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HEADLINING THIS WEEK! Brent Morin TonightSaturday

VOL 18 + ISSUE 22

JUNE 2, 2016 - JUNE 9, 2016 EDITORIAL

DEAR READER

EDITOR + PUBLISHER Jeff lawrence

June is Boston Pride Month, a 30-day celebration of solidarity for and among the LGBT community.

However, the theme this year is, Solidarity Through Pride, and the idea behind it, was to tie together the many identities and issues that face not only this community but all communities that are denied basic equality and face discrimination, be it race, gender, or any other number of identities facing the same injustice. This bridge among the LGBT communities and beyond is significant as marginalization everywhere is on the rise.

The most glaring example of this right now is among the transgender community. You can’t turn on the TV or scroll through Facebook without encountering yet another proposed legislative screw being turned against transgender people. Despite the fact that transgender individuals have been pissing next to you in public restrooms since forever, the conservative lobby has convinced many Americans that we have a problem and that our children are in jeopardy. This kind of absurdity is exactly why we need solidarity now and more than ever.

Only this week has Gov. Baker finally come out in support of Bill H.4253—which would protect the rights of transgender people against discrimination—despite the idiotic opposition from MassResistance and the Massachusetts Family Institute, two pro-bigot organizations that lobbied against it. This kind of support is why Massachusetts continues to be a progressive haven against discrimination, but there’s still more work to be done. There always is.

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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ON THE COVER Read all about the battle for Boston’s West End on page 10.

Photo courtesy of Charles Frani/West End Museum

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OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Celebrity Selfie Takers, Let’s take the dumbest celebrity in Greater Boston, Rob Gronkowski, for example. He’s a giant with a tiny brain who likes to party hardy. But when you ask him to wrap his meat hook around you in order to snap a pic for your Instagram profile, you suddenly become even stupider than he is, and are now just a pathetic turd suffocating in the armpit grip of a barbarian for the whole world to ogle. You won’t realize this from the reaction; since the other stuff you do is wholly unimportant, this tweet with said footballer (or whichever other inane jackass you worship) will probably get more likes than anything else you’ve ever done in your life. But don’t be fooled—the only thing sorrier than the brainless celeb whose crotch secretions you desperately hope to swallow is the schmuck standing next to them in that selfie on your Facebook page.

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TWICE-REJECTED STATE SENATE CANDIDATE CLAUDIA SIERRA SPEAKS WITH TELEVISION REPORTERS

SPECIAL REJECTION NEWS TO US

Election officials can’t stop this East Boston activist from running for State Senate

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 When nine-year First Suffolk and Middlesex State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli announced his resignation last December, Latino voters in the lawmaker’s disjointed district—which includes slices of Chinatown, East Boston, and the North End in the Hub, as well as parts of Winthrop, Cambridge, and Revere—thought there might finally be a chance to vote one of their own into the critical office. In a district in which more than 40,000 respondents claimed Hispanic origin on the 2010 US Census and where some estimates put the Latino population at as much as 40 percent of all residents, the time seemed ripe to secure the position, historically dominated by white males, for a legislator from a different demographic.

The editorial board of El Planeta, along with readers of the prominent Bay State Spanish-language newspaper, felt similarly, and in January of this year published a poll, writing: Even though mainstream English-language media don’t cover the potential Latino candidates that are prepared for this position, there are several Latino ready to become elected officials. With the intention to demonstrate that there are Latinos candidates for the position of State Senator that Anthony Petruccelli is leaving open, we decided to open to the public this opinion poll to listen what the people think and look for the ideal candidate.

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Among the community figures who the newspaper floated to potentially replace the well-liked Petruccelli, who has since gone on to work as a lobbyist: Dennis Benzan, now-former vice mayor of Cambridge and that city’s first Latino councilor; Ileana Cintron of the Massachusetts Democratic Latino Caucus; and Patricia Montes of the immigrant rights group Centro Presente; all among a local Hispanic dream slate of hopefuls from activist and bureaucratic ranks alike. More than 700 online votes later, two names surfaced at the top of the pack—Camilo Hernandez, the constituent services director for East Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattina, and 25-year neighborhood advocate Claudia Sierra.

“I have been an activist in the area,” says Sierra of East Boston, who took the cue and pulled papers to run in the April 12 primary and the special election in May. She continues, “When this seat opened, there was a lot of talk about who should run, and I analyzed all the issues we’ve been facing, the lack of leadership and inclusion, the lack of transparency in community processes, and the changes in East Boston.”

All things considered, Sierra thought the time was right to take the plunge. “We need more representation,” she says of Latinos in the First Suffolk and Middlesex. “I have become a point of reference for many people, and my daily calls are, ‘Claudia, we have problems with this, come and help us.’ That’s what I’m already doing.”

Recalling her early social justice work, Sierra says,

“When I first moved here I found out all the deficiencies you face as an immigrant not being able to speak the language. That made me stronger to help other people who are going through the same thing. I started to volunteer as a translator, not just for medical but for immigration, and that’s when I started to be connected with the community … Even though I was born in this country I am still an immigrant. I grew up in Latin America and moved to East Boston when I was 18. Being born here was not an advantage to me—I faced the same challenges as everyone else … Throughout the years I have seen the same issues and nothing getting resolved.

Minorities are being made to believe that they have to vote for somebody else and that one of them isn’t good enough to represent them.”

With help from a small group of volunteers, Sierra collected in slight excess of the 300 signatures required to run in the Democratic primary and subsequent May 10 special election. But while the paperwork was filed on time, officials with the Boston Election Department ruled that not enough of her signatures were valid. With that decision, despite the significant Hispanic population of the First Suffolk and Middlesex, none of the seven candidates who qualified for the ballot would come from the Latino community.

