DigBoston 2.21.19

DIGBOSTON.COM 02.21.19 - 02.28.19

FEATURE

DIRE IN DUDLEY

COVER

HOOD STORY A SPECIAL ROAD RAGE READ-ALONG THEATER: SPAMILTON - PLUS! ENDLINGS AT A.R.T.

2

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

BOWERY BOSTON WWW.BOWERYBOSTON.COM VOL 21 + ISSUE 08

FEB 21, 2019 - FEB 28,2019 BUSINESS PUBLISHER John Loftus ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Chris Faraone Jason Pramas SALES EXECUTIVES Victoria Botana Derick Freire Nate Homan 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, Morgan Hume, Jillian Kravatz, Olivia Mastrosimone, Juan A. Ramirez, Jacob Schick

DESIGN

DESIGNER Don Kuss COMICS Tim Chamberlain, Pat Falco Patt Kelley, Don Kuss, Cagen Luse DigBoston Phone 617.426.8942 digboston.com

ON THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY HECTOR. ORIGINAL PHOTO OF MASSPIKE ROAD RAGE FIASCO BY RAY FUSCHETTI. READ OUR STAGEREADY PLAY ABOUT THE INCIDENT IN THIS WEEK’S FEATURE SECTION.

©2019 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.

DEAR READER OH, CRUEL REVISITATION

For more than 10 years in these pages, we featured a weekly blip called “Oh, Cruel World” in which we cleaned up and printed short and explicit rants that readers sent to us. Since social media essentially replaced the need for that creative outlet, we killed OCW in ’16 but are considering dropping a bathroom book of the best ones we published. In the meantime, here are some complaints lodged five years ago in 2014, followed by my updates on the matters of concern.

Dear Candy Crusher, There are a lot of reasons that could justify your stopping in the middle of the train platform to fiddle with your tricked out iPhone, almost causing me to step onto the tracks and twist my ankle something awful. Maybe you were in the middle of an urgent call from your kid’s school, and they were telling you they tested the brat and he’s as stupid as his parents. That might make your coming to a full stop in heavy pedestrian traffic acceptable. But that wasn’t the case—was it? No—you were playing Candy Crush, and that’s why I’m crushing your head.

I am happy to report that nothing like this comes anywhere close to happening anymore.

Dear Incompetent Cashier, I have read enough of these columns to know it’s common for Dig readers to step on cashiers. Being one myself, I usually get angry, but now I have my own complaint—about my peers at other counters who don’t know how to hand people change.

When you put dollars in a patron’s hand before the cents, you’re literally making a miniature slide from which their tin will probably plummet off counter. Maybe you’re too dumb to make tips the old-fashioned way and have to hoard floor quarters, but I doubt you’re even that clever.

For show announcements, giveaways, contests, and more, follow us on:

ROYALE

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

JUKEBOX THE GHOST & THE MOWGLI’S

JACOB BANKS W/ ABIR

W/ MARY LATTIMORE

W/ ABBY JASMINE

SAT. FEBRUARY 23

SUN. FEBRUARY 24

SAT. MARCH 23

W/ TWIN XL THU. MARCH 28

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

T PAIN

W/ LONG BEARD

BEATS ANTIQUE

S AT. 4 /6 S OLD OUT !

W/ AXEL THESLEFF

MON. APRIL 1

THU. APRIL 4

TUE. MAY 14

FRI. MAY 17

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

MON. JUNE 3

FRI. JUNE 7

SUN. SEPTEMBER 29

FRI. NOVEMBER 8

HUNNY, OSO OSO

52 Church St., Cambridge, MA sinclaircambridge.com

DONNA MISSAL

THIS TIME TOUR 2019 W/ W/ SAMIA SAMIA

FRI. FEBRUARY 22

DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND AND CHA WA

W/ THE GREETING COMMITTEE

SUN. FEBRUARY 24

MON. FEBRUARY 25

W/ WILDERMISS

TUE. FEBRUARY 26 ON SALE NOW!

Still makes me crazy every day, often several times.

Dear White People, You’re allowed to use words like “black,” “Asian,” and “Latino” when describing people. At my restaurant, patrons often call to ask about something that they might have left behind. When I ask them to describe their server, if the customer is white, they almost always exhaust every irrelevant physical detail—height, shirt color, possible shoe size—before I ultimately have to ask them to distinguish along racial lines.

As hilariously sad as this can be, you people need to grow the fuck up and get comfortable around new words. And when I say “you people,” I mean white folks.

WED. FEBRUARY 27

FRI. MARCH 1

SAT. MARCH 2

TUE. MAY 28

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

WED. JUNE 19

THU. JUNE 20

CRAIG FINN AND THE UPTOWN CONTROLLERS

SAT. JUNE 1

Frankly, this long into the Trump presidency, I am more or less incapable of recalling what race relations were like in the US half a decade ago.

Dear National Grid, First let’s just get everything out of the way that everyone already knows and hates about your company—you essentially have a goddamn monopoly in a country where that’s supposed to be illegal, you charge whatever you want, and some of your employees definitely masturbate in strange basements. All that aside, however, my biggest beef with you these days is how I have to use both your gas and electric, and that you don’t make the slightest effort to have bills or websites indicating which of my utilities is being referenced.

Man oh man, if they only knew back then what we know now about the major gas monopolies in Mass. Oh, cruel world indeed.

W/ VOWWS

W/ KALBELLS, LIP TALK

TUE. JUNE 11

ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT

Los Wálters w/ Balún

W/ HARPOONER

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA greatscottboston.com

FRIDAYS AT 7PM!

‘s THE GAS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27

NINA NE SBIT T

W/ BARRIE

W/ SAVAK, EARTHQUAKE PARTY!

W/ PLESTED, SOPHIE ROSE

FRIDAY, MARCH 1

MONDAY, MARCH 4

TUESDAY, MARCH 5

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE NOW!

W/ BETCHA

DE AUGUSTINE

SUNDAY, APRIL 28

MONDAY, MAY 20

ANGELO

THE PARLOR MOB MONDAY, APRIL 8

≠ 2/22 ED BALLOON ≠ 2/23 BRETT JOHNSON ≠ 2/24 OLDSOUL ≠ 3/6 HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE ≠ 3/7 KODIE SHANE ≠ 3/8 MARCELLA ARGUELLO ≠ 3/8 THUMPASAURUS ≠ 3/9 SIR BABYGIRL ≠ 3/12 JAKALS ≠ 3/14 SEAN MCCONNELL ≠ 3/15 OH PEP! ≠ 3/16 KENNY O’BRIEN & THE O’DOULS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM!

WED. MAY 8 BOCH CENTER – WANG THEATRE

THU. MAY 23 AGGANIS ARENA AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

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

W/ SKI MASK THE SLUMP GOD

Tickets for Royale, The Sinclair, and Great Scott can be purchased online at AXS.COM. No fee tickets available at The Sinclair box office Wednesdays - Saturdays 12:00 - 7:00PM FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF SHOWS, VISIT BOWERYBOSTON.COM NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

3

NEWS US STATE OF EMERGENCY NEWS TO US

A united front to rescue Dudley meets at Black Market, will convene again

BY SYDNEY B. WERTHEIM

There weren’t enough chairs to hold the nearly 130 community leaders, activists, business owners, and residents who gathered at the emergency roundtable inside Black Market in Roxbury earlier this month to address concerns over the recent closing of several businesses in and around Dudley Square.

Designed for people to discuss economic problems and identify possible solutions for commercial improvement, the roundtable was a community-driven affair. Food donations of chicken and rice rolled in from local restaurant Suya Joint, while all attendees were given a chance to introduce themselves to the room.

“Let’s respect the person who holds the microphone,” said Kai Grant, co-owner of Black Market and co-moderator of the event. “This is a safe space where opinions are heard and respected.”

Grant and her husband Christopher founded Black Market in 2016 with the idea that they could foster the economic change they want to see in their backyard. Like the effort with her business, for Grant, the roundtable was a chance to take on a leadership role in the economic future of the neighborhood.

“Us pivoting into more of an accelerator and looking at ways that we can transform these businesses, and also still give the community a space that really does drive economic development and is an economic multiplier— those are the things that we want to do,” Grant said.

To start, attendees shared concerns about the economic vitality of Dudley Square. As a follow-up, people split into breakout sessions, where smaller groups voiced ideas for 4

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

community-oriented economic improvement. “[The meeting focused on] how to empower the ideas of people who are here vs looking to other people,” Destiny Polk said. Polk is the founder of Radical Black Girl, a creative activist platform for artists of color.

“People were coming up with their creative ideas like how to spread good news about what’s happening in the area vs just perpetuating stereotypes,” Polk said. ”One of the main things we’re still thinking about is community education on language. Also around development and planning, and educating people on what’s really possible.”

The Boston city councilor for the district, Kim Janey, echoed her enthusiasm about the solution-oriented goals of the meeting. “This is so important because we are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Janey said.

In the meantime, over the past year alone, Dudley has lost at least six commercial businesses including Tasty Burger, Ashley Stewart, Payless Shoes, and New York Fashion. Haley House, a popular meet-up for residents, organizers, and artists, also closed, albeit temporarily.

Reginald Brown, a lifelong resident of Roxbury, attended the roundtable to hear what people had to say.

Like a lot of others in the room, he noted the significant negative changes along the Washington Street corridor over the past several decades.

“The city’s just not doing what they need to do with Roxbury like they’re doing with the rest of the parts of Boston,” Brown said. “If you are part of the haves, then you’re good. If you’re part of the have-nots, [it’s] see you later. That’s how I see South Boston versus Roxbury.”

Sizewise, Dudley Square is the second largest commercial district in Boston.

Yet residents say businesses that should be thriving there are disappearing despite some municipal efforts to reverse that course.

As the administration of Mayor Marty Walsh recently noted in a cheery press release about the area, in 2017, the city invested 115 million into the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, home to Boston Public Schools headquarters. In his State of the City address last month, Walsh detailed efforts to reduce vacancies around Dudley with the creation of a jazz cafe inside the Bolling.

“We’re working to create opportunity in every neighborhood and every community in Boston, and the JazzUrbane Cafe will serve as a place for families and friends to gather for community conversations, civic meetings, entertainment and so much more,” his office announced in January. “I’m proud to … continue creating spaces and

opportunities for all.”

Such pledges aside, foot traffic remains low, which is a problem for businesses around Dudley. More than 30,000 people pass through the square on public transit every day, but getting them to remain in the neighborhood and spend money remains an issue for community members.

“The Bolling Building did not float all boats,” Grant said at the roundtable. “It was not the catalyst for development inside Dudley Square the way it was supposed to be.”

She continued: “There are ways to do development deals where the community really benefits. And literally putting together some type of plan of action is our goal.”

The discussion over Dudley’s economic future will move forward with two additional upcoming roundtable meetings. The second of three roundtables takes place on March 2 at Black Market and will act as a continuation of the first meeting. At a third meeting on April 6, organizers will design solutions and ideas that can be sent to stakeholders, as well as politicians like Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker.

Grant hopes that despite the economic pressure, community members can rally together through roundtable discussions and in time make serious progress.

“All of these things are going on, there’s a crisis,” Grant said. “But in the middle of the crisis is a glimmer of hope.

“Like, can we have some glimmer? Please. That meeting was a glimmer of hope.”

THE MERRIMACK WAY ANALYSIS

Will Warren’s campaign reflect the backdrop of her Lawrence announcement?

BY PATRICK COCHRAN There are few communities so tangibly ravaged by the American system as Lawrence, Mass. Sitting about 30 miles north of Boston, midway up the Merrimack River, the city is home to the highest level of poverty in the Commonwealth and was most recently devastated by the Columbia Gas explosions, the man-made crisis that killed an 18-year-old and left thousands displaced last September.

Twice in the past year, Lawrence has been the focus of national politics.

Attacking the city’s sanctuary status last March, President Donald Trump singled out Lawrence as “one of the primary sources of fentanyl” in several New Hampshire counties during a speech in the Granite State (70 percent of Lawrence’s population is Hispanic, according to the most recent census numbers available). The comment drew swift rebukes from Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera and Mass Gov. Charlie Baker.

Earlier this month, the mill town was once again in the national spotlight when it played host to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s first official campaign event in her bid for the presidency, with more than 3,000 people packed around the Everett Mills on a bright morning despite temperatures that dipped into the teens.

“It won’t be enough just to undo the terrible acts of this administration,” Warren said from the podium. “Our fight is for big, structural change. This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible. An America that works for everyone. And that is why I stand here today to declare that I am a candidate for president of the United States of America.”

The size of the crowd paled in comparison to that for Sen. Kamala Harris, one of Warren’s 2020 rivals, who drew more than 20,000 to her campaign rollout in Oakland last month.

But there was a palpable level of enthusiasm that has come to embody Warren’s base support. Not everybody loves the Bay State’s senior senator, but those who like her really like her.

“We’re so excited,” said Marissa Barrow, deputy press secretary of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

The PCCC went on to endorse Warren moments after her announcement.

While the perception of a polarizing political figure dominates the media narrative surrounding the candidate, Warren has shown that her positions and emphasis on popular issues can be a boon for her campaign.

“I came as a Republican, and I might be leaving a Democrat,” said Dave Stupack, who voted for Trump in 2016.

Stupack said he was drawn to Warren’s vow not to take money from political action committees (PACs) or lobbyists.

“I could support her,” Stupack said. “She’s against the lobbyists and corporate influence.”

A slew of big-name Bay State pols, including Sen. Ed Markey, Congressman Joe Kennedy III, and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu warmed up the crowd (figuratively) before the senator took to the stage.

“This morning we gather at the birthplace of the industrial revolution and the labor movement,” Mayor Rivera said. “The place where women, at the turn of the century, led the fight for fair wages and safer working conditions.”

As far as optics are concerned, Lawrence is the perfect place to launch a political campaign against Trump. Not just for its current state, but also its history. Warren may or may not be one of the most left-wing candidate in a busy field of Democrats already vying for the nomination, but that is nothing compared to the deep and underreported history of socialism and anarchism in this country, and one of that movement’s greatest achievements took place in Lawrence more than a hundred years ago.

The 1912 Lawrence textile strike, later known as Bread and Roses for the James Oppenheim poem, boiled over when it became clear that owners of the American Woolen Company would not compensate their workers for a new state law that reduced the work week of women and children from 56 to 54 hours per week. At that time, nearly half of those employed at the textile mills in Lawrence were women from 14 to 18 years old. Half the city was employed by the mills, and three-quarters of the population were “directly dependent upon earnings in these textile mills,” according to a federal report on the strike. Half of the city’s population, which had exploded since rapidly advancing technology opened up work for unskilled or uneducated people, was made up of immigrants from over a dozen different countries speaking 20 different languages.

While the skilled workers belonged to the more moderate United Textile Workers, the unskilled, majority-immigrant group representing a majority of the mills’ labor force turned to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Italian Socialist Federation. America was in the depths of the Gilded Age, but these immigrants were coming from European cultures with deep radical roots.

“There’s a working-class movement in Europe, too, and these people are in it,” Dr. Robert Forrant, professor of history at the UMass Lowell, told me in an interview for a story I wrote on the strike. “When they leave, they don’t suddenly across the Atlantic lose their politics.”

On the rare occurrences that the strike is depicted these days, it’s usually through the lens of a spontaneous, enoughis-enough powder keg explosion, which isn’t completely untrue. The moment that the women of Lawrence learned that their pay would be cut was certainly the final straw that lead to thousands of workers walking out. But what’s missed by that portrayal is the firm politics of solidarity among the working poor in Lawrence. Their cultural backgrounds differed as much in northern Massachusetts as anywhere in the country, but their deep connection through a politics of solidarity would lead to a city-wide labor strike of over 30,000 strong that lasted more than two months.

Shortly after the workers walked out, IWW organizer Joseph Ettor came to Lawrence from New York to help lead the effort and gave a speech to the strikers.

“Monday morning you have got to close the mills that you have caused to shut down, tighter than you have them now,” Ettor told the Lawrence textile workers. “You cannot win by fighting with your fists against men armed, or the

NEWS TO US

militia, but you have a weapon they have not got. You have the weapon of labor, and with that, you can beat them down if you stick together.” He gave the same speech four times in four languages.

After 65 days, dozens of beatings, several arrests, and one striker killed by police gunfire, national attention forced the textile companies to meet most of the strikers’ demands, which included pay raises, increased pay for overtime work, and no punishment for labor strikes. Fearing a similar revolt, many companies around New England give their workers the same benefits.

“It was a demonstration of the importance of longterm organizing, of building solidarity across cultures and nationalities,” Forrant told me. “Of being sensitive to those issues and problems and being able to effectively build this coalition that, in the face of massive repression, never wavered. … What the strike demonstrated for labor is that more good can be done from figuring what’s common for us, what’s unifying us, instead of trumpeting our differences.”

The political theater of modern America, even when headed by progressives like Warren, is a far cry from the labor history of places like Lawrence. It even feels like a different world than the teachers’ strikes raging across the country, or the recent nurses’ strikes in Massachusetts.

But there’s something pleasantly surprising about hearing a number of politicians reference the Bread and Roses strike on such a big platform, which is nowhere to be found in most mainstream American histories, even if you get a little jaded about a centrist Dem like Rep. Joe Kennedy III delivering quotes from the strikers in his polished delivery.

“Like the women of Lawrence, we are here to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” Warren said in front of the mill where the women walked out more than a century earlier. An echoing chant broke out from the crowd.

As this inevitably brutal and embarrassing presidential campaign ratchets up, there’s something new, or unfamiliar, about starting it from a place long forgotten in popular society.

Maybe it could represent the start of something new. A shift in how politics is done and perceived, moving slightly away from a system that at best is depressingly funny and horrifying at worst. I can’t recall high-profile, mainstream pols quoting socialists. Maybe it’s the start of a new chapter in this baffling saga.

Or maybe not.

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

5

SOMERVILLE COMMUNITY SUMMIT EDITORIAL

Convening a city to improve its news media

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Last Saturday, DigBoston, our nonprofit wing Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), and our frequent partner the community access television station Somerville Media Center (SMC) turned out over 100 Somerville residents to the ONCE ballroom on Highland Ave to talk to 15 area journalists about local issues and happenings that they thought needed more news coverage. Straightforward as the event appeared from the outside, it represents a new tactic in the battle to save American journalism. So it’s worth discussing its genesis in some detail. The better to help communities around the country to replicate it at speed.

Like everyone else in the American news industry, my colleagues and I have watched the expansion of “news deserts”—geographic areas, and areas of interest, that increasingly get little or no coverage from trained journalists working for reputable media outlets at any level—with growing concern.

It’s a problem that goes hand in hand with the rolling destruction of the news media by a variety of related forces—from the rise of vast social media platforms to the absorption of hundreds of local news outlets by a handful of giant conglomerates. A wave of contractions and closures that started with daily and weekly print newspapers but has now expanded to affect huge digital news operations like Buzzfeed and Vice as well.

We’ve watched as a few billionaires have stepped in to support certain legacy properties like the Boston Globe—even as other billionaires bought up media outlets like the Las Vegas Review-Journal just to defang critical reporters. We’ve also watched as the nonprofit sector has attempted to help out. Primarily at the national level and in major cities. Leading us to start our regional investigative reporting incubator BINJ and inspire several similar operations to pop up around the US. In part to address problems we observed emanating from the better funded but less locally focused efforts than our own.

But none of these attempts have been enough to stem the tide of consolidations and closures or ameliorate its effects. And the Boston area has hardly been immune from the mounting crisis for democracy the loss of a robust news sector is creating.

Which is why I found myself mulling over what the Dig and BINJ could do to address the problem directly in early December. Unlike a lot of other journalists, I have also spent decades as a labor and community activist.

Working on political struggles large and small. By the early 2000s, I was focused on refining a technique called “network organizing” (that was briefly fashionable in liberal foundation circles 20 years ago) with colleagues like Suren Moodliar (then of the North American Alliance for Fair Employment) to meet the needs of my former nonprofit, the Campaign on Contingent Work. Which, as the name suggests, was trying to figure out how workers in bad jobs could organize themselves for justice in situations where unionization wasn’t possible.

Given my left libertarian bent, I was very critical of the organizing style typical of most major unions and nonprofits I had worked with. Whose model tended to be what I call “magic wand” organizing. Built on the false idea that most great social movements were sparked by cadres of trained, educated “organizers”—who essentially waved the equivalent of magic wands over communities of working people and “organized” them into grassroots political forces to win victories against the rich and powerful. Most notably in the 1930s and the 1960s in the recent American context.

My belief was, and remains, that groups of ordinary people generally organize themselves politically (socially and otherwise) when conditions require them to do so. The crucial missing ingredient is usually good

6

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

information about what other groups of people have done in their situation. During great social upheavals this information arrives in swift wave fronts from all quarters.

At other times it does not. So what an experienced activist can do to improve the likelihood of the necessary organizing happening is to help convene communities of interest in ways it might take them a while to hit upon themselves if left to their own devices. Then share the information they need to get going. And basically “accompany” the incipient social movements that might result. Assisting with relevant skills and experience when necessary and appropriate. Rather than jumping in front of such efforts and trying to control them in a top-down undemocratic fashion.

Where network organizing comes in is “getting the right people in the room” when convening a community as well as providing the channels to share vital information between communities. The idea was originally based on the same kind of mathematical models that led to the World Wide Web. Models that said that every person is part of one or more “small world networks” of coworkers, friends, family, etc. Which might have anywhere up to a couple of hundred members. Each of those networks had one or more “rich connectors”— people that were communicative and maybe a bit more extroverted—who connected to the connectors of other networks.

The key to network organizing is that if you identify the connectors of many networks at the same time and convince them to support whatever campaign you’re trying to build, you can then get those connectors to mobilize the members of their networks and spread information without much extra effort on your part.

Automatically increasing the reach and power of your campaign by an order of magnitude.

Returning to my musings of last December, I decided that if I wanted to use the limited resources of DigBoston and BINJ to convene a Boston-area community under threat of becoming a news desert—and encourage the community to organize itself to make sure it had the news coverage it needed to remain a democratic polity— then I should deploy the network organizing techniques that I had once used for labor campaigns and the like.

The question was which community to try to convene.

Because Boston proper was too big. And it’s not under as dire a threat of becoming a news desert as some of its near suburbs. So I wanted a city that was definitely under such a threat. A city that was large enough to have a fairly diverse population and a good deal of news getting underreported, but small enough to able to pull together a cross-section of the community in a single venue for a useful discussion. A city that had once had a fairly vibrant news media but now had a shrinking number of professional (and trained amateur) journalists devoted to its coverage. And a city with a fairly broad spectrum of active civic, social, and cultural organizations amenable to the aims of the event I wanted to call.

That’s how I chose Somerville. In addition to meeting the criteria above, it was also home to the excellent Somerville Media Center. An organization that was already working closely with Dig and BINJ. And one that my crew just happened to have a meeting with in midDecember. So I pitched them the idea at the meeting.

They went for it. And we were off to the races.

Once the effort was underway, the first order of business was to identify the networks I wanted to connect to what I had already dubbed the Somerville Community Summit. Since there were no existing lists I could use, I opened up a spreadsheet and got to work researching civic, social, and cultural organizations that had solid networks in the city. I did not reach out to explicitly political organizations. Because I knew that if

I did that the event could easily descend into the kind of public screaming match that would end any attempt to solve Somerville’s media deficit. Instead, I focused on groups (and a few unusual individuals) that had a decent track record of getting things done and represented a broad array of interests. From neighborhood assemblies to arts groups to social service agencies. Knowing that the many local political factions would end up being represented by default if our outreach was strong enough.

I then talked to lots of friends in Somerville, identified the best people to contact in the organizations in question, and then invited them all to participate in the summit. But more than that, I asked them to get their organizations to co-sponsor the summit and turn out their members. Then I showed them my list of organizations and asked them to suggest ones I’d missed.

Meanwhile, I talked to all the journalists I could find that covered Somerville—including reporters and editors for a variety of outlets—and invited them to attend.

The pitch to the connectors in the organizational networks was that they would get to talk about issues and happenings that weren’t getting enough news coverage to pretty much all the journalists trying to cover them. The pitch to the journalists was that, for the first time, many of the constituencies they worked so hard to cover would be convened in one place. And I told both groups that after the journalists had all introduced themselves to the attendees and representatives of each co-sponsoring organization plus individuals off the street had spoken for two minutes each, there would be informal networking between residents and journalists for 30 minutes. So that relationships could start forming between everyone present, and some stories could start to be produced on the spot.

After weeks of work, 20 of the 30 organizations I identified had co-sponsored the summit. And virtually all the journalists I invited agreed to go. At the same time, Dig ran weekly ads for the event and many organizations pushed it on social media. The buzz we generated accelerated. And about three weeks out it became obvious that the community response was so strong that our original 60-seat venue at the Somerville Media Center wasn’t going to be big enough. So I asked ONCE if they’d co-sponsor and let us use their ballroom for the event, and they agreed.

The summit was simple, powerful, and came off nicely. All Erica Jones of Somerville Media Center, my colleague Chris Faraone, the Dig interns, and I had to do day of was sign people up to speak, review the purpose of the summit, lay down a couple of ground rules for the discussion (mainly “be nice”), and give out a handout I’d written about how to interest journalists in story ideas.

Journalists introduced themselves, over 30 residents made statements about the things they thought needed more coverage, folks networked… and now the community can move forward to thinking about how to organize to strengthen and expand their city’s news media. With everyone involved in convening the summit looking primed to help shepherd the process along. But without “organizers” inserting themselves between residents and journalists.

Which is reason for hope. And a model that can spread to other communities around the US. Horizontally, and eminently democratically.

Jason Pramas is executive editor and associate publisher of DigBoston. Stay tuned for the SMC summit video, and for notice of upcoming Somerville journalism-related trainings and events.

Your Trusty Massachusetts Cannabis Newsletter subscribe for free at

talkingjointsmemo.com NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

7

OPINION

INCENSED OVER INSENSITIVITY Official’s N-word nonapology ignites Cambridge

BY REV. IRENE MONROE

BINJ SUPPORTERS PUT THE

invest in

investigation When You Support Independent Nonprofit Media, You Support All Your Favorite Causes At The Same Time

GIVETOBINJ.org 8

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

It should have been an enriching classroom engagement. Instead, it turned into a public outrage that prompted an outside investigation.

Last month, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School history teacher Kevin Dua invited his school committee and other elected officials to participate in his students’ final project. Titled “RECLAIMING [N-word] v. Cracker: Editing Racial Context In/For Cambridge,” it examined how the power of words—through laws, protests, and media since the Civil War—has shaped racist language.

Dua, who is black, used the full spelling of the N-word in the project title, and also used the word during his class discussion. School committee member, Emily Dexter, who is white, dropped the full version of the N-word, too. In her attempt to explain the filters that Cambridge Public Schools puts on its school-issued Chromebooks and Web networks, censoring students from viewing objectionable internet content, Dexter was telling students that the N-word is blocked.

As a professional educator, however, Dexter’s pedagogical style in the classroom was not seen as a teaching moment. Instead, it was experienced as an insensitive and outof-control rant.

“So, if you pick up your textbook, and you look in the index, and you want to know, if the word ‘N-word,’ there are a lot of textbooks that you’re probably aren’t going to see the word. So, somebody has decided for you that word is not something that they want young people to have access to; and you can decide whether or not you think that’s good or not. But the filters aren’t just on computers; the entire world is filtered for you.

And since you’re in a school, that’s done by adults.”

Many are now asking whether Dexter should remain on the Cambridge School Committee, since both her tone-deafness and nonapology inflamed rather more than it informed or soothed.

“Most students expressed disappointment, offensiveness, and frustration, and discontent with the insincerity of her attempted apology,” read one letter sent to the committee by CRLS students and faculty. The Boston Globe reported, “Dua said Dexter’s apology was not sincere enough. He said she tried to explain herself for 10 minutes before apologizing for using the word.”

Sadly, Dexter didn’t recognize the deleterious impact her words had on several Cambridge communities once word spread beyond CRLS. As Jane Donohue, a parent, wrote in a letter to Superintendent Kenneth Salim and Mayor Marc McGovern: As a white educator and CPSD parent, I feel sickened about your use of the n-word yesterday during a CRLS class discussion on censorship. … Your presence on the school committee is now a concrete example of white ignorance and cultural insensitivity at the highest level of our district. How can staff members be held accountable for creating a “rigorous, joyful and culturally responsive environment” and violates it? … Please resign.

Dexter didn’t respond to the incident after a dean of the history department and Dua spoke to her about her remarks after the class in question. She only responded to the incident after Superintendent Salim released a statement to the CPS community.

Salim, who is Asian, told the Globe he felt “uncomfortable” hearing Dexter use the N-word.

Although Dexter’s response was tepid, slow, and perfunctory, school committee member Manikka Bowman immediately filed a motion to investigate the incident. In support of Bowman’s motion, Cambridge City Councilor E. Denise Simmons wrote to the committee: In 2019, there is simply no excuse for having utilized such language and then hiding behind some variant of “I didn’t realize how hurtful this might be” to try to make amends.

In 2019, in this community, that kind of ignorance cannot and should not be excused. I am not calling for condemnation, but I very much want us to harness this individual’s terribly poor word choice to spark some very necessary reflection.

The N-word is firmly embedded in the lexicon of racist language that was and still is used to disparage African-Americans. The word does not eradicate its historical baggage and its existing troubling racial relations among blacks and between whites and blacks. Many blacks, myself included, feel reclaiming and using racist words like the N-word dislodges the word from its historical context and makes us all insensitive and arrogant to the historical injustice done.

Dexter, however, doesn’t stand alone in this kerfuffle. Fellow committee member Patricia Nolan, who is also white, attempted to “whitesplain” Dexter’s stance. Bowman, who is black, clapped back that she, too, is tone-deaf.

TRIFECTA GUEST OP-ED

Three vicious environmental decisions from Gov. Baker

BY ALEX PAPALI Everywhere you looked a couple of weeks back, there was the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal to transition the entire US economy to a framework of sustainability and economic justice. A resolution urging creation of a GND was launched last week by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and veteran Sen. Ed Markey, to enthusiastic fanfare from its legions of supporters—and ominous warnings of doom from the corporate center and ideological right.

Many mainstream figures, including Democratic Party luminaries and nearly 100 members of Congress, endorse it as an opening to urgent national action on the climate crisis. Notably, the resolution revolves around a broad push for economic and racial justice not usually associated with climate action, gaining it credibility with progressive constituencies crucial to mobilizing support.

Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts it is striking that in just the first month since beginning his second term, Gov. Charles Baker’s administration has failed on three major opportunities to advance sustainability and environmental justice, all of which openly benefited big-money interests at the expense of grassroots stakeholders’ rights to basic protections. And more decisions loom that could throw climate and equity obligations out the window.

First, in early January, came an air quality permit from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that moved closer the siting of a dangerous fracked gas pipeline compressor station in a densely populated area of Weymouth, over massive community opposition. This gambit was in service of Enbridge, one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies, trying desperately to build a gas pipeline into Canada after repeated setbacks.

Then, Gov. Baker refused to sign long-sought legislation to protect children and firefighters from toxic flame retardant chemicals after it passed votes in the House and Senate. He chose to side with corporate lobbyists despite strong support for the bill from House and Senate leadership, health professionals, organized labor, and the entire environmental community. In trying to explain his pocket veto, Baker quoted chemical industry talking points nearly verbatim.

The latest howler is a late-January ruling by the Baker-appointed Department of Public Utilities (DPU) that killed a carefully built consensus between advocates and utility companies to start creating fair access for renters to the state’s nationleading $3 billion energy efficiency program. The deal would have incentivized the utilities to serve renters for the first time, by paying out a portion of their huge $130 million+ performance incentive only if they served at least 100,000 renters over three years, instead of looking at overall climate emissions reductions alone… that is, until Baker’s DPU abruptly excised that language from the state’s efficiency plan. A stream of increasingly frustrated advocates and directly affected stakeholders had demanded action over a year-long planning process, following a decade of complaints about structural barriers to receiving benefits promised them by this program—into which they pay on each utility bill. This DPU decision served the profit margins and opaque operations of the state’s allpowerful utility companies.

These travesties follow on the heels of others, like a decision last year to allow expansion of a toxic incinerator ash dump in Saugus, comprised of an unlined pit in marshland surrounded by low-income communities of color in need of “environmental justice.” Another fight is brewing in East Boston over a large electric utility substation in a residential area, which community advocates call highly dangerous and are mobilizing to defeat. All this and more leads observers to question Baker’s leadership given his increasingly dismal record, as a new crop of leaders here in Massachusetts and around the nation push in radically different policy directions.

Superstorms chew up and spit out entire cities and island nations, apocalyptic fires envelop what’s left of our forests, insect populations nosedive to extinction levels, refugees stream away from collapsed economies toward concentrations of wealth and power. People in the mainstream media wring hands or toss out opinions about these symptoms, but there’s little analysis about enablers in positions of power and the underlying structural problems in the economy. As a result, Gov. Baker’s popularity at the polls and reputation as a climate-friendly centrist belie his actual performance, but that may be changing as growing numbers of Massachusetts residents come to feel the consequences of his administration’s dinosaur thinking on matters of health, justice, and environment.

Alex Papali is a zero waste and clean energy organizer with Clean Water Action in Boston, a member of the statewide Green Justice Coalition.

2019 NEW ENGLAND CANNABIS CONVENTION MARCH 22-24, 2019 HYNES CONVENTION CENTER, BOSTON

TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT NECANN.COM 300+ EXHIBITORS 100+ INDUSTRY EXPERT SPEAKERS 9,000+ ATTENDEES

If it's not NECANN, it's NOT the New England Cannabis Industry L e a r n m o re at N ECA N N . co m i n f o @ n e c a n n . co m

Co n n e c t i n g b u s i n e s s e s w i t h lo c a l c a n n a b i s co m m u n i t i e s s i n ce 2 0 1 4 NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

9

VOMIT GOOD, CHRONIC BAD THE TOKIN’ TRUTH

Boston politicians may love sports parades even more than they hate weed

BY MIKE CRAWFORD @MIKECANNBOSTON Depending on what you’re looking for in a spectacular, this month’s New England Patriots victory parade through Downtown Boston had it all—violent brawls, more than a dozen arrests, massive MBTA commuter delays, and fans relieving “‘themselves into bottles’ and leaving ‘foul puddles’ of piss on train floors.”

If you said anything about it online, you were likely to be trolled relentlessly by dedicated Pats fans. As if a love for football has anything to do with vandalism. But with the pee-soaked events now in hindsight, I thought it might be time to add perspective.

Despite Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s pleadings for fans to act responsibly, and to not throw beers at duck boats on the parade route, since players with their children were along for the ride, that happened after all. Gronk and others caught and dodged aluminum and even wound up bloody, all thanks to overzealous zeros tossing brews at their heroes.

Thankfully no kids were harmed, though NECN reported, “Tom Brady’s daughter almost hit by can during Patriots Super Bowl Parade.”

Walsh, a massive Pats fan, didn’t seem to notice or mind the mayhem, tweeting, “Today was an amazing day for the @CityOfBoston. Congratulations to the New England @ Patriots on becoming the #SuperBowl champions (again)!

1.5 million people showed that #WereStillHere today- the largest parade crowd in recent memory! - MJW.” Others were less enthusiastic in their replies to hizzoner, their sentiments including:

• Please rethink having these events on school / work days. #priorities • It’s deeply disappointing that you’re going to 10

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

pretend this was a huge success and not even acknowledge that it completely crippled mass transit on a weekday. These numbers prove parades should be on weekends.

• On a weekend the T could run a regular weekday service and accommodate parade-goers without the already-at-capacity commuter passenger load it already struggles with on weekdays.

• I’d not say greatest fans to the city of Boston- it was a siege of mostly obnoxious suburban kids trashing up the T and streets. Not sure why that is okay? Pretty rude • Yeah, and thanks to the ineptitude of the @ MBTA_CR my 2 hour commute became 4!

One woman commented, “Inebriated men yelled at me on my commute home on the #MBTA, wearing jerseys.

Made to feel unsafe. Hardly a celebration.” Naturally, Walsh offered no response to any of them, and accepted none of the responsibility for events that unfolded.

“We told people, ‘No drinking in the streets.’” Walsh said in an attempt to defend himself on the WGBH show Boston Public Radio. A lot of good it did.

As for other notable responses, Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Josh Zakim didn’t make any noise about rowdy Pats fans, most of whom came in from out of town and pose no political threat. Like Walsh, Zakim praised the parade on social media, which is interesting since both he and Flynn, along with Mayor Walsh, hammered the much tamer MassCann/NORML Boston Freedom Rally last September. As

Zakim and Flynn wrote in a request for a public hearing last year, “Hempfest is an event that regularly draws complaints from surrounding neighbors and visitors to the area.” In his condemnation, Walsh said the Freedom Rally left an “appalling mess” on Boston Common.

As Flynn claimed to fear the impact on “quality of life issues” for Beacon Hill residents, it’s worth noting that unlike the beloved Patriots, Freedom Rally organizers pay for cleanup, park rangers, port-a-potties, and security in order to receive their annual permit. Furthermore, unlike sports parades, the cannabis-focused event has no history of violence or mass public drinking. It’s also on a weekend, and has never caused an MBTA overload like this Pats parade.

As Walsh tells it, football players leave town soon after the season is over, and some might not attend if the parade was held on the following weekend. For the mayor, not inconveniencing players and Bob Kraft is more important than protecting commuters and citizens.

Of course, there is always the argument that parades like this are a blessing for local businesses. And of course that’s true in many cases. But not all—in something of a Patriots parade PR blunder, the city fined some restaurants for opening up patios without a permit. Walsh seemed to think that restaurants should have foreseen the 60-degree temperatures and asked for a single-day permit with just one day of notice ahead of time. Because it’s a known fact the Boston acts quickly when issuing permits.

“No sympathy for that [the restaurants]?” WGBH host Jim Braude asked Walsh.

“No.” Adding, “To complain about it publicly, I don’t understand that,” the mayor replied.

The New England Patriots press office did not return a request for comment.

FIRE

YOUR PUBLICIST

… and get more exposure for your cause, brand, or business than ever before

Tic ket s at dig b oxo f .com fice

ay d s ur h 14 h T rc pm 9 a M 0 3 le 6: il r

PRE REL SS EASE

v er Cente m So dia

A DI ORY ME IS V AD

Me

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

11

BOY’S ON THE HOOD HUMOR

BY KENT BUCKLEY & FRIENDS

Less than one month ago, on Jan 25, news and viral video consumers in New England, and in short time all across the world, laughed their asses off at what may have been the most magnificently Mass-tastic incident of the past several years, an embarrassment that birthed headlines such as “Man clings to hood of SUV during road rage incident.” It was a monumental melee, and thanks to NBC reporter Ray Fuschetti, who actually happened to be rolling right next to the quarrel, viewers were able to witness the madness up close.

Inspired by those utterly insane events, a few of us here at the Dig hatched the idea to write a two-man play about this greatest recent road rage ruination. We’re not sure exactly where we’re taking it from here—the dialogue below feels like it needs a second act followup—but if you’re interested in helping bring it to the small stage, please email us at editorial@digboston.com.

Finally, we cannot stress enough that this is a completely made-up conversation. Since we had no idea what they actually said to each other, and because even if we did that wouldn’t likely make for high drama or comedy, we simply made it all up, right down to their names and backgrounds.

Billy is driving in a flashy midsize sport utility vehicle on the Mass Pike in stop-and-go rush hour traffic. “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele is playing loudly, and he is singing along ’til the phone rings. He pushes the dashboard and begins to chat with his friend over the speaker.

BILLY: Hey man, you going to the weed dispensary any time soon? I could use some more of those vape cartridges. The indica ones. Stuff puts me to bed for hours.

I know you don’t need all the details but I’m pretty sure the last one gave me an enormous boner too.

Billy nods and laughs for a second like he’s listening to his friend. He’s a little aggravated with the traffic, and his Mass accent begins to kick in.

BILLY: Ya know, the congestion is just absolutely out of fucking control around here. I swear there are like three times more assholes on the road these days than there are supposed to be.

Billy lunges out his window and starts screaming at a passing motorist.

BILLY: SUCK … MY … DICKHOLE. … YEAH, YEAH, YOU. FUCK YOU GUY. GO FUCK YA MUTHA! Billy pulls back in his driver’s seat and returns to talking to his friend on the phone. But then jerks from his car getting sideswiped.

VOICEOVER: You just met Billy. Raised in Framingham, he works at a startup by day and plays in a Metallica cover band by night. His girlfriend broke up with him two months ago, citing, among other issues, the fact that he would yell at her when she took the wheel, and she would yell at him whenever he drove. As long as a car was involved, their relationship was doomed. In any case, Billy had a decent day today, but as his ex will tell you, he’s prone to road rage. She always liked him better when he had his vape cartridges. In addition to his reliable hardons, Billy was a lot more chill.

The lights come back on. Billy is sitting in the driver’s seat, and Jimmy, who we’re just now meeting, is on the hood of Billy’s car with a cell phone in one hand. He’s using his other hand to punch in the windshield. Then he and Jimmy both look up toward the ceiling and the audience and pause. Then the darkness returns …

VOICEOVER: Meet Jimmy. He’s a retired military veteran who just spent all morning swimming laps at his neighborhood YMCA. He loves Clint Eastwood movies, hates political correctness, and has been riding on the top of vehicles at high speeds since the time he was assigned to a tank back in Vietnam. He has hemorrhoids and is late to meet a pal at Hooters for a couple pitchers and perhaps some wings if his colon can handle it.

The lights come back on, and Jimmy and Billy are suddenly in casual conversation.

BILLY: For the record, and already I have no doubt that there will be testimonies involved here, let’s just agree that you are on the hood of my car. Are you willing to acknowledge that?

JIMMY: I hate to be argumentative, but in case you didn’t notice, there are no less than four people filming us from cars in the other lanes.

BILLY: Oh, I’m aware. I am extremely, extremely aware.

But only because time is paused right now. I think it goes without saying that in real-time I’m not thinking too straight, since I’m driving in the left-hand lane of the pike at 70 miles per hour with you straddling my hood ornament.

JIMMY: Excuse me for a sec, I have an incoming call.

Jimmy puts his phone up to his ear.

JIMMY: Hey there honey. I don’t think that I am going to be home for dinner any time soon.

Jimmy pauses, like he’s listening.

BILLY: Yo man, I gotta go. I just hit this fucking animal who was trying to cut me off, and now he’s actually getting out of his car and walking toward me.

JIMMY: Oh, no, everything is fine. Just took a little detour. I’m in the middle of something right now, though, can I call you back in a couple of minutes? Okay love.

Billy furiously rolls up his window, but continues talking to his friend on the phone for another second.

They go back to speaking to each other in a somewhat civilized way.

BILLY: HOLY SHIT. HE’S CLIMBING ON MY FUCKING HOOD!

BILLY: Hey, would you mind pulling that leaf out from under that wiper while you’re out there?

JIMMY: I don’t think anyone’s going to notice a leaf considering that I just smashed the glass in.

BILLY: You’re probably right, but it still just bothers the hell out of me.

JIMMY: Just when I thought I couldn’t hate you any more.

BILLY: Listen, I’m not who you think I am. I bet we have more in common than not.

JIMMY: Okay, let’s see, I think you’re a yuppie asshole

Now Billy drops the call and is yelling directly through the windshield at the man on his hood.

BILLY: GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. MY. CAR. DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING ON MY HOOD? The lights on the stage start to flicker as stagehands pick the car up and spin it around in a circle. A voiceover comes 12

from the darkness …

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

who hasn’t done a hard day of work in his life. You didn’t serve your country, and you voted for Hillary Clinton. How am I doing?

BILLY: Not bad, four out of five. I actually voted for Jill Stein.

JIMMY: Of course you did. Predictable.

BILLY: And you aren’t predictable? Ha. I bet that you’re a Trump supporter through and through. I bet that you round up whatever tadpoles you still have left in your wrinkly sack watching “Fox & Friends.” I bet you use the n-word around your old pals. I bet you think the government should build a wall. How off am I? JIMMY: I think that they should build a wall around people like you, people who have Coexist bumper stickers but drive around with senior citizens on their hoods. How ’bout that?

BILLY: You’d better hope that I don’t drive into a wall.

Lights flicker on and off to signal mayhem, there is screaming and sound of choppers coming in from overhead. Jimmy and Billy are back in real time, screaming at each other.

BILLY: GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. OF. MY. CAR. JIMMY: I CAN’T YOU FUCKING NUMBSKULL. HIT THE BRAKES. YOU’RE TRYING TO KILL ME YOU ASSHOLE. BILLY: IF I WAS TRYING TO KILL YOU, I WOULD JUST CHANGE LANES REAL QUICK AND LEAVE YOU UNDERNEATH THAT 18-WHEELER. Jimmy and Billy fade out while hollering at each other at the top of their lungs. Lights flicker on and off again, and we come back to them speaking to each other in a relatively civilized fashion.

JIMMY: You have anything to snack on by any chance?

I’m starving out here.

BILLY: I have some pickles in the glove compartment.

They’re pretty sour but they’re from a local craft pickler and they are outstanding.

JIMMY: Who the hell keeps pickles in their glove compartment?

BILLY: I do. They happen to fit perfectly in there.

JIMMY: Yeah I’ll have one of your artisan pickles.

BILLY: Hey, don’t do me any favors.

JIMMY: Just give me a pickle, would ya?

BILLY: Yeah I’ll give you a pickle alright.

Jimmy leans over to open the glove compartment, and in the process almost steers off the road. Both of them jerk back and forth. The lights go down, and when they come back on they are both eating pickles.

JIMMY: Wow. I hate to admit it, but this might be the best damn pickle I have ever had.

BILLY: Why are you so loathe to say that? Because it isn’t mass produced and sold at Walmart?

JIMMY: Oh, you have a problem with Walmart? Of course you do. Tell that to my daughter-in-law, who lost her job last year and wouldn’t have been able to afford my grandson’s asthma inhaler if she couldn’t get it at Walmart.

BILLY: You have a grandson?

JIMMY: Two, actually. And a granddaughter too. How about you? Any kids?

BILLY: Nah, not yet. My ex and I were talking about it, but we didn’t work out.

JIMMY: I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?

BILLY: She couldn’t stand my … oh … uh … don’t worry about it. Why am I even trying to talk to you of all people about this stuff.

JIMMY: She couldn’t stand your what?

BILLY: Like I said, don’t sweat it.

JIMMY: Oh c’mon. Just tell me.

BILLY: Fine, but first you tell me something personal about you.

JIMMY: Sure, I can do that. Here you go—I know you think I’m a racist because I like Trump …

BILLY: Ah-ha, you do like him! I knew it.

JIMMY: As I was saying … back in the service, my two best friends were black. We actually beat the ever living shit out of a good old boy one night for calling my friend Trent a coon. Waited ’til the redneck fell asleep, then went in and flipped his bed and caved his head in. Guy got his head blown off a few weeks later, but if he hadn’t, he’d have had a big old gash right in the middle of his hat for the rest of his years.

BILLY: Do you think I’m impressed? Because I’m not. I don’t believe in violence.

JIMMY: Did the guy who is driving with me on his hood just actually say that he doesn’t like violence?

BILLY: Why are you telling me this anyway?

JIMMY: Honestly … I really do think black lives matter … most of them at least. It’s not the sort of thing that I can say around the people I know, but I guess I’m feeling somewhat vulnerable right now.

BILLY: I’m impressed. But you would never say that in real life. This dialogue is starting to sound like it was written to make anti-Trumpers squirt on one another as they smell their own farts.

JIMMY: Laughing: Yeah, whatever, so what’s your big secret? Why did she break up with you? Besides your little dick?

BILLY: Dude, you’re on the hood of my car. You might want to consider that before you talk any more shit.

JIMMY: Yeah, well, you might want to open up and start being a little more honest with me.

BILLY: Is that right? You’re calling the shots now? Is this an ethics class?

JIMMY: Listen, all I’m saying is that if you didn’t have whatever problems that you have in your personal life, then maybe I wouldn’t be up here with my hair in the wind.

BILLY: Let me get this straight—you’re saying that if I got laid this week, you wouldn’t have cut me off, sideswiped me, lost your goddamn mind, jumped on my hood and beat my windows in?

JIMMY: That’s exactly what I’m saying.

BILLY: From the look of the way you’re eyeing that cell phone, I’m starting to wonder if it’s you who has the problem on the homefront.

JIMMY: Now that you mention it, would you mind giving me a second?

BILLY: I have all the time in the world.

pick it right back up, and you’re gonna call your daughter and tell her how much you love her you dumb bastard.

I don’t even want to hear it from you. In case you don’t remember the abuse you took, I’ll remind you of the time my father had his buddies string you up outside the Blarney Stone and strip you to your boxers. My parents weren’t exactly too pleased when I brought you home.

They may have had a point about you, but this kid comes from a good family, so don’t embarrass all of us and make it so your loving daughter hates you forever.

Phone clicks. Lights come back on and the audience finds Jimmy and Billy in casual conversation again.

BILLY: I don’t even need to ask. I know what’s wrong.

JIMMY: Could it be that you’re accelerating instead of stopping?

BILLY: No, it’s that your daughter is dating a black guy.

Or a Latino guy. Or a girl!?!

JIMMY: Is that right? You’re a psychic now? You’re a psychiatrist now?

BILLY: I don’t need a crystal ball or a degree to sense that your daughter is dating somebody you dislike. I should also tell you that your response to me says a whole lot about you.

JIMMY: Oh yeah, how is that?

BILLY: Easy—somebody with even just the slightest bit of consciousness regarding race would go the extra step to reassure me that, while your daughter may or may not be with a kid you dislike or adore on the basis of race, you condemn prejudice of all kinds.

JIMMY: Are you calling me a racist?

BILLY: Well, you’re a Trump supporter, so yeah. But I guess it depends. Are you gonna call your daughter to tell her that you love her unconditionally? No matter who or what she dates?

JIMMY: What do you mean by what she dates? Liberals really do think that people should be able to fuck goats, don’t they?

BILLY: Don’t make me stop short.

JIMMY: Is that what it’s going to take for you to stop?

BILLY: I think I could be willing to slow down if you got on that phone and called your daughter.

JIMMY: Sure, right after you call your ex and apologize to her.

BILLY: For what?

JIMMY: You tell me. I’m supposed to cop to being some kind of disgusting bigot but you can’t tell me why you broke up with your girlfriend?

BILLY: Fine, you really want to know?

JIMMY: I’ve been asking, haven’t I? BILLY: No need to be a wiseass.

JIMMY: Alright, alright. So what happened?

BILLY: She couldn’t stand my driving.

JIMMY: Laughing hysterically: I knew it!

BILLY: Oh fuck you.

JIMMY: Still chuckling: I wonder what tipped me off.

BILLY: Okay, time for you to make a phone call.

JIMMY: Why is it so important to you that I call my daughter anyway?

BILLY: I think a part of me wants this ordeal to end in some kind of a positive, since there’s a chance that we’re both going to jail for this.

JIMMY: Not a bad point. Fine, but I’m just going to tell her I love her, and that we should go out for lunch next week.

BILLY: Works for me. Want me to come along? Maybe if it doesn’t work out with the guy you don’t like, you can introduce us.

JIMMY: Minorities are one thing, but I definitely don’t want her dating assholes who can’t drive.

BILLY: I guess that makes sense, since she already has one for a father.

Jimmy gives Billy a fuck-you smile, then dials and puts his phone up to his ear. The stage fades to black again, and the narrator comes back over the speaker.

VOICEOVER: Just as Jim and Bill are beginning to get along, a good samaritan with a gun—at least that’s what news reporters are calling him—cuts off the car and forces Billy to stop.

BILLY: Well would ya look at that. Ten minutes ago, you were banning black people from your family, and now you’re getting saved by one. Guess you just needed to spend a little time on the hood.

JIMMY: How convenient this all turned out for you.

BILLY: You ain’t kidding—I didn’t even have to get out of my car until now.

Phone rings, and Billy picks it up.

BILLY: Speaking on the phone: That’s weird, I was just talking about why we broke up. … What? You’re watching me on TV right now? No, I’m okay, really. … Yeah, I would love to grab a drink soon, probably not tonight though. I think I’ll be a little busy. … Oh really? That would be amazing, thanks.

JIMMY: Your ex?

BILLY: Yeah, she’s gonna bail me out of jail.

How did you know it was her?

JIMMY: For starters, it looks like you just got a boner.

BILLY: Oh fuck, do you have any bright ideas about where I can stash my vape pen?

The stage goes dark again, and we hear a voice over the speaker. It’s Jimmy’s wife on the phone, and she has the meanest Boston accent that you’ve ever heard.

VOICEOVER OF JIMMY’S WIFE: What kind of shit did you get into this time Jimmy? No, no, it’s not your turn to talk.

It’s your turn to shut the fuck up. Now listen to me. I don’t care where you are, who you’re with, or what the fuck you’re doing. Here’s what you are gonna do— you’re gonna hang the phone up with me, then you’re gonna

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

13

SPEAKING UP TERMS OF SERVICE

Don't Miss The Tony Award-Winning Musical

RAGTIME

Bystander apathy intervention workshop comes to Somerville

BY HALEY HAMILTON @SAUCYLIT

Weekends Through February 17

$5 off with code DigBoston

Mo Willem's

ELEPHANT & PIGGIE'S "We Are In A Play!"

SPECIAL SCHOOL VACATION WEEK ENGAGEMENT!

4 Performances only - Special 1pm Matinees

February 19, 20, 21 and 22

FOR CHAN K G AL E

W

$5 off with code DigBoston

The time is now to support survivors of sexual assault and harassment.

Register or donate today barccwalk.org/dig $10 off with code DIG April 28, DCR’s Constitution Beach East Boston

14

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

We still don’t know everything that happened when Olivia Ambrose was abducted after she left Hennessy’s, a bar and live music venue near Faneuil Hall, last month. But what we do know, without a doubt, is this: What happened to her was preventable. There were countless opportunities for someone—a bartender, someone working security, someone who saw her outside, another partier, a friend—to say, Hey, are you ok? Or, Can I help you?

But no one did. I won’t pretend to know why, exactly, no one checked on her between the bar and the walk to the State Street T stop, but I can make a pretty good guess: No one wanted to stick their nose where it didn’t belong.

As humans, as Americans, perhaps most stringently as Bostonians, we are conditioned to leave well enough alone, mind our own business. To not stir the pot. Many of us squirm at the thought of asking a stranger for directions, let alone asking a drunk stranger if they’re comfortable in their surroundings.

This has to stop. Feeling awkward is just not a good excuse for bystander apathy or lack of intervention. It is every single person’s responsibility as a decent human being to check on the well-being of people around you. If you see something, say something, man.

But determining when and how to intervene as a bystander, a witness to a possibly dangerous scenario, can be tough—Does she know him? Is he just kidding? Can I say something if I don’t work here? What the hell do I say? Which is why on Monday, Feb 25, OFFSITE, a local cocktail events/catering/education organization, is bringing Green Dot Bystander Intervention Training to the local restaurant industry.

“Harassment and sexual violence can happen in any space, it’s not something that’s unique to the service industry by any means, but we deal with cultivating spaces,” Nick Korn, OFFSITE co-founder said.

“We’re trying to not just create a good time but a safe space.”

Green Dot Training takes place across the country and across all industries (one of its largest clients is the US Navy), bringing skilled facilitators into the workplace or classroom to lead participants through a series of admittedly difficult conversations and roleplay scenarios.

“This is going to be a well-run program that allows people to talk about important things in a safe and frank way and see the other members of the community as potential collaborators and making changes when needed and talking about identifying situations that are toxic or not safe,” Korn said.

The training, which has been specifically tailored to folks working in bars and restaurants, will take place at Variety Bar in Bow Market in Somerville.

“We care a lot about making spaces safe,” Andrea Pentabona, general manager of Variety Bar, said. “It was important to all of us to train our staff to be open and communicative around these issues. It’s a personal responsibility, not just following the law but a social responsibility.”

Pentabona, who headed up last year’s local V-Day events, expects the room to be full.

“This is hugely important for our industry,” Pentabona said. “I’m passionate about this topic and I know my staff and my friends in the bartending community are passionate about it. This is a chance for us to come together and go about being active bystanders as a united front.”

Predatory behavior is only ever the fault of one person—the predator. Still, a lot of people failed Olivia Ambrose the night she went missing.

Again, if you see something, say something.

And if you work in the restaurant industry, come to Variety Bar on Monday afternoon and sharpen the tools you have for saying that something.

BUDDY MUSIC

Revisiting the Compton talent’s mostrous debut

BY MARTÍN CABALLERO

It’s hard to view Harlan & Alondra, the debut album from Compton singer and rapper Buddy (born Simmie Sims III), as a true introduction to the artist, at least by traditional measure. He’s been dropping singles and mixtapes since the early 2010s, though many might have first caught the 24-year-old’s name after last year’s standout collaborative EP with producer Kaytranada, Ocean & Montana. Buddy even scored a co-sign from one of the biggest producers in the industry years before signing his solo deal with RCA Records.

Rather than an intro, Harlan is an opportunity to distill those years of both gaining experience and facing challenges into a dynamic sound steeped deep in LA. culture.

More importantly, it’s Buddy’s biggest step thus far towards defining a solo career under his own terms.

“This is a whole new thing,” Buddy told DigBoston on the phone from New York last year. “This sounds way bigger, it’s on a higher platform, it’s doing way more than when I dropped any kind of project.”

To give that claim some scale, you have to consider that by age 18 Buddy was already signed as an artist to super producer Pharrell Williams’ i am Other label, having dropped out of college to pursue his break in music. During his time with the imprint, he racked up credits that included collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as hitmaking producers Boi-1da and Pharrell himself. But despite star-studded mixtapes like 2014’s Idle Time, audiences didn’t immediately respond. After a period, he eventually cut ties with Williams in 2016 (“We shriveled up the contract and still keep in contact,” he raps on “Find Me 2”) to make a go on his own.

The departure was on good terms, and the experience has only ended up adding to the emotional texture of Harlan & Alondra, which dropped last Friday. From the opening cut, “Real Life Shit,” Buddy thoughtfully reflects on his career thus far, as the songs capture a gifted young artist standing on the precipice of breaking through to a wide audience. The aforementioned “Find Me 2” finds his vocals wandering between singing and rhyming, as he meditates on “the good, the bad and the tragic” over a sparse beat. The breezy Ty Dolla $ign collaboration, “Hey Up There,” meanwhile, uses past struggles as fuel for future aspirations, while “Young” has Buddy confidently embracing his artistic freedom (“can’t worry about what another n***** think, now that’s liberation”).

“I was really trying to curate my own sound and push my own career further on my own time,” said Buddy of going independent. “Growing up, the people you hang around, things you do, decisions you make are all life-changing experiences. It’s more about how you react and maneuver as a human being on this earth, and I feel blessed to just be myself.”

The album’s sound also captures Buddy shaking off inhibitions. His ease in shifting between rapping and singing recalls the likes of Anderson.Paak and Aloe Blacc, though Buddy said showcasing his range of talents wasn’t necessarily a motivating factor.

“That’s just what came out while doing the album,” he said. “I was working with [producers] Brody Brown, Mike & Keys, and Roofeeo, they were just jamming out on a bunch of instruments. The music that they were making inspired me to the melodies and singing that I did.”

Besides the music itself, Buddy’s years of music industry experience have put him ahead of the learning curve for an artist fresh off their debut album. Should Harlan push his career to the next level, he’ll go into it with a sense of knowing the difference between buzz and relevance, between fame and success. Both those topics are the subject of “Shameless.”

“When I was writing that song I was thinking about being so famous and popular and broke and how I wasn’t trying to be that at all,” he said. “I’m trying to be like on the forefront, super relevant and be financially stable and in a position to take care of my loved ones.

“That’s more important than being on TV or being on the radio.” >> VINCE STAPLES, BUDDY, AND ARMANI WHITE. HOUSE OF BLUES, 15 LANSDOWNE ST., BOSTON. MON 2.25.

FROM HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL

SATURDAY, MARCH 2 SHUBERT THEATRE

BUY TICKETS AT BOCHCENTER.ORG BOCH CENTER BOX OFFICE 866.348.9738 NEWS TO US

FEATURE

Boch Center is a trademark of The Wang Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

JULIA HOLTER WHEEL OF TUNES

Dream pop artist talks relationship lessons, Blade Runner, and her favorite French words

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN 2. “Whether” What’s the biggest decision you’ve had to make so far this month?

That’s a crazy question.

I don’t know the biggest decision so far this month.

Hmm. Probably whether I should order 200 T-shirts to hand paint or just 100 T-shirts. I haven’t done this for 10 years, making my own merch, I mean.

I’m trying to get back into that. It’s been a long time since I’ve done it. I might be really bad, actually, but I’m gonna try it. So let’s see. It will take a long time.

Getting lost in a dream world of fawning landscapes, twisting electronic vines, and sweeping strings often feels like exactly that: a dream. It’s easy to envy how easily Los Angeles-based artist Julia Holter makes soundscapes like these. As part experimental electronic artist, part dream pop singer, and part composition creator, she’s often busy getting lost in live film scores or deceptively complex original work—and each time it’s tempting to tag along.

On her newest album, Aviary, Julia Holter turns her usual blend of smooth sounds and beautiful vocals into not just a whole new world, but a new planet. These songs ripple like water, building over time to show their depth, like “I Shall Love 2” or “Chaitius.” According to Holter, this new range of sound comes from furthering her compositional songwriting, employing more studio tricks than normal, and digging into the writing of other creatives.

“My friend who made the album art for the record introduced me to Etel Adnan’s writings. He gave me a book called Sitt Marie Rose, which is a novel of hers.

I was really into it, so when I saw the descriptions for Master of the Eclipse, the other text, I wanted to read it since it’s about a lot of things that interest me,” she says. “Basically I thought about what poets are worth now, like what they can offer. Because I worked harder on arrangements for this record than I had previously, and it felt more hands-on. I feel like I combined elements from my more intuitively creative song forms that I’ve developed in the past, with a new way to gradually develop them in the studio. My freer song forms that I’ve done for many years got to be combined with more studio-style things, and I was thinking a lot about that.”

To get to know Julia Holter better, we interviewed her for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles.

With Aviary as the prompt, her answers are opaque and wandering—qualities that will appear live when she headlines Brighton Music Hall this Saturday.

1. “Turn the Light On” When was the last time you experienced a jump scare?

Probably on the freeway or something where you almost get hit. I’m guessing it was the last time I was driving and someone almost hit me two days ago or so.

It happens so often. I don’t get hit a lot, but I feel like I almost get hit a lot.

3. “Chaitius” What was the worst

meal you made in 2018?

I don’t know if I eat things I don’t like. Is that weird?

I wish I had an answer for this, because I’m trying really hard to think, but I guess I play it safe. I wish I could be funnier. [laughs] I don’t take lots of risks with my eating.

I’m boring. Oh God. I don’t cook very well, but I also cook all the time. So maybe this just means I’m used to not cooking well, or cooking a lot.

4. “Voce Simul” Which relatively new game have you recently been digging?

I actually don’t play games. [laughs] I probably play games as a person, but I try not to. I play word games, too. They aren’t really win or lose, but that’s what I do. That’s what the song “Les Jeux to You” is about too: playing with words and the sound of words. I like to make mysostics out of text, or play with ways to make one text into another text, reforming it in different ways. Word games are very safe in that there’s no winning or losing. When I’m working on something creative, then I do this all the time, especially when I’m writing or working on music. Sometimes I’ll play with text in different ways. It’s like making a poem out of someone else’s texts. I almost never do that, especially on my record, but there’s one song I did do that with, and I explain that on the record. Anyway, I play with words.

But when I’m reading a book, I just read the book. I’m not scrambling words then. It’s only when it’s creative purposes that I do it. Maybe it’s not a game then, but it feels like one.

5. “Everyday Is an Emergency” When was the last time you had to call someone for help?

Like five minutes ago. I was asking my partner how to use Instagram. I have a lot of trouble understanding how it works. I was trying to post a video to it and I couldn’t.

I don’t know how to save videos to my phone. My phone was out of space and it’s from 2015 and like … I just can’t figure it out. I can’t do it. I mean, I can, but I had to get on the phone and ask. It just takes a while, you know?

She is a little more adjusted at figuring these things out. [laughs]

>> JULIA HOLTER, JESSICA MOSS. SAT 2.23. BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, 158 BRIGHTON AVE., ALLSTON. 8PM/18+/$17. CROSSROADS.COM 16

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

6. “Another Dream” Where do most of your dreams take place?

In other places that I don’t live. On tour, I have dreams a lot, especially where I’m in an unfamiliar place.

There’s nowhere specific that’s recurring, but it’s always unfamiliar. It’s like I have to figure out where I am first in the dream.

7. “I Shall Love 2” Looking back at your past relationships, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?

Hmm, I don’t know. I think just knowing that the more friendships and relationships one has, the more you start to think about empathy. You try to understand the other person more. When you’re younger, you’re kind of just looking out for yourself in certain ways in relationships. But as you grow older, you learn more about how to listen to other people.

8. “Underneath the Moon” Do you have a favorite romantic song?

Oooh. I have so many. There are so many songs that are my favorite love song. [laughs] The one I’m thinking of, though, is—ugh, I can’t remember it off the top of my head! I cannot answer music questions like this easily.

What is my favorite love song? [sighs] Let’s just say for right now, recently the past year and a half, it’s been “The Love Theme” from Blade Runner. No no, I’m sorry.

It’s called “Rachel’s Song” and it’s by Vangelis. It’s from the Blade Runner soundtrack, the original one.

9. “Colligere” What was the last thing you made by hand, not including music?

Food. Do you mean right now, as of 11:22 am? Because if so, then I made a taco by hand yesterday.

I was making it really quickly because my friend was coming over. So I threw a fried egg in there and arugula and some salsa. No meat, but I’m not vegetarian. It was pretty good. It was okay. It was quick.

10. “In Gardens’ Muteness” Do you have any plants in your house that you’re growing?

Yes, there’s a plant in my house. I actually have a lot of plants. There’s a lot of trees in the yard. But inside, there’s a plant I’m looking at and I’m forgetting the name of it. My cousin gave it to me when she moved.

I forget what kind it is, which isn’t a good answer. I’m sorry. It’s a houseplant, though!

11. “I Would Rather See” If you weren’t on tour right now, what would you be doing instead?

I like to write music at home. That’s my favorite, so probably that.

12. “Les Jeux to You” Which French word is your favorite to say?

Ozoh. I don’t know French, actually, but I know some words. I like the words I’ve used in my songs. I like a lot of words. Maybe I like “parapluie” best, which means umbrella. I like that one a lot, actually.

MUSIC

PICKS

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN THU 2.21 ELI KESZLER + WENDY EISENBERG + ARIAN SHAFIEE Non-Event, Boston Hassle, and SMFA Library Sounds are throwing one of the must-see mind-bending shows not just of February, but of the year. They’re three of the most exciting experimental musicians around. For those unfamiliar, let us explain. Eli Keszler is a New York-based composer and percussionist whose work has appeared in Lincoln Center, MIT, MoMa PS1, and more. Wendy Eisenberg is Boston’s own improvisation guru, a banjoplaying poet and skilled guitarist who can turn her free jazz roots into extreme works of art, questioning not just how the instruments can sound but how the human body interacts with them. Then there’s Arian Shafiee, a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer better known in Boston as a member of the avant-garde dance punk band Guerilla Toss. Things will get weird at this show, and it will be hard not to love it.

[SMFA Anderson Auditorium, 230 The Fenway, Boston.

8:30pm/all ages/$15. nonevent.org] FRI 2.22 TREVA HOLMES + FORTE When Cliff Notez organizes something, you best be in attendance. From his work as a musician, filmmaker, and organizer in the community, it’s no wonder Notez won the New Artist of 2018 trophy at the Boston Music Awards after having a hand in every honey pot Boston has to offer.

Which goes to say the artists Notez booked at Atwood’s Tavern for his “Sketchbook” series—for February, he picked hip-hop act Treva Holmes and grumble rapper Forte—are not only worth listening to, but checking out live when they hit the stage this month.

[Atwood’s Tavern, 877 Cambridge St., Cambridge.

10pm/21+/$12. atwoodstavern.com]

SAT 2.23 JULIA HOLTER + JESSICA MOSS Nobody nerds out quite as discreetly as Julia Holter.

The experimental electronic and dream pop musician has a way with words and instruments. She pens the type of orchestrated landscapes Kate Bush and Joanna Newsom do, but without the obvious flair for dramatics.

Instead, everything feels soft and approachable. Live, her voice stands out as the type of pure, organic honey your cousin up in Vermont brags about but you’re only now understanding the perks of when you realize, yeah, it does make a difference. Holter’s music is that kind of sweet: subtle, fresh, and revitalizing—plus seeing her live always comes with some music nerd-dom bragging rights.

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston.

8pm/18+/$17. crossroadspresents.com] SAT 2.23 ANDERSON .PAAK & THE FREE NATIONALS + TAYLA PARX Get you a man who can do it all, even if he’s not really your man. West Coast hip-hop starlet Anderson .Paak is the renaissance man of music, whether he’s singing and drumming onstage while leading his own band or taking things into his own hands with the direction of his videos.

On this year’s Andy’s Beach Club World Tour, expect even more antics, even sharper songs, and even goofier grins from the neo-soul rapper artist who just keeps on giving.

[Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Pl, Boston. 7:30pm/all ages/$33. crossroadspresents.com] SUN 2.24 EMPRESS OF + SALT CATHEDRAL When you blow up from your demos alone, it’s pretty obvious you’ve got raw talent. That’s what happened with Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, back in 2012. Since then, the electropop artist has been bringing passion and oomph to her properly produced music as if it’s inherently easy. Her brand of alt-pop R&B now sees contributors like Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes and DJDS lending a hand without taking away from her blissed-out vocals. Live, her music sounds like Alessia Cara or the blissed-out pop of Kygo. Pop lovers looking for something new to fall in love with, this is for you.

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston.

7pm/18+/$15. crossroadspresents.com]

SUN 2.24 DEERHUNTER + MARY LATTIMORE If you’re wondering why everything hasn’t already disappeared, you’re not alone. Deerhunter not only penned their newest indie rock album as such, but frontman Bradford Cox explored that subject by ditching nostalgia for genuine probing. The result is the band’s poppiest work yet, though it feels relatively mellow despite that. Live, Deerhunter turn their nimble guitarwork into a cross-stitch of sounds, the kind you can’t look away from if only because of the sheer beauty.

[Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston. 7pm/18+/$30. royaleboston.com] MON 2.25 VINCE STAPLES + BUDDY Smile, you’re on camera! Don’t say Vince Staples didn’t warn you. After dropping a surprise new record named FM!, Vince Staples announced a tour that returns to Boston revved up and ready to make you lose your mind, again, but this time on camera. Don’t underestimate the title of this tour. We’re guessing the big fish rapper has plenty of witty remarks and perfect segues in store. If there’s one thing Staples is known for, it’s how consistently gripping his sets are, not to mention his unprompted speeches.

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$32.50. houseofblues.com] WED 2.27 ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT When the world gets to your head and you’re brimming with anger, sometimes you just need to hide away in the dark, tilt your head back, and scream as loud as you can. Other times, you need to do all of that but surrounded by the comfort of total strangers. The latter is finally possible because Ed Schrader’s Music Beat is coming through town. The Baltimore duo uses a solitary drum and sparse bass to turn manic ramblings into life-affirming anthems, and their recent album saw Dan Deacon sprinkle in some extra electronics. And live, the group turns up the volume, leading audience members down a path that feels like a cultish trance, one you find yourself happy to sing along to, even if only by yelling along to the notes.

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8:30pm/18+/$12. greatscottboston.com]

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

ENDLINGS DIVES INTO KOREAN-AMERICAN IDENTITY PERFORMING ARTS

An interview with actor Jiehae Park

BY JUAN A. RAMIREZ @ITSNUMBERJUAN

You’ve been working on this role since 2017; how much of you is there in this character?

The character, as written, is very much pure Celine, but since there is this Venn diagram of our experiences as Korean-born playwrights working in America, we share a lot. We understand each other because we’ve had to jump through the same hoops and have been asking many of the same questions. I can relate to it but it’s all Celine.

What has made you stick with the role?

The fact that the play touches on so many things that my peers and I are all wrestling with felt like it would be helpful for me to be asking these questions through her lens. As a writer, I tremendously admire the imagination and courage of the things she does in this play, which is wild. It just explodes a lot of ideas about what people think a play has to be, and that’s so exciting to be around.

JIEHAE PARK. PHOTO COURTESY OF JIEHAE PARK Celine Song’s Endlings, which has its world premiere next month at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater, is a strange, fantastical work with a lot on its mind. It centers on three aging haenyeoes—female divers from a centuriesold Korean tradition—on the rather desolate island of Man-Jae and on Ha Young, a Korean-Canadian playwright in Manhattan struggling to tell her story.

Dealing with issues of identity, creative authenticity and the lack of visibility for marginalized communities, it drew the attention of Jiehae Park, the Korean actor/playwright who plays Ha Young. I spoke to Park on the phone about the play and about the challenges of being an immigrant artist sharing a personal story. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

One of the things that fascinated me about the play is the idea that, for marginalized people, you want to talk about your identity but, on the other hand, you kind of just want to be like everybody else.

I wrote a play that was very personal to me, and for me, it wasn’t until I saw how that was received that I realized this was going to be a whole thing.

I had to deal with the reality that most American theater-going audiences are white and wealthy. It was well-received, but it wasn’t the audience I had written for. I had to deal with, “Oh right, I may have to explain things differently,” and, on another level, there’s a whole commodification of identity that happens since it’s unusual to see even two Asian plays in one theater.

How do you walk the line between speaking about who you are and, as you say, commodifying your identity?

I think the goal is to always speak truthfully but there has to be an awareness that you can’t be blind to the reality of who the audience you’re speaking to is. The goal is to not make any compromises, in terms of the authenticity of your message, but there’s also a recognition of the circumstances of being in a world that has power

structures that are the way they are. You do feel a pressure to commodify your identity, and those negotiations can get very messy, but it’s a complicated conversation that is important to have.

Is it exciting to be in a play that, in a lot of ways, is about creating spaces for these stories to be told?

Absolutely. One of the things I admire about Celine’s writing is how bold she is with her honesty. She is saying things that will be spoken publicly, in front of many people, that are the kinds of things that playwrights would only talk about amongst themselves. It’s risky to make these bold claims about how you see the world and I admire her so much for it.

You have a speech in the play, in Korean, that is specified not to be understood by non-Korean speakers, insisting “You’re just supposed to listen and be patient.”

What did you think when you first read that?

It’s awesome. I think the particular experience of getting some things, as opposed to everything, is a very familiar feeling to immigrants, especially if they’re not English speakers. Forcing people who aren’t used to having that experience is so illuminating and, on the flip side, for those who do speak Korean, there’s a wonderful feeling that they are inside of something, instead of outside.

Switching gears a bit, were you familiar with haenyeoes before working on the play?

I think most Korean people know of their existence but I don’t think they’re something people have devoted a lot of mental time to think about them. The world is big, so it’s kind of like how we all know cattle ranchers exist, but we don’t necessarily spend time thinking about them.

Do you think Song’s use of magical realism is a good approach to telling their story?

It’s wonderful every time the play opens up with flourishes of imagination. These women are struggling economically and they don’t glamorize it, they do this because they have to make a living. The combination of those realities with the moments of beauty and exceptional circumstance is such a powerful one.

>> ENDLINGS. 2.26 THROUGH 3.17 AT LOEB DRAMA CENTER. 64 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE. AMERICANREPERTORYTHEATER.ORG

THEATER REVIEW

BY JUAN A. RAMIREZ @ITSNUMBERJUAN

SPAMILTON TOO NICE FOR SATIRE

As far as Boston theater goes, Hamilton is out and Spamilton is in. Of course, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical juggernaut about the founding fathers is (sadly) far from leaving the public consciousness anytime soon but, a few months after its months-long residency came and went, a new show from the creator of the Forbidden Broadway series has set up camp in Boston. Creator/writer/director Gerard Alessandrini’s new show takes aim at the late2010s phenomenon and its singular creator, though its success as a barbed look at contemporary theater is muddled, to say the least.

Though it features many of the stars that orbit the Hamilton universe—the Obamas, Barbra Streisand, who presented the show its Best Musical award, etc.—it doesn’t so much skewer them, or the show, as much as just sings about them. Largely following the structure of 18

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

its source material, it details its creation with too much affection to count as stinging satire, substituting the original lyrics for kind-hearted parodies.

The show is at its wittiest when at its cattiest, though those moments are sadly few and far between, and almost exclusively given to Ani Djirdjirian, the sole woman in the ensemble. She gets the pleasure (and exercise) of playing everyone from Liza Minnelli to Hamilton stars Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and “the other one” (Jasmine Cephas Jones). Djirdjirian nails every impression, belt, and breathless punchline with admirable effort. The rest of the cast does a fine job, though they become somewhat anonymous through their endless role-switching.

Miranda being such an easily caricatured person—as I write, I am sweating in restraint of taking the opportunity to make this entire review a merciless roast of the man— it’s a surprising disappointment that Spamilton ignores most of what makes him such a polarizing figure, instead creating a blank sketch of a character who could be swapped out for any other overachieving artist.

Of course, there’s the whole issue of good sportsmanship and, “If you don’t have anything nice to

say, don’t say it.” But that doesn’t really hold with parody.

Great satire follows more along the lines of, “If you don’t have anything witty to say, why bother?” Then again, a show ripping away at one of the biggest money makers in Broadway history isn’t exactly good business.

Truth be told, the whole thing reeks of the type of ’80s stand-up humor you see modern comics use as examples of dated comedy. The insinuation that Miranda must have gotten high to come up with the idea for Hamilton— essentially a middle school teacher’s “hip” lesson plan about the writing of the Federalist Papers—is dated enough to warrant an introduction by Nancy Reagan.

For fans of the show, of which there are many, Spamilton will provide a feel-good romp through their favorite musical’s creation. Still, it would benefit from packing some more punch in its puns; I fully believe fans would be able to take it.

SPAMILTON: AN AMERICAN PARODY.. THROUGH 4.7 AT CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BCA. 527 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

THE LITTLE FOXES CREW MAKES CASE FOR HELLMAN PERFORMING ARTS

Lyric Stage considers Lillian Hellman’s opus and legacy

BY JUAN A. RAMIREZ @ITSNUMBERJUAN

The Little Foxes cuts straight into the heart of American morality at a time when the nation is at a turning point. With women striving for recognition, shifting Lyric Stage considers Lillian Hellman’s opus and legacy racial politics creating visible friction, and powerful businesses taking over smaller ones through unsavory deals, 1900 was a prime year for Lillian Hellman to set her play about a Southern family whose ambitions outweigh their decaying morals.

With Lyric Stage Company getting ready to mount its production of the 1939 three-acter, DigBoston caught up with the women of The Little Foxes, as well as director Scott Edmiston, who believes Hellman is overdue for admission into the pantheon of great American playwrights.

“My accepted education growing up was that the three great American playwrights were Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller, and I never thought to question that,” Edmiston says. “Two years ago, one of my students asked, ‘Why isn’t Lillian Hellman on this list? I think The Little Foxes is as good as those other plays,’ and I was thrilled to consider that.”

Based on the the playwright’s own family, it centers on the corrupt Hubbard family business, owned by the two Hubbard brothers as Regina, their sister, schemes for control from the sidelines. Hellman uses the family drama to comment on the rising threat of fascism, the perils of capitalism, and the impotence of the silent bystander.

“Her friends talk about her anger—that she had a kind of angered injustice and was always a bit on the attack about things,” Edmiston says. “There’s a great sense of injustice, whether it’s about fascism, capitalism, racism, sexism. … She was picking all of these fights.”

Blacklisted for her leftist sympathies, Hellman made a name for herself onstage and off with her sharp comments and black-and-white ideals. Amelia Broome (Birdie) mentions what Hellman wrote in a letter to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1952: “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”

“Boy, she is unsentimental,” Broome says. “She takes a pretty hard-nosed approach in terms of who these characters are and what they do to get what they want. There’s no fluff with Hellman, and she predates these other major American playwrights. I can’t imagine that Tennessee Williams wouldn’t have seen this play in its day and felt an internal permission to tell his own stories.”

The actors often mention that the specificity with which Hellman imbues her characters is not something they usually find in women’s roles. Rosa Procaccino (Alexandra) says they are often one-dimensional and static, an issue she does not find in the women of The Little Foxes.

“She really understands the ways in which women don’t neatly fill certain molds,” Procaccino says. “Sometimes, in plays written by men, women are boxed in. If they’re a ballbreaker, they’re ballbreakers the whole time and that’s how they’re written.”

Hubbard sister Regina, who must maneuver through a world hostile to ambitious women to get what she wants, is a fascinating figure—though not one always admired.

“Regina has been so demonized by white, straight, male critics who call her villainous and rapacious and a bitch,” Edmiston says. “Her brothers, who do the same exact things, are thought of as juicy characters.”

Speaking about the roles the four women characters perform—ruthless schemer, battered alcoholic, innocent ingenue, and domestic worker—Anne Gottlieb (Regina) sees Hellman as outlining the few options women had and pushing against gender norms.

“In this particular time, there were no options for women,” Gottlieb says.

“You can feel Lillian Hellman, with each of these women, pressing up against these limitations. You can feel that she’s conscious of it as a writer, and that she’s writing it for the actors playing these roles.”

Cheryl D. Singleton (Addie) adds that another option, prostitution, is also mentioned as an alternative. Singleton claims her character, the family maid and nanny, is saved from being yet another stereotype by deft, human writing.

“For me, it’s been a question of her status—not just in this family but in the wider community,” Singleton says. “Hellman takes those things into consideration and it’s helped make her more than a stock character. In other hands, these could all be stock characters, but Scott is not allowing that, and neither are we.” >> THE LITTLE FOXES. THROUGH 3.17 AT THE LYRIC STAGE. 140 CLARENDON ST., BOSTON. LYRICSTAGE.COM.

LIVE MUSIC • PRIVATE EVENTS 2/26 CROSSROADS & RELIX PRESENTS:

Grateful Shred

Mad Alchemy Liquid Lights, Garcia Peoples (Dead Tribute)

3/1 PORTER PRODUCTIONS AND CROSSROADS PRESENTS:

The Monochrome Set

The Very - The Milling Gowns (Post Punk)

3/8 ONCE SOMERVILLE PRESENTS:

Red Shaydez Brandie Blaze Solo Sexx Genie Santiago (R&B Hip Hop)

3/30 CROSSROADS PRESENTS:

Delta Sleep (Rock)

4/1 THE RUNAWAY GUYS & FRIENDS PRESENT:

Thrown Controllers Live!

Family Jules - Adriana Figueroa (Live Game Show)

5/12 CROSSROADS PRESENTS:

Iron Reagan Sacred Reich (Thrash Metal)

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

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

ERIK GRIFFIN COMEDY

From teacher, to comedian, to AmERIKan Warrior

BY DENNIS MALER @DEADAIRDENNIS You might recognize Erik Griffin’s face from one of the many TV shows (Workaholics, I’m Dying Up Here) or movies (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) he’s appeared in. Some lucky comedy fans might even know him from some of his stand-up specials, while I’m sure some of his former students from his days of teaching remember him as well, since he made them laugh and all. Regardless of your history (or lack of it) with Griffin, you’ll dig our conversation about his days before comedy, the fights along the way, and the unexpected joys of podcasting.

people say you gotta be on TV so people can come watch you. Now that’s not really the case anymore.

I remember your Comedy Central Half Hour taping, and you came out with such high energy. Did that have to do with the crowd being a little lackadaisical?

I remember that night. I came out and was just going to say something only to get the crowd going, and they actually used it in my special. I wanted it to get them going because I was like … a weird energy in the room that night.

What was your day job that you quit before you became a full-time comedian?

I was working at a school. I had a whole different life plan. I was doing the yearbook, working in the office. I was going to school to finish up so I can even officially become a teacher, but that’s not what I wanted to do.

Since I moved to Boston I went to all the Half Hour tapings, but they really are just a papered theater.

You watch a Half Hour special of someone that you think is really funny, and you’re like, “How come that didn’t go well?” It’s not necessarily their fault, it’s just the way they put it together. It just seems as if it’s not conducive to getting a crowd that really wants to laugh at a comedian.

Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle. When it doesn’t go well, I’m not going to necessarily be like, Oh, that guy’s not funny or that girl’s not funny.

It’s very annoying. But you know what, I enjoy doing it.

Speaking of TV shows, did you know any of the three main guys behind Workaholics from comedy before being a part of the show?

Yeah, I knew of Adam, and I’ve been at some shows with Adam a few times. It’s funny, like the week before I auditioned for Workaholics, I was at a show with Adam, and I was like being this big brother guy. I was like, “You know, you’re doing good man. Keep it up!” Not even knowing that he already had a show about to come on the air. I walked into an audition room, and here he was sitting there.

Was there an open relationship between you and the writers of I’m Dying Up Here on writing some of the material for your character?

Yeah, we have some say, but it’s ’70s comedy, so I wasn’t that familiar with it. I just left it up to the writers to come up with it. And then I would try to put like whatever flavor the character is going to put on it. It was actually kind of difficult.

Do you think working in front of a crowd of kids help prepare you for stand-up? Or did stand-up prepare you for going up in front of the kids?

I always had an entertaining way about myself. When I used to coach basketball, I would yell at the kids from the sideline [and] the crowd behind me would laugh. That’s when I first learned that my emotional state is funny to people. That was a hard thing to swallow at first. Cause you know, you’re yelling at somebody because you’re angry, and people behind you are cracking up. You have to really accept that. And then once you do, you have to learn how to translate it over to entertainment.

Do you feel like you’ve changed, comedywise, from Technical Foul all the way up to last year’s AmERIKan Warrior?

I don’t think I changed that much. As I look back on it, it’s still my sensibility on the last two hours. … It’s just different topics that are out there that I’m talking about.

Your podcast is pretty new, right?

Yeah. It’s very new because that is what you got to have now. You’ve got to have a Twitter and an Instagram and a podcast to make it as a comedian right now. It’s very annoying. But you know what, I enjoy doing it.

Did you have to learn how to interview other comedians properly, or is the podcast solo?

It’s about half and half because when I first started, it was just solo. It’s just me. It’s called Riffin’ with Griffin. So I would just go on and talk for like 30 minutes about it.

So that’s really where it started, but then I started getting some interviews. I’m still gonna go back to just me solo talking.

Do you feel solo is more comfortable for you then than trying to have a dialogue with another comedian?

No, I like them both because it just depends on what’s going on in the world. Like, you know, if Trump does something crazy and I’m like, then we take 30 minutes to talk about this, or I take questions on my Instagram and Twitter, and then I answer those questions on my podcast.

I do a lot of things on my podcast, I also play video games.

I go live and play video games and I put that up on my YouTube channel. People are very interactive. When I first started doing it, I would play a song at the beginning, and I would change the words to Riffin with Griffin. And what happened was these kids out here, these producers, young and old, they started sending me original theme songs. So I have a lot of original theme songs on the podcast. It’s been pretty fun. Actually now I have a green screen set up, and so I’m telling people, “Hey, if you’re a graphic artist out there and you want to make me a studio, make me a background.” It’s very interactive.

Do you feel you’re more of a writer or a performer?

I’m totally more of a performer. And I’m not ashamed to say that. Writing is definitely a skill that deserves respect. Like when you go on a show or something, you’re looking at just these words on the page and you’re like, Wow, this is amazing.

Working on I’m Dying Up Here on Showtime, which is a completely different type of show compared to Workaholics, was there a different preparation or an adjustment to your acting technique for it?

Yeah, because it wasn’t a comedy at all, actually. It was actually a drama, and I didn’t realize that until we were doing it. I was like, Oh wow, they’re asking something different of me.

And it was challenging, very challenging. But it was worthwhile. It was great to do something so different.

Do you do acting jobs to support your comedy, or do you also want to be an actor?

It’s both. I’ve been on TV 13 years, and it seems to me that this podcast I’m doing is getting people to come to my shows more than from that. I still enjoy acting, ’cause that’s like a big paycheck, but some >>ERIK GRIFFIN AT LAUGH BOSTON. 2.21-2.23. CHECK OUT THE FULL UNEDITED CONVERSATION AT DEADAIRDENNIS.COM/PODCAST. 20

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

54 BAY STATE ROAD

NEIGHBORHOOD 9 | CAMBRIDGE, MA

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY C

M A

R I B

D

G

E

5 UNIT BUILDING FOR SALE $5,200,000 $4,799,000 Great Location Built in 2012 | Open Concept | 6,808 sq. ft.

F i r e p l a c e | C e n t r a l A i r | G r a n i t e C o u n t e r To p s Maple Wood Flooring | Off Street Parking Energy Star Appliances | Outdoor Space

Net Income $230,650 | 5 CAP $ 1 9,9 0 0/m o n t h G r o s s R e n t a l I n c o m e

Covered Off Street Parking

POPULAR PROPERTIES 732.298.0752

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

DEFINING ‘EXTRA LOBSTER’ SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

Two weeks ago, a longtime reader challenged me to create a new sexual neologism.

(Quickly for the pedants: You’re right! It is redundant to describe a neologism as “new,” since neologisms are by definition new: “ne·ol·o·gism noun a newly coined word or expression.” You got me!)

“Neo-Neologisms, Please!” was too polite to point it out, but my two most famous and widely used neologisms have been around so long—pegging (2001) and santorum (2003)—that they’re practically paleogisms at this point. So I accepted NNP’s challenge and proposed “with extra lobster.” My inspiration: on a visit to Iceland, I was delighted to discover that “with extra lobster” was a menu item at food carts that served lobster. This delighted me for two reasons. First, lobster is fucking delicious and getting extra lobster with your lobster is fucking awesome. And second, “with extra lobster” sounded like it was a dirty euphemism for something equally awesome. I offered up my own suggested definition—someone who sticks their tongue out and licks your balls while they’re deep-throating your cock is giving you a blowjob with extra lobster—and invited readers to send in their own. It was my readers, after all, who came up with the winning definitions for pegging (“a woman fucking a man in the ass with a strap-on dildo”) and santorum (“the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex”).

What follows are the best reader-suggested definitions for “with extra lobster,” with occasional commentary from yours truly…

COMEDY EVENTS THU 02.21

QUEER QOMEDY HOUR @ IMPROVBOSTON

Featuring: Pete Angelo, Kendra Dawsey, Cathy Coleman, Isha Patnaik, Nora Panahi, Lily Fender, & Will Martin.

Hosted by Chloé Cunha

40 PROSPECT ST. CAMBRIDGE | 7PM | $5 THU 02.21

COMEDY NIGHT @ GRANDTEN DISTILLING

Featuring: Dan Boulger (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), Sean Sullivan (Comedy Central), & Bethany Van Delft

1383 DORCHESTER AVE, DORCHESTER | 8PM | $15 FRI 02.22

COMEDY PARTY @ ZONE 3

Featuring: Orlando Baxter (CONAN on TBS) & more.

Hosted by Ben Quick & Alex Giampapa

267 WESTERN AVE., ALLSTON | 8PM | $10 SAT 02.23

ARTLOUNGE COMEDY @ ARTLOUNGE ARLINGTON

Featuring: Tooky Kavanaugh, Angela Sawyer, & Directions with Steve and Harry Hosted by Brian Agosta

1346 MASS AVE., ARLINGTON | 7:30PM | $10

“Extra lobster should be the name for those cock-extender things. Example: “My husband has a small penis. And you know what? The sex is great! He gives great head, and isn’t afraid to strap-on some extra lobster now and then.”

SAT 02.23

As a vegan, Dan, I strongly object to “with extra lobster.” It reinforces the speciest notion that is it permissible to consume lobsters, sentient life forms that feel pain, and associating a sex act with the violence of meat consumption further desensitizes us to acts of sexual violence.

80 BEVERLY ST., BOSTON | 9:30PM | $20

Fuck off.

I used to hook up with a cuckold couple with a particularly naughty fetish: I’d fuck the woman, fill her up, and her man would eat it out of her. So, say you hooked up with a woman, let’s call her “Melania,” and her husband, call him “Donald,” ate her pussy after you filled her with come. Donald is eating pussy with extra lobster!

Sounds more like pussy with extra chowder to me—and what you’ve described already has a perfectly good (and widely-used) name: cream pie. And, please God, let’s leave Trump out of this. There’s no need to associate something so vile and disgusting with eating another man’s come out of your wife’s lobby.

“With extra lobster” should refer to any intimate pleasure where your expectations are greatly exceeded! I’m a gay man in my sixties, and my husband and I have been together for decade. I also have a friend with benefits. One night we were camping and I blurted out, “I would like to cuddle with you.” What happened next was 12 courses—at least—with extra lobster! We’ve managed to rekindle this energy every couple of years over the past 25!

COMEDY AND CABERNET @ CITY WINERY

Featuring: Andrew Mayer, Ken Reid, Bethany Van Delft, & Niki Luparelli.

Hosted by Jim McCue SUN 02.24

STAND UP SCIENCE @ LAUGH BOSTON

Comedian and podcaster Shane Mauss presents Stand Up Science. Local scientific experts, stand-up comedians and other special guests join Shane to bring you a show equal parts aha and haha! Stand-up comedy can cater to the lowest common denominator. Science can be intimidating and frankly, boring. Funnier than a TED Talk, but smarter than a traditional night of hearing TED talk.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | 8PM | $15 TUE 02.26

BEER ME! COMEDY @ WINTER HILL BREWING CO.

Featuring: Rafi Gonzalez, Ann Yuan, Don Zollo, Dan Hall, Katie Qué, & Alan Fitzgerald.

Hosted by Chris Post

80 BEVERLY ST., BOSTON | 9:30PM | $20

Lineup & shows to change without notice. Bios & writeups pulled from various sources, including from the clubs & comics.

RUTHERFORD

BY DON KUSS DONKUSS@DIGBOSTON.COM

I believe your example of “with extra lobster” regarding an extra WOW factor during something sexual is perfect and doesn’t need extra explanation. As the saying goes, Dan, you pegged it!

I agree with the last two letter writers: “with extra lobster” shouldn’t refer to any specific sex act—and it should never involve actual lobsters and/or mental images of the current president of the United States—but should, instead, be a general term meaning “expectations exceeded.” When someone really comes through for you, when they knock your socks off, when they make you see stars—when they really WOW you—then you got boned or blown or fucked or flogged or torn apart and eaten by zombies with extra lobster!

And with that sorted and settled, a bonus neologism to close the column…

On the Lovecast, the ethics of HIV disclosure: savagelovecast.com. savagelovecast.com

“It’s good, but it’s not toilet water good.”

22

02.21.19 - 02.28.19 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

Erik Griffin

Workaholics, I'm Dying Up Here Thursday - Saturday

COMING SOON

Stand Up Science with Shane Mauss Special Engagement: Sun, Feb 24

The Bugle Podcast LIVE Special Engagement: Thurs, Feb 28

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Jared Freid

MTV, Comics Come Home Feb 28-Mar 2

Jared Freid’s The J-Train Podcast LIVE

Special Engagement: Sat, Mar 2 @ 5 PM

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

Des Bishop

Comedy Central Mar 7-9 617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

23