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november INTERVIEW
MAXWELL & MARY J. BLIGE | 22 Together for the first time, it seems like forever
“Three Squares, Variation 6,” from Three Square Family, bronze. Private collection.
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Elizabeth Osborne, Night Still Life, 1962. Oil on Canvas.26 x 40 in. Collection of Philip and Linda Osborne. © Elizabeth Osborne and Locks Gallery.
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ART 5 6 8
| The Burning Boat | Darkwater Revival: After Terry Adkins | Robert Engman
10 | EXHIBITIONS 1 Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties World War I and American Art Hues of Red and Blue: The 2016 Presidential Election 12 | EXHIBITIONS 2 Natural Philosophy 7th Annual Fine Craft Show at Artists of Yardley Art Center Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City 14 | THEATER
CITY THEATER
VALLEY THEATER
ENTERTAINMENT Maxwell.
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19 | ICEPACK 20 | THE LIST 43 | AGENDA
FILM
16 | The Tower 18 | The Accountant 26 | FOREIGN Denial
26 | DOCUMENTARY T-Rex
Certain Women.
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MUSIC
31 | POP Hip Hop for People Who Still Don’t Get Hip Hop
32 | SINGER / SONGWRITER David Bromberg Band James Luther Dickinson Si Cranstoun The Songs of Charlie Rich (various) Gabrielle Louise 34 | JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Mia Doi Todd Dear County John Hammond Denny Zeitlin 36 | ABOUT LIFE
Hope Springs Eternal
37 | JAZZ LIBRARY Dorothy Ashby
38 | FOODIE FILE
Scarpetta Soars
41 | HARPER’S FINDINGS INDEX
43 | ETCETERA
L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD
Filling the hunger since 1992 1-800-354-8776 • 215-862-9558
PUBLISHER
www.icondv.com
Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com
ADVERTISING 800-354-8776 EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna Raina Filipiak / Advertising filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION Designer Richard DeCosta
Assistant Designer Kaitlyn Reed-Baker
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
A. D. Amorosi / divaland@aol.com
Robert Beck / robert@robertbeck.net
Nick Bewsey / nickbewsey@gmail.com Jack Byer / jackbyer@verizon.net
Peter Croatto / petecroatto@yahoo.com James P. Delpino / JDelpino@aol.com
Edward Higgins / ehiggins2581@gmail.com Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com
George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com
R. Kurt Osenlund / rkurtosenlund@gmail.com Bob Perkins / bjazz5@aol.com
Keith Uhlich / KeithUhlich@gmail.com Burton Wasserman
PO Box 120 • New Hope 18938 (800) 354-8776 Fax (215) 862-9845
30 | REEL NEWS Café Society Star Trek Beyond Lo and Behold Morris From America
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The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius
Tom Wilk / tomwilk@rocketmail.com
28 | FILM ROUNDUP 31 Certain Women Elle Manchester by the Sea
De La Soul. Photo: Robert Adam Mayer.
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ON THE COVER: Jessica Slaven, Escreit, at Arthur Ross Gallery. Page 6.
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ESSAY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
art
the burning boat MARK MAST’S BOAT BURNED this morning. Everyone who was talking about it—and believe me that’s all anyone was talking about—said it was a good thing Mark wasn’t out hauling traps when it happened. Not that anyone really knows what happened. First of all it was foggy as all hell. You couldn’t see any of the boats in the harbor. You could hardly see the end of the wharf. The sun was coming up—not really up but it was just starting to get light. There was this weird glow out in the mist. Nothing big, just a faint brightness. It was like, what is that light? Then the Mary B went up. Mark was in his dinghy halfway to the boat when there was this big whuff and orange flames. Smoke billowed up and the fog swirled around the Mary B, lifting with the heat. You could see her now, with fire in her ports and coming out of the wheelhouse. Even from the wharf you could feel the heat. At first Mark sat on the water with the oars in the air, light flickering on his face, stunned to see his boat in flames. But when he noticed that the mooring line had nearly burned through his thoughts quickly turned to the eighty gallons of fuel in her tanks. All the boats are moored pretty close. This could get much worse. He yelled back to Calvin Porter on the wharf that the boat was going adrift. Calvin grabbed a mushroom anchor from beside the shed and lowered it into Stan Warren’s skiff. He climbed in, started the outboard, and turned her out from the dock towards the burning boat. That was about when the fire truck came down Wharf road. Calvin swung the skiff around the Mary B’s bow and heaved the anchor over the rail—that’s what, fifty pounds with chain? He’s a big guy. Big arms. Burned the hair right off them. Burned his face, too. But the anchor took hold
and he was able to start pulling her back from the other boats. The fire truck backed onto the wharf as far as they dared. Chief Daub climbed down into Bill Groffer’s outboard and they lowered the hose to him. Daub held the nozzle end tight over his shoulder and leaned forward, bracing himself in the bow. Bill steered around the moorings and boats, trailing the hose as the guys at the truck played it out. It was a heavy pull, and Bill had to weave through the water to keep from wrapping the buoys. Calvin Porter towed the Mary B away from the other boats and closer to Daub’s hose, uncoiling as much line as he could to get some distance from the blazing boat and still keep her in check.
Even so, it was hot. The Mary B’s black hull was a silhouette in a furnace, floating on the reflection of its flames, snapping and crackling. A column of acrid smoke roiled from the burning fiberglass into the parted fog. The cabin was mostly gone. Chief Daub started the spray as they got close, shielding them from the heat. The force of the hose shoved back at Daub, pushing aside the bow of the skiff, but these men have lived their lives on the water and know it like the land under their feet. Bill kept them in position as Daub made sure the cockpit decking got doused where the fuel tanks were located. From the beginning there was no saving the Mary B and she would likely burn right down to the water line, but they had to make sure nothing hap-
pened to those tanks. Being that close took nerve. They poured some fifteen hundred gallons onto the hull and that held her off until the Coast Guard showed up and finished the job. Good thing, since that’s all the water they had. When the Mary B cooled they hauled her out at the Carver’s Point ramp, drained the fuel and took the hull, which had twisted and folded in on itself, over to Preston’s yard for the insurance investigator to look over. Folks are saying it might have been the electronics on the new engine. They never really turn off, with all those computers talking to each other. Or maybe it was a battery. Who knows. But yeah, it’s a good thing that Mark wasn’t out hauling traps when it happened. n
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art
I
DARKWATER REVIVAL: AFTER TERRY ADKINS
IN A GRACIOUS GESTURE of memorial tribute to a highly regarded late member of the art faculty of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, the Arthur Ross Gallery is holding an exhibition of assorted artworks by Terry Adkins and several of his former students. Adkins died in 2014. The show is titled Darkwater Revival; After Terry Adkins. The exhibition is scheduled to be open until December 11, 2016. Specifically, the presentation pays homage to him in his multiple roles on and off campus as an independent creative artist, learned professor, dedicated musician and friendly mentor to colleagues and students alike. An especially noteworthy feature of the overall display is the range of materials employed in abstract and representational form. Typically, they include varied traditional media and even bits and pieces of scrap. This fact contributes a rich sense of textural vitality to the total visual impact of the show. Furthermore, the interplay of assorted materials, infused with subconscious associations, gives many of the Adkins constructs a sense of reference to the dada movement of the last century and the off-beat pieces assembled by Marcel Duchamp. Adkins was especially fond of integrating passages of music with the visual elements of his art. In this regard, he felt especially indebted to such heroes as Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Bessie Smith, Jimi Hendrix and Ludwig van Beethoven. The exhibition was organized by the gallery’s Associate Director Déjay Duckett in active association with remembrances of former students of Adkins who participated with him in a show in 2003 titled Darkwater: A Recital in 4 Dominions, Terry Adkins After W.E.B. Du Bois. Those former students were Jamal Cyrus, Nsenga Knight, Ernel Martinez, Matt Neff, Demetrius Oliver, Sean Riley, Jessica Slaven, Ivanco Talevski, SarahTortora, and Wilmer Wilson. Besides providing helpful insight into the work on view in the exhibition, Duckett amplifieson why she came to consider Adkins as the shaman on the Penn campus. Also included is Tameka Norris, a graduate of Yale University who was Adkins’ friend and Collaborator Director Lynn Marsden-Atlass has pointed to the fact that Adkins was aesthetically at home exploring a broad variety of feelings, ideas, and associations with a degree of inventive versatility and expressive effectiveness all too infrequently found in the efforts of a single artist. However, in this case, that fact is very much in evidence. Frequently, one finds the artworks of a noted teacher’s students bear strong resemblance to the master’s idiom and each other’s output. In this instance, the opposite is true with individual integrity plainly in view rather than some boringly repeated sameness. In the final analysis, the ultimate fact of the Adkins exhibition is his self-evident significance as a brilliantly gifted multi-media poet and a profoundly sensitive art educator. The exhibition is accompanied by a rather helpful, fully illustrated catalog. n Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, 220 South 34th Street (housed in the Fisher Fine Arts Building), Philadelphia, PA ArthurRossGellery.com Left: Terry Adkins (1953 – 2014) “Darkwater Record” (from Darkwater) 2002-2008 Porcelain, cassette tape with Socialism and the American Negro speech with W.E.B. Du Bois. Courtesy of the Estate of Terry Adkins and Salon 94, NY
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BURT WASSERMAN
Jessica Slaven, Hell Toupée, 2015, acrylic on paper, 19 x 24 in.
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Art
BURT WASSERMAN
ROBERT ENGMAN
T
THE ESSENCE OF ROBERT Engman’s sculpture and jewelry is a deep feeling for crisp, clean design structure in space. This becomes abundantly evident to visitors who see the exhibition he is currently holding in the Fred Beans Gallery of the James Michener Art Museum on South Pine St. in Doylestown, PA. The installation provides a fresh overview of his distinctive, spiritually oriented approach to graceful form in three dimensions. Titled Shifting the Limits, the presentation is scheduled to remain in place, open to the public, until February 5, 2017. Organized by Dr. Kirsten Jensen, the Michener’s chief curator, the overall presentation is a superb example of creative dynamics brought to realization by a contemporary American artist of Scandinavian ancestry. Born in 1927, in Belmont, Massachusetts, Engman served in the U.S. Navy, during World War II, in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Afterward, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design. In due course he did graduatete work at Yale where he studied with the eminent Bauhaus master, Josef Albers. Over the years, Engman has taught classes and served as a guest critic at various art schools and colleges. From 1970 to 1987, he co-chaired the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Many works by Engman grace the permanent collections of various significant museums, up and down the land. One of his best known pieces is titled Triune. It stands at the southwest corner opposite Philadelphia City Hall and was created in 1975. Consisting of three connected, curved bronze elements, it gives voice to the interdependence of the business community, the municipal government and the people of Philadelphia. The roots of Engman’s contemporary style are embedded in the emergence of cubism, early in the twentieth century. Picasso’s bronze Head of a Woman led the way. By and by, Jacques Lipschitz, Henri Laurens, Naum Gabo, Antoine Pevsner, Alexander Archipenko, Constantine Brancusi and Henry Moore also made significant contributions. The seemingly effortless grace of Engman’s sense of order and equilibrium leaves his forms free to float forever in a sea of timeless abstraction. Instead of representing the overt appearance of objects other than themselves, each artwork projects a unique reality with a singular integrity of their own. Above all, Engman’s vocabulary of vision generates both an absence of confused turmoil and the presence of a state of utopian vigor. By virtue of his influence as a distinguished art educator, and because of the many extant examples of his sculpture, he has exerted considerable influence on the world of modern art. Ultimately, Engman’s expressive significance is not lodged in the physical realty of his materials. Rather, it is his brilliantly imaginative use of an idealized integration of volume, texture and shape, all soundly unified and made generously visible. n
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TOP: “Three Squares, Variation 6,” from Three Square Family, bronze. Private collection. BOTTOM: “Two Circles, Variation 1,” from Two Circle Family, bronze. Private collection.
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EXHIBITIONS 1
Childe Hassam, Early Morning on the Avenue in May 1917, 1917, oil on canvas. Black Doorway II, 1966 (detail) Elizabeth Osborne (born 1936) Oil on canvas with objects, 42 x 49 in. Collection of the artist / Collection of Audrey O. Cooper Image © Elizabeth Osborne and Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties Delaware Art Museum 2301 Kentmere Pkwy Wilmington, Delaware 302-571-9590, delart.org Through January 8, 2017 Throughout her almost 60-year career, Philadelphia-based artist Elizabeth Osborne has been lauded for her exceptional use of color and superior ability to create glowing canvases. Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties features 12 oil and acrylic paintings with found objects produced between 1962 and 1966. Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties affords us the opportunity to showcase a vibrant decade from the artist’s career and to celebrate her immeasurable impact on the contemporary art of the Greater Philadelphia area and beyond,” says Delaware Art Museum’s Curator of Contemporary Art Margaret Winslow. “The exhibition traces this critical moment in the artist’s career and presents the first survey of her haunting and dark paintings from the 1960s.” Osborne, who was born in 1936, earned a certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1958 and a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959. By the early 1960s, Osborne sought to propel her practice forward and away from the Philadelphia tradition. She was awarded a yearlong Fulbright fellowship to study painting in Paris. Living and working in the French capital from 1963 to 1964, Osborne experimented with signs, symbols, and objects from her busy urban environment. The artist embarked on a new approach to handling the figure and representing space and adopted a style similar to her proto-Pop Art contemporaries.
