Worcester Magazine October 17 - 23, 2019

OCTOBER 17 - 23, 2019 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CULTURE • ARTS • DINING • VOICES

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‘I am more than this’ Exhibit at Worcester PopUp creates portrait of struggles

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O CT O B E R 17 - 23, 2019

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Executive Editor David Nordman Editor Nancy Campbell Content Editor Victor D. Infante Reporters Richard Duckett, Bill Shaner Contributing Writers Sam Bonacci, Stephanie Campbell, Sarah Connell Sanders, Gari De Ramos, Robert Duguay, Jason Greenough, Janice Harvey, Barbara Houle, Jim Keogh, Jim Perry, Craig S. Semon, Steve Siddle, Matthew Tota Creative Director Kimberly Vasseur Multi Media Sales Executives Deirdre Baldwin, Debbie Bilodeau, Anne Blake, Kate Carr, Laura Cryan, Diane Galipeau, Ted Genkos, Sammi Iacovone, Bob Kusz, Helen Linnehan, Patrick O’Hara, David Prendiville, Kathy Puffer, Jody Ryan, Henry Rosenthal, Regina Stillings, Randy Weissman Sales Support Jackie Buck, Yanet Ramirez Senior Operations Manager Gary Barth Operations Manager John Cofske WORCESTER MAGAZINE is a news weekly covering Central Massachusetts. We accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts.

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the cover

Art by Amy Kerr Design by Kimberly Vasseur

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‘I am more than this’ Exhibit at Worcester PopUp creates portrait of struggles Story on page 11

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Featured ......................................................................................4 City Voices...................................................................................8 In Case You Missed It ... .......................................................10 Cover Story ...............................................................................11 Artist Spotlight .......................................................................17 Lifestyle......................................................................................18 Table Hoppin’ ..........................................................................20 Listen Up....................................................................................21 Film .............................................................................................22 Film Capsules ..........................................................................23 Calendar ....................................................................................24 Adoption Option ....................................................................28 Games .........................................................................................29 Classifieds .................................................................................30 Last Call .....................................................................................31

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Ghost Story ...

Tobias Forge still feels the best is yet to come for band JASON GREENOUGH

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hen Tobias Forge first brought together the pieces of what would become the Swedish metal phenomenon Ghost, he never expected the band to become anything more than a side note to a much bigger band he would play in, much less one of the biggest metal bands in the world.

But, as he and his small army of Nameless Ghouls make their way around North America this fall on their “Ultimate Tour Named Death” — which brings them to DCU Center on October 21 — he’s happy they did.

In fact, he couldn’t be happier with what lies ahead of them.

Since the band started touring in the U.S., Forge says, it’s been the main goal of his to play a show in every state, and while he isn’t able to hit every state on this go-around, just the fact that he’s able to play shows as big as the bands that have influenced his professional career have, the frontman is on cloud nine. Not to mention, being able to bring the show to new and different markets all over the country has him even more excited, since he won’t have to scale down the band’s stage production.

“When I got the itinerary for this tour, I was excited, because not only were we playing arenas, which is a pretty big sign that you’ve made it, but we were also playing so many different markets,” says Forge. “I’ve always said that one of our goals, aside from playing in certain places, is also that I want to bring our full show to everyone, without segregating between a scaled-down and a full production because of where you are. I want to bring the whole thing everywhere so nobody gets short-changed.”

While it’s new territory for Forge and the band to be headlining arenas, they are certainly no strangers to the size of the rooms, as over the years, the band has toured as support for a number of Metal’s

heaviest hitters such as Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold and Iron Maiden. There’s no discomfort in performing, and Forge admits that since he’s not used to the freedom of full-scale arena stage productions that dwarf that of the opening act, he’s looking forward to making sure that the band’s production amplifies the intensity that they bring to the stage, and feels that cities like Worcester will be in for quite the experience.

“Generally, when you’re doing shows with that format, it becomes way better if it’s 30 shows in a row with the same production, because an arena show takes so much preparation,” says Forge. “As this tour progresses, the production gets better, because we’re able to hammer out the kinks as we get deeper into it. With Worcester being toward the end of the tour, we’ll definitely be in the comfort zone at that point of hammering out all the deficiencies.”

While there’s no doubt the tour’s new and improved production will bring out the hordes of fans who know what to expect from a live Ghost show, Forge is also looking forward to being able to reach the factions of the band’s fanbase that have followed and supported them over the years, but maybe haven’t had the chance to see the band live before, due to geographic placement. Additionally, he’s glad that he can bring them a full setlist from an expanded catalog, instead of the 30-minute sets that brought them through their early days touring in the states.

“It’s definitely one of the most inspiring things knowing that we are now able to come and play to a lot of people, many of whom have seen us over the years, or may have seen us in markets where we haven’t been able to do what we do at other shows,” says Forge. “Obviously, you never go anywhere without the support of your fans, and it feels very rewarding and affirming that we’re able to go out and meet the fans with this thing that we’ve always

COURTESY OF MIKAEL ERIKSSON

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wanted to do for them.”

From a fan’s standpoint, Ghost has achieved greatness. From Forge’s standpoint, he’d agree, but being the type of person he is, he knows that there is always the next level to reach for. He adores the droves of fans that make their way to shows, sing along to every song and buy every album, and he never wants current fans to feel as if he’s looking to replace them, but he knows that there are even more people still to be reached.

Forge always dreamed of playing the Ritz in New York City, and now that he’s played Webster Hall, where the Ritz once took residency, he wants to play Madison Square Garden. The band’s latest full-length studio effort, “Prequelle,” was received with great reception and was nominated for a Grammy, but even so, Forge feels that the best Ghost record has yet to be recorded. He’s not ungrateful by any means when it comes to the band’s rise to heavy metal superstardom, but he knows that there is still so much untapped potential for the band, and he wants to make it a reality, and give the band’s fans nothing but the best.

“I think what we’re delivering this fall is really good, but I know that we can do so much better. Not because of our will, but because of the opportunities, and while I hate to say it, the economy,” says Forge.

“If we take it a few steps further, I know that in 2021 and 2022, there will be a lot of things that people haven’t seen that I’ve had in mind for years that I hopefully get to accomplish at that point. But I really hope that at the end of that tour in 2023, I hope I have the same feeling of wanting to become better, because if you don’t constantly want to get better, then what the (expletive) is the point?”

Ghost: The Ultimate Tour Named Death, with Nothing More When: 8 p.m. Oct. 21 Where: DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester How much: $49.50 for general admission pit; $29.50-$69.50 for reserved seating. dcucenter.com

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FEATURED

‘Eat at Ralph’s. Live Forever!’

A legendary Worcester watering hole hits 40 and is hungry for more CRAIG S. SEMON

meet at Ralph’s and just get on the bus and not know where we were going. It legendary Worcester insti- could be roller skating, out to dinner at Faneuil Hall, or Mac’s Diner.” tution and watering hole, Today, Ralph’s menus pretty much Ralph’s Chadwick Square consists of cheeseburgers, chili, hot Diner is celebrating 40 dogs, grilled cheese, veggie burgers, years this weekend. potato chips, stiff shots and cold beer.

In honor of the occasion, Ralph’s “When Ralph got the liquor will celebrate with two rocking showcases on Saturday, Oct. 19. The first is license, the story is he crossed out with The Performers, The Ballbusters the menu and he wrote, ‘just drink,’” Hemmeter recalled. “And, he said, and Thee Sonomatics at 3 p.m. (cost $10); followed by Corey Glover of Liv- ‘No one complains their mother ing Colour, Dirty Laundry and Huck/ opens a Budweiser better than me.’ I always liked that quote.”

Childhood at 8 p.m. (cost $30).

Saarinen considers Ralph’s In 1979, Ralph N. Moberly and his Chadwick Square Diner’s biggest acwife, Carolyn, bought the Chadwick complishment is how it became the Square Diner, one of the oldest dinpremiere live showcase for the city’s ers in the city, and moved it from 1475 Main St. to the old Northworks budding punk rock scene.

“In the early days of the Wormfactory complex off of Grove Street. town scene, no bars were letting anyAdorned with classic bar fixtures taken from the old Blue Moon Saloon body play. But, Ralph would always open his doors to anybody because in Milford, Ralph’s Chadwick Square he wanted to be different,” Saarinen Diner quickly became the premier said. “Some of them weren’t even of music club in Worcester, attracting age yet, like the Commandos and the the best of the budding local punk Performers back in the early days. and garage music scene, as well as stellar crop of Boston, New York and You also had the Odds (who played 21 consecutive Tuesday nights at nationally known touring bands.

Ralph’s in 1982) playing every night. I “It’s a 1930s diner and Ralph remember the place being so (explefound that perfect spot for it and it tive) crazy, a line out the door. There just fit right in there with the 1860s would be cops standing there and fire station,” current Ralph’s owner five people came out and five people Vincent Hemmeter said. “You have three different bars with three differ- would be allowed in.”

Throughout the ’80s and into the ent atmospheres and a whole lot of early ’90s, no local club could touch characters. Ralph liked the outsider and the underdog and it appealed to Ralph’s popularity. Not only did Ralph’s build a reputation for being me that way. I guess there’s a lot of a place to see really good bands, it people out there that appeals to.” became the in-place to be. Period.

Leonard B. Saarinen, aka L.B. “Ralph’s was an interesting place Worm (the man who coined the because it wasn’t Boston and it wasn’t moniker Wormtown for Worcester), New York. It was in-between but started going to Ralph’s in 1980, a it had this allure,” Letters to Cleo’s year after it opened.

“I was a year late to the party,” Saa- manager (and former Ralph’s band booker) Michael Creamer said. “It was rinen said. “I used to love the Friday afternoon ‘happy hour’ when we still funny because everybody that had had happy hours. It was a buck and a to load in had to come up the stairs.

We would talk to bands on the phone quarter for a Rolling Rock and a free beforehand and they would be like, hot dog.”

‘Oh, we got to go up the stairs … Oh, A Ralph’s longtime mainstay and anointed “Queen of Ralph’s,” Deborah that sucks.’ And the minute they got here, they would walk around for 15 Beaudry-Bloise remembers going to Ralph’s after work, and having Ralph minutes just looking around, saying, ‘Man, I never been in a place like this. (the man) in the back kitchen cookI’ve never seen anything like this. This ing whatever it is he had bought or place is amazing! Man, this place caught that day. should be in Boston or New York.’”

“Ralph was an amazing cook, a In February 1986, Hemmeter quick wit and a funny, funny guy,” started tending bar, flipping cheeseBeaudry-Bloise said. “His employee Christmas parties were legendary. He burgers, and serving piping hot chili would hire a school bus and we would in the diner car portion of Ralph’s

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Chadwick Square Diner, despite having absolutely no experience whatsoever.

“Ralph gave me the register and said, ‘Whatever you don’t know, fake it,’” Hemmeter said. “I faked it for a while and then I realized I was good at it.”

