Weekend - March 04, 2021 by repubnews

For the most up-to-date listing of events, go online to masslive.com/entertainment

Weekend

LIVEWIRE: Dinosaur Jr. to drop new album in April, E4 OFF THE MENU: Higher menu prices in the offing, E9 WINE PRESS: World-renowned wine writer discusses beauty of wine, E10

| THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

PLUS

The show goes on

10 classical concerts to stream, E3

Refusing to be beat by pandemic, ‘The Big Broadcast!’ turns to virtual performance, E2 JUICY NEVER TASTED SO GOOD! $5.00 $ 5. OFF

Buy 3 Daily Specials, Get 4th

Any An A ny O Or Order rd of $40.00 or More

$10.00 OFF

Any Order of $75.00 or More

Cannot Ca C aann nnnott be be combined with other offers. Please coupon when ordering. PPle Pl lle easse ea eas e present p prre res Expires 3/31/21

Cannot be combined with other offers. Please present coupon when ordering. Expires 3/31/21

FREE

1404 Boston Road Springfield, MA 01119 Order Online: www.juicyseafoodma.com

413-209-8297 • 413-209-8941

3113437-01

Sun - Thurs: 12pm – 10pm Fri – Sat: 12pm – 11pm

WEEKEND

E2 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

IF YOU GO

“The (Little) Big Broadcast!” the annual salute to the 1940s by the Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke, will take place virtually Saturday on the MHC Zoom platform. (DORI GAVITT PHOTO)

Event: “The (Little) Big Broadcast!” When: Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Where: Online, streaming over Zoom Tickets: Free, but advance reservation required. Tickets to the 2 p.m. performance are available at events. mtholyoke.edu/ event/the_little_big_ broadcast_967#.YCK 8fC2ZNQI and tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are available at events.mtholyoke. edu/event/the_little_big_broadcast#. YCK50S2ZNQI. More information: events.mtholyoke. edu/event/the_little_big_broadcast#. YD0m5GhKhPY

ON THE COVER

‘The Big Broadcast!’ goes virtual Annual event refuses to be beat by pandemic

By Keith O’Connor

Special to The Republican

t’s ironic that a live event that has promoted radio shows of yesteryear for 15 years will now be offered virtually on a video screen.

WWLP-TV meteorologist Brian Lapis will reprise his role as emcee “Fred Kelley” in “The (Little) Big Broadcast!” Saturday.

The 16th edition of “The Big Broadcast!” — previously held on the Mount Holyoke College campus before the pandemic — will be streamed Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. And it’s now a free, streaming event over Zoom that is being called “The (Little) Big Broadcast!” “Little because it is a onehour condensed version of the full-length live show we’ve been putting on for years. Also, it’s not live this year and we are taping our part ahead of time,” said Brian Lapis, the WWLP-TV meteorologist who has portrayed

the show’s emcee “Fred Kelley” for 14 seasons counting this year. “The show has become a signature event for Mount Holyoke College, and in the face of the pandemic I think that Mark was able to configure the show in a manageable way to present online,” he added about the show’s creator and director Mark Gionfriddo. The longtime show began as a tribute to the 1940s radio shows, and is created and directed by Gionfriddo featuring the Mount Holyoke College Big Band, Vocal Jazz and Chamber Jazz Ensembles. They will be performing well-known tunes from the swing era and the American songbook. “We’ve got a series of songs from the golden age of radio, along with some radio commercials of the day,” Gionfriddo said in a news release about the show. Among the featured songs will be the Glenn Miller version of “Little Brown Jug;” two Cole Porter hits, “You Do Something To Me’” and “Night and Day;” Bobby Troup’s “Route 66” as performed by Bing Crosby and

The Andrews Sisters; “My Funny Valentine” from the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical “Babes in Arms;” and “Star Eyes,” a tune made famous by Helen O’Connell and Jimmy Dorsey. “Mark has written another really witty script that I will execute with some wit of my own,” Lapis said. The show’s emcee noted that he will be undertaking another buddy number in this year’s show to the tune of “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jellyroll” made famous by Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer. “It’s a quick, funny, little thing and I hope I don’t embarrass myself,” Lapis said. Tickets are free for both streamings of “The (Little) Big Broadcast!” However, advance reservations are required. Tickets to the 2 p.m. performance are available at events. mtholyoke.edu/event/ the_little_big_broadcast_967#. YCK8fC2ZNQI and tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are available at events.mtholyoke. edu/event/the_little_big_ broadcast#.YCK50S2ZNQI.

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 | E3

MUSIC

10 classical concerts to stream in March

s the live performing arts continue to struggle through the coronavirus pandemic, here are 10 highlights from the flood of online music content coming in March.

‘Die Tote Stadt’ Available through March 28; operavision.eu Korngold’s breakthrough opera has not been well served on DVD. Some productions emphasize the plot’s salaciousness at the expense of its musical beauty. For others, the problem is the reverse. If anyone can achieve the delicate balance of the two elements, it’s the experienced director Robert Carsen, whose production of the rapturous, late romantic score – a precursor to Korngold’s influential Hollywood work – appeared at the Komische Oper in Berlin in 2018, and is streaming now. The soprano Sara Jakubiak stars, and has made something of a specialty of Korngold in recent years, including appearing in another recent Berlin staging, at the Deutsche Oper, of “Das Wunder der Heliane.” – Seth Colter Walls

Above, clarinetist Anthony McGill performs Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock,” with the New York Philharmonic in New York, Nov. 7, 2018. At right, Mitsuko Uchida smiles during a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York, Feb. 23, 2016. (HIROYUKI ITO / THE NEW YORK TIMES)

Spring” and the Clarinet Concerto. But the bigger news is the performance of Courtney Bryan’s violin concerto “Syzygy,” featuring Jennifer Koh as soloist. The Louisiana players have a long-standing connection with Bryan’s music; having performed her orchestral work “Rejoice,” they’ve also named this composer-pianist a “creative partner.” So they may well have a feel for her take on Americana, which often includes elements of spirituals and the blues. (Bryan’s “Bless-

ed,” a commission for Opera Philadelphia’s online channel, is also streaming now) – Seth Colter Walls Kate Lindsey March 14 at 2 p.m.; teatroallascala.org, as well as YouTube and Facebook; available through March 21. One of my favorite albums in recent years has been “Thousands of Miles,” a program mostly of Kurt Weill songs performed by the mezzo-soprano SEE CLASSICAL, PAGE E7

ALWAYS HIGH PRICES PAID.

