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october
ICON
The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius
Filling the hunger since 1992
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS
PHILIP GLASS | 24 Often called a “minimalist,” Glass is best known for his Oscar-nominated film scores—the persistent, insistent repetitions of musical motifs—but he’s also written operas and symphonies, and now a book in which he portrays himself as a global groundbreaker with a blue collar.
WHY THE HELL NOT | 26 Ella Fitzgerald photographed by Herman Leonard.
Kinky Friedman is all things to (one) man: gubernatorial candidate, author, singer, hard living oddball
PLAYING WITH ROUGH EDGES | 28
18
Black Mass.
20
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon.
After 40 years with The Eagles, Joe Walsh moves toward a solo career
COLUMNS
MUSIC
5 | THE BEAT Valley Beat City Beat 41 | ABOUT LIFE
37 | NICK’S PICKS Supreme Sonancy Lizz Wright Bob James & Nathan East
ART
38 | KERESMAN ON DISC The Yawpers Barrence Whitfield & The Savages Roger Reynolds Metheny/Burton/Gibbs/Weber Glenn Mercer Ewan MacColl
6 | EXHIBITIONS Ahlum Gallery Delaware Art Museum Bethlehem House Art Gallery 7 | A THOUSAND WORDS 8 | ART SHORTS Bridgette Mayer Gallery The Quiet Life Gallery Simons Fine Art Gallery 10 | Herman Leonard: Jazz Portraits
THEATER
24
14 | City Theater 14 | Valley Theater
ENTERTAINMENT 16 | THE LIST
FILM 18 | KERESMAN ON FILM Black Mass
Philip Glass, 1980. Jack Mitchell-Getty Images
26
20 | CINEMATTERS Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
FOOD 42 | The Start of Starr 43 | Sprig & Vine 44 | High Street on Market
ETCETERA 46 | L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD 47 | AGENDA
22 | BAD MOVIE A Walk in the Woods 32 | FILM ROUNDUP The Assassin In Jackson Heights Taxi The Visit 34 | REEL NEWS The Wolfpack Me and Earl and the Dying Girl People Places Things A Borrowed Identity
Kinky Friedman.
40 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Gregg Allman Kinky Friedman Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Joe Ely Bob Malone
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ADVERTISING 800-354-8776 EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna PRODUCTION Designer / Richard DeCosta Assistant Designer / Kaitlyn Reed-Baker CITY BEAT Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com VALLEY BEAT Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net FINE ARTS Edward Higgins Burton Wasserman MUSIC Nick Bewsey / nickbewsey@gmail.com Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com Bob Perkins / bjazz5@aol.com Tom Wilk / tomwilk@rocketmail.com FOOD Robert Gordon / rgordon33@verizon.net CONTRIBUTING WRITERS A. D. Amorosi / divaland@aol.com Robert Beck / robert@robertbeck.net Jack Byer / jackbyer@verizon.net Peter Croatto / petecroatto@yahoo.com James P. Delpino / JDelpino@aol.com Sally Friedman / pinegander@aol.com Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com R. Kurt Osenlund / rkurtosenlund@gmail.com Keith Uhlich / KeithUhlich@gmail.com
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ON THE COVER: Joe Walsh. Page 28
RATINGS ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic
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the beat VALLEY BEAT
CITY BEAT
BY GEOFF GEHMAN
BY THOM NICKELS
Sheila E. opened the Zoellner Arts Center’s 2015-16 season with a show so sweaty and sweet, it made James Brown do a split on the stage of the Afterlife Apollo. The singing percussionist and her six band members steamed up the Lehigh University room with Latin funk, big-band jazz and big-hair rock. The first out-of-body steambath came during a percolating vamp on Parliament-Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove.” Ms. E. scatted with backup singer Lynn Mabry, whose basement-to-20th-floor voice stars in “20 Feet from Stardom.” the Oscar-winning documentary on overlooked, influential background vocalists. Saxophonist Eddie M. played a one-handed solo with Otis Redding relish. Ms. E. added spice by bashing a cymbal she carried like a runaway microphone stand Ms. E. was in a retrospective mood, courtesy of her new memoir “The Beat of My Own Drum.” She spoke of breaking into the music business with her percussionist father Pete Escovedo, breaking records as a swimmer, dreaming of being an astronaut. She became an entertainment astronaut during “RockStar,” which she sang in Zoellner’s middle aisle. The throbbing, thrashing tune was greeted with a sea of waving arms and flashing cellphones, a virus tailored for YouTube. Gentler moments included Ms. E.’s whispering, hands-only duet with a drummer. Stranger moments included an onstage aide hawking merchandise before the concert. I saw my first tango with bras in “Foreign Puzzle,” a documentary about dancer Sharon Marroquin choreographing her battle with breast cancer. Directed by Chithra Jeyaram, “Foreign Puzzle” is a tough, tender portrait of a struggle to heal body and sanity. Marroquin is an emotional weathervane as she juggles doctors, fourth-grade students, a young son, an ex-husband and dancing breast-cancer survivors. Her piece, “The Materiality of Impermanence,” features a loving depiction of sharing a bed with her child and a harrowing depiction of her desperation. I saw “Foreign Puzzle” at Lehigh as part of “On Screen/In Person,” a new Zoellner series of documentaries followed by Q&As with their directors. Jeyaram revealed that Marroquin agreed to be filmed so she could create a diary for her son and give herself a reason to get out of bed every day. Jeyaram’s involvement became more personal as she babysat Marroquin’s child during an ER visit and gave Marroquin injections. Personal involvement suited the director, a physical therapist who had a breast lump removed at 19. Director and star are doing well. Marroquin is married and in her fifth year of breastcancer survival. Jeyaram plans to make a touring documentary, with electronic displays in bus windows, promoting breast-cancer awareness in her native India, where too many think the disease is caused by unhealthy living. “On Screen/In Person” continues with director Jessica Vale discussing “Small Small Thing: The Olivia Zinnah Story” (Oct. 20) and director Jonathan Gruber discussing “Miriam Beerman: Expressing the Chaos” (Nov. 15). Both programs begin at 7 p.m. in Zoellner’s Baker Hall. 610-758-2787, www.zoellnerartscenter.org.
Sexiness is rarely about total nudity but how to accent parts of the nude body. Most of the riders in Philly’s 2015 Naked Bike Ride (NBR) seemed to understand this because many of the bodies on display were “hidden” in body paint. NBR came on the scene in 2009 when it promoted the idea that drivers need to share the roads with bicyclists. The feeling was that bicyclists need protection from vehicles, but what about pedestrians who need protection from bicyclists? Philadelphia writer Tom Purdom was taking one of his daily three-mile walks along the recreational path of Schuylkill River Park when he was hit from behind by a bicyclist who wasn’t paying attention. Whether the bicyclist was on a cell phone when he/she hit Purdom is a mystery, but the 70-plusyear-old writer wound up in Pennsylvania Hospital’s ICU with major spinal and head injuries. In a newspaper account of the incident there was no mention whether charges were filed against the “inattentive” bicyclist. While we’re sure the bicyclist’s inattention had nothing to do with nudity or sharing the road with vehicles, what concerns us is whether that bicyclist is back on the road looking for other spinal connections. The Fringe Festival opened with avant garde tag lines like “The world’s most cutting-edge art performances.” Tina Brock’s Exit the King generated rave reviews while others complained that it was too long. The problem with producing absurdist, nonsensical abstract “interactive art exhibits” and dance performances that purport to explore human relationships, is that many of these productions are narcisstic exercises in randomness—a dance, a tune on a flute, zombies with guns, some Philip Glass, masks, and a guy in a skirt, and presto! you have an art pie. Or an art mess. The Fringe is like those Country Buffet restaurants that have so much food you sometimes wind up not wanting anything to eat. Whether it’s the stretched existential implausibility of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, the overly praised Bearded Ladies (who are rarely funny), adolescent indulgences like Zombies with Guns, a comedy hypnosis show, or following a so-called conceptual artist who will wash your dirty dishes, sometimes art is not anything you want it to be. Sometimes it’s just fringe that needs a pair of scissors. We had high hopes for the Philly Fashion Week opener sponsored by PHLDiversity. The event took place at Sugar House and was one of the Casino’s better receptions. We love a good fashion show, but fifteen minutes into the runway strut we wondered where the diversity was. Only one white model among the eight or ten beautiful women struck as us odd. It didn’t help that many of the fashions seemed weighed down with excessive material in all the wrong places. One dress had a mermaid-like design with the tail section acting as a boa constrictor that prevented the model from walking naturally. Other dresses looked as though they had been cut from museum tapestries—exquisite material but so bulky they approached the level of drag. Where’s the sleek, classic black dress made famous by Audrey Hepburn? We also had to remind one roving “fashion” paparazzi who was only photographing African-American guests to please remember the PHLDiversity label.
Nancy and Spencer Reed celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary with a surprisingly intimate, delightfully transparent concert in Ambre Studio/Amber Gallery, a lovely Victorian parlor in a former Bethlehem pharmacy. There were only ten listeners but every one of those 20 ears tuned into the Stroudsburg couple’s embracing, bracing mix of standards, novelties and novel marriages of standards. The Reeds performed everything from a Miles Davis waltz to a rap about a rabbit originally scored by Duke Ellington to showcase saxophonist Ben Webster. They played so tightly, they practically spooned. Spencer’s easily paced, easily spaced lead/fills on electric guitar dovetailed with Nancy’s flourishes on electric bass, a trellis of scooting notes, bamboo-shooting tones and flirty harmonies. Their vocals radiated during a daring split-screen marriage of the optimistic “World on a String” and the pessimistic “Stormy Weather.” The memorable evening was arranged by Ambre/Amber owner Evelyn Beckman, a cultural impresario. She made it more memorable with a 167th birthday cake for building architect A.W. Leh, who designed schools, churches and mansions for Bethlehem Steel moguls. ■
Jay-Z, Beyonce, Budweiser, and melanoma. The 4th annual “Made in America” Parkway concert set the city on fire with mutha-fu*ker, biotche, gun running and ho raps. It was, as they say, a perfect urban ode to the end of summer. MIA is the corporate McDonald’s version of Woodstock, and the three-day Parkway siege had teeny boppers in selfie high-five ecstasy as Bass Drum of Death, Earl Sweatshirt, G-Eazy and DJ Mustard merged with sound machines while making up (on the spot) rhymes. Participants appeared transfixed as they stared at the stage, while the intense sun above streamed melanoma rays, another kind of concert with a not-so-delectable rap.
Geoff Gehman is the author of the memoir The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the Long-Lost Hamptons (SUNY Press). geoffgehman@verizon.net.
Thom Nickels is the author of Philadelphia Architecture, Tropic of Libra, Out in History, Spore, and recipient of the 2005 Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Architecture Journalism Award. thomnickels1@aol.com
The Penn Museum’s opening of “Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World” balanced out the end of summer. A 3rd-century fragment of St. Matthew’s gospel written on papyrus, an ancient clay Sumerian tablet, folios from the 12th century illuminate Qur’ans, and a 13th-century Latin bible took us far away from the world of zombies with guns. The exhibit ends November 8, 2015. ■
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EXHIBITIONS
Ginko Leaf.
Fall Open House Ahlum Gallery 106 North 4th St., Easton, PA 610-923-7101 Ahlumgallery.com October 14-17 & October 21-24, 11AM-4PM Visit award-winning Ahlum Fine Art Gallery and studio during the Fall Open House show. The colors of autumn abound, including the Crayola Crayon series of the pumpkin harvest and a new line of hand-blown glass pumpkins. Plus, rusty metal and stainless steel wall sculptures from a new Canadian artist depicting falling leaves suitable for interior or exterior hanging. The artwork of owner Denise Ahlum-Sandy in her biannual open house will also be on view. Light refreshments served. Original pastels, watercolors and oil paintings moderately priced and framed or matted.
“59th Street, New York City”
Helen Farr Sloan, 1911-2005 Delaware Art Museum 2301 Kentmere Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 302-571-9590 delart.org Through January 10, 2016 Figures by Karel Mikolas.
A painter, printmaker, and art instructor, Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005) dedicated most of her life to promoting the art of her husband, the realist painter and illustrator John Sloan (1871-1951). Helen Farr Sloan was one of the Delaware Art Museum’s greatest benefactors, donating over 4,700 works of art and the John Sloan Manuscript Collection, transforming the Museum into the largest repository of his work and an invaluable resource for scholars of early 20th-century American art. This exhibition honors Helen Farr Sloan’s legacy as an artist, philanthropist, and resource for generations of scholars and showcases approximately 30 of her paintings, prints, and drawings produced between 1925 and 1980. Her paintings and prints record the cafés and subways of New York City. Her visits to Santa Fe, New Mexico, resulted in Native American subjects, rendered with energetic line and vibrant color. Beginning in art school, figure study was a constant activity, and her sketchbooks are filled with nudes and model studies. Expanding on this interest in the human form, Helen Farr Sloan produced strong depictions of the dancer and mime Angna Enters in characteristic poses.
The Holiday Show Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery 459 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-419-6262 Bethlehemhousegallery.com October 23 – January 9 Opening Reception 10/23, 6-9PM Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery specializes in both emerging and established artists, and provides original, innovative art in a variety of contemporary styles for a range of household budgets. At Bethlehem House, we believe that anyone can be an art collector and all homes can be enriched by the display of original fine art. With a gallery space that mimics a modern day home, artwork in all forms are displayed as the interior design changes completely from exhibit to exhibit, keeping the environment fresh and constantly evolving. Original artworks exhibited by: Karel Mikolas, Lynn Noble, Khalil Allaik, Michael Hess, Femi Johnson, Deb Slahta. Gallery Hours: Wednesday and Thursday 11am-7pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm-9pm and Sunday 12pm-5pm
Japanese Maple Leaf.
Cottonwood Leaf.
“Feline No. II, Angna Enters”
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Sculptor Karel Mikolas in studio.
ART A THOUSAND WORDS STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
From One to the Next DOUG DODGE SAW ME setting up my easel on the side of the road as he was driving to work. He pulled over and asked if I would be stopping by his place. Doug is a master boat builder and his shed is paradise for a guy who likes boats, woodworking, and Down East accents. I paint there every time I go to Jonesport and we’ve become friends. I told him I’d come over later, and that this time I wanted to make my painting about him, not his boats or shop. It’s a difficult time for Doug. His wife has Alzheimer’s and is at the stage where she has to be watched every minute. Friends come over to help so he can go to the shop, but he doesn’t get much sleep. He’s got Lyme disease and the antibiotics are beating him up. The boat he’s building is taking longer than planned and that has created serious problems. In spite of it all he plugs right along and still speaks with a chuckle. Doug doesn’t have time to spare so I painted the room first, placing the sawhorse in position where I expected him to sit. When I suggested he should be holding something—a tool maybe, or piece of wood—Doug reached up into the rack and pulled down a model that was used to loft one of his boats. He sat on the horse and talked about his wife as he gently moved a square of sandpaper across the hull. Doug’s dog, Dozer, the fattest black lab I’ve ever seen, staggered in from where he had been sunning himself on the road. He plopped down in the back near the band saw, lifting a large cloud of sawdust. Dozer likes to be where the action is as long as he doesn’t have to walk far. I only had Doug sitting in front of me for about twenty minutes but it was a good twenty, with no distractions. He looked tired, although he talked in detail about the next boat he planned to build, which I took as a good sign. For me that’s the perfect painting experience: when the content constructs itself organically. The shed, the pose, the dog, the hull model, were all out of Doug’s life, all there for the seeing. My subjects emerge during the time I spend observing them. Small truths about the world around me, and my own life, are revealed every time I decide that some element matters and needs to be part of my painting. In a time when truth is difficult to identify it’s as close as I get. The next morning I got a message from Doug. He wanted me to know that The Community Church of
Robert Beck’s work can be seen at www.robertbeck.net.
