DigBoston 11.23.17

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‘FREE SPEECH’ NIXED ONUNNAMING COMMON THE TROLLS

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NOV 23, 2017 - NOV 30, 2017 BUSINESS PUBLISHER Marc Sneider ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Chris Faraone John Loftus Jason Pramas SALES MANAGER Marc Sneider FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION sales@digboston.com BUSINESS MANAGER John Loftus

EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Faraone EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jason Pramas MANAGING EDITOR Mitchell Dewar ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran ASSOCIATE FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR Christopher Ehlers STAFF WRITER Haley Hamilton CONTRIBUTORS G. Valentino Ball, Sarah Betancourt, Tim Bugbee, Patrick Cochran, Mike Crawford, Kori Feener, George Hassett, Zack Huffman, Marc Hurwitz, Marcus Johnson-Smith, Micaela Kimball, Derek Kouyoumjian, Dan McCarthy, Adam Sennott, Maya Shaffer, Citizen Strain, M.J. Tidwell, Tre Timbers, Baynard Woods INTERNS Kuresse Bolds, Olivia Falcigno

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ON THE COVER THANKS TO THE TALENTED KORI FEENER FOR THIS WEEK’S COVER SHOT. CHECK OUT HER AND SARAH BETANCOURT’S COVERAGE OF LAST WEEKEND’S SOCALLED ‘FREE SPEECH’ RALLY IN THE NEWS SECTION.

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ROYALE

Dear Reader, Over the past several months especially, I have used this column space to open up to readers about everything from this newspaper’s struggles to how, after more than a year in the woods with an uncertain future, in 2017 we inally secured the team and funding necessary to steer Dig Media Group into uncharted territories. Having to spend most of my time on editing and management duties these days—doing payroll, writing grant proposals, other utter nightmares of that lumbering variety—my weekly note is one of the few chances I get to share my own thoughts and ideas at lengths longer than I indulge in my social media rants.

On that note, I’m using these inches on the eve of Small Business Saturday to ask for your money. Plus your contacts and connections. It’s never easy to do, and I frankly wish that I could just talk about things like music and police militarization, but something has to pay for that, so please bear with me…

As you must have realized, the Dig, like most other free papers and mags around the country, relies heavily on advertising to pay for the journalism we do on everything from the arts to City Hall. There are costs you’d never realize from the outside, including but not limited to distribution, and the burden is obviously greater since we don’t charge for the tens of thousands of issues we drop around town, or for our online content either, for that matter. Sorry to lecture, but I inally decided to issue this general request that you, the readers we do this for, start thinking about the Dig in ways that you may not have already considered.

Last month, a friend whom I have known for years mentioned that he controlled the advertising budget at the local cultural institution he works at.

Since I’m in the media, he asked where might some good places be to advertise an upcoming event that they were having. “Uh, you’re kidding, right?” I said.

“I’m obviously going to say DigBoston, since we are squarely in your demographic.” To which he replied, “Oh, man, I never really thought of you guys like that. But yeah, I should totally spend some of the advertising bundle with you.”

I have had other experiences that were similar, and whenever we then end up securing a paid contract that beneits the Dig, I regret not having proposed that we do some business sooner. It’s kind of like if you had wanted to hook up with your roommate for months, and then suddenly one day they turn to you and say, “I am a total nymphomaniac, but I wish that I could get laid in my own apartment so I didn’t have to travel across town three times a day.”

And so with Small Business Saturday this week, I don’t just want to remind readers to empty out their pockets at local establishments, but to especially support those that support community and independent media. Better yet, please tell your friends who hold the reins on advertising budgets and who have and work at businesses themselves to contact us at sales@digboston.com. I wouldn’t bring it up if all the journalism that we do didn’t depend on it.

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NEWS+OPINION

NEWS

‘I CAN’T HANG THEM WITHOUT THEIR WORDS’ BPD arbitrarily blocks press access throughout controversial demonstration

BY SARAH BETANCOURT @SWEETADELINEVT PHOTOS BY KORI FEENER The scene on Boston Common this past Saturday hardly resembled the mass demonstrations that roiled the Hub in August. This time, tens of thousands of people didn’t come out from across New England to protest against ultra right-wing groups. Instead, only a few hundred folks came to condemn the hate speech that those who spoke on the bandstand defend vigorously.

At the same time, there were some familiar occurrences. Namely, the Boston Police Department came to the defense of the so-called free speech defenders, stepping on freedom of the press in the process.

By 11 am, there was already a small crowd of counterprotesters by barricades preventing them from entering the rally area by Parkman Bandstand. Some gave interviews to journalists; others spoke with the police at the gate, making attempts to enter; a few waved antifascist lags.

Nearby, members of the media were clustered by a checkpoint that an oficer—at yet another checkpoint— directed us to. One reporter told DigBoston, “We were told we’d be allowed in. [We’ve] been unable to speak with anyone. I can’t tell how genuine they [the organizers] are.

I can’t hang them without their words … can’t form an opinion without their statements.” A mainstream radio 4

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reporter chimed in, “We’re in the same boat, just waiting here.”

Prior to the rally, the New England chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists—along with the New England First Amendment Coalition, the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union—put Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner William Evans on notice. Referring to the event last summer, the aforementioned groups wrote: “Journalists could not hear what participants said, record or photograph the proceedings near the Bandstand, or interview participants, including about the reasons for their involvement and views.” For Saturday, they requested “that signiicant changes be made to comply with the First Amendment, while ensuring public safety, with regard to the ‘Rally for the Republic’ planned for November 18.”

You would have thought that such a letter and amicus brief would have at least resulted in a speciied media entrance. That didn’t happen. Instead, journalists were bounced from checkpoint to checkpoint, spending signiicant time requesting access into gates so that they could conduct interviews with speakers and rallygoers.

Even when approached politely to ask for direction, most

oficers were rude, unknowledgeable, and misguided.

A WBUR reporter tried to get into the barricades at around 12:11 and tweeted out, “This is as close as @ bostonpolice is allowing @WBUR to the ‘Anti-Marxist’ rally speakers on Boston Common for now.” The station retweeted.

The reporter told DigBoston, “I tried to get across the barricades to the bandstand but was told by BPD oficers that they were awaiting instructions before letting anyone through. Police oficers then told press that people would be allowed through another entrance irst. After a while, a police oficer said he had no instructions to let anyone through.” A member of the ACLU then informed him that press could enter at another checkpoint, and he was eventually admitted.

Journalists from television stations said they were able to get in only after the program began at noon. Some reporters—including those from DigBoston, WBZ, BU News Service, and several freelance photographers—waited around for up to two hours before that. A newspaper journalist said, “I just came in with the crowd, right around noon. It was weird because I got here really early, I was stuck out there forever … They kept us out for—I don’t know why.”

There was apparently a discrepancy between how some legacy news organizations were treated, being given easier access, and how smaller, independent publications were handled. One Boston 25 reporter walked right through the barricades after the speakers began talking.

“It was super easy,” they told Dig “They actually didn’t even wand us because we are with Boston 25.”

Other reporters, including yours truly, were wanded for security purposes. One friendly oficer was hungry and seemed interested in the stale bread in my purse.

Lisa Button is a reporter with the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, and wanted to be situated behind the barricades before the event.

“I just feel like right now, similar to what happened in August, we’re being prevented from conducting interviews before the event,” Button said. “I was hoping to come here and interview those attending the rally, but it is the same as before, no one is getting close to where the planned activity is … I feel like something should be done.”

She was allowed in more than one hour later.

This is how things went down despite an email written by a BPD legal advisor to the ACLU prior to Saturday:

to thank for that. Their constant poise and professionalism never goes unnoticed and I thank them again for a job well done.’

As for complaints relative to media access allowed during today’s event, your complaint is the irst and only one we’ve received. In fact, media members we’ve spoken to had no issues with access provided today.

DigBoston responded with screenshots of complaints lodged on social media. To which the BPD spokesperson responded: Good to know, Sarah. Thank you. As for complaints relative to media access allowed during today’s event, again, your complaint remains the irst and only one we’ve received unless Fred Thys wants to contact our ofice directly. And, not to be repetitive, but the media members we’ve spoken to had no issues relative to access provided during today’s event.

Even if the tweet referenced above mentioned the Boston Police Department, apparently, it was not considered an oficial complaint. That begs the question:

How much in addition to an amicus memorandum and letter from preeminent civil rights and journalism organizations will it take for the City of Boston and its police department to recognize the necessities of unfettered access and the harm that is being caused by hampering press freedoms? Do they expect every reporter or freelance journalist to feel comfortable enough to lodge a complaint by phone without the concern that this will hamper future interactions with the BPD? Do they understand that some reporters need the permission of an editor to make that phone call? Most bite the bullet and tweet or post on Facebook about it, and considering the level of social media surveillance done by the BPD, perhaps this should shout “red lag, ix it.”

