Dig Boston April 8th, 2015 by DigBoston

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DEAR READER Hi. I’m Eugene Mirman. I am a comedian who used to live in Somerville in the late ’90s (when you could still come across a person who hadn’t read Ulysses and before the Mustache Law of 2002 had swept our proud nation). I come home to visit very often, and remember my time here fondly. What was life in Boston like in the late ’90s you may ask? Well, dancing was illegal. Condoms hadn’t been invented yet, so people used Bruins jerseys wrapped in Saran Wrap for safe sex. There were only two rock bands, and both were called Aerosmith. Everyone dressed like a pirate and tried to find love across the street from T.T. The Bear’s. Kendall Square was just a huge basketball court where teenagers got to second base with one another for the first time. And of course, the CambridgeSide Galleria had only one store offering old people a sanctuary to purchase the pair of socks they planned to die in. It was a wild time. My rent was $364. Anyway, it’s with great honor that I let you know that I am the guest editor of this week’s issue of DigBoston. And just like the editor of the Washington Post or New York Times, I have been asked to make tangential asides commenting on the content. So now that I’ve set my pen down and the ink is on the paper, please enjoy this issue. And if you don’t, take comfort knowing I’m just a substitute. No spitballs, please.

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Ryan Maguire illustrates unique moments of achievement. Eyes don’t lie. Hearts don’t stop. #HighVelocityArt. maguireartdesign.com. Ryan Maguire photo taken by Dexter Emoto at the 2012 Boston Marathon.

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noun SHitˈstärdər 1. Crowdfunding site designed to raise money just to fuck with people (see: “Help us build a skyscraper in Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung’s backyard”on DigBoston.com)

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Comcast, You motherfuckers. Moth. Er. Fuckers. For one, you have me doing the most cliché thing there is, which is bitching about Comcast. Or Xfinity. Or whatever the hell you call your monopoly these days. Why am I incensed? Maybe because you maliciously tacked an extra forty bucks onto my bill, and then hung up on me six times – that isn’t an exaggeration, six times – while transferring me to your maddeningly frustrating automatic system and a live operator. You wound up taking up an hour of my life, an hour that I could have spent watching any number of shitty channels that you gouge me for. How much fucking money do you steal from people who just cough it up without checking their bill?

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From the Olympics to police brutality, the Boston media should piggyback more independent research and ideas BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

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There’s an old media trope that alternative publications steal from college and underground papers (or “blogs,” as we now often call them), while dailies jack hot scoops from the alts, and television news producers borrow from everyone. Before they installed tablets onto anchor desks, the proof of said thievery was in plain view on every five o’clock newscast, as that morning’s broadsheets tended to be opened wide in front of whichever hairdo was on camera. As nostalgically sexy as that order of media operations sounds, it doesn’t much pertain to the contemporary climate. The reportorial appetite has substantially subsided around Greater Boston, mostly due to overworked newsrooms with limited resources, but also because journalists are decreasingly willing to check those in powerful positions. Without spinning into Aaron Sorkin territory with cliche criticisms, I’ll limit myself to one over-the-top metaphor, the water-skiing squirrel from Anchorman. Sadly, that Ron Burgundy classic isn’t hyperbole by modern standards; whether due to issues of priority or policy, or to satiate the shallow tastes of readers or reporters, these days outlets typically shy away from busting balls in favor of celebritydriven vapidity and other distractions. It’s understandable why some may feel such blanket statements are ridiculous. I would probably agree with them that the Boston Globe is one of America’s finest news organizations, and that Boston is the Ball-Busting Capital of the United States, with residents who in the past have angrily dethroned both lawmakers and lawbreakers alike. However, everyone—including us here at the Dig—can some share the blame for allowing obvious horrors go underreported, from crippling neglect in our justice and corrections systems to creeping neoliberal profiteering placing the public at risk. Some examples:

Last year the local media completely ignored outgoing Governor Deval Patrick personally pinning bravery medals on Massachusetts police officers who fatally wounded arrestees, at least one of whom died under circumstances that continue to be brought into question by attorneys for the family of the deceased. To my knowledge, the topic didn’t even spur any discussion on talk radio—and that despite the ceremony happening smack in the middle of protests over state violence in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as in Boston. One word: Somerville. As we have covered extensively, Somerville is far from just the upwardly-mobile bohemian heaven depicted in most reports. The course of development and influence in the rapidly growing city continues to squeeze even well-to-do residents who are involuntarily helping to subsidize unfettered vertical expansion. Needless to say, in many cases the growth benefits an elite group of attorneys and builders who bankroll campaigns for the city’s political honchos. Two words: Big Brother. In the wake of our reporting last year that the City of Boston used facial recognition software on every attendee at two Boston Calling concerts in 2013, some local outlets (and dozens of national and international sites) acknowledged the egregious threat to civil liberties. Yet none have followed up on any tangent of our revelations; instead, there is more passive coverage than ever of items like the $130 million contract given to Raytheon to install systems that track every vehicle on the Mass Pike. The list goes on. Generally speaking, more reporters should follow campaign dollars; instead, many are reluctant to

harp on the generous gifts that pols often receive from stakeholders. For instance, few have noted that Lowell State Sen. Eileen Donoghue, who two years ago lit the legislative torch for Boston 2024 by sponsoring a bill to explore the feasibility of hosting a Summer Games, raised nearly a third of all her money in 2014 from donors with direct ties to the bid—including $500 apiece from Boston 2024 chairman Fish and master planning committee co-chair David Manfredi, $1,000 from legal committee chair Robert Popeo, and $200 from William Coyne, with whom Donoghue now cochairs the group’s government and community outreach committee. It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist … These are issues I myself take especially seriously, sure; but working from the assumption that offenses like bribery in plain sight and massive wealth inequality deserve the spotlight, I feel defensibly self-righteous in saying that others should pay more attention—even if it means appropriating leads from the Dig, or Blackstonian, or the Bay State Banner, or Bay Windows, or Spare Change, or the Bay State Examiner, or Open Media Boston, or any of the other small and independent fonts of critical content that are struggling to be heard. Stealing is a Hub tradition after all; for those who are unaware, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese was dealt its first blow over sexual abuse by the now-defunct alternative Boston Phoenix, not the Globe as is widely believed. The Globe in its turn applied resources to force accountability, and that’s the whole point of this rant, as well as the crux of my unorthodox proposal … One week from today, DigBoston is going to publish an expose on Boston Public Schools, and about how questionable outside operators—all of whom have ties to STEAL THIS ARTICLE continued on pg. 6

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STEAL THIS ARTICLE continued from pg. 4 parties poised to further privatize Hub schools—are swooping in to take control of BPS institutions, their movements hidden between budget lines in a virtually untraceable manner. The story will include such marquee local characters as Reverend Shaun Harrison, the former English High School dean who is accused of shooting one of his students in the head, as well as John Fish himself, and a number of other business heavyweights. Juicy stuff, and the best part is I’m willing to share everything, all my notes and contacts, beforehand with any publication that asks. I don’t care if they scoop me—any hack who wants to see my files can just drop me an email. Finally, I understand the need for light news and fluff, and have lent my own byline to pieces on everything from fashion to pop music, the latter of which I reported on regularly for a decade. There has to be a counterbalance to the troubling reports of evil in this world, but none heavy enough to completely dull the human instinct to seek justice. As historian Howard Zinn wrote in regard to authors who but graze the gory details: “Outright lying or quiet dismissal takes the risk of discovery which, when made, might arouse the reader to rebel against the writer. To state the facts, however, and then to bury them in a mass of other information is to say to the reader with a certain infectious calm: yes, mass murder took place, but it’s not that important—it should weigh very little in our final judgments; it should affect very little what we do in the world.” Such is too often the routine for most Boston newspeople, opinion editorial writers included, in addressing sensitive topics. Take most coverage of police brutality, in which reporters tend to faintly acknowledge general atrocities, only to tokenize specific cases that buttress a positive narrative, catalyzing scant change in the process. Similarly, while the selfish interests and undemocratic influence of Fish and his posse of plutocrats have certainly been noted, the nonchalance with which the media has nonetheless proceeded to pretend Olympic efforts may be virtuous as well merely serves to undermine any mention of those uncomfortable topics in the first place. It doesn’t have to be that way; there are mountains of legitimate dirt that are waiting to get mined. Anyone can start by stealing from this article.