World War I and American Art Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 118-128 North Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 (215) 972-7600 pafa.org November 4 - April 9, 2017 Coinciding with the centenary of America’s involvement with the war, World War I and American Art will be the first major exhibition devoted to exploring the ways in which American artists responded to the First World War. The war’s impact on art and culture was enormous, as nearly all of the era’s major American artists interpreted their experiences, opinions and perceptions of the conflict through their work. The exhibition's approximately 160 works by some 80 artists encompass a broad variety of stylistic approaches, viewpoints, and experiences.Artists: Ivan Albright, George Bellows, Charles Burchfield, John Steuart Curry, Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, Henry Glintenkamp, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Carl Hoeckner, Mary Reid Kelley, George Luks, John Marin, Violet Oakley, Georgia O'Keeffe, Joseph Pennell, Jane Peterson, Horace Pippin, Man Ray, Boardman Robinson, Norman Rockwell, John Singer Sargent, John Sloan, Edward Steichen, and Claggett Wilson.
Gifford Beal, On the Hudson at Newburgh, 1918, oil on canvas.
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Femi J. Johnson, Choice Matters, 2016, acrylic on canvas
Hues of Red and Blue: The 2016 Presidential Election Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 31 N 5th St, Allentown, PA AllentownArtMuseum.org Through November 13, 2017 Throughout history, artists have expressed political opinions in various formats and mediums. The Allentown Art Museum and RE:find Gallery challenged artists to respond to the upcoming presidential election by submitting election-themed works. Twenty-plus works in the Museum and more at RE:find Gallery lampoon and critique this hectic election season.
Paul Nicholson, Untitled, 2016, oil on canvas. Lent by the artist
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EXHIBITIONS 2
Yvonne Reyes.
7th Annual Fine Craft Show at Artists of Yardley Art Center 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley PA Saturday and Sunday, November 19 – 20 10:00am – 5:00pm artistsofyardley.org Charles Demuth, End of the Parade, Coatesville, Pa., 1920
Birth Project, Judy Chicago.
Natural Philosophy Martin Art Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts 2400 Chew Street, Allentown PA Tuesday through Saturday, 12 – 8pm muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/gallery/ November 2 – January 7, 2017 Natural Philosophy explores ways in which artists hope to gain an understanding of natural processes by exploring the nature of truth through aesthetic, methodological and philosophical approaches. The artists interrogate our relationships and responsibilities to the natural world and pose alternative realities and solutions. Works by the artists Judy Chicago, eric fleischauer and Barbara Kendrick experiment with the practical and iconographical application of cultural-anthropological research, focusing special attention on reproduction and mate selection. Ali Kazma, Mariele Neudecker and Paul Vanouse show works that pose basic existential questions in the anthropocentric framework. Works by Andrea Hornick, David Mann, Alberto Rey and Julie Tremblay consider our interconnectedness to our physical and biological world.
AOY Art Center’s Fine Craft Show is in the charming and historic Janney House on Patterson Farm. This is an intimate exhibition of 20 local artisans who create jewelry, pottery, natural fiber brooms, wearable art apparel, unique and repurposed eco-art, origami, decoupage, handmade greeting cards, ceramic and glass tiles, Pysanky ornaments, applied photography and so much more. This is an opportunity to shop handcrafted gifts and to meet the local makers who can tell the stories behind each special handmade piece. Enjoy the warmth of this historic old home in a pastoral setting and the smell of freshly baked goodies, elegantly and artistically presented for our guests to eat while shopping and then take home more for Thanksgiving dinner. There are raffles to win work from our craftsmen and a door prize to be awarded.
Fran Leyenberger
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Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City Brandywine River Museum of Art Route 1, Chadds Ford, PA 610-388-2700 Brandywine.org/museum Through January 22, 2017 An innovative view of avant-garde art from the 1920s through the 1940s, exploring the surprising contribution of artists working outside major urban centers in the expansion and acceptance of modernist styles. Modernism spread outward from New York, Boston, and Chicago to coastal New England, small-town Pennsylvania, Midwestern farms, and other rural regions. The exhibition features works by Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, and Grant Wood along with Ralston Crawford, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, N.C. Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth.
The Drowning, N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945).
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theater VALLEY
CITY
Don’t Monkey with Broadway. This showcase of showstoppers should be called “Don’t Monkey with Patti LuPone,” who is in her fifth decade as a Broadway institution. Equally effective as a belter and a balladeer, she won Tonys for her scorching, searching turns as the formidable Mama Rose in Gypsy and the equally formidable Eva Peron in Evita, a character she helped birth. Her Don’t Monkey repertoire reflects her remarkable registers, ranging from the desperate, defiant “Millwork,” which James Taylor wrote for the musical Working, to “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” the implosive, explosive Evita mission statement. LuPone will dip into this catalog on November 4 at the State Theatre, an occasional harbor for Mandy Patinkin, her Che Guevara in the original Evita and her teammate during a 2011-12 Broadway concert series. Fair warning: Famously intolerant of cellphone addicts, LuPone once snatched a spectator’s electronic weapon during a performance. Monkey around with your mobile (de)vice while she’s onstage and she may shove you into a very harsh spotlight.
Grounded. “Impressive” describes Interact Theatre’s production of George Brant’s Grounded, a one-woman show directed by Kathryn Macmillan, starring Kittson O’Neill as The Pilot assigned to operate a fighter drone in the Middle East from the Las Vegas desert. O’Neill is brilliant as she takes us through The Pilot’s mental states— delirious boredom when nothing happens to Zero Hour mania when she presses the deploy button. O’Neill is even better conveying The Pilot’s slow psychological deconstruction while spending weeks tracking a terrorist leader. Her obsession affects her marriage and invites a nervous breakdown. She is ultimately unable to kill the terrorist because his daughter, a mirror image of her own child, awakens maternal instincts. An unsentimental male colleague is then forced to complete the execution.
Then Athena. Four women play 14 females—historic, mythic, new—in a raw, rich exploration of heroism written by the performers. Louise Howard, a veteran actor and teacher, becomes an Army general in Afghanistan, an aspiring Wiccan and a Wonder Woman enemy. The Allentown Public Theatre production is especially relevant during a presidential campaign pitting a female former Secretary of State against an ex-Miss Universe impresario. (Nov. 18-20, Allentown Art Museum) Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers. Jose Torres-Tama—performance artist, playwright, provocative propagandist—creates a new category—Sci-Fi Latino Noir—to investigate why minorities—notably, Hispanics and other resident aliens—are feared, hated and misunderstood by Anglo Americans—even by people who couldn’t work without their work. A classic mestizo, Torres-Tama was born in Ecuador, raised in New Jersey and has lived many years in the melting pot that is New Orleans, a laboratory for his solo plays We Are Patriots with Dark Faces and $Casinoamerica$. (Nov. 3-6, Touchstone Theatre) Murdered to Death. A bumbling inspector, a melodramatic art dealer and a spinster sleuth entangle themselves while trying to untangle the mysterious death of a country-manor baron in the 1930s. It’s one of three Agatha Christie spoofs written by Peter Gordon, a reformed civil engineer from Yorkshire who founded a theater that stages new works to fund charities. (Nov. 3-6, Moravian College) Crazy Glue. The makers of super glues promise that their products will mend pretty much everything. Ah, but can they stick broken hearts together? That’s the unspoken question in Single Shoe Productions’ Crazy Glue, a mostly pantomimed, largely exquisite portrait of a clownish couple struggling to get back their glee after a tragedy. Bradley Wayne Smith and Filipa Tomas play adventurous, inventive newlyweds who use her pregnant belly as a playground, perhaps training their unborn child for a slapstick career. A miscarriage changes their giddy swing dance to a melancholy ballet where he works overtime to relieve her depression, at one point dreaming of their romantic first meeting. They settle for a tougher, saner union, at one point flapping their clasped hands separately to simulate beating hearts removed from their chests. Performing at Touchstone Theatre, Smith was marvelously goofy and rubbery whether shaving with glue or removing a squid from his face during a daffy underwater escape. Tomas was marvelously muscular and nimble whether applying makeup with glue or jumping rope with her husband’s intestines. Even their gibberish was musical; it resembled records spinning backwards. n — GEOFF GEHMAN 14 n I C O N n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
How We Got On. The little theaters in The Drake on Hicks Street are attracting a fair amount of attention. The petite Louis Bluver Theatre hosted Azuka Theatre’s presentation of How We Got On by Idris Goodwin, an ‘80s ode to teenage angst and rap. The Proscenium Theatre will present another world premier: Douglas Williams’ Shitheads (February 22-March 12), about a once popular Manhattan bike shop that is losing its customers to a competing business across the street. In yet another world premier, Azuka will present Philadelphia playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger’s The Arsonists (May 3-21), a Florida swamp-based story about a father and daughter inspired by the Greek tragedy, Electra. Azuka Theatre is the first theater company in Philadelphia (and the nation) to offer “Pay What You Decide” (PWYD) for the entire 2016-17 season. Rizzo. When Bruce Graham’s Rizzo premiered at Theater Exile last fall, reviews were good, but mixed. PTC’s production of the play with the same cast (Scott Greer as Rizzo) was much improved, thanks to PTC dramaturge Carrie Chapter. The new production incorporated many references to the current presidential race. The PTC Rizzo was an even more divisive and controversial figure than his Theatre Exile counterpart. At the Rizzo press preview, Executive Producing Director Sara Garonzik, who will leave PTC after the 2917 season, introduced former Governor Ed Rendell, who reminded the audience that Rizzo was a product of his times and, like everyone, a combination of both good and bad traits. Philadelphia will never see another Frank Rizzo. Intensely charismatic on a personal level, the former mayor loved tyranny, police raids, and police wagons roaming the streets picking up anyone who looked suspicious or out of the ordinary. This is the Week That Is. Jen Childs, co-founder and artistic director of 1812 Productions looks great in a fat suit, especially when she’s playing Chris Christie. Childs has also invented her own character, Patsy, a South Philly stoop lady who dispenses bits of wisdom. Patsy illuminated 1812’s 2016 version of its oft repeated show, This is the Week That Is, when she compared Hillary Clinton to “the Iggles” and Donald Trump to “scrapple.” The bi-partisan spoof no doubt upset political ideologues who want satire to reflect a particular bias. The non-stop laugh-a-thon starred Scott Greer and Alex Bechtel as Trump, and had skits on Vladimir Putin, climate change and Obamacare. The Other Place. Sharr White’s plays include Stupid Kid, Sunlight and The Snow Geese. The award-winning playwright’s The Other Place premiered at The Walnut’s Independence Studio on 3. The unsettling drama about a successful neurologist, Juliana, who battles a failing marriage and a crisis involving her daughter, holds yet another nightmare: the fact that she may have the same kind of brain tumor that killed her mother. Independence Studio 3 lightens up somewhat with the Irish Repertory Theatre of New York’s adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Nov. 15Dec. 23). The New York Times writes: “Thomas’s work is a cavalcade of imagery and sensation—the snowy sights, smells and sounds that marked the Christmases of his boyhood.“ Figgy pudding for all! n — THOM NICKELS
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PETE CROATTO
film
