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MAR 22, 2018 - MAR 29, 2018 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

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Dear Reader, For several years, we have covered happenings around the New England Cannabis Convention in these pages. Ever since the former brass and ownership of this newspaper started NECANN back in 2015, packing heads inside the Castle at Park Plaza, I have watched with wonder as the golden herb has grown from outrageously taboo and barely legal to trendy and flirting with mainstream acceptance. As someone who has been arrested and harassed for smoking and possessing weed on multiple occasions, I pinch myself whenever this whole brave new world comes into view, and nowhere is it more focused than NECANN. Before pumping more positivity, I have to note the places and faces that are holding us back.

Namely, more than 100 towns and cities across the Commonwealth are dragging their feet making decisions about whether to permit recreational cannabis activity, and placing moratoriums to stall the industry from popping up, or banning rec altogether through rushed referendums that draw prohibitionists (and have in only some rare cases spurred adequate pro-cannabis counter forces).

Beyond that ongoing municipal madness, and the stubborn ignoramuses on aldermanic councils statewide who think nothing of approaching microphones in public to push cheap distortions of the truth, are rifts among the rest of us that will cause strains between consumers, advocates, and businesspeople now and probably forever after.

We strive to help air all sides of these debates and issues, other than the sheer moronic and anti, of course. In a series of special issues and from week to week as well, DigBoston and our companion cannabis newsletter, Talking Joints Memo, will pack interviews, news, and analysis aplenty, touching everything from recreational and licensing, to the black market, to homegrowing, to medical. We’ve been all over these issues for 20 years and plan on staying that course until the district attorneys on Law & Order, after a hard day of work, retire to their offices to take bong hits.

Not to say that things haven’t already changed for the greener. Personally speaking, these days I’m a board member of NECANN (disclosure alert!), and I will be speaking on a panel Sunday about cannabis and media. I will also be working a booth for the Dig. If you’re in the area, please stop by and let us know how we can provide more of the coverage that you want to see.

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Need more Dig? Sign up for the Daily Dig @ tiny.cc/DailyDig

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

3

NEWS+OPINION

CAUGHT ON CAM-SHARE NEWS TO US

BPD seeks access to private security cameras, experiments with new surveillance network

BY DANIEL DEFRAIA

The Boston Police Department wants to deputize your surveillance system.

After a crime, police canvass for private security cameras. Sometimes, they obtain a warrant for the tapes or data, or simply ask for the owner’s consent to access footage. But since last November, in Dorchester, the BPD has had CAM-Share, a pilot program that geolocates and permits officers on-site access to volunteers’ cameras.

For now, the BPD wants to help officers more quickly locate and access footage. However, if the program expands beyond its small introduction—about 13 locations, according to BPD records—it could develop into a centralized surveillance network.

Last year, Sgt. Detective James Cullity pitched CAMShare to BPD command.

“With all the private video systems in place, I thought it would be a great idea to build a database of known video camera locations that capture street views,” Cullity wrote in an email obtained in a freedom of information request.

Over the phone, Cullity cited a scene from Patriots Day, a film about the 2013 Boston Bombing, to illustrate how he imagines CAM-Share working.

After the attack, local officer Tommy Saunders (not a real person) walks through a recreation of the Boylston Street crime scene. A BPD veteran, he remembers which places have security cameras and helps the FBI identify the two bombers.

“That’s a perfect example,” said Cullity. “But instead of having to pick a guy’s brain, we’d already know.”

CAM-Share footage is not livestreamed. The BPD does not yet have the technology to connect different kinds of surveillance systems, according to a department spokesperson. However, like other police departments in Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Austin, the BPD has voiced a mild desire to use private security cameras to expand real-time monitoring.

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Recently, the Dorchester Reporter interviewed Captain Connolly, a commanding officer in Dorchester, about the future of CAM-Share. “Eventually, with the consent of private citizens,” the newspaper wrote, paraphrasing Connolly, “the cameras could be patched into a citywide intelligence unit run by Boston police to give investigators even more immediate access to video.”

Connolly’s imagined system is a problem, said Kade Crockford, Massachusetts director of the ACLU’s Technology for Liberty Program. “It’s not just an issue of a small private camera” that might assist an investigation, she explained. “It’s a nod to a much more dangerous future in which the police have a window in private and public areas in which they have no business snooping around.”

This is not the first time the ACLU has criticized BPD surveillance tactics. Last month, the ACLU released a report revealing the BPD collected thousands of social media posts with the terms #blacklivesmatter,” “protest,” “#muslimlivesmatter,” and everyday Arabic words from 2014 to 2016. That program is no longer active.

The BPD has at least four ways to collect information on Boston’s private security cameras. First, to publicize CAM-Share, community service officers have announced the program to residents at local neighborhood meetings.

Second, BPD records show Cullity floated the idea of offering tax credits to “builders and store owners” that install surveillance systems and give BPD access. However, according to a department spokesperson, that incentive might make volunteers “agents of the police,” requiring additional regulation.

Third, some officers, Cullity explained over the phone, may in the near future be supplied with a cell phone or iPad to catalog locations. If an officer finds a camera, they’ll hit a button, and the camera’s geolocation will be sent to the BPD’s Regional Intelligence Center. But knowing a camera’s location is not enough, Cullity added.

Does the camera actually work? For how long does it store footage? What does the camera see? It all depends on what camera-owning volunteers share with the BPD. Finally, to recruit volunteers, the BPD sent out a threepage form asking for info, including the make, model, and access password of their cameras. The letter also asked volunteers sign a pledge “not to release any footage or still images to the media without consulting with Boston Police Department Media Relations.”

That language is meant to protect the integrity of a BPD investigation, a spokesperson said, adding CAMShare volunteers are not legally obligated to follow the rule. Still, Crockford believes the BPD should remove that language from the letter.

“What if there’s an altercation involving a police officer, and they shoot someone?” she said. “Even if the BPD doesn’t think that’s legally enforceable, that’s still intimidating to a person thinking about giving that information to defense counsel or a newspaper. It’s chilling.”

A few years ago, the BPD had a similar program with the Building Owners and Managers Association, a large group for real estate professionals. According to BPD records, the program “lost steam and wasn’t completed.”

For now, CAM-Share is a small pilot program that has not yet helped solve a crime, and it’s nowhere close to evolving into BPD closed circuit television. Instead, it’s a Dorchester officer’s idea that depends on the city’s participation.

Will it lose steam, or not?

This article was written in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. If you would like to see more reporting like this, please consider supporting independent media at givetobinj.org.

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

5

STRATEGIC RETREAT EDITORIAL

DigBoston to move away from Facebook, help build democratic social media alternatives

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS A decade back it seemed only natural for news publications like DigBoston to stake out turf on Facebook.

After all, it provided an easy way for us to reach our audience on a regular basis—via a social media platform that was well on its way to becoming the ubiquitous global behemoth it is today.

But now it seems like a particularly good moment to discuss this publication’s evolving thinking on our use of corporate social media. In the wake of the huge and growing Cambridge Analytica scandal that cost Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg $6 billion of his net worth after that story broke last week, according to Fortune.

Because Facebook is not working for us anymore—as individuals and as the staff of a metro news weekly.

What was once a fun way to keep in touch with friends and co-workers has turned into a huge drag. Every moment of our time on the social network is completely controlled by Zuckerberg’s minions. Who work to make it ever more addictive. To keep users like us on Facebook for more and more of our time—thus spending less and less of our time on any possible competitor’s network.

Yet the company also carefully limits users’ access to our own connections. And it continues to make repeated changes to its “algorithm” (the code that governs, among other things, what content users see) and other structural changes that are seriously damaging individuals’—and to our point, news outlets’—ability to reach our own audiences.

It is now no more possible for individuals to communicate with even a fraction of their connections on the platform than it is for DigBoston to reach more than a handful of our 24,000 followers. Even if we pay a bunch of money for the privilege, which page managers like us are forced to do. On our two branded pages that Facebook refuses to let us merge… because one page has a blue check mark and one page has a gray check mark, you see. And blue check mark pages may not be merged with gray check mark pages. Facebook “help desk” has spoken. And once Facebook makes a pronouncement, however cryptically and episodically, it cannot be challenged. By conventional means, at least.

Not that we’re surprised that Facebook has its own agenda. Like many reasonably technologically savvy journalists, we understand how the company works.

Digital marketer Mitch Joel explained it succinctly in a helpful Maclean’s piece on the Cambridge Analytica affair: “Facebook’s business model is not based on content, marketing or advertising. You—the consumer— are the product and the money that Facebook generates is based on how well they can monetize your data and target you to their brand partners.”

The problem is that we understand all too well that Facebook does what’s best for Facebook—first, last, and always. And my DigBoston colleagues and I have had enough.

Like the staff of tens of thousands of other news organizations around the planet, we know that we have been complicit in Facebook’s rise to power.

We have posted all our content to Facebook. Which has provided free high-quality information that helped attract our existing audience and many others besides to Facebook’s “walled garden” social network. The vast conglomerate then monetized that audience as described above. Used the vast array of personal data at their command to steal the entire news industry’s digital advertising base away—including ours. And has the temerity to charge us to reach the audience we helped bring to them.

Adding insult to injury, according to the Guardian, companies like Cambridge Analytica have found ways to acquire and weaponize that personal data at the 6

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behest of operatives like Steve Bannon. Who then use it to help throw elections like the 2016 presidential contest to the political faction of their choice. To name but one of a myriad number of ways that rich and powerful interests—including Facebook itself—are using this “surveillance capitalism,” as it has come to be called, to attempt to control the behavior of entire populations for their own gain.

