Wellesley Rocks!…online for now

April 2, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

It seemed like such a good idea when Wellesley rocker/finance guy Patrick Hayden, who runs the website Wellesley Rocks!, hit us up late last year about a new concert series featuring local musicians to be held after hours at the library. But the series didn’t get far before the coronavirus outbreak hit and forced musicians inside.

But you can’t hold a good musician down. We saw evidence of this on St. Patrick’s Day in Wellesley as well as through the ingenuity of a Wellesley High teacher and students.

Hayden exhausts his year’s supply of uppercase letters and writes on Wellesley Rocks!

Live music is cancelled until at least May, but is this quarantine gonna stop us? HECK NO! Let’s use this time to create and share some music! Play your piano, sing a karaoke track, pluck a uke…. Send your video to [email protected] – we’ll post new video entries ALL MONTH LONG. Let’s make some noise!

In writing to us, Hayden says “During this crazy quarantine, many families are getting back to basics. Puzzles, reading books, build a fire, and play some music! Music is a great healer and lifter of spirits, and we could certainly all use that right now. So that’s what we’re doing.”

The submissions are rolling in, says Hayden, who reached out to the 250-plus people on the Wellesley Rocks! mailing list.

The Walton family gets into the spirit here on this Bob Marley number.

I couldn’t resist a cover of a song by The Smiths.

More: Music to Wellesley’s ears during the coronavirus crisis

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No fooling: We’ve launched Natick Report

April 1, 2020 by Bob Brown 16 Comments

Entering Natick, Bob and Deb Sure, there’s plenty in Wellesley to keep you and us busy. Still, we’ve been plotting and scheming for years to expand our publishing empire. Natick is the natural choice.

Why Natick? Because we bought our first house there, a small Cape near the other Roche Bros. Once we checked that box, we had babies and brought them to the Natick Cooperative Playgroup, where we all got properly socialized. Heck, we still have besties in town who we’d lay down in traffic for. So that’s why Natick. We may have lived there for only eleven years, but those were seriously formative years, people. What’s more, our current property spans both Wellesley and a wee bit of Natick, and most of our immediate neighbors live in Natick.

As we do with Swellesley, we’ll strive to make Natick Report a central source of news and information about the town for residents, those who work here, and visitors. With that voice of ours to boot. So of course we’d launch it on April 1 in the midst of a health crisis.

There might even be room for some good old-fashioned Natick-Wellesley rivalry content, not to mention articles of interest to both towns. We’ll definitely be reaching out to our friends in Wellesley, Natick and wherever to help on this venture.

The Swellesley Report started out as a highfalutin hobby. An experiment in civic duty we took on in the spirit of exploring online community journalism, if you will. The hobby then turned into a beast, which we’ve wrestled into a revenue-producing career. Fine, maybe it’s actually online journalism and its 24/7 demands that have wrestled us into submission, but we’re not complaining. In fact, we’re gluttons for punishment.

Natick Report begins…

Wellesley Police log: Homeless person in shed; hockey pucks a nightmare for neighbor; Whole Foods parking lot pillars damaged; no arrests

March 31, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley police station Wellesley, Mass., police log for the week of March 23-28:

On March 23, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. Officer Pino spoke with a female party regarding an issue with a neighbor. The female party stated that a neighbor’s children are shooting hockey pucks late at night and she heard them the prior night around 11:00 p.m. She said the noise disrupts her when she sleeps and occasionally the hockey pucks hit her house. One of them damaged the water drain on the side of the house. Officer Pino was able to put the drain pipe back in place and spoke with the neighbor who was outside playing hockey. He spoke with him about being a good neighbor and they agreed to a reasonable time for him to stop playing hockey at night so he does not disturb his neighbors. He later spoke with the youth’s parent to inform them of the complaint and what he had spoken to her son about.

On March 23, 2020 at 12:15 p.m. Officer Pino was dispatched to Weston Road to speak with a resident about a bicycle that was left on her lawn over the weekend. Officer Pino transported the bicycle to the police station where it will be held for one year in case the rightful owner comes forward to claim the bicycle.

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On March 25, 2020 at 11:59 a.m. Officer Kane spoke with a reporting party regarding an incident of fraud. The reporting party stated she had checked one of her bank accounts online and found that it was overdrawn. She applied for a job online and received a check from the AXAPPP company that hired her to purchase the necessary equipment. She was contacted by someone at AXAPPP regarding the check clearing and they requested a security deposit for the equipment which was sent to them from her bank account. She had reported the issue to her bank and they advised her to notify the police department.

On March 25, 2020 at 2:49 p.m. Officer Mankavech spoke to a female reporting regarding an incident of credit card fraud. The report is incomplete at this time and no further information is available.

