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VOL 17 + ISSUE 31
AUGUST 5, 2015 - AUGUST 12, 2015
EDITOR Dan McCarthy NEWS, FEATURES + MEDIA FARM EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran ASSOCIATE FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan CONTRIBUTORS Nate Boroyan, Mitchell Dewar Christopher Ehlers, Renan Fontes, Bill Hayduke, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Dave Wedge INTERNS Oliver Bok, Emily Tiberio
DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tak Toyoshima DESIGNER Brittany Grabowski INTERNS Amy Bouchard, Stephanie Buonopane, Kelsey Cole COMICS Tim Chamberlain Pat Falco Patt Kelley Tak Toyoshima
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Nate Andrews Jesse Weiss FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION sales@digpublishing.com
BUSINESS PUBLISHER Jeff Lawrence ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Marc Shepard OPERATIONS MANAGER John Loftus ADVISOR Joseph B. Darby III DigBoston, 242 East Berkeley St. 5th Floor Boston, MA 02118 Fax 617.849.5990 Phone 617.426.8942 digboston.com
ON THE COVER The story behind the Market Basket protests can finally be told. Check out an excerpt from the upcoming book We Are Market Basket on page 8.
©2015 DIGBOSTON IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY DIG PUBLISHING LLC. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION CAN BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT. DIG PUBLISHING LLC CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. ONE COPY OF DIGBOSTON IS AVAILABLE FREE TO MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS AND VISITORS EACH WEEK. ANYONE REMOVING PAPERS IN BULK WILL BE PROSECUTED ON THEFT CHARGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.
DEAR READER Boston 2024: D-Day plus one week (ish). The fallout shelters have emptied, with legions of supporters and objectors returning to social cohabitation. Some are even speaking to each other, begrudgingly and on guard at first, like shaking the hand of your older brother who swears he won’t slap you in the face the minute your palms meet like he’s done the past five times. “All right, all right. Let’s just move on,” goes the cry of the vox populi. Already things are back to normal, life beginning to rebuild in the form of the local (and national) attention spans being fed a fistful of Ritalin and turning their gaze toward the coming GOPocalypse to descend on New England (with plenty of Hub stops to be sure) as we slouch our way into Decision 2016. If you need a refresher, check out the breakdown of the silliest circus headed to town on Page 4. The temperament hasn’t diminished though, and the general rhetorical powderkeg nature of the denizenry has spilled to the streets as a longsimmering feud between the cabs and the ondemand livery disruptors at Uber reaches a crescendo, with strikes, calls for support from both sides, and mixed emotions from everyone that uses them. For our part, we don’t give a shit if it’s Uber, a taxi, or horse-drawn war chariots celebrating the greatness of Apollo from fucking antiquity. We just want to be able to hail or order a ride that won’t stand us up, overcharge us in ridiculous fashions at times when emergency rides may be at their peak, or even open the rape gates on unsuspecting women hastening home at night. Do that and we’ll be the first fare in line with all our support, with whatever legal tender or currency you accept. Credit card autocharge, cash, bale of hay and some sugarcubes. Whatever. DAN MCCARTHY - EDITOR, DIGBOSTON
DIGTIONARY
KENDALZHEIMERS
noun kendˈältsˌhīmərz 1. Progressive mental deterioration causing one to be too cheap to park in the lot in Kendall Square, wind up getting a spot on the street a mile away, and ultimately forgetting where you parked forcing you to walk around in circles as smart people snicker at you.
OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Widett Circle, Look at you, thinking you’re hot stuff all of a sudden. All oblong and shit, showing off next to the highway. I’ve respected and even loved you for years, the way you’ve taken care of Boston restaurants, and I appreciated you (though now I’m told that “no one” ever heard of you before #Boston2024 took you to prom). But now you’re hanging with the big boys and the mean girls, and it’s like I never knew you in the first place. Let’s face it, at this point, they should just rename you Widett Square.
ILLUSTRATION BY AMY BOUCHARD
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NEWS US
POTUS MAXIMUS NEWS TO US
How the GOP circus makes Mass politicians look good BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 A little more than a week ago, on a gross and sticky day not unlike that through which you are now suffering, something spectacular happened. Finally removed from the dark shadow cast over the region by tandem naive hope and growing despair over a Boston 2024 Olympics, out in the real world beyond Mass for a change, I saw the larger grand old political planet in action, and have returned with some observations from my plunge into the sea of perpetual stupid. It’s unclear whether the national GOP brand has cheapened since legislative localvores like me stopped paying attention to much national noise, or if stains like former Texas Governor Rick Perry just seem that much more depraved compared to the Massachusetts spectacles which I have primarily attended to for over a year now. In any case, with or without Donald Trump waving his junk around, it’s worth ogling the Republican dolts who are vying to succeed Barack Obama as president—as they crisscross New Hampshire, appear on your radio, wherever. At the very least, as seen on Monday in the first GOP candidate forum of the current election cycle, some 2016 hopefuls are hideous enough to make even curmudgeonly Massholes appreciate their neighborhood pols for a change. You think that your state rep is a goon? Just wait until you get a load of Pennsylvania punchline Rick Santorum, who in his turn boasted about his chilling implementation of “welfare reform” and about spiking entitlement programs for poor people. Such comments were par for the (pun intended) coarse; hosted by the Union Leader, Manchester’s daily and a conservative staple in the quadrennial primary process, the theatrics offered an interesting if not harrowing look at the 4
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madness that’s transpiring across the border. It’s no coincidence that most bigwig Republicans blend into the New England fabric. Whereas candidates chew nails and spit tobacco when they pander in Iowa, unless they’re in the rural throes of northern New Hampshire, pols slumming in these parts tend to show up decked in casual prep gear, which is generic enough to mix in with constituents across the socioeconomic spectrum. It’s worth noting that a lot of hopefuls should have no problem assimilating; despite their proud anti-intellectual postures, many conservative honchos maintain strong area ties through Ivy League roots—from double-Harvard grad and Texas Senator Ted Cruz to former New York Governor and Yale alumnus George Pataki and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who attended Brown University. Superficiality aside though, substance did play some role in the forum, as radio talker Jack Heath, the event’s moderator, dove into a range of issues powering the conversation over 2016. Free of all prestigious alma mater links beyond those of his ex-president brother and father, in his chance facing Heath, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush skipped any pretense of Yankee civility and beat the drum for violent conflict loud enough to give Dick Cheney his first boner in months. Though he refrained from unbuttoning and pounding his pectorals, Bush nonetheless declared war against “barbarians” who threaten our civilization and said America should hack away at civil liberties for love of homeland (without so much as a sneer from the Granite State gallery). Are you inspired yet to hug a Massachusetts politician? You may want to thank Joe Curtatone for not being like Jindal of Louisiana, whose crusade against sanctuary cities
and immigrants recently caught the ire of the Somerville mayor. I am a longtime critic of Curtatone, but since the Boston Herald marinated beef between him and Jindal over the latter’s dishonest characterization of municipal sanctuary, I have no choice but to go with Joe. I guess that’s how politics works, at all levels. Whether you adore or loathe Obama, for example, chances are you’d rather hang with him and Hova than with Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman. Curtatone has his faults and seems to favor certain deep-pocketed supporters, sure; Jindal, on the much more extreme side of things, told Heath on Monday that Americans should ditch their racial and ethnic identities. I haven’t been enthusiastic about Mass Governor Charlie Baker’s new budget, or about his appointing business interests to steer the state Department of Education; but at least he’s not Rick Perry, who all but told the audience in Manchester on Monday that he would personally deploy to snipe Mexicans at the border if needed. Similarly, Baker may have ties to New Jersey sleaze Chris Christie, but unlike the Garden State governor, our guy doesn’t resort to perverted histrionics in claiming to have thwarted terrorist activity. In Manchester, Christie had the balls to blame the Obama administration for the state of VA hospitals; in comparison, now that he’s in office, Baker rarely even reminds us that his Democratic predecessor left our state Health Connector in bureaucratic shambles. Billed as a more inclusive alternative to Thursday’s Fox News debate, which will feature only 10 of the 17 or so Republican contestants, the Union Leader forum aimed to “give voters a chance to see the larger field of candidates” POTUS MAXIMUS continued on pg. 6
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POTUS MAXIMUS continued from pg. 4 and to “give the voters a chance to have their issues addressed.” I don’t know about any of that, but I did learn that South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham grew up in the back of a liquor store, and that Dr. Ben Carson, an author and retired neurosurgeon who has captured pro-life hearts with his passive-belligerent rhetoric about healthcare, would use the Bible as the base of his tax policy. In the middle of a spiel by Carly Fiorina, the business executive in the race with a particular vendetta against Hillary Clinton, I started questioning my intended return to national consciousness. If reality is Fiorina saying she would defund Planned Parenthood in the same breath as proclaiming a responsibility to care for citizens, then I’m happy to live in a Bay State bubble. As pundits remind us every four years, Massachusetts plays no real part in picking the president anyway. I can’t speak for all voters, but with candidates like those to choose from, my attention’s probably better spent trying to keep relatively benevolent Commonwealth politicians in check.
