March 2021 Calendar

Guests welcome to all Zoom events

(Except Monday Members’ Zoom Cocktails,
which will be announced via email and continue until in-club dining resumes.)

Reserve for all events with Mr. Fay, manager@tavernclub.org.

Message from the President:

It is almost a full year since the Club’s first pandemic closing in March 2020. You may remember that Ovid Night, scheduled for March 12, 2020, had to be canceled.

The Club didn’t reopen until last fall, and then only for Monday dinners and Friday lunches. We had to close again in January 2021, while the number of deaths and cases rose again in Massachusetts and in the nation.

You filled these gaps brilliantly, with online-everything, including Halloween and Christmas plays, and even an outdoor Fête in August. All the while, we were able to pay the staff their full compensation. Now there are vaccinations alongside falling infection numbers. We hope that by mid-March we can open the Club for Monday dinners and Friday lunches, still carefully staging meals with COVID-time rules.

Thank you for enduring friendships, indomitable creativity, and inspiring steadiness. I hope to see you soon.

—  Nancy Maull

Monday, March 1; 5:30 pm

Monday Night Cocktails by Zoom

Has living in quarantine changed how you make or appreciate art?

Tuesday, March 2; 9 – 9:45 am

Writing Gym by Zoom

All welcome – An impromptu writing workshop to engage our muses, share thoughts, and a virtual cup of coffee.

Thursday, March 4; 5:30 pm

Tavern Film Festival; The Retrospective

George Perkins and Jim Terry have assembled an outstanding team of experienced and totally novice filmmakers to bring you a tour of historic Tavern songs, ranging from 1892 to 2000, re-enacted by a cast of singers and musicians never before seen and heard quite this way.

Wednesday, March 10; 5:30 p.m.

Arts Round Table via Zoom

Belinda Rathbone writes: Taverner George Steel, Abrams Curator of Music at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, will speak informally about his role at the museum, and his exciting plans for upcoming programs, including a sample video. “A deeply skilled trailblazer in the performing arts,” in the words of ISGM director Peggy Fogelman, George will also discuss a “business model” to meet the particular challenges of our times.

Thursday, March 11; 5:30 p.m.

Conversations with Taverners via Zoom

A panel of Tavern medical experts will discuss the COVID 19 epidemic and answer the questions that you were too embarrassed to ask and the press has been too superficial to explore. The panel covers a range of expertise including virology (Victor Peña-Cruz), immunology (Hal Churchill), patient care (Mary Scott), and psycho-social issues (Watson Reed).  Moderated by Bob Osteen.

Wednesday, March 17; 5:30 p.m.

History Cocktails via Zoom

Jock Herron writes: “Our own David Greenway will discuss his recently published Loaded with Dynamite: Unintended Consequences of Woodrow Wilson’s Idealism – a timely exploration of Wilson’s disingenuous call for national self-determination at Versailles. As Stephen Kinzer writes, “In Greenway’s hands…Italian pirates, Moroccan warlords and Chinese revolutionaries shape a grand narrative of rising nationalism and anti-colonial passion.” Having reported firsthand from ninety-six countries, David’s rare mix of political savvy, historical insight and global experience bring a more relevant than ever but potentially dry topic fully to life.”

Attendees are encouraged to read David’s book beforehand.  It is currently available at Tidepool Press (https://www.tidepoolpress.com) and soon on Amazon.

Thursday, March 18; 5:30 p.m.

Braving A New World: Role of Diplomacy in Global Competition

Ambassador Nicholas Burns will be our speaker at a special Zoom event on Thursday, March 18 at 5:30 pm. The professor of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School, Ambassador Burns has served in the U.S. government for almost three decades. He was the lead US negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program and he was the Director for Soviet Affairs in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Early in his career, he served in the American Consulate in Jerusalem. What are the critical challenges facing the new world order of Great Powers?

Tuesday, March 23; Noon

Play reading at noon via Zoom

George Heaton writes: “Incest!  Regicide!!  Delusional demons!!!  All this and more come to the fore in Camus’ marvelous “Caligula” It’s another in our exploration of French history plays;  this time going deep into “existential” questions.  Not for the faint-of-heart, Caligula will bring out the best in all Tavern thespians.” We will read from the Vintage edition of “Caligula and Three Other Plays,” which is available both on the Kindle and in hardcopy.

Wednesday, March 24; Noon

Book Club Zoom at Noon

Ed Tarlov writes: Alice Cornwell will lead a discussion of  Marguerite Duras’  The Lover, set in the French Indochina of the author’s youth and telling the story of an adolescent girl from an impoverished French colonial family and her affair with a richer Chinese lover.  This will be the simplest of book club events: a gathering over lunch to talk about a book that inspired one Taverner to become a writer. There will be no guest speaker or expert. Still, no participant has an excuse not to read The Lover as it is a short 100 pages and completely mesmerizing. What intrigues Alice most about Duras’ writing are voice, rhythm, and the book’s kaleidoscopic structure, which she is still trying to figure out after reading it many times over many years.

Thursday, March 25; 5:30 p.m.

An Evening with Tom Kelly – What Were Those Old Monks Singing?

In medieval times, music framed the Christian liturgy, perfected the chant, and dominated performances. Once again, Taverner and Harvard professor emeritus Thomas Forrest Kelly will conduct a special Zoom event to reveal his adventures sleuthing around amidst medieval manuscripts with pictures of singing.

Wednesday, March 31 & Thursday, April 1; 5:30 p.m.

Zoom: Narrenabend 2021, Pandemic Edition.

So you thought the Tavern has been closed during the pandemic?  Tune in to this year’s Narranabend production to find out what’s really been happening at 4 Boylston Place while we’ve all been stuck at home.   Don’t miss it!  Sign up for the virtual Narrenabend on April Fool’s Day, aka Thursday, April 1, 2021.  And come for the dress rehearsal night performance for friends and family on Wednesday, March 31.

Bridge continues online.  All levels of competence are welcome.  Just contact George.r.heaton@gmail.com.

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In case you missed it in February:

On Thursday, February 4, David Scudder and Anthony Pangaro addressed and debated the future of capitalism.

On Wednesday, February 10, Rob Perkins showed the film and led a discussion of his solo journey down the Arctic Back River in 1987.

On Thursday, February 11, Abbie Trafford and Rusty Tunnard hosted a Valentine’s party featuring musical performances by Jim Terry (as Pete Rollins,) Elaine Woo, Watson Reid, Sandy Righter, and Peter Randolph.

Thursday, February 18, 8:00 pm:  The Third Tavern in the Sky

Andy Calkins and the Tavern Film Club team hosted and led a fascinating discussion of I Am Not Your Negro  a film that imagines what James Baldwin’s final, the unfinished manuscript might have looked like, brought to life on the screen.

Upcoming events:

It’s in the book:  The 2nd Annual Tavern Prospective, April 22

The organizers are still on the hunt for lyricists and composers:

Calling All Lyricists: here in the link below are the lyrics received so far to give you inspiration!  Don’t worry about finding a composer.  They are waiting for your words!  Send your lyrics to albert@thelafargeagency.com or drelainewoo@icloud.com   and we will add them to the folder.

Calling All Composers: we will keep updating the file as lyrics come in but you can start consulting your Muses now!  Let Al and Elaine know your choice so we can post your name next to the lyrics. Don’t worry if more than one of you wants to tackle the same lyrics – makes it all the more interesting!! And plan on finding your performer(s).   We stand ready to help you!

— Rusty Tunnard, Secretary

November Month at a Glance

Message from the President

The fall was launched with a combination of in-person and virtual Tavern gatherings. The new season’s Tavern dinners are rather elegant for these times. Dress, as always, is highly appropriate. One enters the Tavern to be warmly greeted by Mr. Fay. A stately and distanced walk upstairs takes the Taverner directly to a table, where a few others gather for a drink or two and dinner.

Because we are limited to twenty members and pretty widely spaced, the effect is baronial. But the conversation is just the same in quality, the delight in seeing one another undiminished by time and distance. As we head into winter, the pleasure of your company is sought no matter how you choose to appear. — Nancy Maull

Note: The Tavern Club is open for Monday Night Dinners and Friday Lunches this month, maximum of 20 members. Guests welcome to all Zoom events. Reserve for all events, Zoom and in Tavern, with Mr. Fay, manager@tavernclub.org.

Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, November 2, 6:30 p.m.
Limited to 20; Members only

Election Day

Tuesday, November 3

Chinese Contradictions

Thursday, November 5, 5:30 p.m.
Zoom Special Events by Peter Bol

Peter Bol is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard. Professor Bol writes:

“China—or at least its government—says China’s future will be linked to its unique past and that it is bringing about the ‘great revival of the Chinese nation.’ Whether this is cause for worry depends on our view of China’s history. I see it as beset by contradictions that China still wrestles with today.”

Please join us for what will be a fascinating discussion on the evolving nature of America’s biggest trading partner and a formidable adversary at the top of new world order.

Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, November 6 at noon; limited to 20; members only

Executive Committee Meeting

Monday, November 9 at Noon via Zoom

Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, November 9, 6:30 p.m.
Limited to 20; Members only

NEW EVENT: The Writing Gym

Tuesday, November 10 at 9:00-9:45 a.m. via Zoom

Attention: writers or wannabe writers! Are you stuck in a creative cul-de-sac? Mired in a metaphoric miasma? Or do you just enjoy writing? Well, then, visit The Writing Gym to re-energize the writer in you. Prompts are offered (you can ignore them!) and you write for one, then two, then three, then five minutes. We stop and read aloud (or not), and then keep going, continuing what we have begun or starting over.

No rules, no apologies. Email anneaitken4@gmail.com for more detail, or just zoom in and try it out.

Veterans Day – Club Closed

Wednesday, November 11
(NB: No Arts Round Table)

Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, November 13 at noon; limited to 20; members only

Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, November 16, 6:30 p.m.
Limited to 20; Members only

Poetry Lunch

Tuesday, November 17, noon, via Zoom

Feeling Satanic? Come to Part II of our Milton Poetry luncheons, in which we explore this fabulous character, Satan, who engineers the Loss of Paradise and fights God. Whose side are you on? Whew! George Heaton, Judith Thomson, and Albert LaFarge will all chime in briefly on the life and character of John Milton (1608-1674) before we dive into some of the juicy bits.

We will follow the conversation wherever it leads (hopefully not too far south).