Despite BPD claims, and assurances from public oficials that media without proper credentials would have access to the bandstand, several independent photographers and documentarians were blocked.

DigBoston spoke with Isaac Wright-Lichter and Chris Tribou, two documentarians who occasionally work in public access television, and Wright-Lichter said, “We wanted to get closer to the speakers so we could include better footage … We asked one set of police oficers.

They said we could go around. We thought we had misunderstood, and were confused. We asked another group [of oficers] what the best entrance to get in was, and they said we just ‘couldn’t go in.’”

Following the speeches on the bandstand, police led demonstrators through a safe exit for their march to the State House. Oficers rode bikes on both sides of the moving rally, while other cops lanked in front and behind the contingent. By Park and Beacon streets, police vehicles and lines of oficers blockaded both lanes, with counterprotesters kept at a distance, save for a couple of people who engaged in heated face-to-face debates on race.

Despite the respect and protection they got from police, organizers of the “free speech” fandango also disapproved of the way BPD handled media.

“The conditions they applied in August were not acceptable,” one rally organizer told DigBoston. “We wanted to hold a public rally.” As for Saturday’s event, they continued, “We know that the well-known media organizations were let in, so that is a big improvement; what is not an improvement and needs to be corrected is we invited other media to come with us, and we told the police that they were supposed to come in, and that media was prevented from coming in or had their equipment taken away.”

As to the City’s position on media access on Saturday, it is the City’s position that members of the media will not be restricted from entering any areas accessible to event participants.

Additionally, members of the media will not be restricted on what equipment they can bring to the event. Of course should public safety concerns arise, there may be restrictions put in place, but at this time there are no such restrictions anticipated.

Asked about this statement, as well as protester arrests and media access at the event, BPD spokesperson Oficer James Kenneally conirmed “that there were 3 arrests made during today’s event on Boston Common (2 for Disorderly Conduct and 1 for Assault & Battery on a Police Oficer)” but offered little more. Kenneally wrote in an email to DigBoston: [T]here’s not much more info available at this time. That said, Commissioner Evans is on record saying the following: ‘From a public safety perspective, today’s event on Boston Common couldn’t have gone much better and I certainly have my oficers NEWS TO US

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EDITORIAL

ANNOUNCING THE DIGBOSTON ‘UNNAMING’ POLICY Doing our part to shut down the ultra right

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS

As journalists, my DigBoston colleagues and I have a responsibility to do our best to cover news of the day fairly and accurately. And that’s based on our abiding belief in practising ethical journalism. Even though we’re street reporters for an alternative urban news weekly—a bit rough around the edges… and known for wearing our emotions on our collective sleeve from time to time in our pursuit of aflicting the comfortable and comforting the aflicted.

In 2002, Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute—an inluential Florida journalism school—condensed journalistic ethics down to three principles that we strongly agree with: 1) Seek truth and report it as fully as possible.

2) Act independently.

3) Minimize harm.

It’s that third admonition that comes into play when we consider how to approach covering events run by ultra-right wingers. Like last weekend’s rally at Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common.

Which is why this publication has decided to “unname” ultra right-wing individuals and organizations in our pages going forward.

The rally itself and the couple of similar small Boston rallies that preceded it are almost comic in their insigniicance, but the ideas they represent are not. When put into practice, they do a great deal of harm. By helping spread them, then, we would too—violating our ethical mandate to minimize harm in the process.

Nor can we go along with many other media outlets in pretending that rally organizers aren’t simply giving one version of their politics in the light of day, and another version in the relative privacy of their normal online forums.

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Those ideas are many, varied, and extremely confused as it turns out. The expressed beliefs of people organizing recent hard-right events have been an ill-conceived mishmash of right-wing libertarian, right-wing nationalist, right-wing populist, and right-wing Christian evangelical thinking plus an assortment of random conspiracy theories.

To our point, however, DigBoston cannot ignore the fact that these organizers work with latter-day nazis, fascists, and white supremacists. Neither can we turn a blind eye to the toxic thread of misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ, and antiimmigrant views present in their circles.

Nor can we go along with many other media outlets in pretending that rally organizers aren’t simply giving one version of their politics in the light of day, and another version in the relative privacy of their normal online forums.

As Ryan Lenz of the Southern Poverty Law Center said to the New Republic earlier this year, “The right says the left is violent and they need to be prepared for it, but when they turn their head they’re wishing for nothing but violence, death, and destruction, on anyone and anything that’s not white.”

It’s clear to us that the most reprehensible supporters of such rallies, from Boston to grim Charlottesville to San Francisco, do not believe in democracy and are interested in bathing the world in the blood of their perceived enemies.

Who include all people of African descent, all Latinos, all Native Americans, all Asians, all Arabs, all Muslims, and all Jews.

Yes, we’re back to that insanity.

They also lump in all their political enemies for conversion or extirpation depending on their individual ethnic, religious, or racial backgrounds: Democrats (who they consider to be socialists, communists, or whatever), socialists, communists, anarchists, Greens, and other parties and ideologies to the left of President Donald Trump. They further have a deep and abiding hatred for women and LGBTQ folks, and expect the former to submit to male domination—and the latter to at best run and hide, and at worst to go to the death camps they like to “joke” about in dank corners of the Internet.

They assign these people subhuman status and deem them unworthy of participation—or indeed existence—in the hateful society they want to create. They also ascribe magic powers to some groups like Jews. They believe said groups control the world with those imagined powers and must be destroyed because of them.

In addition, they believe that people of northern European descent—a group in which many of them claim or feign membership—have their own magic powers. And that they have been chosen by History or God or Wotan or Fate to rule the world and have a right to eliminate all opposition to that rule—which will make the planet “pure.”

For a long time since World War II, it’s been easy to dismiss such reactionaries as lunatics because the original nazis and fascists were crushed by force of arms at the cost of tens of millions of lives. And driven from public life the world over. But now they have returned in many countries including the US, their ideas being spread over the web along with a lot of much nicer ideas.

In working with today’s nazis, fascists, and white supremacists, we believe that the organizers of the recent ultra-right rallies are effectively joining forces with them and are therefore helping build their movements. As such, while we agree that all parties concerned have the right to free speech, we do not think that extends to the right to free publicity for any of them in our pages. Given the clear and present danger that genocidal malcontents in their ranks present.

Stopping ultra-right forces from becoming a real threat to humanity requires not playing their game. As journalists, the way we play their game is by drawing attention to their spokespeople and organizations, and helping them spread their toxic ideas to even more of the kind of confused, bitter, angry people they’re already recruiting on social media.

So, we’ll report on ultra-right events when we decide they’re newsworthy, but we refuse to give ultra-right leaders and organizations the publicity and media platform that they want most of all. Because more attention gets them more followers and thus more political power. And we think that other news media—network TV irst and foremost—are being extremely irresponsible and unethical by continuing to create a press feeding frenzy around every ultra-right action or pronouncement they hear about.

We’ll cover the activities of ultra-right individuals and organizations from time to time in carefully considered ways. We’ll even quote them—either anonymously or using pseudonyms we make up for each occasion. But we will not print their names in DigBoston, and we won’t link to their websites or social media presences either. Except when they commit crimes. Or in rare situations where we will do greater harm by not printing their names. That’s our unnaming policy. And we’re sticking to it. We will also apply it to other individuals and organizations that call for —or work with those who call for—crimes against humanity.

In the interest of minimizing harm in our reporting. And in the defense of democracy, social justice, and human rights—which is our core mission as a publication of record.

We invite fellow journalists and news outlets the world over to join us in adopting this policy.

The editors and staff of DigBoston encourage readers to share this editorial widely.

Jason Pramas is executive editor and associate publisher of DigBoston.

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DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

THE REAL RESISTANCE Finding the heroes in the global ight against fascism

BY BAYNARD WOODS @BAYNARDWOODS A couple weeks ago, when tens of thousands of Polish fascists marched in the streets, a smaller group of antifascists confronted them—many carrying images of slain Charlottesville anti-fascist Heather Heyer.

Heyer’s image also adorns walls in Exarcheia, the anarchist neighborhood in Athens, where 3,000 protesters took to the streets in September, marching to the U.S. Embassy to honor Heyer.

In the United States, we don’t know how to honor the martyrs of our political movements as well—we don’t have as much experience.

It’s also tricky. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told the Guardian’s Lois Beckett that she did not want a park in Charlottesville to be named after Heyer.

“Everyone who knows Heather knows that she hated statues of any kind,” she said.

“I think it’s a damn shame that a white girl had to die for people to have to pay attention,” Bro said of the spotlight her daughter’s death has cast on racism and the rise of fascism in America.

When the Greek protesters marched to the US embassy to honor Heyer, they were also commemorating the 2013 murder of anti-fascist rapper Killah P (whose real name was Pavlos Fyssas) by members of the fascist group the Golden Dawn, which is both a paramilitary-style criminal organization and a political party.

One of their black-shirt “security” groups came to Fyssas’ working-class neighborhood in Athens in order to “sow terror,” according to the group Jail Golden Dawn.

Fyssas stood up to them. He was surrounded by a number of black-shirted Golden Dawn operatives with sticks. He fought them in hopes that his friends could escape. Then Giorgos Roupakias, a member of the party, allegedly came up and stabbed him.

“The attacks were tactical, launched by two or three people at a time,” Panagiotis Fyssas, Pavlos’ father, said in 8

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the subsequent trial. “I don’t know how long this lasted.

Until the professional killer Roupakias showed up.”

Roupakias is among several Golden Dawn members on trial for the murder of Fyssas. The leaders claim that he was a rogue actor not really afiliated with the party. Some have even claimed he is a communist iniltrator—all of which should be familiar from our own fascists’ attempt to distance themselves from James Alex Fields, Heather Heyer’s killer.

Like American Nazis, the Golden Dawn fascists claim they are being prosecuted for their ideas—“free speech,” as Richard Spencer and his racist comrades have put it.

But in Greece, the group’s leader and some of its parliamentary members are also facing charges for belonging to a criminal organization involved with the murder. “They are being tried as a crime syndicate for: homicides, attempted homicides, serious intentional physical injuries, explosions, robberies, blackmail, possession of irearms and explosives, drug law offenses,” Golden Dawn Watch, an anti-fascist group monitoring the trial, wrote in a recent post.

When asked why his son was killed, Fyssas testiied: “Because this organization silences the voices that oppose it. His songs were anti-fascist and this annoyed them.”

Fyssas’ mother said that “he had ideas and principles.

He wrote what he believed in his songs. Before he died he had taken to helping the homeless. He helped, he was clean, a free spirit with principles; those were his only weapons.”

She was asked whether his music bothered anyone.

“Yes,” she testiied. “Their anti-fascist and anti-racist content did. His wanted to educate younger people.”

When the trial began more than two years ago, it was dubbed “the trial of the century.” Now people joke it may last that long. But Golden Dawn Watch argues that, though the trial is slow, the system is working. Golden Dawn has “ceased violent criminal activity [and] removed the terrorist

battalion from the street. The parliamentary mantle can no longer cover the odious face of the neo-Nazi organization.

The trial frightens the leadership of the [Golden Dawn] and exacerbates the contradictions within it.”

This is the same kind of slow work we see happening in the U.S. as anti-fascists and reporters work to expose the racist dealings of fascist groups. But it is has been a hard ight. In the US, as in Greece, a great many law enforcement oficers sympathize with the far right.

While more than 200 people are on trial for protesting Trump’s inauguration, there are no similar conspiracy charges against Vanguard America, the group to which Heyer’s killer belonged. Instead of prosecuting the white nationalist groups to which terrorists like Fields belong, Trump and the American far right are inspiring fascists around the world.

“Trump’s policies have given us a new wind of support,” Elias Panagiotaros, a Golden Dawn MP, told The Independent. “It’s validating and reinforcing our nationalistic and patriotic policies…We should reclaim our country and our interests and put them irst, just like Trump.”

The 60,000 fascists in Warsaw marched under a banner that read “We Want God,” a phrase from a Polish patriotic song that Trump recently quoted. Other signs called for a “white Europe” and an “Islamic holocaust.”

Fascists see this as a global struggle, as they did before World War II. In honoring Heyer, European anti-fascists are helping us see the same thing. But while American liberals hate Trump, they have yet to become actively anti-fascist and often demonize the real resistance as extremist. They call themselves the “Resistance” but fail to acknowledge the examples of Fyssas, Heyer and the activists facing decades in jail for organizing against Trump. In order to become a real force, this so-called “Resistance” against Trump needs to recognize its heroes and to take its villains seriously.

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TALKING JOINTS MEMO

CANNABIZ CORNER A Happy Danksgiving with Mass Cannabis Chefs

BY ALEX BRANDON

We have been wanting to speak with Pat Mulcahy and Joe Nelson of Mass Cannabis Chefs for some time. Their elaborate nomadic edible smorgasboards are fast becoming legend in these parts, and if you haven’t checked one out yet, it’s recommended that you link up with them soon. Pat and Joe are trendsetters in New England, and will been seen as icons years from now when there’s a cannabis cafe on every other corner. With the tastiest holiday of all upon us, we asked about how they got started.

What inspired you to start your company?

Joe: For me it was a need to ind a living I could enjoy in what I knew, and what I knew well was food and cannabis. After Danksgiving this past year it was clear what we needed to do and we haven’t looked back.

Pat: My long time love for the cannabis plant and delicious food. Combining the two into a workable business model that can satisfy people on multiple levels.

What deines success at your company?

Joe: Success is twofold, immediate and long term. Short term is the look on our guests’ faces knowing they enjoyed the meal we prepared and hearing what was great for them. Long-term success will be when we no longer must work other jobs and can focus on cannabis cooking full time.

Pat: Short term, simply customer satisfaction. Seeing happy faces at the end of a dinner screams success to me. Long term, joint ventures with other large names in the cannabiz industry and operating on a multi-state level. I would like to see a nationwide platform with chefs in every state operating as a group holding dank dinners everywhere.

How do you give back to the community?

Joe: We do a monthly seat giveaway and we are planning a no-cost veterans event in the near future.

What was the biggest challenge you faced starting the business, and how did you move past it?

Joe: For us in the beginning it was getting people to come out and attend a ine dining dinner when they didn’t know who we were. So I guess the real challenge has been making a name for ourselves, something we are still pushing to do with every meal.

Pat: To ix this we started inviting people from the industry out on us. Even if you’re skeptical you can’t pass on a free meal. Then when that meal blows your mind you can’t help but tell your friends. It also allows our guests to meet people in the industry.

What skill, characteristic, trait do you ind most valuable to achieving success?

Pat: Determination. There are others with the same idea we have but we’re determined to do it bigger, better, and more consistently.

What do you ind is important in connecting with and inspiring others to follow your lead?

Joe: I ind that our passion for what we do shows in the food. People see that and want to be involved.

Pat: Sense of purpose. When you know exactly what and how you want something, it’s easier to convey that to others in a way they can follow.

Given the demands of starting a business, how do you still ind work-life balance?

Joe: It’s a constant struggle. Even when I’m in full home mode doing things nonwork related, if something pops up concerning dinners, it’s hard to not tend to it immediately. At dinner is my only reprieve, I try not to touch my phone when I am out at a restaurant.

Pat: This has been my hardest struggle personally. I still work a regular kitchen job 60-plus hours a week plus a home life. It’s not always easy, but the end goal for our business is worth it.

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

11

GUEST OP-ED

SAFE SPACE SOCIALISM Is identity politics running wild in Boston DSA?

BY GARY ZABEL

In 1979, I attended a meeting in Boston between the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM). Its purpose was to explore a possible merger between the two organizations.

DSOC, which came from a split in the old Socialist Party, was led by Michael Harrington, author of the book, The Other America, that inspired President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. NAM originated in the last days of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). With 100,000 members, SDS was the premier organization of the radical left in the 1960s. The merger went through in 1982, creating the new organization, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Common wisdom at the time was that NAM had lost its identity by merging with DSOC. That wasn’t the way I saw things when I joined DSA in 1983. The Boston Local certainly showed DSOC’s influence. It was embroiled in Democratic Party politics, and had a number of union officers and staff people among its members. But the local also carried the imprint of NAM in the form of a campus-based identity politics. College feminism was its main expression, since DSA has always had very few Black, Latino, or Asian members. What I mean by college feminism is simply a reference to the fact that campus politics of both the left and the right are generally more extreme and shrill than their outside-the-campus counterparts. One proponent of identity politics in the Boston Local, a university professor, argued that, while women, environmentalists, and people of color have a place in socialist politics, the blue collar working class no longer does.

National DSA had about 6,000 dues-paying members in those days, most of them paper members. Until recently, that was its high point as a percentage of the US population. I left DSA after only one year, frustrated by both the Boston Local’s tepid electoral orientation and its campus-based version of identity politics.

Over the past year, recruits have poured into the Boston Local, as well as the rest of DSA, as a result of the Sanders presidential campaign and the election of Trump as president. The national organization had around 8,000 members in early 2016. It now claims more than 30,000.

The Local cannot have had more than ten active members before the expansion. Now it probably has as many as 150, with the majority of its 900 dues-paying members inactive.

When I rejoined the organization in March of this year, I found that the overwhelming number of new members are recent college graduates. Of the young members whose jobs I know about, five or six are graduate teaching assistants, an equal number are programmers and others working in high tech, one is a lawyer, one an RN, and three are college educated union staffers. There are also two warehouse workers in the mix who are members of the Teamsters Union, but I have the distinct impression that they too have college degrees.

The problem with the passage of DSAers, not just through college, but often through Boston’s elite private universities (I’ve met three members who are Harvard grad students), is that it makes them overwhelmingly middle class. Boston DSA has very few, if any, blue collar workers or low-paid service workers. It is true that most of the former students work for a living, and many are burdened by student debt. But they are nevertheless “privileged,” to use a much overused word, in that they belong to the upper one-third of the workforce nationwide who have college degrees. In the long run, their life-chances are much better than the two-thirds who possess only high-school diplomas. On average, they will make one million dollars more over the course of

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their lives than people of their age who graduated only from high school.

Like contemporary campus activists, many members of Boston DSA practice a form of identity politics that assigns the status of victim or potential victim to women, LGBTQ people, and people of color. Safe spaces and trigger points are very familiar to them from their college experience.

Unfortunately, they also have the related tendency to repress freedom of expression, often, but not exclusively, in the name of protecting the “vulnerable.”

In my nine months as a member of the new Boston DSA, I was unable to discover the names of more than 5 of the 15 members on the group’s steering committee.

When I pointed out that this was a violation of basic democratic norms, several people told me that the names were missing from the Local’s website because of fear of “doxing,” i.e., online publication of personal data. When I replied that perhaps people who are afraid of making their names public should not be in the leadership of the Local, the response was outrage. Apparently my suggestion would make it impossible for the “vulnerable”—women, trans people, and people of color were mentioned—to hold leadership positions. Would there have been a civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s or a feminist movement in the 60s and 70s if their leaders had insisted that their names be kept secret? Secrecy may be justified for underground organizations, like resistance cells working against a foreign occupation, but DSA holds public events and endorses candidates for political office. One person eventually sent me a member’s handbook that includes the names of those elected to the steering committee. It was supposed to have been emailed to members in April, but I never received it. I am told that a volunteer is now working on placing the names of steering committee members in a members-only section of the website. But after eight months of their one-year terms, the names are still missing.

I used the expression, “safe space socialism” in an electronic discussion on Slack of the missing names. At that point, one of the four moderators called a two hour break. And I was soon warned by another that I had been “aggressive” and offended “women and people of color.”

Predictably, the moderator was a white guy. To be fair, however, he claimed that some people on the other side

of the electronic dispute had also been warned about being aggressive. I hadn’t noticed. No one used profanity or made accusations against me, and I maintained the same decorum. There seems to be a worry in Boston DSA that debate is always on the edge of becoming rancorous, so great pains are taken to insist that members be “comradely” to one another. Maybe it’s not the college campus that is the major influence here, but rather the Internet culture in which so many young people are steeped, where disagreements can degenerate into “flame wars,” already an outdated expression. The truth is I had no idea what “doxing” means until a younger friend enlightened me.

I now know that, of the 15 members of the Local’s steering committee, only two are not millennials. It’s not that older people are not welcome in Boston DSA, it’s that the culture of the group is now foreign to those of us who hail from an older generation of socialist activists. I’ve raised the issue with some of the leadership, but there doesn’t seem to be any interest in addressing the problem or recruiting people from their parent’s generation. One member accused me of not understanding what the working class is because I have not been in the job market for quite a while, in other words, of being old. But I have been a vice-president in a union that includes young members, and I’ve published articles on the fate of recent college graduates in the job market.

I certainly hope that the Boston Local eventually adopts a more defensible form of identity politics than one that sees oppressed people as victims unable to stand up for themselves publicly. I also hope that it begins to practice the vibrant and open debate that it preaches. Most of all, I hope that it focuses on making its own culture more palatable to working-class people as well as older activists.

There is too much good work being done by Boston DSAers, especially in the areas of labor, housing, and electoral politics, to risk sacrificing it all on the altar of an incoherent intolerance.

Gary Zabel is a senior lecturer in philosophy at UMass Boston, and longtime labor activist. He recently resigned from the Boston DSA chapter, but remains a member of national DSA.

TERMS OF SERVICE

A RECKONING FOR RESTAURANTS This is what happens when you mess with the Mass service industry

BY HALEY HAMILTON @SAUCYLIT

It’s been a rough few weeks, news-wise, for Boston’s restaurant industry.

First, on Nov 4 the Boston Globe published a page-one feature about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the industry (spoiler: It’s bad, really bad). Then, less than a week later, Tenzin Samdo, a prominent member of the local industry community and superstar behind the bar, was aggressively harassed by an entitled dickhead BU professor who went on to write an obscenely inappropriate Yelp review of Samdo’s workplace, Art Science Cafe.

Not all press is good press (just ask the econ prof, Dirk Hackbarth). So why would I, an active member of the industry, rehash these stories?

Because harassment—sexual and otherwise—is a problem in restaurants. Since humans with anatomically different genitals began to coexist in kitchens, behind bars, and on the floor, it’s been a prevalent and accepted part of the culture.

Don’t like dick jokes?

Kitchen work’s not for you.

Have a problem with the way your male colleagues talk about female guests?

Probably shouldn’t wait tables.

These have been the norms for far too long. And everyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows it. The Globe article highlighted nothing new, but it has sparked a much-needed conversation about the issue of workplace harassment at a local level.

On Tuesday, Nov 21, Josh Lewin and Katrina Jazayeri, owners of Juliet in Somerville who frequently host social justice and restaurant-related activist gatherings, are having a free public event to discuss sexual harassment in the industry. The invite asks: What have you seen? Heard? What to do when reporting seems impossible? What solutions can you propose to make our beloved industry safe and welcoming for everyone?

With a panel of industry leaders and lots of room for frank discussion and questions, this event is the first of its kind when it comes to dealing with sexual harassment, and it’s coming from the inside: no state agency, HR collective, or worker’s rights advocacy group guilted Lewin and Jazayeri into hosting this event. They’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.

When Tenzin (sorry, we worked together, referring to him by his last name is weird) posted about his experience on social media (because everyone needs to vent sometimes), the post had hundreds of comments within hours, all expressing outrage and solidarity. The nefarious Yelp review, which Tenzin included, was shared dozens of times.

Twelve hours later, Mass news outlets were out with the story about Hackbarth’s odious behavior, while BU condemned his words and actions.

And the Boston restaurant community made that happen.

You don’t fuck with family.

All this is to say that yes, the restaurant industry, like every other industry, has some skeletons in its closet. But unlike most other industries, we’re facing them head on. We are, collectively and collaboratively, working to make the places and spaces we work, the restaurants we pour hours of our lives, buckets of our sweat and, sometimes, gallons of our tears into, safer and better.

As we crash into the winter holidays, it can be hard—especially for people who work in restaurants, since someone has to work at your holiday parties—to take a moment to breathe and think and reflect on the year that’s coming to a close.

It hurt to read about the blunt realities of sexual harassment in restaurants and to know we have allowed it to become normalized. It was infuriating to read about a talented and respected member of my professional community being so disrespected.

But the prompt response from the local industry made me incredibly grateful to be a part of it and so, so thankful for family.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Dec. 14, 2017 • 4:30-7:30 PM Rejoice, Regale, Revel!

Enjoy refreshments, meet neighbors and colleagues and groove to live music. Let’s also celebrate the contributions of our dedicated team of volunteers at the irst annual Volunteer Appreciation event.

THIS EVENT IS FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

1175 Tremont Street, Roxbury 617-373-2555 • info@northeasterncrossing.org NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

13

EATS

SKAMPA, CAMBRIDGE Taste the North Shore a mile from Downtown

BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

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

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One of the nice parts about traveling to the North Shore is inding endless options for roast beef sandwiches, as this sprawling area north of Boston is a sort of bookend to the South Shore and its bar pizza. And while the South Shore has good places for roast beef and the North Shore has a few decent bar pizza spots, it’s common knowledge among locals that if you want roast beef you drive north of Boston and if you want bar pies you drive south of Boston. The problem is, if you don’t have a car (or you live in the city and aren’t all that motivated to drive 20 miles for a sandwich), you’re pretty much out of luck for some quality roast beef.

Or are you? It just so happens that an outstanding place for roast beef sandwiches can be found in East Cambridge, and while Skampa doesn’t exactly have the name recognition of Nick’s in Beverly, Harrison’s in North Andover, or the legendary Kelly’s at Revere Beach, it holds up pretty well against the best that the North Shore has to offer, and you can literally walk there from the heart of Boston if you don’t mind playing dodgeball with cars and trucks at some of the craziest intersections in the area.

Skampa’s name tends to cause some confusion, as the much more popular and similarly named Scampo resides nearby, just across the Charles River at the Liberty Hotel in Boston. And even though Lydia Shire’s upscale eatery and the ultracasual roast beef joint have absolutely nothing in common, the two names can be easily mixed up, with most people knowing about the former and not the latter. Skampa isn’t actually the most prominent dining spot around, as it sits on a stretch of Cambridge Street between Lechmere and Inman Square with endless independent restaurants, bars, and stores, with the only hint that this might not just be another sub shop being the old-school sign out front that displays a roast beef sandwich.

There isn’t much to say about the interior, with its hard chairs and tables, small counter area for ordering, dim track lighting, and hard tiled loor all seeming to indicate that this is not a destination spot for roast beef or anything else, instead being a place where you can simply get a quick, basic, cheap meal and little else.

While not exactly a one-trick pony, roast beef is certainly front and center at Skampa, with many customers coming here for that and that alone, and for good reason. The junior, large, and super beef sandwiches here rival the best that the North Shore has to offer, with the thinly sliced meat being slightly warm, the onion rolls being soft and fresh-tasting, and the BBQ sauce having a rich lavor but not so much as to overwhelm the other ingredients. Perhaps the ideal choice at Skampa is to get the super beef “three-way,” which is a familiar term north of Boston and means to include sauce, mayo, and cheese. Also, while it isn’t included on the menu, you can ask for a fried egg on top of the sandwich, just in case you didn’t think there were enough calories in only the meat, sauce, mayo, cheese, and bread (the egg can make the sandwich a thing of beauty or a horrifying mess, depending on your viewpoint). Sides that go well with the sandwiches include fries and onion rings, and you can also get rice pilaf with your roast beef if you’re so inclined, while non-roast beef options include everything from wings to burgers to pizza to calzones to pasta dishes to seafood plates and more.

There is nothing quite like a good roast beef sandwich from a roast beef and seafood joint on the North Shore, but if you can’t make it up there, Skampa in East Cambridge is deinitely a viable alternative. And for those who have cars but don’t want to head too far out of the city, parking can usually be found along this part of Cambridge Street since it is a good distance away from Inman Square and just far enough away from Lechmere to keep it from being overly busy. You may not be minutes away from quiet beaches, charming villages, or peaceful conservation lands, but Skampa should surely be able to help with any immediate roast beef cravings that you might have. >> SKAMPA. 424 CAMBRIDGE ST., CAMBRIDGE. SKAMPACAMBRIDGE.COM

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

MUSIC

THANKS FOR GIVING Our guide to Boston-based music charities, nonproits, and organizations that need your help

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN handful of goals for each department, it’s the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts—the largest Latino arts center in New England—that needs support so it can continue to host music events, dances, and visual arts events that celebrate the diversity of Latino culture.

TEEN EMPOWERMENT teenempowerment.org Ever since it was formed back in 1992 and opened a Somerville branch in 2004, this organization has worked to help low-income, urban youth solve the pressing issues in their lives by getting them involved in their community.

Donations will help it continue to host youth conferences that combine music, activism, and theater, as well as its studio program that releases albums of youth-produced music each year.

I can’t believe we’re going to say this, but please stop thinking about food. These days, Thanksgiving is cherished for its voluminous feast and extensive cooking hours, not to mention the Black Friday shopping that follows it. It seems family reunions and community gatherings fall to the wayside. But what comes in last place? The actual spirit of giving, something that’s often reserved for Christmastime despite the fact that Thanksgiving is a holiday for giving thanks—and the best way to thank someone for their time is to make sure they continue to have time to spend.

This holiday, we’re committed to supporting the music communities that foster Boston’s bright arts scene.

Teaching children how to play instruments, providing allages spaces for work to be displayed, and giving hands-on opportunities to those most often denied such are crucial ways to keeping the cyclical nature of our music scene thriving. So we gathered some of the overlooked greater Boston-based charities, nonproits, and organizations that strive to better our musical playground.

The following nine outlets are just a kicking-off point for our city’s music community, but they’re all the right note to start on to help give back this Thanksgiving season.

Open up your wallet, pull up your calendar, or pick up the phone to see how you can help them continue to help others.

REVOLUTION OF HOPE revolutionofhope.org Over in Roxbury, this organization has been helping transform individuals and the community through the high-quality music programs it offers. Thanks to ive teachers and 20 volunteer instructors who make it possible, 50 students get to join the Roxbury Youth Orchestra and

follow a ive-day-a-week program of intense music studies.

From chamber orchestra music to gospel choirs, the music they teach leads students toward a stronger path in life both in and outside of academia.

HYDE SQUARE TASK FORCE hydesquare.org Founded in the late 1980s, this youth and familyfocused organization offers a wide range of arts-leaning programs to build the development, reputation, and spirit of Jamaica Plain. Did we mention it recently challenged TD Garden? The sports arena failed to hold mandated charity fundraisers for recreational facilities for 22 years, and the organization’s teenagers marched to the State House to demand it follow through on its fund-raising obligation.

Show your solidarity with a donation that helps support their efforts.

ZUMIX zumix.org The East Boston-based nonproit we dearly love equips youth with the conidence to explore who they are and try new things through music, ranging from songwriting courses to production programs. It’s a creative community other cities should rightfully be inspired by. Your donation could sustain new programs like Play It Forward, which offers $60/hour adult music lessons that subsidize the cost for free or low-cost youth lessons.

INQUILINOS BORICUAS EN ACCIÓN ibaboston.org This nonproit organization began in the South End back when protesters organized in 1968 to stop displacement and control their community. While IBA has a

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART icaboston.org Apart from being one of the leading art museums in Boston, the ICA also hosts a variety of music production, poetry, and ilm programs. Its Teen Arts Education Hub is both a resource and a network for teens interested in the arts, proving that the music-leaning work they see inside the museum is work they can create themselves, too.

RAW ART WORKS rawartworks.org RAW is committed to showing kids that they matter, and not just by existing. From paint to ilm, the Lynn organization lets them discover how their ideas can bring music to life. Earlier this year, indie rock local Palehound turned to the organization to create a music video for “If You Met Her”—a clip that was entirely conceived of, designed, directed, and built by kids under 17 years old.

GIRLS ROCK CAMPAIGN BOSTON girlsrockboston.org One of the more well-known organizations on this list, the all-female, primarily volunteer-run outlet aims at empowering girls and women by using music education as a stepping stone in building self-esteem. Each year, it throws a local festival that showcases the talents of New England-based female artists, proving that anyone, no matter what age or gender, can create the next great album.

SHELTER MUSIC BOSTON sheltermusicboston.org Each month, this sustainable nonproit brings classical music to various homeless shelters around the city thanks to donations and the hard work of its staff. Ever since 2009, the Arlington-based organization has dedicated itself to providing homeless citizens with the self-relection, intellectual stimulation, community, and hope of music by letting professional classical musicians perform concerts in its space.

MUSIC EVENTS

16

FRI 11.24

SAT 11.25

SUN 11.26

TUE 11.28

TUE 11.28

WED 11.29

ONE NIGHT ONLY FOR DORCHESTER RAP COUSIN STIZZ + SWOOSH + BIG LEANO

THERE’S NO CRYING IN POST-MODERN BASEBALL SLAUGHTER BEACH, DOG + MORE

SYNTHPOP GROOVES FROM AUSTRALIA’S OUTBACK CUT COPY + PALMBOMEN II

DEATH METAL TO THRASH TO CANNIBAL CORPSE + POWER TRIP + GATECREEPER

DJ DANCING FROM AN LCD SOUNDSYSTEM SIDE PROJECT’ JUAN MACLEAN + MARCUS MARR

AMERICANA GOES ECLECTIC, YOU FEEL ELECTRIC THE BARR BROTHERS + SHANNON LAY

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

7pm/all ages/$20. houseofblues.com]

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston.

6:30pm/18+/$12. greatscottboston.com]

[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 7:30pm/18+/$25. royaleboston.com]

[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 7pm/18+/$25. royaleboston.com]

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

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

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

11.23.17 - 11.30.17 |

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MUSIC

WHEEL OF TUNES: MEWITHOUTYOU Spoken word post-hardcore act talks social binaries, Disney | RESTAURANT | INTIMATE CONCERT VENUE | | URBAN WINERY | PRIVATE EVENT SPACE |

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

upcoming shows

How itting that when we rang the year 2000 in, full of worry about technological advances and spiritual reckonings, mewithoutYou was born. The Philly post-hardcore act came onto the scene delivering spoken word opuses that reached deeper than music’s standard philosophical questions, setting a trend for poetic, gruff music that listeners could lean into when worried about their future—a future that still seems cloudy and brooding today.

Frontman Aaron Weiss, his brother guitarist Michael Weiss, drummer Rickie Mazzotta, and guitarist Ray Taddeo rolled out their debut album, 2002’s excellent [A->B] Life, to cultish fanfare. It was a cautionary example of what not to do in life, but now, Weiss looks at it a little differently. The new lineup of the band is bringing the album on tour, playing it in full. It’s a welcome set for fans who caught on to the band too late to see those songs in their heyday, but it’s also a relection for the band on how much they’ve grown. Now, mewithoutYou view themselves as entertainers rather than preachers, even if their songs ramble on with questions as their guiding light.

“There’s a lot of space and repetition and plagiarism on the album, and I only noticed how often the lyrics were lifted directly, like whole sections, when revisiting it,” says Aaron Weiss, laughing in disbelief. “In the early days, I thought plagiarism was completely all right and didn’t even cite my sources. Probably starting around the third album, I started to credit when I stole lyrics or phrasing. There’s times where I would repeat the same line over and over, because people are more inclined to shout along to those parts, and that’s what seems to connect with them the most till this day.”

It’s an inluential record for listeners and musicians alike that’s worth bringing to light once more. To dig deeper into mewithoutYou’s record before they headline the Sinclair, we interviewed Aaron Weiss for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask bands questions inspired by their song titles. As is to be expected, he gives thoughtful answers that go long, the type of critical, relective, hopeful pattern of thinking he can’t help but include in his music too.

11.25 MELISSA FERRICK

11.26 KINDRED THE FAMILY SOUL

11.27

1. “Bullet to Binary” What’s an overlooked part of our modern social binary that’s overdue for a rewrite?

The irst thing that comes to mind is a refrain that started with the very beginning of our lyrics, the you and I binary. That’s the most simple and common everyday thing, seeing yourself as a separate being from the other person: your spouse, partner, enemy, president, whoever. You see the self and the other as completely distinctive. It’s a concept that’s so pervasive but so unfounded that I think it’s worth re-examining and unpacking as much as possible. This probably comes from my spiritual upbringing about our oneness.

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

11.28 - 29 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

11.30 JOHNNY A.

ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS

12.1 SUSAN WERNER

12.2 DONNA THE BUFFALO

12.1

12.3

12.4

KRIS ALLEN CHRISTMAS TOUR 2017

CHRISTMAS WITH THE CELTS

12.7

12.10

2. “The Ghost” Have you ever seen a ghost?

I don’t believe in the word “ghosts” very much, but I do believe it can refer to different things, some of which I believe are real. The kind of ghosts that I have seen are the ones I believe in, but they aren’t the Disneyland haunted mansion transparent spectors. They’re traces of the past or the living remains of those who physically left us within our own consciousness.

3. “Nice and Blue” If you had to prove to someone that blue is a powerful color, what would you point them towards and how does it exemplify that?

LIVE MUSIC • LOCAVORE MENU PRIVATE EVENTS

JOE HENRY W/ROSE COUSINS CATIE CURTIS HOLIDAY SHOW 11/27

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(The Figgs)

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11/28

That’s a good question. Although, it’s dificult to put myself in that scenario because I can’t imagine proving myself to anyone. I’ve never thought about this before, like these terms. The answers that come to mind are the ocean, because that’s such a powerful blue, and then I thought of sadness, but that’s only because the word blue is a synonym. But the actual color blue? There’s so many shades, some I like more than others or that feel different ways. I don’t have an answer that comes right to my heart. I think if I was trying to show somebody what the color blue meant to me, I would probably stop myself and wonder why I was trying to show this person this thing anyway and why I felt like I had something to offer them. If they were curious, I would want to know where they’re coming from and what it’s like to not know, to be colorblind, or to be unsure of colors. It’s hard to imagine not seeing that color. I have to think about that. I might give them a backrub. A shoulder massage would explain what the color feels like, one of those open-hand soft chopping or thudding.

susana balbo argentinian wine dinner

Heavy Metal Tuesday Metal mania

12.19

11/29

city winery and american airlines present

Unotheactivist, Warhol.ss, Thouxandbandfauni

sake wine dinner 1.16

New, up and coming rappers

Ridge wine dinner

11/30

Rory Scovel Kooky comedy

1.6 - | 101 | INTRO TO WINE 2.3 - | 102 | SPARKLING TO STILL TO SWEET 3.3 - | 103 | WINE AND FOOD PAIRINGS

12/01

The Dream Syndicate, Richard Lloyd Band Legendary alternative rock

GET THE REST OF NINA’S LIST AT DIGBOSTON.COM >> MEWITHOUTYOU, PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH, SLOW MASS. SAT 11.25. THE SINCLAIR, 52 CHURCH ST., CAMBRIDGE. 6:30PM/18+/$25.

SINCLAIRCAMBRIDGE.COM

156 Highland Ave • Somerville, MA

email eventsboston@citywinery.com for more info

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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DEPT OF COMMERCE

CHEAP THRILLS, DEDHAM

Small biz Saturday is another excuse to explore this hidden vinyl mine

BY C. SHARDAE JOBSON Located in the outskirts of Dedham—an Arcadian river, pizza shop, and 7-Eleven are its neighbors—Rob Walsh’s record store, Cheap Thrills Music, is home to a massive collection of tunes that includes everything from 1970s rock and soul, to iconic movie soundtracks of the 1980s, to ’50s and ’60s lounge and garage jam. Their specialty: used analog vinyl.

In racks, bins, and crates and on tall shelves, customers are greeted with the exciting near-certainty that they’ll ind some gems to ogle over and bring back home for their own players since there’s so much—affordable!—vinyl to choose from. Due to an overlow of inventory, the bins, in particular, seem disorganized. But give Walsh a speciic artist or title, and as swift as a guitar lick, he knows where to start looking.

Habitually inspired by in-store conversations with his customers about all things music and the changing times—he’s a natural storyteller, with incredible insight on music history—it’s common to see Walsh queuing up a record by the window, or feverishly searching for a Motown or rock track to play on YouTube. Prior to Cheap Thrills, he worked at local Boston radio station WZLX and In Your Ear Records, played in a band in his twenties, and later was anointed manager of Tower Records when the Boston lagship still stood on Newbury Street. We asked Walsh why vinyl still matters, and what classic albums have yet to lose their cool.

Cheap Thrills has a low digital proile. Why is that?

It’s kind of a unique situation. I’m not trying to get more business. It’s all word of mouth. I don’t put it on Facebook or anything like that because I also have a threeway thing going on here. I give guitar lessons, I do online sales, and manage this store. So with those three things, I’m kept pretty busy.

During one of my earlier visits, you mentioned you were a manager at Tower Records…

I was the rock buyer and also bought soundtracks, country, soul, and oldies. Over the course of being there for 15 years, I was the weekend manager the irst year, became the rock department head, then the manager. I wore a lot of different hats and I was at Tower from 1987 ‘til when we closed in 2002.

I remember the store and loved it so much! Could you share some tidbits about working at Tower back in the 1990s?

It was a lot of fun working there. We had a great time.

A lot of in-store appearances, a lot of artists played there.

We had in-stores with people from Cher, to Duran Duran, The Clash, Marilyn Manson. The main thing that’s changed [about record shopping]—which everybody knows—is the internet. It’s changed the way we buy and do business. It’s an entirely different model from 20 years ago.

How and where do you get your records from? The store is stocked and I have found almost every album I’ve wanted in mint condition and analog format here.

I’ve got a huge backlog of music. I’ve been in the music business for over 30 years, maybe closer to 35 years, so I’ve

secured a lot of stuff. I got a huge inventory. Other stores even come to me and buy stuff, and so some wholesaling. A lot of it has just accumulated from such a long time.

It’s really impressive. There are records everywhere.

This guy came in two Saturdays ago with a long list.

I virtually had everything! He was amazed. He couldn’t believe it. He wanted music from bands most people aren’t aware of. He was asking for the Lounge Lizards, they’re kind of like a jazz-pop band and I had one on vinyl. He said he had never seen one on vinyl before.

What are some of the oddest requests you’ve received from customers?

I’m not sure what I would consider odd because I don’t think of too many things as odd being that I listen to a lot of different stuff. When people come in, you never know what they’re going to want. There’s a guy that came in recently and bought a lot of Tom Jones, which was really strange. The other records I can think of are like psychedelic/garage bands.

Which albums are hard to keep in stock?

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It’s a common one that people just love. Practically any Bowie album from Ziggy Stardust to Hunky Dory. James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James.

They’re not rare records. Fortunately, they made a lot of them but they’re still in demand. Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush. Harvest. It’s a lot of stuff like that. Common stock. They consistently sell all the time. AC/DC. Talking Heads. The Police.

Is there a common genre or artist and bands young people want on vinyl?

The bands and artists that always seem to appeal to people are the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath. Those bands are [still] gaining new fans. I went to an Iron Maiden concert the other night and there was an age range of probably eight to 80. It wasn’t just one demographic. There was a woman behind me who had to be 80. So those kind of bands [have remained relevant].

I also went and saw Queen last night at the [TD] Garden and Queen is getting new fans. Their music still appeals to younger people.

Where do you think that preference for vinyl comes from since a lot of them grew up listening to music on streaming services and the Internet?

Mostly, people are not getting what they want from digital. It’s not a personal experience. They’re looking for something a bit more tangible. Something to hold, a physicality to it. You can read the liner notes. Albums tend to come with lyrics. Sometimes posters are inserted. When you listen on your phone or computer, it’s a very solitary experience.

If music’s just wallpaper to you, that’s ine. But for people who are into music or more passionate, they’re not getting the full experience from digital. That’s what I’ve heard and it seems to be true… On vinyl, sound actually sticks to the magnetic tape and you can hear the actual performance in analog. On digital, what you’re hearing is a recreation. It’s like looking at a painting and then at a copy

of the painting. It’s not the same thing.

I’ve noticed that when I look for R&B or hip-hop records on vinyl, stores tend to have a limited amount. Is there a reason why?

Depends on what it is. Older albums just may be out of print. They have to be in good condition [for resell]. They are jazz records and soul records that go up for a lot of money because they are so rare.

There’s [also this] to keep in mind. Like in hip-hop and rap, such as The Fugees and Arrested Development, [they came out during the] CD age and they released albums but very few of them. On top of that, they didn’t make them here in the United States. You can take the whole ‘90s and almost no US album was made here. If you wanted an album pressed—such as vinyl format—you had to go overseas. They were still making 12-inches for the club. But it was a time everyone was also replacing records with CDs. That’s important to remember.

Do you remember the irst records you had or bought?

Oh yeah. That was a long time ago. I used to buy 45s because, let’s say you didn’t have enough money for albums—and back then they were only $3, $4, but that’s a lot when you’re a kid—so you got a 45 which was like 39 cents. So the irst 45s I bought were the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields” backed with “Penny Lane.” And The Doors’ “Hello, I Love You.” What’s your favorite “cheap thrills” reference in music?

There’s so many I don’t think I have a favorite. There’s a song by Frank Zappa [on Cruising with Ruben & the Jets] called “Cheap Thrills.” It’s really fun and kind of doo-wop.

Then there’s the Janis Joplin record [with Big Brother and The Holding Company]. The most inluential in choosing the name of the shop was that the irst used record store I ever shopped at was called “Cheap Thrills.” They had one location in Kenmore Square and then another on Mass Ave in Cambridge. My shop is kind of homage. Before that, I always bought my records regular retail, like at Woolworth, but never saw someone sell secondhand records. When it came to naming my store, I thought, “Well, how about the irst store you ever saw used records at.”

>> CHEAP THRILLS. 10 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, DEDHAM. 781-864-9213.

FILM EVENTS FRI 11.24

SAT 11.18

SAT 11.18

MON 11.20

MON 11.20

WED 11.22

CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE AT THE COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT SWAMP THING [1982] AND THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING [1989]

SATURDAY MATINEE AT THE HFA’ GOOD-BYE, MY LADY [1956]

COOLIDGE AFTER MIDNIGHT PRESENTS CREEPSHOW [1982]

THE DOCYARD PRESENTS’ ACTS AND INTERMISSIONS: EMMA GOLDMAN IN AMERICA [2017]

‘THE LEGENDS OF WILLIAM WELLMAN’ CONTINUES WITH A DOUBLE FEATURE WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD [1933] AND THE STAR WITNESS [1931]

‘‘HANKSGIVING’ BEGINS AT THE BRATTLE WITH SPLASH [1984]

[Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harv Sq., Camb. 7pm/ NR/$12. Dir. Abigail Child attends. thedocyard.com]

[Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy St., Harv Sq., Camb.

7pm/NR/$7-9. 35mm. More info hcl.harvard.edu/hfa]

[Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline.

11:30pm/PG/$12.25. coolidge.org] 18

11.23.17 - 11.30.17 |

[Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 3pm/NR/$5.

16mm. hcl.harvard.edu/ hfa]

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[Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline.

11:59pm/R/$12.25. 35mm. coolidge.org]

[Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7pm/PG/$9-11.

35mm. Playing as a double feature with Big. Also on 11.23. see brattleilm.org]

FROM THE CREATORS OF THE ACADEMY AWARD®-NOMINATED

THE SECRET OF KELLS & SONG OF THE SEA AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

ANGELINA JOLIE

INSPIRING! REMARKABLE!

BREATHTAKING!

“

“

Vibrant, jewel-bright!”

Nothing short of exceptional!”

- Sheri Linden, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

- Peter Debruge, VARIETY

WINNER AUDIENCE AWARD ANIMATION IS FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER GRAND PRIZE ANIMATION IS FILM FESTIVAL

A FILM BY NORA TWOMEY

STARTS FRI. 11/24

LANDMARK THEATRES KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA 1 KENDALL SQUARE (617) 621-1202 CAMBRIDGE

ATTENTION AMPAS MEMBERS: YOUR CARD WILL ADMIT YOU AND A GUEST, BASED ON SEATING AVAILABILITY, MONDAY-THURSDAY

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

CARRIE COMPERE (SOFIA) AND THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR CAST OF THE COLOR PURPLE. PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY, 2017.

ARTS

SHE’S BEAUTIFUL AND SHE’S HERE The Color Purple is giving Boston a lot to be thankful for

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS The acclaimed, Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple has inally made its way to Boston. Talk about something to be grateful for this holiday season.

This musical version of Alice Walker’s gorgeous 1982 masterwork irst debuted in 2005 with Oprah Winfrey on board as lead producer. And although most praised the score and the performances, the intimacy of the story was dwarfed by the massive production values and was nearly swallowed whole in the cavernous Broadway Theatre.

Then, in 2013, visionary director John Doyle mounted a bare-bones revival in the UK that was so well-received that it opened on Broadway just two years later. Now, The Color Purple is making its way across the country as part of a 29-city national tour, stopping at Boston’s Shubert Theatre through Dec 3.

Starring as Soia is Carrie Compere, who has been with the show since it opened on Broadway almost exactly two years ago. She played one of the church ladies and understudied Orange Is the New Black star Danielle Brooks as Soia. But when Brooks left the production a year into the show’s run, producers loved Compere’s performance so much that they asked her to take over the role.

Boston, you’re not going to want to miss this.

When it came time for you to take over the role of Soia on Broadway, did you kind of assume that was going to happen or were you surprised that they offered it to you?

I had no idea that they were going to ask me to take it over. I thought they would possibly try to get another star name to come in to take over the role until our Broadway run was over, but I received a phone call, and they just said, “We love you, we love you as Soia, and we want you to take it over.” They offered it to me and, of course, without hesitation, I said yes. It was a surprise but I was so ready to step into that. I love, love Soia. I’m very happy to be doing this character.

What about when they asked you to stay on for the tour?

I had a pretty good feeling that the tour was going to happen. I, however, did not know that they were going to offer Soia to me. I didn’t know what their plans were—you never do. This business is crazy like that, so I never felt like I had it in pocket. They were just like, “We love you, we want you to take this on the road.” For me it was important to do because I wanted to able to tell her story and to be able to be a part of this beautiful production going around the country for people who didn’t get the chance to come to New York and see it on Broadway. To be able to come to their cities and their homes and share this story is so special to all of us.

What does that feel like? It’s such an important story and it’s so powerful. You are exposing people from all corners of the country to it—that must be very gratifying.

Oh, yeah! Because I was so fortunate to be able to see the results and to experience the transformations that were happening as a result of what we were doing on Broadway, it made me even more hyped to bring it on the road. Man, if this is what’s happening in New York City, imagine the impact that we can make if we do take it on the road and we take it across the country for people that have never even read the book or seen the movie. Yeah, that’s like, major for me. And exciting—it’s exciting. We just inished up in Baltimore and I love walking outside—people are out there asking for autographs and everything, and all of that is great, but what really touches me is when I stand there and I’m looking at somebody and they’re like, “You touched me, you made me think about this or that differently, I’m going to call my brother who I haven’t spoken to in 10 years.” These are the kind of things that are happening—people are being transformed, and that’s powerful. I’m so honored to be a part of that—to even have a little piece of that is so special.

>> THE COLOR PURPLE. THROUGH 12.3 AT THE SHUBERT THEATRE, 265 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. BOCHCENTER.ORG 20

11.23.17 - 11.30.17 |

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I saw the original production many times—the intimacy of the story was sometimes lost in that huge production.

What can you say about how this revival is different? What’s been pared back?

This version is pared down, it’s bare bones; to me, it’s guttural. We don’t have set changes, there’s very few props, very few—and when I say very few, I mean very, very few— costume changes; we all wear the same wigs, there’s no makeup to age us. There’s all those extra things we don’t have. John Doyle, our director, was very intentional about us taking the responsibility of telling these stories lat-footed and being grounded in the story itself. There’s not much aesthetically because we want people to really hear every single word that is said and sung in this story, because this story is so important. For me there’s a groundedness to it that’s essential. It’s in your face, there’s no pomp and circumstance, there’s nothing for us to hide behind. The fourth wall is gone. And we’re going to play some pretty large venues, but the show is still so intimate that I feel that people are going to experience the tangibility of it, which I think is a difference with this particular version.

How do you keep it fresh? You’ve done it so many times now that I imagine it would be easy to just walk through it if you’re tired, especially with all the traveling.

There’s always that space where you can fall into that lull but for me, and for many of my peers on the stage, what’s important for us is that we see these new faces every show—the same guy that was sitting in row B seat 2 isn’t the same person that’s sitting there at the next show—it’s a different face, it’s a different spirit, it’s a different energy, it’s a different life. So I keep it fresh because the audiences are fresh and they deserve to get a fresh story each and every time. That’s what helps me, really. I’m thinking about the hearts that we’re speaking to.

DECEMBER 3-9 10AM-7PM DAILY, TOWER BUILDING LOBBY 621 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 Purchase unique, quality artwork created by MassArt students and alumni.

Homemade items range from glass, ceramics and oil painting to jewelry and more.

MassArt.edu/holidaysale Questions? Email holidaysale@massart.edu Flooded Brook 20, Mixed media by Cheryl Clinton, '93, www.cclinton.com

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

SAVAGE LOVE

DESPAIR & DENIAL

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

My husband and I have been together for 15 years, married for ive. He is more sexually adventurous than I am, but I try to keep up. At his request, we have gone to a few sex clubs in our area to have “public sex.” That’s his main interest.

He promised that it would be a one-time thing but insisted we keep going back. He told me that if I ever got uncomfortable, we didn’t have to go back. I told him I did not want to go to any more sex clubs, and he found a loophole: sex booths at porn shops. If I have to do sex in public, booths are best because they aren’t very popular and there is some privacy. This wasn’t good enough for him. He wants an audience, he wants to see me with others, etc. I hate this. I hate how it makes me feel. I hate it. He says all the right things—he respects me, he knows a relationship is a two-way street, etc.—but he is constantly furious with me about this, he tells me I don’t contribute anything to our relationship and that we don’t have a true partnership—all because I don’t want to have sex in public with him or with strangers. Right now, he’s storming around the house in a rage about this and I am tired of it. I react to his “public requests” with nausea and panic because I know he will be enraged for a week if we don’t go. I have even suggested that he go outside the marriage, but he wants me to be a part of it. Everything else in our relationship is great. We have a house, a child, and pets. I’m not sure if all that needs to be broken over this.

Denial Enrages Selish Partner And I’m Reeling

COMEDY EVENTS FRI 11.24

THE GAS! @ GREAT SCOTT Proits donated to Puerto Rico No Está Apagao Featuring: Mark Gallagher, Lamont Price, Etrane Martinez, Emmett DeLaney, Ben Smith, Arty P., & Erika Lindquist Hosted by Rob Crean

1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON | 7PM | $5 FRI 11.24 - SAT 11.25

JOSH GONDELMAN @ LAUGH BOSTON Josh Gondelman is a writer & comedian who is a writer on Season 2 of HBO’S Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

His talent for smushing words together earned him work writing for Fuse TV’s Funny Or Die Presents: Billy On The Street.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | 8PM & 10PM |$29 FRI 11.24 - SAT 11.25

COREY RODRIGUES @ NICK’S COMEDY STOP For the past few years, Corey Rodrigues has been racking up comedy competition victories around New England. Once you see him on stage you’ll see why. Corey’s conversational storytelling tone puts audience members at ease & then, when their guard is down, he pummels them with punch lines. Rodrigues combines comedy from his own life & the lives of those around him. Mix that with a hilarious point of view & he’s able to talk about anything.

100 WARRENTON ST., BOSTON | 8PM | $20 SAT 11.25

MICHAEL CARBONARO @ THE WILBUR Michael Carbonaro has performed over 500 comically perplexing & improbable feats of magic on his hit TV series, The Carbonaro Effect on truTV. You will not just “sit back, relax, & enjoy the show,” it is jam-packed with audience interaction, hilarious video clips, & a whirlwind of mindblowing magic performed live on stage. See for yourself why Michael was named “Magician of the Year” by the Academy of Magical Arts.

246 TREMONT ST., BOSTON | 6 & 9:30PM | $45 - $59 SAT 11.25

I’m running out of column here, DESPAIR, so I’m going to have to be blunt: Your husband is a selish, emotionally abusive, manipulative asshole, and you should leave him. You gave his kink a try, and not only was it not for you, it makes you fucking miserable. You gave him the okay to ind other sex partners to explore this with, and that wasn’t good enough for him. He has responded not with the gratitude you deserve—for the effort you made, for the permission you gave him—but with emotionally abusive behavior. And what’s his goal? To make your life a living hell until you consent under duress? That wouldn’t be genuine consent, DESPAIR, and therefore not consent at all.

Being served with divorce papers may open his eyes. If so, perhaps your marriage can be saved. If not, go through with the divorce.

ILIZA SHLESINGER @ ARTS AT THE ARMORY Iliza’s stand-up credentials also include headlining the coveted Montreal Just For Laughs Festival & The New York Comedy Festival. As a national headliner, Iliza tours yearround selling out theatres, clubs & colleges. Her digital scripted series, Forever 31 is currently streaming on Hulu.

191 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE | 7PM | $39.50 SAT 11.25

THE COMEDY STUDIO Don’t Tell Comedy is a secret comedy show that hosts some of the best & brightest comedians in the country. This time around we will be in Boston, MA! Purchase a ticket & the exact location will be emailed to you by our event coordinator the day of the show. Hint for Dig readers ONLY: It’s going to happen somewhere in Somerville.

Purchase tickets NOW at: donttellcomedy.com

BOSTON | 7PM | $15 SUN 11.26

DENIS LEARY @ THE WILBUR

On the Lovecast, look out, monogamy, here comes Esther Perel: savagelovecast.com

In an America so gluten-free that a box of jelly donuts is now a bigger threat than Vladimir Putin, where college kids are more afraid of Ann Coulter than HIV, it’s time for someone to stand up & make us all smell the covfefe. Dr. Denis Leary is that guy.

246 TREMONT ST., BOSTON | 7PM | $38 SUN 11.26

BEER ME! COMEDY AT WINTER HILL BREW CO.

savagelovecast.com

Featuring: Sean Sullivan, Allison Dick, Arty P., Elisha Siegel, & Scotty Lombardo Hosted by Dan Crohn

328 BROADWAY, SOMERVILLE | 9PM | FREE

MORE LISTINGS AT BOSTONCOMEDYSHOWS.COM 22

11.23.17 - 11.30.17 |

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WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

Josh Gondelman Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Billy on the Street Thursday + Friday

COMING SOON Sarah Tiana Comedy Central, The Joe Rogan Experience Nov 30-Dec 2

Bassem Youssef Dubbed “The Jon Stewart of Egypt” Special Engagement: Sun, Dec 3

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Michelle Wolf The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Dec 8+9

Chris Distefano Girl Code, Comedy Central’s The Half Hour Dec 15+16

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

Ringside with Jim Ross Special Engagement: Sat, Dec 16

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

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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23

50% OFF ENTIRE CUSTOM PRINTING &/OR FRAMING ORDER!

Bring in your artwork by TH December 5 for pickup TH

by December 24 .

OFFER VALID 11/9/17 TO 12/5/17. ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY 12/5/17 FOR PICKUP BY 12/24/17. DISCOUNT APPLIES TO CUSTOM PRINTING AND FRAMING ORDERS ONLY. DOES NOT APPLY TO STORE MERCHANDISE.

SHOP YOUR LOCAL BLICK STORE! BOSTON 401 PARK DR (LANDMARK CENTER) 617-247-3322 CAMBRIDGE 619 MASSACHUSETTS AVE (CENTRAL SQ) 617-441-6360