Bards and Minstrels Play Loker Commons

When Frank M. Murray (his stage name) took time off from taxi driving in Boston last spring to take MUSI E-100 Music Theory and Composition with John Stewart at Harvard Extension School, he already had a long list of stage and screen credits. As a founding director of the Acting Group of Cape Cod in the 1970s, the house manager of the Circle Repertory Theater in New York, and an extra in films like Jaws, Raging Bull, and Zelig, Frank has always been drawn to lights, camera, and applause. Last spring, although he could not yet read music, he knew it was time to get some of his lyrics and tunes onto paper and into circulation. At that time, Frank had 15 Extension School courses under his belt and an Associate in Arts (AA) degree on the horizon.

On Tuesday, April 21, you can hear Frank M. Murray's reggae tune "I Really Love You," his ballad "Somewhere Along the Way," the folksong "There's Got to Be Hope," and the jazzy "Another Story Told," sung by Lori Maloney, who also took MUSI E-100 last year. At the suggestion of instructor John Stewart, Murray and Maloney, who works for Harvard Printing and Publications Services at the Kennedy School, will collaborate for the first time on "Pop Pourri" night during Bards and Minstrels week at Loker Commons in Memorial Hall, April 20-23. "I am really excited about doing Frank's music at Loker," said Lori, who has played the Bluestone Bistro in Watertown and Boston's Hatch Shell in her three-year career as a cabaret singer.

Open to the Harvard community, Loker is the beautiful new eatery and lounge on the lower level of Memorial Hall. An exciting venue for the arts, it is also the perfect place for Harvard Extension School students to gather, relax, and enjoy tasty food and drink before and after class. From 11 am to 9 pm Monday through Friday and from 12 noon to 7 pm every weekend, Loker offers Starbuck's Coffee, homemade pizzas and burgers, Asian and Spanish specialties, and a cornucopia of student services: cable TV/VCR lounge, cash and stamp machines, copiers, fax machines, and kiosk computers on the Harvard network.

But best of all, stressed-out scholars can enjoy live performances from 7 to 9 pm Monday through Thursday. During Bards and Minstrels week, a showcase for the professional and amateur talent that abounds at the Extension School, performances by faculty, students, and staff will be followed by an open-microphone jam session of readings and musical offerings by members of the audience. Coffee, soft drinks, and pastries from Starbuck's will be "on the house."

Award-winning poets and fiction writers who teach in the Extension School's Writing Program will open and close the week with readings of their own works. On Monday, April 20, Katrina Roberts, whose book How Late Desire Looks won the Peregrine Smith Prize in 1996, will team up with Daniel Bosch, whose poems have appeared in The New Republic, Harvard Review, and New CollAge Magazine, to offer an evening of prose poems, dramatic monologues, and "fused and broken genre pieces." Following their instructors' readings, students from Roberts' CREA E-1 Introduction to Creative Writing and Bosch's CREA E-110r Advanced Poetry classes will read their own poetry.

Wednesday, April 22, is "Beethoven Binge" night with the Galitzin String Quartet, led by violinist, Dean of Students, and RELI E-1010/W World Religions lecturer Christopher Queen. Queen, who has been fiddling since childhood, studied at Oberlin Conservatory, and has played with Galitzin colleagues Jack Lifsitz, violin, Vivian Nash, viola, and Reinmar Seidler, noted Boston cellist and chamber coach, since 1996. (Prince Nikolai Galitzin commissioned Beethoven's Opus 127, 130, and 132 quartets in 1822.)

The final evening of Bards and Minstrels, Thursday, April 23, is "Fiction Fling" featuring Grace Dane Mazur, whose short-story collection, Silk, based on her post-doctoral work on silk worms, received a rare, rave review in the New York Times Book Review; Tom Perrotta, instructor of CREA E-100r Advanced Fiction, whose short-story collection, Bad Haircut, was critically acclaimed, and whose third book, Election, a dark satire about high school politics, will soon appear as a Hollywood feature film (MTV/Paramount Studios) starring Matthew Broderick; and graphic artist, guitarist, and novelist Wayne Wilson, whose novel Loose Jam and short fiction have won numerous prizes and awards.

For complete details about Bards and Minstrels, see the Harvard University Gazette the week of April 13. Call Dean Chris Queen, 495-3481, if you would like to read your own poetry or fiction or perform classical or pop music during Bards and Minstrels week. Come support your classmates and Extension faculty and staff as they enliven the cultural life at Harvard.

Need a snack or some coffee before or after class?

The following Harvard University cafés and snack bars are open late afternoons and evenings.

Loker Commons, located in the basement of Memorial Hall in Harvard Yard, is open Monday-Friday, 11 am-9 pm, and weekends 12 pm-7 pm.

Café Gato Rojo, located in the basement of Dudley House in Harvard Yard, is open Monday-Thursday, 8 am-11 pm, Fridays 8 am-6 pm, and weekends 12 pm-6:30 pm.

The Clowes Café (C'est Bon), located in the Barker Center for the Humanities on the corner of Quincy and Harvard Streets, is open Monday-Thursday, 8 am-8 pm, and Fridays 8 am-6 pm (closed weekends and holidays).

Conroy Commons, located in Longfellow Hall on Appian Way at the Graduate School of Education, is open Monday-Thursday, 7 am-6 pm, and Fridays 7 am-2 pm (closed weekends and holidays).

The Greenhouse Café, located in the Science Center at the corner of Kirkland and Oxford Streets, is open Monday-Thursday, 6:30 am-10 pm, and Fridays 6:30 am-8 pm (closed weekends and holidays).