Category: Interviews

Saint Kermit live #4: Wal-Mart

This week, the discussion begins with honeybees (here’s the article I mention) and Bill Richardson’s ad choices. We then talk with Shannon Senior, one of the leaders of the campaign against a proposed Worcester Wal-Mart.

Hosts: me, Janine Duffy, Jim Henderson.

Recording with TalkShoe continues to be fun and challenging. My controls died about halfway through this episode, and there’s a long silence at the end when I restarted the controls so I could click “Terminate episode.”

[Download the mp3]

Coffee in Worcester: Courtyard Cafe

Pie and Coffee: Courtyard Cafe. We’ve been talking about going there for a long, long time.

Bruce: And we finally did it.

P: And you feel a sense of accomplishment?

B: Oh yeah. The first thing I noticed when I walked in there, the funny thing about it is like, and this goes back way before, it’s like every time I used to do errands for Joe, Elwood Adams and stuff like that—

P: —back when you used to run errands at Java Joe’s?

B: Yeah. And I would go by there or, it goes back even farther than that. I have to back up a little bit. I used to go to Al Bum’s a lot, up on Highland Street, and I used to go by that coffee place a lot, the Courtyard. And I never found an apparition to go in there until . . . .
Continue reading “Coffee in Worcester: Courtyard Cafe”

Coffee in Worcester: Boulevard Diner

In this coffee review about the Boulevard Diner, Bruce and I are joined by Michael, the “publisher” of Pie and Coffee, who rarely appears on this blog. He speaks Hungarian, is a fan of classic diners, and lives near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Pie and Coffee: So how do you say her name?

Michael: Báthory Erzsébet.

P: And what were you telling me about her?

M: Well, she liked to bathe in the blood of young girls. She thought it kept her young. And that’s not really cool, but the family couldn’t kill her, because she had a title and all that, and you don’t kill a family member. So they walled her up in her room, because they weren’t really killing her then.

P: So they just let her die.

M: Roughly speaking, yeah.

Bruce: Of a slow death.

M: Yeah. But they didn’t kill her!

B: Of a bloody death.

P: Did you hear Bruce’s song about her?

M: Yes I did, I liked that very much.

P: It got a good review on Volcano Boy.

B: I got a great review on Volcano Boy.

M: I saw that too.

B: You know what they say about Volcano Boy.

M: What do they say about Volcano Boy?

P: It’s a volcano—watch out for the ashes! They get hot!

P: So the Boulevard Diner.

M: The Boulevard Diner rocks!
Continue reading “Coffee in Worcester: Boulevard Diner”

How to Support the Troops

One of the nice things about visiting South Bend, Indiana, is hanging out at the Catholic Peace Fellowship office and talking to Mike Schorsch.

Here’s an interview I did with him about his work with the GI Rights Hotline. Download the mp3 or try other formats.

DSCN0255

Pie and Coffee: Mike, as a counselor with the GI Rights Hotline, your job description is basically “to support the troops.” Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

Mike Schorsch: Sure. Mainly what I do is I answer the phone.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Coffee in Worcester: Part Three

A special Pie and Coffee videocast—or as Bruce would say, a viteocast.

Video: Download the MPEG4 (78 MB). More formats at the Internet Archive.

Featuring: Mike Benedetti, Bruce (“The Snow Ghost”), Kevin Ksen, and Ken Hannaford-Ricardi

  • First on the agenda is A&D Coffee & Lunch X-Press, on Pleasant Street. Carl Weaver has an interview with proprietor Ali Khalaf, and another video of Mr. Khalaf reading a poem about Hurrican Katrina.
  • Kevin sees Dunkin Donuts as being “anti-immigrant,” and Ken thinks they sometimes exploit their workers.
  • Mike and Bruce also went to Eric’s LaPatisserie on Commercial Street. Worcester Magazine interviewed Eric last year.
  • The White Hen is still Bruce’s favorite Worcester coffee.
  • Everyone gossips about Java Joe’s, which is Bruce’s main hangout.
  • Mike tells the story of Dave Maciewski and Napoleon Dynamite.
  • Bruce comes up with a mix of songs that will turn Worcester’s mayor into a metal fan.
  • Bruce mentions his new track, “Once Upon a Time on a Water Lily.” Jacob Berendes describes Bruce’s demo CD as “totally ruling.” {{{5MB mp3}}}
  • Mike reads part of Harsh Truths About Catholicism.
  • Bruce thinks people have the wrong idea about King Diamond.
  • Ken & Bruce support access to clean needles, and have some suggestions on how it should work.
  • Mike dismisses the risk of discarded needles, but Ken & Bruce see them around their neighborhoods.
  • Mike thinks that needle legalization means an individual can now do informal needle exchange, and that if the Main South Alliance for Public Safety supports public safety, that they’ll start a needle exchange project.
  • The sound isn’t very good on this recording, and Bruce’s parting words are especially inaudible:

    There’s just one more quote about Tim Murray’s response about not liking metal. Hands up to the man. He’s not British.