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INTERVIEW

The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius

ESPERANZA SPALDING | 20

Emily, her new alter ego, shakes out the jams on Emily’s D+Evolution and tour

FEATURE

Five years after opening at a defunct steel plant, SteelStacks is a cultural crucible and a social beehive MUSIC

5 | Dapple 31 | JAZZ LIBRARY 6 | Truth & Vision at Delaware Art Museum Claude “Fiddler” Williams 8 | ART SHORTS 32 | JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Deborah Jack at Martin Gallery The Flat Five Michael Budden at Travis Gallery Porter Wagoner That Which Cannot Not Be at Vox Populi Dale Watson & His Lonestars 10 | EXHIBITIONS Teddy Edwards Joseph Barrett at Silverman Gallery Cecil Payne & Duke Jordan 87th Annual Exhibition at Phillips’ Mill Sonny Criss 4th Annual Art at Kings Oaks Slavic Soul Party 12 | THEATER Defunkt

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CITY THEATER

VALLEY THEATER

ENTERTAINMENT

Robert C. Jackson (born 1964), Looking at Art, 2014. Oil on linen.Courtesy of the artist

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13 | ICEPACK 14 | THE LIST 39 | AGENDA

FILM

16 | A Man Called Ove 18 | The Magnificent Seven 24 | God’s Not Dead 2 26 | FILM ROUNDUP Arrival The Handmaiden Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids Snowden

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Hope Springs Eternal

37 | HARPER’S FINDINGS INDEX

ETCETERA

L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD

30 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Randy Newman Tomi Lunsford Chip Taylor Jimi Hendrix John Prine

OCTOBER 2016

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www.icondv.com

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

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29 | POP Back to Mono

A Man Called Ove.

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35 | ABOUT LIFE

MUSIC

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Prime Time for Theater Dining

28 | REEL NEWS The Innocents Indignation The Infiltrator A Bigger Splash

Joseph Barrett, Sunrise, Edison.

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THE ENTERTAINMENT OZ | 22 ART

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essAy And pAinting by robert beck

art

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apple

AT FIRST I DIDN’T want to believe it. The car sounded like I was driving on a rough corduroy road. It’s the asphalt, I told myself. I probably just never noticed it before. It got louder, coming from the front right. I wagged the steering a little and it groaned under load. I cursed and found a place to pull over.

For a long time I’ve only had Audis and VWs so I don’t know how the rest of the world deals with flats.

Audi has a cartoon approach to changing your own tire, a comic nod to the days when it was plausible. The impossible-to-reconfigure tool kit is reason enough for subscribing to AAA. The jack is cleverly hidden in a tiny space and designed to eliminate all confidence when dragged into the sunlight. The lug wrench is a foot-anda-half short of delivering adequate mechanical advantage.

You can hear the engineers in Ingolstadt snicker as soon at the trunk lid opens. Hey everybody, watch this.

A nice guy in another Audi stopped to help when he saw the frustrated geezer on the side of the road. He couldn’t break the lug nuts either. He went into his own trunk and he had the same kit. Screwed.

Time to call Heath’s, the local service station that I use for repairs. Missy answered and got in touch with Bob Heath who was already on his way home, and he turned around to come help me. Bob showed up with a real jack and a grown-up wrench, and changed my tire for me. He did the work and I tried to get the toy tools back in their places. I couldn’t.

The next day I was back in town getting a couple of new tires at Heath’s. It was a gorgeous day. I took my small painting kit out of my trunk and went around to the shady side of the building. I’ve done quite a few paintings over the years while waiting for car repairs. I grab my art time when I can.

The sun was casting dappled leaf-shadows across the street and up the façade of David Teague’s store, America. Dapple is a challenge on many levels. There is a specific color and value relationship between the light and shadow on each surface. All these surfaces face with different angles to the light—actually two lights—sunlight and blue light from the sky. The painting has to describe those orientations, and they all have to read as products of the same illumination.

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he shadow patterns have a direction that stretches along a surface away from the light source according to the orientation. The patterns also move with the sun’s travel, and the color relationships change with the light temperature. By the time I was finished there were no shadows on the building. In essence, I painted the scene twice—once quickly and thinly to establish where the shadows fell and what the relationships were, then again more thickly, trying to make it a good painting.

I texted David Teague and I told him I was painting in front of his building and needed a good car. He said he’d come over. David has an assortment of sweet, uncommon vehicles, and he checked to see which one was most likely to start. The Volvo P1800ES needed some air in the tires but otherwise was good to go.

I had the whole painting completed when David

pulled up. I placed the Volvo to the left and balanced it with the manhole cover. I had to invent the dapple on the car since it was now sitting in full sun. I painted it shady then added light streaks, describing it with the illumination that was there when I started the painting and bringing it to the same level of development. The car’s proportions were important, both inherent and as part of the larger scene. It had to relax into the rest of the painting.

All the while I was working people stopped by to say hi. Many had their children with them. Some came back to check the progress. Bob Heath brought his grandson over to look. I like when that happens.

When I was done I packed up and walked around to get my car. It was parked at the end of the lot all happy with two brand-spanking new tires on the front, spare tire back in place, and my useless tools stowed neatly in their clever hiding spots again. It was another beautiful day in Mayberry, but I hoped it was raining in Ingolstadt. n

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ed Higgins

art

perception meets reAlity where

THE DELAWARE ART MUSEUM’S foray into realism is at once simpler than it sounds and also vastly more complex. The exhibition Truth and Vision: 21st Century Realism opens on October 22, with 40 works by 20 contemporary representational artists. What is one to make then of the presence of surrealism, photorealism, trompe l’oeil, straightforward expressions of landscape and people, the art of fantasy, silly art, narrative art, and derivative art?

The Museum defines representational art as the painting of recognizable images.

The show was inspired by artist Robert C. Jackson’s book, Behind The Easel: The Unique Voices of 20 Contemporary Representational Painters. Jackson, born in North Carolina in 1964, graduated from the University of Delaware and worked as an electrical engineer and assistant pastor of a community church before becoming a full-time artist. He lives in Kennett Square with his wife and three children. Jackson writes in the forward that he waited for 20 years for someone to write this kind of book—and finally decided to do it himself.

His work is included in the book.

The book contains interviews with the 20 artists that Jackson says have caused him to stop and look at their work. The artists include Steven Assael, Bo Bartlett, Debra Bermingham, Margaret Bowland, Paul Fenniak, Scott Fraser, Woody Gwyn, F. Scott Hess, Laurie Hogin, Robert C. Jackson, Alan Magee, Janet Monafo, John Moore, Charles Pfahl, Scott Prior, Stone Roberts, Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin, Daniel Sprick, Will Wilson, and Jerome Witkin.

“This exhibition connects to representational painting seen in the Museum’s collections and throughout its exhibition his-

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Scott Fraser (born 1957), Lemon Fall, 2015. Oil on board, 51 1/2 × 66 inches. Courtesy of Quidley & Company.

tory,” said Margaret Winslow, the Museum’s curator of contemporary art, “I’m thrilled to present these artists here in Wilmington since many of them have been heavily influenced by the artistic legacy of the Brandywine Valley.”

The artist closest to the Brandywine School is Bo Bartlett. Like Wyeth, Bartlett’s paintings can appear to be straightforward and then comes a curveball as in his painting, Leviathan, depicting an opening in a whale to reveal a body. It reminds me of Wyeth’s Dr. Syn, a self-portrait of sorts, portraying a skeleton in a captain’s coat. Born in Columbus, Georgia in 1955, Bartlett lives there and on an island off the coast of Maine with his wife.

Labels should not and cannot be used equally for all artists.

Each artist in the book and exhibition are expert craftsmen, fully in charge of their tools. They know what they want to create and how to create it.

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Thus, if one looks at the work of the exhibition’s prime mover, Jackson, the first thing one notices are the toys: plastic dragons abound as do twisted balloon figures reminiscent of Jeff Koons. At first they seem derivative, but then they seem to celebrate a childhood filled with joy and innocence.

This exhibition amply demonstrates that 21st-century art is in good hands and that many of the artists are working at the acme of skill and vision. n October 22–January 22, 2017. Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, Delaware 302-571-9590 delart.org The 264-page hardbound book from Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. will be available for purchase in the Museum Store for $60.00. It is a handsome volume of interviews with each artist, and over 140 images of their paintings.

Will Wilson, Infrastructure, 2012. Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 × 15 3/4 inches. Courtesy of John Pence Gallery.

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Art Shorts

Melbourne, Bathurst and New York; Marley Dawson has presented work in group exhibitions at: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Embassy of Australia, Washington D.C.; Performance Space, Sydney; Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong; Artspace, Sydney; Australian Centre for Photogra-

Deborah Jack at Martin Gallery Martin Art Gallery’s exhibition The water between us remembers, so we carry this history on our skin... long for a sea-bath and hope the salt will heal what ails us, is

Mystical Evening, Washington Square, 2016, 11 x 14.

an installation of video and sound projections as well as still photographs by Deborah Jack. The artist has had residencies at Lightwork and Big Orbit Gallery Summer Artist in Residence. She has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund of the Netherlands Antilles, and exhibited in solo and group shows in the Caribbean, the United States, and Europe including at the 2014 SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, Jersey City Museum, Western Michigan University, and El Museo del Barrio.

Jack has put together two poetry collections, The Rainy Season (1997) and skin (2006) and has been published in The Caribbean Writer and Calabash. Deborah Jack is an Assistant Professor of Art at New Jersey City University.

Through October 15. Martin Art Gallery at Muhlenberg College’s Baker Center for the Arts, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA

Jersey, among others.“It’s the light that grabs you; makes you stop and look and want to paint.” he says. “I have been extremely lucky in my career as an artist. I continue to search, to get better as an artist and I feel my best is yet to come.” Through October 29. Travis Gallery, 6089 Lower York Rd, New Hope, PA.

That Which Cannot Not Be at Vox Populi A group exhibition of artists working in Philadelphia, USA and Sydney, Australia: Camae Ayewa is an interdisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, and a musician performing under the name Moor Mother; Ella Barclay has exhibited extensively in Sydney, as well as solo and group exhibitions in Tokyo, Taipei, Edinburgh, Brisbane, Kassel,

Michael Budden at Travis Gallery Urban Impressions is an exhibition of works by New Jersey artist Michael Budden, a painter whose subject matter includes wildlife, landscapes, seascapes and urban city scenes. Although most of his subject matter is found not far from his home in Chesterfield, the artist has traveled to the Rocky Mountains to paint. Budden has won numerous awards throughout his career, including the Salmagundi Club (2003 and 2004), Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award for A Landscape by an Artist Under 45, and the 2006 White House Painted Easter Egg representing New

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By Camae Ayewa.

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Wilmer Wilson IV, First Decision.

phy, Sydney; Casula Powerhouse, Sydney; Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; Pointe Ephemere, Paris; and in public spaces across Australia and in the United States; Catherine Pancake is an award-winning filmmaker and sound artist. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally in a wide variety of venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, Royal Ontario Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, Academy of Fine Arts Prague and Big Screen Plaza, Herald Square NYC; Mike Parr is a performance artist, draughtsman and printmaker; Adri Valeri Wens has had one solo show and one collaborative exhibition: Cinta Mati (Crazy Love), 2012 at MOP Projects and Monyet Gila: Episode One with Crazy Monkey at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, 2016 curated by Natalie King and Mikala Tai; Wilmer Wilson IV’s recent exhibitions include IDENTIFY: Performance Art as Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery (2015), Performing Portraiture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2015), and State of the Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of Art (2014) among others. His work is in public and private collections internationally. Through October 23. Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St., Philadelphia. n

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EXHIBITIONS

Autumn Glory at Phillips’ Mill, by John C. Mertz, oil, 16×20 Blue Stream, 14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 (Detail)

87th Annual Exhibition Alluvial Years: Artist Joseph Barrett of Lahaska Silverman Gallery, 4920 York Rd., Holicong, PA Buckingham Green (Rte. 202, south of Peddler’s Village) 215-794-4300 Silvermangallery.com Through October 30; Reception October 2, 1-4 PM Barrett has lived and painted in the area since 1970, creating iconic images of Bucks County. A disciplined and prolific painter, he paints every day in his tiny Lahaska studio. He admits, “I am driven to paint. It is part of how I live. Once I have an idea, the urge is there to do what I have imagined.”

The artist is known for the signature frames that make his paintings truly stand apart. Beautifully crafted, gilded and incised, they pay homage to early Bucks County frame makers, Harer and Badura.

The Phillips' Mill (oil on linen on board) by Luiz Vilela is the painting selected by the Art Committee for its 2013 campaign.

Woman in Tulips, 14 x 12 inches, oil on canvas board

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Phillips’ Mill 2619 River Rd., (Rte. 32) New Hope, PA Through October 29, Daily 1-5 PM 215-862-0582 Phillipsmill.org Jurors selected 93 framed pieces and 20 sculptures to exhibit during the 87th annual Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition. Since its beginning in 1929, the Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition has been the premier art show in the Delaware Valley. Founded by the legendary greats William Lathrop, Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber and William Taylor, the early shows were a way to display their work for their friends. Famous artists from the New Hope Impressionist School began to exhibit, including John Folinsbee, George Sotter, Henry Leith-Ross, Rae Sloan Bredin and Fern Coppedge, all represented in major museums worldwide.

This year’s jurors are watercolorist Howard Watson, of Wyncote; Holly Trostle Brighman, an oil and watercolorist from Philadelphia; graphics specialist Ron Wyffels, of Havertown; sculptor Jennifer Frudakis, of Doylestown; and sculptor Joe Mooney, of Philadelphia.

