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DEAR READER Stingy Jack eventually died, but since he wasn’t cut out for heaven and the Devil had kept his word and hell wasn’t an option either, with eyeholes lit by the slow burn of coal, he set out with no means to an end and no end in sight. As the days fall darker in October, Stingy Jack shows up once again on our porches and stoops as hollowed-out pumpkins carved to our taste and sensibility. The old Irish folklore that eventually gave birth to today’s jack-o’-lantern is a distant memory now, but the tradition of scraping and cutting these gourds is very much still alive and well. The deal that Jack and the Devil cut was one that involved deception and redemption, honor and commitment. Two souls shook hands, and despite their individual intent to win one over on the other, each kept their word in the face of their defeat and disdain. Imagine that. In the politically charged environment today, there’s a lesson to be learned. Politicians and voters alike find themselves plotting their return and revenge long before their loss. The rush to retaliate and position one’s self ready for the next battle has turned the election cycle into a 24/7 prime-time reality TV show that neither starts nor ends when the votes are finally counted. The result of this is that there’s now no winner or loser, no concession or celebration without a blind eye to the next step and a deaf ear to the sound of defeat. The idea that we should concede is no longer part of the conversation. The Devil wanted Jack’s soul but honored his word and commitment in the end. When this election cycle is over, let’s do the same and move on.

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Taylor Williamson

I know you aren’t all bad. There’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner, for example, which, while it has nothing to do with anything that happened in the brutal colonies way back, tastes hella good, and should never be adjusted one iota, particularly if said iota involves tofurkey. Otherwise, it’s pretty clear that tradition, in the traditional sense, has always held us back—through religion, institutional garbage, and any number of other assorted old-timey horse shit. I’m taking this short opportunity to damn all tradition to hell, however ironically, and to warn the War on Christmas crusaders way ahead of time that I’m coming for them with my ass out, lick it or not.

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NEWS US BEATING TRANSPARENCY BROKEN RECORDS

The MBTA doesn’t want you to know how much it spends concealing evidence of police brutality BY ANDREW QUEMERE On May 7, 2014, Anthony Ferrier was viciously beaten by an MBTA police detective inside Park Street Station, and the entire incident was captured by one of the agency’s surveillance cameras—but the public wouldn’t know the truth for nearly a year. The MBTA actually posted some of the video on YouTube, but the beating was edited out. The video does show Conway grabbing Ferrier, who was intoxicated at the time, as he is about to fall onto the subway tracks. But according to David Milton, a lawyer who helped Ferrier obtain the full video, the MBTA’s suicide narrative might not even be true. Milton said that while he wasn’t sure exactly what Ferrier was thinking, the video suggested that he “lost his balance out of surprise when approached by Conway.” To get the unedited video, Milton sent a public records request to the MBTA. But the agency refused to provide it, claiming it would reveal confidential law enforcement techniques and the MBTA’s internal deliberations. In October 2014, Milton sued the MBTA, which continued to fight the video’s release, even hiring the law firm Seyfarth Shaw to help with the defense. Eventually, the agency relented and agreed to release the video, which Milton’s law firm published in March 2015. Even then, the MBTA stood by Conway, claiming the detective’s “quick and decisive actions saved a man’s life.” Richard Sullivan, who is now superintendent of the MBTA police, said, “After careful review of the incident by our Use of Force Committee it was concluded Detective Conway acted appropriately.” Milton called bull in a television news interview: “The MBTA misled the public and clearly intended to do so. If they truly believe that the officer’s actions were appropriate beginning-to-end, they would have released the entire video and let the public decide.” And Milton was correct; this was a cover-up, and an incompetent one at that—it would even be funny if a man’s face hadn’t been beaten to a pulp. But how much did this cover-up cost taxpayers? How much of our own money did the scandal-plagued MBTA spend to keep us from knowing that one of its officers repeatedly pounded a man in the face so that it could briefly bask in the glory of a good headline? That’s what Maya Shaffer (who usually writes this column with me) and I wondered. So we filed a public records request of our own seeking any documents showing how much the MBTA paid its lawyers to fight Milton’s lawsuit. First, the agency ignored our request, forcing us to send an appeal to the secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. Then, the agency refused to provide us with the records. It claimed that the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege, which is laughable—we asked about legal fees, not legal advice. As Milton, the attorney, put it, “[T]here is no exemption in the public records law for records that show an agency’s gross misuse of public funds. On the contrary, providing citizens with a tool to expose government misconduct is the core purpose of the public records law.” Suing wasn’t an option for us. Paying a lawyer to litigate a public records suit can cost a bundle, and you 4

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can’t get your legal fees back even if you win. The new public records law, which doesn’t go into effect until next year, will allow judges to award attorney’s fees but doesn’t make it mandatory, so lawsuits aren’t likely to become the preferred option for fighting denials any time soon. Instead, we sent a second appeal to the secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, which sided with us and ordered the MBTA to produce the records. But the MBTA didn’t budge. Its staff didn’t even tell us they wouldn’t follow the order; they just ignored it. And they got away with it. At least they have so far. But I’m happy to report that last week, one year and 20 days after the secretary’s office ordered the MBTA to produce the records, the secretary’s office referred the case to the attorney general. When an agency violates an order from the secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, the secretary’s office is supposed to forward the order to the attorney general’s office for enforcement. The AGO can sue the agency for the records or file criminal charges against the public officials responsible for the violation. But for years, the secretary’s office refused to work with the AGO. That changed last year when, after Maura Healey took office as the new attorney general, the secretary’s office referred one of our cases—and only that case—to the AGO. This year, referrals have started to pick up. As we reported in a recent column, the secretary’s office referred two orders in June. Since then, the secretary’s office has referred our MBTA request as well as the Falmouth Firefighter Union’s request for draft versions of a report prepared by a consultant for the town. So far, the AGO has only taken action on one of the four referrals from this year. That case also involves the MBTA, which refused to provide the Boston Herald a

