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A Musical Surprise at the Beach: August 19, 1967 By Mike McCormack The year I turned fourteen, the first album by the Los Angeles based group The Doors captivated my friends Jack, Alex and me. We sat for hours in my cellar listening to the record from start to finish…
Read More »Welcome to Music Week on richardhowe.com. We occasionally bundle blog posts of a common theme together and today starts such an effort. For the next two weeks our contributors will share stories of music, in the broadest sense of that word. Pandemic Music By David Perry Pandemic, insurrection, loss, isolation.…
Read More »Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Chapter 10: Math Manoeuvres Blanche had always felt uncomfortable in math class. In grammar school, when she began having a hard time deciphering numbers on the board, her teacher expressed concern. Papa immediately guessed that his daughter needed glasses. After a diagnosis of myopia,…
Read More »Less than 24 hours after Major Anderson had surrendered Fort Sumter, Massachusetts Adjutant General William Schouler sent Colonel Edward Jones, the commander of the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the following instructions: “Col. Jones: Sir, I am directed by His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, to order you to muster your regiment…
Read More »Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration as 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861, came and went without a shot being fired and the dire predictions of imminent hostilities from earlier in the year appeared to many to have been an overreaction. In Massachusetts, business owners criticized Governor Andrew, who…
Read More »City Walk: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Market Basket By George Chigas A funny thing happened during my city walk a week ago Sunday. It started off like any another day during Covid. After several chilly days of rain, the temps had warmed up and the…
Read More »Eddy Silva’s Wake By Mark Cote Eddy Silva died last Tuesday. Heart attack. 68 years old. Looked 82. Untethered by circumstances he lived the life of a drifter. Two wives, five kids and countless jobs on his scorecard. Beaten down. Neither women nor job could keep him in one place…
Read More »Fifty years ago this week Congressman F. Bradford Morse wrote the following letter to Lowell Mayor Richard P. Howe (my father) urging the city to begin planning for the 150th anniversary of the grant of the charter for Lowell which coincided with the 200th anniversary of the United States. This…
Read More »Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Chapter 9: Inside & Outside Study Hall Sixty desks were arranged in ten rows in the second floor study hall where any breach of the silence rule lead to the worst of sanctions – recreation deprivation. Every cough, sneeze or sigh echoed so clearly…
Read More »Zombie Wonderland By David Daniel The radio DJ said, “Be caller number seven and win!” Bored, I dialed. “Congratulations,” someone said, not the deejay, a young woman, probably a station intern. “You’re caller seven.” “Cool,” I said. “I never win anything.” “Well, you sure did this time. Your name and…
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