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DECEMBER
ICON
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW JOHN CALE | 22 The legend talks about the beginning, middle and end of The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, and why it didn’t work out with Andy Warhol. “The great thing about music,” Cale says, “is that you don’t have to think about it. That’s what makes us dance, thrill or cry in our beer.”
Jennifer Hansen Rolli, Train From Avignon. Silverman Gallery.
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FILM
ART
REEL NEWS
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Directive
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| EXHIBITIONS I
Dunkirk Brad’s Status Félicité
Still Rendering
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Martin Art Gallery
Jennifer Hansen Rolli Hazem Akil, Familiarity. Bethlehem House Gallery.
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Silverman Gallery The Fabric of Life: Delaware Art Museum
FOREIGN
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Gregg Allman Van Morrison Kim Wilson The New Zeitgeist Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers
Heart of the Home Mudbound.
Annual Holiday Gift Gallery The Baum School of Art
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FOODIE FILE
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10 | The Love, Good Will & Holiday Cheer
ENTERTAINMENT 12 | City Theater Brad’s Status.
JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Michelle Lordi Gabriele Tranchina Eric Stokes Martial Solal & Dave Liebman Steven Richman & Harmonie Ensemble NYC The Neighb’rhood Childr’n The Maze
12 | Valley Theater
14 | The List 43 | Agenda 38
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| POP And So This is Christmas
FILM 16 | Aida’s Secrets 18 | Mudbound
Call Me by Your Name
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| Perseverance
Downsizing
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I, Tonya
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| L. A. Times Crossword
Darkest Hour ON THE COVER: John Cale. Page 22. Photo: Daily Telegraph.
JAZZ LIBRARY Phineas Newborn, Jr.
ABOUT LIFE
20 | FILM ROUNDUP
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ADVERTISING 800-354-8776 PUBLISHER
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icondv.com
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8 | EXHIBITIONS II
Bethlehem House Art Gallery
Filling the hunger since 1992
In the Shadow of Iris
All the Queen’s Horses
Holiday Show
The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius
Harper’s Findings & Index
Susan O’Neill
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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essAy And pAinting by robert beck
art
directive IdEaLLy, thE PERSON yOu designate to care for your children is a u.S. citizen or someone with immigration status who does not also face the threat of detention or deportation. make sure that person knows how to access all of your important documents and information. having lived in this town for more than twenty years, I recognize a lot of faces. We don’t all know each other but we smile and nod. It’s a hospitality-oriented area with a lot of people from mexico who work in restaurant kitchens, and do cleaning and landscaping jobs. I know them not just as individuals but families. I’ve shared tables, seen children help their parents with English during skills classes, and watched as a daughter leaned her head on the shoulder of her exhausted father. be sure to write down any medical conditions or allergies your child has, any medication your child takes. Give a copy to the adult you designate to care for your children. Let your child know where to find this information if you are not around. It’s a scary time. I see fewer mexicans outside of their working environment lately, and they go about their business with a low profile and minimal engagement, avoiding eye contact. If they haven’t met me, they don’t know which american I am. do I see people from other countries, states, or neighborhoods as adversaries? Or other races, genders, and religions as second-rate? have I bought into the “me first” rhetoric? do I believe I’m superior by birth, or that rights are something you buy at a gun shop? It’s better to move with caution, and a quick glance over your shoulder. do not open the door for IcE or any police officer without a signed warrant.
you do not need to open the door unless an IcE agent can show you a warrant signed by a judge with your specific and correct name and address on it. ask them to slide the search warrant under the door or show it through a window. If IcE does not have this, then you do not have to open the door. Once you open the door, you lose certain rights. any student of history will recognize the aroma of pre-war Germany. those who didn’t stand to decry supremacists, those of faith who didn’t loudly condemn discriminatory and brutal behavior, those who turned their eyes from harm done to others because they themselves benefitted, were complicit. all became victims themselves. a good example is the church, which did not oppose the government and enjoyed favored status until it wasn’t needed anymore. then it was subjugated with the rest.
you don’t have to go back very far in our own history to find oppression of Irish, Italians, Germans, and jews. Slavery was a deeper level of hell, and african-americans are still maligned and disadvantaged. We don’t care about Native americans. We’re afraid of muslims. Why is Puerto Rico still dark? Inform your family and emergency contacts about how to find you if you are detained by IcE. Family members can use the IcE detainee locator website. be sure your family and emergency contacts have a copy of your a-Number (your alien registration number found on your immigration documents from IcE) if you have one. the student of history also knows that supremacy is the “Great again” that was referred to in the last presidential election. a lack of civility or integrity used to be a source of embarrassment in
this country, now it is a path to power and plunder—an agenda that requires misdirection and straw dogs. Look, there’s an immigrant. keep your eye on him. I don’t know who has documents and who doesn’t. What I do know is that the concept of equality was what made our country exceptional, and when we don’t treat people who are not like us as we expect our friends, family, and selves to be treated, it destroys democracy. It’s easy to tune out vilification of the other guy until you are the other guy. Papers, please. do not hire anyone who charges you for blank immigration forms, promises you a good result because of their special contacts at Immigration, asks you to lie on a form or sign a blank document, or charges you to “get on a waiting list” or “put your application in line.” there is no list. there is no line. n
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Still Rendering chris coleman and anthony Panzera martin art Gallery at muhlenberg college 2400 chew Street, allentown Pa through january 15, 2018 484-664-3467 muhlenberg.edu/gallery
Chris Coleman, “Secure Shell Series v.4893:0.9597.0.0195”
Still Rendering, curated by maG director Paul m. Nicholson, explores radically different approaches to how aesthetics, science and technology are applied to contemporary art practice. anthony Panzera’s project, “the Leonardo Series,” uses the methods in Leonardo da Vinci’s writings and anatomical renderings to explore proportion in new figurative work. chris coleman’s “Secure Shell copy Series” is comprised of digital images and videos from 3d scans of the human body that are manipulated with algorithms and data.
Young Dancers in Midnight (detail), 20 x 20, oil on canvas
Anthony Panzera, AP 162
EXHIBITIONS I
Jennifer Hansen Rolli, Solo Exhibition Silverman Gallery of bucks county Impressionist art 4920 york Road, Route 202, holicong, Pa 215-794-4300 www.silvermangallery.com december 2, 2017 – january 15, 2018 Opening Receptions: 12/2, 5–8 & 12/3, 1–4 jennifer hansen Rolli is known for her sweeping landscapes and elegant, painterly style. Glorious paintings have emerged from her day-to-day travels on bucks county roads. Seascapes, streetscapes and intimate figurative portraits hold equal footing. the past two years, Rolli has been hard at work finalizing her second and third children’s books. her many followers are glad to have her back at her easel. Please join us on 12/7, from 2-6 for “claudia & moth” book signing.
Drying Rack, 9 x 6 in., oil on canvas
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Scallop Shawl, 2016. by maureen kamerick. hand-dyed, handwoven silk, 84 x 16 inches. courtesy of the artist.
The Fabric of Life: Works in Fiber by the Harmony Weavers Guild delaware art museum 2301 kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, dE 19806 302-571-9590 delart.org through january 14, 2018 Founded in 1971, the harmony Weavers Guild is dedicated to the making of cloth—a process involving time-consuming techniques. created by hand, the works of art highlight attention to design and detail and to richness of color and of textures. Such features invite the viewer to think about the artist’s process and to appreciate the textiles that are so much a part of everyday lives. the exhibition includes fabrics designed for public spaces, for wearable art, and for the home.
Encima y abajo (above & below), 2017. by harriet memeger. Wool on cotton, 9.5 x 9.5 inches. courtesy of the artist.
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EXHIBITIONS II
Danny Polk.
Holiday Show Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 610-419-6262 BethlehemHouseGallery.com Through January 13, 2018 Closing reception Jan. 13, 6-9pm Bethlehem House Gallery provides original, innovative art in a variety of contemporary styles for a range of household budgets. Our four annual shows demonstrate the practical use of contemporary artwork in modern interior design by exhibiting works in a furnished environment. At Bethlehem House, we believe that anyone can be an art collector and all homes can be enriched by the display of original fine art. Bethlehem House Gallery is a short trip from Philadelphia and New York City and offers an exciting alternative to the art galleries found there. The Holiday Show features the works of: Hazem Akil, Joe Billera, Ben Hoffman, Kate Hughes, Daina Krumins and Danny Polk.
Annual Holiday Gift Gallery Lynda Bahr Holiday Trunk Show Heart of the Home 28 South Main Street. New Hope, PA 215-862-1880 Heartofthehome.com December 8-24 Heart of the Home is proud to present the work of Lynda Bahr. Lynda, who lives in the mountains of California, is noted for her unique jewelry which she creates. She was schooled in Fine Art at Syracuse University and in London, England. With a background in Architecture and Interior Design, she brings a singular aesthetic to her rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, she uses gold, silver and mokume gane to create an individual style that intrigues. During this time we have a much larger selection of Lynda’s work than usual. Heart of the Home specializes in Handmade in America and encourages the discerning collector to investigate the possibilities.
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the baum School of art the david E. Rodale and Rodale Family Galleries 510 Linden Street, allentown, Pa November 30–december 21, 2017 closing Reception & champagne toast: 12/21, 6–8pm Presenting Sponsors: bob and Sandy Lovett 610-433-0032 baumschool.org For the month of december, the baum School of art celebrates our region’s creative and talented artists and artisans with our annual holiday Gift Gallery Exhibition and Sale. We transform our galleries into a holiday marketplace with hundreds of thoughtful, unique, handcrafted gifts for everyone on your shopping list. Items include ceramics, glass, paintings, ornaments, knits, cards, soaps, jewelry and more. Shop all month and then join us for the closing reception on thursday, december 21 from 6–8pm with wine, beverages, light fare, sweet treats, and a special champagne toast. this is last minute holiday shopping at its best. all receptions are free. your purchase supports the artists and the baum School of art’s mission of enriching lives through arts education.
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FOODIE FILE
Stephen Starr. Photo: Grub Street.
Cedar Smoked Whole Carolina Trout, Kale, Maple, Farro, Spicy Pecans at The Love. Photo ©Reese Amorosi
Bridget Foy’s restaurant on South Street.
The Love, Good Will and Holiday Cheer
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Bryan Sikora prepares lobster stuffed zucchini blossoms at Hearth Kitchen.
A.d. AMorosi
It cOuLdN’t bE, WELL, nicer really, that this holiday season’s biggest restaurant debut is called the Love, and that it happens to be yet another pairing from Stephen Starr (the newly-minted james beard award Restaurateur of 2017) and aimee Olexy, the woman behind Washington Square’s talula’s table, talula’s Garden and talula’s daily. that’s not to say that this Philly restaurant duo is all cutesy and cuddly, but from the devoted look and taste of their talula’s and now the Love, it is close. centered on South 18 Street just off Rittenhouse, there’s a warm glow to the Love’s simple glass window front, earthy white/brown color scheme (even the lime-washed brick entryway) and candlelit elegance. designed by the Nyc team behind Starr’s Le coucou (Roman and Williams) there’s a spare sophistication to every part of the room, from the cozy bar nook off the doorway, to the tufted banquettes. So, yes, the Love’s atmosphere holds a subtle swank and a dashing comfortability, but it is Olexy and chef joshua tomaszewski’s new-american menu (I mean, pierogis are Polish/Eastern European even if they’re served with buttermilk Panna cotta and american caviar) starring uniquely seasonal and local ingredients that will bring you to the Love on return visits. that, and the almost Famous cocktail of vodka, champagne, absinthe and grape juice—oh, I will have another three or four of those upon any next Love stop. there’s an exclusive hoppy beer, Share the Love, from Victory brewing, and a blend of dad’s hat Rye made for the restaurant, that I want to drink, but they’re going to have to wait until that almost Famous goes down. On my visits to the Love so far, I’ve tasted appetizers of crispy duck Salad with butterscotch Pears and Ginger dressing, and the curry Pumpkin Soup with coconut, cilantro and Fermented Lime. For my pasta course, I tried the Ricotta Ravioli with butternut Squash Sauce, Rosemary, and hazelnuts and the Gnudi with Sage, Saba, and toasted chestnut truffle brown butter Sauce. For the main, I sampled the Short Rib Stroganoff with cola Glaze, Wide dutch Noodles and creamy mushrooms and the cedar Smoked Whole carolina trout, Sprout kale, maple Farro and Spicy Pecan. For dessert, it was the butter Popcorn Ice cream, and Peanut Popcorn toffee, though I dare say I should have had the Parsnip ‘Pudding’ cake with dates, Pear Sorbet, and Parsnip chips. the gnudi was good, but the ravioli in that butternut squash sauce was velvety. the duck was hearty and musky, the short rib buttery and cola-y, and the fish—really, this lovely, thin-skinned trout—shock-
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ingly long, wide and thoroughly meaty with the smoke prominent, but still never overpowering. So, I felt the Love. bigly. chef-restaurateur bryan Sikora has been everywhere from a (a.kitchen in Rittenhouse Square) to W (Wilmington, dE’s cocina Lolo, La Fia, merchant bar), yet it is chester county and kennett Square that is this cooker’s home away from home, and his recently opened wood-fired Italian concept, hearth kitchen tastes just like that:…home. an airy location within a strip mall’s uniform feel (Shoppes at Longwood Gardens on baltimore Pike), is odd at first. but, then you spoon your way through the chunky white bean soup with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe (more like ladle, it’s so dense), fork into the meaty grilled swordfish, saffron aioli and a capers and castelvetrano olives blend, or nestle into lamb loin with panzanella salad, or truffled foie gras toast or ravioli filled with ground pork cheeks with chanterelle mushrooms or crispy pork belly over creamy polenta and even I was halfway home. Plus, I don’t normally do the sweet pizza routine—screw pineapple and chicken or ham—but Sikora puts that wood-fired oven to good use with dark crusty tender pizzas such as the prosciutto-pear or the fig and bacon pie. big yum. Right before halloween on South Street, a massive fire devastated the legendary bridget Foy’s on South Street, gutting the 40+ year old property and killing animals in a nearby pet shop. as someone who has spent much time at bridget Foy with family throughout my life, the fire was a personal loss to those who owned and worked at that location (the Foys and their company), and those who dined there— whether often or infrequent. Since the time of the blaze, South Street and Society hill neighbors—and chefs citywide—have stepped up to lend a hand and a meal, holding everything from a thoughtful, charitable, pre-thanksgiving community dinner at the Shambles at headhouse Square to raise funds for fire relief efforts with proceeds going to displaced bridget Foy’s employees as well as Saved me and the american Red cross’s Red Paws program for displaced pets and their owners. this was a lovely display of area chefs giving back to the business community in which they operate, as well as caring for one of its own. Other rumored kickstarter programs for post-fire funding are in the works, and the Foy family has promised to re-build their family’s legacy and return to the block where the hippies meet. hallelujah. n
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theater VALLEY
CITY
Peter and the Starcatcher. a dozen actors play a hundred roles in this epic, ingenious prequel to j.m. barrie’s play about Peter Pan, the eternal child. a feisty orphan boy on a secret mission to capture starstuff for Queen Victoria mingles with a feistier girl, a double-talking pirate captain and a tribal chief who speaks like an Italian cook. the original broadway production was co-directed by the late actor Roger Rees, who won a performing tony in an epic, ingenious adaptation of “Nicholas Nickleby.” (dec. 1-4, 610, deSales university)
Barrymore Awards. Whether it’s the academy awards or Philadelphia’s barrymore awards, the adulation that actors receive can sometimes rival 4th of july fireworks. at this year’s barrymores the award for Outstanding Production of a Play went to Ego Po’s The Seagull. jered mcLenigan won best Lead actor in the Wilma’s Constellations. the Wilma’s blanka zizka walked away with best director award for When the Rain Stops Falling. Winner for Outstanding New play went to Will Snider’s How to Use a Knife (Interact theatre company), an extraordinary gem directed by Seth Rozin. Outstanding Leading actress award went to Patrese d. mccain of People’s Light in malvern for Mountaintop. unfortunately, malvern’s twenty-plus mile distance from center city kept mccain’s talents hidden from city theatergoers.
Peter Pan. telecast live from the National theatre in London, this inventive production casts Wendy as a heroine and a woman as captain hook, the better to turn Peter’s archrival into a mother figure, barrie’s initial intention. director Sally cookson shaped characters with her performers, guided by the scripts of barrie, who premiered “Peter Pan” shortly after christmas 1904. Expect other surprises from cookson, who once made Sleeping beauty a prince rescued by a woman. (dec. 3, buck hall, Lafayette college)
Blood Wedding. Famed hungarian director-choreographer csaba horvath transformed Frederico Lorca’s seminal work into a hybrid mix of dance, poetry and hypnotic mantra making. a weak-willed bride (Sarah Gliko) is conned into leaving her marriage celebration by a former lover, Leonardo (Lindsay Smiling), a sexy man without a future. harsh reality intrudes when Leonardo kills the groom (jered mcLenigan) in a madcap fight. Lorca’s prose poetry isn’t easily translated into English, so the beginning of the play was more an alphabet soup of poetic phrases than anything resembling narrative. horvath’s choreography had its beautiful moments, such as when the cast picked up sections of the floor and used them as shrouds or cloaks, suggesting a human metamorphosis into mushrooms. but watching these same dancer-actors form human pyramids to scale a giant onstage wall seemed more like a distraction. acrobatics as dialogue may work for balletX, but it rarely takes the place of language when the idea is to tell a story.
X-Mas Karol. Students in Lafayette college’s Plays and Performance course yank “a christmas carol” into a brave new world of rap and hiphop. Spectators can be photographed with cast members by bringing an unwrapped new toy for children at the Easton area Neighborhood center. admission is free. Required tickets can be obtained from the box office at Lafayette’s Williams center for the arts, by calling 610330-5009, or by visiting theater.lafayette.edu. (2 and 7:30 p.m., dec. 9, buck hall) Stupid F*@# ing Bird. Lehigh university staged an engaging, engrossing production of aaron Posner’s profane, profound deconstruction/detonation of chekhov’s “the Seagull.” making his theatrical debut, devin Walsh was entertainingly hyperkinetic and heartbroken as conrad, a cranky experimental playwright who wonders “Where’s my catharsis?” kalyani Singh was a sly, spry mash, a Gothic existentialist who picks comically mournful tunes on ukulele. She made the unpleasant line “life is an apple rotten to the core” quite pleasant. Nicholas thomson gave dev, mash’s cheerful boyfriend, the stand-up sincerity of a “Peanuts” character while Oneida callaway gave Emma, a narcissistic actress/goddess, the sassy, sashaying vibe of a voodoo priestess. director Pam Pepper extracted lovely melancholy from the ensemble monologues, elevating confessions to chamber music. Spectators joined the funny fray when conrad asked them to help him win over an actress. answers during the show I attended ranged from “make her a mix tape” to “you can’t do it!” Sunday in the Park with George. muhlenberg college connected all the dots in a sumptuous, splendid version of the Stephen Sondheim-james Lapine musical swirling around the struggles of two ambitious artists—a fictionalized Georges Seurat, the 19th-century pointillist painter, and his fictional great-grandson, a 20th-century avant-garde light sculptor—to connect the dots of life. Looking like abe Lincoln and Frederick douglass, Evan brooks played Seurat with a simmering aggression and a shimmering obsession. his singing was keenly conversational and visceral, especially when he dissected a painted hat as a window to the universe. as dot, Seurat’s long-suffering model/paramour, kelly Shannon was winningly earthy and lofty, full-bodied and full-blooded. her singing was beautifully heady and hearty, even when she fired machine-gun patter. director james Peck and music director Ed bara did a marvelous job of marshalling a large motley crew in extremely tricky numbers on a wonderfully tricky set. When they created the characters in Seurat’s famous painting of a Sunday in a Paris park, they recreated the magical quality of a pop-up papier-mache opera. n — geoff gehMAn 12 n I C O N n D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 n I C O N D v . C O M n f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D v
Broken Stones. Playwright Fin kennedy is a noted teacher of playwriting in London’s East End. he also writes plays for young adults and children. In this play kennedy seems lost between the worlds of childhood and adulthood. Rand Guerrero plays Ramirez/Romano, an Iraq war vet whose marine company was involved in the looting of antiquities from a museum in Iraq. a writer (charlotte Northeast) convinces Romano to tell his story. the result is a best-selling book and war hero status for Romano. but here the story devolves quickly. did the theft really happen? did Romano really lose his wife on 9/11 in one of the twin towers? Is his story about the antiquities theft really real? the only certain thing here is the fact that the Writer plays God while flaunting her ability to reinvent Romano or even erase him from the script altogether. during the post-play talk-back, director Seth Rozin confessed that he had initial concerns that kennedy pulled the rug out from the audience too many times. Rozin was right: kennedy wiped out the play with too many rugs. See and be Scene. Ptc Producing artistic director Paige Price moderated a preview of possible new plays to be staged at the Suzanne Roberts theater. choices included R. Eric thomas’ The Folks at Home, an interracial political comedy; The Anatomy of Love by ted malawer, a story about the gender transition of a couple’s toddler daughter; If I Forget by Steven Levenson, about the life and times of a jewish studies professor; A Small Fire by adam block, about illness and unconditional love. What struck me about all these offerings was the preponderance of female themes. does this mean that male themes and stories about men have been relegated to the back of the bus at Ptc? The Craftsman. Playwright bruce Graham scores another hit with this Lantern theater company production which takes place immediately after WWII when the dutch Provisional Government in amsterdam becomes as power hungry as the Nazi siege that it succeeded. anthony Lawton excels as the artist han van meegeren who goes on trial for suspected treason and collaboration with the Germans. directed by m. craig Getting, the play is a triumphal study of hatred and the hazy boundary between revenge and forgiveness. a fascinating two hours and fifteen minutes. (till december 10). n — thoM nickels
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DECEMBER
the list 4 JOE HENRY THRUM Some may call him Madonna’s cousin. Others title him one of America’s most insightful lyricists and poignant songwriters. You decide. (Sellersville Theatre) 4 MORRISSEY Calling his moaning new album “Low in High School” really just seems as if Moz is
lyrics are cranky why not? (Fillmore Philadelphia)
shooting fish in a barrel at this point in his career. Still, the trill is powerful and the
14 SAMANTHA FISH Kansas City’s Samantha Fish is a blues lass, plain and simple, and her work as a
6 Q102 JINGLE BALL The pop-hop station’s annual holiday concert this year features one One Direction (Niall Horan) for the screaming kids along with white people such as The Chainsmokers, Fall Out Boy, Kesha, Halsey, Logic, Charlie Puth and Liam Payne. (Wells Fargo Center) 6 GARY NUMAN Numan’s new “Savage (Songs from a Broken World)” shows that the electronic industrial avatar has come a long hard draining way from “Cars.” (Union Transfer) 12/13 ANGEL OLSEN Every critics’ new female county-ish favorite is worth the lionizing what from the trembling, tough tones of her new “Phases” album. (Union Transfer)
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CURATED BY A.D. AMOROSI
gutarist and singer show her to be a durable and raucous as any (Buddy) guy. Check out her new “Belle of the West” album for proof. (Mauch Chunk Opera House) 14 FANTASIA Grammy-Award winning, platinum-selling American Idol victor Fantasia drops her firstever holiday album, “Christmas After Midnight,” and it’s a nice and rough (to quote
Tina Turner) wintry affair with re-dos of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas,” “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto,” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” featuring vocals from one-time judge on “The Voice” CeeLo Green. (Fillmore Philadelphia) 14 LLOYD COLE See what I said about Joe Henry above? Remove Madonna, add British and insert the word “caustic” into the mix, and that’s the legendary Commotions maker Lloyd Cole. (Sellersville Theatre)
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PETE CROATTO
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The lovely, hearTbreaking documenTary Aida’s Secrets mines its tension from the unknown. it’s why we pine over lost loves and obsess over our president’s social media behavior. The emotion cuts deeper when the uncertainty scrambles who we are. Aida’s Secrets profiles two men entwined in that purgatory. every time they get closer to the truth, they get pushed back. We get another reminder that being human can break your heart—and mend it. directors alon and Shaul Schwarz (alon provides the narration and appears onscreen) use their own family for material. it begins with their uncle izak, a gregarious handyman, who lives in israel. late in life, izak learns he has a younger brother left behind in post-WWii germany. it’s a piece of information his biological mother, aida, told everyone except him. a search reveals that izak’s brother, Shep, lives in canada. Their airport reunion is touching: two old men finding a long-missing part of themselves. izak, open-faced and puppy-dog enthusiastic, is elated. Shep’s happiness comes with reservations. Why did their mother let him go? Why did she not look for him, when she also lived in canada and was a plane ride away? not to mention the most obvious fear:
Aida’s Secrets Shep could show up at his mother’s doorstep only to be rejected. Such complications don’t occur to izak. living off the high of his expanded family, he never thinks of what could go wrong. For Shep, born blind, hardness is a survival tactic. life with his father and stepmother was exceedingly difficult. he disowned Shep, who forbids alon to tell the uncluttered izak. aida is elated to see Shep. after the warm and fuzzies of the reunion subside, questions linger. yes, the principals in that faded photograph taken in germany—mom, dad, and the two boys—remain, but who is this other man? Shep can’t shake the suspicion that he and izak may not have the same father. When he asks izak to take a dna test, he bristles. he knows they’re brothers. That’s all that matters. Shep’s curiosity for closure goes beyond hugs in a drab nursing home. When he gently prods aida for information about the past, her memory suddenly turns foggy. her matronly countenance turns icy. Shep gets answers from research and distant relatives, but closure comes from one person, and aida ain’t talking. For Shep the experience is excruciating. he wants to bond with the elderly mother he’s never known and get the truth. Though
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Shep and izak have different life philosophies, what’s at stake is the same: making themselves whole before time runs out. We see it in their gray, thinning hair and thick bodies, by the unfiltered joy they express in seeing each other after almost 70 years. The tragedy of the incomplete runs through Aida’s Secrets, like a faucet that drips long into the night. a family that eschews honesty is doomed to have its life erode to a poorly acted play of buried feelings. by playing coy, aida deepens the hurt Shep feels and izak shrugs away. aida’s story is complicated, but everyone would get clarity if she said something. Secrecy absolves herself, leaving her two sons to tumble in a chasm of what-ifs. as izak and Shep learn to be a family with the mother who abandoned them both, aida is still running, squelching her sons’ identities to maintain her own complicated secrecy. The Schwarzes capture each moment as it occurs. The rawness is real, not distilled by talking heads or exposition. The directors don’t favor sweeping gestures or big noises. What’s left unsaid leaves us drained, but hopeful; sad, but optimistic. Aida’s Secrets is life unfiltered. if you find it boring, fear not: you’ll be living a variation of Shep and izak’s mystery soon enough. [nr] n
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udbOuNd, based on hillary jordan’s book and directed by dee Rees, is an epic, narrated tale of two rural mississippi families—one african-american and one white—who live hardscrabble existences on the same farmland during the 1940s. hap and Florence jackson are sharecroppers on land owned by henry and Laura mcallan; they dream of owning their own land someday. though the mcallans are landowners, their poverty level is not that much above the jacksons. Each family has a member that goes off to war—jamie mcallan (Garrett hedlund) flies a bomber; Ronsel jackson (jason mitchell) is in an allblack army tank group. Each has experiences that change them forever. Ronsel, who experiences prejudice in the army, is yet embraced by thankful European whites—which highlights the still-segregated racial inequality of the South when he returns home. jamie’s wartime battle
Mudbound experiences leave him traumatized. both men return home anxious and restless while the families still eke out their respective livings amid varying levels of turmoil. Laura mcallan (carey mulligan, low-key yet spellbinding) is married to jamie’s straitlaced brother henry (jason clark) whom she marries to escape her family and not be tagged an old maid. Living with them is the brothers’ father Pappy (jonathan banks, breaking bad), a snarling, bigoted old bastard. complicating things is a barely hidden attraction between Laura and jamie. Florence jackson (an unrecognizable and excellent mary j. blige) and Laura reluctantly and subtly bond amid the challenges (calamities, really) of motherhood. there’s no heartwarming scene—just two women, each trapped in her own private hell and a moment where empathy, sympathy, and catharsis pierce the barriers between them. When the warweary sons return home, their paths cross and, de-
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spite their very different lives, realize the other is a kindred spirit. the cinematography is appealingly flat, with a noir quality. Even though the setting is rural, it’s not lush, or pretty—the dirt on the ground has the dull sheen of wet and muddy. the crisp sound editing is perfect—you can almost feel your shoes sinking into the mud. the acting is uniformly excellent; hedlund’s performance has clark Gable-charm, and he shines as a slightly cynical man who drinks to numb his inner demons; mitchell is powerful as the proud soldier who returns from an outside world that gave him far more than his hometown ever could. this is a monumentally depressing film with violent moments, a tragedy worthy of arthur miller, toni morrison, or tennessee Williams. mudbound shows what venomous hatred is and how racial animosity, class bias, and wartime experiences are as calamitous as any crops-threatening storm. n
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keith Uhlich
armie hammer and timothee chalamet in Call Me by Your Name.
film roundup
Call Me by Your Name (dir. Luca Guadagnino). Starring: armie hammer, timothée chalamet, michael Stuhlbarg. to the select few movies that can, in the words of Orson Welles, “make a stone cry,” add director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter james Ivory’s adaptation of andre aciman’s coming-of-age novel. It’s 1983, “somewhere in northern Italy,” and seventeenyear-old Elio (the magnificent timothée chalamet) is wiling away the lazy, sun-dappled summer. Enter the strapping twenty-four-year-old Oliver (armie hammer), temporary research assistance to Elio’s professor father (michael Stuhlbarg) and the young man’s soonto-be romantic obsession. For an hour or so the two men dance around their attractions; you could call it foreplay, but sex is in every atom of this movie’s being from frame one. Once the relationship is consummated, the fallout begins—not in the melodramatically tragic ways of so much queer cinema, but in a quieter, more contemplative register that unearths the deeprooted heartache and resonant insight inherent in a fleeting yet profound love affair. [R] HHHHH Darkest Hour (dir. joe Wright). Starring: Gary Oldman, Lily james, ben mendelsohn. the world could use more Gary Oldman vehicles, and joe Wright’s entertainingly overwrought WWII period drama provides this great actor with an abundance of scenery to chew. that’s not to say this tale of british Prime minister Winston churchill’s (Oldman) early days in office (concurrent with adolf hitler’s rise in warmongering
power) is all sturm und drang. bellowing from under a pile of face- and body-altering prosthetics, Oldman consistently gives us—like meryl Streep in the margaret thatcher biopic The Iron Lady—a deep and thoughtful glimpse at the tortured man beneath the outsize personality, something especially evident in his scenes with the diction-inhibited king George VI (ben mendelsohn); viewers may recall him as the subject of the awards-feted The King’s Speech. Speaking of gold and glory, there’s a degree to which the film seems designed to give Oldman the Oscar for best actor that has long eluded him. truly, he couldn’t have asked for a better clip reel. [PG-13] HHH1/2 Downsizing (dir. alexander Payne). Starring: matt damon, christoph Waltz, hong chau, kristen Wiig. In alexander Payne’s ill-conceived sci-fi satire, matt damon plays regular joe Paul Safranek who, along with his wife audrey (kristen Wiig), decides to simplify his life by doing some literal downsizing. that means he takes advantage of the latest technological craze— shrinking himself to a minuscule stature so that his footprint on the world is ostensibly nil. the process doesn’t entirely go according to plan, however, and soon enough Paul finds that his attempt at betterment is no less of a soul-sucking trap as his normal-size existence. but does it have to stay that way? Give Payne points for the ambition of the premise. Give him demerits for everything else, from the cruel, callous way the film treats women (Wiig especially) to its smug ob-
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servations about our species’ ingrained prejudices, whatever our height may be. there’s a special place in hell reserved for Payne for the way he treats actress hong chau as the pidgin-English-speaking Vietnamese immigrant Ngoc, who Paul falls for. her climactic speech (in which “wha’ kin’ fuck you gi’ me?” is the oft-repeated phrase) is some kind of cinematic nadir. [R] H I, Tonya (dir. craig Gillespie). Starring: margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, allison janney. craig Gillespie’s rude, crude account of the controversy-plagued career of u.S. figure skater tonya harding (margot Robbie) is like a trashy Ryan murphy miniseries condensed to two hours. that’s not entirely a bad thing given the vigor with which Robbie and the rest of the cast go full redneck. the story builds, of course, to the poorly executed (to put it mildly) plan to incapacitate harding’s rival Nancy kerrigan (caitlin carver). but it’s harding’s abusive marriage to jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and her no less malevolent relationship with her mother LaVona (a spectacular allison janney) that makes up the film’s emotional core. there’s barely a moment infused with anything other than high-wire insult and invective, and a little of that goes a very long way. Plus, the attempt to turn this abrasive, oft-engrossing bit of bumpkin porn into some grand statement on the human desire for fallen idols—for schadenfreude above all else—reeks of disingenuousness. [R] HH1/2
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NATIONAL VELVET At 2017’s end, the 50th celebration of the Velvet Underground is just revving up
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ONE yEaR aFtER thE Gershman y—the longtime community center to the city’s jewish population—played host in december 2016 to a 50th anniversary of the andy Warhol and Velvet underground visit to the (then) jewish; and now, for the 75th birthday of its cofounder john cale, the 50th anniversary of the first Velvet’s album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, is upon us, and crucial. For a small segment of the population— perhaps only the weirdos, of which I number myself—The Velvet Underground & Nico’s golden anniversary is more important than that of its fellow 50-year-old, more mainstream classic counterparts, say, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, or Smiley Smile, or Are You Experienced or Surrealistic Pillow or Their Satanic Majesties. this is not to say that those other classics weren’t and aren’t still amazing; they are. yet, none bore a subculture and a set of sounds as did Lou Reed, cale & co.’s debut. Or as producer-artist brian Eno said, “the first Velvet underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.” In this, its anniversary year, there is (was), of course, the requisite reissue of the LP and its cover— Warhol’s famed, risqué banana silk screen—done up in various tones of colored vinyl. there are two new books celebrating its principle writer, Lou Reed, who by 2013 made a focus on his solo life more prominent: a mick Rock photograph-heavy coffee table book on the guitarist-singer’s 1972, david bowie/mick Ronson-produced album Transformer; one-time Rolling Stone writer anthony decurtis’ Lou Reed: A Life. the latter book focuses on so many of the more controversial Lous —the lousy Lou, the mean Lou, the oddball marriages, the drug use Lou. Good. Fine. maybe even fair. but who cares. he’s gone. In 2011, I interviewed Reed—one of many times— about his then-new work with metallica, Songs for Lulu. metallica was his first full band collaboration/in-
tegration since his days with the Velvets. “thinking doesn’t enter the equation… I have an attraction to doing something great and I operate the
“WE JUST GOT TOGETHER ON LUDLOW STREET [LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC] AND JAMMED. SLOWLY, IT BECAME CLEAR THAT LOU WAS AN EXPERT AT IMPROVISING LYRICS. THAT WAS CRUCIAL. DYLAN WAS ALREADY OUT THERE, COMING UP WITH NEW SONGS CONSTANTLY. I THOUGHT WE’D GO OUT AND IMPROVISE WHOLE CONCERTS— GIVE DYLAN A RUN FOR HIS MONEY.”