consultant’s report on employee leave practices, citing the same bogus reason it gave us: attorney-client privilege. The AGO ordered the MBTA to produce the records or provide an explanation as to how the records are protected by attorney-client privilege. The MBTA quickly chose the latter, telling Herald reporter Matt Stout that it intends to provide him with a more detailed denial letter. It remains to be seen what the AGO will do in response. It’s refreshing to finally see some momentum on public records enforcement, but people shouldn’t get their hopes up yet. Take it from me: You can’t count on records until they’re in your hands and you’ve checked them to be sure they’re not covered in black ink. The MBTA’s refusal to release records to the Herald will be a good test of how much Attorney General Healey is willing to do for transparency. And that’s just one case; it’s going to be a while before the anecdotes have a chance to become a trend. As Milton put it when he published the MBTA beating video: “Government agencies cannot disclose only records that they believe reflect positively on the agency. The MBTA’s attempt to mislead the public by refusing to provide the complete video shows the need for a strong public records law. Agencies now suffer no penalty when they violate the law.” On that note, let’s hope Healey is getting serious about her promise to make public records enforcement a priority so that can finally change. Bonus: Thanks to a public records request I filed several months ago, we now know that Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, the man responsible for overseeing the public records law, doesn’t have his own email address. So much for finding out what he’s saying about us behind our backs.

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APPARENT HORIZON

PLAY TO WIN

UK Labour Party leader shows American left how to move beyond symbolic politics

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS

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Last week—as is the case many weeks every fall and spring in Boston—notices of small scripted protests by an array of area progressive nonprofits, unions, and student groups got me thinking about the rut the anti-corporate American left has been stuck in for decades. Most especially about the damage done by the habit of ineffectual symbolic political action on a host of important issues. Combined with tailing after a corporate-dominated Democratic Party establishment. Which, time and time again, ignores or actively betrays its base on key issues like jobs, education, healthcare, global warming, and military spending. As it’s done during the current presidential race. But what if there was a way to change the whole political game for the oppositional left? After all, we almost saw such a tectonic shift happen this year with the Bernie Sanders campaign. There have also been glimpses of a more vibrant, creative, and successful progressive politics from the Occupy and Black Lives Matter movements over the last five years. What if left activists could get back to a mass politics that can really win solid victories for working families? The way forward, it seems, is not yet to be found on our shores. However, it might be on view in the United Kingdom … where Jeremy Corbyn just won yet another vote to remain the leader of the Labour Party. Who is Jeremy Corbyn? Think of him as the Bernie Sanders of the UK. But one who has gotten a good deal farther politically than the original Sanders has to date. In his context, being the leader of the Labour Party is kind of like being the head of the Democratic National Committee. Except that the levers of actual power are more built into the Labour Party structure than the Democratic Party structure. And the party sits within a parliamentary political system where its leaders have a lot more control over what their elected officials do than their American counterparts. At the same time, Labour members get to vote directly for their party leaders— unlike Democrats. So when a socialist like Corbyn wins leadership elections twice in under a year and a half, it means that he has the power to help spark changes in his party of the type that Sanders can only dream of presently. Since Corbyn first ran for Labour Party leader last year—on a platform well to the left of Sanders that calls for an end to austerity policies that hurt working people, renationalizing the once-public UK rail system, unilateral nuclear disarmament, and refusal to support Clinton-style “bomb diplomacy” (sorry, “humanitarian intervention”) in the Syrian war—he has increased the number of voting party members and supporters from 200,000 to over 600,000. Many of those new members are disenfranchised young voters of the same type that supported Sanders. What Corbyn is doing with those young folks is fascinating. Upon winning his second leadership election by 61 percent last week, he didn’t talk about beating the ruling Conservative Party in the next general election. Instead he’s planning to deploy the growing militant grassroots of his party to win political victories in advance of the next election. And what issue is Corbyn focusing on? Public education. Namely stopping the Conservatives from increasing the fairly small number of UK public exam high schools known as “grammar schools.” He is calling for the large socialist camp coalescing around Labour to defend the egalitarian tradition of quality public education for all in Britain. Street protests are absolutely part of what the reviving Labour Party and its allies are doing to challenge the corporate wing of their own party and the Conservative Party on such issues. But, unlike the current American left, Corbyn supporters have the possibility of leading their party to victory in a future general election, and starting to implement significant progressive reforms thereafter. So their protest campaigns against conservative policy initiatives are not limited to small numbers of people waving signs and chanting slogans at the wealthy and their minions in business and government like latter-day Don Quixotes. Corbyn and his supporters are taking control of the Labour Party away from its discredited neoliberal leadership and using it to build a democratic socialist movement in the UK. Positioning the US left—the actual left—for a similar political victory in the US will be extremely difficult. But one thing’s for sure. Corbyn’s success is built on grassroots activism. If we’re going to see similar successes for the American left at the national level, progressive nonprofits, unions, and student groups in cities like Boston will have to do better than calling sporadic underattended rallies, marches, and teach-ins—coupled with desultory lobby days where their peonage to the Democratic establishment is generally on display to their detriment. And start winning real political battles instead of scoring points on phantom targets. Read the full version of this column at digboston.com. Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. Licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.

