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VOL 18 + ISSUE 41
OCTOBER 13, 2016 - OCTOBER 20, 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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Why are conservatives whining about a lack of archives? BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 In his 2014 commencement speech at Harvard University, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made national headlines by checking the alleged political bias of the very institution he was speaking at. “It is just a modern form of McCarthyism,” Bloomberg, a Harvard Business School grad himself, told the crowd. “Think about the irony: In the 1950s, the right wing was attempting to repress left-wing ideas. Today, on many college campuses, it is liberals trying to repress conservative ideas … And that is probably nowhere more true than it is here in the Ivy League.” It’s a view as commonly held by mainstreamacceptable anti-Trump righties like Bloomberg as it is by flame-fanning neo-Nazis: namely, the academy has little to no love for the right. The topic of whether and to what degree campuses swing southpaw has been the subject of endless debate and several studies—the most extensive of the latter show there are indeed more lefty profs, though the researchers behind that particular paper argue, “just because most professors are liberal doesn’t mean the average student is being force-fed liberal ideology.” Until recently, however, there hasn’t been much noise about conspiracies in the library stacks. On Monday, Oct 17, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard College will host a panel titled “Righting the Record: Conservatism and the Archives.” Though news of the event has hardly spurred the sort of vicious flamewars common in contemporary dialogue these days, the announcement nevertheless bothered some by claiming “the collections of major public repositories, especially those housed at universities, tend to document only one side of this complicated history: the left side.” The panel is being organized by the respected Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America and includes a moderator from the New York Times and historians in addition to partisan panelists (one of whom is from the Heritage Foundation). Despite that air of credibility, some claim next week’s spectacle is an unnecessary gesture. “It’s a fraud,” said Chip Berlet, an author, expert on American political movements, and former senior analyst at the Somerville-based Political Research Associates. Berlet, who has written for DigBoston in the past, continued, “None of the premise of this event is true. It’s a staged event to whine about how liberals don’t take the right wing seriously. They’re wringing their hands about how liberal academics don’t treat them properly.” In an email he originated that has been widely circulated between academics and librarians over the past several weeks, Berlet addressed what he pegs as “the lack of knowledge about archival collection of materials from right-wing individuals, organizations, and the many social and political movements on the US political Right.” Among the resources noted in the letter:
“It is just a modern form of McCarthyism.”
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“Tufts University Archive has a major collection on right-wing movements primarily consisting of documents from right-wing groups. It is built around the collection of the now-defunct Institute for First Amendment Studies which was based in Western Massachusetts.” “In Providence, Rhode Island there is a major collection at Brown University, with perhaps the largest collection of materials from the John Birch Society, founded in Massachusetts. The Birch Society pioneered many of the tropes, memes, and conspiracy theories circulated by such right-wing figures as Donald Trump and Glenn Beck.” “Perhaps the largest and oldest collection of rightwing archival materials is housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. For decades the collection of periodicals was managed by James Danky, who has produced archival finding aids for Harvard University.” Reached for comment, Danky told DigBoston that he shares some of the same reservations held by Berlet regarding “Righting the Record.” “A constant critique of the academy is [that] we don’t have enough conservative views,” said Danky, “and I wouldn’t want this discussion at Radcliffe to turn on that trope.” At the same time, the Wisconsin-based archivist argues that it’s valuable to have such conversations, just so long as people don’t get bogged down in left and right labeling. “I think the conference’s specific aim—to put [the archives of conservative pro-life group] Americans United for Life next to [the archives of the liberal pro-choice group] NARAL is a great idea, but the general suggestion that archives have failed to document the right seems overstated.” Danky continued, “I think most people,
academics included, would have difficulty identifying, even naming organized conservative groups over the last century. In many cases we can no longer understand what issues were at stake and how the participants sought to change them … The challenge for scholars is to help us understand the particulars without homogenizing it to the point that we have lost its historical salience.” In response to criticisms of the upcoming event, Harvard history professor Jane Kamensky, the Pforzheimer Foundation director of the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe, wrote to DigBoston, “It is of course correct that conservatism isn’t undocumented. Yet it remains underdocumented relative to progressive social movements. The particular interest of this panel at Schlesinger is family values conservatism, centered on women’s roles, sexuality, reproduction, and other facets of household life. These key elements of post WWII conservative thought and action are much less well documented than the geo-political and economic strands of [20th century] conservative thought and action, just as women’s history, broadly construed, is less well documented than the history of men in the public sphere.” In a time when so much political combat resembles WrestleMania, the archive spat appears to be a respectable bout with some common ground. Beyond a disagreement over the basic premise of the Radcliffe forum, researchers across the spectrum seem to agree that it’s important to horde troves from both sides of the divide. “The collection methodology of most college and research libraries is to collect widely,” Berlet said. “A good library is going to have a range of political views in its collection. And a good library is going to defend the right to collect views that many find objectionable. Librarians are at the forefront of defending civil liberties for everybody and free speech for everybody. They’re the ones saying, ‘Everyone should have access to a range of ideas.’”
