The JP Beat - people, places & events for Jamaica Plain

JP Historic Society’s historic walking tour of the Sumner Hill neighborhood, Free, 11am - noon. Leaves from Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St.

MICHAEL BRODEUR clarifies the future of the Milky Way in this article in the Phoenix: “I’m hoping we can avoid this communal poutiness altogether. For one thing, the Milky Way is “merging” with Bella Luna and moving, not closing. Its new space has been identified as the Brewery complex between the Green Street and Stony Brook stops on the Orange Line”

Kelly Anne posts about escaping from her “caring-for-homes-and-pets-as-a-career” by visiting pretty places online, including a JP apartment featured in Boston House Tour: Kyle’s Jamaica Plain Gem.

Jamaica Plain/Roslindale Blogger Get Together, 7 p.m. in Doyle’s Cafe, 3484 Washington St. in JP (map).

Jumpstart Garden Project- 4-7pm - Jumpstart Corps members, staff and volunteers will work with the Head Start preschoolers, teachers and families to create the learning-based garden. Volunteers at this event will engage with children and their families, and participate in activities such as planting flowers and reviving an existing mural. at the Jamaica Plain Head Start.

Via Day Tripper Dispatches: Greater Boston, Bikes Not Bombs is planning some really nice training rides to prepare for the BNB June 8 Bike-A-Thon. One group geared for families with children and one for people training for the 62 mile route.

For the first time since Revolution Bicycle Repair opened shop near Hyde Square in JP last winter, I decided to go in, check out the bikes, and talk with the people behind the counter. After looking at the mix of customer repairs, reconditioned bikes, and new bikes, I struck up a conversation with co-owner Ben Gurly and Kurt(sp?).

I happened to be carrying a fresh warm burrito from Tacos El Charro and they were finishing some lunch, so they invited me to have a seat. We talked about some upcoming events they’re planning with other community businesses. Refreshingly absent was the cooler-than-thou or snarky attitudes one sometimes gets at other bike shops.

While I was there, a beret-wearing guy brought in his bike: a step-through ‘ladies’ frame with a broken spoke and wheels that were seriously out of true. Ben checked it out, quoted him $45 for a tune-up, described to the repair job. No smirks or comments, just good straightforward service.  Also, most other shops places around Boston charge something closer to $100 for tune-ups.

It’s pretty nice to have a bike shop like that around town. Now that I think of it, one of my bikes has a frozen brake lever. I’ll take it over there right now and see how things go.

[Six hours later] Walking past the shop around 7 pm-ish, I saw Ben using goop to clean the grease off his hands. Even though the shop was closed, Ben waved me in to pick up my bike.

I checked out the bike. The once-frozen brake lever worked like new. Fresh tires and brake pads. The wheels were true. The brakes and shifters were smooth and accurate. I took the bike out for a test ride around the block. When I brought it back for a minor adjustment, Ben did it gladly. I was impressed.

I can’t say how happy I am to have a new bike shop like this in my neighborhood. I had mostly given up hope of finding a bike shop that gives great service and does excellent, affordable, repair work. Now my faith is restored. Viva la Revolution!

I spoke briefly yesterday with Bradley Brown, pastry chef at the Blue Frog Bakery, about their upcoming move from 3 Green Street to 654 Centre St. He said they’re out of space at their current location. The new location will give them more room to bake and greater capacity. He hopes to start work on the new space at the end of this month and to complete the move by the end of August.

A yellow sign in the bakery window says: “THE BLUE FROG BAKERY IS LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD FRIENDS!! Join Friends of the Frog today and help us out with our move to 654 Centre Street. We are looking for help with cleaning, demolition, painting, moving, and lots of other stuff. Talk with Brad for more information.”

654 Centre Street, shown below, is currently occupied by the Christopher Kokoras Insurance Agency, across the street from the JP Post Office.

(You can click the following image and move your mouse to “look around” in different directions.)

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Andrew spotted this modified sign on Centre.

JP Historic Society’s historic walking tour of the Pondside neighborhood, Free, 11am - noon. Leaves from Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St. FREE

Herb Pomeroy Memorial Concert - 8:00p-10:00p - $5 at the door - Open to public - Location: W16, Kresge Auditorium at MIT “Described by Duke Ellington as “One of America’s Jazz Treasures,” Herb Pomeroy was among the most influential jazz performers and educators of the last 50 years.”

BrokenDownProgrammer tells about a great game of bumper pool he played against a guy from JP many years ago.

Boston.com reports: “Two Boston teenagers are facing charges in the January 2007 slaying of a 13-year-old boy in the city’s Jamaica Plain section, Boston Police said today.”

Blessed Sacrament on Centre street has donated its windows to help rebuild Sacred Heart in Weymouth.

boston.com reports: “But they were still short 10 windows when they paid a visit to Jamaica Plain. “We’d gone to four or five churches and nothing had appealed to us,” Kaufman said. Someone suggested that they look again at Blessed Sacrament in Jamaica Plain, “so we marched back,” he said.”

