January 2018

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JANUARY

ICON

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW RUFUS WAINWRIGHT | 20

Ethan Bifano, Time. Touchstone Gallery.

"I tend to try a lot of stuff, and I guess I’m not afraid of the audience joining me on that journey and witnessing my progression.…There is a crisis going on in opera, in that the audience is dying. They have these incredible theatres, incredible orchestras and incredible performers, but people aren’t really showing up any more.”

— Rufus Wainwright in a 2015 interview in “The Telegraph.”

FILM

ART

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5 | Tomorrow’s River

24 | REEL NEWS Battle of the Sexes

6 | EXHIBITIONS I Watchcraft by Eduardo Milieris Heart of the Home Jodi Cobb, Woman in Italy.

Allentown Art Museum.

18

33

I, Daniel Blake 26 | FOREIGN

2017 Holiday Show Continues Bethlehem House Gallery

28 | DOCUMENTARY

La Dictadura Perfecta

Joan Didion: 8 | EXHIBITIONS II

The Center Will Not Hold

MUSIC

Women of Vision: On Assignment with 32 | SINGER / SONGWRITER National Geographic Photographers Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Allentown Art Museum Johnny Rawls Annual Show of Works Bob Seger

by Pennsbury High School Art Majors The Searchers Artists of Yardley Art Center Michael Johnathon

FOODIE FILE 10 | 2018: The Year of the Dog

ENTERTAINMENT

Cindy Wilson of the B52’s.

The Teacher

Ethan Bifano Touchstone Art Gallery

Jonathan Mandell Silverman Gallery

The Disaster Artist.

Loving Vincent

33 | POP The B52s’ Cindy Wilson, Solo 34 | JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT

12 | Valley Theater

Greg Lewis

12 | City Theater

Stanley Grill/Diderot String Quartet

14 | The List

Cheer-Accident

39 | Agenda

Tigran Mansurian Frank Perowsky Jazz Orchestra

FILM 16 | Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool 18 | The Disaster Artist

ON THE COVER: Rufus Wainwright. Page 20.

22 | FILM ROUNDUP The Post BPM Hostiles Phantom Thread

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Ghost Train Orchestra 36 | JAZZ LIBRARY Paul Chambers

ETCETERA 37 | Harper’s Findings & Index 38 | L. A. Times Crossword

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

Filling the hunger since 1992 1-800-354-8776 • 215-862-9558

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essAy And pAinting by robert beck

art

TOMORROW’S RIVER

I

I WAS BORN INTO my father’s world. The fifties was a time when everyone tried to re-engage a way of life that had been suspended by war, but out of view new sides were being chosen and new rules written. We could only hold onto the way it was for so long before being overrun by the sixties.

Like most people, I inherited the customs, gods, and politics of my parents. My father was a Republican. My mother was a Christian. We lived in a white, suburban community. That was my baseline.

My parents avoided saying unkind things and generally let other people be. They cared about discipline, character and dignity, and they taught me to think for myself. There was a great respect for knowledge and education, especially history. That has been very useful to me.

New York is more interested in making itself anew than looking back.

History isn’t included in the current big deal or the next new thing, so you have to bring your own. My sense of the place comes from a lifetime mix of experiences, and I draw from all of them in my art. I respond to subjects from any place and time that connect me to a truth. The late ’50s was when I was just becoming aware of how impermanent things could be. I was starting to understand moving forward—and leaving things behind.

My maternal grandparents lived in Brooklyn, and sometimes we would take the ferry to go visit them. Those ferries were a lot different from the ones today, which look like slab-sided cargo vessels, packed high and wide.

Gone are the times when the symbols of enterprise—buildings, cars, trains, and ships—celebrated achievement through the expression of their designers’ own image. They looked to be of our world back then. Once we lost the human scale, we stopped seeing them

as extensions of ourselves. As our attachment diminished, so did our reflection. We accepted the form that followed the function, and surrendered grace, elegance, and emotional engagement. There’s not much made now that makes you sense being part of something grand rather than a spectator, and few things that you can touch and feel the hand of the maker against yours. As things we build to serve us get bigger, we get smaller. You can’t look at a cruise ship looming over the charming port it has come to occupy without inherently knowing it’s wrong.

The ferries from the ’40s and ’50s were a classic mix of human spirit and muscular finesse. The respect for proportion and craftsmanship made them your boat, your ride. Standing on the bow just above the water you could smell the Hudson and feel the spray on your face. Engines drummed under

your feet as you pushed across the plane of water; gulls swooped and called, flags snapped in the breeze, and lines beat against the masts. The far terminal grew out of the dazzling lights, exerting its pull on the ship and all the passengers. You became aware of people and vehicles inside the opening— the first taste of life in the city—as the ship nosed against the pilings and slid up to the ramp, timbers groaning. The engines applied a final determined thrust, forcing it into its place. Then all was quiet. But just for an instant, because this is New York. The gates pulled apart and we ran to get back in our car. It was something no kid could ever forget.

There was the frigid night returning from the city, standing on the stern deck, when the hat that my grandmother made blew off of my sister’s head. Her hands flew up to grab it but

too late—the pale blue, hand-crocheted beret tore away on a gust and landed in the churn of the ship’s wake, visible only a few agonizing seconds before being pulled down into the reflected lights of Manhattan.

That was all part of learning about before and after, actions and consequences. What fair is, what’s right. I moved on from my parental baseline, found my own understandings, and continue to look for elemental truths in my work. They exist both in and outside of my own adventures, and lifetime.

History is crucial to negotiating the world around us. It holds you up to the window, allowing a glimpse of important things you weren’t around to witness. It helps you understand the trajectory of events. It teaches you to see it coming. And notice when it goes.

Hold onto your hat. n

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EXHIBITIONS I

Staci Louise Smith, Rock Star Horn Necklace.

2017 Holiday Show Continues Bethlehem House Gallery 459 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-419-6262 bethlehemhousegallery.com Through January 13

Born in Uruguay, Eduardo Milieris has always been fascinated by time. Alexander Calder influenced him at a young age. Building on a liberal arts background with photography, video art and sculpture, he creates more than 100 unique watch styles in his New York studio.

The watches are created in limited editions. Wearable works of art, they are carefully handcrafted to ensure their quality and originality, made with distressed and oxidized, nickel-free solid jewelers brass and embellished with solid brass, solid copper and sterling silver.

All watches are numbered and signed. Dials are individually hand painted by Eduardo himself; no two are the same. These images are a representative sample of this artist’s work. Many handmade items are one-of-a-kind. Please call to find out more about our current collection. Items not currently in stock can often be ordered. We ship within the continental US and can process orders over the phone.

Ethan Bifano, “Aftermath.”

Ethan Bifano Touchstone Art Gallery 11 E. Afton Ave., Yardley, PA 215-595-2044 touchstoneartgallery.com Meet the artist/reception January 13, 5–7 Ethan Bifano is an illustrator with a love for science fiction, the supernatural, and fantastical images, stories, and worlds. He specializes in tackling contemporary content with traditional paintings. From adventuring pirates as child to fantastical book characters, Ethan has been drawing since before he can remember. Books and stories soon took over as the main source of inspiration for artwork. Titles such as Robinson Caruso, Treasure Island, and The Hobbit were among the first to capture his imagination.

Starting at an early age, Ethan was introduced to many academic drawing techniques and the work of the old masters. This early influence shaped his style and instilled an appreciation for realism. Later he studied at the University of the Arts. Since graduating his work has been printed, published and displayed.

Ethan’s art focuses on providing visual context and interpretation to stories, characters, and worlds.

He strives to merge a passion for traditional methods and contemporary content into a single vision. In creating these works, he employs digital painting early in the process. The picture transitions from computer to pencil as it matures, ultimately arriving as a painting on board.

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Featured artists include Hazem Akil, Joe Billera, Benjamin Hoffman, Kate Hughes, Daina Krumins, Danny E. Polk Jr., Lara Holland, William Sean Kelsey, Doug Kozo, Staci Louise Smith and Valerie Young.

Staci Louise Smith creates all of her jewelry and components by hand. She is a collector of all things organic and small: stone, sea glass, shells, fossils, and art beads. With wire, sheet metal, and solder, she unites these elements to create one-of-a-kind jewelry.

Daina Krumins was born in a Munich refugee camp and came to the U.S. when she was young. Like her mother, Daina has Asperger’s syndrome. Her father, an accomplished photographer, and her uncle, a Latvian painter, encouraged her early creative eccentricities, which included collecting metal shavings, wax teeth, snakes in formaldehyde, jellyfish, and crabs.

Daina went on to receive a BFA at the NYU Film School and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.

Daina Krumins, “Prickly Sphere.”

Watchcraft by Eduardo Milieris Heart of the Home, 28 So. Main St., New Hope, PA January hours: daily, 11–6 215-862-1880 heartofthehome.com

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EXHIBITIONS II

Dutch Landscape, 24 x 24.

Jonathan Mandell Silverman Gallery 4920 York Rd., Route 202, Holicong, PA Buckingham Green Shopping Center 215-794-4300 Silvermangallerybuckscountypa.com Through February 28, 2018 Jonathan Mandell is one of nine fine artists represented by the Silverman Gallery. There is something quite happy and magical about his work. Glass mosaics invite you to reach out and touch them. In fact, Jonathan gives you full permission to do so.

“My art rests at the juncture of sculpture, paint and drawing,” he says. “Drawings translate into grout lines, establishing depth, perspective and volume of form. These lines bring my imagery to life.”

Jonathan is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Fine Art and Northwestern University. His mosaics are on permanent display at sites across the country, including Citizens Bank Park, the National Constitution Center, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the University of Pennsylvania.

Floral Landscape, table top sculpture, 16 x 14 x 9 inches

Camryn Salonick working on her stained glass guitar light fixtures at the glass grinder

Maggie Steber: Nestled in their bed in Miami, Florida, four young sisters nap on a Sunday afternoon after attending church. From the exhibitionWomen of Vision: On Assignment with National Geographic Photographers, organized and traveled by the National Geographic Society.

Women of Vision: On Assignment with National Geographic Photographers Allentown Art Museum 31 North Fifth St., Allentown, PA 610-432-4333 AllentownArtMuseum.org January 28–April 8, 2018 A new generation of women photojournalists are telling some of the most powerful and impactful stories of the last decade. As different as the places and the subjects they have covered, these women share the passion and commitment to storytelling that has come to define National Geographic. From the savannahs of Botswana to the war-torn streets of Libya and Afghanistan; from the beaches of the Jersey Shore to the Mongolian steppe and the rainforests of New Guinea, these 11 women have traveled the world as explorers, capturing compelling stories of our planet and its people.

The exhibition comprises 100 images by photographers Lynsey Addario, Kitra Cahana, Jodi Cobb, Diane Cook, Carolyn Drake, Lynn Johnson, Beverly Joubert, Erika Larsen, Stephanie Sinclair, Maggie Steber, and Amy Toensing. Subjects range from exotic wildlife to fascinating cultures to human-rights issues.

Women of Vision is organized and traveled by the National Geographic Society.

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Annual Show of Works

by Pennsbury High School Art Majors Artists of Yardley Art Center 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley, PA artistsofyardley.org Weekends: January 13 & 14, 12–5 January 20 & 21, 12–5 Opening Reception January 12, 5–8, public invited The AOY Art Center, a Pennsbury Partner, will host for the second time the Annual Senior Art Major Show. This annual event features work from the Senior Art Majors showcasing not only their unique talents and passion for art, but their growth through the rigorous art major track 9th through 12th grades.