In the ’90s, one of the most popular bands that played at Ralph’s was the Funky Knights, a tight, New York

Ralph’s a hundred times. But there is one particular Missionarys’ gig at Ralph’s in the summer of ’92 that sticks out more than the rest. It was when former couple Caroline Kirohn and Dave Robicheau (on vocals and guitar, respectively, for the Missionarys) erupted into serious onstage drama, worthy of Fleetwood Mac. “So, we’re in the middle of a particular song and they were looking

get along,’ Hemmeter added. “Then again, there was the time a guy attacked a crowd of people with a chainsaw. Oh, my God. That was pretty crazy … And it was on a Friday the 13th too.”

Beaudry-Bloise fondly recalls the night Living Colour, in the height of its popularity, first played Ralph’s.

“Living Colour was an awesome experience,” she said. “I was working

Vincent Hemmeter is the current owner of Ralph’s Chadwick Square Diner.

CHRISTINE PETERSON

funk-punk outfit with a real raunchy sense of humor.

“We saw the Funky Knights in this bar called Continental Divide (in New York). And we were laughing our (expletives) off the whole time.

So we convinced them to come up to Worcester and play for the weekend,” Hemmeter said. “I’d say, just as many people hated them as loved them but the people who loved them must have told everybody that you had to see this train wreck. So on Saturdays (when the Funky Knights played) was always capacity.”

As the drummer for bands that include Bonehead, White Knuckle Sobriety, Mick Lawless and the Reckless Hearts and the Missionarys, Doug Wedge said he must have played

at each other back and forth and Dave started poking Caroline with his headstock (of his guitar), trying to egg her on, get her going. While we’re all playing, Caroline goes up to him and said, ‘Keep it up and I’ll punch your ugly girlfriend (who was in the crowd).’ And, then, after that, Dave shoved her and Caroline threw her microphone and hit Richie (Meliska), the other guitar player in the band.

Caroline and Dave really started grappling with each other,” Wedge recalled. “After that night, the shows started getting better and were always packed with people.”

“One thing about Ralph’s through all the years, there was never many fights. There was always a good mix of people. Yet, everyone seemed to

backstage hospitality, and people were, literally, trying to climb up the building to get in. You could feel the whole place vibrating and shaking like it was just going to cave in. There was amazing energy.”

With his hair past his waist and sweat-drenched, tattoed muscles bulging like the Michelin Man, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins delivered one of the loudest and most intense shows in the history of Ralph’s. It was during the band’s “Slip It In” tour on Oct. 22, 1984.

Waving his gnarly looking hand puppets “Ham Ham” and “Turkey Turkey” to Black Flag’s heavy barrage of high-decible blitzkrieg, Wormtown legend Captain PJ (William LeBlanc) was acknowledged by Rollins, when

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Ralph Moberly opened Ralph’s Chadwick Square Diner in 1979.

T&G FILE PHOTO

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above the rest.

“Ralph’s was my watering hole, and I was a regular there from the early 1990s until 2008, when I got married,” Dunn said. “Way too many stories to list here, and I’ve forgot half or more of those times but, luckily I have photos … I still get asked if I am still a bouncer at Ralph’s, though I never was employed there, but broke up numerous fights in the ‘pit’ at shows, due to my size.”

“I have two accomplishments of which I am particularly proud,” said Doug Moore of Big Dawg and Wilbur and the Dukes. “(Earning) fifth place in a Union 24 spelling bee in the 5th grade at Paxton Center School and, according to the staff, setting the record for the amount of beer sold at Ralph’s in one night with Wilbur and the Dukes (in the summer of 1990).”

In 1997, Hemmeter, after more than 10 years tending bar at Ralph’s, left the renowned music club to open his own namesake, Vincent’s, at 49 Suffolk Street. In November 2002, Moberly sold his namesake bar to Hemmeter and Hemmeter’s shortlived business partner John Palmieri, who also once worked at Ralph’s.

“I didn’t change the feel of it,” Hemmeter insisted, after buying Ralph’s. “I just did all the expensive fixing things that don’t show.”

Moberly, 63, died unexpectedly on March 27, 2008, but his legend and the legacy lives on.

“You got the awful parking lot.

You have the leaky roof (which Hemmeter fixed after he bought it). You got that stupid stairwell, trying to get amps up and down that thing.

You got the cool jukebox. You’re gonna to get some good rock ‘n’ roll.

And you’re gonna get some cheap beer,” Wedge said. “I still love going there. I still love playing there.”

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the singer snapped, “Some people get their aggressions out with music.

Others do it with puppets.”

While many recall the Black Flag show fondly, Rollins remembers it differently.

“The show in 1984 was marked by violence,” Rollins said. “It looked like some people had showed up just to beat up some of the patrons.”

Another major attraction at Ralph’s is the plethora of absurdities, antiquities, eccentricities, oddities, rarities and mounted taxidermy that makes the place one-part amusement park ride, one-part David Lynch dreamscape, one-part Raymond Chandler seediness, one-part Russ Meyers camp, one-part Rod Serling storyline, one-part Tod Browning moodpiece and 100% rock ‘n’ roll.

This includes a humongous blinking eyeball, pop culture murals, mannequin parts, a pair of coffins (including an animatronic one), a lifesize sculpture of “The Tallest Man in the World” and more stuffed animal heads than you can shake a stick at.

“I remember when Ralph had the full Harley hanging upside down from the ceiling,” Saarinen said.

“Ralph’s (the bar’s) was an extension of Ralph’s (the man’s) personality.”

Also prominently display on the second floor, the photos of Rick Blaze (real name Richard Frank Bloise Jr.), the singer for The Ballbusters, who died Aug. 9, 2011, and Scott Ricciuti, the singer-guitarist for Childhood, Huck, Preacher Roe, Pistol Whipped and many other legendary local bands and affiliations, who died April 5, 2012.

“My late husband, Rick Blaze, always said that he wanted to be stuffed and hung in the rafters at Ralph’s when he died,” BeaudryBloise said. “Well, I think human taxidermy is illegal, so I put his ashes in a CD case and we mounted it in the rafters at Ralph’s.”

Charles Membrino of Eddie Japan (who has also been at Ralph’s hundreds of times, both as a performer and a patron) describes the famed Worcester nightspot as the alternative rock equivalent to “Cheers,” just a little more sarcastic.

“I remember Ralph introducing himself to me and a group of friends and asking us, ‘Are you having a good time?’ twice, each,” Membrino said.

“When asked why he asked us twice, Ralph said he wanted to make sure we weren’t going to change our answer and see if he could trust us. It always struck me as funny and sincere.”

At six-foot-nine-inches and 275 pounds, leather jacket-clad, gentle giant Patrick Dunn is longtime Ralph’s patron that, literally and figuratively, hovers head and shoulders

CITY VOICES

Goodbye, Columbus!

Eulogy for a Dive Bar: Patrons react to impending closure

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HARVEY

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JANICE HARVEY

on North American soil. Lisbon, Isabella and Genoa streets were part of my paper route, as were alk about your fallen idols!

First Rudy Guliani and now Columbus and Ferdinand. Every this: Christopher Columbus year we fashioned Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria hats from oak tag, and was Eurotrash! held our own little parade. I only I say this with a heavy heart (while borrowing a joke from Jerry remember the year of his arrival in Seinfeld) as another hero bites the what turned out to be the Bahamas because we recited a poem dust. In truth, we’ve known for a about him “crossing the ocean blue while that the guy we credit with in 1492,” for cryin’ out loud. discovering America wasn’t the As I recall, we weren’t a neighsaint we studied in elementary borhood heavily populated with school. His statues have been Italian American families. We pulled down in cities and towns were mostly Irish Catholic, big across the nation, and his holiday broods with eight or 10 kids each. has been replaced in some states I do remember the Bongovio with “Indigenous Peoples Day.” This is because saluting a guy who and Mancini clans who lived in a three-decker at the top of Columcouldn’t find the West Indies in a paper bag and spent a fair amount bus Street, which made them even more Italian on October 12th. of time marauding, pillaging and As a kid whose mother’s maiden spreading diseases might not be name was Abrazinski, I was denied the best role model. Go figure. We a holiday celebrating my Polish have a sitting president who has to be bleeped on the nightly news, heritage, since there was no Bobby Vinton or Liberace Day. I suffered. is about to be impeached and has Thank goodness my dad was Irish dozens of women accusing him of and I could consider March 17th a the same behavior, but so far, no high holy day. hats emblazoned with the words In the classroom last week, “Make Columbus Admirable Again” we read an article on the groware available on Amazon.

This week, there was no Colum- ing distaste for ol’ Chris and his tendency toward genocide. Many bus Day parade marching down of my students have immigrated Shrewsbury Street in Worcester. from war-torn countries such as Seems the dwindling crowds of past years made the parade hardly Syria and Yemen. They seemed confused by both the adoration worth the effort, though diehard and the vilification of Columbus.

Italian Americans and float fans are vowing to bring it back in 2020. Some things in our culture are I’m not sure why the once-popular difficult to translate, but celebrity promenade has fallen out of favor; worship and falls from grace can’t the Irish parade still seems to draw be uniquely American. Saddam crowds. I have a paper-thin theory Hussein’s statue came down with a thud and I’m thinking in Ghana or that it’s all about weather: we’re Morocco they may have owned a stubbornly in denial regarding the return of the cold in October so we Michael Jackson album or two.

We read a quote from a Restay indoors, while we’re so desperpublican congressman in New ate for warmth by mid-March, we Jersey who said that Columbus’s pretend that 40 degrees is balmy contributions “both good and bad” enough for an Irish knit sweater. should be celebrated. That’s where The sad truth about Chris is the confusion came in — for the tough to take for a kid like me. I kids and me. Afterward, I thought was raised in the Columbus Park neighborhood of Worcester, where that if we celebrate bad contributions, there will very likely be a the old pirate’s name was everystatue of Donald Trump erected at where we looked. The school was the southern border. named after him and the streets I hope it’s Velcroed to the platwere all part of a 365-day-a-year salute to a sailor who never set a foot form for easy removal.

BILL SHANER

n a little more than two weeks, the Dive Bar, a local haunt which held down the northernmost corner of Green Street for years, will close. As reported by Sarah Connell Sanders, the owners decided not to renew a lease with the property owner who, it seems, plans to open another venture to coincide with the opening of Polar Park in 2021.

When the bar closes, it will leave behind a legacy of something larger than a neighborhood bar. In its many iterations, the small, shabby and dimly lit establishment held an outsized role in defining the culture and nightlife of Worcester. From a raucous Pow! Wow! Worcester Secret Walls event, to the hosting of an ambitious food truck, to the aggressively curated craft beer list and even a mayoral debate, the Dive Bar punched above its weight. One longtime customer who declined to go by anything other than “a Green Street gadfly” perhaps put it best.

“It was my first local for all intents and purposes,” the gadfly said.

