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VOL 18 + ISSUE 37
SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 - SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 EDITORIAL PUBLISHER + EDITOR Jeff lawrence NEWS + FEATURES EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran ASSOCIATE FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR Christopher Ehlers COPY EDITOR Mitchell Dewar CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Emily Hopkins, Jason Pramas CONTRIBUTORS Nate Boroyan, Renan Fontes, Bill Hayduke, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Jason Pramas, Dave Wedge INTERNS Becca DeGregorio, Anna Marketti
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DEAR READER Born 37 years ago this week in Queens, New York, I am a musically rare specimen in that I exclusively listen to one genre: hip-hop. Hard hip-hop, to be more exact. I’m so obsessed that at 20-something years old, with a bottomless backpack full of college debt and semi-useless liberal arts lessons, I decided to forego ever making any real money in life to write about the great acts of my time. All these eons later I do not regret any of it—not even the several hours that I literally spent today, on my goddamn birthday, waiting for a member of the Wu-Tang Clan to ring me for an interview (as a rule, by the time the average hip-hop writer turns 40, they’ve spent 80,000 hours futilely waiting for affiliates of the Staten Island rap group to call them). My pride in having documented everything from New York City’s underground eruption to the second and third waves of Bay Area and Boston boom bap is encapsulated in this week’s issue, an unofficial ode to the culture which inspired my style and political passions. With no disrespect whatsoever to the up-and-coming artists, local or otherwise, who we regularly cover in our music pages, this week’s music-driven features—one about the all-star Hub conglomerate the Boston 6, another about a new historical account of West Coast hip-hop—turn to beloved rap scene veterans for lessons. Because if you forget where you come from, you’re never gonna make it where you’re goin’.
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Andrew Schulz MTV2’s Guy Code Oct 7+8 Dear Guilty Liberal Party Balcony Grandstander,
Shit-Faced Shakespeare
I’m going to let you in on a little secret before you say something stupid again and embarrass the fuck out of yourself and the damn parents who raised you: White folks have been dying from opiate use for decades. That’s right, especially poor ones. So when you say out loud at a party that “people only now care about heroin because white people are dying,” you make yourself look like a complete jackass. It’s not that ODs aren’t equally bad for all victims of drug abuse, but rather that you’re simply speaking to hear yourself talk, and not doing a damn thing to help anyone—white or black. Next time, just stick to having asinine opinions about music.
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All-star crew writes new chapter in long history of healing the Hub through hip-hop BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 Ask older people of faith in the Hub’s black community about the so-called “Boston Miracle,” and you’ll likely hear about how ministers and churches led a movement that felled murders in the city by more than 100 a year in the mid-’90s. Walk into a diner in West Roxbury or Quincy and ask some retired Boston cops about the storybook end of the Crack Era, or any older white folks in the region for that matter, and they will probably point to the work of Bill Bratton, the current New York City police commissioner who rose to national fame two decades ago for, according to the most exaggerated reports, single-handedly dismantling the Hub’s criminal element, Captain America-style. But if you visit the hot corners, parks, and housing projects that were actually impacted by the poverty and drug epidemics which bloomed under Reaganomics, you’ll hear a different version of events altogether. “At that time a lot of murders were going on, and we wanted to do something that the cops couldn’t do, as far as getting the gang members off the street to quell the violence, which we did in a massive way,” says Antonio Ennis. Also known as E-Devious and Twice Thou from an iconic rap career that’s spanned three decades and included stints in major label groups including Made Men, Ennis has worked in an official capacity as a community organizer in recent years, but even in his street days, he says he used his platform for a greater purpose. He adds: “Murders in ’96, ’97 were down like they had never been before.” Specifically, Ennis cites the Wiseguys as a catalyst. Boasting elite rap talents like E-Devious and Tangg the Juice (the album even featured then-Celtics point guard and Hub native Dana Barros rhyming as DB-11), the Wiseguys collective emerged in 1995 and pacified rival blocks citywide. 4
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“Go around and ask [people in Boston’s black community], and they’ll tell you about the Wiseguys, but they’ve never heard of the Boston Miracle,” says Mann Terror, a key part of the ’90s gang truce. “I’ve read some of the stories, and I was seeing clergymen and all these people taking credit, but Wiseguys was the Boston Miracle.” Adds Ripshop, a current crewmate of Mann Terror’s: “I never thought you could have guys from different sets come together like that. That was dope.” In the time since Wiseguys, Ennis has pursued a host of projects aimed directly at the inequality that chokes the Hub’s minority areas. A collaboration called 4Peace, with Boston contemporaries Mo’ Gee, Edo G, and D Quest, brought a message of hope and unification during bloody times 10 years ago, while Twice Thou’s solo work—notably his 2012 protest album, The Bank Attack—took predatory lenders out behind the dumpsters. With social unrest hitting high notes once again, Ennis recently set course to power a new movement, one more tooled for modern warfare. In something of a hybrid idea bridging Wiseguys and 4Peace, he recruited an illustrious and diverse cast of MCs for the Boston 6, his latest enterprise for impact. After some shuffling and lineup changes, Ennis—still rapping as Twice Thou—assembled not just a musical outfit but a potential political force in Boston also comprised of Mann Terror and his lyrically adept brother Champagne Rod, both hailing from the storied Orchard Park projects in Roxbury; Boston and New York hip-hop veteran Sondro Castro, whose roots extend back to the Gangstarr Posse days; gravelly underground stylist Ripshop, a longtime highlight of the Hub’s subterranean scene; and Eroc of Foundation Movement, the latest squad addition and a tried community activist. “When I got the call, my answer was, ‘I’m honored,’” Eroc said at a recent Boston 6 studio session. “Then we had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, and [Ennis] showed
