Dig Boston April 1st, 2015

NEWS

SPEK oF

GENIUS

THE JESUS CHRIST OF BAY STATE GRAFFITI RETURNS

FEATURE

AN EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION WITH KARMALOOP FOUNDER

GREG EATS

LOYAL NINE

AN EAST COAST REVIVAL OPENS IN EAST CAMBRIDGE

DIGBOSTON.COM 4.1.15 - 4.8.15

FILM

NOAH

BAUMBACH A CANDID DISCUSSION WITH THE INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER

SELKOE “THIS IS NOT THE END, THIS IS THE

BEGINNING” See Page 11 for details

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NEWS TO US FEATURE DEPT. OF COMMERCE

VOL 17 + ISSUE 13

APRIL 1, 2015 - APRIL 8, 2015

NEWS, FEATURES + MEDIA FARM EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Martín Caballero ASSOCIATE A+E EDITOR Spencer Shannon CONTRIBUTORS Lizzie Havoc, Boston Bastard, Nina Corcoran, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Tony McMillen, Jake Mulligan, Scott Murry, Jonathan Riley, Cady Vishniac, Dave Wedge INTERNS Paige Chaplin, Jasmine Ferrell

DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tak Toyoshima DESIGNER Brittany Grabowski INTERNS Elise Cameron, Alek Glasrud, Michael Zaia COMICS Tim Chamberlain Brian Connolly Pat Falco Patt Kelley

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ON THE COVER

Karmaloop CEO Greg Selkoe is at bat on our cover this week and he sits down to talk to us about the inside scoop on Karmaloop’s bankruptcy, our rich local retail history, and the future of Boston. Photo by Drew McCarver.

©2015 DIGBOSTON IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY DIG PUBLISHING LLC. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION CAN BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT. DIG PUBLISHING LLC CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. ONE COPY OF DIGBOSTON IS AVAILABLE FREE TO MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS AND VISITORS EACH WEEK. ANYONE REMOVING PAPERS IN BULK WILL BE PROSECUTED ON THEFT CHARGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

DEAR READER As a rule, the main job of the lone independent alternative weekly paper is to own “local,” shining a light on the stories to be found in town, the ones that others pass over or cover in the same old way.

And as an example of that rule, you couldn’t do better than the issue you currently hold in your hands.

Take for instance our ripping feature this week, involving Hub-boy-made-good, Greg Selkoe. When news dropped that his wildly popular clothing company and global brand Karmaloop was being eyed by Kanye West for a potential purchase, followed by word that the company was filing for bankruptcy, we landed an exclusive sit-down to get the real story behind what’s going on firsthand. The result is an intimate discussion with the entrepreneur, and it may just get you rooting for one of your own all over again, if you weren’t already.

And if you haven’t already seen it or voted yourself, consider this a reminder that our voting sheet is live and online at DigBoston.com for our 2015 DigThis Awards. It’s our “best of” effort sauntering into your orbit once again, where we turn to you, our devoted readers, to pick the best of the best of the Hub’s eating and drinking, goods and services, and arts and entertainment. The winners will be tallied and published in our special issue dropping April 29, with a killer party that night involving comedy, category winners, and all your pals at DigBoston.

Yes, you’re invited.

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

EDITOR Dan McCarthy

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BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

DIGTIONARY

REFERENDUMMY noun

refəˈrendəmē 1. A general vote by the electorate on a single political question, such as the Boston 2024 Olympics, that has been referred to them for a direct decision by figureheads who previously wouldn’t have considered the measure had it not been for constant public scrutiny and the calling out of shenanigans by local press.

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Commercial Radio Station, It’s a given that your goal is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You are, after all, a shitty Top 40 radio station.

But your Facebook promo is insufferable, those cheap generic memes that are obviously sent to your two-bit social media managers from corporate. Garbage like “The Great Toilet Paper Debate.” GFY. And a lot of it is ridiculously sexist! Nothing sucks worse than having to share a society with you. And your DJs are way too fucking old to care about Taylor Swift.

It’s weird.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE CAMERON

EDITORIAL

NEWS US

SPEK OF GENIUS NEWS TO US

A Mass graffiti martyr resurrects for his debut solo show

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In the world of Bay State graffiti, Adam Brandt is tantamount to Jesus Christ. Sounds extreme, sure, but to an underground community that’s faced decades of direct persecution, he is a martyr, among the first people in Massachusetts to do jail time for tagging. Better known as SPEK, Brandt was among the select aerosol wizards who became prolific enough in the mid-aughts to summon a sophisticated crackdown on street art.

Having covered the takedown of SPEK, and of other Mass graf stalwarts like the formidable CAYPE, who in 2007 was sentenced to serve one year in the South Bay House of Correction, I was surprised to hear that Brandt had a show coming up at The Uniun in Somerville. From what I’d heard, he slipped into retirement after jail, his Krylon halcyon days behind him. Countless boxcar artists make the jump to galleries—I’m all for it—I just didn’t think that SPEK was one of them. I had to find out more about his journey.

Raised in Reading, Brandt’s earliest memories of murals are from riding the Orange Line, namely through the stops north of Boston. He recalls tremendous spreads from the likes of MES, MONK, and others whom he wound up smacking walls alongside later on in his career. While at first he was shy and alone on the scene, in time Brandt became ubiquitous.

He says, “We did the Mass Pike, and a lot of the subway trains.” A friend of his whom I contacted for this story is less modest about SPEK’s past visibility: “Not only has he made a mark on the Boston streets, but is known worldwide for the vast number of freight trains he had painted. He encompasses all that a traditional writer should be, from tags, throwups, straightletters, pieces, trains, streets, etc.”

But with props came heat, as Brandt’s tag, along with those of others in his weight class, became too common for

authorities to ignore. Cops in different cities—namely in Salem, a longtime hub for beautiful decay—had made petty arrests and scared lesser artists straight for decades. Around 2007, however, authorities from more than half-dozen municipalities joined forces to stop graf in its metaphorical tracks, and diligently went about doing so. As I wrote back in 2008: If SPEK was a Moby Dick of sorts for the consortium of Bay State vice squads, Boston Police Department (BPD) Detective William Kelley and MBTA Police Lieutenant Nancy O’Loughlin have been SPEK’s Ahabs, chasing the outlaw artist for a decade. Greater Boston Area Graffiti Task Force—within a year they’d taken down half-a-dozen East Coast kings, SPEK among them, by documenting every tag they wrote, from Salem to Southie.

All these years later, Brandt, now a father, concedes that his writing habits may have gotten out of control: “I don’t even know when things got hot … Around 2004 it was every weekend. We were just doing so much that I didn’t pay attention to anything else that was going on.” He also says the months he spent in county jail in Middleton in 2008 were “terrible.” Brandt illustrated greeting cards for other inmates to send to their families, but otherwise grew uninspired. To make matters worse, he was released with five years to serve on probation, and spent several months unemployed as a result of his criminal status. “During that time I wasn’t doing any art whatsoever,” he recalls. “It was pretty stressful.”

Brandt eventually got back the truck-driving job he had before jail; not long after that, he was contacted by a private art collector asking if he had any paintings, and his second

act was soon born. “I wasn’t doing that kind of thing before,” says Brandt of the transition from concrete to canvas. “It took a little bit of getting used to, but now I have a little studio where I build the frames and paint.”

Like almost every other graf writer I have ever interviewed, Brandt speaks softly and reluctantly. He’s also incredibly humble considering his genius, telling me, “Now I’m just an artist. I put out city scenes, urban styles, with a little graffiti style, obviously.” His friend Jay, a mentee who helps Brandt with the gallery hustle, paints a narrower stroke: “Growing up, [SPEK] was a staple on the Boston highways. As a young kid that was all I remember recognizing—his signature style mixed with fantastic color schemes really helped him stand out.” Jay continues: “After meeting Adam, the cool graffiti persona that I had imagined was more than true. He was not only a amazing writer, but a talented artist, extremely humble, and a genuinely awesome human being. His past experiences really shows through in his work … What really sets Adam apart from other graffiti writers is his story.”

As for those old stories, Brandt says he sometimes sits around with old graf friends reminiscing; it’s inevitable. But with his first-ever solo collection being revealed this week, and other shows and installations in the works, Brandt has as much of an appetite for tagging walls as he does for the food at Middleton.

“I’m just over the graffiti thing,” he says. “I’m looking forward to creating new things. We reminisce, yeah, but we definitely talk about the future too, and trying to profit off of it.”

PHOTOS COURTESY SPEK

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

GUEST MEDIA FARM

LONE WOLVES

Dangerous terminology conflation in Tsarnaev coverage

BY CHIP BERLET

HOP HEAD PARADISE

100

DIFFERENT IPAS During the month Of April.

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LIMITED • RARE • HARD TO FIND INDIA PALE ALES • ALL MONTH LONG

OLDEMAGOUNSSALOON.COM 518 MEDFORD ST. SOMERVILLE

617-776-2600

Following the terrorist attacks in January on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris, numerous media reports claimed the incidents shared a common aspect with the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: namely, that both involved perpetrators who were “lone wolves,” and who engaged in “leaderless resistance.”

This is false.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers implicated in the bombing, were indeed such “lone wolves.” Tamerlan, who was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement, was a lone wolf because he had failed to find any organized group to link up with. He had apparently looked for affiliates in the US, in Chechnya, and in the surrounding region of Russia straddling the Caucasus Mountains—a hotbed of attacks by terrorists claiming allegiance to Islam, as well as his ancestral homeland.

After failing in those efforts, Tamerlan appears to have played the dominant role in the Boston attack in an alliance called a “folie à deux,” a literary and psychiatric term derived from a French phrase meaning any passion shared by two people.

The three perpetrators of the attacks in Paris, on the other hand, apparently had links to terrorist groups, and at least one had been trained in the Middle East. Therefore they were not “lone wolves,” and were not engaged in “leaderless resistance.” Despite this, US Attorney General Eric Holder, while in Paris for briefings on terrorism following the attacks, told reporters that the US was “at war” with “lone wolf” terrorists. “That is the thing that I think keeps me up most at night,” he added, “this concern about the lone wolf who goes undetected.”

This all may seem like irrelevant nitpicking over terminology, but it is important in understanding how terror cells are tracked by intelligence agencies. It is also relevant to defending our civil liberties from further erosions by widespread and indiscriminate surveillance. Attorney General Holder and other officials— intentionally or not—are conflating terms. Meanwhile, tracking a lone wolf is very difficult, which is one reason why the Tsarnaev brothers were not detected by intelligence agency sweeps of data. Holder, however, seems to be using fears raised by the shocking Paris attacks to justify increased blanket surveillance at home As for the lone wolf’s ugly cousin, “leaderless resistance,” organized groups or cells can use it too, but it is accurate only if no member has ever participated in organized political violence as a current or future goal. Similar to “phantom cells,” “leaderless resistance” refers to spontaneous, autonomous, unconnected underground cells that seek to carry out acts of violence, sabotage, or terrorism against a government or occupying military force. As scholar Simson L. Garfinkel points out, the term is sometimes used too loosely “to refer to networked organizations with hub-and-spoke architecture.” Put simply, Garfinkel adds, “Such terminology is incorrect.”

FREE RADICAL

AK PRESS NEEDS YOU!

BY EMILY HOPKINS @GENDERPIZZA If you read my column and consistently like it, then you are probably a fan of AK Press. Based in Oakland, this publisher is a worker-owned cooperative whose rad, anarchist leanings are evident in the works they distribute and the means by which they internally split duties (that is, evenly amongst their seven employees).

Unfortunately, early on the morning of March 21, a building close to AK Press’s warehouse caught fire. Two people died and many others were displaced, their units completely destroyed. AK and their comparably anti-corporate neighbor, 1984 Printing, both suffered fire and water damage, and days later had their building shuttered by the city.

Despite the setbacks, AK is hoping to continue business as usual, and to resume printing as soon as possible. To help them and their neighbors get back into their buildings, go ahead and spare what you can on their GoFundMe page. In the true spirit of mutual aid, AK Press will share the proceeds with 1984 Printing and the roughly 30 residents who were displaced.

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

EXCLUSIVE

The FATE of KARMALOOP and WHAT THAT MEANS for BOSTON An exclusive conversation with Greg Selkoe

BY CHRIS FARAONE & JEFF LAWRENCE

D

epending on what you read and heard about Karmaloop over the past two weeks, the Boston-based streetwear behemoth either had its wings clipped or is soon to soar higher than ever before.

On March 23, news broke that the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the result of overwhelming debt incurred from numerous failed side ventures. On the same day, however, former Roc-A-Fella Records CEO and rhetorical lightning rod Damon Dash told an interviewer he and Kanye West are looking to buy Karmaloop; though just a blip inside a longer clip addressing several other topics, the suggestive hint rocked national headlines.

Beyond that splash, there’s been little information available besides rumors and a press release on business specs (they’ve “secured debtor-in-possession “DIP” financing,” and so forth).

Karmaloop CEO Greg Selkoe has shared sentiments on social media, and last week posted a nostalgic pic on his Facebook page of the basement in Jamaica Plain where he first set up shop more than a decade ago. Still, through it all, the public has learned little about the direction of the beloved Hub institution, and even less about what the metamorphosis means for the local creative economy. Selkoe’s not an easy guy to track down, but he’s not exactly introverted either; so on the hunch that he would open up about the Karmaloop sea change, we reached out for the real …

“People see Chapter 11 and they see a padlock on the door,” he told us last week at Karmaloop headquarters on Boylston Street.

Selkoe doesn’t seem dismissive; he’s clearly hard on himself about all failures, both real and perceived. Nevertheless, he is relentlessly optimistic, and says he feels like he’s suddenly running a startup again. He continues: “The banks are the ones who are getting the debt restructured, and they’re supportive. We have a plan and we’re working together. I hope that in a year from now we look back and see how much we’ve done since.”

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Though New England is as widely known for fashion as it is for surfing, the region’s rich apparel history is real and documented.

Besides the timeless preppy styles spun from Brahmin Beacon Hill to Maine and L.L. Bean, Massachusetts in particular has birthed some of the most recognizable mass retailers to date, including some of the very mallfront clearinghouses that have helped put international giants like Ralph Lauren on the map.

A Boston native, Selkoe had tremendous local influence for cultivating his brand. Though Karmaloop is new-school to the core, and dumped its brick and mortar store on Newbury Street in 2011, there are more than a few traces of establishment icon influences in the company’s fabric. Take the North Shore-spawned Marshalls, which broke ground in the early ’60s with a simple but then-novel concept: “Brand Names For Less.” There’s also Filene’s, which more than a century ago initially brought overstock and surplus sales to Downtown Crossing before opening throughout the country.