The Tower THE RELEASE OF KEITH Maitland’s Tower, based on Pamela Colloff ’s 2006 Texas Monthly article, comes when we have a presidential candidate eager to deport an entire religion of people deemed evil. It’s a convenient identifier for a bigot. Evil comes from something ineffable and innate that overwhelms reason and compassion. Those same factors drove Charles Whitman to start firing from the University of Texas Tower on August 1, 1966. The America Donald Trump espouses comes from a better, simpler time, like the one briefly portrayed in Tower before the bullets started piercing the hot summer air. Such a time has never existed—ask African-Americans or gays what the 1950s and 1960s were like. Shouting inflammatory sentence fragments to a crowd relishing the unleashing of their ids won’t summon it. When the unspeakable happens, people respond. It’s been that way forever, whether it’s Pearl Harbor, September 11, 2001, or when a lunatic, overgrown Oompa Loompa runs for president. As always, it’s up to us, not politicians or talking heads, to do something. Maitland’s stark and stirring documentary showcases volunteerism as heroism by presenting its subjects’ stories with vivid, crackling humanity. It was a normal day. A boy, with his cousin holding on, pedals forth on his paper route. A pregnant young coed and the boy she loves feed the meter. Suddenly she feels a jolt rush through her body. A cop is skipping stones when he hears a popping in the distance. Two friends decide to head to the campus after hearing a radio report about some goofball shooting an air rifle from the tower. Maitland does more than tell the story of the people there that day. He shows us. By relying on hauntingly life-like rotoscopic animation (courtesy of Minnow Mountain), we 16 n I C O N n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
see the events through the sources as they happen. We don’t know if these people will live or die, so there’s a wallop we would not get through straightforward interviews. And the imagery, mostly in black and white, is unsparing. When one source reveals the moment she knew she was a coward, we see her comprehending that emotion. Bullets tear through flesh. A woman begs for help—and a bystander runs away. A police officer, in a helpless position, watches his friend get shot. When Maitland abandons the animation, the effect is so jarring it brought me to tears. Oh my God, these people are real. Tower is an immersive emotional experience that whisks you inside the moment and into the real-life impact with such assurance that it keeps leveling you. Whitman’s name is rarely mentioned; we never get his perspective or see him pull a trigger, so his targets face a force of unspeakable malice. And they rise, even if it’s doing something as simple as sitting next to a victim. Are those who did nothing cowards? It’s hard to say. Even the heroes feel they should have done more. There is no simple narrative behind this story, and no simple way to stop the sequels from occurring, as Maitland illustrates with snippets from recent mass shootings. Fighting hate with more hate is a waste. Listening and talking beyond reaffirming ossified political ideologies could work. Complacency is a joke. Tower features no warm hues of nostalgia or the convenience of forgetting. The event lasted 96 minutes, but it changed lives permanently. A new shooting will soon consume the news cycle. As for the unlucky souls from 50 years ago who endured Whitman’s act—and the families of the deceased—that day will never end. Maitland’s brilliant work shows that looking to the past to improve the future can be an ugly insult. [NR] n
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MARK KERESMAN
film
I
N THE ACCOUNTANT, BEN Affleck portrays Christian Wolff, a high-functioning autistic man with an amazing affinity for numbers. His proficiency with money, mathematics, and the principals of accounting— plus his seemingly amoral nature—make him ideal to work the books for all sorts of people involved in all sorts of illegal affairs. His “cover” is that of a small-town accountant, helping out just plain folks with taxes and legit financial affairs. Wolff ’s regimented behavior is obsessive, yet he’s not an automaton—for fun, he shoots at melons with drawn-on faces and collects very pricey modern art. Of course, when one works with other people’s money, there is always the chance that one could learn things that might be “bad for their health,” and so it goes with CW. The danger comes from an unexpected source—the head of a seemingly legitimate robotics company run by Lamar Black (John Lithgow). In the course of his work he meets Dana (Anna Kendrick), a
The Accountant corporate cog who takes a liking to the distant Wolff. They discover a $61 million discrepancy in the books, and so they’re marked for death. When threatened, Wolff shows another, more assertive side of himself—a ruthless assassin. Complicating things is U.S. Treasury Director Ray King (J.K. Simmons), and his reluctant protégé Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who are trying to track Wolff down. If I wanted to be breezy and brief, I would say: Rain Man + A History of Violence = The Accountant. But that’s too glib—The Accountant is a very entertaining film that integrates a character study with action and mystery film genres. A good chunk of the movie shows Wolff ’s troubled childhood—his autism, how his family deals with it, and how his father shaped him into a martial arts-skilled killer that no one will mess with. Many of the characters are shown with shades of gray: Wolff ’s father is a bastard but his motivation is mostly good; Simmons, good at playing authoritative types, at first seems
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to be quite the Machiavellian prick, blackmailing Medina into helping him, but reveals an unexpectedly vulnerable side; Jon Berthnal is Brax, a corporate hatchet man who gives his prospective victims a choice between something bad and something worse. Affleck’s Wolff is coolly fascinating; he conveys a palpable sense of confliction between wanting emotional connection, yet remaining affectless and shut off from the world. The action scenes are good and director Gavin O’Connor is excellent at setting and alternating moods and building suspense. This is an almost two-hour film, but doesn’t feel long. The acting is quite good, though Kendrick’s part seems a bit underwritten. As an action/suspense/conspiracy movie, it’s certainly better than that last James Bond movie, Spectre. (There is a real Christian Wolff—an American composer who emerged from the 1950s NYC creative circle that included composers John Cage and Morton Feldman and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Coincidence? You be the judge.) n
ICEPACK
A.D. AMOROSI
For the longest time, Chef Sylva Senat was the next big star when it came to all things multicultural in restaurant fare. He was the culinary designer and executive chef of Broad Street’s one-time zestiest restaurant Tashan upon its opening, but left the modern Indian fare salon when disagreements about costs and bosses ensued. Senat disappeared into the private chef world and began consulting for the likes of Michael Schulson and Dos Tacos—more of a behind the scenes set of roles. Now, Senat is ready to step out of the shadows this wintry holiChef Michael Solomonov. day season, first by his surprise appearance (at least to Photo: Michael Persico. us) as a competitor on the 14th season of Top Chef, premiering at 10 p.m. Dec. 1 on the Bravo network. Then, later that same week, Senat is set open his first self-run restaurant Maison 208 (208 S 13th Street) in MidTown Village at the one-time location of Letto Deli. Congrats. Senat was already a competitor on Bravo’s Recipe for Deception and the Food Network’s Chopped series, so he’s used to the hot lights. Also ready for his Top Chef close-up, but not matching knives against Senat, is Chef Michael Solomonov of Zahav/Abe Fisher/Dizengoff fame who’ll serve as some sort of celebrity guest something. Local director/producer M. Night Shyamalan may not have talked much about his soon-to-be-released new movie Split when he appeared with Greater Philadelphia Film doyenne Sharon Pinkenson at the 25th annual Philadelphia Film Festival at October’s end to receive the First Annual Lumiere Award at AKA Washington Square. He could have mentioned that he filmed a good portion of the James McAvoy thriller at the Sun Center Studios in Aston, PA. The big news for November though, other than Split, is that his next directorial project with Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis—Labor of Love, a spooky romance mystery about a man chasing after the shadow of his late wife (No “He’s seeing dead people” jokes, please)—should begin filming shortly, starting in the Delaware Valley. By now, everybody knows that Broad and Tasker was gifted by the Mural Arts program with the “remix” mural of South Philly Bandstand-era musical legends Jerry Blavat, Al Martino, Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Eddie Fischer, James Darren, Fabian Forte, and Charlie Gracie. This new mural by Eric Okdeh picks up where its original—the now-tattered mural within the Pat’s/Geno’s axis— left off. Now, an equally large mural celebrating lesser known but equally bright Philly jazz legend and guitarist Eddie Lang which will be dedicated at the corner of 7th and Fitzwater Streets in South Jerry Blavat, Eric Okdeh, Jane Golden, Philadelphia on the block where Lang grew up (his and Charlie Gracie. musical partner/Philly jazz violinist Joe Venuti grew up one block away). Muralist Jared Bader and bandleader Richard Barnes are behind the new wall. After much deliberation and arguments between business districts and traditional cultural institutions, NOTO, the 1,000-plus capacity Not of the Ordinary nightclub along the cusp of Chinatown and the Loft District—is hot in the building phase. The Connecticut son and mother team, James and Micheline DeBerardine are going full-speed ahead, hiring name DJs from the Vegas-Amsterdam-Ibiza circuit, and building out VIP/bottle bar booths, etc for what promises to be a December opening. n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 19
CURATED BY A.D. AMOROSI
the list
NOVEMBER 4 PATTI LUPONE Broadway's gold standard vocalist from Evita and Gypsy breaks out the best from all of her Great White musicals and beyond. (State Theatre) 4 CHUCHO VALDÉS + JOE LOVANO The luscious Latin jazz pianist and the adventurous avant-bop saxophonist join forces for what promises to be a bold sonic screamer. (Kimmel Center)
Garage disco meets disco garage and yes, there is a difference. (The Fillmore) 7 SEU JORGE No moments were more touching throughout A Life Aquatic when actor-singer-sailor Seu Jorge appeared on screen performing David Bowie songs while going about his
cal lilt. (Theatre of Living Arts) 13 ANDERSON EAST If you missed the young nu-country songwriter at the 2016 Philadelphia Folk Fest in August, the caustic homespun lyricist and singer returns so that you don’t have to step on any twigs and stones. (Ardmore Music Hall) 15 HONUS HONUS OF MAN MAN +
MISTER HEAVENLY 4 BRIDGET EVERETT AND MURRAY HILL Cabaret's bawdiest female vocalist (and Seu Jorge.
seafaring duties. Jorge relives those precious times and an expanded palette of Bowie tunes in tribute to the late great chameleon. (Union Transfer)
Bridget Everett.
Amy Schumer's best bud) meets up with Brooklyn's original drag king for a night of raw, sex driven theater and song. (The Fillmore) 4/5 TEMPLE OF THE DOG Nineties' era grunge gods from Soundgarden and Pearl Jam held the reigns of this band (with the late Andrew Wood) before they ever made it big on their own, and now revisit their lone, eponymous LP catalog for its 25th anniversary. (Tower Theatre) 4/5 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY CHORAL ARTS The Choral Arts program kicks off with what they state is "today’s hottest choral composers." As I'm no judge, I'll take their word when they premiere Reena Esmail’s I RiseRise: Women in Song, commissioned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dolce, the LU women’s ensemble, and the 45th year of Women at Lehigh. Plus, there's Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass and Sametz’s Doth Love Exist. So there. (Zoellner Center for the Arts) 7 DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 & BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
11 BOX OF RAIN This show with the Grateful Dead tribute act ('68-’74 Dead tribute) should be more fun than usual now that Broken Arrow (Neil Young cover band), and Susana Millman (Grateful Dead photographer) and her husband Dennis McNally (the Dead's longtime publicist) are on board for some psychilbcinlaced laughs. (Ardmore Music Hall) 13 NICOLAS JAAR The Palestinian/Chilean/Nuyorican singersongwriter has moved from slow jazzy electro with improvised piano to delicate folk
The mad man behind Philly’s dark and noisy Man Man works out his sunnier inner demons on a new solo album, Use Your Delusion, done in tandem with actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead which is even weirder. (Boot & Saddle) 17 JU-TAUN The young soul toast of Williamstown, NJ offer up its debut album and an old school R&B release party to go with it. (Underground Arts) 18 JIM JAMES The dreamy guitarist and soaring singer from My Morning Jacket finds nighttime and goes sleeveless on this tour for his upcoming solo album, Eternally Even. (The Fillmore)
ends of the scale and the stage. Funny what time and money does. (Wells Fargo Center) 20 PARTYNEXTDOOR The rarely-live-playing electro-hop and soul producer takes his cool collection of riveting EPs on the road. (The Fillmore) 20/21 MICHAEL RILEY The local sound sculptor behind The Mural and the Mint and the composer of the score and sonic blasts for Theatre Exile's Rizzo offers sound and vision Personal Resonance Workshops in this new-ish South Philly performance and study space. What does that even mean? I'm intrigued enough to find out. (The Whole Shebang) 25 BRET MICHAELS The occasional singer with the hair metal band Poison and a solo artist whose rock outs win big country audiences has had a
20 THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA The one-time Philadelphian and the occasional Stray Cat is always a swinging, rockabilly-ing no matter what he's playing and expect nothing but the big beating blues during this holiday spectacular. 20 STEVIE NICKS WITH PRETENDERS Once upon a time the ultimately ethereal, gauzy vocalist from Fleetwood Mac and the
Nicolas Jaar.
Stevie Nivks.
and back in his time. His new album Sirens is something in-between, and with a politi-
pugnacious sarcastic front woman of The Pretenders would have been on opposite
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PartyNextDoor.
Bret Michaels.