Guests are welcome and should be greeted in the following manner:

“Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name.”

History Cocktails

Wednesday, November 18, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam, Harvard historian Fred Logevall will join us via Zoom to discuss his recently published, gracefully written, and already widely acclaimed, JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956. Although Fred revisits what would seem to be well-worked territory, Stanford historian David Kennedy concluded authoritatively in the New York Times that,

“None has told the tale of the 35^th president’s formative years better.”

Already underway with his second and concluding volume on Kennedy, few are as knowledgeable as Fred about Kennedy, the Kennedys, and America’s experience in the Cold War, Vietnam included. Fred leavens his intellectual mastery with a civilian-friendly style and a very good sense of humor.

Guests welcome.

Senator John F. Kennedy’s After-Dinner Speech at the Tavern Club, November 8, 1956

Film Night

Thursday, November 19, 8 – 9 p.m. via Zoom
The Second Tavern in the Sky Movie Nightcap: Political Edition

Andy Calkins, Anson Wright, P.K. Simonds, and Rusty Tunnard invite you to a discussion of three excellent movies all about…. Well, all about the nation’s Topic du Jour, de la Semaine, du Mois, and de l’Année: politics, democracy, and the future of the free world. You know something light! Bring an airy and fluffy dessert. We’re not able to think and talk about much else, these days, and so the Tavern’s Movie Night will go straight at it.

The Main Event: The organizers encourage all Nightcappers to watch the legendary Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (perennially listed as the best political movie ever made). Find out where to watch it here. This of course is the movie about national politics that dwarfs all of the others. It has likely been decades since most Taverners watched it. It’s Jimmy Stewart in possibly his best role, maybe outside of It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s worth seeing again, and after this election, it will really be worth seeing again, no matter who wins.

Your Choice of Second Options: Other movies the organizers suggest watching are Wag the Dog and Lincoln. Your choice (or watch both). Wag the Dog is the still-extremely-relevant film with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. “With a sex scandal about to dismantle the president’s reelection, a spin doctor (Robert De Niro) hires a big Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) to fabricate a war. With amazing performances and a wickedly smart story, the movie is a scary look at the tricks done to make us believe the people in power. Some could make the argument this movie is more relevant today than it was back in the late 1990s when it was made.” (So says Insider’s list of best political movies). Find out where to watch it here. Lincoln is the Spielberg tour de force from a few years ago that starred Daniel Day-Lewis in an Oscar-winning role and demonstrated Lincoln’s adeptness in marshaling warring factions to pass the Emancipation Proclamation. Taverners who saw Ted Widmer’s Zoom night on his book, Lincoln on the Verge, will be fascinated to see Day-Lewis bring him to life. Find out where to watch it here.

Space is limited to 30. Bring your own nightcap of choice, and some popcorn – or your own favorite political junk food (and let everyone know what it is).

Let Anson  (ansonwright@gmail.com) or Andy (acalkins@nextgenlearning.org) know if you need technical help.

Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, November 20 at noon; limited to 20; members only

Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, November 23, 6:30 p.m.
Limited to 20; Members only

Play Reading Lunch

Tuesday, November 24, noon, via Zoom

The 2020 season will conclude with something quite different from what we have read in the past.  That is: modern, American, one-act, with a bit of cross-media excitement.  It will be Wendy Wasserstein’s “Waiting for Philip Glass.”  In this play, inspired by Shakespeare’s rather bitter Sonnet 94, seven people wait for Glass at a posh party in East Hampton.  As he never arrives, it gives them an opening to bare their souls in good dialogue.  And a chance for us to insert some of the wonderful Glass Piano Etudes.  We will provide you with the text, as the Wasserstein plays are not online.  There is a hardcopy, “Seven One-Act Plays,” available on Amazon.

Guests welcome.

Book Club Lunch

Wednesday, November 25, noon, via Zoom

Book Club will meet to discuss Herman Melville’s last work, Billy Budd. Ed Tarlov will lead our consideration of this beautifully written powerful little jewel which deals with truth, beauty, martial law, forgiveness, fate, and human nature in its 82 pages, against the background of the great Royal Navy mutinies of 1797 at Spithead and the Nore which protested the cruelties of life at sea in Nelson’s time.

Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27
Club Closed for Thanksgiving

Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, November 30, 6:30 p.m.
Limited to 20; Members only

Bridge

Bridge continues online.  All levels of competence are welcome.  Just contact George Heaton at george.r.heaton@gmail.com.

Upcoming

Thursday, December 3, 5:30 pm via Zoom
Tom Kelly on Wagner.

Wednesday, December 9, 5:30 pm Arts Round Table by Zoom
Taverner PK Simonds will speak about his role as writer and producer of “Reign,” a spectacular historical drama TV series about the life of Mary Queen of Scots, now on Netflix.

Thursday, December 17 via Zoom
The Christmas Feast Webinar

Monday, December 21
Tom Kelly with a Christmas Theme

In Case You Missed It:

On October 15, in person and at the Tavern, John Finley IV spoke to an elegant group of Taverners, all gathered to be reacquainted with his work in founding and sustaining the Epiphany School in Dorchester.  Asked to give us his thinking on race, diversity, and the experience of his school, he had interviewed teachers, some of whom are graduates of the School.  His perspective and advice elicited questions on the art of listening, mentoring, and growing our own membership. We’ve not heard the last of this discussion and will try to re-engage it in the future with both speakers and informal discussions.

