AN INDEPENDENT ARTS & CULTURE GUIDE
Local Live Music is Alive Once Again!
All Boston everything x 24/7 x 365 x 100%. I miss wandering around different blocks in the early morning, waiting to see if the rising of the sun looked any different on a different morning from a different neighborhood.
Actual...in-person...events...are back!! Can you believe it folks? With a little care and caution, our community is filling up those stages and calendars with artists who’ve been eagerly waiting in the wings. Here we have 3 major outdoor music series for you to slowly make that transition back into some sense of normal.
I miss the hollow requests for money from James, Anthony, Black Irish; all of whom were seemingly too well-versed in the art of charm to have succumbed to a life on the streets. I quickly became humbled when they offered me money in my times of need. I remember sleeping on the couches of friends, giving away my clothes to real kids on the streets.
JP Porchfest! The annual neighborhood-wide music + arts fest is back with a whole new mission “spotlight and center BIPOC artists and creatives + pay performers”. Dunamis, BIPOC empowering juggernauts, have taken over the fest and we are so stoked about it! It’s going down 8/21-22 11AM-4PM! www.jpporchfest.org Eliot Schoolyard Concert Series! Get ready for this widely diverse music series happening all summer long! August’s lineup is absolute fire! 8/1 DJ WhySham, 8/8 Tempo Rhythm & Steel (Afro-Caribbean percussion), 8/15 David Eure & Brian Friedland (jazz violin & piano), 8/22 Alec Hutson / Naomi Westwater (soul/funk/folk/indie/pop), 8/29 Miranda Rae & Shane Dylan (R&B/hip hop vocals & keys). Every show happens Sundays at 4pm @24 Eliot St, JP. Register in advance...oh and bring your own seat! www. eliotschool.org/eliot-school-schoolyard-concerts No Hype Fest! After an absolutely dope showcase of hip hop artists and DJs in 2019, SuperSmashBroz are back again with another round of local music to pump up the summer vibe. This time they’ll be at the Underground at Ink Block, a hidden artist’s oasis lodged between the South End and South Boston, on 8/21 4-10pm. Keep it locked on www. supersmashbroz.com and @supersmashbroz for lineup announcements and ticketing info! Flip a couple pages to our Happenings and check out even more shows and events that are going on in August! ONCE Somerville and Boynton Yards are going especially hard in providing you with a summer FULL of dope shows.
BCN TEAM
I miss buying extravagant meals for myself, celebrating nothing more than freedom. I would dine alone and bask in the glory of being shaped into a leader by a city looking for a king. I remember the diary I once found, sparsely written-in but containing the immortal phrase: “This city is conquerable.” I miss it all. Deep In The Dark With The Art: Conversations With The Creators Behind The Best Cover Art From the Wu-Tang Clan and Their Killa Beez Affiliates is my new book, and I’m donating 100% of the profits to More Than Words - the nonprofit on E. Berkeley. Boston made me. Raised me. A couple of different decisions - a few moments of luck breaking the other way - and I would’ve been a youth at More Than Words rather than a former employee. This city - this community - our people - mean everything to me. I created this book as a gift to Boston, the art world, hip-hop culture and legions of WuTang fans across the globe. It took over two years and thousands of dollars. Hundreds of items sold on eBay to raise money - birthday presents, sentimental heirlooms, entire collections - sold for the greater good. To make an impact, minor or major. A small but true honor - to give back to the city. My city. Our city. Next up? Raising funds to convert my two screenplays - themselves open love letters to Boston - into low-budget indie films. Let’s go. The misunderstanding of time remains; there is no before or after. Only now. Makai forever.
MATTEO
Art By: Jo Nanajian brain-arts.org
issuu.com/ bostoncccompass
LAYOUT DESIGN:
Phoebe Delmonte: p.1,4,& 5 Hannah Blauner: p.2 & 3 Adrian Alvarez: p.6 & 8 Julia Baroni: p.7
THISPLEASE PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE BOSTON CULTURAL COUNCIL, A LOCAL AGENCY WHICH IS FUNDED THIS PAPER IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF BRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION, INC., A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT. CONSIDER BY THE MASSACHUSETTS CULTURAL COUNCIL, AS ADMINSTRATED BY THE MAYOR'S OFFICE OF ARTS + CULTURE DONATING TO, VOLUNTEERING OR OTHERWISE SUPPORTING US: BRAIN-ARTS.ORG
SILVIA LOPEZ CHAVEZ BRINGS JOY TO BOSTON
Happiness, the feeling of experiencing a work by Dominican artist Silvia Lopez Chavez (@silvialopezchavez). She is a muralist, collaborator and public art seeker whose efforts help make Boston a more vibrant and cheerful place. Her love for color is easily recognizable in her murals scattered all over the city. When asked, Silvia says she has no favorite color, but loves warm hues like yellow, coral and turquoise. Enjoying vivid public art can help bring life into an otherwise grey city. Silvia graduated from Massachusetts College of Art & Design and Altos de Chavon the School of Design in the Dominican Republic. Her experience in fine arts greatly influences the way she conceives her murals. She started working in her studio on paper and canvas and moved to the street to develop her skills with acrylic and spray paint. Her Prudential Center Mural, “deLIGHT”, brings a pop of color, brightens people’s day and showcases Silvia’s ability to move effortlessly from analog to digital mediums. The combination of traditional methods and experimental techniques result in pieces that find the balance between abstract and representational. Depicting the community you paint for is key to making a fruitful public art piece. One of Silvia’s favorite experiences was creating the “Joy” mural at Ruggles Station. As she painted, a little girl walked past her, smiled
and said that Silvia was illustrating someone that looked like her. This confirms how the streets provide an opportunity for people to feel included in the city’s narrative. Silvia’s creative process is informed by studying the site’s context and how the public engages with the space. “The Underground Mural Project” proved to be a challenge. Silvia painted underneath the I-93 highway overpass by taking into account the complex architecture of the space and using it to her advantage. This project exemplifies the potential for architects, environmental designers, urban planners and artists to come together to create parks that can set the scene for daily urban encounters with beauty and color. Silvia’s first mural was “Patterned Behavior” on the Charles River Esplanade. It is characterized by multicolored lines and shapes that represent the way people interact with the space. This piece was the product of collaboration between six other women artists, representing female power in the male dominated street art field. Silvia focuses on the intersection between design, community and art. She empowers women, girls and inspires connections for diverse audiences. Her art celebrates life and brings wonder to Boston.