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Massmarrier has that gift for gab and story telling that makes a simple invitation to next week’s blogger get-together at Doyle’s read like a page of Samuel Clemens.

Muchacha K, who makes and sells handmade handbags, accessories, and bridal accessories, had a stall in last week’s First Thursdays event. Of JP, she writes “A lovely afternoon spent in Jamaica Plain, MA at the neighborhood’s First Thursdays season kickoff. I love selling in JP, terrific people, nice city neighborhood.”

TODO MUNDO features KINGDOM (back from UK / West Coast tour actionz) and LONE WOLF (survived ROFLCon internet brainmania), playing hip-hop/house/dancehall/rave& remixes, 9:30pm - 1am, Free / No Cover!, at the Milky Way, 403 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, MA, milkywayjp.com

Q: I came across your work online and was impressed by the ’soul’ conveyed by in each of your dog portraits. How do you find and work with your subjects?

A: Each portrait is a combination of several different dogs. I work with a lot of different pictures and combine different elements from each to draw my idealized dog. I like to name each portrait as my way of christening each drawing. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to actually naming a real dog. I find my subjects by visiting dog parks in the South End or just strolling through the Arnold Arboretum.

Q: Do you pay them with dog-treats?

A: No, but I try to leave my business card with the dog owner and invite them to email me if they’d like a photo or two of their dog. I’ve had a few takers.

Q: The technique looks comes out looking like dry-point etching. How do you achieve that effect?

A: I use a regular roller ball pen on toothy watercolor paper. The “trick” is in using a light touch and slowly building layers of tone.

Q: You also work with paper, yarn, and textiles. What kind of work do you do for your business on Etsy, and what kind of work do you do for yourself/family/friends?

A: I do very modest business on Etsy. Etsy is a place for me to try out fun, new ideas and see if there are any takers. I have a greeting card business that occasionally has overages in printing, so instead of consigning overprints to the recycling bin I try to find ways of re-purposing them.

The items I make for Etsy are small items. When I make things for my family and friends, these projects usually have an epic dimension. I crocheted a bed coverlet for my sister which took me 14 years. OK, I wasn’t working on it every day and would also take a year or two off from working on it, but still. I’ve worked on huge quilts that have taken a year or two to pull together. I can only make these things for myself or family. I could never put a price on these items because they take so long to make and besides, how do you put a price on love?

Q: What are your favorite parts of Jamaica Plain?

A: Beside the Arnold Arboretum which is such a treasure, I am particularly fond of two JP establishments: One is the Acapulco Restaurant on Centre Street. Besides having terrific, reasonably-priced food, they also have live music on Saturday evenings. Two or three musicians stroll each table and serenade the patrons with Spanish classics. My other favorite place is Rhythm and Muse which is right next door. It’s a great little bookshop which hosts Scrabble games as well as book club meetings. It’s everything a neighborhood bookstore should be.

Q: Are there any other artists who inspire you, or whose work plays an important part in your vision?

A: I am influenced by the work of David Lance Goines. I was first exposed to his poster work in the 80s — I loved his sense of form and color. I’m also a big fan of Albrecht Durer — whose keen and observant eye is a real inspiration.

Q: How did you become an artist? Where did you study art? Is there anything you’d like to see change/improve in JP/Boston?

A: Here’s a confession: I love Boston. When I first moved to Boston over twenty years ago there were a lot of ups and downs. In my lowest of lows I remember comforting myself by thinking no matter how terrible things are going for me, at least it’s not happening to me in New York. I know that’s a crazy way to think but it got me through some tough times, and remember New York in the 80s? I love the South End — it’s like living in a small village. I think most Boston neighborhoods are like that. In term of changes or improvements — I wish it was a little easier to get to JP from the South End.

Elizabeth Wertz blogs about her photo shoot of a soon to be married couple, Erin and Marissa, and shares some of her beautiful photographs taken under the blooming magnolias in the Arboretum.

The Boston Herald published a short AP story yesterday that the Veteran’s Administration will not be consolidating services at the VA hospitals in Bedford, Brockton, West Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain thanks to lobbying by members of Congress from Massachusetts and the efforts of veterans supporters.

I submitted the following commen on Universal Hub:

When I came up the stairs from the Orange Line and saw the firepower, I asked them if I could take a picture. The guy on the left gave me the go ahead. I stepped back, made the snapshot, and thanked them. The guy on the right was curious about the book in my hand, Blogging Heroes. They’re just two professionals doing their job. Aside from the special equipment and tactics, they’ve likely trained to spot suspicious behavior. Nothing deters terrorists and troublemakers as well or as cost-effectively as a well-armed well-trained presence. Morning commuters in London and Madrid would have been lucky to have this kind of protection when they needed it.

Artist Emily Gallardo talks about illustrating local dogs, like this portrait of a pug named Oliver: