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Cool news from Google: bike routes online from Google Maps

This is such a cool new thing, you can now select bike routes from point to point in Google maps.  It will take into account traffic lights, hills and other practical factors.  So logical!  CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Cycling Acadia

56 miles of spectacular car-free “carriage paths” inside Acadia National Park on the Maine coast. You can lollygag, or push yourself…..doesn’t matter, it’s awesome. Good-enough mountain bikes are $20 per day to rent, Boston to Acadia is 4.5 hours. Other cool things: climb a mountain, sea kayak, or just look at the ocean and eat lobster. Spynergy gives it “5 revolutions” our highest rating. Anyone else been there?

Cleveland is the new Tuscany (Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame)

The bad news? Once again, our Tuscany (or equivalent) vacation was pushed to the back burner by events out of our control. This time, the economic collapse of the modern world. Whatever. The good news? We drove to Cleveland and experienced one of the great museum takes there is. The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

I won’t bore you with a description of the building (brilliant IM Pei design), or the beauty of the setting (lakeside amidst the best looking structures in Ohio)……it was inside the building where the magic occurred. On a scale of 1 to 10, if your love of modern popular music is above 5 — go to this place before you die. One caveat: Do NOT go casually for an hour or two. Plan on spending at least 5 hours (I was in the building for 9 hours over 2 days, and with a few more Red Bulls, could have spent more time). Not kidding.

Music is emotion, and this place is slathered with the emotions for your childhood, youth, young adulthood and even middle age. Images and audio are infinitely combined to entertain and educate. You experience an odd and exhilirating combination of nostalgia and discovery…..how is that possible? Specifics? OK.

1) Extensive video footage of a skinny Bruce Springsteen going berserk at various Jersey venues (special exhibit on Bruce runs through the end of 2009 and I thought my wife might take up residence inside the room).

2) Kiosks (with multiple headsets) where you can view audio and video of artists by genre and then view further video of the artists that influenced them. I could have spent hours on this alone. Every wonder who influenced Nirvana?

3) Literally hours of unreleased Jimi Hendrix sessions recordings (if they’d had a chair at the kiosk, I would still be there). Other artists too….I happen to like Hendrix.

4) A multi-screened movie theatre with a brilliantly produced highlight film of everyone inducted in the Hall of Fame. Organized by year of induction.

5) Exhibits centered around key geographical music hotbeds: London, New York, San Francisco, Memphis, LA, Chicago, etc.

6) Cool gift shop.

Need I go on? In order to qualify for induction an artist must have a record made at least 25 years ago. First inductees were folks like Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Elvis. More recently: U2, REM, Madonna, Lynard Skynard, The Clash and Talking Heads. Blues and Motown greats are also abundant. A day pass is $22. You can go back on day 2 for $11. Maybe the food aint as good as Tuscany, but for “escape” value? Unbeatable.

More spin class music than I could ever use….Surely you have a friend or relative in Cleveland? Go. www.rockhall.com

Bob Dylan live at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket RI

I think he winked at us with this show. First of all the “circus” theme?? Complete with cheesy taped intro music and a booming ringmaster announcement: “ladies and gent — tul —- men, the poet laureate of a generation, the folk icon of the 60’s, etc. etc.”. What was up with all that? The master showman was a master showman, what can you say.

Once the band started playing, it was all business though. They started at 80 miles per hour (Cat’s in the Well) and rarely let up. The show was instrumental, rocking, energetic and best of all tight……musically. Poignant ballads? Not tonight.

Willie Nelson and John Mellancamp? Nice side-shows, nice for what they do, and nice build ups to the main act — center ring. Song treatments were what you would expect……Dylan’s were not. The beauty of this kind of Dylan show, was that you could have it both ways: you could hear a song you’ve heard 400 times, and you could hear the same song for the first time. It Aint’ Me Babe was the song of the night for me and I didn’t even recognize it until several minutes in. For the old-timers Masters of War was warped into an angry rock diatribe spitting venom. Later Highway 61 Revisited got you into a looser mood and when the band kicked into Summer Days you felt like you were dancing in a juke joint somewhere in the southern midwest.

Most songs displayed an almost “jam band” type feel as powerful instrumentals shattered the damp night air. The only criticism I heard (which was true) was that you could not understand Dylan’s voice at all. Yes, you could hear it — but as usual it was unintelligible. You know what? So what? Most people knew all the words anyway.

All in all this was a summer show — threatening to rain all night but it miraculously held out —- maybe it was because he played The Levee’s Gonna Break. Who could resist a grin while the highly satisfying encore rolled out Like a Rolling Stone, Jolene (brand new), and All Along the Watchtower? If you haven’t seen a Bob Dylan show in several years, it is crystal clear to me he has developed a stadium “thing” that is innovative, skilled, and highly entertaining. Best of all, it somehow seems to magically feel fresh as opposed to nostalgic. How does he do that………again?

For another opinion on the show and a bit more detail, check the Larry Fishman review at the Bob Links site.

Spynergy Riders Share Their Secrets

SPYNERGY RIDERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS

Coolest thing to do with kids
1) Kids PMC day on May 31 – volunteer and ride
2) Canoe or Kayak on the Pond – watch for new goslings
3) Tomb in Boston
4) Southwick Zoo in Menden
5) Bruins Game
6) Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester
7) Picnic in DeCordova Sculpture Garden – Lincoln
Catch Toads in Creek behind Brae Burn Country Club
9) ‘T’ to Boston and see Tulips in Public Garden
10) Esplanade when sailboats are out
11) Wheesie’s children’s garden at Elmbank (So. Natick)
12) Kayaking on Lake Cochituate

Best spot for lunch with a friend
1) LaRiviera: centrally located, never too crowded, great food
2) My back porch for a chopped salad
3) Daikanyama in Lexington
4) Waverly Market in Framingham
5) Bagels Best in Needham
6) Café Mangal
7) Oga
Bread and Chocolate – Newton
9) Cabots

Favorite Cool Website:
1) MyRecipes.com
2) The Writer’s Almanac / Garrison Keillor
3) Spynergy
4) Affordablesearch.com
5) Coolrunning.com
6) Mashable.com (social media)
7) Aloha Rag (cool clothes)
common sense media (parenting)
9) Thewinger.com (ballet)
10) Hungrygirl.com (nutrition)

Thanks to Camellia Ciocca, Tracy Cranley, Leslie Cutler, Stephanie Hoffman, Andy Schiller, Jamie Nestor, Mia Wenjen, AE Rueppel, Leslie Doyle, Terri Bonee, Leslie Doyle, Dan Fitzgerald

What the heck makes exercise doable?

No one disputes the value of exercise. We live busy but sedentary lives that are peppered with stress — then we sprinkle questionable eating and drinking on top. Normal? Sure. Healthy? Probably not.

It is what it is……and we all know that exercise is a HUGE antidote. How can we keep at it ? After a lifetime of experimenting with exercise we have determined 2 eternal truths:

1) Regular exercise takes discipline
2) The less interesting the exercise, the more difficult the discipline.

Example: Hiking the Appalachian trail in autumn is good exercise and little discipline is required to stay at it. Running on a treadmill alone in your basement is good exercise, but it’s HUGE discipline to do it often.

Here’s the thing about spin: great exercise of course….but more important, there are things about it that make the discipline less intimidating. The music, the teacher, the group energy, the darkness, the class structure, the variety — these things conspire to make the exercise (dare I say it)….Fun. If something is fun, it doesn’t take as much discipline to do it.

Love to hear your thoughts comments or examples….