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HEADLINING THIS WEEK! Jim Florentine Thurs+Sat (no Fri show)

VOL 18 + ISSUE 21

MAY 26, 2016 - JUNE 2, 2016 EDITORIAL

DEAR READER

EDITOR + PUBLISHER Jeff lawrence

Dear Reader,

NEWS + FEATURES EDITOR Chris Faraone 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

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Boston is a funny town. We have a sarcastic defense mechanism that spits fire when encouraged, and most of it is pure comedy. When it isn’t, it’s even funnier. That’s why we tapped into the underbelly of what drives this laughingstock and let BINJ run riot on the local comedic geniuses who make it happen. They may be mostly white and not very gender balanced, but that’s also funny. So read Dan McCarthy’s feature and find out why we own NYC (get it?!) and could care less if people laugh at our jokes. Pay close attention to Lamont Price who gets down and semi-dirty with us in advance of his Boston Calling donnybrook, so there’s that.

We also touched base with the local crew at The Gas and crawled up the ass of the delegates from Comedy at the Knitting Factory. They’re fucking shit up in Allston this weekend and are definitely worth your time and money.

Laughing is better than crying, unless you’re laughing so hard that you’re crying, then it’s super cool—but my point is, laugh more and cry less and check out the local comedy scene. It’s just as vibrant as our music and arts community and deserves a double take. You’ll thank us over tears of joy later.

VH1’s That Metal Show, Inside Amy Schumer

Brent Morin June 2-4 NBC’s Undateable, Netflix Special

OH, CRUEL WORLD

John Caparulo June 9-11

Dear Budweiser,

Chelsea Lately, Comedy Central Presents

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Lamont Price headlines our cover this week and is part of our feature on the state of boston comedy. Read all about it on page 10. ©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.

I’m obviously not the first person to point out how asinine it is that you renamed yourself America.

Or to point out how perfect it is, since you’re both fucking disgusting. It really is offensive even just to see you in the store though, and in some cases being carried around by folks who have no clue just how goddamn dumb they are. They remind me of the kind of people who would drive a Ford pickup truck and, thinking that “Ford Tough” was a real thing and not just a motto to appeal to the lowest common denominator, actually wears hats and T-shirts claiming said manufactured toughness. That’s you in a can, tasting like a toilet in the hottest desert on the hottest day in the grand old US of A. I’ll take some legal marijuana and a kind brew, thank you very much.

b Mary Lynn Rajsku June 16-18 FOX’s 24, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

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Immigrant Advocacy Group of Cambridge provides model for municipal human rights activism

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS We live in strange times. On the one hand, the United States is a more diverse society than at any other point in its history. On the other, we’re witnessing a presidential campaign where Donald Trump has captured the Republican nomination in part by whipping up hysteria against immigrants. It’s an old game in American politics—with roots stretching back to the Know Nothing movement (originally, and ironically, called the Native American Party) in the mid-1850s and even further to the founding of the Republic. Blame the victim and ignore the actual oppressors. But it’s working quite well with white voters who have every reason to be angry in the ongoing economic downturn. And are casting about for someone to blame.

That’s why it’s refreshing to see an initiative taking shape in Cambridge to expand immigrant rights at the local level. Last week, City Manager Richard Rossi announced that a city Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship that was created at the high water mark of immigrant rights activism nationwide in 2006 is at last searching for candidates to fill its 11 seats. That is an interesting development on its own merits. Especially given the apparent commonplace of dormant municipal committees. But the story of how the commission’s reanimation came to pass is even more interesting.

There are a significant number of immigrants in Cambridge. No surprise, given its world-famous universities, the large population of foreign born scholars they attract, the enterprises that set up shop nearby to avail themselves of those scholars, and the many immigrant service workers attracted to jobs connected to the university-driven economy (although most of them cannot afford to live where they work given a housing market that has become wildly expensive since rent control was defeated by the real estate industry in 1994). Not that a sizeable immigrant community is a new development, as previous generations of immigrants found work in the city’s once-strong industrial sector and put down deep roots that persist today in neighborhoods 4

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like East Cambridge and North Cambridge. Still, the percentage of immigrants has been on the rise again in Cambridge for some time.

Looking at the 2010-2014 estimate data from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey for Cambridge, out of a population of 106,844, an impressive 30,075 residents or 28.15 percent are foreign born. Placing the city in the top dozen Massachusetts municipalities for immigrant population, according to a report by The Immigrant Learning Center. Of that total, the number of voting age non-citizen residents is 17,333 or 18.41 percent. Meaning that close to 20 percent of Cambridge residents have no representation in city politics. A statistic that includes an unknown number of undocumented immigrants—who have all been officially welcomed to Cambridge since it renewed its status as a sanctuary city for refugees and migrants without papers in 2006.

Since the early 1990s, there have been a number of attempts by immigrant advocates and the Cambridge City Council to give documented immigrants a voice in local elections by instituting non-citizen voting in local elections. Each time, the effort ran into the same problem: it was not possible to enact such a city ordinance without the state legislature passing a home rule petition first. And the legislature has long been conservative on such matters—partially due to the anti-immigrant constituencies of many suburban and rural politicians. As such, no plan for including undocumented immigrants in a Cambridge municipal voting ordinance has ever been floated. Having precisely zero chance of passing muster in the legislature under current conditions.

Despite the difficult political hurdles to surmount at the state level, Councillor Nadeem Mazen has expressed interest in taking a fresh shot at making it possible for documented immigrants that have not yet become naturalized citizens to vote in city council and school committee races. His approach, however, has been somewhat different than that of his predecessors.

Mazen and his aide Daniel Schwartz have organized advocacy groups on several issues—including noncitizen voting. Emmanuel “Manny” Lusardi, a retired retail executive who strongly identifies with his family’s immigrant roots, got involved in the non-citizen voting advocacy group early on, and soon recruited Sylvie de Marrais—a recent Boston University graduate and restaurant server with a passion for expanding immigrant rights—to work with him. Noting what he calls her “exceptional organizational and leadership abilities,” Lusardi encouraged de Marrais to become the group’s leader.

Understanding that it remains difficult to get a home rule petition passed on even documented noncitizen voting, the advocacy group began looking for some stopgap measure that would get more immigrant representation in Cambridge city government sooner rather than later. A few weeks back, they hit upon the idea of organizing a push for a non-voting immigrant representative on the council. While looking into its feasibility, however, they started studying the positive experience of Boston and other cities that had established immigrant affairs offices. Mazen and other city officials liked that approach, and the non-citizen voting advocacy group then started organizing to create a Cambridge immigrant affairs office.

Not long after, they discovered the never-activated Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship, alerted City Manager Rossi, and were gratified last week when he announced a search for the 11 members needed to get it in motion. Later that week, Mazen convened a joint meeting of three city council committees to discuss immigrant representation and resources in Cambridge. It was attended by councillors Dennis Carlone, Jan Devereux, and Timothy Toomey, Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, Mayor Denise Simmons, a number of city officials, and special guest An Le of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement in Boston.The arc of the resulting discussion bent towards empowering the new commission to work on a variety of tasks—including better coordination of city services for immigrants, and organizing an annual Immigrants Day at Cambridge City Hall—and ordering a study of an aspect of the non-citizen voting plan that could slow immigrants’ naturalization processes if an agreement isn’t worked out with US Citizenship and Immigration Services. But the various motions agreed upon at the meeting towards those goals will need to be passed by the full council in the coming weeks before they can be operationalized.