The Opening reception on January 12 from 5 to 8 is also a night to recognize and reward their efforts by husband-and-wife artist jurors Susan and William Hogan. The award funds were donated in memory of Chris Leyenberger by his family.

The excitement of the evening will grow as visitors to the reception will view unique and creative artwork in a gallery setting, hear classical music performed by Pennsbury High School Orchestra students as well as a meet and greet with the senior art majors themselves. A wide variety of work in many different mediums will be on display including acrylic and oil paints, advanced ceramics and sculptures, stained glass and digital photography. One of the more unique projects will feature light fixtures made from guitars of various sizes that have stained glass from panels. Viewers will also see a variety of clay creations from flowing water fountains to wood-fired pottery. The 11th Annual Senior Art major Show promises to be the biggest and best yet.

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A.d. AMorosi

FOODIE FILE

2018: THE YEAR OF THE

D G

Fusilli with pheasant ragù & brandy at Kensington Quarters.

So many wonderful menu items at Yakitori Boy.

Crispy Smoked Maple Bourbon Chicken Wings at Sidecar.Bar & Grille.

Grilled Beef Heart at Kensington Quarters. Photo ©Reese Amorosi.

MOVING FROM THE YEAR of the Rooster into 2018’s Year of the Dog isn’t as simple as a cock-a-doodle-doo and a bark, then we’re off. There are still many end-of-2017 food issues, menu items and restaurateur ideals with which to crow.

One worthy surprise was December’s 10th anniversary event for Chinatown’s Yakitori Boy—mainly because we had forgotten how fresh its sushi/sashimi platters were, and how much fun it is to dine on floor one, then hit the private karaoke rooms (depending on your taste in singing whatever music you choose) for dessert. Tucked away on 11th Street, Yakitori Boy is both a mainstay of that dining region—perhaps overlooked due to the newness of the Convention Center, NOTO, Hop Sing Laudromat and Tango—yet still a relative tot when you consider the traditional Chinatown dining places. This anniversary gathering was a nice reminder that Y Boy is here and thriving.

After a classic Japanese lion dancing performance and toast from Yakitori Boy owner, Jin “Jimmy” Shen talking about being the first karaoke bar in the city, opulent displays of sushi, sashimi, and skewered meats came flying into view—a nice counterbalance to the private karaoke rooms and the Japanese whisky tastings. Not long after this party, I ran back to Yakitori Boy for a lengthy meal with friends, and rather than be let down (parties tend to mystify its crowd by putting all best feet forward), everything was just as fresh and tasty as I remembered it from the anniversary bash.

Once upon a time I wrote about the whole animal butchering curatorial sensibilities and tender tastes of Kensington Quarters and head butcher Heather Thomason in the sort of glowing terms one would a master chef. Then Thomason up and left the Port Fishington meatery to start, own and operate her own Primal Supply behind-the-scene butcher’s club and restaurant wholesale operation in 2016. As Thomason had with opening Kensington Quarters, she created a mini-revolution of mighty high end, sustainablyraised, grass-fed beef, chicken and pork along with pasture-raised eggs. But you couldn’t see her and interact with her knowledge and training, something that was so true of the dining experience of Kensington Quarters. So now she’s snagged a brick-and-mortar location on South Philly’s East Passyunk Avenue restaurant row, across from the fountains at 1540 (the old yellow hardware store), and is supposedly readying the live and rarefied meat haus/butchering boite for a Spring 2018 opening.

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Speaking of big meat, two recently opened Lehigh Valley eateries—one tony, top-tier and towering, one rustic, down-to-earth and pit-oriented—are making heads spin and mouths water.

The Oak Steakhouse on Northampton Street in Easton’s historic area is a swellegant, towering inferno—literally at four wide floors, complete with high ceilings and glittering chandeliers, the Oak place is humongous—of fine, white linen dining geared toward the carnivores of the Valley. Everything from its ribeyes and dry-aged T-bones are sourced from Midwestern ranches, but aged in-house, in the Oak’s Himalayan salt brick-lined room. This is great, and the tastes are divine, but it would be cool to see the Oak sourcing more of its meat from local sustainable ranches.

Then there is the Red, White & Que Smokehouse along the Sullivan Trail in Forks Township. A small chain of BBQ pit smokehouses started in New Jersey, the Red, White & Que mix it up when it comes to regional cooking, in that they move from St. Louis for its ribs, Texas for its brisket by the pound, and the Carolinas when it comes to pulled pork. No idea where the smoked chicken or its buffalo wings come from, but who cares? Where it’s going is straight into my mouth.

The chicken wing: it has been forever and sadly overlooked or disregarded when it comes to the upper echelons of the culinary world, mere food fodder for game day, only to be paired with cheap American beer and big yuks. For shame. What’s wrong with the noble bird and its delicate tender wing? Sidecar Bar & Grille Chef Brian Lofink and his friends in high places would like you to think differently—and have been taking great pains to remove the stigma of the glorious bird wing from that of its ball day reputation.

To that end, Chef Lofink has crafted organic, sustainably raised, gourmet chicken wing events such as “Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Wing Special” and the “Monthly Wing Thing,” that have raised the profile of the tiny bird, both in terms of image and taste. Now Lofink is back at it—touting the bird, praising the bird—on a monthly basis, with “The Monthly Wing Jawn.” On a given Wednesday at the Sidecar, Lofink will welcome a different chef from a notable Philly restaurant (such as December’s Richard Pepino with his crispy, smoked maple bourbon and orange spice wings) and pig out starting at happy hour. The next two chefs in Lofink’s series is Jesse Ito from Royal Sushi and Izakaya (January 10) and Justin Swain from Rex 1516 (Valentine’s Day). Looks, as if 2018 has a hint of the rooster to it still, to go with that new dog. n

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theater VALLEY

CITY

Last Lists of My Mad Mother. Julie Jensen uses pretty much everything—laughs, tears, shouts, silences—in this deeply probing portrait of the make-it-up-as-we-go relationship between a daughter and a mother with Alzheimer’s. Commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum and staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s attracted such prominent performers as Barbara Bain, the only known person to star in the TV series Mission: Impossible and Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy Happy Days, where she spent 90 minutes in a mound, up to her waist and neck. (Jan. 26, Moravian College)

This Is The Week That Is. 1812 Productions believes that the world needs more comedy but what good is it if the same people keep getting satirized? The 12th annual political review at Plays and Players Theater was all about President Trump. In a eftist town like Philly,, writers Don Montrey and Dan O’Neil felt pretty safe in assuming that everybody loathes Trump and what he stands for. The show opened with a hilariously funny skit on third wave “pussy hat” feminism and its war on manspreading (men with their legs wide open), but these charming skits deteriorated rapidly when one Trump joke followed another in machine gun repetition. Enough already! Isn’t our planet rich with other world leaders that deserve to be satirized? The few soft Hillary Clinton jibes were as innocuous as vanilla yogurt and gave the impression they were added to give the illusion of “balance.” Even the gay segment, where two flamboyant queens take ‘swipe bites’ at international figures, failed to live up to queenly acerbity: the humor was as limp as a bouquet of dead flowers. Produced by Terry Graboyes and starring Jennifer Childs, Sean Close, Dave Jadico, Jenson Titus Lavallee and Rob Tucker, this year’s TITWTI was a prime example of what happens when political correctness freezes the juice of unbiased political creativity.

The Wizard of Oz. There’s no place like home and there’s no musical with as many indelible songs, characters and slogans about the hard-won wonders of home. This national touring show is presented by an organization that runs dinner theaters in Fort Myers, Fla., and Lancaster and features a mosaic cast. Christopher Russell (Tinman) is married to witch understudy Megan Orlowski, author of novels for young adults. Emily Perzan (Wicked Witch of the West) interprets for the deaf and coaches hearing-impaired actors. Kirk Lawrence (Wizard) has played Sweeney Todd, Willie Wonka and other puppet masters. (Jan. 19-20, State Theatre) BrouHaHa. Happenstance Theater explores the end of the world through imaginative references to philosophical films (The Seventh Seal), images of refugees and Beckett-meets-Chaplin clowning. Based in D.C., the 12-year-old, six-member ensemble has riffed off everything from Great Depression vaudeville ditties to Edward Gorey’s deliciously spooky Victoriana. (Feb. 1-4, Touchstone Theatre) No Sex Please, We’re British. This evergreen, unbreakable farce orbits around the hilarity caused by a newly married couple ordering Scandinavian glassware and receiving Scandinavian pornography. (Feb. 9-10, 16-18, 22-25, Pennsylvania Playhouse) Christmas City Follies. The holiday season is filled with reverence, irreverence and nonsense. For the 18th straight year Touchstone Theatre wrapped and rapped this motley month with a revue of holy hooey. Director Jp Jordan and crew created a flying crazy quilt of twitchy snow witches, shopping-cart ballerinas and earnest carolers plucking personal ethnic tunes on ukulele. Mary Wright played a tart-tongued nun with wickedly gleeful disdain and sniper accuracy. Emma Ackerman displayed a porcelain grace as a snow witch, a shopping-cart ballerina and a singing storyteller. Bill George’s charmingly rambling, shambling Old Guy, his shopping cart stuffed with facsimiles of saints and sinners, tried to lure the Baby Jesus—“son of the Big Guy”—out of hiding with an antique baby carriage, a beautifully guileless gift .

Peter and the Starcatcher. All the stars aligned in Act 1 Productions’ nimble, fertile production of the semi-musical odyssey of an intrepid orphan morphing into Peter Pan. The DeSales University students switched effortlessly between pirates, tribal islanders and a giant crocodile. Director Matt Pfeiffer, a 19-year veteran of the DeSales-based Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, kept them alert with comic gamboling and gambling. Ryan Reyes’ Peter was a hearty gymnast who wisely avoided juvenile hijinks. Arrianna Daniels’ Molly was a spunky spitfire who wisely avoided cloying tomboyisms. Aviana Rivera made music with the Italian cooking terms spewed by the chieftain Fighting Prawn; Renee McFillin made music with Mrs. Bumbrake’s alluring alliterations. James “Bo” Sayre turned Black Stache, the narcissistic, tonguetwisted pirate captain. into an uproariously prancing, preening suavebuckler. His perfectly groomed wackiness recalled Kevin Kline’s cheesy panache in The Pirates of Penzance. Sayre raised his game by shifting into tender desperation when the newly handless Stache, destined to become Captain Hook, tells Peter: “You’re the yin to my yang; you’re the semi to my colon.” n — geoff gehMAn 12 n I C O N n J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 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

The Humans. The winner of 20 Best Play awards, including a Tony, is about family conflict during a Thanksgiving dinner. The Blake family has just moved from Pennsylvania to Manhattan and something is about to give as things get honest around the cranberry and cole slaw. Directed by Joe Mantello and written by Stephen Karam, the play at The Walnut Mainstage has been called “humorous and hopeful,” meaning that despite what happens there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Walnut Street Theatre, January 16-31.

Waitress. Old-fashioned waitresses in frilly aprons who call you “Hon” never go out of style. Here we have the story of Jenna, a pie baker, trapped in a loveless marriage and living in a small town where dreams are hard to realize. Adopted from Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 Indie movie, this musical follows Jenna’s adventure in what The Chicago Tribune called “An empowering musical of the highest order.” Starring Bryan Fenkart and Desi Oakley at the Forrest Theatre, February 13-18.

