Grass

GRASS IS GREEN RONSON In a scant two years, Grass Is Green has already committed more deconstructed blasts of rock to vinyl than most bands manage in 10 years. Its MO over the past two albums has been to jam scads of dissonant riffs (yanked from the noisiest corners of '90s record collections, from Sonic Youth to the Dismemberment Plan) right up against each other and shake them up like a hornet's nest. Grass Is Green's latest, "Ronson," out this week, finds the band honing this craft to its most thorny, aggressive, and somehow tuneful degree.

None of this was supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to end up with a chicken in my life. I mean, who has chickens? People in overalls or Birkenstocks, and I own neither. But there was that grammar school science fair, the egg that hatched, the chick that came out of it. Pretty soon, the fuzzy little creature was chirping on the couch night after night from the laps of two young sisters watching another episode of "iCarly" on TV. The chick was supposed to be long gone by the time it grew up, but no local farm would take it. So it started living in the yard, leisurely hunting for bugs, constantly...

LONDON -- Rafael Nadal talks a lot about how he hopes to contend for a Wimbledon title in three or four years, once he gets used to the odd bounces and tricky footing that come with playing on grass. Could it happen much faster than he -- or anyone else -- thought? Andre Agassi got a too-close-for-comfort view of Nadal from across the net at the All England Club, and he was duly impressed by the two-time French Open champion. "Grass is a shot-making court. And if he's making guys feel like they can't hit winners out there on grass, that speaks to his presence out there," Agassi said after losing to Nadal...

Fred Hersch first read the earthy transcendentalist verse of Walt Whitman as an undergraduate at New England Conservatory in the mid-1970s, an encounter that made an indelible impression on the rapidly blossoming jazz pianist. But it wasn't until some two decades later in the midst of a French tour that he inexplicably found himself drawn again to Whitman's "Leaves of Grass. " That Parisian experience led directly to the creation of his soaring song cycle "Leaves of Grass," which he brings to Jordan Hall on Thursday for the work's Boston premiere.

Lil Wayne has been told to cut his grass. The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/yxftea ) reports the rapper was cited for high grass and weeds at his 10,000-square-foot mansion in a gated subdivision in Kenner, La., a suburb of New Orleans. The Code Enforcement Department issued the ticket to Dwayne Carter, the New Orleans-born singer's given name, sometime between Feb. 26 and March 2, according to a list released by the city. The home is on sale for $1.7 million. Listed as a "celebrity" mansion, the house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, two half baths and a "beautiful, spacious...

In Gunter Grass’s 2007 memoir “Peeling the Onion,’’ the writer recounts the favorable impact his early poems and stories made on the members of a Berlin writing group in the 1950s. Soon after he received these accolades, however, Grass became dissatisfied. He felt that his art would remain insignificant unless it addressed a subject that was central to German post-war life: “the massive weight of the German past.’’ Grass’s novel of the World War II era and its aftermath, “The Tin Drum’’ (1959)

Fred Hersch first read the earthy transcendentalist verse of Walt Whitman as an undergraduate at New England Conservatory in the mid-1970s, an encounter that made an indelible impression on the rapidly blossoming jazz pianist. But it wasn't until some two decades later in the midst of a French tour that he inexplicably found himself drawn again to Whitman's "Leaves of Grass. " That Parisian experience led directly to the creation of his soaring song cycle "Leaves of Grass," which he brings to Jordan Hall on Thursday...

Nicole Cammorata | Boston.com Staff I love an outdoor wedding just as much as the next gal, but hate how standing around on grass wrecks my high heels. Lucky for me (and you), so do the folks over at SoleMates . Though they've been around since 2008, I'm just learning about them now, so forgive me if this is old news. The Connecticut-based company makes plastic caps that fit perfectly over most stiletto shoes, reinforcing the spikes so you don't sink into the mud as the bride and groom say "I do. " But do they work?

The big red barn is demolished, and huge tractors have begun clearing land where vegetables once grew. If the weather cooperates, Concord Academy students will be playing games this fall on new grass athletic fields on the former Arena Farm property. In 2007, the private secondary school on Main Street bought about 14 acres of farmland that had been in the Arena family for generations. Construction is underway to create six tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and two playing fields - one for soccer and lacrosse, another for field hockey.

