DIGBOSTON.COM 02.07.19 - 02.14.19
FEATURE
FIGHTING OPIATES THE SUBOXONE HUSTLE
COVER
MARCELA CRUZ FROM LOWELL WITH LOVE
BOOKS: ABSOLUTELY FABIO - A ROMANCE NOVEL POP-UP
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EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Faraone EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jason Pramas MANAGING EDITOR Mitchell Dewar MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan THEATER EDITOR Christopher Ehlers COMEDY EDITOR Dennis Maler STAFF WRITER Haley Hamilton CONTRIBUTORS G. Valentino Ball, Sarah Betancourt, Tim Bugbee, Patrick Cochran, Mike Crawford, Britni de la Cretaz, Kori Feener, Eoin Higgins, Zack Huffman, Marc Hurwitz, Marcus Johnson-Smith, C. Shardae Jobson, Heather Kapplow, Derek Kouyoumjian, Dan McCarthy, Rev. Irene Monroe, Peter Roberge, Maya Shaffer, Citizen Strain, M.J. Tidwell, Miriam Wasser, Dave Wedge, Baynard Woods INTERNS Casey Campbell, Morgan Hume, Jillian Kravatz, Olivia Mastrosimone, Juan A. Ramirez, Jacob Schick
DESIGN
DESIGNER Don Kuss COMICS Tim Chamberlain, Pat Falco Patt Kelley, Don Kuss, Cagen Luse DigBoston Phone 617.426.8942 digboston.com
ON THE COVER PHOTO OF MARCELA CRUZ BY ASHLEY NADEAU. READ MORGAN HUME’S PROFILE OF CRUZ IN THIS WEEK’S MUSIC SECTION.
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DEAR READER A LOVE STORY
“This is really a love story. ’Cause on the low, most of my haters got love for me.” I love that line by Cali rapper Crooked I. Not because I think the right-wing radicals who write horrendous messages and emails to the Dig secretly want to brunch with us, but rather because it reminds me that there is another side to all the hating that I personally do. You see, I’m a lover, too. As an editor of one of the few publications around here that still strives to hold powerful people and their abusive institutions accountable, I tend to sound like a curmudgeon extraordinaire on the regular. If I’m not complaining about the state of our public transit, for example, I am probably railing against lawmakers who strapped a seemingly bottomless debt to the MBTA. But I don’t exactly hate these things. Every line I enter into my computer about the Hub is also part of a love story, because like a parent in the 1950s (or today, I guess) attempting to rationalize smacking their kids, I truly love the objects of my animosity. Oftentimes, it hurts me more than it hurts Boston to level such relentless criticism. With a week of chocolate and plush toys coming up, I thought it might be nice to prove that I have a heart by revealing some of the things that tend to make it flutter. I love the way that lots of people around here think and react to our reporting; rather than simply agreeing with us like some cornball Fox News sycophants, even lefties who tend to agree with us throw darts when we err. I love the history surrounding us, even if lots of the pricks who live here for a couple years right after college could care less about what happened before Boston was transformed into a playground for them. I love the people around here. You’re by and large intelligent across all educational and economic groups, and that’s something you can’t say for a lot of other cities. I absolutely love how casual this city is, and how you can more or less walk into the nicest restaurants downtown in sweatpants. That just ain’t the case in New York. I love how we are an inviting tourist city, but not for anyone from out of town who wants to drive a car. On that note, I kind of even love the J-way, and how in Allston, you need to already know that you essentially have to be in the parking lane all the way to the right if you want to drive west onto Brighton Ave through Packard’s Corner, or else you run the risk of getting stuck hanging that confusing left and continuing on Comm Ave over the tracks. I even love our subway system, prehistoric as it is. My beloved red and orange lines get me home and to work way more than they don’t, even if they’re full of farts, perfume, and assholes playing shitty music out loud on their phones instead of using earbuds. I love how Mass has legal weed, an excellent draft and craft beer culture, and countless smaller restaurants and food trucks that serve affordable and excellent grub. And of course I love the local independent media around here, along with everybody who contributes to and consumes newspapers like ours, the Bay State Banner, and the Dorchester Reporter. After all, there’s a lot of awesome stuff to write and read about in Boston. Sometimes it may not seem like we’re coming at it with a lot of heart, but I promise you that every keystroke comes from a place of real love; a lot of the time, it just happens to be the tough kind. CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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NEWS US HERE’S TO A MILLION MORE PLACES WE LOVE
Legendary Harvard Square comic book shop celebrates 45 years of independence BY C. SHARDAE JOBSON
The Million Year Picnic’s storefront is the blink, and you might miss it type. If not for the colorful spread of comics and graphic novels in the street-level, rectangular windows, motioning you to come down and check out the bonanza that awaits you underground. Inside, its stock is organized in new releases, volumes, and trades; and chaotic, with vintage issues of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze age spilling out of rows of cubes. But no need to feel skittish—this is a place of togetherness and discovery for newcomers as well as longtime enthusiasts of the comic book world’s many universes. Nicknamed “the Picnic,” the Harvard Square comic book store celebrates 45 years of business in 2019. The milestone has left the staff, a cross between baby boomers and Gen-Xers, thankful and amazed by the feat. As they see it, they’ve somehow outlived the brick and mortar bloodbath of previous decades. It’s a trend that includes the recent shuttering of Crema Cafe, Tealuxe, Crimson Corner (now MilkBar and &pizza), and even Urban Outfitters. For owner Tony Davis, who first visited the store as a 16-year-old Californian while in town for summer school in 1979, and later Harvard, the Picnic stands as one of the last founding shops to specialize in comics. “We’re somewhere amongst the 10 oldest in the country,” Davis says. On top of being a comic book store owner of color, he also holds the distinction of carrying an old-school legacy. “We started in 1974, and I would say the explosion of comic book stores [referred to within the industry as the ‘direct market’] really took off in the late ’70s and early ’80s.” As the stories in comic books and graphic novels continue to thrive as adaptations for TV and film, comic book stores, like traditional bookstores, have experienced years in which sales dramatically see-sawed. Some shops—
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notably, Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles and New York City’s St. Mark’s Comics by the end of February—succumb to the same fate as Picnic’s neighbors after trudging for as long as they could. In December, the Picnic, with the effective use of a kitten GIF with wet eyes, publicly acknowledged its own strife when its Twitter page asked customers if they were purchasing comics on Amazon, since holiday sales were down from 2017. Many who saw the post rallied behind the Picnic and promised to stop by. The following weekend, appreciative of the upswing, the shop rewarded customers with a massive 40 percent off discount on everything before New Year’s Day. “Nowadays, we do rely a bit on being a ‘destination store,’” Davis says. “Talking to other comic book retailers I know, almost everybody who has been doing this for a long time feels similarly. Time, [occasionally] sales, and a now dwindled role in being able to build an audience for artists have rolled us back to that.” The Picnic is also a vestige of Harvard Square’s former Bohemian spirit and liveliness. “Like any good college town, the community around it feeds off of that energy and grows into something special,” Davis says. “I feel like bit by bit, Harvard Square has lost a lot of that.” Behind the register, novelist Craig Gardner was listening, nodding, and corroborating with tidbits. He managed the Picnic from 1979 to 1986. Davis continues, “The restaurants have gotten chichi. The family hangouts and street performers disappeared. There was a daytime life, but nightlife too. Our peak was when Tower Records moved in next door, and they were open till midnight. And WordsWorth and HMV until 10. We would do as much business from six to 10 as during the day.”
The Million Year Picnic opened as a cart selling science fiction and comic books in the Garage down the street. It was named after the 1946 short story by Ray Bradbury, one of co-founder Jerry Weist’s literary heroes. Weist and Chuck Willy moved to the contour of Mount Auburn Street in 1975, and shortly after, E.B. Boatner replaced Willy as co-owner. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, DC Comics was Davis’ first foray into superhero mythology; he was a huge fan of Richie Rich, and Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks, who would later design T-shirts for the Picnic in the years that Davis started shopping there. “For newer comics, I used to go to this little black-owned bookstore in Crenshaw called Hall’s Bookstore. Mr. Hall was a sweet man. He used to have the ol’ spinner rack. It was my go-to place. And having a bookstore in the black community was a luxury. It was an oasis.” His memories of comic book shopping at L.A. antiquarian stores and Mr. Hall’s are joyous, but also spun with woes. Mr. Hall was senselessly killed in a robbery— “That stuck with me,” Davis says—but Hall’s compassion continues to inspire him. “I strive to be as welcoming and kind as he was,” Davis states. “I was lucky. I had him.” In 1983, after befriending the Picnic team, Davis went from Harvard bathroom-cleaning work-study to a parttime clerk at the comic book store. In the early ’90s, he became a manager and eventually bought the store from Weist and Boatner, who were looking to retire or venture into other parts of the comic book business. In its inclusive clubhouse, the Picnic prides itself on carrying independent, underground, local books, like Monstress by MIT professor Marjorie Liu, and other titles it feels otherwise wouldn’t get the audience they deserve among the big publishers. Graphic novel takes on children’s lit are trending, as are biographies. Davis is elated that stories with female leads and comics with women at the helm also sell very well. Moving forward, the owner hopes to “call on some old friends and do some events” for the 45th anniversary. As we’re talking, Ken Toomajian, a Picnic customer since its cart days and now good friend of Davis’, walks in, and Davis chuckles. “When I got out of school, I thought I’d do this for a year while trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life,” he says. “Rich Titus warned me, ‘This place is a trap. Once you get hooked, it’s hard to get out.’ “I thought, Whatever! Thirty-six years later, I’m still here.”
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PUBLIC BAD. PRIVATE GOOD? APPARENT HORIZON
Boston Herald’s attack on MassHousing highlights double standard in American journalism BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Over the last several days, the Boston Herald has had its knives out in no less than three articles and two editorials against MassHousing—an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. Readers can be forgiven for assuming that such lavish attention from a publication that is a shadow of its former self (since its purchase and gutting by the hedge fund-owned Digital First Media) must be due to some tremendous scandal. Major malfeasance. Looting of the public till on a scale not seen since the days of Sal DiMasi. But no, they’re freaking out about travel expenses, per diems, staff parties, and some leased cars. And running photos of receipts showing MassHousing execs spending $50 or $60 per person for meals. Like they’re breaking Wikileaks or something. All of which is red meat for the Herald’s dwindling audience of aging, downwardly mobile, perpetually furious, white male racists in Boston’s near suburbs. Although, surely the fact that MassHousing happens to be run by a black woman is purely coincidental to the story. Far be it from the Hub’s famously reactionary number two newspaper to play the race card in one of its carefully targeted jeremiads. Naturally, as a top editor of an even smaller metro news outlet, I implicitly understand where they’re coming from with this latest crusade. Thus, I am the soul of compassion when it comes to considering the travails of deploying the armamentarium of investigative journalism against slightly spendthrift quasi-public servants instead of going after any of the several hundred more important stories involving actual corruption in our City of Champions (including corruption around our much-vaunted sports teams and their stadiums). And OK, sure, this little tempest in a teapot is a legitimate story—if a narrow and largely pointless one that boils down to what menu items the editors of a dying rag think are appropriate fare for public employees on work trips. Which keeps an appropriate number of eyeballs on the ads of the Herald’s print and digital pages while likely not resulting in any more important outcome than forcing some hapless MassHousing staffers to have to eat McDonald’s and stay in crappy motels when travelling on agency business for the next couple of years. But a story somewhere within the bounds of acceptable journalism nonetheless. Pointing out, as it does in one installment, that although MassHousing is self-funded by selling bonds, it still indirectly costs taxpayers money to run given that those bonds are sold tax free. And thus, its spending habits are cause for some public concern. However small that concern might be. Still, reading this latest series from the Herald reminded me of something I ponder from time to time when surveying the American press. Public officials and staffers, the vast majority of whom do their jobs decently well, are always and ever the targets of similar “investigations.” Notably by journalists with ambulance-chasing local TV news shows and tabloids like our newly Braintree-based paper of record.
I am the soul of compassion when it comes to considering the travails of deploying the armamentarium of investigative journalism against slightly spendthrift quasi-public servants
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Which typically involve pulling some public spending records, printing some receipts, and shouting the news version of “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah” at any local or state government department with the misfortune to be within easy striking distance of such misguided efforts. The conservative media especially revels in imposing the most stern discipline on anyone whose salary is taxpayer funded. Although, in fairness, the higher the office, the more muted that criticism becomes. At least until Trump arrived in the Oval Office. Funny thing, though. The selfsame news outlets virtually never scrutinize corporate executives’ often profligate spending habits in the same way. Why? Well because their money comes from good old fashioned “private enterprise,” of course! A conceit so wrongheaded that it can only be the result of willful ignorance or ideology. And since I prefer not to assume that my colleagues are stupid people, I’d rather assume the latter rationale. That is, capitalist ideology—Fox News ravings to the contrary—is so pervasive in the US that it causes trained journalists to ignore the massive and endless corruption inside and outside government caused by a political economic system that puts profit above all other things. Somehow most right-wingers and the many moderate left-wingers that Americans like to call liberals actually believe that private money is private. In a country where it is the rare corporation that isn’t fighting tooth and nail to dip its greedy paws into the biggest money river of all: the government budget. City, state, or federal government makes no difference. Corporations aren’t picky, they’ll take it wherever they find it. And then put out so much propaganda—sorry, PR—about their public rent-seeking that most Americans actually end up thanking them for their “innovation.” Meanwhile, the leaders of major companies like General Electric, Vertex, and Amazon—all of which I’ve written about—wouldn’t be caught dead in some punter’s $300-a-night hotel room when traveling on business. They stay in suites in the best hotels. Or they rent nice houses. As for their meals, they sup at the toniest steakhouses and fine dining establishments on offer. Or hire private chefs from the top caterers and restaurants. And they travel in limousines, yachts, helicopters, and private jets. So a trip for top corporate execs for a couple of days might easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. But I understand. Even though corporations rig government spending from top to bottom to flow directly into their coffers in this era of neoliberal capitalism, they’re still private companies. So it’s not a fair comparison to some public or quasi-public agency like MassHousing. Or is it? Regardless, there is a better comparison. Let’s talk about public utilities. You know… those big private companies that only exist because decades back their predecessor companies lobbied governments at all levels to give them guaranteed regional monopolies to provide vital services like electric power and natural gas. Which would be much better provided directly by governments minus the middlemen. But this is America, and that’s the system we’re currently saddled with. Such utilities are a racket. Everybody knows it. They are nominally regulated in Massachusetts by the Department of Public Utilities. By a board that includes former leaders of those same utilities. Meaning that the DPU is yet another victim of “regulatory capture” by the very industry it is mandated to keep an eye on. As we’ve seen with the recent National Grid and Columbia Gas crises, they are terrible companies with bad labor track records that continually increase rates to consumers while cutting corners on critical maintenance and, therefore, public safety.
They rake in vast amounts of profits every year. And their top executives are handsomely remunerated for their services. With compensation packages paying far more the $270,000 a year the head of MassHousing is making. (Something that often holds true even for midlevel execs that manage department staffs equivalent in size to the quasi-public agency’s 327 employees, as cited in its Information Statement of December 21, 2018.) For example, National Grid plc (the UK multinational that owns the US National Grid division) CEO John Mark Pettigrew got a total compensation package of about $5,997,000 (£4,600,000) in 2017. NiSource (the US corporation that owns Columbia Gas) CEO Joseph Hamrock got a total package of $5,407,202 that same year. Eversource Energy CEO James J. Judge got a total package of (a whopping) $9,045,607. The Herald has written articles about all these Mass utilities. Some of them critical about aspects of their businesses. But try to find even a single article in the Herald or any other significant news outlet that criticizes any top executive at any of those companies for their spending habits on or off the job. You’ll be searching for a long time. Because you won’t generally find articles poring over corporate executives’ expense accounts for parties and travel and company cars except on the rare occasion one is caught up in something like a sex scandal or murders someone in cold blood. But what does get published is a constant stream of “lifestyles of the rich and famous” articles. Glowing portraits of the executives’ latest mansions. Puffball interviews about favorite meals at exclusive bistros. Profiles of their jets. And their cute little purebred doggies. Plus hagiographic bio pieces. Yet those utility CEOs and their companies are gouging ratepayers every year for amounts similar to a good chunk of their annual tax bills. All under the watch of state and federal governments that are supposed to be regulating them. They are taking mountains of money from the populace every year just like the Mass Department of Revenue or the Internal Revenue Service do. To provide vital public services in the public interest. But they get a free pass on everything from business travel expenses to corporate ethics from the supposedly vigilant news media. Only when a corporation does something obviously horrendous like lock out over 1,000 union employees for half a year without pay or benefits or blow up the Merrimack Valley do we finally see some real opprobrium from the fourth estate. And by then it’s too late. The damage is already done. So while I certainly agree that it is the job of investigative journalists to scrutinize the inner workings of MassHousing and every other public or quasi-public agency in the Bay State—understanding that I would prefer ongoing structural analysis over what amounts to cheap shots over menu choices—I think it is long past time to have the same level of scrutiny on corporate chieftains who make vast profits on the back of the public at large. One way or the other. What’s good for the goose, as the saying goes, is most certainly good for the gander. If reporters think that public agency execs deserve to put under a magnifying glass, then why not corporate execs? Particularly corporate execs working for public utilities. Fair’s fair, right? Because American journalists, as defenders of our society’s core democratic values, are all about fairness… aren’t we?
OPINION
IT STARTS AT THE BALLOT BOX Revamping voting laws disrupts GOP’s “power grab” BY REV. IRENE MONROE Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has voiced opposition to making Election Day a federal holiday. However, allowing American voters a more accessible and a stress-free trip to their voting precincts should be a no-brainer. H.R. 1, written to “expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes,” would do just that. McConnell depicted the Democratic-controlled House proposal as “a political power grab,” and mocked the legislation as the “Democrat Politician Protection Act.” Not true. The bill would improve access for voters with disabilities and increase voter turnout. It would reform automatic voter registration and felon reenfranchisement. In other words, H.R. 1 would modernize a century-old bankrupt voting system to mirror America today, thus supporting a participatory democracy. Because of the GOP’s continued aversion to diversity—POC, LGBTs, immigrants, and Muslims, to name a few—the tribe has become an aging white nostalgic throwback of its good ole Jim Crow days. Since the 1964 Civil Rights Voting Act gave African-Americans ballot access, the GOP has pursued various attempts to suppress minority voting. Such old tactics include literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses, and have given way to new tactics like random voter roll purging, changing of polling locations, adjusting polling hours or eliminating early voting days, reducing the number of polling places, packing majority-minority districts, dividing minority districts, and the notorious voter ID laws that disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters. They are all part and parcel of the Republican playbook. The Republican game plan to disenfranchise Democratic voters by any means necessary has both unapologetically and unabashedly shown the American public what a “power grab” looks like. As McConnell’s party continues its no-holds-barred tactics in this century as it did in the last. In 2000, the outcome of the presidential race between Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush was decided in a recount of Florida ballots due to hanging chads. In predominantly black voting precincts, which are overwhelmingly Democratic, it was reported that piles of ballots were left uncounted. The US Civil Rights Commission reported that of ballots invalidated by Florida officials, 53 percent were cast by black voters. The Florida debacle was settled in Bush’s favor, winning him the presidency. His brother Jeb was governor at the time. In 2013, by a 5-to-4 Republican majority, the US Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder eviscerated Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Section 4 identified problematic voting precincts with shameful histories of racial discrimination. Not surprisingly, these precincts are predominately GOP strongholds. The Court ruled that Section 4, which historically protected African-Americans and other disenfranchised people of color, was outdated. The ruling contests a fictive post-racial premise that minorities, especially in the South, no longer confront discriminatory voting barriers. At the time, the 1965 VRA applied to nine states in South—Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. However, after the Shelby County decision, North Carolina’s GOP targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision” since the black vote increased by 51.1 percent in the state in 2000, and blacks had a higher voter turnout with Obama on the ballot in both 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. In 2018, the epic gubernatorial battle between Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and Republican candidate Brian Kemp was a bold, brash, and brazen example of how a Republican “power grab” works in the state of Georgia. While running for governor, Kemp was Georgia’s secretary of state, and in that position oversaw Georgia’s elections. Kemp was also responsible for the “exact match” policy, which states that a voter application must “exactly match” their social security or driver’s license information. According to the Associated Press, 53,000 applications were put on hold, 70 percent of which were submitted by black voters. The GOP tactics to steer people of color away from the polls during the midterm elections also impacted and posed challenges for many transgender voters who transitioned. And for many who may not have had a government-issued photo ID reflecting their gender. According to data from the Williams Institute, of the 137,000 transgender people who have transitioned and were eligible to vote, approximately 57 percent (78,000) may not have had the appropriate ID. H.R. 1 would make improvements for those of us who would too easily be denied the right to vote. I grew up knowing one of the most influential voices in American politics, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm represented my Brooklyn congressional district for seven terms, from 1969 to 1983. She was known throughout the neighborhood and the halls of power in New York City as a force to be reckoned with who was “unbought” and “unbossed,” also the title of her 1970 memoir. I learned from Chisholm that democracy can only begin to work when those who are relegated to the fringes of society can begin to sample what those in society take for granted as their inalienable right. It starts at the ballot box.
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IN THE WEEDS WITH BOB FIREMAN TALKING JOINTS MEMO
Iconic cannabis businessman points to hemp, gives Mass rec rollout relatively good grades BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 With some medical marijuana dispensaries running for decades, and the business of cannabis advanced to the point that some companies are publicly traded, OG status isn’t merely designated for the early home-grow wizards who took chances when the establishment was rooting against (and in some cases arresting) producers. At this juncture, the initial investors who tapped experienced growers to run bigger legal operations deserve props as well, for they took tons of risk before the bandwagons rolled through. Bob Fireman, of the nationally focused MariMed Advisors management team, enjoys such exalted stature in the world of medical and recreational cannabis. From his helping found the landmark Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence to his work steering various investments, Fireman knows the terrain intimately and is someone who you ought to listen to for insight into where the industry is headed. I spoke with him by phone as he was driving around, somewhat lost, near Winchester, Kentucky. What are you doing in Kentucky? We just invested $30 million into hemp and CBD. It’s the best-quality hemp grown in the United States. Were they growing hemp already? Yes, they’ve been here working at the University of Kentucky for the last two or three years. Basically they’ve been in business for 20 years; they were the original genetic growers for Charlotte’s Web [cannabinoid oil and hemp products]. As we looked around the country, this was the best quality that we saw in the United States. Recognizing that hemp and CBD are hopefully declassified, as the [2018] Farm Bill [allows for more widespread cultivation of hemp]. We believe that CBD, and the wellness of cannabinoids from hemp, is going to become an industry in itself, and separate from cannabis and be allowed in every retail store. It’s healing, it’s antispasmodic. Hemp and cannabis are cousins, and we have been extracting CBD-high strains for years. For depression, pain. In Rhode Island, in conjunction with pediatric oncologists, we were producing pure CBD for mothers of children with epilepsy. The full gamut. Would you say the popularity of CBD has hit a fever pitch? It seems like not too long ago regulators were worried that cultivators wouldn’t be interested in growing enough of it. The quality has gotten so strong from the new technologies and growing methods. The people who want to get relaxed and who want relief are mixing their CBD with very small pieces of THC. When those things are bonded together, they seem to have a better result, and obviously if there is a little bit of THC you’re going to get more relaxed. I think the THC is what makes it better than the synthetic stuff. We believe in natural organic, and to really take mother’s nature how she gives it to us instead of stripping it and manipulating it. We grow the strains and the compounds in the most healthy environment, and we find that the patients get a better entourage effect and more specific relief for the symptoms and conditions they are taking it for. A few years ago, everyone thought legalized pot, and that it would be all stoners walking in wanting the highest THC content for the cheapest price so they can smoke away. But the use of cannabis is going to become more mainstream. CBD strains have become the adult flower for baby boomers who really want to function. They like to be relaxed, they
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like to get the benefit of the natural plant, but they also want to go out to dinner and have a martini. They don’t want something that’s going to make it so they can’t get out of their living room. … It’s going to get to the level of walking into a CVS and saying, I want this because it solves this problem for me. You’ve provided a lot of services for a long time. What did people want a few years ago, and how have those trends evolved at the high corporate level, as opposed to what we’re seeing on the ground? My team has been together almost 14 years. We evolved out of California, and later we developed the Slater Center in Providence as a medical process. We decided we would make best practices, we decided it wasn’t growing in your basement. This was industrial grade. How can we do compliance? How can we create operating procedures that are best in class? We started to evolve in safety, better growing systems, better environmental controls, better use of strains for specific conditions. With the onslaught of people who run to these stores, you can see that people come back because they know the different types of products and even brands that are consistent. What’s also really evolved is the production of oils and extractions, from butane, and ethanol, and CO2 to cold press and people who can take these oils and infuse them in certain compounds and products for specific results. Right now, in California and Colorado, people are selling CBD and THC for specific effects—this product will let you sleep, this one will get you energy, this one will give you passion. Some of those companies are evolving, and there are these new adapters. When you look at this industry, it was a $90 billion black market. We parallel alcohol and wine. But we’re only $7 billion legal. So the first order of business was to convert the people in the shadows so they can come in and have something without mold or pesticide. Now it’s about creating new adapters—elderly people who are shaking from MS, senior citizens who are being drugged in these facilities. How much easier is it now to walk into a legislator’s office with that message than it was like five years ago? It’s like night and day. Seriously. The first order of business was to get the doctors to not be scared that
they would be taken out back and shot [if they showed interest in prescribing cannabis]. The doctors were always supportive of cannabis. They were skeptical because it was illegal because there was no peer-reviewed quality research. They watched what was coming out of Israel and Holland and they were supportive. They knew it wasn’t poison, but before they would take someone off of cancer drugs they would want to see some peer-reviewed results. The biggest problem is that the federal prohibition stopped research. The hospitals are so dependent on federal dollars, and reimbursements through Medicare, that they wouldn’t risk messing with the federal government. What is the mark that Massachusetts is making? What are people going to be taking away from our rollout here? As most states adopted policies, the states that came in later got the benefit of learning from the rules and regulations [of] earlier states. The medical program in Massachusetts, which started back in ’11 and ’12, was thrown on the Department of Health, which had no experience whatsoever. And the program never rolled out effectively to create any sort of testimonials or validity before the referendum in 2016 forced adult use recreational. That scared the shit out of the municipalities. In two or three years, it’s going to become more mainstream. In three to five years, I think the federal law will change. But what’s good about the East, what’s different from Colorado, is that there is limited licensing. It’s not 15 on a block in San Jose. I always joke that there’s 220 dispensaries in Denver and there’s only one in Providence—ours. We get the best knowledge from places like California and Colorado and bring it back here. Massachusetts is being built from the ground up. The [Cannabis Control Commission] is doing an adequate job of understanding the needs and making it work and taking the time they need to do it. The early shops are open, and all the lines will be over in six months to a year when there’s enough shops. Everyone wanted to line up for the first few, but ultimately it’s going to be mainstream. It will all blend in.
SUPER SMASH GOSE BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
A tart treat from that other noted Commonwealth BY CITIZEN STRAIN
2019 NEW ENGLAND CANNABIS CONVENTION MARCH 22-24, 2019 HYNES CONVENTION CENTER, BOSTON First, a quick word about gose, and my (lack of any prior) familiarity with the genre… While I’m not one of those proud ignorant critics who knows nothing about beer and calls the elite experts snobs, I’m also not some Instagram brew culture leech pairing my hot curves next to cans for likes. While I’ve probably consumed a few pops in my day that fit the gose complexion, I’m mostly unfamiliar with the style. Just like most of you. So here goes. Once described as a “sour, German[-style] beer” that is “responsible for the death of the craft beer revolution” by the assholes at Thrillist, gose (pronounced: “gose-a,” I’m pretty sure) is in fact a sour sort but one that I assure you has a lot less baggage than suggested by the aforementioned clickbait. More formally speaking, gose is typically brewed with significant malted wheat, then accented with a salt, lemon, and herb punch. And there’s history as well; according to Brew Your Own magazine: It has been over 1,000 years since this ale was first brewed. The name itself comes from the river Gose [in Goslar, Germany] that runs through the town, and rightfully so considering the large contribution that the local water has on the beer’s flavor. This particular area was known for mining and one of the most abundant minerals present was salt. Not surprisingly, some of this salt dissolved into the local groundwater which was used during the brewing of their local beer. Since they didn’t have water softeners or bottled water, they just used what they had and made it work. Smash by the Virginia-based Commonwealth Brewing Company is a pink grapefruit, lime, and guava gose ale. Which happens to come in a ravishing can. I’m not sure if the brewers responsible for this picked guava for their gose just because those words go so damn well next to each other, but in practice they are truly perfect partners, classic along the lines of melon and prosciutto. In the realm of sour type selections that aren’t too sour and sweet things that are not too sweet, Smash is prime to ride the line. This beer is dually unique and accessible, that impossibly rare combination. At the sake of belaboring the perfection of this sweet, salty, and tart treat too much, I’ll depart on the best part—the punch—which follows the roundhouse that you get on that first sip. There’s a guava buildup that gets dangerously close to bitter before plateauing on a sweet scenic peak, but just hang in there, close your eyes, and let your tongue do all the twisting and tasting. Once the wound from that initial sip of Smash heals up, a special citrus breakfast blast awaits.
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LOVE BITES EATS
Date night spots for Valentine’s Day and beyond BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON the top is its location high above Quincy, nearby Milton, and Boston just a few miles to the north, with spectacular views of the city skyline and the ocean from the dining area. Maybe it doesn’t seem so romantic eating at a golf course, but the views alone at this one should add just a bit of romance to the overall dining experience. Tavern at Granite Links, 100 Quarry Hill Drive, Quincy.
GRANITE LINKS
A few years ago, I introduced a list of lesser-known, unpretentious places for couples to go to for Valentine’s Day (and for date nights in general), looking at such cozy and mellow spots as the Ashmont Grill in Dorchester and 75 Chestnut in Beacon Hill. Well, that special day is once again approaching, so it seems like a good time to identify more restaurants and bars that are particularly good date-night places. As was the case last time, this is not a list for those who want to spend a ton of money, hang with beautiful people, or wait in line for hours; instead, the focus is mainly on quiet, laid-back, and, yes, at least somewhat romantic spots in and around the city.
This is not a list for those who want to spend a ton of money
Bocelli’s, South Medford There’s always something special about an old-school Italian red-sauce joint that’s tucked away in a lesser-traveled area, and this friendly place in the heart of an old Italian neighborhood is certainly one of those restaurants. And while the upstairs area is kind of a mix where you can hang for coffee, dine in, or do takeout, a better bet is to take the narrow staircase to the right down into the basement where there is a very old-feeling dining area that feels more like a private club than a public dining spot. Here you can enjoy some eggplant parm, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, and more while hearing servers call people “honey,” and there’s a good chance you’ll hear some cheesy lounge music over the speakers. Bocelli’s, 374 Main St., Medford. Tavern at Granite Links, Quincy OK, so when you’re talking about a golf course restaurant, that can often mean that a) it’s overpriced, b) it’s not very good, and c) you might run into a meathead or two, but in the case of this hilltop space literally in the middle of nowhere, it’s a bit different from your typical 19th-hole clubhouse, though no guarantees that you won’t encounter someone bragging about the hole-in-one they just got (Ed. note: They didn’t). And what puts the Tavern at Granite Links—which is also called the Tavern at Quarry Hills—over 10
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Parker’s Bar, Boston Everyone seems to know about the classically elegant Parker’s Restaurant within the Omni Parker House in downtown Boston, and many others (especially lovers of whiskey) know about the Last Hurrah just down the hall from the restaurant, but did you know that there’s a third place in this beautiful old-world hotel? Parker’s Bar doesn’t seem to get much press, but couples looking for a bit of a getaway in the heart of the city might want to consider this spot, which is tucked away off a staircase above both the restaurant and the whiskey bar and offers the option of dining or sipping on alcoholic beverages (or both). Comfort food and upscale pub grub are front and center here, as well as Parker’s legendary Boston cream pie. Parker’s Bar, 60 School St., Boston. Brelundi, Waltham A real hidden gem that resides in a rather fascinating building, this casual upscale restaurant has the feel of a destination spot in some ways. It might seem strange dining in a massive old watch factory, but the structure—which sits along a quiet part of the Charles River—has been completely renovated and has tons of character both inside and out, including the space in which Brelundi can be found. Expect to see mostly Italian dishes here, with a focus in part on Sicilian fare and Italian seafood items; the prices are actually quite reasonable with many dishes being around or under $20, so there’s no worries about breaking the bank while on a date at this eatery. Brelundi, 185 Crescent St., Waltham. Bully Boy Distillers, Roxbury OK, so maybe going to a distillery might not seem like the best plan for a quiet evening with a loved one, but this relatively new spot near Newmarket Square and the Expressway feels slightly more grown-up than some of the other
beer, cider, and spirits places in and around Boston. Its rather rough-looking industrial exterior doesn’t really hint as to what’s inside, which is a somewhat upscale and very colorful tasting room that includes funky bench seats, stylish carpeting, hanging lights, and a warm and inviting bar area where patrons can sample whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, and amaro. Bully Boy is a true hideaway that’s a great spot to hit on your way to dinner with that someone special, or just as a standalone spot if you’re both into adult beverages. Bully Boy Distillers, 44 Cedric St., Boston. Caffe Vittoria, Boston What is more romantic than sipping on cappuccino and eating biscotti in an old Italian cafe on a cold winter night? Well, taking a two-week trip to Hawaii might be just a little bit nicer, but it’s somewhat easier and a whole lot cheaper to head over to Hanover Street in the North End instead. And for those who like historic “old Boston” spots, Vittoria is about as good as it gets, with tons of atmosphere thanks to its pressed tin ceiling, murals on the walls, and lots of little nooks and crannies within its several rooms. If you’re on a date and looking for a place to go before dinner—or after dinner, for that matter—there are few choices better than this one. Caffe Vittoria, 290-296 Hanover St., Boston.
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HOW DID WE GET HERE? FEATURE
The makers of Suboxone have the Bay State on a leash BY F.I.G.H.T. In March 2006, the US Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA released a “Report On the Physician Waiver Program Established by the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000.” Under a section titled “Public Health Consequences,” researchers reported that “the 3-year national evaluation indicated evidence of little diversion or abuse in the beginning years of buprenorphine dissemination.” Years later, Suboxone would become far more controversial; among other findings, according to a 2013 New York Times survey of research up to that point, “Suboxone and Subutex were considered the “primary suspect” in 690 deaths—420 in the United States—reported to the F.D.A.” in the first decade of the drug being sold. But for the first five years after it was introduced, the government basically ruled that Suboxone was harmless, effectively allowing the flood gates to open up. FOLLOW THE MONEY Toward the end of the 2000s, Reckitt Benckiser started lobbying in Mass:
• It started slowly in the Commonwealth, spending less than $30,000 in 2008.
For more than a year now, our partners at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism have been working with local filmmaker Johnny Hickey (Oxy Morons, The Habit) and his company, Moodswing Productions, on a project called Film Intervening Getting High Team. Developed to provide opportunities for aspiring media makers who are in recovery or who have family members struggling with addiction to participate in front of and behind the camera, F.I.G.H.T. aims to push the envelope for how the opioid crisis is covered in Greater Boston. Unlike the impersonal outsider approach taken by more mainstream outlets, the segments are intended to both educate and build awareness around topics that the larger media has yet to notice. The Dig will be running print and online versions of the videos produced by F.I.G.H.T. It’s fitting, since we first covered Hickey back in 2005. Our reporting on the OxyContin epidemic in his native Charlestown was groundbreaking in retrospect, as other media in New England barely noticed the problem until the end of the aughts, while journalists at major nationals like Time dragged their feet until 2015, a full 10 years after we first visited the issue in these pages. Some of the features we publish in written form will include stories told by recovering addicts, as well as critical explainers about things like how Suboxone works. For this installment, F.I.G.H.T. and BINJ dug deep into the legislative and lobbying efforts that got us here. The research presented herein ultimately zooms in on the Commonwealth, but much of what we found can be said about any place in the United States or elsewhere that has been ravaged by all and any variations of synthetic opiates and painkillers. You might say this leg of the story about how opioid abuse ravaged America begins in 2000, when the Drug Addiction Treatment Act was passed by Congress. Aggressively influenced by the pharmaceutical lobby, DATA was a significant game changer and boon for the makers of so-called treatment drugs, allowing physicians to prescribe meds for opioid-related treatments in settings that aren’t registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration as narcotic treatment programs. Basically, the measure removed a lot of the red tape around drugs like Suboxone. Under DATA, a doctor who wants to prescribe buprenorphine simply has to: 12
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• Complete an 8-hour education course. • Hold subspecialty board certification in
addiction psychiatry or addiction medicine.
• Have participated as an investigator in a clinical trial leading to the approval of a narcotic for maintenance or detoxification treatment.
• Have other training or experience that the state medical licensing board considers adequate.
• Or have completed other training or experience that the Department of Health and Human Services believes to be sufficient.
TWISTING DATA Some businesses may be smitten with a major opportunity that allows for so many more sales in new settings. But not drug companies, which were just getting started in late 2002 when buprenorphine, the first and only drug eligible for use under the DATA Waiver program, was approved by the FDA for use in the treatment of opioid dependence. As Suboxone (a drug with buprenorphine) was introduced to the United States market in 2003, lobbyists hired by its maker, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, were already fighting the restrictions written into DATA. Along with other powerful stakeholders and lobbyists, the National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment argued: DATA, void of any supporting science, caps the number of addicted patients a physician can treat at any one time to 30 through the first year following certification [even though no] other medications have such restrictions, including the prescription drugs people get addicted to and die from. Big pharma got what it wanted. Under DATA the way it was initially written, physicians could only prescribe buprenorphine to up to 10 patients. Soon after, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) introduced a waiver for up to 30 patients, followed by another that allows up to 100 patients. (As of 2016, after prescribing to up to 100 people for a year, physicians can then apply to increase their limit to 275 patients.)
• The following year, Reckitt ramped it up to
$48,000, specifically hiring lobbyists to work on “legislation … including issues related to substance abuse.”
• By 2011, the company was spending more than $50,000 and was specifically having lobbying done on behalf of “Issues regarding policy coverage for Suboxone Sublingual Film and overall Substance Abuse Treatment strategy.”
• In 2012, Reckitt registered to lobby with an
“Interest in contracting with the state for Suboxone Sublingual Film.” It didn’t spend any money on the effort, but the line of interest was a sign of things to come, a push from every angle.
• By 2014, it was a full-court press, with Suboxone
lobbyists pushing more than 10 bills on Beacon Hill, many of which aimed to expand access, including An Act Relative to Oxycontin and Other Schedule II Controlled Substances; An Act Reducing Prescription Drug Abuse; An Act to Provide Addiction/Sobriety Solutions Through Increased Substance Treatment; An Act to Establish a Reporting System for Drug Overdoses; An Act Regulating the Use of Buprenorphine in Opioid Dependence Treatment; An Act Regulating the Use of Buprenorphine in Opioid Dependence Treatment; and An Act Ensuring Parity for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment.
Reckitt kept lobbying year after year, and it kept getting results, all despite warnings from early on that Americans were amid another potential OxyContin-sized problem. In 2011, research showed that emergency room visits for the nonmedical use of drugs like Suboxone were nearly five times what they were in 2006. Despite such research, in 2016 Congress passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act , which further expanded access to opioid treatment meds. Since that maneuver, nurse practitioners and physician assistants can prescribe drugs like Suboxone. With just 24 hours of training, they can treat dozens of patients. Meanwhile, as far back as 2012, the US Federal Trade Commission was investigating Reckitt, which in 2014
turned its Suboxone manufacturing arm into a separate company called Indivior. In 2016, more than 35 states, including Massachusetts, sued the company for “unlawfully delaying and impeding competition from generic versions of Suboxone tablets, resulting in ongoing overpayments by consumers,” among other things. Last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) joined lawsuits against the company, charging that it improperly marketed Suboxone. None of which has seemed to matter in the Commonwealth, as Indivior picked up the lobbying ball from its predecessor. Between 2008 and 2018, the makers of Suboxone spent nearly $400,000 lobbying Mass lawmakers, and the company currently has influencers working on Beacon Hill advocating for bills related to “Any and all matters pertaining to Indivior including medication-assisted treatment,” as well as to “the taxation of the sale of active opioids.” Check out digboston.com, binjonline.org, and fightopiates.org for videos and more information on F.I.G.H.T.
Celebrate 1 year of Saturday • February 9 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Grove Hall Branch of the Boston Public Library 41 Geneva Ave • Dorchester 02121 THIS MONTH Comics Jeopardy! • Comics Swap! Cool people! • SNACKS! All are welcome but this is an event focused on comics by and about people of color.
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PANDA BEAR WHEEL OF TUNES
Electronic guru talks snorkeling, Super Smash Bros., and his inner monologues BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Over the course of two decades, Noah Lennox has been influencing the music scene in small, but noticeable, ways. Better known by his moniker Panda Bear, he first rose to fame as a member of Animal Collective, the experimental pop band your college roommate wouldn’t stop gushing over. And throughout the band’s shapeshifting era, he’s dropped a handful of solo albums. On his sixth, this year’s colorful Buoys, Lennox goes in a new direction that feels almost completely new. While Buoys has Panda Bear’s trademark splish splash of electronic synths and otherwise playful sounds, the overarching theme feels different. Both Lennox and his producer and collaborator Rusty Santos were drawn to the production techniques of hip-hop records. With a modern stylistic twist but equally vintage instrumental choices, Lennox turned his latest effort as Panda Bear into one that’s as decisive as it is delightful, a bout of hypermodern production that’s delectably glossy— especially with good headphones on. “[This album] was about things I wanted to stay away from,” says Lennox. “There were aesthetics I was trying to distance myself from not because I thought they were bad, but because they were things I’ve done a lot. In the absence of that, I wanted the new thing to sound different. The sonic architecture of this reminds me of trap production: It’s really loud vocals, a bunch of high hats or percussive elements in the high-end frequency range, and then a bunch of deep notes at the bottom of the subspace. Those are the pillars of the sound. In that context, I think Bouys is reflective of trap production. I can’t say it sounds like a trap album because that’s a rhythm thing more than anything, but if I remove the other aesthetic, just the sonics of it remind me of a trap album. It’s an extension of dub music production, and that’s my favorite production aesthetic. Everything I’ve done is a reflection of dub.” To get to know Panda Bear better, we interviewed Noah Lennox for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles. With Buoys as the prompt, his answers are vivid and dreamlike—qualities that will appear in his live renditions when he headlines the Paradise this Tuesday. 1. “Dolphin” What’s the most memorable thing you’ve ever witnessed while out in nature? Oh man. [Long exhale] It’s probably when we did this one tour in Australia as Animal Collective. Two of the guys in Animal Collective are licensed scuba divers and two of us aren’t. Dave and I aren’t. So we took a boat near Byron Bay way out, where we couldn’t see the land any more. Those two guys went scuba diving. Dave and I just snorkeled around. There was a very specific, visceral memory I have of jumping off the boat into the water, looking down, and just seeing the vastness of emptiness that was below me. It kinda took my breath away. It was really terrifying. It was like being in space and seeing nothing below you. This was back in 2012 or so. That was certainly a memorable experience in nature for me. 2. “Cranked” When’s the last time you were in a really foul mood? What prompted it? Oof. Gosh. It was maybe the third day that we had our dog. She was two months old and very small. She was sleeping on my lap, but she fell off and hit her rib on one of the spokes of the chair. It was obvious that she was really hurt. I took her to the hospital. I’ll never forget the look they gave me at the vet. I’m happy to say the dog has totally recovered and she’s doing great. But that night at dinner, my son was being difficult about
something, as young kids often will be. I just couldn’t put on a good face. I had no patience and I was so tweaked out by the fact that I had almost killed our dog. That was a pretty rough night, that one. She’s a French bulldog, but she’s really small. She’s almost like a mini. French bulldogs get fat and stout, but she’s really slight. We’ve had her now for about two and a half years. 3. “Token” In your opinion, what’s the most underrated arcade game? Could it be a console game? Yeah? Because then I’m going to go with the first Ape Escape game, the one for the first Playstation. You don’t hear about that one too much. But oh man, so great. The music was super good, the little worlds were rad, and it was a fun game, I thought. That game is wicked. Really good. 4. “I Know I Don’t Know” What’s something you choose to be willfully ignorant about? So many things … for better or for worse, I suppose. If I had to choose just one, it used to be politics, but not now. I don’t think I can justify that position anymore. Politics kinda forced everyone to be engaged now. So I won’t say politics. I feel bad saying anything. Any time I think of something, it makes me realize I should pay more attention to it. Maybe social media? I never found a way to engage with that that never felt good for me. I started to tweet a little bit, but I feel like my tweets are super vague and odd. I think that’s the only way I can do it: to engage in this obtuse way. I definitely don’t use it as a form of communication. There was a moment where it reminded me of a video game, actually. When I realized that, I thought, “Yeah, I can do this.” The system of likes and retweets and that kind of thing, that type of engagement, feels like a score in a game. It’s dangerous to think that stuff means anything. So once I equated it to a video game score, which is meaningless in most ways, then I was more comfortable with it. 5. “Master” What’s something you’re bad at but would like to take steps to improve at? Uhh, skateboarding. It’s kinda too late; that ship has sailed. [laughs] But I wish I could. I love watching skateboarding videos. I always dream about being able to do that stuff. There’s something about the movement of it all. To me, it’s about achieving these impossible feats. It’s like how a surfer harnesses nature, but a skater gets to harnesses a city in a way. That’s something I’d love to be able to do. The big skate videos are a thing of the past now, or at least it feels that way. Mostly people just upload a few clips to Instagram or Youtube. There was one by Supreme called “Blessed” that came out on Thanksgiving. That’s a recent one that I loved. People actually ask to use our music or my music in videos, which is cool. We were in “Mine Field,” an Alien Workshop video. I think we had two songs in that? Most recently, I was in Silas Baxter-Neal’s part, which was up on Thrasher for a couple days. That one was really sick. We were in the Skate 3 video game, too, which I was
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super pumped on. My friend who is a photographer was in the game and he’s wearing an Animal Collective shirt. It’s a real shirt that Abby [Portner] did that has insects on it. That was awesome. 6. “Buoys” When you’re on tour, what’s the mental equivalent of a buoy, something that helps you remember you’re not too far away from home after all? Probably FaceTiming with the family. I try to do it once a day. There’s times, like if we’re getting on airplanes, where it can be difficult, but I do it an average of once a day. 7. “Inner Monologue” How often do you find yourself having inner monologues? I’m not sure there’s a common theme between them, but I have both inner monologues and outer monologues with myself all the time. I’m working by myself all day so I talk to myself all the time. I’m out with the dog a lot, too. I’m talking to her, which is basically talking to myself, because she doesn’t understand or care. But a lot of my monologues are work related, I’d wager. I think a lot of time thinking about what would be cool to do with music, or I find myself rehearsing certain lines. If there’s a common theme, it’s probably that they’re all work related. Boring, but accurate. 8. “Crescendo” Apart from music, which hobby or interest has grown increasingly important to you over the years? Hmm. It’s either gaming or watching sports, like the fandom of it. Probably my basketball fandom is something that’s grown over the past eight years or so. For basketball, I played all throughout high school and sporadically played pickup outside, but less over the years. As playing in real life dwindled, my fandom increased. I guess I’m living vicariously through those people. That’s probably the big one. Although, gaming is gaining steam, though, because my son is into it. There’s this demo called Days Gone that he and I are both pretty stoked about. It’s for Xbox and Playstation, I think, but we’re PS4 dudes. We play Smash Bros. on the Switch, too. He’s so much better than me! He’s only eight! I’m like, “Dude, we started playing at the same time. How come I can’t beat you?!” 9. “Home Free” Where is your favorite place you’ve ever lived, long-term or short-term? It’s definitely here in Lisbon. It’s the best. The city has changed pretty dramatically in the past six years or so. It’s still my favorite place, though, by far. I was in New York for five years before here. It felt like I wanted to get out of there. As much as I loved it then and still love it now, it just didn’t feel like the right place for me. I didn’t know where I wanted to move to, but we did a festival out here and I spent two days in the city afterwards. While there, I met a girl. We spent a lot of time while I was here, then she would visit me in New York, and then I’d come back. Yeah. I liked Lisbon a whole lot, so I decided to give it a shot. I can speak Portuguese, but I actually don’t have opportunities to use it so often. I’m not fooling anyone into thinking I’m a native speaker. I sound like a caveman when trying, but hey, I can make it work.
MARCELA CRUZ MUSIC
The R&B grind of a Lowell native BY MORGAN HUME
The life of a rising R&B singer is unique. You don’t see many rap artists or EDM DJs performing the National Anthem at Fenway Park, for example, but those are the kind of gigs Marcela Cruz knocks out between recording her own music and building a fan base. The Lowell native says that this has basically been her routine going back to the second grade. Back then, she remembers singing Top 40 hits like “My Heart Will Go On” on grammar school stages, looking for ways to connect. More recently, she has been able to break out as a solo musician, performing her own music solo. At spots like Brighton Music Hall and the Sinclair, unlike the TD Garden before a big game, she can connect on the merits of original music, always an accomplishment in a genre where performers are pressured to do covers—whether with wedding bands or on television singing contests. Cruz says that she has no real formula for the way she writes, just inspiration from the little moments during the day when she is alone and free to experiment without others listening nearby. “The place where I come up with my best ideas is when I’m driving, or when I’m in the shower,” she says. “I feel like that’s when thoughts just keep like running through my head. … Other times, it’s kind of like pieces of thought that come along throughout the day and then I’m able to put it together afterwards.” It’s a given that Cruz does the duty of a pop singer in writing about love and heartbreak. Her first EP, Here We Go Again, finds her in those territories. Moving forward, she says she’s reaching out in new directions, trying to show off different parts of her experience. And not only in English; on top of more dynamic themes, Cruz is channeling her Puerto Rican culture and currently wrapping up a new album in Spanish. “Everyone has their own story to tell. Everyone has different sounds,” she says. “I grew up in the ’90s. I listened to a lot of big vocalists like Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Christina Aguilera. [They] were huge for me. A lot of what I listened to sticks with me.” “I want to be able to show my audience the different sides of [me] they haven’t seen or heard.” Cruz’s main goal, however, is as simple as it gets: sing. Even if she has finally come to understand that the business of music requires more than her voice and is learning to handle the behind-the-scenes industry aspects on top of performing and writing. “I just want to sing,” Cruz says. “But I have come to realize that we don’t live in a world now where you can just focus on creating and be able to make a living off of that. The business side is just as important.” Aiming for the practical, Cruz is not too proud to say out loud that she is still working toward becoming a full-time musician. Working days in the advertising world, she’s balancing a full-time job with a career as a creative that gets more and more demanding. “There’s so many other artists out there with similar stories,” Cruz says, crediting her support team as being a big part of her success. “They’re having to work that nineto-five to get by and then working [on music] at night. I’m PHOTO BY ASHLEY NADEAU not alone in this type of situation.” >> MARCELA CRUZ W/ LISA BELLO & SHAREEF KEYES & THE GROOVE. THU 2.28. ONCE BALLROOM, 156 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE. NEWS TO US
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PHOTO BY DAVID NORTON
BALKAN BEAT BASH MUSIC
“Marry me, and I will make your heart glad … and I will take care of your old mother.” BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON According to local musician David Golber, the only thing that most Americans know about Balkan music is the “brass band stuff, Goran Bregovic, and so on.” And “maybe some of the Roma stuff.” But while Golber says “everything gets world-music blended nowadays, so you hear everyone playing all sorts of mixes of styles,” he’s still moved to specifically spread love through the traditional sounds he dedicates most of his travel and time to. For his massive party at the Armory this year, he hopes to lure more people from beyond just the core ethnic communities that will inevitably flock there, and so we asked Golber for a primer. Any commonly held misconceptions about Balkan culture in general that you would like to air out right here and now? Culture? Politics? History? Look, I’ve been involved in this stuff for a long time. I travel a lot in Macedonia, and speak fairly good Macedonian. I read a lot. I can tell you a lot. Bosnia is a depressing basket case. Serbians think they are the suffering saviors of the universe. Macedonians feel they’re a small country being pushed around by the great (and not-so-great) powers. Well, mother is so important in traditional songs. My band Gogofski do one very well-known Serbian song [in which] the young woman says to her guy, “It’s time to marry me, not just hang out at the bar with your pals. Marry me, and I will make your heart glad … and I will take care of your old mother.” Not a thing you would say in an American song. We played this song at the Serbian festival a couple of years ago, and every woman in the place was singing along.
Are we talking traditional Balkan music? A mix of traditional and contemporary? We’ve got two bands playing at the Armory: Tano Brock’s Sarma (means “stuffed cabbage”), and my band Gogofski (made up out of the initials of some of us). Sarma is a brass band; the usual instruments are trumpets, alto sax, baritone horns, and so on, and got a trombone player … a little less usual. My band is accordion, clarinet, drum, singer. Another very usual ensemble. These are both bands that are very widely used over there right now, maybe in somewhat different situations—the brass band more likely for tents, outdoors. The accordion-clarinet orchestra indoors. Also there are some ethnic associations: A Roma wedding would more likely have a brass band. In a way, I say both our bands are both traditional and contemporary. We’re playing music in traditional styles that continues to be widely played and danced to today. What are the staples of a Balkan beat party? Alcohol? Dress? People can wear whatever they want. In Balkan circles—the Serbian church, the Bosnian festival—I think people dress nicer. At our party at the Armory, I expect people will wear whatever they want. After all, are there any places these days that have a dress code? Alcohol ... well, so many of American folk dance events are in church or school halls, where alcohol is forbidden. Ugh. So that’s why I put this party in the Armory, which serves beer and wine (and light food too). Like a normal party. There’s a lot of alcohol in the Balkans.
>> SARMA + GOGOFSKI. SOMERVILLE ARMORY, 191 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE. 7PM/$20. BALKANBEATPARTY.COM 16
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Talking about instruments, there is an enormous variety of music there. Just in Macedonia, where I hang out, there is brass band, accordion-clarinet orchestra, chalgiya (old-style Turkish influence), village orchestra (bagpipe, wooden flutes, etc.), zurlas (loud double reeds). Each a different sound. And there is a big Albanian minority with its own music—really different clarinet style, men’s singing. At our Armory party, you’ll hear just two of these styles. You say it’s great dance music, but that people don’t always dance to it. So are you looking outside of the usual suspects for this party? Sarma plays often at the Lily Pad in Inman Square in Cambridge, about two blocks from where I live. They get a good crowd, but the audience just stands there. A couple of times, I’ve seen Tano try to show people steps. But he’s playing sax simultaneously. So I want to get that crowd to our Armory event. I want to get them to add the enjoyment of dancing to their enjoyment of the music. Any final words of advice for those considering coming out to the party? You can just sit and listen, or stand and listen. You can bop around on the floor any way you want, just don’t bump into the furniture. Whatever feels good to you. Give the dancing a try. Get up. Relax. Stand up tall, feel the universe flow through your body. Bend your knees a little, have your weight forward on your toes—this is hidden inside your shoes. So you can float like a butterfly. Listen to the music. Let it tell you what to do.
BEIRUT
MUSIC PICKS MUSIC
BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN
TUE 2.12 OSO OSO Just like when it originated, emo is still an awkward wallflower, letting insecurity and self-doubt shroud the otherwise notable pool of talent it boasts. The genre continues to evolve and currently stands upon the shoulders of people like Jade Lilitri, the frontman of the Long Island pop-punk emo act Oso Oso. With plenty of 2000s indie rock guitarwork and heartfelt melodies, their live shows may be a sing-along for diehard fans, but for casual listeners it’s a way to be whisked back to the days of Bamboozle, Warped Tour, and when Hot Topic actually carried good music. [ONCE Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. 8pm/18+/$10. oncesomerville.com] TUE 2.12 BEIRUT + HELADO NEGRO Ever since Zach Condon made his debut as Beirut back in 2006, it became clear he was a man of the world interested in channeling all of the Balkan folk and world pop he could find. Armed with a plethora of horns, acoustic instruments, and harmonizing voices, Beirut are back. With the poppy 2015 album No No No behind them, Beirut are looking ahead towards Gallipoli, a new record that was as inspiring to Condon to write as it is to hear live. [House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$37. houseofblues.com] WED 2.13 METRIC + ZOE + JULY TALK Broken Social Scene are the supergroup of Canada, and Feist are the folksy charmers of Canada, but Metric are the cool kids of Canada who will never get the total credit they deserve. The electropop new wave act is led by Emily Haines, whose part-scratchy, part-whispery voice could turn any new listener METRIC into a diehard fan. With multiple albums in their catalog over the past 20 years, Metric are returning to the stage with plenty of material to pick from, the combination of which is primed to make you dance with friends and then feel inspired to go out and write music of your own. [House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$46. houseofblues.com] WED 2.20 JAMES BLAKE James Blake made EDM cool by making it the most emotional, personal, barren work compared to the festival-primed bass drops of his peers. Now, the singer and producer is knee-deep in a career that’s earned him collaboration spots with artists like Bon Iver and Chance the Rapper. While this year’s music is arguably more serious and reflective than that early flexing style, Blake still offers that trademark British candor, the allure of which is impossible to fight off when he’s there onstage before you, bashful as ever despite the massive, soulful voice hiding within his lungs. [House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$43. houseofblues.com]
LIVE MUSIC • PRIVATE EVENTS 2/7 CROSSROADS PRESENTS:
Raputina
with Ryder Cooley
(Quirky, cello driven rock)
2/8
Hey Zeus
Record release party
w/ Motherboar 2/10
Luv Buzz sip and shop:
Vintage and handmade market featuring 40+ vendors 11am-5pm 2/12 CROSSROADS PRESENTS:
Oso Oso
with Diva Sweetly and Cheem (Alternative rock from New York)
2/13
Galentine’s Day party:
Whiskey and beer tasting, photo booth, tarot reading Karaoke with Jean at 9:30pm
156 Highland Ave • Somerville, MA 617-285-0167 oncesomerville.com a @oncesomerville b/ONCEsomerville NEWS TO US
FEATURE
DEPT. OF COMMERCE
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
17
INTERVIEW WITH CHANEL THERVIL VISUAL ARTS
The Roxbury artist and educator speaks about her new show at Urbano REVIEW BY OLIVIA MASTROSIMONE In her upcoming exhibit Enigma: Reactions to Racism, opening Feb 5 at Urbano in Jamaica Plain, HaitianAmerican artist and educator Chanel Thervil aims to explore racism in Boston from the black millennial perspective. Through a mixed media installation of portraits, abstract works, and interviews, Enigma works to start a dialogue about racism while dispelling some of the stigma surrounding it. In a recent conversation with DigBoston, Thervil explained how her newest project will give a much-needed platform to voices in the city that are often silenced by stereotypes and lack of representation. So much of your work focuses on racism and the American black identity. What pushed you to create art that is so politically and socially minded? Well, I didn’t have my first experience going to a museum until I was a teenager. I was 15 or 16 the first time I went to a museum in New York. What stuck with me is that I was an anomaly. I didn’t see people that looked me anywhere. I didn’t see people that looked like me in any of the artwork. I didn’t see people that looked like me as speakers in the museum. It was just very confusing. I remember thinking, “Huh, wonder why there aren’t more people of color in this space.” It’s a place that [is] supposed to be where things are honored. I got the assumption that museums were institutions that hold the highlights of culture, like culture’s greatest hits, and it was strange to me that there weren’t people like me represented on either side of the canvas. It was like, “Whoa, what’s going on here?” I feel like that has been the major fuel for my work that I do, not just as an artist but also as an educator. Just making sure that my students know that there are people of color who have always been doing great things and making art. Did the move from a city like New York to Boston have any influence on your work? I think when I moved to Boston it was a big culture shock. It’s not to say that New York is a perfect city and that racism doesn’t exist there, because that’s just not the reality, but there’s definitely more explicitness in New York City in terms of understanding where you are and where you’re not welcome. I think Boston kind of hides behind the guise of liberalism and the city is quick to say, “Oh, we’re not racist and everything is fine! Everyone is welcome!” And then, you’re in different spaces with people who are different than you and you get treated poorly. So in that way, it’s a bit confusing. In regard to my art practice, being multidisciplinary is something that has definitely crossed over into Boston. I experiment with multimedia and I’m always looking for more ways to express my ideas. That’s one way the New York city influence is still very prevalent in my work. What was the inspiration behind your upcoming exhibition Enigma: Reactions to Racism? This exhibition came from the things that I was just encountering here in Boston. So many people don’t realize that I have a full-time job! I’m the program manager for an art nonprofit called Art Connection, and before I got the full-time position that I have, I had worked with a number of nonprofit and art institutions in Boston. As I navigated these spaces, it was rare that I found people who looked like me on the staff side. And when I did find people who looked like me, it was always a one-off. Like, “Oh my gosh, there’s another person of color here!” I think because of that hunger to be accepted in these spaces and having all of these experiences in me, I started networking and meeting more people of color in nonprofit spaces. It’s kind of
like being a magical unicorn in that way, like being the one person of color in the nonprofit space. It’s a very activating experience, and there are a lot of instances where you’re kind of questioning the situation like, “Did that really just happen? Did that person really just say that in my presence?” I think definitely the subtext of the show is kind of unifying some of those experiences that seem to isolate us. So, all of the portraits of people that are featured in this exhibition are black Boston-based millennials, and many of them either currently work in nonprofit spaces or have done that for most of their professional career. Again, just honoring the average person. That’s something I learned through talking with other people of color in the nonprofit sector, that we’re often the unseen, unheard entity in the room. I thought that this was a good way to ensure that the whole room could see us.
kind of humor that millennials have that’s a little on the dark side. It’s because we’re aware of ourselves. We can see a lot of the negative things that we are experiencing, but at the same time, we have to get through it. So, we make a lot of sarcastic jokes and a lot of memes about things that are stressful as a way to kind of cope with it or make it bearable enough to deal with. That’s something that’s definitely very unique to millennials—how they deal with pain, and how they can push forward despite all of the uncertainty around them. How is Enigma different than your other exhibitions? What’s very different about this exhibition from my other work is that it’s a blend of the portrait work that I do and the abstract installation things that I’ve done in the past. That’s something that’s really unique. While there are abstract elements in the portraits that I’ve previously made, they were never as bold or explicit as they are going to be in this show. There’s also an interesting audio component in Enigma that I’m really excited about. I start the process of making portraits by photographing and interviewing people. So for this exhibition, in particular, a couple of the folks that are portrayed agreed to let me record them. I’m going to include audio files of their perspectives on confusing things about racism and their experiences with it in Boston.
Why did you choose to focus on the millennial voice? Why is it so important? I’ve had an older person say to me once, “You know, I thought racism would be over by the time you guys came around.” I remember hearing that and thinking, “That is such a strange thing to say!” And like, you’re not dead! Just because you don’t consider yourself to be young doesn’t mean that you now have no stake in the game and you have no accountability or responsibility to make the world a better place. That has been another thing READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT DIGBOSTON.COM. that’s interesting about being a millennial in particular. I guess it’s a little bittersweet because, on the one hand, it’s great that older generations are hopeful for us to do this work, but also it’s a lot of pressure on us to not perpetuate certain systems and not be a part of certain systems that they want to try and disrupt. So many of the institutions that helped generations before us are kind of crumbling— they’re gone. I would say millennials are really innovative and creative, and we’re also people who kind of expect to work and do multiple things in order to survive. Because we are hypersensitive to the fact that things can always change, we’re very good at adapting and shifting, and also just trying new things and accepting nontraditional paths for success and stability. There’s definitely creativity that comes out of that resilience. I think what’s unique about the millennial perspective is that we’re good at utilizing language to express emotions in ways that generations before us were not as good at. I would also say that we CHANEL THERVIL. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST. are into sarcasm and irony, and there’s a particular
>> ENIGMA: REACTIONS TO RACISM. URBANO, 29 GERMANIA ST, JAMAICA PLAIN. 2.3–5.3. OPENING CELEBRATION THU 2.21 6-8 PM. URBANOPROJECT.ORG. 18
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BOOKS
SILVER UNICORN LOVE FEST Pop-up romance novel shop comes to Bow Market BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON It’s rare that we do anything with press releases other than send them right to the trash or tell the publicist that they should go and screw themselves. It’s even rarer that we actually appreciate the information being sent to us because it is refreshingly unique, as was the case when we heard that the Silver Unicorn Bookstore of Acton is bringing a romance novel pop-up to Bow Market for a week starting on Feb 12. “This partnership came to fruition out of a mutual desire to see romance novels move more to the forefront of the conversation in the publishing industry,” wrote Paul Swydan, owner of the Silver Unicorn. “Seventy-five percent of romance consumers buy 50-plus books per year. … With 20 percent of romance readers living in the Northeast, we feel we have a good opportunity to shine the spotlight on the romance genre.” Wow. That’s a whole lot of sexy. We asked Katie Eelman and Clarissa Murphy of Silver Unicorn for some more details.
the e v a S ! Date
SomERviLlE ComMUniTy
SumMIt
Somerville residents* are welcome to come meet DigBoston journalists and colleagues from other news outlets to discuss local issues that need more coverage
2pm 6, 121 . b e Sat., FNCE Ballroommerville
O ., So nd Ave a l h g i ston, 156 H DigBo ofit y b d e onsor e for Nonpr Co-sp itut t s n I J), the Boston nalism (BIN er (SMC), nt Jour dia Ce lle Me an a dozen i v r e Som ore th nstitutional and m and i unity rs comm a p rtne
How is it even legal that there isn’t a pop-up romance novel boutique on every corner before V-Day? KE: It should absolutely be mandatory by law that every corner is populated by a pop-up romance novel boutique—year-round! Whose idea was this? How many romance novels do they read a year? Are they just trying to unload them on the rest of us? KE: Back in early November, Clarissa Murphy voiced the idea out loud in a social media post that Paul Swydan saw, and it snowballed from there. Clarissa reads around 30 romance novels per year and wanted to share them with the world, because romance genre books have become more than “Caucasian royalty diddling the help,” and she’s not alone. One-third of American females read romance genre books, and sales of romance books represent over $1 billion per year and account for roughly one-third of the US fiction market. With those stats in mind, it only makes sense to pop up and show up, shame-free, for this huge amount of readers.
*Not in Somerville? Interested in a similar community summit in your city or town? Drop us a line: editorial@digboston.com
Balkan Beat Party
What’s the hottest current trend in romance novels? KE: The romance genre hottest trends currently include feminist heroines; active consent; romance and resistance; and neuro-, gender, racial, and ethnic diversity We have to ask: Will there be any books that have Fabio as the cover model? Or are those all collector’s items at this point? CM: It definitely wouldn’t be the romance genre without our dearly beloved Fabio. He’s not featured on too many books these days, but we’re endeavoring to find a cardboard cutout of him for the pop-up, because part of the space will be devoted to a photo booth-esque area where customers can create their own romance novel cover, and we think it’d be good fun if Fabio can be in them. How diverse is the romance novel marketplace these days? KE: The romance genre is extremely diverse as it pertains to race, ethnicity, ability, neurology, and of course gender, sexual identity, and orientation. When planning inventory for this pop-up, we were careful to ensure that readers can find themselves and their fantasies in the pages. We worked with publishers—who are proactively working to publish more inclusively—to make sure we were current and thoughtful in our selections. LBGTQ titles account for far more of the genre than is publicly acknowledged. We’re excited to sling some incredible queer love stories.
Live music by
Sarma and Gogofski
Is romance novel shopping recommended for couples? Or is this a solo adventure? CM: Who hasn’t “snuck” into the romance section in a bookstore and read aloud the saucy bits to a friend or lover? You can shop romances alone, together, as a threesome, foursome, however you please. There are collections written specifically to be read aloud in bed with your partner, and man, let me tell you, they do the job! >> ROMANCE NOVEL POP-UP. BOW MARKET, UNION SQUARE, SOMERVILLE. 2.12-2.19. BOOK SIGNINGS ON 2.16 W/ NICOLE GALLAND (1PM) AND MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN (6PM).
Saturday February 16 at the Somerville Armory Doors open at 6:30 Dance instruction 7 to 8 Music and dance 8 to 10:30 Drink and light food available for purchase Admission $20 at the door.
www.balkanbeatparty.com NEWS TO US
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19
THE GRAND BIZARRE FILM
An interview with director Jodie Mack BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN
Jodie Mack is a filmmaker and experimental animator whose works include Yard Work is Hard Work (2008), Dusty Stacks of Mom: the Poster Project (2013), Let Your Light Shine (2013), and a series of textile-based flicker films that were semi-recently featured at the Harvard Film Archive under the program title “Jodie Mack’s Posthaste Perennial Patterns.” Her latest film, The Grand Bizarre (2018), plays at the Brattle this Monday, along with two of her recently completed shorter works, Wasteland No. 1: Ardent, Verdant (2017) and Hoarders Without Boarders 1.0 (2018). Your other textile-based films are entirely comprised of images of the objects themselves, but from the very first minute The Grand Bizarre is engaging with how textile objects exist within larger spaces. It feels wrong to describe airports and marketplaces and train stations as “the natural world,” but in those terms, there’s a lot of “the natural world” in The Grand Bizarre. Was that shift a starting point for the production, or was it something that developed throughout production itself? Kind of both. It was both a necessity and something that slowly unfolded. For a certain amount of time I had been looking for a way to move away from my animation stand. Like: It’s fine to produce those kinds of films, but it’s really limiting as far as where one can be. And the amount of hours that it takes to sit with that camera in the same place really started to tucker me out. A few years ago at film festivals I was looking around, and I was semi-jealous of other people because they had the real world in their films. And there was a flatness to mine—it was never going to have natural light hitting anything, you know. … It was just different. That was one reason to enjoy the films I was making, but I also wanted to find ways to do things differently. And that was kind of the impetus behind one of my prior movies, Dusty Stacks of Mom: Like, okay, we’ve got a location, let’s practice traveling with film and gear, let’s practice going to another place to make a study. In this film I definitely wanted to continue that, to continue finding reasons to shoot outside the animation stand. Of course the performance aspect of Dusty Stacks [the film’s soundtrack is performed live] is what sent me traveling to start this new film [The Grand Bizarre]. So, those impulses were very much interrelated. But, then I became really taken with some of the footage that was shot in these real spaces, partially because there’s a double or triple (or more) animation that occurs because you’re animating the object plus everything else around it is doing its own movement. I thought that was very beautiful. I became really excited to forfeit control with those types of images because one of my whole beliefs behind this film … is that before anything’s even said, before you hear or see anything, the idea of animation automatically proves the impossibility of cinema verite. Documentary’s already Narrative 2.0, and then add animation to that, and it’s obvious just how constructed it is, that there’s no truth here. I was particularly struck by the way that water ripples in this film as a result of the animation style. You see it moving naturally for a few moments, then there’s a time cut, then it moves naturally a few more moments, then there’s another time cut, and so on. … hose images suggested to me that the film was pushing against certain labels: I found myself wondering if such instances would indeed be considered animation, and then wondering whether or not that would matter. One of the most important questions for me in cinema is not is animation a type of cinema? as much as it’s is cinema a type of animation?. You could spend a whole lifetime on that question—as I am doing.
Animation is a weighted term, and all of my work is carrying this weight, of animation being known as a fully narrative genre, or even experimental animation being known as a fully decorative genre. There’s also all of these notions around animation as being a genre for children. I watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor (2018) this summer, and I thought, oh my gosh, he’s [Mr. Rogers] really carrying all the same problems as the animator—especially the animator that’s trying to pose questions about the relationship between art and craft, that’s working in handmade forms now in the FROM THE GRAND BIZARRE, COURTESY JODIE MACK world of mass-produced computer objects and images. longer than 25 seconds, except for in the last part [of There’s tons of live action included in the The Grand the film], which was shot with a motor. So, I was tasked Bizarre. I think if you showed this film to a lot of people with constructing this quilt out of tiny threads, out of who had a limited understanding of what animation was, cast-offs. And it became more important to me to create they might say no, this is not an animation. But that’s the illusion of a memory, or the feeling of getting lost, or where I feel like the film is. … Is it an animation? Is it a speed-reading through it, very much in the same way that documentary? Is it a travelogue? Is it a music video? What it is when you look at a textile with a bunch of patterns is it? I don’t have an answer. all over it— you’re kind of grasping it, but you don’t really remember: Was the diamond next to the chevron and Another set of distinctions I wanted to ask about are then the dolphin? How did that go? It’s really much more those that come with distribution. Your films have played interested in creating an impression of an experience theatrically, within festivals, in public spaces, exhibitions, than it is in the nuts and bolts of it. online, and elsewhere. At the Brattle The Grand Bizarre will play on 35mm. I know the majority of your work is Related to all these exhibition/distribution questions produced on 16mm, but how important is format to you is the status of The Grand Bizarre as a “feature.” When I in terms of exhibition? first watched it I thought, perhaps incorrectly, that it was It depends. I think a lot of my shorter, more something of a formal joke that the film, at 60 minutes stroboscopic works kind of die on video not because of and change, is exactly long enough to be considered the image quality as much as because of the mechanics feature-length by certain standards. Conceptually, was of the projection—the intermittent stroboscopic of a the idea of making a “feature” in any way important to film projector vs the refresh rate of a video projector. But, you? yeah, I have a lot of my stuff up on Vimeo; I believe in The material landed in my lap, with a breadth of offering it for free. I believe people should have access to ideas that begged for that amount of time. I actually these films, and I’m not precious about whether you’ve think the movie could be longer; I have five extra hours seen it on 16mm or video or whatever. And, for The Grand of footage. And once I had that wealth of material, I was Bizarre, I thought, the more formats, the better! Because most interested in making something that was exactly an it’s all about that. It’s about whether you find a specific hour. Because of ideas of the hour being a finite amount pattern on a piece of polyester, or on a heavily laboredof time, an hour being a full revolution around the clock, over handmade woven piece, or on a decal or something an hour being the largest 16mm reel you can have. So like that. It’s about how these different forms of medium that’s what I was interested in. And I’ve gotten a lot of specificity alter the nuance behind meaning pushback from friends, that are like, why do experimental filmmakers need to make features, and it’s like, well, to What has your reaction been to the look of the film on take it back to the analogies we were just using, if you’re these different formats? a composer, you might do a fugue, and then a sonata, I haven’t seen it on 35mm, but I’ve seen it scanned and and then a symphony, and it’s all just demarcations I’ve spoken to my lab about it. … If you’re a purist about of duration that you’re experimenting with. As far as 16mm or film in general, at this point in time you really features are concerned, I would argue that it’s not even can’t not acknowledge the role of a digital intermediate. about how much time it takes, but how much is in the Does it make it better? Does it make it worse? I don’t film. Dusty Stacks of Mom, with the work that went into know. I’m excited to see it on 35mm because for me 35mm that, three years of constant work, is definitely some has always been the marker of, like, “a real movie”, you sort of feature offering. Even a 30-minute film that I’ve know? And in some ways when I watch my movies on made (Yard Work is Hard Work) … when you’re working in 16mm it’s always like I’m watching a home movie, not a animation, it’s totally different. real movie. Because 35mm was the format when I was Editing The Grand Bizarre did make me think a lot going to the cinema growing up, everything was 35mm, about markers for duration that we have in cinema and nothing was digital. pop music: Why is everything on the radio under three So … it all looks fine. I shoot on 16mm because of minutes? Why is everything at the cinema around 120 its rendering of color and texture. And of course the minutes? Where do we come up with these? Why not stroboscopic intermittency of the camera and the make something that’s totally in the middle? And, people projector. Those are the only reasons. Because it’s not will give you advice as you go through, like, this won’t be easier, it’s much harder. able to be programmed because it’s this long. But, I am a believer that a film should be as long as it needs to be— The nature of your form makes The Grand Bizarre even though my film could’ve been longer. impossible to reassemble in my mind. Every time I’ve seen it, I’ve found myself looking at a particular shot or Transcribed and condensed with subject’s participation; sequence, and thinking, did I see that last time? for the full transcript, please see digboston.com. Shooting on the bolex governs that no shot can be
>>THE GRAND BIZARRE PLAYS AT THE BRATTLE THEATRE ON MON 2.11 AT 7PM. PRESENTED BY THE DOCYARD. $12. 35MM. 20
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2018-19 MIT SOUNDING SERIES
SPIDER’S CANVAS / ARACHNODRONE IN CONCERT February 16-18, 2019 MIT Theater Bldg W97 345 Vassar Street Cambridge, MA ON DISPLAY Spring 2019 MIT.nano Bldg 12 60 Vassar Street Cambridge, MA
arts.mit.edu/spiders
Image: A live performance of Spider’s Canvas / Arachnodrone at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, November 23, 2018. Credit: Aurelie Cenno/Palais de Tokyo.
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QUICK LOVE SAVAGE LOVE
BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET Can I still be considered sex-positive if I personally do not have sex? I’ve never had sex or masturbated—all my life, any type of sexual stimulation has been very painful and I’ve been unable to experience orgasm. I simply get a migraine and feel mildly nauseated instead. I am not looking for a possible solution, as I long ago accepted my fate and consequently avoid sex, such as by maintaining only sexless relationships. My question is simply whether I can still be considered sex-positive if I do not enjoy or engage in sexual activity? Personally Loathes Unpleasant Sex I consider myself cunnilingus-positive, PLUS, despite the fact that I could not personally enjoy (and therefore have never engaged in) that particular sexual activity. While I don’t think it would cause me physical pain, I would not be able to experience orgasm myself (through simultaneous self-stimulation) while performing cunnilingus, and my cunnilingus partner would be highly unlikely to experience orgasm, either (due to my ineptness). If I can nevertheless consider myself cunnilingus-positive under the circumstances—if I can consider myself a cunnilingus advocate—you can consider yourself sex-positive. About twice a week, my wife gets up from the dinner table to have a shit. She won’t make the smallest effort to adjust the timing so we can finish our dinner conversation. She can’t even wait for a natural break in the conversation. She will stand up and leave the room when I am making a point. Am I rightfully upset or do I just have to get over it? When I say something, she tells me it’s unavoidable. Decidedly Upset Man Petitions Savage “Let her have her poop,” said Zach Noe Towers, a comedian in Los Angeles who just walked into the cafe where I was writing this week’s column. “His Miss Pooper isn’t going to change her ways.” I would only add this: Absent some other evidence— aural or olfactory—you can’t know for sure that your wife actually left the room to take a shit. She could be in the bathroom scrolling through Twitter or checking her Instagram DMs. In other words: taking a break from your shit, DUMPS, not shitting herself. My boyfriend goes to pieces whenever I am the least bit critical. I’m not a scold, and small things don’t bother me. But when he does something thoughtless and I bring it to his attention, he starts beating up on himself and insists that I hate him and I’m going to leave him. He makes a scene that’s out of proportion to the topic at hand, and I wind up having to comfort and reassure him. I’m not sure how to handle this. Boyfriend Always Wailing Loudly Someone who leaps to YOU HATE ME! YOU HATE ME! when their partner wants to constructively process the tiniest conflict is being a manipulative shit, BAWL. Your boyfriend goes right to the self-lacerating (and fake) meltdown so that you’ll hesitate to initiate a discussion about a conflict or—god forbid—really confront him about some selfish, shitty, or inconsiderate thing he’s done. He’s having a tantrum, BAWL, because he doesn’t want to be held accountable for his actions. And as the parent of any toddler can tell you, tantrums continue so long as tantrums work.
COMEDY EVENTS THU 02.07
CLUB CAFE COMEDY NIGHT @ CLUB CAFE
Featuring: Alex Giampapa, Toby Cleary, Randy Valerio, Corey Saunders, Liam McGurk, Katlin McFee, and more. Hosted by Dylan Uscher
209 COLUMBUS AVE., BOSTON | 7PM | $5 THU 02.07
QUEER QOMEDY HOUR @ IMPROVBOSTON
Featuring: Pete Angelo, Kendra Dawsey, Cathy Coleman, Isha Patnaik, Nora Panahi, Lily Fender, & Will Martin. Hosted by Chloé Cunha
40 PROSPECT ST., CAMBRIDGE | 7PM | $5 FRI 02.08
ANDERSON COMEDY PRESENTS: THE GAS! @ GREAT SCOTT
Featuring: Katie McCarthy, Chris Post, John Baglio, Ricky Stock, Liam McGurk. Hosted by Rob Crean
1222 COMM AVE, ALLSTON | 7PM | $5 SAT 02.09
BOSTON COMEDY CHICKS SHOWCASE @ DOYLE’S CAFE
Featuring: Sally Ann Hall, Tooky Kavanagh, Laura Severse, Sabrina Wu, Will Martin, & more. Hosted by Kindra Lansburg
3484 WASHINGTON ST., JP | 8PM | $12 SUN 02.10
PICK A SIDE STUPID @ THE COMEDY STUDIO
A long-running comedy debate show and live podcast featuring some of Boston’s finest standup comedians in a lively debate on a topic of the week. Hosted by Shawn Carter
1 BOW MARKET WAY #23, SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $10 SUN 02.10
MONTREAL JUST FOR LAUGHS NEW FACES SHOWCASE @ LAUGH BOSTON
Featuring: Tricia Auld, John Baglio, Brian Higginbottom, Alex Giampapa, Michelle Sui, Liam McGurk, Jonathan Tilson, Laura Severse, Sam Ike, Mike Whitman, Corey Rodrigues, Drew Dunn, Carolyn Riley & Zach Brazao. Hosted by Kelly MacFarland
425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | VARIOUS | $20-$25
Lineup & shows to change without notice. Bios & writeups pulled from various sources, including from the clubs & comics. RUTHERFORD BY DON KUSS DONKUSS@DIGBOSTON.COM
I’m a well-adjusted gay man in my early 40s, but I’ve never found a way to openly enjoy my fetish. I love white socks and sneakers. The most erotic thing I’ve ever seen is a cute guy at a party asking if he could take his high-tops off to relax in his socks. I’ve been in a couple of long-term relationships, but I’ve never been honest about this fetish with anyone. I’ve thought a lot about why stocking feet turn me on so much, and I think it must have something to do with the fact that if you are close to someone and they want to spend time with you, they are more likely to take their shoes off to relax around you. I’m not sure what to do. Loves Socks And Sneaks I have to assume you’re out of the closet—you can’t be a “well-adjusted gay man” and a closet case—which means at some point in your life, LSAS, you sat your mom down and told her you put dicks in your mouth. Telling your next boyfriend you have a thing for socks and sneakers can’t be anywhere near as scary, can it? (There are tons of kinky guys all over Twitter and Instagram who are very open about their fetishes, LSAS. Create an anonymous, kink-specific account for yourself and follow a bunch of kinksters. You need some role/sole models!)
On the Lovecast, Dr. Zhana on squirting: savagelovecast.com.
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“wow... and all these years i’ve just been sitting on the keyboard”
WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM
HEADLINING THIS WEEK!
Eddie Ifft
Comedy Central Presents, Last Comic Standing Thursday - Saturday
COMING SOON
Just For Laughs New Faces Showcase
Special Engagement: Sun, Feb 10
Al Ducharme + Bernadette Pauley
THE WAY WE WEREN’T BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM
Special Engagement: Thurs, Feb 14 (V-Day!)
Kyle Dunnigan
Reno 911!, Comedy Central Presents Feb 15 + 16
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Workaholics, Showtime’s I'm Dying Up Here Feb 21-23 617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District NEWS TO US
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