Back From Bean Town!

Yes, that’s right, I am back from Boston to the glee of thousands of my readers. I have spent the last six days in Beantown at the ASAE conference. ASAE is the American Society of Association Executives, which I am a member.

The days were filled with keynotes, education seminars, and a large trade show exhibit floor with (my estimation) over a few hundred exhibitors, many of whom were giving little hand-outs like pens, stuffed animals, etc.

The evenings were filled with receptions and dinners throughout the Boston and I must say that they utilized the historic locations well. I went to a large reception, over 5,000 people, at the Boston Metropolitan Museum of Art. They supplied drinks, four or five different styles of food and a live orchestra with Tango dancers for entertainment.

Another evening, we had dinner in Little Italy during a local Madonna festival where they flew a young girl on ropes in-between two buildings as St. Mary… interesting. Of course we stopped into the old Bull and Finch, which is now know as Cheers. This is where they did all of the outside shots for the Cheers.

On my last night in Boston I attended a private concert for us by the Boston Pops. It was a great affair out on the docks over the Charles River with a beautiful night, food, drink and great music. The guest artist was Liz Calloway (Baby, Cats, etc) and she was fantastic. The orchestra finished the evening with an American tribute and sing-along. The final three numbers were 1812 Overture, God Bless America and the Pops signature Stars and Stripes Forever.

Celebrity Alert! While in Boston I got to speak with Lou Gosset, Jr. (Officer and a Gentleman) and spent some time with the chef and television celebrity, Anthony Bourdain. Tony, as he told me to call him, has a show on the Travel Channel called Anthony Boudain, No Reservations. He also used to have a show on the Food Network but he felt that the Food Network was too Bobby Flay & Rachel Rayish.
And as always…don’t vote me off of the blogger island on Mark’s blog. Cheers!