AN INDEPENDENT ARTS & CULTURE GUIDE
A NEW DISPENSARY’S CALL FOR ART Allston is getting a new adult-use cannabis dispensary, and it has teamed up with Arts District Boston to invite local artists to shine! The proposed minority owned shop, Muse, will be located at 116 Harvard Ave, Allston. Muse is committed to promoting diversity and sustainability. Seventy five percent of its associates will consist of local residents, women, people of color, veterans, and those who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. They will offer a variety of cannabis products sourced from local social equity owned, minority owned, women owned, and veteran owned businesses. As a contribution to the Allston community, Muse lends its support to several neighborhood revitalization initiatives. Harvard Ave cleanups and affordable housing are just the beginning. With the help of Arts District Boston, an online gallery for local artists, Muse will offer a rotating gallery space in the dispensary to feature Allston artists. Leading up to their grand opening (estimated for December 2022), Muse will generously host pop-up art events in their storefront. The theme for their upcoming art show in March 2022, will be “Cannabis as an avenue of expression.” If you are a local Allston artist interested in showcasing your work at the March pop-up, please submit a photo of your art and an artist bio to artsdistrictboston@gmail.com. The call for art will also be on Instagram @artsdistrictboston. —Arts District Boston
PLATFORMS
NOTES FROM THE CREW
Introducing… PLATFORMS our new monthly column Happy New Year! How we doing? May everyone’s featuring the best culture platforms of Boston. Get next revolution around the sun be off to a healthy and hopeful start! In Those PLATFORMS. For this first edition of PLATFORMS we will start with our top favorites of each category of the 2021 and include honorable mentions. The purpose of this article is to help the public find their new favorite artists + inspiration by accessing the ones who know best - the creatives who volunteer their time to create platforms for other creatives, with no corporate influence. This is not about ranking/ popularity or competition. We here at BCN choose to take an approach of ABUNDANCE in this regard; This column will only ever be the tip of the iceberg of what Boston has to offer, not just because new platforms are always popping up but because as a volunteer run effort ourselves we simply lack the capacity to cover everyone. So enjoy the first and stay tuned for more platforms featured monthly in print and online here.
The next time I read this, I will be on my paper route with fresh stacks of the Compass for the taking! Extra extra! Read all about it! Hot off the press, etc!
Each individual issue is divvied up accordingly and hand delivered by myself and five others to local storefronts, sidewalk drop-boxes, and, of course, to all the creative and insightful columnists and artists who have contributed to this month’s edition. When I deliver I am reminded that BCN is powered by these volunteers. Before I step out for deliveries I make sure to take a look at the contents within–and I’m always amazed every month at all the tireless and beautiful work the designers, writers, and editors put into making each issue possible. It is truly an honor to play a small role in this larger organism and 2021 PODCASTS OTY - This category is first because I’m grateful to be able to do it is the most incendiary. It’s also a dope platform my part in nourishing the you can get on all streaming sites and is otherwise growth of arts in the area.
really accessible to all regardless of location. This category is dominated by Boston area Hip Hop artists and we are fine with that. Bad For The Community @bftcpodcast Choose What The Future Brings @cwtfbradio Its Lit Boston @itslitboston Continued on page 2…
When I’m not volunteering I am usually landscaping, singing silly songs, and goofing off on the internet (sometimes all at once!) —Liam Leonard-Solis
LAYOUT DESIGN:
Phoebe Delmonte: p.1, 4, 5 Hannah Blauner: p.2, 3, 7 Adrian Alvarez: p.6, 8 THIS PAPER IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF BRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION, INC., A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT. PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO, VOLUNTEERING OR OTHERWISE SUPPORTING US: BRAIN-ARTS.ORG
THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE BOSTON CULTURAL COUNCIL, A LOCAL AGENCY WHICH IS FUNDED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS CULTURAL COUNCIL, AS ADMINSTRATED BY THE MAYOR'S OFFICE OF ARTS + CULTURE
PLATFORMS CONTINUED FROM PG. 1
2021 ZINES OTY - Zines hold a special place in our heart as our newspaper/blog platform began as a zine, but also because this is a critical platform of the underground for nearly 100 years. Beginning primarily in science and sci-fi culture in the 30s, zines were perhaps THE platform for punk and hip hop culture beginning in the early 80s next to radio and mixtapes. This years zines: The Negro Flowers Zine @q__shabazz Fuck Your Dreams @fuckyourdreamszine Pleasure Pie @pleasurepie 2021 VLOGS OTY - Ah the VLOG, leveling up the classic blog platform with VIDEO content. This is definitely a competitive category, even more so than blogs these days but as this is our first column our top picks for 2021 definitely take into consideration the longevity and consistency of the following bloggers. In other words these folks ain’t new and if you don’t know these particular platforms you really need to. Also this category has a lot of crossover potential with other platforms like radio, podcast and retail so dig into all these top picks have to offer. They ain’t JUST a vlog. The Museum TV - @themuseumtv Inside The Maze - @_insidethemaze 2021 NEWSPAPERS OTY - Mmmmm you know we love a good newspaper. Something about it. Maybe we love it BECAUSE it’s not for everyone? Either way the selections for Newspapers OTY will be familiar and should be consulted regularly because they are the top and will remain among the top unless a new player emerges in one of the most difficult-to-maintain media arenas out there. And we sincerely hope they do! Bring it! Bay State Banner - @baystatebanner Dig Boston - @digbos Workers World Party - workers.org 2021 RADIO PLATFORMS OTY - Similar to the VLOG category RADIO is a crucial platform of the culture that has lots of crossover with other mediums. For years we have been supporting and loving and will continue to love the likes of WMBR and WZBC which feature curated music on your FM dial 24/7 but college radio is not all that’s out there! That’s why for our 2021 RADIO Platforms OTY we have left college behind to focus on three of the best in the business who have their finger on the pulse of the artists that matter and exclusively feature them. Behold and invest in some better headphones. SparkFM @sparkfmonline LFOD Radio @lfodradio New England Mic Check @newenglandmiccheck 2021 POP-UPs OTY - This here platform is the lifeline of the independent organizers. Even our own space at DAP wouldn’t have been possible without the years of experience organizing POP UP events at dozens of venues in the Greater Boston area. This is how we cut our teeth and we aren’t alone. Below are some of the dopest to do it ever without a brick and mortar. We don’t have the word count to get into much detail but peep the following POP-UP platforms and yes these are also event organizers! Platforms don’t care about our categorizations anyway.