Christ of Jonesport was hosting a free dinner at noon, in case I wanted to paint there. I went over to see what a free dinner might look like and get permission. The lady in charge, Fay, was thrilled to have me. The free dinner grew out of a funeral lunch held at the church years ago. The group had such a good time reminiscing that it was decided they should get together every third Thursday. The event expanded to include people from a distance who appreciate the camaraderie and warm, affordable food (‘free’ means whatever you can pay). Fay said you have to be elderly to attend but another woman said over 40. I smiled at that. There was no need to check Medicare cards in that room. I was the youngest one except for a couple of grandkids who kept the water glasses filled. A green salad was followed by ham, potato salad, and peas, and finished with an apple crisp. The ladies wouldn’t stop trying to feed me. During dessert Fay came out of the kitchen and rang a pot with a spoon. I was called on to deliver an impromptu talk about why I was painting the life of a fishing village to the enthusiastic but hard-of-hearing group. My discourse was frequently interrupted by calls of “What did he say?” “Louder,” and “Did they give you something to eat?” One nice lady wearing a floral print dress suggested I paint the church service that night. Not the church we were standing in—her church, which is a Pentecostal congregation just outside of town. She assured me there would be a lot of singing, jumping up and down and arm waving for me to paint, and offered to call the pastor to find out if there was any problem with me being there. I told her any help would be appreciated. ■ W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V ■ W W W. I C O N D V . C O M ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 ■ I C O N ■ 7
Art Shorts CURATED BY ED HIGGINS
For this exhibit, she is showing a range of photo-realistic works of local rivers, creeks and streams. She was born in the Lehigh Valley and currently lives and works with her husband in Swiftwater in the Poconos. Ruch-Kim received a BFA from the
The Experience of Place at Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia Pooling the talents of five artists, the Bridgette Mayer Gallery, 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, will examine The Experience of Place through October 30. The artists in the exhibition are Sharon Harper, Eileen Neff, Jessica Backhaus, Brea Saunders, and Michael Eastman.
According to the Gallery, “Using a visual language that balances the intimate and employs memory or personal constructions, alongside one that emphasizes the literal and objective, each of these artists investigates the notion of place through their own distinct style. Their poetic representation of space is conveyed
power to transform, rather than simply document.” The photographers in the show have focused on such diverse locations as volcanoes in Hawaii and landscapes from Germany, Costa Rico, France, and New Mexico. Neff is represented with five images produced prior to a trip to Costa Rico. Harper has images of volcanoes in Hawaii, New Mexico, and the Canary Islands. Harper will also show “Watching the Rise for an Hour” over the Grand Canyon. Backhaus’ work is connected to the time of vanishing moments. As her subject, Saunders takes views of her childhood home, her bedroom during a residency in France, and other places of significance in her life. Eastman’s images are explorations of architectural forms that have decayed. In a side gallery, Ken Goldberg joins the group with the seismographic information of California’s Hayward Fault translated into color fields. bridgettemayergallery.com
Nancy Ruch-Kim at The Quiet Life Gallery in Lambertville, NJ Jessica Backhaus, Some Traces, 2014. Digital C Print, 20 x 30.
via scale, form, and most importantly, light, which guides the viewer’s experience and demonstrates photography’s
Close to Home at Simons Fine Art Gallery in Dublin, PA Fresh florals and brilliant landscapes captured from beautiful Bucks County are the theme of this exhibit at Simons Fine Art Gallery, 122 N. Main Street in Dublin,
Brea Souders, Modern Day Halo, 2010. Archival Inkjet Print, 25 x 20.
Michael Eastman, Moorish Facade Havana, 2010. Chromogenic print 60 x 48.
Her husband, Kioun Kim, a native of South Korea, is known for his charcoal portraits and often uses his skills to benefit charities. quietlifegallery.com
Nancy Ruch-Kim, one half of the art partnership with her husband, Kioun Kim, will exhibit her work through November 1 at the Quiet Life gallery, 17 South Main Street, Lambertville, NJ. An accomplished artist for over 40 years, Ruch-Kim, works on large-scale images.
Yellow Leaves (detail), oil on canvas, 36 x 48.
University of the Arts in Philadelphia and spent five years studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia,where she won a Scheidt Traveling Scholarship for travel and study in Europe. The Gallery: “Ruch-Kim’s paintings are photo-realistic close-ups of streams. She visits a local stream, photographs it for ref-
Stafford Ordahl, Updraft.
PA, through October 31. This exhibit features new oil paintings by Jeff Charlesworth and Stafford Ordahl. Charlesworth brings his own impressions of local landscape colors and nature to his canvas, inspired from his own garden and the Delaware River year round.
Irridescence 2, oil on canvas, 32 x 40.
erence on several occasions and studies all of the details. Then she goes home and creates beautiful paintings that capture all of the reflections, the different depths, the rocks on the bottom.” Her work is very detailed, and at first glance it’s easy to confuse them with photographs. Ruch-Kim has been exhibiting widely around the state since 1978 and her work can be found in a number of private collections.
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Jeff Charlesworth, Black Eyed Susans (detail).
Ordahl captures the grandeur of the landscape, with majestic sunlit clouds and reflections of the golden hour. simonsboutique.com ■
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Art BY EDWARD HIGGINS
HERMAN LEONARD
The Man Who Immortalized Jazz
Frank Sinatra.
Billie Holiday and her dog, Mister.
WHAT N.C. WYETH WAS to pirates, Andy Warhol to tomato soup cans, and Remington was to bucking broncos, so is Herman Leonard to jazz musicians. Quite simply, the iconic images Leonard made of jazz greats—and the not-so-great—taught us how to look at these practitioners of true American music. Quincy Jones said of Leonard’s work, “When people think of jazz, their mental picture is likely one of Herman’s.” An exhibition of Leonard’s photography is currently running at the Michener Art Museum through October 11. Herman Leonard: Jazz Portraits includes some 63 black and white silver gelatin photographs Leonard created from the 1940s to the 1960s. Leonard was born in Allentown in 1923. His interest in photography began at age nine when he watched his brother develop a print, and continued through high school where he became the official photographer. He attended Ohio University, where he received a BFA in photography. His education was interrupted by war service in 1943-45 with the 13th Mountain Medical Battalion in Burma. He returned to the U.S. and was graduated in 1947. After graduating, Leonard spent some time as an apprentice to master portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. Karsh’s use of shadows and spotlighting created very dramatic photographs and those techniques are evident in Leonard’s jazz portraits—the blacks are satiny, the whites are pearly, and the grays are rich and deep. Leonard opened a studio in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1948, where he got to know and befriend the musicians that played in the darkened jazz clubs of the Village, Broadway and Harlem. From those shadows came the dramatic, human images of people making that music. His subjects included Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, and many others. A world traveler, Leonard lived and worked in France photographing visiting American jazz greats. In Paris he was the photographer for a number of record covers for Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel and the European photographer for Playboy magazine. His work also appeared in such magazines as Downbeat and Metronome. He moved with his family to the Spanish island of
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Ibiza in 1980, where he edited his jazz portraits into his first book, The Eye of Jazz. The museum phase of his career was launched in 1985 with an exhibition in London that attracted huge crowds and critical acclaim. Exhibition work then took him to New Orleans; he settled there in 1990 and released his second book, Jazz Memories. In 2005, he lost his home, studio, and 8,000 silver gelatin photographs in Hurricane Katrina. Leonard then moved to Studio City, California, where he published his third book, Jazz, Giants, and Journeys: The Photography of Herman Leonard. During his long career, Leonard won numerous industry awards for his photography, and the Grammy Foundation established the Herman Leonard Jazz Archive; to date, the archive has collected 35,000 negatives. A year before his death, Leonard spoke to the graduating class at Ohio University and was awarded an honorary doctorate. In New Orleans, after his death, Leonard was accorded the traditional second line brass band funeral march through the city’s French Quarter. (Second line refers to a group of folks who march, sing, twirl parasols and play music just behind the band.) Any number of artists have been inspired by musicians and have attempted to capture their essence in a variety of media. Rock ‘n’ roll has attracted a photographic audience and in today’s cell phone culture many millions of images are taken every day. But the power and importance of jazz to the United States culture is inestimable, and Herman Leonard came, saw, and captured the genre and its creators like no one else. The last word goes to the enduring jazz singer and accomplished artist Tony Bennett, who said, “He [Leonard] is my favorite artist of any technique; he’s a painter with a camera.” Herman Leonard’s photographs can be found in many private collections, as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center, the George Eastman House, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Smithsonian Museum. He died in California in 2010 at the age of 87. ■ James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA michenermuseum.org Edward Higgins is a member of The Association Internationale Des Critiques d’Art.
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THEATER VALLEY One of the thrills of theater is watching a performer completely inhabit a famous performer. That’s exactly what happened during The First 100 Years of Edith Piaf, Nathalie Mentha’s mesmerizing solo show. Guesting at Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, the Swiss-born Italian totally took over the spirit of Piaf (1915-1963), the iconic French-Italian chanteuse whose funeral stopped Paris traffic. Mentha created the piece with Teatro Potlach, an experimental Italian troupe making its American debut. For an hour she spoke in English and sang in French and Italian about key characters: cabaret owner Louis Leplee, who gave Piaf her first big break; boxer Marcel Cerdan, one of her many lovers; Parisoccupying Nazi officers who helped make her infamous. Aided by direcEdith Piaf tor Pino Di Buduo, Mentha dramatized several songs with startling settings. Sitting on a stool, wearing another lover’s motorcycle jacket, she breathlessly read a letter Piaf wrote to Cerdan before he fought Jake LaMotta. Her breath blew the hair off her face as she promised to bite LaMotta’s butt. She sang “The Accordion Player,” composed by a Paris-fleeing Jew, above a curtain strung with colored lights. Wearing a red beret, she accentuated the song’s dizzying carousel whirl by giddily twirling her arms and savoring the words like a fine wine. Mentha is taller and prettier than Piaf, who was a 4-foot-8, frizzy-haired, matronly sparrow. She could be mistaken for the English performer Kristin Scott Thomas; both have side-swept blonde hair, arched eyebrows and an arch personality. Yet she nailed Piaf ’s fabled mannerisms: the radiant singing; the enraptured gestures; the sweeping sense of gloomy, lovely romance. She enriched the role by mixing the traits of a flamenco dancer, an acrobat and a silent-film femme fatale, Everything clicked in the show’s climax. Mentha began by leaning wearily against the curtain, whispering to an invisible Cerdan. Then she sang “La Vie en Rose” with absolutely no artifice, her heart bleeding from a 78-rpm record that scratched the soul.
CITY
Another thrill of theater is watching a cast drain a show dry and leave the audience thirsty. That’s exactly what happened during Star of the Day’s production of Bat Boy: The Musical, a rock ‘n’ roll reworking of a sensational story in a supermarket tabloid. Performing at McCoole’s Arts & Events Place in Quakertown, the company captured all the kindness, all the malice, all the sinister glee. Bat Boy is all about a half-human exposing humanity and inhumanity. The title character is removed from a cave, feared as a monster, applauded as a gifted mimic, trained as a multi-talented expert with impeccable English manners, framed as a child killer. He veers between good boyfriend, exceptional citizen and angry vampire. His death is a reminder to honor the beast within. Sebastian Paff made Bat Boy a magnetic martyr. He scurried like a scared dog, orated like a young Henry Higgins, vowed vengeance with heavy-metal rage. He was particularly endearing while promising to serve the town as an accountant or a clothes designer. Charles Weingold III made the mad vet Thomas Parker a fascinating Frankensteinian figure. He was captivating whether imitating a wounded rabid animal or playing a campy renegade reminiscent of the prancing quipster in Airplane! Nicole Anderson combined merry bombast and snappy comic timing as Parker’s mercurial wife. Marissa Brewer was charmingly confused and disarmingly focused as the Parkers’ child and Bat Boy’s girlfriend. Their duet, “Three Bedroom House,” had the fierce dreaminess of a Gypsy number. Director Will Windsor Erwin nimbly balanced melodrama, horror and humor. Choreographer Kirsten Almeida nimbly blended 42nd Street flair with Hair flower power. She earned big laughs for playing a crazy mother as Blanche DuBois in a Phyllis Diller wig Upcoming plays to watch: God of Carnage (Oct. 2-4, Lehigh University), a black comedy about the warring parents of warring kids; The Addams Family (Oct. 9-25, Civic Theatre of Allentown), a clever musical homage to America’s favorite ghouls; Chicago (Oct. 30-Nov. 8, Muhlenberg College), a razzmatazz musical about crime paying big time. ■ —Geoff Gehman
Photograph 51 Upon seeing playwright Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, the first thing one gathers is not the scintillating science at work behind it, but rather the insistent
Anna Ziegler.
feel of the outsider at work—a Jewish person in post-World War II Europe, a woman doctor. No matter how strongly Rosalind Franklin (as played by Geneviève Perrier) persists in trying to be taken at face value, she is still a girl. No matter what goals she sets, achieves, or how she maneuvers through King’s College’s rigors, she is never perceived as a respected doctor, scientist or clinical colleague. It doesn’t help that Franklin is naïve (or that Perrier plays up such vigorous innocence). Still, resentment (and misogyny and anti-Semitism) is the name of the game when it comes to fellow doctors/scientists James Watson (Trevor William Fayle) and Francis Crick (Harry Smith) and the nasty game of chess they’re willing to play to keep her at bay and under their thumbs. Riveting stuff, and all true. Directed by Kathryn MacMillan. Lantern Theater Company, St Stephen’s Theatre, 10th & Ludlow, Philadelphia. Until October 11. Rizzo, In 2013, Bruce Graham, Philly’s gutsiest, plain-spoken playwright, told me he had begun a project based on ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio’s Rizzo: The Last BIg Man in BIg City America and that Theatre Exile was going to produce it with Joe Canuso in the director’s seat and Scott Greer as Franny himself. “Holy shit” is the first thing that came to mind. “Yeah,” said Gra-
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ham. Since that time, the author, director and shifting cast have gone through several drafts of the Philly-based drama—in public, during staged readings—all of which have drawn the ire (and love) of its attendees who thought they knew Rizzo like a brother or a dad or a demon, only to be met by Graham’s unfettered disdain and honesty. This is his Rizzo and if you don’t like it, go see Mamma Mia. With that, Graham and Canuso (and I haven’t seen what will wind up as the final version, so here goes nothing), have fashioned Rizzo in equal parts Mamet and Shakespeare. This is Graham, a guy known for gritty, poetic realism like The Outgoing Tide and North of the Boulevard. The play runs quickly from Franny’s time as a slicked-back beat cop, to a gruff Police Commissioner, to an even gruffer mayor of Philadelphia, to preparing for his last political go-round, the 1991 mayoral campaign. MOVE and the Africa family, his cronies and wannabe cronies, the Trump-like unfiltered manner that Rizzo brought to every topic, political or not— all comes under Graham and Canuso’s microscope. Go with an open mind and a broad sense of what is reality—and humor, lots of weird neighborhood-y humor. Also, make sure you listen for Graham’s rhythms —they’re killer jazzy riffs worthy of a Charlie Parker album. Theatre Exile, Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia. October 15 to November 8.
