The usually opulently arranged and ultra-produced instrumentalist has gone through a stripping down process on his new album, Vol. I. In their tackling of lush Tin Pan Alley ballads, Botti and his team take their cues from the Chet Baker songbook and make much less much more—an elegance of economy, an embarrassment of riches in a cool, compacted state.
The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, nightlife and mad genius.
Since 1992 215-862-9558 icondv.com
PUBLISHER & EDITOR Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com
ADVERTISING
Raina Filipiak filipiakr@comcast.net
PRODUCTION
Paul Rosen
Joanne Smythe
Margaret M. O’Connor
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
A.D. Amorosi
Ricardo Barros
Robert Beck
Pete Croatto
Geoff Gehman
Fredricka Maister
David Stoller
Keith Uhlich
IReproduction in whole or
part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor, editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. ©2022 Primetime Publishing Co., Inc.
MANY OF US WOULDlike to leave a positive mark on civilization, myself included, so it is with pride and humility that I announce my contribution to the mixological arts. Let me begin with some background. I didn’t have an “official drink” until my late 30s, an era that coincided with my first marriage. The drink was a black Russian. I recall my father having preferred them back in his fedora and pencil mustache days. He had an element of cool to him, flying planes and riding motorcycles in the ’30s, so it had to be a good drink.
The Black Russian supported me through my divorce, career change, and relocation. In 1997, I issued a warrant to allow vendors to
CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
Never Broken: Visualizing Lenape Histories Michener Art Museum
138 South Pine St., Doylestown, PA 215-340-9800 michenerartmuseum.org
Through January 14, 2024
This important and rare display of contemporary Lenape artworks and historical depictions of Penn’s Treaty explores how art shapes our understanding of Native American and colonial history.
Curated by Joe Baker, Co-founder and Executive Director of Lenape Center, and Laura Turner Igoe, Ph.D., Chief Curator at the Michener Art Museum, Never Broken features commissioned work by Ahchipaptunhe (Delaware Tribe of Indians and Cherokee), Joe Baker (Delaware Tribe of Indians), Holly Wilson (Delaware Nation and Cherokee), and Nathan Young (Delaware Tribe of Indians, Pawnee, and Kiowa) that express personal and tribal identity.
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Phila. Pmacraftshow.org
November 3-5, Preview Gala on November 2
Experience in person the best in contemporary craft and design by 195 artists from across the United States. Objects made of clay, glass, metal, fiber and wood, as well as jewelry and art-to-wear, are available for purchase at this festive event. The Show’s sole beneficiary is the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A fashion event will be held on Saturday, November 4 at 1pm on the Show floor. Featured will be wearables and accessories by exhibiting artists.
Sign up Friday to Sunday for Meet the Artists, a 30-minute guided tour at the Show with three select artists. See details on the website (pmacraftshow.org) for individual and group options.
To purchase tickets and learn more, visit the Craft Show website at www.pmacraftshow.org.
94th Juried Art Show at Phillips’ Mill Phillips’ Mill, 2619 River Rd., New Hope, PA 215-862-0582 phillipsmill.org
Through October 29
Daily 1 pm to 5 pm
The Phillips’ Mill Community Association, once home to Pennsylvania Impressionists including William Lathrop, Daniel Garber, and Fern Coppedge, continues its nearly century-long juried art show tradition at the historic grist mill just north of New Hope.
The 94th Juried Art Show at Phillips’ Mill presents a stellar collection of paintings, works on paper, and sculpture by more than 100 artists from a 25-mile radius of the Mill. Selected by a slate of esteemed jurors including Syd Carpenter, Al Gury, Curlee Raven Holton, Lauren Sandler, and TK Smith, the show salutes the rich artistic community for which this region is known.
The area’s most prestigious show, the Phillips‘ Mill exhibition draws art lovers and collectors from Philadelphia to New York. A perfect autumn activity, the show is a "must see" stop for leaf peepers traveling scenic Route 32 along the Delaware River. The show can also be viewed online at phillipsmill.org/art/juried-art-show.
Chuck Zovko: Abstractions of Form
The Snow Goose Gallery
470 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 610-974-9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com
November 5–December 16.
Opening reception: Sun., Nov. 5, 1–5
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 11–5
This exhibition of newly created work by Chuck Zovko, bridges the divide between photography and visual dreams, infused with a bit of time travel in the process. The unique work needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. His large-scale color abstracts show far more than what was there. This exhibition of limited edition color prints showcase a transcendence of beauty. The second part of the exhibition advances where 1920s photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s series, Equivalence stopped. The series of Zovko's isolated clouds clouds tries to showcase the everyday beauty around us, if we only take the time to see it.
We hope you'll join us for our opening reception. The entire exhibition will be online at thesnowgoosegallery.com.
11th Annual Crafts in the Meadow Tyler Park Center for the Arts
10 Stable Mill Road, Richboro, PA tylerparkarts.org/crafts-in-the-meadow info@tylerparkarts.org
October 21, 10–5; October 22 10–4
Join the Tyler Park Center for the Arts in Northampton Township for the 11th Annual Crafts in the Meadow Invitational Craft Show—October 21 and 22—a festive weekend of performing arts, live music, local vendors and organizations, refreshments, a beer garden and exhibitions from over 140 fine artisans and craftspeople working in all variety of mediums offering hands-on demonstrations, handcrafted jewelry and wearable art, one-of-a-kind furniture, functional art and more both on display in the gorgeous meadow and available for purchase.
Join over 5,000 patrons, visitors, and families for a weekend immersed in the splendor of the arts surrounded by the stunning natural beauty of Tyler State Park for a fun Bucks County adventure.
Swan Boat Gallery Arts and Cultural Center 69 Bridge St., Lambertville, NJ 609-921-4151 swanboatgallery.com
October 1–31
Poetic and Writers Group Nov. 14, 6:30
The series of canvas abstract paintings, Poetic Expressions, is inspired by nature and spirituality. Artist and co-owner Florence Kindel invites the viewer to explore the art and find their own inspiration within.