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BY DR. KEITH SAUNDERS The candy was just laying there, in two bags, at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute on Columbia Point in Boston. Dr. Kevin Sabet, a self-styled “drug expert,” avid prohibitionist, and assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, had waved the treats around during a September 21 forum on cannabis legalization hosted by WGBH News. Sabet claimed one of the bags contained THC-laced candies that posed a danger to children, but then stepped away from the alleged edibles to engage in conversation. After he abandoned his “dangerous” substance for a couple minutes—plenty long enough for a child to get into the bags and eat a handful—I decided to secure those candies, and to bring them for THC testing in a Massachusetts lab. Those results came in this week, but before addressing the purity of Sabet’s stash there are some important things to consider … Marijuana prohibition is built on lies, from lies about the substance, to misconceptions about its effects on people, to fabrications regarding who users are and their motivations for use. So it should come as little surprise that Dr. Sabet, a notorious fabulist on the anti-cannabis circuit, is gallivanting around with bags of sweets that he apparently bought at an airport candy chain store, and lying to Massachusetts voters as they get ready to vote on the question of legalizing and regulating our state’s existing cannabis market in November. As a long-time reform advocate, five-term past president of MassCann, and current NORML board member, I do not want to see responsible adults treated as criminals for possessing cannabis. We are able to keep children from mistaking vodka for water, prescription pills for candy, and Ex-Lax for chocolate bars, but the prohibitionists want you to believe that your kids will be in special danger from a $5-per-piece edible that cannot cause a lethal reaction, and that you don’t want them to eat. This is the 20th anniversary of the re-integration of legal cannabis in America—California legalized medicinal marijuana in 1996, and Sabet is rapidly morphing into a modern James R. Blake, the historical punchline who tried to bully Rosa Parks out of her seat on that bus in Alabama. That whooshing sound is society passing Sabet. Even if otherwise respectable outlets like WGBH continue to give him a platform to rail against increased access to cannabis candies while having to pretend to possess the proof of looming dangers. Sabet doesn’t even take prohibition seriously himself. For years he advocated in support of sending marijuana users and others to jail, and only recently shifted to mandatory rehab for pot possession. Yet there he was, claiming to be using a counterfeit substance for his own political and personal gains. I never believed Sabet should face criminal charges, or the rehab he flanks, for that far-off-chance that he actually scored several ounces of edibles. After seeing the results of the tests on his stash, however, I do think he should be prosecuted for proffering a counterfeit substance, which is both a state and federal offense. I think he should be prosecuted for lying with criminal intent for claiming to be in possession of more than an ounce of THC. His words:“They are essentially— again, one of them is real and one of them isn’t—they are the real candy here [motioning with gummy bear bag] that are simply sprayed with THC. And there’s no way to tell the difference.” In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the lab test results showed that Sabet’s candy contained no detectable amount of cannabinoids. In other words, he was lying. I wonder if Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is actively campaigning against Question 4, will prosecute Sabet for his apparent criminal activity, or if she sees it all as an inconsequential game, as long as he is sharing in her opposition. The funniest part? Sabet called on local TV reporters to check the video, claiming, “Someone stole the edibles.” Turning this into something bigger than a joke among myself and a small circle of reform activists. Dr. Keith Saunders is The Most Dangerous Stoner in America, on Twitter @ TheMDSiA. He is also a board member of @NORML and loves cheeses.
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10.23.16 AT 4:00PM G I L L E T T E S TA D I U M
FIGHT WHERE YOU STAND On organizing for democracy
BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In a month featuring a couple of significant labor actions in the Boston area— the Harvard University dining hall workers strike for better pay and benefits, and the Boston Carmen’s Union’s recent civil disobedience action against privatization at the MBTA—it’s worth reflecting on the difference between unionized workers and other workers in the US. Which can be summarized as follows: Union workers fight. One can criticize them for not fighting hard or effectively enough, and I certainly do from time to time, but when push comes to shove union workers will push back. Collectively. Putting them in a stronger position than the rest of working people in this era. Nearly 90 percent of whom have no representation on the job. Tens of millions of workers who are unprotected “employees at will” that can basically be fired at any time for any reason other than open discrimination. And chances are, you’re one of them. Yet the reaction by many ununionized workers to their unionized fellows can be puzzling. Egged on by conservative ideologues, the common refrain on social media and in bar rooms from coast to coast is that union workers are “greedy” for wanting more than their bosses give them. Even as billionaires control ever more vast sums year by year. And deploy that wealth to influence politics to make themselves richer by the day. This leaves union critics caught in a rather obvious contradiction. On the one hand, under capitalism we’re all supposed to applaud people who get rich for constantly demanding more, more, and still more. For themselves alone. But when union workers demand more as a group, that’s somehow bad. Resulting in the spectacle of anti-union working people arguing that fellow working people in unions need to start acceding to less. Advancing the ludicrous claim that there’s not enough money and stuff to go around in our tremendously wealthy society for anyone but the rich. Conservative critics—some working people among them—actually think it’s better for such union workers to disband their unions and be satisfied with whatever their bosses feel like giving them. Or, as they typically put it, to accept what “the market” will bear. To join ununionized workers in the war of all against all. Racing each other to the bottom of the economic pyramid, until a new feudalism grips humanity. Where “the multitude,” as Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt put it, are dominated completely by “the one percent” named so accurately by the Occupy movement. To prevent such a dystopia from ever coming to pass, it’s time for ununionized, and therefore unorganized, workers to draw a proverbial line in the sand at every workplace in America—including right here in Boston. In place of the culture of fear that reigns at most every job—the fear of being fired for promulgating even the slightest appeal for justice—there must be a culture of democratic resistance. Workers must start organizing together wherever they are to demand more. More money, better benefits, better working conditions. And critically, more control over their workplaces. This organizing can involve joining traditional unions where possible, but that is not a necessary precondition to starting to fight back. It can begin as simply as holding meetings after work, discussing problems with the way things are going day-to-day, looking into how workers in similar situations have dealt with their problems on the job, and deciding how to fight for redress. Some will say that such conflict is old-fashioned and counterproductive, and that it’s far better to work together with owners and bosses to come to some kind of accord on the job. From a position of permanent weakness. Leaving power in the hands of the monied elites. In your workplace and in the larger political realm. I would counter by quoting the preamble to the constitution of the storied democratic union of the turn of the 20th Century, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.” As the horrendous presidential race approaches its climax, it’s important to keep this in mind. If you’re wondering why both major party candidates are terrible, and why neither of them are standing up for the interests of working people—for your interests—the old language of radical democracy, plainly expressed by the IWW preamble, provides the beginnings of an answer. The rest of that answer—at your job and in world that surrounds it—is up to you. And all of us in the multitude. Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Jason Pramas is BINJ’s network director.