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There was a competition this past week among local politicians vying to deliver the most ignorant quote on marijuana legalization. State Rep. Brad Jones Jr., the House Republican leader, emerged as an early leader, telling the Boston Globe, “I just don’t understand how we can be in this headlong rush to legalize when we’re dealing with the opioid crisis in the state.” Jones, not surprisingly, chose to ignore science; last year, for example, the JAMA Internal Medicine network published research that shows opioid related deaths are down 25 percent in states with functioning medical marijuana programs. Jones also ignored the work of people like Miriam Boeri, an associate professor of sociology at Bentley University who recently published an article titled, “Can medical marijuana curb the heroin epidemic?” For her study, Boeri interviewed hundreds of opiate addicts; she wrote me in an email, “Marijuana helps (some) to stop using hard drugs—but it is difficult to get out that message. I try my best.” Rep. Jones did not respond to a request for follow-up. Upping the crazy, MassLive reported that Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan insanely stated, “today’s marijuana is so powerful it is defined as hashish.” It’s almost too stupid to comment on. Then there is perennial jackass Michael O’Keefe, the Cape and Islands district attorney who recently quipped, “We ought to turn ourselves into Denver, Colorado, where gummy bears are littering the streets that are made of marijuana?” Looks like we have a winner. But what’s really going on? Just as happened in the run-up to successful cannabis reform initiatives in 2008 and 2012, the opposition, funded by drug treatment and law enforcement campaign contributions, are going insane over the thought that citizens will get their say. After all, there’s big money in maintaining the status quo. Less pot, more addicts, more money for treatment funding. Case-in-point: former Mass Department of Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett, who now works in drug treatment and received a major pay increase while bringing home more funding for her Cape Cod Regional Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative. I’m sure DA O’Keefe has no objections.

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She’s the author of such classics as “It’s time to say yes to Walmart,” and of not just one but two columns last week alone in which she shamelessly shills for John Fish and his cabal of cronies pushing Boston 2024. Of course we’re talking about Boston Globe punchline Shirley Leung, the most loathsome writer in New England save for Ben Mezrich and every opinionated bigot at the Boston Herald. Like all devout boosters of unfettered capitalism, Leung was presumably raised to stick up for the bully. In case you missed her April Fool’s Day joke … It must be a confusing time for Fish. Here he is trying to do what he thinks is a good thing, to bring the Summer Games to the city and state, creating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic development. And along the way, the Olympics just might get us a T that works all year round. But these days, it seems like whatever Boston 2024 says or does is the absolute wrong thing. Spruce up Franklin Park? No! Deval Patrick as global ambassador? Not for $7,500-a-day?#$! Sponsor a referendum? Those guys are co-opting the ballot process! If blaming residents wasn’t depraved enough, Leung doubled down last Friday. Since everyone must share the blame for imminent Olympic failure except those vying to actually bring the Summer Games to Boston, this time she smacks around the publicists who can’t seem to convince the most educated state in America that up is down, ice is hot, fish don’t stink, and so forth. On Planet Leung, the problem isn’t any of the innumerable issues raised by concerned citizens—it’s that media relations wizards aren’t spinning enough wool to pull over the public’s eyes … Boston 2024 is awash in problems—and none bigger is the group’s ability to get its message across that the Games can make Boston a better version of itself. The Olympics are supposed to be a feel-good event, but not here. Instead, the Games are toxic, as if organizers are proposing to build a nuclear waste dump on the Greenway. It’s difficult to entertain this kind of utter bullshit humorously, though lampooning Leung’s fraudulence helps to curb the fits of rage that she provokes. No human could possibly think a lot of the things she writes, like that Fish gives one-tenth of a turd about Franklin Park; as such, the best way to besiege her is to focus on something Leung seems to actually believe: namely, that NIMBYs are the worst, and that people should roll over every time a builder gets a hard-on for their neighborhood. Some examples: • The first rule of NIMBY Club is that being a NIMBY is always bad, and you never want to be one. Observe in this 2014 piece about the harborfront: “Then there is everyone else, armed with concerns about the project but also conscious of being cast as NIMBYs.”

• As a holiday gift late last December, Leung bravely pitched solutions for dealing with perturbed residents. Also, people who don’t want the whole city looking like the discombobulated Innovation District are fun to piss off: “That should get the NIMBYs going.” • Sometimes Leung teams with politicians to trash her enemies. From a 2013 heater about East Boston: “Rizzo, 54, gives the councilor this much: The process could have been better, but starting from scratch wouldn’t have gotten rid of the NIMBYs. ‘If they were to scrap these plans and come back and say they wanted to build a mall in East Boston, you would have had people calling Sal and saying, ‘I don’t want a mall,’’ said Rizzo.” • She may detest ‘em, but NIMBYs rejoiced last June when Leung was kind enough to approve their participation in a process that could potentially transform their city forever: “We need to hammer out these details soon. Yes, this is also an open invitation to naysayers and NIMBYs, whose critiques should be part of the process. Don’t hold back, because the US bid could be decided as early as January.” All things considered, we feel that it only makes sense to raise $100 million dollars to construct a state-of-the-art skyscraper in Leung’s backyard (final cost estimates are still in the works). It will be called “Olympic Tower,” and it will house college students and artists who will operate the mixed-use development’s 24-7 pot dispensary and heavy metal venue. It won’t be easy, but considering how many executive salads Leung has rhetorically tossed over the years, there may even be a shot of finishing this project without having to use taxpayer money. Please send all donations to the Shirley Leung fan club of your choice. Finally, we should note that Leung hasn’t always been a publicist for plutocrats. Back in her days at theBaltimore Sun, she even managed to write evenly about people who were fighting off a football stadium. In a 1995 article titled “Stadium fight becomes full-time job,” Leung went so far as to quote a woman saying, “A lot of people think when there is opposition, they dismiss us as a handful of NIMBY types,” and herself noted, “Had the community not rallied, construction would have started already.” One can only imagine the disdain Leung, then just a reporter, secretly had for the activists in Maryland, those bastards who believed their neighborhood deserved better than to become a fall destination for thousands of inebriated savages. On that note, please give as much as you can swing; if there’s enough money left over, we’d also like to build a new home for the Revolution on her front lawn.

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Mark Wahlberg should use the MEMA report for his movie on Boston Marathon bombing BY MEDIA FARM @MEDIAFARM

Everybody knows that in Hollywood, accuracy is the name of the game. Take, for example, the Nicolas Cage film about 9/11, whatever it was called, and how it dutifully showed federal and city officials ignoring multiple warnings that may have helped authorities prevent Osama Bin Laden from leveling the Twin Towers. In that grand tradition of Tinsel Town truth-telling, we learned last week that Mark Wahlberg, who once said he could have personally thwarted the 2001 attacks if he had only been a passenger on one of the rogue airplanes, is set to release an upcoming film about the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon. The timing of the announcement was impeccable. In addition to capitalizing during the death penalty trial of admitted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as well as in the run-up to the second anniversary of the initial tragedy, last week the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), in conjunction with other key researchers and stakeholders, released its “After Action Report for the Response to the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings.” The 130-page assessment has some glowing moments, and we’re sure that Wahlberg will pack lots into his movie about the bravery and heroism on display; at the same time though, we also hope he includes some of the less savory revelations therein. We can picture it now … FADE IN A tough guy copper from a department more than 50 miles outside the Massachusetts border, whose assistance no one asked for, suits up in his garage before jumping in his pickup to go join the “thousands of law enforcement officers [who] arrived in Watertown [not] in response to a mutual aid request, but [because they] self-deployed to the area once it became widely known that one of the Marathon bombing suspects was at large in the town.”

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DISSOLVE TO MEMA sets the scene: “There were a significant number of occasions when officers responded based on information or calls they heard on their radios, at times placing themselves and the officers with the authority to respond at risk … A large number of law enforcement officers self-deployed to the scene after overhearing radio traffic about the location of the suspect. Within moments, more than 100 officers had gathered in front of and behind the home.” MEDIA FARM continued on pg. 12

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MEDIA FARM continued on pg. 12 SERIES OF SHOTS Bullets fly from every angle: “Weapons discipline was lacking by the multitude of law enforcement officers in the field during both the firefight with the two suspects near Dexter and Laurel Streets, and the standoff with the second suspect who was hiding in a winterized boat in a residential back yard … A responding officer fired his weapon without appropriate authority in response to perceived movement in the boat. Other officers then opened fire on the boat under the assumption the initial shot was fired at them by the suspect. Shooting continued for several seconds until a senior officer ordered a ceasefire.” “Shortly after the firefight, an unmarked MSP black pickup truck was erroneously reported as stolen. This vehicle, with two occupants in it, was then spotted driving on Adams Street, near the scene of the shootout, and fired upon by an officer. Upon further inspection, it was determined that the occupants of the vehicle were a BPD officer and MSP trooper in plain clothes, both of whom were unhurt.” POV Wahlberg, playing Boston Police Department Commissioner Ed Davis, reflects on his success through the lens of the MEMA report: “There was no command or management structure formally assigned to manage incoming mutual aid personnel. Officers were not assigned roles within the operation or provided briefings on the situation or command structure. This caused logistical issues, command and control issues, and officer safety issues.” FADE OUT Davis, Wahlberg, and all the officers who were involved in the response but have since gone on to stack chips off the tragedy in the private sector and in Holywood go out for a big steak dinner. FIN