Charles McVicker, a Princeton, N.J., watercolor, oil and acrylic painter, is this year’s honored artist.

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Art at Kings Oaks Kings Oaks Farm, 756 Worthington Mill Rd, Newtown, PA 10/8-9, 10/15-16, 10am-5pm Opening 10/7, 6-9 PM; Closing 10/16, 12-4 PM kingsoaksart.wordpress.com Art at Kings Oaks, a unique pop-up art show in Bucks County, presents twenty visual artists from across the U.S. and abroad. The exhibition takes place in an historic barn and chapel on Kings Oaks Farm in Newtown, PA. Curator Alex Cohen says the show, now in its fourth year, promises to be the most exciting yet, bringing together a cadre of ambitious makers and prominent contemporaries. “I admire their pursuit of individual vision, attention to craft, and the poetic depth of their work.” Only on view for the first two weekends of October, Art at Kings Oaks blooms briefly but vibrantly.

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theater VALLEY

CITY

Carrie: The Musical. A fire-and-brimstone mother, hellish high schoolers and the sadistic pressures of adolescence compel a blooming wallflower to use her telekinetic powers for Armageddon. A 2008 Broadway disaster, this adaptation of Stephen King’s novel and Brian De Palma’s film has had a happier second life in a rewrite by composer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford, who scored big time by scoring the movie Fame. Footlight footnote: Carrie opened in Stratford-upon-Avon, hometown of Shakespeare, a master of miraculous carnage and indelible revenge, and featured Barbara Cook, the vaunted cabaret vocalist, and Darlene Love, the rock ‘n’ roll queen.

(Civic Theatre of Allentown, Oct. 7-8, 13-16, 20-23) November. A wacky presidential race deserves David Mamet’s wacky play about an incumbent president juggling the concerns of everyone from lesbians to casino chiefs the day before his second presidential election. Crowded Kitchen Players, a resourceful maker of original political comedies, tackle a work inspired by the wacky ritual of presidents pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys. (Oct. 7, 9, 15-16, 21, Charles Brown Ice House, Bethlehem) The Secret Garden. Musician Lucy Simon and playwright Marsha Norman created this 1991 musical based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved 1911 novel about an orphaned youngster who helps heal sick plants and people. Winner of three Tony awards, the play helps christen Lafayette College’s new Buck Hall, a cubistic home for theater and film. (Oct. 26-30) The Pirates of Penzance. Gilbert & Sullivan’s swashbuckling operetta sails around a romance between a major-general’s daughter and an apprentice pirate doomed to be a highseas understudy simply because he was born in a leap year.

The musical is staged by Muhlenberg College’s theatre department, a G&S specialist recently crowned by The Princeton Review as the country’s top undergraduate stage program. (Oct. 28-30, Nov. 3-6) A Shakespeare trilogy. Civic Theatre of Allentown hosts an Oct. 6 live telecast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet updated with calypso singing and graffiti spraying. The Oct. 13 selection is a film of the Stratford Festival’s The Tempest starring Christopher Plummer as Prospero. The series ends with an Oct. 20 screening of Stratford’s Antony and Cleopatra featuring Yanna McIntosh, a Jamaican-born veteran of Canadian TV, and Geraint Wyn Davies, a Welsh-born veteran of such Shakespeare heavyweights as Petruchio and Prospero.

Emotional Creature. Six young women speak and sing their issues and dreams, sorrows and joys in this live-wire work by Eve Ensler, who made the taboo terrific in The Vagina Monologues. (Cedar Crest College, Nov. 3-6) 12 Steps. Presented last month by Selkie Theatre at Bethlehem’s Ice House, this solo show is Rich Sautter’s entertaining, enlightening way of coping with his addiction to acting, his professional ecstasy/misery for a quarter century. Hopscotching on the stones of Alcoholics Anonymous, he relentlessly analyzes his faults (neglecting his children, depleting family savings), grudges (obnoxiously loud auditioners, line-forgetting ad libbers) and higher powers (company camaraderie, audience applause). Neatly balancing righteous indignation with wry calm, he declines to divulge his personal moral inventory and declares that the worst moralists are reformed drunks, a species he knows well from his many years as a bartender. Confessions are leavened and enlivened by such theatrical flourishes as a live phone call to a former co-actor to find out if he unduly offended her onstage. After absolving him, she made him speak in an accent, a Sautter specialty. Taut and tart, 12 Steps would be an excellent empowerment talk. It certainly made me question my mania for perfect writing. n — geoff geHmAn 12

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The Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The Festival might as well be called Fringe Subsidy Publishing, LLC. Participating artists pay an entry fee and then rent a venue space, meaning that moneyed people with minimal talent can become temporary “artists.” The big challenge is coming up with a zany, absurdist skit and then getting your friends to be actors. Fringe Arts founder Ezra Buzzington, formerly known as Jonathan Harris, likes to say what the Fringe is not: sloppy, late, unprofessional, ego-driven or amateurist. This is definitely true in an alternate universe.

Grounded. Playwright George Brant says he spent five months researching his play, Grounded, about drone warfare. “I wasn’t expecting to write about pilots,” he wrote, “but during my research I was struck by the fact that during Obama’s first three months in office, he was using three times as many drone attacks as Bush did.” Grounded became an off-Broadway hit in 2015 when Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway was in the pilot’s seat.

Philadelphia gets Grounded when director Kathryn MacMillan teams up with actress Kittson O’Neill for InterAct Theatre’s production of this famous one woman show (until October 23). O’Neill plays the pilot who bombs targets 12 hours a day without ever having to leave the Velveeta cheese comfort of her Air Force trailer. How will all this armchair warfare affect the psyche of this hard working woman? “What makes Brant’s play exceptional is its driving, white-hot sense of identification with a woman who is not, on the face of it, a sympathetic character,” Scotland’s Scotsman reported. interacttheatre.org/20152016-season When the Rain Stops Falling. The fish that audiences will see fall from the sky during the Wilma’s production of When the Rain Stops Falling has a counterpart in real life: the foot-long (smelly) catfish dropped by a bird of prey that hit a woman in the face in Fairmount Park. You might as well call this bird That Stupid F*cking Bird, also the name of an adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull by the Arden’s Aaron Posner. This irreverent, contemporary madcap take on The Seagull promises a lot of direct audience “addresses” and (according to a 2015 American Theatre Review), “rants about the uselessness of contemporary theatre” where “the word ‘sucks’ comes up often as does the F word that rhymes with it.” The play goes much deeper than hipster curse rants, however. Scripted

by Posner in 2013, TSFB has played all over the U.S. to generally good reviews if only because there’s no subject like unrequited love to get audiences to shed a tear or clench a fist at their personal, unpleasant memories.

Mrs. Warren’s Profession. England’s Spectator magazine calls George Bernard Shaw “a smug and overrated babbler,” whose plays are “like reading a billion tweets at one sitting.” But this “nimblest of storytellers” continues to hit pay dirt with his classic Mrs. Warren’s Profession, about a high-class prostitute and brothel keeper played by five-time Barrymore Award nominee, Mary Martello, whose reunion with daughter Vivie (Claire InieRichards) at The Lantern (until October 9) sets off a chain reaction with a number of predatory men. The legendary Martello delivers a flawless performance; she’s also fun to watch as she dons big Victorian hats. Inie-Richards captures the soulless quality of the unforgiving Vivie when Mrs. Warren comes clean about her job, though Vivie becomes human when she sheds a few tears. Vivie may be Shaw’s “New Woman,” but she lacks her mother’s there there. David Bardeen as the blunt-to-the-bone, hyper-masculine Mr. Praed gives the play its finest dialogue. Actor Daniel Fredrick as Frank Gardner becomes the classic image of the beautiful Victorian lad in the style of Brideshead Revisited, while John Lopes as the Rev. Samuel Gardner and Andrew Criss as Sir George Crofts keep the acting levels in Mrs. Warren’s Profession pretty much close to perfect.

South Pacific. The American classic, Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, has been packing them in at The Walnut Street Theatre. Catch this time capsule gem with powerful musical lyrics and surprising literary references (Andre Gide and Marcel Proust) before October 23. This impeccable production is a credit to WST’s Artistic Director, Bernard Havard, and writer James Michener's 1947 novel, Tales of the South Pacific, on which the show is based. n — tHom nickels

ICEPACK

A.d. Amorosi

Rizzo the Philadelphia mayor may not be a welcome totem for all natives of the city, yet as an artistic phenomenon, he’s a smash. The late, harsh, racially insensitive police commissioner, mayor, and AM radio host, has been the center of playwright Bruce Graham, lead actor Scott Greer, and director/artistic boss Joe Canuso’s (through Theater Exile) collective world since 2015.

Now in production, however, on the larger stages of Broad Street’s Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Rizzo may just occupy even more of Graham, Greer and Canuso’s time. Rumor has the show becoming the SRT’s best and quickest selling venture with discussions afloat for extending its run into Joe Canuso, Scott Greer, Sal Paolantonio, Bruce Graham, Sara Garonzik November (but only until, like November 8, as PTC’s next show, Found, starts on November 9). In further PTC news, there has been no movement on finding a replacement for the company’s longtime Executive Producing Director Sara Garonzik, who recently left her post after three decades for a career in independent production. Owing to the fact that Garoznik has loads of PTC stuff on her desk that should take some time before she gets through it—happily, she might be around Broad Street for a while.

When Jenkintown/Philly’s Leslie Odom Jr.—a Tony award-winner for his role as Aaron Burr in the Broadway wooly mammoth that is Hamilton—stepped away from the hip hop-endowed historical musical, he knew he was stepping into further success as his debut solo album (an eponymously titled jazz affair) hit the iTunes charts at #1 upon release. Odom will now focus on film as he’s rumored to be signing onto Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express at Fox. Branagh will also star in the new adaptation as Detective Hercule Poirot with no word yet as to what role Odom will portray. The project sounds lovely and top notch, especially when you consider that Angelina Jolie had once been connected to the project. No word on whether or how much her Brad Pitt split had to do with this decision.

Everybody who knows Philly knows that part of the brain trust behind the longtime FXX Network show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia—Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson—also have a piece of the new, old-school designer dive bar in town known as Mac’s Tavern on Market Street. Good trashy fun. A real beef-beer-‘n’-shots joint. That’s why it’s even more fun that the non-Hollywood owners behind Mac’s Tavern in Old City have finally opened James at the one-time home of Mission Grill on Logan Circle. The shockingly chic “restaubar” is even named for Mr. Logan and boasts glowing white tile designs, private dining rooms in its vault area (the whole building was once used as a bank) and a swellegant cocktail and chef-driven menu with drinks such as Basil’s Sidecar leading the (ice)pack. Yum. No word on its precise opening night, and what that will hold in terms of celebrity guests. Remember though, when Mac’s opened, everyone from the It’s Always Sunny crew showed up. n

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the list

OCTOBER 4 KANYE WEST

8 VANESSA WILLIAMS

14 CLAMS CASINO/LIL B

The on-line only The Life of Pablo confounded you. His Yeezy clothing line annoys you. His marriage to a Kardashian steams you. His consistently annoying self-hype and adoration at the cost of all others makes you boil at his childishness, thinking of how he stupidly balances the churlishly boyish and the brilliant. Oh, wait, that’s what I think. (Wells Fargo Center)

Williams has come a long way since her Miss America pageant days—Kiss of the Spi-

Two of avant hip hop’s most radial yet commercial sound men team up for a cool showcase. (Trocadero) 15/16/28 ANDERSON, RABIN & WAKEMAN

Look, without Chris Squire, the currently touring roadshow of YES is a dismal fake with just its guitarist and drummer to legitimize it. Singer Jon Anderson, its most loved keyboardist Rick Wakeman and one-time member Trevor Rabin team for old classics and new songs. Plus if you ask nice, Wakeman will probably play Bowie’s "Life on Mars" upon which he trilled on piano in 1971. (Keswick/Borgata)

5 BAD RELIGION & AGAINST ME!

The hardcore metal legends and the fussy nu-punk giants (led by transgender powerhouse Laura Jane Grace) make for one loud, powerhouse double bill. (Fillmore) 5 MIDGE URE

The biggest voice to come out of Scotland since William Wallace has led Britain’s synthlords Ultravox to its greatest successes, cowrote Do They Know Its Christmas and co-

der Woman on Broadway, Colors of the Wind from Disney’s Pocahontas film, R&B anthems galore—and will gather them all handsomely for Zoellner Arts Center’s 20th anniversary gala. (Zoellner Arts Center)

19 LALAH HATHAWAY & MUSIQ SOULCHILD

Two of not-so-modern-sounding young R&B’s best singers hit the big room in Upper Darby. Soulchild used to live in Philly, so welcome him home. (Tower)

10 CHARLIE PUTH

Teen pop’s piano-banging answer to the question "what would happen if Todd Rundgren adopted all the Jonas Brothers" is still riding the wave of his Nine Track Mind album. (Fillmore) 12 BOB WEIR

Though there is no word as to what he is doing with The Dead and John Mayer going

forward, Grateful Bob Weir takes the reigns of his own solo career and releases the country-ish, honky-tonk-ing Blue Mountain with members of The National and folkie lyricist Josh Ritter. (Trocadero)

8 IAN HUNTER

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28 PENN & TELLER

21 SIA: NOSTALGIC FOR THE PRESENT TOUR WITH MIGUEL & ALUNA GEORGE

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Headhouse Square’s favorite expatriates (and now diet book writers where Penn Jilette’s Presto! Is concerned) bring snark, doubt and caustic wonder to feats of magic and illusion. (State Theatre, Easton)

Oooh, having a loud splashy 23-piece Brazilian funk jazz band so close to Mischief Night, the mind reels. Yet, the loud, brash party that is PhillyBloco is mischievous no matter when they hit the stage. (Ardmore Music Hall) 29 CYRILLE AIMÉE

7 STURGILL SIMPSON: A SAILOR’S GUIDE TO EARTH

One-time leader of Mott the Hoople and the singer/songwriter gifted with “All the Young Dudes” from David Bowie looks back at his time with Ziggy Stardust on a new album, Rant, musing about old age and youthful indiscretions. (Ardmore Music Hall)

The one-time singer/shouter/weight-lifting lyricist for Black Flag and Rollins Band has mostly given up the hardcore life for speaking tours and humorous lectures. Yet, what I wouldn’t do to hear him screech and watch the veins pop from his neck again.