HOOKED! Philly’s Celtic-based Inis Nua starts its 12th season with a dark, gossipy, Halloween-ish comedy, performed upstairs at
Fergie’s bar. Sounds like a mess. I’m in. Inis Nua Theatre Company at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom St., Philadelphia. October 7 to October 25. ■ —A. D. Amorosi
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The List OCTOBER CURATED BY A. D. AMOROSI
3 FFS (Franz Ferdinand/Sparks) No, you never asked yourself what would happen if art rock avatars Sparks met Scottish danz-punks Franz Ferdinand but here’s your angular answer anyway. (Electric Factory)
10 Lisa Fischer Part of Zoellner’s continuing Women Who Rock series. Fischer is better known as a
sidering that Randolph is the king of sacred steel guitar. (Keswick) 15 David Sedaris Very wry and very dry, Sedaris will read from and sign copies of Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. (State Theatre)
24 Melvin Seals and JGB The powerful organ player, vocalist and Jerry Garcia collaborator takes his place and leads the Garcia’s funky, formless solo band. (Ardmore Music Hall) 24 Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya The South African pianist and composer once known as Dollar Brand brings the gentle jazz breezes of Cape Town and songs of the gospel of the AME Church to school. (Montgomery County Community College)
3 Kacey Musgraves The rootingest, tootingest best new female country singer on the block takes the Troc by storm. (Trocadero)
16 Alo Brazil Philly’s wide-scale, and wide ranging Brazilian band always amaze. (WCL)
3 Destroyer Destroyer’s Dan Bejhar isn’t actually destructive, even though he might just sound as if he’s doing bad things to himself. Would it hurt to have a salad and some fruit juice, Dan? (Underground Arts)
17 Patti Labelle Part of Zoellner’s continuing Women Who Rock series. Labelle, Philly’s own, needs little introduction, save to say that she’s in molto magnificent voice if her summer gig at the Dell was any indication. (Zoellner Center, Lehigh U)
3 The Weight: Songs of The Band With Robbie Robertson refusing reunion and most of its mass dying off, The Weight is as close as you’ll get to reliving the hard driving, soft soaked and tactile Americana of Bob Dylan’s pals and rustic hitmakers. (Zoellner Center, Lehigh U)
17 Joe Jackson The one-time Brit pub-punk explores the sounds of New Orleans on his latest release. (Keswick)
25 Lil Dicky The toast of Cheltenham’s hip hop scene (REALLY?!) unveils his rapping debut album. (Underground Arts)
17 Jon Batiste & Stay Human Stephen Colbert’s musical director has been making happy-go-lucky New Orleans-inspired jazz for ages. Here’s hoping
27 Jon Anderson/Jean Luc Ponty The one-time Yes man and fusion jazz’s greatest electric violin weave wondrous stories as one. (Keswick)
5 Tame Impala Psychedelic music’s new best friend Kevin Parker finds synthesizers and goes nuts. (Tower) 9 Marco Benevento Jam-jazz’s most underrated presence goes even further under at Underground Arts. (Underground Arts) 9 Joel McHale Is Community done? Will it be a movie or live on at Netflix? Either way, be happy that jovial caustic comic and Talk Soup host is coming your way. (State Theatre, Easton PA)
background vocalist for the likes of the Rolling Stones but is just as fierce out front. (Zoellner Center, Lehigh U) 11 The Zombies Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone bring their 60s-commenced ensemble through the paces of grand psychedelia and chamber rock as well as playing their blue-soulful smashes. (Keswick) 13 Lucinda Williams Others might try to take her place and ruin her reign, but Lake Charles, LA’s favorite daughter is still the go-to-gal for raw emotive, acoustically rendered country-fied rock. (TLA) 15 The Word (Robert Randolph, John Medeski, North Mississippi Allstars) and Amy Helm
9 Kurt Vile Philly’s own has risen quickly through the Neil Young/Sonic Youth style indie-rock ranks and has a new album, b’lieve i’m goin down, to show for it. (Union Transfer) 10 John Hammond The first family of America’s rural folk blues movement—not just the music but its vibe, its history, its preservation—finds its son in good spirits. (Ardmore Music Hall)
big time showbiz doesn’t bring him down. (Zellerbach Theater) 17 Ricky Martin Still living la vida loca. (Boardwalk Hall) 21 Thom McCarthy’s Rocky Kaminski Philly’s best songwriter (think Bacharach meets Van Dyke Parks meets Elvis Presley) tries out his science fiction-folk project. (The Fire)
Muddy water electric soulful swampy gospel blues at its gustiest, especially con-
23 Brian Wilson The eternal beach boy leaves his room and brings pets sounds and good vibrations to Easton. Yup, I’m out of clichés. (State Theatre)
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25 Peaches Canada’s nastiest gal has a new racy album (Rub) and a video where she and Margaret Cho play with each other, and not instruments. (Troc)
27 Organ recital at St. John’s Lutheran Church Nelvin L. Vos, the Chairman of Arts at St. John’s, has been raving about the organ at St. John’s Lutheran Church, and with good reason. The E.M. Skinner instrument is one of the largest in the area with four manuals, 87 ranks, and 63 stops, to say nothing of the fact that the church is in the Gothic style. “It’s got excellent acoustics and is a place of beauty,” says Vos. “For much of its history, the congregation has employed a full-time director of music, one of the few churches so doing in the Lehigh Valley.” With that, the fully-restored instrument (in the last two decades, $500,000 has been invested in restoring and maintaining the organ) will be played by Jeffrey Fowler, a master of his craft. (37 S. 5th St., Maxatawny, PA) 30 Ringo Starr The man literally behind the Beatles (at least three of them) brings his drum kit, his snazzy hits and his peace loving ways to Upper Darby– a rare intimate evening. (Tower) ■
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FILM KERESMAN ON FILM REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN
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ONE OF THE MOST infamous mobsters in the U.S. is James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp), the legendary crime kingpin of Boston’s Irish Mob from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. Unlike many organized crime figures, Bulger had something extra going for him—an “alliance” with the FBI. The deal was that Bulger would feed the Feds info on the encroaching Italian-American mob, and in exchange the FBI would cut Bulger, uh, some slack. Machiavellian Federal agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) is a childhood pal of Bulger’s and likes the idea. As the Italian-American mob is trying to move in on Bulger’s territory and the Feds want some big cheese Mafiosos, they both have a common enemy to oppose. The thing is, how reciprocal is this arrangement? Bulger’s many crimes get a pass from the FBI, but is he delivering anything substantial? Further, while the Feds take down some Italian-American mob guys, Bulger’s Irish-American mob grows ever stronger by selling drugs, extorting businesses, laundering money, and killing. What is gained? Connolly feels loyalty to Bulger as they emerged from the same ‘hood, but does he like him? With the exception of a scene where Whitey is nice to a little old
Black Mass lady and one in which he’s talking to his wife about their ill son, Bulger doesn’t seem to be at all likeable. (Even some of the guys from Goodfellas enjoy other’s company.) This writer is not suggesting that Bulger should be glorified, but some characters do say things like, “He was good to me back when.” So showing some of Bulger’s backstory would have been helpful. Another twist in the story is that his younger brother, Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch), is a state senator. Cumberbatch doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but when he does it’s brilliant— here’s a guy who’s politically powerful but compromised by his infamous brother. He’s loyal to his brother, yet strives to keep a certain distance. Depp is riveting. He portrays Bulger as a steely-eyed, calculating sociopath who is freely brutal, yet by underemphasizing the ominous and vile aspects, Depp emphasizes the roiling volatility just under the surface. Connolly oozes salt-of-the-earth charm even as he’s seduced into WB’s orbit—and then he begins to ooze sleaziness. Other excellent supporting contributions include Kevin Bacon as Juno Temple, Connolly’s impatient FBI boss, and Julianne Nicholson as Connolly’s morally conflicted wife. Scott Cooper’s direction is straightfor-
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ward and the film has a flat (as in, it’s in color but it might as well be black and white) look that evokes such 1970s law/outlaw classics as Serpico, Prince of the City (a must-see) and The Friends of Eddie Coyle (another must-see). The pacing makes this two-hour film feel much longer. Some scenes seem to repeat—“Bulger is an asset!” “No, he’s not!” “He is too!”—and repeat again. There are many lingering scenes of Bulger and his slimy henchmen—too many, in fact. I get it, these people are evil...but, alas, just not that interesting. Instead, the backstory could have filled some of that time and explored Bulger’s rise to power, why he inspired loyalty in some people, and how Bulger became Bulger. Black Mass is a good movie that could’ve been great—especially if Martin Scorsese or the Coen Brothers had directed. ■
Mark Keresman also writes for SF Weekly, East Bay Express, Pittsburgh City Paper, Paste, Jazz Review, downBeat, and the Manhattan Resident.
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FILM CINEMATTERS REVIEW BY PETE CROATTO
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of The National Lampoon THE NATIONAL LAMPOON LAUNCHED a generation of comedic talent before the name became associated with a string of execrable comedies that found their way onto Netflix or late-night cable. Douglas Tirola’s new documentary, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of The National Lampoon, scores high marks for showing why the magazine mattered—and an incomplete everywhere else. The Lampoon sprung from the Harvard Lampoon, the nation’s oldest humor magazine—and perhaps its most staid. The men behind this new version are two Harvard boys, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, who endure a series of awkward meetings with disdainful magazine executives before pairing up with Matty Simmons of 21st Century Communications, a guy with the bada-bing charisma of a Scorsese crime boss. Kenney is a creative genius and a fanatical worker, but emotionally unstable and a raging substance abuser. He checks out for weeks at a time, then for good. Beard can’t keep up with the grueling pace and is more than happy to leave after five years. Still, the money accumulates. Talent rolls in: Michael O’ Donoghue, P.J. O’Rourke, John Hughes. Then Animal House comes out. Everything changes, and not for the better. Tirola (All In: The Poker Movie) stresses on-camera interviews, and he lands some gems: Chevy Chase (who chokes up when talking about the late Kenney), Ivan Reitman, O’Rourke. He lets his sources tell the story. In another smart movie, Tirola shows the magazine’s content, which is still ballsy for 2015. Ethnic jokes, underage sex, you name it. Nothing is untouchable. And he animates the drawn cartoons, which breaks up the wall of talk. Tirola briskly details the Lampoon’s growth from plaything to profitable. Where he fails is in profiling the downside. It’s handled almost as an afterthought. Any movie fan knows about the increasingly feeble roster of movies with the Lampoon’s name attached. The question of how National Lampoon got into this mess isn’t answered, even though that’s how most people recognize the name. In fact, it’s unclear if the magazine still exists. Actually, the Lampoon is still around—in online form. Other projects are in the work, Lampoon president Alan Donnes told The Hollywood Reporter in July. Here’s the thing: you can’t re-launch essence. You can’t recreate the zeitgeist from 40 years ago. The magazine, the one that’s profiled in the film, lacks a place in the world. Kevin Bacon recalls getting the Lampoon and seeking out bare breasts. Today, breasts are like cups of coffee—you can get them everywhere. Even the forbidden fruit aspect of “edgy” comedy has lost its allure. Look at Jackass or whoever is ruling the Web at this moment. Drunk Stoned… works best as a history lesson and as a warning that what defines our core of hipness becomes quaint, even creaky. It’s as inevitable as sagging skin and a lower sex drive. One day our kids will look at Key and Peele the way I look at the Smothers Brothers. This was groundbreaking? Really? What remains unclear in Drunk Stoned… is why the Lampoon’s decline happened, save for a few brief explanations (the Christian Coalition, the demand for more sexual content that pushed the magazine behind the counter). That’s when the movie grabs your attention, because we see real-life proof that money corrodes the hardiest of renegade spirits. You have to answer to more people. Employees leave because they get what they perceive to be better opportunities. You can trade in on your name; quality can slide. Stability is hard to maintain. What must be frustrating for the movie’s participants, the men and women who built a comedy dynasty, is that this slowly rotting corpse remains. Tirola has come to praise the old Lampoon, which is good, but ultimately limiting. There is more to the history of the National Lampoon, and it is sadder and more interesting than what Tirola offers. [NR] ■ 20 ■ I C O N ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 ■ W W W . I C O N D V . C O M ■ W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V
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FILM BAD MOVIE REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN
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A Walk in the Woods
HIS WRITER WILL CONFESS it’s nice to see movies starring…adults, ones that don’t look like they stepped away from a photo shoot for a magazine cover. However, it’d be even nicer if the movie itself were actually kind of good. While I’m not familiar with the book on which this movie is based, the resulting movie, taken on its own terms, is not that good. Robert Redford is Bill—he lived in England for many years and he and his wife returned to America for a funeral. As it does with some of us, the funeral makes him reflect on Life and Mortality. Bill decides it’s time to Do Something Big, such as hike along the Appalachian Trail, which goes on for over 2,000-plus miles and winds through 14 states…and from that comes a book, er, I mean, movie. But odysseys are more fun with a pal, so after being (amusingly) rejected by some friends, he is joined on this trek by Katz (Nick Nolte), with whom he shares a checkered history. Younger readers may or may not know, but Redford is pushing 80 and Nolte is a spry 74…and if you, Dear Reader, think there will be lots of jokes about aging men, you couldn’t be more spoton. Ironically, the book’s characters were around 40 years of age. In the first place, much of the movie doesn’t make sense. Nolte’s character mentions that he is prone to seizures unless he eats on an hourly basis. Is this an issue whilst on the trail for a couple or three months? No, it is not. Redford’s Bill gives a discourse about how giving up is not an option (and as many commercials and trailers have informed us, failure is not an option) and approximately 15 minutes in movie-time later, after the pair spend a night stuck on a ledge, Bill makes “give up” noises. What would Knute Rockne say? Speaking of a ledge, there is a poignant moment where the
pair have a “How are we going to get out of here, Stanley?” moment. I guess it doesn’t occur to Lewis & Clark to, I dunno, climb back down 20 feet to the trail. Further, for a movie that purports to take place in the great outdoors, we get to see lots of overly familiar sights: Diners, motels (which gives one of the guys a chance to meet Mary Steenburgen—guess which guy), laundromats, and a local K-Mart. Oh, the sights! Aside from the lackluster “great outdoors” concepts, most of the dialogue is strictly Grumpy Old Men-style bickering. To audience members under 25 that might seem spunky and entertaining, but to nearly anyone else it’s, dare I say, old hat (and that phrase shows how old I am). There’s slapstick, which is not a necessarily bad thing if it’s funny: Bill is a little bit of a prissy and elitist sort, so to bring him down a peg, let’s have him take a muddy spill/pratfall; one of the guys clings for dear life to a hillside on a path that’s a harrowing, what, three or four feet wide? Jokes about colonoscopies and bowel movements in the wild? You got ‘em. Oh, the hilarity. As with most on-the-road films, do our intrepid duo run into the requisite quirky characters? What do you think? The lads encounter a grizzly bear, which to my knowledge do not live in the eastern U.S. (where this film is set) and I don’t think Vermont has a coastline either. The dialogue is shallow—jokes that were already creaky when the Three Stooges made them decades ago, and preachy, sanctimonious fortune-cookie wisdom. If this were on the Hallmark channel with actors who don’t have heavyweight credentials, it’d be OK. But it isn’t, and it’s not. ■
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INTERVIEW Crafty Composer, Memorable Memoirist
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BY GEOFF GEHMAN
In a new book Philip Glass portrays himself as a global groundbreaker with a blue collar.
