Perhaps taking Halloween as an excuse to pregame for Hassle Fest was a bad idea since I think I died and am now immortalized in this column in the Boston Compass. Volunteering for the Hassle was one of the best experiences I had in my mortal existence. There are tons of cool people doing cool things there that allow the org to be such a driving force in the local music scene. Recently I submitted a grant (never done that before!) on behalf of the newspaper in an attempt to get some more funding (fingers crossed!) for the next year. I don’t think I would’ve done that in any other setting, and it’s been great to be pushed to be quick on your feet and adaptive to new scenarios.

Hassle has become my shovel to dig around the Boston underground scene and I’m glad I found it. There are some great things happening in November (open up the next page), but I have to give a special shout out to Hassle Fest for being MVP this month—two nights of amazing music for everyone to enjoy and get their faces melted by. Hopefully I’m just hungover and not dead.

Jan Esbra