Passing Strange. If you see this Wilma production you’ll have to pass through another sort of strange: the new Wilma lobby, which is really more Suburban Station concession stand (on steroids) than lobby beautiful. Still, the lobby’s coffee grinder chrome largesse might be the fortification you need for this revival of Stew and Heidi Rodewold’s Broadway hit of 2008 which The New York Post called “high on the list of the best musicals of the past ten years.” The Philadelphia revival will be directed

by Tea Alagic (of Constellations fame). The musical follows “a young punk screaming in defiance of the void, with an electric onstage band” while he takes a 1980’s road trip through the coolest cities of Europe. This unhinged personal journey through heavy drug and sexual experimentation with a so-called spiritual awakening at the end was originally billed as a rock musical. Check wilmatheater.org/production/passing-strange for post-show artistic chats. (January 10-February 18) All the Dead Biddles. We’re not talking about the famous Biddle family in Philadelphia, but just Karl and Wendy Biddle who experience the loss of their newborn baby.

This dark comedy, by Shelli Pentimall Bookler and directed by Carly Bodnar, takes a look at “how far over the edge that loss can push us.” Underbite Theatre Company is dedicated to the notion of theater as an instrument of social change. Plays and Players Theater, January 11-21. underbitetheatre.com/index.html Les Miserables. The world’s most popular musical that just won’t quit opens at The Academy of Music. Come hear the song “I Dreamed a Dream” that made Susan Boyle famous in 2009. (January 9-21) n — thoM nickels

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JANUARY

the list 5 – 14 PHILLY LOVES BOWIE WEEK What started off as Philly mega-Bowie fan Patti Brett—the most well-known of the

6 COLIN QUINN: ONE IN EVERY CROWD The one-time Saturday Night Live news desk face and actor from HBO’s Girls has spent the last decade doing Broadway bound productions based upon blending his dry common man comedy with relevant historical data. This showcase seems geared for the stand-up comedy crowd but expect hard political overtones.

(Steelstacks) 11 MATTHEW MORRISON Away from Fox’s cheery Glee, the Broadway singing vet has returned to the stage (Finding Neverland) as well as parlaying his television success into soft pop gold. (Steelstacks)

“Sigma Kids” who haunted the local Young American recording sessions in 1974—tribute in mourning of her hero’s passing has evolved into a charitable (CHoP) moment filled withproclamations, rare music and movies, unique artistic works (from Philly painters), locally derived Bowie beers and whiskeys and more. (various venues)

12 SLOCAN RAMBLERS The Slocan Ramblers are rooted in tradition, fearlessly creative, and possessing a bold, dynamic sound. They have quickly become a leading light of Canada’s roots music scene, built on their reputation for energetic live shows. (Mauch Chunk Opera House)

12 JUAN DEMARCOS De Marcos, also known as Juan DeMarcos Gonzalez, has been at the forefront of Cuban music, first as a member of the Buena Vista Social Club and now as the front man of the

touring Afro-Cuban All Stars. Lke the Social Club, many of the All Stars have gone onto fame and acclaim (Ruben Gonzalez, Guillermo Rubalcava) so this is one party to watch for and listen into. (Kimmel Center) 13 PNB ROCK Finally making his official debut album, Philly’s premier rapper may finally have a shot with

WHERE TO DINE AND STAY IN JIM THORPE

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cUrAted by A.d. AMorosi

Meek in jail and Lil Uzi Vert gone mainstream.

(Fillmore) 13 DUSTIN DOUGLAS & THE ELECTRIC GENTLEMEN Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen, mix retro-style and groove a la (Jimi Hendrix Expe-

rience, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes) for a lightning-charged vintage sound. (Mauch Chunk Opera House)

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PETE CROATTO

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Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

BETWEEN THANKSGIVING AND THE end of December, roughly a trillion films were released in the drive for Oscar consideration. Due to volume, good movies will get overlooked.

I fear that fate awaits Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, a well-constructed, meditative melodrama based on Peter Turner’s 1987 memoir on his tumultuous relationship with former starlet Gloria Grahame. Director Phil McGuigan balances dreamy nostalgia and blunt reality with unwavering grace. The film is another showcase for Annette Bening, who after terrific work as mothers (20th Century Women, The Kids Are All Right), plays a former matinee idol idling in the real world. Like sexy con artist Myra Langtry in 1990’s The Grifters, Bening’s breakout role, Grahame is putting on an act, only this time she’s petrified of being exposed.

Bening’s consolation is far more substantial: at age 59, she keeps bringing nuanced joy to every performance, inflating life into characters dismissed as frumps and lifeless elsewhere. Gloria Grahame is no exception.

For Grahame, the Oscar winner and star of Oklahoma! and In a Lonely Place, putting up a facade has become taxing. We see this in the film’s opening scene as she labors for her role in a British production of The Glass Menagerie in 1981: the vocal exer-

cises, the painstaking application of make-up, the ritual pouring of a glass of milk. The camera floats around her, but we never see Grahame’s face. It’s a warning: don’t get too close.

Suddenly, she collapses. Grahame asks her exlover Turner (Jamie Bell, who is excellent) for help.

Grahame is pale and frail, but she rejects going to the hospital. Instead, she rests in his parents’ house in Liverpool, where Turner, an actor, reflects on their relationship, which began in a downtrodden London apartment building—a world away from Hollywood.

We are never directly informed why an Academy Award winner is starring in local productions and taking hustle dance lessons, but McGuigan offers subtle answers with confidence. Having the assured Bening in the lead is an incalculable help, because she plays the 50-something Grahame as the coquettish ingénue.

(All that her introduction to Turner, who is nearly 30 years her junior, lacks is a lit cigarette and a streetlight.) Past fame holds her together. It’s why she bristles at being called “old” even if it’s indirect or accidental. A fight brings her into Peter’s orbit. He expresses skepticism over her dream role: Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. She demands that he leave. They wrangle into a kiss and they’re off.

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It’s the dream, right? Dating a Hollywood starlet, getting the crumbs of glamour. Grahame is stunning and vivacious and smart, but she’s just out of Turner’s reach. In the guest bedroom, where Grahame wilts away, a pair of high heels distract us from a tender embrace. Current scenes bleed into flashbacks, adding to the relationship’s theatrical aura. And then there’s Grahame, who can’t come clean on her rickety past— four children with four ex-husbands, one of whom was a former stepchild. Grahame’s sister (with a joyful malice) reveals that last bon mot. Turner digs to find out about Grahame’s illness, which she initially hid by creating an argument befitting a soap opera. For Grahame, image is everything—with the man she loves, when determining her medical treatment. When the final curtain looms, she dons shades and a head wrap, burrowing deeper into the perception.

A truth teller cannot survive in a world where image is the air and water. In the film’s final leg, Turner and Grahame reach the point where honesty and performance intersect. It’s a fitting goodbye. They were meant to be together for a moment, but what a moment it was. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is a lovely look at how that moment rose, died, and lived on. It was perfect. In fact, it was cinematic. [R] n

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MARK KERESMAN

film

The Disaster Artist BAD MOVIES—I MEAN so bad they elevate/sink to unforeseen and/or absurd heights/depths—inspire a certain fascination with some movie fans. One of the most notorious is Plan 9 From Outer Space, directed and written by Ed Wood, immortalized in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. A more recent such film is The Room, a movie so bad it has inexplicably acquired a cult following.

The Room (2003) is a bizarre, David Lynch-ian drama about…well, who knows.

The narrative “structure” is somewhat incoherent, and the acting, especially from Wiseau—who starred, wrote and directed—is alternately amateurish and insanely over-the-top. The subtext of the movie: follow your dream until…something happens. Both Wood and Wiseau were passionate about their visions and didn’t let a little thing like competence get in the way.

The Disaster Artist is a chronicle of the era and people that produced…no, spawned The Room. The film stars James Franco—who also directed—as Wiseau, and his performance is spellbinding. Franco gives a complex performance of a man who is a pretentious jerk, a crazed martinet, and yet someone you grudgingly admire for his chutzpah. Wiseau—who speaks in a hokey East European accent— refers to himself in the third person and says things such as “We make movie now!” and “I same age as Greg.” He’s an egomaniac, yet no one really knows anything about him. His foil and muse is Greg, an enthusiastic young actor who is both inspired and disgusted by Wiseau’s flights of…well, flights. Greg is plucky; one of the few people who can tether Wiseau to some semblance of reality.

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One of the terrific aspects of The Disaster Artist is also the same thing that’s great about Ed Wood—it’d be too easy to make Wiseau’s follies into a laugh-fest at the characters’ expense. We see these flawed characters as just that, but with enough humanity to make them at varying levels fascinating. (I don’t expect to “like” all the main characters in a movie—but if they’re going to be creeps they’d better damn well be interesting.)

There are many funny moments borne of the scenario when a person thinks he knows what he’s doing but clearly does not and is (so) clueless about how he comes off to people. To be fair, some of the greatest directors have been jerks who treated their actors like crap—Alfred Hitchcock for one, who is referenced herein a few times.

The film has a slow start and it’s difficult to warm to Franco-as-Wiseau, but once it kicks in gear it’s an anti-thrill ride, a comedy of grievous errors. We also get to spend some time with the actors of The Room, who share wee yet poignant insights into how and why they put up with a cinematic counterpart to The Caine Mutiny’s Captain Queeg. There are some nifty cameos: Sharon Stone (unrecognizable), Judd Apatow, Bob Odenkirk, and Bryan Cranston (as himself). We’re pulled into the gritty, behind-the-scenes view of how low-budget movies are made—but best of all, we’re shown how an anti-masterpiece can be made, and how lack of talent and/or taste can be (inadvertently) overcome.

Highly recommended. n

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RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

Photo: Marco Anelli.

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A. D. AMOROSI

INTErview

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Rufus Wainwright Goes

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…IT’S TIME TO SUIT UP AGAIN AND TAKE STOCK IN POP. I’M GOING FOR BATTLE WITH THE POP GODS. NO MATTER WHAT I’M DOING, WHETHER IT’S OPERA OR JUDY GARLAND OR POP SONGS, IT HAS TO BE TREACHEROUS WATERS FOR ME TO WADE THROUGH. OUT OF THE GAME WASN’T TREACHEROUS ENOUGH. TREACHEROUS IS AN IMPORTANT PLACE FOR ME TO BE.

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PO P

ONE OF MY EARLIEST memories of Rufus Wainwright wasn’t of him singing as a kid with his mom or aunt in the McCarrigle Sisters, or even his still winning, musically and lyrically, complex eponymous1998 solo debut. Around the same time that Wainwright’s album dropped, I interviewed him on South Street near where he was to play his first Philly gig at J.C. Dobbs. Luckily, he arrived early, so an hour before our interview, I bumped into him wearing some gaudy faux fur and scarf outfit (not unlike my own) and looking altogether too haughty for a morning stroll. So there’s that.

Since that time I’ve interviewed Wainwright for publications international, national and local and about topics as wide ranging as addiction (his two Want albums), heroes (his Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall project, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets), and opera (his debut work Prima Donna, his 2018 Hadrian). Now readying to record his next pop album for 2018 release, Wainwright is stopping at the Kimmel Center on January 19, 2018 to perform an orchestral set of his selections with the Philly Pops—itself a far cry from when I saw him last, one summer’s late night in 2017 with just a piano player at the Foundry.

Q: We have spoken many times and riffed about your ups and downs. Knowing that your writing skills are multiple and varied, as well as your life experiences, have you considered penning an autobiography?

