Worcester Magazine October 29 - November 4, 2021

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Professional witch Éowyn Evans presents “The Nightmare Card” in a tarot reading for the Worcester City Council election.

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Studio Theatre Worcester unwraps adaptation of ‘The Gift of the Magi’ Richard Duckett Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

WORCESTER – Studio Theatre Worcester debuted in 2019 with the hilarious madcap “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” and later that year put on the timeless musical fable “The Fantasticks.”

The reviewers agreed it was a fantastic start for the new theater company, which has a self-stated vision to be “the professional theater of choice for artists, designers, educators and theatergoers in Central Massachusetts.”

Next up was the drama “Doubt: A Parable,” scheduled to open March 13, 2020. The show was so near but so far, as an announcement was made that the production would have to be postponed because of the rapid onset of COVID-19 almost right before curtain-up.

However, “Doubt” was staged more than 18 months later from Sept. 24 to Oct. 2 this year, and now Studio Theatre Worcester is getting ready for its fourth production, an adaptation of O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi” that will be put on at Gordon Hall at First Baptist Church of Worcester, 111 Park Ave., Nov. 12-21.

Asked if there’s been any doubt during the pandemic as to whether Studio Theatre Worcester would keep going, John Wayland Somers, STW founder, president of the board and artistic director, had a forthright reply.

“Never,” he said.

A scene from the Studio Theatre Worcester production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).” PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANIKA NYMAN

”To be honest, that never entered my mind. We knew from day one that this was going to be a long game. We know Worcester is ready for an organization like ours. I think now is the time to see the arts culture grow and more organizations like ours popping up,” Somers said.

“We did not panic. We took our time. We took a breath. We listened to other theater companies.”

An actor and director with a day job background in retail and corporate management, Somers has assembled a team of like-minded people with varying theater backgrounds in the area who want to establish a full-time professional theater along the lines of the former Foothills Theatre.

But as the tumultuous events of 2020 unfolded, STW also took the time to pledge, despite its youth, to “do better” in

terms of equity, diversity and inclusion.

On its website (www.studiotheatreworcester.org), the theater company said, “We know that actions speak louder than words. Studio Theatre Worcester has taken this opportunity to look within ourselves as an organization.

While we are relatively young, we realize we can do more in this fi ght. STW CAN and WILL do better.”

Somers said during an interview last week that, “We decided to take a step back and further establish our foundation.

We brought on Kim (Dexter).

We brought on Michael (Walker), and Liz (Lizbeth Perez Rodriguez). We took anti-racist theater training. We really wanted to create that foundation to make sure we had the right direction coming out of COVID.” Kim Dexter joined the STW team as director of diversity and inclusion. She has been at Framingham State University since 2005, where she currently serves as executive director of Equal Opportunity. Lizbeth Perez Rodriguez is STW’s director of community engagement and outreach and holds teaching licenses in special education, English, and English as a Second Language.

Michael Walker, dramaturg and literary manager, will be familiar to longtime Worcester theater-goers as the former artistic director of the former Foothills Theatre.

STW’s team also includes executive director Robert Klimeczko, associate artistic director Todd Vickstrom and clerk Nicole Lian.

Still, if not “doubts” per se, there might have been some curiosity about how audiences would respond to the return of STW with “Doubt” starting last month.

STW had staged its fi rst two shows at Greendale People’s Church, 25 Francis St., where the original production of See MAGI, Page 5

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Magi Continued from Page 4

“Doubt” was also scheduled.

Instead last month, “Doubt” was put on at Salem Covennt Church, 215 East Mountain St. STW also instituted a “PayWhat-You-Can” ticket policy for all of the shows.

“It went fantastic. With theater reopening you never really know who’s ready to come back and engage,” Somers said. There were post-show conversations following some performances. “Our attendance was outstanding. Those who stayed were engaged.”

With Pay-What-You-Can, “we’re about breaking down barriers and, as you know, one of the barriers was cost,” Somers said.

But with some people in attendance choosing to pay more than what a regular ticket price would have been, “it all evened out. It was a win-win,” Somers said.

Walker has adapted “The Gift of the Magi” for STW and is directing the production.

The O. Henry story written in 1905 is about a poor young married couple in New York City, Jim and Della, who buy Christmas presents for each other in acts of selfl ess giving.

In Walker’s adaptation, the couple are Hispanic newlyweds in 1905 — Carlos, played

by Cristiano Lourenço Jr., and Carmen, played by Marta Rymer. The cast also includes Jim Douglas, Regina Stillings, Trish Aponte and Jordan Greeley.

Walker said STW was “looking for a holiday show people had not seen a dozen times.”

“The Gift of the Magi” is “a lovely story of loving, giving and sacrifi ce,” he said. STW thought, “It’s an evening of theater that would be well received and still give a powerful message.”

In keeping with STW’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, the casting

A scene from “Doubt: A Parable.” PHOTOS PROVIDED BY AMY MAE PHOTOGRAPHY

‘The Gift of the Magi’ When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20; 2 p.m. Nov. 14 and 21 Where: Gordon Hall, First Baptist Church of Worcester, 111 Park Ave., Worcester How much: $20; $15 youth 12 and under. “Pay-What-YouCan” Nov. 14 and 18. www.studiotheatreworcester.org.

“Doubt: A Parable” was scheduled to open March 13, 2020, but opened 18 months later because of the pandemic.

“opens up again more relevance to the communities in Worcester that aren’t at the table in theater,” Somers said.

Walker said, “One of our tenets is to be part of Worcester.”

STW is partnering with the Latino Education Institute (L.E.I.) for the production. Anyone who attends a show and brings a board game (or other family-time activity) to donate

to the L.E.I. will receive $5 off a future Studio Theatre Worcester production.

The show will also have PayWhat-You-Can performances again on Nov. 14 and 18 during the show’s run.

Dexter said, “There are barriers to attend theater and barriers to being exposed and engaged in theater, and part of that is representation.”

“The Gift of the Magi” is “a

story that can apply to all people, but still it’s an opportunity for Latino people in Worcester to see their identity represented on stage,” Dexter said.

The anti-racist training that the STW team went through will help develop anti-racist ethics for the theater company, Dexter said.

“We have to develop new tools. Question every story that we’re telling and not perpetuate ongoing harm,” Dexter said.

“We need to be engaging the community. Looking at the youth in the area.”

In terms of play selection, “It certainly can aff ect what productions we choose,” Dexter said. “This does not mean that we will not tell diffi cult stories, but our objective will not be to cause harm or cause pain.”

There will also be opportunities for new plays by new playwrights.

Somers said the attitude of the STW team has been, “All right. Let’s test it. What I love about the board we’re not afraid to learn, iterate and test again. We’re not afraid to try again.”

One move STW did not make during the pandemic was put on a live-streamed Zoom production.

“One thing we took away was that Zoom fatigue was a real thing. Even though they might love theater, eagerness (to watch a show on their screens) for two hours wasn’t there,” Somers said.

STW is now a nonprofi t company. In keeping with its goal of being a professional theater company, actors have been paid for shows from day one, and directors and crew such as set designers have received stipends, Somers said.

No one is quitting day jobs, but pay is a sign of respect and more.

“We recognize that one of the things we can’t cling to is theater participation as a luxury hobby,” Dexter said. “One of See MAGI, Page 7

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Worcester warehouse on Suff olk St. to be converted to artist studios “We are trying to make it as affordable as possible, with around 16 studios available, a private parking lot and each studio has a giant window for natural light.”

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

“Artists don’t want to work next to a lawyer or an insurance guy, an artist wants to be in a community,” said Jonathan Davey, commercial real estate broker. ”It really is about a sense of community.” To make that happen, he is involved in the creation of an “artists only” building at 50 Suff olk St. The former warehouse won’t be fully converted to artist studios until January at the earliest, but the project has already enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive reception from Worcester’s art scene. “Every artist in the city of Worcester and beyond has been waiting for this,” said local artist and painter Bryan Davagian. “On an innovation level, this entire project is major.” His confi dence in the project is further bolstered because Davey has “experience developing creative spaces.”

The studios will range in size from 300 to 460 square feet with 12-foot ceilings. The large ones are 12 feet by 40 feet and will have slop sinks, showers, air conditioning and a common kitchen. A gallery space is planned for the fi rst fl oor as well, but the work is starting from the top down, so the fi rst fl oor will come last. Rents will likely range from $525 to $800 a month. While Davey admits they would have liked to keep them lower, the cost of real estate is sky high right now. That being said, Davey is committed to keeping rents as low as possible.

The Suff olk Street project was begun several months ago and was originally going to be a music rehearsal space. However, the deal fell apart after about

Erica Femino artist

The building at 50 Suffolk St. in Worcester will be converted to studio space for artists.

PROVIDED PHOTO

a month. Serendipitously, an artist friend, Erica Femino who had seen the building, called a few days later and the new artist space idea was in motion.

Femino, a primary tenant who works with the owners, is a painter and knows the importance of artists having a space to work in on a permanent basis rather than an hourly basis or day to day.

“We are trying to make it as aff ordable as possible, with around 16 studios available, a private parking lot and each studio has a giant window for natural light,” explained Femino. “We need to construct drywalls for studios but there isn’t much structural work to be done.” They will add murals to the exterior to create a welcoming aura. She feels Worcester is a little bit easier and aff ordable

for what they are trying to do than the Boston area, where “you’re either renting spaces that aren’t really working or you can’t aff ord the spaces that do work.”

Anthony Collaro, local musician who works with multiple artists and bands as a songwriter and producer under the label 339 Productions, was equally enthusiastic. The news is that four of the top fl oor studios are going to be soundproofed to create recording studios. “This is a dream — we’ve always talked about making this happen. It’s just so hard to be liquid for a million dollars to buy a property and convert it correctly into individual studios. You can’t pay contractors with passion unfortunately. We are all ecstatic that someone heard our calls for help.”

Collaro believes it is particularly timely because it is impossible to fi nd a good practice space around these days, “especially one that’s clean and at least halfway serious to the craft and not just full of beer bottles and 22-year-olds throwing parties.”

The Suff olk Street location is a nicer location than most of the places that artists have had to either work or promote their art, said Cherie Platts, oil painter and longtime Worcester resident. “And often not in the greatest areas of the city and can frequently feel unsafe.” Unfortunately, the reality is that artist spaces end up in buildings that are the next thing to being condemned, and renting good studio space can be prohibitive. “Nobody can aff ord to pay $1,000 for studio space, so

they end up in a lot of ramshackle places.”

She indicated that 50 Suffolk is a historic spot, “Hasbro used to be over there and a feed and grain store back in the day.”

After factories closed, the buildings were left in disrepair, and Platt thinks “it’s great to reuse buildings because if a building is structurally sound, that’s more important than what it looks like on the outside.”

Art isn’t always a huge money making enterprise and what happens to most artists is they end up practicing their art as a side job. “There’s no such thing as aff ordable apartments in Massachusetts anymore,” says Platts, “so having studio space would be a luxury to me when you can barely aff ord a place to live.”

When Davey posted on the Worcester Artist Group page on Facebook in early October, he was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support for the idea of an artists’ building in the city. The response to the Open Houses that he has held and the off ers of help were very welcome. “Worcester’s really active with the arts. I had no idea, and the reception we’ve gotten has been wonderful.”

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Identity theft Fraudulent charges Credit attacks A scene from “The Fantasticks.” PROVIDED BY KARA EMILY KRANTZ

Magi Continued from Page 5

the things we pay attention to is unpaid labor in theater disproportionately aff ects people of color and women.”

But there hasn’t been a fulltime professional theater company in Worcester since Foothills shut down in 2009. However, a new face is Hanover Theatre Repertory, which staged “Julius Caesar” at the Worcester Common Oval this summer. The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts hosts shows such as Broadway touring musicals and puts on its own production of “A Christmas Carol.”

There are also active community theater groups in the Worcester area, although right now not as many as there were before the pandemic.

With “The Gift of the Magi” being performed at First Baptist Church, Studio Theatre Worcester will have put on four productions in three locations.