The Halloween Plays, October 29, 2020   –   John Tittmann writes:

In response to the Pandemic, the Tavern held the annual Halloween Plays Competition entirely online.  More than 80 Taverners logged in to a Zoom Webinar hosted by the Tavern Players.  The warm-up to the presentation of the plays featured short interviews of Jane Shaw, Martha Sieniewicz, Andy Doherty, and John Rabinowitz by John Tittmann.  A heartwarming short video, made by Andy Doherty, reminded us what #4 Boylston place looks like!

After seeing the plays, attending Taverners voted to award the Bruin to the author of Just the Ticket, who was then revealed to be Anne Carter Aitken.

The first play, Just the Ticket, by A. Gambol (Anne Carter Aitken) was directed by Andy Doherty.  The play was “filmed” on a phone camera by Andy Doherty, and edited as a black and white silent film, complete with scratchy patina.  Jim Terry laid down an overlay of original piano.  The play follows a group of ne’er do wells who hang out at a Bar (the Tavern).  Sharpie (Sam Dennis), a thieving convenience store owner, pilfers a lifesaving and winning lottery ticket from Bag Person (Pieranna Cavalchini), only to have it stolen back from him as just desert when he goes to the Tavern for a celebratory drink.  The Bartender (Katharine Boden)  presides, and a Customer (Jeff Peters) observes all.

The second play, Zoom Doom, by Holly Wood² (Mary Rhinelander) was zoom Halloween ‘meeting’ directed by Martha Sieniewicz.  Recorded earlier, the play was presented on one screen in four zoom boxes.  The rather dysfunctional family, virtually gathers on zoom before dinner, all in the same house.  The Mom (Judith Thomson), prepares dinner in the kitchen;  Dad (Frank McGuire) drinks his quarantini in the library (was that a fly in his hair?);  the Daughter (Jane Manopoli), casts aspersions from her room;  and the Son (John Finlay) expresses his inner Cro-Magnon from his corner.  The surreal play ends with the doorbell ringing spookily like a death knell, followed by the mysterious disappearance of all.

The third play, Logic in the Time of the Coronavirus, by Impatient, (David Greenway) was presented live, in the zoom boxes.  Directed by John Rabinowitz, the play took us to a hospital room, where a recovered Covid patient, played by David Scudder, tries to get a discharge.  The Nurse (Margery Kennelly) is quite sympathetic, as is Doctor Jenkins (Phyllis Thompson).  Though Doctor Senior Doctor (Anthony Pangaro), following byzantine hospital policies, refuses to let him go home.  The Nurse, isn’t worried that he’ll be trapped, though, the hospital needs the bed!

And of course, all attending Taverners made their “appearance” for a virtual party at the end.

Technical help and was provided in great collaborative spirit by ever-optimistic members of the Plays Committee and the Directors three.  The Bruin itself was ferried across the Charles River from his berth at #4 by Warren Ross for his appearance on Zoom.

— Rusty Tunnard, Secretary

Read more

October 2020 Month-at-a-Glance

Message from the President

As I write, the Governor has moved Massachusetts to an advanced phase of coronavirus “opening.” At the same time, our Mayor, concerned about possible city outbreaks, holds Boston in check.  The Tavern is limited to 20 members in the building at a time.   And while we’ll continue our caution and distance with one another, we’ll have Monday dinners and Friday lunches.  If all goes well, Alex Beam will come to the Tavern on October 1 and John Finley on October 15.  Many online events will bring us together.  Have a look.

The Annual Meeting was held by Zoom on September 21, the new officers elected and reports of the officers heard.  We’ll award medals and remember the deaths of members when we can be together again, in person.   Rusty Tunnard is your new Secretary, James Houghton is Vice President, Deb Bornheimer continues as Treasurer and Anne Carter Aitken as Keeper of the Rolls.  Many, many thanks to Bob Osteen and Ed Tarlov, departing President, and Vice President.

Directors
Katharine Boden, Anne Hawley, Arthur C. Hodges, John A. D. Gilmore, Robert L. Turner, and Eleanor T. Andrews, Joel M. Ives.

Committee on Elections
Chair: James DeKay Houghton
James Bride, David C. Brooks, Edward Roberts, Grant Winthrop, Martha Eddison, Ike Williams, Stephen S. Score, Mary Scott, Jane Shaw

As noted in the Annual Meeting: joy is ahead, just waiting to be constructed.  (I was thinking in particular of the three Halloween plays that are now are being cast and invented for viewing at home.)

Of course, the future is a stormy sea full of potholes.

We’ll be fine.  Do stay in touch.
Nancy Maull

Note: The Tavern Club is open for Monday Night dinners, Friday Lunches, and the two Special Events this month, a maximum of 20 members.  Reserve with Mr. Fay, and, for now, no guests.

Special Event/Arts Roundtable

Alex Beam on Farnsworth House
Thursday, October 1
Drinks 6:30, Dinner 7:00
Limited to 20 diners, members only. Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

The Arts Round Table will hold a special evening event with guest speaker Alex Beam on Thursday,  October 1. Alex will speak about his new book, Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight over a Modernist Masterpiece, published in March. The New York Times called it “a thorough and thoughtful account that is both a knowing biography of an object – the house – and of its two principles, the well-documented Mies and the widely overlooked Farnsworth.”

