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ICON
JULY
The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius
INTERVIEW ROGER WATERS & POLITICS | 18 Trump is interesting. He’s symbolic of the ‘amusing ourselves to death’ society, because in order to be part of it, it is necessary for him to be completely un-self-aware. The Trump that you and I see is an obnoxious clown who upholds everything that I find reprehensible about American society, but also the entertainment industry. — Roger Waters
Gina Funari, Untitled, watercolor on paper. Philadelphia Sketch Club.
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Manhole
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EXHIBITIONS I Craig Colorusso: Sound + Light Delaware Art Museum
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Reception for North City Congress
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Thomas Mann Trajectory Heart Project
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The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)
Optical Punctuation
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JAZZ LIBRARY Wild Bill Davis
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SINGER / SONGWRITER Amy Black Dion Willie Nelson The Stray Birds Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie
The Meat Man
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Valley Theater
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City Theater
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The List
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Agenda
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The Book of Henry
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JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Steve Nelson Nat King Cole Trio Lili Añel Jesse Ed Davis Larry Coryell Albert Ayler Quartet
FILM ON THE COVER: Jean Childs Buzgo, Spring II (detail), 5 x 7 in., oil on board. jeanchildsbuzgo.com. Represented by Silverman Gallery, Buckingham, PA. Silvermangallery.com
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Seraphin Gallery, 1108 Pine Street, Philadelphia Film reels from the Dawson City Recovery site—an entire lost archive in need of preservation, 1978. © Kathy Jones-Gates-Dawson City Archives.
DOCUMENTARY
Lorde Lana Del Rey Katy Perry Shakira Blondie SZA
A Mine of Beauty: Landscapes by William Trost
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PUBLISHER
Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com
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MUSIC
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Their Finest
EXHIBITIONS II Vision/Sound: Allentown’s 80s Arts Scene Revisited
The Book of Henry.
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EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
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Dawson City: Frozen Time It Comes at Night Lost in Paris Okja
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Philadelphia Sketch Club’s First Annual Benefit
Jeff Cylkowski, Behavioral Economics. Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia.
FILM ROUNDUP
Filling the hunger since 1992
HARPER’S FINDINGS & INDEX L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD
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Richard DeCosta Susan O’Neill
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essAy And pAinting by robert beck
art
Manhole IT’S ALWAYS NOISY OUTSIDE my studio in New York. There is a high-rise building under construction across the street that delivers a continuous feed of percussive nail guns, shrieking saws, and beeping trucks over the normal din of ambulances and car horns. I’m learning to tune it out. No, that’s not quite true. I’m trying to find a way to push my concentration through it and not let every new commotion jar my focus. It’s coming little by little. The other day I heard muffled rumbles and explosions from no place in particular. I could feel it through the floor. I looked outside and there were three fire trucks on Broadway and a column of black smoke pouring from a manhole in the intersection. Something was going very wrong underground. Of course I had to stop painting and watch. New York firemen work carefully and methodically. One of them walked to the corners and pulled the trash cans over to the manhole, then he wrapped caution tape around the group to form a close, tight barrier. Another set cones to stop traffic on that side of the street. The squad waited a few minutes for orders then started dousing the asphalt around the manhole with water. In New York pedestrians and drivers react to situations as they present themselves. If everyone followed the rules as written all movement would take two or four times as long to happen and the whole island would grind to a stop more often than it already does. New Yorkers are used to being channeled around roadwork, through scaffolding, and onto temporary walkways, but in that transitional period during emergencies, before new traffic patterns have been clearly established, it is accepted that regulations have been suspended and you are on your own. If you see an opening, go for it.
Anyone wanting to avoid the activity around the fire was faced with having to cross to the other side of Broadway for two blocks and then come back again. That’s annoying for a New Yorker. Worse yet, if they wanted to walk up 80th but now had to take the next block it could add another four minutes. The distance isn’t the issue—New Yorkers can walk rings around anyone—it’s the extra time it takes. On the Upper West Side or the Upper East Side—hell, anywhere in Manhattan—four minutes is ridiculous. Waves of subway riders rose out of the station at 79th heading up Broadway past the fire. They walked around the men and trucks, going just enough out of their way to avoid the spray. Whatever subterranean malevolence was at play it coughed up clouds of dense, acrid smoke that drifted east on 80th. People walked right into it, some covering
their mouths with their collars. A voice with a heavy Queens accent blared from a fire truck bullhorn: “The smoke is really bad stuff. You don’t wanna be breathin’ it.” No introduction. No please or thank you. You’ve been told. The firemen went about their work while minimizing the impact on the rest of the citizens. Occasionally some bonehead would overstep the unwritten code of behavior and a policeman would respond with arched eyebrows, hunched shoulders, and palms facing upward—the international signal for whatthefuck. One cop yelled at a guy on a motorcycle that squeezed between the cones. But they understand. They are New Yorkers, too. An elderly pair, each carrying a large plastic bag from Zabar’s, paused to consider the effort it would take to walk around the proceedings, then helped each other step over the hoses between the trucks. A
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younger couple—he with a knit hat with earflaps, she with a baby strapped to her chest—quickly cut through the tangle as if this kind of disruption happens every day, which it does. A skinny woman wearing big sunglasses, yoga pants, heels, a leather jacket with fur collar, coffee in one hand and a phone to her ear in the other, wandered the perimeter avoiding puddles, searching for her Uber. Two Con Ed trucks arrived and were positioned to take over once the firemen were done. The smoke morphed into the gray fog of a dying fire as pedestrians weaved behind the guys working the hose. A hunched, white-haired gentleman with a cane paused while his small dog sniffed a fireman’s cuff. A ragged looking man leaned over the caution tape at the manhole and began to sort through a trash basket for bottles and cans, fanning the smoke with his free hand. n
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EXHIBITIONS I
Thomas Mann Trajectory Heart Project
Jim Stewart, Along County 604, oil on canvas, 12 x 14.
Philadelphia Sketch Club’s First Annual Benefit Reception for North City Congress 1438 North Broad Street, Philadelphia north-city.org sketchclub.org
Sun Boxes, 2014 installation. Craig Colorusso (born 1970), 20 boxes each 12 x 11 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Emma Thurgood. © Craig Colorus
Craig Colorusso: Sound + Light Delaware Art Museum 2301 Kentmere Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 302-571-9590 delart.org July 14 – July 23 After a successful career as a musician, Craig Colorusso began building meditative art installations that explore the intersection of music, performance, and sculpture. Craig Colorusso: Sound + Light is the first temporary outdoor exhibition in the Museum’s Copeland Sculpture Garden that encourages reflection and mindfulness. The installation will coincide with a series of pay-what-you-wish meditative programs, including yoga and tai chi. Sound + Light will feature 20 of Colorusso’s signature solar-powered Sun Boxes, each of which contains a speaker playing a different guitar note. Collectively. the Sun Boxes, which will be spread throughout the nine-acre Sculpture Garden in different locations each day of the installation, emit a harmonious, soothing sound. In addition to Sun Boxes, six four-foot aluminum cubes–called CUBEMUSIC–will be stationed in the Anthony N. Fusco Reservoir Labyrinth July 14 and July 23. These cubes have geometric shapes cut out to allow light to pass through, and each produces a different four-note guitar chord. The Museum’s Sculpture Garden is free throughout the year from dawn to dusk. INSTALL, the short film that documents Colorusso’s ongoing projects and recorded observations, will be screened throughout the exhibition in the Museum’s front entrance hall. 6
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The Sketch Club’s 1st Annual Benefit Reception for Philadelphia’s North City Congress was a gala event. On June 8, the fundraiser brought together supporters of the Congress and community leaders at Maison 208. Gathered under a starry night and surrounded by the venue’s dramatic architecture and the easy sounds of a jazz quintet, the guests enjoyed wine, hors d’oeuvres and a stunning art exhibit. The walls of the restaurant were lined with engaging, brightly colored still lifes, landscapes and urban scenes. The art exhibit was sponsored by the Philadelphia Sketch Club, an organization of more than 240 visual artists whose roots go back to its founding in 1860. Professional artist club members contributed paintings which were sold in the silent auction carried out during the event. The exhibit was organized by club board member William Kosman. The funds raised will help support the Congress’ ongoing programs for its more than 300 members, from dance and exercise to knitting and excursions, and counseling on things like assistance programs and personal concerns. The Congress’ new executive director, Joan Hardaway, who planned the gala, says, “I am speechless regarding the unique offerings and generosity of the artists that donated their works from the Philadelphia Sketch Club.” Philadelphia Sketch Club, 235 South Camac St., Philadelphia. sketchclub.org
Mary Waltham, Barnegate Bay, After the Harvest
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645 Hamilton Street, Allentown, PA 610-841-4866 Lehighvalley.psu.edu/gallery Through August 31 It’s finally here: The Trajectory Heart Project with internationally recognized artist /designer Thomas Mann. This community event brings a sculpture maker-space, exhibition and workshops to downtown Allentown where Mann will execute and guide the creation of his iconic Trajectory Heart Sculpture. The public can stop and visit the maker-space while he’s working during the day in RE:find Gallery on the Arts Walk. Upon completion, it will be travelled and documented as temporary public art around the Lehigh Valley. On view at the new temporary pop up gallery, 645 Hamilton Street Allentown, is his exhibition: Assembling Thomas Mann, for the month of July and August. And Tom’s jewelry will be for sale at RE:find at Center City. For more exhibit information contact RE:find Gallery 610-841-4866. Check our website for updates on dates, locations, and more details.
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EXHIBITIONS II
Linda Cummings (1954), Machine Dream III, 1982. All works Silver Gelatin. Photograph collage with acrylic. Collection of the artist.
William Trost Richards, An Essay at Twilights, Newport 1877. Watercolor on paper, 3 5/16 x 5. Gift of Dorrance H. Hamilton in memory of Samuel M.V. Hamilton, 2008.5.22.
A Mine of Beauty: Landscapes by William Trost Vision/Sound: Allentown’s 80s Arts Scene Revisited Martin Art Gallery & Baker Center for the Arts Galleria Space Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown 484-664-3467 Muhlenberg.edu Tues.–Sat., noon-8pm Through August 2 Martin Art Gallery space is hosting the retrospective portion of a sprawling exhibition entitled Vision/Sound: Allentown’s 80s Arts Scene Revisited. Our main gallery features works by Linda Cummings, Ray DiCecco, Mark Klee, Jessical Lenard, John Lotte, Frances Metcalf, Kenn Michael, Ted Ormai, Barnaby Ruhe, Barbara Tiberio and Jett Ulaner Sarachek. Works in this exhibition include a diverse array of painting, photography and sculpture, highlighting the DIY Ethos of the era, with a focus on the period of 1978 – 1988. Simultaneously, MAG is hosting a show of ephemera from the period in our Baker Center for the Arts Galleria Space, which includes scores of artifacts, posters, promotional materials, playbills and other memorabilia. Additionally, we are hosting a sound installation comprised of interactive streaming audio from WMUH-FM vintage broadcasts and music from the 1980s.
