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Composer of the theme song to Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and music in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, French-born guitarist Stephane Wrembel has long lived out his dream as a student in the school of all-things-Django-Reinhardt.
EXHIBITIONS
Outside The Lines Silverman Gallery
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The Hunterdon Art Tour Hunterdon County, NJ
Tyler Spring Arts and Culture Festival Richboro, PA
Annual Bethlehem Fine Art and Craft Show Downtown Bethlehem The Art of the Miniature XXX The Snow Goose Gallery 9|
I Saw the Keith Haring Exhibit
Here’s why you should too.
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ON THE COVER:
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Keith Haring (1958-1990, American). Prints on paper from the series Pop Shop 1987–1990. Courtesy of 1st Dibs Auctions. Page 9 4
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Lisa Hurwitz
A first-time director, Hurwitz had no grand dreams. Her Film The Automat started as a hobby. Her enlightening ode to the vending-machine-laden chain eatery features Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mel Brooks, and others reminiscing about coffee and creamed spinach. Nobody wanted to distribute the film, so she did it herself, landing in New York City’s fabled Film Forum. The coverage has been like a dream—an interview in The New York Times, and positive reviews in outlets that matter.
Side by Side: A Celebration of Work from the Studio of Emily & George Thompson The Stover Mill Gallery 8|
Stephane Wrembel
A THOUSAND WORDS Migration
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THE LIST Valley City
The Lamplighters by Emma Stone
FILM ROUNDUP After Yang The Batman Deep Water Vortex
THE ART OF POETRY One More Summer Harvest Ancient Wall CLASSIC FILMS All That Heaven Allows A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Make Way for Tomorrow The New World
BOOKS Inspired by Matt Richtel
I’ll Show Myself Out by Jessi Klein Dream Town by David Baldacci The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson 28 | 30 |
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WHERE TO FIND ICON HARPER’S Findings Index
PUZZLE Washington Post Crossword
ICON The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, nightlife and mad genius.
Since 1992 215-862-9558 icondv.com PUBLISHER & EDITOR Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com ADVERTISING Raina Filipiak filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION Gabriel Juarez
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a thousand words
STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
MIGRATION MIGRATION IS A MOVEMENT from one location to another. It can be birds, people, data, ink, ideas, anything. I don’t see it in standard definitions, but I think migration has a reason. A pull or a push. Migration is the theme of this year’s Woodmere Annual Juried Art Exhibition. The Woodmere is a vibrant art museum in Chestnut Hill with a mission to enrich and inspire people through the work of Philadelphia regional artists. That show is a big date on the calendar. Some art shows have developed a style over time that speaks to a period and place. An art show in Bucks County can look like a Bucks County art show, which can be self-determining. An artist who does unusual or non-mainstream C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 9 ICON |
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exhibitions
Dairy Twist, Emily Thompson, 8x8, Oil
Rhonda Garland, A Joyful Path, 12x12,” acrylic on board
Outside The Lines Silverman Gallery 4920 York Rd., (In Buckingham Green) Rte. 202, Holicong, PA 215-794-4300 Silvermangallery.com Wed.–Sat. 11–6 & Sun. 11–4 Artist meet and Greet 4/23, 5–8 & 4/24, 1–4 Silverman Gallery of Bucks County Impressionist Art will feature a collection of contemporary work by mosaic artist Jonathan Mandell and abstract artist and gallery owner, Rhonda Garland. The title, Outside the Lines is a nod to both artists’ work springing from experimentation with vibrant color, line and form. Browse the collection on the gallery’s website, silvermangallery.com
Jonathan Mandell, Nature Study X, 25 x 24 x 3,” mosaic with blown glass shards 6
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The Hunterdon Art Tour (THAT) Various locations in Hunterdon County, NJ TheHunterdonArtTour.com April 30 & May 1 Reception, Exhibit, Sale of Artwork: 4/29, 7–9 The Hunterdon Art Tour is a free countywide driving tour of artists’ open studios. It cultivates awareness and builds connections with Hunterdon County’s creative community and increases recognition of the county as a vital home and destination for the arts. Close to 90 artists will participate at over 40 locations, and showcase painters, jewelers, sculptors, ceramics, glass, mixed media, photography, textiles and woodworking. Go to TheHunterdonArtTour.com for details, maps and updates.
Side by Side: A Celebration of Work from the Studio of Emily & George Thompson The Stover Mill Gallery 852 River Rd., Erwinna, PA 610-294-9420 Sat. & Sun., 4/9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 05/1 Hours 1-5 PM Artists Reception: Sat., 4/9, 1–5 PM The exhibit will feature works created in Emily and George’s Plumsteadville, PA studio. As two artists that share a studio, they are motivated by each other. While they rarely collaborate, they benefit from each other’s influence and feedback. Inspiring each other has always been an important part of how they work. This show will highlight their different painting styles and techniques ranging from traditional to contemporary. As they embrace the art community that they have now been a part of for 22 years, they reflect on the work they’ve done and continue to do, “side by side.” Both are nationally recognized, award-winning artists. Their work on Instagram: @emilythompsonpaintings and @georgethompsonpaintings.
Red Tree at Yerger Farm, George Thompson, 9x12, Oil
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exhibitions
Joan Humble, OAM (Australia) Sleeping Beauty from the Huon River, oil, 2 5/8” x 4 1/2” (detail)
The Art of the Miniature XXX
Michael Cho
Rachel Calderin, Burning Branch.
Tyler Spring Arts and Culture Festival 10 Stable Mill Trail, Richboro, PA (Google maps works best) TylerParkArts.org 267-218-0290 May 14 & 15, 10–4 A new twist on an iconic festival, Tyler Spring Arts & Culture Festival is celebrating diverse cultural traditions, including fine art, craft, sculpture, music, dance and hands-on demonstrations in a festival for the senses. Branching out from the more traditional Crafts in the Meadow annual show with a collaboration of site-specific choreography, we welcome interdisciplinary artist Donia Salem Harhoor, who will create opportunities for the public to engage in performance that is inspired and intrinsically connected to the land, artworks and history of the place. All are invited to enjoy a beautiful spring weekend nestled in Tyler State Park surrounded by a large-scale sculpture exhibit complete with live musical entertainment. Proceeds contribute to the TPCA art camp scholarship fund benefitting Rainbow Room, PFLAG, and Welcome Project, partner organizations based in Bucks and Montgomery Counties offering outreach to area youth. Follow Tyler Park Arts FB & Instagram. Advance and day of tickets. Members and children free. 8
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Annual Bethlehem Fine Art and Craft Show Historic Downtown Bethlehem, PA Bfac-lv.org May 7, 10–5 & May 8, 11–5 Saturday evening reception & awards This sidewalk art show along Main Street celebrates the finest local and regional artists. Over 80 juried artists and craft artisans participate in the two-day outdoor free event. Judging is on Saturday for Best of Show, 2nd and 3rd Prize, and Best Display. Artist in Residence is The Bethlehem Palette Club, who presents various artists throughout the show. Children’s art activities include creating a handmade gift or card. Local musicians will perform along the show route. The Fine Art & Craft Show is sponsored by Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.
Simon Zeng
The Snow Goose Gallery 470 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-974-9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com May 1–June 12 Opening Reception: May 1, 1–5 Tuesday- Saturday: 10–5; Sunday 11–4. We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. Join us for this very special exhibition of fine art miniatures from around the world. Featuring more than 90 award-winning artists from the U.S. and nine other countries, this show is the only one of its kind in the area, and is considered one of the top miniature shows in the country. Feast your eyes on oils, acrylics, watercolors, mixed media, drawings, etchings and sculptures, all smaller than 64 square inches in total. More than 400 works will be featured on the gallery website: thesnowgoosegallery.com.
Mary Serfass, MAA, A Splash of Sunlight, ink/ colored pencil, 4” x 3”
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exhibitions
I saw the Keith Haring Exhibit at the Michener
THE PR SAYS HE was the most accomplished and prominent artist of the ’80s. That was a heady time and the list is sizable, so I have reservations. Think Warhol, Basquiat, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Hockney, and many more. But Haring was unlike anyone else. There’s a lot of great stuff in this show. Like a lot of artists, Haring responded to opportunities as they occurred. Back in the early ’80s the people who managed the ads in the subway would cover the ones that had run out their subscriptions with black paper. Keith would draw on them with chalk like they were a blackboard. People started stealing them. There are two of those black cover sheets with his original drawings in the exhibit. The fact they exist at all boggles my mind. I’ve been told that this show is one person’s collection. That gives a depth and critical significance to the term collector. Some people buy a lot of art. Some people accumulate pieces with an illuminating theme; a collection worthy of a museum exhibition. This show is composed of visual narratives that form an understanding of why Haring was important, not just in his time but in ours. Which is precisely why we have museums. I came away feeling I’d experienced a comprehensive cross-section of Haring’s work that felt clear, complete, and compelling. If you don’t read the texts, you miss the good stuff, so bring your glasses. But what’s with the blocky cartoon figures? The hearts, the babies, the barking dogs? This exhibition is where you find out. Haring studied semiotics—the study of symbols— which was at the root of all his work moving forward. Those figures formed his vocabulary, but the significance is in how he used it. Haring went in a lot of directions and ended up at the top. All the more astonishing when you consider it took place between the age of 21 and 31, when he died from AIDS complications. Ten years. Thirtyone years old. Like all art, Haring’s prints are in their way images of us. Not romanticized, realistic constructions, but graphic exposés of our cultural
Here’s why you should too
Keith Haring at work in his New York studio in October 1982. Photograph: Allan Tannenbaum/Polaris/eyevine
Untitled, 1982
there and then. Part of the work in this show is cautioned as mature subject matter. Those pieces have been placed in a separate enclosure to keep people from accidentally looking at them and turning to salt. The most remarkable piece in that group is a large b&w Annie Liebovitz photo of Haring, nude, camouflaged by his own work; which is brilliant. This double-tap of artistic octane is one of the strongest pieces in the exhibition and it should be out where people can engage it from their personal distance. But that’s not the important part. Haring used his art and the proceeds from it to make things better for other people. He made posters and prints to benefit organizations and events. The branding and the merchandizing weren’t for yachts, it was for all of us. He worked with kids, the sick, and the poor. He believed art belonged to everybody, and he used his to fight drug addiction, AIDS, and other societal afflictions. I came away from my visit to the Michener with a new and profound respect for Keith Haring. This exhibition is located in a room that often feels uncomfortably large but Haring’s work stands up to it. That’s a clue to how strong it is. A big congratulation and thanks to Joshua Lessard, Director of Exhibitions, whose job it was to mount this show. Well done. Here’s the test. I will go back. And I will tell my friends that they should go. This is the kind of exhibit that lets you peek into the head of an artist. And if you already are one it gets you thinking about your own work. Haring wasn’t of a genre; he was a unique form. A form he invented; or discovered in himself. His was a time of commodification of art. A time of artist as brand. He was a post-war, pre-flat screen, post-hippie/Viet Nam, post-modern/abstract pop artist from rural Pennsylvania who broke things down to their basics, turned the system back on itself, was presented the world on a platter, and gave everybody a slice. n Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy exhibition at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, March 12 through July 31. michenerartmuseum.org ICON |
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the list
VALLEY
CITY — GEOFF GEHMAN
— A.D. AMOROSI
Last month I ate my first orange caviar, sipped my first orange borscht, and discussed the manifold pleasures of origami at a table with 17 strangers. We all shared a traditional five-course Ukrainian meal at the Black Forest Deli, a terrific home-cooked eatery in a Bethlehem house. The communal hub has been run for 17 years by Victoria “Vica” Shparber and her mother, Milana, who serve specialties of their native Kiev: blini; haluski; pickle soup; pierogies with a half-dozen stuffings, including blueberries. Their dinner was a friendly feast with miniature pierogies, stuffed mushrooms, beet salad, eggplant compote, pork stew and chicken cutlet on a mashed-potato bed. My company that night roamed all over the palette: a school-bus driver who taught dog behavior; a cancer diagnostician who teaches origami; an unrelated Gehman who helps the developmentally disabled through her county agency and her knitting. Our celebration was muted: we toasted Ukrainians bravely fighting Russians during the deli’s first Kiev dinner since the Covid invasion. (745 W. Union Blvd., corner of Seventh Avenue; 610-865-3036)
If you like Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, spring can really hang you up the most, my April list is for you. Though run through with sunshine, greenery, dew, and rainbows, there’s always a darkly stormy sky approaching as March turns to April, then May. And don’t get me started on people thinking the Jersey shore beaches are OK.
Easton is crammed with intriguing alleys, one of which cul-de-sacs in an Italian courtyard for a master guitar shop. The liveliest alley is Bank Street, which is named for a former Art Deco depository, has five different brick facades, and features a painted mosaic that doubles as cityscape and art-history hall of fame. The liveliest resident is the Bank Street Creamery, which is just as colorful as its blue/purple/yellow/pink door. Manager Candace Houser and owner Brooks Minnick, a Wilson Township native and Coast Guard alumnus, rotate 120 flavors, all made on the premises. Staples are ramped up with honey, avocado, garlic and bacon, the last two ingredients keyed to the city’s wildly popular bacon and garlic fests. Vegan mango gelato shares a display case Salted Coffee Caramel Brownie with a fathoms-deep chocolate ice at Bank Street Creamery cream called “The Darkest?” On a recent visit I savored a creamy, airy strawberry studded with chocolate chips and a delightfully crunchy, cakey coffee caramel. You can lick and gulp in a brick-walled parlor or on the brick alley, which conjures the funky spirit of SoHo in Manhattan or London. (15 S. Bank St.; 610-2525544; bankstreetcreamery.com) Chamber music, when all cylinders are clicking, tingles the chambers of body and soul. When players suddenly switch gears with a nod or a sway, you can almost see the score. The Chamber Music Society CONTINUED 10
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April 1: The Bachelor live at The Met Philadelphia This is funny. I have never watched the ABC network reality show The Bachelor, the competition program where women vie for a man's attention, and the so-called award of a rose and a relationship. That sounds terrible, right? And yet, I have witnessed its horrors several times on a live stage. And it is most probably twice as misogynistic and insulting to women and thinking people alike. So go. April 1 to April 10: Philadelphia Theater Week Theatre Philadelphia, the umbrella organization that guides and promotes all staged drama, comedy, and musicals in the area, moves beyond Covid’s forced virtual realm to welcome back audiences and actors to the stage for the PTW’s fifth iteration. Brava. April 3: Dope Shows Presents: Birthday Bash starring Lil Baby & Lil Durk at Wells Fargo Center Since 2017, if you were looking for a couture, boutique-style concert promotional experience focusing on hip hop, the Dope Shows crew were creating it. This April, it’s their fifthanniversary bash with the king of drill, Lil Durk, and his chart-topping friend, Lil Baby. As Philly’s Meek Mill has worked with both rappers in the recent past, expect a visit from Millie. Now through April 10: Backing Track at the Arden Theatre Philadelphia-to-Baltimore or Baltimore-to-Philly author, screenwriter, and playwright R. Eric Thomas finishes off his season at FX and Better Things with a funny world premiere self-titled ‘karaoke musical” about the music of our lives that score our rise and fall. April 8 to April 10: the opening weekend of the Philadelphia Phillies Starting with an afternoon home game against the Oakland A’s at Citizens Bank Park: yeah, this doesn’t look good. CONTINUED
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KEITH UHLICH
Deep Water
film roundup