While Karmaloop updates its virtual racks faster than BuzzFeed can burp listicles, the company has strong connections to the KARMALOOP continued on pg. 10

PHOTO BY DREW MCCARVER

MASS APPEAL

NEWS TO US FEATURE DEPT. OF COMMERCE

every night TILL ' CLOSE 9 2 H A MP S HIR E S T, CA M B R ID G E , M A | 6 1 7-2 5 0 - 8 4 5 4 | L O R D H O B O.C O M

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

REAL FOOD

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KARMALOOP continued from pg. 8 commonwealth’s past innovative retail history. Like Filene’s and Marshalls’, Selkoe’s vision has proven itself to be large enough to sustain an almost undefinable class of its own. When Damon Dash name-checks “Karmaloop” on social media, he’s not just referring to some random gear site where kids occasionally cop kicks. Rather, over time the brand’s become a go-to portal onto everything from comedy to fashion, entertainment news to music.

No icons are perfect. In the case of Marshalls, corporate acquisition after corporate acquisition compromised the core mission, or at least robbed the chain of its unique appeal, while Filene’s endured sloppy financing arrangements and eventually was purchased by Macy’s, which dealt the discount stalwart its final death blow in 2007. It may not matter to the average consumer that those celebrated Bay State names moved operations elsewhere, but to a student of the industry like Selkoe, the void is palpable.

“One of the things that was good early on was that I had these mentors—fashion leaders,” he says. “After they passed away, I looked around and there was nothing. Now retail is all national.”

Specifically, Selkoe cites formidable inspirations like the late Frank Estey, one of the early minds behind Marshalls, as well as Sam Gerson of Filene’s esteem. Selkoe continues: “If I was in New York I would have had more support … I traded off the advantages.

Keeping the business in Boston was important though because I wanted to have some meaning in life. It’s important to me.”

FUTURE BOSTON

Before becoming the big boss, Selkoe set out on a starkly different route. Following his undergraduate stint at Rollins College in Florida, he studied public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and even took a job at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. In time, Karmaloop became his full-time career, and Selkoe and his wife and partner Dina migrated the burgeoning boutique from his parents’ basement in JP to larger spaces. The rocketship officially took off in 2008, after a $35 million boost from venture capital, and by 2011 Karmaloop became one of the 50 fastest-growing Internet companies in America, grossing north of $100 million in annual revenue.

Even with ambitious business plans, Selkoe remained civically active, and along the way founded Future Boston Alliance to help shepherd the Hub toward modern times. Despite rumors of his political aspirations, he never actually ran for mayor, but was among the few significant figures who were audacious enough to support opponents of then-Mayor Tom Menino in 2008. The issues Selkoe raised at the time—namely transit and the retention of young people in Boston—have since swung front and center. Though he’s not always the one personally hounding lawmakers, the Karmaloop founder’s fingerprints can be found all over urban improvements.

“Keeping the business in Boston was important though because I wanted to have some meaning in life. It’s important to me.”

A KARMALOOP IN TIME 1975

Greg Selkoe is born in Jamaica Plain.

2000

Selkoe starts Karmaloop in the now-storied basement of his childhood home.

2005

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Selkoe completes master’s degree at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

2008

Karmaloop gets gamechanging venture capital investment.

2010

Selkoe announces Karmaloop TV at the annual convention of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA).

Planned as the first cable network “to target the multicultural lifestyles and passions of the multiracial ‘Verge Culture’ demo, the project never fully materializes, and contributes to strains on the parent company.

“The type of stuff that we do, you couldn’t do that in thing Boston 30 years ago,” says Selkoe, who at times has employed more than 100 area artist types, and who has made enduring efforts to spur a downtown that’s more accommodating to young people. Among his longtime gripes: arduous permitting processes, minimal “street commerce,” and most of all the lack of late-night entertainment options. “Theres a real aversion to risk,” he says. “We need to figure out a better way to create an infrastructure for them to stay. We need to create an area where people can express themselves. Everyone doesn’t have to love it. We just need it … Facebook, Reddit, Dropbox left. We didn’t even ask, ‘What happened?’”

It’s not all bad. Selkoe also says, “This city has changed a lot and for the better … One of the good things about Boston is that we punch way ahead of our weight class … We’re tough … In LA, everyone is your friend. In Boston they’re really your friend, and if not, they tell you to fuck off. We respect people who can handle adversity.”

As for his own adversity … Selkoe’s been in debt before, albeit to the tune of millions rather than hundreds of millions. Still, if he’s proven anything it’s that he doesn’t fear things that threaten entrepreneurial mortals; after all, he launched Karmaloop in 2000, smack between the dotcom bust and 9/11, and slugged more than five years before turning a profit. In any case, as Karmaloop adjusts, Selkoe hopes the Hub will change in tandem—he needs it to. “We employ local staff like [DJ and tastemaker] Texas Mike,” he says. “All of these kids worked for me—it means a lot. We need to have more affordable housing if young people are going to stay in Boston.”

No matter what the future holds, one thing’s for sure: Karmaloop is at a difficult and major crossroads. Despite assets that are reportedly worth in the $10 to $50 million dollar range—everything from inventory to proprietary contracts—the online retailer has hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities, including money owed to vendors. To get over the hump, Selkoe has been wide open about such troubles, and about an upcoming bankruptcy auction in April.

“The core company is still doing well,” he says. “The other companies were a drain on Karmaloop.” Selkoe adds …

“If you look there are very few apparel companies that are making money … Karmaloop core brand went into black in 2006— the other businesses were hurting that success … This is a business that has been about growth because it’s been about a new way of doing business—we’re the railroad. E-commerce is only 20 years old at best. We’re 15 years old—how many other retailers have been in business that long?”

Candid as he was with us, Selkoe stopped short of confirming any deal with Dash and Kanye. As far as that news goes, we’re on the edge of our computer chairs along with everyone else, especially since the pair addressed matters on Instagram last Friday. “We just about to do some new shit and just stick together culturally and take over the world,” Dash boasted. “We linking up and we decided to go buy Karmaloop. We just talked about it so it’s gonna happen.” Selkoe says they are among prospective buyers, and that’s good enough for us—so long as he remains on board, of course, and keeps the Hub at the forefront.

“Its about trying new things,” Selkoe says. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this—I’ve taken my lumps, but I haven’t hid from anyone … This is not the end, this is the beginning … We want to have an impact. I want to have a reason to get up in the morning.”

2011

Karmaloop closes brick and mortar store on Newbury Street.

2013

Following the bombing of the Boston Marathon, Selkoe releases special Karmaloop tees to benefit the One Fund.

He tells reporters: “These kind of messages of defiance and unity are important. People are moving towards rebuilding, and sending this message helps.”

2014

Selkoe and the Future Boston Alliance lead a successful push by Boston City CouncilorAt-Large Ayanna Pressley to secure more liquor licenses in Boston, particularly in areas with few entertainment options.

2015

Karmaloop announces plans to file for bankruptcy and restructure operations.

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

DEPT. COMMERCE EATS

SUGAR KANE’S

Boston’s new Kane’s Handcrafted Donuts, by the numbers

BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON For too long, Saugus was the only place around to land the sugar-coma-inducing wonderfulness that anyone who’s ever stopped by Kane’s Handcrafted Donuts has come to love and salivate over. That regrettable situation, however, is no more. Because located at Two International Place downtown, on the corner of Oliver Street is the first honest-to-goodness Boston outpost of Kane’s, which we checked out for due diligence. And we’re now ready to share our highly scientific and by no means beachbody-friendly numerical investigation into the facts. Warning: May induce severe involuntary drooling.