up with a vision. That’s coach, and coach has a strategy. That’s how you play on a team with a bunch of all-stars.” Added Ripshop: “I grew up listening to [Twice Thou]. I’m proud of this man, with the foreclosures and The Bank Attack. This is the most important project I have ever been included on.” Looking for not just a local miracle this time, but rather to inspire widespread activism and like-minded projects elsewhere, the Boston 6 plans on addressing several issues—in songs, and through education and action. Presenting themselves as a group for the first time last month, they dropped the scathing single “Still FTP,” an updated tribute to the N.W.A. classic “Fuck tha Police” on which Rod, in one explosive turn, raps, “Hands up, hands down, no matter a man down / Darren Wilson played God and killed Mike Brown,” while Twice Thou jabs, “We ain’t advocating violence, to cops / But we choose not to be silent, ’til it stops.” During our interview in Dorchester, members of the Boston 6 recalled a lifetime’s worth of inspirations for “Still FTP,” as well as the enduring climate around police violence. “Nothing changes,” Mann Terror said. “Except social media—people are a lot more aware now.” Added Ennis: “Every day [cops] would chase us. They could never catch us with shit, so they took it upon themselves to get us one by one, just to fuck us up. And they did that—they broke my nose, gave me black eyes.” Ripshop piled on: “In other neighborhoods, if there’s a cat going up a tree, people might think the cop is a good guy who goes and gets the cat. In our neighborhood, even if you ain’t dirty, you freeze up. That’s how it is when we see ’em.” The group hopes to play a part in the conversation around police violence and gives a shout-out to Black Lives Matter on the debut single. Eroc explained, “When people say, ‘There are good cops,’ OK, sure. But every time you see a siren or a police car you shouldn’t have to be thinking to yourself, ‘Who am I dealing with here?’” At the same time, the Boston 6 is promising a range of content. “Our movement is awareness,” Mann Terror said. “Even though ‘FTP’ was the first song we came out with, we’re touching on all things that happen in the hood. As the older spokesmen, we’re trying to bring these neighborhoods back together. We’re talking for the people who you aren’t going to hear elsewhere. That’s our whole goal—to give people this voice.” Added Terror: “My older heads was crackheads and dope fiends. Now I can lead by example. I changed my life. I buy houses, fix them up. I even went back to school to learn how to be an electrician. I changed my hustle, so now when young kids look at me they can see I’m out here doing other things and that I’m all about my family life. They relate to me.” Trading memories from their first attempt at building bridges with hip-hop, Twice Thou and Mann Terror laugh about the Wiseguys album release party at the long-gone Skycap Plaza nightclub. “It was the first night we brought all of our crews,” Terror said. “[Detectives] were all up in there, but it didn’t matter—the streets run the streets. That was a powerful night, when you had all these crews side by side. They never beefed after that.” Adds Ennis: “And the shit was packed.” All these years later, their vision still calls for getting heads in the same room and having faith that something positive will prevail. “Sometimes people have to be uncomfortable,” said Ennis of reactions from the public and authorities. “But if it’s in your heart to see the value of getting justice and being equal, then that shouldn’t be a dilemma. This is turning out to be something really different. We’re confident that we can do this to the level that others will want to emulate.”
PHOTO BY MARSAY “THEDRIVE” SEYMOUR
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Remember former Occupy Boston activist-turned-community organizer Mike Connolly, who DigBoston (as well as many others outside of the mainstream, including Noam Chomsky) endorsed for state rep in the 26th Middlesex House district? Against significant odds, he won. Go figure. With looming statewide ballot questions about lifting the cap on charter schools (Question 2) and legalizing cannabis (Question 4), Connolly’s victory is welcome news for lefties who are against the former and in favor of the latter. The win may even serve as a barometer of whether the marijuana initiative will prevail, as defeated longtime incumbent Rep. Tim Toomey is a well-known weed hater. Connolly, on the other hand, embraced cannabis reform as a key difference between the two, and pulled off a major upset. Even the big prohibitionist media outlets have noticed, and drawn the link to legalization. This being such major news in progressive circles, we dropped into his victory party at Tavern in the Square in Cambridge to ask the rep-elect some questions: CF: So, you won. You’re the first occupier on Beacon Hill—is that fair to say? MC: Yes. Did you really think you were going to win? I thought we had a great shot, but I was waiting for the results. You’d think that you would be more enthusiastic. Are you kind of shocked right now? Yep, I’m in shock. There are very few races anywhere in the state where there was a real progressive challenge from the left, and that was the kind of campaign that we organized, and we won. It’s a real accomplishment.
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Numbers-wise, how many people were there in your core contingent who helped you get the vote out weekend after weekend? We did a campaign kickoff in May, and over 110 people showed up. It was at Out of the Blue Art Gallery and those were the people who, after work or on weekends, had assignments and did work. [Harvard Law professor] Lawrence Lessig walked into our kickoff … and today, he was on vacation in Iceland and he did a blog post telling people to come out and get out the vote. How did you actually find out? I spent the entire day at the East Somerville Community School with Representative Toomey, and we both greeted voters in a very cordial way. As soon as the polls closed at 8pm I was too nervous, I wanted to get straight back to our headquarters in Central Square, and I was with my wife Kacy and we were with our core team from the campaign. The results from each precinct were called in and basically they did the math and they told me I won. I basically said, “Shut up, I don’t believe you.” Then I started crying. Every roundup of the House and Senate races left this race out. They didn’t mention it at all. (Mike’s opponent even distributed a mailer falsely claiming there was a Super PAC running negative ads against him, attributing the information to a nonexistent Boston Globe article, and the paper of record still didn’t mention the race.) Did you notice that you were left out? Did you care? It’s a very valid point. But when Bernie Sanders’s Our Revolution group made their assessment, we were one of the very first in the nation identified as being a meaningful race. I guess you’d have to ask those institutions what they didn’t see.