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Access any of the Boston 2024 community meetings, press conferences, bid presentations, or media sound bites, and the word “legacy” will ring in your ears. Of all the things the Olympics can bring to the Bay State, it’s what will possibly be left behind that has so many people excited: new infrastructure, housing, and other expansion that, without the Games, may take years to complete (if they are built at all). But there’s another legacy to which the Olympics open the door: the bolstering of our surveillance state. In 2004, Boston hosted the Democratic National Convention, which brought us innumerable security measures that are still around today. According to Kade Crockford of the ACLU Massachusetts, who spoke about Olympics security at the Community Church of Boston on Sunday, prior to the DNC there were no bag checks on public transit in Boston. Inspired by their implementation during the convention, in 2006 Governor Mitt Romney restored the searches. Nearly a decade later, such intrusions remain common at T stops throughout Greater Boston— all part of the DNC legacy. In addition to bag checks, Boston has millions of dollars worth of security cameras that were set up in 2004. This surveillance framework is alive today, peeking out at the city from ominous black orbs. These and a number of other toys (cell phone datacapturing stingrays, paramilitary riot gear) will no doubt be among the purchases made with the estimated $1 billion-plus in federal money that is projected to be spent on Boston Olympics security alone. The amount of surveillance leading up to the event is alarming enough; but when the athletes go home, these technologies will remain in the state’s arsenal. The price tag of these ventures, no matter how you tally the components, adds insult to injury. To illustrate that point, Crockford has a favorite anecdote about the fiscal cost of the modern police state: At the Downtown Crossing T stop, garbage bins sit below leaks in the ceiling. Right next to them are security cameras, devices she says have been updated several times in the past few years —billions spent to “watch our infrastructure rot.” A world class legacy indeed.

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Meet the crusaders battling for everyone’s right to record cops in the commonwealth…

My friend Adam Mueller, who goes by the name Ademo Freeman, recently closed a chapter of his life after reaching a legal settlement with the city of Greenfield, Mass. The story goes all the way back to July 1, 2010, when Freeman was arrested with his comrade Pete Eyre for the non-crime of video recording police officers and jail workers. Freeman, the founder the police accountability group Cop Block, and Eyre had driven down from New Hampshire to bail some friends out of the Franklin County House of Corrections. The two, who are well-known in libertarian and anarchist circles for their rabble-rousing and documentary projects, had brought along their cameras to document the trip. Before long though, they found themselves arrested for refusing to either shut their cameras off or leave the jail. After they were arrested, the cops entered Eyre’s RV without a warrant, trashed and ransacked the vehicle,, and then impounded it. Freeman and Eyre were charged with trespassing, resisting arrest, and wiretapping, and Eyre also faced additional charges related to the search. The camera can be a powerful tool for accountability; unlike cops and witnesses, it does not lie or misremember. As such, many cops resent being on camera, and have resorted to using intimidation tactics, violence, and bogus arrests to stop cop watchers. Thankfully, courts have typically sided against the cops in these types of cases. Eyre and Freeman aren’t alone in fighting for the right to record the police. Many people have fought hard so that the rest of us can immortalize potentially dangerous and volatile encounters with cops. It would would take more than one article to tell all of their stories, but here are a few of them...

DODGE CITY

Eyre and Freeman are some of the most hardcore activists I’ve met. They have been arrested so many times I’ve lost count, including on a number of occasions for recording cops. They’re probably best known for Cop Block, which Freeman founded in 2010 as a place to, among other things, encourage people to stand up for their rights, record the police, share stories of police misconduct, and advocate for the end of laws against victimless crimes like drug possession. Prior to that, Eyre, Freeman, and another activist named Jason Talley toured the country in the aforementioned RV, which they dubbed MARV—the Mobile Authority Resistance Vehicle—and painted black and yellow (in reference to the philosophy of “voluntaryism”) for a project called Motorhome Diaries. The team interviewed libertarian authors and activists and visited historical locations to shoot videos. When Eyre and Freeman were arrested in Greenfield, they were in the middle of planning a similar outing called Liberty on Tour. Following the Greenfield incident, the duo ditched their court-appointed attorneys and represented themselves pro se during a joint trial, in which Freeman made a fool out of the arresting officer, Sergeant Todd M. Dodge. Even though it’s the reason they were arrested, the main issue during the trial was actually not the fact that Eyre and Freeman had been recording Dodge and several jail employees with their cameras. That’s because video recording the police and other public officials isn’t actually against the law. The Massachusetts wiretapping law, which is often misleadingly referred to as requiring “two-party consent,” only makes it illegal to secretly audio-record another person. Shortly before he and Eyre were arrested, Freeman used his cellphone to record audio of what was happening. The

recording was posted online and the police found out about it while the two were in jail, seizing on it as a reason for the wiretapping charges. The prosecutor conceded that only Freeman had done the recording, but argued that Eyre was complicit in a “joint venture” since he caused a “distraction” by talking to Dodge. During the trial, Freeman used video from the jail’s surveillance system to show that he had been holding his phone out in the open. He also got Dodge to admit that he looked at him while he was holding the phone out. The jury saw right through the farce, and both Eyre and Freeman were acquitted of all charges. Naturally, they got the whole ordeal on video. “I wish more people filmed the police,” Freeman told me earlier this year, after reaching a settlement with Greenfield. He received $32,500 from the city’s insurance company, though the city didn’t admit to any wrongdoing. He added, “I’m happy my case is over and I look forward to expanding the CopBlock Network.” “I think it’s because it costs less to pay than it costs to litigate,” Greenfield Mayor William Martin said in explaining the outcome. “It’s not the intent of Greenfield to have any employees that would be infringing on the rights of others. Obviously having the police department be accused of that is counterproductive.” He added: “The police department knows they can be filmed… You’d have to get the specific policy from the chief.” I tried to do just that, only to be told by Greenfield police chief Robert H. Haigh, “With all due respect, I was not the chief of police for the City of Greenfield during this RIGHT TO RECORD continued on pg. 14

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RIGHT TO RECORD continued from pg. 13 time period, and do not feel it appropriate to comment.” He referred me back to the mayor. Not satisfied with that response, I sent a public records request to Haigh, which he is obligated by state law to answer. Haigh claimed the department had no policies, memos, or training documents regarding the public’s right to record. His assessment: “Greenfield police function under [state law], and thus there is no policy.”

SIMON SAYS

In 2009, Springfield police officer Jeffrey Asher was caught on video beating a passenger with a flashlight during a traffic stop. The attack was so savage that the victim, Melvin Jones III, was left with a broken finger, fractured bones in his face, and broken teeth, and in addition was partially blinded in one eye. Jones later received a $575,000 settlement from the city. Asher, who already had a long history of police brutality allegations being filed against him at the time of the beating, was fired, convicted of assault and battery and assault with a dangerous weapon, and sentenced to 18 months in jail (although he only served 8 months and is now appealing his conviction). Three other cops who were complicit in the beating were briefly suspended from their jobs without pay and ordered to undergo more training. Despite the rather lenient punishment, the cops probably would have gotten off altogether if Tyrisha Greene hadn’t recorded the beating through a window in her Springfield home. One of the cops suspended over the Jones incident even took Greene to court, accusing her of wiretapping him, but a clerk magistrate refused to issue a criminal complaint against her. A precedent came soon after, when the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there is a “constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public.” For this landmark decision, Bay Staters can thank attorney Simon Glik, who was arrested in 2007 for using his phone to record what he alleged was police brutality on Boston Common. The city spent years fighting Glik’s lawsuit, but he finally received a $170,000 settlement in 2012. Maury Paulino, another man who was arrested for recording Boston police, received a settlement of $33,000 shortly after. Prior to Glik’s lawsuit though, the Boston Police Department permitted cops to arrest people for recording them without consent—even though such policy is clearly at odds with the law. As noted above, state law only criminalizes secret audio recording. In a 2001 case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the wiretapping conviction of a 28-year-old musician named Michael Hyde who used a hidden tape recorder during a traffic stop in Abington. That case set the disturbing precedent that people can be branded felons for recording cops. However, the court was painstakingly clear that Hyde was convicted because of his secrecy, not because he made his recording without consent. After being pulled over, Hyde and his friend were ordered out of Hyde’s white Porsche. Police rummaged through the vehicle and asked if the men were carrying any “blow.” Tempers flared on both sides, with Hyde calling the traffic stop a “bunch of bullshit” and one cop calling him an “asshole.” Eventually, police let the pair leave without so much as a citation, but six days later Hyde brought his recording to the Abington police station to file a complaint, and was subsequently charged, tried, and convicted of wiretapping and sentenced to probation. The Supreme Judicial Court wrote in their majority ruling that Hyde “was not prosecuted for making the recording; he was prosecuted for doing so secretly … The problem here could have been avoided if, at the outset of the traffic stop, [Hyde] had simply informed the police of his intention to tape record the encounter, or even held the tape recorder in plain sight. Had he done so, his recording would not have been secret, and so would not have violated [the law].”

