“They say you play this venue twice in your life: once on the way up and once on the way down. Well, it’s good to be back,” Declan McKenna quipped at the start of his set at The Sinclair on Oct. 11. The joke was clear to the audience as McKenna’s career has only been on the rise, and this show made it obvious why.
Tess Sharpe’s “Six Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did)” (2023) is a poignant and expertly-plotted young adult contemporary romance novel releasing next year from publisher Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Good morning, Your Honor. We’re now calling the case of Lester v. Reese. Today we’ll be having a hearing on the matter of chowder; are both parties present and ready to proceed?
Let’s talk about CocaNButter.
Inspired by Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp,’” the 2019 Met Gala theme was “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” with a dress code of “studied triviality.” The night was defined by eccentric, extravagant clothes featuring bold, bright colors and often highlighted by sparkling jewels or fabrics. Definitely one of the most memorable Met Galas of recent years, “Camp: Notes on Fashion” was a fabulous night of striking outfits.
There has been considerable buzz around “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (2022) on Netflix, created by Ryan Murphy, who is known for his creepy and stylistic anthologies like “American Horror Story” (2011–) and “American Crime Story” (2016–) as well as the less chilling but equally unconventional hit show “Glee” (2009–2015). Dahmer stars Evan Peters, a usual suspect in Murphy’s shows, appearing frequently as main characters in seasons of “American Horror Story.”
Many of us would say that nothing necessarily good came out of the ‘70s. Yet it was the peak of the gay liberation movement and the cultural changes that took place following the 1969 Stonewall Riots prevailed nationwide. This period — though dominated by homophobia, violence and death — was the conception of queer pop culture. Although transformative, the new cultural emergence during this decade remained primarily underground. It remained frowned upon to embrace queerness and queer expression, so how did “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) teach entire generations to celebrate queer culture and drag history?
In my column, I’ve talked about the importance of performing non-canonical classical works and including modern and contemporary voices. While I stand by that position, I also acknowledge my bias towards non-diatonic modernist tonalities. After all, my favorite composers to listen to are John Adams and Gustav Mahler, not Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. And while I’ve argued for orchestras to move beyond the meritocracy, I want to also stress that this should not be achieved with destruction. There is beauty that must be preserved within the canon. It would be a disservice to let Mozart fall into obscurity in the interest of progressive sounds, which I was made acutely aware of at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 14 Casual Friday performance.
After 19 episodes total, “Derry Girls” (2018–22) has finally come to a close with the third and final season of the show, which landed on Netflix on Oct. 7. The comedy, set in the Irish town of Londonderry, or Derry depending on who you ask, during the Troubles, the Northern Ireland conflict that spanned a majority of the second half of the 1900s follows a group of five friends as they navigate high school, adolescence and the political unrest of their country.
Content warning: this article briefly mentions sexual violence and abuse.
The last time the Met Gala was not held on the first Monday of May was in 2004. Since Anna Wintour took charge of the event, it has been held on that day of the week for years, so much so that “the first Monday in May” has become synonymous with the gala. Due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Met Gala was held on the second Monday of September with the theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” and a dress code of “American Independence.” The 2021 and 2022 galas were part of a two-part exhibition, which is why the 2022 theme was also “In America.”
On June 14, just four days after dropping their anthology album “Proof,” BTS (방탄소년단) announced that they would be taking a break from group activities.
Over the last 14 years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a cultural juggernaut. The release of “Iron Man” (2008) marked the beginning of a decade-long saga that spanned nearly 30 movies, peaking with the record-breaking hit “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), in which fan favorites such as Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America departed from the franchise. Although “Endgame” provided a satisfying ending to the MCU’s narrative, Marvel has kept the story going with a host of new movies and TV shows.
Chilly air, leaves falling, an ominous wind. Fall season is upon us again and one of the spookiest days of the year is imminent: Halloween. Don’t let the ghosts distract you from the real fear of Halloween: ugly costumes.
It’s a crushing sight to see the first major-studio gay rom-com flop so publicly. “Bros” (2022) opened to a deeply underwhelming $4.8 million at the box office, cementing its fate as a failure in the public eye. Pundits and commentators alike have theorized on the shortcomings of the film, with creator Billy Eichner himself blaming that proverbial “homophobic weirdo.” So who’s to blame for this tragedy of queer media? The answer may be just about everyone.
This is a message for Shanghai Moon Restaurant in Medford, Mass. If you are not Shanghai Moon, or our Uber Eats driver, Diamond, keep scrolling. This does not concern you.
At last week’s Sept. 30 concert, an older woman approached me during intermission and told me how incensed she was by the program. To play not only a contemporary piece but also the modernist Shostakovich was simply too much! Luckily, “her Haydn,” as the woman would call Joseph Hadyn, closed the concert, saving her bourgeois sensibilities. I would have loved to see her reaction to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s third and most recent Oct. 6–8 set, which flaunted a daring line-up of only 20th and 21st century works. Additionally interesting was that all of the pieces were “program music,” meaning they all tried to represent a non-musical narrative or image.
In “Pearl” (2022), the second installment of Ti West’s vintage horror trilogy, we get a look into the real “farmer’s daughter.” It is a prequel to “X” (2022), which follows a group of independent adult filmmakers in the 1970s who are staying on a Texas farm to finish their film, “Farmer’s Daughter.” The group is soon subject to the murderous and sexual urges of Pearl (Mia Goth), the old lady of the farm and a homicidal sex addict. Pearl deeply mourns her youth and sexual prime, and she has no problem taking it out on the unsuspecting filmmakers. While “X” is a gory and exploitative examination of youth and sexuality, “Pearl” takes on a more subtle approach.
The 2022 Met Gala was the first traditional Met Gala since 2019. The Gala was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, it was a smaller event held in September with a lack of some of the major, popular attendees. Needless to say, there was pressure on the Met to revive the gala and remind the public of what an essential fashion event it is.
Maude Latour’s song “Cyclone” (2022) ends with an overlapping chorus of the line “You know me well.” It felt like no mistake that that was the song she started her show at Paradise Rock Club with; by the time she got to the end of the track, she was singing those lyrics with immense passion, like she really meant it.
