HEADER ART BY KEVEN LAREAU Keven.Lareau@gmail
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ANNA ROCHINSKI ARochinski@gmail
OUR SUPPORT
The Boston Counter Cultural Compass, navigating you to underground, above ground and all around awesome happenings in the Greater Boston area.
Hello friends! Thanks for picking up Compass #42. Since its inception, this lovely little paper has been paid for almost entirely out of pocket by the dedicated few who produce it, with some wonderful businesses and individuals stepping in to support us in the past year. We can’t thank these contributors enough, and we promise to continue giving all that we can to make it happen ourselves, but it’s become clear that this model is simply not sustainable. The money we are currently bringing in amounts to only about 24% of our monthly costs, and we’ve only begun our expansion into film, comedy, and art coverage. A resource that strives to benefit so many cannot be funded by so few! With all hands on deck maintaining the newspaper itself, we’ve realized that what we really need are dedicated BREADWINNERS: volunteers whose
time would be primarily spent soliciting advertising from and maintaining relationships with the awesome local businesses and individuals who see the value in backing our efforts to change the cultural landscape of Boston for the better. Please consider making this mission a part of your life. Whether you’re someone with an advertising background or just an eager and organized self-starter, we urge you to get involved, learn from us, and teach us along the way. No time to volunteer? Spread the word, and if you can afford to help with any size donation or by advertising on a regular basis, definitely get in touch. Support your local Compass: we need you!
Goodbye Arvid Noe, See You Later Don Gero, Hello NE Pats and Adze! Attention! Some important changes to the local scene here: The long standing off-kilter space-rock spazz craft known as Arvid Noe made it’s final voyage last month. This is due to the relocation of their drummer extraordinaire, Don Gero, who will now be pummeling the USA from the holy West Coast. Meanwhile the two freaks up front continue bossing around Boston with their own psychotically sick bands, New England Patriots and Adze. Please follow these three in their deafening endeavors and never forget everything Arvid Noe did for our city. -SP
Been thinking about putting on shows in your house or some other space? Well, we’re behind you all the way! GO FOR IT! Boston has a rich history of DIY and underground show spaces, why not jump into the fray? Somerville, Cambridge, Allston, JP, Mission Hill - wherever - get social, be smart, and open your doors to art and music! It’s a great way to get YOUR art and music out there. Our friends @ B.O.W. Shows will be running a workshop on starting your own DIY space soon. Look for that and get in touch if interested: bowshowsboston@gmail.com -DS
Bootstrap Compost Is Making City Life Better. Is your garbage stinking up your apartment? Flies infesting your living space? Well then stop tossing your food scraps in the trash and compost that shit instead! Not sure where to put it? Bootstrap Compost makes it easy. For a miniscule monthly fee, they’ll come by weekly to pick up your organic refuse and redistribute it to local farms. In return you get a free bucket and 5 pounds of fertilizer every few weeks to feed houseplants or start your own garden. Feel more eco-conscious, support local businesses and farms, and make your place smell nice again - pretty sweet deal. -CC Our far out friends Bushwhacked (the shlopped and glued sax and drum machine styles of Andy Allen and Mark Johnson) and Vehement Caress (The dark textural synth exploration and harsh cathartic release of Lex Russo) are heading south babies! Superior Southern Spit is the name of their game and they’re beating up the greater East Coast all tha way down. Tell your Philly friends to catch em at JR’s, tell your SC crew to catch em at SPIT FEST and you? You make sure to hit their homecoming show (also the Friendship Tapes release show) in Boston on July 10th! Ask a big ole boy for the address. -SP Let Stompbox Sonic Effects Your Life! Who doesn’t enjoy an occasional booze or food tasting? Well Stompbox Sonic, local purveyors of custom pedals and amps, understand the universal appeal of free samples, so they’ve expanded upon this concept with their frequent effects pedals Sound Tastings! Come to the next one July 24th at Allston practice space complex Studio 52 and get intoxicated on the singular sounds conjured from their unusual machines. You will definitely find something you want to buy, but there’s no pressure to do so and no jerk in a polo shirt. -CC Check Out V-E-L-L-U-M Art Blog! V-e-l-l-u-m is a transient home for the contemporary aesthetic, an excellent and fun-to-explore blog resource with a flair for ambient, radiant, dark, mystical and minimal art pieces of all mediums. These people have good taste and they like weird shit. As a weekly magazine, they publish features of emerging artists working in photography, performance and experimental media, with new stuff every Friday! The folks involved will also have a hand in making our new arts listing page all that it can be, so keep your eyes on em! Send submissions to alexis@v-e-l-l-u-m.com and visit http://v-e-l-l-u-m.com to scope it. -SP
Respecto, Sam Potrykus
Kombucha On Tap At City Feed Boylston! Kombucha’s never been so delicious or so affordable. You gotta head over to Little Feed, where for mere nickels and dimes per ounce, you can refill last night’s forty with elderberry, black currant, or ginger kombucha (my favorite) and redeem those wasted years (so close behind), courtesy of Vermont microbrewery Aqua Vitea. Who’s that in the back asking, WTF am I talking about? Kombucha’s a fermented brew made from sugar, tea and yeast with the kick of cider and probiotics kind of like yogurt. It’s good for you, so get sipping and support some local business! -WK All About Records In Taunton Is Back! The AAR label began in 1997 but when the crew opened up their own spot in 2002 it had a significant impact on me; A DIY label opening up it’s own record store/show space is about the most inspirational thing a young culture loving person can witness and I spent as much time there as possible. Now after an 8 year break, the physical All About Records space is back, and this time with an emphasis on the arts: art shows, workshops and lessons! They also plan to base a design firm at the location, offering affordable graphic design services for local businesses. Make a trip to visit it! -SP New Experimental Film Resource! From the long and lasting to the short and mini, Boston Viewfinder will point you toward the offbeat cine. This brand new website, brought to you in part by the avant-garde heads at Balagan Films, is a curated calendar of compelling, intriguing, and often marginalized film screenings that are taking place across our strange city in the coming months. It’s got a nice, easy to digest layout with concise and informative blurbs to boot. They’ll be collaborating with the Compass as we expand into film coverage as well! Boston is lucky to have such things brewin, our eyes are wide and our hats off to em. Check it out: BostonViewfinder.com -SP It’s a little late this year, but we at the Hassle/Compass would love to do a small campout music fest again in the future! We did one a couple years back in Western MA w/ Happy Birthday, Debo Band, Prince Rama and others. A killer bonfire, a swimming hole and lots of tents; it was an AMAZING time. But that location is not available anymore, and we haven’t found a suitable replacement in the New England area...yet. I bring all this up to generally ask if anyone has land they’d like to host such an event on, or if you have some other info that might lead to another Hassle Campout Fest. Hit us up: bostonhassle@gmail.com -DS The Boston Counter Cultural Compass is produced by Boston Hassle
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