COMPASS PRODUCTION FACES SUSPENSION: This Rag Seeks Interim Editor-In-Chief! By: Reynaldo De La Fuente Our founder and editor-in-chief will be stepping away from the newspaper production as of March 2016 to focus on the Brain Arts nonprofit. Brain Arts events and other outsider events will continue along with the listings and resources we provide through the hassle website. As will the nonprofit’s efforts to establish a venue of our own, but the day-to-day and monthly operations of the newspaper must be carried on some else’s shoulders for a while. We seek an interim Editor-In-Chief who is able to coordinate content/writers, set deadlines, create and maintain a schedule for content/production, and is able to cover costs or figure out how to get this thing paid for every month. Ideally, the Compass seeks an Editor-In-Chief who already knows the landscape of the local arts com-
WINTER @ Everywhere, until it ends. We can’t deny it anymore - it’s going to happen no matter how nice November was. Maybe we’re better prepared for it this time around. Maybe we won’t be trapped in our homes by five-foot snowdrifts for weeks at a time. Maybe you won’t get into a fistfight with your neighbor over the lawn chair they stuck in YOUR parking spot. In the meantime, enjoy these last few days of sunshine and streets that aren’t littered with gray snow, frozen cigarettes and dead pigeons. Here are a couple of ways you can stay warm in December: THE BLACK MARKET @ THE CAMBRIDGE ELKS LODGE, DECEMBER 13
It’s time to take a look at that holiday gift list you jotted down when you saw that thing at that one flea market back in March that your friend Sandra would like, TOTALLY love but it was 60 bucks and you could probably make it yourself but now it’s December and really, who has the time? That’s alright, though, because the Black Market is back for all your holiday needs. There’ll be a little something for everyone - records, clothing, jewelry, zines, prints and more. Vendor list TBA – check the Hassle website for news! JP HOLIDAY FLEA @ SPONTANEOUS CELEBRATIONS 12/5-12/6
Also you totally forgot to buy a gift for your aunt’s friend’s brother’s kid’s roommate. Don’t worry about it; the JP HOLIDAY FLEA MARKET is here. Handmade soaps and lotions? Got it. Hand-printed holiday cards for the Hallmark-averse? Got it. Zines? GOT IT. Uterus and Necronomicon-shaped earrings, for those special occasions? Got. It. Just early enough to avoid those awkward “Um, sorry, your gift is still in the mail…” situations.
munity here, but as long as this individual is dedicated and can grasp the potential of our organization, it could be anyone. This endeavor, however, comes with an amazing team that is ready to help every step of the way. Moreover, it is supplemented with the resources of BRAIN Arts: Volunteers, a place to meet, and the momentum of the past six years. Think about it. If no one steps up to fill this void The Compass newspaper will be suspended until we get our own venue or find a way to generate reliable revenue on which to sustain these labor-intensive projects. We urge you to consider taking the helm for a while and to share this opportunity with anyone you know who is serious about making a difference in the New England arts scene.
ART BLAST..............................................................PAGE 2 Lots Of Shows Closing!! The Second Installment Of The Reclamation Show, Working With The Landscape, Etc.
HASSLE BRIEF & PURE IMPACT..........................PAGE 3 Laurel Halo, Frostlake, Weyes Blood, Screaming Females, Pc Worship, Birthing Hip Interview
HERE BE THE SHOWS..........................................PAGE 4-5 Post-Rock Remedies, Noisy Experimentalism, Pile Residency, America’s Hardcore Fest, Plus Basement Blasts And Gangly Garage Gut Punchersthe
TARDY EAGLE.................................................,......PAGE 6 Yay A Fantastic Gift Guide!!! Where The Comedy Shows Are!!! Et Plus
FILM FLAM.............................................................PAGE 7 Ring In The Holidays With John Mcclane, Alfred Hitchcock, Etheria, And The Boston Yeti!
COMICS..................................................................PAGE 8 More Monthly Boston Comics And All-Too-Relevant Horoscopes
LEAP BEFORE YOU LOOK: BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 1933-1957 @ THE ICA
You should already be at the ICA anyway, but if you’re not, make the trip – the BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE exhibition is only here until January 24th. During its short existence, BMC fostered the avantgarde in American music, dance, and visual art and produced influential artists like John Cage, de Kooning, and Merce Cunningham, among many others. Leap Before You Look features their student work, soundscapes, archival materials and performances. It’s the first exhibition of its kind in the U.S – leap over to the ICA to see it today! BREAK-BOX ZINING @ THE LUCY PARSONS CENTER, 2ND AND 4TH MONDAYS
The world is a frustrating place. Society is constantly squeezing us into these narrow little boxes, and so few of us fit. It can be so hard to make your unique voice heard, but luckily BREAK-BOX ZINING is here to help us bust out of our pigeonholes and put our thoughts and frustrations into physical form. The feminist zine workshop meets from 7-9pm every 2nd and 4th Monday at the Lucy Parsons Center, located at 358 Centre Street in JP. Don’t you want to break out of the box? THE SLUTCRACKER @ SOMERVILLE THEATER, DEC 4 - 31
It’s the holiday season, and that means the return of my favorite tradition. A ballet tells a story through the power of dance and music; the story of a young girl coming of age in a magical kingdom. A kingdom from your wildest fantasies, full of dancing sugar plum fairies, flowers, belly dancers, and a dildo prince. That’s right bitches, the SLUTCRACKER is back in town. The ballet has been on the very, VERY naughty list since 2008 and features John Waters as its opening-night special guest. Catch it at the Somerville Theater December 4-31st.
THE LONG NOD:
DONATE TO SPARK MAG! Artists over time have produced great works inspired by political and social ideas and movements to help convey and spread their messages to a greater audience; from the time Mozart brought Allegri’s Miserere out of the Vatican and into the ears of the masses to Gil Scott-Heron proclaiming that the revolution would not be televised. It is the end of 2015, and the intersection of art and politics still calls out, loud and clear, to all those who allow themselves open ears. A new online magazine has been started in collaboration between David Segal’s DemandProgress, the Future of Music Coalition, and New England’s best punk band: Downtown Boys. Spark Mag highlights artists and musicians pushing for social progress through their work. It is an exciting project that reminds the reader that progressive politics and art are oftentimes symbiotic. An IndieGoGo campaign was launched last month to help fund and support this effort. “The site will be posting weekly interviews, profiles, and tracks for streaming and download,” the campaign states, “Many of the pieces will be written by artists themselves, allowing musicians to speak directly about music and politics.” You might tell yourself that art should only be about art -- but you’d be lying to yourself if you said that art doesn’t have an impact on the world. Visit http://thesparkmag.com/ -- there’s already tons of content on there from artists such as ex-Bostonian Faye Orlove, Katie Alice Greer from Priests, and Boston band the Kominas, among much more. Donate to their campaign to make sure that the effort is successful. You can find the “Donate” button right at the top there.
Wednesday - 12.2.15 12:30 - 1pm • arTist talk • Corita Kent and the Language of Pop @ Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge)
thursday - 12.3.15 6pm • performance • Theater Piece No. 1 x 50: Poets in Ekphrasis @ ICA (Waterfront) 7pm • event • Stir: Beth Morrison Projects presents Penelope @ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Fenway) 7-9pm • reception • Jealously Curated: East Coast Edition @ Voltage Coffee (Kendall) 7-9pm • reception • Blue @ Cambridge Arts Association 7pm • MEETING • Boston Comics Roundtable @ Cambridge Main Gallery
friday - 12.4.15 5:30 - 8pm • reception • How To Feel Real @ Kingston Gallery (South End) 6 - 8:30pm • reception • Winter Works: Annual Juried Show @ Bromfield Gallery reception • SMALL(er) WORKS and OTHER OFFERINGS @ Galatea Fine Art 5:30 - 7:30pm • reception • Comforts of Home @ Panopticon (Kenmore) 6 - 9 pm • RECEPTION • Jeannie Simms @ Gallery 263 (Cambridge)
SATURday - 11.7.15 reception!
6 pm • Reclamation ii @Nave Gallery (Somerville)
3 - 6pm • RECEPTION • Gerry Perrino: 6 - 8pm • reception • Winter Vignette Vernacular @ HallSpace Solstice Show @ Griffin Museum (Dorchester) (Arlington) 5 - 8pm • RECEPTION • Monika Plioplyte: No Heads @ Colo Colo Gallery (New Bedford)
sunday - 12.6.15 3 - 5pm • reception • Dream Weavers @ Brickbottom Artists Association (Somerville)
CURATOR TALK • BCA Mills Gallery 7pm • meeting • Boston Comics Rountable @ Cambridge Main Gallery
friday - 12.11.15
11 - 5pm • event • JP Craft Fair @ First Church (JP)
monday - 12.7.15 reception!
reception! 7-9 pm • Your ticket out @ Distillery Gallery (South Boston)
This show is a little hard to nail down. Curator TJ Kelley III says, “It’s a celebration of pursuing life outside the norm, the pursuit of artistic freedom.” The show contains drawing, painting, installation, and photographs. “I tried not to curate anyone too much” said Kelley. There's not a more 6pm • VIVIAN BEER: REFINING specific theme to the show. Rather, viewers LANDSCAPE are invited consider each work in the @ Gallery 344 (Cambridge) context of the others in the gallery, and in You may have been some of Vivian Beer’s the context of their own lives. Kelley uses work before. Her sculpture, Thunderhead, is a quasi-religious terms like affirmation, faith, non-functional bench that is located in Nunes and passion, to describe a quasi-religious Park in Cambridgeport. Beer is a sculptor, experience we have probably all had: that furniture maker, and photographer. Her solo- moment when you become aware of the show at gallery 344 is a look into her process, possibility of an unconventional life. A ticket through drawings, photographs, videos, and out, so to speak. — Josie Grove models, as well as the finished pieces. Having On view 12.7 - 1.30 the opportunity to see an artist’s process http://distillerygallery.com makes for a special and engaging show, and Beer’s parallels between furniture, sculpture, 6pm • PERFORMANCE • Theater and landscape are well-documented and Piece No. 1 x 50: Passing Time @ ICA exciting. // On view 11.23 - 2.29 (Waterfront) http://www.cambridgema.gov/arts/publicart/ gallery344
saturday - 12.12.15
show opening • Drawn From Within @ Chandler Gallery (Cambridge) 9 - 9:30pm • WORKSHOP • Ceramics Workshop and Lecture @ Lesley University (Cambridge)
thursday - 12.10.15
The second in a two-part series at the Nave Gallery, Reclamation II is a collection of emerging female artists and makers reclaiming what is considered to be feminine. These powerful ladies are following in the footsteps of women’s rights activists, leaders and makers, reclaiming the domestic, reclaiming the right to create, and reclaiming 6:30 pm • merce cunningham feminism (hell yeah). Show curators Yosra performance @ ICA (Waterfront) Emamizadeh, Vanessa Marcoux, and Cory We’ve already talked about the incredible Munro Shea have created a show of 32 exhibition at the ICA this winter, Leap women artists working in the Boston area! Before You Look| Black Mountain College. Throughout the course of the exhibition, the On view 12.5 - 12.20 ICA is having many events, including a MassArt http://navegallery.org/wp/reclamationstudent working on a loom from the college in part-2/ the gallery, as well as a series of performances of Merce Cunningham’s; the legendary dancer 11 - 5pm • event • JP Craft Fair @ and founder of the Merce Cunningham Dance First Church (JP) Company. The routines are being performed 12 - 5pm • Open Studios @ Porter by members of the Boston Conservatory, and Mills Studios (Beverly) are a chance to see dances that have not been 3 - 4pm • ARTIST TALK • Christopher shown since the mid 1940s. December tenth is one opportunity; check the ICA’s site for their Chippendale @ Soprafina Gallery most accurate calendar. (South End) http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/leapyou-look-black-mountain-college-1933–1957 2
performance!
2pm • PERFORMANCE • Merce Cunningham Performance @ ICA EXHIBITION • Equal Dimensions @ Barbara Krakow Gallery (Back Bay)
sunday - 12.13.15 3pm • EVENTS • Theater Piece No. 1 x 50: Poets in Ekphrasis @ ICA
Thursday - 12.17.15 7pm • MEETING • Boston Comics Roundtable @ Cambridge Main Gallery
Friday - 12.18.15 12 - 6pm • ArtROX! Holiday Pop-Up Shop @ Dudley Square (Roxbury) 12.18 - 12.22
saturday - 12.19.15 6pm • PERFORMANCE • Theater Piece No. 1 x 50: Passing Time @ ICA
YOU OUGHTA KNOW: This month, it’s not about getting to receptions, it’s about seeing the dozens of shows up around the city before they close. Many of the shows that opening in September and October will be closing this month. In December, it’s all about Holiday markets and lightings of squares, but be sure to check out some of the long-term shows before they come down!
Speaking of markets, Black Market is December 13th! A Boston Hassle effort, there will be art, zines, handmade goods, baked goods, records, patches, jewelry, anything and everything can be found there. It’s going to be at the Cambridge Elks Lodge from 11am until 5pm. Come on out! Long time performer, winner of the Maud Morgan Prize, and founder of Mobius in Cambridge, Marilyn Arsem has been in the midst of her newest Performance, 100 Ways to Consider Time, at the MFA for six hours a day, for 100 days, since November ninth. Arsem has been a central figure in the world of performance art, and has worked to maintain its’ recognition in the Boston area for much of her career. The performance has been taking place in the Linde Contemporary Wing. Spend some time considering time this winter at the MFA. The Washington St. Art Center is looking for mixed-media work for their juried show, INTERDISCIPLINARY. This could be in terms of subject matter, material, art that crosses one or more disciplines. Experimental and unique art is encouraged. The submission date is December 15! You can find more information on their website. The exhibition will be up through most of January.
Don't miss it!
12/4 Willie Cole: AQUAHALLIC @ 808 Gallery 12/5 WOOD @ Monserrat Gallery 12/6 La Femme, La Fleur @ Raisez Gallery 12/6 Shahzia Sikander: Parallax @ Tisch Family Gallery 12/6 Last Folio @ Koppelman Family Gallery 12/6 In Person-574: Sophia Ainslie @ Remis Sculpture Court 12/11 Dylan Blanchard @ Frame 301 12/11 Black Chronicles II @ Cooper Gallery 12/12 Spellbound: A World In Flux @ 555 Gallery 12/12 9th Biennial Arches Student Print Show @ VanDernoot Gallery 12/12 Nicole Cherubini: Golden Specific @ Samson Gallery 12/12 North American Print Biennial @ Roberts Gallery 12/13 Printer’s Proof: Thirty Years at Wingate Studio @ Stone Gallery 12/13 Raul Gonzalez III: Regalo @ The ANNEX 12/13 Postcards From the Field: Contemporary Pastoralism @ Boston Sculptors Gallery 12/13 Andrea Thompson: Bent Meridian: Stories of Unlikely Journeys @ Boston Sculptors Gallery 12/14 The Multiverse of Identity @ Gallery 360 12/18 Hannah Cole: Caring For Surfaces @ Sherman Gallery 12/19 Laura McPhee: The Home And The World @ Carroll & Sons 12/19 Decoys and Devices @ New Art Center 12/19 Line Up: James Cusano, Julie Fox, Margaret Scoppa, Ina Zilber @ New Art Center 12/20 Frederico Uribe: At Peace @ Adelson Galleries 12/31 Meggan Gould: Viewfinders @ Griffin Museum
ongoing! Now-1/4/16 L'Iconographie Française: Lully Schwartz @ French Cultural Center Now-1/3/16 Rosa Barba: The Color Out of Space @ MIT List Now-1/12/16 Maurice Freedman: Time and Place @ ACME Fine Art Now-1/31/16 White On White: Rural Churches of New England @ BSA Space Now - 1/31 Martin Boyce When Now is Night @ RISD Museum Now-12/31/16 Stickwork: Patrick Doherty @ Peabody Essex Museum
IN SITU
HONEST JON'S (2015)
FROSTLAKE N , BLACK MOO WHITE MOON
WEYES BLOOD
DISCUS MUSIC (2015)
BOSTON HASSL E B R I E F S
LAUREL HALO
CARDAMOM TIMES MEXICAN SUMMER/KEMADO (2015)
It’s been two years since Laurel Halo offered up her last album, and her Dreamlike and chilly is the world inhabited by frostlake, Natalie Mering has quietly built absence on the electronic music landscape has been palpable. She's emerged the mysterious songstress whose name graces the b&w album up a body of work under her Weyes as one of the most forward-thinking, unpredictable producers of this decade, artwork of White Moon, Black Moon. The gnarled branches of Blood moniker. The former Jackie-O from her early recordings of gauzy abstract pop, to the more dancefloor its trees have long since shed their leaves; the trails and roads Motherfucker member follows up her ready but still vocal-heavy Quarantine, to the thumping Chance of Rain, are blanketed with snow. phenomenal album, The Innocents, which merged her main project’s aesthetic with the more straightforward White Moon, Black Moon represents the solo debut of with a new EP out now on Mexican techno tracks she’d been releasing under the alias King Felix. multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter frostlake. Her Summer/Kemado, titled Cardamom In Situ, her new double EP, finds the Brooklyn-based Ann Arbor native association with the Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere, Times. The EP’s four tracks are more on a new label, moving to Honest Jon’s after several albums on the with whom she also performs and records, plants her firmly at of the intimately baroque folk music one venerable Hyperdub. It also finds her, once again, jumping into new and the crossroads of the rustically traditional and the cosmically would expect from her. Cardamom Times unexpected musical territory. Gone are the straightforward, thumping spiritual. Indeed, members of that space-rock collective — is the sound of Hope Sandoval fronting dance tracks she’d spent her last few releases perfecting. In their place, including husband Terry Todd on bass — make appearances the Incredible String Band. Undercurrents we have a more fragmented, abstract, IDM approach to rhythm which throughout the album. Nevertheless, this ethereal landscape is of experimentalism appear throughout and Recent serves the dense but crisp atmospherics layered over it well. singularly the beautiful and icy domain of the singer/songwriter. harken back to earlier Weyes Blood releases On first listen, it’s possible, maybe even probable, to expect certain Perhaps what makes White Moon, Black Moon one of like The Outside Room while maintaining the elements of these compositions to eventually coalesce into a more the more unique psych-folk releases of the year — and indeed directness of her vocals and guitar. If you’re a profiles forceful whole, but Halo doesn’t let the listener off that easily. Those what may be the album’s biggest success — is the way in which fan of psych-tinged 60s folk, than Weyes Blood from orgasmic peaks never really materialize, allowing a more warped frostlake arranges and blends a seemingly disparate array of will probably hit just the right spot, but even if and introverted sense of space to dominate the proceedings. Hints instruments. The way in which flutes, keyboards and slide guitars you’re not Mering’s soulful voice and dreamily www. of jazz and world rhythms, chill passages that wouldn’t sound out blend does indeed amount to a small orchestra which, although ethereal songs should be enough for most. boston of place on Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works, sneaky little at times subdued, helps to build those airy layers upon which the Cardamom Times, while significantly less goth hassle melodic phrases… Laurel Halo has defied expectation again, and essence of these songs rest. wave than its predecessor, still evokes bands turned out one of her most methodical, intricate releases to date. By the album’s closing, we’re left a sense of familiarity with like This Mortal Coil. The music retains the same .com - John Bittrich this quietly strange and beautiful wilderness. It is impossible, emotiveness, the longing and the pathos. While however, to unravel its crystalline mysteries in a single listen; it may not reach the same heights The Innocents tracks like “Connection,” “Quiet Storm,” and the title track, did, this new EP features four strong songs and unveil themselves with such subtlety that one is barely aware concludes with one of 2015’s most beautiful with of any secret being revealed until the moment has passed, “In The Beginning.” -Chris Defalco PC WORSHIP and the song is gone. Thus, White Moon, Black Moon is — for those inclined towards the astral and the ethereal — deserving New Jersey trio Screaming Females is about a decade old and is A GENUINE HIGHLIGHT OF HASSLE FEST 2015 of multiple listens in order to discern its quiet beauty. bursting to the seams with accolades from their peers. With high praise -Aaron Teixeira coming from the Village Voice and SPIN, there’s a reason why over 33,000 When molten glass is dropped into ice cold water, it solidifies into a teardrop shaped piece of nearly indestructible super people like them on their official Facebook page. Because they’re like, glass. This mutant glass drop is called a Prince Rupert’s Drop – and it is the bizarre scientific phenomenon that inspired really good. Their most recent recording Rose Mountain, is the band’s sixth PRINCE RUPERT’S DROPS band name. The psychedelic songs on Climbing Light sound like science experiments, using a full length album, and it features the single Ripe, which is worth all of its formula that takes simple guitar-driven songs and adds in acidic, trippier elements. The instruments are poured and patched three minutes and ten seconds. It’s catchy punk together, with choppy guitar lines that come in over drawn-out droning sounds. The songs are grounded by the steady, fairly rock that hooks listeners right from the getunmoving baselines and the drums that shake along with the same determined rhythm, heavily punctuated with maracas SCREAMING FEMALES go. With a tinge of ’90s metal guitar, Marissa and cymbals. The psychedelia comes out in the diverse range of guitar noise and the faded, vintage sounding vocals. The Paternoster dares you to “peel the skin raw.” album as whole just as experimental, each song taking on a different vibe. Songs like “Follow Me” aim for a lighter, dreamier -Sarah Samways ROSE MOUNTAIN Visit ww sound, using vocal harmonies and echo to create the image of a scenic walk down a mystical river. This song is ultimately w for vids .BostonHassle more wistful and nostalgic, an ode to remembering. Other songs, notably “Dangerous Death Ray”, are faster and grittier. DON GIOVANNI (2015) a .c artists nd streams of om There is an urgency caused from the change in tempo, and these songs create more of a hectic feel. When placed and alb a ll t he ums pr together all of these songs take on a heavier, darker feel and though the album may be climbing toward the light, but it ofiled h ere! has a lot of weight to carry with it.
band
Climbing Light is available now on BEYOND BEYOND IS BEYOND RECORDS based out of the band’s home base of Brooklyn. - Mary Kate McGrath
Interview birthing hips As one of Boston’s latest musical additions, Birthing Hips, describe themselves as “noisy defective pop music for freaks”. Carrie, Wendy, Andres, and Owen answered some questions for us. Catch Birthing Hips this month at Out of the Blue Too on December 2nd with Neutral Fixation, The Epicureans, and Symptomatic.
BH: What was your motivation to begin? Carrie: A really earnest desire to play in a “rock band”. Wendy: I just want to play with good people and everybody in this band is good people. Also Carrie was writing amazing music that needed to be heard. Owen: I had heard the music and thought I could really add another layer to their sound. Andres: I wanna play with the people I most look up to ! Carrie’s my best friend and when she told me she was starting a band with my favorite guitarist i jumped ON IT BH: Are there any particular themes or feelings you are trying to explore or instill in your work? Temper Tantrums. Babies. Hips. Bubblegum. Black eyes. Pigtails. Cheerleaders. Diapers. Fake eyelashes, specifically on shrimp. Doll parts. Really tiny cups. Dislocated eyeballs. “~+Realms+~"
**ABORT BABY NEW YEAR IT’S PURE IMPACT!**
Carrie: I’m always trying to find new ways to terrify people and myself. As someone that has a baby face and that presents as “fem” most of the time, it is hard to instill that kind of fear in the masses. BH was the first real outlet that I’ve had to explore that side of myself. I know that this is cliche, but it is truly therapeutic to act and make music like a crazy person on stage in front of people. In fact, over-sharing weird parts of myself lyrically and musically for an audience was the only way to get over my crippling stage fright.
BH: What is Birthing Hips currently working on? Do you have a release in the near future? We have plans to record our first full length in the next few months — release info forthcoming?!!! - Keeley Cormac
BH: Are there any local (or non-local) bands that you all feel particularly influenced by or admire? We love D.N.A. We also love Ornette Coleman, Lydia Lunch, Deerhoof, Captain Beefheart, Napalm Death, Sealab 2012, Sonny Sharrock, Talking Heads, and Roy Orbison. We love local bands Listening Woman, EKP, Ursula, YRRAPYRRAP, Mal Devisa (!), and +the+ Lautaro Mantilla. We love our friends and the friends of our friends !
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Tuesday December 1 Katie McShane’s Monthly Fem Showcase: Neolingo, N & P (Columbian music), Liza Winter, Katie M + Do Yeon Kim duo and one more TBA @Midway 9PM 21+ $5
Wednesday December 2 Come in from the cold, won’t you? The beautiful people at the Boston Hassle have all the vibes you need to get warm tonight with some fuct rockn rollerz and jazz? catz. We got the electric Neutral Fixation, the divine improvisation of The Epicureans, and Birthing Hips who’ll be handing out some fucked up bubblegum for you to chew on @Out of the Blue Too 8PM All Ages $5-10 ☻ Just up the road, you’re gunna find yourself with Nightime Sunshine, unfurling the light you find in dark places with their echoey optimism and subtle psychedelia. Come hear the good tidings they have for you @The Lilypad 9PM All Ages $10 ☻ SAFE SPACE ELECTRONIC: Substructure (NY) Presents: Via App, Wilted Woman @Good Life 9PM 18+ $5 ☻ HEAVY METAL PSYCHEDELIC: The Sword, Royal Thunder @Sinclair 8PM $20 ☻ HARDCORE PUNK: Agnostic Front, The Rival Mob, Hammer and the Nails @Middle East Upstairs 7PM All Ages $10
Thursday December 3 Out of the desert of your soul rides this show. Smell that mesquite on the coals? See brother Orion up in the sky? Savor some slowcore jams country-fried with psilocybin and you’ll be running with the freaks in the beating heart of Cambridge. (New England) Patriots, Gun Outfit (LA via Olympia), Horoscope (NYC via FL), Dyr Faser (ex Royal Wedding) @Out Of The Blue Too 8PM All Ages $5-10 Sliding Scale *A Boston Hassle Effort* ☻ Champion local songsmiths amass in Allston tonight at @Great Scott with vocal piledriving courtesy of Pile, poignant poetry by the pixiesque Gracie, plus State Champion and Rye Pines. 9PM 18+ $8 ☻ LOCAL ROCK THROWDOWN: Quiggs, Chanticlear, The Knock Ups, Whoopi Sticks @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $8 ☻ DANCEHALL JAZZ GREATS REUNITED: Sepalcure, Avalon Emerson @Middlesex 10 PM 21+ $10 ☻ NO WAVE ANARCHY: Parquet Courts, Pill, Longings, Kindling @Flywheel Arts Collective (Easthampton) 8PM All Ages $12
Friday December 4 A. Savage & co. bring their knotted, brilliant, dazed fuckin’ awesomeness to Cambridge tonight for this MONSTERS OF POST-PUNK SUPERBILL Friday Friday Friday at the Middle East Superdome in Cambridge. Parquet Courts, Pill, The Dazies, Sneeze @Middle East Downstairs 8PM 18+ $16 ☻ You get that stupid Canadian hardcore outta here, because this is AMERICA’S HARDCORE FEST 2015 Day 1, Jack, featuring GIVE, SWEET JESUS, FREE AT LAST, DEATH, INJECTION, SOME NERVE, FIDDLEHEAD, WESTPOINT, LIFE OF REILLY, DIRECT IMPACT and it’s so hardcore we’re gonna go ALL CAPS @Hardcore Stadium 6PM All Ages $15 ☻ BATTLESTAR GALAK TIKA: WMBR Presents: Gamelan Galak Tika @Kresge Auditorium (MIT) 8PM All Ages $ome Cost ☻ HOMELAND SECURITY CORE: Terror, Code Orange, Take Offense, Malfunction, King Nine Blind Justice @Palladium Upstairs 6PM $15 ☻ NYC TONITE: PC Worship EP Release with Arto Lindsay (DNA), Gary War, Elder Ones & Ashcan Installation @Palisades (NYC) 8PM All Ages $8 ☻ GUITARRANOSAURUS: Menachem Jarred Randall, Sonny JIm Clifford, Sam Franklin and The Lonesome Guitar Trio @a house 7PM All Ages Donate
Saturday, December 5 We got a stacked one tonight kids! It’s post punk, it’s raw garage, it fuzzy freakouts and it’s all wrapped up in a holiday bow and presented in intimate quarters at Thieves Grotto. Andy MacBain’s side project The Marty Kings keeps things stripped down, raw, and sincere with shrieking jams that recall Tunnel of Love at a much slower pace. Steep Leans keep it cleaner and decidedly more psychy...like pop rock viewed through a kaleidoscope. The incredible post
punk rippers Vacation are here from Ohio to pummel our musical perceptions PLUS the bittersweet Acid Dog and the lo-fi stoned basement rock of Cool Dad. Santa was good to us this year @Thieves Grotto 8 PM All Ages Donate ☻ Or if the whole loud quiet loud thing is more your style then check out the Applejam organized post grunge metallic thrashfest happening at Crab Shack where NY, NY’s The Bottom keep the riffs heavy and the tempo breaks sudden to craft stark and gut-punchingly powerful, emotionally resonant songs that induce many feelings with few words. A difficult feat. Boston’s wickedly sporadic hardcore psych-pop damage inducers DENT are also at this party plus EIS staples Dirty Dishes are gonna lay down their ethereal space grunge. Don’t come for the seafood, come for the rock @Crab Shack 9PM All Ages $ome Cost ☻ CLASSIC PUNK ERUPTION: Corrosion Of Conformity, Brant Björk, Mothership, Saviours @Brighton Music Hall 5:30 PM 18+ $20 ☻ MULTI INSTRUMENT POP ENSEMBLE: San Fermin with Sam Amidon @Mass Moca 8PM All Ages $12-18 ☻ CRUSTY STREET PUNK: All Pigs Must Die, Wormwood, V-Sect @ Middle East Up 7PM 18+ $10 ☻ STRINGY EXPERIMENTALISM: Morgan Evans-Weiler with Seth Cluett and Deleuzer @SMFA 8PM All Ages $10 ☻ LOUD AND VIOLENT: Indignation, Aspects of War, Cleansing Wave, Savageheads, Cinderblock @Ralph’s Rock Diner 8:30PM 21+ $8 ☻ DELIGHTFUL JAMS: Eye Design Presents: Burglary Years, Bedroom Eyes, Summer of Aden, Babydriver (acoustic) @Firebrand Saints 9PM All Ages $5 ☻ METAL AND MATH ROCK: Harris Hawk, Goddard, Job Creators, Martyrs @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $8 ☻ MID AFTERNOON THRASH FEST: America’s Hardcore Fest 2015 Day 2 Matinee featuring FREEDOM, RED DEATH, INTENT, BIG CONTEST, CLEAR, BARGE, DEMOLITION, WILD SIDE @THE MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS 12PM - 4:30PM All Ages $15 ☻ HARDCORE PARTY ROUND 2 America’s Hardcore Fest 2015 Day 2 Night Show featuring STICK TOGETHER, FURY, PEACEBREAKERS, CHAIN RANK, LEATHER DADDY, PURE DISGUST, PROTESTER, HARD, STRIPES, STAND OFF, CIVIC DUTY, FREE @THE HARDCORE STADIUM 5PM All Ages $20 ☻ GUITAR FU MASTERS: Sun Young with Pressure Care, Pineapple Girls and Horse Jumper of Love @ Maggie’s House 8PM All Ages $ome Cost
Sunday December 6 Hardcore gets a bad rap sometimes, as though it’s, like, Punk Rock’s fratboy brother or something. Hey! Stop being prejudiced! Like any other style, HC can be done transportingly well. If you doubt, check out the final day of Hardcore Fest featuring Disengage, Ciac, Unified Right, Gag, Depths Of Reality, Lock, Response, Burst Of Rage, Take Control, Labeled @THE HARDCORE STADIUM 5PM All Ages $15 ☻ However, if the very thought of being near a sweaty mosh-pit is abhorrent to you, well, you might prefer instead, this show, featuring existential meek-core lyricism and deeply (nigh-mathy) atmospheric emosimilitude. The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Foxing, Brightside, People Like You @Sinclair 6:30PM All Ages $16-20 ☻ APPALACHIAN BJORK: Joanna Newsom, Alela Diane, Ryan Francesconi @Orpheum Theatre 7:30 PM All Ages $24-38 ☻ MIDWAY OR THE HIGHWAY: Open Mic Night with Angela Sawyer and Gabe Stoddard @Midway Cafe 9PM 21+ Free ☻ SO WORTH THE TRAIN FARE: Vacation (OH), Gymshorts, Laughing Stock, Gas Station Girls, Profit Margin @Koto (Salem) 9PM 18+ $8 ☻ ALL THIS… PLUS CHEAP BEER: State Champ, Rick Rude, Kiss Concert, and Ryan Kayhart@ Hotel Vernon (Worcester) 9PM 21+ $5
Monday December 7 Do you ever question the confines of your own perceived reality? Up is down and down is sideways? In the past’s version of the future we should’ve been hovering the highways in flying cars by now, robots would be fluent in the language of love, and yes...We Were Promised Jetpacks @Sinclair 8PM 18+ $17 ☻ OR Do you like to dabble in art history, correcting your own failed grammar via text message, and meeting guys named Adam? This show has all three! Put on your party dress for The Rococo Bang, Spelling, Adam and the Goodness @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $8 ☻ Eat a nice spaghetti dinner, wear layers
because it’s December, hold hands with a stranger and skip all the way to Park Slug Presents: Big Kill, Raw Blow, Little Tomb @ wCharlie’s Kitchen 8:30PM 21+ $5 ☻ Put on the floppiest hat you can find, have a quarter-life crisis, and seek catharsis at Rad Castle Presents: The Barbazons, BONG WISH, Matt Lajoie (Herbcraft) @Zuzu 10PM 21+ Free
Tuesday December 8 What is up with this Tuesday night? So many sick shows. Love always to the adorable Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Running, (New England) Patriots @Deep Thoughts 8PM All Ages Donate ☻ When Ceschi tours in support of a fellow underground rapper, that means, either they are on his label (Fake Four) and/or they are just straight-up dope. This is a case of the latter. Expect smart spitting and sick beats. Milo, Ceschi, Mega Ran, Mr Miranda @Middle East Up 9PM 18+ $12a/$15d ☻ NECxt DANCE?: Robin Lohrey @Cafe Fixe 8PM All Ages $5 ☻ GARAGE POP: The City and I (Philly), Burglary Years, Du Vide, Horse Jumper of Love (solo) @Out of the Blue Too 8PM All Ages $7-10 ☻ EXCUSE TO WEAR EYELINER: The Get Up Kids, Into It Over It, Rozwell Kid @Paradise 6:30PM 18+ $ome Cost ☻ HEAVY ROCK: The Modern Voice, Vat, Baylies Band, The Korps featuring Ken Kaiser and Kenne Highland @Midway Cafe 8PM 21+ $5 ☻ LUCKY SWAMP YANKEES: Speedy Ortiz, Downtown Boys, and Whore Paint @AS220 (Providence) 7PM All Ages $5-30 ☻ SEE LAST THURSDAY: Gun Outfit (CA), Vacation (OH), Laika’s Orbit, Dirt Devil @ Graceland (WMass) 8PM All Ages $ome Cost
Wednesday December 9 Girls Rock Campaign Boston is a summer program for girls that’s all about exploring self-expression through music and being your own rock star. They’ve got their best and brightest rockers ready to show you what’s what. Backed by Speedy Ortiz, Downtown Boys, and Ursula, the Girls Rock Campaign bands are coming to bring the house down @The Middle East Downstairs 8PM All Ages $12
Thursday December 10 Normally, supergroups tend to be disappointing. Maybe the chemistry is just too contrived? Not in this case however. Each group involved, and their ambassadors here, are eminent masters of improvisational play and and shaped soundcraft. That is why you really... really... should not miss this unique show tonight. Andrew Bernie Bernstein (Horse Lords), Booker Stardrum (Cloud Becomes Your Hand), Andrea Pensado, Nick Neuberg (Particulars) and Secret Rodg (Particulars, List Wom, EKP) @Deep Thoughts 8pm All Ages $5-10 Sliding Scale *A Boston Hassle Effort* ☻ We’re gonna throw some love to Bowery for booking Deerhunter and solo-project Atlas Sound for y’alls tonight. Nice one! Watery tonal eclectopop with some of that Georgia magic. What is it? Something in the red clay? @ Royale 8PM 18+ $20 ☻ FAILURE MEETS DEPECHE MODE: Pile, Battle House, Halfsour, La Noia @ Great Scott 9PM 18+ $8 ☻ GROWNUP FUN IN A BAR: Life Partners, Hayley Thompson-King (Banditas) @Plough and Stars 10:30PM 21+ Free ☻ AVANTGARDE JAZZ: Ned Rothenberg with SYNC featuring Jerome Harris, Satoshi Takeishi, Mark Feldman, and Erik Friedlander @Lilypad 8PM All Ages $ome Cost
Friday December 11 TONIGHT we have a “Benefit Show” featuring Choke Up, The Scamps, Blase Blue, and Courters so benefit yourself and check out these local mainstays @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $5-10 ☻ New Bedford’s finest, A Wilhelm Scream, bring their Lagwagony, Strung Outish, utterly swingin’ thing to Cambridge tonight to Tony Hawk soundtrack it up with Pears and Smartbomb @Middle East Up 8PM 18+ $15 ☻ NATIONAL PUBLIC ROCKNROLL: And The Kids, The Box Tiger @Great Scott 10PM 21+ $10 ☻ ARTSY MANTRAS: Non Event Presents: Maria Chavez, Arkm Foam @SMFA 8PM All Ages $8-10
Saturday December 12
Thursday December 17
Monday December 21
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s an apple traveling at the speed of light! Ok seriously though, Fast Apple has lined up a delicious little dance party for us TONIGHT at some spot (ask around kids). Very Fresh is here from the Empire state bringing their soft, blissful, drum beat driven electro pop. Like a waking dream, lead singer/guitarist Cindy Lou Gooden drifts through her radio friendly jams with the grace of ghost. Puppy Problems are also prepared to douse us in their loving, lo-fi acoustic amalgams but BIG BUCK HUNTER wants to make sure we don’t drift too far and is waiting in the wings to pepper the crowd with their Allstonian lazy rock. Fuzz, distortion, and plenty of sporadic moments await. No animals will be harmed @a spot 8PM All Ages $5 for tour bands! ☻ Or maybe something different? A little something more off the cuff? Check out the improvisational noise of Steve Norton performing with the art oriented free jazz driven collective known only as Grizzler @Washington Street Arts Center 8:30PM All Ages $Donate$ ☻ MOSH MAYHEM: Foundation, King Nine, Criminal Instinct, Iron Edge @Middle East Upstairs 6:30PM $15 ☻ DOOM METAL: Morne, Fuming Mouth, Set, Coagula @Great Scott 9PM 21+ $12 ☻ ECLECTIC MIX: Repelican, Friendship Ceremonies + TBA @Palmer Historical and Cultural Center 8PM All Ages $7
So..like..Pile has played a least three Thursday nights running now. Wazzap? Is this the only night your favorite babysitter is available? Whatever man! You got shirt-rippers Ancient Filth, Aneurysm, and Clowder on the bill so I’m guessing this one’s gonna be OTTAF @Great Scott 9PM 18+ $8 Oh. Now I get it. GS residency night. Nice tenure dudes! ☻ If you got a little more dosh to throw down (I’m looking at YOU Cambridge!) The Sinclair is hosting a similarly hardcore lineup tonight with The Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore, Iron Reagan, Entheos and Artificial Brain 7PM 18+ $20. Why not party like you did when you were in your 20’s, underemployed and living in Allston? ☻ IN CASE YOU MISSED ‘EM LAST NIGHT: Perfect Pussy, Big Ups @The Met (Pawtucket) 8PM All Ages $10/$12<dos>
Sagittarius: Love is all around you today. Seize the moment! Your life has led you down many divergent paths, but today is a great day to eat peyote. Once this is done, take the bus, any bus, to anywhere, and you will meet the one you love. He or she will be a bus driver, and with Mercury ascendant this will be of great significance. Shake him or her, kiss him or her, pay in exact change and stare deeply into his or her eyes. His or her name is Blake. He or she likes country line dancing. In time, the two of you will forge a mighty link of shared affinities, the foundation of a love that will last through the ages, like Tristan and Isolde. Your fondness for huffing freon may lead you to murky waters, so remember that love is compromise.
Sunday December 13 WE LOVE YOU ZEBUUUUUUUU! Yes! Some things need an exclamation point after them. Zebu! (much like that other self-exclaimed 2-piece Talibam!) is all about the enthusiasm. It’s infectious! In fact, this whole show is gonna be pretty amped, with Secret Lover, Jim Leonard, Jarva Land and Patchouli Mist. If you like a playful night of music, ya aughta just come out @Out of the Blue 8PM All Ages $5 and get wild! ☻ In fact, you can hit that show to celebrate scoring all your holiday shopping goodies at the nearby Boston Hassle Black Market! This is our area’s most amiable art-record-flea-artisan market, and is just a full-on happy-zone every damn time we do it @Cambridge Elks Lodge 11AM - 5PM All Ages $1 <yup, one dolla’>.*A Boston Hassle Joint Effort* ☻ MIDWAY OR THE HIGHWAY: Open Mic Night with Gabe Stoddard (and Angela Sawyer in spirit-form) @Midway Cafe 9PM 21+ Free ☻ Angela Sawyer @Comedy Studio 8-10PM $ome Cost ☻ GRCB HOLIDAY SOCIAL: @Atwoods Tavern (Cambridge) 4–6PM All Ages $8-10
Monday December 14 Are you strapped for cash but want to somehow show your support for local artists? No worries. Yes baby, it’s another FREE MONDAY in Providence so come on out and see the experimental electro rap duo Talibam! It’s like listening to free jazz played with an entire Guitar Center and an original NES. They’re dropping these mind altering sensations with the seductive samples of Minibeast, PLUS XR Tabs, and Soaps. It’s a fucking carnival @Aurora 8:30 $ome Cost ☻ Also free (and a whole lot closer) Rad Castle presents Adam PC, Gravel, and Johnny and The Foodmasters @Zuzu 10PM 21+ Free
Tuesday December 15 Effervescent experimentalist Steve Norton performs with Leap of Faith @Lilypad 8PM All Ages $Donate$. Steve is an avid contributor to several improvisational Jazz formations around but I’m pretty sure this is his main gig happening tonight so, yeah, expect chaos. ☻ See tomorrow’s blurb for upstate touring acts Perfect Pussy and Big Ups playing with local WMass support from delirious riff-punkers Honeysuck @Flywheel Arts Collective (Northampton) 7:30PM All Ages $12
Wednesday December 16 The Boston Hassle? Never heard of it. But whoever they are I did hear they’ve wrangled up some thunder they’re itching to unleash. Let it rain and get hassled tonight with Guerilla Toss, Red Sea, Faun and a Pan Flute @Out of the Blue Too 9PM All Ages $10 ☻ Across the great divide of Mass Ave you can play some frogger between sets when you come help make this show just a little bit noisier. Is there ever enough rockin’ for you people? “FUCK NO!” says you people. Hear the thrash pop of Perfect Pussy, get nerdy with Big Ups, and be the back seat driver for Phantom Rides @Middle East Upstairs 8PM All Ages $12 ☻ CHILL OUT ELECTRONICA: Thievery Corporation @House of Blues 7PM All Ages $35–45
Friday December 18 Ahh, ska. Scorned genre, basis of many a guilty pleasure, and an endless font of fake band name puns. We have a show for you, though, that will not be a skatastrophe by any means. In fact, this is a skamazing bill. So, reskadule your skolonoscopy, ditch your day job at SkArby’s with your moon-stomping skinhead reggae friends, skatter to the Skinclair and go see The Slackers, The Pomps, and The Feel Goods @Sinclair 8PM 18+ $16 ☻ Street Dogs are doing this three-night residency whatever thing at BMH beginning tonight, and their supporting acts for this evening are Murphy’s Law and The Damn Garrison. Like I don’t know how much you know about Murphy’s Law ok, but their theme song goes, “We’re Murphy’s Law—ARF ARF ARF” and they make a bunch of dog noises. So I don’t speak Dog, but I hope the Dog language used in this song won’t be perceived as threatening by Street Dogs, because then who knows what Animal Control is doing at 10 on a Friday night. If you see the ears going back, time to get out of there. But it will probably be cool, so go get your leg humped @Brighton Music Hall 8PM All Ages $18
Saturday December 19
Thursday December 24 ‘Twas the night before <midwinter holiday> and all through the town, not a band seemed to be booked, not even at MidEast Down. The Compass was frantic, looking for shows, in hopes to find something to recommend..er..yo? Oh wait! Now I get it. Now I know what to say. Go be with your loved ones and stay home today!
Friday December 25 On the last day of Christmas, the Compass gave to me: 12 acid noise shows, 11 instrumentals, 10 B.J. Snowdens, 9 lady standups, 8 gigs at Midway, 7 Swans with Gira, 666 O’Brien’s heshers, 5 theremins! 4 touring bands, 3 French avant-garde leftist art collectives performing at GoetheInstitut, 2 Drug Rugs, and a high five from Sam P.
Sunday December 27 You sat through <midwinter holiday> dinner with the family and it waaaaaas, nice. You answered everyone’s questions about your life and explained repeatedly how it isn’t as bad as they make it sound, and now you just want to go somewhere familiar, have a drink, and some laughs. Oh! And lucky you! It’s Open Mic Night with Angela Sawyer and Gabe Stoddard @Midway Cafe 9PM 21+ Free
As the song goes...Drink tonight! We’re gonna drink tonight! Frontman Mike McColgan (exDropkick Murphys) sings about a lot more than drinking across the Boston band’s five LPs. After leaving the Dropkicks when they were still a bar band and joining the Boston Fire Department, McColgan made a splash in 2002 when he formed On this day in history in 1234, Ulf Hølfgnaar Street Dogs. With catchy hooks, power pop of Groeningen invented the electric lightbulb. riffs, and loose base lines, Street Dogs maintain This fact has been covered up for many years a pop sensibility under the umbrella of classic by the utility companies, who have a vested Boston street punk. But don’t get me wrong, this interest in perpetuating the Edison myth. shit is hardcore. Raucous live shows make this a Next time someone refers to the electric utility band you HAVE to see in person so lace up the as “Consolidated Edison,” correct them: boots, grab some leather, and head to Brighton Consolidated Hølfgnaar. Music Hall @8PM All Ages $18 ☻ Feel like your vinyl collection is a little lacking? Maybe you’re in the market for the next great Boston release? Then the show for you is at the Lilypad where Babydriver are releasing their sophomore LP “Let Now, it’s NYE 2016. You prolly got plans. Maybe All the Sun In.” It’s rock, it’s folk, it’s pop, and it’s you don’t. Maybe you just wanna be in a crowd. yours should you choose to pay $20 to get into I’m talkin’ to you. I would never recommend you the show which gets you a copy of the album go to this show, normally, however, if it’s down PLUS opening sets from Somerville indie-folk to a boring office party, bottles of pills and Jack, darlings Eternals and the comforting pop punk of or going to this show… then go to this show. Bent Shapes. I don’t know why you’re not already Andrew WK @Paradise 9PM door 18+ $33 adv. headed to Lilypad @10PM All Ages $10–20 ☻ FUCK THE HASSLE: Boston Hassle’s New Years LO-FI UNDERGROUND FUZZ: Saralee, Dark Eve Year End Final Meltdown Mystery Show Rodeo, Pucker Up, Puzzle Mansion, Slender8pm-1am 18+ $10 men @Grandma’s House 9PM All Ages Donate ☻ ☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻ EFFETE TRADITION: The Upper Crust and The Figgs (co-bill) @Great Scott 9PM 21+ $12a/$15d For last minute shows, additions & changes, follow our
Wednesday December 30
Thursday December 31
Sunday December 20
Chosen Shows calendar on BostonHassle.com & on da Boston Compass FascistBook page– whether you LIKE it or not, it’s out there. SEND SUBMISSIONS TO: ThatBostonCompass@gmail.com
Beatles? Meh… Beatlemania? Oh HELLS-yeah! BE SCENE BUT NOT HERD Same thing pretty much applies here. Yule Ball XI w/ Harry and the Potters, Potter Puppet Pals, Join the Boston Hassle crew! Email BostonHassle@gmail.com. Draco and the Malfoys, Jason Anderson, Blue See more at BostonHassle.com Milk Run @Middle East Downstairs 4PM All Ages ☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻ $20… EXPELLIARUS! ☻ This next show is gonna be like you got tickets to an arena-ready numetal night, same quality, just… RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. InAeona, Moon Tooth, Protean Collective, Rum Ham @O’Briens 8PM 21+ $10 Seriously, worth it for Moon Tooth alone. ☻ IN CASE YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT: Street Dogs @Brighton Music Hall 8PM All Ages $18 ☻ MIDWAY OR THE HIGHWAY: Open Mic Night with Angela Sawyer and Gabe Stoddard @Midway Cafe 9PM 21+ Free
NEW ENGLAND SIDEBAR
issue #?cold dec 2015 tardyeagle.com submissions / ?s / etc.: tardyeagle@tardyeagle.com
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IFTS!!
Car Condoms Got a real sprocket monkey on your list? This is the gift for them. Spartan brand Car Condoms are just the thing your gearhead will need to help curb the effects of Carmydia. $10.99 for pack of 3
Feet! It seems these days people can’t keep track of their feet. Feet just keep getting lost everywhere. Ever wash your feet and can only find one later? UGH! Feet are always great gifts. Get them some feet. Feet. •OUT OF STOCK•
compiled by NICK ORTOLANI Looking to get the perfect gift for that special someone?! WELL STOP!!!!!!!!!!!! Because The Tardy Eagle has compiled a list of the hottest gifts for just about anyone. Make your family love you! Yeah right hooo boy but anyway:
Ham Cups Why eat ham when you can drink from it! The good folks at BlempCo fashioned these elegant chalices out of actual dog food-grade ham. A veritable ZOO of hams to choose from: Pig, Turkey, Cat, Baby Pony, and more! Order now: the people's hankering for the Ham Cup is high and we can barely kill enough yum-yum friends to keep up with the demand! $39.99 • Warning: Ham is unpreserved; absolutely will spoil within 2 wks.
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The Toodler Don’t have time to say "Goodbye"? Well, now you do, with the Futchner brand Toodler. Just choose from one of three settings: the classic “toodles”, the modern “and at ‘cha”, or business formal “may you always”; set the timer, and say ta-ta without even being in the room. The Toodler now has motion sensitivity. Just set up the series of metal trip wires, attach to The Toodler’s underharness, and you’ll be able to bid adieu whenever your friends come within range of your Toodler. And, for a limited time, certain Toodler models come with an “Irish Goodbye” setting. Set the dial to “Irish” and watch the Toodler not make a sound as you leave the room! Available online or at Futchner retailers in your area. $14.99; Deluxe “Fare Thee Well” model: $22.99 Your 400 words-ish brain blobs, your black & white drawings, your dumb Photoshops, games, puzzles: WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT LEAST? Deadline for Jan. issue = 12/15 but we do take things on a rolling basis.
KILLIAN MCASSEY
COMEDY L
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tardyeagle@tardyeagle.com
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The Encyclopedia Show THU. 12/10 AT 7PM
Davis Square Theatre, Somerville $10 regular admission / $7 students & seniors
CO D YP ET
WE WANT UR SILLIES 4 PRINTING
DRAW YOUR 2015 MEMORIES
The Circus! That is the topic of this month's Encyclopedia Show, one of the most interesting and entertaining shows in town with performers of all stripes. We are prejudiced this month because 3 of our favorite standups are on it: Rob Crean (co-host), Wes Hazard (Questionable Expert), and Emily Ruskowski (Goddamn Powerhouse of LOLz).
PICKS! The Mendoza Line
take a pic, send 2 us, that would be fun, tardyeagle@tardyeagle.com
SAT. 12/5 AT 9PM
Dugout Cafe, 722 Comm. Ave $5 / 21+
This show happens every Saturday and usually sells out because it is quality. We have been informed that this one will be particularly insane. Rohan Padye, Emily Ruskowski, Nick Chambers, Rob Harper, Adam Langlois and Emma Willmann. FAVORITE BINGE OF THE YEAR
The Dope Show
BEST DOG YOU SAW Elks
BIGGEST TEETH OF 2015
BEST WAY YOU COPED WITH AND/OR COMBATTED SOCIETY'S DECLINE
WED. 12/9 AT 8PM
Lodge, 55 Bishop Allen Cambridge, $5
Dr,
How many times do we have to tell you to go to this. Hosted by two of our favorites, Guitler Raphael and Bethany van Delft, utter charmers and purveyors of the kind of smart comedy we love. Music by Manor and standup by Kofi Thomas, Kelly MacFarland, Dan Boulger, Mike Whitman, and Brendan Thomas Crowley. There might also be other weird stuff. Stop missing this.
Strange Behavior
THU. 12/17 AT 9PM
Davis Square Theatre, Somerville $10
Josh Gondelman got his start here in Boston and we are :( he is gone BUT thrilled by his success. Lucky for us, the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver writer and hilarious dude records his new standup album at this month's Strange Behavior. Hosted by Ryan Donahue, this show is always tight, bringing you some of the best national names and local standouts.
Comedy Studio XMAS Party SUN. 12/20 AT 8PM
The Comedy Studio, Harvard Sq. $10 / 18+
Every year, this shit usually goes off the rails. (Hopefully for you) even more than your family's holiday gathering. Except it's gonna be fun.
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compass filtered boston area film culture
FEATURED FILM EVENT
Film is an audiovisual wondervehicle for broadcasting ideas. Unfortunately, even today’s self-conscious cinema doesn’t always stand up to the Bechdel test. Enter: Etheria. This night is all about the creepy, suspenseful, fantastical, action-packed opuses of today’s most ambitious female-identifying directors. Genre films are prime real estate for bending rules, and these directors are doing some seriously exciting work. Ursula Dabrowsky’s horror film INNER DEMONS kicks off the event, followed by six shorts from various American and international directors. After all this glory, the night concludes with a reception at the Museum of Bad Art.
ETHERIA FILM FESTIVAL, 2015
12/11 - 12/12
@SOMERVILLE (MicroCinema)
- Elena Britos
BOSTON VIEWFINDER OUTSIDE THE SOUND: THE FILMS OF LUKE FOWLER
12/5 - 12/6
@HFA
FILMMAKER IN PERSON!
Much of Glaswegian filmmaker Luke Fowler’s work is informed by his personal interests in experimental music and sound-image relationships. Often working with archival footage or his own self-shot 16mm imagery (photographed using a non-sync Bolex camera), he crafts cinematic portraits of places and people that walk the boundaries between documentary and structuralist film. In Pilgrimage from Scattered Points, he investigates British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew and his Scratch Orchestra, which posited that anyone could create music regardless of their background or experience. In Grammar for Listening, Fowler continues to explore these ideas of what constitutes music and what is mere noise, with consideration also given to silence and it’s role in experimental film as well as in the pioneering work on John Cage. Grammar... seeks to “create a meaningful dialogue between looking and listening,” born out of discourse between him and his collaborators on the piece, three different sound artists.
- Stefan Grabowski
PSYCHOTRONIC MOVIES IN OUR ZONE SCROOGED (1988) dir. by Richard Donner
12/18 + 12/19
@COOLIDGE
No one wants to watch/hear/see A Christmas Carol, or I should say, no one that is me wants to watch/hear/see it. Dickens’ tale isn’t necessarily bad of course, but it sure is hackneyed as all fuck. I’m just so sick of it (as I am sure, are you).
Truly, there are a very small number of tellings of said tale that don’t make me wretch. SCROOGED is there at the top of that list. What better way to inject some life into a worn out story than to let apex Bill Murray run rampant over every inch of it. I’m sure you know this movie so I’m not going to go deep into plot here. Murray is the Scrooge character though, and he is fairly bonkers, absolutely channeling the onscreen magic that made Bill Murray, BILL MURRAY. Murray’s character runs a TV station so we get a number of UHF style gonzo TV moments to help rinse the sentimentality out of our mouths. The rest of the cast is fairly ripe as well with Bobcat Goldwaith, Carol Kane, David Johansen, and Robert Mitchum all pitching in to stir up the could-have-been-stale proceedings. Hell, there’s even a Miles Davis blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. So keep ‘em peeled. As X-mas flicks go, this is one I can turn to each year without the want to stick needles in my eyes overcoming me completely. I feel bad saying it (because of my deep admiration for the man), but do your best to steer clear of Al Green (and Annie Lenox)’s rendition of “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” that concludes the film. That is, unless you are trying to induce vomiting. For that, the song will work wonders.
02 THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) dir. Tay Garnett @BRATTLE Always. This noir film takes the girlstuck-in-an-unfulfilling-marriagethen-meets-a-sexy-stranger trope and turns it into something more. Murder schemes, sleazy lawyers, and diner food make this an American classic. 03 MILLER’S CROSSING (1990) dir. Joel & Ethan Coen @BRATTLE Gangsters, booze, and bullets fill this this prohibition-era noir. Infused with the black comedy so often found in Coen brothers’ films, this one follows one man’s attempts to survive a violent feud that threatens to upend the established order. 05 WRONG MOVE (1975) dir. Wim Wenders @BRATTLE In this glorious adaptation of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, Rüdiger Vogler traverses a confusional course across Germany, comes of age as an artist, and arrives nowhere. While Popol Vuh’s soundtracks for Werner Herzog richly deserve their legend, Jürgen Knieper’s score evinces a mystery, melancholy and power all its own. 06 OUT OF MY HAND (2015) dir. Takeshi Fukunaga @MFA From a Japanese-born, Brooklynbased director of music videos and producer of sneaker ads comes, unlikely as it may seem, an earnest festival-circuit sensation about a Liberian who leaves his life on a rubber plantation behind to become a cabbie in NYC. 07 THE BLOB (1958) dir. Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., Russell S. Doughten Jr. @COOLIDGE Despite being profoundly silly, this creature classic remains uniquely disquieting. It’s also hugely historically significant, effectively launching both the Teen Horror genre and Steve McQueen’s career. Screening followed by a discussion of the Boston Molasses Disaster with journalist Ferris Jabr! ROPE (1948) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
10
@MFA A masterclass in cinematic experimentation that more than holds up to this day, Hitchcock’s thriller about arrogant young men committing murder utilizes clever filmic techniques to tell a story which takes place in real time and a single location.
Also screens 12/11, 12/16
GHOST WORLD (2001) dir. Terry Zwigoff @COOLIDGE Two teenage outcasts with trouble relating to others attempt to find something to do with their lives as high school comes to a close. Naturally, they respond to an older man’s dating ad and open a world of complications.
- Dan Shea
FEATURED FILM SERIES THE ART OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK “Good evening.” Come on down to the MFA throughout
12/2 - 12/27
@MFA
the month to watch one of cinema’s unparalleled visionaries of the macabre. Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, gave us some of the most hair raising set pieces ever put to celluloid, scenarios we would never have thought as being the slightest bit sinister – only he did. Whether it be a crop duster flying toward Cary Grant, a woman enjoying a relaxing shower alone, a flock of birds casually landing on a jungle gym or Jimmy Stewart harmlessly looking at his neighbor’s home through his camera lense. But these are just some of the maestro’s oeuvre, other iconic films like SHADOW OF A DOUBT, SUSPICION, REBECCA, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, ROPE and VERTIGO will be on hand and screening to your voyeuristic heart’s content. Witness all of them on the big screen as they were meant to be seen.
www.MFA.org/programs/series/the-art-of-alfred-hitchcock
- Pablo Torroella
12/18
@BRATTLE
IT’S A
WONDERFUL
LIFE
dir. Frank Capra
(1946)
Just remember, Boston, no man is a failure who has friends! And yes, that includes imaginary friends, cats, and angels.
Screens through 12/20
12 ADAMS AEBLER (ADAM’S APPLES) (2005) dir. Anders Thomas Jensen @SCC What happens when a neo-Nazi goes goes to live with a terminally upbeat priest? Adam is a skinhead whose rehabilitation plan includes baking an apple cake. Too bad the churchyard’s apple tree is under siege, perhaps by the devil himself. LA RICOTTA (1963) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
@HFA Let’s get critical. Pasolini casts Orson Welles as a fictive version of himself in this film about societal corruption, superfice, and false Christianity. Spoiler: on-screen death by cheese-bloat imminent.
12/21
@BRATTLE
GREMLINS (1984)
/
GREMLINS2:
the new batch (1990)
dir. Joe Dante
Celebrate with one of cinema’s most joyfully nasty holiday concoctions, along with its nonseasonal, but even better and crazier, sequel! NEW BATCH also screens 12/18
14 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999) dir. Wim Wenders @BRATTLE Thinking of visiting Cuba now - NOW that the embargo has been lifted? Than stock up on the jewel of the FAT (2015) Caribbean’s culture through this dir. Mark Phinney superb documentary about forgotten @COOLIDGE musicians who are brought back together to do what they do best. - 12/11 17 YOUTH (2015) AN EVENING WITH dir. Psolo Sorrentino THE BOSTON YETI @COOLIDGE @BRATTLE The one good thing to come out - 12/18 of last winter’s snowy hell was the STAR WARS: EPISODE VII hairy cryptid sighted around the (2015) Camberville area. This year, the dir. J.J. Adams Yeti has gone public, hosting a screening of the Rankin-Bass classic @LITERALLY EVERYWHERE RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED - SOON REINDEER! HEART OF A DOG (2015) 19 dir. Laurie Anderson DIE HARD 2 (1990) @KENDALL dir. Renny Harlin @BRATTLE John McClane is back – and so are More new releases not a bunch of terrorists. Taking place in an airport, instead of a 40 story available at time of printing. building in his way, John has only Stay up to date with 58 minutes to stop the terrorists www.coolidge.org before his wife’s flight crashes. or Double feature w/ DIE HARD! www.landmarktheatres.com/ 20 boston/kendall-square-cinema/ VINTAGE and support independent HOLIDAY SHOW @HFA cinema. Beyond the togetherness, the presents, and the excuse to drink lots of egg nog, Christmas stands as one LISTINGS NOTE of the greatest goldmines for deeply (below is the venue abbreviation key) Brattle Theatre BRATTLE weird cultural kitsch. Join the HFA for their yearly showcase of Coolidge Corner Theatre COOLIDGE Harvard Film Archive HFA seasonal oddities from years past! Kendall Square Cinema KENDALL Museum of Fine Arts MFA 23 Scandinavian Cultural Center SCC HOME ALONE (1990) Somerville Theatre SOMERVILLE dir. Chris Columbus @BRATTLE Mistakenly left behind when his family leaves for the holidays, an Managing Editor 8-year-old boy must use his wits Oscar Goff and whatever he can scrounge Contributing Writers up to stop a duo of burglars Elena Britos from robbing his parent’s house. Stefan Grabowski Thankfully, they’re not so bright. Oscar Goff, Matthew Martens 25 Alex Schab, ROCCO & HIS BROTHERS (1960) Dan Shea dir. Luchino Visconti Pablo Torroella @BRATTLE Before adopting the sumptuous, even rococo opulence of his FILM FLAM SEEKS mature style, Visconti produced VOLUNTEERS! this absolute gem of neorealism, a cumulatively spellbinding heartbreaker about an uprooted rural If you would like to get family crushed by the wheels involved with our film section of Northern industry. Also Nino or submit listings, shoot us an Rota. Also Claudia Cardinale. email at BOSTONHASSLEFILM Screens through 1/7 @GMAIL.COM THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) dir. Quentin Tarantino @COOLIDGE/ SOMERVILLE Please see our sister site What happens when you put eight BostonHassle.com/Film complete strangers in a cabin for our full listings w/ together during a blizzard in showtimes and other info. post-Civil War Wyoming? Why, Quentin Tarantino’s newest film of course. An Agatha Christie style Western where no one is who they seem. Saddle up. 70mm premiere!
NEW RELEASES
7
Liz Bowlduck Droppin' the 'Scope with Alaina Stamatis Aries Avoid moshing with completely insane people. It can only end in (your parents') tears. Most compatible with: Gemini Lucky Show: Maria Chavez @ SMFA Taurus Hanging out alone in Pavement for several hours every day could indicate that you have trouble listening to bad music at home. Most compatible with: Virgo Lucky Show: Via App @ Good Life Gemini Sweater dresses are the sexiest thing you can possibly wear because of their resulting soft and warm appearance. "Mmm baby you look like a bed." Most compatible: with Pisces Lucky Show: Ed Schrader’s Music Beat @ Deep Thoughts Cancer The only bad thing about saving people's numbers in your phone under unflattering, funny nicknames is that one day, when you're laying down complicated adhesive nail art, someone is going to misplace their phone and quickly pick up yours, dialing their own number in order to hear the hiding object's ring, and when they do their traumatizing secret alias is going to blaze across the screen. Most compatible: with Aquarius Lucky Show: Guerilla Toss @ Out of the Blue Too Leo Ingesting crumbs of Molly before bed could decrease your heating bill by up to 40%. Most compatible: with Capricorn Lucky Show: Phish @ Madison Square Garden Virgo You're going to attend a Lower Allston house party and lean on a wall and feel fresh wet paint soak your clothes with lewd phrases and unscientific genital diagrams that were freshly doodled in acrylics, all in the name of youthful alcoholism
Mike Kadomiya
and Saturday night nihilism. Rub the rest of your outfit against the wall, like in the Mentos commercial, so it doesn't seem like Lower Allston has gotten the better of you. Most compatible: with Sagittarius Lucky Show: Pucker Up @ Grandma's House Libra You're unemployed but you have the voice of an angel. Quit smoking, put on your Friday night best, and start singing in Harvard Square, dressed as a sexy elf but posing as a hungry NEC student. Most Compatible: with Libra Lucky Show: the Modern Voice @ the Midway Scorpio T-shirts that are supposed to be for little kids look sexy on you because they're tight and have little messages about riding trains or doing homework. Most compatible: with Taurus Lucky Show: Nighttime Sunshine @ the Lilypad Sagittarius Your angel may not be a centerfold but she does get too
Vickie Smalls
wasted and dance with her vagina showing so people are
Editor-in-Chief Sam Potrykus Creative Director Emma Leavitt
laughing at you a little bit. Most compatible: with Aries Lucky Show: Pill @ Flywheel Arts Collective Capricorn You never bought Bitcoins at their lows but you can still brush your teeth thoroughly and often. When the USD can
Brian Connolly
Production Manager Reynaldo De La FuenteManaging Editors Emma
no longer guarantee goods or services, use of a rare calcified monetary unit may be in order. Most compatible: with Cancer
Diamond, Margot Keil, Keeley Cormac, Michael Achille, Katie McCarthy,
Lucky Show: Matt Lajoie (Herbcraft) @ ZuZu
Dan Shea, Oscar Goff, Brian Connolly Event Compilers Anthony
Aquarius
Genello, M Achille, D Roche Here Be the Shows Writers Michael
The liquid that churns in the fountain of youth is probably
Achille, James Moore, Dan Roche, Jon Rizzo, Sarah Samways Film
vinegar.
Flam Contributing Writers Elena Britos, Matthew Martens, Alex Schab,
Most compatible: with Scorpio
Pablo Torroella, Stefan Grabowski, D Shea Tardy Eagle Contributors
Lucky Show: Zebu! @ Out of the Blue Too
Christine An, Sarah Cronin, Keira Horowitz, Nick Ortolani, Angela
Pisces
Sawyer Copy Editors D. Roche, Ben Potrykus
Don't keep djembes in the living room, even if their skins
Design Team Deanna Susser, Julia Emiliani, Aimee Harrison, Katie
match your upholstery. They're a leathery invitation for a
Barranger, Allison Bako, B Connolly Contributing Artists Dan Nott, Justin Mulkern, Vickie Smalls, Brian Connolly, Liz Bolduc Distribution Coordinator James Moore
drum ring of hippie hell to open in your apartment after the
Justin Mulkern
bars close, and your roommate Daffodil will not disappoint. Most compatible: with Leo Lucky Show: Parquet Courts @ the Middle East