Which is fine with me since I will be staying in and doing some posting tonight.
"Hotel near Fenway Park a nod to rock club past; Meet The Verb, located at the site of former Howard Johnson" by Shirley Leung | Globe Columnist July 09, 2014
All along, it was supposed to be another cookie-cutter hotel/apartment complex, on the site of the Howard Johnson in the Fenway. Raze the squat and outdated motel, and then build as high as possible to make the most money.
It’s a formula being repeated from the Back Bay to the Seaport District. High-end is no longer high enough. The latest example: A second Four Seasons will anchor a 60-story tower near the Christian Science Plaza.
But for developer Steve Samuels, all that opulence was too mundane.
“Let’s not tear down the Howard Johnson,” he texted business partner Robin Brown.
To which Brown responded, as calmly as he could: “What?”
Samuels had a vision for how they could take advantage of the memories connected to the HoJo. His thinking: Amid a sea of new towers, including some he built, preserving the old 94-room motel would add character to one of Boston’s hottest new neighborhoods.
Born was The Verb, an anti-chain establishment that would pay homage to Fenway/Kenmore Square’s raucous rock club scene of the ’70s and ’80s. The area was, at one time, home to joints such as the Boston Tea Party, where you could see the biggest acts before they got too big — Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, J. Geils Band, The Who. Later, the soon-to-be-famous Police would take to the rickety stage of The Rat, known for its malfunctioning bathrooms, graffiti-covered walls, beer-soaked floors, and yes, live rats. The club also hosted hundreds of homegrown bands including The Cars.
“It’s all coming back,” Samuels said at a recent walk-through at the motel, slated to open next month. “If you didn’t live through it, you’ll like it.”
Brown, former general manager of the Four Seasons and mastermind behind Boston’s luxurious Mandarin Oriental, didn’t exactly sign up for this kind of challenge. He was accustomed to the top of Boston’s hotel world, not the bottom....
Which is where I have hit, and not even mother can lift me up. Sorry.
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Related: Friday Night Clubbing With the Boston Globe
Not very romantic.
Maybe you would like to go to a jazz club or symphony instead?
Charlie Haden, 76; influential jazz bassist
Also see: Group launches website urging Warren to run for president
I have a problem with that.
"Feds: NYC strippers drugged, stole from rich men" Associated Press June 12, 2014
NEW YORK — It’s a tawdry tale of strippers on the prowl for men with money, drinks spiked with illegal synthetic drugs, and runaway credit card charges at topless clubs.
Sounds hot.
Some of the men say they have little or no memory of any of it.
I hate that.
But investigators filled in the blanks for them on Wednesday by announcing the arrests of four women — all described as professional strippers — and a club manager on charges including grand larceny, assault, and forgery.
I hate that worse.
The five were accused of teaming up to rip off a combined $200,000 from a New Jersey doctor, a banker, a hedge fund executive, and a real estate attorney in a credit card scam during the last four months of 2013....
Looks they deserve to get $tripped!
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"‘Love thy neighbor’? Nuns sue nearby strip club" Associated Press June 18, 2014
STONE PARK, Ill. — A convent of nuns in suburban Chicago has filed a lawsuit against a neighbor, a strip club they say plays throbbing music while the nuns try to pray.
The Sisters of St. Charles named Club Allure Chicago and the village of Stone Park in their lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court. They claim the club violates Illinois zoning laws, which require a 1,000-foot buffer between adult entertainment facilities and places of worship.
The sisters have seen ‘‘public violence, drunkenness, and litter, including empty whiskey and beer bottles, discarded contraceptive packages and products, and even used condoms,’’ according to the lawsuit, which also mentions the ‘‘pulsating and rhythmic staccato-beat noise and flashing neon and or strobe lights’’ that disturb the nuns.
‘‘Our sisters’ sacred space has been invaded,’’ Sister Noemia Silva told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The nuns have a right to pray and work peacefully without interference, said attorney Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based public interest law firm representing the convent.
Stone Park Village attorney Dean Krone said the village has acted legally. Club representatives said they are not a nuisance to the nuns and the lawsuit’s claims are not backed up by police reports.
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Also see: Stripper Turns Blood Young at New York Nursing Home