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A local favorite helps us preview the Boston Freedom Rally BY MIKE CRAWFORD @MIKECANNBOSTON At the end of 2014, after years of hard touring alongside the likes of KORN, Godsmack, and Sevendust, the standout Merrimack Valley rock band Prospect Hill inexplicably split with its charismatic lead vocal star, Adam Fithian, replacing him with bassist Edgar Trancoso. This after repeat performances at Foxboro Stadium before New England Patriots and Revolution games, and with NFL and MLB deals in the balance. The change was not exactly welcomed warmly by the Prospect Hill fanbase. But after an announcement that any music released without Fithian would be under a new band name, the band reunited in original form, smoothing over personal differences. With Prospect Hill back on its full time grind and returning to the Boston Freedom Rally main stage this Saturday, I spoke with Fithian about our old times petitioning politicians over marijuana fines and about the MassCann/NORML blowout on Boston Common this weekend. MC: How many times has Prospect Hill performed at the Boston Freedom Rally? AF: I believe this is either the sixth or seventh time. The first time in a while, first time back since you stopped booking the music for the Rally.
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In 2009, after marijuana decriminalization passed in Mass, some cities and towns tried to raise the fines and illegally tried to make marijuana a criminal offense again. After Methuen’s then-Mayor, Bill Manzi, suggested so much in the Eagle-Tribune, I asked the most popular band in Methuen, Prospect Hill, to speak up on the matter and record a short video of you challenging the mayor on the issue while smoking a joint. Did you expect the mayor to respond so quickly? The Eagle-Tribune put it on the front page a few days in a row, and the mayor came up with a compromise. Did you expect those results? Why’d you get involved? I believe cannabis should be utilized as medicine. There’s so much to be gained from cannabis, why ruin lives over it? Being part of the fight allowed us to see it in a new light and to really look into the benefits, and I hope we’ve been able to encourage others to do the same. In Methuen, [we did not expect it to happen that way]. Obviously, we were hoping it would help, lending our voice, but really the band didn’t realize the effect it would have with the mayor and city council. We were pleased; it really worked out for all of our benefit, including the mayor. He was thankful after all [was] said and done, because he had a certain constituency that wanted to get tough on marijuana, and we helped keep him from doing something foolish. [MC: The mayor and his chief political rivals in town all wanted a compromise that both sides could agree with. In the end the mayor went from supporting a $300 additional fine and criminal charges for public cannabis use anywhere in the city of Methuen to backing a $100 civil fine only in city parks and schools. He praised Prospect Hill for helping him reach that compromise.] What have been some of your favorite past Freedom Rally acts and speakers? I’d have to say [former associate publisher of High Times] Rick Cusick, he’s always great. And of course Michael [Malta], we all still miss him, the King Of Pot, RIP. It always gives us pause this time of year, how we all still are missing him and wondering what he would be thinking and doing with legalization to be voted on in November. Always love seeing Danny Danko and Bobby Black from High Times, who Prospect Hill has done some memorable shows with. Those guys are the best, hoping to see them all at this year’s Rally. For music: Graveyard BBQ, The Force, that year with ONYX was off the charts, TREE—we can’t even begin to talk about the Boston Freedom Rally without TREE and Sam Black Church. Also, The Organ Beats. Honestly, there’s been so many good acts at the Rally, we could be here a while, and I know I’m missing some I should have on that list. This year’s Rally lineup? This one is going to be huge [with] Yes on 4. Massachusetts is voting this year for legalization in November; the lineup has to live up to that. A huge lineup: Nullset, Slaine, Meth & Red. And the Wayland guys. That’s special for me, as we’ve played all over the country with Wayland, so to get to play the Rally with them at home is special. What’s next for Prospect Hill? We’ll be going back into the studio, recording new music. It may be heavier, not so much the pop we’ve often done for others in the past. It’s going to be only music that we want to write and record. We have no band debts, which is a great feeling, so everything is in play. We’ll likely do some week runs of touring as well. We’re back and yes, it does feel great. Can’t wait to see everybody at the Rally.
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Prospect Hill will perform at the Boston Freedom Rally on Boston Common on Saturday in the 3 pm hour before Slaine on the main stage. Sunday’s BFR headliner is Redman & Method Man with Termanology opening. The Rally features music and speeches with a plethora of vendors and food. Don’t miss the 4:20 countdown.
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On this 20th anniversary of Tupac’s death, an important new book takes a gritty look at Los Angeles hip-hop BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1
One could argue with the ease of claiming B.I.G. and ’Pac’s eternal rap game dominance that music fans want every speck of background on their favorite hotshots. How else could one explain the everlasting cycle of celebrity worship and tabloids, or the slut-shaming and buzz around the selfie hacks of private panty shots snapped by the starlet du jour? On the other hand, it’s clear that many pop culture fanatics like for the legacies of their heroes to be scrubbed and romanticized. For proof you needn’t look much further than most biopics and TV shows about the entertainment business, in which character flaws may occasionally factor in but are typically eclipsed by brilliance. 10
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Cultural consumers of the latter revisionist mind who wish to learn about the rise of California rap should view Straight Outta Compton, the candy-coated 2015 big-screen dramatization of the saga behind N.W.A., hip-hop’s first explosive Los Angeles export. Those who crave the dirty details, however—no matter how horrendous, despite how some characterizations may impact one’s feelings for beloved classics—will prefer to digest Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap. Authored and intensely researched by former LA Weekly Music Editor Ben Westhoff, the volume is as eloquently written as it is immensely raw in content. To borrow one from Ice Cube, it’s a “no vaseline” sort of affair.