“They want cops to be able to do their job without fear of getting sued,”

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

ON THE RECORD

The Glik decision was widely publicized by news media, but it still wasn’t enough to get the message across to cops that people can record them. Even in Boston, there have been a

number of cases in recent years of cops arresting people who point cameras their way. A few examples: • Dorchester resident and activist Jay Kelly was shoved around and threatened with arrest by a police sergeant when he recorded cops detaining young men on the street in 2013. • Also in 2013, Northeastern student Tyler Welsh was arrested and charged with wiretapping for recording police near Fenway on the night the Red Sox won the World Series. • In 2014, Max Bickford had his phone snatched away by a Boston cop who was mad about being recorded. Bickford said cops handcuffed him, wiped blood on him, and smashed his phone on the ground before he was released. Outside of the Hub, there’s the example of George Thompson, who was arrested last year by Fall River police officer Thomas Barboza. Thompson said he started recording the cop because he was talking loudly on his cellphone and cursing up a storm when he was supposed to be working a detail. Barboza stormed onto Thompson’s porch, allegedly called him a “fucking welfare bum,” and arrested him. Several years before that incident, Barboza signed a training bulletin advising Fall River police officers “that the Massachusetts Wiretapping Statute only applies to audio recordings that are captured secretly.” Barboza appears to have recalled this training, and in his arrest report claimed Thompson “was secretly audio taping” him—that despite Barboza also writing that he saw Thompson holding his phone, and that Thompson said he was recording. While Thompson’s phone was in police custody, the memory on the device was wiped, permanently destroying his video. The wiretapping and resisting arrest charges against him were eventually dropped, but police threatened felony charges against Thompson for wiping the phone, which they claimed he accessed through the cloud in order to destroy the video. However, an examination of his phone by a forensics company hired by the department revealed that it had been wiped by one of their own employees, who entered 10 incorrect passwords while attempting to gain access to the device. Before Thompson’s charges were dropped, Fall River Police Chief Dan Racine told WPRI that he would fire any member of the department if they were found to have destroyed the video. But when that turned out to be the case, Racine decided that “the action was not malicious” and went back on his word. He has yet to publicly say who wiped the phone or why they were trying to access it. Thompson is now suing Barboza with the help of David Milton, one of the attorneys who, along with his partner Howard Friedman and American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts attorney Sarah Wunsch, represented Simon Glik in his case against Boston. In a court filing, the city of Fall River denied that Thompson’s rights were violated and said that any injuries he incurred during his arrest, when he was shoved to the ground by Barboza, are his own fault. Gary P. Howayeck, the attorney representing the city in the case, declined to comment for this story. Elsewhere, Milton is also representing UMass Amherst student Thomas Donovan in a similar, recently filed lawsuit against the five Amherst officers who arrested him last year. Donovan had stopped to record cops as they arrested another person during the “Blarney Blowout,” the raucous St. Patrick’s Day pre-game party that made headlines when riot police with tear gas and pepper balls made dozens of arrests. The police pepper-sprayed Donovan, knocked his phone out of his hand, took him to the ground, and slapped handcuffs on him. One of the cops stomped on Donovan’s phone, which had landed with its camera lens facing up; the cop didn’t finish the job though, and the video survived. Amherst Sergeant Jesus Arocho, one of the arresting “This sounds good. officers, claimed that Donovan I hope everything refused to leave the area and works out.” “began to close the distance between himself and the offices [sic].” But the video told a different story, proving the police report to be a work of fiction, and

showing that Donovan was standing in place on the other side of a fence when cops attacked him without provocation. Though Donovan was charged with disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, and was initially suspended for a semester as a result, the suspension never took effect; the university found that he did nothing wrong. The criminal case against Donovan was also dropped.

NOT A CRIME

In a press release about Donovan’s situation, his attorney Milton noted that the lawsuit “shows the futility of police efforts to squash the public’s exercise of the right to record police.” Though many cops may hate the right to record, there’s little doubt that it’s here to stay. Nevertheless, there are a number of issues that still need to be hashed out. “Police departments must develop strong, clear, and detailed policies to guide police officers’ responses to being videotaped,” Milton says. “Police supervisors must closely scrutinize arrests where officers allege that the person recording them was ‘disorderly,’ or ‘interfering with police activity,’ or ‘refusing to disperse,’ which are frequently bogus and pretextual charges that officers use to unlawfully retaliate against people who record them. Police officers should assume they are being recorded whenever they are on duty—and get used to it.” Lawsuits have played some role in forcing departments to change policies, but arguably have not done enough. As Freeman blogged after receiving his settlement from Greenfield: “Was justice served? No, of course not, the settlement doesn’t make what happened to me right or even whole for that matter. Those involved in this from the other end barely faced any repercussion from their actions either. Probably just the headache Pete and I gave them for a year at the most.” Carlos Miller, who runs the news site Photography is Not a Crime, says he’s unsure of the solution. A resident of Miami, Miller has firsthand experience dealing with abusive cops: In 2007, he was roughed up and arrested by authorities while on a news assignment. He launched PINAC to document his case, but soon after began writing about similar stories all over the country. In the process, he has exposed how pervasive the problem is. Miller says that police should face disciplinary action, but many departments just don’t seem to care about accountability. “The only thing we can do is continue recording and at least exposing them and judge them in the court of public opinion,” he added. Miller has been arrested three times for photographing cops, and has beaten the charges every time; he even got a settlement after he was attacked by Miami-Dade Metrorail security guards for taking pictures. Unfortunately, the way it is now, taxpayers are on the hook when cops pull these stunts, and it’s costing them millions. “Police departments themselves, they’re not really paying anything,” Miller says. “The police officers themselves are certainly not paying anything, and they’re not getting disciplined for it. They know they can get away with it.” George Thompson, the man arrested in Fall River, says that police should be required to carry their own liability insurance to cover legal settlements and judgments. Carlos Miller is also a fan of the idea, but thinks there would be backlash. “The court system is very, very biased in favor of the police. They want cops to be able to do their job without fear of getting sued,” he says. The other loose end: It’s still unclear whether secretly recording the police, like Michael Hyde did in Abington, is really illegal. The wiretapping law that he was convicted under remains on the books, though in light of Glik it may no longer withstand judicial scrutiny. “I believe that the Glik decision made clear that recording police officers in the course of their duty is a fundamental First Amendment right,” Milton says. “Nothing in the court’s very strongly worded opinion affirming that constitutional right says or even suggests that that right depends on whether or not the recording is made secretly. On the other hand, Carl Williams, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, has said the Glik case left an ambiguous message. “It’s unclear what [the] courts would ultimately do,” he told me. In any case, with cops attacking people, deleting videos, and smashing phones, it’s likely many people might be hesitant to openly record them.

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Surveying the libations at downtown’s newest bar scene BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

SELECTION PROCESS

SELECT Oyster Bar is the neighborhood joint opening the Back Bay needed BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

When Michael Serpa set out to launch his first restaurant, he wanted to take what he had learned over seven years at the celebrated North End seafood destination spot, Neptune Oysters, and distill it into a new vision of his own creation. And wherever he ended up in town, he would bring a touch of the new South End ethos of small, chef-driven restaurants that aim to become tiny go-to enclaves for locals. Now that he’s settled on a piece of real estate in the tourist hordes’ stomping grounds of the Back Bay, zeroing in on those fundamental ideals and sticking to his guns has become paramount. “I love places that are chill, where you can get a glass of wine and some lunch and just be like, ‘This is awesome,’ those kind of spots,” he says. “I’m trying to make really good food and care “I’d like to try this place, about quality a lot. Not that higher-end spots or [big] steakhouses around the Back Bay don’t, because I love seafood. but there’s obviously a difference in feel, and if you’re sitting in a little, quaint spot. Hopefully Many years ago, I think we can fill that void in the Back Bay.” in 2000 or so, I tried to And for Serpa, filling that void meant creating a menu of killer crudos and oysters along make a reservation at with creative seafood for his svelte brownstone and its 30-seat dining area, which is flanked by Summer Shack for four exposed brick and a forthcoming 22-seat heated patio out back. But this won’t be just Boston’s or five people. I called latest option for regional staples (see: fried clams, chowder). Instead, SELECT will take some of and they said they those classics and offer a nuanced spin on them, be it a steamed mussel and white wine soup didn’t take reservations. with leeks and egg yolk (“our answer to chowder, and nobody is really doing it like that”), or even It was at the same more unusual offerings like the Egyptian style whole fish they’ll be offering down the line. time Bill Clinton was “Zero places in the city are doing it,” Serpa says, “and my thing was to do something more in town. So I very creative in terms of what we’re presenting here. So we based it off the food of Mediterranean earnestly and politely countries, and people don’t think of Egypt or North Africa or Morocco as part of the said, “No problem, I’ll Mediterranean.” Ultimately though, New England seafood and produce is something that he let the President know.” remained keenly focused on while developing the opening offerings. And there was a long “New England has the best seafood, at least in the country if not in the most recognized pause and the sound areas in the world,” he says, adding that he’s working with everyone from the Island Creek of someone trying to Oysters team (“they’re the reason they have the best-known, most sought after oysters in the decide if I was telling country”) to Pangea Shellfish out of the Seaport, and even Browne Trading Company out of the truth or kidding. Portland, Maine, which specializes in caviar and fresh fish. “Have a good day,” I With the notorious rise in Back Bay rent prices Serpa didn’t want to open an insanely said, and we went our expensive neighborhood joint, making up for smaller volume with high prices and small separate ways. And portions. Instead, his goal was to keep prices as low as possible while focusing on higher volume that’s how the band and a repeat loyal local customer base. Godsmack was formed!” “I’m not one for chintzy portions, and if I order fish, I want a big piece of fish,” he says. “So hopefully we make our revenues work by attracting repeat customers and neighborhood people. I don’t want to be pricey when we can price things very, very fairly with an eye for value and attracting neighborhood people. I just want people to want to come hang here, have fun, and come back.” >> SELECT OYSTER BAR. NOW OPEN. 50 GLOUCESTER ST., BOSTON. 857-239-8064. SELECTOYSTER.COM

