Worcester Magazine January 23 - 29, 2020

JANUARY 23 - 29, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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Making connections On route with Worcester’s new trolley service

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the cover Making connections On route with Worcester’s new trolley service Story on page 11

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

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Featured ......................................................................................4 City Voices...................................................................................6 Cover Story .................................................................................8 Artist Spotlight .......................................................................13 Lifestyle......................................................................................14 Listen Up....................................................................................16 Dining Review..........................................................................15 The Next Draft..........................................................................14 Film .............................................................................................16 Film Capsules ..........................................................................17 Calendar ....................................................................................18 Adoption Option ....................................................................20 Games .........................................................................................21 Classifieds .................................................................................22 Last Call .....................................................................................23

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FEATURED

The spirit of Appalachia Apollo’s Fire to perform at Tuckerman Hall RICHARD DUCKET T

T

mer), and Rene Schiffer (cello).

The ballads, reel and fiddle tunes that came from the British Isles long ago mingled with Southern hymns and African spirituals in the hills of Virginia and created the music we call Appalachian.

Sorrell, who created the”Sugarloaf Mountain” program, has said, “As the old songs came across the water, they evolved into different versions reflecting the Appalachian psyche and experience. Likewise, the lively fiddle tunes of the British Isles appear in Appalachian sources in differing versions. And then, these people encountered the African slaves and their spirituals. I think at that point, when the British Isles music met the influence of the spiri-

tuals, that’s when Appalachian music came fully into its own as a unique and distinctive repertoire.”

“Sugarloaf Mountain” doesn’t offer a fixed narrative but rather “is a nice revue of the music of that region and brings it together to make a real celebration,” said Sorrell. “We try to present it in accurate way.”

The music covers a wide range of songs, from laments of lost love to the enjoyably silly “Froggie Went a-Courtin’,” she said. “I love the wide spectrum of emotion.”

Sorrell has some personal experience with the music, having grown up in Virginia and with grandparents from the wonderfully named town of Lost River in the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia. Appalachian

music hasn’t been lost having been handed down from generation to generation, she said.

The world gets smaller, she noted, but you can still visit places in Appalachia where there are “story tellers and ballad singers, a lot of folk festivals, people really keeping the tradition alive.”

Apollo’s Fire is a Cleveland-based early music group that can be just as at home with Baroque music as it is with Appalachian. In 2018, Apollo’s Fire came to Tuckerman Hall with its chamber orchestra for a program titled “A Night at Bach’s Coffeehouse,” a selection of pieces and composers Bach might have programmed at his weekly concerts with the Collegium Musicum at Gottfried Zimmerman’s

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he music ensemble Apollo’s Fire is offering an invitation with its program “Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering.”

“We’re we inviting people to come along with us to this old music of Appalachia,” said soprano Amanda Powell. Specifically, “My job is to invite people into the spirit of what the songs of Appalachia were like,” she said.

People have been doing just that.

The program has toured nationally and internationally and comes to Tuckerman Hall for a performance at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 presented by Music Worcester — the performance sold

out over a week ago. ‘“The audience sang, clapped, shed a few tears, and laughed, ultimately enjoying a taste of the good times that our mountain forebears must have had,” said a review by clevelandclassical.com.

Led by Apollo’s Fire founder, artistic director and harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell, “Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering” features a cast of eight early period instrumentalists and singers.

Sorrell is joined on vocals by tenor Ross Hauck, and the other musicians are Kathie Stewart (wooden flutes and penny whistle), Tina Bergmann (hammered dulcimer), Susanna Gilmore ( fiddle), Brian Kay (lute, guitar, banjo, and long-necked dulci-

[ PHOTO/DEBRA LYNN HOOK ]

FEATURED

Coffeehouse in Leipzig, circa 1730.

The performance lit up the stage.

“It was just jaw-dropping musicianship,” recalled Adrien C. Finlay, executive director of Music Worcester. A return visit was pretty much a given.

Sorrell, who is artist in residence for outreach performance with Apollo’s Fire, seems like a good fit with the group as her performance career includes classical and folk music, not to mention jazz and global music.

She has appeared in Cleveland and on tour in programs including Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Handel’s “Messiah,” and “Sugarloaf Mountain.” In 2015 she released a solo album titled, appropriately, “Beyond Boundaries.”

She started out musically as a pianist and then studied voice, graduating with a degree in vocal performance from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

She also has a certificate in jazz improvisation from the Jazz in July Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

“I think I’m a little bit strange,” she joked. “I’m really there in the crosshairs of genres.”

However, “The larger tool of music

being a connection is always there,” she said.

“Baroque music has a lot of of improvisation to it, as does the music of Appalachia … They employ different colors. With Bach and Handel, it’s a baroque color. With Appalachia, some of the accents I heard (growing up) tend to slip in.”

Besides singing, Sorrell is a teacher, a music minister at a church, a community builder, and a mother of 12-year-old twins.

While living in Massachusetts, she taught at Wilbraham-Monson Academy. She is an adjunct professor of voice at Cleveland State University, where she teaches vocal technique and improvisation.

As artist in residence for performance outreach for Apollo’s Fire, the goal is “community building on behalf of the organization. Bringing early music to people who might not have been exposed to it,” Sorrell said.

The building also comes with an invitation. “I can invite people to get to that level. There’s a lot of really beautiful things for people to engage in.”

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

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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CITY VOICES

FIRST PERSON

The wilds of Worcester

I

JILL WATTS

know of some of my favorites.

Boynton Park: Beautiful all year owe most of my discoveries round with spectacular ice formaof these spaces to 2 dogs I had long ago. Dog lovers are a tions on the Cascades in winter and strange breed in that it seems spring. There are greatly fluctuating water levels ( from barely a trickle that none of us view one another as a possible threat. Coming upon to hip deep standing on a bridge one in the woods, the first impulse over the same stream). It is truly an unofficial “dog park” in that many is to share information about owners congregate in the field at good places for dogs to roam (in those days, often off leash). I found the entrance while their dogs play together. The trails are marked, that Worcester has a remarkable treasure trove of unsung parks and and all are of interest. Besides the green areas in this way. Of necessity, cascades and small pools along what seems to be the most traveled, we also walked in all seasons and off to the left is one that leads to weather, expanding my appreciation even more. I will share what I a pasture then farther down to a

POETRY TOWN

finding a heartbeat DR. CARA BERG POWERS

I’ve been driving through my old neighborhood a lot lately past the townhouses formerly known as junkyardgarden playground wonderland for a 10 year old.

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Past the brick house that was yellow police taped the fall of 5th grade while a coroner pulled 4 bullets out of a baby’s tiny back.

Along my middle school walk to the bus stop, remembering who lived in which three decker along the way, noting the new colors and vinyl siding.

I lived the first 5 years of my adult life in a sterile bubble in the middle of this heart of the commonwealth, made its veins forget my chain link fence roots.

Left soon after to learn what I was capable of along the canals of the Merrimack river and Red Line subway tracks, now the pothole traffic light dance is unfamiliar.

But I’m relearning the twisting veins of these streets, learning to smile instead of cringe at street corner memories.

Even broken concrete can be a foundation if you learn how to balance.

So I drive my daughter through Main South, show her first jobs and old bus stops, collecting snapshots I once tried to burn into albums I can put on the shelf.

Dr. Cara Berg Powers lives in Worcester.

road no longer used on the right allowing a view into backyards and a sweet “dog cemetery” with stones naming the dogs owned by whoever lived there. The main downside: the walk up the hill back to the entrance. Spring features a succession of wildflowers beginning with Trout Lilies and Scillia, true ephemerals, then Trillium, Dutchmen’s Breeches, Bloodroot, and Jack In the Pulpit.

Later, Lady Slippers and some Mountain Laurel.

Hadwin Park: In spite of being a Worcester resident for most of my life and living for a time within walking distance of this park, a friend had to tell me about it. It is relatively small but has all the earmarks of an old abandoned estate and areas that feature many different ecosystems. There is a paved road running the length of the park, but this is perhaps its least interesting aspect. If you descend on the left, you enter a mini-pine forest with a view of a swampy area containing ducks, geese and occasionally a pair of swans. Three different types of water lilies grow there (in yellow, pink, and white).

Farther along, the area that used to be a field with a plethora of

fireflies is now overgrown with Birch and Poplars. If you climb the trail by the stream in the fall, you can smell the grapes growing on the opposite shore that drops down from Notre Dame Cemetery. Across the road, the trail follows a ridge allowing views into two separate low areas, one with playground equipment and the other with a tiny grill. Keep walking to arrive at a very large grassy hill used for sliding in winter with lights and the possibility of getting all the way to the other side of the road only to be stopped by the old overgrown stairs leading to yet another trail.

Clark Arboretum: Despite graduating from Clark University, it was only years later that I discovered their arboretum, a combination of easily traveled roads and pathways through a portion of the land and rougher terrain traversed by dirt bike paths on the other side of the hill. Both can be wet or muddy but well worth the effort of cleaning shoes. The brambles at the far end of the dirt bike trail behind the rehab center could be another matter. If you park your car on the Lovell St. side in the tiny area just before the

access road, you will be entering a magical place where unfamiliar trees have unobtrusive plaques with their names on them and in spring the understory is covered with wildflowers. The larger brush is mowed back making it very accessible, even along the smaller trails. The two roads lead to a Clark property and, to the rehab center. If you walk off to the left at the top of the hill and down to a ball field then go right, you are on the dirt bike trail and may see some gigantic Jack-In-the-Pulpits.

The area is large enough to have accommodated some homeless people, old appliances, raspberries, and a tiny wetland. If you go through the ball field, you arrive at a road that will take you to the Knights of Columbus and Coes Pond. At the top of the hill if you walk past this first trail, you see a community garden in the woods.

Other wild spaces that hold surprises include Parson’s Cider Mill, The Deed Rock, Crow Hill and others. Their locations can be found online.

Jill Watts is an artist living in Worcester.

