free
#95
janu 201a7ry
Navigating you to underground, above ground and all around awesome happenings in the greater boston area
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TYVEK @DEEP THOUGHTS
TYVEK are returning to Boston to lay down the licks and pummel us with obfuscated yet concerted guitar prowess. It’s not hard to see why these contemporary legends, drenched in the DIY ethos, have managed to slip (purposefully) under the radar for the last 10+ years but hey, that’s just the kind of weirdo sonic anomaly Where we embrace. The Detroit (via Philly) band has scoffed Deep at the “punk mold” since its inception, Thoughts blasting listeners and attendees with a When scrappy, sometimes mangled shriek of 1/6 9pm noise-induced basement rock - making Cost the intimate abdomen of Deep Thoughts $10 the perfect place for this impending erupALL AGES tion. With impeccable taste of their own and indicative of people who constantly strive to know what’s up, TYVEK has requested it’s own showmates to curate a broad-based spectrum of Northeast garage glory. Repping Boston and blending elements of 60’s pop with mild proto-punk undertones is Bong Wish. Alongside them are Connecticut’s Head Room who weave an ebullient sweater of muck rock splatterings. As we stare into the new year it’s good to feel confused, comforted, and curious all of which are most assuredly on the table here. Descend into the chasm that is DT for a night o f ja r r ing yet all e ncom p a ssi ng bl i s s. — MI CHAEL AC H I LLE
moment LACES Pof clariYOU CAN ty
ON RATHSKELLER DAY: WHO REMEMBERS WHAT?
The First in a series of Reports on The Rathskeller by the Boston Compass
the big 3
OUR GOA L FOR
201 8?
THE UCLA FESTIVAL Of PRESERVATION 1/18-1/31 @MFA
THE PLASTIC DOME OF NORMA JEAN (1966) dir. Juleen CompLucky us! We get to live—after all too many ton (screens 1/26 & 1/28)
Aviary Gallery in JP
lost, lax decades—in a golden age of film preservation, a field in which UCLA’s Film and Television Archive remains the gold Every year, it feels like Boston’s art scene standard and perhaps the busiest body. grows tenfold. It can be hard to keep Even luckier us! We get to live in Boston track of who’s who and what’s what. in January, during the latter half of which As the federal government threatens Where the future of arts nationally and locally, we want to support we can trek day after day to the MFA to check out said MFA Bosto our local artists and spaces now more than ever this year! Here institution’s latest crème de la conserved, restored, and n are three community-based shows this January not to miss: When otherwise rescued gems (or nuggets, I guess) of cine1 /1 ma, among them Howard Alks’ timelier than ever THE 8-1/31 1. Distillery Gallery in South Boston is kicking off the new year with MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON (1971), Alfred Werker’s Cost an exhibition titled “PRACTICE” featuring around thirty artists from pseudo-doc noir HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948), Juleen $11, $9 for Boston, LA, and New York. This exhibition asks artists to engage in the Compton’s shoe-string odyssey of bohemian feminism members customs sympathetic magic by ascribing meaning, power, and signifSTRANDED (1965), and Donna Deitch’s pioneering lesicance to an object through the ritualistic practice. Ends January 27th. bian romance DESERT HEARTS (1986). Why, there’s even some Laurel and Hardy on the schedule. Come treat yourself to the salvaged treasure, while supporting those who 2. Artist and curator Noah Grigni is partnering with Aviary Gallery to present strive to maintain our precious moving image heritage. “Displaced.” This group exhibition features Boston artists who have responded to displacement, dysphoria, identity trauma, marginalization, and a range of — MAT T HE W MA R TENS other experiences. Some artists have chosen to donate part of the profits from their art sales to the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Ends January 27th.
SEE MORE LOCAL ART!
3. Lovers of beer, stories, and stuff will find haven at Thrift Story: So Over the Holidays Edition on January 13th at Aeronaut Brewing from 12pm-5pm. They’re asking the community to donate items with a backstory by dropping off small items and clothing with the story written on a notecard and attached to the object. For more information, visit www.thriftstory.org. —JAM E S ON J OHNSON
notes from the crew
free hassle shows for 18 and under in 2018!!