63 Cabot Street, Chicopee Center (413) 592-0220

3146428-01

suk Chin, Kaija Saariaho and (2000-01). Hildegard von Bingen. Oh, and – Joshua Barone Beethoven. Steven Banks – Zachary Woolfe March 10 at 7:30 p.m.; FaceAnthony McGill book and YouTube; available March 9 at 7 p.m.; Facebook indefinitely. This adventurous saxophonand YouTube; available indefinitely. ist and composer presents his “Cadence: The Sounds debut recital for the organization Young Concert Artists, of Justice, the Sounds of a which named him the winner Movement,” presented by the of its prestigious internationMetropolitan Museum of Art, has been organized by Anthony al auditions competition in McGill, the New York Philhar- 2019. The program, with the monic’s principal clarinet and pianist Xak Bjerken, includes the latest winner of the Avery premieres by Carlos Simon and Fisher Prize. Inspired by the Saad Haddad and Banks’ own Teju Cole and Orchestra Great Migration and works new work “Come As You Are.” of St. Luke’s in the museum’s collection, He will also perform Mozart’s Available until March 10; McGill is joined by the Catalyst Oboe Quartet in F (with memoslmusic.org Quartet, with whom he collab- bers of the Zorá Quartet) and This ensemble, which has orated on the group’s album Schumann’s “Fantasiestücke” responded robustly and “Uncovered, Vol. 1: Samuel for Clarinet and Piano – both creatively to the constraints of Coleridge-Taylor.” They will arranged for saxophone. And streamed performance, begins play Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarwhy not? The sax, after all, is a a new words-and-music series, inet Quintet in F sharp minor latter-day cousin of both those alongside Kerry James Mar“Sounds and Stories,” with instruments. shall’s 2014 painting “Untitled a program organized by the – Anthony Tommasini writer Teju Cole and hosted by (Studio),” and a premiere by Louisiana Philharmonic Richard Danielpour, in front the actor David Hyde Pierce. Orchestra Cole will read selections from of Philip Guston’s “Stationary March 12 at 8 p.m.; Figure” (1973). Closing the his work alongside visual concert will be Adolphus Hail- lpomusic.com; available elements and pieces by an stork’s solo “Three Smiles for through September. eclectic array of composers: Tracey,” juxtaposed with Joel There are two Copland works Caroline Shaw, Yvette Janine Jackson, Henryk Gorecki, Un- Shapiro’s sculpture “Untitled” on this program: “Appalachian

E4 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

WEEKEND

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

MUSIC

Dinosaur Jr. to drop new album in April

3147516-01

INOSAUR JR. WILL return in April with a new album, “Sweep It Into Space.” Meanwhile, a new single, “I Ran Away,” is out now. Originally scheduled for release last year, the album was delayed due to the pandemic. It was recorded at Amherst’s Biquiteen, with the sessions George Lenker beginning in autumn of 2019. LiveWire It was co-produced by Kurt Vile, who also played the lead eration” are getting fewer and 12-string guitar on the first few by the year. single. When the pandemic halted But there are still plenty of recording with Vile, guitarist J avid fans of the band who will Mascis said that he ended up welcome the songwriter’s just mimicking a few things recent statement to the Daily he’d done. Mirror that he’d like to make a “I was listening to a lot of new album with singer Roger Thin Lizzy, so I was trying to Daltrey. get some of that dueling twin Townshend said despite his lead sound,” Mascis said. differences with his longtime Dinosaur Jr. will release a new album, “Sweep It Into Space,” on April 23. musical partner, he has “pages “But the recording session and pages of draft lyrics,” was pretty well finished by the (DAVID GREENWALD / THE OREGONIAN) adding that “If the moment time things really hit the fan. the spring of 2020 when Weller musicians and their moms.” comes, I’ll go in and start.” When the lockdown happened & Co. were unable to tour due Virginia Grohl’s book was The band released “Who” in March, that meant I was on to the pandemic. released in 2017, with her in 2019 but were forced to my own. But it was cool.” The album will drop on April Weller recorded the vocals, interviewing moms of musicancel 2020 tour plans in the cians such as the Beastie Boys’ U.K. and Ireland due to the 23 on the Jagjaguwar label. piano and guitar on his own, Dinosaur Jr. was founded in Mike D, R.E.M.’s Michael then sent the files to his core pandemic. Amherst in 1984 by Mascis, band to add their parts remote- Stipe, the HAIM sisters, Amy Townshend said even finly. The full band was able to bassist Lou Barlow and drumWinehouse, Dr. Dre and Ma- ishing the 2019 album wasn’t roon 5’s Adam Levine. mer Murph. finish the record together as easy because of personality Paramount+ will launch clashes with Daltrey. restrictions were loosened in Liner notes today. “We’re very different – politthe U.K. ically, socially, spiritually, in • Singer Taylor Swift is The album is available to • The people who Pete canceling the “Lover Fests” every respect,” he said. “But pre-order on multiple formats, Townshend, 75, wrote about we happen to be in this band mini-tour she had originally including deluxe vinyl and Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl deluxe CD, LTD picture disc, in The Who song “My Genplanned for summer 2020 together.” and his mother have created and had hoped to undertake merchandise bundles and a new series for Paramount+ later this year. more. based on her book “From The tour was to include The first single, “Cosmic Cradle to Stage: Stories from a pair of performances at Fringes,” is out now. the Mothers Who Rocked and Gillette Stadium in FoxborRaised Rock Stars.” ough, as well as shows in Los • Foo Fighters leader Dave Take Me There (LEO CORREA / ASSOCIATED PRESS) Curvy Girls Erotica Angeles, Europe and South Grohl and his mother have Trans and for Women l America. been creating a new series Genderqueer edited by Rache ls Erotica edited by The mini-tour was to have “This is an unprecedented based on her book “From Krammer Busse Tristan Taormino pandemic that has changed been in support of her album, Cradle to Stage: Stories from everyone’s plans and no one “Lover.” the Mothers Who Rocked and knows what the touring landSince its release, Swift has Raised Rock Stars.” Letters to Penthouse Vol 52 Fantasy For Her We Vibe Nova Dirty Girls and Sexy Toys scape is going to look like in issued two best-sellers, “FolkThe six-part series, which Her Personal lore” and “Evermore.” the near future,” she tweeted will stream on the new service Sex Machine on Friday. “I’m so disappointParamount+, will feature musied that I won’t be able to see • Former frontman for The cians’ moms talking about their relationship with their children. you in person as soon as I Jam and The Style Council, In a statement, the series is dewanted to. I miss you terribly Paul Weller will release his AdamEveGreenfieldMA Pleasure, Adventure, & Fun scribed as a “dynamic personal and can’t wait til we can all 16th solo album, “Fat Pop Everyone 18 Main St., Greenﬁeld, MA • 413-774-9800 exploration of the special resafely be at shows together (Volume 1),” on May 14. Welcome AEStoresGreenfield www.Greenﬁeld.AdamEveStores.com The record was recorded in lationship between successful again.” Mon-Thurs 10am-9pm, Fri. & Sat. 10am-10pm, Sun. 12pm-7pm

