Sensi Magazine - New England - March 2021

TUNES FOR THE TRIP

Curated playlists for psychedelics

NEW ENGLAND MARCH 2021

TAKING ROOT Cannapreneur April Arrasate founds a new brand in Jamaica Plain

LIGHTING THE PATH Cannabis delivery expands

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Where to celebrate St. Patty’s Day

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NEW ENGLAND SENSI MAGAZINE MARCH 2021

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

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FEATURE

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Take Root

Cannabis entrepreneur April Arrasate talks about founding a brand that’s deeply connected to the local community.

DEPARTMENTS

11 EDITOR’S NOTE 38 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town 12 THE BUZZ CULTURAL CALENDAR Live News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop FARM AID The Hemp Farm supports local growers.

THIRST QUENCHER Long Trail’s CBD seltzer SUGAR SHACK CBD-infused maple syrup from Vermont HANDCRAFTED HATS US Sherpa supports 300+ Nepali artisans.

COLORING CANNABIS

Fight the quarantine blues with NECANN’s cannabis coloring book.

TRAIL MAGIC CBD products for hikers

and virtual happenings for March NEW LIGHT Lantern, a Boston-based delivery platform that connects cannabis users to licensed dispensaries is coming to Colorado.

WICKED IRISH Where to celebrate St. Pat’s during COVID-19 FRESH TUNES The best albums of 2021 (so far)

50 THE END

ON THE COVER

A citadel is the centerpiece of Gillette Castle State Park.

April Arrasate, CEO of Core Cannabis in Jamaica Plain PHOTO BY DANIEL MALDONADO

22 THE LIFE Contributing to your

health and happiness TRIP TUNES Music for your psychedelic journey FOR THE RECORD A defense of vinyl HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold?

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ADVISORY BOARD

The Botanist Cannabis Education Corners Packaging Packaging Curaleaf Veterans Cannabis Project Flourish Software Seed to Sale Green Goddess Supply Personal Homegrown Biochamber Green Matters LLC/MariMed Inc. Supply Chain GreenHouse Payment Solutions Payment Processing The Holistic Center Medical Marijuana Evaluations The Leaf Collaborative Education Mayflower Medicinals Online Reservations PotGuide Travel & Tourism Revolutionary Clinics Medical Dispensary Royal Gold Soil Tess Woods Public Relations Public Relations MEDIA PARTNERS

Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

EXECUTIVE

Ron Kolb Founder, CEO ron@sensimag.com Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder, Editor in Chief stephanie@sensimag.com Mike Mansbridge President mike@sensimag.com Lou Ferris VP of Global Revenue lou@sensimag.com Chris Foltz VP of Global Reach chris@sensimag.com Richard Guerra Director of Global Reach richard.guerra@sensimag.com Amanda Patrizi Deputy Director of Global Reach amanda.patrizi@sensimag.com Jade Kolb Director of Project Management jade.kolb@sensimag.com Neil Willis Production Director neil.willis@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Emilie-Noelle Provost Managing Editor emilie.provost@sensimag.com Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large robyn.lawrence@sensimag.com Helen Olsson Copy Chief Amelia Arvesen, Dawn Garcia, Jedd Ferris Contributing Writers DESIGN

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak, Josh Clark Designers PUBLISHING

Richard Guerra Market Director richard.guerra@sensimag.com Jake Boynton Media Sales Executive jake.boynton@sensimag.com Jenna Scandone Media Sales Executive jenna.scandone@sensimag.com

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2021 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

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I N S TAG R A M Pretty things, pretty places, pretty awesome people: find it all on @sensimagazine.

This time last year, I

was feeling pretty optimistic about life. I had a new job as the managing editor of this magazine. My husband and I were having a blast spending nearly every weekend in New Hampshire’s White Mountains hiking with our friends. Our daughter would be graduating from college soon, and spring was just around the corner.

Two weeks later, of course, it all came crashing down.

March, with its cold, wet weather, gray skies, and seemingly endless mud, might not seem like a good time to adopt a hopeful attitude. Somehow, though, I’m feeling optimistic about the future. I’ve been impressed by the ways so many people have managed to persevere through the past year’s difficult months and by the new opportunities and beginnings they have forged in the process.

In this issue, you’ll find an interview with cannabis entrepreneur April Arrasate, an expert at using the lemons life has thrown at her to make lemonade. After losing her mother to breast cancer in 2011, Arrasate founded the original Curaleaf company in Simsbury, Connecticut, with the aim of helping terminally and chronically ill people get better treatment.

Arrasate’s newest venture, Core Cannabis, opens in early March in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. With a focus on quality products and social justice, Arrasate and her diverse team have completely reimagined what a dispensary can be. Located in the space left vacant by Bella Luna & The Milky Way—a popular restaurant and bowling alley forced to shut its doors during the COVID-19 pandemic—the shop is a phoenix rising from 2020’s ashes.

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark,” English minister and writer Charles Spurgeon once wrote. By continuing to move forward a little each day and lending a hand to those who have fallen behind, I believe we’ll all soon be able to reach the goals toward which we strive.

I’ve been impressed by the ways so many people have managed to persevere through the past year’s difficult months and by the new opportunities and beginnings they have forged in the process.

Keep rising,

Emilie-Noelle Provost @Emilie_Noelle

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tures, edibles, and topicals, all from locally grown hemp. They even sell CBD treats and drops for pets.

New England Hemp Farm donates a percentage of its profits to organizations that work to preserve open farmland and to inner-city programs benefitting neighborhoods adversely affected by drug laws. newenglandhempfarm.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEW ENGLAND HEMP FARM

Farm Aid

to see what he knew about hemp and CBD. Their conversation revealed a Support local farmers with eco-friendly hemp and business opporCBD products from Westport, Connecticut. tunity and the When Connectifrom joint pain a market. Dismayed potential financut resident Brian few years back, that there was no cial gain for New Edmonds found a friend recomway to determine England farms himself suffering mended that he the quality or growing hemp. The try CBD. But when effectiveness of duo founded New Edmonds went to the CBD products England Hemp look for a lotion or he found, or the Farm in 2019. cream that might amount he should Today, the compahelp him, he was use, Edmonds ny makes a variety overwhelmed by contacted longtime of quality-tested the number of Connecticut farm- CBD products, products on the er Keith Bunovsky including tinc-

CONTRIBUTORS

Amelia Arvesen, Emilie-Noelle Provost, Doug Schnitzspahn, Stephanie Wilson

BY THE NUMBERS

40 GALLONS The amount of sap needed to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup SOURCE: University of Vermont Extension

5 WEEKS The average length of the maple-sugaring season in New England

The nutritional value of 1⁄4 cup of pure maple syrup SOURCE: New England Maple Museum

ussherpa.com

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Fight the quarantine blues while supporting local artists.

The World’s Best Cannabis Coloring Book, published by the New England Cannabis Network (NECANN), contains more than 40 pages of original cannabis-themed drawings created by New England artists. All you need are a few colored pencils or markers and a quiet spot and you’ll be able to enjoy hours of creative stress relief. Printable PDF copies of the book are $20. Hard copies are $40 including shipping. necann.com

This handmade outdoor accessories company provides employment for 300+ Nepalese artisans.

When Ongyel Sherpa’s uncle led Burlington, Vermont, physician Geoff Tabin to the summit of Mount Everest in 1988, Sherpa had no idea that the expedition would also lead to a successful business in the United States. Ten years after his Everest climb, Tabin took Sherpa into his home. Then, after graduating from Champlain College in 2005, Sherpa founded US Sherpa, which imports colorful wool and cashmere scarves, shawls, hats, socks, and mittens made by artisans in Nepal using traditional handlooms.

SOURCE: Massachusetts Maple Producers Association

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From Nepal to Vermont

CALORIES

$141

MILLION Estimated annual production value of maple syrup produced by US farms SOURCE: Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets

“MARCH IS THE MONTH OF EXPECTATION.” —Emily Dickinson, 19th-century American poet

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THE BUZZ

BILITIES

BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF

Below is the playlist I had on repeat while making Sensi’s first-ever music edition.

1 REBELS by Call Me Karizma 2 MOTOR MOUTH by Kai Straw 3 GRATEFUL by Spencer Sutherland 4 GUILLOTINE by Mansionair x NoMBe 5 MYSTERY LADY by Masego and Don Toliver 6 TOPDOWN by Channel Tres 7 PURPLE HAT by Sofi Tukker 8 PUMP THE BREAK by morgxn 9 ALL THAT by Emotional Oranges 10 BROKEN PEOPLE by almost monday 11 WHO’S GOT THE WEED by G. Love & Special Sauce 12 CAN’T BE HAPPIER by SJ & Sugar Jesus feat. Goldford

Thirst Quencher This tasty Vermont-made CBD seltzer comes in three refreshing flavors.

Although the company is best known for its excellent craft beers, Long Trail Brewing Co., based in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, has gotten into the CBD seltzer business.

The fizzy drinks are gluten- and sugar-free, contain zero calories, and are available in raspberry lime, blackberry, and blueberry melon. Each 12-ounce can of alcohol-free seltzer contains 20mg of CBD. A single-flavor four-pack costs about $15. Use Long Trail’s handy online beer finder to locate a retailer near you. longtrail.com

March brings breezes loud and shrill, to stir the dancing daffodil.”

—Sara Coleridge, 19th-century English author

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THE BUZZ

VOX POPULI

Question: What do you like best about the month of March?

ROBERT HAMILTON

SUZANNE PERRY

MARIANNE GHIZZONI GINA TEMPESTA

SAM PAPPAS

Sales Executive Lowell, MA

Medical Technologist Londonderry, NH

Services Administrator Norwood, MA

Video Producer Melrose, MA

Financial Adviser Warwick, RI

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

I like that the air outside starts to smell like spring.

Longer days, and the sun starts to feel warmer.

St Patrick’s Day! And maybe hints of spring.

Maybe.

March is like Wednesday, hump day, like we’re just that much closer to the weekend— or spring.

That April is right around the corner—time to begin getting the boat ready for the water.

Sugar Shack

Indulge your inner sweet tooth with CBD-infused maple syrup.

Few things are as delicious as real maple syrup. Take a drive down just about any New England country road during the month of March and you’re sure to come across the telltale blue plastic tubing used to collect the late-winter sap of sugar maples.

Elevated State VT has partnered with Vermont maple producers to create a CBD-infused maple syrup. It’s perfect for pouring on your pancakes, sweetening your morning coffee, or as a topping for your favorite ice cream. Each 50 ml bottle is made with grade A maple syrup, contains 50 mg of CBD isolate and is THCfree. $12.

AUTUMN ARRIVES IN THE EARLY MORNING, BUT SPRING AT THE CLOSE OF A WINTER DAY.” —Elizabeth Bowen, 20th-century Irish author and writer

elevatedstatevt.com

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THE BUZZ

LISTEN UP

How much you enjoy your music depends on how you hear it. These are Sensi’s picks for the best speakers and headphones we’ve tested in 2021.

HEADPHONES

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 With so many options on the market, it’s tough to say that one single set of headphones rises above the rest—until you try these. Sleek and comfortable on your skull, they deliver sound that’s so full it’s almost tangible. Eleven settings (Nigel Tufnel be praised!) let you dial in the amount of noise canceling you want, from none at all (smart for when you’re walking on city streets) to full-on (perfect for tuning out all the drama of being stuck at home). $380 / bose.com IN-EAR HEADPHONES

NuraLoop These easy-to-wear in-ear headphones are truly in your head—they adapt to your hearing. Say what? That’s right. They actually send sound into your eardrum that then informs the system about the best way to play for your individual hearing. The result is bass that hits the back of your brain and sharp clarity on every note.

TURNTABLE

Crosley Switch II Entertainment System A throwback to the days when a record player was the center of the musical $199 / nuraphone.com experience, Crosley’s practical system oozes retro cool and still cranks out SPEAKER pleasant sound. A belt drive keeps those JBL Party Box 300 45s and LPs spinning, and this set will add This sturdy, portable Bluetooth speaker turns any space into a mini-rave thanks to a groovy feel to any room—even when it’s a light system that synchronizes colors to not playing. the beat—and three settings mean you can $170 / crosleyradio.com pick up or slow down the tempo. Beyond the optics, it pumps out clean sound and runs on a rechargeable battery that keeps the party going for up to 18 hours. $400 / jbl.com

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COMPUTER SPEAKERS

Logitech Z313 Speaker System with Subwoofer This compact speaker and subwoofer set delivers deep, crisp sound and hooks up to a wide range of devices—from your laptop to your smartphone to your TV—as long as they have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It’s the ideal music system for a workstation if you want to share tunes with your office mates, or, as things go in the days of COVID-19, if you just want to have your own private dance party in between deadlines. $50 / logitech.com

THE BUZZ

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Trail Magic

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF KELTY, DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

An outdoor brand goes all in with CBD products meant to soothe hikers’ aches and pains.

Outdoor activities cause sore muscles. CBD is said to relieve pain. Even though the outdoor industry has dabbled in the cannabidiol market for a few years, it wasn’t until this year that a dedicated outdoor brand contributed its own formulations to the billion-dollar category.

In January, Kelty launched a collection of pain-relief salves, after-sun lotions, and antibacterial and itch-relief sprays for outdoorists. The longtime Colorado-based maker of tents, sleeping bags, and other outdoor gear sees the new CBD offerings as a natural brand progression.

“At Kelty, we’re all about spontaneous adventures, getting outside, goofing around, and having fun. But playing outside often comes with its own set of

of regulation of cannabidiol, but a new bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives in February would allow hempderived CBD to be marketed and sold as a dietary supplement. If passed, it could also lead the US Food and Drug Administration to establish a regulatory framework.

CBD made its debut on a large scale to the outdoor industry—a nearly $800 billion business— in 2018, when manufacturers exhibited at Outdoor Retailer, the industry’s largest trade show, and now numerous athletes, from ultrarunners to surfers, are sponsored by CBD brands.

Specialty outdoor retailers stock topicals and capsules. And Kelty has set a direct-to-consumer precedent. Which outdoor brands will enter the market next?

challenges in the form of aches and pains,” says Russell Rowell, Kelty senior vice president and general manager. “Thanks to our new CBD products, we now offer another tool to help you go farther, higher, and faster—and to bounce back more quickly when you do.”

To create research-based formulas, Kelty consulted Arizona-based pharmaceutical producer e2e Pharma to formulate the new line of THCfree products. The collection is available at kelty.com/CBD. Financially, it’s a strategic move.

The CBD market is currently valued at approximately $4 billion. Market researchers like Grandview Research and BDS Analytics predict it will surpass $20 billion by 2025. Skeptics have been troubled by the lack M A R C H 2021

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Be Your Own Personal DJ Only you know the best soundtrack for your psychedelic journey.

PHOTO CREDIT

TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

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When you drink ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon, the shamans chant songs to orchestrate your experience, in every sense of the word. Known as icaros, the songs amplify your visions and drive the medicine deep into where you need it most.

Humans have known for centuries that music is the wind beneath the psychonaut’s wings, a tool that both fuels and helps to navigate sacred plant and fungi journeys. From the music that accompanied ancient Aztec mushroom and cacao ceremonies to Dead shows at the Fillmore, a great playlist is essential to a great trip.

Psychedelic therapists have been making playlists for therapy sessions since the earliest LSD experiments, and you can find a lot of them on Spotify and YouTube, along with current offerings from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Conscious Research and many others (search “psychedelic therapy playlist,” “psilocybin playlist,” “LSD playlist,” or “MDMA playlist”). You can even find recordings of Maria Sabina, the first Mexican curandera to allow Westerners into psilocybin mushroom rituals in the 1950s. A little caution, however: Sabina was exploited by Americans and then persecuted

If you’re ready to take control of your own musical destiny in the cosmos, here are things to keep in mind as you make your playlist.

tions in depression. He found that the wrong music can be distracting and • Lean away from vocals and toward instrumake for a gobstopping mental music, chanting, or a collection of trip, amplifying feelings sounds. If you include songs with words, of resistance and negative look for lyrics in an unfamiliar language. emotions. His app, Wave• Stay away from jarring or discordant paths, allows therapists tunes or songs with unpredictable rhythm and patients to make their changes. own musical sequences, • Use calm music in the early stages to create leaving out anything that a sense of rest and safety. might bring up unwel• Alternate intense and calm tracks during come memories or resisthe peak stages. tance. Triggered by classi• Include emotionally evocative music only cal music? Brahms Sonata during peak stages. in B never has to be a part • Pay close attention to how songs transition of your journey. into each other.

Curating your own • Provide continuous music with minimal soundtrack for tripping is interruption. the best way. If you need • Emphasize variety. inspiration or guidance, • Use a high-quality source of music Helen L. Bonny and Walproduction. ter N. Pahnke, researchers at the Maryland Psychiscientist who calls music atric Center in Baltimore, by the people in her vilpublished a template for lage for her generosity, so “the hidden therapist.” selecting and structuring I’m not sure I would bring In an article about the that into my sacred space. playlist, Kaelen explains: psychedelic playlists in 1972 that therapists still “The idea here is to creThe Johns Hopkins follow today. Their seate a sense of ebb and Center’s playlist follows the formula established in flow that the participant quencing flows like this: the 1960s, heavy on West- can feel as a series of ten- • Pre-onset (0 to 1½ hours): quiet, neutral ern classical music. If that sion-and-release expe• Onset (1½ to 2 hours): riences. A playlist with just doesn’t do it for you, melodic, rhythmic the Multidisciplinary As- multiple peaks can also • Building toward peak help to titrate the expesociation for Psychedelic intensity (2 to 3½ rience and keep it from Studies (MAPS) offers hours): long, flowing getting too intense; peritwo playlists for MDphrases and dynamic MA-assisted psychother- ods of relief are built in.” crescendos In his own practice, apy featuring ethnic and • Peak intensity (3½ to Kaelen’s patients didn’t New Age music, and the 4 hours): powerful, Chacruna Institute’s psi- respond well to Western strongly structured locybin playlist on Spotify classical music. He plays • Re-entry (4 to 7 features indie, new wave, music that is personally hours): lighter, familiar meaningful to each perand rock. son, which results in more • Return to normal conThe Chacruna playsciousness (7 to 12 hours): list was developed by Dr. positive experiences and your favorite tunes.

Mendel Kaelen, a neuro- more significant reduc-

TUNING IN A recent study published in the Journal of Music Therapy found music integral for meaningful emotional and imagery experiences and self-exploration during psychedelic therapy.

“Music could convey love, carry listeners to other realms, be something to ‘hold,’ inspire, and elicit a deep sense of embodied transformation,” the authors wrote.

“Therapeutic influence was especially evident in music’s dichotomous elicitations: Music could simultaneously anchor and propel.”

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THE LIFE OLD SCHOOL

Vinyl Appeal A public and personal history of the rise, fall, and resurgence of records.

PHOTO BY KORIONOV, ADOBE STOCK

TEXT DAWN GARCIA

The Birth of Vinyl In 1877, Thomas Edison created what was known as the cylinder phonograph. While wonderful, there was no real way to mass produce it. But Emile Berliner created the mass-production flat phonograph record in the late 1880s. Berliner was able to tap methods used in a printing press to create audio recordings. As his access to enough funds presented a growth issue, he partnered with Eldridge Johnson, who would eventually take over, leaving Berliner on the outs. Johnson proved a

formidable partner who had strong relationships and access to capital. As a result, Johnson took over Berliner’s patents, pushing out any other competitors. He successfully launched the Consolidated Talking Machine Company, renamed in 1901 as Victor Talking Company, making his phonographs the most successful on the market.

Johnson grew the business through aggressive advertising. Inspired by British painter Francis Barraud, he adopted the recognizable iconic dog-and-phono-

graph logo, purchasing neath to store records the US usage rights to it. and accessories. By By the end of 1901, the 1906, he was marketing logo became synonythe new Victor-Victromous with innovative la to the wealthy at a listening devices. As the steep price tag of $200 industry became more (which in today’s market inundated with comis around $5,000). To petitors, Johnson (now his (and his employees’) referred to as Victor afsurprise, the Victroter his products) spent la was a hit and would too much time fighting be mass distributed by patent infringements by 1907. Having sold 15,000 competing businesses.

Victrolas at $200, the Those battles, however, company was primed for led him to further inno- growth and new models. vation when, in 1904, he Fast forward more began design on a new, than 100 years, and less massive turntable Victrola is still holding that was sleeker, had strong, adapting to the clearer sound, and inmodern market with cluded a cabinet underretro designs as a nod to M A R C H 2021

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THE LIFE OLD SCHOOL

its humble beginnings and implementing technology such as Bluetooth speakers.

How Vinyl Formed Our (Gen X) Childhood Those who remember the days when going to clubs meant the DJ was spinning records that weren’t plugged into their iPhones or laptops know that nothing quite compares to the feel and sound of a vinyl record. In spite of 2021 technology that blows our minds with kickass headphones, wireless sound systems, and the like, once upon a time in the 1980s, we misfit kids were stoked to get down with LPs and turntables.

Records were rad and we knew it—even if CD sales were starting to dominate.

We listened to our music on our parents’ old record players from the ’60s and ’70s. We were obsessed with John Hughes movies, The Breakfast Club, and bands like the Sex Pistols, Run DMC, and the

still dominating. In an article in Billboard magazine, an exec for United Record Pressing comments on the misconception of vinyl sales in the ’90s. “The seven-inch vinyl jukebox was [still] huge. And from my time working at labels at that point, I always duced me to Black SabBeastie Boys, and vinyl had stacks of 12-inch bath and Iron Butterfly. gave us an edge. We My mom introduced me singles behind my desk. were retro before we Most radio stations were to Carole King and The even knew it was cool.

Supremes. Music became using 12-inch singles, Turntables became our every birthday party DJ, the one thing I loved preferred mode of exevery roller rink, every pression and, thankfully, more than anything, particularly when played discotheque, and record our parents were onstores in general.” board (probably because on old-school turntaFast forward. Over they felt like their gener- bles. I’d head over to my the last few years, Gen ation was finally appreci- grandparents where my Z has taken a liking to grandma would introated and understood).

Crosley and Victrola Our record collections duce me to old Mexiportable turntables, and can love songs and my began growing, includgrandfather would teach young people own LPs. ing classics like Dylan, In fact the RIAA Music The Beatles, The Doors, me about the soul of Industry Revenue StaLatin beats. My othZeppelin, and a hearty tistics reported that, in er grandparents would dose of Barbra (hey, 2018, vinyl record sales Streisand still rules). But listen to the crooners— and I loved every part of were up 8 percent with bands such as Depeche $419 million in sales. No it. My sisters and I will Mode, The Smiths, Vione imagined that the never forget when we olent Femmes, and of pandemic would boost got Michael Jackson’s course the killer intro vinyl record sales, yet to Ice-T, NWA, Wu Tang Thriller album in 1982 last year, 27.5 million and turned our parents Klan, and The Fugees LPs sold in the United into fans. We played were infiltrating our States with a 46 perthat album so much, young minds with full cent increase over 2019. albums, rare singles, and we literally wore it out.

It seems vinyl records secret finds. Penny Lane When MTV played the have made a comeback, video, we’d hurry to the in Venice changed our turntable to keep up the and as a product of world; Tower Records the 1980s with teenage momentum, put on the lured us with crazy colchildren who asked for album, and perfect our lectibles; and Amoeba turntables and vinyls as Music ate up any money best zombie moves. gifts this year? I can say By the 1990s, record we were saving. that the vinyl record is sales were beginning to My parents gave in indeed hot. How gnarly show signs of waning, and let me borrow their is that? but vinyl singles were albums. My dad introM A R C H 2021

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THE LIFE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mona Van Joseph is a professionally licensed intuitive reader in Las Vegas since 2002.

Author, radio host, and columnist, she created the Dice Wisdom app and is available for phone and in-person sessions. mona.vegas

HOROSCOPE

MARCH HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold for you?

TEXT MONA VAN JOSEPH

friends, body, mind, and place JULY 23–AUG. 22 on your spiritual path. Be fas- LEO You’ve been dancing around cinated with all the events un- There will be a financial a relationship that you know folding for you. Your authentic shift that will get your atis not healthy or committed love is showing you your path. tention. It may be about reto you. This could be work or financing your home or getpersonal or both. It’s time for MAY 21–JUNE 20 ting your taxes done early. you to decide where you want GEMINI Something in that process to be as of July—because it You finally know that some- gets your attention. won’t be where you are now. thing connected with work is not working for you. It’s time AUG. 23-SEPT. 22 MAR. 21–APR. 19 to either let go of the job or VIRGO ARIES let go of the emotional bur- Recent events have given Your power is what you know. den that’s connected with you clear focus about your A project will present itself future. You are willing to do work. You are worth more. that you have earned the abilthe work to make that fiveity to engage and negotiate. JUNE 21–JULY 22 year plan a reality, even if It truly is your preparation that plan surprises the peoCANCER meeting a long-awaited opTell all the people who love ple around you. portunity. You’ve earned this. you that you will be off the SEPT. 23–OCT. 22 radar. This is the month to APR. 20–MAY 20 LIBRA dive totally into a project TAURUS The new beginning without distraction or perAll things are connected sonal critique. Finish the proj- you’ve been waiting for with love, so love your work, ect and refine it afterward. is presenting itself. It’s FEB. 19–MAR. 20

PISCES

PISCES, IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO DECIDE WHERE YOU WANT TO BE AS OF JULY— BECAUSE IT WON’T BE WHERE YOU ARE NOW.

time to place yourself in any area that allows you to employ your unique skills. Use the mantle of your new identity now.

for you to let go of a person who you can no longer help.

DEC. 22–JAN. 19

CAPRICORN

You came into this lifetime OCT. 23–NOV. 21 to live your truth. It’s seeSCORPIO ing past the immediate imThis month is the celebrapression and into the aution of meaningful partner- thentic level of things. ships, personally and profes- Your truth will be reflected sionally. Take a few minutes in many ways this month. this month and reach out to the people who have loved JAN. 20–FEB. 18 you and thank them.

AQUARIUS Success and karmic reNOV. 22–DEC. 21 wards are the vibration SAGITTARIUS this month. Doubts will There is no question that be washed away, so act as things have been challeng- though every phone call or ing for you. The good news meeting will result in an opis that things can only importunity. This is the time to prove from here. It’s time announce what you want.

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TAK ROOT One of the cannabis industry’s most successful female entrepreneurs, April Arrasate, talks about founding a brand that’s deeply connected to the local community.

TEXT EMILIE-NOELLE PROVOST

A

fter her mother died from breast cancer in 2011, April Arrasate, an attorney with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and biology, wanted to make cannabis-based medicines more accessible to patients battling chronic diseases.

Putting her legal background to work, in 2013 Arrasate successfully secured one of only four cannabis cultivation licenses in her home state of Connecticut. The same

year, she founded Curaleaf LLC, a manufacturer of medical-use cannabis products based in Simsbury.

Calling on her early career experience working in pharmaceutical synthesis at Sanofi Genzyme and Harvard Medical School’s Channing Laboratory, Arrasate helped Curaleaf develop an extensive product line. She served as the company’s chief operating officer until 2017, when Curaleaf was acquired by New Jersey-based PalliaTech Inc. M A R C H 2021

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Want a sample of our work? You’re reading it.

Em Agency is proud to be the creative force behind Sensi’s award-winning visual style.

We build brands we believe in—the brand you believe in can be next. emagency.com

Today, Arrasate is a shareholder in the now-public company.

Set to open its doors in early March, Arrasate’s newest venture, Core Cannabis, is a recreational and medical-use dispensary located in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. One of the things that makes Core unique is that its retail space includes a social justice museum meant to help educate the public about the disparate impact the War on Drugs has had on local minority communities, including Jamaica Plain’s.

Sensi spoke with Arrasate recently about Core, her career, and what it has been like to be a female influencer in the still male-dominated cannabis industry. Excerpts from our conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity, are below.

“I DECIDED I WOULD CREATE A COMPANY THAT HAD A MORE DIVERSE ENVIRONMENT. I WANTED TO SEE MORE WOMEN, MORE PEOPLE OF COLOR…I WAS SO MISSION ORIENTED IN FIGHTING THE INJUSTICE PEOPLE DYING OR UNDERGOING CANCER TREATMENT FACED.”

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO GET INVOLVED IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY? I was working as an attorney when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. I was her caretaker for two years before losing her to the disease. It really exposed me to the American cancer machine and what it’s like to die in America. I was shocked, and I found it to be very brutal.

I thought about transitioning my legal practice into some sort of patient advocacy, but around that time medical-use cannabis became legal in Connecticut. My mother’s radiation oncologist had been very outspoken about allowing cannabis for cancer patients, so it just sort of all fell into place. I applied for a license for cultivation and processing, raised —April Arrasate, founder of Core capital from several investors—almost all of them white men—and

founded the original Curaleaf. The brand, which is everywhere now, is a shrine to my mother.

FROM LEFT: The Core Cannabis Team: Peri Higgins, CFO; April Arrasate, CEO; Tomas Gonzalez, COO

WHY DID YOU START YOUR NEW COMPANY IN MASSACHUSETTS? When recreational-use cannabis became legal in Massachusetts I decided I would come here and create a company that had a more diverse environment. I wanted to see more women, more people of color. The thing that made Curaleaf successful was that I was so mission oriented in fighting the injustice people dying or undergoing cancer treatment faced. That same sort of “injustice fire” was fueled when I looked at the multi-billion-dollar cannabis industry juxtaposed with people still sitting behind bars for the possession of a plant.

WHAT ABOUT THE BIRTH OF CORE CANNABIS? I partnered with a local gentleman, Tomas Gonzalez, and brought in another partner, Peri Higgins, who I had worked with M A R C H 2021

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

in the past. We wanted to create an organization that was diverse through and through, so we worked hard to raise all of our capital from women, people of Latino descent and other people of color, and people who were local to the area. I’m proud that we have that kind of diversity in our DNA. I also wanted to find a way to memorialize the injustices that some of these same people faced, which is where the idea for the museum came from. I wanted to educate people about the facts. My goal is to give a voice to those who have been victims of the drug war, and to inspire the passing of more reasonable drug laws, even in the sense of our treatment of pharmaceutical products versus illicit drugs. I wanted to shed some light on our human relationship with these substances.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO OPEN CORE CANNABIS IN JAMAICA PLAIN? Tomas is from Jamaica Plain, so that was the neighborhood we were working with. It made sense to locate the business there. I also went to college in Boston and always loved Jamaica Plain. I used to go The Milky Way restaurant and bowling alley with friends, and that’s the space we’re in currently.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE COMMUNITY PARTNERS THAT CORE CANNABIS SUPPORTS? As someone who grew up in the community, Tomas has been a big part of a lot of social justice efforts. Even though we are still pre-revenue we felt it was important to support the area’s nonprofits. We support several organizations including the Chica Project, an organization that works to

advance Latina women in leadership roles, as well as the JP Music Fest, which is a platform for local musicians. We want to be good neighbors, and we try to impart that mission in everything we do.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROLE WOMEN PLAY AS LEADERS IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY CURRENTLY, AND HOW DO YOU SEE IT EVOLVING? It’s just like everything else. Being an attorney, there were always fewer women at the table. In biotech there were always fewer women at the table. I’ve always been either one of a few or, in many cases, the only woman at the table. I always took it for what it was and didn’t really think about it for a long time. But it became very clear at Curaleaf that I was in control, and I decided that the next company I founded, I would do it very differently.

Located in the former location of Bella Luna & The Milky Way, Core Cannabis has a psychedelic interior created with the help of local artists.

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It wasn’t so much that I went and sought out women or people of color as partners when founding Core. It just happened that over time I had these people in my orbit. It sort of happened organically, which is nice because some organizations seem to have token people in their org charts in order to satisfy the social justice initiative Massachusetts has for the cannabis industry.

“I WOULD ADVISE WOMEN TO BE BOLD. THIS IS A YOUNG INDUSTRY. WOMEN HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAVE A PATH.” —April Arrasate, founder of Core

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR WOMEN WHO WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN THE CANNABIS BUSINESS? My former lead investor used to describe me as “fearless.” I don’t really think of myself that way, but I do think it’s what has allowed me to

excel. When I lost my mom, I also lost my marriage. I had been out of my career for two years. I really had nothing to lose, which created a sort of fearlessness inside me.

I think overall, women are less bold than men out in the world.

Decades and decades of society have relegated women to a particular set of roles. I would advise women to be bold. This is a young industry. Women have an opportunity to pave a path. As a lawyer, you have to know centuries’ worth of law, but in cannabis it’s pretty finite. You can learn what there is to know, and then go make your own path—as long as you have a certain level of fearlessness. corecannabis.org

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Waiting on a Friend If we’ve learned one thing over the past year, we can probably all agree, it’s the value of delivery. Stuck at home and hungry, we placed 500 percent more Instacart orders than we had before the plague, and we paid DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Postmates $5.5 billion in combined revenue to bring us doughnuts, dumplings, and other delights from April through September of last year. Let’s not even talk about the money we’ve given Amazon.

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We learned we could get just about anything we wanted, from lightning cords to liquor, left at our doorsteps by masked angels otherwise known as essential workers. All we had to do was hop online and order through one of the many handy apps available to us. We could even get weed. Oh, wait. We could get weed delivered, but only if we lived in a certain dozen of the 50 United States— namely Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado,

Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont—and even then, maybe not.

Among the handful of states where cannabis delivery is allowed, regulation varies wildly, even from city to city and county to county. I spent half of last year in California, where all I had to do was hop on an app to get cannabis delivered, and the other half in Colorado, where delivery is legal but nonexistent—

and I felt the loss hard.

Once you’ve enjoyed the convenience of delivery, it sucks to be without it.

That’s another reason why cannabis delivery is the new industry darling, expected to provide the industry’s fastest-growing revenue stream by 2024, according to a report by ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics.

It’s ridiculous and weird that Colorado, the pioneer in legal adult use, is so far behind in addressing delivery—

PHOTO BY EVGENIIAND, ADOBE STOCK

Lantern, a Boston-based delivery platform that connects cannabis users to licensed dispensaries, is moving into the virgin Colorado market. It’s about time. TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

PHOTO BY KONSTANTIN YUGANOV, ADOBE STOCK

even after COVID-19 made cannabis use an increasingly crucial issue.

At this point, though, the problem isn’t really the state. Colorado lawmakers approved medical cannabis deliveries to begin in 2019 and recreational deliveries in 2021 but left it up to local governments whether to allow delivery or not. So far, only a small number of cities are saying yes. Medical deliveries are permitted in Boulder, Superior, and Longmont. Aurora (population 400,000) is the first Colorado city to allow recreational delivery.

Colorado might be late to the game, but it will always be a player.

Earlier this year, Aurora’s brand-new, wide-open delivery market caught the attention of Lantern, a Boston-based cannabis delivery platform that connects cannabis users to licensed dispensaries in Massachusetts and Michigan.

Lantern was developed and funded by Drizly, the largest online marketplace for alcohol in the United States, which saw online alcohol orders spike by 485 percent during the pandemic. Denver is Drizly’s third-largest market, and the data told them (though all they had to do was ask me) that Denver consumers want delivery.

“Residents of Aurora, whose city council

passed a vote in favor of recreational delivery in December 2020, will likely be the first in the state to access Lantern’s services once the city finalizes the permitting process,” says Meredith Mahoney, Lantern’s president. “Once Aurora’s local law goes into effect, customers over the age of 21 in Aurora will be able to conveniently place recreational cannabis orders online at lanternnow.com and have products delivered to their doorstep within an hour.”

Dispensaries pay Lantern a percentage of sales through the app, which offers users increasingly personalized product suggestions, whether they’re in the mood for gummies, vapes, or topicals. Users, who aren’t charged extra fees for using the app to streamline their searches, are directed to dispensaries that have what they need and trained dispensary personnel deliver their orders within an hour.

Business has been brisk, Mahoney says, as (in most states, anyway) the pandemic has accelerated the cannabis industry’s shift to e-commerce and delivery. “We believe that the demand for cannabis delivery will continue to grow and flourish post COVID-19, as an increasing number of customers integrate

“We believe that the demand for cannabis delivery will continue to grow and flourish post COVID-19, as an increasing number of customers integrate cannabis into their daily routines.”

—Meredith Mahoney, president of Lantern

cannabis into their daily routines.” In Michigan, where Lantern is available to customers in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Battle Creek, delivery orders increased 89 percent three days before Christmas, she adds.

In February, Uber announced its acquisition of Lantern’s sister company, Drizly, but Mahoney says that will not affect Lantern’s operations or mission. Lantern, which had been an independent subsidiary of the Drizly Group, will now operate as a fully autonomous private company.

“Lantern’s consumer-centric ethos was born out of Drizly’s founding vision to create a more streamlined e-commerce experience, and Lantern will continue to build its best-in-class logistics technology platform, which has already transformed the emerging cannabis retail industry,” Mahoney says. “The company was first-tomarket in Massachusetts and Michigan and is optimally positioned to continue expanding into new legal markets. The next few years will be consequential not only for the cannabis industry but also for the entire digital retail sector. Lantern is eager to set new standards for what is possible in both spaces.”

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THE SCENE

World’s Largest Irish Flag, Boston Harbor Hotel

Wicked Irish

Saint Patrick’s Day parades, breakfasts, and parties have been canceled again this year due to COVID-19, but there are still things you can do to celebrate one of New England’s favorite holidays (and heritages). TEXT EMILIE-NOELLE PROVOST 40

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New England and Saint Patrick’s Day go together like corned beef and cabbage. According to the New England Historical Society, one out of every five residents of Massachusetts and New Hampshire has Irish ancestry, along

PHOTO BY JOHN G. HOEY, PH.D

HERITAGE

THE SCENE HERITAGE

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Boston Irish Heritage Trail Located in Boston’s Back Bay and downtown neighborhoods, the Boston Irish Heritage Trail includes 20 sites that represent more than 300 years of Irish and Irish-American history in the city. Some of the trail’s highlights include the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Boston Irish Famine Memorial, the Central Burying Grounds, Boston City Hall, and Fenway Park. To take a self-guided tour, visit the trail’s website where you’ll find a map and a list of included sites.

Paper maps are available at the Boston Common Visitor Information Cen-

with roughly 18 percent of people living in Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont. But with South Boston’s famous Saint Patrick’s Day parade cancelled again this year and most bars remaining closed, many locals have been left

to wonder if there’s anything they can do to safely celebrate the holiday. Luckily, the answer is yes. Read on to find out about some of New England’s lesser-known Irish attractions, all of them worthy of a Saint Patrick’s Day visit.

ter on Tremont Street. irishheritagetrail.com

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum Located on the campus of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of art relating to the Irish Famine, which held Ireland in its grip from 1845 until 1852. The museum interprets the famine and its impact on people, language, land, and culture through its permanent collection of historic and contemporary paintings, drawings, stained glass, sculpture, and photographs. A collection of written and printed ma-

Battery Street Historic District, Burlington, Vermont

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THE SCENE HERITAGE

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

terials pertaining to the at one time known the famine is also available “Irish Lake.” By some for viewing by appointestimates, more than 30 ment at Quinnipiac’s percent of Burlington’s Mount Carmel campus. population could claim Traveling exhibitions fea- Irish heritage by the ture the work of Irish and mid-19th century.

Irish-American artists. If Although the Burlingyou are unable to travel ton Irish Heritage Festito the museum, view val, which is held annutheir collection virtually. ally in the Battery Street ighm.org Historic District during the month of March, has Battery Street been cancelled this year, Historic District you can still visit on your Listed on the National own and see some of Register of Historic the area’s historic sites.

Places, this Burlington, The steamboat wharf, Vermont, neighborhood Battery Park, and Rí Rá dates back to the late Irish Pub are among the 18th century, making it neighborhood’s top Irish one of the city’s oldest attractions. districts. By the 1840s, burlingtonirishheritage.org the Battery Street HisIrish Cultural Centre toric District, located of New England on the shore of Lake Champlain, was home to Located just south of Boston in Canton, a large number of Irish Massachusetts, the Irish immigrants, many of Cultural Centre of New whom worked as laborers on the waterfront. In England is a nonprofit fact, so many Irish setdedicated to promoting tled near the lakeshore and organizing “Irish that Champlain was cultural, educational,

sporting, and social events.” Although the organization’s annual Boston Irish Festival isn’t happening this year, the center is still offering several in-person and virtual programs, including Irish cooking classes; tin whistle, fiddle, and accordion lessons; lectures; and Irish language and history workshops. The center also organizes an annual 5K road race, maintains a genealogy library, and serves as the home base of the Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Club.

The Irish Cultural Centre of New England is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or you can visit online. irishculture.org

The Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center Newport, Rhode Island, best known for its Gilded Age mansions, has been home to Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans since the 17th century.

Some of Newport’s most recognizable landmarks, such as Fort Adams—an active U.S. Army coastal fortification from 1799 to 1953—were built by Irish labor. The wealthy families that summered in Newport often employed Irish and Irish-Americans as domestic help.

The Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center, located on Lower Thames Street, offers exhibits that include maps, photographs, videos, and artifacts that tell the stories of some of these hardworking people. Due to COVID-19, the museum is currently open to visitors by appointment only. Appointments can be requested via email or by calling.

You can also watch the museum’s free video presentation online.

TOP: Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut BOTTOM: Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island

newportirishhistory.org

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THE SCENE CALENDAR

TOP: WAR HORSE

PHOTO COURTESY OF BANK OF NH STAGE

Cultural Calendar

March’s longer, warmer days are ideal for lacing up your running shoes, catching a live music show, or enjoying a guided outdoor art tour.

business or try someplace new at this year’s Maine Mar. 1-12 Restaurant Week.

Various Locations, Portland, ME With more than mainerestaurantweek.com 40 participating restaurants offering great deals you’ll want to dine out more than once.

Maine Restaurant Week

Herbal Living with Liane

TEXT EMILIE-NOELLE PROVOST

No matter if it comes in like a lion or goes out like a lamb, March is packed with virtual and socially distanced live events happening across New England.

Help boost your favorite Portland eatery’s winter

Mar. 3 Virtual thetrustees.org

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THE SCENE CALENDAR

LEFT: SHECANN 2021 RIGHT: WINTER ECOLOGY

Saint Patrick’s Day Beer Dinner with Able Ebenezer Mar. 13 LaBelle Winery, Amherst, NH labellewinerynh.com

Shamrocks & Shenanigans 4-Miler

Join Clinical Herbalist Liane Moccia for this lunchbreak workshop.

Participants will enjoy easy-to-follow instructions and examples of everyday and not-so-common herbs in daily life to improve health, stress, and mood.

Massachusetts Medical and Adult Use Marijuana Dispensary Training

Newport Bridal Show Mar. 7 The Wayfinder Hotel, Newport, RI bridalshowsbykelly.com

The Tallest Man on Earth

Leprechaun Dash 5K/10K Mar. 14 Shelburne Field House, Shelburne, VT racevermont.com

Mar. 7 SHECANN 2021 The Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH Mar. 18 themusichall.com Virtual shecannsummit.com

New England Made Spring Show Mar. 8-9 Virtual nemadeshows.com

Mar. 6 Virtual leafygreenagency.com

Entering Cannabis: The Global Landscape

Meraki

Mar. 10 Virtual enteringcannabis.com

Mar. 6 Cadenza, Freeport, ME candenzafreeport.com

Mar. 13 Backyard Brewery, Manchester, NH totalimagerunning.com

Art & Ales Tour

Adam Ezra Group

Mar. 7 deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA thetrustees.org

Mar. 12 The Flying Monkey, Plymouth, NH flyingmonkeynh.com

Shecann is a cannabis conference for women offering real and honest conversations with industry leaders, allies, investors, and policy makers focused on building a future for the industry in which women and minorities are represented.

Murder By Death Pitbull Mar. 21 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA paradiserock.club

Mar. 27 Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT foxwoods.com

War Horse Mar. 21 Bank of New Hampshire Stage, Concord, NH banknhstage.com

Black Radical: Winter Ecology: The Life and Twigs, Buds, and Times of William Emerging Plants Mar. 27 Monroe Trotter Mar. 25 Virtual historicnewengland.org

Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox MA massaudbon.org

No leaves? No Womxn in problem. You can Cannabis Panel learn to recognize Discussion oaks, maples, Mar. 25 cherries, beech, Virtual birches, and other elevatene.org woodland trees in winter. Look Live Comedy at tree samples, with Lenny practice using field Clarke guides, and take a Mar. 25-27 hike to test your Chunky’s Cinema Pub, Pelham, observation and Nashua, and Manchester, NH identification skills. chunkys.com

Crystal Bowersox Mar. 27 Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA iheg.com

New England Reptile Expo March 28 Double Tree Hotel, Manchester, NH reptileexpo.com

Fu Manchu Mar. 21 The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA sinclaircambridge.com

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THE SCENE

Julien Baker

Fresh Tunes

Check out the best new albums of 2021 so far.

TEXT JEDD FERRIS

Although brighter days are on the horizon, the timeline for when musicians can safely resume touring is still hazy.

The situation has forced many artists to stay productive by focusing

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on studio projects, with many being released in the early part of the year. From indie upstarts to established legends, here’s a look at 10 new albums coming by spring.

debuted Bonny Light Horseman, a new side project with fellow folk innovators Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman that earned two Grammy nominations. Not slowing his pace, JohnFruit Bats son is celebrating the The Pet Parade (Merge 20th anniversary of the Records) Fruit Bats by releasing Fruit Bats leader Eric D. the band’s eighth overall Johnson has been on a studio album, The Pet hot streak lately. In 2019, Parade, in March. Johnhe hit a creative peak son brought Kaufman with his main band’s onboard to produce the soulful album Gold Past album, and although it Life, and last year, he was made during quar-

antine with supporting players adding their parts remotely, it doesn’t sound like an isolated effort. Lead single “Holy Rose” is a powerful poprock song with orchestral sonic textures.

Same Spark: In February, Brooklyn upstart trio Wild Pink will release its anticipated next album, A Billion Little Lights. The effort blends earthy roots songcraft with indie inventiveness that will please fans of The War on Drugs.

The Hold Steady Open Door Policy (Positive Jams) The Hold Steady is back with more heavy riffs and vivid tales on its eighth studio al-

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF SUBPOP; BY ANNIE BEEDY

RELEASES

THE SCENE

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF WILLIE NELSON; BY RENATA RAKSHA

RELEASES

bum, Open Door Policy.

Frontman Craig Finn’s narrative lyrics still dig into the dark side of the party, but with keyboardist Franz Nicolay permanently back in the mix, the band’s tight rock arrangements provide anthemic swells of cathartic redemption.

“Open Door Policy was very much approached as an album vs. a collection of individual songs, and it feels like our most musically expansive record,” Finn says of the new album, which was released on February 19.

Same Spark: Another stalwart rock act with a loyal following, roots heroes Lucero made its new album When You Found Me at the famed Sam Phillips Recording studio in the band’s hometown of Memphis.

Willie Nelson That’s Life (Legacy Recordings) The great news first: Willie Nelson, 87, has been vaccinated. Now the good news: the country legend is releasing his 71st album this year. That’s Life is Nelson’s second collection of Frank Sinatra covers,

following 2018’s My Way. Nelson has said that Sinatra had a big influence on his singing style, and he made part of his latest tribute to the late crooner at Hollywood’s Capitol Studios, where Sinatra recorded many of his beloved standards.

The songs of Ol’ Blue Eyes sound relaxed and comforting through the mellow voice of the Red Headed Stranger, especially the well-known title track and the breezy “Cottage for Sale.” It’s a record perfect for chilling out during our remaining days of hunkering down at home.

Same Spark: Singersongwriter Pete Yorn also went the covers route on his new LP, Pete Yorn Sings the Classics, a Bandcamp exclusive release that features takes on the Pixies, Bob Dylan, and The Beach Boys.

Julien Baker Little Oblivions (Matador) Julien Baker is known for her confessional indie rock songs usually delivered with sparse guitar arrangements and disarming vocal crescendos. Following a long touring cycle supporting her acclaimed 2017 album Turn Out the Lights, she took a break from music to finish college and reassess her

priorities. When she returned to the studio to record Little Oblivions, Baker’s vision expanded, and new tracks like the standout “Hardline” feature crashing drums and emotive keyboard layers.

The full sound adds new depth to her unflinching lyrical revelations.

Same Spark: Danielle Durack offers similar intimately intense songcraft on her new album No Place.

Valerie June The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers (Fantasy) Valerie June’s breakout album, 2017’s The Order of Time, was a roots-driven project, with tracks featuring the singer-songwriter’s alluring voice placed among primitive banjo tunes and jangly blues cuts. The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers—the muchawaited follow-up made with producer Jack

Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys)—finds June honing her stylistic leanings into celestial R&B that fits the record’s searching themes. The album’s opening threesong sequence, “Stay” / “Meditation” / “You and I,” is a sublime astral-soul suite that contemplates relationship dynamics.

“With this record, it finally became clear why I have this dream of making music,” June said in a statement previewing the new album. “It’s not for earthly reasons of wanting to be awarded or to win anybody’s love— it’s because dreaming keeps me inquisitive and keeps me on that path of learning what I have to share with the world.”

Same Spark: Lake Street Dive went into the studio with Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Fiona Apple), who helped shape the band’s next set of retro-minded soul-rock tunes. Obviously will be out March 12.

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American Fortress A 24-room medieval-style citadel is the centerpiece of the 184-acre Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, Connecticut.

Completed in 1919, Gillette Castle was built as a retirement home by popular stage actor William Hooker Gillette, best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. The mansion overlooks the Connecticut River and is made almost entirely of local fieldstone. Known for being somewhat eccentric, Gillette personally supervised the construction process and designed the building’s interior, including built-in seating and a table that 50

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moves on tracks. Gillette also planned the grounds, which include walking trails, stone arches, tunnels, bridges, a fishpond, and three miles of narrowgauge railroad tracks.

The state of Connecticut purchased the property from Gillette’s estate in 1943, and today anyone can visit. Hiking and camping are allowed on the grounds, and tours of the castle are available in season. portal.ct.gov

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

TEXT EMILIE-NOELLE PROVOST

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