same way as always: 100% instinct. If I have to start thinking about something there’s a problem. the great thing about music is that you don’t have to think about it. that’s what makes us dance, thrill or cry in our beer.” In Reed’s mind there is little difference with metallica as musicians in comparison to Reed players such as Ornette coleman, mick Ronson, Fernando Saunders, don cherry, james carter, or even john cale. yet with metallica he felt something more. “this is almost as close to transcendence as you can get in an urban setting,” said Reed. “I love their spirit, heart and talent,
their willingness to go with me on this journey as a unit. It was more than I could ever hope for, truly one of the high points of my life.” though her delicate classic Chelsea Girls is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Nico is gone. Second guitarist Sterling morrison is gone. Socalled producer, Pop art king andy Warhol is gone. drummer maureen tucker is alive and well, but kind of embarrassed herself several years ago with her pro-Republican ranting. this leaves john cale, who not only records his own, glorious, smartly literate art electronic albums with handsome regularity. In November, the Welsh transplant to manhattan (in the 60s) and Los angeles (currently) celebrated the first Velvet underground album (of which he co-composed three songs) with two shows at the brooklyn academy of music with a handful of present day, young indie rockers. For special guests, the Velvet undrground founding member invited members of animal collective, mGmt and thee Oh Sees, as well as tV on the Radio singer tunde adebimpe, former chairlift singer caroline Polachek, Philadelphia’s kurt Vile, Sky Ferreira and connan mockasin. While the third night featured an all-solo cale program (cult faves like “hedda Gabbler,” dark new songs such as “hatred”), the first two nights found him singing only two Velvets songs (“I’m Waiting for the man” and “Venus in Furs”) with the rest of the underground catalog going to artists who’ll find, “their own ways in,” cale said. “I want to share this with other people, other artists, have them point out different feelings and sounds, along with making the past look forward.” With that, the sinister, yet tenderhearted, avantgarde classicist-turned-proto-punk avatar reinstated his position as the Vu’s steward, while marching his
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CHRISTMAS CITY FOLLIES XVIII THRU Dec. 22. Presented by Touchstone Theatre. Visit website for days and times. 321 East Fourth Street, Bethlehem. Celebrate the holiday season with giddiness, poignancy, pop culture and joy for all. touchstone.org. 610-867-1689
National Historic Landmark Districts. Visit website for days and times. HistoricBethlehem.org. 800-360-8687
TREES OF HISTORIC BETHLEHEM
CHRISTMAS PUTZ AND CHRISTMAS SHOP
THRU Jan. 14. Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Trees inspired by different countries’ traditions at six of our historic sites. HistoricBethlehem.org. 800-360-8687
THRU Dec. 22. Presented By Edgeboro Moravian Church. 645 Hamilton Ave., Bethlehem. FREE. edgeboromoravian.org. 610-866-8793
1810 GOUNDIE HOUSE
GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION AND EXHIBIT THRU Dec. 23. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. Amazing gingerbread house creations in a variety of different categories. FREE. christmascity.org. 610-332-3378
THRU Jan. 14. Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Each tree is decorated by volunteers from the Bethlehem Garden Club. 501 Main Street, Bethlehem. See website for days and times. HistoricBethlehem.org 800-360-8687
CHRISTKINDLMARKT AT STEELSTACKS
MORAVIAN MUSEUM OF BETHLEHEM 1741 GEMEINHAUS
THRU Dec. 23. PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 645 E. First Street, Bethlehem. An event that brings the spirit of Bethlehem alive with the season. Twice recognized as one of the best holiday markets in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure. christmascity.org. 610-332-3378
THRU Jan. 14. Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. 66 W. Church Street, Bethlehem. A National Historic Landmark and the oldest standing building in Bethlehem. HistoricBethlehem.org. 800-360-8687
CHRISTMAS PUTZ AND STAR & CANDLE SHOPPE
BREAKFAST WITH ST. NICHOLAS
THRU Dec. 31. Presented by Central Moravian Church. Christian Education Building, 40 W. Church Street, Bethlehem. FREE. centralmoravianchurch.org. 610-866-5661
Dec. 2, 9 & 16, 9 a.m. Presented by ArtsQuest. PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 645 E. First St., Bethlehem. christmascity.org. 610-332-3378
EAST HILLS MORAVIAN CHURCH CHRISTMAS PUTZ HOLIDAY PUTZ TRAIL THRU Jan. 7. Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, 66 W. Church Street. Journey along the Holiday Putz Trail and discover this Moravian Christmas tradition. HistoricBethlehem.org. 800-360-8687
CHRISTMAS CITY STROLL THRU Jan. 7. Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Experience “Christmas City, USA” on a walking tour of one of America’s
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Dec. 3 - 30. Presented by East Hills Moravian Church. 1830 Butztown Rd., Bethlehem. FREE; donations accepted. easthillsmc.org. 610-868-6481
GERMAN AND ENGLISH ADVENT SINGSTUNDE IN THE CHAPEL Dec. 5, 7 p.m. Central Moravian Church, 412 Heckewelder Place, Bethlehem. FREE. centralmoravianchurch.org. 610-866-5661
THE BISHOP'S WIFE
DUKES OF DIXIELAND
Dec. 7 - 9, 12:30 p.m. Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. steelstacks.org 610-297-7100
Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m. Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Pheonixville Area Middle School, 386 City Line Ave., Pheonixville, PA. Paphilharmonic.org. 610-401-3650
LUMINARIA NIGHT Dec. 9, Begins at sundown. Presented by New Bethany Ministries. Bethlehem Historic District. newbethanyministries.org. 610-691-5602
FELTED WOOL SCARVES WORKSHOP Dec. 10, 1 - 5 p.m. Presented by ArtsQuest. Banana Factory Arts Center, 25 W. Third Street Suite 300, Bethlehem. One-day workshop with Kim Tanzos. bananafactory.org. 610-332-1300
FUSED GLASS HOLIDAY ORNAMENT WORKSHOP Dec. 16, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Workshop with Rebecca Shoemaker. Banana Factory Arts Center, 25 W. Third Street Suite 300, Bethlehem. bananafactory.org. 610-332-1300
DUKES OF DIXIELAND Dec. 30, 2:00 p.m. Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. Paphilharmonic.org. 610-401-3650
PEEPSFEST® Dec. 30 & Dec. 31, Sat. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sun., 10 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. FREE. 610-332-3378. Steelstacks.org
THE SOFA KINGS' NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY Dec. 31, 9 p.m. ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. steelstacks.org
TWELVE TWENTY-FOUR HOLIDAY ROCK ORCHESTRA Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m. Musikfest Café, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. Steelstacks.org. 610-332-1300
PEEPSFEST® 5K
RODNEY MARSALIS PHILADELPHIA BIG BRASS
Dec. 31, 1 p.m. (Registration/Packet pickup begins at noon.) Prizes awarded. The 5K route travels through both the north and south sides of Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. Steelstacks.org
Dec. 17, 7 p.m. Miller Symphony, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. MillerSymphonyHall.org. 610-432-6715
THE WIZARD OF OZ
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999-STATE. Statetheatre.org
Dec. 21-23, 12:30 p.m. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. Steelstacks.org
THREE KINGS CELEBRATION
THE ROB STONEBACK BIG BAND
Jan. 7, 3 - 6 p.m. ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. steelstacks.org
Dec. 22, 7:30 p.m. ArtsQuest Center, at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA.A 19-piece swinging big band that have performed all over the Mid-Atlantic Region. 610-332-3378. Steelstacks.org
THE KING’S SINGERS Jan. 20, 8 p.m. A performance of a cappella music. Miller Symphony, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown, PA. MillersymphonyHall.org. 610-432-6715
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dvds revieWed by george oxford Miller
reel news
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Dunkirk (2017) HHHHH cast: Fionn Whitehead, damien bonnard, Genre: War, drama; Rating PG-13 this story of snatching an epic psychological victory from an overwhelming defeat pulls us into the experience with full emotional involvement. From the panoramic to the personal, we see and feel the soldiers’ gut-wrenching dilemmas. the history-making saga began in may, 1940, when German soldiers corralled 350,000 allied troops onto the broad beaches of dunkirk, France. With the waters too shallow for ships, only small boats from England could reach the soldiers, and hundreds heroically responded to the call. the story sidesteps the broad picture of desperation and carnage and focuses on sets of individual soldiers as they desperately struggle to survive. Fleeing for their lives, many bitterly discover that their only escape suddenly becomes their deathtrap. just as soldiers hiding behind a rusty shipwreck on the beach duck to avoid bullets from a German target practice, survivors on a hospital ship scramble for the decks when German planes bomb them. the inspiration comes as ordinary people filled with fear and expectation of a certain fate are called to stand proud and perform extraordinary actions. Failure may not be an option, but neither is survival. Brad’s Status (2017) HHHH cast: ben Stiller, austin abrams, Shazi Raja Genre: comedy - Rateing R can you be sympathetic for a person complaining about the privileges of the 1% when he’s comfortably middle class? though brad (Stiller) has everything most dream of, his college friends have achieved vastly more riches and social prestige. Even his son troy (abrams) has more—the temporal gift of youth and a fu-
ture with unlimited possibilities. So with father absorbed in a mid-aged crisis of self-doubt and unworthiness, and with son pumped with exciting opportunities, the two embark on an often hilariously sarcastic journey of discovery. troy is searching for an Ivy League college, brad is searching for meaning. and bitching about it all the way. after all, he never could have gotten into harvard or yale. brad expresses his consuming insecurity as whining voiceover. contrasted with the reality he lives, his thoughts create enough irony, satire, and deadpan humor to make us question our own perceptions or reality. brad’s sad-sack self-image begins to crack when he reconnects with his old buddies and sees the shambles behind the facade of their success. then he meets ananya (Raja), troy’s high school friend, who’s studying at harvard and living the fantasy life he always wanted, and his son will probably achieve. She shines the mirror back on him with the truth of his remarkable idealism and accomplishments. maybe the joke’s not on brad after all. Félicité (2017) HHH cast: Véro tshanda beya mputu, Papi mpaka, Genre: drama; unrateds Is it a travelogue, concert film, documentary, or soul-searching drama? all of the above. the soundtrack is as powerful as the screenplay, and slice-of-life action mirrors chaotic street scenes with the inner turmoil of an afropop singer. the story unfolds with frenetic urgency interspaced with dreamlike interludes. Félicité (beya), a single mother in kinshasa in the democratic Republic of congo supports herself and teen son by singing in a back alley bar. She stands proudly as a independent woman until her son is injured in a motorcycle accident. he needs expensive surgery in a country with pay-as-you-go health care. Life demands strength and
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action in times of crisis, and Félicité pounds the streets trying to garnish enough money as the clock ticks away. but everyday life goes on regardless of individual catastrophe. She keeps singing in the club, falls in love with the refrigerator repair man, wanders in the forest, all the while combating a system that devalues women, the poor, and the powerless. She hounds old friends, faces down a gang leader who won’t loan her money, and collapses in despair, only to rise and continue her quest. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
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cast: dane dehaan, cara delevingne Genre: Sci-fi adventure; Rated PG-13 Inspired by a French comic book, this sci-fi extravaganza adds a new dimension to the superhero and Starwars game book perfected by the marvel and Lucas franchises. Enlarging the futuristic-city concept of his own successful The Fifth Element and the classic Bladedrunner and its current sequel, director Luc besson builds an orbiting city, alpha, populated with fanciful and exotic immigrants and refuges from around the universe, all living in peace and harmony. but all is not well in Paradise. a conspiracy is afoot that will destroy civilization as we (they) know it. two crime-fighting operatives, Valerian (dehaan) and Laureline (delevinge), are dispatched to uncover the evil. the unlikely invincibles embark on a mad-cap adventure to root out the political corruption (some things never change) and restore a responsible, stable government. created with computergenerated imagery on steroids, bizarre aliens, shape shifters, and over-imagined chase scenes propel the story at hyperspeed. Sometimes inane, other times madly entertaining, this $200-million eye-candy spectacle is more about packaging than plotting, but what a bling-filled gift wrap it is. n
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hIS 2016 FRENch ImPORt IS yet another variation of the film noir tradition—there’s this situation we’re in, you see, and it’s going to be very embarrassing to tell the authorities what really happened. So, we’ve got to get someone to take the fall, someone without too much power/influence/moxie, someone who will fold/faint/fade when the temperature rises so we can return to our lives unscathed. a Parisian banker, antoine (jalil Lespert), receives a message that his beautiful wife Iris is kidnapped…or is she? Iris wants to get away from hubby so she cooks up a plot in which an auto mechanic, max (divorced, business is lousy, has a police record from long ago), is an integral part. If max “kidnaps”
In the Shadow of Iris (France, 2016) Iris, he gets out from under; beautiful woman, lots of lucre—what guy could resist, right? It seems to be going well until max (Romain duris) returns to his apartment to find Iris dead. he drives the corpse to the woods and buries her, only to learn later that the body he buried is not Iris. he realizes that antoine and she-who-would-be-Iris (charlotte Le bon) have set him up for…what? therein hangs our tale. Iris is a cat-and-mousestyle mystery in which we never know who is playing whom. It’s a how-and-why story, in which we never get to really know the character. the acting is fine; Le bon exudes vulnerability, raw sexuality, and shrewdness; max is an Every Schmuck seeking a pot of gold; and Lespert is fine as the generic Rich Guy in a $600 pair of
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loafers. camille cottin—who vaguely resembles holly hunter—is excellent as the standard-issue Sardonic cop who suspects the banker of funny business. In the Shadow of Iris, however, has aw-come-on holes you can drive a school bus through. you bury your dead lover/compatriot, but you at no point look at her face? you use a cell phone in your Illegal Plot and instead of disposing of it—you know, like criminals that try to avoid capture—you keep using it? [small spoiler] a character falls into a grave and lands in a (cornball, frankly) pose that screams irony. If you love French films—Paris is practically a character herein in the way Nyc is in Scorsese and Woody allen films—this is worth your time. Otherwise, skip it. n
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MArk keresMAn
Rita Crundwell leaves court after her appeal is denied.