“Right now we’re very nomadic. Thankfully, we’ve found three great partners for our dif-

ferent productions,” Somers said.

The BrickBox Theater at the JMAC, 20 Franklin St., had been anticipated by theater groups as a “black box” theater space that could be used by the community, and there have been such shows there. STW has inquired about renting the theater, but “the expense would have resulted in having to charge a lot higher ticket price,” Somers said.

Still, STW is pressing on — step by step.

“We know this is going to be a building process,” Somers said.

Since its inception, STW has “generated a lot of support from the Worcester community. A lot of organizations that provide support have seen the value of having us move forward,” Somers said.

The theater company is in the process of fi nalizing plans for two shows next year that would round out the 2021-22 season, Somers said, making it four productions altogether.

Next, “We’re already planning for our 2022-23 season,” he said.

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Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society coming to Palladium Robert Duguay Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Zakk Wylde is one of the best guitarists on the planet and he has quite the resume to back this claim.

Every metal fan knows him as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne from the late ‘80s until the mid-2000s. He’s also collaborated with the likes of The Allman Brothers Band, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Gales and Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy, just to name a few.

Along with all this, he has his own band, Black Label Society, which will be releasing its 11th album, “Doom Crew Inc.” a couple of weeks before the record is unveiled, fi ttingly, on Black Friday. Wylde and the rest of the band — including John DeServio on bass, Dario Lorina on rhythm guitar and Jeff Fabb on drums — will take the stage with Obituary and Prong beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 4 at The Palladium on 261 Main St.in Worcester.

Ahead of the album’s release, the band put out a music video for the single “Set You Free” back on Aug. 23. The video has a ‘50s horror movie vibe with the band dressed up like a rockabilly act with some guy putting liquid bath salts in the punch and all hell breaking loose.

“Justin Reich is the Stanley Kubrick of Black Label so he’s been making and directing our videos for a while now,” Wylde says. “I just told Justin that I wanted to recreate my high school prom from 1985 at Jackson Memorial High School in New Jersey, and that’s pretty much what happened. The bath salts, the band and the guy getting his arms ripped off and getting pummeled with his own

Zakk Wylde and the Black Label Society are set to play the Palladium Nov. 4. PROVIDED PHOTO

arms. It all actually happened that night in 1985 and I think Justin captured it perfectly.”

With the amount of time off the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic, getting back on the road and performing in front of live audiences has taken some getting used to for most musicians. When it comes to Wylde’s view of things, he relates it to catching up with an

old friend.

“Actually, it’s kind of weird,” he says. “A lot of folks have still been home for nearly 20 months now and it’s a bit strange because it doesn’t feel like it’s been nearly two years.

I’ll be looking at the audience and they’re looking at me and it feels like we haven’t seen each other in a few weeks. I guess it’s kind of like you haven’t talked

to one of your friends in a few years but then you pick up the phone and you pick up right where you left off .”

When it comes to what fans can expect from the album, Wylde doesn’t take it too seriously. He has a way of describing it that exudes his classic northeast brand of sarcasm.

“I think they can expect a lot more dancing, a lot more calo-

rie burning and a lot more jazzercising than in the previous eff orts we’ve put out before,” he jokingly says. “The whole thing is a combination of that also mixed in with the desired reaction of ‘Oh my God, I really hate these guys. I really hate these guys.’ Here’s the review: If you like good music, you’re going to hate this record. If you like music, pass on this.”

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 9

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FIRST PERSON

‘Radio of Horror’ host shares Halloween favorite fl icks Chris Denmead Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Chris Denmead, the host of “Radio of Horror” on WCUW, shares with us, in no particular order, his favorite Halloween movies which aren’t “Halloween.”

“The Halloween Tree” (1993): Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, who also narrates, the move tells the story of three children dressed as a witch, a skeleton and a mummy who have to chase down the spirit of their dying friend on Halloween night to re-ensoul his body with the help of an old creepy man played by Leonard Nimoy.

Now, I have simplifi ed the plot, but this fi lm is really a heartwarming story of three kids who won’t give up on their best friend on Halloween night after they fi nd out he’s very sick. In the book it’s worse than the movie. The animation is top-notch for its time and I would not mind seeing this turned into a liveaction movie if they could rate it PG-13 and give it some edge.

Nimoy is perfect and sounds more like Galvatron from “Transformers: The Movie” than Spock.

“Trick r treAt” (2009) A fi lm based on a short animatSee HORROR, Page 10

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Horror Continued from Page 9

ed fi lm the director made that blew up in a way no one expected, not even the studio who funded it. They didn’t even think they could turn a profi t on the movie because they shelved it before it ever saw the theater. This movie has four interwoven Halloween stories, the connecting thread of which is a little boy named Sam who is, in essence, the spirit of Halloween. Never blow out your candles before midnight, check your candy, never trick or treat alone. The actors in it are all top-notch, from Anna Paquin, who at the time was hot on “True Blood,” Dylan Baker from the “SpiderMan” movies, Brian Cox and many others.

“Hocus Pocus” (1993): The Disney Cult Classic was a disaster at the box offi ce, having been released in the summer and not October. It found its second life in video rental stores (a place you had to go and rent a fi lm in person and not stroll through streaming apps.) The plot is about a virgin who releases the three Sanderson sisters — witches that eat kids’ souls — on Halloween night and he, his kid sister and the girl next door need to stop them before the end of Halloween. If this were a straight-up horror movie, I can see them really upping the violence and bloodshed. It’s a classic movie based on a story the writer told his daughter about a stray cat they saw one day and he created a legend for Halloween every year.

“Trick” (2019): On Halloween night in 2015, Patrick “Trick” Weaver massacred his classmates at a costume party.

After being arrested, he managed to escape police custody, but not before being shot fi ve times by Detective Mike Denver. Everyone believes Trick must be dead, but when a

The Disney fi lm “Hocus Pocus” is a Halloween favorite. DISNEY+

masked killer reappears the following Halloween, a manhunt begins. This could be called a ripped off version of “Halloween,” but that’s up for interpretation. Directed by Patrick Lussier, it’s a good attempt at making a new slasher that’s not wearing a Capt. Kirk mask.

“Once Bitten” (1985): A vampire comedy that may not have much to do with the holiday Halloween as much as it has to do with the principal villain, the Countess, needing to drink the blood of a virgin three times by Halloween night or else she will lose her beauty. It gave us Jim Carey, and is notable for a great dance sequence between Countess (Playboy Playmate of the Year Laura Hutton) and Carey and his girlfriend Robin, played by Karen Kopins. There is a Halloween dance at Mark and Robin’s school, and Mark wins best costume for being dressed as a vampire … Uh sure.

“Night of the Demons” (1988): A group of friends get together on Halloween night for a party they will never for-

get and one by one each of their party members get horribly killed or turned into a demon in this ‘80s horror classic that is important for one big note of having a female protagonist, and you can count on one hand the number of female bad girls in Horror in the ‘80s ( Mrs. Voorheese from “Friday the 13th,” Reginne Dandridge from “Fright Night Part 2”). Using the night of Halloween as the setting helps the fi lm with its spirit world connection tie together in a great way for people to be possessed. Ignore the 2010 remake.

“Monster House” (2006) After his neighbor across the street, Mr. Nickerback, has a heart attack, DJ and his friends think his house is haunted, but it’s actually alive.

After it nearly kills a dog, his babysitter’s boyfriend and a couple of idiot cops, it’s up to him; the new girl in town, Jenny; and his best friend Chowder to stop this house from eating anyone else once and for all on Halloween night. They discover that the legend of the house and the old man’s wife is

more than they thought, and they learn a lesson about believing in and perpetrating rumors about people; as well as about growing up, puberty and friendship. The fact the fi lm takes place on Oct. 30 and 31 ties to the legend of what happened to his neighbor’s wife in a very unique way.

“Hell Fest” (2018) On Halloween night, four friends and their dates go to Hell Fest, a spooky horror theme park based on Universal Studios Orlando’s “Halloween Horror Nights.” This slasher movie at a theme park on Halloween night is a throwback to classic ‘80s horror movies in all the best ways, with annoying characters you can’t wait to see die but also a vast and really well put together landscape of a fi lm that’s not just a set in a warehouse.

“Tales of Halloween” (2015) Ten short stories revolve around ghosts, ghouls, monsters, the devil, aliens, and axe murderers who terrorize a suburb on Halloween night. Take “Trick r Treat” up to 100 this is what you get. The thing I loved about this was the

package came with a soundtrack for all the shorts and you have a great list of talent involved like Lin Shaye, Barry Bostwick, Adrian Barbeau, Adam Green, John Landis, Joe Dante and more. You get some good with some bad, but overall a great collection of horror shorts that really show the spirit of the holiday.

“Ernest Scared Stupid” (1991) Ernest, played once again by the late great Jim Varney, is working as a garbage collector in a small Missouri town. Despite the warnings of superstitious local Old Lady Hackmore, played by the late great Eartha Kitt, he accidentally unleashes devious troll Trantor, a slimy creature confi ned under a tree for 200 years. The troll and his ilk were responsible for the deaths of several children, and Ernest’s ancestor was the troll hunter who stopped him.

The night of Halloween is key to the plot line, as the troll continues to suck up the souls of kids and turn them into wood dolls and only through specific ways for a PG movie can the trolls be stopped. The opening sequence of Ernest reacting to classic black and white horror movies clips is my favorite part of the movie and worth a watch every Halloween

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 11

WORCESTERIA

Is it worth it to win the Worcester, Boston and New England Music Awards?

Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Annie Brobst had a good night Oct. 17 at the New England Music Awards in Malden.

The Danvers singer-songwriter took home three trophies: Country Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for her song, “Red Wine on My Mind,” and Overall Artist of the Year. She didn’t take home Album of the Year – that went to the fabulous blues band Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers for “Meet Me in the Middle,” but short of that, it was pretty much a clean sweep.

And why not? Brobst – a regular fi xture at regional events such as Local Country Fest at Indian Ranch – has been killing it in the wake of her recent album, “Where We Holler.”

Other artists who took home awards include favorites such as Oompa, Danielle Miraglia & the Glory Junkies, Adam Ezra and Senseless Optimism, but does that bode well for their chances at the upcoming Boston Music Awards? There’s not always a direct correlation. Different groups of people decide the nominees by diff erent methods. The New England Music Awards have two votes: Fans submit their nominations, and then the top scorers in each category get put on a short list, and then there’s another round of voting from there. The fi rst round of votes in the Boston Music Awards, which is underway now, is a closed ballot, with only 400 or so music professionals, called the Nominating Committee, make nominations, with the public voting from the resultant shortlist. (In the interest of disclosure, I’m a member of the BMA Nominating Committee, and no, I won’t tell you who I

voted for.)

Personally, I’m most fond of the BMA method, as it circumvents early ballot box stuffi ng and the voters are less likely to nominate a band that hasn’t done anything in three or four years. On the other hand, the wild west NEMA method is probably more likely to result in surprise nominations, which can be useful for new voices.

Both methods have their pros and cons. The BMA shortlist will be online Nov. 5, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Brobst on it in a couple of categories, along with most of the other Massachusetts winners.

On the other hand, Brobst only appears in one category on the Worcester Music Awards shortlist: Best Cover Band. No, this isn’t because she’s being snubbed, but because last year’s WMAs were canceled, the same shortlist is being repeated. “2020 was a big year for music,” says organizer Michael Brevde, in an email, “and we had already outlined the nominees prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We felt it was the best decision to use the list from 2020 for this year’s awards.”

Which? One supposes that’s as good a method as any other.

All of these awards and “best of ” lists are always, on some level, an exercise in Dada, and I say that as someone who puts one such listout every year. At the end of the day, none of them can be a perfect arbiter of what music’s the best or most important, but taken together, they can make a pretty good snapshot of what’s out there, and which acts music fans are loving. And honestly, music can be a thankless job with little-to-no money involved, so it’s nice to reward a year of hard

work with a moment of applause in the spotlight, even if it’s an act you or I might not personally have chosen as “the best” in any given year.