Years since Kane’s dough recipe was developed mastered by Kane’s founder Peter Delios: 60 Children of Delios currently in charge: 2 Weeks open downtown: 2 Size of new outpost in square feet: 700 Varieties of donuts in their arsenal: 100+ Diff varieties offered on the day we visited: 28 Average price range per donut: $2.50-3.50

LOYAL SERVICE

“Colonial-inspired” Loyal Nine has finally arrived to East Cambridge

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

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All trends have their ebb and flow in the greater restaurant ecosystem. Gastropubs swell and deflate, retro diners rise and fall, and speakeasies open and then fade into the shadows. But one trend that has been sporadically peeking out from the ether around the Hub during the last few years involves a tipping of the hat to our collective colonial history. As a rule, the less literally restaurants take that theme—at least from a design standpoint, if not the development of a menu—the better.

Otherwise bad things can happen (or you’re just eating at Disneyland).

So when ex-Menton and pop-up supper-club for hire (see: Brasstacks) vet Marc Sheehan began looking at potential locations and having conversations with his partners about where they would bring their future “East Coast Revival” cuisine to life, Cambridge began to make a whole lot of sense. The result, Loyal Nine, opened this past weekend, and according to Sheehan the location’s history had all the right synergy.

“It’s a great part of town,” he says. “It feels like it’s still a real neighborhood. It hasn’t been built up too much like other parts of Cambridge. The cool thing [is] we’re on the road that the British took from Lexington to Concord and back, so we’re actually in the only part that got ‘revolutionary action’ in Cambridge.”

For a restaurant aiming to jibe well with both the new neighborhood and the flavors of early New England, the connection is serendipitous. But the journey to get here, for Sheehan, was one of toil, learning, and self-discovery.

“When I was 18 or 19 in culinary school I had this dream of going to Italy and coming back to Boston and incorporating those flavors into the food being made here,” he says. “The more I was studying colonial America the more I was seeing the impact of the moment of food on society at the time, and came to the realization that as an Irish kid from the South Shore I didn’t really have any connection to Italy. Didn’t make sense for me to go and commit myself to making pasta, [when] there was a whole wealth of a culinary heritage here that was as foreign to me as northern Italy was. The fact that I had lived here my whole life started my interest in it.”

And the menu concept here reflects that interest, with a heavy focus on coastal seafood, meats, and whole roasted veggies sourced from throughout New England and as far away as Philadelphia. Think: mutton raised on an island in Penobscot Bay, whole Ossabaw pigs from Vermont (“You don’t see them in Boston much,” he says), or mollusks from oyster farmers who supply shellfish to the famed Le Bernardin in NYC. Moreover, keeping in line with the tactful employment of rustic, colonial-inspired flavors (braised pork with anchovies, chilled shrimp with salted herbs), many of the dishes are meant to be eaten with hands as opposed to needing silverware.

Ultimately though, for Sheehan the idea was to offer dishes approachable both in style and affordability, with prices ranging from $4 to $60 (and the latter is for a salt-crusted lamb shoulder that can feed five people).

“I’ve been very conscious about trying to appeal to people my age or younger in terms of price point,” he says. “But being in Cambridge there’s a certain expectation for accessibility of a restaurant. I want people to come here for a special occasion, or twice a week if they want to.” >> LOYAL NINE. NOW OPEN. 660 CAMBRIDGE ST., CAMBRIDGE. 617-945-2576. FACEBOOK.COM/LOYALNINEEASTCAMBRIDGE

Number who looked like they were about to chew their way through the glass: 5 Number of warm-weather seasonal creations using a gelato base for donut flavoring: 2 Number of sandwiches they plan to roll out using donuts as the sandwich bread: 3 Estimated seconds it will take to say “Holy shit!” when you hear they’re rolling out a line of sandwiches using donuts for the sandwich bread: 0.00000001 Average pounds you’re slated to put on due to their arrival downtown: 2-38 (depends on frequency of visits) Days of the week they make and offer cronuts: 1 (it’s a Friday special) Days of the week they should serve cronuts: 7 Dozens of cronuts initially whipped up for first Friday: 4 Amount that was increased to due to insane demand: 3 Hours until they sold out of first cronut run: 2 Number of cronuts you could eat in one sitting: [REDACTED]

>> KANE’S HANDCRAFTED DONUTS. NOW OPEN. 90 OLIVER ST., BOSTON. 857-317-2654. KANESHANDCRAFTED.COM

LOYAL NINE PHOTOS BY TAK TOYOSHIMA | ZANE’S DONUTS PHOTOS BY DAN MCCARTHY

EATS

Number of passersby we saw with their faces pressed against the display window during our visit: 5

PAIN

Get to know six of Burlington’s best breweries

BY KAREN CINPINSKI @CATSINPJS

Wednesdays April 1ST - 29th 5-11pm

Vermont’s concentration on sustainability has a downside: Much of the state’s beer never goes beyond state lines. This unofficial “Vermonters First” state policy has beer geeks road-tripping from surrounding states and across the country to procure some of the most sought-after suds (see: Alchemist’s Heady Topper). And at the center of all the warranted hoopla is the town of Burlington. Not the state capital per se, but the broadest example of what the Green Mountain State has to offer on the beer front.

I recently made the trek for a weekend there to get acquainted with the bustling lakeside city, rife as it is with some of the most amazing beers our neighbor to the north has to offer. Check out the following on your next trip up there.

PLATES SZECHUAN VEGETABLE STir-FRY 9 crispy vegetables/ginger/garlic/soy/ chili peppers

EL DIABLO SHRIMP COCKTAIL 12 6 jumbo grilled & chilled shrimp with salsa verde sauce

INFINITY BREWING

The South Burlington newcomer currently only has five brews on its rosters, but if the brewery’s name is any indication, the current selection is only the first step in fulfilling much greater ambitions. Sip each beer in their taproom, and be sure to tip big once you close out—all gratuities are donated each month to a different charity.

INFINITYBREWING.COM

JAMAICAN ME CRAZY GOAT STEW 15 West Indian curried goat/scotch bonnet/habanero/onion/potato/plantain

WICKED THAI WINGS 10

grilled wings Thai hot chili peppers/fried garlic/ginger/cilantro/Asian slaw

RING OF FIRE SHRIMP & GRITS 14

SWITCHBACK BREWING

grilled shrimp & andouille in a cayenne sauce with cheese grits

You might not believe it, but for its first 10 years Switchback was fixated on just one beer: a malt-driven, reddish-amber ale (Switchback Ale). The owners have since added five more drafts for quaffing in the brand-new taproom alongside seasonals flowing from one of eight faucets.

SWITCHBACKVT.COM

SMOKIN’ DEATH BONES 10

smoked pork ribs slathered with house made GHOST PEPPER bbq sauce

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE 10 Moroccan lamb meatballs in harissa sauce

QUEEN CITY BREWERY

VOODOO JAMBALAYA 12

Owned and operated by four pals who’ve known each other for 20 years through Burlington’s homebrewing community, Queen City is where you’ll go to sit around the reclaimed wood bar and work your way through the list of perfected European-style brews (think: traditional porters, lagers, ESBs).

QUEENCITYBREWERY.COM

Creole style with tender chicken/sausage/ tabasco peppers/onion & celery/rice

LOCO BEEF BARBACOA TACO 10 habenero/jalapeno/chipotle sauce/salsa guacamole/cojita cheese

DESSERT

VERMONT PUB & BREWERY

POT AU CRÈME 8

Late beer pioneer Greg Noonan opened the doors in 1988 after a three-year battle to legalize brewpubs in the state, which was a major step in growing Vermont’s beer industry. Since then the state’s oldest craft brewery has been offering pints of unique, award-winning brews along with New England pub fare.