BLUNT TRUTH
CHRIS CHRISTIE ON WEED Grand old party pooper
BY MIKE CANN @MIKECANNBOSTON With outspoken and unlearned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stepping up his attack on legal cannabis on the presidential campaign trail, and with the clown show known as the first Republican debate coming up this week, we felt it was the perfect time to wrangle up some heinous, ridiculous, and in some cases contradictory quotes from the former prosecutor and enduring ignoramus from the Garden State. “I know you think it’s easy, but it’s not easy for me. I’m trying to represent the people of this state, all of the people.” -August 2013, facing the parent of a patient pleading for the governor to support medical marijuana “We will end the failed war on drugs that believes that incarceration is the cure of every ill caused by drug abuse … We will make drug treatment available to as many of our non-violent offenders as we can and we will partner with our citizens to create a society that understands that every life has value and no life is disposable.” -January 2014 “I don’t believe that legalizing an illegal drug for purposes of governmental profit is something that we should be doing. I believe that this is a gateway drug into other more serious drugs, I think it sends a wrong message to our kids and I don’t think it makes anybody a better or more productive person.” -March 2014 “If there becomes a large adult population that needs this type of edible [medical marijuana], I’ll consider it.” -April 2014 “I am not going to turn our state into a place where people fly [in] to get high … If people want legalized marijuana in the state, elect a new governor.” -April 2014 “For the people who are enamored with the idea with the income, the tax revenue from this, go to Colorado and see if you want to live there. See if you want to live in a major city in Colorado where there’s head shops popping up on every corner and people flying into your airport just to come and get high. To me, it’s just not the quality of life we want to have here in the state of New Jersey and there’s no tax revenue that’s worth that.” -April 2014 “Why don’t you go call President Obama, get his opinion? Why don’t you bring the weed truck out in front of the White House and tell me how it goes.” -March 2015, in response to Ed “NJ Weedman” Forchion, who asked the governor, “When are you going to stop arresting people for weed?” “This should not be permitted in our society, it sends the wrong message. Every bit of objective data tells us that it’s a gateway drug to other drugs. And it is not an excuse in our society to say that alcohol is legal so why not make marijuana legal. Well, why not make heroin legal? Why not make cocaine legal? You know, their argument is a slippery slope. To me, that’s blood money. I’m not going to put the lives of children and citizens at risk to put a little more money into the state coffers, at least not on my watch.” -March 2015 “Marijuana is against the law in the states and it should be enforced in all 50 states. That’s the law and the Christie administration will support it.” -July 2015 “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it. As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.” -July 2015 6
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MEDIA FARM
TRUMP DUMPSTER
The Donald’s Mass healthcare urinalysis failure BY MEDIA FARM @MEDIAFARM The most humiliating part of this latest frenzy over Donald Trump is how outlets nationwide have tried to localize his brilliant trolling of the 2016 presidential race. In New England, we get tons of spillover muck from neighboring New Hampshire, through which opportunists from both major parties squirm throughout the year before the primaries to test sales pitches. That’s not enough though for dingbat Massachusetts hacks, some of whom invented then poured gas on a new flame war between Trump and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and continue to cover the ensuing Twitter spat of their own creation like Wrestlemania. There have been clever efforts to spin original takes on Trump and the Bay State; in their role, Boston.com did a remarkable job of recalling times the leatherfaced reality show star threw shade at the Commonwealth, mostly in the sports arena. With that said, a much sexier link to the King Douche can be found in a Boston.com piece from December 2010, unfortunately titled, “Firm’s new moniker may be its Trump card.” A profile of the North Shore marketing company formerly known as Ideal Health, which Trump partnered with in 2009, the article raved that the sales force at the diet plan and skin care company had “swelled to 20,000 worldwide— up from 5,000 before Trump’s involvement.” In the case of reporters who are compelled to cheapen our news cycle with Trump anecdotes, you’d at least hope that they Googled and discovered this hook. In doing so, one would learn that in 2010, the company’s president and top managers gave $2,000 to Commonwealth pols, all of which went to then-State Senator Richard Tisei, except for $250 for Charlie Baker, who at the time was running against incumbent Deval Patrick for governor. There you have your sleazy regional Trump card, complete with fiscal ties to the sitting administration. And it gets even juicier; as tech author and social media consultant Mark Schaefer wrote in a series called “Twitter’s Biggest Scams,” “Because they sell vitamins, the Trump Network can skirt being called a ‘pyramid scheme’ but it still looks that way in practice.” As if the saga isn’t golden enough, like so many Trump stories, this one ends in failure. Though network owners hoped to edge the billion-dollar Amway out of door-to-door scammer supremacy, by 2011, the likes of New York Magazine began to acknowledge that “the Donald [had] a new scheme,” and started mocking the Trump Network for asking customers to pee in cups to gauge supplement needs. In 2012, Trump severed ties with the company, presumably concerned that his affiliation with snake oil and piss pills would compromise his presidential aspirations. Perhaps if he knew that reporters were too lazy to check their own archives, Trump would still be in the urine business.
FREE RADICAL
THE PERILS OF INSULTING A COP BY EMILY HOPKINS @GENDERPIZZA What does it mean to have a police force that will unleash weapons on its citizens at any whim? It means that in late July, a Cleveland cop felt he was in his right to pepper spray a group of Black Lives Matter protesters, seemingly at random, not unlike the now-infamous UC Davis officer who crop-dusted a sitting group of occupiers back in 2011. In this case, the protesters were standing and walking, but they were nonetheless unarmed. They had apparently taken the street to protest the arrest of a 14-year-old boy who was unable to produce a ticket on the bus. One could blame a lack of training for these situations; even in cases where departments are provided with military-grade equipment, it is unclear that they are given proper operating instructions. But the impetus to unleash force or arrest people on the basis of “disrespect” isn’t due to a lack of training—it’s due to a major problem with our culture. Take Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in a Texas jail cell after being arrested during a traffic stop. During the initial interaction, she was defiant but cooperative, and had no shortage of biting rhetoric for the cop. Which is why, it seems, he felt it was necessary not just to arrest her, but to threaten her with a taser. Throughout the incident, Bland asked why she was being detained, but the officer never answered. All this time later, however, it’s clear: Bland was arrested, and ultimately lost her life, because she hurt the feelings of an authority figure. 8
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‘BLOOD EXCERPT
MAKES YOU RELATED,
BUT LOYALTY
MAKES YOU FAMILY’ BY DANIEL KORSCHUN AND GRANT WELKER
The following is an excerpt from the new book, We Are Market Basket: The Story of the Unlikely Grassroots Movement that Saved a Beloved Business (AMACOM, 2015)
About the worst news a parent can ever receive is that his or her child is gravely injured. In 2012, Terry McCarthy, the director of the Middleton store, received word that his 20-year-old daughter Devin had suffered a brain injury and was being treated in a trauma center at a hospital in Rhode Island. McCarthy gathered family members and began nearly hourly briefings with hospital staff. The initial prognosis was not good. Her chances of survival were 50/50 at best. McCarthy stayed by her side and would do so for as long as it took until her recovery. He had informed his immediate boss of the situation. Executives had always been understanding with store directors and associates facing hardship, and they told him to take the time he needed to be with his daughter and family. Nevertheless, he held a nagging worry that he was letting down his bosses and his store staff. Before long, he received a call. It was Arthur T. Demoulas. “Mr. D. got on the phone call, very reassuring, very professional like he always is,” McCarthy recalls. Demoulas asked about the situation. Where was she being treated? How was she? How were McCarthy and his family holding up? After learning how serious the injury was, Demoulas probed further: “Terry, is that hospital able to handle her injury?” McCarthy thought so, but he was still unsure if she would make it. Then Demoulas asked a question that forever changed the relationship McCarthy has with the company. He asked, “Do we need to move her?” McCarthy says of that moment, “I’ll take it to my grave.” He had always felt part of the Market Basket family, but this made an indelible mark on him. He saw a level of commitment from Arthur T. and his team to his family that he hadn’t been aware of before. He felt that he was part of Market Basket’s extended family. McCarthy’s story has a happy ending. The hospital was able to handle the injury. His daughter fully recovered. He told the story at a couple of the rallies in 10
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the summer of 2014, with his daughter—in tears—by his side. As he finished his story, McCarthy asked the crowd, “[Arthur T.] asked me, ‘Do we need to move her?’ I ask you, who’s we?”
here was a saying on many signs at the rallies and on T the picket lines: “Blood makes you related, but loyalty makes you family.” This statement captures a core element of the Market Basket culture. It can be traced back to Athanasios, Arthur T.’s grandfather, who always stressed the importance of family. This would not have been uncommon for a working-class family of Greek decent at that time. What is unusual, in this case, is the extent to which Athanasios, Telemachus, and Arthur T. promoted this sense of a Market Basket family, a family that extends well beyond traditional boundaries. When Arthur T. was moving up the ranks in the company under Telemachus, he did it as all employees do: step by step, proving himself at each step. But he was not alone. He was part of a cohort of associates and managers. This cohort became his closest friends and allies. Over time, it gelled into a close-knit team with extreme loyalty to Arthur T. and the company. Bill Marsden, Joe Rockwell, Jim Miamis, Ron Carignan, Diane Callahan, Mike Maguire, Don Mulligan, Susan Dufresne, Tom Trainor, and Tom Gordon, among others, are the people whom Arthur T. has grown to rely on, and they rely on him. They look after each other, and they share everything openly as a family does. Imagine a company in which meetings are a bit like Thanksgiving dinner. All the family members are there. Everyone knows each other intimately. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They know what is important to them. They know what will set someone off. They joke, they argue, they disagree, and they resolve.
This is Arthur T.’s family. While you might hear talk of family from other CEOs, no CEO takes the idea of family more seriously than Arthur T. It is rare that an employee at Market Basket has not shaken Arthur T.’s hand. He remembers people’s names and makes a special effort to greet them warmly when he visits a store. Often, he’ll ask about a spouse or child by name. For a $4 billion company, this sort of personal touch is unheard of. Workers speak of how Arthur T. attended their family members’ funerals or weddings or offered to help cover time off if one of them needed to tend to a sick family member. His sense of loyalty is reciprocal. He requires himself to be as loyal to others as they are to him. “How can you not be loyal to someone so loyal to you?” said Elizabeth St. Hilaire of Lawrence, Massachusetts, a thirteen-year employee of the Indian Ridge Country Club, which is owned by Market Basket. And surprisingly, this sentiment extends to all levels and functions of the company. Most employees have a story about a time when they faced difficulties, and someone (a colleague, an assistant manager, or an executive) offered a compassionate hand. But loyalty is not bestowed unreservedly. To become a member of the family, one has to prove oneself. There is a period of what might be called vetting. During this period, there is a very real sense that the insiders are watching you. They are sizing you up, and they are definitely talking about you. It doesn’t feel like the typical gossip you might find elsewhere. This is more deliberate. It is a form of scrutiny to make sure that you don’t have an angle they don’t know about yet that could be harmful to anyone in the Market Basket family. They look for consistency, honesty, and respect. The reward for those who pass the test is a commitment to reciprocal loyalty by those in Market Basket. For the most part, it is a group acceptance. A vendor or new employee may begin by speaking
with only one contact person, but once the doors are opened, there is a sort of group acceptance by the larger Market Basket family.
the company shares his or her values. This sense of membership can have profound effects on how employees behave at work. In extreme cases, such as those of firefighters or soldiers, individuals can feel such a profound affiliation with their unit and the broader profession that they are literally willing to give their lives in order to save other members. But even in less life-threatening jobs, like selling groceries, that sense of family can be very motivating. The stronger this sense is, the more likely employees are to be satisfied in their jobs, the more likely they are to stay employed at the company, and the more likely they are to help fellow employees. Scholars used to think that only employees could feel this sense of membership. But recent research finds this membership idea popping up in unexpected
Psychologists have a term for this shift from “I” to “we.” It’s called “social identification,” in which a person feels a strong belonging to a group and begins to see others through that lens. are underestimators. Underestimators favor fellow underestimators in the same way. If this effect can be detected in the lab in a matter of minutes, imagine how powerful a force identity can be if it is reinforced day after day as it was in many communities that resisted the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The same phenomenon is at work at many companies. When people feel a strong membership in a company (what researchers call organizational identification), it can create a sense of family very similar to what Market Basket employees, customers, and vendors feel. You hear this sense anecdotally when people use the words “we” and “us” rather than “I” and “you.” You hear it at companies like United Parcel Service (UPS) and International Business Machines (IBM), where employees call themselves UPSers and IBMers, respectively. It is based on a person’s belief that
places. For example, many Harley Davidson customers think of themselves as more than just buyers of motorcycles. They see themselves as part of the Harley family and tradition. And, though perhaps not as strong as in times past, many Apple customers see themselves as Apple people. The same phenomenon is at work with sports teams; look for the fan with a Boston Red Sox tattoo. Market Basket fosters this sense of membership more than most companies. “What you find in a lot of corporate America companies is ‘What about me?’ and that’s not here. It’s ‘What about us?’ ” said Joe Schmidt, operations supervisor for Market Basket. It might seem like just semantics. It’s not. It’s a different way of thinking about oneself. It’s the difference between saying, “I work for Market Basket” and “We are Market Basket.”
PHOTO BY CHRIS FARAONE
Those who know him best say that Arthur T. often speaks in inclusive terms of “we” rather than “I.” It is another way that he demonstrates that associates are in it together. Psychologists have a term for this shift from “I” to “we.” It’s called “social identification,” in which a person feels a strong belonging to a group and begins to see others through that lens. Scholars began looking into social identity in earnest during the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case during the 1950s. That case ended the practice of segregation in public schools where black and white students had been forced to attend school separately. But the ruling did not end the frictions in those communities. Some people protested the ruling, threatening to close schools rather than accept integrated classrooms. Social identity provided an explanation for why these frictions lingered, even after the law became clear. Some people were using their race to define themselves in relation to others. They saw themselves as white, or they saw themselves as black. This identity became so strong that it crowded out other ways of thinking about oneself—as a mother, an architect, a citizen of Alabama. (Of course, in reality, we all share the same human origins, and race itself is more subjective than we realize.) Psychologists realized that the more a person defines himself or herself as belonging to a particular race, the more likely they would be to help others who were deemed to be of the same race while simultaneously discriminating against those who were considered of a different race. This effect is not limited to race at all. And it is powerful enough to be recreated in an exercise lasting only a couple of minutes. Imagine a group of sixty university students who agree to participate in
an experiment. Each participant is shown a picture filled with hundreds of dots and is asked to estimate how many dots are there. There is a catch. The researcher doesn’t know, or care, how many dots are in the picture. No matter what his or her estimate is, each participant is told that he or she is either an overestimator or an underestimator. This is done entirely at random, so in our example, about thirty people are told they are overestimators, while the other thirty are told they are underestimators. The researcher has now succeeded in creating two groups based on something completely trivial. The surprising result is that when research participants are then asked to share money or points with others, “overestimators” almost always give more to fellow overestimators and take from those who they think
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INTERVIEW
BACK TO MARKET
Meet the authors who spun New England’s legendary supermarket battle into a book INTERVIEW BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 Most northern New Englanders already know the short version of the Market Basket saga from last summer: Following more than a decade of irreconcilable litigation, rival Demoulas cousins, Arthur T. and Arthur S., finally went head-to-head in an exhilarating game of corporate chicken. After the universally maligned Artie S. forced the beloved Artie T. out of the company, customers and store associates alike commenced a mass walkout and rally that made national headlines. Best of all, in the end, the win went to the good guys, from employees to the famously benevolent Artie T., who returned to the family chain last August to lead his adoring flock. As the Demoulas wrestling match warranted thorough documentation, said uprising is now the subject of a new book, We Are Market Basket: The Story of the Unlikely Grassroots Movement that Saved a Beloved Business. Call it the long version. We spoke with one of the authors, Lowell Sun reporter Grant Welker, last Monday (and emailed with his co-author, Drexel University marketing professor Daniel Korschun, shortly after). The call was minutes after Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced that he would not sign contracts necessary to proceed with a bid for the Summer Games, and the timing seemed ideal; while the Market Basket optics were less than Olympic, and popped off in a supermarket parking lot, in toasting the upending of Boston 2024, it was easy to recall the people’s win of 2014. What’s the first time you remember covering Market Basket? GW: When Arthur T. came in to meet us for an editorial board meeting [in 2014]. Being from the South Shore, I knew of Market Basket, but it’s more of a Merrimack Valley and New Hampshire thing. I quickly learned about it though. We knew right away that it was going to be a big story when he came in to see us; for him to be coming in to talk to the newspaper was unheard of. We knew right away that this was unusual, and it’s because he knew that his job, and the company itself was really at risk. It was a memorable way to get thrown into it. It’s not easy to be objective when you had thousands of people on one side behind Artie T., and just Artie S. and his immediate family members on the other. How hard was it to paint this picture, journalistically speaking? GW: It was difficult because you want to be able to tell both sides of the story as fairly and objective as you can. But really the Arthur S. side, and the directors associated with shareholders on that side of the family, they didn’t respond to our requests for comment, and even the public statements they made were very few, and they didn’t give a clear explanation for what they did in firing Arthur T. and some of the subsequent actions. We did mention that they wanted higher profit margins, but the only way that we even found out those reasons was in court filings. They never really made much of an attempt to win over the public and explain why they made that decision. For Daniel, being an academic, was there anything outside of the obvious that made this project warrant a look beyond the computer screen, and into the actual fight on the ground? DK: I became interested in the story in 2013, when the first big threat to Arthur T. materialized. It was the most dramatic evidence I had ever seen that responsible leadership can help build strong companies. That is the crux of my research, so I was drawn to the story immediately. But it wasn’t until I visited one of the rallies in 2014 that I came to realize that something very important was going on. I knew then that someone needed to tell
people around the world about it. Grant and I thought that it could be especially effective if we joined forces. How did this wind up turning into a book? GW: I realized it was a huge story just over a year ago, once those eight top managers were fired and started a walkout. Then the customers started boycotting, and it went from a story that affected a few thousand people, to, once they had the walkout, they’re saying there are twomillion customers, so now all of them are affected, and really if you shop anywhere in Market Basket territory, you were affected by it too, because now your supermarket was packed all summer. That affected anyone who bought groceries in the entire region. And then the national media really seized on the storyline of the middle class, and the 99 percent versus the 1 percent. And that was all sort of accurate obviously. What was it like to be on the beat and writing the book at the same time? GW: It sort of worked out that by the time I started working on the book, the day to day stuff was almost over. Toward the end of the rally, we started talking about possibly doing the book. Daniel and I [first] connected two years ago, when the saga initially started. He wanted to incorporate the story into one of his business classes, and was looking for some context. So we were in touch a little bit. As reporters do, you have to reach out to business experts who know what they’re talking about, and I had a core group of guys who I would talk to at certain points, and he was one of them. When things picked up again last summer, he has family in Andover and around the area, and so he was around to just kind of check it out first-hand. We connected at a rally in Tewksbury. The book is on a business imprint, but is a remarkably friendly read. How conscious of wanting to make this a book for general audiences were you while you were going through the writing process? DK: One of the goals for the book was to create a document of the events for the millions of people who participated. We always wanted the book to be accessible to anyone with an interest. I envision people reading the book, perhaps while on the beach at the Cape, but it is also important to me that the reader finish the book thinking a little differently about business than they did beforehand. I know there’s no short answer to this, but why don’t more large corporations follow at least some of the models that Market Basket puts forward? Do all these pieces have to be in place at the same time for the magic to happen? DK: You’re right, there is no short answer, and time will tell how much others will take from this story. I agree that the pieces have to work together. Market Basket is so successful because it fosters strong relationships between its associates and others. It’s those personal relationships that motivate everyone so much. Many other companies have become so focused on optimizing processes, and on using technology to communicate with customers and suppliers that they lose sight of the importance of those personal relationships. One of the admirable qualities of managers at Market Basket is that they rarely lose sight of the end goal of providing a low-cost yet personal experience. They track costs very closely, but don’t let those costs become an end in itself. GW: There’s such a mixture of all these different factors that made the Market Basket victory possible for the workers and shoppers. Not too many companies are
going to have that kind of cult following; it’s hard to imagine it happening with Stop & Shop or Shaw’s. Could you imagine auto workers at Chevrolet walking out and having 90 percent of Chevy drivers going to Ford? Of course not, they’re not going to. It seems that Market Basket is looking out for the customer and workers in ways that many people hadn’t even realized. Now that the story is out, and we all know what a blessing it is to have their stores in our region, how much do you think that will help the company moving forward? DK: The story has strengthened the loyalty of many, and has also brought in a lot of people who were less familiar with the company. That aspect will probably remain for some time to come. However the long term health of the company will depend on a lot of hard work. This is a very competitive business. There are more chains closing stores than chains opening them. Executives we speak with tell us that they are determined to stay focused on the future, even as they look back in wonder now and then at what they pulled off. Are there any sweeping takeaways here? GW: You ask customers about their role [in the win], and all they do is thank the employees and Artie T. Talk to the employees, and all they do is thank the customers. Talk to the people in management, and they thank the customers and the employees in the stores. I think everyone had their own little role to play to different degrees. When you talk to them all a year later, everyone is proud to have played even a small role, but they all deflect the credit onto other people. It’s the most typical Market Basket thing, but it’s true.
GRANT WELKER AND DANIEL KORSCHUN
>> GRANT AND DANIEL WILL BE READING FROM WE ARE MARKET BASKET AT PORTER SQUARE BOOKSTORE ON MONDAY, AUGUST 17 AT 7PM, AND ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 AT THE THOMAS CRANE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN QUINCY. 12
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DEPT. OF COMMERCE
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
13
DEPT. COMMERCE DRINKS
FEELIN’ HUNGARY
Committee’s drink program is Euroinspired, pays respects to mentors
EATS
RICEBURG RIGHT AHEAD
New food truck inspired by Chef wants you to just try it already BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF Inspiration takes many forms. But for the husband and wife team of Wei and Jessica Yang, Quincy-based owners (who originally hail from the south of China) of the new food truck Riceburg, the inspiration for opening their first culinary venture came as much from necessity as it did from watching the 2014 Jon Favreau culinary vehicle, Chef. “We initially tried to open a cafe, but the costs associated with opening a cafe is really high, and then we saw Chef, and [thought] a food truck is a great idea,” says Jessica outside the truck’s location at the corner of Stuart and Trinity Place in the Back Bay. “They have lower startup costs, and once we had the idea [and] started to think about the menu, I started looking for the trucks on eBay.” The Yangs finally found a former french fry food truck on the market in Wisconsin this past December, flew out there, and drove back to Boston in it after purchasing it. The truck officially rolled out for the first time in early July. Once they renovated the truck and got it up to code—despite losing a former third partner in the venture due to family issues—the hurdles of the past paved the way for their vision to come to life. That vision, says Jessica, was always centered around introducing something brand new into the already pleasantly congested Boston food truck scene. If you’re still wondering what it is they serve, it’s basically the love child of Asian rice plates and hamburgers. To ensure freshness, they bring the raw meat on truck and cook it on-site along with the “buns” that are made with high quality Japanese sticky rice, which they tweak with some added starch and vinegar to maintain its form when being pressed into buns and grilled (helps it not dissolve into a giant mess all over your face while walking). They use a Korean BBQ sauce to marinate their shaved beef with added flavors of soy and honey for their own spin, and in the end Jessica says it’s like “a bibimbap sandwich.” “Everyone loves rice plates, and everyone loves hamburgers because they’re convenient, and it’s a very to-go food suitable for street food,” says Jessica. “Rice plates are delicious and everything, you can’t really hold it on the subway or something. So we wanted to combine the convenience of a hamburger and the deliciousness of an Asian rice plate.” Jessica says they missed the deadline for SOWA for this season, but they’ll be looking to join the rash of other food trucks there next season, and besides their regular street schedule they will be appearing at some of the festivals slated for the Food Truck Festivals of America. For now, the Wangs say the challenge is first to get people interested in what they’re selling, which Jessica admits has been a challenge, given the novelty of their product. “I thought people would be receptive to our concept, but it turns out a lot of people don’t know what we’re selling,” says Jessica. That’s not guessing, either, as the day I was on the street with them I heard at least two people glance at the truck while walking by and wonder aloud what the truck was all about. But Jessica says once people actually give the food a try, they’re quick to win over skeptics. Her husband Wei seconds the thought: “When you see [customer’s] faces after trying it for the first time, they smile; it’s good food. That makes me very happy—that’s what I like, [and] that’s the reason we tried to do something different.” >> RICEBURG FOOD TRUCK. ON STREETS NOW. FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER FOR SCHEDULE AND LOCATIONS AT TWITTER.COM/RICEBURG1 14
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It was about four years ago when Peter Szigeti was tending bar on a normal Monday night in Budapest, Hungary, that Boston industry vet Demitri Tsolakis (see: Cafeteria, Bijou) tried getting in for a drink while on vacation there. Szigeti’s bar was closed for private events for several nights in a row, but on the last night Szigeti found a way to slip Tsolakis and his vacationing compadres in. The rest, as they say, is history. “They saw what we do behind the bar [and] really liked it,” says Szigeti. “And at the end of the conversation he gave me his card and said, ‘If you ever want to come to the States, let me know.’ I was curious. I wanted a change [and] to move on [so] I came here.” Fast forward through four years of constantly throwing ideas around with Tsolakis for what their ideal cocktail program would like if it focused on European craft cocktails to last February when Szigeti was graduating from New England Institute of Art for photography, and the final result is the current program Szigeti has launched at Committee at Fan Pier. A survey of the range of flavor profiles shows inventive mixology jiu jitsu on full display. The house-bottled and housecarbonated Not-A-Cosmo is already a hit, created in the back of the house from batch cocktail kegs using organic grape and fresh ginger flavored vodka with orange liquor, fresh lime, and cranberry juice to pair with the Mediterranean flavors of the house. And the Pins & Needles with Avua Cachaca, Lillet Rose, and fresh lime with Angostura bitters (pictured) is a blast of Brazil by way of France. The entire list bears the influence of Szigeti, whose background is Lebanese, and who has led cocktail seminars in Europe after being mentored by the excellently named Zoltan Nagy, owner of the world-renowned Boutiq’Bar in Budapest, which is a regular fixture on “world’s best bars” listicles everywhere (Szigeti notes that any bar in Hungary making such a list is a big deal back home). Since homage is due where homage is due, he points to the tequila, celery bitters, tonic, and pineapple juice Bitter Mendez as his American nod to his mentor’s forthcoming crazy tequila bar venture in Vienna opening under the same name. “This is our way to salute him for everything he gave us.” >> COMMITTEE. NOW OPEN. 50 NORTHERN AVE., BOSTON. 617-737-5051. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT COMMITTEEBOSTON.COM
PHOTOS BY DAN MCCARTHY
BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF
Certified Beer Sniffers 9 2 H A M P S HIR E S T, CA M B R ID G E, M A | 6 1 7-2 5 0 - 8 4 5 4 | L O R D H O B O.C O M
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HONEST PINT
ALL SQUIRREL-Y
Local suds for the sporting life via the Von Trapp Family BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF
Protein in beer. The Devil’s ingredient. At least, that’s how most brewers view the stuff. It tends to look and taste bad in beer, and if you speak to 99 out of 100 brewers, they’ll tell you typically a brewer will do anything in their power to ensure protein is eliminated from any given batch of delicious beer. However, the one brewer left over in this example would be Mighty Squirrel, the Boston-based craft brewing operation helmed by Henry Manice and Naveen Pawar. The two have just recently made a full tilt push into the marketplace with their novel protein-fueled suds, and if the last month or so of sales is any indication, they’re on the right track with their target audience of “healthconscious” beer drinkers. One month after officially launching out of a small office in the WeWork shared workspace in the Leather District across from the South Station Bus Terminal, they’ve basically sold through three months’ worth of stock of their flagship Vienna and light style lagers. “The numbers are beyond our expectations, and it’s a good problem to have, but at the same time it’s not good from a business perspective,” laughs Pawar, who says the pair will be whipping up more product, and that he and Manice head up to the Von Trapp Brewery where they brew Mighty Squirrel every two or three weeks to get another small batch into the works. How did they pair up with the famous family brewery? Turns out it was a collision of the stars aligning— and marriage. Manice’s wife’s family are friends with the Von Trapps (they even got married at the Von Trapp lodge last month). And it was that connection that helped get Manice and Pawar a brewing internship there last October for some hands-on brewing experience and mentorship beyond what they had been doing up until then (which began with a Kmart-bought homebrew kit in Manice’s living room). The two brewed thousands of beers over a few years, working out the research and experimentation needed to create a clear protein-rich beer, and after a year and a half of getting their current recipe down, they quit their jobs and moved to Boston in August of 2013 to get Mighty Squirrel off the ground. As the first beer designed to house more protein (they use a hydrolyzed whey), their beer averages about five grams of protein (most beers have about one gram). And that’s not the extent of the innovation factor: Out of the 65 locations worldwide, Mighty Squirrel is the only brewery in the WeWork houses. And that remote aspect is in line with Manice and Pawar’s philosophy of managing preconceived expectations of a protein beer, as well as certain levels of trade secrecy. “For the first few years, besides our parents nobody knew what we were doing,” says Pawar. “People knew we were brewing something but kept it under wraps.” “We get most surprise from brewers, and they’re most surprised with what we’ve done,” says Pawar. “[Some] just think, ‘Oh great, a beer with more protein,’ but people don’t realize that it’s almost impossible to make that beer.” And yet the response from brewers, from local craft brewers Aeronaut Brewing all the way up to the likes of Sam Adams overlord Jim Koch, has been positive. “He was [the] first person in ‘big brewing’ we spoke to, and he was very impressed with our idea of bringing a totally new concept in beer to the market.” Overall Manice says the local beer community has been great to them. They’ve locked their launch recipes, and Pawar says they’ve established their unique recipe process that can be applied to any beer style, but for now they’re sticking to their first two releases, as well as their goal from the start: Making a flavorful and approachable protein beer. “When you reduce the calories, you feel the lower flavor and water, so our goal was to make [the] most flavorful light beer that’s crisp and clean,” says Pawar. Manice adds with a grin: “And it’s still one calorie less than a Bud Light.” >> MIGHTY SQUIRREL BEER. 745 ATLANTIC AVE., BOSTON. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, VISIT MIGHTYSQUIRREL.COM 16
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ARTS ENTERTAINMENT
FEEL THE VIBRATIONS THIS WEEKEND AT ZUZU FOR THEIR ’90S DANCE PARTY. BUT THEY MIGHT APPRECIATE IF YOU KEPT YOUR SHIRT ON.
THU 8.6
THU 8.6
THU 8.6
FRI 8.7
SUN 8.2
WED 8.12
50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act
Eyes Shut. Door Open.
’90s Dance Party
BitFest: Lost Arcade of Atlantis
Boston and Bale Pop-Up
Felicia Day Memoir Reading
We love telling you about all manner of arts events, parties, beer soaked shindigs, and all the rest. But we also like telling you when more serious events are happening around town. Like the public discussion about the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 being moderated by Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Kenneth Cooper at the Museum of African American History on Thursday and featuring speakers from MassVote, NAACP, and the Urban League. All about balance.
There’s a new theatre production in Dudley Square billed as a “modern Cain and Abel story set in the SoHo art scene” of NYC. It’s a brand new play by playwright and Lesley University grad Cassie M Seinuk, and the kickoff performance happens Thursday night. It touches on themes of high art, gritty urban life, pill-popping siblings, dark family secrets “shut behind doors,” and what we can only hope are performances to back up the intriguing plot.
And now that some of the heavier events are out of the way, here’s something that’s on the other end of the cultural entertainment spectrum. Head to Zuzu in Cambridge for an all-night throwdown of classic jams from the era that gave us Yo! MTV Raps, vintage Salt-n-Pepa, and a president that loved Big Macs as much as Oval Office blowjobs. And sure, these things tend to pop up around the city often, but hey, if we don’t tell you about them, who will?
Any dedicated reader of our bright little sheet will probably recognize the name BitFest. And for good reason. The gaming nerdery behind it is known to throw epic beer-fueled parties in breweries featuring classic standup and console arcade games from its menagerie of options, and the group is bringing the big fun to NightShift. Bonus: competitions, new games since the last event, more food trucks, and NightShift beer at the ready all night. Try and not have fun here.
If your idea of a fun little Sunday is comprised of nothing more than sitting around the house with no pants on and drinking yourself into a sweaty stupor, well, that’s your thing. Go for it. But if you also consider hitting up a pop-up shop inside a new local bakery that will allow you to purchase and “bale” together a range of locally made artisanal products (dark chocolate, artsy paper products, jarred goods) a good time, well, here you go.
Like many people, you’ve probably thought long and hard about what a memoir from an actress known for roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eureka, Supernatural, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog would be like. Even if you haven’t, you can find out for yourself on Wednesday when Felicia Day (an actress from all of the above) reads from her memoir in Brookline, moderated by author and co-director of MIT’s graduate science writing program Seth Mnookin.
Zuzu. 472 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 10pm2am/21+/$5. For more information, visit mideastoffers.com/me/ content/zuzu-shows
NightShift Brewing. 87 Santilli Hwy., Everett. 4-11pm/21+/$5. For more information, visit bostonbitfest.com
Forge Baking Co. 626 Somerville Ave., Somerville. 9am-3pm/all ages/FREE. For more information, visit bostonandbale.com/ popups
Brookline Booksmith. 279 Harvard St., Brookline. 6pm/all ages/$5. For more information, visit brooklinebooksmith.com
The Inner Sanctum. 4 Palmer St., Roxbury. 7:30-9pm/all ages/$20. For tickets and more information, visit waxwingsproductions. com/current-production DIGBOSTON.COM
Museum of African American History: Boston Campus. 46 Joy St., Boston. 6-7:30pm/all ages/$5 donation. For more information, visit maah.org 18
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DEPT. OF COMMERCE
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
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MUSIC
RICK ROLLED
MUSIC
The modest ups and musical downs of life as Pile
Why Mac DeMarco’s appeal is the worst best thing
BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN
BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN
HYPE MAN
>> RICK, FOOTINGS, DIGITAL PRISONERS OF WAR, BASHFUL SLASHER, AND WARREN. HI HOSTEL BOSTON, 19 STUART ST., BOSTON. 617.536.9455. TUE 8.11. 8PM/ALL AGES/$5-10. HIUSA.ORG/BOSTON.
MUSIC EVENTS THU 8.6 - SAT 8.8
FUZZY PSYCH ROCK BOSTON FUZZSTIVAL 2015
[Middle East, 480 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 6pm/18+/$12. mideastoffers.com]
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FRI 8.7
SAT 8.8
[Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. 10pm/all ages/$5. lilypadinman.com]
[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave., Boston. 7pm/18+/$25. crossroadspresents.com]
EMO ‘EFFIN FOLK BITTER TUESDAYS + PUPPY PROBLEMS + MAXRAY SAVAGE + TUXIS GIANT
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PITCH BLACK POST-METAL NEUROSIS + SUMAC + BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH + THE BODY
>> MAC DEMARCO, JERRY PAPER. ROYALE, 279 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. 617.338.7699. TUE 8.11. 8PM/18+/$18. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT ROYALEBOSTON.COM
SUN 8.9
SUN 8.9
[Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave., Allston. 9pm/18+/ $12. greatscottboston.com]
[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 8pm/18+/$22. royaleboston.com]
SUMMER SUNSET INDIE ROCK DUCKTAILS + JULIAN LYNCH + ITASCA
MINIMALIST ELECTRONIC JAMIE XX + MIKE SIMONETTI
TUE 8.11
GAPTOOTH GOOF ROCK MAC DEMARCO + JERRY PAPER
[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 8pm/18+/$22. royaleboston.com]
MAC DEMARCO PHOTO BY MARIA LOUCEIRO
Last month, Pile headlined a bill of local acts that sold out the Middle East Downstairs, but the band refuses to take credit for that success. Instead, Pile frontman Rick Maguire nods to the booker. “Jason [Trefts] of Illegally Blind chose bands that meshed well stylistically but, at the same time, drew different crowds,” says Maguire. “I don’t think it was solely our doing. It was a combined effort, and he really led that.” If you’re remotely familiar with Pile, then it’s likely you know two things. One: The Boston rock outfit has a sound akin to childhood-turned-adult anxieties imploding with strangely cathartic melodies and bottled-up nine-to-five insanity. Two: The band’s modesty—a peaceful, unflinching attribute that stays strong in the face of growing fame— counteracts its sound on paper. It’s a weird pairing, for sure, but for Pile, one couldn’t exist without the other. That’s what makes it so wonderfully intricate. “You’ve got to set a precedent,” says Maguire. “I’d rather give people more access to it by having the prices be lower than charging more for a record. Granted, it’s not that much more—maybe $15 instead of $10—so we started doing a sliding scale.” The future could see those numbers smudged a bit as inevitabilities come into light: The band members are getting older, they have other responsibilities, and costs rise. There are other options, like snagging a booking agent to bump up ticket sales, but that isn’t ideal either. Pile wants to be in control simply because, to the band, fans should never be an afterthought. Maguire’s solo sets are a return to his origins, the early days where Pile was still his solo project, allowing him to explore past work at his own pace. His upcoming show will see him doing the same, only this time stripping down songs fueled by tense energy, spinning quivering anxieties on their head, and adding new songs into the mix. “I get to see what I like, see what I don’t, and try it all out,” he says of the Aug 11 show. “It’s not bombastic like when I’m with the band. Sometimes my lyrics could mean nothing to me. Some nights it can mean some weird perversion of what was intended. Some nights it could be strange because there’s someone in the crowd where I’m sitting there thinking, ‘This song is about you.’ It’s weird.” No matter how harsh his songs sound or how low-key Pile’s cash priorities are, Maguire has one thing on his mind: Keep going. “I want to keep it rolling,” he says. “I feel like if I take a break, which I’ve done before in writing, that it will be so hard to get back into it. It’s a grueling process of self-doubt and not knowing what you want. If you keep going, though, your tools stay sharp.” As he hacks away at new material, we can’t help but wonder what’s lined up for the future. Pile’s a hectic mess of guitar-driven emotions, and as life only gets crazier, the band’s musical ups and downs will likely be, too. We wouldn’t wish for anything else.
Mac DeMarco is just as likely to pull his junk out onstage as he is to grab a hold of the venue’s water pipes, swing his legs around them, and scale them to the ceiling like some kind of overall-wearing Spider-Man. Trust me; I’ve seen him do both. When he started out, the Canadian singersongwriter was winning listeners over everywhere he went. Maybe it was the gap-toothed smile. Maybe it was the contagious laugh. Maybe it was the puffs of hand-rolled joints onstage. No matter the reason, his personality is addictive. It’s a style that gives him a leg up on the college scene and two more up on the drug scene, but we, as a culture, have gotten too tied up in Mac DeMarco the Character and not enough in tune with Mac DeMarco the Musician. Honestly, it freaks me out. He’s wild, he’s charming, and he’s goofy, yes, but hype has pushed him so far that we’re close to nixing the very contributions we love him most for: the music. Mac DeMarco crafts the perfect vintage twist of lo-fi acoustic indie rock that is ideal for humid summer days on an Allston porch. His voice floats between John Lennon melodies and roommate’s haze, slurring love lines about his longtime girlfriend and Viceroy cigarettes. That music, like any real musician’s legacy should, can hold its own. At a certain point, that personality——specifically its antics—drags DeMarco down. Then again, the freshly minted 25-year-old is starting to outgrow that phase. So please, raise your right hand and follow me in this oath: I will no longer act surprised over expected surprises, I will not idolize characterization over content, and I will give weedloving slacker rock the attention it deserves. Now, who’s gonna let us bum a cigarette off them before this show?