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The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) Gallery 9, Historic Landmark Building 118-128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia 215-972-7600 pafa.org Until July 30 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce an encore presentation of the 2012 exhibition A Mine of Beauty: Landscapes by William Trost Richards in honor of Mrs. Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton, a treasured friend of PAFA who passed away on April 18 at the age of 88. Among Mrs. Hamilton's many gifts to PAFA are 110 breathtaking William Trost Richards watercolors, first exhibited in 2012. This special presentation of A Mine of Beauty is a tribute to her steadfast support and her lasting legacy. William Trost Richards (1833-1905) created a series of small-scale watercolors as tokens of his appreciation and friendship with fellow Philadelphian George Whitney (1819-1885), a collector and art patron who owned one of the city’s most prized 19th-century art collections. Whitney’s important collection was dispersed upon his death; however, Richards’ watercolor gifts remained a treasured Whitney family possession for many years. They were eventually acquired by Mrs. Hamilton, who graciously gifted them to PAFA. Created between 1875 and 1885, the stunning watercolors in A Mine of Beauty depict landscapes of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and England—all places beloved by Mrs. Hamilton as well as Richards. Mrs. Hamilton enjoyed life both in Philadelphia and Newport, R.I., as Richards once did, and she was a tireless ambassador for PAFA, often hosting gatherings in Newport to expand PAFA’s circle of friends. Her thoughtful proviso was that PAFA will share the collection with Newport, exhibiting the work regularly in the two places that were central to both Richards’ and Mrs. Hamilton’s lives. Her gift made possible a final home for these superb watercolors that would have pleased both the artist and his patron.
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Arbiter of Competing Perceptions, 2015.
Optical Punctuation Seraphin Gallery, 1108 Pine Street, Philadelphia 215.-923-7000 seraphingallery.com Through August 2017 A solo exhibition featuring the works of Jeff Cylkowski, a Brooklyn-based painter whose work centers around abstract depth perception formed through the reflective material of automotive paint. Cylkowski’s radiant and eclectic paintings feel like sound. Rhythmic vibes and a reflective surface quality lead the viewer into a world of candied abstraction. The hues in Cylkowski’s works are rich and fresh, appealing to our sense of illusion, mystery, and fantasy. The layers within the artist’s pieces are carefully placed to honor the fluidity of the brushstroke, as well as the manipulated quality of a highly saturated palette. These compositions interrupt with movement, precise patterning, and vigorous energy, punctuating our experience into an explosive event.
The Manipulation of Authenticity 4, 2016.
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FOODIE FILE
The Meat Man
Top to bottom: Chicken Pops; Candied Bacon; Cheese Board; Urban Farmer Steak; Twice Baked Fingerling Potato Tart with Cheddar; Butterscotch Sundae.
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THOUGH HEARTY, DENSE AND rich (when done right) and just perfect for fall and winter months, meat is the treat of summer: aging, smoking, grilling, barbecuing. There’s no shortage of great, grand steakhouses and handsomely appointed BBQ joints in the area. From Starr’s Barclay Prime, Butcher & Singer and Fette Sau to Five Guys Burgers and Kensington Quarters, this area has its gold, grilled standards. In the last many months, Chestnut Street got a white-tiled tower to all things beefy, the Butcher Bar, that’s teaming with men and meat bones. Chad Rosenthal’s Ambler BBQ hall, The Lucky Well, is totemic in its dedication to mostly Memphis-style-meetsTexan-wood-burning broiler dry-aged brisket, burgers and fall-off-the-bones mega-ribs. (Never fear Phillly; for those too tame to drive to Montgomery County for a dip in the Well, Rosenthal, famously known as the “Jewish BBQ guy,” will open a second location in the Spring Arts district, at 990 Spring Garden Street, next year. At June’s end, South Philly’s Bon Appetite/James Beard nodded barbacoa team (marrieds Cristina Martinez and Benjamin Miller) moved their tender enterprise from off-Passyunk and into the heart of the Italian Market with El Compadre. All this, and then there is Terry White, the meat man, who has made tony steakhouses and down-to-the-bone slaughterhouses his thing, his passion, since the early ’90s. After working with innovators and traveling to each of the chain’s satellites (The Palm and Del Frisco’s in their earliest days) and opening his own steakhouse (the muchmissed Union Trust with the Grasso family), White is now the executive chef at the Urban Farmer steakhouse within The Logan Hotel, and, I dare say, has completely re-made the restaurant’s flavor and butchering profile. At Philly’s Urban Farmer (there are three UFs, so far, with several more opening by the end of 2018), White and his mightily empowered team have turned the tired salum charcuterie plate into an epic tirade of mortadella, various pates and a thinly sliced flank steak soaked in gin and rubbed in coffee—so tender I nearly drank it. The same can be said of Urban Farmer’s long, elegant bone marrow—its juicy, silken liquid flush with meaty flavor. The 24-ounce 1855 beef ribeye, grain-finished, bone-in, was supple and slightly sweet. The various Tomahawks offered on a nightly basis as specials have become quickly legendary for their flavor and size. The New York Steak Tasting Sampler, though, is Urban Farmer’s most amazing display: an array of agings, distinct flavors, and textures, all at 6-ounces of North Carolina grass-fed, Creekstone Prime,
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1855 Beef and Wagyu. This is NOT the Urban Farmer of 2015’s opening. That was really good. The new Urban Farmer is great. Amazingly great. “I was looking for a young growing company and found it in the Urban Farmer people,” says White, driving back from a climate change conference in Hyde Park, NY. With all that White knows about steak and steakhouses— “considerable, I think”—Urban Farmer is both rich in that genre’s tradition (subtle opulence) and the forward-thinking most popular eating habits at present, in White’s mind: “…the well taken care of animal, farm raised, organically certified and the farm-to-table movement.” Along with modernizing the quintessentially American staple and moving forward with farm-centric futurism, White talks about the present as meat’s most fascinating moment now that China is opening itself to importing American beef for the first time since the early 2000s. Proudly, he says, “our place, objectively, seems to be doing that better than anybody right now; that’s why I joined Urban Farmer’s team. And I hope I can make that better.” He did “We don’t do the crazy numbers of what the big boys do, which is good. We can control the quality of all of our beef.” Chefs now must be in the business of quality control along with the farmers; must know about the agriculture of the product and not just the foodie culture. “Certified organic” is a special label, and not one to be taken lightly, especially after what happened with the dairy farms of Cumberland County. “We think of Philly at this urban unconnected monster, yet go 20 miles outside it, and there are sprawling rolling green pastures. Ten more minutes away and there’s Kennett Square, Chester and Berks County—all unbelievably beautiful, bountiful and great for family farmers, whether it’s mushrooms or meat.” White talks about how one of his farms in Western Pennsylvania very near to the Herr’s complex, treats its cows to ground cheese curls and fresh potato chips for flavor to go with its “no antibiotics” rule. Those are the whole steers that White is purchasing for his restaurant, a “fun, laboratory environment” that he has staffed with young, up-coming chefs all together too versed in creative and culinary genius. “I certainly do use many of Urban Farmer’s initial purveyors, but I definitely have many of my own long-time connections up my sleeve. It’s like that old joke, I know
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the guy who does the refrigeration, he knows the guy who has the cow,” laughs White. “After I buy, I push the needle into the red.” What White means is that, along with pushing flavors, smoking and aging processes when he’s bringing in whole steers and hogs (yes, this Philly boy is making his own Scrapple daily for the breakfast and brunch crowds, along with a dinner menu bao bun stuffed with piggy goodness), is that he’s empowering his butcher/chefs to go crazy. “Sometimes bigger is better. That’s part of the Del Frisco’s mentality, combined with the new hip millennial vision.” White gives me the example of Tomahawks prepared the first week that he got to Urban Farmer, a time that coincided with the NFL Draft in Philly. “We just put the whole rib cage into the dry aging room, and unleashed these 90-day aged Tomahawks.. all of which got devoured the first night. All these players came in the next day demanding Tomahawks because they got Instagrammed and Snapchatted the day before. They became immediately legendary.” Talking about the dry aging program, White enthuses about the creativity of the New York Sampler and compares it to a rare wine flight: “a 30, 45-, 60- and 75-day aged, all for the real connoisseur.” The lush charcuterie plate? “Topping that with the coffee-rubbed flank steak was a master stroke that one of my chefs had. I just suggested the additional aging.” As far as the Urban Farmer experience goes, White says he has nothing to lose. “This is like starting over for me. I’m going for broke with everything inside me here.” Knowing that The Logan is as iconic as its predecessor—the crème de la crème of the Four Seasons—he insists no corners get cut when it comes to his first love. Ask him how meat became his passion—in the same way that Marc Vetri worships pasta and Michael Solomonov regales Israeli cuisine, White blames the right time/right place of his youth. “When I started at Striped Bass, Walnut Street was just happening, and the Philly restaurant renaissance was on its way with Starr’s Continental. I got an invitation to join The Palm as executve chef but they sent me to their Chicago home branch first, at the time that town was experiencing its own restaurant renaissance, especially regarding steak. There you had stockyards on one side of the train tracks and Allen Bros. on the other; a very daring culinary city. What set me apart, then and now—like Marc hitting the hills of Italy searching for the perfect pasta and Michael the knolls of Israel with a mortar and pestle—is that I learned to love stark cold mornings at butcher shops and slaughterhouses learning about meat. I went in at 4:00 a.m. every day, and found out how to look at and feel animals in every which way. As soon as I put my first knife between that fourth and fifth rib, I knew this was for me.” n
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The Three Musketeers. That irresistibly ambitious swashbuckler, d’Artagnan, joins a legendary troupe of French swordsmen to deflate arrogant power brokers in this actor’sfeast adaptation by Ken Ludwig, author of the fantastic farce Lend Me a Tenor. The sword battles should be spectacular since they’re choreographed by renowned fight director Rick Sordelet, who coached Placido Domingo in the title role of the Met Opera’s Cyrano de Bergerac. He doubles as director of this production from the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, one of his many satellites. (July 12-Aug. 6)
The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens & Count Leo Tolstoy. Theology in five easy pieces is the subject of this comedy by Scott Carter, which means a lot of back and forth about religion and Jesus Christ. These three willful men from history, stuck in a room in the afterlife (like the characters in Sartre’s No Exit), have all written their own version of the New Testament minus the “superstitious parts” they’ve rejected. They argue with one another but nobody emerges as winner of the debate. Carter’s script has the snappy irreverence of his work as writer for Real Time with Bill Maher. Andrew Criss as Tolstoy is powerful while Gregory Issac lends the right aristocratic touch to his portrayal of Jefferson. Brian McCann as Charles Dickens has the zany wild writer thing down pat so that Dickens comes across as the most seemingly contemporary man on stage. Unfortunately the play ends with a preachy condemnation of Jefferson as a slave owner while hypocritically writing so eloquently about human rights and equality. Carter’s script obsesses on Jefferson’s sins despite the fact that in the 18th century the notion of equality did not apply to slaves. This tiresome practice of judging famous people of the past based on contemporary standards and values should end. (The Lantern Theater, until July 2)
My Fair Lady. Cunning linguist Henry Higgins, a legend in his time and his mind, wins his bet that he can transform Cockney flower peddler Eliza Doolittle into a silky society lady, unexpectedly losing his heart in the bargain. “Get Me to the Church on Time” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” top one of Broadway’s most hummable scores. (Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre festival, July 12-30) As You Like It. Shakespeare’s most likable comedy contains some of his most likable bits: cross-dressed Rosalind’s wicked love schooling of Orlando, a hilariously bad love poet; a deliciously quizzical debate between Touchstone the clown and Jaques the philosophical fool, and Jaques’ spot-on soliloquy about humanity’s seven ages. I once saw it in the Berkshire woods with Karen Allen radiating her Raiders of the Lost Ark spunk and Keanu Reeves channeling his goofy jive from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, July 20-Aug. 7) Rough Magic. Playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa transplants The Tempest in 21st-century Manhattan, with Prospero furiously pursuing Caliban, who stole his magic book. The child of a Nicaraguan diplomat, Aguirre-Sacasa wrote for the TV series Big Love and serves as Archie Comics’ chief creative officer. (Allentown Public Theatre, July 20, Allentown Art Museum) The Comedy of Errors. Star of the Day Event Productions switches from its normal diet of musicals to Shakespeare’s wacky, domino-toppling reunion of two sets of twins separated at birth. Allentown Shakespeare in the Park’s 2015 staging doubled the hilarity by having the twins played by one actor. (July 21-23, McCoole’s Arts & Events Place, Quakertown) Ragtime: The Musical. An upper middle-class family from the suburbs swims in early 20th century America’s melting pot of racism, sexism, industrialism, labor activism, civil rights and immigration, stirred by such revolutionaries as Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman and Booker T. Washington. Highly dramatic and kaleidoscopic, just like the novel by E.L. Doctorow, who wrote and set it in his 1906 house in my hometown of New Rochelle, N.Y. (July 26-30, Aug. 2-6, Northampton Community College)
Red Velvet. Not the cake, mind you, but Lolita Chakrabarti’s drama of intrigue and riots on the streets of London protesting the Slavery Abolition Act as the first black man to portray Othello takes to the stage. This September 7-–October 8, 2017 Lantern production will set the tone for the fall season which will include two additional politically-oriented dramas, the WW II Nazi German play, The Craftsman by Bruce Graham and Copenhagen by Michael Frayn. Lantern’s spring 2018 program brings some fresh air into the house with its production of the delightful French comedy, Don’t Dress for Dinner. Souvenir, A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins. Don’t believe it when they say that money can’t buy everything or that persistence can’t win out over talent. A big cash cow certainly opened doors for the highly untalented but charismatic socialite Florence Jenkins, who achieved international fame as a coloratura soprano. The productions at Walnut Street Theater’s Independence Studio on 3 just keep getting better and better. (September 12-October 15, 2017). American Canvas. Whatever happened to this potentially marvelous play about Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins? Philadelphia Theater Company had it all planned out but then substituted The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at the last minute. Will there even be a Thomas Eakins play on a Center City stage?
