Balkan night at Johnny D's tonight!

[nacht_musik]

A trio of Balkan-influenced bands will be rocking out tonight at Johnny D's. The evening’s performances will range from broody, complex songs, to a full-on dance party, including Bulgarian dance troupe Ludo Mlado.

( ...Bury Me Standing, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, and Ansambl Mastika... )

With accounting systems like these...

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Who needs enemies.  Just got my water bill, with a huge unpaid balance.  Which is odd because I paid it in full in December, at the window.  And yep, there's the canceled check.  So ensues fun & games with City Hall.

Turns out they took the day I paid it they shifted a portion of the prior bill to a lien.  And applied the full check to said lien, leaving the rest of the money as a non-interest earning credit on the lien account, while charging me 14% on the unpaid waterbill.  Also, my math may be off, but 14% on $800 for three months is a crapload less than the $120 in interest that went on to the account.

Oh, also, while they send out lien statements, said statements WILL NOT SHOW a credit balance at all, so you don't get to find out if this happened to you, at least not an easy way.

In any case, huge kudos to the supervisor Ms. Craveiro for at least figuring out the issues.  Sadly office was closed at that point, so fixing it will have to wait until Monday.   We'll see how much of a fight I have about getting the interest charges reversed...

In any case, make sure the checks you pay to the town go to the right thing, in the right amount... not just that they are cashed the week after you submit them.

Road Runners?

[thismightbejess.livejournal.com]

Dear DSLJ,

Are any of you members of the Somerville Road Runners? I have been seriously considering joining this running club, but I have concerns...

A few years ago, I joined the Cambridge Community Runners for a season. They were incredibly nice, supportive, attentive and motivating! All the things a running club should be! But they were all vastly superior runners--even their slowest runner could lap me. So despite their vigilant efforts to make me feel welcome and to help me achieve my goals, I left every track practice feeling demoralized.

On their website, the Road Runners say that all skill levels are welcome. They say that there are probably plenty of members who are comparable in out-of-shape-ness. But is this really true?

Right now I run 13-minute miles in a 5k. If I join the Road Runners on Monday for the Bur-run, will I be left in the dust?

Thanks :)

Alice in Bed - a play from Do It Live, a new Davis Sq. theatre company

[ron_newman]

On my way to tonight's Theatre@First staged reading, I noticed that another company is putting on another show at Unity Somerville this weekend and next. The company is called Do It Live, and the play is Alice in Bed by Susan Sontag.

The company is brand new and doesn't appear to have a web site, but they do have a Twitter page, a Facebook event, a Yelp event, a CultureMob event, and a GoFundMe page. Quoting from one of the event pages:

Do It Live Productions is proud to present Alice in Bed, the story of Alice James, sister of Henry and William James, a character bedridden by sickness and her own self conscious who struggles with the question, should I get out of bed? She is visited by several Victorian female figures (Margaret Fuller, Emily Dickinson), a burglar and many more characters as she concerns herself about her place in her brilliant family, her vocation as a woman, her own desires and whether or not to get out of bed and do something!

The show starts March 18th and plays again on the 19th, 25th and 26th at 8 p.m and will be playing at the Unity Church of God, 6 William St., Somerville. Admission is free with a suggested $5 donation.

If anyone knows more about the company or the show, please comment below.