VERMONTBREWERY.COM

chocolate & chipotle pudding with ginger wafers

10 ROTATING IPA’S TO COOL THE PAIN *Before placing order, please inform your food server if anyone I n your party has a food allergy. Consuming raw or undercooked meat poultry seafood shellfish eggs my increase risk of food borne illness.

ZERO GRAVITY

Housed within American Flatbread, a cozy spot featuring wood-fired pizza, are Zero Gravity’s steel tanks and a dozen ever-rotating drafts and casks. The brewery’s solid range of suds always includes a Gose, which shouldn’t be snubbed. Look for a standalone taproom to open this spring down the road.

ZEROGRAVITYBEER.COM

@MAGOUNSSALOON OLDEMAGOUNSSALOON

PHOTOS BY

FOUR QUARTERS BREWING

After opening in 2013, this tiny four-barrel brewery and taproom has quickly risen through Vermont’s beer ranks by honing its offering of Belgians (sours, wits, abbey ales, saisons). Here, a revolving lineup of 20 recipes are contending for a permanent spot on the beer squad. My money’s on the Trappist-style patersbier called Opus Dei (think of the direct translation, “the work of God,” and not the secretive fundy Catholic sect).

FOURQUARETERSBREWING.COM

130 Brighton Avenue Allston, MA

518 Medford St. Somerville magounssaloon.com | 617-776-2600

NEWS TO US FEATURE

&

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

BEERCATION

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

PLEASURE

HONEST PINT SPONSORED BY SUNSET GRILL & TAP

13

ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

LEE MINGWEI’S SONIC BLOSSOM AT THE MFA IS LIKE A LAPDANCE IN A MUSEUM WITH NO NUDITY OR TIPPING

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 01 15 – 04 08 15

14

THURS 4.2

FRI 4.3

FRI 4.3

SAT 4.4

SUN 4.5

SUN 4.5

The Hypocrites’ The Mikado

Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom

Sweety’s Radio presents: Jay Boogie

The Tasting Room at Sip Launch

Annabel Lost

With the return to Boston of the Chicago-based company The Hypocrites comes The Mikado, a zany reimagination of an 1885 operetta of the same name.

Far removed from its origin as a satirical caricature of Japanese culture, The Hypocrites’ adaptation combines absurdist comedy, folk/pop accompaniment, and colorful, circus-bandinspired costuming into a wholly fresh theatrical experience.

Finally, a non-mortifying alternative to the singing telegram that we can all get behind. After enjoying an extensive tour throughout South Korea, China, and Japan, visiting artist Lee Mingwei presents Sonic Blossom to MFA visitors, a United States premiere that invites listeners to be personally serenaded by Boston-area opera singers handpicked and trained

by Mingwei. Each one-onone performance lasts about four minutes, so you can enjoy a full Schubert composition in record time.

Sweety’s, a young Bostonbased gallery prioritizing the work of young contemporary artists of color, just celebrated their first birthday and a venue change, and now are about to launch a brand-new platform. Their new outlet, Sweety’s Radio, is a monthly live-recorded podcast featuring hosts Andisa Montez and Dongoson, who will interview special guests. First up on the roster is Brooklyn-based performance artist, “shit talker, and starter,” Jay Boogie.

Calamity #9: a modern + pop art variety show

As the many bleak Yelp reviews illustrate, Avery Provision Co. was a disappointing hodgepodge of a cafe (Sushi?

Sandwiches? Salad bar?) that just seemed to take up space in Chinatown. When it finally closed for renovation this winter, we were excited to find out what would replace it. The dynamic new Tasting Room, a multipurpose “agenda-less” culinary space, opens its doors on Easter Sunday with a fun and unique alternative to the traditional Easter brunch, curated and conjured by Chef Joshua Lewin.

Produced by the Walthambased emerging theatre troupe Chameleon’s Dish, Annabel Lost (from writer/ director Frances Kimpel) is a multi-genre performance combining visual art and spoken-word poetry to tell the story of a relationship that develops between two orphaned refugees struggling to survive in a dangerous world. Despite its fantastical setting, audiences can expect a fiercely human center that seeks to examine the intersections between the social, political, and philosophical concerns of modern life.

OBERON. 2 Arrow St., Cambridge. $30. For showtimes and tickets, visit americanrepertorytheater.org

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Free with admission to the museum. For schedule, visit mfa.org

Samsøn. 450 Harrison Ave., Boston. 6pm/all ages/FREE. sweetys.info

The Tasting Room at Sip. 581 Washington St., Boston. 10am-3pm/$39-119. sipwinebarandkitchen.com

The Democracy Center.

45 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge. 8pm/all ages/ FREE (donations accepted). chameleonsdishtheatre. wordpress.com

Calamity Dance Company presents their ninth performance, full of dancers, musicians, and artists, this time with the added benefit of tasty brews. The artists hope that the casual setting in a local brewery will facilitate conversation, audience engagement, and the formation of new friendships as the barrier between audience and performers is lowered.

Admission is free, but donations are encouraged (and mean more of these).

Aeronaut Brewing Company. 14 Tyler St., Somerville. 8pm/21+/FREE. calamitycodance.com

15

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

MUSIC

MUSIC

TEMPTING FATE

SPACE ODDITY

BY MARTÍN CABALLERO @_EL_CABALLERO

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

Public Service Broadcasting turns propaganda into music magic

Lessons in complex simplicity with Nosaj Thing

For Public Service Broadcasting, space is just around the corner. The London-based art rock duo of multi-instrumentalists J. Willgoose Esq. and Wrigglesworth use a walnut-veneer ’60s TV set, a rackety film projector, and on-the-spot looping to explore the black abyss without floating away. Together, the two are tackling everything from Sputnik to Apollo 13 on their new album, The Race for Space.

Public Service Broadcasting uses local projectors to toss archival propaganda footage on screens behind the band members that they pull from national museums. “It’s a relationship that’s been going on for four years now with the British Film Institute,” explains Willgoose. “We tend to get absurd suggestions for history topics from fans sometimes, too,” he laughs, “but we tend to carry our own sorrows most times.”

On their sophomore album, that means soundtracking the dark crevices of the stars.

Each song has its own story to tell with arcs and instrumental characters, but the album as a whole maintains a cohesive plotline. “By the time you get to the last song, it’s made up of parts from all the other songs. It’s all tied together,” says Willgoose. This means returning to electronic terrain explored on 2012’s The War Room EP with vibraphone and banjo.

“Being space enthusiasts, we took the topic forward several steps in history towards the present day,” says Willgoose. “You always hear about how the Americans landed on the moon and all this stuff, but the Russians did nearly everything else.”

Guided largely by documentaries like In The Shadow of the Moon and countless library texts, Public Service Broadcasting did their research to create this sonic storybook of outer space.

“I first started getting into the research by reading popular history books like The Man on the Moon or Carrying the Fire. I found a couple Soviet history books, but they’re hard to discover because all the information from that time was shrouded in secrecy,” explains Willgoose. “It was terrifying reading and watching.”

Leave it to the two of them to condense decades of history down into one compact album of dance-able magic.

