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VOL 17 + ISSUE 37

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 - SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 EDITORIAL EDITOR Dan McCarthy NEWS, FEATURES + MEDIA FARM EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran ASSOCIATE FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan CONTRIBUTORS Nate Boroyan, Mitchell Dewar Christopher Ehlers, Renan Fontes, Bill Hayduke, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Dave Wedge INTERNS Oliver Bok

DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tak Toyoshima DESIGNER Brittany Grabowski COMICS Tim Chamberlain Pat Falco Patt Kelley Tak Toyoshima

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

Time to dig out those sweaters folks. Good thing there’s a ton of great fall arts right around the corner to keep us warm and toasty. Photo courtesy the American Repertory Theater. ©2015 DIGBOSTON IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY DIG PUBLISHING LLC. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION CAN BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT. DIG PUBLISHING LLC CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. ONE COPY OF DIGBOSTON IS AVAILABLE FREE TO MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS AND VISITORS EACH WEEK. ANYONE REMOVING PAPERS IN BULK WILL BE PROSECUTED ON THEFT CHARGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

DEAR READER The Fall Arts Preview issue is something of a holy thing to us.

It’s the issue we look forward to putting out every year, always assembled under great duress and with a lot of hard work from our passionate and knowledgeable crew of misfit razor-sharp writers.

For something as fun and life-enriching as the arts in the Hub, you’d be surprised at how much effort goes into what we don’t put in, let alone what we do.

Because as the last remaining alternative weekly newspaper in Boston, branded as the grand bastion of all things worth caring about for those who crave the best in local news, politics, music, and arts and entertainment, it’s our duty to help guide you through the coming season. And for a lot of theater companies, bands, highbrow music, and even the visual arts scene around town, DigBoston tells the stories and frames life in the Hub in a manner only found in the pages of the bright paper you’re holding in your hands.

And this year’s Fall Arts Preview is marked by the triumphant arrival of rocker Courtney Love to the impressive and wide-stretching roster of thespians this fall will provide on stages across the city. You probably already noticed her on the cover. You’ll also notice her and Kansas City Choir Boy co-star and writer Todd Almond’s conversation about theatre, process, and the couch Love crashed on in Cambridge when she wrote “Doll Parts” a lifetime ago kicking off the special feature on Page 10.

So grab a couple extra print copies and keep them in the various places where you keep things that assist your cultural life for months at a time, and refer to them often.

Yes, the bathroom counts.

DAN MCCARTHY - EDITOR, DIGBOSTON

DIGTIONARY

CRACKNEY noun

ˈkraknē 1. The kind of license that you must be smoking if you think former BPD commish and recent Uber hire, Ed Davis, knows anything about the taxi industry.

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear New Fenway Residents, Fuck you yuppie motherfuckers. How dare you push out Church of Boston. God put that club there for a reason, and it was so my friends and other people who don’t suck their bosses dicks at work all day can listen to some rock and roll and then smoke weed and puke out on the street. Of course, you still have Fenway Park around the corner, which is overflowing with obnoxious drunken meatball shit-sniffers and their pathetic follower friends, the kind of guys who just sort of hung around the football team in high school. Guess you’ll fit right in.

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NEWS US

GOOD LUCK CHUCK NEWS TO US

The subterranean MBTA CharlieCard Store is a terrific metaphor for everything that’s wrong with transportation in Boston “You can only do five at a time.”

I’m trying to consolidate the virtual nickels and dimes left on a wad of CharlieTickets, the flimsy bastard cousins of the CharlieCard, that I’ve accumulated in the past couple of months. Unfortunately, the greeter at the MBTA CharlieCard Store—yes, such a thing really exists—is of no help whatsoever. I tilt my head forward and eyeball her with disappointment bordering on pure disgust, but before I can hit her with a follow-up inquiry, she cuts me off— “If you have more, then you can come back tomorrow.

Or whenever, it’s up to you. Just not now. For now you can only do five.”

I’m puzzled. Floored, really. I hiked all the way down here, something like a hundred miles underneath the Downtown Crossing T station, between the secret sweatshop where Filene’s made knockoffs that they passed off as designer goods and the clandestine vault made out of moon rock where the men behind the 4

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DIGBOSTON.COM

2024 Olympic bid hatched their initial plans for global domination. All I want is to leave with a shiny CharlieCard filled with the total value of these unbelievably annoying tickets, the ones that turnstiles suck in and spit out, suck in and spit out, suck in and spit out like a kid sticking their tongue out to mock someone. Sadly, my prospects aren’t looking good.

There’s an interesting number system in the cellar T shop (in case you’re wondering, no, they don’t sell any cool subway map merch or anything like that). Instead of adopting the deli counter protocol that’s worked forever in the marketplace, the CharlieCard store assigns everybody an alphanumeric combo, the venue’s version of “now serving” coordinates, as well as a separate number between one and six. I’m handed a ticket for C744, which corresponds to nothing in particular. As if the experience isn’t painful enough, the place is decorated like a kindergarten classroom at a charter school, complete with horrific colorful Twister splotches everywhere and a few

token flatscreens. As I sit like Beetlejuice in the waiting room with other broke asses who are there for a number of service issues, it becomes clear my fellow straphangers all feel the same.

The joke, of course, is on us. The CharlieCard system, which launched in 2007, cost taxpayers nearly $100 million (for machines that don’t allow people to move value from unusable tickets onto one card). That was just for subway turnstiles and buses, as promises to upgrade the entire system were apparently forgotten after the Mass Department of Transportation learned that such improvements would cost up to $70 million. All this while the overall Chuck apparatus has fallen into an infamous pattern of failure.

After nearly 20 minutes of stewing, I finally get called up to the third window. Receiving me is one of the most unpleasant people I have ever met, already angry that I took GOOD LUCK CHUCK continued on pg. 6

PHOTOS BY CHRIS FARAONE

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

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GOOD LUCK CHUCK continued from pg. 4

Certified

more than a second to realize she was summoning me.

“Is there any way that you can consolidate all of these onto one CharlieCard for me?” I fan a dozen tickets on the counter like I’m showing all my poker cards.

“No, you can only do five at a time. You can come back tomorrow if you want to do the rest.”

“But I have 12. So how come you can do five now, but you can do seven tomorrow?”

“What do you mean seven tomorrow?” She doesn’t like my math. I give up.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just do five for now.” I pick ‘em at random, not knowing how much value is on any of them, and after about two minutes of her swiping and typing, am handed a new CharlieCard with $1.80—not even enough for one fare.

I have no doubt the plan for this primordial transit emporium was hatched as a response to inconveniences. Still, for a taste of just how high a disregard the bureaucrats at MassDOT have for riders, one simply needs to visit this hellish inferno, and glimpse the substandard basement into which they cram customers. The only positive takeaway from my ordeal, if any exists, is that I queued for long enough to pen this heater. I guess there will be time to write a sequel, too, since I still have seven cards with anywhere from five cents to as much as two bucks occupying precious real estate in my wallet.

This article was written in collaboration with the Boston Bubble, a glossy and collectible palm-sized quarterly about transit, tech, and innovation in the Hub published by DigBoston’s partners at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. For information and subscriptions visit thebostonbubble.com.

Beer Sniffers BLUNT TRUTH

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

REEFER MAD, BRO?

Puritanical prohibitionist pinheads put patients in peril

BY KENDER BAST

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DIGBOSTON.COM

Soaring demand at the first medical cannabis dispensary to open in Massachusetts, Alternative Therapies Group in Salem, comes as no surprise to anyone who has been paying close attention to the expansion of marijuana in America. Medicinal pot and concentrates can safely help with numerous ailments ranging from epilepsy, MS and traumatic brain injury to nausea, asthma, and severe pain. It is even showing promise fighting cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s, all of which are vitally important functions for the massive Baby Boomer population.

It is, however, truly ironic that Salem is the place where this is happening, and that irony may tell us something about some of the behavior that persists in these parts. Back in the 1600s, so-called witches were tortured and burned at the stake because of the hysteria spurred by Puritan demagogues. Ignorance ruled the day, and the general public was at many points misled.

Fast-forward to now. We still have hysterical puritanical leaders railing against another imagined evil. In this case, they seem to believe that they know what is best for everyone else, and they continue pushing close-minded morals on an easily cowed public. Take, for example, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, whose repeated claim that marijuana is a gateway drug has been extensively discredited. Boston’s own “flat-earther” won’t acknowledge research showing how cannabis is actually an exit route away from harmful substances like opioids, tobacco, and alcohol. In states with effective medical marijuana programs, there’s been a marked decrease in opioid overdose deaths, a decrease in the suicide rates of young men, and a decrease in the number of drunk driving fatalities. These are all good things, and pols ignore them at our peril.

And let’s get this straight, we’re not talking about plutonium. As the Drug Enforcement Agency’s own chief administrative law judge once famously noted, cannabis is “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”

Of course, the DEA ignored this strong assessment, and in turn ramped up an oppressive war on (some) drugs that’s resulted in millions of people being arrested, thousands of innocents murdered, and immeasurable suffering by countless patients.

Meanwhile, the allegedly “liberal” Boston Globe steadfastly neglects to recognize the blatant hypocrisy of marijuana prohibition, while a months-long series on the opioid crisis by our ABC affiliate has failed to mention that cannabis can smooth the road to recovery. It’s unclear what it will take for the media to objectively report on this issue, but until journalists check their own prejudices, and purge all of the puritanism around here, guys like Walsh will keep on passing off their baseless observations as facts, and missing opportunities to help patients and addicts alike.

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MEDIA FARM

CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER DEALS

HUB FREELANCE SURVEY The underpaid, overly male, incredibly white, and slightly optimistic state of independent media making in Boston

BY CHRIS FARAONE @BINJREPORTS

PARTICLE @ BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL OKTOBERFEST WEDNESDAYS @ OLDE MAGOUNS SALOON DAN NATURMAN @ LAUGH BOSTON GHOST QUARTET @ OBERON

SIGN UP

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DAILYdig digboston.com/daily

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DIGBOSTON.COM

In addition to editing the news at DigBoston and writing Media Farm each week, I work with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, which helps fund some of the harder-hitting stuff in these pages. At BINJ we’re trying to serve media makers in addition to publications and readers, and as such we first need to know with whom exactly we are working, what they need, and the kind of reporting they hope to produce, among other things. That was the general idea, and those were some of the questions we had on the brain while writing and conducting our first ever survey of freelancers in Greater Boston, the results of which we just made public this week.

As we expected, there is a wide range of experience levels and skill sets in our mix, from researchers and print journalists to TV and radio producers. Though there appears to be a troubling lack of diversity in some areas, particularly race and ethnicity, our local news ecosystem does have dedicated troopers representing various ages and backgrounds and living from the Quincy shoreline to the hills of Somerville.

Overall, there aren’t too many surprises. More than 90 percent of the 100 respondents were white, 70 percent went to college in the Greater Boston area with more than half studying communications, they like to primarily write articles but also shoot videos and photos, and for the most part make peanuts considering the number of hours they work. On the bright side, there are still a lot of places in the Hub buying articles, with at least 50 outlets cutting freelance checks.

We will be using all of the research to help guide BINJ forward; for example, we now have a much better idea about just how much money news organizations are paying, and plan on working even harder now to help supplement those payments wherever it’s possible. Furthermore, BINJ plans on being an active participant in the conversation about diversity in Boston media, and on joining the growing network of media makers and independent news outlets nationwide in which people are discussing, at long last, the importance of making sure tomorrow’s journalists come from all walks of life.

Finally, while the survey is geared toward helping BINJ help reporters, and does not necessarily serve as an accurate picture of the Greater Boston media landscape, we do encourage media students, editors, and anyone else to use the results in any positive way possible. All the raw data can be easily downloaded, and there are more than two-dozen colorful charts, graphs, and images available for your perusal at binjonline.org.

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FALL ARTS PREVIEW

IN CONVERSATION INTERVIEW

Talking Kansas City Choir Boy with star Courtney Love and co-star and writer Todd Almond

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS Kansas City Choir Boy, an electric and beautiful love story that’s part romance, part mystery, and told through flashbacks about two lovers in Kansas City by (and starring) Todd Almond, made its world premiere last winter in New York at a tiny, off-Off-Broadway space. Both critics and audiences alike swooned over the piece, a 60-minute rock opera of sorts that also happened to mark the stage debut of Courtney Love.

Most are familiar with the well-documented exploits of Love’s personal life, but less often is she celebrated as a talented artist, and a savvy survivor who has known—and lived to tell of—more drama than most could imagine.

It should come as no surprise that Love is one hell of an actress: From her Golden Globe-nominated turn in The People vs. Larry Flynt to her more recent stints on TV’s Sons of Anarchy and Empire, her gift for acting is clear. Next month, Boston audiences have the chance to see her up close and personal when Kansas City Choir Boy opens on Oct 1.

Todd, the show came about after you wrote an adaptation of The Odyssey for Juilliard, right?

Todd Almond: Well, I had written an adaptation for Juilliard and we performed it with the third-year students.

The actress who played Athena was a wonderful young actress named Sarah Fox, and the summer after we did the show she went missing. We all found out, horribly, a few months later that she had been murdered in Inwood Park. A couple of years after that, I was in Kansas City working on a project and kind of at a low point, feeling pretty blue, and I was in a room with my computer, writing songs, and I had the news on and a face popped up and said “local girl missing,” and it reminded me of the summer that we found out Sarah had died, because the same thing happened in New York. I was just in my apartment and her face popped up, and it said “local girl found dead.” It was the only time in my life that I ever knew the person whose face had popped up … it just triggered a lot of emotional response, so I wrote all of these songs in a pretty short time span.

How did you first get hooked up with Todd for this project?

CL: Well, he’s married to a lovely man named Mark Subias, and I met him through Mark. [Todd] had this cohesive piece and we just started hanging out in his apartment and learning the songs, because they’re not in my usual phrasing and, you know, I’d show him certain elements of little things that I thought would be helpful from the rock world. But mostly it was Todd. I’d never worked with a musical theater person in my life, so I was very nervous about it. We just gelled and have really good chemistry. It just turned out really well. And you know, there were some bumps in the road but it actually became second nature to me. I’ve done a little rock tour since, and it’s actually not quite as fun. I really like this

OPEN NIGHTS

Laying out the performance and visual art openings ahead for Fall to get on the calendar now

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

9.20-10.4

Ernest Shackleton Loves Me

Kat is at the end of her rope and can’t sleep. She decides to give online dating a shot and, naturally, is contacted by legendary arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.

He invites her to join him on his famous 1914 expedition, and a bold new love affair begins. Billed as a “geeky, high-tech musical adventure” with a book by Tony winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis), this should be 10

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of an attack in the Harlem community that he has come to call home. A wide range of characters come to tell how much Mr. Joy has meant to them. The catch? They’re all played by one actor: Tangela Large.

ArtsEmerson @ Emerson College artsemerson.org

9.23-10.25 Othello

interesting.

ArtsEmerson @ The Paramount Theatre artsemerson.org

DIGBOSTON.COM

9.22-10.18 Mr. Joy

A much-loved Chinese shop owner is the victim

There’s rarely a shortage of Shakespeare in Boston, and this fall is no exception.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project generally does a bang-up job, so if you’re a Bardaholoc, come get your fix.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project @ The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University actorsshakespeareproject.org

musical. It’s still got rock parts in it, but it’s different than what I normally do.

What kind of changes occurred to the piece once Courtney became involved?

TA: Well, I think that my favorite aspect of theater is the live quality of it, and the fact that you’re making art with [and] for the people that are in the room, at that exact moment. The piece was [already] written, but I think it really took the two of us in artistic conversation with each other to make it come alive. Courtney really brought so much of her power and her knowledge and her extraordinary musicianship and her brilliance as an IN CONVERSATION continued on pg. 12

9.24-11.14

Einstein’s Dreams

STARTING 9.24

RISE: New concert series starting this fall A brand new, hip concert series premieres Sept 24 with KING and Dave Mackay. Tickets include museum admission, and the Gardner will have a cash bar set up in its stunning courtyard.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum $12-$27 gardnermuseum.org

Before Einstein was that Einstein, he could barely pay his rent. In honor of the 100th anniversary of his Theory of General Relativity, the original 2007 world premiere cast reunites for this very special production.

Central Square Theater $15-$59 centralsquaretheater.org

10.1-11.15

Copenhagen

Winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Play, Copenhagen is a masterful psychological mystery about Heisenberg and Bohr’s reunion in the afterlife,

OPEN NIGHTS continued on pg. 12

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FALL ARTS PREVIEW IN CONVERSATION continued from pg. 10 actress to this piece. It really forced me to rethink [and] rewrite a couple of moments. Courtney is just a live creature and so perfect for the theater, because one of the requirements is that you are always in the moment and that everything feels fresh and new, and Courtney just is that way all the time, so it changed [when] such a vital element was introduced to it. It changed in a million little ways but the piece itself maintained its structure and its overarching qualities. I think it really came to life in a way.

The electricity struck it.

Topless, correct?

CL: Yeah. We make out [and] take off our shirts.

CL: That was very nice, Todd!

TA: It clicked between us personally and on stage. I’m really excited to do it some more and keep exploring. It was a short run in New York, and I kind of felt that by the end we were digging deeper.

Courtney, did you find that working on this show sparked the kind of creative energy that you had been searching for? I read that you were on tour and you were kind of looking at the set list and going, “Oh, really, this again?”

CL: It was Australia and I was looking at the set list and I was going, “No. Really? Really? ‘Doll Parts,’ again? Really?” and, you know, you get the kind of ennui, and it just gets boring and you know the audience knows everything.

You’re not educating anybody. Without sounding too full of myself, I think that Todd’s right in that my expertise in the last 20 years [is] live performance [so] I think theater and musical theater suits me really well. Even though I come from film, I certainly enjoy it more than being in the recording studio. You’re reaching out. There’s one part in the piece where I look everyone in the eyes, which I really enjoy. It’s in the dark, it’s a small theater, and you’re soul searching in people’s eyes. Then I break it down and go back to the fourth wall, and that’s really fun. It’s a really sad, bittersweet love story. It’s really good and I think it wouldn’t work if Todd wasn’t Todd and if we didn’t have the chemistry that we have. I think that Todd has a really incredible live chemistry, he really comes alive and his voice is incredible; he hits notes I could only dream of.

It’s just creamy. And he’s taller than me … I’m usually the tallest one. And we kiss a lot, so…

Todd, you once said that when you started working with Courtney it was like you had found a magnet in your spine that you didn’t know you had. Based on the kind of reviews you guys got, that chemistry is pretty obvious to everyone. People really love this show. Even the stuffy theater critics.

CL: Yeah, that’s surprising, isn’t it?

Courtney, I would imagine that you get some pretty intriguing acting offers—stage offers, specifically.

CL: Yeah, sort of. I get a lot of reality show offers, that’s for sure. [laughs] It’s ridiculous! I’m never gonna do one, but they won’t stop offering them to me.

TA: That’s hilarious.

CL: I know, it’s so sad. I have to write the reality show people and say “Never, ever, ever, ever, going to happen, please stop asking!” I get a few stage offers now and then.

What was it about Kansas City Choir Boy that made you say “I’ll do that one”?

CL. I felt really safe with Todd [and] we had a really good chemistry. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous about the stuffy critics. Nobody wants to get lambasted and it doesn’t matter either way, but it kinda does, you know what I mean? I just knew that it had quality and depth; and I knew that our director knew what he was doing. It was [all] really intriguing [and] I’ve never done a play, so this is a perfect transition for me out of rock and roll into live theater.

Will you be back on Empire?

CL: I don’t know! They shot the second season and they didn’t bring my character back, so that might be it.

Everybody wanted to be on that show after it became a hit.

You’re the trailblazer.

CL: We’re really looking forward to Boston, and ART, and the space; it should be really fun. I’ve never spent any significant period of time in Boston in my life, so…

Is it true that you wrote “Doll Parts” here?

CL: Yes, at a woman named Joyce Linehan’s house in Cambridge. It’s two chords, a really easy song to write, [but] yeah, I wrote it at Joyce’s house. Joyce had all the bands stay at her house, so we stayed at her house. I [recently] found out that Joyce [works] for the Mayor’s office or something. [Ed note: she is the Chief of Policy for Mayor Walsh.]

That’s funny.

CL: Isn’t it hilarious? At that time I was dating Kurt, and Kurt had messed around with this busker girl and I was like, “Oh, no! That’s not gonna do, that won’t do!” so I really wanted to write a fierce song declaring my love. So that’s what I did.

How did the Boston run come about?

TA: Well, we have an amazing producer named Beth Morrison, and part of what she does is take pieces like Kansas City Choir Boy and contemporary operas, and she presents them all around the country and the world.

OBERON and ART was just a perfect fit. I think maybe Diane Paulus saw it and liked it. Beth is just a brilliant producer. She’s a marvel.

Courtney, there are some similarities between you and your character. How much have you been drawing from your own experiences?

CL: Well, I think this character is really ambitious. It’s about a couple who are kind of the coolest couple in a very small town, and it’s just not big enough for her, and I can relate to that. I was like that in Portland, and I definitely like broke a few hearts getting out of there. Then I moved to San Francisco, and then that wasn’t big enough, and then LA and then New York. But it’s not like I’m method acting, a lot of this is through music so it’s not to the point where I’m in this character all the time or something.

Courtney, I would love to see you in a really complicated Tennessee Williams role, like Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire). Is that something that you would consider?

CL: I don’t know what kind of Blanche I would make. I’m a basket case. I would definitely, definitely enjoy exploring that, but like I said before, the thing about Kansas City Choir Boy is that it’s this great transition … I don’t feel insecure or scared that I’m out of my comfort zone, but [it’s] not so out of my comfort zone that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’m transitioning as an artist, and this is the way to do it. I’m excited. I’m really excited to do it out of New York, and I’m excited to see Harvard boys! >> KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY. RUNS 10.1-10.10 AT THE AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER AT OBERON, 2 ARROW ST., CAMBRIDGE. AMERICANREPERTORYTHEATER.ORG

OPENING NIGHTS continued from pg. 10 in which they attempt to unravel the events of the fateful night when they famously confronted each other during WWII. Central Square Theater $15-$59 centralsquaretheater.org 12

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10.2-10.30 Dry Land

Making its Boston premiere after a toasty NY reception, Ruby Rae Spiegel’s bold depiction of the contemporary

DIGBOSTON.COM

American teenager is a must-see for anyone interested in the future of American theatre.

Company One Theatre @ The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA companyone.org

10.10-11.1

A Number

Caryl Churchill’s thrilling play is about a son who confronts his emotionally distant father and learns a horrific truth about his past, exposing a disturbing incident involving a

number of “others.”

New Repertory Theatre @ The Arsenal Center for the Arts newrep.org

10.16-11.15 Choice

A brand new world premiere play by Winnie Holzman—best known for creating “My So-Called Life” and for her script for Wicked—about a successful journalist who

takes on an assignment that challenges her past, present, and future.

The Huntington Theatre Company @ The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA $25 huntingtontheatre.org

10.23-11.21

Saturday Night/ Sunday Morning

Having received strong reviews elsewhere, the Lyric brings Katori Hall’s work to Boston.

Seven African-American women in Memphis during the final days of WWII wrestle with the uncertainty of what their futures hold.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston @ 140 Clarendon St. $31-$65 lyricstage.com

10.24-11.28

Casa Valentina

Harvey Fierstein’s Tonynominated play with a cast full of Boston favorites. A group of heterosexual men secretly gathers to dress and behave like women at a Catskills resort in the ’60s. The play is about self-acceptance and, more importantly, the struggle to find the right heels.

Speakeasy Stage Company @ The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA speakeasystage.com

11.7-11.22

Six Degrees of Separation

A contemporary classic, inspired by a true story, about a man who shows up at the door of an affluent NY couple and turns their lives upside down in just one evening.

Bad Habit Productions @ The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA badhabitproductions.org

10.10-1.24.16

Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957

The first comprehensive museum exhibition on Black Mountain College in the US. With works by more than 90 artists, the exhibition celebrates the potent effect that BMC has had on the art world despite its short existence.

Institute of Contemporary Art icaboston.org

10.22-11.1

Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler

An epic masterpiece, choreographed by John Neumeier, set to Mahler’s longest symphony.

Boston Ballet @ The Boston Opera House bostonballet.org

10.1-10.3

Nelsons conducts Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff

The BSO opens its 135th season with a gorgeous all-Russian program. Even non-classical music buffs will love this, especially Evgeny Kissin’s take on Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous Piano Concerto No. 1.

Boston Symphony Hall bso.org

he conducts and plays the violin. The program concludes with Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, the perfect compliment to a crisp fall night.

Boston Symphony Hall bso.org

10.2 & 10.4

Mozart Requiem

In its 201st season, the Handel and Haydn Society is a treasure that should be on every “must-see” list.

Conductor Harry Christophers, with a thrilling period instrument orchestra and chorus, brings us the power of Mozart’s final, haunting work.

Symphony Hall handelandhaydn.org

10.2-10.11

Puccini’s La Boheme Some of the most beautiful music ever composed is from La Boheme. If you know nothing about opera, this is as great a starting point as one could ask.

Boston Lyric Opera @ Citi Performing Arts Center blo.org

11.11-11.15

Philip Glass’ In the Penal Colony

10.29-10.31

Pinchas Zukerman conducts and plays Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Schubert Zukerman is one of best and most soughtafter violinists; here,

This won’t be for everyone, but for Philip Glass fanatics, this is an exciting, dark, and funny adaptation of Kafka’s dystopian short story about the breakdown of civil society.

Boston Lyric Opera @ Location TBA blo.org

Wed 9/16 7:30PM

YOUNG DUBLINERS (Celtic Rock) Thur 9/17 8PM - WorldMusic/Crasharts:

RICARDO LEMVO & MAKINA LOCA (World Music) Fri 9/18 7PM

HONKY TONK MASQUERADE (Honky Tonk) Fri 9/18 10PM - We Dig Free Friday:

GHOST PEPPER + SOULPAX (Rock/Funk/Blues) Sat 9/19 7:30PM - World Music/Crasharts:

LULA PENA (World) Sat 9/19 10PM

PLAYIN’ DEAD

(Grateful Dead Tribute) Sun 9/20 8PM - World Music/CrashArts:

VIEUX FARKA TOURE (WORLD) Tues 9/22 8PM - World Music/CrashArts:

FANFARAI (World) Wed 9/23 8PM

BOBBY WHITLOCK (of Derek & The Dominos) & COCO CARMEL (Rock)

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

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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13

FALL ARTS PREVIEW

FANTASY FALL ALBUM BRACKETS MUSIC

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

Funeral Advantage Body Is Dead RELEASE DATE: Out now NEXT SHOW: 9.25 @ Out of the Blue Too Gallery

LOCAL

Ian Aware Ian Aware EP RELEASE DATE: Out now NEXT SHOW: TBA

Ian Aware vs Funeral Advantage = Funeral Advantage The flawless guitar tones and lush production of Funeral Advantage’s Body Is Dead are too comforting to not override Ian Aware’s slow-roll psychedelics.

Nina Ryser / Nathan Ventura Jerry Blindfold split RELEASE DATE: 9.21 NEXT SHOW: TBA

Sam Moss Pitkin County Morning EP RELEASE DATE: Out now NEXT SHOW: 9.28 @ House Concert

Nina Ryser / Nathan Ventura vs Sam Moss = Sam Moss Lo-fi experimental songs are perfect for the fall, but the timeless acoustics of Sam Moss and his Fleet Foxes-like guitar are even more of a shoe-in.

Funeral Advantage vs Sam Moss = Funeral Advantage Funeral Advantage’s LP doesn’t lose its charm. Instead, it explores the stretch between romance, adventure, and unlimited jubilance through relatable identity. Sam Moss, although talented behind a guitar in his own right, doesn’t run the gamut quite as well.

NATIONAL

Funeral Advantage vs Michael Christmas = Michael Christmas Funeral Advantage’s LP wakes you up in the morning and keeps you fueled during breezy fall days. A single song off Michael Christmas’ LP (like “Who?”) gets you amped in the morning, pumps up your work break, and latches your crew in a friendly headlock come nighttime.

14

Dutch Rebelle Kiss Kiss RELEASE DATE: 9.21 NEXT SHOW: TBA

Defeater Abandoned RELEASE DATE: Out now NEXT SHOW: 10.11 @ Middle East Downstairs

Michael Christmas What A Weird Day RELEASE DATE: TBA NEXT SHOW: 12.17 @ House of Blues

Camino Don’t Believe the Height EP RELEASE DATE: Out now NEXT SHOW: TBA

Dutch Rebelle vs Defeater = Michael Christmas vs Camino = Dutch Rebelle Michael Christmas Two of the fiercest acts in the city battle it out Even though both Michael Christmas and with a no-shit attitude, but Dutch Rebelle’s Camino slip groove into their sound, Camino’s unstoppable confidence see her raps conquer sample-based electronic funk can’t keep up the hardcore punk of local staple Defeater. with the humor and wit of Christmas’ hip-hop.

Dutch Rebelle vs Michael Christmas = Michael Christmas Dutch Rebelle spits just as many words, if not more, into her verses than Michael Christmas, but the freshly minted 21-year-old figured out his style quicker than Rebelle. For Christmas, it’s all about self-deprecation, smug smiles, and humor that isn’t in your face, aka the perfect combination.

Michael Christmas vs Joanna Newsom =

Michael Christmas

They couldn’t be more different—a heavy, barely legal rapper and a petite, 33-year-old harpist—or entertaining in their own rights, but the head-tohead battle leans in our favor. Newsom’s record prizes self-exploration and whimsy with gold, but Michael Christmas’ release encourages all listeners to gather round, hold on to one another, and seize a sense of community no matter how shitty or shining times are. Not even hubby Andy Samberg could give Newsom as much swagger as Christmas flaunts on a weird day.

Julia Holter vs Joanna Newsom = Joanna Newsom There’s no shortage of creativity here in any aspect. What Holter lacks, though, Newsom boasts: a breadth of escapism still light enough to land you back on your feet when you want to return to planet Earth.

Car Seat Headrest vs Julia Holter = Julia Holter Newcomers Car Seat Headrest put up a solid fight that can’t hold up to the veteran status of Julia Holter and her mastermind production work on Have You In My Wilderness.

EL VY vs Joanna Newsom = Joanna Newsom Writing a jovial indie rock hook is fun. Writing a jovial folk art hook with hidden innuendos, witty wordplay, and fantastical imagery is even more fun—especially when done on the harp.

Car Seat Headrest vs Alex G = EL VY vs Ought = Car Seat Headrest EL VY Post-collegiate angst gets old if you don’t Ought’s winding, emotional post-punk is mold it just right. Car Seat Headrest writes unbeatable, until it faces the catchy hooks of for a crowd while Alex G gets stuck in his own the National’s Matt Berninger and Menomena’s head a little too often.

Brent Knopf as their new project EL VY.

CocoRosie vs Julia Holter = Julia Holter Francophile freak folk duo CocoRosie’s new album is a return to its old sound, all snug and simple, yet Julia Holter pulls ahead by going even more bare on her upcoming LP.

Car Seat Headrest Teens of Style RELEASE DATE: 10.30 NEXT SHOW: 12.4 @ Lizard Lounge

Julia Holter Have You In My Wilderness RELEASE DATE: 9.25 NEXT SHOW: TBA

09.16.15 - 09.23.15

Joanna Newsom Divers RELEASE DATE: 10.23 NEXT SHOW: TBA

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Deerhunter Fading Frontier RELEASE DATE: 10.16 NEXT SHOW: 12.10 @ Royale

Alex G Beach Music RELEASE DATE: 10.9 NEXT SHOW: TBA

Ought Sun Coming Down RELEASE DATE: 9.18 NEXT SHOW: 9.30 @ Great Scott

Joanna Newsom vs Deerhunter = Joanna Newsom No matter how much reinvention Bradford Cox and his crew go through on their upcoming LP, Joanna Newsom’s return from a five-year silence gives Divers phenomenal volume.

CocoRosie Heartache City RELEASE DATE: 9.18 NEXT SHOW: TBA

EL VY Return to the Moon RELEASE DATE: 10.30 NEXT SHOW: 11.15 @ The Sinclair

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

FALL ARTS PREVIEW

DINNER & A SHOW DATE NIGHT

Five neighborhoods. Five shows. Five restaurants.

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF AND CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS Fall in the Hub can be the best time to get a lineup of killer new theatrical productions and the new or fresh-off-summer-renovations spots to eat at before or after a show on one’s radar. Here are five ways to to do just that this season. Get out there.

HARVARD SQUARE

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digboston.com/listings We offer a free basic listing as well as enhanced and premium listings to really get you noticed.

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09.16.15 - 09.23.15

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Show: Kansas City Choir Boy, ART @ OBERON When: 10.1-10.10 What: Courtney Love and Todd Almond star in Almond’s rock opera about an electric love affair between two musicians. When she leaves Kansas City for New York with bigger things in mind, she breaks his heart. Watching the news one night, he finds out that she has died. What results is a unique, unforgettable meditation on love and pain. americanrepertorytheater.org Restaurant: Parsnip Pairing because: Seeing Love’s debut in the long-gestating revamp to the old Upstairs on the Square space involving one of the best mixologists from New Orleans, kitchen talent from an ex-Boston Chops chef, and a homey, mid-century modern decor design just seems right for some reason.

Opening early fall. facebook.com/ parsniprestaurant

SOUTH END

Show: appropriate, Speakeasy Stage @ The BCA When: 9.12-10.10 What: An Obie Award-winning modern classic making its Boston premiere, appropriate is a blistering drama in the tradition of Tennessee Williams, Sam Shepard, and Horton Foote about legacy, secrets, and race. speakeasystage.com/appropriate Restaurant: Banyan Bar + Refuge Pairing because: The second coming of the old Hamersley’s Bistro iconic space by the Gallows Group and ex-East by NorthEast chef and owner Philip Tang is poised to be an easy go-to after seeing any show at the BCA. It’s next door. banyanboston.com

CENTRAL SQUARE

Show: Copenhagen, Central Square Theater When: 10.1-11.15 What: Winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Play, Copenhagen is a masterful psychological mystery about Heisenberg and Bohr’s reunion in the afterlife, in which they attempt to unravel the events of the fateful night when they famously confronted each other during WWII. centralsquaretheater.org Restaurant: Thelonious Monkfish Pairing because: A Tony Award-winning show about two people reconnecting

in the afterlife seems somewhat fitting to pair with a beloved Central Square house of live music and great sushi now that the place is having its own second life after a major interior overhaul and expansion. theloniousmonkfish.com

THEATER DISTRICT

Show: An Audience with Meow Meow, ArtsEmerson @ The Cutler Majestic When: 10.8-10.24 What: Post-postmodern international sensation Meow Meow comes to Boston (so close to Broadway, she says) in a brand new musical. Whatever may happen, she cautions, she always promises her audience a big finish. artsemerson.org Restaurant: Doretta Taverna Pairing because: Top Chef Masters alumnus Michael Schlow’s new Greek-inspired nod to his wife’s roots will be bringing the kind of clean, fresh mediterranean flavors and libations one would look for after postpostmodernism. Imminent opening. facebook.com/dorettaboston

BACK BAY

Show: A Confederacy of Dunces, Huntington Theatre @ The BU Theater When: 11.11-12.13 What: The long-awaited world premiere of the play based on John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, starring Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation). It will be the hottest ticket in town, so get them while you can. huntingtontheatre.org Restaurant: Strip by Strega Pairing because: The posh retro-ish steakhouse is experiencing its first fall, and since Nick Offerman will be forever linked to Ron Swanson, it feels like pairing the hottest ticket in town with a decadent meal at the Plaza is an allaround layup. stripbystregaboston.com

FALL ARTS PREVIEW

SCARE SEASON FILM

A white-knuckle peek at the gore and horror to come to Hub screens this fall

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

Rarely does a week go by without a underseen horror movie gracing a Boston-area repertory theater. So it goes without saying that those silver screens look like they were stained by blood orgies by the last day of each October. And for that we can thank our local programmers, a number of whom are certified experts in the genre.

To wit: Kicking off the 2015 Halloween season is Mark Anastasio, the mad doctor behind the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s After Midnight program, who will be crossing over to an adjacent haunt—the Brattle Theatre—to introduce a free screening of An American Werewolf in London at the end of this month (Mon 9.28, 8:30pm, 35mm).

Soon after that, the Brattle will be dedicating its screen to the history of film noir. And two of that mode’s forerunners are stalwarts of spooky cinema: The Invisible Man and The Mummy (Fri 10.9, 8pm and 9:30pm). And if you prefer your cosplay in the seats, as opposed to on-screen, you can head to The Somerville Theatre for its scheduled anniversary showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fri 10.15, midnight, 35mm).

If you’re measuring by body count, though, the Coolidge Corner Theatre is the biggest menace of the scare season this year. Its weekly midnight-movies program will host the area premieres for two evocatively titled festival favorites—Hellions (9.25 and 9.26, midnight) and Deathgasm (10.9 and 10.10, midnight)—alongside prime selections from 50 years of witch cinema: Vincent Price in Witchfinder General (10.2 and 10.3, midnight, 35mm), two evenings of Hocus Pocus (10.16 and 10.17, midnight, 35mm) for the millennial crowd, the Michael Myers-less Halloween III: Season of the Witch (10.23 and 10.24, midnight, 35mm), and the creepy-crawling possession chiller Rosemary’s Baby (10.30, midnight, 35mm) on the eve of All Hallow’s Eve. Also slated for the witching hour at the Coolidge is a movie whose influence on the genre rattles and shakes on-screen to this day. But don’t let the found-footage efforts that followed The Blair Witch Project (10.9 and 10.10, midnight, 35mm) color your experience of the original article. The rhythms here are looser than in the rip-offs—the observational moments are more banal, the scares are more inexplicable—and the result is a movie to be reckoned with.

Blair Witch, with its “don’t go in the woods” fable-izing and its “blurring the lines of non-fiction” conceit, is of a piece with A Filmmaker’s Nightmare, the Harvard Film Archive program curated by Ben Rivers. Bonus: The program also features films that document the “dangers” of making movies—be they spiritual, physical, or chemical. The program will wrap up on the holiday itself with a short film by Rivers, playing in between two nonfiction works that gaze at the horrors that wait behind the scenes of horror films: Demon Lover Diary (Sat 10.31, 7pm, 35mm) and Cuadecuc, Vampir (Sat 10.31, 9pm, 35mm).

So those are the choices for deconstructionists on the 31st. But those with a more traditional taste will have movies to see all day and night. The Somerville’s TerrorThon will fill the noon-to-midnight shift (screenings include West of Zanzibar, Dracula, and Seconds—Sat 10.31, noon, all 35mm), while the Coolidge’s 15th Annual Horror Movie Marathon will take us from midnight on Saturday through the following afternoon (screenings include Halloween II and Trick or Treat—Sat 10.31, midnight, all 35mm).

We’ll have more on those next month, but they’ll provide your fix for the goriest genre—you may even leave them wanting to take the next week off from the horror genre.

But we doubt it.

NEWS TO US

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

18

WED 9.16

THU 9.17

THU 9.17

THU 9.17

FRI 9.18

SUN 9.20

Let’s Dance Boston

A Night Of Curated Vintage

Pity Party Somerville

PHACE Phoenix Landing 20th Anniversary Party

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church premiere screening

Boston Local Food Fest

Should your dance moves make Elaine from Seinfeld seem ready for a music video background, you’re in luck. Let’s Dance Boston is happening along the Greenway Wednesday through Sunday, and it involves 45-minute free professional dance lessons in Latin, Swing, and Disco stylings followed by 90 minutes of live music befitting the lesson at hand by everyone from Puerto Rican percussionists to full swing bands. There’s even a Donna Summer tribute.

Because disco.

Take a look at your closet.

Go ahead, look. Now, if what you see causes your hand to reach out and rip everything from the hangers, it may be time to refresh your threads.

As such, you can hit the Garment District’s onenight collection of one-ofa-kind vintage clothing from the ’20s, ’30s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s (we’re not sure what happened in the ’40s and ’50s), where rare and fragile goods are for the taking. And the wearing.

It’s okay to have a sour puss these days. Life is hard. Work sucks. Your last paycheck bounced. You can’t get Morrissey out of your head. So instead of fighting it, just head to Union Square in Somerville on Thursday for a blockparty pity fest with sad songsters, melancholy poets, something dubbed “depressed comedians” (are there any other kind?), and even a sad clown walking around. That last one may take you from mopey to nightmares-fora-week, but hey: Life sucks.

Cambridge house of drum and bass, beers, and wild parties Phoenix Landing is turning 20 years old.

Normally a birthday party for a 20-year-old is one bummed out person one year away from being able to buy a drink legally.

But the Landing has been throwing a series of parties, culminating with PHACE bringing a barnburner set of contrasting ambient beats, huge bass, and wild times. Happy birthday, Phoenix Landing.

May you have 20 more.

Ah, Hendrix. Genius. Rock God. Upside-down stringer of guitars. And if you’re a fan (who isn’t?), head to Arlington on Friday for the Boston theatrical premiere of a rare film chronicling the time the man played to the largest American audience of his career: 400,000 people saw him at the Atlanta International Pop Festival at the height of his powers in 1970.

Stick around for the documentary that follows about his performance and the circumstances surrounding it.

There are two ways to think about the upcoming Boston Local Food Fest happening along the Greenway this weekend.

One is that it’s a massive all-day party featuring local restaurants, food trucks, and regional farmers and their wares, as well as live chef demos, a seafood throwdown, and tons of music and art performances. The other way is … actually, never mind. That’s pretty much the best way to think about it. Not complicated stuff, people. Happy eating.

Wharf District Park. At the lawn at Atlantic Ave and High St., Boston. 6-8:30pm/ all ages/FREE. celebrityseries. org/letsdanceboston

The Garment District.

200 Broadway, Cambridge.

6-10pm/all ages/FREE. garmentdistrict.com/ selections

Union Square Somerville.

6-8pm/all ages/ FREE. facebook.com/ events/506932232807914

Phoenix Landing.

512 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.

10pm-2am/19+/$15. elements-dnb.com

The Regent Theatre.

7 Medford St., Arlington.

9:15pm/all ages/$10. regenttheatre.com

Rose Kennedy Greenway.

11am-5pm/all ages/ cash vendors. bostonlocalfoodfestival.com

09.16.15 - 09.23.15

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DIGBOSTON.COM

ARTWORK BY ADAM O’DAY

PUT ON YOUR RED SHOES AND DANCE THE BLUES AT LET’S DANCE BOSTON

NEWS TO US

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

MUSIC

EGO-FREE ODD FUTURE The Internet talks confidence, LGBT pride, and #BlackLivesMatter

MUSIC

CHERRY PICKING

Potty Mouth cleans up its sound and scene

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Potty Mouth has come a long way since its 2013 full-length Hell Bent, and now the band’s got the sound to prove it.

The western Massachusetts-based trio of singer-guitarist Abby Weems, bassist Ally Einbinder, and drummer Victoria Mandanas hopped from lo-fi rock to polished alt-rock on its new self-titled EP. After a last-minute swap of producers from Chris Walla (of Death Cab For Cutie) to John Goodmanson, Potty Mouth fell snugly into its proper alt-rock sound as Goodmanson channeled the ’90s sound the band aimed for: Veruca Salt, Hole, Nada Surf.

“This big production is something we’ve always wanted but was never possible until now,” says Einbinder. “We got to spend the first two days rehearsing the song in the studio, and John would take notes and write feedback about the arrangements: cutting the chorus in half, moving a bridge, whatever. We had free reign over the studio and got to use all the gear in there. By the end of it, we were experimenting with any instruments we don’t get to use normally: a Leslie amp, glockenspiel, Moog synth. As we mature as musicians, so do our songs.”

In the music video for “Cherry Picking,” a girl collapses on her bed after school, takes a bong hit, and envisions the members of Potty Mouth appearing one by one in her room. Come the end, she’s dancing, singing, and playing in the band with them. “Representation is everything,” explains Einbinder. “When I was younger, I hardly saw any women playing music. In the music video, we didn’t want to position ourselves as an unattainable ideal. In the end, she can be just as much a part of this as we are.”

Usually when a fan joins a band in a music video, it’s a blown-up ordeal where they play on an enormous stage to a sea of people, spotlights and cameras galore. In “Cherry Picking”, it’s low key without going 0 to 100. “One of our biggest goals as a band is to potentially inspire young girls to try playing music,” says Weems. “We can use our band and our reach to break down the barrier between how people build up bands and the reality of how it can be a simple, fun, relaxed thing.”

Don’t forget that the three met in college back when music was far from being their career goal. “None of us expected to be here, really,” says Einbinder, who planned on storming grad school for a PhD in sociology. “That’s why I like doing interviews; you put your ideals into practice. The idea of selling out is ridiculous. Are you supposed to stay DIY punk forever? The bigger audience you reach, the greater ability you have as a band to make an impact. You’re not selling out because you’re not changing your ideals. You just have a wider audience in which to practice your ideals.” >> POTTY MOUTH + BONG WISH + URSULA. MON 9.21. GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMM. AVE., ALLSTON. 9PM/18+/$12.

GREATSCOTTBOSTON.COM.

MUSIC EVENTS WED 9.16

THU 9.17

FRI 9.18

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

Ave., Allston. 9pm/18+/$10. greatscottboston.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston. 8pm/18+/$25. crossroadspresents.com]

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$20. sinclaircambridge.com]

DREAM POP GLITTER EMPRESS OF + ABRA

20

09.16.15 - 09.23.15

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DOOM AND GLOOM INDUSTRIAL METAL GODFLESH + PRURIENT

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’80S ROCK ICONS THE FEELIES

SAT 9.19

MELODIC FOLK POP THE FRATELLIS + VUNDABAR

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston. 7pm/18+/$20. crossroadspresents.com]

Syd tha Kid and Matt Martians are as humble as can be for donning such a ballsy band name. When the two labeled themselves The Internet—the result of a sassy retort when asked where someone can hear their music—after meeting on MySpace in 2007, they never expected to grow into the R&B soul sensation they are, even with more friends joining over the years.

As funny as the moniker is, it requires you reach a certain level of fame for people to Google your name and discover your music. And while The Internet have indeed achieved that success—it’s the second search result to pop up—the band made peace with identity long ago by taking the focus off being known. It’s about making memorable music, not memorable social status.

The third album, Ego Death, suggests the rest of society follow suit. That’s why everyone’s face is on the album cover. “It’s unassuming,” says Syd tha Kid. “Ego Death in general is exactly what it says: losing a bit of your ego and becoming more vulnerable to what really matters, who you really are.”

Ego Death isn’t all flowery falsettos and lustful love. In the wake of Michael Brown’s verdict, Syd tha Kid penned “Penthouse Cloud,” a heavy reflection on the state of racial equality. Outside of music, the band tries to expand on Black Lives Matter by eliminating negative associations with rap and its culture. “We try to not be the stereotype that people think we are,” says Martians. “Yes, we’re black kids, and yeah, we’re normal. I understand girls look up to Syd. I understand dudes look up to others in the band. The best way to be an influence is to lead by examples with your head on straight.”

Amidst this, Syd tha Kid faces extra pressures as a gay individual within a predominantly heterosexual field, and while her songs aren’t vessels to express those experiences, they are work that LGBT kids can look up to with admiration. “I don’t have many gay friends,” she admits. “It’s nothing against my people; it’s just what it is. You hear that in my music in that I’m not harping on what it’s like to be gay.” Her nonchalance supports the fact that identity isn’t a choice, but a fact. It’s part of life. The music just happens to be the rhythm to express identity, free of whatever pressures the world, and the internet, throws the band’s way. >> THE INTERNET + ST. BEAUTY + DUTCH REBELLE. MON 9.21. THE SINCLAIR, 152 CHURCH ST., CAMBRIDGE. 8PM/18+/$18. SINCLAIRCAMBRIDGE.COM

SUN 9.20

SOLO BREAK FROM THE STROKES ALBERT HAMMOND JR. + PRINCE GEORGE + WHEN PARTICLES COLLIDE

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$20. sinclaircambridge.com]

MON 9.21

R&B GROOVE FROM RAP ROOTS THE INTERNET + ST. BEAUTY + DUTCH REBELLE

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$18. sinclaircambridge.com]

POTTY MOUTH PHOTO BY JESSE RIGGINS | THE INTERNET PHOTO BY JABARI JACOBS

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

THU 9/17 - 7PM WEMF PRESENTS:

SPO W/ GEPH

FRI 9/18 - THE BRAIN TRUST PRESENTS:

OTT FT. PLANTRAE ALIGNING MINDS

TUE 9/22 LEEDZ PRESENTS:

SLAUGHTERHOUSE

(ROYCE DA 5’9, JOE BUDDEN. JOELL ORTIZ, KXNG CROOKED) THU 9/24 - NV CONCEPTS PRESENTS:

FRONTLINER WED 9/16

OH MALÔ BENT SHAPES THU 9/17

SHAM 69 (UK)

THE WELCH BOYS SAVAGEHEADS, SILVER SCREAMS FRI 9/18 - LEEDZ PRESENTS:

SPOSE

SAT 9/19 - ILLEGALLY BLIND PRESENTS:

ULTIMATE PAINTING SUN 9/20 - 1pm ALL AGES

ACXDC

(ANTICHRIST DEMONCORE) SUN 9/20 - LEEDZ PRESENTS:

CANNIBAL OX, BUSDRIVER MON 9/21

TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET

PEARS, TIED TO A BEAR, BLACK CHEERS TUE 9/22

WORRIERS

FUCKO, GRAVEL, LITTLE MY

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FILM

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GREATEST HITS

On Black Mass and The Black Panthers

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

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Black Mass is the one thing it shouldn’t be. The count of authors is as high as it usually is for a Hollywood production—Scott Cooper directs, from a script credited to Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, from a book by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, with notes surely coming from above (suits) and below (uncredited screenwriters)—and you leave this Bahstahn-based pseudo-epic feeling that they’ve all canceled each other out. The narrative of James “Jimmy” “Whitey” Bulger is one that’s incendiary to any right-thinking mind. And Black Mass, bless its gentle heart, is on the other side of the spectrum: it’s inoffensive.

We open with the title card, and then a tape recorder. It must be the late ’90s—Kevin Weeks is talking to the FBI about Jimmy’s crimes. But first, Weeks is talking to the FBI about the correct phrases that should be used to describe his talking to the FBI. “I’m not a rat,” actor Jesse Plemons barks, searching for the cigarette-stained Southie diction that very few of these actors end up finding.

“You understand?” Cooper and the rest of his small army of creatives take that as their cue. You may expect a gangster epic about the man said to have ruled over our city. But what you get is a love story: informants becoming allies—the heads of organized crime and lone individuals at federal bureaus getting all starcrossed on us.

The depositions bring us back to 1975, and we walk forward from there— biopic-style—hitting the moments big enough to earn placement in the litany of autobiographies that have been authored by Bulger’s sewing circle of buttonmen. A feud with the North End’s mafia leads Bulger to cooperate with the FBI. Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch, doing an accent closer to “Backlot James Cagney” than “Boston”) works his way up the state senate. Bulger’s son dies of an unexpected reaction to aspirin. Bulger recedes further into his own ruthless psyche. The Southie empire grows. The ’80s arrive. Everyone is wearing ugly shoes and getting into jai alai. Bulger murders a corporate stooge, hitman Stephen Flemmi’s stepdaughter, and a few others. We skip through them like a playlist, never seeing Bulger’s workaday crimes, but only their repercussions. Call it Whitey Bulger: Greatest Hits.

There is a hook collecting all these slabs of meat. It’s Bulger’s relationship with Boston-based FBI agent John Connelly (Joel Edgerton) who brings the kingpin in as a “Top Echelon Informant” to wipe out the denizens of Prince Street, then uses the rather useless information that’s sporadically provided by Bulger to—as the movie tells GREATEST HITS continued on pg. 24

FILM EVENTS /weeklydig

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FRI 9.18

MON 9.21

CLUELESS

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT

HAROLD AND MAUDE

REWIND! SCREENING SERIES PRESENTS [Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

7pm/PG-13/$11.25. Ticket allows entry to 21+ afterparty at Osaka Sushi & Steakhouse—though space is limited. coolidge.org]

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@digstagram

THU 9.17

DAILYdig digboston.com/daily

UCLA FESTIVAL OF PRESERVATION PRESENTS WHITE ZOMBIE

[Museum of Fine Arts.

465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 7:30pm/NR/$9-11.

Also screens Sun 9.20 @ 3pm. 35mm.]

PORTRAIT OF THE COLLECTOR

HAL ASHBY’S

[ICA Boston. 100 Northern Ave., Boston. 7pm/NR/$5-10. Also screens Sat 9.19 @ 3pm.]

[Coolidge Corner.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

7pm/PG/$11.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]

SUN 9.20

PEAK TRAVOLTA

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/R/$7-9.

35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

BRATTLE THEATRE/HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESENT AN OUTDOOR SCREENING OF [The Open Lot at 267 Western Ave., Allston.

Seating begins at 6:30pm/R/ FREE.]

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

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GREATEST HITS continued from pg. 22 it—defraud his FBI superiors, all for the sake of defending this neighborhood buddie whom he admired so greatly. What Cooper might have been going for is something like The Master: a movie about two symbolically loaded men (one an unshakeable sociopath, and the other a law enforcement rep who thinks he can shake him) passing through a relationship that blurs all the lines—it’s aspirational, it’s familial, it’s sexual. But what he finds is an overwrought morality play about the dangers of romanticizing evil. And it removes the FBI itself from any legitimate complicity in the events depicted—all to scapegoat a self-professed nobody.

The “faults” that we’ll all spend the next six months nitpicking are of a less malicious sort.

We’ll talk about the way the color-timing makes the Boston skyline look like the background of a Grand Theft Auto video game. Or the way that the crying-violin score and the overtly melancholic acting (Eastwood-chic) softens the characters in a way that softens the movie itself. And we’ll definitely point at Depp’s portrayal of Mr. Bulger—under an unmoving piece of skull-cap makeup and with contacts that take the book’s description of the crime lord’s “marble eyes” far too seriously—and observe that he looks less like a real human than like the CGI version of Johnny Depp that they’ll create to star in movies 15 or 20 years after the real Johnny Depp has passed away.

The rest of the filmmaking is comparable in its liveliness. Cooper’s distanced compositions, filled with space-negating shadows—speaking of Eastwood-chic—run far away from any Scorsesean associations you may have, resolutely refusing to share the point of view of the murderers we’re observing. That sidelining technique should allow us to watch closely and craft our own take on the material. But the script is so taken with the events as they’ve been reported and approved by the FBI—by this nonsensical suggestion that one mediocre man was able to con the entire force of the BPD, as well as all of his superiors, while the crimes of the kingpin he was protecting happened in broad daylight, and nobody important was in on the take, not at all, get that idea out of your head—that the film feels more like a defense than an investigation. Once again, what we get is the opposite of what we want. We come for something resembling the truth—figuratively, if not literally. What Black Mass gives us is just the Official Story.

Also playing this week is The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (open now at the Kendall Square Cinema) by documentarian and filmmaker Stanley Nelson, which combines contemporary interviews—featuring police officers, former federal agents, and a number of surviving Panthers—with archival footage to present a broad overview of the history of the political collective. Its deliberate lack of focus, like Black Mass, leads it to skip rather unevenly from one story splinter to another. Frankly, there’s eight or so topics broached here that would make strong subjects for features of their own: the chasm between Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver; the Panther’s ironic origins as proponents of open-carry laws, the assassination of Fred Hampton by the American government, even the group’s knowingly performative use of military dress and order for the sake of financial necessity—“The stars,” one member recollects, “They ate that shit up.”

As cinema, on a formal level, it’s every documentary you’ve seen before: talking heads, distinct chapters, and the audio never contrasts the imagery onscreen. Nelson’s picture is primarily a work of education, and beyond that, of journalism. But his subject has contemporary relevance that demands neither cinematic technique nor direct explication.

The current status of police brutality and the mobility of movements like Black Lives Matter are not once raised in this documentary. But they stay in our memory—as does, say, the FBI’s complicity in the NSA’s Special Operations Division, which spent recent years illegally targeted Americans for low-level drug crimes by using outlawed surveillance technology— while we watch Nelson document the ways the American government worked with local police departments to systematically prevent the creation of a defiantly black identity in the center of American culture.

Black Mass asks us to believe that the same organization capable of the organized killings and nationwide subterfuge documented in Black Panthers was taken in and fooled, for decades, by the “alliance” of one kingpin and one regional handler. Maybe that’s the story Cooper and his crew were stuck using. But it asks the audience—it asks us—to assume a naiveté that borders on downright ignorance. One of these movies exists to remove historical redactions. The other one does the redacting. >> BLACK MASS. RATED R. OPENS EVERYWHERE FRI 9.18. >> THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION. UNRATED. NOW PLAYING AT THE KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA. 24

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FILM SHORTS BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN GRANDMA Lily Tomlin fills the unisex shoes of the title character: a bombtossing take-no-prisoners feminist poet who’s accompanying her granddaughter to the abortion clinic, because the teenage girl’s mother (Marcia Gay Harden) never leaves the treadmill desk at her office. So it’s three waves of feminism—the radical, the working woman, and the millennial—letting their beliefs fight a verbal battle royale within the confines of a day-on-the-town farce.

It’s extremely agreeable, especially when Sam Elliott shows up as a literal patriarch in need of an insult-laden tearing-down. But “agreeable” isn’t why we go to the movies: These aren’t actors playing people, but people playing symbols.

MISTRESS AMERICA ***/**** Being a woman of Fitzgeraldian bombast, Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who co-writes alongside director Noah Baumbach) can’t simply ask her soon-to-be-stepsister Tracy if she has a boyfriend. Instead she phrases it the way Katherine Hepburn might have: “You got a honey?” The plot of this farce sees Tracy turning Brooke into the subject of a short story—the film’s second half leads the pair to a home filled with friends, crushes, exes, and neighbors, so the drama is easy to adapt—but the pleasure of it comes from watching those oddball turns-of-phrase spin themselves in circles. They end up earning the movie a designation rarely used since the Jazz Age: This is verbal slapstick.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE— ROGUE NATION Nothing in Rogue Nation works except for Tom Cruise—but oh, how he works. There’s an opera house shootout where he’s rappelling through everything (across moving light fixtures, into back rooms and onto the sets of the stage), and what sells it is his sheer exasperation: He’s one of the only action stars whose facial expressions are calculated to reveal that he can sweat, too. Cruise isn’t the sort of actor we believe can actually save the world. But in scenes like that, he provides a more moderate salvation: His charisma can still save otherwise forgettable action movies.

RICKI AND THE FLASH Meryl Streep’s eponymous would-be arena rocker—she never made it, and now covers Tom Petty for regulars at a San Fernando dive—gets called home to provide emotional support for the millennial daughter she left behind decades earlier. So the script is mining laughs from the faux pas traded between 20-somethings who care about going green and a child of the ’60s who’d rather be smoking it. It’s director Jonathan Demme, so adept with building character, who makes this into more

than a grounded Freaky Friday: He hangs on to each scene for moments longer than necessary, and finds explanations for even the most unreasonable plot machinations. He cares, and it plays.

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie play a pair of “just friends” fighting off their desire for each other—and the rest of the romcom genre’s hallmarks are here too, right down to the wacky BFF who’s here only to offer Brie dating advice. Writer/director Leslye Headland follows the blueprint, then, but she works blue while she does it: On the path to its inevitable conclusion, her script pauses for zipped-up arguments about fingering techniques, surprisinglystraight faced sex scenes, and sexting banter represented via text on screen.

It might not be an upgrade, but it is an update.

THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED Most revealing is a shot where a man’s face fills the right side of the frame, while a woman’s ass fills the equivalent space on the left. This reboot has a faux-feminist narrative straight outta Fury Road—an amoral hero is hired as a wheelman by vengeful females and eventually fights for them pro bono—but its eyes reveal that it’s just in this for the sake of leering. Some creative fight scenes (one in a file cabinet!) might get you into the exploitation-movie mood, but then you see the four heroines have their focus seduced away from them (producing more ass shots!) and you remember the sad side of those movies. Refueled, maybe. But matured? Certainly not.

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON The first half of this N.W.A biopic is full of drug-fueled performances and orgies as sweaty as Eazy-E after a rough weekend—it revels in amorality. Then all the characters walk through arcs that absolve them of every sin we saw them commit, leaving them to be responsible family men who make nice headphones or star in inoffensive Hollywood comedies, and who’re now fine upstanding corporate employees who never do anything wrong, thank you very much. Putting it bluntly, that’s boring: We already knew these men went from “fuck tha police” to “buy some Beats.”

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THEATER

IN THE PARLOR, IN THE BED The Huntington Theatre Company opens their new season with a Sondheim masterpiece

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

WEDS Sept. 16th 9PM

SUBSTRUCTURE DJs: XGlare (Live) Elizabeth Dalton, Isabella, Lychee & Bathaus Genres: Electronic Vibes | $5 | 21+ THURS Sept. 17th 9PM

BBYMUTHA LIVE PERFORMANCE

DJs: Elosi and more TBA Genres: Hip Hop, Trap, Twerk, Bounce | $5 | 21+

PICO PICANTE vs. UNITY DJs: Riobamba / Oxycontinental / Ultratumba Francesco Spagna, Cruzz, Genres: upstairs = Classic, Soulful, Afro and Latin House / Downstairs: Global Bass, Tropical, Digital Cumbia $5 b4 11pm, $10 after | 21+ SAT Sept. 19th 9:30PM

SHAKE

DJs: Pearson Sound, Genres: Bass, Garage, Juke , Trap + Hip Hop, Party Jams & Reggae Upstairs | $10 | 21+ TUES Sept. 22nd 6PM

GAME NIGHT

NO COVER | Downstairs 18+ until 10pm

Wed 9/16 7:30PM

YOUNG DUBLINERS

RARE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE

+ THE GOBSHITES (Celtic Rock)

Tues 9/29

MELANIE with special guests

Beau Jarred and EVA (folk /singer -songwriter)

Tues 11/3 7PM

HOWARD JONES SOLO (Synth)

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis 26

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We may have reached the unofficial end of summer, but there’s still time to squeeze in a few smiles. For you see, according to Madame Armfeldt, the summer night indeed smiles three times: once for the young, once for the fools who know too little, and once for those who know too much. And Boston theatergoers wise enough to find themselves in the audience of the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 masterwork, A Little Night Music, will find themselves smiling right back.

As far as musicals go, they don’t get much more elegant than this lavish and luscious exploration of mortality, morality, love, and—yes—sex. Adapted from Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, Sondheim’s A Little Night Music unfolds in turn-of-the-century Sweden around Desirée Armfeldt, an unsatisfied well-known actress of a certain age currently on tour and who finds herself in the hometown of an old lover, who is newly married to a young virgin.

With a temptation of such inexorable proximity, the lovers reassemble, but not if Desirée’s present lover—also married—has anything to say about it. While the two espoused suitors grapple over Desirée, the men’s wives, bonding over the anguish of having unfaithful husbands, begin to cook up their own scheme.

Take all this drama, plus a handful of other lusty, libidinous characters, and place them in the country estate of Madame Armfeldt, Desirée’s mother, for a weekend getaway: Where she stops, nobody knows.

Huntington Theatre Company artistic director Peter DuBois is at the helm of this Night Music. It’s a show that he’s wanted to direct for years, and he believes the show is just as timely as ever: “Sondheim has captured the imaginations of a whole new generation of theatre makers and theatre goers, and I feel that the themes of A Little Night Music—sex, death, second chances, love—are themes that are eternal … I believe Sondheim is the Shakespeare of our time—the incredible range of themes, thoughts, ideas, and emotions in his work is unparalleled,” DuBois told me. “I’m also drawn to the musical’s notion that until we hit the grave there is always opportunity for second chances.” Thrillingly talented British actress Haydn Gwynne—best known for her Tony and Olivier Award nominated performance in Billy Elliot—stars as Desirée.

While DuBois’ production will remain true to the period—“Why mess with something that is so elegant and beautiful?” he said—the concept of his Night Music is more than just the silver birch trees and straightforward approach that many have come to expect of the show. “We have created our own theatrical language to tell that story—musically, visually, physically, emotionally—and we’re using Desirée’s livelihood, the theatre, as the framework for our staging,” said DuBois.

A Little Night Music is not merely a bedroom farce with a hit song and plush garb. As is always the case with Sondheim, something darker lurks beneath.

With a deliciously satisfying book by Hugh Wheeler, Night Music is at once winsome and worrisome, capricious and cautionary. It is through characters of several generations that we see the promise of youth play out amidst the pain of nostalgia: the careless wide-eyed young lovers and those in middle age “unsure of their lines,” the sweltering closing days of summer and the crisp, moonlit nights with something in the wind.

Might Sondheim himself make the trip to Boston? “Keep your eyes peeled,” DuBois told me. “You never know.” >> A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. RUNS 9.11-10.11 AT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY, 264 HUNTINGTON AVE., BOSTON. WWW.HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

PHOTO BY NILE SCOTT SHOTS/NILE HAWVER

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ARTS

WALL JOB

The Palm is looking for a new paid resident artist

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

Attention all artists in need of making a buck off their work: There’s a steakhouse and power-lunch spot known for its iconic wall art that would like to have a word with you.

Or rather, with your ability to produce caricatures for the Palm, a familyowned restaurant chain of hearty chicken parm and booths stuffed with politicos, local and national celebrities, and Joe everymen regulars alike. The team over there, led by General Manager Brian Brosnihan, is throwing an art competition to search for the next in-house resident caricature artist to be their go-to for the backlogged and constantly growing list of faces scheduled for immortality upon the available real estate on the walls throughout the 8,300-square-foot space.

The high ceilings and opulent marble columns tower over the room at the 1 International Pl location downtown along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and the space is as rife with the clinking glassware and general din of business meetings and special occasion meals as it is with the smiling mugs and vintage cartoon reproductions from the original Second Avenue location in New York City.

The history of the wall art in every Palm goes back 90 years, when the original 25-seat hole-in-the-wall Manhattan location became the local hangout for cartoonists from the daily papers. When artists were hungry and short on cash, owners Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi would sort them out on the condition they throw an original piece of work on the wall. The reproductions of some of those line the Boston Palm (think: Family Circus and Beetle Bailey strips from the 1920s and 1930s), including some inspired work by drunk artists paying off their bar tab with now-memorable murals (read: light nudity).

Here’s how the competition works: Starting Sept 16, artists of every stripe looking for steady work and monthly dinners on the house (try the veal) have until Sept 30 to submit a headshot that would represent their style of wall caricatures for the Palm. Your subject: Governor Charlie Baker. Work should be submitted to faceoff@thepalm.com, where Tak Toyoshima, DigBoston creative director and mad genius behind the beloved Secret Asian Man comic, will be reviewing the work and selecting five finalists.

Those chosen will then compete in a draw-off at the Palm downtown on a date TBD, with the winner landing the resident artist gig. One runner-up will be chosen to fill in in the case that the resident artist is unavailable to handle any of the 6-12 faces per month the Palm will be assigning at $65/face. Do the math.

“I’m looking for something in between a caricature and a formal portrait,” Brosnihan says in regards to what makes a good Palm caricature. “So that you can recognize the person immediately, but not be too cartoony with accented noses and the like. We’re the only restaurant that [still] paints the caricatures on the wall, with hours spent doing stencil work and painting right on the wall. It looks beautiful, really great quality of work.”

Brosnihan says the winner or runner-up will work right on the Palm’s walls Saturdays or Sundays, before the restaurant opens in the morning or during lunch services, with crowds watching the work as it happens.

Possibly to thunderous applause, if you’re really good. >> THE PALM FACE-OFF RESIDENT ARTIST COMPETITION. 9.16-9.30. FINALIST FACE-OFF DATE TBD. EMAIL ALL SUBMISSIONS TO FACEOFF@THEPALM.COM 28

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NOTHING MATTRESS

BY BRIAN CONNOLLY @NOTHINGMATTRESS

THE STRANGERER

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

SAVAGE LOVE

MINDS BLOWN

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE Many years ago, what was for me a bizarre sexual incident happened to me, and while I’ve largely laughed it off with no traumatic effects, the incident has always puzzled me. For the record, I’m a straight man in a good, loving marriage with no sexual issues to report. I was off on a golf weekend with a bunch of über-hetero buddies. We stayed in a condo that didn’t have enough beds for everyone, so I ended up sharing a bed with an ex-marine. In the middle of the night, I thought my girlfriend was waking me up with a blowjob, and a damn fine one at that.

However, as I gradually became awake, I realized the mouth on my penis wasn’t my girlfriend’s. I called this guy’s name, and—this is the interesting part—he sprang up suddenly, like I just woke him up. I was also a little afraid, because he was a big guy who could have easily pummeled me to death out of embarrassment. But he jumped out of bed, went into the bathroom, and gargled before coming back into bed. Neither of us said a word afterward about what happened. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep too well after that. (And frankly, I was a little offended by the gargling.) So the question is: Can you fellate in your sleep? Can you sleep-blow and still be a straight guy?

Blown Latently One Wild Night Sexsomnia is a real thing—sleepwalking plus sex—but it’s an exceedingly rare thing. Closeted guys are a lot more common, 30

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BLOWN, and guys who seem über-hetero are often more successfully closeted than your lighter-in-the-loafer guys. Three other details lead me to believe this was a crime/blowjob of opportunity: It’s typically pretty difficult to wake a sleepwalker/ sleep-blower (it takes more than calling out a name), the skills on display during the incident (it takes practice to give a “damn fine” blowjob), and his actions after he woke up with your dick in his mouth (rushing to the bathroom to gargle) smack of overcompensation.

I have no disagreement with what you said to letter writer WHIFFING (the man who wanted to know how to broach the subject of a female partner’s unpleasant vaginal odor). But I wanted to add something that seems to be largely unknown: A common side effect of long-term SSRI use is that the scent and amount of sweat can change to be offensive and copious.

I’ve been in this position. Nothing I did to treat the sweating (beta blockers were offered to reduce the amount but couldn’t change the odor) made a difference, and my intimacy with my partner really suffered. We could basically be intimate only after I just showered; it took months for my partner even to bring it up. When I finally discovered the sweating in a list of side effects in a medical app, it was quickly confirmed by my prescriber as common but not talked about because it’s not physically harmful, so other SSRI users may not be aware of the connection. Just wanted to let your other readers know!

Shower Power Good info to have, SP. Thanks for sharing.

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