The non-citizen voting advocacy group—now called the Immigrant Advocacy Group of Cambridge—will certainly have a tough time getting all of its expanding agenda of reforms enacted in a period of anti-immigrant rhetoric and tight budgets at all levels of government.

Even in the so-called “People’s Republic.” But its activists have done a fine job out of the gate. And its working relationship with a sitting politician seems to be an innovation worthy of notice. With the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship slated to start meeting in the fall, and forward motion on a non-citizen voting ordinance and an immigrant affairs office, the advocacy group offers a political model that both democratizes and humanizes the debate over how our cities and towns should treat immigrants—whether documented or undocumented. A model that other municipalities should think seriously about emulating.

Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Jason Pramas is BINJ’s network director. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. Licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.

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Testimony shows deliberate reform dodge

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Galvin’s office opposes requirement to do its job

One of the most important proposed reforms is to mandate that Galvin’s office refers cases of agencies refusing to comply with the public records law to the attorney general’s office. Under the current law, responsibility for enforcement is split between the two agencies. If an agency refuses to comply with a records request, a requester can file an appeal with Galvin’s office, then Galvin’s office will issue a ruling. If the agency does not comply with the ruling, Galvin’s office has the discretion to refer the matter to the AGO, which has the power to sue the agency or file criminal charges.

Galvin’s office opposes making referrals mandatory, but in his role almost never refers orders to the AGO. His office actually stopped doing so entirely for about five years when Martha Coakley was attorney general. Since Maura Healey took office last year, Galvin’s office has only referred a single order. Galvin has complained that past attorneys general have often disagreed with his office’s interpretation of the law and refused to act on the referrals. But Galvin gave up his right to complain when his office joined the AGO in shirking its responsibilities. Since his office has abused its discretion by simply choosing to not do its job, taking that discretion away has become a necessary step towards making the system work in the future.

Galvin’s office opposes real deadlines for turning over records

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Note: This column was written prior to Monday, when the Legislature unveiled the final draft of its public records bill, which the House is slated to take up on Wednesday. However, the arguments in it are still worth discussing. In fact, the Legislature failed to keep the requirement that the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office refer violations of the law to the attorney general’s office, which underscores how disappointing it is that the secretary’s office did not campaign for tougher enforcement measures.

For months, government transparency advocates have waited patiently as a joint committee of state senators and representatives work out a final bill to update our state’s outdated public records law, which is one of the weakest in the country. While the committee has attempted to iron out the differences between the House and Senate bills, it has heard testimony from many members of the public and other stakeholders, including the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. Secretary William Galvin oversees the records law and is responsible for ensuring that the public has access to government records, but his office testified against the three most important proposed reforms.

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Under the current system, there is no accountability for agencies that do not respond to records requests or turn over records in a timely manner—or even for agencies that refuse to respond at all. If an agency does not provide a response in 10 days, you can file an appeal with Galvin’s office. It can take several weeks or even months for it to issue a ruling. When it does, it actually provides the agency an extra 10 days to provide a response rather than ordering the agency to provide a response or turn over the records immediately. As we explained earlier, if the agency refuses to comply, Galvin’s office won’t refer the matter to the AGO, so the requester will be out of luck.

One idea proposed in the Senate bill to help fix this problem is not allowing agencies to charge fees if they fail to respond to requests or turn over records in a timely manner. Galvin’s office is opposed to this reform, and its complaint shows the secretary did not care to review the bills thoroughly enough to understand them before testifying (Ed. note: See the longer version of this column online at DigBoston.com for proof). More so, the concerns about agencies seeking to extend their time to respond are also unwarranted, because both bills would only allow agencies to request extensions on furnishing records, not providing responses. An argument Galvin’s office might have made if it understood the Senate bill is that it provides an incentive for agencies to improperly grant themselves 30 days to furnish records instead of 15.

The testimony from Galvin’s office cuts to the heart of how Massachusetts has become one of the worst states for public access to records: The people tasked with enforcing the law don’t take it seriously and refuse to enforce it. Galvin’s office is tasked with upholding the law, but instead trumpets the notion that agencies can act “in good faith” while violating the law and therefore shouldn’t face any consequences for doing so.

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AUSTERITY BUDGET, PT 3 More bad news from Beacon Hill

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS A weekly column like this one can only keep up with a limited number of current events. Although committed to tracking the worst proposed cuts at different stages of the often-savage annual Massachusetts state budget process, I had to write about a number of other pressing topics in the weeks after the passage of the full House proposal. So I haven’t covered the House budget until now, and will instead simply roll it in with my review of the more recent Senate Ways and Means Committee (SWMC) budget proposal below.

As with my looks at the governor’s and House Ways and Means Committee’s FY 2017 budget proposals, I’m continuing to base this series on the excellent analytical reports that the Mass Budget and Policy Center (MBPC) releases on an ongoing basis.

If you’d like to check out all the details, you can find the latest at massbudget.org.

All proposals to date have been austerity budgets. The many critical services not touched on here are mostly level funded or being given minor increases— neither sufficient to keep up with inflation, and therefore both tantamount to cuts. No new taxes of any consequence have been proposed—as the state government’s financial situation continues to get worse year after year. The rich and corporations remain safe from giving anything like a fair share of their profits to the people of this “Commonwealth.”

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SWMC proposal The FY 2017 SWMC budget proposal would cut $16.5 million (7.75 percent) from current FY 2016 levels. Leaving $196.3 million. A .75 percent larger cut than the governor’s proposal.

And a 2.25 percent larger cut than the House proposal—making it the worst proposed cut to this vital state government department thus far. According to MBPC’s SWMC budget report, some of the cuts can be explained by shifting responsibilities like human resources from agencies within the Department of Environmental Protection to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, but the SWMC proposal “further reduces funding for several environment and recreation programs that have had significant cuts over the years.”

Public Health House proposal The House budget proposal level funded public health, as did the governor’s budget.

SWMC proposal The FY 2017 SWMC budget proposal would cut $3.4 million (.59 percent) from current FY 2016 levels. Leaving $577.0 million. $7.6 million less than in the governor’s proposal and the House proposal.

Housing (funds for affordable housing, and shelter and services to homeless people) House proposal The FY 2017 House budget proposal would cut $42.6 million (8.71 percent) from current FY 2016 levels—less than originally proposed, after money was

added during the floor debate. Leaving $446.2 million. $19.2 million below the governor’s FY 2017 proposal.

SWMC proposal The FY 2017 SWMC budget proposal would cut $42.3 million (8.65 percent) from current FY 2016 levels. Leaving $446.5 million.

Transitional Assistance (aka welfare, funds for short-term help for poor individuals and families) House proposal The FY 2017 House budget proposal would cut $14.3 million (2.1 percent) from current FY 2016 levels—less than originally proposed, after money was added during the floor debate. Leaving $679.5 million. $7.3 million (1.1 percent) above the governor’s proposal.

SWMC proposal The FY 2017 SWMC budget proposal would cut $21.2 million (3.1 percent) from current FY 2016 levels. Leaving $672.6 million.

Economic Development (funds for programs that, among other things, help unemployed people find work) House proposal The FY 2017 House budget proposal would cut $9.9 million (6.5 percent) from current FY 2016 levels—less than originally proposed, after money was added during the floor debate. Leaving $143.3 million. $6.4 million (4.7 percent) above the governor’s proposal.

SWMC proposal The FY 2017 SWMC budget proposal would cut $22.9 million (14.9 percent) from current FY 2016 levels. Leaving $130.3 million.

Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Jason Pramas is BINJ’s network director.

COPYRIGHT 2016 JASON PRAMAS. LICENSED FOR USE BY THE BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM AND MEDIA OUTLETS IN ITS NETWORK.

Environment & Recreation House proposal The FY 2017 House budget proposal would cut $11.8 million (5.5 percent) from current FY 2016 levels—less than originally proposed, after money was added during the floor debate. Leaving $201.0 million.

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STATE OF THE BOSTON COMEDY UNION

FEATURE

Seven comics. Two hours. One historic summit on the state of stand-up comedy in the Hub.

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF Mr. Mayor, Mr. Governor, members of the House and Senate, our fellow Greater Bostonians: Sixteen years into this new century, you can talk to any seasoned comedy fan in Greater Boston, the ones who loiter outside Nick’s Comedy Stop downtown and the Comedy Studio in Cambridge, and get a sense that the stand-up scene is thriving. From diehards who search for secret backyard shows to brave in the summer to those who snake around the corner of the Wilbur Theatre to check marquee acts like Louis C.K., people will deliver an emphatic Yes! if asked the alwaysannoying question, Is there really a comedy scene here?

But while humor aficionados know lots about the stand-up landscape that pedestrian showgoers aren’t aware of, there can be a disconnect between scenesters and audiences at large. On that note, we figured that just like with our crumbling republic, which gets the Cliffs Notes account of current events in a simple State of the Union speech every year, it could be something of a community service to document the inner state of the Hub’s funny farm. From there we tapped Miltonborn stand-up Will Noonan, who helped summon a rock star panel of homegrown comics—Corey Rodrigues, John Paul Rivera, Lamont Price, Rob Crean, Kelly MacFarland, and Peter Martin—to share war stories. What ensued was a rollicking discussion about everything from their worst bombings to zen and the art of stand-up, things the comics wish they knew when they were starting out, and the process through which one evolves from a weekend warrior to a fulltime funny person earning a living.

To sweeten the deal, we bought the sewing circle subs from Al’s Cafe (beer would have gotten too messy, but maybe next time). The result is this debut State of the Boston Comedy Union—a roundtable of sorts, featuring some of the top working hustlers who cut

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their teeth in the shuttered underground epicenters of local stand-up and now perform at major venues here and elsewhere. Lamont Price, one of our panelists and an increasingly dominant force in the local laugh game, was tasked with hosting and curating a lineup of comedians at Boston Calling, the seminal seasonal hootenanny that goes down in Government Center this weekend.

The dialogue before you is insightful and hilarious, a free-form series of digressions, riffs, crosstalk, and some throwing of shade. Plus a few gratuitous plugs, all captured in a summit at the ONCE Lounge inside Cuisine en Locale in Somerville. Given that there’s so much talent in this city, in terms of legends (Barry Crimmins, Steven Wright), juggernauts (Dennis Leary, Eugene Mirman), and innumerable up-and-comers, our work here obviously isn’t done. For those who weren’t able to contribute this time, we hope that you will lend your voices moving forward. To misquote Bill Clinton’s 1996 SOTU address: “We know Big Comedy does not have all the answers … The era of Big Comedy is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our comedians were left to fend for themselves. Instead, we must go forward as one scene to meet the challenges we face together.”

ALTERNATIVE VS. MAINSTREAM Will Noonan (WN): We got a nice group of people from different parts of the scene. We got Rob Crean, alternative comic, I guess. Or … whatever.

Lamont Price (LP): Like, what is that? I don’t even know.

Kelly MacFarland (KM): Do you like that label Rob?

Rob Crean (RC): I don’t really care.

LP: I think it’s backhanded.

Peter Martin (PM): “Comedian” is a harsh word.

RC: I run comedy shows in a rock club.

LP: But is that alternative? What does that mean?

Comedians who don’t eat meat!

RC: I am vegan, so …

WN: There is a difference. Like, you’re not doing the shitty fundraiser gigs as much.

RC: Well, no one asks me to.

WN: But that’s just it. People think that you [as an alternative comic] just made that choice, but the reality is you’d do it if you could.

RC: Yeah if the opportunity was there I’d do any show.

KM: And you’re saying “those shitty fundraiser gigs,” but sometimes those shitty fundraiser gigs put food on my table.

WN: Oh, I love them. I look at those kinds of shows like the trench warfare of comedy. You gotta do those and pay dues and stuff like that. So what I was saying is [about alt comics] someone that’s only played alt rooms or ones where they’re not even paying you, when someone is complaining about it, you don’t know what you’re complaining about you haven’t been out to Western Mass, [performing] with a deer head behind you.

KM: I sometimes get judgy when someone’s complaining about a room that’s not hard. It might be a little bit of a struggle. I cut my teeth [playing] Elks Lodges.

Corey Rodrigues (CR): I don’t feel like the alt comics I know bend the way mainstream comics do to what needs to happen to work that room.

LP: Like ‘this audience is this … so I should adjust.”

CR: Yes! I feel like most alt comedians would be like “this is what I do and I say what I say and come along and listen to me” as opposed to a mainstream comedian who is gonna work that room, but I feel like an alt comedian would fail that room.

RC: Then I don’t like being called an alt comedian [everyone laughs].

LP: I guess you’d call me a mainstream comedian, because I eat meat [looks at Rob], but I feel like in any room I don’t try to bend.

CR: I’m not saying I’ll pander, but I’ll bend of course.

If I’m in front of a room of grey-heads or in front of a college crowd I’m going to play my crowd, but still the way I want.

KM: My jokes are my jokes. I have a mantra when on the road, when feeling a little anxious before performing. I tell myself, look, your jokes are your jokes, this is what you brought.

want to leave Boston, it’s because they didn’t need to.

When they were doing seven shows a night, and going back and forth from out in the north shore and back to the south shore, and then back in town, then yeah of course. It’s different now. But it’s still good, the quality [is] here. There’s bad comedy too, don’t get me wrong.

But we have good comedians.

KM: I agree, there is a good scene here. I mean the Ding Ho doesn’t exist anymore. And a lot of those [local comics from the Ding Ho heyday] are still here and making a living at comedy, but the scene here has really changed a lot even over the last ten years. I mean, I don’t feel like I have a “home” club anymore. I feel really comfortable in some of the clubs, but it’s not the way it was.

ON LEARNING YOUR CRAFT FROM LOCAL STAND-UP ICONS KM: I remember being in college and going to Nick’s Comedy Stop in the early ‘90s, and it was sold out, line around the corner, packed. This is when Nick’s was an actual comedy club, and not a dance club that lets [comedians] come in and tell jokes. It was a legit club and it was packed and it was rockstars. Kevin Knox, Don Gavin, Steve Sweeney. Just rock stars coming in off the street, and the crowd going crazy. I wasn’t doing stand up yet, but I definitely caught the bug. Like, I want to be in this town. This is where I’m going to learn everything [about comedy].

PODCASTS, KILLER LINEUPS, AND SOME SAD COMMENTARY ABOUT BOSTON COMEDY

CR: Speaking of young local comics watching others, do you feel if you’re the first or second spot on a bill, that you should watch whoever that headliner is? If you’re doubling up and working that night that’s one thing, but you should stay and learn and talk and figure out what’s up instead of saying, “I’ve done my 10 minutes, time to go drink and party.” When you’ve been doing it a while it’s different, but when you’re young in the game [in Boston] it’s like school. You have to learn what level they can get to.

WN: Okay this is what I wanted to ask the most. I don’t know if you guys listen to a lot of podcasts, but Joe Rogan, Louis C.K., Dane Cook, Greg Fitzsimmons, they’re all always on podcasts or doing their own. Recently when they discuss Boston [comedy], it’s [been] in a very dismissive tone. Like there’s nothing going on here.

