Worcester Magazine October 22 - 28, 2021

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | CULTURE § ARTS § DINING § VOICES

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‘ABBA THE CONCERT: A TRIBUTE TO ABBA’ COMING TO HANOVER THEATRE PAGE 16

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IN THIS ISSUE

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

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Featured ..............................................................................7 City Voices.........................................................................11 Artist Spotlight................................................................15 Cover Story.......................................................................16 Next Draft .........................................................................21 Screen Time .....................................................................24 Adoption Option.............................................................28 Classifi eds ........................................................................29 Games................................................................................30 Last Call .............................................................................31

On the cover “ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA” will come to the Hanover Theatre Oct. 26.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RON ELKMAN; GETTY IMAGES

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Dressing for success

Worcester Historical Museum explores women’s fashion over the century Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

While power-dressing is not new in the business and political worlds, it is curious to think that it has been a way to make an impression for more than a 100 years. At Worcester Historical Museum, 36 outfi ts and accessories will trace the changing roles of women in American society from the summer of 1920, when the 19th amendment was ratifi ed and voting

discrimination based on gender was deemed unconstitutional.

While this was a milestone in American history, and many women voted for the fi rst time, this was only the beginning. To celebrate both the centennial of the 19th amendment and commemorate the fi ght that continues to this day, WHM is opening a new exhibit examining the history of women in Worcester through the lens of fashion over the last century.

“The intention is to use

clothing as an avenue to think about transformation in women’s lives and shed light on the story of voting and power,” said Charlotte Haller, a professor of U.S. women’s history at Worcester State University, who is the exhibit historian and guest curator. “Pretty Powerful: 100 Years of Voting and Style” will open on Oct. 23, the 171st anniversary of the First National Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester in 1850.

See FASHION, Page 8

Three mannequins displaying dresses from “Pretty Powerful: 100 Years of Voting and Style.” WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM

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Fashion Continued from Page 7

The garments on display will be divided into three categories — work, style and politics — but visitors can expect the lines to be blurred. “Being able to imagine the full-bodied experience of history is one of the wonderful things that studying fashion allows us to do,” said Haller. Fashion is inextricably linked with women’s history, she explained, having been used to make a political or social statement from the early days of the suff ragette movement to the 1960s counter-culture.

“One of the things that I really wanted to highlight is that politics is more than just formal politics,” explained Haller, and to broaden the lens of what most visitors might consider political.

One such example is a 1968 paper dress given out as part of Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign. The eye-catching youthful pop art “confounds what people think about Nixon and shows that young women were excited about this candidacy,” while also giving a glimpse of the era’s young conservative movement. “We have a certain view of the 1960s as so liberal, so the conservative movement of the ‘80s seems like it came out of nowhere,” she said. The paper dress is an example of how fashion provides greater historical context.

For the contemporary end of the collection, State Sen. Harriette Chandler loaned the white pantsuit she wore when she signed An Act Negating Archaic Statutes Targeting Young Women, or the NASTY Women Act in July 2018 that repealed 19th-century laws restricting access to abortion. The white pantsuit links back to the white clothing worn during the suff rage movement, said Haller, so women politicians will often wear white to commemorate that progress on special occasions such as this.

While the project has been in the works since July 2018, Haller was brought on board about a year ago, and spearheaded the eff ort to expand on the museum’s already massive collection and refl ect the diversity of Worcester’s history. As an industry, she said, fashion tends to be overwhelmingly white, and this carries over to when museums spotlight fashion. Covering a full century up to the present day was part of the

Jade Nortey’s mural during installation – the women pictured are wearing different versions of an outfi t on display in the exhibit. WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM

vision from the beginning and one of the real strengths of the exhibit. The range of outfi ts can outline how modern garments are referencing the past and changing silhouettes and style over time.

Upon joining the project, one of Haller’s fi rst goals was to promote outreach to diff erent groups within Worcester to donate a greater variety of garments. “I specifi cally wanted to refl ect the centrality of immigrants to our city,” she said. Worcester is home to a large Ghanaian community so any collection showcasing the city of Worcester’s clothing range would not be complete unless they were represented as well.

The WHM reached out to local dressmaker Effi e Danquah of Danquah’s House of Fashion, who provided a traditional Ghanaian wedding dress. Kim Toney, whose background includes both Native Americans of the Nipmuc tribe as well as African American, also contributed beaded earrings she makes that connect to her Nipmuc ancestors.

Dressing the mannequins was an intensive job in itself and took about 80 hours. Of the 15 designers credited with producing items in the exhibit, seven are women and six of them have longterm connections to Worcester.

Haller was not the only one actively working to ensure the exhibit had a

greater degree of diversity on display.

Jade Nortey, Worcester native and grad student in Public Health at Boston University, painted the mural serving as the backdrop to one of the exhibit sections.

The mural portrays multiple women wearing a similar outfi t, but diff erent in every other way.

“The goal really was to be representative of the women important in my life,” said Nortey. “When you fl ip through magazines and look at TV and media, there’s usually one idea of what a woman is like in terms of what she looks like or how she behaves.” To counter this, Nortey ensured that a variety of hair styles and skin tones could be seen to diversify the women, yet all wearing the same dress based on a garment in the exhibit. Nortey was on an exceedingly tight schedule — the mural was started at the beginning of August, and was completed later that month in the span of two to three weeks.

The inclusion of minorities and attention to diversity is key not only to accurately portray Worcester’s melting pot culture, but also because minorities were specifi cally excluded when the 19th amendment was fi rst ratifi ed. “We often think that women got the right to vote in 1920,” said Haller, but it was far from inclusive or simple. The amendment made it unconstitutional to restrict voting by gender — no more and no less. It had no eff ect on Jim Crow laws so Black women were still barred; it did not give Native American women citizenship, and immigrants who couldn’t speak English were often restricted as well.

Though certainly a huge shift in American culture and politics, it would take years of mobilization for most women to gain the right to vote, according to Haller. Similar to the case of gay marriage: some states allowed it and some didn’t, until the Supreme Court ruled on it for the nation.

“Politics isn’t settled in one day,” Haller said, “and the fi ght to expand people’s rights goes on.”

“Pretty Powerful: 100 Years of Voting and Style” will open Oct. 23, from noon to 6 p.m. Sneak previews will take place on Oct. 21 and 22 from noon to 4 p.m. Online registration for the sneak peaks is mandatory and no tickets will be sold at the door. After the opening, the exhibit will be open Oct. 26 to March 31, 2022, during museum hours.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 9

‘Black Nativity’ set for Mechanics Hall Richard Duckett Worcester Telegram & Gazette USA TODAY NETWORK

WORCESTER — Mechanics Hall and the National Center of Afro-American Artists will present the Worcester premiere of Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity” on Nov. 27.

Performances will be at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. in Mechanics Hall.

A 50-year Boston tradition, “Black Nativity” is the retelling of the Nativity story set to a jubilant score of gospel music, dance and narrative. Traditional Christmas carols are sung in gospel style, with a few songs created specifi cally for the show. Originally written by Langston Hughes, the show was fi rst performed off -Broadway in 1961, and was one of the fi rst works written by an African-American to be staged there.

Since 1970, Black Nativity has been performed annually in Boston at various locations.

The cast is comprised of professional performers, amateurs, and youth. The formula for its success is bringing together talented adults to work as role models who work with and mentor youth with a goal of achieving excellence and to foster goodwill.

In an announcement, Mechanics Hall said the production’s values align with its own vales “to present inspirational performances of artistic excellence and cultural relevance. It is our hope that Black Nativity becomes a Worcester holiday classic and encourages a generational tradition patterned after the success of the Boston organization.”

Tickets, which are are on sale, are $55 and $45. For more information, visit www.mechanicshall.org.

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10 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Comedy comeback Comedian Dane Cook bringing ‘Tell It Like It is’ tour home to Boston Jim Dorman Special to The MetroWest Daily News | USA TODAY NETWORK

Fifteen years ago, after more than a decade working his way up in the comedy business, Arlington native Dane Cook was selling out hockey arenas, including New York’s Madison Square Garden. His “Vicious Circle” tour inspired an album and an HBO special of the same name.

Quite appropriately for the local guy, the special was fi lmed at the Boston Garden. It helped make Cook the most popular comedian of his generation. He was also one of the fi rst comedians to tap into the power of social media, working tirelessly to connect with fans both in person and online.

Television appearances, twice hosting "Saturday Night Live," and movies (“Employee of the Month,” “Dan in Real Life,” “My Best Friend's Girl,”) and more tours and albums followed, but a few missteps and criticism have as well. That's all in his rear-view and Cook is planning a performance next spring at the Boch Centre Wang Theater, where he will also record a new comedy special, "Tell It Like It Is." As this publication went to press, the Boch announced Cook's show originally scheduled for Oct. 29 has been canceled and an Oct. 30 show is postponed to April 23, 2022. Cook was in fi ne form and comedy spirit when I spoke to him during a break from rehearsals.

When did you know you were going to become a comedian or do something signifi cant?

COOK: I stood on Revere Beach when I was 161⁄ 2 and I quite literally looked up at a rainy sky and as a little insignifi cant Arlingtonian who was dealing with self loathing, depression and being an intro-

vert, I looked up at the sky and said, ‘If there is a God, or whatever is going on, I want the ride.

I want the ride!’ I don’t want to feel like a nobody. I don’t want to feel like I did nothing. I will accept all the hits and the bruises. I literally clenched my fi sts. ‘Just give me the ride.’

And, you know what? I got the ride. I’m still on it, and now I get to swing back through Beantown 30 years later as the old bull. I still feel like a kid kicking around the Combat Zone from back in the day. I could probably beat you running from one end (of Stop & Shop) to the other, if I could rest twice and hydrate. But seriously man, coming back to Boston and doing this is like a 30-year victory lap.