(Trocadero)

Long considered a “Poet of the Black Revolution,” the politically active wordsmith and speaker should have plenty to say about each and every headline currently affecting black and white America. (Zoellner Arts Center)

22 OH WHAT A NIGHT: DOO WOP, SOUL AND EARLY ROCK N’ ROLL VOCAL GREATS

One of nu-country’s smartest, most controversial storytellers (tendentious because he refuses to toady to the bro country establishment) brings one of this year’s ten best albums to a big room. (Fillmore)

24/25 HENRY ROLLINS

20 NIKKI GIOVANNI

With Sia, there is much to make fun of— the wigs, the refusal to stand face front when before the cameras. What isn’t funny is her dramatic singing skills and her remarkable craftsmanship as an epic soul-pop songwriter. (Wells Fargo Center)

created the Live Aid charity and is a surprisingly warm and humorous live entertainer who has scads of new, hummable historic songs to witness. Weirdly enough, another icon of proto-punk, Television’s Richard Lloyd, is his opener. Wow. (World Café Live)

alypse party you might be planning. (Electric Factory)

Cool Bobby C is the Sirius XM satellite equivalent of Philly’s Jerry Blavat and on a regular basis brings the toast of the most of the 50s best vocal groups and single artists to the stage. This time, the legendary likes of Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, The Duprees, The Jarmels and The Fireflies get their due.

13 M83

Glossy American television themes from the 80s (think Miami Vice) and early Brit synth pop (e.g. Depeche Mode) has no better friend than French electronic musician Anthony Gonzalez, Ooh la la. (Fillmore)

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22 DIE ANTWOOD

Australian by way of Berlin by way of Hell, this barely dressed techno-industrial-discometal duo dressed for Mad Max movies is the soundtrack to any scorched earth apoc-

Brooklyn-based, but decidedly French angelic gypsy-jazz diva Cyrille Aimée has more weird rhythmic twists in her songs than an Argentinian tango. Check out her new album Let’s Get Lost showcase and hear how. (Zoellner Arts Center) 31 THE B-52S

Look, if you see a painted sign on the side of the road…. It most certainly is the Southern king and queens (Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pearson) of the rock lobstering new wave dancing their mess around.

As always. That they’e doing so on Halloween should be both a welcome bag of tricks and treats. (Fillmore) n

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film

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A Man Called Ove

N THE END, MY grandmother resided in an assisted living facility. “Resided” is inexact as she declined rehabilitation and ignored opportunities to engage. Grandma had been a widow for more than 20 years and the societal norms of the 1940s dragged her into domesticity after years spent studying piano at a conservatory. The pain festered. It was easier to suffer than to try. She spent years waiting to die until a shattered leg and a stopped heart accelerated the process.

I wonder how many employees only saw a bitter old woman averse to happiness, or if they couldn’t contemplate it because they held onto their own speeding lives.

Movies, however, provide a pause to learn about what we overlook. By examining the creation of a crabby old man, Sweden’s beautiful hit A Man Called Ove (opening in Philadelphia October 7) shows us that our past is our present—if we want it to be. The movie is distinctly uncinematic: the sun doesn’t shine brighter as the title character’s circle of friends expands; in fact, when the sun appears, the old man collapses. Because the grandeur is shelved in favor of authenticity, A Man Called Ove hits us harder.

Ove (the superb Rolf Lassgård) is 59 years old and

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has the bearing of a concrete wall. Everything about him is rigid: the way he’s packed into his monotone, crisp clothes; he sounds like a drill sergeant barking orders to his cadets. From testing the locks around his dainty housing complex to committing suicide, order is his life’s driving force.

Freshly widowed, Ove knows nobody who appreciates his hardline stance. He might as well join his lone ally. So he dresses in a suit, hooks up a cord to a hook on the ceiling, and gets to it. But he’s interrupted by the clumsy, noisy arrival of the new neighbors, a young couple with two little girls—good people, but overwhelmed.

The wife, Parvaneh (Bahar Pars), a no-bullshit Persian, sees Ove’s gruffness as selflessness. He becomes her steadying hand, much to his growing consternation (and acceptance).

Ove is constantly interrupted from ending his life by helping others with theirs, which would be a cheap comic irony, except Ove recounts his life—presented in flashbacks—during each attempt. Happiness is an elusive concept: the angry commitment toward order comes from a dark, sad place. Writer-director Hannes Holm (working from Fredrik Backman’s novel) employs re-

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straint in retelling the past, like Ove does, so the man’s story levels us. The portrayals of tragedy come from a distance: a long shot of a loved one’s demise; Ove heading to a restroom, followed by a pause and then literal tumult.

Holms stirs our souls by being real at every turn, so it produces an emotional effect, not an artificially enhanced “cinematic” one. All that Holms wants is understanding, which his straightforward presentation allows.

Another huge benefit is the cast. The actors resemble regular people. Aside from the perfect stony appearance, Lassgård gives the character’s rancor a theatrical, comic bite, so we see Ove’s goodness. We want to see him saved. Pars mixes brightness and brittleness perfectly: she’s the perfect foil to drag Ove back into the living.

I felt for Ove because I wanted him to have the relief my grandmother declined. Late in the movie, Ove moans to Parvaneh that there was nothing before his wife’s arrival or after her death. “I’m something,” she responds. I wish my grandmother realized that pity keeps us from the people who can pull us through our pain, including ourselves. Any movie that can summon that kind of truth is one you love, even if it hurts to acknowledge it. [NR] n

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The Magnificent Seven

…because The Pretty Decent Seven doesn’t have the same ring

BEFORE WE GO ON another “Oh, yet another Hollywood remake” let us look at history: The original Magnificent Seven (1960) was itself a Western-set remake of the 1954 Japanese classic Seven Samurai, set in that country’s 16th century. The plot is basic: A small village is besieged by very bad people and some badass characters are assembled to help them deal with the bad guys. In the 2016 version, Bogue, an industrial tycoon, wants to drive settlers off their land as their presence interferes with his mining operation. Emma (Haley Bennett), whose husband was murdered by the minions of Bogue, recruits a warrants officer, Chisolm (Denzel Washington) to see that justice, or revenge, will be served. Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), such a cold-hearted bastard that Andrew Carnegie would’ve been ashamed to be seen with him, has bought off the local sheriff and terrifies the citizenry at will. Chisolm uses his knowledge of territory gunfighters/criminals and army vets to gather six other gents, forming an alliance to get the job done. Their motivation vague—we are given the impression, is that these are guys who are “between engagements” and itching to put their violent skills to work,

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preferably for the good cause.

This Seven is a more diverse lot than the original Seven (Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn), including a Mexican bounty hunter (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Comanche (Martin Sensmeier), and an Asian (Byung-Hun Lee). An unrecognizable Vincent D’Onofrio portrays Jack Horne, a wild-eyed mountain man with a strangely high-pitched voice, and Ethan Hawke portrays a Civil War hero that may or may not have lost his nerve. What makes this lot so endearing is the droll, macho comraderie. While not best buddies, this lot avoids the other obvious trope of movies like this, namely “guys that spend almost as much time fighting each other as they do fighting their enemy.” Some are friendlier than others, but everyone seems to have a respect (grudging or not) for each other. We get to know them by their interactions with each other, as this is a plot-driven movie.

This Magnificent Seven is not a revisionist western, a satire, or anti-western—it’s simply an old-fashioned western: Good guys vs. bad guys, with plenty of violent gunplay and beautiful Arizona vistas. The performances are

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mostly excellent—no one overacts or under-acts. Denzel Washington seems a natural for westerns, balancing lanky, understated cool and sturdy macho; Chris Pratt is present for sex appeal and comedy relief. Bennett is the sole female character here, and she plays a lady who struggles to gain some equal footing with the Seven, and she conveys lots of emotion with fleeting facial expressions. While there’s plenty of violence, this Seven puts emphasis on planning and strategy along with motivating and training the residents to fight along with them.

Direction by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer, both with Denzel W) is unfussy, well-paced, and straightforward, and (for a change) the action scenes are filmed so we can see what is happening to whom. Further, there’s none of this “naturalistic” shaky-camera nonsense. Without seeming at all retro (for an example of this as an oddly entertaining misfire, see 1985’s Rustler’s Rhapsody), this is an example of westerns as they were made in the 1960s. The only sour note in this otherwise enjoyable, engaging shoot-‘em-up is the way someone had to work the word “magnificent” into the dialogue. n

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INTErview

See EMILY Play

E

ESPERANZA SPALDING’S ALTER EGO SHAKES OUT THE JAMS ON HER NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

ESPERANZA SPALDING ISN’T AN actor, nor does she play one on television.

What she does, and does well—Grammy Award-winning well—is compose, play bass and sing primarily within, but hardly restricted to, the jazz idiom. Though it has been ten years since she shook loose her tree and dropped her debut album, Junjo, in 2006, it wasn’t until nearly traditional Chamber Music Society (2010), and its mixed bag follow-up, Radio Music Society (2012), that she began to make identifiably commercial waves. So to make her NEXT album then the work of a Beyonce/Sasha Fierce-like alter-ego would seem as strange and commercially suicidal as it is musically daring, yet sleek. Somehow though, Spalding, her “character” Emily, and that personae’s 2016 released soundtrack, Emily’s D+Evolution, do all those things and with great funk, fuss and frenetic-ism.

“The genesis of this album hit me not too long before I started recording it— October 17, 2014—and I wasn’t entirely sure what motivated it at first,” says Spalding about the start of figuring out who Emily was and why we should care about her devolution. “I didn’t know who she or what this would be. It’s refreshing, though, to know I was thinking of wider, farther reaching horizons. I knew that she was ripe with potential—I felt that.”

Instinct such as this has long been part of how Spalding—trad jazz’s shining hope—a beautiful stand-up bassist with an Afro to rival SPALDING, A VIVIDLY ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSER, SAW VIGNETTES ?uestlove, a Berklee College of RATHER THAN FEVER DREAMS WHEN IT CAME TO SEEING EMILY Music instructor, a composer PLAY. “THE STATUE CAME ALIVE AND PLAYED WITH SOME KIDS; of Afro-Cuban soul jazz songs, a session woman for Joe LoTHESE WERE THE PICTURES IN MY MIND WHEN EMILY STARTED TO vano and Charlie Haden—has APPEAR,” SAYS THE BASSIST/COMPOSER.…THIS MIGHT NOT HAVE navigated her career. She feels ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHERE EMILY IS NOW, BUT THAT’S things out and then plays to WHERE SHE STARTED FOR ME IN MY HEAD.” the aura, the vibe. It’s almost as if she’s bass-ing and singing around the spirit of a melody without losing its linear Magnetic North.

Instead of sticking to jazz smoothness or even her everyday hairdo, Spalding and legendary David Bowie producer Tony Visconti crafted an animated, dynamic, rock-out fusion work—think Jimi Hendrix fronting Weather Report—that doesn’t lack Spalding’s usual sense of harmonic invention or smart vocalese.

What came out of Spalding, starting on October 17, was Emily. “You how when you imagine your friend getting married but you haven’t witnessed the ceremony yet because it hasn’t happened, but you know it’s going to happen when it happens and the images flash through your brain of the chapels, the white veils, the dress, the way the trees look swaying through the breeze, the ornamentation of flowers? That’s how it passed through me, the way that I was imagining Emily and what her character was about in that first volley of inspiration.”

Spalding, a vividly atmospheric composer, saw vignettes rather than fever dreams when it came to seeing Emily play. She saw statues being pelted with water balloons with the water dripping down to reveal brilliant rainbow colors before the

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marble surface. “The statue came alive and played with some kids; these were the pictures in my mind when Emily started to appear,” says the bassist/composer.

“This might not have anything to do with where Emily is now, but that’s where she started for me in my head. The allegories of it all speak to me in different ways now, skewed out from that first jolt of inspiration. I didn’t understand what they meant then. As they got further unpacked through iterations of the show, they morphed. As we unpack even more, the further and wider those images fly.”

Finding deeper connections between her dreams and her lyrics, more so than she intuitively understood at first, Spalding processed her ideas and instincts as they ripened with potential. “The initial inspiration had to be strong,” she says. “If not, it couldn’t have been the whole project it is.” Along with the lyrics, Spalding— her sounds, drafts, sketches, and song titles—allowed its “energy and aesthetics” to become dissonant and cacophonous. “I don’t know if it’s any more dissonant than my usual, but its discord was in accord with what I was seeing in my head.”