PHILIP GLASS’ FIRST MUSIC-business teacher was his father, who ran Baltimore’s smartest, sneakiest record store. Ben Glass taught his son that it was perfectly acceptable to break LPs as long as labels paid a dime for each damaged disc, that it was A-OK to buy four copies of a virtually unsellable collection of Schoenberg string quintets as long as they eventually sold. It was a priceless education for a future composer, keyboardist, ensemble leader, music publisher and, yes, record-label owner. The store/school stars in Glass’ “Words without Music” (Liveright), a new memoir that doubles as an open university. Crafty, scholarly and witty, Glass weighs in on weighing nails for Bethlehem Steel, listening to jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, studying Eastern composition with Ravi Shankar, writing revolutionary operas and film scores, making ends meet as a “SOME PEOPLE WILL END UP IN THE ARTS AND, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SOME ARE IN KUTZTOWN. I’VE MET MORE THAN A FEW OF JAMES’ STUDENTS IN NEW YORK; HE’S BECOME QUITE A PATHWAY FROM KUTZTOWN TO NEW YORK. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS SOME PEOPLE STILL THINK: WHO IS THIS FUNNY GUY OUT THERE IN KUTZTOWN, AND WHY IS HE STILL DOING THIS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS? HE’S DOING IT BECAUSE HE HAS THE IDEALISM THAT AN ARTIST NEEDS TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE.” cab-driving plumber, watching a painter-lover die painfully too soon, even the aural advantages of living in Manhattan (Asked what his music sounds like, he likes to say “New York”). Glass doesn’t mention one of his favorite minor key characters. Every three years for over 30 years he’s played a benefit concert for the New Arts Program, the 41-year-old Kutztown cultural crucible. He takes a onenight break from his very prolific, very popular career to support a grass-roots, ecumenical organization that invites veteran creators to help budding creators make a living at expanding the boundaries of creativity— Glass’ global mission for six decades. He especially likes to support NAP founding director James Carroll, who supported him when he was supporting his family by moving furniture. I’ve interviewed Glass before five of his 11 NAP benefits, including last month’s concert with flutist/saxophonist/composer Jon Gibson, an original
member of the Philip Glass Ensemble and another Kutztown regular. He’s a quick, quirky conversationalist; as in his music, he twists ideas into Rubik’s cubes. In previous chats we discussed everything from danceclub remixes of his mesmerizingly modulated works to satires of his seemingly broken-record repetitions (i.e., The Advanced Center for Treatment of Philip Glass Addiction). This time we roamed over “Words without Music,” a remarkably broad, curious guide to a remarkably curious, broad life. We began our talk in his father’s record store, where young Philip was checkmated by the man who taught him mental chess. I’m not the only one who loves that story in “Words without Music” about you buying not two, not three, but four copies of the Schoenberg string quartets to sell in your dad’s store, which made him wonder if you were trying to put him out of business by purchasing LPs that didn’t have a hope in heaven or hell of selling. What was his reaction when the last copy sold seven years later? I had come back from college for Christmas and I went down to the store to see if the “Schoenbergs,” as we called them, were still there—and they weren’t. So I went to my dad and he said “What’s up, kid?” And I said: “Dad, Dad, the Schoenbergs—they’re all gone!” “Okay, kid, do you get the lesson?” “I didn’t know there was a lesson.” “The lesson is: I can sell anything if I have enough time.” You see, for a guy like him a record store is real estate. Every record takes up space and you’re paying rent for every record, so if records are not turning over they are not paying the rent. He didn’t want any dead wood in there. He liked other kinds of classical music—he liked Bartok and Shostakovich—but not Schoenberg. But then again not many people liked Schoenberg back then, did they? When that last Schoenberg finally left the building, did your dad grudgingly admit that his son was Baltimore’s resident vinyl visionary? He lived long enough to put a record of mine in his store but not long enough to hear it. I visited him the weekend before he died in an automobile accident; I had no idea it would be the last time I’d see him. There were all these things I wanted to ask him that I couldn’t.
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You once told me that the small, scrappy New Arts Program somehow reminded you of your father’s small, scrappy record store. What impressed you about NAP’s support of you in the early years, before you became a full-time composer, when you were driving a cab and moving furniture and working as a plumber? From the start James [Carroll] would pay artists in their 20s to 40s to come from New York—very few artists who live in New York are actually from New York; they actually come from places like Waco or Topeka—to Kutztown for a week or two to teach even younger artists. I remember that approach as not only novel but brilliant and necessary. Young people who are interested in art get a window into what the creative process is like—what the work is like, what the life is like. Often you can’t get that in school. In an academic environment certain facts are not discussed— like “How do you make a living?” Teaching is a noble profession, but it only gives you one slice of the pie. Now, if you complain to your family, “I’m working very hard but I can’t sell my paintings,” you know what they say? “Who asked you [to paint for a living]?” And they’re right: No one asked. And that’s the point. When the motivation becomes personal, it becomes what drives you. It carries you along, even when nothing else, or no one else, will. That philosophy fits squarely with what you call your I-don’t-care-what-anyone-thinks gene. You have to have that gene. Most people are not allowed to have that gene; all they care is what other people think. So they get out of the arts into something like politics, radical or conservative. One of the things we tend to forget in America is that we’re not as homogeneous a society as we think we are. There are all sorts of funny things going on under the surface; there are dance companies in Harlem or Bushwick that have space for 30 people and they’re always playing to full houses and that’s tremendously healthy. Some people will end up in the arts and, believe it or not, some are in Kutztown. I’ve met more than a few of James’ students in New York; he’s become quite a pathway from Kutztown to New York. After all
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INTERVIEW
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Why the Hell Not. BY A. D. AMOROSI
Politician, author, singer, hard living oddball, Kinky Friedman is making the rounds with his first new album in over 32 years
N A YEAR IN which Donald Trump is the presidential firebrand du jour with his say-anything controversial nature, it’s only right that Kinky Friedman pokes his head out. That’s mostly because Friedman ran as an independent candidate in the 2006 election for the office of governor of Texas, and received 12.6% of the vote—that’s more than Rick Perry, the guy who beat him, had when running for the Republican presidential nomination. Beyond politics, however, Friedman is the epically mouthy (yet learned and gentlemanly) Texas country singer-songwriter—Jewish country singer-songwriter as he reminds you—who penned more than his share of risky, risqué hits in the ‘70s, such as “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” Friedman’s “Ride ‘em Jewboy,” a tribute to victims of the Holocaust, was a favorite of Nelson Mandela’s while in prison. When Friedman felt like it was time to move on from making music because his career stalled in the early 80s, he smartly made the most of his move to Manhattan. He began writing detective novels in which a fictionalized version of Friedman solved crimes in New York City while cracking jokes, throwing back shots of Jameson with his books’ revolving door characters (real life friends such as Steven Rambam, an actual detective). Friedman also wrote nonfiction books—Drinker With A Writing Problem and Heroes of A Texas Childhood—cookbooks, and travelogues. This autumn he’ll release another detective novel, The Hardboiled Computer. Better still, Friedman is releasing his first new studio album in 32-plus years, The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, a spare, un-comic work featuring a single song of his own, but focusing on vividly detailed, emotional songs of lost love, and life written by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Tom Waits and Warren Zevon. The only thing that sounds better than his richly burnished voice is the manner in which he invests each lyric. He’s coming to Sellersville Theatre October 15 for proof. I caught up to Kinky at his Echo Hill Ranch for a fireside chat. I know why you stopped making music and wrote the books. Is it fair to say that politics just made it worse or better? Mixing music and politics; I don’t know. Then again, when I ran for governor, I said that musicians could run that place better than politicians could.
There’s an equal amount of both down there. Professionals gave us the Titanic, but the amateurs gave us the ark. What do you think of your rival, Rick Perry, having to get out of the presidential race so early? It’s a heartbreak. I’m 70 years old but I read at a 72year-old level. I got my last will and testament settled and when I die I am to be cremated and the ashes are going to be thrown in Rick Perry’s hair. I’m all set. Rick shouldn’t have run this time. Then again, who knows? Chris Christie could have been president if he ran four years ago. People liked him then, and now he’s at two percent. I think Hilary and Jeb are toast. Maybe it’s good they don’t win. Trump, Sanders—men like you who speak their mind and damn the consequences. What’s your take on them? Well, where you come from and what you did before is not very important. Eisenhower was a great general and a ho-hum president. Harry Truman was a functionary haberdasher who grew with the office. I would submit that Obama has not grown with the office. Trump has his name on hospitals and hotels. I never had much respect for that sort of thing, but on the other hand, just because he comes from reality television doesn’t mean that he can’t grow in the office. Churchill was a total aristocrat; FDR, too. Neither were men of the people until they got into office where they really connected with the common man in their time. And it was legitimate. Look, when you get a good one, it’s rare. Usually we elect a Jerry Brown, an Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Rick Perry. The crowd always saves Barabbas and kills Jesus. You live in an odd state considering its choices. (laughs) You have a point; odd but not pretentious. No thin sock-wearing Yankees us. We say what we think. Trump, too. Trump is like a lot of New Yorkers that I’ve known. Let’s hope he walks it like he talks it. What made you move to Manhattan when you did? I had to get away… haha. As I recall it was to play the Lone Star Café where I never left. Ever. I played there so often that people thought I owned the place. It seemed like every week. Pretty much—and they would wheel me in on a gurney sometimes. I was not in particularly good shape. But I had great experiences there, and that shaped what I did with the books.
You’re framing your 18th detective novel there, The Hard Boiled Computer, a silly title as you are no Internet wonder kid. That’s it exactly. You get a guy like Rambam who is a legit detective and he has a computer that he says can find a killer much faster than I could just lumbering around pretending I’m Sherlock Holmes with my pal Ratso as Dr. Watson. I’m contending that taking a fictional detective like Sherlock or Nero Wolf or Miss Marple and adopting his methodology will work—being a student of human nature. You can figure it out using their fictional methods and apply them successfully to a nonfiction world. So we see who gets there first. I know that running for office and your animal rescue efforts got in the way of making music. What broke the dam? I owe that to your neighbor Brian Molinar and his group of Jersey boys, who convinced me to do it straight, spare and like a silent witness. We’re not doing it for the money, for Nashville, for Grammy, or for radio airplay. Just songs that have meaning to us—words by Warren, Waits and Dylan and my old pal Willie. With that, I didn’t junk it all up with furniture and curtains. You can bring your own imagination to the party and concentrate on the words and your voice. Which we recorded using the Frank Sinatra method—one or two takes then out. What do you think of Nashville now? It’s slicker and more mainstream than ever. These songs on the new album are great because they were written by individuals. That’s why I left them alone and stripped down to the soul. Everything that’s done now is written by committee. Nothing good ever came out of a committee. No sir, it didn’t. There are teams of people who have you sounding a little like Toby Keith, a little like Kenny Chesney. You won’t confuse The Loneliest Man with that. Maybe the old country writers can’t do it like they used to. Maybe as a whole, we have cultural ADD, but I’m going to try. It’s like I said before, if this don’t work, you’ll be seeing me as a greeter at Walmart. ■
[See review of Kinky Friedman’s The Loneliest Man I Ever Met on page 40 of this issue]
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INTERVIEW Playing With Rough Edges BY A. D. AMOROSI
Joe Walsh moves from the Eagles to his solo thing (Don Henley, too)
THIS FALL, LIVE NATION is finally popping the top on its long awaited Fishtown venue, The Fillmore. The spanking new, mid-sized venue (2,500 peeps) premieres with shows from local faves Hall & Oates, discoid brothers Disclosure, the blues-based likes of Gary Clark Jr. and The Arcs, and Joe Walsh—the blisteringly funky guitarist for The Eagles. Walsh is taking a welcome break from his Americana-centric, harmony-filled band of brothers long enough to hit the trail on his own with a Philly stop at the Canal Street venue on October 12. This, too, marks the beginning of The Eagles’ most recent solo breakdown, as cofounder Don Henley released his first album in 15 years, the Texas roots-countrified Cass County, and starts his own tour that will bring him to The Academy of Music on November 12. Henley’s Cass County tour will show off deeply burnished original songs of the East Texas plains and
1976 and Hotel California. “Yeah, with the Eagles there is definitely a ‘way’ where we all have assignments, specific parts to sing and play. It turns into something much bigger than any one of us individually. But there is a chemistry there—oh, yeah—and that’s the way they work. We do it as good as anybody does.” Walsh goes on to say that he’s been in other bands (namely and famously the James Gang, the Ohio power outfit) and calls both the Eagles and the James boys rugged individualists, but that he has the best of both worlds in that he can return to the family, as well as opt into a solo groove. “That’s smaller scale, and smaller places which I miss,” he says. “I crave that interaction with the audience. It’s higher quality than in stadiums, Plus, I have room when I play solo. I can improvise, experiment, switch up, play things differently every night.” Walsh doesn’t like ei-
from taking different side-gigs—such as playing occasionally for his brother-in-law Ringo Starr, or joining in with the Foo Fighters as he did in 2014 for their Sonic Highways album and HBO documentary series. “I like having rough edges, so playing with them was great, especially because when they record, they all get in the same room and they figure it out as they go along. And they usually nail it by the third take, but they’re all doing it as one, raw, at the same time.” That’s what missing from modern music in Walsh’s opinion; the rugged factor of chance and raw power that gets extracted with most digital technology. “I can do it any way that you want, you know. You can do it—whatever it is—over and over again, but you’re never going to have that first take feel. It’s become this bad habit where producers want to fix everything, make it perfect. That’s not for me. I like all of my old records of the ‘50s because sometimes
“You can do it…over and over again, but you’re never going to have that first take feel…producers want to fix everything, make it perfect. That’s not for me. I like all of my old records of the ‘50s because sometimes they’re out of tune or they miss a note or a beat. Perfection? That’s bad for musicians because we lose our perspective. If you’re trying to make music perfect, you take the mojo out of the human performance every time that you strive for perfection. And I’m a big fan of humanity in all its imperfections.” its people—the sorry single mother of “Waiting Tables”; the wanting farmer of “Praying for Rain”; the miserable couple of “Take a Picture of This.” There’s a handsome handful of country covers such as the Louvin Brothers’ “When I Stop Dreaming” and Jesse Winchester’s “The Brand New Tennessee Waltz,” all done up in Henley’s signature honey-and-dust voice. Since Walsh has no new album to speak of presently (his most recent disc, Analog Man, came out in 2012), what he will show off at the Fillmore are the riches and rarities of a career in the spotlight that includes driving soulful tunes like “A Life of Illusion,” “Life’s Been Good,” and “Rocky Mountain Way,” done in a way that puts intimacy and improvisation first. “That’s the joy of doing something on my own. I can do it my way,” says Walsh from Los Angeles after having recently finished the long-running History of The Eagles tour with one of its final dates in Atlantic City, NJ. There’s nothing wrong with doing the “other” way—the band way—that he’s been used to when playing with the Eagles, a gig he’s had since