%RVWRQ·V Best Irish Pub
512 Mass. Ave. Central Sq. Cambridge, MA 617-576-6260 phoenixlandingbar.com
SUNDAYS
MONDAYS
DOUBLE TAP
MAKKA MONDAY
Weekly Gaming Night: The same guys who bring you Game Night every week at Good Life bar are now also running a special Sunday night.
14+yrs every Monday night, Bringing Roots, Reggae & Dancehall Tunes 21+, 10PM - 1AM
21+, NO COVER,
6PM - 11:30PM
Friday AUGUST 7 10:00 PM
SHAKE
DJs: Doctor Jeep, Bakir, Citron, Fens + Brek.One Genres: House, Techno, Bass, Hip Hop, Party Jams $5 before 11 PM $10 after | 21+
TUESDAYS
WEDNESDAYS
THIRSTY TUESDAYS
GEEKS WHO DRINK
Live Resident Band The Night Foxes, Playing everything Old, New & Everything Inbetween 21+, NO COVER, 10PM - 1AM Live Stand Up Comedy from 8:30PM - 10PM with no cover!
GAME NIGHT No Cover | Downstairs 18+ until 10 PM
RE:SET WEDNESDAYS
Weekly Dance Party, House, Disco, Techno, LoFDO ,QWHUQDWLRQDO '-·V 19+, 10PM - 1AM
THURSDAYS
FRIDAYS
SATURDAYS
ELEMENTS
PRETTY YOUNG THING
BOOM BOOM ROOM
15+ Years of Resident Drum & Bass Bringing some of the worlds ELJJHVW 'Q% '-·V to Cambridge 19+, 10PM - 2AM
Tuesday AUGUST 11 6:00 PM
Free Trivia Pub Quiz from 7:30PM - 9:30PM
·V 2OG 6FKRRO 7RS Dance hits 21+, 10PM - 2AM
·V ·V ·V 2QH +LW Wonders 21+, 10PM - 2AM
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FILM
MISSION-ARY POSITION Nothing in the new Mission: Impossible works, except for Tom Cruise BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN
Celebrating 50+ Years! Escape the Summer heat with a cruise! Daily 7:00pm-8:30pm Daily 12:00pm-6:00pm Fri & Sat 9:00pm-10:30pm
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We cruise the harbor with the All-Star comedians from Improv Asylum they will have you laughing all night long! (21+)
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For the weekend worker!
Wednesdays:
HARBURLESQUE burlesque show! (21+)
Fridays:
FLOATING BEER HAUL New selections weekly
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: XENU’S WRATH HAS ALREADY STARTED FILMING The Mission: Impossible movies want us to believe that Tom Cruise can save the world. In the new one, Rogue Nation, we’re told that the complex web spun by terrorists’ acts worldwide are attributable to one cell of expatriated super spies: the Syndicate. Then we’re told that Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is the only man who can stop them. A fellow agent meets him for the first time, and she gasps as though he were Lennon to her 1960s schoolgirl. “I’ve heard the stories,” she exclaims. “They can’t all be true.” One of the jokes of Rogue Nation is that—when he flashes that woman his $200-million smile in lieu of an answer—we become believers, too. Another joke is that even a cabal of the world’s most lethal super spies aren’t worthy opposition for Tom Cruise and his unflappable Cruiseness. So the script for Rogue—the film is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie—kicks the apple crate out from beneath our shortest action hero even earlier: A government suit by the name of Hanley (Alec Baldwin) dissolves his black-ops gang (Cruise’s sidekicks are played by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Jeremy Renner), leaving him with only a vaguely affiliated British secret-agent-slash-potential-traitor (Rebecca Ferguson) to help him sort the Syndicate out. Her name is Isla Faust, and he meets her while fighting his way through a performance of Turandot. “Nessun Dorma” recurs on the score through the rest of the movie. Prince Tom is on screen, at an operatic scale yet again. None shall sleep. The sequence at the opera builds its way up to and down from eight separate cymbal crashes. McQuarrie establishes points of interest in each corner of the opulent space: There’s an Austrian head of state in one box, a trio of assassins spread across three others, Benji (Pegg) running tech support up top, and Cruise fighting his way through the backstage area—rappelling across light fixtures and swinging from showdown to showdown—trying to clear them all out. The organized chaos of the scene provides the same cathartic joy you get solving a jigsaw puzzle: The editing jumbles the pieces incoherently, then McQuarrie sorts them all out, and we’re left with a single surviving image. And that image is one we’ll return to, time and again, throughout Rogue Nation—Cruise’s world-conquering smirk. If the movie has a topic, that face is it. We’re certainly not concerned with the political subtexts suggested by the worldwide disruptions, as they get wrapped up quicker than a cartoon cuts MISSION-ARY POSITION continued on pg. 24
FILM EVENTS WED 8.5
Mass Bay Lines
60 Rowes Wharf, Boston, MA 02110 Tickets: 617.934.2610 or 888.503.5659
SAM PECKINPAH’S ACCURATELY TITLED MASTERPIECE
BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA
[Somerville Theatre. 55 Davis Sq., Somerville. 8pm/R/$10. 35mm. somervilletheatreonline. com/somerville-theatre] THU 8.6
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON’S THE MASTER
[Somerville Theatre. 55 Davis Sq., Somerville. 8pm/R/$10. 70mm. somervilletheatreonline. com/somerville-theatre] 22
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ADVANCE SCREENING OF NOAH BAUMBACH’S
SAT 8.8
[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. Limited seating. Doors at 6:30, film at 7:30pm/R/FREE. brattlefilm.org]
[Harvard Film Archive. 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/R/$7-9. 35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]
FRI 8.7
SERIAL MOM
MISTRESS AMERICA
COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS CANNIBAL FEROX
[Coolidge Corner. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Also plays Sat 8.8. Midnight/ NR/$11.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]
ROBERT ALTMAN’S STONER NOIR THE LONG GOODBYE
JOHN WATERS’
[Somerville Theatre. 55 Davis Sq., Somerville. Midnight/R/$10. 35mm. somervilletheatreonline. com/somerville-theatre]
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MISSION-ARY POSITION continued from pg. 22 to commercial. It can’t be about camaraderie, because every actor here is working to prop their star up (even Baldwin’s climactic moment involves him monologuing about Cruise’s nonstopness.) And we’re certainly not here for the sex: Steamy chemistry is required to pull off the superhuman-hero-falls-for-femme-fatale thing, and Cruise—who has never flirted convincingly with any actress he wasn’t married to—can’t manage it. He stares at Ferguson with the face you give someone when you can’t hear them: He tries to seem interested, but just looks confused. So nothing in Rogue Nation works except for Tom Cruise. But oh, how he works. The third conceptual joke of these movies is that his character can survive literally anything. But he’s a smart enough actor that—instead of leaning in to the suaveness—he expends all his energy trying to convince us otherwise. He gets into a knife fight during the opera sequence, and the look he gives when the opponent picks his blade up isn’t bravery, but exhaustion. Cruise’s dedication to doing his own stunts is often marked as a publicity gimmick, but in moments like that—and, of course, during the stunts themselves—the in-text payoff is clear: He’s one of the only movie stars honest enough to sweat while he’s on screen. There’s another knife fight near the end of the movie, involving two characters who aren’t Tom Cruise, and you spend the whole time wondering where he is. And in that moment you realize that it’s not the action that makes these movies, but rather it’s Cruise and his weirdly specific charm, which is so well-suited to the exasperated state the stunts in these movies keep putting him in. (He’s James Bond, if James Bond were an asexual Eagle Scout.) Wesley Morris once reviewed one of these Impossible films by suggesting that Cruise was the Jesus of movie stars: “He’s the sort of messiah who’ll nail himself to the cross.” By now we’ve realized that he’s not going to save us from our sins. But when we watch scenes like the opera house shootout, and we see him on the verge of collapse, we realize he’s capable of a more moderate salvation: He can’t provide world peace, but he can still serve as the salvation for otherwise forgettable action movies. >> MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—ROGUE NATION. RATED PG-13. NOW PLAYING EVERYWHERE.
