Worcester Magazine September 10 - 16, 2020

SEPTEMBER 10 - 16, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CULTURE • ARTS • DINING • VOICES

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020 • V O L U M E 46 I S S U E 3 Find us on Facebook.com/worcestermag Twitter @worcestermag Instagram: Worcestermag

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Executive Editor David Nordman Editor Nancy Campbell Content Editor Victor D. Infante Reporters Richard Duckett, Veer Mudambi Contributing Writers Stephanie Campbell, Sarah Connell Sanders, Gari De Ramos, Robert Duguay, Jason Greenough, Janice Harvey, Barbara Houle, Jim Keogh, Jim Perry, Craig S. Semon, Matthew Tota

Featured ......................................................................................4

Creative Director Kimberly Vasseur

City Voices...................................................................................8

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Cover Story ...............................................................................11 Artist Spotlight .......................................................................15 Lifestyle......................................................................................16

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Listen Up....................................................................................16

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the cover Noh Place like home: Worcester’s all-encompassing artists’ collective of the ’80s is still an inspiration today Story on page 10

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FEATURED

Happy 85th birthday to Social Security Now meet the woman from Worcester who made it happen VEER MUDAMBI

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

“S

ocial Security” is one of the most ubiquitous terms in the American lexicon — everyone recognizes the phrase, even if they don’t know exactly what it means. The words come up as part of the everyday bureaucracy of life, and one of the first decisions we make when we start a new job is how much we contribute to it.

For something so vital, we know surprisingly little of its history — such as how it came to be and how long it’s been around. If pressed, we might connect it to the New Deal. Still, there’s no “Social Security Day” — but if there were, it would be Aug. 14. Last month marked the 85th birthday of the Social Security Act of 1935, which created a federal safety net for elderly, unemployed and disadvantaged Americans.

Though a product of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, it was actually the brainchild of Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor and Worcester native. While FDR’s New Deal helped deliver Americans from the Great Depression, Perkins was the energy behind many of its policies, such as minimum wage, unemployment insurance and, of course, the Social Security Act. “She’s more relevant today than in some time,” said Michael Chaney, executive director of the Frances Perkins Center. The concept that the government should step in when people cannot afford the necessities of life was one of the core tenets of the New Deal. “That you can’t leave things just to the economic system to ensure that people are taken care of financially and physically.”

How much the government should take care of citizens is still the question of the day, as the COVID crisis continues to exact a toll on both the nation’s economy and public health.

The Great Depression had begun by the time Perkins took up her cabinet position, and much like today, the country was facing “very serious and desperate times,” said Chaney.

“Perkins herself had realized this was the only time to push through these reforms that would improve life for American citizens.”

If she had realized her full vision, Americans would have had national health care, too. The Social Security Act had initially included a national health plan, which was written out due to lobbying by the American Medical Association, who resisted the idea of government involvement in health care. In order to avoid the entire bill being scuttled, Perkins compromised. “She understood you can’t get everything you want, all at once,” said Chaney.

“Though we’re still talking about national health insurance today.”

Perkins fought not only for those without

work, but also to protect employees from being exploited. She was instrumental in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set maximum working hours, minimum wages in all interstate industries and prohibited child labor.

But what sparked this crusade for economic equity? How did the granddaughter of farmers from Maine end up redesigning the American industrial workplace and social safety net?

Born in Boston in 1880, her father moved the family when she was a little girl to Worcester, where he launched his own business.

She grew up in middle class Worcester amid staunch Republicans, a seemingly unusual background for someone who would one day champion a citizen’s right to expect help from the government. She would later proclaim herself a Democrat, the party that advocated for the urban poor and economic reforms, disavowing her family’s politics entirely.

Perkins graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902, and her final semester there, according to Chaney, is what set her course.

One of her college classes focused on the development of the American factory system. On a field trip to a local mill, she was astonished not only at the working conditions, but that employers were allowed to operate this way at all. That point is what began “her career long interest in worker safety and their economic well being,” said Chaney.

She would go on to be appointed state Industrial Commissioner by then-governor of New York Franklin Roosevelt. When Roosevelt became president, he appointed her to his cabinet in 1933, a position she held for 12 years, longer than any other Secretary of Labor.

At the time of FDR’s death, she was one of only two cabinet secretaries to serve the entire length of his presidency.

Her ideas have political and economic currency even today, Chaney pointed out. The legacy of her work is literally a voice from the past reminding us that in times of national adversity, the government is honor bound to protect and provide for its citizens. That voice is heard when Sen. Elizabeth Warren or Sen. Bernie Sanders voice policy statements that echo the New Deal.

Sen. Ed Markey, one of the authors of “The Green New Deal” that would generate environmentally sustainable jobs through government help, just won the Democratic Senate primary.

Markey and co-sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chose the name because it has connotations of hope and change — a fresh start.

The original New Deal made a fundamental change in the life of Americans, as Frances Perkins knew it would. She would have said that New Deal principles can make a difference today, as we face 21st century challenges at a time when Americans are, once again, anxious about their futures.

Frances Perkins on a tour of a factory inspection, from Frances Perkins’ book, “The Roosevelt I Knew.”

FILE PHOTO/STEVE LANAVA

FEATURED

Gold Star Blvd. ready to rock Ralph’s patio ROBERT DUGUAY

that. We did have a little bit of experience beforehand but that’s how we started playing together.� few venues around New Gold Star Blvd. released its debut England have been utilizEP, “Do You Think They Can Hear ing their outdoor spaces Us?� Feb. 28. There’s a straightforto put on live music and help get their bills paid during these ward rock sound that’s consistently evident, which comes from each crazy times. One establishment member having common influences that’s been doing it since July is the legendary Ralph’s Rock Diner at 148 and wanting to take the style of music in a new direction.

Grove St., Worcester. Numerous “We all grew up listening to clasacoustic acts and full bands have sic rock,� Kant says, on the vision played their patio and on Sept. 12, behind the record. “We really like the club will be putting on an alllocal show. Rock act Gold Star Blvd. Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones will be joined by power trio Bernie’s and Queen, and we’re also into Garage and alt-pop enigma San Fer- bands like Weezer and the Foo mino. These bands will be delivering Fighters, they’re awesome. We really like all of that music so we felt that their sounds in a socially distanced atmosphere with the music starting we wanted to give our vision of what rock & roll might be moving at 7:30 p.m. and concluding around towards in terms of sound.�

11, so it won’t run too late.

For the upcoming show at Gold Star Blvd. began when Ralph’s, Kant feels assured that it’s drummer Alex Kant, guitarist Luke going to be an enjoyable experience.

Maciorowski, vocalist David Dunne He’s also looking forward to finally and his brother Chris, who used to playing live again for the first time play bass, started hanging out a lot. in months.

They found a bunch of instruments “I’ve been to Ralph’s for one and with each of them having prior of their patio shows a few weeks music experience, they decided to start a band back in 2017. After Chris ago and they have excellent social left the band last year, Alex’s brother distancing guidelines,� Kant said. “All of the staff there are wearing Bryan took over the role of bassist. masks, they’re doing a good job with “We actually started out as keeping everybody safe and making friends, pretty much,� Kant says sure they feel comfortable. It’s a on the beginnings of the band. “It typical restaurant experience, if I was just the four of us and we were hanging out quite a bit. Then we saw can put it that way. They’re taking great measures to keep everybody that Luke had all of this equipment including an old drum kit and a bass safe and I’m as comfortable as I can be with playing out right now. I feel guitar. The other three guys could pretty confident about it and we’re play and Dave could sing and play excited to get back out there to play and I’ve always wanted to learn the some music for everybody.� drums so we just picked it up like

A

Gold Star Blvd.

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

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Hip-hop duo claims its place at the top with new album “W VEER MUDAMBI

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

hen you lead big, you’re a big target,” said Ghost of the Machine thoughtfully. Weapon ESP (Shane Presutti) and Ghost of the Machine (Jessie Mckeiver) are certainly doing that. As rising stars in the local hip-hop scene, their latest album, “Juice Headz,” has just released. The two have been putting out music

Rappers Ghost of the Machine (Jessie Mckeiver of Worcester), left, and Weapon ESP (Shane Presutti of Southbridge).

TAJONN NICKELSON

at a rapid-fire pace, fueled by the momentum of their previous work, the positive response from fans and what they perceive as a sea change in the genre.

As Mckeiver puts it, “Hip-hop was born out of oppression, as an alternative to violence.” It’s where the knives are put down, the guns are put down and the battle of the lyrics is all that matters.

And the present moment is a golden era of hip-hop, with fans

hungry for meaningful content. “I’m hungry for something I can relate to,” Mckeiver continued, “I’m a workingclass father, I’m also a black man, and somebody who grew up seeing power in hip-hop with words.” Money and status are irrelevant to being a great MC (hip-hop artist) if you have the right words, a concept that Mckeiver finds fascinating.

Presutti agrees that it is a new renaissance right now, “our skills are being recognized and we’re reaching

people with the power of our words.

Hip-hop is in a really good place right now — there’s plenty of great content out there.” Mckeiver interjects to add that everything that is going on in the world has added a kind of urgency. Topics such as social injustice or climate change, “I feel like that just drives our pen, on top of us wanting to show the world what we have.”

Their combined talents have lent themselves well to a depth of expression that neither of them knew they

possessed. Presutti sums it up as, “it brought out a lot of abilities that I didn’t know I had.” While they have been collaborating since 2015-2016, it was only after their first song together, “Messiah Complex,” did they realize they needed to work together.

The rest is history.

The pandemic certainly provided more songwriting time, even while balancing hectic family life.

Mckeiver indicates that with most MCs being stuck in the house, there

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Mckeiver also put out another album, “Heroes for Hire 3,� with DJ Proof in May. For Mckeiver, music is something of a release. “I’m always cautious of who I am, my identity as a large black man, I can’t get too mad like other folks can but I can let you know where I’m coming from through my pen.� Presutti has definitely been an ally in that and they went together to the first Worcester protests.