What was it like for you performing comedy in Boston in the early part of your career?

COOK: I was in Boston from like ‘90 to ‘94 nightly. It was four years of education.There were no nights off . I was out there. It was shovel the snow, get in the car and get to the gig.

There were a lot of spots back then. Comedy was in vogue and

FILE PHOTO

everyone wanted to see a live show. It just was the perfect storm. (I mean) ‘puh-fectstahm’ of live entertainment and star-making venues in Boston.

You wouldn’t have thought these were star-making venues. We were in a vault, a booze cruise, the attic of a Chinese food restaurant in Saugus. I was watching a lot of my friends and defi nitely a lot of the peers in front of me do spe-

cial things, and have moments in those rooms, that were creating legendary stories I still tell to this day. It was a tremendous era.

Who did you look up to?

COOK: There were incredible mentorships and friendships. I’m a lucky son of a b**** to have had my formative years in Boston. (Joe) Rogan was in the (Boston comedy) graduating class before me, and he was

still there for a minute before “News Radio,” and his illustrious career. Then you had guys like Denis Leary, not to mention the dozen or so local legends that maybe never had a shot with television, but were the monsters of comedy, killing rooms and getting the kinds of laughs that you only dream of.

That’s what we came up under, all of us.

See COOK, Page 12

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 11

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Buddy can you spare a dime?

Janice Harvey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

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The real reason there’s not a nickel to spare is a little thing called circulation. Blame the pandemic. It’s the same reason the circulation in your legs slowed down — dormancy. It

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The Federal Reserve says there’s no coin shortage, but it sure seems like it when the clerk pleads with you to pay with plastic. PIXABAY

seems we weren’t using coins while we were in quarantine.

Apparently ordering everySee CHANGE, Page 14

*Special Program Notes: The descriptions herein are summaries only and do not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the Benefits described. Please refer to the actual Guide to Benefit and/or insurance documents for complete details of coverage and exclusions. Coverage is provided through the company named in the Guide to Benefit or on the certificate of insurance. $5.95 is the monthly service charge for SecureCare checking. Insurance Products are not insured by the FDIC or any Federal Government Agency; not a deposit of or guaranteed by the bank or any bank affiliate. Some benefits require registration and activation. For complete details of this checking account, visit fidelitybankonline.com/CheckingBenefits or speak with a Fidelity Bank representative. **Open any Fidelity Bank Checking account beginning Wednesday, September 29th, 2021 to be eligible. To earn $250 bonus you must have direct deposits into your new account that total at least $500 within 60 days of account opening, enroll and use both online and mobile banking, and have at least 12 posted point-of-sale debit card transactions of $10 or more each month for the first two full calendar months following account opening. For example, for accounts opened in October required posted transactions to be eligible for the promotional offer will be in November and December. Note that transaction and posting dates can vary and some transactions may take up to three business days to post to your account. Direct deposit is defined as a paycheck, pension, Social Security, or other eligible monthly income electronically deposited by an employer or outside agency into your checking account. Transfers done via ATM, online banking, payment apps or websites (such as Venmo or Paypal), in branch, or from a bank or brokerage account are not eligible. The value of this bonus may constitute taxable income and will be reported on IRS Form 1099 (or other appropriate form). Bonus to be deposited into your account during the subsequent statement cycle after meeting the eligible criteria above. Offers valid only for new Checking accounts including SecureCare, CareFree, CareDiscover, CareMore, CompleteCare, and LifeDesign 18/65 accounts. All account applications are subject to approval. Minimum opening deposit for eligible Checking accounts are: SecureCare ($25), CareFree ($25), CareDiscover ($10), CareMore ($100), CompleteCare ($250), and LifeDesign 18/65 ($10). $5.95 is the monthly service charge for SecureCare. As of 9/23/21, the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for CompleteCare is 0.03% and SecureCare is 0.01%. Rates subject to change after account opening. Fees may reduce earnings. Offer is not valid for Fidelity Bank clients with an existing Fidelity Bank checking account and is limited to new checking account clients only. Limit one account per tax reported owner. Account must be open, active, and in good standing to receive the bonuses. Accounts closed within 6 months of receiving bonus will incur a $250 early account termination fee. Promotional offer subject to change or cancellation at any time.

12 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Cook

If you go

Continued from Page 10

WHEN: 8 p.m. April 23, 2022

Then when I was in New York for a little bit in the mid ‘90s, (I was) just swinging left and right to do gigs in Boston and then in New York. You needed that New York validation. You certainly were not going to get seen (in Boston) the way you could (in New York) the way you could from television, or a late night spot, which I eventually did with Dave Letterman. That was really when things started heating up.

Sometimes you have been criticized for your story-telling comedy style. Did you ever feel any pressure to change or become more conventional?

COOK: Well, when I watched (Don) Gavin or (Steve) Sweeney, or even Kevin Knox, I didn’t see the set-up punch (line). I saw them rambling and just rocking. You know when I would see guys like George Carlin, or watch an Eddie Murphy special, I wasn’t focusing on the joke writers, I was focusing on the entities, the personalities, the larger-than-life people, because I knew I was a bit of a whirling dervish. You know — antics. You know — bombastic.

So, seeing somebody growing up like Steve Martin with the arrow going through his head and the white suit and the attitude, I was like, ‘OK, that’s where I would like to exist; that’s where I would live in it.’

So, as I started gaining in popularity, I didn’t really hear anybody. I knew there were people that were (critical).

There is always somebody yapping about you somewhere.

That’s life. That’s the internet life. That’s the comments section. Everyone’s got something to say about what you should have done or should be doing. I just drown that noise out pretty quickly because I came up in that Boston era where it was noisy, and that noise was laughter and applause. And if you weren’t hearing it, and if it

WHERE: Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston

WHO: Dane Cook

TICKETS: $39.50 and up; bochcenter.org COVID POLICY: All patrons must be fully vaccinated or provide a negative COVID test taken within the last 72 hours.

Masks are required.

wasn’t robust, we wouldn’t be talking today.

It’s like, what is that great quote? ‘Whatever people think of me is none of my business.’

And I also subscribe to ‘Some people brighten a room by leaving it.’ And fortunately or unfortunately, there is always somebody that just wants to be in the mix, and if they are not, they’ve got something to say about you. They are going to nitpick. They are going to jeer.

And, that’s no sweat because that all winds itself up to success. I would rather have people chiming in than staying silent.

What advice did you get as your career was developing?

COOK: Thank goodness I had some pretty lucid people early on in my life. And it was always people that were just like straight dope no nonsense, you know, a lot of New Englanders, a lot of New Yorkers.

And I got lucky because I really did care what people thought. I was super sensitive.

I wear my heart on my sleeve and I would always want to, but it does sometimes open me up to criticism that causes some strife.

At fi rst (I thought) ‘I’m just trying to do a good thing. I’m trying to get laughs,’ but later on you’ve got to own your failures, and you’ve got to top your successes. I knew that once I was coming up the ranks that I would be a target because I had the goods. And you can’t let

Comedian Dane Cook performs at the re-opening of the Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 6. CHRIS CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP

that thwart you. You just gotta keep on boogying.

And I’ll take it because even the worst storms I have had to weather just informs the standup because there is always something funny about pain. It also reminds you that we get the lottery ticket of life. It’s one ride and sometimes it hurts.

You know if you ride the Zippa (Zipper amusement ride), you’re going to hit your head off the cage once in a while.

(Laughs) And I’m down for it.

You have owned and operated your productions and material for about 15 years.

Why is that so important?

COOK: I have had my share of tumultuous times. But, that’s par for the course. You’ve got to take big swings, and sometimes you are going to

take big hits. If you want to put out something that is near and dear to your heart, it’s going to hurt more if it doesn’t come together. You certainly don’t want people (working with you) that don’t care so much about the fi nal product. They have a little skin in the game?

You want to make sure that you have the most skin in the game and you deal with something from your gut.

You have to do anything possible to own and operate your material before it lands somewhere. Protecting your integrity is one thing I (urge) any young comedian to (do). You want to look back and say ‘that was exactly what I hoped or wanted it to be.’ Fortunately, with my stand-up, I have had a creative hand on the producing side. I look at my catalogue and

I am really proud of all of it.

Are you hoping to do more acting?

COOK: Fingers crossed for next year ... I have a TV show in production with these folks that approached me during the pandemic. They have had great success with some other shows, so if lady luck is still around then hopefully next year it’s in production and beyond that. You don’t know when the phone is going to ring, or when something like a ‘Mr. Brooks’ or ‘American Exit’ (previous Cook fi lms) is going to come to you. Stand-up is my love and then the drama stuff is fun. It’s exciting, but you’ve got to wait for that phone call with the right person that says I was thinking about you for this. So, we will see what happens once we wrap this special up.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 13

Old receipts give a glimpse into everyday life of decades ago David Macpherson Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Last Monday, I was heading into Nick’s Bar and Restaurant for the Monday Trivia when I saw Jeff picking up pieces of paper from the gutter of the street. Jeff is one of the regulars at Monday Trivia and I was not expecting him to be picking trash on such a lovely evening.

“Trash collector, your new vocation?” I asked.

Jeff looked up and gave me a smile of welcome. “Dave, there are all of these papers. They are old.”

“Yeah, trash usually isn’t new and shiny. Trash is mostly old. Mostly.”

Jeff looked at me a little confused and then said, “Sure. But all of these papers are really old. Look,” he said, holding up several pieces of paper. “These two are both dated 1970. That’s pretty old.”