The Boston Music Awards ceremony will be held Dec. 8 at Brighton Music Hall. Brevde says that the Worcester Music Awards ceremony is being planned for the fi rst half of November, with information still to come, saying, “We look forward to bringing back this fanfavorite ceremony and hope people will enjoy this year’s event.” That’s pretty quick, considering the nomination deadline was Oct. 25, but hey: It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but I still like it.

Annie Brobst took home three trophies at the New England Music Awards. MATTHEW ALLEN FIKE

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12 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

COVER STORY

Voices from the

Haunted aunted City We talk to the spirits of Worcester about the municipal election Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Psychic medium Gary McKinstry is shown on the common Oct. 4.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/T&G

“Yes, the city is haunted,” says Gary Mckinstry, unequivocally, as we walk across the Worcester Common on a dreary, drizzly autumn evening. He would know.

Mckinstry is one of the most well-known fi gures on the local spiritualist and psychic scene. “You can feel the past,” he says, as we walk toward the Common’s small cemetery. “Whether it’s politicians, whether it’s everyday people, whether it’s …,” he stops, and looks around as something catches his attention toward Franklin Street, “the guy directing traffi c in front of Denholm’s back in 1955. They’re all here.”

Which brings us to the question we’re here to answer: What do the ghosts and spirits of the city think of us, of our politics and issues? Halloween and the general election, after all, fall within a week of one another. It seems only natural to let the spirit world chime in. Luckily, I was able to fi nd a few good guides into the world beyond the veil, and if I was forced to suspend any disbelief and take them at their words then, well, how is that any diff erent than dealing normally with politicians?

“This city’s alive,” says Mckinstry, who lives in Dudley, “but it’s more than alive, and I think they’re all hoping See HAUNTED, Page 13

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Haunted Continued from Page 12

that things work out well. No one wants the city to fail, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to.

Look, I’m not from Worcester, but I’ve seen its revitalization.

Maybe if you’re here it doesn’t seem like it, but there’s some pretty great things going on here. It’s become a school town, which it wasn’t at one time. It’s always had colleges, but now it’s up there. Somebody’s doing something,” he says, gesturing to the cemetery, “and it’s probably some of these people.”

Dead man’s party It’s hard to argue that Worcester is a city that’s haunted by its past, although most would probably mean that metaphorically. Still, there’s something inherently relaxing about Mckinstry’s presence, the calmness and confi dence he projects. He explains that he’s a psychic medium. “Quite often,” he says, “people will come to see me, and I’m lucky enough to to connect to their relatives that have passed. They’re not going to give you the Powerball numbers, they’re not going to tell you what to do, but quite often, they’re either going to tell you how they were happy with the way things were going, or if they have a complaint, or what’s up, if they’re comfortable where they are.”

When asked if this is a gift he’s always had, he says, “It’s pretty much a natural gift, but you enhance it. I’ve studied, I’ve worked at it. This is my fulltime profession. This isn’t like my hobby.” He says he’s been on 25 to 30 radio shows regularly, did what he calls “a bad TV show called ‘Dead Famous.’

I was the American expert. I got to stand there and say, ‘Yes, it’s haunted.’” He’s taught at colleges and claims to be a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason. Si-

Psychic medium Gary McKinstry on the Common with City Hall behind him.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/T&G

lently, I wonder if that means he knows who Jack the Ripper was, but I opt not to make the joke. It doesn’t matter, he answers anyway. “I could tell you have but I’d have to kill you,” he says, laughing. Startled, I tell him what I was thinking, and he just smiles and says, “Yes I do. But he’s not a Worcester guy, so we’re all set.”

“Polar Park went down nice,” he says, as we continue to chat.

“I don’t know your current mayor. I used to know a few of them.

From everything I’ve seen, and I haven’t seen much since we live out in the sticks, he’s going to be a hard man to beat,” he laughs, “Even the spirits are telling me so.”

The cemetery was in use between the early 1700s and 1824, making it one of the oldest nonnative burial sites in the country. Mckinstry says it’s packed with ghosts, and when asked how they’re doing he says, “They didn’t like being moved, you know,” of the ghosts whose

bodies he says were moved because of construction in the past. “And they miss the church,” referring to the now torn-down Notre Dame des Canadiens Church. “But they’re OK with it. They’re not bothering the locals.”

But how interested is the spirit world in things like a municipal election?

“I think they see it diff erently,” says Mckinstry. “They’re not going to change anything, they’re not going to come in and mess with things, but yeah, they have a stake in what’s going on. They want the city to succeed, because they built it.”

He gestures to entities that I can’t see in the cemetery.

“These cats, by the way,” he says, “they were the bravest of the brave. You’ve got to remember, Worcester was a frontier town once, and these guys were the frontier. So would they have a stake in what’s going on now?

Sure. I think they’re a little irritated because … they weren’t

radical, but they were a lot stronger politically than most of us are now. Without storming the capitol, I think they’d like to see a resurgence of people being interested. ‘Why aren’t you guys voting? … If you want to know what they’re really irritated about? Complacency.”

That’s when McKinstry introduces a spirit on the other side of the fence, of whose name he’s unsure, “but I can tell you he’s in what you’d call ‘his better clothes.’ Looks maybe late 1700s, early 1800s. Not super wealthy, but enough to basically make it to a good place. A merchant. I honestly feel he may have been a cloth salesman. He had something to do with cloth and buttons, because he’s talking about a button factory. So he’s here, and basically, why would he still be hanging out here? He’s not unsettled. He seems to like it. A lot of spirits that we’ve met here?

They’re not stuck. They’re here

because they want to be. They like it here.”

The ghost tells us the politics of his time were a lot more vocal. “According to him,” says Mckinstry, “we don’t have freedom of the press.” The ghost also says, through Mckinstry, “It’s all about your rights, and the fact that people don’t realize they’re losing them. And these guys fought for your rights. The Constitution wasn’t written as something you’re supposed to bend and mutilate. Believe me, they died for it, and they’re not exactly happy that we’re folding it, spinning it and making it fi t what we like. It was written for a reason. They would be appalled by some of the things that have happened. Get back to the original doctrine. Pardon my language, but cut the shit.

I’m picking up that vibe off them.”

When it’s pointed out that that ghosts from the 1700s might have a diff erent perspective of political issues than we do today, he says, that “they would not be opposed to what’s happening with the cultural See HAUNTED, Page 14D

14 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Haunted

story to tell you, and even in the local cemeteries … most of the cemeteries are pretty empty these days, and if you walk through and start reading the stones, you’d be amazed. They left us all sorts of messages literally in stone, you just have to take the time to read it. You don’t have to be a psychic to do that.”

Continued from Page 13

revolutions. Let’s face it, we’re far more integrated than they ever were, but sometimes you DO learn, even when you’re gone. In case you’re wondering, you get enlightened. It might take you a long time, maybe a couple hundred years, but I think some of these people would actually be enlightened enough to think these are good things. They would understand now more from the other side.

Let’s face it, they’ve been coming in and out for the last couple hundred years, and they’ve seen what’s been going on.

They’re cognizant of the fact that people are people, things move forward for the advancement of everybody. Let’s face it, death is the great equalizer, and a lot of these souls have fi gured that out. It’s kind of nice. The spirits aren’t afraid of change.”

Our new friend at the cemetery is only one of several ghosts on the Common. Mckinstry points out the ghost of a homeless guy on the corner; a little old lady in front of the Denholm’s building from circa 1968, who is waiting for the bus, a farmer with a pig who seems to be friends with the ghosts in the cemetery, and a man in a vintage, navy blue coat, who seems to have been a police chief and who seems to have some beef with the current chief, the details of which aren’t apparent.

One of the most striking fi gures on the Common is someone Mckinstry describes as “a rather portly gentleman by the door. Do you remember pictures of Boss Tweed? I don’t remember who the portly mayor was. It’s almost like he should have the watch chain and the whole bit. All I can think of is a real politician … I’m not sure exactly who he was, but the hair was lighter. It wasn’t darkdark. It looked kind of thin on top.” He says he was looking out at the common from the City Hall doorway, with an expres-

Remain in light

Jill Lightworks and Marilyn Lightworks with Main Street behind them on Tuesday, Oct. 19. CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

sion that says, “This is my town.” Mckinstry says he’s not sure who he was, but from his brown suit with a light stripe in it, he guesses he was from the early 1900s to the ‘20s.” Was he paying any attention to us?

“Nah, I think he was looking for a nip,” says Mckinstry. “That’s when politics was fun. You could drink in the offi ce, it was a good time. It’s not like now, now everybody’s so worried about everything.”

Mckinstry says that, for all he knows, the man might “might have been a clerk of courts. It might not have been the mayor, but he was here. You have more than just the mayor in this building. You have the offi ce workers, you have the bus drivers, you have policemen, you have all of the people fl oating through here. They don’t know you’re here. They’re

here in their time. Every now and then, it’s almost like a little time shift, and they get a little glimpse, but they’re not here to look for you. They’re going about their business in their time. It’s kind of nice. Someday, it’ll be us, maybe we’ll be back here in 100 years, saying, remember that day we were standing out here in the rain with the umbrellas? And we’ll have a reporter here saying, “I think I can see them!”

But there are some messages from the dead, says Mckinstry, that one doesn’t need to turn to the supernatural to uncover. “These people have a lot to teach us,” he says, referring to the cemetery. “It’s kind of sad, I understand why the fence, but it’s really sad people can’t go in and read the stones. You have to be up close and personal. They all have a

A week or so later, outside the old Worcester Courthouse, which is now the Courthouse Lofts apartment building, Source Messenger Medium Marilyn Lightworks and her colleague, spiritual intuitive Jillian Lightworks – the surname is a professional alias, and they’re not related – are positively giddy as they explain the occult symbolism in the building’s architecture.

“This is a Victorian building,” says Jillian, “and they put the hyacinth leaves up there for a reason. Everything they chose down to oak leaves and pineapples, they all meant a certain thing, so yes, the columns harken back to Rome.

They were really into that, too ... so they’re pulling their gods, their goddesses subconsciously.” She points out the symmetries she sees: two columns, two circles of light, two exit signs, and of course, the address is 2 Main St. “Everything is justice balancing out, the male and the female, balancing out the innocent. … It’s very symmetrical.”

When asked if this was intentional on the part of the building’s designers, or at least on the designers from whom they were cribbed, Jillian says that she believes they were guided by spirit guides, whether they realized it or not. The pair explain that they primarily working what they call “the source realms,” which, to terribly oversimplify, are the higher spheres to the “earth realms.”

Marilyn explains this with a 10point chart, which she says was given to her by one of her spirit guides. “Anything below a fi ve

would be dense energy, so it’s not fl owing. Anything above a fi ve would be fl owing.” So things such as anger, competition and greed are attached to a lower energy dimension. “Every dimension exists,” explains Marilyn. “The higher in dimension you go, the more happiness, the more joy, the more synchronicities and the easier fl ow.”

The takeaways here are that everything exists in every dimension at once, and you can, to some degree, actualize how you perceive it, which in some ways doesn’t sound too far removed from self-actualization in psychotherapy. Marilyn says that she and Jillian only work in perceiving the higher realms, so it’s unlikely they would have perceived the ghosts on the Common. They say Mckinstry, however, with whom they are familiar, can see up and down the dimensions, a skill which they fi nd impressive. The other important thing to understand is, according to Marilyn and Jillian, it’s not just people who have higher selves, it’s ghosts, buildings and even cities.

When asked if the old courthouse was happy with its purpose being changed, Marilyn says, “She’s happy to be used.

She didn’t want to be sitting for too much longer.”

Marilyn and Jillian brim with enthusiasm when they talk, excitedly channeling the city’s enthusiasm. Jillian says that, “Worcester, she really loves the arts. When we were driving here, I just felt like she was showing it off , she’s like, ‘These are my artist people.’

There are a lot of people in Worcester who love Worcester, and they want to show her off .”