They both have their favorite songs for different reasons — Presutti’s because of how it came to be and Mckeiver’s because of how it makes him feel when he listens to it. “Hall of Fame Induction� was a last-minute addition to the album that developed organically and Presutti wrote in one night. For Mckeiver, “The Juice Era� speaks of hope and optimism, “when I listen to it, corona is over and I’m on stage. That track shows what we can do when we work together and I can’t wait to perform that live.�

As for how they chose their names, Presutti blended a reference to Weapon X from Wolverine with an old nickname from high school when he had been interested in extra sensory perception — that came together as Weapon ESP. Mckeiver laughs about his morbid name but indicates it refers to how music can outlive the artist. “After I die, I’d be moving through people’s subwoofers as music — the ghost in the machine.�

While leading big may make one a big target, in the end, it doesn’t matter what others say. Mckeiver’s message to all hip-hop artists is “don’t be afraid to put your feelings out there — it’s tough but if someone has a problem with it, it’s because they’re afraid to do it themselves.�

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

is no excuse to not exercise their creative muscles. “There are no shows and what else is there to do other than create?�

While work-life balance may be a thin line to walk, Presutti feels their music legacy “is like an intellectual roadmap for our kids, like our GPS.�

He hopes to support his family with their music work, a dream that seems closer after their recent successes. Mckeiver’s daughter sometimes sits in his lap when he is recording and he prides himself on finding creative ways around fulfilling his duties as a father and his passion for the music. “Juice Headz� is something of a celebration of how far they have come and their plans for the future. “It stays true to the elements of being an MC,� said Mckeiver. “We’re doing some reporting, talking about injustice but we’re also throwing in braggadocio which I stand fully behind because Weapon and I are best in the game right now.�

Presutti’s lifelong love of baseball provided the initial metaphor for their success, hitting home runs with their music like a batter on steroids. “We felt like we had the juice,� said Presutti, which led to the album’s title.

In contrast to their previous work, “Savageland,� which was released in April, “Juice Headz� takes on an overall lighter tone. “We had a little more fun, not as serious and dark,� explained Presutti. “There are definitely some dark tracks but we made sure to have fun with it too.�

But as their first album since the murder of George Floyd, themes of racial justice and systemic racism are certainly present. The album cover depicts the two of them in baseball uniforms armed with bats taking on Neo Nazis.

CITY VOICES

FIRST PERSON

WORCESTERIA

The Grafton Hill I once knew Time to drop charges against Black Lives Matter protesters

MIKE PACIELLO

we were “home before the street lights came on.” We played every n any given Thursday sport imaginable in the streets. afternoon throughout the We even invented new sports that summer, you’ll find about were usually a hybrid of two others.

50 or more 60-somethings While we weren’t angels and did playing golf at Wachussett CC. many goofy things in those days, Just about all of them grew up on one thing was for certain, if we got Grafton Hill in the early ’60s. After caught doing something stupid, golf, when the guys are enjoying we feared the punishment that our a couple of adult beverages, it parents were to administer. Yeah doesn’t take long before someone … goofy and fun stuff, like massive reminisces about growing up on snow ball fights, raiding gardens, the Hill. One would typically say skinny dipping in neighbors’ … “Remember the time so and pools at night, playing relieve-o or so hit a double in the Union Hill/ red-rover for hours or just playing Rice Square baseball game back in sports all day.

1962” or how about the great catch I recently took a ride through in the football game against Dartthe old neighborhood. It is sad to mouth St. to win the City Grammar see how it’s changed. Most of the School Championship. Once the homes in the ’60s were ownerstories begin, it trickles down to occupied and in the case of the other great memories/arguments. two- or three-family homes, most Who had the best grinders? Was it had relatives in each floor. We took Tom’s Market on Hamilton Street pride in the way the properties or John and Sons on Suffolk Street? looked making sure the yards were Or who had the more competitive as well groomed as possible … little league … Tom Ash or Jack even if our yard was just an asphalt Barry? Who gave the best haircut, driveway. We knew our neighbors Pete Sena or George Rizkalla? How and always always looked out about the best pizza, was it Markfor each other. We didn’t have to John’s or A&V? or the best corner worry about drug dealings, drivespa, Husson’s or Ted’s. And what by shootings or gangs. It was a about the best Summer League simpler time when respect, honor Basketball Team at Harrington and friendship were valued and Way Park. Loud arguments would revered. then start. The guys from Upper While some of us still live in the Hamilton Street would claim that neighborhood and try to keep the they were better than the St. Steproperties looking like they did in phen’s guys. Not to be outdone, the the ’60s, many of these properties Harrington Way boys would argue are now “investments.” As such, the they had the best team only to be pride is gone. It’s about maximizdisputed by the guys from Dana ing the investment. A real shame.

Ave. and on it went … of course …

But in the end, the memories are all in fun. as clear as can be. It was a great Even though most of us grew place to live and grow up. In fact, up on the “Hill” and have long speaking for myself, even though since moved away, our Thursday I moved away when I was in my afternoon golf league and our early 20s, when people today ask membership to a social club that is where I’m from, I still say that I’m still located on the Hill keeps us to- a “three-decker kid from Grafton gether. Today we still argue, but it’s Hill.” Let’s hope that someday it usually about sports or politics or goes full circle and the neighborthe number of pills someone is tak- hood can return to the old days. ing to stay alive. We then venture We’d all be better for it. into the replacement joint discussion … “Well I got a new knee and Mike Paciello is a graduate of two new hips. That’s nothing, I got Assumption College with BA in Hisa new shoulder, two knees and a tory and an MBA from Anna Maria hip so beat that. I’ll top you all … I College. have a new hip and 10 stents”.

In the ’60s, we lived outside. Our parents didn’t worry as long as

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

O

VICTOR D. INFANTE

A recent report by the The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project — a nonprofit

organization that tracks the dates, actors, locations, fatalities and types of all reported political violence and protest events worldwide — drew forth an observation which is plainly evident to anyone paying attention: 93% of all demonstrations connected to Black Lives Matter between May and August movement have been peaceful.

“Peaceful protests are reported in over 2,400 distinct locations around the country,” says the report. “Violent demonstrations, meanwhile, have been limited to fewer than 220 locations — under 10% of the areas that experienced peaceful protests.”

This was true in Worcester, where even on the night of June 1, when 19 people were arrested in Main South after BLM protests, Chief Steven M. Sargent was quick to differentiate between the event earlier that day and the incidents

where the arrests were made.

“Yesterday I proudly joined the protest over the death of George Floyd and stood in solidarity with the protesters,” said Sargent. “The rioting that took place later in the evening was separate from the peaceful rally that I attended earlier. These individuals were not delivering a message but rather promoting violence. They were putting the citizens of our city at risk, along with our officers who came under attack. Our officers showed great restraint and professionalism as they restored order to the neighborhood while being assaulted. Violence is never the answer. Dialogue is. Together, we can move forward in an open and peaceful manner.”

But the recent report from ACLED makes clear a couple of mitigating factors in such incidents, and it’s time to ask serious questions as to whether they were in play here in Worcester the night of the June 1 arrests. First off, there was, nationwide, a perception that the violence associated with the protests was worse than it was.

Reports ACLED, “despite data indicating that demonstrations associated with the BLM movement are overwhelmingly peaceful, one recent poll suggested that 42% of respondents believe ‘most protesters [associated with the BLM movement] are trying to incite violence or destroy property.’” So, while the data bear out that this is obviously not true, one’s forced to wonder if the police — who showed up to a peaceful protest in full riot gear — weren’t already primed to look for violence when none was likely. Reports ACLED, “Authorities have used force — such as firing less-lethal weapons like tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray or beating demonstrators with batons — in over 54% of the demonstrations in which they have engaged.”

This is exactly what happened here. To be fair, there was some violence and looting that night in Worcester, but even that seems, from the perspective of hindsight, unrelated to the protesters who were staging a die-in in the middle C O N T I N U E D O N N E XT PA G E

CITY VOICES

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n my opinion, many of teacher Janice Harvey’s articles are vitriolic with no basis in facts.

I delivered mail on school breaks and from my experience, it needs to be overhauled. I believe in the past 12 years, the Post Office has hemorrhaged around $78 billion in taxpayers dollars but Harvey doesn’t mention that. She also doesn’t mention that around 14,000 mailboxes were removed or replaced under the Obama Administration. The new Postmaster has over 30 years of logistics

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the various accounts, but taken together, they create a very coherent picture.

There were a couple of undeniably legitimate arrests that night, people who were looking to cause damage or to steal from businesses, but the overwhelming majority of the arrests are listed as “disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.”

Those arrests, most of which will be the subjects of court hearings in October, are where we have to pause and ask, “How complicit were the WPD in the circumstances of the conflict? Did they, perhaps inadvertently, create a problem they were looking for, where otherwise none would have otherwise existed?”

That’s an unanswerable question, but for all the protesters who were arrested that night who weren’t arrested for actual crimes, it would seem the best action would be to drop all the charges. It seems almost certain that the situation was initially fueled by a false narrative, then possibly exacerbated by the police. Those possibilities demand a level of community introspection, and we can’t have that without a moment of grace, a moment of letting our guard down and doing some serious — and not just performative — soul searching. This is that moment.

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of the street, and more opportunistic lone actors. No, the protesters were mostly young people, including Clark students. Worcester police described the scene by saying, “Members of the crowd began throwing objects at the police. One officer was struck in the head with a piece of concrete, and others were struck with rocks. Other individuals starting shooting fireworks and Roman candles at the officers. An officer was struck in the chest by fireworks, which burned his uniform and skin.”