On March 27, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. Officer D. Popovski spoke with a female party regarding use of her credit card without her permission. There were two fraudulent charges to Daily Burn and AirBnB. The reporting party had contacted her bank and was advised she would not be held response for the charges. Officer Popovski contacted AirBnB’s fraud department and was advised they would not provide any information to assist with an investigation without a court issued search warrant.

On March 27, 2020 at 5:11 p.m. Officer Griffin spoke with a female reporting party who stated that she had some concerns about a homeless individual staying in the shed in their back yard due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reporting party was advised to lock the shed and they indicated they would leave a note on it for the individual. Officer Griffin provided them with information about shelters in the area that they could pass along to the individual.

On March 28, 2020 at 9:49 a.m. Officer J. Popovski spoke with an employee from Whole Foods who stated that three of the granite pillars at the end of their parking lot and adjacent to the walking path by the Hunnewell Fields had been knocked over. Officer Popovski contacted the Department of Public Works and advised them of the damaged pillars.

More: Past Wellesley Police logs

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Wellesley College campus, Lake Waban path closed to public due to coronavirus concerns

March 31, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley College recently asked nicely for people outside of its community to stay clear of campus, but throngs were still descending upon it as of this past weekend. Cars were lined up along Rtes. 16 and 135, creating something of a circus for the students and campus employees who remain during the coronavirus outbreak. The already narrow path around Lake Waban had become uncomfortably crowded for anyone trying to stay socially distanced.

Now the College has issued an update, backed by the Town of Wellesley and Wellesley Police Department:

Effective March 31, Wellesley College campus is closed to the public.

Campus buildings and facilities are only open to students remaining on campus, faculty, and staff. All athletics facilities—indoor and outdoor, including the track, fields, and tennis courts—are closed. Only Wellesley College registered vehicles will be permitted to park in campus parking lots.

Additionally, both the College and the Hunnewell family, owners of the property next to the College that also borders Lake Waban, have decided to close the privately owned walking path around Lake Waban to the public. Only faculty, staff, and students (no guests) are welcome to walk on Wellesley College’s portion of the lake path, and around campus, while maintaining social distance.

Wellesley police have offered to help the College enforce this by limiting parking along Route 135, Route 16, and Pond Road, and our Campus Police will ask visitors they encounter on campus to leave immediately.

Boardwalk, Lake Waban, Wellesley — Boardwalk through the marsh at Lake Waban

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Easter bunny won’t be denied in Wellesley

March 31, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

While Easter traditions in Wellesley, such as the Recreation Department’s 16th annual spring thaw egg hunt, have been nixed due to coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns, bunnies are making their presence felt in town as April 12 and Easter Sunday approach.

Lots of bunnies are skittering around Wellesley lawns, but then there are also these decorative rabbits adorning the intersection of Woodlawn Avenue and Fuller Road.

fuller road bunnies

And Swellesley contributor Dennis McCormick shared this photo of a fine rabbit on Summit Road.

fuller road bunny — Photo by Dennis McCormick

Many houses of worship in Wellesley have converted to online services, so expect Easter celebrations to be taken to the internet.

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Wellesley COVID-19 update: Building inspections going virtual via FaceTime & Skype

March 30, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Local builders, electricians, plumbers and others who want to move ahead with their projects during the coronavirus crisis will be relieved to see that Wellesley has begun moving to remote building inspections. The town had temporarily banned non-emergency interior inspections.

We’d started to hear from builders who were hoping Wellesley and other communities would come up with innovative ways to allow inspections to be conducted without putting inspectors in harm’s way. After all, many of those involved in the building process are small businesses, just like restaurants, retailers and others that have rallied town and community support. While this spring real estate season might not be like any other, low interest rates and projects already near completion give hope to those in the market.

The town’s Board of Heath put the kibosh on non-emergency interior inspections on March 19, though said on March 25 that it was looking for alternative approaches in light of the state’s guidance that such work falls under essential services.

“I have never known an inspector to touch or handle anything while doing an inspection,” says one contractor I reached out to about this topic over the weekend. “There is no reason any one needs to be within six feet of anyone else.”

The new Wellesley rules (embedded below) require inspections to be held via FaceTime, Skype or via submission and review of photographs.

Among those hoping the town would find a “sensible workaround” that would ensure safety but allow work to proceed was Marc Charney, a Wellesley-based realtor and builder. As he explained, 6 to 10 inspections might be required per project, so the inability to get one could stop a project anywhere along the way, from the foundation to insulation to electrical stages. “This was going to grind things to a stop and have devastating consequences on our local housing market,” he says.

Charney hoped that a solution might at least be found for unoccupied properties, even if they had to be quarantined for a couple of weeks before an inspection.