Well-known to Miesians but not to most of us, this is also the story of a romance between an architect and his client that wound up as a contentious court case.

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, October 2
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Monday Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, October 5
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, October 9
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Club Closed

Monday, October 12

Special Event at the Tavern

John Finley: 30 Years in Dorcester: Reflections on Diversity & Inclusion
Thursday, October 15
Drinks 6:30, Dinner 7:00
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Abbie Trafford writes:

30 Years in Dorchester: Reflections On Diversity & Inclusion

As an undergraduate, John Finley helped start and run a homeless shelter for four years. Watching shelter guests struggle and often fail to change their trajectories led him to make education his life’s work. After teaching in a brand-new Jesuit school for boys from low-income families, he became an Episcopal priest and founded Epiphany (www.epiphanyschool.com), a tuition-free, independent Episcopal school where black lives have always mattered. To explore current issues around equity—economic, educational, racial, and otherwise—John has interviewed a number of his most experienced teachers, many of whom are themselves Epiphany graduates.  In this talk, he will share their perspectives as well as his own thoughts on his work. Please join John for this important conversation on equity in our times.

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, October 16
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Monday Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, October 19
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Book Club by Zoom

Tuesday, October 20 at Noon
Reserve with manager@tavernclub.org to receive the Zoom link.

Laury Coolidge who will guide us writes:

War and Peace is an “Everything” novel.  It encompasses love, war, society, religion and ethics.  It is reflective of Tolstoy’s own life and thinking, and many consider it the greatest novel ever written.

Poetry Evening Online

Tuesday, October 20 at 5 p.m.
Reserve with manager@tavernclub.org to receive the Zoom link.

Albert LaFarge writes:

Jim Berkman, retired head of BU Academy and all-around gem of a dude (some of you may have enjoyed his company as fellow St. Botolphers), has offered to enlighten us on a topic related to his recently completed novel The Secret Ministry of Frost, probing Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s fraught relationship with his son Hartley. Jim will treat willing participants to “an interactive reading of Coleridge’s ‘Frost at Midnight’ and discuss how Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ was a rip-off (the latter being written four months later as Coleridge and Wordsworth lived four miles apart in Somerset and were working on Lyrical Ballads together).” The conversation will, as always, take off in unexpected directions, and we hope you’ll join; guests are welcome.

History Cocktail Hour

Tuesday, October 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Reserve with manager@tavernclub.org to receive the Zoom link.

Carol Bundy writes:

Annik LaFarge will talk about her most recent book, Chasing Chopin. She’s a wonderful writer whose first book was On the High Line: Exploring America’s Most Original Urban Park, was the winner of the 2013 IPPY Award presented by the Independent Publishers for Travel Guidebook. If you interested in that book, the High Line Park and the landscape design of Piet Oudolf, check out Annik’s blog https://www.livinthehighline.com.

Chasing Chopin is equally, if not more original. It’s a mapping of Chopin’s creation of the Funeral March from his Opus 35 sonata. And, as the subtitle explains, it’s a journey across three centuries, four countries, and a half-dozen revolutions. LaFarge has discovered the march to be utterly different from the piece of music we think we know. Her telling of that tale works like a mystery, a page-turner, and an eye-opening portrait of Chopin, the composer, and a far more complex person that the tubercular dying Romantic of recent films.  Guests are very welcome.

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, October 23
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Monday Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, October 26
Limited to 20 diners, members only.
Reserve: manager@tavernclub.org

Play Reading Lunch by Zoom

Tuesday, October 27 at Noon
Reserve with manager@tavernclub.org to receive the Zoom link.

The Play-Reading Luncheon Series Continues with The Wild Duck, Part Two

George Heaton writes:

Are you yearning for a play full of lies, submerged sex, animals in the attic, and crazy family members — none of which can be overcome by truth?  Well then, you’ll love “The Wild Duck,” Ibsen’s symbolist masterpiece.  Besides all getting roles, we’ll all get to take a turn in figuring out what that wounded wild duck stands for during discussion time!

So that we have a common edition, please use Dover Thrift Editions, available in paperback and kindle from Amazon. Do not hesitate to join, even if you missed Part One.

Halloween Plays Online

Thursday, October 29 at 5:30 p.m.
Reserve with manager@tavernclub.org to receive the Zoom link.

The Tavern Players are looking forward to an unprecedented response to a Pandemic Plays Competition.  We are still working out details, so stay tuned, and put the date into your calendars.  The Committee has selected three plays, drawn from sixteen brilliant plays submitted.  Directors Martha Sieniewicz, John Rabinowitz, and Andy Doherty are planning their efforts.  Cast and crew are being assembled as this is written.  The show must go on!