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Check out the Apparent Horizon Podcast on: iTunes, Google Play Music. Stitcher, and YouTube
COPYRIGHT 2016 JASON PRAMAS. LICENSED FOR USE BY THE BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM AND MEDIA OUTLETS IN ITS NETWORK.
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GHOST SHIP HIJINX FEATURE
The USS Salem’s ghosts have been waiting more than a lifetime for this haunting The Sea Witch smells like death. “It’s the paint,” joked one of the volunteers who greeted me as I clumsily stumbled onboard the historic USS Salem in Quincy. “There were hundreds of dead bodies on here during the earthquake in Greece in 1953 and many of them died from burns ... so that could explain the peculiar smell as well.” One of the first things I was told when I reported for duty as the manager of the VIP paranormal experience on Ghost Ship Harbor, a new haunted attraction slotted for the USS Salem this Halloween season, was not to piss off the ghosts. Launched on March 25, 1947, in Fore River Shipyard in 10
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Quincy and nicknamed the Sea Witch by her crew thanks to a three-month stint in the so-called witch city, the USS Salem never saw combat but was certainly a harbinger of death. In fact, the area beneath her mess hall became a makeshift morgue during the previously mentioned earthquake off the coast of Greece in 1953 and it’s estimated that at least 400 dead bodies were kept on the vessel. According to additional reports, at least 23 babies were born on the ship during the 1950s. The USS Salem is a heavy-metal celebrity of sorts. She made a cameo in the action-packed thriller from Disney called The Finest Hours starring Casey Affleck and
Chris Pine. The vessel was also featured in a film called the Pursuit of the Graf Spee in 1956. And, of course, the haunted vessel was featured on Ghost Hunters a few years ago. It should be no surprise, but it’s the ghost ship’s alleged paranormal activity that generates the most regional buzz. There’s also an angry sentinel spirit known to get aggressive if you disrespect the Sea Witch. Kim Mello, a long-time volunteer on the ship and former manager of the USS Salem’s haunted house, told me about a group of teen-girl haunters who were GHOST SHIP continued on pg. 12
PHOTOS BY FRANK C. GRACE
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most active was the admiral’s quarters where we got EVPs,” she continued. “The men didn’t like ladies on their ship. I think the ghosts of the men who served still reside with their old-school rules.” Paranormal Xpeditions also picked up an electromagnetic voice phenomenon, or EVP, of what sounded like a pig on the top deck. The USS Salem’s proverbial ghost cat was let out of the bag in October 2009 when Syfy’s Ghost Hunters investigated the 718-foot cruiser. In the anchor windlass room, Condon told the The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) team that “one of our volunteers, his name was John, used to work in this space, maintaining and cleaning it. One day he passed away and we noticed people saying they met this terrific tour guide named John,” the vessel’s executive director Michael Condon said, adding that they didn’t have any tour guides on the ship at that time. “He’s very active in this spot and people actively see him and even talk to him.” Tom Ventosi, a volunteer with the USS Salem, said he saw a woman in white in the restricted medical area. “As I looked down the hall, you could see a woman taking a right. She was in white shorts, white shirt and had a white handbag. She just turned and walked. And when we went down there and looked where she went there was only a metal wall. We couldn’t find her anywhere.” Condon mentioned that he’s heard an EVP of a woman in the medical area, near the tables with stirrups, saying “get out, get out.” However, Condon said the agitated spirit could be saying “get it out,” which could be a reference to the multiple children born on the USS Salem. The executive director also told TAPS that he spotted a shadow figure in the machine shop. The ship’s archivist, John Connors, said he’s heard phantom footsteps above him when he’s working. “It’s always right above my head,” Connors explained. “I go up on the main deck to see if there are any cars in the parking lot and there are no cars there, except my truck. I look around to see if anybody is onboard … nobody.” The Ghost Hunters crew did pick up footsteps immediately and claimed to have heard a woman’s voice. Grant Wilson said he saw a shadowy black figure creep up the gangplank. They also picked up high levels of electromagnetic activity which could result in uneasy feelings of paranoia. During the reveal, they picked up a low-grade EVP and other inexplicable bumps in the night. “What does it come down to? We have some bangs that we can’t explain and we have some low, subtle voices,” said Wilson, mentioning his close encounter with the shadow figure. “I truly believe there is something going on here,” Jason Hawes confirmed. “I would like to come back and investigate.”
If Ghost Hunters does return, the USS Salem will be secured at a different location. It’s slotted to move in November a few docks away from its current location in Quincy. Over the past year, the vessel was rumored to set sail for the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina next to the Nantucket Lightship in East Boston and then Fall River. However, management decided it is best to keep her close to home. Don DeCristofaro, a paranormal investigator who spent many sleepless nights on the USS Salem, said he’s glad the ship is staying nearby. In his opinion, the vessel is a paranormal goldmine since the Ghost Hunters team visited in 2009. “Interestingly, the ship became much more active after TAPS left,” he said. “Numerous people claim that TAPS opened several doors for spirits on the ship and didn’t close them when they left.” DeCristofaro said Ghost Hunters focused on the ship’s least active areas. “My most intense experiences have been in the wardroom and the mess decks. We had an evening in the wardroom where several chairs were overturned. The night was the only time I can honestly say I was uncomfortable on the ship. I really felt like something bad was with us that night.” DeCristofaro said he “lost some time” during the investigation. “The psychic I was with that night said I was channeling,” he recalls. “It was very strange and I was bleeding when it was over.” Will the ghosts of the USS Salem draw blood this Halloween season? As the manager of Ghost Ship Harbor’s VIP paranormal experience, I’m trying my damndest to not piss off the boat’s ghosts. So far … no blood. Anchors aweigh. Journalist and author Sam Baltrusis featured the USS Salem in his book 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts. In addition to working on Ghost Ship Harbor, he published three historical-based ghost books this year including Haunted Boston Harbor, Paranormal Provincetown, and 13 Most Haunted Crime Scenes Beyond Boston. Visit 13MostHaunted.com for more information.
PHOTOS BY FRANK C. GRACE
banging on the freezers near the mess hall. “I told them to stop disrespecting the spirits but they wouldn’t listen,” she said, describing the former horror-themed room full of “living dolls,” a scene that caused a ruckus several seasons ago because one of the dolls naively said “turn me on” to visitors. “I could see them through the curtain and two of the girls had scratches all up and down their legs … and they were bleeding. I know they didn’t do it to themselves because I was watching the whole thing as it happened.” Mello said the mysterious scratches were mere “love marks” compared to the nightmare her team of volunteer haunters endured when they were told to move the haunted house off of the boat. In 2013, access to the vessel was shut down because the MBTA deemed the wharf was unstable. In addition to hosting paranormal investigation teams and overnight visits for Boy Scout groups, the pocket battleship had a 20-year run as the U.S. Naval Shipbuilding Museum in Quincy and served as a symbol of the city’s shipbuilding history during the 1940s. “It was a nightmare,” Mello said, referring to the volunteer group’s attempt to resurrect the ship’s haunted attraction. “We had a circus freak show theme and we had a tough time keeping the tents up during the season. Plus, it was freezing.” Jason Egan, the hauntrepreneur behind Fright Dome in Las Vegas and mastermind behind the new attraction onboard the USS Salem, had an equally rough ride in his search for the ideal location to produce a Boston-area attraction. Egan and local marketing guru Matt DiRoberto were swatted down twice when they tried to unleash their initial vision called Fright Island on Georges Island and then Castle Island in South Boston. Egan’s dream of creating his world-class haunt on a Boston Harbor island was ultimately squashed. However, he and DiRoberto approached the USS Salem and they were eager to create a haunted house on a notoriously haunted location. For the record, the boat was ranked No. 8 in my 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts book released last year. “We kind of fell into this location. Originally we were gearing for an island but then we came across this ship. This thing is huge and it’s actually haunted. I’m very excited to launch this haunted attraction in such a unique and iconic location,” said Fright Dome owner Jason Egan. “Over the years, my team has created some of the top Halloween events in the world, from Las Vegas to Hong Kong. To launch in a new market like Boston and work in a location that is notoriously haunted is amazing.” Rachel Hoffman, an investigator with Paranormal Xpeditions and one of the handful of experts working with me on Ghost Ship Harbor, said her team uncovered a lot of activity in the hospital unit. “We heard a crying baby in the medical area,” she said, adding that there are tables with stirrups indicating facilities for childbirth. In the so-called “butter room” or “meat locker where the bodies were kept while at sea was the thickest, most active area,” Hoffman told me in an interview for my book 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts, adding that her team heard banging and that others reported being touched when no one else was onboard. The USS Salem also boasts a few misogynistic spirits who frequently retaliated when Hoffman’s all-female crew investigated the ship. For the record, the vessel was decommissioned in 1959 and its alleged spirits reflect the sentiment prevalent during the World War II era. “The
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HONEST PINT
LIVE MUSIC • LOCAVORE MENU PRIVATE EVENTS 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 10/24 New Music Night w/ DJ Bad Squirrel 10/25 The Pack AD, She Keeps Bees, Salem Wolves 10/26 Snowapple, Crooked Horse, Rachel Marie 10/27 Bob Schneider, Bonnie Bishop 10/28 Scissorfight, Roadsaw, Worshipper, Hey Zeus, Gaskill 10/29 - 10/31 Ballroom of Horror
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MEDFORD BREWING COMPANY Simple for beers sake BY JEFF LAWRENCE When Max Heinegg and Nick Bolitho, co-founders of the Medford Brewing Company, started kicking around the idea of launching a brewing company, their foremost concern was simple and to the point: brew a beer that everyone can enjoy. Fast forward to their inaugural release last week, an aptly named American Pale Ale (6% ABV), and their first mission appears to be accomplished. This light, very drinkable, unassuming offering is a very non-offensive, surprisingly crisp beer. If that sounds boring and pedestrian, that’s sort of the point, but don’t sell this beer short for its tankard-like probity. As a friend once said to me, it’s very easy to make a complex beer shitty, while extremely challenging to make a basic beer really good. I was tipped off to this venture quite some time ago—in fact, we broke the news of its impending arrival almost a year ago—but until I actually had a can of it in my hand, I wasn’t quite sold on the concept. This wasn’t a new brewery— they contract their brewing for now; nor was it billed as an earth-shattering entry into the local market, it’s always been described as a straightforward brewing company. So when I met with Bolitho at a local haunt in the South End of Boston, I was eager to get an update, catch up on old times [Full disclosure: Nick worked for me at DigBoston for several years as a sales manager], but most importantly, drink some of his beer. I cracked the 16-oz. can in front of me and poured a sample size into a small glass. A quick sniff didn’t reveal anything profound (it rarely does; it’s more a force of habit at this point), and I took a swig. I finished the few-ounce pour and filled it up again, skipping the smell test this time, and finished it in one gulp. I then pushed the glass aside and starting drinking from the can. I was sold. Considering the establishment we were in—which shall remain nameless—and the company the bartender/owner keeps with the many samples and pitches, my expectations were low at best when I handed him a sample to try, and yet he too had the same reaction. This is a very good drinkable beer that you’ll appreciate immediately. In a world of spiced-up seasonal styles and hopped-up imperial bombs or questionably unnessary sours, this is a welcome beer to an otherwise abused palate. Bolitho and I chatted about the background of the beer and history between Heinegg and himself (Heinegg is a musician and was part of the seminal Boston band Bang Camaro; they met each other because of their children) before he opened up about their long-term plans and short-term vision. “Our next beer will be an IPA; after that we’re going to release a lager … Our goal is to break ground on our own brewery in Medford in the next year … We want to appeal to the hophead as much as the average beer drinker,” he explained. I’m never biased towards my friends and ex-employees when they pitch me on their new/improved ventures, insofar as my gut reaction is almost always negative, which never bodes well for anyone involved. This was no different, but like he did years ago when he called me boss, Bolitho did not let me down. With Heinegg as his co-pilot—and it should be noted he’s an accomplished homebrewer with hands-on learning via idle Hands, Lord Hobo, and Mystic, along with many, many homebrew awards under his belt—Medford Brewing Company is not a fly-by-night contract wannabe. These guys, and their beers, are worthy and they are here to stay. >> MEDFORD BREWING CO., MEDFORD, MA. MEDFORDBREWINGCOMPANY.COM
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MUSIC
HINDIE ROCK FEST Everything you need to know BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN
WHEN YOU GIVE, YOU GET!
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Appropriation and appreciation: Do you know the difference? Actually, don’t answer that. Anyone who has a Facebook has run into heated debates about the appropriation of black culture or non-Western music, more often than not because someone thinks they’re appreciating dreadlocks or hip-hop when, really, they’re taking the owner’s creation without ever giving proper credit. We’re willing to bet India sees this happen the most, second only to African countries. From Buddhism to curry to a misused bindi, the country’s culture gets ripped off to no end solely because it’s so fascinating. It’s a culture richer than its colors, tastes, and sounds suggest, yet it always feels just out of reach, as if most Americans will never become truly familiar with Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi life despite the grandiosity of their output. Those of us in Boston, however, get a chance to appreciate without appropriating. This upcoming Friday and Saturday, the Cambridge YMCA Theatre will host Hindie Rock Fest, a two-day music festival celebrating the sights and sounds of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi cultures. Now in its second edition, the festival takes its tonguein-cheek name from a focus on local indie rock by and for desi artists. Boston may be diverse for a New England city, but it’s got plenty of room to grow. So the founders aim to bring together hundreds of people seeking a community our city has yet to roll out on a large scale, particularly a community that introduces “desis and rockers alike.” For $15 each day or $25 for a two-day pass, festivalgoers will be treated to sets by Trandcention, Raavi Lucia, the Shadow Notes, Nazar Bollywood Dance Troupe, Hunter Music, Word-Problems, Solaradicals, Garv Bomjan Music, Humeysha, the Kominas, Payal Sharma, and Awaaz Do. If you need a break, catch Anjali Nirmalan’s live poetry reading. When you start to hit that midday lull, catch Nina Bhattacharya and Monishita Ray’s dance performances. There’s never a reason to let your brain go unstimulated at Hindie Rock Fest. It’s a spiced bowl of indie rock, noise, and traditional dance. And yet, that’s not all. In-the-know attendees can see something new thanks to touring acts like New York City’s Ashni and Washington DC’s Evilartform and DJ Ayes Cold signing up to play. As thrilling as the lineup is, what makes Hindie Rock Fest so special is its accessibility. The US may be boxed in by its borders, but the folks behind the festival worked hard to make sure everyone—people of all ages, of all abilities, of all ethnicities—can attend the two-day festival without breaking the bank or feeling out of place. Not only that, but they can feel comfortable attending regardless of their knowledge of Indian music. It’s 2016. Combat stereotypes by creating and supporting art. If you’re not trying to learn about, respect, and assist cultures beyond your own, you’re not hopping on change in motion—and trust us, Hindie Rock Fest has enough to warrant a ride. >> HINDIE ROCK FEST. FRI10/14—SAT 10/15. CAMBRIDGE YMCA THEATRE, 820 MASS. AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 5PM/ALL AGES/$15-25. HRF2016.BROWNPAPERTICKETS.COM Head to digboston.com to read an exclusive interview with Yowler ahead of her set at Great Scott this Sunday, Oct 16
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MUSIC EVENTS THU 10.13
PENNY PINCHER CHILL ROCK SALES + ROZ AND THE RICECAKES + STRANGE MANGERS [Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/all ages/$14. mideastoffers. com]
FRI 10.14
DON’T STOP DANCING CLASSIXX + HOLY GHOST! + HARRIET BROWN
[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$22. crossroadspresents.com]
SAT 10.15
FELABRATION BOSTON 2016 UHURU AFRIKA + FEDERATOR N°1
[Middle East Downstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$15. mideastoffers.com] SUN 10.16
R&B REALNESS KING + NICK HAKIM
[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 7pm/18+/$17. crossroadspresents.com]
SUN 10.16
GIRLS TO THE FRONT MARGARET GLASPY + PALEHOUND + ADRIANEE LENKER
[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 7pm/18+/$12. sinclaircambridge.com] WED 10.19
ELECTRONIC PIONEERS THE ORB + DJ CARBO
[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$18. crossroadspresents.com]
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FILM
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE PROJECTED On Pam Grier and ‘Say it Loud!’ at the Harvard Film Archive BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN Though she has acted in movies for the better part of four decades, the persona of Pam Grier has always been defined by a run of five action films released within a span of just three years: Black Mama White Mama [1973]; Coffy [1973]; Foxy Brown [1974]; Sheba, Baby [1975]; and Friday Foster [1975], all of which were distributed by the famed exploitation house American International Pictures. This did change after the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown [1997], an expansive tribute to that aforementioned run, which has served as the definitive rendering of the actress’ on-screen identity ever since. But the impression left by Grier on the consciousness of American film culture is undoubtedly greater than that left by any of these individual movies. The Internet Movie Database lists her at 5 feet 8 inches, but she towered over male co-stars during those exploitation days, when she was often either framed gloriously like a model or staged threateningly with a weapon in her hands. Her roles often cast her as a vigilante of black nationalism, stabbing and shotgunning the oppressors of a white patriarchy. But her performances are marked by a truly disarming sense of sincerity, one that deepened the emotional wells of her movies to an almost disquieting degree—through her rarified work, they display consciousness of their own, political, social, moral, and otherwise. As a black female action star in an era where those identifiers would usually have disqualified her twice over, Grier was no less than a pioneering figure in the development of the American genre cinema. And during her visit to the Harvard Film Archive last weekend, she tied her lineage to another set of pioneers. “We were part of the underground,” she says of her family and her background, “the Black West. I brought that to film. And I think that’s what made people more interested. Because a lot of the cit-tay girls—‘Oh, I have to fall? Do stunts? Oh my god.’ And I said, ‘I’ll take it.’” Grier’s visit was a two-night centerpiece within the Archive’s ongoing six-film retrospective of her work; she introduced Foxy Brown on Friday and was in conversation with Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. after the film. The pair spent the better part of an hour delving into the finer details of her biography, alongside other topics including her inspirations (Diana Sands, Gloria Steinem, and Mary Fields, whom she unsuccessfully attempted to produce a movie about), the origin of “blaxploitation” (“[The phrase] was created by two black advertising men at AIP … any film that has profanity, sexuality, guns, and violence is exploitation. So when the exhibitors would call, saying ‘What audience is it for?’ they would say it’s for the black audience—and they would call it blaxploitation”), and who she would cast in a film biography of her own life (Quentin Tarantino’s personal choice, backed up by Grier, is Rihanna). One pertinent recollection, mentioned more than once across the weekend, was the memory of her informal entrance into the film production business:
tagging along on an illegal shoot with a group of UCLA film students. “I needed tuition to get into school; I was working three jobs to try and get into UCLA Film,” she noted during the introduction to Foxy. “I walked over to the campus and was mesmerized by people loading their van with equipment. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They said, ‘We’re going to make a film. We’re film students.’ I said, ‘That’s what I want to do! But I’m too poor.’ And they invited me, and I found myself pushing a Volkswagen bug as the dolly one night at two in the morning. I knew this was what I had to do. And they treated me as an equal—and I loved that.” She was not the only person waiting to bust down the doors of the UCLA film department. In the program notes for “Say it Loud! The Black Cinema Revolution”—a separate repertory program at the Archive, which runs from Oct 21 through Dec 3 and features more than 20 shorts and features from the ’60s and ’70s—there is a related declaration: “The momentum and progress of civil rights and the Black Power, Black Panther and more radical, militant movements energized black artists to reclaim power over their own image and activated institutions like UCLA to make it financially possible for students of color to study filmmaking.” At UCLA, it was “an EthnoCommunications initiative designed to be responsive to communities of color” that allowed a sizeable group of African and African-American students to study at the School of Theater, Film, and Television during the late 1960s, according to “The Story of the L.A. Rebellion,” the university’s own published record of this history. The Rebellion name is one that has become attached to a group of vaguely interconnected filmmakers and artists who emerged from the school at that time; one of them was Jamaa Fanaka, who filmed part of Penitentiary [1979] on the very same campus that Grier had wandered through as an aspiring student years earlier. Penitentiary will screen at the Archive as part of “Say it Loud!” on Oct 29, but the program is hardly limited to the scope of the UCLA movement. It presents a vision of African-American cinema that is diverse in every conceivable manner—in terms of genre, format,
budgetary level, intended audience, aesthetics, and any other cinematic identifier you might think to measure the films against. Included among the individual screenings are canonical blaxploitation efforts including Shaft [1971] (screens on Oct 21), Super Fly [1972] (Oct 21), and The Mack [1973] (Nov 18); an evening of screenings by documentary filmmaker Madeline Anderson, with the director in person to present her works (Nov 7); the Afro-futurist Space is the Place [1974], featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra (Nov 19); a Nina Simone concert film with no credited director, Live in Montreux 1976 [1976] (Nov 21); a vampire picture recently remade by Spike Lee, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess [1973] (Dec 3); and exploitation filmmaker Jack Starrett’s Cleopatra Jones [1973] (Nov 18), a female-led action programmer that shares a kinship with the vigilante pictures featuring Grier. That actress’ own program wraps up with two more screenings to come: the Richard Pryor-led Wendell Scott biopic Greased Lightning [1977] (Oct 31), where Grier is unfortunately relegated to apron-clad duties for most of the running time, and comic book adaptation Friday Foster (Nov 11), a more playful crime effort that concluded her storied cycle at AIP. The art of filmmaking has always been limited by narrowness of access. What these programs illustrate is a historical moment where the gates swung open just enough to be kicked through; even a cynic would have to admit that most of the commercial films being shown in this program would have been inconceivable in the social climate of the decade that preceded their release. It’s a moment that Grier will forever be tied to—another lineage of pioneers to which she can attach her name.
>> PAM GRIER, SUPERSTAR! CONTINUES AT THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE THROUGH 11.11. SAY IT LOUD! THE BLACK CINEMA REVOLUTION FEATURES PROGRAMS SCREENING FROM 10.21 THROUGH 12.3. SEE HCL.HARVARD.EDU/HFA FOR SCHEDULES AND SHOWTIMES.
FILM EVENTS THU 10.13
FRI 10.14
FRI 10.14
SAT 10.15
[Museum of Fine Arts. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 5:30pm/NR/$11. mfa.org]
[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 5, 7, and 9:30pm/NR/$11. Screens through 10.16—see brattlefilm.org for other showtimes.]
[Coolidge Corner Theatre. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Midnight/R/$11.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]
[Somerville Theatre. 55 Davis Square, Somerville. 1pm/PG/$15. 70mm. somervilletheatre.com]
DIRECTOR MAÏWENN’S MY KING [2015]
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DIRECTOR DAVID SCHISGALL’S THEO WHO LIVED [2016]
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COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON [1981]
70MM SCREENING, AS PART OF ‘TERROR THON ’16’ @ THE SOMERVILLE THEATRE GHOSTBUSTERS [1984]
MON 10.17
WED 10.19
[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/NR/$11.]
[Museum of Fine Arts. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 7pm/NR/$11. mfa.org]
THE DOCYARD AND DIRECTOR BONNI COHEN PRESENT AUDRIE & DAISY [2016]
THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF BOSTON AND DIRECTOR BARRY FRECHETTE PRESENT PAPER LANTERNS [2016]
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NATIONAL TOURING COMPANY. (L-R) KRISTEN BETH WILLIAMS AS SIBELLA HALLWARD, KEVIN MASSEY AS MONTY NAVARRO AND ADRIENNE ELLER AS PHOEBE D’YSQUITH IN A SCENE FROM “A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER.” PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS.
ARTS
DECIPHERING HER GAZE
Kristen Beth Williams comes to Boston with Gentleman’s Guide BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS Broadway vet Kristen Beth Williams has been a constant fixture on Broadway since she made her Broadway debut in Promises, Promises in 2010. In her first three Broadway shows, she understudied three different Tony-winning actresses: Katie Finneran in Promises, Promises; Sutton Foster in Anything Goes; and Judy Kaye in Nice Work If You Can Get It. For the last year, Williams has been touring the country with A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, 2014’s Tony-winning Best Musical, which finally comes to Boston Oct 18. You have been a pretty consistent presence on Broadway for the last five years, and I think it’s so interesting that in your first three shows you understudied the person who won the Tony. Yes, actually! In my first three Broadway shows I’ve covered Tony Award winners in every single one of them. It must be a strange feeling to think, as an understudy, that the people in the audience might be looking forward to seeing the person who just won the Tony, and then they get a slip of paper in their playbill with your name on it. I’m sure it is, you know. Luckily for me, with Promises,
Promises, I only had one shot and I sort of knew that. I went on for Katie Finneran the day she got married, actually. We kind of knew that was going to happen, so I had quite a bit of time to prepare for it. And what I remember most leading up to that was Katie pulled me aside one night and said: “You know what, you can’t go too far.” She basically told me to go big or go home. You’ve got one chance to do it, so just go out there and do it and don’t apologize for it. That has stuck with me my whole career of understudying Tony Award winners. The hardest one that I covered was Sutton [Foster], actually, because she had won the Tony and the show was built around her and everything that she could do, and she is such a dynamite performer; and she’s such a darling and so beloved in the Broadway community that stepping into her shoes was, I think, a little more intimidating than anybody else’s. Again, perfect storm—I was the second cover, I was never going to go on; and then the week that her first cover took a vacation, Sutton got violently, violently ill, and I did almost six full shows. That must be so thrilling; Reno is one of those dream roles. It was, it really was. As a little girl growing up from Mesquite, Texas, I always considered Broadway to be the dream, never the goal—I tried to keep my goals
very realistic in that I would like to work professionally as an actor and not have a side job—that’s the goal. Broadway is the dream: if [I] get there, great. Once I got there, I thought, okay, now I need a new dream. And you don’t realize that your dream is to take a final bow on a Broadway stage until you’re actually standing there doing it. And I called my mom on my walk to the subway that night and said, “Mom, I took the last bow on a Broadway stage tonight, and if that never happens again for me, I can at least say that I did it.” And that’s really astounding. What are you looking forward to about being in Boston? I worked about 10 years ago at North Shore and at Reagle Music Theatre so I kind of know the area, but I know it from 10 years ago, so I’m really excited to come in and walk through all of the history of downtown Boston. There are several big history buffs on this tour, and we love to just go to the museums and walk the trails and see all of the things that we can see. There are a couple of battlefields that I would like to get to that I haven’t ever seen, and we’re doing a charity ride at SoulCycle in Back Bay on Friday the 21st at 2 pm for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, so we’re very excited about that. You had said that this role fits you like a beautifully tailored suit. Why is that? Oh gosh, it makes me sound like a horrible person if you know the show. [laughs] She’s so wonderfully selfcentered and devious in a really fun, fantastic way. And I don’t know what that says about me as a person. I just have a ball playing her. It’s a superbly well-written character with a lot of layers, so she’s really fun to play.
>> A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER. 10.18-10.23. SHUBERT THEATRE, 265 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. AGENTLEMANSGUIDEBROADWAY.COM
ARTS EVENTS LAST CHANCE! SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
[Huntington Theatre Company, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston. Through 10.16. huntingtontheatre. org] 20
10.13.16 - 10.20.16
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DIGBOSTON.COM
SERENITY IN SALEM CHILDE HASSAM AND THE ISLES OF SHOALS
[Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. Through 11.6. pem.org]
INCREDIBLE RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE DELLA ROBBIA
[Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Through 12.4. mfa.org]
THE EXHIBITION OF THE YEAR WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE
[Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Through 1.16. mfa.org]
GORGEOUS NEW EXHIBITION BEYOND WORDS: ITALIAN RENAISSANCE BOOKS
[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, Boston. Through 1.16. gardnermuseum. org]
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SAVAGE LOVE
SENIOR MOMENTS
WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM
BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET
I’m a 56-year-old widow. My husband died suddenly eight years ago. We had no children. I’ve learned how to get along on my own, and until recently, living alone didn’t bother me. Lately, though, I’ve become lonely. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone. The problem is that, since menopause hit, I no longer desire sex. I only miss cuddling and holding hands. My body shut the door on sex, and for the most part, I’m fine with it. (Sex with my late husband was truly terrible.) Should I just accept that I’m destined to spend the rest of my life alone? Ready To Give Up Don’t suppose you’d be interested in a 64-yearold who doesn’t leave the house much and feels entitled to a child- and tattoo-free twentysomething but might be willing to settle? There could be used car in it for you. No? Then here’s another option: There are men out there—some around your age, some older, some significantly older—who aren’t interested in and/or capable of having sex anymore. Many of these men want companionship, too, and they lurk on dating websites, afraid to respond because they wrongly assume all the women on OurTime.com or SeniorMatch.com are looking for older guys who can get it up and get it in. Create a profile and be honest about what you want (companionship, intimacy) and don’t want (sex), RTGU, and you’ll hear from men who want a life partner and a cuddle buddy, not a sex partner or a fuck buddy. Finally, RTGU, if you’re content without sex, I’m content. But I can’t help wondering if your terrible-at-sex husband didn’t create a negative association that a more considerate, attentive partner might be able to break. If you spoke to your doctor about treatment options and then landed in bed with a man who was kind, considerate, and capable, but content just to cuddle—so no pressure—you might find yourself wanting to reopen that door.
savagelovecast.com On the Lovecast, porn questions with Dr. Marty Klein: savagelovecast.com.
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