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ICON
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Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com
Jonathan Price, Collecting Fates. Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery.
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ART 5
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Rapture
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EXHIBITIONS I Made in America: Industrial Photography from the Ungar Collection Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley First Annual Juried Show: A New Look Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery
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MUSIC 29 30
Brooke Lanier’s Exhibition: Theoretical and Concrete 32 | The Bazemore Gallery Landscape / Soundscape Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania Francis Picabia: Our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction 35 | The Museum of Modern Art
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La La Land My Life as a Zucchini
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FILM ROUNDUP
Front man of the Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne.
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Theater
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POP Upon Reconsideration
EXHIBITIONS II
ENTERTAINMENT
REEL NEWS Arrival Elle Paterson Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
Beyond the Dark River Queen Artisans Gallery
La La Land
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SINGER / SONGWRITER Guy Clark Wesley Stace Chuck Prophet Seela Josh Hyde JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Teenage Fanclub Weinberg/Baltica/Kremer Tift Merritt Bent Knee Glenn Zaleski JAZZ LIBRARY Benny Carter
ABOUT LIFE Thinking: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The List Agenda
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HARPER’S FINDINGS & INDEX
FOODIE FILE
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L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD
Games People Play
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Rob Allen
Kaitlyn Reed-Baker
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EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna
ON THE COVER: “With a Heart of Gold,” from Willie Cole: On-Site, Arthur Ross Gallery at The University of Pennsylvania, April 8 – July 2
scriptions are available for $40 (shipping & handling). ©2017 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.
essAy And pAinting by robert beck
art
RAPTURE THAT BOX TURTLE IS raising an orphan polar bear! It’s the best thing I will see today! I’ll watch until the end! I will believe what happens next! It’s going to amaze me! I won’t ignore these five symptoms! I’ll find out what snack food I am! I will eliminate the stabbing pain of neuropathy! I’ll earn big with only a tiny investment! I will avoid these five desserts that cause brain cancer! I’ll take an extra 25%! I won’t ever need to exercise again by using these three weird tricks! I will buy now and save! I’ll do this simple thing just once a day and lose belly fat! I will find women in my area who are looking for men like me! I’ll discover the four things my doctor doesn’t want me to know! I’m getting Donald Trump’s secret intelligence booster! Well, maybe I’ll skip that. I’ll get the key to beating dementia instead! I will lose three dress sizes! I’ll calculate how much my timeshare is worth! I will have 20/20 vision! I’ll finally get pants that will change my life! I’m going to refinance! I’ll relieve the discomfort in my hands, feet and legs! I will find out how Jessica Simpson lost 20 pounds! I’m reversing my hearing loss! I’ll get a second one free! I’ll claim my Federal rebate! I will rock out with perfect wine accessories! I’ll get a healthy head start! I’m going to save on summer camp registration! Free shipping! I will never eat these seven foods! I’ll get up to 60% off the most trusted name in value electronics! I will learn the real truth about cellulite! I’ll do more with this winter effect matrix mini-bundle, whatever that means! I’m going to remove pizza stains in minutes! I won’t die of a heart attack TODAY! I’ll save big on processing! I will boost my T-level and intensify my game in the gym and in the bedroom! I will take advantage of a limited time offer! I’ll find out why Warren Buffet likes Apple (AAPL)! I will stop the annoying buzzing permanently! I’ll save NOW on top-of-the-line appliances! I will find out my non-surgical treatment options! I’ll get a last-minute deal! I’m going to save the life of a dog by purchasing a Tshirt! No, maybe a hat. Can’t decide. I’ll earn up to 7,000 bonus points! I’ll start on my road to retirement! I’m getting a free digital issue! I will learn from top business professionals! I’ll join the pricecut insanity! I’ll take the test! I will relive my favorite mo-
ments! I’m going to find out how Ellen did it! I’ll receive an unclaimed Nigerian bank transfer! I will make use of my pre-qualification! The solution to coating, restoring, and protecting any surface is right at my fingertips, and I’ll have it! I’ll get a card that is accepted in more places! I’ll take advantage of a strong anti-inflammatory effect! I will crack the lottery code! I’m going to look younger! I will confirm my records! I’ll learn the four warning signs of a FATAL stroke—or was it a heart attack? No matter, I’ll find out and be safe! I’m receiving a $100 credit to get started! I will safeguard my pets from indoor allergies! I’ll learn ten easy ways to get organized! Number three will leave me speechless! I’ll buy one of the most important healing substances available! I will take an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime expedition! I’ll save 82% on energy! I will treat myself to luxurious bedroom linens! I won’t have to be tired
of flying economy anymore! I’ll uncover the real reason my skin is aging! That picture over here on the right—is that George Clooney? I’ll find out what that’s about! These awesome cleaning hacks will amaze me! I will learn to create a mobile responsive email! I’m going to supercharge my metabolism! I’ll love this offer! I’m going to join a women’s network! I will start reversing high blood pressure today! I won’t pay full price! I’ll uncover the dirty little fish oil secret! I will compare! I’m going to leave the grid! I will find a jet charter! I’ll read about the dangers of infected toenails! I will have a virtual reality experience that everyone needs to try! I’m getting a mortgage that’s right for me! I’m going to re-grow my own hair in weeks! I’ll fall in love all over again! It will be SO SATISFYING that I’ll think I’m dreaming! I will click to see more. n
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EXHIBITIONS I
Kristen Pell “Sun and Snow” 12x12 Oil on Canvas
Jacques Lowe (American, 1930–2001), Bethlehem Steel Construction Worker, ca. 1960, vintage gelatin silver print. Allentown Art Museum, gift of Jon and Nicky Ungar, 2015
Made in America: Industrial Photography from the Ungar Collection Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 31 N. Fifth St., Allentown, PA 610-432-4333 AllentownArtMuseum.org Through May 14 In the mid-twentieth century American industry was so powerful that it created demand for a new kind of artist: the industrial photographer. Often hired for commercial work, these artists used the camera to express the optimism and prosperity many associated with the country’s booming industrial sector. This exhibition features the work of photojournalists Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Coster, Jacques Lowe, and Flip Schulke; advertising photographer Edward Quigley; and fine art photographer William Witt. Some of their industrial photographs appeared in magazines such as Life (1936–2007) or Fortune (1930–), which regularly ran stories on factories and invested in quality photography. Others were corporate commissions: beginning in the 1930s, American companies used this kind of exciting imagery not only for advertisements, but also to add visual punch to their annual reports and employee magazines. This exhibition highlights 42 selections from the recent gift of 160 photographs donated to the Museum by Jon and Nicky Ungar.
First Annual Juried Show: A New Look Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 610-419-6262 Bethlehemhousegallery.com Through April 8 Reception 4/8, 6-9 PM
Beyond the Dark River Queen Artisans Gallery 8 Church St., Lambertville, NJ 609-397-2977 Riverqueenartisans.com Open Thursday through Monday Through April 15
Bethlehem House Gallery, a contemporary art gallery providing innovative art in a variety of contemporary styles, announces their First Annual Juried Show: A New Look. Regional, emerging artists under the age of thirty submitted artwork to be considered for the Juried Show. All selected artwork is original, completed within the last three years, and previously not exhibited at Bethlehem House Gallery. The Juried Show seeks to bring a fresh perspective of contemporary art to the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.
Beyond the Dark introduces work from local glitch artist Phillip McConnell, as well as new work from our more than thirty local artists. Glitch art traces it’s roots back to the Dada movement of the early 20th century. The Dada movement “consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works.” McConnell describes glitch art as the aestheticization of digital or analog errors, such as artifacts and “bugs,” by corrupting digital data or physically manipulating electronic devices. As a sort of digital alchemy he blends photography and graphic design with data bending. Photo montage is another art form which traces it’s roots back to the Dada movement. River Queen Artisans Gallery proudly shows work from several artists who use digital technology to produce photo montages, including Darlene Foster, Rodney Miller and Guy Ciarcia.
Ben Hoffman “Untitled” 30x48 Oil on Canvas
Michael Lebson “Black Blocks” 30x40Acrylic on Canvas
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“Echoes of the Sunrise,” Guy Ciarcia
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“Runaway,” Glitch Art on canvas by Phillip McConnell
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EXHIBITIONS II
Jerry Uelsmann, “Navigation Without Numbers,” 1971, photomontage, 11.25” x 10.25”
“Ideas About Mountains and Valleys”
Brooke Lanier’s Exhibition: Theoretical and Concrete The Bazemore Gallery 4339 Main Street, Manayunk, PA Hours: Wed.–Sun. 12–7 pm March 5 through April 2 Brooke draws inspiration from Japanese and Chinese landscape paintings to inform the theoretical section of the exhibit. Those cultures believe that a proper landscape must include mountains and water to balance the passive and active elements of the land. Her mountains have an ethereal, chimerical quality defying the real. The concrete is represented by paintings composed of brick dust among other media, which Brooke has foraged from forgotten and deserted building in Fishtown. After shattering them she crushes the bits with a mortar and pestle and sorts the pigments by color that range from peach to purple, russet to chocolate. Brooke Lanier earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art, where she spent her first year studying in Rome, Italy. She also holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited her work in Prague, Rome, New York, and Philadelphia and across the U.S.
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At the core of the exhibition Landscape / Soundscape, landscape photographs from Penn’s University Art Collection are paired with commissioned soundscape compositions. The resulting installations explore the photograph’s capacity to visually convey a sense of sound—musical, natural elements, urban rhythms, or otherwise. The installations also offer opportunity for sound art to complement and alter one’s perception of a photographic landscape. Within the context of the exhibition, landscape is used in its broadest sense, from sweeping natural landscapes to cityscapes to abstractions. Likewise, the corresponding soundscapes are commissioned from a broad spectrum of sound artists and musicians, from those working with field recordings and electronics to noted instrumental performers. Landscape / Soundscape, is curated by Heather Gibson Moqtaderi, Associate Curator & Collections Manager for the University Art Collection, with Collaborative Curator of Sound Eugene Lew. This is the sixth in the series of collaborative exhibitions between Penn’s Office of the Curator and the Arthur Ross Gallery.
Elliott Erwitt, Mies van der Rohe Building, Chicago, 1969, silver gelatin print, 12” x 18”
“Signs”
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Francis Picabia, “Aello,” 1930. Oil on canvas, 66 9/16 × 66 9/16. Private collection
Francis Picabia: Our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction The Museum of Modern Art 11 W. 53rd Street, New York City moma.org Through March 19 Francis Picabia: Our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction is a comprehensive survey of Picabia’s audacious, irreverent, and profoundly influential work across mediums. This will be the first exhibition in the United States to chart his entire career. Among the great modern artists of the past century, Francis Picabia (French, 1879–1953) also remains one of the most elusive. He vigorously avoided any singular style, and his work encompassed painting, poetry, publishing, performance and film. Though he is best known as one of the leaders of the Dada movement, his career ranged widely—and wildly—from Impressionism to radical abstraction, from Dadaist provocation to pseudo-classicism, and from photo-based realism to art informel. Picabia’s consistent inconsistencies, his appropriative strategies, and his stylistic eclecticism, along with his skeptical attitude, make him especially relevant for contemporary artists, and his career as a whole challenges familiar narratives of the avant-garde. Francis Picabia features over 200 works, including some 125 paintings, key works on paper, periodicals and printed matter, illustrated letters, and one film. The exhibition aims to advance the understanding of Picabia’s relentless shape-shifting, and how his persistent questioning of the meaning and purpose of art ensured his iconoclastic legacy’s lasting influence. Watch curator Anne Umland tour the exhibition with artists Peter Fischli and Rashid Johnson (on Facebook Live) and with artist Lisa Yuskavage (on YouTube Live).
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Pints, Pounds & Pilgrims. Crowded Kitchen Players present a St. Patrick’s trick-ortreat: a revival of its 2016 comedy about an Irish island invaded by a terrible Irish tragedy from an English ensemble and an awful bedroom farce from an American dinner-theater troupe. Writer/director Ara Barlieb, a Crowded Kitchen founder, juggles a baby sold for a drug fix, a cuckolded transgender spouse, a dictator director and a Marx Brothers/Monty Python/Mel Brooks climax where rival actors ruin each other’s scenes. The play was inspired by his and Pamela Wallace’s documentary about the Theatre Outlet debut of Crackskull Row, a fiercely funny, robustly dark comedy by Allentown native Honor Molloy, in 2000 on the Irish island of Inishbofin. Pints, Pounds & Pilgrims runs March 10-19 at the Unicorn Theatre in Catasauqua. In a neat coincidence, the second New York production of Crackskull in a year runs through March 19 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in Manhattan.
Informed Consent. It’s unsettling to see a play bomb, but The Lantern Theatre’s latest offering didn’t deliver. In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s play, Jillian (Kittson O’Neill) is a wellmeaning geneticist who visits a Native American tribe in the Grand Canyon to find out why so many of its members are dying. After an exhaustive appeal to the tribe for blood samples, Jillian experiences its outrage when it realizes that the research runs contrary to their sacred beliefs. Jillian’s passion to find a cure is intensified because of her own genetic time bomb: Alzheimer’s. The play’s two-stream narrative is broken into montage segments reminiscent of a film by Jean Luc Godard. Directed by Kathryn Macmillan, the acting is impeccable; the best parts are the exchanges between Arella (Samantha Bowling), the native spokeswoman and Jillian. Unfortunately, the over-intellectualized script and the stage placement of the characters at odd angles to one another produces an effect that borders on annoying. Laufer writes that the play makes us “ask questions that we’ve never asked before,” although that seems like more of a wish on the playwright’s part than reality. Look for The Lantern’s production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet and Bruce Graham’s The Craftsman later this year.
Les Miserables. Based on Victor Hugo’s sweeping, towering epic novel, this smash-hit musical tracks Jean Valjean, a peasant jailed for a charitable act who becomes a wealthy factory owner/mayor, the adoptive father of the daughter of a tragic ex-employee and the archenemy of Javert, a bloodhound police inspector whose life is saved by the very man he desperately wants behind bars forever. Winner of eight 1987 Tony awards, it’s been playing in London since 1985, making it a double epic. (Star of the Day Event Productions, March 17-19, McCoole’s Arts & Events Place, Quakertown) By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. The title character is an African-American who over 70 years evolves from the maid of a vain white actress to a charismatic character player in ’30s screwball comedies to an angry talk-show guest to a controversial cultural icon. Lynn Nottage found the germ of her play in Theresa Harris’s spunky, sly turn as Barbara Stanwyck’s maid-friend in the 1933 film Baby Face. Harris (1906-1985) later appeared in comic movies with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson,” such Val Lewton horror flicks as Cat People and the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, all the while lobbying for better parts for blacks. (March 23-26, Cedar Crest College)
Lost Girls. Theatre Exile presents John Pollono’s 90-minute black comedy about a foulmouthed, blue-collar American family. The gritty story opens with a mother and daughter cussing up a storm as a snowy nor’easter rages in their small New Hampshire town. Pollono’s portrait of this American working-class family—including Mom’s ex-husband and a vivacious born-again Christian—comes with many positives: his rough characters may live from paycheck-to-paycheck, but they always maintain their sense of humor. Directed by Joe Canuso, till March 13.
You Can’t Take It with You. This 80-year-young, gunpowder-explosive comedy revolves around a snake-raising, tax-evading grandfather and his equally eccentric relatives, including makers of candy and fireworks. They tussle hilariously with a tax investigator, a ballet teacher, a Russian duchess and federal agents who arrest the entire household on suspicion of sabotage. Co-authors Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, who owned neighboring farms in Bucks County, won the 1937 Pulitzer for drama and the 1938 Oscar for picture. In 1939 You Can’t Take It with You helped christen the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope. The 1941 Playhouse version of their play The Man Who Came to Dinner starred the writers and their pal Harpo Marx. (March 24-25, March 31-April 2, April 6-9, Pennsylvania Playhouse)
Ironbound. Simpatico Theatre has announced its 2017 season. Ironbound (March 2017) is about a Polish legal immigrant living in a small New Jersey town who struggles to improve her life in the United States. Directed by Harriet Power, this story of a cleaning lady’s (Julianna Zinkel) search for love and financial security in a man has a universal theme. Can such a thing happen in a world where equality in a relationship often means that couples maintain separate bank accounts? Ironbound got rave reviews when it opened in New York last year. This immigrant story might appear tame by today’s standards, especially when compared to ICE news stories of the deportation of those who have entered the country illegally.
Wig Out! Black drag queens from the House of Light in Harlem prepare for a midnight competition with a rival club/clan by rapping about grandmothers, lovers, costumes and wigs. Their mythic world is narrated by a funky Greek chorus called the Fates 3. Author/actor Tarell Alvin McCraney is a 36-year-old MacArthur Foundation fellow who has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue inspired the acclaimed film Moonlight, the recipient of the 2017 Golden Globe for drama. (March 30-April 2, Muhlenberg College) n — geoff gehmAn 10
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The Seagull. Directed by Lane Savadove, this EgoPo Classic Theater’s production of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece was so good it’s hard to understand why EgoPo doesn’t have its own theater on Broad Street. Productions of classic European and American plays are a rarity in Philadelphia. This story about the relationship between art and life has garnered brilliant reviews all over the city. Billed as part of EgoPo’s Russian Masters Festival (next on the agenda is Anna, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina), Savadove notes that “we are breaking metaphorical bread with our Russian cohorts by honoring their incredible theater.” Paul Schmidt’s translation gives The Seagull a smoothly conversational and contemporary feel. This play within a play is the story of Trigorin, a writer (Ed Swidey), and a young playwright, Konstantin (Andrew Carroll), who has not yet found his voice as an artist and who is trying to get out from under the shadow of his overpowering mother.
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Having Our Say. This standing ovation-generated Philadelphia Theatre Company’s production introduced audiences to Miss Sadie Delany (Perri Gaffney) and Dr. Bessie Delany (Cherene Snow), black sister centenarians who lived through the Jim Crow era. Although the women had different political opinions, they managed to respect one another even when their ideas clashed. Both ladies might be called role models for getting along in today’s current political climate. n — thom nickels
cUrAted by A.d. Amorosi
MARCH the list
4 VICTOR WOOTEN
10, 11 LEWIS BLACK
Wow, another bassist—this time, illustrious in the contemporary jazz/world genre—does
The angriest, red-faced, smartest essayer of political culture we have at present tackles the Jersey casino town. (Borgata)
11 STING As Sting hasn’t done anything….rock… since 2003’s Sacred Love (and even that was R&B), his new album 57th & 9th is a welcome return to form. (Fillmore)
14 DEVENDRA BANHART The only artist more Tropicalia-folk-weird psychedelia than David Byrne and Paul Simon is Banhart, the one-time living-in-a-
16–18 CHRIS KATAAN The one-time Saturday Night Live sketch
And rowdy country music? Attend. (Keswick)
comedian tries his hand at stand up. (Punch Linhe Philly)
24–26 GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD
16–18 MARTHA GRAHAM CRACKER IN LASHED BUT NOT LEASHED The Pig Iron Theater co-creator’s soulful singing drag alter-ego expands his/her range into original compositions and more weightily serious world matters (and library science) with this studious musical. (SEI Innovation Studio/Kimmel)
17, 18 GABRIELLE STRAVELLI The New York Times says that this bearer of standard song’s “emotional intelligence coincides with a phenomenal voice that she
his thing on the other side of the suburbs. (Ardmore Music Hall)
31 CHARLIE WILSON WITH FANTASIA AND JOHNNY GILL
10 STRAND OF OAKS car hippie who expanded his poetic and sonic palette on his absurdist new album, Ape in Pink Marble. (Union Transfer)
wields with an easygoing confidence and impeccable taste.” Get out. Check into her new album, Drea Ago, and this intimate Dino’s cabaret for proof. (Dino’s Backstage)
10 AN EVENING WITH LINDA RONSTADT Reading and discussing her new memoir, Simple Dreams, is quite an event considering that Ronstadt, a legend of rock, pop and vocal
The daughter of The Band’s late Levon Helm has created her own rusty butt Americanabased aesthetic, and travels long and hard to prove it—at least a three-date MilkBoy residency hard. (MilkBoy Philly at 10th and Chestnut)
15, 16 MAGNETIC FIELDS: 50 SONG MEMOIR The Sondheim of the 21st Century, Stephin Merrit, and his band tackle 50 years of this
This is a handsome gathering of scratchy souls, old school and new school so enjoy the progression. (Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City)
31 BON JOVI The other New Jersey white meat seems ripe for vintage hair metal rocking without
15, 22, 29 AMY HELM Rustic, intimate folk-jazz’s finest newcomer has a recent album, The Order of Time, that expands the holy rolling tones of her past with grander arrangements. (Trocadero)
Still coasting on the smarts and success of Summertime '06, the wise young Los Angeles/Oakland rapper is due for new music on the heels of these up-coming concerts. (Union Transfer)
Never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but go for Richie as he’s outrun his MOR soul past to becoe an emeritus of rich R&B. Carey not so much. (Wells Fargo Center)
While Dead & Co sail on again this summer without their late, fearless leader, one of Jerry’s other solo bands, the JGB as fronted by funky jazz organist Melvin Seals, go on its long strange trip. (Ardmore Music Hall)
10 VALERIE JUNE
27 VINCE STAPLES
28 LIONEL RICHIE AND MARIAH CAREY
9 JERRY GARCIA BAND ORGANIST MELVIN SEALS & JGB
The toast of Philadelphia’s post-Springsteenian big rock emotionalism, Strand of Oaks’ Tim Showalter amazed and angsts-out with a new album, Hard Love. (Union Transfer)
First off, they’re the first couple of mainstream country who rarely tour the East Coast—if at all. On top of everything else, the demand for tickets was so strong that there is a matinee show on Saturday the 25th. A MATINEE! I haven’t seen one of those in ages. (Wells Fargo Center)
17, 18 BEN DIBBLE Known citywide for his theater performances in Harvey, Frog & Toad, Assassins and more, Dibble takes a piano break for his first small combo concert. (Arden Theater Cabaret)
18 SUNN O))) The absolute kings of drone doom metal return with gloomy-Gus material from Soused. (Union Transfer)
18 DAVE ATTELL & JEFF ROSS The roast host of Comedy Central and one of stand-up’s grungiest voices pair up for an evening of un-merriment and bad taste. (Borgata)
19 MARTY WATT WITH IAN HARDY AND KENN KWEDER
jazz, is currently afflicted with MS and has been retired from the stage since 2009. Please get to this rare opportunity with a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon. (Emilie K. Asplundh Hall, West Chester, wcupa.edu)
The legendary Philadelphia poet/rocker Watt pairs with Aristotle expert Hardy and glam folkie Kweder for a night of who knows what? (PhilaMOCA) droll songwriter’s life with a whirlwind 5-CD and 2-night extravaganza. (Union Transfer)
23 TRACE ADKINS
the country edge of his last few albums. That’s fine. (Wells Fargo Center)
31–APRIL 2 SONDHEIM’S ROAD SHOW This rarely performed Sondheim musicale gets an in-concert treatment from Philly’s best outfit to do that sort of thing. (11th Hour Theatre Company)
Do you love America, punk? And drinking?
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FOODIE FILE
A.d. Amorosi
AMES PEOPLE PLAY
Philadelphia takes to the pairing of fine food and games in a big way with Dim Sum House by Jane G’s leading the way
A trio of dumplings. Dim Sum House by Jane G’s, Philadelphia. Photo ©Reese Amorosi
Canton Cosmo and What's in the Flask Magic Potion at Dim Sum House by Jane G’s, Philadelphia. Photo ©Reese Amorosi
Sweet Sour Whole Fish with Pine Nuts. Dim Sum House by Jane G’s, Philadelphia. Photo ©Reese Amorosi
WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT SPiN—a New York-based chain of ping-pong social clubs equipped with 17 Olympic-sized tables, to go with a tony restaurant and bar—opens this July at 15th and Walnut as part of the glass Cheesecake Factory complex, one thing is clear: we’re letting the games (with the food) begin in a big way. There is currently an onslaught of fine food venues as geared up for gaming as they are chef-driven menus with fresh ingredients; a far cry from the usual fried nosh-a-bles that come with family spots known for their gaming tables. Along with the Jason Evanchick’s Garages in the Italian Market and Fishtown that host Philly chefs toting food carts to go with Skeeeball lanes and pinball tables, there is Mission Taqueria on 15th and Sansom Street which has shuffleboard. U-Bahn in Center City has free-standing arcade games. P’unk Burger on East Passyunk Avenue offers oldschool themed games in its front window such as PacMan. As far as the chef Michael Schulson/Nina Tinari team goes, not only does their soon-reopening Independence Beer Garden along Philadelphia’s History Row always hold bocce, horseshoes and volleyball matches, the marrieds’ new Southern-tinged Harp & Crown restaurant on Sansom Street is famously home to a bowling alley in its basement. “It’s an unexpected touch that adds to the meal and drives the energy of the room” said Tinari. What are both the suburban Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia and the Parx Casino and Racing Complex in Bensalem but a maze of fine dining establishments intertwined with all manner of gamboling and gambling? “The pairing of interactive games and fine dining adds an extra dimension to the overall going out experience,” says PR advisor Kory Aversa. “When I go out, I want to be challenged and stimulated every which way. Games can become an ice breaker, or can extend the networking and bonding experience in a cool manner.” Sugar House Casino and Revolution—neighbors in Penn Treaty—pull in diners and gamers (and bowlers at Revolution) in droves as if they’re seeking divine blessings from Lourdes. “When people come for a concert at The Fillmore, where can they go to wind down, or wind up, listen to music and eat,” asks CEO Bruce Frank, the Philly-native co-owner of Revolution. “We’re the pre-party. We’re the after-party. We can even be a babysitter.” Now there is the brand new Dim Sum House by Jane G’s at 39th and Chestnut that acts as both a sophisticated dining and elegantly designed hangout in University City for hipsters and students who wish to shoot pool and sip cocktails such as “Canton Cosmo” (Vodka, Lychee Liqueur, Lime, Peychaud’s) or the strong “What’s in the Flask? Magic Potion!?” (Bourbon, Grilled Peach Syrup, Oolong, Mint, Lemon). Then there are the adventurous diners looking for delicate new tastes in Cantonese and Shanghai-style dim sum who already flock to Dim Sum House and Jane G’s. Created by Jane Guo and her son Jackson Fu of the already legendary, recently opened Sichuan hot spot Jane G’s on Chestnut Street (to say nothing of Guo’s former Broad Street café, Noodle Heaven, or Fu’s wife, Sally Song, owning Dim Sum Garden in Chinatown), Dim Sum House by Jane G’s feels like all that the mother and son team have done in the past and like nothing else they’ve ever attempted. “Chinese cuisine is so important to us,” says Fu. “We felt that we could present it
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MARK KERESMAN
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La La Land
BY NOW MANY PEOPLE have heard all manner of praise-to-high-heaven and snarky comments about La La Land—overhyped/overpraised or the dazzling return to the lost art of the Hollywood musical? Read on…. Recall the time when the musical was a staple of Hollywood films: Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Cabaret, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Singin’ in the Rain—classics all. The past few decades have seen comparatively few movie musicals, but some very successful ones: Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Dreamgirls, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Les Miserables. La La Land is a musical romance with many elaborate dance scenes—it’s a very old story, boy meets girl, their dreams inspire them as much as conspire to keep them apart. As with most stories about people with big dreams, it takes place in Los Angeles. (It’s either LA or NYC—as far as Hollywood goes, those are the only cities for people with big dreams.) Mia (Emma Stone) is a struggling actress, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) a struggling jazz musician. They meet cute, initially dislike each other, and then in true cinematic fashion end up in a relationship. Mia goes on audition after audition; Sebastian, a pianist, wants to play jazz exclusively and eventually open his own club.
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Telling the story of these star-crossed lovers are lots of song-and-dance pieces, constructed in an unabashedly romantic manner that evokes old-school Hollywood scenes. While many of these pieces are indeed impressive and dazzling, the whole enterprise felt hollow. Think of just two classics: Guys and Dolls and West Side Story—we knew the characters before they began singing and dancing. They were characters, people we got to know so what they sang meant something, made sense. Mia and Sebastian are practically ciphers—she is plucky, he is a screenwriter’s version of a jazz snob, stiffly pontificating about it at the drop of a fedora. She is perky and a bit sarcastic, he portentously says stuff like “Jazz is dying” and other than that, we know almost nothing about them. Gosling cannot sing all that well. Stone comes across a little better, but for the most part her singing, like Gosling’s, lacks verve and range. Their dancing is okay (they seemed as if they were sincerely trying), but when you see the other dance scenes with professional dancers, the difference is profound. Neither is given much character substance to work with. Stone sometimes seems flat and going through the motions. Gosling at least has a bit of leading-man charm to carry him
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along, but he is in no danger of becoming another Gene Kelly. Further, except when they dance together, the pair don’t exude much chemistry—this writer wasn’t convinced they particularly liked each other, much less were in love. The pacing was not good. They meet, they fall for each other, they argue and reconcile, repeat—it feels much longer that its 128-minute running time. There is the old screen card gimmick—we see “Fall,” “Winter,” “Five Years Later,” until it becomes almost funny. The songs are not particularly engaging or memorable. Even if one is parodying musicals—see Mel Brooks’ The Producers for his musical “Springtime for Hitler”—it helps to have good songs, even if they’re silly. This is, however, one of the best-looking movies in the past few years—the cinematography is crisp and vibrant. At the risk of sounding like a movie snob, if you’ve not seen many (or any) of the classic movie musicals, you might be entertained by La La Land. If you’ve seen Gene Kelly, James Cagney, Fred Astaire, Ann-Margaret, Jean Simmons, and Debbie Reynolds trip the light fantastic and/or like songs written by Leonard Bernstein or Stephen Sondheim, you may be a tad disappointed. n
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My Life as a Zucchini
ECENTLY, MY REVIEWS HAVE referenced our new president. This is not by accident. Living in fear, mixed with a dash of activism and constant awareness, has become normal in America, like eating breakfast. It’s hard not to see movies through that prism. After all, when we talk about movies, we are talking about life. We are also talking about ourselves. I am a first-time parent, helping to raise a three-month-old while working from home. My wife ventures into the 9-to-5 world. The Internet, my connection to—and refuge from—the world, is burning. The person I see the most is a perpetual need machine. My Life as a Zucchini, an Oscar nominee for best animated feature, was so restorative to my soul that I am in its debt. Nine-year-old Zucchini (the kid’s preferred nickname) lives with his mom, who apparently spends her days attached to a beer can and yelling at the television. Zucchini busies himself in his attic bedroom, trying to create the best world he can as an unwilling shut-in. That draws the ire of his mother, who drunkenly heads up the stairs to punish the boy, and falls down the stairs to her death. Zucchini gets shuffled off to a bucolic foster home, where he joins other kids left damaged or disap-
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pointed by their parents. What’s striking about My Life as a Zucchini is how director Claude Barras and writer Céline Sciamma (the director-writer of Tomboy and Girlhood) deftly evade obvious dramatic conventions and shun creaky adult antagonists like the cruel teacher. The kids find strength in each other, and it feels natural. When Zucchini bonds with Simon, the group’s de facto leader, it’s because they reveal what brought them here. Camille, the newest arrival, isn’t a love interest out of convenience for Zucchini—we see she’s a compassionate person who consoles an emotionally shattered classmate instead of shunning him. We fall in love with her, too. There’s effort in every second of this stop-motion gem; all of it is geared toward finding the beauty in the real. When Zucchini picks up beer cans around the house, one stands by a photograph of him and his mom. The orphans’ fun at a ski lodge freezes when they’re mystified over a typical parent-child experience. My Life as a Zucchini exemplifies the awful truth about love: when a person who should provide it does not, the pain is unbearable. But there is no more empowering feeling than unequivocal love, especially for a child. Maybe that’s why I cried watching My Life as a Zucchini. I don’t want my daughter to feel unloved or, worse, believe my love is only a function. Maybe it’s because it
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provides proof to believe in people, despite screaming evidence to the contrary. Maybe it was the relief of feeling an emotion other than rage or confusion. I do know that My Life as a Zucchini hit me at the right time, the way that I Am Not Your Negro expressed a rage I had not known until the new presidency became real. Or how Tower reassured me that life has always been a confusing, unfurling mess. Only My Life as a Zucchini reminded me how crucial art is right now. Yes, we need to know the past to make sense of the present. What we feel has been known by others—we’re all exiles and undesirables in an America run by every family’s racist, ill-informed uncle. But we also need relief from the ugliness pouring from our phones. Thank God there are movies— past and present—to fortify our souls, to summon emotions in us that keep getting squashed. To fight and live through this mess, we need all the help we can get, including being reminded that, yes, we are human. And that’s still a good thing. [PG-13] n Note: The film makes its Philadelphia debut March 3 at the Ritz at the Bourse. It will be presented in French with English subtitles during evening shows. Matinees will feature the English-dubbed version, which includes voice work by Will Forte, Ellen Page, Nick Offerman, and Amy Sedaris.
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playing chess with
DIZZY GILLESPIE
Herb Ritts, Dizzy Gillespie, Paris, France, 1989. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Photo: © Herb Ritts Foundation
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AFTER ANOTHER, BY THE THIRD MOVE I HAD UNINTENTIONALLY SACRIFICED A BISHOP. I DIDN’T REALLY CARE, BUT DIZZY DID. “YOU JUST GONNA LEAVE THAT BISHOP THERE LIKE THAT?” DIZZY ASKED. “TAKE THAT MOVE OVER AGAIN.”
YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW that Dizzy Gillespie played chess. But you knew that he was one of the great jazz trumpeters of all time. You remember the bold, upturned way he reshaped his trumpet so that the bell rose skyward. The way he ballooned his cheeks while playing. You remember that he wore a hipsters’ beret (he may well have been the original hipster), a hipster’s goatee, hipster’s black, thickrimmed glasses. Dizzy himself was black, like all the inventors of bebop. But, unlike some of them, Dizzy was a cheerful, extroverted person with an ingratiating, gravelly voice and a sparkling sense of humor. One of his particularly complicated songs was called “Salt Peanuts,” and in it, between dazzling, complex bebop solos at light speed, he and the band broke tempo to call out “Salt Peanuts” “Salt Peanuts. It never occurred to me until right now that that phrase was from New York Giants or Yankees games in the 1940s. Dizzy was probably at the height of his fame when I met him in 1957. He had been at the top of the jazz world since the late 1940s, when he and Charlie Parker and Max Roach invented be-bop—the extremely complex and furiously fast form of jazz that followed swing. Dizzy Gillespie survived the jazz musicians’ life and led his own big band in the late 1950s. He was such an icon that the State Department sent him on an official jazz mission to Russia in 1956 or ‘57. When I met him he was in a traveling bebop stage program called Jazz at the Philharmonic, appearing onstage along with jazz stars Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Brown, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. I had heard Dizzy Gillespie on jazz radio before I met him at Carnegie Hall. At that time it was possible to write to jazz musicians and ask for autographed pictures. They’d usually send one. I had an autographed picture of Benny Goodman and one of Gene Krupa in my room at home. I had written to Benny Goodman asking if there were written arrangements for his “Benny Goodman Combos” records. He wrote back and said there were not. I wrote Dave Brubeck and asked if he liked boogie woogie and if he considered Jelly Roll Morton an important jazz artist. He wrote back and said that he did. I had
written to the bebop saxophonist Flip Phillips for his picture, and he had sent one. When I took the train to New York City with two older friends from school to hear Jazz at the Philharmonic in 1957, I didn’t expect to meet anyone. But when we reached our seats in the fourth or fifth balcony, I was unsatisfied. We were so far from the stage we could barely see the performers. I stood up and told my two school friends, who were two or three years older, that I was going backstage to see if I could get in. They shrugged, and probably said good luck. I don’t think they believed I would get in. Getting in was easy. I just walked up to the backstage street exit and spoke to the doorman. I told him I wanted to see Flip Phillips. The doorman was easygoing and cheerful. He didn’t ask any questions. He just called over his shoulder to someone, “Hey, this kid wants to see Flip Phillips. He’s his nephew.” I hadn’t said that, but I didn’t protest. I was inside backstage Carnegie Hall at a Jazz in the Philharmonic Concert at it was a jazz fan’s paradise. All the musicians about whom I’d read in Down Beat magazine were there. The concerts were like a Barnum and Bailey circus. Only one act was onstage at a time, which meant that most of the performers were backstage. I recognized everybody. I was a little (just an inch over five feet), young white kid in a jacket with a tie, and nobody paid attention to me. I wandered into a private room where Oscar Peterson was at a spinet piano going over tunes with Ella Fitzgerald. I was too young to know this was a musically private event and they were too polite to tell me so. I sat down and listened for a while and then left as politely as I could. When I rejoined the goings-on backstage, I saw Dizzy Gillespie with a concert program, collecting autographs from the players. They were for his son or his nephew, I don’t remember. I asked if I could go with him to collect autographs and he said, “Sure.” You can imagine what a thrill it was to be collecting autographs from jazz idols with Dizzy Gillespie! It would make every autograph that much more precious. We went from musician to musician, from
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room to room, collecting a signature from each one. Dizzy had a funny remark for almost everyone. When we finished autograph collecting and separated. I considered Dizzy a new friend and I glowed as I resumed my gawking at other jazz celebrities. There were so many. Dizzy Gillespie was probably the world’s most famous jazz trumpeter at that time, second only to Louis Armstrong, and meeting him was a major thrill. Gillespie had invented bebop, along with the others mentioned—a frenetic, complex musical form that was light years away from the easy accessibility of swing. It was not dance music—it was too fast. And too complicated to easily understand. That was by design. Bebop players didn’t want easy listeners. Their music was a form of artistic rebellion against the fun dance music of Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers and Harry James. Bebop was such a revolutionary musical form that it was considered subversive by some—an anarchistic threat to America. Walter Winchell cited it as a possible Communist threat. (That’s really true.) It was pretty well into the show when I saw Dizzy Gillespie sit down at a chessboard inlaid into a very sturdy backstage table; a big, polished table that had been occupied by the world’s greatest musicians. Dizzy was seated across from a fellow jazz musician and they began to play. I was transfixed, and fantasized what it would be like telling my friends I had played chess with Dizzy Gillespie. Then someone called the other musician and told him he was wanted onstage. Dizzy looked around for another partner. I was standing there and he asked, “You wanna play chess with me?” I was not dreaming and he didn’t have to ask me twice. I sat down across from him and he held up two pieces and asked me to choose one, to shake for who moved first. I picked the hand that gave the opening move to Dizzy; then he immediately stood up and traded seats, giving me the opening move. That’s the kind of man he was. I wasn’t really a chess player. I had
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A FORCE of NATURE
Photo: George Salisbury.
THE FLAMING LIPS’ WAYNE COYNE
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HIRTY-ONE YEARS AFTER the release of The Flaming Lips’ full-length debut Hear It Is comes 2017’s Oczy Mlody, once again proving that its front man and singer Wayne Coyne is no less other-worldly observational now than he was in 1986. The oddball, acid-laced soliloquies that characterized Coyne’s Mad Hatter aesthetic from the start are still part and parcel of what drives his merry-tomorose ensemble (e.g. carrying on a musical marriage with Miley Cyrus, maintaining a fascination with Syd Barrett-era Pink WHEN YOU DO MUSIC…IT’S LIKE A LIE Floyd and psilocybin-spiked angst). DETECTOR TEST. YOU DO IT WITH THE Only now, rather FRONT OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS, than utilize the OR AT LEAST YOU TRY, BUT IN THE END edges of a power trio’s abilities (as it YOU GET THESE FEELINGS AND PUSHdid from the midES/PULLS TOWARD THIS INVISIBLE 80s to the early THING. WHEN WE, THE FLAMING LIPS, 90s), The Flaming Lips is a mob, a gagDO MUSIC THAT DOESN’T DO THAT, gle of psychedelic WE TAKE IT BACK. IT’S NOT US. geese chattering at once with only occasional (but no less potent) dips into the dreamily narcotic pop that made 1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots the sort of hits that would mark the band as part of a greater commercial consciousness. With that, Oczy Mlody rolls hard across dizzy topographies with a Dungeons & Dragons lyricism that would make you punch its penman if it didn’t somehow make freaky fairy tales seem conversational and contemporary, and just a little mean spirited. An example of Coyne’s au courant goof-lunacy can be found on the terpsichorean “There Should Be Unicorns,” where, despite the loveliness of the mythological one-horned horse, “they shit everywhere.” Then there is the self-explanatory “One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill” where all fairies and warlocks must be shot down. Not everything caught in the sinister ditziness of Oczy Mlody is vicious. “The Castle” is as madcap as
the pooping equines and dead wizards above, and its discordant note-bending making it far more lush, but it also speaks to the glee and joy inside Coyne’s great Technicolor freak out. “Her skull was a mighty moat / Her brain was the castle,” he sings. “The castle is brighter than a thousand Christmas trees.” You can practically see the saints and the Santas and the singer himself dancing and prancing through the soft wintry snow. At the end of the grand fairy tale, Miley Cyrus comes sweeping in to sing the screechily contagious “We a Family”—not just because there is reverie amongst the elves and nymphs of Oczy Mldy, but rather because she and Coyne “come from big families, and that she and I do actually consider ourselves a big family,” says the Lips’ front man from his home base in Oklahoma, happy (as always) to hear from you because he is nothing if not pleased and amazed to be able to spread his sinister glee from fan to fan, just as he will live when The Flaming Lips play The Fillmore Philadelphia on March 4 and New York City’s Terminal 5 on March 9. The New York Times called you a joyful madman and The Flaming Lips a third-division punk rock act that became a cherished festival-capping band. Are you cool with that blanket summation of your career? Well, I guess so. Sure; a strange observation, but an apt one. It’s a bit short, but yes. If you have been a fan of ours since the 80s, and you came to see us play, you would definitely have thought we were punk in the era of the Meat Puppets, Butthole Surfers and such. We struggled to find what we wanted to be about, and in that beginning running on pure inspiration. Fuck….we like this and want to do THIS—that was our biggest objective—whatever THIS was. Is there any spark from your start that still exists in everything Flaming Lips does? Yeah. I was 21 when I started and if we talked again when I was 30, which I’m sure you and I did, I probably would have said that no way were we the same. I would have protested that I couldn’t be the same person that I started as. Now, in my 50s, I see all of it—the arc of a career and an art form—and I do see much of the similarities. I think it’s hard to stay naïve forever, but there’s nothing wrong with maintaining wonder and curiosity. We liked being The Flaming Lips when we started and I was ob-
sessed about every part of it even fixing our early recordings. Really? Even as young garage punks you wanted those second takes and re-recording dates? Oh yeah. And every other band in tow thought we were crazy. I just didn’t like the way it was mixed. Other bands thought it was all just press ‘record’ and be done, but I was fascinated by the idea that you could change it. That it was malleable. Exactly. That’s how we are today. We may have thought in between the first album and now that we were adults and more business minded about everything we do, but at heart I’m still that kid in awe of being able to do something and change it, bend it to my will. I’m stil the same fucking weirdo that I started as. Your level of cynicism and hurt—whether it is the Terror or Oczy Mlody—always turns inward, rather than the outward vision of, say, the societal or the political. Why is that how you operate at this point in your life? I don’t think it’s a conscious decision. When you do music—or I do music—it’s like a lie detector test. You do it with the front of your consciousness, or at least you try, but in the end you get these feelings and pushes/pulls toward this invisible thing. When we, the Flaming Lips, do music that doesn’t do that, we take it back. It’s not us. I think if you didn’t make music that way, it would become drudgery, a pain in the ass. You would resent yourself. You have to love life and your experiences and make art and that eternal reflection. But I didn’t know that at my start, so cynicism as a whole is a nice path to follow. You don’t necessarily point out much about yourself, just how everyone else are idiots. Then again, it’s funny I thought we were being heavy and pessimistic when we were doing The Soft Bulletin back in 1999, and years later it turns out to sound totally optimistic and upbeat and positive. So there’s wonder in that. We sing those songs like “Superman” now and they’re almost prayerful. Do you feel as if you have those same motivations now, in that you just launched your own art
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KEITH UHLICH
film roundup
After the Storm
After the Storm (Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda). Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Yôko Maki, Taiyô Yoshizawa. With his hunched posture and perpetual five-o’clock shadow, Ryôta (Hiroshi Abe), the sad-sack protagonist of Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda’s low-key family drama, appears to wear his loser status for all to see. He’s many things: a writer whose muse has deserted him, a gambling addict who does some shameless moonlighting for a detective agency, and a failed father with an ex-wife (Yôko Maki) and young son (Taiyô Yoshizawa) who he grows more distant from by the day. The first half of the film sketches in Ryôta’s meager existence (not all that tragic, but also in no way triumphant). In the second half, a typhoon brings the remote family together for some regretful, but illuminating stock taking. Initially, there’s an air of caricature about the characters, which is often the case with Koreeda. The journey of his films tends to be a rewardingly gentle one from outer impressions to inner life. [N/R]HHH1/2 22
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John Wick: Chapter 2 (Dir. Chad Stahelski). Starring: Keanu Reeves, Ruby Rose, Bridget Moynahan. Revenge is a dish best served…reheated? Keanu Reeves’s stoically spiteful assassin John Wick returns in a sequel that ups the violent action, but leaves a retchingly sour taste. Director Chad Stahelski, a former stuntman, knows how to physically stage fight scenes, eschewing the chaotic ineptitude of many modern Hollywood productions. But just because you can clearly see all the bones he breaks and the brains he splatters with his signature kill (a bullet to the head) doesn’t mean the effect is in any way elating. Even more so than the first film, John Wick: Chapter 2 revels in a retrograde sense of “cool.” Witness the female secretaries who sport tatoos because they’re, you know, hip, or the off-putting fetishization of firearms (in this moral vacuum of a world, an AR rifle is literally treated like a fine wine). The soulcrushing monotony sets in long before Wick slays his 100th-plus victim, with the promise of more thoughtless, meaningless murder to come in Chapter 3. [R] H
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Kedi (Dir. Ceyda Torun). Documentary. It would be easy to dismiss the Turkish documentary Kedi as a feature-length cat video, but that would be to deny the film’s numerous joys, and occasional provocations. Let’s face it, watching felines go about their business is one of the closest things to a universal pleasure, and director Ceyda Torun makes the most of following her many tabby subjects, most of them homeless, around the streets of Istanbul. Their antics are a source of delight to the populace; watching one tom pleadingly pawing at a window is enough to bring on an attack of the “Awwwwwwws!” There’s an added layer, however, for those familiar with Turkey’s tempestuous political realities, something Torun sporadically brings to the fore, as in a shot of one of her puss protagonists poised in front of an anti-Erdoğan slogan. For all their adorableness, the animals are less of a full-on distraction than a fleeting respite for people living under a horribly repressive regime. What would we Americans know about that? [N/R] HHH1/2
Logan (Dir. James Mangold). Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen. The ever-game Hugh Jackman bids adieu to his superheroic alter-ego, Wolverine, in this gory, somber blockbuster masquerading as an intimate Western. Cowriter-director James Mangold used Far East touchstones in his prior, Japan-set XMan adventure, The Wolverine (2013). The sacred text here is George Stevens’s classic oater Shane (1953), with Jackman’s weary Logan cast in the Alan Laddesque role of reluctant savior to a child, Laura (Dafne Keen), with killer talents similar to her Adamantium claw-sprouting protector. This is basically a strippeddown road movie, with Wolvie, Laura and an Alzheimer’s-afflicted Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) trying to reach a safe haven that may or may not exist. If you’re invested in these characters—and both Jackman and Stewart, no slouches when it comes to potently rendered pathos, make it difficult not to be—then the journey is a worthwhile and likely weep-filled one. [R] HHH n
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A Street Cat Named Bob (2016) BASED ON A TRUE story (and book), A Street Cat Named Bob is a UK import about what happens when a homeless drug addict meets a homeless cat, and the meeting leads to positive change for both. Luke Treadaway plays James, a London addict in recovery supporting himself by busking (performing music outdoors for donations)—with the help of UK social services in the person of Val (Joanne Froggatt), he’s trying to get clean. His father has effectively turned his back on him. The temptations are constant, but he resists; Val finds him an apartment. One night James’ apartment is “invaded” by a stray cat seeking food and shelter—he christens him Bob. Bob needs medical attention and James spends what little he has for Bob’s well-being. Bob in turn helps James out—while performing in the streets the personable feline is an attraction, netting James quite a bit of coin from his sidewalk audiences. James’ neighbor Betty (Ruta Gedmintas) befriends him, despite having lost her addict-brother to drugs. Bob—and later Betty—provides James with unconditional affection, giving him the encouragement to stay clean and turn his life around. Happy ending? What do you think?
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While this is ostensibly a “feel-good movie,” it’s not exactly Lifetime Network material. Bob shows an unflinching look at homelessness and addiction, and while Bob is a handsome, mostly friendly kitty, he is not anthropomorphized at all. There is tension between Bob and Betty, as she’s not sure she wants an addict in her life since her brother’s death, and between James and Bob, the latter insisting on acting like a cat, trying James’ fraying endurance. Treadaway plays Bob as a slightly pathetic yet likeable, caring type (he gives some cash to a fellow addict for food) that genuinely wants to leave the addict life behind—and he’s got a decent, melodious voice when he sings in the streets. Gedmintas is charming as heck as the good-hearted, artsy-fartsy-spooky-kooky neighbor; Froggatt is excellent as the compassionate yet weary tough-love counselor that sincerely believes James can make it. Best of all, Bob, the cat of the real-life story, plays himself in much of the film. Yes, a feel-good movie this is, but one that avoids excessive sweetness—despite an animal co-star this is not a movie for young children—while not overly wallowing in the dark side of London street life. Attention, cat persons—you’re going to love Bob. (not rated, but close to a PG-13) n
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MARK KERESMAN
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Second to None (2009)
ONE OF THE MOST influential American institutions is The Second City, an ongoing comedic theater troupe founded and based in Chicago. It has been the launch pad for more comedians and actors that could be listed here: SCTV, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Alan Alda, Steve Carrell, and much of the past, present, and future casts of Saturday Night Live among them. Second to None is a documentary about, in part, The Second City—“in part” is the qualifier, however. This film is about not so much Second City itself but about the genesis of a 1997 review, “Paradigm Lost,” from writing to rehearsal to opening night. This doc follows seven people—performers Tiny Fey, Rachel Dratch, Scott Adsit, Jim Zulevic, Kevin Dorf and director Mick Napier—as they construct from the bottom up a comedy review, one based primarily in improvisation. We get to see some of the methodology of improvised comedy—performers will be onstage and one or more will ask the audience for subject matter and/or character ideas, then the performers will act them out on the spot. Alternately, two or more performers will take a suggested concept—for instance, two people waiting to donate blood at a blood bank and vigorously act them out. During the actual public performances, stage lighting and sound effects are the icing on the cake, so to speak. 26
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The effectiveness of this documentary can be judged on personal tastes—Second to None shows the minutiae of the complicated process of comedy. As someone that was once in a band, I can personally vouch for this. You the audience don’t necessarily want to see what actually happens during a rehearsal: tedious details; ideas, planned and improvised, that don’t work well. Member disagreements and personal asides, too—“If you do that when we play out, I’ll throw ya off the goddamn stage,” our musical director delicately remarked to a fellow band member during our rehearsal—are also part of the process. Depending on one’s interest (or tolerance) level, the “process” can be fascinating or tedious. Some of the movie is talking-head interviews about how aspects of ensemble comedy are developed and these come off as a bit academic and static. However, if one is a student of onstage improvisation, these might be more interesting. Frankly, some of the comedy herein is more amusing than out-and-out funny. Yes, this writer knows comedy is subjective. If one is a actual student (or teacher) of comedy, Second to None will likely be mesmerizing. If you simply want to laugh—we get to see a very young, almost unrecognizable Fey—this may not be the place. n
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dvds revieWed by george oxford miller
reel news
Arrival (2016) HHHH Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker Drama, Sci-fi / PG-13 Awards: Golden Globes nominated Best Actress Drama. Oscar nominated Best Film, Direction. Ever since her daughter died tragically, Louise Banks (Adams), an expert linguistics professor, lives a lonely, introspective life. Then the aliens arrive and her world turns upside down. Mysteriously, twelve spaceships land in scattered locations across the planet and just sit silently. How can we determine if these superior beings come in peace or to destroy us? Just think of the communication barriers. In the process of trying to make contact, Louise explains that our whole concept of reality is determined by how we communicate—we use words to define the world around us, and the often troubled existential worlds inside ourselves. The alien life form requires a totally new paradigm of communicating. Louise and Ian Donnelly (Renner) struggle to cypher the alien’s intentions while human communication among the nations veers toward planetary catastrophe. Who’s the real threat, the aliens or humans? Elle (2016) HHHHH Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte Drama, thriller / R Awards: Golden Globes Best Actress Drama, Best Foreign Film. Oscar nominated Best Actress. In French with English subtitles. As a prologue, Michèle (Huppert) suffers a savage attack in her home, then calmly takes a bath, orders takeout, and gets on with her life as the ruthless, domineering 28
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co-owner of a company that produces violent sex-fantasy video games. She’s not about to let rape define her—after all, she makes a fortune exploiting men’s perverse attraction to brutality and sex. But this controversial psychological thriller is more than a femme fatale or rape-revenge suspense. It plunges into the contorted and bruised psyche of a woman determined to exert ultimate control in her professional, personal, and sex life, yet not afraid to live on the amoral edge where one unbalanced step could tumble her into the abyss. With no second thoughts she sleeps with her best friend’s husband, demands more sex and violence in the games, and slips into the role of predator instead of victim when her attacker stalks her. As Michèle, Huppert makes no apology and seeks no redemption for her immoral behavior. You wouldn’t want her for a neighbor, but she’s not someone you’ll soon forget. Paterson (2016) HHHHH Cast: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani Drama / R Poetry by Pulitzer Prize nominee Ron Padgett. Paterson (Adam Driver) drives a public bus in Paterson, NJ. Like a factory assembly line, his daily routine follows an inviolable checklist: 6:15 wake up, drive bus route, home, dinner, take dog for walk, catch a beer, bed. Yet Paterson’s inner self is far from mundane. His creative consciousness listens, observes, considers, connects. He records everyday life as poetry in a notebook that he always carries. But he rarely shares his lyrical love letters to life, even with his flamboyant, crazy-creative girlfriend Laura (Farahani), who obsessively decorates
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their home with black and white patterns and continually tries to reinvent herself. Paterson’s life-affirming gift is his ability to see beauty and meaning in what most people consider repetitious and boring. This minimalist movie celebrates the life we live everyday, the beauty that surrounds blind eyes, the snippets of conversation that pass through deaf ears, the differences that offend instead of enrich, and most of all, the joy of life taken for granted. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
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Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol Fantasy, adventure / PG-13 Written by J. K. Rolling In this first of a five-part prequel to the Harry Potter series, Newt Scamander (Redmayne), a bewildered British collector of magical animals, lands in 1929 New York on his way to Arizona to release a thunderbird into its native habitat. When he loses his valise with its portal into a magical dimension, a horde of beasts escape and, typical of all aliens and monsters, wreaks havoc on the streets of NYC. Newt and his bewitching posse scurry around happily corralling the ornery rascals until darker elements led by Salem-inspired witch hunters and hatemongers, with an evil wizard thrown in, co-op the action and threaten the existence of all inhabitants of the Hogwart universe. Fans will revel in the familiar elements from the Potter series. Newbies will miss some of the references, but will have no problem getting caught up in the fanciful universe Rolling creates. n
MUSIC
A.d. Amorosi
POP
Upon Reconsideration YOU DON’T SPEND YEARS as a critic without missing one or two (but no more, ha) boats or having to change some of the opinions you once held strongly. Do I still think ever-so-fondly of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and its dawning-of-a-new-age stance? Nah. Do I continue to believe that Nirvana was the most overrated of bands, punk, grunge and otherwise? Yes. Do I remain a huge fan of soul-hop singer Chris Brown? Not so much. As the Ides of March found Julius Caesar’s senate turning away from what they once felt for their ruler, this month finds me reconsidering opinions on what I once held dear or damned. Red Hot Chili Peppers Nick Cave once said, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” While I’m an avid Cave fanatic, I can’t entirely agree with his snide estimation of California’s cartoon punk-funk ensemble; much of it, yes, though, once upon a time. From its 1983 start to 1999’s Californication, RHCP were little but repetitious, dumb, proto-funk goons whose claim to fame was wearing socks on its collective cocks. That 1999 album did expand the mighty, murky quartet’s sonic palate, yet I remained mostly numb to their charms. RHCP’s run of albums since Stadium Arcadium (2006)—including I’m with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016)—found the Peppers richer in tone and more ruminative in lyric; an essence that’s carried through to its February 2017 shows at the Wells Fargo that found the expanded band taking on elements of fusion jazz, prog rock, moody electronica and jam band nuances. Now I can’t get enough of Kiedis, Flea & Co. and refuse to pull their songs old and new off my laptop. Kanye West When West first opened shop, he was bold, inventive and thrilling as an artist and a pop presence. Whether it was music or fashion, there seemed to be nothing he couldn’t do. After several instances of whining about missing out on awards, screaming out (his VMAs interruption of Taylor Swift still looms large, and I can’t stand Swift), marrying into the Kardashian clan then a year of playing dilettante with his lame, iffy Life of Pablo and recent tour cancelations, now leaves me uninterested in everything he’s done and will do, his 2017 release, Turbo Grafx 16 included. The same fate for me and Lady Gaga (I was an early adopter) very nearly occurred as her last two albums, including the new-ish Joanne left me bored to tears. Her Super Bowl 2017 appearance, however, may have saved the day, bad dancing and all. George Harrison Ringo was OK, but if the Beatles were your cup of tea, when disintegrated it wound up a psychic battle between the soft pop Paul and the edgy rock John. George made impressive watery rock tunes, but in drips and drabs and always with too much top-tier assistance from the likes of Clapton and Leon Russell. With Martin Scorsese’s 2011 Living in the Material World documentary and a newly minted vinyl collection of 13 albums released between 1968 and 2002, an interesting portrait emerged for me—something more holy, rolling and deeply poetic (All Things Must Pass), eerily experimental (Wonderwall Music, Electronic Sound) and tartly and sarcastically poppy in the era of Bowie and Elton’s first triumphs (Dark Horse, Extra Texture). A big wow when taken in one dose. n W W W. fA C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
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tom Wilk
music SINGER / SONGWRITER Guy Clark HHHH Guy Clark: The Best of the Dualtone Years Dualtone Records “I see myself as a folksinger and my songs as poetry,” Guy Clark once observed. Clark, who died at 74 in 2016, wrote songs that were built to last in a career that spanned more than 40 years. Guy Clark: The Best of the Dualtone Years, a 2-CD set, serves as a solid overview and introduction to the music he made in the last decade of his life. The Nashville-based, Texas-bred Clark helped elevate the quality of songwriting in the country and folk fields. “Hemingway’s Whiskey” finds Clark drawing inspiration from the famed novelist in detailing the toil and sweat that go into the creative process. “The Guitar” has the feel of a “Twilight Zone” episode set to music in describing the power of a musical instrument. On “My Favorite Picture of You,” the title track of Clark’s Grammy-winning album of 2014, he eloquently sums up the complex relationship he had with his wife, Susanna, who died in 2012. Clark also was at home on the concert stage as evidenced by the five live songs included on the anthology. “Homegrown Tomatoes” is a humorous ode to one of his favorite foods, while “The Randall Knife,” delivered in his distinctive baritone, serves as a moving eulogy to his father. Rounding out the collection are three previously unreleased songs. “Time,” co-written with Marty Stuart, ends the album on a contemplation of mortality. It’s a fitting conclusion as Clark’s songs will serve as inspiration for future generations of artists. (19 songs, 78 minutes) Wesley Stace HHH1/2 Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding Yep Roc Wesley Stace, performing under the name of John Wesley Harding, and The Jayhawks have had parallel careers in music that began in the 1980s. More than a quarter century later, they have teamed up with The Jayhawks serving as Stace’s backing band on Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding. Stace, who is also a success-
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ful novelist, has reverted to his real name to bring all of his art under one moniker.
The collaboration is a successful one as they bring out the best in each other as the Jayhawks show their versatility. “I Don’t Wanna Rock ‘n Roll” is a humorous concession to aging. “Going to get to bed before it’s light/No tattoo on my wrist tonight,” Harding sings as the Jayhawks contribute harmonies. The nostalgic “Hastings Pier” is inspired by Stace’s British hometown and name checks the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett. On “The Wilderness Years,” The Jayhawks, led by guitarist Gary Louris, contribute an edgy tone to complement Stace’s gift of word play. Stace turns contemplative on “What You Want Belongs to You, which spotlights Karen Grotberg’s piano work. The wistful “You’re a Song” finds the Jayhawks and Stace in a Byrds’ state of mind, recalling the landmark Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. The Jayhawks and Stace are touring together this spring, perhaps leaving the door open for a follow-up collaboration in the studio. (12 songs, 39 minutes) Chuck Prophet HHH1/2 Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins Yep Roc Death and mortality are the underlying themes for Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins, the new solo album from Chuck Prophet. The title track, the CD’s opening song, sets the tone. It’s a driving rocker that uses the mysterious death of Fuller, best known for the hit “I Fought The Law,” as a jumping-off point to explore life’s mysteries and uncertainties. “Bad Year For Rock ‘n Roll,” inspired by the death of David Bowie and other influential musicians in 2016, leaves
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Prophet in a philosophical state of mind. “I can see it in your eyes/It’s not too late/We don’t have to die/To reach a better place,” he sings, before adding, “Man, I really pray that’s true.” “In the Mausoleum” is dedicated to musician Alan Vega, who died in 2016, while the musically fierce “Killing Machine” finds Prophet tackling the issue of gun violence and its random impact on victims. “Alex Nieto” examines the 2014 death of a San Francisco man at the hands of police and the open wounds that remain for his mother. Prophet lightens the mood with “If I Was Connie Britton,” a tune inspired by the actress that recalls the lighter songs of Bob Dylan in the 1960s. “Jesus Was a Social Drinker” is a fanciful recounting of his
life with modern-day touches. “The more I learn about him,” Prophet observes, “Well, the more respect I have for the guy.” (13 songs, 51 minutes) Seela HHH Track You Down Self-released Seela Misra, who performs using just her first name, bridges the spiritual and the secular for a pleasing mix on Track You Down, a solo album that spotlights her expressive vocals in a variety of musical formats. “Blue Mountains” kicks it off with a slice of inspirational pop. “Keep your eyes on where you’re going,” she sings in urging listeners not to lose focus. “Love, Burn Me Down” blends folk and gospel as Seela provides instrumental accompaniment on her mandolin. “Ready to Sing” is an upbeat and celebratory, while “Brave” features a bluesy introduction that turns into a prayer. “Any time you speak to me,
you will be heard,” Seela sings in reference to a higher power and later adds, “I’ve got all that I need in my two praying hands.” Born in Canada to immigrants from India, Seela is now part of the vibrant music scene in Austin, Texas. Her music cuts across cultures, invoking a Latin feel on the title track and rhythm-and-blues flavoring on “Awake to Remember Me.” (10 songs, 36 minutes) Josh Hyde HHH1/2 The Call of the Night JHR Records A native of Louisiana, guitarist Josh Hyde incorporates his experiences and musical styles of his home state on The Call of the Night. The result is an artistically coherent album that spotlights his skills as an instrumentalist and songwriter. On the title track, Hyde creates a blues-based, nocturnal feel with his guitar to embellish his lyrics delivered in a vocal style that recalls a younger Delbert McClinton. “The Truth” has a funky, southern atmosphere, courtesy of the guitar interplay between Hyde and Joe V. McMahan and the organ stylings of John Gros. The mysterious “Offshore” conveys a sense of suspicion, betrayal and infidelity, a tale inspired by oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico who spend extended periods of time away from their families. “Mississippi Bridge,” a story inspired by a young boy visiting his divorced parents, is based on Hyde’s own experiences as a child and shows his depth as a songwriter. (9 songs, 31 minutes) n
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19 PLAYING CHESS WITH DIZZY GILLESPIE
played it a few times during lunch at school, mainly because I thought it was more intellectual than baseball. I didn’t know moves, but pretended I did. Making one dumb move after another, by the third move I had unintentionally sacrificed a bishop. I didn’t really care, but Dizzy did. “You just gonna leave that bishop there like that?” Dizzy asked. “Take that move over again.” I did, and made a move that didn’t throw away a piece. I was out of my depth playing with him, but I didn’t care a bit. I had already had the thrill of a lifetime, and I wasn’t disappointed when someone called Dizzy away to get ready to perform. I was actually happy, because onstage at that moment was a drum battle between Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. I walked up and stood behind the curtain, watching them from just a few feet away. I looked up at the stacked balconies and imagined my school friends wondering what had happened to me. I realized that by this time they might even be concerned. I was not really old enough to be Dizzy plays chess during a break in the 1950s. Photo: Ted Williams. walking around at night in New York City. I rejoined them, making the long walk up to the fifth balcony, and finding them in the seats next to the open one that I had left much earlier. “Where’ve you been,” they asked me. They were not only concerned, they were a irritated. “I was backstage playing chess with Dizzy Gillespie.” It was an outrageous, implausible claim and I knew it. They would talk to me more about it on the train ride back home. They asked me the same thing and I gave them the same answer. Then, still in Penn Station, I noticed that I had left my autographed program backstage. I was seriously distressed. “I lost the autographs I got on my program with Dizzy,” I said. I ignored the looks they gave each other, went to a phone booth and asked the operator for the phone number of Carnegie Hall backstage. I asked the man who answered for Dizzy Gillespie and a few minutes later he came on the phone. I recognized his voice, but he didn’t recognize mine. I had told him as we collected autographs that I played the trumpet, too. He didn’t remember me at first, even when I said I had just played chess with him. “Who? When did you play chess with me?” “Just a while ago,” I told him. “After that we went around collecting autographs together.” He still didn’t get it. “Oh,” he said, “you’re the little trumpet player.” My friends were standing behind me in Penn Station, watching and wondering. They looked much cooler than I did, in their crewneck sweaters and tweed jackets. They were Ivy League teenagers. I told Dizzy that I had left my program with all the autographs, and I wondered if he could look for it and mail it to me. He asked for my address and I gave it to him slowly in the way you do when someone is writing something down at the other end. He was puzzled by the last part of the address. The New York hipster and international celebrity that he was, Dizzy had probably not encountered the mailing address for rural delivery, which was spelled R.D. on the envelope. “RD?” Dizzy asked me, in the husky voice that had sung “Salt Peanuts” around the world. I explained it and said I’d like to get it back. “I’ll look for it and see if I can find it,” he said I’d like to end this story by saying that the autographed program arrived at the mailbox, but it didn’t. I didn’t mind. I was never good at mailing things myself. But I had played chess with Dizzy Gillespie—and I don’t think many people could say that. n
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music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Teenage Fanclub HHHH Here Merge Teenage Fanclub is a Scottish band that’s worn its inspiration(s) on its figurative sleeve—the jangly guitars and gauzy, comforting harmonies of The Byrds and the crackle/twang guitar-isms of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. (On TF’s 1995 album Grand Prix there’s this song: “Neil Jung.” [Heh.]) Here finds the Byrds/Young influence intact (the gently surging “Live in the Moment” with its stinging guitar solo) yet a little less obvi-
ous and some newer strains entering the equation (such as textural/background use of horns). “I’m In Love” has a galloping cadence and those soothing harmonies (for old-school rock fans: think Poco, Pure Prairie League, Blue Oyster Cult circa “Don’t Fear the Reaper”) but a bit of brief but bracing dual-guitar harmony that evokes the Allman Brothers and The Jayhawks. The limpid, dreamy “Steady State” evokes Pink Floyd in its more psychedelic/less didactic moments. Here could’ve rocked-out a tad more but this winter needed an album like this, the sonic equivalent to a fuzzy fleece blanket on a chilly, damp evening. (12 tracks, 46 min.) mergerecords.com Mieczyslaw Weinberg/Kremerata Baltica/Kremer HHHH Chamber Symphonies/Piano Quintet ECM New Series The Polish-born Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (19191996) got the short end of the stick in his lifetime—he was a little too Jewish during Stalin’s reign and did some time in the graybar hotel. Now he belatedly gets his due—better late than never, right? Weinberg was a friend/contemporary of Shostakovich and there are stylistic similarities between them—these Chamber Symphonies are firmly in the early 20th century Romantic orchestral tradition but there are judiciously-employed aspects of modernism, i.e., mild dissonances, the influence of Schoenberg (but one did not want to be too modern when Stalin was around). In short, these works would fit on a bill with Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, not to mention Ravel. Weinberg’s music is muscular, dramatic (though never in a corny manner) and rousing with some overtones of Russian and East European folk elements, especially when violin ace Gidon Kremer solos. This writer saw the medium-sized orchestra
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that is Kremerata Baltica in concert, and this music feels like flesh and blood, balancing serenity, struggle, and uncomplicated poignancy. (20 tracks, 159 min.) ecmrecords.com Tift Merritt HHHHH Stitch of the World Yep Roc Singer/songwriter Tift Merritt evokes other performers but in a very elusive way— her songs ease their way into your ear canals and similarities are on the tip of your brain, “She sounds like…uhh.” Merritt’s warble is reminiscent of Dolly Parton and Em-
to monolithic choirs storming the gate of Hell/Heaven. This is no free-form mélange or free-for-all—BK’s performances are meticulously arranged in a manner that recalls Frank Zappa’s more intricate arrangements. No, not easy listening by any stretch, yet Bent Knee avoids the heavy-handed ain’t-we-quirky aspects that plague some prog-rock and avant-rock outfits. Plus, this lot plays with plenty of pep and punch. Don’t miss this. (10 tracks, 52 minutes) cuneiformrecords.com Glenn Zaleski HHHH1/2 Fellowship Sunnyside Don’t be put off by the youthful mien of pianist Glenn Zalesky, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Craig Weinrib—they know the ins ‘n’ outs of the jazz piano trio format. I hope this doesn’t seem patronizing, but Zaleski shows remarkable restraint for a young fellow. Instead of banging out the gee-whiz technique, he lets the music breathe instead of crowding it. Like Thelonious Monk, Zaleski gives the notes space (but
Photo: Jason Frank Rothenberg
mylou Harris, but she’s got that darker, up-in-the-hollows edge, like Bobbie Gentry (“Ode to Billie Joe”) and a bit of the urbane, world-weary maturity of Dusty Springfield. The title song is one of those mini-apocalypses like Johnny Cash’s version of “Long Black Veil” or Neil Young’s “Down By the River.” With its eerie pedal steel guitar, “Icarus” is about someone flying too high, but this time there’s someone to pick up the pieces, and “My Boat” is a cousin to Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had A Boat,” an ode to a treasured vessel of/to shelter and contentment. Merritt harnesses aspects of singing storytellers (layers of guitars, plainspokenness, assorted eras of country and folk, low-keyed captivating melodies) and makes them new, taking you to places she’s been. While it has harrowing undertones, this Stitch is a comforting tonic to these distressing times. (10 tracks, 38 min.) yeprocmusicgroup.com Bent Knee HHHHH Say So Cuneiform Boston-based ensemble Bent Knee is such a wonderful, baffling surprise, a commingling of diverse/disparate elements—the emotive, clear vocals akin to that of Florence & The Machine; the surly avant-punk whomp of Mission of Burma and Wire, and the phantasmagorical complexity of King Crimson and Yes at their respective peaks. While the songs are hardly the listen-once-and-be-hooked sort, repeated listens reveal more and more insight into BK’s unique, nonlinear logic. BK have a grasp of bracing dynamics—thunderous/soft, melodious/dissonant, grandiose/brusque, frenetic/serene. Catchy, cozy choruses give way to a noise barrage, Kate Bush-like full-of-wonder singing
sounds nothing like Monk) and plays with an almost serene, unhurried gradation; like Bill Evans and Brad Meldau, he has a harmonious, lyrical procedure, plus the merest hint of the soul-jazz conviviality of Horace Silver and (especially) Gene Harris. Douglas and Weinrib follow his lead and provide lighter-than-air swing, too. As a whole, Fellowship is enormously relaxing but with enough humble inventiveness that it never fades into the background. Highly recommended to piano-trio connoisseurs and novices both. (9 tracks, 53 min) sunnysiderecords.com n W W W. fA C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
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JAmes p. delpino, mss, mlsp, lcsW, bcd
about life
Thinking: The good, the bad, and the ugly THINKING IS UNAVOIDABLE for we humans. Thoughts fill our minds throughout the course of everyday life. Thoughts both negative and positive as well as neutral are how we interpret and explain life to ourselves. Even when we sleep thoughts are manifested in our dreams. What we think, the content of thoughts, can tell us much about what preoccupies us. Thoughts can be focused or diffused, deeply reflective and enduring or shallow and fleeting. What is in our thoughts can be reflections of resentments and regrets as well as triumphs and memories of transcendent moments. Thoughts can also be filled with emotional content ranging from bliss to despair. In thinking about thinking, our thoughts greatly influence our moods, aspirations, and motivation. Negative thinking seems to drain us of energy and motivation. Positive thoughts can help navigate the choppy waters of adversity. Many years ago, Napoleon Hill wrote a book called Think and Grow Rich. He was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to interview successful people and find out if and how they were different from unsuccessful people. In the 1930s Hill found a big difference and he termed it Positive Mental Attitude (or PMA). To this day books on self-help and business success all refer directly or indirectly to how important it is to stay positive and not become too discouraged with setbacks in life. How we think has a lot to do with the quality of life we experience. Staying mentally positive, however, is no easy task. Having sufficient mental discipline to stay focused on tasks outside of us as well as keeping our inner worlds calm is one of the great challenges of life. In the Western world the approach to positivism is to actively think uplifting thoughts, say affirmations, pray, etc. In the Eastern world it’s more commonplace to allow all thoughts to pass through without holding on to what is negative. Both of the approaches are highly effective and using a combination of them is even more effective. A simple and somewhat universal way of making mental progress is to focus on breathing techniques. Information on good breathing technique is available from the Internet, podcasts and books. When we’re upset or anxious breathing becomes irregular, oxygen intake decreases, and this directly affects how the brain functions. Your brain needs sufficient oxygen in order to process information and emotions. Research shows that it takes 30 days on average to form a new habit. Investing a month of daily practice in this area can yield a lifetime of benefits. In my 37 years of private practice I’ve asked every parent what they want for their children. The answer is invariably, “I want them to be happy.” It’s profound to consider how nearly universal this parental wish is, yet happiness is not taught in school, or in many cases, the home. Developing a positive mental attitude helps to create and sustain happiness even if an individual is not rich or successful. All of us have struggles and challenges in life but those difficulties need not define us. Sadness and depression need not persist or run as deep when we have the right tools to combat them. Sad and depressed people are often locked into cycles of negative thinking from which they struggle to break free. n Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 36 years. jdelpino@aol.com Phone: (215) 364-0139.
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TIPS FOR GENERATING MORE HAPPINESS
If you’re religious or spiritual try prayer and/or mediation If you’re an active person keep engaging in the activities that uplift you Try not to isolate from friends and family Remember that mornings are the most difficult time of the day for most people. Stress hormones are at their highest levels and just know this state will pass is important As the folks in AA like to say, “cultivate an attitude of gratitude” Don’t forget to take vacations Have that meal of steak and potatoes once in a while and enjoy the good eating Laugh at yourself when you make a mistake it’ll be much better for you than being overly critical Do practice random acts of kindness for there are always people who have it worse of than you Happiness is better, better is harder but it is better.
bob perkins
jazz library
BENNY CARTER BENNY CARTER WAS AN extremely talented jazz artist and his career rivaled that of a high-profile popular music entertainer, which was very unusual indeed for someone involved in a much less commercial form of music. He circumvented the financial hard times experienced by many of his jazz playing fellow musicians by playing multiple instruments and arranging for his own bands and many singers, while arranging and composing music for major big and small bands. By all the accounts I’ve read about him, it appears he lived a very good life due to his many talents. Bennett Lester Carter was born August 8, 1907 in Harlem, New York. He was one of six children—and the only boy. His first music lessons came courtesy of his mother, who played piano. (Most great jazz musicians say that the study of piano is critical to the art of composing.) However, from his early beginning on piano, Carter was mostly self-taught. His first wind instrument was the trumpet, which was later put aside for an alto saxophone. By age 15, he was sitting in at Harlem night spots. A few years later he was making music with jazz giants like Rex Stewart, Sidney Bechet, Earl Hines, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, and became a member of some pretty hot bands while freelancing his arranging talents on the side, and forming his own small band. Carter moved to Europe in the mid-1930s to become staff arranger for the British Broadcasting Corporation dance orchestra. For the next three years he traveled throughout Europe and played with musicians of other nationalities, as well as American musicians on tour in Europe. He returned home in 1938, reformed his orchestra and played the famed Savoy Ballroom. During that time he arranged for Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In the great Swing Era of jazz, many white bands used the arrangements of African American bandleaders like Don Redmon, Fletcher Henderson, Sy Oliver and Benny Carter, whose writing gave their dance music more energy. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and began writing for films, starting with Stormy Weather. Television beckoned, and he wrote themes and background music for a number of popular productions. He somehow found time to arrange for Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Mel Torme and Louis Armstrong and was a mentor to Quincy Jones when he began writing for films. Carter entered academia in late 1969, taught classes, and conducted seminars at Princeton University. He once spent a semester there as a visiting professor. The university showed appreciation by awarding him an honorary master of humanities degree, as did Harvard, Princeton, Rutgers and the New England Conservatory. Benny Carter was a known entity in jazz for over 70 years. He contributed mightily to jazz music via his arrangements for other great bandleaders and vocalists. He au-
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.
thored a couple of jazz standards along the way, including “When Lights Are Low,” “Key Largo” (with Spencer Williams) and “Only Trust Your Heart” (with Sammy Kahn). During his lifetime he garnered many awards and citations such as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Medal of Arts presented by President Clinton, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Over the years, many jazz musicians referred to him as “King.” And as testimony to his success as a multi-talented member of the music industry, the King resided in classy digs in Los Angeles, collected fine art, and was often seen driving his Rolls Royce through the city. Benny Carter died at age 95 in Los Angeles on July 12, 2003. n W W W. fA C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
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exhibition of paintings and sculptures? Well, first the wording is wrong only in that I wouldn’t have such a forum if it wasn’t for me being a Flaming Lip, attached to this bigger entity. I just don’t want a day when I’m doing nothing, so I do that art. The other guys in the band unfortunately always have to deal with me, so they’re not not doing something. The momentum of the Lips makes everything else I do possible. I wouldn’t have known I was an artist if not for the Lips, doing everything from t-shirt designs to outlining video shoots. When I was 15 years old, I drew album covers for records in my mind. Like ‘hey Alice Cooper should use this cover, it’s cool.’ Then again, I’m not a masterful musician in the manner that my partner Steohen Drodz is. I’m just a weirdo who has a great collaborator.
I grew up in a Polish neighborhood and did mass in Polish so I know what ‘Oczy Mlody’ is, yet couldn’t identify the notion of the “Eyes of the Young” as part of the album’s dialogue. Is this new album a continuation of The Terror or its own beast? The Terror stuck out because we wanted it to. When we stumbled upon that feeling …you are alone…in the middle of one of our bigger, more absurd things, we stopped and made the tracks that led to The Terror. We were focused on it having a singular sound. It wasn’t just a mindset; we shaped a mood. I would like to think that when we made that record that we worked under dingy fluorescent light and feeling bad, but we weren’t. It’s created as such to evoke that feeling. It was a temporary agenda. You don’t always want to let something just happen. So The Terror stands as this bleak agitated work even if we weren’t really that agitated. So how does Oczy Mlody work? It’s this pure and lovely fairy tale, yet is buggy and disturbing at the same time. Some of that comes from the ornate and melancholy melodies Steven Drozd [composer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter for the Lips] came up with for this record, and I was singing and writing according to his feeling. I’m trying to be the interpreter of his musical language. He allows me to put those lyrics there, and that was just going along until we go to “The Castle,” where we said, ‘OK, we’re going to sing about rainbows and dragons.’ Maybe that was a too fantastical world and wouldn’t have happened several albums ago, but his music allowed that—a fairy tale that happens in the future rather than one we retreat and escape to. We were becoming more whimsical while becoming mean at the same time. “There Should Be Unicorns” is us at our peak—whimsical ridiculousness while remaining sinister. To be able to call this “Eyes of the Young,” without having to call it that specifically, works—it sounds like a Star Wars character. n
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differently—modern decor with hints of Chinese culture still ingrained within our design.” There are no traditional Chinatown dim sum carts to speak of, despite Dim Sum House’s a la carte menu items, split between Shanghai and Cantonese plates. But. “We hold back nothing when it comes to authenticity,” says Fu. “Serving notable staples in Cantonese Dim Sum such as Chicken Feet & Beef Tripe—we try to capture the taste of home for not only the many Chinese students studying abroad but even those who have traveled to China, we hope to bring back some memories.” Cantonese eaters will delight in the several shrimp-based dumplings, including a delicate siu mai (Caton’s take on shumai) and a fiery orange-red spicy shrimp dumpling that was the loveliest 4-alarm taste one could handle without need of an ice cube on the tongue. Then there are the durian cakes, the infamously bad smelling but creamy sweet morsels done up as flaky pastry cylinders, both baked and deep fried. When it comes to the Shanghai side, there are several different kinds of soup dumplings, the tastiest of which happened to be the gently tangiest. The scallion pancakes stuffed with thin slices of beef were chewy and melt-in-your-mouth soft; even more so was the chef ’s specialty of pork belly with bok choy served with baos and the Beef Ho Fun with thin delicate flat noodles, onion, sprouts and eggs. The most special—in look and taste—of chef ’s specialties was the Sweet Sour Whole Fish with pine nuts, which during our visit to Dim Sum House just happened to be a meaty, flaky tilapia. As far as the dueling Shanghai/Cantonese dim sum menu goes, there’s no fight: sample from both and be happily amazed. But as far as a hangout goes, being a billiards man, the appeal of a pool table—too much of a rarity now, save for the random pool hall—at Dim Sum House was a welcome sight. Standing near the long bar and shaded by the shadows of churches and other Chestnut Street properties, that red pool table and the crowd that swarmed around it looked as cool as if Robert Mitchum had grabbed a cue stick in a moody film noir such as Out of the Past. “When we were in our design phase, we were already estimating over 240 seats,” says Fu. “We also knew that the bar/lounge was going to be the most popular section of the restaurant, so the question was [should we] have ten more seats or a pool table? We went with the pool table; secretly I’ve always wanted to own a pool table. We want to present a new age of authentic Chinese cuisine and design. I grew up in this industry and because of that I will always love Chinese cuisine. My experiences outside of the restaurant, however, allowed me to accept two very different lifestyles. At school or during the day, I was just another American kid, eating chicken patties and tater tots at the cafeteria and wanting that pool table; however at home it was back to the roots and enjoying family meals in the back of a restaurant. Dim Sum House wants it both ways.” n
harper’s FINDINGS
INDEX
Donald Trump called for a “standard protocol dedicated for acquiring adjacent nonneoplastic tissue that minimizes neoplasm contamination” and concluded that outcomes following robot-assisted cystectomy were better with optimal rather than with suboptimal neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A study found that during the final three months of the U.S. presidential campaign, the media portrayed both major-party candidates as unfit for office 87 percent of the time. folie à deux was described in a pair of seventy-year-old twins. Linguists proposed that Neanderthal grammar was nonhierarchical. Doctors reported the case of a man who experiences déjà vécu every time he watches the news. U.S. men have experienced no net increase in median pretax income since 1962, and between white and black U.S. men the wage gap has widened to a level not seen since 1950. Over the past two centuries, the preference for positive words, which is linguistically universal, declined in America. In 2014, more white people died than were born in seventeen U.S. states, compared with four states a decade earlier. Archaeologists announced the recovery, from a mass grave of people murdered by fascists during the first year of the Spanish civil war, of forty-five intact brains and one intact heart. An astronomer concluded that the planetary alignment observed by the Magi at Christ’s birth will not occur again for at least half a million years.
Percentage by which the global wildlife population has declined since 1970: 58 Amount the United States will spend to train giant African rats to detect illegal shipments of plants and wildlife: $100,000 Number of federal agencies that conducted experiments on dogs during the 2015 fiscal year: 5 Portion of those experiments that involved “significant pain and distress”: 1/4 Percentage change since 2010 in calls to the Pet Poison Helpline about pets that have eaten marijuana: +448 Date on which the british government publicly confirmed the presence of animal fat in the new five-pound note: 11/28/2016 Number of british notes that were destroyed in 2015 for being chewed or eaten: 5,364 Portion of the Canadian military that is overweight: 1/2 That is obese: 1/4 Number of Canadian jobs that were abolished when the government launched a more efficient payroll system last year: 700 Of Canadians who then experienced payment delays because of system errors: 80,000 Percentage of Zimbabwean government spending that goes toward paying public employees: 97 Number of participants in a 2016 poll on North koreans’ political attitudes, the largest such poll ever conducted: 36 factor by which the number of Chinese students attending U.S. high schools has increased over the past ten years: 43 Percentage of college admissions officers who look at applicants’ social-media accounts: 40 Minimum portion of the fifty largest U.S. police departments that use “predictive policing” software: 2/5 Percentage change in downloads of Signal, an encrypted text and calling app, since the presidential election: +400 Value of donations given to the American Civil Liberties Union in the week after the election: $7,200,000 In the week after the 2012 election: $27,806 Number of Supreme Court decisions repudiating korematsu v. United States, which legalized Japanese-American internment: 0 Rank of 2015 among years with the most reported hate crimes against U.S. Muslims: 2 Of 2001: 1 Days after becoming the first Somali-American lawmaker that Ilhan Omar was harassed in a cab for being Muslim: 28 Minimum number of individuals whom Donald Trump has directly insulted on Twitter since he declared his candidacy: 160 Date on which Trump tweeted that the musical American Idiot was an “amazing theatrical experience”: 4/21/2010 Number of floors by which the Trump World Tower’s advertised height exceeds its actual height: 19 Minimum number of countries in which Trump has business interests: 25 Rank of corrupt government officials among Americans’ greatest fears: 1 Of climate change: 17
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The Spiritual Science Research foundation found that homosexuality is due in 5 percent of gay men to hormonal imbalances, in 10 percent to formative same-sex experiences, and in 85 percent to possession by female ghosts. Sri Lankan doctors described the “first reported case in the forensic literature of a man being pronounced dead with an artificial vagina in situ.” A nineteen-year-old Italian woman complaining of dry mouth while in treatment for schizophrenia died while ingesting a sole (Solea solea) whole. Of 307 male Istanbullus undergoing court-ordered paraphilic evaluation, 8.1 percent exhibited exhibitionism. A fifth of pedophiles fantasize that they are the same age as their objects of desire. Asexual men are almost as likely as sexual men to masturbate at least monthly. The World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics published a dubious pro-circumcision article, then refused to retract it. Independent raters found that a man’s mixture of perfume and body odor is significantly more attractive when the per-fume is chosen by his sister than when chosen by the man himself or by his girlfriend. The presence of cheering spectators increases men’s but decreases women’s competitive consumption of chicken wings.
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Warming oceans were causing rabbitfish to overgraze kelp forests, 102 million trees had died in California’s drought, and earth’s technosphere had come to weigh 33 trillion tons. The shortening of the snow season in northern Sweden by two months over the past thirty years has harmed the practice of reindeer herding. Reindeer were shrinking. Species whose males possess ostentatious ornaments may be more vulnerable to climate change. Historical rates of temperature adaptation by various species were found to be 200,000 times slower than the projected rate of temperature change in the near future. A king tide caused by a supermoon stranded an octopus in a Miami parking garage. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet continued to disintegrate from the inside out. A temperature increase of 1º C will likely release an additional 60 billion tons of stored carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating the feedback effect. Plans to cool the planet by reflecting the sun back into space are too risky for aggressive implementation. Authorities admitted that over the summer a man dissolved in a Yellowstone hot spring. A 95 percent complete dodo skeleton sold for £280,000. Lost sleep is costing the United States $411 billion annually.
soUrces: 1 Tot Squad (Los Angeles); 2,3 Spectrem Group (Lake forest, Ill.); 4 Coldwell banker Previews International (beverly Hills, Calif.); 5,6 O.e.C.D. (Washington); 7 The White House (Washington); 8 Zillow (Seattle); 9 Tobin Asher, Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.) 10,11 food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome); 12 World Wildlife fund (Washington); 13 U.S. fish and Wildlife Service (falls Church, Va.); 14,15 U.S. Department of Agriculture; 16 Pet Poison Helpline (St. Paul Minn.); 17,18 bank of england (London); 19,20 Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed forces (Ottawa); 21,22 Public Services and Procurement Canada (Gatineau); 23 Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London; 24 Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington); 25 U.S. Department of Homeland Security; 26 kaplan Test Prep (N.Y.C.); 27 Upturn (Washington); 28 Signal (San francisco); 29,30 American Civil Liberties Union (N.Y.C.); 31 David Alan Sklansky, Stanford Law School (Stanford, Calif.); 32,33 federal bureau of Investigation; 34 Ilhan Omar for State Representative (Minneapolis); 35,36 Harper’s research; 37 New York City Department of buildings; 38 Harper’s research; 39,40 Chapman University (Orange, Calif.).
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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
PEACHY By C.C. Burnikel ACROSS 1 Baloney 6 Novelist Evelyn 11 “The Sound of Music” high points 15 Risk being burned, in a way 19 Impressive dwelling 20 Press the point 21 One with kids 22 One-eyed Norse deity 23 Large retailer’s overexpansion, perhaps? 25 Georgetown hoopster 26 Sign word evoking days of yore 27 Watch kids 28 Is too sweet 29 Welcome summer cold snap? 31 In __ of 33 Terrier of old mysteries 35 “Oh, sure!” 36 Measure of stress inflicted by a crowd’s roar? 41 GPS displays 42 Monster slain by Hercules 43 Printer brand owned by Seiko 44 Black Friday mo. 46 Autocrats until 1917 50 News-selling org. 51 Resort in the Caucasian Riviera 53 Stout holder 55 Copacabana beach locale 56 Dole (out) 58 Sour 59 Storage unit for spray bottles, trowels, etc.? 62 __-Canada: Esso competitor 64 Don Juan 65 Bairns 66 MLBer with 696 home runs 68 Subtleties 71 Unbelievable one 72 Like some spore reproduction 75 Worms, to robins 76 Deep pit 79 Soup for toddlers? 81 Marshland 82 Draws off, as maple syrup 86 Outback native 87 To have, to Henri 88 Grace starter 90 Its PAC is the Political Victory Fund 91 Campbell-Martin of “Martin” 38
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“A mouse!” Hawk’s claw Synthetic silk On the road Holiday pantomime game? Colombian export Blockheads “My stars!” Necklace for a macho heartthrob? 112 Curly-tailed dog 115 MinuteClinic operator 117 Ceramic piece 118 “Terrible” Russian ruler 119 Little bird wielding an ax? 122 Genesis setting 123 Like Gen. Shinseki, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs 124 Forearm bones 125 Well-timed 126 Pair near your hair 127 Sailing ropes 128 Frets 129 Requiring a lot of attention 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 24 29 30 32 34 36 37 38 39 40 45 47
DOWN Flix alternative Sideline shouts Post-exam exultation First African-American Best Actor Ocean bird Baby monitor alert Folksy Guthrie Hard on the eyes “Seems to be the case” __ Majesty Ottoman honorific Not all there Cable option Visit overnight [“That stinks!”] Go off-line? Move crab-style Helped a tot tie a shoelace, say Single-serving coffee choice Bit of a belly laugh Atkins of country Time line divisions Winery cask Ground-up bait Fanfare and then some Come again “Julie & Julia” director Major course Ref. for wordsmiths Where to find fans
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48 Stairway piece 49 They’re unlikely to pass the bar 52 Slugger Mel 53 Fresh 54 Spokane-to-Edmonton dir. 57 Modeling adhesive 59 Lost cause 60 Goofy collectibles? 61 Lift 63 Cabinet dept. 64 Closer to being raw 66 “Same for me” 67 Game inside a Narragansett beer bottle cap 69 “Rabbit” series author 70 Starbuck, for one 72 Conspire with 73 “Got it!” 74 Demonstratively romantic 77 Rodeo mount 78 “__ out!” 80 Blue state? 81 Maker of fancy notebooks 83 “I’ll take all the help I can get” 84 Urge 85 Right in the head 89 Big bore 92 Gets tough 93 “Never Wave at __”: Rosalind Russell movie 95 Screening org. 96 To blame
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Spider woman? “Java” trumpeter “__ b?”: “Which is it?” Pick up Name on Re-Nutriv products 105 Site of the Cave of Zeus, in myth: Abbr. 106 Calculus pioneer
107 Glide on blades 111 Calls off 113 “... __ a puddy tat!” 114 Merged news agency 116 Move quickly, as clouds 119 “Breaking Bad” baddie Fring 120 Nonpro? 121 Very important
Answer to February’s puzzle, FIRST THINGS FIRST
t
agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES philadelphia sketch club, 154th Annual exhibition of small oil paintings entry deadline: sunday, march 19, 2017 at midnight. exhibition dates: April 14 – may 6, 2016 Works eligible: this is an open, juried competition for paintings where the principal medium is oil paint, acrylic, casein, tempera or other mediums used to represent oil painting. this is not a works on paper or water medium exhibition, although oil on paper is acceptable. submisions: maximum size for any one dimension is 20" (excluding frame). paintings must be framed unless framing is not intended for the work. All items must be wired for hanging (no hooks, brackets or holes). see full prospectus: sketchclub.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/154th_small _oils_prospectus_2017.pdf entry online: sketchclub.org/psc-officialonline-submission-site entry fee: psc members: $1 first piece, $10 additional works. nonmembers: $20 first piece, $10 additional works. reception: sunday, April 23, 2017, 2 - 4 pm. prizes at 3:00 pm.
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
Joseph e.b. elliott, opening reception 3/15, 5-6:30 pm, public talk 3/22, 5 pm. martin Art gallery at muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown pA. tues–sat., 12–8, all programming is free and open to the public.
thrU 4/8 1st Annual Juried show, A new look. bethlehem house contemporary Art gallery, 459 main st., bethlehem, pA. closing reception 4/8, 6-9 pm. 610419-6262/610-390-4324. bethlehemhousegallery.com
THEATER / DANCE 3/17-3/19 dance ensemble concert, Julia mayo, Artistic director. Act 1 performing Arts, desales University, labuda center for the performing Arts, 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-2823192. desales.edu/act1
thrU 4/15 beyond the dark, river Queen Artisans gallery. 8 church st., lambertville, 3/2-3/12 nJ. 609-397-2977. the complete & Authoritative tour of riverqueenartisans.com holy stuff. touchstone theatre, 321 e. fourth st., bethlehem, pA. 610-867thrU 5/21 1689. touchstone.org bruce springsteen: A photographic Journey. morven museum & garden, 3/19 55 stockton st., princeton, nJ. 609Alice in Wonderland. 4:00 pm, Zoell924-8144. morven.org ner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., bethlehem, pA 610-758thrU 5/26 2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org Already gone. patricia satterlee explore the balance between abstraction 3/24 and representation, symmetry and irswan lake, russian national ballet regularity through a personalized set of theatre. 8:00 pm, Zoellner Arts cenFINE ART enigmatic symbols. martin Art gallery, ter, lehigh University, 420 e. packer baker center for the Arts, muhlenberg Ave., bethlehem. free parking. 610thrU 3/4 college, 2400 chew street Allentown 758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org george Afedzi hughes, Urban AllupA. 484-664-3467. muhlenberg.edu sions, painting and sculpture. martin 3/26 Art gallery at muhlenberg college, 3/4- 4/16 pippin’, 2 pm & 7:30 pm. state theatre, 2400 West chew street, Allentown desmond mcrory, solo exhibition: sur- 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 610pA, 10104. tues–sat., 12–8, programprise destinations 2017. opening re252-3132. statetheatre.org ming is free and open to the public. ceptions 3/4, 5-8 pm & 3/5, 1-4 pm. silverman gallery bucks county im3/29 & 3/30 thrU 3/11 once, 8:00 pm. state theatre, 453 Urban Allusions by ghanaian-American pressionist Art, in buckingham green, on rt. 202, 5 miles south of new northampton st., easton, pA. 610-252artist george Afedzi hughes, features hope. 4920 york rd., holicong, pA. 3132. statetheatre.org large format painting & sculptural 215-794-4300. silvermangallery.com works. Artist talk, 4/19. martin Art 3/30-4/2 gallery, baker center for the Arts, 3/5-5/28 Wig out. “A gutsy, pulsing portrait of muhlenberg college, 2400 chew Above the fold, new expressions in uptown drag queens”, ny times. muhstreet Allentown pA. 484-664-3467. origami. nine international artists lenberg college theatre & dance, muhlenberg.edu push the boundaries of the art form. 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484Allentown Art museum, 31 north 5th 664-3693. muhlenberg.edu/theatre thrU 3/27 st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. Alspeculative fiction, Am debrincat's 4/2 mixed media paintings explore the hy- lentownArtmuseum.org che malambo, Argentinian music & brid nature of identity in the digital 3/8-4/22 dance. 7:30 pm, Zoellner Arts center, age. martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, muhlenberg college, 2400 please stand by, William Wegman early lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave., videos and drawings. lafayette college bethlehem, pA. free event parking atchew street Allentown pA. 484-664Art galleries, easton, pA. 610-330tached to center. 610-758-2787. Zoell3467. muhlenberg.edu 5361. galleries.lafayette.edu nerartscenter.org 3/15-4/22
KESWICK THEATRE 291 n keswick Ave glenside, pennsylvania 215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com
CONCERTS 3/10 the complete organ Works of J.s. bach, program 12, organist stephen Williams. 8:00 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 3/12 Arts at st. John’s presents, eric plutz, princeton University organist, a program of the Allentown symphony organ extravaganza. 12:10 pm, Arts at st. John’s, 37 so. fifth st., Allentown, pA. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org 3/24 the complete organ Works of J.s. bach, program 13, organist stephen Williams. 8:00 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 3/26 spring concert, leonard bernstein’s mass, concert selections for soloists and choruses. J.s. bach’s Jesu meine freude. 4 pm, first presbyterian church of bethlehem, 2344 center st., bethlehem, pA. 610-866-4382, ext. 115/110. bach.org 4/1 pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra, "power and grace". full chamber orchestra. violin soloist bella hristova. hristova plays bruch's violin concerto no. 1 and works by beethoven and tchaikovsky. first presbyterian church, 3231 W. tilghman st., Allentown, pA. 610-434-7811. pAsinfonia.org 4/4 eliezer gutman, violinist and concertmaster, in collaboration with musicians of the Allentown symphony. 12:10 Arts at st. John’s, 37 so. fifth st., Allentown, pA. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org 4/11 Jameson platte, associate principal cello, in collaboration with musicians of the Allentown symphony. 12:10 Arts at st. John’s, 37 so. fifth st., Allentown, pA. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org
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3/3 3/4 3/11 3/15 3/16 3/17 3/18 3/23 3/24 3/26 3/30 4/1 4/6
cmt next Women of country, w/ martina mcbride the music box performs selling english by the pound blackthorn colin hay celtic crossings: phil coulter and Andy cooney the Zombies: odessey and oracle 50th Anniversary Anders osborne, marc broussard, JJ grey, luther dickinson trace Adkins the temptations & the four tops rick steves bob saget & mike young the beach boys Ann Wilson of heart
MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 founders Way bethlehem, pA 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org march 4 march march march march march march march march march march march
live at the fillmore (Allman brothers tribute) 5 lehigh valley music Awards 7 Wxpn Welcomes ladysmith black mambazo 10 enter the haggis 11 tab benoit 16 one Woman sex and the city: A parody 17 burning bridget cleary 18 boogie Wonder band 21 puddles pity party 22 graeme of thrones 24-26 blast furnace blues festival 31 here come the mummies
EVENTS 3/11 young at Art, a day of music, dance, art & exploration. for all ages, free for families. 10Am- 2pm, penn state lehigh valley. lvartscouncil.org/youngat-art
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