City Voices

LANDGREN MOVE OVER ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE, MEET THE SPOTTED LANTERNFLY!

BAD ADVICE

Love is in the air at Chuck E. Cheese

Shaun Connolly

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

DEAR SHAUN: WoMag sux! After years of Harvey’s ranting and raving, her distorted political opinion or bias. Now if this Connolly is gonna spew his liberal again biased opinion. It looks like I won’t be delving any further into Worcester Democrat Magazine! Just my opinion, and hopefully the silent majority. — Disgruntled

DEAR DISGRUNTLED: I am so sorry to hear this. While I do not see a specific question in your email, it seems you are in dire need for some life advice. First, continue to work on your vocabulary, whether it is the crossword, jumble, spelling bee, Wordle, etc. “spew” and “delving” are some great words and I am honestly impressed. Your final words read, “hopefully the silent majority as well.” Every time I read “silent majority” I think of farts. The majority being the smell that can take over a room, the silent is that noise you hope you don’t make. Sometimes, though, farts can be a loud minority. Which is honestly disappointing. If you are going to have such an impolite noise you might as well have the smell match, am I right? The silent majority is really the times when it sneaks out like a gas leak and then the acrid sewage smell engulfs the nostrils of those around you. Then you think to yourself how could such an awful thing come from me? This smell, something I produced, is ruining the mood and well-being of

WORCESTERIA

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones perform at Bash Festival in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 11, 2019.

KEITH SPARBANIE/SPECIAL FOR THE REPUBLIC.

Bosstones call it quits; Rosen stirs the pot

Victor D. Infante

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

BOSSTONES BOW OUT: Were you at the Punk in Drublic concert Sept. 26 outside the Palladium? If so, then you were present for the last concert by Boston music legends, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The iconic ska/punk band wrote on its Facebook page, “After decades of brotherhood, touring the world and making great records together, we have decided to no longer continue on as a band. Above all, we want to express our sincere gratitude to every single one of you who have supported us. We could not have done any of it without you.” The Bosstones has always had tight ties to Worcester, and played here frequently, including a show for Worcester Artist Group in 1991, the Cranking & Skanking Fest in 2018 at the Palladium, and of course, last year’s Palladium show, where the band opened for pop punkers NOFX. “I’m glad I got to catch them one last time at that show,” says Ted Kistner, former owner of the Cove Music Hall and current owner of Drafter’s in N. Grosvenordale, Connecticut. “I thought they were great, they put on a solid performance … they came out and just just did their thing. They put on a show. They’re one of those bands that go out on stage and leave it all out there.”

No public reason has been

POETRY TOWN

Gold Star Boulevard

Dave McGrath Special to Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Driving with A Worcester girl, With one hand on, She knows all the turns. Steering by chance Reasons for each swerve, Stealing a glance, The distracting curves. Sworn of Starbucks Becoming a regular, Filling up my soul With a cup of her stellar. Her eyes smooth the roads That use to seem hard, It’s another early afternoon On Gold Star Boulevard.

A view of Gold Star Boulevard. T&G FILE PHOTO/PAUL KAPTEYN

Advice

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people around me. My advice is to eat less, beans, dairy or carbonated products, that way you won’t fart as much. This why you wrote to me right?

DEAR SHAUN: Is it wrong to be in love with the SW Cutoff Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot? I just can’t get them out of my head. — In Love

DEAR IN LOVE: Love is not wrong. Whether you are in love with the costume or the costumed, there is nothing wrong with that. Due to your specificity of the Chuck E. Cheese over at the SW Cutoff, it makes me think that it is more the person who dons the mouse uniform. However, maybe there is something about that gray fur and purple shirt on this specific outfit that truly enchants you. Either way there is nothing wrong with those feelings. The act of love is not shameful. It is how you act on that love. If you try to strike up a conversation with the anthropomorphic mouse and the mouse reciprocates, you’re in, sister. However if you practice robotic movements, rehearse all of the songs and join Chuck’s band to then try and cop a feel of Mr. Cheese’s soft coat, that’s a nogo. My advice is to play some games in the arcade, earn enough tickets and buy Chuck something nice. That will at least open the door to the start of a healthy relationship, whether romantic or platonic.

Is love in the air at the Chuck E Cheese’s off Route 20 in

Worcester? T&G FILE PHOTO/CHRISTINE HOCHKEPPEL

Bosstones

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given for the breakup, but it’s definitely going to have a seismic effect on the local musical landscape. Michael O’Connor Marotta, the editor of the online Boston music website, Vanyaland, wrote that the band breakup, “obviously means no more Bosstones music (for the immediate future, at least), but it also marks the end of the band’s celebrated Hometown Throwdown series, an annual multi-night live bash held around the holidays. Started in 1994, the Throwdown has become part of the DNA of Boston music, and after a return from hiatus in 2007, has continued in recent years, pre-pandemic, at Boston’s House of Blues as a Christmas tradition.”