“Emblematic of Worcester itself.

Needs a new coat of paint, but once you look a little closer, you realize it’s a gem.”

Tom Henderson, another regular patron, said the Dive is a great place to kill an afternoon. He’d go there and draw while sipping on a nice beer on the patio.

“It’s such a peaceful hiding spot for a lot of people and every friend I’ve ever had I’ve taken there and had a good memory with,” he said.

Two weeks ago, he said he requested an Elton John song and the whole bar erupted in singing “Tiny Dancer.”

“The Dive Bar was the furthest place from a dive for a lot of Worcester and it’s sobering to see it close its doors.”

Ownership pair Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski opted not to sign a short-term lease after the property owner, Salvatore Molinari, told them he has plans to launch a family business on the site to coincide with the opening of Polar Park across the street. Molinari could not be reached for comment on the nature of the business.

While the park is only tangentially related to the closing of the Dive, the bar is not the only sign of flight since the announcement. Longtime music hall The Cove Music Hall ( formerly the Lucky Dog Music Hall and Sir Morgan’s Cove) shuttered

recently as the ownership pursues a private sale, and Table Talk Pies is planning to relocate a factory that has occupied the southernmost plot on Green Street for decades. While many successful businesses remain, some find the sudden changes unsettling.

“I don’t think anyone was really prepared to see the Canal District change this much so quickly,” said Zach Comeau, a former Worcester Business Journal reporter who covered many of the changes to the area in the wake of the Polar Park announcement.

“Companies being pushed out of the Canal District like Table Talk and Dive have proved they have staying power, but baseball has not.”

This past Sunday around 9:30 p.m., I ventured to the bar to interview patrons, but the doors were locked — not unusual this late in the season, as the main draw for years has been the bar’s large, comfortable patio, and it was a touch too cold. Instead, I schlepped over to Vincent’s, where I happened to run into one of the Dive’s longtime bartenders, Ashley Troy.

“People really love the Dive Bar. I don’t know what it is — the patio, C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 19

CITY VOICES

WORCESTERIA

Campaign stories go untold BILL SHANER

COLD OFF THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Now that we’re less than a month out from the November City Election, I think we can all agree that it has been an awfully quiet season for so many candidates. I can’t think of one good campaign story off the top of my head right now. Now, there are likely many reasons for this, but one I think we shouldn’t underestimate: there are fewer reporters actively covering this race than there may have ever been — I mean, I don’t know for certain, but it’s safe to say there were more Worcester reporters in 1919 than in 2019; 1819, sort of a stretch, but you get the gist. Now that I’m mostly an arts reporter, I don’t have the time to go to candidate forums and find the things that make for good stories, and when I was doing that last year and the year before, I was one of maybe three or four reporters sniffing around for good campaign stuff. Now, it’s one or two, maybe, and they’re doing 100 things foisted upon them by austere working conditions. So you have a situation where more candidates than ever, at a pivotal moment in Worcester’s history, is just sort of boring. There’s no one there to fish out and distill the nasty or otherwise interesting bits. Nothing to grab onto when it’s just candidates marketing themselves.

NO HUGGING: OK, let me wipe that dripping sarcasm off for a second.

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This story about a kid who got suspended for hugging his gym teacher is absolutely insane. According to the Telegram, a seventh-grader at Forest Grove was suspended for four days for hugging a gym teacher in a way that the administration found too forceful and aggressive. The boy was initially given a 10-day suspension but the parent negotiated it down to four. Now she’s trying to get it off the kid’s record. In a Facebook post on Monday, she expanded on the situation with mind-boggling details.

The most mind-boggling of which is that the superintendent apparently told her that she went down to the gym teacher a few days after the situation happened to “recreate the hug,” which she then found to be aggressive, based on the recreation. Or at least that’s what she told the parent. From the parent: “Is this really how the school department does their investigations??” And also later, she said the gym teacher wanted to meet with the kid to “clear the air.” But apparently didn’t think to do that before initiating a suspension process? The parent also brought up some good questions about implicit bias (see: previous item). Good grief. This is a 12-year-old kid who gave a teacher a hug and now he’s got a suspension on his permanent record. Shameful and embarrassing.

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SWING AND A MISS: Remember the 14 or so action steps Mayor Joe Petty gave Superintendent Maureen Binienda as part of her contract renewal earlier this year? It was a way to ensure the demands of those upset with her management of the school district — especially on race issues — were met, in some way. Well, let’s take a look at how that’s going. In one action item, Petty asked Binienda to incorporate training practices on understanding cultural difference, unconscious bias, understanding racial disparities and trauma. If you work at a normal and well-managed school district, you might be thinking “huh, that’s weird he has to ask for those things, they don’t already do that?” And to that I say, “welcome to Worcester.” But it gets better. In a response to said item recently posted as a supplement to an upcoming meeting, Binienda says she has built a program to “meet the needs of students who have experienced trauma and those with other social-emotional needs.” Weird.

Didn’t see a thing about race, cultural difference or unconscious bias in that sentence. Hm. Weird. Well, at least this current School Committee will hold her to account. They’ve always done such a good job of that, haven’t they?

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ...

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‘The Sleepy Hollow Experience’ at Old Sturbridge Village

As Halloween treats go, “The Sleepy Hollow Experience” at Old Sturbridge Village is one of the more unique, as guests are guided through the village’s countryside, where they encounter characters from the show, including (at a recent performance) Jacob Louchheim as Ichabod Crane, Sophie De Leo as Katrina Van Tassle, Ben Young III as Brom Bones and Leo Thomasian, who portrays The Storyteller. There are scheduled performances Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 3, but check availability, as some shows are sold out.

Photos by Steve Lanava

COVER STORY

‘I am more than this’ Exhibit at Worcester PopUp creates portrait of struggles RICHARD DUCKETT

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“I struggled for a long time and was not at all public about it. It was kept in my immediate family,” she said. But she was struck by the thought, “ ‘I am more than this.’ It was important for me to let people know it (depression) was not my defining feature.”

As people shared their own struggles, Kerr came up with an idea of creating a series of portraits featuring individuals of all ages, with all kinds of struggles, who would write a piece to accompany their portrait describing how they were a lot more than their mental, physical or social challenges.

On Oct. 19, the Worcester PopUp, 20 Franklin St., will host the first public unveiling of “I

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fter Gloucester artist Amy Kerr wrote a blog about grappling with depression late in 2016, she was surprised both by the support she received from people and how some of them talked candidly about what they had been going through.

COVER STORY

Artist Amy Kerr in her backyard in Gloucester.

COURTESY OF MICHELLE DEBAKEY

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Am More: Massachusetts,” 20 new paintings of individuals from around Massachusetts accompanied by essays to remind us that we shouldn’t be defined by a specific life circumstance or situation — there is much more to “us.”

The opening celebration is from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and the exhibition runs from Oct. 19 through Nov. 7. Gallery hours are Tuesdays

through Thursdays noon to 4 p.m.

The Worcester PopUp also hosts a number of different events during which people can view “I Am More: Massachusetts.”

The pastel and colored pencil portraits feature the subjects in their favorite place, accompanied by an essay about how they are more than their postpartum depression, brain cancer, anxiety, addiction, poverty, eating disorder, spinal cord injury, insecurity, sexual abuse, schizoaffective disorder, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, suicide (essay written by a mother), learning disabilities, bullying, PTSD, and surviving the Holocaust. Participants come from Worcester, Westboro, Littleton, Burlington, Mattapan, Lynn, Reading, Leverett, Amherst, Wenham, Feeding Hills, Peabody, Lawrence, Gloucester, Newburyport and Mashpee. The portraits are a warm and inviting depiction of the person.

Their essays are inspiring.

Sometimes others define us, or “we define ourselves. I think it’s just talking about it with each other. We need that reminder (‘I Am More’),” Kerr said.

“I am more than my postpartum depression. I am a sister and daughter who would do anything for her family,” writes one of the subjects in her essay … I am more than my postpartum depression. I am a mother who holds her daughter’s hand every single day … “ In the initial “I Am More” project, Kerr accumulated 16 portraits of people she mostly knew in the Cape Ann community. As Kerr has put it, in January 2107, she “got off the couch and started drawing.” The portraits and accompanying essays have toured local healthcare facilities, schools, libraries, nonprofits

COVER STORY

“Margot and Danny Boy,” 2019. Pastel pencil on sanded paper, 16x20 inches.

AMY KERR

The exhibition includes a Kerr selfportrait.

“Worcester seemed like the natural central place to have the unveiling so all could attend,” she said.

Although the subjects have seen their portraits online, “they haven’t seen the portraits face to face. It will be an opportunity to have a lot of

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and performing arts venues. “It was a healthy venture for me,” Kerr said. And the exhibition was so well received that Kerr decided to extend the project to the rest of the state.

The new 20 “I Am More: Massachusetts” portraits were gradually put together from 2018 until being completed just a few weeks ago.

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COVER STORY

them in one room going through it together.”

However, the subjects are only identified by their first name, out of respect for privacy. “There are a couple who are more public figures.

I just had a general rule of using

Cape Ann community was “overwhelming.”

“I don’t think people (attending) knew what they were getting into. In this case, you’re reading the intimate details of someone’s life. I wasn’t expecting the number of people who

“Ryan M,” 2018. Pastel on sanded paper, 16x20 inches.

AMY KERR

wanted to share — not necessarily their stories, but as a family member.

There were a lot of heavy conversations, but not in a depressing way — ‘now I have some ideas about how I can help them cope.’ “ For the statewide “I Am More: Massachusetts,” Kerr’s approach included contacting nonprofit organizations and treatment centers inquiring if people would be interested in becoming subjects. With privacy a paramount issue, “they’d have to approach me,” she said.

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first names. If they want to be more public, then it’s not my place to do that,” Kerr said.

She recalled that her first attempt to recruit a subject for “I Am More” in the Gloucester area told her “ ‘ I don’t have any more right now,” and declined to take part. Later, “he came back and said ‘if it will help someone I’ll do it’ … Once you get one person it’s easier to get others.

In the original series I knew a lot of the people.”

The “I Am More” opening in the

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COVER STORY

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From that, she would invite people to meet her at a place where they felt comfortable.

“I never knew what was going to come out of the conversation, but people were so open to me I was

PopUp — intended as a creative catalyst and support space that hosts interactive exhibitions, performances, workshops and community meetings — is a great environment for the exhibition, she said. “The idea is

“Ryan,” 2018. Pastel on sanded paper, 16x20 inches AMY KERR

stunned to be so privileged,” she said.

For the portrait, Kerr would take a photograph of the subjects at a location of their choice. “I’ve never said no,” she said of the places she’s taken photographs — even in the ocean with a waterproof camera.

“My request was that I choose the image. I’d go home and draw the image, and they’d go home and write at the same time. It was just mind blowing every time the way they expressed themselves. I was just stunned at how well everyone was able to express different histories,” Kerr said.

