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Dancehall artist Graffy covers Justin Bieber’s ‘Anyone’ in video
Liz Fay
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Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Haitian musician Grafael Bruny, currently of Douglas, has come a long way in his music career since moving to the Northborough in 2015 from his hometown of Port au Prince. Best known as Graffy, this multifaceted dancehall artist speaks three languages — French, Creole and English — in which he writes and sings lyrics. He owns his own independent label, Brothers B Music, and is also a vocal coach for local artists who are passionate and committed to their craft.
“Since I was 7 years old I’ve been involved in music, first by singing in churches. A couple years ago I transitioned and started making Caribbean and dancehall music, which is something I really like doing. I also play a couple instruments, I play bass and I play guitar but I mostly identify as a singer which is what I do full-time.”
The now 27-year-old musician says he’s seen a lot of success and growth since stepping out of his comfort zone as a gospel singer and going on tour in Haiti in 2019.
“Something inside of me was burning and I had to bring that music into the world so I could reach out to more people. I make a lot of music that talks about what we’re dealing with in society, make some adult music with sexual lyrics, and cover. I have a song called ‘Jackie Chan,’ which I wrote the lyrics for in French and Creole but the hook is in English, and it’s one of my
Graffy’s most recent music video is a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Anyone.” PHOTO COURTESY CAMY BRUNY
more sexual songs.”
Another of Graffy’s successes is his song “Ou Vo Plis,” which translates to “You Deserve Better.” The song was created with popular Haitian singer Olivier Duret. “We actually did a tour in Haiti where we went to all the radio stations and television stations, and it was amazing to see all the people recognizing us and being able to play music for them,” Graffy says.
In April, Graffy discovered the song “Anyone” by Justin Bieber at 4 a.m. The lyrics in Bieber’s love song put Graffy under such a spell, he decided to make his own cover of the song, which will be released on May 17.
“I liked the hook in the song which says ‘you are the only one I will ever love … if it’s not you it’s not anyone … looking back on my life you’re the only good I’ve ever done,’ and the second verse is also my favorite, ‘forever’s not enough time to love you the way that I want.’ I thought it was a beautiful piece and I wanted to put my own flavor into the song.”
Graffy’s brother Camy Bruny is credited as videographer and writer for the music video. Graffy plays the main character in the music video, which showcases a chilling story about how far someone will go in order to keep someone they love.
“The storyline of the video is about how a guy is in love with his girlfriend, and suddenly his girlfriend is taken away by a car accident and dies. After this happened, the memory of her keeps getting in the way of the man living his life as he normally would. So he is faced with a life-altering choice that could bring him and his girlfriend back together.”
Camy Bruny says, “The idea came about based on our background in Haiti, where supernatural forces and superstitions are part of our culture.”
Graffy’s cover and music video for “Anyone” will be released on May 17 and can be found on all streaming platforms as Graffy Acoustics or on his YouTube channel, “Brothers B Music.”
Graffy says, “I was inspired by love, by how things should feel when you’re in a relationship with somebody you love so much. The titles and anything else that comes along with a relationship doesn’t matter. It’s about honesty, it’s about love, it’s about commitments … these forces are what inspired me to create this project.”
‘The best joke about Worcester I’ve ever heard’
Co-host Bryan O’Donnell laughs on stage as he mans the sound board at a comedy show at Nick’s
Bar and Restaurant. PHOTO BY DYLAN AZARI
Comedians share their favorite jabs at the city most of them love
Victor D. Infante
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
“Welcome to Worcester,” said poet Bill MacMillan, hosting the Worcester Poetry Slam from the stage of the now-defunct Java Hut, “the city that means well.” To be fair, MacMillan used the joke for other cities, too – mostly Providence – but for poet, humorist and generally funny guy David Macpherson, that’s still the joke that best sums up the city. “It’s a classic,” says Macpherson.
And it’s true: For all that Worcester is said to have something of a self-image problem, the fact is the city has a great sense of humor, and takes itself far less seriously than, ahem, the larger city to its east. Perhaps then that’s why that, as the pandemic begins to abate, the comedy scene has been one of the first ones to come out swinging with some really big shows, including Orlando Baxter Friday and Saturday at the WooHaHa and Bob Marley (the other one) at Rascals May 12 and 13. With all this funny business abounding, and a lot of new faces learning their way around a city that’s been quieter than usual for the past year, we figured it was a good time to
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From left, Jeremy Shulkin, Sam Bonacci, Travis Duda and Mairéad Connolly enjoy the impromptu comedy stand-up routines at “Hot Dog! A Comedy Sideshow,” Aug. 8, 2019, at George’s Coney
Island Hot Dogs. STEVE LANAVA/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
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Victoria Obvious, AKA Stephen Mayo of Charlton, gets the crowd going during the Drag Wars contest July 12, 2018, at Electric Haze in Worcester. PHOTO BY MATTHEW HEALEY
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ask local comedians, humorists and generally funny people, “What’s your favorite joke about Worcester?”
For example, both local comedians Bryan O’Donnell and Mairéad Connolly remember a joke Brandon Vallee made one night at Coney Island Hot Dogs. “Worcester is a city full of angry sailors without an ocean,” recalls O’Donnell. “It doesn’t literally make sense,” says Connolly,” but really captures a certain essence.”
Indeed. A lot of people’s favorite jokes dealt with the city’s self image. Mairéad Connolly’s husband, Shaun Connolly, remembers a joke “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver made a few years back at Clark University: “Clark University looks like Hogwarts if it was in the set of ‘The Wire,’” quipped Oliver, much to Shaun Connolly’s delight. “I mean, in less than 15 words he perfectly encapsulates Clark and its relationship to Main South even more than he probably initially knew.”
Comedian Maurice Smith says, “Worcester is Massachusetts’ witness program. Cat do something in Boston, where they go? Worcester.”
Drag Queen Victoria Obvious’ favorite joke about Worcester comes from local chanteuse and comedian Nikki Luparelli: “What’s something you never hear from people in Worcester?” recounts Obvious. “We’re just here on vacation.” Obvious says that, “I find it funny because when you ask people what brings them to the
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area, you never get that answer.”
For her part, Luparelli says she sees herself as an ambassador for Worcester. “I go to places like Brockton and Sutton and bring, like, Table Talk Pies and Polar Soda,” she says. “The gifts of our people.”
Not everyone was able to completely remember the joke they wanted to share, and others gave us jokes that would be perfectly fine on a stage but might result in a libel suit if printed in a newspaper. Comedian Lou Ramos said he couldn’t remember any of them, but he says, “it was probably something Jimmy Cash said.”
Baxter, likewise, said he couldn’t remember any off the top of his head, but if you saw him at his first show at WooHaHa a couple years back, you might recall some of his thoughts on Worcester’s downtown redevelopment: “What do you think of downtown Worcester?” he asked a soldout house. “They spent a lot of money,” he said, talking about the numerous renovations in the area around the Common, which include the comedy club itself. “They should have worked on the parking,” he quipped. “I had to park in Shrewsbury.”
Judging by recent stories in the Telegram & Gazette, history is evidently repeating itself with Polar Park. But perhaps the city and its relationship to humor can best be summed up by comedian Kevin H. Brady, who currently lives in New Jersey: “The only time Sigmund Freud came to the U.S. was to speak in Worcester. That’s all you need to know about us.”
Do you have a favorite joke about Worcester? Email us at wmeditor@gatehousemedia.com, and maybe we’ll print some of our favorites if it’s a slow news week!
Comedian Orlando Baxter performs at the WooHaHa! Comedy Club in 2019. STEVE LANAVA/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Past sounds echo anew
Presto Records returns virtually
Ed Symkus Special to Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK
Boston-area rock fans in the late-1980s and early-1990s who had a taste for a mix of punk and pop in their music will fondly recall the bands Classic Ruins, Miranda Warning, Miles Dethmuffen, The Trojan Ponies and Evol Twin. For those who also liked a bit of metal, there was The Visigoths. All of these bands, along with the Cleveland-based The Terrible Parade had a home on Presto Records, the indie label that put out seven albums and four singles between 1989 and 1993.
Presto was the brainchild of Lowell native and music business maven Chris Porter, who moved to Seattle in 1997 but still has a home in Lowell, and keeps a hand in music on both coasts. Though Presto has been defunct for close to three decades, Porter has been working on a sort of reintroduction to it, which kicked off May 5, the first of seven consecutive Wednesdays featuring Spotify and YouTube releases of the entire label output, one band per week, starting with Classic Ruins.
Porter’s journey through his longtime career of managing bands, booking bands, putting together festivals, and playing in a band – that was the shortlived Barb-a-loot Suits, in which he played guitar and sang at a handful of gigs at the Middle East Upstairs – was forged by taking on the management of Classic Ruins when he was still a student at Brandeis University in Waltham.
“I was an American Studies major,” he said. “There was a documentary class called ‘Recording America,’ and I was fascinated by rockumentaries. I thought it would be cool to have a band that I really liked, that I would follow around to their day jobs and their rehearsals and all that. I had met Classic Ruins because of WJUL” – the radio station at UMass Lowell, where he studied before transferring to Brandeis. “I became friendly with them and asked if they would be willing to be documentary subjects. We did that project, and shortly before I turned 20, I started managing Classic Ruins.”
The band already had their album “Lassie Eats Chickens” out on Chuck Warner’s Throbbing Lobster label, with lots more material already recorded for a second album. But Warner closed up shop, and Porter began looking for their next label.
“Some were receptive, but nobody picked them up,” he recalled. “I thought it might be really cool to start a label. I had saved a bit of money, my mom contributed some to get me started, the band had some momentum from the first album, and we decided to do it. I learned all I could about starting a label from a book and some other pre-Internet research, and I just dove in. I never made a dime, but I learned a lot from it, and it directly and indirectly opened up other doors.
“I started getting some opportunities in talent buying and booking and promoting,” he added. “In 1990 I started booking a couple nights a week at Bunratty’s, and that turned into me eventually booking and co-managing the whole room. In 1993, I got the gig to book the Middle East Downstairs. So, there was even more responsibility and it was time-consuming. Between that and it being tough to even break even on the label, I just stopped the label. I wanted to work with bands live. That was my favorite thing to do.”
A period of change followed, which was convenient for Porter, as he had been booking various venues in Boston for seven years, and had been thinking that it was time to move on. He got an out-of-the-blue phone call from Reenie Duff, a busi-
Chris Porter has his hands in all sorts of musical situations. COURTESY OF HAYLEY YOUNG
The Presto Records catalog release schedule on Spotify and YouTube is as follows:
h May 5, Classic Ruins h May 12, Miranda Warning h May 19, The Terrible Parade h May 26, Miles Dethmuffen h June 2, The Visigoths h June 9, Evol Twin h June 16, The Trojan Ponies Porter is also having a Presto Records Re-Launch Show on May 8 at 8 p.m. on the ONCE Virtual Venue and on YouTube. For information, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXIKoGHputE
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ness contact who worked with Bumbershoot, a Seattle-based arts festival. It turned out that her family was from Lowell, and her parents knew Porter’s parents. And there was a job offer, which led to his relocation to Seattle, and an 18-year run with Bumbershoot’s parent company, One Reel, first as programming manager, then as programming director.
In the midst of that, he had set up Porter Productions as a side company, and was deejaying and putting on a number of one-off musical events. When he decided to leave One Reel, Porter Productions became his main job. Not long after that, he got another one of those phone calls, this time from the East Coast.
“It was from my friend JJ Gonson, who had a business called Cuisine en Locale, in Somerville. It was a catering company that also had an events space. She started doing some public shows, then later decided to rebrand the place and make it a public venue, and rechristened it ONCE –which is an acronym for One Night Creative Events. I hadn’t seen her in years, but she said, ‘If you ever have any thoughts about doing a show in Boston, please keep my venue in mind.’ We ended up cutting a deal for me to book the venue, starting in 2016.”
Two other opportunities came about for Porter in 2018. He landed contracts with the long-established Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a San Francisco festival, and with brandnew The Town and the City Festival in Lowell.
But Porter had never forgotten his time at Presto Records, and a lot of memories came rushing forward when, in 2016, he attended a memorial for Margaret Weigel, the bass player for The Trojan Ponies.
“We had a lot of mutual friends and we were talking about The Trojan Ponies music,” he said. “It occurred to me that none of it was on YouTube, and that bugged me. I wanted to get some stuff out there for people to hear. I wasn’t thinking of anything like formally reissuing it, just maybe posting it on YouTube somewhere down the line. I knew I would have to get it all digitized, but it became one of those backburner little projects of mine. Last year, thanks to the pandemic, I had some extra time on my hands and figured I could get it done. The seed of all of it was Margaret’s memorial. So, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but it finally happened this year.”
Ed Symkus can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.
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