Beginning November, Swan Boat Gallery begins its journey beyond art with a monthly Poetry and Writers Group meeting and readings. The first monthly meeting is scheduled for Tues., Nov. 14, at 6:30 PM.
The owners of Swan Boat Gallery are passionate about the arts, music, and poetry and the Gallery and Cultural Center is an expression of that love. The works displayed are primarily abstract and surrealistic ink and paint drawings by co-owner Florence Kindel.
Visit Swanboatgallery.com for hours, news and future show and events.
Daybreak, and the river goddess is busy, Drawing with a flourish her eddies and swirls, And crafting the deep currents That pass beneath her gaze;
Later in the morning, she is quilting the patterns of sunlight Dancing on her fresh waters, Framed by the forested shorelines,
In the afternoon, she drowses, Dreaming, always the same, Of an ancient flood, The lift and tumult of it, And the great stones it brings.
And now it’s twilight, Her favorite time of day. She slips off her veil, Eases into the dark river, And passes between its shadowed flanks, Following her own soft swell to the sea.
CHARLES FREDERICK RAMSEY (1875-1951) WASa leading light among the New Hope modernists. He studied in France for several years, and then the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, which awarded him the prestigious Cresson Traveling Scholarship in 1904. He moved permanently to New Hope in 1917. Ramsey’s early style was largely influenced by the Pennsylvania impressionists, but he became increasingly interested in more modern innovations, which lead him ultimately to complete abstraction. In 1919, he completed the painting presented here, Nature Revealed, believed to be one of the first modernist depictions of the Delaware River, and illustrating beautifully his
transition from representational painting—retaining certain “narrative” elements—to a more non-objective style, particularly the cubist elements shown here.
PPerhaps Ramsey’s most noteworthy achievement was his Cooperative Painting Project with fellow artists Charles Evans and Louis Stone, which they called RAMSTONEV. Their objective was to collaborate in the creation of paintings they called “visual jam sessions,” as well as in the collective criticism of the work during its creation—all producing, they believed, a higher level of beauty. n
David Stoller has had a career spanning law, private equity, and entrepreneurial leadership. He was a partner and co-head of Milbank Tweed and led various companies in law, insurance, live entertainment, and the visual arts. David is an active art collector and founder of River Arts Press, which published a collection of his poetry, Finding My Feet
We all take notice when we see something unexpected. Our curiosity is provoked. We triangulate this new, surprising observation against other observations that we do understand.
Photography is ostensibly reality-based, so our attention is usually caught in one of two ways. Either we are intrigued by the subject, or we are intrigued by how the subject is presented.
Photographs of objects possessing extraordinary beauty generally fall into the first category; we are intrigued by the subject. (Unless we’ve previously seen it so many times that its beauty is already well-known. Then, the observation is not unexpected.) Conversely, extraordinary photographs of an ordinary object fall into the second category. The beauty catches us unaware. We can’t resist a second look.
Many photographers are naturally frustrated when they search for beauty in rare, extraordinary subjects. Rarity makes those subjects hard to find. Ironically, the fulfillment we seek is more plentiful and easier to find when we are attentive to familiar things.n
Neil Gaiman is a literary rock star who actually deserves a constellation perch. The Brit writes exceedingly well about many subjects in many genres in many spheres. The hit Neflix series Good Omens riffs off his samenamed novel with Terry Pratchett, a viciously funny fable of cosmic Armageddon. Coraline, his horrific, fantastic graphic children’s book, has been turned into a musical and an opera,
Did you know that I’m not a fan of pumpkin? At least not the pumpkin-fication of the culinary planet beyond, you know, the orange genus Cucurbita that used to be exclusive to October and November?
I don’t need holly and mistletoe in June and have no want of chrysanthemums in August either, so there.
Enjoy a proper pumpkin this October, along with everything else on The List. And keep it in a pie. Not your latte or your ravioli or anything else.
a rare duplex. Stephen King thinks he leaps over moonbeams. So do tastemakers at the New York Public Library, who listed Gaiman’s searching, scathing fiction American Gods among 125 essential volumes published over 125 years. On Oct. 8 he’ll answer questions from an interviewer and spectators at Lehigh University, a longtime pit stop for literary rock stars. (Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem; 610-7582787; zoellnerartscenter.org)
Fieldstone Coffee Roasters looks like a house and runs like a neighborly bistro. Beans for the honey/turmeric/Ceylon cinnamon latte are roasted in a 19th-century carriage house on the farm of owners Kevin Jones and Kristina Melbourn, who met on Maui, as their menu proudly proclaims. The Texas omelette features homemade chili and eggs laid by the couple’s grass-fed hens. Items are locally
CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
There’s everything Lesle Odom Jr. to look forward to in October. Along with the one-time Philadelphian actor and singer’s October 6’s opening starring role in the properly Hal-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
A Haunting in Venice (Dir. Kenneth Branagh). Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan. The third of Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot adaptations is an often enjoyable transposition, from England to Venice, of Agatha Christie’s novel Hallowe’en Party. It’s 1948, and our mustachioed hero has holed up in the waterlogged city to wallow moodily in retirement. But his old frenemy, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), drags him back into the crime-solving fold when invites him to an All Hallows party and seance at the palazzo of Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). The house is apparently haunted, a maybe-fake psychic (Michelle Yeoh) holds court, and murder is, of course, on the menu. Branagh benefits from the mostly single location, which he shoots at canted angles and with perspective-distorting wide lenses so as to up the creep factor. His cast is all game, with Jamie Dornan as a nerve-jan-
Keith Uhlich is a NY-based writer published at Slant Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Time Out New York, and ICON. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. His personal website is (All (Parentheses)), accessible at keithuhlich.substack.com.