Event organizers ended up more as concert/ show throwers leaving these folks below to art, vendor and experience events but chill, crossover is beautiful. Thrill - @enjoythethrill SIDE Presents - @sidepresents Back Against The Wall - @batwbos 2Fruits Wellness - Melanin Owned Business Market @2fruits_wellness 2021 BLOGS OTY - Blogs are still the wave. It’s an underappreciated grind in this day and age but it’s still how true heads find their people. Take the following Bloggers for example, these folks range from new to storied and I think best represent why everyone should have their own blog - because as hard as it may be to produce behind the scenes the curation with one dedicated tastemaker at the helm is the type of stuff we live for. MiixTapeChiick.com @miixtapechiickdotcom MassCult617.com - @dignifiedandold Farenheighttv.com @farenheighttv 2021 EVENTS ORGANIZER OTY - Let’s face it, events got weird in 2020. But the top pics for the EVENTS category of POTY are steadfast stalwarts of the Boston community. Mind you, these are not venues. These organizers are more aligned with pop-up culture in that way and thank goodness because they spend all their energy and tireless effort on curation, artist cultivation and promotions. Be sure to follow the following and get ready to get back outside when it is safe to do so. Good Music Showcase @goodmusicshowcaseseries Boston Got Next - @bostongotnext Content Brakes - @content_brakes Non-Event - @noneventseries 2021 STOREFRONTS OTY - A funny one that includes both retail and activism the storefronts category features brick and mortar spaces of the culture. We felt “storefronts” was more succinct. Regardless of their purpose please look into and support these crucial platforms of the culture and all they have to offer from zero-waste stores to meeting and community space we had to go with 5 picks for this one. The Muse - @themuse336 - 336 Blue Hill Ave Boston Liberation Center - @bostonpsl 194 Blue Hill Ave UVIDA Boston Plastic Free Shop - @ uvidashop - 28 Atlantic Ave Boston Cleenland - @cleenland - 89A Norfolk Street Cambridge SCOPE - @scopeapparel 484B Centre Street Podcasts, Zines, Blogs, Vlogs, Newspapers, Books, Radio, Events, Photography, Actions, Pop-Ups, Retail & More. Got a platform to submit? STEP TO IT! happenings@brain-arts.org Criteria: Content, Consistency, Style Books, Photography and Actions will be featured in 2022 we just ran out of room. Peep all the 2021 picks above and GET IN THOSE PLATFORMS.
---------------------------------------- SAM POTRYKUS
ANGIE MICHELLE @PIMPMYSET
REP HOUSE RECOMMENDATIONS
Marx Brothers Double Feature Phenomena Brattle Theatre- Jan 1 @ 2pm & 6pm - 35mm 1985 - dir Dario Argento Coolidge Corner Theatre Start 2022 off on the right foot, with a New - Jan 22 @ midnight - 35mm Year’s Day double feature of Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. I jump at any chance This January Cinematic Void is presenting a to spend an unreasonable amount of time at month of Giallo, playing midnight screenings the movies, but if you only have time for one every Saturday starting the 8th. One of the I’d have to recommend Duck Soup. Groucho four films they’re running is Phenomena (aka plays the newly installed president of the Creepers), starring Jennifer Connelly as an mythical country of Freedonia, which is on American student in the Swiss Alps who can the verge of war with neighboring Sylvania, communicate telepathically with bugs. With and hilarity can’t help but ensue. This film is the help of Donald Pleasence and his monkey silly and anarchic to the point of being avant butler, she uses her powers to investigate a garde, pairing Groucho’s quips and insults string of murders near her boarding school. with Dadaesque sight gags. In it’s 70 minute I’ve only seen a handful of Argento films, runtime it jams in a ton of their best known but found this to be the most enjoyable comedic bits and set pieces. If you’re still one after Suspiria. Other Argentos I’ve seen hungover at the end and need more wacky feel like they exist outside of time, though old films that are just over an hour, try The Old Phenomena is extremely 80s. The wild plot Dark House and Roxie Hart. avoids the predictability of other 80s slashers, and doesn’t even zig when you think it’ll zag; it züğs. I’m especially excited to see how the chaotic ending plays at a midnight screening.
