Dig Boston Mar. 25th, 2015

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BLUNT TRUTH

THE DNA of THC

ARTS.

UNBREAKABLE

CAMBRIDGE-BASED SCULPTOR CRAFTS HAND-MADE CAREER

FEATURE

RETURN of the

KING

THE STORY OF HOOPS LEGEND KING GASKINS FILM

THE BOSTON

UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

HONEST PINT

WOMEN of

BEER

LOCAL LADIES ARE CHANGING THE FACE OF BREWING 11

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NEWS TO US FEATURE DEPT. OF COMMERCE

VOL 17 + ISSUE 12

MARCH 25, 2015 - APRIL 1, 2015

EDITOR Dan McCarthy NEWS, FEATURES + MEDIA FARM EDITOR Chris Faraone ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR Martín Caballero ASSOCIATE A+E EDITOR Spencer Shannon CONTRIBUTORS Lizzie Havoc, Boston Bastard, Nina Corcoran, Emily Hopkins, Micaela Kimball, Tony McMillen, Jake Mulligan, Scott Murry, Jonathan Riley, Cady Vishniac, Dave Wedge INTERNS Paige Chaplin, Jasmine Ferrell

DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tak Toyoshima DESIGNER Brittany Grabowski INTERNS Elise Cameron, Alek Glasrud, Michael Zaia COMICS Tim Chamberlain Brian Connolly Pat Falco Patt Kelley

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BUSINESS PUBLISHER Jeff Lawrence

DEAR READER It was sort of a perfect coda to a truly soul-crushing and harrowing Boston winter that we would get a snowstorm on the first day of spring.

And considering that we have no control over when the warmth we are long overdue for will kick in, we decided to put together an issue so packed with sunshine that it would make up for the fact we’re a week into the supposedly warmer season and the thermometer has barely breached freezing.

Take, for instance, our feature this week (page 10), which dives into the saga of Boston basketball legend King Gaskins, and traces his story from NBA hopeful to redeemed saver-of-lives. Such stories illuminate the darkest of neo-winter days, and prove that there’s always another chance to turn things around.

Also, as you may have noticed from our Rosie the Riveter homage cover featuring Pretty Things assistant brewer Martha Holley-Paquette, we decided to shine some much-deserved light on the local women giving male brewers a run for their money in this week’s Honest Pint (page 13).

And with our news feature this week, we decided to let DigBoston features editor Chris Faraone unveil his story of tracking down a lost piece of artwork stolen from the Mass State House ages ago, only to wind up in LA all these years later. We may get it back with the aid of the Baker administration, or we may not.

And if we don’t, get ready for a whole new level of already longstanding Boston vs Los Angeles rivalries.

Now with less sports and more art capers.

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

EDITORIAL

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BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Marc Shepard OFFICE MANAGER John Loftus ADVISOR Joseph B. Darby III DigBoston, 242 East Berkeley St. 5th Floor Boston, MA 02118 Fax 617.849.5990 Phone 617.426.8942 digboston.com

SPECIAL NOTE As our 2015 DigThis Awards issue looms. be sure to head to DigBoston.com to vote for your picks of the best in local arts, entertainment, food, drink, and goods and services throughout the Hub. Winners will be announced in the special issue dropping April 29 followed by a massive party. If you don’t see your favorite, tweet them to us @DigBoston.

ON THE COVER

©2015 DIGBOSTON IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY DIG PUBLISHING LLC. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION CAN BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT. DIG PUBLISHING LLC 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.

OH, CRUEL WORLD Dear Fellow T Rider, You kept to yourself during the short ride from Arlington to Park, composing a text message to someone I now feel sorry for. You were a bit disheveled, as many of us feel after such a fucktastic winter from hell. But you seemed to embody the pure essence of what this winter felt like … dirty … extreme … and most of all … smelly. Dude, if you showered those dead skin cells off and did your laundry more than once a month, you’d be amazed at how hopeful your situation could be. Do you even know how amazingly blue your eyes are? But I know I can’t change you … heck, I have a hard enough time [with] my own failing body.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE CAMERON

Pretty Things Beer’s assistant brewer Martha HolleyPaquette brought the party this week. Read about her efforts as well as those of other local women helping to craft the best beers around.

Photo by Michael Zaia.

NEWS US LA OR BUST NEWS TO US

Investigators may never locate the Gardner paintings, but Governor Baker might be able to retrieve this missing sculpture for Mass with a phone call

BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1

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In uttering their first words, it’s common for babies in Greater Boston to feign knowledge of where Isabella Stewart Gardner’s missing masterpieces are stashed. For transient aesthetes and crime junkies, the fascination with the most notorious museum jack in US history comes later in life, typically while reading any number of accounts by the thrill seekers and writers who long ago drowned in promises that someone would return Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee.”

I’m among those who have obsessed over the Gardner loss. Five years ago I devoured nearly a dozen books about those relics and other marquee thefts, and even embarked on my own mission to recover stolen art. Instead of celebrated works by Flinck and Vermeer however, I set my eyes on more attainable prizes: namely, any of the several hundred items pilfered right out of the Massachusetts State House over the last 200-plus years. As one might expect considering the commonwealth’s robust history, our State House has been blessed by more bequeathments than most capital buildings.

At the same time, Massachusetts has from day one lagged in the art maintenance department, with the first office to oversee valuable works not opening its doors until 1910.

All of which makes the whole of these discoveries, at least in my opinion, worthy of at least a fraction of the mass attention paid to the Gardner for the silver anniversary of its shadow this past week. Possibly the most peculiar and slowest purloining of all time, what happened to the State House is a heist of several centuries. As I learned through months of cross-referencing old manifests with works that remain in the Beacon Hill collection, the lengthy list of items looted from the commonwealth includes: murals of John Adams and of Golden Dome architect Charles Bulfinch, assorted ephemera including Native American arrowheads, more than 400 documents from the Colonial Era, and a 1900-square-foot stained glass ceiling that was described by the Associated Press as “one of the largest single skylights in the country” before it was removed from the House chamber in 1970 and presumably parsed among reps who hoarded the pieces as mementos. The list goes on; in 1984, page one of the 1629 Massachusetts Bay Company Charter was even stolen from the State House basement along with the wax seal that King Charles I stamped on the document.

Though investigators never found out who specifically nabbed the charter, the list of likely doers included some of the same suspected characters linked to the Gardner ordeal six years later. In any case, the 17th-century document showed up during a drug raid in Dorchester within months, while the seal was found more than a decade later in an unrelated Randolph sting. Amateur larceny probably accounts for most of what has vanished from the State House; a select few robberies however, resemble more the work of professional crooks, the likes of whom may have also swiped the bust of early public education advocate Charles Brooks. It’s not as thrilling a story as the Gardner gank, but I seem to have traced the sculpture of Brooks, an ally of Horace Mann who helped modernize American pedagogy, from Beacon Hill to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where it’s currently in storage.

Considering how excited people have been about recently unearthed time capsules, maybe someone with authority might even follow up …

IF THESE LOOK IDENTICAL TO YOU, OR EVEN IF THEY BOTH JUST LOOK LIKE MARBLE, THEN WE’VE FOUND OUR MISSING BUST MASSACHUSETTS.

The story starts in 1835, when prodigious artist Thomas Crawford moved from New York City to Rome, where he was among the first American sculptors of significant renown.

According to documents I found in the Houghton Library for rare books and manuscripts at Harvard University, Crawford was commissioned for the bust in the early 1840s, around the time he started work on “Orpheus and Cerberus,” a marble version of which is housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As per my earlier reporting: • Crawford’s career was helped greatly by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner and George Washington Greene, who was the American consul in Rome at the time. It was presumably through them that Crawford met Brooks, who apparently first requested a bust of himself in 1842.

• Though the bust has in the past been catalogued under the date 1842, correspondence between the two shows that while Brooks and Crawford started negotiating

the cost in that year, the artist continued working on the sculpture into 1843. “I am at present completing your bust—and hope to have it ready for a ship that is expected at [the Italian port city] Leghorn arriving next month,” Crawford wrote on May 19, 1843.

• The amount due after the deposit, according to the correspondence, was $178—most likely $150 for the marble bust, and an additional $28 for a form cast that could be used to make duplicates. According to a July 18, 1843, letter from Crawford, Brooks had also requested four plaster facsimiles to be molded and shipped with the original marble sculpture.

Though there does exist an 1845 receipt sent by Crawford to Brooks for a total that would have included the copies, I am unable to find evidence that any of the duplicates ever arrived in America. The Brooks bust in storage at the LACMA is marble, LA OR BUST continued on pg. 6

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LA OR BUST continued from pg. 4 so what’s important is which artifact was at the State House—the original that’s in Los Angeles, or a knockoff made of plaster. Leads are inconclusive. A 1907 biography of Brooks simply notes that a bust given by his estate was “placed appropriately in the office of the State Board of Education, Massachusetts State House.”

As my research also showed, besides there being no trace of plaster Brooks busts anywhere, the best proof that the sculpture in Los Angeles came from the State House seems to be an auction record dating back to 1992. Though the identities of the seller and buyer are private, a marble bust of Brooks—perfectly resembling the item in question—was auctioned off by the Hub-based Grogan & Company for $6,000 on December 9, 1992. The following year, a marble bust of Brooks was donated to the LACMA by a Mr. and Mrs. Herbert M. Gelfand. I compared an image of the work from LACMA’s catalogue to a photo from the 1920s that was snapped at the State House, and they appear to be identical—both with distinct marble characteristics right down to a signature spot on the base beside the subject’s birth year.