“And she’s ready to be seen,” says Marilyn. “She’s ready to be seen as a powerful force, and actually as a divine place of healing, between the medical and the nature that’s still involved in the city – if you look around, there are a lot of trees, where a lot of cities, there really isn’t very many, and her parks See HAUNTED, Page 15D

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Haunted Continued from Page 14

… She’s really excited for people to enjoy her, and feel the peace of her.”

Honestly, that’s not a way people often describe Worcester, but it seems natural when she says it. We are, after all, talking about an aspect of the city at its most aspirational. We make our way toward Worcester Memorial Auditorium, and Marilyn says there is a spirit waiting there to talk to us. He tells her, of the Aud, that “People used to line up to come in.

He’s talking and he has something in his hand, it looks like a baton or something? I don’t understand him, but he’s fancy.

He’s got NICE hair. I want to say that one more time: Thick, fl owing hair. It’s kind of short, but it’s like the Fonz but way better. He has a suit on, he has a full suit, and he’s saying that this is where people would go.

They would get dressed up to the nines, you would wear even better than your Sunday best.

Like, what you would wear once in a WHILE, and everybody would be in that super high vibration, all together, and then the music or the play would start. He says there were all sorts of diff erent acts here, and when the lights went on, everybody just rose up, almost like a levitation.”

Jillian adds that she keeps “seeing waves of people waiting on the stairs and waiting in anticipation. She says some of them have parasols, just for show.

Marilyn says the building’s energy is “a remembrance of the light.” She explains that sometimes a person will walk by and put their own energy around a building, but inside the Aud, she says, “they’re still partying. The building’s not sad. A lot of the buildings in Worcester are sad, but this one isn’t.”

I asked if the same was true for the old Worcester Vocational School building across the

street, Marilyn looks at it and says, “He’s a little bit sad. He’s a he, I don’t know why. He misses the kids, I think … It wants to be loved, and taken care of.

Schools are more dense energy, too, sometimes, depending on what’s going on ... (the Aud) is all high vibe, all the time.” She says the Aud is “one of the stabilizers of the City of Worcester, believe it or not. It’s literally holding light still, even though no one’s been here in a long time.”

Marilyn says that the Voke building says it would be fi ne with being repurposed, even demolished. Evidently, the higher selves of buildings aren’t highly sentimental. Marilyn says the overall point is to help the city heal and release any dense energy that doesn’t serve her greatest good anymore, and to move forward. Jillian says that, “It’s OK to let go of dense energy, because you’re asking about buildings coming down.

If that building is tired, if it wants to retire, it just carries dense energy, it’s OK to let it go.”

With that in mind, one wonders if the municipal election even matters to the city, to which Marilyn responds, “We’re not fi ghting the old, we’re creating new, with her help. In support of her. … If each individual sends her positive energy, and helps her to feel, heal and release, and heal and release their own energy within them, that collective energy will help her rise, and the right people will come into play.”

That might mean the elected offi cials themselves, it might mean the people who are moved into new positions in the shuffl e after the election.

Worcester, according to Marilyn, says they’ve done a lot of work cleaning her up. She’s excited, she wants to do something to ignite like a fi rework, for everyone to get that vibe up and really understand that she’s here to be supportive to everyone who’s supporting her, too. She wants to give back, so it’s an even energy exchange. …

She is sending lightning bolts

Medium Éowyn Evans reads tarot cards at Nick’s on Wednesday, Oct. 20 regarding the upcoming city election.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

up to help bring people’s vibes up. It’s been dense too long.

She used to be high vibe. She’s excited because as more people decide they want to be high vibe, it’s going to help her sustain.”

Marilyn also adds that there is a Golden Age coming, around 2032 – give or take, time’s not as linear as most imagine – and that Worcester wants to be one of its prominent cities. She says that the city wants the people of Worcester to know that, if they feel empowered, then they will support her, because they’ll be able to feel her. Honestly, the idea of a Golden Age in 10-odd years seems dubious from this vantage, but then, historically speaking, we do tend to have a cycle of spiritual and religious revivals after times of major crisis, and anyway, it’s nice to see someone have a positive outlook for the future.

It’s about this part of the conversation where Jillian informs me of another visitor, who is apparently one of the same spirits Mckinstry was talking to at the Common, the one who expressed disappointment at our complacency. But here, it was explained, he was actually showing us his higher self, not the ghost we encountered on the Common. Jillian says he was really funny, and “he’s come back, and he’s wearing his fl annel again, and he went hunting. He’s had another life so he didn’t have to be on the battlefi eld anymore, because he was younger.”

He tells her that this is his self they can connect to, and the whole point of the unexpected visit seems to be simply to caution me about confl ating his ghost with his higher self.

The higher self is the totality of what an entity is, throughout each life, whereas a ghost is

only a moment of that entity’s life. His political sense is still a part of him, but it’s not the entirety of his being. It seems he just wanted me to know.

“She wants the humans to stop fi ghting amongst themselves and just create new.

Band together, create in unity and we rise and be ready for golden age. She’s one of the pillars.” Jillian adds that the city is also “really into plants.”

As for the city itself, Marilyn says, “The city itself is not attached to material things. She’s more attached to the energy of the collective of the city.”

Jillian adds, “And the people. She loves the people. She supports the people and she wants the people to know she supports them. If they want to vibe up in her city, she supports that. So if they’re running down the street, and giving a little bit of good vibes to the city, she feels that.”

Marilyn says that change for the better is always encouraged by the city. Some of the old programs are holding on to dense energy, and it’s time to go.”

What’s in the cards?

“When it comes to the city,” says Éowyn Evans of Salem, the next day in a conversation at Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, “I would say, I’d be curious about what the most famous ghost stories are. If there are no famous ghost stories, is Worcester proud of its past?” Evans – the owner of Holy Crow is Art, Design and Evidence of Magic, is a professional witch, art maker, occult historian and vaudeville performer – points out that part of the process of telling a ghost story is the story itself, the act of telling and the act of paying attention. There’s a sort of magic in that.

The city has numerous ghost stories, including some surrounding Hope Cemetery, the Spider Gates, Higgins Armory and even Ralph’s Rock Diner, although one acquaintance with knowledge of such things See HAUNTED, Page 16D

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Haunted Continued from Page 15

says that the ghost at Ralph’s isn’t Ralph Moberly, as many think, but rather a diff erent spirit entirely. But none of these are what leap to mind at her question. Instead, I think of the ghost signs that haunt the city, the signs of old businesses that remain even when new businesses have moved into their space, such as the Weintraub Deli sign, which is still up, even though Suzette Creperie has moved into that spot.

Evans asks if Worcester had a long history of supporting merchant class people? It’s a couple days before it occurs to me that I work in a building on the Common called “The Mercantile Center,” on Mercantile Street. It’s even later when I think of my recent spectral acquaintance from the Common, and later outside the Aud ... the one who was once some sort of cloth merchant. It’s hard not to be struck by the synchronicities. The city has a way of telling you its history, even without turning to the supernatural.

So far, this venture into Worcester’s supernatural side has been a little abstract, and I’ve invited Evans up from Salem to help solidify it with a pair of tarot readings. Evans has a cheerful personality and warm disposition, and it’s easy to feel immediately relaxed in her presence. She also has a nononsense approach to reading cards, which is highly appreciated.

She uses a method called the WTF spread, a fi ve-card spread which is meant to answer a singular question: “What. The. (Expletive). Question Mark.

Exclamation Point.,” with each card, in order, representing, the situation, the challenge, what’s real, what’s messed up, what one needs to know, and what needs to be done. Our fi rst question was, “What will the eff ect of the City Council election outcome be on the city?”

For what’s real, we get the

Professional witch Medium Éowyn Evans reads tarot cards.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Ace of Wands. “All of the aces ask the question, ‘Will you accept the gift of …?’” says Evans.

“Will you accept the gift of fi re, will you accept the gift of creativity, will you accept the gift of passion? Will you accept the gift of being able to destroy?”

She says this card is a beginning. Creativity is a big part of it, passion is a big part of it, and it’s reversed, so what it’s saying is right now, there’s an opportunity that the city is not taking. The city is being off ered a gift, and it needs to recognize that, and it needs to be inspired in order to see it.”

The card that crosses it is The Hanged Man, which – in this instance – Evans interprets as “being held in place, being stuck.” In this instance, Evans signifi es that the card means “that the citizens have to feel like they’re really part of the city, in order to be inspired and to go down this pattern of roads and opportunities. You have to make people feel like they’re part of this, not being proscriptive, but being inviting.” This is something that has echoed a lot on the campaign trail, with some candidates making expanding community

input a campaign priority.

What’s real? Here, it’s the Nine of Wands, meaning someone or some group who is “extremely battle weary. This is someone who has been through it, who’s been inside the city walls, looking out.

Someone who is protecting, but is also experienced, who has had wins and losses. And it’s reversed, so what’s real here is the most experienced person might still be upset, because they don’t have their feet on the ground … In order to win, the best candidate is going to be somebody who has experience but is still grounded to the city, so again, tapping that energy to make people feel that they’re attached and a part of something.”

In some ways, it’s hard not to think of the heated District One race between incumbent Sean Rose and Police Union President Richard Cipro. It certainly seems like both the closest matchup of the election, and the most exhausting.

What’s messed up? The Nine of Swords, which Evans calls, “the card of nightmares.

This is the card of staying up at night worrying, so this can in-

dicate that this is a very fraught situation.” She cautions that this is what’s “(expletive) up” about the situation, and seems to believe it indicates that results might not be immediately known in all races.

The “what do we need to know” card was The Five of Cups, which can be construed as the card of grief, depicting a person who is shrouded in black, their head fi xated on three cups that have spilled over, oblivious to the two that are still standing. “What I might say,” says Evans, “is I don’t know how many seats are open, but I do see three losses and two wins here. The idea of three upsets and two standing.

It could be so close that they have to do recounts and stuff , it’ll be so close.” Another way to interpret it is for three sitting council members to be eliminated, with two new members replacing them, which is math that only works if Matt Wally wins his At-Large race.

“What we have to do” is represented by “The Moon, the road beyond the unknown. The results are going to lead the city in an unknown, kind of perilous direction,” says Evans, “where the city is kind of diverting from where it’s been in the past … I think that somebody who wins is going to be talking about leadership through the unknown, and the best way to talk about it would be partnership. Somebody who wants to have partnership with the people, understands that they are working for the electorate. That they are a servant of the city, and that they are a leader.”

Reexamining the cards, Evans says that, “The way forward IS when people feel rooted in a place, when they DO feel attached to where they live.

That they’re not just liminal, they’re not just passing through. That they’re actually part of a community ... That’s the challenge, just getting out the vote,” which is an observation the ghosts Mckinstry heard from on the Common might echo. “The dispassion

that I see here, with the wands reversed, and the question, of, do I feel like I’m really part of this? And are the people running speaking to that need?” In a city where some groups feel disenfranchised, and new residents might not yet feel entirely settled, those are very relevant questions.

We ask fundamentally the same question of the School Committee, and the reading is a lot less harrowing than it is for the City Council race.

“For the situation,” says Evans, “We have the Queen of Wands. Once again, it’s about passion, creativity, but also wielding power and making big decisions about whether you can create or destroy. It’s interesting to me that the wands keep coming up with all the politicians, because they’re often in a position to be very creative or very destructive. Now, the Queen of Wands … She’s a very powerful fi gure, and she’s crossed with our old friend the Five of Cups. Wouldn’t be surprised to see someone who has some strong female leadership leading the race, who has already been there for a while.” It should be noted that out of eight candidates, all but one are female.

“I would not be surprised in the slightest, and then we have it crossed with the Five, so the big issue here is loss and grief, whether we are raising our children safely … But the big issue here is grief.” Considering the pandemic ordeal we’ve just experienced, and particularly its eff ects on schools, this isn’t particularly surprising. “That is absolutely going to be the lynchpin to this race,” says Evans. “Who can speak the best to navigate those feelings of grief.”