DOC
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All the Queen’s Horses
thERE aRE maNy WayS to get rich and some of them are creative, but not legal—this documentary is about one such method. approximately 100 miles west of chicago, there is the small town of dixon, boyhood home of Ronald Reagan. the town’s comptroller, Rita crundwell, channeled $53 million dollars from the city to herself in a period of ten years. (a pause to define irony: Part of crundwell’s responsibilities was to decide which city employees get shown the door to save some green.) All the Queen’s Horses details this, the biggest municipal fraud in the history of the united States. director kelly Richmond Pope is an associate professor in the School of accountancy at dePaul university. She earned her doctoral degree in accounting from Virginia tech, is a licensed certified public accountant, and has worked in forensic accounting. her approach is based more in accounting than as a filmmaker and 30 n I C O N n D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 n I C O N D v . C O M n f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D v
(2017)
that’s both to the film’s advantage and disadvantage. She shows very understandable graphics to illustrate how crundwell, with the aid of faked invoices and a secret account, diverted city funds to herself and to her lavish lifestyle as a breeder and trainer of horses. Problem is, while Pope is okay with the whimsy factor, she’s a bit too detached about her subject. crundwell didn’t (darn it) consent to be interviewed—she drew a hefty prison stretch—but perhaps some research via people that knew her would’ve been nice. What is nicely delineated is how some fellow workers tumbled onto the scam and how she was able to hide the scam for so long. While not as “sexy” as bernie madoff’s crimes or a “Family Values”-type Republican getting caught with guy-meat, All the Queen’s Horses is a low-key, straightforward, mildly fascinating doc about greed on a massive scale. I’m interested to see where Pope, as a filmmaker, goes next. n
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14 | THE LIST
15 HOOTS & HELLMOUTH The weirdly rural local act grows doubly theatrical musically and visually when it comes to the Christmas and Hanukah holi-
16 THE PEEK-A-BOO REVUE The Philly-based, long running burlesque of strip-teasing women and humorously lewd gents goes vintage and Christmas-y with
The Striptease Orchestra behind them. (Mauch Chunk Opera House) days, and this year tote along the always glittering Philadelphia singer-showman Johnny Showcase. (Union Transfer) 16 SHAMIR There are a hundred reasons to write about Shamir Bailey, known professionally as the new Vegas to Philadelphia transplant. Shamir a non-binary, unidentifiably male/female singer with a piercing contralto/tenor falsetto, demonstrates a musical curiosity ranging from 90s house, soul, country (all
on 2015’s “Rachet” album), and now, lo-fi neo-rock and fizzy pop on new albums such as 2017’s “Hope” and its just-released follow-up, full-length “Revelation”. Plus, he can be silly (“90’s Kid”) or heartbreaking (“Like a Bird”) or angrily disgusted (“I Fucking Hate You”), not something every writer or singer can do. (First Unitarian Church) 17 ROBERT GLASPER TRIO Like Miles Davis (whose music he’s essayed in the recent past), you really can’t (or
24 PETULA CLARK The woman who invented the British ‘60s (OK, her and Twiggy) performs her first tour in 50 years (WOW) and drops a new album, “Living for Today,” to boot. I know it’s a Christmas Eve showcase, and most of us are dining with family or drunk at home, but this is worth a trek beyond the holiday. (Sellersville Theatre) 26 GO GO GADJET A decade-old band of guys in skinny jeans, tight Thriller jackets and asymmetrical hair-
dos do up up-to-date EDM-funk lite. Could be fun. (Musikfest Café at Steelstacks) 29/30 DUKES OF DIXIELAND New Orleans’ own DUKES of Dixieland bring traditional New Orleans Jazz into the 21st Century by combining elements of Zydeco, Pop and Gospel music. Their style ranges from Dr. John and Fats Domino, to Huey Smith and Louis Prima. (Zoellner Arts Center). 29 TELEVISION
One of punk-New York City 1970’s first and most original acts, Tom Verlaine and Co. have stayed intact as a quartet, though shamefully rarely concentrate on making new music. After the epic debut of “Marquee Moon,” you almost don’t blame them. (Ardmore Music Hall)
should) call pianist/organist Robert Glasper “jazz.” But you probably will. (Ardmore Music Hall)
29 FLOSSTRADAMUS If Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone had a baby—and that sounds fascinating what with the mustaches between them—it would come out sounding just like Flosstradamus. (Union Transfer) n
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23 | JOHN CALE
own art-rock futurism further forward. “the new album is funkier and covers a wider range of topics than my last works,” said cale from Los angeles, on the heels of post-production for an upcoming 2018 album. his last several records, 2012’s Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood, and 2016’s M:FANS were electronic, sample-heavy affairs. For an artist not usually inclined to reminisce, cale moves quickly from chatting up new music to his interpretation of the Velvet underground. “the first shows I did like this focused on Nico, and all these young female artists were there, showing how they appreciated Nico as a songwriter,” said cale of shows in Scandinavia, Paris and Liverpool. “We’ve had guys sing ‘heroin’ in the past—maybe it’s time to have women sing it. you want to show off how adaptable this material is to different sensibilities.” Reed famously wrote most of the Velvets’ canon alone, but cale arranged and brought the aggressive drone sensibilities of his pre-Vu affiliations with avant-garde composer Lamonte young to the band. For the Velvet’s 1967, andy Warhol-produced debut, cale co-penned “Sunday morning,” “European Son,” and “the black angel’s death Song.” “I’m interested in changing the possibilities of all the Velvets’ songs, even the instrumentation, though that’s not really what I want to do for the anniversary as I’m aware that people expect to hear things as they remember them—which isn’t going to happen anyway,” said cale of bam’s three- night stretch. “but we have a lot to work with.” before discussing the Velvet’s start, cale mentions both the 50th anniversary rerelease and his recent meeting with Oscar-nominated director todd haynes, now in the early stages of his Velvet underground documentary. “We had lunch, very nice. that’s it. I don’t know where he’s going it. We didn’t get that far. It was just us reconnoitering. but I got a good feeling.” discussing the legend of the Velvets, cale recalled that terry Phillips, then a producer at Pickwick Records, introduced him to Reed, and that Warhol “wasn’t interested in music, just being an impresario.” the first time he heard Reed play “I’m Waiting for the man” on guitar, the academic cale thought Reed’s tune was oddly folky, but like “heroin,” he heard room in those songs in which to expand. “that became clear once we started improvising. We just got together on Ludlow Street [Lower East Side, Nyc] and jammed. Slowly, it became clear that Lou was an expert at improvising lyrics. that was crucial. dylan was already out there, coming up with new songs constantly. I thought we’d go out and improvise whole concerts—give dylan a run for his money. We could do a lot with our instrumentation, and Lou was intrigued by that, interested most in how his words could be portrayed.” What cale was most interested in was the sound, how four people could come together—“five when Nico came on board—to make all this noise.” cale thinks that Reed and he mentored each other, with drummer maureen tucker and second guitarist Sterling morrison acting as grumbling, but integral comrades. ultimately, cale said that “being the Velvets” was too much for the lot of them, especially with the hype provided by Warhol’s star-shine (“he was good at getting attention”), yet a distinct lack of sales. “We snarled a lot.” cale left the Vu after 1968’s dissonant White Light/White Heat because a rift between he and Reed—the band’s creatives—widened beyond repair. “It forced me into a corner,” said cale, considering that his time in the Velvets was drawing to a close. “I knew, though, that I had options to produce records, and fortunately for me, Iggy Pop (the Stooges) showed up, then Nico (The Marble Index). and I could express myself with my own music. When it came to us, the Velvets, it was done. We had a ball, until a point, then we signed papers and I was gone.” there was a reunion of sorts at the 1980s end with the original quartet, but that, too, didn’t work out when Reed allegedly pushed for singular control and a retrospective outlook. “I never thought we were there to recycle,” said cale. “that was a shame. We could have done anything we wanted, but that got the kibosh right away.” cale’s role as co-founder, sonic seducer and resident weirdo is clear within the Velvets legend. Other than a wild celebration for The Velvet Underground & Nico’s halfcentury mark, what’s important to him about the bam triple-threat is hearing what different sides of its coin exist. “I’m part of this situation and I’d like to show off and honor what we did back then. the “banana album” was a visceral look at american life, how the world really was. I’m not going to dwell on it. I did it in Paris. I have to do it in New york where it started. I don’t have to make apologies.” n
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toM Wilk
music SINGER / SONGWRITER Gregg Allman HHH1/2 Southern Blood Rounder Records “I can’t bear to think that this might be the end,” Gregg allman sings with a touch of mournfulness on the midtempo “my Only true Friend,” the opening song on Southern Blood. the line takes on new meaning after the former lead singer of the allman brothers band died of cancer in may at 69. the posthumous release calls to mind The Wind, the album that Warren zevon recorded while he was dying of mesothelioma in 2003. While zevon wrote ten of the cd’s 11 songs, allman opted to feature the work of other songwriters, aside from “my Only true Friend, and it’s clear that death and mortality were on his mind. tim buckley’s “Once I Was” and bob dylan’s “Going Going Gone” underscore that theme. allman’s whiskeysoaked voice brings out the blues in dylan’s lyrics, while the electric guitars offer a catharsis at the end. allman instills a sense of regret on buckley’s song about things left unsaid and undone. allman turns Lowell George’s trucker anthem “Willin’” into a song of survival in the face of missteps. allman switches gears for a tender reading of “Out of Left Field,” a hit for Percy Sledge that spotlights allman’s affinity for soul music. jackson browne’s “Song for adam” brings the album to a fitting end with an elegy for a fallen friend. browne sings with allman on the track. (10 songs, 46 minutes) Van Morrison HHH1/2 Roll With the Punches caroline Records In the musical landscape of the 21st century, Van morrison is steady and reliable, a fixed point in a changing age. Starting out as the lead singer of them and launching a solo career in 1967, morrison continues to draw inspiration from the early rock ‘n’ roll, soul, blues, jazz and gospel that led him to become a musician. Roll With the Punches is a rich and vibrant mix of morrison originals and well-chosen cover versions that show
tribute to the legendary blues master with some heartfelt harmonica work. Wilson creates a sense of drama on Little Walter’s “blue and Lonesome,” the
thought.” “Looking Glass man,” featuring carl Sandburg’s poetry, works well in a blues setting, while pedal steel guitarist Lloyd maines provides a sprightly feel to “the Ghost trail,” a slice of country/rock. Myths and Mortals shows the band’s ability to effortlessly shift between genres. (12 songs, 42 minutes) Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers
HHH
his passion for making music burns brightly at 72. the bluesy title track is a reflection of his indomitable spirit. “Only one way to clear your troubled mind,” he sings, “stop thinking she was one of a kind.” “transformation,” a ballad with gospel overtones, and “how Far From God,” a soulful number with zesty vocals, are a reflection of his spiritual side. “Fame” explores the perils of stardom and its impact on art, a favorite topic of morrison’s, while “too much trouble” is a jazzy meditation on everyday problems. morrison acknowledges his influences with a playful take on Lightnin’ hopkins’ “automotive blues” and a razor-sharp reading of Little Walter’s “mean Old World.” With bo diddley’s “I can tell” and “Ride on josephine,” the album’s closer, morrison revels in the spirit of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. (15 songs, 63 minutes) Kim Wilson HHH Blues and Boogie, Vol. 1 Severn Records Blues and Boogie, Vol. 1 serves as a microcosm of kim Wilson’s career. the longtime lead singer of the Fabulous thunderbirds mixes his original songs with selections by fellow bluesmen and harmonica players that led him to a musical career. “bonus boogie,” the album opener and a Wilson original, showcases his lively harmonica work and serves as a statement of purpose. the up-tempo “No Love in my heart” is an energetic jump blues with echoes of big joe turner in the vocals. jimmy Reed’s “you upset my mind” allows Wilson to pay
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album’s longest track, with harmonica playing that serves as a cry for deliverance. “Learn to treat me Right” and “Edgier” are a pair of Wilson compositions that show his strengths as a songwriter. the former is a romantic plea to his worm that mixes humor and frustration, while the latter is a high-powered instrumental that showcases his backing band. (16 songs, 52 minutes) The New Zeitgeist HHH Myths and Mortals Self-released It’s not uncommon for musicians to draw inspirations from the singers and players they grew up listening to. the New zeitgeist, led by singer/songwriters jen Reilly and Eddy bluma, takes a different approach with Myths and Mortals. alongside their own songs, they set the poems of such 19th century poets as Sidney Lanier and William butler yeats to music. the result is a rich blend of past and present that exposes classic writing to a new audience. the band makes Lanier’s “Song of the chattahoochie” sound like a traditional folk number, thanks to Reilly’s passionate reading with a vocal style that’s reminiscent of Sandy denny. “Lake Isle of Innisfree” and “Song of the Wandering aengus,” both written by yeats, find the band venturing into Irish-influenced music. the folk-rock blend of “Only Love,” co-written by Reilly and bluma, spotlights their soothing harmonies. alton Smith’s Farfisa organ provides a pop flavor to bluma’s “Lack of Linear
Big Road Vizztone/juicy juju based in massachusetts, Erin harpe and the delta Swingers draw their inspiration from the South, the birthplace of the blues. Big Road, the band’s second album, features a mixture of blues covers that fit in nicely alongside harpe’s originals. harpe sets the tone for the cd with a one-two punch. She starts off with an impressive version of mississippi Fred mcdowell’s “kokomo” and then delivers a sultry rendition of her own “Lonely Leavin’ town” in which her vocal style recalls a younger bonnie Raitt. as a guitarist, harpe displays her
acoustic fingerpicking skills on “Frankie” and “casey jones,” a pair of songs by mississippi john hurt. She also shines on her reading of Randy Newman’s “Guilty,” a confessional song that plays to her strengths as an interpreter. harpe’s entire band shares the spotlight on Slim harpo’s “Shake your hips,” which evokes the spirit of the Rolling Stones’ version on Exile on main Street. at just over eight minutes, the song gives harpe a chance to stretch out on electric guitar and trade licks with harmonica player matt “charles” Prozialeck. (12 songs, 47 minutes) n
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MUSIC JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Michelle Lordi HHHH Dream a Little Dream Self-released Gabriele Tranchina HHH1/2 Of Sailing Ships & The Stars in Your Eyes Rainchant Eclectic Around the world or around the corner, the human voice is likely the first instrument, and here are a couple of dandies recorded right here in PA. A daughter of Philadelphia, Michelle Lordi has been blessed with a slightly husky/smoky voice with crystal-clear diction
Eric Stokes.