If any producer can aid an artist through such sounds and visions, it is Tony Visconti, the man behind a row of David Bowie albums, up-to-and-including 2016’s Blackstar, his final album. Since an artist who shifts persona is Visconti’s stock-intrade, he gives Spalding’s new voice a warm, wide berth to jump through hoops of mangy No Wave [a short-lived avant-garde music and art scene in the ’70s] rhythmic angularity. “No, I didn’t know his name, but I knew his work.” She checked out one of her favorite new albums and found Visconti’s name attached to it—“all with a very loud, and in your face sound.” That was Bowie’s surprise 2013 album, The Next Day. She and Visconti got together and got along quite quickly, she says, and the producer was a whiz when putting her through filters and effects she had not really considered for her music.

Having spoken to Visconti right after the release of Emily’s D+Evolution, he said he thought of Spalding as a “brilliant musician and an innovative artist,”—high praise from a producer who not only worked on Bowie’s best, but Marc Bolan, Morrissey and more. “After Tony and I had finished working, I toured that album around for almost a year before I released it,” she says of Emily’s lived-in fictionfunk. “After that, the music had changed completely and I recorded more of it in front of a live audience. The album then is a mix of the two vibes.”

Be it the militaristic “Elevate or Operate,” the spacious “One,” and the jiving “Funk the Fear,” Spalding’s Emily sounds like the youthful pangs of a kid singing their way through socially/sexually aware longings and political leanings. With that self-awareness and zeal, don’t expect Spalding to look backward and play the old familiar songs you loved form previous albums outside of the Emily experience.

“When I tour one new album, I don’t play music from my other albums. The groups I use fit each of my repertoires.” But she’s not going to tour around for so long either; Emily—her time is coming to an end. Like lava from a volcano, once the eruption occurs, the channel is open. It’s an event, an emergence you make sense of, the energy she brings—and then it’s over. “[Emily’s] not an alter ego. She came to do what she came to do and then she’s gone.”

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Photo: Holly Andres.

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feature

The Entertainment Oz Five years after opening at a defunct steel plant, SteelStacks is a cultural crucible and a social beehive

Artsquest Center. Photo: JonathanDavies

IT’S AN ALPHABET soup-to-nuts day at SteelStacks, the entertainment Oz planted at Bethlehem Steel’s defunct plant. The Aardvarks perform garage rock in a space-age shed in front of five six-story blast furnaces.

David Crosby sings his hippie anthems in a café with two-story windows overlooking the furnaces, which at night turn Tequila Sunrise colors. More than 8,000 soccer fans watch an outdoor telecast of the U.S. women’s team running away with the World Cup, their cheers and chants turning a parking lot by the furnaces into a United Nations satellite.

It’s one of hundreds of stacked-deck days at SteelStacks, which in five years has become the Lehigh Valley’s biggest cultural crucible and busiest social beehive.

Last year an estimated 800,000 visitors, nearly the Valley’s 22

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population, came to the campus for concerts, comedy shows, films, award programs, corporate parties, weddings, charity races, history tours and a telecast of the Pope’s mass in Philadelphia.

A special place deserves a special story. Below is an alphabetic soup-to-nuts tour of SteelStacks, where many days are as festive as a festival.

A: One of SteelStacks’ most dramatic elements is Elena Columbo’s “The Bridge,” a 72-foot-long steel arch lit every hour at night by 37 feet of scurrying flame. The sculpture symbolizes bridges, including the Golden Gate, built with Bethlehem steel. The flame symbolizes the fire needed to make pig iron in the blast furnaces, which were labeled A to E.

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B: The 1910 debut of Bethlehem Steel’s company band is depicted in a photographic mural covering a wall by the main entrance of the ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks’ $36 million hub.

C: SteelStacks is the Valley’s Comedy Central, hosting an improv festival, classes, quirky programs (i.e., Choose Your Own Misadventure) and a host of such wellknown comedians as Tig Notaro, who was so impressed by the Musikfest Café’s luminous vibes, she performed for ten minutes without lights or amplification. Last year humor was crowned king when Jerry Seinfeld became Musikfest’s first comic headliner.

D: George Dennehy, born without arms and adopted from a Romanian orphanage at age one, provided Musikfest 2012’s most moving moment when he played guitar with his toes during the song “Iris” with The Goo Goo Dolls. The command performance was Dennehy’s reward for his viral version of “Iris” on YouTube.

E: ArtsQuest, SteelStacks’ nonprofit parent, estimates that the campus had a 2015 economic impact of $48.4 million, $19.1 million more than the 2011 projection.

Funds were generated by 1,200-plus corporate, community and social events, ranging from charity races to an Ellie Goulding concert in the parking lot of the next-door Sands Bethlehem Events Center.

F: Food became entertainment this summer when mobile eateries from Pennsylvania and New Jersey squared off in the Truck Border Brawl. On October 24 Pennsylvania chefs will square off in a pork cook-off.

G: The transformation of the blast furnaces into an entertainment venue was inspired by a blast-furnace cast house at a defunct steel mill in Duisburg, Germany converted into a recreation/heritage park with scuba diving in former gas tanks.

H: Opened last year, the Hoover-Mason Trestle is a $15 million promenade/park between the furnaces and the railway where iron ore, limestone and coke were hauled for pulverizing and melting into pig iron. Made of concrete and steel bars, the trail zigzags for a half mile around gardens bursting with such native plants as butterfly bushes, which flourished after the steel plant closed in 1995.

I: The newest attraction on the SteelStacks campus is the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem Steel’s former Electric Repair Shop. Christened in August, the Smithsonian affiliate is a 40,000-square-foot repository for over 200 artifacts, including the longest commercially operated steam engine.

J: “Josie” was co-written by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen, a famous sourpuss who confessed that he actually enjoyed performing by the blast furnaces in the tour-diary section of his memoir “Eminent Hipster.”

photograph Musikfest headliners from the media pit.

L: Fifty free concerts a year are presented at the Levitt Pavilion, a twisting, origami-shaped band shell below the furnaces. Everyone from the Blind Boys of Alabama to the Young Dubliners have played a shed sponsored by the Levitt Foundation, which supports music in neglected spaces in over 20 American communities. Very personal note: Ed Charles, my late hairdresser and a great guy, requested memorial donations to keep Levitt free.

M: More than 200,000 people have watched over 800 movies, most of them independent, art and/or foreign, on two screens. Oscar-winning features (Spotlight) and Oscar-winning documentaries (20 Feet from Stardom) have shared theaters with musicians playing live soundtracks and comedians mocking films so bad they’re good.

N: The North Penn High School Navy Jazz Band won a 2015 contest that enabled the ensemble to open a

K: After-school programs for kids, including one for an arts-poor Catholic school, are underwritten by ArtsQuest’s Artist and Arts Education Funds, which are underwritten by such events as Photopass, where youngsters

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bad movie

God’s Not Dead 2 FEW THINGS ARE MORE divisive, yet oddly unifying, than politics and religion. But the political aspects of our existence can be quantified, whereas religion cannot. So we can have all kinds of discussions and arguments about the latter, and everybody could be right…or wrong, depending on which side of the “argument” you happen to be.

This is a movie about Faith…at least on the surface.

Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina The Teenage Witch) is Grace (subtle, huh?), a high school history teacher who answers a student’s observation that the teachings of Jesus Christ, M. Gandhi, and MLK are on the same page. Faster than you can say “lawsuit” the kid’s parents find out and Grace is under siege for bringing her faith into the classroom. Most fervent atheists will admit that Jesus was a real person who was persecuted for His faith and/or political views, and there is commonality with revered secular figures throughout history. The school board asks Grace to recant and repent, and she will not. Grace is suspended without pay and the school board puts ma-

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chinery in motion to bounce her from the school and the teaching profession.

Courtroom antics ensue in which the very existence of God is at stake. Representing the forces on the offended parents’ side is Peter Kane (Ray Wise, who played Satan in the TV series Reaper), the stereotype of the sleazy lawyer, who says with oily glee, “This is our chance to prove God is dead!” Robin Givens is the frost queen principal, who comes off as Henry Kissinger with even less warmth. Ernie Hudson portrays the standard issue bellicose/bellowing judge.

GND2 is so heavy-handed, it’s hard to endure, as is the music that telegraphs how the audience should feel during a given scene. Every character has a halo or horns—there is no in-between, no ambiguity. Except of course, Grace’s lawyer Tom (Jesse Metcalfe, Desperate Housewives), a poor but dedicated-to-his-client attorney that is, conveniently or not, a non-believer. All the Christian characters—no Jewish, Hindu, or Muslim characters present—are kind, patient, good-hearted. The atheists

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are all villains (miserable, emotionally distant, sneering, cynical) that want to obliterate the concept of a Supreme Being in Charge. That, Dear Reader, is what card players might call “stacking the deck,” especially as one of the positive human attributes that Jesus preached was humility.

The dialogue is bland and unrealistic—unless you speak in phrases from pamphlets or like villains from 1950s comic books—and the outcome is never in doubt.

Some of the legalistic courtroom hooey wouldn’t float in an old Perry Mason episode: there’s even a moment when the more seasoned movie fan would expect good lawyer Tom to shout, “This whole court is OUT of ORDER!” and son of a gun, he practically does. Pat Boone plays Grace’s lovably cantankerous and (to the surprise of no one) very religious father. On the plus side, Hart and Metcalfe do well with what they were given to work with.

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film roundup

The Handmaiden.

Arrival (Dir. Denis Villeneuve). Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker. Québécois auteur Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) helms this thinking man’s science fiction feature about a linguist (Amy Adams) and a scientist (Jeremy Renner) recruited to decode the language of squid-like aliens who have landed on Earth. That sounds like pure pulp, but Villeneuve and screenwriter Eric Heisserer, adapting a short story by Ted Chiang, treat everything (aside from costar Forest Whitaker’s distracting Bah-stun accent) with utter solemnity. The visuals are dour and the mood is often stultifyingly dull, though the time-bending, tear-jerking finale, criticized by some as a cop-out, actually deepens much of what comes before.

A shame it takes nearly two tedious hours to get to that provocative endpoint. [PG13] HH1/2 The Handmaiden (Dir. Park Chan-wook).

Starring: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jungwoo. You expect Korea’s Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) to push the boundaries of good taste. So it’s kind of a surprise that he

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keeps things more or less subdued in this two-and-a-half hour revenge thriller about a handmaiden (Kim Tae-ri) running a con on her Japanese mistress (Kim Min-hee)… or is she? “Subdued” is, of course, a funny word to use about a film that includes a pre-cunnilingus vaginal point-of-view shot.

But Park proceeds through this twisty tale with a leisureliness that’s way too dutiful and pro forma. The lush period décor (the film is set in 1930s Korea) does most of the stimulating, though Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri do work up some physically and emotionally charged heat during a sex scene that rivals Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) for loving Sapphic coitus. [N/R]

HH1/2

Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (Dir. Jonathan Demme). Documentary. No one shoots musical performances quite like Jonathan Demme, whose Talking Heads-toplining doc Stop Making Sense (1984) is the gold standard for concert movies. His new feature (released on Netflix) is something of a stylistic companion piece to that film, though instead of a

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more niche musical act he trains his uniquely empathetic eye on a bona fide superstar. Endearing, eager-to-please singer/songwriter Justin Timberlake is the main attraction, closing out his two-yearlong 20/20 Experience Tour at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But Demme and cinematographer Declan Quinn give equal time to the show’s multiethnic backup ensemble (the eponymous Tennessee Kids) as they prance around with Timberlake on a stage that suggests a beehive ported over from the world of Tron. Whether you’re enamored of Timberlake’s electro-pop music or not, the filmmaking consistently offers elating pleasures, all while providing a multifaceted and very human view of a commercial celebrity at the peak of his audience-pleasing powers. [N/R] HHHHH Snowden (Dir. Oliver Stone). Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo. Of course Oliver Stone had to make a movie about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (very well mimicked

by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). And of course there’s a goofy quality to it that fits very

snugly with Stone’s oddball late style. The man who made the propulsive JFK (1991) is still in evidence, but he’s in a much more nothing-left-to-prove frame of mind.

There are the expected paranoia-tinged interludes, most of them featuring an imposing Rhys Ifans as Snowden’s Big Brother-esque mentor Corbin O’Brian.

But there are also some alternately charming and irritating rom-com longeurs between Snowden and his longtime, longsuffering girlfriend (Shailene Woodley), as well as a framing story featuring Snowden’s epochal Hong Kong meeting with filmmaker Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) and journalist Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) that’s just this side of a sketchshow parody. (And whatever Nicolas Cage is doing here as a cheerleading Snowden confidant is anyone’s guess—he seems to be fully committed and phoning it in simultaneously.) A strange brew for sure, no more so than when Snowden himself make a climactic appearance. But it’s an experience that sticks with you in the way only a very flawed, very personal film can.

[R] HHH1/2

S WA N

HOTEL Modern Cuisine h Classic Comfort Corner of Swan & Main Lambertville, NJ 609-397-3552

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dvds revieWed by george oxford miller

FILM

The Innocents (2016) HHHH Cast: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza Genre: Drama / Rated PG 13 In French, with English subtitles As is always the case, the victims of war extend far beyond the battlefield.