In a recent chat about his latest effort, Westhoff couldn’t recall the precise nature of his original pitch to publishers. He knew that he was rolling into familiar and even well-charted territory, but he also knew that while contributions like Have Gun Will Travel, Ronin Ro’s 1999 book subtitled The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records, as well as a few other select works, spelunk various cracks in the often-inaccurate popular narrative, there was still a mess of information buried in participants of varying significance. Add in the extraordinary social unrest and the crack epidemic from which West Coast hip-hop was in large part born, plus the unwieldy conspiracy theories that cloud almost any RUTHLESS PEOPLE continued on pg. 12
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discussion of the subgenre—especially around the deaths of Eazy-E and Tupac—and Westhoff saw an opportunity to weave together puzzle pieces and fill gaps left by the legions who have mined similar spaces and begun to trim some of the taller tales. Of course, reality is crazier than fiction, and it’s impossible to turn more than a couple pages in Original Gangstas without shaking one’s head in amazement at the insanity of daily life at N.W.A.’s Ruthless Records—from the number of children and artists Eazy and Dre fathered to the Nation of Islam’s bizarre attempt to cure the former’s AIDS before his death in 1995 (a happening reported here in detail for the first time). While Westhoff started researching before he had a focus, eventually the through line became obvious: Dr. Dre, born Andre Young, whose career as a party-rocking teenage DJ—and then later as the leading architect behind an evolving West Coast sound and the region’s chief rap impresario—transformed countless heavyweight careers. With a guiding light on Dre, Westhoff says that his approach was notably different from the one he took with Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop. Whereas that book reads more like a travelogue (and hearkens to the cult immersive NOLA rap scene dispatch Tricksta by Nick Cohn) than, say, Brian Coleman’s comprehensive Check the Technique series, which lets the artists do most of the talking directly, Original Gangstas reads like classic investigative magazine journalism and stands alongside Check the Technique, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang, and The Big Payback by Dan Charnas as a standard-bearer sure to age like a Dre track. With the responsibility of turning an investigative eye on Ruthless Records and Death Row, the latter the comparably infamous imprint of iconic criminal boss Suge Knight that fostered the massive careers of Snoop Dogg and Tupac, came the duty of attending to a series of unfortunate domestic assaults which took place throughout the halcyon years. It’s not a stretch to say that beating women is an especially major plotline in any story involving Dre; such behavior was so normalized among N.W.A. members, in fact, that one is left to question the intentions of the Straight Outta Compton screenwriters, or of any other biographer who masks these black eyes. One account by Westhoff, of a beating Dre gave thenTV host Dee Barnes at a club in West Hollywood, stands out among the most despicable:
“With the responsibility of turning an investigative eye on Ruthless Records and Death Row, the latter the comparably infamous imprint of iconic criminal boss Suge Knight that fostered the massive careers of Snoop Dogg and Tupac, came the duty of attending to a series of unfortunate domestic assaults which took place throughout the halcyon years.”
“He grabbed me by my hair, picked me up and started slamming me into a brick wall,” said Barnes, who is nearly a foot shorter than Dre and weighed about half as much. Dre’s bodyguard held back the crowd, she added in a statement. According to eyewitness accounts, Dre began kicking her and tried to push her down a flight of stairs. She fled to the bathroom, but Dre followed her in and began beating her more. [N.W.A. promoter] Doug Young said the room full of spectators watched and did nothing.
In these respects, Original Gangstas is a grueling read. Even for those who may be vaguely familiar with some of the domestic side of this story, and especially for anyone who grew up hanging pictures of these guys on their walls, an experience that I personally share with Westhoff (and that the Minnesota-bred author notes in brief throughout the book, using his own impressions as a way to show the far-reaching impact of Compton rap). But while atrocious acts against women— their victims almost always were women, one might acknowledge, as N.W.A.’s security handled the male threats—turn up on page after page, Westhoff doesn’t let those acts hijack the narrative. And why should they? This is, after all, the dirty version. Extensive scars considered, Dre himself should probably be happy with the book, since it proves him to be among the realest MCs ever, at least in that he apparently meant in earnest and delivered on the threats he issued against women on record. As a critical addition to existing accounts of these episodes, Original Gangstas is a reliable and accessible historical document, from Westhoff’s diligence in finding sources who were difficult to track down—though N.W.A.’s former business manager, the recently deceased Jerry Heller, was subsequently ambushed by the paparazzi likes of TMZ, Westhoff believes theirs was Heller’s last substantial interview; as he writes, in their short time together in October
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2014 the mogul was “alternatively calm and heated,” oscillating “between saying he doesn’t care what anyone says about him, and vehemently denying various allegations”—to others who were more amenable, like J-Dee of Da Lench Mob, who is currently serving a substantial sentence for murder in the California Men’s Colony. In our chat, Westhoff said that coverage from Vibe magazine was particularly thorough, though he made sure to note that the publication, for reasons satisfactory or otherwise, drew criticism from some corners for fueling the violence that erupted between warring rap factions. Even with these many living documents to pluck from and fact-check, Westhoff managed to produce a seriously compelling page-turner. Never too far from his early music critic roots, the author clearly knows his shit, which is more than can be said for most people writing about rap for national audiences. From his description of the frenzy over the 1988 release of Straight Outta Compton:
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The album’s most memorable songs feature an assault of abrasive textures, marching drums, sample fragments, and break beats mined from Roadium swap meets. Straight Outta Compton’s bombastic sound matches its rhetoric. To hear it as a child of poverty was to nod in affirmation; to hear it as a person of privilege was to gasp in horror.