third career in reality television with Rock of Love and several additional VH1 ensemble shows. Good for him. There’s always been something winning about this guy. Plus, he was on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice —maybe he'll have something to say about that experience. (Electric Factory) 28 MIKE GORDON Phish members other than Trey A rarely get out of the house alone, so this should be a complex fun experience. (Union Transfer) n
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A.D. AMOROSI
INTErview
MAXWELL and MARY J. BLIGE TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME, IT SEEMS LIKE FOREVER
WHEN THE MAXWELL-MARY J. Blige’s The King & Queen of Hearts World Tour hits Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on November 9, the best part of the teaming is that this debut duo-pairing of modern R&B’s top-notch crooners is that it sounds as if they’ve been doing two-as-one forever. Seamless. Sonorous. Soulful. Mary J Blige is the brassier of the two, and somehow the most well connected considering that her newest claim to fame comes from sitting down the Democratic candidate for president and singing Bruce Springsteen’s “American Skin” in Hilary Clinton’s face. Loud, too. Though Blige was not available to speak at press time, she did just release a steamy new single, “Thick of It,” in hot anticipation of her new album, Strength of a Woman. Twenty years since the rounded corners of Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite and its aquatic follow-up Embrya, Brooklyn’s singularly-named Maxwell is still tapping warm, calm water from the cool R&B well. His first albums THINGS DID HAPPEN THAT I DIDN’T EXPECT—LIKE were always on the stylized THE STUFF AROUND TURNING 40. I HONESTLY soul tip, albeit with a weird, elDIDN’T EXPECT THAT TO THROW ME. KNOWING egant sheen. By 2009’s BLACKsummers’night (not to be conFULL WELL THAT I DON’T CARE ABOUT CELEBRITY. I fused with this similarly titled WATCHED THE WORLD GO THROUGH THE FAME new release, blackSUMMERGAME, WHERE IT ISN’T MERIT THAT IS THE MARK S’night), Maxwell grabbed a OF WORTH, BUT JUST DOING SOMETHING OUTwell-tailored suit, found bitterLANDISH ENOUGH TO GET YOUR FACE OUT sweet romanticism, and made the moody transformation THERE ON YOUTUBE, VINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA. I complete as an African AmeriDON’T KNOW WHY, BUT THAT TOOK THE WIND can Bryan Ferry. Passionate OUT OF MY SAILS—THAT THIS IS ALL SO CORNY. without being Millie Jacksonnasty, his most recent albums finds its brooding loverman lost in a series of existential crises with but one way out: l’amour. Luckily, we got the hard-to-interview Maxwell on the horn for a fine, fireside chat. I know there are different versions of getting it right, but how important is perfection—you’re laughing already—because you’re working on these albums forever and though the newer “blackSUMMERS’night” is grimier, it is still like a jewel. Just one with the dirt still stuck to it… and a few flaws. I know where you’re going. It’s funny, but that’s what happens. You’re going out of your way to be as perfect as you can. When I started, I just wanted to show people that I was worthy enough, that I could make a record that people would want or want to bond with. As you get older, the mistakes that get left in the pile often begin to add up to something even more unique, more brilliant. That’s just like life. Exactly. So you learn to stop polishing a little and go with the struggle of just 22 n I C O N n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
getting it out. The first BLACKsummers’night was cleaner. This time around, I didn’t go for that—creatively, I let things be. The third one I’m working on now because I didn’t want to wait another seven years between albums and be 50, is probably something in between polished and gritty. I mean, so far. [laughs] I’m always looking to see how people view a whole album. With Embrya, there was soul going on but in a different sense, maybe the neo-soul thing. Now, there’s a different approach—which I never thought anyone would notice me or my changes to begin with, but I’m certainly glad that they did. Intentions change. Things happen. Do you believe that the “blackSUMMERS’night” that came out this year is the same one you wanted to originally come out in 2012 as discussed? Were there radical changes? I wouldn’t say radically, though the changes that are there are those that I needed to go through, I suppose. There were elements tethered to my own personal experience. Things did happen that I didn’t expect—like the stuff around turning 40. I honestly didn’t expect that to throw me. Knowing full well that I don’t care about celebrity. I watched the world go through the fame game, where it isn’t merit that is the mark of worth, but just doing something outlandish enough to get your face out there on YouTube, Vine and social media. I don’t know why, but that took the wind out of my sails—that this is all so corny. Creatively, I had to do this, make music while maintaining a personal private life. That’s important. Or what I consider a life, because too often that reality is considered an addendum, an accessory. I don’t necessarily like being known for only what I create or something I said that made you go “Ahhh.” That played into the recording. So what excited you then about recording or making art? What I loved about coming back was that I could continue. We have this time, and we have this experience, and I watch a man like Harry Belafonte; you see his work in music, film, the stage and social politics—decades of it—and that is something moving. You see talented men such as Prince and David Bowie pass away, and you get that time is precious. This is not up to you or me to decide that you can go away anymore. There are songs to be done; there are things to get in order. These things cross your mind—what are you leaving behind? I’m excited again, especially when you consider that my first album was 20 years ago. Q: So you get to work. Do you share Mr. Belafonte’s sense of causality, his desire to right wrongs and dedication to social justice? A: I would not feel right even pretending to be at his level, but I have tried to
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Celebrate in the SouthSide Arts District Nov. 1-Dec. 25. Shop & dine in Bethlehem’s vibrant SouthSide, a destination for gifts and culture, with mainstays like Cleo’s Silversmith Studio & Gallery and Touchstone Theatre. One-of-a-kind offerings and special sales. SouthSideArtsDistrict.com SteelStacks Gingerbread House Competition & Exhibit Nov. 18-Dec. 18. Gingerbread house creations in a variety of different categories. Presented by ArtsQuest. SteelStacks, Bethlehem. Free. 610-332-3378. ChristmasCity.org Christkindlmarkt at SteelStacks Nov. 18-20, 25-27. Dec. 1-4, 8-11, 15-18. Thurs. & Sun. 11-6; Fri. & Sat. 11-8. From the majestic history of the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District to the post-industrial revitalization of the Bethlehem Steel plant into an arts and cultural campus, Christmas City has something for everyone. Presented by ArtsQuest. PNC Plaza, SteelStacks, 645 E. First Street, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. ChristmasCity.org Anniversary Holiday Putz Trail Nov. 21-Feb. 12 (No tours Dec. 24/25 and Jan. 1). Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Single Sisters’ House, 1810 Goundie House and the Central Moravian Church. 800360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org Christmas City Tree Lighting Ceremony Nov. 25, 4:30 PM. Kick off the Christmas Season. Presented by Citizens Christmas City Committee. Payrow Plaza, 10 E. Church Street, Bethlehem. Free. 484-280-3024. Jingle Bell Trail Nov. 26. Sip on delicious cocktails, mocktails & other goodies on Small Business Saturday. Purchase your ticket and receive a passport for 15 samples. DowntownAllentown.com
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Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas Nov. 26, 11 AM & 2 PM. After selling some of her old gowns and accessories, Nancy has enough money to buy a brandnew sparkly tree topper. But when things don’t turn out the way Nancy planned, will Christmas still be splendiferous? Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. 610432-6715. Millersymphony.org Advent & Christmas Organ Concert Nov. 26, 2 PM. Central Moravian Church Sanctuary with Rebecca Owens, organist. Arrangements on the 3,056 pipe Möller/Walker organ. 406 Main Street, Bethlehem. 610-8665661. Centralmoravianchurch.org Advent Lovefeast Nov. 27, 11 AM. Sweet rolls & coffee are served during a service of hymns and anthems. 406 Main Street, Central Moravian Church Sanctuary, Bethlehem. Free. 610-8665661. Centralmoravianchurch.org Lehigh Valley Christmas in Concert Nov. 27, 7 PM. Join us as we present the 20th and final concert. The area’s finest musicians perform holiday classics in a variety of musical genres. Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. DowntownAllentown.com. Historic Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides Nov. 27-Dec. 14: Thurs.-Sun. 3-9; Dec. 15-31 Mon.-Sun. 3-9. (No carriage rides on Dec. 3, 24 & 25). Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. 505 Main Street, Bethlehem. 800-360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org Broadway Christmas Wonderland, The Holiday Show Dec. 1 & Dec. 2, 7 PM. Glittering costumes, a dazzling cast, and the highest kicking chorus girls this side of the North Pole. For the whole family. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. Statetheatre.org
White Christmas Dec. 1-3, 1:30 PM. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. SteelStacks.org Christmas City Follies XVll Dec. 1-18. Follies celebrates the holiday season with giddiness, poignancy, pop culture, and joy for all. Featuring The Old Guy, Little Red, The Pajama Sisters, and the immortal Shopping Cart Ballet. Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-867-1689. Touchstone.org Twelve Twenty-Four Dec. 2 & 3, 8:00 PM. The Holiday rock orchestra inspired by The TransSiberian Orchestra, celebrating their 15th year. Mauch Chunk Opera House, 14 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA. 570-325-0249. Mcohjt.com
Chapin Family Holiday Show Dec. 9, 7:30 PM. The famous Chapin Family comes together to bring alive the music of Harry Chapin. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. 610-3323378. Steelstacks.org Luminaria Night Dec. 10, sundown-11 PM.; Rain Date: Dec. 11. Display of luminaria candles in bags lining the streets. Kits can be purchased in advance. Proceeds benefit community members in need. Presented By New Bethany Ministries. Bethlehem. 610-691-5602. luminarianight@gmail.com It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 15-17: 1:30 PM. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. SteelStacks.org
51st Annual Community Advent Breakfast Dec. 3, 8:30 AM. Presented by Citizens Christmas City Committee. A trombone choir, beeswax candle lighting ceremony, Broughal Southside Singers performance along with a generous served breakfast. Moravian Village, 526 Wood Street, Bethlehem. 484-280-3024
Eric Mintel-Jazz Holiday Hits Dec. 16, 7:30 PM. Featuring Holiday music including a Charlie Brown Jazz Christmas Extravaganza, a funky version of Do You Hear What I hear, Jingle Bells and more. Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. 610-4326715. Millersymphony.org
A Moravian Christmas Experience Dec. 3, 1:30 PM. Step into history as you enter the 208year-old sanctuary of Central Moravian Church located in the heart of the Moravian Historic District in downtown Bethlehem. 406 Main Street. 610-866-5661. Centralmoravianchurch.org
Canadian Brass Holiday Show Dec. 18, 7 PM. Genre-bending versatility and joyous performance, they are masters of concert presentations and have developed a uniquely engaging stage presence. Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. 610-432-6715. Millersymphony.org
KeyStone Holiday Concert Dec. 4, 3 PM. A professional six-voice contemporary a cappella group based in Philadelphia. Free. Bethlehem Area Public Library, 11 W. Church St., Bethlehem. Bapl.org
Twelve Twenty-Four Dec. 27, 7:30 PM. The Holiday rock orchestra inspired by The TransSiberian Orchestra, celebrating their 15th year. Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. 610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.com
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MARK KERESMAN
foreign
MARK KERESMAN
DOC
Denial
T-Rex
ONE OF THE MOST hallowed concepts in American law and justice is: An accused is innocent until proven guilty. Not so in U.K. law in cases of libel. Rachel Weisz is Deborah Lipstadt, an American college professor who wrote a book on the systematic elimination of European Jews during WWII known as the Holocaust. She accuses U.K. historian/Holocaust denier/Hitler sympathizer David Irving of being full of shit, which spurs him to legal action. But in the U.K. the burden of proof is on her and puts her in the awkward position of having to “prove” the Holocaust happened. If she did, she would prove Irving—a smug, creepily charming sort played by Timothy Spall—wrong, and her discrediting of him legal. Most people with an awareness of history know that the Holocaust wasn’t a Jewish publicity stunt. However, my father, who fought in WWII told me as a lad (I paraphrase), “Who’s gonna remember [what happened in the death camps, as American soldiers liberated some near the war’s conclusion] after I’m gone?” Since too few people, alas, do not have a sense of history, racists and hate-mongers can rewrite it to suit their own ends. As an example, this past year some TV pundit asserted that African-American slaves were well-fed and well-treated. All that hullabaloo about slavery? Totally exaggerated. Based on a true story, Denial, a U.K. import, is mostly a courtroom drama, albeit one that occasionally goes beyond its staid confines. Deborah and her legal team visit the remains of a German death camp—for her, it’s a deeply emotional experience; for the lead legal eagle Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson), his mental wheels are unemotionally mapping out a strategy to win. This creates interesting friction between the two; one is fired up by righteous fury, the other is calculating how to win the case while not giving too much of a public platform for (and maybe legitimacy to) Irving’s racist and anti-Semitic views. Denial is, for history and courtroom buffs, an immersive movie. The performances are palpable— you can almost feel Deborah’s earnestness, Rampton’s genial yet shrewd persona, Irving’s academically-coated evil (he looks like Mitch McConnell on mild steroids)—during the trial, both in and outside of court. What would’ve been nice was an exploration of how Irving got to where he was, especially since we see the governess/nanny for his child is a woman of African descent. The direction is straightforward, like a documentary, and the cinematography of the camp scenes is haunting. I put this in the “win” column. n
THERE IS SOMETHING ROUSING about a sports story film—such a movie is a combination of intense physical training and the personal struggles of the protagonist (or team) to be Good Enough, and then the actual game itself. When these sets of struggles are real, the result is even more rousing, the definition of crowd-pleaser. This is one such story, and a true one at that. Claressa Shields, a teenager from the impoverished hellhole of Flint, Michigan, (nicknamed T-Rex for her relatively short arms) dreams of competing in boxing at the Olympics. All the ingredients of the classic and clichéd sports movie are here: A hero or heroine from the wrong side of the tracks; a gruff, blunt manager or trainer with a heart of gold; a seriously dysfunctional home life; the hero or heroine battles (physically or intellectually) with one or more worthy opponents; and, of course, victory. (Ms. Shields won the 2012 Gold Medal in Olympic boxing.) Yet here they’re all true, delivered up in starkly matter-of-fact, slightly grimy style. What makes this a great film is the juxtaposition of Shields’ struggles. There are the intense, sometimes grueling physical challenges of training, of course—but she is still a teenager, with teenage desires and a rocky family life. We get to see Shields’ conflicted emotions at various stages of the game—even when things go well, we see behind the scenes and into her emotional spaces. While the filmmakers try for an optimistic tone, it’s hardly Hollywood-ized. We see just enough of her crumbling hometown (a bit of Michael Moore influence here) to realize that even if she emerges a winner, it’s not going to turn into mega-endorsement deals for our protagonist. T-Rex is a true-life version of Rocky but without the corny soundtrack. Boxing fan or not, this is a compelling film, one of the very few films this writer wishes was longer than its 90-minute run-time. n
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KEITH UHLICH
film roundup
Manchester by the Sea
31 (Dir. Rob Zombie). Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake. Writer-director Rob Zombie’s 1970s-set tale of five redneck carnies forced by a trio of smug one-percenters (led by Zombie regular Malcolm McDowell) to play a most dangerous game is a deep dive into depravity. The filmmaker’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, stars as Charly, the comely head of that doomed quintet, who must survive twelve hours against a rotating roster of killer clowns. There’s a Spanish-speaking dwarf Nazi, a pair of chainsaw-wielding pranksters who keep a barely breathing woman as a living sex doll, and a maniac among maniacs (the spectacular Richard Brake) who’s like a hillbilly version of Death from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Is the film anything more than a vile carnivalesque goof? Perhaps. But it also captures a very potent, very American sense of hopelessness that pairs nicely with Election Year 2016. Like many of the best horror films, it’s hard to shake. [R] HHHH
Certain Women (Dir. Kelly Reichardt). Starring: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone. An independent among independents, writer-director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy) brings her inimitable touch to this subtle, powerful adaptation of three Montana-set short stories by author Maile Meloy. The varying plots are so simple as to be nearwispy: A lawyer (Laura Dern) calmly defuses a hostage situation with a former client; a woman (Michelle Williams) wants to purchase some old sandstone from a local codger; and an introverted horse rancher (Lily Gladstone) falls for an outof-town attorney (Kristen Stewart) who’s teaching night classes. There are some tenuous connections between the tales (never treated in the glib aha! fashion of so many interconnected narratives) and the drama is continuously but never selfconsciously understated. Not much happens and yet everything does. By the end, you feel like these three very specific small fables have given you a glimpse of the universe. [R] HHHH1/2
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Elle (Dir. Paul Verhoeven). Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny. Leave it to Paul Showgirls Verhoeven to blithely court controversy, opening his latest provocation (an adaptation of a novel by Philippe Djian) with his lead actress being brutally raped while her cat watches in impassive close-up. (Insert Donald Trump-esque “pussy” comment here.) But when that actress is the steely, spectacular Isabelle Huppert, it’s clear the fallout from this horrible event will not proceed with pitiable victim predictability. Huppert’s Michèle Leblanc (a video game industry majordomo and the daughter of an infamous serial killer) is a survivor, initially brushing off the assault and then slowly coming to the realization that the rape, and potentially the rapist, hold some kind of strange allure. The actress fully embodies all the contradictions of the story, much more so than Verhoeven who seems a little out of his depth at times, leaning, as he so often does, on cheap shock value to generate insight. Huppert is enough, however, to make this outrageous narrative truly resonate. [R] HHH1/2
Manchester by the Sea (Dir. Kenneth Lonergan). Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges. Kenneth Lonergan made one of the great recent American films with the long-gestating Margaret (2011), which makes his more measured, semi-conventional followup a bit of a disappointment. That’s not to say the filmmaker’s tale of a grieving father (Casey Affleck) forced to take care of the teen son (Lucas Hedges) of his deceased brother (Kyle Chandler) proceeds with anything other than shrewd inventiveness. Lonergan favors an intricate, elliptical structure that moves backwards and forwards in time, delaying certain revelations for maximum emotional impact. The performers are uniformly superb (beyond a bit of actorly overemoting by Michelle Williams as Affleck’s estranged wife), and there’s nary a false tonal step. The worst that can be said is that the movie fades somewhat in retrospect, once the ending makes clear that Lonergan is applying his great talent to a rather commonplace story of self-forgiveness and redemption. [R]
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Easton
Photo: Lillian June Robinson
ANNUAL HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE AND PEACE CANDLE LIGHTING Saturday, November 26, 2016 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM Enjoy the sights and sounds of the season with live music, carriage rides, strolling street performers, ice carvers, photos with Santa, and more treats to delight the whole family. Come meet the man himself at Breakfast with Santa held at the exquisite Bank Street Annex.