--------------------------------------------------- LOU COLLIER
COCOMELON My kid turns one this month and I am bracing myself to enter the hellscape that is children’s music in the age of YouTube. I grew up on Raffi, Sesame Street, and F yeah, Barney. But gone are the days of regulated mediums for children, like television and radio and record distribution. For all the despotic tyranny of these industries (who sowed the seeds for their own demise), what they’ve been replaced with—a 24/7 all-you-can-eat buffet of low-budget CGI music videos, in which synthetic voices of fake children sing nursery rhymes at a volume that never deviates from predetermined acceptable decibel range—is perhaps even more horrifying. Of this content, none has soared higher in the hearts and minds of America’s youth than CoComelon, a kids’ YouTube channel that is the platform’s second most highly watched channel, with 82bn views and a $120m annual ad revenue. For most adults of my generation, the artificial quality of these videos makes them pretty unlistenable. I personally feel physically nauseous when I hear or see it (then again, I’m a former piano teacher). But these videos were not made for me. Many parents have observed that for their kids, who can watch it for hours, CoComelon is like actual crack. It’s so popular that in 2020, Netflix picked it up. The three-hour episodes (which are really just highlights edited together from the YouTube channel) broke a record by remaining in the top 10 most-watched shows for 62 days—more than Tiger King. What can explain this success? The most obvious place to start is with parents. I’m not finger-wagging. Today’s parents are pulled in a million directions. Whereas in previous eras, raising children took place in support networks of other families and children (hence the saying, “It takes a village”), many modern parents raise a child pretty much in isolation, which it goes without saying has been worsened by Covid. Some people may argue parent groups on social media fill this void. No, they don’t. Sharing clothes and toys over Facebook is not the same as having neighbors and family entering your home unannounced, handling your children, and generally speaking, having your back (as you do theirs). Parenting was never meant to occur in such a vacuum. Enter CoComelon. The YouTube channel is a literal content farm, just waiting to engulf your child in endless versions of “Wheels on the Bus” (I-IVV’s all day, folks). I want to be more forgiving of CoComelon, I really do. It is vapid, it is homogenous,
but it is substantive enough to keep kids occupied so that their parents can get stuff done, and at least on the surface, it’s relatively benign. These videos may be creepy, but their subjects are usually innocent: things like sharing, cleaning up around the house, making a snowman, first day of school. Every sound and image has been manufactured to exploit children’s undeveloped, undiscerning perceptual faculties, but it’s not like it’s actually hurting them. It’s deadening their souls to the craft of music-making, but at least it’s teaching them to share! From where I’m standing, it doesn’t bode well for anyone that the single most widely consumed cultural artifact for children is, following a corporate structure, completely and utterly untraceable. Yes, that’s right: No one actually knows who or what is behind these videos, which are more popular than Toy Story and Finding Nemo (and any other beloved children’s film painstakingly created by skilled artists and musicians) combined. In 2019, when The Wall Street Journal attempted to find out who created the videos, they were unable to contact the studio that owns the channel. That makes CoComelon more anonymous than the pink sludge in a McDonald’s chicken nugget (and we actually have laws around sourcing for that). And yet millions of children have spent billions of formative hours golfing this stuff down. There was a time when songs for children implied transparency. I’m not even sure when the practice of creating art specific to children started in human history, but when it was probably born out of the desire to pare down our complex cultural artifacts to their most basic ingredients. Like, opening a grandfather clock and showing children the cogs and gears inside. Today, instead of showing them the clockwork, we’ve taken away the clock entirely and replaced it with an iPhone watch that farts in autotune. Many parents do not have a musical background (which in many cases, is a privilege in time and cost), but every single one of us has a voice, and I don’t mean that in a cheesy metaphorical way. The origin story of every single instrument we know today—from the violin to the fucking moog!—starts exactly there, in your throat. Here’s the philosophy of a former music teacher with a degree in piano: you don’t have to ban CoComelon from your household. After all, if you’re kid’s not watching it, all their friends are. But you can work up to it. Everything has an origin story, even (and especially!) corporate sludge.
---------------------------------------------- KARINE VANN
NEW LOCAL MUSIC ANALOGUE ADVERTISING LAYZI
I came across Layzi on a poster for a show at the Rockwell I saw on Cambridge Street. Carissa Myre, the person behind Layzi, is a meteoric rising star here in Boston. Layzi started releasing music on Spotify in 2020, performed their first live shows in 2021, and has already performed at the Boston Music Awards and has been signed to the music label Spirit Goth. Layzi currently has 3,079 monthly listeners on Spotify and 2,953 followers on Instagram. They literally make bedroom pop, as in Layzi creates all of their songs out of their bedroom. Layzi’s latest EP, “What’s Left to Lose’’ was released on November 10, 2021. The songs on “What’s Left to Lose” are what I want to listen to while crying in the shower or taking a long, pensieve walk. The lo-fi, calming vibe of the EP created by the elements of Layzi’s bell-like, calming voice and the vintage inspired instrumentals make me want to deeply reflect upon everything. While the entire EP is clearly vintage inspired, “If U Want Me 2” and “WL2L” sound like updated 80’s love ballads. What I like about Layzi in particular is how they managed to capture the lo-fi, calm, indie pop vibe but still created something I can kind
of dance to. I personally hate when songs are torturously slow. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Clairo’s “Sling” and “What’s Left to Lose” is more of what I wanted that album to sound like. I’m usually not a person who pays attention to lyrics at all but there are some lines throughout this E.P. that jumped out at me. “Nothing Ever Feels Right” is a track that is so poignant and relatable after the past year full of stress and disease and turmoil. The lines “I feel dead and lost inside my head” “why do I waste my time” and “it’s probably because I don’t sleep enough” really hit home for me. In my favorite song off of the EP, “Shoes” Layzi sings “I’m so tired” over and over again. The instrumental melody in this song is so engaging and catchy I feel like I might catch myself singing it instead of the vocals of the song in the next few weeks. I deeply relate being inescapably tired looking back across the year, but especially since Daylight Savings Time kicked in. Layzi is an amazing bedroom pop project and I hope to see them climb up the same rapid trajectory to success they have ridden over the past year.