Subject by subject, “I Am More Massachusetts” “became an organic impression of people and topics,” she said.

Two of the subjects are from Worcester, including Ryan M. Kerr hopes that Worcester-area schools and nonprofits will be participating in the exhibit, and there will also be opportunities for the public to participate. The nature of the Worcester

to create a space where people can come and talk about the issues and get information.”

After Worcester, “I Am More: Massachusetts” will be traveling to Lawrence, the North Shore, Amherst and Boston through 2020.

Contact Richard Duckett at richard. duckett@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @TGRDuckett.

‘I Am More: Massachusetts’ When: Opening reception, 5 to 8 p.m.

Oct. 19. Runs through Nov. 7 Where: Worcester PopUp, 20 Franklin St., Worcester How much: Free. For more information, visit amykerrdraws.org and worcesterpopup.org

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

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Carol Tripp Martens earned her BFA from Alfred University in New York in the early 1970s. After working and teaching at an art center in southern California, along with showing her work at the prestigious Laguna Beach Arts Festival for several years, she moved to northern Virginia as a resident artist at the Workhouse Arts Center. You will now find her playing with clay, teaching and showing at the Worcester Center for Crafts, as well as at her home studio in Rutland. See more of her work at iokapottery.com

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CITY LIFE

LIFESTYLE

Grace Elton or Lucy Hale?

A Case of Mistaken Identity SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

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hen I first laid eyes on Lucy Hale, I remember leaning over to my husband and whispering, “That woman looks just like Grace Elton from Tower Hill.”

To be fair, Elton and Hale have quite a lot in common. Both women are tall and fair complexioned. They own black cats named Otis and have long dark hair, styled at the same salon — Pageboy. They are close in age, though Elton is a few years younger.

They both moved to Worcester from down south, Elton from Virginia and Hale from Texas. Most distinct is the fact that Elton is the CEO of Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Hale is the CEO of the EcoTarium, two science-based cultural organizations in Central Massachusetts.

The women were formally introduced during summer of 2018 at a focus group for the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the pair hit it off. Elton invited Hale out to the restaurant deadhorse hill where, over dinner, the women discovered they were neighbors.

When someone from the neighborhood kindly offered to carpool with Hale to an early morning running group, she declined. The neighbor was surprised, swearing Hale had previously attended many of the workouts with her dog. “Oh, you’re thinking of Grace!” Hale explained.

For a while, the confusion was amusing. When one man praised Hale for her organization’s winter lights display, she thought maybe he was making a programming suggestion for the EcoTarium until

the mixup became clear. “I think you think I’m Grace from Tower Hill; I’m actually Lucy from the EcoTarium,” she informed him. This would not be the last time.

Hale was publicly introduced as Elton on no fewer than six occasions during her first year in Worcester.

She would routinely correct people, saying, “Oh, I’m actually Lucy, from the EcoTarium.” Still, the jumbled identities persisted.

“I even had someone go to introduce me, only to be cut off by the other person who said, ‘We’ve actually met at Tower Hill. You’re Grace, right?’” To which I politely said, “No, I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’m Lucy from the EcoTarium.”

The same is true for Elton who shared that she now automatically introduces herself as “Grace from Tower Hill,” even if she has met the person a dozen times. At her own fundraising Garden Party at Tower Hill, she was shaking hands with someone who began examining her wrist, looking for a scar and inquiring about the healing process. “Oh, that’s Lucy from the EcoTarium.

She broke her wrist this past spring,” Elton told the individual, whom she had thought she knew quite well.

I found these stories sort of cute until I began to imagine what it would be like to have someone else get credit for my accomplishments, or to have someone attribute another woman’s contributions to me without my knowledge. Perception is reality. In that respect, Elton and Hale are much better sports than I am.

Moving forward, I feel that we owe two compelling women with

CD RELEASE

At long last, Johnny Blue Horn releases album JIM PERRY

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t’s what he does. It’s what he has always done. John Moriconi, aka “Johnny Blue Horn,” has spent decades roaming the clubs of Boston and Metro West. His trade-

Grace Elton of Tower Hill, left, and Lucy Hale of the EcoTarium.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

two powerful resumes recognition as two separate people in this city.

Allow me to assist. Here are some telltale signs for the next time you find yourself across the table from Elton or Hale: Hale has a scar on her right arm, a pierced nose, tattoos, red hair, and glasses. “I can’t keep a plant alive to save my (or its) life, but any animal I’m good with,” she adds. Elton loves to garden and keeps full grown banana plants in her living room all winter long.

Elton is a diehard Florida Gator fan and loves college football. She roots for the Washington Nationals, while Hale favors the Red Sox. Elton runs the stadium stairs at November Project nearly every Wednesday, while Hale declares she “only runs when chased.”

To get to know these two women as active members of the community is a privilege. To acknowledge their accomplishments as individuals is a good start.

mark blue trumpet in tow, Johnny entertains audiences with his big, powerful voice, stylish horn playing, and addictive smile.

The one thing missing was his own album. After all these years, he has finally fulfilled that wish.

And it was worth the wait.

The CD, “It’s What I Do,” is a crosssection of the music Moriconi loves, and includes a handful of excellent original songs, as well as some soulful covers that he makes his own.

Backed by members of his current band, The Caretakers, Johnny creates a live atmosphere, preserving that feeling by keeping the overdubs at a minimum.

The CD’s opener, “Destination Love,” has been a live staple of Johnny’s for years. Choosing it to open his first solo recording was

CITY LIFE

CD RELEASE

DIVE BAR

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smart indeed.

After a John Hiatt cover, “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here,” Moriconi knocks it out of the park with the brilliantly chosen Lou Rawls classic, “A Natural Man.” Johnny then gives the listener three straight originals, proving his mettle as a songwriter. “Lost & Found” highlights a memorable melody, which floats over standard pop changes. Johnny Juxo guests on the squeezebox, giving the arrangement a perfect complement.

A balanced mix of blues, soul and R&B round out the song list. Johnny’s choice of cover songs is sheer perfection, including the classics “Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues),” followed by Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia,” both lovingly performed.

On the closer, BB King’s “We’re Gonna Make It,” the arrangement is augmented by two saxes and some guest background vocalists, creating an ideal coda to the package.

You can hear Johnny perform as a guest with We & the Dawg Oct. 19 at the Wong Dynasty in Holden.

it’s dark lit, it’s just a staple,” she said.

When asked about the circumstances of the closure, Troy only said she wished they had more time to put on a great party. There is an event planned for Nov. 2, but still. The Dive, she said, deserves a big party, and it leaves in the wake of its closure big shoes to fill.

“What the Dive was attracted people to that part of Worcester,” she said. “Whatever they make it into, I don’t think it’s necessarily going to bring in the same revenue or the same type of people.”

One of the most recent, and most innovative, features of the bar has been the MamaRoux food truck permanently stationed in the back patio. From the small and colorfully adorned trailer, chef Jonathan Demoga served up an ambitious and always rotating menu of New Orleans-style fare.

“The clientele has ranged from artists to politicians, punks to suits,” said Demoga. “Good food

and beer bring people together.

The Dive was a testament to that.”

Over the past three years, Demoga said he had a lot of fun with a unique situation.

“I think we proved to our crowd that great food and beer can live anywhere, not just in expensively built-out restaurants but sometimes in a place called ‘the Dive Bar,’” he said. “I think it’s really cool that soo many people care about what we accomplished back there, and I’m forever grateful.”

While the Dive is on the way out, Demoga said MamaRoux is just getting started. Currently, he and his mother, with whom he jointly runs the truck, are considering options. As far as what the Dive, and its closure, means for the city, Demoga said it’s just a shame.

“Ultimately it’s another piece of the city’s soul lost to time, and the times are changing,” he said.

“Places like the Dive are what attracted new life to the city in the first place. In a lot of ways the Dive cast a shadow so big it swallowed it up.”

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 & SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 • 10 AM - 5 PM

Saturday

Great Maine Lumber Jack Show 3 Shows Daily!

Live Music Sat., 11am-1:30pm Coal Boilers; 2-4:30pm Fellowship of the King (Elvis) Sun., 11am-1:30pm The HouseTones; 2-4:30pm Playback

Huge Vendor Fair 2 Each Day!

with more than 150 craft & farmers’ market vendors!

Plenty to eat with assorted food trucks

Family-Fun Activities Inflatables, petting zoo, climbing wall, face painters, entertainers, magic shows

10th Annual GREAT New England Apple Pie Contest Judging Starts at 11am

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For more information and to buy tickets, visit wachusett.com

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Blueberry Pie Eating Contests

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SCENIC FOLIAGE SKYRIDE

36TH ANNUAL

CITY LIFE

TABLE HOPPIN’

Padavano's plans Last Call farewell bash BARBARA M. HOULE

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he announcement last week that Padavano’s Place in Worcester was sold after a five year run on Shrewsbury Street probably caught some diners by surprise.

Owners Rose-Ellen Padavano and Angela Padavano said the restaurant had been on the market for a while, and the sale will allow them more time to concentrate on their first restaurant, Rosalina’s Kitchen on Hamilton Street in Worcester.

Restaurants face big challenges, with labor shortages on the forefront, said the women. “It was time to move on,” said Angela Padavano.

Jon Pittsley and Edinei (Eddy) Rocco bought Padavano’s, renaming it The Woo Bar & Grill, hoping for a grand opening before the first of the year. They officially take over the space on Nov. 1.

Rose-Ellen and Angela Padavao will hold Last Call, a “blow out party,” at Padvano’s Place, 358 Shrewsbury St., at 1 p.m. Oct. 27. No cover for the farewell party that will feature food and several local bands.

Get ready to schmooze! We’re betting foodies will have plenty to say about the ever-changing Worcester restaurant scene.

At Rosalina’s Kitchen, 831 Hamilton St., executive chef Rose-Ellen Padavano will work the back of the house with chef Pete Blodgett, who has worked for the owners for more than five years. Angela Padavano will continue command of the front of the house, with Rose-Ellen greeting guests whenever she can.

The popularity of this BYOB restaurant is not only Italian food, but also a pre- fixe three-course menu for $20, offered Wednesday and Thursday.

The homemade ravioli specials served at Rosalina’s are considered a fresh pasta lover’s dream. “The restaurant is known for ravioli, and we know we can’t run out of them,” said Rose-Ellen Padavano, who annually teaches hands-on ravioli making classes. The next one is set for 1 p.m.

Nov. 10 at the restaurant. The $60 cost (per person) includes lunch and ravioli to take home. It’s BYOB. Call the restaurant, (508) 926-887, to reserve a place. Visit rosalinaskitchen. com; connect on Facebook.

About the owners of The Woo Bar & Grill: Jon Pittsley and Edinei Rocco

Angela Padavano, left, and Rose-Ellen Padavano are Worcester residents, both in their 40s, who decided to live their dream of owning a restaurant.