Back in January, I mentioned I was having a baby. Well friends, on January 20, 2021, I gave birth to an actual cherub and I have been mothering it up ever since. It’s worth mentioning that just weeks before my son was born, the state of Massachusetts implemented its new Paid Family Medical Leave program, significant because it marks the first time 1099 contractors and gig workers (like me), a typically invisible workforce, can qualify to receive benefits like maternity and parental bonding leave of up to 11 weeks. So thank you progressive MA voters for practicing what you preach and crafting inclusive legislation that allowed me to take a 3-month maternity leave to be with my son. P.S. If any self-employed, gig working parents-to-be are reading and have questions about how to apply, please write to me. -- CRISTINA RODERO SALES But I digress. Mothering is great so far, but not without its challenges, and I think one of the biggest for me has been that many of my concerns about modern life and where we’re headed have intensified. On some level, I guess this is a normal reaction to having a child. It is not uncommon for new parents to feel fear over a variety of things. However, this fear is usually relegated things like sharp edges, germy countertops, or even a pillow near a sleeping newborn’s face that’s just too close for comfort. (Another digression, if I may: As parents, you are lectured ad nauseum about the risk of SIDS—a horrifying acronym that stands for “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.” Why it’s called a “syndrome,” I don’t know, since unless you Jesus, death can only happen once. But new parents will learn that any move they make either decreases or increases their child’s chance of literal sudden death. A pillow in the crib, for example, increases risk of SIDS. A fan in the room decreases it. The list goes on.) Anyway, all this goes to say that the primary category of fear for today’s parent seems to be immediate threats in the physical world. I guess I have those fears, too. But outweighed by my fear of sharp edges are the newer, less visible, yet what I consider more nefarious threats specific to this generation and onward, that result inevitably from the continued incursion of big tech into the lives and psyches of innocent and unsuspecting children. Parents will spend countless hours wringing their hands over when to start their kid on purées, but when it comes to the psychological consequences of letting small children, who are just learning language, interact with corporate artificial intelligence software, like Alexa… folks, It’s the Wild West. To be fair, the American Academy of Pediatricians recently upped their recommendations on kids and screen use: It now calls for no screen time at all for children unconsciously is worse than not working at all. until 18 to 24 months, except for video To understand our, often subconscious, chatting, and says kids ages 2 to 5 should get views on failure it is important to also reflect on our understanding of success as well, as they are related and given that there is beauty in both. While creating art is the complex action of bringing things into existence and also breaking them down, finding your own ugliness in this process can feel overwhelming, as creation itself, is a vulnerable undertaking. Ward went on to talk about how vulnerability in failure can feel discomforting and debilitating when it feels his intended message gets lost in his own attempt at translation. With this thought he emphasises the beauty in ugliness as this is how creation is made, “you have to see the ugly in order to excavate and see change”, he told me. Balance in art is the same balance present in our world. Art is the perception of the world and so without awareness of ugliness, art would not be beautiful. As the truth of the world is ugly, without this, the world would hold no true beauty. Chandler Ward’s latest album “Kicking and Screaming” is streaming on all digital platforms, a great example of appreciating the beauty in creation.
UNDERGROUND FLEX
This afternoon I sat down with a local beat composer and rapper, Chandler Ward, while I enjoyed his offering of dried mangoes and a glass of water in his backyard. When I asked Ward how he would prefer to be described in this article he told me, “I’d rather be called a magician than an artist because they are interchangeable words”. As children, most of us are taught that failure is strictly a negative occurrence, saved only for when we lack a skill or did not try hard enough. As this perception manifests within us into adulthood, being “a failure” in our relationships, careers, or passions has traditionally been seen as being inadequate. But how does this mindset translate to the artist’s world? This was the question I had for Chandler Ward. To Ward, success is “working consciously and finding simplicity and intention in your work”, he goes on to explain that his goal in creating music is to create experiences and evoke emotions for people through music. When his creations lack this value, Ward described this shortcoming as working inefficiently. “Working inefficiently is taking a piece of information for granted” he explains, highlighting how he feels working
BIG TECH N BABIES
--------------------------------- ROSIE FAWZI
CHANDLER WARD
an hour or less of screen time per day. But anyone with young family members knows that few parents even come close to implementing these recommendations. And corporations pretend they don’t even exist, and continue finding ways to replace what should be profound and fragile moments of self-discovery and creativity with one-click consumption. Several weeks ago, a New York-based toy retailer released a new online feature that allows kids as young as 3 years old to shop for gifts and check out with minimal adult oversight. Facebook is plotting to create an Instagram specifically targeting children under 13. Raise your hand if any of that sounds like a good idea. And yet finding other parents that share my concerns about what’s happening has, so far, been pretty impossible. I am consistently shocked to find that questions about how to safely and ethically incorporate technology into children’s lives get close to zero real estate in online parenting columns. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an organization that shared some of these fears I have. It’s called Fairplay (recently changed from Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood). I’m a pretty big fan about what they preach—I mean when you really read their site, some of the stuff on it is downright subversive. They’re calling out some seriously important stuff, like advocating against the overuse of educational technology, which I’ve never seen anyone do. Typically, the narrative is that schools need more technology (and some really do!). No one ever actually asks, “When is there too much technology?” At the same time, even they are guilty of the sin of over-dependence on screens, which makes it a bit hard to take some of what they do seriously. I’ve been on their listserv for several months and the poetic irony is that I have yet to see them mention facilitating anything in-person. (Though apparently they are planning an in-person conference at some point in the future!) Am I overreacting to all this? My gut says no, but at the end of the day, only hindsight can be 20/20. I’m not saying go cold turkey with your kid and technology. This is the world we live in, and until some serious systemic reforms are made, we are all just figuring out how to work with what we’ve got. In the meantime, I continue to be hawkish about sharing imagery of my son to social media channels, which, as a proud, new mom, is a huge temptation nearly every second of the day that I’m constantly having to resist. Immediate physical threats are not to be brushed off, but at the same time, the solutions are pretty commonplace: Baby proof your home, gate the staircase, cover the plug outlets. But how do you baby proof your child’s brain from corporations trying to hijack them?
------------------------------ KARINE VANN
PAVEMENT COFFEEHOUSE PT. II ANATOMY OF A UNION FORMATION
Last month, I sat down with Steve Gillis, member of the Boston School Bus Driver’s Union Local 8751. Soon, we got to talking about the recent unionizing efforts of workers at Pavement Coffeehouse. This month, I’m pleased to have caught up with Pavement workers Madeleine Tomasic and Emma Delaney to review their union strategy. Both have been instrumental in Pavement’s efforts, which began this spring and culminated in a highly publicized letter in late May to Pavement leadership. “The conversations had been brewing for a while,” said Delaney, who noted that workers’ wages had been impacted by lower tips during the pandemic season. Workers were also frustrated with the corporate board’s last minute executive decisions regarding customer-worker safety protocol. “It’s unfair,” said Tomasic, “having upper management…coming in making decisions like, “are customers going to have to wear masks?” or “what are you allowed to say to a customer if they are acting in a way that doesn’t make you feel safe?” One manager who contradicted the board’s bathroom policy out of safety concerns later faced repercussions. “A lot of decisions are made, and no workers are consulted about them, and I think that was just exacerbated by the pandemic.” Delaney credits a conversation with her roommate, who connected Delaney with Pat Horan of Workers United. “We didn’t realize how taking this little step was absolutely going to propel us into unionizing,” she said. Delaney formed an organizing committee
composed of members from every Pavement location. This move was a critical next step. Tomasic was asked to represent her location. “I had a lot of questions and a lot of confusion at first,” explained Tomasic, “mostly about the basic function of a union.” Afterwards, Tomasic said she knew “this was something I felt passionate about.” For Tomasic, unionizing meant fighting for an equal say in decision making, as well as higher wages and benefits. After receiving a supermajority of staff support, the organizing committee presented a letter to management and arranged for publicity. “Tori Bedford from GBH got the exclusive at 10am. Local politicians were ready to go,” Delaney explained. Michelle Wu, Ayanna Pressley, and Ed Markey all tweeted their support. Delaney and Tomasic agreed that the union formed with unusual speed. Under the direction of the union NEJB, employees then signed cards endorsing union membership, and the committee began collecting a list of employee demands. To those interested in unionizing, Tomasic says to reach out to union representatives with questions. “Pavement workers are also a great resource. We have names, numbers, and experience.” The union will welcome all employees from kitchen workers to baristas, excluding those in managerial positions. Tomasic noted that workers from several Boston-area establishments have already reached out to Pavement UNITED in attempts to get the ball rolling for their establishments...
------- STEPHEN GRIGELEVICH
My comic project, “Emo Bunny: Anxiety Monster,” is a comic series focused on raising awareness about the severity of anxiety disorders. Sarah, nicknamed “Emo Bunny,” is a bunny girl who suffers from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). She illustrates my own experiences with GAD. Her anxiety appears as a monster who becomes stronger as she becomes more stressed. Many anxiety disorder sufferers feel their anxiety is a monster’s voice in their head, harassing them. In Emo Bunny’s case, the beast changes its form depending on the type of anxiety she’s experiencing (social anxiety, panic attack, anxiety attack). My goal is to highlight the struggle of having an anxiety disorder and the benefits of emotional support animals. In 2019 “Emo Bunny: Anxiety Monster” was an online educational solo art show on Squidink Art Gallery featured by Concord Monitor, The ADAA, MissHeardMedia, Concord Insider, and VLACS Newsletter. My solo show “Emo Bunny: Anxiety Monster” at Out of the Blue Gallery and more in Boston, MA, got delayed due to Covid-19. “Emo Bunny” is a comic series that is a work in progress. My goal is to have an activist-focused gallery feature these artworks and collaborate with an inclusive mental health organization to produce this comic.
“Anomie” is the first full-length comic I made for this series. “Anomie” is a semiautobiographical comic based on my experiences with PTSD caused by trauma from ongoing, severe racism and bullying. It’s a bit of Sarah’s origin story on how bullying, oppression, and ostracization led to her struggling with her identity, mental health/ PTSD, and outer appearance. No community, including her community of rabbits, accepts her because of her thick, kinky hair, taller-thanaverage height, and albinism. As someone who experiences PTSD nightmares, this comic communicates the feeling of those horrible trauma-induced dreams. When reaching out to the few Black people I met in my community and most of my family, I was rejected due to being open about mental and chronic illness and being Buddhist. When standing up to racism in my community via my anti-bullying project, “Do You Know Who I Am?” that addressed racism and my own experiences, I was ostracized by teachers and the principal. As a result, I became homeschooled online. This led to me feeling a lack of support in society and an identity crisis. Read the full comic on my website, AmaranthiaSepiaArtworks.art, or my Instagram, @emobunnycomic Learn more about my work here: https://linktr.ee/_cutiehipsterart_/
THE LOCAL LEGEND OF JEFF BREEZE Pulleys complain, and the silver glass bathysphere splashes into the sea, disturbing a shimmer of fish. A circle of concerned faces watch as the vessel guzzles ballast - and sinks. Sunlight trickles through the disturbed ocean surface, playing across the dense iridescent corals and a vibrant array of bulbous eyes and flashing fins. The dense ecosystem blooms and balloons off the reinforced-concrete legs of the Well that hem in the bathysphere, four corners of lacey life with infinite depth beneath. From neither of the two passengers, a chirpy autotune: “What exactly are we investigating again?” The Undertaker, tanned and lean with a staunch pillar of a neck, addresses the center console: “That’s exactly the type of question I should be asking you, Curiosity - and I guess answers itself. We’re going to investigate the undersea cable node. Your lifeline.” The Undertaker turns her concern upon the Midwife who sports a broad face behind goggle-thick glasses and a fierce glee. “What do you think is happening?” The Midwife responds with a question: “Curiosity, what is the status of your cloud archive?” “Syncing....syncing... syncing…” the bathysphere is sinking ever deeper. Here the gentle warming touch of the sun begins to recede, and life adjusts with harder shells, bizarre forms, and muddy palettes. The Midwife and the Undertaker both feel, somehow, the increasing pressure on their shoulders. The Midwife, without asking, turns off Curiosity’s audio feedback to stop the incessant alert and says: “My guess is the cable housing, and the cables with it, have been breached by some new growth down there. We would at least be getting a trickle if we had only lost one or two cables. This is... bad.” The Undertaker’s face shifts through deadpan processing to gladness, “That means the deep-sea lophelia has reached full maturity…to actually rip through those cables!” Gladness shifts to logistical concern in response to a sharp glance from the Midwife “Those are old-growth, carbon
sink species. Gonna be nigh-impossible to get council permission to clear them now.” The Midwife keeps her eyes narrow; starts, stops, stutters: “Well, but, this is the node we’re talking about. Isn’t that the whole, like, reason our township exists? To maintain the node? Without those cables I, I mean we, we wouldn’t have anything. Our fishing practices, weather prediction, our entertainment archives...” The Midwife rests a hand on the center console “...our longdistance friendships. They are all net-based.” The Undertaker nods and bites a lip, seems to listen, “Sure, sure, but we know how to fish now! And I’ve gotten pretty damn good at cloud-spotting. And storytelling, for that matter” Her gaze turns inward for a moment, with pride, “Maybe we have gotten everything we need from the net. Maybe it’s time-” Gentle now “Time to cut ourselves loose.” “Sorry to interrupt this scintillating conversation” interjects Curiosity “But we are now leaving the *TERM-MISSING* zone now.” “Bathypelagic” whispers the Midwife. The Undertaker looks at her in confusion. “Activating shipboard lights now.” The Well legs in front of them are silhouetted in stark and ghostly light. Wriggling forms, moving with grace amidst the crushing pressure, secret themselves away. “Maybe…” the Midwife begins carefully, “Maybe you’re right. But it’s not our decision to make. We sit at one of six key nodes for the cable network. Maybe we’ve learned enough to survive, but we provide a service for literally hundreds of Wells like our own. The council-andtownship model was designed to make us more decentralized, self-sufficient. But I don’t think it means isolation...” The Bathysphere’s descent is monotonous, almost confusing, their single spotlight catching one of the Well legs, cloaked in gray incomprehensible muck, rising like some primordial chain away from them. “There’s something powerful about being connected.”
-------------------------- MICAH EPSTEIN
Tuck a thought in the back of your mind as you read this piece. Think of people you know who voluntarily dedicate 5-10 hours a week, every week, for nearly 20 years, to a cause from which they do not financially benefit. You may never meet anyone who can sustain such a Herculean lifestyle. At 6PM every Tuesday Jeff Breeze would leave his job as a publication editor, administrator, lab technician, or turntable assembler. He would motor down Memorial Drive to MIT’s campus. He’d bound down the stairs of the Walker Memorial Building, tap a badge reader (if he remembered his ID), enter WMBR, and pop a meal into the microwave, perhaps with a fast food bag in tow among his records. After poking his head in to catch up with Ramsey, Andy, Kyle, Paige, Becca, Brian, Mike, or whoever else was engineering that evening’s act, Jeff would settle down at the big board laying out Pipeline!’s setlist. If you tuned in to 88.1 on your FM dial within the Greater Boston area on a Tuesday evening between 8PM and 10PM during the last 17 years, you heard Jeff Breeze host Pipeline! on WMBR. Each week, Jeff cued up music from dozens of New England musicians and shared them with his listeners—music critics, audiophiles, radio surfers, casual listeners, and devoted fans. During the second hour of Pipeline!, Jeff invited musicians to WMBR’s A Studio for a live on-air performance. Some of these performers found themselves headlining sold-out shows at major venues within a few years. Others would make a career in the local scene that any kid who strapped on a six-string would dream of. For most, it would be their only public broadcast appearance. No matter their trajectory, Jeff Breeze was the launching point, thruster, and portal to the next step for thousands of artists regardless of genre, training, or talent level.
Further behind Pipeline!’s curtain, Jeff sent thousands of emails, helped artists navigate Cambridge’s street maze on their way to the station, scurried to find replacements for last-minute cancellations (musicians can be flaky), and emotionally supported nervous twentysomethings questioning their musical prowess moments before the “On Air” light illuminated their faces. Jeff was a delight to know. His genuine interest in what you had going on resonated through to your next encounter. He felt no distance was too far to get a good scoop of ice cream. He helped reunite Big Star in 1993. He happily bent your ear about curling or the typewriters he collected. He was a member of The Concord Ballet Orchestra Players, The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, and other bands along the way. He collected a hefty variety of records and took incredible photos. His voice was the envy of anyone who spoke into a microphone. Jeff Breeze is missed every time a local band gathers for their first practice. Jeff was good.
------------------------ ERIK MORRISON
editing by KRIS THOMPSON, TIM GILMAN AND GREG ERB
Concord Ballet Orchestra Players was active from 2005-2013, and now has an all-new archival Bandcamp site with their previous releases as well as a new ongoing series of previously unreleased jams. The latest track, “For Alice Coltrane, Part 1” was recorded at now-defunct Abbey Lounge in Somerville in 2007 (three weeks after her passing). Hit the QR code here to check it out!
VISUAL ART
MUSIC & AUDIO Look at all these shows!! 8/1 Shirts + Skin, Owen Manure, Memory Lame, Sticker Shock @Ralph’s (Worcester) 7pm 21+ $7 8/4 Slashers (NYC), Substantial Abuse, TBA @O’Briens 8pm 21+ $10 8/5 ONCE Somerville x Boynton Yards Present: Leos Roaring, No Small Children, Thrust Club, Bad Larrys, Tiffy @151 South Street, Somerville 5pm All Ages $15-20 8/6 Final Gasp record release show with High Command, Sadist, C4, G.R.I.N. @Mid East Up 7pm All Ages $15 8/6 The Furniture, Today Junior, Children of the Flaming Wheel, and special guests Garden Party @O’Briens 8pm 21+ $10 8/6 Sunflower Series presents live music featuring Billy Dean Thomas, Genie Santiago, Shellz, Amanda Shea, Naomi Westwater plus a late night market and bar/food trucks @ ONCE Somerville in partnership with Creatives of Color Boston 7pm $20 ADV, $25 Door 8/7 NICE GUYS, Zip-Tie Handcuffs, Boston Cream, Rick Rude @ONCE Somerville 6pm All Ages $15-18 8/7 Nubiana: Caribbean themed! ft. Open Air Gallery, Black Owned Marketplace, Live Dee Jays, Beer and Wine Garden, Mural Auction. @ Black Market 1-6pm All Ages Free 8/21 SOMERGLOOM: Body Void, Glacier, SEED, Sevan, Lunar Ark @ONCE Somerville 4pm 18+ $20 8/21 One Step Closer, Vantage Point, Chemical Fix, Pummel, Certain Shapes @Tribe Dream Arena (Brighton) 6:30pm All Ages $15 8/28 Light of Day Records presents Wenham St Cinema Outdoor Concert Series featuring Foundation Movement + DJ Al Watkins plus record shopping, raffles BYOB + BYOF! @23 Wenham St, JP 4-7pm All Ages $10 suggested donation @wenhamstreetcinema 8/28-29 JP Porchfest now presented by Dunamis featuring 2 days of live community arts + music with both virtual and in person options. Sign up now as a performer, performance porch or helping hand at www.jpporchfest.org 8/29 Cruel Hand, Payback, Bone Church, Ill Comm @ Dracula (Holyoke) 6:30pm All Ages $12 8/31 The Residents! @Sinclair 7pm 18+ $35 8/31 Bridgeside Cypher @ Starlight Square 5-9pm All Ages Free!
r.co pape s w e n s more at bostoncompas
10/9 Anjimile goes on tour! @Sinclair 7pm All Ages $15 in advance, tickets on sale now! Be sure to check out other dates on this tour in Western MA, NH and Maine! Amplify Soul by BAMS Fest! Every Friday at 8pm on Boston Art Music Soul Youtube, tune in for a digital concert experience for music lovers and everyday people. More info at bamsfest. org Tiny DAP Concert Series Our spin on the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series! August Show drops on 8/19 featuring DJ Shellz! Visit dorchesterartproject.com/tinydap for more info and subscribe to the Boston Compass Newspaper Youtube channel for video drops! Eliot Schoolyard Summer Concert Series FREE Concerts on Sunday afternoons at 4pm at 24 Eliot St, Jamaica Plain thru 9/26. Bring Your Own Seat! RSVP at eliotschool.org/ programs/events New England Mic Check Radio is our region’s top dawg for uplifting urban music! Episode #58 out now on all streaming platforms with a special feature on local artist Tamera King! www.nemiccheck.com for podcasts, swag and further updates! @newenglandmiccheck Check out WECB fm Boston! WECB is a student-run, creatively independent internet radio station at Emerson College in Boston. They host dozens of radio shows by hundreds of DJs and highlight new and exciting music both locally and beyond! Also check out their music review platform Milk Crate! To listen and for more info, visit: www.wecb.fm Good Music Showcase Series Organized by @djalcide! Mass’s MOST Consistently Run Showcase Tour!!! Five Years And Running!!! Signup Info: Alcidemusic@gmail.com Sonorium. Ever check out the sick, recurring, Salem-based experimental music exposé known only as Sonorium?! You can see their past live performances online and stay informed on upcoming virtual performances, Youtube videos and more at www.sonorium.net Boston Art Podcast dope new podcast creating meaningful discussions with Boston artists! New episodes every other Friday on Youtube and Spotify @bostonartpodcast Spark FM at Night with DJ Stix: Every Tuesday/Thursday from 11-1AM plus many more programs! Check out www.sparkfmonline.com Feel it Speak it: Boston’s only monthly open mic movement dedicated to voices & experiences of the LGBTQ+ communities of color every Thursday. Open mic sign up: tinyurl.com/fisivirtual @feelit_ speakit
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Did you know that Modern Party Art hosts Open Mic Night every Wednesday 8-11PM. From beginners to people who do this for a living-- the stage is yours! Reserve your seat by buying tickets in advance at www.modernpartyart.com @modernpartyart Nonevent is a Boston-based concert series devoted to the presentation of experimental, abstract, improvised, and new music from New England and around the world. Visit nonevent.org Subcentral is a unique space that spored from the subculture in the heart of Cambridge. They are dedicated to promoting and producing electronic music and performance arts, while nourishing creative minds through classes, workshops and art installations. @subcentral.studio and www.subcentral.studio
VIDEO & FILM Cinema Salem has been resurrected under new leadership! They aim to provide more cult classics and art haus obscurities to Massachusetts film buffs. All start at 10PM and cost $11: 8/6: THEY LIVE 8/13: MULTIPLE MANIACS 8/20: PERFECT BLUE 8/27: TETSUO: THE IRON MAN Grrl Haus Cinema is now taking submissions for their September Short Film Festival in Berlin! Submit via FilmFreeway (filmfreeway/grrlhauscinema) Deadline is 8/18! Find more info at grrlhauscinema.com Weird Local Film Festival is back in person!! Submit your films to weirdlocalfilmfestival@ gmail.com by 9/9/21 to be considered for their 13th film fest @Warehouse XI, Somerville 9/23 7PM 18+ $5 suggested donation, masks required @weirdlocalfilmfestival ShowPlace ICON is host to a redefined movie experience with cutting-edge digital and theatre technology. Check out their website for events. www.ShowPlaceICON.com @showplaceiconboston The DocYard is an awardwinning film and discussion series at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge which also sponsors special screenings and copresentations throughout the year. Thedocyard.com Boston Compass Youtube Channel! Yes we are plugging ourselves because we are just so excited about our current and upcoming video endeavors! Check out our second video series Tiny Dap Concerts! Episode 2 out now featuring Notebook P!
Praise Shadows Art Gallery Mentorship Program presents Alchemized Dimensions, a group exhibition curated by two Boston area high school students, Sahara Curry and Liana Rice, focusing on “artists playing with perception and exaggeration, giving familiar ideas the chance to become unfamiliar once again”. On view 8/12-9/3 with an opening reception 8/12 5-8PM Elsewhere Studios Artist Residency Call for Submissions! Apply at elsewherestudios.org Deadline 8/15 Humphrey St Studios in Dorchester is producing an exhibition called Faces & Places of HSS, including portraits of the 40+ artists at Humphreys Street Studios. The focus is to meet the artists, learn about their art form/medium, and why working at HSS is vital to their work. The exhibition will be both online and onsite at HSS in August www.humphreysstreetstudio. com Support the Nubian Square Public Art Initiative, a newly launched initiative spearheaded by Black Market Nubian to develop a series of public murals and installations as a catalyst for neighborhood economic empowerment by the community, for the community. blackmarketnubian.com/nspai Distillery Gallery new exhibition WHEN DID WE ARRIVE? On view: August 14 - September 18, 2020 13FOREST Gallery is honored to present Essence: In Celebration of Juneteenth, an exhibition guest curated by Cedric “Vise1” Douglas. Essence brings together fifteen Bostonarea artists working in diverse media to commemorate the first year in which Juneteenth will be recognized as a state holiday in Massachusetts. On view until 8/6 Aviary Gallery has rolled out its online exhibitions from a diverse cast of artists including BCN columnist Jenn Stanley. Check out all the beauty at www.aviarygallery.com Kingston Gallery presents Whistling In the Dark on view until 8/29 with an opening reception on 8/6 5-8PM. This exhibition aims to amplify unheard voices by featuring artists such as Jaypix Belmer, Eileen Taylor, Jameel Radcliffe, Mia Fabirizio and many more.
PERFORMANCE ART 8/10 Cambridge Love Letters from the stage of Starlight Square! This performance will feature letters past and present, drawn from the attics and basements and long-kept diaries of Cambridge residents. 7pm All Ages Free Check out Artists’ Theater of Boston! They produce “thoughtful, evocative work that challenges systemic injustices facing our communities through the collaborative process of making theater”. Online opportunities and performances can found at artiststheater.org
Midway or the Highway Open Mic! On Zoom! Find us on Facebook for the address. All are welcome when Angela Sawyer & Dave Robinson host some of the city’s most talented comedians, musicians, and weirdos too! If you’re feeling brave, put your name in the bucket and get a moment onstage under the lights. Every Monday night! The Black Comedy Explosion: Wednesday nights at Slades Bar and Grill starting at 7pm. Join us as we bring you some of today’s funniest comedians from BET Comic View, HBO DEF Comedy Jam, and more, with both national and local acts. Sladesbarandgrill.com @slades.boston Starlight Square: Outdoor events happening all summer at Starlight Square in Central Square, Cambridge. Check the calendar at www.starlightsquare. org/events
LITERARY ART Mass Love Distro is a Massachusetts-based distro focused on creating and distributing engaging, immersive multimedia artwork from local area artists, with an emphasis on zines, books, records, CDs, pins, patches, stickers, and other merch. Check them out online and follow them @masslovedistro 8/28-29 Mini-MICE Comics Expo! @Starlight Square (Cambridge) A smaller, open-air summer market with a very local focus. 12pm-4:30pm All Ages FREE! Lucy Parsons Center is an independent, non-profit, radical bookstore and community space. They alsO do a Free Store for the People every 2nd Sunday of the month 12-2PM across the street. www.lucyparsonscenter.org Art & Letters Poetry Zine has two new special issues out now: “14 International Younger Poets” and “Mexico: Photographs”. Learn more and order now at www.artnletters.com Superfroot Magazine submissions for issue #2 open July 15th and go to September 15th. Dedicated to uplifting underrepresented artists and writers, this zine focuses on a new theme each issue. The theme this time is NOSTALGIA. Learn more at www.superfroot.com Fuck Your Dreams Zine tackles the unspoken topics of death, decay and destruction through art and writing. Issue #2 out now! Purchase at www. fuckyourdreamszine.com and look out for more submission calls! Moral Crema Zine has released its third edition dedicated to the archiving and promotion of experimental artists who are primarily queer, POC, working class, and women. Find out more @moralcrema and purchase at www.moralcrema.com Pleasure Pie zines and illustrations about sexual empowerment and consent! @pleasurepie www.pleasurepie.org
COMMUNITY 8/12 Somerville Media Institute Showcase featuring work by Cambridge Community Television’s Youth Media Program @Starlight Square 6pm All Ages RSVP on Eventbrite. 8/14 Seek+Find Boston present JP Flea! @First Church JP 10-3pm All Ages The JP Flea is a multicultural marketplace in Boston’s beautiful Jamaica Plain neighborhood, featuring local artists, zine distros/publishers, vintage and antique dealers, small businesses, community non-profits, and artisans of all kinds! 8/14 Community Cookout presented by the Networking Organization of Vietnamese Americans @Doherty Playground, Dorchester 12-4PM 8/15 Bartlett Square Makers Market! @18 Bartlett Square JP 11-3pm All Ages Support local makers working in a variety of media at this monthly market! 8/22 Eat Local Month - Tour of ReVision Urban Farm. Take the tour and learn more about the growing urban farm movement that can be used to feed the food insecure in and around Boston. @ReVision Urban Farm 4:30-5:30PM 8/24 Activating Artivism @ Starlight Square 5-9PM All Ages Free. More details TBA soon! Bipop music instrument & production lessons: An online music instruction platform tailored towards WOC & the non-gender conforming community taught by WOC and the non-gender conforming community of Boston. Become a student or a teacher! Learn more at www.bipop.org @bipopbops The BYTE Shop is a computer and electronics repair, resale, and recycling shop at 48 South St in Jamaica Plain. Available now by appointment! Home to one of the largest collections of historic home computers in New England. www.byteshop.io The Brighton Farmers Market takes place on Wednesdays through Oct. 27th, 2:30-6:30PM. The market is located at Brighton Common, Chestnut Hill Avenue and Academy Hill Road adjacent to the Veronica Smith Senior Center, Brighton Center www.abhealthcollaborative.org/ farmers-market/ Springboard for the Arts: Free Business Skills workshops for artists! 8/4 Work of Art+: e-Commerce Basics, 8/10 Work of Art: Funding, 8/17 Work of Art: Grant Writing, 8/18 Work of Art+: Going Beyond Grants for Artists of Color and Native Artists Panel, 8/24 Work of Art: Business Plan Essentials, 8/31 Work of Art: Engaging Customers & Selling Your Work www.springboardforthearts.org/ events Apparel Brand, Music Label and Entertainment Company Scope Apparel has opened a storefront and HQ AT 484 B Center St, Jamaica Plain. Check it out! @scopeapparel and www.scopeapparel.com
The Lucky Jungle, a new Cambridge community space, has spawned from the depths of quarantine. Selling work of local artists and beautiful plants, providing specialized art classes, and soon putting on live performances, this space seems to offer everything we need after a year trapped in our rooms. @theluckyjungle and www.theluckyjungle.com Check out the Daily Table at 684 Mass. Ave in Central Square! They sell affordable, sustainable food for all. Check out their other locations in Dorchester and Roxbury! They are open from 9AM - 8PM on Monday - Friday, and 11AM 7PM on Sundays. Boston GLASS operates Drop-In Community Centers for LGBTQ+ youth of color between the ages of 13–25! GLASS provides a continuum of services to LGBTQ+ youth of color and their allies in the Greater Boston and Greater Framingham areas and also provides education and consultation to other providers and community organizations. Women Explore Lecture and Discussion Forum: Women Explore provides lecture series within a feminist learning community for women, to connect with the sacred dimensions of their experience and to support and encourage each other in the world community. womenexplore.org Community Fridges! There’s a bunch of these popping up all around the city! They provide food for all and are totally volunteer-run! Check Out @bostoncommunityfridge @dotcommunityfridge @allstoncommunityfridge @matcommunityfridge @cambridgecommunityfridge @roslindalecommunityfridge Some are relocating and need your help finding business and people to host them! Boston LGBTQIA+ Artists Association is revamping with a new director and a new website! They just released a survey asking what LGBTQIA+ artists in Boston would like to see happen with this new organization. Find it at www.blaa.us ArtAssembled in Assembly Row! There is a new pop up art space in Assembly Row that you can rent for $5/hour. Art Assembled is a project of the Somerville Arts Council with support from Federal Reality/ Assembly Row.
Pack a picnic or head to the beach for the best theatre happening this month, as most companies are busy gearing up for their big return to indoor performances this Fall. The 2021-2022 season is packed with new productions and others that were postponed due to the pandemic. This is the time to take note of what’s on the horizon and look out for tickets to start going on sale. ArtsEmerson always has the best touring shows in town and their upcoming productions Ipheginia and White Rabbit Red Rabbit look especially interesting, with seats as low as $20 that sell out quickly. The Huntington Theatre has announced a pretty stacked season with long awaited productions, The Bluest Eye and Our Daughters, Like Pillars finally hitting the stage. Below are some highlights of what’s going on for August in Boston and a couple of cool coastal spots worth the trek. —CEEK Thru 8/8 Shakespeare on the Common: The Tempest Every Bostonian should experience Shakespeare on the Common as it’s been a summer staple for 25 years now. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company presents one of Shakespeare’s last and most beloved plays, The Tempest. Pack a picnic and enjoy the show! WHERE: Reserve your FREE spot now at CommShakes.org 8/11-9/5 Nate Turner in Jerusalem The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre’s play looks good enough to drive to the Cape for. A timely and profound account of Nate Turner being visited by his attorney on his last night in jail as they discuss the slave rebellion they just led and talk of the future. WHERE: WHAT.org/2021season/
Asian American Resource Workshop is a political home for pan-Asian communities in Greater Boston. They are a member-led organization committed to building grassroots power through political education, creative expression, and issue-based and neighborhood organizing. Join today! @aarw.boston and www.aarw.org Mass Action Against Police Brutality A campaign to prosecute the police and jail those who are guilty, open all past cases of police brutality, and end the harassment of victims and witnesses. Visit www.maapb.org for info on actions/protests in the Boston area.
8/6-8/22 Seared Gloucester Stage continues their run of outdoor shows in Rockport with this new play by Victoria Gruenberg about the restaurant industry and a chef’s struggle between art and commerce. WHERE: Gloucesterstage.com/ seared/
8/27-9/26 Hurricane Diane This new comedy by Madeleine George turns Greek God Dionysus into a gardener named Diana who is working to reverse global warming while recruiting help from her Jersey housewife neighbors. WHERE: Huntingtontheatre.org
8/21 The Arboretum Experience Take a walk through Boston’s beautiful Arnold Arboretum and experience this new piece centered around personal wellness and joy using audio plays, music and dance combined in this totally original production by the American Repertory Theatre. WHERE: Americanrepertorytheater.org
FTP Boston is a community of Black & Brown organizers from the Boston area committed to Abolition. They do pop up community thrift stores and accept donations in addition to many other things ! @ftpboston www.ftpbos.com CityLife/VidaUrbana: Organizing for racial, economic, and gender justice since 1973. Building solidarity to put people before profits. Support their Homes For All Act at homesforallmass.org/act !
ADVOCACY Blue Crime Blue Dime A community initiative working to have police pay for their own lawsuits and settlements instead of the state draining the wallets of taxpayers. Check out their IG @bluecrimebluedime and Twitter @dime_crime for community events Sunrise Movement Boston works everyday to stop climate change and create jobs in the process. Find them at @sunrisemvmtboston to cue into all the rad actions and workshops they have going on.
Dearest Community, we will be changing the DAP Store Hours to only be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We are trying this out at least through the end of August to create more space for our admin team to focus on programming, events and the online store. While our payments to artists have increased, it has become clear that our current model is not sustainable and we are taking time and space to rectify that. We appreciate all the support and enthusiasm so far and we encourage everyone to come shop local artists with us on the weekends and book rentals with us!! #supportlocalartists 1490 Dorchester Ave in Fields Corner www.dorchesterartproject.com —Emma Leavitt
THE BELL SOON TOLLS FOR THESE TALES
THEY ARE THE FEW, THE PROUD
HOLD THEM CLOSE!
THE
BCN
TREASURE THEM!
COMICS!
The Market by Cagen Luse @cagenmiles
Art Schoolin by Laura Meilman @l_meilman
ke The Boston s ma u 0% p l He Compass is 10 ing! n h ru t ree s nt i lu vo th
Amplify new vo ices!
>>
Email to learn how kevin@brain-arts.org
t our Ar See Y ! Here?
work to send your -ar ts.org in ra adrian@b
tear this poster out and put it on a wall! -
@jo_nanajian
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Art by Jo Nanajian
In autumn the wine is pressed; many Toes give the fermentation a shine. The ladies in their half-pinned buns,
viscous verses.
Of Cargo
TRIFECTA
TOURS
CUSTOM
DAY
TRIPS
NATURE
CULTURE
CUISINE BOSTON
FROM
The men harping on about their losses—
DORCHESTER
A paradise of tired eyes garrisoned In the quarters in the form of exaltation;
TRIFECTA
But their faces are blank stone, etched In some strange cratered version of the moon.
NATURE:
In winter, rewards are reaped for their
VENTURA PARK Medway & Ventura Streets
Foresight, visions of wild animals, Not the ballfield. Woods at the riverbend. Lynxes and foxes, the rutting of the stag, Even the extinct worlds of the mastodon,
CULTURE:
DAP STORE 1486 Dorchester Avenue
Or the fire-eating wildebirds—the world
Local art, music, fashion & merchandise.
Replaced by a few bundles of twigs Against the wall where the fire passed through.
CUISINE:
OASIS VEGAN VEGGIE PARLOR 340 Washington Street
But, in the evening, a ship at anchor awaits This precious cargo of mythical tales.
Full-flavor fare from friendly folks!
Here the strange bins labeled seasonally Know no hands or feet will linger,
by Danish
The vexation of creation is neither Closed in one landscape, nor at peace
Trifecta Tours offer recommendations for experiencing Nature, Culture, and Cuisine in a city, neighborhood, town, or region within Eastern Massachusetts. Trifectas are easy, fun day trips from Boston, perfect for groups of friends or a short romantic getaway.
Neil Horsky • horskyprojects.com
In the rolling hills—everything is proportion, Stepping ashore on an economy of passions;
Experimental Excursion
These days are passed beyond expectations. They who cast their fortune from afar,
1 2 3
I’m here again to recap the grand trinity of last month’s finest releases for all of you to enjoy even with the oddest and most unusual timbres.
Willed into the mechanics of the future. A known thing, a dwelling from once before.
Whistling the devil to a Setting Hen | Pony Payroll Bones And know again that each season, wild
This tape is what I like to describe as the grey-area between classical and jazz if it crashed into a feedback loop. With only one 41-minute track, “Beltane Eve” is an enthralling listen from front to back. I can easily imagine this being well paired with a David Lynch film score, in fact I recommend watching Eraserhead while listening to this tape for added effect. Overall this album is a tumultuous journey into the irregular sounds with regular pianos.
And fertile or stoic and bare, as it may be, Recalls a memory—of flies upon flies, Of a smattering of pollen and dust, of eggLaying insects in every form—and even when Lucretius was blabbering, Amenicus was wandering,
Foam, Rawlings, Staubitz | Outside at Vic’s
Then Octavia in her flowing robes, Agrippina
With the return of live shows I bought this CD-r in person in Amherst common which was an experience I was deprived of since March of 2019. This disc is thickly layered with textural recordings ranging from glitching tapes to raking leaves. It brings you to a state of noticing what was recorded from the instruments and the natural atmosphere of nature blended blissfully together. That being said, this disc isn’t found on bandcamp or discogs so to listen or purchase message @dsparkler on instagram
Close to the edge, her hairpins and hair
Overflowing in daisies.
MARC VINCENZ
The unknown sound collective | o deliverance Hauntingly delicate is a phrase that I like to use to describe this album. Listening to this feels like you are visiting somewhere that can only be gotten to by wandering deep enough. The gentle-butstrong chorus falsetto vocals over some of the most atmospheric soundscapes the collective has offered is a godsend. Check this out on bandcamp if you haven’t already.
Marc Vincenz has published sixteen books of poetry, including more recently, Here Comes the Nightdust (Salmon Poetry, 2019). He lives on a farm in Cheshire, MA, overlooking Herman Melville's Greylock Mountain. Viscous Verses is edited by Raquel Balboni and Ben Mazer
www.artnletters.com
Dorchester
Stony Brook Orange Line
Fields Corner across from DAP
Roxbury
Boston
Allston
Dudley Cafe
Old State House
Twin Donuts
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