FILM
FRIEND REQUEST
Drinking, smoking pot, and enjoying sex while female are still sins in Unfriended BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN There are genres, and there are subgenres. A horror film is anything that scares you more than twice. But a slasher film has another stack of boxes to check off: If you’re following the original instruction manual, they require endangered teenagers, mild juvenile misconduct, a killer of vaguely supernatural origin—bonus points if the villain’s existence is directly tied to the teen’s anxieties—and one gorgeous girl-next-door, who survives or dies based on her chastity or lack thereof. Genre alone is a blind date, full of possibility. But subgenres are an old flame: You know the moves before they happen. But those of us who sit in the dark watching these stories get told again and again aren’t searching for the comforts of familiarity. We want to see new twists added to the routine. And if you sit among that crowd, then Unfriended—which releases to home video formats this week—should arouse your interest. One year after her suicide, the vigorously cyberbullied Laura Barns returns to claim revenge on Blair (Shelley Hennig) and her gang of archetypal friends. As they deny their culpability, they get killed off—in increasingly creative manners—for their self-interested efforts. It’s not the structure or the scares that are altered, but the delivery: The entire film plays out via the pixels of a laptop screen. For ’80s teenagers, the premiere dens of sin were summer camps. We’ve got Skype. What’s exceptional about the movie is how accurately it translates the language of Halloween into the tiny windows of Facebook Messenger. Laura’s ghost manifests not as a demon, but as an anonymous account that can’t be banished from the teen’s videochat. In another era, Blair would’ve run scared when her boyfriend left to investigate a sound—here, the tension mounts when his iMessage account no longer lists him as “typing.” And when the kids begin their inevitable offensive against the entity, their plan involves closing their apps and emptying their online trash bins. You used to die because you forgot to grab the car keys while you sprinted out the haunted house’s door. Now you meet your end because you forgot to stop seeding a torrent file. Slasher movies have always been defined, consciously or otherwise, by the anxieties that adults project onto youth. It used to be sex they worried about—now it’s piracy. But beyond those minor system updates, the politics of Unfriended are as old as the tradition itself: Drinking, smoking pot, and enjoying sex while female are all named as sins worthy of execution. And the teens keep revealing new depths of cruelty, if only so the film can take greater enjoyment in their elimination. But it’s these tired remnants of the subgenre’s instruction manual that allow the instances of formal invention—the Skype-induced scares, the BitTorrent-derived subplots—to register as more than mere gimmickry. The old flame has returned, and it’s learned new moves. And when all you want is pleasure, few experiences can match that. >> UNFRIENDED. RATED R. AVAILABLE ON VOD OUTLETS NOW. BLU-RAY AND DVD RELEASE ON TUE 8.11. 24
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FILM SHORTS BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN ANT-MAN So far as we can tell, all Marvel superheroes have the same damn ability: They fly into the air and punch people really hard. So bully for AntMan (title role played by Paul Rudd), if only for its scale—the strongest moments of this action-heist-comedy involve toys, insects, and a keychain. The sequel setups (endless nods to a second insect superhero we never see) and extraneous world-building (Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, arrives for a throwdown) feel as factory-produced as ever. But at least there’s something new on this joint’s dollar menu. THE END OF THE TOUR David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) interviews David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) right after Infinite Jest is published—meaning Lipsky has to unravel the impenetrable mystique while Wallace works to protect it. One beautiful moment ensues: They go to see Broken Arrow, and a single composition gives us the story of the entire movie. Wallace looks forward, his strange psyche entirely engaged, while the befuddled journalist can’t help but stare—awed and somewhat annoyed—at his peer. Otherwise, the camera pans, moves, and searches for a way of telling this talky story in a visual manner, never finding one. It’s as lost as Lipsky is. IRRATIONAL MAN A sexually frustrated passiveaggressive pseudo-intellectual college professor (Joaquin Phoenix) mopes around while trying to sleep with the sprightliest of his students (Emma Stone) in what appears to be a curiously antiseptic romcom. Then, with almost no dramatic justification, the professor attempts to commit the perfect murder. And that transgression produces a creative spark that sex never provided, though the film— unlike the character—has no idea what to do with it. (Slapstick intrudes, but only intermittently.) We end with a reminder that we live in a Godless universe with no order. Irrational Man is a film by Woody Allen. THE LOOK OF SILENCE We see schoolchildren in Indonesia being taught that the mass killing of “communists” in the mid-’60s was a necessary act for a democratic nation. And then we see those same kids playing in a ball pit: two methods of socialization, linked by cinema. Each edit in director Joshua Oppenheimer’s latest documentary—where Adi, whose brother was a victim of the genocide, confronts some of the surviving perpetrators—creates such a dialogue. His unwavering gaze in the face of these sociopaths produces a moral justification for the entire art form: Evil cannot always be comprehended, but it can be filmed, and it can be seen.
MAGIC MIKE XXL A shift to a different stage: The first Mike was an economic parable (Shampoo for the iPhone set), but XXL presents itself as pop-philosophy. The strippers treat their work as an art form—after all, they’re audience pleasers. See the way cinematographer Steven Soderbergh shoots these dances—camera low to the ground, overhead lights uniting the bodies into one singular color, men grinding incessantly, dollar bills falling from outstretched arms like autumn leaves from the branches— and leave the movie confusing sex and art yourself. SOUTHPAW A schlocky boxing noir, released in the wrong millennium. Southpaw even indulges the cinematic politics of eras past: The women are saints to be sacrificed or prizes to be won over, while people of color are either murderous villains or stoic symbols of street-tough authenticity. And Jake Gyllenhaal, as the eponymous pugilist, loses himself searching for his place in the boxing-movie tradition: the lanky thrusts of his arms, the Brandoesque mumble, the unrestrained screams peppering each scene—is this a performance, or is it Raging Bull cosplay? TANGERINE Tangerine has two subjects— Hollywood and genitals—with the subtextual suggestion that movies lie to us about both. The taco stands and pizza shops of Santa Monica Boulevard line the background as Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender prostitute just out of jail, hunts down the “real bitch” that’s been sleeping with her pimpslash-boyfriend. A screwball farce of criss-crossed identity politics ensues, with an emphasis on that which is always left out of screen comedies: the lower classes’ local hangouts and an abiding interest in the politics of having a penis. Tangerine takes Hollywood and fucks it. TRAINWRECK To complain about a conservative streak in a female-led Hollywood movie that features its heroine monologuing about her strategy for getting guys to go down on her is to miss the forest for the bushes. But here we are talking about it: Amy Schumer’s feature (she writes and stars, Judd Apatow directs) sells out its own filthiness to end on Middle America-approved romantic-comedy cliches. When they happen, they’re so deliriously unreal that they may qualify as half-assed parody. But whatever the intention, it’s conventional narrative and combative content battering up against one another—and if you leave disappointed, it’s because the former won out.
New England’s Largest MMJ & Cannabis Industry Expo Series Returns to Boston Sept. 12th & 13 at The Castle @ Park Plaza
SATURDAY SEPT.NOON-6PM 12TH SUNDAY SEPT: 11AM-5PM 13TH At the Castle @ Park Plaza, Downtown Boston Tickets now on sale at: www.necann.com $25 per day, or save $10 with a $40 2-day pass!
The New England Cannabis Convention will bring together over 60 vendors from every aspect
of the MMJ & Cannabis industries; Doctors, caregivers, counselors, soil, lighting, and growing specialists, consultants, investors, entrepreneurs, and advocates. And of course, a wide assortment of the latest and greatest smoking, vaping, and storage accessories will be available for purchase. Admission includes access to a full line-up of educational speakers, panels, and workshops!
Programming highlights include:
Hardship Cultivation Options | Growsite Construction Analysis & Testing Legislation & Legalization | MMJ Patient Services Cooking with Cannabis | Extract & Concentrates | Glassblowing Investing/Valuation | Packaging/Storage | Security
Presented by:
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THEATER
LOST & FOUND
Teen actors and promising local playwright mount new play
Wednesday August 5th
BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS
STAN RIDGWAY of Wall of Voodo + GREG KLYMA Singer-Songwriter Thursday August 6th
LUIZ CARCOL TRIO plus special guest ELEANOR DUBINSKY Friday August 7th 7:30PM
GAL HOLIDAY & THE HONKY TONK REVUE Western / Country Friday August 7th 10PM Afropop Night
THE JAUNTEE CD RELEASE + APHROLOVE + DJ AFRO-MARC Jam / Soul / Dance Saturday August 8th 7PM
MEMPHIS ROCKABILLY BAND Rockabilly Saturday August 8th 10PM
BOOTY VORTEX Disco / Soul
17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis
Friday August 7th 10PM Afropop Night
THE JAUNTEE CD RELEASE + APHROLOVE + DJ AFRO-MARC Jam / Soul / Dance
Wednesday August 19th 8PM
ALEX MEIXNER BAND + BRITT CONORS & THE BOURBON RENEWAL Polka / Roots
Tuesday August 25th 8PM THIS YEAR’S MODEL: AN ALL FEMME TRIBUTE TO ELVIS COSTELLO ON HIS BIRTHDAY
17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis
DIRT IS ALL ... DIRTY AND STUFF. WANNA GO BIKING? This is an incredibly exciting time for theater in Boston: Not only do Boston audiences regularly have a diverse array of choices, but productions born right here are continuing to find success elsewhere. Local companies like the Huntington Theatre Company and the American Repertory Theater regularly foster new work, and a handful of those productions either have made or will make their New York debuts. At any given time, we have our pick of world premieres, classic revivals, forgotten masterpieces, Shakespeare, and the work of promising, budding new playwrights. Playwright MJ Halberstadt is one such playwright. Halberstadt, who earned his BA in theatre education from Emerson College and his MFA in playwriting from Boston University, has a lot to be excited about this year. Next spring, two of his plays will enjoy full productions: The Bridge Repertory Theater will present The Launch Prize, and Fresh Ink Theatre Company will mount That Time the House Burned Down. Right now, The Boston Teen Acting Troupe is presenting another Halberstadt play, i don’t know where we’re going but i promise we’re lost, running at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre until Aug 16. Written a number of years ago, Halberstadt revisited and reworked i don’t know where we’re going when it came to his attention that the Boston Teen Acting Troupe was looking for a play with compelling teenage characters. It’s a timely, emotionally fraught play with complicated and layered characters: It’s no wonder that director Jack Serio thought that it would serve the troupe well. Another exciting element of the play is the use of an original score, written and performed by Tom Freeman and Covey, a Boston-based indie folk band. Nineteen-year-old Devon and his two younger brothers run away from their parents and relocate to Boston where they barely scrape by, squatting in the South End apartment of Devon’s girlfriend’s deceased uncle. The impetus behind the escape is related to middle child Joshua’s gender transition, which their parents have been forcefully unwilling to accept. While Halberstadt admits that this is “an exciting moment for trans issues,” the play is not specifically about trans themes: “It’s almost post-trans,” he said. Rather, this is a satisfying exploration of love, and a story about the journey of three brothers whose fear of being betrayed often clouds their ability to express their feelings. It’s now been several days since I’ve read the play, and I remain impressed by Halberstadt’s richly drawn characters and by the aching tone of his work. I wasn’t present at Saturday’s opening, but MJ had this to share with me: “I’m feeling very good about it all. It’s just a matter now of getting the folks there to see it—and especially young people.” The ability to enjoy the early works of a promising playwright is an opportunity that must be taken advantage of, and Boston audiences have three opportunities over the next year to do just that. If i don’t know where we’re going but i promise we’re lost affords even the slightest glimpse of what’s to come from Halberstadt, Boston theatergoers are about to get even luckier. >> BOSTON TEEN ACTING TROUPE. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS, VISIT BOSTONTEENACTINGTROUPE.COM
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PHOTO BY MICHAEL NAVARRO
World / Singer-Songwriter
OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE DEFINITELY SLOWER THAN THEY APPEAR.