Returning to The Five of Cups, Evans says, “It all has to do with what have we lost, what is still standing. People focusing on loss, people focusing on what we still have. Focusing on keeping things the same, keeping things conserSee HAUNTED, Page 17

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 17

Haunted Continued from Page 16

vative.” Indeed, from here, the reading has a pretty lowkey fl ow: The card that represents what’s real is The King of Cups, which Evans describes as a masculine fi gure, “but he is a master of emotion, and he’s upright here, so again, so if you have a male fi gure who’s going to win, it’s going to be someone who can speak very well in emotional language … even male voters are more apt to listen to an emotional message right now, because this is the crossroad that comes up on grief.”

By that same token, what’s messed up is the Five of Pentacles, a man crouched down, hugging a pentacle, with pentacles under his feet and atop his head: “This is Mr. Money Pants,” says Evan. “You can see the city behind him ... this is someone who is ultimately conservative about money, no matter which way he spins, he’s got his money clamped down and secure, so whether he’s up or he’s down, he’s still got his money.”

As this is the “what’s messed up” position, that indicates that classical conservative thinking about not spending is not going to be as compelling an argument, but it’s still in play. “There’s always going to be people interested in penny-pinching,” notes Evans. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone who oversees the School Committee, rather than someone who’s actually running. This is someone who’s overseeing the city literally on the card. I would say that what’s (expletive) up is, even if you get a positive outcome, that you’re still going to have to deal with this dude.”

The card for “What We Need to Know” is The Chariot, which Evans describes as, “a clear victory card. The chariot corresponds to Roman victory displays, so it’s somebody

who is a king, who is a clear winner, and demonstrating the victory … it has to do with somebody who was a clear victor over the material plane.

It’s very much related to pentacles, and being able to literally heard cats … someone who is using their force of will to balance oppositional forces ... so it has to do with someone who is able to balance binaries, while moving forward, while anticipating obstacles in real time.”

The outcome card is The Sun, reversed. Evans says, “The Sun is always a positive card, it’s about enlightenment, it’s about feeling reborn. It also literally has a child on it. It’s one of two cards in the deck that has a child on it ... I would say my advice to the city is to celebrate your children ... It’s that grief energy that’s going to be the real challenge, because people have such a wide range of emotions when it comes to grief, including denying it.”

The reading fi nished, she notes, “We didn’t have a nightmare card in this reading.”

Which, on the whole, is something of a relief, especially in the wake of such a fraught reading for the City Council election. And as the sun rises on this journey into Worcester’s supernatural side, it’s hard not to ponder what it revealed: That the City Council race could lead to a perilous future, but things seem brighter for the School Committee race? That the ghosts of our dead want us to be more engaged with our politics, that the spirit of the city itself wants us to send it positive energy, and that neither are afraid of change? These might, on the surface, all seem self-evident, but there are ghost signs all over the city, so common we no longer see them. What else is right in front of us that we don’t allow ourselves to see? How else is our city and our history speaking to us, and do we know how to listen?

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Worcester City Council and School Committee candidates invited to Live Action Escapes Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

You hear it every time a political body is deadlocked, such as when Congress is debating raising the debt ceiling or … actually, pretty much when Congress is doing anything: “We should lock them in a room together and not let them come out until they’ve got it fi nished!”

We thought it would be fun to actually try that, so we invited every single candidate for Worcester City Council and Worcester School Committee to participate in an escape room at Live Action Escapes, at 1 Exchange St., Worcester. (Although the actual entrance is on Waldo Street. Consider that a spoiler for the fi rst puzzle!) Most of the candidates ignored us entirely, and a few sent some sincere-sounding apologies, claiming schedule confl icts. One emailed us back to say, “I do not want to participate in an escape room,” which?

Respect. Another begged off by claiming their “well-known fear of hand to hand combat which this would doubtlessly devolve into.”

In the end, we only had three candidates who were both brave enough to take us up on our challenge, and who also happened to have that particular hour free: First-time At-Large Council candidates Thu Nguyen and Guillermo Creamer Jr., and incumbent School Committee candidate Tracy Novick.

And despite the fears of the Council candidate we’re not identifying, it did NOT devolve into open warfare. Indeed, the trio clicked into a team pretty quickly as they raced to solve “Robin Hood’s Dungeon Escape,” where they had an hour to decode a number of puzzles which led them to other puzzles which, in turn, let them escape from the room.

“I think it was great,” says Novick. “It was fun! I think it was also one of those, ‘If the pressure is on, can you continue to think clearly and continue to work with the people that you’re with?’ moments.” Nguyen agreed, saying as the game began that, “I’m all about community-based solutions!”

Indeed, because as much as most people view ideology as the only criteria for voting for a candidate, problem-

From left, incumbent Worcester School Committee candidate Tracy Novick and At-Large City Council candidates Guillermo Creamer Jr., and Thu Nguyen begin piecing clues together in an escape room at Live Action Escapes in Worcester.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY DYLAN AZARI

solving skills and the ability to work with others are also of great value in a candidate. To that detail, Creamer wished that more candidates had participated, “especially those with whom we wouldn’t necessarily agree on everything. I think it’s important to work together to get things done … My goal is to work with other city councilors that might not see eye-to-eye when we’re up against something.”

Nguyen says that “relationship building is very important when we’re colleagues, or when we’re actually trying to better our city, and so doing forums and having conversations are important, but how do we holistically know each other?” Nguyen said that, for them, an escape room for me would let the candidates “get to know each other on a fun level, or a happy level, or a level where

we can kind of be at ease together, and that helps us work through other things.” There are reasons, after all, why escape rooms are used for corporate team-building exercises.

The trio got through the fi rst few puzzles pretty quickly, before fi nally being slowed down by a number puzzle that proved a bit of a stumper. Creamer revisited each lock the puzzle could open, in order to make sure they were on the right track. Novick and Nguyen walked the puzzle backward, to come at it from another angle. Eventually, the teamwork paid off , and they solved the puzzle.

But how important is teamwork in municipal politics?

“I remember a past superintendent saying, ‘You’ve got to count to four to be on the School Committee,” says Novick.

“If you can’t count to four, you can’t get anything done. Unless you’ve got four votes on the School Committee side, you can stand up and make all the speeches you want, and it isn’t going to change a thing. So really, all of the actual problem solving eventually boils down to that.”

Creamer agreed, saying, “I think if you’re not able to have a meal together, and talk about things that aren’t about policy, you aren’t going to be able to get policy done. I think it’s critical to just have a holistic relationship with individuals. We’re not always going to agree, and I think that’s what voters want. I think voters want individuals who are willing to sit together and actually get something done, and I worry that that’s not the case with some of the candiSee ESCAPES, Page 19

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 19

A determined Thu Nguyen looks at clues.

Escapes Continued from Page 18

dates who are out there right now. Not pointing any fi ngers, but the reality is we have a divisive Council going on, so I’m interested to see how we can put some of that divisiveness to the side and still work as a unit.”

Nguyen says that having multiple perspectives in the room, three diff erent people who approach problems diff erently, helped the team navigate the room. “I really appreciate the moments when I was just trying to fi gure out something on the side,” she said, “and they just trusted me to fi gure my own thing so we could come back together, or the moments when Tracy and I were standing next to each other and Guillermo is just like, ‘Got it.’ I think those are the beautiful parts. In a way, we’re separate entities, and we have our own ideologies and have our own perspectives and diff erent lived experiences, but we come together and we have these moments where we’re like … we move through things together, and we continue to do that.”

Novick concurred, saying, ”it’s kind of the a-ha moments … and not just your own a-ha moments … it’s people bringing diff erent pieces of the puzzle together. Presumably, our brains work in diff erent kinds

of ways, and (we’re all going to) attack a problem from diff erent directions. Both from the game perspective and the policy perspective, it makes a lot of difference.”

In the end, the trio fell just a tad short of solving the puzzle, mostly because an observing reporter, in an attempt to remain unobtrusive, inadvertently obscured one of the important clues. Which is hopefully not a metaphor for anything.

Novick says that what everybody wants to know is, “‘Did you make it out of the room?’

The real question is, did anyone melt down?”

No one melted down, although Creamer noted his propensity to taking a moment to think before trying to solve a puzzle, and Nguyen confessed to a competitive streak that had them watching the clock closely, which was something Novick said she was actually grateful for, as she wasn’t.

In the end, says Nguyen, “It’s not about completing the task, it’s about the process, and I loved every second of it, and I think when we think about the government, and the ways we want change, sometimes that doesn’t happen immediately.

How do you go through the process with happiness and joy, as you grind through? It’s not easy, and you just hope that you’re trapped in a room with amazing people.”

A representative of Live Action Escapes in Worcester, center, goes over the rules for the escape room with, from left, Thu Nguyen, Tracy Novick, journalist Victor D. Infante and Guillermo Creamer Jr. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY DYLAN AZARI

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Tarot reader Markus Harrington, a fi xture at Taproot Books, gives reading for Worcester media Liz Fay Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

From the age of 6, Markus Harrington knew he had gifts.

Harrington awakened to his psychic abilities through his connection with nature and his mother, whom he describes as the key component to embracing his inner witch.

“My mother had this little saying: ‘there’s a little witch in every woman,’” said Harrington, a longtime psychic-medium and tarot expert. The term “witch” has long been misconstrued as negative, but according to Harrington, who identifi es as a solitary witch, “witch means healer, and it means freedom.”

Harrington has been reading tarot cards at Taproots Bookstore for 25 years, while providing metaphysical services at his own business, Corvus Oracle in Uxbridge. Harrington is well-versed in tarot, medium work and past-life regressions.

As with the rest of the world, Worcester has experienced a lot of turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic. Several of the city’s beloved businesses have closed, healthcare workers went on strike, and political tension is on the rise, keeping our journalists and news outlets busier than ever.

During an interview, I asked Harrington to pull a three-card spread providing insight for Worcester media. I asked what turn of events local news outlets can expect in the near future, and what topics our journalists should cover to best inform and enlighten our city.

Where is room for improvement in Worcester? How can we as messengers help overcome challenges and promote growth within our community?

Card one reveals the past, card two the present, and card three the future. Here’s what he

pulled: The Ten of Swords, the Ace of pentacles, and the Knight of Pentacles, reversed.

According to Harrington, “Worcester is a weird situation in terms of the energies there. It has so much going for it, but it just never gels for some reason” These are Harrington’s interpretations of the cards: The fi rst card pulled is the Ten of Swords, which Harrington interprets as “a card of treachery and being stabbed in the back.” Harrington said bluntly, “don’t knock people’s ideas down before they have the chance to fl y, the fi rst card that came down shows there has been a lot of treachery around that.”

“This one I think you’ll like!” says Harrington. “The next card is up-right ace of pentacles, which is monetary gain and abundance. If you can support others more … Worcester should report on the improvement of others’ lives, which will be lucrative for (the media’s) success and more abundance will come into (reporters’) lives.

Some people are getting too high-and-mighty, and I think those people will have to stand back to reach the next card.”

“I have Knight of Pentacles, meaning the potential of a new fi nancial situation for Worcester. Knight of Pentacles is an economic advisor, someone who initiates business plans and checks out resources. So, the city needs more human interest stories, number one.

More stories about people who came from nothing but found success, too. Because so much news has been so negative, I sense a need for more focus on the people who were resourceful enough to keep their small businesses from crumbling and continue to follow that lead. Financial aspects of the city have to be the focus for a successful transition.”

Markus Harrington has been reading tarot cards at Taproots Bookstore for 25 years.

PROVIDED PHOTO

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 21

CITY LIVING TABLE HOPPIN’

Chef fulfi lls dream with opening of Ashby cafe Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Sean Smith is an executive chef who always had dreamed of opening his own restaurant.

He thought about running a small bistro with 30 to 50 seats.

Smith made his dream a reality in June when he became executive chef/owner of 873 Café and Tavern in Ashby. It’s a little diff erent from running a 50-seat restaurant, but he’s not complaining. With café and tavern (and large bar) under one roof, the business seats more than 125. There’s also an ice cream window and outdoor patio in season.