Hair. They didn’t let their hair down low enough. They didn’t fly their freak flag high enough. Still, the mostly college-age cast members of the Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre festival put plenty of vinegar, honey and spit into this 50-year-old time machine of Anti-Establishment, Pro-Freedom movements. They nailed the funky rants (“Ain’t Got No”), earthy invocations (“Hair”), happenings, hallucinations and hair-flailing, windmilling dances. Alan Mendez’s Claude and Gabe Martinez’s Berger lacked the over-thetop charisma of tribal leaders, although they had their spinning-top, galvanizing moments. Gaps were plugged by Cameron Silliman’s intensely bittersweet “Easy to Be Hard” and Drew Maidment’s hiply square “My Conviction,” enlivened by a subtly startling contralto/countertenor. The best numbers were trios: “Don’t Put It Down,” a neat barbershop-style ode to the Stars & Stripes; the scintillatingly sexy “White Boys,” and an unusually noble, Shakespearean “What a Piece of Work Is Man,” sung on a scaffold around a deconstructed Statue of Liberty. n
HIR. This disturbing play, directed by Jarrod Markman, shows what can happen when abused wife Paige (Marcia Saunders) becomes an abuser herself after her husband’s debilitating stroke. She feeds husband Arnold (John Morrison) mind-altering tranquilizers, spanks him, dresses him in a woman’s nightgown and then hoses him down like an animal when it’s time to give him his shower. Her life of domestic revenge borders on the diabolical as she systematically destroys the lives of her two children, Max (Eppchez!), a transgender male and her normal, ex-Marine son Issac (Kevin Meehan), just home from a war zone. Playwright Taylor Mac, who describes himself as “genderqueer, or a little bit of everything,” casts a satirically hard look at the revolutionary world of gender identity with its 52 genders and anything goes philosophy. He does this with as much harshness as he critiques the rabid All in the Family roots that once defined Paige’s family life. Eppchez! is charming as Max and Saunders is so convincingly horrible as Paige that this reviewer had to fight fantasies about dousing her with eggs or potato salad. Mac, in commenting about HIR, wrote that “there’s this whole generation of older white men who are filled with rage right now, because they watch Fox News all day long and they feel like they’re not part of the culture…” But in HIR it is the men, albeit their faults, who are the sane ones. n
— geoff gehMAn
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the list
cUrAted by A.d. AMorosi
JULY
6-8 CHRIS KATTAN July is a good month for Saturday Night Live alum. First up: the pixie-ish Chris Kattan who came up with the whole Bronx disco Night at the Roxbury character as well as the dancing Mango. It’s a natural then that he would wind up—as he did this season— on Dancing with the Stars. (Punch Line)
the Gap Band, as well as a constant foil to Snoop Dogg, so dig that. (Mann Center)
8 JAPANESE BREAKFAST Philly’s Michelle Zauner amazed critics (like me) with her emotional, spacy debut solo
you can’t do both, but if you had to choose one, I’d go for “Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar," “the Master Thespian” and the best Michael Dukakis impersonator. If nothing else, he was the voice of the great animated series, The Critic. (Helium)
A weird pairing this: the legendary Scottish rocker/R&B growler turned Tin Pan Alley
The Delaware Valley's, keenest willowiest Grateful Dead covers band tackles very specific dates in the Dead's live catalog—locally too—throughout July. (Steelstacks)
I’ve had enough of Mellencamp’s whining rustic faux Steinbeck routine, but go early for two nearly-pure angels of contemporary country music. (Mann Center)
7 BOOGARINS Nobody makes Brazilian psychedelic rock like Boogarins do on its new album, Lá Vem
The real good month of really great Philly artists continues as quiet Katie Crutchfield releases another swelling new Waxahatchee album, Out in the Storm. (Union Transfer)
20 GHOST 12 ROD STEWART/ CYNDI LAUPER
6, 13, 20, 27 SPLINTERED SUNLIGHT
6 JOHN MELLENCAMP, EMMYLOU HARRIS & CARLENE CARTER
14 WAXAHATCHEE
If anonymous men in spooky hoods is your thing…. Well, you might have a problem. Unless it’s this death metal ensemble. Which still might mean you have a problem. (Fillmore)
22 HANS ZIMMER
crooner and the quintessentially New YorkNew Wave femme-fatale. (BB&T Pavillion)
From 1982’s Moonlighting to 2017’s Dunkirk with everything from Castaway, The Lion King, Nixon/Frost, Rain Man, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Thelma & Louise, The Dark Knight and dozens of films in between, Zimmer is THE go-to stately Hollywood composer and this first love tour should be a hoot. (Wells Fargo Center)
13 ROYAL HEADACHE & PISSED JEANS
22 THURSTON MOORE
If you like homegrown grungy noise rock, Philly’s Pissed Jeans is the ticket, especially when you consider that its album, Why Love Now, was produced by the No Wave queen of Siam, Lydia Lunch. (Union Transfer)
Rock & Roll Consciousness is a horrible name for any album, let alone one by the eminence grace of the late Sonic Youth— yet the record does rock and is mind and soul expanding, so what do I know? (Underground Arts)
album, Psycho Pomp, and returns in 2017 with a spacier-still, follow up, Soft Sounds from Another Planet. (Union Transfer)
9 ALEX G Herky jerky Philadelphia lo-fi singer-songwriter Alex G is really one of the most prolific new artists, always on the verge of releasing a new album or single, or having just done so. Next month is no different as Rocket gets its lift off. (Union Transfer)
10 KEHLANI The title of her new album SweetSexySav-
13 CHEVELLE These guys usually get tagged as part of a pop hardcore movement, and I won’t dispute that description, yet its most recent record, The North Corridor, is a wee bit heavier. (Fillmore)
a Morte. Then again, there’s like three other guys who have sort of sound now. For the uninitiated, the band released their first-ever English-language single, “A Pattern Repeated On,” so good. (Boot & Saddle)
16 ANDREW BIRD This is a good one: the nu-folk and neoclassical ragtime-y violinist finds his new pop
14 SPINTO BAND ANNIVERSARY SHOW Delaware’s favorite, snarky power pop ensemble, relive their finest moment: their decade-old Bar/None debut, Nice and Nicely
7 MITSKI The Japanese-American singer-songwriter from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music wants to be (so says the song) “Your American Girl,” and proves as much on her recent Puberty 2 album. (Union Transfer)
8 CHARLIE WILSON WITH CHANTE MOORE Along with his illuminative romantic R&B solo albums, Uncle Charlie was the rough voice of
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groove and family forward lyricism with Are You Serious? (Steelstacks)
age pretty much sums up what it is this sleek soul singer does. (Electric Factory)
28-29 WILCO W/ CONOR OBERST & HOP ALONG
10-12 JON LOVITZ The other Saturday Night Live alum plays the other side of town (Rittemhouse Square) than the Fishtown-bound Kattan. Not that n W W W. fa C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
Done, with a deluxe reissue and a lone reunion show—for now. (Boot & Saddle)
The WXPN FM XPoNential Fest rolls through Camden’s Wiggins Park and its Live Nation amphitheater in sonic style. (BB&T Pavillion) n
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PETE CROATTO
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Landline LANDLINE BEGINS WITH THE end of summer 1995. Dana (Jenny Slate) is being taken from behind in the woods by her fiancé (Jay Duplass), an act that concludes with a less-than-intoxicating mix of ennui and discomfort. Then, mom (Edie Falco) and dad (John Turturro) round everyone for the trip home. Before the car is on the expressway, Mom badgers Dana’s little sister, Ali (Abby Quinn), about college. Dana mangles the lyrics to “Higher Love.” A semen stain is spotted. The car swerves off the road, unable to cope with the energy. Director and co-writer Gillian Robespierre can’t sustain that pace. She spends her follow-up to the wonderful Obvious Child figuring out where to go. It’s a frustrating experience though not without its rewards—which makes us more upset with Robespierre’s approach Back in Manhattan, everyone is in some stage of aggravation. Mom, acerbic and exacting, continually snipes with Dad, a soft touch. Ali treats her senior year of high school as if she’s already graduated, sneaking out to nightclubs. It’s a more appealing alternative than chafing under two perpetually unhappy people. Dana, who’s still
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young, is headed toward stodginess: Ben, her fiancé, is enthralled by the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. When she meets a handsome, rakish college friend (Finn Wittrock) at a party, she’s headed for trouble. Then Ali sneaks home and finds a collection of overheated poems Dad has written to someone named “C,” who is not Mom. Ali and Dana, without the other’s knowledge, both retreat to the summer home to handle their drama. After their tempers cool, Dawn reveals her discovery. They cope mostly through Mountain Dew and whiskey. Dawn heads back with Ali to her parents’ apartment, telling Ben that her sister needs support. But it’s really to sleuth and bask in irresponsibility. Robespierre uses infidelity as a springboard for self-discovery without determining who carries the story. Logic would suggest Slate, a vivacious, smart presence who always remains grounded. She led Obvious Child, a keen examination of how a young woman’s pending abortion threatens to further unravel her life. In Landline, there’s no middle to draw us in. Every character is an equally grand mess. Is the movie about sisters bonding over their
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foundation crumbling? Or about two people summoning the courage to stop lying to themselves? I can’t blame Robespierre for not knowing. If Turturro, Falco, and Slate were in my movie, I’d damn sure use them. But someone must take a seat. By giving every character therapist-worthy problems, the focus is scattered; the comedic rhythm is inconsistent to the point of being accidental. The sheer breadth of conflicts makes for an overweight and sluggish affair. In response, Robespierre cuts off character interactions before they truly blossom. Turturro and Falco botch their Good Cop-Bad Cop routine with Quinn then get sent to the back. Quinn and Slate’s breakthrough—which features drunk-dancing to Stacey Q’s “Queen of Hearts”-—is shuttled in and out even though their own issues lack that sparkle. Even the decision to set the movie in the 1990s feels unnecessary and confusing, like cheating was a product of the time along with Friends or Starter jackets. Robepsierre wants to make something great. But by giving us more, we get less. Landline is available July 22 on Amazon and in theaters August 4. [R] n
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OGER WATERS TAKES no prisoners. That’s readily apparent from his views on Donald Trump and his curt discussions of the conflicts of Israel and Palestine. “If you look at the Israeli occupation of Palestine, if you look at the history and the evidence, you can have a conversation about the rights and wrongs—whether it is defensible to have a whole people under political and military subjugation for 50 years,” he said as a vocal supporter of the BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), a pro-Palestinian campaign that calls for an embargo of Israeli exports and one who refused to play concerts there, urging fellow artists to do the same—and excoriated those who’ve refused (such as, most recently, Radiohead) Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox, and Stevie Wonder have joined him in the boycott. Paul
from the new album—”Déjà Vu,” “The Last Refugee,” “Picture That” and “Smell the Roses”—while the rest were from his classic Pink Floyd songbook with stage designs (flying pigs, laser prisms, large bricks) depicting those epic hit-making moments and anti-Trump twists that should send some fans into a frenzy (the Dems) and others to an early exit (the Republicans). When I spoke to him last year in Manhattan on the occasion of a concert film version of The Wall Live, Waters discussed the newer songs he wanted to play. An atheist, he sang-spoke several lines about God and control that he said were the basis for a tune that would be part of a conceptual music-story about an Irish family against a backdrop of war. When I told him that, perhaps, he couldn’t seem to get away from themes of fathers, sons, and battles, he laughed. “It is,” he observed, “a ripe subject.”