“It was a very diverse group,” Sierra says, referring to a seven-candidate field that included former Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo, Asian-American Women’s Political Initiative Founder Diana Hwang, State Rep. Jay Livingstone, and East Boston attorney and low-wage labor rights advocate Lydia Marie Edwards, who received an enthusiastic endorsement from the Boston Globe. Non-Hispanic diversity aside, Sierra says she followed the race closely and observed that “the majority of [candidates] were trying to tap into the Latino community. As Latinos, we see this all the time—they learn a few words of Spanish, they love tacos, they learn how to dance salsa, and it’s insulting. They’re playing with our culture, and they’re only doing it to get our vote.”

Squeaking past six others, Winthrop attorney Joseph Boncore emerged from a short race full of mud-slinging with just over 4,000 votes—about 400 more than Rizzo, also a white male, in second place—to fill the seat left vacant by Petruccelli. Now in office (the new senator was sworn in last week), Boncore already has to run again, this time in the regular election cycle, and will appear on the upcoming primary ballot in September. Instead of having six opponents, however, this time Boncore will face zero major party foes. According to Sierra, it’s not for a lack of trying.

Having learned from the rejection of her signatures the first time, Sierra says that on her second attempt, she brought friends and volunteers to find signers outside of polling stations on Super Tuesday in March. The would-be candidate then submitted 373 signatures to the Boston Election Department—about 24 percent more than required—and was again told that she failed to qualify.

According to the city, 88 of her signatures were invalid, leaving Sierra 15 signers short of the mandatory threshold of 300. After wrestling with election officials over individual signatures, Sierra was able to get four more people counted, which still only put her total at 289.

Though she is calling for more Latino voices on Beacon Hill, Sierra says she isn’t asking for special treatment in the electoral process. At the same time, the twice-rejected candidate has grown weary of the Boston Election Department, which she argues has been stubborn in reviewing her signatures. Several submissions shown to the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and El Planeta, for example, were rejected because the name SPECIAL REJECTION continued on pg. 6

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listed on the form did not match exactly with the department’s internal record.

Sierra says this isn’t surprising, since many Hispanics have multiple family names that they do not always list exhaustively. Furthermore, election officials appear to have rejected the names of some active voters including Jose Callejas, a well-known member of the East Boston community and the owner of La Hacienda, a Meridian Street restaurant where pols like to pass through and press flesh with constituents.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson from the City of Boston wrote in an email, “The Boston Election Department thoroughly reviews all signatures to ensure a fair process for all potential candidates. Although Ms. Sierra did not formally file a complaint identifying the signatures that she believes were unfairly rejected, the department took extra steps and conducted an informal review of all signatures that we were unable to certify. That review was conducted in Ms. Sierra’s presence, and it led to the department accepting four (4) additional signatures, which was still short of the number of certified signatures that she needed.” As for their process, the spokesperson added, “Signatures are reviewed to ensure that eligible voters have signed the nomination papers. Voters signatures must match the name and address on the file with the state voter registration database, their party designation and assigned districts are also reviewed.”

Elections experts contacted for this story were unwilling to address the Sierra situation specifically. As a rule of thumb, however, those familiar with the qualification process recommended that political hopefuls collect at least 150 percent of the number of signatures needed to avoid falling short. As for Sen. Boncore (or anybody else) running solo, Pam Wilmot, executive director of the government accountability nonprofit Common Cause Massachusetts, says, “Where there’s only one name on the ballot, that’s not democracy. Having more names on the ballot requires a candidate to be sharper. It gives voters choices— even if there’s one frontrunner who is going to run away with it. I can’t comment on this particular case, but that’s a real problem in Massachusetts.”

At this time during the last legislative election cycle, in 2014, more than 60 percent of state representatives slid to victory past no real opposition. Likewise, about half of the incumbent senators statewide faced no primary or general election opponent, while only one of the six senators from Boston had company on the ballot. As for minority representation: According to a recent Globe report on State House diversity, “not quite one in 10 legislators on Beacon Hill is black, Latino, or Asian, whereas these minorities collectively account for a quarter of the state’s population.”

“This is another battle that I’m just going to have to fight—just like many other battles that I fight daily,” Sierra says. “I take this as a normal challenge. It should be easy, this shouldn’t be happening, but I can sit and cry about it or I can do something about it. I can let people know that regardless of what happens with the signatures, we still have a chance of running. It’s a chance for me to educate the community about how the write-in ballot works, and maybe that’s an advantage.

“As immigrants, as a working community, every day is a challenge for us— whether with work, or with school, or anything else. It’s always a battle.”

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IN JANUARY THE SPANISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER EL PLANETA WROTE: 'WITH THE INTENTION TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THERE ARE LATINOS CANDIDATES FOR THE POSITION OF STATE SENATOR THAT ANTHONY PETRUCCELLI IS LEAVING OPEN, WE DECIDED TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS OPINION POLL TO LISTEN WHAT THE PEOPLE THINK AND LOOK FOR THE IDEAL CANDIDATE.' SIERRA CAME IN A CLOSE SECOND PLACE.

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ABOUT THOSE OUTSIDE AGITATORS The history of protest denial has some hideous roots

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Last month, more than 1,000 Boston Public School students took their education into their own hands for the second time this semester, walking out of school and rallying at City Hall before attending a hearing on the school budget that day.

In response to the walkout, Mayor Marty Walsh assured the public that “adults are behind the situation.”

What Walsh meant is that adults, not our city’s youth, organized the walkout.

Even as dozens of students testified at the budget hearing as to how they and their peers will be negatively affected by the proposed cuts to school budgets, Walsh stuck with a story he crafted in March after the first mass walkout.

As the mayor said at that time, “I’d love to see who’s behind the walkout.

Whoever’s behind it, I hope they start to feed the young students in our city with accurate information and not misguided information.” While he didn’t name any particular outsiders, Walsh clearly placed the blame with organized teachers.

