June 10-14 in Boston: Music, Aht and oh yes, cigahs!

The Boston Early Music Festival, held in June every other year, is the pre-eminent gathering of musicians, educators and craftspeople in the field of Early Music, i.e., Western Music of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Groups come from all over the country and the world to perform in front of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic audiences for this music imaginable.

For the third time, this year I was able to attend the Festival as a performer, this time singing with the New York Continuo Collective. On Thursday, June 11th at noon in Gordon Chapel of Old South Church near Copley Square, the Continuo Collective, a group of 9 singers and about 20 instrumentalists, performed our Spring program, "Vanitas Vanitatum", music of mid-17th century Rome espousing the vanity and fleeting nature of worldly pleasures. We had a wonderful reception from a large appreciative audience.

The rest of the weekend I spent going to concerts, staying in the Emerson College dormitory across the street from Boston Commons at Boylston and Tremont Streets. I also went to the Museum of Fine Arts on Friday to see the exhibit of paintings of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, which was absolutely incredible. And I enjoyed relaxing three evenings in a row at CigarMasters on Boylston Street in the heart of the Back Bay neighborhood.

I loved CigarMasters, and can't wait to return to Boston to go there again! I met an interesting and varied bunch of people during my time there. The people who work there are great. I found that people were not hostile to me being from New York - of course, it helped that the RedSox had just swept the Yankees to move into first place in baseball's Major Leagues. One person actually told me that he thinks the Sox don't have quite enough talent this year, and that the Yankees will end up winning their division, which surprised me.

Their humidor is kinda small, but there's a guy who works in the humidor at all times to help you make your selection. Each night I made a selection there to cover my cutting fee ($10 or one cigar), and then drank Chimay White, which they have on tap, while I smoked a CigarMasters cigar and then one from my own stash. All told, I had a couple of Nub Habanos, an Oliva MasterBlend 3 churchill, a Cabaiguan Guapo, a CAO box-pressed maduro and something else that escapes me at the moment. The ladies who work there are all very cute, wear little black dresses, and will smoke cigars while they are working, especially Charissa who serves as waiter for the back room. There are a lot of regulars at CigarMasters, but most of them were not snobby towards me at all - rather, they were pretty friendly.

My one complaint about CigarMasters is how early they close. Even Friday and Saturday, they are only open till 1am. In NYC, bars are commonly open until 3 or 4am on the weekends. Otherwise, it is a great place to hang out.