DigBoston 11.15.18

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THIS WEEK’S SAVAGE LOVE: ALL TIED UP... TRUST+ LUST+CUFFS

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BOWERY BOSTON WWW.BOWERYBOSTON.COM VOL 20 + ISSUE46

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NOV 15, 2018 - NOV 22, 2018 BUSINESS PUBLISHER John Loftus ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Chris Faraone Jason Pramas SALES ASSOCIATES Christopher Bent Victoria Botana Nicole Howe FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION sales@digboston.com

EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Faraone EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jason Pramas MANAGING EDITOR Mitchell Dewar MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan THEATER EDITOR Christopher Ehlers COMEDY EDITOR Dennis Maler STAFF WRITER Haley Hamilton CONTRIBUTORS G. Valentino Ball, Sarah Betancourt, Tim Bugbee, Patrick Cochran, Mike Crawford, Britni de la Cretaz, Kori Feener, Eoin Higgins, Zack Huffman, Marc Hurwitz, Marcus Johnson-Smith, C. Shardae Jobson, Heather Kapplow, Derek Kouyoumjian, Dan McCarthy, Rev. Irene Monroe, Peter Roberge, Maya Shaffer, Citizen Strain, M.J. Tidwell, Miriam Wasser, Dave Wedge, Baynard Woods INTERNS Casey Campbell, Sophia Higgins, Morgan Hume, Daniel Kaufman, Jillian Kravatz, Juan A. Ramirez, Jacob Schick

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TURKEY-SHAPED JOINT COURTESY OF TREMENDOUSLY TALENTED PERSON WITH WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS. TRY ROLLING A SMOKABLE GOBBLER AT YOUR OWN PERIL, AND BE SURE TO READ OUR GUIDE TO GETTING HIGH AROUND THE HOLIDAYS IN THIS WEEK’S INSTALLMENT OF TALKING JOINTS MEMO (YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE WEED NEWSLETTER AT TALKINGJOINTSMEMO.COM). ©2018 DIGBOSTON IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY DIG MEDIA GROUP INC. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION CAN BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT. DIG MEDIA GROUP INC. CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. ONE COPY OF DIGBOSTON IS AVAILABLE FREE TO MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS AND VISITORS EACH WEEK. ANYONE REMOVING PAPERS IN BULK WILL BE PROSECUTED ON THEFT CHARGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

ROYALE

DEAR READER

279 Tremont St. Boston, MA royaleboston.com/concerts

Wild Child

BATTLE ME

I had a major freaking scare a couple days ago.

Seriously. Or at least somewhat seriously, but at the moment it seemed catastrophic, and in the larger sense the implications may be just that. Either way, here’s the story. Just don’t get discouraged by the nerdy esoteric hip-hop details, as what happened to me could happen to anyone, be they fans of Mozart or Mos Def, or both.

As per my routine after a night of drinking way too much and heading home for more pops, on one foggy night last week I sat back on my couch and fired up my phone and Bluetooth speakers and started to stream a cross-section of rappers who can move me in that unbelievably inebriated state.

I played some new joints from the likes of Westside Gunn and Homeboy Sandman, then moved on to the eternal staple, Wu-Tang Clan, who of course celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first album last week.

Another round, another deep dive through my web-based catalog. Another round and a blunt after that, and as usual I had to jump to YouTube to find several of the arcane tracks from 30 years of superfandom that I suddenly needed to hear. Most of the time, I can find them on one of the platforms I use—Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, the basics. But this was different. This time I was led to think— however briefly and irrationally and, yes, under the influence—that I may never get to hear a certain song again. And the revelation rocked my world.

The track in question: “Battle Me,” by New York underground icon C-Rayz Walz. It’s a delightful, almost cutesy flippant backslap, a blip on the overall rap music radar but nevertheless a four-minute stretch of perfection I can’t live without. So when I could only find a different instrumental version on YouTube, I panicked. You see, I never owned a physical of “Battle Me,” and so my records and CDs in storage would be no help either. I got emotional.

In short time, I was able to locate the single on BandCamp, buy it, and avert a crisis. But in the time since, I have been hung up on the underlying quagmire of online media, wondering about what would happen if it all simply went away. At this point, almost all the music that I regularly listen to is in the cloud; I basically lease it. Forget one random C-Rayz Walz cut—the thought of losing several of my my most beloved songs entirely is far too much to handle.

Am I being a spoiled brat? Maybe. After all, it’s a hell of a lot easier to find obscure sounds these days than it was back in the ’80s. At the same time, though, advances in technology back then gave way to more personal ownership—take, for example, how many people repurchased their all-time favorites when they dropped in new formats. These days, despite all of the easy access and convenience and digital feats, I can’t help but to feel like everything could disappear in seconds if a server crashes.

Disagree? Battle me.

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

w/ Future Generations

THIS THU! NOV. 15

SUN. NOVEMBER 25

REVEREND JUNIOR HORTON &BROWN, & HEAT THE BLASTERS BIG SANDY WED. DECEMBER 5

TUE. DECEMBER 4

T H E BALLROOM T H IEVE S

W/ MARGARET GLASPY

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SHARON VAN ETTEN

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BILLY BRAGG

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THU-SUN MARCH 21-24

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PLAYING SOLO THREE NIGHTS

TUE. MAY 7

THU - SAT OCTOBER 3 - 5

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THIS THURSDAY! NOV. 15

SUNDAY, JANUARY 27

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26

FRIDAY, MARCH 1

SATURDAY, MARCH 2

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

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SUNDAY, MARCH 24

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27

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FRIDAYS AT 7PM!

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& THE HITMAKERS

W/ NERVOUS DATER, SAVE ENDS

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≠ 11/16 JAK KNIGHT & ZACK FOX ≠ 11/16 KAL MARKS ≠ 11/17 JACK HARLOW ≠ 11/18 FORWARD ≠ 11/19 PRIOR PANIC ≠ 11/20 CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR ≠ 11/23 ASHLEY JORDAN ≠ 11/26 MONOBODY ≠ 11/27 DRUG CHURCH / GOUGE AWAY ≠ 11/29 KISSISSIPPI ≠ 12/2 THE HELIO SEQUENCE ≠ 12/3 CULTS

THIS SUNDAY! NOVEMBER 18 BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER

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NEWS+OPINION MESSAGE IN A GOBBLE THROWBACK

Partisan turkey, a viral gold watch, and Republican trolls in New England 130 years ago

BY KYLE SCOTT CLAUSS hospitality.”

That year for Thanksgiving, Mayor O’Brien purchased a 15-pound turkey from his usual poultry shop in Quincy Market. Stuffed inside the bird’s cavity was a note from Gillette: I am a young school teacher and have no watch.

I have taken a winter school.

What shall I do without a watch? … I hope some good Republican will remember me next Xmas. I don’t like the Democrats, but if one would send me a present, I should think better of them.

I don’t think they like to give presents. Do they? I am a Vermont girl, and hope to hear from those who eat this turkey.

For many a Boston politician, Thanksgiving is a prime opportunity for a photo op on a soup kitchen serving line, or to distribute poultry patronage to grateful constituents.

But on Thanksgiving 130 years ago—that’s 130 years ago on Thanksgiving, as Arlo Guthrie would say—the city’s first Irish-born mayor took part in one of the strangest episodes in Boston political history, featuring a viral campaign story against the backdrop of intense xenophobia.

The Yankee Protestants had ruled Boston until the mid19th century, when a devastating potato famine in Ireland sent an estimated 2 million in search of a new home.

Because the famine coincided with the last decade in which fares from Liverpool to Boston were markedly cheaper than fares to New York—often less than $20—more Irish arrived in Boston than any other American port.

This wave of immigration radically changed the city’s political landscape. Between 1840 and 1880, the number of foreign-born and first-generation Bostonians more than doubled to 64 percent. As these Irish newcomers organized and gained political influence, the Yankee elite feared the sun would soon set on their beloved “old Boston.” Bemoaning these “undesirable” newcomers in 1881, Republican then-State Representative and antiimmigration crusader Henry Cabot Lodge called the Irish “hard-drinking, idle, quarrelsome and disorderly.” Sen. George Frisbie Hoar wrote to Lodge in 1883, “Unless we can break this compact foreign vote, we are gone, and the grand chapter of the old Massachusetts history is closed.”

Bit by bit, it appeared the Brahmin’s fears would come to pass. Running under the banner of a revitalized Democratic Party, Irish Catholic candidates reached the halls of city government, and in 1884, Boston elected Hugh O’Brien, its first Irish-born mayor. “Honest Hugh” immigrated from County Cork when he was five years old, attended grammar school on Roxbury’s Fort Hill, and won a seat on the Board of Alderman in 1875.

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However, the Yankee elite had little reason to fear retribution. They still controlled the banks and the Legislature, and the incoming mayor could scarcely afford to alienate either institution if he wanted to succeed. So he triangulated.

Unlike James Michael Curley, who would decades later wield Irish resentment as a cudgel against the Yankee elite, O’Brien courted the Brahmin with talk about running the city like a business. “He gave particular attention to the finances, and Yankee thrift and good sense found in this Irish-born citizen a most worthy exponent,” the Springfield Republican reflected upon his death.

O’Brien laid the cornerstone for the new public library in Copley Square and hired Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, to craft the Emerald Necklace. In both cases, he appointed Yankee businessmen to oversee the projects.

“He is a man of the people,” one Charlestown paper gushed, “in full sympathy with their aims and aspirations, and a tried and trusted guardian of their rights, while nonetheless faithful to his office as the custodian of the interests of the wealthy classes.”

Evidencing his political savvy and connection to the public, on the eve of O’Brien’s ouster in December 1888, the Boston Daily Globe ran a series of stories about his chance encounter with Katie Gillette, an “estimable young lady living in East Randolph, Vermont.”

The only child of William F. Gillette, a “sturdy old Vermont farmer” of 12 cows and 300 sugar trees, Katie had light auburn hair and grey eyes. She had spent six months in New York City working as a typist before returning home to teach at the village school. The Gillette homestead overlooked the east branch of the White River, whose idyllic charm made one reporter swoon, “What a perfect garden of Eden that valley is, with its half decayed sleepy villages, and if you have ever stopped at any of the farmers’ houses you will not forget their good, old-fashioned, country

Gillette, 22, got the idea from her uncle in Dedham, who said he had heard about someone placing a note in a turkey and receiving a reply weeks later. She tried it three or four times before finding success. This time, though, O’Brien discovered the request, then purchased a gold watch and shipped it to Vermont with a note of his own: I believe in you, Miss. Gillette, and excuse your dislike of Democrats because it has been cultured by that one-sided State in which you live, always pronounced Republican. … To show you that I am sincere, I send you a watch, which I hope you will accept from the Democratic Mayor of Boston. Please answer, and I hope that my Democracy may not prevent me from holding a place in your affections.

After that, Gillette was “ready to believe that all Democrats are good.” She tied the gold watch on a blue ribbon and carried it in her bosom. By week’s end, however, the schoolteacher had received “bushels of letters” from outraged readers—much to the chagrin of the mailman who had lugged the hate mail along his 17-mile route— calling her a “forward girl” for “begging presents of strangers and playing them for suckers.” Headlines in other papers mocked her, asking what time it was. She had gone viral.

“In some of her moods, she almost wishes all the watches and notes and turkeys and mayors in the world were at the bottom of the sea,” the Globe reported on page one. Gillette vowed she would never again make any such request from the ass-end of a turkey.

After four one-year terms, O’Brien lost to Republican banker Thomas N. Hart in 1888 and died seven years later.

“It was said of the late ex-Mayor Hugh O’Brien of Boston,” the Republican eulogized, “that, although born in another land, he was more Bostonian than many Bostonians.”

WINNERS AND LOSERS ELECTION 2018

A “tough two years” comes to an end

BY PATRICK COCHRAN

PHOTO OF AYANNA PRESSLEY ON ELECTION NIGHT BY BRYNNE QUINLAN Bay State voters split the ticket for the two major races in Mass last week, reelecting incumbent Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren handily. The political turbulence that highlighted the September primary was largely absent on Election Night, as incumbents were reelected in every statewide and congressional contest.

Warren won with over 60 percent of the vote against GOP nominee Geoff Diehl.

“It has been a tough two years,” Warren told supporters at her victory party in Boston. “But together we have marched, together we have run, together we have persisted and insisted that our voices be heard, that our votes be counted, and that our values be respected.”

Warren is considered a potential candidate for president in 2020. Diehl, a state rep from Whitman, was co-chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Massachusetts.

Baker’s win was even more convincing, running ahead of Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez in every county in the Commonwealth to amass a 30-plus point victory.

In Boston, the biggest moment arguably came when Rachael Rollins was elected Suffolk district attorney, demolishing the more conservative independent Michael Maloney by more than 60 points. Rollins gained notoriety by posting a list of 15 petty offenses she vowed not to prosecute as DA. Maloney referred to the list as “crazy.”

“Voters sent a very clear signal today that our criminal justice system is not working for too many people and it’s time for a change,” Rollins said in a statement. “We will start by creating an office that adequately reflects the community it serves and that is engaged in every neighborhood within the county.”

Rollins will be the first black woman to serve as DA in Massachusetts.

In the ballot initiatives, Question 1, which would have limited the number of patients assigned to nurses, suffered a thumping defeat with 70 percent of voters opposing the measure.

Question 2, which aimed to create a commission to investigate the financing of political campaigns, and Question 3, which reaffirmed transgender rights, both passed easily.

Mass will also send two new faces to the US House of Representatives where, after the Democratic Party’s national romp, they will serve in the majority for the first time since 2011. In the 7th District, Ayanna Pressley’s meteoric rise to the House was made official as she ran unopposed to victory after upending longtime Rep. Michael Capuano in the primary.

Pressley won’t be the only new woman to join the Commonwealth’s congressional delegation. In the Merrimack Valley, Lori Trahan defeated GOP businessman Rick Green to win the seat vacated by Rep. Niki Tsongas.

Also in the Merrimack Valley, first-time candidate Tram Nguyen ousted state Rep. Jim Lyons, one of the Commonwealth’s most right-wing politicians, in the 18th Essex District. Nguyen, who ran on expanding healthcare and education, unseated Lyons with 54 percent of the vote. Lyons had represented the district since being elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010.

At the national level, a pair of Mass Democrats stand to gain significant influence as their party seized power in the Congress’ lower chamber. Rep. Richard Neal (D, MA-1), currently the ranking member of the House Ways and Means committee, is slated to chair the group that oversees tax policy and Social Security benefits. Rep. Jim McGovern (D, MA-2) will head the House Rules committee, which will be the primary body in trying to keep President Trump in check over the next two years.

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QUESTION 1: THE ROAD NOT TRAVELLED APPARENT HORIZON

A broader appeal could have resulted in a win for nurses and patients

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS There was no way I was going to criticize Question 1, prosaically dubbed the Nurse-Patient Assignment Limits Initiative, in advance of Election Day. As a longtime labor advocate, I didn’t think it would be appropriate to publicly gainsay a decent union, the Mass Nurses Association (MNA). Even though I thought that its ballot campaign was a strategic miscalculation. But now that the election’s over and the PR dust around the effort is settling, I think it’s important to say something on the matter. Because I hate to see popular organizations I like make political moves that I view to be avoidable mistakes. And I really want the labor movement to go from strength to strength in this difficult era for working people. Not get crushed at the polls.

The referendum question, for those of you who need a refresher, aimed to mandate specific staff-topatient ratios for registered nurses in the Bay State so that RNs would have fewer patients to care for on each shift in most situations. The aim of the initiative was to reduce overwork for RNs and improve patient care.

Certainly laudable goals. And ones that the MNA and other advocates have been fighting to reach for over 25 years, according to the union’s own literature. In the course of that struggle, the MNA had tried to win better staffing ratios at the contract bargaining table, and in the regulatory and legislative arenas. All with limited success.

Finally, they decided to take the issue to the voters.

A sensible step… when the other efforts didn’t bring the desired results.

But Question 1 was resoundingly defeated—with 70.38 percent voting against, and only 29.62 percent in favor. When just a couple of months ago, it looked like the union position might prevail. So I think it’s worth looking at why the initiative failed.

It’s certainly true that one reason for the outcome was that the hospital industry had significantly deeper pockets than the MNA and its allies. But only by a factor of two-to-one. Which is not terrible for this kind of David v. Goliath fight. According to Ballotpedia, the labor-backed Committee to Ensure Safe Patient Care raised over $11 million ($10 million plus of that sum from the MNA) to the hospital industry-supported Coalition to Protect Patient Safety’s $26 million ($25 million of that total coming from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association).

If Question 1 co-author SEIU 1199—a larger healthcare workers’ union—had not chosen to remain neutral on the question it helped draft, perhaps there would have been funding parity between the two sides. Yet even without the extra money and troops SEIU would have brought with it, the MNA put an impressive organizing campaign on the ground.

So I don’t think money’s the main factor behind the strong no vote on the MNA ballot effort.

I think the big problem with Question 1 was that it took a policy wonk approach that appeared to benefit a relatively small group of workers if passed. Rather than a rights-based approach that could have demanded direct benefits for a demonstrably larger community.

Namely patients. A group that includes literally everyone in the state at one time or another.

So, as written, the referendum question appeared to mainly benefit registered nurses. And that is where the MNA and allies immediately ran into trouble. There aren’t that many RNs. According to the Mass Board of Registration in Nursing, there were 130,048 6

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RN licensees in 2018. Which it says includes 12,112 active advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)—mainly nurse practitioners with master’s degrees.

If we subtract the APRNs, we’re left with nearly 120,000 RNs of various types out of a total workforce of over 3,500,000. Or about 3.4 percent of Massachusetts workers. A significant group. But not a major group like, again, all the once-and-future patients in the state.

MNA definitely tried to target the political campaign around their initiative on benefits to patient safety. The difficulty the union faced there was that the language of Question 1 was quite obviously framed more around what was good for RNs than what was good for patients.

Even its committee name pointed to “safe patient care”—wording aimed at nurses—while the hospital industry committee name directly mentioned “patient safety.” In a situation where the ballot campaign’s opposition seemingly put the interest of the much larger community of patients front and center while the MNA didn’t, the union lost control of its own narrative.

Which probably resulted in the one group that should have backed the question strongly—RNs—being almost evenly split (48 percent for, 45 percent against) on it by the time of the vote, according to a poll by WBUR. The nurses’ union also tried to make a yes vote on its initiative sound like a great struggle for the labor movement as a whole. Yet here again, it was hamstrung by the narrow language of its referendum question.

MNA and other advocates tried mightily to show that a vote for Question 1 was a vote for all workers. But once people sympathetic to labor and the working class in general read the question, what did they see?

The question didn’t seek to expand workers’ power in any broad way. It didn’t try to expand patients’ rights, although it could have potentially improved their care.

And it didn’t expand the rights of any other stakeholder communities.

Mostly what people saw was a question that would raise costs for hospitals and only help one group of healthcare workers—registered nurses. Not orderlies, not techs, not LPNs, not physical therapists, not respiratory therapists, not nutritionists, not speech therapists, not physician assistants, not pharmacists, and certainly not doctors.

Add to those problems the fact that Question 1 was too long—the summary presented on voters’ ballots was twice the length of either of the other two questions at 626 words—and too technical (using inside baseball language like “[t]he proposed law would also require every covered facility to develop a written patient acuity tool for each unit to evaluate the condition of each patient”), and it seems pretty clear in hindsight that the effort was doomed from the start. Matching the hospital industry dollar for dollar likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome enough for the MNA to win.

I’m writing this brief analysis to make sure that similar future efforts take such issues into account in advance. And that labor advocates choosing to embark upon referendum campaigns going forward make sure that they are rights-based and expand power for major communities of interest.

That is the path to victory for grassroots political campaigns of any type. Most especially ones aimed at expanding rights for working people and other currently disenfranchised groups.

Apparent Horizon—winner of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s 2018 Best Political Column award—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.

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DO THE RIGHT THING

Image Courtsey of AAUW.

RESCUING LEFTOVER CUISINE Standing between food and the dumpster

BY ANDY GAUS ANDYGAUS@SPRYNET.COM

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Some 30 percent to 40 percent of America’s food goes to waste, according to the US Department of Agriculture. (The percentage in Boston may be lower if you count the food eaten by rats as “not wasted.”)

One local outfit actively LEFT: LAUREN BASLER HEADS THE MASS BRANCH OF RESCUING LEFTOVER CUISINE; RIGHT: A RESCUE IN PROGRESS fighting food waste is the Massachusetts chapter of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, which matches organizations with leftovers to charitable organizations that can use the extras and organizes volunteers to transport it all.

I talked recently with Lauren Basler, who coordinates volunteer efforts in Boston and Cambridge.

How long has Rescuing Leftover Cuisine been in existence? How long in Boston?

It started in 2013 in New York. It’s been in Boston since 2016.

In how many cities is it operating now? Is it operating in other cities in Massachusetts?

The number varies from year to year. Sometimes a person who started a branch doesn’t have time anymore. Currently we have eight cities in our database. We are the Massachusetts branch. We’re currently focused on Boston and Cambridge, but we’re looking to expand.

Are most of the rescues one-person jobs? Do many require a truck? Are some rescues walkable?

Yes, most are one-person jobs. In New York, it’s a little different: If we get more volunteers, we might arrange more multiperson jobs. Many require a car but not a truck. Some rescues can be done on foot. The donors in those cases have carts that the rescuer can borrow. It’s about half and half, by car and on foot.

What problems are you having? No-shows, diversions?

We have a problem filling all our events with volunteers. Most of the people who volunteer do show up. Mostly we need more volunteers.

About how many calls do you get a day? What percentage can you answer?

We have two types of rescues. We have regular rescues that happen on a schedule.

There are also emergency rescues, fewer in number. We fill about 70 percent of our regular rescues and maybe 80 percent of the emergency rescues. We have about 70 regular rescues a week. We estimate about 30 pounds a rescue. Let me see, how many pounds a week does that come to? …

Is there a typical rescuer?

No. We have high school students, college students, retired people, people with cars, people with no cars, people who work in the city, people who just come into the city to volunteer.

How are you doing getting donors?

The way we work is we recruit donors and then find enough volunteers to take care of those donors. Right now we have enough donors. If we get more volunteers, we’ll recruit more donors. We do have groups that volunteer or offices that organize volunteers. Most of our donors are in downtown Boston or Cambridge.

up.

Any picky recipients who want, let us say, only kosher or vegetarian food?

Some recipients prefer prepackaged food or food that doesn’t have to be heated

Are you going to try to organize a flash mob to rescue the enormous amount of food left over after Thanksgiving?

That’s a great idea. How do you organize a flash mob?

I don’t know. Maybe some reader can advise you.

So, readers, if you live or work in Greater Boston, with or without a car, and have some free time, regularly or now and then, you possess a superpower waiting to be unchained—a power just as miraculous as turning water into wine and much more useful: You can turn garbage into food.

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Visit rescuingleftovercuisine.org/ma to learn more or to sign up as a volunteer.

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HIGH HOLIDAYS TALKING JOINTS MEMO

How to handle cannabis around your family all season

BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON We really hope you aren’t still sneaking around like a teenager and blazing (or vaping, dabbing, etc.) in secret. For in the age of legal cannabis, it is the prohibitionists who ought to be scared into silence, especially those hypocritical enough to hate on weed while drinking wine.

This is a lot easier said than done for some folks, especially around the holidays, and especially for those who come from conservative (read: willfully culturally ignorant) families. Nevertheless, you may be the only hope these people have to one day take the blinders off and experience the widening wonderful recreational world.

Here are our recommendations for how you can help kill the taboos around cannabis with the people you love, ranging from initiating basic conversation to outright proselytization.

Be an activist We know, we know, a lot of you are turned off by deliberate activism or, heaven forbid, direct action. Or perhaps you’re sick of having to advocate for painfully obvious concepts, like that weed is not bad. After all, the stuff is legal (here at least), storefronts are looming, and even the likes of John Boehner are cashing in on the crop. But if not you, then who? Who else will seize upon your uncle’s corny stoner jokes? More importantly, who else will help your grandmother and uncle get the natural meds that they need? We’re not telling you to show up to Thanksgiving dinner with a protest sign and a legal observer; we’re only saying that you should come armed with facts and information about cannabis. Trust us—if you spark an intelligent discussion about weed, those who want to dumb it down will feel (or at least look) like the stubborn jackasses they are.

Suggest a smokeout before dinner This one’s for the family that’s a little bit more… shall we say… with it. If half the people who will sit around your dinner table are already getting lifted on their own, then you might as well make it a group session. Our logic: There will be countless arguments this holiday season—between your moron pro-Trump cousin and your bleeding-heart sister, as well as, let’s face it, between that same bloodthirsty cousin and anyone else in your family with a sense of compassion. And while it’s completely understandable if you choose to avoid these people all together and sit at the kids’ table, if you must engage, we recommend a premeal spliff to dull the edge. Finally, if you’re thinking that the selfish flag-waving bigots in your family are automatically against cannabis, you may want to think again or at least ask them directly—with some luck, it could be a first step toward finding common ground.

Gift CBD to one and all Sure, gift THC as well if you have someone in your life who likes the head rush, but CBD remedies are pretty ubiquitous, with options even on the counter at your corner store and gas station of late. Not all products are equal, and we recommend that you do research before trying to play doctor (in fact, you shouldn’t play doctor at all, but stick with us here). With a bit of knowledge or help from an expert, if you understand the ailment that the person you are gifting to is dealing with, you will be able to match them up with a CBD solution, be it topical or oral (or a combination of the two). If there’s nothing in particular that somebody is treating, there are also countless offerings—from sodas to gummies, sprays, and oils—that should universally appeal to anybody who can literally use a chill pill.

This product contains zero THC

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Don’t dose anybody’s food or drink Let’s keep this one very simple so as to not confuse any morons out there— don’t put any cannabis (or anything else mind-altering, for that matter) in an unsuspecting person’s eggnog or yams. Got it!?! In fact, be sure to go out of your way to make sure nobody you know does stupid shit like that either. At the same time, if you want to have a hella dank Thanksgiving with your pals when there are no children around, then by all means stuff your turkey’s ass with hash and baste the bird with rosin. And don’t forget to send an invite to the Dig.

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READY AND CHILLING FEATURE

You may fear the idea of a winter preview, but you still need to prepare

BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON Every year, we do an early winter guide around this time. And every year, without fail, readers get extremely aggravated with us about it—sometimes jokingly, sometimes not-so-jokingly. Why, they ask, would we remind Greater Bostonians about the hell that awaits?

There are a lot of answers to such inquiries, starting with the fact that some of us adore the snow and low temperatures. More importantly, though, is that icicles are inevitable, and we might as well face it. If you can’t stand the cold, then moving to Boston was a shitty decision.

With that said, we asked around the office for tips on the best way to take in the winter months. Please note: These blurbs weren’t pre-written or recommended by a publicist or paid for as tends to be the case with similar listicles you will find in other publications; they’re from the very bottom of our ice-cold hearts.

Epic sledding on the south end of the Red Line There’s a serious sledding opportunity in Braintree that you ought to check out. Once the drifting banks 12

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roll in, you’ll want to find the town’s municipal golf course. Bundle up, pack your sleds, or even your skis if you’re feeling particularly adventurous (or don’t want to drive to a mountain), and head over to 101 Jefferson St. No reservation required, just find parking or hop in a taxi. While this spot might not be the best in Mass, it’s far less crowded than popular places in Boston like Jamaica Pond and will absolutely do the trick.

Just remember that the only thing within walking distance is a Dunkin’ Donuts, so you’ll want to bring a thermos with whatever you may need to keep warm—hot chocolate, whiskey, whatever. -Jacob Schick Winter shvitzing As winter approaches, it’s important to stay hydrated and get a good sweat on. I recommend a lot of things—Jameson, Tinder dates at the Super 88 food court in Allston, going to a restaurant like Chilipa and destroying your innards with ma la xiang guo soaked in chili oil and szechuan

peppercorns. Then drink more. Now you’re shvitzing!

Now you’re warm, but not quite warm enough. When you finally stop sweating, it’s time to bus it over to Chelsea, or more specifically to Dillon’s Russian Steam Bath, where Russian men will benevolently beat you

PHOTO OF DILLONS VIA DILLONS

with oak branches in the banya until you have nothing left to shvitz. It’s the perfect end to an ideal winter’s eve.

-Daniel Kaufman Easy ice skate and warm up in Kendall Boston winters aren’t for the weak, you know this, but anyone who’s capable of braving the New England temperatures and snowy forecasts may be looking for a way to avoid cabin fever. Hence, ice skating. There are a lot of different ice rinks around the region, but a quaint one that doesn’t get too crowded is right in Kendall Square in Cambridge. Community ice skating there is open to the public seven days a week from midDecember to mid-March, and in addition to the usual, the rink will also hosts its annual Holiday on Ice Celebration on Dec 15, which has free admission and features a show by professional ice skaters. Put it on your calendar, and make a note to stop by Cambridge Brewing Co. to see what’s on tap.

-Morgan Hume Shop local and shop often If you’re looking for gifts outside the door-busting realms of Target and the Apple store, local organizers have carved out a slice of non-corporate holiday cheer in

Jamaica Plain. The fourth annual JP holiday flea market is the brainchild of Seek and Find, a group that focuses on free and affordable events to connect Boston’s many niche communities. On Dec 15 and 16, you can hop off the Orange Line at Stony Brook and head over to the market’s 60-plus vendors at Spontaneous Celebrations, a local event hub with similar goals of breaking down cultural barriers. In this melting pot of local artists, smiths, and repair techs (Mendi’s, a local anti-waste repair initiative, will have able hands to assist with your refurbishing needs), you’re well-equipped to find the right zine, record, or succulent cactus for you or your loved ones.

While you’re there, I would recommend a Tarot reading, just to ensure you’re entering the holidays with a balanced mind and spirit. And if you’d like to put that balance to the physical test, definitely stop by the outdoor ice rink just up the street. -Sophia Higgins Ski for free One great thing about the tundra months in New England is that, if you have the skills or blind audacity, you can suddenly pack up a gear bag and strap your ride to your back to take on remote and ungroomed potential ski areas. Contrary to the belief of those West Coast ski snobs, there are great spots right in our collective backyard. For a proper introduction to

backcountry skiing, we recommend Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire for hikes and open snowfields that will allow you the time it takes to work the basics. A bit more difficult is the John Sherburne Ski Trail in the Granite State; originally designed as an easier descent from Tuckerman Ravine, the “Sherbie” is an intermediatelevel trail and has become a local favorite. While only “skinning,” a kind of hybrid between hiking and skiing, is (technically) permitted on the trail, it only takes about two hours to hike to the top. Then it’s just you and the snow, and wide-open terrain. -Dan McCarthy Get your tube-watching setup straight This may be obvious for some, but it still needs to be said that one way to really enjoy winter on a budget is to prepare for some unapologetic hibernation and to steer clear of typical cold sports and activities. Why bother getting dressed in an obscene amount of layers and your heaviest boots just to leave the house? Instead, stay at home, climb on some comfy furniture, kick your feet up, find a screen. The fall brought more new shows and seasons of old favorites than anyone could possibly manage to watch before winter. Come winter, they’ll all be available for streaming, plus you can expect the usual lot of Christmas and holiday specials to binge on.

Call your friends, get their passwords, order up a Snuggy.

When the time comes, all you’ll have to do is find the clicker. -Elvira Mora

PHOTO OF SHERBIE VIA THE FRIENDS OF TUCKERMAN RAVINE NEWS TO US

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FIRST LOOK: PUBLICO STREET BISTRO & GARDEN EATS

A sorely needed spot for Southie

BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

So many Boston neighborhoods seem to be changing these days, and perhaps none are changing more than South Boston, with the Seaport District (and yes, it’s part of Southie) looking like its own city these days, Broadway becoming home to some of the hottest restaurants and bars in all of Boston, and the Lower End by the Broadway T stop being remade at such a fast pace that it’s almost scary. Even the lesser-trafficked side streets between Broadway and the Fort Point/Seaport area are being redeveloped here and there, but much of 2nd street and 1st street remain residential and industrial and retain an old-Boston feel while any development is much more low-key, fitting a bit more into the neighborhood.

Few dining spots reflect the laid-back feel of the area, and while Publico tends to cater more toward the upwardly mobile types who have moved in of late, it’s much different than the gaudy waterside spots several blocks to the north or the jam-packed eating and drinking establishments a few blocks to the south. This is a sorely needed place for Southie, at least for those who are more into under-the-radar restaurants that focus more on good food and drink than flash, though “good” may be quite an understatement based on early impressions of the food.

Publico (whose full name is Publico Street Bistro & Garden) has actually been around for awhile, opening in early 2017, but it doesn’t seem to be getting noticed outside of the immediate area, perhaps because of its obscure location near where the old Southie meets the more shiny and new Seaport District.

The dining spot resides on the ground floor of 11 On The Dot, an apartment building that was initially going to be called Allure and that has a somewhat artsy and industrial vibe to it like some of the other new buildings nearby. The artsy, funky feel extends into the restaurant itself, with the dining room featuring wall murals 14

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done by local artists (the street art also includes a Salvador Dali mural in the hallway) and a mix of booths and tables, banquettes along the wall, and attractive hanging lights that aren’t overly bright. The lounge to the right of the dining room is just as attractive, with a U-shaped bar that has a number of comfy high-back bar stools, and during the warmer months, the back wall of the bar area opens up to a beautiful atrium with more seating, fire pits, and TVs, and since this area is enclosed on all sides by the building itself, it keeps wind to a minimum unlike your typical outdoor patios and decks that are more exposed to the elements.

The eclectic feel of Publico extends to its menu, as offerings include Central American and South American influences as well as hints of Mediterranean as well, which could probably lead you to use the oft-overused “new American” category to describe the place, but eclectic is probably a more accurate term. Food options include something for everyone, with such items as empanadas, hot dogs with poblano chili, torta carnitas, charred octopus, steamed mussels, bolognese, steak frites, rib eye, and pizzettas being offered.

A few highlights include pillow-soft sourdough buns with olive oil that gets a slight kick from espelette chiles; yucca fries that are so addictive they can quickly ruin an appetite (and the salsa verde that comes with them is heavenly); fried mahi mahi tacos that are overflowing with avocado, peppers, and cabbage, and which come with a simple but delicious side of brown rice and refried beans; a grilled pork chop that sits on a heap of whipped celery root and is topped with a mouthwateringly rich demi-glace; ceviche that gets a serious kick from chili oil and a subtle brininess from tobiko; and for diners who want to splurge a bit with large shareable plates, a seared sea scallop paella with mussels, octopus, chicken, and chorizo, and an

Argentinian meat platter that comes with roast pork, andouille sausage, steak, and garlic sausage. (Brunch is available on weekends with everything from avocado toast and beignets to cheeseburger hash and lobster benedict.)

Those looking for a drink or two have a lot from which to choose at Publico, including an array of beers and wines, but considering that one of the owners of the restaurant used to bartend at the iconic (and long-closed) Locke-Ober, it’s pretty tempting to go the cocktail route here. A couple of options are Sweep the Leg (Sagamore rye, Averna amaro, sweet vermouth, thyme) and Get to the Choppah (Aviation gin, blood orange puree, tonic), and you can also order super-sized cocktails for four or more people as well, with one option among the large drinks being a blood orange mule that includes vodka, lime, and ginger beer.

Prices for both food and drink aren’t exactly cheap, but considering the quality of the offerings, the cost really isn’t all that bad, and depending on what you order, you could certainly keep the bill under or right around $100 for two, including a couple of apps, dinner, and a round or two of drinks.

Among all of the “first looks” at restaurants this year, Publico may be the most impressive spot of them all, though Zo in Somerville and Chili Square in Quincy are certainly up there as well. And Publico also seems—for now, anyways—a true hidden gem, being in the middle of a neighborhood and almost totally overlooked, which is a bit of a head-scratcher considering how hot Southie is these days. It may not be little-known for long, however, so if you’re looking for a quiet, out-of-the-way restaurant that isn’t too far from the T and is also fairly close to downtown Boston, you might want to get to this place sooner rather than later.

HOLIDAYS

HOW TO AVOID YOUR FAMILY Tips for spending Thanksgiving in Boston if you’re steering clear of the dinner table

Welcome to Boston!

BY MORGAN HUME Shit-faced Shakespeare WHAT: Not everyone finds Shakespeare entertaining, but adding loads of booze to the mix may change their minds. Shit-faced Shakespeare features a professional cast of actors who, obviously, get shit-faced on stage while performing classic plays. A production of Romeo and Juliet will be performed over Thanksgiving weekend.

WHERE: The Rockwell, Somerville WHEN: Nov 23 at 7pm and Nov 24 at 10pm Downtown Boston Holiday Market WHAT: Holiday markets will spring up all over the city as December approaches, but Downtown Crossing isn’t waiting that long. You can pick up some jewelry, art, clothes, food, and more at this pop-up market. It will be set up on Washington Street beginning the day after Thanksgiving.

WHERE: Downtown Crossing, Boston WHEN: Nov 23-Jan 6 Friday After Thanksgiving (F.A.T.) Chain Reaction WHAT: Sure, a lot of people celebrate the day after Thanksgiving by shopping, but how about a day of… science? MIT is hosting an engineering event where spectators can watch teams build their own crazy gadgets, similar to a contraption Rube Goldberg would have designed back in the day.

WHERE: MIT’s Rockwell Cage Gymnasium, Cambridge WHEN: Nov 23, 1-4pm Run in a race to burn off those calories WHAT: It’s a Thanksgiving tradition for many people to start the day with a brisk run. There are a lot of races happening that morning, including Gobble Gobble Gobble in Somerville, Stow Gobbler 5k in Somerville, and the Boston Volvo Thanksgiving Day 5K in Brighton.

WHERE: Various places in Boston and Massachusetts WHEN: Nov 22

Your local food store!

Dinner made easy and fabulous Staples and special treats Gift baskets and snacks Tastings every weekend

575 Washington St Oak Sq, Brighton

Monday - Saturday 10 am to 8 pm Sunday 10 am to 6 pm

wildflowerpantry.com

Christmas Tree Lightings WHAT: If you think that Thanksgiving is overrated, perhaps you agree that it’s time to gear up for… wait for it… Christmas!?! There are various tree-lighting ceremonies in Boston over Thanksgiving weekend for those looking to get in the holly jolly mood.

WHERE: Downtown Crossing, Roslindale Village, Copley Square WHEN: Nov 23-26 Catch the last of fall foliage WHAT: Thanksgiving marks the end of autumn, and the leaves change color one more time this season. There are some cool spots all around the region—but especially the Harvard Arboretum, Mount Auburn Cemetery, the Esplanade, and the Boston Common—where you’ll want to admire the trees before we’re hit with heaping mounts of New England snow. Hurry up!

WHERE: Boston and Cambridge WHEN: Now The movies are always an option WHAT: When all else fails, a trip to the movie theater never disappoints. Movies being released Thanksgiving weekend include Robin Hood, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Front Runner, and The Favourite.

WHERE: Various Boston Movie Theaters WHEN: Nov 21-23 One word: Chinatown WHAT: Sick of turkey and stuffing?

Head on over to Chinatown to skip the traditional Thanksgiving grub. You won’t find any other neighborhood with more restaurants that are open Thanksgiving day.

WHERE: Chinatown, Boston WHEN: Thanksgiving weekend Small Business Saturday WHAT: Before you spend all your money on Black Friday, don’t forget that Small Business Saturday is the day after. Check out nearby stores, support local businesses, you know the drill.

WHERE: Everywhere throughout the city WHEN: Nov 24

FEB 1 & 2 - BOSTON TICKETS:

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THE (THANKS)GIVING TREE MUSIC

Extend a hand to these Boston music charities, nonprofits, and organizations

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN It’s easy to give thanks for the talented music scene Boston has to offer when there are so many concerts to attend and records to buy. When it comes to supporting the musicians of tomorrow, though, things get a little tricky. Finding out how to volunteer in your city, however, isn’t the easiest thing to do. Falling down a Google black hole only leads to SEO-recommended charities and Yelpfavorited nonprofits. There’s a plethora of suggested organizations in the city to support, but there’s also a large swath of organizations that are too focused on helping others to figure out how to appear in Google search results. Internet, I thought you were supposed to be helpful?

So this holiday, we handpicked some of our favorite music-focused nonprofits, organizations, and charities that need your help. Whether you have $20 to spare or a few hours of your time to donate, the following groups are helping support your scene beyond the DIY circuit.

From all-ages venues to Latinx dances to hands-on opportunities for those routinely denied the chance to do such, scan through the following outlets to see how the way you burn time could be connected to a local group.

It’s Thanksgiving time, after all, so lend a helping hand to the neighbors you haven’t already met.

IF YOU LOVE TO: reminisce about playing violin in middle school

THEN DONATE TO: Revolution of Hope. Each year, 50 students get to join the Roxbury Youth Orchestra and take part in a five-day-a-week program of intense music studies thanks to this Roxbury organization.

Revolution of Hope works with five teachers and over a dozen volunteer instructors to give the local youth a chance to engage in detailed music programs ranging from chamber orchestra music to gospel choirs. And, as studios show, the professionalism and passion the youth shows in music classes often turns into motivation and determination in their academic lives, too.

WHERE: revolutionofhope.org IF YOU LOVE TO: drag your friends to peaceful protests and community meetings THEN DONATE TO: Teen Empowerment. Getting involved with your community does more good than harm, and Teen Empowerment is proof. Created back in 1992, this organization opened a Somerville branch in 2004 that connects low-income youth with their communities to help address the pressing issues in their lives. Its youth conferences combine music, activism, and theater, and act as a springboard of motivation and confidence. Did we mention its studio program helps youth members release albums that they produced themselves too?

WHERE: teenempowerment.org

IF YOU LOVE TO: see local DIY bands eventually headline Great Scott THEN DONATE TO: The Democracy Center. Cambridge’s modern meetinghouse has been hosting national, local, and nonprofit organizations ever since it was founded back in 2001. While the space is often used for activists and political groups to organize their people, it’s also used by musicians in Boston’s local music scene as a concert venue. Arguably the biggest selling point of the Democracy Center is its commitment to representing everyone, which means it’s one of the only all-ages venues in the city. Every tiny basement band and hardcore group you love has gotten its start here, and the next generation of these bands should get the chance to do the same.

WHERE: democracycenter.org IF YOU LOVE TO: jam with friends after work to destress THEN DONATE TO: ZUMIX. It’s no secret we love the East Boston-based nonprofit, and you certainly will too.

While it’s well known that ZUMIX offers city youth the chance to learn how to play, record, write, and broadcast music on their own, it’s also working to uplift the voices of East Boston at large through radio and storytelling. On top of all of this, its creative community hosts Q&As with touring musicians, offers safe spaces for youth to hang out after school, and even organized Play It Forward, which offers $60/hour adult music lessons that subsidize the cost for free or low-cost youth lessons. ZUMIX is a musical playground for Boston youth with an unlimited supply of imagination, inspiration, and creativity.

WHERE: zumix.org IF YOU LOVE TO: blast Camila Cabello, J Balvin, and Kali Uchis—even in the winter THEN DONATE TO: Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion. The oldest nonprofit organization on this list, IBA started in 1968 when protesters organized to stop displacement in the South End and control their community. The multifaceted organization has created sections like the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts—the largest Latinx arts center in New England—which hosts music events, proper dances, and visual arts events celebrating the diversity of Latinx culture. In a city that continues to segregate via neighborhood borders, IBA’s focus on upholding Latinx traditions and educating the community about Latinx culture is vital for Boston’s diversifying music scene.

WHERE: ibaboston.org

DEMOCRACY CENTER PHOTO BY DAN GONYEA

MUSIC EVENTS THU 11.15

THU 11.15

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

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

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge.

8:30pm/all ages/$25. sinclaircambridge.com]

SAME OLD COMMON BLAH FROM MAINE WEAKENED FRIENDS + NERVOUS DATER + SAVE ENDS

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IT’S YOU! IT’S ME! AND WE’RE DANCING! LOS CAMPESINOS! + ADULT MOM

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FRI 11.16

INTRODUCING: ALLSTON ROCK CITY KAL MARKS + MANEKA + NICE GUYS + RONG

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

Ave., Allston. 10pm/21+/$8. greatscottboston.com]

SUN 11.17

SALUTE THE RISING SONGWRITERS FOR MILLENIALS (SANDY) ALEX G + HALF WAIF + SIDNEY GISH [Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston.

7pm/all ages/$17. crossroadspresents.com]

SUN 11.17

MODERN CLASSICAL AMBIANCE FROM ICELAND ÓLAFUR ARNALDS

[Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., Boston. 8pm/all ages/$30. berklee.edu]

MON 11.18

DISPOSABLE AMERICA, ETERNAL UNDERGROUND PRIOR PANIC + GROUPIE + OCEANATOR + ME IN CAPRIS

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

8:30pm/18+/$10. greatscottboston.com]

GIRLS ROCK CAMPAIGN BOSTON PHOTO BY KELLY DAVIDSON SAVAGE IF YOU LOVE TO: goof around on instruments you’ve never played before THEN DONATE TO: Girls Rock Campaign Boston.

Given the organization’s name, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Girls Rock is the all-female and nonbinary, primarily volunteer-run, and totally uplifting outlet that empowers girls and women through music. Over the course of a camp-style string of days, attendees will learn how to play instruments of their choosing and form a band. The whole thing ends with a music festival for the public showcasing the bands and, in the process, how music education is a stepping stone to build self-esteem.

WHERE: girlsrockboston.org IF YOU LOVE TO: imagine what a music video for your life would look like THEN DONATE TO: RAW Art Works. Age limits don’t matter, especially at RAW. This Lynn-based organization lets kids under the age of 17 discover how to bring their ideas to life through art. This includes conceiving, designing, directing, building, and filming music videos for artists, like the video they created for “If You Met Her”

by Palehound last year.

WHERE: rawartworks.org IF YOU LOVE TO: feel moved by street performers on your morning commute THEN DONATE TO: Shelter Music Boston. This sustainable nonprofit brings classical music to homeless shelters around the city, and they just happen to make it look easy as hell. Since forming in 2009, the Arlingtonbased organization has dedicated itself to providing homeless citizens with the self-reflection, intellectual stimulation, community, and hope of music by letting professional classical musicians perform concerts in its space. But it’s not possible without their hardworking staff and donations from people like you.

WHERE: sheltermusicboston.org

TEEN EMPOWERMENT

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TOMBERLIN WHEEL OF TUNES

Singer-songwriter talks self-help and finally watching The Simpsons

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

PHOTO BY PHILIP COSORES

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FREE ESTIMATES EMERGENCY SERVICES Residential | Commercial

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Sarah Beth Tomberlin may appear meek at first, but her music will move you from the get-go. The Louisville-based singer-songwriter recently surfaced in the national eye because of her debut full-length, At Weddings, and its simple honesty. But if you ask her how she’s adjusting to it all—touring, interviews, a general fanbase at all—she still seems unsure if it’s happening at all.

On her debut album, Tomberlin draws a line from her upbringing in a traditional Christian setting to her current place after her loss of faith. While the subject matter of At Weddings sounds dreary and potentially angsty, it is, instead, a beautiful record that slowly takes steps through her past. The whole album never grows louder than a comforting stir, providing the type of songs you want to curl under in wintertime. And while it may seem like a natural instinct, an album that came naturally to someone who is meant to share their work, the fact that it’s even gaining traction beyond her hometown still feels surreal to Tomberlin.

“To be honest, I’m really bad at being proud of myself,” says Tomberlin. “It’s all very new, so it’s hard enough to wrap my head around what’s going on, nevertheless take time to be proud of myself. What I’m proud of is that I’m not coming from any scene or big city. I take a lot of pride in hard work, playing shows, and getting music out into the world when you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of tools to help themselves. I don’t have a huge team or anything. This past tour was my first tour. When I say it’s hard to reflect, it’s because everything is so new. There’s not a single inch of this that feels familiar or comfortable. And in a way, I’m proud of that.”

To get to know her better, we interviewed Sarah Beth Tomberlin for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles. With At Weddings as the prompt, her answers are jittery and honest—traits that will appear in her set when she plays Cafe 939 this Friday night.

Writing in general for me has been difficult to not censor myself. It’s not that it’s too much of a diary entry. I just get afraid of people hearing it and decoding that. The album isn’t technically nonfiction. It’s just the songs are the songs. It is really difficult to write about things that are very intimate and personal, even if it’s written in the form of a song. There’s fiction to all songs because you’re bending the narrative to what you want the listener to hear. When I wrote most of the record, I lived at home with my parents. It was always so secretive. They didn’t hear any of the songs until later on. It’s hard to not censor yourself in a way that you’re not able to focus on writing. You’re just focused on the fact that somebody might hear it. Putting these songs out was like ripping a Band-Aid off. Now that I live in a city and not at home, it’s given me a way to not care about censoring myself as much anymore.

1. “Any Other Way” Have you ever had plans to travel somewhere but the mode of travel became inaccessible suddenly?

I don’t think I’ve had to take a different mode of transportation, but one time my mom and I were driving back from St. Louis and it took us almost 10 hours to get home on what would have been an hour-and-a-half drive. It started sleeting, there was ice, and it was wild. There was a slight chance of snow in the forecast, but it basically became covered with inches of ice anyway. We stopped on one exit to get food before driving home in the night. As we got back on the ramp to get on the interstate, all of the cars in front of us were sliding off the ramp. We also slid off the ramp, but somehow our car was fine. I don’t know how I helped my mom because she’s a more experienced driver, but I did. Everyone was driving like 20 mph and we passed like 15 car accidents. It’s terrifying driving at night seeing wreck after wreck and ambulances that couldn’t get to people because of it. That was like two years ago, too.

But somehow we got back home.

Read the rest of the article at Digboston.com >>TOMBERLIN. FRI 11.16. CAFE 939, 939 BOYLSTON ST., BOSTON. 8PM/ALL AGES/$12. BERKLEE.EDU/CAFE939

THEATER REVIEW PERFORMING ARTS

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

BY JACOB SCHICK @SCHICK_JACOB

THE RIGHT WAY TO DO SLAPSTICK COMEDY IN THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

After drinking and spitting out scotch (read: paint thinner) for the fourth time, Thomas Colleymoore (Robert Grove) shouts—for the fourth time—“Good God! I needed that.” It seems that The Play That Goes Wrong is just what the audience needed.

A chance to laugh, even guffaw, at a show that’s equal parts smart and idiotic.

From the very start, The Play That Goes Wrong is fully committed to the joke. The show bill’s cover is printed wrong, so the text doesn’t even fit on the page. As the audience files into their seats, Annie Twilloil and Trevor Watson, “stage manager” and “lighting & sound operator” respectively, bustle around the set. It appears that the crew didn’t have SCENE FROM THE PLAY enough time to finish setting up the scenery—a THAT GOES WRONG large room centered on a couch, with a mantel offset to one side and another room perched above in the corner. Things break as they fix them (the mantelpiece simply won’t stay on and the crew gets frustrated and forgoes it entirely). Watson has an entire Buster Keaton-esque bit with the unruly door that won’t stay closed, no matter how many times he shuts it. For those audience members who know what’s going on—or for those who got to their seats early— this rigmarole is a very entertaining way to wait for the play to actually begin. And watch closely; the unruly set decorations giving Twilloil and Watson grief don’t stop just because The Play That Goes Wrong starts.

The show, created by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields in 2012, begins with an address to the audience. The Director (Chris Bean) steps almost into the spotlight to introduce the Drama Society’s new show, The Murder at Haversham Manor. He is glad that the society finally has a show that fits its meager cast size— past shows included Chekhov’s Two Sisters and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cat. With this introduction, the Director leaves the stage, and the lights dim.

Newcomers to The Play That Goes Wrong cannot imagine what is in store for them. The show is already funny, and it hasn’t even officially started.

When the lights too quickly return, one cast member is revealed to be crawling his way to his mark. At this point, the audience is already warm, so it takes nothing more than that to get a large laugh—and it’s the first of countless. The lights go dark again, allowing the actor to make his mark—lying “dead” on the couch. The deceased is none other than the eponymous Charles Haversham (Jonathan Harris).

His body is quickly discovered by the other characters—although not too quickly, as his friend Colleymoore (Grove) and his butler Perkins (Dennis Tyde) can’t open the door that wouldn’t stay shut. After getting fed up with this, the actors walk around the set wall and quickly swing back the curtain before pretending that nothing was wrong. They determine that Haversham is indeed dead—after stepping on the actor’s hand, causing him to jump in pain.

The rest of the characters are quickly brought up to speed—his fiancee Florence Colleymoore (Sandra Wilkinson) is unbelievably crushed by the news. It’s simply not believable how “devastated” she is, as she gyrates back and forth on the body in one of her “episodes.” Cecil Haversham (Max Bennett), brother of the deceased, is equally distraught. When Inspector Carter (Bean) is called, the murder mystery begins.

The ensuing show is a mishmash of missed cues, character breaks, slapstick comedy, and general absurdity that results in a wonderfully funny and entertaining show. Jokes are played over and over again for greater and greater laughs, scenes that would derail any real play are stretched into hilarity, and the pratfalls, fake injuries, and bad effects are hammed up for the bit.

While the cast members are each and every one hysterical, the star of z is the set.

Perfectly timed breaking objects or falling wall ornaments add percussive beats to the right moments. The lack of proper set safety allows the actors to run about the stage at will, falling over themselves under pretenses of being injured. The actors play off the set, shooting it dirty looks or resigned sighs of contempt as nothing goes right. The set is The Play That Goes Wrong’s primary antagonist. While the actors fight each other, the laughably cheesy dialogue, and their own inability to remember their lines, they battle the set. And usually, the set wins.

The show is tremendously engaging and funny, nearly an Abbott and Costello bit with more zaniness. The loss of true slapstick in much of today’s comedy is not felt here. The only thing missing might be a banana peel for a character to slip on—or perhaps that iconic piano score that slapstick movies play when the characters run around at too-fast speeds.

Sam Tripoli

The Joe Rogan Experience Thursday - Saturday

COMING SOON Josh Gondelman Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Nov 23 + 24

King Bach

Special Engagement: Tues, Nov 27

Dan Soder

Showtime’s Billions, Netflix’s The Standups Nov 29-Dec 1

Rodney Perry

Special Engagement: Sun, Dec 2

Chad Daniels

The Tonight Show, Comedy Central Presents Dec 6-8

April Macie

The Howard Stern Show, Last Comic Standing Dec 13-15 617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. THROUGH 11.17 AT THE EMERSON COLONIAL THEATRE, 106 BOYLSTON ST., BOSTON. BOSTON.BROADWAY.COM NEWS TO US

FEATURE

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19

MIXED SIGNALS FILM

The “latest” film by Orson Welles is a cross-media instant classic

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

SCENE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND

In the film Orson Welles: The One-Man Band [1995], Oja Kodar, Welles’ chief artistic collaborator during the last two decades of his life, presents a series of clips from the director’s various unfinished projects, footage that Welles bequeathed to her at the time of his death. That feature, which is co-directed by Kodar and Vassili Silovic, even takes its name from one such project—a pilot originally shot for CBS (one segment has Welles playing nearly every role, hence the title), which is known by various names, including “Swinging London” and “Orson’s Bag” [1968-1971, unfinished]. Television projects in fact make up a significant percentage of the footage on display in The One-Man Band, shedding light on Welles’ oftunacknowledged efforts within that medium—even if few of those projects escaped the editing room. Films intended for big-screen exhibition are also featured during Kodar’s 1995 film: For instance, we see an extended trailer of F for Fake [1973], which is the last theatrical feature that Welles completed during his lifetime, and we also see a few edited scenes from The Other Side of the Wind [2018], which is in turn the latest Welles feature to have been finished, more than two decades after Kodar featured pieces of it in her own film of odds and ends.

The Other Side of the Wind was released earlier this month on Netflix and in select theaters, following a long-awaited completion that was aided by figures including editor Bob Murawski, composer Michel Legrand, producers Frank Marshall and Filip Jan Rymsza, a small army of visual effects craftspeople, project godfather Peter Bogdanovich, and of course Netflix’s own executives, who paid the long-overdue bill. Meaning we’re left with a completed-by-committee iteration of The Other Side of the Wind, served up by a tech giant in noted search of cinema bona fides. But even in this state, decades removed and drowning in prestige, Welles’ project—once actually seen—reveals itself to be a work of absolutely radical ambition. Concerning not just “Hollywood” but the very shape and standards of narrative movies, The Other Side of the Wind presents a stunningly astute record of the formal advances being made in motion-

picture art of the late ’60s and early ’70s—and probably would’ve moved some things forward itself, had it been released in its own time. It’s a film about the movies in a state of great change, and a film about people doing their damndest to keep up with those very changes.

The base of The Other Side of the Wind depicts a party being given in the honor of aging Old Hollywood filmmaker Jake Hannaford (John Huston), which brings together other characters, including New Hollywood filmmaker Brooks Otterlake (Bogdanovich), Hannafordskeptic film critic Juliette Rich (Susan Strasberg), and a collection of the elderly director’s old-white-man buddies.

These people socialize as they’re surrounded by a coterie of journalists, critics, paparazzos, and various other hangers-on, many of whom are “filming” the party with 8mm and 16mm cameras, their “footage” making up a very significant portion of The Other Side of the Wind itself. Some of this footage is in black and white, some is in faded color, and most of it is in the square ratio most associated with both Old Hollywood and old television.

Not every shot in the party segment is presented as if it’s been shot by a partygoer—Welles cheats the concept when it suits the film’s larger purposes, such as in private dialogue scenes—but even still, a lot of the movie might be characterized as “false nonfiction,” putting it in line with various other projects of the Welles filmography, ranging from the Mercury Theatre’s 1938 “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast to the newsreel segments of Citizen Kane [1941] to, well, F for Fake.

In between the party segments, we view sequences from one of Hannaford’s “own” projects, also titled The Other Side of the Wind, which features silent performances by “John Dale” (Bob Random) and “The Actress” (Kodar) and is shot in widescreen color 35mm (for the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to these segments as “Hannaford’s film” from now on). It’s been put on the record by many that Welles intended this film-withinthe-film as a pisstake on a certain kind of late ’60s/early ’70s Eurocentric festival-circuit cinema—When I’m Dead even reveals that Welles shot these sequences at a house

located next door to a location seen in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point [1970], often cited as a film that Welles intended to satirize directly. But one might also consider that “Old Hollywood director making an as-yet-unfinished experimental work in fits and starts” suggests Welles himself, and The Other Side of the Wind, more than it suggests any of his peers. On that note, these segments of Hannaford’s film are presented within The Other Side of the Wind as if they were completed scenes from an unfinished film—which is to say they’re presented the exact same way that scenes from The Other Side of the Wind were presented to backers as Welles tried to complete it during his own lifetime, and the same way those scenes were featured in The One-Man Band after his death.

Shots from the party are even sometimes edited into the longer segments from Hannaford’s film, producing formal shocks of a variety almost unprecedented in the narrative cinema of the 1970s. The Other Side of the Wind is constantly shifting from color to black and white, from 35mm to 16, from widescreen into a square ratio, then all back again, in a manner that would’ve seemed (almost) singular within narrative film if seen anytime before the 21st century. “I’m going to use several voices to tell the story,” Welles told Bogdanovich in a conversation transcripted in their book, This is Orson Welles [1992]. “You hear conversations taped as interviews… documentaries… still pictures, films, tapes. … The movie’s going to be made up of all this raw material.” And indeed the raw material on display in this full-length edit of The Other Side is as diverse as Welles’ could’ve imagined: Some dialogue sequences recall Welles’ early Hollywood films, others more closely resemble underground films by the likes of Robert Downey Sr. or George Kuchar; some of the party-scene compositions suggest the cramped images of traditional American television, others are shot with the distance and space Welles employed in European television productions like Filming Othello [1978]; some of Hannaford’s film really does call to mind Antonioni and his peers, other segments of it sport an intense kineticism that seems more in line with the very best of the “trance film,” works by artists including Maya Deren. Some of it feels like nothing else at all, at least nothing that I can place.

Consider all this but a selection of first impressions of The Other Side of the Wind and its cinema-specific critiques, self-critiques, references, cross-references, selfreferences. Welles’ picture, an uproariously funny tragedy, considers artists young and old, looking to one another for answers, none to be found. That he didn’t finish the film might implicitly group Welles in with that same tragedy—another link between the life of the artist and the life of the film he left unfinished. But that’s just too reductive, too simple, to sit well with me. For a moment, forget “behind the times,” forget that tragedy, forget that impenetrable gap between generations, and forget the expectation that answers would come with bridging it. Given the unimaginably wide-ranging command of the craft on display here… Welles’ utter mastery of motion-picture art ranging across different mediums and practices and markets from the dawn of the form until the then-present… given the willingness of The Other Side of the Wind to cut against formal conventions to an extent that even the so-called mavericks of the time rarely approached? One might surmise that Welles himself didn’t even need to ask the questions.

>> THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND IS NOW AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX. RATED R. >> ORSON WELLES: THE ONE-MAN BAND IS AVAILABLE AS A BONUS FEATURE ON THE CRITERION COLLECTION’S HOME VIDEO RELEASE OF F FOR FAKE. 20

11.15.18 - 11.22.18

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DIGBOSTON.COM

NEVER A DHOL MOMENT ARTS PREVIEW

15th annual Boston Bhangra competition

BY JILLIAN KRAVATZ @JILLIAN_KRAVATZ

Amit Bhambi has been around Bhangra all his life. The colorful costumes, the upbeat music, the expressions and energetic movements—all of it is familiar to him. When he asks Americans unfamiliar with the Punjabi-style dance what they think of it?

“They usually describe it as a mix of hip-hop and cheerleading with a folk twist,” he told DigBoston.

Bhambi, who co-founded the nonprofit Boston Bhangra with his siblings Amit and Priya Bhambi, will be working with around 50 volunteers this weekend to put on the 15th annual Boston Bhangra Competition on Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre.

He’s hoping it will be a chance to share Bhangra not just with Indians in the community, but with people who don’t know anything about it, he said.

The competition—which begins at 6 pm with an opening routine from Boston Bhangra’s own junior team—will include a dozen Bhangra teams from across the US and Canada. The teams will each perform a Bhangra piece for a panel of judges, which will critique each group on its expression, formations, transitions, costumes, accuracy of movement, and creativity.

Bhangra began as a dance in the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan among farmers. It is characterized by the beat of the dhol (a traditional drum) and traditionally danced in a circle. What started around 70 years ago as a harvest dance has evolved into an international phenomenon complete with pop stars and giant international competitions.

At the end of the night, the judges will award the top three teams after a performance by Bhangra star G Sidhu (who, Bhambi added, performed as a dancer in the Boston Bhangra Competition a few years ago before becoming a famous singer).

Then the night will end with an after party at the Hilton Hotel—a chance for the public to mingle with the teams, dance, and listen to a wide array of Bhangra music.

“If people know what Bhangra is they will get excited about it,” Bhambi said. “If we don’t do it, no one else will. There’s not anyone else committed to Bhangra the way we are.”

PERFORMERS AT 2017 BOSTON BHANGRA COMPETITION

>> BOSTON BHANGRA COMPETITION. SAT 11.17. 6PM. ORPHEUM THEATRE, 1 HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON. BOSTONBHANGRA.COM/BBC2018 NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

BOUND AND GAGGING SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

I’ve always wanted to tie girls up, but I can never convince a woman to let me. Lately, I’ve been exploring “bondage singles” sites online, but I’m totally new to this. How do I know which ones I can trust? There are hundreds of profiles, but it’s hard for me to believe I can really just answer an ad, meet a girl in a hotel room, and tie her up. It can’t be that simple, can it?

The Internet’s Enticing Dates It can’t be and it isn’t, TIED, because no woman in her right mind is going to let some man she’s never met before tie her up in a hotel room. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen or hasn’t ever happened, but women stupid enough to take that risk are rare—and it should go without saying that any singles website promising to provide lonely guys with an endless stream of stupid women is a scam. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Justin Gorbey is a bondage practitioner and educator, as well as a professional artist and tattooer. Gorbey ties up a lot of women, as you can see on his Instagram account (@ daskinbaku), and he doesn’t think you’re going to find someone on a “bondage singles” site, either.

“I would recommend this person step away from the dating sites and step into some educational group meet-ups or ‘munches,’” said Gorbey. “TIED or any new person should focus on groups that match their own desires/interests, and connections will develop organically with time and effort—with a lot of fucking time and effort!”

Kink social and education groups organize online but meet up offline—face-to-face, IRL, in meatspace—at munches (educational talks, no actual play) and play parties (actual play, hence the name). To find the kink organization(s) in your area, TIED, Gorbey suggests that you create a profile on FetLife, the biggest social network for kinky people, and start connecting with other like-minded kinksters at munches.

“Going to munches will not only give TIED a chance to meet people,” said Gorbey, “they’ll give him a ‘guide’ for how to act—most groups generally go over house safe words/etiquette/rules and consent/risk awareness at the beginning of a munch—and they’ll also give what I call a ‘visual vocabulary’ of what a real-life scene looks like. Porn and fetish fantasy often distort our perceptions of what is plausible or even possible for real people in a real-life scenario. Just watching others play helped me identify the things I found attractive as both a top and a bottom.”

There are lots of men and women out there who are interested in bondage, TIED, and the organized kink scene is the best place to find safe and sane play partners. You’ll be able to interact with kinky women at munches and parties, women who will be a lot likelier to let you tie them up after you’ve demonstrated you’re safe and sane yourself.

“There are hours of intimacy before and after the moment captured for an Instagram photo,” said Gorbey. “These relationships require trust, vulnerability, and communication.

These acts require a lot of hard work and commitment, and they expose a person to risk.

That’s why the only responsible answer to TIED’s question is to seek education first and play partners second.”

Justin Gorbey teaches workshops and intensives on a number of subjects centering on bondage and power exchange dynamics. To see his work and learn about his workshops, follow him on Instagram @daskinbaku.

I’m a monogamous woman in a committed relationship with a nonmonogamous man. I try to be cool about his other relationships, but I’m trying to figure out how to bring some fire back into ours. I miss oral sex, but that’s not on the table because he “doesn’t like” how I taste. I’ve suggested bondage and anal, but he says he’s “too tired.” He can make plans with others to have exciting new experiences, but he doesn’t have any energy for me. I’m at a loss. Counseling is not an option for us because he doesn’t believe in that stuff. Any suggestions?

Seeking Adventurous Monogamishamy

COMEDY EVENTS THU 11.15 - SAT 11.17

SAM TRIPOLI @ LAUGH BOSTON

Practitioner of the Deadly Art of Comedy, Sam Tripoli views comedy as a calling rather than a profession. It’s a passion that he preaches to audiences live in nightclubs, radio, television, and podcasts nationwide. Sam also co-hosts All Things Comedy Network podcast, Punch Drunk Sports with Ari Shaffir and Jayson Thibault.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | VARIOUS | $20-$25 FRI 11.16 - SAT 11.17

WILL NOONAN @ NICK’S COMEDY STOP

Will has appeared on “Gotham Comedy Live” on AXS-TV, The Oddball Comedy Festival with Louis CK and Sarah Silverman, told a story on NPR’s “This American Life” and his comedy is played often on Sirius XM. He’s appeared on MTV as a comedian and in 2014 Will was named Comedy Ambassador and a Moment Maker by Skype. He’s also starred in commercials for Staples, Ocean Spray and and Bullhorn among many others.

100 WARRENTON ST., BOSTON | 8PM | $20 FRI 11.16

ANDERSON COMEDY PRESENTS: THE GAS! @ GREAT SCOTT Featuring: Jak Knight, Zack Fox, & Carmen Morales.

Hosted by Rob Crean

1222 COMM AVE, ALLSTON | 7PM | $5 SAT 11.17

BOSTON COMEDY BLOWOUT @ BOCH CENTER SHUBERT THEATRE

Featuring: Don Gavin, Christine Hurley, Dave Russo, Steve Sweeney, Chris Tabb & Tony V.

265 TREMONT BOSTON | 7:30PM | $60 SAT 11.17

THE MENDOZA LINE @ THE DUGOUT CAFE

Featuring: Zach Armentrout, John Baglio, Katie Que, & more.

722 COMM AVE., BOSTON | 9PM | $5 SUN 11.18

LIQUID COURAGE COMEDY @ SLUMBREW

Featuring: Ethan Diamond, Liam McGurk, Brandon Vallee, Joe Koslowski, Pete Andrews, Kwasi Mensah, David Thomas, Mike Settlow, Alex Giampapa.

Hosted by Janet McNamara

15 WARD ST., SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $5

Lineup & shows to change without notice. For more info on everything Boston Comedy visit BostonComedyShows.com Bios & writeups pulled from various sources, including from the clubs & comics…

RUTHERFORD

BY DON KUSS DONKUSS@DIGBOSTON.COM

Yes, stop doing his laundry or paying his rent or preparing his meals—stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that your shit boyfriend values and is reluctant to give up, SAM, because it’s clear he doesn’t value you. DTMFA.

On the Lovecast, drinking in moderation—is this even possible?: savagelovecast.com

savagelovecast.com 22

11.15.18 - 11.22.18

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“THE TOILET WATER HERE IS EXCELLENT!”

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

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talkingjointsmemo.com THE WAY WE WEREN’T

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