ther case scenario better than the one before or after it. They simply help him feel more complete as a musician. “Being in the Eagles is like being in a band with three ex-wives, each of whom I still love. I love those guys. I hope we keep going.” That’s a funny thing to say since Walsh just wrapped up The History of the Eagles, a show that clocked in nightly at three hours plus. “I know, there’s a lot to fit in,” he says of the strategy of bringing old ex-Eagles members back into the fold for the shows. “That’s been fun, especially since I just waved at some of the guys leaving when I was joining in ‘76. But yeah, they were endurance tests in terms of length.” Walsh says that with everyone doing their solo thing, what needs to happen next for the Eagles is to figure another way into its past and present, a different production, newer songs—another way in. “We need new energy, so it’s good to go off on our own and re-group.” Combine that with Walsh’s famed road-to-recovery sobriety, and you get a guitarist who constantly seems rejuvenated. Part of that comes
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they’re out of tune or they miss a note or a beat. Perfection? That’s bad for musicians because we lose our perspective. If you’re trying to make music perfect, you take the mojo out of the human performance every time that you strive for perfection. And I’m a big fan of humanity in all its imperfections.” Walsh still feels nervous going out under his own name, even after 40-plus years of doing so. “It’s real easy to stand behind people or beside them. When I left the James Gang, man, did I wonder if I made the right decision. That’s part of the deal though. Those guys were a kick ass three-piece band, but I felt stagnant because I was the only melody instrument, and I started to write songs that were hard to play live with background harmonies and keyboard parts. With the Eagles it was a gamble joining a country rock band who wanted to mutate that which was already established. But we mutated. You got to make the moves. I’m just lucky that it all worked out. I’m not real good at stagnating.” ■
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Photo: Dana Lane Photography
Clinton Guild’s
ANNUAL PUMPKIN FEST Clinton, NJ October 23, 2015 6:30pm to 9pm Join us and see the historic downtown streets dressed with illuminated, carved or painted pumpkins created by residents and visitors. Pumpkin entries will be accepted the day of the event from 4:30pm to 6:30pm or by calling (908) 238-0140 to arrange a different drop off time. Be creative and submit your pumpkin entry. There will be a special People’s Choice Award that is judged by all visitors this evening. Come and enjoy a night of magic, face painting, balloon art, stilt walking, horsedrawn hayrides and much more throughout downtown. This event is family friendly and will be held rain or shine. The Hunterdon Art Museum will be hosting Pumpkin Painting from 4:00pm to 7:00pm and will have small pumpkins available or you can bring your own. Call the Museum for full details (908) 735-8415. For those who love to be scared, the Red Mill Haunted Village offers three horrifying adventures on nine acres of terrain for one low price, with all proceeds to benefit the Red Mill Museum Village. The on-site ticket window will be open at 5:00pm and will close at 10:00pm. For details, visit redmillhauntedvillage.org. For all Clinton event information, visit clintonguild.com. W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V ■ W W W . I C O N D V . C O M ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 ■ I C O N ■ 31
FILM FILM ROUNDUP CURRENT FILMS REVIEWED BY KEITH UHLICH
The Assassin (Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien). Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen. This period martial arts drama from highly regarded Taiwanese writer-director Hou Hsiaohsien is both a sumptuous visual feast (photographed primarily in a square 1.33:1 aspect ratio by Mark Ping Bing Lee) and a provocative, politically charged character study. It might better be titled The Reluctant Assassin, considering the eponymous killer, Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi)—tasked with offing a province governor (Chang Chen) who is also her cousin—spends more time grappling with her own conflicted morals than she does wielding her blade. That’s appropriate for a story that, like many Hou films, is implicitly about the discordant divide between Taiwanese and Chinese culture. Hou makes no concessions to Western audiences as regards the dense historical content (the film is set in the 9th-century toward the end of the Tang Dynasty). And the fight scenes, which play like transient acts of nature rather than ass kicking setpieces, will probably disappoint hardcore wuxia obsessives. The movie’s power instead emerges from the way each stunningly composed image (not a non-jawdropper in the bunch) illuminates Nie’s crisis of conscience and pushes her ever
closer to a private reckoning. [N/R] ★★★★1/2
In Jackson Heights (Dir: Frederick Wiseman). Documentary. Many of the movies by the great non-fiction filmmaker Frederick Wiseman deal with closed systems, institutional microcosms like a mental hospital, a high school, a museum, or a university. What distinguishes his latest— a three-hour-and-ten-minute portrait of the titular Queens County neighborhood—is the sense of a subject so sprawling it’s bursting at the seams. Jackson Heights boasts a racially, religiously diverse populace that, all told, speaks 167 languages, and counts poor, rich, gay, straight, and trans people among its numbers. Wiseman hasn’t changed his usual impressionistic M.O., eschewing talking head interviews and explanatory titles in favor of allusive, fly-on-the-wall sequences set at board meetings, political rallies, and places of worship and business. (One of the film’s most potent sections is set in a Middle Eastern-owned chicken slaughterhouse.) This is a stunning paean to a community whose nongentrified dissimilarities (always under threat) are the very things that bolster its humanity. [N/R] ★★★★★
Taxi (Dir. Jafar Panahi). Starring: Panahi. With this marvelously playful provocation, Iranian writer-director Jafar Panahi continues to defy the censorious government that sentenced him to a 20-year ban on filmmaking in 2010. Continuing in the meta-mold of This Is Not a Film (2011) and Closed Curtain (2013), Taxi again sees Panahi playing a beleaguered if jovial version of himself. Here, he’s “acting” the role of a cab driver who has fitted his vehicle with several cameras, essentially creating a movie studio on wheels with the entire populace of Tehran as potential subjects. His fares include a starstruck DVD bootlegger, a woman trying to get her injured husband to the hospital (while rewriting their will in the process) and Panahi’s young niece, a budding filmmaker herself who argues with her uncle about Iran’s restrictive approaches to art. The mood is never less than comical, and yet the undercurrent of fear, paranoia and sadness that Panahi teases out from the lighthearted surface is remarkable and, in the film’s poetically confrontational final passages, devastating. [N/R] ★★★★★
The Visit (Dir: M. Night Shyamalan). Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould,
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Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie. News of a return to form for multihyphenate writer-director-producer M. Night Shyamalan has been greatly exaggerated. His followup to a string of high-profile duds (The Last Airbender and After Earth among them) is a silly, never-scary lowbudget comic horror film, shot as if it were an amateur documentary. Two teenagers (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould, each overdoing the adolescent irritation) go to visit their estranged grandparents (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) for the first time. After they arrive, strange things start happening (incontinent Grandpa hides his poopy Depends in a nearby shed; Grandma crawls and scratches her way around the house at night totally naked). All of these disturbing behaviors are ultimately explained via a trademark Shyamalan twist that is set up with desperate inelegance and really just exists to bolster a treacly moral about letting your anger go and loving your family for all their flaws. The scariest thing about The Visit is the sense that the stuckin-a-rut Shyamalan believes all the syrupy b.s. he’s selling. [PG-13] ★1/2 —Keith Uhlich Member of the New York Film Critics Circle.
VISTING FRENCHTOWN IN OCTOBER IS ALWAYS A SPECIAL TREAT. The trees up and down the river are dressed in a spectacular show of burning colors. Frenchtown is decorated in many mums, plump pumpkins and crazy cornstalks. Our restaurants have seasonal, mouth-watering foods featured on their menus. Along our sidewalks you will find one-of-a-kind Scarecrows, made by the local elementary school students, each scarecrow comes with a story. Every weekend brings a new experience, especially the weekend of October 24th, when we hold our annual ZOMBIE CRAWL, which is spectacularly spooky and fun. For details of Frenchtown in October, visit frenchtownnj.org, or like us on Facebook “Frenchtown Today” #lovefrenchtown W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V ■ W W W . I C O N D V . C O M ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 ■ I C O N ■ 33
FILM REEL NEWS
“The Wolfpack.” Photo: Bruce Weber.
RECENTLY RELEASED DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER
The Wolfpack (2015) ★★★★★ Cast: The six Angulo brothers Genre: Documentary drama Directed by Crystal Moselle. Rated R for some coarse language. Running time 89 minutes. Winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. When Mukunda Angulo was 15 years old, he did something his five brothers and one sister had never done. He opened the door of his family’s New York apartment and walked outside alone, unescorted by their domineering father. Afraid he might run into his father on the sidewalk, he wore a horror movie mask his brothers had made when they reenacted movies they watched on DVDs. He was immediately arrested. The brothers, aged 11 to 18 had been cooped up in their four-bedroom apartment all their lives by their overprotective father, and home schooled by their loving mother. They spent their lives watching movies, at least 10,000 they said. With incredible creativity, they made realistic costumes from trash, transcribed and memorized entire scripts, then staged movies scene by scene. Ironically, when they finally broke free, one of the first people they met was cinematographer Crystal Moselle, who
brought their saga to light. By far stranger than fiction, the brothers’ story is a testament how their love and unity and amazing creativity enabled them to thrive in unimaginable conditions. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) ★★★★★
Cast: Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke Genre: Drama Based on the novel by Jesse Andrews. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug material, language, and thematic elements. Running time 104 minutes. In this coming-of-age saga, film junkie Greg (Mann) and his best (only) bud Earl (Cyler) avoid the high school cliques and confrontations by watching old movies and filming their own spoofs (“A Sockwork Orange”). But they can’t coast forever protected by offbeat creativity and ridged emotional walls. Greg’s mother insists that they befriend Rachel (Cooke), who is dying of leukemia. Out of sympathy, they try to cheer her up, but miserably fail—after all she’s dying. Then they start showing her their cockeyed movie remakes. When a true bond begins to form, the boys decide to make a film about Rachel. This heartfelt story, instead
of a melodrama focusing on teen tragedy, emphasizes the transforming power of friendship. It’s a happy story, without a happy ending. People Places Things (2015) ★★★ Cast: Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall Genre: Comedy Rated R for language, sexual references, and brief nudity. Running time 85 minutes. Using a well-worn but versatile structural formula, this indie movie follows the travails of comic book artist Will (Clement) as he navigates the tortuous road from jilted husband and single parent to new love and meaning in his life—more or less depending on the day. If you ever wanted to crack a joke in the middle of an emotional meltdown, you’ll identify with Will, especially when he finds the mother of his twin daughters in bed with another man. After the adult rites-of-passage moment, Will discovers that coming-of-age is a lifetime process, especially when young daughters are involved and old feelings conflict with new love. The naturally slow pacing and self-deprecating humor keep the characters’ personalities and flaws as the compelling interest of the story.
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A Borrowed Identity (2015) ★★★★ Cast: Tawfeek Barhom, Danielle Kitzis Genre: Drama Not rated, contains nudity and sex. Running time 104 minutes. In Hebrew, with English subtitles. Being an Arab student in a prestigious Jewish school in Israel in the 1980s makes the social cliques of American high schools seem innocuous. When Eyad (Barhom), from a predominantly Palestinian town, heads off to Jerusalem, he confronts not only cultural differences, bullying, and bigotry, but also hatred and prejudice for doing the things most teens would be praised for. He falls in love with a Jewish girl, Naomi (Kitzis) and becomes best friends with a disabled student, Yonatan (Moshonov). Gradually the taboos build into tsunamis and Eyad’s self-identity is lost to the racial labels. With his options for building a better life running out, Eyad, Yonatan, and his supportive mother devise a complex scheme of deception. This thoughtful, penetrating story explores the difficulties of two divergent cultures coexisting in the mist of distrust and violence. ■
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these years some people still think: Who is this funny guy out there in Kutztown, and why is he still doing this after all these years? He’s doing it because he has the idealism that an artist needs to survive and thrive. Most people would say: “What’s so special about Kutztown? It’s in the middle of nowhere.” Well, I’ve been there many, many times, so it’s not in the middle of nowhere for me. I have many friends there. James has surrounded himself with accomplished artists; he himself is an accomplished artist. I know his wife Joanne; she usually makes lasagna for me. Kutztown is a sweet place in many ways. Your autobiography “Music” appeared in 1987, the same year you christened your first violin concerto. You wrote the concerto so it would have appealed to your dad, who loved violin concertos by the likes of Mendelssohn and Brahms. And yet it’s one of your rare autobiographical compositions. Why have you been so reluctant to put yourself in the middle of your music? In a funny way people say everything you do is autobiographical. Great writers like Somerset Maugham are always talking about how their writing is all about their lives. Music is a little oblique; it doesn’t reveal itself directly. I find myself writing bits of songs I like into the counterpoint. I know no one will find them. It doesn’t matter. It’s a form of selfexpression; we [composers] do it to amuse ourselves. Autobiography in music is far more prevalent than you might think. When I first started the [Philip Glass] Ensemble, I was playing the flute. I don’t play it anymore; I found someone who plays it much better than me. But when I was writing flute parts for myself I based them on memories of playing flute as a kid. We [composers] don’t bother to go into autobiographical details because we think most people are not interested and they might not be able to follow the discussion because it’s too technical. What I think I succeeded in doing in the book is avoiding things too technical. I have a friend who was a reader and when I would get too technical he would say “Nope.” Did writing the book provide you with any significant clarifications and revelations? You know, I didn’t have any journals to rely on when I wrote the book; I wrote everything from memory. I would remember a year when I wrote a piece: in 1976 I finished [the opera] “Einstein "Einstein on the Beach" in the revival of the 1976 production at the Brooklyn on the Beach”; in 1981 I finished [the Academy of Music. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times film score for] “Koyaanisqatsi.” And it would remind me of other things I did around that time. I call it assertive memory, and it allows me to reconstruct a tremendous amount of material. One day I realized I couldn’t remember what I had done that day and I said: “What?” I decided that every night I would go backwards over what I had done that day. To recapitulate your life every day is a really powerful way of reinforcing your memory; it’s a very nourishing process. Why did you have to write “Words without Music”? Was there something you left out of your autobiography? Did you want to clear up misconceptions about your work and yourself? Was there something you needed to tell your kids? The memoir was actually an accident. A friend of mine, a musical editor, was going to write a coffee table book, “Conversations with Philip Glass.” But the publisher was not interested in conversations with me; he asked my friend why don’t you get Philip to write a book? I had written one in the ’80s but it was much more conventional, with much more formal analysis. I decided I wasn’t going to write something really personal like “Testimony” by Shostakovich. It’s full of the pain and suffering of his existence. I’m not interested in writing about pain and suffering. Everybody has suffering; why is mine so different than yours? I wanted to write a book that gave a picture of the world I lived in, that would appeal to people who came to my concerts and wondered “Who is this Philip Glass?” I had a role model, a book called “The Memoirs of an Amnesiac.” It was written by Oscar Levant, this great pianist who used to play for George Gershwin. He was a very funny guy who created an excellent picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood. I wanted my book to be like his: full of information and entertaining. You know, I would love to talk to you longer but I have to go to work right now. ■ Geoff Gehman is the author of the memoir “The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the Long-Lost Hamptons” (SUNY Press).