THE COMPANY IS TRYING TO ENSURE THAT I TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCT…THEY SAY I SHOULDN’T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS ME. IF I WASN’T BUSY BITING HANDS, I WOULDN’T HAVE WRITTEN MOST OF THE STUFF THAT I DID. McCartney and Bon Jovi have not. “No one wants to have that conversation, so they call you an anti-Semite.” Since The Dark Side of the Moon world tour of 2006– 2008 and 2010–2015 off-and-on global spin for The Wall Live (the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist), though the one-time Pink Floyd songwriter has looked back to the past and the psychotic decay of a fictional rock artist named Pink, drawn in part from Water’s own inner turmoil. “The Wall,” Waters said in a 2015 interview, “has become a vehicle to realize broader implications. Maybe it was too much about my personal position in life then, that I was too narcissistic and lonely. Maybe it is or can be about more than that, though. This time, there are bigger and more important . . . issues than myself to contend with here.” While The Wall looked backward toward that broad, pained spectrum with bloody and explosive scenes of war—a theme with intensely personal resonance as Waters was five months old when his father was killed in World War II—Waters’ newest solo work, Is This the Life We Really Want?, looks more toward the wars we rage with ourselves and with the smallness of those who crush men’s dreams. During a dress rehearsal of Us + Them, at the Meadowlands Arena in May, Waters showed off an early look of a world tour he’ll bring to Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on August 8, 9 and 11 (so far, the 11th was a just-added date) with a powerful 23-song set list. Included was the live debut of four startling, maudlin songs
You made a speech at the United Nations several years back and discussed how we built walls out of fear, then broke them down when fears were conquered. What do you say then to someone like Donald Trump whose existence, whose platform is based on building and maintaining new walls? Trump is interesting. He’s symbolic of the “amusing ourselves to death” society, because in order to be part of it, it is necessary for him to be completely un-self-aware. The Trump that you and I see is an obnoxious clown who upholds everything that I find reprehensible about American society, but also the entertainment industry. See, Donald thinks he’s admirable. He suffers from a syndrome— he may be brilliant but damaged, but in reality, he appears to have a low IQ. There are people who are dipshits who think they are da Vinci, think they understand the world and how it works; that he has interesting political ideas. In reality, though, he’s a 1/16-of-an-inch deep, this guy. That’s remarkably dangerous. Yes, because the rabble can be roused. We saw that in the Weimar Republic. I hate to bring up the Germany of the 1930s, but there are models you can see that are deeply important for us to understand why things happened. People were disaffected. The economy was in tatters. So, here that is now—part of the unequal distribution of resources going on in the U.S. where riches are controlled by fewer than one percent and living standards have gone down for middle and lower classes. It’s no surprise that people are pissed off, yet have no idea where to direct their actions. So, where do they? Communists. Terrorists. Fucking Mexicans, whoever. It is very easy to convince people that somebody else is responsible for the trouble; that if you only corralled them, everything would be all right.
The idea that the United States is a still a democracy is nonsense. Everybody knows this, but we all still pay lip service to the idea that it is. That’s kind of dopey. If you say anything against it, you’re a pariah. You can’t criticize The State. I’m starting to get a bit of lashing, suddenly finding one or two doors closed to me here and there, especially in the media … It’s funny. The company is trying to ensure that I talk about the product. Fuck you, say I. They say I shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds me. If I wasn’t busy biting hands, I wouldn’t have written most of the stuff that I did. Have they forgotten “Welcome to the Machine”? Your name is above The Wall’s title, both the live touring version as well as the film. I know you got the rights exclusively in the Pink Floyd split. Why is this more important to you than other conceptual projects you’ve written, from Animals to even The Final Cut and its Falklands War twist? They have their own inner and outer monologues. Why does The Wall merit continued attention? I guess because The Wall’s metaphor is so damn clever, so neat and so open to all sorts of extrapolation, conceptualism and interpretation. The idea is so simple and so good with conclusions that you can point to, conclusions that are very easy to arrive at. You can answer so many political and personal questions here. I wrote this in 1979, and am certainly more aware now than I was in my 30s. We get older, we get wiser … hopefully. I know you auditioned to be in Alan Parker’s 1982 film. Did you intend to be in this Wall as you are now, reading letters about your father and such? No, it actually didn’t happen until after we had finished the concert footage. I knew there had to be more; a “what if ” where the film started with me driving away from a show and into this journey, a road trip … Three tours, two films. Do you feel as if you placed a period at the end of the sentence that is The Wall? I’m probably done, yeah. I do, however, keep quite a few of the props and bits of scenery around in the hopes that—and I have publicly declared this—if the U.S. figures out how to persuade the Israelis to end the occupation of Palestine and tear down that fucking fence, that I will go and do The Wall in Israel as an act of celebration. For both of the peoples, so that we can all join together just like we did when the Berlin Wall came down. I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime; maybe they’ll have to wheel me on. I keep an open mind and heart to such a peaceful resolution. n
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HE BOOK OF HENRY IS a “what if ” tale about ordinary and not-so-ordinary people pushed into difficult situations. Single mom Susan (Naomi Watts, good as usual) has two young sons—Peter, 8, an agreeable, slightly dweeby kid and Henry, 11, a walking encyclopedia. He knows that he knows a little about seemingly everything but he’s not obnoxious about it. In fact, Henry comes off as more mature than Susan, who plays blow-‘em-up-good video games while he balances the family’s finances via computer. (He also plays the stock market.) Henry has a good heart and a solid streak of morality—when he learns that neighbor and classmate Christina is being abused by her stepfather, he resolves to do something about it. He tries all the usual channels to no avail. Then the plot thickens; Henry is found to be terminally ill. After his passing Peter gives his mother Henry’s journal in which he had outlined a very detailed plan for Susan to murder the evil stepfather and get away with it, thereby eliminating the source of the abuse. Sound absurd? Maybe. But Susan is so consumed with grief that she sets out to do it, perhaps to honor his memory and his spirit, perhaps to channel her grief into a “constructive” pursuit. Jaeden Lieberher is both charming and exasperating as Boy Genius Henry. Watts ably conveys a woman at the figurative end of her fraying rope. Ziegler exudes the air of some20
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one trying to hide her pain under a placid exterior. Sarah Silverman appears in a supporting role as—you guessed it—Susan’s wisecracking best friend. The direction is mostly straightforward, almost like a documentary, closing in on the minutiae of the amazingly detailed plan. There is a great scene where the film cuts back and forth from a dance scene (just go with me on this) and the preparation to the murder, evoking the very suspenseful “crescendo” scenes from Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and Francis Ford Coppola’s (underrated) The Cotton Club. There are a couple of massive plot holes [slight spoiler]—a character that said previously, “Nothing can be done” to investigate the abuse all of a sudden “does something” (with little provocation) and that’s enough to send the police AT NIGHT with SIRENS to arrest the father with a warrant? Did I mention the stepfather (an appropriately icy Dean Norris, who slightly resembles Michael Chiklis) is a police official? That we never actually see the abuse taking place? Well, now I did. If you can accept all this with a straight face, I think there’s still a bridge in Brooklyn going for peanuts. While there are several “oh, come on” moments, The Book of Henry is for the most part an entertaining, moves-along-at-a-good-clip film, more of a modern-day fable than anything believable. n
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keith Uhlich
Lost in Paris
film roundup
Dawson City: Frozen Time (Dir. Bill Morrison). Documentary. No one makes movies quite like the Chicago-born filmmaker Bill Morrison, whose documentaries (comprised mostly of archival footage and wall-to-wall original music) tend to come off like dense aural-visual ambient albums. His superb latest is a portrait of a remote town in the Yukon— Dawson City—that sprung up during the 19th-century gold rush and was for many years the final stop on a silent film distribution line. Since the studios didn’t want to pay return fare, they instructed the citizens of Dawson to destroy the movies, though nearly 500 of these treasures were buried in the remains of a local swimming pool, only to be unearthed five decades later. Using scenes from these films, numerous period photographs, and a mesmeric score by Sigur Rós collaborator Alex Somers, Morrison profoundly explores the tenuousness of the communities people build and the art they create. [N/R]
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It Comes at Night (Dir. Trey Edward Shults). Starring: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo. Writer-director Trey Edward Shults follows his highly acclaimed (by some) and heavily detracted (by others) Krisha with this slightly starrier, self-consciously morose shocker. An apparent worldwide plague has forced people to fend for themselves, among them the rugged Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr) who are holed up in a remote cabin. Their routine survivalist life is upended when Will (Christopher Abbott) arrives and begs for assistance. The title suggests a towering, toothy monster is in the offing, but Shults is more interested in exploring the internal horrors that manifest in people when society’s gone to hell. It’s an effective film as far as it goes, tense throughout and expressively shot by Drew Daniels. But Shults’ bleaker-than-bleak outlook seems more received than experienced—a chichi pose as opposed to a lived-in philosophy. [R] HHH n W W W. fa C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
Lost in Paris (Dirs. Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon). Starring: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, Emmanuelle Riva. The limber physical comics Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel—co-creators of airy, Jacques Tati-like comic confections such as L’iceberg (2005) and Rumba (2008)—deserve more of an audience outside the festival circuit. They once again costar, cowrite and codirect in this whimsical ode to the City of Light, which has the added benefit of featuring the late Emmanuelle Riva (of Alain Resnais’s Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Leon Morin, Priest) in a substantial supporting role. Gordon is a Canadian klutz, Riva her lost relative, and Abel the homeless man who assists Gordon in her search. The inspired setpieces range from an impromptu tango in a barge restaurant to a vertigo-inducing climax atop the Eiffel Tower. If the film ultimately feels a bit too wispy, that doesn’t mitigate the pure pleasure of experiencing it moment to moment. [N/R]
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Okja (Dir. Bong Joon Ho). Starring: An Seo Hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal. Korean writer-director Bong Joon Ho has an inventive but often undisciplined imagination. His previous film, Snowpiercer, benefitted from being restricted to one location—a bullet train that was divided by class ranking. In Okja, Bong tells a much more sprawling fable about the friendship between a young girl, Mija (An Seo Hyun), and a giant animal, Okja, who has been bred by corporate interests to feed a meat-hungry populace. Its best scenes come first, as the relationship between Okja and Mija is brilliantly sketched in. But then the tonally and thematically muddled plot—featuring a slapstick band of eco-terrorists and twin villainesses played by Tilda Swinton—kicks in, and the emotional pull dissipates. There’s also no way Okja herself can compete as a spectacle when Jake Gyllenhaal, playing an off-his-rockers celebrity scientist, slices the equivalent of 56 hams. [N/R] 2-1/2 stars HH1/2 n
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dvds revieWed by george oxford Miller
reel news
Off the Rails.
A Quiet Passion (2017) HHHH Cast: Cynthia Nixon, Duncan Duff Genre: Biography, drama / PG-13. Emily Dickenson (Nixon) may have had “a quiet passion,” but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a bombastic spirit. Especially for an unmarried woman of pre-Civil War Massachusetts. Like a pristine meadow of flowers, a closer look reveals a complex web that includes equal parts of innocence and knowledge, strength and vulnerability, life and death. For starters, Emily has no tolerance for fools, which includes practically all men with the era’s condescending, limiting attitude about women. She retreats into herself, and eventually her room, and contemplates the meaning of life, or more precisely, death. Only a few poems, all heavily edited, were published in her lifetime, and not until 1955 was an unedited edition of her work of 1,800 poems released. Director Terence Davies gives us a penetrating look into Dickenson’s life, and Nixon’s brilliant performance illuminates the emotional context that made her poetry so powerful and timeless.
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The Lost City of Z (2017) HHH Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson Genre: Adventure, biography / PG-13 Set in the 1920s when colonial powers were still fighting over the resourcerich but technologically poor regions of South America, British explorer Lt. Col. Percy Fawcett (Hunnam) sets out to survey national boundaries in deepest, unexplored Amazon. According to colonial wisdom, only barely-human savages occupy the territories, so the pickings are ripe to exploit rubber, timber, and minerals. But when Percy finds intricate pottery shards scattered across the forest floor, he realizes he’s discovered an ancient city with an advanced culture. From then on, his passion is to return and search for the forgotten civilization. True to stereotypic colonial expedition films, Z gives us harrowing river trips, overturned boats, lost supplies, insect infestations, and unfriendly natives covered with paint and feathers. Nevertheless, the story transports us into the mind of an explorer determined to discover truths that will forever change society’s world view. n W W W. fa C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
Land of Mine (2016) HHHH Cast: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann Genre: War drama, history / R Awards: Oscar nominated Best Foreign Language Film Humans love war. We must: America, like many other nations, spends more on military than education, health care, and social services. Many films depict how war brings out the best of human nature— valor, honor, sacrifice—or the atrocities of the enemy and the glory of victory. But the inhumanity never ends when the fighting stops. After WWII, the Danes have a coastline seeded with German mines, and a hoard of German POWs, mostly young teens conscripted as cannon fodder. It seems only reasonable to send the boys to the beaches to clear the deadly leftovers. With no moral compunction, the vengeful Sergeant Rasmussen (Moller) commands a ragtag group of recruits. Bitter justice if a few blow themselves up—and half do in the first six months. This film focus on the sergeant’s transformation as he finally sees the humanity of the boys, that each has fears and feelings that mirror his own.
Off the Rails (2016) HHHH Cast: Darius McCollum Genre: Documentary / NR Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger syndrome, dresses like a New York transportation driver and commandeers buses and subways. He memorizes routes and makes the stops and announcements perfectly. But the Man doesn’t like people, especially black men, messing with the buses. Now 50, McCollum has been arrested more than 30 times and spent half his life in prisons. Since he has extensive knowledge of the subway system, he’s considered a terrorist threat and often kept shackled in segregation. People with Asperger syndrome often develop an intense interest in one subject and cannot be distracted, so McCollum always ends up back on a train, and back in jail. His parents tried to move with him to North Carolina, but laws prohibited him from leaving the state, so the cycle continues. This film centers on McCollum’s predicament and how the justice system is incapable of dealing humanely with non-violent people with a neuroses that cannot be treated. n
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Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013) PUSSY RIOT IS A Russian all-female punk rock/art collective that dedicate themselves to provoking thought, sensation, and outrage in what they see as a patriarchal, authoritarian society. They’ve enacted provocateur operations such as Kiss-a-Cop Day and disrupting a Russian Orthodox Church service. For this, Pussy Riot members received both prison time and international attention. “What’s the big deal?,” you may mutter to yourself—if a group of young dissidents acted out in the U.S. they might spend a day or two in jail and get slapped with a fine. But unlike most Western nations, Russia has no honored tradition of civil disobedience, political satire, or recalcitrant, noisy rock music. These rebellious truth soldiers were cast as societal aberrations of the foulest kind. After decades of harsh religious repression under assorted Communist regimes, many Russians now publicly and enthusiastically embrace their religion. To further complicate the Pussy Riot’s lives, Putin does not take kindly to people who disrespect him aloud. (For younger readers, this is worth noting: In 1972 American standup comedy icon George Carlin was arrested in for performing “The
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Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the 1960s Beatles records were burned publicly because of John Lennon’s quip that his band was more popular than Jesus.) Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer is a lean, fascinating, mostly chronological account of the members’ literal trials and tribulations. Their story is told in chapters via news footage and interviews with the women and their family members. This writer wishes the film would have addressed exactly which Western bands/artists were motivating influences on Pussy Riot—during the Iron Curtain era (look it up, young ‘uns), albums by The Velvet Underground, Beatles, and Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention were literally smuggled into Communist countries for freedom-thirsting hipsters, and some aspects of UK punk are far more politically astute than the U.S. version. (While some bands talked the talk, UK bands Crass and The Pop Group walked the walk.) It’s exciting to see these courageous gals put themselves and their freedom on the line to rage against their machine. n Russia/UK; in Russian with English subtitles; NR
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Their Finest (2016) WORLD WAR II—THE ALLIES (USA, UK, and Russia) vs. the Axis (Germany, Japan, and Italy)—remains a pivotal event from which many stories can still be drawn. Their Finest is a UK import about an aspect of the WWII British experience. In 1940, before the USA entered the fray, Nazi Germany routinely rained death upon London via rockets, and the morale of the British people was precarious. The government needed to provide encouragement for beleaguered Brits and film was one way to do that. (The Americans did it, too—see the Bogart movie All Through The Night.) Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) is Catrin, who goes to work for the Ministry of Information and finds herself a contributor to propaganda films—the higher-ups need A Woman’s Touch and she’s it. She works with Tom (Sam Claflin), an experienced cynical writer, and actor Ambrose Hilliard (a wonderful Bill Nighy), a ham who’s approaching his sell-by date, to make a rousing movie. A dual purpose of the film is to sell the Americans on joining the fight against the Germans. While there was strong sentiment at the time in the USA to stay out, some Americans went to England and enlisted in the Royal Air Force—that’s where Carl (Jake Lacy) comes in; he volunteered for the RAF and is the token American in the film. Their Finest seems all-over-the-map yet mostly works—it’s a romance, a feminist tale (“We can’t pay you as much as the chaps,” Catrin’s boss says), a film-within-a-film (the propaganda is obviously, sometimes hilariously, manipulative; if Carl’s style of acting were any more wooden he’d be a table), a behind-the-scenes tale of politics and filmmaking), and a story of how people long for normalcy in a time of recurring horror. Arterton is excellent as Catrin, who strives to be taken seriously in a male-dominated zone; Claflin, too, is fine as the charming, jaded writer, but the film belongs to Nighy as a thespian who thinks he walks on water but is coming to realize his feet are getting wetter all the time. You almost want to hate him, but Nighy imbues his character with enough humanity and humor that you love him despite yourself. Their Finest is a somewhat dark yet inspiring movie, and how many movies can one say that about? n Their Finest (UK/Sweden); Director: Lone Scherfig (Denmark); Starring: Gemma Arterton (UK), Bill Nighy (UK), Sam Claflin (UK); Rated R
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Hey, Ladies WITHOUT TRIVIALIZING OR DUMBLY sexualizing the topic, the last six weeks have been ripe with important releases from important female artists, not all necessarily recording in a ‘pop’ vain. Lorde, Melodrama As far as sophomore efforts go, the young woman that David Bowie called the future of music displays a sparse subtlety of sound and a coolly emotional (dramatic, yet age appropriate) lyrical eclat here that’s shocking from any major label femme-fatale, let alone one produced by Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff. This time out, the electro-pop New Zealander has made an art-rock mini-epic that’s more dryly funny and sensual than her first album without confusing her tween fans (“Sober” and “The Louvre” are two great examples) with “Homemade Dynamite” being a great googly adventure in future funk without sounding mawkish. Bowie could’ve been right.
Rocky, new friends Stevie Nicks and The Weeknd) and continuing her reign as a fizzier, hip-hoppier, Californication-ed female take on all things hollow-bodied and Chris Issak. “Change” alone is swooning and weirdly complex, with the romantic title track being a divine take on human touch and romantic frailty. Katy Perry, Witness Billboard’s #1 seller and the new American Idol judge hasn’t made a brand new album that sounds any less brassy or
ballsy than her past smashes, her voice is sharp and cunning, and her image as Pop’s Xena Warrior Princess is still intact despite the blonde spiky hair. Yet for every catchy melody (yes, every) there’s a stupid set of lyrics (yes, every) which lets down Perry’s support beams. Lynn Castle, Rose Colored Corner Lee Hazlewood released her fleeting few records with Phil Spector and Jack Nitzsche lending a hand. That’s one powerhouse of boys behind Lynn Castle—the n ICON
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Shakira, El Dorado For her first (mostly) Spanish-language album since Sale el Sol (2010) and studio release since her eponymous album of 2014, Shakira sticks with the rattling, zesty percussion indigenous to her Colombian upbringing, as well as her slinky signature baritone purr of a voice.
proceedings fresh. Whether it’s the tart and caustic “Fun” or the grimy “Doom or Destiny” (with Joan Jett no less, a contrast of raspy rough edges and Harry’s sweeter, yet still deadpan-ish croon) Pollinator doesn’t fail to titillate. SZA, Ctrl The mistress of jazzy rap and the new queen of the mixtape displays her skills and shills as a hip hop songstress with the
Lana Del Rey, Lust for Life Along with cribbing Iggy Pop’s most cherished song (title, at least), Del Rey finds herself partnering with a luscious array of collaborators (old ones like A4AP
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first lady barber in L.A. just as long hair on men became a thing; she styled The Monkees, Sonny & Cher, the Byrds—yet it is her spacy baritone vocals and bristling psychedelic folk that haunts the lush strings and harpsichord-filled tunes thought lost forever until this haunting re-release.
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That’s splendid, as Shakira’s name doesn’t often get included in the pantheon of top-tier female artists (Bey, Ri Ri, Katy) when clearly she’s there. Only this time out, Shakira truly sounds as if she’s grown up—matured—as the songs are sultrier, and more mid-tempo than the screech, weirdness or sexual overdrive of previous efforts. Blondie, Pollinator Eleven albums and forty years into the career of Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke—the Blonde braintrust—and one of the shining avatars of NYC’s punk rock scene (with an eye toward power pop and disco) still carves a gorgeous sculpture from its original marble template while managing to keep the
help of Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott (“Love Galore”). For all those big league assists, she sounds best on her own, musing lyrically about the fresh truth of adult identity: God, growth, boys and men. n
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THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA was dubbed the “Jazz Basie. Davis was to play organ at the recording session, Organ Capitol of the World” in the middle portion of the but the van carrying his organ broke down on the way to previous century, which was the heyday of the modern the studio, and he didn’t make the session, so the date jazz movement. The organist/pianist who pioneered the went on without him. Basie’s recording of “April in Paris“ movement was Jimmy Smith, who hailed from Norrisis legendary, and is more identified with the band than town, but did much of his playing and polishing of his any other piece of music from the band’s songbook. And craft in Philadelphia. Smith prepared the stage for many the trumpet solo within the song, played by Thad Jones, jazz organists from the local area who followed his lead, in which he quotes “Pop Goes the Weasel,” did much to like Trudy Pitts, Shirley Scott, Charles Earland, Jimmy Mcbring him to international attention. Griff, Joey DeFrancesco, and a number of others. Later in his career, Davis was the featured organist But there were Swing Jazz organists who set the stage on the Jackie Gleason romantic album, Aphrodisia, for Smith and the more modern organists, like Bill which was a bestseller in its time. Doggett, Jackie Davis and Doc Bagby, who was the first By various accounts, Wild Bill Davis appeared to live musical director of an interesting and fruitful Philadelphia’s famed Uplife—he traveled extensivetown Theater. And there ly, either playing and/or was a fellow named Wild writing arrangements for Bill Davis, who was not a various other musicians Philadelphian, but who apand bandleaders. He was a peared in Philadelphia mainstay in Atlantic City nightclubs often, toured nightclubs in the city’s enthe U.S. and abroad, tertainment heyday. I knew arranged for the Duke a musician named Bob Ellington Orchestra (when Brown who played at the son Mercer headed the A.C. club known as Grace’s band), and recorded with Little Belmont. Bob taught Ella Fitzgerald. Although a in public school in Philadelproduct of the Swing Era, phia, and on summer the versatile Davis could weekends he motored hold his own onstage with down to Atlantic City and more modern players. the Belmont to make Davis was born Nomusic with Wild Bill Davis. vember 24 in Glasgow, Bob would then drive back Wild Bill Davis on piano with Louis Jordan’s band in the 1940s. Missouri. The family to Philly late Sunday night Unknown photographer. Photo provided by Wild Bill Davis in 1980. moved to Kansas when Bill to prepare for Monday was in elementary school. He received early music trainmorning classes. He told me this went on for 17 years. ing from his father, a singer, and while listening to the Jazz veterans who are still on the scene remember recordings of Art Tatum and fats Waller. He later studied Will Bill Davis as a great all-around musician, an early jazz music at the college level. organ pioneer, and pretty much a legend in his own He moved to Chicago in the late 1930s, and there time. The handle “Wild Bill” was attached to him by jazz played guitar, wrote arrangements for and played in variauthority Leonard Feather as testimony to his energy beous small bands, including that of Louis Jordan. He also hind the B-3. arranged for big bands. He taught himself to play the William Strethen Davis, aka Wild Bill Davis, passed Hammond organ, and began to form his own group, away in 1995 in Moorestown, New Jersey at 77. Before he which included guitar and drums. departed, he wrote a beautiful song titled “Azure-te,” Davis gave Count Basie the arrangement of Vernon sometimes called “Paris Blues,” which has been recorded Duke’s pop standard, “April in Paris.” His combo played by Duke Ellington and other jazz artists. n the song often, but being an arranger, he knew how to Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs write for large ensembles. He often said, “I play more big on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to band, than organ.” The arrangement was a present to 9:00pm and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v
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music SINGER / SONGWRITER Amy Black HHH1/2 Memphis Reuben Records Geography can influence musical direction as Amy Black demonstrates on Memphis. She traveled to the Western Tennessee city to record and emerged with an album that’s steeped in the rhythm and blues and soul music traditions that developed there.
“It’s Hard to Love an Angry Man” sets the tone for the album with a bluesy groove that suits Black’s simmering vocal delivery. “The Blackest Cloud” contains echoes of the classic Stax Records sounds as the horn section provides a powerful response to her impassioned vocals. Working with Scott Bomar, leader of the Memphis soul band the Bo-Keys, and members of the Hi Records rhythm section who backed Al Green, Black displays her vocal versatility. A cover of “If I Could Reach Out (and Help Somebody)” finds her serving up an inspirational vibe that recalls Green’s best work. She delivers a jazz-tinged reading of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Further On Up The Road,” highlighted by Bo-Keys guitarist Joe Restivo’s skillful playing. As a songwriter, Black captures the harrowing effects of war in on a young soldier on “Nineteen” and the joys of love on the upbeat “We Got a Good Thing.” With Memphis, Black uses utilizes the city’s musical legacy to make a strong 30
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artistic statement on her own. (10 songs, 40 minutes) Dion HHH1/2 Kickin’ Child: The Lost Album 1965 Norton Records After his success with Dion and the Belmonts, Dion DiMucci launched a successful solo career with the hits “The Wanderer” and “Runaround Sue.” When he signed with Columbia Records in late 1962, Dion and the label were often at odds over his artistic direction with the rise of the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Kickin’ Child: The Lost Album 1965 is like finding a lost chapter in the history of folk rock, popularized by the Byrds and Dylan. The influence of Dylan, Dion’s label mate at Columbia, is evident in the choice of producer Tom Wilson and covers of three Dylan songs. Dion shows he’s at home in the new genre, delivering a lively version of the title track over ringing electric guitars. “Now,” a song he co-wrote Carlo Mastrangelo, his fellow Belmont and drummer in the Wanderers, Dion’s backing band, contains echoes of the Byrds and The Lovin’ Spoonful. The longing mood of “Wake Up Baby” recalls the Turtles, while Al Kooper’s organ playing adds a romantic feel to “Time in My Heart for You,” a Dion original. Throughout his career, Dion has had a good ear for songs by other writers that suit his voice. He relishes the friskiness of Dylan’s “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You” and he delivers an emotionally stirring version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” His wistful reading of Tom Paxton’s “I Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound” serves as an apt description of Dion’s artistic journey. (15 songs, 44 minutes) Willie Nelson HHHH God’s Problem Child Legacy Since launching his career in the 1950s, Willie Nelson continues to record albums and tour the country on a regular basis. At 84, he confronts aging, death and his own mortality with wisdom and humor on God’s Problem’s Child, continn W W W. fa C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
uing his run of strong albums late in his career. On “Old Timer,” co-written by Donnie Fritts, Nelson faces up to the aging process. “You think that you’re still a young bull rider, he sings with a hint of weariness, “till you look in the mirror and see an old timer.” On “It Gets Easier,” one of seven songs he co-wrote with producer Buddy Cannon, Nelson finds some solace with advancing age as he observes, “I don’t have to do/One damn thing that I want to do.” “Still Not Dead” shows him finding humor in the erroneous online accounts of hisdemise, while “He Won’t Ever Be Gone” serves as a eulogy to Nelson’s longtime friend and occasional collaborator Merle Haggard. Nelson’s vocal range has diminished somewhat with age, but he still has a way with a love song. “Your Memory has a Mind of Its Own” is a bittersweet waltz that shows his gift for word play. “Delete and Fast Forward” offers his commentary on the 2016 election, delivered with a bluesy edge that shows Nelson, as Dylan Thomas advised, isn’t going gentle into that good night. (15 songs, 44 minutes) The Stray Birds HHH1/2 Magic Fire Yep Roc Change is a hallmark for The Stray Birds on Magic Fire. The trio, which formed in Lancaster, added drummer Sean Leonard to the lineup to expand its sound and enlisted multi-instrumentalist and three-time Grammy winner Larry
Campbell to serve as producer. The band’s thoughtful songwriting and harmonies remain their strengths, producing a rich mixture of American music. “Hands of Man” mixes country and folk in exploring the dichotomy between the ruling
and working classes. The Cajun-flavored “Sabrina,” a joint composition between Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven and Charles Muench, shows the power of collaboration in its celebration of a free spirit. The up-tempo “Sunday Morning” is a reminder to turn words into action to make changes in the world. Campbell’s production helps to keep the music fresh and the band focused. That’s borne out on the album closer “When I Die,” which begins with an acapella introduction and turns into a gospel-flavored tune on living live to the fullest. (12 songs, 45 minutes) Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie HHH1/2 Self-titled Atlantic Records It’s commonplace for band members to step away from their groups to make a solo album. It’s rare for two group members to team up for a joint musical project as Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie have done in releasing their self-titled album. Fleetwood Mac’s rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie appear on the album, but Stevie Nicks does not. Buckingham and McVie don’t stray too far from their band’s trademark sound, but are open to new approaches. “Carnival Begin,” one of two songs written solely by McVie, evokes a tropical feeling with the help of Buckingham’s guitar work. “Feel About You,” one of three tracks co-written by both singers, is a winning blend of McVie’s traditional pop and Buckingham’s sonic experimentation. The up-tempo “In My World” would easily fit on a Buckingham solo album with its manipulation of voices that’s reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s hit “Big Love.” McVie’s writings has often dealt with affairs of the heart and she conveys a sense of yearning and intimate loss on “Red Sun” with Buckingham’s backing vocals lending an emotional counterpoint to the song. “Too Far Gone” puts the spotlight on Fleetwood’s propulsive drumming, while Buckingham’s “On With the Show” showcases his energetic guitar playing. (10 songs, 39 minutes) n
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music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Steve Nelson HHH1/2 Brothers Under the Sun HighNote Pittsburgh-born NYC-based jazz vibraphonist Steve Nelson favors The Collective We with his first album as leader in a decade. Nelson’s vibes have graced recordings of Dave Holland (many) and Kenny Barron, and he’s carrying on in the tradition of straight-ahead mallets-wizards Bobby Hutcherson and Milt Jackson. This set is an unofficial tribute to Nelson’s
friend, the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, consisting of mostly Mulgrew compositions (with a couple of evergreens). Brothers swings mightily (hard bop division) from the git-go and never loses the groove. Nelson and pianist Danny Grissett provide plenty of sparkling lyricism (especially Nelson) and forward motion. Sometimes drummer Lewis Nash seems a little over-enthusiastic, but hey, it’s no dealbreaker. There’s nothing here seasoned listeners haven’t oft-heard before but it’s done so darn well it’s hard to find fault, dig? (10 tracks, 60 min.) jazzdepot.com Nat King Cole Trio HHHH1/2 Swiss Radio Days Vol. 43—Zurich 1950 TCB Before becoming known as one of the most distinctive ballad voices in history, Nat King Cole was a smooth jazz pianoplaying hepcat (who recorded in a trio with Lester Young and Buddy Rich), a coinventor of a chilled-out style that combined blues, jazz, and pop that featured Cole’s mellow yet slightly impish singing and intimate piano style. While remembered primarily as a vocalist (just try to avoid hearing him at Christmastime), Cole was an ace at the 88s, an influence acknowledged by such jazz key-crackers
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as Red Garland and Bill Evans (both of whom played with Miles). This set consists of a concert broadcast on European radio in October 1950 and the recording quality is mostly superb, as is the music. Be warned: This contains little of the King’s balladry, focusing instead on his piano and wry, lively group interplay with his four-person trio (guitar, bass, and bongos) with light and genial swing (as opposed to hard swing) buoyed by immaculate technique. Students of American music history: You have your target. (16 tracks, 54 min.) challengerecords.com Lili Añel HHH1/2 Another Place Another Time Wall-I So many jazz singers, so little time/money/airplay/etc. But to whom does the discerning/cranky listener turn in a sea full of standards-bearers? Well, Philadelphian Lili Añel is worth a spin or three. For one thing, she has a truly distinctive voice—husky and expressive as
Nina Simone, lilting and pliant as Phoebe Snow. Without resorting to excessive melodrama, Añel sings like she actually cares about the lyrics, and whereas some jazz thrushes (and pop singers too) use songs as springboards for vocal gymnastics. She brings a sultry, slightly feverish intensity to country/gospel blues icon Blind Willie Johnson’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”—and dig Dale Melton’s thick, chunky slabs of Hammond B-3 organ. “Forgotten” smartly combines aspects of late night set-‘em-up-Joe torch song-ery and bossa nova, and it’s easy to imagine Steely Dan covering the urbane “Traffic Jam in a One-Horse Town.” Nice indeed. (6 tracks, 23 min.) lilianel.org n W W W. fa C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
Jesse Ed Davis HHH Red Dirt Boogie: The Atco Recordings 1970-1972 Larry Coryell HHHH At The Village Gate Real Gone Music Here are two offerings from guitarists no longer with us but left much behind for six-string fans to appreciate. Jesse Ed Davis (not to be confused with the jazz saxophonist Jesse Davis) was a go-to guitarist to the stars, playing on the solo albums of three of The Beatles—Lennon’s Walls and Bridges, Harrison’s Extra Texture, and Ringo’s Goodnight Vienna—and previously was in blues ace Taj Mahal’s band. Red Dirt Boogie collects Davis’ first two long-out-of-print in America solo ventures, on which he was accompanied by such swells as Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Merry Clayton (the other voice on the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”), Dr. John, and Gram Parsons. It’s very typical of the roots-y rock (blues overtones, country undertones, echoes of The Band) of the early 1970s (the early solo sets by Clapton, Russell, Stephen Stills, etc.) with a pleasingly tumble-down feel and hot/tasty playing aplenty. Alas, to put it kindly, Davis was not a great singer, but many of the songs are likeable and his guitar stings like a fresh heartache. Recommended for devotees of early ’70s mainstream rock. (19 tracks, 75 min.) Larry Coryell was one of the finest and most inventive guitarists ever, one of the first American musicians (even before Miles Davis and Weather Report) to build bridges between jazz and rock. This album was recorded live in 1971, also long-out-of-print and not on CD ‘til this. With bassist Mervin Bronson and drummer Harry Wilkinson providing sturdy yet flexible grooves, Coryell engages in some torrid expositions, comingling the technique of jazz wizards Django Reinhardt and Jim Hall, the brazen fire of Jimi Hendrix, and impudence of Thurston Moore. Young people, if you think Sonic Youth and Jim O’Rourke are the cat’s pajamas when it comes to creatively noisy guitar bands, you’ve got to hear this. (5 tracks, 38 min.)
Albert Ayler Quartet HHHH Copenhagen Live 1964 Hatology Jazz tres avant tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler was like unto a comet—he blazed across the sky and was gone (1936-1970). His style was unique, to say the least—raw, wide-toned, guttural, primal, honking and overblowing. Ayler’s acolytes and fans include jazz icons John Coltrane, David Murray, and Gato Barbieri and rock icons Patti Smith and Thurston Moore. This is a reissue of a
Don Ayler, Albert Ayler, Lewis Worrell, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Michel Sampson. © Ole Brask
long out-of-print set recorded in 1964 and issued circa 2002, the digital remastering giving it extra oomph. Members of the quartet were Don Cherry, trumpet (whose occasionally gentleness is the calm in the eye of the hurricane); Gary Peacock (who went on to play with Bill Evans) bass; and Sunny Murray, drums. At first, to tender (and not so tender) ears, this might seem chaotic (as do some of Beethoven’s late string quartets) but there is structure along with an almost harrowing emotional directness and folklike simplicity. Difficult? Cathartic? You’re darn tootin’ on both counts. (6 tracks, 44 min.) hathut.com n
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INDEX
Conspiratorial thinking about the neoliberal status quo was tied to paranormal and authoritarian beliefs, but the lay economic theory of Conspiracy is generally less prevalent than that of the Bad Invisible Hand. The Sicilian mafia may have arisen because of a citrus boom in the 1800s. Regions of Italy that were exposed to Silvio Berlusconi’s entertainment-TV broadcasting remained likelier to vote for populist politicians for two decades; the study’s authors concluded that Berlusconi’s programming exposed older voters to biased evening news and made younger voters grow up to be stupider and less politically engaged. Swedish scientists studying the benefits of robot-assisted news production worried that it might make human journalists lazy. Business re-searchers posited that busyness has replaced leisure as a marker of prestige for Americans, constituting “an alternative kind of conspicuous consumption that operates by shifting the focus from the preciousness and scarcity of goods to the preciousness and scarcity of individuals.” Among Germans, 51.4 percent would pay €50 to test a possibly fake €2,000 blue sapphire purchased while on holiday in Sri Lanka, 6.8 percent would like to know what they are getting for Christ-mas, and 90.4 percent would not like to know the cause of a romantic partner’s eventual death.
Days after high school journalists in Kansas revealed inconsistencies in the principal’s résumé she resigned: 4 Average acceptance rate at New York City public high schools with test-based admission: 2.7 At Ivy League universities: 8.0 Portion of Oklahoma school districts that have switched to four-day weeks because of budget cuts: 1/5 U.S. teachers hired today who are projected to pay more into their pensions than they will get back: 3/4 Percentage of Americans who estimate they will need at least $1,000,000 to retire: 37 Of Americans aged 55 and older with retirement plans whose accounts contain more than $250,000: 35 Portion of American workers who are looking for a new job: 1/2 Percentage increase since last year in the number of U.S. taxpayers who fear an IRS audit: 64 Number of successive years that the IRS has audited fewer people than it did the year before: 7 Est. $ the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept is spending to switch from silver- to gold-colored belt buckles: $100,000 Amount awarded to wrongfully convicted individuals for each year they spent in a Texas state prison: $80,000 In a Wisconsin state prison: $5,000 Number of states in which wrongfully convicted state prisoners aren’t entitled to monetary compensation: 18 Number of states in which parents can be billed for the cost of their child’s incarceration: 47 Age at which Filipino children could be found criminally culpable, under a proposed law: 9 Percentage of Republicans living within 350 miles of Mexico who oppose the construction of a border wall: 34 Of Republicans living farther than 350 miles from Mexico who do: 21 % of invitees from Africa to a U.S. conference on African economic development who were denied visas: 100 % increase last year in the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship: 26 % increase since 2013 in the number of millionaires migrating to another country: 61 Rank of France among countries that millionaires are leaving: 1 Of Australia among countries that they are moving to: 1 Number of weather records broken in Australia last summer: 205 Minimum number of U.S. states in which spring arrived early this year: 35 Number of years in a row for which global greenhouse gas emissions have remained stable: 3 Date a Maine lawmaker introduced a bill to bar discrimination against climate change skeptics: 3/2/2017 Estimated number of songbirds killed last fall in Cyprus for human consumption: 2,200,000 Number of endangered mammal species whose primary threats include being hunted by humans for food: 301 Portion of South Sudan’s population that is expected to lack a reliable food source this summer: 1/2 $ the country was charging professional aid workers for visas before the policy was suspended: $10,000 Min. number of Haitians killed since 10/2010 in a cholera epidemic introduced by U.N. peacekeepers: 9,439 Portion of U.N. member states that have donated to a fund to combat the epidemic: 7/193 Number of countries in which U.S. Special Operations Forces were operating in March: 102 Portion of artifacts dug up this year at a WWI-era British Army barracks in Israel that were liquor bottles: 7/10 Min. # of times President Erdoğan of Turkey has unfavorably compared other countries with Nazi Germany: 4 Of times he has favorably compared Turkey with Nazi Germany: 1 Minimum number of cemeteries the Trump Organization has received approval to build in New Jersey: 2 Odds on an online bet that Donald Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize this year: 20:1 That he will announce the existence of aliens: 20:1
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Forensic scientists described the case of a woman who appeared to be the victim of sexual homicide but was instead found to have taken off all her clothes and run around in a forest until she was bitten by in-sects and died. In the Amazon, a prominent shaman died of snakebite, and two other shamans located a lost tourist by communicating with his soul through a recovered sock, though the man later claimed he was also assisted by generous monkeys. The high court of Uttarakhand granted the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers full human rights and appointed three sentient guardians on their behalf. A sea turtle named Piggy Bank died following surgery that recovered 915 coins from her stomach. Abyssal currents of Antarctic bottom water along the Orkney Passage were being monitored by Boaty McBoatface. There are more than twice as many Adélie penguins in East Antarctica as previously thought, and Galápagos penguins who had grown up and left the nest were seen returning to be fed by their parents. The kea became the first nonmammalian to demonstrate infectious laughter. The world’s largest canary was discovered on São Tomé. The Kentucky Coal Museum switched its electrical supply to solar power.
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Scientists created a menstrual cycle and anorexia nervosa in dishes and, on a transparent spinach leaf, grew the beating cells of a human heart. An analytic psychologist diagnosed Pinocchio with autism, and comparative psychologists modeled autism in poodles. The lives of French men and women who were fetuses when their fathers died in WWI were 2.4 years shorter on average. A dead Nazi fighter pilot was found in possession of food stamps and three unused condoms. Britain’s link to Europe was severed 450,000 years ago and its textile heritage was being destroyed by moths. The carbon footprint of violent and acquisitive crime in England and Wales more than halved between 1995 and 2015, significantly outpacing the overall drop in crime. The tomb of Christ is near col-lapse. Reality may not exist as a three-second subjective present. Toronto researchers concluded that the best location for an automated external defibrillator is a Tim Hortons.
SOURCES: 1 Pittsburg High School Student Publications (Kan.); 2 New York City Department of Education; 3 Harper’s research; 4 Oklahoma State Department of Education (Oklahoma City); 5 Urban Institute (Washington); 6,7 Employee Benefit Research Institute (Washington); 8 Gallup (Washington); 9 Rasmussen Reports (Asbury Park, N.J.); 10 Internal Revenue Service (Washington); 11 Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department; 12,13 National Registry of Exonerations (Irvine, Calif.); 14 The Innocence Project (N.Y.C.); 15 The Marshall Project (N.Y.C.); 16 Embassy of the Philippines (Washington); 17,18 Pew Research Center (Washington); 19 African Global Economic and Development Summit (Diamond Bar, Calif.); 20 Internal Revenue Service; 21–23 New World Wealth (Johannesburg); 24 Climate Council (Sydney); 25 USA National Phenology Network (Tucson, Ariz.); 26 International Energy Agency (Paris); 27 Maine State Legislature (Augusta); 28 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (London); 29 William Ripple, Oregon State University (Corvallis); 30 World Food Program (Nairobi, Kenya); 31 Embassy of the Republic of South Sudan (Washington); 32 Philip Alston, New York University School of Law; 33 United Nations (N.Y.C.); 34 U.S. Special Operations Command (Tampa, Fla.); 35 Israel Antiquities Authority (Ramat Gan); 36,37 Harper’s research; 38 Bedminster Township Land Use Board (N.J.); 39 Paddy Power (Dublin); 40 Ladbrokes (London).
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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
UP THE RIVER ACROSS
1 Back biter? 6 They’re rarely good dance partners 10 Worry word 14 Nut under a tree 19 Sherlock’s adversary Adler 20 Zero-star meal 21 Hard finish? 22 Big fight 23 Words on the street? 24 Big Island port 25 Spanish pronoun 26 Window treatment 27 Cargo unit 28 Lennon classic covered by Pentatonix 31 Like some riots 33 Absurd 35 Aborted operation 36 Something to learn 37 Willamette University home 39 “Enigma Variations” composer 41 Scary biter 45 Coral Sea sight 48 More hard-up 50 Square dance milieu 51 Turn 52 NBC weekend staple 53 Ancient German 55 Fuming 56 Polishes, as prose 58 Support source 60 Job listing ltrs. 61 Bacon and eggs, say 62 Puts in order 64 Police protector 66 Woodworking supply 68 Workable wood 69 Firmly affixed 71 State with confidence 73 Span. title 76 Hastings hearth 77 Deserve 79 Tells 81 Hostile force 84 Cartesian conclusion 86 Volvo competitor 88 Freshen 89 Sitarist Shankar 90 Like hiss or boom 92 Snappy dresser 94 Scandinavian capital 95 Fictional wolf’s disguise 97 Employ to excess 99 Fisherman with pots 100 Algonquian chief 34
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By Alan Olschwang 101 Govt. issue 102 Arabian peninsula capital 104 Infatuate 106 Intestine sections 108 Plumed birds 112 Dr. Brown’s classic 115 Ivy in Ithaca 117 Seek office 118 Baby bug 119 Wedding reception eye-catcher 121 Worked up 122 Spender of rials 124 French 101 infinitive 125 “Power Hits” series record label 126 Went off the deep end 127 Picked a ticket, perhaps 128 Board 129 Lowly worker 130 Christmas symbol 131 Lyrical poetic form 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 29 30 32 34 38 40 42 43 44
DOWN
Peruvian volcano El __ Wrinkle-resistant fiber Cants “Barbara __”: Beach Boys hit British actor who played Algy Longworth in 1930s Bulldog Drummond movies DOL watchdog Garage job Book sheet Freeloaded Stupefied state Western actor who taught Harrison Ford how to use a bullwhip More pretentious Waterproofs, perhaps Cynical Bierce who defined “sweater” as “Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly” “Titanic” theme vocalist Broad assortment Bausch + Lomb brand Rorem and Beatty Qantas hub letters Tertiary Period stones __ Martin: Bond’s car Like italics Middle of dinner? Turn right Capa attacker Scand. land Circle’s lack
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Gemini rocket stage Some library volumes Caribbean sorcery Sorbonne student Nocturnal tree dweller Trueheart of the comics Problem with a line Turn over Was perfectly tailored Glass component Ancient home of Irish kings Academic specialty Sister of Rachel A lot more than a little mistake It may have a swivel top Get together with old classmates, say China __: showy bloom Memorable line from Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” Religious recluse Unpaid bill Energy bits Ancient Japanese capital Brush fire op Third James Bond novel Samba relative Filmdom’s Thompson and Watson 1961 Literature Nobelist Andric Plant studied by Mendel
96 Hamlet’s homeland 98 Puts in another roll of film 101 Up till now 103 First word in Dante’s “Inferno” 105 Taunts 107 Grain bane 109 Sister of Calliope 110 Not sharp or flat
111 Rather nasty 112 Storm harbinger 113 Marsh bird 114 Name on the column “At Wit’s End” 116 Hungarian city known for red wine 120 Seasonal worker? 123 Swiffer WetJet, e.g.
Answer to June’s puzzle, PRODUCT EXPANSION
t t t 1 g ‘ t y i o t d m 3
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agenda FINE ART thrU 8/2 vision/sound: Allentown’s 80s Art scene revisited. vision/sound is an exhibition that looks back on Allentown, pA’s cultural and airwaves revolution, with a focus on the years 1978 1988. exhibition coincides with shows at various area institutions including Martin Art gallery, Muhlenberg college campus, and baum school, Allentown, pA. for more information, Muhlenberg.edu. thrU 8/27 the cover sells the book: transformations in commercial book publishing, 1860-1920. this exhibition will investigate the trans-Atlantic concept of the ‘complete book,’ which took place between 1860 and 1920. during this 60year period, the conflation of advances in print technology and the philosophy of the Arts and crafts Movement led to a new aesthetic in book design. delaware Art Museum, 2301 kentmere parkway, Wilmington, delaware. 302-571-9590 delart.org thrU 9/3 A collecting spirit: gifts of paul kania. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org thrU 9/3 Assemblage: A regional collective of Women Artists. Assemblage is a group of 17 women artists from the greater philadelphia area. While the artists exhibit individually throughout the region, they work toward exhibiting collectively once a year. the artists work in various media and include the figure, animals, architecture, nature, and both realistic and abstract forms in their designs. delaware Art Museum, 2301 kentmere parkway, Wilmington, delaware. 302-571-9590 delart.org thrU 9/17 the original Mad Man: illustrations by Mac conner. Mac conner (born 1913) created advertising campaigns for a variety of products during the decade when the advertising industry was at its height and centered on Madison Avenue. delaware Art Museum, 2301
kentmere parkway, Wilmington, delaware. 302-571-9590 delart.org thrU 11/2 designing for the loom: drawings by William geskes. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org thrU 2/4/2018 revolutionizing design: progressive home decorating at the turn of the century. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-4324333. AllentownArtMuseum.org thrU 7/15 sculpture 2017, 16th juried exhibition of contemporary work. featuring over 70 dimensional works from 50 exhibitors in a wide variety of media. new hope Arts, 2 stockton Ave., new hope, pA. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org thrU 7/18 2017 photography show. philadelphia sketch club, 235 south camac street, philadelphia. 215-545-9298. sketchclub.org thrU 7/31 the Art of the Miniature, the 25th invitational exhibition of fine art miniatures from around the world. the snow goose gallery, 470 Main st., bethlehem, pA. 610-974-9099. thesnowgoosegallery.com 7/20 the art & music scenes of the 1980’s are the focus of vision/soUnd, on display at the baum school. Artists from the era meet at the Museum to talk about the times. panel moderated by geoff gehman. free. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. 7/21–8/12 2017 Absolutely Abstract exhibition. A juried show that welcomes abstract artists from all disciplines. philadelphia sketch club, 235 s. camac st., philadelphia. 215-545-9298. sketchclub.org 8/5–8/27 Artsbridge and new hope Arts sum-
mer salon. paintings, watercolors, works on paper, mixed media, photography and sculpture on view at new hope Arts center, corner of stockton & bridge sts., new hope, pA. fri.- sun., 1- 5 pm. opening reception: 8/5, 4-7 pm. www.newhopeArts.org, www.Artsbridgeonline.com
7/12–7/30 summer Music theatre presents, My fair lady. Muhlenberg college theatre & dance, Muhlenberg college, 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484-6643333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt
FINE ARTS / CRAFTS EVENTS
7/9 valley vivaldi presented by pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra. chamber music by vivaldi, J. s. bach, rameau and others. Meet the musicians at the postconcert receptions. A summer tradition, 7:30pm. christ lutheran church, 1245 W. hamilton st., Allentown, pA. buy tickets at door or online, lvArtsboxoffice.org. 610-4347811. www.pAsinfonia.org
thrU 7/31 thomas Mann trajectory heart project lehigh valley, hosted by penn state lehigh valley. event includes makerspace, exhibition and workshops. downtown Allentown, pA. 610-2855261. for full schedule of events visit lehighvalley.psu.ed.
THEATER PENNSYLVANIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: THE PROFESSIONAL
THEATRE AT DESALES UNIVERSITY
2755 station Avenue, center valley, pA 610-282-Will, pashakespeare.org THRU 8/5 the ice princess THRU 7/16 the hound of the baskervilles 7/12-8/6 the three Musketeers, 7/20-8/6 As you like it 7/26-8/5 shakespeare for kids 7/26-8/6 troilus and cressida thrU 7/29 Wild. A world-premiere circus production for all ages, created by the Atlas circus company. Muhlenberg college theatre & dance, Muhlenberg college, 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt thrU 8/27 "deadly housewives" Murder Mystery dinner theater. saturdays at 7 p.m. & sundays at 4 p.m. book a sunday brunch & Mystery Matinee package. peddler’s village, lahaska, pA. reservations required, 215-794-4051. peddlersvillage.com 7/21–7/29 Wendy, An Adventure in neverland. presented by Allentown public theatre at st. luke’s lutheran church, 417 n. 7th st., Allentown, pA. fri., 6pm, sat. & sun., 2pm. free workshops for kids 612, 7/8 & 7/15. Allentownpublictheatre.com
CONCERTS
7/30 & 8/20 valley vivaldi, pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra’s series of chamber music. A summer tradition, 7:30 pm. Wesley church, 2540 center st., bethlehem, pA. Meet the musicians at the postconcert receptions. buy tickets at door or online, lvArtsboxoffice.org. 610434-7811. pAsinfonia.org 7/31 dee roscioli. 7:30pM, Main stage, pennsylvania shakespeare festival, the professional theatre at desales University. 2755 station Avenue, center valley, pA. 610-282-Will. pashakespeare.org
MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 founders Way, bethlehem 610-332-1300 Artsquest.org 7/1 7/6
7/13 7/14 7/14 7/15 7/15 7/20
Missio splintered sunlight recreates the grateful dead: 6/28/85, hershey park stadium, hershey, pA splintered sunlight recreates the grateful dead: 7/7/89, philadelphia cirQUe-it. “lucky” by Atlas circus company nora Jane struthers & the party line sangriafest slingshot dakota with ratboys splintered sunlight recreates the grateful dead: 3/19/95,
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philadelphia Arlo guthrie Andrew bird w/ special guest esperanza spalding 7/27 hunter hayes 7/30 comedian christopher titus 8/4-13 Musikfest
7/23 7/26
LECTURES/WORKSHOPS 7/14 & 7/15 the found object sandwich, presented by thomas Mann, Artist in residence. personal pin Making, 9 am-4 pm both days. penn state lehigh valley, center valley, pA. lehighvalley.psu.ed. register at lvArtsboxoffice.org. 7/20 Artist as Artrepreneur, lecture and lunch, presented by thomas Mann, Artist in residence. 11 am-1 pm, Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. register at lvArtsboxoffice.org. 7/21 & 7/22 design for survival, presented by thomas Mann, Artist in residence. entrepreneurial thinking and tactics for Artists-lecture and interactive workshop for artists working in any media. 9 am-4 pm both days. baum school of Art, 510 West linden st. Allentown, pA. lvArtsboxoffice.org.
EVENTS
7/15 & 7/16 peddler’s village bluegrass & blueberries festival, 10am-6pm: celebrate national blueberry Month in July with everything blue. locally grown blueberries and blueberry treats and a line-up of the best bluegrass music in the region. shops open late until 8 pm on saturday. lahaska, pA. peddlersvillage.com/festivals/bluegrassand-blueberries 8/12 & 8/13 peddler’s village peach festival and summer sidewalk sale. plenty of peachy treats, sizzling shopping deals and family fun. shops are open until 8 pm on fri. & sat. lahaska, pA. http://www.peddlersvillage.com/festivals/peach-festival
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