The flimsiness of this lie was clear to anyone who saw photos of the youth at either walkout, and Walsh was ultimately forced to dial back his remarks to avoid looking too condescending toward the youth of our city. But his administration’s instinctive denial of the organic nature of protests goes beyond these walkouts.

He and his fellow officials routinely voice this line about hidden actors at the first hint of disruptive protest, insinuating that it’s outsiders, not Boston locals, taking issue with city policies.

Take the opposition to Boston’s doomed Olympics bid. Despite opinion polls showing the majority of residents opposed the bid, Walsh claimed the opposition was “10 people on Twitter.” These “10 people” didn’t fit into the mayor’s tidy view of his constituency, even as he and his fellow Boston 2024 boosters encountered hostility at every turn about the bid.

Or consider the past couple years of Black Lives Matter protests. When word got out in 2014 about a die-in planned to coincide with First Night celebrations, Boston Police Department Chief William Evans claimed “the majority of the community is behind the police force.” This in spite of multiple mass protests against police brutality having taken place in the months prior to the action. Evans added, “It’s not the community that is going to be up in arms protesting. This is for the most part people from outside the city who want to come in and protest.”

Denying that Boston residents might take issue with the policies of the Boston Police Department asserts an exceptionalism based on nothing but fantasy, as if the BPD is any less racist or violent than other police forces. But it also creates a dichotomy in which any individual who challenges city officials is by definition an outsider, someone beyond the body politic.

This is a narrative with a long and important history in this country. The character of the “outside agitator” first appeared as an anti-communist slur during the Cold War, with even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. labeled as such by public officials in an effort to diminish liberal support for his work in Selma, Alabama, and elsewhere.

For King and the civil rights movement, the insinuation that it was outsiders inciting protests was paired with the condescending belief that AfricanAmericans could not arrive at the revolutionary ideas without incitement from white Northerners. Here, as in many of the comments of elected Boston officials, these outsiders are racially and geographically distinct from those deemed capable of organizing on their own.

We should be vigilant lest we fall into the same trap set by our officials. Where anyone in power denies a protest could have been planned or carried out by Bostonians, particularly young black and brown Bostonians, we should remind them that in a city as diverse as ours, some people are going to disagree with city policies—and they may not be willing to swallow their disagreement or stick to the boundaries in which Walsh thinks it is acceptable to express dissent.

The impulse Bostonians have to voice discontent and work to right injustice is marketed every day on the Freedom Trail—it’s the rightful pride of our city. Let’s not let Marty Walsh or anyone else pretend we need outsiders to know what’s right and wrong on our own turf. To quote Dr. King, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”

“It’s not the community that is going to be up in arms protesting. This is for the most part people from outside the city who want to come in and protest.”

GUEST MEDIA FARM

HOW NOT TO REPORT ON POLICE BRUTALITY

BY ANDREW QUEMERE AND MAYA SHAFFER

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LOAF MONDAYS Different meatloaf every Monday with two sides.

When cases of police brutality appear on video, members of the local media tend to shut off their collective critical thinking skills and even side with the police. The coverage of the now-infamous video of off-duty Boston Police Department officer Edward Barrett attacking a pedestrian who hurt his feelings is a prime example of why you can’t rely on the mainstream press to get the story right. Luckily, we’ve compiled some important tips that we hope local journalists will follow in future coverage …

On Using Language Appropriately

Let’s start with the word “allege” and its synonyms. The Associated Press Stylebook warns journalists that “[t]he word must be used with great care.” But the stylebook authors didn’t foresee the need to advise journalists to actually learn what the word means in the first place. Many Boston outlets don’t seem to understand that when a police officer’s violent behavior is on video, it stops being an allegation and becomes a fact. So we end up with turds like this: •

“A video of the incident ... allegedly shows an officer in a Red Sox jersey pinning a man to the ground with his knee.” (Boston Magazine)

•

“The off-duty officer who was video taped allegedly roughing up a pedestrian has been accused of using excessive force before.” (Boston.com)

•

“Boston Police are investigating a viral Facebook video allegedly showing an off-duty police officer arresting a man he says cracked his car window with an umbrella.” (WBZ)

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Reporters should also be careful when choosing what words they use to describe a bulky police officer forcing his knee in the back of a pedestrian half his size, then parading the victim down the street by his shirt collar. Words like “scuffle” (Boston Globe, Boston Magazine), “altercation” (NECN), and “confrontation” (WBZ, Associated Press) aren’t as precise as the ones we’d choose to describe a one-sided road rage attack.

There are a million ticketing services out there. So how is our’s any different?

On Understanding Your Sources

Most of the Boston media got ahold of the official police report about the incident depicted in the video, but we couldn’t find one instance of them pointing out the most obvious and important aspect of it: The police report makes no mention of Barrett chasing the pedestrian, using force against him, or arresting him, nor does it mention Barrett falsely claiming that the pedestrian had cracked the cop’s car window. The report doesn’t even mention that Barrett was a police officer. The only third-party witness mentioned in the report was a woman who— go figure—backed up Barrett’s story and made no mention of his road rage.

But because Boston media often refuse to notice the systemic problems that enable police brutality, we wind up with columns like the one by the Globe’s Yvonne Abraham, who criticizes Barrett but insists that “BPD does community relations better than those in many other parts of the country.” This a talking point often spouted by Commissioner William Evans, and if people in the media are watchdogs rather than flacks for the police, then they shouldn’t be parroting cop talking points it unless it’s deserved. Boston media will not be credible on the issue of police abuse until they are willing to routinely take BPD to task for fostering a culture where police cover up for each other.

