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june INTERVIEW
JOHN MAYER & BOB WEIR | 22 For its second go-round with John Mayer, Dead & Company’s Bob Weir goes for broke.
ART Stuart Davis (1892–1964), Place Pasdeloup, 1928. Oil on canvas, 36 3/8 × 29 in. (92.4 × 73.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.170. © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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5 | A THOUSAND WORDS 6 | Stuart Davis 8 | Edgar Degas 10 | ART SHORTS Neil Anderson Jim Rodgers and Jonathan Mandell Fine Art Miniatures 12 | EXHIBITIONS Sculpture 2016 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Photographs of Lewis Hine
THEATER 14 | CITY THEATER 14 | VALLEY THEATER
ENTERTAINMENT 15 | ICEPACK 16 | THE LIST
MUSIC 34 | KERESMAN ON DISC The Waco Brothers Benny Golson Van Morrison Carry Illinois Bobby Darin 36 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Charlie Faye & the Fayettes Pete Kennedy Allen Touissant Darryl Purpose Bill Lloyd 37 | JAZZ LIBRARY Ernestine Anderson
FOOD 38 | City Restaurants Heat Up
HARPER’S 40 | Findings 40 | Index
FILM Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Waiting for a Client, 1879. Charcoal and pastel over monotype on paper. Plate: 6 3/8 × 4 3/4 in. Private Collection.
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ON THE COVER: Stuart Davis (1892–1964), Owh! in San Pao, 1951. Oil on canvas, 52 3/16 × 42 in. (132.6 × 106.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 52.2. © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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ART A THOUSAND WORDS STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
Community THE RESIDENTS OF JONESPORT and Beals Island can be as taciturn as any New Englander. A nod is usually sufficient, and if they feel chatty you might get a yes or no. But when I ask about a local person the reply often comes with a genealogy lesson. For instance, there are three names that dominate the area: Beal, Alley and Carver, and if I say something like, “The lady in the store was very helpful,” the person I’m talking to might answer, “Oh, that’s Mary Beal. Mary’s married to Mark, who is the son of Henry Beal, the boat builder. Mark’s Brother married Sarah Alley who volunteers at the library. Mary’s Mother, Beatrice, was a teacher, and her father, Ralph Carver, fished mussels until he hurt his back and now he works at the hardware store. She’s nice.” The best genealogical recitations are those that go directly back to the two famous local historical figures, Tall Barney and Will Frost. Tall Barney was Barney Beal, an early settler on Beals Island and a large, powerful figure in the Paul Bunyon mold. Most descriptions of him include legendary prowess such as throwing large things great distances or quelling riots by just showing up. Will Frost’s reputation is less flamboyant. His lobster boat design of a hundred years ago is the basic model still. Frost begat the boat building industry that the region became known for. If anybody can claim ancestry back to either of these guys, they will. It’s like being related to Buffalo Bill or Thomas Edison. You’d work it into the conversation somehow. Boat builder Willis Beal, being a Beal, is related to just about everybody on Beals Island and most of the people on the mainland, living or dead. He’s glad to tell you about it, plus there’s a bonus. Since Willis is of notable boat-building lineage he not only gives you every twig of the prodigious family tree, he gives you their boats too. “Hannah was married to Stanley, who had a thirty-two (foot boat) built by Calvin Beal. He gave that to his son Bill when he was ready and had Calvin build him a thirty-eight. His father, Gerard, was married to George Alley’s daughter, Rebecca. He had a Clinton Beal thirty-six. He tore the keel out of her over near Seal Rock, and had Clinton build him a forty-two.” It’s all there and it’s all good.
I think this propensity is a way the residents place themselves in a society that has remained intact and structured for a long time. Personal independence is their individual strength, but a strong sense of societal connection and interdependence is the community’s strength. People sometimes open up to me when I’m painting them. It’s a generous effort to show me something about themselves that I might otherwise miss in the short time I’m there. Willis made the point more than once of telling me that he doesn’t throw anything away. He’s not a hoarder per se, but rather someone who has a place to put every odd and end in case a need arises, like the fabled drawer for pieces of string too short to use. Willis took time out from preparing his lobster traps to show me the pencils he had in his overalls pocket. He held four of them in the palm of his chunky, callused hand, none more than two inches long and two of them sharpened right to the metal eraser bezel. I throw a pencil out when it’s too short to rest in the saddle between my thumb and forefinger. He throws them out when there is absolutely nothing left to use. Actually, I don’t know that. He might have a drawer where he keeps the erasers. Years ago a man had Willis build him a boat that he named Eight Bells. In nautical tradition eight bells is the signal for the end of a four-hour watch. Time to kick back. The man is now 92 years old and doesn’t go out in the boat so he gave it back to Willis, who is using it to catch lobsters now that he stopped building boats. The man did ask a favor, though. He wanted Willis to build his coffin, which Willis did. He showed it to me. It was in the back of the shop under a tarp, waiting to be picked up by the upholsterer. Willis made it from cedar planking left over from the man’s boat. The handles are large hatch rings and it has a mahogany cross on the lid. Spaced around the sides and ends, also in varnished mahogany, are silhouettes of bells. Eight of them. n
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Art BY BURTON WASSERMAN
Stuart Davis (1892–1964), Lucky Strike, 1921. Oil on canvas, 33 1/4 x 18 in. (84.5 x 45.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York; gift of the American Tobacco Company, Inc., 1951. © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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STUART DAVIS WAS ONE of the most dedicated painters in the consistent use of a personal brand of semi-abstract art form during the 20th century. Because he also devoted much time to teaching at such schools as the Art Students League, the New School for Social Research and Yale University, his influence on the accomplishments of many students was rather considerable. Now, in recognition of his contributions to the world of modern American art, the Whitney Museum in New York City is presenting a superb solo exhibition of his creative achievements, both early and late. Specifically, the installation spotlights his talent for matching jazz rhythms to references of characteristically American images of varied subject matter, running from package designs of assorted consumer products to urban vistas, household furnishings and the aesthetics of marketplace advertising. The show is on view in the Museum’s fifth floor Neil Bluhm Family Galleries. It is scheduled to remain on public display until October 10, 2016. Davis was born in Philadelphia, late in the 19th century. He enjoyed a long life, passing on in 1964 after a 55-year career as an easel painter and muralist. When Davis turned 16, he dropped out of high school and commenced study with Robert Henri in New York. It was then that he learned to capture what Henri labeled as “Life in the raw... .” A little later, with John Sloan as his guide, he gained a foundation for work as an illustrator for such publications as The Masses. In 1913, he participated, by invitation, in the famous Armory Show, held in midManhattan. Simultaneously, he was very impressed with selections by European modernists he saw in the show. Then in 1928 he spent a very rewarding year, living and painting in France. At that time, he came to be very taken with colors and stylistic mannerisms employed by van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Léger, and especially the idiom of synthetic cubism, which he made his own for the rest of his working life. His accomplishments with the language of design gave voice to the changing currents of life that he witnessed throughout the remaining years of his life. The compositions he brought to realization gave him a channel for expressing the spirit of his surroundings and the essence of the new age of the 20th century. Another valuable benefit accruing to Davis’ unique style over the years was his contribution of a design foundation for what came to be known as the style of Pop Art. In large measure, that post-abstract expressionist movement was predicated upon recognizable imagery drawn from popular consumer products like Coca Cola and Oxydol detergent, and the use of bright areas of flat color, which figures prominently in Davis’ vocabulary of visual form. Getting in touch with the power of invention implicit in Davis’ oeuvre allows spectators to share in the creative artist’s wellspring of aesthetic courage. By daring to reassemble different angles of view of a given subject, Davis invites viewers to the process of analyzing aspects of shape, pattern and color in ways that bring freshness and vitality to the process of looking into the heart of bold, artistic excursions, as one moves from one composition to another. Breaking with the notion of traditional representation as the foundation for an artwork, Davis emphasized the transformational role an artist’s visual intuition could play in exercising the creative process in a new and daring manner. By the same token, this methodology honored the way that design elements could be used imaginatively to conceive a bold mix of off-beat perspectives, able to afford a process of liberating rewarding options that would otherwise remain untried and unknown. By implementing this approach of fanciful exploration, the artworks, taken together, leave behind a legacy of expressive and personal freedom for viewers to experience and enjoy in the unique manner that the grammar of free poetic metaphor makes possible. n Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY. Whitney.org
Stuart Davis (1892–1964), Colonial Cubism, 1954. Oil on canvas, 45 1/8 x 60 1/4 in. (114.6 x 153 cm). Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, 1955. © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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Stuart Davis (1892–1964), Report from Rockport, 1940. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection, bequest of Edith Abrahamson Lowenthal, 1991. © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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Art BY ED HIGGINS
Edgar Degas
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A Strange New Beauty
YOU’RE PROBABLY NOT GOING to get what you expect at the current exhibition of Edgar Degas at the Museum of Modern Art. The show, with more than 120 monotypes and 60 related works, focuses not so much on the subject matter as on the technique he used: printmaking. Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty, is the first U.S. exhibition in 50 years to show his printmaking techniques—and The Museum of Modern Art’s first monographic exhibition of the artist. Not to worry; there are still the Degas ballet dancers, nudes, prostitutes, and landscapes—the sort of images to which we’ve become accustomed. These images, however, show an innovative, even radical force far removed from the controlled, almost delicate nature of his iconic oils. Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was born in Paris. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and became an important portraitist who combined impressionistic sensibilities with traditional approaches. He enjoyed capturing female dancers, and experimented with unusual angles and off-center compositions; his work influenced several major artists, including Mary Cassatt and Pablo Picasso. Our perception of Degas is changed by this exhibit. In A Strange New Beauty, we see him as a creative, almost obsessive artist who stretched the boundaries of a new medium to fit inside a personal vision which is captured in his oils and pastels. The monotype is a “…print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture is painted in oil color, printing ink, or the like.” As simple as the definition suggests, Degas went at it with a passion. Beginning in mid-1870s to the mid-1880s and again during the early 1890s, he produced more than 300 monotypes using methods later linked to many New York abstract expressionists in the 1950s. He experimented with tools such as rags, brushes, knives and sticks. He would bring out forms and shape from completely ink-blackened surfaces by scraping, scratching, fingerprinting, and rendering by removal. This method became known as the “dark field” technique in creating the finished monotype. The Museum declares the results, “...enigmatic and mutable forms, luminous passages emerging from deep blackness, and a heightened sense of tactility characterize the resulting works.” This leap to a radically new technique is like Beethoven taking a break to listen to Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson. The subject matter of the monotypes is what one would expect: ballet dancers lit— by gaslight or the new invention of electric light—in such a way as to create emotional shadows and bright spots; bathing nudes; backstage preparations or rest; and café society. Included in the show are some Burgundy landscapes that are abstract prints done in oil, not ink. His use of color washes in these oil-based landscapes introduced another daring new technique: the oil paints were mutable and ran unpredictably during the printing process. It’s important to remember that the late 19th century brought a dramatic change in urban life: the electric light bulb. With it, urban life changed permanently. It was this life Degas was attempting to capture, and nowhere was it more intense than in 1870s Paris through the turn of the century. n Through July 24. Museum of Modern Art, 11 W 53rd St, NY moma.org
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OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: Dancers Coming from the Dressing Rooms onto the Stage (Et ces demoiselles fretillaient gentiment devant la glace du foyer), c. 1876–77. Proposed illustration for The Cardinal Family (La Famille Cardinal). Pastel over monotype on paper. Plate: 8 3/8 × 6 1/4 in. (21.2 × 15.8 cm). Schorr Collection
.OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM: Woman Reading (Liseuse), c. 1880–85. Monotype on paper. Plate: 14 15/16 x 10 7/8 in. (38 x 27.7 cm), sheet: 17 7/16 x 12 13/16 in. (44.3 x 32.5 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Rosenwald Collection, 1950.
THIS PAGE: Heads of a Man and a Woman (Homme et femme, en buste), c. 1877–80. Monotype on paper. Plate: 2 13/16 x 3 3/16 in. (7.2 x 8.1 cm). British Museum, London. Bequeathed by Campbell Dodgson.
