december 21, 2012

year in review » pop culture » Movies » restaurants » Music » and more

What to Wear to the end of the World New Year’s Eve fashion specialPage 48

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on the cover Photo by Mike Pecci. For Full credits see Page 53.

“tarantino goes even bigger, from the prop tooth bouncing atop a dentist’s wagon to the post-Peckinpah geysers of spurting viscera.”

This week AT ThePhOeNiX.COM :: MeN! VideO gAMes! guNs! AMeriCA! Maddy Myers on Hotline Miami and american narratives of masculinity and violence :: BeYONd NewTOwN chris Faraone on race, murder, and media bias :: The greeN MAChiNe boston’s city council moves to regulate medical marijuana

p 69Brett Michel on Django Unchained, one of our 10 best films of 2012

THEPHOENIX.cOm :: 12.21.12 3

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agree their patients benefit from cannabis, but who do not feel they have the knowledge to “prescribe.”

MMS needs to fulfill its mission “to do all things as may be necessary and appropriate to advance medical knowledge, to develop and maintain the highest professional and ethical standards of medical practice and health care, and to promote medi-cal institutions formed on liberal principles for the health, benefit, and welfare of the citizens of the Com-monwealth.” That should begin with honest education of its membership, likely including an admission of lies promulgated by Dr. Broadhurst in the Offical Voters’ Guide and elsewhere._“phalty”

RE: “Naomi KlEiN’s fiERcE NEw REsolvE to fight foR climatE justicE,” by wEN stEphENsoN (12.14.12)A carbon tax would go a long way. A serious carbon tax would increase the price of fossil energy and reduce usage. It would stimulate more renewable energy and conservation. If the revenue were distributed on a flat basis, then it would be progressive and give everyone more cash to adjust. A bill (HR 6338) is proposed in the U.S. House. It is not enough, but it’s a start. But it won’t pass, because fossil energy owns the government. So. where does that leave us? Fighting for our lives, I guess._“sagE RadachowsKy”

RE: “iNtERviEw: histoRy lEssoN with KEN buRNs,” by pEtER KEough (12.14.12)The lacrosse players were only “mildly inconvenienced”?

Thousands of death threats, names tarnished, families suffering nervous breakdowns, reputations destroyed, abandoned by the Dept. of Justice, the FBI, the churches, their school, the media — all for a crime that never happened. But it was a crime that everyone wanted to believe happened (so all our stereo-types could be affirmed).

That says a lot about 21st-century American culture. Too bad America was only “mildly inconvenienced” by the discovery that prosecutors need not believe in “innocent until proven guilty” and that some cases are just too damn important to those with agendas to let innocence to be allowed as a defense.

We should all have been con-cerned. We weren’t. Next time it may be you._“algiERs50”

RE: “smoKE sigNals,” by david s. bERNstEiN (12.14.12)MMS has ignored medical research, literature reviews, and physician recommendation matri-ces available in medical literature, preferring to tell its membership that there is none. Patients are now forced to educate and persuade their physicians, some of whom

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4 12.21.12 :: THEPHOENIX.cOm

in this issuenow & next p 9

Year in review p 25

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» When the feathered serpent flies down to napalm our faces off on Friday (that’s how this Mayan Armageddon thing is supposed to happen, right?), we can’t say we didn’t see it coming — or we at least DVR’d it. Ruin of civilization, thy name is Honey Boo Boo.

» 15 signs of the slop-culture apocalypse p 10» Boston blow-dry bars a-go-go p 10» Christmas tree Dna p 10

voiCes p 12» Yo dawg, I heard you like memes, so ChristianMemes.com put some Christ in your memes, so you can get saved while you surf. Which is as terrible as you’d expect . . . but not nearly as terrible as that Imagine Dragons bullshit.

» the Year in Christian Memes p 12» the Big Hurt p 16» talking Politics p 18» @Kadzis p 20» Burning Questions p 22

» Remember when Mad Men got all S&M-y? Remember Amanda Fucking Palmer’s pointy-booted groin-kick to the record industry? How about the 12 zillion hours we spent playing Diablo III? So awesome. Here, we recap our favorite A&E highlights of 2012.

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» Film p 26» Games p 28» tv p 30» art p 32» Books p 34» Dance p 36» theater p 37

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sPotliGHt p 48

» Classical p 38 » Jazz p 39» national Pop p 40 » local Pop p 42 » overlooked Music p 44 » Hip-Hop p 46

eve oF DestruCtion » What to wear to the end of the world.


32 Newbury St.Boston, MA 02116

(857) 233-5016www.bettiepageclothing.com

arts & niGHtliFe p 63

FooD & DrinK p 55

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» For Boston dining, it’s been a year of toe-curling burgers, really long ramen lines, craft cocktails (not to mention craft caffeine), and Facebook flame wars.

» Boston Dining: a look back p 56» Beeradvocate: Beer in review p 58» the week in food events p 61

» Supposing you survive this week’s fiery cataclysm of doom . . . you’re still going to need weekend plans. Plus, just for you and the rest of the last people on earth, we’ve got a roundup of clutch NYE events — several semi-formal, so make sure to keep a spare tux and a sequined gas mask in your fallout shelter.

» listings and events p 74

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Stephen M. Mindich, Publisher & ChairmanEverett Finkelstein, Chief Operating OfficerCarly Carioli, Editor in ChiefPeter Kadzis, Editor at Large

vol . lXXvIII | no. 48

EDITORIALmanaging EDiTORs Shaula Clark, Jacqueline Houton aRTs EDiTOR Jon Garelick FiLm EDiTOR Peter Keough music EDiTOR Michael MarottaassisTanT music EDiTOR Liz Pelly sTaFF EDiTORs Thomas McBee, SI Rosenbaum sTaFF WRiTERs David S. Bernstein, Chris Faraone EvEnTs EDiTOR Alexandra Cavallo assOciaTE FOOD EDiTOR Cassandra LandryLisTings cOORDinaTOR Michael C. Walsh cOnTRiBuTing EDiTORs Carolyn Clay [theater], Lloyd Schwartz [classical] , Louisa Kasdon [food]cOnTRiBuTing WRiTERs Matt Bors, Daniel Brockman, Lauryn Joseph, Scott Kearnan, Dan Kennedy, Mitch Krpata, MC Slim JB, Tom Meek, Brett Michel, Robert Nadeau, Luke O’Neil, James Parker, Gerald Peary, Ariel Shearer, Marcia B. Siegel, Harvey Silverglate, Karl Stevens, David Thorpe, Eugenia Williamson

NEW MEDIAsEniOR WEB pRODucER Maddy Myers sOciaL mEDia pRODucER Ariel Shearer

MARkETINg/pROMOTIONsDiREcTOR OF maRKETing anD pROmOTiOns Shawn McLaughlin inTERacTivE maRKETing managER Lindsey Mathison pROmOTiOns cOORDinaTOR Nicholas Gemelli

CREATIvE gROuppRODucTiOn DiREcTOR Travis Ritch cREaTivE DiREcTOR Kristen Goodfriend aRT DiREcTOR Kevin Banks phOTO EDiTOR Janice Checchio aDvERTising aRT managER Angelina Berardi sEniOR DEsignER Janet Smith Taylor EDiTORiaL DEsignER Christina Briggs WEB DEsignER Braden ChangpRODucTiOn aRTisT Faye OrloveFREELancE DEsignER Daniel Callahan

ADvERTIsINg sALEssEniOR vicE pREsiDEnT A. William RisteenvicE pREsiDEnT OF saLEs anD BusinEss DEvELOpmEnT David Garland DiREcTOR OF BEvERagE saLEs Sean Weymouth sEniOR accOunT ExEcuTivEs OF inTEgRaTED mEDia saLEs Margo Dowlearn Flint, Howard TemkinaDvERTising OpERaTiOns managER Kevin Lawrence inTEgRaTED mEDia saLEs cOORDinaTOR Adam Oppenheimer gEnERaL saLEs managER Brian Russell DiREcTOR OF Dining saLEs Luba Gorelik TRaFFic cOORDinaTORs Colleen McCarthy, Jonathan Caruso cLassiFiED saLEs managER Melissa Wright RETaiL accOunT ExEcuTivEs Nathaniel Andrews, Sara Berthiaume, Scott Schultz , Daniel Tugender,

CIRCuLATION ciRcuLaTiOn DiREcTOR James Dorgan ciRcuLaTiOn managER Michael Johnson

OpERATIONs iT DiREcTOR Bill Ovoian FaciLiTiEs managER John Nunziato

FINANCEDiREcTORs OF FinancE Scotty Cole, Steven Gallucci cREDiT anD cOLLEcTiOns managER Michael Tosi sTaFF accOunTanTs Brian Ambrozavitch , Peter Lehar FinanciaL anaLysT Lisy Huerta-Bonilla TRaDE BusinEss DEvELOpmEnT managER Rachael Mindich

HuMAN REsOuRCEsREcEpTiOnisT/aDminisTRaTivE assisTanT Lindy Raso

OFFicEs 126 brookline ave., boston, ma 02215, 617-536-5390, advertising dept fax 617-536-1463 WEB siTE thephoenix.com manuscRipTs address to managing editor, news & features, boston phoenix, 126 brookline ave., boston, ma 02215. we assume no responsibility for returning manuscripts. LETTERs TO ThE EDiTOR e-mail to [email protected]. please include a daytime telephone number for verification. suBscRipTiOns bulk rate $49/6 months, $89/1 year, allow 7-14 days for delivery; first-class rate $175/6 months, $289/1 year, allow 1-3 days for delivery. send name and address with check or money order to: subscription department, boston phoenix, 126 brookline ave., boston, ma 02215. cOpyRighT © 2012 by the boston phoenix, inc. all rights reserved. reproduction without permission, by any method whatsoever, is prohibited. pRinTED By Cummings printing Co.

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» Boston Fun list p 64» nYe 2012 p 65» Boston City Guide p 66» visual arts p 67» theater p 68

» Film p 69» Music p 72» nightlife p 77» Get seen p 78

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Porter square just got some added flour power, courtesy of a 70-seat temple to handmade noodles. No, we don’t mean more ramen, but rather the much-anticipated Ital-ian joint Giulia, where you can gawk at all the pasta rolling and cranking right in the dining room. (Just try not to drool on the dough.) Co-owned by Via Matta alum chef Michael Pagliarini and his wife, Pamela Ralston, Giulia opened its doors to the carb-craving public on December 4, filling the space previ-ously occupied by Rafiki Bistro with bucatini all’amatriciana, wild-boar pappardelle, warm semolina cakes with lardo, house-made lamb sausage, and more antipasti than you can shake a rolling pin at. »

photo by michael diskin

Giulia, 1682 Mass Ave, Cambridge :: 617.441.2800

THEPHOENIX.COM :: 12.21.12 9

Now & Next :: oN our radar

Word of the Week Osmium n. 1. A hard, heavy, and rare metal with the greatest density of the known elements. 2. A Stoneham-

based line of “uncommon and enduring” menswear. Founded this year and available at osmium.com, it features made-in-America designs with subtle twists — think dedicated smartphone pockets, a sleek belt with an airport-ready removable buckle, and updates on traditional garb, like a loungy one-size-fits-all Thai fisherman pant or a drop-front pant inspired by vintage sailor uniforms.

by the numbers

45Height in feet of this year’s Boston Common Christmas tree, once again donated by Nova Scotia to honor Boston’s 1917 emergency response after a ship explosion in Halifax

1/6Size of the human genome compared to that of a conifer, which has recently been partially sequenced by teams of US and Canadian scientists

>100 millionYears that the genome of conifers has remained essen-tially stable, unlike those of flowering plants over the same period

Verbatim

“this holiday season, your gluttonous appetite and lust for malt liquor can actually make a difference.” — DtX restaurant jm Curley’s youtube announcement of its 40-40-40-40-40 Challenge, which tasks diners with consuming 40 ounces of burger, 40 ounces of fries, and 40 ounces of malt liquor within 40 minutes; winners get their meal for free, losers pay $40, and local hunger-relief charity Lovin’ spoonfuls gets a $40 donation either way

MaYBe tHe MaYaNS Were oNto SoMetHiNg...15 signs of the apocalypse we probably should have heeded in 2012As the dAte of the alleged Mayan doomsday drew nearer, we found ourselves looking back over the past year. And it’s not looking good. In fact, so much terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad (and just plain ridiculous) slop-culture shit happened in 2012 that we can’t help but wonder if the Mayans mightn’t have crystal-balled our day of reckoning. Ah well, if this is really the end of days, at least we didn’t live long enough to have to see Liz Taylor’s legacy besmirched by a cracked-out Lindsay Lohan. Oh wait . . . _alexaNdra Cavallo

HONEY BOO BOO. Because if the fact that a mildly obese six-year-old perpetually tweaking off a Red Bull/Mountain Dew cocktail and her morbidly obese backwoods family have their own TV show isn’t a sign, we don’t know what is. Actually, we do. The fact that said show has some of the highest ratings on television.

SNOOKI PROCREATED. Because her progeny cannot be allowed to roam the earth. And because three years ago we didn’t know what a Snooki was, and now her kid has celebrity status.

BURGER KING’S BACON SUNDAE. Because when we’ve reached the point where we are actively seeking out ingenious new ways to fatten our already fat asses, it might be time to call it a day.

BABY HASHTAG. Because that shit is ridiculous, okay? And because it makes the name Blue Ivy seem reasonable. It’s not reasonable.

BUTT CHUGGING. Because when keg stands and shot-gunning Bud Heavies have become so passé to even our nation’s frat boys that they’re funneling wine up their buttholes, it might be time to close the book on drinking. Forever.

BATH SALTS. Because it’s a gateway drug to zombies.

ZOMBIES. Because, on that note, we’re pretty sure if the Mayan gods of thunder and fire don’t get us first, they will. Remember the NY cannibal cop? ELMO MIGHT BE A PEDO. Because we just can’t accept that. OREO BOYCOTTS. Because it’s just a cookie, okay, a delicious cookie. And also, can we just get over the gay-as-evil thing already, you yokels? Oh, we can’t? Bring on the gods of thunder and fire.

KARDASHIANS. Because.

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. Because the image of all those repressed housewives creaming their full-coverage panties over that piece of crap is enough to make us wish for the end of time. On the other hand, at least it got them to . . . read?

RIHANNA AND CHRIS BROWN. Because between that shit and Twilight, we’re raising a nation of little girls whose motto is, to quote Florence and the Machine, “a kiss with a fist is better than none.”

AMY POEHLER AND WILL ARNETT SPLIT. Because if they can’t make it, none of us can.

KATIE HOLMES AND TOM CRUISE SPLIT. HAHAHAHA just kidding. That was good.

THE PAUL McCARTNEY/NIRVANA “REUNION.” Because, um, it wasn’t?

there she bloWsWe suspect we’ll learn how to perfectly style our own hair right around the time we grow a third hand. in the meantime, those looking to leave the blowouts to the pros (and/or enjoy a toe-curling scalp massage once in a while — we don’t judge) have a number of new options, now that the dedicated blow-dry bars the West Coast and nyC have had for years are cropping up here. First came the major chain blo, which set up shop in the south end this summer. then this month, just before holiday-party primetime, newbury street got its own scissor-free salon: Gust-o. Joining a sister spot in minneapolis, it offers a menu of 10 styles for $35 a pop, plus add-ons like faux-lash and makeup application. and while it’s not hanging up its shears by any means, local stalwart mario russo is now offering an emergency blowout service, with on-call stylists available for same-day appointments at both locations for $40. in short: it’s now pretty darn easy to get your hair did. _JaCqUel iNe HoUtoN

WHere to goBlo, 437 Columbus Ave, Boston :: 617.262.0105 or blomedry.com

Gust-o, 221 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.927.5451 or gust-o.com

Mario Russo, 9 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.424.6676 OR 60 Northern Ave, Boston :: 857.350.3139 :: mariorusso.com

Gust-o

10 12.21.12 :: THEPHOENIX.COm

now & next :: voices

Year in review

It’s AdAm And EvE, not AdAm And scumbAg stEvE: thE YEAr In chrIstIAn mEmEsBy Chr is Faraone c fa r ao n e@p h x .c o m : : @fa r a1

There’s no sacred pasTime that evangelicals haven’t hijacked. From Stryper, to T-shirts that say “Jesus” in the likeness of the Reese’s logo, there’s been no end to their assimilative efforts. So it should be no surprise that, in the age of tweeting popes, religious visionar-ies have begun to convert memes to Christianity.

We’re not talking about the mirth-ful blasphemy that’s been popular on image boards for years. Take, for example, the Guido Jesus meme, starring a super-jacked Fabio-type creature in a V-neck snapping a selfie, usually accompanied by jokes that hardly qualify as pious propa-ganda (“BEARS A CROSS / GOOD FOR TRICEPS”; “TURNED WATER / INTO JAGERBOMBS”). In 2012, Christians manifested a wholly new phenomenon by creating their own memeosphere, and by flipping Scum-bag Steve and his other advice animal ilk into pro-gospel statements.

“Christianity has always been a fertile ground for Internet memes,” says Brad Kim, the editor of Know Your Meme (knowyourmeme.com). At the same time, Kim notes that there are “roadblocks to exploring the subject of Christianity in the context of Internet culture, mainly due to the polarized nature of its audiences and the community bias towards religious-skepticism.”

In other words: Christ is one of the Web’s favorite punching bags. That said, this year, the crew behind Christian Memes (christianmemes.com) — a network of blogs and social-media sites with more than 50,000 Facebook likes — decided to judo-flip the sacrilege. They don’t outright reject mainstream memes, but in a growing subculture of tubular youth

Christ is one of the Web’s favorite punching bags.

>> Christian memes on p 14


ministers in board shorts and sandals, they knew that wholesome memetic fanfare could catch on with the Christ crowd.

“Most memes are hilarious but often feature vulgar and profane themes, as well as derogatory remarks and comments towards Jesus and Christianity,” writes Christian Memes co-founder Michael Schaffer in an email to the Phoenix. “We wanted to give other Christians the opportunity to see memes that are positive towards what we believe for a change.”

A lot of Schaffer’s pro-Christ memes are familiar, only with a biblical bent and an intuitively righteous twist. Scumbag Steve becomes a shitty Christian (“ ‘THE STAND’ IS PLAYED DURING WORSHIP / SITS DOWN”); Success Kid has perfect Sunday atten-dance (“HAVE TO MEMORIZE BIBLE VERSE FOR CHRISTIAN CLASS / ALREADY HAVE IT MEMORIZED”).

In the same vein, Xzibit is a shame-less proselytizer of recursive religios-ity (“YO DAWG I HEARD YOU LIKE FREEDOM / IT IS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST SET US FREE”); Musically Oblivious 8th Grader knows jack about church jams; Overly Attached Girlfriend is nuttier than usual; Good Guy Greg is a convert (“BECOMES A CHRISTIAN / QUITS USING DRUGS”).

“The big difference in a lot of our memes is that we have edited versions for our site,” writes Schaffer. “For instance, Good Guy Greg has a candy cane in his mouth [instead of a joint]. We get a lot of hate for our edited memes, but it’s something I feel is appropriate to do, since our main audience is Christians, and above all, God.”

Devout as they are, the Christian Memes team hopes to deliver unto the Web as it has given unto them. To that end they’ve birthed Oversaved Oscar, an original effort whose char-acter is crazily ecclesiastical (“GOES TO BIRTHDAY PARTY THAT HAS DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE / REFUSES TO EAT IT.”) It’s not exactly Guido Jesus, but it’s actually quite funny.

“We are taking something that is secular and sometimes blasphemous, and using its appeal in a way that gives God glory,” writes Bryan Housley, the Christian Memes webmaster, in an email. Adds Schaffer: “This social- media platform has given us the ability to not only show people that Christians aren’t stuck-up humorless freaks, but that we like to have a good time as well.” P


<< Christian memes from p 12

Devout as they are, the Christian Memes team hopes to deliver unto the Web as it has given unto them.



The Big hurT

The worsT singles of 2012By Dav iD Thorpe dthorpe@phx .com : : @arr

AlThough 2012 wAsn’T a particularly awful year for music, we still had to contend with a few dozen all-time stinkers. I wish I had room to fully address all the year’s egregious pop crimes — Matchbox Twenty’s “She’s So Mean,” 2 Chainz & Drake’s “No Lie,” Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team” — but I’ll focus my efforts on a few of the very worst. Second RunneR-up of MonSteRS and Men“LittLe taLkS” Not only did I always think this was going to be Mighty Mighty Bosstones when it came on the radio, I was always a little disappoint-ed that it wasn’t. What could bring on such a perverse reaction? Well, picture a slightly lamer Icelandic version of Mumford & Sons. Check out how mad you’re getting.

fiRSt RunneR-up dave MatthewS Band, “MeRcy” Dave Matthews shuffles up to “Mercy” with cap in hand; his voice is soft and humble, like Garrison Keillor singing a self-composed hymn. Dave Matthews has a Message for us. Dave believes deeply

that the world’s problems should be fixed. How can we do it? I don’t expect Brook-ings Institution nuance from my pop songs, but Dave comes at us with a pretty lightweight policy platform. First, stop whining about the world’s problems — uh, check yourself, Matthews — “ ’cause cry-ing won’t save or feed a hungry child.” (In-structions for feeding a hungry child are not included.) Second: big surprise, it’s the ol’ smile-on-your-brother chestnut: “Love is strong, so we got to get together/till there is no reason to fight.” Hug it out, Syria.

Stick around for the aftertaste. Under its false gentleness, this is a haughty, scolding track. “We spend a lot of time bickering at great cost, and very little time actually coming up with solutions,” Mat-thews told CNN. “And I think that’s sort of pathetic and desperate.” You heard the man. Stop being the problem. Roll up your sleeves and get it done, people.

Note to shoppers: if you’re interested in being passive-aggressively blamed for the world’s ills and taken to task for not fixing them, shop carefully. There was another

song called “Mercy” in 2012; it’s the same price, and it’s about getting jerked off in a Lambo.

winneR iMagine dRagonS, “it’S tiMe” When we look back on the worst indie pop of 2012, “It’s Time” might not be the first thing that comes to mind — that honor probably goes to Fun.’s “Some Nights,” which was more grating, ridicu-lous, overplayed, and overpunctuated. But Fun.’s towering terribleness was propped up with idiot pomp and misapplied ambition, and in 10 years we might even look back on “Some Nights” as funny-bad rather than toxically awful (don’t get me wrong: for now, fuck ’em).

I don’t think the ages will be as kind to “It’s Time,” with its undisguised Creed video and its nauseating aw-shucks humblebrag chorus (“don’t worry guys, I’ll totally be the same down-to-earth dude when I’m famous”). So-called “indie” acts like Fun., Gotye, Neon Trees, and Mumford & Sons ruled alt-rock radio in 2012, but most had some kernel of not-3-Doors-Down-ness to them. Imagine Dragons might just mark the permanent deathblow to the “indie” descriptor.

By now, we’ve long accepted that terms like “indie rock” and “indie pop” have nothing to do with record label status. They’re like “punk” and “alternative”: co-opted, deprecated, largely meaningless. But Imagine Dragons? Come on. Draw the “indie rock” line somewhere. J Mascis probably rolls in his grave every time someone refers to these Glee-covered, ad-funded, Interscope-signed, Alex Da Kid–produced clowns as “indie” anything. (Then he climbs out, wonders why he fell asleep in a grave, and rolls around on the lawn a little.)

Every scene, even fake indie, has to have its hangers-on and cashers-in, its various Bushes and Stone Temple Pi-lotses, but these guys are way past that. Twenty years ago, we’d be embarrassed even to call Imagine Dragons “alterna-tive.” “It’s Time” is thinly disguised mainstream asshole rock, and the altera-tions required to turn it into a convincing Nickelback song are minimal: deeper voice, slight compression bump, and looser jeans. P

Picture a slightly lamer Icelandic version of Mumford & Sons. Check out how mad you’re getting.

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16 12.21.12 :: thephoenix.com/bighurt


Talking PoliTics

Death knell for the local gop? By Dav iD S . BernSte in dbernstein@phx .com : : @dbernstein

obiTuaries for the Massachusetts Republican Party have been written many times — I’ve contributed several items to that genre myself.

But this year, there’s something different about the postmortems, in the wake of Scott Brown’s eight-point loss for re-election to the US Senate and Richard Tisei’s narrow defeat to Congressman John Tierney.

This time, it’s GOP insiders and officeholders in the state suggesting that their cause is hopeless — that their numerical and institutional disadvantages just might mean that they simply cannot win, beyond a small smattering of state legislative districts and countywide law-enforcement positions.

Maybe the gloom is a passing phase. “There are glass-half-empty and glass-half-full Republicans in the state,” says Charlie Baker, whose 2010 gubernatorial loss was another tough blow for the party. “Things can change quickly. Nobody expected Notre Dame to win 12 games this year.”

It might be telling, however, that Baker sounds less than enthusiastic about committing to a second run for the State House corner office in 2014. “It’s not something I will rule out doing again,” he says.

The defeatism within the party suggests that top-flight candidates might be hard to recruit. If so, the Democrats’ stranglehold on the state will only tighten. And we will look back at 2012 as the year the MassGOP surrendered.

