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To celebrate St. Jean-Baptiste Day in 1880, the Lieutenant Governor of Québec, Théodore Robitaille, commissioned Calixa Lavallée to compose O Canada to a patriotic poem by Adolphe-Basile Routhier. Born in Quebec – in 1857, Lavallée moved to the U.S. and lived in Rhode Island where he enlisted in the 4th…
Read More »In 1996-97, there was a lot of activity in Lowell around a concept called “Lowell: The Flowering City.” At the Gorham Street/Back Central branch of Enterprise Bank you can see a tall sign with the logo from the project, a gesture meant to help shift the nickname of the city…
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, columnist Tim Egan offers a eulogy for Clarence Clemons and tells what it meant for him to see a black guy and a white guy making music together. Read his essay here, and get the NYT if you want more.
Read More »Mediabistro.com reports that Penguin Books’ new app for Jack Kerouac’s legendary novel “On the Road” is selling well and ranked at #4 on Apple’s iPad apps list. Read the news bulletin here.
Read More »MassMoments reminds us that on this day – June 23, 1831 – the Legislature granted the Massachusetts Horticultural Society permission to purchase land to establish an experimental garden and a rural cemetery.This decision led to the creation of the landmark Mt. Auburn Cemetery – the first large-scale designed landscape open…
Read More »This video was originally posted on YouTube by johnboutselis13 Students of the Lowell Community Charter Public School perform traditional music at Lowell City Hall to celebrate Khmer New Year.
Read More »The Doors played the Commodore Ballroom in Lowell on August 15, 1967. Chris Simondet of The Doors site on Facebook provided that information to me. He said the show is a “phantom show” in The Doors chronology of performances and that nobody knows or remembers much about it other than…
Read More »It’s Sustainability Week in Lowell, and although we don’t live on the coast in Lowell our state is a coastal state—and everything is connected even if you live in Kansas. There’s a new report from international scientists sounding the alarm about threats to ocean life and possible severe consequences if conditions…
Read More »Poet and environmental activist Gary Snyder returned to his alma mater Reed College for the school’s centennial. He was profiled recently by Jeff Baker of The Oregonian newspaper for oregonlive.com. Snyder was one of my poet-heroes when I started out on the writing trail. He’s 81 years old and still traveling…
Read More »“On the Road” goes to an iTunes app. If you are into Kerouac, check this out. See a video of the new app.
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