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GUEST EDITORIAL

WHEN PENALTIES REPLACE PRIVACY

On the hidden horrors of new turnpike tolling BY MO LOTMAN On October 28, the Massachusetts Turnpike will switch on its automated toll-collection system, forever making toll booths, toll takers, and toll traffic obsolete—surely better for travel, safety, and the environment. However, what it curiously does not eliminate is the actual tolls themselves. Instead, it favors a new system of $130 million metal gantries, spends about 20 percent of the toll revenue on contractors to manage the collection, and most ominously, enshrines a new method of state surveillance that may have already been used illegally. At the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s public hearing in Newton on September 12, presentations by Highway Administrator Tom Tinlin, Director of Tolling Steve Collins, and chief of staff for the Massachusetts Highway Administration Jared Kadich explained in great detail the new electronic gantry operations and rationale. They listened attentively and answered questions. But when I raised issues of privacy, no satisfying answers were forthcoming. That is because, ultimately, MassDOT does not have them. If you have an E-ZPass transponder, your life is not changing much. You have already consented to the gathering and storage of data on your travel habits (locations, speed, dates, times) on the Mass Pike, the Tobin Bridge, and the three harbor tunnels. But if you believe that it’s none of the state’s business where you happen to be traveling, and you’ve been paying your tolls in cash, your days of anonymity are numbered. The new automated system will take photographs of your license plate at every gantry, match it to your address, and mail you a bill. That bill will be more than double the tolls of someone with a transponder. For example, according to a chart at the hearing, driving from Boston to Newton will cost $4.15 without a transponder, versus $1.70 with one. It’s an incredible penalty for people who have quite literally done nothing. What is MassDOT doing with all this data it is gathering? Tinlin said they have no desire to hang onto the information any longer than is necessary to collect the tolls. Yet that’s not what’s happening. Other than the photos of cars with transponders (that’s right, your plate will be photographed whether your have a transponder or not), all of the data is being stored indefinitely. In fact, even though it has been 18 years since digital tolling debuted on the Pike, there is still not even a data retention policy. There is, however, a law restricting how that data can be used. That is Massachusetts General Law, Part I, Title II, chapter 6C, section 13, which specifies that MassDOT must “maintain the confidentiality” of the data, which “shall be used for enforcement purposes only with respect to toll collection regulations.” That seems very clear, and yet the department’s own presentation unabashedly offered examples of how it has violated that directive. First was a description of the “hot list,” the ability to put out a real-time alert—no time for warrants here—to stop particular drivers due to an Amber Alert or what was described as an “imminent threat to public safety.” Second, Tinlin and Kadich offered statistics on highway usage by Newton drivers— information that they knew only because someone had matched plates to addresses via the system. In addition, this data has already been searched by law enforcement and via subpoenas for court cases like divorce proceedings. This system is completely unnecessary. It creates a brand new regime of state surveillance when you could easily accomplish the same thing without surveillance. And once surveillance is in place, it is hard to remove. People will find new ways to use the data that is collected. Data is managed by third parties who may not have the same incentive as the state to safeguard it. Administrations and rules change over time; the data does not. There will likely be public pressure to use it pre-emptively to counter imagined threats. Once that happens, it is not difficult to imagine similar surveillance schemes placed on other roadways, irrespective of toll collection. This type of mass surveillance is wrong, illegal based on current Massachusetts law, and unconstitutional as well. Drivers should be allowed the freedom of movement without wondering at every turn who is watching them and what is being recorded, and MassDOT should revise its system to ensure residents have the privacy they are legally and morally entitled to. They are still accepting comments at aetinfo@dot.ma.us. Mo Lotman is a writer, public speaker, and publisher of The Technoskeptic, a magazine taking a critical look at the impact of technology on society.

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HOW THE TPP GOT ROCKED FEATURE

The movement (and concert) against that damn awful free trade agreement comes to Boston BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON We don’t typically cover international politics at DigBoston. Frankly, we have visited cities in which the alternative publication deems itself credible enough on global issues to drop embarrassing perspective pieces based on little more than the writer’s semester abroad hanging out with other American students, and it just makes everyone look silly. With that said, these are interesting times we live in, and so we were compelled to shine much light on Rock Against the TPP, a national tour raising awareness about the proposed TransPacific Partnership trade deal. The protest party rolls through Boston on October 7, and features acts including progressive rap stalwarts Foundation Movement, beloved Ethiopian pop outfit Debo Band, and Brooklyn-based indie musician Mirah. But what is the TPP anyway? In short, it’s a so-called free trade deal that would further empower some of the planet’s most deplorable companies and industries— polluters, union breakers, you name it—to operate with even less regard for human and labor rights. As the deal has become a hot topic from campuses to the presidential debate stage, we figured that readers may want to know more. Fortunately, one of the key organizers behind Rock Against the TPP is Jamaica Plain-based musician and organizer Evan Greer, whose work as campaign director for the organization Fight For The Future helped bring the tour to life. We asked Greer about how this coalition of 10

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performers and activists is increasingly turning a nation against an obscure Beltway back room agreement. DB: Is it fair to say that the TPP has become a front-andcenter issue from people talking about it and bringing it up over and over? EG: Generally speaking, awareness-raising is sometimes given too much credit in social movements. Like that’s all we have to do—if we tell enough people about this bad thing, it will all just go away. And for the most part I think that’s usually not true. I think we need to have strategic action and to actually have a plan for how we’re going to leverage that awareness into action. With the TPP, on the other hand, I think the biggest problem facing those of us who are trying to stop this power grab is that not enough people know what it is because of the extreme secrecy surrounding the negotiation.

at the playground and at the park and in coffee shops and in Rolling Stone. That’s the type of shift that we needed to see on this, and the fact that that has happened, now we’re at a point where both major presidential candidates say that they’re against it, and it’s uncool to be in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership at this time. To see that shift in a fairly short period of time has been inspiring for me as an organizer, to recognize the power that cultural influencers have over the narrative. Especially in this day and age of the internet, where we can have these events, and let’s say a thousand people come out, but then the video from the event can be seen by [hundreds of thousands] of people over the next matter of days. The impacts of these things are greater than they ever were before. It’s not like we’re doing something that’s never been done, but we’re optimizing it in a way that we weren’t able to in the past.

