DigBoston 5.3.18

DIGBOSTON.COM 05.03.18 - 05.10.18

FEATURE

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NEWS

CYCLE SEASON

BACK WITH BOSTON’S BEST BIKE COVERAGE COVER: INTERVIEW

OH MY, GEORGE TAKEI YOU KNOW WE HAD TO SAY IT

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MAY 03, 2018 - MAY 10, 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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ON THE COVER READ DAN PECCI’S INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE TAKEI IN THIS WEEK’S FEATURE SECTION

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Dear Reader, There is no way I am the only one around here who falls deep into these dark depressing ruts because I can’t imagine how the nightmare of congestion in this region ends. Or at least stops getting worse.

Sometimes the excruciating frustration crashes down when I just can’t stand to wait one more minute for a train, and an announcement comes over the speaker that the line is down altogether. Other times, I stumble into the abysmal transportation black hole while behind the wheel, sitting in homicidal traffic on the rare occasion that I’m dumb enough to drive in Greater Boston.

Meanwhile, the answer to our standstill—or at least one of them—is in front of me. And behind me. Always has been. Always will be. Indeed, it is the bicycle, that glorious invention of a simpler time that I am basically too chickenshit to take total advantage of. But while I’m not a dedicated bike rider myself, I’ve always felt some kind of serious responsibility to support those who do pedal—as a writer and editor, sure, but mostly as a sometimes motorist and faithful pedestrian. It strikes me as insane that anyone who rides the T or walks or drives would have an arbitrary or even a circumstantial beef with cyclists. Besides being tricyclically childish, it doesn’t even make much anecdotal sense, since drivers should want as few other motorists out there as possible.

I have written about this stuff endlessly, including a joint op-ed years ago with the then-head of the Boston Cyclists Union encouraging walkers and bicycle riders to jibe. As a newspaper, in coordination with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, we have done some of the deepest multimedia and long-form journalism on the topic in the region, particularly last year’s Vicious Cycle series. Most of that stuff holds true today; still, we had our ace reporter Olivia Deng speak with cycle advocates, as well as local municipal government planners, in order to provide an update on the unbelievable congestion and impediments to progress on the spoke and tire front that keep us up at night.

That’s right, we are back in the bike lane. Despite limited resources, our brain trust has decided that coverage of cycle safety and infrastructure should be more regular in DigBoston. So instead of doing just a single bike issue, we’ll be returning to this critical transit issue often. We are even starting a whole email newsletter for it, DigCycle, which we will use to keep readers informed on multiple things bike related, here and elsewhere.

Because while multimillionaires and their obnoxious startups try selling us gondolas and monorails and pods on elevated wires, we know that their private solutions to our public woes will make little more than major profits for shit people who will hoard every last tax break and subsidy they can scare up.

Fuck them. Much like all the other sensible commuters out there, we know that we need bikes.

Ride them or not.

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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FEATURE

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3

NEWS+OPINION

PHOTO BY OLIVIA DENG

JAMMED UP CYCLE SEASON

Are Boston bike lanes getting better faster than congestion gets worse?

BY OLIVIA DENG @OLIVIADENG1 Matt bikes daily.

He says that one of those days last summer, while biking past the Harvard Coop in Cambridge, he saw a car with an Uber sign parked in the bike lane.

When he began to steer around the Uber, the car almost drove into him and another cyclist.

“So I knocked on their window and yelled ‘bike lane.’

They were going to drive right into us. She threw a water bottle at me and then tried to drive off, but there’s too much traffic. So I caught up, and now I’m next to her. Now I’m angry and I yelled, ‘What the hell, you threw a water bottle at me.’ I smacked her rearview mirror, which I’m not proud of. I started to ride away then she drove her car pedal to the metal as if she was going to run me over.”

Crowded roads, cars obstructing bike lanes, and road rage are all challenges cyclists deal with in Greater Boston.

While the city of Boston plans to increase biking as a form of daily transportation by four times by 2030, problems like road congestion, inadequate infrastructure, and negative driver-cyclist interactions can impede further adoption of biking and make biking more hazardous for 4

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current cyclists.

Are things getting better? Could they possibly get worse?

---///--The number of people living in Boston proper alone is projected to increase from 656,000 in 2014 to 724,000 in 2030. According to transportation analytics company INRIX, Boston is the seventh most congested city in the United States. Residents already feel the strain of the population growth in housing and transportation. With a notorious lack of investment in public transportation and an increasing number of cars on the road, cyclists can run into physical as well as figurative roadblocks.

“Right now, our transit system can’t handle the number of people,” said Becca Wolfson, executive director of the Boston Cyclists Union. According to Wolfson, Boston’s public transportation system is at capacity, forcing commuters to seek alternatives. She continued: “We need massive investment in public transit. More trains and buses with better frequency on our streets that

would allow people to not rely on cars and ridesharing services that maybe are more convenient for people and the cost isn’t that high, but it is actually making the congestion on our streets and travel times much worse.”

According to a study by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, more people are turning to ridesharing services to get from one place to another. Their survey found that 42 percent of passengers would have used public transportation if ridesharing services did not exist, while 12 percent would have walked or biked. Fifty-nine percent of ridesharing trips add additional cars to the roads.

“Biking is a great way to get people out of cars and provide alternatives,” said Wolfson, adding that the greater road congestion due to ridesharing increases

We need massive investment in public transit.

threats for bikers. “But there’s a significant number of people in the population that just won’t try it because they don’t think they’re safe.”

Amanda Rychel, a cyclist who bikes daily to and from work and to pick up her son after school, said that the frustration from drivers being stuck in traffic worsens their attitude toward cyclists. “I think the thing that probably gets people most worked up, from being behind the wheel sometimes myself, is being stuck in traffic and being really frustrated by that,” Rychel said. “I think people take their frustrations out on you when they’re feeling like they can’t get where they need to go.”

---///--Experts say that better cycling infrastructure can help alleviate problems cyclists face on congested roads. Wolfson’s group specifically points to Boston thoroughfares like Mass Ave, Comm Ave, Tremont Street, Malcolm X Boulevard, and Cambridge Street as some of the most dangerous areas to bike.

“By not having safer infrastructure, we’re missing out on a significant number of people who could start riding bikes and relieve congestion from cars and the T,” Wolfson said.

“Comm Ave had the highest rate and number of dooring crashes, more than anywhere else in the city,” Wolfson said. “That’s when someone … getting out of a parked car opens the door and hits a cyclist. Those are really dangerous because you can be thrown under a vehicle immediately.”

Stacey Thompson, coalition member of Vision Zero Boston, said that bike lanes benefit all commuters, not just those cycling.

“You put in a really great bike lane, it often makes it safer for people walking because people are trying to bike on sidewalks where young people and older people can be injured by someone cycling,” Thompson said. “It makes it much safer for the cyclist who doesn’t want to be on the street with a fast-moving motor vehicle and also helps slow down people in motor vehicles. We know that speed is a major factor in crashes that kill people. Putting in good cycling infrastructure is better for everyone on our streets.”

Go Boston 2030, the city of Boston’s transportation plan, includes installing safer bike lanes. Vineet Gupta, director of policy and planning at Boston Transportation Department, said that the city has substantially increased the number of bike lanes in Boston, including protected bike lanes.

“We recently completed the installation of a protected bike lane on Beacon Street [and are] maintaining efficient traffic flow along the corridor,” Gupta said. “There are examples where we created protected bike lanes. A good example is in the North End. Protected bike facilities continue through Causeway Street through TD Garden. … Working with the community, we are confident we can find the right balance to make it safer for cyclists while maintaining traffic on congested roads.”

communities of color.”

Wolfson said that despite certain improvements to bolster cycling safety, the pace of change is sluggish.

“There are a couple signature projects that are great or will be great when they’re done, but they’re happening at a pace that’s just glacial and isn’t going to do anything to encourage enough people to start biking because you have some good projects but they are not networked to other facilities.”

Wolfson is referring to bike lanes along major roads that are not connected to bike lanes on other roads.

“Mass Ave, from the Mass Ave Bridge to Symphony Hall in the South End direction, you’re pretty much separated from traffic, which is great. But whatever street you turn onto, you are not separated from traffic, and that separation ends. What we say is “bike lanes to nowhere.”

You can’t just plop down these pieces at a really slow pace that aren’t connected to other things. … The city takes on these projects but doesn’t work more rapidly to connect them to other things. They’re not going to impact people’s safety and actually build on the number of people who choose to bike to get around.”

---///--Rychel said that when she’s biking, she doesn’t feel like drivers see her as a person sharing the road but rather an entity to direct their anger at. Rychel said she has experienced plenty of negative interactions with aggressive drivers.

“I was about to get to my home and I actually was biking up Willow, which is a slightly more busy street but pretty low speed because it’s by a school and only two lanes,” Rychel said. “And I moved over to turn left. A couple cars behind me were honking and agitated that they couldn’t get to that four-way stop sign two seconds faster because of me. I made my left turn, and the person made their left turn after me and aggressively passed me while honking and going very fast on this even smaller two-lane street.”

On Route 28 passing by the Boston Museum of Science, Rychel said she opts to take the sidewalk because of the fast-moving cars that aggressively pass her. She also said that drivers have a perception that cyclists never obey traffic laws, which means they don’t belong on the streets.

Cyclists say otherwise, as does a study by the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research that found, among other things, that cyclists obey traffic laws more than drivers.

Matt said drivers simply disregard bike lanes and frequently park in them.

“There’s still a huge problem with people using the bike lane, parking in the bike lane, trucks delivering in the bike lane,” he said. “There’s passive-aggressive drivers from time to time who will drift into the bike lane. Giving a sideeye to a cyclist.

“I don’t see enforcement. And that to me is the biggest issue. The infrastructure that is there doesn’t always matter.”

---///--Despite the challenges, thousands of people bike. For efficiency, cost, convenience, community, enjoyability, and health benefits.

“I realized the amount of time I spent waiting for trains and just packed like a sardine on the Orange Line,” Wolfson said. “I decided it was time to bike all the time. It really felt freeing and empowering.”

Moving forward, Boston Cyclists Union is organizing for a protected bike lane on Longfellow Bridge and has successfully organized for a protected bike lane on Comm Ave, despite initial resistance from the city of Boston and Boston University.

“We’ve really been pushing for a shift in the pace of change,” Thompson said. “The folks taking up the most space right now are people in cars. … From the cyclist’s perspective, it’s a really healthy and great way to move around an urban setting when we have the right cycling conditions.

“I believe the culture around cycling is shifting in Boston and will continue to shift to more positive perceptions [as] we build better and better infrastructure.”

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.

---///--Advocates want more. According to Thompson, there is an equity gap in where bike lanes are located. She pointed to the protected bike lane in the Back Bay section of Mass Ave, as compared to the infrastructure on the stretch of Mass Ave in Dorchester.

“While we would say the overall protected infrastructure is lacking in Boston, it’s particularly bad in under-resourced communities [Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester] where many people bike, especially when they have jobs in off hours when the T doesn’t service them, or they’re trying to get to areas of the city that are maybe more difficult to reach,” Thompson said. “There’s certainly work that’s being done at the city, but we are really wanting to look at the communities with [lacking] biking infrastructure and say, ‘There are lots of people in these communities who bike. They might not look like a white guy in spandex, but they deserve to get great protected infrastructure.’

“I think you’re seeing an overall street safety deficit in some of these under-resourced communities and NEWS TO US

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BROKEN MEDIA, BROKEN POLITICS APPARENT HORIZON

If Mass journalists were doing their jobs, Baker would not be so popular

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS It’s always funny to hear that Charlie Baker is a very popular governor… The most popular governor in the country at the moment, according to polls. Because he doesn’t do anything very differently than his predecessor Deval Patrick did. Or than Mass House speaker Robert DeLeo does. Or than most any state Democratic leader when it comes down to core economic issues—with the exception of the leaders with little actual power.

Baker, Patrick, DeLeo, and all their ilk in both major parties essentially follow the same game plan. They work to lower taxes for those most able to afford them, cut desperately needed social programs to the bone, and give away as much money as possible to giant corporations.

Much of the rest of what they do is posturing for the various constituencies that make up their particular electorates. And that’s the stuff that gets the most media coverage. Which is not to say they’re necessarily insincere about such activity. But they’re elected to represent the wealthy interests that run the Commonwealth, and the work they do for that most important constituency is always their top priority.

So when Patrick and Baker, for example, shovel over $1.5 billion in free public money at the biotech industry or arrange millions in tax breaks and direct state aid for huge companies that don’t need them on an ongoing basis— with DeLeo’s blessing in both administrations—to the extent those acts get coverage, they’re presented as done deals that are “good for the economy.” Then it’s on to the next press spectacle of the day. Events where they can “show leadership” and the like. As when there’s a snowstorm.

In Massachusetts, a northern state noted for its frequent snowstorms. And the current governor gets on TV and says “stay indoors during the snowstorm.” That is apparently showing leadership.

Which explains Baker’s high numbers, I think. Simple public relations. Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and all that. With most of the major news outlets gamely playing along. And his numbers are higher than Patrick’s were because he’s a white guy in a super racist state that likes to think it’s super anti-racist.

That’s what results in people that don’t pay attention to politics—including the vast majority of white voters— going, “Oh, Baker’s such a nice man” when pollsters ask their opinion of him. More than they did with Patrick. No doubt Baker is a nice man in person or whatever. Lots of people who do bad things when they have power are personally “nice.” Like, I’m sure when some buddy of his from childhood needs money, he’ll give it to him.

Or at least loan it to him.

But when all the legions of people he doesn’t know personally need good jobs with benefits, need free higher education, need major improvement to infrastructure like the MBTA—because of entrenched structural inequality—that’s a different story.

A story whose narrative you can hear if you listen to Baker’s remarks to the 2018 Mass Republican Convention in Worcester last weekend.

Stripping away obligatory pleasantries 6

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and nods to major supporters, the speech was aimed at the same white middle-class suburbanites who remain the base of the state Republican Party. Baker addressed them directly at one point while enumerating the “successes” of his administration: “We offered early college programs, our Commonwealth Commitment program, which dramatically reduces the cost of a college education. And increases in state scholarships to make the price of college more affordable for moderate- and middle-income families.”

See, he thinks they’re so important he mentioned them twice in a row: “moderate- and middle-income families.”

No word about low-income families, though. At all. Not even a nod. Sure, working families are discussed. But in Republican-speak, “working families” isn’t code for “working class” as it often is for Democrats. It means “those who work.” As opposed to “those who do not work.” Like all those “lazy shiftless” folks that used to be called working class in more honest times. And those totally nonindustrious [ha!] immigrants. And the “undeserving” poor in general.

Everyone who supposedly lives off the bounty of “our”–– the good “moderate- and middle-income” people’s, the “taxpayers’”—labor.

But no mention of his most important constituency, the one he actually works for, either. “Small business” is mentioned a number of times. But not major corporations and the rich people that own them.

Still, they’re there. Lurking behind all of Baker’s remarks.

Especially when he said several things that are completely and obviously false to anyone who follows politics reasonably closely. Like taking credit for “dramatically” reducing the cost of a college education. When public higher education is an absolute disaster in Massachusetts. When both the working-class families he seemingly deplores and the middle class he purports to represent—immigrant and nonimmigrant alike—are forced to run up ruinous amounts of debt just to put kids through schools that were once so cheap as to nearly be free. While tuition and fees keep getting raised year after year. Under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

The rich and the corporations are there because public higher ed, like virtually every other beneficial government program, is being starved for operating funds. To fatten that 1 percent’s coffers. Because politicians like Baker make a virtue out of cutting taxes. Slashing budgets. Laying off

public workers. Privatizing anything they can get away with.

As Baker himself has certainly been doing at the muchbeleaguered MBTA. Another public service he addressed in Worcester, saying: “We took on the special interests at the MBTA. Created a Fiscal Management and Control Board. And saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and we’re rebuilding its core infrastructure.” While, in the real world, that same public transportation infrastructure continues to fall apart for lack of the needed direct infusion of state funds.

Is everything Baker does bad? No. Is he as dangerous as federal counterparts like President Donald Trump? Or the feral reactionary theocrat Scott Lively that fully 28 percent of Mass Republican delegates just chose to run against Baker in a primary this fall? No. Not yet at least.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that a polity where a Charlie Baker can be incredibly popular is a broken polity. And a news media that enables him is a broken news media. Baker does not represent even the interest of the white middle class that keeps voting him into office, let alone the working class as a whole. A media that was doing its job would make that patently clear. Every hour of every day. Yet it does the opposite. Because it too is controlled by the same rich and powerful interests that control politics and ensure pols like Baker keep getting elected. Whether those pols call themselves Republicans or Democrats.

So to fix politics, we have to fix the media. And I can’t address how that might be done in a single column. But my colleagues and I are trying our damndest to do it in practice at DigBoston and the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. And the fix starts with journalists who are independent and strive to tell the truth about problems in media and the political system. Every hour of every day. Beyond that, there’s much more to say. So, I’ll plan to talk about specific potential fixes in future columns and editorials.

Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Jason Pramas is BINJ’s network director, and executive editor and associate publisher of DigBoston. Copyright 2018 Jason Pramas. Licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

THE NAZIS WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA An Atlanta suburb turns into a police state to protect protesters

BY JORDAN A. ROTHACKER

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It was 4 pm, and the Nazis were an hour late.

Several people made jokes like, “I thought the trains were supposed to run on time,” and, “Not very good Germans, are they?”

The neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement out of Michigan, had reserved Greenville Street Park in Newnan, Georgia, 3-5 pm on April 21, the day after Hitler’s birthday. The choice of location—a small metro Atlanta town of about 38,000 people—is still a bit of a mystery. There is a Confederate statue in front of the Coweta County Probate Court downtown, and that could have been a draw reminiscent of Charlottesville. It was shockingly well-guarded by riot police even though it was three blocks away from the park.

But that perfectly encapsulated the day—police were protecting Nazis and property.

I arrived in Newnan around 2 pm, later than I wanted but early enough to park just outside downtown in case things went sideways and I needed to run. The downtown shopping district was mostly closed for business—one bar with a large patio carried on Dig Boston.indd to serve spectators—and the police presence was extreme. I witnessed sheriff’s deputies in camouflage jump out of what appeared to be a tank without a gun turret and arrest a handful of protesters. I was told they committed the crime of standing in the street.

This was a big deal for the 700 law enforcement officers present (from 42 different agencies, as reported by the New York Times).

As I latched onto a very welcoming crowd of old hippies, possible antifa, and other random counterprotesters, law enforcement constantly yelled at us to “stay on the sidewalk!” and “no masks!” Masks were the other big no-no (a 1950s Georgia law aimed at the KKK prohibits wearing them). Almost every arrest I saw was provoked by some counterprotester putting on a mask or bandana covering part or all of their face.

We were stopped at a blockade of trucks and directed to a checkpoint. By then, in our ranks were protesters of various levels of militancy, from black bloc-style antifa kids in their early 20s to locals who had never demonstrated before. Guns were everywhere.

Outside the checkpoint, where I saw the most arrests, half a dozen police officers tackled one young protestor for putting on a mask while another five chased a shirtless kid, likely for the same reason. Or because he stood in the street.

Those seeking entry had to empty their pockets and be patted down by an officer.

Prohibited items included pins, bandanas, flags, signs with stakes or poles, pens, water bottles, and knives. Firearms were allowed if you had a permit. Glancing at one of the trash cans, I saw a set of nail clippers.

I clocked the arrival of the Nazis on the columned stage in the park at 4:08 pm, and finally the crowd of about 200 people around me had a definite direction for shouting, chanting and “loud love” (many had chosen a high road, countering hate with affirmations of equality). From my position there looked to be only about 15 Nazis, but some reports put them at about two dozen. The crowd yelling at them was mostly African-American, and some people were in organized groups led by church leaders. An older gentleman in a Black Panther Party shirt and beret told stories about Malcolm X, and we were all entertained by a white woman, Donna J. Trump, who gave an on-point impersonation of our president.

Since the Nazis were late, they had less than an hour to spread their hate. Still, we shouted—I participated as a counterprotester—en masse to the police and over the police at the National Socialist Movement, “Black lives matter!” We belted, “No Nazis, no KKK, no fascist USA!” Sadly, this is not what has been reported in major outlets.

Jordan Rothacker is a writer living in Athens, Georgia. His most recent novel is My Shadow Book by Maawaam, available at readspaceboy.com.

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CALI TALKING JOINTS MEMO

HIGH BAR

We have seen the Barbary Coast and it is us

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

The rigs are always at a perfect 620 degrees at Barbary Coast. The San Francisco weather outside of the doors is one thing, but on the inside, there is a 100 percent chance of fog, and haze for that matter, thanks to the automatic warming setup at the dab bar.

This may be one of the first full-service cannabis clubs in Cali, at least of the fully legal kind, but it seems to have gotten it quite right already. At least from where I’m sitting, where, after selecting from an absolutely dizzying array of shatters and assorted other extracts, I melted down some of the wax I purchased in one of the three rigs waiting to facilitate a sticky situation in a relatively sterile fashion (there is no blow torch necessary, though depending on your pick and preference, one of the budtenders may top you off with extra heat).

The smoking lounge just steps away through a glass door is somewhat large but intimate, with red velvet patterned walls splashing up to an 18-foot-high hardwood ceiling. Some tables and chairs are cafe style, while booths with high backs on the far side offer minimal privacy. There’s not too much to overthink here; the place is basically an urban bar, but with weed instead of booze. Plus bowls and bongs and any other kind of tool you need. Just ask nicely.

Oh, and there are no photos allowed. They seem to take this rule pretty seriously.

Still, you’re able to take mental notes, and probably will if you climb to the heights that we reach in there.

There’s a 60-something gentleman to our immediate right who is smoking out of a corn pipe that he brought on his own. Off to our other side, a woman in her 20s smokes a cone, taking in her Sunday afternoon. Across the room, four guys at a table drool over the open childproof bags filled with the treats they purchased, deliberating which to chew, dab, or inhale first.

The water bubbler is working overtime.

For our first 20 minutes or so, we hear two or maybe even three too many Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. I suppose that they are catering to tourists, which works out better for my tastes when a steady reel of throwback roots reggae classics comes on next. As a cherry on top before we step out, I actually overhear a budtender having a quoteworthy chat with a man and a woman he’s helping get wrecked at the dab bar.

…

Woman: Sorry if we’re rushing, man, but we’re trying to make it to the movies.

Budtender: On yeah, what are you going to see? Maybe I can recommend the right

I can’t hear too much more of their discussion, but there are comparable interactions at our next and final destination, Urban Pharm, just a few minutes away. Impressive in it own ways, UP is steampunk-inspired with more of a casual coffee shop thing to the previous spot’s lounge vibe. Its budtender is incredibly knowledgeable, the selections sweet like (and including) candy.

If it weren’t thousands of miles away from the Dig office in Charlestown, I’d come back every day.

P.S. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to laundry-list a bunch of strains and product names that may or may not be available in New England, as there will be a lot of time for those reviews when we have rec shops of our own. The main point of our journey was to get a better sense of what the vibe and culture is like in a newly legal state. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that beyond the ordinary stuff like medicated cookies, in any of these places you can get lost floating on a chunk of resin in a sea of medicated lemonade and 7UP.

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BOYS ON THE SIDE FEATURE

JP’s guy-free film night is the perfect post-Weinstein outpost

BY C. SHARDAE JOBSON

“Women watch movies, right?”

Kristen Bonstein asks that question in feigned shock as she and Alex Kittle, the co-founders of Strictly Brohibited, and I discuss representation of women in film.

Such conversations are common in film circles, but have become more frequent and politicized, in part due to mainstream outlets piggybacking the work that Tarana Burke has done around #MeToo for more than 12 years. Last fall, the hashtag was used to interrogate popular culture after bombshells about Harvey Weinstein, published in the New York Times and the New Yorker, spurred investigations into other problematic prominent male actors, agents, filmmakers, and ultimately other men, from broadcast journalism to professional sports, who had committed acts involving sexual harassment, assault, or misconduct.

As an observer of #MeToo and later #TIMESUP, I reveled in the schadenfreude. It still feels like a rarity when men in power who are culprits get what’s coming to them. But by February, I was weary of how the think pieces and chatter had engulfed the campaigns. In Strictly Brohibited, I found a remedy for so much media consumption.

The viewing and discussion group is held at Video Underground in Jamaica Plain, and connects women fans of movies who watch films by women, often about women (in which case male protagonists are allowed), in a room of women (cis-, LGBTQ, non-binary) viewers only.

“Pre-Weinstein,” Kittle was already paying close attention to the sexual assault and harassment accusations against Devin Faraci, former editor-in-chief of Birth.Movies.Death, the spinoff website of the famed Austin-based theater chain Alamo Drafthouse. Though reports claimed he was fired, it turned out Faraci was secretly rehired to work with Alamo, this time doing behind-the-scenes writing for its Fantastic Fest. As Kittle joined the conversation on “film Twitter” about it, she recalled feeling baffled and wondering, “Is this how we deal with this?”

That controversy came around the same time that Los Angeles art house Cinefamily imploded after revelations of pervasive sexual harassment. Meanwhile, men were bemoaning being left out of women-only Wonder Woman showtimes (some of which were awkwardly held at Alamo locations). “God forbid they’re left out of the party for once,” Bonstein says, smirking.

Kittle became frustrated by the transgressions. Where were the women-friendly spaces in film, anyway?

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“They are not that many theaters we know of that are run by women and fostering inclusivity in that way,” Kittle says. “[In Boston], a lot of theaters are run by dudes, aside from the Brattle, which is run by husband and wife. The Brattle does a lot of great, women-centric programming too.”

This past spring, the Brattle honored what would’ve been the 25th anniversary of hosting the Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema. The BIFWC ended in 2003.

“I love going to a movie with my main lady friends and talking about it with them. It’s a real different experience than with men,” Kittle notes. “I’ve been in movie theaters where I was one of the only women in the audience and it’s such a weird feeling. You’re not 100 percent comfortable.

There’s a little tension in the air.”

She confided in Kevin Koppes, who runs Video Underground, an old-school shop that hosts movie nights.

He helped come up with the name Strictly Brohibited, leaving Kittle and the others to call him “the one male fingerprint.”

“Alex and I had bounced group names back and forth for a while, most of which involved ‘bro,’ ‘dude,’ or some similar pun,” he said. “The term ‘strictly prohibited’ is on a lot of comically threatening FBI warnings on tapes and discs. So ‘strictly brohibited’ combined the pun, movie reference, and winked at the conscious exclusion.”

Kittle met Bonstein through Koppes and was appointed Brohibited’s co-doyenne.

Kittle and Bonstein share a massive love for movies, and long before SB were heedful of the way that women were portrayed and how far the movie industry’s green light reached in not just hiring women, but particularly nonwhite women of other cultures, races, socioeconomics, sexual and gender identifications, and ages to tell their stories.

“There’s so much baggage. So much history of exclusion. A lack of open-mindedness,” Kittle says. “I do consider myself an intersectional feminist and while knowing that, I still feel that I got a lot of work to do. It is a learning process. I believe in film as something that can open up new experiences and different voices. A chance to hear what everyone else has to say. I’ve learned so much from film. It’s my history book.”

For their first screening last November, the duo decided on the independent film Girlfight. “I really hope it made

a statement about what this group is about,” Bonstein explains. “Good storytelling is universal, and it’s just about platforms. Girlfight is not on Blu-ray or a recent DVD, but it was our chance to reintroduce it.”

To confirm, Kittle and Bonstein do watch movies by men and have enjoyed plenty. But it doesn’t take a film degree to be cognizant of how some of the most celebrated male filmmakers who have created roles for women— many categorized as strong female leads—still include remnants of misogyny and misogynoir. This extends to television as well.

“You can’t get away from the male ego.” Bonstein addresses Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. “With a lot of male ‘auteurs,’ they can elevate somebody else, but always through their own lens. They can’t help but put their own thumbprint on whatever that is, be it liberal use of the N-word, through the exploitation of women. And then those characters overcome, but to this ‘hand-selected soundtrack.’ It’s just so much more about their take on it than it is about the woman or that person of color’s actual personhood.”

As serendipity would have it, it was in February that I noticed Strictly Brohibited on Instagram. The group’s profile pic, of Janeane Garofalo spitting up liquor as Heather Mooney in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, was all the incentive I needed. I eagerly DM’d my email, as suggested, to join.

So far, screenings have highlighted Oscar-winning and -nominated women such as Seven Beauties by Lina Wertmuller, the first woman nominated for best director.

Movies by Black women filmmakers, such as Kasi Lemmons’ sumptuous Eve’s Bayou (and no, films by Black women will not be limited to February). The episodic, agitprop Daisies, and the already out-of-print 2014 film Appropriate Behavior. In April, a fundraiser was held for the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund during the abortion rom-com (you read that correctly) Obvious Child. May’s programming will commence with the lesbian charactersled thriller Bound.

At Strictly Brohibited, no female experience goes unturned.

“We don’t want folks to look at SB and think, ‘They’re just showing Wonder Woman and Nora Ephron, and maybe this isn’t for me,” Kittle reassures. “We are not engaging in tokenism or the performative.”

As April ended as a crucial month for the #MeToo movement—Molly Ringwald’s unexpectedly poignant “What About The Breakfast Club?” article, and Bill Cosby was convicted in retrial—Brohibited, from February ‘til now, has encouraged me to extend some of my energy in similarly acknowledging the valor and crafts(wo)manship of particular filmmakers, then and now alike.

“The focus on woman-made films right now, it’s such a big discussion—which is great!—but is very contemporary focused,” Kittle says. “We are personally also so interested in women filmmakers in history. Partly because they had even more boundaries that they were breaking and challenges they faced, like Lois Weber.”

After films end, SB’s discussion begins. Whether one’s first screening or an habitué, attendees self-reflect and connect by sharing related vignettes of their lives that and visceral reviews that can range from praise to surprise.

“I think it’s important for people to find ‘social spaces’ that aren’t social media spaces,” Koppes says. “Having in-person, shared experiences and actual conversations that require more than pulling out your phone—those aren’t always easy to find.” Coming to Brohibited’s defense, he adds, “Though its outward mission is upfront about exclusion, I think the broader mission of bringing more, varied voices into the film community is ultimately inclusive.”

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ALLEGIANCE AND NINJAS AND PORNSTARS, OH MY! FEATURE INTERVIEW

A candid take with George Takei

BY DAN PECCI @DANPECCI

As an actor, director, author, and activist, George Takei has led more lives than the coolest of cool cats. While he is perhaps most well-known for playing USS Enterprise helmsman Mr. Sulu from the legendary Star Trek series, Takei himself has become a pop cultural icon in his own right thanks to a multifaceted career tackling everything from Hollywood to Howard Stern, comedy to Comic Con, and more recently performing in the Broadway musical Allegiance inspired by his own childhood memories of living in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. I was privileged enough to speak with George Takei by phone to discuss the show’s upcoming New England premiere at SpeakEasy Stage, learn his thoughts on citizenship and celebrity, and hear his predictions for the future of our glorious (dis)union.

You just turned 81 a few days ago, so let me begin by wishing you a belated happy birthday. How did you observe such a milestone?

Thank you very much. It’s been an ongoing celebration for the past three days. Friday night was when we passed the 81 mark, and [my husband] Brad organized a familyand-friends gathering at a very posh restaurant. The next night was the Japanese American National Museum Gala.

And last night I was honored by Asia Society Southern California for breaking barriers in Hollywood. I don’t know what today will hold, but I hope it will be fun.

Well, today you get to speak with me.

Fun, fun, fun!

It’s probably important to note that you will not be performing in the Boston production of Allegiance, but you will be attending?

Yes, and this is the first time I will actually get to see Allegiance as a member of the audience. I’ve already enjoyed a preview of sorts: The Boston cast sang “Gaman”—one of my favorite songs from the show—and a beautiful rendition of “Happy Birthday” to me by video.

How lovely! I’m curious about how the idea for creating Allegiance first came to fruition.

It’s been my life’s mission to raise awareness around such a dark chapter in American history. I’ve always wanted to somehow humanize that and my story within it by perhaps fashioning it into a play, but Jay Kuo [who wrote the music, lyrics, and book] convinced me that a musical could prove much more penetrating to the human heart than a straight drama might alone. Not to mention, it would allow us to employ a popular American medium that is much more likely to spread the kind of awareness that I wanted to the masses.

On paper I suppose it might seem somewhat unexpected to convey such history by such means. I mean, a musical about internment camps?

Perhaps. But including music also felt organic to my memories of living in those camps. As drab and ordered as they were, the camps did allow teenagers to hold dances.

So I remember hearing those big-band songs of the ’40s wafting through the night air; I suppose that music has colored my memories enough for it to feel native to the narrative.

What are you looking forward to most in this production?

I’m curious to see how my character comes off.

To you as spectator or to Boston audiences?

To both. And while I expect most Bostonians to exhibit

equal taste and intelligence, there is perhaps the off chance I will be proven wrong. Let’s hope they exhibit the former.

I was surprised to learn how politically active you’ve been throughout your career: serving on boards, making a bid for city council, and using your celebrity as a platform to discuss contentious issues like same-sex marriage and immigration policy. In that vein, what are your personal thoughts regarding what seems to be the current trend of entertainers seeking public office?

Entertainers don’t give up their citizenship because of their chosen profession. In a democracy, those who cherish its ideals must be active and engaged. One cannot just vote: One must cast an informed vote. After that, one should be a volunteer for a candidate one supports; then perhaps serve on a board; then perhaps also seek office.

Above all, we need a wide range of diverse perspectives— whether actors or doctors or truck drivers, we need all kinds of persons behind all sorts of professions to participate in the electoral process. We cannot discriminate and we cannot presume that one cannot be one thing just because they are also something else.

In other words, we shouldn’t let our professions define who we are as citizens?

Just remember that you are an intelligent being who has their own thoughts on issues within currents of time that are informed by vast foundations of historical knowledge.

I’m not sure what that means exactly, but your voice is so stentorian that I can’t help but interpret anything you say as something other than profound. Relatedly, it’s pretty surreal to hear such a recognizable voice booming through my phone right now. Since you’re such a wellknown public figure, do you ever think about yourself in the third person?

Never. I’m just me! Thinking about yourself in the third person is for someone like Donald Trump.

I’m guessing by your tone that you’re not a fan?

You are correct.

Of course he comes to mind as perhaps the most prominent example of entertainer turned politician.

There was also Ronald Reagan, whom I was not a fan of either, but will acknowledge his signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that granted reparations to JapaneseAmericans who had been interned by the US government.

I have been fortunate to enjoy so many audiences who find me relatable. For instance, at the Asia Society event the other night, a teenage son of one of the supporters confided that he only knew me as a holographic grandpa from the Nickelodeon series Supah Ninjas. And suddenly there I was in the flesh before him—real as anything—and he looks me in the eye and says, “You were my hero.” Which was of course very sweet. So I have pleasantly managed to reach or relate to every generation in one way or another.

I will say that for a cultural icon you come off as remarkably down-to-earth.

Funnily enough, that’s the planned title for my next memoir. My last autobiography was To the Stars, and so the follow-up must naturally be called Down to Earth.

Well, it certainly seems like you’ve lived long and prospered.

I thought you hadn’t seen Star Trek?

That doesn’t mean the Vulcan salute isn’t one of my go-to emojis. Tell me, though, what sort of earthly delights does earthbound George Takei enjoy these days?

I’ve been working nonstop going on three years. Now that I’m 81, I think I can take some time to not necessarily slow down but to certainly smell the roses. I like to have some beer. A glass of wine. Get together with friends. Oh, and I’ll be traveling a lot with Brad. We’re planning to take a Norwegian cruise, go to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival, and then see more theater in London.

And what might starry George Takei see coming for us in the cosmos?

First, I foresee a stirring new production of Allegiance at SpeakEasy Stage that every Bostonian should go and see.

And second, I predict that we will have a new president by the end of this year.

Oh really?

Oh yes. You know, a force of nature is coming closer and closer. And that force of nature goes by the name of…

Stormy Daniels.

Oh my!

Oh my, indeed. Yes, I predict a summer storm is coming.

Probably best we buckle up.

An important event to note in regard to Allegiance.

And there was also a certain former governor by the name of Schwarzenegger who was not a friend of mine either.

Oh no?

Certainly not. He was another hypocrite who just played to his base. In fact, his veto of legislation for samesex marriage was what prompted me to publicly come out of the closet. I was so angry. And to be fair, it had been long enough anyhow. So I took his hypocrisy as an opportunity to come out roaring and to come out loud.

Speaking of coming out, now is probably an appropriate time to confess that I’ve never actually seen an episode of Star Trek.

Oh my!

Exactly. So while I don’t know you as Sulu, I do know you as a superstar of social media who is also known for their rather suggestive catchphrase.

>> ALLEGIENCE. 5.4–6.2. ROBERTS STUDIO THEATRE IN THE STANFORD CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 527 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. SPEAKEASYSTAGE.COM 12

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SOMERVILLE OPEN STUDIOS ARTS

| RESTAURANT | INTIMATE CONCERT VENUE | | URBAN WINERY | PRIVATE EVENT SPACE |

Artists welcome public to 20th anniversary of popular volunteer-run event

BY CHRISTINA M. TEDESCO, JOHANNA FINNEGAN-TOPITZER, AND MATT KALINER

Beverage Events

5.2

5.1 ArtWeek: The Art of Wine and Cheese with Gallery NAGA

5.3

passport to wine (monthly class series)

portugal

5.10

Tour de France Wine Dinner

Ancient Vines

Apulian Wine Dinner

5.11 Oregon Wine Month

5.12

5.13

5.16

City Winery & Improv Asylum Present

Walnut City Wine Dinner Whose Wine Is It Anyway?

mothers day brunch ChardonnYAY! blooms and bubbles w/ Wente Family Estates

5.17

5.22

Rosé Fête

A Rosé Tasting Party

Scout Cookies & Wine Pairing Party

upcoming shows

5.11-12 | art garfunkel

5.20 | Jamie Kent w/ opener Hayley Reardon

5.23 |Twisted Pine & Upstate Rubdown

6.1 | kevin nealon BOOK YOUR NEXT EVENT WITH US

email eventsboston@citywinery.com for more info

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

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For the 20th year in a row, the artists of Somerville will open their doors to the public from Friday, May 4 to Sunday, May 6. Even as we write, living rooms are being converted into galleries, kitchens into showrooms, and studios everywhere are being cleaned and readied for the annual pilgrimage. For this spring weekend, Somerville will transform into one of the largest art markets in the country, with over 350 artists showing in 87 locations spread across the city’s 4.1 square miles. For visitors, the artists and art can be easily reached via four free trolleys circling counterclockwise through the city all weekend.

Somerville Open Studios, or SOS as we like to call it, is unique in a number of important ways: It is one of the largest events of its kind in the United States, by far the largest in the Boston area, yet it still relies entirely on the hard work of volunteers.

Somerville boasts some of the biggest studio complexes in New England—like the labyrinthine Vernon Street, Joy Street, and Brickbottom—but the origins and arguably the heart of the event remains the artists who show out of their homes or small studio buildings.

SOS normally restricts membership to artists who live or have a studio in Somerville. This year, SOS celebrates its 20 years of operation by honoring its history and those artists who have lost their homes or studios to rising rents and gentrification. Past members have been invited back to participate and accommodated in sites all over the city.

The annual event began back in 1999 when Jonathan Derry and Laura Fayer, two Somerville artists, wanted to have a citywide open studio event for artists in small studios as well home studios. An inaugural planning committee was formed, a call was put out to artists throughout Somerville, and the event was planned for the first weekend in May 1999. This first event featured over 80 artists exhibiting at 25 different sites in Somerville. As SOS grew, studio buildings like Vernon Street asked if they could be in SOS. A meeting was called to talk about this. There was a concern that if large studios participated, it would draw the public away from the small and home studios. After much discussion, SOS welcomed the large studio buildings.

In 2002, the first Artist’s Choice exhibit was held at the Somerville Museum. This exhibit is now called the SOS First Look show, and this year it began on April 23 and continues until May 15, 2018, at the Somerville Museum. The show allows visitors to plan their tour and preview the artists.

Somerville Open Studios became a Massachusetts nonprofit organization in 2004 with two goals in mind. As we claim on our tax forms each year, the open studios serves the “purpose of broadening public awareness of the arts and providing exposure to unknown and emerging artists.”

Since Somerville Open Studios is still run and organized by volunteers, everything that goes into putting on the event is done with love and caring mixed with a lot of pride. Things like putting together the First Look Show, the Volunteer Show, getting sponsors, making the map book and map stands, and all the little things that go into SOS weekend are done by a big group of volunteers. Most of the volunteers are participating artists. The artists and volunteers are what make Somerville Open Studios happen.

For a small city, Somerville boasts a remarkable number of artists, pursuing an astounding diversity of artistic disciplines and media. SOS remains a healthy organization, but many are concerned that membership has been dropping since our peak of 425 artists in 2013.

We have all watched friends be forced out of their homes or studios by rent increases or condo conversions, and remain fearful that this trend will only increase. This is why we have welcomed back the displaced artists of Somerville for this 20th year celebration. Somerville has changed dramatically from the city of 1999, but its artists remain an inclusive and welcome community, eager to open its doors for visitors this weekend.

Come and see for yourself May 4, 6-9 pm, and May 5 and 6, 12-6 pm.

Find out more at somervilleopenstudios.org.

PHOTO BY JASON PRAMAS

The authors are members of Somerville Open Studios board of directors.

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TURNSTILE WHEEL OF TUNES

Baltimore hardcore punks talk potato guns, skate parks, and cutting sweets

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Forget about all the cliches of hardcore punk when listening to Turnstile. The five-piece Baltimore act— frontman Brendan Yates, bassist and supporting vocalist Franz Lyons, lead guitarist Brady Ebert, rhythm guitarist Pat McCrory, and drummer Dan Fang—manages to embody them while simultaneously breaking them, turning up the production of traditionally cheesy metallic hardcore tropes and intersplicing them with soul, rock, R&B, and more.

Hardcore purists have turned their noses up at Time & Space, the band’s first new album since 2015’s crossover record Nonstop Feeling. How can you take a band like Turnstile seriously when they pair thick, melodic breakdowns with highly produced vocals on “Moon” or a hard rock outro on “Generator”? It’s simple. You listen closely and hear how much fun they’re having; that’s when it all makes sense. The larger embrace of that on Time & Space has gotten them a lot of attention, especially at their live shows. It’s there that the people most often banished to the fringes of hardcore—people of color, the youth, women, nonbinary and trans folks—can feel welcome. The further their music is shared, hopefully the more people will come out to their shows and feel welcome, fans or not.

“With every record, we naturally do what feels good for us at the time as people are always progressing,” says frontman Brendan Yates. “Getting press about it has been so cool. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the New Yorker, stuff like that was cool and special because those are the kind of things I can show my dad as he actually reads those. It’s cool to be in the eyes of a diverse selection of people. That’s always true, no matter the context. This album and everything happening around it has been super special.”

To get to know the day-to-day backstories that bring life to an album like this one, we interviewed Brendan Yates for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles. With Time & Space as the prompt, his answers are both uncomplicated and jocular—personality traits that the whole band will sport when headlining the Paradise Rock Club this Monday.

1. “Real Thing” Can you name two of the realest issues hardcore still struggles with decades since its formation?

In general, I think any problem that exists that I can think of isn’t a total problem. Some people think certain ways and others think other ways. This isn’t a huge

problem with everybody. I feel weird talking about negative things I don’t like about hardcore, you know? I think people supporting each other more and tearing each other down less. There should be more promoting of things you think are great and less energy spent on things that aren’t.

The other issue is embracing diversity in everything: sound, outlook, people. Just what people would expect so far of hardcore and learning to go bigger than that.

2. “Big Smile” Out of all the people you know, who has the best smile?

Honestly, probably Franz [Lyons], who plays bass in Turnstile.

He’s got the pearly whites and the beautiful, huge smile. He makes everyone feel amazing even if you just look at his face. It’s extra contagious. If you see him smiling real big, then you’re locked in with him.

This skate park by my house, probably. Skating in the lower park by my house would be dangerous without vision. I skate pretty often. We always bring our boards on tour and skate when we can. We skate when chilling at home, too.

6. “High Pressure” When was the last time you were under a lot of stress?

I think there’s always a constant stress when you keep yourself super busy, whether it’s a negative stress or a positive stress. Just being sick recently while traveling, because traveling can be hectic and on the go, being sick has made it a lot harder and stressful. I’ve been stressing to make sure my mental and physical health are being taken care of while traveling, playing hard, and trying to sleep.

FIND THE REST OF THE TRACKS FROM NINA'S PIECE AT DIGBOSTON.COM

3. “Generator” Who in the band generates the most energy onstage?

I think it’s a team effort, because everyone feeds off one another. Franz does a good job of feeding off whatever is going on, though. I’m giving a lot of praise to him, I realize, but he’s the type of person you look at if you lose focus and gets you back in the zone.

4. “Bomb” When you were growing up, did you ever create your own mini explosives, like cherry bombs?

Oh yeah, I did those all the time. We blew up a lot of stuff. We made potato guns that we would shoot houses with. We got big PVC pipes and rigged this little explosion thing to the end of it so it shoots the potato a thousand miles an hour out the other end of it. We were always lighting things on fire and blowing small things up in my neighborhood. I grew up between Baltimore and DC, right between the two. A potato gun is so fun, though. It was the craziest thing to have when young. My one friend was the extra bad kid in school, and he knew how to make bombs. He got suspended from high school for having bomb ingredients in his bag—not that he was trying to blow us up, he just wanted to make a tiny explosion like a cherry bomb. Life was crazy growing up because of him.

5. “I Don’t Wanna Be Blind” Which place or location do you frequent that you would no longer go to if you were permanently blind?

PHOTO BY JIMMY FONTAINE

>>TURNSTILE, TOUCHE AMORE, CULTURE ABUSE, RAZORBUMPS. MON 5.7. PARADISE ROCK CLUB, 967 COMM. AVE., ALLSTON. 6PM/ALL AGES/$18. CROSSROADSPRESENTS.COM

MUSIC EVENTS THU 05.03

THU 05.03

FRI 05.04

[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 7pm/18+/$18.50. royaleboston.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$25. crossroadspresents.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/18+/$20. crossroadspresents.com]

THE MOST POWERFUL VOICE IN ROCK MUSIC TODAY HOP ALONG + SAINTSENECA

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HIP HOP GETS DIGITALIZED WHAT SO NOT + MICHAEL CHRISTMAS + JAMES EARL

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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE’S SOLO ABSURDIST ELECTRONICS PANDA BEAR + GEOLOGIST

FRI 05.04

THE RADIO QUEENS OF ’90S ALT-ROCK THE BREEDERS + MELKBELLY

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/18+/$30. houseofblues.com]

SUN 05.06

SHEARWATER’S SLOWCORE CHEMISTRY LOMA + JESSICA WILLIAMSON

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

8:30pm/18+/$12. greatscottboston.com]

SUN 05.06

TANGO TO REGGAE LOUNGE EDM BRAZILIAN GIRLS + SUN PARADE + DJ CARBO [Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston.

7:30pm/18+/$20. crossroadspresents.com]

MUSIC

LAKE STREET DIVE

A new fire burns under Boston’s renowned live act

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAKE STREET DIVE Back in 2004, a little band by the name of Lake Street Dive formed. After meeting in the halls of New England Conservatory of Music, lead vocalist Rachael Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, guitarist and trumpeter Mike Olson, and drummer Mike Calabrese decided to form a band. The goal was simple: make part-jazz, part-soul southern rock with people that they love. Word of their live shows spread rapidly, as the band is all fanfare and enthusiasm on the stage compared to the more manicured sound of their studio recordings.

At least, that was the case up until last year.

Like a lot of Americans, the four members of Lake Street Dive found themselves suffocated by the terse political climate under our new president, and their new album Free Yourself Up is a stark reflection of such. Over the course of its 10 songs, listeners will find the band may not sound drastically different in terms of instrumental style, but rather the messages the band is singing about have changed. In fact, Free Yourself Up signals a lot of changes. The biggest, and best, is how Lake Street Dive interact with the external world as musicians and citizens.

“It’s important for songs you’re writing to be honest. They should reflect where you’re at personally. While I think our songs have done a great job of feeling really applicable to all sorts of people because they came from personal experiences to a personal extent, that’s the first responsibility we felt as songwriters,” says Price.

Because the band chose to tackle heavier subjects, the usual songwriting process was altered to better format the discussions. Instead of each member writing a song on their own and bringing it to the band to rehearse, everyone began collaborating more both in song arrangement and construction. In a way, they were playing song tag: If a member had an idea, then the goal was to tag another member and invite them to work on your track together, trading off who writes the music and who writes the lyrics. The process taught them to build more trust and, in tandem, confidence both as individuals and as a unit. All four musicians were making decisions faster. They were on the same page more often. They learned new things over a decade after they thought they already had one another figured out.

Collaboration was needed because of how difficult addressing real world problems was for them. Lyrically, Lake Street Dive struggled with songs like “Shame, Shame, Shame” where the members couldn’t figure out how to communicate the message.

They scrapped the recording and then resurrected it later on because it felt like an important sentiment to deliver. So they repurposed the song’s anthemic moment where they sing a positive message about incoming change. The new version solved the roadbump the band ran into.

Musically, there were other hurdles. On “I Can Change,” a stylistically simple folk song felt out of their wheelhouse only because it strays toward the reserved side of music. How could a notoriously energetic band deliver a subtle number? Lake Street Dive opted for minimal production, continuing folk’s tradition of accessible music to encourage listeners to learn how to play it themselves, thus passing the story along to others through performance.

Free Yourself Up bursts with tracks that were at once inspired and difficult like these. Track listing becomes extra important in that sense. So the album begins with the lively, new-age swing of opener “Baby Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts.” Its first words, “Hard times, hard times,” stage the scene as a warning and a rally cry.

Nearly 15 years deep into its career, Lake Street Dive is still the reckless, inspiring, lively band that first explored Boston’s music landscape in the mid-aughts. The one criticism the musicians heard from fans over the years, though, is that their records rarely capture the energy their live shows offer. So they decided to figure out what’s missing in that translation from studio to stage by taking the producer reigns themselves—a first for the band.

The new production role felt manageable because of their close-knit bond. Telling a friend’s story on their behalf is a lot easier when your friend happens to be standing right next to you onstage. That’s what makes Free Yourself Up feel liberating the deeper into its runtime you get, and it’s why the band is so excited to bring that sound to life onstage at the Sinclair this Friday.

“It’s a profound experience,” explains Price. “It’s a blessing to be in a band with such good songwriters and to get to be the voice for these words.”

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LIVE MUSIC • PRIVATE EVENTS 5/03

The Bamboo Steamers Americana indie roots 5/04

May the Fourth Be With You Taco Pop Up & Solo: A Star Wars Story Tacos, free showing of Star Wars & first 50 win swag from the new movie Solo!

5/05

Kaiju Big Battel - Rogue ONCE

Parodies of Mexican wrestling, superheroes & Japanese pop culture 5/06

Rock Parents Photo Exhibit with Kelly Davidson

W/John Powhida International Airport, The One Smith, and Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys 5/07

Neil Hamburger

Stand-up anti comedian persona

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

>>LAKE STREET DIVE, MIKAELA DAVIS. FRI 5.4. THE SINCLAIR, 52 CHURCH ST., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/18+/$53.75. SINCLAIRCAMBRIDGE.COM

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

THEATER REVIEWS ARTS

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

BOY MEETS FOX: FIRST LOVE IS THE REVOLUTION AT APOLLINAIRE THEATRE

Not since Romeo and Juliet has a first love caused such a… well, stir.

And while Rita Kalnejais’s First Love Is the Revolution is undoubtedly taking several cues from the tragedy of the legendary star-crossed lovers, the result is a wholly original, compulsively enjoyable, and deeply thought-provoking play that turns out to be one of the highlights of this spring’s theater offerings.

Did I mention that the love affair in question is between a teenage boy and a female fox?

Directed with rollicking spirit and just the right amount of darkness by Danielle Fauteux Jacques, this fable for adults, which runs through May 5 at Chelsea’s Apollinaire Theatre Company, achieves both a requisite silliness and the kind of stick-to-your-ribs drama that ensures that the play will remain somewhere near the forefront of your mind long after the cast takes their bows.

Basti’s mother has been sent away under vaguely traumatic circumstances, leaving him alone with his barely capable father, Simon (an excellent performance by Robert Cope), in a house that is in shambles. As the play begins at the start of a new school year, Simon promises Basti (an exceptional MacMillan Leslie) that this year will be better, but between not really fitting in at school and missing his mother, Basti isn’t in a great place.

He’s also on a new medication that keeps him up long after his bedtime, which is why he’s outside in the middle of the night setting a fox trap. He thinks that a new stole might cheer his mother up. That’s when he catches Rdeca (Hayley Spivey), a young female fox with some sadness of her own: Her father was recently hit by a car while kabob hunting.

Species be damned, the two quickly open up to each other and begin a rather unique love affair: He rids her of her fleas (which incenses her mother, played by Bridgette Hayes) and she teaches him to hunt, though it’s a shame that the chickens—played with showstopping hilarity by Caroline Keeler and Liz Adams—had to die; some of the evening’s best laughs belong to Keeler’s riotous portrayal.

As Rdeca seems to bring out the animal in Basti, he begins to bring out the worst in her: She turns rebellious, and her language becomes more and more profane. But as this darkly comic fable nears its climax, a late revelation brings about deadly consequences.

Hayley Spivey is a wide-eyed, likable Rdeca, and MacMillan Leslie is giving an extraordinary performance as Basti, certainly among the finest of the year. John Manning makes a big impression as an aggressive dog, as does Dale J. Young as the sweet but ill-fated Gregor Mole.

Nathan K. Lee’s panoramic unit set is fantastically creative, and Elizabeth Cole Sheehan’s costumes are a great deal of fun. Wearer of many hats, director Jacques is also responsible for the effective lighting design.

I have no qualms about the play itself, which is as daring and exciting a work as any in recent memory (it premiered in 2015 at London’s Soho Theatre). And while Jacques’ production is surprisingly riveting and exceptionally dark, the final moments could use some more finesse (and, dare I say, some blood).

For all the joy of this Revolution, it is the darker undertones that resonate most profoundly. There are a lot of issues touched upon by Kalnejais—some explored with more clear-sightedness than others—and Jacques ensures that the atmosphere is fertile enough for them to sprout.

The play touches on issues of animal welfare and the cruelty of humans, sure, but also on the complexities 18

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of love between two unlike people and our bewildering willingness to condemn that which we don’t understand.

Given that the human in the relationship is played by a white man and the animal is played by a black woman, Kalnejais and Jacques not so subtly (but oh so fulfillingly) explore issues of gender and race as well, which layers in additional depth.

First Love Is the Revolution is one of the most refreshing things I’ve seen all year. Don’t miss it.

MILES JORDAN & DEEN RAWLINS. LIZA VOLL PHOTOGRAPHY

FIRST LOVE IS THE REVOLUTION. THROUGH 5.5 AT APOLLINAIRE THEATRE COMPANY, 189 WINNISIMMET ST., CHELSEA. APOLLINAIRETHEATRE.COM

NO, BITCH. BEWARE: COMPANY ONE WIGS OUT AT OBERON

“Stonewall has come crumbling down and Paris is still burning,” say the swaggerific Greek-inspired fates at the top of Wig Out! “Here, where one night can leave you legendary. Here, where a daughter that once was a son can find family. So as delicately as we can, we bring you a story of a house that was never quite a home.”

You may want to brush up on your vogue-cabulary before saddling up to Wig Out!, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s now decade-plus-old play about gender and sexuality that utilizes the subcultural phenomenon of drag balls as its backdrop. In a co-production between Company One Theatre and American Repertory Theater, Summer L. Williams is at the helm for this regional premiere, which will run at A.R.T.’s Oberon through May 13.

Written in 2004 and first produced in 2008, Wig Out! has been enjoying a resurgence of late due to the success of Moonlight, for which McCraney won a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award. (His play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, inspired Barry Jenkins’s screenplay.)

But is this newfound interest in Wig Out! warranted?

I’m not so sure.

No one can deny McCraney’s uncanny voice (he’s also known for The Brother/Sister Plays, which Company One produced in 2011), but Wig Out! feels like a chaotic conflagration of messy queens (their words) who are stuck in a flimsy plot. Not helping matters is that in Williams’s attempt to utilize Oberon’s space, she has created a sprawling and confusing production that bemuses more than it bedazzles.

The result is a production that is as messy as those messy queens.

Eric (played with effortless charm by Deen Rawlins) seems like just a regular guy who—despite enjoying sex with men—seems overly concerned with his public masculinity. Wilson, on the other hand (an affecting Miles Jordan), who in full makeup hits on Eric on the subway, challenges Eric’s (and, I’d venture, the audience’s) assumptions about who does what in sexual situations and winds up being someone Eric can’t deny. Wilson, by the way, is Ms. Nina at night, a member of the House of Light, one of the two feuding drag ball houses at the center of the story.

Setting aside the Eric-Ms. Nina storyline for a moment

(it devolves into melodrama, anyway), the crux of Wig Out! seems to be that the House of Di’Abolique (one of the oldest houses on the scene) has challenged the House of Light and called out a ball—a Cinderella extravaganza— the day of, giving them virtually no time to prepare. (I’m still not sure why this is a big deal.)

The House of Light is run by Rey-Rey (Sidney Monroe), the mother, and Lucian (Juan Carlos Pinedo), the father, longtime enemies of Serena (an unforgettable Nick Dussault), mother of the House of Di’Abolique. Serena has had it in for Rey-Rey ever since she “left the kids gagging” at their last duel. (That means Rey-Rey killed it.)

But it turns out that Eric has some history with Lucian, which complicates matters between him and Wilson, aka Ms. Nina. Oh, and if Rey-Rey gets chopped in one category, she’ll have to step down as house mother.

Are you confused?

I’m confused.

What little plot there is becomes impossible to discern, let alone care about. Aside from the honest-to-goodness charm of Deen Rawlins and the tirelessness of the fates (played by Krystal Hernandez, Ally Dawson, and Aliyah Harris), there isn’t a whole lot to find merit in here.

Act Two gives the evening a much-needed shot of adrenaline thanks to Dussault (the former theater critic for Metro Boston) and Shawn Verrier, who plays Locki, trickster of the House of Di’Abolique (and former member of the rivaling house). But the momentary pleasure that stems from their irresistible camp is undercut by the oh-soseriousness that follows.

Although it touches on issues of gender, sexuality, and race that are important and timely, it does so in a way that feels forced and without integrity. (The Spanglish of Lucian, for example, is nothing but cheesy, and the relentless talk of sexual positions is gratuitous and artificial.) And while there is some vague acknowledgement of the history of drag houses and balls and how, particularly in the 1980s, these houses became places where queer, poor, marginalized people of color could create their own sense of family, those at the center of Wig Out! seem to have life too figured out. No one seems to be invested in their house for any real reason any more than, say, someone would be invested in their place of employment or their local gym.

Tyler Kinney’s costumes inject the evening with some flair, as does Justin Paice’s lighting design, yet Wig Out! is surprisingly boring, especially given its subject matter and setting.

The play—fundamentally flawed on its own—cannot weather the storm of this chaotic production.

I don’t think the kids will be gagging over this one.

WIG OUT! THROUGH 5.13 AT COMPANY ONE THEATRE AT OBERON, 2 ARROW ST., CAMBRIDGE. COMPANYONE.ORG

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

IFFB 2018: REPORT #3 FILM

BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON

The Independent Film Festival Boston 2018 ran from Wednesday, April 25 through Wednesday, May 2. This week our writers check in with four more short reviews of films that played this year—we’ll conclude our reports next week with a piece on some of the fest’s very best.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRÈ [2018], directed by Kate Novack Incidents recorded from the life of Vogue contributing editor Andrè Leon Talley during late 2016 and early 2017: tersely advising groundskeepers as they remove a tree from his property in North Carolina, rightfully obsessing over the implications of Donald Trump’s campaign while socializing or working in New York, having an outdoor lunch with Isabella Rossellini (and her pet pigs), live-blogging the inauguration alongside Maureen Dowd. Director Kate Novack’s nonfiction film employs the usual biodoc format— starting with glowing testimonies from Talley’s contemporaries and friends (Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour), then moving through biographical details in a rush (periods like “Paris, 1984” and “New York, 1990” are introduced and dismissed within minutes), all while occasionally cutting back to day-to-day observations of his current life (as detailed above). You may not know the subject, but you know the structure. So whatever momentum the film does achieve comes from Talley himself. And though his imposing stature draws first notice—he stands 6’6” and describes himself as a “manatee”—it’s his voice, cadence, and wit that carry the movie. He’s a born charismatic, the real deal, a true fucking star (for the best explanation of his nature, I’ll defer to another of his self-descriptions: “You can be an aristocrat without having been born to an aristocratic family”). But he can’t slow down the film’s rush—it rarely has the editorial patience needed to accomplish more than just name-dropping. Talley does cite his influences (Fairchild’s The Fashionable Savages and filmmaker Luchino Visconti among them) and waxes nostalgic about the legendary institutions he worked for (Interview magazine under Warhol and the Met’s Costume Institute under his mentor Diana Vreeland), but his comments rarely extend beyond a few sentences on any given subject. It’s only at the end of the film, when Talley speaks about the racism he encountered throughout his career, that he’s allowed numerous uninterrupted minutes to hold court with. His monologue is sharp, thoughtful, and eloquent—worth the time, to say the least. It’s easy to understand why the filmmakers chose this moment as the one where he should be given time and space to elaborate. But one wishes they had extended the same courtesy to even the most frivolous subjects raised within the film. The history and happenings of Talley’s life are sensational—but to hear him orate, sublime.

-Jake Mulligan Scheduled for theatrical release in Boston on June 1. Rated PG-13.

NICO, 1988 [2018], written and directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli One piece of dialogue sticks out in Susanna Nicchiarelli’s film about Christa Päffgen, aka Nico (Trine Dyrholm): “I’ve been at the top, I’ve been at the bottom. Both places are empty.” The film charts a later period in Päffgen’s life, more than two decades after The Velvet Underground & Nico [1967]—a period where she toured with a band of “junkie” musicians and used drugs constantly herself (all while indulging a constant barrage of radio interviews where the hosts only asked questions about the Velvet Underground). Dyrholm’s performance is a haunting one, characterizing Päffgen as a tortured soul whose past is catching up with her

20

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in every possible way. During Päffgen’s heroin binges, the film’s editing (by Stefano Cravero) punctuates the narrative with memories rendered via beat-up archival footage, suggesting fragments of a past that she can barely remember anymore. Like the footage itself, her recollections are distorted; memories after they’ve been mediated by a lifetime of alcoholism and drug use. But despite those internal demons, Nicchiarelli paints Päffgen as an uncompromising renegade, structuring her final year as one of musical passion, dream-chasing, and soulful introspection—right up until the bitter end.

-Greg Vellante Scheduled for theatrical release on Aug 1 THE POWER OF GLOVE [2017], directed by Andrew Austin, Paula Kosowski, and Adam Ward This ode to the notorious failure of the Nintendo Power Glove plays well for devotees of video game history, but it’s also informative for those who missed the ’80s (or for those who saw The Wizard [1989] and want to know more about its most infamous prop). The Power Glove, made for the original NES console, was a game controller that responded to the user’s movements—in theory, if a user playing Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! threw a punch with a Power Glove, the character in the game would throw the same punch. But as The Power of Glove shows, the device was rushed into production with disastrous results—and those punches didn’t land very often. The flawed and finicky product quickly became the butt of countless jokes, a reputation that lasts to this very day. But in that infamy, the Power Glove has grown a cult following comprising obsessives, curiosity seekers, and even creative remixers—some of whom have hacked the glove’s properties to make art, homemade virtual-reality experiences, and music. The Power of Glove celebrates that scrappy kind of gamer culture—the kind that spawned the glove’s creation and then kept it alive: Oddball subjects are interviewed throughout the film, from the device’s original developers to a fan who never leaves his home without his own. Between these various testimonials, The Power of Glove employs a synth-heavy soundtrack and 8-bit animated effects (aesthetics that would feel at home in an arcade), while also including archival footage of old advertisements and home-video recordings of behind-the-scenes drama (they play like easter eggs dropped into the film’s structure). And so the overall spirit is not one of sadness or defeat, but of playfulness—a quality far too absent from contemporary gamer culture.

-Kori Feener Somerville Theatre / 7PM. Program also screens on 4.29 at 12:30PM

evidence revealed to us in Habib’s footage of his film’s three lead figures. Intelligent Lives captures the way its subjects communicate with the world—in addition to capturing their hopes, their dreams, and their ability to transcend their presumed limitations when given the chance or the means. And though Habib’s film discusses the background of topics like eugenics and disability discrimination, it’s not a particularly investigative work. Instead, it finds structure in its lead characters’ own pursuits, which cross between art, school, and the workforce (it’s also occasionally anchored by actor/ producer/narrator Chris Cooper, who provides the aforementioned historical evidence and background information while also relating personal anecdotes about his son, Jesse Cooper, who developed cerebral palsy shortly after his birth). Intelligent Lives works to amplify the voices of those who are often ignored—a task it accomplishes with soul-baring honesty.

-Monica Castillo RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE [2017], directed by Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler, and Jeff Springer Rodents of Unusual Size studies the nutria, a heavyset rodent species that has taken over the swamps of Louisiana—but that’s just the starting point. This remarkable film quickly expands to consider major issues facing the southern United States today, primarily those related to changes in climate and industry. But it does keep some level of topic-specific focus: all characters seen in the film are somehow affected by the presence of the nutria (which are semiaquatic and beaver-like), which gives the audience an understanding of the scope of the problem. The main character is Thomas Gonzales, one of the last people living on the gulf post-Katrina (the edit periodically swings back to his perspective), but his narrative is mixed in with those of other figures, include a man living on a golf course (he regularly feeds the nutria), a nutria hunter (who nonetheless keeps one as a pet), and an eco-conscious fashion designer (who makes use of their hides). Meanwhile, historical representations of the nutria are staged in beautiful ways—either in the style of an archival video clip playing on an old television dressed with a pelt on top, or via picture frames of famous actresses wearing nutria hides. With footage both fascinating and educational (at least partly), Rodents brings attention to a region finding its own creative avenues for dealing with a changing world.

-Kori Feener THE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2018 CONCLUDED EARLIER THIS WEEK. HOWEVER, THE ORGANIZATION DOES HOLD INDIVIDUAL SCREENINGS YEAR-ROUND—FOR MEMBERSHIP DETAILS AND OTHER INFORMATION, SEE IFFBOSTON.ORG

INTELLIGENT LIVES [2018], directed by Dan Habib It’s rare that a documentary communicates overwhelming empathy for its subjects while steadfastly maintaining a sense of journalistic integrity. Dan Habib’s Intelligent Lives, which profiles three individuals with intellectual disabilities, is such a film—a curious and compassionate nonfiction work that expresses its concepts and ideas merely by depicting observed behavior. It asserts the idea that “intelligence” is far more malleable in its definition than our current practices and quantifying techniques allow for and then uses three angles to assert that idea: personal anecdotal evidence, FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRÈ, COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES. historical evidence, and the visual

COMEDY

ERICA RHODES

A comedic Prairie homecoming for a Newton native

BY DENNIS MALER @DEADAIRDENNIS

18

Who says, “You can’t go home?”

Now that I think about it, that’s a Bon Jovi song, and now I hate myself for saying it.

Regardless, the point I’m making is that going back to your hometown can be a welcoming event or an embarrassment.

PHOTO VIA ERICARHODESCOMEDY.COM Luckily, for comedian Erica Rhodes, it’s the former.

Erica grew up in Newton with a pair of musicians for parents, and after a long history of performing on stage, radio, internet, TV, and movies in New York, LA, and everywhere in between, she has settled into what she feels most comfortable doing: stand-up comedy.

On Wednesday, May 9, she’s coming home to do her first headlining show in Boston.

I caught up with her on her beginnings in entertainment, crazy things that have happened along the way, and some tips for actors that she’s learned.

20 YEARS

When did you realize you wanted to be an actor?

I didn’t really know I wanted to be an actor exactly, but I sort of had a feeling I was going to do it from a very young age. … When I auditioned for Juilliard for acting, I remember the orchestra was coming out of rehearsal while we were sitting around waiting for our auditions, and I couldn’t stand listening to the other actors talk about acting. …

I grew up with musicians. My parents are both musicians; my mom is a violinist with the Boston Pops and my dad used to play clarinet. I ended up majoring in cello at Boston University, but the thing about acting is it always just came way more naturally to me than music did. So I ended up moving to New York and I got back into acting.

If someone wanted you to play cello in their band, what type of music would convince you?

I actually did do that when I first moved to LA and I was having an identity crisis. I played in a band and it was the funniest thing because I would play and no one could hear me because it’s a cello in a sorta like folksy rock band. … Everyone liked the idea of having a cello, they just didn’t really know what to do with it necessarily. They liked how I looked playing cello. … I was like, wow, this is so different than Boston, it’s like you don’t have to be really good to to impress people in LA, you just have to hold a cello.

Since you’re in LA, do you still pursue acting?

I’m like 99 percent focused on stand up.

How did you get started doing stand-up?

I had to fail at acting for a very long time. I started on the radio show Prairie Home Companion when I was 10 years old. I went to acting school, and then I did the whole indie film thing and moved to LA doing tons of auditions, and it just wasn’t happening.

I thought, I’ve got to figure something else out with my life. And so then I went to an open mic that night, and I just sort of reenacted the audition with people from the audience playing the casting director. … Like there’s a bunch of stuff that was like a really bad week, so I just sort of vented about it and I had someone tape it for me, and then I put up the video on Facebook the next day.

Ten minutes later my manager called me asking, “What are you doing, putting your first stand-up experience online?.” I was so embarrassed, and I was probably like never going to do it again except that my friend Veronica Mannion saw it and said, “Oh, you’re doing stand-up now? I have a stand-up show next week. Do you want to be on it?”

What advice would you give somebody who’s doing their first headlining show in their hometown?

I would say if you’ve got a stage mom, like I have, let her invite all of her friends.

Apparently my mom is selling out the show by herself.

>>ERICA RHODES WED 5.9. LAUGH BOSTON 425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON. 8PM/$20 LAUGHBOSTON.COM

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

COMEDY EVENTS

SAVAGE LOVE

QUICKIES

THU 05.03

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET I wish I had a better question, but this is all I have: My friends and I were discussing the nuances of a straight orgy (a roughly equal number of male and female participants) versus a gang bang (one woman, many men), and we observed that there is no proper name for a one man, many women situation. The internet tells me it’s just a “reverse gang bang,” which is a very disappointing name. Can we please establish a new one?

Curious Nonparticipant How does “pussy riot” grab you? And while we’re on the subject of flipping gendered expressions: A number of years ago, I was asked to come up with a female version of “sausage fest.” Sticking with the food theme, I proposed “clam bake.” Still mystified as to why it didn’t catch on.

Married from 28 to 36, single the last three years, and celibate most of the last couple years. The last two years of my marriage were sexless, and I saw professionals until I was priced out. I could probably earn twice what I’m making now if I moved away, but my current job gives me the flexibility to spend afternoons with my young kids. Last year, I had a brief relationship (that included the best sex of my life), but I ended it because I needed more me time. So I lack the willingness or the confidence to be in a relationship, and I don’t have the cash to see pros. I’m not fussed by this. Should I be concerned about my celibacy?

Absolutely Not Getting Sex Today Seeing as your celibacy is intermittent and by your own choice (you walked away from the best sex of your life for me time? What kind of mid-’90s Oprah bullshit is that?), ANGST, you’re unlikely to wind up hanging out on an “incel” forum filled with angry, violent, socially maladapted men who blame the fact that they can’t get laid on women and feminism. So long as you continue to take personal responsibility for all the sex you’re not having, there’s nothing to be concerned about.

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33 DUNSTER ST., CAMBRIDGE | 9PM | FREE FRI 05.04 - SAT 05.05

JON REEP @ LAUGH BOSTON

Jon Reep is a nationally touring comedian whose contemporary country point of view has won over legions of fans in comedy clubs, on tv and in film. As a stand-up he’s built a following through his hilarious comedy specials and winning appearance on Last Comic Standing. As an actor, he just wrapped a role in Tig Notaro’s Netflix Series One Mississippi and guest starred in an episode of Black-ish.

He’s also appeared in Eastbound and Down, the feature film Into the Storm, and may be best known as “Raymus, the pot smoking farmer” from Harold and Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay or as “Hemi Guy” from Dodge’s popular ad campaign.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | 8 & 10PM | $20-$25 FRI 05.04 - SAT 05.05

BRIAN GLOWACKI @ NICK’S COMEDY STOP

Brian Glowacki is a stand up comedian from the mean streets of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Growing up on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean has given him a unique perspective on the world around him. His fun, lighthearted humor is a refreshing change of pace in a world full of angry bosses, burnt dinners, and road rage. Brian is able to transition seamlessly from picking on himself to dissecting the shortcomings of the human race. He welcomes you into his home through stories of his family, his failed relationships, and his interactions with some interesting characters he’s met along the way. Brian tours the country in search of fun audiences, buffet dinners, and dependable Wi-Fi.

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

My boyfriend and I have been together for two years. When we first got together, we had sex every day. Then it dwindled. We had major problems along the way and separated this winter. During that time, he went to another state. We got back together long-distance, and I received many letters from him saying how much he wanted to have sex with me. He moved back two weeks ago, and we’ve had sex only twice. He used to say he wanted me to make the first move. But if he really wanted me, wouldn’t he make a move? I feel so neglected, yet he claims he loves me. Please give me some insight.

No Sex For Weeks

SAT 05.05

He says he wants sex (with you), but he doesn’t make a move.

You say you want sex (with him), but you don’t make a move. So how about this: The next few times you want sex, NSFW, make a move. If he fucks you two out of three times, maybe he was telling you the truth when he said he’d like you to make the first move. If he rebuffs you every time, then he doesn’t want to have sex with you—and you’ll have to make a move to end this relationship.

SUN 05.06

On the Lovecast, a sociological study of male escorting: savagelovecast.com.

MON 05.07

NEMR @ THE WILBUR

Nemr is a Lebanese/American Stand-Up Comedian who is credited with establishing and pioneering the standup comedy scene throughout the Middle East where he performs in English. Nemr grew up in San Diego and then moved back with his family to Lebanon. He went on to break down barriers and unite people in a region where bombing on stage can have a completely different meaning.

246 TREMONT ST., BOSTON | 7PM | $32-$72

EAST BOSTON COMEDY @ MAVERICK MARKETPLACE

Featuring: Jere Pilapil, Srilatha Rajamani, Kenny Capozzi, Troy Burditt, Michelle Sui, Emily Ruskowski, John Paul Rivera, & Katie Que. Hosted by Ethan Andre

154 MAVERICK ST., BOSTON | 8PM | FREE

SMOKE & SHADOWS: A VARIETY SHOW @ THE ROCKWELL

Featuring: burlesque from Caramel Knowledge, violinist, singer, and electronic composer Mei Ohara, comedian Chris Post, body paint artist Shelby Meyerhoff, & Jolie LaVie. Hosted by Elsa Riot

255 ELM ST., SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $15 MON 05.07 - TUE 05.08

MCGREEVY’S COMEDY

Hosted by Brian Higginbottom

443 WEST BROADWAY, BOSTON | 7PM | FREE

savagelovecast.com

22

05.03.18 - 05.10.18 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

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

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