Best of the New: Faces
Camilo Alvarez
Love it or hate it - that's Camilo Alvarez's hope for all who enter his South End gallery, Samson Projects, which opened in 2004. New York-born, Dominican-raised, Alvarez has drawn strong reaction with his exhibits, including one devoted entirely to bad behavior and offensiveness. Having videos in that show prompted questions of whether videos are art and whether they can sell. His goal is to show art that is culturally significant, not necessarily saleable or even to his own taste: "When Picasso came out, people were dumbfounded. Same thing with the Impressionists; they were completely pariahed."
Roger H. Brown
Although Roger Brown, the new president of Berklee College of Music, has hardly any formal musical education and has never served as an executive at an institution of higher learning, he is the right man for the job. The 48-year-old Georgia native is probably best known for founding the $400 million on-site corporate day-care company Bright Horizons, but reading between the lines of his resume reveals his qualifications. When he moved to Cambodia to work on a food distribution system that became one of the most successful relief efforts of the time, he brought regional musicians together to record. Later, as the CEO of Bright Horizons, he produced several albums of children's music. Before Brown was even inaugurated as the Berklee president, he cleared his calendar and enrolled in the college, going through orientation with more than 900 entering students. His plans for the school include creating more full scholarships for students, expanding facilities, and investing more in the faculty.
Radio Girls
Tired of songs that degrade females, 11 girls launched their own station in Dorchester. Girls' Radio at 540 AM has a tiny reach but has rocked the broadcast world. "You feel good about yourself, because you know you're sending a good message to the girls in the community," says cofounder Dalida Rocha of Roslindale. CNN, NPR, and the BBC heralded its debut. Girls vet the lyrics of every song played. "Crazy in Love," by Beyonce, is in, but her "Naughty Girl" is banned.
Susan Hockfield
Susan Hockfield made history on two counts when she became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in December. She is the first woman and the first life scientist to lead the school in its 144-year history. She's a perfect fit for two major MIT initiatives: eliminating bias against women faculty members and bridging the gap between engineering, its traditional strength, and the ascendant life sciences. Hockfield has promised to boost K-12 science education. The Science Club for Girls in Cambridge would love to be a test lab. Already, MIT helps club members build a rocket for a national contest. To the moon? And beyond.
Ray Lamontagne
He plays an acoustic guitar and used to live in van. Thankfully, that's about all Ray LaMontagne has in common with Jewel. On Trouble, his major label debut, the Mainer sings a brand of acoustic pop that's as catchy as it is heart-wrenching. And don't just take our word. Rave reviews have landed the former coffeehouse crooner steady gigs on the rock club circuit, including a recent sold-out show at the Paradise. Rolling Stone called LaMontagne "the backwoods Van Morrison." Not a bad comparison, though we think he's more at home with fellow mopesters Nick Drake and Damien Rice.
James Levine
The long wait for James Levine ended in the fall, when the frizzy-haired conductor took over the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He established himself quickly, mixing the expected (Mozart and Mahler) with the almost new (20th-century music). He set a tone of artistic regeneration at Symphony Hall. What's more, Levine, famously disinterested in public appearances, has been a maestro about town, lecturing at Harvard, catching Elaine Stritch at the Wilbur, and dining out late. Is a Fenway first pitch next?
Kathleen O'Toole
Boston's first female police commissioner, Kathleen O'Toole was appointed to the position last February and faced a rising homicide rate and the fast-approaching Democratic National Convention, which went smoothly amid elevated security warnings. It hasn't been all roses for O'Toole, who received mixed reviews for launching last summer's Operation Neighborhood Shield, aimed at curbing local violence. But a woman in a job too long held only by men is a welcome sight.
Carl Sciortino
Carl Sciortino, 26, didn't just get mad about his legislator's votes, he got even, trouncing the 16-year incumbent in the November election. state Representative Vincent P. Ciampa on various issues with little success. "The final straw was gay marriage," says Sciortino, who is gay and opposes a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. A founding member of Progressive Democrats of Somerville, Sciortino knocked on doors there and in Medford from April to November. His priorities include improving education and access to health care, restoring local aid cuts and listening to his constituents.
Pino Maffeo
Buzz is only the undercurrent created when Pino Maffeo returned to Boston to helm Restaurant L. Part chef, part amateur scientist, he has put the kitchen into an alternative galaxy. Take his seared foie gras/fried rice/24-karat golden-egg appetizer. The egg is a meringue, filled with crispy fried rice and mango puree, that's immersed in liquid nitrogen. It's then gilded with 24-karat-gold paper and flamed with a blow torch. "There's soul behind it," says Maffeo. "It's got to be done intelligently." It is.
Vincent E. Siders
The actor to watch in the last few years has been Vincent E. Siders. In Our Lady of 121st Street last year, he was riveting as the hot-blooded hustler-turned-radio personality, Rooftop. And he so entranced Boston audiences in Monticel' and Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, that he won both the Elliot Norton and Independent Reviewers of New England awards for best actor for his work in all three shows. This year, he received good notices as Tom in an otherwise all-white cast of The Glass Menagerie. Siders is also the artistic director of New African Company.
Patrick Smith
Somerville's Patrick Smith isn't new to the area - as an adolescent, the Revere native spent almost every weekend roaming Logan Airport. But until last year, which saw the publication of Ask the Pilot (Riverhead), a collection of the furloughed commercial pilot's thoughtful, funny air travel columns for
Lauralee Summer
Having gone from homelessness to Harvard College and then the University of California at Berkeley for graduate school, Lauralee Summer returned to Boston last fall to teach English at Charlestown High. As Summer, 28, says in her memoir, Learning Joy From Dogs Without Collars, her childhood was a patchwork of bus trips and shelters. She credits her success to good teachers; while her mother couldn't provide a stable home, she did teach her a love of books. And it was a teacher at Quincy High who taught Summer that she and her goals were worth something. She's clearly learned a bright-side approach to life. On first-year teaching: "I'm never bored." On returning to frigid New England: "It's exhilarating."
Nancy Taylor
She takes over a church founded by Puritans, but Nancy Taylor, the first woman to be senior minister in the 335-year history of Old South Church, is a progressive pilgrim. A supporter of gay marriage, Taylor, 48, believes in "inclusiveness, diversity, human rights, and the common good." She preached her first sermon as leader of the landmark church in Copley Square in January. With her husband, Peter Southwell-Sander, an Anglican minister and author of books on opera, Taylor has settled into the Back Bay. "The Old South Church . . . has been a pulpit with a public voice, a public theology," she says. "I will continue to carry out that tradition."
Bren Bataclan
In a city renowned for icy stares, Bren Bataclan longed to make people smile. In late 2003, the unemployed graphic designer left 30 canvases of grinning characters (think Keith Haring meets Japanese comics) around town with a note: "This painting is yours if you promise to smile at random people more often." By last summer, the city had embraced the Smile Boston Project. Thank-you e-mails piled up, and two hospitals commissioned the artist. At the Democratic National Convention, Bataclan gave paintings to the 50 state delegations. Now stores sell his paintings. The lesson for Boston? A smile makes a grand beginning.
They Got Game: The Sox and Pats rule, but a giant teenage hoopster is Boston's newest star.
Hanley Ramirez
It may be that the best (and only) thing shortstop Hanley Ramirez does for the Red Sox is to leave. The city may never get to know him or appreciate his coiffure, which owes a great deal to Boston's incumbent Ramirez, Manny. The prize of Boston's minor-league system, Hanley Ramirez is the one whose name inevitably will come up when the team starts searching for pitching mid-season. If the Sox repeat, Ramirez - like Nomar - could be immortalized as being "central to the vital deadline deal."
Al Jefferson
The Celtics rookie Al Jefferson showed up last spring in a suit and tie, looking as professional as any 19-year-old can, once he's been handed a $5 million contract only two weeks after graduating from his Mississippi high school. At 6 feet 10 inches and 265 pounds, Jefferson grasps the fact that he's at the beginning of a long apprenticeship. Which is good, because while his offensive game is deft, his defense is a work in progress. "You come here, and you don't know a lot," he says. "People expect that."
Eugene Wilson
As the Patriots dynasty grew, linebackers caught touchdown passes, receivers made interceptions, and almost everyone played on special teams. Then All-Pro safety Lawyer Milloy was cut, and in stepped second-round draft pick Eugene Wilson. The 5-foot-10, 195- pound Wilson became one of the NFL's best young defensive backs, and when Ty Law went down with a season- ending injury, Wilson became a leader. OK, so he broke his arm in the Super Bowl, but would the Pats have been there without him?
The following writers contributed to the "Best of the New" reports: Naomi Aoki, Alison Arnett, Carol Beggy, Chris Berdik, Karen Campbell, Robert Campbell, Monica Collins, Michelle Bates Deakin, Peter DeMarco, Geoff Edgers, Anthony Flint, Catherine Foster, Jan Gardner, Joshua Glenn, Meredith Goldstein, Ken Gordon, Amy Graves, Patrick Gerard Healy, Stephen Jermanok, Sheryl Julian, Patrick Kennedy, Doug Most, Kimberly Moy, Charles P. Pierce, Mark Pothier, James Reed, Bridget Samburg, Shira Springer, Lise Stern, Rachel Strutt, Tina Sutton, Emily Sweeney, Rachel Travers, and Joe Yonan. Send e-mails to magazine@globe.com.