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 | E5

MOVIES REVIEW

Andra Day astonishes as Billie Holiday Performances lift uneven biopic from Lee Daniels

By Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

ndra Day delivers an astonishing breakout performance as the complicated subject of “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” in a movie that often feels like it’s unworthy of both the actress and the persona she adopts so seamlessly.

From the first moments of this maddeningly uneven film, Day channels her complicated, contradictory protagonist with closely observed detail. When a fey, feather-headed journalist asks her what it’s like “to be a colored woman” during a 1957 interview, she replies with a half-purr, half-snarl: “Would you ask Doris Day that question?” A few moments later, in a flashback to a performance 10 years earlier at the nightclub Cafe Society, Day delivers a rendition of “All of Me” with the physical glamour and eccentric but impeccably modulated musicality that made Holiday a star. These are the moments that make “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” worth seeing, even if the choppy, episodic narrative that surrounds them is not just confounding but infuriating. A chronicle of Holiday’s harassment at the hands of Federal Bureau of Narcotics chief Harry Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), the film is an intriguing addition to films that have tackled similar subjects recently, including “One Night in Miami,” “MLK/FBI” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.” In Holiday’s case, what was ostensibly an investigation aimed at her heroin use was really just a means of forcing her to stop singing “Strange Fruit,” the haunting

Andra Day stars in “The United States vs Billie Holiday.” Day accepted the award for best actress in a motion picture drama at the Golden Globe Awards Sunday. (TAKASHI SEIDA / PARAMOUNT PICTURES VIA AP)

male tormentors. Nowhere are Daniels’s elevated intentions more at odds with his baser cinematic inrrss stincts than in a druggy dream Rated: TV-MA sequence, wherein Holiday Running time: 130 min. Playing on: Hulu revisits the abandonment and pain of her childhood, traumas that give way to the larger he and Holiday fall in love. collective agony of an African That affair might be the American population living most obvious flight of artistic under the constant threat of imagination in “The United White terror. The sequence is States vs. Billie Holiday,” awkwardly staged and poorly which in building up that edited, but it culminates in speculative romance manages the most powerful moment of to ignore Holiday’s far more “The United States vs. Billie Andra Day, left, and Trevante Rhodes appear in a scene from interesting friendship and Holiday,” when Day sings “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”(TAKASHI SEIDA / PARAMOUNT PICTURES) artistic collaboration with “Strange Fruit” with spellbinding power and weary, Lester “Prez” Young, played ballad about lynching in the characters traipse through the by Tyler James Williams in a regal, exquisitely calibrated American South that became narrative: Tallulah Bankhead, literally thankless role. Alter- fury. Viewers are left with a civil rights anthem. Holiday’s friend and occasion- nately starchy and wildly over the queasy feeling that we’ve It’s a fascinating story and al lover, played with admirable the top, the film demonstrates been voyeurs to an exploitawell worth revisiting. But restraint by Natasha Lyonne, Daniels’s tendencies for both tion of Holiday’s pain, but also, when Day gives her a in the hands of director Lee shows up early and never the literalistic and the lurid: Daniels, working from a returns; the long, ignominiIf we’re not watching a stagy, chance simply to be, the beneficiaries of her genius. script by the playwright Suzan ous line of men who beat and Wiki-like biopic entry we’re betrayed the singer becomes “The United States vs. Billie Lori Parks, what should be a plunged into the excesses of sensitive and densely layered an indistinguishable pantheon Holiday’s life at its most melo- Holiday” may not exactly dramatically bleak, whether win the battle for its embatdrama instead becomes a per- of violent users and abusers; functory collection of scenes tled leading lady; but thanks in the form of a close-up on Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante that feel overwrought and Rhodes), the federal narcotics the needle going into her arm to Day’s uncompromising under-considered simultane- agent who infiltrated Holiperformance, she somehow or her body being brutalized ously. A pageant of real-life day’s milieu, gets so close that at the hands of one of her manages to win the war.

‘THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY’

WEEKEND

E6 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

MOVIES ONLINE STREAMING

‘Made You Look’ leads new films By Michael O’Sullivan and Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Kerry McNabb, left, and Frank Zappa in “Zappa.” (YORAM KAHANA / MAGNOLIA PICTURES)

DVD RELEASES

‘Zappa’ strikes the right chord Tribune News Service

“Zappa”: This two-hour, nine-minute documentary is a sprawling look at the iconic musical multi-hyphenate and activist Frank Zappa, helmed by actor and filmmaker Alex Winter. Authorized by Zappa’s estate, the film features interviews with both family members and former collaborators and an abundance of archival footage in a way that encapsulates the iconoclast’s style, with media, genre, tone and mood shifting throughout, wrote Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review. “If the outsize legacy of his work bears any consistency, it’s in the purest expression of his vision, whatever that might have been. Zappa repeatedly states that he made the music that he wanted, needed, to hear. If others want to listen, he’s happy to provide the recordings as a public service,” she wrote. “In ‘Zappa,’ this legendary artist’s uncompromising nature is bracing, bold and utterly refreshing. Also new on DVD “Pinocchio”: Live-action version of the timeless tale

stars Roberto Benigni as Gepetto and Federico Ielapi as the magical puppet-turnedboy. In Italian and English. “Monster Hunter”: Based on the video game of the same name, a lieutenant (Milla Jovovich) and her team fight to survive after being transported to a fantastical world. “Fatale”: A sports agent (Michael Ealy) life becomes unraveled after a one-night stand with a woman (Hilary Swank) who’s investigating him. “Half Brothers”: A successful Mexican executive (Luis Gerardo Mendez) learns he has an American half-brother (Connor Del Rio) and embarks on a road trip to revisit their father’s immigration path. “All My Life”: Newly engaged couple Solomon and Jennifer (Harry Shum Jr. and Jessica Rothe) grapple with Solomon’s terminal cancer diagnosis. “Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks”: The New Year’s Day special of the sci-fi series finds the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) imprisoned on an asteroid.