I fi nally gazed at the curb and there were a few small piles of papers nestled by the tire of a car that just happened to be there. I leaned down and plucked up an invoice. I read it out to Jeff . It was a bill from Morse Brothers Electrical Company. The invoice date was January 20, 1970. It was sent to an insurance agency on Millbury Street. The insurance agency has been out of business for ages, though the sign still looms over the street.

We were joined by Mr. Dan, who got into the swing of things and found some invoices of his own on the street. I read from the 51 year old invoice like it was some broken catechism.

“In the work performed section they had typed Wire new lavatory. Install plugs. Wire commercial rate 20 gallon water heater. Wire meter trough and

Old receipts found on the curb on Millbury Street. DAVID MACPHERSON/SPECIAL TO WORCESTER MAGAZINE

60 amp MR switch.”

We all got two or three letters and invoices in that little corner of Millbury Street. They were all dated 1970. I had a receipt of payment to Abbott Animal Hospital. It was marked paid 3/ 14/70. I wasn’t aware of it, but Jeff and Mr. Dan informed me that Abbott was still in business. I wondered if they wanted their paperwork back. It was a little bit out of date, but it was still theirs.

What an odd site on Millbury Street. Three grown men picking up yellowed old pieces of paper from the dirty street and celebrating each scrap like

it was a lost treasure. Like it told something important. I am sure the smart people of the neighborhood ignored we three maniacs.

Without saying it, we all picked a few of the old papers and kept them. We planned to hold on to them. We don’t know why.

When we got into the bar, Sean the Bartender rolled his eyes at us and asked, “What were you three knuckleheads doing dumpster diving in the middle of the street?”

We told him of our great discovery. We showed him the papers we now hoarded to us like

Smiegel and his precious ring.

He reiterated that we were idiots. We agreed. He then told us that he saw someone cleaning out the insurance agency offi ce earlier in the day. The guy was carrying boxes of old papers out into a van.

It now made sense to us.

This wasn’t a strange wormhole we fell through. This was some papers from the 1970 box of receipts falling out onto the street when they were being loaded up. Well, maybe this is a kind of temporal wormhole.

These papers are worthless things. 51 years old. They tell of money owed, money paid. But I

have found great joy in looking at them. I love how everything was typed out. All the itemized materials were painstakingly hunt and pecked through a typewriter. For the electrical invoice, we learned of the eff ort involved. They billed for ten and three quarters hours of labor. The electrician was worth nine dollars an hour. That’s how much we pay for a licensed electrician now, right?

There is a story in these discarded pieces of commerce.

Someone paid 22 dollars to have their animal looked at. Did it go well? Was it some daughter's beloved dog? Their cat?

The receipt said the reference number for the transaction was 25,921. If we could look up the fi le, what stories might we discover.

For each of these invoices, these receipts, there are fragments of lives being lived.

These invoices are tiny pinhole portals to gaze at half a century ago. But the holes are so small, we can barely see a thing. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to gaze back. To see the people who lived these receipts.

I am not advocating that we should gather up last week’s CVS receipts and contemplate them like art on a museum wall.

But let’s not kid ourselves that these scraps of paper don’t have stories to tell. They color in the blank areas of our collective memory. And they will be more pleasant clutter in my house, in my life.

And to any business looking for some old invoices, you can always fi nd Jeff , Mr. Dan or myself at Trivia most Mondays.

We might have the old scraps you need.

David Macpherson is a poet and humorist living in the Worcester area.

14 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

WORCESTERIA

Opening closets during LGBTQ History Month

we’re by no means done. Right here in Worcester, city councilor at-large candidate Thu Nguyen has been attacked

based on their status as nonbinary. Criticizing a political candidate is fi ne, but should be based on their position on the

issues and ability to do the job, not on something personal like their gender identity. The best way to combat this is visibility, and 10/11 serves as an opportunity for people, who might think such laws don’t aff ect them and theirs, to see that these issues strike closer to home than they realize. Even for those not in a position to come out yet, Coming Out Day can still be a way for them to see they’re not alone. As long as people can be attacked for simply living as who they are, we will need one. In 1994, October was designated LGBTQ History Month to coincide with Coming Out Day, and as to why we need that, let me answer your question with another question. Do any of the following names sound familiar — Susan B. Anthony, Frederic Chopin, Alan Turing, Eleanor Roosevelt? If you don’t know

the only problem with using credit/debit cards for every purchase. It’s a true terror for cashiers who weren’t trained in the fi ne art of counting back change when actual currency is off ered. Twice this week I’ve encountered befuddled associates who only know how to read what the cash register’s computer screen tells them.

They don’t know how you get to that magical number, and if you want to see real fear in their eyes, hand them bills and coins. Meltdown at Register No. 3!

This brings me to one of my pet peeves: curriculum, and what it doesn’t off er. Somewhere down the line we’ve lost sight of the importance of teaching everyday life skills.

I’m not advocating for a return to June Cleaver days; I don’t think we need to teach Susie how to use a Simplicity pattern

to make a dress for Homecoming, or even teach Johnny how to balance a checkbook, since no one writes checks anymore.

I’m talking about basic stuff , like how to sew a button back on your shirt instead of throwing it away. How to fi gure out a household budget so you don’t wind up with bad credit and debt up to your eyeballs. And yes, how to make change.

These are skills that help us survive.

Which brings me to Related Pet Peeve No. 2: tech schools.

Every new high school built with tax dollars should be a tech school — what we once called “trade” schools. I say this as a retired teacher with 30 years in education under my belt. We B.S.'d students for the last couple of decades about college, like they were all going to be Wall Street bankers or literary luminaries, when in fact

they would have benefi ted greatly from learning a trade that would earn them a good living and make all our lives better. Why do plumbers and electricians make such good money? Because there aren’t enough of them out there. I watched too many kids stumble through a semester of community college only to give up because it was something they were pushed into in the fi rst place. If they’d attended a tech school that got them started on an apprenticeship in a trade, things might have been very diff erent for them, but with only one tough-to-get-into tech school available in Worcester, hundreds of would-be tradesmen and women never have the option. Note that I avoided the phase “cherry-picked” since that would’ve led to an avalanche of denials from administration.

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

In case you didn’t know, Oct. 11 marked the 33rd National Coming Out Day and Oct. 1 was the beginning of the 27th LGBTQ History Month. Now, I can already hear some of you asking, why do we need either of these in this day and age, and don’t we already have Pride month? In fact, Worcester Pride was just last month.

Since 1988, Oct. 11 has been a day to raise awareness of homophobia and promote visibility of the LGBTQ community, and was fi rst celebrated on the one-year anniversary of the Second National March on Washington, D.C., for Lesbian and Gay rights in which 50,000 people gathered. The fi rst one was in 1979. While we may have made progress since then,

Change Continued from Page 11

thing online with a credit card for the past 18 months impacted the fl ow of coins. But fear not! According to the Fed, the U.S. Coin Task Force — yes, there is such a thing! — which was formed in July 2020 “to identify, implement and promote actions to address disruptions to coin circulation, continues to meet regularly until coin circulation normalizes.”

Imagine those meetings?

“Mike, bring us up to speed on dimes.”

Are those guys doing their part to improve circulation? I bet they pay for the coff ee and donuts served at these Mensa meetings with a Fed credit card.

Anyhoo, this coin thing isn’t

October is LGBTQ History Month. GETTY IMAGES

what any of these people had in common (aside from having a defi nitive eff ect on the world as we know it today) that is why we need LGBTQ History Month, which spotlights the historical contributions of the LGBTQ community such as those mentioned above.

On a lighter note, Sunday hours are making a return to the Worcester Public Library!

Starting next week, on Sunday, Oct.17, the WPL’s main location at 3 Salem Square will be open from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays through April 24, 2022. If you’re anything like me, the WPL being closed Sundays was more than a little disappointing, that most often being the day of the week when one actually has the time to pop into the library to check out that book you wanted, make a return or start work on that school project due Monday.

Tech schools off er classes in fi nance and marketing, and everything from construction, carpentry and culinary arts to pipe-fi tting and Web development. When kids graduate from a high school that off ers no trades, they enter a world with no life skills other than how to pass that odious MCAS test by a hair. I’m betting many kids who attend tech schools aren’t stymied by the task of making change.

But I digress, sort of. Back to the coin shortage. I have three diff erent jars of coins in my house. I wonder what would happen if I off ered to exchange them at a local grocery store? I guess I’ll have to get some of those impossible paper coin sleeves and start rolling, if I’m going to put my stash back into circulation. Just doing my part as a proud American, even if it means paper cuts.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 15

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

POETRY TOWN

‘The Chosen One’ Em Cue Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Am I destined for greatness?

When I wake up in the morning When I open my eyes When I think about the future When I'm sad about the past

“Dog Fur Reliquary,” terra cotta, dog fur, mixed media

If its too much for me to handle If I will be burned on the bridges that I never built because I was dreaming and forgot to close my eyes If I sit still will the waves still come If the flames don't burn Does that mean I am a chosen one

“Am I destined for greatness? .... When I think about the future/When I’m sad about the past?” PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANKIE FRANCO

Em Cue is a creator, organizer, writer, advocate, artist, leader, art collector, broker,

curator, poet, muse, Boricua, fighter and lover.

EVAN MORSE/ARTSWORCESTER

Spotlight Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Evan Morse is a graduate of Boston University (MFA) and Wheaton College, MA (BA). Interested in the narrative capabilities of fi gurative art, Morse has devoted additional time to learning traditional sculpture techniques, including study at Studio Arts College International in Florence and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy. His work has been recognized with two grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, in 2018 and 2021. He is also the recipient of a 2017 fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a 2020 Blanche

Colman Award. Morse was additionally recognized for his work in relief sculpture with a 2018 Dexter Jones Award from the National Sculpture Society. Morse maintains a home base in Newton, Massachusetts, while occasionally working in Carrara, Italy, or at the Carving Studio in West Rutland, Vermont.