It took a pandemic for Smith to fi nd “the perfect destination spot.” He said the Ashby business had closed due to COVID-19 and friends suggested he take a look at it. Love at fi rst sight!

Smith opened the restaurant this summer despite not having a full liquor license. He said he had a team in place and was ready to go. “I’m happy I opened when I did because it gave the community a chance to get to know us and through word of mouth we not only attract diners from nearby towns but also New Hampshire,” said Smith. In September, the business got its liquor license.

Originally from Boston, Smith has lived in north Central Massachusetts most of his life. He’s a graduate of Murdock High School in Winchendon and began his restaurant career as a chef apprentice with executive chef Paul Wilson, who at the time owned and operated the former Brass Pineapple Restaurant in Winchendon.

Sean Smith is the owner of 873 Cafe and Tavern in Ashby.

RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Wilson has been executive chef at Worcester Country Club, Pepper’s Fine Foods Catering in Northboro and Cyprian Keyes in Boylston. He now is culinary instructor at Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford. Smith also worked with executive chef/owner Bill Brady when he owned Sonoma in Princeton. Brady owns Brady’s restaurant in Leominster. For eight years Smith was in the back of the house at Romaine’s Wood Grill and Bar in Northboro, owned and operated by executive chef/owner Richard Romaine, who also owns Smokestack Urban Barbecue and co-owns ‘Olo Pizza, both in Worcester.

Smith considers Romaine a mentor who shared invaluable experience and encouraged

him on his career path every step of the way. “Richard didn’t sugar coat the challenges chefs face when they open a restaurant and how you have to be prepared to handle every aspect of the business,” said Smith. “As his sous chef, I learned a whole lot about cooking and of teamwork and people skills.”

Smith also helped open Great Road Kitchen (oyster bar & grill) in Littleton as a chef de cuisine with chef Chris Frothingham. He previously was executive chef for two years at the Fay Club in Fitchburg, and earlier in his career he was executive chef at the Colonial Hotel in Gardner. No denying he has years of professional experience under his belt.

At his new restaurant, Smith

plans to feature innovative dishes that change seasonally.

He defi nes his food as chef-inspired and said he’s “a chef who’s behind the stove.” The menu is “eclectic, yet sometimes true to New England roots.” He’s an eager chef with a passion for local foods.

The menu is work in progress, according to Smith. The website www.873cafe.com is being updated with his menus and online reservation information. FYI: If you’re craving comfort food, there are fl atbread options, tacos, burgers, soups, salads, etc. Faroe Island Salmon with farro, caulifl ower succotash and red beet puree and Chicken Milanese Piccata were among dinner options when we clicked on the website before deadline.

873 Café & Tavern, 873 Main St., Ashby, is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; dinner, 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Sunday Brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner, 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant is booking private events for the upcoming holiday season. Call (978) 386-1185. Connect on Facebook.

The restaurant will be closed Thanksgiving Day. As for Smith, he will enjoy the holiday with his wife and family and also plans to “rest and re-energize” on his day off .

No Thanksgiving dinner at Salem Cross For the fi rst time in its 60year history, Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfi eld will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. The announcement was made on the restaurant’s web-

site, www.salemcrossinn.com.

Salem family members said they had thought “long and hard” about what the best course would be in regards to Thanksgiving 2021.

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THE NEXT DRAFT

A fair and balanced beer competition – kind of Matthew Tota USA TODAY NETWORK

Beer Wars competition is sponsored by Julio’s Liquors in Westborough. SUBMITTED PHOTO

For the fi rst time ever, I voted – in one of those ubiquitous brewery tournaments that pop up every now and then across my social media feed.

I exercised my right as a Massachusetts craft beer drinker and cast my ballot for the best brewery in three important categories: IPA, overall portfolio and taproom or beer garden. Serious. Crucial. Earthshattering stuff .

Dubbed “Beer Wars” and sponsored by Julio’s Liquors in Westboro, the tournament started with a round of open nominations, during which

more than 100 breweries were nominated. From there, round two whittled down the fi eld to

25 breweries. The third round, underway now, will determine the top four breweries in each

category, then the fi nals.

Usually, I stay away from these kinds of clickbait competitions. They are driven by a brewery’s popularity, unlike blind tastings, which rate a brewery on something tangible. Still, the winners from the second round of Beer Wars were legitimate, if not surprising.

The IPA category, for example, had familiar faces Tree House Brewing Co., Trillium and Vitamin Sea Brewing – all three as adept as they are popular – making it through to the

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Continued from Page 21

it is with heavy heart that we have determined that we will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. We know many of you look forward to celebrating this holiday with us at the inn every year, as much as we look forward to having you here!”

The inn, in a restored 18thcentury farmhouse, is a destination restaurant, off ering seasonal menus as well as traditional American fare. It’s been serving Thanksgiving Day dinners since opening in 1961.

Owner Nancy Salem said she remembers one year when they remained open during a major snowstorm; her father, Henry Salem, ended up having to drive all the staff home.

The family said the decision to close was made in the best interest of its valued customers and staff .

Visit the website for seasonal hours and special events.

Vin Bin in Marlborough is taking orders for its Thanksgiving Meal package featuring a locally grown turkey from Out Post Farm in Holliston.

The package, $125, serves four to six. It includes a 10-12 pound (uncooked) fresh turkey; 8 ounces Homemade Cranberry Sauce; 16 ounces Herbed Turkey Gravy; Smoked Maple Root Vegetables with Almonds; Garlic and Butter Mashed Potatoes; Bourbon Creamed Green Beans with Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs.

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⁄ 2 cup buckwheat flour, see note

1

2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ⁄ 2 teaspoon nutmeg

1

⁄ 2 teaspoon salt

1

Fig banana bread for holidays

6 tablespoons butter, softened ⁄ 8 cup honey

1

The California Fig Advisory Board shares a yummy recipe for a Fig Banana Bread, new to the holiday season.

2 eggs

It’s the tail end of the California fresh fi g season, but consumers can get their fi x of dried fi gs year-round. In the fi g banana bread recipe, dried fi gs add amazing flavor and moisture without added sugar.

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

California fi g banana bread 1 cup California dried fi gs, divided 3 bananas, divided ⁄ 4 cup all-purpose flour

3

⁄ 3 cup chopped toasted walnuts 2

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease 9x5-inch loaf pan, line with parchment paper.

Place 1⁄ 2 cup fi gs in small bowl, pour in enough boiling water to cover fi gs. Let stand for about 30 minutes or until softened; drain. In food processor, puree fi gs and two bananas. Slice remaining fi gs.

In bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, buckwheat

third round. But you also had smaller breweries like Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. and Cold Harbor Brewery, both of which brew some phenomenal IPAs. Out of nowhere (and located in the middle of nowhere), Bull Spit Brewing Co. made it out of the second round.

Riddled throughout the top 25 were breweries that had me either nodding or scratching my head.

In the best overall portfolio category, Cambridge Brewing Co. made it through the second; I don’t know of a brewery in the entire state that consistently puts out a more varied selecSee DRAFT, Page 23

flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.

Using electric mixer, cream butter with honey. Beat in eggs, one at a time; beat in pureed fi g mixture. Fold in flour mixture; fold in walnuts and sliced fi gs, reserving a few sliced fi gs for garnish.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Slice remaining banana half lengthwise and arrange on top of batter with reserved fi g slices. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until golden brown and tester inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Let cool completely on rack. Six to eight servings.

Note: Replace buckwheat flour with all-purpose or whole wheat flour if desired. For the best flavor, use overripe bananas to puree for the bread itself, and a perfectly ripe banana to decorate the top.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 23

Draft Continued from Page 22

tion of beer than CBC. At the same time, Worcester’s newest brewery, Double Down Brewing Co., got through to round three, a brewery that has been open a little over a month, with just four beers available.

The best taproom or beer garden category had a little bit of everything. Bad Martha and Cisco Brewers certainly have some idyllical spots amid the sun and sand of Cape Cod. More urban taprooms made the cut, too, including Jack’s Abby and Medusa Brewing Co. It’s clear what’s happening here, of course. The smaller breweries are spending more time publicizing the tournament, so naturally they’ll get a lot of votes. The breweries too big or too imperious to care can get the votes in their sleep. This acts as an equalizer.

Vincent Errichetti, the creator of the contest, hoped it would turn out this way.

“We’re not just going to have a name recognition contest because you can guess who would win that,” he said. “The goal is to promote places that aren’t necessarily those big names.”

Errichetti, who owns a marketing company and writes the popular foodie blog, Taste of Massachusetts, took pains to make sure the competition was fair. The site he used to host it prevents people from voting an infi nite number of times by recording IP addresses.

“People can’t vote twice or put in fi ve diff erent emails that are all fake,” he said. He has made similar contests for the best doughnut shops in the state and best burgers.

Errichetti’s Beer Wars stands out in part because of its three unique categories, which taken together mirror the thinking of your average craft beer drinker.

Greater Good and Double Down have been taking the contest seriously and say they’re humbled to have made

it into the third round.

Beer people I know who also scoff at such contests seem not to mind Beer Wars compared to other tournament-style brewery competitions they’ve seen.

“I like that they’ve asked some more questions than just, ‘What’s your favorite brewery,’” said Robert Kelley, co-founder of Mass Brew Bros, a website that posts data and news about breweries.

In general, though, Kelley is like me in that he doesn’t pay attention to online beer contests.

“I don’t usually put much stock in these types of polls/ votes because they are popularity contests and not really based on measurable or quantifi able factors,” he said. “Also the results usually only matter to smaller or up-and-coming breweries.”

Is it really a competition if the breweries at the top don’t care whether they win or lose?

No, but it doesn’t make the results, especially in the case of Beer Wars, any less interesting.

Imagine if another brewery beats Trillium or Tree House for best IPA, the anger that would ensue. It’s fun to care so much about such things, but even more fun to watch the debates rage online.

That’s why I’ll be voting again and following along until the champions of Beer Wars are crowned, popcorn ready.

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CONNELL SANDERS

Worcester fi refi ghter’s widow leads fi ght against carcinogens in gear Sarah Connell Sanders

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Diane Cotter’s Worcester legacy began long before her crusade against the PFASs in fi refi ghter turnout gear did. Her father was Johnny Dee, manager of the Showcase Cinemas (now The Hanover Theatre) where he palled around with notables like Al Pacino. Her mom grew up in the Spag’s household; Anthony “Spag” Borgatti walked her down the aisle at St. John’s Cathedral to give her away on her wedding day. After a battle with alcoholism and subsequent electroshock therapy in the 1960s, Diane’s mother became a pioneer for Faith House on Burncoat Street — Worcester’s fi rst shelter for alcoholic women.

“My mother went on to sponsor over 300 women in the city of Worcester,” shared Diane. “My father may have been a Worcester icon, but she was a Worcester hero.” The tenacity she witnessed during this period would go on to propel Diane as a powerful dissenting voice later in the fi ght against the carcinogens found in fi refi ghter turnout gear.

Diane married her high school sweetheart, Paul Cotter.

“He drove up in his baby blue Cadillac and he smiled at me; he was just the most handsome guy I’d ever seen,” she remembers. “Literally, I saw stars.”

When Paul joined the Worcester Fire Department in 1988, the Cotters had two children under the age of 3. Diane loved the department’s camaraderie and the way Paul looked in his uniform. The couple hosted a Christmas party for the department every year.

“We were used to having a

Diane Cotter’s husband, Paul, served as a Worcester fi refi ghter for over 25 years before being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. A 2020 study revealed his gear contained PFASs, the same chemical used in Teflon pans.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

hundred fi refi ghters in our house at a time,” she said.

When Paul was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in November of 2014, his career came to an abrupt end.

In some ways, the diagnosis was not surprising. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cancer is the leading cause of death among fi refi ghters. Nevertheless, Diane refused to let the love of her life become another tragic statistic. She began emailing everyone, from activist Erin Brokovitch to famed environmental attorney Robert Bilott. To her surprise, they both got back to her.