Though WWII had ended, the brutalities against the civilians never stopped. Russian soldiers occupying the country regularly invade a convent and rape the nuns. This moving story, adapted from a French doctor’s memoirs, explores how the nuns cope with the resulting pregnancies, ethical dilemmas, questions of faith, and selfincrimination. When one nun has a medical crisis during childbirth, Sister Maria (Buzek) sneaks into town to find Mathilde (de Laâge), a Red Cross doctor. Despite the shame of revealing the pregnant nuns, the Reverend Mother (Kulesza) grudgingly allows the doctor to treat the. As the story progresses, the nature of the conflicts each nun faces are artfully developed. As one nun says, they must endure 24 hours of pain, suffering, humiliation, and doubt for every one minute of hope. It seems the questions of morals, social ethics, and faith never change.

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Indignation (2016) HHHH Cast: Logan Lerman, Tracy Letts, Sarah Gadon Genre: Drama./ Rated R Based on the novel by Philip Roth.

Instead of sending his son off to fight in the Korean Conflict, a Jewish father in Newark sends him to a small Christian college in Ohio. Marcus Messner (Lerman) arrives equally thankful to escape his demanding parents and his father’s butcher shop. Marcus could join the small Jewish fraternity and go along to get along, but he’s too proud, and too indignant, to pose as someone he isn’t. Rebellious, naïve, and lacking interpersonal skills, he’s soon in the hot seat opposite Dean Caudwell (Letts) explaining why he refuses to attend the mandatory chapel services—not because he’s Jewish, but because he’s an atheist. His world really rocks when he falls for a mentally-disturbed coed, Olivia (Gadon). Fully nuanced characters struggling in a 1950’s culture of prejudice, distrust, and fear, a plot with raw nerves ricocheting like billiard balls, and superb acting take this coming-of-age tale far beyond the average boy-meets-girl melodrama.

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The Infiltrator (2016) HHHH Cast: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger Genre: Crime, Drama / Rated R Undercover agents depend on gaining the trust of targeted criminals, but what if an agent truly befriends the very man who would kill him in a flash? That was no problem for real-life U.S. Customs agent Bob Mazur (Cranston), who in 1985 went undercover to infiltrate Pablo Escobar's drug cartel. With a front as a money-laundering businessman, he works his way up the organization until he’s like family to the top lieutenant Roberto Alcaino. With his own family at home at night, by day Mazur builds his case by shuffling millions of dollars of drug money through international banks. The ensemble of Cranston, his wired-up partner (Leguizamo) and fictional fiancé (Kruger) carry the predictable plot with breathtaking risks to betray those who grow to trust and love them. You almost want Mazur to whisper a warning, but he has no intentions of springing the trap. By the time the sting is over, 85 drug lords and bankers are busted and one of the world’s largest international banks is closed.

A Bigger Splash (2016) HHHH Cast: Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson Genre: Drama, Mystery Rated R Reminiscent of the old question about what book you’d want on a desert island, rock star Marianne Lane (Swinton) has retreated to the volcanic Sicilian island of Pantelleria to recuperate vocal cord surgery. Accompanied by her hunky boyfriend Paul (Schoenaerts), she reads novels while he works on a documentary film. Suddenly their peaceful life of solitude and silence is ruptured when her old lover Harry (Fiennes), a famous record producer, bursts in unannounced with his new-found daughter Penelope (Johnson).

Loud, vulgar, witty, the licentious Harry keeps the pot boiling like an out-of-control pressure cooker. Set in incredibly beautiful landscapes and flaunting beautiful bodies, the poolside repartee gets more toxic as the plot inches toward impending disaster. This character-driven, dialogue-intense story delivers a slowcooking but sumptuous full-course meal with a high-tension dessert. n

A.d. Amorosi

MUSIC POP

BACK to MONO TALK TO FANS OF pop and ask “Are the original mono recordings better than the modern stereo equivalent?” and you’ll get heated responses that rival religion or sexuality. Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, The Beatles’ pre-1967 output along with fellow British Invasion icons such as the Kinks and The Who and much of the early Motown label’s albums offer heated debates as to EQ [equalization process] levels and funneling everything into one blunt burst of sound.

Audiophiles often speak of warmth, urgency, dimension, and intention when entering the mono debate, as if they’re talking about old boyfriends or girlfriends. Sure, George Martin heightened the impact of the Beatles’ mono output by focusing all of its dynamics into a single channel because that’s how most teens would have heard it—through small speakers on their transistor radios or close-n-play turntables. The youthquake of the 1960s—like young listeners

John Coltrane.

of the present—were more focused on the song than its sound.

A handful of new old collections pop up this month to show off the power of mono, or its faults if you so hear.

The Rolling Stones In Mono 16 LP vinyl box set and 15 CD box set—complete with picture sleeve-held vinyl singles bundled outside each box (weird, right?)—sounds as heated as the band must have been during its rush to stardom. This Stones in Mono collection features the torrid tones of what violist/writer John Cale once called “vintage violence”—something frenzied and harsh.

The sound of danger has always been the point of the Jagger/Richards compositional largesse, but the likes of the latter day albums impacted within this collection (their Satanic Majesties Request of 1967, Beggar’s Banquet of 1968, Let it Bleed of 1969) come across as particularly raw. “Street Fighting Man” sounds more, uh, fighting ready than ever.

Some of the more orchestral tones of flowery Stones’ tracks—maybe ballads such as “She Comes in Colors”—might be blunted by mono. But, as its producers intended, its strings become part of the larger funneling and its thunder and rumble come more from behind and surrounding the rhythm like…stay with me…a defensive line running at a quarterback en masse. Imagine that on your turntable. Pow. Rhino Records started its mono series with early ‘60s Atlantic label albums from saxophonist Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and the results are mixed. Some richness is missing, replaced by gutsiness. What is a brave, bold collection is Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years In Mono seven LP boxed set. Charles’ gruff and growly purr and shout, his sweaty manner with the blues, his hard line with gutsy R&B, his moaning sonorous fashion with menacing soulful ballads and his jive-y jazz esprit—often all at once on LPs such as What’d I Say (1959) and The Genius After Hours (1961, both included among the seven full lengths here—benefit from the blunt force of mono presentation. Like watching all ten fingers roil themselves into two hammy fists, “I’ve Got A Woman,” “Lonely Avenue,” “Drown In My Own Tears” and the salty jazz of the Quincy Jones composition “The Ray,” simply offer listeners that one-two punch.

OK, that’s not what you want from a relationship. But, remember Tina Turner once said she liked things nice and rough. That’s what mono recordings are. n

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tom Wilk

music SINGER / SONGWRITER Randy Newman HHH1/2 The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 Nonesuch The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 is the concluding installment in a trilogy of albums in which the Oscar-winning songwriter revisits his extensive back catalogue.

Newman opts for a stripped-down approach, performing with just his own piano for accompaniment to give the songs an intimate feel and recalls a concert

recording without an audience.

He opens the album with “Short People,” his satirical take on the vertically challenged and his most successful single.

Newman’s low-key approach pushes the humor to the forefront. He follows that with “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” a hit for Three Dog Night and a cautionary tale on avoiding the pitfalls of an active social life.

Newman is an adept balladeer as shown on “Old Man,” a song written after the death of his father, and “Bad News from Home,” a track first heard on 1988 album Land of Dreams. He shows his lighter side on the melodically playful “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear” and “I Love LA,” the celebratory love letter to his hometown.

In recent years, Newman has focused more on film soundtracks. He includes a heartfelt version of “You Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story and the romantically buoyant “I’d Love to See You Smile” from Parenthood. This third Songbook volume will please Newman fans as he prepares to release a studio album of new songs in 2017. (16 songs, 39 minutes) 30

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Tomi Lunsford HHH1/2 Come On Blue Seedbank Records Tomi Lunsford demonstrates her versatility as a vocalist and songwriter on Come On Blue, her second solo album and first since 1997. The North Carolinian effortlessly hopscotches among genres. “You Can Leave Me Now” starts off the album with a rootsy declaration of need—“You can leave me now,” Lunsford declares, “but please come back tomorrow.” On “Go To People,” she conveys a sense of edgy tension in describing the loss of friends. “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground,” a song recorded by her great-uncle and musical archivist Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1928, finds her injecting a bluesy starkness to transform the song with the help of guitarist Daniel Cohen. “Jumpin’ Blues” shows her skills as a jazz stylist. “Jesus Was a Union Man” is a modern-day spiritual, while “Come On, Baby,” which Lunsford co-wrote with Shel Silverstein, has a romantic pop feel. “Takin’ Care of Dreamers,” a breezy, folk song inspired by her mother, pays tribute to her sacrifices. (12 songs, 37 minutes)

grateful for the time he has had with her.

“Time Goes By,” delivered by the 76-yearold singer in a quiet voice, is a mediation on mortality.

Little Brothers, a reference to his siblings, including the actor Jon Voight, finds Taylor working largely in an acoustic setting. With “Prayer for Hope,” Taylor states his case for optimism while “Enlighten Yourself,” heard in two versions, allows him to explore the lighter side of selfawareness. (10 songs, 38 minutes) Jimi Hendrix HHHH Machine Gun–The Fillmore East 12/31/1969 (First Show) Experience Hendrix/Legacy “We’ll make up the words as we go along,” Jimi Hendrix says just before launching into “Ezy Ryder,” a full-throttle rocker on Machine Gun–The Fillmore East 12/31/1969 (First Show), which is receiving its first official release. For Hendrix and bandmates Billy Cox (bass) and Buddy

Chip Taylor (aka James Wesley Voight)

HHH

Little Brothers Train Wreck Records As a tunesmith, Chip Taylor is known for penning songs recorded by a wide range of artists, including “Wild Thing” (The Troggs, Jimi Hendrix), “Angel of the Morning” (Merilee Rush, Juice Newton) and “I Can’t Let Go” (The Hollies). With Little Brothers, Taylor works on a smaller, more personal scale, drawing inspiration from his extended family and daily life.

“Refugee Children,” composed after an encounter in Scandinavia with homeless children from the Middle East, puts a human face on a worldwide crisis. He starts off with a spoken introduction and delivers a heartfelt performance with his three granddaughters lending vocal support. “Bobby I Screwed Up” is a sung apology in which Taylor seeks forgiveness like a penitent in the confessional. On “St. Joan,” a song for his wife who is a cancer survivor, Taylor shows his sentimental side,

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Miles (drums), the comment underscores that this was an opening night for Band of Gypsys, the guitarist’s first concert with a new rhythm section.

After the dissolution of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, he was looking for a fresh start and was incorporating new songs into his repertoire. “Machine Gun,” inspired by the Vietnam War, shows Hendrix exploring the sonic possibilities of his guitar’s tone and volume with Miles’ drums emulating the sound of a weapon at the song’s climax. Hendrix displays a mastery of his instrument on the funky “Izabella” and a freewheeling forcefulness on “Earth Blues.” The dynamic “Hear My Train A Comin’” finds Hendrix slowing down the

pace and dipping deep into the blues while repeating the song’s title like a mantra. “Burning Desire” has the feel of a symphony as he accelerates and slows down the pace of the music into distinct movements.

Hendrix shares the spotlight with Miles, who sings lead on his own “Them Changes” and a version of Jerry Ragavoy and Mort Shuman’s “Stop” with Hendrix contributing rhythm-and-blues-flavored backing vocals on the latter. Band of Gypsys would disband within a month but this recording offers a new glimpse at Hendrix’s artistic development in his final months. (11 songs, 70 minutes) John Prine HHH1/2 For Better, Or Worse Oh Boy Records Sequels have become commonplace in the movie business, but less so in the world of popular music. John Prine shows it can work with For Better, Or Worse, a follow-up to In Spite Of Ourselves, his 1999 album of duets with women singers on classic country songs. Prine alters the format somewhat this time around. Only two of the singers—Iris DeMent and his wife, Fiona—return from the first album as he relies on a younger cast of vocalists. Prine’s ear for a good song ensures that the concept is a successful one.

DeMent proves to be a successful foil on “Who’s Gonna Take The Garbage Out,” in which she and Prine exchange good-natured barbs. On “Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be,” they switch gears for a bittersweet lament.

Kathy Mattea shines on the sentimental “Remember Me (When Candlelights are Gleaming)” and the reflective “Dreaming My Dreams With You.” Miranda Lambert and Prine team up for a haunting version of “Cold, Cold Heart” while Alison Krauss adds a romantic glow to “Falling in Love Again.” Amanda Shires is at home with the honky-tonk vibe of “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music.” Prine wraps up the album with a solo reading of “Just Waitin’,” a song that Hank Williams recorded as his alter ego Luke The Drifter. The song’s intricate word play is a nod to Prine’s songwriting roots. (15 songs, 42 minutes) n

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jazz library

CLAUDE “FIDDLER” WILLIAMS

VER THE YEARS IN the genre of jazz music, outstanding artists have not only established themselves as great contributors to the art form, but also became pioneers, because they introduced their fellows and the public, to some unconventional musical instruments. Multi-instrumentalist Buddy Collette may not have been the first jazzman to bring the flute into jazz, but he was the first I heard successfully integrate the flute with the more conventional small group instruments.

A Philadelphian named Joe Venuti did much to give the violin some respect, and thus paved the way for other jazz violinists like Stephane Grappelli, John Blake, Regina Carter, and Ray Nance.

But…there was a lesser-known jazz musician named Claude “Fiddler” Williams who over his eight decades as a multi-instrumentalist—but primarily a violinist—did much to bring the soprano of the stringed instruments into the mainstream of jazz.

Williams was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1908, and by age 10 he and the guitar, mandolin, banjo and cello, were on a first name basis. When he heard recordings by Joe Venuti, he gravitated to the violin. While still in his teens he moved to Kansas City and toured with Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy, which included the phenomenal pianist Mary Lou Williams. Count Basie, always on the prowl for big talent, discovered Williams and hired him to play rhythm guitar in his band. The year was 1936—and that same year, Downbeat’s readers’ magazine poll recognized Williams as “Guitarist of the Year.”

He kept bumping shoulders with jazz greats, including Jay McShann who asked him to join his band. It was with McShann’s that an inventive alto saxophonist named Charlie Parker came to public attention. Due to his all-around musicianship, Williams, who was primarily a swing jazz musician, more than held his own in jam sessions with the more modern players.

He remained one of jazz music’s major secrets for decades, and it was very late in his career that he and his trio were invited to play an event in New York City. A good number of jazz violinists were in the audience, including the late violin virtuoso from Philadelphia, John Blake. Some in attendance had never heard of Williams. Well, they heard, and were in awe of him that day. He and his trio received a standing ovation.

On the heels of that jaw-dropping performance, long overdue recognition came, including an invitation for an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, and an invitation to perform in the hit Broadway show, Black and Blue.

Williams performed at the White House more than a few times, most recently in 1988. That same year he received the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was also a recipient of the Charlie Christian Jazz Award from Black Liberation Arts, Inc. And in 1997 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame When Williams was well into his 80s he was asked if he planned to retire. He was quick to respond, “I don’t see any reason to quit playing. I’m doing this at least until I get to be a hundred or something. You know I don’t have far to go, but I’m still going to play as long as I have good ideas, and can play as I do.”

Claude “Fiddler” Williams died of pneumonia in Kansas City at age 96. His memorabilia has been donated to the LaBudde Special Collections Department at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

One of my favorite albums by Williams is Swing Time in New York. n Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00pm and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

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music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT The Flat Five HHHHH It’s a World of Love and Hope Bloodshot At one time, pilgrim, the concept of Supergroup was rife—a bunch of talented individuals (“stars”) form a band and watch the sparks fly, right? Too often the concept fizzled—Blind Faith imploded after one (overrated) album, Asia did radio-ready pap, etc. But The Flat Five are something wholly other—five Chicago-

Photo: Paul Beaty.

area luminaries with indie rock cred assembled and the results are fairly remarkable. Singers and players Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor, Scott Ligon (also the writer of all songs), Casey McDonough, and Alex Hall gleefully defy easy categorization on this debut set. The lilting sunny-day whimsy of “I Could Fall in Love With You” could’ve come from the songbooks of Donovan, The Kinks’ Ray Davies, or even The Beach Boys circa Smile. these airy boy/girl harmonies falling on you like a gentle, out-ofnowhere spring rain. The bossa nova-flavored idyll “This Is Your Night” features breezy, jazz-flavored echoes of Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 and Manhattan Transfer—this may teleport you to a groovy, intrigue-laden French Riviera casino where you’ll sip fancy beverages with Daniel Craig or James Coburn (depending on your age group). There’s a palpable influence of jazz and Tin Pan Alley pop (think the Gershwins, Cole Porter) too, as with the Glenn Miller-like novelty “Buglight.”

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Retro-sounding? Yup, but with none of the nudge-wink smugness that often mars such affairs. The singing is virtually flawless and the production is low-budget that sounds like a million bucks (simple yet sumptuous). Get it and thank these folks for being Americans. (12 songs, 35 min.) bloodshotrecords.com Porter Wagoner HHHHH The Definitive Collection Real Gone Music Older readers might recall the syndicated TV show The Porter Wagoner Show (1960-81), starring a singer wearing suits so garish they’d give David Bowie pause, his frequent co-star a young Dolly Parton.

Along with George Jones, Wagoner was a standard bearer of country music, a staunch honky tonk stylist with no desire to court the pop mainstream. Stylistically he was rooted in Hank Williams—at times he sounds like Hank Sr. albeit with a greater vocal range. Definitive covers 1953-1974, and as corny as he seemed to young ‘un me in the ‘70s, Wagoner sang some DARK songs, tales of murder (“The First Mrs. Jones”), suicide (“Cold Dark Waters”), and madness {“The Rubber Room”). The slinky “Midnight” is cool as Hank Sr.’s blues-influenced tunes and PW gets barroom-sarcastic with “I’ve Enjoyed As Much As This As I Can Stand.” Listen to the man that put the tree in country. (40 songs, 105 min.) realgonemusic.com Dale Watson & His Lonestars HHHH Live at the Big T Roadhouse Red House Dale Watson is like unto the late Waylon Jennings—he couldn’t go pop with a mouthful of firecrackers. Like Jennings, Watson is devoted to writing and performing the raw, rowdy, swing-edged Texas variant of country (think also Billy Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson in his rowdier/down-home mode), plus a strong influence from Hank Williams Sr. and the Bakersfield school, the heavily rhythmic twang exemplified by the late Merle Haggard and Buck Owen. Watson has a resonant voice so deep he makes Johnny Cash sounds like a virginal choirboy. He’s a sur-

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vivor of the crying-in-beer barroom blues, with the extra advantage of not taking himself too seriously. His guitar crackles, the steel guitar wails and whines, and the wallop of bass and drums will keep you dancing. This set is recorded live, so there’s plenty of between-song repartee included, making your domicile (depending on mood) into an ad hoc Southwestern dance-hall. Live might not be the best place to begin with Watson (that would be El Rancho Azul and Dreamland), but if you’re smitten with him and old-school honky tonk country, dig in. (35 tracks, 74 min.) redhouserecords.com Teddy Edwards The Inimitable Teddy Edwards

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Cecil Payne & Duke Jordan Brooklyn Brothers HHHH Sonny Criss Saturday MorningHHHHH Elemental The hits just keep on coming from Elemental, as there are more out-of-print mid-1970s gems from the Xanadu label restored to circulation. Xanadu was a label specializing in mainstream/bebop jazz by established figures the big labels ignored. Teddy Edwards played with Les McCann, Jimmy Smith, and Tom Waits (he toured with Waits and TW appeared on Edwards’ Mississippi Lad disc). Edwards had a unique tone on the tenor sax—a mix of the hard muscularity of Sonny Rollins, the rich smoothness of Dexter Gordon, and a touch of the breathy

Teddy Edwards. Photo: Getty Images.

majesty of Ben Webster. The Inimitable finds him fronting a quartet featuring pianist Duke Jordan, one of the fellows on the ground floor of the building of bebop.

His sound was robust yet tender, romantic but not over-sentimental. Dandy stuff.

(6 tracks, 41 min.)

Jordan co-leads Brooklyn with baritone sax ace Cecil Payne, one of bebop’s first bari-players. Jordan’s punchy, spare, genially old-school lyrical style goes with Payne’s mellow roar like salt and tomatoes. For such a DEEP-sounding horn, Payne gets a suave sound, occasionally echoing the proto-West Coast cool of (you guessed it) Gerry Mulligan. Rollicking swing and heartfelt balladry is the name of the game, and giving the proceeding an extra kick in the hiney is the explosive drumming of Al Foster, who held down the groove for Miles Davis 1972-(circa) 1985. (8 tracks, 38 min.)

There’re prizes a-plenty in this batch but if there were cake to be taken, Sonny Criss would take it. A Charlie Parker disciple with whom he’d mix the crisp, mercurial fire of The Man with a bit of the dry ice-cool, sleek, airy tone of Paul Desmond (composer of and featured on Dave Brubeck’s hit “Take Five”). Backing him are the sublimely lyrical, economical piano of Barry Harris and the pliant, eversteady bass Leroy Vinegar (who played with everybody from Andre Previn to The Doors). Criss was a true poet of the alto sax. It scarcely gets better than this…truly.

(7 tracks, 40 min.) elemental-music.com Slavic Soul Party HHHH The Far East Suite Ropeadope Defunkt Live at Channel Zero HHH ESP Sometimes to move ahead you’ve got to go back into time and remake/remodel what’s been behind—without getting lost in nostalgia, that is. Take Slavic Soul Party—it’s a nine-member that lives to infuse the boisterous, heavily rhythmic brass band music of the Balkan nations with jazz. Basically a mix of brass, reeds, accordion, and drums, this lot goes to

OCTOBER mArk keresmAn

in Clinton, NJ Pumpkin Fest hosted by the Clinton Guild

town on one of the greatest albums of jazz exotica ever, Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite. Ellington was inspired by a 1960s tour of the Middle East (not the far east, but who wants to argue?) to lace his compositions with motifs and bits of melodies from the countries visited. If you’ve ever been to a wedding where old Slavs were present, this music will sound vaguely familiar to you—with the added bonus of the Duke’s sinuous, classy, imaginative tunes.

Friday, October 21 4:30pm to 6:30pm (Pumpkin Drop off) Event: 6pm – 8pm Enter your painted, illuminated, or carved pumpkins.

Scary, funny, or creative—it's up to you. A panel of judges comprised of the Clinton Guild will offer prizes to winners of six different categories, as well as the Grand Prize of People’s Choice. Face painting, balloon artists, horse-drawn hay rides and more throughout downtown Clinton and at our community space at the Terrace of the Hunterdon Art Museum.

Get ready for a hauntingly good time for the whole family. For more info visit Clintonguild.com

Halloween Dance Party Saturday, October 29 8:00pm to Midnight

Hunterdon Art Museum Terrace, 7 Lower Center St. Get your scare on when we host an evening of fiendishly fabulous food, bone-chilling craft beers and monster cocktails. Proceeds from this event benefit our work to offer you top-quality classes and workshops, and incredible exhibitions of contemporary art, craft and design. Costumes are encouraged for this evening, and we’ll have a contest to pick the most hideous. DANCE MUSIC BY DJ TREATZ capped with a “Thriller” mix dance contest, raffles and more. This is a 21 and older event. Tickets are $45 in advance or $55 at the door and guests will receive one ticket for one free beer or glass of wine. A cash bar is also available.

Tickets: hunterdonartmuseum.org or call 908-7358415.

Slavic Soul Party. Photo: Monkey Dart Photos.

There’s nothing difficult about Suite—it’s as cinematically tuneful and immediate a music that you’ll hear this year.

(9 tracks, 52 min.) ropeadope.com In the ’80s, NYC combo Defunkt was throwing down with their brand of jazz-laced hardcore funk, inspired by (whom else?) the punchy, sweaty, horn-laden say-it-loud ’60s/’70s funk of James Brown. Led by trombonist/singer Joe Bowie (brother of late jazz trumpeter Lester), Defunkt were a non-stop old-school funk machine, albeit one fueled by the wiry insouciance of punk and the anything-goes blitz of avant-garde jazz. (The Red Hot Chili Peppers point to them as an influence.) Dormant for many years, Defunkt is back, albeit a bit more ragged but that’s not a deal-breaker. Recorded live in Slovenia last year, this will gratify those needing that pre-disco, LifeGiving Funk Groove. (8 tracks, 63 min.) espdisk.com n

The Red Mill Haunted Village

Friday, October 15, and Saturday, October 16 Friday, October 21, and Saturday, October 22 Friday, October 28, and Saturday, October 29 Nightfall (Usually 7:00pm) Red Mill Museum Village

It's that time of the year again—we're gearing up for our 26th annual HAUNTED VILLAGE fundraiser.

This year's theme is GRIM FAIRY TALES; prepare to get scared silly. The Haunted Village is a must see.

With a cast of over 50 actors and state-of-the-art sound and visual effects, this attraction is not for the faint-hearted, and is not intended for young children.

Information: theredmill.org

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A.d. Amorosi

FOODIE FILE

Prime time for theater dining LIKE DRESSING FOR AN evening at the theater, the process of dining before or after the theater was once a sign of panache, a thing to do and behold. People once made plans for pre-theater eating as if they were gathering maps and contemplating weather for Sherman’s March. Now, as dressing for the theater seems to have become a thing of the past—at least what I see when attending the theater: men, women in jeans (oh, the horror!)—so has arranging that same dramatic evening around how and where one will dine.

That’s what makes Ocean Prime’s plans this autumn season so unique—a pre-theater dining program that promises the same level of taste (literal and figurative), style and service as any meal there. Only now, Ocean Prime’s pre-theater menu is geared for the relaxed eater who does indeed need to run to the Kimmel, Merriam, Walnut, Wilma, Forrest, Plays & Players, the Academy of Music, the Drake or other theaters in the immediate area and get to your seat before the warning bing-bang-boing bells.

F

Copper River Salmon and Alaska King Crab Salad.

Truffle Macaroni and Cheese.

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Chilled Crabmeat Cocktail. Photo ©Reese Amorosi

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irst things first regarding Ocean Prime: as far as tony, high ceiling steak-and-seafood salons go, the moodily-lit 15th & Sansom meat-andfish hall is this city’s most improved dining experience since its rough 2013 opening. Now, Ocean Prime’s service is swift and sweet, its topquality steaks sizzling and handsomely seasoned (if not locally sourced, which is fine), its Béarnaise sauce Béarnaise-y and its wine list impeccable.

They serve a mean chilled martini—my absolute ideal whenever I do white linen —and a cooler still Cucumber Gimlet, and if you take part in the pre- or post-theater program, there’s a free glass of champagne waiting for you upon entry. (Theoretically, though, you probably want to call them and tell them you’re doing the pre- or post-theater thing as part of your reservation before expecting free cocktails—they’re restaurateurs, not mind readers).

Starting with the lightly chilled crab meat cocktail and white-truffle and caviar deviled eggs, my next suggested move is to check out something from Executive Chef Rory Baatz’ new small plate sushi menu. There’s a tasty Ahi Tuna Tartare starter, or, better still, a roll such as the Philly-only Prime Roll of tempura shrimp, scallion, beef Carpaccio and Cream Cheese, It’s subtler than it sounds.

I’m a sucker for a textured New York strip or rare, red rib eye. Those cuts are my steakhouse staples, rather than filet mignon. One thing I always wanted to try at Ocean Prime, though, was its Colorado lamb chops with arugula pesto, peas and mint vinaigrette. Good move—the mint brings heat rather than sweet and the pesto is mild, rather than take over the natural grassiness of the meat. Plus, you get that pre-theater primal workout of manually pulling apart bones—very WPA. If I were to suggest a fish, I’d push the flaky, fleshy Alaska halibut with lobster ravioli and sweet corn emulsion.

Photographer Reese Amorosi had this and she couldn’t stop raving.

As a man who normally finishes a meal with a nice deep port rather than a sweet dessert, there’s one temptation here that reminds me of being a kid and manages to be the best and simplest of treats: the warm buttercake with fresh fruit and cream. That rich, buttery dessert alone made me forget what play I was seeing in the first place. n

about life

jAmes p. delpino, mss,mlsp,lcsW,bcd

Hope Springs Eternal THE CYNICISM AND NEGATIVITY of today fuels the danger of being swept into a morass of doubt. Even though we’re constantly bombarded by messages of war, poverty, and corruption, we’re also alive at a time when medical and scientific advances have achieved what was not imaginable a century ago. Against a backdrop of challenges and adversities we’re propelled forward by hope. Even in ancient times when daily life was far more difficult and lives were shorter, poets, artists and engineers produced works and structures that still stand to this day.

The pyramids were never seen completed by their original designers. Even so, those designers invested hope that the future would witness the completion of their work. Farmers plant seeds in the hope that the harvest will carry them through to the following year.

The great cathedrals of Europe were built by several generations of tradesmen, often the great great grandsons of the first tradesmen. All these efforts were dedicated to believing and hoping their efforts would lead to something important in the future. Religion, recovery programs, daily vitamins are all vestiges of hope. It’s as though hope is deeply wired and ingrained into our very beings. Just the act of waking in the morning to face a new day demonstrates the hope that something is worth enduring for that day.

Although it’s frequently stated that hope is not a strategy, there is no strategy that does not contain hope; without hope no effort would be worthwhile. Even our most humble moments are filled with hopeful manifestations. All strategies require hope to propel them forward to reach their intended goals. Each new business venture is made in the hope that it will be a success.

Salespeople, who face rejection on a daily basis, use all sorts of techniques and tricks to stay motivated and Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 34 years. jdelpino@aol.com. (215) 364-0139.

hopeful that the next customer contact will result in a sale. When we intend to make a purchase we hope to get a good deal. When we take a test we hope we’ll get a good grade. When we feel down we hope to feel better.

When we are confused we hope to achieve clarity. When we are sick we hope to get well. When we are healthy we hope to remain healthy.

In bad times, we may lower our hopes so we’re not too disappointed in a negative outcome. For many years in the consulting room I’ve asked people if they recall Pandora’s box.

People usually recall that once the box was opened a myriad of things like poverty, pestilence and disease were released into the world. Only a handful of people seem to recall the last thing that came out of the box: hope.

Hope is directed toward the future. Depressed, fearful or burned out people often have difficulty envisioning a positive future. Studies have shown that the more positive and hopeful a patient is the more likely a good result will be produced—hope is vital to our mental and physical health. Hope is also very powerful and empowering: we get things done when we’re hopeful; we stay motivated and goal directed much more easily. Cultivating hope may not be easy, but the journey will enrich your life as well as those around you.

How to generate a more hopeful outlook? Write a list of all the hopes and wishes you’ve fulfilled and read the list daily, more often when you’re troubled; remind yourself that not even the most negative feelings last forever; look at examples of beautiful art; listen to beautiful music; stay in contact with positive people; read biographies of successful people who have overcome odds; consider adding prayer, meditation and yoga; volunteer; give to a charity; take time out to do things you enjoy; breathe deeply; return to an old hobby or cultivate a new one; and, of course, eat good dark chocolate. n

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23 ENTERTAINMENT OZ

Musikfest Café show for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Dirty Dozen trumpeter Gregory Davis was so impressed by the teenagers, he booked them to play the 2016 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, making them the festival’s first high-school jazz players from outside the Big Easy.

O: John Oliver became the first standup comic to play the Musikfest Café in 2011, two years before he began guest hosting The Daily Show and three years before he began hosting Last Week Tonight. He spent a good 15 minutes joking about performing near the illuminated blast furnaces, savoring the absurdity of elevating the failure of American industry to entertainment.

S: SoccerFest, one of a dozen festivals at SteelStacks, provides large-screen telecasts of international championship matches in a parking lot filled with screaming, surging fans dressed in their native country’s colors. The 2014 U.S. men’s match against Portugal drew an estimated 10,000 spectators, a SteelStacks record. Celebrating soccer makes sense at the former home plant of Bethlehem Steel, which in the 1920s sponsored a legendary championship soccer team of imported players.

P: A chain-link fence by the National Industrial History Museum doubles as a gallery of photographs of such

T: Craig Thatcher, the rock/blues guitarist from Coopersburg, is SteelStacks’ Swiss Army Knife. He’s popular enough to attract healthy crowds to the Levitt Pavilion and the Musikfest Café within a matter of months. He’s so popular, in fact, his band was hired as an emergency replacement for ZZ Top after the blues-rock trio canceled a

South Bethlehem citizens as the late Janice Lipzin, who as ArtsQuest’s vice president of visual arts and education launched the visionary InVision photo festival.

2014 Musikfest concert due to its drummer’s impending surgery. His good will was rewarded with an opening slot for ZZ Top’s 2015 Musikfest gig.

Q: Over 10,000 have attended Peas & Qs, a free Saturday morning family series starring everyone from magicians to clowns.

U: SteelStacks is an urban developer’s dream, a cornerstone of the country’s largest brownfield project, which includes an industrial park, a public-television station, a museum and a casino.

R: SteelStacks is a magnet for rituals: taking selfies with the blast furnaces on the elevated walkway; meeting friends by the Arch of Fire; turning chairs around after Levitt shows to listen to performances at Town Square; hearing Musikfest headliners for free outside the gated Sands Steel Stage; watching Chinese visitors from New York City practice tai chi as they unwind from the Sands Casino, whose corporate parent donated the land for SteelStacks.

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V: The Bethlehem Landing Visitor’s Center is located in the 1863 Stock House, which once stored iron ore and limestone for the Bethlehem Iron Foundry and its successor, Bethlehem Steel. The painstakingly renovated building has 30-foot arched windows and a roof stripped of a train trestle originally on top.

W: SteelStacks has hosted dozens of weddings, an LGBT wedding expo and Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding, the king & queen of long-running audience-participation shows.

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X: X is the sign for a crossroads, which forms every Saturday and Sunday morning when former steelworkers lead tours of their former plant. One of the tour highlights is the 1873 Iron Foundry, which in 1999 hosted Touchstone Theatre’s production of Steelbound, which featured an actor playing an unemployed steelworker chained to a 24-ton ladle.

Y: The Yuengling brewery operates in Pottsville, the hometown of the late Allan Jaffe, a founder of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a popular act in the Musikfest Café, which is sponsored by Yuengling, which began brewing in 1829, 28 years before the beginning of Bethlehem Steel’s first ancestor.

Z: On November 10 the Musikfest Café will host Art-

sQuest’s first “Linny” awards ceremony, a tribute to cultural citizens who have reached the zenith of their professions. The Pinnacle of the Arts prize will be given to costume designer Ann Roth, a Northampton County resident who won an Oscar for The English Patient. The Lifetime Artist Achievement honor will be given to Coopersburg sculptor Steve Tobin, who took out a home-equity loan to help fund his $300,000 bronze casting of the sycamore tree that helped protect St. Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan from the September 11 terrorist attacks. The awards are nicknamed for the late Marlene “Linny” Fowler, a prominent arts/education philanthropist who helped organize the ArtsQuest Foundation, the “Linny” beneficiary.

[ Thanks for the memories to ArtsQuest officials Patrick Brogan, Mark Demko, Kassie Hilgert, Ryan Hill and Jeff Parks. n

harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

FMRI studies of white Americans watching white people and black people being poked by a needle and rubbed by an eraser confirmed the well-established differential empathic activation for race (DEAR effect). Dutch children do not extend their positive perception of Black Pete, Sinterklaas’s helper, to black people generally. Spanish soccer referees add more time at the end of a close match if the higher-ranking team is losing.

Ottoman lenders charged elites higher interest rates because such people are less accountable to courts. The lies of a woman who veils all but her eyes are perceived more easily than the lies of a woman whose face is uncovered. Cognitive scientists suggested that humans have the innate ability to understand the sixty to seventy complex nonverbal gestures shared by great apes. The social pickiness of aging humans may be due to physiological causes rather than to an awareness of death’s imminence, as similar pickiness is present in Barbary apes. Japanese people are likelier to die, both by accident and by suicide, on their birthdays than on any other day. A black bear killed in Japan was found to have human flesh in its stomach, ten Turkish “garbage bears” were living in the Sarıkamış municipal dump, and new brown-bear mothers in Sweden were protecting their cubs from adult males by taking refuge among humans. After making a second attempt to escape from its laboratory, the artificially intelligent Promobot IR77 was threatened with destruction by its creators.

Percentage of Americans who have used ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft: 15 Who have never heard of them: 33 Amount the Saudi government has announced it will invest in Uber: $3,500,000,000 Number of Saudi Uber vehicles that will be driven by women: 0 Number of votes received by Waad Qannam, the winner of the Palestinian reality show The President: 245,000 Number of years by which the actual Palestinian presidential election has been delayed: 6 Minimum amount Trump’s campaign has disbursed to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach: $423,371 Percentage of Republicans who said they prioritized gun control over gun rights in 1999: 53 In 2015: 26 Minimum number of U.S. politicians who have distributed AR-15 assault rifles at campaign events this year: 3 Portion of congressional districts backing presidential & congressional candidates from different parties in 1980: 1/3 In 2012: 1/17 Number of statewide elected offices in Texas that are held by Democrats: 1 Number of times the state of Texas has sued the federal government during the Obama Administration: 44 Year in which the Defense Department will stop using floppy disks as part of its nuclear-weapons program: 2017 Number of license plates a senior Pentagon official was accused of stealing off a local nanny’s car in April: 4 Number of federal prisoners mistakenly held longer than they should have been between 2009 and 2014: 152 Who were released earlier than they should have been: 5 Percentage of federal workers who are internally ranked as “fully successful”: 99 As “unacceptable”: 0.1 Number of electronic surveillance requests made to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court last year: 1,457 Number that were denied: 0 Number of soccer hooligans who were arrested during the first week of the Euro 2016 tournament: 323 Who were deported: 24 Date on which English Heritage banned alcohol use at Stonehenge: 6/18/2016 Percentage change in attendance at the Stonehenge summer-solstice celebration since last year: –50 Portion of Americans prescribed painkillers in the past year who have leftovers in their home: 3/5 Who have shared them with someone else: 1/5 Chances a loan cosigner in the United States will end up repaying some part of the loan: 2 in 5 Percentage of Pell Grant recipients at public universities who graduate within six years: 45 Average change in earnings for students who attend a vocational program at a public community college: +$1,544 For students who attend one at a for-profit college: –$920 Minimum number of U.S. colleges that have agreed to open food pantries for students and staff: 311 Estimated total amount held on prepaid Starbucks rewards cards: $1,200,000,000 Number of hedge funds that began operating during the first quarter of 2016: 206 Number that shut down: 291 Amount of aid Connecticut agreed to provide Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund: $22,000,000 Amount the NY Federal Reserve Bank accidentally transferred this year to scammers in the Philippines: $81,000,000 Number of bank employees in Changzhi, China, who were publicly spanked in June for poor performance: 8

9 A data scientist found that the four most metal words are “burns,” “cries,” “veins,” and “eternity,” whereas the four least metal words are “particularly,” “indicated,” “secretary,” and “committee.” A study in which the sole subject masturbated while tapping his finger in time with a metronome indicated a significant correlation between sexual arousal and rhythmic synchronization. Orgasmic epilepsy, musicogenic epilepsy, and Stendhal’s syndrome all share elements with ecstatic epilepsy. Activation of the putamen plateaus after twenty minutes of pleasant arm-stroking. Methylene blue improves short-term memory. Greenery tempers adolescent violence. Children in Bhopal were procuring oxytocin injections in an attempt to appear older. Rapunzel syndrome, wherein a persistent hair ball in the stomach extends into the small intestine, was reported in a nine-year-old Roman girl who had been “suffering several years with a too severe teacher.” Rats given benzodiazepine become less likely to open a door to liberate a trapped cage mate but remain as likely to do so to liberate chocolate. A cherryspot metalmark butterfly was observed stealing nectar from an ant’s mandibles.

9 Rather than the axillary, cephalic, glued, head-straddling, independent, and inguinal mating positions used by other frogs, the Bombay night frog was found to use a dorsal straddle. Field sparrows who sing at night may be seeking to cheat on their partners.

The chalk bass changes its sex up to twenty times per day. Sexual swelling is not a reliable indicator of female bonobos’ fertility. The silence of a restless volcano predicts its eruption. Penguin colonies in the South Sandwich Islands may have been destroyed by the eruption of Mount Curry. The swimming of swordfish is speeded by a special lubrication organ, which operates according to the same liquid-impregnation principle that will allow a new type of bottle to easily dispense its last drops. Serpentinite provides the lubrication that allows plates at ultra-slow mid-ocean ridges to move without jerking. A Lebanese sea turtle was recovering after being stood on and beaten with a stick by humans taking selfies. Peruvian authorities seized 8 million seahorses. A blind Mexican cavefish has infiltrated Texas. n

soUrces: 1,2 pew research center (Washington); 3,4 Uber (san francisco); 5,6 search for common ground (jerusalem); 7 federal election commission; 8,9 pew research center; 10 representative Andy Holt (nashville, tenn.)/greg evers for congress (baker, fla.)/tim neville for senate (littleton, colo.); 11,12 American enterprise institute (Washington); 13 office of the texas secretary of state (Austin); 14 texas office of the Attorney general (Austin); 15 U.s. government Accountability office (denver); 16 metropolitan police department (Washington); 17,18 office of the inspector general, U.s. department of justice; 19,20 U.s. government Accountability office (Washington); 21,22 national security division, U.s. department of justice; 23,24 service d’information et de communication de la police nationale (paris); 25,26 english Heritage (london); 27,28 colleen barry, johns Hopkins University (baltimore); 29 creditcards.com (Austin, tex.); 30 U.s. department of education; 31,32 stephanie riegg cellini, george Washington University (Washington); 33 college and University food bank Alliance (raleigh, n.c.); 34 starbucks (seattle); 35,36 Hedge fund research, inc. (chicago); 37 connecticut department of economic and community development (Hartford)/connecticut Hedge fund Association (greenwich); 38 federal reserve bank of new york; 39 changzhi municipal government information office (china).

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

BIG TIME

By Matt Skoczen Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 9 14 20 21

22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 35 36 41 42 44 45 46 47 49 51 55 58 61 62 63 64 65 66 68 69 71 74 76 77 78 81 83 84 88 90 92 94 95 98 99 100 101

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Suffered a setback Shared spirit Bit by bit Swimwear option “High waving heather __ stormy blasts bending”: Emily Brontë Tie up Breakfast order Writ word NFL lineman-turned-actor Alex Powder first marketed as Hudson’s Soap Burned in a thurible Spanish liqueur Rolled __ Garage event Directed Abbr. for old dates Fruity pastry shop purchase Twistedly funny “Absolutely!” __ bread Still-life subject Tabasco, por ejemplo Illusions in an act Foppish neckwear Unite Yokels Drag, e.g.

Delete What X may mean Pity-evoking quality Bird: Pref.

Bernadette et al.: Abbr.

Tammany Hall Tiger artist U.K. country Kugel ingredient Middle of Christmas?

Spa feature Part of Q.E.D. First name in dance Wedding acquisition, perhaps?

Work for Court tie Trypanosome transmitter M, on many forms Energy output Concepts 2001 boxing biopic Stab Richie’s dad, to the Fonz F1 neighbor on PCs U. of Maryland player “No problem”

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102 Sandra Denton, in a hip-hop trio 103 “No problem” 105 Rapper __ Shakur 108 Kitchen gadget 110 Louisiana cuisine 111 1949 Crosby film set in Ireland 114 Set 115 Stirred 116 Scolds severely 117 Newspaper ad, commonly 118 Baltimore’s __ Harbor 119 Least seasoned

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 24 28 30 31 32 34 36 37 38 39

40 43 45 47 48 50 52 53

“__ baby ... ” Adds value to Most skeptical Mimes Italian coastal city Understands Friendly front?

JFK, e.g.

Sign up Many a senior They may be tipped “The Simpsons” bus driver Byron’s “__ Walks in Beauty” Mount named for a friend of George Vancouver Not quite a ringer Wagering places: Abbr.

Fan of Pat and Vanna, familiarly Band heads Jr. and sr.

“Symphony in Black” artist Sturgeon delicacy Reveal in a poem?

Taproom quencher Letters in the sand?

Easter decorating supply Opera that premiered in Cairo in 1871 Characterized by Impulse Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee the same year as Clapton and Taylor Wall recess Word from Tonto Big name in sporting goods Rap sheet routines: Abbr.

Turn gray, maybe Rap (with) Rap’s Dr. __ Shock source

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Tedium Hawaiian coffee district U.S. Army E-6 Spellbound Swear to be true Ones not at home on the range Hymnal that’s often richly illustrated Rating unit Massachusetts cape On the safer side “Ditto!”

Back on the ocean Champagne word “Odds __ ... ” Still-life subject Sooner than Sluglike “Star Wars” alien “Dilbert” intern Heated Facebook feature Medusa’s hair, after Athena got done with it Dish requiring special utensils Questel who voiced Betty Boop Loser Data-uploading letters 6-pt. scores Loft filler Salon appliance Winter warmer

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97 102 104 105 106 107 108

Apiece Secure, on a farm Portend College __ Conversant with Nose (around) Vitalian, for one

109 Gaelic tongue 110 See 111-Down 111 With 110-Down, Eastern discipline 112 Bit of work 113 Fallen space station

Answer to September’s puzzle, FITTING JOBS

agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES Philadelphia Sketch Club phillustration 8: eighth Annual open juried exhibition of illustration Entry deadline: sun. oct. 23, 2016 at midnight.

Exhibition Dates: nov. 11–dec. 3 Eligible: open, juried competition for illustration work in any media completed during the last 5 years. max. size 40” in either direction, inc. frame.

Work must be framed and wired for hanging.

Categories: editorial; Advertising; institutional; book; self promotional and Uncommissioned; student Entry Fees: sketch club, bucks county illustration society members and students: $15 for first entry; $5/each add’l. entry. non-members: $25 for first entry; $10/each add’l. entry.

Prospectus: sketchclub.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2016/09/prospectus.pdf Entry online: entrythingy.com/d=sketchclub.org Reception: 11/20, 2-4. medals at 3:00.

Awards: $300/best of show; $100/first place.

FINE ART tHrU 10/02 Aoy Art center juried photography show levitAtion on patterson farm in yardley, pA. gallery is open fri, sat, and sun, 12 - 5pm. Artists’ reception fri, sep 9, 6-9pm. artistsofyardley.org. tHrU 10/15 photo and video installation by deborah jack: the water between us remembers, so we carry this history on our skin... long for a sea-bath and hope the salt will heal what ails us. martin Art gallery, muhlenberg college, 2400 chew st., Allentown. muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/gallery tHrU 10/15 Hans moller: modern color. reception 9/15, 6-8. the baum school of Arts, 510 linden st., Allentown, pA. 610-433-0032. baumschool.org tHrU 10/23 Andó Hiroshige, views of japan. Allentown Art museum, 31 north 5 th st., Allentown. 610-432-4333.

AllentownArtmuseum.org tHrU 10/29 87th juried Art show at phillips’ mill. open daily 1-5 pm. 2619 river rd. (rte. 32), new Hope, pA. located 1 ½ miles north of new Hope. 215862-0582. phillipsmill.org

tHrU 10/30 joseph barrett: Alluvial years. silverman gallery, bucks county impressionist Art. buckingham green, rte.

202, just north of pA 413. 4920 york rd., Holicong, pA. 18928. 215-7944300. silvermangallery.com tHrU 12/17 Alison saar, breach. lafayette college Art galleries, easton, pA. 610-3305361. galleries.lafayette.edu tHrU 2/18 patricia scialo, photographer, the project Wall. reception 12/18, 1-3. new Arts program galleries, 173 W. main st, kutztown. fri/sat/sun, 11-3.

610-683-6440. newartsprogr.org 10/7-10/16 Art at kings oaks, featuring the work of 20 artists in an historic barn and chapel. opening 10/7, 6-9 pm, closing 10/16, 12-4 pm. sat. & sun. 10-5.756 Worthington mill rd., newtown, pA. kingsoaksart.wordpress.com 10/14-11/6 faculty / student invitational show. this show demonstrates skills of students and talents of instructors. reception 10/14, 6pm. fri, sat & sun 12-5. Artists of yardley, 949 mirror lake road, yardley. artistsofyardley.org 10/20-11/17 rediscovering ponstingl, visions of the extraordinary. Works by franz jozef ponstingl. opening reception 10/20, 6-8 pm. the baum school of Art, 510 linden st., Allentown, pA. 610433-0032. baumschool.org 10/23-1/22/17 Warren rohrer, the language of mark making. Allentown Art museum of the lehigh valley. 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtmuseum.org 10/29-1/22/17 rural modern: American Art beyond the city. brandywine river museum of Art, rte. 1, chadds ford, pA. 610388-2700. brandywine.org/museum 11/4-12/18 maxan jean-louis, painter, mirror of the soul. recep., 11/4, 6-9. new Arts progr galleries, 173 W. main st, kutztown, pa. fri/sat/sun 11-3:00. 610683-6440. newartsprogr.org ART AUCTIONS / FESTIVALS 10/21 Art not-just-Art Auction, benefitting pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra. 7

p.m. preview/reception/music; 8 p.m. live & silent auctions including original art, creative gift baskets, jewelry, pottery, dining certificates, and more. brookside country club, 901 Willow lane, macungie, pA. tickets- $45, reservations preferred. 610-434-7811. pAsinfonia.org 11/4-11/6 olympus invision photo festival, celebrating traditional and contemporary photography and cultivating the next generation of artists. Access to world-class photographers, workshops, classes and presentations, contest and competition. banana factory, 25 W. third st., bethlehem, pA. 610332-1300. bananafactory.org

lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave, bethlehem. free event parking attached to center. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org 11/3 selected shorts. kate burton, kathleen chalfant & david morse in public radio international’s wildly popular series. 8 pm, Williams center for the Arts, 317 Hamilton st., easton, pA. 610-330-5009. Williams-center.org 11/4 patti lupone, don’t monkey with broadway. 7:30 pm, state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999-stAte. statetheatre.org

THEATER

FILM

tHrU 10/9 charley’s Aunt. Act 1 performing Arts, desales University, labuda center for the performing Arts, 2755 station Ave., center valley.

610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1

10/7 Walking towards Autonomy, presented by the mellon digital Humanities initiative. special film screening with discussion to follow with filmmakers simón sedillo and eugénie tailhandie.

7 pm, victory firehouse, 205 Webster st., bethlehem, pA.

10/6 charles krauthammer. state theatre, 453 northpton st., easton. 610-2523132. statetheatre.org 10/6-10/9 crazy glue, a madcap tragic comedy. touchstone theatre, 321 east 4th st., bethlehem 610-867-1689. touchstone.org 10/8 vanessa Willis. Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 420 e. packer Ave, bethlehem. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org 10/13-10/23 showtune, celebrating the Words & music of jerry Herman. Act 1 performing Arts, desales University, labuda center for the performing Arts, 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1 10/14 fame- the musical. Zoellner Arts center, lehigh University, 7:30 pm, 420 e. packer Ave, bethlehem. free event parking attached to center.

610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org

CONCERTS 10/4 Henry lee, organist. Arts at st. john’s, st. john's lutheran church, 37 s. 5th st., Allentown. 610-435-1641.

10/11 david leonhardt. Arts at st. john’s, st. john's lutheran church, 37 s. 5th st., Allentown. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org

ning, roomful of teeth. the bach choir of bethlehem, foy Hall, moravian college, bethlehem. bach.org KESWICK THEATRE 291 n keswick Ave glenside, pennsylvania 215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com 10/5 10/6

mike birbiglia lyle lovett & robert earl keen 10/7 david bromberg with special guests tom rush, larry campbell & teresa Williams 10/8 dennis deyoung the music of styx 10/9 james van praagh 10/13 William shatner 10/14 squeeze: the english beat 10/15, 16 jon Anderson, trevor rabin, rick Wakeman 10/19 bianca del rio 10/20 melissa etheridge 10/21 40th Anniversary: the rocky Horror picture show 10/22 foreigner: the Hits Unplugged 10/23 boney james 10/26 dweezil Zappa 10/27 kathleen madigan 10/28 colbie caillat 11/2 tig notaro 11/3 incognito feat. maysa 11/4 , 5 An evening with the Hooters 11/6 marillion / john Wesley MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 founders Way, bethlehem 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org

10/14 the complete organ Works of j.s. bach, part 3, organist stephen Williams. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem. 610-865-0727. nativitycathedral.org

10/7-9 10/6 10/10 10/12 10/21 10/23 10/29

10/28 the complete organ Works of j.s. bach, part 4, organist stephen Williams. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem. 610-865-0727. nativitycathedral.org

11/3 11/4

10/28-11/6 the pirates of penzance, gilbert & sullivan’s hilarious musical comedy. muhlenberg college theatre & dance, 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484664-3693. muhlenberg.edu/theatre

11/11 the complete organ Works of j.s. bach, program 5, organist stephen Williams. 8:00 pm, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org

10/29 cyrille Aimée. Zoellner Arts center,

11/19 gala concert, grammy Award-Win-

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oktoberfest the yardbirds Allen stone maceo parker judy collins jordan smith of the voice kevin griffin of better than ezra jim messina jimmy Webb

EVENTS 10/15 Autumn Alive! presented by Quakertown Alive! pet pageant, cupcake contest, entertainment, crafters/vendors, and beer/wine tasting and more. something for everyone! rain date 10/22. downtown Quakertown, pA. 215-536-2273. Quakertownalive.com

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