Which sounds dire, but one does have to ask at this point how much of the action was provoked by the police presence? Former Worcester Magazine reporter Bill Shaner’s firsthand account is terrifying: “cops in riot gear shoved three young black girls in the back with batons, knocking one to the ground, as they continued to march down the street, chanting ‘move back’ in unison. A line of 50 or 60 of them, double wide, force marching 20 or 30 kids down the street.”

This jibes with accounts from independent journalist Sam Bishop, who videotaped much of the events that night, and the four Clark students who were arrested, one of whom videotaped her phone being taken by police and smashed. There are inconsistencies and errors in

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No stamp of approval for Harvey

experience and is trying to reign in the ineptitude of operation including a bloated overtime mentality.

Could the purported slowdown be caused by disgruntled workers? I also have serious reservations with states sending out mail-in ballots to all registered voters without first verifying that these voters are still alive or still live in the state. My son moved out of state but was still carried on the voter rolls for two years thereafter. Thus, he would have been sent a ballot and “someone” could have obtained his ballot and mailed it back. Harvey should stick with trying to teach since statistics show that Worcester falls behind the state average in student proficiency even though average salaries are higher than the state teacher average ($80,587 vs $80,222 per 2019 Dept.of Ed.). Maybe it’s time to consider School Choice.

Thomas Corrigan lives in Worcester.

COVER STORY

Noh Place like home

Worcester’s all-encompassing artists’ collective of the ’80s is still an inspiration today CRAIG S. SEMON

W

hen it came to music, poetry, performance and visual art in the ’80s, there was no place in Worcester like the relatively short-lived but culturally significant Noh Place Artists’ Collective.

On Saturday March 7, 1987, Noh Place opened its door at 117 Lovell St. for the very first time. And, for the very first time, the City of Worcester had an artists’ cooperative that would feature local artists, musicians, performers and poets together, while drawing in nationally known and award-winning artists, musicians, performers and poets from beyond Worcester.

During its roughly two-year run, Noh Place was also offering something to the performing and visual arts communities that no one else in Worcester was offering.

An open space in the truest sense of the term, Noh Place was a venue where accomplished artists from all walks of life showed their stuff while aspiring artists were given a stage (and/or wall space) to discover, flesh out and refine their art.

“Noh Place needed to be an open forum,” Noh Place chief coconspirator Andres Juarez insisted.

“So I figured we have a community here. We should create an artists’ cooperative that is open to all, one that does not discriminate. We would create a forum where folks

Luna: The Eve of Summer Solstice

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

JONATHAN BLAKE It was the mystery of the moths Powerful thrashing, her Slamming repeatedly into the black Screen as in my bed I read Long after midnight on the porch Above water: It was the terrible Meeting of her will and need I took wonder of, Each crash into the screen Suicidal, the dust of her fine wings Printing the taut mesh, each fury Followed by a moment of stillness, Her heavy and spent, as if after Some great bout of love, her body Slowly rising and falling in that fatigue Before the yellow lamplight called To her again like some mythic siren.

I wanted to know what compelled her, What thoughtless battering we might endure That I could measure it by: I could think of none.

I rose to stand close to her ferocity, Curious, watching, stood until The clinical distance of my world Became a sadness, and I closed The book that entranced me, lay down And turned off the light as if I might End her suffering, as if I was Some merciful god.

In the long stillness after, The furious beat of her wings Still pounded fiercely inside me.

What flame? I thought, slipping Slowly into dream, What flame?

What terrible, terrible singing?

could expand. They didn’t have to be learned scholars. It’s a forum and some of it’s going to suck. We know that. Some of it really did suck but some of it was absolutely wonderful.”

Jonathan Blake, another Noh Place co-conspirator, said the venue was a self-initiated alternative for artists, musicians and poets who didn’t have opportunities in the city to show their art.

“Noh Place began because we were looking for an alternative and to provide an alternative for ourselves and for others to have their voices heard, whether it be music, whether it be art, whether it be poetry,” Blake said. “These were voices that worthy of being heard that nobody was really opening spaces up to. They were excluding them.

Esther Heggie was like that. So you got a feminist lesbian poet in here and writing that stuff. And she was a strong supporter of us and us of her and we said, ‘OK, Esther, come on down and read. Let’s do a book signing for your new book.’”

The seeds of Noh Place first germinated at Worcester State College.

In 1981, Juarez and fellow coconspirator Stephen A. Campiglio were attending Worcester State College, while Blake, who graduated from WSC in 1980, was working part time on campus, and Michel Duncan Merle (yet another Noh Place co-conspirator) was a highly regarded art professor at the college.

All four were poets — Juarez and Campiglio were also musicians; Blake, a playwright; and Merle, a painter, performer and visual artist.

They were also all friends.

Also, at this time, Worcester State College had its Poets’ Club.

“The Poets’ Club was doing a great job bringing in famous writers for a brief (residency) stay or a one-night reading, but the Poets’ Club wasn’t doing anything for the actual students on campus. So I set out to start a workshop for people who were affiliated with the college that were involved in creative writing,” Campiglio said. “So I hung up these posters ( for the workshop)

Craig S. Semon and Cara-jean Cosenza (seated) join forces for a poetry reading at Noh Place.

SUBMIT TED PHOTO

on the way to one of my classes and then I got out of class and, as I was walking back, I noticed that every place I put a poster up had been taken down and thrown out.”

According to Campiglio, the head of the Poets’ Club took all the posters down. So, in the spring of ’81, Campiglio quit the Poets’ Club and started the “Tuesday Night Workshop” anyways, with Juarez, Blake, Merle and other soon-to-be Noh Place regulars in attendance.

“We all brought our poems,” Campiglio said. “We read them to each other. We brought in other people’s poetry and read it. We discussed it. We would pass around a jug of wine.”

In the fall of ’81, Juarez and Campiglio started the Sea Otter Press at the Grove Street Gallery. The literary entity staged weekly workshops

and a few poetry readings, all with the intentions to print a journal someday.

“The joke about Sea Otter Press, we never printed anything,” Campiglio said. “Sea otters were endangered back then, and may still be. And renegade wankers were endangered around that time, too!”

After the Sea Otter Press bellied up in the spring of ’82, the core four members of what would become Noh Place went their separate ways for about four years.

Then, in the spring of ’86, Blake, Campiglio, Juarez and future Noh Place board member Michael J. Lukaszevicz found themselves all living on Castle Street.

“We all found ourselves back in the city on the same street. We were all still very active artists

COVER STORY

What She Wanted CARA FLEMING What she wanted What she really needed Was not, in fact, a trust fund Thinner thighs, Adoring sycophants Or other improbable things What she secretly longed for Above all else Was an omniscient narrator To speak for her Caution her Defend her In those lonely moments between better days A voice that could guide her Comfort her Speak for her In times when her own voice failed And honesty did not come easily Or soon enough To be effective

Why Is My Scalp On Fire?

MICHEL DUNCAN MERLE I feel watched — that amorphous malaise, reeling in memorabilia, albums of self-incrimination I raise my eyes enough to see It’s a thing, it’s visible, the head prickly with garlands of empty semi-abstract strands of foreboding The lightbulb shining behind glycerin tears My armpits hurt as I go drifting through the house Between sacred and secular windows of opportunity On the ragged edge of disaster I realized that I’d been bitten by oddly memorable explosions and hails of bullets of silvered glass — Some would call it “A Hilarious Homage To Cyrano de Kerouac.”

Bill O’Connell reads poetry.

DENISE CAMPIGLIO

ing novice or collaboration of both.

From the get-go, Noh Place had a bi-weekly poetry series, a Sunday jazz series, performances on Friday and Saturdays, wall space for artists on a rotating schedule and a variety of special events as well.

“We purposely set up to welcome people,” Juarez said. “We set up to be an open stage and not to be critical. We purposely set up to make sure we had a place for artistic expression. We wanted folks to do their best.”

In the beginning, Noh Place was certainly a labor of love, with emphasis on labor. The board members constructed all the tables and benches out of donated lumber and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. They also paid the rent out of their collective pockets. Then again, making money was never a big concern for the Noh Place crew.

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bers Noh Place well, and takes the historical trash talk in stride, saying there’s always a tension between established arts organizations and new groups, but that he admired how Noh Place pushed the envelope.

“I enjoyed what they did,” said Martin, adding that many Noh Place regulars eventually were published by the Worcester Review and featured in WCPA-sponsored readings. “I think it was an interesting organization, and I enjoyed that they did different things.”

With a board made up of visual artists, musicians, performers and poets, Noh Place epitomized an open-door policy. It was a welcoming, inviting stage where poetry, music, performance, theater and gallery hung art could find a home together, whether it came from an accomplished creative voice, aspir-

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

and poets,” Campiglio said. “Then it was a natural progression to be thinking about let’s pool all of our energies while we’re all together.”

Lukaszevicz, who also attended Worcester State College at the same time as Juarez and Campiglio, was a Noh Place board member since the beginning.

Lukaszevicz was a guitarist for The Ghost Shadows, alongside Noh Place core members Juarez, who sang, and Charles Majka and Brian Jyringi, who played bass and drums, respectively. Lukaszevicz also booked most of the musical acts at Noh Place.

“Noh Place was a place where you could practice art with no fear,” Lukaszevicz said. “The spectrum of performance there was astonishing. There was, obviously, the poets and Andres was just connected in such a deep community of poets, guys like Stephen Campiglio and Jonathan Blake but also guys like Etheridge Knight, Jean Lozoraitis

“They were always trying to be some sort of counter-revolutionaries. Well, they’re (the WCPA are) all stuck up and they have big names.

We’re just going to have everyone do what they can do and that was the whole idea, to create a space.”

“The Worcester County Poetry Association was the establishment.

They were officious. They had the funding and the big contests. And we were thought of as rebels and renegades,” Campiglio said. “The Worcester Review really wasn’t interested in publishing us. The WCPA didn’t really try to reach out to Noh Place to partner with us for events.”

“The WCPA was not being representative of all the people around in the city and they saw us as a bunch of hooligans,” Blake said. “I think they came to see later that even though we were a bunch of hooligans that we were still serious and that it meant something to us, instead of us just saying, ‘Hey kids, let’s put on a show!’ We’re not Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.”

“The poetry association, after all, was really inspired by professors who were scholars. They taught poetry and I’m sure some of them wrote poetry but, basically, they were academics and that was their approach,” said Merle, who served as the WCPA president for two years. “As far as they were concerned, I was some sort of abomination. But that was back then. They were straight-laced back then. They’re probably a little better now.”

Rodger Martin, the current president of the WCPA, remem-

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

What she needed Was a giant Booming Orator To scream “NO” In all the moments When she sat on her hands And let her heart break Very quietly So as not to be heard

and other folks that he would bring in. But the music went from jazz to folk to new age to classical.”

Although she wasn’t a WSC student, Lozoraitis was also on the Noh Place board. She did poetry readings, a painting show, and musical performances there. She also shared the stage with celebrated folk artist Jacob Knight of West Brookfield, who, turns out, was also a poet.

“I was a fiery feminist and to be able to talk about politics under the guise of poetry was a good way to express my feelings and let people know what was going on, in terms of things happening in Great Brook Valley and Main South,” Lozoraitis said. “Noh Place was a real social and cultural outlet. And Noh Place was a place to exchange political ideas and work together, to write new material in workshops.

It was really a center of alternative culture in the City of Worcester, for a while, anyways.”

Another key player later on, Bill O’Connell, did a lot of the promotional flyers, did his share of poetry readings and alternated Sundays with Jyringi running the Sunday jazz series. Although he didn’t go to Worcester State, O’Connell sat in and read poetry for the first time at Campiglio’s Tuesday Night Workshop.

“The original idea of Noh Place was to give artistic voice to community artists, i.e., us, but also others that were countered to what the Worcester Poetry County Association was doing, and that wasn’t my thing as much as Stephen and Andres’ thing,” O’Connell said.

COVER STORY

“The hammerheads that we were, I remember once we threw a benefit and forgot to collect money at the door. We were just having a good time. When the night was over, we were like, ‘Did any of us collect any money?’” Campiglio recalled. “We, obviously, weren’t in it for the money. Your calling as an artist doesn’t follow any kind of monetary enumeration because it’s your vocation. You get in it for the long haul.”

Noh Place had its last Lovell Street performance on May 29, 1988. After a six-month hiatus, Noh

Place reopened on the second floor of an abandoned printer building at 88 Webster St. on Dec. 10, 1988. Noh Place’s last scheduled event was June 25, 1989. Noh Place existed roughly 14 months on Lovell Street and six months on Webster Street (with six months off in between).

Still, in its short existence, Noh Place had its share of memorable poetry readings and performances.

In 1968, Etheridge Knight saw early parole for armed robbery and his first collection of poetry, “Poems from Prison,” published. A

major poet in the Black Arts Movement, Knight moved to Worcester and began the Free People’s Poetry Workshop. Although he was living in Boston at the time, Knight returned to Worcester on Jan. 9, 1988, to do a workshop during the day at Noh Place, followed by a reading at night.

“Etheridge did a reading and there was a performance with a couple of jazz musicians that got up,” Blake recalled. “We had no idea it would turn into the drumming and music and transcendent reading it did. Etheridge was on

Blowing Glass (for my brother Tom) BILL O’CONNELL The glass blower fingers his trumpet, nimble hands curling neck arched back

The back of a flyer for “Cara’s Poetry Reading.”

sucking in a firestorm crushing his lungs, heart, blood pumping as he blows and blows like Miles, like

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

is blown — a penis, an eye,

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blossoming out of blow,

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Sunday dawn jam cutting solos, blow

Flyer for the Stranger Meets the Ghost Shadows show.

neck craning muscles glistening in the heat flaming woman bulging from her dress scorched man bulging also, blowing out like Dizzy cheeks so sweat-hog foul his shirt reeks and the glass breast swells,

a fist clenching, supple lips, is the climax, sweet breath and melting glass thrust down into the flames again before it cools.

‘…for poets and dandelions fly with without wings’ JEAN LOZORAITIS to all the loves, foolish and otherwiseto all the mornings I have risen in joyto all the lessons I have learned about what it is to be human.

I am grateful for the freedom to create something from nothing -even if it was a lie to get me through the day.

And if a lie becomes a poem, …it’s worth a little more.

COVER STORY

An ode to those who question ANDRES JUAREZ (for my mother who taught me to question and for Stephen Hawking, whose book “A Brief History of Time” reminded me of the importance of questioning.)

I.

II.

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This clear windy night humbles me I, a grieving man in awe with creation.

I raise my hands to the cosmos: And cry.

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The sky is clear and the moon is crescent. A hot summer wind blows.

I’ve come to sit alone, to clear my mind of thoughts which spin and weave, shuffle and stray, and say nothing.

I think of the billions of stars, out there, In the known universe. My mind is fragmented and fills its self with thoughts of Mayan Astronomers and inter-stellar Voyages of the Zapotec ThoughtsofNewton’sdiscoveryofthespectrumof color found in a prism, of Hubbell’s notion of the expanding universe, of Einstein — that Zionist gift to humanity. Of Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington, and Raymond Duncan, folks to shook things and questioned. My thoughts boil and steam, clatter and squeak until the image of Stephen Hawking appears.

Professor Hawking, sitting in his wheelchair, deformed, pained, struggling with speech, exploring, searching, living his life, writing his “A Brief History of Time.”

His life full of meaning and significance, celebrating questioning, becoming part of the continuum covering the globe we call earth kin to the Chinese and their knowledge of rocketry and to those Arabic thinkers who gave us those powerful numerals we count.

Hawking, contributing; challenging; powerful.

The clear sky leads me towards the desert horizon, I’ve often called home I walk towards the horizon, “My mother is dead, she taught me to question,” I say to the stars as I tip an imaginary hat to those who have asked, “How those it work, this universe of ours?”

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

“The room was packed,” Campiglio said. “That night, I did remember to collect the money.”

And there was Merle’s absurdist performance piece about aluminum.

“I was in an aluminum foil costume and a big headdress and I had a script on the back of some signs that I was holding up,” Merle recalled. “The signs had to do with the manufacturing of aluminum and it was very technical.”

“I don’t know if it was part of the show or the audience improvised with the show but we all started chanting aluminum,” Campiglio said. “That’s indelible in my brain that at certain points which Michel Stephen Campiglio (with mask) performs at Noh Place. was on stage, the audience would ROGER GORDY go, ‘Aluminum!’”

In April 1989, “Exit One Door to “Chris Gilbert was one of the fire, as were the musicians. Their Enter Another,” a performance pofew black voices I knew of in (the musician’s) participation was Worcester,” O’Connell said. “He was etry piece with Campiglio, guitarist not planned but just happened, Jim Capone and horn player Dan also such a kind, generous person spontaneity. Noh at its best.”

Stearns, was also a memorable who just loved poetry and art and “After the workshop, we took show. wanted people to be able to do a break for dinner. And, then, “That is when I started getting Etheridge came out and did a read- what they wanted to do.” into improvisation, reading poetry Another successful Noh Place ing that night. And, afterwards, event was “The Stranger Meets The with musicians,” Campiglio said. it turned into a full-blown party,” “Straight readings are fine but we Ghost Shadows” on June 19 and Campiglio recalled. “He (Knight) can spruce things up with readings 20, 1987. crashed in my living room that with musicians too.”

“Michel (Merle), absolutely one night (on a pull-out mattress) … I Noh Place even successfully put of the most talented guys and have a poem I wrote that finishes nicest guys I have ever met, is also on a “Saturday Night Live”-inspired with ‘Etheridge sleeping on my “Comedy Night” show, written by one of those high-class poets that mattress.’”

Lukaszevicz and Jeff Till. couldn’t be beat. And, he had this “Etheridge Knight got really drunk. But, before he got really drunk, I asked him to read one of my favorite poems of his, ‘Feeling (Expletive) Up,’” Juarez said before reciting lines from the poem from memory. “‘(Expletive) god Jesus and all the disciples (expletive) fanon Nixon/and Malcolm (expletive) the revolution (expletive) freedom (expletive)/the whole mutha(expletive) thing/all I want is my woman back/so my soul can sing.’ I always loved that. And he did it.”

“I just remember Etheridge being such a presence and his poetry was a discovery in itself, just that you could write like that from Thought Balloons performs at Noh Place. that experience,” O’Connell said.

SCREEN SHOT MICHAEL LUKASZEVICZ/VIDEO RECORDING MICHEL DUNCAN MERLE “I know Stephen and Andres felt like Etheridge reading there was a validation of what they were trying persona that would live in a lot of “We had a host and a guy (Ernie his poems called ‘The Stranger,’” to do. Just the fact that he showed Grennon) playing piano between Lukaszevicz said. “The Ghost Shadup gave us a sense of ‘Wow, we’re the acts, ” Lukaszevicz said. “It was ows were playing music behind connecting with someone.’” song and dance, a few different a scrim and Michel was up front Christopher Gilbert, the 1983 skits and a two-act play at the end. doing Stranger pieces. And, then, winner of the Walt Whitman Again, people could try anything at the end, the scrim came down Award in Poetry, read on Sept. 24, there.”

1987. Gilbert, who received a Ph.D. and The Ghost Shadows started Another interesting pairing was playing Ghost Shadows songs and in psychology from Clark UniverBlake and O’Connell for a jazz posity, was another nationally known it turned into a big dance party at etry show called “In America.” poet with strong ties to Worcester. the end.”

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

From top, The Ghost Shadows, comprising, from left, bassist Charles Majka, singer Andres Juarez, drummer Brian Jyringi and guitarist Michael Lukaszevicz, perform at Noh Place; Jean Lozoraitis and Jacob Knight join forces for a poetry reading at Noh Place; Stephen Campiglio performs at Noh Place.

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

COVER STORY

SCREEN SHOTS MICHAEL LUKASZEVICZ/VIDEO RECORDING MICHEL DUNCAN MERLE

“The idea was that we had musicians with a rhythm section and we, the poets, were the soloists,” O’Connell recalled. “Each poem was like a solo of some sort and they (the musicians) were keeping the rhythm for us. And we were playing back and forth between the two voices. It was a Kerouac-ian type of thing.”

One of the most ambitious projects Noh Place ever did was holding its “Jazz in Worcester” festival on Feb. 7, 1988, the same day Jazz Worcester scheduled a jazz festival.

“Jazz Worcester was doing a jazz festival but there was no representation of any Worcester jazz artists,” Blake recalled. “So we said, (expletive) that! And we did a twoday thing of rotating jazz musicians in and around the city.”

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Cara-jean Cosenza’s and myself co-headlining a reading on Sept. 10, 1987. It was the first featured reading for both of us Worcester State College alums.

“There was a great camaraderie at Noh Place. It was a community. It was a place that when you went there, you knew you would be entertained and, in some way, forced to think or feel something,” Consenza (now Cara Fleming), said. “People were listening to you and you got to have your feelings heard.”

Other musicians who performed at Noh Place included Matthew Ardizzone, Jim Barclay, Roy Barrows, Michael Bierylo, Michael Boudreau, Ron Carlson, Dick Chase, Chuck and Mud, Alexandra Coates, Charles Coe, Carlos Colon, Ted Conna, The Confuzers, the Dagnello Quartet, the Rich Falco Quartet, Marcia Fluet, Food, Phone, Gas, & Lodging, Forbidden Poets, Jane Garrett, Richard Goulis, Paul Gwiazdowski, The Heffernan Fortune Quartet ( featuring Jim Heffernan on keyboards and Lydia Fortune on vocals), Holiday Clocks, Michael Hurley, Bob Jordan, Joyce Kegeles, Marianne Kreitlow, Frank Lawrence, Fred Levine, Fred Lilienkamp, John McGann, Charles “Reverend” Majka, David Majka, Ray Mason, Meatballs/Fluxus, Jane Miller, Bill O’Connell, Anne O’Connor, The Porch Exchange, Virginia Rubino, Andrea Saussman, Robin Scott, Scott Smith, The Thought Balloons, T.S. Blackstone, Jeffrey “Slick” Wadworth, James White, Jerry Wilfong, Michael Wingfield, the Steve Young Trio,

and John Zaganiacz.

Other poets and storytellers that performed there included Geoff Bain, Nancy Bain, Sarah Bennett, Brother Blue, Jonathan Crowe, Ken Dowen, Terry Farish, Ken Gibbs, Scott Hayman, Ralph A. Hughes, Gary Jacobik, Andre Juarez, Jennifer Justice, Tim Mason, Laura Jehn Menides, Patrick Murphy, Oak and Stone Storytellers, Fran Quinn, Eve Rifka, Bill Ryan, Cheryl Savageau and David Williams.

“We were always open, even to the people who didn’t like us,”

Juarez said.

When they became “a phantom renegade group” without a physical space, Worcester’s premiere artists’ collective of the ’80s became “Noh Place in Time,” putting on random shows at host venues that included the like-minded Worcester Artists Group (which is a story for another day).

“We didn’t have the space,” Campiglio said. “But, we still had the players.”

A Modest Bid (a song)

MICHAEL LUKASZEVICZ The sun is goin’ down very quickly today, but still my life is left undone The leaves are goin’ yellow in their temporary death But I long for just one day alone. Just one day alone It’s a warm and misty evening, the last before the snow As I hurry from one commitment to the next.

The hills call out it’s time, but the leaves they seem to shrug They know I’m behind on the rent. The gas, the phone, and the rent.

And if I find my way out of this rotten, dirty hallway I’ll break out to the land, and dance out my dream A vision holding power to save my little nation A modest bid for immortality. A modest bid ...

Tell me a story that I’ve heard before. The one that makes me feel safe The world, it has no use, for learning something new.

And the truth is too hard to face. The truth is too hard to face The night seeps in. The leaves they cling to blackened silhouettes.

Scared of their final fall.

But they crumble and they drop, with withered dignity And maybe that’s courage after all. Yeah — give me some courage for the fall And if I find my way out of this rotten, dirty hallway I’ll break out to the land, and dance out my dream A vision holding power to save my little nation A modest bid for immortality. A modest bid …

And it’s all goin’ so quickly now. But that’s just the way of a dream Best not to think of all you could have done.

And the ones that you left along the way. Left along the way.

And don’t question why me. ‘Cuz it’s the dream that chooses you.

Just follow its song and be kind along the way.

And remember, you are your own judge.

Yes you — are your own judge And if I find my way out of this rotten, dirty hallway I’ll break out to the land, and dance out my dream A vision holding power to save my little nation A modest bid for immortality.

A modest bid for immortality.

A modest bid for immortality.

A modest bid …

CITY LIFE If you are an artist, or know of a local artist, email WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com. Fair warning, in order to publish your work, you’ll need to provide a small bio and high resolution digital copies of some of your art. We reserve the right to choose what will run, based on resolution and what will reproduce best on newsprint.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

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figurative painter from Northboro and an arts educator. In her career of more than 30 years as an arts educator in public schools, she achieved National Board Professional Teaching status in Early and Middle Childhood Art, became a Massachusetts Master Teacher and mentor and earned a Master’s Degree in Art Education. Among other awards, she most recently received second prize in Grafton’s Small Stones Gallery Festival of the Arts in November.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Marsha M. Gleason is a

CITY LIFE

LIFESTYLE

The Queen’s Cups and 90+ Cellars make a perfect pair SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

that aligning wine with a dish’s sauce is often more rewarding than worairing is a fickle artform. There rying too much about the protein itself. Wine should be sweeter and are guidelines, but no hard rules. Everyone’s palate varies, more acidic than the food in most instances. When it comes to dessert so while I may delight in the pairings, fruity sweets go best with rare indulgence of craft singles and Coca Cola — a foolproof union — my acidic glasses of riesling or chablis.

Chocolate and caramel goodies are more “sophisticated” friends might enhanced by a bold pinot noir or find the combination “offensive.” To cabernet. each her own.

Once in awhile, experts step in Lock 50 Executive Chef Tim Russo once told me, “If it all came out of the and make the pairing process simple, ground together, it’s probably a good like in the case of The Queen’s Cups and 90+ Cellars. 90+. match.”

This month, Cellars Event Market“Yeah, but what about vampires ing Manager Kelsey Lemmon and and garlic?” I pushed him (because I TQC owner Renee King are working am a serious reporter.) together to create a limited batch of “I mean, if it grows together, it goes together,” Russo said. He sighed three wine-based cupcakes using the 90+ Rosé, Riesling and Pinot Noir. and poured me a glass of Orma TosTheir exclusive cupcake drop will roll cana Rosso 2012 — a Bordeaux Red out at TQC on Sept. 10 and 11. They Blend hailing from Tuscany. Then, are guaranteed to sell out. Here’s your he went back to the kitchen and first look: whipped up an anise rubbed wild Sparkling Rosé boar with white beans and black kale Champagne cupcake soaked in called cavolo nero, all from the same 90+ Cellars Lot 33 Rosé, filled with region as my dignified red. One bite raspberries and a rose-colored rosé in, I began to understand. buttercream with sparkles.

I know what you’re thinking. “Just Sweet Strawberry Riesling tell me what to do already, Sarah.

Strawberry cupcake with strawShower me with your deep and wonberry cream dipped in 90+ Cellars derous insights about wine pairing.”

Lot 66 Riesling. Topped with a strawWell, here are a few pointers to get berry buttercream, white chocolate you going. covered strawberry and pipette of You probably know that red wine Riesling. pairs well with red meat, while Pinot Noir Fudge Brownie white wine pairs well with fish and Chocolate cupcake with spiked chicken, but it might surprise you

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

P

ganache inside, topped with a chocolate Pinot Noir mascarpone, brownie piece, chocolate curls, and a pipette of 90+ Cellars Lot 179 Pinot Noir.

To kick off the collab, TQC will be hosting a giveaway on its Instagram page this week where two lucky winners will each receive a $50 gift card to TQC and a half dozen wine cupcakes. You can follow @thequeenscups and @90pluscellars on Instagram to participate. Happy pairing, readers.

The Queen’s Cups’ champagne cupcake, strawberry cupcake and chocolate cupcake (clockwise from right) paired with 90+ Cellars wines.

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

LISTEN UP

Brandie Blaze on fire with ‘Late Bloomer’ VICTOR D. INFANTE

S

ometimes, you show up at the party late. Such is the case with Boston rapper Brandie Blaze’s “Late Bloomer,” which came out way back in December. It was an album that should have been on my radar — I saw her perform last year at the Boston Music Awards — yet somehow I slept on it. That was a mistake, one which I wish to humbly atone for now, because this album is straight-up fire.

Throughout “Late Bloomer,” Blaze puts the album’s persona front and center of every narrative, switching up the way in which an individual point of view can be utilized: She transforms herself in song into a fist sometimes, other times into a dare. She crackles with power at times, and other times just cracks, but in both triumph and heartbreak, she is always presented as a fact. From song to song, she presents the reality of her persona’s life as the thing that cannot be

ignored, a thing that matters: and therein lies the key to appreciating this album: That both the swaggering fury and the brittle moments of vulnerability are the truth.

The album kicks off with the two-fisted “Only 1 Me,” which is a straightforward declaration of defiance: “Tried to destroy me so you can build some cred,” she raps, “But I’ll never bleed for these (racial epithets) call me Blaze Red.” That’s a familiar sentiment in hip-hop, but what makes this song different is

that there’s a sense of something more burbling underneath the song’s surface, and that it begins the album’s emotional heart. She starts with force, and after a brief interlude skit, continues on in that vein with the unsentimental “Heartbreaker,” ft. rapper Red Shaydez, and the subsequent “Model.”

Blaze packs a lot into these songs: A hard exterior, lust that rides the line between being sex positive and perhaps a bit unhealthy, and some unrepentantly

explicit language in her lyrics.

What stands out, though, is the dexterity of her rapping style, how much control she exerts over her diction. That’s something that gets traded for force by a lot of rappers, but Blaze surrenders nothing here, and the effect is arresting. “I’m a model, can’t be my make though,” she refrains, punching each syllable.

“These hoes is all fake though.” The latter line hits the hardest, and it’s all on the strength of her delivery.

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 18

CITY LIFE

TABLE HOPPIN’

Assabet grads team up to offer ‘signature dining’ at retirement community BARBARA M. HOULE

Artisan at Hudson (SageLife) operates a Welcome Center at 10 Technology Drive, Hudson, until the retirement community officially opens. Call (978) 763-7111 for more information about the eight-acre campus near the Assabet River Rail Trail, or visit www. artisanathudson.com.

Haywood and Colena definitely are focused and prepared for opening day.

K

Applebee’s offers kids’ special

Applebee’s Grill + Bar locations has a new fall promotion “Kids Eat Free!” through Sept. 17.

The deal: Guests get one free kids meal with each Applebee’s To Go or delivery order of $12 or more, using promo code: FREEKIDS. Visit www. applebees.com or the Applebee’s mobile app and select from the craveable menu and a favorite meal from the kids menu. Apply promo code at checkout. $12.

Sous chef Shawn Colena, left, and executive chef Ken Haywood hold an artist’s rendering of Artisan at Hudson, which is scheduled to open in November.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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The Castle Restaurant in Leicester will host Wines of the Rhone side Restaurant, interning there as Valley at 3 p.m. Sept. 20. Thirteen in Marlboro. a student at the CIA. “Cooking for the last 35 years, I wines will be tasted. Reservations Haywood and Colena are excited have operated four different kitchens only. Call (508) 892-9090 for more and geared up for their new posifor senior living communities,” said details. tions, which involve more than daily Haywood, who was executive chef/ The Castle’s Classic Grecian food service. The chefs also will cater Feast is scheduled at 4 p.m. Sept. assistant director of dining serevents for the residents, host cooking 27. Cost is $103 per person, inclusive vices at Whitney Place at Natick demos, share their favorite holiday and later worked at the Willows of gratuity and tax. The food will be dishes and even do wine pairings at at Worcester, both Salmon family paired with wine. Limited seating. owned facilities. He helped open the special occasion dinners.

Ask for co-owners Evangeline The chefs credit culinary instrucThe Residence at Melrose Station Nicas or James Nicas when calling tors at Assabet for teaching them in Melrose after 20 years with the the restaurant to reserve. more than just basic cooking techSalmon family.

On the menu: Hors d’oeuvres: niques. “Teachers at Assabet helped Being a chef you have to have a panakopita, spinach and feta cheese changed our lives,” said Haywood. talent for cooking and a passion for triangles wrapped in phyllo dough; “They prepared us for the real life and grilled baby octopus with a lemon, the profession, according to Colena, didn’t sugarcoat things. Many of us who graduated from the Culinary oregano and extra virgin olive oil have worked 12 hour days in restauInstitute of America in Hyde Park, accent; First course: blue mussels rants, knowing the meaning of hard New York. He worked five separate “Dimitri,” steamed in white wine, work and sacrifice. You don’t leave stints at Kennedy’s Irish Pub in fresh herbs, Vidalia onion, garden red Marlboro, the first time as a line cook school and immediately become an peppers and diced tomatoes; Dinner: executive chef.” while a student at Assabet. His was fire roasted leg of lamb with a fresh Haywood said he is especially employed by SAGE Dining Services garden herb rub and served with a grateful to Chef Louis Trudeau, a Inc. as food service director at St. feta cheese-caper-lemon-tomato Sebastian’s School and later as chef graduate and culinary arts teacher cream; Dessert: Evangeline’s tradiat Assabet, who also worked as for Epicurean Feast at its NSTAR tional baklava. executive chef for Marriott Hotels for Headquarters in Westwood and more than 20 years, and chef Margo Boston Scientific in Natick.

If you have a tidbit for the column, Wilson, Assabet’s culinary arts lead He also worked for the former call (508) 868-5282. Send email to Boston landmark Jimmy’s Harbor- teacher. bhoulefood@gmail.com.

ASHLEY GREEN

Chowder Fest, Haywood loves Colena’s chowder recipe even more than his own. “Shawn’s chowder is the best I’ve ever tasted,” said Haywood. “Soups and chowders are the guy’s specialties.”

The dish on the chefs: Haywood had a passion for cooking as a youngster. “I loved watching my mother cook and when I was old enough we cooked together,” he said. “I laugh about it now, but I remember the day when she told me I had to learn to cook because someday I would have to cook for myself. ‘Don’t think someone’s going to do it for you,’” she said. “I used to kid her after that about being the better cook in the family.”

The chef received his bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts and Hotel Management, graduating with honors from Johnson & Wales University in Providence. He worked for the Marriott Corporation for many years and on the Boston restaurant scene at Jimmy’s Harborside Restaurant, Anthony’s Pier 4 and the Top of the Hub. He also was head chef at a number of local restaurants including the former Piccadilly Pub

Castle Restaurant events

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

en Haywood of Marlboro and Shawn A. Colena of Hudson have been friends since they attended the culinary arts program at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlboro in the ’90s. Both men became professional chefs and kept in touch with each other through the years.

Now the duo will work side by side providing “signature dining” at Artisan at Hudson, a retirement community expected to open in early November at 253 Washington St., Hudson.

As executive chef and director of dining services, Haywood chose Colena to be his sous chef in the kitchen. Colena has what it takes to be a head chef ’s right hand, said Kenwood. “He not only has restaurant, corporate and private school dining experience, but also has heart, is a self-starter, dependable and knows what he’s doing.

“We both are hands-on chefs and get to do the things we love, like creating innovative menus featuring fresh local ingredients.,” said Haywood. “Dining at Artisan at Hudson will be as special and upscale as we can make it.”

The general public and future residents of the new boutique rental community got a chance to sample Haywood’s food this summer when the Horseshoe Pub and Restaurant in Hudson featured several of his dishes on their menu during an “Artisan Day” event. Guests not only enjoyed food and schmoozed, but also learned more about Artisan at Hudson, still under construction at that time. Horseshoe Pub’s executive chef prepared food and Haywood helped expedite it.

The event was a huge success, according to Beth Burns, community relations associate at Artisan at Hudson, who works with Director of Community Relations Sheri Mele. Guests were even treated to Haywood’s award-winning chowder, which got rave reviews from guests, according to Burns.

We should note that despite having won Boston’s Best of the Best Chefs competition and Boston

CITY LIFE

FILM

Election films for an odd election year JIM KEOGH

many tense familial moments.

elcome to presidential campaigns, 2020 style. Virtual conventions. Unvisited state fairs. Unshook hands. Unkissed babies.

If you’re aching for some traditional election maneuvering during the pandemic, you may have to turn to the movies. Try these for a start.

•“Election” (1999) – What a strange, wonderful little movie this is. Screenwriter-director Alexander Payne adapted Tom Perrotta’s novel about super-ambitious high-schooler Tracy Flick’s (Reese Witherspoon) crusade for student body presidency, and the scheme concocted by Tracy-loathing teacher Jim McCallister (Matthew Broderick) to stymie her. “Election” represents some of Witherspoon’s best work, and I also admire the performance of Broderick as the put-upon educator who simply can’t abide watching her flourish while his own life falters. Lessons learned: 1. Never underestimate a third-party candidate who gives zero damns. 2. Never run against a quarterback without a solid game plan. 3. Never diss the custodian who empties your trash, especially if you don’t have a paper shredder.

W

• “Weiner” (2016) – This is one of the best films ever made about political failure. In 2013, fallen congressman Anthony Weiner, he of the not-so-surreptitious engorgement pix, attempted to resurrect his career by staging a ballsy, if ultimately disastrous, campaign for mayor of New York City. Weiner gave filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg remarkable access into his fraught personal and public life and then let his ego take over. It’s fascinating to watch someone gifted with such intelligence and loquacity self-destruct before your eyes. And pity his longsuffering wife, Huma Abedin, who looks like she wants to duck behind the sofa every time Weiner invites the camera inside to record one of

•“Napoleon Dynamite” (2004) – I’m sorry if I’m having trouble leaving high school behind in this column, but I can’t overlook my boy Napoleon, the awkward liger-loving teen who orchestrates the presiden-

tial campaign for his buddy Pedro Sanchez. Most of Napoleon’s efforts involve plastering the school with leaflets (even in the urinals) promising Pedro will make his classmates’ dreams come true. But it’s not until speech day that he really shines.

Campaign managers throughout history have done extraordinary things for their candidates. It’s fair to say none, except young Mr. Dynamite, has executed a flawless dance number to the song “Canned Heat”

by Jamiroqui.

