Fiscal woes at T roll on for another year
By Noah Bierman – Globe Staff / February 28, 2010

It’s the least wonderful time of the year for MBTA riders, when the T sorts out how broke it is for the coming budget year in July.

The good news for passengers is that Governor Deval Patrick promised in November that the T would not raise fares this year. But his pledge does not guarantee commuters will be held harmless.

It’s looking like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will have a substantial deficit, which could mean cuts in service in the short-term, more debt restructuring, or both. The debt restructuring is a concern because growing interest payments on the T’s multibillion-dollar debt is a major reason the T keeps getting into this bind every year.

Last year, when service cuts were being deliberated, the T was looking at serious measures: cutting night and weekend runs on the subways in half and eliminating them on commuter rail. No one who takes a bus, boat, trolley, or train would have been spared the damage from the broad range of cuts, which were put off by a last-minute bailout from the Legislature.

Finding their voice and that old confidence, too – With age, vocal cords weaken, but these seniors show how singing can help
By Carolyn Y. Johnson – Globe Staff / February 27, 2010

Gathered around a piano with 15 other Bostonians of a certain age, Dory Tobias was trying to find her voice.

“Come to your life like a warrior,’’ she sang out, joining in the lilting lyric of the “Song of the Soul’’ with a boldness often lacking when she talks.

Tobias has a soft voice, and she said she is often asked to speak up – requests that fill her with doubt and twist her tongue. Now, in this singing for seniors class, she is learning to breathe deeply to support her voice, open her mouth wider, and warm up – basic singing techniques that she can integrate into her speaking voice, too.

A collaboration between Longy School of Music and the United South End Settlements, the class focuses on ensemble singing and harmony, but also on techniques that can strengthen voices that are naturally changing with age.

“I’m not much worried about being a singer,’’ the 63-year-old Tobias said during a break. “I just want to speak with confidence.’’

Museum spotlights ‘Devotion’ to terracotta
By Carly Thornell / Boston Herald – February 28, 2010

For centuries, collectors of Renaissance art and museums alike have focused on marble and bronze. A new installation at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, “Modeling Devotion,” highlights the often-overlooked medium of terracotta – or underlooked, as the case may be.

“These things are actually very difficult to see in the museum,” said curator Alan Chong. “They’re often (placed) high up, in dark corners, or seen against the light.”

The early-Renaissance pieces comprise the last show in the special-exhibition gallery before the completion of the Gardner’s new wing, which is slated to open in early 2012. It will almost double the museum’s space – and natural lighting.

But the shadow cast on Jesus’ face in the relief-like “Deposition of Christ and Carlotta of Lusignano” seems to magnify His suffering. Extensive restoration and research has cast new light on the work’s creator, Giovanni de Fondulis, finally identified after 530 years.

Fallen Bay State ‘Idol’: It’s ‘just the beginning’ – Berklee grad ready to dream on
By Tenley Woodman/Boston Herald – February 27, 2010

Ashley Rodriguez has no regrets.

The Chelsea native and Berklee graduate was among the first four contestants to be eliminated from Fox’s “American Idol” Thursday night.

“I went in to this competition as happy as I’ve been in my life. I fought to get here, and I (was) going to fight to stay regardless of whether it’s ‘American Idol’ or not. I came into this competition ready to fight for my spot. That was my mindset,” said Rodriguez during a one-on-one phone interview yesterday with the Herald.

Country singer Janell Wheeler, rocker Tyler Grady and warbler Joe Munoz also made their involuntary exits Thursday.

But Bay Stater Siobhan Magnus, 19, survived the cuts to sing for another week.

From the start of the season, Rodriguez showed promise. At her audition in Boston, judge Simon Cowell told her she had “it.”