2002-03-20 - 2:18 a.m.

Hung out after work with Randy Research and C. (from work). Went to my place, then to Molly's club.

OK, but here's the shitty thing... Other Music, the best record store in Boston, can't make its rent, and it closed down!

Jobs lost, first and foremost, but I'm also concerned for the store that will soon be forgotten.

Fuckin' shit. Who do I blame for this?

Here's who... the whiny assholes that complain that there's nothing cool in Boston. That's who.

Bostonians, how many things can you think of that used to be cool but that now suck?

Kenmore Square?

Harvard Square?

The back end of Newbury Street?

When I was a kid, living in Boston, those were the three places I'd go with my friends.

Kenmore Square to see the punks. Listen�there was shit to do there! We all (I hope) remember Deli Haus. Right? Don't forget the Rat and so on. I was too young to go to these crazy punk and rock bars, but I was so goddamn proud that they were famous and in Boston.

Think of Kenmore Square now. It SUCKS! Unless yer a stoner and need to buy paraphernalia at the ONLY headshop in Boston (overpriced, obviously), there's no reason to go. Well, unless you go to BU. Then you have the Gap, some BU owned hotels that are now being built, the BU Barnes and Noble (ahem), and the Underground (nee' Deli Haus), which has become the multifunctional diner that your ridiculous TV shows promised would await you once you left home to go to college.

There is no trace of the Kenmore Square that once existed. Nothing. If you saw Kenmore Square for the first time, right now, you�d have no clue.

Then there's Harvard Square. THIS PLACE USED TO BE COOL! And this ain't some romanticized childhood memory. I was there, fuckers! What once was a haven for art wacky folks who now have either grown up to live elsewhere in Cambridge or more likely have moved far away from the Boston area, this place has become a market to sell stuff to tourists. Like if you turned Times Square into a strip mall and renamed it after a large corporation. Oh yeah, and it�s also a place for the Harvard kids to be like, Oh yeah, I'm totally in Harvard right now.

It's sickening. I don't even want to go into it.

Hey Harvard Square--WHAT HAPPENED? YOU USED TO BE FRIGGIN HARVARD SQUARE!

Where did you go? What happened to you?

You've aged more quickly than I have. That's pretty friggin' sad.

And then Newbury Street.

Fuck.

Faahhhhhhhk...

Fuck.

Seventeen and shopping for a used flannel shirt, and one of the store dudes said to the other Down the street, I just saw Evan Dando, and in the most condescending way possible.

THAT was brilliant.

A barometer.

And don't even get me started 'bout Newbury street.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?

Why am I even living here?

Boston, I love you more than anything else in the world, probably (no offense, mortals).

But Boston, look me in the eyes.

What happened to you?

Why?

Money? Or did you just fuck things up? Tweaking with shit in hopes of making things better, destroying everything original along the way? I hope it's the latter, because I'll be your apologist forever and ever.

Assholes.

I'm not in my early 20's anymore. It's not time for fucking around right now. YOU OWE ME, Boston.

I stuck around.

So anyway, who do I blame for all this? Whiny assholes who complain about how there's nothing cool in Boston. That's who.

It doesn't take a genius to point out that I'm a member of this bitter club.

So let's do something 'bout this besides complain.

Any suggestions?

(yeah, I know, that's the hard part...)

Blame it on globalization. Blame it on Mumbles Menino (the mayor). Blame it on the college kids (I do, for the most part). Blame it on yourselves, if you know where I'm coming from. Blame it on the chains that everybody seems to welcome with open arms, putting local (and usually better) stores out of business 'cause they can save people a buck. (Think about this mentality�it's Joe's CD store's fault for not being able to compete with Amazon. Also, please think 'bout what the word "chains" as in chain store might mean to you.) Blame it on the fact that nobody cares. Blame it on the police, if you like to blame the police for everything.

I dunno. I blame most of it on the fact that we are all a bunch of idiots (myself included, of course).

But it's all good.

Right?