Worcester Magazine February 11 - 17, 2022

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | CULTURE § ARTS § DINING § VOICES

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Featured ..............................................................................4 City Voices ..........................................................................8 Cover Story .......................................................................11 Cannabis Confi dential....................................................15 Next Draft .........................................................................16 Screen Time .....................................................................20 Adoption Option.............................................................24 Classifi eds ........................................................................25 Games................................................................................26 Last Call.............................................................................27

On the cover PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DANI CHERCHIO/ USA TODAY NETWORK AND GETTY IMAGES

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4 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

FEATURED

‘Student Body’ class of horror being led by women, including Worcester’s Sandra Leviton Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

In the thriller/horror movie “Student Body” (which became available for purchase on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes, and Apple TV on Feb. 8), the chills are compounded by the claustrophobic setting of Allendale Preparatory High School.

Its privileged students are so well protected that it can be impossible to actually break out of the school when danger threatens. Which is what happens when fi ve students who have stayed after school to play a prank fi nd themselves suddenly being hunted down by a costumed, sledge hammer-wielding psycho with the school doors and windows all closed and smash proof, unlike their heads.

But on another level, “Student Body” is a breakout horror movie in a far more encouraging respect.

The fi lm’s protagonist, student Jane Shipley (played by Montse Hernandez), the writer, director and co-producer Lee Ann Kurr, and co-producers Rachel Liu and Sandra Leviton, are all women.

Leviton, who is originally from Worcester, has an extensive background in producing and development and is the founder of the Under The Stairs Entertainment production company, said she had been “looking for some strong projects, female-driven works.”

She likes horror fi lms, and had seen an early draft of the screenplay for “Student Body” that Kurr, a writer and director

Producers Rachel Liu,left, and Sandra Leviton on the set of “Student Body.” SUBMITTED

whose background includes theater and short fi lms, had sent to her.

Liu, a fi lmmaker and producer who also grew up near these parts in Massachusetts in Dover-Sherborn, said she met Kurr while working on another project and also got to read “Student Body.”

“I absolutely loved it. It felt so real to me, and so resonant,” she said.

Then Liu and Leviton met — they both now live in California — and there was a meeting of minds.

“I don’t know many other female producers in horror,” Liu said.

Leviton noted that she and Liu shared a taste for a lot of the same things, including appreciating the merits of the draft of “Student Body.”

“It spoke to me on so many levels,” she said.

Soon they were on a Zoom conference call with Kurr about “Student Body.” Kurr would di-

rect and be a co-producer (her fi rst full feature movie directing), with Liu and Leviton working together as producers for the fi rst time.

“From our perspective we think there’s a really important message in this movie. We See STUDENT BODY, Page 5

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 5

Student Body Continued from Page 4

want to promote women in horror,” Liu said.

“The cast and behind the camera. We really want people to see the fi lm and recognize the talents of everyone,” she said.

“We’re extremely proud of our cast and crew, and our director who really worked well with our cast,” said Leviton.

In “Student Body,” Jane is a bright student but her intelligence, especially in solving math problems in class, is getting in the way of her relationship with her best friend since childhood, Merritt (Cheyenne Hayes).

Merrtitt acts cool, isn’t shy talking about her rich if apparently distant parents, and leads a small coterie of fellow students.

But when their math teacher, Mr. Aunspach (Christian Camargo), behaves weirdly to Jane and oversteps his bounds after class, Merritt pushes Jane into a reprisal that is further than Jane had really wanted to go.

Then, when Jane, Merritt and three other students are in school after hours alone, strange things start happening.

The tension slowly builds, and although “Student Body” isn’t a gore fest, characters are destined to meet violent ends. The fi lm’s investment in having us sympathize and root for Jane makes her fate the most important outcome.

The performances are all credible, with Camargo (a familiar face from movies and TV such as “The Hurt Locker” and “Dexter”) having an air of latent menace. Hernandez (credits including NBC’s “Night Shift” and CW’s “Jane the Virgin”) sympathetically conveys what her character is thinking without clumsily appealing for sympathy.

And while the fi lm is in the horror genre, the cast are able to elicit some laughs as an ensemble before the hammer hits.

“Student Body” is “The kind of fi lm I wish I had been able to watch growing up,” Leviton said. “It’s scary, but it’s also not so scary that people are going to turn away from it. It’s having that connection to these characters.”

As producers, Liu and Leviton were “involved from the beginning, working with Lee Ann, helping the crew and cast,” Liu said. “There are so many people involved in making a movie. As producers we really help put that together.

A scene from “Student Body.” SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Figure out who the best people are for all the jobs. The creative side, logistic side.

Making sure everything is a safe working environment.”

Leviton said, “Particularly on independent fi lms like this one, we’re very intimately involved with the creative process. Whatever that means, that’s what we do. It’s a big job being a producer on something like this.”

“Student Body” was actually shot in Georgia pre-pandemic in 2019.

“Any fi lm in general takes a long time (from fi lming to post-production),” Liu said. “This was complicated by the pandemic.”

The extra time was “used to our advantage” in refi ning the editing, Leviton said.

Now “Student Body” is fi nally in session as of Feb. 8.

“We want as many people possible watching it and enjoying it,” Leviton said.

“It’d be super awesome to see people dress up in Halloween costumes for our movie, and if anyone wants to share social media. We just want people to have fun with it,” she said.

Leviton said she grew up in the Tatnuck Square area of Worcester and went to Doherty Memorial High School before moving on to Worcester State University and then graduating from Emerson College in Boston. She is also a Tribeca Film Institute alum. Her brother, Andrew Leviton, was an associate editor on “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

“I got my fi rst television producing jobs in Worcester, working for cable access channel WCCA, when I was in high school,” she said.

“I produced everything from music videos, celebrity interviews, to news packages, and even helped produce coverage of the Cold Storage fi re in 1999 featuring Vice President Al Gore. One of the fi refi ghters lost that day was Denis Leary’s cousin. Denis Leary’s activism in fi refi ghter safety led him to co-create the Emmy nominated show, ‘Rescue Me’ on FX, which I eventually helped oversee (seasons 4-7) at the network when I worked in Development and Current Programming at FX.” Her previous produced fi lm, “ZONE 2,” stars Anne Ramsay (“A League of Their Own,” “Mad About You”) and is available on Shudder and Amazon via Etheria Season 2.

Liu went to Dover-Sherborn High School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Bioengineering and Entrepreneurship.

Then she produced her fi rst feature fi lm, “Sleepwalkers,” which won Indiewire’s Project of the Year.

Her debut feature fi lm as a writer and director, “Abnegate,” is in post-production and she currently has projects in development with Cartoon Network and Adam F Goldberg Productions. She is a Sundance Collab Advisor and a twotime Tribeca Film Institute alum.

“Student Body” was the fi rst time that Liu and Leviton worked together,

Montse Hernandez stars in “Student Body.”

and they evidently got along.

“Oh we hate each other,” Liu said.

“We got very very lucky that we were able to fi nd each other and fi nd Lee Ann in the process,” said Leviton.

More projects working together are likely. “Absolutely,” Liu said.

They may involve diff erent genres (”I love horror, I love thrillers,” Leviton said), and a diff erent location.

“We’re both on the lookout for projects to work on back home,” Leviton said of Worcester and Dover-Sherborn.

“It’s such a great place to shoot.”

Unholy Trinity 6 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Volbeat, Twin Temple look ahead to DCU show with Ghost Jason Greenough Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

For the better part of the past decade, Swedish metal phenoms Ghost and Danish rock quartet Volbeat have consistently upped their respective games through epic albums and heavy riff s in the studio, as well as mesmerizing stage performances in front of droves of devoted fans all over the world.

Now, they’re making their way to our neck of the woods together to show us their latest evolution.

Bringing their co-headlining North American tour to DCU Center on Feb. 11, the doublebarred barrage of rock and roll will not only come fully loaded with the excitement that comes along with unleashing new music to a live crowd, as Ghost gears up for the March release of their upcoming full-length album "Impera," and Volbeat is still riding high on the release and reception of 2021’s "Servant Of The Mind," but also the pent-up energy of two bands that haven’t had the opportunity to do what they do best, and dazzle crowds with their unshakable stage presence and productions for the past two years.

It’s been quite the roller coaster to start the tour, as is the nearly universal vibe in the industry with the current everchanging nature of the pandemic, but night in and night out, the bands have delivered from top to bottom to give fans an undeniable barn-burner of

an experience — but it’s truly three’s company that makes the whole night a well-rounded bacchanalia.

For Twin Temple, the “Satanic doo-wop” duo who answered the call to kick off every night of the tour with a mesmerizing spectacle of their own, the chance to hit the road and travel all along highway 666 with their good friends is simply a dream — or rather, a nightmare — come true.

“It’s a sacrilegious experience,” says frontwoman Alexandra James. “We’ve loved Ghost for a long time, and we got to play with them in Salt Lake City a few years ago, while also having the carnal pleasure of touring with Volbeat on a short run last year, so it’s like one big, evil, happy family on this tour.”

When it comes to making their way back to Massachusetts, and introducing their unique style to Wormtown, both James and her (creative and life) partner Zachary aren’t too sure what truly entices crowds to their music. Perhaps it’s the imagery of ritual goats and fresh blood, or their masterfully-crafted arrangements and lyrics that not only tout the styles of an often overlooked genre but also promote messages of inclusion, love and staying true to yourself. Whatever it is, Twin Temple have dialed it in with their desire to not only expose as many people as possible to Satanism, but also, perhaps equally as much, the oldies. Additionally, while they’ve ruffl ed quite a few feathers along the way by laying down the Beelze-beats, they’ve let the music speak for itself, and that in and of itself has worked wonders already.

See SHOW, Page 7

Grammy Award-winning rock band Ghost will co-headline the DCU Center with Volbeat. NATIONWIDE ARENA

Volbeat ROSS HALFIN

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 7

Show Continued from Page 6

And then, of course, there’s Volbeat.

Wielding the ability to captivate their audience with a fi re fueled by the rebel spirits of Johnny Cash and Lemmy, frontman Michael Poulsen is excited to make his way back to Worcester as part of this tour’s lineup with his trusty gang of rock and roll gunslingers by his side. With a renewed energy both as a result of the extended time away from the stage and the fresh batch of songs the band has brandished over the course of the fi rst few dates of the cross-country trek, Poulsen is excited to share in the experience of live music with the band’s New England fans once again, and although there isn’t much intermingling between the bands backstage due to COVID protocols to keep their crews safe, Poulsen feels a defi nite connection with the other two powerhouses on the bill regardless, and has enjoyed the camaraderie and support within this unholy trinity from a distance.

“These are two great bands that we’re out here with, and the only sad thing about it is that everyone has to stay in their own bubbles at the arenas we’re playing,” says Poulsen.

“Normally, we’d be hanging out, but everyone is staying behind closed doors in their dressing rooms, so we don’t really see each other all that much aside from maybe chatting if we meet up in the hallways, so that part is sad, but we really need to take care of each other on this tour, because there’s always another positive case, and it’s a huge challenge to make the puzzle right. So, even though we do want to hang out and get to know each other a little bit better, we just have to stay in separate spaces, but we do check each other's shows out, and we’re just happy that everyone wanted to do this and try this out, and every

Twin Temple PHOTO COURTESY HARRY EELMAN

show so far as been great.”

While a brand new album often spells the next chapter of a band’s career, especially one that curates another No. 1 single (“Wait A Minute My Girl” is the band’s ninth chart-topper), the time in quarantine gave Poulsen both the optimum level of comfort and an extended opportunity to really refl ect on the band’s bustling career and revisit the hard-driving and heavy sound that the band introduced themselves with years ago.

For Poulsen, there was a refreshing and undeniable feeling reminiscent of starting all over again attached to the new record, and while he and his bandmates had the opportunity to shake the rust off in a live setting last year, to have the opportunity to throw up the metal horns with their passionate fans once again is enough to keep them going, night after night.

“It’s all about the crowd, and being out there with our fans,” says Poulsen. “Walking out on stage and getting into the set, and seeing those happy faces out in the crowd, that’s the greatest gift to us when we’re on stage, so I’m really looking forward to that.”

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8 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CITY VOICES LANDGREN WORCESTER VOTES TO LIFT MASK MANDATE

WORCESTERIA

There are still local businesses that provide a personal touch Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

HARVEY

Grandkids provide all the magic at Disney World Janice Harvey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it. — Steven Wright The older I get, the shorter my bucket list. Cross off Disney World. I have been to the mountain — Space Mountain, that is.

That’s not entirely accurate.

I climbed aboard a grand total of three rides during the six days spent in Orlando, thanks to my paralyzing fear of heights. Why, you ask, would a person terrifi ed of heights go to the ultimate theme park? Was it for the French fries? The funnel cakes? The popcorn? The

answer is simple: my kids.

My Christmas/birthday/retirement gift from my daughter and her family was a trip to the place they adore. This was their fourth visit to the land of Mickey, and my daughter wanted me to experience the magic. I felt the magic when I realized that the room they rented at Disney resorts was a suite, and I had a bed and bath all to myself. With a door that locked.

Planning a virgin trip to Disney World elicited from seasoned warriors grins and recommendations — and the same warning from all: “Bring good sneakers.”

See GRANDKIDS, Page 9

A week or so ago, I found myself at the Natick Mall. After years of watching the Worcester area’s indoor malls decline into decrepitude, eventually to be shuttered, it was a tad surreal to see one packed with bustling stores and paying customers. Sadly, I found there was nothing there that particularly interested me. Maybe a few items at the Amazon Store, but I fi gured I could probably get them cheaper online. Uhm, on Amazon, I guess.

I’ve never been a big shopper, but it seems I used to fi nd a few items of interests at malls.

Now, it all seems so prepackaged and pedestrian. To be fair, it was always like that, but I guess my interests have diverged from what the corporate retail chains off er. I think a big part of that shift has been 20 years of living in Worcester.

This was what was on my mind as I drove to Charlton at 8 a.m. on a recent morning to replace a tire that had two nails in it. It was irreparable, but I was covered by road hazard insurance, and the place I bought the tire from, Dick’s Tire Barn, has always been straight with me. I learned this lesson shortly after I fi rst moved to Worcester, when I went in looking to replace four tires, and got berated by Dick himself: “Why are you replacing these two tires? They’re perfectly good!

These other two, yeah, but not these two!” I left with two fewer tires than I expected to buy, and he gained a customer for

A very good boy keeps Victor Infante company while he waits for his tire to be replaced at Dic’'s Tire Barn in Charlton. VICTOR D. INFANTE/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

life.

Perhaps that’s what bugs me about corporate stores: They seem so impersonal. This seems self-evident – as much as Target wants us to have a personal relationship, it’s strictly business – but when you deal with a business that you DO have a personal relationship with, you can feel the diff erence. I’ll admit, I kind of feel like I have a relationship with the CVS pharmacy where I pick up my prescriptions, but that seems more an exception than a rule. I’ve kept the same mechanic for 20 years, and went to the same dentist for most of that, until he retired.

Another example: Grubhub and its ilk have served me well during the pandemic, but it pales before the experience of coming into Annie’s Clark Brunch on a busy weekday morning, and having owner Annie Jenkins remember your regular order … which isn’t actually on the menu anymore, but she makes it anyway. Or sometimes, just stopping to chat a minute with Fatima’s Café owners Fatima Mohamed and Omar Issa while picking up take-out. It’s the little interactions that make the diff erence between a transaction See PERSONAL, Page 10

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 9

Grandkids Continued from Page 8

No one really explains just how much walking and waiting you’re in for when it comes to Disney. It reminded me of the vague remarks mothers make to pregnant women when asked about labor. The common advice is: “Take the drugs.” In this case, the drug would be Tylenol — by the handful.

“No one comes to Disney for the food, Mom,” my daughter chided when I commented on the “cheese” in my omelet.

Truer words were never spoken, although I had two good meals, thanks to Epcot. I had to “travel” to England for fi sh and chips and Japan for grilled shrimp. The hibachi chef thrilled my fi ve-year-old granddaughter with his knife and cleaver juggling. The gleam in her eye made me take note to hide all sharp objects from that little daredevil. She’s the one who shamed me at age four, when I rode the Ferris wheel with her at Old Orchard Beach.

“Nana’s eyes were closed the WHOLE time!” she announced to the entire fairground. There is no roller coaster she won’t ride, no race car she won’t steer.

No danger she won’t consider.

My grandson and I are kindred spirits. He’s nine. He loves maps. He loves them so much that he spent six days with four of them in his sweatshirt pocket, pulling them out to plot our day. He’s so much like me that he really loved the Hall of Presidents and didn’t even laugh at me when I wept over the reading of the Constitution. He even enjoyed the Walt Disney documentary that had no line waiting, go fi gure. I told him details left out by the narrator, like how Walt’s mom died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the house he bought for his parents.

“I’m pretty sure that’s why all his movies have dead parents in them,” I whispered. Just

Mickey and Minnie in front of the Magic Kingdom's castle at Disney World. DISNEY

a guess on my part, but he found it morbidly fascinating.

Grandmothers are granted a wide berth when it comes to what Stephen Colbert calls “truthiness.”

We were in Florida for the storm that dumped nearly two feet of snow on Worcester, but we brought an unwelcomed cold snap with us. I spent a hundred bucks on sweatshirts I never thought I’d need. Try buying anything that doesn’t have Mickey Mouse on it — impossible. It was 39 degrees in Orlando the morning the snow fell on the seven hills. Still, it was a tad better than the photos from back home, it didn’t rain, and I didn’t have to worry about squeezing my post-quarantine body into a pre-pandemic swimsuit.

Watching new Mickey Mouse cartoons, I came to the grim realization that the mouse has been tampered with in ways that would make the cryogenically-frozen Walt thaw out and fi re the animators. (I don’t know if those rumors about Walt being put on ice post-mortem are true, but again, they make a deliciously gruesome tale to share with a kid.) I kept looking at Mickey, whose eyes now resemble the dead orbs of a shark, and the strangely familiar way he now

speaks out of the side of his mouth. The frenetic pace of the cartoons, the exaggerated reactions of the characters — I’d seen it all before, but where?

“Ren and Stimpy,” my daughter said. She’s right — the

sweet, mischievous mouse now has the same edginess as the nervous chihuahua. I had to stop and think about this, as a Ren and Stimpy fan, as well as a lover of all things animated by Disney. My cartoon worlds col-

lided! At fi rst, I thought the cartoons were too violent, but then I remembered how much I Ioved Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny shorts, and how incredibly violent those were. What was funnier than seeing Wile. E. Coyote get scorched by his own dynamite? Or Daff y Duck’s beak getting blown off and landing on the top of his head? I still think Walt would have a conniption over any changes made to his beloved alter ego, but apparently there’s room enough for Steamboat Willie and the new mouse to coexist.

The best part of my trip to the Wonderful World of Disney? When the kids climbed into my bed with their tablets before sunrise. Will I return to Disney? Not likely. But those small feet under the blankets, the maps that we followed and the joyous squeals over cotton candy made every minute of the trip worthwhile.

As Ren would surely say, “Happy!Happy! Joy!Joy!”

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10 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

BAD ADVICE

Drunken prank deserves harsh payback

weeks. So these mongrels will be a walking billboard for all of their most precious information. Make sure your roommate is on this too, they tried to lessen your feelings and brush it off . They need to pay too, and then their bank will pay the overdraft fees.

DEAR SHAUN: My teenage daughter, who has always been artistic and quirky, has recently taken up a new hobby that I fi nd disgusting: taxidermy. It’s bad enough that she’s handling dead animals, but she doesn’t even make them look natural.

She puts little top hats on them

and monocles and stages scenes from movies. Her art teacher thinks they’re “fabulous” but I think she’s lost it.

Should I forbid her new hobby?

Or will that just make her do it on the sly? Am I thwarting her artistic career, or nipping something potentially danger-

ous in the bud? – Bewildered Dad Dear Bewildered: This is awesome. Encourage it. A raccoon with a little top hat and monocle? I’m in. Two squirrels doing the lift scene from “Dirty Dancing?” A bunch of little chipmunks playing volleyball in short shorts like “Top Gun?” A bear sitting at a TV news desk and saying “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”? This is great. Maybe she can get so good that eventually she works for a funeral home. Think about it, we are running out of plot space, cremation weirds some people out. But what if there was your loved one, frozen in the way you remember them best, drinking coff ee and looking at their phone or watering their garden.

Your deceased mother could be your own personal garden gnome. I say push her, like you’re Venus and Serena Williams’ father. Push her to her limits and make her the best.

Worcester comedian Shaun Connolly provides readers bad advice in his weekly column.

Send your questions to woocomedyweek@gmail.com.

Gonzo, replied half-jokingly, “Spags, sorry. White City Cinema, (expletive). Fairway Beef, damnit. Elwood Adams, ah, (expletive). The Dive Bar and both Sir Morgan's/Lucky Dog, oh, no... RALPH's!!! the burgers, the people, the music the vibe – and Ralph – miss you too sir.”

That’s pretty indicative of the Worcester perspective on what’s being lost as the wheel of change rolls on. That said, lots of people were able to point out a variety of local businesses which they’ve been loyal to for years, including The Boulevard, George's Coney Island, That's Entertainment, O'Con-

nor's Restaurant & Bar, Miss Worcester Diner, Ed Hyder's Mediterranean Marketplace, The Broadway, The Pickle Barrel, Peppercorns, Bahnan's International Marketplace, Bakery & Café, Wayne's Pizza, The Owl Shop, Island Auto Repair, North End Motor Sales, Central Shoe Services Co., Barrows Hardware, Long Island Hot Dog & Restaurant, Speedway Garage, Dippin Donuts, Shrewsbury Pizzeria, Sturbridge Vet Hospital, Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfi eld, Michael's Bridge Diner in Lancaster, Huhtala Oil Co. in East Templeton, Whitco Sales in Spencer and

DuPree Power Equipment in Leominster.

That’s a pretty hefty list of local businesses that are still here and beloved by at least someone, compiled in mere minutes on social media. Is there a point, here? I don’t know. Maybe that it’s easy to get caught up in what’s lost – to gentrifi cation, to competition, to changing times and tastes or to owners simply deciding to retire – and maybe it’s pretty easy to surrender to the allure of big chains, the type of which are identical across the country. But sometimes, in the hullabaloo, it’s easy to lose track of

the places that have been in our lives for years, the places that remember your order, even when you haven’t been in for a couple of months, who’ve earned your loyalty through straight-talk for years. There are still plenty of those places around – and more than a few newer ones, too. There are still places where it’s possible to diff erentiate between making a mere transaction and living in a community.

But the Amazon store was kind of cool, too. It was like a Waldenbooks with appliances.

I suppose that counts for something.

Shaun Connolly Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

DEAR SHAUN: We had a party at our place and I had too much to drink and passed out.

When I woke up my roommate’s friends drew pictures of male sexual organs on my face with sharpie! It took me weeks to get them off , and I got reprimanded at work. I told my roommate that her friends weren’t welcome anymore at our apartment, but she thinks it was a silly prank and I’m making too big of a deal out of it. What should I do? – Not Up For Partying Anymore Dear Not Up For Partying: You’ve got to double down. You can’t ban them from the apartment. You have to have them over again and drink them under the table. Then when they are passed out you get their wallets and you write whatever sensitive information they have there. ATM Card number, Driver’s License number, Social Security, passwords, and you write those on their faces. You have experience, you know that those will not wash off for

Personal Continued from Page 8

and a community.

Perhaps that’s why people get so freaked out about the rate of change in the city these days. Certainly, it sometimes feels like things are disappearing at an alarming rate. On Facebook, I posed the question, “What's the Worcester County business you or your family has patronized the longest, and why?” Musician, radio show host and condiment purveyor J. Stuart Esty, also known as Dr.

Party’s over for mean-spirited pranksters. GETTY IMAGES

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 11

COVER STORY

‘Love Stories’ from Worcester and around the world

Esther Howland (American, 1828–1904), Valentine, 1847–1879, Collage of papers with embossment, gold leaf, chromolithograph, and letterpress, courtesy Worcester Historical Museum OLIVA STONE Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

While the exhibit “Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London,” has been on display since November, the Worcester Art Museum is likely to see a sharp spike in visitors to the traveling exhibit as Valentine’s Day approaches. Many of the pieces have never before left London, with Worcester being the fi rst stop. h “These are world-renowned pieces,” said Kelly Coates, assistant marketing manager of Worcester Art Museum, with the collection including some that have “never been viewed in public.” With the NPG closed due to COVID and undergoing construction until 2025, she said, the decision was made to loan the works out to share with the public. See STORIES, Page 12

12 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Stories Continued from Page 11

WAM was top of the list of destinations in reciprocation for having loaned a piece by artist Thomas Gainsborough for the NPG’s 2019 exhibition. Coates believes “there are pieces in the show that are unlikely to travel again in our lifetime, once they return to the National Portrait Gallery.”

The term “portrait” brings to mind images of canvas paintings depicting subjects dressed in formal attire in stilted poses, often with stern expressions.

However, “Love Stories” is an eclectic and broad collection, ranging from Renaissance portraits of the 1600s all the way to recent engagement photos of the British royal family.

Walking through the exhibit is a way to watch the evolution of how love is depicted in Western art, and by extension, how it’s viewed by society at the time.

The fi rst pieces start with the idea of the muse — someone who inspires the artist. Typically a male artist and female muse to begin with, said Coates, “but the show also fl ips the script, and includes a male muse and female artist,” which she cites as her favorite section. It also redefi nes the muse, in terms of LGBT and racial diversity, and two artists drawing each other.

Olivia Stone, curatorial assistant at WAM, explained how the exhibit shows how depictions of love changed through the centuries — early marriage portraits from the Renaissance era of a husband and wife denote commitment and how they achieved success, “almost like bragging rights — that they could aff ord to commission a portrait.” These kinds of portraits follow a theme with common denominators in terms of style, pose and religious subtext. But the “more modern portraits have variety and personality where the photographers and sitters push the envelope, showing more intimacy” — for instance, the photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in which they are both nude.

Coates hopes that visitors enjoy the experience and the gift of being able to see artworks that ordinarily reside thousands of miles away. She also expects that the exhibition will elicit another response from visitors — of being reminded of their own love and the breadth of human emotions. The wall outside the exhibit, which is one of the interactive parts — a take one/leave one

Kenneth Green, Peter Pears; Benjamin Britten, 1943, oil on canvas, 715 x 969 mm.

National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Mrs Mary Behrend, 1973. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY LONDON,NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY LONDON

Ford Madox Brown, Henry Fawcett; Dame Millicent Fawcett, 1872, oil on canvas, 1086 x 838 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Bequeathed

by Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Bt, 1911. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY LONDON

set-up of love notes — has visitors spending almost as much time there as they do viewing the show.

While there are no Worcester Valentines in the WAM’s own collection, a generous loan from the Worcester Historical Museum allowed WAM to host two rotations of local historic valentines, in a special case within the exhibition. Stone pointed out that because the focus of the exhibition is on how portraits can tell love stories, the museum wanted to include a local connection.

According to Stone, the Historical Museum has an incredible collection of Worcester-made valentines from the mid 19th to early 20th century. “The history of Valentines in America is pretty interesting,” she said, “handmade from the colonial era through the 1840s, hand folded and hand delivered, a very personal experience.”

Esther Howland is credited with being one of the fi rst to sell commercially assembled Valentines in Worcester, employing a group of women in the fi rst greeting card assembly line system.

Some of the Valentines would have been sold for up to $50, which in today’s terms is approximately $1,000, and See STORIES, Page 13

Rachel, left, and Livy Scanlon, in their shop, Canal District Wines. ALLAN JUNG/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 13

Stories Continued from Page 12

were often much more than a card — usually an intricate three-dimensional object with pop-ups in a box.

“The valentines that you see on display at the museum are really unique and from the early days of commercial Valentines making,” Stone says. “There wasn’t the standard color scheme of red, pink, purple spectrum, but even orange or blue.”

More personal love stories Indeed, the personal experience of everyday love stories are the most poignant ones. And Worcester-ites were not shy about sharing some of their own love stories about how they met their partners, why their relationship works, or how they help each other be better people.

Olivia Scanlon, director of JMAC and

George Romney, Emma Hamilton, c.1785, oil on canvas, 737 x 597 mm.

National Portrait Gallery, London.

Purchased, 1870. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY LONDON

New England Valentine Company (American, 1879–1881), Valentine, 1879–81, collage of papers with embossment, gold leaf, chromolithograph, and paint. OLIVA

Whitney Valentine Company (American, 1863–1942), Valentine, about 1920s, relief print and halftone on embossed paper. OLIVA STONE

STONE

See STORIES, Page 14

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Stories Continued from Page 13

owner of Canal Street Wines, met her wife online, “like a good older millennial,” she says, chuckling. They initially connected over an interest in Shakespeare but Scanlon admits, “I could just tell that I liked her even over text and email” — the modern successors to the old-fashioned love letters and handcrafted valentines.

For a time, while they were dating, Scanlon was in Cambridge while her love interest was in Clinton, so Scanlon would take the commuter rail out to Union Station and her fi rst introduction to Worces-

ter’s Canal District. “I was always like, this neighborhood looks really cool and I loved the architecture in Worcester.”

They got engaged after dating for only six months but shortly after that and while they were still living separately, Anthony Kennedy retired from the Supreme Court during the Trump administration, and the couple worried that marriage equality was vulnerable. Eventually they decided to elope and married on a Provincetown beach on a rainy day in July 2018 — “just the two of us and a chihuahua.”

A year later on their anniversary, they had a proper wedding party and, “because we had eloped in some haste, we didn’t have wedding bands at the time” so they exchanged

bands at the community wedding, all of which took place in Worcester businesses. “So our friends from all over got to experience Worcester and see where we lived,” said Scanlon, who confessed to “actually tearing up thinking about how much fun it was.”

Acts of love Jake Dziejma, who works at the EcoTarium, at fi rst said he didn’t have an anecdote before going on to narrate one — in which a well worded letter or Valentine would have come in handy. “We met at college orientation, in the tie dye line and stayed in similar social circles, and it was only later on (two years) did I fi nd out that was of her making — she was, in fact,

trying to court me.”

He defi ned love in the context of his current situation.

“Love in 21st-century America is your partner suff ering through 90 minutes of phone calls and hours of scouring medical plan information to fi gure out how much each insurance plan is going to cost for you to get on their workplace health insurance. It’s not sexy but it is certainly an act of love.”

Mike Maestaz, Southbridge resident, was more philosophical and talked of maintaining a partnership in the present rather than the past and how he met his partner. “In order to sustain love, you must be willing to work at it,” he said. “The very nature of co-existing requires an acknowledgment that the world doesn’t revolve around just you. It’s setting up a second TV in the living room instead of arguing about what show to watch. It’s begrudgingly accepting healthy food choices at the behest of your partner.” His spouse is a talented playwright and Maestaz takes pleasure in discovering “where our love bleeds through in her work.” He said he can always spot the quirks and idiosyncrasies that she has layered into her characters based on their relationship.

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Scanlon would agree that working at love is key and how interactions at home can bleed over to work. “Starting a business together has been a blast — the same things we bicker about at home are the same at the wine shop.” She believes their relationship inspires her to be brave and creative with the shop. “I think fear is the biggest killer of creativity, and when you have a ‘partner in crime’ that sense of support/ solidarity alleviates fear. I think we both gave each other the courage to say, let’s do this.”

Chris Zaro, local medical student and rugby player, said he met his partner when he was a junior in college and she was a senior. They had a common

David Conner of Worcester.

ASHLEY GREEN/T&G FILE

friend who dared her to ask him out, knowing both of them were recovering from messy relationships. Zaro was nursing a small concussion and a black eye from a game but nevertheless, accepted her invitation.

“We met for coff ee at Tunnel City and have been together for over four years.”

Worcester resident David Conner said his partner and he have been together for nearly fi ve years. He testifi es to how a rollercoaster of experiences together has helped them develop an ever-evolving understanding, which grows in love and commitment. “For me, I have had to deep dive into who I am and ask my most imperfect self, ‘Am I worthy of this kind of love? Can I off er him what he deserves?’” As they envision the life they want together and growing into grumpy, yet free, old men, Conner says, “he is without a doubt my muse.”

So when you are choosing a gift for your valentine, think about the history of how love has been depicted through the ages. Maybe you want to get chocolates, roses and a card but maybe you want to take the retro route and have portraits done.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 15

CITY LIVING CANNABIS CONFIDENTIAL

More sites for social consumption of marijuana on the horizon Eric Casey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Over fi ve years after Massachusetts legalized cannabis, state licensed public spaces for consumption are fi nally on the horizon (if you squint hard enough). Legislation that is expected to pass the Massachusetts House and Senate will — among other things — fi nally fi x an oversight that has previously prevented the launch of a pilot program that would allow 12 municipalities to license social consumption establishments.

These businesses would be allowed to sell a variety of cannabis products for patrons to consume on-site.

Of course, it’s not impossible to picture what social consumption of cannabis would look like in Massachusetts, thanks to the Summit Lounge in Worcester. Opened in February 2018, Summit managed to get approval from the city by applying for a license to open a members-only smoking lounge, and simply not mentioning what their patrons would be smoking.

Worcester’s City Manager Ed Augustus — clearly a bit chafed by this bamboozlement — reacted at the time by fi ring off a number of concerns he had about the lounge, including the fear that it would become an epicenter for unregulated cannabis sales and stoned driving incidents. He also worried that others would follow suit and dozens upon dozens of similar businesses would start popping up all over the city.

Four years later, Summit has been operating with no notable incidents or issues. It also remains more or less the only

A man prepares marijuana for smoking at the Summit Lounge in 2019. RICK CINCLAIR/T&G FILE

cannabis consumption club in the commonwealth, with other potential operators likely being scared away by the membership-only requirement of this business model, the inability to actually sell cannabis and hostility to the idea from municipalities.

Despite such challenges, the Summit Lounge is a success story: The sky has remained fi rmly intact, which may eventually result in the city and other communities doing more to help these types of businesses open and succeed. I think I speak on behalf of all local cannabis scene/lifestyle columnists when I say that it would make my job easier if there were actual places where peo-

ple were able to consume cannabis with others besides the front porch or backyard.

The long delay in licensing consumption establishments has resulted in one positive regulatory development: Licenses for social consumption businesses will be limited to economic empowerment applicants, social equity participants, microbusiness owners and cooperatives — for a period of at least two years.

Not only is that a smart and decent thing to do, it should reap positive benefi ts for Worcester’s cultural scene as well; these venues will be operated by local small business owners, rather than a massive corporation that is aiming to

open a chain of cookie-cutter cafes that lack connections with the city’s local landscape.

It seems fair to conclude that with mostly locals running these joints, they’ll be more likely to be embraced by Worcester’s art and music communities, and become places to see and be seen at, so to speak.

To get a better picture of what social consumption will look like when it fi nally arrives in Worcester, I spoke with Mike Brais, a city resident and former educator turned cannaprenuer who founded the Massachusetts Social Consumption Advancement Coalition, an organization dedicated to establishing reasonable and equitable regulations for consump-

tion establishments. Brais pointed out a number of issues he had with the current regulations that will govern social consumption businesses, including opposition to rules that would limit customers to only vaporizing and consuming edibles.

Beyond those concerns, he raised an equally important point that social consumption businesses are “something that's missing that allows real cannabis culture to shine. '' He noted that these businesses have the opportunity to become an important avenue for cannabis microbusinesses and craft cultivators to introduce their products to the public in a way that allows for direct and immediate feedback. Brais also pointed out that there’s a wide variety of types of establishments that could benefi t from incorporating a social consumption license into their business plan.

Music venues. Art galleries.

Arcades. Candlepin bowling alleys. Once social consumption establishments are fi nally allowed to open, the opportunities really are endless. Assuming the city embraces social consumption establishments as much as it has with other types of cannabis businesses and joins the state’s pilot program, they will have the chance to be added to the list of attractions that bring visitors from near and far, just like the city’s multiple breweries. Just as importantly, they’ll also give people whose housing situations don’t allow for consumption a safe and legal place to consume. Until then, you’ll just have to keep sneaking those hits off your vape pen while you’re out and about.

16 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

THE NEXT DRAFT

Worcester’s Soul Purpose brewery to off er nonalcoholic beer Matthew Tota Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

WORCESTER — A brewery that makes its name putting out deceptively boozy ales and stouts seemed a strange place to sample my fi rst nonalcoholic beer.

Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. isn’t releasing an NA beer, of course; that would be wildly off -brand for America’s fi rst all-imperial brewing company. But Soul Purpose Brewing, its sister brewery, will this week.

A New England IPA, “NANA,” or Not all Need Alcohol, debuted Wednesday starting as a draft-only off ering in Greater Good’s 55 Millbrook St. taproom. Later, Soul Purpose will release it in 12-ounce cans.

I could not have envisioned a better introduction to the world of alcohol-free beer than by enjoying one created by a brewery in my backyard. One weekday morning last week — 10 a.m. to be exact — I joined Meredith McNamara, co-director of operations at Greater Good and Soul Purpose, and Sean Casey, director of business development, for the tasting in a quiet taproom.

McNamara brought out a growler of NANA and poured three glasses. NANA had all the haze I would expect to see from an NE IPA, craft beer’s most popular style. The light citrus fl avor and soft creamy feeling on my palate contributed to the illusion, too.

McNamara’s proud of the way NANA drinks. Most NA beers she tries feel thin after each sip. “Even though alcohol doesn’t have a gravity (density) per se, it still has a mouthfeel.

You feel and taste the diff erence with beer that has no alcohol,” she said.

NANA contains less than 0.5% alcohol, but still leaves you believing you’ve imbibed

Soul Purpose Brewing, sister brewery to Worcester’s Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co., is set to release a nonalcoholic New England IPA this week. “NANA” (Not all Need Alcohol) will be available in the taproom fi rst as a draft-only release. MATTHEW TOTA

something of substance. You don’t feel full, but satisfi ed. After draining two glasses, I felt hydrated.

McNamara developed the recipe for NANA in-house. The brewing happened at Brewmasters Brewing Services, the Williamsburg contract brewer that early on made most of Greater Good’s beer, because it has the technology to strip the alcohol from the beer through reverse osmosis. Simply put, the process uses a membrane to fi lter alcohol from the beer without compromising taste, smell or look.

“Other breweries have tried boiling off the alcohol post fermentation, but you can taste the diff erence,” McNamara said. “This gives you a true beer fl avor without the alcohol.” After fermentation, it took an additional week for Brewmasters Brewing to remove the alcohol.

After that, brewers started dryhopping. NANA called for Citra, El Dorado, Idaho 7 and a little Mosaic for its hop profi le.

Soul Purpose had one test batch that it decided to dump because the beer wasn’t hazy.

McNamara said she didn’t even taste it. “The struggle was to keep the beer hazy, because when you’re stripping the alcohol out, a lot of the particles that make it hazy are also being stripped,” McNamara said. “We needed trial and error to determine when exactly we dry-hop and what yeast strain we use to maintain the haze and make it a good quality beer with the correct mouthfeel we’re after.”

That a local NA beer even exists for me to taste speaks to how fast the category has grown in recent years. Just two years ago, you could not fi nd one craft brewery in Massachusetts brewing one. Five years ago, there were no independent craft breweries in the country with an NA beer.

In 2018, a new brewery emerged in Stratford, Conn., touting full-fl avored NA beers for runners, bikers, hikers and just about anyone with an ac-

tive lifestyle. Athletic Brewing Co. has since shattered all expectations for how well NA beers can sell, helping to fuel the category’s rise. Last year, NA beer sales were up over 24% to around $236 million in stores, market data show. And Athletic has said it holds a 50% share of the entire NA beer segment.

Strong as they are, NA beer sales still only represent around 6% of the overall beer market, even as new brands seemingly arrive on the shelves every day, similar to the start of the hard seltzer craze. Old NA beer staples from domestic breweries have more competition from craft beer. It’s a trend that has changed people’s opinions of beer without alcohol, which historically has not been known for its nuanced taste.

“Craft players have defi nitely pushed the market in new directions,” said Bart Watson, chief economist for the U.S. Brewers Association. “Whereas

at one point this was a category that was all about what it lacked (alcohol), now fl avor is a driver for many consumers as well.”

Soul Purpose’s foray into NA beer was almost destined, given Greater Good created the sister brewery so it could play around with lower alcohol beers.

Casey had the idea to brew NANA after seeing demand for NA brews increase from distributors and, surprisingly, within Greater Good’s taproom.

“Being out in the trade, you’re seeing a lot of national brands with nonalcoholic beers. From a local side of things, we saw an opportunity, though,” he said. “For us, it was an easy risk, because we have the opportunity to trial it out and see where it goes.”

That demand may have even extended to the brewhouse: McNamara has participated in Dry January for the last two years and periodically cuts alcohol out of her diet. “Being in an all-imperial brewery, you drink a lot of alcohol,” she said.

“And sometimes it really weighs you down, so you need that reset.”

But Soul Purpose isn’t marketing NANA solely to people looking to purge alcohol completely from their lives. Instead, McNamara said, the message is NANA can help craft beer drinkers integrate more alcohol-free options into their routines.

I love that philosophy.

Maybe it means I always stock a six-pack of NA beer — starting with NANA — in my beer fridge. During football games and pizza nights, perhaps I crack open a couple in between the 8% alcohol IPA and 5% Italian pilsner.

“You don’t have to go completely dry. You don’t have to go cold turkey,” McNamara said.

“Just tease it in once and a while.”

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 17

CONNELL SANDERS

Actress Laura Benanti to lead workshop for Worcester students Sarah Connell Sanders Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Laura Benanti will host a free masterclass for Worcester high schoolers on March 18 at the Jean McDonough Arts Center's BrickBox Theater. JENNY ANDERSEON

Even if you don’t know her by name, you know Laura Benanti — the Tony Award-winning actress and singer who is Worcester bound next month.

In addition to her Broadway roles in "My Fair Lady," "Gypsy," "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "Into the Woods," Benanti fi nds herself in the midst of a burgeoning television career. In her forthcoming Hulu series “Life & Beth,” she performs opposite Amy Schumer and Michael Rapaport. You may also recognize Benanti from hits like “Gossip Girl,” “Younger,” “Nashville,” “The Good Wife,” “Nurse Jack-

ie," or her run as First Lady Melania Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” There’s simply no escaping her.

I fi rst saw Benanti perform in a 2016 revival of "She Loves Me" at Studio 54 in which she and Jane Krakowski played perfume salesgirls. Benanti stole the show with her wisecracking humor and a showstopper about vanilla ice cream. If I’m remembering correctly, I even picked up a double scoop on my way home.

Benanti’s upcoming visit is part of a new bi-annual concert series called Broadway in Worcester.

The endeavor, spearheaded by local theater afi cionado Eric Butler, will do more than just bring talented Broadway stars to our city. At

Broadway in Worcester’s heart is an opportunity to foster collaboration between world-renowned talent and the area’s local high school and college performing arts students.

Guests of the series will lead masterclass educational programs that include techniquedriven instruction, coaching, and an open forum for questions.

"How much for this one-ofa-kind opportunity?" you ask.

The answer is: Free!

Thanks to the generous support of the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation, the educational workshop, a partnership between Broadway in Worcester, Worcester Public See BENANTI, Page 19

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LISTEN UP

Ricky Duran delivers beautiful, bluesy debut with ‘Space & Time’ Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Worcester’s Ricky Duran performs during a concert last September at The Hanover Theatre. Duran’s debut album is “Space & Time.” STEVE LANAVA

There’s always something surreal about watching someone you knew as a local musician elevate their career to the next stage. Listening to Ricky Duran’s debut album, “Space & Time,” it’s hard not fl ash back to a snippet of a set I caught years ago. I want to say it was Padavano’s Place, but the memory is dim. I don’t remember what songs he played. I remember how beautiful the timbre of his voice was, how exquisite his guitar work. “Lost in space and time,” sings Duran, on the song, “Star,” the second song on his new album. “Has it been so long?”

It has been. Over the past few years, Duran has been on a whirlwind journey: Moving to Austin, coming in 2nd on “The Voice,” being poised to begin the next phase of his career when COVID-19 interrupted everything. Duran’s music has been suspended in a liminal space for some time now, caught between being the extraordinarily gifted guy playing at a local restaurant and the guy millions of Americans rooted for on TV. Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be surprising that “Space & Time” seems to capture that weird in-between space, with songs that refl ect on his pursuit of a career in music, and the relationships which have sustained that chase. He captures the strain of that pursuit, and the heartbreaks of varying sizes that accompany that pursuit. Throughout, his voice is warm and expressive, his guitar work delicate and aff ecting.

In so many ways, he’s still that

This is a song about how love grounds us. It’s fi lled with a sweet-spirited, unabashed love, punctuated by a blistering guitar solo at the bridge. same guy playing a Worcester restaurant, but the album proves he’s something else now, too. Perhaps a secret we jealously hoarded here in Worcester, which this album now irrevocably shares with the world.

“Shine, I believe that it’s your time/This is where the stars align,” sings Duran, on the album’s opening number, “Shine,” co-written by Duran and Eric Paslay. “Colors catch across the sky /Shine, higher than you’ve ever fl own/Farther than you’ve ever known/ Brighter than the fi rst sunrise.”

There’s a deep blues groove to the song, one fi lled with urgency and a sort of hunger, the unmistakable resonance of a musician who wants to be heard, who can feel his outstretched fi ngers touch the edge of the horizon. When the song fades into “Star,” with its giddy romanticism, we fi nd the album’s other polarity: “Falling faster now,” sings Duran, “ain’t trying to hide it/I don’t usually do this but, you got me feeling like a fool, for you.” This is a song about how love grounds us. It’s fi lled with a sweet-spirited, unabashed love, punctu-

ated by a blistering guitar solo at the bridge. It’s interesting, then, when on the third song Duran takes the listener to “Selfi sh Love,” a song where the preceding songs’ polarities collide. The album’s persona feels torn between love and the desire for success, and an entwined sense of guilt and freedom that come with what he portrays as selfi shness.

That’s not the entirety of the story, though, is it? It never really is. Duran pushes on from “Selfi sh Love” to the melancholy “Waiting On You,” a song he wrote for his late father, and to spread awareness of suicide prevention. It’s a sad, measured song, but Duran follows a strand of light throughout: “Cause steel road rails and paper trails/Will lead me back to you,” he sings, in the persona of his father. “Through the rain and all the pain/You got to push on through.” It’s a beautiful song, one where you fi nd more layers the more you listen.

What’s clear instantly, though, is the sheer, unabashed aff ection that permeates the song.

Even amid tragedy, love burns bright in Duran’s songs, and he makes no bones about it being a driving force in his life. Still, the barn-burner that follows, “She’s Like Whiskey,” with its lighter touch and catchy hooks, is a welcome respite.

Duran picks up the thread from “Selfi sh Love” again with, “As the Sun Goes Down,” a straightforward, old-school blues song, although in this scenario, the persona is the one who’s been left, not the other way around: “Well someday, someday baby,” sings Duran, “You’re gonna wake up missin’ See DURAN, Page 19

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 19

Duran

SONG TO GET YOU THROUGH THE HOLIDAY

Continued from Page 18

Country musician Stan Matthews recently covered Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

UNLEASH THE LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

Stan Matthews goes country with ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

A good love song can be a thing of absolute joy. It can fi ll the heart with warmth and resurrect long-gone cherished moments: The song that was playing the fi rst time you were kissed, the song that was playing in the restaurant the day you got engaged, the song you danced to at your wedding. For fear of quoting Paul McCartney, what’s wrong with that?

Absolutely nothing.

However, let’s be honest: The love-gone-wrong songs are the most fun. Sure, John Legend’s “All of Me” is a moving work of beauty, but sometimes, you just want to scream Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” at the top of your lungs. Come Valentine’s

Day, some people are looking for just the right mood music for a romantic evening, while others are looking for something a bit more … cathartic.

For those folks, there are any number of options – we’ve made numerous recommendations in the past – but local country artist Stan Matthews’ recent take on post-punk legends Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” should defi nitely be on your playlist.

It’s a stripped down rendition, where Matthews channels the song's sense of disorientation – best captured in late singer Ian Curtis’ vocals – and brings it down to a rough, human level. The song’s original version may well be the gold standard for anti-Valentine’s sentiments, but Matthews here presents a rendition that’s both grounded and wist-

fully aff ecting.

In a lot of ways, Matthews has found a country song nestled in the heart of the 1980 classic. Lines that radiate a sort of detached disaff ection in the original seem here brooding and heartbroken: “When routine bites hard,” sings Matthews, drawing out each line slowly, “And ambitions are low/And resentment rides high/But emotions won't grow/And we're changing our ways/Taking diff erent roads/ Then love, love will tear us apart again/Love, love will tear us apart again.”

Admittedly, it’s almost impossible to compare a cover to a song that iconic, but Matthews brings a lot of soul and heart to the melody, and on a lonely Valentine’s Day, that can defi nitely resonate.

me/Cause I’ll be doin’ sold out shows/And you’ll be watching on TV.” For all its spite, though, Duran imbues the song with a sense of loneliness, singing, “Am I destined to be/Alone until the day I die?/It’s just me and my guitar/Until they put me in the ground.” It’s a slightly diff erent scenario than “Selfi sh Love,” but the resultant choices – love or music – remain the same. “Circles” deepens the theme, but tilts the balance toward the relationship: “I’m coming home to you/As long as you leave that key baby, outside that door.”

The sense of absence is implied throughout the song, but never spelled out. Still, as the album progresses, it becomes obvious that the polarities presented at the beginning of the album are, in truth, a false choice. Both are worth fi ghting for.

The album’s penultimate song, “She Closed Her Eyes,” written for his late mother, is emotionally gutting as a single, but here, in the context of all this struggle and confl icted hearts, it serves to put every-

Benanti Continued from Page 17

Schools and The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, will be free for high school and college aged students and their fi ne arts educators.

If you would like to see Benanti in story and song, the experience will cost you between $82 and $132 — a steal by Broadway standards. According to Butler, “Laura is one of the American theater’s most celebrated performers. Moreover, she is one of Broadway’s

thing before it into context “Now the stars shine a path to fi nd my way,” sings Duran, in what is easily the album’s most moving song, “Cause’ I got an angel watching over me.” The song parallels the earlier “Waiting On You,” of course, but it also has a way of refracting light on all that’s come before it.

“She gave me her hand,” sings Duran. “Told me to love again/Said son live the best life/A life that you can/And I’m standing here/With no fuel to run on/She closed her eyes/ Mama closed her eyes.” In that moment of grief, Duran’s persona reveals love as being the thing that fuels his eff orts, not something that needs to be eschewed in favor of success.

The album closes with, “A Woman Like Her,” the original song he performed on “The Voice.” It brings us full circle to the the fl ashpoint of his burgeoning success, but it’s also an unapologetic love song: “I’d be a walking disaster/An unhappily never after/If she hadn’t come and wrecked all my plans.” The end brings us to the beginning of the story, and while he takes a subtle road getting there, the album ends with a sense of possibility, of something more looming just across the horizon.

biggest champions of arts education, racial justice and social equity. Her talents, passions, and priorities go unrivaled. We couldn’t be prouder to have her join us in Worcester for this inaugural event with her esteemed musical director and accompanist Billy Stritch.”

To purchase tickets for “An Evening with Tony Award Winner Laura Benanti,” visit www.jmacworcester.org. The performance is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, March 18 at the Jean McDonough Arts Center, BrickBox Theater, 20B Franklin St. Follow @BroadwayInWorcester on Instagram for more information.

20 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

SCREEN TIME

Arthur Kennedy, the biggest actor to ever come out of Worcester Craig S. Semon Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

He was one of the most respected actors in Hollywood.

He was nominated for fi ve Academy Awards, one for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor.

He worked alongside James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, Marlene Dietrich, Alan Ladd, Frank Sinatra, Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch, just to name a few.

He was personal friends with Errol Flynn and Anthony Quinn, who he also worked with twice and four times, respectively, as well as Boris Karloff , William Holden and Harry Morgan, who he had never worked with.

He starred in four Arthur Miller’s plays on Broadway.

In the ‘60s, he performed “Becket” onstage with Sir Laurence Olivier and was one of the stars of “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Late in his career, he starred in a science-fi ction fi lm, “Fantastic Voyage,” and, a decade later, the chilling horror fl ick, “The Sentinel.”

He is Arthur Kennedy and he is the biggest actor to ever come out of Worcester bar none.

Born on Feb. 17, 1914, John Arthur Kennedy grew up at 20 Mayfair St. in Worcester.

Kennedy graduated from South High School, Class of 1931, and participated in dramatics at Worcester Academy the following year. He said in an interview in the Feature Parade Section of the Worcester Sunday Telegram (published May 31, 1953) that he had no intentions of becoming an actor.

Kirk Douglas, left, and Worcester native Arthur Kennedy in “The Glass Menagerie.” WARNER BROTHERS

Not only is Arthur Kennedy the only Worcester native ever nominated for an acting Oscar, he has been nominated for fi ve Academy Awards, one for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor. SUBMITTED

If anything, Kennedy said he wanted to play baseball.

Once described as “an unassuming, young six-footer with thoughtful blue eyes and thick, straight light brown hair,” Kennedy’s acting career began accidently.

In his senior year at South, Kennedy, 17, was waiting for a friend who was trying out for “The Skeleton in the Closet,” a school play being put on as a yearbook fundraiser.

“I needed a pasty-faced butler for one of the parts. You know, the kind the audience always suspects,” Charles P. Rugg, a veteran teacher at South High, recalled in the 1953 article. “I looked around the room, and there in a corner sat a thin, cadaverous-looking boy.

I had him read a few lines then cast him as Hibbard, the butler.”

Kennedy made his unassuming acting debut on March

27, 1931, in the auditorium of South High School. Nobody, not even Kennedy, knew it at the time, but an actor was born that day.

Shortly after graduating, Kennedy’s father enrolled his son at Worcester Academy to fi nd his future career path, and, boy, did he ever.

Kennedy was cast as a lunatic masquerading as an asylum guard in “The Phantom Pilot” and the last survivor of a group of explorers who are cursed after opening a pharaoh’s tomb in “A Message From Khufu.” The latter play won Kennedy his fi rst acting award, second prize.

After Worcester Academy, Kennedy enrolled at the prestigious Carnegie Tech School of Drama (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh.

At Carnegie, Kennedy fell in love with two things, the collected works of William Shakespeare and classmate and fel-

low thespian Mary Cheff ey. The two married and remained together until her death in 1975.

The couple had two children, Terence and Laurie, the latter of which followed the same career path as her parents.

Laurie made her stage debut in Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” in 1970 in Williamstown and her New York stage debut in “Man and Superman” in 1979, the latter which she won the Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Tony.

Laurie played fi ve diff erent characters in all three primary shows of the “Law & Order” franchise and played City Attorney Felicity Weaver in four episodes of “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

Next for Laurie, she will play an Irish cook named Molly Maguire on Showtime’s “City On A Hill,” starring Kevin Bacon as a See KENNEDY, Page 21

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 21

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Anthony Quinn, left, as Barabbas and Worcester native Arthur Kennedy in “Barabbas.” COLUMBIA PICTURES

Kennedy Continued from Page 20

corrupt FBI agent. (Is there any other kind?) Laurie starts shooting her episodes in midFebruary or mid-March.

“My parents went to college together. They were college sweethearts,” Laurie said. “My mother was an actress and she was the fi rst one from her class to get a job, which totally annoyed my father. He thought that he should have gotten the fi rst job. However, he was the fi rst one to get a fi lm.”

In 1936, Kennedy joined the Globe Theatre traveling repertory, which toured the Midwest off ering abbreviated versions of Shakespearian plays given at the Cleveland Dallas Expositions.

In 1937, Kennedy made his Broadway debut in “King Richard II,” opposite noted Shakespearian actor Maurice Evans — best known for playing Dr. Zaius in “Planet of the Apes” and Samantha Stephen’s father, Maurice, on “Bewitched.”

In 1940, Kennedy made his

fi lm debut, playing James Cagney’s younger brother in ”City for Conquest,” and Warner Brothers Pictures signed him to a fi ve-year contract for $1,000 a week.

In 1941, Kennedy played Red, opposite Humphrey Bogart in “High Sierra,” which was the fi rst of many fi lm noirs Kennedy made in his career.

The same year, Kennedy starred in “They Died with Their Boots On,” with his good friends Errol Flynn and Anthony Quinn, who played Gen. George Armstrong Custer and Chief Crazy Horse, respectively.

“We lived on Mulholland Drive and Flynn had a place further up the road and he didn’t really invite my mother to be along,” Laurie recalled.

“He just invited my father because he was drinking. He liked to drink among other things. I don’t think there was any hanky-panky or anything like that.

But, it was just, sort of, a man’s night out.”

Laurie also said her father was very close with Anthony See KENNEDY, Page 22

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Kennedy Continued from Page 21

Quinn.

“I remember when my father was dying,” Laurie said. “I don’t know how Tony Quinn found out but he called the hospice where my father was and talked to Pop before he died.”

On Jan. 29, 1947, Kennedy made his triumphant returned to Broadway in Arthur Miller’s Tony Award-winning play “All My Sons,” portraying a man who returns from war to fi nd his father exposed as a war profi teer. In reality, Kennedy’s father was a well-respected Worcester dentist.

Four months later, Kennedy’s father died suddenly of a heart attack while riding a Worcester bus. Arthur broke off from the play and rushed home to Worcester. He was in Worcester for two days and re-

June Allyson and Worcester native Arthur Kennedy in “The Girl in White.” MGM

A scene from “Fantastic Voyage” includes, from left, Raquel Welch, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Pleasence and Stephen Boyd.

20TH CENTURY FOX

ceived four calls from New York to come back.

Two years later, Kennedy had his biggest Broadway triumph with the role of Biff , the oldest son and most bitter disappointment of the play’s central character, Willie Loman, in ”Death of a Salesman.”

Though Kennedy won a Tony for playing Biff , newcomer Kevin McCarthy (best known for the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) played the character in the fi lm made four years later.

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“I don’t think Pop minded it at all because everybody called Kevin McCarthy a poor man’s Arthur Kennedy,” Laurie said.

“Pop may have been working at the time … Or he had gotten too old for the role.”

Kennedy would go on to star in two more Miller plays, 1953’s ”The Crucible” and 1968’s ”The Price.”

“Oddly enough, I think Arthur Miller got mad at him (Kennedy) because he didn’t attend some honor that he (Miller) was being presented in Texas,” Laurie recalled. “I think Miller always thought of him as the actor that best impersonated him in the roles that were sort of autobiographical in his plays.”

Acting wise, 1949 was a very good year for Kennedy. Not only did he star in “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway, he played Connie Kelly, the crippled brother of boxer Michael “Midge” Kelly (Kirk Douglas), in the 1949 movie “Champion,” which gave Kennedy his fi rst Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1951, Kennedy was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing a Sgt. Larry Nevins, a WWII vet blinded in the war, who struggles to accept and eventually come to terms with his disability.

To prepare for the demand-

ing role, Kennedy worked with real-life blind veterans and wore opaque contact lenses over his eyes.

“You can’t see very well through them, but that, of course, was the idea, and they helped me in the part,” Kennedy said in a 1952 Los Angeles Times interview. “You do things instinctively with them on that you wouldn’t without them. More importantly, you think diff erently.”

Kennedy won another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in 1955’s “Trial,” a movie about a Mexican boy accused of rape and murder who is victimized by prejudiced accusers and his communist defender.

“Pop loved ‘Trial,’” Laurie said. “He was very taken by his work in that as I recall. He had a big speech and he was very proud of that piece of work.”

Kennedy’s intense portrayal of an alcoholic who rapes his stepdaughter in 1957’s “Peyton Place” landed him yet another supporting Oscar nod.

In 1958, Kennedy earned his fi fth and fi nal Academy Award nomination portraying a rigid businessman who is having an aff air with his assistant in “Some Came Running,” starring Frank Sinatra.

“My pop and Sinatra got along really well when they were working because my father would do things in one take because he knew Sinatra hated retakes,” Laurie said. “So he would be on his toes with any scene he had with Sinatra.”

Despite being nominated for fi ve Oscars without a win, Laurie doesn’t think her Pop was disappointed about never bringing home Oscar gold.

“He never talked about it. So I don’t think he was upset,” Laurie said. “I think he was very happy to have been nominated fi ve times.”

But Laurie said her Pop was thrilled to be recognized with the top theater award.

“He was happy when he got a Tony for his work as Biff ,” See KENNEDY, Page 24

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 23

4 THINGS TO DO

Calliope’s 40th, ‘C’Mon C’Mon’ and more ...

Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Straight From the Screen Don’t touch that dial. The Master Singers of Worcester, the Worcester Children’s Chorus, the newly formed Manchester CT chapter of the Master Singers and the Manchester High School Hand Bell Choir are taking a musical journey through some of the most beloved songs from movie and television in what will be the one of MSW’s largest presentations in some time.

What: “On the Lighter Side — Stage & Screen” — Master Singers of Worcester When: 7 p.m. Feb. 12 (snow date: 4 p.m. Feb. 13) Where: Salem Covenant Church, 215 East Mountain St., Worcester How much: In advance: $25/adults; $20/students or seniors.

At the door: $30/adults; $25 students or seniors. www.mswma.org. (508) 842-1349 A scene from “C’Mon C’Mon.” SUBMITTED

Vocalist Valerie Sneade-Roy SUBMITTED

40th time ‘Around’

‘C’Mon’ Down!

Calliope Productions opens its 40th anniversary season with the return of popular vocalist Valerie Sneade-Roy and pianist/vocalist Jim Rice and their new cabaret show titled “The 2nd Time Around” Feb. 11-13. This will be the fourth appearance of the award-winning duo at Calliope. “The 2nd Time Around” features musical numbers from the great American songbook, as well as modern Broadway show tunes and popular tunes from the 1980s and 1990s — all with a focus on themes of resiliency and new beginnings.

What: “The 2nd Time Around” — Valerie Sneade-Roy and Jim Rice When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, and 2 p.m. Feb. 12 and 13 Where: Calliope Productions, 150 Main St., Boylston How much: $20; $17 students and seniors. www.calliopeprodutions.org

Master Singers of Worcester, Ed Tyler, conductor, at Salem Covenant Church, Worcester. PRISM POINT PHOTOGRAPHY

Can We Get An ‘Amen’?

Rehearsals for WCLOC’s “An Act of God.” SUBMITTED

God is coming to Worcester for a limited engagement. But David Javerbaum’s riotously funny “An Act of God” at the Worcester County Light Opera Company Feb. 11 to 20 does not feature your grandfather’s God. He will be at WCLOC in the form of Caitlin Lubelczyk to deliver to the people of Central Massachusetts 10 new commandments. Joining Lubelczyk onstage will be her two “Genesistants,” Erik Gladwin (as Gabriel) and Eric Butler (as Michael). Directed by Chuck Grigaitis.

What: “An Act of God” — Worcester County Light Opera Company When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19; 2 p.m. Feb. 13 and 20 Where: WCLOC Clubhouse, 21 Grandview Ave., Worcester How much: $25; $20 students and seniors. www.wcloc.org

In “C’Mon C’Mon,” which has been picking up awards regularly since its release last year, Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) and his young nephew (Woody Norman) forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they are unexpectedly thrown together. Writerdirector Mile Mills puts together what has been called “a delicate and deeply moving story about the connections between adults and children, the past and the future.” “C’Mon C’Mon” is being presented locally by cinema-worcester.

What: “C’Mon C’Mon” — presented by cinemaworcester When: 7 p.m. Feb. 11 Where: Park View Room, 230 Park Ave., Worcester How much: $10; $8:50 students and seniors. www.cinena-worcester.com

24 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Kennedy

ADOPTION OPTION

Continued from Page 22

Laurie said. “He kept that award. Every other award he didn’t keep.” And, from the looks of the Feature Parade article from the ‘50s, many of Kennedy’s awards ended up in the house of his mother when she was still living in Worcester.

Although he received his last Oscar nomination in the Eisenhower Era, Kennedy had a few tricks up his sleeves for the ‘60s, including appearing opposite Sir Laurence Olivier on Broadway as the title character in ”Becket.”

“On his opening night, Pop went off in his lines and started ad-libbing about taxes seeing as it was April,” Laurie said. “I wasn’t there but mother said it was hysterical.”

At fi rst, Kennedy was reluctant to be cast alongside the legendary Olivier but Kennedy’s old friend, Boris Karloff , convinced him to do “Becket.”

“Boris Karloff was the reason my father did it,” Laurie recalled. “He said ‘John, you can’t pass down a role opposite Sir Olivier. You got to do it.’”

In 1962, Kennedy did, however, turned down the role of George in the original production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Arthur Kennedy (left, seated) listens to Humphrey Bogart (right) while Ida Lupino and Alan Curtis look on in a scene from “High Sierra.” WARNER BROS.

“My father was in the middle of doing ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and asked Peter O’Toole to read the script. And O’Toole said it’s a great play but it’s the woman’s play and Pop turned it down,” Laurie said. “Big mistake. Big mistake. And he knew it as soon it as it opened.”

At the (fi sh) tail-end of the ‘60s, Kennedy teamed up with another Worcester native, revolutionary director Samuel Fuller, for the fi lm “Shark!” (also known as “Caine” and “Man-Eater”), starring Burt Reynolds.

Three years older than Kennedy, Fuller attended Ledge Street School, just down the hill from Worcester Academy,

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but Kennedy’s daughter doesn’t have any stories to tell about these two Worcester natives working together, nor has any recollection of ever seeing the movie whatsoever.

On Jan. 5, 1990, Kennedy died at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford. He was 75 years old.

Laurie also said that, despite a successful acting career, her father was rarely recognized by passers-by.

“People would stop him in the street and ask, ‘I know you? Where do I know you from?’ And if they realized he was an actor they always would say, ‘George Kennedy?’ (of “Cool Hand Luke” and “Airport” fame who doesn’t look anything like Arthur Kennedy).

They would get the wrong actor, which never bothered him.

He actually took it as a compliment that he acted, in a way, that they couldn’t put him in a slot.”

Laurie said she dearly misses her father’s stories and sense of humor.

“Pop could make everybody fall on the fl oor,” Laurie said.

“He would tell these stories that he had from his theater days. He had a wonderful story about Fred Astaire that you can’t really do justice to, just the way he told it. Everybody was convulsing with laughter.”

Bella is available for adoption at Worcester Animal Rescue League. SUBMITTED

Meet Bella Hi, I’m Bella! I am super sweet, house trained, aff ectionate, and ready to meet my Valentine! Some of my favorite things to do are, go for walks (I walk really well on a leash), lay on the couch, relax in a comfy bed, and snuggle with my favorite humans. I am looking for a home with someone I can be companions and best friends with. I don’t mind other dogs when I meet them on walks but may prefer to be the only one in the home. I think you’ll fi nd I’ll give all the love you need. Everyone at the shelter adores me and I love

them but I’m ready to fi nd a family to call my own. Please contact WARL at dogs@worcesterarl.org to learn more about me and set up an appointment to meet me.

Adoption Option is a partnership with the Worcester Animal Rescue League highlighting their adoptable pets. Check this space often to meet all of the great pets at WARL in need of homes. WARL is open seven days a week, noon-4 p.m., 139 Holden St. Check them out online at Worcesterarl.org, or call at (508) 853-0030.

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11. Prefix for body or gravity 12. Earth sci.

13. Tax ID 18. Foreign film ender 19. Asleep, usually 24. Actor Barinholtz 25. Worry (about) 26. Mel who voiced Yosemite Sam 27. Houston campus, for short 28. Bad things 29. Gullible 30. Charitable person 31. “Zut ___!”

32. Sultanate inhabitant 33. Historical object 34. Aerial photography aid 39. Audition tape 40. Give birth, informally 42. “Prometheus” actress Rapace 43. 3-D screening 45. Certain swimwear 46. Do landscaping work 49. “___ Named Scooby-Doo” (cartoon spinoff of 1988) 50. Daily Planet reporter 51. “Transformers” actor LaBeouf 52. “Clicker beware” letters 53. Not hidden 55. Fruit peel

56. “Bus Stop” dramatist William 57. Like some steaks 58. Relaxation spot 59. Shifty 60. “A clue!”

Last week's solution

©2022 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1079

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | 27

LAST CALL

Mindrift – Worcester’s longest running rock cover band Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Local rock cover band Mindrift will be celebrating 25 years together with a massive show at Halligan’s in Auburn on March 26. Formed in 1997, Mindrift boasts a deep repertoire of rock and pop songs spanning from the ‘60’s to today, with a special focus on ‘90s rock.

Comprising Worcester residents Sean Hendricks (bass/ vocals), Tony Postale (guitar/ vocals), Lisa Layton (vocals), and Tom Sidoti (drums), the band sat down with Last Call to discuss their evolution since they started in their 20s to now, the loss of a friend and band member and what’s kept them together for a quarter century.

What has kept you guys together?

Sean: We ask ourselves that every day — we’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve stuck through it. Tom and Tony and I were the original trio — in the mid-2000s we brought on a keyboard player, but unfortunately he passed away from brain cancer. We all like the same kind of music and we don’t take it too seriously, so we’ve all grown up or gotten older together. Like a family. It’s just worked out — hasn’t always been pretty but it works.

We talk to each other on stage as much as we do to the audience.

Tom: When we play, people like us and when we have a good night on stage, it just drives us to keep playing. We’ve all ended up married with kids.

Tony: We’ve defi nitely had our moments but it’s the friendships, as corny as that sounds.

Tom: I don’t think there are many bands that make it to 25 years. You can’t stick together as a band for 25 years and suck.

That’s what I tell someone every time I’m trying to book a gig. We got 19 shows this year,

From left, Mindrift members Sean Hendricks, Lisa Layton, Tony Postale and Tom Sidoti. MINDRIFT

including Rutland’s 300th anniversary.

What’s it like being a member as well as manager?

Sean: It’s been Tom the last couple years but we rotate.

Tom: Being a band member, we kind of know each other’s schedules for gigs so that’s easier. But it’s challenging no matter who is wearing that hat. It was easier 20 years ago when we were single with no kids. We kind of know when we’re hitting that max density of shows.

We used to play up to three or four times a month and that was pretty taxing. But as we’ve

grown older, we’ve learned that less is more. Our fans aren’t going to come out and see us if we play every Friday. If it’s every two months, the rooms pack up.

Tony: You asked about the secret to our longevity — there’s a balance as you get older. You need to pay attention to your family life and can’t play as much.

Sean: As we’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten less dependent on the money we’ve made on these gigs. So that’s enabled us to do a lot more charity shows over the years. This isn’t like a

money making thing. Any time someone has a cause in their life, everybody else is willing to step up to use their time to make things better for other people.

Tom: Our 25th anniversary show — all our former lead singers are coming out for that on March 26th. That’s going to be a big show.

Where did the name come from?

Tom: Tony came up with the name but he doesn’t know how.

Lisa: We don’t really like it — we’re still thinking about it.

If you could change your

name, what would it be?

Tony: The Merge!

Tom: Once you get deep into it, it’s hard to change the name.

I’ve waited 25 years to make Tshirts, and we’re going to have Mindrift T-shirts at the show.

How do you pick your songs?

Tom: I always wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star but I realized pretty soon, that wasn’t going to happen. My thinking was, if people work all week and go to listen to a band do they want to hear something they don’t know or something they hear on the radio?

Sean: I don’t like writing music but I love to sing. I love to sing the stuff I listen to.

Tom: I can’t sing at all — these guys don’t want me to sing. But Lisa, Sean and Tony all sing. For me, good singing makes a band and this band has it and it’s another thing that keeps a band together. We all loved Chris as our keyboard player — it was a big loss. He was a talented musician; he was with us for about 15 years.

Sean: Like a super musician.

Tom: And there are songs that we can longer perform without him.

What’s your favorite song — each of you?

Tony: I like to do all the Pearl Jam stuff .

Lisa: Probably Janis Joplin. I love playing “Bobby McGee,” too.

Tom: She’s a huge Pat Benatar fan — and Britney Spears.

Sean: One Lisa sings is by Joss Stone — “Tell Me ‘Bout It.” The one that I like to sing best is “Blue on Black.” It’s one of those songs you can really get lost in.

Tom: “Rock and Roll,” by Led Zeppelin.

Follow Mindrift on Facebook to check out their shows lined up for this year, including their 25th anniversary show at Halligan’s,889 Southbridge St., Auburn,March 26.

28 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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