•“The Candidate” (1972) – How does a politician move from ideologue to cynic? Robert Redford plays longshot California senatorial candidate Bill McKay, who gains unexpected traction with his nothingto-lose honesty, and, of course his Redford-in-his-prime looks. His purity gets assailed pretty quickly by special-interest requests and a team of handlers who introduce him to the uglier sides of the political-election complex — which is to say all of them are ugly. It would be tempting to place “The Candidate” in a time capsule (a campaign without social media battles!?) except its themes

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LISTEN UP

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 16

It’s about here that Blaze shifts the lens a bit, particularly with “Brandi/Brandie,” where she talks openly about the difference between herself on and off stage.

“They love Blaze ‘cause she a savage,” she raps, “Off stage it’s Brandi with baggage/Never measure up, I can only see where I’m slacking.” It’s jarring after the barrage of earlier punch-drunk songs. Moreover, it’s here she sets the listener up for the emotionally devastating “Fraud,” where she ruminates on being sexually assaulted, and why she didn’t disclose it. It’s a gripping, disarmingly honest song, beginning small with a discussion of impostor syndrome and empty sexual relations, then peeling away layers of defense quickly until the listener is faced with naked, violent truth: “I feel like a coward because I kept it on the low,” she raps with a calm understatement that burns at the end of each syllable. “I care more about my career than (expletive) exposing you/Lost my soul and spirit, can’t

lose my music too/So I just let it go and I just let it be.”

It’s heartbreaking, and Blaze

presents it like a fact. She doesn’t solicit pity, she just holds it up to the light to examine it. It’s almost

Reese Witherspoon stars in “Election.”

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

about the allure of charisma, the absence of integrity, and the corrupting potential of power are ever relevant.

The film brandishes one of the most famous closing lines of any political film when the improbably victorious McKay fixes eyes with his campaign manager and asks, “What do we do now?”

•“The War Room” (1993) – D.A. Pennebaker brought us into the guts of the machine with this insider’s a relief when the album slides into more mundane examinations of bad relationships, such as with “Like You, Pt. 2,” where she raps, “I never liked the circus/I don’t (expletive) around with clowns.” What’s great about these songs is how the persona maintains her dignity amid mistreatment, but even here, she finds layers: As the album moves on to the R&B-fueled “Real Deep,” she begins to confess a shallowness to a sexual relationship. “I’m a hazard this is bio,” she raps, “Try to connect like this is Fios.” There’s a push and pull to her ambivalence which slingshots the listener into the next song, the sexually assertive “Drown.”

Sex is a predominate theme on the album, and as the album winds down, Blaze’s persona explores the contradictions in her own desire: Lust gives way to a sort of ambivalence, and eventually, on “Two,” she pushes those contradictions further, talking about two simultaneous relationships where her lovers are unaware of each other. “Sorry if you thought it was me and you/ but it’s me and two,” she raps, and

look at two of Bill Clinton’s most avid soldiers, George Stephanopoulos and James Carville, who choreographed Clinton’s ascent to the national stage and gave faces to the term “spin doctor.” Pennebaker died last year, but hopefully he saw the 2016 “Documentary Now!” parody of his film, “The Bunker,” that had Bill Hader and Fred Armisen playing hilarious stand-ins for Carville and Stephanopoulos during a vicious 1992 presidential campaign. somehow she manages to explore a sort of culpability for her behavior without apologizing. There’s an honesty about the song that, like most of the album, robs these sorts of things of their taboo, and perhaps that’s the point: Holding these immensely human moments up to examine, without judgment.

The album returns to fighting form on the final track, “Count It,” where she’s joined again by Red Shaydez and Boston rapper Oompa.

The trio close out the album with a wildfire flow that scorches everything in its path, blowing off the album’s emotional journey, each verse escalating the song to a fever pitch, the manic chorus of “You can count it, I’mma get it” intensifying with each repetition. It’s a powerful statement, and for the sense of alienation and emotional distance both the song and the album display, it’s hard not to note that Blaze doesn’t end the album on her own. Perhaps that, too, was also the point. Either way, it’s an incendiary end to a captivating album.

CITY LIFE

THE NEXT DRAFT

Emptying out a beer fridge worth of news MATTHEW TOTA

They could sit at their tables and pick service dogs.

Last year, Redemption Rock had while waiting for their beer and BBQ. The picking was no less successful. 100 submissions, with some 4,500 ast week, I cleaned out my voting for the top dogs.

Stone Cow’s hop yard yielded beer fridge. nearly 100 pounds of hops — some Anybody keeping a second 500 bines, mostly the Cascade variety fridge devoted solely to beer — which was about 20 percent more Greater Good may knows the importance of properly, than last year’s crop. diligently maintaining it, an axiom change the hard Stone Cow used the hops to brew doubly important for me and my seltzer game “Can’t Stop Wet Hop IPA,” set to be college dorm-sized fridge. I need to Many breweries are making some released Sept. 18. constantly rotate out old cans for truly interesting hard seltzers. Then new ones. there’s Greater Good Imperial BrewThe same can be said about puting Co., which last week blew my Redemption Rock’s ting together a beer column. And I’m mind with an 8% alcohol by volume taking time on the unofficial end of Best in Taproom seltzer. summer to give you fresh brewery Next time you go to Redemption And now we know how a brewery news, while also catching up on Rock Brewing Co., don’t be surprised dedicated to high ABV beers handles items that may have languished — if you see an unusually high number the hard seltzer craze. though not yet out of code — in the of dogs, even for a brewery.

Clearly Greater Good scoffs at back of the fridge.

Redemption Rock has brought the notion that hard seltzers must back its Taproom Dogs Calendar fit the low-alcohol beach-pounding Competition. Until Sept. 30, custom- mold. The brewery made something Tree House and its ers can bring their doggos to the tap- more akin to an effervescent orange faithful support room, fill out a short questionnaire tangerine cocktail, that brings the and have their dog’s photo taken. diversity in beer, booziness while remaining light on Online voting will take place calories. distilling industries through October on the best 12 pups.

You can try the seltzer, dubbed On Aug. 30, Tree House Brewing The winning dogs will get the model “Pulpy Dreams,” on tap or in cans Co. debuted its barrel-aging program, treatment with a professional photo to-go. but it wasn’t the ale — a batch of shoot. And their photos will appear its “Tree of Life” barleywine aged in in a calendar that Redemption Rock Tawny port barrels for 16 months — Redemption Rock Brewing Co. is bringing back its tapthat caught my attention, but rather room dogs calendar competition. Figgy appeared on the will release in December. All of the calendar sales benefit NEADS, the way the brewery unveiled it. a Princeton nonprofit that trains cover of last year’s calendar.

Clearly she isn’t camera shy.

Tree House made a small selection PROMOTIONAL PHOTO of the bottles available via a lottery system. You had to pay $1 for a that social media can often become breweries that have contributed to chance to win one, with the money were angered by Tree House’s deciOliver’s foundation. going to support the Michael Jackson sion to both hold a lottery and ask “Today’s over-the-top Massive Foundation for Brewing & Distilling, for the $1 donation to enter it.

Stepping Up Shout-Out goes to the which creates grants for scholarship I can only hope all of these bitter justly famed @TreeHouseBrewCo, awards to black, indigenous and folks have gotten over their initial hailing from the great state of people of color within the brewing negative reactions to see the larger Massachusetts, who just donated and distilling trades. The founda$40,000 to the Michael James Jackson picture: an industry working together tion is named after Michael James toward greater diversity.

Foundation for Brewing and DistillJackson, who was arguably the most ing,” Oliver tweeted graciously. “The influential beer and whiskey writer MJF is directly funding technical Stone Cow continues in the world. education for people of color in the One of Jackson’s disciples, Brooka hoppy tradition brewing and distilling industries. lyn Brewery’s Garret Oliver, started For the last two years, Stone Trust me when I tell you all that our the foundation this year, telling the Cow Brewery in Barre has enlisted industry will be more vibrant, more New York Times that the racial injushundreds of people for help in pickcreative and simply BETTER when tices roiling the country prompted ing its homegrown hops. Farmer all of us are part of it.” him to think more about how he Phil and his flock have turned the Tree House later thanked everycan address the lack of diversity in experiment into a tradition, one that one who donated to the foundation the beer industry, one he has helped highlights Stone Cow’s status as one to buy Tree of Life, adding that it grow for more than 30 y ears. Oliver of the few true farm breweries in the wishes it could have given them is himself a trailblazer in craft beer, Farmer Molly Stevens DuBois of Stone Cow Brewery state and drives home the need for the chance to come to the brewery at once a genius brewer, chef and more breweries to use locally-grown pictured with this year’s hop crop. Molly oversees all and buy the first entry in its barrel author. ingredients. program, first-come, first-served. food production at the farm brewery from seed-to-plate, Tree House’s lottery ended up This year, though, Stone Cow It opted instead to continue its serves as assistant brewer, and manages all barrel-aged raising over $19,400 for the foundahad to adapt. Rather than holding cautious approach to selling beer in tion. The brewery then matched that beers/wild fermentation projects at the brewery. She’s a formal hop-picking event, Stone these pandemic times. amount, making its total donation known as “The Funky Brewster.”

Cow went around asking guests if I hate to even point this out, but a $40,000, joining hundreds of other they wanted to help with the harvest.

SEAN DUBOIS handful of sour folks in the cesspool

L

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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CITY LIFE

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

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

A woman became too ill to care for her cats. They are 12-year-old siblings.

Buddy is an orange male and Pepper is a gray female. They are very nice cats. Pepper is a bit reserved; Buddy greets you immediately. Pepper has thyroid disease that is treated with a medication that she’ll be on for the rest of her life. It’s a small pill that she doesn’t mind taking at all. We don’t think the cats lived with other animals. They are looking for a quiet, comfortable home. Buddy and Pepper qualify for our Senior for Senior Program. Their adoption fee is $100 for both cats.

WARL COVID-19 Procedures As of March 25, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we want to share with you some changes we have implemented so that we can continue to serve the pets and people of our community while keeping our team protected.

• ADOPTIONS: At this time, adoptions are being held BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you are interested in adoption, please visit our website worcesterarl.org/adopt/ to learn more about our available animals then call us at (508) 853-0030 ext.0 or email us at info@worcesterarl.org to schedule an appointment.

• Casual visits to the shelter are prohibited.

We will strictly enforce this in order to keep our animal care team protected while still maintaining the most essential function of our operation... finding homes for animals in need.

• ANIMAL SURRENDERS: Our business practice for surrendering a pet remains the same. All pet owners must contact WARL in advance of surrendering a pet. Please call (508) 853-0030.

• SPAY/NEUTER CLINICS: All scheduled appointments will be honored. If you have a scheduled appointment, we will be contacting you to discuss changes to our drop off/pick up procedures.

• DONATIONS: We will not be accepting linens of any kind or used, stuffed dog toys. While we are grateful for your thoughtfulness, we will not accept these donations if brought to the shelter.

• Pet food, cat litter, and other shelter supplies will be essential in continuing to provide for our animals and to assist community members in need. To avoid unnecessary travel and exposure, items can be purchased online from our Amazon Wishlist - https://www.amazon.com/gp/ registry/wishlist/3AX342JIL73M0

• Weekly training classes are suspended until further notice.

• The WARL Volunteer Program is temporarily suspended. All regular volunteer shifts are on hold. We look forward to welcoming you back as soon as we can.

We have many animals in our care who depend on us to stay healthy and well. The above measures help to protect our staff and community from the spread of COVID - 19 by minimizing face-to-face interactions while continuing to operate only core essential services. Please continue to follow our Facebook page for additional updates. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the shelter at (508) 853-0030 or info@worcesterarl.org.

Thank you for your continued FURiendship and support.

GAMES

J O N E S I N’

Last week's solution

21

©2008, 2020 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1005

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Down 1 “You’ll hear ___ my lawyer!”

2 “Ooh ___!”

3 Singer Cocker who gets a C? 4 Leeway 5 Cindy Brady’s impediment 6 Like private phone numbers 7 Billionaire Branson who gets an F? 8 Price at a dime a dozen, perhaps?

9 Fortune teller 10 They’re added to foot baths 11 “Dilbert” cartoonist Adams who gets an A? 12 Equipment 13 Makes a decision 24 Hot concept 26 Chocolate necessity 27 Sum up 28 It comes straight from the horse’s mouth 31 Fred’s wife, on “I Love Lucy” 32 ___ Maria (liqueur) 40 Get all emotional and teary-eyed 41 Part of GLAAD

45 Fade out, like a light 46 “We ___ song of sorrow ...” (lyric from Saves the Day’s “What Went Wrong”) 47 Beat too fast, like a heart 48 McGregor of “Angels & Demons” 49 Mineral that’s the softest on the Mohs scale 50 Killer whale 52 Bodily system that includes the lungs (abbr.)

53 Acronym that sometimes means “right now” 54 Word after blood or fuel 55 Place to play horsey 57 Dungeons & Dragons game runners, for short 58 Withdrawal symptoms

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

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!

Across 1 It may be fatal 5 Disease contracted by Seal at an early age 10 Brand that pops up frequently in crosswords?

14 Sitar master Shankar 15 ___ ear and out the other 16 Get ready for surgery 17 Couturier Cassini 18 British pottery manufacturer known for bone china 19 City that represents a county 20 Helgenberger of “Erin Brockovich” 21 Less polluted 22 Rowboat need 23 ___-country (Drive-By Truckers’ genre) 25 “Damn, it’s cold out!”

26 “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” network 27 The Hulk’s catalyst 29 Food vendor’s requirement (abbr.)

30 Resource 33 Last name in riding lawnmowers 34 “___ bin ein Berliner” (famous JFK quote) 35 Desert landscape features 36 Spicy spread 37 ___ Na Na (group that preceded Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock) 38 It’s said coming and going 39 Kiddie lit web spinner who gets a B? 42 Fashion line?

43 Cartoonist who created Tintin 44 Insignia on Cardinals caps 45 Hathor or Hera, e.g.

47 Won back 51 John’s 2008 adversary 56 Gave high honors 58 “Out of Africa” author Isak 59 Element taken in supplements 60 Flea market event 61 Sets up tents 62 Brand with the discontinued flavor Grape Watermelon

“Report Card”--How did we do? [#373, Aug. 2008]

By Matt Jones

CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL

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WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma Street., Worcester, MA 01605 Solicitation package may be picked up at the location above or may be downloaded from our website: www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/ TDD (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid.

Separate awards will be made for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest.

Award of all contracts is subject to the approval of the WHA Executive Director or Board of Commissioners. The Operating Agency shall indemnify and hold harmless the WHA and its officers or agents from any and all third party claims arising from activities under these Agreements as set forth in MGL c.258, section 2 as amended.

Bid No. Release Date 20-39 9/11/2020

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S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

Jackson Restrepo - Vice-President of Procurement

Where do I find such cool stuff and helpful services?

My secret is CLASSIFIEDS!

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LAST CALL

John Esler

entrepreneur and philanthropist

J

PHOTO SUBMITTED

ohn Esler is the Founding Committee chair of EforAll’s new Greater Worcester program. EforAll is dedicated to helping under-represented individuals successfully start their own businesses. EforAll works to foster and accelerate social and economic impact through inclusive entrepreneurship in the community.

Briefly describe the organization’s goals and objectives for Worcester.

Our goal is to provide individuals with the support system and tools to start a successful business or nonprofit — leading to new jobs and a more vibrant local economy. EforAll is excited to partner with Worcester’s strong network of community leaders, small business owners and neighbors to help under-represented individuals launch and grow businesses and nonprofits while fostering a community-wide spirit of entrepreneurship.

What is your connection to Central Mass.?

I grew up and Albany, New York, came to the Boston area in 1996 to get my MBA at Babson, and have been a resident of Sutton for 22 years. The business I started in 2004, Esler Companies dba Renewal by Andersen Windows, is located in Northboro.

How did you become invested in EforAll? Lately, I have been focusing on how best to meet the postCOVID, racially aware needs of Worcester, when Barry Maloney induced me to EforAll just three months ago. I believe entrepreneurship is one of the bedrocks on which Worcester’s future should be built, and I loved what EforAll was accomplishing so much that I committed to lead the effort to bring EforAll to Greater Worcester. EforAll, which stands for “Entrepreneurship for All,” is a nonprofit organization based in Massachusetts that provides mentoring and support to budding entrepreneurs in under-resourced communities. EforAll is currently in seven Massachusetts cities, and I’m spearheading the effort to bring it to Worcester. Since inception 10 years ago, EforAll has a strong foundation of success, having

How can the community get involved?

There are so many ways that individuals and organizations can get involved with EforAll Greater Worcester. We are currently looking to hire a local executive director and program manager, who will then begin actively recruiting for aspiring entrepreHas your model proven effecneurs and volunteers who may tive in other cities? want to become a mentor, read EforAll has already successapplications, or teach a class. fully replicated its model in eight And as the Founding Commitlocations across Massachusetts tee chair, I would be remiss if I including Berkshire County, Cape didn’t say that while we are close Cod, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, to our fundraising goal, we are Lynn, South Coast and Roxbury. still interested in talking with Through 2019, participants in any individuals or organizaour business accelerators have tions that may want to make a started 500 businesses, with an financial contribution to help us additional 130 entrepreneurs/ launch EforAll Greater Worcester business owners expected to go and its partner organization, a through the program in 2020. peer-to-peer program called EnThese businesses have created trepreneurs Forever (eforever) in 720 local jobs to date, generwhich small business owners and ated over $25 million in revenue entrepreneurs meet monthly to in 2019, and raised nearly $35 share their business experiences million in capital. And EforAll is and learn from one another under growing outside the state, with the guidance of a trained facilitaits first site in Colorado launching tor, helping to ensure long-term in 2019. It also recently expanded success. its Spanish-language program (EparaTodos) in communities with a high percentage of Spanish-speaking residents.

– Sarah Connell Sanders

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

enables team members to give back to those in need within the communities where they live and do business. Upon retiring from Esler Companies, my wife, Jeanne, and I established the Esler Family Foundation to support local, national and global organizations that advance educational and wellness opportunities for youth. Philanthropic pursuits also include Babson College, Worcester State University, The Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Strong Minds and Young Life, and EforAll. My passion for entrepreneurship is now channeled to mentoring others as a member of the Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Worcester State University, as chair of an effort to bring EforAll to Worcester, and with business students at Babson College, where I earned my MBA.

What are some of the challenges COVID has posed for your rollout?

EforAll has been able to move its Business Accelerator programs and local Pitch Contests online during COVID without any meaningful disruption to the entrepreneurs we serve. While it has been disappointing not to be able to meet the community leaders and organizations championing our cause here in Worcester in person, we remain on track with fundraising and launch timing despite the COVID restrictions.

S E P T E M B E R 10 - 16, 2020

Can you describe your career trajectory?

I am a lifelong entrepreneur who believes doing the right thing, in the long run, is always the most profitable thing. As a youth with a paper route and caddying at a local golf course, I discovered an appetite for working for myself. Engaging others to work with me began during the summer months through my college years, selling souvenirs at Saratoga Springs horse racetrack in upstate New York. Other entrepreneurial ventures include owning Subway franchises and a Betterliving Sunroom dealership before establishing Esler Companies, Renewal by Andersen’s largest national affiliate, in 2004.

While leading Esler Companies, I focused attention on structuring the organization around its core value of love, and to be a business in service first to teammates, second to customers, and third to the community. I am especially proud of establishing the company’s philanthropic arm, Window of Giving, which

trained entrepreneurs who have launched over 500 businesses, with over 70% in business with 75% women-owned, 56% people of color, 53% previously employed and 54% immigrant-owned. In 2020 EforAll will launch 270 new businesses.

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