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In my 2013 re-cap, I should have included the major feature film “Big Sur,” directed by Michael Polish and produced by Lowell native Jim Sampas, whose aunt Stella married Jack Kerouac in the 1960s. “Big Sur,” based on the 1962 novel by Kerouac, was screened at the prestigious Sundance film…
Read More »I did not want to let the Academy Award nomination moment go by without acknowledging the vigorous film culture emerging in Lowell and environs. For 2013, the two remarkable motion-picture projects that I want to single out are (1) the documentary Lost Child: Sayon’s Journey, directed by Janet Gardner and…
Read More »This week’s rain and thaw are not good for ice on local ponds, brooks, and lakes, but January is hockey season, so I thought I’d dig this composition out of the vault this morning. The poem was first published in my second full-length collection of poems, Middle Distance (1989). Sweeney’s…
Read More »“Wonderful radio, Marvelous radio, Wonderful radio, Radio, radio . . .” —Elvis Costello When I was a kid I had a black transistor radio about the size of my hand that I would take to bed and listen to until I fell asleep. My stations across the dial played rock…
Read More »Bowl a Bowl a Bowl a Exhibit and Hot Bowl Fundraiser at the Arts League of Lowell (ALL) Artists are exploring the humble bowl in its many forms in the Bowl a Bowl a Bowl a show at the Arts League of Lowell gallery from January 10 – February 23.…
Read More »Maxine Farkas shares some thoughts from Western Ave in Lowell: For some reason I have been thinking of John Greenwald a lot lately. Perhaps it is because we have grown so much in the past year and a half; there are more artists here now who never knew John than…
Read More »Jim Blute of the Facebook group “You Know You’re From Lowell If…” posted a link to ebay.com for this 1854 letter on Jan. 5, 2014: “In the 19th Century, Lowell, Mass., was known for its textile industry and for ‘mill girls,’ New England women who worked in the mills. It’s…
Read More »Baraka was a playwright, poet, critic and political activist. He visited UMass Lowell on October 18, 2013 where he read, riffed, sang, and took questions from the audience in Room 222 of O’Leary Library. Photo and caption by Tony Sampas.
Read More »This poem, from Tom Sexton’s recent book Bridge Street at Dusk (Loom Press, 2012), connects to the “Moody Gardens” post below.—PM . Manny He was a minor god of the underworld whose euphonious name brought no reply if mentioned during the day, a lounge singer, a god of sirens and…
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