------------------------------- GANNOPY URENA
EXPERIMENTAL EXCURSION The last year in New England’s experimental underground was a hecticly beautiful conglomeration of sound art that shouldn’t be overlooked. Ending the year off with 3 releases to relax your mind, alert your senses and to find your inner-self. 1. Luke Jumes - The Collected Luke Jumes Volume 5 Luke Jumes has been roaming greater boston with melancholy and outlandish folk lullabies for about a decade now and Volume 5 is now a lofi songbird’s go-to driving CD . I’ve always admired Luke’s ability to make practically any loosely connected ideas and thoughts into eloquent and divine collections of tracks. As well as revisiting and evolving old tracks like one of my favorites Out Of All, Luke produces some new originals like Saucer song which has spoken word sampling and extraterrestrial lyrics that almost make you question if Earth is a simulation. This compilation is from start to finish, a cosmic CD where every song leaves you intrigued.
2.
THE MASSACHUSETTS MINUTE CONNIS AND BBY.J UNITE FOR ‘CRASHING’
Representing the ever prominent city of Cambridge, Massachusetts is Connis – an unfiltered rapper who’s discography is full of heartfelt emotion and deep self-expression. Constantly putting his truest form of being at the forefront of his musical journey, Connis has time and time again delivered powerful music to his consistently widening base of listeners. Just last month, the promising artist collaborated alongside fellow Massachusetts native, bby.j, to gift fans an exceptional body of work titled Crashing. Fresh off of the release of his debut instrumental tape, Songs to Sleep On a Bus To, bby.j has seen an immense amount of progression within his catalog of music this year. Both as a solo-producer and alongside theworldbirdie as bby.bird, bby.j has unleashed more music in 2021 than ever before – attributing to the successful development of a plethora of local artists along the way. On Crashing, he furthered this narrative by providing a soundscape for Connis to flow freely. Taking on a mystical feel throughout, Crashing’s eleven minutes of runtime becomes a sonic escape into the worlds of both Connis and bby.j. Utilizing elements of R&B, Hip-Hop, Lo-Fi, and Drum and
Bass production, the sonic structure of this EP constantly grapples the listener’s mind. Floating atop the underlying instrumentals with autotune-laced vocals is Connis, who’s work here becomes reminiscent of Mac Miller on Delusional Thomas. Seeking nothing but the approval of themselves on this tape, Crashing is a fully-fleshed piece of art that local music fans should not be casting aside. When asked about the inspiration behind this project, Connis tweeted “I feel like j & I really put this project out for ourselves. We weren’t trippin over how to let it fly because these songs are weird and otherwise never would’ve seen the light of day.” Rather than appealing to what the pair thought their listeners wanted to hear, Crashing ultimately stuck to making the music that they wanted to create. No matter what the final output ended up being, having fun throughout the process was the ultimate goal – something which should inspire creatives everywhere to stay true to themselves no matter what. If you’re someone that enjoyed this EP, then I strongly suggest streaming Connis’ most recent album, Somebody, which debuted this past October.
------------------------------------------------- SHAMUS HILL
AFFECTED ACCENT THE BLUES DREAM BOX
3. Little Priest - 1000 Days Unchanged The Boston bugrat himself, Shawnie Brando’s solo effort Little Priest has been on my radar for a while. Listening to this ascends you in a world of apocalyptic drum-machine and guitar loops with ethereal vocals layered on top of each other smoothly. Listening to this album feels like you’re starring in the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic space movie that involves at least one alien abduction. Little Priest has proven again to practice more than preach in this recording and I am looking forward to what’s next in the sonic journey.
Uttered In Tongues Ego Listening to Ego is like entering a sonic journey of catharsis and healing. Riveting and calming your nerves at the same time heavily. When not a mental health counselor, Uttered In Tongues (FKA Arthur Tuttle) provides harshambient noise in forms of heavy meditation That is all for this month and to submit a tracks and visuals. Almost 40 minutes in length split into 2 tracks Ego has an astounding harsh/experimental/noise/jug band project ability to have you fully mindful and centered for the next issue. DM @floweryspeech1 on of what you hear in the present moment, This Instagram. tape is well worth playing when you need to ------------------ MICHAEL MAMBRINO rest or lay down but not fall asleep.