Bridge

Bridge continues online.  All levels of competence are welcome.  Just contact George Heaton at george.r.heaton@gmail.com

In case you missed it:

Tom Kelly on Don Giovanni: Recording available for 3 weeks, COPY AND PASTE INTO YOUR BROWSER:

https://juilliard.zoom.us/rec/share/1hLh5JEV9nThtDOJJbaiOyNNeKzMaMK3fLG293Q2I_agwDGgbeUdC24VG-uhp_DC.CpQDlr3s1QAcwNYW?startTime=1600983213000

The Journaling Project came to a close on September 17, when twenty or so Taverners showed their work:  photos, paintings, poetry, journal entries, and more.  Peter Rand led off with a reading from the Decameron and Alice Cornwell (Pompinea) guided the evening.  Warren Ross produced the most beautiful online show of work.  It was magical, even elegiac, an end to summer, a summer like no other.  Alice’s fine hat, by the way …

+
Leo H. Dworsky
Cambridge, Ma.
September 17, 2020
+

— Rusty Tunnard
Secretary

September 2020 Calendar at a Glance

September Tavern Club Newsletter

A Note from the President:

The incidence of coronavirus infections in Massachusetts remains low but not low enough. Despite the limited opening of restaurants and bars and several large public gatherings, there has been no major spike in infections. In the eyes of the State, the Tavern Club is a restaurant and, under current restrictions, we are limited to 20 members in the building at a time. The occupancy limitation will allow us to do a few things like Monday Night Dinners, Friday lunches, and small theme lunches but not the large events that we so enjoy. We will continue to have lectures on Zoom and we will hold the business part of the Annual Meeting by Zoom on September 21 to hear the officer’s reports and vote on the report of the Nominating Committee. The awarding of medals and reading of memorial minutes will be deferred until it can be done in person, possibly this winter.

Mr. Fay and I will meet with the staff on September 1 to review the protocols for safely opening the Club starting with Monday Night Dinner on September 14. We will follow the protocols established by the State for restaurants including one-way traffic in and out of the building, masks when not seated at a table, masks for the staff, readily available hand sanitizer, drinks ordered from the table, maximum six people per table, windows open, individual condiments, wrapped butter (sorry Nancy), and wine poured by staff. It will all require from the members conscientious flexibility and a sense of humor.

This fall, the hours worked by the staff will be less than normal but we intend to continue paying full salaries as we have during the time the Club was closed. Needless to say, the interruption in restaurant revenue is having an effect on Club finances, which Treasurer Deb Bornheimer will discuss at the Annual Meeting.

Stay safe and stay in touch,  Bob Osteen

Fête Champêtre (sans La Marseillaise)

Thursday, September 3 at 1:30 p.m.

Possibly sold out, but still worth going on the waitlist.

To celebrate the end of summer and a new (peculiar) year at the Tavern, you are invited to an open-air, socially distanced Fête at Carolyn and Bob Osteen’s home, 15 South Lane, South Dartmouth, MA on Thursday, September 3.

The picnic location is about 80 minutes south of downtown Boston. To minimize traffic delays and avoid travel after dark, the Fête will be a picnic lunch served at 1:30 p.m. Every effort will be made to make the event safe and compliant with Massachusetts regulations and recommendations. Attendance will be limited to the 48 people who can be seated at eight six-person tables under the tent. Guests will be asked to wear masks when not seated at their table. Drinks will be served at the tables. Lunches will be individually boxed with utensils.

Because attendance is limited by the social distancing requirements, members are limited to one guest each. Please notify Tony Fay and if space opens up you will be sent detailed directions, etc.

Put on your lawn-party attire and join us as we embrace the new normal at a distance from our old friends.

Monday Night Dinner at the Tavern

Monday, September 14 at 6 p.m.

Reserve with Mr. Fay.

Poetry Lunch via Zoom

Tuesday, September 15 at Noon

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

Feeling Satanic? Come to Part II of our Milton Poetry luncheons, in which we explore this fabulous character, Satan, who engineers the Loss of Paradise and fights God. Whose side are you on? Whew!

History Cocktails

Wednesday, September 16 at 5:30 p.m.

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

Carol Bundy writes:

Jamie Holmes has written a wonderfully reviewed book, 12 Seconds of Silence, on the various ways the Allies defeated the Nazis in intellectual warfare and the people who made that happen from then-presidents of Harvard to obscure engineers from the midwest.  It’s a fascinating, beautifully written book. Please sign up to join us via zoom and guests are welcome.

Journaling Project via Zoom

Thursday, September 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

Alice Cornwell writes:

Three Cheers for Summer – While thrown into the partisan politics and the racial reckoning (and also hope) of this historic summer, while  threatened and constrained by the pandemic that keeps raging, Taverners have also found time to paint, sculpt, read, write plays and poetry, maneuver gin poles and the tops of Prosecco bottles. Join us September 17 for a Zoom party in which we will share the art we’ve created this summer and do the unthinkable: open the pages of our journals. Everyone welcome. The structure of the evening will be laid out clearly on the day but we hope to rekindle the good humor and art of conversation art that thrives around the much-missed and hallowed table at Boylston Place. People who have submitted journal pages, come prepared to read or speak briefly (for a minute or two) about your work or works.

Submissions accepted until Labor Day, September 7th. 

Please send submissions to our slide master Warren Ross at wardog@earthlink.net. If already sent to Alice Cornwell, don’t worry, I have forwarded them to Wardog.

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, September 18 at Noon

Reserve with Mr. Fay

Annual Meeting via Zoom

Monday, September 21 at 5:30 p.m.

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

This is the required business portion of the Meeting, postponed from the usual date in May.  We’ll hear the officer’s reports and vote on the report of the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee’s Report and Agenda will be sent to you shortly.

Book Club via Zoom

Wednesday, September 23 at Noon

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

Kauffman, The Last Kings of Shanghai

Jonathan Kaufman, Pulitzer Prize winning Northeastern Professor of Journalism will discuss his new book, The Last Kings of Shanghai.  Starting in the mid-19h century in Shanghai, two Jewish families, the Sassoons and the Kadoories, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics, profiting from the Opium Wars, surviving Japanese occupation, courting Chiang Kai-shek and losing nearly everything as the communists swept into power.  Kaufman tells the story of how these families participated in the economic boom that opened China to the world.The story stretches from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London. It is a tale of opium, struggling family rivalry, political intrigue and survival.

Tom Kelly on Don Giovanni via Zoom

Thursday, September 24 at 5:30 p.m.

Reserve in advance with Mr. Fay to receive the Zoom link.

Tom Kelly will tell us about the premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in Prague. There, in 1787, an audience first heard this dark tale, told in songs of humor, love, despair, horror, and evil.  A year earlier, the Prague audience had loved the sly Marriage of Figaro: what would they think of DG?

Friday Lunch at the Tavern

Friday, September 25 at Noon

Reserve with Mr. Fay

Monday Dinner & Elections Committee at the Tavern

Monday, September 28 at 6 p.m.

Reserve with Mr. Fay.

Playreading Lunch via Zoom

Tuesday, September 29 at Noon

Sign up with Mr. Fay to get the Zoom link.

George Heaton writes:

The Play-Reading Luncheon Series Resumes! Are you yearning for a play full of lies, submerged sex, animals in the attic and crazy family members — none of which can be overcome by truth?  Well then, you’ll love “The Wild Duck,” Ibsen’s symbolist masterpiece.  Besides all getting roles, we’ll all get to take a turn in figuring out what that wounded wild duck stands for during discussion time!

So that we have  a common edition, please use Dover Thrift Editions, available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

We’ll do it on Tuesday September 29 at noon.  Please reply to Tony and George Heaton and/or Anson Wright — and let us know if you have any difficulty finding the text. (Do not expect to be cast as the wild duck except if you only want to listen;  it’s a non-speaking role.)

And Bridge continues online.  Contact Deb Bornheimer if you are interested in joining.  No experience required. duxdeb@gmail.com.

Coming Soon

Special Events/Arts Roundtable; Alex Beam on Farnsworth House

Thursday, October 1

The Arts Round Table will hold a special evening event with guest speaker Alex Beam on Thursday, October 1.

Alex will speak about his new book, Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight over a Modernist Masterpiece, published in March. The New York Times called it “a thorough and thoughtful account that is both a knowing biography of an object – the house – and of its two principles, the well-documented Mies and the widely overlooked Farnsworth.” Well-known to Miesians but not to most of us, this is also the story of a romance between an architect and his client that wound up as a contentious court case.

Last call for Halloween Plays

Due by Tuesday, September 8

From the Plays Committee Chair, John Tittmann:

Taverners:  Submit it to the Halloween One Act Plays Competition by September 8.  This year , imagine that we’ll be presenting the Halloween Plays virtually.  Think of the creative possibilities!  Instead of staging the plays in our theater, we might ‘stage’ the plays on Zoom.  Any play we’ve performed in the past on the stage would work in this new format. 

1. Exactly Four actors. Clever writers might introduce more roles, but there are only four actors in each play.
2. Length of total document, including stage directions, etc., should be no more than 1250 words long.  (There’s a 10% overage wiggle room)
3. Only one pseudonym per author. By all means, write more than one play, but use the same name on each submission.  The idea of the competition is not just to have three plays, but to also have three different authors.

How to submit your play:

1. Create an Word or PDF file named by the play name plus your Nom de Plume.
2. Using your own email, send the file of your play to tchalloweenplays@gmail.com. This email is managed by a discreet plenipotentiary who will forward your file only to the Plays Committee, keeping the email source anonymous.
3. Submit the file no later than Labor Day.
4. Watch for confirmation from the TCHalloweenPlays email to confirm that you have successfully submitted the file.

+
Mitchell Lash Adams
Boston, July 18, 2020
+

— Nancy Maull, Secretary

Download the September 2020 Tavern Club Newsletter

 

A Note from the President:

What a troubled and disturbing time! The events of the past month have roused many of us from our obligation-light cocoons where we were sheltering from the virus and forced us to consider horrible examples of police misconduct and confront uncomfortable issues of institutional racism. All of this without the solace of companionship at the Tavern. The good news is that Tony and the staff are well, and I am unaware of additional cases of the virus among members or their spouses. The building was not affected by the demonstrations on the Common. Emerson suffered some broken windows along Boylston Street, but the Emerson Police blocked the entrance to Boylston Place on one end and the Boston Police blocked the other end at the Transportation Building. Plans for the fall at the Tavern are still unsettled. We hope to have the Fête, in some form, on a Thursday before Labor Day. The re-opening of society is an ongoing experiment, the results of which need to be known before an organization such as ours with demographics like ours can safely resume operations. As a start, the theater is available for rehearsals by small groups who can maintain appropriate social distancing. No food or beverage service will be available. Call Tony if you have any questions. Courage, mes amis!   Bob

Tavern in the Sky 

Thursday, July 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Tom Kelly on Beethoven 9

Tom will talk about the first performance of Beethoven’s last symphony.  What could be better than an Ode to Joy in a dark season?  Consider the inimitable Harvard Gazette headline:

“Professor Delights in Details of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

Or watch this to remind yourself of ongoing delight.