9/19 New Music Night w/ DJ Bad Squirrel (6-8pm) 9/19 Catherine Capozzi/Axemunkee, Chris Brokaw (8-10pm) 9/20 Pansy Division, Happy Little Clouds, The Fatal Flaw 9/21 St. Nothing, Kármán Voh, & Tristan Allen 9/22 Kid Gulliver, The Blam-O’s, Electric Octopus 9/23 Token “Eraser Shavings Release Party” 9/25 The Concert Across America to End Gun Violence 9/26 The Spearmint Sea, Corin Ashley 9/28 JEFF the Brotherhood, Music Band, CreaturoS 9/29 Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, Diablogato 9/30 Tanya Donelly, Hilken Mancini & Chris Toppin 10/1 Masta Ace, Akrobatik, Mister Burns 10/3 Mr. Airplane Man, The Land of Enchantment 10/5 Dalton Rapattoni, The Detours, School of Rock Boston
156 Highland Ave • Somerville, MA 617-285-0167 oncesomerville.com @oncesomerville /ONCEsomerville
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On an important side note, underground heads should be happy to know that Westhoff, a longtime music scribe who has covered many facets of the genre, appropriately notes intersections between rap honchos and the subterranean element around them—from the involvement of Cube’s cousin Del tha Funkee Homosapien (his preferred spelling back then) with Da Lench Mob to the parallel rise of the Good Life Cafe and an alternative rhyme scene in Greater Los Angeles. That’s in addition to a range of cameos from peripheral players like DJ David Faustino (yes, Bud from Married with Children) to rappers who emerged as household names outside the Ruthless fold—like Everlast, whose former girlfriend, white female MC Tairrie B, Dre once punched in the face “the way a guy would hit another guy,” according to one witness. Westhoff, who began working on Original Gangstas before Straight Outta Compton was announced, said that he and his publisher debated rushing up their drop date to align with the biopic. In the end it wasn’t feasible, or, as the author now acknowledges, anywhere close to necessary. A proper published biographical account claws much closer to the core of any topic than could any feature film, and in this case the difference isn’t simply in the errors and omissions of the N.W.A. flick, like having the group visit the White House (in reality, Eazy attended a George H.W. Bush fundraiser at a DC hotel), or showing them being arrested for performing “Fuck tha Police” in Detroit (they weren’t). Rather, in his intricate profile of these seminal gang-related performers, we are treated to the ugly truth. Considering that California gangsta rap, before all of the hype, was commonly called “reality rap” by its originators, there should be no higher aspiration for those attempting to document the backstory. Original Gangstas is available now on Hachette Books.
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DEPT. OF COMMERCE
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
15
MUSIC
FUCK SADNESS
Angel Olsen and the power of reclaiming happiness BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN On first listen, Angel Olsen’s new album sounds like a dramatic departure from her past work. The North Carolina singer-songwriter swaps plenty of past sounds on My Woman. First, there’s the shift from country-tinged folk to ’60s rock. Then comes the lean off of lyric-heavy songs. There’s the embrace of her backing band, too, a move from the role of a singer-songwriter to a full-on bandleader. Above all else, Olsen’s biggest change comes in the form of her tone. For the first time in what feels like her entire career, her words slip out of her mouth without a frown, without a sigh, without a lonely gaze into the distance. Instead, she’s grinning—and it’s a change brought about with undeniable strength. My Woman is Angel Olsen’s reclaimed happiness. The guitar solos of “Sister” and “Woman” stretch like yawning arms. “Not Gonna Kill You” stomps with motivation. Even the manic relationship putty of “Shut Up Kiss Me,” a song detailing the puppy-eyed wants of a lover strung through hardships, flaunts a smirk. Olsen is well aware of each angle from which she sings. It’s the way she tells these stories that strips them of their previously assumed autobiographical nature and, in turn, allows listeners to stock them on their own bookshelves, a trade-off from her haunting, harrowed work from years past. Happiness like Olsen’s can come as a shock when looking at the depressed tone of Strange Cacti or Half Way Home. Because the truth of the matter is that reclaiming happiness is brave. There’s nothing more terrifying that choosing to be joyful in a world that constantly berates you with reasons not to be, in part because happiness is falsely linked with naivete. Finding pleasure doesn’t equate to complacency or contentedness. It’s the decision to look at positives while still working on fixing the negatives, both in personal and national matters. Angel Olsen works this into her music, and never once does it beat you over the head. Her happiness is subtle, an inner shine, something that allows her to mature. Let’s be honest: Musicians can’t be sad forever. No matter how badly we wish they would— purely for selfish reasons, like holing up in their music when we’re in pain—there comes a point where they find their stride. Perhaps that’s the most rewarding part of following a musician’s trajectory. When they finally find the goodness they deserve, their music shifts to reflect that, and it sounds bolder and fuller than ever because of it. And on the stage, they show us how it’s done, a living reminder that sadness isn’t forever. You just need to flip it off enough times to get there.
MUSIC
ELECTRIC LADIES
Miss Geo revives Boston’s electropop on record New students, there’s a lesson you won’t learn in class that we’re here to teach you: Boston’s got a rich electronic scene. The city champions its rock and folk bands through a megaphone. Its electronic acts, however, tend to lean out of the public eye, even if it’s the banging hits of Andre Obin or weird twists of Skinny Bones. So grab your pencils and listen up. Miss Geo is your new teacher and the band’s got a lesson plan of a record you’ll want to bring to every party you attend: Connection. The trio didn’t form online, but it did practically stem from computers. In 2013, Pascaline Mary first met Abby Heredia when she caught her acoustic performance at the Apple store. The two found plenty of mutual musical territory and shortly after formed Miss Geo, bringing bassist Alex Miklowski in this past December. There’s a fusionlike mindset shared within the band; that blend of styles results in the diverse LP that is Connection, which comes out Thursday, Sept 15. The debut full-length sees the trio blowing its electropop sound into beautiful, mesmerizing shapes. It’s a rich treat, one that sounds more fitting in the Swiss Alps in a snow parka or opening up for the Cocteau Twins, but the three make it fit Boston’s scene live. Then there’s mixing by Matthew Beaudoin (St. Vincent, Ryan Adams), which allows the album to step into some serious EQ territory. It’s a curious record to hear, especially compared to burgeoning indie rock acts. “During the last two EPs, we were getting to know each other, musically speaking,” explains Heredia. “With this, the writing process was smoother, all the band members were musically connected and unified, and, as a result, it became a real pleasure to collaborate. For the first time our artistic mind fully connected.” That connection—the one that inspires the album title—comes across clearly in each song, extending the members’ emotions on through their instruments. “We’ve been called left-field pop before, which makes us a little different,” Heredia adds, noting the band’s mix of underground dance and experimental elements in particular. “Our live show reflects that because we arrange the songs in unexpected ways with synthesizers and guitar pedal effects.” Experience the album with all your friends at the Milky Way Lounge for only $5. That’s a homework assignment worth completing. If you’re nervous because you don’t know what to expect, just look at lead single “Sea In Between.” It captures Miss Geo in an ocean of atmospheric ’80s electropop. It keeps the beat buoyant with staccato synth, but throws in the timeless touch of vocals somewhere between the dance enunciation of Robyn and pop pulse of Kylie Minogue. Add a dash of the genius of Cher’s high point (the highest of compliments) and that’s pretty much the rest of Connection: a warm, layered, jubilant electropop album that will keep you dancing for hours. >>MISS GEO, CITRUSPHERE, AUDREY HARRER, DJ BOYDJIBOUTI. THU 9.15. THE MILKY WAY LOUNGE, 284 AMORY ST., JAMAICA PLAIN. 9PM/21+/$5. MILKYWAYJP.COM
MUSIC EVENTS
>>ANGEL OLSEN, ALEX CAMERON, RODRIGO AMARANTE. TUE-WED 9.20-9.21. THE SINCLAIR, 52 CHURCH ST., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/18+/$17. SINCLAIRCAMBRIDGE.COM
THU 9.15
THU 9.15
SAT 9.17
SUN 9.18
TUE 9.20
[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$22. sinclaircambridge.com]
[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$15. crossroadspresents.com]
[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$15. sinclaircambridge.com]
[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 7pm/all ages/$28. crossroadspresents.com]
[Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Pl., Boston. 8pm/all ages/$38. crossroadspresents.com]
INDIE ROCK TROUBADOURS OKKERVIL RIVER + LANDLADY
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POWERFUL POST-ROCK EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY + JULIANNA BARWICK
[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$45. houseofblues.com]
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FILM
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
On the Somerville Theatre’s enormously exciting 70mm film festival BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN The rare Hollywood movies photographed with 65mm film and then exhibited via 70mm prints traditionally share a quality of visual grandeur, so much so that they recall the old tongue-in-cheek Fritz Lang one-liner about wide aspect ratios—just as he said that CinemaScope was fit for snakes and funerals, one might surmise that 70mm was fit for landscapes and outer space. At least that was the impression given off by the sizeable amount of critics who questioned the format’s usage in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master [2012] and Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight [2015], two of the three 21st-century narrative-fiction movies to be filmed and exhibited with that wide-gauge format; the former is a historical epic composed mostly in close-ups and medium shots, the latter is a western staged mostly in a single interior setting. What these dissenters might have missed, in their search for the picturesque, was the way these filmmakers used 70mm exhibition to bring relatively unprecedented levels of depth and clarity to their frames. Anderson slivered the visages of his actors into razor-sharp layers of focus, often directing our view not just toward faces but toward specific features within them. Tarantino utilized hyperdense production design and deep focus to bring a weathered sense of character to his cabin setting, often using long shots to make viewers aware of not just its spatial layout but also the various items that populated it, as well as the streaks of light that snaked through it. If 70mm makes a comeback, these films will have helped to cultivate it. But even if it doesn’t, they offered a valuable reminder that the format is about much more than mere grandeur.