Strip It For Parts, the new album by local band the Blues Dream Box, defies classification— wild excursions into jazz infused chaos exist over a skeleton of blues rock. The interplay between guitar, bass, and drums is loose, free flowing, and feels heavily improvised. The songs with vocals evoke the barroom blues of Captain Beefheart and Col. Bruce Hampton with an eagerness to veer off in any other stylistic direction. The album’s instrumental songs are more in the jazz, post-rock vein. Think John Scofield and Medeski Martin & Wood in the late ‘90s, Tortoise, the Lounge Lizards (or for a more recent touchstone Three-Layer Cake). What I like most about the album is the combination of an open, confident, laid-back
feel with a dissonant and disjointed edge and eagerness to jump between tempos and styles with hammer blows of distortion and the occasional moment of absurdity. These qualities shine in “Opposite Stencil,” “Loose 50,” and “Nu Think as Beans.” They start with catchy beats and licks then devolve and crash into disjointed noise. The end of the album takes a final unexpected turn with “Cool Alphabet,” a polished kids song consisting of a jumbled alphabet— UHSKLMJBNTORPZICFXGQIDWAEV. Give Strip It For Parts a listen. It can be found on Bandcamp and the major streaming services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- STEVE B
Wenham St Cinema (Jamaica Plain) Free neighborhood theater that seeks to build community through film, food, and discussion. All showings are free and open to the public! more at bostonc
ompassnewspaper.co
*As Covid cases surge we strongly encourage all to take careful precaution when going out to public events! Follow the indoor mask mandate and keep distance from others! Always double check the event online just in case they need to cancel!*
MUSIC & AUDIO Co-incidence Festival is finally back with their experimental sound and art happening! Explore their many performance dates below taking place around Somerville and Greater Boston with some of the area’s most prolific experimental heavy weights! FREE admission to all! Welcome Concert: Sunday Jan 2, 8-9:30 PM @Washington Street Art Center Artist Showcase: Thursday Jan 6, 7-9 PM @Pink Noise Studios Final Concert: Saturday Jan 8, 4-6 PM @WSAC Check their website for more details about performers and programs: www.coincidencefestival.com/ schedule 1/1 Mourned, Kruelty, Mutilatred, Stabbed, Blood Tithe, Adrienne @Sons of Italy (Hingham) 6pm All Ages $15 1/2 Open Armory is an open mic for all performance practices. Sign up at 7PM. Happens first Wednesday of every month @Arts at the Armory 7PM-10PM All Ages Free 1/2 New Years Noise Fest featuring Sharpwaist, S/H (formerly Craow), Problem Masturbator (mbrs Pain Chain), Dave Public, Sects, Machine Moon, Messica Arson, and Teeth One by One + record and zine distro! @O’Briens 8:30pm 21+ $10-12 1/4 Bars Over Bars Hip Hop Showcase featuring local artists! Every first Tuesday of the month @Midway Cafe 7:30PM 21+ $10 1/6 Taking Meds, Pet Fox, Mint Green, Ezra Cohen & the Big City Band @O’Briens 9pm 21+ $15 1/7 Joyer, Alexander, Edward Glen, Aunt Ant @Lilypad 10pm All Ages $10 1/8 Subversive Rite, Flower, Lifeless Dark, B.E.A.S.T @T.P (Boston) 8pm All Ages $10 1/9 DIG INFINITY! The Return of Lord Buckley—The Hip Messiah an immersive theatrical experience that features original and improvised musical accompaniment performed by multi-instrumentalist Jerry Gregoire. @The Lilypad 5PM ALL AGES $20 1/9 Mega Mass Presents: Artist Showcase! Every
m
second Sunday of the month! Sign up to perform! @The Jungle 9PM-12AM All Ages FREE 1/10 PUNK ROCKIN’ AND PASTIE POPPIN’ Boston’s monthly Bad-ass Burlesque Show and Punk Rock Dance Party! The Bloodstains and a bunch of hot babes invite you to join them for an evening of studded leathers, ostrich feathers, and everything in between. @Midway Cafe 8PM 21+ $10 1/11 Kina Zoré live every second Tuesday bringing two sets of Mozambican Funk! @Midway Cafe 8PM 21+ $10 1/12 Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Steve Fell, Eddie Emerson @Midway Cafe 8pm 21+ $5 1/13 Tysk Tysk Task, TIFFY, Trash Rabbit, Inspector 34 @ The Jungle 8PM 21+ $6-10 1/15 Mallcops, Baabes, Grechen Shae & the Middle Eight, Wired for Sound @O’Briens 9pm 21+ $10-12 1/20 Ben Cosgrove @Lilypad 7:30pm All Ages $20 1/21 Sanction, Simulakra, C4, Maniac, Adrienne @Sons of Italy (Hingham) 6pm All Ages $15 1/27 Ezra Furman w/ Evan Greer + Tory Silver @ONCE at The Crystal Ballroom 8pm All Ages $16-21 1/27 Rosewater Records presents Mei Semones release show with Gabriel Lazaro, Clifford, Reggie Pearl (trio) @Brinstar Boston 8PM All Ages $ome Cost. Follow them on IG for photos, writeups, and info on more upcoming shows @rosewaterecords 1/29 Wildcat Slim, The Waitlist, Goodrich Family Band, more TBA @The Jungle 8PM 21+ $10 1/29 Content Brakes presents Ces Cadaveres, Byproduct, Final Gasp, Mirrored Hell @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $10-12 Mega Mass Artist Showcase! Second Sunday of every month @The Jungle (Somerville) 9pm 21+ Sign up to perform Live music every Thursday! @Notch Brewing Biergarten (Brighton, Charles River Speedway) 7pm 21+ Free The Lilypad weekly open mic variety show! Every Wednesday hosted by Nighttime Gallagher @The Lilypad, Cambridge 10 pm All Ages $5 BAMS Fest is constantly showing up for the community by organizing live shows, talks, competitions for local artists... not to mention their amazing
annual music festival. Learn more at www.bamsfest.org insideTheMaze is a multimedia platform that is known for its diversity and continuous love and support for independent They cater to all genres such as Hip Hop, R&B, Latin, and so much more. On the radio at 88.5FM. Online at @_insidethemaze and www.insidethemaze.net ItsLitBoston Podcast has a dope new Spotify playlist called “ItsLitBoston Presents: VIBES FROM THE STATE” updated weekly with local new music you need to check out!! I hear they take submissions too! @itslitboston Also on Youtube and SoundCloud New England Mic Check Radio is our region’s top dawg for uplifting urban music! Episode #58 out now on all streaming platforms with a special feature on local artist Tamera King! www.nemiccheck. com for podcasts, swag and further updates! @ newenglandmiccheck Check out WECB FM Boston! WECB is a studentrun, creatively independent internet radio station at Emerson College in Boston. They host dozens of radio shows by hundreds of DJs and highlight new and exciting music both locally and beyond! Also, check out their music review platform Milk Crate! To listen and for more info, visit: www.wecb.fm LFOD Life A radio show, event promoter, artist uplifter, blog, video series. LFOD does it all! They go live Tuesdays @ 10PM on 91.5FM in Boston. @lfodlife www.lfod.life Spark FM at Night with DJ Stix: Every Tuesday/Thursday from 11-1AM plus many more programs! Check out www.sparkfmonline.com
VIDEO & FILM Tiny DAP Concert Series Our spin on the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series! All episodes are available now, including the newest drops featuring Kasia Lavon and Tashawn Taylor! Visit dorchesterartproject.com/ tiny-dap for more info and subscribe to the Boston Compass Newspaper Youtube channel for video drops! TheMUSEUM TV “Bringing The Creative Community Together In Our Own Fashion!”. That’s for sure! Check out their website www.tmtv.world for local art and hiphop news and so many dope exclusive artist interviews. Subscribe on Youtube for endless video content!
