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january INTERVIEWS Sarah Silverman’s Serious Side | 20 Pat Metheny Turns and Faces the Strange. Again | 22 Anita Shrager, Cuttalossa Autumn, 16 x 20, oil on canvas. Silverman Gallery.

MUSIC

ART 6 | EXHIBITIONS I Home for the Holidays at Silverman Art Gallery Paradox: Industrial Nature at Wexler Gallery Transerve at e-Moderne Gallerie

Charles Stonewall, Confluence. Williams Center Gallery., Lafayette College.

8 | EXHIBITIONS II Charles Stonewall: Paradox at Williams Center Gallery The End of Impressionism: Disruption; & Innovation in Art at James A. Michener Art Museum

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Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City Brandywine River Museum of Art

27 | POP 28 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Neil Young Blackie and the Rodeo Kings Duke Robillard Dale Watson Joan Armatrading

30 | JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Woody Shaw/Louis Hayes Lee Konitz/Kenny Wheeler Quartet Jane Ira Bloom Gary Smulyan Jane Monheit

33 | JAZZ LIBRARY Gerald Wilson

ABOUT LIFE 32 | How to Stay Calm in a Crisis

THEATER 10 | CITY 10 | VALLEY

Moonlight

FILM

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12 | Moonlight 14 | Miss Sloane 16 | FOREIGN Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

FOODIE FILE 34 | Savona’s Soul Just Got a Little Brighter 37 | HARPER’S FINDINGS HARPER’S INDEX 38 | L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD

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George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com

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26 | THE LIST

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18 | FILM ROUNDUP I, Daniel Blake Rogue One: A Star Wars Story The Salesman Silence Sully Deepwater Horizon A Man Called Ove Zero Days

Pat Metheny. Photo: Jimmy Katz.

Filling the hunger since 1992

Burton Wasserman

16 | DOCUMENTARY Rise of the Female Superheroes

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

5 | Night School

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ON THE COVER: Actress, comedienne Sarah Silverman. Interview on page 20.

scriptions are available for $40 (shipping & handling). ©2017 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

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ESSAY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

art

NIGHT SCHOOL

“THE INSTRUCTOR HAS A car problem and is going to be about 45 minutes late. Is that ok? Can you wait?” One of the women translated what I said to the others and they began talking to each other in Spanish. I held the phone against my shoulder. They went on for a while. “I need a decision here, ladies,” I said. They nodded. Yes, they would wait.

My first night as a volunteer/dishwasher/mule was off to an uneven start. When you are operating at the unvarnished end of the bell-curve there is nobody to call to take care of things that go wrong. You have to figure it out. The people in social services are used to seat-of-the-pants flight. Caseloads go up (they always do), government funding disappears (it did), and events go in bad directions. Think 2008. Think last November. You can no more predict the twists and turns of society than you can those in your own family.

This night I’m working the sink at a Fisherman’s Mark program that teaches food prep skills such as how to use a knife, basic cooking techniques, and safety. Participants are also taught about nutrition and they are required to learn kitchen terminology in both English and Spanish. It expands employment prospects, promotes healthier living, and encourages assimilation for a growing sector of families in our community. Like all the Fisherman’s Mark programs, it focuses on sustainable solutions to help people find their footing and keep them from relying on government agencies. The FM food bank distributes 135,000 pounds of food a year. They make sure people have clothes. They help with navigating government bureaucracy, finding a safe place to sleep, and even getting a shower if you need one. You don’t have to be indigent; you just have to need help.

The organization works smart. It became apparent that some elderly and infirm clients were feeding their pets instead

of themselves. People food is bad for pets, no food is bad for people, and everybody gets sick. So FM partnered with the Lambertville Animal Alliance to create a pet-food section in the food bank.

I volunteered because I needed to. After watching so many people around me blindly advocate self-interest over civility I had to physically do something that helps others. There are perks that come with giving your time. At one point during the class I was handed a pair of beater blades that had been used to make a dessert. Remember licking metal beaters? Sticking your tongue into where the blades meet the shaft and the biggest deposit of good stuff is? I was on it.

This class is bare bones and takes very little money to run. The Lambertville Station Restaurant donates a lot of the food. We met in a borrowed kitchen down the street. All of our utensils and tools—everything—had to be hauled from the FM office on a big cart, rumbling and clanging down the sidewalk. The stove is used for the Meals On Wheels program during the day and has needed repairs for weeks. It wasn’t up to the job this night so we had to go back to the office and grab the portable propane unit to finish the class.

Shelley, the instructor, conducted the lessons entirely in Spanish, except the part where participants need to understand English terms. I stood at the two-bay stainless sink being fed an endless stream of pots and tools to wash, unable to understand any of the conversation around me. Welcome to another pair of shoes. The class wrapped up with all of us eating a dessert at one of the chipped Formica-topped tables.

Our area is a great place to live, seemingly with none of the homeless, impaired, and unfortunate people you notice in other cities. The truth is, they are here as they are everywhere. What you see when you look around, or rather don’t see, is the result of work done by Fisherman’s Mark and other groups. The alternative is a lesser place with people living on the streets, getting ill, or cast adrift because they are unable to navigate this complex societal web we have created. Fisherman’s Mark is the hand that you would give a friend so she doesn’t go under. It’s how we keep things civilized.

The women all leave with plastic containers of cooked greens, a bonus from learning to cut vegetables. It’s ten o’clock. Shelley and I drag the tool cart back up the street to the office and say good night. The town is quiet as I drive home. Streetlights illuminate the clean sidewalks. A guy is walking his dog in front of the church. A woman talks with her friend while they look at the display in a brightly lit shop window. n

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EXHIBITIONS I

Jim Rodgers, Winter in the Country, 16 x 20, oil on board.

Home for the Holidays Silverman Gallery Buckingham Green Shopping Center On Route 202 (just south of New Hope), Holicong, PA 215-794-4300 silvermangallery.com Through January 29 The Silverman Gallery of Bucks County Impressionist Art is proud to welcome award-winning artist Glenn Harrington. Living and working in Pipersville, Harrington has painted for galleries and publications around the world for nearly 40 years. He has exhibited in NY, London, Tokyo and across the US. A solo exhibition of his newest work is being planned for this spring.

Through January, the gallery continues Home for the Holidays, a special group exhibition by all of the gallery’s artists. Winter is a favorite time of the year for Bucks County artists: farm houses, tall pine trees, red barns, quiet country roads, a wreath on a gate . . . are just a few of the ingredients that abound. The exhibit features snowy landscapes, such as Anita Shrager’s Rivertown Reflections and Jim Rodger’s newest, Winter in the Country. Then, shake off the snow and come inside to enjoy Jean Childs Buzgo’s luscious Holiday Bouquet.

Glenn Harrington, Darkhollow Barn 9 x 12, oil on linen/board in David Madary handcrafted frame.

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Francoise Lautier, Standing Flags in Yellow Wind. Acrylic and Mixed Media and Gold Leaf on Canvas

Sharon Sides, Flor Chair, 2015 Bronze, hand formed acid etched brass 28 3/8 X 23 5/8 X 37 3/8 inches

Paradox: Industrial Nature Wexler Gallery 211 No. 3rd Street, Philadelphia Tues-Sat 10-6 215-923-7030 wexlergallery.com Through January 28 Wexler Gallery is pleased to present Paradox: Industrial Nature, a group furniture exhibition exposing common threads linking natural and industrial elements in both form and medium to create elevated functional pieces of design.

Characteristics of natural elements and forms are revealed in various alloying metals by featured designers Sharon Sides, Gulla Jonsdottir and Philpp Aduatz.

Other works incorporate nature and industry directly within their composition, such as luxurious American Black Walnut and American Bronze side tables by artist and designer Alex Roskin. Artist Gregory Nangle celebrates the intimate impurities of the chemical and industrial mediums he uses to create enchanting fading mirrors with brutalist bronze and nickel bracketing, while also paying tribute to nature by fabricating intricate furniture pieces with flower and leaf laser-cuts into bronze, while Warren Muller uses organic and manmade found objects to create ethereal lighting fixtures.

There is a definitive homage to the beauty of our animate surroundings merged with the strength and timelessness of industrial resources.

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Transerve Asian Contemporary from Brazil to Tibet 116 Arch St., Philadelphia 267-928-2123 e-modernegallerie.com March 12 – April 23, 2016 Francoise Lautier was born in the 1960s. A Hong Kong-based artist, Françoise has exhibited her works in galleries throughout Asia. Francoise was a doctor of dental surgery, which she practiced in Paris. When she moved abroad with her husband, influenced by Asian culture, her hidden talent in art began to emerge. The passion for painting eventually took an important place in her life. Inspired by her travels in Burma, Laos, Thailand, Tibet, China, Bhutan and Indonesia, she promotes spirituality through colorful and vivid paintings. Her expression of Asian lifestyle takes shape in different forms, whether on canvas or ceramics. She combines various original media in her work such as papers, gold leaf or curry powder to strengthen the meanings of her art. Lautier’s paintings reflect the energy, the movement, the breath of the earth, plants, and beings. Contemplating the floating flags, feeling the wind, connects to the universe. Lautier’s devotion and energy are intricate through vibrant colors. Praying flags float in a wind blowing through the trees. Monks walk peacefully in luminous surroundings.

Other artists exhibiting are Dongze Huo and Valmy Rocha Morais.

Blending the sensibilities of the Eastern Traditional Paintings with the artistic approaches of the Western Abstract Contemporaries, the result is a unique blend of Modern Contemporary art with exceptional result explored by none. Transverse in the definition: Situated or lying across from one side to another. Our exhibition borrows the meaning to explain the core style of arts in the exhibition is not confined to a region of the world where the inspiration comes from or the origin of the artist and their work, but rather is a blending of both East & West.

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EXHIBITIONS II

The Freedom of Flight

Charles Stonewall: Paradox Williams Center Gallery, Lafayette College 317 Hamilton Street, Easton, PA Wednesday through Sunday, 12–5 p.m.

January 4–29 Reception January 13, 6–8 p.m.

Charles Demuth, End of the Parade, Coatesville, Pa., 1920

Photographer Charles Stonewall strives to inspire empathy for and identification with the disenfranchised in his current series, Paradox. “I was drawn to photography because of the need to provide a compelling voice, a necessary voice…[for] the immeasurable voices that are not yet being heard,” he says. The Easton native’s signature work ranges from social justice themes to the performing arts; he honed his craft photographing dance and theater productions while pursuing a BFA and an MFA in photography in Kansas City. Paradox combines this early experience with his passion for humanitarian issues, applying elements of photojournalism to images that juxtapose impoverishment and misfortune with the exhilaration and freedom of dance. A keen observer of the human drama—our hopes and despairs, our victories and defeats—Stonewall draws our attention to the significance of each captured moment, encouraging us to look closely and feel deeply.

Peter Paone, Ingres’ Mistress Collection of the artist.

The Death of Impressionism?

Disruption & Innovation in Art James A. Michener Art Museum 138 S. Pine Street, Doylestown, PA 18901 215-340-9800 michenerartmuseum.org Through February26 The Death of Impressionism? Disruption & Innovation in Art explores the significance of Impressionism in the Delaware Valley Region through juxtapositions of Impressionist paintings with more modernist works, or through examinations of transitional moments in specific artists’ careers—moments that transformed their practice as well as that of others around them. At its core is a close review of the rift between the old guard and the new guard in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and the broader ramifications of discord that have filtered through art production during the past eight decades. More broadly, The Death of Impressionism? Disruption & Innovation in Art provides visitors and scholars alike with a focused lens through which to view the stylistic transformations, changing patterns of taste, and cultural shifts as they pertain to the past century in American art.

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#1, ca. 2002. Mixed Media, 36 x 24.

Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City Brandywine River Museum of Art Route 1, Chadds Ford, PA 610-388-2700 Brandywine.org/museum Through January 22, 2017 An innovative view of avant-garde art from the 1920s through the 1940s, exploring the surprising contribution of artists working outside major urban centers in the expansion and acceptance of modernist styles. Modernism spread outward from New York, Boston, and Chicago to coastal New England, small-town Pennsylvania, Midwestern farms, and other rural regions. The exhibition features works by Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, and Grant Wood along with Ralston Crawford, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, N.C. Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth.

NC Wyeth, Drowning

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theater VALLEY

CITY

The Santaland Diaries. Jarrod Yuskauskas was wickedly canny and uncanny in David Sedaris’ wickedly funny solo show about his wickedly crazy time as a 33-year-old elf at Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan. Performing at Civic Theatre of Allentown, where he’s nailed such disparate musical characters as John Wilkes Booth and Gomez Addams, Yuskauskas nimbly delivered Sedaris’ bitchy satire, righteous indignation and devilish glee as he wandered through a surreal world of loony Santas, obnoxious kids and noxious parents dumb enough to think Cher is on the other side of the Magic Star.

His hands painted pictures, his eyes fired arrows, his mouth expertly imitated gruff Noo Yawkers and space-cadet Santaland lifers. Director Will Morris helped Yuskauskas turn the room into a comic steeplechase course, treat rare acts of decency with surprisingly gentle wonder, and express sublime lunacy in a segment where an increasingly tired elf seeks refuge in increasingly heavy smoking. They reminded me, for the first time in eons, of my two hellish, hilarious, pre-Christmas months in men’s sportswear at Bloomingdale’s, my only time in Retail Land.

Found. This PTC millennial song fest celebrates the story of Davy ( F. Michael Haynie) and his magazine of the same name that publishes random notes found in the city. With his roommates Mikey D. (Juwan Crawley) and Denise (Alysha Desloreieux), Davy’s gimmicky, substance-starved magazine soon lands him an interview on NPR. Success is assured when a beautiful Hollywood female producer, Becka (Erika Henningsen) offers to transform Found into a TV show. Davy flies to LA, leaving Mikey D. and wannabe girlfriend Denise in the dust, although his dreams of major celebrity crash when the Hollywood project fails and the affair with Becka ends. Davy then resurrects the magazine after a profound apology to Denise, whereupon everyone begins dancing and breaking out the Pabst. Found is based on the real life experiences of Davy Rothbart and his magazine of the same name and theme with music and lyrics by Eli Bolin.

The music is charming, although a few of the numbers don’t connect to the story at all.

Part After School Special, main stage Walnut Street Theater, and SNL skit, the enthusiasm of the cast is contagious and Crawley’s falsetto is arresting, even if many in the cast look like they could use six months at Planet Fitness.

Then Athena. Four very creative, very curious theatrical women played characters they made in Allentown Public Theatre’s new envelope-ripping, enveloping piece dealing with female power and empowerment. Performing at the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, they took turns as the Baroness, a Nazi spy Then Athena who challenged Wonder Woman in comic books, and returned several times as an Army squadron navigating a mine field in Afghanistan. They were equally effective while breaking down a heroic, tragic firefighter abandoned at birth and the bisexual wives of William Moulton Marston, who invented Wonder Woman, co-invented the polygraph test and loved bondage orgies. Samantha Beedle, a comic whose solo show includes cocktails, gave the Baroness a rippling nobility. Holly Cate, whose credits range from soap opera to Broadway, was hauntingly wounded as the firefighter’s birth mother. Louise Howard thundered as a major general and tickled as a Halloween wizard, showing the chops of a veteran of Bread & Puppet Theatre and Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding. Anna Russell, APT’s artistic director, portrayed Deborah Sampson Gannett, who fought in the Revolutionary War disguised as a man, with the poetic delicacy of Emily Dickinson. Troy Dwyer, director and co-creator, helped elevate the Baroness from caricature to character, kept an emotional Molotov cocktail from exploding, and shot shrapnel to the heart and other body parts.

The 1940’s Radio Hour. The Pennsylvania Playhouse closed its 50th season with a splendid staging of a wacky, snappy variety program in December 1942, Standout performers included Vanessa Ruggiero, who sang and danced up a storm as a co-star, and Brian Richichi, who made a bumbling wannabe star a winning blend of Lou Costello and Jackie Gleason. The ten band members exceled at everything from a half-rumba “Black Magic” to a full-tilt “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” The Island. Two black inmates in a South African prison debate injustice and justice while preparing and performing a scene from Sophocles’ Antigone, which pivots on the conflict between laws and rights. Athol Fugard shared a best-play Tony award with co-writers John Kani and Winston Ntshona, who shared the best-actor Tony (Allentown Public Theatre, Jan. 13-15, Ice House, Bethlehem).

The Explorers Club. A sanctuary for stuffy male scientists in Victorian London is ruffled by a smart, sassy female anthropologist who brings her latest discovery: a lost tribesman who dodges authorities by becoming a pretty decent bartender (Jan. 17-Feb. 12, Pennsylvania Playhouse) n — geoff gehmAn 10

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Black Nativity. New Freedom Theatre kicked off its 50th anniversary with this colorful, drum enhanced production. The traditional epic of Mary (Leedea Harrison) and Joseph (Jordan Dobson) and the manger in Bethlehem included classic Christmas songs mixed with African drumming and dancing. The dazzling effect and brilliant costumes electrified an old story. Under the direction of Freedom’s new artistic director, Rajendra Ramon Maharaj, Black Nativity also blended the story of another Mary (Lauren Morgan) and Joseph (James Pitts, Jr.) from Africa’s war torn (and atrocity ridden) Darfur area. While Mary and Joseph #1 escape Herod’s hunt for Jewish first-born sons, Darfur’s (pregnant) Mary contemplates suicide after presuming Joseph has been killed.

“There is no God in Darfur!” she laments, as soldiers rape and murder local villagers.

The parallel stories merge gracefully when Darfur Mary looks into the eyes of the Bethlehem babe, after which Joseph returns and Mary gives birth to a son. While the melding of the two stories has some clumsy moments, by the end of the musical the juxtaposition is at perfect pitch.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers. The Walnut Street Theater takes us back to 1969 with Neil Simon’s seminal hit about a 47-year-old married Manhattan fish restaurateur who wants his share of the 1960s sexual revolution despite the fact that he has to use his mother’s studio apartment for his assignations. Can this Mamma’s boy get any satisfaction? (January 10-February 5).

Constellations. It’s boy meets girl again at The Wilma as Director Tea Alagic brings us the convoluted love story of physicist Marianne and beekeeper Roland whose relationship falls into the vagaries of quantum physics or a universe filled with more questions than answers and too many maybes. This three-hour, 15-minute drama has two ten-minute intermissions, so buckle down. Jake Gyllenhaal of Brokeback Mountain fame and Ruth Wilson played the Constellations lovers to great acclaim on the offBroadway stage. If you can get over an aversion to physics, bee stings, and millennial angst, then Constellations might be a good antidote to winter. (January 11-February 5)

John. The season of the long plays continues with the Arden Theatre Company’s three-hour and 30-minute story of Brooklynites, Elias and Jenny, a feuding married couple (Jenny once had an affair) who visit a Gettysburg B&B and get talking with a blind woman who has otherworldly perceptions. Slate describes John as an “examination of the murkiness of human relationships.” When the play first ran at New York’s Barrow Street Theatre, large numbers of subscribers walked out because of the protracted silences onstage. John has since been reconfigured. n — thom nickels

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PETE CROATTO

film

Moonlight

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S I WRITE THIS in mid-December, best-of-the-year and awards season— ready or not, the Oscars air February 26—has begun. So the recurring presence of Moonlight, a small, arty film that features nary a star, is mysterious. But only if you haven’t watched it.

Moonlight is about a lost soul searching for a haven. What makes it remarkable is that director-writer Barry Jenkins proceeds with honesty and no guile. That the story features African-Americans is irrelevant. Moonlight hits on a universal level—it’s about how the real “us” emerges. If you’re not there yet, Moonlight inspires by providing a flicker of hope that you will be redeemed. It washes over you, like the ocean waves that soothe the lead character, whom we follow through some 20 years—from troubled boy to bullied teen to fractured adult.

Jenkins’ masterpiece has three acts, starting with the protagonist as a boy living in glamour-free Miami. The first time we see Chiron (Alex Hibbert), it’s a flash. Juan (Mahershala Ali), the charismatic local drug dealer, parks his ride and talks to one of his employees. As he walks back, Chiron runs by him. It isn’t until Juan finds the boy in a drug den, hiding from bullies, that we realize who we need to follow. Jenkins sets the tone early: we have to figure things out just like the main character.

Juan takes a shine to Chiron, who is quiet and inward. The words come out like drops from an icicle, hard and slow. What is there to say? The boy’s home life is a wreck.

Mom (Naomie Harris) has a crippling crack addiction. Juan provides a patient, steadying influence. He urges Chiron to find his own identity; he offers kindness without an agenda. The hard truth has to come, and it does in a dazzling scene, where Juan and Chiron’s sky-high mother argue in his office, a buzzing neighborhood street. These are two people 12

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sealed to their fates. Chiron, a sensitive boy in a land full of puffed-up gangster swagger, twists in the wind.

He becomes a gangly teen (Ashton Sanders), a stick figure in Goodwill clothes, an invitation for every bully’s insecure rage. The story looks familiar; Jenkins keeps going his own way. The camera never resides in the same spot in any two scenes. Like Chiron, we cannot find our footing. Sometimes the sound fades away. Sometimes shots are bathed in harsh neon. There’s nothing static here, adding to the film’s unease. We know this journey, because we have felt this way. Take the moment when Chiron and his one friend, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), drawn together by loneliness, talk on the beach. The scene is acted with restraint and tenderness, and Jenkins presents it with a little light, so their nighttime talk has a dream-like intimacy. It feels ripped from our memories. We’ve had this conversation, the one where we felt everything change right then. We could either give in or maintain the façade.

Moonlight is, to mangle a great phrase from Tennessee Williams, a memory film. You may not recall every detail from your past, but you know how you felt. Jenkins is remarkably in sync with that notion, so we bond with Chiron, who emerges in the final stretch as an adult (played by Trevante Rhodes) teeming with metaphorical armor—from the thumping music playing in his car to his frightening ab muscles. He’s hardened out of necessity. To a certain extent, we all are. We yearn to find a reason to let down our guard.

Moonlight is a welcome antithesis to right now, where every philosophy and news event is screamed and drenched in absolutes. Instead, Jenkins soothingly and dreamily describes how we joust the epic nature of our identity. He turns the human experience into something both titanic and intimate. His movie seeps into our soul, convincing us that we are all stars. [R] n

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MARK KERESMAN

film

A AS THE TITULAR CHARACTER, Jessica Chastain gave a frequently riveting, if a bit over-the-top, performance as a Washington DC lobbyist/power broker with a win-at-anycost worldview.

However, as a movie, Miss Sloane is an overlong, overbaked, not-exactly-novel lesson in DC corruption, a duplicitous cesspool of self-interest.

Chastain is Elizabeth Sloane, an obsessive, pill-popping, master-planner workaholic who’s never at a loss for a quotable quip and more than willing to use people for her ends. She’s a lobbyist, a mastermind at getting Capitol Hill politicians to vote this way or that on bills that affect to varying extents the entire USA. For reasons unclear—like a guy named Snowden, she grows a “conscience” …or does she? She leaves the consulting firm for which she works to work for a firm that’s working with the gun control lobby.

She is so busy and mega-focused that she employs a playfor-pay boy-toy, the escort Forde (Jake Lacy), to attend to

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Miss Sloane her sexual needs. My Inner Guy chortled, “Yeah, right, women as good looking as Chastain need to pay for it.” To the surprise of no one over the age of 25, Forde acts as the male counterpart of The Hooker With a Heart of Gold.