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BLACKSTONE SCHOOL, WEST END | IMAGE COURTESY OF CHARLES FRANI/WEST END MUSEUM

THROWBACK FEATURE

WEST END CIRCA EARLY 1900S | IMAGE COURTESY OF BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

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THE PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL ON JOY AND S. RUSSELL STREET WAS CLOSED IN 1975. IT WAS THE LAST PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THE WEST END | IMAGE COURTESY OF THE BOSTON CITY ARCHIVES WEST END URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT SIGN CIRCA 1958 | IMAGE VIA BRA

FIGHTING FOR THE WEST END A walk through Boston’s demolished but not forgotten neighborhood RESEARCH BY PETE ROBERGE As older Boston natives, history buffs, and gentrification activists will all explain in terrific detail to any willing audience, the stretch of high rises between Government Center (formerly Scollay Square) and the Longfellow Bridge, from Beacon Hill to North Station, was known as West Boston once upon a time, and more recently as the West End. To quote historians from the West End Museum on Staniford Street: The term ‘urban renewal’ has become synonymous with Boston’s West End. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 50-acres of tenement housing was demolished under so-called “slum clearance” to make way for luxury high-rise buildings. More than 10,000 low-to-middle income residents were displaced from the neighborhood they called home and the community they loved.

Since newspapers cheered on said displacement to appease development-happy advertisers half-acentury ago, we figured that as progressive members of the modern media we should do our part to help correct the record. To that end, we joined Duane Lucia, curator of the West End Museum, on a tour through “Boston’s West End, old and new” last weekend. For this week’s throwback installment (visit binjonline. org for more “Throwback BINJ” historical notes), here are some images and facts we stumbled onto that seem to reflect contemporary headlines about the latest development boom and wave of resulting displacement in the Hub …

There used to be 15 schools in the West End. Now there are none; the last one shuttered in 1975. It was once a stated goal of the city for children of this neighborhood to be able to walk to school; instead, these days kids who live between Government Center and North Station commute for all grade levels.

part, the BRA has not meaningfully acknowledged the displacement of families. Geographically, it’s even been contested that the northern slope of today’s Beacon Hill belonged to the West End. Lucia, however, points to several signs in the area that say otherwise.

The City of Boston throughout the years has officially claimed that the Boston Redevelopment Authority only cleared 48 acres of the West End. But according to documents at the West End Museum, they cleared twice that amount—a first clearance, known as the “New Boston Project,” of 50 acres, a second clearance of 30 acres, and a third razing of 10 acres.

As one longtime adversary of urban renewal, Charlotte Ploss, once put it, “Was it because the neighborhood was destroyed that we have to preserve the memories so fiercely. Or that those years were so very meaningful?”

The legacy of the West End, while kept alive by Duane Lucia and others like him, nonetheless faces the constant threat of obfuscation. In its

This installment of the “Throwback BINJ” series was produced by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. For more information on this new BINJ series that connects yesterday’s news with today’s headlines, visit binjonline.org.

LEVERETT STREET IN THE WEST END | IMAGE COURTESY OF CHARLES FRANI/WEST END MUSEUM

Unlike the current post-war apartment complexes in today’s West End, the older neighborhoods were family friendly, with houses that spilled out onto the streets. This trend is partially attributed to city agencies purging large families during the urban renewal demolition process, during which many households were moved several times before being pushed out altogether.

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VINNY’S SUPERETTE A Not-So-Hidden Hidden Gem

BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

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When it comes to restaurants, there are hidden gems and there are badly kept secrets, with the latter being dining spots that are mentioned as being under the radar by so many people that they are no longer under the radar. Take Vinny’s at Night in Somerville, for instance—this terrific little Italian restaurant is literally hidden behind an old-fashioned convenience store, making it almost a novelty in some ways (even though it is anything but a novelty to regulars who know the goodness of this place), and because it is seen as such a unique spot, many media outlets and many more diners talk about it so much that it is no longer a hidden gem. But what about the store that hides it? No one seems to talk about that place, but they should, as Vinny’s Superette is a much different—but equally good—spot to get food, and if you want under the radar, you’ve certainly got it with this humble little shop.

Vinny’s Superette is located in the heart of East Somerville, which remains a bit of a close-knit “old Somerville” neighborhood, but which is starting to see some of the same changes that have come to so many other parts of the city.

The shop is a throwback to an earlier time, and the name “superette” is mostly a regional term and represents the type of shop that you see less and less of each year, as many of them are forced to compete with the 7-Elevens and Store 24s of the world along with gas station convenience stores. But some superettes continue to operate in part because of their personal touch and neighborhoodfriendly feel, and Vinny’s Superette certainly reflect this, as locals come to this Broadway shop on a regular basis for cheap takeout meals (or dine-in, as the shop has a few tables set up), prepared foods, chips, soda, and other items. Sitting at Vinny’s Superette can be an odd feeling during the day, as the Vinny’s at Night space can be seen from the tables within the shop, but since the restaurant isn’t open until dinner, it’s dark and quiet.

Like other superettes in the Boston area, Vinny’s focuses mainly on sandwiches, but unlike some of the others which focus on American classics, this superette has more of an Italian and Sicilian focus (the restaurant itself is actually considered to be a Sicilian spot). Some of the options here include excellent Italian and super Italian subs, a spicy capicola (dry-cured pork shoulder), an overstuffed chicken parm with Vinny’s tremendous red sauce, a messy but delicious house-made meatball sub, a prosciutto sub that just begs for added provolone cheese, and a sandwich with sweet Italian sausage. Solid versions of a garden salad and an antipasto are also available, as are a number of Italian classics such as a traditional pasta fagioli, shrimp fra diavlo, arancini, calzones, lasagna, and stuffed shells, and the specials of the day include an old-world potato and egg sandwich. Prices are relatively inexpensive, with sandwiches being under $10 and most meals straddling the $10 line by a few bucks.

Vinny’s at Night may no longer be a hidden gem, but ironically, you do have to pass through one in order to get to it. If you like sandwiches and stick-to-yourribs Italian comfort food, Vinny’s Superette is one that should be on your short list of places to try whether you dine in or do takeout, and you can confuse your friends (if you’re so inclined) by saying you went to the Vinny’s that no one knows about while staring over at the Vinny’s that everyone knows about because it’s a place that no one knows about. Or you could just order a meatball sub and a soda and try not to overthink it all.

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 >> VINNY’S SUPERETTE. 76 BROADWAY, SOMERVILLE. 12

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ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

THU 6.2

FRI 6.3

SAT 6.4

SUN 6.5

TUE 6.7

WED 6.8

Solidarity Through Pride @ Alternative Art Space

CHVRCHES @ House of Blues

Raiders of the Lost Ark LIVE @ Symphony Hall

Beacon Hill Art Walk @ Beacon Hill

DIIV @ The Sinclair

What if we told you that one of the greatest action flicks ever made will be shown at Symphony Hall this Friday and Saturday with a live score performed by the Boston Pops to celebrate the 35th anniversary of its release?

Damn right you’d do a backflip! The score, created by legendary composer John Williams, is one of the classic modern-day film tracks that you’d have to be Helen Keller not to recognize immediately. Ok, that was in poor taste, but this performance is going to kick some serious ass, so who cares!

There are worse things than meandering through the alleyways and gardens of Beacon Hill on a Sunday.

For instance, a colonoscopy.

Fear not, however; your ass is safe and this weekend is the 25th Beacon Hill Art Walk, which is definitely a lot less uncomfortable.

Local artists will be displaying works of visual art throughout the neighborhood until 6 pm.

Grab a map at 135 Charles St. to plot your travels.

Wikipedia says that the group’s second album was released after a “lengthy and troubled gestation period,” whatever the fuck that means, but it references a link to an interview that we should probably read. No worries.

This is going to be a sweet show and definitely better than anything else you’re going to be doing on Tuesday. Unless, of course, you have a lengthy and troubled gestation period planned. If so, we’d stick with that.

Taste of Somerville @ Buena Vista Pavilion

Beacon Hill Art Walk.

135 Charles St., Boston.

Noon/all ages/FREE. beaconhillartwalk.org

The Sinclair. 52 Church St., Cambridge.

7pm/all ages/$20. sinclaircambridge.com

Unless you’re living under a rock, you know that June is Boston Pride Month, and it’s time to get your gay on!

There are literally hundreds of events on the calendar beyond the parade on June 11, so don’t just focus on one day to celebrate gay pride. For instance, the Solidarity Through Pride exhibit. Check out local artists and their work interpreting what that solidarity means to them and the community. And it’s free!

Alternative Art Space.

460C Harrison Ave., Boston. 5pm/all ages/FREE. bostonpride.org

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Scottish synthpop for the win! The trio from Glasgow has been making cuttingedge music that defies the synth tag since 2011 but has only released two albums, the latest being Every Open Eye in 2015.

What the group lacks in volume it more than makes up for in performance, and the live show is highly recommended for anyone adventurous enough to have their ear bent. The Boston shows are almost sold out (second show June 4 @ HOB), so hit that link right quick.

House of Blues.

15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/18+/$25+. ticketmaster.com

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Symphony Hall 301 Mass.

Ave., Boston. 3 & 8pm/all ages/$36+. bso.org

Holy crap, it’s Taste of Somerville! This year’s lineup includes “Aeronaut Brewery, Winter Hill Brewing, American Fresh Brewhouse by Somerville Brewing, and Bantam Cider, alongside fine cuisine from the likes of favorites Bergamot, Bronwyn, Kirkland Tap and Trotter and dozens more. New this year are some of Somerville’s more exciting restaurants, like Tasting Counter, and Meju.”

Holy crap, you’re so going to this! Proceeds benefit Somerville CAN. Buena Vista Pavilion. 50 Holland St., Somerville.

5:30pm/21+/$50. tasteofsomerville.org

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

MUSIC

ALLSTON CALLING

With great change comes great pros and cons

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

Looks like Boston Calling got sick of dial-up. In May 2017, our hometown music festival will move from City Hall Plaza over to Harvard University’s Athletics Complex. That means the concrete ground will be replaced with grassy fields along North Harvard Street. It’s a pricey exchange, one that leaves the festival unable to double dip and, instead, throwing the festival once a year now on Memorial Day weekend.

With it comes plenty of changes, but some have us more excited than others.

PROS

CONS

SPACE (I BELIEVE IN):

OUTSIDE THE TRAINS DON’T RUN ON TIME:

With giant Ivy League fields comes a whole lotta space. Moving over to Allston allows Boston Calling to feel less cramped and, in the process, book acts that will draw even bigger crowds without upsetting our beloved BPD. Plus people who don’t buy festival tickets may get a better sound bite to chew on, but they won’t be able to see the stage screens anymore.

Government Center is smack dab in the heart of Boston. No matter where you were coming from, Boston Calling was easy to get to when the Blue Line, Green Line, Red Line, Orange Line, and Silver Line (!) all dumped you out less than a 10-minute walk away.

Harvard’s fields in Allston are a 15-minute walk from the Harvard Square T stop. Looks like it’s time to buy a bike.

GOLD SOUNDZ:

MAKE UP YOUR MIND:

Hosting a music festival with dozens of elongated buildings around it looks cool. It doesn’t sound cool. All the delayed reverb and eerie echoes of City Hall will now be a thing of the past. Open-air festivals lend to a naturally swollen, warm, grandiose sound.

Ditching a metallic wall is for the better.

A MOVIE SCRIPT ENDING:

Boston Calling’s new location includes another type of expansion: film screenings.