CITY VOICES

WORCESTERIA

Not buying the sex ed bid BILL SHANER

ALL OVER AGAIN: Please, please, please don’t fall for it when Superin-

tendent Maureen Binienda says the district could “write its own” sex ed curriculum. That is how we got our current disaster of a scattershot, lackluster approach which has failed Worcester kids for years. It is a line designed to hamper the process. There are hundreds of pre-written sex ed curricula that have been proven effective time and time again. Superintendent Binienda and School Committee member John Monfredo, and others to a lesser extent, are still actively working to sidestep and hamstring the sex ed issue. They don’t want it. They are going to fight tooth and nail to stop it. They need to be seen as enemies and they need to be defeated. Do not buy anything they say. Good for Mayor Joe Petty for taking a stand last week. He pushed to renew the sex ed issue and said in no uncertain terms that the Worcester Public Schools has failed its kids on this issue. But so long as Binienda and Monfredo have power, they will wield it to prevent the district from teaching sex ed. I know Joe isn’t this kind of politician, but it’s time to get mean on this issue.

WHO KNEW: So This Week In Worcester had a story over the week-

ues to rack up press with its report on the prospect of making city buses free to ride. Over the past week or so, the report has been cited in both the Wall Street Journal and substantially in The New York Times as the idea of fare-free transit has a brief moment in The Discourse before inevitably returning back to the realm of municipal wonkery. But when used right The Discourse is a powerful tool, and a mention in The New York Times certainly lends a credibility advocates are going to need to convince the state and city to take a chance on this. Unfortunately for us, the city is already up to its neck in risks with this ballpark project, so it is unlikely to take one with this. Even though this risk would actually benefit real life Worcester people as opposed to Rhode Island millionaires but — oops there I go again.

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WRRBREAKOUT: The Worcester Regional Research Bureau contin-

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

end that really got me thinking. Citing anonymous sources, the story alleges that City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. knew about the cost overruns related to the WooSox project for months before making it public. That sounds bad! And it is bad, but not in the way you might initially think.

When I read that story, my first thought was “yeah, well, duh. They didn’t go public until they negotiated a plan with the vested parties to pay for it. Of course they knew for months. It probably took months to negotiate a deal.” He wasn’t hiding anything, but that’s because he didn’t have to.

And that’s when my messed up mindset revealed itself. Under our system of government (strong city manager, weak mayor), the city manager has the responsibility and the leeway to do all sorts of stuff without ever first alerting the public. Like a CEO, essentially. The public accountability comes after the fact — and that’s true of everything from mundane daily decisions on up to jacking the cost of a massive project by 30 percent. Besides this ballpark, the biggest construction projects the city itself takes on are school buildings, and those projects are layered with all sorts of state oversight and bureaucracy and rigid guidelines. The ballpark is a totally different story. It’s essentially a private deal between the City Manager’s Office and the team. They are the pilots in a locked cockpit and we’re all just passengers hoping the plane lands correctly.

We can’t get in the cockpit, and we really wouldn’t even know what to do if we did. It is an entirely undemocratic position to put ourselves in, and we did it with a big red carpet and Pedro Martinez, baby, let’s go Sox.

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COVER STORY

Making connections

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On route with Worcester’s new trolley service

BILL SHANER

I

’m in the passenger seat of Aaron Perna’s SUV as he and his co-conspirator Ben White take me along the route of the Ride The Woo trolley service the pair are working to launch.

We’re on Water Street, driving down a dense commercial district of bars and restaurants, but then we get to Locke 50 and ahead of us is a busy set of lights, highway

on-ramps and overpasses. Pedestrian friendly it is not. But behind it is slower Shrewsbury Street, a stretch of road just as richly settled with bars and restaurants as Water Street. Though less than a mile away, it’s hard to see the two streets as part of the same nightlife scene. The average person on a night about Worcester is not going to make the walk from Maddie’s Cookery, for instance, to Wormtown Brewery.

“You’re just not going to do it,” Perna says. “It’s not walker friendly, and its still a fair distance.”

From the backseat, White chimes in.

“You’d have to be determined.

Let’s put it that way,” he said. “If you’re sort of ‘meh’ on it, you’re not going to do. But if something is going to bring you there, then yeah, absolutely.”

Bringing the various commercial and nightlife sectors in the

city closer together is the ultimate goal of Ride The Woo. There’s a lot going on in Worcester, but it can feel a bit disjointed and tough to navigate, especially for people who are new to the city.

When it launches, the Ride The Woo trolley service will have six 14-person trolley cars following a route that connects Main Street with the Canal District, with Shrewsbury Street and with small commercial corridors on Grove

Street and Highland Street. Riders will be able to get on the cars for free provided they patronize a participating business that night.

Riders can get ride vouchers and see when the next trolley is coming via an app. In total, the route is a 9-mile loop, and three cars will run it in each direction. Ideally, a car will never be more than 15-20 minutes away from each of the 20 designated stops. Two of the cars will be handicap-accessi-

COVER STORY

ble, with wheelchair ramps.

Recently, Ride The Woo purchased its first trolley car, and it is expected to arrive from the shop

by March. At first, the trolley will be used for one-off events and promotions.

“The idea is to make it tangible for folks, so they can say, wow, look, this is real, I can touch this, I can get on this,” said White.

Once launched, the service will work off an app which is already developed and available for download. Employees of participating businesses will give out a code to customers after they’ve bought something. The code then unlocks a ticket via the app. Everyone who downloads the app starts off with two free rides.

“The concept is you have to come sponsor businesses to keep riding,” White said.

The map function will allow patrons to time just how

Aaron Perna and Ben White stand on Front Street with the “Ride the Woo” app opened. [ PHOTO/CHRISTINE PETERSON ]

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

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COVER STORY

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far away the trolley is, and how much time they have to wrap up their business at any given bar or restaurant. The trolley will not stop in front of each business, but rather at about 20 stops designed to encourage walking around a neighborhood.

“We do believe Worcester is a walkable city, but only in sections.

There’s not a great connection to them. So with this we see ourselves bringing people to the parts of the city that are nice to walk around in,” said White.

The trolley, Perna added, could also help the long-ingrained misconception that Worcester is unsafe to walk in. He knows people, he said, who still believe they’ll get mugged if they walk around Worcester, despite the city’s crime rate being relatively low.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is change the perception of Worcester. It’s a very safe city.

There’s just these long-held preconceptions that aren’t reality.”

The project of fully launching the service is still further down the line. The company has several businesses that have already committed to helping fund the endeavor. The business plans to launch in spring 2021, in coordination with the completion of Polar Park and the WooSox’ first season.

When the ballpark is finished, a neighborhood that is already feeling a parking squeeze will be further put in a position where driving to and parking in front of each business becomes untenable. With the trolley service, folks

may chose instead to park at a municipal lot farther away from the action, at a cheaper cost, and take the trip in.

One of the common misconceptions that has already gotten out is that the trolley cars will require public infrastructure like cable lines and train tracks. The trolleys are not like the ones you might see on the outer stretches of the Green Line in Boston.

COVER STORY

Perna has been thinking about a service like Ride The Woo in Worcester for a long time. A 17-year resident of the city, he’s often thought Worcester needs something that binds its different commercial sectors.

“I started thinking about this back 15 years ago. My biggest gripe is I have to get in the car to go over here, catch a show, go over there for dinner, parking multiple times,” he said. “It sort of makes you want to go do one thing then just go home.”

The idea of a trolley car in Worcester is not new. It’s been proposed before, as City Councilor Sean Rose did at the onset of his first term several years ago.

But the surge in development density, with hotels, restaurants and new apartments, has shifted the goal posts, Perna said.

“I thought, you know, hold on, there’s a way to do this, there’s a true need that no one is recognizing,” he said. “The city has changed, it’s not just a pipe dream.”

So he started working on it, and found both a business community and a general population receptive to the idea.

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“We’re not in any conflict with the WRTA. We see that as an important service, people use it for work, for groceries and for medical appointments,” said Perna.

“There’s no need for any change there other than improving it.”

With Ride The Woo, it’s more about creating an experience and providing something that complements the city’s nightlife. More a way to experience the cityscape while saving on ride-share or taxi rides than for running errands. As such, the trolley won’t operate all the time. For now, the company plans to run trolleys Wednesday through Saturday. The drivers will also play an integral role in shaping the experience. Perna said he wants the drivers to create an active and fun experience aboard the trolley and work as ambassadors for the city, telling people where to go for what sort of time.

“They’ll say ‘hey, here’s what’s going on tonight, are you aware this band is playing here’” said Perna. “We can help tie all that together.”

When we get to Shrewsbury Street, the usefulness of a trolley service again becomes apparent.

While the street is often cast as

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

one restaurant row, it’s very long.

Walks between the lower half and businesses close to Route 9 could prove unreasonable.

“If you’re at the Chop House, and you want to go to Redemption Rock, that’s a hike,” said Perna. “It’s not really that far, but it’s still enough of a detractor to say, eh, I’m not going to walk that distance.”

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

They’re essentially buses, but with more of a communal feel. Inside, rows of bench seating will face inward. In warmer months, the windows surrounding the trolleys will be opened.

Ride The Woo is not public transit, and they don’t see themselves as competing with the Worcester Regional Transit Authority in any substantial way.

COVER STORY

“I just thought if I don’t do it, nobody’s going to do it.”

A rash of recent local stories and social media posts have demonstrated an excitement. On his phone, White pulled up a picture of a story about the Ride The Woo service shared to the popular Facebook page “I love Worcester.”

With hundreds of likes and shares, the post rivaled in engagement

a story about how the Dropkick Murphys were set to play a benefit for fallen Worcester Fire Department Lieutenant Jason Menard.

“We know it’s a good idea, we think it’s a good idea, but the appetite for this from the public has been amazing,” said White. “I always knew there was going to be a demand but not to this extent.”