gled physician a particular standout. Branagh’s Poirot, though, is still something of a modern-era gloomy Gus, so saddled with metaphorical ghosts of the past that it seems a betrayal of Christie’s more intriguingly opaque conception of the character. [PG-13] HH1/2
Dumb Money (Dir. Craig Gillespie). Starring: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio. Recent history gets the ensemble dramedy treatment in this starry docudrama about the GameStop short squeeze that captivated a pandemic-stricken populace’s attention in late 2020 and early 2021. Paul Dano plays Keith Gill, the amateur financial analyst (YouTube handle Roaring Kitty) who convinced his army of followers to buy into the undervalued videogame company’s stocks, thus driving up the price and sending waves of panic through a few arrogant one-percenters. Director Craig Gillespie treats this blip on the socioeconomic pop-cultural radar like a David and Goliath story, with Gill as benevolent figurehead for the monetarily downtrod-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
FOR A MAN TURNING61 this month, Chris Botti refuses to be set in his ways. The trumpeter, who has forever avoided the singular tag of “jazz,” is going for a handful of firsts on his newest studio album, Vol. 1. For one, the usually opulently arranged and ultra-produced instrumentalist has gone through a stripping down process on his new album, again produced by David Foster. In their tackling of lush Tin Pan Alley ballads “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “Someday My Prince Will Come,” Botti and his team take their cues from the Chet Baker songbook and make much less much more—an elegance of economy, an embarrassment of riches in a cool, compacted state. The second surprise on Botti’s Vol. 1 is that, after a long relationship with Columbia Records, Botti has joined forces with the classic jazz label Blue Note for his bold, blunt newest music.
Botti phoned from his home in Los Angeles to discuss his new old ways and fresh first single, “Old Folks,” his latest work with producer Foster, Blue Note boss Don Was, and the word “jazz.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
i“IT’S AN HONOR OFa lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list. I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before.”
That’s Usher talking: he being a paragon of smooth and salty modern R&B and post-Michael Jackson choreography who —at the end of September—shut down all speculation as to who would work the valued 2024 Super Bowl Halftime show from Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation by accepting the assignment. On February 11, 2024 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV, and airing on CBS stations, the dancing, singing soul superstar becomes part of an elite, recently-crowned star crew that, in its last two outings welcomed Rihanna (who performed at the Super Bowl’s 2023 halftime show while pregnant) and the 2022 all-star hip hop crew led by Dr. Dre and featuring Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.
And sorry everyone—Taylor Swift took herself out of the running for Super Bowl Halftime 2024 long before she was even asked. Taylor Swift is only looking to make real money, on her own, without sharing the cash or the limelight with the NFL.
“Usher is an icon whose music has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape throughout his career. We couldn’t be more excited to have him headline this year’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show,” said Seth Dudowsky, NFL Head of Music in a press statement.
“Usher is the ultimate artist and showman. Ever since his debut at the age of 15, he’s been charting his own unique course. Beyond his flawless singing and exceptional choreography, Usher bares his soul,” said Jay-Z from Roc Nation in another statement. “His remarkable journey has propelled him to one of the grandest stages in the world. I can’t wait to see the magic.”
Nobody can wait to see that magic. Not even people like me who usually refuse to bleed Eagles green, but are genuinely excited by the showy prospects of the next Super Bowl’s explosive highlights.
But what makes football’s 15 minutes-of-magic so necessary and desired in the first place? How and why did we get from the corny University of Arizona Symphonic Marching Band and trumpeter Al Hirt in 1967 to the lights-flashing The Weeknd and the Latina tag team of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in the 2020s?
As for an artists’ need, it can’t be simple exposure. Consider that stadium-touring, classic rock giants Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, The Who, and Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band—the last volley of “rock” giants who will never play the Halftime Show until the
Foo Fighters and Green Day come of age—tackled the gridiron in lavish productions. Did they need a product push or a tour promotion? No. The ego-sating Super Bowl showcase offers billions of adoring fans on the field, and on the airwaves. Huge audiences without having to do much work for it, save for showing up and plugging in, and the elders of rock could zone in on a youthful football audience market share without messing up their core boomer audiences in the process.
For those who could use the promotion, the Super Bowl is your greatest marketing tool. Everybody knew of The Weeknd before he did his red-lit LV Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2021. He had a string of top sellers such as “Starboy,” “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Blinding Lights.” But they didn’t KNOW KNOW him like a non-stop erotic playlist of his greatest hits during television’s most-watched moment would provide.
BY A.D. AMOROSIThe same goes for Shakira and everyone who forgot that J-Lo made music in the first place. With Jay-Z’s Roc Nation assist, pushing the already-always-platinum-plated genre of hip hop to football viewing crowds, only helps in maintaining the mainstream narrative of rap’s lifestyle and pop culturalism during this, its 50th anniversary-andcounting. Just in case you forgot that billionaire Fenty lingerie creator Rihanna actually made music after years away from the recording studio—ta dah—Super Bowl infamy.
After 2024’s Usher, 2025’s BTS/Blackpink (my guess), and 2026’s Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran (bet on it) showcase, look for the Super Bowl Halftime Show to find relevance in virtual performance and AI, or even allowing footballers like the Eagles’ Jason Kelce (already a singing star with A Philly Special Christmas album) to join in the NFL fun. n
The Boys in the Band (1970, William Friedkin, United States)
Pay tribute to the late William Friedkin by heading back to one of his earliest efforts, the screen adaptation of Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking play about an eventful (to put it mildly) all-night birthday party attended by a catty gaggle of gay men. One of them, Peter (Alan McCarthy), is ostensibly straight; the rest range from deflectingly selfloathing (Kenneth Nelson’s Michael) to bitchily above-it-all (Leonard Frey’s Harold). As the evening progresses and the liquor flows, hidden emotions come dramatically to the surface. Since this is the cast of the original stage production, there’s a lived-in feeling to the performances that meshes beautifully with Friedkin’s scalpel-sharp cinematic approach. (Look, for example, at how he films Harold’s entrance in a striking series of punctuating close-ups, using moviemaking tools to achieve a genuinely theatrical flourish.) This is a work in constant conversation with its era and with itself and, as a result, it’s timeless. (Streaming on Amazon.)