Pittsley worked in management at Dolphin Seafood Restaurant in Natick for 23 year, and he also worked for the late Bob Bonin, owner of the well-known Ground Round in Shrewsbury. Rocco is director of environmental services at Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center. He also has worked in the restaurant industry.

The Woo will be a “very familyfriendly, neighborhood restaurant,” according to the owners, who plan to include everything from burgers to pasta on the menu. The business will be open for lunch and dinner daily, and the restaurant dining space and kitchen will be “refreshed” before the doors open. Pittsley will be at the front of house and Rocco will be head chef. “We are already fully staffed,” said Pittsley.

Figs & Pigs departing DCU

“Something New, Coming Soon!” was the Oct. 11 post from Figs & Pigs at the DCU Center, announcing the eatery had closed.

The message: “We would like to thank our loyal customers for their support during our time of cooking up delicious eats. Need not to worry, as something brand new is coming soon to our space and we know you will love it just the same!”

DCU’s General Manager Sandra Dunn said a new tenant would take over the eatery space on Nov. 1, with plans to open sometime in January. The space will be renovated and refreshed, she said, adding that the tenant expects to keep the same

hours as the previous eatery, but could expand them when the business is up and running.

Information about the tenant will be announced at a later time, according to Dunn, who said, “We’re thrilled to have the new eatery move in.”

Executive chef Candace (Candy) Murphy opened the incubator eatery Figs & Pigs in 2015 and managed it until last year when she accepted a position as executive chef with Sodexo Corporate Services.

Chef Araujo wins Chopped!/Worcester

Rick Araujo is the executive chef who won the coveted “Golden Cleaver” Award at Chopped!/ Worcester 2019, the fundraiser for Jeremiah’s Inn held last week at Maironis Park Banquet Hall in Shrewsbury.

Araujo, who represented Lettuce Be Local in Sterling (Central Mass Food Hub), and three other chefs proved their culinary expertise in creating an appetizer and entrée using ingredients commonly found in food pantries. When the mystery bags were opened the chefs discovered they had to use unsalted matzos, black beans, whole water chestnuts and canned salmon for the appetizer. For the entrée, chefs were given Idahoan Classic Mashed with Butter & Cream potatoes, sliced pears, Trappist Hot Pepper Jelly and clam juice. Chefs were allowed to incorporate other items, such as produce, sauces, etc.

The chefs originally had 30 minutes to prepare both dishes, but several minutes into cooking they were handed a pork chop (protein) and given 10 more minutes on the

clock. The pork chop was one of those oops moments, and the chefs took it in stride, commenting that the same thing can and does happen in restaurant kitchens.

Bill Bourbeau, executive chef/ GM of The Boynton Restaurant & Spirits in Worcester, was runner-up, followed by Chris Bairos, executive chef representing Broth in Worcester, and Lauren Fiores, a local chef who previously worked at Worcester Country Club and first-time culinary competitor.

Janelle L. Wilson, executive director at Jeremiah’s Inn, said this year’s Chopped event was so successful it topped ticket sales from the past two years. All the proceeds of the event directly support programming, she said.

According to Wilson, 30 percent of Worcester’s children live in a household that struggles to meet their basic food needs. Jeremiah’s Inn Nutrition Center provides food to more than 8,000 individuals each year. Thirty percent of the inn’s clients are under the age of 18 and another 30 percent are 65 or older.

Residential recovery services are provided to more than 100 men each year. Learn more about Jeremiah’s Inn’s services at jeremiahsinn.com.

Wilson said Chopped! wouldn’t have happened without sponsors such as Fallon Health, Reliant Medical Group, Savers Bank, Smith, Sullivan & Brown, PC, William F. Lynch, LEI Corporation, Teamsters Local 170, Bay State Savings Bank, Masterman’s, O’Connor Maloney & Co, M3 Innovations Inc., Angel Guard Products Inc., HeadShop Hair Factory and Cherie’s Soul Creations.

Congrats to Araujo and competing chefs.

Orin Swift wine dinner Oct. 23

Arturo’s Ristorante in Westboro will present an Orin Swift Wine Dinner ( five courses), beginning at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23.

Cost, $125 per person, includes tax and gratuity. Call (508) 366-1881 to reserve. Visit arturosristorante. com to learn more about the menu and winery.

If you have a tidbit for the column, call (508) 868-5282. Send email to bhoulefood@gmail.com.

CITY LIFE

LISTEN UP

The Marshall Pass delivers lovely, wistful ‘Ghost Land’ VICTOR D. INFANTE

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What are we when we’ve lost everything, but are still breathing?

There are no answers here, but there’s a well of delicate sadness in Arsenault’s instrumentation that seems to speak to the question, even more than Rawding’s lyrics.

The answer is ineffable, and can’t be spoken with words alone. When the album concludes with “The Day Llewelyn Died,” an overt mulling of Americana, Rawding widens the lens, taking a sense of grief that had seemed personal and expanding it to an unthinkable scale: “The church still stands in disrepair,” he sings, “As a sad reminder of what happened there/And every stone that falls to the ground/Is for another soul buried in that town.”

Grief is always personal, and if there’s a lesson to be learned from “Ghost Lands,” it’s that ultimately it burns at us all. It’s an ashen sort of realization, but as the last notes pass, there’s a feeling of relief, a sense of being clean, of being able to start again.

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t’s not surprising that “Ghost Land,” the latest EP from Worcester musicians Duncan Arsenault and Craig Rawding, collaborating here as The Marshall Pass, is a beautiful piece of work.

Both artists are veterans of numerous Worcester bands, and their praises have been widely sung. No, what’s interesting about “Ghost Land” is both its melancholy tone, and the cohesion of its emotional narrative.

Coming in at a slim five songs, the album can be split into three sections. The first section, comprising the opening songs “Waiting for the Shoe to Drop” and “Blood Riders,” bespeak a sort of sense of dread. Arsenault plays a subtle, understated riff that rolls like a gentle stream, while Rawding’s vocals fall softly, restrained. There’s a sense of anticipation in the song, a sense of gentle resignation that intensifies when it gives way to “Blood Riders.”

“It’s been the same old story,” sings Rawding, “since Abel was felled/The weak gonna die/The strong gonna kill/Someday there’ll be a judgment/that’ll sort that ill/ But ‘till then blood riders/coming up the hill.”

Arsenault is playing slow, bluesy music, which is sometimes punched up by Rawding’s harmonica, but the duo’s immense sense of patience with each song is both unusual and immensely rewarding. “Blood Riders” fades, and “Cold Day in Hell” seeps in, feeling almost inevitable. In a lot of ways, this is the only song in the EP’s second section, a caesura of sorts, as Rawding’s persona mulls a sort of acceptance with his lot, and the result is wistful and mildly bitter, thoughts such as “Will be a cold day in hell/when everything goes well” give way to, “Nothing ever falls where you thought in your mind/

But it works out fine.”

There’s no joy in those lyrics’ delivery, but the punch of smoldering emotion rolls into the EP’s final segment, which centers on loss and grief. The album’s penultimate song, “Lost Horizon,” literally finds the album’s persona outside of everything he knows: “When you’ve lost it all/ Either walk or crawl/We walked on ’til we lost the horizon.”

CITY LIFE

FILM

Drawing humor from despair JIM KEOGH

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f you approach strangers on the street and ask, “Which antidepressant are you on?” what percentage of them would respond, “How did you know I’m on an antidepressant?” According to a 2017 study by the American Psychological Association, the answer is about 13 percent. The figure seems low to me, but my unscientific perception may be fueled by the bounty of television commercials advertising medications to help people battle the darkness.

As an illness, depression — and its life partner, anxiety — is no longer stashed in the attic like Boo Radley, rarely acknowledged and then only in hushed terms. Anyone who has watched a loved one suffer knows the issue needed a public airing — and nobody is more public about it than comedian Gary Gulman.

The Peabody native is starring in his own HBO special, “Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh,” in which he lays bare his lifelong struggle with mental illness. Mixing standup with filmed segments featuring his mother, wife and therapist, Gulman reveals the particulars of a paralyzing disease that derailed him so completely he abandoned his career and moved into his childhood bedroom, then later landed in a psych hospital. He brilliantly finds the funny in the pain, offering candid reflections that make you laugh and wince. At his lowest point, he notes, sex was essentially impossible because of the difficulty involved with making love “in the fetal position!”

Cinema has given us plenty of fictionalized accounts of people battling mental illness. “The Silver Linings Playbook” bored into the topic of bipolar disruption, “Revolutionary Road” exposed the danger of disregarding the signs of distress, “Manchester by the Sea” and “Ordinary People” examined how a traumatic event can short-circuit a family. One of my favorite takes on the murky nature of depression occurs in the opening narration of “American Beauty,” when Kevin Spacey’s suburban family man dozes

in the backseat during his commute to a joyless office job: “I have lost something. I’m not exactly sure what it is. But I know I didn’t always feel this … sedated.”

What I love about Gulman is his unsparing honesty — including acknowledgment of his actual sedation. He ticks off every antidepressant he’s ever tried, including a modified horse tranquilizer, that offered only temporary relief. Yet even with their transient rewards, they were better than the two “cures” he says were proposed in less enlightened times: “Get over it!” and “What do you have to be depressed about?”

Gulman talks about what it’s like to be a big man physically — he’s 6’6”, 250 pounds — with a “soft” disposition. A sensitive kid, he was catnip to school bullies in the ‘70s and ‘80s. “I grew up in a time where the definition of manhood was so narrow,” he recalls. “You were either Clint Eastwood or you were Richard Simmons. There was nothing in between. There were no Paul Rudds.

No kind-eyed Mark Ruffalos.” In Gulman’s childhood world, the other boys considered his favorite drink, Sprite, a “feminine beverage.” Who knew?

I’ve long admired Gulman’s smart, out-of-left-field observations (Google his take on Dorothy’s farewell to the Scarecrow at the end of “The Wizard of Oz”), but “The Great Depresh” transcends stagecraft. This is a man eager to tell you what it’s like to bob in hurricane-churned waters, fighting the urge to give up and sink. It’s brave and hilarious and raw. Buy that man a Sprite.

CITY LIFE

FILM CAPSULES Lorene Scafaria; based on a magazine article by Jessica Pressler. (1:50) R. “It Chapter Two” — It’s 27 years later and the evil returns to Derry, Maine.

James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor. R. “Jexi” — A pop culture blogger gets a little too familiar with the digital assistant on his smartphone. With Adam Devine, Rose Byrne, Alexandra Shipp, Ron Funches, Charlyne Yi, Wanda Sykes, Justin Hartley, Kid Cudi, Michael Pena. Written and directed by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore. (1:24:) R. “Joker” — Joaquin Phoenix takes on the role of Gotham’s notorious mad clown in this standalone character study/origin story. With Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, Shea Whigham. Written

by Todd Phillips, Scott Silver; based on characters from DC Comics. Directed

by Phillips. (2:02) R. “Judy” — Renée Zellweger portrays Judy Garland during the legendary entertainer’s run of sold-out stage shows in 1968 London. With Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon. Written by Tom Edge; based on a play by Peter Quilter.

Directed by Rupert Goold. (1:58) NR. “Lucy in the Sky” — Natalie Portman stars as an astronaut who begins to lose her grip on reality after returning from a mission in space. With Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, Ellen Burstyn, Jeffrey Donovan, Tig Notaro.

Directed by Hawley. (2:04) R. “Rambo: Last Blood” — Sylvester Stallone’s venerable action hero embarks on a vengeful final mission.

With Paz Vega. Written by Matthew Cirulnick, Stallone; story by Stallone.

Directed by Adrian Grunberg. (1:40) R.

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“Abominable” — Three friends try to reunite a young Yeti with his family in the Himalayas in this animated adventure.

With the voices of Chloe Bennet, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson. Written and directed by Jill Culton. (1:32) PG-13.

“Ad Astra” — Brad Pitt stars as an astronaut searching for his father in the outer realms of the solar system.

With Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland. (2:02) PG-13.

“The Addams Family” — Cartoonist Charles Addams’ creepy, kooky clan returns to the big screen in animated form. Voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Allison Janney, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara. (1:45) PG. “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” — The teen explorer from the animated series leads her friends on a jungle adventure in this live-action tale.

With Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Pena, Eva Longoria, Temuera Morrison. (1:42) PG. “Downton Abbey” — The Crawleys and their staff prepare for a royal visit in this big-screen adaptation. With Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Matthew Goode. (2:02) PG. “Gemini Man” — Ang Lee directs Will Smith in this action-thriller about an elite assassin who faces off against his younger doppelganger. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong. Written by David Benioff, Darren Lemke, Billy Ray; story

by Benioff, Lemke. (1:57) PG-13.

“Hustlers” — Former strip club workers plan to take down a group of Wall Street players. With Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Mercedes Ruehl, Lizzo, Cardi B. Written and directed by

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THINGS TO DO

‘Freedom of the Press’

COMPILED BY RICHARD DUCKETT, VICTOR D. INFANTE AND CHARLENE ARSENAULT free. To register for either the “Images of Women During the Thursday, Oct. 17 morning or afternoon sessions Weimar Republic in Germany,” please contact Aileen Novick at and Michelle Vangen, PhD, Art Story Time — Terrific 2’s & 3’s: AileenNovick@worcesterart.org 10:30-11:30 a.m. Oct. 17, Boylston History Professor, Kingsborough or call (508) 793-4341.

Community College, CUNY, will Public Library, 695 Main St., Horror Author Panel: Five authors discuss “Images of Women during Boylston. For information: (508) discuss their work, 6-8 p.m. Oct. 869-2371, llstretton@cwmars.org. the Weimar Republic, and Images 18, Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Plaza of Maternity in Otto Dix.” A Celebration of Authors 541 D Lincoln St., Worcester. For Joslyn Fox Presents Drag Queen 2019 Worcester Public Library Bingo: 6 p.m. Oct. 17, The Pavilion information: lisa@lisashea.com.

Foundation: featuring authors Free. at the Beer Garden, 66 Franklin Robin Cook, Jarrett J. Krosoczka,

By Heart — Conversations with William Landay and Steven Rowley St., Worcester. $10 to play.

Martin Luther’s Small Catechism: Thursday Book Club: discussion with moderator Stephanie Pasha, 6-3 p.m. Oct. 18, Trinity Lutheran of “Washington Black” by Esi 5:30-9 p.m. Oct. 17, Mercantile Church, 73 Lancaster S., Worcester.

Edugyan, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, Center, 100 Front St., Worcester.

Cost: $45-$75.

Boylston Public Library, 695 Main Cost: $125. For information: (508) St., Boylston. For information: (508) Halloween Hike at “Boo” Meadow 799-1656.

Brook: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 18, 869-2371, efurse@cwmars.org.

Master Series Third Thursdays Mass Audubon’s Broad Meadow Thursday night Cornhole at — With Child Otto Dix/Carmen Winant: 6-8 p.m. Oct. 17, Worcester Greater Good Brewery: 7-9:30 p.m. Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, 414 Massasoit Oct. 17, Greater Good Imperial Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St., Road, Worcester. Cost: $7-$10.

Brew Co., 55 Millbrook St., Worcester. Cost: $14-$18. For For information: bmbrook@ Worcester. Cost: Free. information: information@ massaudubon.org.

Carol Burnett: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, worcesterart.org. Ute Tellini, “Scared of Revolution”: screening, Hanover Theatre, 554 Main St., former editor of the Woman’s 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 18, Park View Worcester. $68-$250.

Art Journal and author of Room, 230 Park Ave, Worcester.

Wicked Halloween featuring Rezz Cost: $8.50-$10. with, Peekaboo Blackgummy 8 Strut and Sip: 7-10 p.m. Oct. p.m. Oct. 17, Palladium, 261 Main Bingo!

18, Crystal Room, 49 Cedar St., St., Worcester. $51.

It’s not entirely clear why drag Milford. Cost: $30. Fashion show, queens and bingo go together so cocktail party, wine tasting, with Friday, Oct. 18 well, but it’s clearly become a thing dance performances and live & here in Worcester. Now one of the silent auctions.

The Trouble with Pregnancy — A city’ s most famous queens, Joslyn Fender Road (Featuring Gary Suter Forum on Art and Reproduction: Fox — best known as a competitor and Paul ‘Fender’ Lirange): 7:309 a.m.

4:15 p.m.

Oct. 18, Worcester on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — has got10:30 p.m. Oct. 18, The Compass Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St., ten into the action with an evening Tavern, 90 Harding St., Worcester.

Worcester. Morning, 9-11:45am – game at the Beer Garden, where Tequila Bonfire: 8 p.m.-1 a.m.

Art and Historical Perspectives; you can play and have all the expected (and probably unexpected!)

Oct. 18, Chuck’s Steak House/ Afternoon, 1-4:15pm – Women’s drag shenanigans.

Health Perspectives. This day-long Margaritagrill, 10 Prospect St., Auburn. For information: event will delve into women’s What: Joslyn Fox Presents Drag tequilabonfireband@gmail.com. social, political, and medical Queen Bingo Teenage Bubblegums, Amuse, conditions, highlighting issues When: 6 p.m. Oct. 17 Marko and the Bruisers, The that are still relevant today. The Where: The Pavilion at the Beer Prozacs and Dirty Walter And forum is organized in partnership Garden, 66 Franklin St., Worcester The Smelltones: 8 p.m. Oct. with the Department of Family How much: $10 to play 18, Beatnik’s, 433 Park Avenue, Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Worcester. Cost: $7.

Medical School, Worcester County Zach Innis & The Honeybees: Tom Petty tribute double header, Poetry Association, and Worcester including all of “Damn The State University. Admission is

Twelve artists come together to deliver a fascinating showcase of printmaking, including prints that break with tradition, in ArtsWorcester’s new exhibition “Blackstone Print Studio: Freedom of the Press.” The artists of the Blackstone Print Studio work independently but also collectively to share their discoveries and are committed to the inherent elements of surprise and versatility that come with the printmaking process. A variety of printmaking techniques are used to create pieces that stand alone, but also many that become the basis for collage, painted prints, sculptures and other forms of mixed media. The featured printmakers are Sally Bowditch, Lisa Barthelson, Christine Cross, Charlotte Eckler, Nina Fletcher, Casey Hickey, Mary Keefe, Amy Klausmeyer, Susan Mampre, Kathy Murray, Karen Nunley and Jackie Ross. The opening reception is from Friday, and the exhibition will be on view through Nov. 16. Three artists will demonstrate different techniques from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 26.

What: Opening reception for “Blackstone Print Studio: Freedom of the Press” When: 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 18 Where: ArtsWorcester, 44 Portland St., Worcester How much: Free and open to the public. artsworcester.org

Torpedoes,” 8 p.m. Oct. 18, Central Tavern, 31 Central St. Milford.

Decades by Dezyne: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 18, Halligan’s Bar And Function Hall, 889 Southbridge St., Auburn.

Cost: $10.

Haunted Speakeasy: featuring Niki Luparelli and the Gold Diggers and various burlesque, drag and musical performers, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 18, Atrium Nightclub, 1 Exchange Place, Worcester. Cost: $30-$55.

Saturday, Oct. 19 Harvest Fair: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 19, Spencer, 207 Main St., Spencer.

For information: (508) 885-2149, office@spencerchurch.net.

Westminster Cracker Festival 5K: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 19, Westminster Village, 10 Village Square, Westminster. Cost: $25.

10th Annual Abby’s House 5K Run/Walk: 9-11 a.m. Oct. 19, West Boylston Middle/High School, 125 Crescent St., West Boylston. Cost: $20-$30. For information: (508) 756-5486, events@abbyshouse.org.

4th Annual American Craft Fair at Tower Hill: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 19, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston. For information: thbg@towerhillbg. org.

30th Annual Harvest Festival: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 19, Sturbridge Town Common, Sturbridge , Sturbridge. For information: info@ cmschamber.org.

Craft & Vendor Fair: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Oct. 19, Lutheran Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center, 26 Harvard St., Worcester. For information: (508) 754-8877, scarlson@lutheranrehab.com.

New Bay Colony Stonestock 2019: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Oct. 19, Blackstone National Golf Club, 227 Putnam Hill Road, Sutton. Cost: $10. For information: newbaycolony@ charter.net.

Rail Trail Walk: 1-3 p.m. Oct. 19, 129 Clamshell Road, 129 Clamshell Road, Clinton. For information: (508) 612-1156, clebstein@gmail.com.

Book Signing/Poetry Reading

Swinging at Mechanics Hall Put on your 1920s dancing shoes as Dan Gabel’s High Society Orchestra gets you in the swing of things at Mechanics Hall on Saturday. The 12-piece 1920s dance orchestra specializing in vintage ballroom and swing dance music will feature vocalist Sarah Callinan. Gabel is a well-known area trombonist, arranger, bandleader, historian and educator. Saturday’s performance will be recorded for an album titled “The 20s Roar Again,” which will be released in 2020. Upcoming is a new holiday album, “By the Fireside,” to be released Nov. 22.

What: An Evening of Music and Dancing with Dan Gabel’s High Society Orchestra — Presented by the Frohsinn Club When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 (doors at 6:30 p.m.)

Where: Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester How much: $25. eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-of-music-dancing-with-the-dangabels-high-society-orchestra-tickets-70668037001

CITY LIFE

The big bad wolf VOX New England continues its journey this season from formerly being Worcester Schubertaide with a fully staged production with costumes of the one-act opera “Little Red Riding Hood.” The late American composer Seymour Barab’s adaptation of the timeless folk tale has become a popular work for children of all ages in its own right. Sarah Callinan will portray Little Red Riding Hood, with Meredith Zeigler as the Grandmother and Thomas Gunther as The Wolf.

Sondra Kelly directs, and the piano accompanist will be Angela Gooch.

What: “Little Red Riding Hood” — VOX New England When/Where: 2:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Roosevelt Elementary School, 1006 Grafton St., Worcester 2:30 p.m. Oct. 20, First Baptist Church of Worcester, 111 Park Ave, Worcester How much: $20; $15 seniors; $10 students 13 and older; $5 children 12 and younger. voxnewengland.org

Music without borders with Sky Boivin: 1-3 p.m. Oct. 19, Booklovers’ Gourmet, 55 East Main St., Webster. For information: (508) 949-6232, deb@ bookloversgourmet.com.

H.P. Lovecraft — A Lecture with Local Author Matt Sanborn: 2:304 p.m. Oct. 19, Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem St., Worcester. For information: (508) 799-1655.

“Stray” World premiere film screening, 3:45 p.m. Oct. 19, Elm Draught House Cinema, 35 Elm St., Millbury. Sold out.

Spooktacular: 7-9 p.m. Oct. 19, First Congregational Church, 19 Church Road, Shrewsbury. For information: musicdirector@ fccsm.org. Halloween isn’t just for kids! Fun and spooky music will be played by three different musicians as well as handbell ringers on the organ, piano, handbells, and harpsichord.

Among the pieces being played are Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor; Holst’s Neptune, the Mystic from the Planets; Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu; the Addams Family Theme, Purple People Eater, and some other surprises.

Children’s activities, including cookie decorating, will begin at 6:15, the concert begins at 7 and will be followed by a reception.

Costumes (for kids and adults) are

InXpensive Winos will perform classic rock from the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Van Halen and many more during a benefit concert Friday in Fiddler’s Green for radio station WICN 90.5 FM Jazz Plus for New England and the relaunch of its Studio 50. The Worcester-based classic rock cover band recorded in Studio 50 last year. The studio can be utilized for full-band recordings as well as live performances and special events. Meanwhile WICN and Worcester Public Schools are continuing their collaboration “Instrumental Partners,” which collects used musical instruments from residents for the benefit of public school students. Bring an instrument on Oct. 18 and be entered to win a door prize. The benefit concert is sponsored by Fletcher Tilton PC Attorneys at Law and InXpensive Winos.

Diva Day: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 20, Tee”s Liberty Tavern, 301 High St., Clinton. For information: (978) 365-4800, teeslibertytavern@ gmail.com.

Worcester Bridal Bash: Noon-3 p.m. Oct. 20, AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester, 125 Front St., Worcester.

Cost: Free.

Birds of Prey at Purgatory Chasm: 1-2 p.m. Oct. 20, Purgatory Chasm, Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, 198 Purgatory Road, Sutton. For information: (508) 234-9610, purgatory.chasm@ state.ma.us.

GWLT Annual Meeting at Blackstone Visitor Center: 3-5 p.m. Oct. 20, Blackstone Heritage Corridor Visitor Center at Worcester, 3 Paul Clancy Way, Worcester. For information: (508) 795-3838, lea@gwlt.org.

Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root: 5-6:30 p.m. Oct. 20, Bull Spit Brewing Company, 339 7 Bridge Road, Lancaster. Cost: $20.

Listen! A poetry reading disguised as a roast of Dave Macpherson: 7 p.m. Oct. 20, Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, 124 Millbury St., Worcester.

Monday, Oct. 21

$29.50-$69.50.

Dirty Gerund Poetry Series: hosted

by Alex Charalambides, 9 p.m. Oct. 13, Ralph’s Rock Diner, 148 Grove St., Worcester.

Tuesday, Oct. 22 “Tales Best Told in the Dark” Halloween Event at Tatnuck Magnet Branch: 4-5 p.m. Oct. 22, Worcester Public Library Tatnuck Magnet Branch, 1083 Pleasant St., Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl. org. The presentation will include: “Teeth”, a traditional Cape Verdean “jump tale”; “The Red, Red Lips”, a humorous tale with a twist ending; “The Uninvited Guest”, a story from Germany told with shadows; and many more. Followed by a trick-ortreat monster hunt. Costumes encouraged.

Great American Read Book Club: 7:15-8:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem St., Worcester. For information: (508) 799-1655, wplref@mywpl.org.

Discussing “Looking for Alaska,” by

John Green.

So You Want To Write A Book — How MJ Fleming Did Just That: 7:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Grafton Public Library, 95 N. Main St. , Grafton. For information: melissa. fleming627@gmail.com.

“Otto Frank”: 7:30-9 p.m. Oct. 22, Seelos Theater, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St., Worcester.

Cost: $5-$20. For information: (508) 793-3835, atb@holycross. edu. In a new solo show, stage and screen actor, director and writer Roger Guenveur Smith navigates an intimate odyssey inspired by Otto Frank, the father of diarist Anne Frank.

The Cobra Kings: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Greendale’s Pub, 404 W. Boylston St, Worcester.

Wednesday, Oct. 23 Story Time — Bouncing Babies: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Oct. 23, Boylston Public Library, 695 Main St., Boylston. For information: (508) 869-2371, lstretton@cwmars.org.

Rainbow Lunch Club: noon-2 p.m.

Oct. 23, Unitarian Universalist

Not Your Typical Bubblegum Italy’s Teenage Bubblegums plays pretty much the antithesis of bublegum pop, with songs such as “Never Again,” “Full of Agony” and “In Limbo” being fast-paced, dark-tinged and shockingly brief. It’s straightup punk rock with a cutting edge and gritty undercurrent, and it’s irresistible.

What: Teenage Bubblegums with Amuse, Marko and the Bruisers, The Prozacs and Dirty Walter And The Smelltones When: 8 p.m. Oct. 18 Where: Beatnik’s, 433 Park Avenue, Worcester How much: $7

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Sights and Legends of the Night Sky: 6-8 p.m. Oct. 21, Hitchcock Free Academy, 2 Brookfield Road, Brimfield. Cost: $20. For information: (413) 24509977, sue@hitchcockacademy.org.

“Ghostbusters“ Themed Trivia: 7-9 p.m. Oct. 21, Red Heat Tavern, 227 Turnpike Road, Westborough. Cost: Free.

Ghost: Japanese psychedelic rock band, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21, DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester.

What: Windborne with special guest Michele Kelly When: 8 p.m. Oct. 19 Where: Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, 262 Chestnut St., Franklin How much: $20. circlefolk.org

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

What: InXpensive Winos Benefit Concert for WICN & Studio 50 When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 Where: Fiddler’s Green, 19 Temple St., Worcester How much: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. https://www.wicn.org/event/ inxpensive-winos-benefit-concert-for-wicn-public-radio.

Sunday, Oct. 20

With a New England background, Windborne’s repertoire includes music from the Republic of Georgia, Corsica, Bulgaria, the Basque region and Quebec. But the talented vocal ensemble (Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, Lauren Breunig and Jeremy CarterGordon) also remain deeply rooted in American folk singing traditions. Most of all, you can’t help be taken by the group’s obvious enthusiasm for what they are doing, regardless of where the musical winds are taking them. Singersongwriter Michele Kelly will open the show.

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WICN benefit concert

optional.

Zach Innis & The Honeybees: Tom Petty Tribute double header, with special classic rock cover set, 8 p.m. Oct. 19, Central Tavern, 31 Central St. Milford.

Haunted Speakeasy: featuring Niki Luparelli and the Gold Diggers and various burlesque, drag and musical performers, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Atrium Nightclub, 1 Exchange Place, Worcester. Cost: $30-$55.

Our So-Called Live Music & Friends present “Jagged Little Pill”: 9 p.m. Oct. 19, Rock Bar, 81 Water St., Worcester. $5.

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Church of Worcester, 90 Holden St., Worcester. Advance reservations required. For information: (508) 756-1545, jknight@eswa.org. Social event and activities for LGBTIQA 60 years old and older; younger partners, friends, and allies. $2.50 suggested donation for those age 60+; $5.50 younger.

Weekly Playgroup: Week 4: 3:154:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Worcester Public Library Tatnuck Magnet Branch, 1083 Pleasant St., Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl.org.

Hydroponics Gardening Club: Week 2: 4-5 p.m. Oct. 23, Worcester Public Library Goddard Branch, 14 Richards St., Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl.org.

Matt Brodeur: 7 p.m. Oct. 23, Art’s Diner, 541 W. Boylston St., Worcester.

Conversation Café: 7-9 p.m.

Oct. 23, Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St., Fitchburg. For information: (978) 345-4207, vdezorzi@fitchburgartmuseum. org. To coincide with their exhibition, “Sohier/Hilliard: Our Parents, Ourselves,” professional photographers Sage Sohier and David Hilliard discuss their inspirations and techniques.

Wacky Wednesday Jam: 8:30 p.m.

Oct. 23, Greendale’s Pub, 404 W. Boylston St, Worcester.

Duncan Arsenault, Brooks Milgate and Tyler-James Kelly: 9 p.m.

Oct. 23, Vincent’s 49 Suffolk St., Worcester.

Thursday, Oct. 24 Story Time — Terrific 2’s & 3’s: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Oct. 24, Boylston Public Library, 695 Main St., Boylston. For information: (508) 869-2371, llstretton@cwmars.org.

Registration Required.

PAWS to Read in October: Session 2: 3:30-4:30 p.m. Oct. 24, Worcester Public Library Burncoat Branch, 526 Burncoat St., Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl.org.

Annual Pumpking Carving and Leaf Blowout: 6-8:30 p.m. Oct. 24, Wormtown Brewery, 72 Shrewsbury St., Worcester. Cost: $20.

Showcase Cinemas brings back “The Goonies”: screening, 7:309:30 p.m. Oct. 24, Showcase Cinemas Worcester North, 135 Brooks St., Worcester. Cost: $16.50.

NYC Comedy Invades Worcester: featuring Jordan Raybould and Bret Raybould, 5-9 p.m. Oct. 24, The Muse Bar & Kitchen, 536 Main St, Worcester. Cost: $7.50.

The Yo Daddy Doe Variety Show: hosted by CoffeeHouse Craig, 7 p.m. Oct. 24, Strong Style Coffee, 13 Cushing St., Fitchburg.

Holiday Favorite Worcester’s coolest Halloween party returns with a new location, but the same mix of vintage ‘20s vibe, ghoulish delights, dance and prohibition era cocktails in a 101-year-old former jail and firestation turned speakeasy. As always, the entertainment will be provided by chanteuse and hostess extraordinaire, Niki Luparelli, who will be performing with the Gold Diggers, as well as various burlesque, drag and musical performers.

What: Haunted Speakeasy When: 8:30 p.m. To 1 a.m. Oct. 18, 19, 25 and 26 Where: Atrium Nightclub, 1 Exchange Place, Worcester How much: $30-$55.