No Price Tag Productions is dedicated to bringing artistry to life by highlighting creatives through film production and events. They have a dope artist interview series on their Youtube Channel No Price Tags Productions! www.nopricetagsproductions. com @nopricetagsproductions Farenheight TV has a monthly variety show that celebrates people’s greatness through exclusive interviews, performances & more. Check out their latest collab with BAMS Fest interviewing artists from their current performance series Amplify the Soul. www.farenheighttv.com @farenheighttv Cinema Salem has been resurrected under new leadership! They aim to provide more cult classics and art haus obscurities to Massachusetts film buffs. All cost $11: STARSHIP TROOPERS - 1/14 @ 10pm, THE THING - 1/15 @ 9:30pm More showtimes TBA. Check www.cinemasalem.com
VISUAL ART Art Battle Boston is holding another live art competition 2/7 @Mighty Squirrel Brewing! Artists include Maggie MacMullin, Jordan Gagner, Ananda Toulon, Fallon Rae and more! FREQUENCIES is a crowdsourced audio/visual mural that features the sounds and sights of Allston-Brighton, straight from the people who live, work, and play in this vibrant Boston neighborhood! By Allison Tanenhaus and Maria Finkelmeier, the work will be beamed into our streetfacing gallery on Western Avenue—and reverberate off the sidewalk—from November 2021 – February 2022, creating a nightly pulsating performance for all. EXIT Galleries is a Bostonbased pop-up art gallery. EXIT transforms underutilized spaces into site-specific art installations and environments. Now in Lower Allston this fall at 99 Franklin St. Check @ exitgalleries www.exitgalleries. com for rad events they throw! Praise Shadows Art Gallery is pleased to present A New Devotional by Crystalle Lacouture and Kevin Umana. Lacouture’s paintings will include her MAMA series, works on paper created as a daily ritual, while Umaña will present new ceramic tablets. On exhibit from 1/7 through 2/6 1/7 Opening reception with the artists 6pm-8pm 1/9 Special musical performance by LA based experimental vocalist Odeya Nini 6:30-7:30. Tickets are extremely limited (15). Register at praiseshadows.com
SPOKE Presents: ‘Touched’ – 30th Installation of Days Without Art 2022. Contribute a live offering performance during one of their 24-hour vigils on February 7th, National Black HIV Awareness Day at a site TBD. Or make a prerecorded offering to mark the hours of 3:00 am and 6:00 pm for the 67 days between Dec 1 and Feb. 7. www.mwponline.org Humphreys Street Studio (HSS) is a dynamic property in the Uphams Corner neighborhood of Dorchester, MA, housing working artists and artisans since its beginnings in 2002. HSS members have been engaged in art, craft, design, and artisan production providing services, experiences, and public, private & commercial artwork. Look out for more exhibitions at this great Dorchester studio and gallery. Support the Nubian Square Public Art Initiative, a newly launched initiative spearheaded by Black Market Nubian to develop a series of public murals and installations as a catalyst for neighborhood economic empowerment by the community, for the community. www.blackmarketnubian.com/nspai
13FOREST Gallery Pop-Up recently suffered damages from a fire. Please consider supporting them by buying art from their website www.13forest.com They even provide payment plans for customers! Kingston Gallery will be opening three more new exhibitions on view through 1/16! Jennifer Moses: Rock, Paper Scissors | Antoinette M. Winters: Once upon a time...| Chantal Zakari: The Bookshop is open
PERFORMANCE ART
1/1 - 1/23 The Bomb-Itty of Errors at The Rockwell! “The Bomb-Itty of Errors is a high paced, energetic, musical “add-rap-tation” of William Shakespear’s ‘The Comedy of Errors’. Elizabethan times get pumped up with live hip-hop flavor in this hilarious, award winning show @The Rockwell 9PM 21+ $ome Cost Thru 1/23 Witness is a profound new virtual documentary play by the Arlekin Players Theatre about over 900 Jews fleeing Germany by boat in 1939, only to be stranded at sea. Tix at ArlekinPlayers.com $25 general/$12 students 1/28-2/27 The Queen Toni Morrison’s literary masterpiece, The Bluest Eye, is translated to the stage by the Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA. Tix at HuntingtonTheatre.org $25 & up 1/7-2/6 World premiere of Melinda Lopez’ new play Mr. Parent at the Lyric Stage Company. A one-man show about family and teaching in the public school system. Tix at LyricStage.com $10 & up The Square Root is a Roslindale cafe with a great variety of performances! Standup comedy
every other Thursday of the month and many more events throughout the month. @squarerootrozzie and www.squarerootrozzie.com Check out Artists’ Theater of Boston! They produce “thoughtful, evocative work that challenges systemic injustices facing our communities through the collaborative process of making theater.” Online opportunities and performances can be found at artiststheater.org The Comedy Studio: one of Boston’s best standup comedy venues is back with in-person events. Shows every Thursday, Friday, Saturday @Vera’s 8PM and 10PM start times $20 21+ Midway or the Highway Ever wondered what hilarious comedians from big fancy TV shows do the rest of the week? Sometimes they appear at your neighborhood bar! The funniest in New England and beyond can now be found in the wilds of JP on every single Sunday night at 9PM FOR FREE. Open mic at 10PM hosted by Angela Sawyer @Midway Cafe 21+
ZINES