I can’t remember the last time that young people were talking about a trade deal. For me, I was trying to figure out, What’s the way to reverse that? What’s the way to get lots and lots of people talking about this? I think we’ve been very successful with that, not just as a tour but as a movement, taking this from an issue that was only discussed in the pages of the Wall Street Journal and some insider DC magazine to being something that’s now talked about all over TV and

What was the genesis of this? Who decided that a national tour of sorts was in order? We at Fight For The Future had been involved in the fight around the TPP since what’s called fast-track legislation, which is basically a law that Congress has to pass to rush these trade agreements through with a simple up or down vote rather than having there be meaningful debate or amendments. That did pass after a long and bloody fight, but for us we were looking at the polling, TPP continued on pg. 12

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TPP continued from pg. 10 which said that once they learn about this agreement, people from across the political spectrum—whether Democrats, Republicans, independents, doesn’t matter— overwhelmingly oppose it. But many people couldn’t tell you what the acronym meant, didn’t know what it was. And so for myself, as someone who has spent a lot of my life using music as a tool for engaging people into action, it made me say, “We need to do something bigger here than just another petition drive and more phone calls. We need to do something that’s going to push this into the cultural mainstream and reach huge numbers of people who we haven’t been able to reach yet through traditional forms of activism.” I reached out to my friend Ryan Harvey, who started a record label with Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine, and said we have to make this the most infamous trade deal in all of history. How do we do it? We brainstormed this idea for a tour, and started inviting artists we have worked with over the years. And quickly we saw an incredible lineup of artists coming out of the woodwork to sound the alarm about this corporate power grab that’s disguised as a trade deal. Who were some who surprised you by coming out of the woodwork? Over the tour I’ve gotten to know Evangeline Lilly, who is an actress who is probably best known for her role as Kate Austen on the TV series Lost. And she was in The Hobbit, and The Hurt Locker, and Ant-Man. And I think it’s been amazing for her to have a platform—she’s such an activist, and she’s such a passionate person. And her fans really care about what she has to say. These people who come out because they love her in The Hobbit are put in a position where they can’t help but get involved in the activism. The same folks showing up at the teach-in the next day was really powerful for me. Another cool tidbit was when we were in Seattle, we had a packed show, and one of the managers of the venue came up to me and said, “If you want another comedian on the bill, this guy Eric Andre just called, and he would like to do 10 minutes.” He’s a big-time comedian right now, and he just showed up, and the audience went nuts. That type of thing is amazing. When we get to that momentum, it’s not, “How many celebrities can we stack up?” But that there are artists and creative people who care so deeply about this themselves that they’re jumping in and taking the lead. That really changes things, and that’s when we see these issues start permeating the cultural mainstream, which is where I think we need to be as we approach a very likely vote on [the TPP] in Congress after the election this fall. We need it to be something everyone is talking about— not just people who watch Washington, DC like a hawk and are political junkies.

Celebrities definitely take a lot of flack for supporting causes, but they also see a lot more of the country than your average person. And the world. How does that translate to giving a shit about an issue like this one? I do think creative people have an important voice to add to these discussions. These folks aren’t just showing up and being like, “Oh yeah, I’m so and so, where’s my mic?” They show up well-versed in the issue, really having a lot to say about it. And a lot of them having personal stories. We released a video after the first tour stop where Tom Morello was talking about the small town in Illinois where he grew up, which was hard-hit by previous trade deals and went from having a lot of good union jobs to join the Army or you’re homeless. The fact that so many of these musicians have such a deep connection to this as a personal issue does make a big difference in how these events feel. They don’t feel like a typical telethon or parade of talking heads to raise money for something. It feels like incredibly powerful voices coming together for a cause, and I think people can tell the difference. How have the shows taken on a regionally-specific flavor, and what are we to expect in Boston?

In each city we have a local organizing coalition that comes together to make the event happen in conjunction with all of the national groups that are helping put the tour on. So in each area we try and highlight local voices for people who will speak directly to how this is going to impact our community. For example, out in Colorado we had someone who is a rancher talking about how [the TPP] is going to affect ranchers, which is new information to me. And out in the Northwest we had people from the indigenous communities speaking about how it was going to impact their lives and their ability to survive. So here in Boston we’ll be highlighting folks from local community groups. It’s important to recognize that these trade deals affect everyone regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum. Unless you’re the CEO of a multinational corporation, you can find something to not like about them. These deals are going to come down the hardest on the most marginalized members of our community, so people of color, LGBTQ people, low-income folks. They’re going to be the hardest hit by the special privileges that these deals are handing to corporations that allow them to undermine our basic human rights. What are you asking people to do after the shows? What’s the takeaway? At each event, we’re asking people to come out the next day for a teach-in. People who maybe just learned a little about the issue at the show can come out and get more information and learn about other ways to get involved. Massachusetts is an important stop—we have two members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation that have not yet stated a position on the TPP. That’s Representative Joe Kennedy and Representative Seth Moulton. The local groups here have already been organizing actions and delegations and petition deliveries to call for those members of Congress to openly oppose the TPP, and the energy coming out of this concert will feed into those efforts. Check out Rock Against the TPP for free at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain this Friday, October 7, from 6pm to 10pm. Featuring Mirah, Foundation Movement, Debo Band, and more. Information on the October 8 teach-in will be available at the show. For more info visit rockagainstthetpp.org.

10.6.16 - 10.13.16

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EATS

LIVE MUSIC • LOCAVORE MENU PRIVATE EVENTS 10/5 DALTON RAPATTONI The Detours, School of Rock Boston 10/7 HONK! FESTIVAL KICKOFF 10/10 CHANDLER TRAVIS THREE-O 10/13 BEWARE THE DANGERS OF A GHOST SCORPION! (Lounge) 10/13 VOTE THE LINEUP (Ballroom) 10/14 TEA LEAF GREEN Stop Light Observations 10/15 THE UPPER CRUST Hickoids, The Grannies Devil On Horseback 10/17 THE SPLINTERS 10/19 THE MOTH True Stories Told Live 10/20 MATTHEW CONNOR St. Nothing, ORCHIDS 10/21-10/23 Boston Rock Opera presents:

HAIR

Three Nights Only! $24 adv / $27 day of show

156 Highland Ave • Somerville, MA 617-285-0167 oncesomerville.com

  @oncesomerville /ONCEsomerville

STEEL & RYE

Upscale food and drink, suburban style BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

Going back in time about 10 to 15 years, if you had told your friends that you were looking forward to a nice meal out in Milton, they might have looked at you as if you had two heads. Fast forward to today, however, and such a statement doesn’t seem so silly anymore, with the opening of such restaurants as Abby Park, 88 Wharf, the Plate, Novara, and a casual upscale place near the Dorchester border called Steel & Rye. It feels like a true destination spot and is impressive enough to rival some of the best restaurants of its kind within the city of Boston—and it has certainly helped put Milton on the map as far as dining out is concerned. When people think of Lower Mills, many probably tend to picture the quaint little commercial district at the southern end of Dorchester by the Neponset River. But Lower Mills also extends onto the other side of the river into Milton where there are similarly impressive historic buildings, including an old ambulance garage on Eliot Street in which Steel & Rye is housed. The dark and atmospheric space is a massive one, with huge windows, a high ceiling, a long bar taking up an area to the right, and a large pizza oven set up next to the bar, while much of the rest of the space is used for dining. A private room sits in the back next to the open kitchen, while another private space can be found to the left. A relatively spacious patio sits out front by the parking lot during the warmer months, and yes, the restaurant does actually have a parking lot (a rarity in or near Boston), though it fills up quickly, often causing patrons to have to park along the street. Steel & Rye is one of those spots that caters to food lovers and drink lovers alike, with the restaurant having the sort of balance between the two that makes it a great place to go to just for food, just for drinks, or a bit of both. The food side tends to lean toward seasonal New American fare that includes locally sourced ingredients whenever possible and includes a mix of small, shareable plates and larger main dishes. A few highlights (depending on the season and the specials offered) include an unusual plate of fried olives whose perfect matching of brininess and crunch makes one wonder why more restaurants don’t offer this; crispy confit duck wings that are almost too rich, if there is such a thing; a plate of charred calamari and steamed mussels that is so over-the-top in deliciousness that it could convert those who don’t like seafood; a tender BBQ pork shoulder pot roast that would be tremendous on its own, but which is made even better by the addition of lobster mushroom ragu; an unusual smoked pepper fusilli with corn, garlic chips, and fresh crabmeat; wood-fired thin-crust pizza that has a nice char from the high heat and toppings such as fennel sausage and squash blossoms; a beef ribeye that is much more expensive than most menu items here, but the $40+ price tag is well worth it considering the quality of the cut of meat, which comes from Painted Hills Natural Beef in Oregon; and for those who are looking at the other end of the price range, a juicy Niman Ranch burger with Vermont cheddar cheese and house-made potato chips. Steel & Rye has some excellent beer and wine offerings (including several local options among the former), but this is really a place to splurge on cocktails, as the folks behind the bar take pride in the drinks they make and are equally at ease making cocktails found on the menu (Roselle, Save The Streetcar, Harkness Table, Alpinista) as well as off-the-menu options (the basic Old Fashioned is anything but basic, and if you like cognac and rye, ask for the New Orleans-inspired Vieux Carre; you won’t regret it). Brunch is served on weekends, with everything from corned beef hash and potato pancakes to waffles and omelets offered. While Steel & Rye hasn’t single-handedly put Boston’s southern neighbor on the culinary map, the restaurant certainly has caused some buzz since opening in Milton a few years ago. If you’re looking for a memorable dining and drinking experience that also includes free parking, a lack of long lines, and little in the way of showiness or pretension, this stately and charming eatery will surely impress. >> STEEL & RYE. 95 ELIOT ST., MILTON. STEELANDRYE.COM

10.6.16 - 10.13.16

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MUSIC

SWEET AND HALFSOUR Boston’s grumbled power pop trio BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

MUSIC

POP GOES THE BAND Warpaint shares tips about creativity BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN A band like Warpaint oozes style, in part because it’s what the group is drawn to. The Los Angeles quartet— vocalist and guitarist Emily Kokal, bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg, vocalist and guitarist Theresa Wayman, and drummer Stella Mozgawa—craft brooding experimental indie rock. So what drives them to make arguably their cleanest, poppiest record yet, this year’s Heads Up? A rejuvenated pool of creativity that comes from solitude. The last two years saw Warpaint members split off to pursue solo albums, collaborations, and family life. In the past year, all four members came to the table with ideas they constructed privately during that time. By being open to collaboration and suggestions, they could merge those initial concrete ideas, but it’s not about making quirks stand out. It’s about blending the smooth with the jagged only when it feels right. “[Time apart]was incredibly important,” Mozgawa says of each member’s recent solo paths. “Our confidence grew by expressing ourselves privately.” They’ve got eyes all over their heads. When asked what’s overlooked in music, the band lists honesty, integrity, and innovation. It’s a beautiful response if you listen to the group’s music—Heads Up songs swirl creepy production with the catchy loops of pop—that articulates what it’s bringing that music nowadays lacks. “There were a lot of last-minute ideas on this one,” explains Mozgawa, noting “Above Control”—one of the first songs the band started and one of the last finished—in particular. “Something might seem unconventional but could suit the mood or complement a pre-existing song. It’s just about picking what’s tasteful and exciting, not being weird for weird’s sake.” They each have their stylistic tool. Combined, it lights Warpaint with a cool green ember. For Lindberg, it’s rounded bass notes that groove in an inconspicuous way. For Mozgawa, it’s establishing and cementing a feel through the hi-hats. “They feel so expressive to me,” she says. “It’s definitely not ‘my’ thing exclusively, but I do think I gravitate to them as a stylistic tool.” The innovation Warpaint sprouts is, unfortunately, rare to find because of the industry’s sharp fangs. “It’s rare these days to see a new band with exorbitant sponsorships from major labels — the bigger pop artists out there today have invested a great deal of thought into their careers. As a new artist, you kind of have to make To Pimp A Butterfly to get noticed,” explains Mozgawa. “Of course, there will always be bottom-feeding, copycat drivel, but there is a lot more innovation happening on the top layer that is very positive. Ideally, the inability to make as much money quickly will breed more long-term thinking.” Dip your fingers into the color of paint you dream to bear. Wipe it across your cheeks. Pick up your instrument and let the pressure to perfect everything subside. Warpaint’s looking for fellow creatives to up the game, and most of us have the potential to fulfil that. “If nothing is coming, the worst thing you can do is stress yourself out and feel the burden of what you ‘should be’ doing,” says Mozgawa. “I’m still learning how to get this one right myself!” >> WARPAINT. THU 10.6. PARADISE ROCK CLUB, 967 COMM. AVE., ALLSTON. 8PM/18+/$22. CROSSROADSPRESENTS.COM