“I don’t know,” says Jason Chung, a.k.a. L.A.-born experimental electronic producer Nosaj Thing, in response to the first question of the interview. He follows with a few seconds’ pause. He’s just waking up in an Atlanta hotel room, and maybe it’s too early in the day for him to explain how he knows when an album—specifically his forthcoming third solo LP Fated, out May 5—is finished in his mind. “It’s kind of hard for me,” he eventually continues. “I need a deadline or something, or else I’ll keep making new sketches and pretty much never finish anything.”

And that’s really about it: Fated stakes no claims to being fueled by personal strife or any grand conceptual framework, but that shouldn’t be confused for a lack of depth or ambition. Coming off 2013’s Home, a record Chung describes as “really personal” and for which he didn’t tour extensively, Fated is about finding the beauty in simplicity.

“It was more fun to make this record,” says Chung on the phone. “This time I just tried to keep it simple and not to overthink it. I just tried to disconnect myself from whatever was popping in the music world or whatever. I just tried to disconnect myself and do my own thing, just make whatever sounded good to me.”

In that sense, the album gives listeners a glimpse of an artist confident in his creative powers and far from complacent about how far he can push them. Tracks like “Moon” and “Medic” are economic in their use of sounds and time, forming an evocative, subdued electronic aesthetic that feels richly textured without being overproduced. When he

does call upon guests to help (Whoarei on “Don’t Mind Me” and Chance the Rapper on “Cold Stares”), they fit seamlessly into the vibe he’s created instead of taking it over.

“These days I’m more into working with artists and collaborating, and there are more opportunities than before,” says Chung, who’s produced tracks for Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi and Busdriver. “That’s what I originally wanted to do when I started. I just wanted to do rap. But I was really young, wasn’t as connected. I think it was a good thing because it made me go further into left field. I was just more into making weird beats and noise and getting more experimental. ” Perhaps most importantly, Fated also gives Chung new motivation to go back on tour, including a stop at Brighton Music Hall on Tuesday.

“I think lots of electronic music is really boring to watch live,” says Chung with a knowing laugh. I don’t want to really perform until I have a set that I would actually enjoy playing and seeing. This time around, I’m incorporating some more live elements with the drum machine. Just gives me that flexibility to change things up, extend some grooves and things like that.”

Some audiences won’t immediately notice, and perhaps that’s not a bad thing. Chung may have simplified his creative process, but his music remains anything but basic.

“I just never want to do the same records twice,” he says. “I’m always going to change my approach and change formats and just keep pushing myself.”

>> NOSAJ THING W/ CLARK. TUES 4.7. BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, 158 BRIGHTON AVE., ALLSTON. 617-779-0140. 8PM/18+/$15. NOSAJTHING.COM

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 01 15 – 04 08 15

16

MUSIC EVENTS WED 4.1

FRI 4.3

[The Sinclair. 52 Church St., Cambridge. 7pm/all ages/$15. sinclaircambridge.com]

[Great Scott. 1222 Comm Ave., Allston. 10pm/21+/ $14. greatscottboston.com]

EMO BOIZ TIGERS JAW + LEMURIA + SOMOS

LOL DIARRHEA PLANET + LEFT & RIGHT

SAT 4.4

TUE 4.7

[Passim. 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. 2pm/all ages/$15. passim.org]

[Orpheum Theatre.

1 Hamilton Pl., Boston.

7:30pm/all ages/$35. crossroadspresents.com]

ALL GIRL FOLK POP SHEL

GET READY TO FUCKING WEEP DAMIEN RICE

>> PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING. WED 4.8.

GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMMONWEALTH AVE., ALLSTON. 617-566-9014. 9PM/18+/$10. GREATSCOTTBOSTON.COM

PERFECT INDIE ELECTRO POP BLEACHERS + JOYWAVE + NIGHT TERRORS OF 1927

[Great Scott.

1222 Comm Ave., Allston.

6:30pm/all ages/ $20-30. greatscottboston.com]

WED 4.8

HONOR THE KING OF FLAMENCO GUITAR PACO DE LUCIA TRIBUTE

[Berklee Performance Center.

136 Mass Ave., Boston. 8pm/ all ages/$8. berklee.edu/bpc]

PSB PHOTO BY DAN KENDALL

NO ONE HAD THE HEART TO TELL JASON THAT HIS INVISIBILITY TILE DIDN’T PROVIDE ADEQUATE COVERAGE

NEWS TO US

mideastclub.com | zuzubar.com (617) 864-EAST | ticketweb.com

DOWNSTAIRS WED 4/1

ROSANA EN CONCIERTO!

17

THE BEST ENTERTAINMENT IN CAMBRIDGE 7 DAYS A WEEK!

THURS 4/2 BRAIN TRUST PRESENTS

TUESDAYS

SUNDAYS DOUBLE TAP

LEEDZ PRESENTS

THIRSTY TUESDAYS

DIGITALISM FRI 4/3 CURREN$Y

CORNER BOY P TUES 4/7 LEEDZ PRESENTS

LIL BIBBY WED 4/8 LEEDZ PRESENTS

THE GAME

UPSTAIRS WED 4/1 ILLEGALLY BLIND PRESENTS

WAND

THURS 4/2

WHITEY MORGAN AND THE 78’S FRI 4/3 CRUSH PRESENTS

DARK CITY AGENT SAT 4/4 BOWERY PRESENTS: KODAK TO GRAPH MON 4/6

THE MOB (UK) PERSPEX FLES TUES 4/7 BOWERY PRESENTS

MAKTHAVERSKAN FOREIGN TONGUES, BENT SHAPES

/mideastclub /zuzubar @mideastclub @zuzubar

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

CENTRAL SQ. CAMBRIDGE, MA

512 Mass. Ave. Central Sq. Cambridge, MA 617-576-6260 phoenixlandingbar.com

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Boston’s Best Irish Pub

Weekly Gaming Night: The same

Live Resident Band The Night Foxes, Playing everything Old, New & Everything Inbetween

guys who bring you Game Night every week at Good Life bar are now also running a special Sunday night.

21+, NO

21+, NO COVER, 10PM - 1AM

COVER, 6PM 11:30PM

MONDAYS

WEDNESDAYS

MAKKA MONDAY

GEEKS WHO DRINK ELEMENTS

14+yrs every Monday night, Bringing Roots, Reggae & Dancehall Tunes 21+, 10PM - 1AM

THURSDAYS

Free Trivia Pub Quiz from 7:30PM - 9:30PM

RE:SET WEDNESDAYS

Weekly Dance Party, House, Disco, Techno, Local & International DJ’s

15+ Years of Resident Drum & Bass Bringing some of the worlds biggest DnB DJ’s to Cambridge

19+, 10PM - 2AM

19+, 10PM - 1AM

FRIDAYS

SATURDAYS

PRETTY YOUNG THING

BOOM BOOM ROOM

21+, 10PM - 2AM

21+, 10PM - 2AM

80’s Old School & Top 40 Dance hits

80’s, 90’s, 00’s One Hit Wonders

CHECK OUT ALL PHOENIX LANDING NIGHTLY EVENTS AT:

WWW.PHOENIXLANDINGBAR.COM

1/2 PRICED APPS DAILY 5 - 7PM SHOWING THE 6 NATIONS RUGBY TOURNAMENT LIVE STARTING FEB 6

WATCH EVERY SOCCER GAME! LIVE OPENING 7:30am

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Saturdays & Sundays Every Game shown live in HD on 12 Massive TV’s. We Show All European Soccer including Champions League, Europa League, German, French, Italian & Spanish Leagues.

NFL SUNDAY SPECIAL $4 Drafts, Wing Specials, Happy Hour Priced menu!