SEE DVD, PAGE E7

After watching “Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art,” the second (and better) of two recent documentaries about an $80 million forgery scandal that rocked the art world with the closure of Knoedler Gallery in 2011, you may find yourself wondering why this utterly fascinating saga of guile and guilelessness (or, as one of the film’s subjects points out, just plain stupidity) has not yet been made into a narrative feature. (Be patient, word is it will be.) The latest film, by Barry Avrich, is notable for the extensive participation of Ann Freedman, the former Knoedler director who was duped into handling the sales of more than 60 fake artworks purported to be by such abstract expressionist masters as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. (It’s Freedman who is described, by a New York Times journalist, as either complicit in the deception or incredibly stupid. But she makes for a game interview subject. You can make up your own mind about which side of the line she falls on. She’s still in the art biz.) Shocking, funny at times and as gripping as a thriller in the way it lays out the story of the inves-

Ann Freedman, the former director of Knoedler Gallery, in the documentary “Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art.” (MELBAR ENTERTAINMENT GROUP)

tigation that exposed the crime, Avrich’s film includes many voices you might not expect to hear, in addition to Freedman’s: Pei-Shen Qian, the Chinese math professor and artist who made the fake paintings; José Carlos Bergantiños Diaz, who is accused of helping to make the works appear older than they were; and several wealthy collectors and art experts who were hoodwinked. It’s a story full of colorful characters – and colorful paintings that, despite being phony, look pretty darn good. Until that other movie, which Avrich will co-produce, comes out, this one will more than suffice. Unrated. Available on Netflix. Contains brief strong language. 89 minutes. – Michael O’Sullivan

Brittany S. Hall, left, and Will Brill in “Test Pattern.” (KINO LORBER)

Writer-director Shatara Michelle Ford makes a promising debut with “Test Pattern,” a delicate character study about a woman navigating a tangle of obstacles and contradictions in the wake of a sexual assault. Brittany S. Hall (“Ballers”) delivers a magnetic central performance as Renesha, a development executive who meets an endearing tattoo artist named Evan (Will Brill) during a raucous girls’ night out. In a series of brief but well-judged epigrammatic scenes, Ford traces Renesha and Evan’s burgeoning relationship, which reaches a crucial pivot point when Renesha and her bestie Amber (a terrific Gail Bean) zip out for a cocktail or two. What ensues recalls Michaela Coel’s devastatingly effective series “I May Destroy You,” as channeled through Ford’s distinctive cinematic language, which favors intuitive, nonlinear storytelling and plenty of space for the viewer’s own interpretation – especially when it comes to the race, gender and class dynamics that inform nearly every unspoken moment. The film is just as subtle when it comes to the story’s setting in Austin: “Test Pattern” doesn’t give its characters hipster cred as much as it provides a whiff of the city’s culinary and cultural scene.

SEE STREAM, PAGE E7

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

DVD

“Girls Rule Collection”: Collection features the high school coming-of-age classics CONTINUED FROM PAGE E6 “Mean Girls,” “Clueless” and “Scare Me”: Friends en “She’s the Man.” route to a music festival swap “She’s the Man”: 2006 horror stories until they realtake on Shakespeare’s ize they’re in one themselves. “Twelfth Night” stars Amanda Bynes as a high school Stars DeMarr Wright, Taylor student posing as her twin Kilgore and Mark Justice.

Classical

pianist is also known as host of the popular program Revolutions Per Minutes on KALW CONTINUED FROM PAGE E3 in San Francisco. This recital, Kate Lindsey and the pianist presented by the Community Baptiste Trotignon with caba- School of Music and Arts in ret-like cool; Lindsey brings to Mountain View, California, is a these works both the radiant celebration of the 19th Amendment, and includes works by lyricism of Teresa Stratas and the raw Sprechstimme of Lotte female composers from the 18th century to the present day, Lenya, two iconic Weill interpreters. That album is the basis among them Clara Schumann, for this recital with Trotignon Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds at the Teatro alla Scala in and Vitezslava Kapralova. Milan, where Lindsey will also – Anthony Tommasini appear in March for a double Dashon Burton bill of Weill’s “The Seven March 21 at 3 p.m.; car Deadly Sins” and “Mahagonny-Songspiel,” conducted by amoor.org; available until Riccardo Chailly and streamMarch 23. ing on RaiPlay on March 18. Known as a member of the – Joshua Barone contemporary vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth as much as Mitsuko Uchida for trumpeting performances March 18 at 10 p.m.; cal in Handel’s “Messiah,” this performances.org; available burnished-tone bass-baritone through June 16. appears in recital with the For Mitsuko Uchida, pianist David Fung under the Schubert’s piano works auspices of Caramoor. The have been a lifelong work in program includes Schumann’s progress, which is why, years “Dichterliebe” as well as spirituals and works by Dowland, after she recorded the bulk of them, they are still well worth Margaret Bonds, Florence hearing anew – lately, in online Price and William Bolcom. – Zachary Woolfe recitals. From Wigmore Hall in London she recently streamed Louisville Orchestra the Sonata in C (D. 840) for March 27 at 7:30 p.m.; louis the Cleveland Orchestra. villeorchestra.vhx.tv; available Next is this program for Cal until May 23. Performances, featuring the The exuberance of this forlorn yet tender Impromptu ensemble and its young music in A flat (D. 935); the famous director, Teddy Abrams, is capImpromptu in C minor (D. 899), with its spare, enigmatic tured in its name for its streaming series: Louisville Orchestra opening march embellished through chords and variations; Virtual Edition, or LOVE. and the Sonata in G (D. 894), a Installments explore classical font of serenity that’s as good a and folk styles, and, on March spiritual balm as anything right 27, the legacy of Black traditions. Abrams conducts from now. – Joshua Barone the keyboard in Ravel’s jazz-influenced Piano Concerto in G, Sarah Cahill and the local rapper, activist, March 20 at 10:30 p.m.; You- teacher and Louisville Metro Tube; available indefinitely. Council member Jecorey ArA champion of American mu- thur performs. sic and living composers, this – Zachary Woolfe

WEEKEND

brother. Out on Blu-ray for the first time in celebration of its 15th anniversary. “Cheer! Rally! Kill! 5-Film Collection”: Collection of films starring favorite high school crowd ralliers, including “The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders,” “Identity Theft of a Cheerleader,” “The

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 | E7

Wrong Cheerleader,” “The Cheerleader Escort” and “Undercover Cheerleader.”

Warren. “Sophie Jones”: A teenage girl (Jessica Barr) struggles to deal with the death of her Out on Digital HD mother. “400 Bullets”: Soldiers in “Vanguard”: A dangerous Afghanistan face both the Tal- mercenary group seeks to kill iban and agents who’ve gone an accountant. Stars Jackie rogue. Stars Jean-Paul Ly, Chan, Yang Yang and Lun Ai. Andrew Lee Potts and James In Mandarin and English.

Stream CONTINUED FROM PAGE E6

This is an assured arrival on the part of a filmmaker with the confidence to leave some blanks unfilled. Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi. com, virtualavalon.org and sunscinema.com. Contains drinking, drug use, sexual situations and mature themes. 82 minutes. – Ann Hornaday Also streaming Inspired by a nonfiction book about the Canadian mob, the fictionalized “Mafia Inc” concerns a Montreal Mafioso (Sergio Castellitto) who attempts to legitimize his operation by investing in a bridge project connecting Sicily with southern Italy. According to the New York Times, the film hews closely to the tropes of other mobster movies, but “the cruelty and ingenuity of the violence are what most distinguish ‘Mafia Inc,’ which can be tough to watch even for this genre.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. In English, French and Italian with subtitles. 143 minutes.

A scene from the film “My Darling Supermarket.” (CINEMA TROPICAL)

The Chinese drama “A First Farewell” centers on the lives of three Uighur children living in a village in northwestern China. Variety calls the first film by Chinese writer-director Wang Lina an “outstanding debut feature.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. In Uighur and Mandarin with subtitles. 86 minutes. The music documentary “Everything – The Real Thing Story” follows the career of the Brit-soul band the Real

Guy-Yanis Kodjo, right, and Gabriel-David Pop in “Un Film Dramatique.” (CINEMA GUILD)

Thing, a Liverpool pop group dubbed the Black Beatles. The Guardian calls it a “solid, efficient” documentary tribute. Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. 93 minutes. “My Darling Supermarket” takes a documentary look at the employees of a bright, colorful Brazilian supermercado in São Paulo. Slant magazine says the film, which is closer to a “reverie” than cinema verite, “humanizes an often-invisible workforce.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. In Portuguese with subtitles. 80 minutes. Middle school students with cameras in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis – the poorest neighborhood in mainland France – are both the subjects and collaborating filmmakers in Eric Baudelaire’s documentary “Un Film Dramatique.” The Guardian calls the project, which followed the children over four years, “worthwhile, inspiring.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. In French with subtitles. 114 minutes.

WEEKEND

E8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

MOVIES REVIEW

Chasing the mouse of nostalgia ‘Tom & Jerry’ gets feature-length expansion Jason Bailey

New York Times

Affectionate nostalgia can attach itself to the most inexplicable and undeserving of recipients, which is about the only explanation for the existence of “Tom & Jerry,” a new feature-length expansion of the cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s (and endless television rebroadcasts thereafter). Those were simple, slapstick cat-andmouse chase comedies; here, the characters are uneasily blended, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”-style, into a live-action New York City, where a quick-thinking hustler (Chloë Grace Moretz) bluffs her way into a job at a swank hotel in the midst of preparations for a high-society wedding.

Tom and Jerry are also guests at the property, albeit uninvited ones. Shenanigans ensue. Director Tim Story (of “Barbershop” and the execrable 2019 “Shaft” reboot) and screenwriter Kevin Costello reimagine Tom as a shades-wearing street musician, throw in jokes referencing Drake, T.I. and TikTok, and fill the soundtrack with classic hip-hop. It’s all flop sweat, a sad, desperate attempt to make Tom and Jerry the one thing they never were: cool. They also weren’t crass, which creates some tension with the demands of a contemporary “family” comedy; the picture’s low point finds an animated bulldog squatting and defecating in

‘TOM & JERRY: THE MOVIE’ Rated: PG Running time: 101 min. Playing at: In select theaters and on HBO Max

the middle of a crosswalk, prompting co-star Michael Peña (poor, poor Michael Peña) to shriek, “How many burritos did you eat?” The de rigueur slapstick scenes for the title characters don’t even play, as the integration of animation and live action is so clunky that it feels like we’re watching special effects demonstrations rather than gags. Some of the performances are enjoyable. Moretz is charmingly game, Peña is funny because Peña is always funny and Rob Delaney has

Jerry the mouse, left, and Tom the cat in a scene from the live-action animated film “Tom & Jerry.” (WARNER BROS. PICTURES VIA AP)

The laughs they generate have little to do with Tom or Jerry; they’re borne of the personas and charisma of the cast. fun with his role as the hotel’s fussy manager. But the laughs they generate have little to do with Tom or Jerry; they’re borne of the personas and charisma of the cast. There is some value to “Tom & Jerry,” though, in that

it lays bare the unacknowledged truth at the center of the entertainment industry’s undying fealty to existing intellectual property. Put simply: Just because it was on television when you were a kid, doesn’t mean it was good.

TABLE 3 RESTAURANT GROUP

Dine in, Take out, and Save! BOGO FREE Entrée

Family Style Take-Out Meals

$10 off $50 Take-out

Wed & Thurs at The Duck & Avellino*

Every day at The Duck & Avellino call to order, visit website for menu

Every day online at The Duck, Avellino, & Cedar Street Grille use code SAVE10

20% off Take-out Wed and Sun online at Cedar Street Grille use code 20OFFSW

*Dine in only, through 4.30.21. Discount offers are not valid on holidays including Easter.

$2 off Small Plates Wed and Sun at Cedar Street Grille*

Offers cannot be combined. Customer responsible for applicable sales tax.

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 | E9

DINE & WINE

Higher menu prices in the offing

HEN THE DAY arrives for restaurant operations to return to “normal” — whatever that will look like — one thing is almost certain: Those dining out will find themselves facing higher menu prices. The many food production and distribution bottlenecks the pandemic has created have already driven up wholesale and retail food prices, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture reporting that food prices increased 3.5% last year, almost double the 20-year average rate. Minimum wage legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress will likely have a substantial impact on restaurant labor costs, especially for those operations that rely on “tip credit” provisions to set wage rates for tipped employees. Now another cost increase is on the horizon as credit card companies and processors are preparing to increase “swipe costs,” the charges they levy on restaurants and retailers when customers pay with debit or credit cards. More formally known as interchange fees, these fees are set by the major credit card networks and typically run about 2% of the total purchase charged. Though neither Visa nor MasterCard have provided specifics about the changes in their fees they plan to make, restaurants and retailers will have to recover the cost of the increases that do occur. To do so those merchants will inevitably need to increase the prices we all pay, whether we use plastic or cash when doing so.

and fried shrimp. A “SCAM” plate brings together clam strips and dry-pack scallops along with the customary sides of french fries and coleslaw. A fish and chips option is available, and Hanna’s Fishermen’s Platter delivers a bit of every sort of seafood in stock. Hanna Devine’s is open Wednesday through Sunday 4 to 9 p.m. and also serves breakfast on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. on. The telephone number is 413-2770707. • Another of the region’s

Hanna Devine’s Restaurant in Ware has brought back a popular independently owned restaumenu of “Fried Fish Favorites,” making them available on Frirants has elected to take the days, Saturdays, and Sundays during Lent. (DON TREEGER /

winter off. The Lone Wolf in Amherst,

THE REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO)

icated menu for curbside pickup and delivery on its website, paulandelizabeths. com. The restaurant answers at 413-584-4832.

• For those households where beef is king, Sturbridge Porterhouse in Sturbridge has created a menu of curbside carryout that is sure to satisfy. Its takeout-only “Family Meals” include options such as steak tips prepared in three different formats as well as a Family Prime Rib package and a Bone Marrow Porterhouse for two. SEE MENU, PAGE E11

New England TRAVELER CAPE COD ACROSS FROM THE BEACH - THE VILLAGE GREEN. Rates from $60 - $85 to 5/30/21 (excluding holidays, some restrictions apply). 3 Night Special off season starting from $145 all week. Ocean views and efficiencies available. FREE continental breakfast in season. All rooms have refrigerators and cable TV. Heated outdoor pool. Take children to the beachside playground. Close to several golf courses, tennis courts, whale watch cruises, ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, restaurants, shops, bike trails and many more of the Cape’s unique attractions. 10% Senior Discount. South Shore Drive, South Yarmouth, MA 02664. 1-800-487-4903. www.vgreenmotel.com.

TO ADVERTISE HERE CALL 413-788-1165

3147742-02

3135607-01

• Taco Bell is about to make an exploratory foray into the “chicken sandwich wars” as it tests a Fried Chicken Sandwich Taco in selected Hugh Robert markets. Off The Menu The sandwich item as currently constituted features onion, sliced cherry tomatoes, chicken strips marinated in Kalamata olives, and a drizzle jalapeno buttermilk, seasoned of olive oil. with a special spice blend, The cauliflower crust pizza and coated with tortilla chips is available for dine in, pickup, crumbs. The “bun” is a puffy or local delivery. Contact bread shaped like a taco shell; Leone’s at 413-783-4363 for a creamy chipotle sauce finishes the item. more details. A spicy version of the Fried Chicken Sandwich Taco • Paul & Elizabeth’s Restaurant in Northampton comes garnished with slices of jalapeno. has teamed up with Berkshore, a Northampton-based No timetable for a chainseafood wholesaler, to make wide rollout of the Fried available a menu of Lenten Chicken Sandwich Taco has seafood meals. been announced. Berkshore is supplying the Side dishes kitchen at Paul & Elizabeth’s • Hanna Devine’s Restaurant in Ware has brought back • Leone’s Restaurant in with Faroe Island salmon, Springfield is now offering a a popular menu of “Fried sea scallops, cod, flounder, cauliflower crust pizza special. swordfish and more. For its Fish Favorites,” making them It’s made with a gluten-free, part, that kitchen transforms available on Fridays, Saturlow carb cauliflower crust what Berkshore supplies with days, and Sundays during and is topped with mozzarel- skilled preparation techniques Lent. la and grilled chicken, then Selections include whole and a host of flavorings. garnished with arugula, red belly clams, fried scallops, The restaurant has a ded-

a popular breakfast-and-lunch operation run by Chef Rob Watson, plans to reopen on or about April 1, when the weather is likely to be more outdoor-dining friendly. The restaurant’s web address is lonewolfamherst.com.

E10 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

WEEKEND

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

DINE & WINE

World-renowned wine writer discusses beauty of wine

OME WRITERS DEscribe the beauty and poetry of wine, the way the flavors and aromas dance on our tongues and stimulate all our senses, sometimes with just a single sip. Other wine writers explain the more technical aspects, from the weather and when the grapes were picked for a particular vintage to how the wine was blended or aged in the cellar. Then there’s Hugh Johnson. For more than half a century, the 81-year-old British wine writer has eloquently combined the best of both worlds. In countless award-winning books, magazine and newspaper articles, he has captured the magic and wonder of different wines and wine regions. He’s also helped raise the technical level of sophistication when it comes to wine writing. If you have ever tasted or even heard of a particular wine or wine region, Johnson has almost certainly been there, tasted the wine and written all about it. “You never stop learning,” Johnson said during a recent phone interview. Recently, a new edition of Johnson’s book, “The Story of Wine,” was published by the Academie Du Vin Library. The publishing house approached Johnson about reprinting his highly entertaining 1989 book about the history of wine “from Noah to now” as stated on the cover. The book was also the source for a 13-part television series about wine starring Johnson on BBC 4 in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States in 1989. For the recent reprint of “The Story of Wine,” Johnson wrote a new introduction. “Everything has changed since then so I cover briefly what has changed and sort of set down my point of view,” Johnson said. “I’m a happy

in the ’60s and ’70s. If you asked, what are the grapes in Chateau Lafite, they’d just say there’s cabernet and merlot. If you asked how much, they would say it depends on the vintage. They wouldn’t have the exact, expert knowledge they have now.” Then again, Johnson’s not entirely sure if that’s a great thing. While he appreciates the increased emphasis on the technical aspects of winemaking, he thinks something has been lost over the years as well. “I think there was more enjoyment when there was less technicality,” Johnson said. “It’s so easy for people to become geeks or nerds these days and to become boring frankly. The old-fashioned wine bore was somebody who told you what a great bottle For more than half a century, wine writer Hugh Johnson has explored both the technical and they had last weekend. The more poetic sides of wine. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ACADEMIE DU VIN LIBRARY) modern wine bore is a high tech wine bore.” But one thing Johnson will not complain about is the overall improvement in the quality of wine since he first started writing about wine in the 1960s. HUGH JOHNSON “It is infinitely better,” he as a copy writer for Vogue and ning,” Johnson said. “I just said. “First of all, because of got my timing right. It’s all a House & Garden magazines the technical knowledge – the matter of timing, isn’t it?” in 1960. That same year, he scientific knowledge, the At the time, knowledge wrote his first wine column, analytical knowledge, the Ken Ross an article about what wines to about wine was quite limited weapons at the winemaker’s Wine Press drink with turkey for the 1960 compared to today. disposal. When I came into it, “Nobody in those days was Christmas issue of Vogue refrigeration and cooling of man to see it out there.” quite as interested (in wine) as fermentation was a new idea magazine. As for the story of Hugh Two years later, he become they are now,” Johnson said. and not everyone believed in Johnson, his interest in wine “It was one of the elegant ex- it, not everyone could afford editor of Wine & Food magazine and The Sunday Times tras of life. Rather more than it. That kind of thing brought can be traced back even in London’s wine writer. Then that, we loved it as we all do. further. on an immense improvement in 1966, Johnson wrote his “Nobody had much tech“I came into wine graduin wine, which we’re the beneally,” he said. “I drank wine nical knowledge,” Johnson ficiaries.” first wine book, simply titled with my father, but it wasn’t added, “not even in the wine So what advice does “Wine.” great wine. The claret, the trade. You’d be amazed how Johnson have for anyone “I really wanted to write Bordeaux he always drank interested in learning more the book that I couldn’t find,” ignorant people in the wine was a regular house wine ... trade used to be. about wine without becoming Johnson said, “which was a It was a wonderful, regular “They knew nothing,” he a bore? Trust your taste and book about enjoyment, the wine. It was something to continued. “You’d be absosimply taste different wines lovely places wine comes be enjoyed. I think that’s so side by side. from, something untechnical, lutely amazed. They were “I think for somebody who’s important.” not too much history, an easy good salesmen, but they Johnson’s interest in wine to read book and I was aston- couldn’t answer any technical really starting off, they have to ished by how well it went.” get used to the fact that comquestions because nobody grew while he was a student The book won the James asked any technical questions. parison is how you get into it,” at King’s College in Cambridge, England. Soon after Beard award and became I can tell you that the first time Johnson said. “You have one he graduated with a degree in Johnson’s first bestseller. anyone started even to really glass of wine, you say, I quite English literature, he got a job “It was huge in the begintalk about grape varieties was SEE WINE, PAGE E12

“I think there was more enjoyment when there was less technicality.”

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 | E11

DINE & WINE

Tree House Brewing aids new brew foundation

S A RULE, I DON’T like surprises. I am referring here to things like surprise parties or any sort of public celebration that catches one unawares. I also tend to cringe at practical jokes that are sprung on people, and therefore loathe April Fool’s Day each year. But I do delight when something positive surprises me when I was looking mainly for general information on a topic. That’s what happened as I was researching for this week’s beer column, which despite the happy unexpected nugget I found, is still mainly about the Michael James Jackson Foundation. This foundation is a

But more on the foundation below. What I discovered while researching the topic was that Massachusetts’ own Tree House Brewing recently donated $40,000 to the foundation. It always puts a smile on my face when local beer makers (and since they started off in Western Massachusetts, I still consider George Lenker them local) do a selfless good Beer Nut turn for others. Kudos to Tree House for their generosity and support of a great grant-making organization that funds scholarship awards cause. The foundation is named, to Black and indigenous folks and people of color within the of course, after the dean of all brewing and distilling trades. beer writers, the late, great Michael Jackson. With more It kicked off in November of last year and is chaired by the than 3 million copies sold of his numerous books on beer great Garrett Oliver, founder and whiskey, he is regarded of Brooklyn Brewery.

dier Toubia, says the process can be tweaked to vary the product’s cooking and eating characteristics. Aleph Farms hopes to have FDA approval to sell the product in the U.S. sometime next year.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE E9

Supplementing those beefy inspirations are two additional options – chicken bacon mac & cheese, and rigatoni with vodka sauce. Family meals at Sturbridge Porterhouse include either a salad or a quart of soup. For starters the menu suggests extra-cost orders of classic shrimp cocktail, chicken wings, fried Brussels sprouts, or crab cakes. The Family Meal menu is available Monday through Thursday evenings from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. More details can be had by going to sturbridge-porterhouse. com or by dialing 508-3472700. • An Israeli biotech company, Aleph Farms, has produced the first bio-printed beef rib eye. To make the steak the firm grows bovine muscle cells in a lab setting, then uses “3-D printing” technology to assemble those cells into the shape and structure of beef rib muscle. The company’s founder, Di-

• Several chains with local outlets have announced limited-time rollouts of seafood items for Lent. One of those brands is Boston Market, which is adding a Baked Cod Individual Meal and a Cod Sandwich to its menu every Friday through April 2. Participating Arby’s locations are offering a Crispy Fish Sandwich through March 29. The sandwich is available in two forms — one garnished with shredded lettuce and served on a toasted sesame seed bun and a second, the King’s Hawaiian Fish Deluxe, which is additionally garnished with sliced tomato and cheddar cheese and served on a King’s Hawaiian bun. • Some good news on the pandemic front is always welcome, and a statement posted last week on the Food and Drug Administration’s website offers restaurant operators and customers alike

as not only the preeminent beer scribe, but also a prime force in the surge of craft brewing in the U.S. and elsewhere. Long before humble beer scribblers like myself took to writing about our favorite adult beverage, Jackson had been to beer writing akin to what J.S. Bach was to classical music: He already had done almost everything, one way or another. And, as the Michael James Jackson Foundation puts it on its website: “While not a person of color himself, Michael can only be described as actively and profoundly anti-racist.” The foundation hopes to accomplish its goals in two ways: funding scholarship

awards to accredited brewing and distilling technical courses, and personalized mentorship of grantees by industry leaders. The program is open both to candidates who are just starting their careers, as well as people who are looking to further their education. I am extremely glad that the brewing industry has one more tool for expanding its base to include people of color. The foundation should further help the similar goals of the Brewer Association’s Diversity Committee, which started in 2017 and which has taken proactive steps to advance diversity and inclusivity among brewers and beer lovers. Cheers to all.

where they could do massive damage to commercial fisheries, is leading the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to turn to a new control strategy – promoting Asian carp as a trendy new menu item. Already used as bait, fertilizer, and a component in dog food, the fish is about to be rebranded for human consumption. A marketing campaign with the tagline “The Perfect Leone’s Restaurant, 320 Cooley St. Springfield, is now offering Catch” will promote Asian carp as a healthy and sustaina gluten free cauliflower crust pizza special. (DON TREEGER / THE able protein source. This July, REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO) at the Boston Seafood Show, the fish will be introduced to assurance that COVID-19 likelihood of contracting wholesalers and retailers with does not appear to be transCOVID-19 from consuming mitted through food or food food or handling food packag- an entirely new name and ing is “extremely low.” packaging. identity. As reported in various Reputedly tasty and rich • Known for the way they food service industry mewith omega-3 fatty acids, dia outlets, the Food and leap from the water when the carp has one significant Drug Administration, along startled, the invasive Asian problem that may limit its with the U.S. Department of carp species that plague the attractiveness to restaurant Agriculture, has based this Mississippi River basin may chefs — it’s difficult to properconclusion on a review of the soon end up on restaurant and ly de-bone. best available scientific data fast food menus. Hugh Robert is a faculty worldwide. Their analysis Originally introduced to does not reveal any credible control algae blooms in catfish member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and epidemiological evidence of farms, the carp escaped into culinary arts program and has COVID-19 being transmitted the wild and have come to through food handling or dominate many river ecosys- nearly 45 years of restaurant tems in the Midwest. and educational experience. packaging. Concerns about Asian carp Robert can be reached online at The conclusion that the moving into the Great Lakes, OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com. FDA has reached is that the

WEEKEND

E12 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

DINE & WINE

Wine CONTINUED FROM PAGE E10

frigosfoods.com Order your sandwiches online for quick and easy service. 90 William Street, Springﬁeld • 732-5428 159 Shaker Rd, East Longmeadow • 525-9400

3147966-01

enjoyed that. You have two together, then you’re going to say, which of those do you like better? Then you got to think about it and you got to make up your mind … So many people will open a bottle of wine, pour it for their friends, say cheers and then drink it without actually tasting it. I always think that’s such a waste.” Another piece of advice for people interested in learning more about wine — read Johnson’s books. One of his best ones is “The World Atlas of Wine,” the landmark 1971 book about every major wine region in the world, which also featured detailed maps of each wine region. Since then, he’s written many more books, but he might be best known for his annual pocket wine book, which has sold millions of copies since this information-packed wine guide was first published in 1977. The 2022 pocket wine book will be the last one Johnson is personally involved with, he said. “I’m slowly giving that up,” Johnson said. “I’ve done it 44 times. When you see the next edition, you’ll see that I’m handing it off formally.” But that doesn’t mean Johnson is retiring from writing. “I don’t think a writer of my age retires,” Johnson said. “I’ll go on writing but a really big job like the pocket wine book, doing the same thing every year, I’ve just decided that I can put my time to better use doing newer things.” Currently, Johnson is finishing revising a new book about gardening, one of his other lifelong passions. “I’m constantly writing about gardening,” Johnson said. “I don’t think many people know that. I’ve been writing about gardening almost as long as I have been about wine, trees in particular.” As for wine, Johnson still enjoys learning about new and familiar ones. He remains a fan of classic

wine regions like Bordeaux and Champagne, including his personal favorite Champagne, Pol Roger, which Winston Churchill famously drank every day. “I still think the regions that started it all off have never been seriously overtaken,” he said, adding, “I’ve never varied far from the classics, I’m afraid. I think Bordeaux or red claret (as it’s called in England) to me is ground base. That’s the kind of red wine I like. I’m very old fashioned in that regard.” But Johnson remains open to learning more about new wine regions. When it comes to sparkling wine, for example, he’s a big fan of ones from England. “They’re quite good,” he said. “Some of them are better than mainstream Champagnes. There’s no doubt. They’re different sure, but a different spin on the same grape varieties and beautiful quality … I’ve got about 20 favorites already.” Introducing the public to less well-known wines and wine regions has been Johnson’s lifelong work and passion. “I was one of the first people to recognize that any wine is worthwhile from Chile, even from Australia, believe it or not,” Johnson said. “When I first went to Australia, nobody in Britain took the wine seriously at all. The same with California. I was one of those responsible for popularizing California wines in Britain.” “Introducing new continents to public consciousness has been a really exciting thing,” he added. “I was enthused about these wines. I kept saying, you must taste this, especially South African white wines for example. And that doesn’t mean they’ve taken the place of French wines in my regard. It simply means I think they’re really good and people should try them.” Excellent advice from one of the world’s most knowledgeable and passionate experts in wine. Cheers! Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s weekend section every Thursday.