Not all cover bands are destined to dissolve. When they joined forces for a Guided By Voices cover band, guitarist Matt Mara, bassist Zoë Wyner, and drummer Ian Gustafson didn’t realize just how much they’d enjoy making music together. Perhaps it was the way their voices stacked so effortlessly. Maybe it was their knack for punchy pop melodies. Full-length Tuesday Night Live showed they write feverishly when it dropped in January. They recorded Charm School the weekend of its release show, and now that EP celebrates its own release show at the Middle East this Wednesday. To top things off, they recorded an 11-song tour-only tape in August, because, clearly, why stop now? “As a band, we’re pretty easily bored,” says Wyner. “We’re constantly writing songs and are way ahead of our releases. It takes so long for records to come out that it’s kind of hard not to be.” Premeditated themes aren’t halfsour’s style. Instead, it grabs at the mundane and exhausts the exhausting until it squeezes the last drops of sugar from them. Charm School sees the band knead a louder, gnarlier product from its songs. “It wasn’t a conscious decision, though,” says Mara, as if puzzled by the three’s own pathway. “It just sort of happened?” Maybe that’s the best way to look at halfsour’s material: as a finger pointing at the everyday bores until their faults become endearing. EP cut “Vinyl Siding” came to fruition when Mara got a case of the shingles and doctors sent him home with painkillers, so he took a pen to paper while his leg throbbed (and word is it still does to this day). “Ten Year Tenure” zones in on a different pain: relocation, creative disparity, and city betrayal. “There is some really great music in Boston at this point!” says Wyner. “It’s just getting really expensive and hard to live here as an artist. ‘Ten Year Tenure’ is about watching all of our friends and the bands we love move away, and feeling conflicted about still being here. Like, people say they’ll never leave and then grow disenchanted and leave, and for better or worse we’re still kicking around.” Halfsour’s perseverance makes up half its charm. Ask them about it, though, and the three deny they’ve got lessons to teach. “We probably in part named our record Charm School because we all could use a few lessons on social graces,” laughs Wyner. “Not that we’re not nice, we’re definitely nice. But charming? We don’t know.” If they had to choose, though, they would mandate a class most Bostonians would benefit from: “How to navigate a sidewalk and exist in public in general.” Don’t take the snark seriously, or the band’s name. Halfsour is stoked as ever to be where it is. “Despite our negativity, there really is a lot of wonderful stuff happening in Boston right now,” says Mara. “It’s definitely a good time to be here, so please get to the gigs.” >> HALFSOUR, BIG EYES, KINDLING, LAIKA’S ORBIT, DAEPHNE. WED 10.12. MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 472 MASS. AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/ALL AGES/$10. MIDEASTOFFERS.COM

MUSIC EVENTS FRI 10.7

ROCK REUNIONS AND METAL BREAKUPS OVLOV + DONOVAN WOLFINGTON + CADDYWHOMPUS + MAURA

[Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$10. mideastoffers.com] 16

10.6.16 - 10.13.16

SUN 10.9

TUE 10.11

WED 10.12

[Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Pl., Boston. 8pm/all ages/$23.50. crossroadspresents.com]

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 6:30pm/all ages/$36. houseofblues.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 7pm/18+/$25. crossroadspresents.com]

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$15. sinclaircambridge.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 7pm/18+/$26. crossroadspresents.com]

COWBOYS CAN SAIL STURGILL SIMPSON + VALERIE JUNE

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DON’T CALL IT A SUM BACK SUM 41 + SENSES FAIL + AS IT IS

THE KING OF ELECTRONICS DJ SHADOW + NOER THE BOY

JOY DIVISION REVIVAL PREOCCUPATIONS + METHYL ETHEL

FRENCH DANCE LESSONS CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS + KAMAU

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

the next step of the film was, so that I would know how to get into it. Or else Star was going to be Sasha, because I don’t know any other way. Arnold’s films seem almost obsessed with the textures of specific places. In Fish Tank [2009], rightly or wrongly, you get the impression that she knows the landscape quite intimately. But that’s not necessarily the case with American Honey, because she’s not based in America—so did you feel like you had to be her eyes and ears, when it comes to authenticity? Sometimes. The thing about Andrea is that she respects whatever she’s doing. She has respect and love for everything. She spent a lot of time in America before the movie, traveling with these kinds of mag crews, going to these different kinds of places. That’s how she found me, on a beach—she’s always taking it all in. So you trust that she is going to do it justice. But she was open to us being like, “No, we don’t do that.” Even for small things. Like she’d want my hair down for a specific scene, but being out in that heat, the hair would’ve stayed wrapped up. Were there moments where you’d disagree on the more psychological aspects of the character? The scene where I’m looking at [a large stash of] jewelry—I was kinda like, “I don’t give a fuck about possessions, and I don’t think Star would care either.” But Andrea wanted me to look at it in awe, like an idea was forming, because the character had to go make money. She needed my character to look at that jewelry and see that she was going to build a life.