No more excusesThere arguably have been worse years for the MassGOP.

In November 2010, as the rest of the country ushered Republicans into office, Democrats here swept all the statewide and congressional races.

Veterans of the party point to 1986, when they had to nominate George Kariotis for governor in a primary write-in campaign, and he went on to get around 30 percent of the vote against Michael Dukakis.

But in 2012, Republicans had a popular incumbent senator, one with a reputation for moderation and independence, seeking re-election. Polls showed that, even by election day, some 55 percent of the electorate approved of the job Brown was doing in office. Yet only 46 percent voted to keep him there.

Similarly, Tisei was a solid, moderate candidate polling ahead of Tierney, who

was viewed favorably by fewer than 40 percent of the district’s voters.

Those races have convinced many that even the best candidates, in the best circumstances, cannot overcome the Democratic advantages.

More optimistic Republicans blame this year’s results on extraordinary turnout, driven by interest in President Barack Obama and Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.

The 2010 results were similarly ascribed to enthusiasm for Deval Patrick; in 2008 and 2006, it was Obama and Patrick again, respectively. John Kerry’s presidential bid was cited as cause for the GOP’s drubbing in 2004.

It’s always going to be something. The coming election cycle will have an open gubernatorial race; in 2016, Democrats will come out strong to choose the next president.

Massachusetts Republicans have to figure out how to win over those additional voters, not hope for an election in which they don’t show up.

A New philosophyOne huge obstacle in their path is the locally despised national GOP, which has grown ever more conservative and toxic.

“The party is paying the price in places like Massachusetts, the Northeast, and California,” Tisei says. “The national brand is really difficult to overcome in this state.”

Brown’s claims of moderation and independence, and the age-old mantra of “fiscally conservative, socially moderate,” proved to be insufficient to inoculate local Republicans from the national brand.

Tisei says the national GOP needs to change — but that might be a long time coming.

What might be needed is for party leaders like Brown and Baker to articulate, in the course of high-profile campaigns, a new governing philosophy that defines today’s Massachusetts Republicans.

That’s what Bill Weld did in 1990, in leading the party back from its 1986 nadir.

But that can’t happen if those leaders decide not to campaign against what they see as mathematically impossible odds. If that turns out to be the legacy of the 2012 elections, the MassGOP might really be buried for quite some time. P

If Democrats’ stranglehold on the state continues to tighten, we’ll look back at 2012 as the year the MassGOP surrendered.

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@Kadzis

Kevin, we hardly Knew yeBY PETER KADZ IS pkadzis@phx .com : : @kadzis

ThanKs To The initiative of journalism-advocacy group MuckRock, 500 pages of raw and redacted FBI files focusing on allegations of corruption during the 1970s in the administration of the late Boston mayor Kevin White are now available to the public.

Globe staffer Peter Schworm wrote the story, stitching together vibrant facts with shadowy allegations, whispered hearsay with official records. It is difficult to recapture the political feel of those days, but Schworm provides a clear picture of low jinks in high places.

The White FBI files contain clear suggestions that contracts for municipal waste removal may have been fixed (shock!); that bribes disguised as campaign contributions might have changed hands (horror!!); and that even lowly cops on the beat were subject to petty persecution if they canvassed for candidates seeking to oust the mayor (outrage!!!).

The choicest nugget was the news that White facilitated — translation: extorted — a $4.5 million charitable contribution from the insurance giant John Hancock for Boston University.

Footnote: when White exited the mayoralty, he established himself at BU in a lush suite of offices with a magnificent view of the Charles River. There, he practiced the occult art of acting as a lavishly paid campus Bigfoot and shadowy in-house political fixer.

For White, living well was truly the best revenge.

Okay, freeze-frame the narrative.It is not that the story as recounted is

false. But neither is it precisely true.Context is everything.To understand the truth about the

White years, you have to understand that the shenanigans and skullduggery that the FBI shaped into those damning little turdlets were from a long time ago. The action took place in a political galaxy that today is far, far away.

Could this happen in the administration of Mayor Thomas Menino?

Doubtful. Too much has changed.I’ll concede that White probably

pocketed something or gained favor from his mayoralty — most likely from big downtown-real-estate-development deals.

There is, of course, no proof of this. And let’s not forget, that try as the Feds might have to indict White, they never did.

No sophisticate would say White was an innocent. But neither can anyone say that White was guilty of anything other than playing the sleazy and hard-nosed game of municipal politics by the rules as they were then understood.

Those rules were simple:1) Don’t be stupid.2) Don’t get caught.One of the principal cultural differences

between then and now is that in the mid-20th century, it was almost shameful for a politician to expect campaign contributions from a certain class of person.

Rich folks gave to Republicans, trade unions gave to Democrats, and civil servants tithed a portion of their salary to the “outfit” just as Mormons give to their church.

Today — for better or for worse — political contributions are merely a business cost.

And then there was the practice of awarding no-show jobs, an ancient accommodation whereby someone got a check for doing nothing and kicked some of it back to their political sponsor, who — in turn — kicked some back to their political godfather.

Then, two things changed.Beacon Hill reformed procurement

practices, making the act of spending tax dollars more expensive, more complicated, and — paradoxically — more transparent.

In essence, the paper trail became too long and too elaborate to hide. The cost of a bigger, less efficient bureaucracy was (and is) — presto! — cleaner government. Go figure.

The final nail in the coffin of the bad old days was the unionization of about 700 middle-management City Hall jobs that were once political plums, ripe for giving by the mayor. So now, instead of squawking about the corrupt spoils system, we get to whine about unresponsive public-employee unions.

Kevin White is chuckling from his grave. P

PETER KADZIS APPEARS ON FOX 25 NEWS Tuesday mornings at 7:50 am and on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio on Fridays at 1:10 pm.

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It’s difficult to recapture the political feel of those days, but the Globe pro-vides a clear picture of low jinks in high places.


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burning questions

how to toke if you’re brokeBy Valer ie Vande Pannevalerie@valerievandepanne .com : : @asktheduche ss

Welcome to “Burning Questions,” the first in a series devoted to your medical-marijuana FAQs.

I am completely healthy, but where can I get a diagnosis of glaucoma? — Stoked in SomerVilleIf you are completely healthy, but seek to get a diagnosis for a serious illness to get a medical-marijuana recommendation, “That’s fraud,” says Joshua Krefetz, attorney with the #mmj-friendly Allston firm Krefetz & Seed.

Under the new law, the fraudulent use of a medical-marijuana registration card or cultivation registration is a misdemeanor. If the fraudulent use is for distribution or for-profit sale, and for non-medical use, it’s a felony

carrying a sentence of up to five years in state prison.

Mike Crawford, a/k/a “Mike Cann,” cohost of unregularradio.com’s show Two Hotheads: Where Activism Happens, says activists do not want people who are healthy being used as poster children by prohibitionists who assert medical marijuana is a sham.

However, “the only way to protect yourself is to get a medical card,” Crawford says, recognizing that many recreational users may try to get a medical recommendation. Since neither prohibitionists nor activists want that, he believes the only sensible option is legalization. No one, says Crawford, should go to jail for marijuana.

Until it is legalized, remember that simple possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for your personal recreational use is decriminalized in Massachusetts.

How will poor people on disability and food stamps, etc., obtain it?— ClaSS ConSCiouS in allSton“Patients with demonstrated financial need will have permission to grow enough for their personal medical needs,” explains Matt Allen, executive director of Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance.

That sounds good, say activists, but the cost of a doctor’s visit for the recommendation can run about $200. Cultivating a sufficient supply of medical marijuana for yourself can run anywhere from $500 to $1000. For those on a limited income, these costs can be prohibitive.

Could the new law make pot cheaper? In Colorado, where hundreds of dispensaries compete in a for-profit system, the market has driven the price down to $15 for an eighth of an ounce of medical marijuana. An ounce can cost as low as $115, about one-fourth of what you’d pay on the Massachusetts black market.

But Massachusetts will have a not-for-profit system with a limited number of dispensaries. This will probably encourage prices to stay at the black-

market level.And while pharmaceutical drugs are

often covered, at least in part, by insurance plans, medical marijuana at this time is not. Nor is it covered by MassHealth, Medicaid, food stamps, or any other government-subsidized program — forcing everyone, including low-income sick people, to pay for it out of pocket.

Maine and Rhode Island also have non-profit dispensary systems, and patients and their caregivers have found creative, community-based solutions to the affordability problem.

Charles Wynott, of Portland, Maine, is a low-income AIDS patient. He’s spent over a decade helping low-income people in hospice and with AIDS obtain medical marijuana by connecting them with compassionate “caregivers,” who sell their product for $100 to $200 an ounce. Caregivers in Maine can only produce medical marijuana for five patients at a time. Wynott seeks caregivers who will cultivate for one of their five patients at a discount.

It’s difficult, he says, because “most of the caregivers want to make money. Hopefully they get satisfaction helping people. It’s a good feeling to know you helped someone who is sick and dying.”

Maine’s law requires dispensaries to have a low-income program, but most are selling “low-income” marijuana for $300 an ounce — a price Wynott says is too high. Other activists also assert that Maine dispensaries are failing to provide patients with enough quality medical marijuana at a reasonable price.

In Rhode Island, patient and caregiver D.J. Stone explains, there is a group of caregivers who donate to the less fortunate. “I’m sure we don’t reach everyone,” he says, but they do try. “It’s been working well. We even have what’s called a gifting program that’s written into our law, where patients and caregivers can gift medical marijuana to any other patient or caregiver.”

This kind of support, he says, is “what it comes down to. One person helping the other. We’ve gotta work together.” P

Got burninG questions of your own? send them to [email protected].

Your Massachusetts medical-marijuana inquiries, answered.

22 12.21.12 :: tHePHoeniX.com

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Arts YeAr in review


year in review :: film

Cutting edgeBy Peter Keough pkeough@phx .com

1Zero Dark Thirty :: Some have misread this film as an endorsement of torture. In-

stead, the ambiguity of Kathryn Big-elow’s dense and thrilling account of the CIA search for Osama bin Laden doesn’t offer any ideological shelter during the scenes of “enhanced inter-rogation.” Jessica Chastain plays the obsessed agent who cracks the case, and her tears at the end aren’t tears of triumph. (Scheduled to open in Boston on January 4.)

2 Django Unchained :: Quentin Tarantino doesn’t just write history with

lightning; he rewrites it. In 1858 Texas the escaped slave of the title becomes a bounty hunter and sets out to free his wife from a plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). In the process, he pretty much destroys the South before the Civil War even starts. Christoph Waltz as Django’s sardonic mentor is the antithesis of his Nazi in Inglourious Basterds. (See Brett Michel’s review on page 69.)

3Holy Motors :: Leos Carax’s first feature-film film since Pola X (1999)

follows Mr. Oscar (Denis Lavant) through the nine appointments on his schedule, each involving a differ-ent character, scenario, and genre, each bursting into a mini-movie that takes place for cameras that can’t be seen and for an audience that might not be there. Carax and Lavant put on a dazzling tour de force.

4 Moonrise Kingdom :: Wes Anderson should always make movies

featuring 13-year-olds. Like Sam (Jared Gilman), an orphan enduring summer camp in 1965. He’s in love with Suzy (Kara Hayward), but no one approves, so they run away to live happily ever after. This plan also liberates Anderson’s imagination. Beneath the whimsy and paganism, though, lingers a premonition of loss and corruption.

5 Marina Ambramovic: The Artist Is Present :: Matthew Akers’s documen-

tary opens with a rare conventional

Moonrise Kingdom

torture, vengeance, guilt, despair, mental decline, a rough night out — so why do I feel so exhilarated about the 10 best movies of 2012? These brilliant films bring the viewer to

the edge, where the view is edifying, and a lot of fun, too.


year in review :: film

movie image: a long close-up of a face. It belongs to the performance artist of the title, who for three months sat in a chair in a MOMA gallery as thousands of visitors, one by one, looked into her eyes. Many wept. The film demonstrates how cinema can make the artist seem present, offering a soul that mirrors one’s own.

6 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia :: This team of investigators searching

for the grave of a murder victim isn’t CSI: Miami, especially when they try to stuff a too-big body into a too-small trunk. But as their cars snake through the Anatolian wasteland their search becomes internal, a glimpse into troubled memories. Another masterpiece from Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

7The Turin Horse :: Legend has it that in Turin, Fried-rich Nietzsche embraced a

beaten horse and went insane. Bela Tarr picks up the story of the horse, its owner, and his daughter. They live in a farm in the middle of wind-blown nowhere, and their routines are desperate, banal, and eloquent, elevated to poetry by Tarr’s black-and-white imagery.

8 A Simple Life :: Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui shows the decline of a beloved

housekeeper, Ah Tao (Deannie Yip), who is cared for by a family member (Andy Lau) after she suffers a stroke. Hui depicts the passage of time with subtle episodes and draws on emotions without succumbing to sentimentality.

9 The Master :: Set in the post–World War II era, P.T. Anderson’s oblique

epic follows the misadventures of Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix), an alcoholic vet who ends up on a yacht with Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the charismatic master of the title, founder of a religion that preaches psychic healing through Scientology-like procedures. Hal-lucinatory, explosively acted, acutely detailed — is it all a dream?

10Bachelorette :: Three 30-ish high-school classmates played by Kirsten Dunst,

Lizzy Caplan, and Isla Fisher celebrate the wedding of a fourth. Sounds familiar, but Leslye Headland’s debut subverts expectations with its honesty. Boasting the best ensemble cast of the year, it’s a party that doesn’t end well, but for this bunch it’s all for the best. F

Bachelorette

A Simple Life


1The Walking Dead (PC, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network) ::

In Telltale Games’ episodic take on the comic by Robert Kirkman, even the simplest choices can have far-reaching implications. As an escaped convict attempting to care for an orphaned girl, players are forced into one impossible moral conundrum after another. The gameplay is hardly challenging — its simple puzzles and streamlined action scenes never tax your brain or your reflexes — but The Walking Dead’s ethical quandaries challenge what’s in your heart.

2Trials Evolution (Xbox Live Arcade) :: How hard can it be to ride a dirtbike up

year in review :: games

Thinking man’s acTionby mitch krpata @mkrpata

a hill? After your 100th failed attempt to clear a near-vertical ramp with a metal pipe sticking out of the top, you’ll know it’s harder than you could ever have imagined — and, somehow, immeasurably more satisfying to accomplish.

3 Spec Ops: The Line (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) :: It looked like a generic mili-

tary shooter. It played like a generic military shooter. But Spec Ops: The Line thwarted players’ expectations of the genre by delivering a thoughtful, probing story about mission creep and the human costs of war.

4Mark of the Ninja (Xbox Live Arcade) :: Klei Entertainment’s download-

able stealth game is a masterwork of interface design. With a streamlined graphical approach to representing sound, movement, and illumination, Mark of the Ninja eliminates the cheapness that often plagues stealth-action games. It’s a gem.

5Diablo III (PC) :: About eight hours into Diablo III, I wondered what the big deal

was. About 40 hours into it, I began to fear for my marriage, my employment, and my sanity. Blizzard’s action-RPG opus was worth the 12-year wait. P

1Hotline Miami :: This top-down 2D shooter by Dennaton Games is more a puzzle than an action game; you’re a hit man who must organize each of

his hundreds of kills with calculating precision. The bright neon levels and pumping synth soundtrack draw you in by making murder seem like forgettable fun, but the game soon forces you to notice this unfolding nightmare and its effect on the protagonist’s psyche.

2They Bleed Pixels :: Spooky Squid Games’ plat-former about a young girl who dreams of growing a pair of claws for hands and slaughtering monsters

has a deceptively simple combat system that will delight and frustrate you in turns. It’s a refreshing change to see a young schoolgirl character in a heroic protagonist role, rather than as a damsel in distress.

3Thirty Flights of Loving :: This sequel to Blendo Games’ Gravity Bone (2008) is a first-person shooter presented out of order, mostly in flashback,

with dreamlike cutscenes interjected amidst the action. It’s short, but each moment feels well placed.

4dys4ia :: Anna Anthropy’s stirring narrative of her experiences with undergoing hormone-replace-ment therapy, as well as with social exclusion and

transphobia in her day-to-day life, is structured as a series of short mini-games during which the player will fail again and again, thus experiencing Anthropy’s frustrations.

5Howling Dogs :: This interactive fiction game by Porpentine describes the occupant of a futuristic cell-like apartment who owns a virtual reality

console and little else. As the protagonist’s life falls into a poverty-stricken shambles, the virtual world becomes the only place that feels real.

_maddy myers » [email protected] : : @samusclone

at some point, it stopped being a

trend and became the reality: the most interest-ing, thought-provoking games aren’t mega-bud-get retail releases, but smaller downloadable titles. Three of my top five games of 2012 could be had for a low price and a quick download.

here are five PC indie games of 2012 that serve as important counterpoints to the

Halos and Mass Effects of the mainstream gaming world.

ouTside The box

They Bleed Pixels

The Walking Dead


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2Mad Men (AMC) :: Just when you thought this series might

have run out of steam, it came back with its strongest season ever. The Mad Men writers and directors are just too good, exquisitely crafting each episode like its own short film. It’s television production at its highest, most artistic level.

1Call the Midwife (PBS) :: This postwar period drama edged

out the more-popular Down-ton Abbey for its pure heart and charm. Following young midwives working in Lon-don’s scruffy East End, Call the Midwife unflinchingly, and with emotional depth, delivered the joys, and bodily fluids, of childbirth.

year in review :: tv

Tv is good for youBy Er ic Gould gould@t v worthwatching.com

Television, far from a vast wasteland these days, is often a digital cornucopia to be triaged. Our flat-panel age

was so jam-packed with quality shows in 2012 that for every great drama listed here, there were others, like FX’s Justified and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, right behind. The year pro-duced plenty of non-fiction winners, too, like PBS’s Ameri-can Masters (with such treasures as The Day Carl Sandburg Died) and Travel Channel’s No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. But the real test was whether a TV series could, or could not, be missed each week. And these 10 could not.

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year in review :: tv

3 Louie (FX) :: Writer, direc-tor, and actor Louis C.K. has taken the half-hour sit-

com and reshaped it into something all his own: a mundane, Kafkaesque world that lurches with hilarious surprise collisions — much like the improv-jazz soundtrack underneath it. The late-season trilogy, guest-starring director David Lynch, was creepy and utterly genius: it’s “The Crying Cleaning Lady Show”!

4 Breaking Bad (AMC) :: The TV tale of high-school chemistry teacher Walter

White’s descent into hardcore crime, when it finishes next sum-mer, will stand as one of the best-scripted series ever. This season did not match some of its earlier triumphs, but we’re quibbling over shades of brilliance here.

5Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) :: For pure wit and instinct on live

television throughout the election season, Maher was the best chap-erone for liberals. He’s the heir to Dick Cavett’s suave, intellectual late-night legacy, but with the mouth of a 21st-century trucker.

6Girls (HBO) :: The media hype and hate in advance of this show was unprec-

edented, almost poisoning the well before anyone took a drink. Breakout auteur Lena Dunham did not disap-point. Her series about youths at the mercy of their own irony and self-reference took several inventive turns, and Girls was squirmy-funny-smart all the way through.

7 Awake (NBC) :: This high-concept drama about a detec-

tive caught between two ap-

parent realities — he can’t tell which is real and which is a dream — was riveting. Of course, NBC rewarded me, and a rabid, enthusiastic (read: small) audience, by canceling it.

8 Hell on Wheels (AMC) :: This period drama about the construction of the

transcontinental railroad in the 1860s achieved something unusual, and difficult: a second season that far exceeded its first. It made American history current, and Christopher Heyerdahl, über-icky as “The Swede,” made a villain of biblical proportions.

9 Inside Comedy (Show-time) :: Director and long-time stand-up veteran Da-

vid Steinberg hosted this interview series with new and old-school comics, including Don Rickles, Chris Rock, and Sarah Silverman. Steinberg’s sly, understated style gave us a brilliant glimpse into comedy minds put on the spot, and artists at the top of the heap.

10Family Guy (Fox) :: While adult cartoons like The Ricky Gervais Show

and FX’s Archer often came close to being as vital and irreverent as Seth MacFarlane’s mainstay, Family Guy continued to be reliably one step ahead. And it has a talking dog. P

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3 Ori Gersht :: Israeli artist Gersht’s striking videos of exploding old-master

still lifes in “History Repeating” at the Museum of Fine Arts (through January 6) reverberate with the post-traumatic stress of the Holocaust and Israel’s subsequent wars.

4 “Oh, Canada” :: Curator Denise Markonish spent three years crisscrossing

Canada to reveal a whole nation (incredibly) off the American art world’s radar, except for the occa-sional Vancouver photographer. “Oh, Canada” at MASS MoCA (through April 1) shows what we’re missing: visionary spectacles like Shary Boyle’s naked spider-woman disappearing into a midnight web.

5 “City of Mirages: Baghdad 1952–1982” :: This exhibit at BSA Space

1 Os Gêmeos :: Was the technicolor giant that the Brazilian street-art twins

Os Gêmeos painted at Dewey Square last summer just your friendly neigh-borhood graffiti kid or, as Fox friends suggested, a terrorist? A little from column A and a little from column B. The cheekily ambiguous mural flooded the site of the 2011 Occupy encampment with sunny delight. It’s the best large-scale public art in Boston in decades. It has permission to be there for a year and a half. Email the mayor ([email protected]) and demand it live forever.

2 “Kennedy to Kent State” :: This photo show at the Worcester Art Mu-

seum (through February 3) is a riveting blow-by-blow account of how utopian 1960s dreams came undone between the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the resignation of Richard Nixon.

year in review :: art

SandcaStleS and SunSpotS By GreG Cook gregcookland.com/journal

(through January 10) tells the story of Western architects’ attempts to modernize Baghdad. Plans and models offer rueful lessons in opti-mism, hubris, and business.

6 “This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s” :: Curator Helen

Molesworth’s revisionist history of 1980s art, at the Institute of Contem-porary Art (through March 3), argues that the Reagan-Thatcher greed-is-good decade was all about feminism and AIDS. The art is a requiem for liberal losses and oh-so-many dead.

7 Cristi Rinklin :: Last summer, Rinklin covered windows at the Currier

Museum of Art with a 20-foot-wide cartoon of taffy clouds, stark moun-

tains, and swooping rivers. The sun glowing through it boosted the stellar painting the Bostonian has been do-ing in recent years to a new wattage.

8 “American Vanguards” :: This show at Phillips Academy’s Addison Gallery

of American Art (through December 30) detailed how a handful of friends in New York in the 1930s birthed what would become known as Abstract Ex-pressionism and made the Big Apple the center of the Western art world (with some help from summers in Massachusetts). One takeaway: Wil-lem de Kooning’s paintings dripped with sensuality from the start.

9 Nancy Holt :: The 1970s Earthworks movement is associated with big boys

It was a year of bracing histories — ’60s assassinations, ’80s pandemics, and four decades of hubris in Iraq. But

2012’s best art wasn’t all bad news. Brandeis University re-vived its Rose Art Museum. And a sunny new mural became a beacon in the heart of the city — and a benchmark for what art in Boston can achieve.

Ori Gersht, Pomegranate

Walter Gropius, University of Baghdad Campus, from “City of Mirages”


year in review :: art

quest of the region known today as Morocco. They’re a breathtaking history lesson via a Renaissance version of a cast-of-thousands Hollywood spectacular. For the Peabody Essex in 2012, it was excellent business as usual — with Jerry Uelsmann’s photo fantasies, contemporary Native American “Shapeshifting,” frothy “Hats,” and a comprehensive (if somewhat off base) roundup of Ansel Adams’s wa-ter works. No museum in the region is more entertaining, edifying, and entrancing. p

wielding big tools. “Sight Lines” at the Tufts University Art Gallery last spring showed how Nancy Holt, whose Sun Tunnels in the Utah desert is a sort of construction-site Stonehenge, could play with heavy machinery with the best of them.

10 “THe IVeNTION Of GLORy” :: “The Invention of Glory” at the

Peabody Essex Museum (through December 31) imports four giant 15th-century tapestries propagan-dizing a Portuguese king’s con-

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for psychics; it offers a half-surreal meditation on female friendship and feminism’s ritual matricide.

5 How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran [Harper Perennial] :: The unspar-

ing honesty and infectious ebul-lience with which British journal-ist Catlin Moran approaches her personal account of why feminism matters seems lacking Stateside, with a few notable exceptions. (Confidential to Lindy West: write a book already.) How To Be a Woman should be compulsory reading for teenage girls.

6 Triburbia by Karl Taro Greenfeld [Harper] :: A novel about Tribeca’s

moneyed hipsters has a strong likelihood of being excruciating. Against all odds, Triburbia is any-thing but. Instead, it’s an incisive,

1 Detroit City Is the Place To Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropo-

lis by Mark Binelli [Metropoli-tan Books] :: Any city whose post-apocalyptic ruins lend themselves to misery tours and RoboCop sets seems hopeless. But Detroit native Mark Binelli — author of the excel-lent novel Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! — makes a compelling, darkly funny case that his calamitous hometown has some life in it still.

2 Familiar by J. Robert Lennon [Graywolf ] :: The plot kicks off when

the protagonist slips through a crack in the space-time continuum. By the time the reader is through, she’ll feel like she has too. Lennon has rendered a magically com-pulsive and brilliant novel that combines elements of speculative fiction, postmodern zaniness, psy-chological realism, and the social novel — it’s nothing less than miraculous.

3 My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante [Europa

Editions] :: Each of Elena Ferrante’s novels has the abil-ity to pummel the reader into a sublime despond. My Brilliant Friend, an allegory of postwar Italy, is no exception, but its sumptuous depictions of ’50s Neapolitan village life provide a unique and glorious respite from complete devastation.

4 The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits [Dou-bleday] :: While serv-

ing as editor of The Believer, Heidi Julavits has managed to crank out incredibly smart and disquieting books every few years. The Vanishers, her latest novel — and her most acces-sible to date — is set at a college

year in review :: books

Brilliant friendsBy EugEnia Will iamson

moving, and very funny take on how even Manhattanites can be provincial as all get-out. A bonus: Greenfeld writes like Jonathan Franzen without all the painful riffs.

7 Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American

Masterpiece by Michael Gorra [Liveright] :: Heavenly as it is, The Portrait of a Lady did not emerge fully formed from another, higher plane. Scholar Michael Gorra recreates the life of Henry James as he wrote the novel, interspersing biographical details with a close reading of the text. As painstak-ingly thorough as Gorra gets, his writing — like his source material — is pure delight.

8 The Lifespan of a Fact by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal [W.W. Nor-

ton] :: When this back-and-forth between journalist and fact-check-er debuted in January, critics were captivated by the unlikeliness of its readability and the elegant way it presented the complex relationship

nonfiction writers have with

the truth. None could have guessed how timely it would prove, except perhaps Mike Daisey and Jonah Lehrer.

9 Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple [Little, Brown

and Company] :: Seattle residents unable to distinguish between author and work were upset by the protagonist of this epistolary novel, one Bernadette Fox, an ar-chitect who finds the city a crunchy hellhole filled with invasive social climbers. But readers with a sense of self-awareness will delight in this madcap send-up of corporate culture and competitive parenting.

10 Too Good To Be True: A Memoir by Benjamin Anastas [New Harvest] ::

Most people resent Ivy League grads who publish a critically ac-claimed novel by age 30, and most will relish the gory details of one’s complete derailment. Benjamin Anastas provides just that in his first memoir, saving the reader from hollow schadenfreude with funny, excoriating descriptions of the middle-class Brooklyn life just out of his reach. P

You already know Chis Ware’s Building Stories is the achievement of the decade (thanks, New York

Times!), but some other people wrote some pretty great books this year too.


Myer demonstrated how dance can go beyond theatrical footlights to offer a sense of recognition, mutual respect, and healing.

5Green Street Studios 20th Anniversary Gala :: A community is only

as vibrant as its members, but for dance, the space to create that community is indispensible. With visiting friends like David Parker joining local dance makers and per-formers, this event underlined the fact that despite its underdog status and a chronic scarcity of financial resources, Boston’s independent dance community remains lively.

6The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth at Jacob’s Pillow

:: The recipe is simple: a brief per-sonal story, a structured improvisa-tion, a diagonal sashay through a stream of light. But this exclusive, all-male edition of Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham’s long running oral history extravaganza featured elder statesmen Arthur Mitchell,

1Monica Bill Barnes & Company :: Take Sinatra and Otis Redding,

baton twirling, a troupe of plucky, gifted ladies, and stir. Philosophy-student-turned-choreographer Barnes, who came to the ICA in June, puts humane humor at the center of seriously well-crafted dance entertainment.

2Robert Battle at Har-vard :: He’s running the first dance company he

ever saw — Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — and could afford pretentions, but Robert Battle’s bashful tale of how he finally, finally, got hired by then-artistic director Judith Jamison was inti-mate, eye-opening, and full of self-deprecating humor. Asked by Har-vard dance director Jill Johnson to identify the characteristic he most dislikes in others, he thought for a moment and answered, “Apathy.”

3John Carrafa and Erin Gottwald’s Dance House at Green Street Studios

:: John Carrafa stopped dancing for Twyla Tharp 25 years ago, and went on to choreograph for televi-sion and films and to be nominated twice for Tonys. But when he and former Digby Dance member Erin Gottwald developed eight bopping side-by-side duets, they decided to debut them in front of an informal audience. No costumes. No lights. All terrific energy and connection.

4Anna Myer and Danc-ers’ Hoop Suite :: In bringing the classical

musicians, dancers, and young rap poets of her Hoop Suite into the open air of a public-housing bas-ketball court in Charlestown, Anna

year in review :: dance

Outer mOves, inner beautyBy DeBra Cash

Lar Lubovitch, and Gus Solomons Jr. demonstrating how much danc-ing men have achieved since the days of Pillow founder Ted Shawn.

7Lar Lubovitch :: The path-breaking minimal-ism of North Star no

longer seems new, but in his recent The Legend of Ten, Lubovitch is still able to summon a painterly panorama, while Crisis Variations’ tableaux of disaster are studded with moments of beauty. At 69, Lubovitch, who brought his troupe to a Celebrity Series event in Octo-ber, continues to produce at the top of his game.

8Kyle Abraham :: The most celebrated dance maker of recent years, Kyle Abra-

ham, brought his company, Abraham.In.Motion, to Boston for the first time, performing The Radio Show (at the ICA, presented by CrashARTS). The piece mourns the loss of two voices: the choreographer’s father, stricken with aphasia and Al-zheimer’s disease, and a radio station

that offered entertainment, counsel, and shared identity to Pittsburgh’s African-American community. In Abraham’s work, the decorum of ballet and the heft of hip-hop meet as equals, and it looked almost as gor-geous on his dancers as it does on the man himself.

9Whitney Jensen in Roost-er at Boston Ballet :: She’s always a ray of sunshine in

her roles, but in the luxuriant moves of her solo to the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday,” Whitney Jensen suggested an inner life to match her fluent, exterior beauty.

10 Mikko Nissinen’s Nutcracker at Boston Ballet :: The Swarovski-

crystal-laden tutus may be over the top, but Boston Ballet’s investment in a refreshed Nutcracker will bring visions of sugarplums to a new generation, with an 1820s setting that does not insult anyone’s intelligence and authentic dance challenges for the company’s roster of distinguished technicians. P

Whitney Jensen

Here, in no particular order, are some of

the highlights of the year in Boston dance.

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the National Union of Minework-ers strike as weave them together into a thrilling, abrasive braid.

5‘Master Harold’ . . . and the Boys [Gloucester Stage Company] :: Di-

rector Benny Sato Ambush hurled the autobiographical Molotov cocktail that is Athol Fugard’s 1982 drama with both tenderness and ferocity, and the cast — Johnny Lee Davenport, Anthony Willis Jr., and Peter Mark Kendall — proved as explosive as the play.

6The Elaborate En-trance of Chad Deity [Company One] :: Set

in the hyperbolic, hate-mongering world of pro wrestling, Kristof-fer Diaz’s Obie-winning allegory lampoons that choreographed com-bination of melodrama, spectacle, and sport even as it demonstrates its body-slamming effectiveness. And Shawn LaCount’s staging,

1Red [SpeakEasy Stage Company] :: Thomas Derrah was a paint-spat-

tered Vesuvius of anger and pon-tification as Mark Rothko in John Logan’s Tony-winning evocation of the volcanic abstract expressionist. David R. Gammons was at the helm of the bristling production, which started SpeakEasy on a roll that went on to include Next to Normal and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

2Long Day’s Journey into Night [New Repertory Theatre] ::

Karen MacDonald and Will Lyman continued their joint assault on 20th-century American classics, turning in friskily romantic yet heartrending performances as James and Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s emotional marathon of an autobiographical drama. Scott Ed-miston directed the aptly ghostly production.

3Avenue Q [Lyric Stage Company of Boston] :: Kevin Clash’s recent tra-

vails notwithstanding, who can resist this adults-only Sesame Street in which sweet candor and anxiety about the future are filtered through upbeat ditties, life lessons, and hot puppet sex? Spiro Veloudos’s production fielded actor/singers in perfect synch with the fur-and-felt char-acters they animated.

4Billy Elliott the Musi-cal [Broadway in Bos-ton] :: If I’m going to be

emotionally manipulated, I prefer that it be done as skillfully as it was by the Tony-winning musical based on the Brit film about an adolescent allowed to dance his way out of a dying coal-mining town circa 1985. The Stephen Daldry–directed pro-duction did not so much juxtapose Billy’s story with documentation of

year in review :: theater

Stage worthieSBY CAROLYN CLAY

with his combat as well as thes-pian chops, was as entertaining a smackdown as the play.

7Marie Antoinette [American Repertory Theater] :: David Adjmi’s

mash-up of satire and sympathy centered on the famously ice-cream-coiffed proponent of cake may not be profound, but it sure is pertinent. And Rebecca Taich-man’s droll, boogying staging was splendid to look at.

8Ted Hughes’ Tales from Ovid [Whistler in the Dark, presented by

ArtsEmerson] :: In this carnal, lyrical plunge into the primal, an acrobatic ensemble of five, under the focused direction of Meg Taintor, climbed, dangled, and tangled among a quartet of silk skeins hung from the rafters while at the same time deliv-ering the muscular, nature-infused verse culled by Hughes from Ovid’s mythological tales.

9Betrayal [Huntington Theatre Company] :: Ma-ria Aitkin helmed this deli-

cate and perceptive revival of Harold Pinter’s 1978 dissection of a love affair, which illustrates the ameliora-tive tricks of memory by moving in reverse. A final visual coup suggested not just that memory is illusion but that the shifting sands of power and duplicity were all underfoot from the beginning.

10Our Town [Huntington Theatre Company] :: Da-vid Cromer’s much-lauded

intimate staging lives up to its hype, giving off a smell as astringent as it is sweet and serving up a third-act surprise that drives home how less than vividly we see our lives. P

w ith the addition of ArtsEmerson to a lively array of hometown players, the Boston Rialto has seen an

embarrassment of riches. The following embarrassments are listed in chronological order.

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Marie Antoinette


1977. But Kirchner’s own abbreviated chamber version at the New England Conservatory, with its original so-prano, Diana Hoagland, still in glorious voice, made a powerful impression and cried out for a full revival.

5Best new group :: Con-ductor Benjamin Zander’s new orchestra, the Boston

Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, made its impressive debut at Symphony Hall with technically superlative, sonically magnificent, and musically satisfying performances by 117 very grown-up players between the ages of 12 and 21. A most rewarding addition to the classical community.

6Best vocal performance (three-way tie) :: This award has to be shared by

1Best opera production :: Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse (Boston

Lyric Opera). Horror story? Religious mystery? Staged at the JFK Library (with its real lighthouse) by Tim Albery, conducted by David Angus, designed by Canadian installation art-ist Camellia Koo, spectacularly lit by Thomas Hase, and superbly sung, this was probably the BLO’s all-time best production. Terrifying. Unforgettable.

2Best orchestral perfor-mance :: Russian conduc-tor Vladimir Jurowski and

the Boston Symphony Orchestra at its peak offered an overwhelming version of Shostakovich’s powerful but rarely performed Fourth Symphony.

3Most inspired program-ming :: Composer/conduc-tor/virtuoso pianist Thomas

Adès returned to lead the BSO, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and pianist Kirill Gerstein in a life-affirming program of Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Adès’s own In Seven Days, evoking the Creation and its aftermath.

4Best revival :: The late composer Leon Kirchner’s opera Lily , based on Saul

Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King, was a New York City Opera disaster in

year in review :: classical

Heat and ligHtBy LLoyd Schwartz

Boston has too much music on the highest

level for one listener to hear everything. So here are my top choices from among the performances I was able to attend.

three dazzling and expressive sopra-nos: Deborah van Renterghem, for her hair-raising wannabe empress in Emmanuel Music’s exciting concert version of Mozart’s last opera, La clemenza di Tito; Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko, for her exquisite lead in the BSO’s marvelous concert version of Stravinsky’s early fairy-tale opera The Nightingale (she also sparkled as Fire in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, the second half of that magical double bill of one-acts); and Amanda Forsythe, for her witty, charming, and touching embodiment of the title role in Boston Baroque’s superb semi-staged version of Handel’s Partenope.

7Best piano playing :: The Rivers School Chopin Symposium re-created a

fascinating concert Chopin himself organized in 1842, and playing what Chopin played, Rivers artist-in-residence Roberto Poli conveyed the composer’s spontaneity, brilliance, warmth, playfulness, mysterious depth, and singing tone.

8 Best new work (Another tie) :: At the BSO, David Zinman stepped in for

James Levine to lead John Harbi-son’s haunting Sixth Symphony, with eloquent Irish mezzo-soprano

Paula Murrihy singing James Wright’s poem “Entering the Temple in Nimes.” And Winsor Music premiered the scintillating and inward-turning new Oboe Quartet by 30-year-old Scottish composer Helen Grime, whom Harbison brought to Tanglewood as a 2008 composition fellow. The extraordi-nary oboist was, of course, Grime’s commissioner, Peggy Pearson.

9Most fun :: Boston Conservatory has the city’s best music-theater

program, and its production of Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s 1966 minor Broadway hit, The Apple Tree, wonderfully cast with the stars of tomorrow, was the year’s most thoroughly entertaining event.

10Greatest loss :: Elliott Carter, America’s most profound classical com-

poser, died a month before his 104th birthday, having worked with full creative power up until the very end. Happily, there are still major works that haven’t yet been performed (including a Wallace Stevens cycle commissioned by James Levine), but it’s heartbreaking that there’ll never be another new piece, espe-cially the setting of Sappho he was eagerly contemplating. P

Vladimir Jurowski

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3Robert Pinsky and Laurence Hobgood’s PoemJazz :: I’m always

made apprehensive by the corny post-beatnik proposition “jazz poetry,” but former US poet laureate Pinsky and pianist Hobgood (who is also Kurt Elling’s musical direct) made it work both on disc and at the Regattabar back in February.

4Robert Glasper :: Pianist-composer Glasper’s highly touted Black Radio (Blue

Note) sounded to me like middle-of-the-road contemporary R&B (with the requisite guest-star vocalists), but his show at the Regattabar in March was another thing entirely: a sick min-gling of the rhythms of the late J Dilla with a terrific electric-jazz band that included saxophonist/vocalist Casey

1Ed Reed :: The then-82-year-old Bay Area singer, ex-con, and drug counsel-

or came to Scullers in January after the release of his latest disc, Born To Be Blue (Blue Shorts Records). He sang every lyric as though he was living it — as he once was.

2Jason Moran, “In My Mind” :: The pianist and composer’s reflection on

Thelonious Monk’s historic 1959 Town Hall concert is a 90-minute multimedia extravaganza that possibly suffers from conceptual overload, but at Jordan Hall in Feb-ruary, with Moran’s trio, the Band-wagon, and an NEC horn section, what emerged was a moving double portrait of Moran and Monk.

year in review :: jazz

Head turnersBy Jon Garel ick jgarel ick@phx .com

Benjamin, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Mark Colenburg (in for Chris Dave).

5The Fringe :: Boston’s great free-jazz trio, saxo-phonist George Garzone,

bassist John Lockwood, and drum-mer Bob Gullotti, celebrated 40 years as a working band — with only one change of personnel (they gave a shout-out to original bassist Rich Appleman). The show at the Boston Conservatory Theater in May was yet another demonstration of their mastery and daring.

6Mary Halvorson :: Prob-ably no one is getting more mysterious, exciting sounds

out of a guitar than the Brookline-raised Halvorson. She and her quintet released Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12) and played the Lily Pad at the beginning of June (on a bill with her mentor, Joe Morris). She returned with Taylor Ho Bynum’s sextet to Johnny D’s in September.

7Theo Bleckmann :: The German-born visionary singer took on the daunt-

ing task of reinterpreting Kate Bush with his album Hello Earth! (Winter & Winter) and played a great show at the Regattabar in June (with

apologies to those expecting faithful covers). Would Kate have had it any other way?

8Kat Edmonson :: Edmon-son’s gamine appearance and small, Blossom Dearie–

like voice are deceptive — on Way Down Low (MRI) and in her appear-ance at Scullers in July, she showed how big and deep her music really is.

9Michael Formanek Quartet :: The go-to New York bassist released a

new album, Small Places (ECM), and played a show with his band (alto saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn, and drummer Gerald Cleaver) at the Regattabar in October that offered a profound take on the balance between exquisitely written “open” compositions and hell-for-leather free blowing.

10Rabbit Rabbit :: The duo of Tin Hat violinist/singer/composer Carla Kihlstedt

(now at New England Conserva-tory) and multi-instrumentalist and singer Matthias Bossi crossed all kinds of lines — jazz, folk, world — in a thrilling show at the Regattabar in October with the help of their friend Jon Evans on bass and guitars. P

In a year in which WGBH-FM gutted its jazz programming and the Atlantic took the predictable broadside swipe

at the health of the genre, there were signs of vibrant life everywhere. Here’s a chronological sampling.

Robert Glasper

Mary Halvorson


2 DEATH GRIPS, “Bass Rattle Stars Out the Sky” :: Whether you think

they self-destructed or hit their stride, there’s no dispute that Death Grips were the most fascinating musical unit of the year. Leaking their own album, getting themselves dropped by their label, and, oh right, filling two whole albums with righteous anger and pounding-yet-vaguely-new-wave-ish tunesmithery — DG definitely #DGAF.

1 PUSSY RIOT, “Панк-молебен :Богородица, Путина прогони” :: Forget

recordings and tours — the most potent moment of pure rock in 2012 was a blurry YouTube clip of a protest poem performed in a Russian Orthodox church. The Riot crew did more than just get the Grey Lady to print the word “pussy” — they main-streamed fist-in-the-air revolution and displayed a going-to-prison-for-your-ideals fearlessness.

year in review :: national PoP

DESCENDING INTO MADNESSby DANIEL bROCKMAN dbrockman@phx .com

Let’s see: harvests are deteriorating, polar icecaps are melting, eternal global war is a way of life, and people

seem to think that Japandroids are the future of rock. That’s right, all signs of imminent societal collapse. Here’s a tour through the accelerating descent through song into madness that was 2012.

3 LANA DEL REY, “Ride” :: “Video Games” intro-duced LDR as a vulnerable

ingénue, ready to wilt at the bright lights and ensuing criticism. But her powerhouse Born To Die (Interscope) showed a formidable artiste with a vision of 21st-century pop stardom to match the hype.

4 NICKI MINAJ, “Pound the Alarm” :: “Bottle, sip, bottle, guzzle, I’m

a bad bitch, no muzzle”: in 2012, Minaj took her guest-rap bona fides and parlayed them into chart gold via a mix of strange-qua-strange and adrenalized ’90s-rave. “Pound the Alarm” and megasmash “Star-ships” proved that Minaj has the pop goods to effectively peddle her weirdness to the masses.

5 GRIMES, “Genesis” :: In this age of austerity, Claire Boucher may be

the future of bands: one woman, some samplers and synths, and an impeccable ear for both the weird and the catchy. Visions (Arbutus) is the sound of tomor-row’s sci-fi pop/R&B today, put together low-budget with style and heart to spare.

6 FRANK OCEAN, “Pyramids” :: Bucking the 2012 trend of mini-

malist R&B is this towering epic that reaches Cecil B. DeMille levels of lavish and bizarre allusions: “Set the cheetahs loose/They have taken Cleopatra,” Ocean’s patient loverman gently croons, amidst Prince idolatry and a fucking John Mayer guitar solo.

7 BLACK BREATH, “Endless Corpse” :: Amid a sea of unmemo-

rable sludge emperors, metal was kept interesting in 2012 primarily by bands who displayed a debt to hardcore. A prime example is the bruising punch of Black Breath,

Nicki Minaj

Death Grips


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year in review :: national PoP

who mixed scythe-against-pave-ment guitar screech and ’70s-hor-ror-movie spine-tingle to produce a potent and pissed-off screed.

8 AMANDA PALMER, “Do It With a Rock-star” :: Palmer’s 2012

will be a case study in MBA courses for decades, what with managing to extract a million-and-change from her following sans industry assistance — waving her outside-of-society freak flag, she used those e-bucks to fashion a glob of pure glam theater-rock more potent and vital than anything she has done before.

9 TAYLOR SWIFT, “We Are Never Ever Get-ting Back Together”

:: It’s official: the war between pop and indie is so on. Ostensibly a breakup ode, this juggernaut single is a potent backhand smack at In-dieboy Nation and a sassy rejoinder to those who scoff at the recent pop renaissance that will someday come to define the current musical era.

10 BRUNO MARS, “Locked Out of Heaven” :: Mars and his

crew, sneaking into the Temple of Carnality whilst pilfering several key ’80s Police hits in the process, hit pop paydirt here from the first snare hit — catchy enough to have eight-year-olds humming “Your sex brings me to paradise,” so good that their parents are too busy snapping their fingers to care. P

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washed-out sun-shower of blissful pop. Top track: “Microscopic.”

5 Infinity Girl :: Stop Being On My Side [self-re-lease] :: Four unassuming

dudes living in Central Square come together to create a thunderous, neo-shoegaze record that seduces with noise, reverb, and startling polish. Few bands sling such ferocious noise with such ease. Top track: “Please Forget.”

6 Mean Creek :: Youth Companion [Old Flame Records]:: They twice

toured the country with Counting Crows, but still were able to capture the sound of Boston with Youth Companion, a gutsy, rolled-up-sleeve collection of indie anthems. As impas-sioned a rock band as we’ll ever get. Top track: “Do You Know?”

7 Mellow Bravo :: Mellow Bravo [Small Stone Re-cordings] :: Brash, bluesy,

Boston. Bravo’s sophomore record is another barroom brawl through Somerville back-alleys. There’s al-ways room in Boston for an old-fash-ioned no-bullshit rock-and-roll band. Top track: “Where the Bodies Lay.”

8 Potty Mouth :: Sun Damage [Feeble Minds/Ride The Snake/Puzzle

Pieces] :: The debut 12-inch EP from this Northampton garage-rock quartet is so good, three record labels released it in July. Girl-gang vocals, ’90s guitar-rock harmony vibes, and an abrasively smooth collection of songs impossible to get out of your head. Top track: “Dog Song.”

1 Autochrome :: Sepa-ration Realms [self-released] :: The sudden

hiatus of this icy post-punk quartet was as abrupt as it was disappointing. But in their two years together, Auto-chrome left a wonderfully claustro-phobic record ripped straight from the smoky UK lounges of 1982. Top track: “100 Series.”

2 Caspian :: Waking S eason [Triple Crown Records] :: In August the

Beverly post-rock veterans invited fans to T.T.’s for a listening party, then rewarded the 100 people vibing in the dark to the recorded version of Wak-ing Season with a surprise gig that took the album’s lush, hypnotic aura to another level. Several world tours later, Caspian are continually one of Boston’s most overlooked treasures. Top track: “Halls of the Summer.”

3 Fat Creeps :: Fat Creeps [self-release] :: The trio’s late-2011 debut single

“Nancy Drew” was an aural morning of ennui packaged in lo-fi garage-pop, and it was the perfect primer for the North Shore co-eds’ August EP, carried by the ocean-strum cautionary tale of “Leave Her Alone,” one of the best tracks of 2012. Primed for a huge breakout in 2013. Top Track: “Leave Her Alone.”

4 Grand Resort :: Van-guard Dreams [self-re-leased] :: Andres Pichardo

crafted his C86-inspired jangle-pop sound by himself while studying at New England Institute of Art, but now the Dominican native calls Brooklyn home. What he created here was a

year in review :: local pop

MASS APPEAL By MICHAEL MAROTTA michael@phx .com

9 Speedy Ortiz :: Sports [Exploding In Sound] :: In 2013, Western Mass

could be the new Brooklyn, and leading bands like Psychic Blood, California X, and Bunny’s a Swine is Northampton’s Speedy Ortiz, a sludgy, noisy post-grunge guitar-rock outfit led by the brash lyricism of Sadie Dupuis. Top track: “Silver Spring.”

10 RIBS :: Russian Blood [self-released] :: Rock Act of the Year in the 2012

Boston Music Awards, RIBS are as experimental as they are explosive, developing a meticulous sound of arena-charged power-rock that combines sonic theatrics, industrial precision, and sky-high riffage in one post-apocalyptic rock-and-roll time bomb. Top track: “Alarms.” P

New records from Amanda Palmer, Converge, Mission of Burma, and Passion Pit gave Boston a steady (inter)

national presence in 2012. But as usual, the best music from our city was cultivated within the clubs of Cambridge, Allston DIY spaces, squares of Somerville, and way down the ’Pike in Western Mass. Gone are the days when our mu-sic scene hoped those outside the community would pay attention to what’s going on here — if the rest of the county isn’t listening, it’s no fault of ours. Here are 10 reasons why, presented in no particular order.

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Infinity Girl

Caspian


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Start with “La Melodia del Afilador” or “Brillar.”

4Hysterics, Hysterics [M’Lady’s Records] :: When both Kathleen Han-

na and Calvin Johnson have name-dropped a young hardcore band in interviews, you know they are worth checking out. This summer I decided to catch a show by Olympia’s Hyster-ics at a practice space in Allston, and, as it turns out, Kathleen and Calvin know what’s up. The fiery shouts and ear-splitting riffs on Hysterics’s debut EP make for some of the year’s most urgent punk songs.

5Sourpatch, Stagger & Fade [Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records]

:: A true DIY gem full of feminist dream-pop of the West Coast variety. Fans of Black Tambourine and Velocity Girl will wonder how it possibly took them so long to find these songs.

6Happy Jawbone Family Band, The Silk Pistol [Night People] :: Happy

Jawbone might be the best band in New England. A long-time favorite among Boston’s basement show-goers, this year the always-excellent

1Hear Hums, Opens [In-ner Islands] :: Gainesville duo Mitch Myers and

Kenzie Cook’s 2012 atmospheric re-cording of bright minimal psychede-lia is mesmerizing: soft guitar hums, floating chants, chirpy percussion. Ethereal drone elements and folksy found sounds make each track blend into the next.

2TOPS, Tender Opposites [Arbutus Records] :: Montreal’s underground

produced the most interesting new music this year (Grimes, Doldrums, Majical Cloudz), but this LP by TOPS is perhaps the most essential and painfully overlooked. “Turn Your Love Around” and “Go Away” are two of the best avant-pop jams of the year.

3Pegasvs, Pegasvs [Cana-da Records] :: The debut record by a Barcelona

dream-pop duo I caught at Primav-era Sound festival this year. Producer Sergio Perez and singer Luciana Della Villa started playing together in 2010 after years of playing in various psychedelic and pop bands in Spain. Their lyrics are all sung in Spanish, but the strength of their synth-and-drum shoegaze translates, regardless.

year in review :: overlooked rock & pop

Ten under The radarby L I Z PELLy lpelly@phx .com

Year-end lists are so often are based solely on the records that received the most press. Here’s a look

beyond the major-indie PR bubble at some of the year’s best underground sounds and DIY label releases.

Night People label of Iowa City took notice, releasing the band’s follow-up to OK Midnight You Win (out last year via Feeding Tube). Happy Jaw-bone’s scrappy weirdo psych-pop is Brattleboro’s best-kept secret, but their recent signing with Mexican Summer may change that in 2013.

7Procession, Your Turn To Feel [Self-released] :: Eight tracks of hooky shoe-

gaze from a Grand Rapids, Michigan, post-punk group I was introduced to at this year’s Ladyfest Boston. The lead track “Mementos” was one of the most-played songs on my college radio show this year, but the entire album is worth playing on repeat. They’re not reinventing dream-pop, but there’s something distinct to their vocalist’s wide-eyed youthfulness and ultra-sincere lyricism countered by walls of distortion and fucking huge noisy guitars.

8Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Jazz Mind [Load Records] :: An addictive

10-song full-length from a Balti-more noise-rock duo whose name has been circulating around the underground music community for years. The word “visceral” has been thrown around a lot this year, but the highs and lows here are hard not to feel shook up by.

9Daniel Bachman, Seven Pines [Tompkins Square] :: It’s pretty

understandable that Bachman’s LP went overlooked this year: all-instrumental acoustic guitar records are rarely this interesting. But this 22-year-old from Fredericksburg, Virginia, plays seriously excellent, complex songs inspired by folk and blues as much as by experimental drone and psych.

10Waxahatchee, American Weekend [Don Giovanni] :: Former PS Eliot singer

Katie Crutchfield’s solo debut of minimal acoustic guitar is sad and angsty as hell, but might be my favor-ite album of the year. P

Pegasvs

Tops

Waxahatchee


tion man Ruste Juxx on the awe-somely abrasive V.I.C. (AR Classic/Duck Down). A Brooklyn monster with a massive uppercut, Juxx is angrier than Onyx, and in Arcitype he’s found a worthy, armed ac-complice.

3 STATIK SELEKTAH’s inner circle stood tall across the board, from

the producer’s second project with Termanology and the 1982 crew (2012, Traffic Entertain-ment), to relative newcomer JFK getting a proper mixtape intro (A.G.E.). Upping the ante, though, was Term’s duel with Fizzy Wom-ack on the spit-heavy Fizzyol-ogy (Brick) and a two-shot by Reks, who dropped diametrically

1 The always-reliable barbar-ians from ARMY OF THE PHARAOHS put

the hurt on in 2012. Straying solo for a second time, Vinnie Paz prevailed again with God of the Serengeti (Enemy Soil), which takes some deep personal turns, but also clocks the year’s most mesmerizing murder anthem in “Battle Hymn.”

2 Other aggressive outings came from Alchemist and Action Bronson (Rare

Chandeliers), Sean Price (Mic Tyson; Duck Down), and La Coka Nostra (Masters of the Dark Arts; Fat Beats). But swinging from the deepest depths was Cambridge beatmaker ARCITYPE, who teamed with Duck Down demoli-

year in review :: hip-hop

BANGER STYLEby CHRIS FARAONE cfaraone@phx .com

themed diatribes in Straight, No Chaser (also off Brick, with Statik) and Rebelutionary (off Gracie, with Numonics).

4 While roughnecks ham-mered and commercial cats yammered, the

fringes grew more sophisticated. Stones Throw fellow HOMEBOY SANDMAN ripped a pair of stellar EPs (Chimera; Subject: Matter), and entered new conceptual realms with miracles like “For the Kids” on First of a Living Breed.

5 On the spacier end of the stoner spectrum is ANX (Fake Four Inc.) by

DARK TIME SUNSHINE. Onry Ozzbon has the most entrancing voice in hip-hop, and instrumental architect Zavala’s latest acid-scape is every bit as catchy as an early Outkast opus. For adventurous heads, “Cultclass” could be the track of the year.

6 Of the many great alternative feats, BILLY WOODS of Super Chron

Flight Brothers finds himself alone in the corner. The arcanely complicated History Will Absolve Me (Backwoodz Studioz) finds the equally misanthropic and pop-culture-savvy stoner soaring somewhere between brilliance and the Genius.

7 A lot of popular shit was worth obsessing over too — but especially EL-

P’s Cancer for Cure (Fat Possum) which was even doper than all of the neo-hipster blogger twerps pretended that they thought it was. The most likeable rap album of the year, in any sub-genre, is The Only Number That Matters Is Won (Raw Poetix) from PACEWON AND MR. GREEN. The Jersey boys have mastered boom bap, plain and simple, fresh and funky. And this time they brought along Lee “Scratch” Perry.

8 For joints as hard as they are intelligent, Midwest powerhouse

the LEFT’s Gas Mask (Mello Music Group) hits with didactic wit. Riding on Apollo Brown’s soul snippets, Journalist 103 emerges as a political force not to be fucked with.

9 Of course, there’s also the trusty activ-ist standbys PUBLIC

ENEMY, who returned to both form and prosperity this year with two instantly classic LPs — The Evil Empire of Everything (King Midas) and Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp (Eastlink) — and yet another world tour to match.

10 All things considered, it was a year of sweet rebellion. The most es-

sential grab comes from funk-hop gods the COUP, whose Sorry to Bother You (Epitaph) simul-taneously works the brain and renders cheeseball rap unneces-sary. With smart and artsy party bangers like “My Murder, My Love,” there’s just no need for music by the suckas. P

For months, I’ve sat silently on subterranean sidelines while others summoned tadpoles over embarrassing

trend rappers. So in recapping 2012, I embraced the chance to parade some recent unsung hip-hop ringers. If you want to read about how 2 Chainz changed the game, check a round-up by some chump who hasn’t sampled half my stash.


BOSTON WINE EXPO 2013Celebrating food, wine and culture

Sponsored by:

February 16 – 17, 2013 – President’s Day Weekend!Benefitting Tufts Medical Center and other local charitiesSeaport World Trade Centerwww.WineExpoBoston.com

Perfect Holiday Or Valentine’s Day Gift!

Wine & Food Sampling | Cooking Demos | Social Media Lounge | Seminars | Grand Cru Wine Lounge

EvE of DEstruction


Dress like there’s no tomorrow PhotograPhy by Mike PecciStyl ing by Jeff lahenS of DreSScoDe boStonEvE of DEstruction


spotlight :: fashion


49 » On Cajai Vintage earrings, $12 at Oona’s; Glamourpuss NYC “Rex Bolero” jacket, $835 at Daniela Corte; Rag & Bone “Renard” dress, $995 at the Tannery; Twilight hammered silver cuff, $24 at Twilight On Evalena Bless by Bless Couture “Peace” dress, $195 at Bless by Bless Couture; JoJo skull/pearl bracelet, $58, Twilight spike rings in gold and hematite, $24 each, and Twilight “Silver Cascade” triangle earrings, $24, all at Twilight; civilian gas mask, $34.99 at Army BarracksOn Nick Randolph Engineering by Michael Bastian “JD Rx” glasses, $210 at Randolph Engineering; Reiss “Goodwood B” velvet blazer, $500, and “Dexter” bow tie, $95, both at Reiss; Rag & Bone “Standard” shirt, $325 at the Tannery; army tactical vest, $49.99 at Army Barracks; GANT by Michael Bastian blue camo skinny cargo pants, $275 at GANT Boston; Ball and Buck “Pelican Hook” belt, $118 at Ball and Buck

PAGE 50 » Top photo › On Nick Wigens flat cap, $128 at Salmagundi; Ball and Buck hunter’s shirt, $128 at Ball and Buck; vintage ’60s wool sweater, $38 at Oona’s; Universal Works cardigan, $295 at Drinkwater’s; Unbranded tapered raw denim, $78 at Sault New England; Rockport “Union Street” wing boots, $200 at RockportOn Evalena Reiss “Etta” dress, $370 at Reiss; Rockport “Presia” tied Mary Jane, $140 at RockportBottom photo › On Kevin Ben Sherman “Classic Tux” blazer, $295 at Uniform; Reiss “Boston” shirt, $170 at Reiss; vintage ’60s black vest, $25, and Brooks Brothers “Prince of Wales” trousers, $35, both at Bobby from Boston

PAGE 51 » On Dilven Vintage ’60s fancy top, $78 at Oona’s; Reiss “Karina” flower leather cuff, $75 at Reiss; Bailey44 “Lolla Lee Lou” leather legging, $334 at Twilight; additional bracelets courtesy of Lisa Pierpont of boldfacers.com

PAGE 52 » On Kevin Printed bandana, $120, LGB coated zip-up bomber jacket, $940, BBS coated pants, $1065, knuckle ring, $515, and leather/chain bracelet, $550, all at Alan Bilzerian

PAGE 53 » On Cajai Max & Cleo “Ruffle Cover Up” blazer, $50, Twilight hammered silver cuff, $24, and Whiting & Davis cross-body pouch, $92, all at Twilight; vintage earrings, $12 at Oona’s; Daniela Corte “Nolita” leggings with faux leather, $235, and “Natasha” lace top, $365, both at Daniela Corte; Giuseppe Zanotti “Eva” bootie, $795 at the Tannery

covEr » On Evalena Bless by Bless Couture “Peace” dress, $195 at Bless by Bless Couture; JoJo skull/pearl bracelet, $58, Twilight spike rings in gold and hematite, $24 each, and Twilight “Silver Cascade” triangle earrings, $24, all at Twilight; civilian gas mask, $34.99 at Army BarracksOn Nick Randolph Engineering by Michael Bastian “JD Rx” glasses, $210 at Randolph Engineering; Reiss “Goodwood B” velvet blazer, $500, and “Dexter” bow tie, $95, both at Reiss; Rag & Bone “Standard” shirt, $325 at the Tannery; army tactical vest, $49.99 at Army Barracks; GANT by Michael Bastian blue camo skinny cargo pants, $275 at GANT Boston; Ball and Buck “Pelican Hook” belt, $118 at Ball and Buck

WHErE To SHoPAlAN BIlzErIAN » 34 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.536.1001 or alanbilzerian.comArmy BArrAckS » 173 mass Ave, Boston :: 617.437.1657 or armybarracks.comBAll ANd Buck » 144B Newbury St, Boston :: 617.262.1776 or ballandbuck.comBlESS By BlESS cOuTurE » 866.992.5377 or blessbybless.comBOBBy frOm BOSTON » 19 Thayer St, Boston :: 617.423.9299dANIElA cOrTE » 211 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.608.4778 or danielacorte.comdrINkwATEr’S » 2067 mass Ave, cambridge :: 617.547.2067 or drinkwaterscambridge.comGANT BOSTON » 324 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.536.1949 or gant.comOONA’S » 1210 mass Ave, cambridge :: 617.491.2654 or oonasboston.comrANdOlPH ENGINEErING » randolphusa.comrEISS » 132 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.262.5800 or reiss.com rOckPOrT » 218 Newbury St, Boston :: 617.859.3127 or rockport.comSAlmAGuNdI » 765 centre St, Jamaica Plain :: 617.522.5047 or salmagundi.com SAulT NEw ENGlANd » 577 Tremont St, Boston :: 857.239.9434 or saultne.comTHE TANNEry » 711 Boylston St, Boston :: 617.267.5500 or thetannery.com TwIlIGHT » 12 fleet St, Boston :: 617.523.8008 or twilightboutique.comuNIfOrm » 511 Tremont St, Boston :: 617.247.2360 or uniformboston.com

The crew assistant/photo on page 52: GINA mANNING :: Dit: TONy fErNANdEz :: Lighting tech: ANTHONy JArvIS :: assistants: EIlEEN PEccI ANd mIkE TrAN :: compositing anD post services: mcfArlANdANdPEccI.cOm :: assistant styLists: cHrISTOPHEr cHAmBErlANd of DésinvoLte anD krISTIN BrIcE , JENNIfEr OrTAkAlES , anD NATAlIE NIcHOlAS of emerson coLLege :: hair anD makeup Design: BrENdA wElcH of Leather & Lace artistry :: makeup artist: rOSAlIE PIAzzA of g2o spa & saLon :: hair styLists: dAIlIN dAvIlA anD ElENA mArTENS of g2o spa & saLon :: moDeLs: NIck APOSTOlIdES , cAJAI fEllOwS , EvAlENA mArIE , dIlvEN SAIrANy , anD kEvIN wANG :: shot at eLevin stuDios

THE cloTHES

spotlight :: fashion


Situated at the base of Bear Peak just steps away from the chairlift, the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel offers relaxed lodging with slopeside convenience. Our 143 guest rooms combine comfort and quality for family vacations and weekend getaways. Kids Age 12 & Under eat for free in Crawford’s Restaurant during a stay.

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Learn2 programOur new Learn2 Program, designed for Ages 13+, is packed with value. Clinic includes three hours of on-snow instruction, rental equipment and a novice lift ticket.

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T h e y e a r i n d i n i n g » b e e r - r e s p e c T i n g b a r s » a J e w i s h c h r i s T m a s e v e eaT & DRINK

Bukowski Tavern. Page 58.


Food & drink :: dining

RestauRant RewindA look back at the year in Boston diningBy MC Sl iM JB @Mc SliMJB

Boston dining in 2012 can be summed up easily as the Year of the Burger. Yes, we could have trawled Chinatown for the best Shanghainese soup dumplings or scoured Eastie in search of great pupusas, but all Bostonians really seemed to want this year was the all-American hamburger. On the cheap end, local chains like UBurger and Tasty Burger proliferated to offer a better alternative to heinous global-chain crap like McD’s. But every fine-dining restaurant seemed to offer a burger too, at least at the bar, as epitomized, still, by the insanely high-craft, extraordinary Craigie on Main

burger. In between was everything from the farm-to-table burger typified by Jamaica Plain’s new Grass Fed restaurant, to the big, simple, beautiful pub burger at DTX hangout jm Curley, to gastropubby pile-ups like the Hangtown Fry (topped with a fried egg and fried oysters) at the Gallows in the South End. Burgers were ubiquitous, inescapable.

While the herd went stampeding after endless iterations of chopped beefsteak on a bun, a smaller flock went flitting about in search of another sometimes humble, sometimes exalted dish: ramen,

the Japanese noodle soup. This little frenzy got kicked off by Guchi’s Midnight Ramen, a very occasional pop-up in fine-dining restaurants like Bondir and No. 9 Park, with only a handful of seats that sold out in an eyeblink. The Back Bay’s posh Uni jumped on the bandwagon with its own weekend late-night offering. Porter Square newcomer Yume Wo Katare confirmed the food-geek mania for ramen, drawing nightly hour-plus lines for its extra-hefty jiro-style ramen right from its October opening.

Other relatively obscure Asian delicacies made waves this year too. Korean-style spicy wings continued to find converts as the Bon Chon franchise expanded to Harvard Square. Japanese skewer grilling over charcoal found a pricey outpost in the South End’s Yakitori Zai. And bao bao found their way out of Chinatown’s dim sum parlors and into quality budget purveyors like Powderhouse Square’s new DooWee & Rice.

On the high end, seasonal and local New American continued to dominate, with new entries like Inman Square’s Puritan & Co., Milton’s Steel and Rye, and Newton Centre’s Farmstead Table.

On the neighborhood front, the South End managed to regain some of its recently faded luster as a dining destination with a slew of openings (Kitchen, Yakitori Zai, Vejigantes, BoMA, Cinquecento, Estelle’s). Kendall Square continued its surprising 2011 restaurant expansion with stellar new openings like West Bridge. West Roxbury emerged as a fine little dining destination in its own right, helped by newcomers like Vietnamese gem Banh Mi Ngon and BBQ purveyor Red-Eyed Pig. And Southie’s gentrification accelerated with openings like Lincoln Tavern and a forthcoming Foodie’s Urban Market. Meanwhile, Somerville’s Union Square got a bit of uptown flavor via Latin-tapas purveyor Casa B and the craft-cocktail hideaway Backbar, with the much anticipated Middle European restaurant Bronwyn approaching fast.

But the bigger neighborhood story was the Seaport’s ongoing development into a kind of restaurant Mall of America, augmented this year by new outlets of local restaurant fiefdoms like Empire and national chains like Rosa Mexicano, with a few twinkly food-TV stars en route to add some boutiquey glamour. Local celebrity-chef Ming Tsai will finally reach beyond his Wellesley base to open Blue Dragon, while Manhattan star chefs Geoffrey Zakarian and Mario Batali announced their 2013

the Kitchen sink Burger at grass Fed

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Burgers were ubiquitous, inescapable.

56 12.21.12 :: Thephoenix.com/food

Food & drink :: dining

Boston debuts here. The Seaport’s thousands of restaurant seats are thronging with tourists, convention-goers, and especially suburbanites who seem thrilled by the easy highway access and harbor views. Less excited? Food lovers in search of non-chainy dining and independent restaurateurs in Boston neighborhoods without abundant cheap parking.

The craft-cocktail revival continued its steady expansion with new, more relaxed-feeling outlets like Kenmore Square’s the Hawthorne, Chinatown’s Shōjō, Central Square’s Brick & Mortar, and Harvard Square’s First Printer. Many featured spirits made by emerging local distillers like Roxbury’s Bully Boy and Southie’s GrandTen. And Bostonians got more serious about their coffee at a slew of indie cafes with new options like pour-over coffees, including Thinking Cup, Render, and dwelltime.

Food trucks continued on the huge roll they began in 2011, greatly expanding their number and footprint in Boston with Mayor Menino’s support. This success story inspired neighbors Brookline, Newton, and Somerville to pilot their own programs, despite the concerted efforts of Beacon Hill lobbyists like Dave Andelman (yes, the Phantom Gourmet guy) and his Restaurant and Business Alliance to throw sand in their axles for the benefit of their brick-and-mortar clients.

Of course, openings are never the whole story of a restaurant year. The closing of Downtown Crossing’s venerable, storied Locke-Ober, the last place in the city to insist that gentlemen wear jackets, marked the passing of a more refined and formal manner of dining in Boston. To the chagrin of many, TC’s Lounge, the last real dive bar in the high-rent Back Bay, suffered a devastating fire from which it could not recover. And karma finally seemed to catch up to the owners of fancy pizza chain the Upper Crust, who notoriously abused and ripped off their (mostly immigrant) kitchen staff, fell to fighting among themselves, and finally filed

for bankruptcy.Technology and social media continued

to expand their sway over the Boston restaurant scene, as Bostonians increasingly turned to the Web and smartphone apps to research places to eat and drink, reserve tables, book transportation, and share their opinions of their experiences afterward. Some restaurants continued to muff the challenge of gracefully handling negative feedback from amateur reviewers on platforms like Chowhound and Yelp. Exhibit A was the ugly flame war that erupted on Facebook between an unhappy customer of Pigalle and its chef/owner, Marc Orfaly, which expanded virally into a national news story. It probably felt good at the time, and we empathize with industry enmity toward uninformed amateurs, but that likely hurt Orfaly’s business.

Forget the hate for now, and consider the humble Watertown joint that embodies everything that was good and exciting about Boston dining in 2012: Strip-T’s. Long a diner-like purveyor of modest American food, it morphed dramatically under new chef Tim Maslow after he returned home from a five-year stint under NYC’s David Chang. Young Maslow (son of the founding chef/owner) created an overnight food-nerd sensation with his original, globetrotting menu that somehow touched on every theme of the year — local raw bar and seafood, inventive use of offal, some Southern flavors, a vegetarian bánh mì, a knockout of a hamburger, a revelatory rendition of cauliflower, a terrific bowl of ramen, a jaw-dropping lamb-shoulder sandwich — and killed it on every one of them. Good news if you haven’t made it out to Watertown yet: he’s expanding into Brookline’s Washington Square next year. If you want to feel the love, to put your finger on the throbbing pulse of Boston’s diverse, chaotic, and wonderfully evolving restaurant scene — and maybe feel which way the culinary winds of 2013 are blowing — Strip-T’s might just be the place to start. P

shrimp Capellini Egg nest at sho

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Thephoenix.com/food :: 12.21.12 57

617.325.1700 | RED-EYEDPIG.COM 1753 Centre St West Roxbury, MA 02132

Take-out and Catering Hours: M-W 4-9 | Th 11:30-9 | Fr & Sat 11:30- 10 | Sun 12-7

Follow us on Twitter & Facebook

Thanks for a successful

first year!

Food & drink :: Liquid

Beeradvocate

By Jason & Todd alsTröm bros@beeradvoc ate .com : : @beeradvoc ate

one of the top questions we get asked on a weekly basis is: “Where do you guys drink in the Boston area?” That’s a tough one, as there are a ton of places that serve great beer. But if we had to create a list of 10 places dedicated to respecting beer in 2012, it would look like this.

atwood’s tavern877 Cambridge St, Cambridge :: 617.864.2792 or atwoodstavern.com » Taps: 24 :: Bottles: 40Your neighborhood bar. Local love is strong, with half the beers on tap hailing from New England. A spacious outdoor patio for warmer days, live music, and a killer Double J Farm burger make Atwood’s a must-visit.

Bukowski tavern50 Dalton St, Boston & 1281 Cambridge St, Cambridge :: 617.437.999 & 617.497.7077 or bukowskitavern.net » Taps: 22 & 33 :: Bottles: 150 & 134A bar with attitude. At “Buks,” the music is always loud, F-bombs are welcomed, bottled offerings are served from ice tubs, drafts are always rotating, and mug-club members rule; we’re proud Boston members. Their White Trash Cheese Dip and Peanut Butter Burger (add bacon!) are favorites.

deep ellum477 Cambridge St, Allston :: 617.787.2337 or deepellum-boston.com » Taps: 28 :: Bottles: 50Highly curated. Looking for obscure >> Beer on p 60

Bukowski tavern

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The BesT Beer Bars in BosTonTen places that served and respected beer in 2012

Want more beer buzz? CheCk out

beeradvoCate.Com


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Food & drink :: Liquid

offerings from Europe? Gravity-poured casks of German lagers? Maybe even a delicious cocktail? (We’re not judging.) You’ve come to the right place. The beers are exceptional, and let’s not forget the deviled eggs. Bonus: Lone Star Taco Bar, their sister location, is right next door.

lord hoBo92 Hampshire St, Cambridge :: 617.250.8454 or lordhobo.com » Taps: 40 :: Bottles: 40Lord what? Doesn’t matter. You’ve come for the beer — solid offerings, mostly aimed at beer geeks, with a hand-picked menu that leans toward American, Belgian, and Scandinavian brews. Dark and cozy, Hobo is a great place to hunker down for a long beer-drinking session.

the lower depths476 Comm Ave, Boston :: 617.266.6662 or thelowerdepths.com » Taps: 16 :: Bottles: 180Yeah, they’ve got 40s, too. This is a great alternative for grabbing a pint near Fenway Park, with a well-rounded cast of craft and macro brews. And the food is fun: check out their Fat Kid salad (with fried chicken, tater tots, cheese, bacon, and ranch) and poutine tater tots.

meadhall4 Cambridge Ctr, Cambridge :: 617.714.4372 or themeadhall.com » Taps: 112 :: Bottles: 14Multi-tap done right. Meadhall offers the largest lineup of craft beer on draft in town. Inspired by bars in Belgium, it serves every beer in the appropriate branded glassware. No glass available? No beer! Plus, the bites are solid, and the mezzanine is available for parties.

the puBlick house & monk’s cell1648 Beacon St, Brookline :: 617.277.2880 » Taps: 35 :: Bottles: 130Belgium comes to Brookline. It’s got the

largest selection of Belgian ales in town and arguably the highest-quality pours, especially since they recently converted their lines to straight carbon dioxide. We tend to hide in the Monk’s Cell (the side bar) for goblets of Belgian ale paired with waterzooi or moules frites.

russell house tavern14 JFK St, Cambridge :: 617.500.3055 or russellhousecambridge.com » Taps: 13 :: Bottles: 40Local, local, local. Not only does it source local ingredients for the

awesome food menu, but Russell House is one of the only bars in town that serves 100 percent New England–brewed beers — most from Massachusetts. We dig the downstairs bar area and raw bar.

the salty pig130 Dartmouth St, Boston :: 617.536.6200 or thesaltypig.com » Taps: 12 :: Bottles: 24Pig parts! Think house-cured meats and meat and cheese boards, plus pizza. (Getting the Salty Pig pizza with farm-fresh eggs on top should be mandatory.) Bathrooms are wallpapered with The Far Side comics. Oh, and the beers are always good too.

stoddard’s fine food & ale48 Temple Pl, Boston :: 617.426.0048 or stoddardsfoodandale.com » Taps: 20 :: Bottles: 50From the massive carved wood bar to the pre-Prohibition bartender garb to the unbranded tap handles, it smacks of the old school. Expect a classic, sessionable, non-compromised beer selection with cask ales and the occasional über-beer-geek offering. Bonus: jm Curley is across the street. P

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1432 mass avecambridge, ma617 499 3352

289 harvard stbrookline, ma617 232 0014

888 comm aveboston, ma617 232 0447



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“The way it OTTO be.” - The Boston Phoenix

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695 Washington St. Boston, Chinatown • Open- 11am to 2 am 7days • 617-338-8858 V is i t us at WWW. DUMPLINGCAFE.COM

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B.u. Location

SATURDAY 22GINGERBREAD WORKSHOP AT SPORTELLORemember what we said about not wussing out on the holiday cupcakes? Same goes for the age-old tradition of pimping out an edible house with candy. Sportello will take care of the toughest part (you know which part we mean — trying to hold all four walls together with your two measly hands while you wait for the frosting glue to dry), so you can get fancy with it.10:30 am @ Sportello, 348 Congress St, Boston :: $15; also available in takeaway kits :: Call 617.737.1234 to RSVP or order a kit.

Food & drink :: calendar

Chew OutSAtuRDAY 22GEORGETOWN CUPCAKE HOLIDAY DECORATING WORKSHOPAny schmuck can toss some sprinkles on a sloppily frosted cupcake. But not you, not this year: Georgetown Cupcake is helping you up your game. Frost, decorate, and wrap a dozen cupcakes (in flavors like Butterscotch Pudding, Holiday Lava Fudge, and Rudolph Red Velvet) while snacking on sweets and sipping cocoa or ’nog. No one will want to eat your beauteous creations for fear of defacing a work of art — but then they’ll give in and devour them anyway.

2 pm @ the Four Seasons Hotel, 200 Boylston St, Boston

$65

Call 617.927.2250 to RSVP.

SuNDAY 23CASA DRAGONES AND MUCH MOREIt’s the 23rd, so you know what that means: extended-family time. Maybe your great-aunts are already settled into your kitchen, bickering about the best way to cook a casserole, or maybe they’re showing up tomorrow. Either way, you could probably use some tequila right about now. Seek refuge at the Urban Grape’s new South End spot and steel yourself with some smooth Casa Dragones tequila, plus samples of other spirits, cordials, and wines.

3 to 6 pm @ the Urban Grape South End, 303 Columbus Ave, Boston

Free

857.250.2509 or theurbangrape.com

MONDAY 24LUMIÈRE’S JEWISH CHRISTMAS EVE Gathering around a Lazy Susan is one of our favorite holiday traditions. Growing up, Lumière chef Michael Leviton was no stranger to the Christmas Eve Chinese-and-movie-night ritual; now he’s recreating the experience, serving up a special menu with plates like five-spice pork tenderloin and crispy braised pork belly with Chinese greens and XO sauce. Once you’ve had your fill, West Newton Cinema waits right across the street.

5:30 to 9 pm @ Lumière, 1293 Washington St, West Newton

Pricing à la carte

617. 244.9199 or lumiererestaurant.com

THEPHoENix.Com/Food :: 12.21.12 61

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Weirdo Records. Page 72.


One thing that most Jews find pretty funny?

That whole immaculate-conception, son-of-God,

Christmas-story thing. Peabody-bred comedian Gary Culman — an equal-opportunity holiday offender — is poking fun at both X-Mas and Hanukkah (plus a lot of other stuff ) in tonight’s “All I Want for Hanukkah Is Christmas” show. Safe Christ-mas Eve bet for both those non-Yuletide-revelers and those who’d just prefer not to spend this holiday fighting with their relatives over under-cooked ham. The Last Comic Standing finalist is joined by guest comic Dan Crohn this evening. Improv Asylum, 216 Hanover St, Bos-ton :: 8 pm :: $20 :: improvasylum.com

Arts & Nightlife :: get out

Boston Fun List

Well folks, we’ve had a pretty good run of it but, according to the Mayan calendar, the end of days is upon us . . . again. And if we’re

all going to perish in hellfire, brimstone, and all that nasty jazz come tomorrow, we might as well go down partying tonight. We’ll be bidding the world adieu at ORG: Last Day on Earth at Oberon, a rager of a show featuring the apocalyptic stylings of Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, Michael J. Epstein & Sophia Cacciola, and Jaggery; performance art by Johnny Blazes and Janaka Stucky, spoken-word poetry, film, and much more. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we feel just fine. Oberon, 2 Arrow St, Cambridge :: 9 pm :: $25; 20 standing room :: americanrepertorytheater.org

THU20

Just a couple of weeks left to catch a performance of Boston Ballet’s revamped, remastered

The Nutcracker. The beloved holiday ballet features all new sets and costumes, with the classic Tchaikovsky score. Choreographed by Mikko Nissinen, The Nutcracker is one holiday tradition that, for us at least, never gets old. The ongoing production runs through the end of December. Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston :: Open through December 30; tonight @ 7:30 pm :: $45-$177 :: bostonballet.org

Speaking of the end of the world, it’d be a bummer if it all went kaput before

FRI22

THU21

JEWMONGOUS: : Featuring new jams like “Jesus Christ’s Bar Mitzvah” alongside old chestnuts like “Phantom Foreskin,” Sean Altman’s raucous annual Hanukkah-season/Christmas Eve show is back for another night of debauchery :: Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge :: December 24 @ 6 + 8:30 pm :: $20; $18 advance :: clubpassim.com

CoMPiLED BY ALEXAnDRA CAVALLo

MON24

We can’t think of a better way to shake our holiday hangovers than to get

down to the funky beats of the Roots, who play a night-after-Christmas show tonight at the HoB. The Philly rap legends are tour-ing behind last year’s Undun, the outfit’s 13th album, at a show that’ll help keep the party going until NYE for all ya’ll lucky bastards who have this holiday week off. Let’s get down one last time, 2012. House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St, Boston :: 7 pm :: $37-$49.50 :: livenation.com

WED26

Torrent Engine 18 (a new indepen-dent art space in Dorchester — see our recent story online at thePhoenix.com/Boston/Arts) had a chance to open its doors. Either way, you can help fund the project and party with special guests and performers Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman at Torrent Engine 18’s Mayan Doomsday Gala Party. Other treats include other yet-to-be-announced musi-cal guests, deadly good libations from Booze Époque, burlesque performances, mystery readings, and more.Super secret location TBA :: 7:30 pm :: $125 :: brownpapertickets.com

Not feeling the yuks this Christmas Eve? Another holiday alternative storms

our town in the form of the annual Matzo Ball, one of the biggest Jewish singles parties in the country. Cel-ebrating 26 years of holiday reveling and matchmaking, the Matzo Ball is, of course, also open to those shiksas looking to meet a nice Jew-ish boy (or gal). Dress to impress, this thing’s a party. L’chaim!Royale, 279 Tremont St, Boston :: 9 pm :: $30 :: matzoball.wantickets.com

MON24

More fun For more events, Follow us on twitter @BostonFunshit or like us at FaceBook.com/ BostonFunshit

64 12.21.12 :: THEPHOENIx.COM/EvENTS

Arts & Nightlife :: NeW YeAr’s eVe

Rocking in 2013BAD RABBITS › With Herra Terra › 9 pm › $25 › Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston › ticketmaster.comTHE NEW HIGHWAY HYMNAL › Eye Design and Vanya Records present NHH along with Color Channel, Fat Creeps, and Yale, MA. Plus DJ sets by everydayisamixtape › 9 pm › $15 › Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston › ticketweb.comDEER TICK › With Two Gallants › 8 pm › SOLD OUT › The Sinclair, 52 Church St, Cambridge › boweryboston.comBEWARE THE DANGERS OF A GHOST SCORPION › With Thick Shakes and Ladybones › 8 pm › $10 › O’Brien’s, 3 Harvard Ave, Allston › obrienspubboston.comHALEY JANE & THE PRIMATES › 10:30 pm › TBA › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › ploughandstars.comSOULIVE › With the Shady Horns and Akashic Record › 8 pm › $40 › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › ticketmaster.comJOSHUA TREE › U2 Tribute › 8 pm › $25 › Church, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › churchofboston.comTHE TREE › With Eight Feet Tall, Why I Rise, and Delman Ryder › 7:30 pm › $15; $12 advance › Middle East upstairs, 474 Mass Ave, Cambridge › ticketweb.com

Dance 2012’s ass offDJ KON › 9 pm › Price TBA › Middlesex, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge › middlesexlounge.usHEROES NYE: WITH DJ CHRIS EWEN (PLUS PARTY FAVORS AND A “WHITE TRASH BUFFET”) › 9 pm › $20: $15 advance › T.T. the Bear’s Place, 15 Brookline St, Cambridge › ticketweb.comDJ COSTA’S NYE HOUSE PARTY › 10 pm › $50 › Estate, 1 Boylston Place, Boston › theestateboston.comSOUL-LE-LUH-JAH NYE › With DJ Claude Money and PJ Gray › 10 pm › $20 › ZuZu, 474 Mass Ave, Cambridge › zuzubar.comGANGNAM STYLE NYE › With DJ Vinny. And yeah, he’ll probably play that song › 9 pm › $30; $20 advance › Phoenix Landing, 512 Mass Ave, Cambridge › phoenixlandingbar.com

MaRRow. Bone. Luges.BELLY NYE PARTY › Yeah, so, apparently they have one. A marrow bone luge. Plus all kinds of cured meats, offal, drinks, and music by DJ Just Joan. But the fuck’s a marrow bone luge? Anyway, the esteemed wine bar and fancy snackery looks forward to the pleasure of your company › 6-7 pm or 9-10 pm entry › $70 6-7 pm; $85 9-10 pm › Belly Wine Bar, One Kendall Square, Cambridge › bellywinebar.com

oh, You fancY, huh? NYE ON TOP OF THE LIBERTY › With aerial performers; dancers; light hors d’oeuvres; music by DJ Michael Savant, DJ 7L, and DJ Frank White; and more › 8 pm › $85 › Liberty Hotel, 215 Charles St, Boston › showclix.com/event/topofthelibertyBOSTON’S RESOLUTION BALL › Black Tie optional (but encouraged) affair with the Felix Brown Band, DJ Tommy W, party favors, premium cocktails, midnight champagne toast, and more › 7 pm › $59-$399 › Sheraton Copley Hotel, 39 Dalton St, Boston › eventbrite.comUNDER THE STARS AT LEGAL HARBORSIDE › “The closest you can come to being inside a snow globe” on the restaurant’s glass-enclosed roof deck, with live music, party favors, midnight Moët & Chandon “Imperial” Brut champagne toast, and more › 9:30 pm › $45 › Legal Harborside, 270 Northern Ave, Boston › legalseafoods.comNYE 2013 BLACK TIE BALL › Black Tie not-so-optional at this ball that has food stations, and passed hors d’oeuvres, a “red carpet entrance” with formal photos, party favors, premium midnight champagne toast, music by DJ Theo A, and more › 9 pm › $120 › Taj Boston, 15 Arlington St, Boston › Taj2013nye-ebgrpthmbos0nye.eventbrite.comSTUDIO 57 › Revere Hotel’s Space 57 gets a glitzy Studio 54 makeover with replica props, “scantily clad bartenders,” performances by the Boston Circus Guild, interactive photo booth, live stream of the Times Square ball drop, themed cocktails, music, dancing, and more › 9 pm › $75; $125 VIP › Space 57, Revere Hotel, 200 Stuart St, Boston › studio57.eventbrite.comTHE EMERALD AFFAIR › Or, pop over to the Emerald Lounge (also in the Revere)

for a party to benefit the Home for Little Wanderers. With music by DJ Miss Jade, party favors, passed hors d’oeuvres, vodka ice bar on the patio, optional breakfast and dessert bar, and more › 8 pm › $25; $220 VIP › Emerald Lounge, Revere Hotel, 200 Stuart St, Boston › emeraldnye2013.eventbrite.comNYE 2013 MASQUERAVE › Costume bash with music by nationally touring DJs 5 & A Dume and Aylen, local DJs AI and Tao, two live feeds of Times Square, professional photographers and videographers, party favors, give-a-ways, and more › 9:45 pm › $85; $100 VIP › Cyclorama, 539 Tremont St, Boston › masquerave2013-ebgrpthmbos0nye.eventbrite.com

oh, You oLD, huh?40 + BACK BAY GALA › Just kidding, you’re not old you’re . . . a party veteran. This Black Tie optional gala is for the middle-aged and older set, with music by the Love Dogs, VJ Rick H, premium cocktails, an all-inclusive dinner option, dancing, champagne toast, and more “mature” fun › 7 pm dinner option; 9 pm party › Dinner package starting at $159; party at $69 (donate $10 extra to the Ellie Fund for a VIP goody bag) › Sheraton Copley Hotel, 39 Dalton St, Boston › bostoneventguide.com

ThiRTeen. Two ThousanD ThiRTeen.5TH ANNUAL TIMELESS: A BOND EVENING › ’Tis the year for James Bond-themed NYE parties, it seems. This one has a Bond Girl contest, music by DJ Stacks and Synergy DJs, professional photographers, party favors, prizes for best Bond look-alike and “female spy,” and more › 8:30 pm › $50-$1200 › Marriott Courtyard Hotel, 275 Tremont St, Boston › synergynye.comNEW YEAR’S EVE SKYFALL › “Your mission, should you choose to accept it . . .” is to get drunk on martinis and champagne. With two rooms of DJs, party favors, late-night snacks, and more. Tuxedos and “provocative gowns” strongly encouraged › 9 pm › tickets starting at $100 › Storyville, 90 Exeter St, Boston › storyvilleskyfall-ebgrpthmbos0nye.eventbrite.com

gRooving Like gaTsBYTOWNE: GATSBY NEW YEAR’S EVE › With the release of the new movie of The Great Gatsby drawing nigh, ’tis also the year for parties based on Daisy, Nick, and the gang. This one is a ’20s-themed cocktail party with classic hors d’oeuvres, live music, and more. Prohibition, 1920s, and Gatsby-esque semi-formal attire required › 9 pm › $80 › Towne Stove and Spirits, 900 Boylston St, Boston › estoreboston.comTHE GATSBY MANSION NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY › The Greatest Bar turns into a 1920s speakeasy, with all the glamour and glitz of the era, with music by DJ Sisko. Gatsby-attire strongly encouraged › 9 pm › tickets start at $75 › The Greatest Bar, 262 Friend St, Boston › gatsbynewyears-ebgrpthmbos0nye.eventbrite.com5TH ANNUAL GREAT GATSBY GALA › Dress in your best roaring ’20s attire for this annual bash with music by DJ Evaredy, custom “mug shots,” passed hors d’oeuvres, champagne toast, and more › 8 pm › tickets start at $75 › Alibi Bar and Lounge, 215 Charles St, Boston › alibiboston.ticketleap.comSWING CENTRAL’S NYE GREAT GATSBY GALA › Vintage black-tie attire encouraged for this retro dance party with photo booths, props, live bands, and more (but unfortunately no booze. Prohibition and all that) › 9 pm › $30; $25 advance (until Dec 25) › Boston Swing Central at the Crosby Whistle Stop, 24 Roland St, Charlestown › bostonswingcentral.org/newyears

THE MAYANS WERE WRONG! NYE 2012

For even more New Year’s Eve 2013 parties, prix-fixe dinners, boat cruises, LGBT bashes, First Night

2013 events and editor’s picks, and more, visit events.thephoenix.com.

THEPHOENIX.cOm/EvENTs :: 12.21.12 65

Arts & Nightlife :: clAssicAl :: dANce :: visuAl Art

galleriesAdmission to the following galleries is free, unless otherwise noted. In addition to the hours listed here, many galleries are open by appointment. Please note that many of these locations alter their hours during the holidays. Check website or call for exact information.ARS LIBRI › 617.357.5212 › 500 Harrison Ave, Boston › arslibri.com › Mon-Fri 10 am-6 pm; Sat 11 am-5 pm › Through Dec 22: Wendy Burton: “Histories”AXELLE FINE ARTS › 617.450.0700 › 91 Newbury St, Boston › axelle.com › Daily 10 am-6 pm › Through Jan 6: “Michel Delacroix at 80”BOSTON ATHENÆUM › 617.227.0270 › 10-1/2 Beacon St, Boston › bostonathenaeum.org › Mon 9 am-8 pm; Tues-Fri 9 am-5:30 pm; Sat 9 am-4 pm › Through Jan 12: “Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithograhy in Boston, 1840-1910”BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY › 617.482.7781 › 486 Harrison Ave, Boston › bostonsculptors.com › Wed-Sun noon–6 pm › Through Jan 27: “Height, Width, Depth, Time: Boston Sculptors Celebrates 20 Years”BOSTON UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY › 617.353.4672 › 855 Comm Avenue, Boston › bu.edu/art › Tues-Fri 10 am-5 pm; Sat-Sun 1-5 pm › Through Dec 20: Vlatka Horvat: “Also Called: Backbone, Anchor, Lifeline”BRICKBOTTOM GALLERY › 617.776.3410 › 1 Fitchburg St, Somerville › brickbottomartists.com › Thurs-Sat noon–5 pm › Through Jan 12: “Spectrum! A Selection of Artists from Joy Street Studios”BSA SPACE › 617.391.4039 › Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress St, Boston › bsaspace.org › Daily 10 am-6 pm › Through Dec 31: “City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952–1982”CAMBRIDGE ART ASSOCIATION › 617.876.0246 › 25 Lowell St, Cambridge › cambridgeart.org › Lowell St: Tues-Sat 11 am-5 pm; Mount Auburn St: Mon-Fri 9 am-6 pm, Sat 9 am-1 pm › Through Jan 10: “Blue”CARPENTER CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY › 617.495.3251 › 24 Quincy St, Cambridge › ves.fas.harvard.edu › Mon-Fri 10 am-5 pm; Sat-Sun 1 pm-5 pm › Through Dec 20: Christian Boltanski: “6 Septembres” › Through Dec 20: “Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India” › Through May 29: Hans Tutschku: “Unreal Memories”CHASE YOUNG GALLERY › 617.859.7222 › 450 Harrison Ave, Boston › chaseyounggallery.com › Tues-Sat 11 am-6 pm; Sun 11 am-4 pm › Through Dec 22: “Winter Group Show of Gallery Artists”COPLEY SOCIETY OF ART › 617.536.5049 › 158 Newbury St, Boston › copleysociety.org › Tues-Sat 11 am-6 pm; Sun noon-5 pm › Through Dec 24: “Holiday Small Works 2012”DAVIS ART GALLERY › 508.752.5334 › 44 Portland St, Worcester › davisart.com › Mon-Fri 8:30 am-5 pm › Through Jan 4: “The Quest for Inner Peace: An Exploration of Asian Arts Through Western Eyes”DTR MODERN GALLERY › 617.424.7001 › 167 Newbury St, Boston › dtrmodern.com › Mon-Fri 10 am-6:30 pm; Sat 10 am-7 pm; Sun noon-6 pm › Through Dec 21: “Dalí”FRENCH CULTURAL CENTER › 617.912.0400 › 53 Marlborough St, Boston › frenchculturalcenter.org › Daily 9 am-9 pm › Through Dec 29: “French Champagne and Calvados”GRIFFIN MUSEUM BY DIGITAL SILVER IMAGING › 617.489.0035 › 4 Clarendon St, Boston › griffinmuseum.org › Tues-Wed + Fri 11 am- 6 pm; Thurs 11 am-7 pm; Sat noon- 5 pm › Through Jan 13: Robert Moran: “Relics”HARBORARTS OUTDOOR GALLERY › › 256 Marginal St, East Boston › harborarts.net › Open 24 hours › Through Dec 31: “Hazards of

Modern Living” Public Art InstallationJP ART MARKET › 617.522.1729 › 36 South St, Jamaica Plain › jpartmarket.com › Wed-Thurs 2-7 pm; Fri 12:30-7:30 pm; Sat 11:30 am-8 pm; Sun 11:30 am-6 pm › Through Jan 4: Jon LangfordKINGSTON GALLERY › 617.423.4113 › 450 Harrison Ave, #43, Boston › kingstongallery.com › Wed-Sun noon- 5 pm › Through Dec 23: “Big HUGE Small Works”LA GALERÍA AT VILLA VICTORIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS › 617.927.1717 › 85 West Newton St, Boston › villavictoriaarts.org/gallery.html › Thurs-Fri 3-6 pm; Sat 1-4 pm › Through Dec 30: “Paredes en Fuego: The 2012 Cacique Youth Art Show”LACONIA GALLERY › 617.670.1568 › 433 Harrison Ave, Boston › laconiagallery.org › Fri-Sun noon–4 pm › Through Jan 13: David Curcio: “I Wouldn’t Worry About It”LOT F GALLERY › 617.426.1021 › 145 Pearl St, Boston › lotfgallery.com › Sat noon-4 pm › Through Dec 28: “Winter Salad”MILLS GALLERY AT BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS › 617.426.8835 › 539 Tremont St, Boston › bcaonline.org › Wed + Sun noon-5 pm; Thurs-Sat noon-9 pm › Through Feb 3: “Process Goes Public”MIT LIST VISUAL ARTS CENTER › 617.253.4860 › 20 Ames St, Cambridge › web.mit.edu/lvac › Daily noon-6 pm › Through Jan 6: “In the Holocene”MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER › 617.577.1400 › 41 Second St, Cambridge › multiculturalartscenter.org › Mon-Fri 10:30 am-6 pm › Through Dec 26: Sylvia Stagg-Giuliano: “Transit of Venus”PEARL STREET GALLERY › 617.338.1388 › 100 Pearl St, Chelsea › Sat-Sun noon-5 pm › Through Dec 30: “Hurricane Sandy Relief Show and Sale”ROBERT KLEIN GALLERY › 617.267.7997 › 38 Newbury St, Boston › robertkleingallery.com › Tues-Fri 10 am–5:30 pm; Sat 11 am–5 pm › Through Dec 22: Michael Kenna: “A Decade in Review”ROLLY-MICHAUX GALLERY › 617.536.9898 › 290 Dartmouth St, Boston › rollymichaux.com › Tues-Sat 11 am-4:30 pm › Through Dec 29: Robert Castagna and Ksenia Mack: “A Soundtrack for Still Pictures: Lost Across America”SOCIETY OF ARTS AND CRAFTS › 617.266.1810 › 175 Newbury St, Boston › societyofcrafts.org › Tues-Sat 10 am-6 pm › Through Jan 19: “Our Cups Runneth Over”STEPHEN D. PAINE GALLERY AT MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN › 617.879.7333 › 621 Huntington Ave, Boston › Mon-Sat noon-6 pm; Wed noon-8 pm › Through Dec 24: “Earth & Alchemy”WASHINGTON STREET ART CENTER › 617.623.5315 › 321 Washington St, Somerville › washingtonst.org › Sat noon-4 pm › Through Dec 22: Danielle Festa: “Fabricating Realities”

museumsADDISON GALLERY OF AMERICAN ART AT PHILLIPS ACADEMY › 978.749.4015 › 180 Main St, Andover › andover.edu/addison › Tues-Sat 10 am-5 pm; Sun 1-5 pm › Through Dec 30: “American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927 – 1942” › Through Jan 13: “Pekupatikut Innuat Akunikana / Pictures Woke the People Up: An Innu Project with Wendy Ewald and Eric Gottesman” › Through Jan 13: “People, Places, Things: Symbols of American Culture”DECORDOVA SCULPTURE PARK AND MUSEUM › 781.259.8355 › 51 Sandy Pond Rd, Lincoln › decordova.org › Tues-Sun 10 am-5 pm › Admission $14; $12 seniors; $10 students and youth ages 13 and up; free to children under

ClassiCal ConCertstHursDaY 20

CALLITHUMPIAN CONSORT › Cage’s Song Books; Cardew’s The Great Learning, Paragraph 7; Wolff’s Changing the System › 7 pm › Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 the Fenway, Boston › $27; $24 seniors; $12 students › 617.278.5156 or gardnermuseum.org

FriDaY 21BLUE HERON › Selection of works by Du Fay, Josquin, Obrecht, Brumel, and more › Fri-Sat 8 pm › First Church, Congregational, 11 Garden St, Cambridge › $30-$50; $25 seniors; $10 students › 617.547.2724 or blueheronchoir.orgBOSTON CAMERATA › “The Brotherhood of the Star: A Hispanic Christmas,” with Les Fleurs des Caraïbes › Fri 8 pm › Hancock United Church of Christ, 1912 Mass Ave, Lexington › Sat 8 pm › First Parish Church Newbury, 20 High Rd, Newbury › $22-$46; $10 students › 781.862.4220 or bostoncamerata.orgCHORUS PRO MUSICA › Selection of works by Willcocks, Jacques, Rutter, Fissinger, Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Darke › 8 pm › Old South Church, 645 Boylston St, Boston › $25-$45; $22-$41 students, seniors › 617.267.7442 or choruspromusica.org

DanCe PerFormanCeBOSTON BALLET › Nissinen’s The Nutcracker › Through December 30 › Thurs + Mon 7:30 pm; Fri-Sat + Wed-Thurs 1 + 7:30 pm; Sun 1 + 5:30 pm › Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston › $35-$172 › 617.259.3400 or bostonballet.org

BOSTON URBAN BALLET › Anthony Williams’s Urban Nutcracker › Through December 23 › Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 1 + 7:30 pm; Sun 3 pm › John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley Street, Boston › $20-$60 › 617.524.4381 or urbannutcracker.com

Callithumpian Consort are at the Gardner Museum playing Cage, Cardew, and Wolff.

ERIN HOLMES, D’ANNA FORTUNATO, MICHAEL CALMÈS, PHILIP LIMA, CARL WRUBEL, AND WILLIAM MERRILL › Selection of Christmas music › 7 pm › St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1 Roanoke Ave, Jamaica Plain › $10 › 617.524.2999 or jpconcerts.org

saturDaY 22BOSTON CAMERATA › “The Brotherhood of the Star: A Hispanic Christmas,” with Les Fleurs des Caraïbes › 8 pm › First Parish Church Newbury, 20 High Rd, Newbury › $22-$46; $10 students › bostoncamerata.orgVON BRINGHURST, YAKOV ZAMIR, ELIJAH HOPKIN, JAMES DARGAN, AND SARAH HAGER › Handel’s Messiah › 4 pm › St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1 Roanoke Ave, Jamaica Plain › $10 › 617.524.2999 or jpconcerts.orgBLUE HERON › See listing for Fri

sunDaY 23DAVID HAGAN › Works for piano by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Chopin › 2 pm › Newton Free Library, 330 Homer St, Newton › Free › 617.796.1360 or newtonfreelibrary.netSTANDING ROOM ONLY › Selection of works by Tchaikovsky, Anderson, and more › 7:30 pm › Unitarian Universalist Church in Wakefield , 326 Main St, Wakefield › $30; $25 students, seniors › 339.203.9366 or sroconcerts.org

thursdAy 20

The Nutcracker

66 12.21.12 :: THEPHOENIX.cOm/EvENTs

on view through February 24

open daily • nrm.org • 413-298-4100 9 Rt. 183, Stockbridge, MAAlex Ross, JLA: The Original Seven, 2000, courtesy of the artist, ™ & © DC Comics. Used with permission.

Arts & Nightlife :: clAssicAl :: dANce :: visuAl Art

12 › Through Dec 30: Jean Shin and Brian Ripel: “Retreat” › Through Dec 30: Julianne Swartz: “How Deep is Your” › Through April 21: “Second Nature: Abstract Photography Then and Now” › Through Oct 1: “PLATFORM 10: Dan Peterman”FITCHBURG ART MUSEUM › 978.345.4207 › 185 Elm St, Fitchburg › fitchburgartmuseum.org › Wed-Fri noon-4 pm; Sat-Sun 11 am-5 pm › Admission $9; $5 students and seniors › Through Dec 20: “American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting” › Through Dec 20: “Different Views: Landscape Photographs from the Museum’s Collections” › Through Dec 20: “Face to Face: Works From The Collection In Dialogue” › Through Dec 20: “The Director’s Favorites”FULLER CRAFT MUSEUM › 508.588.6000 › 455 Oak St, Brockton › fullermuseum.org › Tues-Sun 10 am-5 pm; Wed 10 am-9 pm › Admission $8; $5 students, seniors; free for members and children under 12, and for all Wed 5-9 pm › Through Dec 30: Mark Davis: “Icarus” › Through Jan 20: Cyndy Barbone, Deborah Frazee Carlson, Fuyuko Matsubara, and Bhakti Ziek: “Grand Tales of the Loom: Four Master Weavers” › Through Feb 10: “2012 Biennial Members Exhibition” › Through March 17: Chris Gustin: “Masterworks in Clay”HARVARD ART MUSEUMS › 617.495.9400 › 485 Broadway, Cambridge › harvardartmuseums.org › Tues-Sat 10 am-5 pm › Admission $9; $7 seniors; $6 students › Through Dec 29: “Recent Acquisitions, Part III: Kerry James Marshall” › Through June 1: “Re-View”INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART › 617.478.3100 › 100 Northern Ave, Boston › icaboston.org › Tues-Wed + Sat-Sun 10 am–5 pm; Thurs-Fri 10 am–9 pm › Admission $15; $10 students, seniors; free for ages under 17; free after 5 pm on Thurs › Through March 3: “This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s”ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM › 617.566.1401 › 280 the Fenway, Boston › gardnermuseum.org › Wed-Mon 11 am-5 pm › Admission $15; $12 seniors; $5 students with ID; free for ages under 18 › Through Jan 7: “The Great Bare Mat & Constellation”MASSACHUSETTS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART › 413.662.2111 › 87 Marshall St, North Adams › massmoca.org › Wed-Mon 11 am–5 pm › Admission $15; $11 students; $5 ages 6-16; free for ages 5 and under › Through Jan 2: “Making Room: The Space Between Two and Three Dimensions” › Through Feb 4: “Invisible Cities” › Through April 1: “Oh, Canada” › Through May 28: “Curiosity”MIT MUSEUM › 617.253.4444 › 265 Mass Ave, Cambridge › web.mit.edu/museum › Tues-Fri 10 am-5 pm; Sat-Sun noon-5 pm › Through

Dec 31: Berenice Abbott: “Photography and Science: An Essential Unity” › Through March 17: “Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya” › Through Sept 28: “The Jeweled Net: Views of Contemporary Holography”MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS › 617.267.9300 › 465 Huntington Ave, Boston › mfa.org › Mon-Tues + Sat-Sun 10 am-4:45 pm; Wed-Fri 10 am-9:45 pm › Admission $22; $20 students, seniors; free for ages 7-17 and under during non-school hours [otherwise $10]; free for ages 6 and under › Through Dec 31: Edward Weston:

“Leaves of Grass” › Through Dec 31: “The Allure of Japan” › Through Jan 6: Ori Gersht: “History Repeating” › Through Feb 3: Mario Testino: “In Your Face” › Through Feb 18: “Artful Healing” › Through Feb 18: “Cats to Crickets: Pets in Japan’s Floating World” › Through March 31: Daniel Rich: “Platforms of Power” › Through April 14: “The Postcard Age: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection” › Through June 16: “Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Royalty on Paper” › Through June 16: Mario Testino: “British Royal Portraits” › Through June 23: “Divine Depictions: Korean Buddhist

Berenice Abbott’s The Parabolic Mirror Has a Thousand Eyes is on view at the MIT Museum as part of the show “Photography and Science: An Essential Unity” through December 31.

Paintings” › Through July 7: “Art of the White Mountains” › Through Sept 8: “Chinese Lacquer 1200–1800” › Through June 1: “Jewels, Gems, and Treasures: Ancient to Modern”MUSEUM OF SCIENCE › 617.723.2500 › 1 Science Pk, Boston › mos.org › Sat-Thurs 9 am-5 pm; Fri 9 am-9 pm › Admission $22; $20 seniors; $19 children 3-11 › Through Jan 13: “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age” › Through March 3: “Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure”NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM › 413.298.4100 › 9 Rte 183, Stockbridge › nrm.org › Daily 10 am–5 pm, May through Oct. Nov through April, 10 am-4 pm and weekends 10 am-5 pm › Admission $16; $14.50 seniors; $10 students with ID; $5 for kids and teens 6 to 18; free for ages 5 and under › Through Jan 21: Norman Rockwell: “Home for the Holidays” › Through Feb 24: “Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross”PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM › 978.745.9500 › 161 Essex St, Salem › pem.org › Tues-Sun and Mon holidays 10 am-5 pm › Admission $15; $13 seniors; $11 students; free for ages 16 and under › Through Dec 31: “The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries” › Through Jan 31: “Auspicious Wishes and Natural Beauty in Korean Art” › Through Jan 31: “Fish, Silk, Tea, Bamboo: Cultivating an Image of China” › Through Jan 31: “Of Gods and Mortals, Traditional Art from India” › Through Jan 31: “Perfect Imbalance, Exploring Chinese Aesthetics” › Through Feb 3: “FreePort [No. 004]: Peter Hutton” › Through Feb 3: “Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones” › Through May 27: “FreePort [No. 005]: Michael Lin” › Through May 27: “Natural Histories: Photographs by Barbara Bosworth”RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN MUSEUM OF ART › 401.454.6500 › 224 Benefit St, Providence, RI › risdmuseum.org › Tues-Sun 10 am-5 pm; third Thurs per month until 9 pm › Admission $10; $7 seniors; $3 college students and youth ages 5-18; free every Sun 10 am–1 pm, the third Thurs of each month 5-9 pm, and the last Sat of the month › Through Jan 13: “America In View: Landscape Photography 1865 to Now” › Through Feb 24: “Everyday Things: Contemporary Works from the Collection” › Through May 19: “Grisogorious Places: Edward Lear’s Travels” › Through June 9: “RISD Business: Sassy Signs and Sculptures by Alejandro Diaz” › Through June 30: Angela Bulloch, Anthony McCall, and Haroon Mirza: “Double-and-Add”WORCESTER ART MUSEUM › 508.799.4406 › 55 Salisbury St, Worcester › worcesterart.org › Wed-Fri + Sun 11 am-5 pm; Sat 10 am-5 pm; Third Thursday 11 am-8 pm › Admission $14, $12 for seniors and students. Free for youth 17 and under and for all on first Sat of the month, 10 am-noon › Through Feb 3: “Kennedy to Kent State: Images of a Generation”


Arts & Nightlife :: theAter

play by playCompiled by Maddy Myers

OpENINGINVISIBLE MAN › Christopher McElroen helms Oren Jacoby’s theatrical adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel about an idealistic young African-American man who begins to realize and push back against his social invisibility. Teagle F. Bougere stars in the Huntington Theatre co-production. › January 4–February 3 › Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston › $15-$95 › 617.266.0800 or huntingtontheatre.org 33 VARIATIONS › Spiro Veloudos stages a new play by Moises Kaufman that juxtaposes two time periods. In this Lyric Stage production, James Andreassi co-stars, as Beethoven, with Paula Plum, as a modern-day musicologist struggling to understand the composer’s motivations. › January 4–February 2 › Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St, Boston › $27-$58 › 617.585.5678 or lyricstage.com

NOW playINGARABIAN NIGHTS › The Central Square Theater reprises Daniel Gidron’s successful staging of Dominic Cooke’s theatrical adaptation of the ancient Persian folk tales of King Shahryar and his new wife Shahrazad. She tells her husband a new story each night in an effort to distract him from his panicked vow to murder any woman the night after she weds him, in an effort to prevent adultery. The production is co-staged by the Nora Theatre Company & Underground Railway Theater. › Through December 30 › Central Square Theater, 450 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $15-$45 › 866.811.4111 or centralsquaretheater.orgBLACK NATIVITY › John Andrew Ross, original music director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists’ annual production of Langston Hughes’s nativity play, reprises his directorial role again for this annual performance that infuses the original scripture with music and dance. The cast of more than 50 actors includes experienced adult performers as well as young children, some of whom will be performing publicly for the first time. › Through December 22 › Blackman Auditorium, Northeastern University, 342 Huntington Avenue, Boston › $18-$45 › 617.442.8614 or blacknativity.orgBYE BYE LIVER: THE BOSTON DRINKING PLAY › Hennessy’s hosts the Boston chapter of Bye Bye Liver, a show about drinking culture, from wine snobs to wildly fun (and occasionally terrifying) booze parties. The performance also incorporates audience interaction with social games like “Would You Rather” and “Never Have I Ever.” › Indefinitely › Hennessy’s, 25 Union St, Boston › $20 › 866.811.4111 or ByeByeLiver.comCHINGLISH › As David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish demonstrates, negotiations between Americans and Chinese are seldom as snappy as the play’s title. In this “new comedy about the misadventures of miscommunication,” which is in its New England premiere at the Lyric Stage Company, an Ohio businessman travels to Guiyang, China, hoping to land a contract for signage at a new cultural center. Larry Coen is at the helm of this sharp Lyric production that trips smoothly between linguistic farce and lyrical episodes that hark back to ancient arts and the Cultural Revolution. Barlow Adamson whips up a convincing mélange of sincerity and dissembling as the Every Businessman looking for a fresh start. › Through December 23 › Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St, Boston › $25-$58 › 617.585.5678 or lyricstage.com

A CHRISTMAS CAROL › Trinity Repertory Company leads off the attack of the Scrooges with its 35th annual offering of Adrian Hall & Richard Cumming’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s tale of the incredible flying miser. Tyler Dobrowsky directs, and Timothy Crowe stars as Scrooge. › Through December 29 › Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St, Providence, RI › $15-$36 › 401.351.4242 or tickets.trinityrep.comA CHRISTMAS CAROL › Arianna Knapp takes on Jon Kimbell’s stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens novella, featuring original music composed and arranged by Alby Potts and James Woodland. David Coffee stars as Scrooge in this North Shore Music Theatre production. › Through December 23 › North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Rd, Beverly › $45-$60 › 978.232.7200 or nsmt.orgTHE CHRISTMAS REVELS › Patrick Swanson directs the annual Revels celebration of the Winter Solstice, with George Emlen as the music director. The show includes the talents of piper Paddy Keenan and fiddler Sheila Falls Keohane, musician and song leader David Coffin, Steven Barkhimer, soloist Mary Casey, the O’Shea Chaplin Academy of Irish Dance, the Pinewoods Morris Men, and Cambridge Symphonic Brass Ensemble. › Through December 27 › Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St, Cambridge › $25-$52; $15-$40 children 11 & under › 617.496.2222 or revels.orgFULLY COMMITTED › Gabriel Kuttner stars as Sam, a would-be actor working at a 4-star Manhattan restaurant, in Becky Mode’s comedy about serving New York’s upper crust. Bridget Kathleen O’Leary directs the production for New Repertory Theatre. › Through December 30 › Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown › $36 › 617.923.0100 or newrep.orgHALF ’N HALF ’N HALF › Kyle Fabel helms John Kolvenbach’s farcical parody of life at a repertory theatre, from behind-the-scenes drama to on-stage theatrics. Jim Ortlieb, Carol Halstead, Zoë Winters and Andrew Pastides star in the Merrimack Rep staging. › Through December 23 › Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell › $15-$47 › 978.454.3926 or mrt.org/halfnhalfnhalf.html HANSEL AND GRETEL › Allegra Libonati directs a cast of graduate acting students from the ART Institute for Advanced Theater Training in this theatrical adaptation of the classic children’s story by the Brothers Grimm. › Through January 6 › Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge › $15 › 617.547.8300 or amrep.orgHOLIDAY MEMORIES › New Rep stages Truman Capote’s holiday play about his experiences growing up during the Depression in the deep South. The piece is based on two of Capote’s short stories, “The Thanksgiving Visitor” and “A Christmas Memory.” Russell Vandenbroucke directs. › Through December 23 › New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown › $28-$58 › 617.923.8487 or newrep.orgTHE HOW AND THE WHY › Shana Gozansky directs Trinity Rep’s production of Sarah Treem’s drama about a generational clash between two female evolutionary biologists, one well-established in her field and one about to begin her career. Barrie Kreinik and Anne Scurria star. › Through December 30 › Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St, Providence, RI › $28-$34 › 401.351.4242 or trinityrep.com IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE › Stoneham Theatre’s Weylin Symes directs his theatrical adaptation of Frank Capra’s famed holiday film about a man who has lost his faith in himself and his life. An angel talks the man out of suicide by traveling back down memory lane and showing how much one person’s efforts can change the world around them for the better, whether they realize it or not. › Through

December 23 › Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main St, Stoneham › $44-$48 › 781.279.2200 or stonehamtheatre.orgMEMPHIS › Christopher Ashley directs the Broadway tour of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan’s musical set in the 1950s and loosely based on the life of Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips. Earl Darrington, Felicia Boswell, and Bryan Fenkart star. › Through December 23 › Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St, Boston › $34-$129 › 617.426.9366 or boston.broadway.com › Jon Garelick’s review at thePhoenix.com/artsOF MICE AND MEN › Moonbox Productions presents a theatrical adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Depression-era novel about two migrant workers named George and Lennie, the latter of whom is mentally disabled. Although George tries to downplay Lennie’s disability and hopes for a normal life, a tragic accident causes George to realize that this can never be possible. Allison Olivia Choat directs the production, which features incidental music composed by Dan Rodrigues. › Through December 22 › Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston › $25-$30 › 617.864.0841 or moonboxproductions.orgOUR TOWN › The Huntington presents Thornton Wilder’s moving American classic set between 1901 and 1913. The play breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges its theatricality by including the Stage Manager as a character, as the story illuminates the value of life’s small details and set pieces. David Cromer directs. › Through January 13 › Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston › $15-$105 › 617.266.0800 or huntingtontheatre.org › Carolyn Clay’s review at thePhoenix.com/artsPIPPIN › Diane Paulus helms the ART’s staging of Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson’s musical about a young prince who believes he’s destined for greatness but can’t decide what sort of great feats will suit him best. Gypsy Snider of Les 7 doigts de la main choreographs the staging, which stars Matthew James Thomas and Patina Miller. › Through January 20 › Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge › $25-$85 › 617.547.8300 or amrep.org RECKLESS › John Fogle is at the helm of Craig Lucas’s cheerfully surreal, dark-edged

1988 fantasy, in which a happy housewife whose husband has hired a hitman goes on the lam on Christmas Eve. Nancy Gahagan stars in this Salem Theatre Company staging. › Through December 22 › Salem Theatre Company, 90 Lafayette St, Salem › $10-$25 › 978.790.8546 or salemtheatre.com RUDOLPH THE RED NECKED REINDEER › Having had his holiday way with the Virgin Mary and the Grinch, Ryan Landry is now toying with everybody’s favorite bit of blinking venison. A glittering, dancing, singing travesty of the Rankin/Bass television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (which has been on every year since 1964!), Rudolph the Red Necked Reindeer turns deer meat into beef cake, then runs it through the Gold Dust Orphans’ roaster basted with sequins and smut. This is not Landry’s most ingenious show — perhaps because the original, with its unlikely trio of beacon-nosed reindeer, elf who wants to be a dentist, and random prospector, is so loopy it’s hard to parody — even if you do throw in Drew Barrymore, The Lion King, and a trailer-park Santa who likes plugging squirrels. But like most pranks at the Gold Dust Orphanage, Rudolph is a lot of bawdy, showboating fun. And the costumes by Scott Martino are worthy of Cher — or Liberace as a Munchkin. › Through December 23 › Machine, 1256 Boylston St, Boston › $35-$45 › 617.536.1950 or facebook.com/golddustorphansTHE SANTALAND DIARIES › David Josef Hansen stars in the one-man show adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris’s autobiographical essay about his experience working as a Christmas elf in a Macy’s department store. Tony Simotes directs the Shakespeare & Company staging. › Through December 29 › Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox › $15-$50 › 413.637.3353 or shakespeare.orgTWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA › Robert Walsh directs Actors’ Shakespeare Project in the Bard’s romantic comedy about a love triangle, cross-dressing maidens, and couples engaged to be married against their wishes. › December 12–January 6 › Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm Street, Somerville › $28-$50 › 866.811.4111 or actorsshakespeareproject.org

The Huntington Theatre Company’s produc-tion of Our Town is at the BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion through January 26. Read Carolyn Clay’s review at thePhoenix.com/arts.


ARTS & NIGHTLIFE :: FILM

SPAGHETTI SOUTHERN STYLEWITH INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Taran-tino rewrote the end of World War II, going big as he reduced Hitler to something very small: a corpse riddled with bullets fi red by Jewish hit men. Histori-cally inaccurate to say the least, it was also incred-ibly satisfying.

Now, Tarantino reconfigures that classic American genre, the Western, setting his new film in the Deep South, creating what he terms a “Southern,” while infusing it with the spaghetti sensibilities of Sergio Leone (director of Tarantino’s favorite film, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) and, more so, the genre grit of that other Sergio, Corbucci (director of 1966’s Django, naturally).

Taking place in a sun-drenched land (gorgeous location photography by Robert Richardson), the film has Tarantino going even bigger, making everything comically oversized, from the prop tooth bouncing atop a dentist’s wagon to the post-Peckinpah geysers of spurting viscera. It’s as though Blazing Saddles has been remade by Monty Python, except Tarantino’s voice remains clear — which certainly won’t be appreciated by, say, Spike Lee, who publicly took Tar-antino to task for using the word “nigger” a comparably quaint 38 times in Jackie Brown. (It’s deployed incessantly here, as in Jackie, by actors of all races.)

Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, devouring Tarantino’s dialogue as much as he did in his Oscar-winning turn in Basterds) “purchases” the shackled Django (a whip-scarred Jamie Foxx) with a couple of well-placed blasts from his concealed hand-cannon. Freed from what the German-born dentist

calls “this slavery malarkey,” Django liter-ally begins “acting” as King’s valet.

King, a bounty hunter who is as much a dentist as Doc Holliday, takes on Django as his protégé, with a goal of rescuing Django’s long-lost wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who’s the property of powerful plantation proprietor Cal-vin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio, oozing sleaze). But Candie may be the least of their worries.

Stephen (a menacing Samuel L. Jack-son) is hunched over his cane after 60 years as Candie’s personal Stepin Fetchit, but once he shuffles away from his master, he’s terrifying. Transparently manipulat-ing everyone around him, his loyalties to

anyone but himself are a theatrical façade.At this point, things slow down a bit. But it

doesn’t make the film feel overlong. Instead, it’s the calm before the shitstorm, when Tarantino takes the chains off, and the real carnage begins._BRETT MICHEL

REVIEW NINA HOSS’S BARBARABarbara is the latest collabora-tion between director Christian Petzold and his star Nina Hoss. Set in East Germany in 1980, the film tells the story of a doctor (Hoss) who has been exiled to the provinces after being jailed for an unnamed crime. I talked to Hoss in New York during her Stateside press swing to promote Barbara.

What do you think accounts for the richness of the collabo-ration with Christian Petzold?I always have the feeling that he sees something in me personally which I am not but I can relate to very well. It’s always about a human being who is outside of a social community, or the society, even, and tries to make her way back in.

Barbara is aware she’s being kept tabs on, and yet for most of the movie, it’s you and the camera. They talked a lot about, “What po-sition do you give the audience so that you don’t get a voyeuristic feeling?” So I knew that the way they capture me in these lonely moments is one that doesn’t attack her. So I didn’t have to mis-trust the camera. It was a friend more than an enemy.

And also an invisible presence. Exactly. Something that gets the truth which [Barbara] won’t show ever to the State. But I can give it to the camera. This role was really about balancing the emotions, how much can you give away, how much can you tell through your eyes or through your gestures. I had to work on her being tough to the world around her. But not so harsh and closed up that you’re not inter-ested in her anymore._CHARLES TAYLOR

+++1/2 DJANGO UNCHAINEDDirected and written by Quentin Tarantino :: With Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson :: The Weinstein Company :: 165 minutes

Boston Common + Fenway + Kendall Square + suburbs

See Gerald Peary’s review of Barbara on page 70. Find more of our interview with Nina Hoss at thePhoenix.com/movies.

Nina Hoss

THEPHOENIX.COM/MOVIES :: 12.21.12 69

Arts & Nightlife :: film

opening this week++++ BARBARA › In this brilliant Cold War political drama set in the GDR in 1980, a doctor, Barbara (the extraordinary Nina Hoss), is exiled from East Berlin to a provincial town by the Baltic Sea because she has requested to move to the West. Once there, her every move is monitored by the local Stasi, who come into her apartment at will, overturning her furniture and checking her body parts. Her claustrophobic life continues at the local hospital, where she is assigned — the handsome doctor (Ronald Zehrfeld) who befriends her and courts her is, very likely, also a Stasi spy. Somehow, in this stirring narrative, Barbara manages to keep hold of her principles, and her humanity and courage, and battles to save a dissident teenage girl whose life the Communists are trying to destroy. Filmmaker Christian Petzold was appropriately awarded Best Director at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. In a perfect world, Nina Hoss would be a 2013 Oscar nominee for Best Actress. › German › 105m › Coolidge Corner _Gerald Peary++1/2 THE GUILT TRIP › Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand make a snappy comic duo in this road movie about a tetchy mother-son relationship. He plays Andy, a chemist who’s invented a nontoxic cleanser. She’s Joyce, a Joizy widow whose high spirits have dampened in middle age. They embark on a cross-country drive during which Andy has a series of mostly disastrous pitch meetings. He’s planned a surprise on the West Coast — but will they get there before he throttles her? Mommy annoys and embarrasses her bubele, but she also teaches him that he needs to sell himself before he can market his product. Rogen adroitly finds humor in Andy’s frustration with the gulf between where he wants his life to be and where it actually is. Streisand awakens the comic persona that’s been hibernating since Yentl, and has her requisite verklempt moments. Dan Fogelman’s script could have been more ambitious (like Albert Brooks’s Mother), but in the hands of director Anne Fletcher it’s enjoyably breezy. › 96m › Boston Common + Fenway + suburbs _Betsy Sherman++1/2 LES MISÉRABLES › For his adaptation of the kitsch-fest known as Les Miz, Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) bets heavily on his cast, and mostly wins. His musical strategy is to have the singing done live on set, and to have the camera bore in on the actors, especially during solos. The singing does indeed have immediacy, and the close-ups give the audience intimacy with the characters. Hugh Jackman, as Jean Valjean, voices big themes of guilt and redemption with the hit-you-over-the-head lyrics, but what he personally brings to the role is a restless physicality. Anne Hathaway is raw and touching and sings like an angel as Fantine, the doomed factory girl, and Samantha Barks is terrific as street-smart Éponine. We all lose with Russell Crowe’s constipated performance as Valjean’s pursuer, Javert. But the piece isn’t only about individuals; it’s also about a people’s rebellion played out against a satisfying backdrop of 19th-century Parisian filth. › 158m › Boston Common + Fenway + suburbs _Betsy Sherman++1/2 RUST AND BONE › One image from Jacques Audiard’s overwrought melodrama suggests what a shimmering, mysterious movie it might have been. Through the glass wall of an aquarium tank, a killer whale emerges with its giant cartoon face, imitating playfully the

movements of its former trainer Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard). You almost forget that a little earlier the creature had ripped her legs off. That accident is just the start of a litany of calamities. On the bright side, Stéphanie emerges from her post-accident depression, forms an unlikely liaison with troubled martial-arts fighter Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), and adjusts to mobility with her new prosthetics. But then people get fired, love is betrayed, families are broken up — so that when a little kid is standing on an ice-covered pond, you pretty much know what’s going to happen next. The lugubrious plot takes a refreshing detour when Stéphanie pokes into the world of extreme fighting. Cotillard’s performance is a match for the histrionics, but Rust and Bone still could cut a lot of fat. › 120m › French › Kendall Square _Peter Keough+1/2 THIS IS 40 › I’m at a loss to empathize with the middle-aged plight of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), supporting players in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up, now front and center in the writer/director/producer’s kinda-sorta sequel. The couple might have to sell their gigantic home because Debbie’s boutique clothing store is missing $12,000 and Pete, a record-label owner (though you’d swear his business is riding his bike), has loaned his struggling father (Albert Brooks, priceless as always) $80,000. Boo. Hoo. Overlong and never more than amusing, the film finds Apatow once again employing his wife (Mann) and daughters (Maude and Iris) as his onscreen family, while the handsome, thick-haired Rudd is the average-looking filmmaker’s movie surrogate. That’s the level of honesty in this movie’s entitled bubble of reality. › 134m › Boston Common + Fenway + suburbs _Brett Michel

now playing++1/2 ANNA KARENINA › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 130m › Boston Common + Kendall Square + Coolidge Corner + West Newton+++ ARGO › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 120m › Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Somerville Theatre + Coolidge Corner + Chestnut Hill + Embassy + suburbs+++1/2 CHASING ICE › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 80m › Coolidge Corner

++ CORALINE › 2009 › Henry Selick’s adaptation of the weird and funny

Neil Gaiman novel is a regressive, sometimes subversive, but mostly annoying disappointment. Coraline (a shrill Dakota Fanning) is fed up with her parents (Teri Hatcher and John

Hodgman), so when the brick wall sealing the tiny door in her

bedroom vanishes in a dream, she goes exploring and discovers an “Other

World” where everything seems better — but what’s with the buttons sealing

everybody’s eyes? Gaiman’s book delves into existential anxieties about identity, illusion, and reality; Selick’s movie stays on the “no place like home” surface. › 100m › Brattle: Sun+++ DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL › 2011 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 86m › West Newton: Sat-Sun++1/2 FLIGHT › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 139m › Boston Common + Fresh Pond + Somerville Theatre + suburbs+1/2 HITCHCOCK › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 98m › Boston Common + Kendall Square + Embassy++1/2 THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED

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Arts & Nightlife :: film

JOURNEY › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 169m › Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Embassy + Arlington Capitol + suburbs1/2 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 91m › West Newton: Sat-Sun++ HYDE PARK ON HUDSON › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 94m › Boston Common + Kendall Square + West Newton + suburbs+++1/2 IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER › 1955 › This Stanley Donen film may be the best movie musical almost no one knows, and it’s the anti–On the Town. Three servicemen (Gene Kelly, Michael Kidd, and the witty, underrated Dan Dailey), best of pals, return from the war and pledge to meet at their favorite New York bar in 10 years; when they do, they discover they’ve taken such different paths that they can no longer stand one another. This unexpectedly poignant satirical musical is about how their awkward reunion prompts each of the three men to take stock of himself. › 101m › Brattle: Thurs+++1/2 KILLNG THEM SOFTLY › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 97m › Boston Common + Kendall SquareBoston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Embassy + Arlington

Capitol + suburbs++ MAHLER ON THE COUCH › 2010 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › German › 98m › Coolidge Corner+++ MILK › 2008 › Gus Van Sant’s trenchant bio-pic of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk is a juicy and manipulative melodrama and a powerful tearjerker. The first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States, Milk (Sean Penn) was murdered on November 27, 1978, along with the city’s mayor, George Moscone (Victor Garber), by Dan White (Josh Brolin) after Moscone refused to let White rescind his resignation from the city’s board of supervisors. We flash back to Milk’s pre-activist days as a closeted New York office drone who, on his 40th birthday, in the arms of new-found love Scott Smith (James Franco), decides to move to San Francisco to do something in his life “to be proud of.” Van Sant re-creates the locations, the clothes, the ambiance, and the fervor of those days with rousing exactitude; Penn uncannily resembles Milk, and at his best he evokes Milk’s combination of sweetness and toughness, his aura of raunchy saintliness. Van Sant does juice up Milk with a sampling of his subject’s chaotic personal life; he fails to integrate these gossipy digressions, and Penn’s performance in them unravel. Still, it’s hard to imagine anyone’s being unmoved by the army of candlelight marchers at the end. › 128m › Brattle: Fri

+++ MONSOON WEDDING › 2001 › Like most weddings, the one in Mira Nair’s film is stressful and chaotic in its preparation and a little bit false and tacky in its execution, but its pleasures prove genuine and deep. Father-of-the-bride Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah) worries that he’s getting ripped off by buffoonish, vaguely disreputable wedding planner P.K. Dube (Vijay Raaz) as he prepares for the arranged marriage between his daughter Aditi (Vasundhara Das) and Texas-based engineer Hemant Rai (Parvin Dabas), who will meet for the first time days before the nuptials take place. Neither is he on good terms with his Australian nephew Rahul Chadha (Randeep Hooda), or his own teenage son, chubby Varun (Ishaan Nair), who prefers cooking and dance to more “manly” endeavors. Aditi, for her part, will pursue almost to her wedding night an affair with her married boss. Then there’s the question of why cousin Ria (Shefali Shetty) shrinks from rich Uncle Tej (Rajat Kapoor) even when he offers to pay for her dream of taking part in a writing program in an American university? Nair (Salaam, Bombay!; Mississippi Masala) mixing the bitter with the sweet, going a little heavy on the latter in a film about the power of combining opposites. But love has the last word, as nearly every character finds the appropriate mate despite his or her worst inclinations. Most appealing is the transformation of the benighted P.K., who takes time out from frantic phone calls to make eye contact with a maid with the unlikely but apt name of Alice (Tilotama Shome); what he does then with some flowers and candles makes for the most touching and unexpected moment in the film. › English + Hindi + Punjabi › 114m › Brattle: Sun

+++ THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 102m › Somerville Theatre+ PLAYING FOR KEEPS › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 106m › Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + suburbs+1/2 RED DAWN › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 93m › Boston Common + suburbs+++ RISE OF THE GUARDIANS › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 97m › Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Arlington Capitol + suburbs+++ THE SESSIONS › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 95m › Coolidge Corner + West Newton+++ SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 122m › Boston Common + Fenway + West Newton++++ SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN › 1953 › The directorial team of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, the songs of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, and the performances of Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, and Jean Hagen combine to make this the finest musical of the ‘50s. The background — a lively satire of Hollywood at the beginning of the sound era — is delightful, and the musical numbers, such as “Make ‘Em Laugh” and the classic title sequence, are extraordinary. › 103m › Brattle: Tues+++ SKYFALL › 2012 › Visit thePhoenix.com/movies for a full review. › 143m › Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Somerville Theatre + Chestnut Hill + Embassy + suburbs

phX piCks >> Can’t Miss • ARMAGEDDON As we arrive at the mayan deadline for the end of the world, one of our last regrets is that the coolidge chose michael Bay’s Armageddon (1998) as its @ftermidnite send off. or maybe not; the gleeful absurdity of the

premise (bunch of space jockeys

try to detonate deadly asteroid), the explosive special effects, and Ben Affleck’s Animal Crackers scene, make this a dumb but enter-taining way to spend the end. Also screens saturday — if there is one.Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St, Brookline :: midnight :: $9.25 :: 617.734.2501 or coolidge.org

• focus features 10th anniversary retrospective What hap-pened to independent cinema? it’s alive and well at Focus Features, which has kept the indie torch alive with films such as cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre (2011;

noon and 5 pm), Joe Wright’s Atonement (2007; 2:30 + 7:30 pm), and Rian Johnson’s Brick (2006; 10 pm), all screening today at the Brattle as part of their

Focus Features 10th Anniversary Retrospective.Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge :: Double feature $12; $10 students, seniors :: 617.876.6837 or brattlefilm.org

• hfa’s fourth annual vintage christmas shoW if your last-minute shopping takes you to harvard square and you’re looking for some yuletide relief, head over to the harvard Film Archive’s Fourth Annual vintage

christmas show. it’s a kid-friendly event featuring two hours of shorts includ-ing a George Kuchar video diary, some comedy classics, and a murder mystery.

A murder mystery? season’s greetings! Harvard Film Archive in the Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St, Cambridge :: 2 pm :: free :: 627. 495.4700 or hcl.harvard.edu/hfa

• gene Kelly centennial triBute it’s a musical Wednesday to brighten the post-christmas gloom. At the Brattle you can enjoy the Gene Kelly centennial tribute with the iconic hoofer in stanley Donen’s On the Town

(1949; 2:15 + 7 pm) and George sidney’s Anchors Aweigh (1945; 4:15 + 9 pm). Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge :: Double feature $12; $10 students,

seniors :: 617.876.6837 or brattlefilm.org• sing-a-long SOUND OF MUSIC And if you feel like joining in with the festivities, there’s the Regent’s sing-Along Sound of Music (1965), where you and Julie Andrews can belt out the great Rodgers and hammerstein tunes.Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St, Arlington :: December 26-29; today @ 10:30 am + 7 pm:: $15; $12 seniors :: 781.646.4849 or regenttheatre.com

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THEPHOENIX.cOm/mOvIEs :: 12.21.12 71

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.RUSTANDBONE.COM

WINNERBEST ACTRESS

HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS

“A HYPNOTIC FILM THAT MEANS TO SHAKE YOU, AND DOES. MARION COTILLARD IS A TOUR-DE-FORCE. SHE’S

ASTONISHING. MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS IS SUPERB.”Peter Travers

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FROM THE AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR OF “A PROPHET”

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BEST ACTRESS MARION COTILLARDBEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

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EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTSTARTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21

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Arts & Nightlife :: BostoN AcceNts

>>

cellArs By stArlight

SUPPORT LOCAL RECORD SHOPS

SURVEYING THE STACKS AT WEIRDO RECORDSON A MONDAY EVENING, ANGElA SAWYER is behind the counter at Weirdo Records, labeling a stack of micro-CDs. “They’re the store’s holiday cards,” she explains. Each contains a recording of a piano player performing a song from A Charlie Brown Christmas, slowed down so it sounds really weird. “They’re really obscure,” she says about the medium in general. “Each can only hold about five minutes.”

These are the sorts of eccentricities one routinely stumbles upon at an experimental record shop like Weir-do, which Sawyer opened in Central Square in 2009 after several years of running the store by mail order from her home, and after more than 20 years of working in record shops in general.

Weirdo’s Mass Ave storefront feels like a glorified walk-in closet, with neon-pink walls covered in posters and shelves of CDs and LPs ranging from ’60s Pakistani folk instrumentals and long-lost 1940s pop crooners to Spanish ’80s punk compilations and CDs of noise recordings captured in Jamaica Plain. “Play loud on cheap stereo,” reads a CD wrapped in a brown paper bag, propped on a shelf between “funny shaped stuff” and “outsider squares.”

These sorts of tags — along with “free jazz,” “world,” and “sixties & seventies” — are the closest things to genre labels found at Weirdo. “To figure out how good music happens, and how meaningful music comes to exist, part

of what you have to do is take out all of the fences that exist inside of your head,” says Sawyer. “About this genre, or that genre.”

Sawyer plays in several experimental bands herself: she’s the singer in a hardcore band, Exusamwa; plays solo as Preggy Peggy & the Lazy Babymakers; and, most oddly, is a member of Duck That, an improvisational quartet where everyone plays hunting calls. “We all play little toys that make noises that sound like animals,” she says.

Despite its tiny size, Weirdo Records hosts wacky live shows every Monday night. When I visit, however, the weekly show has been moved to Wednesday at 10 am as part of local Whitehaus duo the Bang Brothers’ attempt at playing 12 cities in 24 hours. “There’s a really healthy community here, one of the best in the country,” Sawyer explains. “For people in this town who play non-denominational, nobody-knows-what-the-fuck-it-is kind of music.”

Sawyer’s involvement in the local experimental scene gives the shop a community-center feel. “Musi-cians and artists and people in general need a place where they can go and have that,” she explains. “The world just gets more homogenized all of the time. It gets watered down really easily. Every city you go to looks the same. This is my tiny little dent into the planet that makes it better.”_LIZ PELLY » [email protected]

Sentimentalized consumerism is weird. But if you are drop-ping cash on loved ones this December, supporting locally owned record shops is one way to make holiday shopping more purposeful. Here are four shops to check out this month and beyond:

Armageddon Record Shop :: For new and used punk, hardcore, noise, indie rock, and more :: 12 Eliot St, Cambridge :: armageddon-shop.comlooney Tunes :: Vintage vinyl shop, formerly at Boylston St, now located inside of Store 54; a good place to search for un-derground rock and pop from decades past :: 16 Harvard Ave, Allston, in the basementNuggets Records :: Dig through thousands of LPs in Kenmore Square :: 486 Comm Ave, Boston :: nuggetsrecords.comPlanet Records :: Formerly on JFK Street in Harvard Square, the relocated shop has a “no holds barred” selection of vinyl and CDs in all genres :: 144 Mt. Auburn St, Cambridge :: planet-records.comWEIRDO RECORDS :: 844 Mass Ave, Cambridge :: 857.413.0154 or weirdorecords.com

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72 12.21.12 :: ThEphOEnIx.COM/MuSIC

by William Shakespeare directed by Robert Walsh**Dec. 12 – Jan. 6, 2013Davis Square Theatre

Somerville** This director is a member of the stage directors and choreographers society, a national theatrical labor union

866-811-4111 or actorsshakespeareproject.org

L u p o ’ s79 Washington st, providence

complete schedule at lupos.com

tickets at LUPOs.cOM, F.Y.e. stORes & LUPO’s

Friday, January 25

citizen cope

Friday, February 8

Grace potter & the NocturNals

Friday, January 18

get the Led out

MARTIN SEXTON

saturday, January 19

the Met - saturday, dec. 29

the NeiGhborhoods

R E S TA U R A N T & M U S I C C L U B

43 Years Of Great Music

www.johnnyds.comInfo: 617-776-2004concert LIne: 617-776-9667

johnny d’s17 hoLLand stdavIs squaresomervILLe. ma 02144

1/3 Joe Fletcher / Nikki laNe1/4 (7:30pm) amy Black (10pm) Get Backs1/5 luther JohNsoN1/9 claudia schmidt1/10 klezwoods / cirkestra / eNsmB1/13 Freakwater1/17 harmoNtowN live podcast w/ daN harmoN & JeFF davis1/18 deNNey & the Jets/derek hoke1/29 eNGlish Beat2/8 hayes carll2/14 kelly willis/ Bruce roBisoN

Friday, dec 21- (7:30pm) small BiG BaNd Jazz

either / orchestraplays the music oF JohN tchicai

(9:30pm) raNdi's holiday/Birthday BashperFormers iNclude: dirty truckers, JeNNy dee,

tsuNami oF souNd & more!

saturday, dec 22-(4pm) studeNt showcase

real school oF music(9:30pm) r&B / rock' N roll

FuNky white hoNkiessuNday, dec 23

Jazz BruNch 8:30 am - 2:30 pmopeN Blues Jam 4:00pm - 7:00 pm

moNday, dec 24-Bar opeN NooN to 6 pm

Box oFFice opeNGiFt certiFicates availaBle

tuesday, dec 25- merry christmas

closed For the day

wedNesday, dec 26-rock

hello echoGrimis / craiG martiNsoN

thursday, dec 27-allmaN Bros. / southerN rock / Blues

the peacheatersdelta GeNerators

Friday, dec 28- Get your 80's Fix!

power oF love (huey lewis triB.)vaN railiN (vaN haleN triB.) / GuNpowder

GelatiNe (all Female QueeN triB.) oBi FerNaNdez / dJ keN cmar

saturday, dec 29-(7pm) pop

mieka pauley(10pm) rock' N roll

dave crespo's aFter party/southerN lust cluB/NauGhty water

moNday, dec 31-disco FuNk

Booty vortexNew year's eve party

comiNG sooN:

Arts & Nightlife :: music

THURSDAY 20“AINE MINOGUE’S CELTIC MID-WINTER CELEBRATION” › 7:30 pm › Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge › $20-$22 › 617.492.7679 or clubpassim.comAJ EDWARDS + AS THE SPARROW + THE DEEP NORTH + MOONTOWERS › 9 pm › T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge › $9 › 617.492.2327 or ticketweb.comALMOST RIGHTEOUS + TIK TOK › 9 pm › Milky Way, at the Brewery, 284 Armory St, Jamaica Plain › $5 › 617.524.3740 or milkywayjp.comBEARSTRONAUT + LETTERDAY › 8 pm › Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › $10 › 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.com“BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!” › With Math the Band + The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die + Sean Eldon & The Greatest Date › 7 pm › Middle East Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comCANCER KILLING GEMINI + DAS MUERTE › Radio Upstairs, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.764.0005 or

radiobarunion.com/DAVES ENERGY GUIDE › Precinct, 70 Union Sq, Somerville › 617.623.9211 or precinctbar.comHIVESMASHER + VATTNET VISKAR + FAMILY › 9 pm › Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston › $10 › 617.566.9014 or ticketweb.comTHE JAUNTEE + MANGO BOBSLED + THE SOUL PANACEA + MOXA › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comKIMON KIRK + DIETRICH STRAUSE + BRIAN WEBB › 9 pm › Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.547.0759 or lizardloungeclub.comKOBIE ALI › 9:30 pm › Middle East Corner, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $5 › 617.864.3278 or ticketweb.comMELVERN TAYLOR & HIS FABULOUS MELTONES › 7:30 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comMIKE YARSKY + CHARLOTTE BASH › 8 pm › Cantab Lounge Downstairs, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $6 › 617.354.2685 or cantab-lounge.com

PREACHER ROE › 10:30 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comSERIOUS JACK + TALL BOYS + WE WERE ASTRONAUTS › P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.776.1557SPIRIT ANIMAL › 6 pm › All Asia, 334 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.1544 or allasiabar.comSTORMIN’ NORMAN AND FRIENDS › 7 pm › Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge › 617.497.0823“THE SUFJAN STEVENS CHRISTMAS SING-A-LONG SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER YULETIDE DISASTER PAGEANT ON ICE” › With Sufjan Stevens + Sheila Saputo › 7 pm › Royale, 279 Tremont >> live music on p 74

PHX PICKS >> CAN’T MISS• WESTERN EDUCATION Western Education’s blistering fall single, “All I Am,” was the first song spun on the relaunched Boston Accents, and it signaled the arrival of the next great band out of Lowell. The high-charged rock quartet

releases The Weekend Sessions tonight at a triple-release event also birthing new music from Miss Fairchild and the Joint Chiefs.

Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge :: 7 pm :: $12; $10 advance :: ticketweb.com

• ThE STREET DOgS “WRECk ThE hAllS” If the Street Dogs are truly calling it a day, they are doing it in grand holiday fashion. Last month’s announcement that the veteran punk band will be taking a break from

recording and touring (but not officially breaking up) left a lot of things open-ended for Mike McColgan and his crew, but one thing is certain: this

two-night stand at the ’Dise is going to be merry as fuck. Oi to the world, indeed. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston :: 6 pm :: $17 :: ticketmaster.com

• YOUNg lONDON Have yourself a blippy little Christmas as Boston’s electro-pop scene shows off a troika of dance-mad duos: Young London, Stereo Telescope, and Casey Desmond (as usual, with her trusted sidekick Taylor

Barefoot). There will be enough

holiday cheer in the room to run a high-powered syn-thesizer and more dancing than in Santa’s drunken-neon-elves-filled workshop after the man leaves the North Pole. Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston :: 6 pm :: $12 :: ticketmaster.com

• CAM MEEkINS Each year the Boston Music Awards kicks off

at the Liberty Hotel with a focus on the city’s rock scene; then an out-side band or artist steals the show and walks out with some unexpected hardware. This year’s chosen one was Newton-born, Wellesley-raised rapper Cam Meekins, who justifiably took home Best New Artist. With 30,000 Facebook likes, and counting, maybe it wasn’t much of an upset after all. Middle East upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge :: 7 pm :: $10 :: ticketweb.com

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WED26

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FRI21

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Cam Meekins


friday dec. 21 • 9:30 pm – 2 amPico Picante Vs. Unity

dJs: franceso Spagna, cruzz, pajaritos, dubbel dutch, Sound

international, Oxycontinentalmusic: House (downstairs), Tropical Bass, digital cumbia, moombahton

(upstairs) $5

saturday dec. 22 • 9:30 pm – 2 am amPlify

dJs: Scott & Zack [BassWave], Jeff Leclair, disco Ball murder Kit, Justin

dupont, Jackie Treehornmusic: electro House, drumstep &

Techno (downstairs), Hip Hop, reggae, party Jamz, Trap (upstairs)

$5 before 11 pm, $10 after

mOnday dec. 24-wednesday dec. 26 • closed

thursday dec. 27 • 9:30 pm – 2 am flaVa of the monthdJs: The deck Bros., Sancon

(Japan)music: Hip Hop, Breaks, 80s, 90s,

classics

/mideastclub /zuzubar

@mideastclub @zuzubar

472-480 MASSACHUSETTS AVE CENTRAL SQ., CAMBRIDGE

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

ticketweb.com

UPSTAIRS

THURS 12/20/12 - ALL AGES 7PMBOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!

MATH THE BANDSEAN ELDON & THE GREATEST DANE

FRI 12/21 - 7PMHEARNOWLIVE PRESENTS:THE JOINT CHIEFS

SAT 12/22USUAL SUSPECKTZ

WHISPERS, NANCIA

TUE 12/25MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM THE SATER FAMILY!

FRI 12/28PABST BLUE RIBBON PRESENTS:

BIM SKALA BIMSUPERSKA

STEADY EARNEST, RIKI ROCKSTEADY

THURS 12/20THE JAUNTEE MANGO BOBSLED,

THE SOUL PANACEA, MOXA

FRI 12/21SPLIT FACE

RICKY MORTIS, WAYNE DA PAYNE

SAT 12/22 - ALL AGESVELA WHISPER 1PM

SAT 12/22PRESSURE COOKER

DESTROY BABYLON

SUN 12/23SINIZSTAR

BATTLE OF THE BANDS FINALS

WED 12/26 - ALL AGES 7pmLEEDZ EDUTAINMENT PRESENTS:

CAM MEEKINS

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Le Couturier House of Alterat ions

$5.00 off your first visit

$20.00off alterations of $100 or more.

550 Mass Ave 2nd FloorCambr idge, MA 02139

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GRACE MORRISON & THE RSO › 10 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comHIP ANONYMOUS › 9:30 pm › Middle East Corner, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $5 › 617.864.3278 or ticketweb.comTHE JOINT CHIEFS + MISS FAIRCHILD + WESTERN EDUCATION + HORTONIA › 7 pm › Middle East Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10-$12 › 617.864.3278 or ticketweb.comLANCE MARTIN BAND › 9 pm › Ryles, 212 Hampshire St, Cambridge › $10 › 617.876.9330 or rylesjazz.comLARRY FLINT & THE ROAD SCHOLARS › 6 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htm“MYSECRETBOSTON’S END OF WORLD PARTY” › With Coyote Kolb + Toy Soldiers + Castle › Precinct, 70 Union Sq, Somerville › 617.623.9211 or precinctbar.comNEC MILLENNIUM GOSPEL CHOIR › Fri-Sat Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 2:30 pm › Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston › $20-$25 › 617.267.9300 or mfa.org“RALPHS END OF THE WORLD PARTY” › With Numbskulls + Ten Foot Polecats + Kermit’s Finger + Pity Whores + Secret Evil Plan › 9 pm › Ralph’s Diner, 148 Grove St, Worcester › 508.753.9543 SOLSTICE CIRCUS › 8 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comSPLIT FACE + INFINITTI + HOSTILE FIGURES + RICKY MORTIS + WAYNE DA PAYNE + K.DAVER + SHADED GRACE + PROJECT HYBRID › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $12-$15 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comSTREET DOGS + FLATFOOT 56 + TENEBRAE + THE BLUE BLOODS › 7 pm › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › $17-$19 › 617.562.8800 or ticketmaster.comTHEREFORE I AM + FAIRWEATHER + ACTOR › OBSERVER + FOREIGN TONGUES › 7 pm › The Sinclair, 52 Church St, Cambridge › $15 › 617.451.7700 or ticketmaster.comTIM MERCER + CROOKED MIRROR + PEACH PIT + FANTASTIC LIARS › 8 pm › Radio Downstairs, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.764.0005 or radiobarunion.com“UNDER THE COVERS” › With Lori McKenna + Mark Erelli + Jake Armerding + Zack Hickman › 10 pm › Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge › $30-$32 › 617.492.7679 or clubpassim.com

St, Boston › SOLD OUT › 617.338.7699 or boweryboston.comTAMMY LYNN & MYLES HIGH › 8 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.com

FRIDAY 21THE ACACIA STRAIN + WITHIN THE RUINS + FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY + BORN LOW + DYSENTERY + YEARS SINCE THE STORM › 5:30 pm › Palladium Upstairs, 261 Main St, Worcester › $15 › 978.797.9696 or tickets.com“BOOTYPOCALYPSE” › The Hornitz + Vice V’ersatile + Miss Madison West + Lovewhip › 8 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.comDEVA MAHAL + FREDRICKS BROWN BAND › Fri-Sat Fri-Sat 10 pm › Beehive, 541 Tremont St, Boston › 617.423.0069 or beehiveboston.comDIANE BLUE › 9 pm › Cantab Lounge, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.354.2685 or cantab-lounge.comDJ DANNY SATORI + MAHLORS + QUITS + MAGGIE WHITLOCK › 6 pm › All Asia, 334 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.1544 or allasiabar.comEITHER / ORCHESTRA › 7:30 pm › Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville › $12 › 617.776.2004 or johnnyds.comELUVEITIE + WINTERSUN + VARG › 6 pm › Royale, 279 Tremont St, Boston › 617.338.7699 or boweryboston.com“END OF THE WORLD PARTY” › 9 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htmFEDERATOR NO1 + ENDANGERED SPEECHES + KINA ZORE › 8 pm › Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › $12 for 2 or $20 at the door › 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.comTHE FOUR LEGGED FAITHFUL + RICHARD JAMES & THE NAME CHANGERS › 9:30 pm › Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.547.0759 or lizardloungeclub.comFUNERUS + SCAPHISM + TENTACLES + DEMORALIZER › 8 pm › O’Brien’s, 3 Harvard Ave, Allston › $10 › 617.782.6245 or obrienspubboston.comGODDAMN DRACULAS + USA!USA!USA! + Z*L + FIXED BAYONETS › 9 pm › T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge › $10 › 617.492.2327 or ticketweb.com

<< live music from p 73

sAturdAy 22

Young London play Brighton Music Hall.


Beyond ManageMent is seeking candidate for a Computer user support speCialist aKa programmer ana-lyst/support for its Cambridge, ma 02142 location who will be resp for adm of app servers such as Bea, Weblogic,iBm Webshere & other webservers such as sunone, mincrosoft iis, apache etc & other middle ware tools such as mQ series, tuxedo on unix & windows based platforms. read tech manuals,confer with users, or conduct cmpt diagnostics to investigate & resolve problems or to provide tech asst & supt install & perform minor repairs to hardware, software, or peripheral eqp, following design or istl specifications. maintain records of daily data comm txn, problems & remedial actions taken, or istl activities. enter commands & ob-serve system functioning to verify correct operations & detect errors. dentify the causes of ntwk problems, using diagnostic testing software & equipment. install new hardware or software

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SATURDAY 22BIRDS OF PLAY › 9 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htmCHALLENGES + SIDEWALKS + A TURN FOR THE WORST + PRO RE NATA + THE CAUSEWAY BANDITS › 6 pm › Palladium Upstairs, 261 Main St, Worcester › $10-$12 › 978.797.9696 or tickets.comDEHUMANIZED + DYSENTERY + ABACINATE + KALOPSIA + FORCED ASPHYXIATION › 8 pm › O’Brien’s, 3 Harvard Ave, Allston › $10 › 617.782.6245 or obrienspubboston.comFUNKY WHITE HONKIES › 9:30 pm › Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville › $12 › 617.776.2004 or johnnyds.comGHOST OF RORY + THE COLOR CHANNEL + THE STAMPEDE + THE MCLOVINS › 8 pm › Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › $10 › 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.comHABBIT + WESTERN EDUCATION + SPOT MARY + ENGINE JUDY › 8 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.comTHE IOA › 10:30 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comJIM COYLE & THE BARROOM GENTLEMEN › 6 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htmJOSH LEDERMAN & CSARS › 4 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comKENNETH HIGNEY + HYENA + JESSE GALLAGHER + EDAN › 10 pm › Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge › 617.497.0823

LETTERIK + BREAKWATER SERVICE + OUTER STYLE + METAPHOR FOR EVERYTHING + DJ MISTER ANYBODY › 6 pm › All Asia, 334 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.1544 or allasiabar.comMARC PINANSKY + SAMIAM + THE HORNITZ + EUPHONY › Precinct, 70 Union Sq, Somerville › 617.623.9211 or precinctbar.comMARK LIPMAN + OLINDE › 7:30 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comTHE SOUL DRIVERS › 9 pm › Cantab Lounge, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.354.2685 or cantab-lounge.comPRESSURE COOKER + DESTROY BABYLON + TRUTH & RIGHTS › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comTHE ROSS LIVERMORE BAND › 10 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comRYAN REVOLUTION + THE PITY WHORES + JAMIE PAYETTE & KEVIN GALLANT + JOSH AYOLA › Radio Downstairs, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.764.0005 or radiobarunion.comSTREET DOGS + THE CASUALTIES + BURNING STREETS + PENALTY KILL › 7 pm › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › $17-$19 › 617.562.8800 or ticketmaster.com“THE OKAY WIN PRESENT: A HOLIDAY AND THE WORLD IS STILL HERE CELEBRATION” › 7 pm › Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge › 617.497.0823THEREFORE I AM › 7 pm › The Sinclair, 52 Church St, Cambridge › $15 › 617.451.7700 or ticketmaster.com

fridAy 21 ANd sAturdAy 22

Street Dogs play two nights at the Paradise.

“THRASH N. BANG’S XMAS SHOW SPECTACULAR!” › 4 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.comUSUAL SUSPECKTZ + WHISPERS + NANCIA + FAME FLYNT + E-DON + YUNG NOOSE + B-MONEY › Middle East Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $15 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comVELA WHISPER + SORROWS OF SAVIORS + ALLERUS › 1 pm › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10-$12 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comYOUNG LONDON + STEREO TELESCOPE + CASEY DESMOND + BOOM BOOM CRASH + DEAR ZIM › 7 pm › Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston › $12-$14 › 617.779.0140 or ticketmaster.com

SUNDAY 23“4TH ANNUAL ROCK N SOUL 2012” › With Gary Hoey + Farren Butcher Inc. + Danny Klein’s Full House + Barrence Whitfield + Casey Desmond + Professor Doug Bell + John Powhida + Hirsh Gardner + Chris Fitz + Brian Templeton + Shea Rose › 8 pm › Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St, Arlington › $25-$30 › 781.646.4849 or regenttheatre.comBADFISH [SUBLIME TRIBUTE] + MIGHTY MYSTIC › 8 pm › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › $20-$23 › 617.562.8800 or ticketmaster.comTHE BORED OF HEALTH › 9 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comCESCHI + GREY SKY APPEAL + THE LOCKSMITHS + SOUNDFOUNDER + ESH THE MONOLITH + HW › 8 pm › O’Brien’s, 3 Harvard Ave, Allston › $8 › 617.782.6245 or obrienspubboston.comTHE DEVIL AND A PENNY + MAURA + CHANDELIERS + BURGLARY YEARS › 9 pm › T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge › $7 › 617.492.2327 or ticketweb.com“JOEL NOEL: BILLY JOEL TRIBUTE SHOW” › With Pat McCann › Burren, 247 Elm St, Somerville › 617.776.6896 or burren.comLORI MCKENNA › 8 pm › Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge › $30-$32 › 617.492.7679 or clubpassim.com“MICHAEL MALONEY’S MAYBE THIS CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISER FOR CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL” › 8 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.comNATALIE FLANNAGAN + TRICK WALLACE TRIO + TRUSTY SIDEKICK › 8 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htmNEVER GOT CAUGHT + SHERMAN BURNS + DEAD CATS DEAD RATS +

RADIATOR KING + FAX HOLIDAY › 9 pm › Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston › $8 › 617.566.9014 or ticketweb.com“SKANUKKAH!” › With The Takeaways + Jake & the Infernal Machine + Make It Up + SWYM + Shiphrah › 4 pm › Midway Café, 3496 Washington St, Jamaica Plain › 617.524.9038 or midwaycafe.com“THE ROCKING HOLIDAY BATTLE OF THE BANDS FINALS” › 7 pm › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comTRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA › 7:30 pm › TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston › $32.50-$70.50 › 617.931.2000 or ticketmaster.com/venue/8337>> live music on p 76


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MONDAY 24IRON HARVEST › 10:30 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comJERRY BERGONZI GROUP + THE FRINGE › 8 pm › Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge › 617.497.0823“JEWMONGOUS” › 6 pm › Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge › $18-$20 › 617.492.7679 or clubpassim.comTHE WHITE OWLS › 8:30 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.com

WEDNESDAY 26BAD ART ENSEMBLE › 10:30 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comBAKER THOMAS BAND › 10 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comBOUBACAR DIABATE TRIO › 9 pm › Ryles, 212 Hampshire St, Cambridge › $10 › 617.876.9330 or rylesjazz.comCAM MEEKINS › 7 pm › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comTHE DANK TOPS › 9 pm › Cantab Lounge, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.354.2685 or cantab-lounge.comHELLO ECHO + GRIMIS + CRAIG MARTINSON + › 9 pm › Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville › $10 › 617.776.2004 or johnnyds.comHOODIE ALLEN › 8 pm › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › $18-$20 › 617.562.8800 or ticketmaster.com

JAVIER ROSARIO BAND › 8 pm › Beehive, 541 Tremont St, Boston › 617.423.0069 or beehiveboston.comomLION LION + OUR LIVES + GREAT AMERICAN GHOST + HARD ROAD + KERRIGAN + NEIGHBORS › 6 pm › Palladium Upstairs, 261 Main St, Worcester › $10-$12 › 978.797.9696 or tickets.comMELISSA FERRICK › 7 pm › Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge › $33-$35 › 617.492.7679 or clubpassim.com“ROCKPALAST #5” › With Voigt-Kampff › 8 pm › O’Brien’s, 3 Harvard Ave, Allston › $5 › 617.782.6245 or obrienspubboston.comTHE ROOTS › 8 pm › House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St, Boston › $37-$49.50 › 888.693.2583THE ROY SLUDGE TRIO + KEVIN BARRY › 9 pm › Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $8 › 617.547.0759 or lizardloungeclub.comSERIOUS JACK + BUGS BUNNY + STEVE BRANSON BAND › P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.776.1557SO SOL › 9:30 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.comSTAR SPANGLED BUMMER › 7:30 pm › Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › $8 › 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.com“THE GREAT BIG FANTASTIC THANK YOU PARTY” › All Asia, 334 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.1544 or allasiabar.com

THURSDAY 27BEN CAREW + G MONTANA + J ALLEN › 8 pm › Church of Boston, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston › $10 › 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.com“BLACK X-MAS” › With Conforza + Pathogenic + Murdoc + Hope Before the Fall + A World Without › 6 pm › Palladium Upstairs, 261 Main St, Worcester › $10-$12 › 978.797.9696 or tickets.comBOB BRADSHAW › 7:30 pm › Toad, 1920 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.497.4950 or toadcambridge.com“CENTRAL SQUARE JAZZ FESTIVAL” › With The Rollo Tomasi Quartet + The June Trio › 8 pm › Cantab Lounge Downstairs, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $6 › 617.354.2685 or cantab-lounge.comDIZZY BATS + MAX WEIGERT + KYLE JOSEPH › P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.776.1557“FUTURISTIC SOUL: THE INSTRUMENTAL SERIES HOLIDAY PARTY” › With Danny “Skyhigh” McClain + DJ Owt Law + April Stanford + Tavonna Miller + The Lost and Found Band › 9 pm › Milky Way, at the Brewery, 284 Armory St, Jamaica Plain › $5-$8 › 617.524.3740 or milkywayjp.comHEATHER MALONEY › 10:30 pm › Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge › 617.576.0032 or ploughandstars.comJAMES MERENDA & TICKLE JUICE › 8 pm › Outpost 186, 186 1/2 Hampshire St, Cambridge › $10 › 617.876.0860 or zeitgeist-outpost.orgJOCIE ADAMS + JONAH TOLCHIN + POOR OLD SHINE + FUTUR PRIMITIF › Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge › $10 › 617.864.EAST or ticketweb.comPEACHEATERS + DELTA GENERATORS › 8:30 pm › Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville › $12 › 617.776.2004 or johnnyds.comTHE STARTING LINE + FAKE PROBLEMS + RDGLDGRN › 7:30 pm › Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston › SOLD OUT › 617.562.8800 or ticketmaster.comTHURSDAY NIGHT THUNDER SQUAD › 9:30 pm › Middle East Corner, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge › Free › 617.864.3278 or ticketweb.comTOM HAGERTY ACOUSTIC BAND › 7:30 pm › Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave, Somerville › 617.666.3589 or sallyobriensbar.com/frameset.htm

<< live music from p 75


Arts & Nightlife :: Clubs

THURSDAY 20BOND › Boston › 9 pm › “Taste Thursdays” with Joe Bermudez + Greg PicDISTRICT › Boston › 10 pm › “In Thursdays”EMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 9 pm › “Top 40s & House”ESTATE › Boston › 10 pm › “Glamlife Thursdays”JACQUE’S CABARET › Boston › 10:30 pm › “Jacque’s Cabaret” with Kris KnievilM BAR & LOUNGE › Boston › 9 pm › “Lotus Thursdays”MIDDLESEX LOUNGE › Cambridge › DJ Coralcola + Alan Manzi + Baltimoroder + John BareraMIDWAY CAFÉ › Jamaica Plain › “Women’s Dance Night” with DJ Summer’s EveNAGA › Cambridge › “Verve Thursdays”OM RESTAURANT & LOUNGE › Cambridge › 10:30 pm › “Late Night Lounge”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Elements” with Crook & LenoreRAMROD › Boston › 10 pm › “Trainwreck Thursdays” with DJ Brian DerrickZUZU › Cambridge › 10:30 pm › “Rude Sounds” with Selector Nathan + DJ Dandy Dan

FRIDAY 21BIJOU NIGHTCLUB & LOUNGE › Boston › 10:30 pm › BorisBOND › Boston › 10 pm › “Play Fridays” with DJ Johnny C + Matty DCOMMON GROUND › Allston › “90s Night”CURE LOUNGE › Boston › 10 pm › “VIP Fridays” with DJ ProfennaDISTRICT › Boston › 10 pm › “Latin Fridays” with DJ Juan MadridEMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 9 pm › “Top 40s & House”ESTATE › Boston › 10 pm › Gommert Mes GOOD LIFE › Boston › 9:30 pm › “Pico Piquante vs. Unity”GREAT SCOTT › Allston › 10 pm › “The Pill” with DJ Ken + DJ Michael VJULEP BAR › Boston › DJ SouloMIDDLESEX LOUNGE › Cambridge › Brek.OneMILKY WAY › Jamaica Plain › 9 pm › “Boyfriends” with DJ Brent CovingtonNORTHERN NIGHTS › Lynn › 8 pm › “Madonna Fridays” with DJ Jay InePHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “PYT” with DJ VinnyPRIME › Boston › 10 pm › “VIP Fridays”RISE › Boston › 9 pm › “Wonderland” with Damien Paul + Jay K the DJ + Mike Swells › 1 am › Bamboora + Voltran + L.E.D. Fut + Plyosophy + Micetro + Brrio + David Nicce + Jaminic + Kranz + Sus Pence + Don FochiROYALE › Boston › 10 pm › “Full On Fridays”SPLASH ULTRA LOUNGE & BURGER BAR › Boston › 10 pm › “Privilege Fridays”ZUZU › Cambridge › 11 pm › “Solid!” with Flavorheard

SATURDAY 22BOND › Boston › 10 pm › “Flaunt Saturdays”COMMON GROUND › Allston › “Millennium Night”CURE LOUNGE › Boston › 10 pm › “Saturdays at Cure” with rotating DJs Hectik + DJ 7L + Brek.One + DJ Theo A + DJ Frank WhiteDISTRICT › Boston › 10 pm › “Status Saturdays” with DJ CootzEMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 9 pm › “Top 40s & House”ESTATE › Boston › 10 pm › “VIP Access” with DJ Jesse JessGOOD LIFE › Boston › 9:30 pm › “Amplify” with DJs Scott & Zack + Jeff LeClair + Disco Ball Murder Kid + Justin Dupont + Jackie Treehorn GREAT SCOTT › Allston › 9 pm › “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”JULEP BAR › Boston › DJ Breeazy

MIDDLESEX LOUNGE › Cambridge › DJ KonMILKY WAY › Jamaica Plain › 10 pm › “Mango’s Latin Saturdays” with Lee WilsonNAGA › Cambridge › “Chemistry Saturdays”OM RESTAURANT & LOUNGE › Cambridge › 10:30 pm › “Saturdays @ Om”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Boom Boom Room” with DJ VinnyRAMROD › Boston › 10 pm › “Revolution Saturdays”RISE › Boston › 1 am › Wil Trahan + !nsomnia + Derek The Prince + Tony Dispirity + Lace & Los + Austin Diogo + Dimitri DiogoROYALE › Boston › 8 pm › “3 Kings Party” › 10 pm › “Saturdays at Royale”SPLASH ULTRA LOUNGE & BURGER BAR › Boston › 10 pm › “Sold Out Saturdays”T.T. THE BEAR’S PLACE › Cambridge › 10 pm › “Heroes” with DJ Chris EwenZUZU › Cambridge › 11 pm › “Souleluhjah” with DJ Claude Money

SUNDAY 23COMMON GROUND › Allston › 9:30 pm › “Country Night”CURE LOUNGE › Boston › 10 pm › “Industry Sundays” with DJ HectikEMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 9 pm › “Svedka Sundays: Industry Night”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “The Drop”RAMROD › Boston › 10 pm › “The Den”ZUZU › Cambridge › 10 pm › “Pogo & Work” with DJ Dominick

MONDAY 24CHURCH OF BOSTON › Boston › 8 pm › “Motivate Mondays” with Mark MerrenNAGA › Cambridge › “Industry Mondays”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Makka Monday” with Voyager 01 + DJ UppercutRIVER GODS › Cambridge › 8 pm › “Weekly Wax”ROYALE › Boston › 9 pm › “26th Annual Matzoball”

TUESDAY 25ALL ASIA › Cambridge › 9 pm › “Scooby Snacks Phych Night”EMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 6 pm › “Wicked New Music”NAGA › Cambridge › “Fiesta Tuesdays”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Elecsonic”RAMROD › Boston › 10 pm › “Punk Night”

WEDNESDAY 26COMMON GROUND › Allston › 10:30 pm › “Reggae Night”DISTRICT › Boston › 10 pm › “Classic Wednesdays” with DJ TannoEMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 8 pm › “Mondo Wednesdays”MIDDLESEX LOUNGE › Cambridge › “Swerve8” with DJ NO DUBSTEP + El Poser + Uncle Boongy + DJ GouletPHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Re:Set”RYLES › Cambridge › “Wild Honey”SPLASH ULTRA LOUNGE & BURGER BAR › Boston › 10 pm › “EDM Wednesdays”STORYVILLE › Boston › 9 pm › “MySecretBoston presents Dub Apocalypse”ZUZU › Cambridge › 10 pm › “Daisy Chain” with DJ Angie Donut

THURSDAY 27BOND › Boston › 9 pm › “Taste Thursdays” with Joe Bermudez + Greg PicDISTRICT › Boston › 10 pm › “In Thursdays”EMERALD LOUNGE AT REVERE HOTEL › Boston › 9 pm › “Top 40s & House”ESTATE › Boston › 10 pm › “Glamlife Thursdays”JACQUE’S CABARET › Boston › 10:30 pm › “Jacque’s Cabaret” with Kris Knievil M BAR & LOUNGE › Boston › 9 pm › “Lotus Thursdays”MIDWAY CAFÉ › Jamaica Plain › “Women’s Dance Night” with DJ Summer’s EveMILKY WAY › Jamaica Plain › 9 pm › “Futuristic Soul: The Instrumental Series Holiday Party”NAGA › Cambridge › “Verve Thursdays”OM RESTAURANT & LOUNGE › Cambridge › 10:30 pm › “Late Night Lounge”PHOENIX LANDING › Cambridge › “Elements” with Crook & LenoreRAMROD › Boston › 10 pm › “Trainwreck Thursdays”ROYALE › Boston › 10 pm › NeroZUZU › Cambridge › 10 pm › “Decade All 80’s Dance Party” with DJ Paul Foley

Nero are at Royale.

more Clubs and Comedy at thephoenix.Com/events

COMEDYImprov Asylum’s Holiday Show, or “The Hess Truck’s Back and It’s a Comedy Show,” is ongoing through December 31 at Improv Asylum.

For tons more to do, point your phone to m.thePhoenix.com

thursdAy 27


arts & nightlife :: parties

GET SEEN »» At Sumeria Group’s Fall Finale at the Seaport HotelSumeria Group, a newiSh network that connects young professionals in Boston and four other cities with social-engagement opps, recently welcomed a few hundred pretty young things to a formal party at the Seaport Hotel. Well-dressed revelers said goodbye to November with a Fall Finale fundraiser for not one, but four partner organizations: Cristo Rey Boston High School, college-access nonprofit Let’s Get Ready, student-entrepreneurship program BUILD, and the American Red Cross’s Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Find out more at sumeriagroup.org.

Nicole JohNsoN coNsultaNt This Beacon Hill resident loves shopping close to home: she stocks up on basics at Wish and always checks in on Holiday — she’s a fan of their in-house label. She got all her servings of fruits and veggies (and flowers) with a playful printed dress by Camilla and Marc. She kept the rest of the her look simple — but super chic — with black tights and Michael Kors suede shoes, snagged at Moxie on Charles Street, another neighborhood fave.Nicole does look outside her ’hood for eclectic jewelry, like pieces found at Karma, a Newton boutique that sources fair-trade accessories from an international dossier of artisans. That’s where she got the blue stone ring she was rocking, handmade by an artist in Israel._RENaTa CERTo -WaRE p

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parties! At thePhoenix.

com/PArties.

see you out

there!

Clockwise from right: alex phillips; hilary bartlett, mike monovoukas, and Cayley bowles; ali monahan, a.J. balta, and Kathryn murphy; reed edwards, alex Widen, and matt Delaney; Julia bateman; Carson lappetito and phil hooper; Jackie lloyd and John Degou

78 12.21.12 :: Thephoenix.com/parTies

ToasT The holidays wiTh

Coors lighT TonighT aT:

Kitty O’Shea’s • 131 State Street, Boston617.725.0200 • Kittyosheas.com

Ring in the New Year at Kitty O’Shea’s

Enjoy a ChampagnE...of BEErs ToasT wiTh millEr high lifE!

Plus you can salute the Rockies all night with Coors Light always served ice cold!

Doors open at 9PM • Pre Sale tickets available now at: [email protected]

december 21, 2012

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