Take in a family show, Mooseltoe: A New Moosical at the stunning State Theatre. Show off your stellar gingerbread house skills during the contest at the Third Street Alliance.
Plus, kick off the holiday shopping season with Downtown Easton’s selection of unique boutiques and specialty stores. The event coincides with Small Business Saturday, a national push reminding consumers to support their local, small businesses through the holiday season.
A full day of merriment culminates in the grand lighting of Easton's Peace Candle at 6:30pm. Lit for the first time on December 10, 1951, Easton’s Christmas Candle was created to help restore the prestige of Easton’s holiday decorations which had waned in the mid20th century. Now named the Peace Candle, the 106’ structure is assembled each year over the Civil War Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument located in Easton's Centre Square. It is dedicated to the Easton area men and women who have served or are serving in the United States armed forces. The Peace Candle is believed to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the United States. Find more information and a schedule of events at www.EastonMainStreet.org
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DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER
reel news
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World Café Society (2016) HHHH Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell Genre: Drama, PG In classic Woody Allen style, this retrograde, dreams vs. reality drama is draped in the glamor, sophistication, and music of 1930s Hollywood. Ambitious but clueless Bobby Dorfman (Eisenberg), a Jewish kid from the Bronx, heads to Tinseltown in search of fame and fortune with a job with his Uncle Phil (Carell), an influential talent agent. To get the nephew out of his hair, Phil assigns his beautiful assistant Vonnie (Stewart) to show him around town. Naturally, Bobby falls for her; she takes a little more time before succumbing to his unpretentious appeal. But she has a lover who is already established in the game and decides not to take a wildcard chance and trade down. Brokenhearted, Bobby heads home to work for his mobbed-up brother in a popular nightclub. In this elegant, overstated fantasy, Allen weaves the ambition, duplicity, and egomania of Hollywood with the high-society bravado and outwardly-respectable gangster culture of New York with enough life-happens plot twists to make a pretzel dizzy.
Star Trek Beyond (2016) HHHH Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella Genre: Action, Si-Fi, PG-13 This rebooted Star Trek boldly goes where past episodes also dared to venture, both with its existential introspection and its simplified good vs. evil. It hyper drives into an action-thriller universe inhabited with megalomaniac villains, cosmic catastrophes, and CGI fantasies, yet the storyline never loses its focus on the central characters, their sarcastic bro-humor, and the ability of basic goodness to prevail. To begin, the hideously evil Krall (Elba) blasts the Star Ship Enterprise into a thousand pieces and imprisons the survivors on his hostile planet. Only the core crew escape. Aided by Jaylah, a local revolutionary set on revenge played to perfection by Boutella, Capt. Kirk must not only rescue his crew, but save the entire civilized universe from perdition. Kirk once again symbolizes the internal conflict between good and evil faced by all humans, and true to tradition, goes hand to hand with Krall for the moment of truth.
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Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016) HHHH Cast: Werner Herzog, Kevin Mitnick, Genre: Documentary, PG-13 As far as paradigm shifts go, the Internet rates with the discovery of fire, the Iron Age, and the Industrial Revolution. The global personal interconnection with all information (and misinformation) revolutionized how we interact. Werner Herzog has focused his lens onto that ever-changing virtual world that revolutionized our reality forever. How did it begin, where is it going? He begins with the birth of the Internet in a UCLA computer lab, then questions leading innovators about our uncontrollable rush into an unpredictable future. Like every breakthrough, the Internet spawned a hundred culture-crushing consequences. After two decades, we have instant global email, finance, and commerce, but also spam, spyware, identify theft, sex trolling, app addiction, letters from Nigerian princes… What benefits/hazards will our grandchildren face? With brilliant introspection Herzog hits the pause button and ponders the bizarre, heinous, and miraculous implications of the present and future Internet age.
Morris from America (2016) HHHH Cast: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Genre: Coming of Age, Comedy, R When an African-American and his son relocate to Germany, they’re challenged with more than a different language and a foreign culture. To adjust, or survive, Dad (Robinson) and 13-year-old Morris (Christmas) must stand together as “the only two brothers in Heidelberg,” not an easy feat for a struggling teen and newly widowed dad. Morris hangs out at the local youth center while dad works at his position as the new coach of the local soccer team. The older teens taunt and stereotype Morris as a gangsta-rapping, drug-dealing, black stud. Making life worse, Morris gets a crush on the local hottie Katrin (Lina Keller), who uses every opportunity to humiliate him. Morris raps his feelings, endures bullying, and through it all, the father-son bond of trust and support never falters. Director Chad Hartigan discovered Christmas on a self-made YouTube comedy video and rewrote the part for the cubby, funny teen. With his uplifting performance as Morris, Christmas gives the movie a feelgood spirit that rises above the clichés typical of coming-of-age movies. n
MUSIC POP
A.D. AMOROSI
Hip Hop for people who still don’t get Hip Hop
L-R: David Joliocoeur, Kevin Mercer and Vincent Mason of De La Soul. Photo: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times.
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE there are people who still think of hip hop as an esoteric art form—its occasional harshness and twisting linguistics an astringent to easy listening without context. These are usually the same listeners who think all country songs are about saloons and lost love, or that Bruce Springsteen meant “Born in the U.S.A.” as a Reagan-esque note of patriotism. Two of autumn 2016’s best hip hop albums—two of this year’s best albums, period—reach far into direct messaging and op-to-pop tones to make their points and open the ears of those who like their rap to be sappy. Pittsburgh’s Mac Miller has been making juiced-up hip hop records such as “Donald Trump” and 2011’s Blue Slide Park full-length debut. He’s the king of jolly old-school vibe, and the high-pitched, frat-rappy goof. Even 2013’s darkly epic Watching Movies with the Sound Off seems distant in comparison to the wise wonk he is now. Like a stand-up comedian who has gone from prop comic to tittering essayist (hello, Steve Martin), Miller has progressively found wired-out wit and bleak, smart chuckles amid the rubble. With each album, his wonky sound has grown more cinematic while his lyrics more depth-defying and emotional. Now, he’s hit his poppier stride with the recently-released The Divine Feminine, one that speaks to the love of the womanly form in body, mind and soul and without a hint of the misogyny that offends sensitive ears. For De La Soul, it’s nearly 30 years after its daring, debut studio album, 3 Feet High and Rising; Posdnous, Dave and Maseo—the original braintrust of De La Soul, with each member in his 40s—have made a brave bold recording in the new And the Anonymous Nobody. The threesome maintains their role as rap’s refrigerator magnet poets without the silliness of their past or the wordy sting of the Native Tongues movement from which they rose. That’s not to say that De La has lost its sense of humor or quirky collage-prose purpose; far from it. Instead, it is wit, and not skits, that rule the day, without its sage smarts and jazzy musicality placing them in an old school rap category. Their grand brand of Long Island flower child rap has grown up, remained experimental, and found a futuristic lean. Listen to the moody Radiohead-ish strings and sparse wordcraft of “Drawn” on the Anonymous Nobody. That future is now. A long time in the birthing process (with Kickstarter money to fuel it), De La Soul’s new funky futurism benefits from, and is probably inspired by, its collaboration with Damon Albarn’s cartoon-collage band Gorillaz. “Pain,” a scat-filled track with David Byrne could be a Gorillaz outtake. That’s saying quite a bit considering that the cut-up, spacesoul of the playful 3 Feet High and Rising and its more caustic immediate follow up, De La Soul Is Dead (1991) were well ahead of their time when it came to sassing rap’s gangsta division without dissing it to its face. In a fashion, from its restlessly diverse rhythms, testy yet romantic lyrics, and deep abiding sense of slippery soul, And the Anonymous Nobody is the true follow-up to De La Soul is Dead. Well worth the wait it was, too. n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 31
TOM WILK
music SINGER / SONGWRITER David Bromberg Band HHHH The Blues, The Whole Blues and Nothing But The Blues Red House Records Since his days as a session man and later as a solo artist, David Bromberg has relied on the blues as a musical cornerstone. He digs deep into the genre with The Blues, The Whole Blues and Nothing But The Blues for a successful mix of classic and lesser-known blues alongside some of his own compositions. Bromberg avoids a standard recitation of the songs and puts his own stamp on the material in a variety
of formats. He and his band start off the album with an electrified version of Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues.” Bill Payne of Little Feat provides a jazzy feel to “Eyesight to the Blind” with his organ playing, while Bromberg’s use of call-and-response vocals on “Yield Not to Temptation” are a reminder that blues and gospel music share the same roots. On “A Fool for You,” Bromberg reworks Ray Charles’ piano ballad into a solo showcase for acoustic guitar. On the country song “900 Miles,” Larry Campbell adds some Howlin’ Wolf-style guitar to transform the song. Bromberg is also a musical archivist as he revives “You’ve Been a Good Ole Wagon,” which Bessie Smith recorded in 1925. Bromberg and Campbell team up for a heartfelt “Delia,” which features Bromberg’s mournful vocals. “This Month” and “You Don’t Have to Go,” show his ability to create his own blues songs for a 21st century audience. (13 songs, 57 minutes) James Luther Dickinson HHH1/2 Dixie Fried Future Days Recordings Dixie Fried, the first solo album from producer Jim Dickinson (Big Star, The Re-
placements), was released in 1972. It had a shelf life only slightly longer than an ice cube left outside in 90-degree heat. Albums, like people, deserve second chances and Dixie Fried is getting one with a sonic upgrade and seven bonus tracks, seven years after Dickinson’s death at 67 in 2009. Dickinson, who grew up in Memphis, brought an eclectic approach to his music, opening with “Wine,” an unrestrained rocker, and then following with “The Strength of Love,” a country-flavored ballad that showcases Dickinson’s softer voice. The title track, written by Carl Perkins, finds Dickinson paying tribute to Sun Records and his Southern roots, while “The Judgment [sic],” co-written with Mike Utley, has a New Orleans vibe. “O How She Dances” features Dickinson celebrating the traditions of carnival life delivered in the riveting voice of a sideshow barker. He turns “Wild Bill Jones” into a rueful singalong as a spurned lover considers his fate in jail after a deadly encounter The bonus tracks range from the spirited rocker “Clap Your Hands” to a heartfelt version of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried.” The 28-page CD booklet includes an essay on the making of the album by Alec Palao and excerpts from I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone, Dickinson’s forthcoming memoir that will be published in 2017. (16 songs, 62 minutes) Si Cranstoun HHH Old School Ruf Records Old School, the latest studio album from Si Cranstoun, is a musical journey through the past, as the British singer incorporates musical styles from the 1950s and 1960s into his own contemporary songs. He manages to successfully bridge the eras. “Nighttime” evokes the joyous spirit of Ray Charles’ “Night Time is the Right Time” in its celebration of the nocturnal hours. “Count on Me” offers a touch of Buddy Holly in its musical presentation and pledge of fidelity. “Elise The Brazilian” utilizes Latin-based rhythms with echoes of
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the Drifters. Cranstoun displays a versatile vocal style, ranging from the rhythm-andblues-flavored “Around Midnight” to “Thames River Song,” which invites comparison to the ‘60s soul songs of Solomon Burke. “Vegas Baby” has the feel of a recently discovered Elvis Presley track with backing vocals that recall the Jordanaires. Old School also features satisfying covers of “Old Bess” and “Lover Please,” songs recorded by Louis Jordan and Clyde McPhatter, respectively. Cranstoun, who plays guitar, bass and keyboards, and his band bring a freshness to the music and sidestep being a nostalgia act. (16 songs, 52 minutes) Various Artists HHH1/2 Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich Memphis International Records Charlie Rich’s commercial breakthrough came in the early 1970s with such hits as “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” and “Behind Closed Doors.” Rich, who died at 62 in 1995, also was a versatile performer and songwriter equally at home in a variety of styles. A new generation of performers demonstrate the appeal of his songs with the tribute album Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich. Jim Lauderdale reworks “Lonely Weekends,” Rich’s first hit from 1959, into a guitar-driven rocker that amplifies the song’s social frustrations. Shooter Jennings brings a touch of garage rock to the feisty “Rebound.” Charlie Rich Jr. seems to channel Jerry Lee Lewis in his vocal approach and piano style on “Break Up,” a rockabilly tune written by the elder Rich but first recorded by Lewis, his contemporary on Sun Records. Will Kimbrough’s version of
