[_jamesobrienblog

11.24.2009

[_11.24.09_WalletPop_]

My first byline for Walletpop.com

The real dish on mommy bloggers, payola, and ethical creation of blogging income

10.29.2009

[_Globe_10.29.2009_]

Byline in the Oct. 29 Boston Globe:

Teachers’ pay an issue in Marlborough mayoral campaign - The Boston Globe

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10.11.2009

[_Globe_10.11.2009_]

Byline in The Boston Globe, Oct. 11. Photo by Matt Rocheleau.

State grants allow police to focus anew on bicycle, pedestrian safety - The Boston Globe

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9.30.2009

I'm the poet in a live improvisational performance project called Friedman. Primarily consisting of lil' ol' me and a keyboardist named Matt Smith, Friedman was quite active from 1999 to 2000, when I discovered that I could say words on stage in poem form that I had never heard before ... provided Mr. Smith was playing an instrument nearby.

We performed mostly at Club Passim, in Cambridge, very late/very early after drinking altogether too much at a nearby bar. Sometimes we were joined by legitimate guest stars, and sometimes we we were joined by local musician friends within the late-90s/early-00s songwriter community that gravitated (and still does, of course) to Harvard Square. Sometimes we played in New York City, at a cool little midtown club; sometimes we went out to a freeform coffee shop in Worcester. Wherever, at the end of several months of performing — recording everything — we would release an album from Mr. Smith's desktop software. We did so twice, and they were good enough, I believe. They still sound real to me, today.

Last year, after a long hiatus, Mr. Smith and I reunited on stage in front of an audience at Club Passim. We performed a 25-minute set. It felt to us like no time had passed at all. This is a recording of that night: Friedman: Lizard Link (on iTunes).