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

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16 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

COVER STORY

‘ABBA the Concert’ coming to Hanover Theatre Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

The front four are now Matilda Lindell as Agnetha; Elisabet Karlsson as Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad; Martin Håkansson as Benny Andersson and Mathias Andersson as Björn Ulvaeus.

COURTESY OF RON ELKMAN

“ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA” isn’t based on a particular concert that the fabulous four Swedish super pop troupers gave in their relatively short live performance career.

“It is not like a whole concert that they did,” said Matilda Lindell about the show. And while Lindell is singing as ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog — “I’m the blonde one,” Lindell said — “we’re not playing a role in that way except in providing the ABBA experience.”

But it still promises to be quite an experience when “ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA” takes the stage at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26. The audience can expect all the joyous hits such as “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” “SOS,” “Fernando” and “Take a Chance on Me,” as well heartfelt outcries like “SOS” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” “They have some of the greatest pop songs ever done,” Lindell said of ABBA. “It’s a very unique sound. In the mixing process they succeeded in creating this distinct personal sound. You know it’s ABBA. Very happy, upbeat songs, and also deeper emotional events in your life so you can have it all in there. You can dance, you can cry,” she said.

See ABBA, Page 17

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 17

Matilda Lindell performs in "ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA." PHOTO COURTESY RON ELKMAN

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“ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA” is performed by The Visitors (named after ABBA’s last album of the same name), a group from Stockholm, Sweden, that has toured the the show in the U.S. with great success over the past 10 years or so years.

COURTESY OF RON ELKMAN

Continued from Page 16

“We have a lot of fun on stage. We have fun with our audience, and every show is unique,” Lindell said. “We see how the audience reacts and we respond to this. We are just having an ABBA party with our friends.”

“ABBA the Concert” is performed by The Visitors (named after ABBA’s last album), a group from Stockholm, Sweden, that has toured the show in the U.S. with great success over the past 10 years or so years.

“We have put together songs that the audience wants to hear, and it’s also dynamic and exciting. It builds as it goes along,” Lindell said. “You will not be disappointed. The crowds really get into the show.”

The ABBA experience began in earnest in 1974 at the Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Brighton, England, as each country is represented by their chosen performer(s) and song. The contest in those days was usually a pretty staid aff air, but ABBA lit up the event as Sweden’s representative with a rousing rendition of their song “Waterloo.” There were two appealing women lead vocalists

If You Go What: ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: $29, $39, and $59 depending on seat location. (877) 571-7469; www.thehanovertheatre.org. Safety protocols require proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative result for a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of your visit to the theater. Children under 12 are exempt, provided they are accompanied by an adult who is fully vaccinated. Information will be checked against a valid photo ID prior to entry and the wearing of CDC-approved masks is required while inside the theater.

singing in English, fl ashy costumes (as well as a Napoleon in costume), a catchy tune, a swirling sax, and choreogra-

phy.

Olivia Newton-John, gamely representing the UnitSee ABBA, Page 18

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ABBA

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ABBA Continued from Page 17

ed Kingdom with an unfortunately ploddingly written song called “Long Live Love,” was left in the dust. But so was everyone else competing against ABBA that night.

The Swedish group of Agnetha Fältskog (lead vocals), Björn Ulvaeus (guitar, vocals), Benny Andersson (keyboards, vocals), and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad (lead vocals) were instant stars and would be a Top of the Pops phenomenon for all time. (”Waterloo” has been chosen as the Eurovision Song Contest’s best song in the competition’s history.)

The group’s name is an acronym of the fi rst letters of their fi rst names.

Benny and Björn wrote most of the songs with their irresistible hooks and melodies.

Besides the music and name there was the look. Agnetha and Frida were/are beautiful and sexy, their outfi ts from boots to catsuits, tunic dresses, pants, gowns and capes always eye-catching. Benny and Björn also dressed the ‘70s part (wide collars, etc.).

But in 1982, just eight years after Eurovision, ABBA gave what for many years seemed like its fi nal performance. “The Visitors” album had been released in 1981.

The group had also made headlines as, respectively, Agnetha and Björn, and Frida and Benny — married couples. Until their breakups, mirrored in “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” Later, there were solo albums by Agnetha and Frida, Benny and Björn wrote a musical, “Chess,” Agnetha became reclusive for a while, and Frida married a European prince and is now a partner with an English viscount But the music and the magic, long after the discos had closed, were here to stay.

The stage shows and movies “Mamma Mia!” (2008) and “Mama Mia! Here We Go Again”

The real ABBA announced that “Voyage,” an album of new songs, will be released on Nov. 5, which has put a spotlight on the tribute act. COURTESY OF RON ELKMAN

(2018), co-composed and produced by Benny and Björn, not only helped keep the music alive but did phenomenally at the box offi ce.

On June 4, 2016, the four

members of ABBA reunited on stage for an impromptu performance of “Me and I” at a private gala in Sweden.

Then earlier this year came a real shocker — ABBA was back

with a new album in the works and planning to perform live again — sort of.

ABBA announced that “Voyage,” an album of brand new songs, will be released on

Nov. 5 and include a Christmas song. Two tracks from it, which the Guardian newspaper in England described as “the stately and epic ballad ‘I Still Have Faith in You’ and the shimmying ‘Don’t Shut Me Down,’” are out now.

Benny, 74, Agnetha, 71, Frida, 75, and Björn, 76, have also announced a new concert experience in London, also called Voyage, beginning in May 2022. “Digital versions of themselves (not holograms, their team asserted) will appear nightly alongside a 10piece live band at a new 3,000capacity venue in the city’s Olympic park, called the Abba Arena,” the Guardian reported.

So it’s a also a timely time for the “ABBA the Concert” experience.

“It’s very exciting for us and the audience. We have two new songs to perform,” Lindell said.

She called the London shows next year “not really them” live in-person, but, “I think it’s just adding to the excitement of ABBA, so for us it’s great … If ABBA would go out and want to tour themselves, I would want to see them.

“It’s very nice that ABBA is a universal phenomenon. It’s a great way to connect around the world. You love ABBA here (in the U.S.). It’s great to perform here.”

By the same token, Lindell thinks The Visitors and “ABBA the Concert” show has a distinct following now in its own right.

“Our audience, we have our own fan base now. It’s vey nice to see our own fans back for the show,” Lindell said.

On its website the band calls “ABBA the Concert” itself “The Best ABBA Since ABBA.” When she was growing up in Sweden, ABBA was something akin to royalty, Lindell observed.

“As a Swede, ABBA is very much of our culture. Even though we didn’t become super fans, it just played on the radio.

We know the four ABBAs very See ABBA, Page 19

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 19

ABBA Continued from Page 18

well. It’s like ABBA running in our blood.”

Personally, Lindell said she “didn’t fall in love with their music until I started singing it and then I got the lyrics in more close-up, and got to love the music in a more intimate way.”

The Visitors is a 10-piece band — “everyone from Sweden,” Lindell said — with its origins in the late 1990s when a couple of the original members were in an ABBA tribute called Waterloo. There have been name changes and changes of personnel, but the band has toured the world.

Lindell joined in 2008, after being encouraged to audition by a music teacher.

The front four are now Agnetha — Lindell; Frida — Elisabet Karlsson; Benny — Martin Håkansson; and Björn — Mathias Andersson.

“We started building a new show. It’s something else than it was 13 years ago,” Lindell said.

“We have defi nitely studied the way they looked, how they moved, the sound, the voices, the choice of outfi ts, the choreography. We put a lot of work into that,” she said.

The show has sometimes alluded to the interpersonal relationships within ABBA. “We are of course interacting in the show, (but) no it’s not a big part of it,” Lindell said. “Some fans know. We always change up what we’re talking about in the dialogue in the shows, and there were a lot of people who didn’t know.”

Currently, the show doesn’t get into that territory. “We actually don’t say that now,” Lindell said.

“I think we have a very, very high musical quality. We communicate well on stage. It’s very much a musical experience,” she said.

And it is a Matilda, Elisabet, Martin and Mathias ABBA experience.

“We also put a lot of personality in this. It’s performers on stage. I’m Matilda on stage. We have studied them for sure, but this is Matilda you will see up there.”

As for whether ABBA members have ever been to “ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA,” Lindell said, “They have not seen our show but they are aware of our existence since we are one of the big ABBA tributes coming out of Sweden.”

She has “not really met any of them, but Björn was in the audience once, during a performance unrelated to ABBA, where I did backing vocals,” Lindell said.

“I also met Benny working out in a hotel gym with a personal trainer. It was only them and me in the room, and even though I wanted to walk up and thank him for all the wonderful music that has had such a huge impact on my life — I also wanted to be respectful about his privacy. That’s the closest I’ve gotten to meet them.”

Lindell now lives in New York City part time and Stockholm part time, she said.

Prior to auditioning as Angetha with The Visitors, she had hopes of a musical career and they are being realized.

Now in addition to performing in “ABBA the Concert,” she said, she is “both a solo artist and a freelance singer, a lead singer in diff erent projects.”

She writes her own original music and has recently been arranging and singing a few ABBA songs in “a totally new version” for an EP that will likely be released early next year.

You could call it Lindell’s own personal experience with ABBA, and her renditions of “Dancing Queen” and “One of Us,” which are already out, are superb in a revealing but understated way. The adaptations add new dimensions to the songs, with singing that is sensitive and engaging.