CITY LIFE

Uprooted Listening to his recent song, “Man Not Machine,” it’s clear that Rusted Root frontman hasn’t dwelled on the ‘90s success of his song, “Send Me On My Way.” While the latter song is lighthearted and thick with crosscultural influences, the former is a stripped-down bluesy number with rock guitar and a good deal of grit and feeling, a sign that listeners tuning in for ‘90s alt-radio nostalgia may get more than they bargained for, and that’s a good thing.

What: Michael Glabicki When: 5 p.m. Oct. 20 Where: Bull Spit Brewing Company, 339 7 Bridge Road, Lancaster How much: $20

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What: Listen! A poetry reading disguised as a roast of Dave Macpherson When: 7 p.m. Oct. 20 Where: Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, 124 Millbury St., Worcester How much: Free, hat passed to pay performers

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Once upon a time, the Worcester poetry scene was always up for a good roast, with several local scribes — including Ryk McIntyre, “Cowboy” Matt Hopewll and even this writer — delivering themselves for a good-natured cocktail of insults, ribbing, jokes and poems. The practice has fallen by the wayside in recent years, although it’s still alive and well in the comedy scene, particularly with Lou Ramos’ “Roast Wars” series, but local poetry stalwart Dave Macpherson is ready to bring it back for his 50th birthday, and he may very well be in trouble … the hecklers at his weekly Listen! poetry series are prone to roasting him on the best of days!

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“Deathtrap”: Oct. 18, 19, 30. The Bradley Playhouse, 30 Front St., Putnam, Conn. thebradleyplayhouse.org.

“Spitfire Grill, The Musical”: 8 p.m.

Oct. 18, 19; 2 p.m. Oct. 20. $20; seniors and students, $18; youth 11 and younger, $10. Stageloft Repertory Theater, 450A Main St., Sturbridge. stageloft.org/.

“A Walk in the Woods”: 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 17, 18, 19, 25, 26; 2 p.m. Oct. 20, 27. $20; $17 for seniors and students. Calliope Productions, 150 Main St., Boylston. calliopeproductions.org.

“Once Upon a Mattress”: 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 18, 19, 25, 26; 2 p.m. Oct. 20 and 27. New Players Theatre Guild.

15 Rollstone St., Fitchburg. (978) 345-6570, nptg.org “Wait Until Dark”: 7:30 p.m. Oct.

18, 19, 25 and 26; 2 p.m. Oct. 27. $20; senior (65+) and children 12 and younger, $15. Barre Players Theater, 64 Common St., Barre. barreplayerstheater.com.

“The Haunting of Hill House”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25, 26, Nov. 1, 2; 2 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. Pasture Prime Players, The Charlton Arts & Activities Center, 4 Dresser Hill Road, Charlton. pastureprime.org “Urinetown The Musical”: Presented by Bradley Playhouse.

7:30 P.m. Oct. 25, 26; 2 p.m.

Oct. 27. The Bradley Playhouse, 30 Front St., Putnam, Conn. thebradleyplayhouse.org “The Play That Goes Wrong”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31; 8 p.m. Nov. 1, 2; 2 p.m. Nov. 2; 1 p.m. Nov. 3 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 3. The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester. $39$79. thehanovertheatre.org

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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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

O CT O B E R 17 - 23, 2019

Elvira tried enrolling in one of Worcester’s colleges. Her wild sorority sister behavior did not sit well with the studious behavior of campus students and faculty. She was transferred to our shelter. Elvira doesn’t mind you petting her a few times, but she doesn’t like the confinement of being carried. Elvira’s a smart cat. She might like the challenge of clicker training where she can learn to sit, wave her paw and other tricks. Elvira would not be good with children, and she’s not fond of other animals.

GAMES

J O N E S I N’

“This Grid Is Haunted” – is that a ghost?

by Matt Jones

Across 1

6 10 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 29 30 31 32 35 38 39 40 45 46

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47 48 49

57 58 59 60 61 62

Down

Rapper ___ Dogg Ilhan of the “Squad”

8 9 10 11 12 15 17 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

40 41 42 43 44 45 49 50 51 53 54 55 56

Tool’s Maynard James ___ “Garfield” girlfriend Gave the boot Bi-, quadrupled Words often before “I get it ...”

Felonious deed “The Man Who Fell To Earth” director Nicolas Gumbo vegetable Ink cartridge color Bucks’ gp.

Dungeons & Dragons humanoid Overtime situation ___-Locka (suburb of Miami)

Last week's solution

©2019 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #958

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1 2

4 5 6 7

Moreno of “One Day at a Time” Kitchen pest Commotion “Buon ___!”

“Foucault’s Pendulum” author Umberto Agent ___ Peacock (Clue suspect) Fake wood in a fireplace Hire on Quetzalcoatl worshiper Nike competitor “In memoriam” writeup, briefly Market price Word before line or box Largest living lizards, to pet lovers R&B quartet ___ II Men Core with kernels Kimono band Satya Nadella, for one Guerrero gold Restaurant guide publisher Roller derby track shape Above, to a bard “How’s it goin’?”

Glass with a narrative “Yay, team!”

“Gesundheit” elicitor “Inside ___ Schumer”

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

52 53

3

O C T O B E R 17 - 23, 2019

Fun By The Numbers Like 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!

“Don’t Know Why” singer Jones Wheat center Ruby, for one Kind of acid in proteins One who writes “Happy Birthday” “Rendezvous With ___” (Arthur C. Clarke novel) Ink with obvious spelling errors?

Cable sports award Historic stretch Inexpensive beer, for short Andorra la ___ (capital city) Move furtively Ape cousin The study of eggs from certain parrot relatives?

Follow to the letter Green, frowning symbol of poison prevention “About the author” info Unidentified slime threatening animals in captivity?

“Aaron Burr, ___” (“Hamilton” song) Put away Vibrant glow Brass band sound inspired by a marsupial?

Post production?

“The House That Gave ___ Treats” (2001 Halloween Homestar Runner cartoon) Lease out again 2006 and 2011 W.S. champs “Arabian Nights” flying creature “Mockingbird” singer Foxx Altogether unlike the Addams Family?

Stable locks?

Cheese with an edible rind “The Magic Flute,” e.g.

Opposite of WSW Passed easily Supreme Court justice since 2010

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Sudoku Answers

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30

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

O C T O B E R 17 - 23, 2019

LEGALS 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.

Project Title Bid Opening Bid No. Release Date 19-35 10/10/2019 Physical Needs 4:00 PM November 7, 2019 Assessment & Energy Audit Jackson Restrepo, Chief Procurement Officer

PUBLIC AUCTION NOTICE Notice is hereby given pursuant to the provisions of M.L.C 225 sec.39A, the following vehicle will be sold October 26, 2019 to satisfy our garage lien thereon for the towing and storage charges and expenses of sale and notice: 2005 Jeep Liberty VIN#1J4GL48K25W653818 The sale will be held at Early’s on Park Ave., Inc., 536 Park Ave. Worcester, MA 01603

Call 978-728-4302 or email cmaclassifieds@ gatehousemedia.com to place your legal here!

Place your ad here!

Call 978-728-4302 or email cmaclassifieds@ gatehousemedia.com

Place your ad here!

Call 978-728-4302 or email cmaclassifieds@ gatehousemedia.com

LAST CALL

Chris Simpson

Owner of Sail to Trail WineWorks

C

DYLAN AZARI

hris Simpson’s urban winery Sail to Trail opened in the Higgins Armory Building last week. Simpson works with a sommelier to personally select each wine that carries his label. The Sail to Trail name is a testament to Worcester’s proximity to both the ocean and the mountains. The tasting room at 100 Barber Ave. in Worcester opens at noon Thursday through Sunday. Until it closed in 2013, Higgins Armory Museum housed one of the largest arms and armor collections in the country with more than 2,000 pieces.

Did you see potential in this location right away?

Yes. I think the owner has got a gold mine here to turn it into a North Worcester version of Crompton Collective someday. I’m the first tenant of his who fits the long-term mold. There’s also a new photographer downstairs who came from Wayfair.

Is the name Sail to Trail a callback to Worcester?

I was born and raised in the area.

We were always told that it’s kind of unique that we can go to the beach and we can be on top of a mountain all in the same day. So, the name is speaking for geography. You can meet top of Mount Monadnock and then you can

I always think of butter as an off-flavor because in beer that means diacetyl.

You should try my chard because it is really bright and very light.

There’s some fruitiness in there.

There’s a nice pineapple note. I can find the pineapple easily now because I know where to look for it, but it took me awhile. My somm found it right away.

That reminds me of Bianca Bosker’s book “Cork Dork.” She had to retrain her palate like a somm.

You know, we’re not a winery for “cork dorks.” My wines are

drinking wines. They’re all good to drink out of the bottle. Don’t get me wrong, my Reserve Cab will be great five or six years from now.

There’s no reason not to let them age, but none of them have to, we intentionally stayed away from wines that were too young.

What pushed you to take the plunge out of corporate?

I was working at the TJX Company, which is a phenomenal company. I realized that if I wasn’t going to be happy there, I just wasn’t going to be happy anywhere at that stage. I really wanted my career to progress and I wanted it to progress more quickly than it was going.

And for that to happen, you had to become your own boss?

Well, I thought, “Now’s the time to put my money where my mouth

is and try to create a strong company.” I really want this to be a critical part of Worcester’s business community. I hope to grow and create a business where I can be an employer of choice for people in the city. I want to create a great working environment for people here.

How have you allowed this space to reflect parts of you?

There is such a quintessential view out of these big windows.

It’s all three-deckers and mill buildings. A local artist, Eamon Gillen, painted our mural. This is a winery with a brewery feel. I’m not trying to duplicate Napa or Sonoma. If Worcester wants this, I’ll need their support. I want this to feel like Worcester’s winery.

– Sarah Connell Sanders

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Are you selling surplus produced by vineyards?

No, I’m on the front end. When harvest is coming along, I get the pick of the wines that I can bottle.

This is such a relationship industry. I am developing relationships

I love your red zinfandel. What is the price point?

Thirty five dollars. Same with my Reserve Cab. My Reserve Cab, I bought every drop of because it was such a good value and such a great wine. You won’t find either one of those wines in any other bottle anywhere.

finish the day by the beach with a glass of chardonnay. Would you like to try the chard? It’s unoaked so it won’t taste rich and buttery.

Everyone wrinkles their nose at first when I say chardonnay.

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Did you just copy and paste?

I thought, “Thanks for telling me exactly how to do this because Worcester doesn’t have anything like this.” It is similar to the 90+ model.

with vineyards that will produce the wine for me in the taste profile that I’m looking to bring to my clients.

O C T O B E R 17 - 23, 2019

What was your life before wine?

I was a mechanical engineer.

This project began when I was interviewing for a job down on the South Shore. It was a company that makes submarine parts and I was doing my due diligence researching the CEO’s background.

He was on the board of advisors for a wine company. On the “about” page for the winery, they basically had their whole business plan.

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

O CT O B E R 17 - 23, 2019