Sloane’s former firm toils to defeat the gun control lobbyists and derail her, including getting her (via “reaching out” to a morally malleable Congressman played to perfection by John Lithgow) before a Congressional subcommittee about her—wait for it—ethics, which is a sixletter word often spoken but few seem to have a solid idea of what it looks or feels like. (I’m reminded of a Hunter S. Thompson line, writing as his alter ego Raoul Duke, Master of Weaponry: “I never knew a journalist that could even utter the word ‘corruption’ without pissing in his pants from pure guilt.”) Sloane goes about her job with such icy Machiavellian precision that Don Corleone would not only be impressed, but tell her, “Liz, you need to mellow out a bit.”

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Chastain’s performance is one at which one can marvel—the rest of the film makes you long for the easygoing, homespun Andy Griffith-isms of Aaron Sorkin. Miss Sloane often seems like an episode of Scandal or West Wing on not only steroids, but on a bit of that seething concoction that Dr. Jekyll gulped to become Mr. Hyde. It exposes—yes, more of my telltale, patent-pending sarcasm—that those drones on Capitol Hill are not acting for their constituents but are rather in the pockets of corporate pimps. Further, it veers away from being a very talky political character study into Mission: Impossible technothriller territory.

This movie is recommended primarily for Chastian’s performance and to people who watch West Wing TV marathons.

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mArk keresmAn

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (1998)

Rise of the Female Superheroes (2016)

LIKE HIM OR NOT, Quentin Tarantino is a very influential filmmaker. He’s taken inspiration from many B-pictures, exploitation films, imported action films, and nonmainstream genres and channeled them into his own volatile, mostly entertaining, sometimes excessive style. German import Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door is, depending on one’s viewpoint, a loving tribute to or inspired rip-off of QT’s stylishness.

Two young-ish fellows, macho Martin (Til Schweiger, German star and director and supporting player in QT’s Inglorious Basterds) and sensitive fellow Rudi (Jan Josef Liefers), visit a hospital and both are told their time in this veil of tears is limited: Martin has a brain tumor; Rudi, late-stage bone cancer. They meet and bond, and decide to do some bucket list-type stuff. They steal a car and go for a joyride—finding a gun in the car, they go on a robbery spree, figuring if they are caught, they’re as good as dead anyway, so what have they got to lose? The rub: The car, with metal attaché case filled with lots of cash, was in the care of two gangsters, and their lives are forfeit if they don’t get it back.

The gangsters—one sardonic, one a bit of a simpleton, are dressed in the style of the heist team of QT’s Reservoir Dogs—dark shades, white shirts, black ties, and black suits. A brothel is called True Romance, also the title of a movie scripted (but not directed) by QT. One of the gangsters adopts the stance of Mr. Write in Dogs for some gunplay. Oh, gunplay—there’s a LOT of it, but unlike QT’s movies, no one seems to get killed. Our mismatched, terminally ill neo-felons rob with glee but do not shoot anyone. This is a concise, fast-paced movie with bits of droll humor here and there, mostly via some perpetually perplexed and irritable policemen. (Gosh, never saw that in a movie before.) The soundtrack is loaded with crackling, old-school rock & roll in both German and English.

A homage? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Whatever—what matters is that Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door is rather entertaining as a darkly humorous, slightly raunchy shoot-‘em-up affair, so much so that A Seasoned Viewer half-expects an appearance by Christopher Walken. Walken doesn’t show, but Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Hitcher, Ladyhawke) does. Irreverent fun from Deutschland. (not rated) n

AS ANYONE NOT LIVING under a mushroom knows, after many years of Hollywood getting it so very, very wrong, movie and TV viewers now have a choice of films and shows about the phenomenon of super-heroes. Yes, people putting on ill-fitting costumes to fight crime—silly, right? Well, no more silly that a suave, implacable, serialfornicating super-spy that saves the world (or at least the UK) on a regular basis without ever getting a venereal disease (James Bond), a coldly but genially methodical know-it-all unfailingly solving mysteries (Sherlock Holmes), and a guy jumping on furniture while defending a crackpot global cult that includes some very wealthy people (Tom Cruise). The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, The Three Musketeers, Zorro, Robocop, Superfly—all to a degree fit the bill. So there, with your cultural superiority.

Which brings us to The Rise of the Female Superhero, the online documentary by TV news icon Katie Kouric that casts a revealing eye on not only female superhero characters but the women that write and draw them. What’s the big deal, you say?

What goes on in fantasy media (TV, movies, books) is a microcosm and/or reflection of the times in which we live. While young guys have their fantasy heroes to emulate and inspire them, what about young gals? In lots of media, women are the pretty (and often hyper-sexualized) complement to or appendage of the lives of the male characters—women needing rescue by ass-kicking men—and there are creative types that’ve said “Enough!” to that stereotype. These are female characters that inspire girls, nay, humans of all ages by doing what needs to get done, and they do not always have double-D cup sizes, do not always adhere to the Atlantic City Miss Tower d’Rump beauty standard, not always victimized, and not always white and heterosexual.

Women—writers, artists, and editors—of varied ages and backgrounds are briefly profiled as creative forces behind established and new female super-heroes written and drawn as more well-rounded characters, with their own lives and concerns, whose stories do not revolve around finding Mr. Right and, yes, even have one-night stands.

(For examples of the latter, refer to issues of Birds of Prey and Secret Six, the latter a spin-off of sorts to Suicide Squad.)

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keith Uhlich

film roundup

Silence

I, Daniel Blake (Dir. Ken Loach). Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan. What road is it that’s paved with good intentions? British social realist Ken Loach and his frequent screenwriter Paul Laverty certainly mean well with their Cannes prize-winning tale of a middle-aged carpenter, the eponymous Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), forced to navigate the byzantine British welfare system after he injures himself. While on his frustrating, dehumanizing quest, he crosses paths with single mother Katie (Hayley Squires), also a victim of the UK’s Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Their problems are very real, but Laverty and Loach approach them with smugness instead of righteous anger. Despite Johns’s best efforts (and he is quite affecting moment to moment), Blake never seems like a person so much as a sacrificial construct. Every tragedy that befalls him is a see-it-from-amile-away contrivance. The film is a feature-length insult disguised as progressive advocacy. [R] H1/2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Dir. Gareth Edwards). Starring: Felicity Jones, 18

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Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn. A long time ago in a…oh c’mon, you know what is.

And you’re gonna know what it is every year from here until doomsday if the Walt Disney company has anything to say about it. The first of the company’s gazillion Star Wars spinoff films is a major step down for director Gareth Edwards, whose Godzilla (2014) was a rare Hollywood blockbuster with a resonant personal vision. Here he’s slave to the Tinseltown machine, despite a killer cast that includes Felicity Jones and Diego Luna (as mercenaries out to steal the plans for the first Death Star), not to mention intense Aussie character actor Ben Mendelsohn (as an Imperial despot) and Chinese superstars Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen (as a pair of ass-kicking rebels).

There’s barely an inspired moment in the whole two-hour-plus morass. It’s all irritating fan-service, right down to the digital resurrection of the deceased Peter Cushing as the first Star Wars’ villainous Grand Moff Tarkin—a choice that feels more and more immoral the longer this creepy computerized facsimile goosesteps across the screen. [PG-13] H

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The Salesman (Dir. Asghar Farhadi).

Starring: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi. The latest feature from the great Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi is a multifaceted, disquieting study of a married couple, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), in crisis. After a botched construction job displaces them from their home, the duo move into a temporary abode where Rana is attacked. As Emad uncovers the reasons behind the assault, the answers he finds are anything but clear-cut. And this all coincides with a production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman in which the two are acting, so the pressure for them to maintain a steady façade is even more acute.

The film never makes any facile life-imitates-art juxtapositions. If anything, Farhadi’s overarching sentiments seem to be more along the lines of “all the world’s a stage”—but a proscenium that, like a marriage, is very easily damaged and extremely difficult to preserve. [PG-13] HHHH1/2 Silence (Dir. Martin Scorsese). Starring: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Issei Ogata. You know his name, but you’re still

likely to be surprised by how Martin Scorsese—that most headily hyper of American filmmakers—approaches his to-the-letter faithful adaptation of the classic novel by Japanese author Shûsaku Endô. The mood is contemplative and devotional in a way that suggests the films of Roberto Rossellini melded with those of Kenji Mizoguchi (Scorsese’s robust cinephilia is certainly key to analyzing the movie). But that’s not to say he takes a derivative approach to the story of two Portuguese Jesuits, Rodrigues (Garfield) and Garupe (Driver), seeking out their mentor (Liam Neeson) in Edo-era Japan, when Christians were persecuted. (The great Issei Ogata plays the lead interrogator, Inoue, like a fearsome child given free rein to commit atrocity, with the not-entirely-unrighteous goal of keeping Japanese traditions and culture untainted by the West.) Endô’s book was one man’s grapple with a faith that was both a comfort and a colonizing force, and Scorsese—honoring the Eastern perspective while never overemphasizing his Western one—revels in a similarly conflicted perspective. This is among his very best efforts. [R] 5 stars HHHHH n

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A. D. AMOROSI

INTErview

Sarah Silverman’s

AS 2016 ENDED, READERS OF the arts were treated to the wonder of a newish Sarah Silverman; one connected to yet another dramatic portrayal in the upcoming The Book of Henry where she plays a concerned neighbor to a single mother raising a boy genius. Then there was the girlfriend Silverman—one spied previously in her life when she was involved with talk show host/occasional comic foil Jimmy Kimmel—currently united with Michael Sheen, the British thespian known for everything from Tina Fey’s beau on 30 Rock to Helen Mirren’s “Tony Blair” during The Queen. For just a second, you nearly forget that Silverman is one of comedy’s most uniquely abstract, absurd and ribald—in a most blunt, hard fashion—stand-up comedians; so-much-so that she eschews categorization and the comfort zone of an interview. That’s because there are no teasing punch lines or singular payoffs to Silverman’s quicksilver, often jaw-drop-able comedic tales. Often it is one long gasp, with a loud thump at the end where the body has fallen and the yellow chalk lines are drawn.

This month, Silverman is hitting the Keswick Theatre in Glenside “THE ANTI-PROGRESS GOVERNMENT THAT’S COMfor two shows, January 13 and 14. Is it more because she has someING IN WILL BE A CONSTANT FOR PEOPLE WHO thing exceptional and new that she wishes to impart rather than being bored and needing to just get out and flap her wings?

WANT TO BE INVOLVED. A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO “It’s the former—I love getting to say that,” she says form her VOTED FOR TRUMP VOTED FOR CHANGE, AND home office in Los Angeles right before an early Hollywood screening FOR JOBS, AND EVERY APPOINTMENT HE HAS of The Book of Henry. “Give me more questions with two options.

Just kidding, but I’m about to shoot a special in February, so this tour MADE SO FAR HAS BEEN IN OPPOSITION AND A is getting me ready for that.” When the tour hits this region, it will DIRECT ‘FUCK YOU’ TO THOSE PEOPLE AND THE have the air of something special because Silverman’s step dad, John PLATFORM HE RAN ON.” O’Hara, “RIP, the goodest man I’ve ever met, Marine, and professor of philosophy—do cows have souls is something he taught me to ponder at 12—and logic, was born and raised in Scranton.”

Moving from the goodest man to the baddest man we can think of—President-elect Trump, I remind her of a chat she gave during the most recent New Yorker magazine’s Comedy Festival in Manhattan—pre-election, where she showed zero tolerance of his nationalist rhetoric. So now what? What’s changed in the wake of the election for you and people in your imme-

serious side

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Sarah Silerman at The Hollywood Foreign Press Association Grants Banquet in 2015

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INTErview

A. D. AMOROSI

PAT METHENY TURNS AND FACES THE STRANGE.

L

Again.

IKE HIS ONE-TIME COLLABORATOR, David Bowie, guitarist-composer Pat Metheny has played heroically and uniquely through so many styles of music, that his musicianship can’t be put in one category. Iconic and edgy, he crosses all boundaries without losing accessibility. He’s the sort of artist (jazz, if that’s the easiest peg) who can pull his listeners along faithfully through any changes in attitude and latitude. When he returns to the Keswick Theatre on January 21 with a group of past band members (Antonio Sanchez) and new friends (Linda Oh, Gwilym Simcock), it’s on the heels of two 2016 Nonesuch label releases, Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny and The Unity Sessions.

You dropped two albums this year, one of which was with trumpeter Cuong Vu. How did that album finally happen, considering that Vu was part of your 2002 album, Speaking of Now, and that the two of you have worked together since; why was 2016 a solid time for a new recording?

When I first heard Cuong all those years ago, I was really impressed with his individuality. Maybe that’s a quality that has a kind of weighted importance to me. The fact that his playing, and particularly his band sound was difficult to place on the spectrum, was immediately attractive to me. That he was not only aware of and conversant in my thing, but went on to tell me how central it had been to his development was incredibly gratifying—especially because he had already gone far along in developing a persona that was so distinctive. And I love the work he did with me. He’s such a unique talent, and yet the basic harmonic vocabulary of what my thing demands kind of required him to take a look at some things that had just not come up for him before—all in a really good way, I think. It was great for both of us. Yet when I heard him on his own with his band, in an environment where the harmonic results were achieved in a very different way thanks to the lack of piano or guitar and opening up all that space that one can only find in a trio-type situation like that, I really hoped one day to be able to join him in a setting like that as well. This record is a great documentation of that for me.

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dvds revieWed by george oxford miller

reel news

Deepwater Horizon

Sully (2016) HHHH Cast: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart Director: Clint Eastwood Genre: Drama, biography Rated PG-13 Running time 96 minutes.

On January 15, 2009, United Flight 1549, commanded by Captain Chesley Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles, struck a flock of geese and lost both engines. Sullenberger made the split-second decision to ditch in the frigid Hudson River. Miraculously, everyone survived. The world proclaimed him a hero; the NTSB accused him of reckless behavior and threatened to ground him for life. The hearing seemed more interested in finding a scapegoat than lionizing the crew. Flight simulations proved the captain could have returned to one of three airports—yet it took 15 crashes before the experts worked out a successful landing sequence. Hanks as Captain Sullenberger captures the angst of the unassuming hero who dodges public adoration but never flinches when assaulted by the combined forces of the NTSB. First the triumph over the forces of nature, then over the heartless bureaucracy makes this inspiring true story one of the best feel-good movies of the year.

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Deepwater Horizon (2016) HHHH Cast: Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovich, Kurt Russell Genre: Action, disaster drama Rated PG-13 On April 20th, 2010, the world’s largest human-made disaster occurred when the Deepwater Horizon oil platform blew out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Eleven men died and millions of gallons of petroleum spewed uncontrollably into the Gulf. This thriller centers around real-life engineer (and film consultant) Mike Williams (Wahlberg), crew chief Mr. Jimmy (Russell), and BP supervisor Donald Vidrine (Malkovich). Williams busies himself keeping the complex machinery running while Mr. Jimmy monitors the safety of the highly hazardous operation of drilling into hyper-pressurized reservoir of petroleum 50 miles at sea. Foretelling the nightmare to come, Vidrine pushes to skip safety protocol because the rig is six months behind schedule.

The action-driven movie succeeds in dramatizing the volcanic explosion with white-knuckle tension while keeping a character-driven focus on the humanity of the men fighting for survival.

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A Man Called Ove (2016) HHHH Cast: Rolf Lassgard, Bahar Pars, Tobias Almborg Genre: Drama, comedy Rated PG-13 Sweden’s entry for Academy Awards Best Foreign-language Film.

In Swedish and Persian with subtitles.

In this familiar twist of the hero’s journey from tragedy and desperation to redemption, a crotchety old man bedeviled by a troubled past confronts the effervescence of youth and both are transformed.

Though the plot is predictable, the powerful portrayal of the irascible Ove (Lassgard) creates an empathetic and heartwarming story. Distraught after his wife dies, Ove repeatedly attempts to join her in the afterlife, but his new neighbors constantly interrupt his self-destructive efforts. He gradually warms to the pregnant wife Parvaneh (Pars), an Iranian immigrant, but considers her Swedish husband Patrick (Almborg) an idiot. With comedy and pathos, he gradually develops a father-daughter bond with Parvaneh, who refuses to be intimidated by his gruff facade. Despite the vicissitudes and disappointments of his life, Ove still has room in his heart for love.

Zero Days (2016) HHHH Cast: David Sanger, Emad Kiyaei, Eric Chien Genre: Documentary Rated PG-13 for some strong language.

Acclaimed by critics as “Easily the most important film anyone has released this year,” Zero Days dives deep into the covert world of cyber warfare. As early as 2009, a malware worm called Stuxnet targeted Iranian centrifuge operating systems used to produce military grade uranium.

Allegedly released by a joint US-Israeli operation, the virus targeted the rotational speed controllers of centrifuges. Since then, numerous variants have been used in industrial espionage attacks worldwide.

Zero Days exposes the chilling reality that nations and rogue states currently possess a cyber arsenal capable of disrupting power, transportation, manufacturing, and communication infrastructures on a national and global scale. The cataclysmic consequences could exceed even all-out nuclear war. The technological havoc of a cyber apocalypse could plunge humanity back to the preindustrial age of our ancestors, yet nations adamantly refuse to admit the potential exists, much less discuss how to avoid it. n

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cUrAted by A.d. Amorosi

the list

JANUARY 5 JUTUAN This young Philly-New Jersey vocal group does live and vibrant R&B the old fashioned way with some new-fangled rhythms and studio wizadry to heighten the dramatic experience, AND a new debut album to prove it. (Milkboy)

11 RUN THE JEWELS, THE GASLAMP KILLER, SPARK MASTER TAPE, CUZ Separate from each other, Killer Mike and El-P, respectively, are a genius one-two rapper and producer/beat maker punch (to say nothing of Mike’s pragmatic political outlook). As Run the Jewels however the pair has made some of the sharpest hip hop of the last decade, with yet another new album to prove it. Plus, they did a whole remix album of previous Jewels tunes with cats blended into its sonics on a dare. (Electric Factory)

27 COLD CAVE (PHILLY'S WESLEY EISOLD) Philly’s best claim to dark new wave

iber, but get to the show early to experience the fussy, elegant and intimate sounds of Deerhunter, who have been around for a minute AND have never had the opportunity to play the big room. (Wells Fargo Center)dio)

in the 2000s will put the “ack” into black hearted electronic music. (Underground Arts)

28 JERRY BLAVAT’S WINTER DOO WOP/SOUL/GOSPEL EVENT

19 D.R.A.M. This fresh youngish rapper fashioned the pop hit of the summer out of green vegetables (“Broccoli”). What else can he produce? (Fillmore)

Brooklynite and ex-Kurt Vile guitarist Steve Gunn for a night of merriment. (PhilaMOCA)

The Geator with the Heater needs no introduction. No doo (wop) his illustrious vocal guests: Eddie Holman, The Chi-lites, The Stylistics, A Celebration of Kenny Vance and the Planotones, featuring Ladd Vance and Johnny Gale. Plus, there is an extra special tribute to Johnny Maestro with the Crests featuring Tommy Mara, The Dixie Hummingbirds with Dee Dee Sharp and Mashed Potatoes, and the Tokens. (Kimmel Center)

22 KRISTIN CHENOWETH

25 & 29 KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

From Wicked on the Broadway stage to Hairspray Live! on NBC to a 2016 top jazz album prize, Chenoweth is one of the few living souls alive now (save for Neil Patrick Harris) who can do it all, and spendidly. (Sands Bethlehem)

The rough and rugged poet, composer, actor and outlaw country icon doesn’t tour often,

21 VANESSA WILLIAMS The queen of the kiss of The Spider Woman and a showy soul singer extraordinaire—to

14 DANCING WITH THE STARS LIVE The ABC Network all-prancing program with an as-yet-unknown slate of celebrities hits the stage. (Sands Bethlehem)

Steve Gunn

26 FRAN LEBOWITZ 15 PHILLY TRIBUTE TO JIMI HENDRIX Rodney from Dead Milkmen; Stinking Lizaveta, Jo-Ann Rogan of Thorazine with "Valley of Neptune", Shawn Kilroy, Art DiFuria of The Photon band, Melvin BlaqMel! GhettoSongBird! Rachel Radick, Dena and the Mellowtones – locals all – tackle the psychedelic master of six string disaster. (The Fire)

No, Lebowitz doesn’t write nearly enough to satisfy those who have long dog-eared Metsay nothing of the whole almost Miss America thing—does a Broadway Up Close event at the Kimmel’s intimate room. (Perelman Theatre)

21 LEE RANALDO/STEVE GUNN 15,16 THE JONES FAMILY SINGERS BISHOP Fred Jones leads his nine children

and certainly not in these parts. Yet with several new albums and box sets to his name, he’s got more than a few good reasons. (1/25 Keswick Theatre) (1/29 Sands Bethlehem)

The one-time Sonic Youth guitarist (PLEASE LET THEM REUNITE) joins forces with fellow

and in-laws through the most rousing set of spiritual and secular folk traditionals outside of a church pew. (SEI Innovation Stu

29 THE LAST WALTZ 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR Crabby Robbie Robertson of

19 KINGS OF LEON WITH DEERHUNTER Kings of Leon is grand rock of the finest calropolitan Life, but the Dorothy Parker of our generation is still a force to be reckoned with.

(State Theatre)

26 ADAM ANT

Lee Ranaldo

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Britain’s King of the Wild Frontier celebrates 40 years of his Ant Music reign. (Keswick Theater)

The Band just came through Philly and the album/film documentary from director Martin Scorsese just got re-released, so why not celebrate that famed finale with a set of tribute shows from guys who weren’t even there – led by guitarist Warren Haynes (Government Mule, The Allman Brothers Band) are Michael McDonald, Jamey Johnson, Don Was, John Medeski and Terrence Higgins – bug cut a handsome figure nonetheless? (Verizon Hall)

MUSIC

A.d. Amorosi

POP ECM eclecticism on the verge of 50 AS OP-TO-POP music listeners speed through the 21st Century, there’s no doubt adventurous ears will focus soon (enough) on the 50th anniversary of the ECM label, a true maverick sound stable, founded by producer Manfred Eicher in Munich in 1968, whose independent stance is only second to each release’s sense of space/spaciousness (that goes for its overall cover art aesthetic as well with two lush coffee table books dedicated to that very thing: Windfall Light: The Visual Language of ECM, and Sleeves of Desire), and third to ECM’s refusal to focus on boundaries or genres. You couldn’t exactly pinpoint a singular vibe from the label’s early avatars such as John Abercrombie, Steve Reich or Egberto Gismondi as any one thing or definition, even if you felt like using words such as “minimalManfred Eicher with Steve Reich, 1980.

Photo: ©Deborah Feingold. ist jazz” or “ambient” or “pop classicism” as a start point. Even its newer roster: avant vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Meredith Monk, electronic manipulator Craig Taborn—go into ECM without blinders or barriers; free as they are to roam music’s open prairies, wide skies and cloudless vistas.

Bound by the motto, “The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence,” the label’s most recent spate of releases—late 2016 to early 2017—prove that ECM isn’t mounting any change escapades while maintaining forward motion and innovation. 2016’s The Steve Reich ECM Recordings is the most dazzling example of ECM’s mood-morphing and historical import. An avant-garde composer who all but discovered minimalist electronica, the hypnotic mallet-ed likes of Music for 18 Musicians and Tehillim are unknowable, always revelatory epics in the way Citizen Kane is epic. There’s it, and everything after it.

Ask any DJ or electro disco producer: Reich is the man. Meredith Monk’s On Behalf of Nature finds the X-treme sonic elocutionist strutting her emotive stuff on a searing series of vocal experiments with a poetic, socio-political edge and blue-denim washed backgrounds that would make Laurie Anderson smile.

2017 brings a slightly different picture to the label as free vocalist Theo Bleckmann makes his ECM debut with the not-entirely elegiac Elegy. Frankly, the German-NYC expatriate Bleckmann is known for klutzy cabaret and rubbery post-Bop jazz, so for him to concentrate on something so ambient, Satie-like and still while seemingly jitterbugging in place (yet subtle with a gorgeous slow Sondheim cover of “Comedy Tonight”) is a miracle. Outsider pianist and keyboardist Craig Taborn has been blurring lines since he recorded the Theo Bleckmann. Photo: Lynne Harty aptly titled Junk Magic, and his upcoming synth heavy Daylight Ghosts is no different. Together with tenor saxophonist/clarinet player Chris Speed: and an eccentric rhythm section, the spooky ambient work picks up where Bowie’s Blackstar left off with the test of how bright jazz and dark electronica shake hands. Then there are the new albums from older ECM fire starter guitarists John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner whose electric Up and Coming and hollow-bodied My Foolish Heart, respectively, put the wonderfully weird but quiet minded elders in a new, glow. In particular, the Joey Baron-driven rhythm trip of Up and Coming refuses to allow its six-string slinging Abercrombie much peace or settling—which in and of itself is an apt sonic metaphor for what the ECM label has always been. n

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music SINGER / SONGWRITER Neil Young HHH1/2 Peace Trail Reprise “Well, I can’t stop working because I like to work,” Neil Young sings on “Can’t Stop Working,” the second track on Peace Trail, his latest release. It’s an apt statement for the 71-year-old Young, who continues to produce a steady output of music. This is his sixth studio album since 2012.

After working with Promise of the Real in the studio and on the road, Young goes for a streamlined sound with drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Paul Bushnell.

The result is a more intimate approach on “Show Me,” a plea for social change that spotlights the rhythm section. Other songs—the title track and “Indian Givers”—reflect Young’s interest in political issues. “There’s a battle raging on sacred lands,” he warns on the latter track in detailing the battle against oil exploration via the Dakota Access Pipeline on Native American territory. “John Oaks” is a portrait of an environmental activist who pays the ultimate price for his beliefs. Musically, Young varies his approach.

“Texas Rangers” features a sing-song chant punctuated by occasional bursts of electric guitar. “My New Robot,” a song that features computer terminology and name-checks Amazon, deals with 21st century commerce. Young incorporates electronic music that recalls his 1982 Trans album for an unexpected ending.

(10 songs, 38 minutes) Blackie and the Rodeo Kings HHHH Kings and Kings File Under Music For Kings and Kings, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings recruited some of the top male vocalists in the fields of country, rock and folk to join the band’s three lead singers—Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson—for a series of duets.

It’s a successful sequel to Kings and Queens, the band’s 2011 album with female vocalists.

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rocker that could serve as the motto for a working musician. Evan Church and Linden team up for “Bury My Heart,” a midtempo ballad of loss, while Raul Malo and Wilson join forces for “High Wire,” a

metaphor for taking a chance on love.

Buddy Miller and Wilson liven up the honky tonk-fueled “Playing by Heart.”

“I’m gonna live too fast/Love too hard,” they declare. Nick Lowe conveys a sense of world weariness on the philosophical “Secret of a Long Lasting Love.” Keb Mo and Fearing effectively trade off lines off lines on the gospel/blues “Long Walk to Freedom. Bruce Cockburn and Linden deliver the heartfelt “A Woman Gets More Beautiful.” Actors Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio, who work with Linden on the television series Nashville, wrap up the album with a rollicking “Where the River Rolls.” (12 songs, 52 minutes) Duke Robillard HHH1/2 Blues Full Circle Stony Plain Records Blues Full Circle lives up to its name as guitarist Duke Robillard unearths songs written while a member of Roomful of Blues alongside newer compositions. The common thread on the songs is the blues in all its forms, which remains the foundation of Robillard’s music.

He serves up a slow, steady groove on “Lay a Little Lovin’ on Me,” the open-

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ing track, and delivers a jazzy tone on “Mourning Dove,” conjuring up a feeling of solitude. “Blues for Eddie Jones,” is as a tribute to the bluesman known as Guitar Slim, whose signature song was “The Things That I Used to Do.” Robillard shifts gears for the New Orleans-style rhythms of “Fool About My Money,” highlighted by the piano work of Bruce Bears that recalls Allen Touissant and Dr. John.

Kelley Hunt guests on piano and lead vocals on a sprightly version of “The Mood Room,” a song she wrote after a recording session at Robillard’s Rhode Island studio. Jimmie Vaughan joins Robillard on “Shufflin’ and Scufflin’,” an instrumental that finds the guitarists engaging in a musical conversation with saxophonist Doug James. Blues Full Circle is a worthy addition to Robillard’s extensive discography.

(13 songs, 51 minutes) Dale Watson HHH Under The Influence Red River Entertainment Dale Watson has been the keeper of the flame in ensuring that traditional country music is not forgotten. He acknowledges the role of his musical predecessors with Under The Influence, a collection of songs originally released between 1939 and 1989. With the help of the Lone Stars, his backing band, Watson puts his own stamp on the songs. He pays tribute to Merle Haggard, who died in 2016, with two of his lesser-known songs—“Here in Frisco” and “If You Want to Be My Woman.” The former, a plaintive ballad, is tailor-made for Watson’s expressive voice, while the latter is delivered with a bluesy edge. His version of Buck Owens’ “Made in Japan,” the singer’s last No. 1 single on the country charts, features some Oriental-styled guitar, a suggestion of East meets West. Watson brings a rock ‘n’ roll attitude to “Lucille,” a song recorded by both Little Richard and Waylon Jennings. “Pretty Red Wine,” a hit for Mel Tillis, is a natural fit for Watson with its expression of honky tonk regret, while Watson ventures into Western Swing with “That’s What I Like About The South,”

one of Bob Wills’ earliest hits. Under The Influence shows the durability and timeless appeal of these songs. (12 songs, 35 minutes) Joan Armatrading HHH1/2 Me Myself I World Tour 429 Records Joan Armatrading offers a career retrospective with Me Myself I World Tour that illustrates her power as a live performer with just her guitar and piano for accompaniment. The release of the CD/DVD, recorded at a 2015 show at Wolf Trap in Virginia, comes as she plans to cut back on her touring schedule. At 66, Armatrading still has an impressive vocal range, showing off her falsetto on “Woncha Come Home” and a full-throated performance on “The Weakness in Me” that highlights the ambivalent feelings that accompany a romantic commitment. The CD also is a reminder of her skills as a guitarist. Her

piercing slide guitar on “My Baby’s Gone” pushes the boundaries of the blues. Her fiery playing on the title track, a celebration of solitude, seems to leap from the speakers. Armatrading switches to piano for quieter, reflective numbers, including “Willow” and “In These Times.” The latter, a song of gratitude and hope, finds her taking stock of her life. “In these times, let’s be thankful of all the days we can spend together,” she warmly sings. (15 songs, 59 minutes). n

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music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT

Woody Shaw/Louis Hayes HHHH1/2 The Tour Volume One HighNote The late trumpeter Woody Shaw (1944-1989) was up there with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, and a select few others as one of the best jazz trumpeters of the 1970s, but he didn’t get the renown of the others. Better late than never—this set of previously unreleased live material will hopefully hip younger listeners and be a reminder to, uh, mature-ish types.

Shaw had the volatile, white-hot, bristling fury of Hubbard and Morgan and some of the subtle, thoughtful aura of Miles. Unlike his contemporary Miles, Louis Hayes Shaw pursued an acoustic route and was open to jazz’s avant-garde of the ‘60s without being an “out/free” player. (Shaw’s recording debut was an Eric Dolphy session.) His band here could scarcely be better—the underrated lissome, blues-tinged wail of Junior Cook (who held the tenor sax chair in Horace Silver’s quintet), the surging yet lyrical piano of Ronnie Matthews, the rippling bass of the underrated Stafford James (Gary Bartz’s combos), and mega-dynamic drummer and Cannonball Adderley alumnus Louis Hayes. This is bracing, exhilarating modal jazz (think Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner, with whom he recorded), with moody, engaging themes and fiery yet lyrical soloing. Lethargic, weary, overwhelmed by this post-election sphere? Shaw and company will blast out the cobwebs. (6 tracks, 63 min.) jazzdepot.com Lee Konitz/Kenny Wheeler Quartet HHHHH Olden Times Double Moon Warning: This jazz album has no drumming therein. Fear not, you won’t miss it. This foursome generates enough swing and forward motion on their own. Recorded live in Germany in 1999, this set finds two masters at their respective axes—Lee Konitz, alto sax, the late Kenny Wheeler, trumpet/flugelhorn—swingin’ with a German pianist and bassist that are up to the task. You get floating like the proverbial butterfly (the sublime balladry of “Kind Folk”) and the slightly Ornette Coleman-ish bittersweet sting of “On Mo.” Then there’s “Bo So,” combining hearty Charlie Parker swing with the wry cool of Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond. Konitz’s lithe, dry ice approach is enriched with some fulsome extra oomph and Wheeler evokes Miles and Kenny Dorham with a North Atlantic plaintiveness that is wholly his own. Pianist Frank Wunsch is lyrical in the classic bebop method with some nifty soulful touches (think Bobby Timmons, Gene Harris) with the right hint of old school schmaltz. Shrewdly cerebral yet swinging, Olden Times reminds me why I liked jazz in the first place. (10 tracks, 79 min.) challengerecords.com

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Jane Ira Bloom HHHH1/2 Early Americans Outline Sometime you gotta strip down to the basics.

Take soprano sax wizard Jane Ira Bloom—she’s worked with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bobby Previte before but never in a trio setting.

While it might sound a little “spare” without the presence of a chordal instrument (piano, guitar), this threesome makes it so that such won’t be missed. Previte, one of the most dynamic and eclectic drummers on the planet plays the whole darn drum set, laying down all sorts of skittering and resilient rhythmic clouds for Bloom to sour amid and above. Like Matt Wilson, Previte has the swingin’ finesse of a great jazz drummer and whomp of a rock drummer. Helias has a rippling and anchoring presence. Bloom—who sometimes augments her horn with electronics but seemingly not here—has a unique approach to the straight horn. She can be as compelling as Coltrane and Shorter yet resembles either very little. She has a somewhat tuneful approach, sometimes evoking West Coast cool (think Brubeck’s right-hand sax-man Paul Desmond), other times Middle Eastern sonorities, sometimes mournful (though never dirge-like), swirling-ly swinging in earnest, always lively. (13 tracks, 52 min.) janeirabloom.com Gary Smulyan HHHH Royalty at Le Duc Groovin’ High Yet with all the political upheaval and Star Wars movies, the question remains: The jazz baritone saxophone stars of tomorrow: Who? Where? Rest easy, pilgrims—Clare Daly is one and Gary Smulyan is another. This fellow’s been making his rep via the big bands of Carla Bley and Gerald Wilson and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the jazz

mArk keresmAn

critics’ polls like him. But what of the biped in the street? The word: Smulyan handles the big, deep, seemingly unwieldy horn with the aplomb of a tenor or alto sax-person.

Listen to his windy, impassioned soloing, searing and soaring on Thad Jones’ “Thedia” and without resorting to high-register playing has a style—not as in “sounds like,” but style of pre-1964 Coltrane. The cheery ferocity he brings to another Jones gem “Elusive” is impressive, cheerily riveting. Ballad playing? He’s got that covered too—Billy Strayhorn’s “Star Crossed Lovers,” wherein The Big S caresses the wistful melody with warmth but avoiding over-sentimentality. Recorded live in Paris last year with a sympathetic local trio, Royalty is a bunch of standards (yes, yet another take on “Body & Soul”) by a bunch of guys swingin’ hard bop old-school, with plenty of swing, spontaneous inventiveness, and expressive solos that don’t over-share or overstay their welcome. (7 tracks, 78 min.) groovinhighrecords.com Jane Monheit HHH1/2 The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald Emerald City This writer has “trouble” with this kind of tribute disc: Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald remains one of the finest interpreters of song America has produced. Jane Monheit, relative young ‘un, is no slouch herself. So, an interpreter is interpreting the songs another interpreted? Puzzling. That said, what makes this such a nifty proposition is that Mon-

heit, with her dusty, slightly husky cabaret wail, makes no attempt to emulate the scat-y style or fluid approach of Ella, instead opting for her own sleek, modern take on EF’s catalogue. Backing Monheit is a small combo giving her bare-bones, sympathetic accompaniment, with Nicholas Payton’s trumpet, both swaggering and soulful, the icing on the cake. JM & company transform the wonderful-yet-hoary “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” as a Bitches Brew bolero with street-corner-symphony handclaps and a showstopper bluesy crescendo—it shouldn’t work but by gum, it does. “This Time the Dream’s On Me” is essayed in a manner both slightly surreal (heavenly harp) and gospel-flavored (oddly tinny organ). Monheit doesn’t treat the Ella-zone as Holy Writ and maybe that’s why this works so well. (12 tracks, 59 min.) janemonheitonline.com n

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JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS, MLSP, LCSW, BCD

about life

Calmness is the cradle of power — Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 — 1881) NO LIFE HAPPENS WITHOUT crisis. We’ll all at one or more times face an upheaval that feels monumental. When things go wrong and become pressing there are ways to handle and deal with them that gives us an advantage in moving through. After more than 36 years consulting with those who’ve faced challenging situations it’s clear that some fare far better than others. There are ways, thankfully, to cope when facing extreme duress.

Stay Calm This is always easier said than done; however, it’s the single most important thing to do. Remaining calm allows us to avail ourselves of our best strengths. A central tenet of staying calm is to be aware of and control your breathing. When people become anxious, tense and unnerved they tend to breathe shallowly and this affects how well the brain and body function. A wonderful nurse I know, Jenine Miller, uses this metaphor to explain good breathing technique, “Smell the roses and blow out the candle.” This reminds people to inhale through the nose and exhale by mouth. This creates inner calm and the ability to better cope with physical pain. The use of self-hypnosis is another fundamental tool and is as simple as learning breath control. Some people practice meditation, while others turn to prayer and spirituality.

Seek Support Ask for support from loved ones, family and friends. Don’t hesitate to seek out the counsel of ministers, rabbis or professionals. Try to remember that you don’t have to face dire circumstances alone. It’s better to contend with challenges while having the support of others. A good friend, who is a nutritionist, likes to remind people to eat well in general—but especially during a crisis. Sustaining the mind and body with good nutrition is essential in a crisis.

Knowledge Is Power Remain humble and teachable so that others who have survived similar or equally difficult crises can tell you the skills and strategies they employed to overcome their challenges. Also seek out professionals who are experts in whatever field applies to your crisis. Be careful not to believe everything you read on the Internet, as this information is often incorrect and will lead you in the wrong direction. Whenever you research for accurate information, it’s best to have multiple, reliable sources—such as Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org) or Psychology Today (pyschologytoday.com)—to confirm truth and accuracy.

Seek New Growth Lao-Tze said, “All crises present the conditions for a new order.” Those who do not grow in a crisis are doomed to a limited set of skills, mindsets and coping mechanisms to deal with adversity. In general, growth means adding capacity. Some growth may be required in the area of patience, while for others it may require flexibility of consciousness. Be willing to calmly assess what lies before you and dig deeply to find the skills and tools you need for what may be a perilous journey. Consider this challenge like planning and packing for an extended or exotic vacation: which supplies, both external and internal, will be necessary and helpful to make the voyage a success.

Keep a Journal Writing down thoughts and feelings is an excellent way to keep a fresh and healthy perspective.

Instead of inner ruminating, obsessing and/or catastrophizing, writing is an external way to objectively view what’s going on around and inside of you. Writing assists in reviewing what’s working, as well as what’s not working. Sometimes things work for a bit and then must be abandoned for better thinking or coping mechanisms. Be willing to let go of unproductive feelings, thoughts and approaches.

Be Good to Yourself This is the time to gather round the people, places and things that make you happy. Happiness is always important, but especially so when going through a crisis. n Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 36 years. jdelpino@aol.com Phone: (215) 364-0139.

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20 SARAH SILVERMAN

diate circle?

“Well, fighting against pending devolution. The antiprogress government that’s coming in will be a constant for people who want to be involved,” she starts. “But, also and just as importantly, looking inward at our own selves, being as honest as possible, and finding as much common ground as possible. A lot of people who voted for Trump voted for change, and for jobs, and every appointment he has made so far has been in opposition and a direct ‘fuck you’ to those people and the platform he ran on. Those very people, the people that voted for him—it will be their disappointment and action on that disappointment that will be most powerful, I think.”

Ask Silverman to a guess whether Trump will make for truly great comic fodder, especially since at the onset it would seem so—we’ve been making light of him for 30-plus years—but not as the leader of the Free World.

“Well, everything scary and dangerous is kind of classic fodder in art and especially comedy, I suppose. Still, I don’t think any of us would trade on people’s disparity or discrimination for good material. There will always be plenty of stuff to talk about in comedy.”

She stops. “Wow, this is a very unfunny interview to promote my Philly shows. Sorry.”

So, it’s comedy then—her roots and her future. Mentioning that I spied an online interview with her at Vulture where she seemed quite in awe of early Chris Rock’s ability to tame/train/win an audience—with silence and pauses; drawing them in as one would a composer, I wondered if that was how she first caught an audiences’ attention?

“Not really, to be honest, it was just years of getting better at comedy. Boring answer? Yes. But true.”

Does she have a tick or a tell that gives her away when she’s ready to go in for the kill? “My arms itch wildly when I’m thrilled or tickled by something ever since I can remember.”

As a comedic writer, does she feel it necessary to get to her point—the laugh line—quickly, or is it a long laborious Leonard Cohen-like process?

“I can hone a joke or story for years if I’m allowed,” she says. “Bits grow while others get boiled down to a sentence.”

And finally, is it more about grinding against the grain of a given audience’s belief system than going with them?

“Well, with that stuff I think it’s all about intention.

There’s nothing you can do about it. What’s inside you transcends whether what you’re talking about is true or a made-up story. Look at Don Rickles. If someone tried to do his material the audience would turn against him. It works for Don because of what’s inside him. Hidden underneath his mean words is a sweetness. You can’t see it or hear it, but like dogs, we can sense it.” n

bob perkins

jazz library

G

ERALD WILSON

GERALD WILSON MIGHT HAVE received wider recognition as a jazz musician, orchestra leader, composer and arranger if a good portion of his long and brilliant career had not been dedicated to arranging material to help other jazz and pop artists attain success. Wilson was based on the West Coast and was a revered figure there, but for whatever reasons appreciation of his multiple talents decreased beyond that region. Wilson’s career in music spanned seven decades-plus. During those years, he made music with, and for, fellow orchestra leaders, instrumentalists and singers.

His story began September 4, 1918 in Shelby, Mississippi. The family moved to Detroit when Wilson was in his mid-teens. He attended Cass Technical High School, where he continued to study the trumpet and music in general. The school boasts some outstanding alumni who, like Wilson, went on to become major jazz artists: Donald Byrd, Dorothy Ashy, Paul Chambers, Alice Coltrane, Kenny Burrell and Ron Carter.

Wilson’s first major job came about in 1939 with the Jimmy Lunceford orchestra, where he replaced the band’s star trumpeter Cy Oliver. He also began arranging music for the band.

Following duty in a navy band during World War II, Wilson formed his first band in the mid-1940s, and signed with the Pacific Jazz label. Over the years, as his name and reputation spread on the West Coast, he was able to attract to his band the likes of jazz luminaries, Bud Shank, Snooky Young, Harold Land, Carmell Jones, Joe Pass, Richard (Groove) Holmes, Bobby Hutcherson and Mel Lewis.

While composing and arranging for his own band—and as testimony to his arranging skills—Wilson was sought out to write arrangements for Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Billy Holiday, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson, and a host of other instrumentalists and vocalists.

His fascination with Mexican/Spanish music was influenced by his wife, who is of Mexican/American heritage. Wilson recorded and dedicated compositions to Mexican matadors Carlos Azzuza, and Antonio Lomelin.

Over the years, Wilson was invited to be the guest conductor of a number of jazz orchestras, including The Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra (later to become The Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra of New York), The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble and European Radio Orchestra, and the BBC Big Band. In the 1970s he cohosted a show on KBCZ in Los Angeles where he played music of the past, present and the future. Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra performed Wilson’s music in 2006, with Wilson conducting.

He once explained in an interview, that his conducting “…Is different than any style you’ve ever seen before. I move, I choreograph the music as I conduct. I point it out, everything you’re [meant] to listen to.” To see him conduct was to understand Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00pm and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

his comment, because his movements and grace as he conducted, reinforced it. His long white mane became as animated as his arms and body, as he coaxed his musicians on. His well-tailored suits, energy, and showmanship, never got in the way of the music. Wilson knew how to get your attention.

Not one to rest on his extensive resume, Wilson entered academia and taught at California State University in Los Angeles, and the University of California (also in L.A.), Northridge, and Cal Tech.

In 2009 Wilson conducted his eight-movement suite, “Detroit,” commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival to mark its 30th anniversary. The work included a movement titled “Cass Tech,” in honor of his high school alma mater.

Wilson’s last recording was the Grammy-nominated Legacy. Gerald Stanley Wilson passed away at his home in Los Angeles, California, on September 8, 2014. He was 96. n W W W. fA C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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FOODIE FILE

A.d. Amorosi

Andrew Masciangelo

avona’s soul just got a little brighter

Salt Roasted Beets with Toasted Pistachio and Goat Ricotta. Photo ©Reese Amorosi

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Grilled Shrimp with Pancetta.

Photo ©Reese Amorosi

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WHEN SAVONA—THE DARKLY elegant, white linen restaurant in Gulph Mills, named for a town along the Italian Riviera—announced in July it would close through October, its patrons asked, “Why?” Open for 19 years by then, the 18th-century, fieldstone property on the Main Line was a mainstay for regulars who liked the familiarity of its wine lounge, four-star service and opulent farm-to-table fare like Scottish salmon, chichi beans and escarole, Under Brick chicken, and Veal Milanese from chef/co-owner Andrew Masciangelo’s kitchen.

Why fix what wasn’t broken. Still, co-owner Evan Lambert wanted a do-over as that area’s restaurant scene—to say nothing of downtown Philly—presents the challenge of a charged-up culinary environment. Plus, Masciangelo desired a new charcoal oven for casual items such as “spiedini” (skewers) of line-caught swordfish and Kobe flat iron steak. So, Savona got its remake and remodel, inside and out, and the new(er) Savona remains an intimate dining environment, only bigger and lighter in color and culinary palates; its fine-dining menu merged with its casual list for something chic but fun, sophisticated but comfortable.

Knock down a few walls, expand the window-lined restaurant (including sightlines into the kitchen) and the entire building blossoms in daytime, that plays well with the new landscaping; at night it feels as if you’re floating in space, especially with the addition of blond wood—handmade Bally Block tables—and heather gray accents throughout the winding dining room and bar area. Yes, the marble bar remains with an expanded patio dining space. That just means there’s more room to enjoy a heady cocktail (or four) of an aromatic Lemon Basil martini (with St. Germain) or the seasonably moody Winter Burr Solstice Gin, Bauchant Cognac and thyme. There’s also sommelier Michele Konopi’s 1,200 selections—the largest wine list in Pennsylvania—with which to contend.

Being able to now order from Savona’s two menus—lighter bistro fare like thin crust wood-fired pizza of slab bacon, roasted peppers and arugula, or a small plate crudo raw fish specialty such as Lemon-Lime Striped Bass with sweet potato; grander fare like the sweetly musky Colorado Lamb Rack is as expansive as opening Savona’s wall space. With a menu of nine categories (starting with blackboard specials of cured meats and rare cheeses to a hearty wood fired hearty finale of items such as American Red Snapper or Colorado Lamb Rack) it’s a tough call to focus, so I roamed the terrain.

The Five Second Tuna Crudo with crispy shaved scallion, radishes and Calabrian chili, along with a plate of fresh, lightly battered Fritto Misto was a filling, tangy start.

Polish that grouping with earthy salt-roasted beets with creamy goat ricotta, toasted pistachios and watermelon salsa, and the balance of earth, water, salt and sour is divine.

Savona’s pasta dishes, hand drawn on an old school guitar-string like Arcobaleno—such as the spicy Shrimp Chitarra and the creamy, reggiano-rich Veal Tortelloni—bring music to your taste buds, especially with the zest of the San Marzano tomato against the heat of the shrimp.

Savona’s meaty lamb rack Alla Griglia, the silken Branzino, both served with a generous, savory olive tapenade side and pole beans was tough to fit after the sumptuous display before it, but I happily managed.

Anyone who loved the several versions of the old Savona will be pleased with the subtle but solidly vivid changes to their favorite restaurant. Like a great concert, the old hits get savored while the new tunes play loud and proud. n

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22 PAT METHENY

Why’s that?

His is just a great band, a great trio. Those guys have played a lot together over a long period of time and you can really hear that. Individually, they’re all interesting and amazing musicians. I really love that band.

You said something in an interview about one of the big models for what you do live—or seek to do live— would be the Sonny Rollins trio records from the Village Vanguard. Why? Sonny has always been huge for me. And that record in particular has been a touchstone for trio playing for everyone. Somehow what he got to on those evenings was a real crystalization of that vortex on the X/Y grid where his concept of compositional development in improvisation met the best kind of spontaneous abandon that is symptomatic of the best music in this general area in an iconic kind of way. I could listen to those records forever and feel like every time I heard them they would be new.

You kept Antonio Sanchez but brought in Linda Oh and Gwilym Simcock for your next set of shows. Why keep him, and how did Oh and Simcock speak to you— or speak to the vibe of songs that you wish to present?

This is a bit of an unusual thing for me. The standard thing for quite some years now has been to A) write some music, B) make a record, and C) do a tour thing. But I didn’t used to do it that way. When I started, I would often tour for a long time before I recorded the music. This time I decided I would find some favorite musicians that I knew could hang with me in the territory that I kind of inhabit at this point in time and sort of see where it goes. I’ve written a bunch of music for them, but we can also play everything of my thing along the way—in fact, they play it all great. So it is an exciting thing for me. I can’t ever say enough about Antonio. As I often say, he’s the drummer I thought would never be born. He has certainly been my most important collaborator over these past 15 years or so. I feel like he can contribute to almost any project I launch. And again, his personal maturity and lack of personal drama is a huge thing for me—he shows up to play every night. He’s one of the best musicians I‘ve ever known and is really one of the all time greats on his instrument. I love playing with Antonio.

Simcock has that Brad Mehldau touch, wouldn’t you say?

For about ten years now I’ve had my eye on Gwiylm.

He’s one of the most talented pianists to emerge in a long time in my opinion. And he shares something with another one of my favorite piano players, yes, Brad

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Mehldau, in that both he and Brad claim to have been very inspired to take up this music from hearing some of my records as young kids. Gwilym has a really deep understanding of what my thing invokes and requires. But beyond that, he’s just a fantastic overall musician. Piano is an odd instrument to me in general; I’ve always kind of preferred a very open environment where the melodies express the harmony in an intrinsic way. But with the right player and the right sensitivity, guitar and piano together can be a fantastic combination. With Antonio signed up and Gwilym, it was an interesting opportunity to explore who was out there to make it a quartet.

There’s a rare abundance of players right at the moment in NYC. I made it point to go out and check everyone out that I could play with, folks who’d been recommended to me.

After a pretty extensive search, Linda Oh really rose to the top as the best choice. She’s something special.

She has all the requisite skills—great time, deep harmonic knowledge and a great sound on the instrument and technique to spare—but there’s something else going on with her. She has a kind of presence as a musician that invites her listeners to follow the details of her story as she spins it. There’s a narrative depth to her soloing and her lines as she accompanies the musicians around her.

Additionally, like Gwilym—and Antonio, too, actually— she comes with a real deep knowledge of my thing from her early days as a musician. She told me she came of age listening to my trio record with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes, Question and Answer, and she really understands that area as well as the broad view of music that’s reflected in her own work, and all the bands she‘s played with around NYC. I’m really excited to have her join this group. I love playing with Linda.

Simcock has a deep classical background. Are you using it in the upcoming new live material and is that why you picked him?

I’m not a huge fan of the whole idea of “genre” or styles of music to start with. To me, music is one big universal thing. The musicians that I’ve admired the most are the ones who have a deep reservoir of knowledge and insight, not just about music, but about life in general, and are able to illuminate the things that they love in sound.

When it’s a musician who can do that on the spot, as an improviser, that is usually my favorite kind of player.

I assumed that you would say that “genre” thing.

Personally, I feel like I’m a musician in this broad sense first. All the subsets of the way music often gets talked about in terms of the words people use to describe it is basically just a cultural/political discussion that I’m really not that interested in. I’m interested in the

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spirit and sound of music itself. So, “classical background” by itself doesn’t register in particular one way or the other.

Linda Oh—this might seem like a weird question, but what does feminine energy bring to your music? It’s not often that I’ve heard or seen you play with women in your ensemble?

Actually, that’s an interesting question. There are many things I admire about Linda, and high on the list would be her honesty and personal authenticity. Her playing is a real reflection of exactly who she is, and included in that is the fact that she is a she. However, the way that manifests itself is not in the ways that one might think. There’s a fierceness to her that’s somehow connected to that aspect of who she is as much as some of the more routine thoughts about what that feminine quality might be.

How has the Orchestrion changed—if it has—how you approach an everyday set of six strings (albeit your custom-made ones) and do you have any plans for the instrument coming up soon?

A: I always say that had there been any remaining doubt about just how weird I actually am, that project put it to rest once and for all. Yes, I’m thinking of a new version of that at some point—I have now met the other seven wacky instrument inventors on the planet with super cool ideas. But probably not for another four or five years.

The first album by the Pat Metheny Group with all its members in tact, Watercolors, is 40 years old this month. How does that album speak to you now, about the growth in sound from your start to the present.. your level of sonic and physical camaraderie?

In many ways, my main occupation over all these years, even before being “a guitar player” has been that of bandleader. Coming up with a concept for a band or a project, finding and hiring the right people and then writing music for it, and finally getting it to become a viable live performing unit, have been the consistent elements of my focus, regardless of whatever context the music winds up in. Because I have also been the primary composer of the music that my various bands have played, I’ve always had specific needs to fill to get that particular set of music to sound the best that it can. In a lot of ways, I see the whole thing from Bright Size Life until now as one long trip, one long record, one long composition, with a varying cast of characters that come and go to create a kind of exposition on the evolution of the basic premise that I laid out a long time ago on that first record. n

harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

Riding Disney World’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad helps people pass kidney stones, and approximately 100 million opioid pills prescribed each year for wisdom tooth extraction in the United States are not used by the intended patients. Opioid addicts consider baby faces cute only after being given opioid antagonists. The sight of infant tears is more stimulating to childless women than the sight of adult tears.

Twenty-one percent of straight American men view gay porn, and 55 percent of gay American men view straight porn. Engineers tested a new pornography detector that employs Bags of Visual Words. The Ugly Friend Effect was verified. The illusion of possessing a fat body triggers dissatisfaction activity in the insula. Psychological analysis revealed that typical themes in writing about vaginal steam treatments include “the naturally deteriorating, dirty female body” and “vaginal steaming for life optimization.” Great apes understand that others can have false beliefs. On a scale of 0 to 8, humans rate the minds of dogs 7.04, the minds of chickens 4.23, and the minds of shrimps 1.41. Mammals with longer yawns have bigger brains. The sensation of boredom is mild in negative valence and low in arousal. Studies of the effect of soothing or stressful stimuli on the eye wrinkles of horses remained inconclusive.

Portion of TSA funding that is spent on surface transportation: 1/50 Percentage by which U.S. railway fatalities outnumbered aviation fatalities last year: 78 Percentage change since 2014 in the number of U.S. railway workers who have tested positive for drug use: +43 Number of states in which it is legal to text while driving: 4 In which a texting ban has been shown to decrease accidents: 0 Portion of global traffic deaths that occur in low- or middle-income countries: 9/10 Number of U.S. states in which the poverty rate increased last year: 0 Factor by which a teacher in a low-minority school is more likely to be certified than one in a“high-minority school : 4 Number of San Francisco homes for sale in September that were affordable on the average local teacher’s salary: 1 Rank of Colin Kaepernick, a black quarterback who protested the national anthem, among black Americans’ favorite NFL players: 5 Among white Americans’ least liked players: 1 Length, in miles, of a pipeline built in Bruges, Belgium, to funnel beer from a brewery to a bottling center: 2 Factor by which the extent of marine protected areas has increased since 2003: 8.25 Percentage of the world’s oceans that remains unprotected: 96 Number of species that scientists have named after Barack Obama: 7 After the four previous U.S. presidents combined: 2 Estimated number of official local-government mascots in Japan: 4,000 Estimated number of North Koreans who are forced to work abroad in order to earn hard currency: 50,000 Average portion of their earnings they are allowed to keep: 1/3 Portion of Americans who have worked as independent contractors who would not do so again: 2/3 Portion of U.S. workers who believe strongly in their company’s values: 1/4 Percentage of Americans who turn first to Amazon.com when online shopping: 55 Employees Wells Fargo has fired since 2011 for signing up customers for accounts without their consent: 5,300 Chance that an actively managed U.S. mutual fund beat the market over the past year: 1 in 10 Number of successive years in which average out-of-network ATM fees in the United States have increased: 10 SEC awarded an ex-Monsanto employee in August for whistle-blowing about accounting practices: $22,437,800 Weeks in solitary confinement to which Chelsea Manning was sentenced after attempting suicide in July: 2 Number of U.S. states in which it is legal to sentence a minor to life in prison without parole: 31 Percentage of Americans who support the death penalty for convicted murderers: 49 Last year in which U.S. support for the death penalty was less than 50 percent: 1971 Number of countries that the United States bombed over a three-day period in September: 6 Percentage of direct U.S. military aid that will go to Israel next year: 54 Amount the State Department has distributed since July in Holocaust reparations to U.S. citizens: $9,688,500 Estimated total value of religious institutions in the United States: $1,200,000,000,000 Portion of Americans who believe that people can be supernaturally healed: 2/3 Who claim to have experienced such healing personally: 1/4 Percentage of users on Polygamy.com, a website that facilitates polygamous marriage, who are women: 55 Percentage change in Playboy’s newsstand sales since it excluded nudity in March: +28 In subscriptions: –23

9

Cocaine accumulates in the eyes of zebrafish, low consumption of fish oil may contribute to depression among returning U.S. soldiers, and a Taiwanese soldier on sentry duty was described as suffering from sleep-masturbation. China’s State Food and Drug Administration announced that 80 percent of drug-trial data it receives is fraudulent.

Machiavellian Dutch scientists admit to higher levels of research misbehavior, but narcissistic and psychopathic ones do not. Dutch criminals tend to intermarry. Californians living in proximity to murders commit fewer suicides. Rapes occur more often in U.S. counties with fewer men. Lionesses in Botswana have grown manes and started roaring and mounting other females. Social media was fueling the Gulf States’ desire for pet cheetahs.

Scientists found a new species of neotropical ant by inducing a little devil frog to vomit.

Cinnamon cools the stomachs of pigs by up to 3.6º F. An Australian woman’s gastric hair ball failed to dissolve after doctors prescribed a three-day course of Coca-Cola. Warming, acidifying oceans will increase the claw size of male Cymadusa pemptos, making them more attractive to females and contributing to a twenty-fold population increase. Living on the tails of sea turtles turns Columbus crabs monogamous. Male dark fishing spiders are not killed by females during copulation but instead die spontaneously. A virus was found to have stolen the gene for black-widow venom.

9

Sleep paralysis in southeast Brazil manifests as a long-nailed crone who tramples sleepers with full bellies. The robot security force at a Palo Alto mall remained suspended while one of its officers was under investigation for trampling a toddler outside an Armani Exchange. A study of California and U.K. police found that body cameras led to a 93 percent reduction in civilian complaints, possibly because of a contagion of accountability.

Black children in Alabama and Mississippi and disabled children across the Southeast are 50 percent likelier to receive corporal punishment in school. After imagining losing a fight, men prefer allies who look dominant and masculine, while women prefer allies who look comforting. A survey of sixty-three countries found Ecuador to be the most empathetic and Lithuania to be the least. Americans’ greatest fear is political corruption. Pigeon flocks replace leaders who have lost their sense of direction. Analysis of popular music revealed 2011 as the year of peak YOLO.

soUrces: 1 transportation security Administration (Arlington, va.); 2 national transportation safety board; 3 federal railroad Administration; 4,5 insurance institute for highway safety (Arlington, va.); 6 World health organization (geneva); 7 U.s. census bureau (suitland, md.); 8 learning policy institute (palo Alto, calif.); 9 redfin (seattle); 10,11 e-poll market research (ventura, calif.); 12 halve maan (bruges, belgium); 13,14 international Union for conservation of nature (gland, switzerland); 15,16 harper’s research; 17 mitsubishi UfJ research and consulting (tokyo); 18,19 database center for north korean human rights (seoul, south korea); 20 deloitte (chicago); 21 gallup (omaha, neb.); 22 bloomreach (mountain view, calif.); 23 Wells fargo (charlotte, n.c.); 24 s&p dow Jones indices (n.y.c.); 25 bankrate (n.y.c.); 26 meissner Associates (n.y.c.); 27 American civil liberties Union (n.y.c.); 28 the sentencing project (Washington); 29 pew research center (Washington); 30 gallup (Washington); 31 U.s. department of defense; 32,33 U.s. department of state; 34 brian J. grim, georgetown University (Washington); 35,36 barna group (n.y.c.); 37 polygamy.com (dubai, United Arab emirates); 38,39 playboy enterprises, inc. (beverly hills, calif.).

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

DINE OUT

By Paul Coulter

1 8 11 14 18 20 22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 34 35 44 45 46 47 48 50 54 55 58 62 64 66 67 68

73 76 77 78 81 85 87 89

90 92 94 98 99 100 105 38

ACROSS Get hot online Slithery squeezer San Francisco / Oakland separator Signature Southern vegetable Treeless tract High esteem Motley Basis for evaluating an archaeology dig?

“Goodness gracious!”

“Wide Sargasso Sea” author Jean Chain founded by Ingvar Kamprad 2016 A.L. Manager of the Year Francona, familiarly Heartthrob Medicare segment As to Called the shots Warning to Bo Peep that her sheep are really hiding nearby?

“The Sage of Concord” Romeo or Juliet South of France Holds firmly Dilates Times for vespers Knock for a loop Schleps “When leaving the beach, hose off your feet before putting on your shoes”?

Jiffs Slip cover Yorkshire river Bygone bird Must choose among less volatile investment options?

Bossy remark?

Wine center NNE of Monaco Flaw-spotting aid Canterbury’s county Infant dressed for rain?

Bas-relief medium Dashed Cavaradossi’s “Recondita armonia,” for one Cooper’s creations Green need Bring in Where Java may be found Before Have a good day birding?

Pitcher’s pride

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106 107 108 110 113 114 118 119 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 21 24 29 30 31

33 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 48

49

Meh Breaks Nursing a sprain, perhaps “Good going!”

Stunned accusation Come together Fever with chills Paragraph in a lemon law?

Needle holder Espionage asset More frothy River to the Fulda It’s used for some trips WWII venue __ step: deceptive hoops tactic DOWN Attendee Moonfish Darned Quaint stopovers Italian counterpart of the BBC Prince Valiant’s son Shackle Onetime California oil town “__ the fields we go” Kind of prof.

Marching orders?

Radar or laser Accountant’s initialism European automaker that was originally a sewing machine company Rwanda’s capital Didn’t just criticize Put on Invite for Honor society leader?

Reach a high Clan clash “Hey ... over here!” “__ good name is ne’er retriev’d”: John Gay King of France “His,” to Bierce Gives off Variety show Soak “Yea, verily” Outlaw Kelly Thug’s thousands “The King and I” role City on the Dnieper Winning Super Bowl III coach Ewbank Busybodies

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51 52 53 56 57 59 60 61 63 65 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 79 80 82 83 84 86 88 91 93 95 96 97 99 100 101

Get-up-and-go “Foucault’s Pendulum” author Yellow __ Start of a tribute Pride and prejudice Fools Faulkner’s “__ Lay Dying” Card collection Car from Trollhättan NBC show since 1975 After-dinner drink letters Literary fold Third of seven: Abbr.

“Fine” holder of fish?

Wharton deg.

Crew member Kimono closer Away from the office In a tough spot It’s a long story South Dakota, to Pierre Pizzazz Eyeball-bending work Drops the ball Go (for) 1999 “A God in Ruins” novelist Go around in circles?

It’s south of Eur. Small change Gushes Standoffish Protected, as from prosecution

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Put up with Art Deco artist Scatterbrained Slack-jawed House of Lords member Balancing pro Agatha contemporary Bounce back

114 115 116 117 119 120 121 122

Nicky of “Boston Public” Jour’s opposite “Got it” Amer. Samoa, e.g.

ISP alternative Polo Grounds legend Be-bopper The Tigers of the SEC

Answer to December’s puzzle, LEND ME YOUR EARS

agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES Aoy Art center 6th Annual Juried show. entry online, deadline: february 28, 2017. exhibition dates: April 1 to 23, 2017. reception: march 31, 69pm. Artists of yardley Art center 949 mirror lake rd, yardley.

Juror: Alice oh. cash prizes: $1000, $500 and $250. sponsor: stark and stark Attorneys At law. see prospectus: artistsofyardley.org

FINE ART thrU 1/7 natural philosophy, curated by paul nicholson. martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, muhlenberg college, 2400 chew street Allentown pA. 484-664-3467. muhlenberg.edu thrU 1/22 Warren rohrer, the language of mark making. Allentown Art museum of the lehigh valley, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org thrU 1/22 rural modern: American Art beyond the city, explores the adaptation of modernist styles to subject matter associated with the American countryside. brandywine river museum of Art, route 1, chadds ford, pA. 610388-2700. brandywine.org/museum thrU 1/29 thomas eakins: photographer. thomas eakins' early adoption of the new art and science of photography changed his career, and the course of American figurative art. pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts, richard c. von hess foundation Works on paper gallery, historic landmark building, 118-128 north broad st., philadelphia, pA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org thrU 1/31 home for the holidays. group exhibition. open house weekend, dec.

10th & 11th, 1-5pm. silverman gallery of bucks county impressionist Art. buckingham green, rt. 202, just south of new hope. 4920 york road, holicong, pA 18928. 215-7944300. silvermangallery.com thrU 2/5/2017

greetings: holiday cards by Artists.

Allentown Art museum of the lehigh valley, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org

leries, easton, pA. 610-330-5361. galleries.lafayette.edu

thrU 2/5 Allentown x 7, photographic explorations. Allentown Art museum of the lehigh valley, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org

1/13 -1/15 the island by Allentown public theatre. the human spirit that conquered apartheid still lives. 1/13 & 1/14 at 8pm, and 1/15 at 2pm. the icehouse, 56 river st., bethlehem. pay-what-you-will. 888-895-5645. allentownpublictheatre.com.

thrU 2/5 A big story. An exhibition at pAfA devoted to work by selected American artists and illustrators. pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts, samuel m.v. hamilton building, 118-128 north broad st., philadelphia, pA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org thrU 2/11 cold Weather, Warm Art. river Queen Artisans gallery features the work of local emerging and established artists, including paintings, prints, digital art, photography, and more. opening reception 12/4, 3-6 8 church st., lambertville, nJ. 609-3972977. riverQueenArtisans.com thrU 3/5 melt/carve/forge: embodied sculptures by cassils. pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts, morris gallery, historic landmark building, 118-128 north broad st., philadelphia, pA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org thrU 3/28 Anthony viscardi, shadow landings.

Allentown Art museum of the lehigh valley, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org thrU 4/9 World War i and American Art. the first major exhibition devoted to exploring the ways in which American artists reacted to the first World War. pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts, fisher brooks gallery, samuel m.v. hamilton building, 118128 north broad st., philadelphia, pA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org 215-5459298 sketchclub.org 1/3-1/29 paradox, charles stonewall photographs. lafayette college Art gal-

THEATER / DANCE

1/24 42nd street, 7:30 pm. Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., bethlehem, pA. free event parking attached to center.

610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org 1/26 fran lebowitz, 8 pm. state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999-stAte. statetheatre.org 1/28 familly series live musical theater presents the berenstain bears live. family matters, the musical. 2:00 pm, miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715. millersymphonyhall.org 2/9-2/11 master choreographers, spectacular works by internationally acclaimed choreographers. muhlenberg college theatre & dance. 484-664-3333. muhlenberg.edu/dance 2/10-2/24 9 to 5, the musical. civic theatre of Allentown, Allentown, pA. 610-4328943. civictheatre.com 2/18 tanya tagaq, nanook of the north. A feracious live soundtrack to 1922’s nanook of the north. Williams center for the Arts, 317 hamilton st., easton, pA. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter.org 2/22-3/5 the crucible by Arthur miller. Act 1 performing Arts, desales University, labuda center for the performing Arts, 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1

2/24 taj express, the bollywood musical revue, 8 pm. Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., bethlehem, pA. free event parking attached to center. 610-758-2787.

Zoellnerartscenter.org

piano; cheryl bishkoff, oboe d'amore; robin kani, flute. Works by vivaldi, telemann, leclair, and bach. pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra, 3:00 p.m., Wesley church, 2540 center st., bethlehem, pA. 610-434-7811. pAsinfonia.org

CONCERTS

2/26 the bach choir of bethlehem bach festival orchestra family concert, w/mock turtle marionette theater presents the nightingale. Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., bethlehem.610-8664382, ext. 115/110. bach.org

1/13 the complete organ Works of J.s. bach, program 8, organist stephen Williams. 8:00 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 1/13 co-op bop. 7:30 pm, miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715. millersymphonyhall.org 1/21 on-stage cabaret, bria skonberg, trumpet & song. dinner and concert 6 pm, concert only 7 pm or 9 .

Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., bethlehem, pA. free event parking attached to center. 610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org 1/21 pops concert, Jim brickman, pure piano, with guest artists Anne cochran, vocals and tracy silverman, electric violin. 7:30 pm, miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715. millersymphonyhall.org 1/27 the complete organ Works of J.s. bach, program 9, organist stephen Williams. 8:00 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 1/28 essence of Joy. gospel choir from penn state University. Anthony leach, director. 7:30 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 1/29 Winter vivaldi. chamber ensemble with soloists father sean duggan,

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KESWICK THEATRE 291 n keswick Ave glenside, pennsylvania 215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com 1/15 1/16 1/19 1/21 1/25 1/26

sarah silverman sarah silverman decades rewind An evening with pat metheny kris kristofferson Adam Ant

MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 founders Way, bethlehem 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org 1/13 1/20 1/21

splintered sunlight the box tops eaglemania: World’s greatest eagles tribute band 1/25 marc broussard 1/28 the blues brotherhood 1/28 comedian myq kaplan 2/3 the stranger: billy Joel tribute EVENTS thrU 1/22 help restore franz kline’s mural. go to kickstarter.com & search “kline mural”. Allentown museum of Art, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org 1/16 martin luther king day celebration, 11-5, free. Art, poetry, live music and film. Allentown museum of Art, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org

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