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Art Shorts CURATED BY ED HIGGINS
NEIL ANDERSON at Bridgette Mayer Gallery
JIM RODGERS AND JONATHAN MANDELL at Silverman Gallery
Neil Anderson’s seventh solo exhibition at the Gallery, Quartet for America, features new works which continue his exploration of organic forms found in nature. The paintings on view focus more narrowly on drawing inspiration from piled cut branches resulting in an intricate interwoven pattern of an irregular linear grid.
Bucks County Connections features the work of Jim Rodgers and Jonathan Mandell, both of whom have long experience in the Delaware Valley. Rodgers on his oils: “I’ve painted from Ottsville to Washington’s Crossing, out to the farms of Bedminster Township and up to Perkasie. Over three decades of working in Bucks County have filled my artistic endeavors with
dation level art classes at what was the Philadelphia College of Art. While studying there, I was working at a local company restoring cloisonné, there I befriended my first fine art mentor, Selim El-Sherif. He and his wife, Mona, introduced me to mosaic and to Neil Welliver who was the fine art chair of the Graduate School of Fine Arts of the University of Pennsylvania. Within a year I enrolled in Penn’s MFA program, earning my degree in 1990.” Both men have lengthy exhibition histories. Silverman Art Gallery, 4920 York Road, Route 202, Buckingham Green Shopping Center Buckingham, PA through June 12.
FINE ART MINIATURES at The Snow Goose Gallery The show includes dozens of talented artists from around the world. Typical of them is Hanna Woodring, a native of Minnesota, who currently lives in Germany where her husband is a professor at the University of Bayreuth.
Neil Anderson, Quartet for America No. 4 (Earth Song No. 25), 2016, Oil on linen, 72 x 96 inches. Image courtesy of Bridgette Mayer Gallery and Neil Anderson.
This Quartet—four paintings facing and conversing with each other—is conceived through variations on red, white and blue and contrasting colors. Associations with music and the classical quartet structure inform the relationship between the works. The intensity of sound is exchanged degrees of color contrast. Anderson’s concerns: “Proportion and balance between all the parts, no one part of the painted surface is more important than any other. The whole plane is the subject of the painting. Line, color, shape and texture are the vocabulary through which I speak.” Anderson received his MFA from the University of Iowa and then went on to become a professor of art at Bucknell University, teaching there for over 40 years before retiring in 1999. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others, and is included in several prominent private and public art collections nationwide. In addition, he has exhibited in numerous solo shows in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. He lives and works in rural Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Anderson has been featured in such publications as The New York Times, Arts Magazine, ARTnews, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Art in America. The Bridgette Mayer Gallery, 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, through June 24.
Jim Rodgers, Spring Flowers & Peaches, oil on board, 16 x 20
numerous paintings and numerous memories. My career in the art world has seemingly come full circle. I expect my relationship with the Bucks County countryside will continue to flourish.” Mandell on his mosaics: “My artistic journey started at Northwestern University when, as a history major, I enrolled in my first fine art class in sculpture, spring term of my senior year. Following graduation I signed up for founHanna Woodring, Seen Better Days
Jonathan Mandell, Nature Study X, art glass, tile and semiprecious stone mosaics, 26 x 24 x 3"
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She has a degree from Louisiana State University and for many years taught school and made further studies in art and art education. She has been president of the Louisiana Art and Artists Guild, and has lived in Germany since 2000. ”The paintings themselves start with the traditional oil painting techniques,” she says of her work.“I love the smooth surface of clay board and work with the lean to fat technique. Once the painting has been laid in with oil paint thinned with turpentine, the rest of the painting is worked up in layers of glazes.” Woodring is a member of a number of artistic groups and recently was inducted into the Royal Miniature Society of London. The Snow Goose Gallery, 470 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA, is celebrating its 24th year with the Twenty Fourth Invitational Exhibition of Fine Art Miniatures From around the World. Through June 12. n
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EXHIBITIONS
Lewis Hine, Two Workers on a Girder, Empire State Building, 1931. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, courtesy of art2art Circulating Exhibitions Leora Brecker's Yearning, Clay Award
Our Strength Is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine
15th Annual Juried Exhibition, Sculpture 2016
Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 31 North Fifth Street, Allentown AllentownArtMuseum.org June 4–October 2, 2016
New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, 215-862-9606 Newhopearts.org Friday-Sunday, Noon-5PM Through June 19 New Hope Arts 15th Annual Juried Exhibition, Sculpture 2016 features the work of 56 artists. National and regional entries include artists new to this venue, expanding the array of contemporary work in a wide variety of media. Jurors’ awards included new exhibitors and six media categories, an exceptional, diverse and entertaining display. Sculpture at New Hope Arts is always a much anticipated and enthusiastically received presentation. Free.
Alan Carter's Ascendency, New Exhibitor Award winner
Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Couple of an Age Morven Museum & Garden 55 Stockton St., Princeton, NJ 609-924-8144 Morven.org Open through October 23, 2016 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh stepped into an era of tabloid journalism, crime syndicates, police corruption, poverty and desperation. Anne was small, shy, sensitive and bookish, an Ambassador’s daughter and Smith College graduate from a warm loving family. Charles was the tall, deeply reserved and independent aviator. Fresh-faced and squeaky clean, they were a breath of fresh air in the depression-era world which couldn’t get enough of them. Many biographers have been drawn to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, but few have focused on their intertwined lives. The Lindberghs were hounded by the press, first for their accomplishments and then for the headline-capturing kidnapping and death of their toddler son. The crime and subsequent trial kept them in the public eye. And even though they fled to Europe to escape media attention, Charles Lindbergh’s fascination with Hitler’s Germany and his role in the isolationist America First movement before the nation’s entry into World War II ensured their place on the front page. Exhibit includes photographs, rarely-seen objects, selected text, audio, video and other interactive components. Museum Hours: Wed. – Sun. 10 – 4; 55 Stockton St., Princeton; www.morven.org Photo credit: Anne and Charles outside the Great Wall of China in the city of Nanking, 1931. (Lindbergh picture collection, 1860-1980 [inclusive]. Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University).
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Photographer Lewis Hine (1874–1940) saw his work as both art and a tool for social change. Beginning in 1905 he photographed immigrants at Ellis Island, hoping his sympathetic images would combat xenophobia. His interest in the lives of working-class Americans led him to photograph immigrant steel workers and subsequently join the crusade against child labor. In the 1920s and ‘30s, Hine turned his lens to the positive experiences of laborers, producing photographs that depicted skilled workers collaborating with modern machines. This exhibition, from the collection of Judith G. Hochberg and Michael P. Mattis, provides an overview of Hine’s life’s work. The exhibition was organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions.
Lewis Hine, Italian Family Looking for Lost Baggage, Ellis Island, 1905. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, courtesy of art2art Circulating Exhibitions
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THEATER VALLEY
CITY
City of Angels This musical comedy is alternately and simultaneously a cinematic novel about a sarcastic, double-dealing private eye and a play about an idealistic, double-dealing novelistturned screenwriter. Easton native David Zippel won Tony awards for lyrics and score for a clever, gleefully sabotaging homage to colorful black-and-white hard-boiled movies. (June 3-4, 10-12, 16-19, Pennsylvania Playhouse, Bethlehem) Gypsy The Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre Festival, the Valley’s gold standard for musicals, opens its 35th season with the rousing, arousing retelling of Gypsy Rose Lee’s rise from a second-banana sister and besieged stage daughter to a sophisticated, successful stripper godmothered by three burlesque queens. Mama Rose, the tarnished gold standard for Broadway stage mothers, is played by Mia Scarpa, who made matchmaker Dolly Levi winkingly wise and likably formidable in the festival’s 2015 production of Hello, Dolly! (June 15-July 3, Muhlenberg College, Allentown) West Side Story The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival launches its 25th year with the slam-banging, heart-wringing adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, first staged in the festival’s first season. Arthur Laurent, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins created a pretty perfect musical with cool, fiery gang rivals, lovers, dancers, singers and storytellers in ‘50s Manhattan near the future home of Lincoln Center. (June 15-July 3, DeSales University, Center Valley) Julius Caesar This year’s furiously ambitious, furiously absurd presidential campaign seems a proper backdrop for Shakespeare’s tale of unholy alliances, bloody betrayals, mob brutality, wracking guilt, cunning oratory and unlikely compassion among power brokers in ancient Rome. Patrick Mulcahy, Pennsylvania Shakespeare’s artistic chief, directs the festival’s first Julius Caesar since 1997, when he choreographed the fights. (June 22-July 7, DeSales University, Center Valley) Assassins Civic Theatre of Allentown strengthened its status as a Stephen Sondheim center with a wickedly entertaining version of a sinister-to-silly musical about nine of America’s most notorious killers and attempted killers of public figures. Jarrod Yuskauskas played John Wilkes Booth with the lusty, loony authority of a Shakespearean carnival barker. Tracy Ceschin was lovably goofy and spookily deluded as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, one of Charles Manson’s acolytes. Robert Trexler made Samuel Byck, who planned to murder President Richard Nixon by crashing a hijacked plane into the White House, a raging incarnation of John Belushi. Director William Sanders kept a tight, light trigger finger on everything from a surreally sunny execution number to a chilling scene where Booth & Co. convinced Lee Harvey Oswald to kill John F. Kennedy instead of himself. Casa Valentina Selkie Theatre presented a deeply funny, deeply touching production of Harvey Fierstein’s hilarious, nervous play about cross-dressing men at a Catskills colony in 1962, a sanctuary spoiled by threats of scandal and doubts about coming out. Director George B. Miller shaped compelling performances from a cast with diverse bodies and body languages, voices and vibes. Ted Williams gave the resort’s stressed co-owner a rough nobility and a tender vulnerability. Joshua Tyler Altorfer scored big laughs as a resident campy wisecracker. Jerry Schmidt was pitch-perfect as a catty, whip-smart pioneer, a natural extension of his side career as a drag queen. The company’s research materials included Fierstein’s inspiration: a 2005 book of photographs of the original resort, found at a flea market and published by former owners of an antiques store in Easton. Another resource was a rare interview with Lily, a resort regular who line danced at a nearby Greek restaurant, quite daring for a ‘60s transvestite. The 80-year-old Cantonese/Mandarin interpreter still wears women’s clothing, an “unusual hobby” known only by his wife. n —Geoff Gehman 14 n I C O N n J U N E 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V
The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning PFC Bradley Manning became a cause célèbre when he released thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks. But how did a shy, gay, bullied computer nerd come to be known as America’s public enemy No. 1 sentenced to 35 years in prison? This play, by Tim Price at Inis Nua Theatre Company at the Drake, presents him as the victim of lifelong psychological battering long before WikiLeaks. On stage, Price’s Manning becomes SNL’s “Mr. Bill,” tortured and harassed by military peers 24/7 as the cast of six (Trevor Fayle, David Glover, Campbell O’Hare, David Pica, Isa St. Clair and Johnny Smith) play Manning at different points in his career. While it may seem democratically smart to share the Manning persona, the end result is more gimmick than smart innovation. Price’s fractured chronology manages to maintain a smooth narrative style in spite of the script’s obsessive revisiting of Manning’s secondary school days in Wales where he was taught to idolize Welsh political revolutionaries. Manning’s schooling in revolutionary ideology forms the basis for his own revolt at WikiLeaks. Rice, to his credit, wisely avoids Manning’s transformation into Chelsea, which would have added another layer to the play. The superb acting in Radicalisation speeds it along faster than an Acela. Straight White Men Young Jean Lee’s play, a partial comedy, has struck controversial chords throughout the nation. The Interact Theatre Company brings Lee’s liberal hypothesis to the Drake (until June 19). This New York Times-praised play revolves around an imagined feminist game in which the losers are identified as privileged white men types. The penalty for such an identity might be a good scolding in which the losers are told to sit down and shut up. This must-see play should be put on your calendar because it’s always fun to see how an entire demographic is demonized on stage. The Invisible Hand Directed by Matt Pfeiffer at Theatre Exile, Ayad Akhtar’s play takes us into the world of radical Islam when an investment banker is kidnapped. Akhtar’s debut play Disgraced captivated PTC audiences and this reviewer last year; it also won Akhtar a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Akhtar’s unique vision and Islamic background provides a nuanced insider’s view of what it means to be a Muslim today in the U.S. But how he handles the terrorist question proves to be far different than how Pamela Geller would report. Until June 5. 36 Views The non-linear storyline is back with the Philadelphia premiere of Naomi Iizuka’s 36 Views at Lantern Theater (Saint Stephen’s Church, until June 26). Iizuka, the author of Freak and Language of Angels, tells the story of what happens when a treasured work of art falls into the hands of an aggressive art dealer. While profound questions are raised in this play, reviewers nationwide have commented on the gaps and postmodern polyglot of a style. The Lantern rarely fails to impress, so perhaps some tweaks are in store. The Christians There are Christians and there are “Christians.” In Lucas Hnath’s engrossing play at the Wilma, we know only the thumper fundamentalists where scripture is interpreted individually and where God whispers different “truths” to different believers. Under Tim Boyd’s astute direction, the audience became part of the congregation as Pastor Paul (Paul DeBoy), a charismatic preacher at the height of his powers, announces that God has told him that there’s no hell and that everyone winds up in Heaven, including Adolph Hitler. This new revelation brings schism, disruption and chaos to the once self-satisfied congregation, and Pastor Paul soon sees his church go up in holy smoke, as even his devoted wife Elizabeth, more than aptly portrayed by Erika LaVonn, agonizes whether to go or stay. The Christians is the best thing I’ve seen at the Wilma in a long time. Hillary and Clinton Let’s break out the Glass-Steagall for this Lucas Hnath masterpiece, at PTC’s Suzanne Roberts Theatre (until June 26). Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, this dissection of the world’s best loved and most hated woman will surely heat up Broad Street. n —Thom Nickels
ICEPACK A.D. AMOROSI ON THE NEWS, NIGHTLIFE AND BITCHINESS BEATS
THE WORD “LEGEND” IS not to be bandied about. That’s why when you come face to face with one, proceed with caution and respect. That’s what I did when I came up against Mel Brooks during his sold out appearance at the Academy of Music for a screening of his 1974 comic masterpiece, Blazing Saddles, and a live conversation. Brooks didn’t just reveal to me that he’s currently working on his first film directingwriting-editing-starring gig since 1995’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It, or that he’s trying to figure out which of his classic cinema parodies is ripe for a theatrical musical adaptation (The Producers, Young Frankenstein), or that his Brooks Films will soon release a BluRay box set of Mel’s dramatic productions (The Elephant Man, Fatso). Brooks gave me the backstory on his Philly roots. “When I was a little kid I did [the] first show that I had a sketch in,” he said. “The show was called Curtain Going Up 1952. We were in town at the Walnut Street Theater. We were hanging at the Variety Club every night. The show didn’t do great and we were getting ready to Mel Brooks close it, but I had a few sketches in there; one was really funny—a satire on Death of a Salesman. At the same time, there was a show in town, at The Forrest I think, New Faces of 1952—they were trying out for Broadway. Anyway, I was hanging at the Variety Club when their producers, Leonard Silver and Ronnie Graham, came to see me; they wanted my sketch. So in Philly, I gave them my sketch and that show went on to run for three years. So Philadelphia saved my life. I always loved Philly.” By now, everyone knows that Philly’s July 4 celebration on Benjamin Franklin Parkway—forever curated and played by native son Questlove and the rest of his home team, Roots—has changed hands in the wake of Jim Kenney’s new administration. A cornier bill is set to run “a more familyfriendly” list of locals, but widely-known performers will play the Independence Day proQuestlove ceedings: East Oak Lane’s Leslie Odom Jr. from the Broadway musical Hamilton will emcee, Bucks County’s Christina Perri will perform, as will Yazz the Greatest from Fox TV’s Empire; the Philly Pops, and a special tribute to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff performed by the O’Jays and Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes. Not bad, but not daring. That said, many of the reasons that The Roots and their usual crew of big name guests (Hall & Oates, Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande) will not be doing Independence Day in Philly may just come down to missing money and the Mayor’s soda tax. Last year’s celebration was Christina Perri broadcast on Channel 6-ABC and VH1 with Pepsi as its national sponsor (next to the local WaWa). Who would expect the cola bottler to pay for big name music stars this year if they were getting taxed to do business in the city by its new administration? WaWa certainly has expansion money now, but a new take-out joint in Center City isn’t going to foot the bill for big names, no matter how many hoagies you throw in to sweeten the deal. That’s my guess. n W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n J U N E 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 15
The List JUNE CURATED BY A. D. AMOROSI
3 MODERN ENGLISH
The British new wavers who brought just that one dreary hit “I Melt with You” to our shores, continue to melt.(Union Transfer) 3 ANTHONY HAMILTON & FANTASIA
The earnest retro R&B smoothie and the howling, emotional American Idol victor join forces for the funk. (Mann Center) 3 EAGLES OF DEATH METAL
city summer’s July 4 celebration, this gathering is the only place in town to see Questlove & Co., one which lists Usher as one of the picnic’s biggest components. Plus, this is the last event in which all involved will play Festival Pier as, in 2017, a condo-complex is to be erected there. Sheesh. (Festival Pier)
12 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS SING FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS What else would you expect HBO’s fa-
18 DIXIE CHICKS Country’s controversial female trio return after their Bush-era mouth-offs for old fashioned slick hillbilly music.(BB&T)
5 BEYONCE The Lemomade lady is an unstoppable force—no husband, hip hop or genre can vorite Kiwis to do but be funny? (Mann) 13 MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS The jury is still out on Caucasian hip hop’s soul brothers #1 and 2, but, this event should be a healing cathartic one. (Tower) slow her roll or cease her desire to conquer. (Citizens Bank Park)
The evil incidents that occurred at Paris’ Bataclan can’t cease the Josh Hommefilled hard garage rock act. (Tower) 4 AL PACINO
Yes, this is Al Pacino discussing everything from The Godfather to the hoo-hah that won him as Oscar. (Borgata)
5 CHRIS HARDWICK Only Ryan Seacrest hosts more things than this snarky comic. (Hershey Theatre) 7 MUDCRUTCH Heartbreakers Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benemont Tench’s first Florida
4 ROOTS PICNIC Now that The Roots aren’t involved in the
15 DOLLY PARTON Parton doesn’t get to these east coast often, so any chance to see the high trilling queen of country pop and blue grass is a must. (Mann Center) 15 GYPSY Mia Scarpa and Jarrod Yuskauskas star in this ever-young musical. (Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre) 16 BEN WATT & BERNARD BUTLER Singer/songwriter, memoirist and DJ, Watt plays his deeply personal folk-rock with, this time, the aid of Suede guitarist Butler. Expect some glam. (World Café Live)
Photo: Dennis Callahan
swamp punk band as kids make their return for a new album 2 and tour. (Fillmore) 10 GREEN VELVET Long before EDM was a thing, Curtis Alan Jones was making Chicago born, Techno, House music, a Minimal techno into a party all of his own devising. (Coda) The Roots’ Questlove.
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18 SHADOW OF THE CITY FEST: Bleachers, The 1975, Carly Rae Jepsen, Borns. Lena Dunham’s boyfriend Jack Bleachers started this festival of all his favorite fizzy pop bands. (Seaside Heights, NJ)
17 FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, THE LUMINEERS, COLD WAR KIDS AND ELLE KING 104.5 FM 9TH B-DAY All of your favorite nu-white bands in one place. (BB&T Pavilion, Camden) 17 CHRIS STAPLETON & JASON ISBELL WITH FRANK TURNER This year’s flavor du jour where big buoyant male country music goes hooks up with last year’s favorite and a mutual friend of theirs. (Festival Pier)
25 KEVIN JAMES Tired of making exceptionally dumb movies with Adam Sandler, the King of Queens is now king of the road. (Borgata) 25 PAUL SIMON Stranger to Stranger is Simon’s newest album and like the work he did with Cuban and African music, to say nothing
of his time with Brian Eno, this one’s more experimental in nature. And deeply harmonious—who needs Art Garfunkel? (Mann Center) 25 PERE UBU ‘COED JAIL!’ SONGS FROM 1975-1982 Cleveland’s often overlooked pre-punk ensemble with original frontman David Thomas aren’t re-doing their greatest moments but rather deconstructing them in ways unimaginable. (Johnny Brenda’s) 26 STING & PETER GABRIEL Yawn. Probably. Unless the two do something together. (BB&T Pavilion, Camden) 29 DEAD KENNEDYS San Franciscan punk threat Jello Biafa is back to taunt the kids and the troops. (TLA) n
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FILM CINEMATTERS REVIEW BY PETE CROATTO
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The Fits
ANNA ROSE HOLMER’S THE Fits (opening June 24 in Philadelphia) will frustrate those used to movies that prompt and prod like anxious parents. It will certainly enrage the growing numbers who think watching movies is enhanced by texting and scrolling. Do you remember when you ceased being a child and first saw the expanse of adulthood, with all its ripe and frightening possibilities? The Fits captures that unsaid moment with painful clarity. The film is elusive and poetic, quiet and profound. If you truly watch it, you will stare your past right in the face. The characters here, a group of African-American kids who spend their days at a community center in the bleak part of Cincinnati, don’t see the significance. Why should they? They’re immersed in activities, especially 11-year-old Toni (Royalty Hightower), a quiet girl who studies boxing with her older brother (Da'Sean Minor). She’s committed, unleashing chin-ups and sit-ups at an almost mechanical clip. Toni’s dedication waivers after she finds the dance team practicing in the same building. The courtship starts small. Toni lurks outside the door, watching the all-girl squad perform, where slow motion captures their hair and confidence flowing. (Conversely, the boxing gym is all hard falls, bodily fluids, and harder truths.) They’re pretty and tall and throb with beautiful swagger. Toni touches the handle and her hand returns with glitter. The infatuation grows. She twirls in an empty gym. A visit to watch the girls practice turns into participation. She makes friends and spends less time with the boxers, who aren’t sure what box to put her in. Then it starts. One of the dancers has some sort of seizure. Then another. And another. Alarm grows. Toni remains stoic, but she’s putting it together. She’s growing more feminine: piercing her ears and putting glitter on her nails. When she runs
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through the halls wearing her dance dress, her face explodes with emotion. Are “the fits”—that’s what the locals are calling them—part of becoming a woman? Toni staves off the process by removing her earrings and scratching the gold polish off her nails. The afflicted recover. They head back to the center and talk about “the fits” the way recent college grads discuss their semester abroad. It’s an experience. And everyone goes through it differently—falling to the ground and flopping, standing in a trance, choking and gurgling. It’s a rite of passage in a place where not much happens as Holmer keeps the action to the community center and the surrounding area. Adults rarely surface other than to offer instructions. The kids are on their own. The Fits is a coming-of-age story that steps around every convention of the genre. Holmer doesn’t expect a medal for her efforts. It feels weighty because of what the director/co-writer, who has a background in documentaries, doesn’t do. She simply adopts an observational approach. The shots are wide. The camera lingers. The music can best be described as screeching and unsettled. Toni has to face something completely outside her strictly defined world. Establishing her place in it comes down to answering one question: Does she fight “the fits” or submit to them? Holmer, in her narrative feature debut, establishes a world of uncertainty that features a clear lesson. If you listen to yourself, you’ll be happy and have the support of those who have followed that path. (The fact that “the fits” only happen to the girls is Holmer’s welcome feminist jab.) The Fits shows the power, terror, and freedom of defining ourselves. Whatever that is. It’s a movie for everyone, because it compels us to look closer—at everything. [NR] n
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FILM KERESMAN ON FILM
(Photo: Atsushi Nishijima, Sony Pictures Entertainment)
REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN
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Money Monster
HE 2015 FILM THE Big Short goes into the financial collapse circa 2007—the credit and housing bubble in which revered, long-lived financial institutions thought to be rock hard went belly-up. While people lost jobs and homes, some clever and observant individuals profited. Occasionally obscure—the insand-outs of high-level economics and the sub-prime netherworld—it is a fascinating film about big-money concepts that are built on sand, and the individuals who are unscrupulous with other people’s money, lose it, and yet are insulated from any serious consequences. As casino boss Ace Rothstein in Martin Scorsese’s Casino says in his voice-over narration: “We’re the only winners—the players don’t stand a chance.” Money Monster is the Hollywood thriller version of The Big Short. George Clooney portrays Lee Gates, a blustery, vaguely Donald Trump-ish host of a Jim Cramer Mad Money-live TV show (albeit more over-the-top) about the stock market that appeals to investors big and small. Julia Roberts is Patty, the producer, who’s there to make sure the whole show doesn’t go off the rails and rein-in Gates’ excesses and borderline adolescent behavior. Gates is an amalgam of a fatuous blowhard, CNBC financial analyst, Charles Foster Kane (in his blustery period in Citizen Kane), and game show host Gene Rayburn. He’s on the borderline between realizing what he’s doing is “entertainment” rather than serious market analysis and believing his own bullshit. Enter Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), a seriously disgruntled investor who lost his entire inheritance on one of Gates’ recommendations. In a desperate search for answers, he sneaks into the TV studio with a gun and a vest full of explosives and takes Gates hostage. He wants answers and he wants them now.
