June 3rd, 2015

2015 THUS FAR

MUSIC

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STEPHIN MERRITT

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS FRONTMAN HITS THE ROAD WITH 26 SONGS HONEST PINT

DECIDUOUS BREWING

YOUR FIRST ROUNDUP OF THE YEAR, SIX MONTHS IN

NEW NANO BREWERY AND GROWLER HOUSE OPENING NEXT MONTH

GAMES

THE INSATIABLE BLOODBATH THAT HAS ITS HOOKS IN US

Deals!

See page 13 for great deals! www.areyouloopedin.com

速

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Bill Blumenreich Presents

BILL BLUMENREICH PRESENTS

PUSSY RIOT

VOL 17 + ISSUE 22

JUNE 3, 2015 - JUNE 10, 2015

EDITOR Dan McCarthy NEWS, FEATURES + MEDIA FARM EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran CONTRIBUTORS Boston Bastard, Martín Caballero, Paige Chaplin, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Jake Mulligan, Cady Vishniac, Dave Wedge

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

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Nate Andrews Jesse Weiss FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION sales@digpublishing.com

BUSINESS PUBLISHER Jeff Lawrence ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Marc Shepard OPERATIONS MANAGER John Loftus ADVISOR Joseph B. Darby III DigBoston, 242 East Berkeley St. 5th Floor Boston, MA 02118 Fax 617.849.5990 Phone 617.426.8942 digboston.com

ON THE COVER

We don’t always play video games, but when we do, we make sure to make a bloody mess. Read all about Bloodborne for PS4 on page 26. ©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.

June 5

DEAR READER It’s June this week, and yet it feels more like November.

Not just because the weather has taken a weird turn for the cold (although there’s that too), but because at this point the constant lies and mischaracterizations of the official Boston 2024 bid (as opposed to the unofficial one we got a peek at months back, which conveniently omitted the taxpayer-funded aspects of the proposed Games), as well as prohibition cheerleader and hypocritical legal weed opponent Mayor Marty Walsh coming out this week singing his junk science songs about medical cannabis, Mass politics are just aging us all a bit here at DigBoston.

With that in mind, we decided to step back and take a breath, and focus on all that there is to be excited about regarding life in the Hub. Be it our feature, which resurrects an old DigBoston tradition of taking stock of the year while only halfway through it, or tales of new nano-breweries opening along the New Hampshire Seacoast (’tis the season for road trips, what?), or calling your attention to film noir retrospectives shining a light on everything from The Big Lebowski to Inherent Vice, the fact that we’re just officially getting into summer (be sure to keep an eye out for our Summer Preview issue next week) should be reason to take stock of the good stuff, ignore or tolerate the bad, and in the words of Monty Python, just fucking get on with it already.

Happy reading.

Trainwreck Comedy Tour AMY SCHUMER & FRIENDS JUNE 14

T.J. MILLER JUNE 17

Steve Rannazzisi JUNE 21

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW JUNE 22

THE WEEPIES JUNE 26

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES

DAN MCCARTHY, EDITOR

JULY 14

Classic Albums Live: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

DIGTIONARY

PROLYMPITIONIST

JULY 17

noun prō/ˈlimp shuh-nist 1. A politician who is simultaneously for a Boston Olympics but against legal marijuana. A straight, a lame.

TOM SEGURA JULY 18

JOHN HODGMAN

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Tollbooth Collector, Forget about the fact that you make more than I do as an adjunct professor for sitting in a booth and talking on your phone all day. I’m supposed to be a liberal, so I can live with that. Plus with all those fumes I guess that you deserve to be well paid in your few short years on earth. But holy fuck are you generally irksome, if not downright mean. They say practice makes perfect, but that old motto doesn’t apply to making change and handing people money. There are more loose quarters outside of your booth than there is on the ledge in one of those ridiculous treasure games for child gamblers at Chuck-E-Cheese. I would tell you to eat my dust, but it kind of goes without saying.

SEPT 12

DOUG LOVES MOVIES SEPT 12

ANJELAH JOHNSON SEPT 18

ILLUSTRATION BY AMY BOUCHARD

EDITORIAL

JUNE 05

FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.THEWILBUR.COM NEWS TO US

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NEWS US

YUPPIE LIVES MATTER NEWS TO US

The enduring struggle of the residents at 315 on A

BY NATE BOROYAN @NBOROYAN Here is a potential slogan for residents of one particular Fort Point luxury tower to direct at their new property manager: Yuppie Lives Matter.

First lured in by spacious rooms with built-in furniture and posh amenities, the disruptors filling high-end units at 315 on A, seemingly an orgy of 25- to 45-yearold innovators, feel as if the building’s recent sale and changeover in management has left them paying senior rates for sophomore accoutrements. Some of their complaints seem legitimate, especially considering the less-than-savory reputation of the building’s new owners.

Nevertheless, residents leading the charge have done themselves no favors by making hysterical statements in response to controversial access restrictions to the building’s top floor “SkyLounge.”

When EQR–315, an affiliate of Chicago-based apartment company Equity Residential, bought 315 on A for a reported $130.3 million in April, the company put in place its own management team, and that’s where the trouble appears to have started. An email obtained by DigBoston offers a disturbing, first-hand 4

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account of life inside the walls of this correctional facility masquerading as a luxury building for ambitious professionals. Written by a resident of 315 on A and dated May 15, the note was formally addressed to Equity Residential staff (though informally directed to a much more sinister group) …

Dear 315 on A Wardens, It’s only a been a couple short weeks since you’ve taken over the building. While I appreciate that you have quickly fixed many of the issues left by Greystar [the former property management team], creating unnecessary rules is not acceptable.

Said inmate goes on to praise the “Wardens” for implementing a “schedule for the Freight Elevator,” which he hails as an “expected” move by a considerate management team because, after all, “nobody wants to wait 15 minutes to get up to their apartment.” However, the ringleader then throws the gauntlet. “A schedule for renting out the SkyLounge is also expected … it’s a privilege

to use [SkyLounge] for a private gathering, but not at the expense of other residents who share the space.”

How did the so-called wardens respond? They slapped a curfew on SkyLounge privileges, sending angry shockwaves through the building. “[F]orcing us to vacate the common area by midnight is completely illogical,” the perturbed resident cried in a subsequent email, on which many of the 315 on A tenants were copied. “If you are to propose a seemingly senseless mandate such as removing access to the SkyLounge, please provide at least a modicum or rationale.”

Don’t hate on the residents just yet. It turns out the landlord has a rep for infuriating contractees with nickel-and-dime tactics. The 315 on A complaint email was absent any lick of self-awareness, but Equity Residential, a publicly traded apartment company, appears to place money before tenants. “[Equity] isn’t from here,” according to one local real estate player who is familiar with the situation, and who spoke off-the-record in fear YUPPIE LIVES MATTER continued on pg. 6

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YUPPIE LIVES MATTER continued from pg. 4 of professional retaliation. “Equity is a national company that operates like a business. For them, it’s all about the bottom line.”

Equity Residential has properties in 11 states and Washington, DC, and specifically targets “high-quality properties in growth markets.” That ranges from obvious places like New York City, Boston, and San Francisco, to smaller up-andcoming monied areas like Stamford. In total, Equity owns 18 properties across the Commonwealth, including seven in Boston, six in Cambridge, and three along Route 128 in Waltham and Burlington.

At 315 on A, Equity now offers monthly studio, one, and two bedroom leases in the $2,790 to $5,745 range. They’re currently 94 percent occupied, though when online listings with expiring leases are factored in, that percentage falls below 80 percent. In the past, owners have attracted new tenants by offering up to three months of free rent. This practice of sacrificing so much money up front is often seen in real estate as an indication that prices are high. At the same time, even if amenities like overnight lounge access evaporate under Equity’s watch, they’re situated to endure a high turnover by feeding off development in the surrounding Fort Point gold mine.

As for those currently caught in the money pit, you don’t need leaked internal email threads to see that residents are outraged. Equity Residential’s Boston operation is a favorite punching bag for people at least claiming to be tenants and ex-tenants, so much so that their Yelp status is worth mentioning. Behold a sampling of 315 on A reviews: The building itself has been cheapened considerably. They have let the lounge area fall apart. They are considering removing the coffee machine, the pool table cue sticks have been taken away, the grill is never cleaned.

The little things are also becoming noticeable. The area around the building isn’t as clean, things stay broken longer, and it just doesn’t seem like a luxury building anymore (and for $4k a month, it should).

“As for those currently caught in the money pit, you don’t need leaked internal email threads to see that residents are outraged.

Equity Residential’s Boston operation is a favorite punching bag for people at least claiming to be tenants and ex-tenants, so much so that their Yelp status is worth mentioning.”

Equity knows all about the criticism.

“I think it’s just part of the change [in management],” an employee of 315 on A said in a phone interview.

“Change can be tough, but in the past month we’ve gotten a ton of issues resolved that were here prior to us having control of the building.”

A representative from Equity Residential further explained: “The pool table has had its felt repaired and new pool sticks have also arrived.

We are exploring possible options for the coffee machine.”

Meanwhile, some of the dissatisfaction with the Equity way of doing things boiled over in mid-May, starting with the aforementioned community-wide email addressed to the “Wardens.” In laying down demands, the author wrapped up with some big words …

I request that you return the SkyLounge to 24/7 access, effective immediately … I will be “sitting in” the SkyLounge this evening as the clock ticks past our new 12 am curfew. As usual, I will not bother anyone while I am there.

Be warned though, my puppy may offer you a kiss as I’m carried out in shackles by your newly appointed deputies.

Though the note wrapped with a call to “#OccupySkyLounge,” the 315 on A leasing office rep reports that “no protest was staged.” At the end of the day, residents settled things the old-fashioned way—with an online petition. Launched on May 16 by the same 315 on Type A resident who quietly occupied the common room, the wording requests “that new rules limiting access to the Sky Lounge between 12am and 6am be repealed immediately.”

As of this writing, the campaign to “save” the SkyLounge has garnered 62 of the 1,000 signatures needed to reach its goal. The effort hasn’t all been for naught though; at the least, it’s shown that new money on A Street is just as entertaining as retiree money across the bridge at Harbor Towers, where legal action is a contact sport, and where multilateral lawsuits involving everyone— from residents, to contractors, to management—sprout like startups in a tech boom. As one rhetorical opponent of the formidable rabble rouser at 315 on A commented under the doomed petition: “For a dude that has a second bedroom filled with Chuck-e-Cheese balls and blow up rafts it is ironic you would be arguing that you don’t want to be treated like a child. Seriously … it’s probably the obnoxious actions from people like you that are ruining it for all of us.”

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Greater Boston Motor Sports 1098 Mass Ave, Arlington Ma Greaterbostonmotorsports.com 781-648-1300 NEWS TO US

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GUEST MEDIA FARM

WHO IS KEVIN PETERSON?

‘Boston Herald’ columnist who lives in glass house throws boulders

BY JAMARHL CRAWFORD @BLACKSTONIAN Late last month, Boston Herald contributor Kevin Peterson wrote a controversial op-ed titled “Wilkerson angling for a way back into community life.” The focus was on former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, and with its skeptical assessment of her character, spurred much conversation in the Black community. Everyone already knows Wilkerson, whose triumphs and troubles have both been well-documented. But the question is: Who is Kevin Peterson?

Peterson’s Herald credit simply reads, “a senior fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts Boston and founder of the New Democracy Coalition.” But he is so much more.

Peterson has been angling for decades to establish himself as one of Boston’s best and brightest Black leaders. Like many of us, myself included, Kevin is flawed.

And in his case against Wilkerson, he is also hypocritical.

Peterson sets the disparaging tone in his first line: “Former Roxbury state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson is an insatiable political animal whose appetite for power and influence knows no end.” This is problematic out the gate because Kevin is no dummy; he is certainly smart enough to know about the connotations of calling anyone, particularly a Black person, particularly a Black woman, an animal. We have been fighting the animalization of Black people in literature, media, and pop culture for decades.

As a political commentator in the current climate, I would think Peterson would know better. To write such things in the Herald is problematic in and of itself, with the paper’s history of racism and stereotypes, most recently displayed in a cartoon in which a caricature of President Obama appeared using watermelon-flavored toothpaste. Then there are the online comments, in which Herald readers often refer to our community as “the jungle,” and to our people as “animals,” “savages,” and yes, even as “monkeys.”

Peterson is apparently attempting to be seen as an intellectual voice of reason, a behind-the-scenes convener and a major player. Really, though, the Herald, a European

“Peterson has been angling for decades to establish himself as one of Boston’s best and brightest Black leaders. Like many of us, myself included, Kevin is flawed.” monarchy, enjoys a good target on a platter, and Kevin, aiming to please, delivered what he thought to be the head of Dianne. But perhaps it is his head that should be served. Let’s look at some of the dismissive language he resorted to using: “Wilkerson complains constantly, especially about the frailties of black politics in Boston.”

“Despite her past disgraces, Wilkerson deserves credit for pointing out the dysfunction in the black community.”

“Wilkerson plans to release a book later this year documenting her “surreal” life. In it she “names” many in black leadership—including black preachers—who she says forced her out of public life. That’s a bad choice. She should burn the book before it ever sees the light of day.”

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“Wilkerson refuses to go away. But let’s hope her past corrupt habits and ethical lapses are gone forever.”

In summary: Dianne Wilkerson is a disgraced insatiable animal with corrupt habits who is hungry for influence and power, complains constantly, and refuses to disappear. The irony here is plain and simple: The above description more accurately describes Peterson than it does Wilkerson. Let’s start with his appetite for “influence and power” …

Peterson is a former executive director of the Ella J. Baker House, a Dorchester nonprofit, and a protege of Rev. Eugene Rivers. In 2011, Peterson founded the New Democracy Coalition, and has himself appeared in the newspaper long before he started writing columns in the Herald.

In 2005, he was featured prominently in the same publication that now provides a platform for his often skewed opinions.

From an article by former Herald reporter (and occasional DigBoston contributor) Dave Wedge titled, “Trail of Trouble: Election task force boss is a deadbeat dad” …

A non-profit boss tabbed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino to head up a board organized to clean up Boston’s elections is a deadbeat dad currently wanted on a criminal warrant. Kevin C. Peterson, who was appointed by Menino in August to co-chair the Mayor’s Advisory Task Force, owes more than $41,000 in back child support to two women for his two children, according to Department of Revenue records.

Kevin Peterson has also had two restraining orders taken out against him by exgirlfriends, one of whom accused him of abuse. There is also currently a criminal warrant for Kevin Peterson’s arrest out of Dorchester District Court for a host of motor vehicle violations, officials said.

In addition to several motor vehicle charges, Peterson’s rap sheet includes a 2001 rape case in which he was accused of sexually assaulting an ex-girlfriend while she slept. The rape and kidnapping charges were dismissed after a superior court grand jury failed to return an indictment. While the rape case was pending, his accuser told cops Peterson showed up at her house, banging on the window, and called her 66 times.

Peterson says that Wilkerson is “long on complaints,” and sprinkles in comments about her “corrupt habits and ethical lapses” and “past disgraces.” Here’s what Wedge reported one day later, on October 25th, 2005: The Herald has also learned that the “Nonprofit” New Democracy Coalition Peterson founded four years ago has never registered with the secretary of state’s office and is not a registered political organization with the Internal Revenue Service …

Who knew the Herald was this liberal? They actually gave column space to a troubled Black man who they once condemned as a deadbeat dad and woman abuser. On the other hand, here we are with a public assault on arguably

the most important, beloved and effective Black woman ever to hold public office in Massachusetts. Peterson writes, “Wilkerson doesn’t blink when the famous FBI photo of her stuffing bribery cash into her bra is evoked.” I wonder if Peterson blinks at press recountings of his child support violations and restraining orders. I also wonder how much money the New Democracy Coalition has received over the years, and from whom?

I’ve had a troubled past, including going to jail in 1995, being shot in 2004, using drugs, and even being abusive to women in my youth. I have told my story publicly, and used it in attempts to better myself and others. The last woman I put my hands on was when I was 19, and I have since become an anti-domestic violence advocate. The last time I touched cocaine or was in jail was 20 years ago, and I live by a high code of moral and spiritual ethics. As for Wilkerson, Peterson himself quotes her as saying, “I’ve gone around my community and said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I did it, I did it. What they accused me of, I accept it. But I have to move on.” Nevertheless, Peterson accuses her of stopping “short of contrition for past deeds.” It’s ironic, Peterson accusing someone else of lacking remorse, but not nearly as ironic as the fact that his attack ran in the Herald.

Jamarhl Crawford is a community activist and the publisher of the Blackstonian. A version of this column appeared on blackstonian.com.

Untitled-5 1

5/18/15 11:53 AM

BLUNT TRUTH

DOUBLE CROSSING

Downtown business prohibitionists block Boston’s marijuana dispensary

BY MIKE CANN @MIKECANNBOSTON Patriot Care, the medical marijuana dispensary approved for Boston, may be smoked out if influential board members at the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) get their way.

BID is a private nonprofit corporation that aims to improve the neighborhood to their liking. A few years ago, for example, they moved to expel pushcarts, which they believed were eyesores, until then-Mayor Tom Menino came to the carts’ rescue. Think Whitey Bulger in a suit and tie, and with economic sway rather than firepower. The BID board is a who’s who of privileged developers like David Epstein of The Abbey Group and Joseph Larkin of Millennium Partners, and this time their micromanagement entails barring access to Patriot Care, and as a result to its patients. From a BID statement on the matter: “The proposed medical marijuana dispensary at 21 Milk Street is broadly viewed as a business activity that will not advance the neighborhood’s positive momentum.”

David Ertischek, the BID’s communications manager, declined an opportunity to explain how his organization arrived at its conclusion. He also refused to answer questions about the numerous liquor licenses in the neighborhood, and about whether his group has considered studies that disprove the myth that dispensaries have a negative impact on municipalities.

“When Patriot Care presented to the Midtown Cultural District Residents’ Association, the president of the Boston BID, Rosemarie Sansone, had arrived with a decision made prior to the meeting, declaring that the businesses did

not want a registered marijuana dispensary at 21 Milk Street,” says Nichole Snow, executive director of Mass Patients Advocacy Alliance. For her and others (including myself), it’s hard not to take such prejudiced positioning personally. Snow continues: “Had the BID met with the representatives from Patriot Care or waited for a vote after participating in the presentation, I could say otherwise. But for now, it is clear that the Boston BID’s decision to oppose the Patriot Care dispensary has nothing to do with the specific proposal.

It is opposition to medical marijuana in spirit, a stance clearly forbidden by the attorney general’s interpretation of the medical marijuana law … What is upsetting about this is that Patriot Care’s proposal to locate its dispensary at 21 Milk Street could possibly be denied based on arguments not grounded in fact. The truth is that the medical marijuana program in Massachusetts is the most highly regulated in the country, including measures that will prevent any unintended consequences feared by opponents.”

Patriot Care representative Dennis Kunian of The Kunian Group, addressed his frustration in dealing with the BID. “It’s been difficult,” he says. “They would not meet as a group; six or seven of them did meet with us out of the 34 board members and 26 advisors. There

wasn’t any concern for patients expressed. One of their board members, a major developer who I won’t name, thought it was a big joke. Do you think the BID thinks about [somebody] who wants his medicine? No. The BID never mentions patients in their press release. What do they care? They don’t live in the neighborhood, most of them drive home to the suburbs every night. It’s sad because we know the citizens of Boston voted for and want this dispensary to open.”

Adds Kunian, who already has a dispensary operating in Washington, DC, where Patriot Care has yet to turn the neighborhood to fire and brimstone: “We chose this location because it is a crossroads for patients. It was carefully chosen for those that need a location close to public transportation.”

The BID claims, “for such an important issue we have found a lack of guidance, information and transparency from the state and organizations tasked with informing the public about medical marijuana, leaving the public with little opportunity to be heard.”

Meanwhile, Kunian believes that his plan would help improve the Downtown Crossing area. But like BID members, those in a position to facilitate his enterprise at City Hall are not likely to hear his ideas either, as the stubbornness shown by board members is buttressed

by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who, just as this week’s DigBoston went to print, emerged as the potential self-appointed face of opposition to marijuana legalization in Mass.

It’s disappointing that the BID cannot be bothered to offer any basis for their decisions, or even a meeting with those who wish to open in their fiefdom. It’s no surprise though considering that the mayor himself, who is dedicated to assisting substance abusers, is not even willing to get informed about the use of cannabis to help opiate addicts.

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FEATURE

TWO-THOUSAND MIFF’TEEN We assume this is the first roundup of 2015, since it’s only June

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 + DIG STAFF

Much like in America at large, we used to follow tradition at DigBoston. Before these kids showed up with all their EDM and mashed-up rock ’n’ rap noise, there was a time when we would break out chainsaws on the last week of the month and tear Boston’s sociopolitical landscape a you know what so big that it made Howie Carr look like a standard sphincter.

But times change, and with our bringing back long reads in the last few years, we’ve aimed to cultivate more researched and refined ideas in this space, and to keep most of our ranting strictly on the web and in Media Farm. Like ballot measures passed by Massachusetts voters though, unofficial guidelines are meant to be ignored, broken. On that note, here goes the first half-year roundup that you’re likely to read anywhere.

How are we so positive that it’s the first such compendium of political chicanery and headline buffoonery to date? The truth is we don’t actually know for sure, but rather just assume that since we’re only five months into 2015, there’s a good chance that we got a jumpstart on competitors. And while global pandemonium will probably continue through the end of this year and long after, we felt there’s been enough insanity since January—in Boston alone!—to warrant a good old fashioned news dig …

BAKER’S HALF-DOZEN

It was approximately five minutes after we voiced our early fawning approval of new Mass Governor Charlie Baker that he went ahead and irreparably disappointed us. Like so many others, we’d fallen for the good guy charade, what with him personally helping plow us through the snow drifts in his understated, outdoorsy man gear. Not long after that, however, Baker unsnapped his blue-collar winter threads and finally revealed his Republican stripes, most notably by calling for reviews of every state regulation that exceeds federal protections, which are often tragically inadequate. Translation: The new gov wants to undo generations of hard-fought standards—from air-quality to workplace-safety regulations—that his number-crunchers arbitrarily deem an “unnecessary cost, burden, and complexity.”

Don’t kid yourself: This news, despite failing to register as more than a blip on the radar beyond some initial coverage, is potentially massive, state-shatteringly epic. For example, as reported in the Boston Globe, the Commonwealth’s “environmental protection agency

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has named 432 species … as ‘threatened’ or of ‘special concern,’” while “the federal government lists only 24 of those species.” Of course, it’s hard to be upset about a percolating deregulatory bonanza when, according to the National Journal, Charlie Baker is America’s most popular pol. In any case, you may want to brace for the storm …

SNOW GOIN’ BACK

Did we mention that it snowed? Did you notice? Of course you did, and now instead of being buried between banks of stalagmites and deceptively slick patches of sidewalk, you’re stuck in a conversational and media matrix that is already obsessing over next winter’s flurries. But wait … there’s more …

On the prevention and policy side of extreme weather, the good news is we’re approximately two million ideological miles away from Texas, where climate scientists who mention warming oceans are beheaded and ground into hamburger to feed bloodthirsty national guardsmen. In Boston, Mayor Walsh

has assumed a number of seemingly superficial poses, like the “What’s Your Question” truck, a postmodern metropolitical hipster suggestion box on wheels. But his administration’s various efforts to economize and green the Hub add up to much more than a token gesture—from Boston winning top accolades from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, to the city’s spearheading a “regional agreement to establish a common policy framework throughout the Metro Boston area to prepare for climate change.”

For these reasons, plus the fact that Walsh enjoys spectacular public approval ratings in spite of the disdain with which many progressives increasingly view him, environmental activists have largely left his City Hall alone, mostly focusing on campus protests north of the river. If you’re not paying attention to environmental justice crusaders at Tufts and Harvard, or to any of the other students who are occupying buildings and setting examples for their peers nationwide, then five years from now, when even your grandparents are divesting from fossil fuels, you don’t get to pretend you always knew.

OLYMPIC CHEER

Though some were skeptical at first, the bid to host the 2024 Olympics in Boston has become the rallying point and beacon of unity the city needs. Following a series of productive forums in which members of the public contributed ideas about how the Games might spur sustainable development, organizers

then proceeded with a plan so positively transparent that even many early critics joined the chorus. Wowed by the prospect of having a dressage stadium in Franklin Park, countless members of the Mattapan and Dorchester communities have taken to worshipping at the altar of Suffolk Construction magnate John Fish, who has been hailed by friends and foes alike as a wizard of media relations for his work in swaying public opinion on the Olympics. At City Hall, the fervor over 2024 has also helped boost confidence in the leadership of Marty Walsh, whose support has already been hailed as his best political move of the year. One thing’s clear: As he’s demonstrated in his dealings with supporters, the mayor’s foremost concern is for the welfare of Bostonians, and as such he would never permit any blatant lies or deceptions on the part of Olympic organizers.

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BALL SACK

There’s nothing left to say about “Deflategate� that hasn’t already been sleazed, no pathetic tabloid puns left unmolested about the unfortunate incidents that crashed down on the Patriots after another winning season. For those and fairly obvious other reasons, we’ll just acknowledge that while there have always been lots of opinions on this green earth, and while we all knew for certain that there are also lots of assholes, not until Tom Brady got caught cheating did we realize just how many assholes with opinions exist among us. This place stinks. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. Unless, of course, you nailed the point spread on the Super Bowl last year. In that case, go New England!

PATS LIVES MATTER

Since we’re on the topic of football and the good it does for the community, it’s worth noting that $850,000 went to Boston Police Department overtime for protest rallies and marches in the last fiscal year, while slightly more than that ($886,000) went to OT for the Super Bowl victory parade. It’s clear that politicians and radio talkers (particularly those on the sports end of the dial) who decry the calls of demonstrators have no qualms about looking like hypocritical jackasses, but their contempt for people of color who live in a violent police state is evident in their silent approval of a football celebration at all costs.

Since a lot of media neglects to realize just how utterly perverted it is to let cops and officials dictate the costvalue analysis of protests, allow us to explain, since the first half of 2015 saw irresponsible revisionist histories galore, all of which threaten to compromise the legacy of movements currently erupting against state violence: Applauding the police for handling protests without using force is like complimenting firefighters for not looting burning homes.

We don’t thank chefs for not spitting in the salad dressing (though perhaps we should). The fact is there are many irresponsible and even sadistic cops—we need not remind you of the Globe’s reporting about DUI coverups for department members, or of the seemingly unchecked bad apple who is charged with stealing a car from his Uber driver and then verbally accosting him with racial slurs before fleeing the crime scene.

There’s been some progress so far this year in the realm of relationships between residents of the Hub’s most vulnerable neighborhoods and the cops who patrol their streets. But until more responsible officers acknowledge problems in their own ranks in the same way they wish more folks in communities of color would identify assailants after violent crimes occur, there’s likely to be more of the same mutual distrust and, looking forward, perhaps an even bigger budget for overtime policing of protests.

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POT SHOTS

Did somebody say “marijuana?� Oh, that’s right, everybody did. Because it’s 2015, and more than half of Massachusetts voters support legalization of some strain or another. Meanwhile, thanks to diligent reporting by MassLive and others, we learned over the past few months that despite collecting more than $3 million in licensing and application fees from dispensary hopefuls, as well as registration charges from more than 7,000 patients, the state miraculously managed to run a deficit of $1.17 million on its medical marijuana program in FY2015. To put that in perspective, it’s like telling a friend that you’re going to wash his car for $10, then taking $15 out of his wallet, stealing his Camaro, and driving off a cliff with your head out the sunroof.

We could rant for days about the nightmare that the dispensary implementation process has been; Governor Baker has pledged to get things up and running, but his predecessor, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, managed to slow the burgeoning industry to a standstill, and the damage won’t be easily undone. Overall, one’s view of progress on the cannabis front rests largely on whether one is a pot optimist or a jar-is-half-empty type. As you read this, Bay Staters are anticipating their first dispensary, Alternative Therapies Group in TWO-THOUSAND MIFF’TEEN continued on pg. 12 NEWS TO US

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TWO-THOUSAND MIFF’TEEN continued from pg. 11

Boston’s Best Irish Pub

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Salem, while Red Sox broadcaster legend Bob Lobel has opened doors for the movement by lending his voice to the fight against prohibition. At the same time, a Downtown Crossing businesses association is fighting to keep a facility out of Boston. Go figure.

With unsubstantiated taboos running amok, we recently saw the MBTA turn away advertising dollars from the Northeastern Institute of Cannabis (Ed. note: Being slightly less selective, we have done business with NIC, while News + Features Editor Chris Faraone teaches at the institute). None of this should come as a surprise, considering that transit officials allowed ad revenue to shrink from roughly $21.6 million in 2005 to $16.2 million in 2015. Nevertheless, the fact that the T is turning down much-needed cash is worth pondering next time your face is buried in some vagrant’s armpit on a frozen Red Line that, even though you have to go inbound to Downtown Crossing, you chose to ride from Porter out to Alewife praying that you’d luck into a seat on a returning inbound train before it inevitably got too crowded for comfort around Harvard Square.

WILL BE (MOSTLY) MISSED

We’re still recovering from all the idiotic comments that polluted Facebook during the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but it’s hardest to shake off those that came from less enlightened friends during the sentencing portion.

The whole ordeal taught all of us a lot about ourselves and our city, but who knew the most frightening revelation would be that the dolt posting Fox News infographics may one day be the juror weighing your fate?

Rather than a constant stream of buzz throughout the trial, spurts of coverage dominated occasional news cycles; take, for example, when Tsarnaev showed emotion in the courtroom, or when he raised his middle finger to a jailhouse security camera, effectively accomplishing his goal of rattling Americans. Beyond the courthouse though, there was a relatively positive vibe and much camaraderie around the Boston Marathon this year—even as the trial prodded old wounds, and as uncomfortable tangential stories registered …

Take the sad loss of Forum on Boylston Street, outside of which one of the bombs exploded in April 2013. There are many explanations for why a restaurant or retail establishment may shutter, but in Boston, the problem generally hovers near the intersection of skyrocketing property costs and long spans of arctic temperatures. Forum was among innumerable economic casualties; across the bridge in Central Square, this year brought news that indie venue T.T. the Bear’s Place will go dark after more than 30 years in business. The shit list goes on; not even the old guard or chains are immune. Even Pizzeria Regina’s parent company filed for bankruptcy. All this while sudsy independent restaurants across the region shiver in their booths anticipating the ways in which the state will punish them for overcharging breweries to get their beers on tap. And speaking of pay-to-play shenanigans, up on Beacon Hill …

DEVAL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

A lot of Dig readers are, how do we politely say this, less than old? We’re not knocking anyone for their youth, but it’s true, some of you are quite young, it is a fact of life. And of marketing surveys. That’s why we attempt to explore issues that affect people across a significant spectrum, whereas mainstream outlets tend to cater news to Baby Boomers and whoever else isn’t buried in college loans. With that said, we are as guilty as the worst of them for forgetting that securing and maintaining health coverage in this state can be as nightmarish for Generation X and Yers as it’s been for seniors for ages. In an attempt to scoop up yet another massive turd left on his legislative lawn by ex-Governor Patrick, Charlie Baker is overhauling systems and swinging a blade through bureaucratic blubber. For the time-being though, that means a whole lot of waiting … and waiting … and waiting on the phone to speak with operators who are ill-equipped to navigate the state Health Connector.

The good news? Those who don’t die of adverse reactions to the Mass Health hold music may not have to worry about their well-being after all. Nor should anybody be concerned about the metamorphosis of Boston, where in 2015 the average one-bedroom rents for more than $2,000 a month. As it turns out, Johnny Depp is bringing old school Southie back, the Black Mass trailer burning up social media. With Wahlburgers sprouting outposts from Las Vegas to Canada and so much Olympic excitement in the air, we may be living in a world class city by the time we have to write a year-end round-up for real.

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DEPT. COMMERCE EATS

BY THE NUMBERS

Deliciously investigating the longawaited opening of bisQ in Cambridge

BY DIGSTAFF @DIGSTAFF It took almost two years for Keith Pooler’s bisQ, serving inventive American cuisine with inspiration from international flavors, to open. And on Saturday night, it finally did.

Short for “Bergamot in Inman Square,” (and apparently suffering from “swollen q” syndrome), bisQ joins a growing roster of solid chef-driven locales that are the extensions or siblings to other venues in town. The small plates and cozy quarters (date night suggestion: Grab one of the corner booths in the back bar) saw droves of people pour in during launch night, and we got to see the action.

Below, bisQ opening night dinner, by the numbers.

GRILLED TO BE HERE

Rosebud American Kitchen vet John Delpha wants you to make killer grilled pizza this summer

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF John Delpha cut his grilled pizza teeth at Al Forno, the Providence, RI, spot credited for inventing it. So it goes without saying that the man makes a hell of a fine grilled pizza.

And now, with the release of Grilled Pizza The Right Way (Page Street Publishing Co., $19.99), a book of over 100 pizzas from breakfast to dessert, and everything in between, he’s sharing the wealth.

You might never have sampled the American beauty that is grilled pizza created by someone like Delpha—who is, as local restaurant kingpin Ken Oringer called him in the intro to the book, “a master of two words that normally don’t collide”— in which case, you, friend, are sorely missing out.

Sure, you could hit Rosebud American Kitchen and Bar (which he opened after he finished writing the book) for one of his grilled pies. But summer means grilling at home (where applicable), and courtesy of the book’s simple instructions and gorgeous foodporn photography, you could easily give it a stab at home. So I talked to Delpha for some thoughts, and tips, on a range of pizza-related topics that you may use as you see fit.

Where did your grilled pizza love start?

When I was at Al Forno, that’s definitely when I was introduced to them. I love the vibrancy and freshness, the whole way the smokiness comes together on the dough and the vibrant toppings you put on the pizza. It’s one of those pizzas you don’t overload, so it has a particular lightness but packs a lot of flavor.

Let’s talk dough. From scratch or store-bought okay in a pinch?

I have a dough recipe in the book I’ve been using for about 12 years. So it’s a pretty solid dough recipe.

I’m very happy with it, and it gives a very consistent pizza crust. [But] I’ve done plenty of successful pizzas with store-bought dough. You know it’s all based on what the supermarket carries. I’ve often just gone with the simplest ones I can find.

Real fire vs gas?

It varies. Live fire cooking with charcoal or wood coal, you’re getting a little essence of that smoke and smell coming off. If you incorporate a little wood into your charcoal grill you can impart some of that smoke flavor, but I’ve had success going with both. I clearly prefer the live fire, but I did pizzas for the book on a gas grill to show it could be done.

What’s a key pizza for someone living in an apartment, say in Allston or something, to try at home?

One that’s easy is there are good BBQ joints over in Allston … get some great pulled pork from one of them, and some basic tomato sauce and BBQ sauce, and some sliced red onions and scallions. With just that [and dough], you can put a delicious grilled pizza together really quickly.

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Chefs spotted working in the sleek, functional kitchen on display: 6

Bottles of wine that have been chopped and turned into an ornate, quasiretro chandelier in the back: 35+

Items served on the mixed charcuterie board: 6

Percent chance that a cleaver was used to make the chandelier: .0000001 Minutes it took to fill the 49-seat spot from front to back after the doors opened: 15 Beards and flannel shirts observed on the same body: 5+ Number of sliders that come with San Augustín sanguiches: 2 Number of those that come with sizzling pork belly: 2 Times some variation on the words “Mm, that’s damn good gazpacho” were heard floating in the air: At least 3 Times those words were spoken by someone at our table. 2

Number that were a chicken-pate-ish take on “ants on a log”: 1 Number of colored sand vials held in the “perfect tea timer” hourglass contraptions the staff hand you with your tea: 3 Minutes you should seep tea to make it strong: 5 Glasses of wine to cups of tea consumed during investigation: 3:1 Number of items on menu that are aphrodisiacs: 2 Number of those with names employing large jungle cat metaphors: 1 Number of times blurting out “I just ate a bunch of conch shell Tiger’s Milk ceviche, let’s sex” will in fact get you laid: 1 (if you’re lucky)

What do you want people to get out of the book?

I’d say first thing to make sure you practice it first before having friends over for dinner. Second, when beginning, so you don’t get frustrated, move along and go through a bunch of pizzas in the book but keep simple at first. Do that, and you should have no problem having success.

>> GRILLED PIZZA THE RIGHT WAY. $19.99 NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. GET A TASTE OF HIS PIES AT ROSEBUD AMERICAN KITCHEN AND BAR. 381 SUMMER ST., SOMERVILLE. ROSEBUDKITCHEN.COM 14

Number of cleavers in blocks of wood spotted from the back bar: 1

>> BISQ. 1071 CAMBRIDGE ST., CAMBRIDGE. 617.714.1693.

BISQCAMBRIDGE.COM

GRILLED PIZZA PHOTOS COURTESY YC MEDIA | BISQ PHOTO COURTESY 451 MARKETING

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DAWG GONE DOGS Wednesday’s June 3rd – 24th 5-11pm

MENU CHILI CHEESE DOG

Wicked good chili cheddar cheese scallions tater tots

HOT DOG SLIDERS

America cheese grilled potato roll fried egg hand cut fries

WINDY CITY

Mustard tomato onions sport peppers neon relish celery salt onion rings

BAHN MI WEENIE

Asian sausage crispy vegetables Red curry mayo cilantro baguette fried wontons

TWO PIGS IN A BLANKET

Bacon wrapped jack cheese diced tomato avocado mayo chicharrones

GERMAN SHEPHERD

Beer steamed knockwurst Swiss sauerkraut mustard pretzel roll potato salad

ROAD DOG

Smoked hot dog pulled pork coleslaw crispy onions fried pickles

CORNDOG

Battered fried hot dog on a stick honey mustard sauce hand cut fries

MAGOUNSSALOON OLDEMAGOUNSSALOON

518 Medford St. Somerville magounssaloon.com 617-776-2600 16

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HONEST PINT

GROWTH STAGE

New NH brewery and Napa-esque tasting room opening on the Seacoast this July

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF Two years ago, Frank and Maryann Zagami were visiting one of their favorite beer bars in Hampton, NH, Blue Lobster Brewing Company, when they crossed paths and became friends (later partners) with brewer Dave Sakolsky. The trio is behind Deciduous Brewing Company, the new craft brewery and tasting room launching this July in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

The husband and wife team had already been chewing on the idea of getting in on the craft beer game. Obsessives for New England suds, the couple planned camping excursions with their kids around exploring small breweries, squeezing a visit or two in along the way. After an intelligence-gathering sojourn to the beer cities of Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, they were now on the hunt for someone from inside the brewing world to possibly partner up with so they could get their own brewery off the ground.

It was at Blue Lobster that Sakolsky forged his brewing chops after a series of impressive residencies under the tutelage of seasoned pros. First came a sixmonth stint at White Birch Brewing in 2011, followed by an apprenticeship under Shaun Hill, owner and brewmaster of the much hyped (for good reason) Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont. All the while he continued with his homebrewing projects focusing on crisp, delicate flavor profiles.

“Maryann and I had a love of craft beer and wanted to get into the industry, and we’re all pretty uncompromising,” says Frank Zagami. “When it comes down to what we wanted, we talked to Dave one day, and things just went on from there. Last fall everything came together, and here we are.”

Deciduous will produce under 2,000 barrels per year, placing them in the nanobrewery category as defined by NH state law, while the tasting room with fireplace lounge and growler filling station will fuel the product lifespan in the beginning.

Additionally they already have keg commitments with bars in Maine (Kittery, York, Portland), and New Hampshire (Portsmouth, Concord, Newmarket), and Zagami and Sakolsky say they plan to have test batches out on or around the Fourth of July weekend, with the retail shop opening around the same timeframe.

“We’ll have some stuff out on draft potentially; it depends on how this test batch goes of course,” says Sakolsky. “But if it goes well we’ll put out what we have of it on draft. That will be before the tasting room is open. As long as everything is golden with the test batch we’re going to put everything we got in here and open the tasting room.”

Located 10 minutes to downtown Portsmouth, and right along the central Newmarket drag for nightlife, the tasting room will provide four-ounce tasters of the beers—with styles ranging from a Table American Pale Ale, to a simple dry hopped Blonde Ale, to a Wheat IPA and a smoked dry Porter—as well as 750ml corked and caged bottles. There will also be 750ml and two-liter growler fills as well.

“We want it to be vineyard style, where you have a tasting room to come in and be comfortable, and try great beer,” says Zagami. “But it’s not a bar where you can come in and get drunk. We don’t serve you enough beer to do that. We’ll give you plenty to go home with.”

Sakolsky says they’ll be on a cycle spitting out a new beer or batch every other week once the barrels and production process are up and running, and have a nice full cellar looking at around 800 barrels a year. But the idea, as the brewery name suggests, is constant growth and cyclical change. That will involve a whole lineup of 100-percent red beers and red saisons, Russian imperial stouts, as well as a progressive in-barrel bacteria program.

When asked if the process of getting a brewery open from the ground up has illuminated the formerly shadowy inner workings of the American craft beer movement, both Zagami and Sakolsky are quick to laugh and shrug it off.

“The whole ‘craft beer movement’ is dictating a fad, not anything else,” says Sakolsky. “Everything is a ‘movement’ these days. If a bunch of people get together and do similar things it’s a ‘movement.’ Has nothing to do with movement or popularity. It’s nice for business, and we like the popularity, but it wouldn’t change a whole lot for us if people didn’t. We just like what we do, and we chose to do it.” >> DECIDUOUS BREWERY. 12 WEAVER ST., SUITE B, NEWMARKET, NH. FOR MORE INFORMATION, FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER, OR VISIT FACEBOOK.COM/DECIDUOUSBREW

REAL FOOD every night TILL' CLOSE 9 2 H A MP S HIR E S T, CA MB 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

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ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

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WED 6.3

WED 6.3

THURS 6.4

FRI 6.5

SUN 5.31

TUE 6.9

Hungry Mother Closing

Taste of Somerville 2015

Boston Bit Fest 3: OTAKU Like Me

Glitterotica 2: Revenge of the Glitter

Soggy Po’Boys Sundays at Belly

John Waters at Coolidge Corner Theatre

Call this more of a monthlong PSA: Hungry Mother, that longtime staple of Southern-inspired chow (via James Beard award-winning chef Barry Maiden), is closing its doors a month from now on July 3. So if you’ve been and want a last helping of Wild Virginia Catfish with cornbread, get moving. If you haven’t, and you suddenly see a rash of people running in packs and crying out for cornbread, now you know why.

Your Wednesdays typically don’t involve sampling from over 60 of Somerville’s most awesome restaurants (Kirkland Tap and Trotter, Highland Kitchen, Saloon), bars (The Independent, The Burren), and breweries (Aeronaut, Somerville) for two hours of gluttony and supporting the local business. At least not in one place. But your average Wednesday also doesn’t involve the Taste of Somerville, where a ticket will get you all that. Food comas free of charge.

Boston Bit Fest. You know it. You love it. Besides the nerd-tastic partying, there are local retailers and vendors (High Energy Vintage, Replay’d, Dapper Pixel gaming-inspired apparel). And they’re back with a special two-night celebration at Night Shift Brewing in Everett. All the vintage arcade games are back, with new food trucks, “Best of the Worst Fighting Game Challenge” hosted by the Run Button Youtubers, and, of course, suds from Night Shift.

Once glitter is on you or in your clothes, it’s never coming out. Fact.

Which is probably why the Glitterotica 2 show leans towards a lack of clothing with the burlesque performances, while the dance, drag, spoken word performances just do their thing as well. Live music courtesy of Walter Sickert and others, and there’s even live drawings via Zombie Romance—which, if that’s an indicator of what’s to come with the drawing, we’re already a fan.

They say a couple sawbucks can’t get you much these days. And whoever “they” are, they’re right. Unless you’re talking about Sundays now through September at Belly and neighboring sister spot The Blue Room in Kendall.

There, $16 gets you on the patio for a choice of bites (bluefish po’boys or Andouille sausage) and drink (tall boys, Missa’s Voodoo Punch), and to catch the live eight-piece NOLA band, and whatever other adventures such things may lead to.

Things Tuesdays most often present you with: not much.

They’re Tuesdays. All they do is open for Wednesdays, and opening for Wednesdays is a tall order. But this coming Tuesday presents the opportunity to catch the master of all things taboo, weird, hilarious, trashy, and thinly mustachioed, John Waters, who’s reading from his road trip book, Carsick, which is about hitchhiking across America from Baltimore to San Francisco with a sign that says “I’m Not Psycho.” Shut up and take our money.

Hungry Mother.

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., Cambridge. For more information, visit hungrymothercambridge.com

Taste of Somerville.

Davis Sq., Somerville.

5:30-7:30pm/all ages/$50.

For more information, visit tasteofsomerville.com

NightShift Brewery.

87 Santilli Hwy., Everett.

5-11pm/21+/$5 donation.

Also open 6.5. For more information, visit bostonbitfest.com

Oberon. 2 Arrow St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$15-30.

For more information, visit americanrepertorytheatre. org

Belly + The Blue Room.

1 Kendall Sq., Cambridge.

4-9pm/21+/$16. For more information, visit bellywinebar.com

Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

6-7pm/18+/$5 or free with book purchase at Brookline Booksmith. For more information, visit booklinebooksmith.com

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PHOTO BY ERIC “POPS” ESTEVES

CITIZENS SEEM TO BE REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE OF THE MYTHICAL BLACK BEAST IN THE STREETS OF THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS.

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

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19

MUSIC

ALPHABET SONGS

MUSIC

The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt on his 26-song tour

Contortionists and musicians hijack the Middle East upstairs

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

TWIST AND SHOUT

I’M STARTING TO REGRET THIS INDUSTIAL LOFT HOUSE DESIGN Stephin Merritt doesn’t just walk to the beat of his own drum. He built the drum himself and then trashed it for a notebook filled with Cambridgeside quirks. Now he’s getting back to his roots by showing every letter of the alphabet some love.

The Magnetic Fields’ frontman only wears brown clothing, brings the same flat cap to every show, and has the driest stage personality of any rock musician out there. This month, he’s setting out on a rare solo tour for which, accompanied by long-time bandmate Sam Davol on cello, he will present acoustic versions of selected songs from his extensive catalog.

The setlist is exactly 26 songs long, and each title starts with a different letter of the alphabet. Naturally, they run in alphabetical order.

“The choice was a lot easier for the X and the Z parts of the show because I only have two songs for each,” Merritt explains. “I, on the other hand, was difficult because I have, of course, an entire album of songs that begin with the letter I.” He’s careful not to mention the I song he chose. In fact, he refuses to list any songs off the setlist. “If there’s no surprise, then the fact that it’s just 26 songs becomes a countdown,” he says. “There’s no rhythm.”

We’re talking over the phone while he packs his suitcase. So far he has a few books, some outfits, and a 10-year-old wooden metronome. “That’s all I need,” he says, explaining the last item is for one of the songs. “We’re doing the same set everyday; that way we have some chance of doing them well.”

His eight-string ukulele will bring the obscurities to life, many of which fans have been dying to hear live ever since the Magnetic Fields released the band’s debut LP in 1991. “Since it’s a Stephin Merritt tour and not a Magnetic Fields tour, I don’t feel like I have to play any hits,” he says.

He knows every single song he wrote, but that doesn’t mean he’s more likely to take requests. Merritt needs his lyrics in front of him. “The single restriction is when we did 69 Love Songs live at the Somerville Theatre,” he says. “The audience applauded for so long that we had to do something, so we did our famous cover of John Cage’s ‘4’33”.’” Of course, this is Stephin Merritt.

Any other response to fans in a state of nonstop praise would have been out of the ordinary for an already unordinary man. >> STEPHIN MERRITT W/ ACLU BENEFIT. TUE 6.9. THE SINCLAIR, 52 CHURCH ST., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/18+/$30. SINCLAIRCAMBRIDGE.COM

MUSIC EVENTS WED 6.3

SOUL MEETS ELECTRIC LITTLE DRAGON + ODESZA + DJ SOSUPERSAM [House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston, 7pm/18+/$25-40. houseofblues.com]

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THU 6.4

JERSEY FOLK-PUNK THE FRONT BOTTOMS + LVL UP [Cuisine En Locale, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. 7pm/all ages/$16. cuisineenlocale.com]

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FRI 6.5

BRIGHT EYES SONGS PLZ CONOR OBERST + LADY LAMB + LARKIN POE

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston, 7pm/all ages/$25-35. houseofblues.com]

‘WITNESS’ 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY MODERN LIFE IS WAR

[Middle East Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave., Cambridge.

8pm/18+/$16. mideastclub.com]

>> DOOM LOVER W/ CORDELIA & THE BUFFALO, MATTHEW CONNOR. FRI 6.5. MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 480 MASS AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 617.864.3278.

8PM/18+/$10. MIDEASTOFFERS.COM

TUE 6.9

WED 6.10

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 7pm/18+/$30. sinclaircambridge.com]

[Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston.

8pm/all ages/$39-49. bluehillsbankpavilion.net]

LITERALLY THE MAGNETIC FIELDS STEPHIN MERRITT + SAM DAVOL + ACLU BENEFIT

MODERN DAY KATE BUSH FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE + EMPRESS OF

STEPHIN MERRITT PHOTO BY MARCELO KRASILCIC

Free your hands. This Friday, the Middle East Upstairs will host enough artistic talent to keep you juggling far past midnight.

On June 5, Doom Lover is throwing the band’s second-ever vaudeville show. The rock act has now turned its attention to out-ofstate music, performance art, and comedy for a single show of creativity overload, promising a game changer that disrupts typical boring formats in favor of nonstop entertainment— and it only costs $10.

“We think people deserve more than to just stand and watch the same show they’ve been going to for years, so we’ve created an experience that is unique unto itself,” says guitarist and singer Jeffrey Vachon.

He’s not kidding. In addition to three rising local acts—Matthew Connor, Cordelia & the Buffalo, and his own band, Doom Lover—the event’s planners have booked poet Jade Sylvan, comedian Lillian Devane, and contortionist Dorothy Louisos (really).

The idea came about after Doom Lover scheduled a show for February 28—the anniversary of the first vaudeville theater being opened in America. This wasn’t just a flyer gimmick. It was a theatrical rock band finding the perfect excuse to return to its roots.

Louisos was handpicked straight from Dr. Bones’ Circus of Marvels, a local group of circus sideshow performers and human marvels. “One act in her repertoire is known as the sword basket; you can probably imagine what that is,” Vachon says of the Guinness World Records holder. “We aren’t going to have any swords at our show, but I’d expect to be amazed by Dorothy from the get-go.”

Doom Lover is planning on dropping their most ambitious set to date—musically, thematically, and theatrically. Expect lots of surprises. That doesn’t just go for audience members, but for the band, too. “I’m also very excited to see what Jade Sylvan is going to do,” says Vachon, “as they’ve kept it a surprise even to me.”

CIGARETTES ©2015 SFNTC (2)

261 MAIN ST., WORCESTER, MA

JUST ANNOUNCED! SAT. JUNE

20

CENTRAL SQ. CAMBRIDGE, MA

THU. JULY

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

WED. JULY

DOWNSTAIRS

16

22 SAT. AUG.

1

FRI. AUG.

7

SAT. AUG.

8

THURS 6/4

LEEDZ PRESENTS

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HEAD NORTH THURSDAY, JUNE 25 6/12 6/12 6/13 6/13 6/26 6/26 8/13 8/13 9/18 9/18 10/10 10/10

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FILM

OBNOXIOUS CROWE-ING Aloha is a long ways off, in more ways than one

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

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THURSDAY JUNE 11TH THROUGH SATURDAY JUNE 13TH

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“It’s like if Annie Dillard had her own show on HGTV.” —THE MILLIONS

HAMMER HEAD The Making of a Carpenter

We could call Aloha a date movie. After all, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone hook up amid Hawaiian-set romantic shenanigans. But that would require us to ignore the large swath of its running time dedicated to pseudo-satirical political intrigue, which includes (but isn’t limited to!) Chinese hackers commandeering a satellite sent into space by an uber-rich Bill Murray (and he’s outfitted it with a secret nuclear weapon) only for Cooper’s military-employed engineer to save mankind by destroying it (by way of hacking the device and forcing the emittance of a massive sound file that contains the entirety of recorded audio).

The film is written and directed by Cameron Crowe (Say Anything, Almost Famous), which explains the pop-music-saves-the-world scenario. But the rest is something I’m not sure even he could explain. The political intrigue happens independent of Stone, whose character is incredibly both a fighter pilot (yet we never see her flying) and a quarter Hawaiian (her origins are used to cover up corny faux-spiritual dialogue). She is quick to coo at Cooper’s cynical nature mawkishly, and about the all-encompassing spiritual presence of “the sky” (under the guise of regional awareness).

Then there’s a whole other happening on the film’s margins, where Cooper meets up with the one who got away (Rachel McAdams), who’s since started a family with a mostly mute military pilot (John Krasinski). Cooper hurt her maliciously, and now she’s torn between the relief she feels seeing him again and the anger she feels toward him for being an asshole. Most of the film is artlessly sunny and overlit to excess, looking like a cheap painting you might find for sale at a beachfront souvenir shop. It’s telling that these nuanced, ruggedly acted domestic moments—like a long take that shoots Cooper within the mesh of a screen entrance—are the only ones captured with an audacious eye.

So in those rare digressions when we get away from the Strangelove stuff, the Stone flirtations, and the half-assed cultural tourism, we’re rewarded with an earnestly performed melodrama. But even that’s subject to the way that the film randomly enters in and out of a farcical tone. Not even on a subplot-by-subplot basis—just whenever Crowe feels like it. Stone will walk to and fro in front of a door, Benny Hill-style, only to enter and have an otherwise natural conversation. And the lingering anxiety between Cooper and Krasinski can be solved with a metatextual flourish (subtitles for their thoughts) after an hour of immutable anguish.

This is not even to mention that occurrences that could serve as the basis for entirely separate films—like Cooper learning that the girl McAdams has been raising for more than a decade is actually his daughter—come and go at random, appearing and disappearing as quickly as Crowe’s signature dad-rock soundtrack cuts. To call his film and its schizophrenic structure “bad” is to stop short.

Aloha has the disorienting effect of some hard drugs: You leave the theater in a daze, wondering what happened, and trying to remember if you were ever enjoying it. >> ALOHA. RATED PG-13. NOW PLAYING EVERYWHERE.

FILM EVENTS FRI 6.5

NINA MACLAUGHLIN

ALTMAN’S COMIC MUSICAL MASTERPIECE NASHVILLE

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/R/$7-9. http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

CHILDREN OF THE ’90S, TAKE NOTE HEAVY WEIGHTS

B W. W. NORTON & COMPANY

Independent Publishers Since 1923 • Wherever Books are Sold 22

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[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

11:59pm/PG/$11.25. Also open Sat 6.6. coolidge.org]

SAT 6.6

MORE ROBERT ALTMAN ETHNOGRAPHY KANSAS CITY

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 9pm/R/$7-9. http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa] SUN 6.7

TWO SILENT FILMS AT THE SOMERVILLE PLAY SAFE and SHOW PEOPLE

[Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

2pm/NR/$12-15. omervilletheatreonline.com/ somerville-theatre]

MON 6.8

PRESENTED BY DIRECTOR CHARLIE AHEARN

WILD STYLE

[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

7pm/R/$11.25. coolidge.org] TUES 6.9

SUNSHINE NOIR PRESENTS THE OUTSIDE MAN

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

4:45 + 7:15pm/PG/$9-11. brattlefilm.org]

NEWS TO US

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FILM

NOIR TIME

Inherent Vice and the Brattle’s Sunshine Noir series

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

HONEY ... WHO’S LEGS ARE THOSE ON THE COUCH? This week at the Brattle, the detective movie gets some color. The Sunshine Noir series screens films fulfilling the crime yarn standards of the likes of James Cain and Raymond Chandler, while also taking place in the white-hot streets of a Los Angeles lit brightly—no moody shadows—by the beating California sun.

The lineup alone lets you know we’re miles from the asphyxiating dread we’ve come to associate with the genre. The Big Lebowski will play (Sat. 6.6), with its screwball charm. As will Altman’s The Long Goodbye (Sun. 6.7), a counterculture-spun adaptation that makes a conceptual joke of noir’s outdatedness. And there are two by Tarantino—Jackie Brown and the Tony Scott-directed True Romance (Thu. 6.11)—that stop for bong-ripping, TV-watching longueurs. This is noir-in-the-sun, yeah. But the genre’s gotten stoned, too.

Never more so than in Inherent Vice (Fri. 6.5—Sun 6.7), the centerpiece of the series.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Doc Sportello, a pot-fueled PI interrogating a cycle of West Coast weirdos in the search for his disappeared “ex-old lady.” (He’s Bogart, if Bogart bogarted joints.)

He tracks her path through layers of LA corruption, starting with bikers and Black Panthers, and ending up across the table from a face that represents the city’s perpetually hidden leaders.

We can write about differences in palette and tone, but the math adds up to the same old noir—the weed smoke made foggy by blazing light has the same effect as a dangerous alley rendered in cold monochrome. The haze of societal structures remains impenetrable. >>SUNSHINE NOIR. FRI 6.5-THU 6.11. BRATTLE THEATRE, 40 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT BRATTLEFILM.ORG

RESULT-ING INTERVIEW Filmmaker Andrew Bujalski on his recent effort

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN “I call it a romantic comedy,” Andrew Bujalski says about his new film, Results. Then there’s a long pause. He’s spent his career making regionally specific indie “dramas”—scare quotes included because not much happens in them—so that designation is going to require some qualifiers.

“I guess it’s kind of a disgrace to the genre. But then I don’t think I’ve paid to see a romantic comedy in the past 20 years. I like the idea of them. As far as the major genres go, they’re the only one rooted in human foibles.”

Results tracks a love triangle at an Austin gym. But beyond the comic entanglements, it’s as much a nuanced study of the way people talk and interact as Bujalski’s earlier pictures—if he was expecting this one to play the multiplexes, he missed his aim. He even betrays its admirable-but-uncommercial specificity while talking about his setting, admitting that he was aiming to capture “a specific-to-Austin version of the fusion between hippie and yuppie culture.”

“For better or worse, I expected less of my voice to show up in this movie.

I didn’t think this was my ticket to [directing] studio blockbusters, but I wouldn’t mind having something that plays in that marketplace. So it’s funny—I saw one review of it that called it weirder than [my last movie] Computer Chess. On one hand, that’s exciting to me. On the other, I think, “Oh, shit. There goes my Hollywood career.” >>RESULTS. RATED R. OPENS AT THE KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA FRI 6.5. 355 BINNEY ST., CAMBRIDGE. ALSO AVAILABLE ON VOD OUTLETS. 24

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FILM SHORTS BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Joss Whedon returns to write and direct the second team-up film in Marvel’s neverending cinematic serial, so the threats of bad robot Ultron are met with puns as often as they are with punches. Sad to say that his eye for action isn’t nearly as sharp as his ear for gags: The fights are a jumble of colors and cuts, with the camera perpetually placed so close up that you can never enjoy the motion of the combat. Marvel’s best, like Guardians of the Galaxy, are as classically constructed as something like Jaws— they’re secondhand Spielberg. But this is b-grade Michael Bay.

Max is almost mute. Car chases fill the entire running time. Backstories are illustrated using only the scars and wounds on character’s bodies.

Fury Road speaks to us visually—it’d work entirely without sound. There’s only one verbal motif: Who killed the world? shouted by the film’s six heroines toward the patriarchal figures who scorched their planet.

Scoff at the inclusion of progressive politics in a film this unashamedly violent, but everything eventually clicks together. We see a world in need of tearing down. Fury Road finds great cinematic beauty doing exactly that.

EX MACHINA

PITCH PERFECT 2

Frankenstein refashioned as a technothriller. Oscar Isaac plays the doctor’s equivalent, an unscrupulous tech developer illegally mining search engines and cell phones to create AVA, an anthropomorphic AI. And Domhall Gleeson plays the trusting naïf in thrall to the unnatural beast’s affections—a lowly coder called in to decide if AVA’s “brain” passes human muster. We know how this story ends: We’re headed inexorably toward a showdown between man and the monsters he creates. Modern concerns dominate the text, but this one runs from an antique framework.

The first Pitch Perfect played in the sandbox with Mean Girls—it was another teen comedy about an outsider being indoctrinated into a bitchy subculture. But the sequel sacrifices those story beats, instead stringing along a series of underdeveloped subplots (it’s more like Spice World). The humor has taken a hit, too. New director Elizabeth Banks instills a hatefully stereotypical tone: The gay girl is mean, the fat girl is sloppy, the Germans are stern, and so on ad infinitum. If that doesn’t offend you, the general artlessness probably will.

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

RESULTS

You hear that this stars Blythe Danner as an elderly woman being seduced by the gentleman from the country club (Sam Elliot), and you think you know what to expect: romance so gentle that it could be knocked over by a slight wind. But you’re wrong. Writer/director Brett Haley swings between subplots ranging from the innocuous (Danner meets a drinking buddy, played

by Martin Starr) to the tragic (we start off with a dead dog), painting a portrait of the character’s life. He slowly stuns you, with sneaky, lifesized expanse.

Personal trainer Kat (Cobie Smulders) spurns smitten customer Danny (Kevin Corrigan,) expecting him to politely terminate their working relationship. Instead, he befriends her boss Trevor (Guy Pearce) and buys half of the gym. A standard love triangle emerges—but the way it plays out is anything but. Danny’s plagued by lust, Kat by fury, and Trevor by an inability to let anyone into his life as easily as they’re let into his bed. Genre clichés get imbued with the messiness of sexual psychology. Results takes the romcom and makes it human.

IRIS

WHILE WE’RE YOUNG

This documentary portrait of 94-yearold fashion icon Iris Apfel—directed by the late Albert Maysles—is hardly an all-encompassing one. Health scares and major events occur entirely offscreen, while we watch Iris playfully palling around with her director, her husband, and a number of well-known admirers. (Yeezy’s a fan.) If there’s a constant here, it’s the subject’s beautiful bluster. She may not show much vulnerability, but she, and this film, have no need for things like “truth.” They’ve got charm.

Nobody makes comedies as cruel as Noah Baumbach. But his latest starts as a gentle generational farce— Millennials teach Gen-Xers about fedoras and artisanal ice cream.

Also lamentably lost is the kinetic playfulness of his Frances Ha, replaced by photography as functional as your dad’s wardrobe. But an Allenesque morality play emerges from the laid-back longueurs, about friends manipulating each other for the sake of success—another Baumbach “comedy” about people who’d rather use each other than relate. He’s getting older and wiser, but no kinder.

From the creators of Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and The Secret World of Arrietty

HHHH

“MAGNIFICENT! As gorgeously animated as anything Studio Ghibli has ever made.”

– Time Out New York

“MAGICAL!

STUNNING!” “WONDROUS! – Los Angeles Times

One of the most profoundly moving cinematic experiences to be had this year!”

– IndieWire

FILM SHORTS WILD TALES Six stories survey the separation between rich and poor, with the conceit being that everyone is depicted as being equally amoral. (It’s a comedy.) None of the stories intersect, but motifs recur: explosions, people trying to bust through

shatterproof glass, victims growing so traumatized by vile behavior that they keel over and vomit. One story stages a street fight between two egotists on the side of the road. Blood and spit and viscera—all the ugliness of the human condition—splatters onto the lens. The movie rubs our faces in it.

www.marniefilm.com © 2014 GNDHDDTK

STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH

LANDMARK THEATRES

KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA

1 KENDALL SQUARE (617) 621-1202 CAMBRIDGE

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Boston Dig Wednesday, 6/3 1/2Pg(4.625x12.25) Color

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COMEDY

MILLER TIME

TJ Miller on Silicon Valley, Donald Trump, and Mr. Mucus

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

Thursday JUNE 4, 10 PM

RHOAMING PRESENTS

NEAUX MERCI Crvftsmen, DJ Papadon Hip-Hop, Reggae, Party Jams Friday JUNE 5, 10 PM

COMMRADS VS VIBE SYNDICATE

(Downstairs) Mideon Black, Dinoblunt, Greenlove, Rablat, Roman, Kerry, Thvmpr, Dream Inventur, (Upstairs) DJ Drama Trap, Garage, House, Drum N Bass, Hip-Hop, Reggae Saturday JUNE 6, 10 PM

TRIPLE PLATINUM

Wednesday June 3rd

THE BLACK LILLIES Americana / Roots

Friday June 6 10PM

JOE FIRSTMAN OF THE CORDOVAS + THE QUINS Rock

Every Thursday in June at 10PM

Free Bar-side Series

#TBT DANCE PARTY

Old School Funk / Soul / Disco

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

Evaredy, Durkin Hip Hop, Reggae, Party Jams Monday JUNE 8, 7 PM

MMMMAVEN PROJECT

GRADUATION PARTY Mmmmaven Graduates House, Hip-Hop, Techno, R&B + More!

Tuesday JUNE 9, 6 PM

GAME NIGHT Wednesday JUNE 10, 8:30 PM

SHOW ‘N SELL ART GALLERY Artists & DJs TBA

Wednesday JUNE 10, 9 PM

FILM NIGHT Cooper Vacheron, Saoli Nash, Loni Palone, Jacqueline Donahue

Wednesday June 3rd

THE BLACK LILLIES + MEGAN JEAN & THE KFB Americana

Thursday June 4th 7PM

SAMANTHA FISH + THE BLIND SPOTS Blues Guitar / Pop Rock

Thursday June 4th 10PM Free Bar Side Event

#TBT DANCE PARTY FEATURING DYSKO Soul / Disco / Funk

Friday June 5th 7:30PM Leading Ladies Series

DAYNA KURTZ + AMY FAIRCHILD Singer-Songwriter

Friday June 5th 10PM

JOE FIRSTMAN OF THE CORDOVAS + THE QUINS Pop / Rock

Saturday June 6th 7PM

THE FOOLS

Parody Rock

Saturday June 6th 10PM

EMPEROR NORTON’S STATIONARY MARCHING BAND CD RELEASE + PRIMATE FIASCO Gypsy Punk Brass Pand

Tuesday June 9th 8PM

THE STOOGES BRASS BAND

Hip-Hop / Funk / Brass from NOLA

17 HOLLAND ST., DAVIS SQ. SOMERVILLE (617) 776-2004 DIRECTLY ON T RED LINE AT DAVIS

26

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It would seem there are multiple TJ Millers to encounter, and depending on what time of day it is you could get one or another. On the one hand there’s the manic antics of the small-market morning show TJ Miller. Crazy, hilarious, quick to morph into a comic menace. Then there’s the actor TJ Miller who, as of this week, has just won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series by the Critics Choice Television Awards, which he accepted with a mouth full of food, opening his speech by saying, “I would say awards are for children,” before dropping hints to his parts in films like Transformers 4, Yogi Bear 3D, and of course HBO’s Silicon Valley.

No matter which Miller you meet, the end result is the same: He’s a funny, funny guy. And if you’ve ever seen his stand-up, caught his podcasts (“Cashing In with TJ Miller,” done in partnership with comedian Cash Levy), or gotten a taste of his crazy new HBO project The Gorburger Show—which he’s described as “like Triumph the Insult Dog if he was positive and optimistic”—the twinge of misdirection and subversive jokes of his delivery have crowds howling and Hollywood watching.

I caught up with Miller on the phone before a recent show in Atlanta to talk Silicon Valley, Boston, and what goes into voicing talking wads of snot.

Boston’s been hailed as mini Silicon Valley of east. Does it measure up?

Denver says the same thing, the “We’re our own mini Silicon Valley. I think the show is successful because every city has these … the way our economy and culture is going forward, everyone wants to start up some kind of tech, an app or service. Society is driven by tech now. People always ask, “How much research did you do for your character?” Well first of all I’m not a very good actor, but second I didn’t need to. Someone like Ehrlich, and me, doesn’t know much about software and coding and hardware. He just has to be aware of how tech is progressing in our culture. I do the same, always have latest apps and read the tech trades. So yeah it’s time the world shined a light on Silicon Valley, but the world is becoming a big “Silicon Valley” in a sense. It’s really a timely piece of satire.

Who would win in a fight: Mike Judge or Michael Bay? Oh god. Bay probably. As you’ll recall someone tried to kill him with an air conditioner in Hong Kong, and he’s also friends with Navy Seals. My money is on Bay. Speaking of your character Erlich Bachmann—whose hair is more presidential, Donald Trump or Erlich?

Probably Erlich [and] he has the facial hair of a Mongolian prince. Trump is running? Jeez. If he wins he’ll put “Trump” on the White House.

What’s up with The Gorburger Show?

Oh we’re so fucking excited about that, man. If we can get that picked up it’s going to be a game changer in so many ways. It’s great, it’s like Triumph the Insult Dog if he was positive and optimistic. Because its [host] is a monster. For whatever reason—I know the reason—but I can really get celebrities to talk to me about [what] I couldn’t ask them about as TJ. I can ask celebrities about death, fame, loneliness, isolation, and celebrity and adoration and staff fucking. Stuff like that.

Is it true you voice the talking ball of mucus, “Mr. Mucus” from the Mucinex commercials?

Uh ... fuck YEAH I do. What are you out of your mind? Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? I sound permanently congested. That’s my whole sound—someone who’s sick and has a cough and has been smoking.

As an actor, how do you play a talking wad of snot?

Well first of all I don’t have reporters from alt-weekly newspapers refer to me as a ball/wad of snot. It’s “Mr. Mucus.” And you have to think about how hard it is to be a sickness that has just showed up and all you’re trying to do is get rid of him.

There’s a lot of loneliness to it, a lot of hardship that Mr. Mucus goes through. And yeah, it’s been a challenging role to be sure. I mean, you [obviously] saw my work in Yogi Bear 3D, so, I think I know what the fuck I’m doing. >> TJ MILLER. WED 6.17. THE WILBUR. 246 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. 617.248.9700.

THEWILBUR.COM. VISIT DIGBOSTON.COM FOR THE EXTENDED FULL INTERVIEW.

Sara Bareillies, Composer of WAITRESS

Great theater lives here.

WAITRESS

GHOST QUARTET

A new musical based on the film, music & lyrics by Sara Bareilles

A song cycle about love, death, and whiskey

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 Based on a scandalous 70-page slice of War and Peace

NICE FISH

Mark Rylance brings the acclaimed prose poems of Louis Jenkins to life

KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY Featuring Courtney Love & Todd Almond

SONG OF A CONVALESCENT AYN RAND GIVING THANKS TO THE GODHEAD (IN THE LYDIAN MODE) A true story of a boy and his migraines

1984

ONE CHILD BORN: THE MUSIC OF LAURA NYRO

A seering adaptation of George Orwell’s book

One of the 20th Century’s most influential songwriters

ROOSEVELVIS

UBU SINGS UBU

A hallucinatory road trip from the Badlands to Graceland

IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD

Starring Tony Torn and Julie Atlas Muz

H.M.S. PINAFORE

The final installment of The Hypocrite’s zany Gilbert & Sullivan trilogy

Written & performed by Tony Award-winner Eve Ensle

Season tickets from $99

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GAMES

INSATIABLE BLOODBATH Hopelessly addicted to Bloodborne

BY NICK MOORHEAD

RATED “M” FOR MASOCHIST “Bloodborne” is for masochists, and I mean that in the best way possible. This action RPG is one of the most difficult games made in years, specifically designed for people who want to prove wrong the legendary Albert Einstein’s aphorism that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”

Playing “Bloodborne,” you will die, and you will die often. However, if you press on, you will reach a point at which you will defeat whichever boss you’re facing, and you will live. Then, honestly, you’ll probably die again. In all, you will experience brief euphoric bursts of victory between slogs of misery and hopelessness. The pain hurts so good though, which is what draws people back to Yharnam, the twisted Victorian hellscape where “Bloodborne” is set. All for a chance to emerge victorious after so much doom and death.

In a lot of ways, the ebb and flow of “Bloodborne” plays out like a roll of scratch tickets—you waste your money on them, and lose, and lose, and lose. Then, eventually, you get a winner. As much as I love waiting in line as somebody in front of me buys ten scratchies in a row, I’m not preaching the merits of convenience store gambling. I am, however, increasingly a “Bloodborne” evangelist.

It’s noteworthy that “Bloodborne” is a Playstation 4 exclusive developed

by From Software, which was founded in 1986, and has since catered mainly to the hardcore market. In 2009, From released “Demon’s Souls,” which is now considered a classic, but was initially criticized for having a preposterous level of difficulty. Finally afloat in the mainstream, From’s 2011 sequel, “Dark Souls,” found much acclaim and eventually sold a couple million units.

Also consider the “Bloodborne” storyline. Most video games are like bloated, terribly written novels. I’m sorry, the princess is in another castle. My bad—she’s really in the next castle. Another castle after that. Eventually you reach the right castle, save the princess, and the credits roll. But “Bloodborne” is the opposite.

Despite the lavish visuals and over-the-top violence, the contextual thread is refreshingly minimalist. Nothing is over-explained to the point of boredom; few aspects are explained much at all. Yet the ornate, macabre backdrop—in addition to the few snippets of dialogue—adequately evokes a powerful sense of dread, an intangible mystery.

That, along with frenetic and challenging gameplay, should compel any dedicated player to press on. And then there are the world-ending bosses.

The behemoths of “Bloodborne” are immense, deadly, and exquisite in design, like deformed mutants from a lost David Cronenberg film. Defeating them feels awesome. I’ve never been so proud of beating a boss before I played From Software games; I typically find the victory hollow, a nagging reminder of how much time I’ve wasted. But beating a boss in “Dark Souls” or “Bloodborne” is a truly gratifying experience. When the words “PREY SLAUGHTERED” flash across your screen, you’ll feel capable of curing cancer. For about five or ten minutes at least, after which you’ll find a new enemy, and get brutally murdered again.

Spoiler: After beating the game, you immediately start New Game Plus, which is much, much harder. If you get bored of the main quest, there are also labyrinthine “Chalice Dungeons,” which are randomly generated and basically endless. You can also invade other people’s games and fight them for their “Blood Echoes,” which are for leveling up and building strength. You’ll need them, too, because you won’t want to escape the matrix. “Bloodborne” is about banging your head against a brick wall nonstop until the wall collapses, and in the process finding limitless nirvana on the other side … until you get slaughtered all over again.

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SUMMER PREVIEW IS COMING STREET DATE: JUNE 10TH AD DEADLINE: JUNE 5TH

digboston arts + entertainment | news | lifestyle NEWS TO US

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SECRET ASIAN MAN

BY TAK TOYOSHIMA @TAKTOYOSHIMA

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

you live a busy life, but you have your dickish social media PERSONA to tend to! well, don’t waste your time with positive thoughts and insightful feedback. just DROP A ...

COMMENT BOMB! here are some quick pre-made comments to hot button topics you can drop and run away from before the ENSUING SHITSTORM errupts.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY “well at least they can’t cause any abortions!”

GUN CONTROL

A PROPHET MUHAMMAD ART CONTEST INVITE “best display of the first amendment since god hates fags. congrats!”

“the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Even if he used it to kill an innocent, unarmed, black man.”

RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

“results in fewer jobs because what are we gonna do? cut from the top? pfft.”

STATES RIGHTS VS BIG GOVERNMENT “because state laws feel so small and personal.”

THE STRANGERER

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

SAVAGE LOVE

THE AFFAIRS

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE

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happily-ever-after happier because no one ever is. The subject is moot, of course, if you’re not in a position to end your marriage and Happy Affair Man isn’t either.

I’m a 36-year-old heterosexual female who has been reading you for the better part of 20 years. That’s why when my formerly lovely husband descended into a hellish depression that turned our 10-year marriage into a loveless, sexless, miserable thing that I didn’t recognize, I knew what I had to do.

I couldn’t get out for various financial, personal, and practical reasons, so I began an emotionally fulfilling, sanity-saving affair with a married man in the same situation. My emotional and sexual needs are getting met for the first time in years.

Do you have any advice for keeping from mentally going to “happily ever after” when you are trying to stay balanced in marriage-saving-affair land?

Secret Affair Necessary Escape

I have been in a gay relationship for almost six years, and we are getting married in September. We are both predominantly tops, so we’ve been having threesomes for the majority of the time we’ve been together. About eight months ago, we had a threesome with someone who has since become a good friend.

I have developed a strong bond with our third. My fiancé is threatened by the two of us showing affection. I reassure him as best I can, but nothing I say makes him feel less threatened by my wanting to have alone time with our third. I do not want to give up the bond I have with our third, and I have zero intention of leaving my fiancé. If we could help him get more comfortable, it could be a perfect situation for everyone, with all of our needs being met.

Sincerely Perplexed Lad In Triad

An affair doesn’t come bundled with the same crap that a marriage does, SANE, so your time with Happy Affair Man isn’t burdened by mental and/or physical health crises, just as it’s not roughed up by ever-festering conflicts about money or chores or kids or all of the above. So let’s say you left Depressed Husband Man for Happy Affair Man, and he left his wife for you. How long would it be before you and Second Husband Man were facing down some similar crap or brand new crap?

Probably not long. You might be happier, but you wouldn’t be

Seeing as your third sounds like a better match for you than your fiancé in several important ways—bottom to your top, more physically affectionate—I’m wondering why you wouldn’t want to dump the fiancé to run off with your third. Your fiancé is probably wondering the same thing. Unless your fiancé is willing to enter into a polyamorous triad, SPLIT, you’ll probably have to pick one or the other. And seeing as how you employ “we” in your last sentence—in reference to you and the third, not you and the fiancé—it sounds like you’ve already made your choice.

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

31

BOWERY BOSTON

For show announcements, giveaways, contests, and more, follow us on:

WWW.BOWERYBOSTON.COM • • • • LIVE MUSIC IN AND AROUND BOSTON • • • •

ROYALE 279 Tremont St. Boston, MA • royaleboston.com/concerts ON SALE NOW!

Kiss 108 presents

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

ON SALE NOW!

THE BALLROOM THIEVES W/ ADVENTURES, LVL UP, PALEHOUND

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 5

THURSDAY, JUNE 18

52 Church St. Cambridge, MA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16

W/ JACK GARRATT, VERITE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3

DELLA MAE

NOTHING / MERCHANDISE W/ CLOAKROOM

sinclaircambridge.com

W/ MARK ERELLI

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 5

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

W/ WALTER MARTIN

EX HEX

W/ GIRL BAND, PALEHOUND

TUESDAY, JUNE 16

( O F M AG N E T I C F I E L D S )

W/ NAP EYES, THE MONSIEURS

MOVED FROM ROYALE. ALL TICKETS HONORED.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

LOWER DENS W/ HALLELUJAH THE HILLS, RUBY ROSE FOX FRIDAY, JUNE 19

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17

W/ JAMAICAN QUEENS

SATURDAY, JUNE 20

SONDRE LERCHE

W/ TALK IN TONGUES SUNDAY, JUNE 21

STEPHIN MERRITT TUESDAY, JUNE 9

SATURDAY, JUNE 13

W/ SONYA KITCHELL

RADIOBDC PRESENTS

THURS. NOVEMBER 19

W/ ACLU BENEFIT

THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 6 WUMB PRESENTS

THURSDAY, JUNE 11

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

SUNDAY, JUNE 28

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 9

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

WED. SEPTEMBER 30

ON SALE NOW!

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

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W/ KIDAUDRA

HOLYDRUG COUPLE

THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 7

MONDAY, JUNE 8

TUESDAY, JUNE 9

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

SATURDAY, JUNE 13

CAMPLIGHT W/ SHARK WEEK, SALEM WOLVES THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 5

SONGHOY BLUES

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA greatscottboston.com

• • • THE • • •

IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION MONDAY, JULY 13

ON SALE NOW!

GABI

W/ MADE VIOLENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1

The

Detroit Cobras MONDAY, JULY 20

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UNPLUGGED W/ JARED & THE MILL WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12

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W/ SHEER MAG ON SALE NOW!

MONDAY, AUGUST 24

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≠ 6/12 (EARLY) THE GAS ≠ 6/15 GREAT GOOD FINE OK ≠ 6/16 WHITE LUNG ≠ 6/17 LOCAL H W/ AEGES ≠ 6/18 TIM KINSELLA ≠ 6/19 NNEKA ≠ 6/20 VOODOO GLOW SKULLS / MEPHISKAPHELES ≠ 6/21 LITURGY ≠ 6/22 MOTHER MOTHER

OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN:

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 5 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

W / H O L LY HU N T

W/ YOU WON’T

THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 7 MIDDLE EAST UP

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

WED. JUNE 17 ARTS AT THE ARMORY

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

ON SALE NOW!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

WED. JULY 8 ARTS AT THE ARMORY

SUNDAY, JULY 26 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

COLIN STETSON AND SARAH NEUFELD DUO Pentimento & The Weaks

THURS. JUNE 18 ARTS AT THE ARMORY

Tickets for Royale, The Sinclair, and Great Scott can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

No fee tickets available at The Sinclair box office Tuesdays - Saturdays 12:00 - 7:00PM

WED. OCTOBER 28 MIDDLE EAST UP

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF SHOWS, VISIT BOWERYBOSTON.COM