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ng, ia.com . Fair warni itor@gatehousemed digital copies artist, email WMed bio and high resolution will e a small or know of a local tion and what need to provid based on resolu If you are an artist, e what will run, h your work, you’ll in order to publis We reserve the right to choos art. of some of your newsprint. on reproduce best

19 5 - 21, 20 AUGUST 1

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

CITY LIF E

Let us feature your artwork in Worcester Magazine’s Artist spotlight! Email WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com high res samples of your work and a brief bio!

wanted

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

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Linda Mansueti Payne is a 66-year-old artist who started at an art class six years ago at the local Senior Center. Her acrylic painting of the Barre Hotel is her memory of growing up there. Her parents, Eddie and Linda Mansueti, owned the Barre Hotel from the time she was 12 for 20 years. A lifelong Barre resident, she has three grown children plus a grandson and a granddaughter.

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CITY LIFE

LIFESTYLE

Why I Support the ‘YW’ SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

T

he YWCA of Central Massachusetts is an astonishing force of an institution. I find its dedication to eliminating racism and empowering women to be, frankly, exceptional. Here’s why.

Building Women The “YW” isn’t just undergoing a $24 million renovation. It isn't just gunning for a more modern and welcoming facility. It isn't just meeting current safety, comfort and accessibility requirements to provide more efficient services and increase the number of rooms for transitional housing. In addition to all of these noble ambitions, the YWCA is employing an all-female-led construction team, as outlined in a community benefit agreement — the first of its kind.

Despite the fact that the number of women working in construction trades is the highest it has been in two decades, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research reported

that women still accounted for fewer than one in 20 workers in 2018. In addition, the median income for women in the construction occupation remained $49 less per week than the median income for men. Consigli Construction is the official contractor for YWCA’s all-female-led project, which is changing the face of the industry.

Effective Leadership Executive Director Linda Cavaioli has been at the helm of the YWCA of Central Massachusetts since 1992 and she’s never been afraid to ask difficult questions. In her role, she has always strived to provide equal access to health and wellness for all people.

I sat down with Cavaioli nearly a year ago to discuss the YWCA’s capital campaign on an episode of the Pop It podcast, which I co-host with Molly O’Connor. During the interview, Cavaioli proudly described herself as “strident and loud,” saying, “I do my homework and I always make sure I’m prepared.” Cavaioli recognized her role as a thought

leader in the community, but it was clear that she does more than just think — she stands behind her words and takes action.

“We try to figure out the barriers for people and create a bridge,” she told us, adding, "If we don’t do it, who will?”

Cavaioli is known for asking probing questions in a manner that is both respectful and effective. The YWCA’s dedicated staff follows her fearless lead and as a result, they boast some impressive stats: • 85% of YWCA’s graduating preschoolers are kindergarten-ready.

• 100% of YWCA’s middle school girls avoid risky behaviors and are on track to achieve positive outcomes.

• 100% of YWCA’s high school girls go onto college.

• 98% of domestic violence victims feel safer as a result of the YWCA.

Astute Art and Media It can be difficult for a 135-year-

old organization to make an authentic imprint on social media, and yet the YWCA has managed to build its own powerful online brand. A stream of black and white graphics posted by @ywcacentralmass on Instagram includes quotes from feminist icons like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, reminds followers to be themselves, and encourages women to empower one another daily.

Driving by 1 Salem St. also conveys a visual sense of the YWCA’s commitment to peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. The building's exterior is the striking canvas for two strong female artists,

Alice Mizrachi and Sydney James.

In addition, passersby admire the massive portraits of two Worcester women painted by South Pacific artist, ASKEW. At the Golden Globes, actress Michelle Williams reminded women to vote in our own self-interest: "It's what men have been doing for years," she said. For me, a contribution to the YWCA is exactly that. Every dollar I donate is a vote for women’s and civil rights, and an investment in Worcester’s future female leaders.

You can learn more about the YWCA’s #forher campaign at www. ywcacm.org.

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When breweries value their food as much as their beer MATTHEW TOTA

O

ne obvious sign a brewery takes food seriously: It has a kitchen. A menu that doesn’t begin and end with warm pretzels is another indicator.

Then there’s Timberyard Brewing Co. in East Brookfield, which has two chefs and dry hops pickles.

Last year in this space, I wrote about breweries that turn to food trucks, pop ups and nearby restaurants to satiate hungry patrons.

They often don’t have the space for or staff to run a kitchen — perhaps going as far as offering pizzas, pretzels and sandwiches — and would rather focus on their beer.

Rarer are the breweries with robust menus and busy kitchens, ones

that experiment nearly as much with cooking as with fermentation.

I want to be clear: It doesn’t make them better; they’re just another option for us, the thirsty throng.

Timberyard, 555 East Main St., East Brookfield, boasts a menu that sources local ingredients in dishes as simple as mac and cheese and as multifaceted as braised short ribs with grits and watermelon radish.

Finding the space for a kitchen was not a problem for Timberyard

when it opened at the former site of Howe Lumber in October 2018. Cofounders Matt Zarif and T.J. O’Connor ended up converting two offices into a kitchen and convinced their mutual friend Ed Freeman to come in as head chef. They briefly

Timberyard Brewing Co.’s food menu relies on local ingredients, like its braised short ribs with beef from Stillman’s Quality Meats in Worcester and watermelon radish from Free Living Farm in Brookfield. [ PHOTO/TIMBERYARD BREWING CO.]

considered establishing their own restaurant separate from the brewing operation, but decided instead to grow both sides of the business together.

The menu started small, with charcuterie and sandwiches, and expanded as Timberyard partnered with local bakeries, butchers and farms for fresh ingredients. Stillman Quality Meats provided the beef, BirchTree Bread Co., the fresh baked focaccia, and Free Living Farm, the seasonal vegetables.

“We wanted to be able to use our brewery to support other local business,” said Kate Ohanesian, Timberyard’s taproom manager.

Of course, Timberyard’s beer finds its way into every dish, from the tacos with pork braised in its

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

CITY LIFE

DINING

Still & Stir still got it Still & Stir, 90 Commercial St., Worcester; www.stillandstir.com, (774) 420-7636 SANDRA RAIN

T

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C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 14

enough for Timberyard to hire a second chef to help with rehearsal dinners and private parties. And in the spring, the brewery will add a Sunday brunch menu.

“Having a kitchen was part of our plan, but we’re hesitant moving forward to be considered a restaurant,” Ohanesian said. “We don’t want to

be a restaurant, but we definitely want to do more with food than a brewery that offers some food, or has outside food coming in.”

Now getting to the pickles, served cold as side dishes or on their own in flights: Timberyard brines them with hops, an experiment turned popular appetizer.

full and rosy cheeked by the end of the night.

If you need real sustenance, the American chop suey arrives with enough mafalde and Bolognese beef to feed a small Italian American army. The burgers are pointed, featuring little luxuries like duck pastrami and seared confit. Even the bar burger is ratcheted up by ginger apple ketchup and my desert island cheese: Vermont Shepherd Invierno.

You can definitely eat at Still & Stir, but make no mistake, it is a cocktail bar. I hope you find 90 Commercial St. dark, loud and jampacked with bartenders and twentysomethings on Tinder dates, because that is the bar Still & Stir was born to be. The only missing link is a DJ residency once or twice a week. 2020 is the year for dancing, drinking and noshing downtown. I’m sure of it.

On my last visit to Still & Stir with three friends, our total came to $91.48.

Explanation of Stars: Ratings are “We take pickles, and we add hops to them, just as you would beer,” Ohanesian explained. “We’re dry hopping pickles essentially. It’s a really interesting way to try hops.

Sometimes we’ll do two different kinds, a mosaic pickle and a eureka pickle, for instance; you can really

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 17

from zero to five. Zero is not recommended. One is poor. Two is fair. Three is satisfactory. Four is good. Five is excellent.

Food: 3.5/5 Ambience: 4/5 Service: 4/5 Value: 4/5

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Hazy Lighting New England IPA, to the beef stew cooked with its chocolate stout, Wolftree.

The brewery’s menu changes based on the season and the ebbs and flows in the taproom’s business.

Freeman keeps most plates during the week small, but he found that Fridays, when the taproom opens at 2 p.m. and gets busy in the evening, work best for larger entrées; last week, he served pork belly with a vegetable fried rice.

“We’re still learning what works, too,” Ohanesian said. “A lot of people aren’t used to going to breweries with food. We get the people who say, ‘Wow you have food here,’ or the people who complain that we don’t have fries. We are trying to start little trends by seeing what works.”

So far, the kitchen has been busy

aficionados and downtown dwellers. As much as I miss the old, drafty atmosphere of Still & Stir I, Worcester needed the warm, loungey reality that is Still & Stir II. We deserve nice things. Maybe we always have.

If you know what spirits you like and can rattle off a cocktail that has spoken to you over the course of your lifetime, then you should trust the bartenders at Still & Stir to whip you up something special. If you’re dead set on ordering off the menu, you’ll find classics and a short list of dialed in originals. There is an entire subheading titled “Built for Speed” if you’re in a hurry or the staff is getting crushed. There is also a dedicated “Boiler Makers” section with fun pairings like the Indiana Millionaire, which couples Champagne Velvet with a Shot of Jameson. Still & Stir’s highbrow selections are calculated and their lowbrow territory is genius.

The kitchen is ideal for brunch or snacks. A stuffed soft pretzel oozes with herbaceous butter, melty cheese and whole grain mustard.

The shrimp and basil dumplings are so thinly veiled with dough that the lemon caper sauce manages to play a juicy starring role. My favorite dish on the menu is the Swedish meatballs, served in a roasted mushroom gravy with goat cheese and pickled red onion. They remind me of dipping into my great aunt’s crock pot at family parties in the ’90s. You’ll leave

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

he most devastating part of Niche Hospitality’s decision to evacuate 1 Exchange St. in December of 2018 was the loss of its cocktail bar, Still & Stir.

Great cocktails persisted in a handful of Worcester’s top restaurants, but the city was left with a cocktail bar blindspot.

What makes a true cocktail bar?

I’m looking for tincture vials, bundles of fresh herbs, candlelight, understandably lengthy ticket times, rare spirits, old-timey architecture with a storied past, and a bartender with a unique sensibility for helping me rediscover my own palate.