They also gave Boston audiences an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with 70mm, alongside Interstellar [2014] and repertory screenings of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey [1968]. Now the Somerville Theatre offers the chance to know the format more intimately. Its 70mm & Widescreen Film Festival will present 16 films from Sep 16 through Sep 25, with 12 movies projected via 70mm and the other four exhibited on 35mm. 35mm and 16mm film exhibition is a delicacy that we’re lucky enough to experience regularly, thanks to the consistent efforts of the Harvard Film Archive, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Brattle Theatre, a few local film societies, and the Somerville Theatre itself. But the rarity of 70mm exhibition prints, especially ones collected together, is something that truly cannot be overstated: Though many 70mm prints of older films were struck during the 2000s, the proliferation of digital cinema exhibition makes it unlikely that many will ever be struck again (something that thankfully cannot be said of 35mm, at least not yet, given that boutiques like Janus Films, archives like UCLA, and even studios themselves occasionally strike new exhibition prints of restored pictures). To wit, the Somerville’s screening of Sleeping Beauty [1959] (Sunday, Sep 18 at noon and 4:45 pm) will rely on the last remaining 70mm exhibition print that Disney has to offer—and given the state of the situation, you shouldn’t expect to see it again. As for the screening of William Wyler’s Ben-Hur [1955] (Sunday, Sep 25 at 7 pm), that’ll occur by way of a 35mm IB Technicolor print—reason being that there are no 70mm exhibition prints of that film remaining, despite the fact that it was produced to
be viewed in exactly that format. Such restrictions aside, the Somerville’s program represents a thorough portrait of the use of 70mm within the American commercial cinema, including efforts from the ’50s and ’60s (when 70mm was employed regularly by the various studios) as well as from the ’80s (when it made a brief comeback) and the contemporary era (where its use remains reserved for the increasingly small class of Hollywood-approved auteurs). The festival also spans across the many genres that 70mm was used in service of. Historical adventure epics will be represented by the film whose legacy is perhaps most closely intertwined with the 70mm format, Lawrence of Arabia [1962] (screening Friday Sep 16, 8 pm), as well as by Lord Jim [1965] (Saturday Sep 17, 2 pm), The Vikings [1958] (Saturday Sep 24, 2 pm, 35mm), and Spartacus [1960] (Saturday Sep 24, 7:30 pm). Science fiction comes in the form of Tron [1982] (Sunday Sep 18, 2:30 and 8 pm), Interstellar (Tuesday Sep 20, 7:30 pm), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Friday Sep 23, 7pm), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home [1986] (Friday Sep 23, 10:15 pm). Biblical epics were long the domain of 70mm and are spoken for by The Ten Commandments [1956] (Sunday Sep 25, 2 pm, 35mm). and Ben-Hur. Musicals will be represented by West Side Story [1961] (Thursday Sep 22, 8 pm), animated films by Sleeping Beauty, and grotesquely oversized comedies by It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [1963] (Saturday Sep 17, 8pm). Last but never least is the western, whose landscapes will be seen by way of Ride Lonesome [1959] (Monday Sep 19, 6 pm, 35mm), The Wild Bunch [1969] (Monday Sep 19, 8:20 pm), and Silverado [1985] (Wednesday Sep 21, 7:30 pm). Almost uniformly, these are films that were made on a grand scale. Many were shot far from studio bases—Egypt (Commandments), China (Lord Jim), Spain (Spartacus), Norway (Vikings) —for the express purposes of capturing travelogue-worthy images. Their sole point of connection is a taste for the sort of images that critics call “sweeping”: for swaths of the desert stretching as far as the frame can see (Lawrence), for the sight of whole armies captured within a single frame (Ben-Hur), for tableaux of faraway mountains over the countryside (the westerns), for medium shots that seem to capture whole handfuls of characters (Mad World), or even for Jupiter and beyond the infinite (2001). But the exorbitant scope of 70mm does not discriminate, and the greatest pleasures of experiencing it often come from the effect it has on the tiniest details; I think back not to the snowy vistas of The Hateful Eight, but to the way the 70mm print made one lone snowflake, seen dissolving on the tip of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s tongue, into an entirely legible detail. This is perhaps what’s most exciting about the Somerville festival, more so than the stars and the ’scapes: seeing the faces of background dancers in West Side Story, or the painted quality of the textures seen on the two 35mm IB Technicolor prints, or the rays of hallucinatory light that softly bounce off the individual crevices of Keir Dullea’s face in 2001. You’ll often hear figures in the film industry noting that the big screen experience is most necessary for large canvas works, for the films that aspire to the status of “epic.” But so often it’s the textural details that remain in our mind’s eye the longest, no matter the size of the canvas, and no moviegoing format magnifies those moments quite as large as 70mm.
>> THE 70MM & WIDESCREEN FILM FESTIVAL. SOMERVILLE THEATRE. 55 DAVIS SQUARE, SOMERVILLE. 9.16—9.25. $15 PER TICKET. FESTIVAL PASSES AVAILABLE FOR $200. SEE SOMERVILLETHEATRE.COM FOR SCHEDULE AND OTHER INFORMATION.
FILM EVENTS FRI 9.16
FRI 9.16
[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/Unrated/$9-11. See brattlefilm.org for details on rest of program.]
[Museum of Fine Arts. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 5:30pm/Unrated/$9-11. Also plays on 9.17 and 9.18. mfa.org]
‘WICKED QUEER: FLASHBACK’ BEGINS WITH CHERYL DUNYE’S THE WATERMELON WOMAN [1996]
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SAT 9.17
SUN 9.18
MON 9.19
[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Midnight/Unrated/$11.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]
[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Midnight/X/$11.25. 35mm.]
[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. 2pm/Unrated/$11.25.]
[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 5:30 and 9:15pm/NC-17/$9-11.]
COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST [1980]
COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS I DRINK YOUR BLOOD [1970]
THE DOCYARD AND DIRECTOR KIRSTEN JOHNSON PRESENT CAMERAPERSON [2016]
‘WICKED QUEER: FLASHBACK’ CONCLUDES WITH TODD HAYNES’ POISON [1991]
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CHILDE HASSAM. POPPIES, ISLES OF SHOALS, 1891. OIL ON CANVAS. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON. GIFT OF MARGARET AND RAYMOND HOROWITZ. IMAGE COURTESY NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. ARTS
SERENITY IN SALEM
Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals at the PEM BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS For as long as there have been artists, there have been muses. For Childe Hassam, foremost American Impressionist (and Dorchester native), the Isles of Shoals—located roughly six miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine—were his. Nearly every summer for 30 years, Hassam visited Appledore Island, which was then a booming vacation destination for the well-bred and elite. Poet Celia Thaxter, dear friend (and major supporter) of Hassam, called the island home. If Hassam was having a love affair with Appledore Island, then Thaxter was their matchmaker. Thaxter’s parents owned the Appledore House hotel, a grand resort that served as the island’s epicenter for those vacationing. Thaxter lived nearby, where she would often hold court with some of the foremost artists and writers of the time, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Hassam. In American Impressionist: Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals, now on view through Nov 6 at the Peabody Essex Museum, 39 of these works hang together in breathtaking harmony. The exhibition is co-organized by
the North Carolina Museum of Art, where it was shown earlier this year. The PEM collaborated with marine biologists at the Shoals Marine Laboratory (which is actually on Appledore Island) to identify the exact locations of Hassam’s paintings. The project took roughly four years, and not only were locations identified, but in some cases, time of year. “This has dramatically impacted how we understand how he was painting,” said Austen Barron Bailly, curator of American Art at PEM and co-curator of this exhibition. This adds a fascinating layer to the show, one that is not typical of most art exhibitions. From the moment you step through the gallery doors, the sound of waves crashing and seagulls screaming fills the air, transporting you instantly. Around the corner, a front porch with rocking chairs is set up, inviting guests to sit down and spend some time. It is a true oasis that feels like equal parts vacation and art history lesson. Bailly hopes that the exhibition will have a “lasting impact [on visitors] because the experience is more holistic. We wanted to bring some of the island to
the viewers,” she said. “We want people to have a real experience. We wanted the show to breathe.” Of the 39 works on display, 17 are on loan from private collections, making this a rare treat, indeed. (A stunning catalogue has been published for the occasion, which is well worth a look.) Still, there is a redundancy to some of the paintings, and I wonder if their cumulative effect mightn’t have been greater if there had been fewer of them. Moonlight (1892), showing a full moon in a sky of crocheted-like clouds, shining down on the night sea, is bewitching; Sunset at Sea (1911) really highlights Hassan’s mastery of color and knack for capturing not only a place, but a single moment; The West Wind (1904), the painting that I probably spent the longest gazing at, is almost entirely of the blue sea, with small, gentle white crests. The sky occupies only the top two inches of the painting, with a barely-there horizon line separating sky and sea. It is unexpected and disarming. Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals is a serene thrill that is well worth the trip to Salem. (For those relatively new to Boston: It’s a quick, stressless train ride from North Station.) On the third Thursday of every month, the Peabody Essex Museum holds after-hours parties, with small plates and a cash bar. (College students and Salem residents enter for free.) There’s more to Salem than witches, and this exhibition is a fine place to start.
>> AMERICAN IMPRESSIONIST: CHILDE HASSAM AND THE ISLES OF SHOALS. THROUGH 11.6 AT THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM, EAST INDIA SQUARE, SALEM. PEM.ORG
ARTS EVENTS PRE-BROADWAY ENGAGEMENT SIGNIFICANT OTHER
[SpeakEasy Stage, 527 Tremont St., Boston. Through 10.8. speakeasystage.com]
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[The Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon St., Boston. Through 10.9. lyricstage.com]
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST MARJORIE PRIME
[Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. Through 10.9. centralsquaretheater.org]
SONDHEIM MASTERPIECE SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
[Huntington Theatre Company, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston. Through 10.16. huntingtontheatre.org]
INCREDIBLE RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE DELLA ROBBIA
[Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Through 12.4. mfa.org]
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BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET A woman I follow on Instagram—whose account is open for all to follow—shares highly sexualized images of herself daily, e.g., pictures of her at the beach, pictures of her when she’s just waking up, pictures of her in a towel after a shower. Via direct message, I politely inquired about purchasing a pair of her used panties. She sent me a very rude note in response and then blocked me. I find this hypocritical, considering the highly sexualized nature of the photos she posts. She reads your column, something I know because she posted a photo of one, and I am writing to you in hopes that you will scold this woman for being so hypocritically prudish and also ask her to unblock me. Personally Hurt Over This Occurrence She may be a reader, PHOTO, but you’re clearly not. Because I’m on her side, not yours, which any regular reader could have predicted. Someone sharing photos of themselves at the beach, in bed, out of the shower, etc., doesn’t entitle you to their panties any more than someone sharing photos from their colonoscopy entitles you to their turds. There’s no shortage of women online selling their panties, PHOTO, direct your inquires to them. I think you got things wrong with CUCKS, the man whose husband got upset when he reacted with excitement when his husband shared a fantasy about sleeping with another man. I think CUCKS’s husband got upset because he only wanted more attention from his husband. Maybe CUCKS’s husband fantasizes about cheating because he wants someone to want him intensely and he doesn’t feel his partner wants him intensely enough. Telling his partner about his fantasy may have just been an attempt to get his partner to show some emotional intensity. Tuesday Morning Advice Columning If you’re correct, TMAC, I would advise CUCKS to dump his husband—because who wants to be with someone who plays those kinds of mind games? A person who lies about having a particular fantasy and then shames or guilts their partner for having the wrong reaction isn’t a person worth sharing fantasies with, much less a life. On the Lovecast, Dan chats with his brother, Professor Bill Savage, about our nation’s historical fear of immigrants: savagelovecast.com.
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