A: [Laughs] Well, you know my one sister is working on her memoirs, and my father just published his, and then there are my two aunts who wrote a very charming history of their childhood and early musical careers, so it’s in our blood or in the air—at least right now. As for me, it’s definitely in the ether. I feel that if I do it, I’d really need to cocoon myself away. I’ve thought about starting that process soon so that it wouldn’t just hit me in one big wallop…but not quite yet.

Q: Because you’ve been cocooned to begin with for the last year and a half… .

A: Yes, I just finished my second opera, Hadrian [currently being work-shopped in Cincinnati, it debuts with Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company later this year], so I ‘ve been in my own nest for a while, and now I want to come out and play. See what the kids are up to. Make a good old-fashioned pop record. So I have no plans to escape back into the cocoon soon, but there’s a lot to write about, that’s for sure.

Q: Have you started ‘finding out what the kids are up to’? What do you think of, say, Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus?

A: I mean...you know…what can I say? One of the things in the past that I’ve regretted but am now proud of, is that

whatever musical move I made was one that I felt I had to do on an artistic level. Certainly, when some of my records came out, I had dreams of, you know, getting awards and riding in limos and wearing furs and stuff. I was very quickly disappointed. [Laughs] Then again, my idea of pop is the furthest thing from what is really pop at the moment. Still, I would always be under some strange delusion that when a record of mine came out…well, you know.

Q: What, it would sell like Madonna?

A: At that time it was always a traumatic experience when It didn’t sell millions, because I would have to go out and work more. But now, with a lot of these periods under my belt, I can look back fondly and admit that I did what I wanted to do artistically. That I really stuck to my guns. So what may have seemed a problem before—not being able to hop into the mainstream in a major way—is now what has differentiated me from everyone else around. I have this unique sound.

Q: It’s funny that you didn’t really KNOW that.

A: That said, I did see Taylor Swift on Saturday Night Live, and she’s a beautiful girl who has a lovely voice, and she certainly takes care of her body, and the music was…music.

It just seems so calculated and strategic. I feel like I’m looking through a tunnel when I’m looking at her. [Laughs] So I congratulate her on all her success—and thankfully I have not been able to do what she does.

Q: That was the most diplomatic critique Taylor Swift, so thanks for that. And I’ve seen you wearing fur, so you’re ahead on that game.

A: I’m sure they were fake furs, which is better in the end.

Q: Indeed. On your last record, Out of the Game, you and producer Mark Ronson intended to make this grand pop statement. That made sense, as you spent several years away from pop what with the Judy Garland stuff, the opera, your mom’s passing, All Days are Nights (Songs for Lulu) and the Shakespeare sonnets album. Looking at Game and the association with Mr. Ronson, what did you get from him other than a clean sounding record?

A: I think I got exactly what I needed in terms of what was going on emotionally in my life. I had been in mourning for a

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KEITH UHLICH

Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread.

film roundup

The Post (Dir. Steven Spielberg). Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk. That ever-prolific youngster Steven Spielberg first read the script for this historical drama—about the Washington Post’s decision, in 1971, to publish the so-called Pentagon Papers—in early 2017. Just about nine months later, he completed this oftenthrillingly uneven film, which walks a fine line as it attempts to view our fraught modern era through the prism of a past that, so the movie argues, is destined to repeat itself. At heart, this is the story of a woman, socialite newspaper owner Kay Graham (Meryl Streep), who stumbles her way into doing the right thing for both the American public and for journalism— like an Oskar Schindler for the inkstained. The film is most convincing as a study of the fourth estate, about how information and truth make their way (not always so honorably) to the people. It’s much more pandering as a 20/20 hindsight feminist statement that views Graham in opposition to her condescending male colleagues, chief among them WaPo main reporter Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks). Yet

The Post is still continually poetic in that idiosyncratically sentimental way that only Spielberg can manage. [PG13] HHH1/2 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Dir. Robin Campillo). Starring: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel.

You might mistake it for a documentary, as Morocco-born French filmmaker Robin Campillo (Eastern Boys) fully embeds his audience, within the tense meetings and inflammatory endeavors of a Gallic chapter of the activism group ACT-UP. It slowly becomes clear that this is a powerful, lovingly crafted period fiction that pays homage to this particular rabble-rouser movement and its innumerable, often AIDS-related sacrifices. The macro view gently becomes micro as Campillo focuses on a devoted, HIV-positive protestor, Sean Dalmazo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), who finds love with a fellow, HIV-negative ACT-UP member, Nathan (Arnaud Valois), though their time together, as they both know all too well, is fleeting.

The film never becomes a treacly pity party, but instead a sobering study of the limits and the liberation of lives

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lived radically and righteously. [N/R]

HHHH1/2

Hostiles (Dir. Scott Cooper). Starring: Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Rosamund Pike. Writer-director Scott Cooper’s gloomy 19th-century Western instead views America’s genocidal history as a moral morass that corrupts everyone it touches. Yet some things never change: The story is still focused around a gruff white guy, Captain Joseph J. Blocker (Christian Bale), who is tasked with escorting a Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) and his family from New Mexico to Montana.

There are obstacles along the way, such as indiscriminate killer natives, racist fur trappers, and a shell-shocked frontier woman (Rosamund Pike) dealing with the murder of her family.

Most of the hurdles, however, are achingly internal, and the cast— brooding Bale, especially—never lets you forget it. It’s as if everyone in front of Cooper’s camera is afflicted with PTSD resulting from the sins of Manifest Destiny, and that’s about as enjoyable as it sounds and only sporadically enlightening. [R] HH1/2

Phantom Thread (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson). Starring: Daniel DayLewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville.

In what is purportedly his final onscreen role, Daniel Day-Lewis plays a 1950s-era fashion designer named Reynolds Woodcock—a seething egoist who’s excellent at his craft, less so his personal life. Then he meets a waitress, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who embodies (again, so it seems) everything he wants in a muse. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson uses the period trappings to lull viewers into a state of complacency about what it is, exactly, that they’re watching. You’ll surely be surprised as the layers of both film and characters peel away, revealing something emotionally raw and ragged—like Anderson’s own Punch-Drunk Love if it were pretending to be a genteel MerchantIvory production. This is certainly a career highlight for lead actor and director both, no less so for Krieps (a Luxembourg-born performer mostly new to Western audiences), and also Lesley Manville as Woodcock’s severe, though not-as-evil-as-she-seems sister, Cyril. [R] HHHH n

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DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER

Loving Vincent.

reel news

Battle of the Sexes (2017) HHHH Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell Drama; PG-13 Awards: Golden Globes Best/Actor In a great saga, the human story behind the historic story is often the most interesting. In this case, the marque tennis match hyped as “The Battle of the Sexes” plays second string to the real epic, the personal battles of Billie Jean King (Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carell). This compelling movie imbeds us in the world of both a troubled King and a deeply flawed Briggs.

King, star of the world women’s tennis circuit, was battling the inequality of women in the market place, as well as her emerging self-identity as a lesbian, a sure reputation and career killer in the 1970s. Briggs, a former world tennis champion who retired in 1956, had a serious gambling addiction and subsisted by hustling matches at the country club. A natural selfpromoter and shyster, Briggs read the times and saw an opportunity to reinvent himself and make a wad of cash.

He perfected the image of an overhyped chauvinistic pig, and King had to accept the publicity stunt to uphold the reputation of the women’s equality movement. The movie immerses us in the fashions, music, and attitudes at a critical time when a ten-

nis match could be a flash point in cultural history.

Loving Vincent (2017) HHHH Cast: Douglas Booth, Saoirse Ronan Animated drama; PG-13 Have you ever stared at a painting and imagined the people in it coming alive and telling you what’s happening in the scene, in their lives? That’s the premise of this enchanting movie.

We’re transported into the impressionistic world as Van Gogh painted it. Filmed with live actors, every frame was hand painted in the master’s unique style. The plot loosely tells the story of Van Gogh’s life using the characters in his portraits and the villages and landscapes he captured in oil. When Vincent’s loving brother Theo gets a letter from Vincent delivered after his death, the mystery into his suicide begins. Theo returns to the village where the painter died and interviews people who knew him, and whom he painted. We meet the postman, the woman sitting at a table, the swirling clouds, the starry night. It’s as magical as Night at the Museum, except the paintings, not the animals, come alive.

The Teacher (2017) HHHH Cast: Zuzana Mauréry, Csongor Kassai

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Comedy, Drama; Not rated.

In Slovak with English subtitles.

In 1983 when Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule, the term teacher’s pet could have sinister overtones. A teacher’s favoritism could forever influence a child’s, and their parents’, future. This satire explores how a teacher manipulates the system to use the parents’ loose moral boundaries to benefit herself and the student, but at the expense of the more ethical families. On the first day of class, Comrade Maria Drazdechová (Mauréry) takes notes as her students introduce themselves and tell their parents’ occupation.

Turns out she’s not above using her position as the school’s Party chairperson and sole arbitrator of grades to pressure the parents for favors. A free visit to the hairdresser, washing machine repair, or cake delivery seem a small price to pay to keep your child from failing at school. Finally the parents meet to decide what to do about the teacher’s turning a system based on egalitarianism into institutionalized favoritism. The biting satire exposes the hidden agendas and the innate human ability to rationalize any wrong.

I, Daniel Blake (2017) HHHH

Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires Drama; R Awards: Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or; Seattle International Film Festival Best Actor.

Two things rate high on the list of experiences to avoid: root canals and being interviewed by a social worker.

In one you get an injection of gumnumbing Novocain, in the other an overdose of humiliation. If you’ve ever sat on the wrong side of a gray metal desk, you’ll identify with Daniel Blake (Johns), a construction worker in Newcastle, England, who’s forced to seek government assistance. Blake suffered a heart attack and lost his job. Until he can be cleared to work by the health agency, he needs assistance from a welfare agency, run by an American firm. So begins his descent into government bureaucracy. He endures hours on hold and nightmarish interviews by social workers more interested in clearing their calendar than actually helping someone. Blake’s goodhearted attitude and his efforts to help a single mother in similar circumstances keeps the tale from spiraling into hopelessness. Filmmaker Ken Loach adroitly keeps the narrative positively focused on perseverance, not heartless bureaucracy. n

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MARK KERESMAN

foreign

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La Dictadura Perfecta (The Perfect Dictator)

ITH LA DICTADURA PERFECTA (Mexico, 2014), director Luis Estrada, who is known for biting satire, eerily conjures a film that is art imitating Mexican political reality. Barry Levinson’s wonderful Wag the Dog was a political satire of an impending scandal centered on the president of the United States. To distract Americans’ attention, some strategists and media wizards manufacture a non-existent foreign armed conflict. La Dictadura Perfecta is a 2014 Mexican film with a similar scenario.

Here, the president of Mexico puts his foot in his mouth with the American ambassador by saying something similar to what Trump said about…well, Mexicans. This time around, though, the Mexican president’s gaffe is aimed at African-Americans. It stirs up such a fuss that the president gets some guys that work for a CNN-type network—including one who closely resembles Mad Men’s Don Draper—to provide the distraction by staging a dramatic, fake news story.

Sleazeball Governor Carmelo Vargas is embroiled in a case of bribery and becomes the target of the distraction. If they rehabilitate the governor’s reputation—wham, media focus off the president.

How will they clean up the governor’s bad name?

Well, what generates bigger media attention than a political scandal? You guessed it—a kidnapping.

Arrangements are made and two adorable twin sisters are snatched. A media circus ensues. The governor acts like the hero by putting up the reward money.

It’s a nasty if broad satire of Mexican politics and how its participants use media to maintain or further their careers—imagine a low-rent cross between All the King’s Men and Network, with moments of startling violence.

Damian Alcazar displays a certain smarmy charm as Governor Vargas—you really get the feeling he would sell his mother-in-law to Albania in order to move up the political food chain. Alfonso Herrera (Father Ortega on TV’s The Exorcist) is engaging as

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the baby-faced, smoothly amoral Carlos, a television network executive whose job it is to be A Politician’s Best Friend, inordinately able to secure a story and make ratings soar. He must smooth ruffled egos and expedite assorted details for the score that will make the ratings shoot through the roof as well as serve the governor’s ends.

The dialogue sounds as if it were written by an eighth-grader. An underworld ruffian-type threatens a member of Carlos’ team, admonishing him, “Look here, fella, obey, or I make you obey at gunpoint!”

One of the kidnappers says to his boss, “What do you think we are, beginners?” to which he sternly replies, “I don’t think you’re beginners. I think you’re idiots.” As in A Clockwork Orange, Rossini’s opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is heard in the soundtrack—again and again.

This is no Seven Days in May—for a dark but inspired political film, see that one—but fans of satire or Mexican cinema may want to check out La Dictadura Perfecta. n

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DOC

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Didion with the actor and filmmaker Griffin Dunne in her New York apartment. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, October 2017

Joan Didion at home in Malibu, California, 1970s. Photo: Vogue.

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MARK KERESMAN

THERE ARE FEW TRULY iconic American authors as widely recognized as Joan Didion.

There’s Truman Capote and his hat, Tom Wolfe and his spiffy white suit, and there’s Didion with her big dark shades, dry ice-cool glare, and cigarette in hand. Didion wrote novels, screenplays, memoirs, and journalism. Along with Wolfe, Capote, and Hunter Thompson, Didion combined a fiction-based writing style with journalism, both chronicling and exploring the changing landscapes of American society. Slouching Toward Bethlehem dealt with the counterculture in full flower in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury; Miami with the how Cuban expatriates in that city impacted America as a whole. Janis Joplin and Roman Polanski attended her parties.

The Center Will Not Hold (2017) is a biography of Didion, and while it ought to be riveting, it’s merely good. Directed by her nephew, actor and filmmaker Griffin Dunne with Didion’s participation, Center covers nearly her whole life and quite a life it was—and still is. Yet the film sometimes seems less a documentary than a tribute; Center could’ve used some of Didion’s unsentimental verve. We get lots of archival footage of assorted time periods and talking head-type interviews with the people who knew her best, the likes of Calvin Trillin, Harrison Ford, and playwright David Hare—all of them telling us how great she is, and this writer can’t argue with them.

But there’s a distance herein. When she’s depicted as “cool,” it’s really more in the sense of “distant.” (There’s a famous criticism of Didion: “It’s always about her.”) The film shows us her proximity to historical events—the Manson murders, in the studio with The Doors, the USAbacked dictatorship of El Salvador, and the Central Park “wilding” attack—but further detail of her direct observations and involvements might’ve boosted this movie from the good to the great.

Center seems more like it’s meant to be an overview of her, rather than letting us inside to really know who she was and how such an important personality of the time figured in with major events. If the writer had explored more of her political writing, it might’ve given this portrait some fire.

Didion had at least one nervous breakdown in the ’60s, yet there’s no mention of it. That’s a major omission. It’s so gosh-darn respectful of Didion that there’s no edge.

While Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Capote are very different (historical fiction, fictionalized/dramatized biography), after watching them I felt compelled to read more of the respective authors’ works. I wish I’d gotten the same charge from The Center Will Not Hold. n

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<

14 | THE LIST

13 THE DOVE & THE WOLF The much touted Jane Birkin-like folk pop duo from Paris, France, (now based in Philadelphia) have new music coming on the soft side. Hear it here first. (Johnny Brenda’s) 17 GREG OSBY One of avant-funk or outré jazz’s most modernist composer saxophonists returns to Philly (he used to play here a lot) with a retinue of new players. (Kimmel Center) 18 FREE RANGE FOLK On their third album, Free Range Folk grafts a hybrid of New Orleans second-line style fun with potent dirt rock jams onto its bluegrass roots. The collection of well-honed original tunes explores old and new ideas: Nostalgia for the way things were and could be, a wonder of how they ever got there in the first place, and acceptance & optimism for the way things are now. (Mauch Chunk Opera House) 20 US & FLOYD Us & Floyd performs stunningly accurate recreations of the timeless music of Pink Floyd. (Mauch Chunk Opera House) 23 ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO BAND AND CHRIS STAMEY Two American 80s punk vets—The Nuns, Rank and File, The DBs between them—double up for raw powered fun and freneticism. (World Caré Live) 25 STRAND OF OAKS Philadelphia’s most Springsteen-y rocker since Marah tells sad emotional tales of a life hard lived with a renewed sense of optimism-and loud guitars—that is impossible to resist. Plus, the critics love him.

(Steelstacks) 27 JERRY BLAVAT Along with manipulating “You Only Rock Once” into a screenplay, the Geator with the Heator is celebrating soul and doo wop legends with The Clovers, Eddie Holman, The Intruders, The Moments, Norman Fox & the Rob-Roys, Blue Magic, Ray, Goodman, & Brown, The Vogues, and Bobby Wilson, son of Jackie Wilson, to the Kimmel stage.

(Kimmel Center) 27 THE ACADEMY BALL & CONCERT WITH STEVE MARTIN Find your top hat and tails and watch the wild and crazy comic and playwright jam out on his banjo, all for the upkeep of the 161-year-old opera house. (Academy of Music) 28 EDDIE BRUCE: REMEMBERING THE LATIN CASINO Philly’s quintessential cabaret vocalist goes in for the Jersey lounge singer look and feel when he dedicates a set to Cherry Hill’s finest one-time supper club.

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21 | RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

year after my mother passed away. I finished Prima Donna. All Days Are Nights was a really intense experience; a stylistic, artistic triumph, but a difficult one. I was spent, so I just needed to go in with a hot guy—Mr. Mark Ronson—and noodle around on some electric guitars for a while. By the way, that’s all I was noodling around with. We had a fun time and let off some steam. I did think that somehow I was breaking certain barriers—at least my own, at least in my imagination— but the more I look and listen to that album, I realize that wasn’t the case, that it was more of just a jam session. With that album, I learned that I shouldn’t be so particular, so demanding of myself, and loosen up. So Out of the Game has some really refreshing, touching moments…and going forward I’ll know that I’m not attempting to re-invent the wheel. Now I feel as if—since I’ve been away from the pop world writing my newest opera, and the Shakespeare album—that it’s time to suit up again and take stock in pop.

I’m going for battle with the pop gods. No matter what I’m doing, whether it’s opera or Judy Garland or pop songs, it has to be treacherous waters for me to wade through.

Out of the Game wasn’t treacherous enough. Treacherous is an important place for me to be.

Q: You’ve rocked with your share of orchestras and big bands, and I’ve watched you do shows with small combos and go mano et mano with a pianist. What do you look forward to when doing large-scale events such as the one you’ll perform with the Philly Pops?

A: I have a fantastic team of arrangers for my pop stuff. I only orchestrate my operas on my own, and I’ve found in general, especially in America, that most orchestras are pretty solid. There’s this understanding that you go in there and it’s going to work because there’s too much money to do otherwise. You can’t dick around with an orchestra. It’s a professional, results-orientated process.

Q: It has to work at all costs. That’s the trajectory.

A: But then there’s this added element… and I can tell…when the orchestra as a whole likes me, or I feel resistance. Which is interesting. I don’t think the audience picks up on that, as the nature of classical music is that it just has to be presentable. [Laughs] But when everybody’s on the same team there’s a certain sparkle—and which I’ll assume will glitter with the Philly Pops crew. n

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toM Wilk

music SINGER / SONGWRITER

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

HHHH

Soul of a Woman Daptone Records “I can’t wait too much longer,” Sharon Jones declares on “Matter of Time,” a joyful, up-tempo song about the hope for a better world. That line from the opening track on Soul of a Woman takes on a poignant meaning in the wake of her death in November 2016.

Soul of a Woman turns out to be a

posthumous affirmation of her strength as a vocalist and a testimony to her indomitable spirit. Backed by her first-rate band, the Dap-Kings, Jones displays her soulfulness and versatility on “Soul On!” She sings with a sense of fervor, pushed on by her group’s standout horn section.

Jones and her band draw inspiration from their soul music predecessors. The Latin-flavored “Come and Be a Winner” and “Searching for a New Day” echo the positive message songs Curtis Mayfield wrote for the Impressions in the 1960s, such as “Keep on Pushing” and “We’re a Winner.” “These Tears (No Longer for You)” and “When I Saw Your Face” have their roots in the ‘70s Sound of Philadelphia. On “Girl! (You Got to Forgive Him),” Jones’ heartfelt vocal gets a dramatic lift from the orchestral backing of the Bushwick Philharmonic. “Call on God,” a Jones original, finds her returning to her gospel roots with a plea to the Almighty to overcome her problems. It’s a fitting conclusion to one of the top albums of 2017. (11 songs, 35 minutes) Johnny Rawls HHH Waiting for the Train Catfood Records Johnny Rawls keeps the tradition of

Southern soul and blues alive on Waiting for the Train. The Mississippi native, who worked with such performers as Joe Tex and the Sweet Inspirations, serves up a solid mix of his own songs alongside strong versions of classics by Bobby Womack and Bob Dylan.

“Rain Keeps Falling (‘Til I’m Free), one of five original songs co-written by Rawls, uses water as a metaphor for survival and gives him a chance to display his impressive vocal range. The title track, a slow blues with a touch of jazz, is a contemplation on the unpredictability of death with a train serving as the symbol of Judgment Day. Rawls doesn’t limit himself musically. “California Shake” ventures into funk territory with a lyric that invites comparisons to soul music pioneer Sam Cooke’s “Shake.” “Stay with Me” is a plea for love and a bedroom ballad that recalls the work of soul legend Al Green.

As a song interpreter, Rawls revels in the joy of new love romance with Womack’s “I’m in Love,” a Top 10 rhythmand-blues hit for Wilson Pickett In 1967.

Rawls recasts Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” as a Southern gospel hymn that shows the song’s enduring appeal. (10 songs, 41 minutes) Bob Seger HHH I Know You When Capitol Records Mortality serves as an underlying theme for I Knew You When, Bob Seger’s first studio album in three years.

The 72-year-old Seger dedicated the album to the memory of Glenn Frey, his longtime friend and founding members of the Eagles, who died in 2016.

“Glenn Song,” the CD’s final track, is a subdued but effective tribute to the musician with acoustic guitar and fiddle as the lead instruments. The title track could serve as a reflection on the many deaths in the music world in 2016 and 2017. Seger sings: “We all sit here with our memories/Of a glorious long ago/When our lives seemed immortal/Were they really so?”

Seger also pays tribute to a pair of fall-

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en contemporaries. He lyrically reworks Lou Reed’s “Busload of Faith” but retains the song’s tone of edgy defiance. On Leonard Cohen’s “Democracy,” Seger stretches himself artistically to show the lyrics remain relevant a quarter century

after they were written. Seger’s other songs are a mixed bag. “Runaway Train,” which dates to 1994, relies on clichéd imagery. On “The Sea Inside,” the sonic turbulence of four guitars and two synthesizers capsizes the song. More successful are “The Highway” and “Forward into the Past,” which recall Seger’s classic rock.