“I’ve got a great response,” Lindell said. “I didn’t take it lightly. I was a little bit nervous about what ABBA songs worked. But so far so good.”

“ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA” is for the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

COURTESY OF RON ELKMAN

20 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CITY LIVING TABLE HOPPIN’

Worcester Technical High School Skyline Bistro reopens Barbara M. Houle Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

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The student-run Skyline Bistro in Worcester Technical High School reopened Oct. 13 after having been closed to the public for more than a year and half due to the pandemic.

Kevin Layton, chef instructor/department head, said it was great to see community returning to the restaurant and students were “super excited” to greet them.

Ironically, the pandemic that temporarily shuttered the bistro may have also created an opportunity for these students, who fi nd themselves in high demand from restaurants struggling to fi ll jobs.

Layton said many local restaurateurs and business owners are reaching out to Worcester Technical High School for co-op students.

Layton said at this time he hasn’t sent any culinary students out, but he’s hopeful that by next month the school will be able to help fi ll a gap. “Students need to be ready to balance classroom theory with practical, hands-on experience,” he said. A white board in one of the classrooms has a list of businesses looking for help, and I noted one of the restau-

rants has an executive chef who graduated from the vocational school’s culinary arts program.

During the pandemic, chef instructors who teach handson courses found ways to make remote learning work, according to Layton. During that time, students were taught fundamental techniques in cooking, baking, etc., and the chefs even got creative in Food Networkinspired chef competitions, said Layton. The food prepared by the chefs were sold to faculty and staff who worked in the building, he said, adding there was great support. Worcester Tech’s chef instructors include Kimberly Youkstetter, Chris O’Harra, Brian McNally and Betty Casey (pastry chef).

When the school reopened this fall, it was all about revisiting basic kitchen skills for culinary students, according to Layton. “A refresher course,” he said. “When you think about it, freshmen who were just getting started before COVID are now juniors. This is especially an important year for seniors who are applying to colleges or looking for permanent jobs in the restaurant industry after graduation.”

The bistro is open from 10:30 See BISTRO, Page 22

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 21

THE NEXT DRAFT

Everett’s Night Shift Brewing sells 5-year-old beer distributing company Matthew Tota Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Night Shift Brewing broke into the distribution business in 2016 with all the fi re of a revolutionary, vowing to fi x what it called a broken system from within.

The Everett brewery — as both an independent brewer and distributor — would take on the big wholesalers who dominated the industry and balance a game that for years has chewed and spit out the little guys.

“The current system is anticompetitive, stifl es innovation in distribution, and creates a large barrier to entry for new distribution companies — we’re committed to changing that,” Night Shift said at the time. “After watching wholesalers squash every brewery effort to reform year after year, we fi nally decided — it’s time to work within the broken system to off er ourselves and our brewery friends a new model.”

I would love to say that in this case, the little guy prevailed; change came. But not so: Last month, Night Shift announced it would fold its distributing company into one of the largest craft beer wholesalers in the country. The cost and effort to scale up in the distribution business proved too much for Night Shift to bear.

So Night Shift struck a deal with Sheehan Family Companies, a wholesaler with one of the largest distribution networks in the country, to purchase the brewery’s distribution company and acquire the distribution rights to its portfolio in Massachusetts and Connecticut, beginning this week.

Night Shift Brewing has sold its beer distributing company. WILL CLEVELAND/WRCESTER MAGAZINE

Sheehan, worth more than a billion dollars, operates 17 different distributers across 12 states and the District of Columbia. And it recently acquired the Massachusetts distribution rights to Framingham brewer Jack’s Abby.

Speaking to the industry publication Brewbound, Night Shift co-founder Rob Burns offered a sobering perspective on why the experiment failed, the confi dence and optimism the brewery had fi ve years ago replaced by the cold reality of dollars and cents.

“There’s a reason why wholesalers are consolidating across the country,” Burns told Brewbound. “It is a game of scale. It is a game of maximizing trucks and dollars per drop and logistics, and we are not

going to be able to match that.

We’re just not going to be able to get there. There’s too much market pressure. When craft was growing double digits, it was a lot easier to see a pathway to get there, or to at least be a force in the market for a longer time.”

Still, Night Shift Distributing managed to assemble an impressive list of 35 partners over its run, including breweries, wineries and distilleries. NSD had amassed 2,000 accounts and delivered over 2.4 million cases of beer, wine and spirits.

Sheehan has started talking with NSD’s partners about joining its massive network.

Many of NSD’s former partners, including the rapidly growing non-alcoholic brand from Connecticut, Athletic

Brewing Co., which increased production by about 400% last year, have much to gain from jumping into Sheehan’s empire. The distributor’s network and legion of sales representatives can easily help grow a brand already intent on expanding its distribution volume outside of the state.

I’m not so much concerned with them, as I am the smaller breweries that want to distribute, but don’t have the volume to attract a distributor the size of Sheehan.

Take Worcester’s Redemption Rock Brewing Co., which suddenly fi nds itself without a distributor. Redemption Rock joined NSD last year in an eff ort to expand its footprint in the Boston area, while continuing to self-distribute in Central Massachusetts. Allowed to go at its own pace, Redemption Rock started by sending a couple of pallets to NSD a month.

“In the last month we did three pallets,” said Redemption Rock CEO Dani Babineau. “Our goal was to increase the

amount we were getting over to them. It’s a fi ne balance between what we send them and what we have in the taproom.”

Redemption Rock loved that NSD was itself a brewery and understood the challenges of trying to grow. It cared for the beer as its own, keeping it cold from the warehouse to the package store. And it did not require lifetime contracts.

Before news of the sale broke late last month, Burns told Babineau Night Shift could no longer distribute Redemption Rock beer by email fi rst, then the two, both part of the Mass Brewers Guild Board of Directors, talked by phone.

Burns, Babineau said, told her Night Shift would happily help Redemption Rock fi nd a new distribution partner.

Redemption Rock doesn’t know whether it could strike the same pressure-free deal with Sheehan. Babineau said the brewery would be open to talking with the company See BEER, Page 25

22 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Bistro Continued from Page 20

a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday (cash only).

Visit https://techhigh.us for link to information about weekly menus, etc. Bistro reservations are recommended. Call (508) 799-1964. Guests are asked to wear masks when entering the school building, 1 Skyline Drive.

The bistro’s most recent menu included New England clam chowder and French onion soup; four salad choices including the new Southwestern Salad; sandwiches and wraps; burgers (classic, bacon cheese, black and bleu cheese, jalapeno and veggie); entrees (chicken Parmesan, fi sh and chips, New England baked scrod), specials and desserts. Baked seafood casserole (shrimp, scallop and crab) served with vegetable is an example of one of the featured specials.

Culinary students also prepare “meals to go” sold in the school’s bake shop located on the main fl oor of the school.

The pre-packed meals in refrigerated cases include items like shepherd’s pie, meatloaf, etc.

The meals (one to two servings) range from $5 to $10.

Soups, salads and sandwiches also are available.

The bake shop is a go-to for cookies and assorted pastries.

The shop will take special occasion orders to include cookie and pastry trays. Call (508) 799-1940, ext. 17544, for ordering information.

Next month, Skyline Bistro will continue the tradition of serving Thanksgiving dinner before the school recess. Layton said he expects the menu will be off ered three consecutive days, “maybe four this year.” The dinner is immensely popular, he said, and always sells out quickly. It’s by reservation only. The days the menu will be off ered will be announced early next month.

At Hilltop Restaurant at Bay Path Regional Vocational

Baking instructor Betty Casey in the kitchen at Skyline Bistro.

Technical High School in Charlton, there’s online ordering for curbside pick-up only.

The lunch service began when the restaurant closed due to the pandemic. Marcie Wood, culinary arts chef instructor, said, “We all want to see the restaurant open soon, but we don’t have an exact date.”

Visit www.baypath.net for a link to the menu. Call (508) 248-5971 for more information.

And Cornerstone Restaurant & Café at Tantasqua Regional High School in Fiskdale is open to staff and faculty only, said Principal Mark Wood. As for the restaurant’s reopening, Wood said it would be “ASAP.” Stay tuned.

Mark Sansoucy retires from Bay Path Congrats go out to Mark Sansoucy on his retirement after 27 years at Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton, where he was head of the Culinary Arts Department and school varsity baseball coach. Sansoucy ran the school’s successful Chili Chowdown fundraiser to benefi t the team’s annual tournament trip. The competitive event attracted restaurants throughout Central Massachusetts.

In his retirement, Sansoucy said he is “enjoying spending

Skyline Bistro is open from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETERSON/T&G

Alyssia Amparo makes cookies in the kitchen.

time with the grandchildren.”

He currently is back at Bay Path fi lling in for an employee on leave. Yes, he’s back in the kitchen!

And, don’t count him out when it comes to a Chili Chowdown in the spring.

Hooray for pasta!

Pasta lovers celebrate!

October is National Pasta

Baking students Gabriella De La Cruz, Sapnam Tamang and Shannon Ruiz strike a pose while making a dessert with apples at Skyline Bistro at Worcester Technical High School, which reopened to the public last week.

Month, and Oct. 17 was on the calendar as National Pasta Day. There are “approximately 350 diff erent types of pasta around the world,” so there’s no problem when it comes to indulging in your favorite pasta dish.

More carbs when World Pasta Day rolls around on Oct. 25.

There’s no end to these “national holidays,” especially when it comes to food celebra-

tions. The online National Calendar Day lists calzone, cinnamon, deep-fried clams, vinegar, deviled egg, candy, nachos and bittersweet chocolate with almonds as a few of the things to celebrate in November.