An Ohio airport says a plane that arrived from Florida with up to 150 people on board skidded off a runway and got stuck in grass. Travelers waiting at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to board the plane for its return flight to Florida were left stranded Monday night. They were offered refunds or hotel rooms for the night. Airport director of aviation Dan Dickten tells WKBN-TV ( http://bit.ly/uuwJMd) that the Allegiant Air flight from St. Petersburg, Fla., landed and went into the grass, possibly after taking a turn that was too wide while taxiing.

The burger at Ten Tables has a substantial fan base. Try getting a seat at the bar of the cozy Jamaica Plain spot on "Beerger Mondays" (when $15 buys you a burger and a beer) and you will see what I mean. Happily for said fan base, the Ten Tables team just opened Grass Fed, in the space that was formerly Bon Savor. The centerpiece of the menu: burgers. Grass-fed beef patties come plain, with cheese, with bacon, double-stacked on a bun. And then there are the specialty burgers: with fried oysters and tartar sauce; with avocado, pepper jack cheese, and cilantro-lime aioli; or with...

Firefighters are making progress on a wind-fueled grass fire on the plains of northeastern Colorado that has destroyed at least two homes and forced all 300 residents of the town of Eckley to evacuate. Fire spokesman Mike McCaleb said Sunday night the area burned is about 14 miles by six miles wide, and the fire is roughly 50 percent contained. He says authorities have confirmed that two homes burned, but multiple other buildings were threatened. He says visibility was reduced to "nothing" because of smoke and blowing dirt, and officials won't be able to fully assess the...

Lil Wayne has been told to cut his grass. The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/yxftea ) reports the rapper was cited for high grass and weeds at his 10,000-square-foot mansion in a gated subdivision in Kenner, La., a suburb of New Orleans. The Code Enforcement Department issued the ticket to Dwayne Carter, the New Orleans-born singer's given name, sometime between Feb. 26 and March 2, according to a list released by the city. The home is on sale for $1.7 million. Listed as a "celebrity" mansion, the house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, two half baths and a "beautiful, spacious...

GRASS IS GREEN RONSON In a scant two years, Grass Is Green has already committed more deconstructed blasts of rock to vinyl than most bands manage in 10 years. Its MO over the past two albums has been to jam scads of dissonant riffs (yanked from the noisiest corners of '90s record collections, from Sonic Youth to the Dismemberment Plan) right up against each other and shake them up like a hornet's nest. Grass Is Green's latest, "Ronson," out this week, finds the band honing this craft to its most thorny, aggressive, and somehow tuneful degree.

The big red barn is demolished, and huge tractors have begun clearing land where vegetables once grew. If the weather cooperates, Concord Academy students will be playing games this fall on new grass athletic fields on the former Arena Farm property. In 2007, the private secondary school on Main Street bought about 14 acres of farmland that had been in the Arena family for generations. Construction is underway to create six tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and two playing fields - one for soccer and lacrosse, another for field hockey.

An Ohio airport says a plane that arrived from Florida with up to 150 people on board skidded off a runway and got stuck in grass. Travelers waiting at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to board the plane for its return flight to Florida were left stranded Monday night. They were offered refunds or hotel rooms for the night. Airport director of aviation Dan Dickten tells WKBN-TV ( http://bit.ly/uuwJMd) that the Allegiant Air flight from St. Petersburg, Fla., landed and went into the grass, possibly after taking a turn that was too wide while taxiing.

The Patriots are practicing on the upper grass fields behind Gillette Stadium with rain and a strong wind making things interesting as they prepare for Sunday's game in Denver. Colleague Michael Whitmer reports that Patrick Chung and Sebastian Vollmer were the only players not spotted during the media access window, same as yesterday. Players were in shells and sweats, though Brandon Spikes and Nick McDonald braved the elements in shorts.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Tom Brady had two awkward slides in Philadelphia yesterday, digging up big chunks of grass when his knee brace got caught in the turf. "We talk about sliding. Yeah, we probably need to talk about that a little bit more," Bill Belichick said today in Foxboro. Brady joked with Dennis and Callahan on WEEI about how bad he looked. "That was pretty pathetic. Maybe I should go over to Fenway and have those guys teach me how to slide. But I've got this big-ass knee brace on my left knee.

The Patriots are practicing on the upper grass fields behind Gillette Stadium with rain and a strong wind making things interesting as they prepare for Sunday's game in Denver. Colleague Michael Whitmer reports that Patrick Chung and Sebastian Vollmer were the only players not spotted during the media access window, same as yesterday. Players were in shells and sweats, though Brandon Spikes and Nick McDonald braved the elements in shorts.