(13 songs, 51 minutes) The Searchers HHH Another Night: The Sire Recordings 1979-1981 Omnivore Recordings As part of the British Invasion in the 1960s, the Searchers had seven Top 40 singles. By the late 1970s, the group largely would be a touring band but got a second wind when the quartet signed with Sire Records and returned to the studio.

Another Night: The Sire Recordings 1979-1981, a reissue of two albums with bonus tracks, finds the Searchers repositioning themselves as a power pop/rock band with help from some of the newer and established singer/songwriters of the day. With its jangly guitars, “Hearts in Her Eyes” has echoes of the mid-1960s Byrds, while the up-tempo “This Kind of Love,” a Searchers, original features the buoyant harmonies of Mike Pender, John McNally, and Frank Allen. “Lost in Her Eyes,” an early song by Tom Petty, has overtones of

the late singer’s vocal style as Bob Jackson’s piano provides a yearning mood.

“Coming from the Heart,” a relatively unknown Bob Dylan song co-written with Helena Springs, shows the band’s ability to go beyond its comfort zone.

The sharp-edged guitars of Pender and McNally convey a sense of urgency on “Silver” and “Little Bit of Heaven,” another Searchers original, is a return to their pop roots. A Buddy Holly-styled arrangement of “Almost Saturday Night” picks up the pace of John Fogerty’s original. Muscular versions of “Back to the War” and “Ambulance Chaser,” two early John Hiatt songs, end the album on a high note. (31 songs, 95 minutes) Michael Johnathon HHH Pirate Poet-Man Records Michael Johnathon offers a state of the world in music with Pirate, a song cycle that encompasses such topics as war and peace, economics, and the quest for power. Johnathon easily blends folk, rock, and a hint of gospel in his songs.

“Assassins in the Kingdom,” the album’s longest and most ambitious track, starts off with an acoustic guitar and builds to a Pink Floyd-like backing over four separate movements at Johnathon looks at the addictive nature of war.

The influences of Bob Dylan’s finger-pointing songs of the early 1960s can be heard in “The Accusation,” an attack on world leaders who put themselves and their legacies ahead of their people. Johnathon makes the Dylan connection explicit with a fervent performance of the latter’s “Masters of War.” “Cosmic Banjo,” an instrumental, effectively lightens the mood with Johnathon’s banjo and a four-man horn section as the lead instruments. The wry “Flyin’” serves as Jonathon’s commentary on the need for possessions and money, no matter the consequences.

“I’m flyin’ way beyond my means,” he sings with a backing choir that supplies a party feeling. (8 songs, 32 minutes) n

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MUSIC POP

CINDY WILSON, SOLO

AS PUNK AND NEW Wave music(s) head toward middle age, more and greater anniversaries will follow. Bands who have remained together (e.g. Television, Blondie) will tour. Those with dead members (Ramones) will release rarity-driven retrospectives.

One act that’s never really slowed its roll, though (save for a time when cofounder Ricky Wilson passed), is Athens, Georgia’s The B-52s, the very height of then-experimental dance party pop who became mainstream (sort of) with a series of hits including “Love Shack,” and “Roam.” That wildly influential ensemble, The B-52s, is currently celebrating their 40th anniversary.

Vocalist Cindy Wilson has watched her fellow co-founders, Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider, go solo outside the band’s quirky frenetic pop and surrealistic lyricism without a peep. That’s a shame.

Whether alone or with Pierson (pop’s greatest double harmonists), Wilson’s tenor can jump from coolly nuanced and warbly to a scratchy bellow (e.g. “Private Idaho”) within The B-52s’ catalog. Only recently, however, has Wilson dipped her toe into solo waters, first with 2017 EPs Sunrise and Supernatural, and now, with a spooky, but cheerful, electropop solo album, Change. Though you can spy her wriggling through the Mashed Potato and celebrating its anniversary on tour (keep your eyes out), Wilson is now resplendent in a Warhol-white hairdo, a cool musical reserve, and a powerful, beautiful voice that’s always sounded as if it’s come from far beyond the heavens of Planet Claire.

“The B-52s all moved to New York City once we signed with Warner Brothers, and lived there for years,” says Wilson of her Southern belle status. “After Cosmic Thing came out, my husband and I moved back down to the South, first to Atlanta, and more recently to Athens in a cute little house in Five Points. I love being back there. And you know how Athens is—even back in the day it was ever-changing. That’s the thing with a college town. I was born there, so it’s

like watching a river go by, always flowing. One of Athens’ charms is that it has new energy, that it’s constantly replenishing itself. That’s fun to watch.”

While playing its everlasting ever-loving 40th anniversary shows, Wilson states that everything is copacetic among the solo record-making unity (Keith

Strickland, the other co-founding/writing member of the B-52s, no longer tours with the trio.) “Everything works out great among us,” says Wilson. “Kate’s record came out not long ago, and Fred is constantly making new music, but we’re totally committed to The B-52s. We’re friends first and foremost, and still have a great time performing. I think we’re having as much fun as the audience.”

Forget about what took Wilson so long to make her solo debut. Had she even considered it, or working toward something on her own? “Music is a lovely

and wonderful stress reliever,” she said. “I finally had some free time, and a friend of mine and I just started kicking it around the studio. We started working with another friend, Suny Lyons, and it became a thing. If it’s not fun or exciting, why do it in the first place? As it got more exciting, it became more and more concrete in my mind. It felt like something that I could put my energy into. Several songs into it all, we came up with a show and took it to SXSW. That’s when it became real.”

There are two sonic modes upon which Wilson relies on Change: Germanic motorik Krautrock and French electro pop.

These are, in Wilson’s words, the combined interests of her co-writing producer, the band and Wilson herself, who knew that the project had gestated when they recorded the song “Brother.” And though I don’t love pinpointing or interpreting lyrics, I can’t help but think that the idea of “Brother” is deeply personal (B-52s co-founder and composer Ricky Wilson died from the effects of AIDS in 1985). “We started performing with a bunch of old friends, starting with this tribute night to Athens bands from the late ’70s and early ’80s like Pylon. It was a a cool evening where we all did each other’s songs. That sort of led me to put my own twist onto the whole brother idea.”

As she’s part of a band dynamic since 1977 and friends with the Bs before that, Wilson seemingly has found—with this new group of musicians—a kindred spirit, respect and affection similar to that of her relationship to The Bs. Would it be fair to say that she may have waited as long as she did to make her own music until she found an equally comfortable nesting place as the one she had with Fred and Kate?

“That’s very perceptive of you,” whispered Wilson. “It was indeed something I was looking for, and I didn’t even know that I was looking for it until I found it. When it happened, it just felt natural. Now, I’m tripping. I’m just so happy about it.” n

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MUSIC JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Greg Lewis HHHHH Organ Monk Blue Self-released While Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) was one of the architects of bebop and modern jazz piano, he wasn’t always widely appreciated in his lifetime. But since, Monk’s tangy, quirky (and oddly pretty) tunes are among the most recorded/performed in the jazz

repertoire (“’Round Midnight,” “Straight No Chaser”) and his percussive and angular approach to the keys has become very influential in (and to an extent beyond) jazz. But imagine an organist playing Monk tunes…and imagine no longer. Gregory Lewis (of the NY area) adapts eight Monk classics to the organ/guitar/drums format (most associated with soul jazz) and the results are riveting. While Lewis drips with that groove-laden style of soul jazz (think Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland, Joey DeFrancesco) with that thick Hammond B-3 organ sound, he’s also a bit more adventurous with it. Lewis pushes that organ into the red zone with a hard-edged, slightly distorted, seething sound. The fantastic Marc Ribot plays some chunky, piquant, bluesy, spiky & dissonant guitar (Wes Montgomery on acid) whilst drummer Jeremy B. Clemons is crisp and propulsive. In fact, this set could pass for a long-lost session by the late, great Larry Young (ar-

guably the John Coltrane of the organ). Forgive the new-ish cliché, but this ain’t your father’s (or grandfather’s) organ trio. (8 tracks, 52 min.) greglewismusic.com Stanley Grill/Diderot String Quartet HHHH1/2 At the Center of All Things Innova Inspired by Renaissance (and earlier) vocal music, NY-area composer Stanley Grill has whipped up a few thoroughly American string quartets. “Amer-

ican Landscapes” is full of contrasts—the restlessness of (some) Americans, pushing in one direction or another, the bustle of city life and the relative quietude of rural/small town life and how people adapt/transition between them; semi-sweet folk/country-flavored melodies, and forward-driving rhythms. “Lonely Voices” has the teensiest whiff of the melody of J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and some of its melancholy ambience, plus lots of its subdued grandeur.

The title piece has some sonorous yet subtle Gypsy/Roma strains therein and some Bach-like rhythm action. Gtill’s music is distinctive—it’s based in older “harmonious” forms yet is totally contemporary, reflecting a bit of the earthy modernity (and melodiousness and conviviality) of composers Copeland, Ives, and Hovhaness. So fine and so dandy, this is. (9 tracks, 53 min.) innova.mu Cheer-Accident HHH1/2 Putting Off Death

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Cuneiform Around for over a quarter of a century, Chicago’s Cheer-Accident are a truly uncategorizable combo.

Aspects of progressive rock (think King Crimson, Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt) and punk-gone-avant-

garde (Pere Ubu, Swell Maps) go into their musical stew, along with over/under-tones of jazz, the progressive pop phase of The Beatles (“I Am The Walrus”), and minimalist classical, with a side order of drollery. “More and More” has warm, diaphanous voices sing over melodies that seem to go “against” the grain yet complement each other, whereas “Lifetime Guarantee” is a dramatic mini-epic finds Beach Boys-ish choral vocals amid clarion horns, clanging guitars, and spastic beat gives way to an arching guitar solo sure to warm the hearts of fans of early Yes or Crimson before a vocal line evoking Zappa at his most sardonic and then a small, playfully grandiose wall of sound gets built. “Hymn” is a sweetly out-ofkilter ballad with Bowie-like vocals and a strangely uplifting melody until they throw anther monkey wrench into things, sounding like aliens trying to jam these Earth-people’s radio broadcast. Nothing seems “to go” where you expect it to and I get the feeling Cheer-Accident wouldn’t have it any other way. Not easy listening but very fascinating listening—recom-

MArk keresMAn

mended chiefly to those seeking/enjoying rock’s most outer limits. (7 tracks, 36 min.) cuneiformrecords.com Tigran Mansurian HHHH Requiem ECM New Series In 1915 the bigwigs of the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) decided to annihilate its Armenian population (Armenia having been absorbed into the Empire back in the 15th century). When all was done and not

orable sadness, and drama (born of inhumanity and people trying to retain their humanity). For times of contemplation and letting yourself feel profound sadness (without giving up all hope)—also recommended for those wanting to wade in the waters of modern classical (lots of tension, not much dissonance).

(8 tracks, 45 min.) ecmrecords.com Frank Perowsky Jazz Orchestra HHHH An Afternoon in Gowanus Self-released Ghost Train Orchestra HHHH Book of Rhapsodies Volume II Accurate Here’s two very different and very swell voyages into big band jazz sounds. An Afternoon…, helmed by jazz veteran sax/clarinet/arranger guy Frank Perowsky (Jimmy Dorsey, Peggy Lee, Sinatra) is very

said, about one and a half million Armenians were dead. This incident, possibly overshadowed by WWI, is somewhat under-recorded in history books. (Even today some Turks say it never happened—sound familiar?) Tigran Mansurian (b. 1939) composed Requiem dedicated to the memory of the massacred.

Combining aspects of Western and Eastern classical traditions, “Requiem” is a beautiful, bereaved hunk of music for a chorus of 35 and a 20-piece string-strong orchestra. For novices, some of this will bring to mind the vocal music of Hildegard of Bingen and the masses (choral music with religious orientation) of Mozart and J.S. Bach (that choral stuff at the beginning of Casino—Bach) as well as some medieval music. (For rock-oriented listeners, think Dead Can Dance and the solo works of Lisa Gerrard.) This is somber music to be sure, sung in Latin, both spare and opulent simultaneously—solo vocal passages of aching purity that sometimes mingle with strings; haunted/haunting choir, (instrumental) textures that reflects stasis (bit of minimalist influence here), inex-

much in the vein of the post-Swing era orchestras of Count Basie, Woody Herman, and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis. Not dance music, mind you, but roaring brass, singing & surging woodwinds, and boisterous swing with smart, precise ensemble playing and thoughtful, twisty arrangements. This is not a nostalgia or retro trip—the soloist wail and bristle in the very modern hard bop and post bop (with hits of ecstatic free jazz) mode. Perowsky’s outfit features vet such as Jerry Dodgion and Sam Burtis and younger upstarts such

as John Ellis and Loren Stillman. Highlights: the “Night Train”-ish strut “Spang A Lang” and bebop bliss/blitz “Bouncing With Bud.” The sonic quality is vibrant, best thing to being there. (9 tracks, 43 min.) frankperowsky.bandcamp.com The Ghost Train Orchestra, led by trumpeterarranger Brian Carpenter, is quite a different deal indeed. For both inspiration and repertoire, the GTO draw upon the lesser-known, somewhat idiosyncratic bands of the Swing era—Raymond Scott and John Kirby, to name two—but also the pre-Swing style hot jazz (danceable, VERY fast tempo small group jazz), Alec Wilder (1907-1980, a fellow that wrote pop songs

and classical compositions), the pre-Swing styles of Duke Ellington and Don Redman, and hints of two gents that “weren’t jazz” but were impacted by it, Henry Mancini (“Moon River,” “Peter Gunn Theme”) and Juan García Esquivel, better known simply as Esquivel. Some selections feature ooh-ahh/dah-dah-la wordless vocal choirs, as did those of the Big E. The GTO mixes elegant swing with askew, sometimes deliriously daffy themes—if you, Dear Listener, think it sounds like “old cartoon music,” there’s a reason— animation in the ’30s and ’40s often had similar sounds accompanying the moving pictures. There are overtones of early 20th century classical composition herein—Satie, Stravinsky, Gershwin. Taken as a whole, it’s intoxicating fun. (12 tracks, 44 min.) accuraterecords.com n

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bob perkins

HE WAS TALL, HANDSOME, and he played the upright bass fiddle like he had a hand in its invention.

He had even more going for him, in that he hailed from Pittsburgh, a city well known for producing outstanding jazz musicians like Billy Strayhorn, Art Blakey, Ray Brown and Stanley Turrentine.

Fate or a divine hand had to do with Chambers’ family moving to Detroit—another city noted for nurturing great jazz artists—where, at the famed Cass Tech high school, the young man was in the school’s symphony orchestra, and played several instruments before making the upright bass his favorite.

The name of the precocious fellow making all the right moves, was Paul Lawrence Dunbar Chambers, Jr., later known to his contemporaries and legions of jazz fans, as Paul Chambers. These first three names were borrowed from the African American poet, novelist and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th century, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Paul studied the bass with a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, while also listening to recordings by Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, and later picking up on bassists Ray Brown, Milt Hinton, Charlie Mingus and Percy Heath. But it was when he heard young Jimmy Blanton, Duke Ellington’s discovery, who was fast making the bass a solo instrument instead of a support instrument, that he began to hunker down and study with intent.

Paul had to first battle with his father to become a professional musician. His dad wanted a baseball player for a son, which on one occasion led him to throw Paul’s school practice bass down the stairs, forcing him to practice at the homes of fellow musicians.

It was 1955 when Paul embarked on his first tour with saxophonist Paul Quinchette. Later gigs included work with trombonist J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, and pianist Benny Green.

It was saxophonist Jackie mcLean who introduced Paul to Miles Davis, who had heard some talk about him. Miles hired Paul on the spot, and that resulted in a union between the two that lasted seven years. With the inclusion of Red Garland at the piano and “Philly” Joe Jones on drums, the trio became one of the legendary rhythm sections in modern jazz.

Miles once said “[Even though] Paul was the baby of the group, he played like he’d been around forever.”

Paul was with Davis during the leader’s most successful recordings, including the 1959 landmark album Kind of blue. Davis’ band members changed over the years, but Paul’s steady, sturdy and reassuring hands were always there, serving as an anchor for the group, whether they were plucking or bowing the strings of his bass.

Paul left Miles’ band in 1963, but by then he had become an established artist, and when bassists were discussed—even among the very knowledgeable—Paul Chambers was often the subject.

After Miles, Paul played on a number of albums, including Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, and Oliver Nelson’s Blues and the Abstract Truth. John Coltrane wrote “Mr. P.C.,” a dedication to Chambers. Pianist Tommy Flanagan wrote “Big Paul,” another anthem to Chambers. Coltrane credited Chambers with being “one of the greatest bass players in jazz.”

Ironically, Paul Chambers, like his namesake Paul Lawrence Dunbar, died at an early age. Paul passed away at 33 years old—the same age as the poet and playwright— his death attributed to longtime indulgence in heroin and alcohol. (Paul’s idol on the bass, Jimmy Blanton, died at age 23 of tuberculosis.)

In his all too brief lifetime, Paul Chambers made music in many nightclubs and concert halls, and was heard on some 60 albums, as a leader, co-leader, or sideman. n

Paul Chambers Paul Chambers plays the bass during a recording session for the Hank Mobley Sextet.

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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INDEX

Economics students behave more selfishly than do arts majors and science majors in monetary experiments because they expect less from others. Anger shifts people toward fiscal conservatism. Deviance spurs bonding gossip, and among Canadians, women gossip about other women’s looks, whereas men gossip about other men’s wealth and athleticism. Pre-psychopathic British boys tend not to want to participate in contagious laughter. People tend to think common behavior is moral behavior. Anti-vaccine tweets in the United States are associated with men aged forty to forty-four, high household wealth, and minimal college education. The efficacy of flu shots is boosted by good moods. Video footage of desserts is perceived as smooth, whereas footage of bodily mutilation is perceived as choppy. Six percent of US adolescents were engaging in digital self-harm, and doctors were reporting wrist fractures from taking selfies. Performance pressure drives the unethical behavior of middle managers. Bullying makes American and Chinese bosses feel better in the short term and worse in the long term. Not all stingless bee queens castrate their workers.

Min. number of times since 09/2015 that Donald Trump has referred to Christmas in speeches: 23 Number of those references that suggested the holiday was under attack: 19 Median age of voters in the 2016 US presidential election: 53 In mayoral elections: 57 Ratio of white millennials who view the Republican Party favorably to those who view the Democratic Party favorably: 1:1 Portion of Americans who prefer to try alternative treatment before being prescribed pain medication: 4/5 Percentage by which opioid prescriptions outnumber residents in Trinity County, California: 44 Est. % change in male labor-force participation since 1999 linked to the opioid epidemic: –20 In female labor-force participation: –25 Percentage increase since 2015 in the amount West Virginia spends on substance-abuse prevention and treatment: 3 On hiring contractors to transport corpses: 102 Portion of migrants found dead in southern Arizona since 2001 who have yet to be identified: 2/5 Rank of the United States in 2014 among countries in which expats most want to live: 5 In 2017: 43 Percentage of US births that are paid for by Medicaid: 47 Est. portion of part-time college faculty in the United States who receive public assistance: 1/4 Number of US states that have reported teacher shortages since 2005: 50 Projected year in which the median net worth of black Americans will be $0: 2053 Average amount an American has paid in income taxes since 2001 to fund wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria: $7,170 Estimated percentage of Americans for whose entire lives the United States has been at war: 21 For the majority of whose lives the United States has been at war: 46 Ratio of domestic terrorism cases under investigation by the FBI to cases involving foreign terrorist groups: 1:1 % of African extremists who point to religion as a reason for joining an extremist group: 51 Who point to government action: 71 No. of German churches that housed asylum seekers last year to prevent their deportation: 692 Portion of Seattle’s luxury office space occupied by Amazon: 1/5 Estimated percentage increase since 1992 in the US Amish population: 150 Est. average % change last year in the traffic to news websites that announced a shift to video: –60 Portion of downtown San Francisco traffic violations from April to June that were committed by ride-sharing drivers: 2/3 Amount that North Korea owes New York City in parking tickets: $152,505 That Egypt owes: $1,989,554 Value of the prizes revoked from the Irish owners of a greyhound racing champion that tested positive for cocaine: $35,000 Total # of penalty minutes for fighting accrued by NHL’s senior VP of player safety: 1,092 Minimum number of NHL players whose children have been baptized in the Stanley Cup: 2 Whose children have defecated in the cup: 2 Portion of EPA Superfund sites whose cleanup costs are borne entirely by taxpayers: 3/10 Year in which wild bison were last observed in Germany before a sighting in Sept. 2017: 1755 Estimated hours after the sighting that the bison was killed by a local hunter: 5 % change since 10/2014 in the number of complaints about rats in Washington, D.C.: +64

9

Pumpkin toadlets cannot hear their own calls. Scientists discovered why poison frogs do not poison themselves and also that they can be triggered into foster-parenting unrelated tadpoles. Fifty-fifty custody is best for children, and a bronze seal seized by Turkish gendarmes in Hamamözü district was determined not to be Solomon’s.

A giant coconut-cracking rat was discovered in the Solomon Islands, and Bombay police blamed hungry rats for the disappearance of thirty-four kilograms of seized ketamine. A Karnataka snake rescuer removed a blind snake from the nostril of a cobra. A porpoise found in a medieval grave was being tested for seasoning to determine whether the monks who buried the porpoise ate it first. Fragments of a sack filled with bread by St. Francis and delivered to the Friary of Folloni by an angel were determined to be authentic. Palermo psychologists reported that inhabitants of the Sicilian town of Corleone were unwilling to speak on the record about Mafia activity.

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Sleep deprivation makes an eyewitness half again as likely to select an innocent person from a lineup in which the perpetrator is absent. Being visited by a rival male causes male fruit flies to defer sleep until later, but being visited by a virgin female eliminates the need for sleep altogether. Strange-face illusions appear when two strangers are asked to gaze at each other in the dark. Scientists suspected that erythropoietic protoporphyria, whose sufferers are injured by daylight and may seek relief by drinking blood, could be responsible for some vampire myths. A new troglodyte was discovered in eastern Turkmenistan. Single Grave Culture adopted the words for bean, pea, shrimp, sturgeon, and turnip from Funnel Beaker Culture. Raccoons seeking marshmallows can solve Aesop’s “Crow and Pitcher” puzzle. Genital herpes came from the hominid Paranthropus boisei. A macaque cared for the mummified corpse of her baby for weeks, then ate it, after which only a single bone remained. A psychiatrist investigated the neurobiological correlates of dwelling in squalor. Astronomers identified nine worlds ideally positioned to observe Earth, none of which are habitable. n

Harper’s Index is a registered trademark.