Given that state of affairs, DigBoston has no choice but to start to move away from Facebook. As our editorin-chief Chris Faraone so colorfully put it in a related context a couple of months back, “… fuck Facebook. With a big, blue middle finger.”

But move away to what? All the major social networks are owned by big companies doing basically the same thing Facebook is doing. Though none have its reach and market share. Some, like Instagram, are even owned by Facebook.

In the short term, we’re starting to focus more on Twitter—a social media giant that’s slightly less mercenary and slightly more responsive to public pressure. The Lyft to Facebook’s Uber, if you will.

In the longer term, we see no ideal alternative on the horizon.

So we’ve resolved to help create that alternative.

Think this through with us: DigBoston, like legions of other news outlets, has to find a social media solution that meets our need to control and monetize our own data in a platform that our audience is willing to use on a regular basis. Our audience needs a social network that won’t exploit them.

There have been numerous attempts to start standalone “less evil” social media platforms in opposition to Facebook et al—Diaspora, Ello, and Minds to name but three. None of them have succeeded.

Why? Because no one knows exactly what causes people to abandon existing social networks for new ones. Sometimes people just bail. Friendster, Orkut, and MySpace were once hot, and now are not. So every prediction of Facebook’s demise at the hands of a new entrant over the last many years has proved to be premature. And every claim to have the magic solution that will cause millions of users to jump ship from Facebook and other major social media has proved to be a pipe dream.

It is true that Facebook’s audience growth is slowing.

Usage in the key US and Canadian markets is dropping, according to the LA Times. And the current scandal has already caused the company to lose more than 6 percent of its value on Monday—over $35 billion—according to Fortune. Yet it could easily bounce back. It remains an immensely powerful multinational. And if it convinces its shareholders to stay the course, it can weather almost any conceivable political storm.

What will it take to essentially pull the rug out from under Facebook and companies like it? Returning to the promise of the early internet to democratize global communication, and giving more control over the means of that communication to individuals and the full array of human institutions alike.

There are interesting experiments going on in new grassroots social networks that DigBoston is keeping an eye on. Decentralized federated microblogging systems (think an agglomeration of Twitter-like networks that talk to each other) like Mastodon. Fully decentralized social media projects like IndieWeb—a network of “creators” who have developed tools that allow the owners of independent personal websites to interact with each other. Like a Facebook without the Facebook.

Without a central control hub of any kind, really.

Projects like these are great ideas. But they rely on

volunteers, and sometimes a handful of low-paid staff, to function. Meaning they can achieve an initial burst of success, only to suffer a long decline to irrelevance as their evangelists move on to other ventures. Plus you typically need to be someone in or around the tech scene and affiliated subcultures to know about their existence.

And they tend to require a fair amount of technical expertise to use.

Which is to say that these carefully thought out super democratic social media experiments are not likely to provide the alternative DigBoston and like-minded folks the world over are seeking to build. Not anytime soon.

Mastodon had just over a million users last month, according to Mastodon User Count—largely due its community deploying functioning phone apps like the nifty Amaroq for iOS. But that’s obviously a drop in the bucket compared to the 1.4 billion active daily users that Facebook reported in Q4 of 2017. Even allowing for the fact that a nonzero percentage of those accounts are fake, according to Yahoo Finance. And not including many more inactive accounts.

Still, we can but soldier on. For our part, we’re calling a meeting of journalists and techies later this year.

Specifically, editors and publishers of Boston area news outlets and high-level coders associated with thoughtful social media projects like Mastodon and IndieWeb. We’re going to compare notes and see if we can start working together to provide better communications solutions for our news organizations and our audiences that will go at least some small fraction of the way to providing a democratic alternative to Facebook and other corporate networks.

We’ll definitely let you all know how that meeting goes. But those of you who think you need to be there, drop me a line at execeditor@digboston.com and tell me why.

Jason Pramas is executive editor and associate publisher of DigBoston. His sad and lonely Mastodon account is @ jasonpramas@mastodon.social. Sign up for a free account at mastodon.social and say hi.

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

7

TAKE NOTE DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

Talk of more wildcat teacher strikes puts public education at the vanguard of protest

BY BRANDON SODERBERG

West Virginia’s monumental wildcat strike has given a big signal boost to Save Our Schools Arizona, the next high-profile organizing effort against the destruction of public schools. As with all good organizing efforts, the team behind SOS Arizona may seem a little ragtag.

There’s an English professor, a fifth-grade teacher, a retired Petsmart CEO, another retiree from Microsoft, and a consultant for youth summer camps. And then there’s Dawn Penich-Thacker, another English professor, who was an army officer before she taught and serves as the group’s spokesperson.

“Four of us have kids at home ranging from 5 years old to 17 years old, and the two retired folks have adult children long gone from the house,” Penich-Thacker says. “Some of our children attend public schools and some attend charter schools.”

These are just facts, but pointed ones: The people that make up SOS Arizona are multitudinous, regular, mired in public education and management. They’re far different than the elected, deregulation-friendly ghouls running Arizona and Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has accelerated the death of public education for most so that a few have more “school choice.”

“We see chronic neglect or in some cases outright assault on public education in the state,” Penich-Thacker says. “Neglect in that over a billion dollars that was cut from public education a decade ago during the recession has never been restored, and indeed our governor and legislature have expanded the number of tax cuts that make restoring the education budget all but impossible without robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

That SOS Arizona counters “choice” rhetoric and voucher schemes via a fairly slick website, an organized “team,” and on-point, unforgiving talking points is as much of a sign of where the fight over education and labor is going as West Virginia’s bolder, scrappy, gamechanging efforts. Further mobilized by West Virginia as well as Oklahoma (where a walkout on April 2 seems nearly guaranteed), SOS Arizona announced a Day of Action for March 28 and anticipates thousands at the capitol in Phoenix to “give lawmakers a visual, physical sign that 8

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their constituents demand solutions to a statewide issue that is at crisis level,” Penich-Thacker says.

SOS Arizona has been battling deeply insincere, provoucher Republican Gov. Doug Ducey for a while now— though post-West Virginia, striking enters its playbook.

“Most newly mobilized teachers aren’t ruling out a strike but feel it needs to be the last option on the menu,” Penich-Thacker says. “In the wake of increased attention to public education and the threat of privatization that DeVos’s confirmation instigated as well as strikes in West Virginia and talk of strikes elsewhere, Arizona teachers, school employees and education advocates have felt emboldened.”

Teachers in Arizona have some of the lowest pay in the country, the state’s near the bottom nationally in perpupil spending, and charter schools are considered public schools though they’re allowed to be far less regulated.

DeVos’ approach to schools is a familiar Republican move: defund something public so that it doesn’t work anymore, declare it broken, and shut it down. What is different about DeVos, at least amid the know-nothing Trump regime, is a smiling, magical-thinking sort of neoliberal nonsense. In an infamous 60 Minutes interview last week she discussed “investing in students” rather than “institutions,” which sounds good but means little—equal parts meme-ready inspiration and Orwellian doublespeak.

Recall DeVos referred to historically black colleges and universities as “pioneers” when it came to “school choice,” ignoring the founding of those schools as a daring, necessary response to white supremacy and instead retrofitting racism as an obstacle for a certain cluster of narrowcasted students that lead some to create a school that fit their needs better.

“There are constant individual and class-action lawsuits in Arizona around charter schools that discriminate against students on the basis of income, disability, academic ability, religion, and more,” PenichThacker says. “None of this is new or sudden—it’s all been at least a decade in the making, all while millions and millions of tax dollars have been funneled out of the general fund for public education and into private school

tuition organizations and voucher programs.”

West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona organizing at the same time as massive student rallies against gun violence is a moment in which public schools reenter the organizing vanguard.

Post-Parkland walkouts and a wildcat strike in West Virginia represents another victory for those advocating breaking the rules and being ungovernable.

“You look back in history, it was unlawful for what Martin Luther King did, but they knew the consequences and knew the rewards, and the rewards outweigh the consequences,” Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association said during West Virginia’s strike. “So we know that it is unlawful, but we also know that we have a right to have our voices heard.”

Union activist Lois Weiner observes that public educator mobilization also counters simplistic “red state” narratives maintained by places such as the New York Times who, post-Trump, have bent over backward to talk to anybody whose politics are fascist-adjacent or just plain suck (see: the Ohio dork who has shut off the news because he doesn’t like Trump) all the while mostly ignoring the biggest labor story in years happening in those red states they admit they woefully under-covered.

“The Times just carried an article that portrayed [West Virginia] as a deep red state. And I think that that is a really dangerous, misleading oversimplification about the politics,” Weiner said last month. “And the walkout shows that. The walkout and the fact that West Virginia voted for Sanders in the primaries.”

Oklahoma is also a state Trump won that went for Sanders in the Democratic primary. In Arizona that’s not true—Trump won, Clinton took the Democratic primary— but that shows how organizing and labor concerns related to education are potentially a uniting force for fed-up leftists and cautious liberals alike. Two more right-to-work states floating strikes should be a far more heartening victory than right-of-center Democratic clod Conor Lamb’s special election win in Pennsylvania.

“West Virginia shows Arizona what may become necessary and what it may need to look like,” PenichThacker says. “Again, no one in Arizona is eager to strike, but I can tell you that teachers from West Virginia have reached out to us via social media to offer guidance, and we’re appreciatively taking good notes.”

Additional reporting by Jaisal Noor.

Brandon Soderberg is the former editor of the Baltimore City Paper, former news editor of the Baltimore Beat, and the author of Daddy Lessons: A Country Music Zine for the Trumpocalypse. You can order it at daddylessons. bandcamp.com. Follow him on Twitter @notrivia.

Opportunity for All

Pictured above: New apprentices outside the IBEW 103 / NECA Joint Apprentice Training Center in Dorchester, MA

IBEW Local 103 is proud to fight for good jobs and economic justice for all Boston families.

We are excited to be welcoming our largest and most diverse apprenticeship class ever in 2018 at our innovative training facility in Dorchester, MA. This achievement was made possible by IBEW Local 103’s recent apprenticeship outreach campaign, conducted in partnership with Millenium Place, and amplified by our collaborations with neighborhood media outlets including DigBoston.

Planning a construction project? Whether it is a large or small project, call us at 617-4363710 to access locally trained, professional electrical services, and to obtain referrals for local, certified contractors who care about the community.

Looking to start a new career? Visit The103Advantage.com to learn more about our apprenticeship programs and how IBEW Local 103 is building career pathways for workers across the city.

Through our advocacy and training programs, IBEW Local 103 and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) of Greater Boston are proud to be fostering opportunity for all.

Lou Antonellis, Business Manager, IBEW Local 103

Kenell Broomstein, Business Agent for Boston, IBEW Local 103

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

9

CANNABIS JANICE TALKING JOINTS MEMO

On a mission to reduce pain and educate

BY ALEX BRANDON Janice Newell Bissex, aka Cannabis Janice, is a holistic cannabis practitioner, the founder of Jannabis Wellness, and an author and registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in family nutrition. She made the transition to the green side, she says, due to her dad’s suffering “from severe pain as a result of multiple spinal fractures and other health issues.” Bissex says her father “hated taking the pain meds that were prescribed because of the side effects, so he decided to try medical marijuana.” And “when he went from wincing to saying, ‘Wow, I’m not in pain’ after his first dose,” Bissex “decided to change [her] career path and devote [her] life to educating others about the medical benefits of cannabis.” We asked about her bold career shift.

What problems can a holistic cannabis practitioner help solve?

My mission is to help people suffering from pain, anxiety, insomnia, autoimmune disorders, IBS and IBD, Parkinson’s, fibromyalgia, seizure disorders, autism, MS, and other debilitating conditions find relief using cannabis. I completed my holistic cannabis practitioner training at the Holistic Cannabis Academy, and I continue to be fascinated by the science behind the medicinal use of cannabis. I find that my training as a nutritionist makes my background ideal for this new direction.

You had firsthand experience with the downside of opioids when a member of your family was prescribed them for a health condition. What did that experience teach you that you wish you had known from the beginning?

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The constipation and grogginess that affected my dad when he took opioids negatively impacted his quality of life, and yet not one doctor suggested medical marijuana.

I sure wish I had known about the efficacy of cannabis for treating pain so I could have helped him earlier in his health struggles.

Through your consulting work, have you observed health benefits from cannabis? Can you provide an example?

So many positive effects. I sourced phytocannabinoidrich hemp products (whole plant cannabis without the psychoactive THC) that I provide for my clients, and they have reported decreased pain, anxiety, insomnia, hot flashes, swelling of arthritic hands, and muscle aches. I know a 22-year-old man with Crohn’s who says medical cannabis saved his life and allowed him to go to college and sleep through the night for the first time in years.

You advise on how to properly medicate with cannabis. What are some of the more common errors you correct in people who have not done proper research?

It’s important to look at the cannabinoid ratios and choose a variety of cannabis that is right for your condition.

The sativa and indica labels are not always the best way to determine what will work best. A common mistake is to take too much when the goal is to find the minimum effective dose. Edibles in particular can lead to unwanted side effects if over-consumed, which is easy to do because it can take up to two hours to see an effect.

You speak extensively on the endocannabinoid system, and will be doing so at the upcoming New England Cannabis Convention this weekend. This system is not recognized by much of the medical community, but does explain many of the observed medical benefits of cannabis. What do you feel is important for people to understand about it?

The first endocannabinoid (anandamide) wasn’t discovered until 1992, and the research is still evolving. It’s not surprising that many health care professionals do not know about the endocannabinoid system (a system that maintains homeostasis in our body and is important for good health). I certainly did not, until I began my cannabis training.

You host meetings each month for Ellementa, one of the larger cannabis networking groups for women. How did you come to be involved in this group and how does it help the local cannabis scene?

A colleague introduced me to the founder of Ellementa, Aliza Sherman, and I liked her mission to educate women about cannabis. Ellementa gatherings are nonconsumption events that provide an opportunity for women (who are typically the caregivers of the family) to come together to learn about cannabis and wellness.

How could readers reach out to you with additional questions?

People can contact me through my website, JannabisWellness.com. I’m happy to connect.

TALKING JOINTS MEMO

HEMP HANGS BY A THREAD IN MA Gov. Baker’s office strings hemp farmers along

BY ANDY GAUS ANDYGAUS@SPRYNET.COM While recreational weed seems to be ready to lurch into being this summer, the state’s hemp crop so far is a nonstarter. The problem isn’t mold or bugs. It’s Charlie Baker. And farmers like Linda Noel, who wants to grow hemp in Franklin, are at the end of their rope.

She reports: “The staff at the Department of Agriculture (MDAR) have worked for months drafting regulations for hemp production. They want farmers like me to be able to compete fairly with the farmers of Kentucky, Vermont, Texas, and the Carolinas who are already growing and producing hemp products.

“We were supposed to review the regulations in February, but when we got to the meeting, we couldn’t review the regulations because they were ‘being reviewed by higher-ups.’ In fact, the regulations have been stuck in Gov. Baker’s office since January. I suspect Mr. Baker supports Mr. Trump’s wish that hemp not be grown nationwide.

“We should have started our seedlings last month. We found a source of certified seed (from Oregon), but they won’t ship it to us without our license. And planting a single hemp seed without that license is a crime.

“After another 60 days it will be too late to plant hemp in Massachusetts, and we will have lost another year to the other states and the entire country of Canada, who are already outgrowing us.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Baker has taken an opportunity to hobble the hemp industry. He readily signed a bill passed in haste by a handful of legislators that required potential hemp farmers to get permission from their city or town—a requirement not made for any other agricultural product.

Now the governor appears to be running out the clock against Mother Nature to make sure the hemp industry doesn’t get off the ground. When Linda Noel looks at the fields she’s ready to plant with hemp, she sees food, cosmetics, textiles, medicine, and building materials.

Baker, apparently, sees a field of waving pot plants and a menace to society.

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IMAGE VIA BOSTON DYNAMICS / YOUTUBE

THE FANTASY ROBOTS OF BOSTON DYNAMICS FEATURE OPINION

Relax—we’re a lot further away from an automaton takeover than you may think

BY GARY ZABEL The MIT spinoff company Boston Dynamics has become famous from its videos on YouTube showing off its nine robot creations: Atlas, Spot, Spot-Mini, BigDog, Wildcat, LS3 (a kind of robotic mule), Handle (an extendable, mobile upright manipulator), SandFlea, and RHex (a small allterrain robot).

As the names suggest, most of the robots are patterned on ordinary animals, and one on human beings (Atlas).

They perform astonishing tasks, such as turning doorknobs and walking through the opened doors; exploring the grounds of the company’s Waltham location; prevailing over attempts by lab personnel to thwart their efforts by kicking, pulling, pushing, and other acts of brute force; trotting, galloping, bounding, and jumping over obstacles; walking while maintaining their balance on rocky, hilly, or snow-covered ground; getting back on their feet when they trip or are knocked over; serving as artificial beasts of burden in simulated Marine combat; and, in the case of Atlas, jumping up on platforms, doing backflips, and stacking 10-pound boxes on shelves.

All of this appears to be irrefutable evidence that the scientists at Boston Dynamics have created artificial organisms that match and even surpass their realworld human and animal counterparts, reinforcing the widespread belief that robots are about to “take over.”

But not all is as it seems.

Legged motion is a much more complicated affair than we imagine. It requires more neurological resources in terms of sheer brain mass to walk on two legs than it does to play chess or prove mathematical theorems, both of which computers have been doing since the 1950s. Just 12

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standing in place is a virtuoso performance, requiring the ability to sense the force and direction of gravitational pull through the soles of the feet, while making thousands of instantaneous micromuscular adjustments in legs, arms, and torso. The adjustments must interact in a complex feedback loop that compensates when the body distributes too much weight in one direction or another. And yet standing still is a minor achievement compared to walking on two legs. Not only must the body continue its delicate and constantly recalibrated balancing act, but it also has to fall and simultaneously recover each time it moves a foot forward, while adjusting its frame to a perpetually varying center of gravity.

When we consider the range of possible postures, gaits, and speeds involved in walking, running, leaping, and so on, the number of computations the brain must perform increases dramatically. And while four-legged, six-legged, and eight-legged creatures are more stable than the bipedal variety, their movements present more difficult problems of coordination.

In short, designing and programming a robot to walk is an enormously challenging task. *** In the 1980s, the Leg Lab at Carnegie Mellon University took on the challenge of programming a walkable robot.

Directed by an associate professor then in his thirties, Marc Raibert, the lab developed a number of one-legged (hopping), two-legged, and four-legged robots based on biological organisms, following a research paradigm

known as “biorobotics.” The basic idea is that it would be a waste of time to reinvent nature’s answer to the wheel when the evolutionary process has already solved the problem of legged motion. All we need to do is analyze the physiological structure, neurological connections, and repertoire of motions of legged animals and find ways to transfer our discoveries to the bodies of robots, equipped with sensors and motors as well as computers running the appropriate software.

None of this is easy. Projects often take years from conception to implementation, and involve teams of computer scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers, and biologists. But with sustained effort, and ever so slowly, nature begins to yield up its secrets as it did at the Carnegie Mellon Leg Lab. After six years at CMU, Raibert moved his operation to MIT, where he continued to direct it until leaving academia in 1995. The reason? He started a new company, named Boston Dynamics.

The pattern is familiar. Someone is hired or elevated at MIT to the status of a senior professor, assembles a team of promising graduate students, attracts major grant money, does research, and publishes papers for a few years, all the while making business and government connections. The academic finally leaves the university in order to start a company. By that time, it’s likely that he or she is already a multimillionaire from outside contract work.

The motive for creating a start-up company undoubtedly varies from person to person. For Raibert, it may have been a desire to enrich himself, or perhaps the belief that growing profits would free his research from the limitations of grant funding. Whatever the truth, Raibert

began like many others in his position, by going to the well he knew best from his years at CMU and MIT, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

DARPA is the federal agency that funds high-tech military research. Its most celebrated achievement is the internet. It awarded Boston Dynamics several grants, the most important of which provided funds for turning the robot LS3 into a mechanical pack animal able to carry water and equipment for Marines in the field. There is a video of LS3 under simulated combat conditions, loaded down with supplies and following at a distance the digital QR (Quick Response) code printed on the back of the jacket of the company’s project director, who is walking side by side with the Marine squad leader. The director also operates a remote control console enabling him to command all of the motions of the robot more complicated than QR following. In other words, most of the mind in LS3 is that of a human being.

The LS3 project was a failure. The robot’s huge engine was too noisy for the reconnaissance missions it was supposed to support.

DARPA discontinued the grant. What was in the minds of DARPA officials when they funded the project in the first place? Why didn’t they suggest that the Marines buy a few mules or maybe a camel instead?

These biological animals have been successfully hauling supplies for centuries, and at far less cost than any conceivable robot. The answer is that mules and camels are useless if your goal is to build a robotic army.

LS3 funding was suspended in early 2015. Two years earlier, Boston Dynamics had been purchased by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and absorbed into the latter’s “Replicant” division. The end of DARPA funding may have been one of the reasons the company’s buyer became nervous about its acquisition. In spite of the image Google cultivates of encouraging no-strings-attached futurist speculation, it remains as focused on profits as any other corporation. When DARPA funding fell through, and Boston Dynamics also failed to create a marketable consumer product, the digital media giant decided to cut its losses.

In 2016, Google (technically Alphabet) found a buyer who took Boston Dynamics off its hands: the multinational Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.

The unsettled financial situation of their company must have caused considerable anxiety in Raibert and his co-workers. Its video productions ought to be seen in that light. Those available on YouTube are not scientific documents, but promotional pieces. They are designed to create an ongoing buzz about the company in order to increase its market value at a time when its future is uncertain, as is still the case. While speaking in 2016 in San Francisco, at an annual tech conference sponsored by the online magazine TechCrunch, Raibert joked that while he used to write academic papers, he now counts YouTube “likes.”

Like many jokes, his was only a slightly distorted version of the truth.

Let’s take a look at some of the more recent videos that have caused a stir online. Three involve the quadrupeds, Spot and Spot-Mini, and one the humanoid, Atlas. As their names indicate, Spot and Spot-Mini are patterned on the model of an ordinary domesticated canine. Spot-Mini is a smaller, lighter, and somewhat enhanced version of its predecessor. The names, however, do more than signal the intention of the robots’ creators. They also shape the expectations of the video audience.

“Introducing Spot-Mini” was made in 2016. It begins

The unsettled financial situation of their company must have caused considerable anxiety in Raibert and his coworkers. Its video productions ought to be seen in that light.

inside the Boston Dynamics building in Waltham. Spot and Spot-Mini are in a lineup of robots that also includes BigDog, Wildcat, and Atlas. Spot-Mini is the first to depart from the line, while Spot follows its lead after a short delay.

They both walk at a moderate pace with the familiar gait of dogs, although Spot-Mini’s smaller frame is closer to our experience of canines. The two exit an open door, turn to their left, and walk along the outer wall of the building, apparently to explore the corporate grounds.

In the scene just described, Spot-Mini has no head.

In those that follow, it has acquired one that looks like a reptilian skull. The head is at the end of an extendable neck folded like an accordion on the back of the robot. We watch the robot using its head as a mechanical gripper, grasping dirty dishes and loading them into a dishwasher, and putting an empty beer can in the garbage. This is nothing like any dog we have seen. In subsequent scenes, Spot-Mini crawls under a table, gets back on its feet after slipping on a banana peel, and brings a guy on a couch a can of beer, but wrestles over the item like an ordinary dog when the man tries to take it. In each scene, the robot appears to be completely autonomous. As of the time I am writing, the video has received more than 11 million views.

The second video, “Hey Buddy, Can You Give Me a Hand?” was released this year. It begins with a headless Spot-Mini approaching the closed laboratory door, looking it up and down, and walking off after realizing there is no way through. A second Spot-Mini, this one with a head, emerges from the shadows. It uses its head-gripper to get hold of and turn the door handle, and its extendable neck to open the door and hold it open. The first, headless SpotMini walks through, followed by its polite, better-equipped counterpart. This time, no humans appear in the scene.

Although the video has received only 817,699 views, the viewer reaction was more agitated than in “Introducing Spot-Mini,” with comments ranging from “I want one,” to “We’re screwed,” to “The new season of Black Mirror looks promising,” to the serious suggestion that SpotMini, which initially received DARPA funding, is part of a globalist conspiracy.

The responses to “Hey Buddy” are exceeded in emotional intensity by the reaction to a third video, “Testing Robustness.” A Spot-Mini equipped with a head attempts once again to open the closed lab door. This time a researcher uses a hockey stick to prevent the robot from getting out. He knocks the robot away from the door handle, slams the door shut after Spot-Mini manages to open it halfway, and finally grabs a strap tethered to the rear of the robot, yanking it away from the door. Despite all obstructionist efforts, Spot-Mini never gives up, finally succeeding in opening the door and exiting. The will of the robot seems relentless. It just keeps on coming, no matter what the man does. This video got more than 3 million views. Comments include “Oh Jesus,” “Awesomeness,” and “Goodbye human race.”

In the three clips, the videographer manages to evoke feelings we have had in the presence of ordinary dogs, and then replace them with shudders when we realize we are dealing with something no one on earth has seen before. The only framework we have for understanding the experience is the apocalyptic science fiction movie— Terminator, AI, Bladerunner, Ex Machina, and so forth.

Why would Boston Dynamics want to provoke apocalyptic anxiety in YouTube viewers?

After more than a year of the Trump administration, we ought to know the answer. The intentional intimation of disaster is good for ratings. It keeps the audience on the edge of its seats, whether a president or corporation is on display.

This is even more evident in a video introducing Atlas.

In one scene the humanoid bends to pick up 10-pound boxes and stacks them on shelves. The message is unmistakable: Atlas is coming for your job. *** Boston Dynamics videos are science fiction movies. In each, the robot’s actions are caused by a human being operating a remote control console who never appears on camera.

We see the console and operator only in early videos of LS3

made by the Marines as well as one of Spot-Mini made by organizers of a robotics conference in Barcelona. The teleoperator is missing in the videos Boston Dynamics produces. The robots in these videos are similar to those in pre-CGI science fiction movies, which were operated by people hidden inside them.

To be fair, “Testing Robustness” is followed by a written comment indicating that a “person (not shown) drives the robot up to the door, points the hand at the door handle, then gives the ‘GO’ command, both at the beginning of the video and again at 42 seconds.” The rest of the time the robot presumably executes its routine without human intervention. But this kind of task-and-timelimited autonomy has been around for decades, while few people know what “driving” the robot to the lab door means or that a teleoperator is necessary for nearly all of its movements. Also, like the fine print at the bottom of a contract, the disclaimer is unlikely to register in the mind of the average viewer. For those who actually read it, the additional disclaimer that “testing does not irritate or harm the robot” adds to the impression that Spot-Mini can be irritated, implying that it is sentient.

In the meantime, the buzz about the company grows louder: “Boston Dynamics Robot Dog ‘Spot’ is Terrifyingly Lifelike” (NBC News); “Boston Dynamics New One-Armed Robot Is Adorable and Terrifying” (Popular Mechanics); “Boston Dynamics Robot Fights Back” (Independent); “Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog That Opens Doors Is Freaking Out the Internet” (Science, CNBC), “The Latest Generation Atlas Humanoid Robot Is Absolutely Incredible” (TechCrunch).

Nowhere is there mention of remote control consoles or teleoperators.

Reporters aren’t the only ones who overlook this little detail. Many with scientific training seem equally visionimpaired. A software engineer is wildly enthusiastic in his comment on “Testing Robustness” regarding its implications for a project he’s planning to develop robots that care for the elderly without human involvement.

But Boston Dynamics has made little progress in robot autonomy, whatever we might think of abandoning the old folks to nonhuman machines. It is simply not its forte.

In a different context, even Stephen Hawking ignored the actual state of robotics and gave in to fevered dreams of an autonomous robot takeover. But we have only the most rudimentary understanding of the workings of our own brains, and we still cannot transfer more than disconnected fragments of their intelligence to machines.

We may make some progress integrating AI modules like speech recognition, image analysis, and probabilistic reasoning into more global structures. But considering the small quantity of grey matter inside our own skulls, we may never arrive at the holy grail of a conscious machine. *** Scientists have a habit of turning into fools when they profess expertise on matters beyond their own laboratories. It took the uneducated proletarian magician, Harry Houdini, to expose the fraud and trickery of seances after dozens of scientific observers certified the ghostly phenomena as genuine.

In high-tech industries, when money intersects with this seemingly congenital flaw, the result is dissimulating hype for a technologically literate but credulous public, all too willing to disappear down the rabbit hole. Robotics is interesting enough without demanding that we follow the White Rabbit to Wonderland.

The achievements of Boston Dynamics in robot movement on two and four legs are undeniable and sometimes breathtaking. That’s where its real contribution lies. But its videos play on widespread, potentially dangerous fantasies of autonomous robotic armies without human casualties (on our side, that is), old people left in the care of machines, and a near future when robots do all the work. It’s high time we freed ourselves from the techno-marketing hype and began to see AI and robotics for the fascinating, although limited, developments they really are.

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CARAMEL’S CARAMEL EATS

A taste of the new French bakery cafe’s gateway dessert

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS

PHOTO BY JASON PRAMAS

This product contains zero THC

The Boston area has been in the midst of a bit of a bakery renaissance in recent years. The growth of small upscale cafe chains like Flour and Tatte is testament to Hub dwellers’ love of sweets, and we don’t seem to have hit the “peak pastry” threshold yet.

Which is lucky because if there wasn’t room for more artisanal confections, then French chef Dimitri Vallier and his business manager sister, Sophie, would never have launched Caramel French Patisserie in downtown Salem in 2015, and at a second location in Davis Square, Somerville, last year.

And that would be a shame… because their baked goods and pastries blow every similar place in our region completely out of the water.

I mean, seriously, I spent the better part of a month in Paris in 2010. And I ate at over a dozen different bakeries there—all highly rated by locals—and Caramel is better than most of those. I’m no expert. But I’ve eaten lots of stuff at pretty much every noted Boston bakery, and I’ve never been to a place where, like the best Parisian bakeries, literally everything is delicious.

Visitors will need several visits to eat a representative sample of the array of croissants, tarts, macarons, and assorted fancy pastries on hand, but I recommend starting with their signature dessert first time out: the eponymous Caramel. It’s one of those creations that sounds simple enough when you read the ingredients but has clearly taken real mastery to perfect.

Delicate caramel mousse enrobing perfectly poached pear slices. The sweetness of the mousse cut by the freshness of the chilled pear.

Presented in an artful shape and PHOTO BY JASON PRAMAS served cold. It’s a must try. >> CARAMEL FRENCH PATISSERIE. 235 ELM ST., DAVIS SQUARE, SOMERVILLE; ALSO 281 ESSEX ST., SALEM. CHECK THEM OUT ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM. WEBSITE COMING SOON AT CARAMELPATISSERIE.COM.

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SAMMUS WHEEL OF TUNES

Social caveats, and the last impact of NASA icon Mae Jemison

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Play enough video games and eventually you become a pro at leveling up. If you’re lucky, you learn how to level up in real life. That’s what Sammus taught herself to do, and she’s been leveling up so much that it’s hard to remember she’s a real person.

The underground, alternative rapper got PHOTO BY EMMANUEL WALLACE her start back in 2012 with a self-released EP. After choosing the Metroid moniker, Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo started honing her craft, making a name for herself in the music scene, and touring nonstop. While this was happening, she also got a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, worked full time as a Teach For America teacher in Houston, returned to Cornell to get a PhD in science and technology studies, and released her critically acclaimed LP Pieces in Space in 2016. It’s a lot, and yet she’s stayed level-headed about it all. She’s currently working on new music—it’s self-described as having chill themes, slower BPMs, and less chaotic energy—and plans on trying some of those songs live because mixing up her setlist is part of Sammus’ power.

“I try not to perform a song just because I think it’s catchy and people will like it,” she says. “For example, the song ‘Childhood’ wasn’t a single, it didn’t have a video, and wasn’t a hit, but it slowly made its way into the [live] rotation. For me, it shares a lot of the different things I can do. The chorus comes from a Weezer song I used to listen to, which I try to do a lot: to share my relationship with the music I grew up with. There’s a lot of references to video games and cartoons I loved a lot as a kid, too. There’s also a reference to my life as a first-gen kid, which is something I don’t do much in other songs. That song has become more special to me as a result, especially as more and more people start to sing the chorus along with me. It gives it a shared sentimental value.”

To go deeper into the mind of Sammus, we interviewed Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles. We focused on Pieces in Space, and her answers show a grounded side of her—a perfect introduction before she performs at ONCE Somerville this Wednesday.

1. “100 Percent (feat. Latasha)” When you’re struggling to give your all during an activity, what do you say or do to pump yourself up to reach that full 100 percent?

To reach 100 percent, I usually smile. Smiling will almost have a psychological effect where the rest of my body starts to give in to whatever is going on. I’ve had some performances where there weren’t as many people there as I thought there would be, and during those sets is when I will smile the most. Often someone in the audience will smile back and it will make me think, “Oh, okay, yeah! I’m here right now! I should be present, too.” I have the privilege of doing this thing that I love, so let me get my shit together—and smiling helps me get back into that mindset.

2. “Comments Disabled” What’s the most common criticism you get online, and how do you clap back?

Ugh. I don’t know if this is a criticism, but people will say I’m such a good female rapper. It’s not a criticism, but it does feel like this weird caveat. It almost can feel like a sleight. My identity as a woman is obviously very important to me, but I don’t see people saying, “Oh, this is my favorite male rapper.” I’ve tried as best I can to respond by saying something like, “Oh, well, my favorite male rapper is so-and-so,” to call attention to that kind of qualifier. And sometimes folks realize that they messed up, but other times it goes over their head.

3. “Childhood” What’s a childhood memory you completely forgot about but were recently reminded of?

Oh! So on the last tour that I was on, we went to the UK and then Paris. I lived there, in Paris, when I was a kid for about a year. I remembered that we went to eat dinner at the principal of the school’s house. It was my mom and a few other people. I licked my bowl clean and my mom was so pissed at me that I completely embarrassed her. She was so angry. But I forgot all about that until we were in Paris on this tour, and it came flooding back. I would have been four or five and I think it was a general get-together of sorts, but all that I remember is loving that food. >> MEGA RAN, SAMMUS, NONE LIKE JOSHUA. WED 3.28. ONCE SOMERVILLE, 156 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE. 6PM/18+/$10. ONCESOMERVILLE.COM

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BARRENCE IS BACK MUSIC

Boston’s 1980s blues rock star Barrence Whitfield is ready for the spotlight once more

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

PHOTO BY JUXE

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Cream: blues rock encompasses a lot of offshoots, but what every artist in the genre possesses is an underlying feeling for how the music drives them. It comes through them with power, out through their voice, their guitar, their soul at large. It was the genre of an era from the ’60s on through to decades that followed. Oftentimes, it feels like blues rock faded with those stars. But if you look closely, it’s still thriving in Massachusetts, and Boston has Barrence Whitfield to thank for that.

The 62-year-old vocalist sings a combination of American soul, R&B, and rock, the three of which combined in the 1980s for his band Barrence Whitfield & the Savages.

He came straight out of Nuggets record store ready to make music. Colleague and guitarist Peter Greenberg formed an instrumental rock band with bassist Phil Lenker and drummer Howie Ferguson. Once Whitfield began singing impromptu around the store, they realized not only what a remarkable talent he had but what a crucial part his voice was to the band. Charged with a love of ’60s R&B and crunch blues punk, the band found their stride, and a sea of fans followed.

Barrence Whitfield & the Savages made a name for themselves at their live shows. He’s famous for his enthusiasm, where a deep-lunged delivery brings a smile to everyone’s faces in the room. While growing up in New Jersey, he sang in his local gospel choir, which prepped him with the vocal range and timbre to make a rock club

room shake. The band racked up seven Boston Music awards during their tenure. They landed on international gigs and toured with Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and George Thorogood. They were a blues rock tour de force, and the only power they wanted to instill in listeners was the power of allnatural positivity.

It wasn’t long before Whitfield and the rest of the band realized they wanted to start focusing on their personal lives. They wanted to settle down, to work on their family lives, to pursue more traditional careers. While most continued to play music privately, if not professionally, they decided to put the band on the backburner. It wasn’t until 2010 that they talked about reuniting.

In 2011, they released Savage Kings, followed by Dig Thy Savage Soul and then Under the Savage Sky, the latter of which landed on our Best Local Albums list of 2015.

Hard to believe, the band was back with just as much vigor as their early days.

“We got a youth injection in our bodies and had to get up there to do it again,” says Whitfield. “Honestly, when we got back together, it was like we never even stopped. We hadn’t played together in 26 years or something, but you couldn’t tell. Sometimes you just want to prove to everybody that you can do it.”

He’s been proving it more and more as time goes on.

The band’s new album, Soul Flowers of Titan, comes out this week and may be their loudest, heaviest album yet.

From the walls of a dingy studio in Cincinnati, the group channels a cosmic energy into their wild, roots-tuned blues rock and lets it rip, spinning around in circles until they see a dazzling array of stars. As much energy as the album packs, it also revels in slow numbers, balancing the perfect blend of garage grumbling and guitar-laden dance numbers. According to Whitfield, the secret is making sure you treat the studio like a concert stage.

“The studio should be a live experience no matter what the technology is,” he says. “Instead of going in there one by one, putting your part on top of something else, and then exiting, we get in the studio and start playing as a group. It feels like a special type of togetherness where we become one. That’s how rock ’n’ roll is supposed to be: tell a good joke when it’s needed, have conversations with one another, then have a drink here, a drink there, and a drink anywhere else.” He laughs. Of course, this is Barrence Whitfield we’re talking about. His drink of choice is a cranberry and soda.

Creating a great album is a little bit easier when you have great subjects to focus on. On Soul Flowers of Titan, the band takes a closer look at an old friend: experimental jazz composer Sun Ra. Barrence Whitfield & the Savages opened for Sun Ra back in 1985. Less than a decade later, he passed away. It was the start of their live performance inspiration, and one that continues to inspire them on the album.

“We all had a mantra going through our heads by him on this record,” says Whitfield. “Playing in front of him and then watching him perform, being blown away by the band members, by him, and everything he was doing that night?

It was everything I ever wanted to see and expected. He took us to new heights. As the years have gone by, we’ve always kept him in mind and talk about that show we played together.”

Ultimately, Barrence Whitfield couldn’t stop reliving his glory days and scaling new musical heights if he wanted to.

The singer is just as rowdy in his 60s as he was back then, only now he’s got even more heart invested. He lives to share his energy through the concert stage. It’s his way to make sure fans get a moment to loosen up. He will ask for your name, show you dance moves, and then sing loudly in your face. On paper, it may sound overbearing. But in action, it’s the perfect combination of actions to bring a crowd to life.

“You have to include them in your party,” he explains.

“When you throw a party, you don’t want people to sit around talking in one-on-one conversations wondering why they’re there, do you? They’re there to party! So if you show a caring heart to the people coming to see you, then let them into your space of emotion for a while. Make them forget about what they’ve gone through during the day.

Be the band that helps them let their stress go. Instead, help them dig themselves and go crazy—because everyone deserves to have fun some days.”

PHOTO BY SCOTT BESELER

>>BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES, MR. AIRPLANE MAN. FRI 3.23. MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 472 MASS. AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 9PM/18+/$15. MIDEASTOFFERS.COM

MUSIC EVENTS SAT 03.24

FEMMES GETTIN’ SHRIEKY ON GUITAR T-REXTASY + BANANA + WENDY EISENBERG

[Lilypad Inman, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge.

5:30pm/18+/$10. lilypadinman.com]

16

03.22.18 - 03.29.18 |

SAT 03.24

SAT 03.24

SUN 03.25

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge.

7:30pm/all ages/$18. sinclaircambridge.com]

[ONCE Somerville, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. 8pm/18+/$16. oncesomerville.com]

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

8:30pm/18+/$15. greatscottboston.com]

EXPERIMENTING IN THE DARK WITH ELECTRONIC POP SON LUX + SINKANE + HANNA BENN

DIGBOSTON.COM

UK REGGAE BORN FROM THE SEX PISTOLS HOLLIE COOK + FLYING VIPERS

THE BLUES ROCK BOY WITH ELVIS-LIKE CHARM MARLON WILLIAMS + TINY RUINS

MON 03.26

THE OG DRAG POP OF INDIE ROCK OF MONTREAL + MEGA BOG

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

WED 03.28

UNDERGROUND MOVES FROM ALLSTON PUDDING PLEASER + BIRTHDAY ASS + PINK NAVEL + TINY BABY [O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$8. obrienspubboston.com]

ENSEMBLE MIK NAWOOJ MUSIC

Our interview with the boom bap symphony like no other

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

I have always loved groups that approach things organically. Well beyond the Roots, from classic Boston acts like Audible Mainframe to those rocking in other throes, these serious musicians have actually kept me interested in hip-hop when cheap mainstream variations started boring me throughout the years.

While there’s some of that excitement brewing around the distinctive setup of Ensemble Mik Nawooj, on another hand the Bay Area group is a new beast entirely.

More like stylistic cousins to the rock- and jazz-inspired outfits I have long admired, their classical hue is unique, but also far more honed and confident than anything that diehards would consider rude experimentation. With machete-sharp vocalists fronting a miniature orchestra tuned by a maestro with a passion for boom bap, they represent a distinct future for the genre that diehards of all stripes should be thoroughly excited for.

We wanted to know more about the EMN process and approach, and so we spoke with composer JooWan Kim (JWK), co-producer and musician Christopher Nicholas (CN), and MCs Sandman (S) and Do D.A.T. (DAT) ahead of their Thursday performance at Berklee—where, it so happens, Chris and JooWan cut their teeth as students and musicians more than a decade ago.

Classical loops always made for some of my favorite hip-hop tracks. How much of a difference is it working with comparable sounds but playing them from scratch?

JWK: We sample elements of classical music like counterpoint, instrumentation (we only use classical instruments, except the drum set without any electronic sounds), consideration of orchestration, formal constructions, etc., and use them to create hiphop music. As a result, it’s not quite hip-hop, as we don’t follow conventional 16-bar structures nor do we have 808 or drum machines, but also not classical—definitely not classical. The idea behind this process is called “method sampling,” which is a principle of borrowing and sampling rationales or methods and reframing them into one’s own system.

DAT: As an MC you have a lot more options to follow because of all of the different melodies and rhythms present in the compositions. But at the same time you have to follow the music very closely. Regular hip-hop production allows for a different type of flexibility. … The idea of sampling ideas. It doesn’t get more hip-hop than that.

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Altan

MARCH 16

MARCH 17

3/20

Hollie Cook, Flying Vipers

UK based reggae vocalist 3/21

Metal Yoga with Black Widow Yoga

Dietrich Strause & The Blue Ribbons

the Irish Comedy Tour

Vinyasa class to doom & heavy metal music 3/22

Mega Ran, Sammus, None LIke Joshua Nerdcore rap

MARCH 18

MARCH 20

Lee Ann Womack

w/ Opener Charlie Worsham

Casey Abrams

MARCH 22 22 MARCH

MARCH 23

Riders In The Sky

OldJack

MARCH 25

MARCH 28

Skerryvore

The Delta Generators

MARCH 30

MARCH 31

156 Highland Ave • Somerville, MA 617-285-0167 oncesomerville.com a @oncesomerville b/ONCEsomerville

S: It’s different because it’s not so loop heavy. The instrumentation is far more dynamic while maintaining rhythmic integrity. I think the instrumentation is executed to have an emotional dynamism, making it more theatrical.

Where do ideas start? And how do they get executed? I know that JooWan painstakingly writes the music using traditional techniques, but I’m wondering how the actual building blocks work from there.

CN: I co-produce—and occasionally sing background parts/hooks—all the recordings. First JooWan lays downs the instrumental tracks with our players. Then I come in and oversee the MCs and our classical singer’s portion. After both sets are recorded, JooWan and I check out each song and add small electronic layers, or extra vocal layers, if needed to give the track(s) some more character. Finally, we mix and master with our great engineers in the Bay.

CAMPBELL Crystal Bowersox &LARRY TERESA WILLIAMS

special events

With feet in the classical and contemporary worlds, are there negative reactions from either side? Classical cats highbrowing you? Hip-hop friends lowbrowing you?

JWK: We definitely have pushback from both worlds. I think any traditionalists would have a problem with what we’re trying to do. Our mission is to create concert music that’s free from Western European aesthetics and reflective of the multiple perspectives which the modern world is comprised of.

3.21 City Winery & american airlines

greek wine dinner

DAT: Yes, a few hip-hop heads have had some not-so-nice things to say about what we are doing, and I totally understand. If I wasn’t involved in this musical excursion, I’d probably be a bit apprehensive about EMN myself. We (people of African descent) have a loooooooooong history of having our style, ideas, culture, and our very identity stolen then sold back to us (cough, Post Malone). This isn’t that, though.

4.1 Fred Taylor’s Sunday Jazz Brunch Buffet

stump trivia every monday at 7pm

BOOK YOUR NEXT EVENT WITH US

S: The traditionalists define integrity as remaining unchanged, while we see remaining unchanged as lacking integrity and being ignorant to the nature of things. …

Haters gon’ hate. >> ENSEMBLE MIK NAWOOJ PERFORMS AS PART OF THE CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON STAVE SESSIONS ON THURS, MARCH 22 AT 160 MASS AVE (BERKLEE).

CELEBRITYSERIES.ORG/STAVESESSIONS FOR MORE INFO.

email eventsboston@citywinery.com for more info

80 beverly st. Boston Ma 02114 (617) 933-8047 |www.citywinery.com/boston

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW FILM

Renegade celluloid gala is staring down 20

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

As it nears the end of its second decade, we should recall that the Boston Underground Film Festival has radically altered itself many times over. In fact, according to a Harvard Crimson report published in March 1999, the first iteration of BUFF wasn’t much of a film festival at all. The inaugural underground festival occured at the Revolving Museum (itself an institution that went through many transformations) with a program made up of short films and “bonus clips,” all simultaneously exhibited in a number of adjacent rooms (the Crimson even listed a few of the works shown back in ’99, which included the short film A Waiter Tomorrow [1998], a scene from Evil Dead II [1987], and a Nissan commercial). Throughout the 2000s, BUFF roved back and forth, making its home at a number of different Boston-area locations. And during this period of time, its format evolved as well, until BUFF had taken a shape not entirely unlike more “traditional” film festivals— meaning it became a destination for works by young American independent filmmakers as well as for movies pulled from the international festival circuit. Although given the nature of the films the festival has exhibited throughout its history—they often err toward the “sick, twisted, [and] profane,” to quote BUFF’s own program notes—perhaps “traditional” is not a description that befits them all that well.

In its teenage years, BUFF found a more consistent home. Since 2012, the festival has made the Brattle Theatre its main base (though recent years have also

seen occasional screenings at the Harvard Film Archive, including some this coming Saturday and Sunday afternoon). Meanwhile the programming, as guided by director of programming Nicole McControversy and artistic director Kevin Monahan, has remained a dependable source for genre standouts that would otherwise remain obscure— in every year that I’ve attended the festival, I saw at least one or two exceptionally strong new-release features that never received theatrical exhibition in the Boston area elsewhere. And throughout its residency at the Brattle, BUFF has expanded its stature as a tenured Boston film-culture institution even further, in part by establishing a number of recurring annual events. Recent festivals have included at least one repertory screening, for example—this year it was Liquid Sky [1982], which played as part of the fest’s opening night this past Wednesday. And this Saturday morning, the Brattle will play host to the “All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party” (10 am), a recurring BUFF event curated by author/ programmer Kier LaJanisse. The festival has also established a number of recurring short film programs, including one dedicated to films made in the New England area. And the fifth edition of that program will play at the Brattle this Friday evening, under a particularly unwieldy moniker: “Homegrown Horror Chapter V: (Un)Safe Spaces.”

The fifth chapter of “Homegrown Horror” will begin with Under Dusk, She Screams, which proudly announces itself as a “15-second horror film.” Fashioning itself after the “for sale: baby shoes, never worn” manner of storytelling, the 15 seconds of Under Dusk offer both a setup and a bloody punchline. And that approach is a common one, at least among the other films in this program. Other “homegrown” shorts, like A/S/L, I Want You to Know, and Signal to Noise, similarly last just long enough to reach a gory and/or effects-laden finale. With runtimes that range up to 20 minutes but usually stay below 10, the shorts in “(Un)safe Spaces” usually give you just enough time to appreciate one or two elements of film craft. For instance, I was particularly taken with the production and set design of Knock Knock II (director Katharine McManus), a subtext-heavy piece that takes place in a basement laden with a geometrically arranged selection of creepy dolls and Christmas lights. And I was also excited by some formal elements in The Misplaced (director Alex DiVincenzo), which utilizes one of the most traditional film effects (it makes an object disappear by

way of editing) to reach its own finale.

But of the nine films I saw from this year’s “Homegrown Horror,” just one rose above the level of its own craft.

That would be Entropia, which begins with a relatively standard horror-movie setup: A woman with some vaguely Wiccan interests (Sissy O’Hara) begins experimenting with different spells with her eye set toward reclaiming her youth (“For revival of femininity,” she reads aloud from one of her textbooks, “start with the womb”). And as directed by Rhode Island-based artist Marinah Janello, Entropia itself feels like a well-aged object—it’s presented in a boxy aspect ratio, with lighting that emphasizes its soft 16mm texture. So occasionally the film’s look and feel can resemble the low-budget dramatic pieces made for television in bygone decades. But within minutes, Janello has expanded the film’s texture to bounds not safe for TV—her frame lingers blankly on the tools of her main character’s trade, which include taxidermy, used sanitary pads, textbooks, and eventually, some objects not known to human life. Like Janello’s film itself, those last items are beautifully inexplicable. So how lucky we are to have a festival that provides a home specifically for the inexplicable—and one that has done so throughout its history, going all the way back to day one.

HALLMARKS OF THE “BOSTON UNDERGROUND” FRI. 3.23 ‘TRIGGER WARNING’ [SHORT FILMS PROGRAM, 18+] [Brattle Theatre. 11:45pm/NR/$12]

SAT 3.24 THE SATURDAY MORNING ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT CEREAL CARTOON PARTY [Brattle Theatre. 10am/NR/$12] ‘SOUND & VISION’ [MUSIC VIDEOS PROGRAM] [Brattle Theatre. 2pm/NR/$12] ‘COMEDY? MAYBE!’ [SHORT FILMS PROGRAM] [Brattle Theatre. 4pm/NR/$12] SECRET SCREENING [FEATURE FILM, 2018] [Brattle Theatre. 11:45pm/???/$12]

SUN 3.25 ‘THE GHOST IN YOU’ [ANIMATED SHORT FILMS PROGRAM, 18+] [Brattle Theatre. 2pm/NR/$12]

>> THE BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL. CONTINUES THROUGH SUN 3.25. SCREENINGS AT THE BRATTLE THEATRE AND HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE. $12 PER SHOW. FULL SCHEDULE AND MORE AT BOSTONUNDERGROUND.ORG.

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03.22.18 - 03.29.18 |

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NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

THEATER REVIEWS PERFORMING ARTS

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

MIDDLE CLASS BLUES: THE HUMANS AT THE SHUBERT

GUARDS AT THE TAJ

A GRIPPING GUARDS AT THE TAJ AT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER

Rajiv Joseph’s alluringly original 2015 play Guards at the Taj is being given a stellar production at Central Square Theater, courtesy of Underground Railway Theater and director Gabriel Vega Weissman.

It seems that Joseph, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his 2010 Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, has drawn some inspiration from two great (but seemingly disparate) dramatists: Samuel Beckett and Martin McDonagh. You can think of Guards at the Taj, then, as a kind of bloody, dark Godot.

Humayun (Jacob Athyal) and Babur (Harsh J. Gagoomal) are childhood friends who serve as imperial guards for Emperor Shah Jahan, guarding his mighty Taj Mahal for the better part of their young lives. But for all the years they’ve been guarding it, they’ve never actually laid eyes on the building—no one has. For 16 years the elaborate tomb has been under construction, built by 20,000 men, and it’s been concealed from view. At the start of the play, both men stand guard in the final moments before dawn.

When the sun rises, Taj Mahal will be revealed to the world for the first time. But being that Humayun and Babur are imperial guards, they won’t be permitted to turn around and catch a peak.

There is easy camaraderie and effortless banter between the two friends. Humayun, whose father is high up in command, takes his job incredibly seriously. Babur, on the other hand, vibrates with a childlike curiosity. He’s a big dreamer, too—always talking about his dreams or ideas for inventions—with a bit of a mischievous streak.

But for all his stoicism, Humayun isn’t above humoring Babur from time to time and even enjoys a little dawnwatch gossip. The rumor, he says, concerns Taj Mahal architect Ustad Isa, who upon the building’s completion asked the Emperor himself for a personal favor: that the 20,000 men could get a tour to admire their handiwork 20

03.22.18 - 03.29.18 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

16 years in the making. Outraged, after taking some time to fully absorb this insolent request, the Emperor issued a decree that nothing as beautiful as Taj Mahal will ever be built again.

It’s going to be up to you to see the play for yourself to find out exactly how Jahan plans to enforce this decree.

You’re also going to have to see for yourself why the play’s irresistibly grim second scene finds Humayun and Babur in a dungeon, slipping and sliding on a blood-slicked floor. I promise you, it’s worth it.

Guards at the Taj refuses to be any one type of play, which is part of the reason that the experience is so rewarding. It is a bold, risky work that crackles with both ferocity and fragility, making it one of the most satisfying Boston productions this year.

It doesn’t hurt matters that it’s also beautifully acted.

Athyal and Gagoomal have remarkable chemistry and are giving performances of tremendous range and depth.

Athyal in particular, with his muscular intensity and radiant likability, is giving one of the year’s most enigmatic performances.

Guards at the Taj is also a rare example (as far as Boston is concerned) of designers at the top of their game working together to deliver a sleek, sharp, and effective finished product. (Professional theaters need not be congratulated for professional quality designs, yet so frequently has the ball been dropped around town that it’s important to mention when that’s not the case). Grace Laubacher’s set, Leslie Held’s costumes, and Reza Behjat’s lighting are totally exceptional. Most potent, though, is Benjamin Emerson’s richly detailed sound design. And Gabriel Vega Weissman’s production is sublime.

Guards at the Taj is chiefly a play about beauty: the beauty of friendship, the beauty of human connection, and who deserves that beauty. But it also courses with something dark and sinister, giving it a seductive edge capable of piercing the skin and the soul. >> GUARDS AT THE TAJ. THROUGH 4.1 AT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER, 450 MASS AVE., CAMBRIDGE. CENTRALSQUARETHEATER.ORG

Before there’s any spoken dialogue in The Humans, Stephen Karam’s 2015 Tony Award-winning Best Play, there are those eerie sounds.

Those ominous, startling sounds will persist long after the dialogue stops, too. But what’s clear from the start is that this will be a story about anxieties, the kind that regularly ruin a good night’s sleep for the average American workingclass family, going bump in the night like a restless ghost.

Although The Humans is ultimately crushingly somber, much of Karam’s astonishing play is improbably funny, relatable for anyone who has endured—as so many of us have—tense familial gatherings.

Erik and Deirdre Blake have driven into Manhattan from Scranton to spend Thanksgiving at their daughter Brigid’s new Chinatown apartment, where she lives with her boyfriend, Richard. They’ve brought along with them “Momo,” Erik’s wheelchair-bound mother, who is suffering from dementia.

This is her last big trip, they think. Their other daughter, Aimee, has taken the train up from Philadelphia, where she works as a lawyer.

They all converge at Brigid and Richard’s dingy duplex (painstakingly designed by David Zinn), and they fall quickly and effortlessly into the rapid-fire dialogue characteristic of a family that is excited to be together again but can’t help getting on each other’s nerves.

There are a lot of issues gnawing at the Blake family, after all.

Deirdre, the mother, is struggling with her weight, and her arthritis has been acting up; Brigid is buried under her student loans and is stuck bartending in the meantime; Aimee has recently gone through a breakup with her girlfriend, just found out that she’s no longer on the partner track at her law firm, and her colitis has her making frequent trips to the bathroom; the father, Erik, has been having nightmares and is battling a bad back. And he has something he would like to talk to his daughters about.

And don’t forget about those noises.

Karam’s gift for dialogue is uncanny, and as a result there isn’t a moment of The Humans that doesn’t ring true. It is compulsively watchable and funny, which allows the weighty ending to sneak up on you in ways you won’t expect.

The cast, featuring Richard Thomas of The Waltons, Pamela Reed, and Daisy Eagan (the youngest actress ever to win a Tony Award), is pure perfection. Director Joe Mantello has ensured that his production, which will tour the country through July, is in the kind of air-tight shape that most other touring productions are not.

The Humans is a thrilling experience, one that should easily find its way into your weekend plans. >> THE HUMANS. THROUGH 3.25 AT BOCH CENTER’S SHUBERT THEATRE, 265 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. BOCHCENTER.ORG

Celebrate and honor Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month

2018

hea r tom

May 8 • 5:30pm - 7:30pm Creative Journey to Wellness

e Com

May 1 • 5:30pm - 7:30pm Chinese Calligraphy with Rayna Lo RSVP: northeastern.edu/crossing

March 20-24

Presented by Celebrity Series

w orro

May 15 • 5:30pm - 7:30pm Blasian Narratives film screening

MARCH 20

JAZZMEIA HORN

May 22 • 5:30pm - 7:30pm Mindfulness Practice with Nhung Vo

(RED-HOT YOUNG JAZZ SINGER, 2015 THELONIOUS MONK WINNER)

MARCH 21

HOUSE OF WATERS

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

(GENRE-DEFYING HAMMERED DULCIMER ENSEMBLE )

MARCH 22

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

ENSEMBLE MIK NAWOOJ (OAKLAND-BASED HIP HOP ORCHESTRA)

DOUBLE-BILL, ONE TICKET, 2 SETS

MARCH 23 Dig Boston.indd 1

CLAIRE CHASE / MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND

3/15/18 1:24 PM

(AUDACIOUS SOLO FLUTIST / PROTEAN SINGER-SONGWRITER)

MARCH 24

BENT KNEE

WITH BOSTON CONSERVATORY AT BERKLEE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE (BOSTON EXPERIMENTAL ROCK BAND WITH VIOLINIST AND LIVE SOUND DESIGNER )

The week-long festival takes place at 160 Mass Ave All shows all ages DOORS OPEN 7:00PM / SHOWS START AT 8:00PM FULL BAR AVAILABLE

SPONSORED BY

MARGARET EAGLE AND ELI RAPOPORT, SUSAN AND MICHAEL THONIS, AND THE BARR FOUNDATION. WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY DEBRA AND MICHAEL RAIZMAN, YUKIKO UENO & ERAN EGOZY, RANDOLPH HAWTHORNE & CARLISS BALDWIN, AND MARYLEN STERNWEILER

STAVESESSIONS.ORG NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

ACE & THE HOLE SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

I’m a 26-year-old cis queer woman. My best friend has identified publicly as asexual for the past two years. She constantly talks about how since she doesn’t “need” sex, this means she is asexual. She does have sex, however, and she enjoys it, which I know isn’t disqualifying. But she also actively seeks out sex partners and sex. But, again, she insists that because she doesn’t “need” sex the way she presumes the rest of us do, she is asexual. I have an issue with this. I’ve never had partnered sex and never really felt the need or desire for it.

I’m plenty happy with emotional intimacy from others and masturbation for my sexual needs, and I do not particularly desire a romantic or sexual partner. My friend gets offended if anyone questions her label, which occurs often in our friend group as people try to understand her situation. I usually defend her to others since she’s my friend, but as a person who is starting to identify more and more as asexual, I’ve grown annoyed at her use of “asexual” as her identifier, to the point that this may be starting to affect our friendship. I’ve kept silent because I don’t want to make her feel attacked—but in the privacy of my own head, I’m calling bullshit on her asexuality. I don’t particularly want to come out as asexual to her, given the circumstances. Am I just being a shitty gatekeeping asexual? Do I need to just accept that labels are only as useful as we make them and let this go?

Actually Coitus Evading Asexuality—it’s a real thing.

“Several population-level studies have now found that about 1 percent of individuals report not feeling sexual attraction to another person—ever,” Dr. Lori Brotto writes in the Globe and Mail. Dr. Brotto has extensively studied asexuality, and the data supports the conclusion that asexuality is a sexual orientation on par with heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. “[Asexuality] is not celibacy, which is the conscious choice to not have sex even though sexual desires may endure,” Dr. Brotto writes. “Rather, for these individuals, there is no inherent wish for or desire for sex, and there never has been. They are asexuals, though many prefer to go by the endearing term ‘aces.’”

Asexuality—it’s a point on a spectrum and it’s a spectrum unto itself.

“There is a spectrum of sexuality, with sexual and asexual as the endpoints and a gray area in between,” says whoever wrote the General FAQ at the Asexual Visibility and Education Network website (asexuality.org). “Many people identify in this gray area under the identity of ‘gray-asexual’ or ‘gray-a.’

Examples of gray-asexuality include an individual who does not normally experience sexual attraction but does experience it sometimes; experiences sexual attraction but has a low sex drive; experiences sexual attraction and drive but not strongly enough to want to act on them; and/or can enjoy and desire sex but only under very limited and specific circumstances.”

As for your friend, ACE, well, according to the Protocols of the Elders of Tumblr, we’re no longer allowed to express doubt about someone’s professed sexual orientation or gender identity. So even if your friend pulls the cock from her mouth and/or the pussy off her face only long enough to shout, “I’M ACE,” before slapping her mouth back down into someone’s lap, then she’s ace, ACE. But just as asexuality is a thing, ACE, so too is bullshit.

Denial is a thing, and sex shame is an incredibly destructive thing.

On the Lovecast—Alana Massey on the misguided Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act: savagelovecast.com.

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03.22.18 - 03.29.18 |

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COMEDY EVENTS THU 03.22

STAND UP BREAK IN @ THE RIOT THEATER

Featuring: Wes Hazard , Gloria Rose, Brett Johnson, Trent Wells, James Downing, Pamela Ross, Claire Parker, Josh Do, Kim Margolis, & Nimit Dhulekar.

Hosted by Danielle Andruskiwec & David Thomas

146A SOUTH ST., JP | 9PM | $5 THU 03.22

JELLY: WOMEN IN COMEDY NIGHT @ IMPROVBOSTON Featuring: Blayr Nias, Chloé Cunha, Angela Sawyer, Shiyan Animashaun, Justin P. Drew, & Srilatha Rajamani, Jelly announcer Elsa Riot, the Jelly House Band with Jeff Greenwald & Nate Shaffer .

Hosted by Nonye Brown-West

40 PROSPECT ST., CAMBRIDGE | 9:30PM | $10 FRI 03.23

VIC DIBITETTO @ THE CHEVALIER THEATRE

An incredibly powerful performer, comedian Vic DiBitetto churns energy, honesty and humanity into nonstop laughter. His pace is frenetic. He’s been called a cross between Rodney Dangerfield and Ralph Kramden. The bottom line is, DiBitetto leaves his audiences breathless with laughter.

30 FOREST ST., MEDFORD | 8PM | $10 FRI 03.23 - SAT 03.24

MURDER NIGHT: DON’T FEAR THE RE-PURGE @ THE ROCKWELL

A satirical rock opera inspired by the THE PURGE movie franchise. Follow the adventures of two suburban couples as they participate in the annual “Murder Night” holiday, during which all crime is legal, especially murder. What drives them to purge? Will they #survivethenight? And is indiscriminately murdering strangers really THAT much fun? There’s only one way to find out - musical comedy.

Starring: Molly Bourque, Brett Johnson, Britt Perro, Nate Shaffer, Kat Lee, & Bonnie Elizabeth.

Written & Directed by Bryan Smith

255 ELM ST., DAVIS SQUARE | 9:30PM | $15 SAT 03.24

THE GAS! @ GREAT SCOTT The Mystery Show Hosted by Rob Crean

1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON | 7PM | $5 SUN 03.25

THE PEOPLE’S SHOW @ IMPROVBOSTON

Featuring: Laura Burns, Xazmin Garza, Anthony Massa, Liam McGurk, Carolyn Plummer, & Chris Post.

Hosted by Nonye Brown-West

40 PROSPECT ST., CAMBRIDGE | 9PM | $10 MON 03.26

COMEDY NIGHT IN THE SUPPER CLUB @ CAPO

Featuring: Tricia, Auld, EJ Edmonds, Drew Dunn, EJ Murphy.

Hosted by Will Noonan

443 WEST BROADWAY, BOSTON | 7PM | FREE TUE 03.27

THE COMEDY STUDIO PRESENTS @ THUNDER ROAD Featuring: Dan Boulger, Skip Daniels, Sam Ike, Arty Przychodzki, Alan Richardson, & Srilatha Rajamani.

Hosted by Rick Jenkins

379 SOMERVILLE AVE., SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $5 WED 03.28

ARTISANAL COMEDY @ DORCHESTER BREWING COMPANY

Featuring: Sam Ike, Kathe Farris, John Paul Rivera, Rob Crean, Carrie Ross, & Zachary Brazão.

Hosted by Bethany Van Delft

1250 MASS AVE., DORCHESTER | 8PM | $5

Lineup & shows to change without notice. For more shows & info visit BostonComedyShows.com

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

Chris Franjola

Netflix, Chelsea Lately Thursday - Saturday

COMING SOON Kurt Braunohler

Netflix’s Lady Dynamite, Comedy Central Mar 30+31

Jon Stetson

America’s Master Mentalist Special Engagement: Sat, Mar 31

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Laugh Boston + WBUR Present: The Modern Love Podcast Mon, Apr 2

Jimmy O. Yang

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