In her emails, Diane described the process of unearthing Paul’s turnout gear from a box in the basement. “I held a

Activist Diane Cotter’s father, Johnny Dee, managed Showcase Cinema, now The Hanover Theatre. He entertained many stars during the 1960s and ‘70s, including Al Pacino, pictured here at the El Morocco.

fl ashlight to the crotch and I could see these dime-sized pieces of fabric missing,” she recalled. “And I was like, holy crap.”

Brokovitch was the fi rst to ask Diane if the gear contained PFASs. PFASs or polyfl uoroalkyl substances were infamously used by the DuPont chemical company to make non-stick Tefl on pans, which led to an illness known colloquially by plant workers as “Tefl on fl u.”

Paul’s union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, was slow to take action. It was not lost on Diane that manufacturers like DuPont had sponsored the symposium for

fi refi ghter cancer in the past.

“The manufacturers were voting members of the standards committee for turnout gear,” she alleged.

Working with experimental nuclear physicist Dr. Graham Peaslee, a professor at Notre Dame, Diane helped launch a preliminary study in 2017 followed by a more robust study published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters in June of 2020. Peaslee’s fi ndings are detailed in a recent Men’s Health spread titled “The Toxic Job of Being a Hero.” The bottom line was, researchers found large amounts of PFASs in fi refi ghter turnout gear.

Diane’s instincts had been correct.

The fi ght continues, but manufacturers have recently begun developing PFAS-free gear. Diane is confi dent in the leadership of the new IAFF union president, Edward A. Kelly. “We could not have a better ally,” she said. “We could not have someone more dedicated to this issue.”

With all due respect to Mr. Kelly, I think Diane Cotter might have him beat. She is a Worcester icon and a hero. We are very lucky to have her.

A full interview with Diane Cotter can be found at Pop It (www.popitworcester.com).

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 25

SCREEN TIME

Love at fi rst fright — three scary fi lms that left a mark Craig S. Semon Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

In space no one can hear you scream.

The night He came home!

The ultimate in alien terror.

These are the taglines to the fi rst three R-rated movies I ever saw at a movie theater with a parent or guardian because I was under 17 and no one under 17 would be admitted without a parent or guardian present.

Believe it or not, movie theaters were strict back then.

Thinking about these fi lms the other day, I realized, in addition to the inherent, multiple connections of pairs shared by these three movies (including two having very strong female characters as their protagonist, two of the movies’ antagonists are from outer space, two pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock, two of the movies I saw at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and two were directed by John Carpenter), they are all modern classics and are good scary movies to watch during the Halloween season.

Heck, even one has the word “Halloween” in its title.

Yes, if the taglines didn’t give them away, I am talking about “Alien,” “Halloween” and “The Thing.”

These three movies are so good that I still brag to fellow fi lm-lovers who discovered these fi lms on video or DVD that I saw them all when they fi rst came out on the big screen.

And the great thing back then, we went to the movies with very little to go on other than, maybe, a spooky movie trailer, an enticing TV spot, a colorful movie poster (which, oftentimes, were better than the actual movies themselves), a scary premise, or the star or director promoting his fi lm on a late-night talk show.

The only actor I knew going into “Alien” was Yaphet Kotto, who played Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big in the fi rst James Bond movie I ever saw in a fi rst-run movie theater (and the fi rst and best with Roger Moore), “Live and Let Die.” “Alien” was a revelation in the movie theater. It’s Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” in outerspace. And it was the fi rst movie I ever saw in which the main female wasn’t a damsel in distress or merely eye candy but a bona fi de action hero. Except for some schlocky revenge fl icks, it was unheard of at the time. It was totally unexpected. It was incredibly refreshing.

Everyone in the movie theater concluded that Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) was going to be the hero in the movie because he’s a man. But it turned out Warrant Offi cer Ripley, played by a then unknown Sigourney Weaver, was to be humanity’s savior. And I’ve had a crush on her ever since.

The visual of the derelict spaceship and the discovery of the skeletal “space jockey” are some of the best and most imaginative special eff ects I had seen since the original “Star Wars” two years earlier. But “Alien”

Sigourney Weaver outwits an evil E.T. in “Alien.”

20TH CENTURY FOX

was a far cry from “Star Wars.” George Lucas’ space soap-opera never gave me nightmares.

And H.R. Giger’s alien — which is Hell incarnate, the personifi cation of pure unadulterated evil that only exists in our deepest, darkest subconsciousness — is the best movie villain since Darth Vader. And, somehow, Kenner was able to produce an 18-inch fi gure of the alien, which sold on the shelves (until they took them off the market) next to the Wayne Gretzky dolls at Child World in White City, Shrewsbury.

Also, the infamous chest-bursting scene is still one of the most nightmarish, original and unexpected death scenes I’ve ever seen on the big screen.

I once met Mr. Chest-Burster actor himself, John Hurt, at the “Love Ride” in Glendale, California.

Being a big “Alien” fan and still buzzing from scoring the highest grade in a 400 Level college course “Orwell Seminar: 1984” at Worcester State College (it was still a college back then) and the fact that Hurt was pitchperfect as George Orwell’s doom protagonist Winston Smith, opposite Richard Burton’s O’Brien in his fi nale role, in the last screen version of “1984,” I couldn’t wait to tell him, “I cried when you died in ‘Alien.’”

And, Hurt laughed and said, “Yes, me too.”

The only complaint at the end of “Alien” was not seeing enough of the alien. But all that changed with James Cameron’s ambitious and original “Aliens” sequel, which is arguably one of the best movies ever made about the Vietnam War (no kidding) and one of the few sequels that is, arguably, better than the original.

Leaving the theater for the original “Alien,” everyone thought Jones the cat was pregnant with the alien and that would be a sequel. A better script-writer than director (and he’s an exceptional director), Cameron is too clever for the kitty litter cop-out like that.

And not only did he magically build on the “Alien” universe, Cameron gave us more scenes with the alien.

In fact, Cameron gave us a gazillion aliens, coming out of the wall and falling out of the ceiling. And he even had a humongous killer queen alien, which was not only something newly introduced to the movie-goer but the shell-shocked characters in the movie as well.

“Aliens” also gave us a memorable platoon of Space Marines led by Cpl. Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn), Pvt. Hudson (Bill Paxton) and Pvt. Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein).

But my favorite thing Cameron gave us in “Aliens” is Carter Burke, special projects director for WeylandYutani, aka the epitome of corporate slime, played by Paul Reiser. It’s an incredibly evil and ugly change of pace character for the usually likable “Mad About You” actor.

Anything after in “Alien” franchise is absolute garbage. And David Fincher should have been deported into dark space after what he did to Corporal Hicks and Newt in the fi rst fi ve minutes of “Aliens 3,” off camera.

For some reason, my brother and I both happened to be home, up past one o’clock on a weekday and watching “Late Night with David Letterman” when fi lmmaker John Carpenter was the fi nal guest.

Carpenter was promoting “The Thing,” his inspired remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic “The Thing from Another World,” which featured the future Marshall Matt Dillon of “Gunsmoke” fan (James Arness) as a defrosted fl ying saucer pilot with anger-management issues from outer space frozen in the Arctic ice for 100,000 years.

After a few minutes of banter with the maverick fi lmmaker, Letterman showed one of the most amazing movie clips I have ever seen to promote a fi lm on television, all hell breaking loose in a dog kennel with some of the most intense special eff ects I have ever seen.

When the minute clip was over, Letterman quipped, “So then it’s the story about a boy and his dog. My, my, wow.”

Then in unison, my brother and I looked at each other and agreed that we have to see “The Thing” the night that it opens at Lincoln Plaza.

And what a movie.

Besides the imaginative special-eff ects and suspenseful, tension-fi lled storyline, it is full of killer, crass and very quotable dialogue. Imagine if David Mamet wrote a monster movie, it would be something like “The Thing.”

“The Thing” is very much a guys’ movie. The memorable dialogue is rough, the alien transformation scenes are deliciously gory and over the top, and there are too many cool scenes to count.

Although it is minus the creatures, it has plenty of blood; the only thing I’ve seen that comes close to “The Thing,” in regards to its chilly, claustrophobic tension and edge of your seat suspense, is another Kurt Russell See SCARY, Page 28

26 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

5 THINGS TO DO

HALLOWEEN, DIA DE LOS MUERTOS EVENTS AND MORE ...

Richard Duckett and Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Nightmare on Park Avenue?

If anyone in town knows how to throw a geeky cool all-ages Halloween party, it’s the folks at comic book store and pop culture emporium That’s Entertainment.

This year is no exception, and its free day-long Halloween party and costume contests will also feature Freddy Krueger, courtesy of Dream Killer Cosplay, and professional cosplay photography by photographer Christopher Robin Wetherell. In addition, “Radio of Horror” host Chris Denmead and comic book artist Ken Hunt will be signing and selling copies of their new comic, “Vlada: A Dracula Tale,” and children’s book author Kathryn Hulick will be on hand to autograph copies of her book, “Strange But True: 10 of the World’s Greatest Mysteries Explained.”

That’s Entertainment will also be giving out candy and free “Halloween Comic Book Extravaganza” exclusive comic books at the front counter to trick-or-treaters all day long, while supplies last. (VDI)

There will be a Dia de los Muertos celebration held at several locations in downtown Worcester Oct. 30. PROMOTIONAL IMAGE

Celebrating Dia de los Muertos Downtown Worcester will be “alive” Oct. 30 for a “Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the Woo Celebration” hosted by the Jean McDonough Arts Center, the Worcester Public Library, Main IDEA, and the Worcester Art Museum. There will be a block party, sculpture, storytelling, public art, and more.

Events include a mural by the Mexican artist Marka27 at City Hall; a sculpture by Ecuadorean artists and storytellers Jose Criollo and Germán Chiriboga staged at the JMAC (noon-4 p.m.); two offerings curated by Mexican artist and scientist Maya Rojas at City Hall and the Worcester Art Museum; and a block party on Worcester Common (including artists, community organizations, artisans, food vendors) hosted by the City of Worcester with youth programming led by Main IDEA in partnership with the Worcester Public Library. (RD) What: “Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the Woo Celebration” When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 30 Where: Various locations. To learn more, volunteer, or make a donation, please email: woo.dayofthedead@gmail.com

What: Halloween Party When: noon to 5 p.m.

Oct. 30 Where: That’s Entertainment, 244 Park Ave., Worcester How much: Free

Freddy Krueger will appear at Tha’'s Entertainment Oct. 30 courtesy Dream Killer Cosplay. PROMOTIONAL IMAGE

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 27

‘Freedom to Dream’ Actor and singer Cassie Blanchette will perform her show “The Freedom To Dream” as a benefit concert for veterans Oct. 30 at The Stone Church, 283 Main St., Gilbertville.

Blanchette has appeared in several area productions including at The Center at Eagle Hill in Hardwick and Theatre at the Mount in Gardner. Her husband served 10 years in the Marine Corps and was deployed in Iraq. The concert will benefit The Brookfield Institute in Ware which works to build resilience in veterans, active duty service members and military families. Blanchette will perform songs fromBroadway, including numbers from “Phantom of the Opera” and “LesMiserables,” as well as pop songsand a fewcomedic songs.

