Navigating you to underground, above ground and all around awesome happenings in the Boston area.
FEB. 2016 Issue #75
THe BIG 3 FILM
The Boston Underground Film Festival @ The Brattle 3/23 It’s spring, and for hopelessly obsessed cinephiles, that means one thing: film festival season! But where to go? Cannes is too corporate, Sundance is too Redfordy – plus, you know, you don’t feel like traveling thousands of miles and spending ungodly amounts of money to watch a bunch of milquetoast studio wannabes in a room full of desperate, sweaty industry types. Fortunately, the Boston Underground Film Festival (or BUFF) has your back. For nearly 20 years, BUFF has delivered an annual smorgasbord of cinematic weirdness, including cutting edge new releases, repertory screenings of cult classics (frequently with the filmmakers in attendance), and a dependably diverse array of shorts from the fringes of the fringe. At press time, the schedule has yet to be announced, but you should probably go ahead and buy your passes now anyway, because BUFF never, ever disappoints.
ART
College Showcase Mass Art’s Studio for Interrelated Media @ Pozen Center 3/31 Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s historic Studio for Interrelated Media offers visitors to come and experience the department’s artistic diversity for a one night, studentproduced event. Also known as SIM, the major was founded in 1969 by Mass Art Alumni, Harris Barron, who had a vision for democratic education.
MUSIC
Fem-Identified Showcase @ Midway 3/1 & Homegrown @ Fazenda 3/12
Students work together to constantly redefine the major’s standards, and this experimental approach to traditional art school has led to the widest variety of work produced in a single department at the college. Alumni include musicians, game designers, theater technicians, lawyers, and quite possibly members of all workforces. SIM students are given the freedom to explore any medium which best portrays their concepts or ideas. Because of this encouragement, you can expect to see limitless variety on the 31st. Video art will be projected alongside live performance, nestled close to fine craftsmanship atop pedestals, surrounded by socially conscious photography. Don’t be surprised if you’re even treated with a rockstyle show by the end. Possibilities of this department are endless,
M B T A
F A R E
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How do you get to shows/friends houses/work/around? I use the T, buses and subway. Commuter rail to visit the burbs.
1 S T A N N U A L B O S T O N H A S S L E T E L E T H O N
10 am Mar. 4 - 5, Somerville Community Access Television ***Stream it here: bostonhassle.com/telethon***
This summer, on the two year anniversary of the last fare hikes, the MBTA is again raising the cost of a ride. Charlie Baker’s MBTA Control Board has selected two plans to get the T onto more stable economic footing— both increase fares. The largest increases are projected to be between 10 and 20%.
Following in the footsteps of giants like Weird Al Yankovich comes Boston Hassle’s first ever TELETHON. It is a proposition that serves two masters: 1) A support program launch for our nonprofit BRAIN Arts Organization, with an end goal of raising enough funds to help open up our own temporary performance space in 2016.
There’s no getting around the T’s horseshit economic situation, but there are vastly different ways to talk about solutions. The conversation led by people like Charlie Baker distorts the long history of political maneuvering, relegating our public transit to the trashcan along with many of our other public services.
2) A loud medium for a wide array of Bostonarea performers and artists (and beyond that, those from all over New England) in order to showcase their wideranging talents, and display the epic breadth of creativity that exists in our area.
They want you to think the problems rest on workerpensions and efficiency. But since C.B. and Co. are refusing to, let’s be the adults here and talk about the reality. In 2000, Forward Financing was enacted by the Massachusetts government, ensuring the T’s descent into perpetual debt. The budget would be made up less and less by direct state subsidies and be replaced by bonds purchased by private institutions, which amounts to the T financing themselves through private debt. Now, 16 years later, the T spends more on this debt than on nearly all other parts of their budget. Throw in an extra dose of debt from the Big Dig, and we have the MBTA’s current financial state. Riders should not be punished for these failures. Keep an eye out for upcoming resistance to these proposed hikes.
This is a FREE & PUBLIC event, BUT space will be severely limited in the studios of SCATV for the duration of the event. With that said we still encourage our compatriots to stop by, and there is even talk of a temporary tent village appearing while the TELETHON takes place in the concrete park that abutts the station?! What is known for sure is that all these freaks will be there. w/ Alaina Stamatis, Neil Patrick Bryant (w/ the Somerville Speakout), Ben Hersey, Id M Theft Able, Sun Rad, Luxardo, LSDV, Mike Simonelli, Casey Crawford, The Trofessor, Coorain Devin, Dan Cashman/ Anthro Rex, Caitlin Dunnebier, Neil Horsky & Jen DeAngelis, Lankville Daily News, Kevin Driscoll, Comb Man, Canary Boys, Under the Underground, Rose Parry, Birthing Hips, Blk Box, William Clark, Leonard Redriver, Serengeti, Ricky Diamond, Mini Dresses, Curious Sound Objects + science experiments, poetry, demonstrations, children’s reading time, drag performers AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!
There are almost too many great spots to hang this March and getting it all started is Katie McShane’s Monthly Fem Night. Always a wild collection of experimental sounds and performances, this showcase features Twins of El Dorado, an operatic ensemble bringing together lone trumpet and vocal that make a rounded exultation of light and dark. Continuing the experimental train is the psychedelic jazz, droning chaos, and ambient schisms of Letter Castle. Wendy Eisenberg of Wendy Alembic will be bringing to the party her new duo with Alec Whiting. And Syd Rvinsky will also be presenting her new project, Bathtub Tequila. Don’t miss it March 1st at Midway Café. Ride high this very early spring with the cosmic cowpolks of HOMEGROWN #3, Boston Hassle’s very own monthly technicolor honkytonk— featuring the sounds of mellow Americana and the psychedelically inclined. HG #3 is truly a strain not to be missed. Old Wave will be crooning their country cabaret, Wes Buckley serving up some mellow people’s punk, find your footing with Hollow Deck, and pick up your smashed heart with piano man, John Cushing. Come on out to Fazenda in JP March 12th. Help spread the love, we’ll see you there.
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Thanks for picking up Compass #73! We’re excited to present our new four page spread. We are refocusing our content efforts on the limitless WEB and consolidating this here rag into a more manageable size to ensure its longevity. It will continue to come out every month and serve as a portal connecting you to new cultural realms. The change will free up our collective resources for what lies ahead; there’s much to do. We are blasting into March with the launch of our new FREE creative workshop in Cambridge, open to all high school students! Pearl Learning Laboratory is officially live March 2nd. Guaranteed to be an empowering educational experience for all your favorite teenage weirdos. Look for details on our website. Keep your eyes peeled for news of our Support Program. If you don’t have time to volunteer but you like what we do, don’t stress: we would love to take your money and invest it into creating a more vibrant world around you. We are going to charge ahead no matter what, but with your financial support there is much more we can do. Please recycle this message when done consuming. Suggestions from us: paper mache, your gerbils bedding, great wallpaper, pass on to your friend #recyclethecompass -Emma, Rey, Rizzo and Sam P
This newspaper 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. bostonhassle@gmail.com