Rockers,

So last night we lost power at the Somerville rock house for a few hours. It's funny how something like that makes everyone instant friends. I talked to people last night who I've lived next to for a year but have never exchanged a word with.

And everyone in the neighborhood treats the loss of power differently. Our neighbor Ralph, an older, very traditional Italian guy who considers us "his boys," feels the need to take care of everyone. He got on the horn to the power company immediately, found a portable radio and put it in his window so we could listen to the sox and made sure everyone had a drink. Our very old neighbor Angelina simply kept tending to her garden and acted like she had no idea what electricity even was when another neighbor tried to explain the outtage. This neighbor in turn acted like this blackout was perhaps the single defining moment in western civilization, running around the whole street letting people know that they didn't have power. I'm pretty sure she's still talking about it now and will for the next ten years, when it will undoubtedly be known as "the great power loss of ought-three."

As for Brendo Frendo and I, we just headed to the packey for a few beers and then listened to the Red Sox game in my backyard. And even though in our hearts we knew that the lack of electricity made it the ideal time for us to loot all our elderly neighbors' homes, we eventually decided against it and just took it easy. It was nice...