After Yang (Dir. Kogonada). Starring: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Justin H. Min. An android dreams of more than electric sheep in writerdirector Kogonada’s gentle-to-a-fault speculative drama. After their family’s robot companion Yang (Justin H. Min) malfunctions, teashop-owning patriarch Jake (Colin Farrell) delves into the mechanical man’s memories, which hint at a much deeper life lived among humanity. In actuality, Yang’s recollections resemble nothing less than Instagram Stories or Tik Toks given a benignly derivative gloss (reflections in mirrors; windswept grass; a woman waking from a nap). The profundity is all hand-me-down, which won’t surprise those familiar with Kogonada’s previous efforts as a video essayist specializing in the Criterion Collection canon. (Malick and Ozu, in this case, are the most purloined influences.) Farrell is expectedly better than the material, bringing genuine pathos to a movie of pretty, placid surfaces and little else. [PG] HH 12
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The Batman (Dir. Matt Reeves). Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright. The cape and cowl passes to Robert Pattinson for the latest riff on the Batman mythos, helmed and cowritten by Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes). It’s a campily depressive doozy that follows orphaned billionaire Bruce Wayne in the second year of his Gotham City crime-fighting efforts as a QAnon-like terrorist named the Riddler upends the city. You know what kind of movie you’re in for when Nirvana’s funereal “Something in the Way” is needle-dropped early on. (Should we miss the point, it’s reprised toward the end of the near-three-hour runtime.) Reeves has some talent for spectacle, and his PG-13 gloominess is certainly preferable to the pretentious Bat-bludgeoning of Christopher Nolan. Only a few of the supporting actors (Colin Farrell as a goombah version of the Penguin; John Turturro as gangland majordomo Carmine Falcone) manage to truly impress. And Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman, it should
not surprise, doesn’t hold a candle to Michelle Pfieffer’s stitched-leather dominatrix version of same in Batman Returns (1992). [PG-13] HH Deep Water (Dir. Adrian Lyne). Starring: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts. The world could use a good erotic thriller right about now, and who better than Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal sleazemeister Adrian Lyne to direct? It’s been twenty years since his last feature, the marital-discord melodrama Unfaithful, and the best parts of Deep Water (adapted from a novel by Patricia Highsmith and updated to the present day) feel very much out of our own time, especially whenever Lyne leans hard into shameless sordidness. Much of the entertaining disreputableness comes from the interactions between Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas as a couple with their own sadistic version of wedded bliss: She trolls for nubile male flesh. He acts the cuck and C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 2
the art of poetry
DAVID STOLLER
— This is the first in a series of painting-inspired poetry. —
This month I’m featuring two poems and the beautiful paintings that inspired them. The poems are written in the form of a tanka, a poem comprised of 31 syllables, divided into five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. This is a favorite form of mine (although I intend to present different forms in the months ahead)—and it has been the predominant form of poetry in Japan for the past 1200 years. The subject matter of a tanka was strictly limited by tradition, drawn principally from nature and love. That offers a pretty wide range of subjects—and, one might say, touches everything. My poem is strictly an interpretation of what I see, or don’t see—always looking for the hidden narrative, the personal moment, the beautiful pause, a timeless impression or feeling.
One More Summer Harvest The old red tractor, Idling in the steady drum Of faithful service, Dreams of golden seasons past, Of one more summer harvest.
Ancient Wall by Pat Martin
The Red Tractor by Harry Leith-ross
Ancient Wall There’s an ancient wall, Richly layered in lifetimes. Eyes sunken, watching As I pass along its length Deeper into my own tale. ICON |
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conversation
A.D. AMOROSI
FRENCH-BORN GUITARIST AND COMPOSER Stephane Wrembel has long lived out his dream as a student in the school of all-things-DjangoReinhardt. But don’t call what he does simply a part of the gypsy jazzplaying style, as that hardly describes the inferences and inspiration of all forms of jazz—from bop to modern improvisational—to flamenco, blues, classical, and rock. And though he has collaborated with diverse artists such as David Grisman, Mark O’Connor, and Woody Allen, he is a singular entity whose role as the founder of NYC’s annual Django A Gogo Festival and the guitarist behind The Django Experiment is only just a piece of an oddly-cut jigsaw puzzle. Currently living in New Jersey, Wrembel and his ensemble will appear at World Café Live on Wednesday, April 27. What interested you in playing this brand of jazz? [Jazz was born] because the right people were in the right place at the right time and created it. That first round of musicians in New Orleans playing what we call jazz generated the lines of it, the fundamental vocabulary of how it works. They established what works. The next
One of the first things I did when I arrived in America was go on a Woody Allen Yahoo group…and find out how I could get in touch with him. Next thing I know, my song “Big Brother” was included in his Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Then I did Midnight in Paris. generations of musicians came in and added their own personalities to the mix. But Django Reinhardt is the guy who defined how the strings work. He showed us how strings could work with upright bass, violin, and guitar when it comes to jazz. So the artist defines the sound. How is the style defined? When I hear Miles Davis, I don’t hear jazz. I hear Miles Davis. It’s the same thing with Coltrane. He’s just Coltrane. You can tell that they’re rooted in jazz, but they’re their own entities. The same thing happened where I come from in Fontainebleau [France]. The gypsies’ jazz style developed with Django, and we would get it from them. You need a source that still plays the music’s traditions then passes it on for music to be alive. You cannot learn or love music from a book or a YouTube video. You need to play with people in a certain context. If you want to learn jazz, you go to New Orleans and play. You learn it from people who have been passing it down, from human to human, for generations. Like the gypsies. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E
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A Tasty Blast From the Past
Lisa Hurwitz, director of the heartfelt, wistful The Automat, her documentary was set to open in Philadelphia’s Ritz Five that day. More was on the line than enduring innocuous questions from awkward strangers. She was in a “critical push moment” with the film’s release. Philadelphia is an important market—it had to have a strong opening weekend.
DIRECTOR LISA HURWITZ BRINGS HORN & HARDART’S AUTOMAT TO LIFE ONCE AGAIN I’M AWARE OF WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT THIS IS, AND
I’m very proud.
THERE ARE MOMENTS EVERY DAY WHEN
I’m reminded that this is incredible.…I’M WORKING HARD, I’ve got this amazing team, AND A DISTRIBUTION ADVISOR WHO’S ALSO THE FILM’S SALES AGENT. I HAVE A THEATRICAL BOOKER, AND AS OF TWO DAYS AGO, I HAVE AN INTERN,
which is like, hallelujah.
Lisa Hurwitz at the Telluride Film Festival in 2021. Photo by by Vivien Killilea.
A first-time director who worked in arts administration, Hurwitz had no grand dreams. The Automat started as a hobby. Hurwitz, 32, began the project in 2013. Her enlightening ode to the vending-machine-laden chain eatery features Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mel Brooks, and others reminiscing about coffee and creamed spinach. Nobody wanted to distribute the film, so she did it herself, landing in New York City’s fabled Film Forum. The coverage has been like a dream—an interview in The New York Times, and positive reviews in outlets that matter. The break will come
PETE CROATTO
later. For now, Hurwitz happily talked with ICON to keep her lovely movie relevant a little while longer. Why do you think the film has such broad appeal? The Automat was a place of cultural significance in New York City and Philadelphia for so many years. By the end of the film, you get to know it was an incredibly special place. It meant something to a lot of people, and they’re really interested in reliving their memories and being transported back in time. But on top of that, I think people are interested in everything you learn. You’re going to leave the film knowing a whole lot about this company that what you thought you knew. Even the Automat’s historian in the film [Alec Shuldiner] told me he learned so much and didn’t realize what it meant to other people. Everyone had their own personal relationship with the restaurant. It was just this thing that everybody had in common. I think people leave the film with a sense of optimism and togetherness. Why do you think the Automat has been more overlooked than other fixtures of America’s cultural past? I don’t know that it’s been overlooked. In New York, it’s a great topic for journalists. Ever since the closing of the Automat, every few years The New York Times has a story because people eat it up. It lives on in so many classic films. It’s never really left us. It never achieved the level of Starbucks or McDonald’s, but people absolutely know it. The business and restaurant people who need to know about it in terms of a case study already knew about it. As a result of the film, future generations will learn about it. The Automat was a New York and Philadelphia staple. Why didn’t it move beyond those two cities? They tried to expand to Boston and ChicaC O N T I N U E D O N PA G E
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A.I.
classic films
April showers bring copious tears All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk, United States) In honor of those mythical April showers, our four classics this month all bring forth a different kind of deluge—copious tears. (At least they do for this writer, and hopefully for you as well.) Start off with Douglas Sirk’s sublime suburban melodrama about a widowed housewife (Jane Wyman) who falls in love with her sensitive, hunky gardener (Rock Hudson), and the social ostracization that ensues. Sirk was a German émigré to America who treated Hollywood product with an insight and depth that often belied the slick surfaces, and this is one of his premier efforts. Look, for example, at the famous image in which Wyman’s widow is visually trapped 18
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within a television screen that her judgmental family has bought as a gift—like much of the film it’s a visual both intellectually stimulating and emotionally devastating. All That Heaven Allows was additionally a key text for Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul) and Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven), who both noted its power to make the waterworks flow. (Streaming on Criterion Channel.) A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg, United States/United Kingdom) A science-fiction fable for your next classic tearjerker: Steven Spielberg’s unsettling masterpiece traces the journey of a robot boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is imprinted with feelings of love for his adoptive mother
(Frances O’Connor). Are those emotions real or mechanically fabricated? They certainly get put to the test when she abandons the mecha boy in the woods, forcing him to fend for himself and to travel many miles and years until he is (sort of) reunited with mommy. Spielberg’s tendency toward sentiment is wellmatched with the project, which originated with Stanley Kubrick, whose chilliness Spielberg also honors here in the overarching vision of mankind on a spiritual and moral precipice. The astonishing finale visualizes what it might be like when humanity is but a memory; it makes you cry for both a nonhuman individual and an entire species. (Streaming on Amazon.) C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 2
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books Inspired by Matt Richtel Custom House, $29.99 From the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times science reporter acclaimed for “bring[ing] scientific concepts to life” (Bill Gates), a pathbreaking new investigation into the mysteries of human creativity. This is the story of how we create. Creativity is perhaps the defining human trait. It sparks achievement and innovation in art, science, technology, business, sports, and indeed virtually every activity. It has fueled human progress (and its discontents) on a global level, but it equally is the source of profound personal satisfaction for individual creators. And yet the origins of creative inspiration and the methods great creators tap into it have long been a source of mystery, spoken of in esoteric terms, our rational understanding shrouded in complex science. Until now. Inspired is a book about the science of creativity, distilling an explosion of exciting new research from across the world. Through narrative storytelling, Richtel marries these findings with timeless insight from some of the world's great creators—spanning art, science, business, technology, sports, music—as he deconstructs the authentic nature of creativity, its biological and evolutionary origins, its deep connection to religion and spirituality, the way it bubbles in each of us, waiting to be tapped, urgent and essential. The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex Viking, $27 Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast—and about the wives who were left behind. It’s New Year’s Eve, 1972, when a boat pulls up to the Maiden Rock lighthouse with relief for the keepers. But no one greets them. When the entrance door, locked from the inside, is battered down, rescuers find an empty tower. A table is laid for a meal not eaten. The Principal Keeper's weather log describes a storm raging round the tower, but the skies have been clear. And the clocks have all stopped at 8:45. Two decades later, the keepers’ wives are visited by a writer determined to find the truth about the men’s disappearance. Moving between the women’s stories and the men’s last weeks together in the lighthouse, long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as we piece together what happened, why, and who to believe. In her riveting and suspenseful novel, Emma Stonex writes a story of isolation and obsession, of reality and illusion, and of what it takes to keep the light burning when all else is swallowed by dark. 20
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I’ll Show Myself Out by Jessi Klein Harper, $26.99 “Sometimes I think about how much bad news there is to tell my kid, the endlessly long, looping CVS receipt scroll of truly terrible things that have happened, and I want to get under the bed and never come out. How do we tell them about all this? Can we just play Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ and then brace for questions? The first of which should be, how is this a song that played on the radio?” In New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Jessi Klein’s second collection, she hilariously explodes the cultural myths and impossible expectations around motherhood and explore the humiliations, poignancies, and possibilities of midlife. In interconnected essays like “Listening to Beyoncé in the Parking Lot of Party City,” “Your Husband Will Remarry Five Minutes After You Die,” “Eulogy for My Feet,” and “An Open Love Letter to Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent,” Klein explores this stage of life in all its cruel ironies, joyous moments, and bittersweetness. Dream Town by David Baldacci Grand Central Publishing, $29.00 It’s the eve of 1953, and Aloysius Archer is in L.A. to ring in the New Year with an old friend, aspiring actress Liberty Callahan, when their evening is interrupted by an acquaintance of Callahan’s: Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter in dire straits. After a series of increasingly chilling events—mysterious phone calls, the same blue car loitering outside her house, and a bloody knife left in her sink— Eleanor fears that her life is in danger, and she wants to hire Archer to look into the matter. Archer suspects that Eleanor knows more than she’s saying, but before he can officially take on her case, a dead body turns up inside of Eleanor’s home . . . and she herself disappears. Missing client or not, Archer is dead set on finding both the murderer and Eleanor. With the help of Callahan and his partner Willie Dash, he launches an investigation that will take him from mob-ridden Las Vegas to the glamorous world of Hollywood to the darkest corners of L.A.—a city in which beautiful faces are attached to cutthroat schemers, where the cops can be more corrupt than the criminals . . . and where the powerful people responsible for his client’s disappearance will kill without a moment’s hesitation if they catch Archer on their trail.
The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs Crown, $27.00 What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacobs—four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder—set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world, The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker—for these are certainly puzzling times. Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson William Morrow, $27.99 Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He’s a good guy, stable, level-headed, kind—a refreshing change from her previous relationships. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand. She puts the incident— and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life. Their honeymoon on a luxurious, secluded island will be the beginning of their lives together. Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something much, much more. Something special. Something real— and he’s tracked her down to prove it. Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the shadows one night, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband. n
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of Bethlehem has been pursuing this goal diligently and vigilantly over eight decades. For a quarter century it showcased a Curtis Institute quartet with the violinist father of Zubin Mehta, the fabled conductor. Along the way it’s presented up-and-comers (the Emerson String Quartet), veterans (the Guarneri Quartet) and esteemed soloists (violinist Jaime Laredo). The current season is typically robust. On April 8 the Hermitage Piano Trio performs two works by Rachmaninoff, star of its first CD. On June 24 Project Fusion spins Bach and Gershwin with four saxophones. (Concerts in Foy Concert Hall, Moravian University, 342 Main St., Bethlehem; 610-435-7611; cmsob.org)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937, Leo McCarey, United States) Just about everyone can relate to the trials and travails of aging, especially among close family. Leo McCarey’s classic drama tells the heart-wrenching tale of Bark and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi), an elderly couple shuttled around between their adult children after they lose their house. From this
(maybe) murders the suitors. It could all be an elaborate game, and it is so long as the victims (who include Jacob Elordi and Finn Wittrock) disappear without a trace. Complications arise, however, when Tracy Letts shows up as a nosy neighbor whose suspicions aren’t easily allayed. As the thriller plot takes over, and the setpieces take a turn for stunt-doubleheavy silliness, this sporadically trenchant and titillating analysis of two people in savage love gets much less compelling. [R] HH1/2
The Valley’s three cities are increasingly diseased by new hi-rises as charming as stacked storage pods. One antidote is the Karl Stirner Arts Trail in Easton, which nurtures nature and human nature. The urban refuge is named after the late scrap-metal sculptor, artist-studio landlord and cultural/economic godfather. Karl’s trail reflects his personality: crooked, expansive, mercurial. A paved path meanders below Route 22 and above Bushkill Creek, changing perspective as the highway curves and the waterway bends. Visitors are encouraged to veer into a woodsy nature byway, a course for ancient Chinese exercises, and a cozy dog-legged dog park. The best branch is around or through Willie Cole’s blue-painted, angel-winged “Grace Gate.” It opens into a tunnel that opens into Easton Cemetery, a splendid memorial park for Aaron O. Hoff, Lafayette College’s first African-American student, and Burt Cohen, my Lafayette psychology professor/humorist. (Park in the lot on North 13th Street, across from Pennsylvania Water Rescue building; 610-250-6612; karlstirnerartstrail.org) The Stirner trail neighbors the Simon Silk Mill complex, a residential/commercial village in a long-dead industrial beehive. The 19thcentury brick buildings, some with 15-foothigh windows, have been handsomely transformed into a brewery, a creamery, a winery and an oil-paint refinery for artists. The latter business is an easy walk from a huge root sculpture by Steve Tobin. Roaming corridors and courtyards makes me imagine the might of a mill with 1,200 workers in a Valley with 75 silk factories. I imagine the giant smokestack envisioned as an installation by neon sculptor Stephen Antonakos, a Lafayette guest artist buried in in Sag Harbor, N.Y. (671 N. 13th St., Easton; simonsilkmill.com) n 22
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simple premise a thousand cuts (and more) result. If you don’t break up at the long-distance phone call husband and wife share while the kids listen in, then you certainly will when they are forced, by circumstances that manage to be both cruel and all-too-comprehensible, to separate permanently. Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu would loosely remake the movie into his own masterpiece, Tokyo Story, several decades later. And the film was famously summed up by Orson Welles thusly: “It would make a stone cry.” Truer words… (Available via Amazon.) The New World (2005, Terrence Malick, United States/United Kingdom) One of the founding myths of America gets a complexly elegant and elating treatment by writer-director Terrence Malick. Disgraced sailor John Smith (Colin Farrell) acts as emissary and love interest to Native tribeswoman Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher), both of them bridging and destroying cultural and political gaps in equal measure. Malick’s approach is elevated in ways that put us above the fray, though not necessarily outside it. The European explorers’ genocide (spiritually if not always corporeally) of America’s original inhabitants hangs over the lush proceedings and colors the star-crossed melancholy of Smith and Pocahontas’ romance. Nature acts as casual counterpoint to the human drama (the skies thunder, the trees rustle, the rivers flow), and the whole movie is constructed like an elemental symphony that steadily crescendos to a final sequence sure to leave no eye dry. (Available via Amazon.) n
Vortex (Dir. Gaspar Noé). Starring: Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun, Alex Lutz. The latest provocation from Gaspar Noé (Climax) is comparatively relaxed given his typically demoniacal standards. That’s not to say this portrait of an elderly married couple, played by giallo director extraordinaire Dario Argento and The Mother and the Whore leading lady Françoise Lebrun, doesn’t have its aesthetic and thematic incitements. Filmed almost entirely in split-screen—one frame favoring the
husband’s perspective, the other the wife’s, with some occasional variation—and confined mostly to a single apartment, the film charts the devolution of the duo’s relationship due to dementia and other ills. In many ways Vortex resembles Michael Haneke’s end-of-life dirge Amour (2012), though in much more balanced and oddly empathetic ways. Both Argento and Lebrun’s characters feel on equal footing in their tragedy-prone voyage toward the inevitable, and that makes the occasional moments of grace (which Noé unearths even in confrontational images of a corpse on a slab) hit all the harder. [N/R] HHH1/2 n
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go around 1920, but they were having problems replicating the system. It was a system built on high volume, quality, and loyal, hardworking employees. They expanded really fast in New York and Philadelphia, but you can’t just recreate that with the snap of a finger. I think it’s quite nice that they limited their expansion to only two cities. Nowadays, global domination has become the norm, but there’s something beautiful about staying regional and respecting the territory of others. What did the Automat mean to Philadelphians? It was kind of a lifeline for people. It was such a heavily trafficked eating spot around town. It became part of the fabric of everyday life for so many in the city. It was patronized by everybody, and a very popular place among African Americans. Wilson Mel Brooks drinking coffee in the Automat. Carl Reiner took the photo in 1950 when they were Goode explains in his interboth writers on Your Show of Shows. Courtesy of A view that the Automat was an Slice of Pie Productions incredibly welcoming place that offered high-quality service for its customers. And people looked forward to going there. It was a positive place, a hangout, a place to get nourished, a place to get out of the cold, a place to congregate. It was so much.
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April 9: Daryl Hall at The Met Philadelphia Don’t kid yourself. The Pottstown-born, Temple University-going blue-eyed soul singer and songwriter, will never leave his vocal sparring partner for good. But, at times, you have to allow Daryl the room to try, fly, and hope. So here Hall is, with his Live from Daryl’s House Band and Upper Darby-raised buddy and one-time producer/mentor Todd Rundgren (because who really wants to be alone) doing tracks from his klatch of solo albums that you never bothered to listen to. And why? Because you were at a Hall & Oates show listening to “Maneater.” Just saying. April 12 to May 1: Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at The Wilma Theatre Famously in late March, the brain trust of the Wilma Theatre, Philly’s home to allthing avant-garde, gave back a chunk of its funding when they found out that a portion of the cash came from a Russian oligarch. F&$k him. That said, The Cherry Orchard on the stage of the Wilma rolls on in a new adaptation of the Chekhov classic, Justin Jain and Krista Apple in The Cherry Orchard at the adapted and directed Wilma Theatre. Photo by Wide Eyed Studios by Dmitry Krymov and staged with the Wilma’s HotHouse Acting Company. Smart.
Audrey Hepburn at a Horn & Hardart restaurant in 1951. Photo: Lawrence Fried/Film Forum
Are you enjoying the movie’s success? I’m aware of what an accomplishment this is, and I’m very proud. There are moments every day when I’m reminded that this is incredible. I’ve thought, “this is why people hire wedding planners”—so they can enjoy the wedding. Here, I’m the wedding planner, and at this point I’m the best person to do it. Nobody cares about it as much as I do. I’m working hard, I’ve got this amazing team, and a distribution advisor who’s also the film’s sales agent. I have a theatrical booker, and as of two days ago, I have an intern, which is like, hallelujah. I’m enjoying it, but it’s overwhelming. After we premiered at Film Forum all the media started coming out. I’m still not caught up on all the emails, and I think I have booking inquiries buried in there. I have sort of a bear-with-me vacation message on my email. I’m looking forward to being able to catch up on everything and taking that off. We’re getting there. n 24
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April 17: South Street Headhouse District Easter Promenade at the apex of Passyunk Avenue and South Street Easter Sunday isn’t only for God-loving Roman Catholics. It’s for anyone who likes to dye eggs funny colors. Like the Mummers (without the racism), those Easter strut-loving paraders—run by Henri David, the holiday host with the moistest—welcome children and grown-ups alike come dressed in their Sunday best for a promenade down South Street. Plus, the Easter Bunny, who judges the best-dressed contests, will be there. April 29 to May 1: The Philadelphia Show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art For the first time in its 60-year history, what used to be known as the Philadelphia Antiques Show hits up the PMoA for 40 of the most prominent exhibitors of old things and collectible things in the U.S. I have many old things lying around my house in South Philly if you care to Uber down from the Art Museum area. n
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The gypsies, who passed their style of jazz down from generation to generation became your calling. I was already a guitar player when I first saw and heard their jazz. You’re right—I had that calling. It was like a voice, telling me what I should do: “Study Django” it said. Play his music. Spread the word. But that said, I’m allergic to the term”‘gypsy jazz.”
What’s jazz guitar without a cigarette?
are a lot of dreams that I have and work to fulfill. I had a dream that I would write music for Woody Allen, and that happened. But Berklee was my way into this country, my entrée. I learned from those guys, studied Indian music, heard bluegrass. It was all so different from what I knew in France. By the time I got to New York, I had synthesized everything. I studied composition, and I kept studying Django—because he is like Bach. You study Django, and he is good for you in every way. I’m in the last stages of figuring out much of how his system works. Now I’m sharing that with my students, as well as going back to my own compositions. Because you never stop learning. I need to be clear on something here: Woody Allen didn’t just happen on to your music and call you. You sought him out. When I saw his Sweet and Lowdown, I knew I had to work with that guy. I couldn’t sleep until I saw my music in one of his films. One of the first things I did when I arrived in America was go on a Woody Allen Yahoo group—there was no such thing as Facebook at the time—and find out how I could get in touch with him. Next thing I know, my “Big Brother,” was included in his Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Then I did his Midnight in Paris.
Django Reinhardt in 1946.
Gypsy jazz is a convenient term. Jazz is a convenient term, shorthand. All great iconic artists transcend. If I had taken the word “jazz” out of my question, would I have received a different answer? [laughs] When I answer, I try to be precise. In fact, when you called, I was working obsessively on my turnarounds with the diminished chords. To start a song, you have to know its melody and chords. Then, the closer you get to the end of the progression, the more you get to the cadence, the less freedom you have. Once you get to that cadence, you have things that work and don’t work. If you’re playing the rhythm, you’re bound to it. You graduated from Berklee. How has that changed the touch of your strings? The way you take in music? The way you think? Moving to America was always a metaphysical move for me. It was extremely important since I was a kid. That was my dream. I had to fulfill that. I discovered Django, and that was a dream that I had to fulfill. There 26
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Django is who you are, what you do. You’re getting back to composing again. Is there a process in which there’s as much disassociation from Django as association with him? When I play Django is when I play jazz. I love to play jazz. As a guitarist, what is good for jazz is Django. That’s how it works. There’s no difference. It is jazz on the guitar. I don’t like to mix culture into music. Music is a thing unto itself that is alive. We use it as a support for our lives. It’s a very tribal thing with songs, dances, particular instruments, and storytelling. Then there is classical, which is the root of all music—how does harmony work? How does reason work? It acts like a boomerang, returning to the human who then expresses it differently every time. Everyone will have a different swing, a different rhythm, sense of harmony. A minor chord never means the same thing for every person and how they process it. It’s a universal experience as much as it is a unique experience. Isn’t it wonderful? n
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for nubile male flesh. He acts the cuck and (maybe) murders the suitors. It could all be an elaborate game, and it is so long as the victims (who include Jacob Elordi and Finn Wittrock) disappear without a trace. Complications arise, however, when Tracy Letts shows up as a nosy neighbor whose suspicions aren’t easily allayed. As the thriller plot takes over, and the setpieces take a turn for stunt-doubleheavy silliness, this sporadically trenchant and titillating analysis of two people in savage love gets much less compelling. [R] HH1/2 Vortex (Dir. Gaspar Noé). Starring: Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun, Alex Lutz. The latest provocation from Gaspar Noé (Climax) is comparatively relaxed given his typically demoniacal standards. That’s not to say this portrait of an elderly married couple, played by giallo director extraordinaire Dario Argento and The Mother and the Whore leading lady Françoise Lebrun, doesn’t have its aesthetic and thematic incitements. Filmed almost entirely in split-screen—one frame favoring the husband’s perspective, the other the wife’s, with some occasional variation—and confined mostly to a single apartment, the film charts the devolution of the duo’s relationship due to dementia and other ills. In many ways Vortex resembles Michael Haneke’s end-of-life dirge Amour (2012), though in much more balanced and oddly empathetic ways. Both Argento and Lebrun’s characters feel on equal footing in their tragedy-prone voyage toward the inevitable, and that makes the occasional moments of grace (which Noé unearths even in confrontational images of a corpse on a slab) hit all the harder. [N/R] HHH1/2
Solution to REROUTED FLIGHTS
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WHERE TO FIND ICON ALLENTOWN
EASTON
Allentown Art Musuem Baum School of Art Blick Art Civic Theatre Crown Supermarket Da Vinci Center Fegley’s Brew Works Lehigh Valley Chamber Hava Java Jewish Community Center Johnny Bagels Miller Symphony Hall Primo Cafe & Gelato Starbucks Venny’s Pizza Weis Food Market
3rd Street Alliance Buck Hall (performing arts Ctr) Ciao! The Cosmic Cup Easton Public Market Film & Media Studies Bldg. Gallery On Fourth Karl Stirner Arts Building Lafayette Art Gallery @Lehigh U. Lehigh Valley Chamber Playa Bowls Quadrant Book Mart/Café Sette Luna State Theatre The Strand Terra café W Graphics Williams Center for the Arts Williams Visual Arts Building
BETHLEHEM Ahart’s Market Azar Supermarket Banana Factory/ArtsQuest Bethlehem Brew Works Bethlehem Library BOX: Bethlehem House Gallery Cafe the Lodge Compact Disc Center Crown Supermarket Déja Brew Coffeehouse Designer Consigner Donegal Square Godfrey Daniels Hotel Bethlehem Johnny’s Bagels & Deli 1 Johnny’s Bagels & Deli 2 Latin Cruise Lore Salon L.V. Convention Center Mama Nin Rocecheria Menchies Moravian Book Store PBS Channel 39 Redner’s Warehouse Market Saxby’s Shoprite Snow Goose Gallery The Bagel Basket The Café The Cup/Lehigh University The Flying Egg Boutique Diner Valley Farm Market WDIY FM Lehigh Valley Wegman’s Supermarket Weis Market Wise Bean Zoellner Arts Center
CENTER VALLEY DeSales Performing Art Center 28
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LAMBERTVILLE Alba Home A Mano Gallery Anton’s at the Swan A Touch of the Past Antiques Bear Apothecary Blue Raccoon BOX: Lambertville Station BOX: 5 & Dime BOX: Guiseppe’s Ristorante Bucks Espresso Del Vue Dry Cleaners Frame Shop Gio Salon Heritage Lighting Inn of the Hawke Lambertville House Niece Lumber People’s Store Rojo’s Roastery Swan Bar Walker’s Wine & Spirits Welsh’s Liquor
NEW HOPE Alpha Dermatology Citizen’s Bank BOX: CVS & McCaffrey’s First National Bank Giant Supermarket Heart of the Home Jamie Hollander Gourmet New Hope Cleaners New Hope Star Diner Penn Community Bank Wedgwood Bed & Breakfast
FRENCHTOWN Heart of the Home
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PHILADELPHIA 1830 Rittenouse 2101 Cooperative Inc 220 W. Rittenhouse Adademy House Acme Supermarket Adelphia House Anthony's Coffeeshop Arden Theater Aria Condos Arts Tower Condos Belgravia Condos Benjamin Franklin House Bishop's Collar Bluestone Lane BOX BOX (trolley turnabout) BOX (The Met) BOX (Craftworks BOX (Milcrate Cafe) Brauhaus Brewery Co Cafe Ole Center City One Chestnut Lofts City Fitness City Hall Visitors Lobby City Tap House City View Condos 1820 Rittenhouse Condos 1900 Rittenhouse Square Constitution Building Cosmopolitan Condos Dessert Crazy Earth Cup/Sam's Place Ellelauri Boutique Evil Genius Beer Company FOX29 Studio - Greenroom Franklin Tower Free Library of Philadelphia Fresh Grocer Good Dog Bar & Restaurant Good Karma Café Good Karma Café Good Karma Café Green Aisle Grocert Green Eggs Green Eggs Midtown Green Line Café Green Line Café Hawthorne's Café Hinge Cafe
Historic: The Touraine Condos Historic: Waterfront Condos Historic: Waterfront Condos Historic: Trinity Condos Historic: Logan Condos Honey's Sit and Eat Hopkinson House (mailroom) IGA Supermarket Jefferson Hospital Jefferson Hospital (Main ) Jefferson Hospital (East) JJ'S Food Market Joe’s Coffee ShoP Johnny Brendas Kelly Writer's House Kite & Key La Colombe Torrefaction Last Drop Latimer Deli Left Bank Apartments Lucky Goat Coffee House Mad Rex Restauran Marathon Grill Mariposa Food Co-op Masala Kitchen Kati Rolls Memphis Taproom Metropolitan Bakery Milk & Honey Milk and Honey Café Milkboy Milkcrate Café Mixto Bar & Restaurant Mulberry Market Museum Towers National Liberty Museum National Mechanics Nook Bakery & Coffee Bar North Bowl OCF Coffee House Old Nelson Food Market One Franklin Towne Condos Oregon Market Palm Tree Market Philadelphia Java Co Pier 3 Condos Pier 7 Condos Pizza Brain Plough and the Stars Punk Burger Race Street Cafe Rally Coffee
Reading Terminal Reanimator Coffee Rittenhouse Market River Loft Riverview Apartments Rodriguez Free Library Rotten Ralph’s Saladworks Sassafras Market Saxby’s Coffee Rittenouse Shop Rite Shop Rite (Bridge/Harbison) Shop Rite (shelf) Silk City Sporting Club at Bellevue Standard Tap Starbucks Stateside Steap & Grind Suburban Station Supremo Food Market Suya Suya Sweat Sweat Fitness The Bean Cafe The Carlyle Apartments The Collonade The Dorchester (mail room) The Dorchester (lobby) The Foodery The Foodery The Good Spoon The National at Old City The Phoenix The Sterling The View at Old City The Westbury Apartments The Wireworks Tivoli Condos Tuscany Apartments Tuscany Cafe (Rittenhouse) Walnut Towers Warwick Condos Watermark Waterworks World Cafe Live Yakitori Boy Zama
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work might perceive such an exhibition as favoring specific subject matter or attracting an audience that does, and decide not to spend the money and effort to enter, thereby increasing the odds the show will continue to be that way. It’s a hard loop to shake. The Woodmere Annuals' often broad themes draw a wide range of interpretations and media, which beget more. Work isn’t required to be for sale, so you get to see some works the artists aren’t ready to part with. The museum also can accommodate large paintings. There are fewer limitations than most shows, resulting in an exhibition that reveals a breadth of creativity. It is a real drag to watch the public walk past my work at a show, but I don’t pay attention to all the pieces either. Art must engage on its own merit, and I can’t expect someone’s consideration just because I put time into it. If I want someone to stop and look at my work, it must be compelling. I was all over the map considering the migration theme. I initially focused on people—people from diverse cultures, different ages, dissimilar ethnicities. I imagined a group portrait of extreme subjects with a subtle commonality, but that smelled of an ad for a corporation
trying to polish its image. Everything I came up with seemed formulaic or cliché, so I cautiously slid over to the animal kingdom. I wasn’t going to paint a chevron of geese. My way of working toward a theme is to purposely expose myself to a lot of related ideas, definitions, and images until something sparks my interest. I learn a lot in the process. A list of migratory animals I searched included wildebeests, which I knew migrated, and zebras, which I didn’t. I was surprised to discover the two did it together. I was also taken by the stripe patterns. Now I was thinking zebras, but I still had all those people-thoughts wandering around in my head. My default work mode is the daydream. It was as if I was a movie director and all the animals and people were in my office standing around my desk saying, “What do you want us to do?” I began with what they normally do. It turned out proximity was enough. I could just as easily put the zebras in the diner and the people charging down the street, but what I had was already plenty to think about. I prefer accessible to abstruse. I scribbled a thumbnail drawing, then refined it on the 24x32” panel in the studio. The diner interior was addressed first to cre-
ate the setting for what would happen outside the windows. The individual human figures were all invented using imagined poses describing business as usual. Outside, I wanted the force of nature. Movement. Urgency. That was a lot of fun. You don’t paint zebras; you paint stripes. Elements appeared as I worked. I added a ceiling fan to balance the composition. I wanted to do donuts in a cake dome for years, and here was my chance. I went back and forth about putting a name on the diner window. That would locate the glass, but words don’t sit comfortably in paintings; they use a different part of the brain. It’s okay to have something that looks like words, but as soon as they say something it interrupts the free flow of imagination. Words, even presented backward, are like a cannon in a symphony; best discharged at the precise place in the music, not too loud, and only if absolutely necessary. The sense of isolation in the diner gave me the title: Dayhawks. Thank you, Ed. Art is a response, and the best kind leads both the maker and the viewer to a new place. That’s where the power lies in art and why museums, like the Woodmere, are so important. n
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harper’s FINDINGS A global study of 1,554 regions from 1979 to 2019 found that heavy rainfall dampens economic growth. The rings of trees used in European buildings between 1250 and 1699 closely track prosperity and crisis, with the number of felled trees falling during periods of economic decline. Medieval warhorses were the size of modern ponies, and wild ass–donkey hybrids used for travel and war in Mesopotamia were presumed to be the prized kungas of Ur. Funerary avenues lined with wedge-tailed pendants and infilled ringed cairns, which are among the drystone Holocene monuments known to the Bedouin as “the works of the old men,” emanate from the Khaybar Oasis. In the Negev, where archaeologists studying a sixth-century Byzantine church noticed a curly-haired long-nosed beardless Jesus, scientists taught goldfish to drive their tanks on land. The expansion of the Local Bubble, a thousandlight-year-wide star-covered void with Earth at its center, was caused by supernovas. Further support was offered for the fuzzball theory of black holes, and the Schwinger Effect was mimicked in the absence of a cosmic event.
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Researchers speculated that the substantially higher use of erectile-dysfunction medication among feminist Canadian men may be due to nonfeminist men’s underreporting of usage or fear of accessing health care, or to feminist men’s greater desire to please their female partners or reclaim, through better erections, any masculinity forfeited through their feminism. Religiosity was found to be lower in sexually equitable countries, though the decline was more pronounced in men than women. Epigenetic changes were recorded among pregnant Tutsi women who witnessed the Rwandan genocide and their unborn fetuses. Thalecress mutations are not random. The embryonic stem cells of frogs migrate to create the hardness of frog faces. A pharmacologically administered liver enzyme was found to halve ethanol consumption among alcoholic vervet monkeys, macaques in Virginia failed to wean themselves off heroin and cocaine, and a new population of whitehanded gibbons was discovered in Malaysia.
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Even dim light before bedtime suppresses melatonin production in preschoolers. American teens who get too little sleep consume an additional 4.5 pounds of sugar per year, and Zurich teens who were allowed to sleep in during the pandemic reported better health and well-being. The heads of juvenile pheasants cool down in preparation for a fight, then heat up again. New Caledonian crows store complex tools for later use. Mumbai’s mayor mocked the penguin-viewing facility of Ahmedabad. Indian researchers developed a frostbite-prevention cream, Japanese researchers developed a nasal spray to treat dementia, and a team at MIT developed an mRNA vaccine pill. Engineers and molecular geneticists built a web server that can analyze noncoding RNA’s raw CLASH data, and scientists described the cognitive repulsion mechanism that causes people to get lost in supermarkets. An analysis of three decades of Spanish punk lyrics established that “madness” connotes pathology as well as loss of control and opposition to reason, and Finnish hospital admissions reflect lower mortality rates and less self-harm and alcoholism in areas with high numbers of heavy metal bands per capita. A ranking of eighty-one countries found the United Kingdom to be the best place to die. 30
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A P R I L 2 0 2 2 | I C O N D V. C O M
INDEX % by which U.S. military spending has increased since the withdrawal from Afghanistan: 5 Percentage of Afghans who are expected to be living in poverty in August: 97 Minimum number of U.S. immigration history requests held up because of pandemic rules on records storage: 350,000 Percentage change since 2017 in the number of Republicans who say military officers have “high standards of ethics”: −21 Minimum number of people who reported relatives to the FBI for participating in the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot: 15 Portion of U.S. representatives facing investigations last year who refused to cooperate: 1/2 Portion of Americans who have favorable views of both capitalism and socialism: 1/5 Who have unfavorable views of both capitalism and socialism: 1/5 Percentage of Americans who approve of labor unions: 68 Percentage change since 2019 in U.S. labor union membership: −4 Percentage of Americans who have considered committing suicide in response to political developments: 5 Portion of Americans who think “I Have a Dream” speech is no longer relevant: 1/4 Percentage by which Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think so: 94 % by which more white men than black men died of drug overdoses in 2015: 51 By which more black men than white men died of drug overdoses in 2020: 22 Est. portion of overdose deaths in the first half of 2021 that involved fentanyl: 2/3 Number of U.S. states in which it is illegal to possess fentanyl test strips: 30 Estimated percentage decrease in U.S. condom sales since the start of the pandemic: 8 Portion of Americans earning less than $50,000 who cite wedding costs as a reason for not marrying: 3/10 Estimated portion of married Americans who have considered divorce in the past six months: 1/4 Number of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts last year that were NFL games: 92 Factor by which Americans spent more time listening to the radio last year than to podcasts: 6 Amount of time, in years, viewers spent watching livestreams of Grand Theft Auto V on Twitch last year: 214,309 Min. no. of total views for TikTok videos tagged with #MentalHealth: 25,100,000,000 Portion of U.S. adults who have struggled with basic decisions like what to eat or wear since the start of the pandemic: 1/3 Of U.S. millennials: 1/2 Portion of U.S. adults who say their closets contain many things they will never wear again: 3/4 Percentage decrease in spending on dental care since the start of the pandemic: 9.5 Portion of U.S. pet owners who take their pet’s health more seriously than their own: 7/10 Who have sought acupuncture for their pet: 4/10 Who have purchased CBD products for their pet: 3/10 Minimum number of dogs in the United States on anti-anxiety medication: 10,350,000 Of cats: 1,800,000 Estimated portion of passengers on private jets who fly with a pet: 1/4 Average cost of cloning a dog: $50,000 Minimum number of Instagram influencers who have cloned a pet: 12 Number of dogs cloned for law enforcement purposes in Iowa: 52 Minimum number of COVID-19 outbreaks recorded among animal populations: 645 Minimum number of hamsters executed by the Hong Kong government because of COVID-19 exposure: 2,229
SOURCES: 1 Senate Armed Services Committee; 2 UNDP Afghanistan (Kabul); 3 National Archives and Records Administration (Washington); 4 Gallup (Washington); 5 National Public Radio (Washington)/CBS News (NYC)/The Independent (London); 6 Office of Congressional Ethics; 7–9 Gallup; 10 Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington); 11 Kevin B. Smith, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; 12,13 YouGov (NYC); 14,15 Pew Research Center (Washington); 16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta); 17 Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (Washington); 18 IRI (Chicago); 19 Institute for Family Studies (Charlottesville, Va.); 20 Alan J. Hawkins, Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah); 21 Nielsen (NYC); 22 Edison Research (Somerville, N.J.); 23 David Boyd (Belfast, Northern Ireland); 24 TikTok (Culver City, Calif.); 25,26 American Psychological Association (Washington); 27 CivicScience (Pittsburgh); 28 Bureau of Economic Analysis (Washington); 29–31 OnePoll (NYC); 32,33 American Pet Products Association (Stamford, Conn.); 34 Aerial Jets (Lighthouse Point, Fla.); 35 ViaGen Pets (Cedar Park, Tex.); 36 Harper’s research; 37 Canine Tactical (Chariton, Iowa); 38 World Organisation for Animal Health (Paris); 39 Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department.
REROUTED FLIGHTS by Evan Birnholz
ACROSS 1 Nurturing man 4 Extremely 10 Negation of “dele,” in editing 14 What this puzzle’s featured creatures build 19 The Red Bear Brewing Co. drink Skookum, e.g. 20 “Let’s get ready to rumble!” 21 Had been 22 Proposition accepted as true 23 Relative of a meerkat / Citizens of Ulaanbaatar 24 Make at the workplace 25 Wish list recipient? 26 Fried ring thing 27 Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed in City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1983), informally 28 One with love interests 29 Try out a bouquet 30 Lost son of the clownfish Marlin 31 Cowardly / Sellers of fabric and knitting supplies 34 Sly summons 35 Big part of Chad 37 Writer Umberto 38 Contraction eliding “un” 40 “Way to get yourself out of trouble there” 43 May day event, usually 44 Also-ran in 1988 48 “Earthquake” actress Gardner 49 Objective of pollution reduction 51 Bring about 52 Performance check 54 Medical procedures that aren’t close 56 Reason for tripping 57 Crew locale 58 Sch. application nos. 59 “Dig in!” 60 Painting perimeter 62 Snoopy, e.g. / Stout vessel 64 Infant’s hooded garment / One born during the 1950s, maybe 65 The 5th Dimension member Florence 66 Bran source 67 Dishonorable fellows 68 Word before Major or Minor, in astronomy 69 Alter ___ (superhero’s second self)
70 72 75 78
80 81 82 83 85 86 87 88 91
94 98 100 101 102 103 104 105
108 109 110 111 112
113 114 115
Rock bottom moment? Everyday explosions Aces of Aces and kings of Kings, e.g. “Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)” singer, 1973 Laudatory stanzas Where disc golfers make their first throws Depletes Shouts Subject for Dian Fossey Science educator Bill Sandra Bullock film involving Web surfing Verb used in cooking “An appalling waste of energy,” per Katherine Mansfield / Exploring deeply Sufficiently skilled Made an offer that one couldn’t refuse, say “Score!” Preposition in a sonnet Received by the ears “Warlords” maker Tool for making piles One making a swift descent, illustrated by each unclued Down answer in this puzzle Away at the moment Qatar royal Reluctant (to) Lead-in to a big event 105 Across that’s spelled out by the first letters of this puzzle’s unclued Down answers Change color slightly Go through “1984” again, say The F of AFAIK DOWN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
“Elysium” actor Matt Unique Fabric often worn torn Peter, Ray and Winston’s fellow Ghostbuster “Heat” actor Kilmer Record label found in “remixes” Section of a building opposite the front “God ...!” Commencement Ears full of sugar
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 31
Place where caddies hold bags Wrong letter in a crossword, e.g. Like fans during a triple-overtime thriller Reminds over and over Role model Law of ___ (trigonometry equation) Works really hard Extract, in metallurgy Dish that may be filled with salsa and chipotle peppers “Atlanta,” “Dallas” or “Nashville,”
32 e.g. 33 Flabbergast 36 Give credit, with “to” 39 “I like ___” (1950s presidential campaign slogan) 40 “L-O-V-E” singer ___ King Cole 41 “___ made up my mind” 42 Food from the French for “saucepan” 43 Like bulls from the Vatican 44 Ganesha or Krishna, in Hinduism 45 Midwest city where the first Gibson guitars were manufactured 46 “I’m here” 47 Meal that begins with reciting the kiddush 50 Restriction at some apartments 51 Seizes the attention of 53 “No ___ traffic” 55 Where Maria sings “The Hills Are Alive” in “The Sound of Music” 58 55 Down blades 60 Envision with divination
61 62 63 64 67
Prized flower in “The Little Prince” Sheep noise Tiger noises Burns’ remedies “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower” author Brittney 70 AOC : Ocasio :: RBG : ___ 71 “Be on your guard” 72 Tornado warning noisemaker 73 www.gallaudet.___ 74 Egyptian god of war and chaos 76 Barbecue portion 77 “Is this thing on?” strike 79 Person who is hard-working and successful while “high” 82 Enter undetected 84 Cookware brand based in France 87 Be highly successful 88 Linguistics topic 89 Exam prep expert 90 Like one going on a tirade 92 “That goes for me, too” 93 Tree used to build King David’s house 95 Attorney’s document 96 Stage during an insect’s metamorphosis 97 ___ stateswoman 99 Have a banquet meal 102 Like vintage Gouda 106 Galway’s country: Abbr. 107 Org. profiled in James Bamford’s book “Body of Secrets”
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Solution to this month’s puzzle on page 26 A P R I L 2 0 2 2 | I C O N D V. C O M
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