Drives me crazy.

LP: I think you have to learn that. Cats start out and they don’t know what they don’t know. It’s like I could watch this dude and hang out, or get out. You ever played a show with someone new who does their set and brings all their friends, and after they just sit out in the crowd with friends? The game has a way of filtering them out, because they’re not really about [the comedy].

LP: I’ve heard Rogan’s podcast, and any time Bill Burr is on they talk about Boston, and I don’t get that vibe from that. So maybe there’s other stuff.

KM: I think comics that have been around a while here get frustrated by the younger crop [when] mentioning Don Gavin, let’s say, and they are like, “I don’t know who that is.” It makes my blood boil. Because you can still catch those guys out on Route 1 at Giggles. And [younger comics] should. They’ll learn a lot.

John Paul Rivera (JPR): But how many times have you heard someone say “I am an ALT comic?”

LP: Well no one says it, but that’s what I’m saying about perception.

WN: Burr doesn’t do that as much. But someone put together all the clips in a row. Louis C.K. comes up the most. He’s just like [in half Louis C.K. impression] “There’s just nothing there now. Just nothing. Barely a scene at all.”

PM: Well when they left, wasn’t that during the boom, when Boston sort of the HQ for a while? Where it was just sort of always a killer lineup?

WN: Definitely.

PM: I don’t think that’s really anywhere anymore.

WN: That’s really the question. Do you think there’s a vibrant comedy scene in Boston [now]?

PM: There’s a vibe, but nobody is saying, “If you want to make it in stand-up comedy, you need to go to Boston.”

LP: I think Boston’s the right place to cut your teeth, though. There’s so much talent.

CR: In comparison to the way it was then when those guys were making a good living [in comedy] and didn’t

JPR: I like them a lot and I’m still doing them all the time. I always like the people who just come up, have jokes to tell, and then hang out for a bit afterwards.

Then there are the ones that hang out in the back, don’t talk to anyone, do their set and leave. I hate that.

WN: Do you guys think there’s more open mic-ers now than even like three years ago?

RC: No, I think three years ago was when there was the most, more than there’s ever been around here.

LP: I didn’t know there was a census that went around [all laughs].

DIVERSITY WN: I got a dicey topic here. Boston Comedy has traditionally been dominated by white Irish Catholic men. But here we have a woman, two black guys, and a Mexican.

NEWS TO US

CR: What’s the question?

WN: [Joking] Have you had a hard time being black [everyone laughs]?

CR: What I’ve dealt with is a booker may say to me, “We really like you because you don’t do a lot of black stuff.”

I’m like, “But I’m black!” Or they say, “You don’t bring up your race.”

JP: “You’re one of the good ones!”

CR: The other black aspect of it would be, multiple [black comics] on a show lineup seems like a problem for some places. And people immediately assume things when I show up to do a show. The audience thinks, “This is just going to be black shit.”

LP: I was at a place across from Nick’s once, and a guy asked if I wanted to go up. I said yeah. He said, “But if you do any of that black shit, take it to Nick’s [groans].”

WN: I’ve seen things like that and it’s uncomfortable.

Especially for a white man.

PM: Kelly I was just talking about you to someone, and they said you’re the best female comic. And I was like, “Don’t put that fucking asterisk next to her.”

WN: Sometimes I feel like when people say that about Kelly specifically, they mean she’s the only female headliner in Boston.

KM: There aren’t as many female comics as male comics. But if announcing me on stage, don’t do this: “For our next comic, you’re in for a treat! She’s a female comic.” Like, “Yes, and I brought muffins!”

ON MAKING A LIVING LP: We’re in New England, so we have five states at our disposal.

WN: I think you can make a great living, but you gotta leave town I think. I just started headlining last year and that’s such a huge change in money making. I really made no money at all for seven to eight years, so it’s nice to have some now.

CR: And that’ll bump the longer you’re headlining.

Because there’s early headline money, and there’s been-doing-it-for-a-while headline money. So it’s possible. But you gotta be on the road some, and come back here or have another gig going on—whether it’s acting, doing college [shows], corporate gigs.

KM: There’s another side of [professional comedy], which is the business. I don’t think enough people talk about [business], and I think everybody needs to focus on [that] if you want to be a working comedian. You need to figure out what you’re going to do to make your money. I make a good living being a comedian, but that means stand-up in clubs, corporate standup, and speaking, comedy with a message, which is a branch off my stand-up world. I teach stand-up, which isn’t paying me a lot of money, but it’s supplement money. You can’t stay in this city and expect to make your living. You gotta market yourself properly, you gotta work at it. It’s owning your own business, and the product is you. You have to figure out how to pitch and sell that product, and stay true to the product you believe in. Which is yourself.

This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. For more info on this and other projects, visit medium.com/@binj and follow on Twitter @BINJreports. Check out Lamont and other local comics at Boston Calling this weekend.

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

11

HONEST PINT

2016 BEER CAMP ACROSS AMERICA It’s a variety pack. It’s a beer festival

WE POUR

DELIRIUM TREMENS ON DRAUGHT BECAUSE WE CAN

BY JEFF LAWRENCE @29THOUSAND In 2008, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. launched Beer Camp and invited brewers and bar owners to its brewery in Chico for a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration experience. The result was an exceptional Imperial Pilsner, and the rest, as they say, is history. In 2014, Beer Camp took to the road—finally!—with a travelling tour of beer festivals and a half-case variety pack with collaborations from all over the country. In 2016, Boston is the regional host for the festival, and come June 18, there will be 150+ beers from California to Delaware rolling into City Hall Plaza to celebrate yet another hoppy campfire. Yeah beer!

I’m not a fan of variety packs in general but I was intrigued by the idea of tying in regional collaboration beers as part of the festivals, so I grabbed the last 12 pack at my local beer shop and was told, “That’s it. They only gave me four of those.” I became a little more intrigued after that, and I’m glad I did. All of these beers are fantastic. If you can still find a Beer Camp Variety Pack, pick it up and make special note of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic collaboration Pat-Rye-Ot Revolutionary Pale Ale. My thoughts on all of them below.

STOUT OF THE UNION

Robust Stout, 7.3% abv; Collaborators: Bagby Beer Co., Beachwood Brewing, Port Brewing Co./The Lost Abbey, Smog City Brewing Co. A malty, sweet, drinkable flavor. It tastes clean and far less than the stated abv, which makes this super smooth and creamy stout a nice pour. This should be year-round.

WEST LATITUDE

1172 CAMBRIDGE ST., CAMBRIDGE, MA | Mon - Fri 11AM - 1AM, Sat & Sun 10AM - 1AM | therisingbar.com

Session Rye, 5.5% abv; Collaborators: Bear Republic Brewing Co., Faction Brewing Co., Mad River Brewing Co., Magnolia Brewing Co., Maui Brewing Co. 4.5% is my cap for a session beer, but this is very easy to drink and not a big beer.

The hibiscus is tucked into the fruity tang but barely noticeable. Good, not great.

MOXEE-MORON

Imperial Session IPA, 7.5% abv; Collaborators: Bale Breaker Brewing Co., Barley Brown’s Beer, Black Raven Brewing Co., Melvin Brewing, Odell Brewing Co. This is a very interesting beer. It’s not the hop bomb they allude to and the ironic twist in the name is weird. But it’s a hoppy, not session beer, imperial that works.

Love it.

FAMILY VALUES

Certified Beer Sniffers

Imperial Brown Ale, 8.5% abv; Collaborators: August Schell Brewing Co., Dark Horse Brewing Co., Half Acre Beer Co., Perennial Artisan Ales, Sin King Brewing Minnesota rice, Indiana honey, Missouri oats, Michigan hops, and cocoa nibs from Illinois? I’m not a brown ale guy, but this was a fantastic beer. Sweet, malty, big.

SWEET SUNNY SOUTH

Table Beer, 4.9% abv; Collaborators: Austin Beerworks, Bayou Teche Brewing, Creature Comforts Brewing Co., Funky Buddha Brewery, Wicked Weed Brewing Oh so good. I love the sweet tea hints in this. Table beers are underappreciated— light and easy to drink, they become forgotten. Not here. Hands down my favorite of the bunch.

PAT-RYE-OT

Revolutionary Pale Ale, 5.6% abv; Collaborators: Devils Backbone Brewing Co., Dogfish Head Craft Brewing, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Stoudts Brewing Co., Trillium Brewing Co. This is “our” regional collaboration, and there’s a lot going on. Milky, wheaty body and finish make it a nice ale. A super tasty beer that would be perfect for a summer clambake. Need more please!

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

12

5.26.16 - 6.2.16

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NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

13

ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

THU 5.26

FRI 5.27

SAT 5.28

SUN 5.29

TUE 5.31

WED 6.1

Eyes Shut.

Door Open @ Warehouse XI

Boston Calling @ City Hall Plaza

Boston Calling @ City Hall Plaza

Boston Calling @ City Hall Plaza

Sunset Cruise @ Boston Harbor

DAY 1 : MUSIC MAINSTAGE

DAY 2 : MUSIC MAINSTAGE

DAY 3 : MUSIC MAINSTAGE

Dragon Boat Paddling Session @ Dock at Barking Crab

Sia Sufjan Stevens Lisa Hannigan Aaron Dessner

Robyn ODESZA Miike Snow City and Colour Courtney Barnett BØRNS The Vaccines Battles Lizzo Palehound

Disclosure Haim Janelle Monáe Elle King The Front Bottoms Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires Vince Staples Unknown Mortal Orchestra Christine and the Queens Michael Christmas

Honestly, Warehouse XI is not on the map, and we know very little about this place. That’s exactly why we’re recommending it.

A friend of a friend of a friend’s cousin who had a friend told us their friend said check it out. ESDO is a creepy, modern choose your own adventure of love and hate that will fit into your mental pocket so check it out. And tell a friend.

City Hall Plaza. City Hall, Boston. 6pm/all ages/$60+. bostoncalling.com

Warehouse XI. 1 Sanborn Ct., Somerville.

7:30pm/18+/$15. eyesshutdooropen.bpt.me 14

5.26.16 - 6.2.16

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DIGBOSTON.COM

City Hall Plaza. City Hall, Boston. 6pm/all ages/$60+. bostoncalling.com

City Hall Plaza. City Hall, Boston. 12pm/all ages/$85+. bostoncalling.com

I know what you’re thinking: IS THIS FOR REAL???!!! You betcha it’s for real. We wouldn’t ruin a lifelong dream of saddling up on a dragon boat at the expense of making fun of you. Hell no! There’s really not much more to say here.

It’s free. It’s dragon boats.

It’s Tuesday. Get your freak on, bitches.

Dock at Barking Crab.

88 Sleeper St., Boston.

6pm/ 18+/FREE. livingroot. com

As the weather warms up and the waterfront calls, a sunset cruise is a great way to dial out from the noise and spend some quality time with your lover. After all, Boston Harbor is one of the most beautiful and limited views from which to watch the sun set over the city. A special place indeed. You know what else is special? Unicorns and fucking rainbows. FUCKING rainbows. Chase that shit.

Find your rainbow.

Boston Harbor Cruises.

1 Long Wharf. Boston.

7pm/all ages/$27.95. bostonharborcruises.com

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

MICHAEL CHRISTMAS

PALEHOUND

LADY PILLS

NEMES

MUSIC

HELLO OPERATOR

Meet the local acts taking Boston Calling by storm

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Boston Calling returns this weekend to bring some of the biggest names in music (Sufjan Stevens! Sia! Robyn!) to our city as well as the up-and-comers (Unknown Mortal Orchestra! Christine & the Queens! The Front Bottoms!).

While they’re all lovely, we would much rather see you catch some daytime sun while local acts give it their all in City Hall Plaza. So grab some shades, hit the turf, and say hello to Boston favorites you can’t miss this weekend.

PALEHOUND

Saturday @ 12:55 - 1:25pm Xfinity Red Stage DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: A result of neurotic overthinking.

WHY SEE YOUR SET: Because we’re a local band, and it could be really cool for people to get a look at what the local scene is like. Also because it is early in the day, and you can stand in the front to get a good spot for other acts.

MOST UNDERRATED SPOT IN BOSTON: Allston Diner GO-TO FESTIVAL SPOT: I’m usually eating or in the shade looking up at the trees while listening to the bands.

MUST-SEE BOSTON CALLING ACT: Courtney Barnett and Lizzo, ’cause they’re both amazing and are gonna be huge.

MICHAEL CHRISTMAS Sunday @ 12:55 - 1:25pm Xfinity Red Stage

DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: Genuine energy, positivity, and laughs drive my whole set from beginning to end.

WHY SEE YOUR SET: I’ve been performing for a while, and as a younger artist I make it a point to surprise people who haven’t heard of me at festivals. I’ve done a couple and I always make sure in the end people can say, “He put

on the best show on the bill.” A lot of people turn lifelong fans off of one performance, and I keep that in mind every time.

MOST UNDERRATED SPOT IN BOSTON: Newbury Street if you wanna shop and see a lot of people or eat. Also Allston if you wanted to just have a cool stroll [and] maybe do some thrifting.

GO-TO FESTIVAL SPOT: I like to be to myself before my set, but once it’s over I walk around everywhere just exploring and meeting fans, taking pictures, and catching the other performers’ sets.

MUST-SEE BOSTON CALLING ACT: Vince Staples and Janelle Monae. I think they’re going to put on amazing shows.

LADY PILLS

Saturday @ 6:50 - 7:20pm Verizon Stage DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND:.We are an all-girl rock trio that takes influence from artists like Dinosaur Jr., the Raincoats, the Breeders, and more.

WHY SEE YOUR SET: Festival-goers should come see our set because it will be our first time playing in a setting that large. We are releasing our album next month, and we would love for people to come dance and sing with us and have a good time.

MOST UNDERRATED SPOT IN BOSTON: O’Leary’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. They have great live music and the bartenders are angels. It’s really difficult to go there and not make any new, awesome friends.

GO-TO FESTIVAL SPOT: During the festival we really just want to walk around and talk to anyone who wants to talk to us. There are going to be some great acts going on, but we really love to connect with the listeners and the audience.

MUST-SEE BOSTON CALLING ACT: PALEHOUND! Don’t. Miss.

Them.

NEMES

Saturday @ 3:00 - 3:30pm Verizon Stage DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND:.Our band is a unique phoenix, like if the Everly brothers binged on Red Bull and then got really pissed off. Energy from the heart.

WHY SEE YOUR SET: Because we play an awesome range of rock music spanning a lot of genres and styles with multiple great hooks and earworms that will sit in your head for days. The back-up reason you should see us is that we’re all really good-looking dudes, like statue of David good looking. Plus it’s also our first time playing Boston Calling, so you’ll be seeing a very unhinged version of ourselves.

MOST UNDERRATED SPOT IN BOSTON: My apartment.

GO-TO FESTIVAL SPOT: Usually at the left corner of a stage trying to figure out how the logistics of a band’s set work. Either that or watching some electronic artist and dancing like an idiot.

MUST-SEE BOSTON CALLING ACT: You really should see everyone. I mean, the ticket is over $80, and if you’re going to drop that kind of dough on concert tickets you’d better get your money’s worth, so I’d suggest getting your ass there early with a big water bottle.

>> BOSTON CALLING. FRI 5.27 - SUN 5.29. CITY HALL PLAZA, 1 CITY HALL SQ., BOSTON. 12PM/ALL AGES/$185. BOSTONCALLING.COM

MUSIC EVENTS THU 5.26

PROG MATH ROCK EMMA ATE THE LION + THE COLOR & SOUND + ACTOR OBSERVER + THE WORKOUT

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

Ave., Allston. 9pm/18+/$10. greatscottboston.com] 16

5.26.16 - 6.2.16

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SAT 5.28

NO WAVE IN THE NEW YEAR LYDIA LUNCH + JOYCE BRABNER + CASSIE J. SNEIDER + ELEPHANTS

[Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 7pm/18+/$10. mideastoffers.com]

DIGBOSTON.COM

SUN 5.29

BOSTON CALLING AFTER-PARTY CHARLES BRADLEY AND HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES + HERON OBLIVION

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 9pm/21+/$30. sinclaircambridge.com]

SUN 5.29

SURF’S UP DUDE DISCHARGE + EYEHATEGOD + TOXIC HOLOCAUST

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston.7pm/18+/$26. crossroadspresents.com]

TUE 5.31

SING TO YR SOFT SIDE BRAIDS + GINLA

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

Ave., Allston. 9pm/18+/$12. greatscottboston.com]

WED 6.1

ROCK HEROS EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

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

7pm/all ages/$29.50. houseofblues.com]

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

You didn’t make an action movie, though.

We could have. A lot of people offered us money to make a more traditional, standard, three-act-structured version of it. There were a couple of people who wanted to throw some money our way, put “talent” in it, saying “yo,” make it Man on Fire in Detroit. But we’d prefer to stay in that Pusher space.

Had you written much before?

Yeah, but it was bad writing. I got connected with a guy named Steven Bagatourian, who actually wrote the new Tupac script. He’s an Armenian kid from Glendale. We actually just finished this thing called Steeple Chase. It has a crazy lesbian lead role, it’s some new shit we’re putting out. But he just shit on [my writing]—he was so, so rough.

But he also taught me. I never went to film school. He showed me that the art of good writing is saying a lot, but streamlined and condensed.

FILM

AN INTERVIEW WITH NICKOLA SHRELI Looking back on a B.U.F.F. favorite

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN The highlight of this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival? It was Cash Only, a Detroit-set morality play that mixed art-cinema aesthetics with Grand Guignol theatrics.

And the highlight of Cash Only? It would have to be Nickola Shreli. He features as Elvis, an Albanian landlord who’s low on both money and morals, leading him into numerous dens of ill repute. Shreli also wrote the film—it’s his first feature-length screenwriting credit—having built the text from details remembered from his own past life as a landlord. We met the newly christened multi-hyphenate at Charlie’s Beer Garden before his festival screening at the Brattle, where he told us about his transition from one grinder’s craft into another.

How did you find yourself transitioning from being a landlord into being an actor?

NICKOLA SHRELI: In Albanian Detroit, options were limited. You usually worked at Chrysler, or you were a cook, or you were a [house] painter. And as a landlord, I was making money. We were flipping houses, refinancing, renovating, renting. My uncle got me into it, but I was always unfulfilled. I had dabbled in high school theater— my hood friends made fun of me—then I went to Detroit Improv. I did that in my early 20s, around 2001 or 2002.

Then 8 Mile came to town, and started doing production there. [Shreli is credited as an extra.] I got my SAG card, I went to New York, and it was like, “Oh shit, there’s more to this than just remembering lines.”

I was on set, there was pressure, there’s 40 people standing around, I’m shy, I’m shaking. I realized I had to go figure this out. And I was caught in Detroit. So I made a short film, which I wrote, directed, starred in, and produced. There’s this underground film mafia in Detroit, with people like David Robert Mitchell, who did It Follows, and Joshua Locy, who just did a hot film called Hunter Gatherer. They helped me to make that short, and that was my film school. It was my point of entry. I got it into a casting agent’s hands, then got Abduction in 2010, and then it started to feel real.

By 2013, I was ready to do my own shit. So we selffunded Cash Only, raised a little bit of money, and did the best we could with what we had. I write to fill the void that’s left by the acting life. I call myself a halfway-there working actor. It helps when you know how to create.

How long have you been thinking about this movie?

Since 2010. It came to me while I was doing a cheesy studio movie, Abduction. I hated it, but it was a great check. And a great experience. I learned a lot from [director] John Singleton—Mr. Boyz n the Hood. But it was just wackness, all around me. I was sitting around a lot. The word “abduction”... it’s the name of the film, and nobody got abducted! My wife was pregnant with our daughter Vienna at the time. I was thinking about my landlord days in Detroit. And thinking about a couple of tenants … they were rough, but they were cool. And I was just thinking, “What if?”

My experience with the film was mostly about the politics of the neighborhood. That’s where my focus was at.

Absolutely, like with the gay tenant, which was our gentrification comment. There wasn’t a lot of forethought—things just got put out there. We’re not trying to force the audience into taking any sort of position. I don’t like movies that try to brainwash me. But as a first-generation Albanian Roman Catholic … there’s some of that [lineage] in there. I mean, there’s no secret that there’s a historical ethnic tension between Yugoslavs and Albanians. And the [villain in Cash Only] happened to be Yugoslavian. I happened to be Albanian. If you get that, then you get it, and if not, then it wasn’t a history lesson. We even left out subtitles, so there are inside insults between the two characters, if you speak one of the languages.

I don’t know the exact details of the neighborhoods that your movie is documenting. But when I see some of the texture—say, that a lot of the residents still have CD players—they feel correct to me.

That’s just production design and attention to details. I mean, I was a landlord. And I was hard on [director] Malik [Bader] about getting the details right. We came close. For me, it’s getting hard to sit and watch this movie, because I know what it could have been. I mean, it was a suicide mission. We shot it in 13 days, and then went back for 2 more—15 days of shooting. And we pack more of a punch than some $40 million films out there.

There are genre elements in your movie. Was that part of the initial conception, or was that something you used to fill it out?

I was thinking about character, and then story. And then the other shit falls into place. At the end of the day, it comes down to characters. It was hard to write and play all this, because Elvis couldn’t be Johnny Boy reckless, and he also couldn’t be this overly likeable guy. There had to be a balance. As we got closer and ready to pull the trigger on the shoot, then you start to pay more attention to the details. Me and Malik did the wardrobe. Because the more we delegate, then the more that’s going to get lost in translation.

>> CASH ONLY. UNRATED. NOW AVAILABLE ON VOD OUTLETS, INCLUDING ITUNES AND AMAZON INSTANT VIDEO.

FILM EVENTS THU 5.26

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BOSTON LGBT FILM FESTIVAL HOCKNEY [Museum of Fine Arts.

465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 7:30pm/NR/$911. Screens through 5.29.

See MFA.org for other showtimes.]

18

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FRI 5.27

SAT 5.28

[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

Midnight/R/$11.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]

[Harvard Film Archive.

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

35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/ hfa]

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS ALIEN 3

DIGBOSTON.COM

ENCORE SCREENING OF SEIJUN SUZUKI’S CARMEN FROM KAWACHI

SAT 5.28

LATE-NIGHT ALICE-ESQUE ADVENTURES CONTINUE AT THE BRATTLE DROP DEAD FRED [Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 11:30pm/PG13/$9-11. brattlefilm.org]

SUN 5.29

MORE BY SEIJUN SUZUKI FIGHTING ELEGY

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 5pm/NR/$7-9.

35mm.]

MON 5.30

75TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF HOWARD HAWKS’ BALL OF FIRE

[Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 12:15, 4:30, and 9pm/NR/$9-11. 35mm. brattlefilm.org]

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NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

ARTS

HER TURN AT BAT, SIR

Shoshana Bean tackles her dream role in Funny Girl

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

Revivals of Funny Girl are few and far between.

Despite boasting one of the best scores—and roles—ever written for the stage, it still has not been seen on Broadway since the show made Barbra Streisand a star in 1964. Any professional production that pops up is, to my mind, a major event.

That Shoshana Bean—who has long been at the top of Funny Girl wish lists— is finally taking a crack at Fanny Brice, her dream role, makes this production at North Shore Music Theatre a remarkable occasion.

Bean made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Hairspray in 2002, and in 2005 she replaced Idina Menzel in Wicked, playing Elphaba for over a year. As a musician, her solo recordings have topped the iTunes R&B charts in both the US and the UK, and she sang backup for Michael Jackson at his 30th anniversary concert. Last summer, Bean starred as CC Bloom (the Bette Midler role) in Beaches at Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre.

I spoke to Bean a few days before she began rehearsals about stepping into a Streisand role, finally tackling her dream role, and doing Fanny justice.

I suppose that you’ve probably been rehearsing for Funny Girl since you were a child. [laughs] Yes, you are correct. I’ve been prepared for years, just waiting in the wings!

Revivals of Funny Girl are so rare. Do you think it’s because of the baggage that comes with the role?

I’m not sure. I think, from rumors that I’ve heard, that they feel like there are problems with the book and that there are problems with stepping into Streisand’s shadow. I find it really interesting, of all the shows, especially with a score as glorious as it has, that it hasn’t really had a proper revival yet, you know?

As you researched Fanny Brice, what did you learn about the woman, not the character, that surprised you?

I think there are a lot of things. I’m watching a movie with her called Be Yourself. I expected that if you’re known for being a schticky comedienne that you are rubber faced, and you steal the spotlight, and you are not necessarily aware of the people around you—this is my assumption. Watching her act opposite this guy was a revelation to me because she was a beautiful listener, which is the hardest part of acting. That was what blew my mind: what a beautiful listener she was, what a beautiful, calm, centered spirit seemed to emanate from that performance. >> FUNNY GIRL. 6.7-6.19 AT NORTH SHORE MUSIC THEATRE, 62 DUNHAM RD., BEVERLY. NSMT.ORG 20

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PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER BOUDEWYNS

What are you feeling as you’re about to go into rehearsal?

I’m really excited because it’s been a life-long dream, but I’m nervous too because it’s been a life-long dream and this is my one shot to do it. I’m trying to be authentic to her, and that’s a little bit of a challenge to me because obviously for the past however many years, the Streisand movie and the Streisand soundtrack and the Streisand, Streisand, Streisand, which isn’t necessarily specific to Fanny Brice.

I’m trying to really be conscious about honoring her and to remember to have fun because I really want to do a great job.

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COMEDY

COMEDY AT THE KNITTING FACTORY A slice of New York via Chicago comes to Boston

BY JEFF LAWRENCE @29THOUSAND Welcome to the Gas. If you enjoy your comedy like a second-day stubble, this local showcase is for you, but you already know that. Curated by the crew at Anderson Comedy at Great Scott in Allston, this dive-bar giggle shit has been an amazing way to piss your pants laughing long before you’re shit-faced since forever.

Enter three dudes on tour, Kenny DeForest, Will Miles and Clark Jones, via Comedy at the Knitting Factory, rolling into town and ripping you a new asshole this Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28, and you don’t even want to shave all week. Oh yeah, these guys are really fucking funny. So we talked to them.

Dig to Miles: Why aren’t you opening up for Snoop and Wiz on the High Road Tour? Your shit is hilarious, and you smoke weed.

Did your agent fuck up or something? That sucks.

Miles: One of my goals would be to open up for Snoop and Wiz. I’ve been working on it for years. Sometimes I think I just want to be the funny comedian with a rapper in a movie one day.

I’d love to be in the movie where Wiz Khalifa and Kanye West finally make amends and have to go [on] an adventure together.

I’ll even write it. I keep asking my agent to set me up on a smoke session with Wiz and Snoop, but then I remember you can’t text an office number. But seriously, I’d love to do an Up In Smoke-like tour for comedy.

Dig to Jones: A lot of people have said that you’re incredibly funny live, but not everyone agrees. Does it matter? And if so, tell us the funniest joke you know right now.

Jones: I still think comedy will help me get back at my happily married, salaried, well-adjusted exes. A nigga can dream.

Dig to DeForest: You were named the “Favorite Newcomer 2010” by comedyofchicago.com in your hometown of Chicago. Why do we give a shit and by the way, I think everyone already knew you were gay, just saying!

DeForest: Ok, two things: (1) A very funny comedian named Danny Kallas in Chicago wrote that list at the end of my first year in Chicago (I’m from Missouri), and it meant a lot to me.

You found my first “credit” and I tip my cap to you for it. (2) The primary thing that makes me jealous of gay men is that when you call a gay man gay, it doesn’t reduce him to being a blubbering 12-year-old idiot version of himself going, “nuhuhhhh.” I truly hope no gay readers are offended. I promise I’m an ally. I’m basically a male Kathy Griffin.

Dig to Jones: If you could see any other comedian live that’s currently touring today, who would it be and why?

Jones: Nobody. I would want to see a Richard Pryor hologram, but with new material. I want to see hologram Richard go through bombing and dealing with live hecklers, reconsider the whole comedy thing, then deliver one of the best Netflix comedy specials of all time. #itsaprocess Dig to Miles: How much do Kenny and Clark pay you to travel and do shows with them? This is off the record, of course.

Miles: We work on a strict budget of weed and tacos, and I work best when I have some waiting for me right after my set. It’s a pretty standard contract that was worked out at 4 am at a bar.

But obviously all of this is off the record.

Dig to DeForest: I saw you on cable a few years ago, and you stood out for being genuine. Is it your delivery, background, a guilty complex, or what? Where does it come from?

Use our self-serve listings page to get your event online TODAY! DeForest: I’m like an urban Larry the Cable Guy. I’m very grounded that way. That’s also why you saw me on cable. I’m your actual cable guy. I recorded a set and then played it for you on closed-circuit television, and now you think I’ve done standup on cable! Got ’eeeeem done! (Urban Larry the Cable Guys’s catchphrase.)

[Ed. note: I was clearly high. I actually saw you perform on one of those TV Taxi channels.]

Dig to Jones: Tell me about your dad? One of the funniest bits I saw on YouTube included your old man. Was he an influence comedically? How did he play a role in your stand-up today, if he did?

Jones: You know the daddy from Moesha? Or maybe say the daddy from Smart Guy? Just the most consistent of Black dudes, great style, perfect haircuts. That’s Harry Jones. I love him like Chance the rapper loves his father. He won’t be on my mixtape, though.

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Dig to Miles: What’s your least favorite part about being on the road, besides hookers?

Miles: Sometimes the late-night food options are the worst part of being on the road. I love Boston, because I know a lot of the late-night spots, and my girlfriend’s family lives there, so I can bother them for food if it gets too late. But yeah, some towns don’t even have a late-night diner option, and I’m forced to just eat chips at a gas station after a show.

Dig to DeForest: Did you know that Karen Carpenter got her start as a comedian? I know, right! Send us off with your best Karen Carpenter joke and tell us why even skinny people will laugh.

DeForest: My best Karen Carpenter joke: Karen Carpenter once said that if she had a hammer, she’d hammer in the morning.

She’d hammer in the evening. All over this land. Well, I can relate to that, because I’ve always said that same thing about weed. (I’m pretty sure the hammer song is a Carpenters song, but I’m too high to google it.)

>> ANDERSON COMEDY PRESENTS COMEDY AT THE KNITTING FACTORY. 5.27 & 5.28. GREAT SCOTT. 1222 COMM. AVE., BOSTON. 7PM/18+/$12. GREATSCOTTBOSTON.COM NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

SAVAGE LOVE

GENDER BENDER

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET I’m a queer woman. When I entered my 30s, I realized that I was more queer/bi than I had previously allowed myself to be, and I started exploring my attraction to cis heterosexual men.

Five years later, and I’m in an incredible GGG relationship with a cis het male. He’s everything I have ever wanted in a partner: sexy, funny, feminist, and smart. We have full disclosure about sexuality and kinks, no complaints there.

What I do have trouble with is navigating his family and friends, twin social circles composed of heterosexuals who fall into stereotypical gender roles. I spent my teens and 20s fully submersed in queer/trans circles with like-minded feminist hippies who are not hung up on the gender binary. My partner’s friends are fundamentally good people, but they see nothing wrong with “old fashioned” misogyny. I am often interrupted, talked over, and “mansplained” by my partner’s male friends. And while I am a pretty friendly person, I can’t get a foot in the door with the women in his friend circle. My notions on feminism and equality are way too out there, so I tend to keep to myself in a corner during parties in order to avoid starting an argument. How do I navigate this weird heterosexual world that I don’t understand? I’ve tried to explain my feelings to my partner, but I think he has a hard time relating, as he is a heterosexual cis male and was raised as one. How do I keep from losing my cool when someone starts to mansplain to me? I may be in a heterosexual romantic partnership, but I am still a queer lady at heart.

Bi Lefty Encounters Cis Hets Some people “fall into stereotypical gender roles” because that’s who they are, BLECH, and what you perceive as the thoughtless embrace of the gender binary can in some cases be an authentic expression of gender identity. That doesn’t excuse misogyny and mansplaining, of course, but not everyone who embraces seemingly stereotypical gender roles is a dupe who needs a good talking to from the new queer girlfriend of an old straight friend.

That said, if going to parties with your cis het boyfriend’s gender-normative friends makes you miserable… don’t go to those parties. Or if you must go, drag along a leftist-hippie-queer friend who can sit in the corner with you and marvel at the mansplaining manmuggles and their clueless lady friends who aren’t interested in your thoughts on feminism and equality.

On the Lovecast, it’s our 500th episode! With weed expert David Schmader: savagelovecast.com.

THE STRANGERER

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

22

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OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

Cycles 128 107 Brimbal Ave, Beverly, MA 01915 www.cycles128.com

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 gregory alan isakov and the ghost orchestra

THE

JAYHAWKS

W / L AN Y

W/ FOLK UKE MONDAY, JUNE 13

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N E W

W

A L B U M

T H E

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G L O W I N G

M A N

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

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A V A I L A B L E

SECOND SHOW ADDED DUE TO DEMAND - 6/17 SOLD OUT

W / M AN DOL I N OR AN GE

W / G RE AT C A E S A R

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22

THURSDAY, JUNE 23

W / 6 8 I L L U STR ATI O N S

BAND OF SKULLS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6

TUES. SEPTEMBER 6

FA L L OF

BOOK OF SHADOWS II

W/ OKKYUNG LEE

A P P E A R I N G

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TROY

W/ TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN, JARED JAMES NICHOLS

THURSDAY, JULY 7

SATURDAY, JUNE 25 ON SALE THURSDAY AT NOON!

THE

Zakk Wylde

J U N E

THE ENGLISH BEAT S O U L A SY L U M

W/ DOROTHY

SUNDAY, JULY 31

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2

WED. AUGUST 3

A T :

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Digitalism (Live)

52 Church St. Cambridge, MA

w/ French Horn Rebellion

sinclaircambridge.com

SATURDAY, MAY 28

FRIDAY, MAY 27

IN ASSOCIATION WITH WORLD MUSIC / CRASHARTS

TUESDAY, MAY 31

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1

IN ASSOCIATION WITH WORLD MUSIC/CRASH ARTS

DIIV

MONDAY, JUNE 6

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

BEAR STRO NAU T

W/ DIRTY BANGS, SUPERHUMAN HAPPINESS, PARTY BOIS

W/ BEN ABRAHAM

FRIDAY, JUNE 3

W/ PWR BTTM, PETAL

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

THURSDAY, JUNE 9

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

“TELECOAST” ALBUM RELEASE

FRIDAY, JUNE 10

SATURDAY, JUNE 11

MONDAY, JUNE 13 ON SALE NOW!

ON SALE NOW!

ENVY ON THE COAST SECOND SHOW ADDED DUE TO DEMAND! 8/20 SOLD OUT

THURSDAY, JULY 21

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21

C.W. STONEKING

BRAIDS

SUNDAY, MAY 29

TUESDAY, MAY 31

W/ BROWNBIRD RUDY RELIC

W/ GINLA

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA

‘s S GA E TH

SUNDAY, JUNE 5

W/ PARANOY DS

MICHAEL CHRISTMAS / TUNJI IGE

FRIDAYS AT 7PM!

W/ CU LT U R E A BUS E , W RO N G , G O L D MUS E

PITY SEX

ON SALE THURSDAY AT NOON!

greatscottboston.com

SUNDAY, MAY 29

Damien Jurado & The Heavy Light

LOLA MARSH / TALL HEIGHTS

W/ HERON OBLIVION

W/ THE DAZIES, BLINDERS FRIDAY, JUNE 3

W/ LUCY DACUS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 THURSDAY, JUNE 9

HOLLY MIRANDA W/ CHEERLEADER, SARA KENDALL

W/ RADCLYFFE HALL, USLIGHTS

W/ HAYLEY THOMPSON-KING

MONDAY, JUNE 6

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

ON SALE NOW!

THE SUITCASE JUNKET

W/ MAINLAND

E P RE LE ASE W / TW ISTE D PINE FRIDAY, JUNE 10

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

MONDAY, JUNE 27

W/ THE HUNTRESS AND HOLDER OF HANDS

ON SALE NOW!

TTNG TUESDAY, AUGUST 9

≠ 5/27 & 5/28 THE COMEDIANS OF THE KNITTING FACTORY ≠ 6/1 BRIAN CARPENTER & THE CONFESSIONS ≠ 6/2 FUNERAL ADVANTAGE ≠ 6/4 WHEN PARTICLES COLLIDE ≠ 6/13 CASKET GIRLS ≠ 6/14 ESCONDIDO ≠ 6/15 ANTHONT D’AMATO ≠ 6/16 GHOSTS OF JUPITER ≠ 6/17 TWIN LIMB

OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN:

on tour summer 2016 with:

W/ COMPUTER MAGIC

T H E OK AY W I N

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

TUESDAY, JUNE 7 MIDDLE EAST UP

W/ FULL OF HELL, GOD’S HATE, ETERNAL SLEEP

TUESDAY, JUNE 21 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

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

RATBOYS HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE

SUNDAY, JUNE 26 MIDDLE EAST UP

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