DINING

JULY 13 — AUGUST 2 AT THE MERRY-GO ROUND PLAYHOUSE IN AUBURN

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Mercato: Small but Mighty

By Henry Stark

On previous visits to Italy, I looked forward to having Porchetta at some of my favorite restaurants. Porchetta is a roasted pork dish made from the loin of a suckling pig and is usually tender, juicy, and liberally seasoned. I favored the same dish in Spain where it’s called Porcella and where a trio of troubadours would wander the basements of Madrid restaurants singing traditional songs and accompanying themselves on guitars. So you can imagine how happy I was to discover Porchetta on the menu of Mercato. ere were no troubadours and I doubt the pork came from a suckling pig however I did receive a generous hunk of beautifully roasted pork loin surrounding a somewhat subtle, slightly spicy sausage stu ng. e Porchetta ($28) at Mercado was tender and delicious and was accompanied by rappini and ngerling potatoes.

Another time I ordered Mint Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu ($28). I thought of it as a glori ed lamb stew and enjoyed the noodles and appreciated the tender pieces of lamb.

A er trying a couple of “turf” meals with the pork and lamb, I thought I’d indulge in some “surf”-type meals so I had the Clams Casino appetizer ($10) and, if I was disappointed, it was my own fault. I asked the server how many clams there would be before I ordered and was advised there would be ve quite small Littlenecks. Littlenecks are inherently tough and these were, indeed, a bit chewy.

Another visit, I ordered Fresh Fish in Parchment ($30). I was pleased to receive Arctic Char, a sh I had long ago discovered in Canadian restaurants. Char is a aky, dense, pink sh that’s like a mild version of salmon and cooking it in parchment paper seals in the juices and aromas of the sh and the accompanying vegetables. e sh was perfectly cooked as were the ngerling potatoes and carrots.

And nally, I selected Pan Seared Bay Boat Scallops ($34). I still have no idea what a Bay Boat Scallop is but having ordered them at Mercato, I do know that I received six large sea scallops (sea scallops are usually about an inch and a half wide and reside in deeper waters and are less tender than the smaller bay scallops). I rarely order sea scallops for that reason however these turned out to be tender and sweet and beautifully seasoned although receiving only six made it seem like an expensive entrée. ey were served in a carrot puree reinforced with a bit of mascarpone (a so cow’s milk cheese), a thinly sliced oyster mushroom, and a lemon beurre blanc with a side dish of thinly sliced shoe-string potatoes. A wonderful dish. e large selections of wines are almost exclusively Italian including seven out of the eight by-the-glass ($11-35) o erings. ere are less than a half dozen beers available including three dra s and about a dozen mixed cocktails.

Mercato is the epitome of a small restaurant with a limited menu that turns out consistently high-quality food. e purchasers of the food, and those who cook it, can concentrate on a limited (eight) number of entrées so they can get everything just right. And we are the fortunate bene ciaries.

Tid Bits

e restrooms are down a ight of 16 steep stairs. e waiting area is extremely limited and since Mercato doesn’t accept reservations you could end up standing on the street - not fun in inclement weather.

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instruments available to them, namely, their bodies and their voices, for not only giving expression to their feelings, but strengthening the community necessary to survive as human beings. Collective singing is the cornerstone of the Spirituals. Of course, individuals sang alone and to themselves. But by and large singing was done together, for each other and for the group as a whole. is remains the heart and soul of music-making generally. Music in this sense is an activity, not a product, and it is shared by a community and not owned by anyone. In the case of people of African descent in the United Sates, the musical sources were both speci c and varied. On the one hand, there were undoubtedly some rhythms, melodies and musical instruments, such as the banjo, brought from Africa. On the other hand, there were other in uences coming from, for example, church hymns written in England or ballads sung by European immigrants or music made by Native peoples.

In a fundamental sense, the slaves used whatever musical devices they could so it is not surprising that they would adopt and adapt church hymns and popular songs they heard in their environment as well as retaining elements passed down generation to generation. No doubt there were individuals we will never know who composed particular lyrics using well-known melodies, or musicians who invented tunes just because they were inspired or because there was a social need for a song. But overall, the source of the music was the needs and determination of the people themselves.

It is interesting to compare the music made in North America with that made in Cuba or Brazil or other countries, which maintained the slave system. e musical di erences correspond not only to the ruling power, say Spanish, Portuguese or French, but also to the politics of maintaining the slave system; what was forbidden and what was encouraged. Drumming was forbidden in many colonies but singing Christian hymns was not-at least until Nat Turner’s rebellion (1831) a er which even church singing was carefully monitored in the US South.

IT: How did the spiritual songs come about to help and heal a group of people and aid them in moving forward?

MC: Well the answer is found in the Spirituals and work songs themselves, and these are songs with which many people are familiar. ey were composed and sung in those places where people congregated for work and worship. ey were, in the main, sung collectively and formed an integral part of daily life. ere are many collections, for example: omas Talley’s, Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise an Otherwise (1922), that give a fair representation of how songs were used.

Bear in mind, however, that the songs in our collection were both a part of this repertoire and deliberately excluded from it by a number of factors. To begin with, the slaves were punished for singing these songs. I found numerous references to this in testimony given by formerly enslaved people shortly a er the Civil War. is testimony was given to abolitionists who the former slaves trusted enough to con de in. So the burial of songs of rebellion and resistance started with the slaveowners banning them in the rst place. Following the defeat of Reconstruction, a more systematic erasure began whereby song collectors and the burgeoning music business excluded from consideration any song that did not t an image of docility, subservience and childish exuberance designed to keep Black people “in their place.”

We also have to consider the fact that slavery was more complicated than it is o en depicted. Of course, the backbone of the slave system was the eld hand: men, women and children, literally slaving in the elds. ese were joined by other hands on the docks loading goods for transport, in workshops producing sugar, in swamp-clearing and construction. Basically, back-breaking, physical labor. But by the late 18th Century, there were also highly skilled workers, including poets and musicians, among the slaves. O en, slave-musicians were rented out by their masters to provide entertainment for other plantations or at public events in cities like Richmond.

Also, by this time, there were a signi cant and growing number of free Black people, especially in cities like Philadelphia and Boston where the rst Black churches were organized. Among free Black people were those who had never been slaves, those who had bought their freedom or were otherwise manumitted and those who were fugitives. By the time of the Civil War, there were about half-a million free Black people in the US along with four million slaves.

Some free Black musicians were famous such as Francis Johnson who was a composer, band leader and renowned Kent Bugle player. More examples are provided in a book published in 1878 called: Music and Some Highly Musical People. is book o ers biographies of many highly skilled African American musicians, some of whom were well known at the time. It was written by James Monroe Trotter. Trotter escaped slavery via the Underground Railway and served in the Union Army, eventually achieving the rank of Second Lieutenant. e point here is that an image of Black music was created a er the defeat of Reconstruction that was, at best, incomplete. is image ignores the diversity of conditions the slave system produced as well as the diversity of musical expression developed by African Americans whether slave or free. Furthermore, it completely separates the songs of the abolitionist movement from those of people still in bondage when, in fact, the abolitionist song books included songs composed by fugitive slaves as well as free Black people. And this, of course, is another way songs were used to build community and strengthen the spirit.

IT: Do you have a spiritual and an emancipation song that resonates with you as an artist?

MC: All these songs are important in both musical and historical senses. Had these songs been included in what might be called “ e American Song Book” I might think otherwise and choose a favorite. ink of it from the opposite point of view. “Amazing Grace” is worldrenowned and remains a staple. But it is forgotten that this is an abolitionist song. Of course it resonates with me but that is not only a matter of my personal taste. If all the songs in this collection-and others yet to be discovered-were part of what the world considers American music, “Amazing Grace” would be situated within its true family of songs. But the fact that these songs were systematically excluded from the Canon means that they have to be shared and enjoyed for some time before that can be said. ey should be part of our heritage but they are not-or not yet. I hope young people will take these songs to heart, sing them and make them an honored part of the long and ongoing struggle for human emancipation.

IT: Would you like to add anything more to what you have already said about this new release?

MC: I would only like to add that this project is a result of a collective e ort involving many people and institutions. It could not have been brought to fruition any other way. I hope readers will obtain the book and CDs and see for themselves who these contributors are. mention one: at one point I was reminded of Disney’s legendary 1979 dud “ e Black Hole”, but within all these callbacks and homages, the lmmakers are always able to tap into the actual wonderment promised by dubious movies. In that one glorious moment, I remembered the somnambulant “ e Black Hole” as a good movie.

Second reaction: within such a well-worn genre, where we’ve seen all manner of planetary atmospheres and kinds of spaceships, “Lightyear” is a pleasure to watch purely on a visual level. It looks as amazing as its story, helping “Lightyear” go to in nity and beyond. As with the best Pixar joints, bringing a kid is optional. ird reaction: let Pixar make a full-on “Star Wars” movie. I’m sure it would be astounding.

“Lightyear” is playing at Regal Stadium 14.

Sometimes you see a movie and it’s a “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” moment as the end credits roll.. You wonder “Who are those guys?” I had that moment at the end of Jim Archer’s “Brian and Charles” (Focus-BFI-Film4 Productions-Mr. Box Productions, 2022, 90 mins.).

David Earl and Chris Hayward wrote this sweet, da y comedy about a lonely Welsh guy (Earl) named Brian who makes inventions from junk that only work sometimes. He salvages a mannequin head and a washing machine and makes a robot dubbed Charles (Hayward). Incredibly, Charles “works”, but like a puppy or a toddler, he wants to go outside, against Brian’s wishes. (He’s understandably nervous about the reactions of the rest of the villagers, particularly an unpleasant local bully that Brian wants to avoid.) By the way, all this told as a rockumentary; somehow a camera crew is being allowed to lm Brian’s struggles with Charles, who, when sleeping, drones endlessly, “I am sleeping…I am sleeping…” My pal Jamie tells me that Earl is something of a protégé of Ricky Gervais, and he has been playing versions of Brian for quite a while. Charles’ costume is such a shambles, you’d think anyone could be in there, but Hayward’s inexhaustible logic and knack for pestering Brian needs his comic timing. Earl is very good at running o at the mouth until things get painful and awkward, but as clever as the script is, the real heroine here is production designer Hannah Purdy Foggin, who keeps everything very handmade, shall we say. By the time Brian and Charles are seen walking around the Wales countryside hand in hand to the tune of e Turtles’ “Happy Together”, well, that’s when I started wondering, “Who are those guys?”

“Brian and Charles” is playing at Cinemapolis.