In 2012, a spokesperson for the commonwealth said the bust missing from Boston is not the sculpture I found in Los Angeles. Off the record, a source from former Governor Deval Patrick’s office told me the administration felt my article drew unnecessary negative attention. Meanwhile, a contact at LACMA promised the museum would check relevant documentation, but then stopped returning my calls and emails. I’m done playing phone tag, but as far as I am aware, nobody has proven me wrong.

I’m not attempting to open old wounds or to shame anyone; the small office that handles state art has been historically starved, and has made substantial progress in restoring tattered old works despite the lack of preservation funding. Furthermore, I’ll happily retract my claims about the bust if somebody who digs deeper than I have offers compelling proof. My goal here is just to convince Governor Charlie Baker to retrieve Charlie Brooks, and to help secure a recovery for a region and an art community in desperate need of a historic homecoming.

BLUNT TRUTH

THE DNA OF THC

A Q&A with Kevin McKernan of Medicinal Genomics

BY MIKE CANN @MIKECANNBOSTON From 1996 to 2000, Kevin McKernan worked on the Human Genome Project as a research and development specialist for the world famous Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. With that and other relevant experience on his resume, in 2011 the MIT graduate’s own company, Medicinal Genomics, became the first outfit to map the genome of cannabis sativa and indica. I recently had the opportunity to speak with McKernan on my streaming WEMF Radio show “The Young Jurks.” His team is located in Woburn, and they have answers to some questions that you and your friends have probably been arguing about for years.

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When you map a strain such as Chemdawg, are you able to determine the strain that is brought to you and determine whether it is truly Chemdawg?

The first thing we need to do is end this strain name game going on, because there is a whole lot of counterfeiting. People are tempted to name it after the latest and greatest. It’s not there today, we still have to map a thousand plants, we will get there. That’s why we are looking for the exotic strains, it will be here in two years.

How did you get into mapping cannabis?

Back in 2011, I was working at a life sciences company and got the itch to move on. I had an anti-compete, [and] it didn’t apply if I was mapping cannabis. What followed next was a clandestine trip to Amsterdam to start the process of mapping cannabis strains in a hotel room. We had to figure out a way to purify DNA in a hotel room so we could get it through the TSA …

We put the first two online for free. The lesson we learned from the Human Genome Project was that the project became a patenting mess. We have to dance around gene patents to help kids with [epilepsy]. It’s madness. When we sequence this we are looking for something useful without a gene patent. By releasing the data online we avoid the patenting mess.

How does your service work for patients?

We get a patient’s saliva … A lot of the doctors are sophisticated on the genetics … For kids with epilepsy, we see kids on a circus of drugs, an average of three … One of those things physicians are starting to see [is] that we should test the genetics first out of the gate to determine which [prescription] drugs and strains will work the best for them … The lesson is that we need to learn to personalize medicine.

How many employees do you have right now and how many do you expect to have?

Right now, we are 50 people, 45 are really sequencing for patients with conditions like epilepsy to help them determine the medicine that is best for them … We are hiring, we are looking for folks in the bioInformatics field to analyze all these genomes and build these Phylogenetic trees, and also looking for folks in sales and marketing to bring this test out to the field, support folks as we are installing an instrument in the field that takes some sophistication to set up, [and] also molecular biologists. This is the town for it, we are the genetics capital of the world.

BY MEDIA FARM @MEDIAFARM

You may not realize this if you don’t listen to radio, but there are shows on the NPR end of the dial that regularly spend hours on end haranguing the federal justice system for prohibiting the use of recording devices in courtrooms. Whether we’re discussing the case of South Boston gangster-turned-SoCal surfing champion Whitey Bulger or the current case of admitted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, there is no shortage of acknowledgment that both the media and public are kept in the dark through these ordeals.

In lieu of being able to show readers and TV viewers the actual drama, reporters settle on alternative techniques. First we illustrate with words; while Media Farm has certainly lambasted a few beat writers for their obsessively detailed portrayals of Tsarnaev’s dress and demeanor, there has been some outstanding colorful coverage, especially in the dailies. However, it’s that other go-to device, the courtroom sketch that all too often gets a pass, and that we felt like taking for a walk out back this week.

The biggest problem with sketches: They’re not recorded footage. Nor do they pack the accuracy of stills; rather, each illo is a Rorschach test. Take, for example, one particular image from the jury selection process in January. In it, a sitting Tsarnaev tilts his head slightly downward, his left fist raised and closed except for a slightly extended index finger. He appears to be digging in his collar, the effect presumably intended to show his distress, but it’s also possible to see him as potentially squeezing an imaginary trigger, or motioning to the gallery, “Come at me, bro!”

If he’s not looking tough, slouched and squinting with his hand over his chest as if he were mocking the Pledge of Allegiance, Tsarnaev is a smooth guido pimp in the Theater District, Al Pacino, the evil doppelganger of the Little Prince, or a younger terrorist version of Woody Allen. Oh, and who could forget Kaiju Dzhokhar with the Dragon Ball Z ’do? The look depends on who’s drawing him on what day, and that right there is the problem. We are watching a cartoon of the trial. Sometimes he’s a pudgy abstract blob. What gives?

You’d think that with so many Marathon Bombing truthers and other assorted jackasses looking for excuses to discredit the proceedings, authorities would possibly consider some bend in the rules. Maybe it’s too much to ask for high-definition equipment in 2015, but can we get a Polaroid up in that piece? An old Instamatic?

Instead—and none of this is meant to knock the sketch artists themselves—the public has been dealt yet another distraction in a complex case, as was especially demonstrated earlier this month. Instead of suspending court rules and allowing even a single photographer to tail jurors viewing the boat in which Tsarnaev was found, Judge George O’Toole Jr. thought it adequate to string along Jane Flavell Collins, whose courtroom work is legend around here.

Given the circumstances Collins nailed it, even including the name of the vessel: SLIPAWAY. Still, kind of reminds us of our chances of knowing what this trial actually looks like.

FREE RADICAL

ZINN, FERGUSON, AND TRUTH

BY EMILY HOPKINS @GENDERPIZZA DeRay McKesson says that tear gas feels like peppermint scrub on your face, and that after his first experience with the chemicals he was “pumped” to have avoided being blinded. Somehow, while being honored at the 2015 Howard Zinn Awards in Cambridge last week, he was able to smile despite having two canisters of gas thrown at his feet during protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Sitting next to McKesson, Johnetta Elzie was also being recognized as an American writer who, in the spirit of Zinn, has demonstrated dedication to recording the people’s history.

Shortly after protests in Ferguson became a daily occurrence, Elzie and McKesson began publishing a newsletter that aggregates articles relating to protests in St. Louis and elsewhere. With their coverage and prolific Twitter feeds, they bear witness from the epicenter of a movement and relay knowledge from the ground that few journalists access. In that regard they are also facilitators: When press reached out to protesters to see what they needed, Elzie told them to report in person: “We needed help and we needed witnesses.”

As Howard Zinn said, “Truth has a power of its own.” Or as McKesson put it in Cambridge: “The truth is damning enough.”

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THE KING OF BOSTON BASKETBALL FEATURE

How a Boston hoops icon missed the NBA but rebounded to save lives

BY GEORGE HASSETT @BOSCRIMEWRITER

BECOMING KING

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Gaskins had been the Hub’s anointed one since he was a skinny freshman. It was a mythical time—’60s and ’70s basketball in Boston, full of pioneering all-black high school squads and playground legends who outplayed pros. Yet it was Gaskins who inspired the most crowds, writers, fans, and coaches.

Some say the legend began on March 24, 1969, when Gaskins and his Catholic Memorial High School squad played Springfield Commerce for the state title. A clash of two undefeated teams, it’s still often recalled as the greatest game in Mass hoops history. With five seconds left and Springfield up one point, the CM ball swung to Gaskins, the least-feared player on the court. Springfield was daring him to shoot. Twenty-five feet from the goal, Gaskins spun the rock in his hands like a globe, took a deep breath, and

launched one into the bottom of the net. A hero was born.

Sitting in the locker room after the game, he told Gammons, a rookie reporter at the time, that his broken finger had affected the arc on his jump shot all night—until the last shot. “No matter how much it hurt I wasn’t going to ease off on that shot,” he said. “Nobody but nobody is going to get this ball away.”

In the Mission Hill community where Gaskins came of age, basketball was seen as a way to rise out of troubling conditions. The neighborhood’s rich sports tradition had already carried his cousin, Jimmy Walker, to the NBA as the number one draft pick in 1967, and Gaskins hoped his immediate family would be next. In August 1968, when Gaskins was 13, the Globe detailed some of the conditions in his area: “Mission Hill residents are frustrated daily in attempts to get improvements and repairs … Mothers must send their children out to play in areas which are full of trash.”

On the housing project basketball courts, Gaskins worked on his jump-shot religiously, the “ching” of swishing chains rattling neighbors well into the early morning. “I had the dream,” Gaskins said. “We used to say, ‘NBA—the only way.’

That’s the way we thought.”

As early as his sophomore year of high school, Gaskins saw his dream getting closer. Chuck Daly, then the new head coach at Boston College, said Gaskins was the best high school guard he had ever seen. “He’s going to be super,” said Daly, who went on to win two NBA championships and an Olympic Gold Medal in a Hall of Fame coaching career.

“Matter of fact I have a uniform that could fit him right now.”

In his second year of high school, Gaskins made history when he was named to the Globe All-Scholastic team. No sophomore had never made the All-State team before, and Gaskins shared the honor with another super soph—Ronnie Lee from Dorchester, who attended and played for Lexington High School as one of the first students in the still-running METCO program.

Over the next several years, Lee and Gaskins electrified hoops fans from Southie to Springfield. From 1968 to 1972, their success was also set against an increasingly intense battle over school desegregation. The tension had reached unprecedented levels by the time Gaskins and Lee, both in their senior seasons, faced off in the 1972 state championship. On game day, the Globe’s Leigh Montville wrote, “Two teams of destiny meet in a dream state final.

We will witness what we have been waiting four years for.”

Gaskins ran “around and over and through at least five different people assigned to guard him,” and scored 40 points in a loss. Montville also recognized the game’s social significance in the next day’s coverage. “Lexington had been the winner 76-69 to take the State Division 1 basketball title.

But these two kids, these two gifted black kids who had dribbled into predominantly white worlds and succeeded had been the show.”

KING DYNASTY

Boston’s class of ’72 confirmed the city’s standing as a basketball town; besides Gaskins and Lee, standouts included Carlton Smith, Will Morrison, Bobby Carrington, and Billy Collins. They were dubbed the Boston Six, and that summer they teamed up to play the best squads on the East Coast.

“Boston didn’t have a reputation as a basketball power before that,” says Charlie Titus, a former star guard for Boston Tech and the current head coach at UMass Boston. “We hadn’t consistently produced players like they had in D.C. or New York.”

Ken Hudson wanted to change that dynamic. A small man with big accomplishments, Hudson was the first fulltime African-American NBA referee, an executive with CocaCola, and general manager of the late, great WILD-AM radio station. To showcase Gaskins and the Boston Six, in June 1972 Hudson organized what became the premier high school basketball tournament in the country, the Boston Shootout, an opportunity for the Boston Six to represent their city and face off against the nation’s best players: Connecticut baller Walter Luckett, New England’s all-time leading scorer, who was hyped on the cover of the November 27, 1972 Sports Illustrated; Phil Sellers, a Brooklyn bruiser who later led Rutgers to its only Final Four appearance ever; and Adrian Dantley from D.C., an unstoppable and unorthodox forward who went on to make the Hall of Fame.

“I felt like we were the underdogs,” Smith tells the Dig all these years later. “It seemed like everybody was talking about Luckett and Sellers and Dantley.” Bijan Bayne, an author and historian, says, “People thought Boston was just the host of the shootout.”

As General Manager at WILD, Hudson had a megaphone for local promotion. “WILD blasted us throughout the city for two weeks before the tournament,” Smith says. “Case Gym at BU was packed. The community really came out to root for us.”

In the first game, Boston bested New York by a single bucket, winning 93-91 and advancing to play the Connecticut team for the crown. It was a momentous event; at halftime during the final, the WILD announcer relayed news that activist Angela Davis was acquitted of murder charges in California, spurring the crowd to cheer for revolution and the home team in the second half. On the court, Carlton Smith played the hero, scoring the final four points and swatting a last-second game-saving shot as Boston won 72-71.

The Boston Shootout grew to become the premier high school tournament in the country for 27 years. NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Patrick Ewing, Antoine Walker, and dozens of others followed in the footsteps of Gaskins, who later on recalled his halcyon days wistfully: “Being part of the Boston Six was one of the high moments of my life,” he said. “Too bad it takes time and experience for one to appreciate things.”

THE KING continued on pg. 10

PHOTO BY ???

On the afternoon of March 5, 1976, a fallen Boston sports idol sat in a downtown diner and stirred cream into his hot chocolate. “Guys stop me on the street all the time and ask me if I used to be King Gaskins,” he said. “People ask me if it’s true I went to jail, if it’s true I was in a bank robbery, if it’s true I was pushing and shooting drugs.”

The 21-year-old former athlete was sitting with Boston Globe reporter Peter Gammons, who had chronicled the legend of Gaskins since the beginning, from the jump shot he’d sunk to win the state championship as a freshman in 1969, to three all-state honors, to a Massachusetts scoring record, to the barnstorming team that put Boston on the basketball map.

The Final Four was a few weeks away at the time, and the guys King once conquered had become major stars on college basketball’s biggest stage, but King had no such plans on the morning he sat down with Gammons. The only All-American in Boston hoops history left the diner and headed downtown to his job selling magazines over the phone.

The story wasn’t as sad as it sounds. Gammons noted that Gaskins still had his regal air. The King hasn’t changed much, the writer thought. He’d grown a beard, but still flashed the same charismatic smile.

“I try to laugh it off but I can’t always,” King said of the exaggerations of his demise. “It’s all so crazy. No, I say, I never have been in drugs, no I never robbed a bank. What I did was break the law and what I did was stupid, and what I did hurt me and people who had been good to me. But the things people spread around …”

Outside that diner, in the year of America’s bicentennial, Boston high school sports were overshadowed by the battle over school desegregation, and King was no longer basketball royalty. He had slipped through three colleges in as many years and was about to be shut out of bigtime hoops forever. “I’m interested in finishing school and working with kids,” he said. “But I guess I have to outgrow my past before it can happen.”

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THE KING continued from pg. 8

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Following high school, Gaskins followed his CM coach, Ron Perry, to the College of Holy Cross in Central Mass, where Perry had taken a job as the athletic director. If Perry’s stepping up from high school coach to AD at a Division 1 school was dramatic, so was his player’s choice of Holy Cross over more established programs like Notre Dame and USC. “It may be the best piece of news the people of Worcester have had in a long, long time,” Gammons wrote in the Globe.

“I think the reason he ended up at Holy Cross was because of his relationship with Ron Perry Sr.,” Titus says. “He thought going to Holy Cross was the right thing to do and he could carry them into the national spotlight.” In any case, Gaskins had little help on the court. In a season in which his undersized teammates dropped passes and blew wins late in the game, the King himself seemed to run out of steam. In his first five games, Gaskins averaged 19 points and eight assists; nevertheless, Holy Cross lost a string of heartbreakers and Gaskins, not accustomed to losing, became increasingly frustrated. After he scored 21 points in one win halfway through his freshman season, Gaskins vented his frustrations in the locker room. “Basketball isn’t fun anymore and it used to be my whole life,” he told one reporter.

The dust-up attracted notice from that week’s Sports Illustrated, which ran a short item on the All-American’s clash with the system.

Stuck on a losing team, Gaskins started to falter. He averaged 14 points and five assists per game—enough to lead the team, but at nine wins and 17 losses, the season was a total failure. “I had just gotten in with the wrong people at Holy Cross,” Gaskins told Gammons. “Maybe because it was my first time away from home. I don’t know.”

Two months after basketball season ended, Gaskins was arrested for breaking and entering a dormitory room. With academic and disciplinary trouble on that front, he then transferred to Mitchell Junior College in New London, Connecticut, with plans to improve his grades and return to Holy Cross. He explained the slip to Gammons: “I had been there a while and this kid Larry, who had been at the Cross and then left, was living nearby and called me.

Larry was kinda strung out at the time and he told me he had to get some money. I said no, but he convinced me, this one thing was so small and no one would ever know. We’d never get caught … I really hurt the people who were best to me. Mr. Perry, through high school and onto Holy Cross, was the man I most admired. He was like a father to me.”

Another arrest—this one apparently due to racial profiling, as he was charged with carrying a screwdriver in a white part of Cambridge—put an end to any hope of a Holy Cross comeback.

Things only got worse when, a few months later, Gaskins’s older brother was found dead, riddled with more than 100 bullets. “The facts are still unknown,” Gaskins said years later. “He was murdered and it was a big strain on the family. It was a critical time for all of us.”

Still nursing hoop dreams, Gaskins enrolled in Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, Iowa, where he lived in student housing—a trailer—and watched the grass grow while dominating the best junior college opposition in the country. He played well enough to lure big-time recruiters, and was courted by major programs in California and Kansas, but Gaskins wanted to return home, and so in 1976 he committed to Boston College. It was to be a reunion for four of the Boston Six, with Gaskins joining his old teammates Collins, Smith, and Carrington. The relationship never materialized though, and Gaskins told Gammons that he never heard directly from BC why they chose not to enroll him. “I think the dream was still with me until then,” he said to the reporter.

“That kinda took it out of me. Really depressed me for a while. I really would have liked to have played with Billy, Bobby, and Wilfred.

Remember the Boston Six?”

ACTION GASKINS

It wasn’t long until the Boston Six slipped deep into the city’s memory. Three made the NBA, with only Ron Lee sticking around for any significant amount of time. “I think we let a lot of people down,” says Smith, whose career ended after four years of college ball in Rhode Island. “People in the community thought each one of us would make the NBA. I still get stopped by people and they say, ‘Who was the best of the Boston Six?’” By the time that Gaskins met with Gammons in that downtown diner in 1976, his NBA dreams had faded, though the pressure to provide remained. “I’m the oldest male at home now I’ve got to help out. But I’m a risk. I kinda doubt anyone’s going to take that chance on me, and I’m not sure basketball is what I want,” he said.

His passion had turned to working with children, and he soon had a job counseling teens who were under court supervision. “He was the favorite counselor,” his supervisor, Marian Young, told Gammons.

“He’d be the one taking them to the courthouse and helping to straighten them out.”

In the early ’80s, after funding was cut for his job helping young people in Boston, Gaskins and his girlfriend moved to Santa Cruz, California. On the West Coast, he was considered royalty in exile, and his regal air made an immediate impact. “The word got out around town, ‘You got to meet King,’” says Paul O’Brien, a director at a Santa Cruz treatment facility, who hired Gaskins in 1981. Gaskins worked with addicts in recovery to help them rebuild their lives and move on.

O’Brien continues: “He was a guy you’d notice. A tall, handsome, lanky, black guy in a beret strolling along with his own unique charisma.

Immediately you knew he was a weird, interesting guy. King knew when people were holding back. He could share his own struggles and confront someone and encourage them to keep going even when things are bad and scary. He could tell people to enjoy life.”

In 1984, Gaskins began working with youth in Santa Cruz, eventually taking on a role at the YES School—an alternative program for kids trying to avoid drugs and alcohol. Reaching children in the midst of crisis, Gaskins drew on his own experiences to convey a sense of hope. “When King said, ‘I’ve been disappointed,’ you knew he meant it and he wasn’t blowing smoke,” says the school’s director Clare Wesley all these years later. “He was profoundly authentic, and he went into the streets to reach the kids who never made it through the door.”

Michael Watkins was the director of alternative education in Santa Cruz County—responsible for 800 high-risk students—and saw Gaskins in action. “I watched him in different arenas and realized his skill set could help our goals and I scooped him up. Like someone born to play basketball, King was born to counsel.”

It’s also said that Gaskins changed Santa Cruz beyond the classrooms. The community had a sizable Hispanic population but few African Americans—and almost no people of color in leadership positions in the 1990s. “King was a trailblazer and leader in Santa Cruz,” Watkins says. “He was a bridge builder for a homogeneous community becoming a diverse community.”

Gaskins confronted the community’s threats head on—even when it came in the form of infamous street gangs. By the early ’90s, the rivalry between the Mexican Mafia and La Nuestra Familia was heating up as local ranks swelled and the drug market fueled a rise in violence. Gaskins came to the aid of a town living in fear.

“King brought the gangs together to promote peace and relieve the tension in the community, and it had a noticeable effect,” says Watkins. “He worked hard to reach the White Pride gangs too. The King Gaskins persona was big and it was real.”

On strolls along the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, Gaskins was often stopped by an endless stream of students and friends. He was quick to rave about his joys in life—especially fatherhood. Shortly after moving to California, Gaskins met Michele Baime, and the couple lived together for more than 10 years. In that time, Gaskins helped to raise Baime’s children, and told friends he loved being a dad. “I am proud to tell the world he is my father,” says his daughter Amy Hecht. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give to another person; he believed in me.”

Gaskins also believed in the most vulnerable among us. Take Jason Murphy-Pedulla, who at 16 was addicted to crack cocaine and facing eight years in youth prison. Coming from a home with two addicted parents, Murphy-Pedulla was an angry young man ordered to attend the YES by the courts. “I felt unreachable, unseen, unheard.

I’d been conditioned to be racist and prejudiced and to not trust adults. I tried to push King away but he didn’t waiver. He shared his own struggles, his own demons. He always said, ‘Keep going.’”

In June 1994, on a camping trip with his students, a 40-year-old King Gaskins drowned while swimming in the ocean. His studentturned-colleague Murphy-Pedulla recalls: “When he died, I made a commitment to carry on his legacy. The things he said stuck with me and I became a psychotherapist, wrote a book. I’ve tried to keep at it as a way to honor King.”

People honored Gaskins throughout Santa Cruz. The guys he played streetball with at Jade Street Park named him “The Peacemaker” for his ability to mediate on-court feuds. Now they put up a gold plaque with an excerpt from the Bible verse Matthew 5:9: “Blessed be the peacemakers for they will be the children of god.” Students of his also painted a mural of Gaskins smiling over Pacific Avenue in the heart of downtown. Last June, 20 years after his death, hundreds of people gathered to restore it using paint said to last a century.

In Boston, there are no murals or public displays for King Gaskins. He exists in the city’s collective memory though, his smooth pull-up jump shot forever cherished by old ballplayers, coaches, and sportswriters. Even into the early ’90s, Gaskins was still known to show up and play pickup games around the Hub when he was home visiting family, says Bayne, the basketball historian. Because he was almost 40, younger players were watching Gaskins for weakness.

“My friend had played college ball at Suffolk and was in his twenties,” Bayne says. “He said King Gaskins was still impressive, still athletic and strong.”

11

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

DEPT. COMMERCE DRINK

WHAT A MUG

Brother Cleve on the current Tiki culture in Boston, hopes for the future

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

EATS

GRIDDLE ME THIS

The latest offering from Boston Nightlife Ventures aims to be a local institution of fun

BY DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF

DIGBOSTON.C0M

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

12

With the proliferation of fast-casual takeout burger joints throughout the Boston dining scene over the past few years, you’d think that one would have to go to extreme lengths to find that edge needed to open a new spot and separate itself from the pack.

But for Euz Azevedo, principal and owner of Griddler’s Burgers and Dogs, that little something extra comes down to two things: Big fun, and using locally sourced ingredients wherever possible.

“We had to identify how to position ourselves in this hyper-competitive market of burgers. You have Shake Shack, Tasty Burger, tons of them,” he says. “The question became ‘How do we position ourselves with a little competitive advantage with these other places in town?’ and we did that by adopting a fun locavore culture, bringing everything in from Boston or greater New England.”

All of which is found at the brand new flagship Griddler’s, which just opened on Boylston Street along Boston Common in the heart of Emerson College territory. The size of this location meant keeping things simple and bright in terms of design was key, as was installing two custom-built tables with a massive built-in touchscreen tablets allowing diners to play and download games. And, of course, to pull up to while devouring OG Griddler burgers topped with local dill-masters Grillo’s pickles, some insane sweet potato tater tots, or the G-Dog, which uses Lynn-based Old Neighborhood all-beef franks loaded with chili or cheese or guacamole (or all three). Or, you could get into the build-your-own burger game, which includes creative toppings that go beyond the lettuce-pickles-onions humdrum trifecta—things like truffle aioli, kimchi, chipotle chili, and even Cajun ham.

While Griddler’s is still a relatively small operation, Azevedo says it’s been challenging to work with certain vendors due to costs, but as the brand grows the hope is vendors will start to approach him in order to be a part of the venture. And starting with this location’s focus on creating a jovial atmosphere, Azevedo says every Griddler’s, from this one on out, will have a different “fun” factor.

“In the future we may have a Griddler’s with a speakeasy in the back, or you walk in and there’s a bowling alley or pool hall attached,” he says. “But always fun, and always geared towards young adults. We’re launching our third location in Brookline, and our goal is to open three more in the next year.”

And they’re not stopping there. Griddler’s is part of Azevedo’s larger company, Boston Nightlife Ventures (behind spots like The Tap Trailhouse, Wink and Nod, and the recently closed Forum Restaurant), and his team already has three concepts in the pipeline with the design firm that helped his team develop Griddler’s. As of now, they’re setting their sights on Somerville after signing a lease in Davis Square. Whether or not that means an entirely fresh concept or a different Griddler’s isn’t locked yet, but that’s the next neighborhood they’re aiming for, with an eye to continue expanding.

“We want to be an institution,” he says. “Not just a chain.” >> GRIDDLERS BURGERS & DOGS. NOW OPEN. 134 BOYLSTON ST., BOSTON. 857-265-2054.

FACEBOOK.COM/GRIDDLERSBURGERSBOSTONCOMMON

PHOTOS BY

???

In spite of the fact we seem to be in the throes of a perpetual winter, or perhaps because of it, tiki culture in Boston is booming.

And it has been for some time. Cocktail consultant, DJ, and all-around bar god Brother Cleve knows this, as he’s been in the vortex of the storm since it began on the local front back during his days at the famed B-Side Lounge in Cambridge (now home to Lord Hobo). He and a slew of bartenders employed recipes from tiki author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry after he found and published the original recipes set forth by bootlegger-turned-tiki-overlord “Don the Beachcomber,” who launched the craze after opening his now-legendary original tiki bar in LA in the early 1930s.

“We started doing it at B-Side back in the ’90s, and the resurgence came about when bartenders I worked with (read: Jackson Cannon and Misty Kalkofen) started reading cocktail books like Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log, and started making the classics,” he says. “That’s where it started to grow in Boston, as younger bartenders discovered these drinks were really, really good when made right.

They weren’t just rum and pineapple, or rum and Hawaiian punch, as you’d get in some places.”

Now, local haunts like Drink, Wink and Nod, and Citizen, and Empire Lounge regularly keeping tiki culture alive (in proper glassware to boot). For Cleve the next stage in the Hub comes down to dedicated enclaves for celebrating tiki culture from soup to nuts.

“I would hope that someone would actually open a place that’s dedicated like they have in places like New Orleans, San Francisco, and LA,” he says. “Boston has such great bartenders and spots doing classic tiki drinks in the mugs, using original recipes from the ’30s and ’40s, all while still creating their own signature concoctions. But it would be nice to have the same with the types of venues where you get the whole experience, where you walk in someplace and it looks like you’re in the [South Pacific], the way the original Don the Beachcomber’s was. Hopefully, that’s what’s next.”

BY KAREN CINPINSKI @CATSINPJS

WEDNESDAYS MARCH 4TH- 25TH 5-11pm SMALL PLATES JAMAICAN PEPPER SHRIMP: Spicy shrimp crusty bread

NEWS TO US FEATURE

Local brewing and the stand-up ladies behind the barrels

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

WOMEN IN BEER

CARIBBEAN DREAMING

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

HONEST PINT SPONSORED BY SUNSET GRILL & TAP

13

BAHAMIAN CONCH FRITTERS: Spiced citrus aioli dipping sauce

PHOTOS BY

EMPANADA:

Women have solidified their place in beer—as drinkers, brewers, sales reps, and home brewers—and yet they continue to show up half-naked on beer labels or are met with other insulting stereotypes.

Groups such as the Pink Boots Society, which empowers women in the beer industry through education, and organizations for female craft beer fans like Boston Area Beer Enthusiasts Society (BABES), which holds community and educational events, help to give women in the industry a voice. Still, that doesn’t mean some women who amass a great knowledge of beer aren’t snubbed.

Martha Holley-Paquette, assistant brewer at Somerville’s Pretty Things Beer says her biggest challenge is that people won’t take her seriously. She co-owns Pretty Things with her husband, head brewer Dann Paquette, and notes that people don’t often see past her role as wife to realize she also runs the business. “I’m often ignored in initial meetings with people in the industry. Sometimes people literally speak over me. It’s nuts,” says Paquette.

While the craft beer division has been making strides compared to the beer industry as a whole, there’s still a helluva lot of work to do.

Recent statistics suggest that women account for 25 percent of total beer consumption by volume, and 37 percent of craft beer consumption in the US. That’s up from just last year, and it has zilch to do with beer marketing’s insulting double entendres or the cringe-worthy pinkification of the product.

Actually, any marketing that directly targets women has bombed. Women are pushed pink, fruity, or low-calorie brews (see: Chick Beer) because they’re still predominantly viewed as non-beer drinkers.

“When ‘chick’ themed beer marketing pops up it’s quickly renounced as antifeminist and offensive,” says Caitlin Jewell, marketing director, co-founder and co-owner of the Somerville Brewing Company. Dumbing women drinkers down to the lowest common beer denominator doesn’t validate their existence in the marketplace, and frankly, it’s incredibly patronizing. Jewell notes, “While offensive to some, bikini marketing isn’t likely to go away,” at least not instantly. “As the mother of two boys, I’m hopeful the next generation will find this approach so banal that it’ll fade away as uninteresting and irrelevant.” she says.

Despite the fact that certain beer brands have little understanding of their female customer base, the view from inside the industry looks decidedly more egalitarian than ever before. As the demographic of craft beer drinkers changes, more women will fill roles like head brewer or brewery owner.

Take Megan Parisi, head brewer at Worchester’s Wormtown Brewery. Parisi says she’s never experienced any form of sexism from her male peers. “[The challenges] come from the public or other folks in the industry who assume that as a woman working for a brewery, I must be in sales or marketing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with working in sales or marketing, but the fact that it never crosses their mind that I could be the brewer is the problem,” says Parisi.

The truth is women simply want to enjoy beer in an environment that doesn’t overtly ignore or objectify them.

“There really is only one way to get rid of the notion that beer is for men, and that’s for women to increase in number as beer employees and as beer drinkers,” says Paquette, “And I think that’s happening, big time. So I’m not worried about the future. I’m just a little frustrated by the present.”

Pastry stuffed with seasoned pork / mango habanero dipping sauce

FRESH SEAFOOD CEVICHE:

Marinated in citrus / onion / red pepper / Fresh cilantro

BBQ JERK CHICKEN:

Wood smoked split chicken with traditional jerk seasonings

SPICY GOAT STEW:

Vegetable coconut curry broth

CARIBBEAN TILAPIA:

Wrapped in banana leaf / roasted mango butter

SIDES

Rice & beans / Mac & cheese / Grilled avocado / Rum glazed plantains

PAIN KILLER COCKTAIL:

Pusser’s Rum / fresh squeezed OJ /cream of coconut / pineapple juice / nutmeg

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FRI 3.27

MON 3.30

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Boston Underground Film Festival

Inside the Box: State House Time Capsule Revealed

Josh Wolf

BabsonARTS Presents: Basetrack Live

Art of the Cocktail: Demystifying Scotch

Piper Kerman

Seventeen years strong and back with a vengeance, the BUFF kicks off today with an assortment of the strangest, most mind-bending and downright surreal films local independent filmmakers have to offer. From feature films and shorts to music videos, from cartoons to visceral realism, this festival presents a wide range of genres and mediums. It’s a lot to take in, and luckily it’s all worth it.

In case you’re not up to speed with the thrilling, fast-paced world of art news, this past January the Commonwealth of Massachusetts teamed up with the MFA to open up a time capsule that had been buried below the State House in 1795 by local Boston celebrities Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and Col. William Scollay. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to behold its cool old contents before it’s taken away at the end of April.

Born in Boston and raised in Amherst, Wolf’s come a long way since his first stand-up show at fifteen years old. Josh is a regular comedic Jack-of-all-trades— he starred in E!’s Chelsea Lately and After Lately, his television credits include recurring roles on NBC’s My Name Is Earl and Fox’s Raising Hope, and in 2013 he became a New York Times Bestselling Author with his novel It Takes Balls. Call it a comedic homecoming. Or just go laugh and forgo all labels.

This fascinating one-nightonly multimedia event is the culmination of a project that began in 2010 when a group of photojournalists set out to document the physical challenges and emotional tolls of war.

Presenting videos and interviews of Marines and their families before, during, and after their deployments in Afghanistan, interspersed with live actors and an electro-acoustic score by Michelle DiBucci, Basetrack Live is sure to be a unique and unforgettable performance event.

Join Eastern Standard’s beverage manager and skilled mixologist Naomi Levy in an interactive workshop/lecture/tasting at the BCA on that illustrious, multifaceted brown spirit, Scotch. Levy is the real deal: She’s the first woman to win the US Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition, and is responsible for cultivating Eastern Standard’s reputation as a leader in the Boston bartending scene with her inventive seasonal menus. Cheers.

This year’s recipient of the Humanist Heroine of the Year Award from the Humanist Community at Harvard—presented annually to a woman who embodies their motto of “Connect. Act. Evolve.”— goes to Piper Kerman, that lady who wrote a book about how hard it was for an upper-class white girl to survive in prison, and subsequently inspired Orange Is The New Black.

Kerman has used her fame to promote education and prison-system reformation initiatives, and will give a talk about her experiences.

Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. $11, $110 passes. For schedule and tickets, visit bostonunderground.org.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. For schedule and tickets, visit mfa.org

Laugh Boston. 425 Summer St., Boston. all ages/$20-$30.

For schedule and tickets, visit laughboston.com

Carling-Sorenson Theater.

231 Forest St., Babson Park.

8pm/all ages/$25. For tickets, visit babson.edu

Mills Gallery. 551 Tremont St., Boston. 6pm/21+/$35.

For more information, visit bcaonline.org

Harvard Science Center.

1 Oxford St., Hall B, Cambridge. 8pm/all ages/$14.50, $4.50 students. harvardhumanist.org

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

14

S D R A W A S I H T G I D 5 1 OM/20

15

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

MUSIC

MUSIC

CREATIVE SPACE

GANG OF FOUR

A quartet of local new releases

Feral Jenny breaks out of the bedroom

BY MARTÍN CABALLERO @_EL_CABALLERO

BY MARTÍN CABALLERO @_EL_CABALLERO

FAT P - ED, EDD N EDDIE

fatp.bandcamp.com Considering it was put together by a guy named Fat P, this fourtrack EP feels like a meager portion. But it’s not the size of the meal, it’s the flavor: With a slurred, unhinged flow that skews somewhere between A$AP Ferg and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the self-proclaimed “immaculate immigrant” flips “Whatyouknow” into a woozy banger sprinkled with lines in Spanish and Creole, while his choppy delivery on “bbbomg” warps his words like a funhouse mirror you can’t quite look away from.

KRILL - A DISTANT FIST UNCLENCHING

Available now on iTunes With Krill, it’s not a matter of if they will surprise, but merely how. This time it’s with a more muscular sound, at times obvious and in your face (the sevenminute cut “Tiger”) and at others not so much, as when the bass riffs on “Squirrels” boil over into a beefy chorus. While remaining rough around the edges, the bleak pathos of Lucky Leaves is distilled into more potent forms, most notably on “Brain Problem.”

SCENES FROM EARLIER RELEASES BASEMENTS AND PASSENGER SEAT Everyone in Jenny Mudarri’s house knew when she was recording what would eventually become Bedrooms, the sixtrack EP she self-released last March. They just didn’t know what to expect from it.

“I would close my door and go tell everyone in my house, ‘Don’t come in my room, I’m going to be recording,’” says Mudarri, who created the entire album in her childhood bedroom, on the phone. “I have this MIDI input thing that I plug my guitar into. I didn’t even have an amp or anything, I just recorded everything straight onto my computer. All the frequencies are really low; it was kind of a total mess. But it was really fun to do. My parents knew I was recording but they had no idea what it was going to sound like at all. When they did listen, my Dad would text me like ‘I don’t want you to be lonely. Are you lonely?” I told him, ‘Don’t overanalyze the lyrics,’ but it was a good outlet for me at the time.”

The fuzzy, lo-fi demo quality of Bedrooms was born out of necessity rather than aesthetic choice; Mudarri, who previously fronted Burlington band NANCY and also plays bass with Bent Shapes, was in the thick of “the year between when you graduate college and go get your life started,” living at home to save money and in need of something to do in the hours not spent searching for jobs. The songs that began to develop from that, like “You Let Me Fall” and the closer “Gone Away,” took on that spirit of post-grad ennui musically—a messy but intoxicating mix of distorted vocal

AVENUE - THE CHANDELIER VIEW

harmonies on top of spiky guitar riffs and sounds made with household items—and lyrically, establishing a tone that drifts from stylish apathy to restless anxiety.

As well as that may have worked in recording however, translating it to live performance was a trickier task. After playing several shows solo, she recruited Luke Brandfon (drums) and Rob MacNeil (bass) to join her. Aside from backing at shows, the two new members have also helped bring Mudarri’s sound literally and figuratively out of the bedroom—not too much, but just enough.

“The sound has kind of evolved from the really lo-fi scratchy bedroom sound,” says Mudarri about Feral Jenny’s forthcoming new record. “We tried to record a couple songs for this EP the more traditional way, and we heard them and thought they sounded too polished and clean. So we are going back and recording it half and half; half as it should be done and half as I know how to do it. It’s a mixture between a polished record and sounding dirty.”

It’s the finding of that dividing line that makes Feral Jenny’s continuing evolution a pleasure to hear, warts and all.

“I still want it to be more similar to the older stuff that I’ve done, to keep some of that charm,” she says. “It’s just taking a little bit of what I’ve learned from each of these releases, and I hope the one coming up is the culmination of all these different projects.”

Coming Soon After an extended period of buzz building, the South End-bred rapper is poised to distinguish himself as one of the scene’s finest lyricists with his formal debut release. Backed by evocative instrumentals from HiFadility and others, tracks like “Kid With the Half Moon Haircut” and “Silent Prayer” capture both the adolescent appeal and fear of gang culture with eloquence and intelligence.

BUILD A MACHINE THE DESERT SESSIONS

Available Now on iTunes To record their first official release, the Boston-based reggae crew rented a house in the Southern California desert (near the Joshua Tree), and judging by the results, they should probably make that their thing. The sounds found here are both musically sophisticated and infectiously fun, spiking the hazy vibes of “Jah Jah Love” with an edgy spirituality, while “Free Your Mind” is a breezy slice of carefree summer.

>> FERAL JENNY W/ MOURN & COKE WEED. TUES 3.31. GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON. 617.566.9014. 9PM/$10/18+.

FERALJENNY.BANDCAMP.COM

MUSIC EVENTS DIGBOSTON.C0M

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

16

WED 3.25

THU 3.26

[Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St., Boston. 8pm/21+/$10. churchofboston.com]

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 6pm/all ages/$3050. houseofblues.com]

SOUL R&B POP FUSION TAYLOR KELLY + THAT ONE EYED KID + CAMINO

ROCK + POP PUNK TAKING BACK SUNDAY + THE MENZINGERS + LETLIVE

FRI 3.27

SAT 3.28

MON 3.30

TUE 3.31

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave., Allston. 10pm/21+/ $10. greatscottboston.com]

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

[House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. 7pm/all ages/$4560. houseofblues.com]

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave., Boston. 7pm/18+/$23. crossroadspresents.com]

GALACTIC SPARKLE POP VÉRITÉ + NIGHT LIGHTS + IRIS LUNE

SHOEGAZE SWERVEDRIVER + GATEWAY DRUGS

BOY W/ THE ARAB STRAP BELLE AND SEBASTIAN + HONEYBLOOD

STRANGE FOLK FATHER JOHN MISTY + KING TUFF

NEWS TO US

mideastclub.com | zuzubar.com (617) 864-EAST | ticketweb.com

- DOWNSTAIRS THURS 3/26 - LEEDZ PRESENTS

MICK JENKINS & KIRK KNIGHT FRI 3/27

HED PE SAT 3/28

THE Z3 SUN 3/29

BIOHAZARD SWORN ENEMY

TENEBRAE, DOT RATS WED 4/1 ROSANA EN CONCIERTO!

- UPSTAIRS THURS 3/26 7PM

AMBITIONS, SNEEZE FRI 3/27

17

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80’s Old School & Top 40 Dance hits

GOZU, ROZAMOV SAT 3/28 - 1PM DOORS

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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CENTRAL SQ. CAMBRIDGE, MA

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

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Boston’s Best Irish Pub

80’s, 90’s, 00’s One Hit Wonders

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NFL SUNDAY SPECIAL $4 Drafts, Wing Specials, Happy Hour Priced menu!

FILM

AIMING HIGH, FINDING LOW Two films from the Boston Underground Film Festival

Wednesday March 25th

THE GIBSON BROTHERS PLUS TWISTED PINE

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN

Bluegrass

Thursday March 26th 7:30PM

MARKUS JAMES PLUS BALLA KOUYATE West African / Blues

THURSDAY MARCH 26TH 10PM

NEW YORK FUNK EXCHANGE PLUS SOUL PANCEA Funk / Jam

Friday March 27th 7:30PM

FAT CITY BAND Swing / Jump / Blues

Friday March 27th 10PM WE DIG FREE FRIDAYS PRESENTS

ETERNAL SEGUE PLUS ROLLING NECTAR Rock / Jazz / Pop

Saturday March 28th

LUTHER “GUITAR JUNIOR” JOHNSON PLUS MATTHEW SMART BAND Blues Rock

Tuesday March 31st

FEUFOLLET PLUS THE HOOLIOS Cajun

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis

Weds MARCH 25 - 8pm

OPEN MIC NIGHT

DJs: Host: Zach Cohen & Featured Artist: Dominic Florio No Cover | Downstairs | 18+

ALL

Thurs MARCH 26 - 10pm

GOOD

DJs: Thaddeus Jeffries, PFranchize, Eastman Genres: Hip-Hop, Reggae, Caribbean, R&B, Party Jams No Cover | Downstairs | 21+ Fri MARCH 27 - 10pm

BOOTIE BOSTON

DJs: Spencer4Hire, McFly, Tom Boates Everybody, Jabulani Genres: Mashups $10 | Upstairs | 21+ Fri MARCH 27 - 10pm

SOCIAL STUDIES DJs: Tim Sweeney, Alfredo, Brenden Wesley Genres: House, Techno, Disco $10 | Downstairs | 21+

Friday March 27th 10PM We Dig Free Friday presents

ETERNAL SEGUE plus ROLLING NECTAR Rock / Jam-Funk

Friday April 3rd 10PM We Dig Free Fridays presents

LYNGUISTIC CIVILIANS plus FUNK WAGON Hip-Hop / Funk

DIGBOSTON.C0M

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

18

Friday April 24th 10PM

AMERICAN SYMPHONY OF SOUL Funk / Soul

17 Holland St., Davis Sq. Somerville (617) 776-2004 Directly on T Red Line at Davis

Sat MARCH 28 - 10pm

PICO

PICANTE Cakes Da Killa

Genres: Tropical Bass, Digital Cumbia, Global Bass $5 before 11, $10 after | Downstairs | 21+

The scariest films at this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) pack a bilious bite, taking a look at high art only to find (and portray) lowness.

Bag Boy Lover Boy (screening Sat. 3.28) attacks the photography industry, and Excess Flesh (screening Thur. 3.26) takes aim at the fashion scene. They’re both brutally unforgiving satires that borrow the aesthetics of classic horror movies where the blood flows freely—no winks and nudges attached. And as ambassadors for an “underground” festival that champions the independent spirit and timely local perspectives in film, both are about as perfect a fit as one would expect to find.

In Bag Boy, the boogeyman is a Terry Richardson type, and the Frankenstein’s monster that his acidic influence spawns. Longtime pro Ivan (Fred Garcias) shoots semi-political softcore stuff, and the models are expected to provide off-camera services whether they like it or not. Albert (Harry Orfanos), a droopy-faced do-nothing whom Ivan finds working at a hot dog cart, is his latest muse. Ivan sees Albert as Napoleon Dynamite, and imagines the work Albert inspires being compared to that of Diane Arbus. But the new guy turns out to be more of a Norman Bates.

Albert starts taking his own models into the studio during off-hours. He “directs” as Ivan does: by manipulating weaker individuals into demeaning positions and exploiting them for his own pleasure. (This is the part of the review where we’re obligated to warn you that this film features necrophilia and cannibalism.) Director Andrew Torres restages the early shots of Ivan composing photography, putting Albert into the same position within the artist/subject dynamic, with doomed streetwalkers standing in for Ivan’s models, and in this way the film draws a direct line between what Ivan does (directorial manipulation) and what Albert does (horrific violence). These two approaches aren’t enemies, they’re ego and id.

The cultural pressures instilled by the fashion industry provide the terror in Excess Flesh. Jill (Bethany Orr) is a perpetually buzzed sorority-girl stereotype working at a fashion agency; she swills cocktails by night and blacks out on men by morning. Her roommate Jennifer (Mary Loveless) is her reverse image, a character paralyzed by anxiety who eats her feelings nightly, and who reacts violently to the mere presence of sex. They’re both under pressure—professionally and socially—to look good and to get around. One reacts by starving, and the other reacts by gorging.

Jennifer gets vengeful and locks Jill up in their apartment, as their personalities converge and break apart, over and over again. The two of them begin to succumb to anxiety, and Flesh becomes an abstracted split-personalities movie—shades of Bergman’s Persona and Altman’s 3 Women cast over it. The women’s carefully curated facade of fashionability (couture clothes and a swank apartment) comes crumbling down as their extended lock-in leaves them a filthy mess. Like in Bag Boy, this isn’t quite psychological horror, or body horror, or slasher horror. The demons here are cultural, and on full display for all to see. >> BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL. MARCH 25-29 AT THE BRATTLE THEATRE. 40 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE. 617-876-6838. FOR TICKETS VISIT BOSTONUNDERGROUND.ORG

FILM EVENTS WED 3.25

KEN RUSSELL’S BANNED MASTERPIECE THE DEVILS

[Harvard Film Archive.

24 Quincy St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 7:30pm/NR/$79. hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/]

BOSTON TURKISH FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS GALLIPOLI

[Museum of Fine Arts.

465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 7:30pm/NR/$9-11. mfa.org]

ALL ABOUT VINYL RECORDS COLLECTING DUST

UNSTOPPABLE KILLING MACHINE VS. DANNY GLOVER PREDATOR 2

[Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

8pm/NR/$10. feitheatres. com/somerville-theatre/]

[Coolidge Corner.

290 Harvard St., Brookline. midnight/R/$11.25. coolidge.org]

FRI 3.27

TUE 3.31

[Somerville Theatre.

55 Davis Sq., Somerville.

7:30pm/NR/$10. feitheatres.com/somervilletheatre/]

[Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge.

Tues 3.31 at 8:30pm + Weds 4.1 at 7pm and 9pm/ NR/$9-11. brattlefilm.org]

“THE BIRTH OF HARDCORE PUNK IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL” SALAD DAYS

THE ORIGINAL NYUK-NYUK’ERS THE THREE STOOGES SHORTS PROGRAM

Simahk shines in the acclaimed Big Fish

NEWS TO US ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

BY SPENCER SHANNON @SUSPENCEY

FEATURE

GO FISH

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

THEATER

19

RINGLING BROS. SURE LOOKS DIFFERENT WITHOUT THE ELEPHANTS SpeakEasy made a bold choice this spring when they took on John August and Andrew Lippa’s musical reworking of Big Fish, inspired by the acclaimed novel by Daniel Wallace and the subsequent 2003 Tim Burton film starring Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange, Marion Cotillard, and Helena Bonham Carter. In an attempt to portray a refreshing new adaptation for the New England premiere, August and Lippa made the decision to pare the cast down from the Broadway version’s original 26 to a slimmer cohort of 12, then replaced the 14-person orchestra with a lively six-member bluegrass band.

The result is a dynamic, energized performance that flows with charming zeal, characterizing the enchanting narrative movement of the story. For those unfamiliar, Big Fish is a magical, heartfelt recounting of the life of traveling salesman Edward Bloom, whose epic stories of adventure and romance both thrill and mystify his more stoic son, Will. Right as Will and his young wife learn they are going to have their first child together, Edward falls terminally ill—and it’s up to Will to wade through the layers of fantasy his father has constructed in search of the truth.

While the more compact cast allows for a greater sense of magic and mobility, the most disconcerting aspect of the performance comes into play during the many flashbacks that occur as Edward’s tall tales are recounted. There are two actors portraying Will Bloom: the adorable Jackson Daly, and his adult counterpart Sam Simahk. Edward’s wife, Sandra, is the sharp Aimee Doherty, who is ambiguous enough to seamlessly transition between her high school, college, and middleaged self with a wig-and-costume change. But Edward Bloom himself is played throughout by the, er, more mature Steven Goldstein, who looks a bit out of place hitting on high school cheerleaders and mermaids while throwing around a football.

At its core however, Big Fish is a love story between father and son, and it centers on the familial obstacles parents and children face as their very similarities stand in the way of truly understanding one another. For Will, who knows his father’s past only through the fantastic stories the older man chooses to tell, the present version of his dad is the only one he trusts. He, and therefore the audience, has no clear picture of Edward as a young man, because in his estimation everything he’s heard about that young man is a fiction, purely invented and decidedly unreal.

Speaking of Will, the performance is elevated by Sim Simahk, who commands the stage with his impressive range, making up for the weaker voices of Goldstein and Doherty in their respective duets. Simahk is the kind of actor who demands to be remembered, delivering a performance that lingers in the mind long after the curtain has come down. His straightforward earnestness brings necessary gravity to arguments with his father that might drift into the melodramatic in the hands of a lesser actor. “He’s like the weather. I can predict him, but I fundamentally can’t understand him,” Simahk laments in one scene, delivering the emotional weight of the sentiment while saving it from its inherent cliché.

Scene-stealers include Aubin Wise as The Witch, whose solo (aptly titled “The Witch”) drew excited cheers and applause, and whose presence onstage was heartbreakingly scarce. The larger-than-life Lee David Skunes delights as Karl the Giant, making the most of his periphery role with excellent comedic timing and a disarming disposition, not to mention an unforgettable physical presence.

Beneath the magic, Big Fish seeks to cast a gentle light on the often frustrating but ultimately formative bonds that make up family life. It reminds us that parents are people too—something many of us take our entire lives to figure out—and directs us to really get to know the people who raised us. It reminds us to be truly open—when people we love speak to us, are we doing more than hearing? Are we listening? It asks us to take a step back from the fast-paced reality of modern life and suspend our disbelief for just a little while, allowing ourselves to get lost in a bit of old-fashioned storytelling. >> SPEAKEASY STAGE COMPANY PRESENTS: BIG FISH. BCA CALDERWOOD PAVILION, 527 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. THROUGH APRIL 11. FOR TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES VISIT SPEAKEASYSTAGE.COM

ARTS

UNBREAKABLE

Cambridge-based sculptor crafts a handmade career

BY SPENCER SHANNON @SUSPENCEY

DIGBOSTON.C0M

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

20

Gabriella K. Levy, the young entrepreneur behind custom lighting business immerLit, chats warmly from her studio about the artistic journey that led her to Boston to begin her career in professional sculpture.

“It’s small compared to what most people would expect,” she says of her studio, “but it gets the job done for now!”

Part of a warehouse in Cambridge, her studio is nestled among the eclectic workspaces of many other creative professionals, ranging from costume designers for the Slutcracker to a silkscreener and even a bicycle builder. And Levy makes the most of it, finding room enough room for her kiln, shelving filled to the brim with her porcelain art, a workbench that she built, and a selection of her lights hanging dramatically above. For Levy, the space represents boundless opportunity, and the freedom to pursue a lifelong passion.

“I’ve always been excited about clay,” Levy says. “Although I had no intention of making it my life.”

After graduating from Skidmore College, Levy took a few years off from sculpting as she struggled with figuring out what it was she wanted to do for a living. She worked in the restaurant business, eventually becoming the manager of the beloved Parish Cafe on Boylston Street. She enjoyed the lifestyle, but knew it wasn’t her calling, and in the back of her mind a vision lingered from the days she spent in a ceramic studio one summer in Saratoga Springs.

“I was playing with the porcelain and sitting next to this window, and all this natural light was coming in. And I’m looking at it like, this is incredible. This really fine china is naturally translucent,” Levy explains. “I don’t think there was a day that went by where I was working in the restaurant that I didn’t think about how cool that was, so when I decided to leave and pursue something else, this is what it was.”

With nothing but an idea in her head and a desire to create evocative, functional art, Levy knew that she was ready to leave her restaurant work and pursue what would become immerLit. After spending eight months living in a tiny studio apartment above an old professor’s ceramic center and spending countless hours developing clay combinations, shapes, sizes,and glazes, Levy moved back to Cambridge to start her business.

“To me it’s been incredibly successful so far,” she says. “I started out with just one type of fixture, and now I have these votives and these centerpieces, and they’re [for sale] at the Institute of Contemporary Art. There are just all these little things that add up to make me feel like it really is going somewhere.”

For Levy, the conscious decision to build her business in Boston was both an economical one and one related to the ways that Boston’s unique ability to foster the development of arts entrepreneurs in the early stages of their careers.

“I get this question a lot from people: ‘If you want to be in this sort of design world, why are you in Boston and not New York or LA?’ I’m still so much in the beginning stages of this. A lot of other things are cheaper here than if I was in Brooklyn competing with thousands of other emerging designers,” she says. “Boston isn’t the ‘arty-est’ city, so I found that I kind of had to carve out my own space.”

Young artists like Levy choosing Boston as the place where they’ll build their careers are just what this city needs to distance itself from its current reputation as an area unwelcoming to creatives and their work. Levy is optimistic about the changing nature of the arts scene in Boston, and is excited about the influx of businesses that actively cultivate a culture of buying and selling local. She is equally confident in her goals for immerLit: She intends to grow her collection to include floor lamps, sconces, and chandeliers, and wants to someday see her designs in hotel lobbies and gourmet restaurants, spaces where thousands of people gather.

“I just love the idea that I can enhance an experience or enhance someone’s general existence in a space,” Levy says. “That, to me, makes me so happy. So that’s what I hope for.” >> IMMERLIT. RETAIL AND CUSTOM ORDERS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. FOR MORE INFO VISIT IMMERLIT.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY GABRIELLA K. LEVY

IT’S KIND OF DARK IN THE STUDIO, CAN SOMEONE TURN ON A LIGHT?

21

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

FEATURE

NEWS TO US

SECRET ASIAN MAN

BY TAK TOYOSHIMA @TAKTOYOSHIMA

THE STRIP BAR

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY WHATS4BREAKFAST.COM

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

SAVAGE LOVE

MASSIVE COCK BLOCKS

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE I found this in an online sex ad: “Straight guy with an addiction to massive cocks in my ass.” This “straight guy” went on to mention his girlfriend. Can a person really identify as straight while wanting to be fucked by men? I understand that straight guys can like ass play too, but it’s not like he wants to be pegged by his girlfriend or use a dildo on himself. He’s straight-up (heh-heh) looking for hung dudes to fuck his ass.

Jaded And Wondering, Dude’s Really On Pussy?

DIGBOSTON.C0M

03 25 15 – 04 01 15

22

Can a person identify as straight while wanting to be fucked by men? Ha-ha-ha. Yes. I was pretending to be straight when I was 15, Pastor Ted “Meth and Man Ass” Haggard was pretending to be straight when he was 45, and Congressman Aaron Schock is still pretending to be straight.

As for the guy behind that online sex ad: He is most likely bisexual and rounding himself down to straight. There’s a much smaller chance he’s straight and it isn’t the massive cocks that turn him on, JAWDROP, but the boundary-shattering/identity-upending violation that being pounded by massive cocks represents. It could also be a “forced bi” thing, and he’s doing this to please a dominant

girlfriend. Or—and this is a lot likelier than straight or forced bi— he’s a gay guy who pretends to be a straight guy online because the ruse attracts gay and bi guys turned on by the boundary-crossing/ identity-upending violation that shoving their massive cocks up a straight guy’s ass represents.

Only way to know for sure: Ask him. No guarantee you’ll get a straight answer, but only he knows for sure what’s up with him.

I love my girlfriend. However, she has an issue with things she considers “icky”—like sperm, saliva, sex when menstruating, and anal sex as well as the resulting santorum. She enjoys sex just fine, but it is pretty plain vanilla. Any advice on how to move her in a more experimentalist direction would be appreciated. I am not looking to turn her into an anal fanatic or a sloppy blowjob queen, but rather for her to put aside her preconceived notions and give some things a try.

Wants It Less Tedious Anal isn’t for everyone and sloppy blowjobs aren’t for everyone, WILT, but a fear of all bodily secretions—with the convenient exception of her own vaginal secretions—isn’t just sex-negative, it’s childish. Let her know that, as much as you love her, this relationship won’t last if she can’t get a little more comfortable with human bodies and the stuff that leaks from them before, during, and after sex.

NEWS TO US FEATURE DEPT. OF COMMERCE ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

23

REAL FOOD every night TILL ' CLOSE 9 2 H A MP S HIR E S T, CA M B R ID G E , M A | 6 1 7-2 5 0 - 8 4 5 4 | L O R D H O B O.C O M

BOWERY BOSTON

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

WWW.BOWERYBOSTON.COM • • • • LIVE MUSIC IN AND AROUND BOSTON • • • •

ROYALE 279 Tremont St. Boston, MA • royaleboston.com/concerts W/ CURRENT SWELL

W/ GREG HOLDEN

THURSDAY, APRIL 16

MOVED FROM THE SINCLAIR DUE TO DEMAND!

FRIDAY, APRIL 10

MONDAY, MARCH 30

SATURDAY, APRIL 18 B R O O K LY N V E G A N & INVISIBLE ORANGE PRESENT

THURSDAY, W/ MUTOID JUNE 18 MAN, SALE P R I M I T I V E ON FRIDAY WEAPONS AT NOON

SUNDAY, MAY 17

W/ THE SKINTS

SUNDAY, MAY 3

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

≠ 3/28 SHAKEY GRAVES (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/3 ELECTRIC WIZARD (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/20 JAZMINE SULLIVAN ≠ 4/24 BEN FOLDS WITH YMUSIC (SOLD OUT)

MARCH 30 52 Church St. THE SINCLAIR 52 CHURCH ST, CAMBRIDGE MA

WUMB PRESENTS

TWO SHOWS!

HORSE FEATHERS

Cambridge, MA

sinclaircambridge.com

DIAMOND RUGS

WITH RIVER WHYLESS

W/ GATEWAY DRUGS

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

SATURDAY, MARCH 28

THURSDAY, MARCH 26

SPIRIT FAMILY REUNION

W/ NEW MADRID, JUSTIN COLLINS

YOUNG BUFFALO

W / A G R E AT B I G P I L E O F L E AV E S , C AY E TA N A

W/ HORSE-EYED MEN, MARGARET GALSPY

WEDS & THURSDAY, APRIL 8 & 9

FRIDAY, APRIL 10

RANDY ROGERS BAND

WERS 88.9 DISCOVERY SHOW

KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15

THURSDAY, APRIL 16

TUESDAY, APRIL 7

SATURDAY, MARCH 29

W/ CONEHEAD BUDDHA, SHRUB

SUNDAY, APRIL 12

W/ STONEY LARUE

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

W/ GEMMA RAY

L SSE TRU CAN SPEEDY ORTIZ DUN FAMILY HOUR W/ MITSKI, KRILL

WEDNESDAY , APRIL 22

FRI - SUN APRIL 17 - 19

EMILY KINNEY

THURSDAY, APRIL 23

SATURDAY, MAY 2

Philip Selway

SUNDAY, MAY 3

TUESDAY, JUNE 16

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

≠ 4/1 + 4/2 TIGERS JAW W/ LEMURIA (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/3 HOUNDMOUTH (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/4 BENJAMIN BOOKER (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/13 & 4/14 GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/24 MANIC STREET PREACHERS (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/25 BEN FOLDS WITH YMUSIC (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/26 DUSTIN KENSRUE / ANDY HULL ≠ 5/7 POKEY LAFARGE ≠ 5/9 HOWIE DAY W/ COKE WEED, FERAL JENNY

W/ NIGHT LIGHTS, IRIS LUNE THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 27

W/ BREATHERS, GRAMMAR

1222 Comm. Ave. Allston, MA greatscottboston.com

THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 29

TUESDAY, MAY 12

ON SALE NOW!

W/ HANK & CUPCAKES THURSDAY, APRIL 2

WERS 88.9 DISCOVERY SHOW W/ KAUF W/ WILSEN SUNDAY, APRIL 5

SATURDAY, APRIL 4

BRONCHO

TUESDAY, MARCH 31

MARCO BENEVENTO

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8

PALMA VIOLETS TUESDAY, MAY 19

TUESDAY, APRIL 28

ON SALE NOW! W/ THE PRETTIOTS

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

W/ WILD THRONE FRIDAY, JUNE 26

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

SUNDAY, JUNE 28

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

≠ 3/24 & 3/25 TORCHE (SOLD OUT) ≠ 3/26 SISTER SPARROW AND THE DIRTY BIRDS ≠ 3/27(EARLY) THE GAS W/ ANDY SANDFORD ≠ 3/28 DON’T ASK DON’T TELL ≠ 4/3 DIARRHEA PLANET (SOLD OUT) ≠ 4/9 YOUNG FATHERS ≠ 4/10 THE SOFT MOON ≠ 4/11 HEY ROSETTA! ≠ 4/12 SALES ≠ 4/13 THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE WHALER

OTHER SHOWS AROUND TOWN: THE

KODAK TO GRAPH

W/ KOJI, BRIGADES, TOMMY BOYS

W/ BIG WILD, OBESØN

MARCH 30 ARSENAL CENTER FOR THE ARTS 321 ARESNAL ST, WATERTOWN MA MON. MARCH 30 ARSENAL CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The Bright Light Social Hour W/ THE TONTONS

SAT. APRIL 11 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS

SAT. APRIL 4 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS APRIL 17-19 THE SHUBERT & BRATTLE THEATRES

TUES. APRIL 7 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS

ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON

SAT. MAY 30 CUISINE EN LOCALE

Tickets for Royale, The Sinclair, and Great Scott can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

No fee tickets available at The Sinclair box office Tuesdays - Saturdays 12:00 - 7:00PM

ALL AGES DOORS 7PM

FRI. MARCH 27 GREAT SCOTT

1222 COMMONWEALTH AVE, BOSTON MA

WED. APRIL 8 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS

ON SALE NOW

SAT. JUNE 20 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF SHOWS, VISIT BOWERYBOSTON.COM