Sign up now with Mr. Fay  manager@tavernclub.org, to get the link for Thursday, July 2.

Online Bridge

Online bridge continues this summer, please contact Deb Bornheimer, duxdeb@gmail.com

Wednesday, July 22 at noon

Midsummer Book Club on Zoom, Abdi Nor Iftin will lead a discussion of his book Call Me American. Alice Cornwell will introduce him.

In this exquisitely written memoir, Abdi Iftin describes what it was like growing up in war-torn Mogadishu and brings a personal context to events most of us have only read about in headlines or in the movie Black Hawk Down. As a boy, Abdi survived a civil war, the arrival of U.S. Marines, and the Battle of Mogadishu when to his surprise “skinny rebels” pushed out “the movie-star Marines.”

He writes of learning English from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies played in a small shack while selling popcorn and peanuts to make money to help feed his family. Becoming known as “Abdi American,” he performed the latest hip-hop moves at local weddings. During the rise of the Islamist group al-Shabaab, Abdi hid out in Mogadishu sending reports that were written up in The Atlantic and recording radio reports for the NPR program The Story.

Please join Abdi to discuss Somalia and his journey here to life in Maine and Boston. Sign up for the Zoom link with Ed Tarlov, edward.tarlov.md@gmail.com.

In case you missed it:

On June 4. Andy Calkins, Anson Wright, and Bobo Devens invited us into three movies all about food and love: Big Night, The Hundred-Foot Journey, and Chef.  Participants recalled meals eaten and other food movies watched.  Longing for real meals, in person, was expressed.

The Poetry Slam on June 11 brought out the Club poets who had been musing over the state of the world while sheltering. Contributions ranged from a series of limericks combining boat names from transoms in Gloucester Harbor by John Paul Britton to a cry for a better world from Carol Burnes. Maisie Houghton read her touching poem in which she used fashion and memories of fashion to elicit a memory from her husband. Anne Carter linked together her son’s COVID 19 symptoms into a chilling poem. Andy Calkins and Watson Reid tied for the “Bob Dylan Poetry set to Music Prize.” Other contributors included Sandy Righter, Ed Tarlov, Hilary Bracken, Elaine Woo, Anson Wright, George Heaton, and Warren Ross. Nancy Maull summed up the spirit of the evening by quoting Seamus Heaney, So walk on air against your better judgment.

On June 19 Tom Kelly led us through the famous first night, in 1913, of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.  It was riveting.  The intensity of the music and dancing, coupled with the staging and costumes combined to make the audience’s riot perfectly reasonable. How can performance and audience both be so right?

From the Plays Committee chair, John Tittmann:

A Call for Halloween Plays

Taverners:  lurking inside each one of us is a playwright.  Take up the challenge and write your script this summer, and submit it to the Halloween One-Act Plays Competition by Labor Day.  This year, imagine that we’ll be presenting the Halloween Plays virtually.  Think of the creative possibilities!  Instead of staging the plays in our theater, we might ‘stage’ the plays on Zoom.  Any play we’ve performed in the past on the stage would work in this new format. 

1. Exactly Four actors. Clever writers might introduce more roles, but there are only four actors in each play.
2. The length of total document, including stage directions, etc, should no more than 1250 words long.  (There’s a 10% overage wiggle room
3. Only one pseudonym per author. By all means, write more than one play, but use the same name on each submission.  The idea of the competition is not just to have three plays, but to also have three different authors.

How to submit your play:

1. Create a Word or PDF file named by the play name plus your Nom de Plume.
2. Using your own email, send the file of your play to tchalloweenplays@gmail.com This email is managed by a discreet plenipotentiary who will forward your file only to the Plays Committee, keeping the email source anonymous.
3. Submit the file no later than Labor Day.
4. Watch for confirmation from the TCHalloweenPlays email to confirm that you have successfully submitted the file.

Summer Project suggested by Alice Cornwell:

THREE CHEERS FOR SUMMER

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.  (Henry James)

Do what we can, summer will have its flies. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Whatever you think of summer, it’s here and will be different to summers past. A call goes out to all Taverners interested in keeping (or already keeping) a journal of this historic summer. It might be interesting to record our thoughts and activities for Tavern posterity. How do we adjust, what changes are made and what do we manage to hold onto? Does the urgency of our current political situation make its mark on the season that we often hope will exist “outside of time?” Is it actually nice to stay near home?  If we venture out to a restaurant or go for a haircut, or even take a plane to a foreign country, what does it feel like? Or is your grandson still cutting your hair?  Just generally, where do our thoughts run during these times?

Email submissions – up to three pages – by August 31 to be read and shared at a fall Zoom cocktail – when the world might have all changed again. Writing of all types, drawing, sketches, paintings, pressed milkweed – all welcome. Whatever you would consider including in a journal.

To be hosted by Peter Rand, Warren Ross, and Alice Cornwell.

Submissions to alicelcornwell@gmail.com.

— Nancy Maull, Secretary

 Download the Newsletter