“Sittin’ and Thinkin’” is a first-class country lament about the battle with the bottle that reflects Rich’s own struggles with alcohol. Johnny Hoy’s rendition of “Don’t Put No Headstone on My Grave” illustrates Rich’s ability to write a confessional blues. Anita Suhanin adds a touch of jazz to her reading of “Midnight Blues.” Rich’s solo piano version of the title track remains the definitive version but Kevin Connolly captures the sense of loss and desolation on the gospel-derived song. (13 songs, 39 minutes) Gabrielle Louise HHH If The Static Clears Sandalwood Records Gabrielle Louise opts for a low-key approach on If The Static Clears, creating uncluttered soundscapes that allow her voice to capture the listener’s attention. On the lilting “Breathe Easy,” her easygoing, gentle vocals recall the work of Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith. “Cher-
ish Sincerity” features a folk/country hybrid with pedal steel guitar and an understated rhythm section that offers a soothing anchor. The ethereal “Someone’s Else Life” was inspired by Louise’s time in Buenos Aires while the band FY5 provides a bluegrass touch on “Waiting to Give.” With “Love on the Rocks,” Louise adds a bluesy tinge to the music with help from guest vocalist Megan Burtt. “Another Round on Me” is the closest to an up-tempo number on the album with its jazzy rhythms and and lyrics that recall a tune played before last call at a bar. It shows another side of Louise’s writing and and suggests an area for further exploration on her next CD (11 songs, 53 minutes) n
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MARK KERESMAN
music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Mia Doi Todd HHHHH Songbook City Zen Mia Doi Todd is a singer/songwriter from Los Angeles. As nearly every songwriter at some point likes to pay homage to his/her favorite songs writ by others, Songbook is hers. It’s a nice mix of the well known (Prince’s “When Doves Cry, Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”) and the not-so-well-known (“Careful You” by TV on the Radio), born
upon her soothing voice, which combines folk music’s gentle earnestness and the discipline of a classically trained voice (not unlike that of Judy Collins). What’s great about Songbook—aside from the unaffectedly serene quality in/of her singing—is the way Todd respects original melodies and lyrics but gives them a fresh coat of paint. She gives a reggae-flavored lilt to the wistful “Who Knows…” along with some sparkling electric guitar that could’ve been on a Van Morrison album circa 1972-74. “When Doves Cry” gets a psychedelic glaze and she sings “Pancho & Lefty” like a wise, hep grandmother remembering long-ago wilder times, with guitars that shimmer like a desert sunset. Join Mitchell’s “Circle Game” mixes Jamaica, Brazil, and OMD/Tears For Fears synth-pop. There are subtle influences from jazz, doo-wop, lounge-y rhythm & blues, Caribbean sounds interwoven throughout. In this daffy (I’m being nice) world, this album is a tiny isle of calm, a balm for the soul. (9 tracks, 37 min.) miadoitodd.com Aaron Tindall HHH1/2 Transformations Bridge
While some people only talk about the tuba, Aaron Tindall has the guts to do something about it. Transformations is a collection of four modern compositions featuring the tuba. “Concerto No. 2 for Contrabass Tuba and Symphony Orchestra” by Gunther Schuller, despite its somewhat unwieldy title, is a fascinating hunk of sound—the orchestra generates some dark, turbulent, occasionally nightmarish shades (a tad Stravinsky-like) while Tindall brings forth some mighty bellows and some poignant cries, sounding almost like a French horn, then like unto a man on a mountain playing God’s own horn. David Lang’s “Are You Experienced?” evokes the wry, pointed humor of Frank Zappa’s classical compositions, with the special added attraction of Tindall’s horn run through some really scary amplification, plus droll narration (re: “Why did I come to this concert?”) by Steven Stucky. “Harmonien” for unaccompanied tuba by Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of the granddaddies of electronic music, is almost folk-like in its melodic simplicity, with Tindall exploring contrasting moods without getting precious or wank-y. (In other words, no “sonic exploration” for its own sake.) If you think tuba belongs only in marching bands (or New Orleans jazz), listen up. (14 tracks, 72 min.) Dear County HHHH1/2 Low Country pOprOck Records While singer/songstress Arrica Rose has a few platters under her belt, Low Country is the debut from Dear County, the band-project she co-leads Mark W. Lynn—here’s hoping it’s an ongoing venture. There are a few places where the styles/genres of country and soul intersect/overlap and this set is one of them. (Others include select recordings by Ray Charles, Charlie Rich, Bobbie Gentry, presuperstardom Linda Ronstadt, etc.) Dear County have an approach that’s exhilarating yet familiar and comforting—the music is a blend of the crisp clean twang of The Jayhawks and Neil Young’s more country-leaning material; the songs have subtle gospel influences and captivationg
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melodic hooks, and Rose’s singing is, dare I say, profoundly soulful. Her husky warble is like unto a cross between Dusty Springfield, Chrissie Hynde, and Shelby Lynn. She brings such a glorious ache and longing to “All I Regret” and “Ain’t It Pretty (How a Heart Breaks)” that it gave this jaded writer pause to shake his head in
admiration. Aging (and even young-ish) sort-of-hepcats that say today’s music doesn’t measure up to, say, the glory years of 1965-1975 (arbitrary, but I’m right) needs to hear this. John Hammond HHH1/2 Mirrors Real Gone Music While he got props from critics and blues and rock performers (including Pops Staples, John Lee Hooker, and Duane Allman), blues singer/guitarist John Hammond remains something of cult figure. Well, he’ll never end up like Elvis or Jacko and we’ll have many good blues albums to treasure. In the 1960s Hammond was one of the first white American performers to completely embrace both Delta and electric blues styles and he’s still at it. Mirrors (1967) makes its CD debut and while not essential, it’s darn good: half electric Chicago blues and half acoustic country/Delta blues, sung in
his passionate, rough-hewn style. The electric portion features harmonica wizard Charlie Musselwhite and members of The Band (pre-Dylan), the acoustic Hammond solo. Hammond plays these styles in a rather traditional manner with plenty of chutzpah, singing from the heart/gut, his vocals inspired by the ghostly moans ‘n’ wails of Robert Johnson (also occasionally reminiscent of Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen). The musicianship is sharp as winter midnight and the acoustic tracks a haunting juxtaposition of the sacred and scary. (13 tracks, 40 min.) Denny Zeitlin HHHHH Early Wayne Sunnyside Pianist Denny Zeitlin is both a jazz musician and a practicing psychiatrist. So, he keeps busy—but he made time in his schedule to record a whole (live) disc of Wayne Shorter compositions, and we need to thank him for that. Shorter is perhaps best known as saxophonist with Weather Report and the mid-1960’s Miles Davis Quintet. But he’s also as ace composer too, with some of his becoming jazz standards: “Infant Eyes,” “Nefertiti,” and “E.S.P.” All those and more are included here. Recording since 1963, Zeitlin’s style presaged that of Keith Jarrett, assimilating the classically-influenced lyricism of Bill Evans and the envelope-pushing aspects of Ornette Coleman (and more). Dr. Z presents Shorter’s cerebral, occasionally knotty—full of unusual but not off-putting twists and turns of phrasing—yet warm tunes in a luminous fashion, letting the silence speak as much as the notes. Zeitlin is a vigorous, two-handed pianist who plays genially, then almost unspeakably prettily, then can gently prick your ear with gentle dissonances and deceptively smooth tempo changes. Playing rhythmically, the notes roll like waves lapping the shore. There are plenty of light and dark shades herein, and while the overall vibe is contemplative, Early never turns mopey or meandering. Fans of jazz 88s—longtimers and novices—will be on clouds seven and nine with this. (10 tracks, 70 min.) sunnysiderecords.com n
Dickens Days Photo: Dana Lane Photography
in Clinton, New Jersey
Once again our downtown turns back time and transforms into a Victorian Holiday Village from November 25 – 27. Enjoy a holiday celebration, carriage rides, caroling, storytelling and daily holiday performances. Charles Dickens and Scrooge will be strolling the streets of downtown in all their finery for your entertainment, along with Father Christmas. Santa’s workshop, located on the terrace of the Hunterdon Art Museum will be displayed throughout the holiday season. Santa will be at the workshop from November 25 – January 2. The Red Mill Museum will feature their Festival of Trees from November 25 – December 4. Plan to spend the weekend exploring our shops, museum, and dining options. On November 26, we will be participating in the national Shop Small Business Saturday campaign. Dates to remember: Clinton Guild’s Annual Christmas Parade, December 2, 7 pm. Candlelight Night, December 15, dusk to 9 pm. For schedule visit ClintonGuild.com
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about life
JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS,MLSP,LCSW,BCD
Everything Must Change THIS MONTH MY FAVORITE co-author and daughter, Deidre Dykes, and I consider the changes that are part and parcel of the human experience in life. Jim: Transitions in life are an inevitable part of existence and are continuous over the span of the lifecycle. Some transitions can be glorious and uplifting, like falling in love, having a baby or marriage. Other transitions can be marked by upheaval and disaster such as hurricanes, floods, severe illness and death. Transitions are the process by which people assimilate, integrate and accommodate to the change in conditions and life circumstances that ensue.
Deidre: As the season changes into fall, it may be time to turn our gaze inward. What transitions have you gone through lately? What changes still lie ahead? Change may often feel intimidating and overwhelming, but it can be transformative in a positive way. Large life changes like marriage, moving away, or divorce can offer a sort of opportunity for rebirth. As we shift our identities, we can also adjust how we view and relate to the world through a new lens. Jim: We like the known, predictable and routine. Any change is often first experienced as disruptive. All changes, however, are not necessarily negative as in the ancient saying (from the 6th century BC) from Lao-Tze, “All crises present the conditions for a new order.� The opportunity for expanding our perceptions, patience and flexibility of consciousness is fully present during a phase of transition.
> Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 34 years. jdelpino@aol.com. (215) 364-0139. 36 n I C O N n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
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BOB PERKINS
jazz library
T
DOROTHY ASHBY
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT KNOWN as the harp, surely outdates many other musical instruments in its longevity. Just a brief check of its history indicates it was played as early as 3500 B.C. The harp is a beautifully sounding instrument when in the hands of a skilled practitioner. But a full-sized harp is large, unwieldy, heavy, and has upwards of 40 strings. So…why would anyone disregard these difficulties and choose it as their primary instrument? Well, a lady named Dorothy Ashby not only chose to play the harp—but chose to play jazz on it. This was a double whammy in her case, because in the first place, fellow jazz musicians saw the instrument as strictly belonging in symphony orchestras, and certainly not in large or small jazz bands; in the second place, Ashby was a girl, and when she came along very few women were warmly welcomed into jazz groups, even on a “sitting-in” basis. Dorothy jean Thompson was born and raised in Detroit, and attended the storied Cass Technical High School, which spawned jazz greats Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd and Gerald Wilson. Upon completing high school she attended Wayne State University and studied piano and music education. Ashby could have remained a pianist, which was the first instrument she studied; she also played the saxophone and bass fiddle. After obtaining her degree at Wayne State, she played piano in venues in and around Detroit, but finally decided to play the harp exclusively. She formed a trio and played free concerts, dances and wedding, spreading her name. She caught the ear of several wellknown musicians, including saxophonist and flutest Frank Wess, and bassist Richard Davis, and began to record with them. In the early 1960s, Ashby gained her own radio show in Detroit—at the same station I worked at some years later. Ashby’s trio, including her husband John Ashby on drums, toured the country and recorded for a number of labels through the late 1960s. The trio shared stages with Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman’s band and a host of other established entertainers. As the 1970s approached, Ashby and her trio moved to California, where she broke into the studio recording business with the help of singer/songwriter Bill Withers, and the multi-talented Stevie Wonder. She began back-
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.
ing popular singers like Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Barry Manilow. Her harp can be heard on the song, “Come Live With Me,” on the soundtrack of the film Valley of the Dolls, and “If it’s Magic,” on Stevie Wonder’s album, Song in the Key of Life.