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MUSIC NICK’S PICKS REVIEWS OF STRAIGHT AHEAD & MODERN JAZZ BY NICK BEWSEY
Supreme Sonancy Vol 1 ★★★★ Various Artists Revive Music / Blue Note A visionary promoter and taste maker, Revive Music CEO Meghan Stabile is the most important person currently on the New York jazz scene who’s not actually a musician. As a producer, she’s been creating genuine buzz around her artists, consistently advocating for their talents. In partnership with Blue Note Records, Stabile’s Revive combines cutting-edge artists connected to the hip hop scene (Raydar Ellis, Ingmar Thomas) with progressive
Meghan Stabile.
jazz musicians (Marcus Strickland, Marc Cary) to fill clubs, create a vibe and ultimately put that experience on record. That dedication and fervor is apparent on Supreme Sonancy Vol. 1, a compilation of tracks that showcase a cross-generational group of musicians and singers determined to brand Revive Music as the hippest game in town. Treading similar ground as Robert Glasper’s hit making Black Radio series, Supreme Sonancy smartly zeroes in on the fluidity of jazz to hip hop and rap—a relationship that often benefits the latter more than jazz—with the intent to flip that relationship, such as cleverly reworking Wayne Shorter’s “Pinocchio” by folding in deep Nick Bewsey is a member of The Jazz Journalists Assoc. www.countingbeats.com
bass and staccato beats, trumpeter Ingmar Thomas and MC Raydar Ellis remix the past and set the album in motion as if to say this isn’t your pop’s Blue Note music. When the album soars—saxophonist Strickland and vocalist Christie Dashiell lay fresh claim to Janet Jackson’s “Let’s Wait Awhile, bassist Ben Williams rearranges Lee Morgan’s “The Procrastinator” with compelling work by dueling trumpeters Keyon Harold and Marcus Brown—you want the songs to go twice as long. And an original, “Dorothy Jeanne,” by harpist and soloist Brandee Younger is the type of introduction to a young artist that makes you want to hear an entire record by her. Appearances by heavy jazz hitters like sax players Chris Potter, Jaleel Shaw, pianists Eldar and Kris Bowers and drummers Justin Brown and Jeff “Tain” Watts fill out the record with superb results. Many hip hop producers and remixers have taken to classic jazz recordings (Guru’s Jazzamatazz, Madlib’s Shades Of Blue), but Stabile tags that history out of respect while lighting a new torch to carry the tradition forward. Sonancy has buoyant, positive energy along with some deep hooks, an abundance of creative expression and a solid sense of the new. It’s a worthy opening salvo from Revive Music that signals Ms. Stabile is just getting started. revive-music.com (15 tracks; 58 minutes) Lizz Wright ★★★★1/2 Freedom & Surrender Concord Music It’s not quite correct to call singer and songwriter Lizz Wright a jazz singer anymore, though she retains a loose, improvised vocal style that melds beautifully to the music on Freedom & Surrender, a superb collection of love songs that seamlessly weave together country, blues, soul and pop stylings. It’s a grand accomplishment and certainly among her best albums. Full-throated and gifted with a powerful, earthy voice—her background and experience raised as a church singer is projected on every song—Wright softly coos Nick Drake’s “River Man,” a track that floats along with a shuffle beat and Til Bronner’s evocative trumpet solo. So invested in the lyric, Wright is utterly compelling on this tune that many have sung, but not like this. She’s even stronger on
originals like “Freedom,” a straight-up soul tune with a strong backbeat, shimmering rhythm guitar and Hammond B-3 swirls.
serves up a recording that’s naturally, consistently entertaining. Co-producer Chris Gero set up James and East in a Nashville recording studio and offered the duo The Nashville Recording Orchestra, which grace several of the album’s compositions. James has a definitive arranging style and the chance to add live strings and woodwinds to a track like “All Will Be Revealed” elevates The New Cool into classic terrain, and recalls James’ great orchestral arrangements he did for Grover Washington, Jr and Hubert Laws for the CTI label in the ‘70s. James’ writing and playing shines on his melodic, original tone poems. Graceful and heartfelt (“Oliver’s Bag” and “Waltz For
Lizz Wright.
The sultry groove on “Lean In” is intoxicating, but everybody will want to hear her bluesy, gospel cover of the Bee Gees “To Love Somebody,” an album highlight. Wright co-wrote ten of the album’s tracks and they’re very strong. Supported by LA’s top session players and lovingly produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman), Freedom & Surrender is her fifth disc and it deserves to be played and appreciated for the ages. (13 songs; 62 minutes) Bob James & Nathan East ★★★★ The New Cool Yahama Entertainment Group Pianist, composer, producer and godfather of smooth jazz, Bob James has achieved spectacular success as a solo artist and de facto leader of the supergroup, Fourplay. He’s also an accomplished collaborator—his discography includes many successful, award-winning albums with Earl Klugh, David Sanborn, Kirk Whalum and Korean guitarist Jack Lee. It’s not surprising that his latest effort pairs James with his Fourplay bandmate, bassist Nathan East. Their unique collaboration, The New Cool, takes the virtuoso elements that distinguish their own albums, mixes it up with Fourplay-style original tunes and
Bob James and Nathan East.
Judy”), the tunes take on a painterly quality. There’s immense pleasure in hearing James play acoustic piano and East drilling down on upright bass, but these musicians appreciate and understand that songs come in a spectrum of colors, so there’s East’s soft vocalizations and twangy electric bass with James’ electric piano threaded throughout. The two trade exquisite phrases on “How Deep Is The Ocean” and “Ghost Of A Chance,” two standards that inspire and push these two artists into fresh, creative territory. Singer Vince Gill takes the lead on a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Crazy,” a surefire radio hit, but the leaders are in their strongest element on the rhythmic swing of “Canto Y La Danza” and especially the last track, “Turbulence,” a welcome closer that sublimates the best, higher energy compositions of a Fourplay album and ends this great collaboration on a high note despite its premature fadeout. (11 tracks; 54 minutes) ■
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MUSIC AN ECLECTIC ASSORTMENT REVIEWED BY MARK KERESMAN
The Yawpers ★★★1/2 American Man Barrence Whitfield & the Savages ★★★★★
Under the Savage Sky Bloodshot Roots rock—or Americana—comes in many forms, some accenting the more “rock” side of the equation, some not. Here are two swell hunks of American sounds, different yet both accessible and immediate, but in varying stages of rawness. The Yawpers are a trio from Boulder, Colorado and are a curious mix of punk attitude, country, and blues. Singer Nate Cook’s vocals evoke those of Steve Earle (also George Thorogood, albeit if the latter had a slightly smoother singing style) and their two guitar (plus driven slide playing) tactic recalls the coarse blues-fueled styles of early Led Zeppelin (minus the Hammer of the Gods monolithic chords), The Gun Club and their modern-day acolytes The Black Keys, with some of the boom-chicka-boom of Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Three. Unlike some of their rowdier/raunchier forebears, these lads have some beguiling melodies to go with their pugnacious rootsiness. A band to watch, certainly. (12 tracks, 37 min.) Barrence Whitfield & the Savages are a New England combo that is, simply, an
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. Photo: Drew Reynolds.
old-school party waiting to happen (one where there is a BAND, not a DJ, making with the shakin’ sounds). Whitfield (born Barry White, though not that guy) is a soul shouter in the mold of Little Richard, Ray Charles, and pre-1970 James Brown with the class and gospel-inspired fervor of cats like Solomon Burke and Otis Clay. The Savages are right there with him, pounding out a fusion of gleefully manic rock ‘n’ roll (think the Sonics, Kingsmen, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Clash circa London Calling) with mid-‘60s rhythm &
blues/soul (think James Brown, the Atlantic/Stax sound). OY, does it ever ROCK—get a six-pack (of anything) and bay at the moon. (12 tracks, 36 min.) bloodshotrecords.com Roger Reynolds ★★★1/2 Complete Cello Works Mode American composer Roger Reynolds (b. 1934) has composed works interfacing notated composition with electronic media and theater. Reynolds personally knew and learned from such iconic composers as Edgard Varèse (a major influence on Frank Zappa), Nadia Boulanger, John Cage, and Harry Partch. Complete Cello Works is just that—works for solo cello and cello with a chamber orchestra and computer generated sounds. The cello is played by Alexis Descharmes and he is brilliant, drawing resounding, warm tones and cathartic bangs, slashes, and squeals from his instrument. Like Partch and Cage, he’s of the American Maverick School—like them, Reynolds can be drolly insolent. Unlike some modern composers, Reynolds has a handle on rhythmic dynamics, never dry or ponderous. The 22-minute “Process and Passion” some of the warmth of Brahms and Copeland. Mellow listening it’s not, but it’s not especially hostile either. For those with a taste for post-1970 classical (and that includes Zappa’s classical works) and a love for edgy usage of the cello, this two-CD set will confound, amaze, and enchant you. (10 tracks, 109 min.) moderecords.com Pat Metheny/Gary Burton/Michael Gibbs/Eberhard Weber ★★★★1/2 Hommage Á Eberhard Weber ECM For fans of proto-fusion and the ECM sound, the holidays came a little early this year. Hommage is a tribute to German bassist Eberhard Weber, whose signature sound is like no other, a sound that combines the greatest aspects of both acoustic and electric basses. Because of a stroke, Weber can’t play these days, but his American and European friends and fans have assembled this tribute to him. It’s all Weber tunes except for the title piece, composed for this occasion by guitar icon Pat Metheny. Recorded live, the assemblage of talent is killer: Metheny; vibist Gary Burton; reed players Jan Gar-
barek and Paul McCandless; bassist Scott Colley; former Metheny drummer Danny Gottlieb; and the SWR Big Band with arrangements by Michael Gibbs (among others). Metheny based the title piece on Weber’s solo improvisation and features dense but never over-busy orchestral arrangements (masterfully done, evoking Gil Evans) in which samples of Weber and big band orchestrations meld into a majestic panorama. The playing is uniformly inspired, mixing the sophistication of orchestral jazz with the nearly-anything-goes spirit of fusion. Weber’s compositions are as moody and eerily cerebral as Bernard Herrmann (who wrote music for many a Hitchcock movie) and otherworldly as late 1960s King Crimson and Pink Floyd (in terms of dreamy, shimmering-as-a-mirage, wraithlike textures and tones). Progrock heads, fusionistas, and fans of progressive big band jazz (think Evans, Carla Bley) and classical crossover, this is for you. (6 tracks, 70 min.) ecmrecords.com Glenn Mercer ★★★★1/2 Incidental Hum Bar None Say “Jersey Boys” and you’ll think of The Four Seasons, right? As well you should, but there are those other Jersey boys that set some of the world afire, namely, The Feelies, formed in Haledon, New Jersey in 1976 and still around. With their distinctive synthesis of The Velvet Underground and The Beatles, The Feelies didn’t sell lots of platters but they garnered many fans in the NY/NJ area and beyond—R.E.M. points to them as an influence and their songs have been featured in Jonathan Demme’s movies. Glenn Mercer is one of the two string-benders of The Feelies, and he plays every instrument on his second, all-instrumental solo disc. Mercer’s style is distinctive—a melding of the tense sustained wail of Robert Fripp and the wired anguish of Lou Reed’s oft-underrated guitar-ing, with some of the guitar “harmonies” and flair of The Ventures. Songs? Some dandy ones, like “Yuma,” a distillation of soundtracks for Westerns, Mexican/Spanish overtones included; the Beatles-ish “Cheyanne,” with its slight psychedelic flourishes; and the shimmering “Laramie,” where Western twang meets soothing synthesized rhythms. It’s like Mercer decided to merge the intensity and sophistication of progressive rock (King Crimson, Brian Eno) with lean, super-
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catchy instrumental rock (Ventures), “Hermosa” even evokes “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” and there’s a version of “Over the Rainbow” that’ll melt the hardest heart. (15 tracks, 50 min.) bar-none.com Ewan MacColl ★★★★★ The Joy of Living: A Tribute to Ewan MacColl Compass Ewan MacColl (1915 – 1989) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, playwright, and political activist, very influential in the folk scenes in both the UK and here. His
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in 1962. Photo: Brian Shuel/Redferns
songs have been covered by artists as (seemingly) disparate as Johnny Cash, The Clancy Brothers, The Pogues, Elvis Presley, and Roberta Flack. (Flack’s first hit “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”—his.) Joy of Living is a two-CD set of MacColl’s songs, from the mournful “Cannily, Cannily” (performed here by The Unthanks) to the boisterously melancholy “Dirty Old Town” (by Steve Earle) to the folk-rock-ish “Freeborn Man” (Paul Brady). Many of MacColl’s songs, like those of Woody Guthrie, refer to and/or exude unrest, tenacity (love, labor, and political struggle), and looking the wrongs of the world square in the face. The performers here include the obvious (folk icons Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, and Dick Gaughan) to contemporary singer/songwriters (siblings Rufus & Martha Wainwright) to indie rock (David Gray, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp, Billy Bragg). Seeking cheerful foot-tapping songs? Not here—but there’s honest angst, reflectiveness, and poignancy aplenty, conveyed for the most part in spare acoustic contexts. Fans of both classic and contemporary folk strains owe it to themselves to know the music of MacColl. (21 tracks, 82 min.) compassrecords.com ■
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MUSIC SINGER / SONGWRITER REVIEWS BY TOM WILK
Gregg Allman ★★★1/2 Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, Ga. Rounder Records After the Allman Brothers Band called it quits last year, co-founding member Gregg Allman was free to be a full-time solo artist. Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, Ga. serves as a career retrospective of sorts while showing there’s artistic life after the end of the legendary band that began in 1969.
Working under his own name gives Allman a chance to stretch out musically in new directions. The addition of a threeman horn section lends a soulful feel to “Statesboro Blues,” a staple of the Allman Brothers concerts, and a jazzy undertone to “Queen of Hearts,” a song from Laid Back, his debut solo album in 1973. The addition of flute provides a wistful air to “Melissa.” Allman is a democratic bandleader, spotlighting the work of drummer Steve Potts and percussionist Marc Quinones on the instrumental “Hot ‘Lanta” and the guitar work of Scott Sharrard on “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More.” Vocally, Allman remains a strong and versatile singer, delivering a pensive version of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” and injecting some gospel fervor into his version of Wilson Pickett’s “I Found a Love.” Recording in a small theater in Macon, the one-time hometown of the Allman Brothers, seems to have rejuvenated the singer. He pays tribute to his musical influences with strong readings of Ray Charles’ “The Brightest Smile in Town” and Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied.” The double CD also contains a DVD with bonus songs (“Stormy Monday” and “Floating Bridge”) and interviews where he reflects on Macon and the town’s impact on his life and music. 16 songs, 90 minutes.
Kinky Friedman ★★★ The Loneliest Man I Ever Met Avenue A Records/Thirty Tigers Kinky Friedman arrived on the music scene in the 1970s with sometimes satirical, often provocative songs that included “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed.” Like his contemporaries Randy Newman and Shel Silverstein, Friedman used humor to make a point. For The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, his first new studio album in 39 years, Friedman delivers a change of pace. It’s a collection of songs, both his own and those written by some of his favorite artists, that show a melancholy side and reflective mood of an artist on the north side of 70. The title track, co-written by Tim Hoover and Friedman, shows him to be a convincing country singer, delivering a regretful lyric. “Bloody Mary Morning,” performed with longtime friend Willie Nelson, is stripped-down country with Nelson’s sister Bobbie on piano. Friedman’s weathered vocals are a good fit for the gospel/country-flavored “Pickin’ Time,” a lesser-known Johnny Cash song. “A Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” is Friedman’s tip of the cap to Tom Waits, the song’s composer. Friedman delivers a wistful version of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” a remembrance of a former lover. The highlight of the CD is Friedman’s half-sung, half-recited “Wand’rin Star” from Lerner and Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon. Friedman. It finds Friedman channeling Lee Marvin, who turned the song into an unlikely hit single in England in 1970. 12 songs, 35 minutes. [See interview with Kinky Friedman on page 26 of this issue] Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin ★★★★ Lost Time Yep Roc A year after releasing Common Ground, their first album as a duo, Dave and Phil Alvin have wasted no time in releasing a follow-up CD. Lost Time finds the brothers revisiting and reinterpreting the blues, soul and folk music that inspired them to form the Blasters in 1979, most notably with four covers of songs associated with Big Joe Turner. Their jazzy version of Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Mister Kicks” sets the tone for album with Phil Alvin’s declaration of the devil’s
intentions dovetailing nicely with the instrumental interplay between Dave Alvin’s guitar and David Witham’s organ. Recast as a full-tilt rocker, the traditional gospel number “World’s in a Bad Condition” sizzles as the brother trade vocals and Chris Miller’s slide guitar adds an instrumental intensity to the track. The playful “Hide and Seek” is rooted in ‘50s rock and roll with references to Little Richard and Buddy Holly song titles
in the lyrics. “In New Orleans (Rising Sun Blues),” also known as “House of the Rising Sun,” and popularized by the Animals, becomes virtually a new song in an uptempo arrangement with Dave Alvin on lead vocals. Phil Alvin steps to the forefront with his pleading rendition of James Brown’s “Please Please Please,” a song that was a highlight of their 2014 concert tour. “If You See My Savior” closes the CD with a tender reading of Thomas A. Dorsey’s spiritual. With Lost Time, the Alvins show the timelessness of these songs. 12 songs, 44 minutes. Joe Ely ★★★1/2 Panhandle Rambler Rack ‘Em Records As a native of Texas, Joe Ely has drawn inspiration from the Lone Star State as both a solo artist and a member of the Flatlanders. It’s led him to be designated as the official 2016 Texas State Musician by the Texas Legislature. Panhandle Rambler follows in that vein, from the haunting Flamenco melody of “Wounded Creek” to the bluesy edge of “Early in the Mornin,’” which depicts the time of day when
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dreams give way to reality. Ely is as inspired by the long musical history of Texas as its geography. The rockabilly-flavored “South Eyes” recalls the music he grew up with in Lubbock in the 1950s. “Here’s to the Weary,” name checks the music he heard on local radio, including fellow Texans Bob Wills and Buddy Holly. Ely sings of “trying to find a verse that’s never been sung,” the goal of every songwriter. In addition to his own songs, Ely pays tribute to a pair of fellow Texas songwriters. Guy Clark’s “Magdalene” is delivered with a Tex-Mex arrangement, highlighted by the graceful accordion work of Joel Guzman. “When The Nights are Cold,” written by fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock, is a perfect fit for Ely’s yearning voice. 12 songs, 45 minutes. Bob Malone ★★★ Mojo Deluxe Delta Moon Records On Mojo Deluxe, his eighth solo album, keyboardist/vocalist Bob Malone serves up a classic blend of blues and rock and roll with a sprinkling of New Orleans-style rhythm and blues. Malone, who grew up in Morris County, N.J., and has played keyboards in John Fogerty’s touring band since 2011, shows he can handle the transition from sideman to front man. Malone’s percolating piano is spotlighted on “A Certain Distance,” his tale of living an introvert’s life. The music is anything but withdrawn on “Lookin’ for the Blues,” which incorporates a horn section to capture that New Orleans vibe. Malone also features the horns on the tongue-in-cheek “Don’t Threaten Me (With a Good Time).” On “Paris,” Malone builds the song up from his piano and expands his sonic palette to include an accordion and string section that provides a European feel. “Chinese Algebra” offers a snapshot of his skills as a pianist during a three-minute instrumental. Malone offers a tribute to Ray Charles, one of his musical influences, with a heartfelt rendition of “Hard Times” and also covers Muddy Waters’ “She Moves Me” in a 1950s style featuring upright bass and piano. It’s a gesture that connects the past and the present, showing the continuum of popular music. 12 songs, 51 minutes. ■
about life BY JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS,MLSP,LCSW,BCD
EMBRACING JOY WE LIVE IN A cynical age. With the 24-hour news cycle there’s plenty of pessimism to spread around, since negative news far outweighs positive. Every day people beat cancer or walk again. Every day people fall in love. Every day people celebrate the birth of a child. Why then are we so preoccupied with negativity? It could certainly be said that with so much attention paid to what is wrong, it’s a challenge to embrace positivity and joy. Not only are we surrounded in the media by negative input but the difficulties rise from within as well. Although we live in a very different kind of world than our ancient ancestors, our brains have not caught up with the changing times. We’re wired for the hazards and threats of a different age. Primitive brains that were able to anticipate and spot threats before they occurred were more likely to survive. We are the descendents of those humans and have the innate ability to respond to threats, real or perceived. The modern world presents all kinds of potential threats and hazards that didn’t exist in ancient times. A brain wired for negativity would be quite busy sorting through all the threats of the modern world to determine which are serious and which are not. Identifying and responding to all kinds and levels of threats is a very stressful endeavor, and as doctors tell us, stress is the biggest killer. But trying to reduce stress can be a stressor unto itself. Our bodies were designed for short-term stress and worry, not a daily grind.
As it turns out, research shows that optimists live longer and have fewer incidents of heart attacks, strokes and cancer—and they enjoy life more. Although some say that optimists are not realistic, nothing could be further from the truth. Optimists understand that focusing on problems yields solutions, but it always causes more stress. Believing in the possibility of positive outcomes— that we are able to makes things right when they go wrong—is a hallmark of a positive attitude. Feeling trapped in hopelessness or despair over our circumstances leads to more despair and more stress. In the ever-changing set of variables that encompass us all, no feeling or situation lasts forever. More important than adjusting and reacting to stressors is developing the ability to embrace joy in life. Embracing joy is not natural to most people, so it’s an unusual trait to possess. Those who have this ability know that most things work out fine in the end—that most worries and concerns do not actually become true over time. Needless worry may be one of the more common wastes of time and energy. Embracing joy may be one of the most useful ways to spend time and energy. How we think about the world, ourselves and others has a direct influence on how we experience the world, ourselves and other people. Perceptual distortions are common. Optimists distort their perceptions in favor in happiness and joy. As a result, optimists perceive more joy in their everyday lives. Our brains are wired to give the most signifi-
cance to the most recent information. While this served us as a species in primitive times, it can lead to huge perceptual distortions. One example is encountering someone who is angry, negative or critical with us. While this may be hurtful and be taken personally, it can override previous positive perceptions of that person. Instead of thinking that this person may be having a bad day, it’s easier to assume that the most recent interactions are representative of what the other person really is. Remembering that the most recent information is not necessarily more true than older information can save headaches and heartaches. Embracing joy is an active process. It takes time and attention to cultivate and develop this ability. Questioning our own negative assumptions about ourselves and others is a key element. Just because we believe strongly and feel deeply about someone or something does not make it true. When we think, believe and feel deeply about someone or something we are most likely distorting our own perceptions. Negative perceptions carry with them anger and hurt which create more stress, and which slowly kills us over time. Embracing joy puts our focus in the places that bring us relaxation, contentment and happiness. Embracing joy can help free us from the shackles of the primitive brain. ■ Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 33 years. jdelpino@aol.com Phone: (215) 364-0139.
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foodie feature BY A. D. AMOROSI
I THE START OF STARR
Stephen Starr. Photo: ©Reese Amorosi.
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T’S DIFFICULT TO ALWAYS keep this in mind as Philadelphia has had more than a few of its restaurant rebirths, but the modern day culinary and cocktail klatch that is this city pretty much started with Stephen Starr and his Continental in Old City. This was the beginning of Starr’s Starr Restaurant Organization, the beginning of so many chef and bartender careers. It ushered in a new era of boozing and better dining than we were accustomed to previous to its arrival. Twenty years after its start on September 7, 1995, Starr held an intimate gathering of friends and familiars at the diner-turned-martini-bar. Sure, I was delighted to attend, not just because of press status, but rather because 20 years ago I observed the Continental and its cultural shift’s effect on Old City, then the Center City dining scene, closely. REAL CLOSELY. I lived about ten yards from the Continental, eight on a good day, and witnessed first-hand and nightly how Philly’s will quickly bent to meet the decadent demands of what the burgeoning new restaurant would become. “The strangest thing about the place when we started was how drunk people used to get on our martinis then,” Starr laughed while reminiscing about the old days. Not that many people were used to how strong they were. Two things of note here: Starr told me this while I was enjoying a nostalgic Dean Martini and, not being a beer drinker back then, martinis were my poison—good cold vodka, no vermouth, chilled glass, two giant olives. Living in a monster loft so close to the newest, hottest, best spot in town for a martini meant that they were a nightly ritual. That ritual became a hang. Before the Continental was a scene, however, it was a diner with soft omelets and hard toast. Before Old City at 2nd Street was an outpost and a design for living, it was a bunch of chair factories, Rotten Ralph’s, the Khyber and several after-hours joints (namely Purgatory) habited by the neighboring drunken FBI guys, prostitutes, overworked restaurant workers from other parts of town and me. If Starr wouldn’t have had the foresight to understand in 1995 that if you built IT, THEY would come, arguably someone else might have, as that area’s buildings, with its tall ceilings and wide spaces, was ripe for something— anything. Yet, for a guy then new to the restaurant biz, this was his first, his baby. From the live music and club operation business, Starr simply had the youthful, zealous touch to steer the zeitMike Jerrick and Nicole Cashman at the Contigeist. A trend is not an easy nental’s 20th anniversary party. Photo ©A.D. thing to love at will. It’s like Amorosi 2015 light, lightning or mercury—improbable, temperamental, but he literally found a way to bottle it. Twenty years later, the Continental and his 30 additional spaces throughout the planet are a testament to his fortitude and good fortune. Plus, his martinis are still the best in town. ■
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food BY ROBERT GORDON
SPRIG & VINE I REMEMBER MY FIRST visit to Sprig & Vine, right after it opened. The food was good, not blow-your-socks-off good, but good. That’s not surprising. It’s tough for any Delaware Valley vegan restaurant to knock your socks off. But after circling back to Sprig & Vine this year, I need some new socks. Chef-Owner Ross Olchvary’s talent, tireless devotion and culinary inventiveness have lifted Sprig & Vine up to the highest level. Yes, the highest level. Their fare is in the same league as any vegan restaurant I’ve tried on either coast. As to the improvement, Ross offers: “Sprig & Vine was the first restaurant I ever owned. Starting off, I devoted so much time to the business of the restaurant, I couldn’t focus fully on the food. I couldn’t spend my time where I really wanted: in the kitchen.” Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly … and chefs gotta cook. Ross is cooking again. He’s also assembled an energetic, creative team focused on innovating and perfecting a smorgasbord of vegan delights. The complex combinations and freewheeling spicy swagger that marks the menu are impressive. In the Green Onion Pancake, the texture of the pancake that wraps finely diced maitake mushrooms in robust greens is calibrated to perfect crunch and tenderness. The accompanying tomato jam and soy syrup is dialed to ideal sweetness. The dish typifies the prudence and restraint underpinning the menu. Green Onion Pancake is so popular and versatile that it appears on the lunch, brunch, and dinner menus, so give it a try if only to change your paradigm
Blackened Tofu, Coconut-White Sweet Potato Purée
Green Onion Pancake, Maitake Mushroom, Sesame-Tomato Jam
PB&J French Toast, Peanut Butter Powder, Red Wine Caramel, Husk Cherry
of the pancake. Sprig & Vine serves dinner from Tuesday through Saturday, lunch from Wednesday to Saturday, and brunch from 10a.m. to 2p.m. on Sunday. The earthy edge of saffron-garlic aïoli ignites Zatar Grilled Oyster Mushrooms. However, it’s the delicate potato pavé nestled alongside the mushrooms that makes this small plate offering one of the most memorable I've eaten in any restaurant, vegan or otherwise. The kitchen finesses and transforms the banal spud into a delicious delicacy. The lush texture and creamy taste that results is simply extraordinary. Miso-maple-mustard sauce swathes Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh topped with spicy three-potato mash and sautéed greens with horseradish-cashew cream. Smoked raisin and chipotle-roasted pecan and roasted radish halves embellish the sauce. Saffron-poached apple and pickled, red onion and cilantro salsa combine with Green Jerk-Grilled Tofu for a flavorful harvest. White Corn Edamame Succatash with Hen-In-The-Woods mushrooms is ambrosial. Among many laudable dessert candidates, I’ll mention only PB & J French Toast. With apologies to French-toast shrines like Ladurée in Paris, this version of French toast has the most intense, pleasing flavor combination I’ve ever tasted. It starts with the choice of bread: French baguette. Mounds of peanut-butter powder dotted with fresh blueberries flank the bread amidst a pool of delicious red wine-caramel sauce. The menu changes frequently depending on which fresh ingredients are available daily and weekly from local farms. The Chef ’s farm-to-table philosophy is the driving engine. But it’s the versatility of the kitchen—the way it coaxes exciting tastes out of its pantry of fresh ingredients—that distinguishes this eatery. The unpretentious vibe from the pristine interior fosters relaxed dining. The Chef does manage to extricate himself from the kitchen during the evening to chat with guests. Do share your ideas and suggestions with him. But remember to hold on to your socks. ■ Sprig & Vine, 450 Union Square Drive, New Hope, PA, 215-693-1427, sprigandvine.com
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food BY ROBERT GORDON
HIGH STREET ON MARKET IN 2014, HIGH STREET ON Market (HSOM) was off to a flying start. Bon Appetit picked it number two on its “Best new restaurant in the United States” list. HSOM also landed at number 20 on Philadelphia Magazine’s annual list of Best Restaurants. Then on May 12 this year, tragedy struck. Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 derailed. Eli Kulp, co-owner of both Fork and High Street on Market was on that train and sustained a severe spinal cord injury. Commendably, Philadelphia and its restaurant community rallied to Eli’s cause. A July 16 fundraiser for the Chef raised $130,000. The event was held at 3rd and Market Streets on the anniversary of the day in 2014 that
Seaweed Bucatini with Lobster Bottarga & Scallions
Mayor Nutter had designated “Eli Kulp Day” to recognize the positive impact Eli’s culinary achievements was having on the image of the city. We dined at High Street on Market a few times prior to Eli’s accident. I was impressed. The fare was equal to the hype. I can still taste the tangy chili that sparked a red cabbage and Brussels sprouts combination perked with smoked yogurt. Crispy Broccoli was another memorable pleaser. The coating on the broccoli had a crunchy yet gentle snap. The broccoli mated ideally with a chowchow accompaniment that out-perked any I ever tasted in Pennsylvania Dutch territory. Fortunately, despite Eli’s tragic accident, HSOM hasn’t missed a beat. The kitchen is still doing what it has since its debut—conjuring up vividly spiced recipes bursting with flavorful pizzazz. Through dabbling and diligence, they keep coming up with interesting, ambitious fare. Their attention to detail shows, even in salads. The light, sweet-sour vinaigrette that drenches farm-totable lettuce, radishes and sweet potato, sprinkled with 44 ■ I C O N ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 ■ W W W . I C O N D V . C O M ■ W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V
pumpkin seeds is perfectly balanced in taste and texture, while Jersey burrata adds a compatible mellow dimension. Flash-fried garbanzo beans pair nicely with octopus that’s bolstered with freekeh spritzed with lemon sauce. I recently enjoyed delicate tortelloni that was dotted with smoked pumpkin. A tasty tumble of toasted walnuts added crunch for textural interest. Imported outsized Burgundy snails, silky textured and pampered with pine nuts on anadama bread, a dark, sweet molasses-tinted bread made with cornmeal. Lusciously textured Grilled Carrots take character from green coriander, goat yogurt, and pistachio. The ensem-
Crispy Broccoli with Chow-chow, Butternut Squash Hummus, Long Hot Chermoula, Toasted Ginger Bread
ble packs more gusto onto each forkful than any dish in recent memory. The kitchen does a masterful job of keeping the succulence in Charcoal Squid. The squid harmonizes perfectly with the accompanying cucumbers and cilantro. The interior is charming and tidy and graced with engrossing wall hangings. Servers are cheery, energetic, and happy to offer first-hand descriptions and experiential tips on the entire menu. The staging for dishes can be handled better; since the tables are so small—overcrowding with small plates can be problematic when they all arrive simultaneously. But nothing is problematic enough to diminish the many delights this exciting menu boasts. High Street On Market has not been derailed by Eli’s misfortune. It’s still rolling like the class operation it is. ■ High Street on Market, 308 Market Street, Philadelphia, 215-625-0988, highstreetonmarket.com
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HOTEL Modern Cuisine h Classic Comfort Corner of Swan & Main Lambertville, NJ 609-397-3552
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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
BRINGING YOUR ‘A’ GAME By Pam Amick Klawitter Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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ACROSS “Ivy Mike” test weapon Bush trip University of Idaho city Group at Asgard Listen to completely Working parents’ aid What echolocation is used for? Spice up Hound Hayworth’s second husband Shrek, notably Unaffiliated: Abbr. Strikes down Bit of theatrical thievery? Dessert table vessel Acted indolently Liberal side? First name in exploring Conn of “Grease” Dismissals in a ’70s-’80s game show __ Rock: Australian attraction Fight at the coffee shop? Flair Go flat? Hosp. titles Ornamental shrub Space travel meas. Bubbly region Speak pompously Lift charge Epic Trojan warrior Barbie and Ken’s servant? Garden feature Banking control Sponsorship It might be gray Change one’s mind about changing “The Wizard of Oz” prop Maniacal leader? Punster Passion Aversion therapy tool? “The Family Circus” creator Passover month Hematology prefix Melissa Joan of “Melissa & Joey” The Snake R. runs through it Pleasure trip Oliver Stone’s alma mater Quick question at the building site?
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Catalog giant Supermarket letters Bangkok bread Quakers in the forest? Anago or unagi One who puts you to sleep Cosmetics counter freebie? Seat of Washington’s Snohomish County Portuguese wine Beethoven dedicatee Fixes, as a seam Stretchable, in product names Collaborative 2012 Streisand album DOWN “Cactus Flower” Oscar winner “The View” alum Joy Missouri tributary Part of a GI’s URL Craft __ Arctic barkers River to the Rhein California city nickname Chicago’s __ Center Word after scatter or throw “Come on in” Horsemanship school Olive desired by Bluto School subj. Nitpick Cutesy nickname for a former home of the Orlando Magic Darling girl “‘__ is empty / And all the devils are here’”: “The Tempest” Laura of “Jurassic Park” Tortilla chip go-with Role for Sally or Sandra Bit of smoke Lingerie brand Tricky tactic Severus Snape portrayer Rickman Work at Hitchcock survival film Some TV screens Morgan or Wyatt Words often before “then” Way to pack fish Emulate the Piper Breed of dog? End of a threat Poet Dove Jaime’s half-dozen
52 53 55 59 60 62 64 65 67 69 70 71 72 73 74 77 78 79 82 83 85 88 89 90 91 93 95 99 101 103 104 105
Cornerstone abbr. One-named children’s singer Shrunken sea Most suspicious “As I Lay Dying” father Iris holder Hawks, on NBA scoreboards Butler of literature Lift up Throw a fight, say Where, in Juárez “__ Majesty’s Secret Service” Stare India born in Denver Sweater letter “__ grip!” Inventor Sikorsky Laundry room step Beach shade Seder prophet Penitent Puzzle pieces in Penzance? Display, in a way Pharaoh’s cross Big belt It means nothing at all “No argument here” Turns up at home? Troop encampments Agreed with Older partner, hopefully Tequila source
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Where to see x’s in boxes Blog, at times Predecessor of Gerald Elizabeth of “La Bamba” Goosebump-inducing “ ... to say the __” Hot rod Strong alkalis
119 Hip-hop Dr. 120 Persian plaint 122 Kubrick’s out-of-control computer 123 “Ghost” psychic __ Mae Brown 124 Like mice and men: Abbr.
Answer to September’s puzzle, AGAIN!
Agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Phillustration 7: Seventh Annual Juried Exhibition of Illustration. Entry Deadline: Sunday, October 18, 2015 at Midnight. Exhibition Dates: November 2 - 28, 2015. Works Eligible: This is an open, juried competition for illustration work in any media completed during the last 5 years. Categories: Editorial; Advertising; Institutional; Book; Self Promotional and Uncommissioned; Student. See Full Prospectus: sketchclub.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/Phillustration-7Prospectus-inside.pdf. Entry on-line: sketchclub.org/psc-official-online-submission-site. Reception: Sunday, November 8, 2015 2-4 PM. Cash awards of $500 for Best of Show, $100/First Place and PSC medals will be handed out at 3PM.
ART EXHIBITS THRU 10/11 A Shared Legacy, Folk Art In America. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North Fifth Street, Allentown. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org THRU 10/11 Shifting Paradigms/Tribute to the New Arts Program. Kutztown University Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery. Reception 35:00, Sat., 9/12. 610-683-5803. kutztown.edu/artgallery THRU 10/11 Above Zero, Photographs from the Polar Regions by Sam Krisch. Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. Fifth Street, Allentown. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org THRU 10/22 Object as Subject. Main Gallery, Zoellner Arts Center & Gallery at Rauch Business Center. Lehigh University, 420 E. Packer Ave, Bethlehem. 610-758-3615. LUAG.org THRU 10/31 The 86th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. Oils, watercolors, prints, mixed media, drawings and sculpture. Open daily 1-5 PM. Phillips’ Mill, 2619 River Road, New Hope, PA. phillipsmill.org. THRU 11/1 Nancy Ruch-Kim, Elemental. The Quiet Life Gallery, 17 So. Main St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-0880. Quietlifegallery.com THRU 11/1 After Fukushima/memories. Archival pigment prints of cameraless chemigrams by Norman Sarachek. New Arts Program Gallery 173 W. Main, Kutztown. Fri/Sat/Sun 11-3:00. 610-683-6440. newartsprogram.org THRU 12/6 Jeffrey Becom, Colors of India. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North Fifth Street, Allentown. 610-432-4333.
AllentownArtMuseum.org 10/3-11/7 Danny Moyer, New Objective. Also exhibiting Katie Knoeringer, Snow-Eater. Opening Reception 10/3, 6-10PM. Brick + Mortar Gallery, 8 Centre Square, Easton, PA. BrickandMortarGallery.com 10/14-10/17 Ahlum Gallery Fall Open House, 11AM4PM, and by appointment. Denise AhlumSandy, Artist/Owner. 106 North 4th St., Easton, PA. AhlumGallery.com 10/16-12/12 In the Line of Duty, Collecting African American Art. The William C. Robinson Family Collection. Williams Center Gallery, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5361/5010. galleries.lafayette.edu. 10/17 Dot Bunn Solo Exhibition. Still life, figure and landscapes. Reception 10/17, 5-8PM. Patricia Hutton Galleries, 47 West State St., Doylestown. 215-348-1728. PatriciaHuttonGalleries.com 10/21-10/23 Ahlum Gallery Fall Open House, 11AM4PM, and by appointment. Denise AhlumSandy, Artist/Owner. 106 North 4th St., Easton, PA. AhlumGallery.com 10/23-1/9 The Holiday Show, Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery. 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-419-6262/610-3904324. BethlehemHouseGallery.com 10/28-11/17 Walks in North Park, Photographic Books and Wallworks by Dan R. Talley. Reception 11/4, 6-8PM. The Baum School of Art, 510 W. Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-433-0032. Baumschool.org
TOURS/FESTIVALS/AUCTIONS 10/3 Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society 8th Annual Autumn Pottery Festival, 9-4. $3 adult/under 18 free. Free parking. Rain or shine. 6826 Corning Rd., Zionsville. 610965-5019. stahlspottery.org 10/4 2nd Annual Art Auction to benefit the Karl Stirner Arts Trail. Cocktail reception 3:00 PM, Auction 4:00 PM. Tickets $25/advance, $30/door. Pfenning Alumni Center, Lafayette College, 352 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. Karlstirnerartstrail.org 10/10 The 3rd Annual New Jersey Pottery Festival, 10am-5pm. Free. Stangl Road in front of the old Stangl Factory, Flemington, NJ. riverpots.com. 908-237-0671. 10/17 Autumn Alive. Pet parade, cupcake contest, entertainment, crafters/vendors, beer tasting. Rain date 10/24. Quakertown. 215-536-2273. quakertownalive.com
10/17 The Philadelphia Sketch Club’s 15th Annual Gala. Art auction, cocktails, buffet, music. 215-545-9298. sketchclub.org. 10/23 Not-Just-Art Auction supporting Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. 7 p.m., preview & reception; 8 p.m. Live & silent auctions. Brookside Country Club, 901 Willow Lane, Macungie, PA. Tickets-$45, reservations preferred. 610-434-7811. PASinfonia.org 11/27-11/29 Covered Bridge Artisans 21st Annual Fall Studio Tour. Fri., Sat., 10-5, Sun., 10-4. Visit CoveredBridgeArtisans.com for tour map or Facebook.com/CoveredBridgeArtisans
THEATER
DINNER & MUSIC Thursday nights, Community Stage with John Beacher, 8-midnight. Karla’s, 5 W. Mechanic St., New Hope. 215-862-2612. Karlasnewhope. Thurs.-Sat., Dinner and show at SteelStacks, Bethlehem. 5-10, table service and valet parking. artsquest.org
CONCERTS 10/3 Baroque and Beyond. Carulli Guitar Concerto, Torelli Trumpet Concerto, Handel Concerto Grosso and Grieg's Holberg Suite. 7:30 p.m., Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA. 610-4347811. PASinfonia.org
THRU 10/11 Bus Stop, by William Inge. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University. Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192. Desales.edu/act1
10/10 Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton. 8PM, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 East Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. 610758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org
10/15-10/18 King Lear by The Independent Eye. Touchstone Theatre, 321 East Fourth Street Bethlehem, PA. Tickets & info: 610-8671689. touchstone.org
10/13 Andrew Long, organist, Muhlenberg College. Arts at St. John’s. St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. 610-435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org
10/15-10/25 Once Upon A Mattress. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University. Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192. Desales.edu/act1
10/16 Cécile McLorin Salvant. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter.lafayette.edu
10/30-11/8 Chicago. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/theatre
10/17 Patti LaBelle, 8PM. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 East Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. 610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org
10/6 Julian Sands/A Celebration of Harold Pinter. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter.lafayette.edu 11/10 Elf. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132 or 1-800-999State. Statetheatre.org 11/21 The Cashore Marionettes. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter. lafayette.edu
DANCE 10/14 Seán Curran Company w/Ustatshakirt Plus Ensemble/ Dream’d in a Dream. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton. 610330-5009. Williamscenter.lafayette.edu
10/20 Riyaaz Qawwali. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter.lafayette.edu 10/20 Dan Simpson, poet, and Roy McCutcheon, pianist/singer. Arts at St. John’s. St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. 610-435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org 10/25 Hill-to-Hill Brass, 4PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-8650727. Nativitycathedral.org 10/25 Rioult Dance NY, 4PM. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 East Packer Ave., Bethlehem. 610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.org 10/27 Organ concert with Jeffrey Fowler. 12:10 PM, Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. 610-435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org
11/1 A Concert of Remembrance-All Saints. 4PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org 11/7 Music from the Heart with Bach Collegium Japan. 2015 Gala Concert & Fundraiser, 4PM. Bach Choir, Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem. Bach.org 11/17 Takács Quartet. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, 317 Hamilton St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5009. Williamscenter.lafayette.edu
MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org 10/4 Burton Cummings 10/8 Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn 10/13 Dave Davies 10/23 Michael Che 10/25 Meghan Linsey 10/28 The Polyphonic Spree 10/30 Keller Williams 10/31 The Yardbirds
KESWICK THEATRE 291 N Keswick Ave, Glenside, PA (215) 572-7650 keswicktheatre.com 10/3
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The Duprees, Herb Reed's The Platters, Jimmy Clanton, Kid Kyle, Cleveland Still & The Dubs Alkistis Protopsalti & Eleftheria Arvanitaki Patty Griffin The Winery Dogs Kaleidoscope of Ukrainian Dance Paula Poundstone The Zombies Odessy & Oracle: The Odyssey Continued The Word: Robert Randolph, John Medeski, North Mississippi Allstars; Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers Kansas Joe Jackson Wanda Sykes Craig Ferguson America’s Got Talent All-Star Tour Michael McDonald Last Comic Standing John Anderson & Luc Ponty Loreena McKennitt Jesse Cook
READINGS Panoply Books Reading Series: Poets Arlene Wiener and Dan Brown. Pittsburghbased poet, MacDowell Fellow, and Ragged Sky editor Arlene Weiner will be joined by Daniel Brown, a winner of the New Criterion Poetry Prize, and author of Why Bach. 6PM. Free. 46 N. Union St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-1145.
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