d all year e pe s o t p u y a t s our site! by checking in -attack/
places you can hang
Brain Arts is STOKED to announce that from now on, for those ages 18 and under, all Hassle shows will be free! We’re proud to prioritize young people’s access to participatory culture, since they’re too often ignored, or altogether banned from conventional venues. We signed a lease! We have a space! And as part of our mission we’re opening our doors to all ages to help build our future. More details coming soon. PLUS! Beginning in 2018, the Hassle will feature a whole new SECTION—an experiment, you could say—focusing on Boston’s scientific underground. The goal is simple: To dissolve the barriers, both real and imagined, that keep our city’s creative and curious heads from drawing inspiration from STEM, and to reimagine the people and priorities that science ought to include. Over the coming months, our small Hassle Science team will be releasing rad interviews with artist-scientists, musician-technologists, ornithologist-feminists (!), and others in Boston’s scientific orbit. We’ll be listing STEM events open to the public, and writing illustrated articles on topics ranging from the curious to the complex. We’re looking for writers to join our crew—people plugged into cool goings-on, experimentalists of all flavors, basement tinkerers, and broad-minded creatives to share their work and perspectives. Are you that cool artist who makes paintings out of protozoa, that synth wizard who makes music out of math? Want to collaborate with amazing illustrators to cover Boston’s science news, or interview that bandmate of who keeps talking about rhizomes? Reach out and say hi! science@brain-arts.org —MAT T M ITCHELTR EE A ND SIM ONE NEM ES
m/art
bostonhassle.co
THE CREW
DEAL WITH WHAT'S THE CO THE NEW REINE?RD STORE IN BROOKL
I caught up with Jonathan Sandler, owner of Village Vinyl November 16th was recently marked for commemoration by and Hi-Fi, to hear his thoughts on opening his own place. Mayor Marty Walsh as Rathskeller Day in Boston. It’s hard not Jonathan's been around for quite a while and gave me a bit to read this as an ominous declaration for the future of Bosof Boston record store history here. Village Vinyl opened at ton Art. What I see as another tone deaf move by The Mayor (as 58A Harvard St. in Brookline Village less than two months counter cultural & marginalized voices in Boston are gradualago, a result of his lifetime love of music and collecting, ly erased), must also be a sign of the social values of those who and more recently, his obsession READ A FULL run this city. As DIY artists, musicians and organizers struggle INTERVIEW WITH with vintage hi-fi stereo equipment. to live in this city, the administration checks the art communiJONATHAN SANDLER There's a whole lot going on in this ty off of their “to do” list for another calendar year with a cereON OUR WEBSITE little space, but anyone who's been mony celebrating the death of (perhaps) Boston’s most famous BOSTONHASSLE.COM! knows that it's more than worth the music venue and the dubious hotel room/shrine to said venue, trip. Rows of LPs line the walls underneath original Metallihoused deeply within the upscale hotel that usurped its place ca, Prong, and Voivod posters from his younger days. You in Kenmore Square. The thought process on display here ought might hear some buzzing from one of the back rooms, from to be a wake-up call about the state of emerging arts in Boston. a tech repairing and/or restoring a vintage Phase Linear or We urge the promotion of community art spaces, affordable housing Pioneer amplifier. You can peruse the other back room, and and greater opportunity for those who find themselves increasingly immediately be surrounded by the literal dozens upon on the fringes of our society but nevertheless demand to be heard. dozens of vintage turntables, amps, and speakers. You The state of Boston music and art is perpetually insecure. might walk into the store and think you'll only spend fifFamilies, whole communities, and an endless flow of talented teen minutes there, only to walk out two hours later with artists and musicians are being priced out of this city. The Rat a bunch of obscure 2000's hardcore records, original Blue Suite is now our metaphor for the disconnect between those Note LPs, early 80's speed and heavy metal comps lost to who run Boston and the lives of working people and artists. the ages, or some lightly used golden era NYC hip hop wax. Marginalized voices and artists of all backgrounds are strugNot to be missed by casual shoppers sponsored in part gling while the city showcases pieces of The Rat’s history to by the great or even the most hardcore collecwealthy world travelers who come and go from our beautiful city. tor. Support your local record store! Before we accept the city's commemoration we need to ask —PETER MICANOVIC ourselves: I s this what we want our city’s narrative to be? Are these our values? Who are the people who own and live THIS PAPER IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF BRAIN ARTS in all of these condos sprouting up like weeds in evORGANIZATION, INC., A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT. ery corner of Boston and surrounding cities? PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO, VOLUNTEERING OR OTHERWISE SUPPORTING US: — CH RIS HUG H E S A N D DA N SH E A
BRAIN-ARTS.ORG OR BOSTONHASSLE@GMAIL.COM