SOURCES: 1,2 Factba.se (Washington); 3 Tufts University Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (Boston); 4 Who Votes for Mayor? (Portland, Ore.); 5 GenForward (Chicago); 6 Gallup (Atlanta); 7 California Department of Public Health (Sacramento)/US Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.); 8,9 Alan Krueger, Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.); 10,11 West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (Charleston); 12 Humane Borders (Tucson, Ariz.); 13,14 InterNations (Munich); 15 Kaiser Family Foundation (Menlo Park, Calif.); 16 University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education; 17 Learning Policy Institute (Palo Alto, Calif); 18 Institute for Policy Studies (Boston); 19 US Department of Defense; 20,21 US Census Bureau; 22 Federal Bureau of Investigation; 23,24 United Nations Development Program (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); 25 Asyl in der Kirche (Berlin); 26 CoStar (San Diego); 27 Elizabethtown College Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies (Elizabethtown, Pa.); 28 comScore (Chicago); 29 San Francisco Police Department; 30,31 New York City Department of Finance; 32 Irish Greyhound Board (Limerick, Ireland); 33 Sports Reference (Philadelphia); 34,35 Hockey Hall of Fame (Toronto); 36 US Environmental Protection Agency; 37 German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bonn); 38 World Wildlife Fund Germany and Europe (Berlin); 39 Washington, D.C., Department of Health. 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 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 n I C O N n 37

The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

PLUSH MATERIAL

By Matt McKinley

ACROSS “I’m waiting ... ” “Volunteers?”

Bobbing refuse Word with man or dope Like typical laundromats Affluent San Diego community 23 Tolerate shrubland?

25 Crowd-drawing bars 26 Ancient queen, familiarly 27 Pot for paella 28 Sicilian six 29 Sports figure 30 Sewer needs 34 Hates 37 MLB set a season record for them in 2017 38 Times to call, in ads 39 Markers 41 Submerged threat 42 Office supply quantity 44 Term in wrestling or bowling 45 .3 rings?

48 Doctor’s orders 51 Receiver of many letters 53 Actress Kathryn 54 Pocket breads 56 BCS org.

57 Franklin’s 1936 opponent 59 Spanish coin 61 Local pic shower 62 Distress signal?

63 One who’s learned 67 Pres. after USG 68 Langley org.

69 Online exchange, briefly 70 Troon turndowns 71 Texas team’s fair exhibit?

75 Basie’s “__’Clock Jump” 76 Director DuVernay 77 Actor Vigoda 78 Bard’s dusk 79 Lumber mill workers 81 BOLO target 83 It can be hammered out 85 Runway adornment 87 “__ me ae spark o’ Nature’s fire”: Burns 88 London’s __ Modern 89 Some Deco works 91 Sea, with “the” 93 Maestro Georg 97 Different 99 Loyalty from a farm bird?

102 Overtake in a race, in a way 103 Grammy winner Jason 1 7 13 20 21 22

105 106 107 108 110 113

Schoolmarmish One given to forward looks Similar East Lansing sch.

“How clever of you!”

Office supplies, or, minus a letter, a supplier of them 115 Nashville attraction 117 Spanish 116-Down 118 Howard’s wife, to the Fonz 120 Letters before a view 121 Half of nothing new?

123 Successful religious conversion?

128 Peru neighbor 129 “The Wind in the Willows” croaker 130 Shamed 131 Saw-toothed 132 Blouse partners 133 Already-seen fare DOWN

1 “’__ some visitor,’ I muttered ... ”: Poe 2 __ farm 3 TV awareness-raiser 4 Colors 5 Confuse 6 Teenage Russian emperor (1727-1730) 7 Pitching staff leader 8 Acronymic NYC neighborhood 9 Give in 10 Ready 11 “Shh!” 12 N.T. book 13 Paper under a wiper 14 Man-made Georgia lake 15 Screwdriver parts, for short 16 Best 17 Apparatus that breeds laziness?

18 Union setting 19 Spinnaker holders 24 Writer __ de Balzac 28 Tortilla treat 30 Livens (up) 31 Nike competitor 32 N.C. neighbor 33 Bolivian capital 35 Red Square honoree 36 __ roles 40 Literally, “under city” 43 Ponte Vecchio’s river 45 See the bet

38 n I C O N n J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 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

46 47 49 50

__-Croatian They’re hard to break Whine Decision makers have them 52 New Mexico art hub 55 Witch enemy of Popeye 58 False front 60 “Without a doubt” 63 Acknowledge the brass 64 Admonition 65 Sound from a dying fire?

66 Stack seen on-screen 72 Approached 73 Small and glittering, like eyes 74 Beginnings 75 Court cry 80 Something made on a star?

82 Jury member 84 Country singer Gibbs 86 Glass-raised word 90 Accident investigation clue 92 __ license 94 Sommer of “The Prize” 95 Animal house 96 Hosp. personnel 98 Headed up 100 Academic retirees 101 Ore carrier 104 Gung-ho type 107 10-time Gold Glove

108 109 111 112 114 116 119

winner Roberto Early receiver of tablets __ bar Netman Agassi Fur tycoon Suffix with xenoEnglish 117-Across Series of 69-Across

122 “Ghost” psychic __ Mae Brown 123 Radio settings 124 Reasons for some sportscast split screens 125 Big Ten sch.

126 Novelist Deighton 127 Picks out of a mug book

Answer to December’s puzzle, TWO FOR ONE

agenda FINE ART

thrU 1/10 creative research at Muhlenberg college; works by Muhlenberg college faculty and staff. Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown, pA. muhlenberg.edu/gallery thrU 1/10 William hudders: three views.

Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew street, Allentown, pA. thrU 1/14 Jennifer hansen rolli, silverman gallery. buckingham green on rte. 202, 5 miles south of new hope. 4920 york rd., holicong, pA. 215-794-4300. silvermangallery.com 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 West chew street, Allentown, pA. muhlenberg.edu/gallery thrU 1/15 gelah penn, high tide. Martin Art gallery, baker center for the Arts, Muhlenberg college, 2400 West chew st., Allentown, pA. 1/13 - 1/21 pennsbury high school Art Majors show hosted by the Aoy Art center. opening reception 1/12, 5-8pm. free to public and all are welcome. gallery hours: sat and sun, 12 - 5pm. January 13-14, 2021. Artists of yardley, 949 Mirror lake road, yardley pA. artistsofyardley.org DANCE

dancing & romancing, Allentown symphony orchestra pops. 7:30 pM, Miller symphony hall, 23

north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715. Millersymphonyhall.org 2/6-2/7 riverdance, 20th Anniversary World tour. 7:30 pM, state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 1-800-999-stAte, 610252-3132. statetheatre.org 2/8-2/10 Master choreographers, world premiere dance works by acclaimed choreographers. Muhlenberg theatre & dance, 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/dance COMEDY

1/12 bobby collins, return of salsa dog. 7:30 pM, mature audiences. state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 1-800-999-stAte, 610-252-3132. statetheatre.org 2/2 ladies of laughter, Jane condon and patty rosborough. 7:30 pM, Miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-4326715. Millersymphonyhall.org THEATER

1/1-1/4 brouhaha, an escapade with six clowns at the end of the world. touchstone theatre, 321 east fourth st., bethlehem, pA. 610867-1689. touchstone.org 1/19-1/20 the Wizard of oz, 1/19, 7:30 pM and 1/20, 2 pM & 7:30 pM. state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 1-800-999-stAte, 610-252-3132. statetheatre.org 1/26 the Art of circus, 7 pM. state theatre, 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 1-800-999-stAte, 610-252-3132. statetheatre.org 2/1-2/4 brouhaha, performed by happenstance theater. touchstone theater, 321 east 4th st., bethle-

hem, pA. 610-867-1689. touchstone.org 2/3 the Jason bishop show, fun for the whole family, America’s hottest illusionist. 2 pM, Miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715.

Millersymphonyhall.org CONCERTS

1/6 pyrenesia. vintage jazz from lambertville-based band in acoustic listening room space! 8 pm.

1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch road, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. www.1867sanctuary.org 1/12 simon Johnson, organist from st. paul’s, london, Uk. 7:30 pM, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610-865-0727. nativitycathedral.org 1/13 the Whispering tree. Award-winning singer-songwriter duo. 8 pm.

1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch rd, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org 1/19 the philly pops presents, rufus Wainwright. featuring the philadelphia gay Men’s chorus. verizon hall, kimmel center, 300 south broad st., philadelphia, pA. 215-893-1999. phillypops.org 1/19 the laurence hobgood trio. Jazz Upstairs, Miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715.

Millersymphonyhall.org 1/20 the king’s singers, gold, 50th Anniversary World tour. 8 pM, Miller symphony hall, 23 north 6th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-6715.

Millersymphonyhall.org 1/21 thomas Meany and Michael simmon. classical flute and guitar. 8

pm. 1867 sanctuary Arts and culture center, 101 scotch road, ewing, nJ. 609-392-6409. www.1867sanctuary.org 1/28 pennsylvania sinfonia orchestra, "Winter vivaldi.” chamber ensemble with piano soloist, father sean duggan. 3:00 p.m., works by vivaldi, telemann, Zelenka and J.s. bach. Wesley church, 2540 center st., bethlehem, pA. 610-4347811. www.pAsinfonia.org 2/24 essence of Joy, the gospel choir from penn state. 7:30 pM, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610-865-0727. nativitycathedral.org MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 founders Way, bethlehem 610-332-1300 Artsquest.org JANUARY 5 craig thatcher band presents An evening of Jimi hendrix 6 colin Quinn 11 Matthew Morrison of glee 12 Megan davies 19 lehigh valley Underground 2nd birthday spectacular 25 xpn Welcomes strand of oaks FEBRUARY 8 xpn Welcomes the record company MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE 14 W. broadway, Jim thorpe, pA mcohjt.com 570-325-0249 JANUARY 3-7 peter pAn 12 slocan ramblers 13 dustin douglas & the electric gentlemen with guest ed randazzo 18 free range folk - free 19 damn the torpedoes (the tom petty show) 20 Us & floyd the pink floyd experience 27 hot blooded (the foreigner tribute)

2 3 8 9 10 15 16 17 18 23 24

FEBRUARY dead on live (radio city 1980 show) hey nineteen corky laing plays Mountain tusk tusk velvet caravan nyke van Wyk band the frontiers (the Journey tribute) John németh broken Arrow: (the classic neil young show) kashmir’ (the led Zeppelin show)

KESWICK THEATRE 291 n. keswick Ave, glenside, pA keswicktheatre.com 888-929-7849 6 13 20 21 25 3 6 8 9 10 11 16 17 23 24

JANUARY ’70s tribute revival tribute to U2, Meatloaf and Journey steven Wright kathleen Madigan tina karol lalah hathaway FEBRUARY tommy emmanuel cgp with guest rodney crowell the cAt in the hAt george clinton and the parliament funkadelic Masters of illusion Who’s bad: the World’s #1 Michael Jackson tribute celebrating david bowie vicki lawrence & Mama: A two-Woman show tape face chefs: A sizzling kitchen showdown demetri Martin EVENTS

1/27 souper bowl lx. Musikfest café, 101 founders Way, bethlehem, pA. steelstacks.org 2/25 girl scout cookie crunch. Musikfest café, 101 founders Way, bethlehem, pA. steelstacks.org

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 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 n I C O N n 39