Updated: "SHOUT!" Delayed Until May

Those waiting to "SHOUT!" will have to wait just a few more months.

Originally scheduled to start Feb. 18, the Washington Street Players' six-show run of "SHOUT!: The Mod Musical will begin May 13. The performance dates are May 13, 14, 15, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. at the Upper .

This will be the Players' first performance since "" this past November.

The Players put one or two musicals and one or two dramas each year. The director for this show is Sal Jones and the music director is Bob Cook.

SHOUT! is a “mod musical” that chronicles women’s liberation in the 1960s and 1970s through the pages of a magazine. It was created by David Lowenstein and Phillip George and “with its irresistible blend of foot-stomping songs, eye-popping fashions and psychedelic dances, this delightful musical will make you want to throw your head back and SHOUT!” the official site says.

After the Players’ last show, this should be a good night out for anyone looking for a good behind-the-scenes look at fashion, song, dance, and the regular lives of everyday people trying to make a change.

LIONS CLUB CARNIVAL IN JEOPARDY

The winter snows have likely claimed another victim.

For over 45 years, the Holliston Lions Club carnival has signaled the end of school and the beginning of summer. However this year, due to the number of snow days already taken by the schools, the likelihood of the carnival occurring is “not looking good.”

Those are the words of Carnival Chairman Andy Porter, and are the result of his discussions last week with Fanelli Amusements, the carnival company the Lions have relied on since the mid-1960’s. Barring any additional snow days, the schools are presently set to close at 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 22. Due to requirements that prohibit the carnival setting up until the close of school, and the additional time needed to perform necessary inspections, the carnival would be limited to a two-day event, severely impacting the Lions Club’s ability to host a profitable event.

Porter indicated that he is considering other dates, carnival companies, and possible events, so as to maintain what has become an annual institution in town. He also wants to continue providing fireworks, which returned to Holliston last summer with much acclaim.

At this point, nothing is definitely on or off the table. Stay tuned.

WHO AM I NO. 12

I use to wear a shirt,

Sometimes Long Distance Tire.

I looked real good in Braggville Black,

While cooling Brentwood’s fire.

With a church key in my left hand,

And a Bud Light in my right.

The softball guys would call my name

On springtime Sunday nights.

Who Am I?

WHO AM I NO. 11 REVEALED

You’ll see me at the ,

You’ll see me at the School.

I’m on the Boards for both those groups,

I help to shape their rules.

A native of Rhode Island

I am a Newport lad.

Who lives now in dear Holliston,

Where four kids call me dad.

Who Am I? I am Donald Gray.

WASHINGTON MORE THAN JUST A STREET IN HOLLISTON

Early in his administration, President George Washington determined it was important for him to visit every state, and in October 1789 left the Capital, then New York City, for a month long tour of New England.

As described in Ron Chernow’s “Washington, A Life,” our first president “usually rode through the countryside in an open carriage, attended by servants in livery and jockey caps. Behind him a baggage wagon rumbled along, and one of his slaves supervised his white charger in the rear. As they entered a town, Washington would dismount from his carriage, mount the white steed, then enter with magnificent solemnity.”

Returning to New York, his entourage passed through Holliston on November 6. In her 1974 book “The Story of a New England Town,” Dorothy Drinkwater Rees writes “Tradition states, with some authority, that when George Washington passed through the town in 1789 he stopped at Littlefield Tavern (still standing near Paul Road) for refreshment and was given a pewter mug of ale. In his honor that mug was set apart and kept as a treasured relic by the family and is still in existence in the town.”

In her 2000 book “Holliston, A Good Town,” Joanne Hulbert includes Washington’s diary entry for the day, in which he describes the road between ‘Sherburn’ and Holliston as hilly and rocky, and generally indifferent. Hulbert also recounts the story long treasured in town lore of Washington failing in his attempt to dislodge the balancing rock.

Hulbert’s book also includes a 1911 writing by John Mason Batchelder in which he discusses the likelihood of Washington resting under the “Holliston Elms” while on his way to Watertown during the Revolutionary War.

The road upon which he traveled now bears the name of the man who was First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen.

ANDERSON MAKES DEAN'S LIST AT QUINNIPIAC

Zachary Anderson recently made the Dean's List for the Fall 2010 semester at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.

To make the Dean's List, full-time students (14 credits or more) must maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average with no grade lower than C.

PLANNING FOR LOYA

It was Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. when the doorbell to our infrequently-used front door rang. My initial reaction was “Doesn’t Greenpeace ever take a day off?”

Upon opening the door, rather than being greeted by an idealistic fresh-faced college student espousing the prohibition of commercial whaling and the interruption of family dinners, I found a similarly idealistic student.

, a junior political science student at UMass-Lowell, was standing on the ice-encrusted concrete steps, a smile on his face and a leaflet in his hand.

I had first met him at Celebrate Holliston last fall, where I learned of his Independent campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent Carolyn Dykema as our local state representative. Loya failed in this quest, his September optimism being replaced by November reality. But rather than disappearing into political purgatory, Loya remained extremely visible at assorted meetings in Holliston and elsewhere, hinting via Facebook of a future announcement. That announcement came in late January, with news of his intention to run for an anticipated open seat on the Planning Board.

On Friday, Loya and his campaign manager Kristin Alpert, were in the process of distributing leaflets regarding his candidacy throughout our neighborhood, an early step in their plan to visit every house in town. To me, this seemed an enormous effort for what is presently an uncontested position and for an election that is still more than three months away. I found this degree of effort, whether for an experienced politician, let alone a 20-year-old novice, to be impressive, and our subsequent discussion did nothing to erase this belief.

I found it curious that Loya would consider running for a seat on the Planning Board, a subject he willingly discussed.

“I took a look at all the offices available,” he said, “and some people asked ‘Why not ?’ I said ‘You know what? That’s a highly politicized race.’ You have to raise quite a lot of money for signage and things like that and I didn’t want to go back to a race that was similar to the State Rep. race.

"The School Committee was the same thing: a highly politicized race. I didn’t want to really go through the stress of running a campaign of that nature. The School Committee and Selectman positions would be pretty time-intensive runs for office. Once I took a look at the other available positions, I thought the Planning Board would be a good place to be involved, helping to make a change while pointing the town in a good direction.”

Regarding the Planning Board, Loya believes that “it’s all about balancing and common sense. I’m all for keeping the green space and the open community, but it’s about balancing business while still maintaining the town as it was. You can’t have all of one or all of the other, because if you have all business, things change entirely, and that’s not what Holliston was meant to be.”

His desire to instill this philosophy has Loya campaigning early and with singular determination.

“I don’t really do things halfway,” he said. “I don’t want to go into a campaign like this assuming that because we have signatures and will be on the ballet that I can take two months off before we go door-to-door. That’s not really in my blood. I won’t just sit back and say that we’re OK, and done for a while. Our goal is to try and hit every door in town, and without dozens of volunteers to do it for me in March or Mid-March, that’s not going to be realistically possible unless we start fairly early.”

Beyond his current campaign, Loya, who plays saxophone and percussion in a group called Throwback, looks forward to graduating from college in 2012, and hopes to work full-time while pursuing an MBA at night afterwards.

As for his future? “Politics is something that if it happens, it happens,” he says. “I’m not a career politician. If the position on the Planning Board works out well, perhaps I’ll pursue politics. But right now, I’m not focusing on anything beyond the Planning Board.”