The Negro Flowers Series An online zine of writings, poetry, art and photography by various local BIPOC authors compiled by BCN contributor Qadir Shabazz. ‘People & Places’ Issue #3 is now available! It includes “A concept where Photographers of color share their work in which focuses on their own unique perspective of what community looks like to them”. Read online at www.linktr.ee/qadir__shabazz Pleasure Pie is a grassroots sex-positive organization in Boston, MA. They make zines, illustrations, publications, events, and conversations on sexual empowerment and consent. They also put out a monthly email newsletter called Boston’s Sex Positive Newsletter, which lists local sexuality-related events and job openings. Reflective Zines makes mental health, poetry and music zines! They cover trauma therapy, dissociation, DBT, identity, healing from abuse, queer love and much more. You can find them at the Paper Asylum in Beverly, MA and more info at @reflectivezines. Browse online at www.etsy.com/shop/ reflectivezines
Juniper Mag is holding a launch party + opening at Pop Up Worcester on February 5th. Artists from their first three volumes will be exhibiting work from February 5th to the 18th. Find out more @juniperrag and www.juniperrag.com Wack Mag Their mission is to bring people together through art + creation. We want to be a space where people feel comfortable to submit any work they are excited about, get published, gain experience, and create their own community of creatives. Sound familiar?? Found out how to submit your work and even join the team at @wack.mag and www.wackmag.com
Moral Crema Zine has released 5 editions of its print zine dedicated to the archiving and promotion of experimental artists who are primarily queer, POC, working class, and women. Look out for zine events and basement shows they started hosting! Find out more @moralcrema and purchase at www.moralcrema.com Lucy Parsons Center is an independent, non-profit, radical bookstore and community space. They also do a Free Store for the People every 2nd Sunday of the month 12-2PM across the street. www.lucyparsonscenter.org Superfroot Magazine Dedicated to uplifting underrepresented artists and writers, this zine focuses on a new theme each issue. If you can’t get enough spooky in your life, check out the latest mini-zine Spooky Fruit for sale now. Also look out for Issue #2 NOSTALGIA coming soon. Learn more at www.superfroot.com
COMMUNITY Northeast Organic Farming Association offers so many online workshops in sessions for farmers, gardeners, and food system activists. Check out their Winter Conference Thriving In The Era of Climate Disruption: Resiliency Strategies for Land and Communities happening 1/15-1/16! A hybrid event taking place at Worcester State University. Black Market Nubian is a Black-Owned, cooperativestyle retail business that operates within a Pan-African pop-up paradigm. The Market has been widely accepted as one of Boston’s premiere spaces to gather, meet and shop, understanding the need for micro-business Founders to develop the business acumen and literacy needed to move towards sustainability. Located at 2136 Washington St, Roxbury. More info at @blackmarketnubian Building Audacity is a non-profit organization that seeks to support youth-led change-making and to provide resources for adults looking to create inclusive, youth-focused learning environments. They are running several programs right now that prioritize community needs during the pandemic, including a GOTVac campaign, hydroponic produce farm, and grocery delivery services. Learn more at www.buildingaudacity.org and @buildingaudacity Apparel Brand, Music Label and Entertainment Company Scope Apparel has opened a storefront and HQ AT 484 B Center St, Jamaica Plain. They throw shows, events and fundraisers there! Check it out! @scopeapparel and www.scopeapparel.com Bipop music instrument & production lessons: An online music instruction platform tailored towards WOC & the non-gender conforming
community taught by WOC and the non-gender conforming community of Boston. Become a student or a teacher! Learn more at www.bipop.org @bipopbops ArtAssembled in Assembly Row! There is a new pop-up art space in Assembly Row that you can rent for $5/hour. Art Assembled is a project of the Somerville Arts Council with support from Federal Reality/ Assembly Row. Unbound Visual Arts is a unique Allston-Brighton based non-profit art organization. They serve the Greater Boston community with impactful educational programs and exhibits to encourage learning, engagement, and change with a special focus on racial justice. Exhibition and class info at www.unboundvisualarts.com and @unboundvisualarts Boston LGBTQIA+ Artists Association is revamping with a new director and a new website! They just released a survey asking what LGBTQIA+ artists in Boston would like to see happen with this new organization. Find it at www.blaa.us Boston GLASS operates Drop-In Community Centers for LGBTQ+ youth of color between the ages of 13–25! GLASS provides a continuum of services to LGBTQ+ youth of color and their allies in the Greater Boston and Greater Framingham areas and also provides education and consultation to other providers and community organizations. Women Explore Lecture and Discussion Forum: Women Explore provides lecture series within a feminist learning community for women, to connect with the sacred dimensions of their experience and to support and encourage each other in the world community. womenexplore.org Check out the Daily Table at 684 Mass. Ave in Central Square! They sell affordable, sustainable food for all. Check out their other locations in Dorchester and Roxbury! They are open from 9AM - 8PM on Monday - Friday, and 11AM 7PM on Sundays. Community Fridges! There’s a bunch of these popping up all around the city! They provide food for all and are totally volunteer-run! Check Out @bostoncommunityfridge @dotcommunityfridge @allstoncommunityfridge @matcommunityfridge @cambridgecommunityfridge @roslindalecommunityfridge Some are relocating and need your help finding businesses and people to host them!
