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GROUND, UNDERGROUND, AND ALL AROUND AWESOME HAPPENINGS IN THE GREATER BOSTON AREA
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Time for another crafty conglomeration of clandestine crusaders—that's right, I'm talking the ninth Boston Underground Summit! We’ve got spoken-word style hip-hop with a strong, lo-fi bedroom 4-track aesthetic that culminates in sincerely honest word salads courtesy of Pink Navel. Minimalist leaning, guitar pop backed complex lyrical flowers a la Sidney Gish. A rock-n-roll buffet featuring Boston Cream’s (ex-Barbazons) lightning riffs, horns, dance beats, and electro-jams that produce a psychedelic, disco flavored style of punk spewed through a basement strobe light alongside Mint Green’s catchy, party inspired pop-punk with a faint emo twinge just beneath the surface. At the same time, Ozlo’s darkwave infused, aught-rock riff machines bleed into the bands viscous brand of chaotic yet focused post-hardcore plus (muah!) Kiss Concert’s headbanging blend of power pop fueled basement mosh mayhem. Looking for something more far out? How about Kármán Voh’s echoey electronic mysticism, or Divided Self (Members of Secret Lover and Snow Wite) who paint the space with groovy yet charged acoustic living room jam sessions. Capping it off is Solei, whose soul inspired sweetheart gems featuring hefty, toe tap-inducing backbeats leave plenty of room for the soothing vox of Atlas Lab’s Solei to shine through. Who needs March Madness? This raucous round robin’s where it’s at. -Michael Achille
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! B o s t o nr o u n d S u m m i t 9 g r e d ish, Un en, Sidney G e r G t in M , Solei, Pink Navel rman Voh, a K , m a e r C n idge Ozlo, Bosto ert @Cambr c n o C s is K f& Divided Sel All Ages 8pm doors e g d o L s k l E n ed donatio $10 suggest
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Gwenneth Boelens: A t O d d s and Charlotte Moth: Seeing While Moving 2/17 - 4/16 @MIT List Visual Arts Center
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FILM FESTIVAL 3/22-3/26
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The exhibitions Gwenneth Boelens: At Odds and Charlotte Moth: Seeing While Moving are currently on view at the MIT List Visual Arts Center until April 16, 2017. Both Gwenneth Boelens and Charlotte Moth use unconventional photographic approaches and techniques to explore the expressive possibilities of photography in their work. Gwenneth Boelens has developed an abstract visual language that attempts to capture the traces of physical movement in space. Boelens uses light, time, and chemical and material processes to suspend and inscribe traces of movement, exploring and illuminating perception, memory, and time. Boelens’ first solo exhibition, Gwenneth Boelens: At Odds features a group of her most recent photograms, wall works, weavings, floor sculptures, and an acoustic piece.
Travelogue series that are combined with small bits of text and colored filters. Moth’s first solo exhibit in the US, Charlotte Moth: Seeing While Moving presents photography, sculpture, slide projection, and film pieces that explore the modes of tactile representation.
The List is MIT’s contemporary art museum which offers free art exhibitions and programs open to the public. Visit The List at 20 Ames Street, Bldg. E15-109 Cambridge, MA 02139. Regular hours: Tues, Wed, Since 1999, Moth has taken photographs of arFri, Sat, Sun: 12:00 - 6:00 chitectural features throughout the course of her pm, and Thurs: 12:00 travels and has collected them into her Travelogue 8:00 pm. series. Much like a tabletop Instagram account, -Maryam Yoon her central piece Noting Thoughts (2011) is a table assemblage of groups of photographs from her
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Executive Director of Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, Editor of DigBoston I come to you as the reluctant To suggest the modern undervillain who told Boston Magazine ground is thriving is to disregard a that our local counterculture is in time in Boston when your average trouble. I am someone who has summer weekend in a somewhat The majority of the American workforce will be working spent my whole adult life helpyuppie-free Jamaica Plain packed from home by 2020, so it’s important to find the best spots ing fuel the indie press, all while countless outdoor parties with live now so you can “become a regular” before then. I’ve been witnessing the steep decline of music, and to forget how heads everything both non- and anti-cor- could actually burn pre-legal blunts working remotely for almost a year, so when I’m not on my porate. Though I regret having to at reggae shows from Blue Hill Ave couch, I spend a lot of time in cafes, judging them largely by the quality of their WiFi, noise level, and employees’ musical give Hassle readers homework as to Cambridge back in the day. tastes. a prereq for my emotional old man All that said, the innumerable This summer I spent hours at Fiore’s because I love their polemic, I do hope people read scattered silos of creative subterrathe BoMag piece in its entirety, nean activity considered, I feel one back patio and gluten-free options, but I eventually moved and not only because the author thing that alternative types can all to Evy Tea for turmeric lattes, an herb garden, and calming ultimately agrees with what many agree on is that now, perhaps more vibes. If I feel like venturing, I’ll head over to Haley House of his critics are claiming, which is than ever before, we need to foster Bakery, particularly for breakfast, but it closes at 5. Across the river, Forge is pricey but delicious, and Life Alive secretthat there are strong and hopeful close collaboration to survive. ly has great WiFi and the best food. (Maybe even better signs of counterculture life among This need has led my crew at the than Clover?) I appreciate Darwin’s, particularly the Mass us Boston Institute for Nonprofit JourAve outpost, and if it’s too crowded, I grab a latte at Tatte, I wholly understand the knock- nalism (BINJ) to partner with not ing of the writer’s choice to give only the Hassle and Compass, but with newly-opened locations seemingly everywhere. Finally, the Boston Public Library recently opened a cafe with such weight to aging whiteboy hip- with other local grassroots outlets good, cheap coffee and snacks and a TV studio if you want sters like yours truly. Nevertheless, such as KillerBoomBox as well. It’s to make your public television star turn. I think it’s critical to recognize the a smaller counterculture tent than undeniable, housing-driven fact in the past, but I never doubted our I’ve heard that digital alienation is common in this strange, new world, so I try to get out of the house as much as possithat Greater Boston’s countercul- capacity to raise the roof. ble, particularly if it means I can eat cookies ture is unprecedentedly diffuse and drink coffee while surrounded by other and, even though it may not seem people staring at their laptops. the case to those who live and play in Allston, relatively minimal.
Let’s face it: modern film festivals can be a drag. Sure, your Tribecas and your Canneses and your Fill-In-The-Blankdances carry prestige and industry clout, but they all tend to be almost oppressively respectable. Thank god, then, for the Boston Underground Film Festival. For nearly two decades, BUFF has been providing Boston with all the gloriously transgressive, subversive, and frankly rude cinematic fare that would make Robert Redford blanche. Among this year’s offerings are the Lovecraftian body horror of THE VOID, Gabriel Bartalos’ surrealist nightmare SAINT BERNARD, and A LIFE IN WAVES, a documentary on the life of synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani – plus loads more. If you’d like to do your part to keep the BUFF machine chugging, check out their Kickstarter (accessible via the URL above) and score some sweet swag in the process. We may not be La La Land, but as long as there’s BUFF, Boston will always have a home for cinematic freaks, mutants, and weirdos. Dance on that. --Oscar Goff
NOTES FROM THE CREW WITH DAN SHEA
There’s a lot happening around these parts. First, we are excited to announce that our organization won a grant from the Boston Cultural Council! These funds will spur our creative activity throughout 2017 and we are thrilled to be supported by our city. Next up is an event that has quickly become one our biggest annual endeavors. From April 7th @ 10am until April 8th @ 10am we will be throwing the 2017 Boston Hassle 24 Hour Telethon & Performance Marathon over @ Somerville Community Access Television. Why are we throwing a 24 hour telethon? Well, besides it being a GREAT idea and an AMAZING chance to highlight an insane gaggle of the area's most unique performers and minds, we (the 501(c)(3) BRAIN Arts and our website/event booking arm, Boston Hassle) will be trying to raise start-up capital to back our signing of a lease for what will be an: all-inclusive, all-ages art market/community center/performance space. The telethon is open to the public. Space will be limited inside the television studio itself, but we are essentially turning all of Union Sq into a 24-hour party. Come hang at any of the businesses that support us. It will also be beamed the world over via the internet's magic! Bands, poets, performance artists, rappers, comedians, video fuckery, storytellers, lectures, short films... we got it all! And we're even still accepting performance submissions, so get in touch!!! dan@brain-arts.org
Unless otherwise indicated, the Compass is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY)
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
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 OR BOSTONHASSLE@GMAIL.COM