The popular Franco-American singer-songwriter Michele Choiniere of Vermont this afternoon at Boarding House Park dedicated her final song at the Lowell Folk Festival to Jack Kerouac because, she said, “He was a Franco-American, and he was from Lowell.” I missed her additional comments about the song and the title, but it…
In today’s Globe Rob Gavin (formerly a Lowell SUN staffer) gives us an account of the many projects the UMass system is undertaking across its five campuses. He calls them “another sign of its growing impact on regional economies.” The projects bring federal and private dollars into the Commonwealth and importantly it…
I’ve been to every Folk Festival since the first National Folk Festival in Lowell in 1987, and the 2010 Saturday was as good as I’ve seen it—the talent, the street life, the audience size, the urban energy. I spent a lot of time at Boarding House Park with the UMass…
The Associated Press reported on President Obama’s comments about making progress on the national economic front, including the new financial regulations law. He also called on Congress to send him a bill that is intended to assist small businesses through tax credits. Looming over these steps forward, however, was the…
Last Friday, economist Paul Krugman wrote in the NYTimes about the comeback of “voodoo” economics, which the first President Bush tried to warn Americans about in 1980, when he was trying to stop Ronald Reagan from becoming the Republican Party’s nominee for president. And the rest is history, as they…
“Flashback Friday” is back after a brief vacation. For those who missed my previous explanation, each Friday, I will post a picture, video or article from Lowell’s political past. There won’t be any chronological connection between the item posted and the date of posting – it will be completely random.…
The Learning Gulf It has been about a week now. BP has its finger in the dike, and the seabed is strangely silent. I almost miss that Live Feed (Live! Crude! Oil!). On TV the oil looked, oddly, like some underwater dust storm. Maybe it is over. Maybe not. Now…
It’s always fun to get the SUN insert with the Lowell Folk Festival schedule, artist/group descriptions, and street map of the stage locations and other attractions. Looking at it this morning, I thought the community has done well in the past 30-something years building what is for all intents and…
In a StateHouse News Bureau story reported in today’s Eagle Tribune, there are three legislator-perspectives on the current status of the Casino bill. From Senator Stan Rosenburg (D-Amherst), chief gambling bill negotiator for the Senate – still hopeful: Asked if he felt there might be an unbreakable impasse, Rosenberg said,…
Globe staffer James Reed delves deeper into what the Lowell Folk Festival is really all about in today’s edition. It’s an obvious but overlooked fact about folk festivals: In the truest sense, they’re not just about singer-songwriters wielding acoustic guitars or dancers kicking up their heels to Cape Breton fiddlers.…