FILM

JUMPING INTO THE FIRE Sasha Lane’s first role brings her cross-country BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN Sasha Lane makes her acting debut as the lead in American Honey [2016], a new feature by English filmmaker Andrea Arnold. The previously untrained performer plays Star, who joins a “mag crew” traveling across the midwest selling periodicals door to door, where she’s under the questionable managerial control of Krystal (Riley Keough) and Jake (Shia LaBeouf), both of whom join her in a love triangle scenario. Lane appeared at an IFFBoston-sponsored screening of American Honey at the Brattle Theatre, where she spoke about her director’s working methods (of note: Most of the cast never saw a completed screenplay, but instead only specific pages given on specific days). I talked to Lane the next morning at the Liberty Hotel, where we continued to speak about her experience of Arnold’s production. At the start of the transcript, we were speaking about regional background—Lane was born in Houston, and spent much of her life in locations near Dallas, though she concedes she “popped around a lot.” DigBoston: That must have given you a personalized perspective on American Honey, with all the location shooting, and how it skips between urban spaces and rural spaces. The Kansas City sequence is one I’m thinking about—the sort of awed reaction everyone has when they arrive. Sasha Lane: Truly. And the way Andrea Arnold works, she’d tell us, “don’t look at anything yet.” She’d do the camera [setup], and then she’d have us look at where we were at. So, like, being on top of the van in Kansas City—you’re really taking it all in.

On one hand, you’re performing, you’re playing a character. On the other, “performance” is probably not exactly what your director is looking for—she’s looking for something adjacent to an acting performance. That’s what made it a little easier for me to come into this, because she was really big on it being raw and real. I mean, we were staying in motels that had bedbugs, all of that. Usually, there’s a prettier side to her movies. But on this one, her and [cinematographer] Robbie Ryan were saying they wanted something real. I had times where I had to say, “Andrea, I don’t know the difference between myself and the character, and it’s freaking me out.” And it’s cool, because you’re so into the work. But psychologically, you’re getting a little fucked. You’re like, wait...I’m Sasha, and that’s Star. I’ve only seen the movie twice now, but I can finally watch it and be like, “Your poor heart,” or, “this is what you’re doing—not so much me.” Not to baselessly speculate, but that must be a complicated part of the production process for you—I’d guess that Arnold would probably be very interested in capturing the sort of moments where you’re legitimately confused about your own identity. She definitely loved that confusion. But also, sometimes, she would need me to know the difference, because she’d need me to react in a certain way. And some of those times, I’d need to know a little more [about the screenplay]. I’d be so in the moment, not knowing what tomorrow is, and I could only perform in the way I was feeling. Some of those scenes, I’d need her to tell me more about why the character was doing something, or what

Was the camera something that consciously factored into your performance? The way it moves, in terms of both position and focus, can seem unplanned, or at least not meticulously so. Sometimes you had to think about where the camera was at. But some of the beauty was that, especially with the scenes in the van, it would just be us talking and hanging out. Robbie would happen to be there, but you don’t know if he’s looking at you or looking past you. So you just keep doing what you’re doing. And it catches you, or it doesn’t catch you, depending on what the scene was. If you continue acting, you’re sure to encounter some rigorous blocking. And there’s freedom to be found there, but it’s radically different, right? I did a short film, and they were like, “We have to block you like this so we can shoot you like that.” They’re fixing a sink to be in the frame with you, but it’s really over there, while you’re over here. It was more like, “We have to cheat into this [composition.]” With Andrea, she created this universe, and then just put us in it. You didn’t have to worry about “I have to step here, then I have to step there,” you just started stepping. At some points, we had the same mind. The scene around the fire pit, I just had this feeling to jump over it—and she comes over, saying “I was just going to tell you to do that.” She gave us this space, and we couldn’t help but fall into the steps that she wanted us to step into. Conversation has been edited and condensed.

>> AMERICAN HONEY. RATED R. OPENS ON FRI 10.7 AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, THE KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA, AND THE AMC BOSTON COMMON.

FILM EVENTS FRI 10.7

FRI 10.7

[Harvard Film Archive. 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/R/$12. 35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/ hfa]

[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30pm/ R/$9-11. Screens through 10.9—see brattlefilm.org for showtimes.]

[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Midnight/R/$11.25. 16mm. coolidge.org]

PAM GRIER IN PERSON, IN CONVERSATION W/ HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. FOXY BROWN [1974]

10.6.16 - 10.13.16

NEW DIGITAL RESTORATION OF JOEL AND ETHAN COEN’S DEBUT FEATURE BLOOD SIMPLE [1984]

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COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS THE AMITYVILLE HORROR [1979]

SAT 10.8

PAM GRIER IN PERSON JACKIE BROWN [1997]

[Harvard Film Archive. 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/R/$12. 35mm.]

SAT 10.8

MON 10.10

[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Begins w/ preshow at 11:30pm/R/$11.25. 35mm.]

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

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS A RARE 35MM SCREENING OF THE EXORCIST [1973]

THE DOCYARD PRESENTS DIRECTOR PENNY LANE IN PERSON W/ HER NEW FILM NUTS! [2016]

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THE OPEN AIR BREAKFAST, WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE (AMERICAN, 1849-1916) ABOUT 1888, OIL ON CANVAS. LENT BY THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART; PURCHASED WITH FUNDS FROM THE FLORENCE SCOTT LIBBEY BEQUEST IN MEMORY OF HER FATHER, MAURICE A. SCOTT COURTESY, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON

ARTS

ALLURING & TANTALIZING A spectacular William Merritt Chase show at the MFA BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) is one of America’s leading Impressionists, and the most famous 19th-century American painter that most have never heard of. On the centennial of his death, the MFA (with the help of the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia in Venice, and the Terra Foundation for American Art) has put together the first Chase retrospective in roughly 30 years; the first and last time that Chase’s work was exhibited in Boston was in 1886. Translation: This is a big deal. This sprawling exhibition, containing over 80 different works, is divided into seven different sections. Each showcases various phases of interest for Chase, as well as his many different strengths as an artist. It not only highlights the great depths of Chase’s artistry and his interest in advancing American modern art, but also shows that Chase didn’t merely paint because he could, but rather because he had to. Adding to his rich contributions to American art, he also taught and mentored other artists for much of his life, among them Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper. Highlighted in the exhibition’s first section, “Studio as Theater,” is Chase’s storied Tenth Street Studio, which he ornately and exhaustively decorated with treasures

from around the world. The theatricality of his studio works is unmissable, and here we see Chase as not only a tremendous artist, but as a master arranger. The highlight here is The Tenth Street Studio, in which a woman in a long white dress sits casually on an intense blue chair. A dog lies at her feet, and behind her, a menagerie of exotic fabrics and objects. It is easy to miss that to her right sits a man in the shadows, Chase himself. The next section, “A European Education,” opens with Ready for the Ride, a perfect illustration of the techniques that Chase mastered while studying in Munich (he thought Paris might be too distracting), and also a nod to the 16th-century Dutch masterworks that he so adored. A new acquisition for the MFA—and its first time on display in its new home—perfectly highlighted here is the seductive juxtaposition of old and new; the woman is dressed in traditional Dutch-style hat and collar, yet the confident expression on her face and the take-charge way that she is putting on her gloves makes it clear that we are looking at a modern woman. The theme of juxtaposition pulses through most of Chase’s work, and it is highlighted generously in this retrospective, which has been exquisitely curated by Erica Hirshler. Whether it is the seductive contrast of East

and West, as shown in Spring Flowers (Peonies), indoors being brought outdoors (The Open Air Breakfast), or the conflation of public and private (Hall at Shinnecock), the surprises in Chase’s work are endless. Other highlights of the exhibition include the sassy Lydia Field Emmet and her splendid “follow me lad” streamers, the realistic shimmer of Still Life—Fish, the flickering light in Mrs. Chase and Child, the variance in technique present in Hide and Seek, and the astonishing detail of The Unexpected Intrusion (The Turkish Page). The exhibition ends with Self-Portrait in 4th Avenue Studio, which is one of Chase’s final works. Chase is shown standing before a white canvas and surrounded by his painting supplies. Behind him is the same kind of dark, richly decorated interior seen in earlier portraits of his studio. Beyond the canvas, pristine, unobstructed light pours into the next room. This is a moving work by a man whose own mortality was clearly on his mind. When asked about the blank canvas, Chase said: “[It] is my masterpiece, the alluring, tantalizing, great picture I always hoped to paint.” According to Hirshler, this perfectly sums up his philosophy as a painter: He believed that his next painting was always going to be his best. To have all of these works simply hanging under one roof would be quite enough on its own; but the curatorial expertise and far-reaching thoughtfulness that have gone into this exhibition is an astonishing achievement. You don’t want to miss this. “I think he’s very deserving of being admired,” said Hirshler. “I think it’s time.”

>> WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE. THROUGH 1.16 AT THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, 465 HUNTINGTON AVE., BOSTON. MFA.ORG

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BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET I have a question about biking and female genitalia. I’m a woman in my forties, and I love biking! My husband and I often go for long rides on the weekend. Unfortunately, this makes various parts of my crotch sore, especially the clitoris. Certain bike seats are better, but none eliminate the soreness. Two years ago, we had a baby, which not only made my crotch more prone to soreness but makes it a lot less likely that we’ll have sex except on weekends, often after biking. The sore clit makes sex more painful, but it also increases sensitivity, so the whole thing can be an alternating experience of “Ow!” and “Wow!” Am I causing my clit any permanent damage by the biking and/or the post-bike poking? Any suggestions for decreasing crotch soreness? Bike Related Injury To Clit; Help Ease Soreness “I love biking, I love vulvas, and I love babies (mine, and I’m sure I would adore BRITCHES’s baby, too!),” said Dr. Herbenick, “so I appreciate being asked to chime in on this question. That said, there’s not a ton of research on female genital health in connection with cycling.” There’s far more research on men and cycling, due to the risks of bike-seat-related erectile dysfunction specifically and our society’s tendency to prioritize boners generally. “The few studies that have been conducted on women and cycling—generally cisgender women as far as I can tell—found that cutout seats are linked with a higher risk of genital symptoms, as are handlebars that are lower than the saddle,” said Dr. Herbenick. “So broader saddles and higher handlebars may be the way to go. Some of the research notes higher rates of genital symptoms among people who go on longer rides, spending hours in the saddle.” To decrease your risk of un-fun genital symptoms, BRITCHES, Dr. Herbenick recommends mixing it up. “Go biking some weekends and try other activities on other weekends—maybe hiking or swimming? You might also take Dan’s ‘fuck first’ Valentine’s Day advice and apply it to your weekend rides. And if you’re prone to post-intercourse semen leakage (and, really, who isn’t?) use a condom or have him come elsewhere pre-ride so you don’t have the semen seepage issue to contend with on a long ride. I hope this helps!” Follow Dr. Debby Herbenick on Twitter @ debbyherbenick.

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