Producer, director, and Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman will curate a new film festival segment. Now when an artist who doesn’t fit your vibe takes the stage, you can camp out in a mini theater setup instead. Don’t forget your favorite candy.

It’s only logical for the excess space to result in more stages. This past Boston Calling saw a third stage added for local acts and comedy sets. A fourth stage will likely pop up in Allston. That means overlapping performances are guaranteed. Everyone who takes longer than five minutes to decide what to order at a restaurant, you’re screwed when it comes to picking which band to watch.

DEAD LEAVES AND THE DIRTY GROUND:

Arguably the best pro of a city-based festival is the lack of nature. Trees are pretty and grass is soft, but the moment more than a few hundred people trample on it, things get dirty… fast. Expect soaked shoes, mud-speckled legs, and a new hatred of rain.

MUSIC EVENTS THU 6.2

FRI 6.3

FRI 6.3

SUN 6.5

[Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$12. mideastoffers.com]

[Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$10. mideastoffers.com]

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$15. sinclaircambridge.com]

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 7pm/18+/$13. sinclaircambridge.com]

SYNTHPOP SHIMMERS YUMI ZOUMA + CMB + ST. NOTHING + HAASAN BARCLAY

16

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ALBUM RELEASE SHOW GOZU + WORSHIPPER + MAGIC CIRCLE + WORMWOOD + SYLVIA

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FOLK WITH A SIDE OF SARCASM DAMIEN JURADO & THE HEAVY LIGHT + BEN ABRAHAM

SHOEGAZE FOR THE ROCK HEAD NOTHING + CULTURE ABUSE + WRONG + GOLD MUSE

TUE 6.7

WED 6.8

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

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

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$15. crossroadspresents.com]

SUMMERY SIRIUS XMU INDIE ROCK DAY WAVE + RADCLYFFE HALL + USLIGHTS

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ROYCE DA 5’9” THU 6/2

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FILM

DO YOU EVEN RIFT, BRO? Six friends go to war in Chevalier

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN Like so many males of the species, Chevalier presents itself as being far more respectable than it actually is. The primary characters are six well-paid men, and the setting is a luxury yacht off the coast of the Aegean Sea, so it looks upscale from the start. And Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari—who recently served as both a guest lecturer and a Radcliffe fellow at Harvard University, where she also curated two exceptional repertory programs on “furious” ’70s cinema—has an upscale sense of aesthetics to match. She utilizes medium-length and close-up shots most often, letting them play out for relatively elongated periods. She makes frequent use of mirrors and other reflective surfaces to complicate her compositions, especially when she pulls her camera back farther than usual. And she sets the color palette in shades of blue and gray, as if to cast an artfully ominous cloud over each frame (the cinematography is by Christos Karamanis).

These are techniques you often see at the artplex—the kind you might find, say, in a wartime drama produced somewhere in Europe. But Tsangari has applied them to an even more ruthless form of combat. She’s using these techniques to document a dick-measuring contest.

Before they can compare sizes, the men need a little foreplay. So Tsangari’s allegorical comedy begins as a gentle riff on gym culture, with the sextet—which is composed of brothers Yannis (Yorgos Pirpassopoulos) and Dimitris (Makis Papdimitriou), business partners Josef (Vangelis Mourikis) and Christos (Sakis Rouvas), friend Yorgos (Panos Koronis), and a respected elder known only as the Doctor (Yorgos Kendros)—both complimenting and chastising one another on their physical traits. The Doctor is commended for his notable stamina. Dimitris is mocked for his inability to hold his breath. All this competitive

ribbing gets made official when they start the measuring—but given that they are supposedly men of dignity, the six come up with a more acceptable concept to mask their intentions. They choose to dub their game “The Best in General,” and they set the rules as follows: 1. For the duration of their yachting trip, each of the six men can be judged and scored on any behavior they engage in (including their posture, their diction, and— of course—the size of their penis. Sample dialogue: “Your syntax is shit and your dick is very, very small”).

2. Each of the men is to keep his own scorecard in a personal notebook, awarding points and marking demerits however he sees fit.

3. Whoever finishes the venture with the most combined points will receive the Doctor’s chevalier ring to commemorate the victory—having once been used to signify a high level of chivalry, the object will now be granted to the least pathetic of six uniformly insecure men.

This is a high concept, but the movie is kept muted to a low rumble. Tsangari is more of an absurdist than she is a satirist, so the jokes come from off-rhythm moments as opposed to punchlines. One man is spied making out with his wife via webcam. Another player compulsively collects pebbles, hoping to find some that take the shape of a sphere. In other words, he’s looking for perfect balls.

There’s a justified overuse of phallic imagery. One contest sees the men rushing to assemble upright IKEA shelves— seeing who among them can “get it up” the fastest. As soon as that contest is over, the film cuts to a bunch of

eggplants. Everything’s about chopping those eggplants up. The funniest such incident is probably the recurring shots of all these big men writing down scores with their little pencils. They look like big league baseball scouts outfitted with Little League equipment.

As is so often the case with overcompensating men, we grant them our interest out of a perversely fascinated pity. Tsangari, who also co-wrote the script (with Efthimis Filippou), is even less impressed. The film often constructs scenes that ask why we lavish our attention on the puffed-chest crowd. The ship’s low-class crew takes an immediate interest in making predictions about the game’s outcome, which immediately connects Chevalier to sports, politics, and most other fields where men are paid way too much and talked about way too often.

The six characters themselves immediately set to work forming alliances and asking one another to consider their respective faults as secrets—which are, of course, base elements of contemporary masculine psychology.

This is a “guy gang” comedy movie without the patience or the pity. It’s Everybody Wants Some!! without the exclamation points.