>> SERAFINA. NOW OPEN. 10 HIGH ST., BOSTON. 617-426-1234. SERAFINABOSTON.COM

“Several years ago, we did Dr. Katz Live at the Somerville Theater and afterwards, Jon Benjamin and I guest bartended at Chez Henri. I think what that entailed was Jon and I making up dumb drinks and probably making a small mess. I don’t remember what we called our signature drink, but it was some kind of whiskey served in a coffee cup garnished with a onedollar bill we paper-clipped on.”

SELECT OYSTERS PHOTOS BY MICHAEL ZAIA | SERAFINA PHOTOS BY DAN MCCARTHY

EATS

Stepping into the Boston outpost of Serafina, the international chain of Italian eateries with a flair for killer pizza and fresh-made pastas, is a little like entering the Italian cousin to Fort Point’s Bastille Kitchen. And that makes sense. Serafina has come to town in partnership with Boston nightlife impresario Seth Greenberg, also involved in Bastille Kitchen (as were Serafina’s designers). GM and bar manager Roberto Porsia also helped steer the cocktail program at both spots. “There’s definitely some overlap from [Serafina’s] list and the cocktails that work here,” says Porsia. “But I’d say 40 percent of the cocktails are theirs, and the rest we create here. I build the list for females who get out of work at five and want to go to a bar for refreshing, fun cocktails that aren’t overly sweet. I’ve said before that I look at myself as the anti-mixologist. I like things that are good, simple and quick. Nothing too expensive, or takes a long time to make. ” Overall the list is aimed squarely at young professionals and post-work tippling, and if you look at it as such, the cocktails fit the bill. There’s the Passion, a cheery twist on a typical mojito with fresh passion fruit syrup and fresh lime and mint. And the 5 O’Clock, a strangely appealing take on a flavored martini with pear vodka and Merlet pear liqueur and pear puree. The whiskey-based Rye International, already a big seller with the younger office crowd, uses a French aperitif Dubonnet Red to soften up the rye and bitters with an herbaceous finish. The standout though is the S.P.Q.R—a spin on a classic Pimm’s cup using Domain de Canton ginger liqueur and ginger beer, which will likely be a crowd-pleaser when the summer months hit and the patio opens. “This whole place is all about being fun,” says Porsia. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, or change, or promote, or give kickbacks. Just have drinks that are affordable and approachable for people without jiggering, infusing, shaking, and burning. None of that. Just simple and fun.”

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HONEST PINT SPONSORED BY SUNSET GRILL & TAP

CRAFT BEER TWIT FIT

PAIN

Twitter battle highlights larger issues in the social media age BY JEFF LAWRENCE @29THOUSAND

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grilled wings Thai hot chili peppers/fried garlic/ginger/cilantro/Asian slaw

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VOODOO JAMBALAYA 12

Creole style with tender chicken/sausage/ tabasco peppers/onion & celery/rice

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518 Medford St. Somerville magounssaloon.com | 617-776-2600

130 Brighton Avenue Allston, MA

On a quiet Saturday night this past weekend, a minor donnybrook took place at a downtown Boston bar. Normally, this kind of news would have gone unnoticed, but as it went down on Twitter, focusing on craft beer and the people who love and promote it, word spread like wildfire. What this says about the growing craft beer culture, and the hyper social media that now engulfs that culture, is concerning to say the least. According to Universal Hub, which first posted about the Twitter-based dustup Sunday night, it all began when Will Gordon, a blogger who covers beer for Deadspin and sports for Boston.com, supposedly overheard a bartender at Stoddard’s Fine Food and Ale say something disparaging about a beer they were pouring that night, and tweeted about it. According to Gordon’s tweet, the bartender was overheard dissing the offering as a “marketing fad for chumps.” That beer was Founder’s KBS, a coffee- and chocolate-tinged imperial stout, which for serious suds fans is a well-known and highly rated brew, which had been quietly promoted by the Stoddard’s through Facebook. At $12 for a 10-ounce pour it’s not something particularly targeted towards the masses, or most palettes for that matter. That said, according to Universal Hub, the “only problem is people at the bar claim Gordon overheard a private conversation and mistweeted what was actually said; that the bartender was not dissing the beer and making a general comment about the economy.” After that, the shit hit the social media fan. Stoddard’s owner Jamie Walsh immediately defended his bartender and his bar on Twitter saying Gordon had misquoted a private conversation, and called him out for going public with it. Gordon disagreed, and became increasingly defensive throughout the digital melee, which was replete with racist overtones (tweeting, “how can I possibly have a good night with all the townie mick drunk tough guys mad at me?”), all while openly mocking the owner and Stoddard’s in the process. At the time of this writing, the conflict was still raging online. So why isn’t this just another shit-fight on Twitter and where does the craft beer industry come in? Much like the restaurant industry has been inundated with customer thrashings online, (see: Yelp), the craft beer industry enjoys the same backhanded love, but the perpetrators seem to be slightly pissier (and often a whole lot drunker). “I’m not sure how Will Gordon, as a beer blogger, has every right to have opinions about beers but my bartender, who is serving the beer, is not allowed to have an opinion?” Walsh said after I messaged him about the matter. “It’s hard for me to remain silent as a small business (owner) that is being bullied by someone who is drunk-tweeting to 5000 followers.” Anyone even tangentially involved on the journalism or blogging side of craft beer understands that the industry has become increasingly cutthroat, and like its competition in “big beer” engages in strategic promos, product pushes, and so on to stay competitive. With that shift, the line becomes ever more blurred between quality commentary and spiteful, thoughtless tweeting (drunk or otherwise). “I get hit with shit like this once a month or so. We all do,” says Walsh. “I ignore it or try to resolve the issues. Sometimes they are just little petty things. This one was different.” I agree. This was different. And that’s a shame.

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SMOKIN’ DEATH BONES 10

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The cheese, man. Cometh.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare

This Southie house of staffpaired wines and artisan cheeses from around the world has just opened its doors, boasting everything that the name suggests. Think: an extensive collection of wines available courtesy of a high-tech wine dispenser and served by the glass, homemade panini sandwiches, fresh charcuterie platters, craft beer, and even crepes. Yeah, that’s right. Crepes, people. Crepes.

Fromage South Boston. 401 West Broadway St., Boston. Now open. For more information visit facebook. com/fromagesouthboston

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

FRI 4.10

SAT 4.11

SUN 4.12

MON 4.13

Banned in Boston 2015

Slideluck Boston

First Annual Human 5K + Robot Race

Harvard Book Store Presents: Malcolm Gladwell

From UK-based acting troupe Magnificent Bastard Productions comes ShitFaced Shakespeare, an interactive fringe show making its first foray onto US soil right here in Boston. The performance contains everything you’d expect from a professional staging of a Shakespeare play ... except that on each night of the run, one of the cast members is completely wasted, for the good (or ugly) of everyone there. Life’s rule: When one has the chance to see drunk theater, you do it. Period.

A tickler of a Boston fundraiser hosted by Urban Improv, this annual event brings together some of the best of Boston’s local celebrities, media personalities, politicians, and business, arts, and community leaders together under one roof for one night. It’s a spectacle of improvisational music and skits, all centered around “making it” in Boston. Proceeds benefit Urban Improv’s mission of using theater to transform the lives of the city’s youths. And the organization’s other mission: to keep you howling.

Founded in 2000 in an intimate Seattle backyard by a group of friends, and since then appearing in over 75 cities, Slideluck is a nonprofit organization bringing artists into direct contact with audiences visà-vis food and art. This is its very first New England show, with emphasis on the topic of “art and technology.” Just show up with your own special dish and a curious mind, and go from there. No quiche, please. Unless it’s actually good.

Nice weather = get your fat ass off the couch once in while. Maybe just to go buy a soda. Or maybe to check out this 5K race featuring people dressed as robots, featuring a legit robot sprint race (hopefully the robots are friendly and not all SkyNet-y). It’s one of the more unique races of this spring, so be sure to sign up—or just come out to support a celebration of technological creativity and achievement. Or to watch humanity fall to the machines.