“Housing in Wellesley is an extremely important part of our local economy and I think it is very important that the community at large support this segment and the small business owners who” take part in it, Charney says.

The town won’t mind renewing its collection of fees from contractors either…

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Wellesley High Wind Ensemble performs virtually at Symphony Hall

March 30, 2020 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Before the coronavirus outbreak hit, Wellesley High School’s Wind Ensemble had its sights set on performing this spring at Symphony Hall in Boston for an annual Gold Medal Showcase organized by the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association.

While the musicians won’t have a chance to perform at the venue in person this April due to the health crisis, Wellesley High music teacher Steve Scott has worked with students to reunite them virtually and produce a piece of music that has Symphony Hall reverb built into it.

WHS Wind Ensemble

“Over the last week, members of the WHS Wind Ensemble worked individually to reacquaint themselves with a previously learned piece they performed in the Fall, ‘Suite Divertimento’ (1997) by modern wind band composer Jay Gilbert,” Scott explains. “Students were then invited to record themselves performing the first movement ‘Prologue’ using cell phone voice memos playing along with a metronome set to 136 BPM in their headphones–so that all individual performances would lock to the same tempo.”

Students uploaded their recordings to a Google Drive folder, and then Scott assembled the tracks into a Logic Pro X digital audio workstation. Soloists in this virtual performance are Nicholas Lee (French horn), Aaron Lai (alto saxophone), Julianne Klurfeld (flute) and Riley Boyle (vibraphone).

Scott calls this virtual performance “the next best thing,” and says he hopes this gives the community a needed lift.

Now that we have “proof of concept,I anticipate more to come…!” he says.

More: Wellesley schools superintendent: “We need to be doing more than what we’re doing now”

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First-time Wellesley author will help you escape to Key West

March 29, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Jane PJP Lathrop (pirozzolo) Key West Affair — Jane Pirozzolo, a.k.a., J.P. Lathrop

I always ask authors about what inspired them to write their books, and here’s a first: Wellesley’s Jane Pirozzolo got the idea for her international thriller and romance from reading an article in a publication called Marine Technology. Well, that and many Christmas vacations in Key West.

The first-time author and 46-year Wellesley resident’s self-published “The Key West Affair, written under the pen name J.P. Lathrop, “delivers murder, intrigue, and romance when the Navy’s Top Secret Unmanned Underwater Vehicle guidance systems are stolen and traded to foreign powers.” (UUVs are the Navy’s counterpart to airborne drones.)

“The Key West Affair” is the first in a series of Quinn Callahan mysteries that will next venture to Nantucket, “where an underbelly of crime lies just beneath the glitz and glamor of the island’s seaside mansions and mega yachts.”

Pirozzolo says her debut novel was 4 years in the making, with stops and starts along the way. She got an offer from a New York outfit to publish the book, but decided that self-publishing was a better option.

This Boston University graduate has a degree in literature, and her career has spanned working for Boston Magazine, in the trade show business and currently for a financial management firm. She also penned a history of the Italian community in Wellesley, which Pirozzolo says can be found at the Wellesley Historical Society.

She has long been a fan of mystery novels, so it’s not shocker that her first book is in that genre.

And with the coronavirus crisis in full swing, she’s getting work done on 2 other books. One is the sequel called “Pulse,” and another called “Black and Blue,” is a racially charged story about a police officer’s murder.

We wrote a few years back about Jane’s husband, Dick, who released a novel of his own called “Escape from Saigon: A Novel.” I asked if that put pressure on her to crank one out and she says “Not at all. I wrote mine four years before he did. I think he got the idea from ME!”

The next mystery for the Pirozzolos to solve will be when Jane can do author visits for this book. They’d hoped to attend the Nantucket Book Festival in June, but unfortunately that has been shifted to a virtual event due to uncertainty related to COVID-19.

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Music to Wellesley’s ears during coronavirus crisis

March 29, 2020 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Some in Wellesley have tried to boost spirits through the power of music despite the fact that concerts scheduled throughout town have been canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Reader CH shared this clip from her neighborhood this weekend. She happened upon a piano concert given by Greg Livingston, a local piano tuner, musician, and music teacher. “He played a succession of old favorites and show tunes, and even took suggestions from the socially-distanced audience. What a lovely surprise!”

#Wellesley MA 1-man piano concert from within a home, with social distancing audience @WA2EHV pic.twitter.com/F7sCpaeyJw

— swellesley (@swellesley) March 29, 2020

Separately, Wellesley College has tried to salvage its concert season by offering live streams of past events.

Our own swell neighborhood is plotting a live streamed talent show next weekend. I will definitely not be singing or playing music, but am intrigued to see what the neighbors are up to.

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