ROSEN STIRS THE POT: Life after City Council is evidently serving Gary Rosen well, judging by a recent episode of his WCCA-TV cable access show, “Rosen’s Roundtable.” Talking to current District 2 City Councilor Candy MeroCarlson and Councilor AtLarge Moe Bergman, the conversation turned toward MeroCarlson being removed from the Standing Committee on Economic Development, which she previously chaired. Rosen suggests the removal was “payback” from Mayor Joe Petty for Mero-Carlson’s support of Richard Cipro against Sean Rose in the District 1 race. Mero-Carlson goes on to comment that those sorts of conflicts shouldn’t make a difference in committee assignments. Fair enough. It’s fairly obvious the move was to boost Rose, and honestly, it’s not clear if leaving her on the committee but not keeping her as chair would have been the bigger insult. In any case, the episode didn’t venture into issues such as the weakness of her win last election against challenger Johanna Hampton-Dance, 1,163 to 904 votes, or how weird it is that the former Worcester Democratic City Committee chairwoman is generally considered to be part of the City Council’s conservative wing. It also leaves open some big questions about how important standing committees really are, especially when most of the city seems content to battle it out on just about any issue in the public comments section of City Council meeting. Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at all of those, and how they run. And maybe it’s time to take another look at Rosen, because this gem of Worcester politics almost passed by unnoticed until Ben White of Talk of the Commonwealth put it on our Twitter, blowing it up into fullfledged political buzz. The lesson: If “Rosen’s Roundtable” can provide this sort of drama out of local politics, then it’s going to be must-see watching as we go into the next political season.

SENT TO COMMITTEE: Once in a while, you can cause a small amount of whimsical chaos and serve the civic good all at the same time. At least, that’s what seems to have happened when I wrote a column Jan. 11, noting that there were 35 open seats on local citizen boards and committees in Worcester, and explaining how to apply. The column was widely shared on social media, and according to Jeannie Michelson, principle staff assistant to the city manager, it did its job … maybe a little too well. According to Michelson, they were barraged with so many applications that she’s still processing them all and getting back to people. “It’s a good problem to have,” she says. Michelson says that the applications are spread out over several committees. There are actually a few more open seats on committees, mostly because a new committee has been added, the Urban Forestry Tree Commission. Does this mean people should ease up? By no means! It’s too soon to say if the barrage has filled all the seats, so if there’s a committee you’re interested in, drop them an application, and of course, attend meetings to see them in action.

FIRST PERSON

Feeling haunted by the ghost of Ginger

Joe Fusco Jr.

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

We were watching our four grandchildren so their parents could go to a B&B in New Hampshire for their anniversary.

The 12-year-old Izabelle was changing upstairs for bed when we heard her scream then come running down the 15 stairs into the kitchen.

“Something dressed in white flew by me and into Nana’s box,” she exclaimed.

“The Ghost of Ginger,” I replied as I snacked on some honey-roasted nuts.

Ginger was my mother-inlaw. When she passed a few years back, her remains were put in a marble, mauve-colored urn that sits on a In Loving Memory shelf in the sitting-room upstairs.

“This is a first.” I told my wife. “Your Mother’s on the loose!”

I had been dating Cyndi for a few months when I first met Ginger 37 years ago. She invited us over for Baked Macaroni &Cheese and Gin Rummy. It was …different.

In 1987, we went to dinner with Ginger and her husband Joe (a great guy) on New Year’s Eve. They cut the evening short and left us in the restaurant because they felt …frisky.

Ginger was frugal. Once, she took our pre-teen twins to the Ponderosa buffet and lined their jacket pockets with aluminum foil so they could smuggle chicken wings out of the restaurant. When I came home from work and kissed them goodnight, they reeked of BBQ sauce.

I have other memories of Ginger that will remain untold. She did think I was “quite a catch,” a quote I’m quick to remind my wife of on many an occasion.

As I’ve grown old, my belief in an after-life has diminished. Why would an apparition hang around our 2nd floor if heaven was such a paradise?

My wife disagrees with me and my daughter Heather won’t go upstairs when she visits anymore since the alleged sighting.

That night, I told Izabelle that she probably saw a reflection on the television screen and the house was ghost-free.

A few nights later, while showering in the upstairs bathroom, I had this strange feeling that someone was ogling me.

I toweled off and walked over to the sitting room.

It smelt like BBQ sauce!

Joe Fusco Jr. is haunted by the ghost of his mother-in-law. SUPERHERFTIGGENERAL

Joe Fusco Jr. is a poet and humorist living in Worcester. He’ll be a featured reader for the Worcester Public Library 4 p.m. Feb. 11 on Zoom. Watch the reading online at https:// mywpl.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/pondering-the-pandemic-duringthe-rust-years-a-virtual-poetry-reading-with-joe-fusco.

‘ORIGIN’

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About 120 artists, photographers and creative businesses have been featured in the first three issues. The magazine was founded by by Atelier ID Global of Paxton. Michelle May and Payal Thiffault founded the design agency in 2017.

“ORIGIN” will feature more than 55 pieces of art from local and national artists.

Local highlights include work by the first cover photographer Frank Armstrong, whose show “American Roadsides” opens soon at Fitchburg Art Museum; Archy LaSalle and Tara Sellios, both featured in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston collection; ArtsWorcester’s Sally Bishop Prize winner Kat O’Connor; CMAI artists John Pagano and Cesar Rodrigues who, are currently on view at Worcester Art Museum.John Pagano; and artists Robin Reynolds, Shabnam Jannesari, Lisa Barthelson, Lydia Kinney, Patti Kelly, Don Hartmann, Scott Boilard, Karen Nunley, Kate Morgan, Piya Samant, Carrie Crane and Keri Anderson.

The opening and launch party is free. Face masks and either vaccination cards or negative PCR tests are required for entry.

“The creative economy is such a significant part of every ecosystem from business to entertainment. The magazine features the work of creatives and creative businesses from all over the world, as we share their contribution to community and mark how they are essential,” Juniper Rag says in a statement.

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