Everybody Wants Some!! director Richard Linklater has actually directed Tsangari on more than one occasion— she appears for a moment in Slacker and for a sequence in Before Midnight—and is a noted supporter of her work.

(In addition to directing, Tsangari has spent decades around the American independent film scene, including years spent teaching and programming in Austin.) He’s on record saying her work has a “’70s European rigor” to it and that “she’s trying to provoke as well as entertain.”

That’s a quality seen in her Harvard Film Archive programming, where films included Salo (another guygang movie!), Even Dwarfs Started Small (which seems a particularly notable influence on this work, but I’ll refrain from indulging that digression), and Blue Collar (which is also about men who transition from friendship to competition to fury—and while it may not literally be European, it’s about as close as American movies get).

In the case of Chevalier, her rigor is not incidental. Her men are defined by their inadequacies—by their shitty marriages, their rude demeanors, their bad spearfishing, or their tiny dicks. They’re the comic relief, so her aesthetic sense is the straight man.

One of the men suggests that the group become blood brothers (the cutting of the palms, more ceremonial maleness), but only one of his comrades agrees to join.

And that one comrade, being embarrassingly squeamish, would rather cut his backside than cut the front of his palm. So the pair are left to cement their brotherhood by having one lodge his hand on the other one’s ass. This is a gag that wouldn’t be out of place in a Step Brothers sequel.

You can just see John C. Reilly on his hands and knees.

Tsangari’s rigor makes for smart cinema, but it also makes uneven comedy. Earlier on, one of these two characters lipsynced to Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You”—it’s Chevalier’s other blatant moment of ostensibly lowbrow physical humor, and you wish leaving there was more—but it may as well have been “Boats ’N Hoes.” Those two sequences hint at an entirely different Chevalier than the one we’ve seen. Tsangari is sure to find continued success wherever she works. But I’d be curious to see what what would happen if she ditched all the respectability. Maybe she’ll direct a stoner comedy next.

>> CHEVALIER. NOT RATED. NOW PLAYING AT KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA.

FILM EVENTS FRI 6.3

FRI 6.3

SAT 6.4

SUN 6.5

MON 6.6

[Harvard Film Archive.

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

35mm. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

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

[Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 11:30pm/R/$911. 35mm. brattlefilm.org]

[Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

2pm/NR/$12-15. 35mm.

Presented with live musical accompaniment. somervilletheatre.com]

[Coolidge Corner Theatre.

290 Harvard St., Brookline.

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

THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE BEGINS A ROBERT ALDRICH RETROSPECTIVE KISS ME DEADLY

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COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT BEGINS A MONTH OF MARTIAL ARTS MOVIES BASTARD SWORDSMAN

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REEL WEIRD BRATTLE PRESENTS A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

GRETA GARBO IN CLARENCE BROWN’S FLESH AND THE DEVIL

BIG SCREEN CLASSICS PRESENTS THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

THU 6.9

‘PRIME NOIR OF THE 1950s’ STARTS AT THE BRATTLE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

[Brattle Theatre.

40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 8:30pm/ NR/$9-11. 35mm. Also plays 6.12 @ 1pm. brattlefilm.org]

261 MAIN ST., WORCESTER, MA

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ARTS

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

Navigating the complexities of Carousel at Reagle Music Theatre

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

Beginning June 9, Reagle Music Theatre will be presenting Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, a lush, heartbreaking classic that is said to have been the closest show to the composers’ own hearts. With a cast of 49 and an orchestra of 19, Carousel is no small undertaking.

But it isn’t the sheer size of Carousel that accounts for its difficulty. At the center of the show is a complex relationship between Julie Jordan, a rather naive millworker, and Billy Bigelow, a charismatic carousel barker. They fall for each other quickly, get married, and have a daughter. Concerned about his ability to provide for his then-unborn child, Billy agrees to take part in a robbery. Things go awry, and rather than get caught by the police, Billy takes his own life. Prior to Billy’s death, their relationship wasn’t exactly storybook, though: Billy hits Julie, and it can be a challenge for modern audiences to feel sympathy for Billy and not write Julie off as a pushover for not leaving him.

Director and choreographer Rachel Bertone discusses the complexities of Billy and Julie with uncanny precision and texture. I could have listened to her talk about Carousel all day long. “Julie, like Billy, also has her own flaws and is damaged,” Bertone said. “She’s a damaged woman and probably has a difficult past. She does the same thing every single day at the mill. Although women were gaining independence by working at the mills, it was still a very dreary life. But Julie is strong-willed, she sees something better for herself and she’s determined to have that. With Billy, I think she sees an escape from the world that she’s living in and would rather have a little bit—dare I say—drama in her life than nothing.

She simply sees through Billy’s flaws and sees a mirror. I think they kind of reflect one another. She sees in Billy what Billy sees in her and wants to give him a chance. A lot of this is about giving Billy second chances.”

For Jennifer Ellis, who will be starring as Julie, this presents a challenge to her as an actress. “Some actors I’ve talked to have been like, ‘Oh, it’s a great role but she’s such a pushover,’ Ellis said. “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t call her weak. I think she’s resilient. People say that she’s so stupid and naive. She’s not that naive. She works, she has a job, she lives on her own and that – for the time period – is pretty independent to begin with. She knows what she wants. That’s what I want to try to balance: to make her more than just a two-dimensional pushover.”

The darkness of Carousel isn’t something that Bertone is shying away from.

“Stephen Sondheim said it best,” Bertone said. “Oklahoma! is about a picnic and Carousel is about life and death.” For Bertone, the juxtaposition of the show’s darkness with its gorgeous score can be a challenge to realize. “There are sexy moments in this show and gritty, dark, edgy moments. [The biggest challenge is] showing those colors throughout and not getting overwhelmed by the lush score.

You can’t fall into how beautiful the show is. When people do that, they just don’t understand what the crux of this story is about.” >> CAROUSEL. 6.9 – 6.19. 617 LEXINGTON ST., WALTHAM. REAGLEMUSICTHEATRE.COM 20

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

SAVAGE LOVE

THE TRUTH

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET If I first met someone on a hookup site or at a sex party and then we start seeing each other, what’s the best way to explain how we met when we’re at a social event and people ask?

Torrid Revelations Undermining Totally Honesty The truth is always nice—and in your case, TRUTH, telling the truth about your relationship could be constructive.

There are a lot of people out there in loving committed relationships (LCR) that had crazy sleazy starts (CSS). But very few people in a LCR with a CSS tell the truth when asked how they met. A couple who met at a sex party will say they met at a dinner party, a couple that met inside a cage in a sex dungeon will say they met doing a team-building exercise at a work retreat, a couple that met during an impulsive, drunken threesome will say they met at a riotous protest outside a Trump rally.

These lies are understandable: People don’t want to be judged or shamed. But when a CSS couple lies about how they met, TRUTH, they reinforce the very shame and stigma that made them feel like they had to lie in the first place. And they play into the sex-negative, self-defeating, and super-hypocritical assumption made by singles who attend sex parties, spend time in cages, and have impulsive threesomes—these single people who do sleazy things often refuse to date the people they meet at sex parties, etc., because they believe no LCR ever had a CSS. If couples that had sleazy starts told the truth about themselves, single people would be less likely to rule out dating people they met sleazily.

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

savagelovecast.com On the Lovecast, Emily Bazelon and Mistress Matisse on decriminalizing prostitution: savagelovecast.com.

THE STRANGERER

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

22

6.2.16 - 6.9.16

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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

THE

JAYHAWKS

W / L AN Y

W/ FOLK UKE MONDAY, JUNE 13

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

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

W / GR E AT CAE S AR

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

THURSDAY, JUNE 23

WED. AUGUST 3

N

A V A I L A B L E

S

J U N E

THURSDAY, JULY 7

Y

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6

Damien Jurado & The Heavy Light

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9

W/ C U LT U RE ABUS E , WRO NG, GO LD MUS E

W/ BEN ABRAHAM

sinclaircambridge.com

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 3

A T :

LUNA O

U

N

G

G

O

D

R

E

C

O

R

D

S

MONDAY, JUNE 6

PITY SEX

BEAR STRO NAUT

W/ PWR BTTM, PETAL

W/ PARAN OYDS

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

THURSDAY, JUNE 9

W/ DIRTY BANGS, SUPERHUMAN HAPPINESS, PARTY BOIS

“TELECOAST” ALBUM RELEASE

FRIDAY, JUNE 10

MICHAEL CHRISTMAS / TUNJI IGE

SUNDAY, JUNE 12 SATURDAY, JUNE 11

RO BE RT EL L I S

FRI. SEPTEMBER 30

IN ASSOCIATION WITH WORLD MUSIC/CRASH ARTS

THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 5

DIIV

W/ GIORGIO MURDERER

W/ TOBI LOU

MONDAY, JUNE 13

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

W/ TEEN

W/ TOM BROS SE AU

SATURDAY, JUNE 18 THURSDAY, JUNE 23

M A N

W / 68 IL L US T RAT IONS

W/ DOROTHY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2

52 Church St. Cambridge, MA

A

G L O W I N G

A P P E A R I N G

TROY

SUNDAY, JULY 31

T H E

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

OF

BOOK OF SHADOWS II

W

A L B U M

W/ OKKYUNG LEE

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

FA L L

W/ TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN, JARED JAMES NICHOLS

SUNDAY, JUNE 19

quilt / widowspeak

MONDAY, JUNE 20

TUESDAY, JUNE 21

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

W/ K L AUS JO H A N N GRO BE

W/ DOUG TUTTLE

W/ BIRDCLOUD

FRIDAY, JUNE 24

W/ THE DAZIES, BLINDERS THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 3

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA

HOLLY MIRANDA

greatscottboston.com

W/ HAYLEY THOMPSON-KING, GARRETT LEWIS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 W/ THE HUNTRESS AND HOLDER OF HANDS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

W/ CHEERLEADER, SARA KENDALL

W/ RADCLYFFE HALL, USLIGHTS

MONDAY, JUNE 6

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 5

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

‘s S GA E TH

N E W

THE

Zakk Wylde

FRIDAYS AT 7PM!

S

THE SUITCASE JUNKET

W/ MAINLAND

EP R ELEASE W/ TWI ST ED PIN E FRIDAY, JUNE 10

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

E SCO N D I D O

ANTHONY D’AMATO

B EAT C O N N ECTION W/ KODAK TO GRA PH

BRENDAN JAMES

TUESDAY, JUNE 14

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

FRIDAY, AUGUST 19

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8

W/ A M ONG SAVAG E S

≠ 6/2 FUNERAL ADVANTAGE ≠ 6/4 WHEN PARTICLES COLLIDE ≠ 6/13 CASKET GIRLS ≠ 6/14 ESCONDIDO ≠ 6/16 GHOSTS OF JUPITER ≠ 6/17 TWIN LIMB ≠ 6/18 BLACK HELICOPTER ≠ 6/19 KEVIN MORBY ≠ 6/20 THE MYSTERY LIGHTS ≠ 6/21 UNITED NATIONS

OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN:

W/ FULL OF HELL LIVE

W/ COMPUTER MAGIC

THURS. JUNE 2 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

T H E OK AY W I N

TUES. JUNE 7 MIDDLE EAST UP

GOD’S HATE ETERNAL SLEEP

TUE. 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

CARL BROEMEL

ON SALE NOW!

OF MY MORNING JACKET MONDAY, JUNE 27 CAFE 939

MON. JULY 25 MIDDLE EAST DOWN

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