Gabriele Tranchina. Photo: Y. Muller
Michelle Lordi.
and intonation. Lordi has a bit of the chilled-out cool of Chet Baker’s voice (minus his occasional flatness) and sounds a tad like Jane Monheit, albeit deeper. Unlike some jazz singers, Lordi, to put it bluntly, sings the damn lyrics—she remembers it’s a SONG, not an excuse to impress with vocal acrobatics. While the program Is mostly done-to-death standards (“The Lamp is Low,” “They Say It’s Wonderful”), Lordi essays them with unassuming verve and unpretentious class. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that her band here includes Phiily jazz luminaries Larry McKenna (tenor sax) and Sonny Troy (guitar), Jay Webb’s trumpet has that shining, soaring old-school/pre-bebop sound (think Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge) and the sonic presence is a bit like being in a club with an accomplished but relaxed combo. Aces high. (7 tracks, 29 min.) michellelordi.com While Gabriele Tranchina is German-born and NY-based, her third album Of Sailing Ships… was recorded in Shohola PA. This platter is a sophisticated serving of a mix of jazz, bossa nova, and pop, full of rhythms languid and percolating. Tranchina’s lithe,
clear, elegant singing evokes Sade, Flora Purim, Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister), and that “Girl From Ipanema,” Astrud Gilberto. The production is lush enough to make you not notice a small, sympathetic band is backing her; the program consists of standards (“Autumn in New York”), originals, songs by bossa masters A.J. Jobim and Milton Nascimento, and two numbers by Henry Mancini. Tranchina sings (very well) in English, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese—she uses her voice a bit like an instrument but never at the expense of the song. This set will fly you ‘round the world in a (happy) daze. (12 tracks, 69 min.) gabrieletranchina.com Eric Stokes HHHHH The Lyrical Pickpocket Innova Minnesota composer Eric Stokes (1930-1999) is (hyperbole alert) an American treasure that this writer only recently discovered. Yes, he’s a modern composer of notated music (classical) but his style has nothing to do with the minimalist mob (Glass, Reich, Adams…ok, maybe Adams, a bit) nor is he hidebound or outré. Stokes composes mostly tonal music (too-simply put, not much dissonance) but it’s not predictable at all. Composed for mostly small ensembles, there’s the elegance of renaissance and baroque music while other areas have the felicitously fractured approach of Stravinsky and the folk-inspired Americana of Charles Ives, Aaron Copeland, Roy Harris, and Frank Zappa. (With the latter, I refer to his compositions for orchestra, not his rock side.) There are hints of jazz and classy film music (think Goldsmith and Korngold) as well.
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Stokes often has some rhythmic impetus going on (also too-simply put, his compositions sound like they’re going someplace, never static or arrhythmic) plus he can push the envelope some (his “Woodwind Quintet” has sounds I thought certainly produced by the human voice, but not). Stokes makes convivial music, thoughtful but never staid, and marked with gentleness and subtly sly humor. Recommended to connoisseurs of classical sounds as well as neophytes. (20 tracks, 67 min.) innova.mu Martial Solal & Dave Liebman HHHH1/2 Masters in Bordeaux
Sunnyside Here’s a live duet set by an old jazz master and a somewhat younger old jazz master going to town on some chestnuts as only two old(er) swells can. Solal— born 1927—is a French pianist of usual breadth. He’s
Martial Solal.
played with American wizards-in-Europe Don Byas and Sidney Bechet as well as more recent edgier cats such as Dave Douglas. (Solal also wrote music for JeanLuc Godard’s feature debut Breathless.) While tenor &
MARK KERESMAN
The Neighb’rhood Childr’n HHHH1/2
Neighb'rhood Childr'n
Sundazed The Maze HH1/2 Armageddon
Steven Richman. Photo: Peter Schaaf.
Dave Liebman. Photo: CT Konieczny
soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman—born 1946—has a varied career as a leader, he may be best known as an alumnus of the bands of Elvin Jones and Miles Davis. This is quite the pairing—Solal is superficially an oldschool (that is, pre-bebop) cat but he’s also very modern (he can get abstract, but always [dryly] lyrical); Liebman is a John Coltrane acolyte who’s played bop, fusion, and free. (He was even in rock combo Ten Wheel Drive featuring the underrated/great Genya Ravan) These gents take the hoariest, most sentimental standards—“What Is This Thing Called Love,” “Lover Man”—and literally remake them in their own images with a mixture of Gallic charm and American gusto, not to mention judicious quirkiness and entertainingly pungent passion. Bordeaux (recorded live France 2016) is not for novices but for devotees digging duos this is dynamite. (6 tracks. 45 min.) sunnysiderecords.com Steven Richman/Harmonie Ensemble New York
HHHHH
Toscanini 150th Anniversary Bridge Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) was one of the greatest and most popular conductors of the 20th century. This set plays homage to the man—Steven Richman conducts Harmonie Ensemble New York with a program of Toscanini’s greatest hits, some of the most pop-
ular classical works ever, including some orchestrated by the Maestro himself. There’s the gloriously bittersweet, heart-swelling “Aida Overture” and the stirringly rhythmic, tuneful “Nutcracker Suite” (perhaps the “More Than a Feeling” of the classical zone, especially around Xmas) by ol’ Tchaikovsky, which gets a dazzling rendition here. The biggest chestnut/knockout here is Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” a portion of which is best known as the Theme from The Lone Ranger and featured in the soundtrack of the movie A Clockwork Orange. Even listeners not conversant with classical music will recognize portions herein from movies, TV, cartoons, etc. Richman gives these hits a vibrant, vigorous reading, making this a Arturo Toscanini. must-have for old-school classical repertoire fans and those looking the get their feet (and more) wet in the intimidatingly enormous ocean of orchestral classical music. (16 tracks, 62 min.) bridgerecords.com
Sundazed Like WWII and Hollywood scandals, the 1960s are truly an inexhaustible source for fascinating happenstances. Between the well-known (Beatles, Hendrix, etc.) and the less-known (see above), there’s almost always going to be music to savor. These releases are 40th Anniversary editions of “lost” albums that originally got lost in the mad shuffle of the times. Neighb’rhood Childr’n was a San Francisco band that was clearly impacted by the times, with songs quirky (a whimsically askew cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”), pretty (the yearning/longing janglerocker “Please Leave Me Alone”), desperate (“Changes Brought to Me,” a ringer for the Jefferson Airplane circa 1967), and nightmarish (the trippy, feedback-laden “Chocolate Angel”). While originality was not the Childr’n’s strong suit, this foursome made the most of what they had. Those lovely co-ed harmonies (Dyan Hoffman’s supply, willowy-but-deep vocals are to die for), Magical Mystery Tour psychedelia, terse, sharp playing, and bittersweet ‘60s melodicism would do well to inves-
The Neighb’rhood Childr’n 1968.
tigate this, their only album, from ’68, rescued from undeserved obscurity. The Maze was a combo contemporary to NC but with an approach more akin to the then-mainstream rock of The Doors, Vanilla Fudge, and Iron Butterfly but with one crucial difference: Maze’s harmonious, diaphanous vocals. This is dense, somewhat doomy, slightly trippy, full of agreeably plodding/menacing rhythms, mirage-like vocalizing and distorted-to-infinity guitar—with this album alert students can see how this style metamorphosed in what would be known as heavy metal (the ‘70s version of the beast). The Childr’n go for the (distorted) sunshine, The Maze the dark side. sundazed.com n
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bob perkins
jazz library
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ONDITIONS IN GENERAL AND environmental conditions in particular, with regard to jazz music and its practitioners, are much improved over what they were at the beginning and middle portion of the last century. the jazz community lost a good number of musicians during the earlier period mentioned due to booze and drugs—along with the multiple frustrations of being a jazz musician and not getting enough work. that situation has been a continuing a problem for jazz artists. Often, when there was work it was in rather unsavory environments—not in concert halls, or at large and private social gatherings where the pay might be commensurate with the talent. Low pay and poor working conditions can sometimes work on the mind, resulting in erratic behavior, and even mental breakdowns. Phineas Newborn, jr. suffered some of these conditions because he was a brilliant pianist who, perhaps, was waiting for the world to catch up. he was born into a musical family on december 14, 1931 in Whiteville, tennessee. his father was a blues musician, and his younger brother, calvin, played guitar. Phineas studied piano, trumpet, tenor and baritone saxophone. he became part of an R&b quartet headed by his father. the group took to the road and became the house band at the Plantation club in West memphis, arkansas, and remained in residence from 1947-1951. he went solo in the early 1950s, landed a recording contract with Sun records, and made his debut as a solo artist on an album titled Phineas’s Rainbow. he became pretty well known around New york city after moving and working there in the mid-1950s, and it was there that he made his first album as a leader.
he led both trios and quartets, and his albums boasted personnel the caliber of Oscar Pettiford, kenny clarke and Philly joe jones. the strength of his performances in the u.S., allowed him to perform solo work abroad. Phineas’ solo piano work was so strong, and his technique so amazing, he was able to hold audience atten-
after he left camarillo, Phineas returned to performing live and in recording studios, his playing still forceful and vibrant. but several years after his bout with depression he was mugged, and several of his fingers were broken in the attack. this episode again disturbed him mentally, because the damage to his fingers robbed him of the facility at the piano that once came at his command. he continued to perform, however, and in 1978 he returned to the famed Village Gate in New york. It had been ten years since he’d played there, and the reviews were favorable. Other artistic opportunities opened up and he met them, even though he had financial woes, and his health was failing. Newborn died of lingering ailments in 1989 at the age of 57. his remains interred in the memphis National cemetery. In the end, he was not the Phineas of old, but at half-efficiency. he was still Phineas Newborn, jr.—the same pianist of whom Oscar Peterson said, “If I had to choose the best all-around pianist of anyone who’s followed me chronologically, unequivocally I would say Phineas Newborn, jr.” One of the world’s foremost jazz critics, Leonard Feather, offered this appraisal of Newborn’s talent: “In his prime he was one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time.” Phineas was not the first, nor will he be the last great jazz artist to knock on the door of opportunity, and for whatever reason or reasons, find everyone repeatedly out to lunch. he didn’t have a lengthy discography, but you might look up some of his best albums, which include: Look 0ut, Phineas is back, and Phineas’s Rainbow, “ a winking reference to the play, Finian’s Rainbow. n
Phineas Newborn, Jr.
tion without the support of bass and drums. by 1960 he moved to Los angeles and signed a contract with the contemporary label. the critics were none too complimentary regarding his albums, and their critiques wore on him to the extent that he became depressed and had to enter camarillo State hospital for rest and treatment. Some years before his admission, charlie Parker had been a patient at the facility, following an emotional breakdown.
38 n I C O N n D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 n I C O N D v . C O M n f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D v
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 to 9 and Sunday, 9 to 1.
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And So This is Christmas… Week – The Touring Years. gy project or the analog masters collection did. Written amONG LEGacy aRtIStS aNd classic rockIf anything details the triumphs of youth and the and produced mostly by the beatles’ Liverpool pal, aners or R&b performers, there is always a great lost decay/boredom and distaste for adulthood—let alone thony F. j. “tony” barrow, the singles were most spostash: the hidden tracks, never released albums or rarieach other’s personalities and sounds – it is The Christken word works of downright silly, screechy fun and ties so cloistered they’re nearly impossible to touch. mas Records. Like the four mop-top lads living in one frolic. When the beatles busted up, there was a very the beach boys’ Smile and the Who’s Lifehouse tower large flat in the movie Help, the beatles are a goofball limited-to-fan-club-only full album compiled for the above most treasured missing products that have musical brotherhood on their first been—in some way shape or three years’ singles. they romp form—made available. the bob about making high-pitched funny dylan and johnny cash album, voices, mock-sing “Good king Dylan/Cash Sessions (1969) may Wenceslas,” tease Starr with not yet be a reality, but dylan’s un“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo,” released holy songs from his goneperform some truly off-key verchristian three-album period of sions of “yesterday” and Lennon’s the late ’70s and ’80s are now part own “happy christmas to ya of a newly-released The Bootleg List’nas,” as well as use the now Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More famous phrase, a Merry Grew 1979–1981 box set. among guitar Year. Crimble maybe. aficionados, jeff beck’s The Moby the time we get to the 1966 town Album and jimi hendrix’s fan club single, the beatles themavant-garde Black Gold are holy selves are the writers of their Grail-like wonders. david bowie’s scripts, and producer George The Gouster—the Philly-recorded martin has taken over the sound rawer R&b version of Young board. the result: recorded beAmericans—was partially released tween sessions for “Strawberry on 2016’s Who Can I Be Now box, Fields Forever,” the 1966 offering but not in its fullest form. Neil uses original songs such as young has nearly as many full “It’s about us dealing with the life we had to lead in those days,” Ringo Starr says of The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The “Everywhere it’s christmas,” recorded albums missing in action Touring Years. Beatles documentary producer and director Ron Howard, left, with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in Las “Orowainya,” and “Please don’t as he does catalog recordings. Vegas. Photo: MJ Kim bring your banjo back,” in-bethen there is the beatles, tween several theatrical holiday skits. the 1967 single 1970 christmas season and that’s all she wrote. whose fan club-only christmas recordings seemed is even richer in story and sound as the beatles preNow there is The Christmas Records limited edilong lost in legal red tape and a desire to remain with tend to be one of several new groups auditioning for the tion 7-inch vinyl box set that comes out on the same the apple family circle. until now, and The Christmas bbc holiday show, do impersonations, and read poems day as their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’s Records singles box set. such as Lennon’s “When christmas time is Over.” 180-Gram Vinyl LP and Limited Edition Picture disc “the beatles’ annual holiday tradition of recording after this, you can feel the tension within the jolly christmas messages for fan club members was an troupe as the 1968 single (produced by comic kenny important part of the band’s relationship with their Evertt, no less), is the first (of two) where each beatle most ardent supporters, affectionately referred to by records his holiday message separate from the others, them as ‘beatle People’,” states apple corps/capiwith Lennon working with and referring to yoko Ono tol/universal rep jennifer ballantyne of the foreveron prose-pieces such as “jock and yono,” with Paul buried series of holiday recordings that began in 1963 mccartney’s “happy christmas, happy New year” as during the Great british rise of the Fab Four, and a musical highlight. by 1969, christmas cheer felt more ended in 1969 when the quartet did. Pressed on collike a eulogy, which is probably how the beatles felt at ored flexi discs and sent out solely to the membership that point, so close to the end. of its fan club, these comic singles—mostly spoken With that, The Christmas Records is just like a word tracks lasting more than five minutes at a clip and family’s well-lived life—through the good times and sounding more like Good Show or monty Python bad, there are still christmas songs and poems to be sketches than Lennon/mccartney songs—never found had, and maybe a few laughs, even if they’re not made Vinyl LP and one week after PbS premieres director their way into the mainstream like lost tracks on, say, together. n Ron howard’s documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A the doggedly researched and lengthy Beatles Antholo-
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JAMes p. delpino, Mss, Mlsp, lcsW, bcd
about life OuR hOPES, dREamS aNd highest aspirations require something deep within us for them to become manifest. that special variable is perseverance. So many people stop trying out of frustration and desperation when their goals might be just around the corner. Perhaps they are just one more try away. Perhaps they have to try something different in their approach to seizing their vision. Giving up is the easiest of things to do for it requires no effort at all. Even a good try without results can become a noble and empowering dynamic if we allow it to be so.
Perseverance Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. — calvin coolidge
there is practically nothing of value that comes without effort. Effort, sustained over time, is a key factor for any successful endeavor. the difficulty in perseverance is to hold on fast when feelings, selfdoubts and non-helpful behaviors get in the way of reaching the desired endpoint. just like any habit, learning not to quit when doubts and circumstances seem to stand in the way is hard. Giving up the notion that things should come easy is another key ingredient in developing perseverance. the danger lies in expecting things to come easy when a bit more effort is required. a potentially dangerous trap is when perseverance becomes stubbornness. all things do not come to pass by sheer force of will. Intelligent perseverance insists that the right alignment of people, places,things and timing be part of the blend. If we want to learn to ski, for example, we need a hill or mountain, skis, an instructor and snow. a plan to learn to ski lacking any of these variables will not succeed. all the stubbornness in the world will not create a hill, skis, snow or a teacher. trying is not always the same as doing. the difference is that doing may require that extra mile of effort. Sustaining effort even when it is painful requires patience and persistence. While hope itself is not a 40 n I C O N n D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 n I C O N D v . C O M n f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D v
strategy there is no strategy without hope. It‘s said that “hope springs eternal in the human breast.” this affirmation is a helpful reminder and energizer for those who need extra emotional fuel to sustain efforts. hope is the cure for cynicism, desperation and wanting to quit. being an optimist in all things is helpful beyond explanation for those who wish to develop perseverance. Interestingly enough, megastudies reveal that optimists have less incidence of heart attacks, strokes, cancers, depression, and anxiety. Optimists also live longer and report having happier and more fulfilling lives. being negative requires no talent at all and undermines countless attempts to move onward and upward in life. these days the term resilience has come into popularity in the area of self-development and it encompasses many things in common with optimism. there are simply some people who recover better and more quickly from a stumble. these individuals have the optimism/resilience that is part and parcel of perseverance. according to research conducted by Stephen covey, it takes 30 days to form a new habit. this research informs us in a very practical way how to develop perseverance. Picking something small to change and sticking with it not only creates a positive change but builds the habit of stick-to-it-iveness. try to remember that small changes can make big differences over time. Often courage is needed to stay persistent, for so many hopes and dreams require overcoming fears. We all have courage. consider the courage of a nine-month-old child learning to walk. Falls and stumbles are part of the process. If a baby can learn to walk and then run, perhaps many people can approach and master the fears that bind them to their current circumstances. Fear shrinks the world of possibilities. Overcoming fear is not usually accomplished in one huge leap. approaching fears a little bit over time is the most common and helpful path to realizing freedom from the prison of fear and self-doubt. Perseverance is in the palm of your hand if you stay the course. n Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 38 years. jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.
harper’s FINDINGS
INDEX
Physicists at the Linac Coherent Light Source created diamond rain. Researchers identified features that make some women’s faces significantly more attractive from the front than from the side. Software that analyzes the color and tonality of Instagram posts is nearly twice as successful at detecting depression in patients as are G.P.’s. People who hear voices but aren’t mentally ill have a superior ability to detect speechlike sounds hidden in noise. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are strongly linked to a more acidic brain. Goldfish are able to survive for months without oxygen by converting lactic acid into ethanol. Zebra fish will take risks for hydrocodone. G.P.’s trained at the lowest-ranked medical schools prescribe opioids three times as often as those trained at the highest-ranked school. Blacks suffer from migraines more than whites do, and exhibit a higher ventral posterior thalamic response to high-sugar milkshakes, but both are overprescribed opioids. In thinking racism is a major problem, the gap between Democrats and Republicans is now wider than that between blacks and whites. White Americans report experiencing more gender, age, height/weight, disability, and “other” discrimination than black Americans do. The crew of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley were killed by the shock wave of their own torpedo.
Number of u.S. states in which legislation has been proposed this year to protect drivers who strike protesters: 6 Percentage of americans who say they support “white nationalism”: 7 Who believe that white americans are “currently under attack”: 39 Ratio of the number of statues of african americans to those of confederates in the u.S. capitol: 4:11 Factor by which a children’s book is more likely to be about african americans than written by an african american: 3 Number of questions readers of a Norwegian news site must answer correctly about an article before commenting: 3 Number of apartments the president of azerbaijan gave to journalists on National Press day: 255 Of azerbaijani journalists who are imprisoned as a result of their work: 10 Ratio of Russian wealth held offshore in 2015 to the country’s national income: 1:1.35 Portion of Russians who have seen no economic growth since the fall of the Soviet union: 1/2 minimum percentage of inmates in local u.S. jails who have been homeless: 15 daily wage a prisoner in Portland, Oregon, is paid to clear out homeless camps: $1 Factor by which a u.S. christian is more likely than a nonreligious person to think poverty is a personal failure: 2 Percentage by which a middle-class american is more likely than a poor one to eat fast food in a given week: 6 Portion of animal-derived food products in the united States that are consumed by pets: 1/4 Number of countries that consume more animal-derived products than u.S. pets do: 4 average number of people who report being bitten by squirrels in New york city annually: 55 Percentage change in the length of time someone can withstand pain if they use profanity: +34 Estimated percentage change since 1979 in the number of capitol hill police officers: +113 In the number of congressional staffers: –27 Percentage of staffers who say they have enough time to consider and debate policy matters: 6 Who say congress’s technology infrastructure is adequate to perform their duties: 6 Number of congresspeople with a history of employment in the hard sciences: 3 acres of u.S. land that have been contaminated by department of defense munitions disposal: 40,000,000 Est. chance the world will meet the temperature-change goals of the Paris agreement: 1 in 20 minimum % of the earth’s land that was experiencing severe drought at any given time last year: 12 minimum number of suicides in India since 1980 attributable to climate change: 59,300 Factor by which an american is more likely than a cuban to be killed in a hurricane: 10 Estimated % of u.S. residential properties in 100-year flood zones that lack flood insurance: 69 Ratio of summer vacation cottages to permanent dwellings in Finland: 1:6 Percentage change between 1951 and 2014 in the population of Venice’s historic center: –68 In the number of annual tourists: +469 Percentage of americans who spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors or in vehicles: 92 chances that an american doesn’t know that local television stations are available for free: 3 in 10 Estimated portion of internet users in china who have livestreamed themselves: 1/2 Number of teenagers who took part in the microsoft Office Specialist World championship this year: 560,000 Price that a california startup charges for a blood transfusion from a donor aged 16 to 25: $8,000 Number of people who have been granted citizenship of asgardia, a planned nation in outer space: 101,500 Percentage who are women: 16
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Researchers found that applying testosterone gel to men asked to trade stocks led to asset-price bubbles. Middle managers in the Kansas parole system make small office-policy decisions to feel less disempowered. Tennis players’ grunts rise in pitch during the matches they lose. Cambridge scientists concluded that predicting breathing difficulties in pugs is too complex for the average dog breeder. Delhi residents were abandoning substandard pugs whose medical bills proved too expensive, Agra doctors reported a man’s persistent delusions of a mole run amok in his body, Bombay’s bright blue dogs were found not to be blind, and a pig-nosed purple frog was discovered in the Western Ghats and named for a herpetologist who was killed there in 2014 by a bamboo stalk to the left eye. Turtle-headed sea snakes are shedding their stripes to survive pollution, and as oceans warm, fish are expected to shrink by 20 to 30 percent.
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Rectal temperature following exercise is not affected by merino underwear. Melbourne men with male fuck buddies tend to have more rectal chlamydia. Gay porn sites tend to present bottoms as having penises half the size of tops’. Men who remove the entirety of their pubic hair at least eleven times in their lives are particularly prone to genital grooming injuries. Hernia repair outcomes are not affected by the surgeon’s choice of hat. Brazilian nurses reported that a healing touch may benefit rats. Dry climates produce languages with fewer vowels. Monks in Egypt discovered a Hippocratic recipe. Lemons were once a fruit of the Mediterranean elite. Croatian doctors reported a case of infertility due to a husband with a small penis and a wife with a large urethral orifice. A large-scale survey of medical records for Capgras delusion uncovered three patients who believed that it was not other people but themselves who had been replaced by impostors. Attractive plagiarists are judged more harshly. People tend to believe they will be vindicated by history.
SOuRcES: 1 National conference of State Legislatures (Washington); 2,3 Ipsos (Washington); 4 architect of the capitol; 5 cooperative children’s book center (madison, Wis.); 6 NRkbeta (Oslo, Norway); 7 Office of the President of azerbaijan (baku); 8 committee to Protect journalists (N.y.c.); 9,10 Gabriel zucman, university of california, berkeley; 11 National health care for the homeless council (baltimore); 12 multnomah county Sheriff’s Offi ce (Portland, Ore.); 13 kaiser Family Foundation (Washington); 14 jay zagorsky, Ohio State university (columbus); 15,16 Gregory Okin, university of california, Los angeles; 17 New york city department of health and mental hygiene; 18 Richard Stephens, keele university (England); 19 u.S. capitol Police (Washington); 20 brookings Institution (Washington); 21,22 congressional management Foundation (Washington); 23 congressional Research Service (Washington); 24 u.S. Environmental Protection agency; 25 dargan m. W. Frierson, university of Washington (Seattle); 26 american meteorological Society (Norwich, England); 27 tamma carleton, university of california, berkeley; 28 josé Rubiera, university of havana; 29 Federal Emergency management agency; 30 Statistics Finland (helsinki); 31 city of Venice (Italy); 32 Intercultural and mobility agency (Venice, Italy); 33 Wayne R. Ott, Stanford university (Stanford, calif.); 34 morning consult (Washington); 35 china Internet Network Information center (beijing); 36 certiport (Riverside, calif.); 37 ambrosia (San Francisco); 38,39 asgardia (cologne, Germany). f a C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D v n I C O N D v . C O M n D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 n I C O N n 41
The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE
TWO FOR ONE By Jim Holland
ACROSS 1 “Don’t panic” 7 Lincoln who was the first screen adult Tarzan 11 Adlai’s 1956 running mate 16 Japanese theater form 19 Astronomy Muse 20 “King __” 21 Lacking company 22 “What have we here?!” 23 Athlete Jackson discusses immunization options? 26 Put an end to 27 Bit of porch furniture, perhaps 28 Beauty pageant band 29 Cruise purpose 31 Seville : Sra. :: Seattle : __ 33 Wee amount 35 Quick, as service 36 Spring spelling event could face cancellation? 44 __ Sea 45 Rotting results 46 General Bradley 47 Writer Bagnold 49 Places with courts 52 NBA nickname since the ’70s 53 Actress Gaye of “Ali” 54 Former Renault 56 “Could be trouble” 57 Forgers of a sort 59 Roof rack items 61 Basic French infinitive 62 Greiner of “Shark Tank” 63 Brief moments 65 Denver-to-Omaha dir. 66 What “it takes,” at the start of many macho mantras 68 Nile biter 71 Seaman’s complete canvas expense? 75 Tarzan player Ron 76 How rural areas are populated 78 “More than I wanted to know” 79 Garden invader 81 Actor Diggs 82 Rover’s turf 84 Chooses 86 Checked (out) 90 Dadaist collection 91 Clapton et al. 93 Offer of help 95 Rodeo accessory 96 Borscht veggie
97 Phobia beginning 98 Islamic branch 99 Bean in Hollywood 100 “Friends” friend 103 “2 + 2 = 5” problem? 106 Draw 109 CEO’s credential 110 LAX inspection org. 111 Like serious errors 113 Pizazz 116 Slowly 121 Tease 122 Writer anticipates a vacation? 126 Key for Debussy? 127 Thin porridge 128 Approval indicator 129 Aerial mission 130 Two above an eagle 131 Lamb piece 132 Spot 133 Fighting ender
DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 24 25 30 32 34 36 37 38 39 40
Pal Cupid, to Plato Actress Blanchett Med school subj. Easy rhythm Arms-folded response Brother of Peyton Camera component Subject of clothed and nude Goya portraits Handel opera written in Italian Absorb, as a loss Unintended revelation Kit set Set of nine Bun choice Situation when a frat room is empty? Tara surname Darling Weekly inspiration for many No. 5 maker Shore squawker Island birthplace of Pythagoras Gift recipient Grandmas, earlier Podcaster Carolla “Pic-a-nic” basket-seeking toon, familiarly The Beatles, e.g. Avoids like the plague
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41 42 43 48 50 51 55 58 60
Pinstripes wearer Smarts Certs competitor 1925 Bryan foe Aesopian ending Reflective Big name in candy Plot Defense gp. dissolved in 1977 64 Toyota Camry model 67 Was humbled 68 Take __ at 69 Success on the second roll 70 Average salary on a Detroit team? 72 Ira Gershwin’s forte 73 Mischievous 74 Chinese evergreen 77 Bring back to a former state 80 Anthony __, Pulitzer winner for “All the Light We Cannot See” 83 Rugby action 85 Leslie Charteris hero, with “The” 87 El __, Texas 88 Harrow competitor 89 Mild oath 92 Gloomy 94 Bugs 101 Brutal 102 Searches all over
104 “Unto the Sons” memoirist 105 Word derived from a marquis 106 “Get __!”: “Control yourself!” 107 Refrain syllables 108 Ballet outfits 112 Where the Mets played 114 Motion passers 115 Tide type
117 118 119 120 123
2-Down, to Cato “Chicago” star Meager amount “What __?” Beer originally brewed near a Northwest capital, briefly 124 Foxy 125 Poehler “Weekend Update” co-host on “SNL”
answer to November’s puzzle, GRIDIRON GLOSSARYY
agenda FINE ART
thrU 12/17 Aoy small Works show. gift a little Art. each original piece of art is $100, perfect for gifting. hours: f-s-s, 12 to 5pm. Artists of yardley, 949 Mirror lake road, yardley pA artistsofyardley.org thrU 12/21 the baum school of Art holiday gift gallery. gallery includes ceramics, wood, glass, paintings, sculpture, knits, and much, much more. 12/21, 6-8pM, closing reception and champagne toast. 510 W. linden st., Allentown. 610-433-0032. baumschool.org thrU 12/23 three part harmony, three individual voices creating a cord. featuring Judy lalingo, linda rossin, and Mary serfas. the snow goose gallery, 470 Main st., bethlehem, pA. 610-9749099. thesnowgoosegallery.com thrU 12/23 Jeffrey kleckner, wheel thrown porcelain and stoneware ceramic. Ahlum gallery, 106 north 4th st., easton, pA. ahlumgallery.com thrU 12/31 poetry of nature, hudson river school landscapes from the newyork historical society. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org thrU 1/7/18 intimate lines: drawing with thread. hunterdon Art Museum, center for art, craft and design. 7 lower center st., clinton, nJ. 908-735-8415. hunterdonartmuseum.org thrU 1/10/2018 creative research at Muhlenberg college; works by Muhlenberg college faculty and staff. reception: 11.29, 5 – 6pm, Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown, pA. muhlenberg.edu/gallery thrU 1/10/18 William hudders: three views. Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown, pA.
thrU 1/13 holiday show, featuring works by hazem Akil, Joe billera, ben hoffman, kate hughes, daina krumins and danny polk. bethlehem house contemporary Art gallery. 459 Main st., bethlehem, pA. 610-419-6262. bethlehemhousegallery.com thrU 1/14 the seeing glass. the work imagines the world inside the circular mirror hanging in the background of dante gabriel rossetti’s la bella Mano (1875). delaware Art Museum, 2301 kentmere parkway, Wilmington, de 302-571-9590 delart.org thrU 1/15 still rendering, chris coleman and Anthony panzera. coleman will be showing video and photo works based on images generated by his custom authored 3d scanning software, in conversation with original drawings from panzera’s “the leonardo series.” Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 W. chew street, Allentown. muhlenberg.edu/gallery thrU 1/15 gelah penn, high tide. Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown, pA. thrU 2/4 revolutionizing design: progressive home decorating at the turn of the century. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org 12/2-1/14 Jennifer hansen rolli, silverman gallery. buckingham green on rte. 202, 5 miles south of new hope. 4920 york rd., holicong, pA. 215794-4300. silvermangallery.com
THEATER
thrU 12/10 peter and the starcatcher, holiday fun for families. Act 1, labuda center for the performing Arts, desales University, 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1 12/1-12/16 A christmas carol, the classic holiday lehigh valley tradition returns for a 28th year.
civic theatre of Allentown, 527 n. 19th st., Allentown, pA. 610-4328943. civictheatre.com 12/8-12/17 the santa land diaries. funny oneman play from david sedaris. civic theatre of Allentown, 527 n. 19th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-8943. civictheatre.com 1/12-3/25 impressions in ink: the Arthur ross collection. thirty exceptional prints by french impressionists and postimpressionists: cézanne, daumier, degas, gauguin, Manet, Matisse, pissarro, and toulouse-lautrec. Arthur ross gallery, University of pennsylvania, 220 so. 34th st., philadelphia 215-898-2083 arthurrossgallery.org 2/10-4/29 point, counter-point: Alan soffer, brian dickerson, Moe brooker. three painters who are attuned to harmonies and contrasts in abstract forms. delaware Art Museum, 2301 kentmere parkway, Wilmington, de 302-571-9590 delart.org
CONCERTS
12/4 percussion ensemble, 8pm. lafayette department of Music fall concert series, lafayette college, easton, pA. 610-330-5009. williamscenter.lafayette.edu 12/9 A child’s christmas in bethlehem, the bach choir of bethlehem, 8pM. first presbyterian church, 3231 W. tilghman st., Allentown, pA. 610-866-4382 bach.org. 12/10 A child’s christmas in bethlehem, the bach choir of bethlehem. 4pM. first presbyterian church, 2344 center st., bethlehem, pA. 610-866-4382 bach.org. 12/10 eric Mintel Quartet charlie brown christmas. Jazz music of vince guaraldi. eric Mintel, piano, nelson hill, sax, Jack hegyi, bass, dave Mohn, drums. 8 pm. 1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch road, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org
12/16 dan lavoie, harp guitar and Abbie gardner, dobro. folk/roots. 8 pm. 1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch road, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org 12/17 lehigh valley chorale, christmas concert, 4:00 pM. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610-865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 12/19 A festival of nine lessons and carols. 7:00 pM. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 12/23 richie cole christmas. Jazz. richie cole, Alto sax, peter lauffer, piano, frank cook, bass, dave Mohn, drums. 8 pm. 1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch road, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org 12/25 organ noëls with stephen Williams, 3:00 pM. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610-8650727. nativitycathedral.org
MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE 14 W. broadway, Jim thorpe, pA mcohjt.com 12/1 & 12/2 twelve twenty four tso christmas event 8 enter the haggis 9 craig thatcher and friends rockin’ christmas 14 samantha fish 15 splintered sunlight and reverend Jefferson 16 peek-A-boo revue holiday spectacular 22 yarn 23 Adam ezra group 28, 29, 30, 31 & 1/3 -1/6 peter pAn 30 the b street band with vini lopez 31 party & dance with brett Andrew & soul town JAnUAry 12 slocan ramblers 19 damn the torpedoes the tom petty show 20 Us & floyd
the pink floyd experience 27 hot blooded the foreigner tribute MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 founders Way, bethlehem 610-332-1300 Artsquest.org 14 xpn Welcomes darlingside 15 dancenow steelstacks: plAces pleAse. 16 twelve twenty-four 22 swingin’ the holidays with the rob stoneback big band 30 the every Woman comedy tour 31 the sofa kings’ new year’s eve party JAnUAry 1/5 craig thatcher band: an evening of Jimi hendrix 1/6 comedian colin Quinn
CLASSES
thrU 12/10 classes and workshops for adults and children at the hunterdon Art Museum. programs taught by professional artists and teachers include drawing, painting, glass fusing, sculpting, silkscreen & woodblock printing. 7 lower center st., clinton, nJ. for more info: hunterdonartmuseum.org
EVENTS
thrU 1/6/2018 gingerbread competition & display. peddler’s village, routes 202 & 263, lahaska, pA. 215-794-4000. peddlersvillage.com 12/2 & 12/3 christmas festival. peddler’s village, routes 202 & 263, lahaska, pA. 215794-4000. peddlersvillage.com 12/3 Modern holiday wreath making with Meg Metz, the owner of Modern love in frenchtown, nJ and lauren kiernan, the owner of flora in lambertville, nJ. learn the basics using fresh and dried ingredients. the wreath is yours to keep or to give away as a gift. All skill levels welcome. rsvp by email, meg@shopmodernlove.com. 11 a.m., flora, 48 coryell st., lambertville, nJ. 12/8-12/24 linda bahr trunk show. heart of the home, 28 s. Main st., new hope, pA. 215-862-1880. heartofthehome.com
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