Joining her will be singers Julie Bouchardand Taylor Lawton. The accompanist is Steph Parker. (RD)

The art of storytelling The Moth is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. “The Moth Mainstage” features wildly divergent raconteurs celebrating the ability of stories to honor both the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection. (RD) What: “The Moth Mainstage” When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 Where: The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: $47. (877) 571-7469; www.thehanovertheatre.org

OPEN EVERY SUNDAY OUTDOOR/INDOOR

‘Songs of Unity’ “Songs of Unity” is the theme of the Assabet Valley Mastersingers’ first concert of the 2021-22 season with a program of works by contemporary composers. “Unity in Diversity” by Cynthia Lee Wong is a song cycle with texts by Wordsworth, Teasdale and Tagore, touching on themes which resonate today - nature and destruction, love and unity. “LUX: The Dawn From On High” by Dan Forrest explores ancient liturgical chant, scripture, and modern secular love poetry, while Oliver Caplan’s “We Exist” is a response to the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, honoring all races, faiths and genders. (RD) What: “Songs of Unity” — Assabet Valley Mastersingers When: 8 p.m. Oct. 30 Where: Robert R. Jay Performing Arts Center, St. John’s High School, Shrewsbury How much: $25; $20 students and seniors. www.avmsingers.org

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What: “The Freedom To Dream” — Cassie Blanchette When: 2 p.m. Oct. 30 Where: Old Stone Church, 283 Main St., Gilbertville How much: $15. www.eventbrite.com/e/the-freedom-todream-tickets

“The Moth Mainstage” is coming to the Hanover Theatre Nov. 4. PROMOTIONAL IMAGE

28 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

ADOPTION OPTION

• ADOPTIONS: At this time, adoptions are being held BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you are interested in adoption, please visit our website worcesterarl.org/ adopt/ to learn more about our available animals then

call us at (508) 853-0030 ext.0 or email us at info@worcesterarl. org to schedule an appointment.

• CASUAL VISITS TO THE SHELTER are prohibited. We will strictly enforce this in order to keep our animal care team protected while still maintaining the most essential function of our operation ... fi nding homes for animals in need.

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

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

• DONATIONS ACCEPTED except for open bags of food.

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

• Weekly training classes are going on for adopters.

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

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

I consider “Halloween” to be a blessing and a curse.

It’s a great scary movie that is not graphic and not too bloody. But it inspired a string of low-budget, gorefest movies and sequels, including the horrifi c and horribly dumb “Friday the 13th” series.

First off , “Halloween” has P.J. Soles — one of Sissy Spacek’s pig blood spilling tormentors in “Carrie,” a hormonally charged Joey Ramone stalker in “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” and Bill Murray’s girlfriend in his breakthrough picture “Stripes” — going for it. So there’s a plus right out the gate.

But it’s Jamie Lee Curtis — making her debut as high school student/part-time babysitter Laurie Strode being stalked by Mike Myers, an emotionless, knife-wielding psychopath wearing a modifi ed William Shatner mask — that is the standout here.

With her family lineage, Curtis — whose mother was Janet Leigh, who starred as Marion Crane, aka Norman Bates’ most famous victim in “Psycho” — one would think she would have a leg up on her not so gentleman, madman caller.

Accompanied by Carpenter’s creepy score (the

creepiest since Mike Oldfi eld’s “Tubular Bells in “The Exorcist” but not as terrifying as Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” theme), “Halloween” is arguably the best movie ever made about the boogey man, an evil that hides in the dark, hides in our closet, hides under our bed and fi lls us with dread.

Not only did “Halloween” make Jamie Lee Curtis scream queen royalty, we will never look at William Shatner the same ever again.

Speaking about Shatner, at 90, the Canadian actor fl ew to space on Blue Origin’s second sub-orbital human spacefl ight.

Best known for playing dashing, lady’s man, Captain James T. Kirk on “Star Trek” and for fl ying gremlin-class on the classic “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode of “The Twilight Zone,” Shatner also starred in an episode of the original “Outer Limits,” in which he played an astronaut who returns to Earth unbeknownst to him that he has been genetically altered and is transforming by an alien encounter.

Sound familiar? Am I the only one who is losing sleep over Shatner’s return to Earth?

Meet Larry!

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.

This goofball is LARRY! Larry came to WARL as a stray and is ready for a fresh start. Larry is outgoing and energetic. He is motivated by food and is really eager to please. This pup enjoys hiking and has been started on crate training. Larry would do best in an adult home that is able to provide him with plenty of exercise, training and guidance at this stage in his growth. When he gets excited, Larry can use his mouth hard and get very jumpy. Consistent training as well as rewarding him for desired behaviors will help Larry settle into a home. Larry is excited to meet other dogs but does play rough and jump on other dogs, which can be overwhelming. Not all dogs will enjoy this, so he will need to fi nd the right types of dogs to play with. The shelter is currently doing adoption meets by appointment only. If you would like more information or you would like to schedule a time to meet with Larry, contact the shelter at info@worcesterarl.org.

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.

Scary Continued from Page 25

gem, Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” which actually incorporates unused music from Ennio Morricone’s “The Thing” soundtrack and must be seen on a big screen.

In addition to delivering a killer “Glengarry Glen Ross” meets “Invaders from Mars” hybrid, Carpenter is responsible for recognizing former Disney child star Kurt Russell as a legitimate leading man.

Carpenter directed Russell in four great performances in four great fi lms (TV’s “Elvis,” “The Thing,” “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Escape from New York”; let’s all try to forget “Escape from L.A.”).

And in “The Thing,” Carpenter got out of Russell his best performance to date.

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” is still the undisputed granddaddy of slasher fi lms but Carpenter’s “Halloween” isn’t shabby either.

Larry is available for adoption through WARL. SUBMITTED PHOTO

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 29

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Sudoku Answers

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30 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

J O N E S I N’

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Across 1 CD-___ (outdated discs) 5 Abbr. that’s to scale?

8 Pituitary, e.g.

13 Loads 14 Ranch addition?

15 Decide, in court 17 Partial shadow 19 Turkey’s capital 20 ___ polloi (general population) 21 Outdoor section for cars 23 “Blazing Saddles” actress Madeline 25 ___ Pollos Hermanos (“Breaking Bad” restaurant) 26 The “M” of “MIB” 27 Fencing sword 29 “___ the Seas with Oysters” (Hugo Award-winning short story by Avram Davidson) 32 Some pet chickens 33 Telephone numbers, account IDs, etc.

36 Fiery crime 37 When doubled, that vacuum thing from the Teletubbies 38 Photo-sharing app, for short 42 Snapple offering 45 Gets older 48 Averse (to) 49 A head 50 Put a dent in 51 Airline whose website offers a Japan Explorer Pass 52 “The ___ Duckling” 54 Film with elaborate costumes, often 58 Medicare ID, once 61 Overjoyed 62 Kind of soup, or what the five theme answers demonstrate 64 Medium-sized tube-shaped pasta 65 Sweater neck shape 66 Bitterly regrets 67 Richman of “The New Gidget” and “A Very Brady Christmas” 68 “Gangnam Style” musician 69 Big volcano in Sicily Down 1 Turtle with the red mask, to fans 2 Imitation spread

“Soup’s On!”--it’s getting to be soup weather.

by Matt Jones

3 Nicknames 4 “Simpsons” character Disco ___ 5 Site of the Cedar Revolution 6 “It’s freaking freezing!”

7 Lounge in the hot tub 8 Continental breakfast offering, maybe 9 Sources of inspiration?

10 ___-Seltzer 11 Descriptor in many Google Maps searches 12 ___ Green, aka Squirrel Girl 16 Indian flatbreads 18 Speed limit letters 22 “Count me in!”

24 “___ Fables” 27 Anti-pollution agcy.

28 Part of 18-Down 30 Chilled, like blood in an eerie situation 31 Greeting at a luau 32 “The Messiah” composer 34 First digit of all Delaware ZIP codes 35 Fifty-fifty, e.g.

39 Refuses to budge 40 Investigator, informally 41 “Delectable!”

43 2019 remake directed by Guy Ritchie

44 Tennessee Tuxedo’s walrus pal 45 Energized, with “up” 46 Language where a crossword puzzle is “tóimhseachan crois-fhacal” 47 Printers’ mistakes 51 “Nip/Tuck” actress Richardson 53 Moo goo ___ pan 55 ___-Tass (Russian news agency) 56 Invitation letters 57 Tarzan’s cohorts 59 Envisioned 60 Curiosity creator 63 Capri crowd?

Last week's solution

©2021 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1064

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 31

LAST CALL

Thomas Mueller — Worcester’s newest jazz crooner Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Thomas Mueller scored a coup when he recorded a live show at Mechanics Hall called “Seniors Love Jazz.” The historic downtown building was chosen to forge nostalgic connections with an audience that probably remembers Mechanics Hall for all kinds of events.

His singing was accompanied by, among others, his music professor at Clark University, where he is part of the Class of ‘22, studying music and management. Mueller is also a Steinbrecher Fellow, a program that provides funding for undergraduates to pursue original ideas, creative research, public service, or enrichment projects. He is from Connecticut and working toward a master’s in business administration.

Mueller sat down with Last Call to discuss his motivation as well as the process that led him to the storied location.

How did you get the idea to do this?

It started with some shows I did during the pandemic at senior centers for my grandfather and were really enjoyable for that age group. I realized they didn’t have as many resources for entertainment, especially during the shutdowns.

That, along with my love for music, inspired the idea. And I was trying to get more experience anyway, when this fellowship came up and all of the ideas came together at one moment. I realized I could really do something big this time. It’s a fun experience to perform for seniors and see how they appreciate the music.

Tell me a little bit about the journey to this point.

In December of last year, I was beginning to study jazz piano. In the spring, this fellowship appeared in my email and I spent the season working on

Thomas Mueller recorded the live show “Seniors Love Jazz” at Mechanics Hall. VEER MUDAMBI

the music. Slowly, the program came together as a combination of covers and originals.

Then in the summer, I got the team together and recorded it.

Originally, we were going to record the music in a studio and the video at Mechanic’s Hall, but the logistics of getting the sound and video people all on the same day just worked out perfectly. So we recorded it

on-site as basically a live performance.

How was it recorded in the age of COVID? The largest part of that was the planning and making sure there was always a back-up and communicating. I was constantly communicating to see how to get the space to work, and what to do if the venue shut down again. My back-up

was going to be recording at a studio and for the fi nal video would be mixing each performer into a screen.

The hall and the sound were beautiful — with the lights and everything, it all came together.

Mechanics Hall isn’t just the backdrop — it’s also something seniors in Worcester are familiar with.

Where did you fi nd the band?

So my professor, Paul Buono, he’s a jazz pianist and he was the main way of networking with musicians throughout the New England area. He connected me with a drummer named Vinnie, and Vinnie mentioned a bassist named Greg, so he joined the team.

And I was singing for them.

How was it performing with your teacher?

It was an excellent experience. As soon as I started taking lessons, I was very serious about it and I think he could tell that. A great relationship formed and we got closer during the rehearsals and it got more casual. That really helped the experience because at the end of the day, it was a bunch of guys playing music on stage.

How long have you been singing?

Ever since I was little, maybe since I was 4 or 6. I mostly started doing musical theater and then branched out to Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé.

Jazz is kind of a new discovery — I met a pianist at Clark who recommended it and I’ve just been passionate about it ever since.

What’s your personal favorite kind of music to play?

Probably musical theater — it’s my favorite genre but I love jazz and pop too. Anything that can get people going. It really depends on who I’m performing for — if I’m at the senior center, my favorite stuff is the Sinatra era and hearing the au-

dience talk about how it brings back memories and listening to their stories is the best part.

Sometimes there are seniors who may not be in the best state because of dementia, but when they hear this music, they’re able to sing along to it and remember. I want them to get that feeling.

Would you say you’re a performer as much as a musician?

Certainly, because I love all aspects of performing. Acting, singing and dancing.

Favorite song on the album?

I think my favorite cover is “She’s Got a Way.” I haven’t heard too many jazz covers of it and I really enjoyed arranging that piece. As for the originals, I’d say “Every Single Moment” because it’s a ballad and I’m a big ballad guy. It’s about spending every single moment with someone, the little things.

What are your plans for the future?

Keep working my craft as a jazz pianist and a singer and to really get out there as much as I can. The project was an amazing learning experience in music and management. I want to use that in other performances — I’m always looking for opportunities.

Will you be working with this band again?

I’ll always be performing with Paul as my teacher but totally open to working with Greg and Vinnie again.

Where can people buy this album?

They can get it on any streaming site —- Spotify, itunes or through my Instagram. The project — “Seniors Love Jazz” — features original songs and covers. The set was performed in Mechanics Hall and a fi lmed version of the concert will be available to senior centers throughout Worcester County and beyond.

32 | OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM