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ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER’S MASTERPIECES

REVOLUTION ROCK STAR TALKS FOOTY NEWS TO US

THE THIRSTY GAMES PT.1 BOSTON’S ENDLESS PROHIBITION

A SNEAK PEEK AT THE BEST ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT THIS SPRING HONEST PINT

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HEADLINING THIS WEEK! Colin Jost Fri+Sat

VOL 18 + ISSUE 11

MARCH 17, 2016 - MARCH 24, 2016 EDITORIAL

DEAR READER

EDITOR + PUBLISHER Jeff lawrence

I’ve never made it to the parade in Southie on St. Patrick’s Day, but I’ve certainly tried. One year I got as far as the Broadway Bridge and realized I was having a hard time walking and it wasn’t even noon, so I turned back. Another year, I actually parked and starting walking up A Street when I got a call and a better idea, so I left. Over the last few years, frankly, I haven’t even tried. It’s certainly not for a lack of interest, or because I don’t want to see with my own eyes the shit show that so many people say it is. I genuinely want to share in a very Boston experience, even if it means getting puke on my shoes and punched by Scumbag Steve. Maybe this will be the year.

One thing I do see every year as I bounce from pub to pub, though, is the Dig on corner bars and side tables, tucked under a sleeping head and sometimes just used as a coaster. The reason for this is quite deliberate, the Irish pubs were the first place I delivered the paper to when I started it back in 1999. The owners all seemed to hate the Boston Phoenix and apparently they appreciated my love of beer, but the reason behind the reason runs a little deeper. The first pub, and first advertiser ever, was Tir na nOg in Union Square, Somerville, and it was in there that I met Paddy Grace.

At the time, he was the owner of the Littlest Bar but he was also the unofficial gatekeeper for all things publican. Over several pints, and probably several hours, Paddy painted a picture of the Irish pub network that surrounded me, dropping names and telling me which place to go to next and exactly why. I never looked back, and to this day, many of those same pubs are still the best places to find a friendly face, some peace of mind, and a Dig to read. Thank you, Paddy. The next round’s on me.

While beer and boiled plates are the main focus for many this week, this issue is chock-full of great content to get you through the in-between. Our cover hero and New England Revolution rock star, Diego Fagundez, spent some time telling us what makes him tick. For the serious soccer fan, it’s a must-read. We also get our hands dirty uncovering the bizarre world of the Boston liquor license, the powers that hold the keys to them, and those who are responsible for screwing it all up.

We even cover some up-and-coming A&E with a few Spring Preview highlights that you’ll definitely want to check out. In other words, it’s the usual mix of master wordsmiths ... so pour yourself a tall one and get busy.

ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran ASSOCIATE FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR Christopher Ehlers COPY EDITOR Mitchell Dewar CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Emily Hopkins, Jason Pramas CONTRIBUTORS Nate Boroyan, Renan Fontes, Bill Hayduke, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Jason Pramas, Dave Wedge INTERNS Becca DeGregorio, Anna Marketti

DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tak Toyoshima INTERN Alina MacLean COMICS Tim Chamberlain Pat Falco Patt Kelley

ADVERTISING FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION sales@digpublishing.com

BUSINESS ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Marc Shepard SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jesse Weiss 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

New England Revolution midfielder Diego Fagúndez helps us kick off (sorry) Spring Preview cover. Read more about Diego on page 10. Photo by David Silverman. ©2016 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.

Saturday Night Live, Staten Island Summer

The Addicts Comedy Tour SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT: SUN, MAR 20 Comic vs. Comic Wed, Mar 23 Boston’s Best Roasting Competition

Joe Matarese Mar 24-26 Comedy Central, America’s Got Talent

Tammy Pescatelli Apr 1+2

JEFF LAWRENCE - EDITOR + PUBLISHER, DigBoston

Comedy Central, Jenny McCarthy's Dirty, Sexy, Funny

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Guy at Party, You stood right next to the goddamn bar the whole night, so I couldn’t really keep away from you or your ridiculous opinions as much as I would have liked to. You’re handsome, with an extremely hot girlfriend, and like her you say things that most average-looking people like me wouldn’t vomit while drinking Cuervo.

Especially this whole hipster conservative thing you have going. It’s sad, and you aren’t very smart. Maybe you should run for president, but in the meantime you’re the reason that I more or less avoid parties, even though I like parties. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Big Jay Oakerson Apr 7-8 Inside Amy Schumer, FX's Louie ILLUSTRATION BY ALINA MACLEAN

NEWS + FEATURES EDITOR Chris Faraone

617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District NEWS TO US

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NEWS US NUMBER OF LIQUOR LICENSES AROUND BOSTON, AS PER DATA.CITYOFBOSTON.GOV. THE DISPARITY IN LIQUOR LICENSE DISTRIBUTION JUMPS OFF THE MAP.

THE THIRSTY GAMES: ROUND I NEWS TO US

An exploration into the sordid history of Boston’s modern prohibition “Except for the city of Boston.”

This historically pointed phrase punctuates every paragraph of liquor license legislation in the Massachusetts General Laws. In short, the exception means the Hub is alone among Commonwealth locales in getting especially screwed in the number of wet establishments allowed in its borders.

At a February public hearing on Beacon Hill, hope was on the table for some in the form of “An Act to Modernize Municipal Finance and Government.” If passed, the measure would wrest control of liquor license quotas from the state and place the power over such decisions in the hands of municipal lawmakers.

Except for the city of Boston.

Hub residents, activists, and restaurant owners testified in protest of this vested restriction. Their argument isn’t a new one, but such gripes have gained significant steam in the press and public consciousness over the past few years: Restricting the number of licenses in the Hub, many Bostonians argue, both damages our local economy and demonstrably suppresses development in less affluent areas.

At this particular February hearing, something notably strange occurred, bringing the debate to a screeching halt. Advocates for Boston independence were shot down, but not for the usual reasons. According to Barbara L’Italien, the Democratic state senator from Andover, the complainers have been wrong all along.

“Boston already has the capability to determine the number of liquor licenses the city has,” L’Italien claimed.

“Boston sets the rules for Boston. Boston sets the number.”

The senator’s bold words—that the Hub itself can determine the number of liquor licenses allowed in city limits—caused legislative staffers and restaurateurs alike to balk in confusion. Anyone who’s ever paid attention to Boston’s notoriously broken licensing system knows 4

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the opposite to be true—the state capped the number of licenses Boston could distribute decades ago, and the ensuing procedural rigmarole has been an issue of contention ever since.

The current quota system has spawned a hardly regulated secondary market in which the cost of a license can run upwards of $350,000. It has fostered political corruption, bred an incestuous cuddle puddle of greed and hand greasing, and stymied Boston’s growth potential in the long run—all while posing a staggering disservice to communities of color.

As L’Italien’s possible mix-up showed, there’s an absurd amount of confusion driving the disparity.

Our months-long plunge into the rubble of the Hub’s regulatory past reveals that city and state officials barely agree about which body is responsible for what and when. According to activists, finance and regulatory experts, Boston city councilors, and restaurant industry professionals, lifting the cap would invigorate the local economy and help narrow the cultural gap between more booming parts of Boston and neglected corners of the Hub. Removing the cap could additionally be a powerful first step toward addressing an enduring segregation.

In practice, however, after nearly a century of paradoxical precedents, redrawn zoning maps, and a tightly monopolized market, distributing the opportunity to entertain has become an uphill battle with no real end in sight.

MORE THAN A YEAR AGO

On a brisk Saturday afternoon last October, the mood was festive inside Dudley Cafe, the bright and sunny first-floor space in Dudley Square’s new Bolling Municipal Building.

Restaurant owners Solmon and Rokeya Chowdhury chatted with Boston City Councilor-at-Large Ayanna Pressley and members of her staff. Neighbors and friends

lounged on couches in a corner; groups of local activists and employees of nearby businesses mingled in the open space, enjoying sandwiches, pastries, and coffee. A few people looking to fight the cold or just unwind ordered beer or wine.

It was the third stop on DINE617, a celebratory tour across the city hosted by Pressley featuring four restaurants—one in Hyde Park, one in Dorchester, one in East Boston, and Dudley Cafe in Roxbury. All four received liquor licenses as a result of a 2014 home rule petition (legislation originating in a municipality that is later approved by the state) filed by Pressley that pushed 75 new liquor licenses into Boston’s historically shallow pool.

Twenty-five licenses will be made available each year until 2017. Sixty of these licenses are restricted to businesses operating in specific neighborhoods where liquor licenses have been particularly sparse for years.

“The impetus for this [legislation] was neighborhoods that had been disenfranchised,” Pressley said. She explained the impact of having the Commonwealth’s nose in the details of such permitting, which creates a messy extra layer of bureaucracy that’s resulted in a feastor-famine landscape. The councilor continued, “We have a 100-year-old law on the books choking the economic potential and promise out of these neighborhoods.”

Around here, the opening of any bar or restaurant that serves so much as wine is cause for major celebration. As is any procurement of a beverage license by a person of color.

Since the 2014 legislation, the number of liquor licenses owned by black Bostonians has more than doubled.

There are still fewer than 10.

“When we tell people that, they are just stunned, their jaws drop,” says Malia Lazu of Epicenter Community (formerly Future Boston Alliance), a Roxbury-based nonprofit focused on building a more racially equitable Boston. Since 2012, Lazu has fought for an elimination of THE THIRSTY GAMES continued on pg. 6

PHOTO BY CHRIS FARAONE

BY HALEY HAMILTON @SAUCYLIT

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THE THIRSTY GAMES continued from pg. 4

SHOW ME THE HONEY

Boston’s been torn up about liquor licenses for a long time. In 1906 the city elected Mayor John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, John F. Kennedy’s maternal grandfather and an Irish-American politician who was famous for championing the working man (at least publicly).

The victory caused an uproar in the old moneyand Yankee-dominated State House. According to city lore and many books and articles written on the subject, to limit the power of the Irish mayor, Brahmins in state office capped the number of liquor licenses Boston officials could issue.

But the number of licenses was actually set for the Hub in 1933, the year Prohibition ended and during the third term of infamous Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.

Curley was a schmoozer.

And, some say, a political gangster.

Downtown nightlife and Boston drinking culture remain steeped in his legacy: jm Curley on Temple Place and the Last Hurrah in the Omni Parker House hotel both pay homage to the smooth-talking pol, and if there was ever a Boston politician for the State House to be wary of, it was Curley.

Prohibition may have ended, but the Commonwealth was quick to put a stop to Curley having free reign of booze licensing, and there’s been a cap ever since. While all other municipalities were granted one on-site license for every 1,000 residents, the law stated, “In Boston, one such place may be licensed for each five hundred of the population, but in no event shall the total number of licensed places therein exceed one thousand.”

Boston’s 2013 population was just under 650,000, which doesn’t even begin to address the thousands of people who commute to the city each day or their outof-state colleagues who frequent the Hub but actually reside elsewhere. Without the cap, if it were treated like every other city and town, Boston would be eligible for about 300 more licenses.

The original legislation was a mess. Similar to the contemporary tussle over marijuana, deliberations between representatives over the details of liquor licensing were often absurd and contradictory.

Newspaper editorials called early plans to ban the sale of hard alcohol in bars and restaurants an invitation to let speakeasy culture continue. At one point, lawmakers even considered special permits for the purchasing of some potent liquors. Through it all, a magic number of 1,000— for how many establishments in Boston could serve alcoholic beverages—to some degree stuck, affecting the city ever after.

The state’s micro-regulation has amounted to a major pain in the glass. And an expensive one, too. By the early 2000s, the market price for an all-alcoholic beverages license was upwards of $350,000. The economic basics of supply and demand took firm control, and permission to serve booze became a hot commodity available exclusively to the highest bidders. Local law firms came to specialize in finding ways to secure licenses for clients, their fees significantly adding to the financial burden of opening a restaurant and hobbling scores more would-be entrepreneurs attempting to enter the Hub’s nightlife scene.

“The fact that there are Bostonians who are basically not allowed to open restaurants because they’re priced out of it, the fact that [certain] neighborhoods aren’t allowed to develop and be attractive to other people … that’s horrible injustice,” says Lazu of Epicenter Community.

“This is a problem for Boston,” adds Robert Bench, a Boston-based attorney who has worked with Epicenter 6

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and Pressley to draw attention to social injustices tied to the liquor license cap. “It goes directly against what we’re trying to do here as a city, which is trying to make it more livable for everyone.”

On top of needing capital, restaurant owners must garner support from local neighborhood associations and public officials. During hearings before the Boston Licensing Board (BLB), representatives from city council offices speak in favor of or against applicants; their comments may or may not sway the BLB vote, but they account for some of the potential obstacles that would-be restaurateurs often face. Put simply, it helps to have as many wired allies and connected legal representatives as possible.

With this pay-to-play pattern well established since the end of Prohibition, in 2008 the toxic status quo finally reached critical (and criminal) mass and exploded.

Hit worst were two elected officials, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson and Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner.

Both highly regarded in their districts—overlapping communities of color, including Roxbury—Wilkerson and Turner were convicted of accepting bribes. Wilkerson, who had risen to become the highest-ranking black woman on Beacon Hill, had been caught greasing the wheels to fasttrack a liquor license for a Roxbury nightclub.

In the aftermath of an ugly and extremely public fallout, during which Wilkerson resigned her senate seat and she and Turner both served time in prison, relatively little attention was paid to the underlying story. Ron Wilburn, the prospective Roxbury club owner who ultimately went undercover, went to the authorities out of desperation after being rejected by the BLB. His frustration with the system was hardly resolved; following the controversy caused by his cooperation with authorities, Wilburn told the Boston Globe “he felt he had been used by the FBI to topple a pair of prominent black politicians, while four months after the first arrest, no white officials have been charged in the investigation.”

The newspaper reported further: The arrests of Wilkerson and Turner were followed by a flurry of subpoenas that landed at the Boston Licensing Board, Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s office, on the desks of multiple City Council members, as well as at the State House, the state’s Liquor Control Board, and the offices of developers and construction companies.

Despite the widespread expectation of a broader investigation that was fueled by the subpoenas, no additional arrests have been made.

Asked about his own attempts to secure a liquor license from the city, Wilburn told the Globe that his experience before the BLB enraged him. The chairman of the board at the time, the businessman recalled, “treated [him] like a runaway slave.”

2006

Years before Pressley’s home rule petition made headlines, there was another attempt to bring equity to nightlife in Boston.

It was December 2006, and the anguish caused by the pinch on licenses had spun out of control. To help correct the situation, then-Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation granting 55 new licenses—25 all-alcohol and 30 beer and wine. The cost for these new licenses was just

a few thousand dollars in initial charges and fees—far from the hundreds of thousands that one cost on the secondary market at the time.

These permissions were special. In addition to being the first to become available in nearly a century, the licenses were the first to ever be designated as nontransferable—they cannot be sold to another establishment but instead must be returned to the city when the current holder no longer has use for it.

Of the 55 new licenses, all of the beer and wine and 10 of the 40 all-alcohol permits were restricted to areas deemed “main streets districts, urban renewal areas, empowerment zones, or municipal harbor plan areas”— those at an acknowledged disadvantage in developing a more lucrative restaurant economy, largely because of the cap-induced price of liquor licenses.

The plan to stimulate bar and restaurant activity in forgotten corners of the city didn’t last long. Daniel Pokaski, then-chairman of the BLB, told reporters there was actually a way for the city to grant licenses to restaurants or bars outside the designated zones. All officials had to do was have “the BRA enlarge one of the covered zones.” Like that, the maps originally meant to favor certain areas—Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, other “urban renewal areas” or “empowerment zones”—were completely ignored.

“The City of Boston had no authority to change the boundaries of the map,” says former Sen. Wilkerson all these years later. [Ed. note: Wilkerson has contributed to BINJ in the past, though she did not assist in the production of this article besides offering quotations and context.] Wilkerson says the licenses released by Romney were all issued in the first three months of 2007, with not even one going to applicants from Dorchester and Roxbury, of which there were three in total. At the same time, Wilkerson and others started asking questions about licenses going to places like Back Bay that were well outside designated zones.

“Clearly, to have allowed them to do so would have defeated the entire purpose of what the legislature intended and directed,” Wilkerson says. “What became clear is that several of the licenses went to neighborhoods that were never included on the map. When we figured that out and began to press for answers, we were met with stonewalling, and outright deceit on the part of certain persons inside City Hall.”

“The stated goal in the 2006 legislation was to designate those licenses in areas where their siting could serve as an economic catalyst. That didn’t happen.

Clearly, the circus and media frenzy over the arrest of Councilor Turner and I allowed the underlying scandal to go unchecked.”

The arrest of two prominent politicians is certainly an easier story to tell than that of how a poorly understood and arbitrary, not to mention ancient, piece of legislation steeped in racial discrimination is continuing to damage Boston’s communities of color.

This story was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and with research assistance from Epicenter Community. Please join both nonprofits for a discussion about liquor license disparity at Dudley Dough in Roxbury on Tuesday, March 29 at 7pm.

COUNCILOR PRESSLEY ON HER DINE617 TOUR LAST OCTOBER.

JOHN FITZGERALD PHOTO COURTESY BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

the cap on liquor licenses in Boston, while her colleague at Epicenter, Erin Anderson, has played watchdog at nearly every meeting of the Boston Licensing Board since October 2014. Both worked closely with Pressley’s office to illustrate the disparity current regulation has created.

“People just have no idea it’s that bad,” Lazu says.

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BROKEN RECORDS

MASSACHUSETTS: WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE In the Commonwealth, even paying for public records doesn’t guarantee you’ll get them

BY ANDREW QUEMERE AND MAYA SHAFFER It’s Sunshine Week, the annual national initiative to promote open government and access to public records.

Meteorologists have predicted rain and clouds across Massachusetts for the next several days—and the outlook for transparency in the Bay State is equally bleak.

“It’s pretty ironic that a state like Massachusetts that is so progressive in a lot of different ways can be so behind in some ways,” says Evan Anderson, a contributing writer for MuckRock, a Boston-based website that facilitates public records requests for its users. “[The] transparency and the accountability just really doesn’t seem to be there.”

Anderson knows from first-hand experience that the Commonwealth has one of the worst freedom of information laws in the country. A few years ago, he began looking into the relationship between the Boston Police Department and the shadowy National Security Agency. On June 26, 2014, he sent the police department a request for its email correspondence with the NSA during three periods, specifically related to Occupy Boston and the 2013 and 2014 Boston Marathons.

The law gives agencies no more than 10 days to respond. But in this case, the department waited more than two months before asking Anderson if he wanted to narrow his request due to “[m]any of [the emails] contain[ing] ‘Happy Birthday’ emails that go back and forth between multiple people.” While the apparent friendliness between the two agencies piqued Anderson’s interest, he agreed to let the department set aside the birthday wishes to save time and money. But it was still more than two months before the department provided a fee estimate for the records.

The BPD ultimately asked for $402.50 for some 700

pages worth of emails. “I didn’t expect it to be that [many pages],” Anderson says. “Apparently the Boston police and the NSA are pretty close and have a lot to talk about with each other.” He crowdfunded the money, and MuckRock sent a check on December 18, 2014. According to MuckRock Editor J. Patrick Brown, the police cashed the check on January 8, 2015.

If you think waiting months for a response and having to pay $400 for public records sounds bad, keep reading.

You haven’t even gotten to the punchline yet: In the more than a year since the police department took the money, it still hasn’t provided the damn records.

In the time since MuckRock cut the check, Anderson has emailed the department more than two dozen times, but it has never responded. Late last year, he began calling. Anderson has spoken with a number of different people, but none of them have given a clear explanation for the holdup.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve called them,” Anderson says. One spokesperson told him BPD was still waiting for payment, but was unable to say whether it had received the check that the department cashed nearly one year prior. Others said he would get a call back from Lieutenant Michael McCarthy, who made $202,231.92 last year as the department’s media relations director, but that never happened. McCarthy did not respond to our request for comment either.

During Anderson’s most recent call on March 8, someone finally told him that lawyers for the department were redacting the emails, and that it might be several more weeks before he received them. He still isn’t convinced.

“Each day it feels less and less likely that I will wake up and get the emails,” Anderson says. “The Boston police are

the worst when it comes to records. I’ve had requests with them that just haven’t even been responded to … I’m not sure how they are so disorganized, but however they do it definitely has the side effect, or serves the function of, discouraging people from filing requests with them.”

Anderson isn’t the only one struggling to pry records from BPD’s clutches. After he declined to pay for the “happy birthday” messages between the police department and NSA, independant journalist Joshua Eaton made a separate request for them. It took several weeks and a number of follow ups, but the department eventually provided Eaton with a fee estimate of $402.50.

Two weeks later, the department withdrew the fee estimate because it was actually intended for Anderson’s request. Despite 13 follow-up emails, the BPD never gave Eaton an accurate fee estimate.

Eaton tried appealing to the secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, but it refused to help him because his request was over 90 days old. From there he refiled his request, and the Boston police again failed to respond. Eaton appealed again, and on October 5, almost three months after opening the very simple appeal, the secretary of the Commonwealth’s office ruled that the police had to answer the request. To this day, the department has not responded.

In fact, Boston police actually warn everyone who sends them a public records request that they intend to violate the law by sending a boilerplate email that explains the request “may take longer than ten days to be fulfilled” and advises the requester to “[p]lease plan accordingly.”

“I can’t plan that far ahead,” Anderson quipped.

In total, MuckRock has sent the Boston police nearly 200 records requests in the past six years. Of the more than 100 requests that have been completed, it took an average of 91 days for the department to comply. And about three dozen of MuckRock’s outstanding requests are currently overdue.

It’s not just the Boston police who obstruct records requests. A massive audit by Northeastern University journalism students and the Boston Globe recently found that 58 percent of the Commonwealth’s 351 municipalities did not respond to requests within 10 days, as mandated by law. While Anderson calls the BPD the worst, it was the Massachusetts State Police who won last year’s Golden Padlock “Award” when Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. named them the most secretive government agency in the country. And there’s no real enforcement of the law either; as we’ve documented in this column, the secretary of the Commonwealth and attorney general, who are responsible for public records oversight, aren’t doing anything to hold lawbreaking public officials accountable.

A major effort to update the public information law is currently underway; state legislators have finally acknowledged that the Massachusetts records law is an embarrassment and decided to take action. But their proposed updates could either make the law even worse or create some mild improvements that still fall short of making the law functional, so our work will nevertheless be cut out for us.

Here’s to hoping the next Sunshine Week is brighter— literally and figuratively.

For Sunshine Week, we encourage our readers to get involved and make some public records requests of their own. If you’re not familiar with the process, you can try making a request using MuckRock, or you can read up on how to do it yourself on the secretary of the Commonwealth’s website. Feel free to tweet us at @BrokenRecordsMA if you have any questions.

MuckRock is also hosting a meetup in Cambridge on Friday, where you can learn more about making records requests.

Of course, we’ll understand if you’re not interested; not everyone is a masochist.

8

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EDITORIAL CARTOON © JAKE FULLER

Broken Records is a biweekly column produced in partnership between the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, DigBoston, and the Bay State Examiner.

Follow BINJ on Twitter @BINJreports for upcoming installments of Maya and Andrew’s ongoing reporting on public information.

OLDE MAGOUN始S SALOON PRESENTS:

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Photo: March 3, 2016

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HONEST PINT

DRINK GREEN BEER (IN CANS!)

OLDE MAGOUNʼS SALOON PRESENTS:

BLACKMOOR TEST KITCHEN Wednesday March 16, 5-11pm Till Gone

A St. Patrick’s Day Twist

TINA’S NACHOS

BY JEFF LAWRENCE @29THOUSAND

La Nina Corn Tortillas Black Bean & Corn Salsa Queso Fundido / Pico De Gallo Cotija Cheese / Cilantro Lime Crema

As the 17th of March ushers in our annual drunken donnybrook, let’s not forget that the Lenten restrictions allow for drinking and eating on this holiest of days, the Feast of Saint Patrick, and that he shall not be celebrated in vain as such. So tipple we will, but instead of stout and green beer, may it be a new locally brewed ale, along with an also local and perennial favorite lager, both in—surprise!— green cans!

HOUSE PRETZEL

Smoked Sea Salt / IPA Grain Mustard Bavarian Cheese Dip

DRUNKEN MUSSELS

Castle Island / Keeper / New Age India Pale Ale (ABV 6.5%)

Pork Belly / White Ale / Shallots Roasted Tomatoes / Cascade Hop Butter

Born amongst the seeds of Catholic dissent—wait, no. That’s not true. Let’s start over: birthed from the seeds of some dude who knew what he wanted and took the time to create it, Castle Island Brewing Company in Norwood, Mass, opened in 2015 to little fanfare but a whole lot of buzz, and it just might be the best beer you’ve never tried—yet. When that finally happens, start with the Keeper New Age IPA in the tall green 16-oz. cans, and you’ll immediately realize this isn’t some contract swill. Founded by Adam Romanow, a Southie hoodlum, brew guru, and head criminal at Castle Island, the plan was simple: assemble some of the best local craft minds around, create amazingly simple but decidedly unique offerings, and only brew great beer. With Keeper, they’ve absolutely done that. A nice clean finish, not too hoppy but noticeable and incredibly drinkable at 6.5% ABV. This isn’t your fly-bynight gang of hops; these guys are for real, their beer is fucking amazing, and you don’t need to wait in line for hours to enjoy it.

PORTUGUESE FISHERMAN STEW

Clams / Mussels / Shrimp/Cod / Chorizo Veggies / Tomato Herb Broth Char –grilled / Thai Red Curry/Ginger Fried Garlic / Jalapeños

SPICY BANGKOK CHICKEN WINGS Cilantro / Pickled Daikon Three Dipping Sauces

GREEN CHILI TURKEY BURGER

Roasted Poblano Peppers Pepper Jack Cheese / Cilantro Mayo Toasted Country Bread Melted Farm House Cheddar Cheese

WELSH RAREBIT Tomato Herb Jam

Notch Brewing Company / Session Pils / Czech Style Lager (ABV 4.0%)

TANDOORI CHICKEN QUESADILLA Chapatti Bread / Smoked Fresh Cheese Mango Chutney / Hari Yogurt Pickled Vegetable Salsa

Before placing order, please inform your food server if anyone in your party has a food allergy *consuming raw or undercook meat poultry seafood shellfish & eggs my increase risk of foodborne illness

@MAGOUNSSALOON OLDEMAGOUNSSALOON

ONCE Lounge & Ballroom 156 Highland Ave. ONCEsomerville.com 4/3-4/22 The Rock & Roll Rumble

is here @ ONCE! Check out the bands at ONCESomerville.com. Presented by Boston Emissions/WZLX Individual tickets for preliminary rounds on sale now!

3/18 Count Zero, The Shills & Bury Me Standing 3/19 Archgoat, Valkyrja, Hellfire Deathcult + more 3/24 The Blue Ribbons in the Lounge 3/21 Madame Gandhi (MIA drummer) with special guests Weather Weapon & Awaaz Do feat. Saraswathi Jones | $5 adv/$10 dos | 7pm Doors/Show 8pm | 3/25 Sidewalk Driver, Petty Morals, Muck & the Mires + more 3/31 Axemunkee, Korisoron, & Catherine Capozzi 4/1 Drop ya mic, pick up yer paintbrush (Art Show) Locavore tacos done right every Monday night 5-10pm in the ONCE Lounge

Presented by Cuisine en Locale

518 Medford St. Somerville

magounssaloon.com|617 - 7 76 - 2 6 0 0 12

3.17.16 - 3.24.16

|

DIGBOSTON.COM

www.enlocale.com 617-285-0167 NOW BOOKING PARTY & WEDDING CATERING

Hands down, this is my go-to sauce, and while I make note of their beers whenever I can, I’ve yet to talk specifically about this brew, the people and story behind it, and why it belongs in everyone’s fridge.

Founded in 2010 by Chris Lohring, Notch Brewing Company set out to be the first all-session beer brewery in the country, possibly the world. Six years later and you’d be hard pressed to find a brewer who hasn’t jumped on the session bandwagon with at least one low-alcohol brew, while Notch continues to churn out ever more exciting and new session beers to fall in love with.

While the definition is much maligned and occasionally argued over, Lohring stuck with a 4.5% ABV lid for all his beers, and he’s been true to his word ever since. Of all his beers, the Session Pils speaks to this commitment the most. Super crisp, and full of flavor and complexity without being chewy or boring, the Pils goes well with just about everything, anytime, anywhere. It never weighs you down, and true to its form, it allows you to enjoy plenty of pints without feeling mulekicked come closing time. While I’m not exactly opposed to big beers, the ability to savor and sip this beer, one can after another, creates a much more enjoyable experience from start to finish.

Improv As

ylum pres

HALF COCKED THURSDAYS

ents

AT 10 PM | $ 1

0

Boston's only improv show inspired by the (questionable) knowledge of a booze-filled expert.

BRAND Coherence not guaranteed.

SPANKIN’ NEW SHOW

improvasylum.com | 617.263.6887 | 216 Hanover St. Boston

Certified Beer Sniffers 9 2 H A M P S HIR E S T, CA M B R ID G E, M A | 6 1 7-2 5 0 - 8 4 5 4 | L O R D H O B O.C O M

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

13

ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

THU 3.17

START OFF WITH A STOUT >

ENJOY A SHOT AND A BEER >

FUEL UP THEN HAVE ANOTHER BEER >

WASH DOWN A FEW MORE PINTS >

AND FINALLY ... >

SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PUB CRAWL!

The Burren

The Phoenix Landing

Emmet’s Irish Pub

McGreevy’s Boston

House of Pain @ Royale

Every year, our blood runs green and the pints flow heavy as the shamrock and shillelagh take over the pubs and bars across town in celebration of a long-ago saint. There’s absolutely no shortage of places to enjoy a beer and a shot, along with a traditional boiled dinner and authentic Irish music. But with so many amazing Irish pubs to choose from, along with hundreds of other great places also serving up a sláinte, it’s useless to pretend one list is better than another. So we picked some of our favorites, spread it out across town, and offer you an unscientific roadmap for your day-drinking pleasure. Enjoy!

You might have to get up before 10 am to get in here, but it’s well worth it.

This deceivingly large Irish pub supposedly sells more Guinness than any other bar in the Boston area. It really doesn’t matter if that’s true or not, because it pours a mean fucking pint.

Central Square has changed a lot over the last decade; thankfully, the Landing hasn’t. Home to serious footy fans during the day and DJs and dancing at night, you’ll feel right at home at the bar, sipping a Jameson, slamming back a cold beer, and checking out the eye candy.

One of our favorite Irish pubs anywhere, you’ll quickly see why people come back here day after day, year after year. The service is great, the atmosphere is honest and fun, and it knows how to serve the Imperial Pint properly. Grab a plate of boiled goodness and meet a new friend or 10.

You might not see one of the Dropkicks here (they own it) or even get in (it will be packed), but damn it, you have to try. With large, open windows up front and a playground of sports memorabilia and cozy booths hidden in the back, drinking a few pints here is easy. Too easy.

Emmet’s Irish Pub. 6-6B Beacon St., Boston. emmetsirishpubandrestaurant.com

McGreevy’s Boston.

911 Boylston St., Boston. mcgreevysboston.com

The Burren. 247 Elm St., Somerville. burren.com

R.F. O’Sullivan and Son Tucked in between triple deckers on a residential corner street and just a short walk from Porter Square, this unassuming pub is best known for its outrageously good burgers—but don’t be fooled into thinking it doesn’t know how to deliver a perfect stout as well.

R.F. O’Sullivan and Son. 282 Beacon St., Somerville. rfosullivans.com

14

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DIGBOSTON.COM

The Phoenix Landing.

512 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. phoenixlandingbar.com

River Gods Years ago, we here at the Dig created Weekly Wax, a rotating night for wannabe disc jockeys. Eventually the night moved across the river and has been cranking out a good time here ever since. The place is tiny but has a big heart and plenty of good drink to take in.

River Gods. 125 River St., Boston. rivergodsonline. com

Stoddard’s Fine Food and Ale Here’s a little curveball worth getting lost for. An amazing draught list and cask-conditioned offerings make this a must-hit along your travels, especially on this day when it proudly celebrates No Green Beer Day. Don’t be afraid to stray from the usual fare, this menu rocks!

Stoddard’s Fine Food and Ale. 48 Temple Pl., Boston. stoddardsfoodandale.com

JJ Foley’s Cafe When we’re not at home or pretending to work, you can usually find at least one Digster here, past or present, on any given day.

Mr. Foley still works the stick and is a national treasure, but behave yourself while you rub elbows or you might get tossed. This is the place to be, so don’t.

JJ Foley’s Cafe.

117 E. Berkeley St., Boston. jjfoleyscafe.com

We couldn’t resist: With the Dropkick Murphys long sold out and a few tickets still available for this show (for now), how could you not end your day by listening to screaming bagpipes and ’90s style rap hop?

You can pretend that you change the channel when it comes on, but we know you don’t, and why would you? Jump Around is a fistful of nickels just looking for a fight, even if it’s between you and the showerhead. Or your rearview mirror. Or a box of cereal in aisle nine. The point is, you can’t deny it, and seeing this lineup live and on St. Patrick’s Day is a bucket list item everyone should check off. I’m pretty sure your Guinness will come in a plastic cup and the whiskey will be watered down, but at this point in your day, you’re fucked up… so jump around!

Royale. 279 Tremont St., Boston. 8pm/21+/$29.50. royaleboston.com

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

MUSIC

BEST NEW BAND: LADY PILLS

BY BECCA DEGREGORIO @BECCADEGREGORIO

MUSIC

SPRING INTO MUSIC EARLY Your official guide on what to get hyped over this spring

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Flowers are blooming, sails are setting on the Charles, and music is finally shedding its bulky winter coat. We’ve hand-picked the best music has to offer you this spring. From rockin’ albums to unforgettable shows to glittery nail polish, prepare to have your most musical spring yet.

BEST UPCOMING ALBUM:

HALLELUJAH THE HILLS

A Band Is Something To Figure Out April 12th Hallelujah The Hills is more than Boston’s awardwinning rock band; it’s a downright Boston staple. The iconic American rock act will release its fifth full-length, A Band Is Something To Figure Out, mid-April, and we’re sure as hell going to be the first in line to snag a copy. It’s punk with imagination, bold riffs with emotional lyrics, and storytelling with the gusto of your biggest friend crush. This LP takes all of that a step further with even more ambitious songs. You’ll be humming these right on through to summer.

BEST CASSETTE TAPE:

HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE

Horse Jumper of Love disposable-america.com The slow, moody, riffrearing rock of Horse Jumper of Love will trick you into thinking the trio is much larger—and older—than the three late-teens and early-20year-olds actually are. It’s a debut stuffed to the brim with talent, but you can own the whole thing in a well-packaged cassette tape to bump in the car on the way to Walden Pond. Disposable America has five options available: light blue, light pink, red, clear, or black. Don’t worry; all options come with the reins to your music lover’s heart.

BEST APPAREL:

NAILHOUND BY PALEHOUND

BEST HOMETOWN HEROES:

LUCIUS @ ROYALE

March 29th The electric pop of Lucius is hard to pin down with a grouping of adjectives, but perhaps that works in the band’s favor. On the new album, 2016’s Good Grief, frontwomen Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig turn the volume up even more, polishing off their sound. Catch the Berklee grads and the rest of their band when they return to our city on March 29th to headline the Royale.

MOST MESMERIZING DOSE OF METAL:

Leave it to the artsy rocker Palehound to come up with merch as cool as Nailhound.

Frontwoman Ellen Kempner designed three nail polish bottles to promote her records. Named after the band’s three releases, the colors—Bent Nail blue, Kitchen gold, and Dry Food pink—match the artwork of the same name. If you don’t want to paint your nails, dig through the rest of Palehound’s merch; there’s a “flirty guinea pig” T-shirt with your name on it.

TICKETS TO BUY ASAP:

CHELSEA WOLFE @ ROYALE

May 10th There’s dark, there’s gloomy, and then there’s the shuttering threats and howls of Chelsea Wolfe’s music. The metal musician has a new 7” out April 1st on top of last year’s incredible full-length Abyss. Live, she turns into the only kind of demonic singer we’d ever wanna be around. Feel the power of her whispers and drone metal when she plays the Royale on May 10th. Bring earplugs. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

OUGHT, PRIESTS, URSULA @ THE SINCLAIR

May 4th Post-punk act Ought sells out every show it plays in Boston, and this time it’s returning with wildly entertaining friends Priests and Ursula in tow. For $15, people of all ages can flood the Sinclair for what will be an expectedly remarkable night of music—so good it will overwhelm you. Trust us when we say you really ought-a buy tickets to this one before it sells out.

When it comes to expectations for their first tour to SXSW, the members of Lady Pills decide two things for sure while sitting around drummer Claire Duhring’s apartment in Back Bay. “All Texas has is good food and assholes,” says bassist Alison Dooley.

They laugh because she’s from there. Vocalist-guitarist Ella Boissonnault laughs at the bit that’s true.

Just a slice of conversation with this quickly thriving, local band reveals the following: Boissonnault, Dooley, and Duhring are funny, articulate, and want to include everyone in the discussion of their music.

For a band that just started playing together in October, taking a stage at SXSW—arguably the largest music discovery festival in the country—may seem hard and fast. However, Boissonnault says they’ve done a good deal of “dirty work” since the fall, as seen by the “Lady Pills” name dotting almost every local venue bill for the past couple months. Playing elsewhere is the group’s next natural step, and given the message of inclusivity the three hope to spread, it’s necessary, too.

Live, Lady Pills sounds exactly like the band you’d stumble upon and ask the name of. The trio presents a songwriterinspired bedroom rock that comes at a listener straight from the diary. It’s the genre of the underdog melodically sneaking up on garage rock with real feeling and outrageously clever lyrics.

“These are the things you can’t say in a song,” says Boissonnault while describing the problems labeling has had on her songwriting, most notably around feminine traits. Lady Pills is unapologetically feminist. Being women in the music industry is hard, frustrating, and worth talking about. To spread the word farther, the band is looking for a way to present these issues without cutting anyone out.

“We don’t ever want to sacrifice our truths. That’s the most important part of doing this: the music, the message, and us being who we are,” says Dooley. “We get categorized really quickly as ‘the feminist band singing about women’s issues,’” adds Boissonnault. “Yes, that’s true, but there’s so much more. We have so much more to say … [Sometimes] you just have to write a song about a universal problem because, well, who else is saying it?” ” All three Lady Pills members agree that categorizing people will not uncategorize them as a collective artist. According to Dooley, this is simply a reality, one that can cut out entire groups of people if not kept in mind. “The minute you generalize men is the minute they stop listening,” she says bluntly. “Generalize anyone, and they won’t listen.”

Given the group’s fall demos, Lady Pills is great at inviting all groups to the party. “I Hate You,” is about just that: knowing and caring for someone who always drinks your wine and forgets to apologize. “Make Out” targets libido issues and boredom with the same power “Dream World” lends toward pretending to be tough. Strummed and sung from women’s voices, these are concerns and states of being that don’t belong to any one side, making lyrics all the more easily vibed to and “girl band” all the less exclusive.

“Everybody is a human being, and you have to treat them as such because if the whole point is for us to all interact, creating more labels, putting up more ways that separate me from you, just works against that,” Boissonnault says with a seriousness that’s somehow just as warm as her jokes. “We’re trying to be really careful about breaking down walls that are already there without putting new ones up.”

MUSIC EVENTS THU 3.17

FRI 3.18

[Orpheum Theater, 1 Hamilton Pl., Boston.

6:30pm/all ages/$36. crossroadspresents.com]

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Boston. 8pm/18+/$20. crossroadspresents.com]

FEEL-GOOD SHOEGAZE METRIC + JOYWAVE

16

3.17.16 - 3.24.16

|

BASS-IC FRIDAY NIGHT TAL WILKENFELD

DIGBOSTON.COM

SAT 3.19

EMERSONIAN BENEFITS PALEHOUND + DIRTY BANGS + THICK WILD

[Paramount Center, 559 Washington St., Boston.

9:30pm/all ages/$10. artsemerson.org]

SUN 3.20

ZUMIX PRESENTS HUES FEST 2016 LA LLORANA + YAMAMBA + ASHLEY DAVIS + HAROCAZ + MANY MORE!

[ZUMIX, 260 Sumner St., Boston. 2pm/all ages/$5-15. zumix.org]

WED 3.23

GROOVY JAZZY BELTING LAKE STREET DIVE

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston.

7pm/all ages/$37. houseofblues.com]

WED 3.23

GIRLS ROCK CAMPAIGN BOSTON PRESENTS URSULA + GRAVEL + GAY SIN + GIRLS ROCK CAMP BANDS + MORE [Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.

8pm/all ages/$10. mideastoffers.com]

Boston’s Best Irish Pub

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

FRI 3/18 - CRUSH PRESENTS

CANDYLAND

MATT KALI MICHAEL SAVANT SAT 3/19 - LEEDZ PRESENTS

SCARFACE

SAT 3/20 - BOWERY PRESENTS

TROYBOI

TUES 3/22 - SOLD OUT

MAC SABBATH WHITE DYNOMITE THE HUMANOIDS THU 3/24

CORNED

BEEF SPECIAL ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

PLAN YOUR

GRADUATION PARTY WITH ZUZU!

SPACE AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE PARTIES CALL TODAY FOR $300 OFF

MAKE RESERVATIONS AT ZUZUDINING.COM 474 MASSACHUSETTS AVE CENTRAL SQ., CAMBRIDGE 617-864-3278

HUNTER VALENTINE CARISSA JOHNSON

THU 3/17 - LEEDZ PRESENTS

JUST JUICE & DELLA KINETIC

FRI 3/18 - ILLEGALLY BLIND PRES.

THE TELEVIBES (FAREWELL SHOW) MIDRIFFS SAT 3/19 -12:30PM

CIVIL YOUTH BLINDSPOT SAT 3/19 - 7:00PM

AURELIO VOLTAIRE MON 3/21

BROKENCYDE

TUES 3/22 - LEEDZ PRESENTS

LITTLE SIMZ

MONDAYS

TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS

MAKKA MONDAY

TWOOSDAY

GEEKS WHO DRINK

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

19+, 8PM DOORS, $5

FEB 9

CROSSWALK ANARCHY, ALLBE

FEB 16

ALLBE, JUICE

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

RE:SET

WEDNESDAYS

Weekly Dance Party, House, Disco, Techno, Local & International DJ’s 19+, 10PM - 1AM

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS

SATURDAYS

ELEMENTS

PRETTY YOUNG THING

BOOM BOOM ROOM

15+ Years of Resident Drum & Bass Bringing some of the worlds biggest DnB DJ’s to Cambridge 19+, 10PM - 2AM

80’s Old School & Top 40 Dance hits 21+, 10PM - 2AM

80’s, 90’s, 00’s One Hit Wonders 21+, 10PM - 2AM

THE BEST ENTERTAINMENT IN CAMBRIDGE 7 DAYS A WEEK!

1/2 PRICED APPS DAILY 5 - 7PM RUGBY WORLD CUP SHOWN LIVE, STARTING ON SEPTEMBER 17TH WATCH EVERY SOCCER GAME! VOTED BOSTON’S BEST SOCCER BAR ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

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

CHECK OUT ALL PHOENIX LANDING NIGHTLY EVENTS AT:

WWW.PHOENIXLANDINGBAR.COM NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

FILM

FILM

STRANGE DADE

On Kelly Reichardt’s Floridian time capsule

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN River of Grass has a structure like a scrapbook. Still images fill the frame at first, like photographs glued onto the screen. And voiceover by a Dade County housewife named Cozy (Lisa Bowman) provides the caption for each snap.

She describes her birth over a crudely animated rendering of a medical building (“I was born in 1962 at Coral Gables Hospital.”) She describes her moniker over a school photo shot during her elementary years (“I was given the name after my father’s favorite jazz drummer.”) And she describes her family over scratchy images of teenaged makeouts and lined notebook paper (“Though Bobby and I had never touched, he wrote me poems all through high school.

Later I accepted his proposal for marriage. I knew Bobby loved me, and I figured someday I’d love him too.”) The film that follows—which was directed by Kelly Reichardt and first released in 1995—depicts the inevitable runaway that happens once Cozy realizes that she’ll never love Bobby back. Even after the stills have given way to more traditional scenes, Cozy continues to speak over the movie, always in a monotone as flat as swampland. There’s a pointed Badlandsness to her diction; she talks as though she were reading aloud from paperback romance novels. Or maybe she’s describing events to a jury; maybe the scraps are just evidence.

Cozy’s southern stream of consciousness introduces us to a series of men, most of whom try to corral her into their own chosen location. There’s Bobby, whom she already wants to get away from; and her daddy Ryder (Dick Russell), a full-time detective and part-time drummer; then there’s Lee Ray Harold (Larry Fessenden), who whisks her into that runaway while brandishing a drink and a gun. He’s followed by Mr. Hamilton, a neighborhood man the two accidentally shoot (maybe); then by two or three of Ryder’s investigator friends, who gang up to find Cozy and Lee once the pair has gone on the lam. As for Lee Ray, he’s none too worried about it, being a consummate drinker who moves like he’s got molasses in his bone marrow. And Cozy proves to be dedicated to her own sort of observational passivity, more interested in the kind of contemplation heard in the voiceover than in anything that’s literally active.

According to Reichardt, it’s a sort of skewed autobiography—not the gun and not the run, but the detective dad and the Dade upbringing, at least—and the real sense of nonfiction lingers in individual sequences. On a momentto-moment basis, the film is defined by defiantly ordinary longueurs: a couple removing palmetto bugs from a motel wall that’s probably still damaged by Hurricane Andrew, a driver trying to light a sad little joint roach with an empty lighter, a mother smoking a cigarette and passing her baby Coca-Cola in a bottle. Most prominently of all, there’s the rush of shopping malls through car windows and the empty marshes that proliferate in between them.

In an aesthetic sense, this is a far more manic film than any of Reichardt’s later works (Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, Night Moves), but it’s no less instructive about her artistic voice. It’s not a roadmap to her future but an heirloom of the past.

A restored digital print of the film, preserved by the world-class team at UCLA, will be playing at the Brattle Theatre this weekend. The three-day run happens to create crossovers with two other Brattle happenings. The first is via Fessenden himself— he’ll be presenting a film of his own, the 2001 work Wendigo, during next week’s Boston Underground Film Festival (3.24, 9:45pm). The second is the Brattle’s ongoing “History of Noir” program: With River of Grass, Reichardt takes that form and skids away from it, creating a work that subverts the genre—its archetypal road trips, its soulful detectives, its class-based pessimism, its femmes fatales—by injecting it with the banality of reality. (A New York Times review from the film’s initial release called it “a pointed antidote to the hyperbolic romance of violence evoked by such movies as Natural Born Killers and True Romance”; Reichardt herself often refers to it as “a crime movie without the crime.”) In its own way, River (which remains highly emblematic of early ’90s independent cinema, in both form and spirit) reclaims the form from the past-generation filmmakers (Godard and Rivette, Polanski and Kasdan) who had already rewritten it in their own male image. This is noir twice removed. >> RIVER OF GRASS. BRATTLE THEATRE. 40 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE. FRIDAY 3.18—SUNDAY 3.20. $9-11.

MARCH 23-27

BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL at Brattle Theatre and The Harvard Film Archive MARCH 24

BALAGAN FILMS AND PLEASURE DOME PRESENT “NEW TORONTO WORKS 2015” at 144 Moody St. Building 18, Waltham MARCH 25

DIRECTOR ATHINA RACHEL TSANGARI PRESENTS CHEVALIER Special preview screening at Harvard Film Archive MARCH 28

THE DOCYARD PRESENTS WORKS BY FIELD OF VISION Special event at Brattle Theatre APRIL 7

DIRECTOR PETER FLYNN PRESENTS DYING OF THE LIGHT

Special preview screening at Coolidge Corner Theatre OPENING APRIL 15

JEAN-LUC GODARD’S A MARRIED WOMAN

Restored print at Kendall Square Cinema APRIL 15-MAY 1

XIE JIN, BEFORE AND AFTER THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Repertory program at Harvard Film Archive APRIL 22-24

“VERTIGO” ON 70MM

Three days of screenings at Somerville Theatre APRIL 22-27

THROUGH INDIAN EYES: NATIVE AMERICAN CINEMA Repertory program at Brattle Theatre APRIL 27-MAY 4

INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON At various locations APRIL 29 AND 30

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS MULHOLLAND DRIVE Two screenings at Coolidge Corner Theatre MAY 13-JUNE 2

TIME AND PLACE ARE NONSENSE: THE CINEMA ACCORDING TO SEIJUN SUZUKI Repertory program at Harvard Film Archive

FILM EVENTS THU 3.17

NICHOLAS RAY’S THEY LIVE BY NIGHT

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

5:30 and 9:30pm/NR/$9-11.

35mm. brattlefilm.org]

18

3.17.16 - 3.24.16

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FRI 3.18

GUY MADDIN PRESENTS TWO BY DIRECTOR FRANK BORZAGE MOONRISE and MAN’S CASTLE

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7 and 9pm, respectively/NR/$7-9 each.

35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

DIGBOSTON.COM

FRI 3.18

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH’S STUNT ROCK

[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

Midnight/PG/$11.25. coolidge.org]

MON 3.21

THE DOCYARD PRESENTS (T)ERROR

[Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/NR/$9-11.]

TUE 3.22

ELEMENTS OF CINEMA PRESENTS ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S NORTH BY NORTHWEST [Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/NR/FREE. 35mm.]

WED 3.23

BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL: OPENING NIGHT THE LURE and BELLADONNA OF SADNESS

[Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7 and 9:30pm, respectively/NR/$12 each.]

“FUNNY, BEGUILING AND AFFECTING. SALLY FIELD GIVES PERHAPS THE YEAR’S FIRST OSCAR®-WORTHY LEAD ACTRESS PERFORMANCE.” GARY GOLDSTEIN, LOS ANGELES TIMES

“I LOVED IT....SALLY FIELD IS SO LOVABLE. FUNNY AND REAL.” JEN ORTIZ, MARIE CLAIRE

“NATIONAL TREASURE SALLY FIELD PLAYS ‘DORIS’ TO ENDEARING PERFECTION.”

SAINT THU 3/17 10PM

PATRICK’S DAY DJ Frank White

ERIC D SNIDER, VANITY FAIR

FRI 3/18 9:30PM

UNITY VS. PURE FIYA ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER

SALLY FIELD

Francesco Spagna, Cruzz, Natural Vybez, DJMixstress HOUSE MUSIC UPSTAIRS, SOCA, DANCEHALL AND TROPICAL SAT 3/19 9:30PM

SWEET STARTS FRIDAY, MARCH 18

BROOKLINE CAMBRIDGE Landmark’s WEST NEWTON Coolidge Corner Kendall Square Cinema West Newton Cinema (617) 734-2500 (617) 621-1202 (617) 964-6060 CHECK DIRECTORIES FOR SHOWTIMES • NO PASSES ACCEPTED

DIGBOSTON WED 3/16 1 COL. (2.18") X 7" ALL.HND.0316.BWD

digboston.com

SHOP Chez Damier (Chicago), Matt McNeill, Chad Spigner + DJ Evaredy HOUSE AND TECHNO DOWNSTAIRS + HIP HOP AND PARTY JAMS WED 3/23 8PM

COMEDY MR

NIGHT

#1

B

ES AND BIT S T A E B IONS, H ILLUS IT W RLD IL TA THE WO E COCK H BARS IN T T F S E O B N E ROM TH BRATIO TAILS F A CELE T COCK

boston

F ING CRA FEATUR

THU 3/24 9:30PM

@digboston

@digstagram

TRINITY Shahin, Lost & Found Patrick Barry, Robbie Akbal TECHNO, EDM, DEEP HOUSE

KLYN)

BY MAGIC

NG MSTRO JON AR OLTZCLAW EW H MATTH H LEVINE NOA TI MENOT FRANCIS

26 h c r a m

(BROO RTA’S (DJ SET) E B O Y B R S E BIT INDIAN N

BY NEO IC S U M

S TO N ROCEED F THE PNN FOUNDATIO O N IO T A POR HE WELL DU T BENEFIT

PM

5–8

com magic. l i a t k t coc sale a n o s t ticke

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

B

/weeklydig

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

ARTS

tomorrow exchange buy * sell*trade

HER PICTURE HABIT Off the Wall: Gardner and Her Masterpieces

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

ANDERS ZORN’S ISABELLA STEWARD GARDNER IN VENICE. RAPHAEL’S COUNT TOMMASO INGHIRAMI.

ALLSTON: 180 Harvard Av. (Green Line @ Harvard) • 617-779-7901 SOMERVILLE: 238 Elm St. (Red Line @ Davis Square) • 617-629-5383

BuffaloExchange.com

“I suppose the picture-habit (which I seem to have) is as bad as the morphine or whiskey one—and it does cost,” wrote Isabella Stewart Gardner to Bernard Berenson, Gardner’s trusted art advisor who brokered many of her most important acquisitions.

Off the Wall, a brand-new exhibition on display through Aug 15, not only strives to highlight the fruits of this picture habit but to remind us that her collection—and therefore her entire museum—was born not out of a selfish desire to own art, but out of deep philanthropic ambition.

Gardner said in 1917, 14 years after the opening of her museum, “Years ago I decided that the greatest need in our Country was Art … We were a very young country and had very few opportunities of seeing beautiful things, works of art … So I determined to make it my life’s work if I could.” In her will, she stated that “[The museum will be held in trust] for the education and enjoyment of the public forever.”

It was also stipulated in her will that the permanent collection could not be significantly altered. This stipulation is the reason Off the Wall is being called a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition: Roof repairs have temporarily closed the second floor, and due to the nature of the museum (and the will), the art cannot simply be re-hung in a different gallery. Rather than being boxed up and kept out of view, 25 works of art were chosen for the exhibition where they are being seen up close and personal under ideal lighting conditions.

Upon entering the exhibition, which is located in the Hostetter Gallery on the second floor of the new wing, the first painting you’re likely to see is Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice by Anders Zorn. It shows Gardner re-entering a room, having just been out on the terrace, inviting her guests to come watch the fireworks.

Standing before the painting with curator Christina Nielsen, we marvel at the boldness of the red and green paint. She points out to me that the doors Gardner is bursting through are mirrored, reflecting her hands and making her reach appear infinite. Gardner is luminous, a knowing expression on her face and her figure the shape of a flame.

On the next wall, Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Aged 23 hangs at eye level. Just like the Zorn painting of Gardner, we have never been afforded the opportunity to gaze at the Rembrandt face-to-face. It usually hangs in the Dutch Room, a tad higher than eye level and above furniture that makes it a challenge to approach the painting and get a good look.

Nielsen tells me that even she was still noticing new things about the painting, like the green felt rim of his hat and his peach-fuzz facial hair. She invites me to look at his eyes, which have always felt dark and piercing. Not so.

She encourages me to get much closer to the painting than I would ever feel comfortable doing on my own and points out details of his eyes, a mixture of white, blue, and green that I had never noticed before.

Needless to say, Off the Wall is an immensely satisfying, even moving, tribute to Gardner and her vision. I’m already planning my next trip back.

>> OFF THE WALL: GARDNER AND HER MASTERPIECES. THROUGH 8.15 AT THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, 25 EVANS WAY, BOSTON. OFFTHEWALL.GARDNERMUSEUM.ORG 20

3.17.16 - 3.24.16

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NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

SAVAGE LOVE

SAFE WORDING

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET You messed up in your response to THINK, the man whose wife wanted to engage in consensual role-play rape scenes despite having been sexually assaulted by a previous partner who didn’t stop “when she said ‘no.’” THINK said he worried “the same thing could happen” to him.

Due to some ambiguous wording, you thought he doubted his wife’s account and was worried the “same thing” he was worried about was “being falsely accused of rape.” I think he was actually worried about accidentally making his wife relive that trauma in a non-sexy way.

Although it was poorly worded, I don’t think his intentions were motivated by the fear of being falsely accused. His worries were based in the ambiguity of when does consensual rape play cross the line in this very delicate scenario. The other thing you forgot, the most important thing you forgot, the thing that should never be forgotten when talking about rough-sex roleplay, consensual rape scenes, power exchange, bondage, or SM: a SAFE WORD! Simple And Frequently Effective Word Omitted Recently, Dan! THINK’s wife told him she was raped by an ex who refused to stop when she said no, SAFEWORD, and here’s how THINK described his concerns: “I’m over here wondering if her previous trauma was a result of her encouraging forceful sex and regretting it later, and I worry the same thing could happen to me.” [Emphasis added.] Awkwardly worded, yes, but THINK’s meaning seems clear: He didn’t want to go for it, like that other guy may have, and be accused of raping his wife if she came to regret it later. That doesn’t seem ambiguous to me.

But you’re right to ding me for failing to advise Mr. and Mrs. THINK to agree on a safe word. And I didn’t just leave “get a safe word” out of my response, SAFEWORD. It was worse than that: I deleted “get a safe word” from my response. There were two very similar paragraphs in the original draft of my response to THINK, both on the mechanics of making it happen, and I had to delete one paragraph for space. In an unbelievably stupid move, I deleted the one with “get a safe word” in it. I should’ve caught that, I didn’t, and I’m grateful to SAFEWORD and everyone else who did.

And remember, kids: We have a new universal kink/BDSM/power-exchange safe word: scalia.

On the Lovecast: Squeeeee! It’s Abbi and Ilana from Broad City! Listen at savagelovecast.com.

THE STRANGERER

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

22

3.17.16 - 3.24.16

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NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

23

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

PETE Yung YORN Lean 92.5 THE RIVER PRESENTS

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

RADIO 92.9 PRESENTS

WITH JON McLAUGHLIN AND BRYNN ELLIOTT

W/ THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS

FRIDAY, APRIL 1

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

MONDAY, MARCH 21

TUESDAY, APRIL 12

THURSDAY, APRIL 14

92.5 THE RIVER PRESENTS

THE

RESIDENTS PRESENT SHADOWLAND

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

TUESDAY, APRIL 19

THURSDAY, APRIL 21

SATURDAY, APRIL 23

MONDAY, APRIL 25

FRIDAY, APRIL 29

IN ASSOCIATION WITH NV CONCEPTS

52 Church St. Cambridge, MA

TUESDAY, MARCH 22

W/ THE CURTIS MAYFLOWER, ROY SLUDGE TRIO, DJ EASY ED

sinclaircambridge.com

W/ TINJU IGE

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

W/ COSMIC DUST BUNNIES, SCROLL

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

DREAMERS / ARKELLS FESTIVAL OF COLORS W/ MADAME GANDHI, RAJAS

W/ LAST GOOD TOOTH

W/ W/ LAST GOOD ROSE TOOTH HAROULA

THURSDAY, MARCH 24

FRIDAY, MARCH 25

SATURDAY, MARCH 26

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

W/ THE SAINT JOHNS

W/ TWIN LIMB

FRIDAY, APRIL 1

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

W/ LYLE BREWER (WED.) & DIETRICH STRAUSE (THU.)

YUC K

W/ BBGUN

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN WUMB PRESENTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 12

W/ KEVIN DEVINE & THE GODDAMN BAND

THURSDAY APRIL 14

W/ CASSANDRA JENKINS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA W/ HXLT FRIDAY, APRIL 1

SAT & SUN APRIL 16 & 17

W/ DINOCZAR, ANDY

W/ THE EFFECTS, DAN WEBB AND THE SPIDERS SUNDAY, MARCH 27

W/ SAINTSENECA

MONDAY, APRIL 11

W/ MIKAELA DAVIS

W/ LITTLE SCREAM

‘s S GA E TH

W/ POLYPHIA, STRAWBERRY GIRLS

SUNDAY, APRIL 3

Cloud Cult

W/ JILL ANDREWS

WED & THU APRIL 6 & 7

FRIDAYS AT 7PM!

MONDAY, MARCH 28

JUDAH & THE LION

W/ CASSIAN

greatscottboston.com

W/ THE KARMA KILLERS

BombinoMusic.com | PartisanRecords.com

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

TUESDAY, MARCH 29

& THE BOYFRIENDS

W/ SLEEPY KITTY, GRACIE

THURSDAY, MARCH 31

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS W/ MOUNDS

W/ PINE HILL HAINTS, DIABLOGATO

MONDAY, APRIL 4

TUESDAY, APRIL 5

ON SALE NOW!

TUESDAY, MAY 3

THURSDAY, MAY 5

THURSDAY, JUNE 9

ON SALE NOW!

ON SALE NOW!

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

ON SALE NOW!

E SCO NDIDO TUESDAY, JUNE 14

≠ 3/16 BATTALION OF SAINTS ≠ 3/17 THE BEAST OF NOD ≠ 3/18 (LATE) STEREO ≠ 3/24 VUNDABAR ≠ 3/25 & 3/26 (EARLY) MYQ KAPLAN ≠ 3/25 THE LIFE ELECTRIC ≠ 4/3 HIGH HIGHS ≠ 4/6 GREY SEASON ≠ 4/7 TIGERMAN WOAH / THE MALLETT BROTHERS BAND

OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN:

ON SALE NOW!

SUN. MARCH 20 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

W/ SCALE THE SUMMIT, NORTH, ROZAMOV

W/ HARD GIRLS, WORRIERS

WED. MARCH 30 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 MIDDLE EAST UP

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 Wednesdays - Saturdays 12:00 - 7:00PM

ON SALE NOW!

ON AN ON THURS. MAY 5 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

SUN. MAY 15 THE RED ROOM @ CAFE 939

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