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What occurs is fairly predictable yet entertaining. Patty is the voice of reason who tries to keep everyone, especially Gates, calm while the cameras are going—remember, it’s live TV—by giving instructions to Gates via an earpiece. In search of answers, Gates and Patty go behind the dizzying world of high finance, scurrying from one possible source to another, trying to sift through public relations jive and hidden facts to, at first placate a mad bomber, then to learn just what happened with Ibis Clear Capital, the company in which Kyle invested. What’s refreshing is that Gates is not an unambiguous hero and Kyle is not the most sympathetic victim. O’Connell and Clooney show many shades of humanity in their portrayals—they’re not always likeable, but you care about what happens to them. Roberts is fine, albeit a little stereotypical, as the Professional Woman Trying to Keep it All Together. Jodie Foster’s direction is brisk, and cinematographer Matthew Libatique capably captures the claustrophobic environment—most of the action occurs in a TV studio and control room. It is a plot-driven story, so characterization is mostly kept to a very efficient minimum. Where the movie trips up a bit: Dominic West plays the smarmy CEO of Ibis Clear Capital with all the subtleties of Snidely Whiplash or The Simpsons’ Mr. Burns; and anyone over the age of, say, 30 knows exactly where Money Monster is going. But it is to this movie’s credit that Monster is engaging, a thriller with a lesson— that corporate power can be a danger that the media ignores. n Mark Keresman is a freelance writer and regular contributor to ICON, downBeat, Paste, SF Weekly, and Jazz Review, and has written liner notes to over a dozen albums of varied genres. He lives in Chicago.
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interview A. D. AMOROSI
For its second go-round with John Mayer, Dead & Company’s Bob Weir goes for broke John Mayer, Bill Kreutzman, Bob Weir
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: yes, countless Deadheads and casual Cherry Garcia fans fumed when the Grateful Dead—which ended its 50-year career in Chicago last year with a series of communally dear, mega-selling events—continued onward, mere weeks after said finale, with barely a blink. All that the Dead & Company (not the Grateful Dead) did was drop original member Phil Lesh (who’ll surely return at some point)—and brought in guitarist devotee John Mayer and Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, who were again in the pink (or grey) and ready “I don’t mean to be chauvinistic here, but it’s the culture that we were raised in, what to roar. Some would call this a deception, as if the remaining Dead left behind American music has to offer,” says Weir. “Something really magical hap- with the passing of Jerry Garcia should have ceased in Chicago as promised and let it go at that. Yet, the fact of the matter is that Weir, Hart and Kreutzpened, and John gets it. And if I can speak for him, he sees that unnamable Holy mann have always played fast and loose with who they are—a collective in Grail out there of this quintessentially American musical form that can speak which old and younger jam-base audiences might be interested. All that the to all the idioms that feed it. He appreciates it and he’s going for it.” market can and will (dancing) bear, one supposes. So, here we are in the summer of our discontent with dates across the U.S. , the local one being June 20 at Camden’s BB&T Pavilion. “Actually, we had decided previous to the Fare Thee Well concerts that we were going to—at least we were going to run it up the flagpole—because I played with John,” says Weir. “It became apparent to us
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Oteil Burbridge, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti
that this was a rabbit that we wanted to chase.” Weir brought Mickey and Bill into the conversation (“Phil is getting older and has less than limited interest in hitting the road anymore”) and though the Grateful Dead didn’t want to discuss a next project, they began feeling their collective way into Dead & Company without putting a lot of thought to it, while concentrating on the 50th. “For me, it’s kind of what I expected, really,” said Weir about starting and maintaining a groove with Mayer after playing together on television the previous year. “We were going to do like two songs, and we did a sound check that lasted about an hour and a half and touched on those two songs briefly…they finally had to unplug us.” It was from there, in Weir’s mind, that the die was cast; the idea came up to put together a band. “The same thing happened for me on my end, where I had never experienced anything like that musically, where I floated in that particular place,” notes Mayer. “Bob carries so much of that DNA of the music.” Mayer continues that when the newly anointed twosome got in a room together with Billy and Mickey, the idea of who these men were—personally spiritually, sonically—just took hold of him in a manner that was strong as any idea that he had ever had in his life as an artist. “It couldn’t have been better for me…I wasn’t sure how it was going to be received at all, but I knew that in the nucleus of it, that there was really… there was some authenticity.” Sticking with the level of authenticity that Mayer had started, Weir focuses on the roots bluesiness of Mayer’s guitar playing—all part of the American musical heritage that
inspires both men’s music. “He’s basically a student and fan of that heritage, [one that] you could take into country and various eras or pockets of rock and roll; wherever you want to go in the American lexicon or legacy,” says Weir of his new guitar charge. “That’s where our music comes from. We—the guys in The Grateful Dead—grew up in an era in the Bay Area where you had everything that America had to offer on the radio. And we were the kind of kids who were just playing the buttons on the radio—going from rock and roll to jazz to R&B or blues, classical– whatever grabbed our attention.” Weir even mentioned the Dead’s legendary first keyboardist, Pigpen, as part of that initial San Franciscan dialogue with his focus on the blues. “I don’t mean to be chauvinistic here, but it’s the culture that we were raised in, what American music has to offer,” says Weir. “Something really magical happened, and John gets it. And if I can speak for him, he sees that unnamable Holy Grail out there of this quintessentially American musical form that can speak to all the idioms that feed it. He appreciates it and he’s going for it.” Mayer likes the compliment, calling his own trajectory in music almost archaeological, even likening it to collecting baseball cards in terms of gleaming influence. “You collect the Texas blues card. You collect the Chicago electric blues card. You collect the country western card. And it’s sort of like this love of all these different little cards you can collect and keep in a little stack and walk around with them in your back pocket.” It’s that collection that Mayer brought to the Dead from the start: “…this indefinable thing that, like, maybe tonight’s the night that we make a historical recording.” n
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bad movie REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN
Misconduct MISCONDUCT IS A FILM starring—get this—Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Alice Eve, and Malin Akerman. So why hasn’t such a movie with two of the best English-speaking actors around been heard of, even a little? Well, it’s so mediocre it was barely released before going to DVD. Imagine The Devil’s Advocate shorn of its occult/nature of evil/King of Hell on Earth concepts and all dramatic and visual flair…yes, even the “flair” of Keanu Reeves. Misconduct is a legal thriller without any courtroom theatrics, a wanna-be modern film noir. Duhamel is Ben Cahill, your typical up-and-coming, workaholic, ends-justify-themeans attorney. He’s so hard-working that it puts a strain on his marriage to Charlotte (Alice Eve). Anthony Hopkins plays Arthur Denning, the cold, ruthless CEO of a major pharmaceutical company whose latest new drug killed over 200 people. What connects these two is Emily (Ackerman), Ben’s ex from his college days and now Denning’s disgruntled girlfriend. Emily wants to give Ben the secret scoop on Denning’s corporate chicanery for reasons never made clear. There is still attraction between Ben and Emily and faster than you can say “double indemnity” things get really complicated. [SLIGHT SPOILER] To no one’s surprise, Emily ends up dead and Ben is blamed as the most likely suspect. Ben has to prove his innocence, which is where Pacino comes in. He plays Abrams, a flamboyant senior partner at Ben’s firm, with a folksy Southern accent so hokey you almost expect him to start imitating Foghorn Leghorn. This is almost a complete misfire and wastes the actors’ talents. Alice Eve, for one, speaks in an inexpressive monotone and her face is just as inexpressive. Not for a second
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did it seem like this husband and wife even liked each other, never mind being married. Ackerman plays the Ex-Girlfriend From Hell, the kind of lass that a fellow with any brains would avoid…so naturally, sharp-as-a-tack law warrior Ben can’t resist her, even though he’s happily married. Trouble is, she plays that type without any nuance at all—with her spoiled-little-girl speaking manner and attitude it’s hard to see what Ben saw in her in the first place. Hopkins is on autopilot here, playing a corporate baron as a less violent but still smirking counterpart to Hannibal Lecter. Julia Stiles is a corporate security consultant; if one were to excise her scenes, it wouldn’t impact the movie at all. Like some neo-noirs, Misconduct seems to equate being under-lit for “atmosphere.” But the lighting gimmick imparts a washed-out, perpetually gray look, which actually goes wonderfully with the leaden, meandering pace. Really dumb stuff alert: Also, for such a smart attorney, Ben does lots of incredibly boneheaded things. [SLIGHT SPOILER] He shoots one of Denning’s flunkies in the leg, then threatens Denning—gosh, you’d think something like that would get one disbarred or at least arrested, huh? At one point police arrest a suspect but instead of handcuffing him, the officers let the suspect put his hands in his pocket so he can produce…a gun! Oh yes, there’s plenty of mannered dialog that sounds like it was written six hours before the camera got rolling—as if the actors were reading off cue cards for the first time, and, of course, there are the clichéd plot twists. Everything about this movie practically yells “paycheck.” If you want a good rageagainst-the-machine legal thriller, see The Verdict starring Paul Newman. If you want unrealistic yet reassuringly fun courtroom antics, there’s always Perry Mason reruns. n
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FILM FILM ROUNDUP
Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton. Photo: Jack English
CURRENT FILMS REVIEWED BY KEITH UHLICH
A Bigger Splash (Dir. Luca Guadagnino). Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson. The Sicilian island of Pantelleria provides the exotic backdrop for this oft-alluring erotic thriller—a loose remake of the 1969 Alain Delon-Romy Schneider vehicle La Piscine—by Italy’s Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love). Tilda Swinton stars as androgynous, David Bowie-like rocker Marianne Lane, who’s recovering from vocal surgery and soaking up rays with her hunky docfilmmaker lover Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts). Then Marianne’s effusive old flame/ex-producer Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) shows up unannounced, with his Lolita of a daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson), in tow. Fiennes is the primary attraction, chewing the scenery, showing off his paunchy body in full, and even busting a move, in the film’s best scene, to the Rolling Stones’s “Emotional Rescue.” Once the tale takes a murderous turn, however, things fall apart, especially via Guadagnino’s egregious use of the Pantelleria migrant population to force some facile class commentary onto the sun-dappled luridness. [R] HHH
Cosmos (Dir. Andrzej Zulawski). Starring: Sabine Azéma, Jean-François Balmer, Jonathan Genet. The last feature by the late Polish director Andrzej Zulawski—best known for 1981’s Possession in which Isabelle Adjani has a literal self-aborting freakout—is a delirium-inducing chamber piece adapted from a 1965 novel by Witold Gombrowicz. Failed law student/failed writer Witold (Jonathan Genet) arrives at a quaint guest house where the residents are seemingly always on the edge of psychosis. He’s no model of sanity himself— like almost every Zulawski protagonist, his normal register is bug-eyed hysteria, and this is before he starts philosophizing, in one hilarious scene, in the voice of Donald Duck. What thin thread of a narrative there is involves the mystery of a dead sparrow hanging in the forest near the guest house: Whodunit? And might humans be next on the killer’s menu? Really, though, sense takes a backseat in this gleefully nonsensical paean to the absurdity and essential unknowability of the universe. (That title is no accident.) A fitting final testament from one of cinema’s finest provocateurs. [N/R] HHHH
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De Palma (Dirs. Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow). Documentary. Sometimes all you need to make a movie is a man and a chair. Codirectors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow take that spared-down approach in their engrossing documentary appreciation of controversial filmmaker Brian De Palma. The bearded, safari-jacket-wearing auteur is the whole show, holding court as he chatters his way through his life and career, occasionally making mischievous mincemeat of the accusations of misogyny and style-without-substance that have frequently dogged him. Baumbach and Paltrow interweave clips from each film under discussion, be they beloved thrillers like Carrie and Dressed to Kill or a maudit like Bonfire of the Vanities. (Even the lightweight Danny DeVito/Joe Piscopo buddy comedy Wise Guys gets a mention.) De Palma doesn’t toot his own horn so much as approach each movie with a fascinatingly practical dispassion, as if it was merely a puzzle that he had to solve. Whatever themes and obsessions ultimately emerge from his films are for viewers to tease out. He’s just there to put the pieces together. [R] HHHH
Love & Friendship (Dir. Whit Stillman). Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel. The great wit Whit (Stillman, that is) is a perfect fit for this comedy of manners, which he adapted from Jane Austen’s 1790s-set novella Lady Susan. Kate Beckinsale plays the title character, a shameless society widow who revels in the rumors about her love life and constantly twists them to her advantage. She’s both villain and hero, and Beckinsale plays her in such a way that sympathy and likability are beside the point—her every manipulation only serves to bring us deeper into her orbit. We adore her every barbed-tongue putdown even as we recoil in horror at how she plays merciless matchmaker for her downtrodden daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). Stillman directs all the resulting machinations with an escalating screwball verve, and he gets an especially great supporting performance out of Tom Bennett as Frederica’s daffy dolt of a suitor, Sir James Martin. [PG] HHHH1/2 n
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FILM REEL NEWS
Embrace the Serpent
DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER
45 Years (2015) HHHHH Cast: Tom Courtenay, Charlotte Rampling Genre: Drama; Rated R Fifty-two years ago while vacationing in the Swiss Alps, Geoff ’s (Courtenay) lover fell into a crevasse and disappeared. Now his wife of 45 years, Kate, (Rampling) likewise finds herself tumbling through space. Geoff and Kate have happily retired to the English countryside, content with each other and their well-established routine. Unexpectedly, a letter arrives from the Swiss authorities that the young woman’s body has been recovered still preserved in its youthful condition. Like a leaking gas stove, the exposed secret slowly releases toxic fears, insecurities, and memories that threaten to poison the couple’s blissful marriage.
This human drama of conflicting emotions, ethics, and political expediency takes place over three continents. Twenty-thousand feet above a crowded slum in Nairobi, a drone circles with an armed Hellfire missile. Inside a small compound, terrorists busily prepare suicide vests to detonate in crowded markets. The tension builds as Col. Katherine Powell (Mirren) in a command post in England assesses how many civilians will die from the missile versus the terrorist attack. As the politicians pass the buck further up, the terrorists buckle up their vests and record suicide videos. Meanwhile, emotionally distraught drone pilot Steve Watts (Paul) in Las Vegas, sits poised with his finger on the trigger and civilians in the kill zone. Even when thousands of miles away, war is still hell.
Eye in the Sky (2016) HHHHH Cast: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul Genre: Drama, Thriller, War; Rated R
Embrace the Serpent (2015) HHHHH Cast: Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis Genre: Drama; Unrated.
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Since the discovery of America, the word “savage” has been used to dehumanize indigenous inhabitants and their complex civilizations. At the turn of the 20th century, the rubber barons in Colombia waged a war of extinction against the natives who claimed the Amazon forests rich with rubber trees. Most of the tribes disappeared. This film, shot in black and white, traces the twin journeys of Theo KochGrünberg (Bijvoet), a German ethnologist, and Evan Schultes (Davis), an American ethnobotanist, in quest of yakruna, a sacred hallucinogenic heal-all plant. Though three decades apart, both expeditions employed the same shaman, Karamakate (Salvador), the last survivor of the Cohiuano tribe. This true-life adventure contrasts the materialist morals and values of a technological civilization that views genocide as a profit strategy with the indigenous world view that embraces the oneness of humanity and nature.
Theeb (2015) HHHH Cast: Jacir Eid, Jack Fox, Hassan Mutlag Genre: Drama; Unrated. In 1916 in the middle of WW I and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, a British officer (Fox) shows up in an isolated Bedouin village. He needs a guide to cross the desert and two orphan brothers volunteer. Along the way, they’re ambushed by bandits and only the youngest, 10-year-old Teeb (Eid), whose name means wolf, survives. He escapes into the desert where death is a given. Then he encounters a severely wounded mercenary (Mutlag), one of the gang that murdered his brother. His Bedouin traditions of hospitality and honor, as well as revenge, and his nascent survival skills are put to the ultimate test. The saga combines a powerful coming-of-age, test-by-fire drama with the classic Western that highlights the beauty and challenge of vast open spaces, in this case the deserts of Jordan. n
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about life BY JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS,MLSP,LCSW,BCD
Steering the Ego in Rough Waters THE EGO IS OUR “reality principle”—its job is to navigate life much in the way a sea captain navigates everchanging waves. The boat can tolerate waves of certain height and velocity, so it’s up to the captain to know when to engage a wave, when to avoid a wave, and how to mitigate the damage of an unexpected wave that exceeds its tolerances. Like the captain, we need to anticipate signs of danger; not sailing directly into a storm prevents untold disasters. Knowing how to navigate rough seas is a key to survival. A hearty, well-functioning ego is alert to our present surroundings, and this awareness is central to identifying potential threats to the self. If we’re distracted by our feelings or too lost in our thoughts, we can easily miss or misidentify danger near to us. We tend to process experiences most accurately when we think clearly and are free from emotional distress. Being able to right our ship in the face of challenges to internal security is a skill most useful to possess. We right ourselves best when we’re resilient, and that is a trait of a hearty ego. Some people handle anxiety or stress born of a difficult situation better than others. Those who struggle more with the ordinary difficulties in life often feel disappointment, distress and danger more deeply and more keenly. As a result, they most often under- or overreact to certain situations. In classic terms this refers to our “fight or flight” response. Being able to merge feelings and thoughts begets a kind of wisdom that is deeper and more accurate than either feelings or thoughts alone. Keeping thoughts generally positive helps us more than slanting to the negative. People who are positive tend to show more resiliency when under stress. As it turns out, how we think has a lot to do with how we feel. In general, a negative person will have negative thinking and feeling responses to pressure, whereas a positive person will see a situation in terms of a problem waiting to be solved. A negative person will see a negative pattern and surrender to Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793 - 1867), A Dutch Dogger Carrying the perception that a problem is not solvable. Away her Sprit. Victoria and Albert Museum. Several traits of a hearty ego beget resiliency: awareness; clear mindedness; wisdom; and optimism. All the traits can come with time and experience if we continue to learn and grow. Solidifying these traits develop yet other traits that add to the joyful experience of life. A good support system of friends and family strengthens us by a mutual concern for our well-being, and that of others. This kind of mutual concern teaches us reciprocity which is central to all human relationships, and we carry this sense into the larger world. Intimate relationships with people in whom you can deeply trust teaches us the importance of love as a uniting force. Humans are social animals, so the strength of our bonds to each other fortify us in countless ways. A hearty ego needs time to be alone. Alone time allows us to clear our hearts and minds of negative clutter that can result from stress. Cultivating some degree of solitude also gives us time to explore the world on our own with hobbies and interests of all sorts. The pursuit of hobbies and interests provides an experimental lab in which to express our needs and be the person we want to be without the influences of the outer world and other people. Like ships, we’re not meant to remain in the harbor, but instead go forth into the open sea to find fragments of wisdom about ourselves, others, and the world in general. With that knowledge we can proceed with a higher level of resiliency when the tide rises and the waves come—as they inevitably will. n
Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 33 years. jdelpino@aol.com Phone: (215) 364-0139. 30 n I C O N n J U N E 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V
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Music NICK’S PICKS TRADITIONAL JAZZ REVIEWED BY NICK BEWSEY
Roberta Piket HHHH One For Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland Thirteenth Note Records Speaking of buried musical treasures, most of the tunes on pianist Roberta Piket’s sterling tribute album, One For Marian, should be more familiar since the legendary Marian McPartland wrote many charming songs with delicate, memorable
melodies. As a close friend of McPartland, Piket often commiserated with her over why her music wasn’t played more by other musicians, a situation the pianist intends to correct on this fulfilling record. Working with a sextet highlighted by saxophonists Steve Wilson, Virginia Mayhew and trumpeter Bill Mobley, Piket’s arrangements expand essential McPartland tunes like “Ambiance” and “In The Days of Our Love.” Enhanced by her soloists—the band brings both dignity and swing to the compositions—these songs have an ingrained elegance and allow for plenty of musical interplay and cool intensity. Piket’s solos have a warm melodic flow that connects with the sentiment at the core of McPartland’s music. She’s a gifted improviser, especially compelling on her two originals, and masterful bandleader—witness jazz singer Karrin Allyson, who delivers a knockout rendition of “Twilight Time.” “Kaleidoscope” is the closer and a lovely coda, recognizable as the theme
music to McPartland’s public radio show, Piano Jazz. Along with One For Marian, it seems appropriate to recommend these recordings by Marian McPartland since all of them are superb: Twilight World (2008), Silent Pool (1997), and Live At Shanghai Jazz (2002). (8 tracks; 45 minutes) Gregory Porter HHHH1/2 Take Me To The Alley Blue Note Gregory Porter’s popularity as a singer/songwriter sets him apart within genres and categories; as of press time, Take Me To The Alley is the first jazz record in the UK in ten years to break into the top five album list, placing just behind Drake. It’s easy to become infatuated with his booming baritone voice, sweet soul jazz crooning and musical grooves. Porter has the same ability as Bill
Withers to charm and comfort you, and get you to sing along. Alley is the followup to his Grammy-winning Liquid Spirit— a gorgeously crafted jazz album with pop leanings; on it, Porter strikes that unique balance again, leading with a stripped down yet more heartfelt version of “Holding On,” a tune first released as a DJ remix by electronica group, Disclosure. The songs have a stylistic malleability that easily crossover, whether as glorious ballads (“Consequence of Love”) or bluesy showstoppers like “Don’t Lose Your Steam.” Working again with producer Kamau Kenyatta and his terrific band—pianist Chip Crawford, bassist Aaron James, drummer Emanuel Harrold and saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, among them— Porter’s musical stories, particularly the blissfully percussive “In Heaven,” which features a divine solo by trumpeter Keyon Harrold, is catchy enough to be your ear
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worm, but the tunes that ground the album and make it truly soar are the stirring title track, a smooth, silky “Insanity,” and the lushly romantic “Don’t Be A Fool,” each of which illustrate Porter’s skill to mix poignancy with inspiration. That other voice you hear paired with Porter on these tracks is the angelic singer, Alicia Olatuja, a standout talent in her own right. (14 tracks; 60 minutes) JD Allen HHHH1/2 Americana: Musings On Jazz and Blues Savant JD Allen, an authoritative saxophonist who plays with a distinct Coltrane vibe, makes consistently great albums, most in a trio setting. Americana: Musings On Jazz and Blues is a passion project that’s rich and affecting, and it’s likely Allen’s best. His seven originals (and two others) are steeped in tradition yet filtered through Allen’s progressive interpretation of the form. His horn sports a vintage sound on
“Tell The Truth, Shame The Devil,” testifying over a loping, walking bass line and the kind of busy, talking-book percussion Elvin Jones used to back Trane with. Having worked on previous records with bassist Gregg August and the jubilant drummer Rudy Royston, the trio plays as a tight, free-flowing unit with endlessly inventive phrasing. Allen’s stories are a mix of hard truths (a sobering 1930s standard “Another Man Done Gone”) and good times—“Lightnin” swings brightly, as persuasive a blues dance track as it can be. Notably, this deftly engineered album is recorded up-close and personal, which gives the music a warm, vivid intimacy. (9 tracks; 45 minutes)
Marika Hughes HHHH New York Nostalgia Independent release Love songs seem to come easy to singer/songwriter and cellist Marika Hughes who freely admits her heart has been broken far too often, and those are the emotions that fuel her beguiling compositions. The timbre of her voice—you’ll be reminded of Roberta Flack and Phoebe Snow—is what resonates, along with her soulful cello on New York Nos-
talgia, a sometimes bittersweet love letter to the city she remembers—her parents once owned a jazz club on the Upper West Side. Gil Scott-Heron, pianist Don Pullen and Abbey Lincoln are among her diverse inspirations. Amidst the heartache and happiness are songs with dreamy melodies (“Chapter 4”) and hand-clapping soul (“Click Three Times”), while the flirtatious “No Dancing” slyly blends saucy lyrics (“put me on your to do list”) with slide guitar and low-down dirty bass. The polished production captures the album’s innovative sonic textures, but it’s Hughes’ solid song craft that seduces—her tunes have enough staying power to wonder why other artists aren’t singing them, too. Available on iTunes. (11 tracks; 47 minutes) n
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Music KERESMAN ON DISC REVIEWED BY MARK KERESMAN
The Waco Brothers HHHH1/2 Going Down in History Bloodshot Chicago’s Waco Brothers are much more than a “spin-off ” of the long-running UK combo The Mekons— guitarist/singer Jon Langford is a member of both. The Wacos do dynamic, wiry rock & roll, fueled by working class-like fatalism and hops & barley and driven by shades of Neil Young (in rowdy/electric mode), pre-Top 40 Bob Seger, The Clash, Mott The Hoople, Bo Diddley, and The Faces (when they were Small and Rod Stewart-era), and herein the Wacos do a bristling take on the latter’s mod-era gem “All or Nothing” with a country twang. Feel like the world’s against you and desperately need to rock out, go here. (10 tracks, 30 min.) bloodshotrecords.com Benny Golson HHHH Horizons Ahead HighNote One cannot say too much about son of Philadelphia Benny Golson (b. 1929)— aside from being an ace tenor saxophonist he’s composed standards (“I Remember Clifford,” “Whisper Not”) and music for TV shows (M*A*SH, Ironside) along ERRATUM The wrong photo of Avishai Cohen ran in our May issue. This is the correct photo.
with playing with everyone that’s anyone. Horizons finds him in the (good) company of some younger cats and yes, it’s all good—the gorgeous bluesy swagger of
“Three Little Words” and the sensuous slow dance he gives “Mood Indigo,” Golson’s notes melting like butter. Pianist Mike LeDonne sparkles, Buster Williams has the most pliant, distinctive bass sound this side of Charlie Haden, and Carl Allen is crisp and subtle. Golson is, like Houston Person, one of the last of the original generation of breathy, husky, burnished, big-toned sax-masters, and despite his years, he’s not coasting. Give the guy the flowers while he’s living and treat yourself to some meat-and-potatoes yet classy jazz, literally soul food. (10 tracks, 55 min.) jazzdepot.com Van Morrison HHHHH It’s Too Late to Stop Now Vols. II. III, IV & DVD Legacy Irish singer Van Morrison is notoriously erratic—when he is good, he is so very, very good, wonderful, even; when he is not, he can be painful to behold. (Bumping his microphone to Sinead O’Connor’s head on the ‘90s Letterman show, for instance.) Fortunately, the four-disc It’s Too Late… (three CDs, one DVD), a postscript to the 1973 live album of the same title, is Van at one of his peaks—this set of concert performances (previously unreleased) is from the same period yet does not “overlap” with the original. Morrsion’s amalgam of R&B, jazz, blues,
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folk, and mellow rock has seldom been better than here—his delightfully garbled singing is warm, pliant, and soulfully enthusiastic, his band tasty and limber but with none of the tedious soloing that marred many 1970s live albums (you mean you liked those interminable drum solos?). There are some interesting and fun covers herein: “Buona Sera” (yup, the Louis Prima gem) given a Dixieland-dusted rendition; Ray Charles’ “I Believe To
My Soul,” and the Lenny Welch pop hit “Since I Fell For You.” If you’re of drinking age, invest in a decent bottle of vino, a bag of apples and your favorite cheese, dig out that picnic blanket, grab some shade and sail “Into The Mystic.” (CDs: 198 minutes; DVD: 50 minutes) legacy recordings.com Carry Illinois HHHHH Alabaster Self-released Pop music—that is, assorted styles of music that are somewhat popular and/or played on the radio—is in, simply put, trouble. Auto-tuned singers, songs “written” and produced by three or more hacks, performers with numerous backup dancers, and songs so slickly processed they’re as memorable as processed meats and cheeses. Yet it need not be that way. Take Carry Illinois, a combo from Austin, Texas—Lizzy Lehman has an excellent voice akin to The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde (plus a touch of Stevie Nicks, a hint of Dusty Springfield) but warmer and more flexible. Their second platter has the pop smarts and radiosavvy élan of Crowded House, 10,000 Maniacs, Shawn Colvin, and Quarterflash
(their only hit “Harden My Heart,” a guilty pleasure if there ever was one). Alabaster is packed with delicious melancholy that never gets too mopey or precious, and most importantly, it’s got dare I say, polish that nonetheless delivers plenty of heart. (10 tracks, 33 min.) carryillinois.bandcamp.com Bobby Darin HHHHH Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years Real Gone Music Singer Bobby Darin (1936 – 1973) was a riddle inside an enigma—he was young enough to be of the early rock & roll generation (his hits “Splish Splash” and “Dream Lover”) yet old enough to be established in the same Las Vegas pantheon with Sinatra, Dino, and Sammy (the big band-driven cool-cat swing of “Mack the Knife”). Darin somehow knew his time here was limited—a heart condition did him in at age 37—so he wanted to accomplish as much as he could, leaving us some wonderful music. Another Song…
collects the two somewhat obscure albums Darin recorded for the Motown label in the early ‘70s. Highlights include the melodramatic orchestral angst of “Average People” (fans of Scott Walker and Lee Hazlewood should hear this), the stark balladry of the anti-war “Simple Song of Freedom,” and the Four Tops-flavored “Melodie.” A powerful, supple singer, Darin combined seemingly disparate approaches—the suave, jazz-tinged pop singing of Sinatra; the ripe mellowness of Nat “King” Cole; the introspective, confessional style of Bob Dylan and Randy Newman (whose “Sail Away” is covered herein); and the proto-R&B of Ray Charles. If you enjoy the spectrum of pop music, this Song is so essential. (38 tracks, 134 min.) realgonemusic.com n
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Music SINGER/SONGWRITER REVIEWED BY TOM WILK
Charlie Faye & the Fayettes HHH1/2 Charlie Faye & the Fayettes Self-released Drawing inspiration from the pop and soul music of the 1960s, Charlie Faye & the Fayettes have crafted a girl-group album that pays tribute to their predecessors while showing the enduring appeal of the genre with their original songs.
The buoyant “Green Light” is a cheery ode to new romance. “I’m saying yes, not maybe/You got the green light, baby,” Faye and her backing vocalists sing in an arrangement that recalls the production work of Phil Spector and the singing style of the Supremes. “Sweet Little Messages” features a soulful groove reminiscent of Stax records with some Steve Cropperstyle guitar. “Heart” has the feel of a Buddy Holly record and quotes Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” in the final verse. On the up-tempo “See You Again,” Faye and supporting vocalists BettySoo and Akina Adderley sound like a distaff version of the Beach Boys with their seamless harmonies. The pleading “One More Chance” finds Faye channeling her inner Dusty Springfield. Producer Dave Way has opted for a breezy, open sound that’s designed to be heard in a car with the top down this summer. (11 songs, 33 minutes) Pete Kennedy HHH1/2 Heart of Gotham Kennedy LLC From artists to authors, musicians to playwrights, New York City has served as a source of inspiration. The Big Apple and its boroughs are the impetus behind Heart
of Gotham, Pete Kennedy’s first solo album in two decades. The anthemic “Union Square” kicks off the CD with a Springsteen-like celebration of the city’s vibrant street life. The unrestrained guitars seem to symbolize the city’s endless possibilities. Set in Harlem, “The Bells Ring” has a spiritual feel of liberation as Kennedy name checks Martin Luther King and Sojourner Truth. Vocally, Kennedy’s rasp recalls Steve Forbert in the ballad “Williamsburg Bridge” and the straightforward folk of “Never Stopped Believin’.” The Irish-tinged “Unbreakable” shows Kennedy’s ability to handle a variety of styles, ranging from ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll on “Riot in Bushwick” to the ethereal pop of “Asphalt.” Kennedy serves as a one-man band on Heart of Gotham, displaying his versatility on acoustic and electric guitars, bass and drums. It’s a do-it-yourself ethic taken to its logical conclusion and Kennedy has the talent and determination to pull it off. (11 songs, 43 minutes) Allen Touissant HHHH American Tunes Nonesuch Allen Touissant’s death at 77 in November while on tour in Europe brought down the curtain on an artist whose career not only influenced the music of New Orleans but the worlds of rock, pop and soul music over the past half century. American Tunes, an album completed shortly before his death, finds the pianist acknowledging the musicians who influenced him while also revisiting some of his solo work. Professor Longhair’s piano style was an early influence and Touissant pays tribute to him with a slowed-down version of “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” and a pensive solo reading of “Hey, Little Girl.” Touissant’s jazzier side is reflected in heartfelt covers of Bill Evans’ “Waltz for Debby” and Earl “Fatha” Hines’ “Rosetta,” with some fine bass work from David Piltch on the latter. Rhiannon Giddens adds her vocals for a jazzy/rhythm-andblues version of Duke Ellington’s “Rocks in My Bed” and brings a torch singer’s feel to Ellington’s “Come Sunday.”
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Pianist Van Dyke Parks joins Touissant for an instrumental dialog on “Southern
Nights,” a reworking of one of Toussaint’s best-known songs. Touissant ends the album with his only vocal on Paul Simon’s “American Tune.” It’s a song that Touissant makes his own and sounds eerily prophetic when he sings, “I dreamed I was dying.” Touissant will be missed and American Tunes turns out to be a fitting farewell. (14 songs, 51 minutes) Darryl Purpose HHH1/2 Still The Birds Blue Rock Artists In his album notes for Still The Birds, his latest studio album, Darryl Purpose gives special credit to Paul Zollo, his co-
writer on all the songs. “In many ways, I consider this Paul’s record as much as it is mine,” he writes. Their songs make for a rich and varied collection of music that shows the diversity of their work. “Prince of the Apple Towns” and “Baltimore” are tributes to Dylan Thomas and Edgar Allen Poe, respectively. The latter references the “The Raven” in describing the writer’s final days while the former’s rich language celebrates the Welsh writer’s way with words. On “The Nearness of You (Red Gar-
land),” a song inspired by the jazz pianist, the music and lyrics evoke the spirit of the vibrant post-World War II jazz scene while name-checking John Coltrane and Miles Davis. “Hours in the Day” creates a gripping portrait of a Vietnam War-era draft resister losing his grip on reality, while “Evergreen Avenue” captures the despair of neighborhood on a song inspired by a graveyard for gang members in East Los Angeles. Vocally, Purpose recalls ‘70s-era James Taylor in his phrasing and tone, particularly on the soothing love ballad “Everywhere at Once.” His music has a languid and unhurried feel, allowing the songs to unfold at their own pace. (11 songs, 52 minutes) Bill Lloyd HHH Lloyd-ering Spyder Pop Records Emmylou Harris once observed that songs need new voices to sing them in places they’ve never been sung in order to stay alive. Bill Lloyd has followed that philosophy in Lloyd-ering, a collection of famous and lesser-known rock and pop songs from the ’60s through the ‘90s. Formerly of the country duo Foster & Lloyd and now a successful solo artist, Lloyd offers an entertaining cross-section of work from American and British acts. His version of “Let Her Dance” from the Bobby Fuller Four captures the carefree spirit of the original. “The World Turns All Around Her,” originally done by the Byrds, finds Lloyd reviving one of the band’s deep cuts with some memorable harmonies. On “Step Inside,” originally done by the Hollies, Lloyd’s ringing guitars and joyous vocals show the song’s musical virtues. Lloyd slow things down with an intimate version of “Coconut Grove,” originally written by John Sebastian for the Lovin’ Spoonful. Lloyd’s performance of Harry Nilsson’s “The Lottery Song” pulls one of the masterful songwriter’s wistful tunes out of the historical shadows. On “Across The Universe,” Lloyd uses a mix of acoustic and electric guitars to create a shimmering version of John Lennon’s classic song from Let It Be. Lloyd-ering is an album worth lingering over. (12 songs, 38 minutes) n
MUSIC JAZZ LIBRARY BY BOB PERKINS
ERNESTINE ANDERSON FOR WHATEVER REASON, IT sometimes happens that those with outstanding talent do not get the recognition commensurate with their ability. This piece is about one such person, named Ernestine Anderson. Ms. Anderson, a jazz and blues singer died earlier his year at the age of 87. She had been a favorite of mine, and a good number of DJs who host jazz programs on radio across the nation. One of the things she had going for her was that she sounded like she was supposed to be singing the kinds of material she sang; meaning that her interpretations of jazz and blues songs always seemed natural and not forced, or just adopted for a live or recorded occasion. This naturalness probably came about because she was raised in gospel and blues environments: first, singing in a church choir in her native city of Houston, Texas; and influenced at home by parents who played the recordings of Bessie Smith, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. Her interest in jazz was sparked when her grandmother entered her in a talent contest. When her piano accompanist asked what key she wanted to sing in, she said “C”—which was the wrong key, and so throughout she said, “I sang around the melody…improvised among the melody, and when I finished, one of the musicians told me I was a jazz singer.” Anderson was born November 1927 in Houston, Texas, but the family later moved to Seattle, Washington, where she attended and graduated from high school. While still in her teens, she was hired to sing in a band fronted by bandleader “Bumps” Blackwell, whose band a few years later included two Seattle residents: one, a young pianist named Ray Charles; the other, a trumpet player named Quincy Jones (coincidentally, he and Anderson attended the same high school). Not yet twenty, Anderson went national and toured with Johnny Otis’ band, and a year later was hired by Lionel Hampton. Determined to establish herself as an entertainer, her next step was international via a threemonth Scandinavian tour. Anderson cut her first album for the Mercury label in 1958, Hot Cargo, which was hailed and played by jazz critic/radio host and columnist Ralph J. Gleason. In 1959 Anderson won the DownBeat “New Star” Award.
Ernestine Anderson performs at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1966. Photo: David Redfern / Redferns/Getty Images.
When some jazz critics and writers first heard her, they compared her to jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. She countered, “I wish they would just let me be me.” Early in her career, Time Magazine called her perhaps the best kept secret in jazz. But despite the compliment, she found work becoming harder to get in the U.S., and in the 1960s divided her time in America and Europe. She ultimately made Europe her home for some years before the legendary bassist Ray Brown discovered her while on tour. He became her manager, brought her back to the U.S. and helped negotiate a contract with the Concord label. Anderson was an immediate hit and recorded some 20 albums for Concord over 17 years. Two of her albums—Never Make Your Move Too Soon and Big City—earned Grammy nominations for best jazz performance. Anderson and Concord parted company in 1993, and she signed with her old Seattle pal, Quincy Jones’ Quest label. While with Quest, two of her albums also received Grammy nominations. Following the stint with Quest, Anderson contracted and recorded with the Koch and High Note record companies.
She was one of 75 women chosen for the book I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. The photos were taken by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brain Lanker. In the book, Anderson joins the company of Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Oprah Winfrey, Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan. Several years ago, the Low-Income Housing Institute named a housing development the Ernestine Anderson Place in her honor, noting Anderson’s long residence in Seattle’s Central District in which the units are located. These recognitions are just a few of many accorded Anderson over her years as an entertainer. If you’d like to hear her at her best, I suggest a CD titled Never Make Your Move Too Soon. The entire disc is a doozy, but pay close attention to Anderson’s voice and Monty Alexander’s piano accompaniment on the selections “Old Folks” and “Poor Butterfly.” Then maybe you’ll add your own superlatives. Ernestine Anderson, unfortunately, did not receive the accolades of critics, writers, or the public, but the true blues and jazz cognoscente knew she had it going on. n
Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Mon-Thurs 6–9; Sun 9–1.
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foodie feature BY A. D. AMOROSI
City Restaurants Heat Up AS SPRING BECOMES SUMMER, Philly’s restaurant scene goes into lighter, brighter menu mode—sometimes in tune with its original concept, sometimes in betrayal of it, with many of the newer spaces that will open in an odd in-between mode. That—and of course, great weather for outdoor stuff—is what makes food events so necessary; restauranteurs could have just as much fun as Philly’s food fans. Here are some necessary food events coming up, along with several late spring restaurant openings.
THE GREAT CHEFS EVENT If Philly’s food events scene has a gold culinary standard for doing the most good beyond celebrating itself, it is Chef Marc Vetri’s Community Partnership and its tie to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Vetri has a winning way with gathering chefs from around the globe (lots of fine Italian chefs) to make dozens of inventive tasting plates. While the list of 50-plus celebrated Great Chefs isn’t complete, expect Philly friends such as Masaharu Morimoto, Kevin Sbraga and Michael Solomonov along with the nationally known Anne Burrell, Jonathan Waxman, Jen Carroll, Clark Fraiser and Mark Gaier. Event for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, June 14 at Urban Outfitters HQ. Chef Marc Vetri and writer Rick Nichols. Photo ©A.D. Amorosi
BURGER BRAWL The once-intimate friendly feud among Philly’s best chefs—tony and streetsavvy—has been built up to be a forceful, crowd-pleasing event with grand sponsorship, bigger spaces to play in (the parking lot outside of the multi-venue sports complex) and more competing chefs. Plus, for 2016 there is a separate new game with brawling taco makers for the Taco Takedown as well as a Cutthroat Cocktail Competition for this city’s best bartenders. ,June 26 at Xfinity Live.
STEPHEN STARR/PETER SERPICO Along with celebrating a now-three-year-old partnership at South Street, mash-up chef genius Peter Serpico will take over 2025 Sansom—until recently, Stephen Starr’s grand rustic Il Pittore with Italian Chef Chris Painter—by late spring. The menu’s specifics are mostly unknown, but word has it that he’ll hone in on the Korean small-plates trend; a mini-movement that in May came to include Eagles tight end Brent Celek and Chef Hee Chang’s bop on Broad Street. Opening at the recentlyvacated Bliss space, the high-ceiling room melds traditional Korean plates (bologi, bibimbop, bulgogi, kimchi) with fusion-y items including Angus-brisket (short rib burgers in Korean barbecue marinade topped with Korean bacon). The currently “unnamed” restaurant at 20th & Sansom, and Brent Celek’s bop on Broad Street.
ROOSTER SOUP CO.
Chef Michael Solomonov. Photo ©Reese Amorosi.
Chef Peter Serpico. Photo ©Reese Amorosi.
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A 2014 Kickstarter raised more than enough money for Rooster Soup Co., a concept restaurant born of kindness. The restaurant will make use of Federal Donuts’ unused chicken backs for chicken stock, soup and gravy, salads, sandwiches, with net profits going to Philly’s Broad Street Ministry. The Rooster Soup Co., at 1526 Sansom Street—the fruition of an idea about doing good with dignity, begun by restaurateur partners Steve Cool and Michael Solomonov, and Broad Street Ministry’s Bill Golderer—should be ready by June’s end. n
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HOTEL Modern Cuisine h Classic Comfort Corner of Swan & Main Lambertville, NJ 609-397-3552
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HARPER’S findings
index
esearchers found that birthrates in the United States are positively correlated with Google searches for “before you get married,” “pregnancy workout,” “baby diarrhea,” and “baby car seat”; and are negatively correlated with searches for “dry cat food,” “cat not eating,” “cat food recall,” “bong slide,” and “older cats.” Infant mortality is positively correlated with searches for “loans for bad credit,” “ vh1.com,” “genital warts pictures,” “white males,” and “cheap bedroom furniture”; and is negatively correlated with searches for “radish salad,” “subaru forester 2009,” “red cabbage salad,” “make frosting,” and “gluten?” Americans view buying “ethical” foods as virtuous, unless the people who buy them are on welfare. Pro-eating disorder Instagram users responded to the service’s ban on the hashtag #thighgap by devising 107 variants. Burn-care surgeons warned that young African-American men are particularly prone to setting themselves on fire for YouTube videos. Asian-American adolescents fear that Asian-American doctors are likelier to breach confidentiality about the adolescents’ sexual histories. Fewer than half of U.S. endocrinologists consider themselves competent to treat transgender patients, and only 21 percent of their clinic staff are trained in the use of pronouns. A Potawatomi botanist continued to press for a more respectful pronoun for animals and plants than “it.” Entomologists published an illustrated key to forty-one ambiguous species of grass-boring snout moths, who can be told apart only by their genitals. Scientists surveyed the extant literature on the benefits of children reading to dogs.
Number of people executed for sorcery in Saudi Arabia since 2011 : 4 Age of an Afghan “war hero” assassinated by the Taliban earlier this year : 11 Number of refugee children who entered Europe in 2015 whose whereabouts are unknown : 10,000 Minimum number of Iraqi emigrants who returned to the country from Europe last year : 3,474 Number of visits President Obama has made to U.S. mosques during his presidency : 1 Portion of Americans who know a Muslim : 1/2 Factor by which the number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the United States has increased since 2014 : 2.6 By which the number of U.S. black-separatist groups has increased : 1.6 Portion of Americans under the age of 30 who describe themselves as politically independent : 2/5 Who describe themselves as not “politically active” : 4/5 Percentage change since 1993 in the annual number of U.S. babies named Hillary : –81 Ratio of state-level lobbying organizations to state lawmakers in the United States : 6:1 Percentage of Republicans who earn more than $250,000 a year : 2 Whom Democrats estimate earn more than $250,000 a year : 44 Number of historians employed by Wells Fargo to teach investors about the origins of their family wealth : 8 Number of Chinese officials punished last year for violating austerity rules : 49,508 Number of Chinese villagers being relocated to make room for a telescope searching for alien life : 9,110 Factor by which the yearly revenue of the global private space industry exceeds NASA’s yearly budget : 13 Estimated percentage of applicants who will be selected for NASA’s 2017 astronaut class : 0.08 Date on which Oral Roberts University began requiring freshmen to wear Fitbit bracelets : 8/24/15 Number of states that offer public universities financial incentives to produce graduates in STEM fields : 14 Percentage of U.S. science teachers who “emphasize” that global warming is likely due to natural causes: 30 Minimum portion of U.S. teachers who assign homework that requires Internet access : 7/10 Portion of U.S. students from low-income households who do not have broadband Internet access : 2/5 Percentage of rural Indian teachers who are absent on an average school day : 24 Number of elephants employed by Burma’s state-run logging company : 2,700 Average number of trophy animals imported to the United States each year : 126,000 Percentage by which U.S. spending on Mother’s Day gifts exceeds spending on Father’s Day gifts : 67 Percentage change since 2000 in the U.S. divorce rate : –20 In the Chinese divorce rate : +178 Percentage change from 1900 to 2000 in the portion of women over the age of 65 who live alone : +451 Since 2000 : –12 Factor by which male English professor is more likely than female to be described as brilliant by students : 2 By which a female English professor is more likely to be described as “horrible” : 1.5 Percentage of U.S. women who do not identify as feminists : 33 Who identify as “strong” feminists : 17 Number of body types the Mattel toy company uses for Barbie dolls : 4 Of hairstyles : 24 Number of states in which “cartoon” is the most popular search term for Internet pornography : 4 n
R
Ravens understand that a peephole allows a pilferer swiftly and loudly join their mates in duets are less likely to be cuckolded. Urologists described “spousal revenge” syndrome, wherein guilt-ridden men experience pelvic pain after cheating on their partners. Male nursery-web spiders are less likely to be eaten by females whom they tie up before sex. A Texas commission voted to ban the courtroom use of forensic odontology. NASA attempted to explain a newly discovered bite mark on Pluto. Sea-level rises on Earth have slowed because the land has soaked up an extra 3.2 trillion tons of water. Seafloor mapping near Australia’s Twelve Apostles revealed five Drowned Apostles. Chesapeake watermen lately gained $21.3 million from the removal of derelict crab pots. A small sea snail was found to swim like a bee. Epidemiologists described an aborted attack by the spleens and buboes of plague victims. Merovingian and Carolingian wax seals were presumed to contain the hairs of Childebert III, Chilperic II, Pippin the Short, Charlemagne, Carloman, and Pippin of Aquitaine. Six needles, some of them rusty and covered in vegetation, were recovered from a fourteen-year-old Japanese girl’s heart. Doctors analyzed the ictal coprolalia of an epileptic fifteen-year-old Texas boy who presented with chapeau de gendarme and the compulsive joking of a fifty-seven-year-old California man who presented with a tendency to hoard coffee grinders and Hawaiian shirts and to defragment his co-workers’ hard drives without their permission. Highly schizotypal French students are better at blindfolded self-tickling. Americans who live near streetlights are likelier to wake confused in the night. Rats at home prefer heroin, whereas rats abroad prefer cocaine. Short dogs act more defensively than tall dogs when confronted with humans dressed as ghosts. Old dogs are slower to learn new tricks. Chimpanzees in West Africa habitually accumulate stones by throwing them into hollow trees, perhaps because they enjoy the sound. n
INDEX SOURCES 1 Human Rights Watch (Amman, Jordan); 2 United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (N.Y.C.); 3 Europol (The Hague); 4 International Organization for Migration (Geneva); 5 White House Press Office (Washington); 6 Pew Research Center (Washington); 7,8 Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, Ala.); 9,10 Harvard Institute of Politics (Cambridge, Mass.); 11 Social Security Administration (Baltimore); 12 Center for Public Integrity (Washington); 13,14 Gaurav Sood (Washington); 15 Abbot Downing (Raleigh, N.C.); 16,17 Xinhua News Agency (Beijing); 18,19 Space Foundation (Colorado Springs)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Washington); 20 Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, Okla.); 21 National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver); 22 Eric Plutzer, Pennsylvania State University (University Park); 23 Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission (Washington); 24 Pew Research Center; 25 Karthik Muralidharan, University of California, San Diego; 26 Khyne U Mar, University of Sheffield (England); 27 Humane Society of the United States (Gaithersburg, Md.); 28 Prosper Insights & Analytics (Worthington, Ohio); 29 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta); 30 National Bureau of Statistics (Beijing); 31,32 Pew Research Center; 33,34 Benjamin Schmidt, Northeastern University (Boston); 35,36 Kaiser Family Foundation (Menlo Park, Calif.); 37,38 Mattel Toys (El Segundo, Calif.); 39 Pornhub (Montreal).
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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
GOING TO SCHOOL By Ron Toth and C.C. Burnikel Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 6 10 14 18 19 20 22 23 25 27 28 29 30 31 33 35 36 37 38 39 41 45 49 50 52 53 54 55 57 58 60 62 64 65 68 71 72 73 74 75 77 79 81 82 85 87 90 92 94
Space exploration vehicle Power couple Bowled over Key holders Regatta entrant __ noho: dance performed while seated or kneeling Holder of 14 Grand Slam titles Sheltered at sea SOLE SKATE Majors won five times by Jack Nicklaus, familiarly Weapon with a three-sided blade Map unit Words after “If mom finds out” Menu list Drive to the airport, say Tot tender Investment vehicle, briefly Horace’s “__ Poetica” Blue Devils’ conference “Have a seat!” FLUKE BASS Employee’s hope Book with a year on its cover Interrupt Java neighbor Bargain Grandson of Adam U-Haul rival How many autographs are signed Put a stop to Actor’s aid U.N. workers’ agcy. Amaze RAY Singer Redbone Fire Cheese companion Woes Watch company logo “I’m __ here!” Back Mop partner? Within System based on urgency Annoyed Five-time presidential candidate PIKE CARP
97 The Brits call it an identity parade 99 Recipient of Bart’s prank calls 100 Wide shoe size 101 Org. that promotes hunter safety 102 In __: trapped 105 Works one’s fingers to the bone 107 Spells during a vacation, perhaps 109 Old Athens enemy 111 Coll. seniors’ tests 112 Oral history 113 Org. that fills bowls? 115 SHARK 117 SNAPPER 119 “I’ll buy” 120 Cap 121 “Rock of __” 122 “Counting Sheep” company 123 Many an Ivan 124 Zaire’s Mobutu __ Seko 125 Legal wrong 126 Defame
DOWN 1 Actor’s aid 2 Infantry combat school decoration 3 Saltwater aquariums 4 Wild thing 5 Marine eagle 6 Wishful words 7 Works for a pianist 8 Fashion monthly 9 Is allowed to 10 Rolling Stones title woman 11 It might be packed 12 She played Carmela Soprano 13 Pop 14 Imperative 15 Sci-fi staple 16 Pie nut 17 Run-down 21 Welcoming symbol 24 “Nothing runs like” it 26 Hardly a picky eater 29 Popular place to visit 32 Acquire abundantly 33 Pond gunk 34 Back again 36 State since 1948: Abbr. 38 Partner 40 Elec. bill unit 42 Singer K.T. 43 Animals 44 Ominous peals 46 Small studio production
47 Spanish sky 48 Company infamous for shredding 51 Arguing against 54 Tree with delicate bark 56 Hard-to-like person 59 Strikers’ org.? 60 Game that reportedly originated in Texas 61 Indoor gridiron org. 63 Colorado native 65 Great guy? 66 Prefix meaning “bull” 67 Up to 69 Valuable tunnel 70 Prime minister before Yitzhak 71 Texas university in Beaumont 73 Belgian surrealist 76 Sacred Indian river 78 Challenge 80 “Let’s do it my way” 81 Inheritance factor 83 “Whatever” 84 Heading for an annual list 86 Many millennia 88 Capitol tops 89 Land along the Mekong 91 Strand under a microscope 93 DDE rival 95 Least remote 96 Dissuade 98 __ Island: South Carolina
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training base 102 Accessory named for a racetrack 103 Intervals 104 Cleveland suburb named for an Italian city 106 Iconic sportster 107 Quail
108 Against a thing, legally 110 Rose of Guns N’ Roses 112 Target’s target, e.g. 114 Month before Nisan 116 Circle ratios 117 Yoga accessory 118 Some coll. degrees
Answer to May’s puzzle, COMMUNICATION UPDATE
Agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES Calling all Artists, for the 20th annual Riverside Festival of the Arts. Sept 17+18. $2,000 in awards for juried fine art & fine craft—best in juried art gallery. $2,000 in awards for #EastonPleinAir art contest. Along Easton's beautiful riverside, art, music, performance art, educational workshops, demos, children’s art projects, and James Gloria and Ian Summers interactive art projects. Adriano Farinella's plein air workshops leading up to the event. EastonRiversideFest.org for application and info.
ing 6/24, 7PM. Hetzel’s Art Supply, 22 Main St., Clinton, NJ. 908-7358808. Hetzelsart.com 6/26-10/02 Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art. Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org 6/28-8/6 New Works by members of the Bethlehem Palette Club at Muhlenberg College. Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA. Muhlenberg.edu/ main/aboutus/gallery
FINE ART THRU 6/12 The Art of the Miniature: 24th invitational exhibition of fine art miniatures from around the world. The Snow Goose Gallery, 470 Main St., Bethlehem. 610-9749099. View the exhibit online. Thesnowgoosegallery.com THRU 6/19 Sculpture 2016, 15th annual juried exhibition. New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org THRU 7/9 Spring Show featuring Elli Albrecht, Gini Illick, Thomas Kelly, Domenick Naccarato, Marlow Rodale, and Jennifer Schilling. Bethlehem House Gallery, 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-419-6262 or cell, 610-390-4324. BethlehemHouseGallery.com THRU 10/23 Charles & Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Couple of an Age. Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton St., Princeton, NJ. Wed-Sun, 10-4. 609-924-8144. Morven.org 6/4-10/02 Our Strength Is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine. Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. 5th St., Allentown. 610-4324333. AllentownArtMuseum.org 6/24-7/31 The art of Denise Saldutti. Open-
ART & FINE CRAFT EVENTS 6/18 Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society presents its 29th Annual Summer Pottery Festival. Sales by 30 contemporary potters, pottery site tours, demonstrations, refreshments and baked goods. 9-4, 6826 Corning Rd., Zionsville, PA. Admission $4/adult; under 18 free. Free parking, held rain or shine. 610-965-5019. Stahlspottery.org
THEATER THRU 6/18 Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling, directed by Marsha Mason. Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, PA. 215-8622121. BucksCountyPlayhouse.org 6/3-8/6 The Little Mermaid, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre. The Professional Theatre at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. 610-282-WILL. PaShakespeare.org 6/13-7/31 In the Heights, The Tony Awardwinning Best Musical by the composer of Hamilton. Spectacular, affordable family fun. Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt 6/15-7/3 West Side Story, Main Stage, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival,
Main Stage. The Professional Theatre at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. 610-282-WILL. PaShakespeare.org 6/15-7/3 Gypsy, featuring Mia Scarpa & Jarrod Yuskauskas Spectacular, affordable family fun. Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt 6/15-7/3 West Side Story, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage. The Professional Theatre at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. 610-282-WILL. PaShakespeare.org 6/22-7/17 Julius Caesar, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre. The Professional Theatre at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. 610-282-WILL. PaShakespeare.org 6/24-7/16 Buddy, the Buddy Holly Story. book by Alan Janes, directed by Hunter Foster. Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, PA. 215-862-2121. BucksCountyPlayhouse.org 6/27 The Great Divorce, based on the novel by C.S. Lewis, 7:30PM. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre. The Professional Theatre at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. 610-282-WILL. PaShakespeare.org 6/29-7/30 Growl. A new Goldilocks Musical. Spectacular, affordable family fun. Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-664-3333.
FILM 6/14-6/18 13th Annual SouthSide Film Festival. Bethlehem, PA. Films from around the globe, panels with filmmakers and cast, and different activities across Bethlehem's SouthSide. For info: ssff.org
DINNER & MUSIC Thursday nights, Community Stage with John Beacher, 8-midnight. Karla’s, 5 W. Mechanic St., New Hope. 215-862-2612. Karlasnewhope.com. Thurs.-Sat., Dinner and show at SteelStacks, Bethlehem. 5-10, table service and valet parking. artsquest.org
CONCERTS. 6/3 Panoply Books presents, Human Adult Band, Rock N’ Crud Legends According to Thurston Moore and Fond Han, Murky Sunset Gut Rock. 6-8 PM, Panoply Books, 48 N. Union St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-1145. PanoplyBooks.com 6/12 Valley Vivaldi, presented by Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Chamber music by Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Handel, Telemann, Corelli, featured solos for oboe and flute. 7:30 p.m., Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown. Tickets $20-$35. 610 434-7811. PASinfonia.org 7/10 Valley Vivaldi, presented by Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Chamber music by Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Handel, Telemann, Corelli, solos for oboe and flute. 7:30, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA. Tickets$20-$35 in advance/at door. 610 434-7811. PASinfonia.org
MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem 610-332-1300. Full schedule: Artsquest.org 6/1 6/3 6/3 6/9 6/10 6/10 6/10 6/11 6/22 6/30
Lake Street Dive Tusk (Free) Cunningham & Associates Bronze Radio Return (Free) Slingshot Dakota Selwyn Birchwood Band Shirley Alston Reeves (Free) Food Truck Border Brawl Ambrosia (Free) Mingo Fishtrap
KESWICK THEATRE 291 N Keswick Ave, Glenside, PA 215) 572-7650 keswicktheatre.com 6/3 6/4 6/10 6/12 6/17 6/22 6/23 7/9 7/10
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones Irish Mythen Girls Night: the Musical MattyB Bruce in the U.S.A. Happy Together Tour 2016 Howie Mandel John Carpenter LIVE Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds
EVENTS 6/10 Dine with the Chef: Burgers and Brews, 7- 9pm. $60/Person, 12 seats available. Join Mary Grube, for an evening of Shawnee Craft Beer and Burgers and traditional American fare with a local Easton Market District flair. Dinner menu will feature product from the Easton Market District. Easton Public Market, 325 Northampton St., Easton. Register online at eastonpublicmarket.com/calendar 6/12 Easton Public Market presents Kids in the Kitchen, 11-1, 12 seats only. Kids in the Kitchen focuses on building the culinary confidence of your child through our kid-friendly classes, demos, and interactive events. Parents are welcome to attend. Easton Public Market, 325 Northampton St., Easton, PA. Register online at http://eastonpublicmarket.com/calendar/ 6/26-7/2 The Downtown Bethlehem Association presents the Historic Bethlehem Restaurant Week features select restaurants offering fixed menus for lunch and dinner in beautiful Downtown Bethlehem, PA. For info: downtownbethlehemassociation.com
CAMP DeSales University, Summer Video Institute, ext. 1683. Desales.edu/sv. Summer Theatre Institute, ext.1320. Desales.edu/st. Summer Dance Institute, ext.1663. Desales.edu/sd. 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-1100.
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