moon traveller herald

The first time I found Mission Hill it was because I got lost. The portal my car flew by was the bodega ‘Casa Cris’ - owner Cris was later killed by robbers - that day I skedaddled. Why are the signs in Spanish? But I returned. First to Eldora, later Calumet. And it’s been home. And church bells are always ringing. Quite a day for Mission Hill – ‘the biggest day ever.’ Rain picking up Hurricane Dan’s edge. Bomb sniffing German Sheperds. Security high. As Sen. Ted Kennedy makes his last motorcade ride. Four presidents come to Mission Hill to see the end of the great Kennedy. Pres. Obama at Mission Church will be front and center. Said Ted: He didn’t mind not being president; it just bothered him that someone else was. He followed the summon of service. And we are on the map. Corner of Tremont and Parker. Saturday morning rain. The neighborhood that devil may care forgot. Black SUV after black SUV roll in sad parade. Sen. Dodd rolls down his window, the pol inside him alive alive....

Involved with the Web since the very early days and credit it has been a magical extension of the mind, of the universal mind, even. But, while it breaks down established media – a pointed example for me is the way it obliterated the computer trade press, the Web must be an afterthought. There is a lot of talk about this of late, and I find Gladwell’s critique of Anderson’s Free manifesto the most compelling digest view of said. Yet Anderson discovered something not easily apparent. Basically, a band shouldn’t expect even ‘gas money’ out of record sales. It should just get out there and play bars and sell t-shirts. Disruptive new medium has closed the book on the music business as it was known. Yet there were fixable elements of the record business – things could have been done differently – the descent could have been different, even forestalled. Marshall McLuhan hypothesized that each new medium encapsulates former mediums. This may have been less obvious for TV, which fed on Newspap...