Malcolm Gladwell (see: The Tipping Point) is in town Monday to discuss David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, his new book about underdog survival, in which he asks readers to change how they think about themselves in relation to setbacks, disabilities, and disadvantages both big and small. Think of it as an intimate pep talk from one of the US’s most prominent contemporary writers. Or just a chance to see his gorgeous mane up close.

Davis Square Theatre. 255 Elm St., Somerville. 18+/$20. For tickets visit shitfacedshakespeare.com

House of Blues. 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7:30pm (6pm reception at Lansdowne Pub)/all ages/$150-250. For tickets, visit urbanimprov.org

Microsoft NERD Center. 1 Memorial Dr., Suite #1, Cambridge. 6pm/all ages/ FREE. For tickets visit slideluck.com/boston

Alewife Station. 36 Cambridge Park Dr., Cambridge. 7am/all ages. For more information visit vecnacares.org

First Parish Church. 1446 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/all ages/$20. For tickets visit harvard.com

“Sounds fine.”

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MUSIC

FATHERS DAY

MIDRIFFS

The subtle luxuries of living together

Young Fathers make pop music, just not the kind you know

BY MARTÍN CABALLERO @_EL_CABALLERO

Lots of college bands living in crappy apartments around Boston, but not all of those situations yield an album like Subtle Luxuries by Midriffs, the surf-punk trio of TJ Freda (vocals/ guitar), Sam Aprea (drums), and Felix Sticker (bass). Released last October, the album features raw energy (see “Death Beach”) and melodic grooves (“Green on the Grass”) birthed by the three MassArt students at their residenceturned-studio in Mission Hill, dubbed “The Nest,” and though they’ve since moved on to a new house more fit for recording and playing (with interns, to boot), that same spirit remains intact. I caught up with TJ to hear about... Recording and living at The Nest: “It was a three-bedroom apartment, but we had the bassist (Matt) living there, two friends from home, and the drummer Sam, so about six people living in this three-bedroom place. We all had bunk beds; one person lived in a closet because he didn’t get on the lease in time. We converted it into a recording studio that we slept in. At one point, our mattresses were in the vocal booth in our pantry. We were sleeping on sleeping bags. Sam recorded every single track in his boxers after he woke up in the morning. It was fun. We got pretty rigorous at the end because people had to go back to school, so we had to finish the record before the summer ended. We knew it wouldn’t sound the same if we set up in a different house or something.”

HOLD ON HOLD ON, I HAVE TO ADJUST THE WHITE BALANCE AGAIN In 2015, the last thing an artist or band would want to be associated with is a single genre. The pigeonhole labels once used to describe music have gone the way of the record stores they once helped partition into sections, and most music that doesn’t at least flirt with “genre-bending” (a favorite publicist buzzword) is dismissed, at best, as a pleasant anachronism. So why then would Scotland-bred trio Young Fathers, having ridden the stylistic ambiguity of their debut fulllength Dead to a surprise Mercury Prize (the UK’s most prestigious annual contemporary music award) win for best album last year, declare their follow-up White Men Are Black Men Too to be a proper pop LP? “I think personally it was the fact that pop and rock has the biggest space on the shelf,” says Alloysious Massaquoi on the phone from Scotland. “Being put into the pop and rock category is better because sometimes it’s frustrating that we’ve been labeled as an alternative hip-hop group, and we ask ourselves, ‘Alternative to what?’ We’ve always thought of ourselves as a pop group, so it’s time to take the reigns and tell people who we are, because everybody seems to be making up their own assumptions of what we are.” From the title to the songs themselves, everything about White Men Are Black Men Too challenges accepted ideas about labels and identity in both music and society at large. The trio of Massaquoi,

Kayus Bankole, and G Hastings represent Scotland by way of various other countries: Massaquoi was born in Liberia, while Bankole spent part of his childhood in Maryland before returning to his and Hastings’ hometown of Edinburgh, where the three met at a hip-hop club party in 2008. It took until their 2011 mixtape Tape One, and its sequel Tape Two, for audiences to really take notice, but by the time Dead was released in January 2014, the group was being hailed by critics as the kind of eclectic, unpredictable, and broadly influenced band that forward-thinking audiences would surely appreciate. White Men Are Black Men Too is all of those things, but also a conscious effort to distill complex concepts and sounds into a more accessible product. “The new record is about simplifying everything,” says Massaquoi. “If you have 10-15 lines, you make that into six and still say what you want to say and get that across. You have the element of repetition, very much part of the whole pop format, where you say one line over and over again and it becomes stronger. You still get the message, and we still keep the weight of the words, but it’s in a pop way.” That’s no small task, but Young Fathers succeeds in captivating ears as much as minds on White Men. It’s both chaotic and confident, hitting on topics of race, identity, and perception from every angle but straight ahead. “The title opens up a conversation that we all think needs to be had,” says Massaquoi. “It’s about learning the differences and acknowledging the differences between people. The world is not black and white. You feel that sort of gets put to the masses—you are this or you are that, but it’s more complex than that.”

Living together in their new home, the house show venue Thieves Grotto: “We are the third generation to live in that house. Right now it’s five people, and next year we will have eight people on two floors. The fact that we live together makes all the chemistry work. I hear a lot of bands talk about how it sucks that they feel like their band doesn’t hang out. For us, we have to get away from each other. We spend every moment together. I don’t take it for granted. We can wake up and decide to jam or practice.” Being self-sufficient: “Traditionally we’ve rented a lot of gear from MassArt, but we are becoming more selfsufficient—we have a PA system for ourselves, we have a budget enough to get light fixtures. We have two interns; one is living with us next year, so he already has his foot in the door [to be in the next group to live there].”

>> YOUNG FATHERS W/ MAS YSA + JAW GEMS. THURS 4.9. GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON. 617-566-9014. 9PM/$13/18+. YOUNG-FATHERS.COM. EXTENDED VERSION ON DIGBOSTON.COM

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

MUSIC EVENTS THU 4.9

FOLK LEGENDS JAMES KEELAGHAN + ARCHIE FISHER + JEZ LOWE [Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. 8pm/all ages/$25. artsatthearmory.org]

STILL KNOWN AS THE TREADMILL GUYS OK GO [House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 8pm/all ages/$36. houseofblues.com]

FRI 4.10

SAT 4.11

[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 5pm/18+/$30. boweryboston.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave., Boston. 8pm/18+/$26. crossroadspresents.com]

DEATH METAL + HARDCORE AT THE GATES + CONVERGE + PALLBEARER + VALLENFYRE

INTROSPECTIVE SINGER SONGWRITERS JOSE GONZALEZ + OLOF ARNALDS

>> MIDRIFFS W/ SWIMMERS, HEENEY & PALEHOUND. SUN 4.12 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 472 MASS AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 617-864-3278.1PM/$12/ALL AGES. MIDRIFFS.BANDCAMP.COM

SUN 4.12

MON 4.13

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$40. houseofblues.com]

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 7pm/18+/$20. sinclaircambridge.com]

WEIRDO INDIE DUO MATT AND KIM

SO LYRICAL GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV + JOLIE HOLLAND

NEWS TO US

mideastclub.com | zuzubar.com (617) 864-EAST | ticketweb.com

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

CENTRAL SQ. CAMBRIDGE, MA

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THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR SUN 4/12

GIRLS ROCK CAMPAIGN BOSTON SHOWCASE FRI 4/17

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FILM

HOW SURREAL

Six works of Wojciech Jerzy Has, cinema’s forgotten surrealist BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