Ashby and husband, John, started a theater company in Detroit in the 1960s, and produced musical productions relevant to the African-America community. The company was dubbed The Ashby Players. John wrote the scripts and Dorothy wrote the music and lyrics to all the songs in the plays. There have been but a few jazz harpists in the history of music, and Ashby may be the major pioneer in this regard, and perhaps the best to perform on the instrument in the jazz genre. There are about ten CDs she recorded under her own name, and she’s on countless recordings in a supporting role. A couple of her best CDs are The Jazz Harpist and In a Minor Groove with Frank Wess. One writer described her playing thus: “Ashby swings, plain and simple. When she plays some midtempo scooting along a tune, all the stock riffing and jazz bravado common on so many ‘50’s records, disappears. Leading her chamber group, she operates in an unassuming way, leaping through intricate arpeggios that no other jazz instrumentalist could attempt.” ‘Nuff said. Dorothy Ashby passed away in 1986, in Santa Monica, California, at age 55. n
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A.D. AMOROSI
FOODIE FILE
Scarpetta Soars
Jon Oh and Drew Carballo.
Branzino with Lentils, Onion and Broccoli Rabe ©Reese Amorosi
Tuna Susci at Scarpetta. ©Reese Amorosi
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WHEN THE RITTENHOUSE HOTEL and Smith & Wollensky parted ways last year, dining on the high-end got put on blast with a warning: as casual diner numbers go up, is there room for new white linens? LDV Hospitality brought their top-tier, Italian-focused Scarpetta brand to 210 West Rittenhouse Square to answer that question with a resounding yes and a caveat: make fine dining less stuffy, trade linens for dark wood tables with leather placemats, make its pastas, meat and fish hearty and humble (but served beneath cloches), and make the two-level space moody, modern and spare. All of which Scarpetta does handsomely. Walk past the loud downstairs bar—the sole Scarpetta of its five to host a bar menu—to the upstairs dining room and it’s a mood-lit stroll to chocolate brown tables and tall cocoa-colored banquettes where Chef Jon Oh and Chef Jorge Espinoza’s fare awaits. You could make your own menu and you would not make any mistakes—my first time at Scarpetta included the most decadent dish in town, duck and foie gras ravioli in Marsala reduction and roasted capretto in a bed of bitterer-the-better broccoli rabe. Or, you could let its managers and chefs create a balanced experience of wine pairings and deep dishes that focus on regions and balance. Scarpetta is neither north, south, east or west when it comes to where in Italy they’ve sourced its wine—its products are, however, locally sourced. The timed, balanced experience worked a charm. Beginning with an off-list white San Savino Verdicchio (great hints of melon), the tastes that followed were an exquisite start. Next, an Italian Tuna ‘Susci’ of thick raw yellowtail tuna rolled with marinated veggies (e.g. minced Chinese carrot) and preserved truffle (that I wanted again as soon as I left the building), a fresh, lightly crusted fish-and-veggie Crispy Fritto Misto and a stomach-warming Creamy Polenta with Fricassee of Truffled Mushroom made for subtle, fun introduction to what followed. A dusty Italian red nebbiolo (naturally) led us through the dueling pasta course where picking a favorite was impossible. Don’t be surprised when you see the simple, elegant ball that is Scarpetta’s signature spaghetti with tomato and basil. It’s slightly zesty red sauce creaminess and hand-rolled pasta is a thing of unalloyed beauty in design and rich taste. The white short rib and bone marrow agnolotti with thick grilled slices of garlic—inspired and devised from the same (Western) region as the red wine—was dense, musky (in a marvelous way) and delightful. And filling, which is why the chefs’ main course made marvelous sense: a light, fresh simple Amalfi Coast Branzino served atop lentils, onion and the restaurant’s signature bitter broccoli rabe and paired with a white Grecian-Italian Cielo pinot grigio with hints of peach notes. Perfect. As if we could fit dessert (we did), Scarpetta’s offerings of a light, creamy espresso budino is easier on the palate and stomach than its usually rich, custardy caramel cousin. The real dessert surprise, however, was the Coconut Panna Cotta with Guava Soup—the large white bowl might have looked shallow, and its chilled broth colored a deep burnt orange, but each mouthful was shockingly deep rich. To say that Scarpetta, the surprise smash hit of Philly’s dining season 2016, tickled all the senses and was a pleasure to taste in every way, would be an understatement. n
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22 MAXWELL & MARY J. BLIGE
be out there more, involve myself in what I believe to be good and right. Women dragged under by sex trafficking around the world - that is a particular subject that I care about—the education, do the best to raise monies. I know now. I hear crazy stories. I want to help. I’ve been blessed to have this career, so I need to do good. Can you tell me what song on the new album came first and guided the spirit of the rest of the new record? That song is not even on the album now. [laughs] I messed up. I would say “All the Ways Love Can Feel” came to me early. I did that with a longtime collaborator of mine, Stuart Matthewman, who happens to be in a small, small band, Sade. They’re struggling—you should give them press. It’s so funny that this all takes so long, because it shouldn’t. It feels so good to be out here, working in the world. I knew this from your first album, but I heard you speak on this during a radio interview—that you have Puerto Rican-Haitian-Caribbean roots. Was that hard to deal with growing up, and how do you think that seeps into your music? Growing up wasn’t a hard experience because I had that Brooklyn thing. In terms of the creative aspect of my origins, a lot of that came out in my earlier albums as well as this stuff I did for Red, Hot + Rio even before I got signed—the bossa nova. Here and there the vibes come through. I really am so about soul. That sticks out. Always will. When you took your first break from the limelight—before that your clothes were psychedelic, your hair was wilder. You came back, and your hair was short and you were in nothing but suits. More somber and subtle. Did you know this would happen to you? It’s funny, but one day I just looked at myself in the suit and the hair and I asked myself “When did this happen?” As a kid, I was the guy with short hair in school, and then as the ‘90s hit, I grew it out. I thought “Who the hell am I” on that first album. I loved the surprise of coming back like this, with the suit. People Photo: Christian Hansen. around me, though, thought I had ruined my career cutting my hair. It was that whole Samson & Delilah thing, that I would lose my power. I hope that didn’t happen. [laughs] I really did want people to know I was more than just hair. Ms. Blige and you come from people places sonically. You’re subtle, she’s brassy. How is that yin and yang forged for this tour? I think for me, she came up as a round-the-way girl. Then you hear her ding duets with Bono and to Hillary Clinton. She’s from the streets. That is impressive, her rise. Hold the phone. She’s like an opera singer. That voice—it is what it is with her. She’s a modern day Billie Holiday without the tragedy. She’s got mad jazz chops and she maintains an incredible street credibility. I don’t think there are many artists like that, where they still have the streets feel them and have the sophistication of being so worldly. We’re in Zurich right now, and everybody knows her. She’s got more albums than me. It’s amazing to be involved with her. I’m shy, you know. Then we worked together like five years ago, working on a song, but I felt so, like, not in her league. Then she said, “Hey, you’re Max. You can do it.” So, we did and I’m glad we’re doing this now. It’s a little bit of both of our catalogs, old and new. Do you feel as if you’re following a new trajectory on the upcoming album—an end point that demarcates the trilogy? Yes, I really do think this is the end of this point. There’s a lot that has gone on personally, sonically, politically— even with the end of Obama’s presidency. I don’t want to hit anybody over the head with my opinions, but I think the third in my blackSUMMERS’night series speak to these times. The whole Clinton and Trump thing is traumatic for us, too—there’s a darker pall upon us. That’s in there, too. And for Philly? Man, I love your city. I can’t wait to get there. My musical director, Derrick Haas, is from there and we love hitting town. I’m rocking with and for Philly. n 40 n I C O N n N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V
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36 EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE
Deidre: Change is daunting and rarely easy, and to claim otherwise would be disingenuous. Transitions often seem like craggy mountains looming in our path. There’s no way around and so we must climb. The way is hard—harder some times that others—and it can take a long time. But we all reach the peak eventually, and are often better and stronger than we were before the climb. Jim: Some of us fare far better than others when dealing with change. The capacity to remain calm in the midst of change is much like being an eye of a hurricane. When feeling the winds of transition swirling around, using this image is very helpful. The outer world may be stormy, yet the inner world can remain calm. Reflecting on past experiences where you’ve been able to push through difficulties and bumps in the road of life makes the task seem more doable. Deidre: Remaining calm and focused during great change can makes the process easier. Since you have no control, being upset is wasted energy. A clear mind guides you through high-stress situations and enables you to get your affairs in order when it’s time to take control again. It’s helpful to focus on good things, whether a monthly dinner out with friends, regular trips to the gym, or a weekly phone call to a loved one. Do your best to keep those small lights burning in your heart and use them to help you through the challenging time. Jim: Truly, cultivating healthy pleasures is one of the best ways to combat the stress and anxiety that accompany transitional processes. Stress refers to forces outside of us that impact our inner world, while anxiety refers to our inner reactions to those stressors present in a given situation.The general strategy for reducing stress is to limit or avoid exposure to the people, places and things that cause stress or trigger heightened anxiety. Reducing anxiety can also be accomplished by breathing exercises, yoga, tai-chi and the like. Optimists tend to do much better than pessimists when dealing with change. Deidre: Positive transitions in life—a new relationship, a new job, a new baby—are wonderful changes that aren’t inherently negative, yet still can still cause stress. It’s okay if you’re going through a good change but still feel anxious or upset. Your brain doesn’t always know what to do with these new situations at first. But the brain can learn how to manage new input. Perhaps the most important first step with any transition is acknowledging and accepting your feelings about it. Jim: Yes, the brain can learn new things. There is a relatively new concept in the world of neuroscience known as neuroplasticity. This is the property in the brain that allows us to learn new things, and it persists over the entire course of life. Suppose you’ve never played chess before and decide to play every day for a year. At the end of a year you’ll have acquired higher level skills in chess than before you started to play. Knowing we all have this innate ability keeps us able to adapt to the changes wrought by transitions. Remaining hopeful in the face of doubt and confident in the face of adversity will aid in great measure during the most challenging of times. n
harper’s FINDINGS Vanuatu was struck by fatal diarrhea, lumpy skin disease debuted in Albania, camel pox broke out among Israeli and Palestinian dromedaries, and glanders was causing panic sales of studs across Gujarat. Taiga ticks had invaded Bothnian Bay. Gabonese poachers bitten by gorillas acquired two new strains of H.T.L.V.-4. Banana bunchy top virus was reported in KwaZulu-Natal. The Basotho tribe of eastern Free State were treating their diabetes with daisies and marijuana. A Colorado town’s reservoir was found to be adulterated with THC. Measles appeared at a Welsh music festival. People like rooms where they’ve previously been drinking. Alcohol is more likely than marijuana to lead to unusual partner choice and post-sex regret. The use of R ratings to protect children from images of smoking in films may be mooted by streaming and piracy. Aye-ayes and slow lorises prefer whatever nectar contains the most alcohol. Hammerheads swim better when tilting sideways. Ominous background music worsens humans’ attitudes toward sharks. An eagle in Australia grabbed the head of a boy who kept zipping and unzipping his hoodie. “That’s just the nature,” said a raptor expert, “of the beast.”
9 Reading Harry Potter books worsens Americans’ attitudes toward Donald Trump, an Indianapolis orangutan learned to imitate human speech, and Native Amazonians are indifferent to dissonance. Nationalism and patriotism are associated with distinct patterns of gray-matter density. The hedonically inclined have a larger left globus pallidus. Electrical stimulation of the frontal operculum causes smiles and laughter. Following a stroke, a Portuguese widow lost her sense of ownership over her possessions, including her eight cats, who were “like strangers.” Doctors de-scribed the first case of Alzheimer’s in a patient with H.I.V. Millennials are having less sex than Generation X did at the same age, possibly because they spend so much time online. Nanog reactivates stem cells in progeriacs. Russian social scientists warned that the worldwide rise of gerontocracy may inspire backlash from the young. Adult male Cardiocondyla ants smear juvenile rivals with feces and gastric juices to indicate that they should be killed. Parasitism evolved in animals at least 223 separate times.
9 A newly discovered species of Chinese leaf roller weevil has not yet developed the ability to roll leaves. Ecologists hoped to save Pando—the world’s largest living organism, which consists of 47,000 male quaking aspens—by building a fence to stop animals from eating it. British badgers now fear large carnivores, including those no longer extant in Britain, such as bears and wolves, less than they fear humans. An Indian snake charmer attempted suicide by cobra. Successful long-term reconstruction was described in men who lost their penises to blast injuries, schizophrenic self-amputation, and donkey bite. Imperial College London revealed a robotic rectum with prosthetic but-tocks, and mentioned plans to create a robotic vagina. It may be possible to couple an electron and a photon, and it is possible to convert carbon dioxide into energy using sunlight. A bacterium was programmed to consume carbon dioxide and produce sugar. Scientists now know the reasons for concrete creep but do not know whether garlicky breast milk influences babies’ preferences later in life. Twothousand-year-old butter from an Irish bog was found to be smelly. n
INDEX Number of countries that offer citizenship in return for an investment commitment: 23 Factor by which the average fee charged by migrant smugglers has increased since January: 3 Percentage of global refugees who are hosted by developing nations: 86 Number of refugees in Germany who are seeking work: 322,000 Who have been hired by one of Germany’s thirty largest companies: 54 Number of passports lost by revelers at Munich’s Oktoberfest celebration last year: 600 Of wedding rings: 2 Percentage of the American beer market controlled by Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller: 70 Date on which the U.S. Justice Department approved a $100 billion merger between the two: 7/20/2016 Number of banks subjected to stress tests mandated by the Dodd–Frank Act this year: 33 Number that passed: 31 Percentage of U.S. jobs created since the recession that have gone to workers with postsecondary education: 99 Percentage of U.S. retirees who are funding their retirement with cash savings: 56 Of French retirees: 17 Factor by which the U.S. budget for military bands exceeds the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts: 3 Length in days of a pilot program to determine whether U.S. soldiers should be permitted to roll up their sleeves: 10 Number of states that automatically remove voters from the rolls if they do not vote for a period of time: 7 Estimated number of Islamic community centers & mosques operating as polling places in the 2016 election: 2,400 Number that have been removed as polling places due to complaints: 1 % of Italians who wanted a referendum on leaving the European Union two months before the Brexit vote: 58 Who did five days after the Brexit vote: 20 Number of children that British Foreign Secretary Johnson has knocked to the ground during athletic matches: 2 Minimum amount embezzled from U.S. youth sports leagues last year: $1,710,881 % by which the value of checks distributing state oil wealth to Alaska residents decreased this year: 50 % by which the global price for uranium has fallen since the Fukushima disaster: 62 Number of nuclear reactors built in the United States over the past 20 years: 1 Number of square miles by which the hole in the ozone layer has grown smaller since 2000: 1,500,000 Portion of U.S. drivers trading in hybrid or electric cars this year who opted to replace them with gas vehicles: 2/3 Percentage by which a driver from the Northeast is more likely to make angry gestures at other drivers: 27 Portion of U.S. ambulance services that are privately operated: 1/4 % by which the average response time of privately run ambulances exceeds that of publicly run ambulances: 55 Chance that a Virginian driver has had his or her license suspended for not paying court fines and fees: 1 in 6 % of U.S. police departments that use or plan to use body cameras: 95 % of Americans who believe police body cameras will do more to protect police officers than civilians: 44 Who believe they will do more to protect civilians: 29 Minimum number of countries that have issued travel advisories for the United States this year: 3 Number of states that allow the open carrying of assault rifles without a permit: 40 Number of states in which bestiality is legal: 9 Portion of Americans who would choose to live in the United States if given the option of any country in the world: 4/5 SOURCES: 1 International Monetary Fund (Washington); 2 Europol (The Hague); 3 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Washington); 4 German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Berlin); 5 International Organization for Migration (Berlin); 6,7 Munich Police Department; 8,9 U.S. Department of Justice; 10,11 U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors; 12 Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University (Washington); 13,14 HSBC (N.Y.C.); 15 U.S. Department of Defense; 16 U.S. Army (Arlington, Va.); 17 ACLU of Ohio (Cleveland); 18,19 American Muslim Democratic Caucus of Florida (Pembroke Pines); 20,21 Ipsos MORI (London); 22 Mayor of London; 23 Center for Fraud Prevention (Blue Bell, Pa.); 24 Office of the Governor of Alaska (Anchorage); 25 Ux Consulting (Roswell, Ga.); 26 Tennessee Valley Authority (Knoxville, Tenn.); 27 National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, Colo.); 28 Edmunds.com (Santa Monica, Calif.); 29 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (Washington); 30,31 National EMS Information System (Salt Lake City); 32 Legal Aid Justice Center (Charlottesville, Va.); 33 Major Cities Chiefs Association (Salt Lake City); 34,35 Rasmussen Reports (Asbury Park, N.J.); 36 Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (Washington)/Embassy of Bahrain (Washington)/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Bahamas (Nassau); 37 Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (San Francisco); 38 Humane Society of the United States (Washington); 39 Rasmussen Reports.
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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
FOLLOWING UP By Kevin Donovan Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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ACROSS
Manchester United rival __ En-lai Tool used in a box Film add-on Perform again Next in line U.N. workers’ agcy. The snakes in Indiana Jones’ “Why do they have to be snakes?” Profession for the principled? Exit quietly, in a Dylan Thomas poem Run ashore Bill collector Dr. Seuss, e.g.? Sask. neighbor Can’t abide Small cells Jockey competitor __ code Get together on a ranch Catlike Promising market indicators? Weather map depiction It’s not always easy to get into Not a soul Tries earnestly (for) Piling on, say “The Librarians” channel More than just cooks Challenge for Homer Put down ORD posting Equipped Toy trains for tycoons? Phobias __ de mer Resonator for a jug band bass No more than Nissan Stadium player “... ’tis not to me __ speaks”: Romeo Big name in Bible distribution Delicate Totally lost Aquarium fish Only NATO member with no standing army What pillows may do, in a kids’ room? Newcomer Nursery resident Sun Tzu subject
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Where to see stars Pursue relentlessly “The Piano” extras Buck Periods of distress? Blew the whistle What oaks may provide Put back in Outperform crew members in the ship play? Love god In the past Biblical captain Crown coatings Holiday song closer “Man on the Moon” group Ring jinglers Boxing’s “Manassa Mauler”
DOWN 1 First word in the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” 2 Drive off 3 Lean-eater Jack 4 “Fear of Flying” author Jong 5 Close at hand 6 Smoke remains 7 Mail 8 Easter Island’s country 9 Pair for date night 10 It may be checked at the station 11 Pakistani language 12 Like a storied wolf 13 Medicinal plants 14 Senate garment 15 Tree that typically has paddleshaped leaves 16 Baltic republic 17 Organs sometimes vented? 18 African menaces 24 Tailor’s concern 26 Old anesthetics 30 Numbers to shoot for 32 “Forrest Gump” lieutenant 33 Compared to 36 Pop/country singer Lee and others 38 Juice for PCs 39 Features of many ’50s-’60s cars 40 Ryder Cup team 41 Advanced deg. 42 Bit 43 Reuters competitor 44 Personal 45 Grand Canal traveler 46 Celebrated
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Knowledgeable, in Nantes Move up the corporate ladder Come together “The Walking Dead” veterinarian Dude Org. for physicians Wine choice QB stats Leave a note for, maybe Morning phenomenon Settler? Project Blue Book subj. Presidential souvenir Mineo of “Exodus” Shout It may be coiled on a saddle horn Car nut Pitchfork part What a ponytail partly covers OED info Ike’s WWII command Friend of Yossarian in “Catch-22” __ Geo: nature channel Diamond surfaces The bad guys Gets coverage for Penny-colored Vague answer, say Driving need Drive Suddenly caught on Possesses Hand-played drum
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Sorrowful song Test for purity, as gold They’re often taken orally Cellular messenger Titleholder Guides for drivers Confuse
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Not at all in order Fabric flaw Finished Piece of fiction “The Tell-Tale Heart” author Peoria-to-Gary dir.
Answer to October’s puzzle, BIG TIME
agenda FINE ART THRU 12/17 Alison Saar, Breach. Lafayette College Art Galleries, Easton, PA. 610-3305361. Galleries.lafayette.edu THRU 1/14/2017 Holiday Show, featuring artists Khalil Allaik, Anna Bergin, Michael Hess, Hannah Pipkin, Karl Uschold and Bobby Zeik. Bethlehem House Gallery, 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-419-6262, BethlehemHouseGallery.com THRU 1/22/2017 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
fine furniture, sculpture and vessels. Gallery Hours, Fri. – Sun., noon - 5 pm. New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Ave, New Hope, PA. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org 11/13-2/5/17 Allentown X 7, Photographic Explorations. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 North 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org 11/19 - 11/20 AOY 7th Annual Fine Craft Show features 20 local artisans. Presented in the Janney House on Patterson Farm. 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley PA 10-5 Saturday and Sunday. Free artistsofyardley.org DANCE
THRU 1/22/2017 Rural Modern: American Art Beyond The City, explores the adaptation of modernist styles to subject matter associated with the American countryside. Brandywine River Museum of Art, Route 1, Chadds Ford, PA. 610388-2700. Brandywine.org/museum
11/4-11/6 Illuminate, Emerging Choreographers Concert. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192. Desales.edu/act1
11/2-1/7/2017 Natural Philosophy, curated by Paul Nicholson. Martin Art Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew Street Allentown PA. 484-664-3467. Muhlenberg.edu
11/10-11/12 Moving Stories, Innovative dance works by emerging choreographers. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/dance
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
THEATER 11/4-11/6 Illuminate, Emerging Choreographers Concert. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192. Desales.edu/act1
11/5-12/4 Jean Childs Buzgo: Perspectives. Opening reception 11/5, 5-9pm and 11/6, 1-4pm. Silverman Gallery, Bucks County Impressionist Art. Buckingham Green, Rte. 202, just north of PA 413. 4920 York Rd., Holicong, PA. 18928. 215-794-4300. Silvermangallery.com 11/12-12/18 Works in Wood 2016 Juried Exhibition features contemporary artists in
11/10-11/12 Moving Stories, Innovative dance works by emerging choreographers. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/dance 11/13 Academy of Vocal Arts, Rigoletto, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 E. Packer Ave, Bethlehem. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org
11/18 – 11/20 Then Athena, Allentown Public Theatre’s playfully dark fantasia of woman-warriorship. Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. 5th St., Allentown, PA. 888-895-5645 AllentownPublicTheatre.com. 11/20 Children’s Theatre of Charlotte & The Experiential Theater Company presents Journey to Oz. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 E. Packer Ave, Bethlehem. Free parking. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org 11/26 Mooseltoe, 2:00 PM, State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. Statetheatre.org 11/30-12/4 Falling, New Visions Directors’ Festival, Salome, Icarus’s Mother. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-6643333. Muhlenberg.edu/Theatre Muhlenberg.edu/Theatre 12/2-12/17 A Christmas Carol. Civic Theatre, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-8943. Civictheatre.com 12/17 Handel Messiah, Camerata Singers and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Allan Birney conducting. 7:30 PM, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, 3231 West Tilghman St., Allentown, PA. 610-434-7811. PACamerataSingers.com 12/9-12/18 The Santa Land Diaries. Civic Theatre, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown, PA. 610432-8943. Civictheatre.com CONCERTS 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 1/12 Cordus Mundi, Men’s choir and Bel Canto, Children’s choir, 8:00 PM. Arts
at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. Free-will offering at all programs. 610435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org 11/19 Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, "Enchantment Times Three," chamber orchestra with piano trio and Camerata Singers. Father Sean Duggan, piano; David Colwell, violin; Natashy Farny, cello. Beethoven's "Triple Concerto" and works by Mendelssohn and Lauridsen. 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown, PA. $20-$35 in advance/at door. 610-434-7811. PASinfonia.org 11/19 Gala Concert, Grammy Award-Winning, Roomful of Teeth. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Foy Hall, Moravian College, Bethlehem. Bach.org 11/25 The Complete Organ Works of J.S. Bach, Program 6, organist Stephen Williams. 8:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org 12/16 The Complete Organ Works of J.S. Bach, Program 7, organist Stephen Williams. 8:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org 12/18 Christmas Concert, Vox Philia Choral Ensemble. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. Free-will offering. 610435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org KESWICK THEATRE 291 N Keswick Ave Glenside, Pennsylvania 215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com 11/2 Tig Notaro 11/3 Incognito Feat. Maysa 11/4 , 5 An Evening with the Hooters Marillion / John Wesley 11/16 Arlo Guthrie 11/17 Home Free 11/18 Octonauts LIVE! 11/19 Girls Night: The Musical
11/25 11/26 12/1 12/4 12/8 12/9
The Machine Hot Tuna - Electric Donovan: 50th Anniversary Sunshine Superman Tour Art Garfunkel in Close-Up Big Bad Voodoo Daddy An Evening with David Crosby & Friends
MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org 11/3 11/4 11/5 11/9 11/11 11/13 11/17 11/18 11/20 11/23 11/26
Jim Messina of Loggins & Messina Jimmy Webb Billy Bauer Band: Tribute to Dave Matthews Band Renaissance Wild Adriatic Yuengling, Bacon & Brats Comedian John Hodgman John Hiatt Hoots & Hellmouth Steve Brosky & His Little Big Band Southside Johnny
EVENTS 11/11 Kick Off to the Holidays, 6-9 PM. Festive fun, caroling and mini-lightings with Mrs. Claus. Peddler’s Village, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com 11/18 Grand Illumination Celebration, 6-9 PM (shops open until 10). Santa lights the Village with more than one million jewel-colored holiday lights at 6:15 PM sharp. The annual Gingerbread Competition and Display also opens. Free parking/admission. Peddler’s Village, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215-794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com 12/03-12/04 Christmas Festival, Santa kicks off the Christmas Festival by parading through Peddler’s Village and ending at Giggleberry Fair with Mrs. Claus and his helpers. Enjoy a hot cider, complimentary toasted marshmallows and other seasonal favorites of our Christmas Festival. Free admission and free parking. Peddler’s Village, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com
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