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The guy painting the gas station on Morrissey Boulevard...

...made for a nice pic on the front of the Globe Metro section this morning. I can't find it online, but the photo by George Rizer looks over the shoulder of artist Vincent Crotty, who was painting the Shell station while waiting for his ride to be serviced. We were talking about it at my coffee shop's outside tables this morning, and one of the guys said he works at a gallery in Salem that had a Crotty show not too long ago. He sent me to Crotty's web site. Crotty is an Irish artist working out of Dorchester now, and his paintings find the beauty in the light on Dot Ave. and the lines of the Wollston Yacht Club pier. He gave the Shell station picture to hang in the office there, but via email Crotty gave me the go-ahead to show you the Wollaston painting (above). He has gyclee prints available as well as paintings on his site.

Not to harp on it...

I'm in Globe North today with a piece on The Harp Connection in Salem, a rare full-service shop for harpists.

Christo in Boston: The Other Art Of Making Public Art

Public art can be conceptually and aesthetically daunting to produce, not to mention the sheer physical labor involved in large-scale installations. But the really, really daunting part of public art is getting a site, and permits, and the assent of neighbor groups, and so on and so on. No wonder then that Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be honored by Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation, Sept. 23 at 2 p.m. at the ICA. I mean, really, can you imagine how much bullshit you have to go through, how many public meetings and license board hearings, to mount a project like the gates in Central Park or wrapping the Reichstag? No wonder, then, that the duo are getting Harvard Law's 2008 Great Negotiator Award. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. First come, first served. For more information, please visit: www.pon.harvard.edu or call (617) 495-9689.

Huntington Theatre has a deal for you

Tickets to the Huntington Theater Company's main stage season and first two Huntington Presents productions go on sale Aug. 19, and the troupe has a deal for you once again. In honor of the 27th season and the arrival of new artistic director Peter DuBois (right), on 8/19 only the company will offer $27 tix to specified performances of three productions: Richard Nelson’s “How Shakespeare Won the West” (September 5, 6, 7, 9, 10); Jose Rivera’s  “Boleros for the Disenchanted” (October 10, 11, 12, 14); and Tom Stoppard’s Broadway hit, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” (November 7, 8, 9, 11).

You noticed "on 8/19 only," right? Follow closely now: "The $27 tickets to select performances of the first three productions of the season will be on sale online from 9 a.m. until midnight. From 12 p.m. until 6 p.m. the discounted tickets can be purchased by phone at 617-266-0800 or in person at the Huntington’s Boston University Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Avenue, and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Box Office, 527 Tremont Street." For details on the special sale, click here.

Tickets to the full season as well as the Huntington Presents shows “Adam Pascal Live” and Carrie Fisher in “Wishful Drinking” will be available beginning the 19th. For more details about everything, click here.

(Pic: Kerry Brett/Huntington)

Damn rain: Landmarks/Lyric concert moving inside

Our friends at the Boston Lyric Opera just emailed to say their concert with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra on the Esplanade tonight has been moved inside due to the weather. The concert will now be held at Church of the Covenant 67 Newbury Street (corner of Newbury and Berkeley Streets). Take the T or park at  The Boston Common Garage (entrance on Charles St.) or The Back Bay Garage (Clarendon St. between Boylston and St. James). The festivities still begin at 7 p.m. More deets: Landmarks Orchestra Info Line 617-520-2200.

The event previews BLO’s 2008-2009 Season, featuring Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Dvořák’s Rusalka and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. And to smooth the hurt of losing a nice summer night by the Charles, the BLO sent over this clip of two of their singers on NECN this morning (the singing starts about halfway through):

Concerts: The Who, Lucinda, and Cheech & Chong, man!

The morning concert drop from Live Nation includes a few worthy of note:

The Who
At the TD Banknorth Garden
Friday, October 24, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Tickets are $54.50, $79.50, $99.50 and $204.50
Tickets go on-sale Monday, August 11, 2008 at 10:00 am

Lucinda Williams
At the Orpheum Theatre
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $35.00 and $39.50
Tickets go on-sale Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 10:00 am

Cheech & Chong: Light Up America…
At the Orpheum Theatre
Friday, December 12, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $39.50 and $59.50
Tickets go on-sale Friday, August 8, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Jackson Browne and Ben Folds are also in the mix. Details here.

New leader at the BLO (Pssst! Ask her about the castle!)

The email just dropped, announcing Esther Nelson as the new General & Artistic Director of the Boston Lyric Opera, replacing the departing General Director Janice Mancini Del Sesto. Nelson has been a management consultant of late, but her resume includes a six-year stint running the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, where she was credited with putting the group on a firmer footing in areas like revenue and endowment. She also ran opera groups in Nevada, Virginia, North Carolina and New Orleans. Nelson will be taking on additional artistic responsibilities from her predessor's portfolio, hence the expanded title. The Exhibitionist says the search for a new music director will pause until she comes on board Sept. 2. "Her distinguished and successful career among many of the country’s opera companies will be a terrific asset to BLO as it strives to increase not only the quality but also the quantity of opera in Boston," search committee co-chairs David Scudder and Horace H. Irvine II said in a statement.

Lest you think she is a mere administrator, consider the personal information in the press release: "Ms. Nelson’s other interests include piano music, painting, writing, medieval history and literature, bicycling and running, and she holds a license as a private pilot. She also is an active member in her family organization dedicated to the preservation of their ancestral castle in her hometown of Sulzfeld/Baden, Germany."

Herbie Hancock at Hampton Beach. Yes.

From "Watermelon Man" and "Cantaloupe Island" to the Grammy-winning "River: the Joni Letters," there are few more restless or enduring talents in jazz than pianist Herbie Hancock. On Aug. 13, he's bringing his straight-up sound to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, a venue more accustomed to classic rock, country and comedy sounds. Sad to say, but Hancock might be a tough sell to the board-shorts-and-flipflops Hampton summer crowd, so those of us who'd like to see more real deal jazz in the area should sign up, even though it's a Wednesday. With him will be Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Holland, Lionel Loueke and Chris Potter. Tickets for the 18+ show are $35-$60, and you can get all the details and purchase them here.

Mamet, vampire added to Lyric Stage's anniversary season

My In Box brings an email from the Lyric Stage Company of Boston with the announcement of the final two productions of the troupe's 35th anniversary season: The New England premiere of David Mamet's "November" and Charles Ludlam's "The Mystery Of Irma Vep."

"November," running Oct. 17-Nov. 15, is presidential satire. "Upon learning that he lacks the funds to properly campaign or construct a legacy-ensuring library, the incumbent Commander-in-Chief is inspired to tap an unlikely income source: the turkey industry. Thanksgiving traditions, Indian casinos on Nantucket, and the prospect of officiating a live, televised lesbian wedding demand attention in this riotous and ever-so-timely play," says the Lyric. Richard Snee will star.

"Irma Vep," running Nov. 28-Dec. 21, stars local faves Neil A. Casey and John Kuntz, who portray eight characters in a "quick-change marathon and gender-bending tour-de-farce" involving a werewolf, a vampire and a dark and stormy night.

The rest of the season, previously announced, includes: "Follies," with Leigh Barrett and other local faves, Sept. 5-Oct. 11; "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," with Lyric Stage Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos as Big Daddy; the Boston premiere of the musical "Grey Gardens," May 8-June 6; the Boston premiere of "Speech and Debate" by Stephen Karam, March 27-April 25; and Nancy E. Carroll in the New England premiere of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," based on her bestselling memoir of a tragic year that included the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, Jan. 2-31.

More info and tickets: 617-585-5678 or www.lyricstage.com.