BEST/WORST TRICK OR TREAT HOUSE ON THE BLOCK In his 75 years, Wojciech Jerzy Has directed 13 movies, and you probably haven’t heard of any of them. But you do know the artists he influenced: Lynch, Bunuel, Scorsese. His legacy remains unwritten only because the Polish filmmaker’s pictures have been available on a bootlegs-only basis for decades, but gloriously, that’ll cease with the start of a HFA retrospective this weekend. The collection of his works showcases a formal audacity without peer—it reveals Has to be among history’s greatest filmmakers. The Archive will play six Has films in April—three early works, three indisputable masterpieces—with the rest to follow in May. The Noose (Sat. 4.11), Farewells (Mon. 4.20), and How to Be Loved (Mon. 4.13) are the early trio, completed between ’58 and ’62. They’re character studies, marked by multilayered photography and lived-in shooting locations, that consider the pressures felt by marginalized personalities (a drunk, a mixed-class couple, and a convicted Nazi collaborator, respectively) in the communist wake of WWII. Has constantly complicates his close-ups by contrasting them with background figures—a disapproving parent, an unconvinced court, or a bottle awaiting an inevitable relapse. They’re the henchmen of a culture determined to keep its subjects in line. The Doll (Sat. 4.25) and The Hourglass Sanatorium (Fri. 4.10) announce an evolved aesthetic: vivid colors and super-wide aspect ratios. The former is a magisterial melodrama about an upper-class merchant pining for the acceptance of high society—he falls for the titular lass, and learns the difference between having money and being moneyed. Shooting on sets that stretch on for blocks, Has shows off his unparalleled mastery of the tracking shot: His characters float in and out of the frame as the camera travels up and down the streets, documenting his densely realized community with kinetic filmmaking force. Hourglass starts the series this Friday, but the crown jewel is The Saragossa Manuscript (Fri. 4.17), a 185-minute surrealist-gothic-absurdist comedy that plays like One Thousand and One Nights by way of late Lynch. We start with a Spanish officer bewitched by two princesses, but then somebody tells him a story. Then, inside that story, someone else tells a story. This goes on throughout—the film jumps through different narratives as the separate tales cross over, until you can’t even remember how many layers deep the rabbit hole goes—a sustained structural joke that gains in strength perpetually up to the final frame. The tales take Has through the different social classes depicted in his oeuvre: drunks, monks, soldiers, sinners, gentlemen, and even a few ghosts. He gleefully alternates between the ghoulish and the goofball, but always maintains his eye for Brueghelian long shots—they let him look at all of society’s contrasting elements simultaneously. He wasn’t an explicitly political filmmaker, but Has’ philosophies were built into the form of his films. Whether tracking through an aristocratic party or floating over a surrealist wasteland, he saw social structures holding everyone in their rigidly mandated positions. >> THE WAKING DREAMS OF WOJCIECH JERZY HAS. 4.10 – 5.30. HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE, 24 QUINCY ST., CAMBRIDGE. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT HCL.HARVARD.EDU/HFA

FILM EVENTS APRIL 8

THE GREATEST GRINDHOUSE FILM OF THEM ALL ROLLING THUNDER

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

[Harvard Film Archive. 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7:30pm/NR/$79. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

APRIL 10

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Midnight/R/$11.25. coolidge.org]

PLAYING W/ THE REST OF THE HENRY FOOL TRILOGY NED RIFLE

[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 5pm + 7pm/NR/$9-11. brattlefilm.org]

NEWLY EXTENDED BY WAY OF MARTIN SCORSESE THE TALES OF HOFFMANN

[Somerville Theatre. 55 Davis Sq., Somerville. 4:15pm, 7pm, + 9:45pm/ NR/$7-10. feitheatres.com/ somerville-theatre]

APRIL 11

THE ORIGINAL (SEQUEL) MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR

[Harvard Film Archive. 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 10pm/R/$7-9. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/] APRIL 13

SCIENCE ON SCREEN PRESENTS BIG FISH

[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. 7pm/PG-13/$11.25. coolidge.org]

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NEWS TO US

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FILM SHORTS BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

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THE NEW MOUNT RUSHMORE SUCKS

FURIOUS SEVEN [Wide, PG-13] They’re dragging through LA, 100+ MPH, and the dissonance is insurmountable: How to enjoy a film that’s—at the same time—a tribute to the life of Paul Walker and a celebration of the culture that played a part in his death? That’s hardly resolved by new-to-the-series director James Wan, who replaces the wide-eyed sincerity of installments five and six with a jokey-er eye—check the opening sequence, which uses hacky editing to turn the deaths of dozens into the type of lame macho gag previous Fast films never indulged in. There’s a moment in the biker movie Wild Angels, sampled many times over, where a funeral is hijacked for the sake of a drunken reverie. That’s Furious Seven, for both better and worse—a party at a funeral. ROLLING THUNDER [Harvard, Wed., 1977, R] Dirty Harry and Death Wish ushered in the righteous vigilante, and we’ve basked in their presence ever since, from Stallone to Statham. But Rolling Thunder should’ve put a stop to it back in ’77—it casts a furious aspersion toward the American myth of a Good Guy with a Gun. Charlie Rane returns from a POW camp to find his wife cheating and his home broken, and then a crew of Mexican bandits takes the little he had left. So he goes below the border, his uniform back on, laying waste to anyone unlucky enough to resemble his assailants. As written by regular Scorsese scribe Paul Schrader, it’s an action-tragedy—each bullet fired born of wartime traumas and national prejudices. This is a great American film, but more importantly, it’s an honest one.

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (Coolidge Midnight series, R, 1976) We remember exploitation films for the sex and violence that sold their tickets, but many were made special by something less lascivious: an elastic tone. They stretched, rubber-band-like, to bridge horror, comedy, and every other genre. Look at the films of Charles Pierce (three play the Coolidge at midnight this month,) especially Sundown—a pre-Halloween slasher film about an Arkansas town that turns shut-in at the fear of a hooded killer. The scares are oppressive: We see couples in closeup, then Pierce uses the wide frame to separate them visually as they’re slashed up physically. But then a bumbling patrolman will show up, mining carnage for cheap laughs. The meeting point between Tobacco Road and Fincher’s Zodiac, found only at the grindhouse. GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 3D (Kendall, NR) Can you write an essay without a thesis; can you tell a narrative without a plot; can you make 3D new again? Godard answers: Yes, yes, yes. Men and women drift apart while arguing theoretical gobbledygook, as left and right eye are separated by Godard’s technique— sometimes they’re even fed different images, demanding you close one in order to comprehend anything. (That’s what they call a metaphor.) His acid form pervades further: Clips intercede, colors bleed, and comically provocative musings provide jarring commentary. Discourse is reduced to citations— as reflected by a film built out of interruptions. In a movie Godard made 50 years ago, a couple spoke by way of novels, holding the titles at face-level. Now they use phones. It’s love in the era of hypertext.

“One of my favorite surrealist authors is Daniil Kharms. He wrote a bunch of weird, awesome stuff in Russian in the late 1920s and 30s and then I think Stalin had him disappeared. So please stop calling Bush or Obama a fascist, because a real authoritarian dictator has charming oddball authors killed. One good litmus test to know if you are in a country that truly lacks freedom is to ask yourself if you can get on stage anywhere and yell that the Leader, “Loves to eat cat penises!” If you can say that and not go to prison, things might need improvement, but they’re not dire yet.”

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

THEATER

YOUNG AT HEART

Half-baked family melodrama abounds in ‘Kimberly Akimbo’ BY SPENCER SHANNON @SUSPENCEY

Wed APRIL 8 - 8:30 pm

VINYL SOCIAL

DJ: Special Guest: Bugs and Rats | No Cover Downstairs | 18 + Thur APRIL 9 - 9pm

COMEDY NIGHT

Comedians: Al Park (2014 Boston Comedy Festival Winner), Mike Mulloy, Eric Tynan, Liam McGurk, Adam Abelson, Ray Bryant, Tim Sturt, C.J. Brown + MORE No Cover | 21+ Fri APRIL 10 - 10pm

PVRPLE

DJs: Metro Boomin (ATL), Texas Mike, Knife, Amadeezy + Leah V and Bianca Oblivion upstairs Genres: Dirty South, Crunk, Trap, Trill, Chopped N Screwed, Dipset $10 Cover Sat APRIL 11 - 9:30pm

JOSHUA CARL vs. THE BLADERUNNERS

DJs: Brek.One, 7L, Joshua Carl Genres: Hip Hop, Reggae, Party Jams, Dirty South, Trap $5 before 11 pm, $10 after | 21+ Wed MARCH 25 - 8pm

GAME NIGHT

No Cover | All ages with Valid ID

Friday April 24th 10PM

AMERICAN SYMPHONY OF SOUL + KUF KNOTZ Soul / Funk / Hip-Hop

Friday May 1st 10PM We Dig Free Fridays presents

WHISKEY KILL + RED PENNYS Rockabilly

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

Friday May 22nd 10PM

THE JAUNTEE + SPROCKET Jam Band / Improv

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis

Harold and Maude meets Little Miss Sunshine (and perhaps a tiny bit of Howl’s Moving Castle?) in Moonbox Productions’ coming-of-age story (with a dark twist), Kimberly Akimbo. And while it doesn’t quite manage to meet the same emotional high notes as the two films it’s reminiscent of, this play makes up for it with key scenes and plenty of heart and humor. Akimbo tells the story of a 16-year-old girl named Kim (Sheriden Thomas) growing up in New Jersey—but while other girls her age are looking forward to the future, Kim finds herself coming up on the end of her short life: She was born with a disease that makes her ages four times faster than normal. In relation to the rest of her family, however, Kim is by far the most well-adjusted. Her mother, Pattie (Micah Greene), is a heavily pregnant hypochondriac with a sailor’s mouth and a propensity for accidents. Her father, Buddy (Andrew Winson), is an irresponsible drunk, and her Aunt Debra (Shana Dirik) is a homeless con artist responsible for a mysterious event that forced the family to pick up and move several months before the start of the play. Kim finds solace and acceptance—and even the stirrings of first love—in her classmate Jeff (Lucas Cardona), a hapless fellow outcast who has a charming obsession with anagrams. Perhaps the most questionable aspect of the play is the nature of Kim’s disease. She has, to paraphrase Jeff, “something like Progeria, without the large forehead and nonexistent chin.” It seems to have no ill effects on her day-to-day functioning, despite her abbreviated lifespan. We never see Kim at school or interacting with strangers in public. Although the audience is told that the other girls her age “ignore her,” she never once expresses feelings of depression, anger, or despair at her apparent isolation. For a teenage girl, Kim is incredibly—unbelievably—collected and mature. Her infrequent outbursts are primarily aimed towards her father—for example, when he makes embarrassing comments about her crush on Jeff—but in the context of her character they seem almost forced and hollow. Her condition serves not just as a visible sign of mortality, but as a more pronounced point of interest to the audience than the actions of anyone else in the play (at least until the denouement, when everyone’s strange behavior is somewhat explained). The supporting characters are flawed, selfish people. Unfortunately, we wait for some sort of redeeming qualities in them that never seem to arrive. Buddy spends Kim’s birthday out drinking—in fact, any time he’s not on stage, he’s somewhere getting drunk—to the point where his alcoholism is the only fully formed trait his character has. Pattie is nine months pregnant, but smokes and drinks shamelessly while hurling insults at anyone unlucky enough to come within earshot. Debra has a pathological willingness to put anybody in harm’s way to meet her convoluted goals. In the hands of a lesser actor, Pattie would be totally insufferable; but Micah Greene manages to make her abrasiveness oddly endearing instead of off-putting. Shana Dirik and Lucas Cardona steal whichever scenes they’re in, with expert comedic timing and delivery that transcends the prolonged melodrama into which the narrative sometimes sinks. Akimbo succeeds the most in scenes where the players are all together, portraying the functional dysfunction of family life. Scenes that take place in Kim’s room, in particular, shine with brilliance: In one, the family gathers around her bed, eating belated birthday cake and playing a game together, casually reminiscing about the past; in another, a fast-paced game of Dungeons & Dragons is hilariously brought to life. These simple snapshots highlight the chemistry of the actors and momentarily distract from the flimsiness of their characters. At its core, Kimberly Akimbo is a story about growing up. Surreal, darkly comedic, and quirky, it strives to examine how imperfect people deal with the sometimes tragic hand life can deal—but instead of changing and growing from their mistakes, they just seem to tumble over and over into unhealthy cycles. Stripped of the jokes and caricature-like characters, Akimbo would be an incredibly depressing story about child abuse and neglect. But, carried by a stellar cast of actors and a victorious finish, it manages to make itself worth sitting through despite its flaws. >> MOONBOX PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: KIMBERLY AKIMBO. BCA PLAZA THEATRE, 539 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. ALL AGES/$30-35, $15 FOR STUDENTS. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT MOONBOXPRODUCTIONS.ORG

PHOTO BY SHARMAN ALTSHULER

THAT’S THE LAST TIME I LEND HARRY POTTER MY PUBLIC ENEMY CDS

Queer comedian kicks off national tour in Boston

NEWS TO US ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

BY SPENCER SHANNON @SUSPENCEY

FEATURE

QUEERING MECHANISM

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS

A SNEAK PEEK AT THE FOOD TRUCK CHASE SCENE FROM 2017’S FURIOUS-I-JUST-8 Believe it or not, spring has finally sprung here in Boston. It’s the season of new life and new beginnings—and no one knows this more than Filipina-American writer and comedian Kat Evasco, who is now embarking on a national tour of her first original full-length play, Mommy Queerest. “When you create a project like this, you don’t know how far it’s going to go. We had hopes, but we didn’t know until it happened,” Evasco says of her play, which sold out a six-week extended run in San Francisco. An active member of the Bay Area theater and comedy scene for the past 11 years, Evasco regularly performs stand up while co-running a theater company called Guerilla Rep, but says she never considered writing a full-length work until a turning point in her personal life practically begged to be transformed for the stage. “[Mommy Queerest] paints a very true story of my life,” Evasco says. “I had started writing stand-up comedy bits about my mom being gay, and her being homophobic towards me. The first two experiences of homophobia I experienced were from my closeted mother and a closeted pastor who was a ‘reformed’ lesbian. I had a comedian friend who was like, ‘Your mom didn’t accept you for being gay but she was gay? You need to write about this!’” An interactive mix of performance and stand up, Mommy Queerest combines theatrical artistry with the unique, compelling story of a mother and daughter rediscovering strength in each other while struggling to come to terms with their respective sexual identities, both as women and as Asian-American immigrants. Evasco’s play is an ambitious effort that tackles issues from cultural identity to sexual exploration and abuse through the perspective of a queer person of color—a perspective crying out for a voice in the contemporary American theater scene. “I think people experience a really fun show—they’re laughing, and then like an hour later it hits them, like, ‘Whoa. We were just laughing about sexual abuse,’ and that’s, like, totally intentional,” Evasco explains with a good-natured laugh. Above all, however, she feels that her humor can serve as a bridge to understanding for those who may not be able to personally identify with these types of narratives. “When you’re presenting a wide range of topics that are kind of heavy in theater presentations, it tends to suck up a lot of people’s energy, versus going to a comedy show where you leave energized. I think this humor makes the show really accessible,” she says. “And as a person who produces a lot of autobiographical and documentary-based work, I really believe that the specificity in our stories is what makes them universal.” Evasco is incredibly excited and honored to be performing her East Coast premiere in Boston, which will be produced by the Theater Offensive. The company believes so solidly in her work that they are hosting Evasco for three weeks in their first ever artist residency program. “[Artistic Director] Abe [Rybeck] and the Theater Offensive have been so amazing through this entire process. They’re a company that is really committed to showcasing a diversity of voices,” Evasco says. “People like me exist in Boston, and if I could share my story and it could open a dialogue with the community here, I think that’s a huge key factor in why we’re so excited to bring the show here.” At its core, Mommy Queerest captures, in its wholly unique form, the universal aspects of what it means to be a part of a mother-daughter relationship. The story is heartfelt, no doubt because of its truth, and through Evasco’s voice it gives muchneeded visibility to one of Boston’s many diverse communities. Additionally, it seeks to call out our perpetuation of homophobia and abuse. “The show is really aimed at breaking cycles of silence,” Evasco says. “My whole artistic practice is centered around using humor to talk about difficult things.” >> THE THEATER OFFENSIVE: OUT IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD PRESENTS: MOMMY QUEEREST. CLUB CAFE, 209 COLUMBUS AVE., BOSTON. THROUGH APRIL 17. $10. THETHEATEROFFENSIVE.ORG

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SAVAGE LOVE

KINKY BOYS BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE I am a bi married father who recently fell on hard times. In order to make rent, I posted a few Craigslist ads, and now I occasionally suck dick for money. I don’t intend to tell my wife, but I’m getting frequent STI tests. I’m kind of freaked out by how not freaked out I am. I mean, sucking 15 cocks for cash just to make rent seems pretty extreme, but aside from some low-level shame, I feel okay about it. Do you think regular people occasionally do this? Should I feel bad? Paying Bills Regularly

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 08 15 – 04 15 15

Tons of stories were written at the height of the Great Recession about average people doing sex work to make ends meet, PBR. So lots of “regular people” have done sex work. (And sex workers? They’re regular people, too.) And while I don’t think you should feel bad, PBR, I do think you should tell the wife. Regular STI testing will only let you know that you’ve caught an STI, if you should ever catch one—it doesn’t immunize you against catching an STI. So your wife, if you’re having sex with her, too, has a right to know where the rent money is coming from. A friend of mine who indulged my foot fetish (let me jack off while looking at and fondling her feet) while we were dating mentioned recently that lots of women would be up for indulging it for the right price. Is it illegal to offer money for such services online?

What kind of risk would I be running if I ran an ad that hinted at what I’m interested in without getting too explicit? Cash For Toes The risk of being busted for an ad like that—particularly if there’s no explicit offer of cash in exchange for sexual services—is low, CFT, but not nonexistent. Busting consenting adult sex workers and johns is easier than catching thieves, rapists, and murderers, and it all but guarantees a police department some positive coverage on the local evening news. But the risk, again, is pretty small, and the rewards—for a foot fetishist—would be pretty great. Just remember the escort-ad dodge: You’re paying someone for their time—for their companionship—and whatever happens during that time is between two consenting adults. My boyfriend, “Jack,” is into pretty intense bondage. Some light bondage with sex is fine, but I don’t like the kind of bondage he does because it’s way too much for me—and we can’t exactly have sex when he’s in layers of latex gear, hooded and gagged, strapped down inside a coffin-like “bondage box” with the lid closed and padlocked shut. We don’t have that kind of gear, but he knows some older guys who do. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of him going over to play with these men without me there, but I find these bondage sessions really tedious. I also don’t like feeling pressured to get tied up myself by two guys that I like well enough but don’t find attractive at all. Is letting him go over there without me the only workable solution? Jack In The Box Yup.

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SHOW

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4.29.15 Vip session 5:30-7:30PM OPEN TO Public at 7:30PM

BRING YOUR

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