Tyson and Daniel came over to our house, and then the four of us went to Salem to eat dinner at Stromberg's. After 10 years without seeing one another, it ws a great reunion for Tyson and myself (it would have been the year of our 10 year high school reunion, had there been one). The four of us got along great. We had lots of laughs over dinner. Tyson had a stuffed lobster and Dan had shrimp ravioli. Craig got a Mediterranean swordfish steak, and I had baked stuffed scallops.
After dinner Craig drove us to Salem Willows. We walked out onto the pier. It was cool and rather foggy, which was a nice change from the summer heat Tyson and Daniel had been experiencing at home. We drove back to our house for coffee. Tyson and I looked through some stuff we had written in high school (the script for the James Bond movie that we had planned to produce, some songs). We joked with Daniel about the movie "Amazon Women on the Moon." It turns out that Tyson had never seen it, so we watched our DVD. We hung out until around 1:00.
Saturday 8/2/03
Tyson and Daniel arrived at our house a little bit after 11:00. I went with them to Salem for the day. We ate lunch at the DryDock. Tyson had clam chowder, Daniel had chicken salad on foccacia, and I had crab cakes. Today was a Wiccan holiday, Lughnasadh, and Dan explained some aspects of Wicca during lunch.
Tyson was very excited to go to Ye Olde Pepper Company, the oldest candy store in the country. We went there as soon as we finished lunch. Tyson was in his glory. After that we walked out to the lighthouse on the end of the pier, and walked by the Friendship, a tall ship. Dan got a picture of Bunghole Liquors (we had pointed out the one in Peabody last night), and we went in to buy some water. We then went into some Wiccan shops. It was really interesting. Dan found some out of print books he had been searching for. I bought a bracelet. Next we went to the Record Exchange. It brought back memories ogf high school when Tyson and I would spend hours in record stores in Boston or poring over Goldmine magazine. We each found a few treasures.
We walked around the old cemetery and then headed back home. We met up with Craig and headed into Boston to see Blue Man Group. This would be Craig and my fourth time seeing it, and Tyson and Dan's first. As we drove into town we pointed out the products of the Big Dig (such as the Zakim Bridge).We arrived at the Charles Playhouse at around 6:15. The show didn't start until 7, so we had time to sit down and have a drink in the Charles Playhouse lounge. We then headed to our seats. We were in the fourth row, which required us to wear ponchos. Tyson and Daniel had absolutely no idea what to expect. They loved it. It was such an experience. At one point a Blue Man climbed over the audience. He went right between Tyson and Dan, with a hand atop each of their heads. Craig and I had never been so close to the stage, and I must say that the finale was more intense than we could have imagined in that location. It's overwhelming. Afterwards the Blue Men were hanging out in the alley. We got our pictures taken with them.
It was now a little before 9, and we decided to get some dinner. We walked down the street toward Brew Moon, a local microbrewery/restaurant, only to find that it was no longer there.It had been our favorite restaurant in the theater district. We stood for a few minutes trying to decide where to go. Tyson and Daniel preferred a local place (i.e. not a chain) that had some character and that we enjoyed. That clinched it: Redbones in Somerville. We hopped in the car and drove there, only to find a parking spot right in front of the door (in all the times we have been there, that has never happened). We put our name on the list, went to an ATM, and were seated almost immediately after we returned. We got an upstairs table (upstairs is more of a blues rib-joint ambiance whereas downstairs is lit with black lights and has a funhouse appearance). Tyson and Daniel had some mix and match barbeque samplers. Craig got the "barbeque belt". I had jerk beef and macaroni and cheese. It was a great dinner, and we all enjoyed the food and atmosphere very much. Tyson bought a pint glass decorated with the Redones Blues Brothers pig logo.
We got home at around 11:15, and we hung out until 1:00 chatting and drinking coffee. We had an excellent time. It was like Tyson and hadn't missed a beat after all these years. Daniel was incredibly friendly and a lot of fun. Craig liked them both very much and had a great time as well. We are looking forward to taking them up on their offer to visit them in Arizona.