FREE // #75 //
MAY 2016
Navigating you to underground, aboveground and all around awesome happenings in the Greater Boston Area THE BIG THREE
WAKING WINDOWS FEST 5/06-5/08 @Winooski, VT In a far away land, where maple syrup flows free and the air is cleaner than the inside of an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol, there is a little fest brewing. Well, to be honest little is a gross understatement. The land is Winooski, VT and the fest is Waking Windows. Now in its 6th year, this art and musical amalgamation has grown to become what feels like a mini SXSW for us trapped here in the Northeast. Spread out over three days between May 6th and 8th this year’s iteration features an unreal number of SICK bands from Protomartyr, Waxahatchee, Speedy Ortiz and Hop Along to Eskimeaux, Guerilla Toss, California X and the almighty Chain and the Gang. We got reps from Boston too as Midriffs, Kal Marks, Bad History Month, Lady Bones, Burglary Years, and more prepare to storm the Green Mountain State. This is only a FRACTION of the bands, DJ’s, art installations, and performances scheduled to take place at TWELVE different bars, clubs, alternative spaces, and outdoor areas over the course of the three days. With showcases by NNA Tapes and Exploding in Sound PLUS international acts from Canada, the list of reasons not to miss this shindig is almost immeasurable. Take a bus, borrow a car, hitchhike, WHATEVER…just get yourself to Winooski. - Michael Achille
GEOFFREY FARMER 4/13-7/17 @ICA Art historical paper dolls - attempting to get into the world through each of our individual stories… was an initial thought I had upon leaving Geoffrey Farmer’s exhibit, currently on view at the ICA Boston. By this I do not mean that the work was like a still from an art-house version of “Toy Story” made by resurrected members of Dada. Nor was it just another humorous art meme on my Instagram feed. It was neither of those things but also very much them. The works presented in this show are primarily made up of hundreds of small-scale sculptural photo collages that are linked to narrative texts available to read in the gallery space. Pulling from the canon of art historical and mass media imagery, Farmer’s work is at once a delirious plunge into visual overstimulation as it a relief in recognizing our influence over these images that flood our daily lives. Farmer establishes a series of phrases both visual and textual that the viewer can take from and rearrange, creating their own new histories. By disrupting “appropriate” understandings of a timeline, Farmer investigates the inevitable historical fragility of an image with both humor and kindness. - Maggie Jensen
TIME AND PLACE ARE NONSENSE! THE CINEMA ACCORDING TO SEIJUN SUZUKI 5/13-6/2 @Harvard Film Archives
For decades, the prism through which the vast majority of cinephiles in the West approached and appreciated Japanese cinema was the holy trinity of Ozu, Mizoguchi, and--first among equals in terms of popularity and influence--Kurosawa. In recent years, however, the situation has altered considerably, as Criterion and others have steadily expanded the canon (or our understanding of it) beyond those hallowed humanists by casting light on an ever-growing roster of past and present masters representing every mode of cinema imaginable, and a handful less easily fathomed. Alongside (roughly now, roughly) such directors as Oshima, Imamura, Shinoda, and Matsumoto, Seijun Suzuki--whose career receives a richly revelatory retrospective this month at the HFA--represented an art-house alternative to the holy trinity, one attuned to 1960s youth culture, alive to the possibilities of vivid color, aggressive design, and Godardian editing, and as virtuosic with the infinite varieties of irony as Ozu, for instance, was sensitive to the subtleties of human emotion. Mining a then faintly scandalous but now merely fashionable fascination with underworlds and their underfolk, Suzuki’s best-known late ‘60s works (Branded to Kill, say, and Tokyo Drifter) are jazz-soaked gems set among yakuza, prostitutes and night clubs, and subject to the avant-pop tricks then in trade. - Matthew Martens
PLACES // YOU // CAN // HANG
with ISAAC FUHRMAN: Brassica Kitchen + Café And lo: a purveyor of delectable, artfully crafted foods, drinks, and entertainments that isn’t just putting on the spatial charm for your $ (although they might be interested in that $ to keep the lights on). They are Hassle friends, the Whisk Team at Brassica Kitchen (aka the Fazenda Cafe space) of Forest Hills distinguishment. For months, maybe even years now, co-owners Phil and Jeremy have been working long after the daytime café closes to concretize their vision of a neighborhood friendly restaurant and JP hub for local music, films, and general hangouts. Go there as early as 6:00am and sip on their in-houseroasted java beans. Go there on Sunday nights when they often host a pop-up
with D. DABEK
Forest Hills Supper Club—a testing grounds for their culinary and beverageary innovation, which they plan to roll out in full, nightly force starting in May. You ought to have been there for the monthly Hassle HOMEGROWN night of fuzz- and psych-tinged rock they’ve been hosting all winter. And I hope you’ll be there on Monday, May 2nd to enjoy the first installment of the CAFFENOL experimental film series, also presented by your Hassle. These are just the beginnings of their exploits into the not-for-profit-for-fun entertainment sector. So yes, set forth and go hang at this gem of an all-purpose space across from the Forest Hills T: Brassica Kitchen + Café. We’ll see you there.
NOTES // FROM // THE // CREW with EMMA LEAVITT Issue #75 and we’re still alive. April was so sick that May be death. There is much to report for the spring. We launched our Compass Preferred Carriers Program last month, shout out to all the businesses who supported us in our initiative to make the newspaper more financially sustainable. See the in-progress list of supporters on the footer of the shows page. Exciting things on the horizon: Hassle Tapes. We are starting our own tape label! It is still in the beginning stages but it is happening and we are all stoked. Stay tuned for details. Video Team: We are going after video content to attract the eyes and ears of those who see us
MOMENT // OF // CLARITY
through a screen. Are you experimenting with your own video skills and want an outside force to mobilize you and showcase your work? Join us. Volunteer@brain-arts.org Finally, outdoor show season! Need we say more? Exciting collaborations with local partners are leading us into brighter and bigger spaces. Keep your eyes open. We would love to meet you, the organization has a steady supply of open positions: flyer distribution, hassle archivist and always WRITERS. You! Join the crew! Make friends with us, make things happen. Inquire within and visit Bostonhassle.com/volunteer.
Will We Save Capitalism from Itself? The fight for a $15 minimum wage will not solve wealth inequality. It will not stop jobs from being exported or replaced by technology, nor will it help those who can’t find jobs. We need to fight for an unconditional basic income (UBI) so every adult has a safety-net-- no matter their employment status or wealth. UBI would eradicate poverty while also giving a boost to the middle class. Basic Income would cover the costs for modest housing, food and basic necessities. Although it sounds like utopian fantasy, it has been tested with promising results, which have inspired a grassroots movement. Basic Income could give people the time to make art or an invention that improves society. Many would work to afford cars, electronics, homes and families, but they could also take risks and live without fear of poverty. UBI would force employers to create workplaces that people want to go to, and it would give workers immediate protection from abuse. It’s becoming more accepted that the future will have less work to go around. Information technology has replaced more jobs than it has created over the past 40 years. As the owners of production use technology to replace human labor, they will eventually run out of people with the income to afford their products. Will we save capitalism from itself? UBI is a better solution than a $15 minimum wage. The owners of production should pay for some of the jobs they’re displacing. But it’s a small price to pay for the wealthy to remain wealthy and for poverty to be eliminated.
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
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