Still & Stir’s original location led guests across a shadowy atrium at the rear of The Citizen Wine Bar, and into the holding cell of a former municipal building. When Niche announced the concept would resurface in Railer’s Tavern, a hockeythemed sports bar on Commercial Street, I’ll admit I was skeptical. The new space had a stinging corporate glow and a long narrow layout that I viewed as more of an “assembly line” than an intimate enclave.

The transition was gradual. First, new management hosted a cocktail pop up in the back room as a charitable fundraiser. Worcester’s industry crowd came out in droves. Next, the gargantuan televisions began

disappearing, as did the wrecking ball-sized hockey helmet on the building’s exterior. Sports memorabilia came down from the walls one piece at a time all summer long.

Finally, on the 1st of October, a handpainted sign was revealed for all to see. Railer’s Tavern was dead — Still & Stir reborn, with a double magnum of Fernet to prove it.

Growing up is awkward for anyone, but young-adulthood seemed to suit the new Still & Stir almost immediately. Jewel tones, gold details and soft velvet upholstery complemented the exposed brick inside. A couple of reasonably sized televisions remained without distraction. The vibe flipped gracefully from pub to lounge. Then, by pure coincidence, The Dive Bar — a Worcester institution — said its final farewell at the start of November, leaving an epic gap in the nightlife scene for individuals who sought a certain caliber of libations.

In December 2020, Still & Stir welcomed Miracle, an internationally renowned Christmas-cocktail pop up with kitschy glassware, signature drinks and fun festive decor. Everyone loves a theme, and sure enough, Miracle’s residency was mobbed for 31 days straight.

The holidays are over, but Still & Stir persists. On any given night, you’ll find a linear arrangement of dark cushy nooks filled with cocktail

CITY LIFE

LISTEN UP

The Blue Ribbons offer sly ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ VICTOR D. INFANTE

“Hangman’s Heart,” presents itself as a blast of garage rock, all bloody knuckles and propulsion. Mike ou have to pay attention to a lot of things when listening to Castellana’s fuzzed-out guitar and Tauras Biskis’ rapid-fire percussion the Blue Ribbons’ recent alare electrifying, and the vocals are bum, “Thoughts and Prayers.”

First off, you have to be cognizant of muscular and assertive, and even as singer-pianist James Rohr rips the cultural context of that expression, how when sentiment of its ilk is through the line, “I don’t know but I’ve been told/the hangman’s got a uttered on Facebook by someone, it heart of gold,” it begins to sink in that might be an expression of sympathy you’ve been caught up in a beautiful — maybe fumbling, unsure what to rock ’n’ roll fantasy. The hangman’s say, but sincere. In other contexts, heart is likely as cold and dead as though — such as when uttered by you’d expect, and this is not just a politicians in the wake of gun viobarroom brawler of a rock album, lence — it’s an empty and meaningless platitude. It’s fundamentally a lie. a fact revealed immediately on the next track, “Fake Navajo Blanket.”

“Thoughts and Prayers” plays Which, of course, wears a lie on its a number of such sleight of hand games with the listeners, and frankly, face. But the piano is gorgeous, as it details a relationship’s unraveling. it’s what makes the album such a The heartbreak is echoed in rewarding listen. Right up front, the album makes the listener believe it’s Jef Charland’s bass thump opening of “Bread and the Bone.” The going to be one thing, and then it becomes another. The opening track, heart-sinking feeling there is real,

Y

no denying, but then Rohr sings, “I spend all night listening to the same old lies/and at night they become my new lullabies.” Even the persona is lying to himself, and by the time the album rolls into the mournful “I’ll Be There” — where Rohr sings, “the children ran away/and the dog left a suicide note/the neighbors are reading your mail/and no one laughs at your jokes.” The persona refrains “I’ll be there,” but is that an empty sentiment? Can all of this be made right that easily?

The band — which will be performing Jan. 24 at Warp and Weft in Lowell and Jan. 31 at the Burren in Somerville — sells all of this with an astounding ability to switch up musical styles. “Tears of the Devil” tackles drug abuse with a sinister undertow and a Nile Rodgers-style guitar.

“Meaning of You” sinks into the hypocrisy of organized religion with a slow, languid blues piano, and “In-

visible” delves heavy into discordant jazz. It’s almost dizzying, but the album never loses sight of its underlying themes, such as on “Sun and Moon,” when Rohr sings of the titular celestial bodies, “they never told the truth/and they never told a lie/the only thing they do is let time roll by/nothing is wrong and nothing is right.”

The listener has to wonder if that’s true. If nothing is wrong or right, why does anything matter? And there’s definitely a sense to this album that things matter. It’s not in what’s said, but rather in the feeling of the music, a feeling that manifests in the honky-tonk rocker “Had Enuff,” which bristles with an unimpeachable honesty.

Still, in the aptly named “Waltz,” Rohr lays his central question on the table: “In times like these/it’s hard to see what’s true.” “Waltz” is a tender love song, but it has a sense of everything shifting under an unstable foundation. That sense of instability seeps into the closing number, “Coming and Going,” a gorgeous, heartfelt scream that wears its insecurity openly. It’s a song that can make the refrain “I don’t know” — delivered with heartbreaking agony — beautiful in its astounding truth.

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J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

FILM

Talking war films with real veterans JIM KEOGH

M

ike Kelley sat at his kitchen table and told me why “Platoon” mattered. It was 1986, and I was a freshly minted film columnist for the Telegram & Gazette. Oliver Stone’s movie had just been released, and it felt real to me, a close approximation of what war must be like. But what did I know? I’d never been in combat — too young for Vietnam and too old or disinclined for everything that came after.

Which is why I sought out Mike to help me decode what I’d seen onscreen. We’d worked together years earlier at a Rhode Island trucking company, and while we loaded freight into tractor trailers he told me his story. Mike was a teenager when he went over. He killed men, and men tried to kill him. He was wounded twice — just like Charlie Sheen’s character in “Platoon” — and he emerged alive.

I’d asked Mike to see “Platoon” and answer one overriding question: How close did Stone, himself a Vietnam veteran, come to capturing the experience? He nailed it, Mike insisted. From the disorienting full-pack humps through the jungle to the casual drug use to the chaotic spasm of a firefight, “Platoon” rang as true as any war movie he could recall.

When “Saving Private Ryan” was released in 1998, stories soon followed of WWII veterans experiencing traumatic flashbacks during the D-Day invasion sequence. In those first 20 minutes, Stephen Spielberg stripped away all metaphor (he’d lay it on heavy later) to present battle as a cocktail of bedlam and fear and arbitrary death. Spielberg had done his homework. He’d talked with DDay veterans so he could cut as close to the bone as possible.

Years later, as editor of The Landmark newspaper, we published a

commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. I’d seen my share of WWII movies, yet nothing equaled my conversation with the late Dr. James Blodgett of Sterling, an army surgeon who’d helped liberate the Nordhausen death camp. In gruesome detail (including in photos he’d taken to document conditions, but which, at his request, we did not publish) he described the corpses stacked like cordwood and the ghostlike survivors shuffling toward the soldiers, too weak even to ask for assistance.

How did he process the experience of walking into Nordhausen?

Dr. Blodgett gestured toward Lake Waushacum, which rippled just beyond his backyard. “It would be as though an alien space ship landed on the lake,” he said. “How can you describe what you feel about something so unimaginable?”

As I watched “1917” last weekend,

I wished for a Mike Kelley or a James Blodgett to be seated next to me.

World War I fascinates me: the rigors of trench life, the primitive medical treatments, the insidious new technologies that provided a template for modern warfare. I was riveted by the story of two soldiers tasked with a near-suicide mission, but I craved a conversation with a soldier who’d fought in the war and seen and done similar things as the fictitious characters.

The veterans of World War I are gone, of course, just as their WWII successors are disappearing from our midst. In his wonderful documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Peter Jackson restores footage from The War to End All Wars to remind us of the lives these men led and the hard times they saw. We don’t hear their actual voices, but lip-readers have reconstructed their words and actors deliver them. It’s as close to a conversation as we’ll get.

CITY LIFE

THE NEXT DRAFT

FILM CAPSULES “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” — Forty-two years after “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” first appeared on movie screens, the ninth episode brings the space saga to its conclusion as the Resistance struggles to defeat the First Order.

With Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. (2:35) PG-13.

“Uncut Gems” — Adam Sandler stars as a desperate New York City jeweler juggling numerous deals in this crime thriller. With Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch. (2:15) R. “Underwater” — Aquatic researchers are menaced by mysterious creatures after an undersea earthquake destroys their laboratory.

With Kristen Stewart, T.J. Miller, Jessica Henwick, Vincent Cassel, Gunner Wright. (1:35) PG-13.

“Weathering With You” — A teenage runaway befriends a girl who can control the weather in this anime tale set in Tokyo. With the voices of Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai.

In Japanese with English subtitles.

(1:54) PG-13.

test the difference in them.”

These days, more breweries are even opening their own their own standalone restaurants, including Night Shift Brewing and Trillium Brewing Co. Rapscallion Brewery in Sturbridge was perhaps the first brewery to branch out into the restaurant business. Brothers Cedric and Peter Daniel, co-owners of Rapscallion, opened their gastropub Table & Tap in 2015, in a centuries-old farmhouse on Strawberry Hill Road in Acton. Two years later, they opened their second restaurant in Concord, Rapscallion Kitchen & Bar. Opening one restaurant, let alone two, was never part of the brothers’ business plan, rather Table & Tap was an opportunity to carry on a family legacy. The farmhouse had once been the home of Chez Claude, a small French restaurant run by Peter Daniel’s father-in-law, Claude Miquel.

“We thought it would be a great tradition to carry on, to keep the history of that location alive,” Peter Daniel said. “We’re not doing

French fine dining, but we’re carrying on that same hospitality.”

Table & Tap, 5 Strawberry Hill Road in Acton, marries Rapscallion’s beer with comfort food, like Korean BBQ short rib grilled cheese or wild mushroom pasta. Kitchen & Bar, 208 Fitchburg Turnpike in Concord, offers a lot of fresh seafood, including baked haddock and pan-seared rainbow trout, paired with Belgian ales.

Both restaurants are small — Concord only has 60 seats — with seasonal dishes that incorporate beer brewed in Rapscallion’s 20-barrel brewhouse in Sturbridge.

“From day one when we started Acton, we had many meetings with the head chef and head brewer about how to take beer and incorporate it in the food,” said Cedric Daniel. “We try to have 20% of our menu using the beer, whether it is a poutine gravy, putting our porter with the gravy, or the beer batter for the fish and chips, there are countless ideas and recipes that we’ve done where we make sure we’re using the beer.”

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Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel. (1:43) PG. “The Grudge” — Producer Sam Raimi delivers the latest incarnation of Takashi Shimizu’s 2002 horror staple about a vengeful ghost. With Andrea Riseborough, Demián Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver. (1:34) R. “Judy” — Renée Zellweger portrays Judy Garland during the legendary entertainer’s run of sold-out stage shows in 1968 London. (1:58) NR. “Jumanji: The Next Level” — Danny Glover and Danny DeVito join Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan in this sequel to the 2017 action adventure hit about young people trapped in a video game. With Nick Jonas, Awkwafina. (1:54) PG-13.

“Just Mercy” — Michael B. Jordan portrays Bryan Stevenson, the reallife civil rights activist and criminal defense attorney famed for fighting for justice for the wrongly convicted.

With Brie Larson, Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Karan Kendrick. (2:16) PG-13.

“Knives Out” — Writer-director Rian Johnson rounds up a stellar group of suspects for this whodunit about the murder of a famous crime novelist. With Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette.

(2:10) PG-13.

“Like a Boss” — Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne star as cosmetics entrepreneurs whose financially shaky business is targeted for a buyout by beauty tycoon Salma Hayek. With Billy Porter, Jennifer Coolidge, Ari Graynor, Jessica St. Clair. (1:23) R. “Little Women” — Writer-director Greta Gerwig adapts Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel about the four determined March sisters coming of age in Massachusetts during the Civil War. With Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Louis Garrel, Tracy Letts, James Norton, Bob Odenkirk. (2:14) PG. “Midway” — The story of the critical World War II Pacific Theater battle between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy in June 1942.

“Playing With Fire” — Firefighters find their lives turned upside down when they rescue three siblings but can’t find the kids’ parents.

“Spies in Disguise” — A secret agent is transformed into a pigeon with the help of a nerdy scientist in this animated comedy. With voices of Will Smith, Tom Holland, Rashida Jones, Ben Mendelsohn. (1:42) PG.

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

“1917” — Two young British privates during WWI must cross through enemy territory to warn their fellow soldiers of an impending ambush in director Sam Mendes’ real-time thriller. With George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch. (1:50) R. “Abominable” — Three friends try to reunite a young Yeti with his family in the Himalayas in this animated adventure. With the voices of Chloe Bennet, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson.

(1:32) PG-13.

“Bad Boys for Life” — Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunite for one last go-round as Miami narcotics detectives. With Vanessa Hudgens, Kate Del Castillo, Nicky Jam, Joe Pantoliano. Written by Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, Joe Carnahan; story by Craig, Carnahan. (2:03) R. “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” — Tom Hanks slips on the friendly cardigan of children’s TV show host Fred Rogers to dispense lessons in kindness to Matthew Rhys’ jaded journalist. (1:48) PG. “Bombshell” — Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie play Fox News employees whose allegations of sexual harassment help topple network founder Roger Ailes. With John Lithgow, Allison Janney, Connie Britton, Kate McKinnon. (1:48) R. “Cats” — The long-awaited film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1981 blockbuster stage musical based on the poetry of T.S. Eliot arrives with an all-star cast of felines singing and dancing in styles ranging from ballet to tap to hip-hop. With James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, Francesca Hayward. PG. “Dolittle” — Robert Downey Jr. headlines as the veterinarian who can talk to the animals in this effects-laden adventure tale. With Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Tom Holland. (1:46) PG. “Downton Abbey” — The Crawleys and their staff prepare for a royal visit in this big-screen adaptation of the beloved British TV series. (2:02) PG. “Ford v Ferrari” — Matt Damon is American car designer Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale is British racer Ken Miles in this fact-based drama. (2:32) PG-13.

“Frozen II” — Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven join Elsa as she searches for the truth behind her powers in this sequel to the blockbuster 2013 animated musical. With the voices of

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CITY LIFE

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

THINGS TO DO COMPILED BY RICHARD DUCKETT, VICTOR D. INFANTE AND CHARLENE ARSENAULT Southbridge.

Moriarty: 5-7 p.m. Jan. 23, Iris Hot wheels and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, 1 Friday, Jan. 24 The Worcester Auto Show at the College Street, Worcester. For DCU Center has been a Worcester tradition for 35 years. It is always information: (508) 793-3356, Whisper (n) Exhibit: 8:30 a.m.-5 held the last weekend in Januprosenbl@holycross.edu. p.m. Jan. 24, Davis Art Gallery, 44 ary, between the end of the NFL Whisper (n) Opening Reception: Portland Street, Worcester. For Playoffs and the Super Bowl. The with artists artists Lynn Simmons information: (508) 754-7201, 2020 edition promises “the most and Bayda Asbridge, 5-7 p.m. Jan. lkeenekendrick@davisart.com. exciting new vehicles from over 20 23, Davis Art Gallery, 44 Portland Worcester Art Museum Tour: Flora major manufacturers: crossovers, Street, Worcester. For information: in Winter: 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

SUVs, trucks, sports cars, coupes (508) 754-7201, lkeenekendrick@ Jan. 24, Boylston Public Library, and sedans.” davisart.com. Refreshments & 695 Main Street, Boylston. Cost: What: Worcester Auto Show hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Free. For information call (508) When: 4 to 8 p.m. Jan. 24; 10 a.m.

Exhibit runs from January 24 869-2371, efurse@cwmars.org. to 6 p.m. Jan. 25; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 6, 2020.

Included with admission.

Jan. 26 CCYO (Cardio, Core & Yoga) 8 Hands-On Drumming: 4-5 Where: DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Week Session: 6-7 p.m. Jan. 23, p.m. Jan. 24, Worcester Public Worcester Mayo Elementary School Gym, 351 Library Roosevelt Branch, 1006 How much: For free passes, visit Bullard Street, Holden. Cost: $80.

Grafton Street, Worcester. For www.worcestershows.com/auto For more information or to sign information: lsheldon@mywpl. up, visit holdenrec.com or call the org. Professional musician Craig Recreation office at (508) 829Norton discusses Native American, Thursday, Jan. 23 0263. Pre-registration is required.

African, Caribbean and Latin 2020 People to Watch Party: stories, song and dance.

Flora in Winter 2020: 10 a.m.presented by Pulse Magazine, 6 A Celebration! “Flora Euphoria”: 5 p.m. Jan. 23, Worcester Art p.m. Jan. 23, El-Basha, 256 Park 5:30-8 p.m. Jan. 24, Worcester Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Ave., Worcester.

Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester. For information: Ballroom Series II Rumba & Cha Worcester. For information: information@worcesterart.org.

Cha January 23rd to start: 7-8 information@worcesterart.

Included with admission. p.m. Jan. 23, Asa Waters Mansion, org. The festivities include PAWS to Read: 3:30-4:30 p.m.

123 Elm Street, Millbury. For entertainment, live music, hors Jan. 23, Worcester Public Library information: (508) 865-0855. d’oeuvres and cash bar. Valet Burncoat Branch, 526 Burncoat Class is open to singles and available at Lancaster Street Street, Worcester. For information: couples. Cost is $65 for members entrance for $5 per car. Members, lsheldon@mywpl.org. of the mansion and $70 for non$25, Nonmembers $40, Youth 4-17 “Life’s Next Chapter”: Speakers members. $10, Salisbury Members Free. include Laura Silver Traiger, a Yoga for Everybody (8 Week All Good and Harvest Wind senior associate at the law firm of Session): 7-7:50 p.m. Jan. 23, Mayo Acoustic Night: 6 p.m.-12 a.m.

Starr Vander Linden; Patty Servaes, Elementary School Gym, 351 Jan. 24, Electric Haze, 26 Millbury founder of Elder Resource Benefits Bullard Street, Holden. Cost: $70.

Street, Worcester.

Consulting; Maggi Chase, a top For information: 508-829-0263, 5th Annual Winter Soiree: 6:30real estate agent at Common agreene@holdenma.gov, or visit 11:30 p.m. Jan. 24, Mechanics Hall, Moves and a representative for Holdenrec.com. Pre-registration is 321 Main Street, Worcester. Cost: Elderlife Financial Services; required. $48.

Amy Richter, associate professor Carlos Odria Trio: 8 p.m. Jan. 23, Motionless in White, Beartooth, of history at Clark University; The Stomping Ground, 132 Main and Stick to Your Guns: 7 p.m. Jan. and Jennifer LaCroix, CDAL, CDP, St., Putnam, Connecticut.

24, the Palladium, 261 Main St., executive director of Tatnuck Park, Comedian Eddie Ifft: 8 p.m. Jan. Worcester. $29.50-$59.50.

4:30-6:30 p.m. Jan. 23, Tatnuck 23, WooHaHa! Comedy Club, 50 Tony Soul Project: 7-10 p.m. Jan. Park at Worcester, 340 May Street, Franklin St., Worcester. $20.

24, Specialty Sandwich Co, 624 Worcester.

MaeDae Premiers: 9 p.m. Jan. Main Street, Holden.

Opening Reception for Warm 23, starlite, 39 Hamilton St., Deadbeat with Mark Karan: 8 p.m.

Room: Photographs by Peter A. Jan. 24, Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley. $25.

Dead Again The Dirty Grass Players: 8 p.m.

Jan. 24, The Stomping Ground, 132 Guitarist-vocalist Mark Karan has a pretty storied career. In addition to his Main St., Putnam, Connecticut. bluesy and soulful 2009 album, “Walk Through the Fire,” Karan has played Comedian Eddie Ifft: 8 p.m. Jan. with Dave Mason, the Rembrandts, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young and Sophie B. Hawkins and, perhaps most germaine to this event, with Bob Weir & 24, WooHaHa! Comedy Club, 50 RatDog and the Other Ones. It’s this background with the jamming Dead that Franklin St., Worcester. $20. makes the prospect of hearing him alongside local favorite Dead cover band Rap Show: 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 24, Deabeat such an attractive prospect.

Hotel Vernon, 16 Kelley Square, Worcester.

What: Deadbeat with Mark Karan Headliners Comedy Series with When: 8 p.m. Jan. 24 Dan Crohn and Bob Montgomery: Where: Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley 8 p.m. Jan. 24, Bull Run Restaurant, How much: $25

Mixing Aesthetics Watching “Another Life,” the latest video from Motionless in White, it’s striking how well the band melds elements of the goth aesthetic with a more straight-up hard-core sound. They’re hardly the only band to do that, of course, but it works well here. The imagery of the band’s drummer, Vinny Mauro, in a necktie-less suit, ballroom dancing with a pale young woman in a frilly, black neo-Victorian dress who vanishes into the darkness lends a romantic touch do a song that, musically, is built on a driving sense of propulsion and lush vocals. It’s a great mix, and the effect is arresting.

What: Motionless in White, Beartooth, and Stick to Your Guns When: 7 p.m. Jan. 24 Where: The Palladium, 261 Main St., Worcester How much: $29.50-$59.50

215 Great Road, Shirley. $18.

Fender Road (Feat. Paul ‘Fender’ Lirange and Gary Suter): 8-11 p.m.

Jan. 24, Days End Tavern, 287 Main Street, Oxford. Free.

The Road Owls: 8:30 p.m.-12 a.m.

Jan. 24, Greendale’s Pub, 404 West Boylston Street, Worcester.

Ayahuasca Blues Project: 9:30 p.m.

Jan. 24, Nick’s Bar and restaurant, 124 Millbury St., Worcester.

Saturday, Jan. 25 Introduction to Google Drive: 9:30-10:30 a.m. Jan. 25, Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Street, Worcester. Cost: Free. For information: (508) 799-1655, wplref@mywpl.org.

Winter Open House: 1-3 p.m. Jan. 25, Worcester Music Academy,

travel, community service, arts, sports, academic enrichment and traditional camp options.

Editing with Pixlr X: 2:30-4 p.m.

Jan. 25, Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Street, Worcester. Cost: Free.

For information: (508) 799-1655, wplref@mywpl.org.

Music Class for Little Ones: 3:30-4:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Worcester Public Library Burncoat Branch, 526 Burncoat Street, Worcester.

For information: lsheldon@ mywpl.org. A 6-week music class designed and led by professional musician Sarah Gardner.

6th Annual Worcester Pride Pasta Social: 4 p.m. Jan. 25, First Unitarian Church, 90 Main St, Worcester.

Otherness — Opening Reception: 4:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Creative Hub

Workshops for organists of every level A “January Jubilee” day of educational workshops on a variety of topics hosted by the Worcester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists on Saturday at First Baptist Church will hit the right notes both for beginners interested in learning about the organ and people who are experienced with the instrument. Sessions include pipes and pipework, beginning hymn playing, music technology, digital organ technology, and handbells. This is also an opportunity to meet organists who can offer experience, advice, and inspiration.

What: “January Jubilee: A Day of Workshops” presented by the Worcester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 25 Where: First Baptist Church, 111 Park Ave., Worcester How much: $30, AOG members; $60, nonmembers; $10 lunch (registration required). Register in advance (www.eventbrite.com/e/january-jubilee-tickets82671846719?aff=ebdssbdestsearch) or when you arrive. For more information, visit www.worcesterago.org

9 Irving Street, Worcester.

For information: sarah@ worcestermusicacademy.com.

The school waives its $40 annual registration fee for new students who sign up at the open house (valid day of open house only).

Central MA Camp Fair: 2-5 p.m.

Jan. 25, Auburn High School, 99 Auburn Street, Auburn. Cost: Free.

For information: (774) 633-1207, andrealettic@gmail.com. A chance for parents and students to meet and speak with representatives from these camps offering unique programs including

Worcester at The Aurora Gallery, 660 Main Street, Worcester.

Works centered on prejudice, discrimination, racism and marginalized communities.

Dinner, Elvis and a Show: 5-9:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Slattery’s, 106 Lunenburg Street, Fitchburg.

Cost: $40. For information: sallycragin@verizon.net.

Comedian Eddie Ifft: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Jan. 25, WooHaHa! Comedy Club, 50 Franklin St., Worcester. $20.

Comedian Christine Hurley & Friends: 7-11 p.m. Jan. 25,

CITY LIFE

29th annual JOMPATHON Joy of Music’s 29th annual JOMPATHON will feature a joyful celebration of music and community by students of all ages and levels of ability from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. The popular event raises money for the music school’s financial aid fund and its mission “to enrich lives and foster community through accessible music education and performance.” Anyone may sponsor a student for any amount, and the public is invited to drop in any time during the day.

What: JOMPATHON 2020 When: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 25 Where: Joseph & Jordan Shapiro Concert Hall, Joy of Music Program, 1 Gorham St., Worcester How much: Free (donations appreciated). www.jomp.org

Late Show with Shaun Connolly: 10-9 p.m. Jan. 25, Nick’s Worcester, 124 Millbury St, Worcester. Cost: $5. For information: (508) 8268496, woocomedyweek@gmail. com featuring comedian Jeff Smith; from 3cross Fermentation Coop, Heather Odell; and Jessica Walsh from Worcester Wares.

Sunday, Jan. 26 Sunday Funday with Take Two: 3-6 p.m. Jan. 26, Marine Corps League Inc, 181 Lake Avenue, Worcester.

Worcester Railers vs. Adirondack Thunder: 3:05 p.m. Jan. 26, DCU Center, 50 Foster Street, Worcester.

Cost: $15-$36.

LGBTQ Catalog Release: 5-7 p.m.

Jan. 26, MB Lounge, 40 Grafton Street, Worcester. For information: (508) 753-8278, davidconner@ worceserhistory.net. A special thank you to “FOR THE RECORD” exhibit guest curators and authors, Joseph F. Cullon, WPI, Robert Deam Tobin, Clark University and Stephanie E. Yuhl of the College of the Holy Cross, who will offer a short reading to attendees at the MB Lounge, Worcester’s longest standing lgbtq+ space. Free admission, $25.00 for the catalog.

Five O’Clock Shadow: 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 26, Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley. $15.

Afton Shows Presents BMG Boyz: 7 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 26, Electric Haze, 26 Millbury Street, Worcester.

Apple Tree Arts and Claflin Hill team up

What: The Fools When: 8 p.m. Jan. 25 Where: Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley How much: $20

Listen! A Poetry Reading: Hosted

by Dave Macpherson, 7 p.m., Jan. 26, Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, 124 Millbury St., Worcester.

Vandal Lavoie: 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 26, Hotel Vernon, 16 Kelley Square, Worcester.

Succulents Garden Workshop with DoveTales Floral Design Studio January 28th: 7-9 p.m. Jan. 28, Asa Waters Mansion, 123 Elm Street, Millbury. For information: (508) 865-0855, klivoti@ townofmillbury.net. Ticket prices are $55 for members and $65 for non-members.

Monday, Jan. 27 The Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading with Michael Milligan: 7-9 Valentine Workshop with the p.m. Jan. 28, The Thirsty Lab, Worcester Historical Museum: 206 Worcester Road, Princeton.

4-5 p.m. Jan. 27, Worcester Public For information: (508) 797Library Goddard Branch, 14 4770, wcpaboard@yahoo.com.

Richards Street, Worcester. com/571592-0. The Thirsty Lab Getting Paid to Talk — An Intro Poetry Series meets on the fourth to Professional Voice Overs: 7-11 p.m. Jan. 27, Clearly Coworking, 474 (and fifth) Tuesday of each month Grove Street, Worcester. Cost: $20. at The Thirsty Lab in Princeton.

Hosted by Susan Roney-O’Brien.

Open Mic: hosted by Rick Hamel, The Poetorium at Starlite Reading 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27, Funky Murphys, Series & Open Mic Featuring 305 Shrewsbury St., Worcester.

Richard Fox: 7-10 p.m. Jan. 28, Free.

Starlite, 39 Hamilton Street, The Dirty Gerund Poetry Series : Southbridge. For information: 9 p.m. Jan. 27, Ralph’s Rock Diner, poetorium@protonmail.com. Free, 148 Grove St., Worcester. Free, hat passed to pay the featured donations requested to help pay reader. the performers.

Great American Read Book Club: 7:15-8:30 p.m. Jan. 28, Tuesday, Jan. 28 Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Hatha Yoga Tuesday (8 Week Session): 9-10 a.m. Jan. 28, Holden Matrimony and Elvis Recreation Department Studio, 1420 Main Street, Parking and Sandy, the four-times-married, three-times-divorced owner of a entrance located behind building, wedding chapel in Las Vegas, knows Holden. Cost: $80. For information: that getting hitched can get a little (508) 829-0263, agreene@ bit crazy. In Nancy Frick’s romantic holdenma.gov. comedy, “Four Weddings and An Story Time — Fantastic 4’s & 5’s: Elvis,” presented by the Stratton 10:30-11:30 a.m. Jan. 28, Boylston Players, we witness four weddings Public Library, 695 Main Street, that get increasingly wilder. Beth Boylston. For information: (508) Wilson plays Sandy; Josh Weiden869-2371, lstretton@cwmars.org. hamer directs.

Business Plan Basics: 1-2:30 p.m.

What: Stratton Players presents Jan. 28, Worcester Public Library, 3 “Four Weddings and an Elvis” Salem Street, Worcester. Cost: Free.