Humbug Day is in December.

If you have a tidbit for the column, call (508) 868-5282.

Send email to bhoulefood@gmail.com.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 23

CONNELL SANDERS

A personal connection in this year’s UMass Cancer Walk Sarah Connell Sanders Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2021 UMASS Cancer Walk has raised more than $666,000 to support adult and pediatric research and care. COURTESY OF SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

My fi rst UMass Cancer Walk, I participated on behalf of the restaurant where I worked at the time, Armsby Abbey. I’ll be honest, the owners sweetened the pot, off ering the employee who garnered top donations a private tour of the ultra-private Vermont brewery, Hill Farmstead. I went all in.

The walk itself was an explosion of goodwill — little kids in cute costumes and LuluLemon moms commandeering mili-

tary grade strollers. I dug the vibe, but I didn’t feel a real personal connection. I did, however, win the grand prize.

Hill Farmstead was bonkers.

We palled around with Charlie, the brewery dog, and drank beers I’d never dreamed of. My eff orts to bolster cancer research were far from my mind.

In the time since my fi rst UMass Cancer Walk, my grandmother Joan, the most important woman in my life, went head to head with breast cancer and won. She’s not alone.

Breast cancer was the most common cancer diagnosis in

2020, according to the National Cancer Institute. Sometimes it takes a close call to develop the kind of self-transcendent purpose that drives generosity. For me, it took Grandma Joan.

Since its fi rst year in 1999, the UMass Cancer Walk has become the largest, one-day, single-location fundraising event in Worcester, raising more than $14 million. Julie Bowditch is an amazing organizer and this year’s manager of community fundraising for the annual event. Bowditch’s 2021 iteraSee WALK, Page 25

October 26 • TheHanoverTheatre.org • 877.571.7469 • Tickets start at $29!

24 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

SCREEN TIME

‘The Boston Strangler’ set for big-screen comeback Craig S. Semon Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Tony Curtis.

Now, there’s a name you don’t hear quite often anymore.

But, with the announcement of a new movie based on the infamous Boston Strangler case — starring Keira Knightley, aka Elizabeth Swann of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series (and with possible location shoots being done in Worcester) — Tony Curtis’ name will certainly be popping up because he played the lead in 1968’s “The Boston Strangler.”

Today, Curtis — who has been dead for over a decade — is best known as being once married to Janet Leigh, aka Marion Crane, the most famous victim of Norman Bates in “Psycho,” and Curtis and Leigh being the proud parents of “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis (who starred in “Halloween,” “The Fog,” “Prom Night” and “Terror Train”).

In his movie career, Curtis played an air force pilot, Ali Baba’s son, an army corporal, a bell boy, a casino manager, a chemistry professor, cowboys, a dashing racecar driver, a debonair millionaire, a disillusioned ex-cop, a handsome gigolo, great escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini, “The Great Imposter,” Ira Hayes (the Pima Native American who helped lift the American fl ag over Iwo Jima), a journalist, a Medieval knight, a middleweight boxer, a riverboat gambler, a swinging playboy, a sailor, a swashbuckler, a trapeze artist, an Ukrainian Cossack and a sword-wielding Viking.

Curtis made four classic movies all opposite better actors.

Thanks to Cliff ord Odets, “Sweet Smell of Success” (1957) is one of the smartest and coolest dialogue-driven movies you

Tony Curtis in “The Boston Strangler.” 20TH CENTURY FOX

will ever see (and you should see it and see often if you haven’t already). Playing morally bankrupt Manhattan press agent Sidney Falco, Curtis often makes promises he can’t keep and grovels at the feet of powerful and sleazy newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster in a role based on Walter Winchell) so he can stay afl oat. Be warned: the rapid-fi re retorts are enough to give you whiplash.

Curtis received an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination playing an escaped prisoner shackled to another prison escapee played by Sidney Poitier (who was also nominated in the same category as Curtis) in 1958’s “The Defi ant Ones.” A little dated but a killer movie nonetheless.

Opposite Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe at her most appealing Marilyn Monroe-ish, Curtis is at his comedic timing

best as one-half of a pair of musicians dressed in drag to hide from mafi a gangsters in Billy Wilder’s zany comedy classic “Some Like It Hot” (1959). Voted as the funniest fi lm ever made by a survey of the American Film Institute, “Some Like It Hot” is an absolute hoot.

And, of course, there is 1960's “Spartacus” opposite Kirk Douglas. Curtis plays a pampered, pretty slave boy who confuses the hell out of Douglas when he joins a slave revolt against the Roman Empire. In what can be called Me Too Movement First Century B.C., we learned in the restored footage of the Stanley Kubrick epic that Curtis was being sexually harassed in a hot tub by Laurence Olivier, who plays a Roman general.

And it was “Spartacus” that was spoofed in “The Flintstones“ episode as a movie called “Slave Boy” with Tony

Curtis as "Stony Curtis."

Personal note: When James F. Normandin started as Telegram & Gazette publisher in the fall of 2014, he gathered up the whole staff in a conference room and made each individual employee stand-up to say who they were and what they did at the newspaper.

Seeing the opportunity, I stood up boldly, swaggered left to right and bellowed the famous line from “Spartacus,” “I am Spartacus” to the chagrin of Normandin, whose eyes were rolling in the back of his head at my grandiose but, alas, hollow gesture.

It was one of my proudest moments at the paper and I don’t regret it for a second.

One of Curtis’ last memorable roles was fl amboyant and sarcastic hotel casino owner Phillip “Slick” Roth on the ABC TV series “Vega$” starring Robert Urich.

Urich’s next hit TV series, “Spenser: For Hire,” famously shot an episode at the DCU Center with John Davidson in the guise of a corrupt televangelist.

Despite being animated as “Stony Curtis” by Hanna-Barbera in “The Flintstones,” Curtis is an absolutely looney tune in “The Boston Strangler.”

In the original 1968 fi lm, Star Trek’s Dr. Richard Daystrom (William Marshall) appoints a reluctant, not-so-young Young Mister Lincoln (Henry Fonda) to head an investigative team called the "Strangler Bureau," which prompts the question, would a unit investigating a serial killer hanging his victims be called the “Swingers Bureau”?

Working alongside Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) from all the good and the bad “Airport” movies and Amity Island tourist-opportunist, money-grubbing, no-conscious mayor and all-around fashion victim Larry

Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), Fonda and company throw a net out on all “the peepers, the men’s room queens, the exhibitionists, the subway jostlers, the dirty word specialists” that make up the Bay State. They should have started at Fenway Park during a post-season game.

In addition to depicting the Hub as a hot bed for sexual deviants, the original Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) plays the only surviving victim of the Boston Strangler.

With its use of split screens and documentary style storytelling, “The Boston Strangler” is an often gritty and unnerving snapshot of the infamous serial killing spree and subsequent state of panic that hit the Bay State in the early ‘60s.

At the one hour mark, we fi nally see Curtis. He’s wiping tears from his eyes as he watches the live television coverage of JFK’s funeral. We learn that he’s a hard-working family man who no one suspects (including, possibly, himself) that he is the Boston Strangler.

As the killing spree in Boston, Cambridge, Lynn, Lawrence and Salem reaches 13 victims, the New York-born actor, who is very convincing as the cold, calculating and, sometimes, confused killer, shows his adopted Boston accent to great eff ect in the lines, “Find a place to park the car. Right?

And I parked the car.” No, Curtis was nowhere Harvard Yard.

The scene is which Curtis is acting out strangling one of his victims to Fonda is, literally and fi guratively, gripping.

With the critical success of “The Boston Strangler” and Curtis’ memorable turn as his chiseled jaw drawn cartoon alter-ego Stony Curtis on "The Flintstones," I’m surprised that See STRANGLER, Page 28

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 25

Walk Continued from Page 23

tion of the UMASS Cancer Walk felt like a beautiful act of defi ance. Participants arrived at Polar Park ready to yell, fi ght and stand together after a year and a half of crushing isolation.

Ceremonies began with the story of Lillian Garcia, a doeeyed baby girl diagnosed with cancer at just 9 months old.

When her mother described the earth-shattering experience of receiving her daughter’s diagnosis, an army of walkers in matching purple shirts shouted like rebels embroiled in an uprising. Then, Congressman James McGovern beamed in from the nation’s capital to share the story of his own daughter’s battle with cancer. Finally, Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler appeared on the big screen to champion her own survivor’s journey. Cancer met a common enemy in the city of Worcester on Sunday morning.

The UMass Cancer Walk happens once a year, but the

Beer Continued from Page 21

about its distribution rights, though.

“We have a lot of respect for Night Shift,” she said. “It clearly feels good about Sheehan as a distributor.”

While losing its distributor isn’t ideal for Redemption Rock, Eastern Massachusetts still only represents a small portion of its distribution sales. If you live or work in that area and looked forward to regular shipments of fresh Redemption Rock beer, you may not see the same volume coming to your local package store, at least until the brewery signs

fi ght continues every day.

Money raised at the annual event supports adult and pediatric cancer research and care, as well as clinical trials of new potentially life-saving therapies taking place right here in the heart of the Commonwealth.

After I left Polar Park, I went to Armsby Abbey for some nourishment and nostalgia. I was pleased to see a beer from Hill Farmstead called Charlie on the menu. I remembered the loving pup who had followed me around at the brewery, eager for a scratch behind the ears on my prize winning visit after the UMass Cancer Walk. I was sad to hear the beer had been brewed in his honor because he had passed away, albeit peacefully. I called my Grandma Joan on the ride home.

The UMass Cancer Walk is not just special because it has raised $666,000 in 2021, so far.

It is special because it reminds people to hold their friends and family (and dogs) close.

Cheers to another massive demonstration of Worcester’s commitment to health and wellness. We should all be very proud.

with another distributor.

Meantime, Redemption Rock has chosen to look at the end of its relationship with NSD as a fresh start. It has more time now to consider its options now, time it maybe couldn’t aff ord to spend last summer amid the craziness of the pandemic.

“First and foremost, we want to start talking with some of the retail customers in the Boston area about what distributors they like. We want to see who gives these smaller accounts the proper attention,” Babineau said. “We want to make sure our priorities align. We’re a small brewery, so if someone has a 10 pallet a month minimum, we can’t hit that.”

CELEBRATE 25 YEARS WITH MOHEGAN SUN OCTOBER 2021

Throughout October, come celebrate Mohegan Sun’s 25th Anniversary with can’t miss events all month long.

Join us for amazing giveaways, star-studded after parties, and incredible concerts from the biggest artists like Harry Styles, Blake Shelton, and Run-DMC.

Find the fun at mohegansun.com

26 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

5 THINGS TO DO

BILL T. JONES, ICON MUSEUM, JOEY CHESTNUT AND MORE Richard Duckett and Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Memorial concert at the Stone Church A tradition continues as guest organist Wesley Hall plays the Donald L. Boothman Memorial Organ Concert at the Stone Church Cultural Center in Gilbertville, where Friends of The Stone Church will dedicate the Donald and Kaye Boothman Hall at the Stone Church. After moving to Hardwick from Washington, D.C., in 1983, Donald L. Boothman founded Friends of the Gilbertville Organ at The Stone Church (now the Stone Church Cultural Center) and produced 62 concerts over 21 seasons. Boothman, who died in 2016, was also an accomplished baritone, taught voice at Clark University, and was active in the Hardwick community. Wesley Hall, minister of music and the arts at First Baptist Church of Worcester, produced a documentary in 2019 about the historic Stone Church 1874 Johnson & Son tracker organ. He is known as “Westpiper” on TikTok, where he has over 100,000 followers. (RD)

Wesley Hall SUBMITTED

What: Donald L. Boothman Memorial Organ Concert organist Wesley Hall When: 2 p.m. Oct. 24 Where: The Stone Church Cultural Center, 283 Main St., Gilbertville How much: Tickets $15 available through FriendsoftheStoneChurch.org or reservations may be made by email to Events@FriendsoftheStoneChurch.org

Bill T. Jones production at Holy Cross “Afterwardsness” is described as a “hypnotic” new commission by Tony Award-winning choreographer, director and dancer Bill T. Jones. Performed by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company of New York City at the College of the Holy Cross on Oct. 27. “Afterwardsness” addresses “the isolation and trauma of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and ongoing violence against Black bodies.” The work places the audience in an immersive space with the dancers and musicians directly on the gym floor. Featuring a new vocal composition by Holland Andrews, a violin solo for George Floyd titled “Homage” by Pauline Kim Harris, as well as excerpts from Olivier Messaien’s war-time composition Quartet for the End of Time. Presented by Arts Transcending Borders at the College of the Holy Cross. (RD) What: “Afterwardness” — Bill T. Zones/Arnie Zane Company When: 5 and 8 p.m. Oct. 27 Where: Blaney Gymnasium in Luth Athletic Complex at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester How much: $25; $10 Holy Cross faculty and staff; $5 students. For tickets, go to holycross.edu/atb/visit and click on its Evenbrite page.

A dress rehearsal for Afterwardsness by Bill T. Jones in May. STEPHANIE BERGER

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 27

Museum of Russian Icons marks 15 years The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its founding with “Icons for Our Time: Orthodox Art from Around the World,” an exhibition of 15 icons by some of the most important contemporary icon painters. New works by artists from Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Japan, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, the UK and the US have been specially commissioned for this anniversary exhibition. “What we aim to do with this exhibition is to create a space which provokes us to reflect on the meaning and function of icons for our times,” said art historian and guest curator Clemena Antonova. In addition to engaging audiences visually, the exhibition will offer a multi-sensory experience for visitors to explore the icon tradition in a recreated sacred space unique to each icon’s country of origin. Minimal lighting will direct the eye to the icon accompanied by Orthodox chants from the countries represented in the exhibition. The scent of incense, wax, wood, and candles will be available at scent stations throughout the gallery and a tactile station featuring an iconographer’s workbench will encourage visitors to handle materials used by iconographers past and present. Antonova will give a virtual lecture at 1 p.m. Oct. 24, and there will be varied related programing throughout the exhibition’s run. (RD)

“Can We Talk About Israel?: A Guide for Curious, Confused and Conflicted.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Explaining Israel “The Last Supper,” by Todor Mitrovic SUBMITTED What: “Icons of Our Time: Orthodox Art from Around the World” When: Now through April 3 Where: Museum of Russian Icons, 203 Union St., Clinton.

When: Hours 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

How much: Admission: Adults $12, seniors (59+) $10, Students $5, Children (13-17) $5, Children under 13 Free. Check the web site for more admission details, www.museumofrussianicons.org. Masks required. Lecture by guest curator Clemena Antonova, 1 p.m.

Oct. 24 by Zoom; members free; nonmembers $5. The Zoom link will be sent out the morning of the program. Please register by Saturday, Oct. 23.

Railers host Joey Chestnut in pie-eating contest World’s top professional eater Joey Chestnut will headline the first intermission at the Worcester Railers Home Opener Saturday night against the Maine Mariners. Ranked first in the world by Major League Eating and 14 time winner of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Chestnut will compete in a pie eating contest on the ice against local celebrities as well as two raffle winners from the audience. Raffle tickets are on sale for five dollars until 10 a.m. on Oct. 21. The winner, who will be announced at noon that day, will receive two tickets to the opener and a chance for them and their plus one to compete on the ice against Chestnut. Additionally, a limited number of “Feed Me Hockey” ticket packages are available, which include a ticket, a voucher for Table Talk Pies, and a meet and greet with Chestnut before the game. Presented by Table Talk Pies. (VM) What: Feed Me Hockey at Railers Opening Night When: 7:35 p.m. Oct. 23 Where: DCU Center How much: Raffle tickets at $5, the Feed Me Hockey ticket package costs $45. Individual game tickets are available online at https://railershc.com/tickets/ for $15, $17, $21, $24 and $27 depending on seating. They can also be purchased at the DCU Center Box Office at Door 10. There will be a $2 increase at all price points on game day.

Joey Chestnut NEWENGLAND

“Can’t you just explain the Israel situation to me? In, like, 10 minutes or less?” This is the question Daniel Sokatch is used to answering on an almost daily basis as the head of the New Israel Fund, an organization dedicated to equality and democracy for all Israelis, not just Jews.

Sokatch is well-versed on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But in his book “Can We Talk About Israel?: A Guide for Curious, Confused and Conflicted,”Sokatch asks if there is any other topic about which so many intelligent, educated and sophisticated people express such strongly and passionately held convictions, and about which they actually know so little? (RD) What: Daniel Sokatch — The Worcester JCC Author Series in partnership with Falmouth Jewish Congregation When/Where/How much: 7 p.m. Oct. 26 on Zoom. Free.

For more information and for Zoom registration, contact Nancy Greenberg, ngreenberg@worcesterjcc.org; (508) 756-7109 x 232

28 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

ADOPTION OPTION

walking. We highly suggest fi nding Maggie a trainer who practices positive training methods who can help her and her new owner adjust to becoming a family and help set up rules and boundaries right away. Maggie loves toys and is very playful. She will walk, hike or run with you for as long as

you would like. If you're feeling like lounging around one day, she is also up for that, as long as you're sharing the pillows and covers. Maggie really likes treats and if she has a high value treat or bone, she will guard it. For this reason, she would do best in a home with teens and up. This cutie has a lot to off er

and has been waiting for the right family to come along since November! If you would like more information about Maggie or you would like to set up an appointment to meet her, please contact the shelter today. Maggie is a part of our Foster to Adopt Program.

WARL COVID-19 Procedures As of Nov. 9, 2020 As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we want to share with you some changes we have implemented so that we can continue to serve the pets and people of our community while keeping our team protected. h ADOPTIONS: At this time, adoptions are being held

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you are interested in adoption, please visit our website worcesterarl.org/ adopt/ to learn more about our available animals then call us at (508) 853-0030 ext.0 or email us at info@worcesterarl. org to schedule an appointment. h CASUAL VISITS TO THE SHELTER are prohibited. We will strictly enforce this in order to keep our animal care team protected while still maintaining the most essential function of our operation ... fi nding homes for animals in need. h ANIMAL SURRENDERS: Our business practice for surrendering a pet remains the same. All pet owners must contact WARL in advance of sur-

tim of the Bedrock Strangler who got away, while the music of The Beau Brummelstones played in the background. It would have been a cartoon classic.

In the new “Boston Strangler” fl ick, Knightley plays reallife investigative reporter Loretta McLaughlin, the fi rst reporter to connect the murders and break the story of the Strangler, while working at the Boston Record American.

In 1963, McLaughlin and her

girl Friday, fellow female reporter Jean Cole, wrote a fourpart series about the killer, dubbing him "The Boston Strangler.”

Neither McLaughlin nor Cole’s characters are mentioned in 1968 movie starring Curtis.

If “Boston Strangler” is fi lmed, in part, in Worcester, this will be the third movie fi lmed this year in Worcester in which the main characters are journalists.

We also have “Confess, Fletch,” the eagerly anticipated “Fletch” reboot starring “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm as unorthodox investigative reporter Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher. For the fi lm, the T&G offi ce, located in Mercantile Center at 100 Front St., was transformed into the newsroom of the fi ctitious tabloid The Boston Sentinel.

And for “The Tender Bar,” aspiring journalist J.R. Moehringer (Tye Sheridan) becomes a news assistant at the New York

Meet Maggie

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.

Meet Maggie! Maggie was surrendered to the shelter after her owners had a change in their personal life and weren't able to provide Maggie with a stable home any longer. Shelter life has been stressful for Maggie and the fact that she does not like other animals makes it harder for her. Maggie is a young, smart and energetic dog looking for an active and dog experienced owner who wants to have fun but also understands Maggie needs rules and routine to succeed. Maggie knows her basic commands like; sit, paw and down. She is a strong girl who weighs about 55 pounds and wears a harness and gentle leader when she walks to help with pulling and help control her reactiveness to other dogs she may see when

Strangler Continued from Page 24

Hanna-Barbera never did a “The Bedrock Strangler” spoof with Curtis reprising his “Boston Strangler” role and Fred and Barney playing the Henry Fonda and George Kennedy roles, Wilma and Beatty as two of the Bedrock Strangler’s victims and Ann-Margrock (aka Ann-Margret) as the sole vic-

Maggie is part of WARL’s Foster to Adopt program. PHOTO COURTESY SARA MCCLURE

rendering a pet. Please call (508) 853-0030. h SPAY/NEUTER CLINICS: All scheduled appointments will be honored. If you have a scheduled appointment, we will be contacting you to discuss changes to our drop off / pick up procedures. h DONATIONS ACCEPTED except for open bags of food. h Pet food, cat litter, and other shelter supplies will be essential in continuing to provide for our animals and to assist community members in need. To avoid unnecessary travel and exposure, items can be purchased online from our Amazon Wishlist — https:// www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3AX342JIL73M0. h Weekly training classes are going on for adopters. h The WARL Volunteer Program is temporarily suspended. All regular volunteer shifts are on hold. We look forward to welcoming you back as soon as we can. We have many animals in our care who depend on us to stay healthy and well. The above measures help to protect our staff and community from the spread of COVID - 19 by minimizing face-toface interactions while continuing to operate only core essential services. Please continue to follow our Facebook page for additional updates.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the shelter at (508) 853-0030 or info@ worcesterarl.org.

Times in the late ‘80s and becomes a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter in 2000. The third fl oor of the 93-year-old Commerce High School was transformed into the bouncing newsroom of the “Gray Lady” (aka the New York Times).

And, with any luck, “Confess, Fletch,” “The Tender Bar” and “Boston Strangler” will make reporting cool again.

Reportedly, 20th Century Studios will begin fi lming “Boston Strangler” in December.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 29

LEGALS WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS WHA invites qualified vendors to submit sealed bids/proposals following projects listed.

Solicitation TheThe WHA invites qualified vendors to submit sealed bids/proposals for for thethe following projects listed.

Solicitation or request by request email packages be downloaded at: www.worcesterha.org/currentbids.html or by via via email to to packages maymay be downloaded at: www.worcesterha.org/currentbids.html purchasing@worcesterha.org upon release.

Sealed bids/proposals shall be received at the Purchasing Office, purchasing@worcesterha.org upon release.

Sealed bids/proposals shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 69 Tacoma Street, Worcester, 01605.

WHA or affiliate its affiliate reserves right to reject or responses, all responses, Tacoma Street, Worcester, MAMA 01605.

WHA or its reserves thethe right to reject anyany or all in in whole orpart, in part, deemed to in betheir in their best interest.

Award of contracts all contracts is subject to the approval of the WHA whole or in deemed to be best interest.

Award of all is subject to the approval of the WHA Chief Executive Officer or Board of Commissioners.

Chief Executive Officer or Board of Commissioners.

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30 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

“YRs Truly”--more initial reactions.

by Matt Jones

J O N E S I N’

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

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Across 1 Brit’s WWII weapon 5 Eight, to Teo 9 Tiny tastes 13 Chance for change, maybe?

14 Bratwurst topper 15 Spike’s demon friend, on “Buffy” 16 Opera highlight 17 Flower in a Texas song 19 Genre for Michael McDonald and Rupert Holmes 21 “___ la vista, baby!”

22 Raphael’s weapon, in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” 23 Chess piece, at times 24 Getaways with a focus on poses 30 Commandeer 31 “The Hangover” actor Ed 32 Progressive character 35 Otter relative 36 Car brand that translates to “I roll” 37 Galumph 38 Play the quizmaster 39 “Aladdin” character 40 “Real Housewives” channel 41 Longest waterway in China 43 Toward the rear of a boat 46 Objective 47 Prized instrument, for short 48 “I’m serious” 54 “No argument here” 56 “Empire” actor Diggs 57 Like two, but not too?

58 Cardiologist’s procedure, for short 59 Raison d’___ (justification) 60 Hardy title character 61 Abbr. on a cognac bottle 62 Ticket specification Down 1 Hang around 2 “America’s Next Top Model” host Banks 3 Impressive in scope 4 Vessel crammed full of wildlife 5 McFlurry variety 6 A.P. math subject 7 Smashing fellow?

8 Prefix meaning “ear-related” 9 Cancels

10 11 12 14

“Have ___ my mind?”

Bucatini sauce Lipstick smudge NBA star Irving in the news for refusing to get vaccinated 18 Word often used by “Jeopardy!” champ Matt Amodio 20 It covers a lot of ground 23 It’s hard to distinguish, for short 24 “3:10 to ___” 25 Conditional suffix?

26 Engine buildup 27 Minimal beachwear 28 Fired up again 29 Presley-inspired MexicanAmerican singer with the albums “Graciasland” and “Merry MeX-mas” 32 Chuck D’s Public Enemy partner, for short 33 Zero, for Nadal 34 Dumpster emanation 36 ___ diagram (logic illustration) 37 Order for humans 39 “En ___!” (fencing command) 40 Runny cheese 41 Longs (for) 42 Keep an ___ the ground

43 Until now 44 Cooking appliance 45 Squares up 48 Yangs’ counterparts 49 Waffle brand that somehow has a cereal version 50 Propose a romantic connection, in fanfic 51 Like some bloomers 52 Constellation named for a stringed instrument 53 Chuck as far away as possible, in modern slang 55 Toyota ___4 (SUV model)

Last week's solution

©2021 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1063

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | 31

LAST CALL

Lindsey Smith, second-time Worcesterite Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

While this is Lindsey Smith’s second time moving to Worcester — it is arguably her fi rst time experiencing the city.

The Alabama native sat down with Last Call to talk about discovering Worcester’s arts and entertainment scene, dogfriendly establishments and New England winters.

When was your fi rst time in Worcester and what brought you back to Worcester?

I fi rst moved to Worcester in 2019 for my postdoc in neuroscience at UMass Med School.

When I left academia to work in industry, I moved to Framingham to be a bit closer to Boston.

But after a while, I realized my work could be done completely from home and all of my friends were still in Worcester so that's when I decided to move back!

Welcome back! So you didn’t have to change your workstyle too much for the pandemic?

Yeah, that was really fortunate — moving back didn’t affect my work productivity at all and actually increased my social circle.

How was the second time in Worcester diff erent from the fi rst time?

This time, I moved to downtown Worcester and I’ve really enjoyed it for all the arts and culture and outdoor socially distant activities. When I fi rst lived here, I was in the Lake Quinsig area and Worcester’s so big that I never actually came downtown. When I got here, the fi rst thing that struck me was the really beautiful and creative murals. I also saw that there were a lot of dog-friendly establishments around here so that played a part.

What stands out for you in terms of that?

There are so many it’s hard

Lindsey Smith and her dog, Olive, in front of the Worcester Public Library. SUBMITTED

to pick one, but one that pleasantly surprised me was Caesar in the Common on the City Hall steps.

Oh cool — surprising how?

I wasn’t aware that it was happening but I was walking my dog near Worcester Common and happened to see the stage set up and a play going

on. Which is the fi rst time I’ve ever seen that kind of thing and it was especially nice because it’s sometimes hard to fi nd appropriately socially distanced activities.

And you can take your dog!

Yeah, and I actually decided to go back another night with friends because I was so excit-

ed by the production.

What has been your favorite spot in Worcester so far — in either area?

It’s kind of hard to say but I really like the Beer Garden but it could be due to proximity. It’s friendly, they allow dogs and recently hosted some Worcester Pride events. And every

week I can just open the window and hear live music and learn about local artists and the occasional live comedy show, of which I’m a huge fan. The world is hard enough, we need to laugh some.

So you’ve moved around a bit?

Yeah, within my lifetime, I’ve moved around between 20 and 30 times, between six states — Alabama, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, California and Massachusetts. But I consider Birmingham, Alabama, my forever home.

Almost all warm states, and fi rst time to New England, I see.

Yes, this is the fi rst state I’ve lived in where the winter’s are particularly harsh.

How was the adjustment to New England winters?

I can sum it up with a small story. While I was doing my post doc I was an adjunct professor at a college in RI so it was a three-hour round trip twice a week. The fi rst time I realized how hard the winters were was when I was digging my car out of the snow at 3:30 a.m. There was a snow plow that would come through and basically bury all of our cars. No amount of salt could prevent me from having to dig my car out in the morning. I rolled down my window, and was able to punch through the ice sheet that had formed on the driver’s side. But aside from how hard winters are, they’re incredibly beautiful up here.

On the topic of seasonal beauty, have the New England fall colors lived up to the hype?

100%! I’ve been really happy about seeing the nature preserves and hiking spaces in Worcester and close by and the amount of history is really fascinating.

I realize that this is a place I could actually settle down in.

32 | OCTOBER 22 - 28, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM