Worcester Magazine March 25 - 31, 2022

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | CULTURE § ARTS § DINING § VOICES

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IN THIS ISSUE

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Worcester Magazine 100 Front St., Fifth Floor Worcester, MA 01608 worcestermag.com Editorial (508) 767.9535 WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com Sales (508) 767.9530 WMSales@gatehousemedia.com VP, Sales & Strategy Andrew Chernoff Executive Editor David Nordman Editor Nancy Campbell Content Editor Victor D. Infante Reporters Richard Duckett, Veer Mudambi Contributing Writers Stephanie Campbell, Eric Casey, Sarah Connell Sanders, Shaun Connolly, Gari De Ramos, Robert Duguay, Liz Fay, Jason Greenough, Janice Harvey, Jim Keogh, Jim Perry, Craig S. Semon, Matthew Tota Multi Media Sales Executives Deirdre Baldwin, Debbie Bilodeau, Kate Carr, Diane Galipeau, Sammi Iacovone, Kathy Puffer, Jody Ryan, Regina Stillings Sales Support Jackie Buck, Yanet Ramirez Senior Operations Manager Gary Barth Operations Manager John Cofske Worcester Magazine is a news weekly covering Central Massachusetts. We accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. The Publisher has the right to refuse any advertisement.

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Featured ..............................................................................4 City Voices ..........................................................................8 Cover Story.......................................................................10 Artist Spotlight................................................................15 Next Draft .........................................................................17 Screen Time......................................................................18 Adoption Option.............................................................20 Games ................................................................................21 Classifi eds ........................................................................22 Last Call.............................................................................23

On the cover Ulysses Youngblood is the president and founder of Worcester's fi rst Black-owned marijuana dispensary, Major Bloom.

ALLAN JUNG/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

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4 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Composer and Clark University professor John Aylward explores the ‘Celestial’ Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Contemporary composer and Clark University associate professor John Aylward had been captivated by the Classic Roman poet Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” a retelling of stories of Greek mythology, since his older brother gave him the book while he was growing up in Arizona.

Now with the album “Celestial Forms and Stories,” released last month by New Focus Recordings, Aylward rewrites the myths that Ovid immortalized through a fi ve-piece suite of atmospheric chamber music. The music is performed by the Viennese chamber orchestra Klangforum Wien with members in diff erent chamber formations for the movements.

“I want it to feel like an immersive experience,” Aylward said.

Aylward, who is associate professor of music composition at Clark, had given some thought to musically adapting “Metamorphoses” over the years but didn’t want to put into music “another one of those artful takes on great myths if I didn’t have my own avenue,” he said.

But reading an analysis of Ovid’s style by the late Italian writer Italo Calvino gave Aylward some ideas of his own. The pieces that make up “Celestial Forms and Stories” were written over a period of six years, 2014-19.

In Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” each story contains some sort of transformation (or metamorphosis) as the link that ties them all together. The transformations can be violent or exotic and eversurprising. “It’s such a fantastical poem,” Aylward said. “Things can happen on a dime. A hand becomes a talon. A nose becomes a beak.”

When he came upon Calvino’s analyses, “they were the impetus,” Aylward said. “(I thought) ‘This is it.’ I can deconstruct with some sort of new understanding.”

Calvino wrote about a set of simple elements in Ovid’s work undergoing combinations and transformations.

Aylward’s composition has a foundational movement, “Ephemera” for clarinet and cello, out of which other move-

Composer and Clark University professor John Aylward. KATE SOPER

ments develop (”Daedalus,” “Mercury,” “Narcissus,” “Anake”).

The opening movement, “Daedalus,” is for a quartet of fl ute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin and cello with melodic fragments distributed among the four instruments. “Mercury” has the the same instrumentation.

“Narcissus” is for a seven-piece ensemble of fl utes, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, string trio of violin, viola, and cello and percussion. Lines are “repeated and varied lines refl ected back and forth among the instruments.” “Anake” scores the piece with the same instrumentation as “Narcissus,” but with piano substituting for percussion and moving things forward.

Aylward has said that “Textures, gestures, harmonies, and formal aspects recur across the pieces, aspects of them all sometimes visible, sometimes clouded, quickly passing or elongated under more mercurial material, always transformed to suit new circumstances, but holding threads of their origin.”

The sound, perhaps appropriately for a work titled “Celestial Forms and Stories,” is almost out of this world.

“I can see that. I’ve always been a big fan of science fi ction, so maybe it’s a nod to that,” Aylward said. However, “I

do hope that the listener will be entranced by the mythologies.”

“You can hear the material recurring like characters in a new scene. You can treat the instruments as characters in the world I’ve made.”

“Celestial Forms and Music” was also a true collaboration with the Austrian contemporary classical ensemble Klangforum Wien, Aylward said.

The ensemble is made up of 24 musicians from 10 diff erent countries.

“We talked a lot about the music. At fi rst I asked them if they would be interested in doing it,” Aylward said. “‘Do you want to do a recording project? We could do a recording pod.’ They had many performance canceled (because of COVID). We had a very rich back and forth about it in the recording process. It was a very fruitful process. This brought my compositional practice to another level,” Aylward said.

“Celestial Forms and Stories” was entirely produced, recorded, edited and mastered remotely due to COVID restraints.

Still, “I’ve heard many diff erent interpretations of performances (of my work) and this ranks among the best,” Aylward said.

“Celestial Forms and Stories” is the second album of music that Aylward has had released during the pandemic.

In the 2020 album “Angelus” by the contemporary music group Ecce Ensemble, Aylward, Ecce’s artistic director, composed a monodrama that evoked journey, displacement, resilience, despair, feelings of transcendence and unreality reverberating through a stunning 10-movement monodrama.

In 2014, Aylward had accompanied his mother, Monika, on her fi rst journey back to Germany since she was a World War II refugee. While in Europe, they also spent a couple of days in Paris, including visiting Centre Pompidou and viewing Paul Klee’s striking 1920 monoprint “Angelus Novus.” Inspired by this painting and specifi cally its central image of the Angel of History, Aylward discovered German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin’s text that powerfully describes this work of art and his own interpretation.

Now, with the heartbreaking events in the Ukraine, “Angelus” has resounding relevance.

In 2020, Aylward said, “This work is dedicated to my mother and to all those who have been displaced by violence and war, to their resilience and search for meaning in darkness.”

It was also noted, at the release of “Angelus” in 2020, that its atmospheric, sometimes brooding discordance made it a work that seemed fi tting for a world suddenly shut down by coronavirus.

Aylward’s music has embraced solo works, chamber music, orchestral work and music for fi lm. He has received numerous awards.

He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and with his Southwestern background, his music has often explored concerns related to that landscape and culture such as ancestral concepts of time, appropriations of indigenous cultures into surrealism and impressionism, and the connections between native traditions and Greek and Roman mythology. He has received a number of commissions including from members of Klangforum Wien and Court-Circuit, Icon, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society and from Open Space. The Boston Globe has described him as “a composer of wide intellectual curiosity” who summons “textures of effi cient richness, delicate and deep all at once.”

He came East to be a graduate student at Brandeis University, where he earned a doctorate in music composition and theory. He currently lives in Northampton.

Another reason for exploring Ovid and “Metamorphoses” was that “I teach in the liberal arts. I don’t teach in a conservatory, and I like it that I grew up with a liberal arts education. When you teach long enough in the liberal arts you are surrounded by the classics. It’s foundational,” Aylward said.

But perhaps picking up a theme from “Metamorphoses,” Aylward said, “I feel artists change and are always changing.

I would like to think I will always be changing.”

Indeed, he said he’s currently working on a chamber opera, but since he See AYLWARD, Page 7D

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 5

Three Donnas take the stage in ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ Richard Duckett Worcester Telegram & Gazette USA TODAY NETWORK

Donna Summer was known by such titles as the “Queen of Disco” and “Dance Floor Diva” during the disco era as she put out a string of hits from the mid-to-late 1970s into the early 1980s.

But while the terms were aff ectionate, there was something more about Summer and her music as well. The singing could be electric, but a song like “I Feel Love” (1977) was really revolutionary as far as expanding the boundaries of electronic dance music including introducing trance-like passages to go with an insistent beat, a Moog synthesizer, and Summer’s hypnotic, dream-like vocals rising over everything. David Bowie was among those who knew this was something new.

So it’s no surprise that there’s a story to be told about Summer as well as simply enjoying the music in “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” which ran on Broadway in 2018 and is now on a national tour.

“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” will be at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Worcester for a six-performance run March 31 to April 3 as part of The Hanover Theatre’s Broadway Series.

“I’d describe her (Summer) as — she is resilient. Very caring of others. I just think she’s very empowering,” said Amahri Edwards-Jones, who is playing one of three incarnations of Donna Summer in the musical.

Summer’s story includes being born as LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, the third of seven children, and being a shy girl until she found her singing voice at Grant AME Church in Roxbury.

That’s just the beginning, so it’s also understandable that the musical has three actors and singers playing Donna Summer at diff erent parts of her life — a life that was cruelly cut short at the age of 63 in 2012 by lung cancer, even though Summer didn’t smoke.

Edwards-Jones plays the youngest version of Donna Summer in the show in her teenage years, called Duckling Donna. There’s also Disco Donna (Charis Gullage) and Diva Donna (Brittny

From left, Charis Gullage (“Disco Donna”), Brittny Smith (“Diva Donna”) and Amahri Edwards-Jones (“Duckling Donna”) perform “Last Dance” in a scene from “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.” NICK GOULD

‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ When: 7:30 p.m. March 31; 8 p.m. April 1; 2 and 8 p.m. April 2; 1 and 6:30 p.m.

April 3. ASL & Audio Description Services at 1 p.m. April 3.

Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: $39, $49, $62 and $79 depending on seat location. (877) 571-7469. www.thehanovertheatre.org

Smith).

Diva Donna narrates the musical, recalling aspects of her life against the backdrop of a fi nal show, and all three get to be on stage at the same time for certain numbers including “MacArthur Park” and the show-stopping “Last Dance.”

“I like that there’s a really physical thing presentation-wise and I feel like the harmonies are all good,” EdwardsJones said of the three Donnas.

At the beginning of the show it is Diva Donna who appears fi rst, and introduces her younger selves, Duckling

Amahri Edwards-Jones JEREMY BUSTIN

Donna and Disco Donna, EdwardsJones said.

Duckling Donna is “not as confi dent” as we might remember Donna Summer as being later. “She sings around the house. She fi nds herself in the church.

She fi nds her voice in the church,” Edwards-Jones said.

Duckling Donna’s solo numbers in

the show include “I Remember Yesterday,” “On My Honor” and “Pandora’s Box.” Donna Summer dropped out of high school, and moved to New York City and then Germany where she met up with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who helped develop Summer’s sound. The three shared cowriting credits for “I Feel Love.”

“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” shows some of the challenges Summer faced, especially as a solo female artist, Edwards-Jones said. The hit “She Works Hard for the Money” plays out against dealing with record company executives. Meanwhile, in her early years Summer made some unfortunate choices with the men in her life.

“I think you get to know a lot. It intrigued me. You think Disco Diva but it’s how she overcame things in her life,” Edwards-Jones said.

But of course, a Donna Summer musical is also going to have plenty of hot stuff musically speaking, and the disco visuals should be a treat as well. The score features more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits including, besides those already mentioned, “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff .” ‘”By the end they’re like standing up and dancing with us,” Edwards-Jones said of the audiences.

The clothing and hair styles of the disco era didn’t last, but does Summer’s music still stand up?

“I feel like it has. There are generations passing it on, and I feel that’s how it lives,” Edwards-Jones said.

The current tour opened Nov. 16 in Pittsburgh with bookings for over 40 cities. “It’s been going well,” she said.

“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” is Edwards-Jones’ fi rst national tour with a production.

One of her challenges is “having the right amount of clothes for diff erent climates.”

She was in Detroit for a tour stop as she spoke on the phone recently. The show has already been to Boston, which was Edward-Jones’ fi rst time in Massachusetts. Coming to The HanoSee DONNA, Page 7D

6 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Higher Education’s Battle Of The Bands coming to Electric Haze Robert Duguay Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

The path to Higher Education runs through Electric Haze.

The fourth edition of the Higher Education Music & Art Festival will take place Aug. 26-28 at the Proving Ground 4x4 Park in Lebanon, Maine, with a wide variety of bands and artists performing on the heralded Stage Of Knowledge & Stage Of Wisdom throughout the weekend. A few acts have already been announced including hip-hop phenom Jarv, reggae artist Jo Mersa Marley, who is the son of Stephen and the grandson of Bob, rhythmic beatboxer Honeycomb and enigmatic dub DJ The Widdler. To keep the lineup continuously fresh, the folks behind the festival organize a battle of the bands with numerous editions of it taking place all over New England. Each winner of each night will advance to the quarterfi nals with the fi nal four acts eventually fi lling four remaining spots on the festival’s Stage Of Knowledge.

Electric Haze on 26 Millbury St. in Worcester will host three editions of Higher Education’s battle of the bands on March 30, April 7 and May 19. In order to size these bands up and give you a full scope of the competition, here’s my preview of the three nights.

Night No. 1 at 7 p.m. March 30 Hilltop: This quartet based out of the upstate New York city of Amsterdam has a jazzy, funky sound with hints of bluegrass that’s rooted in improvisation. They have a mellow approach while weaving in harmonies, holding on to a groove and never letting go. They’ve also had a fairly prolifi c output since 2017 with three standalone singles, a couple of live albums and a full-length LP, so they’ll be going into this with plenty of seasoning.

The Humans Being: A local act that uses funky rhythms as their foundation, one intriguing characteristic I fi nd when it comes to The Humans Being is their uniquely placed vocal deliveries and harmonies. They have some weird and

The Faith Ann Band DOUG GEORGE

interesting structures with the bass, guitar, drums and keys each playing a part. They’re going to be viewed as the up-and-comers this evening by being newer to the scene than their counterparts, but this could be used to their advantage if they bring their hyperjam tendencies to the stage.

The Chops: Coming from Boston, these guys describe their music as psychedelic with a West Coast spin. From listening to their recordings, I’m willing to guess that they’ve listened to a lot of Beach Boys and Dick Dale due to how there’s a notable surf infl uence. Their embracement of the ‘60s psychedelic style is something very familiar to these parts, look up The Prefab Messiahs and you’ll know what I mean, and the Wormtown vibe could possibly propel them to the next round.

Closing out the night will be a special guest performance from the Providence psychedelic rock trio The Cosmic Factory, who are no strangers to Higher Education’s Stage Of Knowledge.

Night No. 2 at 7 p.m. April 7 Novakoi: These guys from New Hampshire’s Seacoast have metal tendencies which is immediately something diff erent than the rest of the pack. They fuse this with psychedelic and progressive rock stylings, and something tells me that they’re going to be very loud.

Leaving an impact on the senses in this fashion gives them a great shot of winning the night to get to the quarterfi nals.

Sweet Babylon: Fall River ska-punk isn’t something you hear about often, but that’s the best way to describe this trio. They come into the fray with quite a résumé thanks to sharing the stage with the likes of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Toots & The Maytals, The Toasters, The Slackers, Big D & The Kids Table and Fishbone. This is impressive, but none of it matters unless they bring a similar quality to the stage. If they do then they’ll be heading up to Maine this summer.

Broken Vanity: Another act that’ll be

separating themselves from the others will be this alternative rock act from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.

They have a sound that harkens back to ‘90s grunge with emotional melodies and a heart-on-the-sleeve type of energy. Their energetic stage presence alone makes them a contender, and if they can connect with the audience then watch for the atmosphere to change a bit in a good way.

Stony Brook, New York, reggae rock act Aqua Cherry will be concluding the evening with a special guest performance, and they’re another one of the bands already confi rmed for this year’s festival.

Night No. 3 at 7 p.m. May 13 Esarem One: This poet, emcee and lyricist from Haverhill is going to be taking the stage with that hip-hop charisma. He has a knack for freestyling, See BATTLE, Page 9D

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 7

Donna Continued from Page 5D

ver Theatre will be her fi rst time in Worcester. “I’m excited,” she said.

Edwards-Jones is from Suff olk, Virginia, and said she started performing musical theater at the age of 11. She’s been pursuing it right through her freshman year at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. Theater credits include “Freaky Friday,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Chicago” at Virginia Mu-

Aylward Continued from Page 4D

started it he’s also been writing two other pieces.

As COVID seems to be easing, at least in these parts, “I am looking forward to getting back to more public events and not worrying so much,” he said.

Asked if COVID has changed him as a

sical Theatre, and “Matilda the Musical” at Virginia Stage Company.

She also intends to minor at college in business. “When you think of the long term, that would be very cool to be on the other side as well,” she said the show business and business divide.

She might have been able to help Donna Summer in that regard. “Donna Summer did have to get through that a little bit to get her money that she deserved,” Edwards-Jones said.

After a year at Shenandoah University, she was planning to transfer to Montclair State University in Mont-

clair, New Jersey, which would put her nearer the theater universe of New York City.

But speaking of Donna Summer, Edwards-Jones heard about auditions taking place last summer for a national tour of the show, and sent two songs online to the producers. She received an email response asking her to come to New York City for in-person call back auditions.

Her birthday was July 26. The call back auditions lasted two days, July 27 and 28.

“I waited and waited,” she said.

Then she was told she had been cast as Duckling Donna.

“I was so shocked, all I could so was laugh. People said, ‘No school for you.’

And I said, ‘I’m alright. Ok.” “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” is currently scheduled to tour until June 5.

Whether or not it tours longer, Edwards-Jones feels Montclair State College can wait for now.

If the tour ends, “My goal is to book something else and just keep working,” she said. “I know school will always be there. We’ll see what happens.”

composer, Aylward said, “I do think it has changed me. Partly, I don’t know how it’s changed me yet.”

And there are other happenings now which may change us, and the world.

“There are so many issues going on around me,” Aylward said.

That’s what he’s been writing about.

With feelings of dramatic dislocation and transformations, there may be soulmates to be found in “Angelus” and “Celestial Forms and Stories.”

Avant Music news said in its review of “Celestial Forms and Stories” that like “Angelus” it is “an ambitious work that aims for thematic and structural coherence and like ‘Angelus’ … it succeeds — and in doing so embodies the ancient Greek quality of arete: ‘excellence.’”

Aylward said that as he was writing “Angelus,” he was also separately developing the movements that would become “Celestial Forms and Stories.” “‘Angelus’ was very personal, some-

thing I wanted to do as a way of exploring my mother’s history,” Aylward said.

“I was writing ‘Celestial Forms’ at the same time. I didn’t know where they were going. I didn’t know the ‘Celestial’ pieces were going to accrue. One is very personal, one is more curious. It’s interesting that they were both slowly unfolding at the same time.”

For more information, visit https:// newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/ album/celestial-forms-and-stories.

8 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Massachusetts Independent Film Festival coming to Worcester Richard Duckett Worcester Telegram & Gazette USA TODAY NETWORK

WORCESTER — The Massachusetts Independent Film Festival moves to Worcester this year April 13-16 with screenings of short fi lms and full-length feature movies and documentaries as well as discussions in three locations.

The Shawna E. Shea Memorial Foundation Inc. is running the fi lm festival, and has also announced plans to increase its presence in Worcester.

MassIFF will screen fi lms at WCUW 91.3 FM Studio, 910 Main St.; Hilton Garden Inn Worcester, 35 Major Taylor Boulevard; and Traina Center for the Arts at Clark University.

Highlights will include a special test screening of Omar Sosa's "88 WellTuned Drums," a feature-length documentary fi lm on the life and music of Cuba-born pianist and composer Omar Sosa; a special screening of "Execution" (in which a renegade band of females stages an execution of rapists and killers in a classroom) and discussion with fi lmmaker Stavit Allweis; and a performance by Boston percussionist, composer and producer Julian Loida following the screenings of a block of shorts, including his own, "Gentle Harp." Several local fi lms will be screened. Tickets for most blocks of screenings are $10.

MassIFF has shown new independent features, shorts, documentaries and acclaimed foreign fi lms annually since 2011 in the Boston area. It was announced last year that the festival would be coming to Worcester in a merger with the Shawna Shea Film Festival.

"We are partnering with Mass Indie but we will be running the festival and it will go to support the Shawna Shea Memorial Foundation, Inc.," foundation executive director Skip Shea said last year.

The Shawna E. Shea Memorial Foundation was founded by Skip Shea, an Uxbridge-based fi lmmaker, writer, director and producer, in memory of his daughter Shawna E. Shea, an Uxbridge High School student and a creative and

A scene from “Execution.” NEWENGLAND

artistic young woman who died at the age of 16 in a 1999 automobile accident.

The foundation has run the Shawna Shea Film Festival for several years.

Last year it was held in Sturbridge.

In a new announcement, Skip Shea said, "Our goal of establishing our programs in Worcester is realized: We’ve created partnerships with both WCUW 91.3 FM Radio and Clark University to host our screenings and those opportu-

nities will expand with our fl agship fi lm festival SSFF (Shawna Shea Film Festival) this September. We look forward to these collaborations."

Shea also said, "Speaking of WCUW, we will host monthly screenings there as well, focusing on indie, genre and arthouse fi lms. And at this point, combining the monthly screenings with our festivals there, we will be the most active cinema in Worcester."

The Shawna Shea Memorial Foundation is a nonprofi t organization that supports young people, especially women, in fi lmmaking, performance arts and other artistic and cultural endeavors through fi nancial assistance, collaborative fellowships, mentoring and educational opportunities.

For this year's MassIFF schedule, visit www.shawnafoundation.org/massindie-2022-schedule

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 9

Battle Continued from Page 6D

which he does very well, and he’s affi liated with the Estimated Prophets Collective and the funk fusion band Honeybrain. His organic delivery promises to shine and his eff ortlessly natural way of rapping could get him into the next round.

The Faith Ann Band: Based in Manchester, New Hampshire, this act claims to have spicy ballads and sweet beats.

From listening to their music, they have this description nailed down and I’ll add that there’s a noticeable vintage alternative rock aesthetic as well. This amount of substance and quality in their music can make a lasting impression while aiming to impress and astound.

Earthmark: Another band from New Hampshire, specifi cally from Nashua, these guys fuse together a cornucopia of heavy metal, psychedelic, progressive and jam elements. This multi-dimensional approach brings out gnarly riff s and tightly syncopated rhythms.

There’s also high amounts of volume and energy that fl ow within their songs and can leave an impact on the senses.

Adding to the shred, Leon Trout from Boston will be ending the evening with a special guest performance that promises to absolutely rip.

Sweet Babylon PROMOTIONAL PHOTOS

Best of luck to all of the bands who will be competing for a shot to perform at the Higher Education Music & Arts Festival this summer. May the odds be in ever their favor.

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10 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CITY VOICES LANDGREN PASSENGERS STRANDED ON JETBLUE PLANE AT WORCESTER REGIONAL AIRPORT

WORCESTERIA

Saying goodbye to Nick’s Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

BAD ADVICE

Unparalleled cowardice Shaun Connolly Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

DEAR SHAUN: I don’t parallel park.

Before I was with my partner I would always wait to fi nd a spot where I didn’t have to and now I get out and make my partner park for me. My partner says enough is enough and I should get over the hump and parallel park, but I am too nervous. What should I do?

DEAR PARALLEL: "Space Jam" star and noted cigar afi cionado Michael Jordan once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So you are shooting 0% from the parallel parking fi eld.

As far as I am concerned you are a joke.

Zero percent is a pathetic score to have.

You have to try, because trying is practice and practice makes perfect. You’re going to miss and by miss that means

hit other cars. And to that I say, “so what?” Has your car been hit without you even knowing? Absolutely. In the snow a car sideswipes you here, in the parking lot and parks too close there.

Heck there could be someone who is bad at parallel parking, like you presume you are, and they bump your bumper or knock your side mirror. You don’t know, and those other car owners don’t have to know either. Just be discreet. Hit a couple of cars every once in a while. You have my permission. I’ll even give you this, if you ever do hit a car don’t leave your contact information, leave mine. They can email me at the address given at the bottom and I’ll tell them to shove it because you are learning and you didn’t mean it. Please don’t thank me, you’re welcome.

See BAD ADVICE, Page 12

A lot of places will use rye or Canadian whiskey to make a Manhattan, but at Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, they usu- Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, for the ally use Maker’s Mark. If you’re a bour- moment, makes the best Manhattan in bon person, as I am, that is a welcome Worcester. VICTOR D. INFANTE/TELEGRAM & substitution, and one of the reasons GAZETTE why I’ve long believed Nick’s makes the best Manhattan in the city. There’s vermouth of course, and bitters, and I’d be Part of it is the ingredients, part of it is hard-pressed to tell you what brands the magic of the hands that craft it. they use. I know they use Luxardo Change doesn’t mean bad, but it still cherries when they have them, but comes with something of a sense of really, the key ingredient to this mag- loss, of a moment in time vanishing nifi cent cocktail is the bartenders, par- into memory.

Nick’s has always been a weird comticularly Sean Courtney and Chip O’Connor, both of whom have that bination of neighborhood bar, jazz club magic alchemy with the drink. All the and artist hangout, a combination bartenders at Nick’s over the years which has, to me, always made it inhave made a great Manhattan, with one stantly comfortable. It was a place that long-gone exception who shall remain welcomed off beat and eclectic pernameless (Irish whiskey? Really?) but formers, and artistic experimentation. those two have always been my go-to It’s had a long-running comedy night on Mondays, part of the Wootenany for my favorite cocktail.

Sitting at the bar at 4:30 p.m. on a comedy family of shows, and two off Monday, sipping a Manhattan and lis- beat poetry readings on Sundays, both tening to Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt and hosted by Dave Macpherson. MacpherPink Martini on the jukebox, it’s easy son’s fi rst poetry run there was called for me to understand why I love this “The Hangover Hour,” and it featured place, and hard to believe that it’s local writers of note performing full changing hands. Vincent Hemmeter – sets of work by their favorite dead writwho also owns Ralph’s Rock Diner and ers. I featured at it three times, reading Vincent’s – and his partner, Nicole work by T.S. Eliot, Hunter S. Thompson Watson, have sold the bar to Frank J. and my good friend Scott Wannberg, Inangelo Jr., the assistant manager and who had recently passed away. They bartender at Vincent’s, who will be re- were all great experiences, although opening it in a couple of months as the last one nearly killed me, reducing Steel & Wire. It’ll probably be fi ne, but me to weeping openly on stage, barely that doesn’t mean there isn’t a sense of able to fi nish the set. something ending at Nick’s. A good bar is, after all, not unlike a good cocktail: See WORCESTERIA, Page 13

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 11

HARVEY

Mammogram scare underscores the importance of routine exams Janice Harvey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

There must be a better way.

At least, that what I thought after my annual breast exam. I’m no stranger to the mammogram. Like most woman over 40, the breast exam is something I expect and dread. It’s a distressing experience, one that requires the patient to hold her breath while her breast is pancaked between two metal plates. The entire process is excruciating, and if not for the empathic staff of women tasked with administering it, humiliating. We endure it as a necessary test that can save lives, but after two decades of submitting to this exam, I started wondering if it has a lousy batting average.

Recently, I was called back for a second mammogram and ultrasound. It’s not the fi rst time, and every time it’s happened in the past, the results have been in my favor, but that doesn’t make the call any easier to receive. The creation of MyChart, the website that gives patients access to their health information, is both a curse and a blessing, since rubes like me can read test results that only a doctor can accurately decipher. Reading MyChart test results has probably caused more spikes in blood pressure and panic attacks than scanning the daily headlines.

This time, my doctor ordered both a repeat mammogram and an ultrasound.

I wasn’t terribly nervous until the tech told me I wouldn’t need the ultrasound unless the second mammogram raised questions. I was okay with the process when I thought I was getting both, but unnerved by the knowledge that one follows the other only if the fi rst shows a problem. Wearing a scratchy-stiff “johnny” top in the waiting area, I crossed my fi ngers.

“The doctor wants the ultrasound,” the tech said.

I’ve learned that the longest moments in life last only a few minutes, and waiting alone on the imaging room table gave

Mammograms are recommended for female patients 40 and over. GETTY IMAGES

me enough time to summon all deceased loved ones. I called in every favor I could think of, fi rst asking my mother to take care of business. I was just about to plead with my father’s ghost when the doctor came into the examining room.

“Looks fi ne!” she announced, and when she saw the tears of relief rolling down my cheeks, she added, “Go home and pour yourself a glass of wine!”

Since this scare, I’ve spoken with several friends who’ve suff ered through the anxiety of the annual breast exam. We all grumbled about the frequency of repeat mammograms, and wondered: if the ul-

trasound is a better diagnostic tool, why are we subjected to the painful mammogram test? Naturally, we considered the possibility that someone, somewhere is making a ton of money on the X-ray equipment, and we trust insurance companies as much as we trust meteorologists.

It turns out that we still need the pesky mammo machine to tell us things the ultrasound can’t — and vice versa.

Mammograms reveal something called “microcalcifi cations,” tiny calcium deposits that ultrasounds can’t detect.

These buggers can often be early signs

of breast cancer. Women with dense breast tissue may need the ultrasound to root out cancer that can “hide” from the diagnostic radiologist. There you have it, ladies: we’re stuck with that torturous machine until something better comes along.

I drove home and raised a glass to the women’s imaging staff at Reliant, and thanked my mother for helping me dodge the breast cancer bullet. I included in my toast the women I have known for whom the results were not what they’d hoped to hear. I’m one of the lucky ones.

It’s that simple.

12 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

FIRST PERSON

Driving slow by the home we sold in the fall Joe Fusco Jr. Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

There’s the one-car garage that never had a car in it for 36 years. We’d stuff it with tents, a lawn mower, a snow blower, grills, patio furniture, bicycles, and a plethora of toys. Jimmy Hoff a may still be buried under the red wheelbarrow.

There’s the basketball hoop on top of the garage. The splash of orange on the square of the backboard is a reminder of the raucous games of one-on-one and HORSE our family engaged in. My team always won by two.

There’s the 5,000-gallon aboveground pool we installed with my bonus money from Hannaford Supermarkets twenty-one years ago. It tended to be over-chlorinated. Once, a large crow sipped its clear waters then fl oated on top until I removed it after work.

(Around the pool are the crushed rocks I’d count in the early days of my retirement while sunbathing in my purple speedo. 3,222…3,223…3,224.)

There’s the cracked, uneven, dangerous front-sidewalk the city promised to repair fi fteen years ago. I borrowed one of their orange cones to warn passersby of impending doom.

There’s the yellow Caution tape I wrapped around the electric meter on the left side of the driveway so I wouldn’t hit it when returning home from Piccolo’s Restaurant after dinner and drinks with my boss on Thursday nights.

There’s the short concrete wall on the right side of the driveway I hit twice in

Bad advice Continued from Page 10D

DEAR SHAUN: Summer is coming and I hate the beach. I don’t hate warm weather, I just hate the sand, the ocean (which I view as a giant fi sh toilet), and other people looking better (or worse) than me in their swimsuits. Can you help me get over this?

DEAR BEACH: I cannot help you get

the span of our thirty-six-year residency, both times coincidentally on a Thursday night.

“There’s the one-car garage that never had a car in it for 36 years. We’d stuff it with tents, a lawn mower, a snow blower, grills, patio furniture, bicycles and a plethora of toys …” PEXELS

There’s the blood-red front door whose paint chipped off every winter causing me to invoke my life-long guarantee (“I’ll fi x it Joe for as long as one of us lives”) with its painter and my good friend Mark Lewandowski.

There’s the blood-red bulk-head door

that I whacked my noggin on and was rendered unconscious when our basement fl ooded one spring. My wife saved me from the embarrassment of drowning in two inches of water.

There’s the brick front-steps now white from over-salting. There’s the

small lawn still a Fenway Park green despite my years of indiff erence.

All these memories crowd my mind.

Driving slow by the house we sold in the fall.

Joe Fusco Jr. is a poet and humorist who lives in Worcester.

over this. My full capacity as a columnist for this publication is to give you advice, not help. I can advise you to completely get over yourself. How about that? Nothing is perfect. You go to a pool and the chlorine dries out your skin and gives you a weird smell, plus you want to talk about toilets for mammals? People pee in those pools, no matter how nice.

The next time you see an Instagram photo of an infi nity pool with a sunset, just know that the photographer is sitting in that pool in their swim trunks

and slowly peeing into that majestic water. The sand, I can’t argue there. Sand is everywhere, it is Mother Nature’s glitter.

It just sticks around forever, but like glitter, it is usually related to a good and fun thing. Finally the swimsuit thing. I completely understand. Between the pandemic and being a new father I have gained some weight and I do not like how my body looks in a swimsuit. Here is the crazy thing about humans though, even when we do look good, we usually hate how we look because we are always

comparing ourselves to others. So if you think someone else looks good in their suit, they are looking at someone else on the beach thinking the same thing. Once you realize the fact that no one is really enjoying the beach and they are just basking in the sun, collecting nature glitter and comparing themselves to a hotter body, you’re golden.

Worcester comedian Shaun Connolly provides readers bad advice in his weekly column. Send your questions to woocomedyweek@gmail.com.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 13

Worcesteria Continued from Page 10D

I also hosted big variety shows there: “Vintage,” where I brought together several of my favorite artists from all over the Northeast to celebrate my 40th and 45th birthdays, and “the Midnight Mystery Cabaret,” a late night show where I brought in a favorite act, and the rest of the performers were provided by other arts organizations around the city.

Some of the acts that headlined my shows included Regie Gibson, Ruby Rose Fox, Eddie Japan, Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys and the Furies.

I also took part in the Macpherson-hosted “Big Beat Radio Hour,” where I read a poem by Gregory Corso, and a tribute to Leonard Cohen, put together by musicians James Keyes and Shane Hall, where I read Cohen’s “Democracy” as a poem. That’s just the most personal tip of a mountain of brilliant shows I’ve seen at Nick’s, some packed to overfl owing, some thinly attended. Watson was always willing to take a chance on artists, and that was deeply appreciated. It made the room brim with possibility.

Inangelo has a background in booking music, so there will likely be great shows there, but both the Monday night Comedy in the Cabaret and the Sunday night Listen poetry series are winding down, fi nishing out their last shows until Nick’s offi cially closes April 4. There are a couple of other shows of note, including the return of a long-absent favorite cabaret act, Cha-Cha & Dr. Nat, at 8 p.m. March 25, and a blow-out by chanteuse Niki Luparelli and piano man Dan Burke There’s likely more, but those are the ones that strike me the most, as they’re both acts I’ve enjoyed seeing in that space.

I’ll miss these sorts of shows, even if the ones to come will likely be just as good. They were the right elements mixed by the right hands, and whatever comes after will be diff erent. That’s OK. But if I’m honest, I know what I’ll miss most is sitting at the bar at an off hour, listening to Sinatra on the jukebox, chatting to the bartender and the few other patrons around. Will I patronize Steel & Wire? I don’t know, yet. Probably. I mean, I spend a lot of time in bars. For journalism. But mostly, for my personal barhopping, I’ll be following favorite bartenders, some of whom won’t be returning to the space, and following favorite artists. If that leads me back to

Maria Ravelli cleans out trash near the community fridge outside Fantastic Pizza on Main South . ASHLEY GREEN/ TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Millbury Street, that’s great. If it doesn’t, c’est la vie. Until then, though, Nick’s still makes the best Manhattan in Worcester, and the jukebox is still amazing, and I intend to cherish that while I can.

The Case of the Disappearing Community Fridge Sometimes, when a mystery is solved, it turns out there was no skullduggery at all. That seems to be the case when, after a couple of weeks of people quietly mentioning to me their concern that the community fridge on Portland Street has disappeared, I inquired with Maria Ravelli of Worcester Community Fridges as to its whereabouts.

“It tipped over during a wind storm last month,” says Ravelli. “We’re working with the property manager and a few builders to rebuild the structure and fi nd the best option to get it back up safely.”

So … not a high water mark in investigative journalism. Still, the quiet concern is enough to indicate that the fridges have worked their way into the community consciousness in a relatively short amount of time … enough so

that everyday Worcesterites notice when one goes missing.

“Worcester Community Fridges celebrated its one-year anniversary at the end of January,” says Ravelli. “Within the year, we have been able to expand to four fridges throughout the city and have organized alongside hundreds of volunteers to ensure residents of Worcester have equitable access to food 24/7.”

The fridge outside the now defunct Bridge Academy and Community Center “was removed a few months ago when the electricity to the building was turned off ,” says Ravelli. The organization also maintains locations outside Fantastic Pizza on Main Street, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers on Brooks Street and Union Hill School on South Street.

Clearly, there is still as great a need for this volunteer program as there ever has been: Homelessness and food insecurity still plague the city. According to the organization’s new fundraising website, https://opencollective.com/ worcestercommunityfridges, “Worcester Community Fridges believes having

daily access to fresh food is a human right. In Worcester, 15% of families, have identifi ed as living with food insecurity.

While navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, these numbers have risen signifi cantly within our city. Community fridges are open 24/7, leaving no barriers in the way of someone accessing free food.”

Ravelli points out the importance of the new website, as it is currently the only means of directly donating money to the cause, as the organization no longer excepts Venmo or PayPal. Recurring donations can be set up in the amount of $10, $50 or $100, or made at a customized amount.

“We have intentionally organized following a mutual aid model,” says Ravelli, “and are excited to see the communities’ continuous support in this work by taking full ownership in the organizing, maintenance and use of the fridges. We are always seeking more volunteer support.”

For more information, or to volunteer, visit the main Worcester Community Fridges website at https:// www.worcestercommunityfridges.com.

14 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

COVER STORY

Ulysses Youngblood’s vision for Worcester’s fi rst Black-owned dispensary Liz Fay Special to Telegram & Gazette USA TODAY NETWORK

Major Bloom owner Ulysses Youngblood talks with Jill Skulsky, director of business development, in the inventory room. ALLAN JUNG/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

BUSINESS IS

BLOOMING

Ulysses Youngblood has been making noise in the local cannabis community lately. The president and founder of Worcester’s fi rst Black-owned marijuana dispensary, Youngblood is on a mission to create positive social change through cannabis culture.

In August 2021, Youngblood opened the doors of Major Bloom at 76 Millbury St. Although he says it was a fi xer-upper, the 5,000square-foot location in the Canal District turned out to be the ideal spot to conduct business and pursue Major Bloom’s positive impact plan, by surveying local marginalized communities and creating opportunities for education and employment.

It started with a staff of 15 employees, but has since expanded to 25 as sales have inSee COVER STORY, Page 15D

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 15

Marijuana agent Carl Lucien prepares prerolls in the kitch at Major Bloom on Millbury Street. ALLAN JUNG/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Cover story Continued from Page 14D

creased month over month. Youngblood says Major Bloom has seen sales of $1 million before its fi rst birthday.

“I have friends who are entrepreneurs that’ve been in business for 30 years, and it took them that amount of time to reach their fi rst million, but I can tell you that here, that was not the case,” Youngblood said.

The path to success has not been without obstacles for Youngblood, a self-described “thought-leader” who has been teaching courses as a visiting professor in entrepreneurship and cannabis control at Clark University since 2019.

Youngblood was introduced to mari-

juana at the age of 13 by his older sisters, but it wasn’t until after the death of a childhood friend when Youngblood developed a deeper appreciation for cannabis. “A close childhood friend of mine, Chris, was a marijuana smoker and he taught me a lot about it,” Youngblood said. “After he passed away, I just wanted to keep the culture going.”

Originally from Bridgeport, Connecticut, Youngblood moved to Worcester to attend Assumption College in 2006; he said he was expelled in 2007 for marijuana in his college apartment. Four months later, Youngblood was arrested at a house party after police responded to noise complaints. While no marijuana was found on the property, Youngblood was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and keeping a noisy and disorderly house. The case was continued without a fi nding and

later dismissed.

Youngblood says that he was assaulted by the police during the arrest.

“It was on my 20th birthday. I had a party and they kicked all my friends out the front and then they took me out back and beat my ass. When that happened, my mom was devastated and said you need to come back home,” Youngblood said.

Back in Connecticut, Youngblood returned to school at Sacred Heart University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management; he went on to earn his master’s degree in 2016 at Northeastern University.

While earning his master’s degree was certainly a milestone for Youngblood, his year only got better when Massachusetts voted to lift recreational cannabis prohibition for adults 21 and

older on Dec. 15. Wasting no time, Youngblood jumped at the seemingly karmic opportunity to utilize his longawaited cannabis rights.

“Being someone who got kicked out of college for weed and then having their ass beat by local police, I never stayed sour or bitter and just moved on with my life. And then all these synchronicities started happening, and I started thinking, ‘Hey, maybe these things happened for a reason.’ For me, I used those experiences and injustices as motivation to pour into a business that does things diff erently,” said Youngblood.

By 2017, Youngblood came up with the idea of “Major Bloom.” Originally meant to be a cannabis cultivation center in Attleboro, complications around licensing and soil contamination led See COVER STORY, Page 16D

16 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Cover story

“Being someone who got kicked out of college for weed and then having their ass beat by local police, I never stayed sour or bitter and just moved on with my life. And then all these synchronicities started happening, and I started thinking, ‘Hey, maybe these things happened for a reason.’ ”

Continued from Page 15D

Major Bloom down a diff erent path.

After some shifting of plans and investing $140,000 toward licensing and permits, in April 2018, Major Bloom was accepted into the Cannabis Control Commission’s Economic Empowerment Program as an equity business, developed for minority communities most affected by the war on drugs.

Youngblood landed Major Bloom’s host agreement with Worcester in July 2019, granting permission of municipality for tax purposes, which is the fi rst step in getting a state license to operate.

In 2020, Youngblood was given provisional licensure, and then received fi nal license and began operating in the summer of 2021.

“Worcester bylaws don’t allow for cultivation in the Millbury street zone, so plans changed to operate a retail dispensary located in Worcester,” Youngblood said.

“It was a very long process. We were selected amongst 60 plus applicants.

That’s when I realized I had the re-

Ulysses Youngblood Major Bloom owner

Major Bloom owner Ulysses Youngblood. ALLAN JUNG/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

sources and investors needed to open in Worcester. Since there ended up being problems with dirty soil in Attleboro, with Worcester being the cleaner pro-

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ject, I chose that location.”

The Attleboro location still has a host agreement, special permits and provisional retail licenses in place, and remains in play.

Major Bloom is located in the heart of Green Island, a neighborhood packed with bars and restaurants. But the area is prone to frequent complaints of drugrelated crimes and overdoses.

“A man dropped dead right in front of our building just last week. One of my staff ran outside trying to revive him, but when I saw his body, it was purple. I don’t know if it was drug related, but I see overdoses happen all the time around here. At least twice a month. The goal is between Major Bloom and the (Woo Sox) stadium bringing more foot traffi c to the area, we’re also bringing more security and law enforcement,” Youngblood said.

Youngblood credits his success to the fact that Major Bloom is the East Coast’s fi rst marijuana dispensary to have all three licenses: product manufacturing, marijuana retail and marijuana delivery courier, vertically integrated into one location. Unlike other dispensaries in Worcester, Major Bloom is licensed to package and distribute recreational marijuana products for home delivery.

The delivery operation launched on March 18 with two vehicles.

“In the state and across the nation people want to preach about social equity and correcting the wrongs of prohibi-

tion, but there’s an inherent issue in the supply chain. You can’t say you provide a license type for an equity business that’s not fi nancially feasible. In the equity program, we have a delivery license where the barriers are lower, but it’s not profi table, so the only way it works is if it’s stacked with other licenses,” Youngblood said “So we took note of that and said, ‘We want to have these licenses, because even though the state has this program, you can do your due diligence and it’s not working out that great. There’s not that many equity businesses that are open, let alone having the license stack that we have. So we believe in order to help reverse the harms of prohibition, we need to have control over production. It can’t just be retail and delivery,” Youngblood said.

The dispensary also has its own media space built for the in-house recording of Major Bloom’s affi liate podcast, “For The Record,” hosted by Harry Danso and Ravon Willians. Danso and Williams have entertaining and educational conversations about cannabis and popular culture, similar to Youngblood’s radio show, “Infused Infl uence,” co-hosted by Danso, which airs at 6 p.m.

Thursdays on 90.5 WICN FM. “Infused Infl uence” has hosted a diverse handful of guests, including drug traffi cker turned author Freeway Rick Ross, former NBA star Gary Payton, Sen. See COVER STORY, Page 17D

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 17

Cover story Continued from Page 16D

Harriette Chandler, attorney and marijuana advocate Shaleen Title, and Celtics legend Paul Pierce, who made a public appearance at Major Bloom in October to rep his cannabis brand “The Truth.” Pierce’s “Truth” prerolls have since become one of Major Bloom’s most popular products. But even more in-demand was the Freeway Rick Ross’ joint, “Freeway.” According to Major Bloom business director Jillian Skulsky, “The Freeway prerolls sold-out within only three days.”

Since November, Youngblood has been secretly working with Ben & Jerry’s co-founder, Ben Cohen, on an ongoing project. Cohen, who recently developed his own cannabis brand, “Ben’s Best,” is expected to guest speak about the project on “Infused Infl uence” later this year.

Earlier in March, the prolifi c cannabis brand Cookies, owned by West Coast rapper and entrepreneur Berner, reached out to Major Bloom for delivery

WM-28954443

From left, Brendan McKee with silver therapeutics, Ulysses Youngblood, founder of Major Bloom, Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen and Chris Walsh from the Ben’s Best team. SUBMITTED

services to its Cambridge Street dispensary. When Youngblood was granted the opportunity to personally deliver prerolls to one of today’s most prevalent marijuana brands in hip-hop and street culture, he knew he was making the right moves.

“Last week, I was excited to personally deliver Major Bloom prerolls to Cookies fi rst East Coast store,” Youngblood

said in an online post.

With the list of high-profi le names in cannabis Youngblood has worked with, it seems clear he has affi nity for networking.

“I actually have a slew of learning disabilities — ADHD, dyslexia, and selective hearing — which taught me how to be good with people. School was always hard, so I had no problem asking for

help. I had to really understand people to do that. In order to not get made fun of, I had to make friends,” Youngblood said.

Upon entering the Major Bloom dispensary, visitors are greeted with custom wall art spelling out the word “legacy,” which sits on top of a tree branch, reaffi rming Youngblood’s motivation as a father and husband, but also Major Bloom’s devotion to bettering the local community. In the future, Youngblood hopes to expand to more locations, bringing his business to his hometown of Bridgeport.

“It’s not about choosing cannabis, it’s not about, ‘Hey cannabis is the new sexy and cool thing.’ To me it starts with the culture and that was inherent from the time I was a teenager. That was inherent from my family and friends,” Youngblood said.

Noting his relentless passion for both cannabis culture and business, one couldn’t help but wonder which Youngblood loves more.

“Both,” Youngblood said without hesitation. “For me it’s synonymous, I don’t know one without the other.”

18 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CONNELL SANDERS

LISTEN UP

How to be a model wedding guest

Rapper Weapon E.S.P. takes cinematic turn with ‘Tarantino Rodriguez’

Sarah Connell Sanders

“It was as if he was always walking in a shadow,” says actor Steve BusceUSA TODAY NETWORK mi, in the clip. “I mean every step he took towards the light, just when you thought his face was about to be re“Tarantino Rodriguez,” the recent vealed, it wasn’t. It was as if the lights album by Southbridge rapper Weapdimmed, just for him.” Weapon picks on E.S.P. And producer Tim Barry, is a up the theme in the second track, weird piece of work to wrap your head “Vanishing Point,” where he raps from around. On the one hand, it dispenses the point of view of a gangster, “Gun with a lot of the familiar hip-hop song Weapon E.S.P.’s most recent handle wooden like witches teeth/ structures for something a tad more album is “Tarantino son I could play punt pass and kick phantasmagoric. On the other, it digs Rodriguez.” CHRISTINE wit your head piece … Fill the sheet/ deep into the “lone warrior” imagery PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE Saw deceit/Firsthand/Now I play for that permeates hip-hop culture.

Comic books, westerns and martial arts fl icks have keeps.” The “rapper as gangster” trope is nothing new, long been hip-hop staples, and here, Weapon and of course, but by channeling it through the lens of TaBarry channel that obsession through two pop-cul- rantino and Rodriguez, there’s a sense of heightened ture obsessed fi lmmakers who share that predilec- exaggeration. The whole thing becomes a lucid fever tion: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The al- dream, one propelled by the neo-soul music playing in bum features references and samples from the pair’s the background.

The song “Santanico Pandemonium,” featuring movies, including their collaborations, “From Dusk Till Dawn” and “Grindhouse.” Indeed, the fi rst track of rapper William Wallace, leans into the fever dream of the album, “Buscemi Entrance,” features a sample from the Rodriguez fi lm “Desperado.”

See LISTEN UP, Page 25D

Special to Worcester Magazine

Victor D. Infante

USA TODAY NETWORK

Worcester Magazine

Two and a half million weddings are anticipated to take place in 2022, according to recent estimations from The Wedding Report.

If the eight “save the dates” on my refrigerator are any indication, large celebrations are back in favor.

Many of my cousins, college roommates and colleagues found strength in their relationships over the course of the pandemic. They waited patiently for the right time to reaffi rm their love in the company of friends and family. Now, we dance.

I took the liberty of chatting with a few of the brides-to-be to get a better sense of their expectations for the big day. A lot of common trends emerged regarding guest behavior. Here’s what they said.

RSVP on deadline: You would be surprised how many brilliant minds on the guest list might not register the importance of slipping a response card into the mail. My sources reveal close family members are often the worst culprits. “Well of course we’re coming,” they say when the awkward follow-up call takes place, “We assumed that was obvious.” Guess what, Aunt Buff y? It was not obvious. Let me be clear: No one is enough of a VIP to claim an exemption from the RSVP. My husband and I took a digital route by asking guests to confi rm attendance via our wedding website. Google Forms helped to streamline the process, but it was nowhere near as personal as receiving a hand-calligraphed slice of heavy cardstock in a waxstamped envelope. The bottom line is, should the couple spare no expense sending out physical RSVP cards, you must respond accurately and on time.

Comply with the dress code: If the invitation says black tie, do not show up in your swim trunks. Conversely, if the invite requests casual dress, then it’s time to ditch the tuxedo. Read the invitation closely to make sure you don’t get it wrong. I learned that the hard way. (Sorry, Wendy!) Check the wedding website once more before leaving the house. Most outdoor events even indicate whether or not heels are appropriate for the terrain. Follow instructions.

One last note on wardrobe — unless you are specifi cally requested to do so by the bride, do not wear white to a wedding. You are not Pippa Middleton.

This rule includes but is not limited to: ice blue, cream, silver, taupe, champagne, alabaster, pale gold, and eggshell. I don’t care how great your butt looks in the dress; if it photographs white, then it’s a no-go.

Stick to the registry: Odds are, the happy couple has gone through the trouble of picking out exactly what they need or want for this next chapter of their See WEDDING, Page 25D

SONG TO GET YOU THROUGH THE WEEK

Ashley Deyj comes out swinging on ‘Higher’ fore invoking iconic female action heroes. “Future like the ‘Fifth Element’/ USA TODAY NETWORK Red hot heat Milla Jovavich/Follow through like Angelina in ‘Salt.’” When she pivots to spirituality, she raps, Worcester rapper Ashley Deyj has “With God I’m in rotation, circulata boxer’s jab of a rap fl ow: She’s ing/He hid my worth in a place, no steady, moving at a tightly controlled one understood.” It’s an interesting pace until she throws a punch. observation, the acknowledgement There’s something innately confronin verse that God’s plan led her to tational about her style, a quality that where she thinks she’s supposed to is amplifi ed on her newest single, be, if not where she wants to be. “Man “Higher,” which she worked with mulI want to fl y,” she raps, “No more lying ti-platinum, Worcester-based engilow.” neer Alejandro Fontanez to create.

The song is an interesting conjunc“Devil screams loudest when you tion of pugilism and introspection: winning,” she raps, each rhyme tightThe readiness to fi ght while the perly punctuated. “I move in the noise/so Ashley Deyj’s newest single sona examines her own desires and hurdles won’t make a diff erence/My is “Higher.” SUBMITTED motivations. “Heart is as big as my war cry makes demons tremble.” It’s a song that casts the rapper as a warrior, and while ego,” she raps, “so loving is Shaq missing free throws/ that’s not exactly unique, Deyj stands out by bringing But I need this win for life something worth the fi ght/ elements of femininity and spirituality into the mix, You want to take me out and I want to take you out/ creating a much more complex character study.

“They stuck in past that’s sediment,” she raps, be- See SONG, Page 27D Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 19

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20 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CITY LIVING ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

CANNABIS CONFIDENTIAL

Michelle Stevens graduated with a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with Honors and a Faculty Choice Award. Identifying as both an illustrator and fi ne artist, she received the 2019 Roddy Drawing Prize at ConcordArt, has shown in the ArtsWorcester Biennial, has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, and has worked on major art projects for Boston Calling Music Festival. She has exhibited at Cambridge Art Association, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Clark University, House of Venus in Boston’s SoWA district, and Boston City Hall’s Scollay Square Gallery. See more at www.michellestevensart.com and stay updated by following @michellesteven- “Mom & Dad (9 months into the pandemic),” acrylic and colored sart on Instagram.

This Artist Spotlight is presented by pencil, 13.25” x 9.5” MICHELLE Worcester Magazine in partnership with STEVENS/ARTSWORCESTER ArtsWorcester. Since 1979, ArtsWorcester has exhibited and advanced the work of this region’s contemporary artists. Its exhibitions and educational events are open and free to all. Learn more at www.artsworcester.org.

Mass. cannabis delivery regs are the model for other states Eric Casey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

If you attended the 8th annual New England Cannabis Convention in Boston this past weekend, you’d be forgiven for being preoccupied with the show fl oor, where a man in a space suit was among the many attendees perusing the rows upon rows of more than 350 cannabis business exhibitors.

You’d also be forgiven for being distracted by the impromptu smoke session that popped up just beyond the doors of the convention hall, with two security offi cials constantly herding consumers away from the doors in a fruitless attempt to stop the smell from wafting into the smoke-free event.

For my money though, the most interesting part of the convention was happening in the breakout sessions down the hall from the show fl oor.

With recreational cannabis deliveries just recently getting underway in Massachusetts, the topic was at the forefront of everyone’s mind at the con-

AP FILE

vention, and a frequent topic at the panels.

One panel of particular interest featured an overview of how cannabis delivery came to fruition in Massachusetts and was led by Grant Smith Ellis, an activist and writer who has become a prominent watchdog of the local cannabis industry. His presentation outlined the important role that activists played in encouraging the Cannabis Control See CANNABIS, Page 21D

THE NEXT DRAFT

New Greater Good exec reaffi rming ‘America’s all-imperial brewery’ Matthew Tota Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

March 30 TheHanoverTheatre.org Worcester Center for Performing Arts is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, which owns and operates The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts.

Competition between craft breweries of a certain size is pointless. Independent brewers have to fi ght over such a tiny sliver of overall beer sales, so the smarter play is banding together against the beer conglomerates of the world, scrapping and clawing every year for a larger slice.

For the most part, breweries agree.

And you always read stories — I’ve writ-

ten at least one — about craft’s deeply collaborative community and the rare instances of direct contention.

But a little competition isn’t a bad thing, especially if it takes a brewery to new heights.

That’s why I found my conversation last week with Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co.’s new chief commercial offi cer, Colleen Quinn, so refreshing. Her single overarching goal for Greater Good, fueled by a fi ery competitive streak, is to See DRAFT, Page 22D

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 21

Cannabis Continued from Page 20D

Commission to not only move forward with recreational cannabis delivery as a concept, but also ensure that the regulations were structured in a way that allowed these businesses to succeed.

“It’s one of the few times where a policy proposal actually worked out in the favor of companies owned by those who are most harmed by the War on Drugs,” said Ellis at the beginning of his presentation. “This group of advocates really didn’t have the money that a lot of corporations bring to public policy lobbying.”

One of aforementioned activists, and perhaps the most well known benefi ciary of the exclusivity period for equity applicants is Devin Alexander, owner of Rolling Releaf — a delivery company based out of Middleborough. Speaking at a panel discussion for young cannabis entrepreneurs of color, he outlined the role he played in bringing the current regulations to life.

Describing the original courier model

as a “glorifi ed Uber Eats,” Alexander met with the commission and detailed how being a mere courier for delivery orders placed through a dispensary wouldn’t be a sustainable business plan even in ideal circumstances. He was among the hundreds of cannabis consumers, activists and prospective business owners that lobbied the Cannabis Control Commission to improve the regulations regarding delivery businesses.

Their hard work paid off : Not only did the Commission agree to create a new license type that allowed for delivery operators to buy and warehouse their own product, they also created an exclusivity period for the license that made it only available to Economic Empowerment Priority Applicants or Social Equity Program Participants. Both of these groups are made up of individuals who have been determined by the Commission to have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

Just when it looked like recreational cannabis delivery was nearing the fi nish line, progress toward exclusivity was suddenly halted in January 2020 when the Commonwealth Dispensary Association — a group composed of a number

$

of existing medical dispensary operators — fi led a lawsuit against the Cannabis Control Commission. The suit alleged that giving delivery businesses the ability to sell directly to consumers without having to use dispensaries as a middle man was a violation of the state’s cannabis laws.

Facing wide scale backlash from cannabis activists and the threat of a boycott campaign, cannabis businesses fl ed the Commonwealth Dispensary Association in droves and distanced themselves from the lawsuit. The CDA would go on to drop the lawsuit just one week later.

“We put them on blast with the help of the community,” said Alexander, referring to the CDA. He noted the irony in the fact that this lawsuit was fi led in mid-January, just before Martin Luther King Day when many of the companies who were part of the lawsuit were putting out statements on social media supporting social and economic justice.

“They were fi ling a lawsuit that impacted mostly Black-owned businesses.

That’s what really lit a fi re under me,” he said.

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States is defi ned by large, wealthy interests having infl uence over the way their industries are regulated,” said Ellis, speaking during his presentation in regards to the failed lawsuit, “This is an example of almost the exact opposite happening.”

Ellis noted that the Cannabis Control Commission’s decision to reserve a particular type of cannabis business license to those who have been negatively impacted by the War on Drugs was an unprecedented move, but it has since been emulated by a number of other states, and has quickly become an important tool in the toolbox for those who are fi ghting for a more equitable cannabis industry.

“You have a recipe for setting a national standard,” he said, “Exclusivity for licenses has been copied in Colorado, and could happen in other states as well. This all happened because people were paying attention.”

Thanks to the hard work of activists like Ellis and Alexander, the rest of the cannabis space will be paying close attention to how this unique exclusivity experiment will play out in the months and years to come.

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Draft Continued from Page 20D

make the Worcester brewery the authority and top seller of high-alcohol beers in the country.

Such ambition naturally breeds competition. And Quinn’s ready for it.

She looks at the beer business a little diff erently than most local brewery owners, because she has guided breweries much larger than any you will see around Worcester. She’s even worked for — gasp — Budweiser.

Quinn held leadership positions in the Craft Brew Alliance — a collection of nine national craft beer brands — and stayed with the company after Anheuser-Busch acquired it.

After leaving Anheuser-Busch last year, she started her own consulting fi rm, Second Sip Beverage Consulting, specifi cally to help small breweries develop strategies for growth. Among her clients was Greater Good, which she spent nearly a month with, advising the brewery in part to think more strategically about the new states it distributes to.

stay true to that. We’ve stayed true to our imperial discipline, even as low ABV beers, seltzers and NA’s (non-alcoholic beers) dominate the headlines.

Greater Good founder Paul Wengender valued Quinn’s guidance so much that he hired her earlier this year.

Here’s a portion of my phone conversation with Quinn, edited for clarity and length, in which she lays out her strategy for gradually building Greater Good into one of the most prolifi c imperial brewers in America.

Logistically, what does expansion at the scale you have in mind require?

Quinn: When I was running the East Coast for CBA (Craft Brew Alliance), I had 200 distributors and 22 states in my territory; I’m no stranger to broadly distributing a brand and trying to work and build the infrastructure to support that.

From my vantage point that doesn’t worry me much. At Greater Good, we were able to increase our production capacity in Worcester by almost 20%, adding two more fermenters.

What does it mean, as it says in Greater Good’s tagline, to be America’s all-imperial brewing company?

Quinn: We’re fi ghting for a 50% share of imperial beers, so one of every two high ABV beers sold, I want to be a Greater Good beer. That starts in our backyard, goes throughout New England, but doesn’t limit us geographically like it does for other breweries. We don’t want to be boxed in. We’re not trying to spread ourselves too thin or blast ourselves nationally overnight. But we understand this concept has the potential to grow beyond the local or regional appeal. That will allow us to break through the clutter of the 9,000 or so other craft breweries out there.

Then you have to go out and fi nd new markets?

Quinn: My top priority is not to analyze and identify the next market. It’s about proving out the concept. I want to see us get to that 50% share here in Massachusetts and in our current footprint.

Colleen Quinn, Greater Good’s new chief commercial officer, is striving to help Greater Good gain a foothold in the market for high ABV beers.

That means walking into any store and seeing a shelf in the cooler of all Greater Good beers?

COURTESY

Quinn: I think you’re selling us short.

Two shelves. Three shelves in certain markets. And when we walk into a bar, if I see a high ABV beer on tap that isn’t ours, I say, ‘Why isn’t it ours?’ It’s about staking the claim that we are the only ones capable of doing that, and being loud and proud about it.

What’s your plan?

Quinn: Philosophically, when I look at any craft brewery that I’m working with, whether Greater Good or some of the other clients I’ve worked with when consulting, it’s all about tailoring a strategy toward the brand. Craft has gotten so homogenous that every brewery looks and feels too similar. You have to carve out that point of diff erentiation, stay true to that, recognize that and the diff erent markets you’re working in. There are a handful of levers that any brewery can pull to grow, and it’s about using those levers strategically in ways that fi t the brand and market.

And with its portfolio of high alcohol beers, Greater Good already has that point of differentiation?

Quinn: What attracted me to Greater Good was its very clear positioning around being America’s all-imperial brewing company, and the discipline to

With the market seemingly trending toward lighter options, though, is there still enough demand for imperial beers?

Quinn: The market for imperial beers continues to get stronger. The most obvious nationwide example is the second largest craft brand in the U.S. now, beyond Blue Moon, is Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA. That is the second largest craft brand. That brand has only been around for a few years. What that says is an imperial beer can be that large. I don’t think anyone fi ve years ago would say the No. 2 craft brand in the country would be an imperial IPA. It fi res me up because I have a competitive streak.

Really? The No. 2 imperial IPA is a side project? One of about 20 brands in their portfolio? We specialize in this. Why can’t it be us?

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 23

FIVE THINGS TO DO

‘ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN,’ STRAIGHT NO CHASER AND MORE ...

Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Killer Queen

The Wildcat O’Halloran Band WHITTLING FOG PHOTOGRAPHY

Springtime Blues Finally it’s spring — season of rebirth, joy, and local brew fests. Common Ground Ciderworks of North Brookfield will present its 2022 brew festival, “Brews, Blues & BBQ”, rain or shine, on its grounds from noon to 5 p.m. March 26 and 27. The two-day event will provide the opportunity to sample beers from at least nine popular Massachusetts microbreweries, with the potential for a few more to be added to the list. Featured entertainment for both days will be The Wildcat O’Halloran Band. Living Blues Magazine calls the band “pure fun from the first note to the last.”

The band is currently promoting its 17th album, “Here Lies a Fool.” The weekend event will also include food trucks and a farmers market.

What: “Brews, Blues & BBQ” When: noon to 5 p.m. March 26 and 27 Where: Common Ground Ciderworks, 31 East Brookfield Road, North Brookfield How much: Tickets available online through through March 25 at Eventbrite.com, non-refundable $25 per person. $30 day of event. Includes beer sampling, a complimentary tote bag, a souvenir beer glass, and a bottle of water. Common Ground will also offer a designated driver option that does not include beer sampling for $5 per person.

Since 2002 Scottish singer Gary Mullen and his band The Works have performed “One Night of Queen” throughout the UK, USA, Europe, South Africa and New Zealand to sell-out audiences. “One Night of Queen” is described as “a spectacular live concert, recreating the look, sound, pomp and showmanship of arguably the greatest rock band of all time. This show will ROCK you!”

What: “One Night of Queen” performed by Gary Mullen and The Works When: 7:30 p.m. March 29 Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: Tickets are $39 and $49 depending on seat location. (877) 5717469; www.thehanovertheatr.org

Gary Mullen stars in “One Night of Queen.” A. BEHN

Psaltikon PROMOTIONAL PHOTO

Exploring Musical Heritage Psaltikon is a vocal ensemble engaged in the exploration of the musical heritage of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean through original scholarship, concerts and recordings. Founded and directed by Spyridon Antonopoulos, Psaltikon refers to the medieval chant book for soloists which contained the most virtuosic chants from the now-extinct Asmatic Rite of Constantinople. The choir has performed world-wide. On March 31 at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Psaltikon will present a free concert focused on Byzantine hymns of the Triodion.

What: Psaltikon — Presented by the Hellenic Arts Society of Worcester When: 7:30 p.m. March 31 Where: St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 102 Russel St., Worcester Continued on next page How much: Free. A reception will follow the performance

24 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Continued from previous page

Right on Target The Pousette-Dart Band from Cambridge was part of the musical landscape of the 1970s in the folk-rock heydays. Jon Pousette-Dart has kept the wheels turning through break-up, reunification, new members, and putting out his own engaging solo albums. One thing that evidently hasn’t changed is that the Pousette-Dart Band knows how to please an audience when it takes the stage with old favorites and new arrangements.

What: The Pousette-Dart Band When: 8 p.m. April 1 (doors open for dinner and seating at 6 p.m.)

Where: The Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley How much: $30. www.bullrunrestaurant.com

Straight No Chaser JIMMY FONTAINE

No Backup Required

Jon Pousette-Dart PROMOTIONAL PHOTO

Straight No Chaser became part of the modern a cappella craze with its version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” in 2008. Since then the group, which had its origins at Indiana University, has tallied two RIAA-certified Gold records with more than 1 billion streams and sold more than 1.5 million concert tickets worldwide to their live shows. They are “nine unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense … and with a sense of humor.”

What: Straight No Chaser: “Back in the High Life” When: 7:30 p.m. March 30 Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: Tickets are $39.50, $49.50, $59.50 and $69.50 depending on seat location. (877) 571-7469); www.thehanovertheatre.org

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 25

ADOPTION OPTION:

Meet Sugar Meet SUGAR! Sugar is as sweet as her name! This young, playful girl is looking for a home with an active family. Sugar loves to go for walks, loves to snuggle, and loves to explore the outdoors. One thing Sugar isn't too sure about is other dogs so being the only dog in the home will be the most comfortable for her at this time. Email the shelter at dogs@worcesterarl.org to fi nd out how to set up an appointment to visit this beauty. You Sugar is available for won’t be sorry! adoption through WARL. Adoption Option SUBMITTED 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.

COVID-19 Protocols: The Worcester Animal Rescue League remains closed to walk-in visits with the animals and appointments must be made, in advance, to meet with any of the animals. Masks are required. Visit https://worcesterarl.org/ for more information.

This Week’s Answer

0325

Wedding Continued from Page 18D

lives together. Appease their decisions. With the exception of cash, it is very rare they will appreciate your taste in placemats more than their own. There’s nothing worse than hearing from Uncle Cosmo, “I know you registered for THOSE wine glasses, but I decided to get you THESE wine glasses because they are much, much nicer.” Guess what Uncle Cosmo? If the couple wanted THESE and not THOSE, they would have put them on their bloody registry. Stick to the plan.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. If your contribution is something truly sentimental that goes off registry, say, a family heirloom or a custom piece by the bride’s favorite artist, then, by all means, give from the heart. But, if you simply assume your style is superior to that of the bride and groom, please resist the temptation to take liberties.

It’s not about you (Especially if you are a plusone.): I can say with complete honesty and fondness in my heart that every wedding my husband and I will attend over the next few months will fi ll us with profound joy and gratitude. The bride and groom will see it on our faces. We will treat the dance fl oor like a time portal to Studio 54, even on the occasion that I am nine months pregnant. We love weddings.

With that, I understand not everyone wears their emotions so broadly, and that “non-dancers” live

Listen up Continued from Page 18D

the album’s fever dream vibe, while simultaneously introducing elements of reality. “Rap like I’m under the gun,” raps Weapon, “surgically spun/All praises due to my fanbase that’s/Feeding my son.” That’s a moment that feels real, like the real-world rapper is actually talking. That shifts immediately in the next verse: “How I kill at random like the Son of Sam case/ Be jotting anthems in a mansion with the proper pay raise/Play a hot hand without the hand shakes/ Shortys follow me like Charlie Manson in his heyday.”

“Santanico Pandemonium,” named for Salma Hayek’s vampire queen in “From Dusk Till Dawn,” fl ows back and forth between the rapper’s real life and the metaphoric gangster fantasy, until the two sides blend. Wallace, too, lays into the metaphor, with lines such as, “I gotta get all the money, plus/respect and my fi st could punch through/the speakers like funk do.” Whatever is or isn’t fantasy, the sense of need and being caught up in a battle is palpable. Still, the sense of unreality reasserts itself with “Jackie Boy,” which features samples from the Tarantino movie “Jackie Brown.”

In a lot of ways, the points where the album slides into reality are the most interesting. In “Grindhausu,” Weapon starts in a place of rapper braggadocio, rap-

among us. It is also possible for a plus-one never to have met the couple of honor prior to the most important day of their lives. Do us all a favor. If you are a random or a robot, try to put on a bit of a show. By no means should you make yourself the center of attention, but at least smile. Show everyone how lucky you feel to be included in this momentous occasion. Turn to your neighbors and say things like, “Have you ever seen such a stunning bride?” and “I thought those vows were absolutely touching.” Do not permit yourself to look bored when the father of the groom lives out his lifelong dream of delivering a stand-up comedy routine in front of a packed house. Laugh at his corny jokes. Anything less than an amused grin is unacceptable.

My own wedding was full of logistical hiccups. We had to move the ceremony inside when a fl ash fl ood materialized without notice. Our reception venue blew a transformer and the air conditioning went down on the hottest day in July. Literally, none of it mattered. I don’t think I would go back and change any of the day’s hijinks even if I could. In the end, it was all a part of our wild nuptial ride. The reason none of it bothered my husband and me is because our guests made us feel so loved. No amount of torrential rain or sweat could stop them. We saw it on their faces and in their dance moves. The guests were crucial to our matrimonial bliss. I intend to repay the favor time and time again.

Do you have a pivotal wedding guest suggestion?

Find me on Instagram at @sarah_connell and let me know what I missed.

ping, “museums protect my notebooks like, like ancient manuscripts,” before changing tone when he raps, “truth is I ain’t the one/and I stay smoked out until I got Doc Holiday’s/Lungs.” Doc Holiday, for those not up on their Old West lore, was a gunslinger, yes – he was by Wyatt Earp’s side at the O.K. Corral – but he was also dying of tuberculosis. It’s a touch that undercuts the rapper as warrior trope, and adds levels of introspection and complexity. There’s a brief sample of mariachi music and dialog from “Desperado” in “The Secret,” before sliding the title track, “Tarantino Rodriguez,” which has both Weapon and Barry rapping over sultry Mexican music. It’s a moody song, one with an underlying soulfulness which adds texture to the album’s more martial themes.

The album winds down with “Clooney Rules,” a sample of George Clooney in “From Dusk Till Dawn,” before ending with the song, “Pai Mei,” named for the martial arts master in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” Set to a soul music sample, Weapon brings the warrior metaphor to its natural conclusion, “Even my fans wanna shoot me down/I’ll die on stage like Dimebag Daryl/ before I’m crowned.” Dimebag Daryl is the guitarist for the metal band Pantera, who was shot and killed on stage in 2004. Weapon and Barry come at the critique of the trope sideways, and there’s more depth than there is the sense of propulsion you might fi nd elsewhere, but for all its oddness, it’s still an interesting and compelling portrait, one which deepens with each exploration.

26 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

J O N E S I N’

Enjoy Fun By The Numbers puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

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Across 1. When quadrupled, a Crash Test Dummies hit 4. “Dog Day Afternoon” chant 10. Crypto art initials 13. 2010 health law, for short 14. Umpire’s error 16. Gp. with auditors 17. Paste that can be used in breads and meat dishes 19. ___ au vin 20. “The Usual Gang of ___” (Mad Magazine group) 21. Screen that may loop until you start the movie 23. Heat, in Honduras 24. Night” essayist Wiesel 26. It is, to Iglesias 27. Entity that manages composers’ intellectual property 30. Prepare a slingshot 31. River painted by van Gogh 32. It’s south of Leb. 35. 1998 Matthew Lillard film set in Utah 38. 6-pointers, briefly 39. Complete beginners, slangily 41. It may offer couples packages 42. Pressure-driven apparatuses 49. Last half of a ball game?

50. Alley group 51. “Fiddlesticks!”

53. One of Paul Revere’s signals 55. Possible choice 56. “Addams Family” cousin 57. Nurikabe, Masyu, or sudoku 60. Advanced degree in math?

61. More racy, as humor 62. Snakelike fish 63. Garage opener?

64. Decorated again 65. Source of the skit “Word Crunch,” where players find inappropriate words in a word search Down 1. Specialty of the late Amazing Johnathan 2. Engineer for whom a type of paving is named

“OK Computer”--each has an integral component.

by Matt Jones

3. Henner of “Evening Shade” and “Taxi” 4. “Roll to Me” group Del ___ 5. Eyelid twitches, e.g.

6. Cough syrup amt.

7. “ER” setting 8. “Bodak Yellow” rapper 9. Sussex secondary school exam 10. Compliment from a tennis opponent 11. User interface 12. Drafting tools 15. Was winning 18. “Happy Birthday” playwright Anita 22. Blend together 24. “Lawrence of Arabia,” for one 25. Groups indiscriminately 28. Hall-of-Famer Ripken 29. Tick off 32. Getting some air 33. Vegan coffee shop order 34. Nicholas Sparks’s “Nights in ___” 35. 9-digit no. issuer 36. Bars in supermarkets 37. Time out 40. Telly watcher

43. Commotion 44. Van ___ Mungo (‘30s-’40s baseball player with a novelty song named for him) 45. Tarnished 46. Chrissy of “This Is Us” 47. Game show giveaways 48. Taken dishonestly 52. Tackle box line 54. Links star Ernie 55. Receptive 58. “___ be an honor!”

59. 1955 merger with the AFL

Last week's solution

©2022 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1085

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | 27

Last Call with Colleen and Dan Nadeau Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Colleen and Dan Nadeau couldn’t have known what was coming down the pike when they both left their careers of over two decades and launched their dream business. For years to come, 2020 will be associated with one thing. And Creative Cakes Café opened in February 2020. Today, it is a breakfast and lunch hub for members of Worcester’s small business community in Kelley Square.

The Nadeaus talk cupcakes, supply chain issues and following your dream.

How did you get started?

I had always done baking as a side job/hobby kind of thing and it turned into a business a few years ago. About fi ve years ago, I left my job to pursue it full time and then Dan joined me three years ago — we quit our careers, went full throttle with a space in the Worcester Public Market when it opened in February 2020, as a vendor stall doing just our baked goods. And we moved to this bigger space in December 2020. The pandemic kind of changed our business plan — we were heavily reliant on wholesale relationships but some of those places closed, so we had to regroup and fi gure out what our next step was. The deli that was in our current space moved on and we decided it was time to go big or go home. Dan took over the food department — sourcing menus — and I stuck with the baking.

So you got the idea for a deli from the previous tenant?

No, more like the space was made available and we were trying to draw on our strengths and see what the market was missing at the time. Like pub food items that would go well with the [Wachusett] brewery and also coff ee items.

We use another Worcester-based family business — Good as Gold.

How did you diff erentiate yourselves with other bakeries so close —

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Bury me with love because, that’s what this about.”

It’s amusing that she uses two con-

some even in the building?

By being more of a full service café, we’ve done that. We’re off ering a lot of diff erent things — we can serve people from early morning to late evenings. I think by branching out and having more off erings, we’ve set ourselves apart. We don’t consider ourselves just a bakery even if that’s where we originated from.

As far as Jennifer Lee, we never really competed with her because she’s a totally diff erent market, being allergen-free so it was actually a nice complementary business.

How about the recovery regarding wholesale connections?

We’re getting back to that — we’ve solidifi ed a relationship with the WooSox, for example. We’re going to be supplying their suite level dessert cart. It’s obvious how much they’re trying to embrace local businesses and they’re amazing.

Woo Sox employees come in on their lunch breaks.

How have the supply chain issues been aff ecting you?

It’s tough, you always need at least two or three places in case one doesn’t work. Product costs are through the roof, things like plastic cups. When we started, a case of plastic coff ee cups was $40 and now it’s $110. We’ve had to be creative and fl exible and ask our customers to do the same. It forces you to plan way ahead. It’s not like I can say we’re almost out of cups so let’s order some, because they might not even be available at all from our regular supplier and we’ll have to source them from someplace else.

This morning, I was looking for huge bags of fl our and sugar and couldn’t get them so I had to settle for lots of little ones.

Did any of your previous career skills help?

Yes, they came in handy, because we both have those organizational and administrative mindsets and apply them here but in totally diff erent ways. Dan

notations for “want to take you out,” without clarifying which person feels which. Still, the song’s inherent loneliness overtakes the wordplay and melody, ending on the words, “People would choose to make me weak if it’s up to them/Never scared,/but I do not want no friends.”

Dan and Colleen Nadeau, owners of Creative Cakes in Worcester Public Market VEER MUDAMBI

was an operations management and I managed medical and dental practices. I think fl exibility and resourcefulness are the best skills anybody can have right now. We spend so much more time hunting down things that you would never expect to be hunting down, for example, even the papers for lining the sandwich baskets. You reorder and then everyone’s out of stock. You’ll spend hours upon hours searching for one item.

Has it been a seismic shift in budgeting?

Profi tability has been extremely low.

We are just holding on until costs go down but we’re still excited for the future. What gets us through is thinking of how things will be again. We’ve been lucky to bring in new staff like a new baker and the growing wholesale business. The last month has really been a shift from focusing on the negative and

Is that true? It’s hard not to think that the song’s narrator is unreliable, that no matter how much the persona insists they’re comfortable with calcifying heart, the truth is something else entirely, possibly something that they’re even hiding from themselves.

It’s easy to buy into the idea of the iso-

what we’ve been through to focusing on the positive and what we’re going into.

What has changed over the last month?

Certainly COVID numbers going down and the end of mask mandates, so we are seeing an uptick. The Woo Sox are starting back up and in the spring, we’re going to set up an outdoor seating area. Those are all external things but we also made a conscious decision to look ahead. Honestly, looking at what’s going on in the world, it puts things in perspective. The thing about us is that we don’t give up. We try to get through anything.

Even in the best of times, business requires adaptation and at the worst times it demands it.

Has the pandemic situation aff ected how the diff erent small businesses interact?

Absolutely. Competition was put to the side and we all became one community. If one of us couldn’t get cups, we’d share some cups or vendors. “Oh you can’t fi nd napkins? I got some from this place” — that kind of thing.

Your hours are pretty diff erent from the market’s standard. What made you decide to keep your own hours?

We’ve tried to identify ourselves as slightly independently from the market.

We value that relationship but our model requires more time than the market hours and we have our own private entrance. We’ve developed a great breakfast following and we’re trying to expand that.

What’s your favorite part of baking?

I’d say the decorating, that’s the fun part. The new baker has allowed me to focus on that since she does more of the prep work. But I love everything we make. We’re very particular and everything we make is from scratch. The cake pops are a lot of fun because I love seeing the kids’ faces light up when they see them. I can’t even tell you how many batches of those we make a week.

lated warrior – it’s a hip-hop staple, after all – but while Deyj’s persona keeps the battles in frame, there’s always a subtle, stray eye cast toward the fi re burning behind each punch, insinuating that the fi ght is only part of the picture.

28 | MARCH 25 - 31, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM