorn and sodas.  We decided to eat on the landing.   The bratwurst tasted pretty good by this point and the hot chocolate helped to warm us up.  

 

After eating for a bit, we walked up toward our seats.  And up, and up, until we reached Row 26, the last row.   Turns out that this row also has the seats right against the concrete wall of the stadium, which protected us from the wind to a degree.   The snow still fell with a vengeance, but we'd found our spot for the day.  Looking out, we tried to get our bearings.   Far below, we could see the field.  The players had finished their warmups, leaving the field empty except for a coat of snow and marks that looked like radioactive traces on a spectrograph.

 

 

To our left, we had a fine view of a large high definition screen, a mere hundred and fifty yards away.  Looking across, we noted a lot of empty seats.  About ten minutes before gametime, five bright green, reptilian snowplows lined up along the left sideline and proceeded to plow the snow off of the field, revealing the pseudo-green of the turf, along with other ornaments such as yardlines and the Patriots' emblem.  

 

Next, several local servicemen took the field and the crowd gave them a strong round of applause.  The martial atmosphere continued, as a miltary choral group sang the national anthem.  Next, a lot of rap music started pounding out of speakers attached to an overhang about 50 fifty feet in front of us.  The loud music would be a constant during the game, whenever the teams weren't actually executing plays.  After the ceremonial opening toss, the game began.  

 

The Cardinals, visiting from Phoenix, were given a rude welcome by the locals and shut down after three downs.  The Patriots got the ball and quickly marched up the field and got a touchdown.   Pandemonium broke loose.   Fans took the loose snow and threw snow in all directions.  The 1812 overture blasted from speakers and at strategic points, we heard blasts that sounded like cannons.  

We were cold, but the celebration got us revved up.   

 

Very soon, the Patriots got the ball back after forcing a fumble and quickly scored again.   This time, I got a better look at the specifics of the celebration.  At either end of the stadium, men dressed up as Minutemen fired shots from muskets as instructed by their leader, who issued commands to fire by waving a sword.   Behind them, the original Old Glory with its circular pattern of stars fluttered in the snow.   Once again, snow flew in all directions.  My sons informed me that the next musical selection was from AC/DC, as one more shot was fired when the band yelled "Thunderstruck".  What a spectacle! 

 

The game went on like that.  The Patriots seized total control and had a third touchdown on the board before the end of the first quarter.  Next to us, several older fans amused themselves by downing lots of beer and throwing snowballs into the more expensive seats below.   Later on, my youngest son and his friend noticed that several of these guys got ejected from the stadium.  By halftime, the Patriots led by about 37-0 and the rout was on.  

 

The four of us had been enjoying the game, but all of us were soaked and cold.  We walked down to the next level to wait out the halftime and escaped the snow, but experienced a wind tunnel effect. 

As we stepped out to check the weather, we noticed that the snow had turned into a wet sleet.   

 

We went back up to our seats at the beginning of the third quarter, but by now were mainly rooting for the teams to run off plays and the clock as quickly as possible.   The Patriots maintained their dominance during the second half, though they did let up at one point and allow the Card's second string quarterback to throw a touchdown.   

 

The youngest guys really wanted to go home and kept asking me when we would go.  I finally agreed we would leave by around the five minute mark in the fourth quarter.   After the Cards got their score, we watched the kickoff and started the slow trudge back to the car.  In the background, the game continued and finished right around the time we had walked down all six levels of the exit ramp.  

 

We made it back to our car without any incidents and headed off for our reward, a visit to Dunkin Donuts back in our hometown.  We all agreed it had been worth doing, but we were a tired bunch at the end of the day.   My youngest said" "It would have been awesome on a nice day earlier in the Fall."  True, but this kind of day reminded me of the Patriots at their best, the kings of the cold weather game.  This was the first pro football game I'd attended in many years and the best part was sharing it with my sons.  We left with an experience that none of us will forget.