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Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Amid squeeze on musical ecosystem, an old Cambridge venue gets new life
It reopened earlier this year, after a year-and-a-half closure, according to the venue's owners. In doing so, it became something of an anomaly in Greater Boston. Band member Clifford Carraha tested a microphone on the small stage. Ben Pennington/for The Boston Globe As beloved, housing and cost of living crises. Gregg Perry, the trio's 42-year-old guitarist from Arlington, plays in a couple bands, but the gigs don't come as often as they once did. A Berklee College of Music dropout, Perry works as a delivery driver part time nowadays, he said. Advertisement 'I don't know, man, the Boston music scene is really tough,' he said. 'Just trying to get a gig, dude is like, [expletive]. . .' His voice trailed off. Advertisement JP Faundez Power Trio bandmates Gregg Perry, J.P. Faundez, and Clifford Carraha (left to right) played together in Toad. Ben Pennington/for The Boston Globe Tommy McCarthy, and his wife, Louise Costello, are behind Toad's rebirth. It is the fifth bar they've opened. The first, and perhaps most well known, is Both musicians by trade, McCarthy and Costello didn't know much about running a bar at the time. 'We just thought if you could create the music, the rest will follow,' said McCarthy recently. That mantra has guided the reopening of Toad. It's connected by a doorway to a larger pub, formerly known as Christopher's, now called McCarthy's. While Toad puts on live music — blues, acoustic singer-songwriters, rock — later at night, McCarthy's has a traditional Irish session every day of the week that starts at 7 p.m. The Burren has a similar setup of different performance spaces. Jonathan Bricker, a professor who teaches courses on live music, touring, and concerts at Berklee, said the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out many small, independently run venues that are a creative lifeblood for the local musical community. 'Rooms like that are essential for developing, for trying out, and growing as an artist, as a band, wherever you find yourself on the musical spectrum,' said Bricker, who manages several local acts. Data on small, independent music venues, and their closures since the start of the pandemic, are hard to come by. The Advertisement Toad's reopening is welcome news among local musicians. Trama acknowledged that at a time when it is becoming 'tougher and tougher' for artists to exist in Greater Boston, any survival of another place to gig should be applauded. 'All of these smaller places, they are a lifeline to the culture of art in the whole Boston area,' he said recently. 'More of them, the better.' People mingled before the music started at Toad. Ben Pennington/for The Boston Globe 'It's a victory, definitely,' she said of Toad's reopening this past April. 'Having it back is a major win. Places like Toad, you have every skill level of musician playing that room.' Jim Haggerty, a full-time musician who has played bass for about 50 years, lamented the dwindling number of small venues. He described Toad, a place he has played more than a hundred times, as somewhere 'where professional musicians can play, and, if you have a good enough following, you can make a living.' Haggerty moved to Boston from upstate New York in the 1980s, when it was possible to work odd jobs, pay cheap rent with 'a bunch of buddies,' and pursue one's artistic dreams. It's no longer that town, he said. Haggerty lives in Roslindale and was able to buy a house 'before things got crazy.' Implied is that musicians nowadays have a much steeper fiscal climb to put down roots locally. Advertisement 'I got extremely lucky,' he said. Back in Toad before his gig, Carraha, the bassist and singer, said for him, the barometers of a good set are straightforward: Are the players in sync, feeling the groove? Is the crowd responding positively? Carraha, a 42-year-old Watertown resident, has been playing gigs around town for about 25 years. In his day job, he co-owns a catering company. 'Every venue is essential because as artists we need that,' he said. His bandmate, Perry, will be happy with his take from the night's performance. Perry will make $120, he said. In years past, he played gigs at Toad where the entire band got $150, plus whatever was in the tip bucket, and some comped food and drinks. 'It's medicine for the soul,' he said of music. 'I need this.' Minutes later, his band started to play. Danny McDonald can be reached at
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read says she poured extra shots into her cocktails before John O'Keefe's death
Sometimes, Karen Read might take things into her own hands, like when she got a "weak pour" at a bar the night her boyfriend died. Unhappy with the alcohol level, she added extra shots on her own, according to a 2024 interview she gave for a documentary on Investigation Discovery. The clip aired in court Thursday as part of her retrial on murder charges in the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe. "The drinks that they were pouring me at McCarthy's, which was where I consumed most of the alcohol, was the weakest vodka tonic," she told the camera. "It tasted just like all soda water with lime, not that I need it to be a martini, but it might have a splash of vodka in it." Key Karen Read Witness Admits Grand Jury Testimony Wasn't True She said she complained about it to O'Keefe, and he suggested ordering another shot and dropping it in herself. Read On The Fox News App "So each drink was being counted as a double," she continued. "I would get a vodka tonic, and then I would pour a shot into it." Read recounted drinking at CF McCarthy's bar in Canton, where she said she drank "most of [the] alcohol" she'd consumed on Jan. 28, 2022. Read described how she poured multiple shots into her glass because the bar was serving weak drinks, complaining her vodka soda "tasted just like all soda water with lime." WATCH: Karen Read recounts night of drinking at local bar in 2024 television interview "The guys that we were with ordered a round of shots and gave me one that I didn't drink, but I poured it in my drink," Read said. Karen Read Retrial Kicks Off With Wire-to-wire Drama, Lawyers Brawl In Tense Hearing After Jurors Sent Home "So, that's now my fifth and sixth drinks, with the seventh, which is a shot that all the men did, and I poured it. So, that's one glass that I'm holding." She added that the cocktail had "three drinks in it." Special prosecutor Hank Brennan had Massachusetts State Tpr. Nicholas Guarino read jurors a series of texts between Read and O'Keefe from throughout the day before he died. Guarino read through both the history of phone calls between Read and O'Keefe and their texts throughout the day, beginning with that morning. O'Keefe appeared frustrated over arguments, writing that he was "sick of always arguing and fighting." By afternoon, the conversation turned toward early evening plans. At 2:38 p.m., Read called O'Keefe, and he rejected the call, sending it to voicemail directly rather than just letting it ring unanswered. Ten seconds later, Read texted, "Can you pls answer??" Karen Read Trial: Lead Detective's Wife Slams Suspected Cop Killer's Media Tour As 'Unrelenting Propaganda' O'Keefe waited nearly a minute before he replied, "No Karen. Not sure why you need to announce that you're grabbing a drink but have fun." She asked him to call again. He told her he was busy taking care of his niece and nephew, who were in his care after his sister and brother-in-law both died within months of each other. "Have to take them to the [doctor]," he wrote. "He has practice." SIGN UP TO GET True Crime Newsletter She called back twice. He let the first one ring and rejected the second 44 seconds later. For the next 20 minutes, he continued to ignore her calls before calling her back just before 3 p.m. Nine minutes later, she texted him, "Why don't you meet me at the hillside at 4:30/5." Killer Or Convenient Outsider? 'Unexpected Celebrity' Karen Read's Trial Explored In New Fox Nation Series After a few follow-up texts, O'Keefe replied, "Like I said, [doctor] now, and he has practice til 6. If you want to go start drinking then go for it." Read said she didn't know what time practice was but that she wanted to meet him out rather than at his house to give him "space." After more back-and-forth, O'Keefe texted her at 3:39 p.m., "You're like jonesing to drink. So go!" At another point in the conversation, she indicated she'd rather meet in town "for drinks" than hang out at his house. When O'Keefe said his friend, Mike Camerano, was coming over, he suggested Read drop by too. "Mike doesn't want to go out for a bit?" she replied. "I would like to, been a s--- day from the jump." Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Guarino read texts the two sent from that morning until around 8:35 p.m. While Brennan's case highlighted Read's drinking, experts said jurors might side with Read over O'Keefe's responses. "I thought this presentation backfired in that it looked like a couple with normal issues, and it was like, she will wake up and leave this relationship where you were being used, not as a motive to murder," said Linda Kenney Baden, a New York defense attorney whose past clients have included Phil Spector, Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez. "Plus, the texts showed a jealous John O'Keefe to me, like the plumber," she added. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Around 8 p.m., before Read and O'Keefe met for drinks, she told him she was having a plumber stop by because her hot water had run out. He told her he would fix it Sunday or Monday. That could support the defense theory that O'Keefe did not sustain his injuries in a collision with Read's SUV but rather from a possible altercation with another man at the party who had shared his own romantic texts with the defendant, Kenney Baden told Fox News Digital. Brennan played the ID clip after Guarino finished reading the texts. After that, Judge Beverly Cannone said, due to some confusion with the witnesses, the jury could go home for the day. They are expected to hop on a bus for an in-person viewing of the crime scene when the trial resumes article source: Karen Read says she poured extra shots into her cocktails before John O'Keefe's death
Fox News
25-04-2025
- Fox News
Karen Read says she poured extra shots into her cocktails before John O'Keefe's death
Sometimes, Karen Read might take things into her own hands, like when she got a "weak pour" at a bar the night her boyfriend died. Unhappy with the alcohol level, she added extra shots on her own, according to a 2024 interview she gave for a documentary on Investigation Discovery. The clip aired in court Thursday as part of her retrial on murder charges in the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe. "The drinks that they were pouring me at McCarthy's, which was where I consumed most of the alcohol, was the weakest vodka tonic," she told the camera. "It tasted just like all soda water with lime, not that I need it to be a martini, but it might have a splash of vodka in it." She said she complained about it to O'Keefe, and he suggested ordering another shot and dropping it in herself. "So each drink was being counted as a double," she continued. "I would get a vodka tonic, and then I would pour a shot into it." Read recounted drinking at CF McCarthy's bar in Canton, where she said she drank "most of [the] alcohol" she'd consumed on Jan. 28, 2022. Read described how she poured multiple shots into her glass because the bar was serving weak drinks, complaining her vodka soda "tasted just like all soda water with lime." WATCH: Karen Read recounts night of drinking at local bar in 2024 television interview "The guys that we were with ordered a round of shots and gave me one that I didn't drink, but I poured it in my drink," Read said. "So, that's now my fifth and sixth drinks, with the seventh, which is a shot that all the men did, and I poured it. So, that's one glass that I'm holding." She added that the cocktail had "three drinks in it." Special prosecutor Hank Brennan had Massachusetts State Tpr. Nicholas Guarino read jurors a series of texts between Read and O'Keefe from throughout the day before he died. Guarino read through both the history of phone calls between Read and O'Keefe and their texts throughout the day, beginning with that morning. O'Keefe appeared frustrated over arguments, writing that he was "sick of always arguing and fighting." By afternoon, the conversation turned toward early evening plans. At 2:38 p.m., Read called O'Keefe, and he rejected the call, sending it to voicemail directly rather than just letting it ring unanswered. Ten seconds later, Read texted, "Can you pls answer??" O'Keefe waited nearly a minute before he replied, "No Karen. Not sure why you need to announce that you're grabbing a drink but have fun." She asked him to call again. He told her he was busy taking care of his niece and nephew, who were in his care after his sister and brother-in-law both died within months of each other. "Have to take them to the [doctor]," he wrote. "He has practice." SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER She called back twice. He let the first one ring and rejected the second 44 seconds later. For the next 20 minutes, he continued to ignore her calls before calling her back just before 3 p.m. Nine minutes later, she texted him, "Why don't you meet me at the hillside at 4:30/5." After a few follow-up texts, O'Keefe replied, "Like I said, [doctor] now, and he has practice til 6. If you want to go start drinking then go for it." Read said she didn't know what time practice was but that she wanted to meet him out rather than at his house to give him "space." After more back-and-forth, O'Keefe texted her at 3:39 p.m., "You're like jonesing to drink. So go!" At another point in the conversation, she indicated she'd rather meet in town "for drinks" than hang out at his house. When O'Keefe said his friend, Mike Camerano, was coming over, he suggested Read drop by too. "Mike doesn't want to go out for a bit?" she replied. "I would like to, been a s--- day from the jump." Guarino read texts the two sent from that morning until around 8:35 p.m. While Brennan's case highlighted Read's drinking, experts said jurors might side with Read over O'Keefe's responses. "I thought this presentation backfired in that it looked like a couple with normal issues, and it was like, she will wake up and leave this relationship where you were being used, not as a motive to murder," said Linda Kenney Baden, a New York defense attorney whose past clients have included Phil Spector, Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez. "Plus, the texts showed a jealous John O'Keefe to me, like the plumber," she added. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB Around 8 p.m., before Read and O'Keefe met for drinks, she told him she was having a plumber stop by because her hot water had run out. He told her he would fix it Sunday or Monday. That could support the defense theory that O'Keefe did not sustain his injuries in a collision with Read's SUV but rather from a possible altercation with another man at the party who had shared his own romantic texts with the defendant, Kenney Baden told Fox News Digital. Brennan played the ID clip after Guarino finished reading the texts. After that, Judge Beverly Cannone said, due to some confusion with the witnesses, the jury could go home for the day. They are expected to hop on a bus for an in-person viewing of the crime scene when the trial resumes Friday.
