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Boston's Morning Newsletter
After nearly two decades, an iconic Cambridge nightclub reopens in Central Square
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Gov. Maura Healey may have taken the oath of office nearly two weeks ago, but today is Day One for her fellow newly elected constitutional officers. Attorney General-elect Andrea Campbell and Auditor-elect Diana DiZoglio (plus returning Secretary of State Bill Galvin and Treasurer Deb Goldberg) will be sworn in today.
We have more on Campbell’s historic inauguration below. But first, a quick run through some other big happenings today:
Cambridge’s Central Square is well known as a hub of Boston’s nightlife. You’re probably familiar with The Middle East, Phoenix Landing or the Cantab, to name a few. But now, a legendary haunt is rising from the ashes. Nearly two decades after closing its doors, the ManRay nightclub — the once self-proclaimed home of the Boston underground — is officially reopening tonight on Prospect Street in Central Square, just a few blocks away from its original home.
- What to expect: Chris Ewen, the ManRay’s longtime DJ, told WBUR’s Samantha Coetzee that the new club will recreate some of its old alt-punk identity. “But we don’t want to live in the past either,” Ewen said. “We want to evolve and be current as well.” Plans include the return of goth nights on Wednesdays, LGBTQ+ nights on Thursdays and retro “Heroes” nights on Saturdays.
- Flashback: The old ManRay, which had its run from 1983 to 2005, hosted some big names before they were cool — including Nirvana. You can even watch Kurt Cobain and crew play early hits like “In Bloom” during their 1990 concert at the ManRay here.
It’s not just Campbell and other statewide officials getting started on the job today. State Rep.-elect Margaret Scarsdale will be sworn in, along with a few other colleagues, after a special House committee last night confirmed the Pepperell Democrat’s seven-vote victory in the open race for the chamber’s First Middlesex District.
- Still pending: The committee has yet to make a call in the House’s remaining contested race, in which, after a recount, Democrat Kristin Kassner came out as the winner by a single vote over incumbent Republican Rep. Lenny Mirra. Mirra — who has continued to represent his North Shore district in the meantime — has filed a legal challenge.
Days after The Embrace was officially unveiled on Boston Common, the national reception to the MLK monument has been, well, mixed. While local Boston leaders have hailed it as a moving memorial to the Kings’ fight against racial injustice, NPR reports that the design of the sculpture has received a fair share of criticism.
- Some have argued that the disembodied arms — inspired by a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott hugging — “reduced” the couple, while others said the sculpture looks somewhat crude if viewed from a certain angle.
- Counterpoint: Hank Willis Thomas, the Black artist who designed The Embrace, called the backlash “strange,” noting other big monuments have also received some short-lived criticism. “Thousands of people actually put it together and no one saw this, I would say, perverse perspective,” Thomas said yesterday on CNN.
- Another local MLK controversy: Maine’s Bangor Daily News is apologizing for its tradition of publishing excerpts of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, after readers pointed out it omitted parts of the speech that explicitly addresses links between systemic racism and poverty.
P.S.— The Steamship Authority says their website is now “operating as intended” after technical difficulties with its online reservation portal for Nantucket ferry reservations yesterday morning gave some vacation planners flashbacks to the VaxFinder octopus. Hopefully you didn’t wake up too early just to be “11,821st in line!”