When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24, 25, 31 and Register online at mywpl.org or Feb. 1; 2 p.m. Jan. 26 call (508) 799-1655 x3.

Where: Applewild Alumni Center, 98 Pro-am Comic Jam with artist Prospect St., Fitchburg Hans Rickheitt: 5-7:30 p.m. Jan. How much: $15. www.strattonplay28, 244 Park Ave, 244 Park Avenue, ers.com Worcester. For information: (508) 755-4207, sorana@thatse.com.

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What: “Apple Tree Arts Faculty Showcase” When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 Where: Apple Tree Arts, Great Hall, One Grafton Common, Grafton How much: $18. Beer, wine and soft drinks will be available for purchase. Tickets are available at www.claflinhill.org or by calling Apple Tree Arts at (508) 839-4286

Yeah, OK. The Fools have WAY more in their songbook than “Psycho Chicken,” although the parody of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer” will always be close to the heart of anyone who let Dr. Demento shape too much of their musical perspective. But really, it’s great songs such as “It’s A Night For Beautiful Girls,” “I Don’t Want to Grow Up” and “Spent the Rent” that make these Boston rockers such perennial favorites.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

This season’s chamber music series collaboration between Apple Tree Arts of Grafton and the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra continues Saturday with “Apple Tree Arts Faculty Showcase” and an eclectic mix of Romantic, 20th-century and modern chamber music. “For the second concert of our chamber music series, we’re devoting an evening to highlight the talented faculty and staff of Apple Tree Arts who perform a diverse repertoire with our musicians,” said Paul Surapine, clarinetist and conductor, founder and executive director of the CHSO. Several Apple Tree Arts faculty teachers are also members of the orchestra, including Surapine. The concert includes works by Brahms, Saint-Saens, and 10 selections from “Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman” (2007), a song cycle composed by Alan Louis Smith based on the journal of Margaret Ann Alsip Frink for mezzo-soprano, violin, cello and piano. Frink traveled from Indiana to Sacramento with her husband and two companions during the Gold Rush in 1850. “The music authentically and poignantly captures the emotion of the texts,” said Alaina Calloway Bolton, mezzo-soprano and Apple Tree Arts music education director.

Playing ‘Chicken’

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

Marlboro Moose Family Center 1129, 67 Fitchburg Street, Marlborough. Cost: $10.

Worcester Railers vs. Maine Mariners: 7:05 p.m. Jan. 25, DCU Center, 50 Foster Street, Worcester.

Cost: $15-$36.

Apple Tree Arts Showcase Concert: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Great Hall, 1 Grafton Common, Grafton. Cost: $18. For information: danawilson586@ gmail.com. Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra and Apple Tree Arts present “Apple Tree Arts Faculty Showcase” featuring an eclectic mix of Romantic, 20th century and modern chamber music.

Howie Bursen – Food Bank Benefit: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25, The

Vanilla Bean Cafe, 450 Deerfield Road, Pomfret, Connecticut. $25.

Riff-Raff: 7:30-10:30 p.m. Jan. 25, The Mill 185, 185 West Boylston Street, West Boylston. For information: themill185@yahoo. com.

Woodstock Film Preview: 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 25, Worcester PopUp at the JMAC, 20 Franklin St., Worcester.

Vinyl Junkies: 8 p.m. Jan. 25, Wong Dynasty and Yankee Grill, 176 Reservoir St., Holden.

Negativburn ft. Bibbe Hansen with Nora Panahi and Kendra Dawsey: 8 p.m. Jan. 25, Strong Style Coffee, 13 Cushing St., Fitchburg.

The Fools: 8 p.m. Jan. 25, Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley. $20.

Don Minott & the High Voltage Reggae Band: 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Jan. 25, The Stomping Ground, 132 Main Street, Putnam.

Dan Kirouac: acoustic rock hits: 8-10:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Chuck’s Steak House/Margaritagrill, 10 Prospect Street, Auburn.

Birthday Party Show with Headliner Nico: with Sounds Made Up Trio, Bigelow and Fennario, 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 25, Hotel Vernon, 16 Kelley Square, Worcester.

Burning Sky with Vivi and Da Funk: 8:30 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 25, Rascals, 70 James Street, Worcester.

Talk Is Cheap: 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Jan. 25, Marine Corps League Inc, 181 Lake Avenue, Worcester.

WOOtenanny Presents: The Sort of

CITY LIFE

THINGS TO DO Street, Worcester. Cost: Free. For information: (508) 799-1655, wplref@mywpl.org. This month’s subject is “Memoirs of a Geisha,” by Arthur Golden.

Poetry Open Mic: 7 p.m. Jan. 28, Strong Style Coffee, 13 Cushing St., Fitchburg. Free.

The Cobra Kings: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28, Greendale’s Pub, 404 W. Boylston

ADOPTION OPTION Up-And-Coming Hip-hop artist Vandal Lavoie, AKA Vandal508, has an interesting flow to his work. Digging into his tracks on SoundCloud, it’s interesting how he seems to favor a slow-burn on songs such as “Lonely,” “I Need You,” “P.O.T.” and even the more aggressive “Unbroken.” It’s all a bit raw, but there’s a great deal of potential there, and it should be interesting to watch it unfold.

What: Vandal Lavoie When: 8 p.m. Jan. 26 Where: Hotel Vernon, 16 Kelley Square, Worcester

Warming performance Heart Forward, which debuted as a theater performance company last year with playwright Sandra Fenichel Asher’s “Walking Toward America,” steps into its second production with “Light on a Cold Winter’s Night: Short Plays with Carlos Odira” at 8 p.m. Monday at Nick’s Bar and Restaurant. The performance will include two new short plays, poetry, shadow puppetry and music with virtuoso guitarist Odira. “The performance is all new material that really grabbed our attention,” said Heart Forward co-founder Rachael Wiese.

“Thematically, the pieces all connect. They’re about transformation, and out deep connection to nature or the supernatural.”

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

What: Heart Forward presents “Light on a Cold Winter’s Night: Short Plays with Carlos Odira” When: 8 p.m. Jan. 27 Where: Nick’s Bar and Restaurant, 124 Millbury St., Worcester How much: $7 cover at the door. www.heartforwardarts.org

St, Worcester.

Framing Your Artwork — lecture: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Jan. 28, Northborough Historical Society, 50 Main Street, Northborough. For information: emaracine@verizon. net.

WOOtenanny Presents — “Nice Shirt!”(A Crowd Work Show): 8 p.m. Jan. 28, Nick’s Bar & Restaurant, 124 Millbury Street, Worcester.

Southside Talent Showcase: open mic, 8:15 p.m. Jan. 28, The Southside Grille and Margarita Factory, 242 W. Broadway, Gardner.

Tone-Deaf Tuesdays: hosted by Poise’N Envy and Harley Queen, 9 p.m. Jan. 28, Electric Haze, 26 Millbury St., Worcester.

Wednesday, Jan. 29 Gentle Hatha Yoga (8 Week Session): 9-10 a.m. Jan. 29, Holden Recreation Department Studio, 1420 Main Street, Parking and

entrance located behind building, Holden. The cost of this class is $80. To register for this class or for more information, visit Holdenrec. com or call (508) 829-0263.

Gallery Talk by Peter A. Moriarty: 12-1 p.m. Jan. 29, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester. For information: (508) 793-3356, prosenbl@holycross. edu. Moriarty, an emeritus Professor of Visual Arts of the Vermont State Colleges, and educator for over thirty years, began collecting photographs as a way to engage his students with the history of photography.

Animanga Club: 3:30-5 p.m. Jan. 29, Worcester Public Library Roosevelt Branch, 1006 Grafton Street, Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl.org. this week’s subject is “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.”

Wacky Wednesday Jam: 8:30 p.m.

Jan. 29, Greendale’s Pub, 404 W. Boylston St, Worcester.

Duncan Arsenault and Friends: 9 p.m. Jan. 29, Vincent’s 49 Suffolk St., Worcester.

Thursday, June 30 Snack & Study: 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Jan. 30, Boylston Public Library, 695 Main Street, Boylston. For information: (508) 869-2371, efurse@cwmars.org.

Valentine Workshop with the Worcester Historical Museum: 4-5 p.m. Jan. 30, Worcester Public Library Burncoat Branch, 526 Burncoat Street, Worcester. For information: lsheldon@mywpl. org.

The Illusionists: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, Hanover Theatre, 554 Main Street, Worcester. $40-$70.

Comedian Kevin Boseman, 8 p.m.

Jan. 30, WooHaHa! Comedy Club, 50 Franklin St., Worcester. $20.

NYC Comedy Invades Worcester: 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Jan. 30, The Muse Bar & Kitchen, 536 Main Street, Worcester. Cost: $7.

High Command, Red Death, Enforced and Wound Man: 9 p.m.1 a.m. Jan. 30, Ralph’s Diner, 148 Grove Street, Worcester.

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.

MICHELLE BOURGET AT PATRICK SUBARU

Stage “Boeing Boeing” Jan. 24Feb. 2, Bradley Playhouse, 30 Front St., Putnam, Conn. www. thebradleyplayhouse.org “Four Weddings & Elvis”: Jan. 24Feb. 1, Stratton Players, Alumni Center for the Performing Arts, Applewild School, 98 Prospect St., Fitchburg; www.strattonplayers. com/ “Barefoot in the Park”: Feb. 7, 8, 14, 15, 16. Gateway Players Theatre.

Elm Street Congregational Church, 61 Elm Street, in Southbridge. www.gatewayplayers.org

Good music, good cause Folk musician Howie Bursen has been heading a benefit for the Northeast Connecticut Food Bank at the Vanilla Bean since the early ’90s, which makes this event not just a good cause, but also something of an institution. But really, the big draw is Bursen himself. One listen to his collaboration with folk musician Sally Rogers, “When Howie Met Sally,” and it’s clear that Bursen plays classic-styled folk music with immense talent and beauty. Other scheduled performers include Rogers, Bennett Hammond, Lorraine Hammond and Susanne Salem-Schat.

What: Howie Bursen – Food Bank Benefit When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Where: The Vanilla Bean Cafe, 450 Deerfield Road, Pomfret, Connecticut How much: $25

This handsome guy is Douglas. Douglas is a short, strong, silly and playful fella looking for love. He came to WARL as a stray. Not claimed by an owner, Douglas is now seeking a new family to call his own. Douglas’s only trick besides looking adorable is sit. He is very eager to learn more and learn some leash manners! Right now Douglas needs a home with no other animals or children. If you would like more information about Douglas or you would like to meet him, ask our staff today!

GAMES

J O N E S I N’

“Decade in Review, Part 2” — fun stuff from 2012 & 2013.

by Matt Jones

Across 1

Call 888-254-3466 or email classifieds@gatehousemedia.com today to place your ad here!

64 Red Sox rival, on scoreboards 65 Jousters’ horses

Down 1 2 3

Last week's solution

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©2020 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #972

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Parlor, in La Paz Boat with three hulls 2020 Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee 4 Talking bear film of 2012 5 Occupied, as a lavatory 6 “From Peru to ___ hear the power of Babylon” (Philippine island name-dropped in Enya’s “Orinoco Flow”) 7 They receive paper assignments 8 Crew member 9 What a celebrity might use at a hotel 10 “Who ___?” (“Les Miz” song) 11 Fixed illegally 12 Gas in fuel mixtures 13 Team in a sign-stealing scandal 16 Taking a sick day 21 Floor-cleaning robot 24 Sea ___ (Popeye villain) 26 Peabody Award-winning Issa 27 In bygone times 28 “Prelude to the Afternoon of a ___” (Debussy work) 29 Dessert also known as crème caramel 31 Stooge’s laugh syllable 32 First Family of the 1840s

33 2012 or 2013, e.g.

37 Itinerary measure 38 Insecure, in a way 39 Mature 40 “Daft Punk is Playing at my House” band ___ Soundsystem 41 Freshen up, as lipstick 42 Annoying racket 43 Rosemary bits 44 Milk source, to a kid 45 “Queer Eye” food and wine expert Porowski 49 Easy basket 50 Atlanta research university 51 Arm of the sea 53 2012 AFTRA merger partner 54 Chooses 56 Online outbursts 58 Pos. opposite 60 Incensed feeling

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

Fun By The Numbers Like puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test!

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

It’s produced in a Van de Graaff generator 7 Glass with a radio cadence 10 Base times height 14 “Garfield” cat 15 “As much as you want” 17 Type of music video with a world record set in 2012 by 9,300 participants in Lindsay, Ontario 18 Book-based movie series that ended in 2012 with “Breaking Dawn - Part 2” 19 Q&A feature, on Reddit 20 Like Dali’s art 22 Spear-shaped fish 23 Need an ice bag 25 8-Down’s need 26 Home of the Nevada Museum of Art 27 Opera highlight 28 Actress Claire of “The Crown” 29 Becomes dim 30 2012 song that was YouTube’s most-viewed video until “See You Again” surpassed it in 2017 34 Yoko born in Tokyo 35 “___ Nub” (common name of the 1983 song called “Ewok Celebration”) 36 House vote 37 ___ Lipa (“New Rules” singer) 40 What China became the third country to achieve with the Chang’e 3 mission in 2013 43 ___ dab in the middle 46 Suffix with puppet or racket 47 Key West, e.g.

48 Minnow’s home 49 Sign of sorrow 51 Fascinated with 52 Go bad 53 Role for Smith, Cartwright, Kavner, or Castellaneta 55 Athlete’s knee injury site, often 57 Swedish duo with a breakup song that hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart in 2013 59 Game that “The Price Is Right” devoted all six pricing game segments to in a 2013 episode 61 Gillian Flynn thriller published in 2012 62 Bygone Toyota model 63 Drink from a flask

CLASSIFIEDS LEGALS

SERVICE DIRECTORY

WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma Street., Worcester, MA 01605. Solicitation package may be picked up at Street., Worcester, MA 01605. Solicitation package may be picked up at the location above or may be downloaded from our website: the location above or may be downloaded from our website: www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/TDD www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/TDD (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid. Separate awards will be made any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid. Separate awards will be made for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest. all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest.

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

MGL c.258, section 2 as amended.

Bid No. Release Date Project Title Bid Opening Project Title Bid Opening Bid No. Release Date 20-05 1/27/2020 Oversight of WHA 2:00 PM February 11, 2020 20-05 1/27/2020 Oversight of WHA 2:00 PM February 11, 2020 Energy Performance Contract-Phase II Energy Performance Contract-Phase II Jackson Restrepo, Chief Procurement Officer Jackson Restrepo, Chief Procurement Officer

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma Street., Worcester, MA 01605 Solicitation package may be picked up at Street., Worcester, MA 01605 Solicitation package may be picked up at the location above or may be downloaded from our website: the location above or may be downloaded from our website: www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/TDD www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/TDD (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid. Separate awards will be made any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid. Separate awards will be made for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest. all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest.

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

MGL c.258, section 2 as amended.

Project Title Bid Opening Bid No. Release Date Project Title Bid Opening Bid No. Release Date 20-01 1/24/2020 New Lakeside 2:00 PM February 27, 2020 20-01 1/24/2020 New Lakeside 2:00 PM February 27, 2020 Apartments Summer Camp Apartments Summer Camp Jackson Restrepo, Chief Procurement Officer Jackson Restrepo, Chief Procurement Officer

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LAST CALL

Alli Jutras A

founder of Back Alley Clothing Do you sell pieces online or are you just using social media as a building block?

We don’t sell directly online, but we do most of the advertising there. We can let people know

I think you’re right.

Do you have some future goals you want to lay out for Back Alley Clothing?

My goal originally was to open our own store, but I have realized over time it might just be easier to keep doing the pop up shops because as much as a brick and mortar store is really cool and fun, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with it.

And I think that if I were to do it, I would definitely want to wait a little bit longer to get more experience. The Clark Collective is a vending space for different Clark businesses. Right now, we’re keeping our clothes in the back and they have dressing rooms that we’re able to utilize as well. My goals for right now are to keep building our client base and extend to more pop up shops and small businesses. We had one at Bedlam Book Cafe a couple of weeks ago.

– Sarah Connell Sanders

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When you go out to thrift for vintage items, what do you look for?

I’m always looking for things that are really unique and unusual. I found a shirt the other day with a

on what makes things vintage and how to identify pieces that are older. Honestly, it’s just gotten better with experience because it’s trial and error. My business partner, Max, and I were at Savers last week and I said, “I feel like I can just walk by things now and be able to tell what I want right away versus before when I would be digging through everything for hours.” Lately, I pick up anything

Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

People really like vintage jeans, so we get a lot of them and then patch onto them and paint on them. We create a lot of custom pieces as well. I’m patching a pair DYLAN AZARI of vintage overalls right now for someone. I usually look for pieces that are from the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands.

Right now, a lot of the two thousands pieces aren’t in, but I’m keeping my eye out because I think eventually the Hillary Duff style will be back in a couple of years.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

what we have for clothing using social media. Some people will even come to our apartment to try stuff on, but mostly we use our account to promote our events.

Van Gogh print on it that I loved.

I look for a lot of things that are definitely my style, but I know other people would like too. I’m able to use my creativity and artistic vision. We’ve done a lot of research

J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020

last January when I was out thrifting and I kept finding a bunch of clothes that I liked, but they didn’t fit me. I was like, “What if I bought these and then sold them to people nearby?” My boyfriend is my business partner and we just came up with the idea to start thrifting clothes and bringing them to Worcester. It has been really cool because I love vintage clothes Are you originally from and unique clothing, Worcester? but there isn’t often an I came here to go to Clark. I’m opportunity for people to originally from York, Maine. I buy them at an affordable wanted to go to college someprice unless they have where with a strong cultural the time or energy to go scene and an arts hub. Living in thrifting. We’re able to Worcester is very different than bring clothing to people growing up in a small town, but I at an affordable price love it here. and make it accessible here. After I signed up What are some of the first culfor the Ureka Challenge, tural landmarks or institutions they gave us $100 of seed that drew you in?

I would say I was really caught by money and also allowed the murals when I first came here us to meet with different people in the entreprein 2015. There weren’t as many neurship department back then. The first one I saw was here. Then, we gave a the little blue fuzzy guy across presentation at the end of from Hanover Theatre. Whenever I drove by him, it made me happy. the year about where that seed money went and I took a semester off to go to art how our business grew school and whenever I would come back and visit, there seemed along those months. Ureka helped us accomplish to be more and more murals. As a lot, but it didn’t get us I’ve been here, Worcester has totally grown. Working at the Pop to where we are now. We Up downtown has been awesome started up our Instagram because now I have the opportuni- in the spring and then ty to help people put on art events. that really progressed going into the fall. Now, people recognize us when What was your major? we see them in person.

Studio arts and also media, We’ve had over 15 events culture and the arts. When I in Worcester enabling us first came here, that major didn’t to interact with the comofficially exist yet; I was one of munity. the first people in the program.

Now, it’s one of the top majors on Are your events retail based, alClark’s campus, which is awesome. I’ve really seen the program lowing people to come and buy the clothes, or are they more grow and I’ve been able to pursue like fashion shows? so many opportunities because Definitely more retail based. We it allowed me to work closely do a lot of pop up shops. We find with professors in such a small a lot of vending opportunities at program. different local events like the Pride Parade. We also did the Punkcake How did you parlay that into a Market around Halloween time. business?

Clark has a contest called the Ureka Challenge. I had the idea lli Jutras started a vintage clothing business when she was a student at Clark University. Today, Back Alley Clothing has grown into a successful pop up presence across Central Mass. You can keep an eye out for new pieces and upcoming retail opportunities by following Jutras on Instagram at @backalley. clothing.

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W O R C E S T E R M A G A Z I N E . C O M J A N U A RY 23 - 29, 2020