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ARTS
ARTS AND EDU-TAINMENT Roxbury cultural planning discussion brewed optimism, arts discussion BY RENAN FONTES @OHHIRENAN
On Saturday Aug 1, Boston Creates hosted 17 concurrent community conversations in order to drive discussion on the city’s cultural planning process. I attended the Roxbury conversation held at Hibernian Hall. The event began with performing artist and teacher Ramona Lisa Alexander taking the reins focusing on what it is to admire and appreciate about Roxbury. With the majority of participants being Roxbury residents, the answers ranged from the friendly people to the open environment or the smorgasbord of diversity within the community. There were people from all branches of life there, not just artists; photographers, doctors, a florist, and an entrepreneur all added to the solidarity in the room. Julie Burrows, the head of the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, was introduced by Alexander and discussed the purpose of the conversation: “[So] arts can be on the table in the discussion of improving the life of the people of Boston.” She closed by saying that there were common threads of uniqueness found in each community, while noting the value of having a specific discussion in Roxbury and the other areas. She also announced that the final cultural plan would be released in June 2016, and quoted Mayor Marty Walsh: “When we elevate the arts, the arts elevate all of us.” The next part of the event let participants suggest ways to improve Roxbury and offer opinions on key features of the city. Hibernian Hall, Dudley Library, Dudley Station, the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), and Franklin Park were all included in the list of places that people of Boston should know about (and if you don’t and care about the arts or your greater community, you should start Googling now). Suggestions to improve the creation of art in the community included more studio, recording, and living spaces for artists, along with having artists become more involved with local schools and promoting the arts among the younger crowd. Additionally, there was a segment highlighting local figures to know about, past and present, including founder of the NCAAA Elma Lewis and Boston composer Donal Fox. The last two questions went hand in hand with one another. “What do you want to be different in Boston?” and “What role should the arts play in Boston?” Answers ranged from better and cheaper education to more street art, and making the process for getting space permits more convenient and accessible to the average citizen. Once the questions were asked and the suggestions were given, we split into three different groups for our final activity of the day. Our goal was to take a public space or well known festival in Roxbury and imagine how it would look 200 years from now. While everyone chose different events, there was a common theme in each one: optimism. Malcolm X Park would become a bastion for everyone who needed it 200 years from now, the Roxbury Heritage State Park would keep the history and culture of the city alive, and the NCAAA would rise to the same level as the MFA where unique artistic experiences would be in abundance for those who sought it. This small conversation symbolized much more than just a two-hour discussion on the arts. It was a sign that the arts have a true place in the future of Boston, and that as long as people keep caring for them, the arts would only grow more prominent as a community concern all across the Hub. 28
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Celebrating 50+ Years!
Daily 7:00pm-8:30pm Daily 12:00pm-6:00pm Fri & Sat 9:00pm-10:30pm
Sensational Sunset Cruises
$22/person*
Historical Harbor Tours
Starlit Evening Cruises
$20/person*
Mondays: WINDUSTRY NIGHT
Perfect for the weekend worker!
Wednesdays:
HARBURLESQUE burlesque show! (21+)
$22/person*
Thursdays: HIGH SEAS HUMOR
We cruise the harbor with the All-Star comedians from Improv Asylum they will have you laughing all night long! (21+)
Fridays:
FLOATING BEER HAUL New selections weekly
Mass Bay Lines
60 Rowes Wharf, Boston, MA 02110 Tickets: 617.934.2610 or 888.503.5659
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NOTHING MATTRESS BY BRIAN CONNOLLY @NOTHINGMATTRESS
THE STRANGERER BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM
WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM
OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET
SAVAGE LOVE
HIGH TIMES BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE Does a person who acts loving only when high on weed really love you? My live-in boyfriend of three years acts sweet, loving, and caring when he’s high, but when the weed runs out, he’s mean, angry, hurtful, and horrible to be around. Should I just make sure he’s always well stocked with his drug? He’s a relatively functional stoner, even though technically it’s not allowed at his job. I’ve told all my friends he is no longer the mean asshole he was when I wanted to leave him (but didn’t), and now I’ve convinced everyone that he transformed back into the amazing catch I always knew he was. So basically, in order to save face over not leaving him (and now I can’t for financial reasons), I burned the bridges. Tensions Highlight Concerns That Relationships Aren’t Perfect Someone who can be nice only when he’s high isn’t someone you should be fucking, living with, or starting a grow-op on your roof for, THCTRAP, he’s someone you should be dumping, dumping, and dumping. And to be clear: Your boyfriend’s problem isn’t weed, THCTRAP, your boyfriend’s problem is asshole. And the fact that you’re covering for him—the fact that you can’t go to your friends for help because you worked so hard to convince them he’s not an asshole—is a very, very bad sign. If being with someone isolates you from the support of your friends, that’s 30
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not someone you should be with. Does he love you? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t—but even if he does, do you want to be loved by someone who treats you like shit when he isn’t fucked up? No, you don’t. My advice: DTMFA. But let’s get a second opinion, shall we? “It’s not unusual for people to complain that they feel a little cranky when they run out of weed,” said Dan Skye, editor in chief of High Times magazine. “I know a lot of people who prefer to be high all the time—but if his personality is that different when he runs out of weed, this woman’s boyfriend has problems other than not being high.” Now, there are people out there who self-medicate with pot—in good ways, not bad ways. “I know many people who have dumped their pharmaceuticals for pot,” said Skye, “because pot is a better substance for easing their pain and anxiety. There are no side effects, it’s good at easing pain, and it even eases some severe medical conditions. There are people out there who are high all the time, I know hundreds of them, and they are perfectly functional, responsible human beings. We are hardwired as humans to hook up with this plant, and some people hook up with this plant in profound ways. It makes them feel better, it makes them more compassionate and more creative—it makes them better human beings.” But Skye doesn’t think your boyfriend is one of those people, THCTRAP. “If this guy is such a prick when he’s not high, I’d get rid of him,” said Skye. “Putting your girlfriend in a position where she feels like she has to become your dealer—that she has to supply you with pot—is not acceptable.”
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BOWERY BOSTON
For show announcements, giveaways, contests, and more, follow us on:
WWW.BOWERYBOSTON.COM • • • • LIVE MUSIC IN AND AROUND BOSTON • • • •
ROYALE 279 Tremont St. Boston, MA • royaleboston.com/concerts W/ ADVENTURES, LVL UP, PALEHOUND
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
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UHH YEAH DUDE (PODCAST)
W/ MARC SCIBILIA, THE YOUNG WILD
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ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!
W/ CHEAP GIRLS W/ JACK GARRATT, VERITE
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52 Church St. Cambridge, MA
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5
Philip Selway
W/ E, GENE DANTE AND THE FUTURE STARLETS, DJ GANG OF ONE
(of Radiohead)
sinclaircambridge.com
THIS FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 8
THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
AN EVENING WITH
W/ KINGS DESTROY, GOZU
AND FRIENDS
NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 10
THU. AUGUST 13 (FRI. AUG. 14 SOLD OUT)
EXPLODING IN SOUND RECORDS PRESENTS
KAMASI WASHINGTON
KRILL • BIG UPS • STOVE UNHOLY STRENGTH • PALEHOUND
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 COMEDIAN
JEN KIRKMAN W/ SAM JAY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
DUCKTAILS W/ JULIAN LYNCH, ITASCA THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA greatscottboston.com
ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!
DIIV
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
Presented by Good & Nice Promo w/ Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents, Ruby Rose Fox, The Lights Out
THURSDAY, AUGUST 27
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26
W/ NEW BREED BRASS BAND
Sidewalk Driver
W/ ANDREW COMBS
W/ BIG HARP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28
ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!
(ft. of & of
W/ NO JOY, SUNFLOWER BEAM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
SUN. NOVEMBER 15
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28
AND THE KIDS (RESIDENCY NIGHT 2)
UNPLUGGED
W/ JARED & THE MILL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12
TUESDAY, AUGUST 11
ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!
N E- HI THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
W/ JACK ROMANOV
W/ WHITE WIDOWS PACT, CULTURE KILLER, ROZAMOV, LUNGLUST
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19
W/ SHEER MAG, THE CHANNELS MONDAY, AUGUST 24
ON SALE THURSDAY AT 10AM!
ON SALE NOW! ON SALE NOW!
POTTY MOUTH WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26
MATT BERNINGER The National BRENT KNOPF Ramona Falls & Menomena)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
craft spells THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15
≠ 8/6 SAINTSENECA ≠ 8/7 EARLY - THE GAS ≠ 8/7 LATE - RAW BLOW ≠ 8/10 WE WERE ASTRONAUTS ≠ 8/14 EARLY - THE GAS ≠ 8/14 LATE - THE PILL WITH DJ’S KEN & MICHAEL V
OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN:
W/ CHUMPED, WORRIERS, THIN LIPS
W/ HOLY SONS, 27
W/ TRIBE SOCIETY
FRI. AUGUST 14 MIDDLE EAST UP
speedy ortiz
w/ downtown boys SUN. AUGUST 30 ROCK & BLUES CONCERT CRUISE
SUN. AUGUST 16 MIDDLE EAST UP
MON. AUGUST 17 THE LAWN ON D
SUN. AUGUST 23 MIDDLE EAST UP
WILLIE WATSON
ON SALE THURSDAY AT NOON!
ON SALE THURSDAY AT NOON!
W/ HEATHER MALONEY
W/ WHITE REAPER
WED. SEPTEMBER 23 ARTS AT THE ARMORY
SAT. NOVEMBER 21 MIDDLE EAST UP
Tickets for Royale, The Sinclair, and Great Scott can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000. No fee tickets available at The Sinclair box office Wednesdays - Saturdays 12:00 - 7:00PM
SAT. DECEMBER 5 MIDDLE EAST DOWN
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF SHOWS, VISIT BOWERYBOSTON.COM