ADVOCACY
Dunamis ignites agency and transformative growth for emerging artists and artsmanagers of color by serving as a nexus for professional development, communitybuilding, consultation, production, advocacy and developing equitable pipelines for access and leadership in creative spaces. Check out their website for info on their programs like fellowships for artists, workshops, concerts and more. www.dunamisboston.org Greater Boston Artist Collective strengthens our artist community with their many programs. From filming music videos to artist interviews…from monthly artist features to their yearly art event they strive to keep artists thriving! Check out their very active IG at @greaterbostonartistcollective and website greaterbostonartistcollective. com
Rebel Cause, Inc. was founded in 2016 and has evolved to promote various forms of activism and advocacy. They focus on storytelling, mutual aid, and capacity and coalition building to promote equity and representation for marginalized communities throughout Boston and beyond. www.rebelcauseinc. org @rebelcauseinc The Fang Collective organizes with our community to build a decolonized world free of prisons and police, where systems of oppression are uprooted and healed, while taking action to avert the worst impacts of climate change. To find out about actions and events follow @ fangcollective and visit www.thefangcollective.org ACT UP Boston is an Aids Coalition to Unleash Power Boston is a multinational, multi-generational coalition committed to direct action to end the world AIDS crisis. Check out their recently uploaded Youtube video on overdose reversal training! @actupboston Violence In Boston is committed to creating safer, healthier, and empowered Black and brown communities. Their Social Impact Center seeks to prevent and reduce the impact of violence by providing immediate and basic needs for the community. Food pantry open Monday to Friday, 9am5pm in Hyde Park. More info at @violenceinboston and www.violenceinboston.org World Worker’s Party Boston Join the fight against capitalism, bigotry and human injustice with WWPB. They organize many many actions covering a slew of extremely important human rights issues. They also publish lots of articles to inform the public on these issues. Learn much more at www.bostonwwp.org
Creatives of Color Boston is a collective dedicated to the creation of intersectional safe spaces for BIPOC artists to connect and create together, while also celebrating and uplifting the voices and work of BIPOC artists from around the Boston area. They plan three main events each year including Boston Liberation Center, concerts, workshops, and Boston PSL’s new community exhibitions. More at space, is an educational and www.creativesofcolorboston.com
organizing hub for people to connect and talk with organizers, study in the reading room, and purchase BLC merch. They will be holding a Liberation forum on 12/18 7-9PM (masks required, childcare provided). Located at 194 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury. Learn more at @bostonpsl West Of Washington Coalition A neighborhood group of Dorchester seeking to make our community a safer, friendlier, and more vibrant place to live. @wowcoalition and on Facebook to stay up to date with their community events and actions VietAID aims to build a strong Vietnamese community and a vibrant Fields Corner through community building; developing affordable space; providing small business assistance and micro-enterprise development; and child care services. Visit their headquarters at the Vietnamese American Community Center at 42 Charles St, Dorchester. www.vietaid.org Sunrise Movement Boston works every day to stop climate change and create jobs in the process. Find them at @sunrisemvmtboston to cue into all the rad actions and workshops they have going on. Asian American Resource Workshop is a political home for pan-Asian communities in Greater Boston. They are a memberled organization committed to building grassroots power through political education, creative expression, and issuebased and neighborhood organizing. Join today! @aarw.boston and www.aarw.org
WINTER ACTIVITIES
BY JENNA MILES
@JENNAMILESART
The Adventures of Cat Barge by Will Quinn
@willquinnart
@mawfko
by Adrian Alvarez
Sparkly Angst by Lou Gervais
The Boston ake us m 0% p l e H Compass is 10 hing! run t ree s nt i lu vo h t
@sparklyangstcomics
Amplify new vo ices!
>>
Email to learn how
kevin@brain-arts.org
t our Ar See Y ! Here?
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work to send your -ar ts.org in ra adrian@b
Art by Angie Michelle @pimpmyset
P U Z Z L E S
by Cristina Rodero Sales
Fruit of the Room Metamorphosis I Am in Metamorphosis. the next level of my being not my final form because final is a limit we impose on ourselves we are like water never absolute but a constant state of emerging so juicy our older form salutes pride in our strides, growing from our fruits filling up each room, almost forbidden to have some yet we have some, and we grow never ending currents, we crash and we grow changing shapes for as long as we know we talk about the meta like the future digitize our lives so our next form is a computer morphosis for the meta, dimensional commuter living in both worlds, we worry about the future so we synchronize our bodies and our minds to transform into the next greatest thing of our time and lift our spirits all our spirits growing for the whole because my growth knows no limits and when its hard I Am in Metamorphosis. transitioning into everything I know this is growing cuz my potential is limitless you scared cuz what I can do is unlimited I’m scared cuz what I want can’t be found on google images I create what I want and I can’t even picture it because I Am in Metamorphosis.
ESSMAA LITIM
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