FILM

NOAH’S BARK

Noah Baumbach on personal movies, anxiety, and life stories

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

I HAVEN’T FELT THIS YOUNG SINCE SHE PLAYED JET GIRL Two decades into his career, Noah Baumbach carries the baggage of a body of work, and the rollout release of his While We’re Young gives venues the perfect excuse to show his oeuvre. Baumbach came to Boston earlier in March, accompanying a program that played Young alongside three earlier films (Kicking and Screaming, The Squid and the Whale, and Frances Ha.) With the movies played back-to-back-to-back-to-back, their similarities scream out: the constant failure of language to bridge interpersonal gaps, the overbearingly intellectual fathers, the emotionally unstable mothers. One has to wonder if it’s all thinly veiled confessional or a running diary—if the young mop-headed boy of Margot at the Wedding became Jesse Eisenberg in Squid and the Whale, who then became Josh Hamilton’s laconic layabout in Kicking and Screaming, who then became the perpetually disappointed Ben Stiller of Greenberg and While We’re Young.

“I make personal movies,” Baumbach tells me, a few hours before unveiling While We’re Young to a full house at the Brattle Theatre. “I feel like I’m working in a tradition of filmmakers who, when I saw their movies, I would want to know what was true, or not true. Woody Allen plays with it. In literature, Philip Roth plays with it.

What are their lives like? I think it comes somewhat naturally if you’re writing from experience—that other layer is always there. And it somehow keeps finding its way to the surface when I make these things.”

A noted anxiety about creating fiction out of friends and family finds its way to the surface in his films, as well. In more than half of them, one character berates another for using them as fodder for fiction. And that becomes the instigating incident in While We’re Young: Adam Driver plays Jamie, a hotshot documentarian who slowly manipulates Stiller’s older pro, both in front of and behind the camera.

What starts as friendship becomes a working relationship, and then becomes a family feud, with the two mens’ partners (Amanda Seyfried and Naomi Watts) interceding. Everyone is working on one film or another, and everyone’s stealing from each other—their lines, their subjects, their wives.

“When I’m working on something, particularly writing, everything filters through that: ‘Does this [life experience] work for [the story I’m telling?]’ People who know me and who love me are aware of it,” he says. “There’s a few lines in While We’re Young that I stole from Greta [Gerwig]. I got a question last night in Chicago about how Jamie quotes Oscar Wilde: Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. But I got that off a t-shirt! I didn’t know it was Oscar Wilde—it just seemed pretty smart.”

“There are things that, obviously, I can’t take without asking, or things that I would never consider taking because it’s not appropriate … but I’ll steal a line from anybody if it’s good.” >> WHILE WE’RE YOUNG. DIRECTED BY NOAH BAUMBACH. NOW PLAYING. WHILE-WERE-YOUNG.COM

FILM EVENTS WED 4.1

HARVARD’S FURIOUS ’70S SERIES CONTINUES WANDA

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 01 15 – 04 08 15

18

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7:30pm/ NR/$7-9.]

THU 4.2

LOCAL DIRECTORS SHOWING OFF AT THE SOMERVILLE BOSTON CINEMA CENSUS [Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

7pm/NR/$10.]

BOSTON LGBT FILM FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT EAT WITH ME

[ICA Boston.

100 Northern Ave., Boston.

8pm/NR/$26-30.]

FRI 4.3

FILMMAKERS PRESENT FOR Q&A THE LAST TIME I SAW MACAO

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/NR/$12.]

SUN 4.5

WITH LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

[Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

2pm/NR/$12-15.]

MON 4.6

PRESENTED BY THE DOCYARD FOREST OF THE DANCING SPIRITS

[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge.

7pm/NR/$9-11.]

NEWS TO US

THEATER

FEATURE

WILDE THING

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

New work breathes modern energy into a century-old story

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

BY SPENCER SHANNON @SUSPENCEY

19

“No one in the world could rule a dinner table like Oscar Wilde.”

So says emerging playwright, actor, and performance artist Mark Mauriello, a soon-to-be Harvard graduate and the creative mind behind OSCAR at The Crown and the love that dare not speak its name, a genre-bending multimedia performance that will celebrate its world premiere at OBERON. “This is my second original theater piece, and it’s on a much bigger scale than I’ve ever done before, which is exciting and terrifying all at once,” he says.

Mauriello fell in love with Wilde during a seminar he took in his sophomore year that centered on the life and works of the Irish writer and poet known for works like The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray among many others. What started as admiration for a fellow artist soon grew into an adamantine inspiration for Mauriello.

“He was more of a 40-foot statue than he was a person,” Mauriello says, breathlessly. “His life and the work that he did, the way he walked down the street and interacted with people, were so performative and so—I think in an interesting way— something I’ve always thought about as very contemporary in a 150-year old figure.”

Wilde was enigmatic, seductive, and incredibly witty. Despite his marriage to a loving wife with whom he sired two children, he was a flamboyantly active social butterfly in the London social scene, and also regularly partook in passionate flings with young men, one of whom would alter his life forever: the spoiled, capricious poet Lord Alfred Douglas. The two entered into a torrid love affair with Douglas’ father attempting to drive them apart. A libel trial gone awry between the father and Wilde landed Wilde with a charge of gross indecency, two years of hard labor in jail, and a complete and total fall from grace.

“I think the story of what happened to him is in many ways not dissimilar to today’s popular culture and media and how we treat celebrity events,” Mauriello says. “A lot of my work has to with the ways in which we all create and craft ourselves, whether that may be through Facebook or Twitter, or through the clothes that we wear. The way that we actually walk into a room. People are very aware that they have that as a power and use that to their great advantage, and Oscar Wilde was someone who did that.”

In order to portray the parallels between Wilde’s descent into infamy and our own modern obsession with pop culture consumption and online gawking and shaming, Mauriello partnered up with his close friend, musician Andrew Barret Cox. “The music [Cox] writes is pop; very electronic. It’s certainly not period appropriate to the 1890s!” Mauriello states. “That was exciting to me, to infuse this historical story with a very, very contemporary sound. And what also just happened is that, through that music we get this understanding of Oscar Wilde kind of as this pop star—not literally, but kind of as this grand performer who puts on these giant spectacle shows, which he did in his life.”

Wilde’s rise and fall mirrors the elusiveness of fame today, more than a century later, and the danger of living our lives so constantly in the spotlight. It also captures the timeless fervor of lust and young love, and the lengths to which we go when we find ourselves caught up in unhealthy but intoxicating relationships. Mauriello, who will be performing as Wilde himself, always knew that he had to play the part.

“There’s another layer to the show, which for me is this question of, ‘Is the show about Wilde? Is the show is about me? How does this relate to my personal experiences?’ It’s something that I’ve been digging into alongside the work of the show,” Mauriello explains. Ultimately, he says the performance at its core sets out to ask and potentially answer a fundamental question.

“How do you separate that image that gets so put out into the world from what we might understand about who [a person is] inside, who they are when they’re completely alone?” >> OBERON SHOWS (IN ASSOC. WITH THE HARVARD DEPT. OF SPECIAL CONCENTRATIONS AND THE HARVARD-RADCLIFFE DRAMATIC CLUB) PRESENTS: OSCAR AT THE CROWN AND THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME. OBERON, 2 ARROW ST., CAMBRIDGE. APRIL 15-17. $15-35. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT AMERICANREPERTORYTHEATER.ORG

PHOTO BY GARRETT ALLEN

MOST BEAUTIFUL WALL ATTACK IN THE PIT EVER

ARTS

PAL’N AROUND WEDNESDAY APRIL 1ST

DRUM FEST 2 WITH JOEY SCRIMA

Get ready for India’s most intelligent stand-up comic

BY BLAKE MADDUX @BLAKESMADDUX

THURSDAY APRIL 2ND

Weds APRIL 1 - 8:30pm

SHOW N SELL ART SHOW

Art by: Soems, Cassandra Santos & Nadia Wescott DJ: Kidd Drunkadelic Genres: Hip Hop, Party Jams, Deep House, NuDisco No Cover | 18+ Thurs APRIL 2 - 10pm

NEAUX MERCI DJ: Crvstmen Genres: Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dirty South $10 | Downstairs | 21+ Fri APRIL 3 - 10pm

SHAKE!

DJs: L-Vis 1990, Helix, Dev/Null Genres: Techno, Bass, House, Club $10 | Downstairs | 21+

DONNA THE BUFFALO PLUS LIZ FRAME & THE KICKERS / VIC DEROBERTIS OF PLAYIN’ DEAD ALT-COUNTRY / JAM

FRIDAY APRIL 3RD 7:30PM

THE WAIT ROCK

FRIDAY APRIL 3RD 10PM WE DIG FREE FRIDAYS PRESENTS

LYNGUISTIC CIVILLIANS & FUNK WAGON HIP-HOP / FUNK

SATURDAY APRIL 4TH

AFTERFAB (BEATLES SOLO YEARS) PLUS HEART ATTACK ACK ACK ACK ACK BEATLES / BILLY JOEL TRIBUTE TUESDAY APRIL 7TH

DOCTOR GRANT’S OPEN MIC $10 PIZZA & PINT SPECIAL

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis

TRIPLE

PLATINUM

Which of your works most closely address that topic of the panel?

The one that really talks about satire in the United States is The President Is Coming, which is a mockumentary in which George W. Bush comes to India and they have a nationwide contest to select a person worthy of shaking hands with him. I found it funny because the person who is going to be selected has to have all the qualities of an Indian person while displaying all-American qualities, and I was always fascinated to learn what those are.

DJs: Durkin, Frank White, Evaredy Genres: Hip Hop, Reggae, Party Jams, Dirty South, Love Trap, Club $5 before 11, $10 after| 21+ Mon APRIL 6 - 7pm

Graduation Party Genres: Open Format Downstairs | 18+ Tues APRIL 7 - 6pm

GAME NIGHT

6:00pm | All Ages with valid ID

DIGBOSTON.C0M

04 01 15 – 04 08 15

20

In the past two decades, Anuvab Pal has gone from Ohio Wesleyan University, to selling financial products, to stand-up comedy shows in his native India. His efforts have resulted in sell-out crowds at home, with The New York Times calling him “India’s most intelligent stand-up comic.” During his downtime, he’s also penned a few Bollywood comedic screenplays, and the time has come for Boston get a taste of what audiences from New York to Mumbai have been hipped to now that he’s performing at Laugh Boston on April 3.

I caught up with him from Austin, where he’s been participating in panels at SXSW, which Pal says feels like going “to some Silicon Valley festival on drugs.”

What was the panel you participated in at SXSW? [“America Meet World: How Global Satirists See Us.”] I talked about how Indians love being loved by America. If we can find the slightest India connection, like if we can get a photo of Jeb Bush eating a chicken tikka masala, they run it all over the media. We just want validation. We just want the Americans to think, “Oh, they fucking love us!”

Sat APRIL 4 - 9:30pm

MMMMAVEN

THANKS FOR COMING OUT AND WELCOME TO YOUR TASTE OF INDIA

Friday April 3rd 10PM We Dig Free Fridays presents

LYNGUISTIC CIVILIANS plus FUNK WAGON Hip-Hop / Funk

Friday April 24th 10PM

AMERICAN SYMPHONY OF SOUL Funk / Soul

Friday May 2nd 10PM We Dig Free Fridays presents

WHISKEY KILL & THE RED PENNYS Rockabilly

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis

Let’s talk about your latest stand-up special, The Empire.

Basically it’s a lot about colonies and empire. I don’t know how that will play to a bunch of drunken people. It’s a lot about how Gandhi was really good at convincing people that didn’t want to fight that they shouldn’t fight. The British understood one kind of revolution, armed revolution, but they had never encountered a guy who just refused to eat. He’s like, “I’m not gonna have a sandwich,” and the British [just] didn’t know how to deal with that stuff.

When and where did you begin performing it live?

My first show of The Empire was September last year. I did 10 of them in Bombay [Mumbai], three in Delhi, and then I took it to Bangalore and a few other cities. Then I went on a tour around India. Then it came to New York; I did one there on March 8. Surprisingly, I haven’t been able to line up some big shows in London, which I would absolutely love to do. That’s next on the agenda, so we’ll see how that goes.

Which is the better way to make a living: selling financial products for Reuters in New York and India or writing and performing comedy?

[Laughs.] I only quit Reuters [after 12 years] when the stand-up started picking up, because I couldn’t manage the traveling.

In hindsight, I really miss having a day job. I miss going someplace, sitting down, working, coming home. I miss the mundane-ness of that. >> ANUVAB PAL. FRI 4.3. LAUGH BOSTON, 425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON. 617-725-2844. 10:15PM/ALL AGES/$25. LAUGHBOSTON.COM

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I think my husband is addicted to porn. I find porn in his browser history almost every single day. He says I’m the only one he wants, but I find that hard to believe knowing he watches nonstop porn before fucking me. He also parties every time he goes on a business trip. Needless to say, I also suspect he cheats. He says he would never cheat on me because he “doesn’t need to.” But what does that mean? I think he is a liar. Every time I even try to bring anything up with him, it is flung back in my face because I cheated on him. He has the ultimate trump card. In his eyes, he can do no wrong because it will never be as bad as me having slept with someone else early in our relationship. Anyway, my question is mostly related to porn: Why does he watch it? I feel as though I am not enough. I am 29 and attractive. What should I do?

Wife Is Feeling Entirely Yucky You should stop looking at your husband’s browser history.

I have no way of knowing exactly what your husband means by “doesn’t need to [cheat],” WIFEY, but here’s the best-case scenario: You’re his only sex partner, he’s totally into you, but like all humans—including wife humans—he’s wired to desire a little

variety and some novelty. No one is “enough” for anyone, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. Which is not to say that everyone cheats (because not everyone does) or that cheating is okay (because it rarely is), but cheating is common enough that forgiving an isolated infidelity (or two) should be our default setting, not immediately lawyering up and filing for divorce. (And truly forgiving someone for cheating means not flinging it in her face during subsequent disputes.)

Back to the best-case scenario: Your husband wants to have sex with other people (and so do you) but he doesn’t (and neither do you). Instead of cheating, WIFEY, your husband scratches that variety itch with porn. He pops into his favorite sites once or twice day, just like millions of other people, but he’s not cheating on you.

(Unless you define viewing porn as cheating—in which case, good luck finding a man who won’t cheat on you.) I would advise you, again, to stop scouring his browser history for evidence of what you already know to be true—your husband is attracted to other people and sometimes looks at porn—and make up your mind to enjoy the effect porn has on your husband, i.e., it revs him up and stokes his desire for you.

Now here’s the worst-case scenario: Your husband is cheating on you, perhaps during those business trips, and “doesn’t need to [cheat]” was an insincere blandishment. But absent some other compelling evidence of cheating—incriminating text messages, mysterious credit-card charges, brand-new STIs—you’re just going to have to take him at his word.

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