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Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Somerville's Porchfest remains a showcase for a vast array of genres
Advertisement Somerville PorchFest isn't the only event of its kind in Massachusetts, nor is it the original PorchFest – that distinction goes to the version in Ithaca, New York. But the festival remains one of the area's largest musical mixers, both in terms of genre and artist-audience connection. The annual event returns this Saturday, spreading nearly 500 acts across Somerville for a free, all-ages afternoon of music discovery (albeit with a few so cars and emergency vehicles can better navigate the area.) Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up For many guests, the event is a chance to seek out homegrown musicians who sound similar to their current favorites (but perhaps no one too similar – we know how last year's Advertisement That's the beauty of a lineup that's nearly 500 hundred artists deep: there's room for more musical styles than many other large-scale music events around town, which often keep their lineup rooted in rock, pop, hip-hop, and folk music, or are devoted to a single sound, like jazz. There's even ample space for genre-mashers like Medford's doom metal brass band , a Boston group that layers flamenco and Latin pop. Boston ska band Pink Slip perform at Somerville PorchFest for the third time this Saturday. Jenny Bergman Heather Mack, vocalist of the Boston ska group 'Over 50 percent of the crowd are just completely wandering in like, 'What are they doing? Is that a ska version of 'What's Up' by 4 Non Blondes? Okay, I'm in,'' says Mack. 'Then they stick around and they're like, 'that was awesome.'' The variety is just as beneficial for the artists themselves, who might have the chance to curate a bill that combines contrasting genres in a way that's atypical of club shows, which tend to be more stylistically cohesive. 'I have a good amount of friends who play different genres, so we don't usually get to be on a bill together,' says Alexis Richardson, a former Somerville resident who performs as Advertisement Pink Slip and Borr will return to PorchFest this year, contributing to the event's signature variety; Pink Slip will perform with punk-adjacent groups Cinecam . 'Somerville PorchFest is a magical thing,' Mack concludes. 'It really is the high watermark for what these events can and should be.' GIG GUIDE headlines the venue with his new record 'Blanco 7,' the latest release in his long-running series of 'Blanco' albums. The Devil Makes Three strum Americana from their new album "Spirits" at the Paradise Rock Club on Saturday. Jarrod Macilla Cuban-American singer . More pop-tinged tunes are on tap from Ugandan-born, Texas-based artist Jon Muq visits City Winery on Friday. Morgan Wommack Camping out at City Winery this week will get you a global array of sounds, such as ( Advertisement Before kicking off a five-month tour of the United States, former Massachusetts residents On , At Roadrunner on Advertisement Massachusetts singer-songwriter Naomi Westwater is a keen observer of life on their third album, "Cycle & Change." Sasha Pedro NOW SPINNING Naomi Westwater, English singer and producer PinkPantheress releases her second mixtape "Fancy That" on Friday. Charlie Engman PinkPantheress, The Head and the Heart's sixth album offers sprightly folk for springtime. Jasper Graham The Head and the Heart, BONUS TRACK Whether you missed Somerville PorchFest – or loved it and are craving more free outdoor music – head to Emerson College's Advertisement Victoria Wasylak can be reached at . Follow her on Bluesky @
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Cambridge native Millyz returns for a homecoming show
On the far left, Millyz in 2015. Katherine Taylor for the Boston Globe Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Along the way he's experienced highs – Advertisement Recently Millyz spoke with the Globe via Zoom from Los Angeles, where he was doing press for his new album 'Blanco 7,' the latest installment of a series that revolves around Blanco, the alter-ego that Q. What part of Cambridge did you grow up in and what was it like? A. It was between the Port [Cambridgeport] and the Coast [Riverside], about three blocks from Central Square. Columbia Park was as close to me as Hoyt Field was, so I would fluctuate between both of those. Maybe it was on like the cusp of gentrification, but definitely not what it is like today. It was fun – it was very basketball-centered. Everybody would freestyle in the neighborhood, people would do beatboxes with their hands and I'd jump into the cyphers. I remember walking to a party at Mystic Projects [in Somerville] and I was rap battling with somebody over there, so they anointed me as the guy from the neighborhood that can rap. Q. At the same time you've talked about getting into trouble at a young age. What caused it? A. it wasn't like I was born into generational gangbanging. There was street stuff going around, but I really think that being placed into special education [gave me a mindset] at 11 or 12 that 'I'm a bad kid, let me have fun with the bad kids.' Once you're taken out of regular school and you're told in sixth grade to be put on Ritalin or Adderall and they put you in the short buses and the small classrooms with all the other behavior disorder kids, they kind of label you below all the other kids, and I think that really affected me. Advertisement Q. That's been a theme of your work, including a two-volume album series called 'SPED.' But you're quick to praise the teachers you had. A. Special education teachers are amazing. I had restraint teachers – when I start bugging out, they have the right as an adult to physically restrain me, and those were some of the best people you could meet. Those teachers are some of the best humans in the world because they got to deal with the craziest kids. Q. Many Boston drivers were handed your CD through their car window. What was your best spot and when did you realize you could stop? A. My trick was that I would stop traffic at the light after club events or things with a lot of traffic. I just put my car in park and while everybody was honking, I would pass them my CD. When I got to, like, the 20th car, I would run back to my car and drive off! Then things shifted and I tried to be on the precipice of that. It shifted to MySpace, but I didn't really get any real traction on that. Twitter came around, and I finally started finding my niche with Instagram. Q. Could you have found the same success staying here instead of moving to New York? A. No. Because when I moved, I was happy with local fame, and I was happy making music that was therapeutic. But [career-wise] nothing was really clicking for me. I think a very fundamental thing about this rap [game] is you need to be able to be around actual rappers to see how it goes. Like you can't just watch them on social media and TV. And the pandemic, it slowed everything down, and that was actually perfect for my music because I wasn't really a big club rapper, I was actually rapping about introspective things, about pain, mixed with bars and metaphors, and so the style of music I was doing connected during the pandemic. But now it is possible to make it out of Boston, because with outlets like TikTok, you can pop from there, but you would still have to go spread your wings and mingle in other places. Advertisement Q. What's it like when you come back here? A. For motivational purposes, we pull up in five black trucks with the jewelry on, showing that we're really in the game. We came from right here and I'm back with a 30-person entourage. It isn't a figment of your imagination that it can happen. Interview has been edited and condensed. MILLYZ With Skrilla and Benny the Butcher Saturday May 10, 8:00 p.m., MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Tickets $35.24 - $61.50 at Noah Schaffer can be reached at noahschaffer@