Duel (1971, Steven Spielberg, United States)
Given the task of helming a TV movie of the week, a young upstart named Steven Spielberg came back with this unbearably tense tale of man vs. truck. The inimitably twitchy Dennis Weaver plays suburbanite David Mann (clever!), whose journey along the desolate highways of the American West is upended by the vengeful machinations of an unseen trucker. It’s road rage as primal battle, as everywhere Mann goes, the 18-wheeler is sure to follow. Spielberg’s work so impressed the higher-ups that he was able to shoot additional scenes so the film could be released theatrically overseas. What amazes about Duel still is how in line it feels with the director’s lifelong concerns, in its sentimental attachment to human existence and its existential fears of the gauntlet any one of us can be put through. As the unforgettable last
CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
FROM PAGE 14
loween-ish film, The Exorcist: Believer 50 years ago after the original, the man behind
Luis Buñuel, Here We Are joins the alreadyrunning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber
filled by SIN up north and Dolce in Center City. Not to be outdone by all things cooked and grilled, the massive Sushi by Bou team (Vegas, NYC, Chicago) is opening three restaurants in the Philly area before the end of 2023, starting with The Sushi Suite at the beginning of October in Northern Liberties— in the one-time home of Kevin Yanaga’s Omakase, no less.
On October 27, the Rolling Stones’ remaining
One Night in Miami and his Tony victory as Aaron Burr in Hamilton returns to the Broadway stage this October as the lead in Purlie Victorious (written by Ossie Davis) at the Music Box Theatre in its first-ever revival since its 1962 debut. That’s worth the trip to New York City.
Also worth the trip to New York City is the October opening of Stephen Sondheim’s posthumous last-ever musical, Here We Are, at The Shed within the confines of the Hudson development. Directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello and starring Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos based on the films of
of Fleet Street (with Josh Groban) and the upand-coming Broadway revival of Merrily, We Roll Along (with Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff) for New York audiences, and the dueling openings of Assassins (at the Arden) and Company (at the Forrest) for an October gratefully and gracefully stuffed to the gills with all things Sondheim. That’s right—that was one long run-on sentence, but worth every breath.
On Friday, October 6, at the W Hotel, Philly’s Avenue of the Arts Inc. celebrates itself and its three decades with a 30th Anniversary Gala and its tribute to the Avenue’s original team (Governor Ed Rendell, Judge Marjorie Rendell), its artists (playwright James Ijames, Russell Thompkins, Jr. of The Stylistics, performers from BalletX, Opera Philadelphia, the Academy of Vocal Arts and The Philadelphia Clef Club. On Saturday, October 21, the huge Academy of Music, Philadelphia, pays tribute to the late radio icon Jerry Blavat with local acts (and beyond) who loved The Geator, such as Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner, Darlene Love, The Happenings, The Intruders featuring Phil Gay, Bobby Wilson, The Chantels, and more. Both of these Center City nights prove the medal and star shine of South Broad Street. If you were ever looking for a reason to celebrate this city’s diverse arts, these two evenings are it.
Many, many millions of dollars spent since it was first announced, the SIN Philadelphia upscale Italian steakhouse—SIN standing for the curious “Steak Italian Nightlife”—finally opens in the usually not-so-white-linen covered Northern Liberties some day in late October. With Davio’s gone, the Italian steakhouse market is wide open and handsomely
members (Jagger, Richards, Wood, Wyman) join forces with guest stars (McCartney, Elton, Gaga, Stevie Wonder) and young producer Andrew Watt for the shockingly freshfaced first new Stones album in eons, Hackney Diamonds, made in tribute to their late great drummer Charlie Watts. Worth the wait.
Already on now at the Hedgerow Theater UNTIL October 15 is the raucously comic, decidedly poignant THE PHILLY FAN by Bruce Graham. Conceived by legendary Philly actor Tom McCarthy and directed by its longtime overseer, Joe Canuso, very Philadelphia playwright Graham is celebrating McCarthy and his own highly-locally-accented furious tour de force by doing the oneman-show all by himself for the first time ever. n
A.D. Amorosi is a Los Angeles Press Club National Art and Entertainment Journalism award-winning journalist and national public radio host and producer (WPPM.org’s Theater in the Round) married to a garden-to-table cooking instructor + award-winning gardener, Reese, and father to dog-daughter Tia.
NEXT BIG THING / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
FILM ROUNDUP / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
den. It’s entertaining as far as it goes, particularly when focused on Gill’s home life with his ne’er-do-well brother, Kevin (Pete Davidson). However, the film ultimately seems more on the side of big business with its naive belief that a truly democratized free market is somehow the gold standard to strive for, as opposed to a thorny symptom of much, much larger issues that could stand with some fixing, if not complete dismantling. [R] HH
Rotting in the Sun (Dir. Sebastián Silva). Starring: Sebastián Silva, Jordan Firstman, Gerardo Sierra. This satire of indie movie and influencer cultures is solipsistic to the extreme. Filmmaker Sebastián Silva plays a version of himself, a suicidal artiste who spends his days snorting ketamine and longing (half-seriously, half-not) for the sweet release of death. He travels to a gay mecca in Mexico where the schlongs literally hang free and he meets real-life Instagram celeb Jordan Firstman (also playing himself). Unapologetically queer and generally irritating, Firstman insinuates himself into Silva’s life, with the ultimate aim of collaborating on a project. But his plan to drop in on Silva at his home in the city gets complicated by an accidental death involving Silva and his maid (Catalina Saavedra). Complications ensue, as does half-assed handwringing about social media, the honed facades it engenders, and how humanity is nullified as a result. The film features copious nudity and sex, though to ends that come off as disgusted and regressive. This is basically a cynical wank job of interest only to its creator. [N/R] H
Talk to Me (Dirs. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou). Starring: Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Miranda Otto. Talk to the hand and the hand talks to you in this well-made if slight horror feature from twin-brother Australian YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou. Mia (Sophie Wilde) is one of a group of teen friends hooked on communing with the afterlife via a mummified hand. Grip it and visions of the dead give you a kind of drug-addled rush. Just don’t go into this altered state for more than a minute or so…or else. Yeah, like these kids are gonna heed that warning. Soon enough, Mia is seeing visions of her deceased mom (who
label their product “By Appointment to Bob,” although there is no record of the designation being accepted.
Sometime in the early 2000s, it was determined that the Kahlúa wasn’t working for me anymore, and I shifted to a vodka tonic. For those of you taking notes: I don’t like ice. In anything. The order was a vodka tonic, no ice, in a rocks glass. If I said it any other way, it caused confusion.
The vodka tonic served me well for fifteen years. Meanwhile, I was getting older. I was also accumulating doctors and pill containers. If you don’t identify with that, you will. As counterintuitive as it seems, I discovered my reflux issues were improved by eliminating the tonic rather than the alcohol, so my next major shift was to vodka with a handful of olives and a good bit of juice, known as the Mediterranean diet.
The rocks glass is because I don’t like silly glasses, like the ones they use for martinis (I’m sure those glasses have a name). Why purposely use something so inherently spillful? They once were a Deco designer's dream, a geometric logo for a decade, a symbol for revelry in the lounge. But really, now?
Lately, if I’m dining out and there is someone else to do the work, I order a margarita, no ice, no salt. Again, in a rocks glass. Again, with the confusion.
When I’m home, it’s the vodka with olives and juice. You might say I’m drinking a Dirty Vodka Martini, or at least the kind that contains only vodka, and you are right. It needs the olives in order to taste like something. Vodka is made from grains, cereals, and potatoes, none of which has a discernable impact on how the spirit tastes. Some brands come in versions with flavors added, but the base profile is pretty much neutral—ethanol and water—and if you are mixing, it makes no difference which one you use. People have their fashionable favorites, and numerous brands vie to be the Maybach of Vodkas, yet when a New York publication did a double-blind taste test (straight), the winner was Smirnoff.
That brings us to this auspicious moment, for which I must give credit to my wife. She bought some dried prunes when she went shopping. For me. I sliced two of them into my vodka to see how that tasted. It was great.
One or two dried prunes, halved.
kicked the bucket under mysterious circumstances) and also has to try to rescue the youngest of her friend group (Joe Bird) who is trapped in the torturous netherworld. The scare scenes are competent and the performances more than adequeat (Lord of the Rings actress Miranda Otto is especially good as an outwardly disapproving, yet actully kinda permissive parent). But there’s not much there here. Like a number of YouTube projects, this finally feels like calling-card content as opposed to actual art. [R]HH1/2 n
I’ll give you a mixological tip here. I bite the prunes in half before dropping them in the glass. It’s kind of a ritual. Some might argue the antiseptic nature of the vodka, so it’s a sacramental technique probably best reserved for your own drink. There is plenty of room for another ceremony of sorts, like cutting the prunes with silver scissors or a bone-handle knife. Silver prune scissors might be the ultimate birthday gift.
I dare say I have invented a drink that promises to be the favorite of generations to come. I recommend my new concoction to anyone old enough to decide if they want to have a drink and can use the digestive boost. A vodka, neat, with prunes. I’ve given it a name so you can register it with your bartender. A Geezer. My Minister of Honoraria is drawing up a warrant for purveyors right now. Available at fine local establishments. By Appointment to Bob. n
sourced and organic (i.e., duck eggs), healthy and twisty. Wash down a coffee-rubbed burger with an Hawaiian lemonade containing loose-leaf black tea and lavender. Chase goat-cheese-and-hummus Greek tacos with a hemp protein concoction. Drink a smoothie and eat a coconut chia/granola pudding in a bright, light restaurant, which resembles a casual luncheonette, or on a light, bright patio, which resembles a gravel beach. Orders are occasionally taken at a food truck, site of a benefit for victims of the Lahaina disaster. (4203 Durham Rd./Route 412, Ottsville; 908-219-7300; fieldstonecoffeeroasters.com)
The river talks a mighty streak in …And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, a passionately poetic pilgrimage of a play. Author Marcus Gardley tells the tale of a 19th-century ancestor escaping slavery, losing a life partner to tuberculosis, letting another family care for his daughter, and questing like Homer to reunite his family. Greek myth mixes with African American folklore, gospel music with wildly inventive words, searing sorrow with harmonious humor. (Oct. 26-29, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown; 484-664-3100; muhlenberg.edu)
Esther lives in a boarding house, sews for aristocrats and prostitutes, dreams of opening a beauty parlor, and is promised her dream by a man who works the Panama Canal. That’s a nutshell summary of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, who writes remarkably real dramas about remarkably real people. The Brooklyn native won Pulitzer prizes for Ruined, which revolves around women during the Congolese civil war, and Sweat, which revolves around friends in a Reading steel factory who become rivals after a lockout. Nottage has also staged the affair between the Spanish/French queen and a dwarf servant pictured in Velasquez’s painting Las Meninas and an Intimate Apparel sequel a century later. (Oct. 3-8, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley; 610-282-3192; desales.edu)
Farming. Poverty. Religion. Mass migration. Yearning. These elements bond in Nostalgia for My Island, a traveling exhibit of 20 works by Puerto Ricans created from the late 18th century to the 1960s. The lineup includes Francisco Oller, a solitary Latin American Impressionist. (Nov. 3-April 28, Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. Fifth St.; 610-4324333; allentownartmuseum.org)
Are You Happy Now? is a musical kiss-off to an ex-lover who stole the toaster, the spice rack and--insult to injury—the Halloween candy. This sly, wry burned valentine was composed by Richard Shindell, a courier of bittersweetly melodic letters to vivid characters: trucker, firefighter, military courier. His reedy, needling voice makes him a character actor; his robust music reflects a robust life. He’s studied in seminary and monastery; played in the Paris subway system; teamed with Lucy Kaplansky and Dar Williams in CryCryCry, and made al-
bums produced by instrumental wizard Larry Campbell, Bob Dylan’s old right- and left-hand man. He even cut a CD with an Argentine band, a natural act for someone who lives in Buenos Aires with his South American wife and their kids. (Oct. 15, Godfrey Daniels, 7 E. 4th St., Bethlehem; 610-867-2390; godfreydaniels.org)
Nine-member classical ensembles are unusual in the Valley—so unusual, in fact, I can’t remember one in my 43 years of covering the arts in these parts. The Frisson Wind Nonet will end the drought during an
Oct. 13 concert sponsored by Chamber Music Lehigh Valley, the new name for the venerable Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem. The sixyear-old band includes veterans and relative youngsters, a double bassist and a clarinetist. The four-work program includes Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 in E Flat Major and Gounod’s Petite Symphonie. Expect quips from leader Tom Gallant, who plays oboe and stand-up/sit-down comic. (Foy Concert Hall, Moravian University, 342 Main St., Bethlehem; 610-435-7611; cmlv.org) n
Geoff Gehman is a former arts writer for The Morning Call in Allentown and the author of five books, including Planet Mom: Keeping an Aging Parent from Aging, The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the Long-Lost Hamptons, and Fast Women and Slow Horses: The (mis)Adventures of a Bar, Betting and Barbecue Man (with William Mayberry). He lives in Bethlehem. geoffgehman@verizon.net
A.D. Amorosi: The last time we spoke, it was pre-pandemic, and you were touring around the art of Sinatra in song. Now, as then, with the new Vol. 1, your attraction to Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook is strong. But you told me then that your goal was to be genre-less. Why do you avoid the jazz tag and seek to stay genre-less?
Chris Botti: It’s really a tricky thing. Like it or not, “jazz” is really propped up by academia. Governments and academia subsidize quote-unquote jazz festivals. I’m not necessarily a huge fan of all that because it stomps on expectations. I don’t really think about it all together much. It’s not as if my music is beholden to any set of radio stations. Looking at our touring schedule, we can be playing Bethlehem, PA, or Lviv, Ukraine—these people are coming to our shows based on loving what they hear….
A.D. Amorosi: Without branding.
Chris Botti: Right. And we’re touring nonstop. And I never hear anyone talking about jazz. Only that they love what they’re hearing.
A.D. Amorosi: Audiences aren’t defining what you do. Why should you?
Chris Botti: Genre-less is good because the show we do is entertaining for folks who venture out and come back repeatedly. And yes, I have immensely talented jazz musicians in my band, and we can play all that stuff. But the show is skewed toward something much broader than jazz. There’s an old-school way to work this, and that is to entertain. Maybe I crafted it as having been around so many pop musicians—that brief interaction that I had with Sinatra in his band and how he worked his ensemble or played with Streisand. You learn to make sure that people are dialed into you for an entire show. Also, having come up with that smooth jazz thing when it had its time on the radio, that just all went away, so I don’t even have to concern myself with that. It is almost as if we're a variety act with so many diverse people and styles on our stage… I hope you can appreciate this, but I’m in the awkward but fantastically fun situation, what anyone in jazz or classical would want. You want to look at their calendar and see nothing but work, work, work continuously at all sorts of places. We play anywhere, anytime, great monetized gigs without sponsorship by schools. The people coming to see us aren’t doing so because an “approved” art piece is rolling through town. They’re coming to see us because they are fans. Know what a good
show is? When you’re finished playing one show, they’re booking you for the next. I’m proud of that.
A.D. Amorosi: I’m not asking you to speak for your ensemble, but do your bandmates feel similarly?
Chris Botti: Genre-less is in the presentation. When we come out and start with this rapid-fire be-bop run, that’s jazz. When you interact with pop vocals or our violinist doing her thing, it opens up on a high-end level. The musicianship coming through the ensemble is top-notch—the best. First and foremost, I always try to keep that going and keep that pool taut.
A.D. Amorosi: I’m loathe to ask why you waited a minute between albums because no one rushed Picasso. But, for a man who fairly regularly made records every 16 months, you took quite an eleven-year break before Vol. 1
Chris Botti: Impressions came out, won the Grammy, and I was still with Columbia. I had every intention of staying with Columbia. But the way the deal structure was set up, the next album was going to be one expensive record. That label, to their credit— going into the Adele business big time then— we had a nice conversation. They knew I wanted to make a record, but I knew where their heads were. I asked to be let out of the deal and move, and they agreed. That took a few years to get out of. Do the dance. Go to Blue Note. Then the pandemic hit.
A.D. Amorosi: Was the record that is Vol. 1, now, always this soulful, stripped-down affair that it is?
Chris Botti: When I sat down with [Blue Note president] Don Was, we discussed that I had been making these lush, flashy records with the same producers for a time. But there was no maneuverability—once we wrote the check, we were stuck with whatever we had. We couldn’t manipulate the keys, dance around the song order, or branch out. Was and I both have an affinity for that whole Charlie Haden/Pat Metheny’s Beyond the Missouri Sky record, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and Keith Jarrett’s The Melody at Night with You . Even that Joni Mitchell Standards record. Don talked about making an album like that but still having it be a lifestyle record—a minimal lifestyle record. Don was talking right up my alley. So we set out to do that—rehearsed for three days just to see what songs trickled into the pot, recorded it
in six days, mixed it in a few more, and it was done. I’ve never worked so fast.
A.D. Amorosi: What does the concept of a lifestyle record mean to you in 2023—as life and style is different now than it was a year ago, let alone 11 years ago—and why does “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Blue and Green” fit that definition? Or how do you make them fit that definition?
Chris Botti: It’s an album that doesn’t try so hard to say “listen, listen, listen to me.” These are records that you can put on, hear, absorb, and still carry on a conversation. You can cook to it. Sleep to it. But if you choose to, you can absolutely open up your ears and your head to the mind-numbing talent and those harmonies. Especially Keith Jarrett, who sounds like Chopin on The Melody at Night. After Miles did Kind of Blue, the next thing he did was go out and work with Sam Rivers on music that was never going to be a lifestyle record because it was too frenetic. Lifestyle records outside of a jazz situation? Sade’s Lovers Rock is 23 years old and is still classic. Everyone grooves to it, whether you’re 12 or 75. It’s harder to do in jazz and doesn’t have to be in a cheesy radio format.
A.D. Amorosi: Considering your history with ballads and the Great American Songbook and this lifestyle record idea, what were you looking for to make Vol. 1 complete, to stand out as part of Chris Botti's body or work?
Chris Botti: I always wanted to record “My Funny Valentine” because we did it with Joshua Bell on tour. Frigging awesome arrangement. The intro to “Danny Boy” is amazing. So, I took David Foster to dinner to discuss him producing this record, and the first thing he told me was, “I don’t play fucking jazz. Get the fuck out of here.” No. No, I told him. I just wanted him to use his ear and get these choice players—including Vinnie Calleautta—and have the freedom to change up songs as we liked. To allow myself to sit in the back seat and let David or whomever guide the track. Make it right. It was nice to have to load all of the stuff not on me so I could concentrate on mic placement, what I wanted the sound to be, and having my trumpet hit the sweet spot. Every time out. You’ve seen this—jazz musicians jamming out until 2 a.m., knowing they’ve hit their best, then they try to record it, and it just sounds like a lot of noise. With Vol. 1, we hit that sweet spot every time out. n
shot suggests, surviving the game of life isn’t entirely something to celebrate. (Streaming on Criterion.)
L’Argent (1983, Robert Bresson, France/Switzerland)
The great Robert Bresson’s final film is a loose adaptation of a section from Leo Tolstoy’s novella The Forged Coupon. Tracing the passage of counterfeit bank notes from one hand to the next, the film sketches in a subsection of lives (a schoolboy, a photo shop assistant, a heating oil employee) in ways that feel macrocosmic. Those who know Bresson’s masterful Au Hasard Balthazar (in which a donkey plays a similar connective role to the bank notes here) will recognize the method. What’s astonishing is how honed-to-a-point Bresson’s approach feels, how tragically inevitable every occurrence in the movie seems in both experience and in retrospect. In 83 minutes, Bresson gives us the universe, a place that can incorporate the most pitiful human struggles as well as car chases and axe murders (photographed as only this particular filmmaker, with his love of disorienting shots of hands and other body parts, can). Though Bresson lived until 1999, he never made another film after this. It remains among the pinnacles of final statements by an essential artist. (Streaming on Max.)
The ultimate giallo, Dario Argento’s claret-colored (in multiple senses) horror film follows young American ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) to a German conservatory that is in reality a front for a witches’ coven. The movie proceeds like a nightmare, sym-
phonically increasing in intensity as it indulges in searingly unforgettable visions: maggots falling from the ceiling, a room full of barbed wire that slowly mangles its victims, a zombified corpse brandishing a
butcher’s knife. This is the first, and best, of Argento’s so-called “Three Mothers” trilogy, which also includes Inferno (1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007), building to Suzie’s unforgettable confrontation with its main villain, the mostly invisible headmistress Helena Markos, whose guttural cackles are enough to induce eternal torments. Argento goes all out here; for all the evident passion in the project, he might as well be painting the screen in his own blood. (Streaming on Criterion.) n
Global warming is causing regions of the Chicago Loop to sink, the color of the ocean to change, and the daily odds of being bitten by a venomous snake in Georgia to increase, with each additional degree Celsius, by 5.6 percent. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen, contrary to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings, concluded that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is likely to collapse this century. When comparing fuel options for international shipping, Britons strongly disfavor ammonia. It may be possible to stabilize the level of road salt in American lakes. The Anthropocene Working Group proposed that official boundary measurements for the Anthropocene be established at Ontario’s Crawford Lake. Martian rivers likely flowed into Jezero Crater for at least a million years. Paleontologists debated whether a fossil of a Repenomamus attacking a Psittacosaurus shows mammal-on-dinosaur violence, Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities were conclusively observed at Jupiter’s magnetopause, and the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way may have forced its orbiting stellar binaries to either merge or eject one member of the pairs. A white dwarf first observed by the Zwicky Transient Facility is hydrogen on one side and helium on the other. A physicist who combined Zwicky’s tired light theory—wherein photons from distant, ancient galaxies have gradually faded, enhancing the red shift of the universe’s expansion—with Dirac’s coupling constants proposed that the Big Bang may have happened twice as long ago as previously thought. 9
A random-forest model can predict, from the shape and size of certain birds’ beaks, the material they use to build their nests, the king’s swan marker reported a precipitous drop in Thames cygnets, and it is extremely difficult for African cuckoos to fool fork-tailed drongos. Equids whose owners believe in animals’ capacity for emotion enjoy better health, while rats who were tickled playfully by a familiar human exhibited activity in the lateral columns of the periaqueductal gray. AIs identify texts written by non-native English speakers as having been written by other AIs. Phylogenetic analysis allowed for the dating of the Proto-Indo-European language to around 8,100 years ago. The first voyagers to travel from Tahiti to New Zealand required 3.3 to 4.8 times more energy for thermoregulation than those who traveled to Hawaii, which may account for the bulkier bodies of East Polynesians. Hospitalization for childhood burns correlates with poorer academic performance in female adolescents. Aggression can be a product of superior, not inferior, self-control. Creative people find their idle thoughts less boring. Somatic NRXN1 mutations can contribute to schizophrenia, and MdLAZY1A causes the branches of apple trees to weep.
9
Parasitic hairworms are the only animals whose cells lack cilia. Surgically joining the circulatory system of an old mouse to that of a young mouse allows the old mouse to live longer. Retrieving human eggs on sunny days results in a higher rate of live births. A paternally inherited gene in mice attempts to compel pregnant mothers to allocate maximal resources to the fetus. Postmenopausal orcas help protect their sons, but not their daughters or grandchildren, from socially inflicted injuries. Nearly half the orchids in a survey deceived pollinators rather than rewarded them. Researchers completed the first oncological trial of intravenous mistletoe extract
Percentage by which U.S. adults are more likely to agree with the Republicans’ economic platform than the Democrats’: 40
By which they are more likely to agree with the Republicans’ criminal justice platform: 33 With their foreign policy platform: 12
Percentage by which Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support Ukraine joining NATO: 70
Portion of Americans who oppose sending U.S. troops to Ukraine: 3/5
Percentage increase since 2000 in the number of online headlines denoting fear: 150
Minimum portion of Americans who try not to read, watch, or listen to the news: 2/5
Factor by which the average cost of a home in the US is higher than the average salary: 8
Percentage increase over the past year in the rejection rate of US loan applicants: 22
Renters who think the rental market has a negative effect on their career progression: 7/10
Who think it has negatively affected their life plans: 9/10
Percentage of Americans whose decision to move in with a partner was influenced by money: 47
% of Gen Z-ers and millennials who say they regret moving in with a romantic partner: 42
Who say that moving in with a romantic partner too early has led to a breakup: 1/3
Portion of Gen Z-ers and millennials who are encouraged by friends to overspend: 1/3
Who say it’s important that their friends earn as much as they do: 3/10
Percentage of millennials who have taken on debt because of a friend: 88
Percentage of Americans who believe that a four-year college degree is not worth the cost: 56
Portion of all US student-loan debt that is held by women: 2/3
Number of years it takes a woman, on average, longer than it takes a man to pay off student loans: 2
% change since 2004 in Google searches questioning one’s sexuality and gender: +1,300
Percentage of people who can accurately identify straight men by the sound of their voice: 46
Who can do so for gay men: 39
Percentage of cases in which AI is able to successfully determine a person’s sexual orientation: 83 Minimum amount that consumers have spent on AI romantic partners: $60,000,000
Percentage of Americans who know how their parents met: 63
Who think it’s easier to meet a romantic partner today than it was when their parents met: 15
Who think it’s harder: 46
Percentage of patients who received Botox last year who were younger than 35: 27
Percentage by which the number of Americans seeking mental health treatment has increased over the past two decades: 154
Percentage by which exercise has been found more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy in treating anxiety: 14
Percentage change since 2002 in the number of Americans who consider community activities very important: +72
In the number of Americans who consider religion very important: −11
Percentage of Democrats who believe in the devil: 44
Who believe in angels: 60
Percentage of U.S. adults who think intelligent life will be discovered on another planet in the next fifty years: 40
Who think the United States will wage war in space in the next fifty years: 44
Who think space tourism will be routine in the next fifty years: 55
Who would be interested in orbiting Earth themselves: 35
SOURCES: 1–3 Pew Research Center (Washington); 4,5 YouGov (NYC); 6 David Rozado, Te Pukenga (Dunedin, New Zealand); 7 Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (Oxford, England); 8 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis/Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington); 9 Federal Reserve Bank of New York; 10,11 Spare Room (NYC); 12–14 Realtor.com (Santa Clara, Calif.); 15–17 Intuit Credit Karma (Oakland, Calif.); 18 Wall Street Journal/NORC Poll (Chicago); 19,20 Education Data Initiative (Rock Island, Ill.); 21 Cultural Currents Institute (Austin, Tex.); 22,23 James Morandini, University of Sydney; 24 Sebastian Olbrich, University of Zurich; 25 Sensor Tower (San Francisco); 26–28 YouGov; 29 American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (Alexandria, Va.); 30 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Rockville, Md.); 31 Ben Singh, University of South Australia (Adelaide); 32–35 Gallup (Washington); 36–40 Pew Research Center.
The answer to this metapuzzle is the phrase that I’d hope you’d say in response to “Will you solve this meta?”
ruler of Norway from 1957 to 1991
56 Tony-nominated “Into the Woods” actress Williams
57 Focused while at work
59 Dancer’s deg., perhaps
60 Bewildered states
61 “Okay” from the captain
65 Feature of a 71 Across
66 Path
67 The Ghost Writer” actor McGregor
68Servers’ documents
69 Country singer with the hit “Nobody’s Home”
70 Alternatives to reds, at a winery
73 Advertising leaflet
75 ___ Enterprise
76 Healing application
77 Measure of closeness
78 Provosts’ colleagues
79 Spherical objects
82 Crossed (out)
83 Toasted sandwiches
86 Bulk storage unit
88 Alarming radio letters
91 Move, in a theater
93 Druid, e.g.
94 Bio class molecule
95 English soccer player Williamson
97 Bake, as eggs removed from their shells
99 Self-absorbed
100 Toy figure?
101 Rice Krispies ___ (chewy goody)
102 Main idea
103 God of war in the game “God of War”
108 “Golly!”
109 Father of Ben Solo
110 Network airing films
111 Scrooge’s cranky cry
112 “Lemon” actress Long
113 Source of hoots
114 Provide fodder for fact-checkers
115 Last word
Solution on page 24
