A local catrepreneur is hoping to wrangle support for a place on Chestnut Hill Avenue where people looking for some fuzzy affection could pet kitties for $15 an hour between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Diane Kelly, who pounced on space in the new block of stores at 167-183 Chestnut Hill Ave. for her Purr Cat Cafe, told the Brighton-Allston Improvement Association tonight she hopes to have up to 25 cats at a time roaming her space as people sit interacting with cats, even as they take advantage of free WiFi.
Because of city health concerns, the cafe won't actually make or sell anything to eat or drink, but Kelly said she has an agreement with a nearby restaurant in which the cat inclined could pick items from a menu, which her staff would then go pick up for them so they could nosh and pet at the same time.
Kelly was at the meeting to try to win a pawsitive vote to take to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which would have to give its approval because "kennels" - Boston's zoning code does not cover "cat cafes" - are not allowed at that location.
Kelly said all the cats in her cafe - in space where neighborhood opposition killed a proposed kosher packie - would come from local animal-shelters and that all would be up for adoption.
Her lawyer noted that cat cafes have spread from Taipei around the world and that it's time that New England got its first. "We are sorely lacking in a cat cafe as you can tell, we are behind the curve here, so we need to catch up," he said.
He added the cafe could prove attractive to students from nearby Boston College who "may not want to go to a bar until 2 a.m. and stumble out."
One resident who approved of the idea said it sound like a great way for singles to meet each other. Kelly said she also hoped to book corporate events. Nobody hissed any opposition.
Kelly also plans hours where people from nearby senior centers and residences and local schools could enjoy the cats for free; she cited benefits such as lowered blood pressure and risk of strokes from regular cat companionship.
No more than 40 people would be allowed inside at a time - Kelly said reservations would be made online.
Customers would enter through an airlock-type two-door system, in which they would enter a vestibule, the front door would close behind them and then a staffer would buzz the second door open, to ensure cats don't escape. The basement would be set aside for space to quarantine sick cats - and for upstairs cats to escape if they get overwhelmed by all the affection.
Talk about some very on-brand casting. Dream pop, dance pop babe Sky Ferreira has joined the cast of Lords of Chaos, an upcoming biopic about the black metal scene in early '90s Norway from Jonas Åkerlund, one of the maestros behind Beyoncé's Lemonade. Deadlinereports that Ferreira — who recently appeared at David Lynch's Festival of Disruption to reinterpret original Twin Peaks songs — will be starring alongside Rory Culkin and Emory Cohen in an as-yet-announced role. The film, which is being adapted from the popular book written by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind, will follow a young Norwegian band called Mayhem that "popularized a form of heavy metal music known as 'True Norwegian Black Metal,' with a flair for publicity, church-burning and even murder." Rock on, Sky.
The pups were born on August 25, 2016, and they are the second litter for breeding pair Kimanda (female) and Guban (male), who produced their first litter in late 2014.
Photo Credits: Taronga Western Plains Zoo
“The pups have recently emerged from the den and can be spotted out and about in the exhibit, especially in the mornings and at meal times,” said Keeper Genevieve Peel.
“African Wild Dogs can have up to 18 pups in a single litter, so it is not uncommon to see large litter sizes in this species. Kimanda is being a very attentive and nurturing mother. She will regurgitate food for the pups, and at this stage, they are still suckling. But this won’t be for much longer.”
The whole pack has been observed getting involved in the raising of the pups. The older siblings have been seen taking food to them as well as babysitting the newest members of the pack.
“The pups are getting really confident at coming up and participating in feeding time. It’s a great opportunity to see the pack rally and work together to devour their meal whilst caring for the pups’ needs,” Genevieve continued.
“The pups are now nine weeks old and continue to grow in confidence. From approximately 10 weeks old, they should be visible most of the time on exhibit.”
The African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus), also known as ‘African hunting dog’ or ‘African painted dog’, is a canid native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest of its family in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon.
The species is classed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The current population has been estimated at roughly 39 subpopulations, containing 6,600 adults. The decline of these populations is ongoing, due to habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and disease outbreaks. They are considered to be the most endangered large carnivore in Africa.
The African Wild Dog is a highly social animal, living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females.
Like other canids, it regurgitates food for its young, but this action is also extended to adults. It has few natural predators, though Lions are a major source of mortality, and Spotted Hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites (theft of prey by another competing animal).
Olivia Rafferty: Sometimes a song arrives which doesn’t feel like it’s been written, but instead unearthed. That initial hum and rhythm fades in as if it were emerging from a forgotten memory. Lyrically, it’s simple in terms of structure, which again allows our ears to simultaneously guess at and expect the next line. Then we have Solange’s delicate vocals: they come in lightly and caress until the finish. As soon as it’s over, I can already hear it echoing in my head, waiting to fade in again. [10]
Tim de Reuse: Across a heavenly, sparse beat, full of tickly background elements that almost resolve into motifs or melodies or tonal centers but stay just out of reach, Solange sings about grounded things. Incredibly grounded things. Coping mechanisms, brutally exposed in plain language with few lyrical frills to soften them — something about her soft, love-song delivery makes stark lines like “I slept it away, I sexed it away, I read it away” into unforgiving gut punches. It wouldn’t work if not for the scattered rhythms she sings it in, the breathy overlapping voices, and the incredible restraint in the production, which all speak to a state of profound emotional directionlessness better than a minor key ever could. [9]
Claire Biddles: I think I find pop self-help narratives isolating because they’re never really about autonomy — they’re about going out with the ladies, finding someone to fuck, relying on other people to tend to the symptoms rather than addressing the problem oneself. “Cranes in the Sky” is about distraction, but it’s relatable because it doesn’t present a one-size solution to sadness, and it’s introspective even when Solange is at her most reckless. Shopping, sex, crying, travelling — I’ve done them all to try and make the “it” go away, and I needed to do them all alone. This speaks to me so much because it acknowledges the difficulties of self care in the context of self-sufficiency. [9]
Megan Harrington: This feels like a world of Solange’s own creation, by her own design. It’s a place very high up, where the cliff and the sky meet, and there her most unmediated self exists. We all have a need for this place, somewhere pure we can visit, somewhere without the burden of existence. The gift of “Cranes in the Sky” is Solange giving this place a blueprint, a destination, and then sharing it with us so we, too, can hear a version of paradise. [9]
Thomas Inskeep: A huge artistic leap for Solange, “Cranes in the Sky” was co-written and co-produced with Raphael Saadiq, who was a smart choice. His backing track of mostly strings and drums (with some discreet piano) pairs sublimely with Solange’s lyrics about trying to do anything to avoid her pain. She tries to “drink it away,” “work it away,” but nothing works. Unexpectedly delicate, “Cranes in the Sky” is soul music that is simultaneously timeless and timely. [9]
Joshua Copperman: A shout-out to Raphael Saadiq: That oversaturated drum loop. That cello, with the subtle phasing. That piano, gliding from left to right. Then that tense bass line, unwilling to resolve, contrasting with the warmth of everything around it. All of these things happen before the lyrics even start. When they finally do begin, they’re fantastic — while her sister was intense and confrontational on Lemonade, Solange is introverted and quietly vulnerable. She can be witty as well, as lines like “I sexed it away/I read it away” show, but the way she depicts depression in this song contains a level of intimacy that I’ve seen in very few writers this year from any genre, in any format. Finally, Solange’s performance, between both her heady lead vocal melody and all the backing harmonies, is just jaw-dropping. [9]
Jonathan Bogart: A cubist approach to Minnie Riperton, a self-love song that posits the self as big enough for the world to curl up into its arms. The naked soul-jazz beat, the slow-drag cello, the pentatonic glissandi are just an expressionist backdrop: the real drama is in her many-multipled voice. [9]
Alfred Soto: Not unlike the Minnie Ripperton-influenced brand of quiet R&B with which Corinne Rae Bailey triumphed last spring but without the approval of white collegians, “Cranes in the Sky” is a rippling mediation on keeping one’s composure while sexting and eating breakfast. The string section adds the sadness, the rim shots the accumulating desperation. [7]
Edward Okulicz: I love to root for the underdog in a family. I maintain the best Minogue album was made by Dannii, and that Venus Williams’ highest level of tennis would beat Serena’s. Solange, in theory, should be far more relatable than her sister, but when I listen to “Cranes in the Sky,” I’m curiously unmoved. I tell myself over and over that this ticks all the boxes I want, but I don’t feel it. Corinne Bailey Rae’s “I’d Do it All Again” (its nearest peer time-wise) is exquisite and wrenching; this one’s just pretty. [7]
Will Adams: Gorgeous as a sunrise diffused through a thin fog, slowly becoming clearer as the colors melt from red to amber to brilliant yellow. [8]
Jonathan Bradley: A lost bassline paces while Solange tries drinking, shopping, and sexing herself back to happiness. A brocade of plucked-strings and cloud-wisp synths — this is a beat that feels palpably as if something has been removed from it, is missing — suggest she might be there already, or at least that whatever it is that hurts mightn’t matter as much as she had supposed. Lightness never felt so heavy, but, on the other hand, “Cranes in the Sky” possesses the implausible lightness that appears after an omnipresent weight has been lifted. The title refers, I realized belatedly, to construction machinery; I had been thinking of the paper sort used to memorialize an atomic bombing. [8]
Katherine St Asaph: Half of “Cranes in the Sky” is literal — the “cranes in the sky” being the weapons that fell neighborhoods. The other half is more personal: a malaise ineffable yet pervasive, that can only be pushed back, that catches up to you if you stop for even a minute. Solange, the technician to Beyonce’s performer, plans every voice crack and distraction order (it is absolutely intentional that “sexed it away” is followed by “read it away”). The effect is deliberate, almost dispassionate: a percussion loop and a melody that circles warily around its subject and never resolves. [9]
Natasha Genet Avery: Our popular conception of depression centers around languishing — dark rooms, rainy days, stillness. “Cranes in the Sky” paints an alternative vision, one that feels truer to my own experience, where everything just takes so much more effort. Over those haunting, droning strings, Solange guides us through a relentless line of “I tried”s. The two minutes of rambling, beautiful, delicate verses before the chorus are the perfect retort to the well-meaning friend who hits you with, “but have you tried just being happy?”. Solange frames this struggle with an apt titular metaphor — cranes in the sky invoke a foe that is looming, towering, and seemingly invincible. [9]
William John: “Cranes in the Sky” is for the times when you awaken to a pink sky at dawn and everything is embedded with an unusual clarity. It is for humid, fruitless, rainy afternoons where almost nothing feels worthwhile. It is for times when tears well in your eyes, rippling like a pressed concertina, simulating the strings which are accentuated and processed here with such heavy, poignant vibrato. It is for the moments when your emotions hover between a halcyon self-reconciliation and shattering collapse. It carries with it an almost unbearable weariness. It is a perfect distillation of someone so fatigued with the anti-Black and anti-woman tendencies of humanity; of someone so exhausted by innumerable obstacles that I, thanks to nothing but fortune, will never be able to fully conceive or imagine. But pathos begets catharsis, and here the catharsis arrives as immeasurable beauty. The song’s balletic pacing, piano in contrary motion, rippling harp and Riperton ululations are a reminder that the bullshit can be combatted with self-actualisation and a flex. [10]
Danilo Bortoli: The Gospel of Solange: 1. Love yourself no matter what. 2. Self-acceptance is hard. It does not come easy. It might take eight whole years to get your story straight and the work of your life out there for people to see you and appreciate how beautiful your art is. 3. Yet, when you do realise you are good enough, do not take the pain away. 4. Work upon it, develop it. That is your art, your way of living. 5. Make it your mantra. 6. Contemplate it, strengthen it, make it eternal and universal. 7. Make everyone see how hard you are trying. 8. Make beauty seem tangible and easily reachable. 9. Reach transcedence. 10. Create, even if it is just for some solid four minutes, the most beautiful song in the whole world. [10]
Want to be one of the cool kids? Break out the apron and you can be popular and throw the perfect party with help from this little book. Naturally, Sad Susie is totally unpopular with the boys, but she can at least get her girlfriends together and throw a little party. One of those girls might have a cute brother or cousin and with your cooking skills you might be able to snag a new boyfriend. Naturally, we have a molded tuna salad recipe with gelatin to make sure you can properly “shape” your food. I am sure this recipe is a sure bet for attracting a man.
Officer Deuntay Diggs, the police lieutenant from Stafford County, Virginia who nearly put Beyonce out of a job when his hot moves set fire to the gym at North Stafford High School during a pep rally on Friday!
You probably feel like a black cloud just butt fucked you dry, and that mean it’s Monday again. And before we start yet another week of headlines that make you want to give up everything and join a pack of wolves in the mountains, let’s get into some actual positive shit. North Stafford High School in Stafford, VA held a pep rally on Friday and from my experience, pep rallies are about as fun as going caca in a busy rest stop bathroom. But Officer Diggs turned that pep rally into a must-see event when he busted out moves to Beyonce’s Formation.
My high school pep rallies consisted of the drill team awkwardly dancing to a La Bouche song, so I feel like I was ripped off after seeing an officer of the law drop it low and sway that shit. When Officer Diggs channeled Beyonce, the kids went crazy and freaked out as though they were a hardcore member of the Beyhive and Beyonce herself was performing in front of them. Every time Beyonce does ANYTHING, this is how the Beyhive responds:
I don’t blame those kids, though, I’d be freaking out too, because Officer Diggs served up The Carlton AND The Charleston in one eyelash-burning performance. That is TALENT! And here’s another angle of Officer Diggs making Beyonce take her ass to the back of the unemployment line, and he’s doing it in harsh lighting and without the help of 30 wind-blowing fans.
My sister teaches at a high school in Virginia and she just sent me this video of their county lieutenant dancing to formation @ a pep rally pic.twitter.com/2jaXnFgYrC
Officer Diggs, who is openly gay and engaged to a teacher at that high school, performs at fundraisers and also works as a motivational speaker. He told reporters that he wants to show kids that #itgetsbetter and one day, they too can be blowing off the roof of the school gym with their moves:
“The reason I’m doing this is to show kids that they can make it, that they can survive, that they can be successful. I’ve been very fortunate, at this time when people look negatively upon law enforcement, that I’m able to change that narrative and open up some conversations and engage with people.”
He may be lying to those kids just a little bit… Because many of them could practice day and night, and they still wouldn’t be able to lay it down the way that Officer Diggs did during that pep rally. That is a natural born talent, as is Officer Diggs’ talent at plucking and waxing his way to a 5-star eyebrow situation.
(@hereforthe1D_) October 14, 2016
