5 minute read
Screen Time
SARAH CONNELL SANDERS
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Sarah Connell Sanders
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Joey Ceccarelli has operated a safety training company for more than two decades with his sister Darcy Cook, but it’s not their only gig. Ceccarelli and Cook are also the co-founders of Smashit2 on Canterbury Street in Worcester.
When I ask Ceccarelli about Smashit #1, he laughs and tells me I’m looking at it.
“Just plain www.smashit.com cost two grand on GoDaddy,” he explains, “Turns out it’s owned by an adult film company.” The Smashit2 URL, on the other hand, came in at a cool $12. Ceccarelli was sold.
Rage rooms like Smashit2 have grown in popularity across the country to help alleviate the stress of a global pandemic. Guests are invited to book sessions ranging from 15 minutes to an hour and destroy the contents of an industriallooking room by wielding sledgehammers and baseball bats.
Ceccarelli thought he had seen it all while working in the safety industry, but Smashit2 is full of surprises. For one thing, the rules have evolved since opening in July of 2020 to include specific regulations like, “No standing on the tables.”
“The table rule was a result of these six women in their forties from Franklin who came in to let off steam. They all looked so unassuming in their stretch pants and North Faces,” he remembers. “Next thing I know, this one woman is telling me it’s a good thing I don’t resemble her husband and she’s up on the table with a sledgehammer.”
The group signed the wall, “Franklin Mafia,” a daily reminder to Ceccarelli not to judge a guest by her manicure.
He asks us what kind of music we’d like to listen to and we decide on ‘90s hip-hop. “I always ask people what gets them fired up,” he says, recalling, “One time, this guy listened to Oasis’ greatest hits for an hour while he went crazy on a big screen TV.”
Items are tagged with goading spray-painted messages like “SMASH ME,” “HIT” and “BAM.” I find the big-screen TV surprisingly resilient. My hot pink construction hat glows under the blacklight and I make a mental note to wear white next time for the full effect. One of my friends is smashing a wooden chair against the wall and another one is going haywire on a laptop. There’s something extra cathartic about decimating a computer after a year of excruciating Zoom calls. I frisbee a few porcelain teacups into the air before discovering my true passion — smashing glass window panes with a resilient little baseball that I throw over and over again until shards of glass blanket the concrete floor.
Most of the smashables come from donations, but when supplies run low, Ceccarelli and his crew go get a haul from the local ministry thrift store. The inventory is constantly changing, but if you have something specific you’d like to smash, you can arrange to BYOB — bring your own box. “More than one Play Station has met its end here,” Ceccarelli tells me. He estimates that a lot more women have come through Smashit2 than men. “We even have smash-yoga classes and smash-art classes,” he says. “They usually end with wine.”
When our group’s session is over, Ceccarelli hands us all fluorescent markers and invites us to commemorate the experience by signing our names. Tagging the wall eases me down from my high of destruction. When the next reservation walks in for their session, we stick around to watch them have at it. Ceccarelli laughs at all of our faces pressed up against the window and says, “Who would have thought it was a spectator sport?”
A petite blonde picks up a crystal vase and plows it into the far wall, then lets out a satisfying shriek of excitement. I cannot look away.
“There’s something extra cathartic about decimating a computer after a year of excruciating Zoom calls.”
PHOTO COURTESY SARAH CONNELL SANDERS
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Williams Sonoma offers virtual events this month and next, beginning with Bobby Flay Live at 8 p.m. April 8. Flay in his home kitchen will introduce viewers to Williams Sonoma’s new GreenPan Premiere Cookware, sharing a simple brunch menu including Individual Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Rolled Omelets and Classic Hash Browns. All proceeds from general admission to the virtual events, which include book launch parties, benefit No Kid Hungry in its fight to end childhood hunger in America. Visit www.williams.sonoma.com for a complete rundown of events. Williams Sonoma Coffee Club is scheduled at 9 a.m. April 10. Presented by Breville, the course is recommended for anyone who is interested in starting a coffee and espresso journey or would like to learn more about the science and art of the craft.
It’s Always Freezer Season Live with chef Ashley Christensen and cookbook author Kaitlyn Goalen will be held at 7 p.m. April 13. Learn how the home freezer can easily become the most important tool in your kitchen.
A Mother’s Day Celebration with Trisha Yearwood is scheduled for May 6.
Yearwood and her sister Beth Bernard not only will celebrate Mother’s Day, but also will launch a new tabletop collection honoring their mother, Gwendolyn. Reserve early!
If you have a tidbit for the column. Call (508) 868-5282. Send email to bhoulefood@gmail.com.
SCREEN TIME
Jim Keogh
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
We all know what a backdoor deal is. When getting something done legitimately is impossible, you figure out a way to circumvent the rules by using any connection at your disposal — so you avoid having the big oak front door with the gold-plated knocker slammed in your face by sneaking in through the unlocked screen door out back. (We’ve all done it. As a teenager in Rhode Island, I bought my motor vehicle inspection sticker from a guy-whoknew-a-guy because my wreck of a car was destined for rejection. A Rhode Islander was always two degrees of separation from “a guy.”)
After watching the Netflix documentary “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal,” I am also keenly acquainted with the “side door” deal.
The side door is how mastermind Rick Singer described his devious method to procure admittance for the undeserving children of the wealthy into prestigious colleges and universities. The most dramatic result was actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin doing perp walks after they were caught paying off Singer on behalf of their daughters, but it’s Singer who was the star of this scam.
Want to feel outraged? Listen to the conversations reenacted in “Operation Varsity Blues” between Singer and
