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contents

FEBRUARY ~ 2013

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

TAKE EIGHT | 26 Starting his twentieth year as head honcho of a jazz quartet, Eric Mintel, who’s had multiple turns playing at the White House, is a rare octuple threat.

THE MASTER OF MASHED UP GENRES AND THE ACTOR’S ACTOR FIND HAPPINESS TOGETHER IN HORROR | 28 Paul Giamatti, loves variety. Don Coscarelli, the horror maestro behind Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep, has never been content to just throw gore on the wall and see what sticks. These two men, who abhor the obvious, were meant to be together.

THE RESIDENTS | 32 Forty years ago, an enigma inside of a riddle, rolled in the avant-garde, and topped by a briskly quirky musical and lyrical esprit de corps known as The Residents started life.

Eric Mintel.

FEATURES GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE IT ALL | 30 Millenial angst, body image, and the controversial phenomenon of Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls.

COLUMNS

WINE

City Beat | 5

Paul Giamatti.

Finding the “Original” Riesling | 40

STAGE

Harper’s Index | 53

Jim Delpino | 41

Regional Theater & Dance | 44 A Delicate Balance; Romeo & Juliet; Smoky Joe’s Café; Silent Night; Urinetown; Assassin; Spamalot; Balanchine / Wheeldon / Tharp; Bartholomew Fair

Agenda | 55

OPINION The Debacle of Gun Control | 6

ART Alliteration of the Month | 6

Footlights | 45

Speedcab | 7

Picnic

America’s Storytelling Artists | 8 Henri Matisse’s Painting Process | 10

FILM Cinematters | 16 John Dies at the End

MUSIC Nick’s Picks | 46 Terri Lyne Carrington; Jackie Ryan; Patricia Barber; Manhattan Vibes; Cliff Hines

Exhibitions | 14

Lena Dunham, star of HBO’s Girls.

L.A. Times Crossword | 52

Backstage | 5 Sally Friedman | 43

ETCETERA

Singer / Songwriter | 48

Keresman on Film | 18 Broken City

Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison; Murali Coryell; The Slide Brothers;

Bad Movie | 20 Gangster Squad

Dan Penn; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Reel News | 22 Argo; The Sessions; Looper; Film Roundup | 24 Zero Dark Thirty; Les Miserables; Lincoln; Beasts of the Southern Wild

FOOD Maxim’s 22 | 37 Positano Coast | 38

The Residents.

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Jazz Library | 49 Chet Baker

A Late Quartet

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Keresman on Disc | 50 Ulrich Gumpert & Günter Baby Sommer; Drivin’ ‘n’ Cryin’; The Monochrome Set; Kris Kristofferson; Bobby Bare; Juju/Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara; Don Cherry

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ON THE COVER: Put*on, for Mad magazine, January 1971. Mort Drucker (born 1929). Ink on illustration board, 25.5 x 20 inches. Private collection, ©Mort Drucker.

city beat

THOM NIICKELS

ThomNickels1@aol.com

MAY POTATO SALAD FALL on your head if you were one of those who believed the Mayan calendar “prophecy” about the world ending on December 21st. We’re thinking of the gathering that took place at Stonehenge—that collection of 5,000-year-old time clock rocks on Easter Island—on that date by assorted New Agers who believed that the end was near. Some wore colorful Peruvian hats, while others dressed as white witches in capes and leotards. The leotard people danced like Shiva goddesses as the sun came up, a celebration tied to the end of the 13th Baktun Mayan cycle. Various men in the crowd donned Viking or Plains Indian costumes. Others wore nothing special but you could see them looking skyward in a worshipful way as the sun rose. Generally, there was a wide mix of reactions among the Stonehenge crowd to the world not ending. Many hugged another and others looked tearfully into the sun. One man bowed his head and then reverently placed the palms of his hands together in imitation of the Dali Lama. We had to wonder if he even knew to what or to whom he was praying. No doubt he was channeling the general mishmash: the sun, the good vibes, the big crowd around him, or even Stonehenge itself (all those cool rocks, etc.). Speaking of rocks, we always get emails from the Union League of Philadelphia that Newt Gingrich is coming to town. Last year’s announcement concerned the former Speaker being awarded the organization’s prestigious Lincoln Award. Gingrich has always been fascinating. Liberal on some issues (like gay marriage), he can stun with sudden reversals into right wing territory. While we thought it odd that our request to cover last year’s award ceremony was turned down (Gingrich didn’t want any press present we were told) we had high hopes in late 2012 when we got another email announcing another Gingrich visit. Once again, we were told: “Gingrich doesn’t want any press present.” While we’re not quite ready to throw in the towel, we do have to wonder why the venerable League keeps sending us (the press) emails when Gingrich doesn’t want the press present. This is pretty strange stuff and makes about as much sense as those Stonehenge people pretending to be the Dali Lama. The 1970s great crossover erotic film, Emmanuelle, took the world by storm. It featured Dutch beauty Sylvia Kristel. Emmanuelle followed the misadventures of a married couple in Thailand, and was a popular hit in Philadelphia’s old Center Theater at 16th and Market. While the film brought in sailors, businessmen, and even family physicians from the Main Line, it did not have the crude following (or flavoring) of films in old Philly theaters like The Apollo and The Studio, both hardcore XXX Mafia-run cesspools where nothing was left to the imagination, and where patrons were sometimes beaten by management. Although the Center was demolished years ago to make way for Willard Rouse’s One Liberty Place, we’re sure there’s still “Kristel vibrations” in the ground there despite her death from cancer last year at age 60. For most Americans, Kristel was a soft porn queen, but in the Netherlands she was the international star of more than 60 films. That’s why we were pleased when we saw Kristel in the Museum of Art’s screening of the films of Manon de Boer featured in the exhibition Live Cinema/Manon de Boer: Resonating Surfaces—A Trilogy, in which Sylvia appears in a 39-minute full face monologue-memoir talking about her life in Paris, Los Angeles, and New York. The Live Cinema Trilogy runs through February 10th. Now that LGBT has gone mainstream, where do old LGBT activists go to die? We’d like to be able to say anywhere, from Roxborough’s Cathedral Village, Center City’s Watermark, to Ann’s Choice in the Northeast, all posh locations for people with money. The John C. Anderson low income apartments for seniors currently being built at 13th and Spruce Streets will be more than LGBT friendly. Life there will certainly not echo the homophobic refrain we heard in the 1970s when we tried to rent a room at the nearby Parker Hotel and a desk clerk screamed, “Two men, two beds!” While low income housing for senior citizens doesn’t inspire visions of life on the QT (don’t look for a photo spread of The Anderson in Philly

Journalist Thom Nickels’ books include Philadelphia Architecture, Tropic of Libra, Out in History and Spore. He is the recipient of the 2005 Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Architecture Journalism Award. thomnickels.blogspot. com

backstage

BRUCE H. KLAUBER

drumalive@aol.com

An Afternoon of Jazz and Classical Music for Musicopia “An Afternoon of Jazz and Classical Music: Benefiting Musicopia,” the gala concert being sponsored by ICON, Jacobs Music and WRTI Radio on June 2nd, will feature the area’s most impressive jazz and classical music artists, including jazz singer Paula Johns, pianist Jimmy Dell ‘Orifice, bassist Steve Beskrone, drummer Grant MacAvoy, the astounding Musicopia Student Drumline, the hard-swinging All-Star Jazz Quartet, and other performers to be announced. WRTI radio personality Bob Perkins has graciously joined as host of the event. Watch this space, and ICON’s Facebook page, for updates on performers, ticket availability, web site information and other details as they come in. Boardwalk Beat Backstage at Atlantic City’s Resorts Hotel/Casino stands as hallowed ground. Mr. Sinatra stood here, as did Dean, Shecky, Alan King and Steve and Eydie, who were the first headliners booked at what was then called Resorts International, the first legal casino in Atlantic City, on May 26, 1978. I am here with singer Peter Lemongello, who embodies the show business tradition of the aforementioned, and has just completed a spectacular show, marking his return to the shore after, as they say, too long an absence. Lemongello, whose history has encompassed the highest levels of showbusiness, is a survivor, having weathered the storm of changing times and changing tastes. He continues to have a rabid fan following, and many of his performances here, which are ongoing through February 16th, are sold-out. Though it’s been 20 years since I’ve heard him, Lemongello is still an astounding singer, with an extraordinary range, intonation, and breath control. Yes, he sings the 1970s pop stuff he’s known for, but swings mightily on several Sinatra charts and other vocal showpieces. He’s a likeable and affable presence on stage as well, which is why everyone just loves this guy! As for Resorts, some exciting things are happening here, which we’ll cover in detail in the next “Backstage.” For Art’s Sake: We’re Number 12! ArtPlace is a national coalition of 13 foundations, banks and federal agencies—including the National Endowment for the Arts—dedicated to funding and accelerating what they call “creative placemaking.” ArtPlace has recently recognized Old City Philadelphia as “one of the most vibrant, art-oriented neighborhoods in the nation,” specifically, one of the top 12 in the county. For those who keep track of such things, Brooklyn, New York, obviously no longer bothered by losing the Dodgers, came in first. The criteria for their ArtPlace’s selections was choosing a community that “successfully combined art, artists and venues for creativity and expression with independent businesses, retail shops and restaurants—and a walkable lifestyle— to make a vibrant neighborhood.” That’s Old City, all right. But we knew that all along. Our Pick? The Keswick The Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA, continues to go its own, eclectic way with its wellthought out bookings of musical revues, rock, jazz, folk, legit theater, magic, comedy and all else that is entertainment. Though each and every act is top-drawer, the facility itself is also well worth seeing. It was built in 1928 and designed by one Horace Trumabuer, who also created a little place called The Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Keswick is the kind of personal, intimate space, where audiences can connect with the performer in a manner not possible in arenas. Highlights of their formidable schedule include Wilmington’s George Thorogood and the Destroyers on March 14th, ”Jesus Christ Superstar” from March 28th through March 30th, Bill Cosby on April 7th, B.B. King April 17th, and a show called “Motown Meets Rock and Roll” on April 28th. The Motown program, refreshingly an afternoon show, is quite a special one for Philadelphians, as one of the stars is Bobby Rydell. On July 9th, Bob had a kidney and partial liver transplant. On September 25th, he had his first rehearsal to see if he was ready to hack it. His first actual performance was on October 28th. Bobby is unbelievable and vastly underrat-

Bruce Klauber is the biographer of jazz great Gene Krupa, writer/producer of the Warner Bros. and Hudson Music "Jazz Legends" DVD series, CD producer for the Barcelona-based Fresh Sound Records, Public Relations Director of the Philadelphia non-profit, Jazz Bridge; a working jazz drummer and entertainment industry professional since childhood. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Temple University and an Honorary Doctorate from Combs College of Music for his "contributions to music scholarship and jazz performance."

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opinion

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

The debacle of gun control

Filling the hunger since 1992

RICHARD COHEN

1-800-354-8776 • voice: 215-862-9558

ONCE, AFTER I HAD written about gun control, a guy called to differ and said that had the Jews of Germany been armed, the Holocaust never would have happened. That assertion, so ahistorical as to be almost laughable, stopped me in my tracks because it went to the black heart of the gun-control debate: It’s not about guns. It’s about the government. It’s about the government in two respects. The first is the conviction that guns are needed to protect Americans from their own government. This fear—maybe paranoia is the better word—is embedded in the National Rifle Association’s message and in the statements of its officials. As The Post recently reminded us, shortly before the 1995 bombing of a government office building in Oklahoma City (168 dead), Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, proclaimed that a recently enacted assault-weapons ban gave “jackbooted Government thugs more power to take away our constitutional rights, break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property and even injure and kill us.” He said nothing about pets and daughters. The second way the gun-control debate is about government relates to crime—the belief that the government is either unwilling or unable to protect us. That this belief seems to have solidified at precisely a time when crime has diminished is both mysterious and frightening. Like almost everything else in America, it has to do with race and ethnicity and the vertiginous feeling that the country is no longer one big extended family but a collection of tribes. Taken together, what we have is the cratering of liberalism, which is deeply associated with government—its growth, its utility. All across the nation in recent days, political leaders have declared their intention to rein in guns, but all they have done actually is signal defeat. They have proposed this or that marginal program— something about magazines, something about bullets, something about background checks, something about assault rifles and maybe, just to be truly silly, something about mental health, as if the crazed shooter can be easily Rorschached. (James Eagan Holmes, the accused Aurora, Colo., shooter, had sought psychiatric help.) All this and nothing about the core problem, which is hand-

guns. They have remained out of bounds although they account for the vast majority of the 100,000 or so annual shootings—an astounding one million gun deaths since 1968. The liberal agenda once included confiscating handguns and abolishing the right to own one—never mind the right to carry one at all times. In his book Living With Guns, Craig Whitney excavates the fact that in 1969 a presidential commission called for the confiscation of almost all handguns—and the prosecution of those who would not comply. The commission was headed by Milton S. Eisenhower, the brother of the former president and no one’s idea of a left-wing radical. (He was the former president of Johns Hopkins University.) Much has changed since then. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a respected anti-gun group, used to be called Handgun Control. The name itself shows how far things have come. The goal of handgun control, not to mention elimination, is now out of the question. The Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision certainly put it out of reach, but even before that, a Milton Eisenhower-type call to seize all the guns would have been met with derision. The once sturdy and sensible liberal goal had become an embarrassment. The gun argument has drifted so far to the right that the question now is whether employers can prohibit their employees from bringing a gun to work. The NRA’s remedy for the (still) rare school shooting is to arm teachers and security guards so that any hallway could become a latter-day O.K. Corral—no Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday, just a paunchy retired guy with the keen eye of Mr. Magoo. For liberals, the debacle has been complete. A conservative response to liberal remedies proved overwhelming. With the Supreme Court’s permission, America armed itself—the 24 million handguns cited in the 1969 Eisenhower report is now much greater, a danger posing as a deterrent, and the Second Amendment is more strictly interpreted than even the First. (You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater, but you can bring a gun into it.) The guy who thought armed Jews could have prevented the Holocaust is the fringe no longer. Now, it’s the rest of us. ■

fax: 215-862-9845

www.iconmagazineonline.com Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com Raina Filipiak

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City Beat Editor Thom Nickels Fine Arts Editors Edward Higgins Burton Wasserman Classical Music Editor Peter H. Gistelinck Music Editors Nick Bewsey Mark Keresman Bob Perkins Tom Wilk Theater Critic David Schultz Food Editor Robert Gordon Wine Editor Patricia Savoie Contributing Writers A.D. Amorosi Robert Beck Jack Byer Peter Croatto

James P. Delpino Sally Friedman Geoff Gehman Bruce H. Klauber George Oxford Miller Thom Nickels R. Kurt Osenlund Victor Stabin

PO Box 120 • New Hope, PA 18938 (800) 354-8776 Fax (215) 862-9845 ICON is published twelve times per year. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor, editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. Subscriptions are available for $40 (shipping & handling). Copyright 2013 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

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a thousand words

STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

Speedcab THE CHRISTMASES I NOW spend in New York are nothing like the ones of my suburban childhood. Those earlier memories were formed more than fifty years ago in a white Cape Cod with green shutters and a fireplace, and have been improved upon with each recollection since. I remember clearly how time and place slowed to an agonizing standstill toward the end of those Decembers. There’s no pause for holidays in New York. Decorations and tidings coexist with the constant imperative that things require doing and places need going to. Even early in the morning before streets start to fill, Christmas or not, the city is drumming its fingers, waiting. Being anywhere away from home makes me uncomfortable, and I get antsy to paint. Working at the easel makes me feel safe and in control. I have a full kit in the closet strapped to a small hand truck so it’s ready to go when I feel anxious. I start to shift into my painting head as I pick my clothes. It was only 34 degrees (but not below freezing ) so I selected a fingerless pair of gloves, heavy socks and work boots. It was sunny, so I needed a hat with a bill and a hoodie. At the same time I begin a mental release, becoming a voyager separate from and traveling through the environment, all ears and eyes, looking for something that resonates. There is a story ascribed to John Singer Sargent that when he was on the road painting those gorgeous landscapes he would find some of his subjects by picking a number and walking that many steps from the hotel. True or not, I like the spirit of it—the notion that the goal is not finding the perfect subject; it’s doing a good painting. I delight in the challenge of taking something that doesn’t have a postcard presence but does have a strong identity and using it as my launching pad. I had a good cigar in my pocket—a Christmas gift—and since you can’t smoke in the parks anymore I was going to look for a street scene with that sense of identity. I walked less than a block and was glancing down 66th when…zoom…a cab leapt through the intersection in a single bound, the clop-clop of tires skimming a manhole cover. It made a squat landing on the other side and continued at throttle up the avenue. I’ve been on some wild Manhattan cab rides and some of those drivers have more than a touch of crazy. Spend any time walking around the city and you develop cab radar, or you die. That careening flash of yellow was a prime example of New York doing and going. I had found my subject and set-up back from the corner to be out of the flow.

There was a time when the Checker was the iconic Manhattan cab, but for the last 20 years the Crown Victoria has ruled the streets. Ford stopped making them in 2011 and the car-as-cab look is already yielding to uncharming, purpose-built vans. The one in my painting had to be a Crown Vic, and it required one of those illuminated billboards on top that advertise a Broadway play or gentleman’s club. One went by every minute or so. Clop-clop. I left the cab out of the image until the rest of the painting was set so I could choose the best location. It’s a natural inclination to put it on the left side heading right, like we read. Placing it leaving the image would have evoked feelings of something missed, of being left behind, creating a more visceral painting. I think about that every time I look at it, but still like the taxi where it is. I wanted to give the cab a sense of speed without employing streaks or blurring, but wasn’t sure how that was going to happen. When painting the crosswalks I noticed the lines created a lateral rhythm that suggested movement. If the painting had been about the buildings and the shaft of sky I might have softened the lines or put people walking in front to break up that hard repetition, but the string of white dashes provides the propulsion I was hoping for. Sunlight hitting the back of the trunk and roof gives an extra push, sending the cab on its way across the picture plane and up the avenue so it can quickly get where it has to go on a New York holiday morning. ■ Robert Beck lives in Bucks County and maintains a gallery and school in Lambertville, NJ. Email: robert@robertbeck.net Website: www.robertbeck.net

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art

EDWARD HIGGINS

America's storytelling artists

TAKE A VAST SELECTION of types, styles, flavors, both savory and sweet, mix them and serve as soup and you have mulligatawny; as salad it’s salmagundi; spread out it’s smorgasbord. If it’s an exhibition of illustration since Howard Pyle, it’s State of the Art: Illustration 100 years after Howard Pyle opening this month at the Delaware Art Museum. The exhibition is the end of a year-long homage to Howard Pyle and his influence. Guest curated by David Apatoff, the show is comprised of some 60 works by eight artists working in illustration. Only one of the group is deceased. The curator’s background is reflected in his choices: Apatoff is an art scholar, a biographer, an illustrator himself, a blogger, and he also practices technology law in Washington, DC. “No single exhibition could possibly do justice to the noisy, rambunctious history of illustration over the past century,” Apatoff says. “I’ve chosen instead to feature eight individuals whose diverse talents demonstrate that illustration is no longer the singular profession it was in Pyle’s day. It pervades our culture, reaching out to us from billboards, television, store windows, and computer screens.” He could have also mentioned that today’s illustrators are increasingly both designers and art directors. The illustrators included are Bernie 8

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Fuchs, Milton Glaser, Mort Drucker, Peter de Seve, John Cuneo, Phil Hale, Sterling Hundley, and Ralph Eggleston. Within this group are artists who have painted presidents, designed U.S. postage stamps, designed the “I (heart) New York” icon, illustrated covers for Time and Mad magazines, illustrated classics art and directed Toy Story. They’ve seen their work in the most prestigious art museums, and provided article illustration for Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, comic books and, of course, worked for Disney. Bernie Fuchs, who died in 2009, gained fame as an illustrator of automobiles, and later moved on to the U.S. postage stamps that featured “Leadbelly” and Woody Guthrie. He did portraits of presidents and celebrities. He turned to illustration after losing three fingers on his right hand in an accident that ended his ambition to be a trumpet player. Milton Glaser, who co-founded New York Magazine, designed the I Love New York icon and been featured in the Museum of Modern Art. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and Cooper Union. His work has earned numerous awards and a National Medal of Arts. He did a poster with both Bob Dylan and Philip Larkin—an unexplained pairing. Mort Drucker, a classic caricaturist, is W W W. I C O N D V. C O M

the celebrated illustrator for Mad magazine who worked there for more than 50 years. His skill has been displayed on covers for Time magazine and is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame said of Drucker, “I think he draws everything the way we would all like to draw.” Phil Hale, a New Englander who currently lives in London, occupies a position akin to N.C. Wyeth. He is both illustrator and fine art painter and the dividing line is remarkably thin. His realistic style has been used in books by such diverse authors as Joseph Conrad and Steven King. There is a dark side to many of his works that is dramatic and staged. Sterling Hundley, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, is a professional’s professional, whose clients have included the New Yorker, Red Bull, the Washington Post, Major League Baseball, and Entertainment Weekly. John Cuneo’s work is hilarious and erotic and he has also worked for the New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated and the Atlantic Monthly. His drawings of stars such as Calista Flockhart, Hugh Grant, and Salman Rushdie have appeared in Entertainment Weekly. Peter de Seve should be well-known to children of all ages as he has worked on

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Monsters Inc. and all three Ice Age movies. Adults have seen his work in Newsweek. He studied as the Parsons School for Design and has won an Emmy for animation. Ralph Eggleston was the art director for the first feature-length, fully computer-animated film, Toy Story. He directed a short film, For the Birds, which won an Oscar. Eggleston also worked on Finding Nemo and WALL-E. The age-old debate over what is art and where is the line between art and illustration, has not been made any easier with the development of the digital age. It’s probably silly to attempt to straighten out the dilemma that each person must solve for him or herself. At the very least, these artists are consummate technicians and have the ability to produce works that encapsulate emotions and abstract concepts that are impactful, accessible, and, in many cases, their visions have changed our culture. That’s something Pyle would have appreciated. n

The Odd Father for Mad, December 1972. Mort Drucker (born 1929). Ink on illustration board, 11.5 inches x 28 inches. Private collection, ©Mort Drucker.

Edward Higgins is a member of The Association Internationale Des Critiques d’Art.

This page: Shipwreck,2007. Sterling Hundley (born 1976). Acrylic, ink, gouache, and collage on board, 16.25 x 14 inches. Collection of the artist.

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BURTON WASSERMAN

An exploration of

Henri Matisse’s painting process

AD HE CHOSEN TO do so, Henri Matisse could surely have conjured a glorious paradise from tubes of oil paint. You can see this for yourself in the solo exhibition of his brilliantly colorful pictures, currently on view until March 17, 2013 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The overall installation is titled Matisse: in Search of True Painting. Some 49 vividly chromatic canvases showcase the artist’s gift for confronting familiar genre themes. Employing an exceptional creative drive, he painted various subjects with uncompromising honesty and an adamant refusal to settle for obvious appearances, rendered with a merely facile touch. Matisse was his own most severe taskmaster. As a painter, he sought endlessly to achieve ultimate clarity, order and economy in his work. Again and again he sought to pare his language of vision down to a degree of abbreviation that allowed him to say the most by using a severe minimum of means. Early in the 20th century he brought this empirical process of refinement to his work as a painter. Exercising an approach that gave great emotional truth to aesthetic fulfillment, he built a career as a serious artist. Along the way, he helped transform the manner of making art. Seeing examples of his oeuvre from 1900 to 1950, you find yourself in touch with the spirit and reality of a distinctively dynamic era, seeking, at its best, to move forward. Students are often advised to, “Paint what you know.” This installation of artworks by Matisse is alive with many examples of this maxim. Typically, there are vernacular still lifes, a wide variety of interior settings, Paris cityscapes, outdoor countrysides and the human figure, both nude and clothed. As he proceeded with these assorted themes, he also explored all sorts of regular and irregular shapes, great variations of hue, many local and exotic patterns and an abundance of interactive space relationships. At the same time, the exhibition sheds light on Matisse’s process of using completed artworks as instruments for comparing different ways of resolving a given compositional idea. He called this methodology, “True” painting. Typically, providing examples of this practice, the installation features several versions of a “View of Notre Dame Cathedral.” They range from a relatively representational, picture postcard treatment to an almost all blue semi-cubist abstraction in which space dissolves the stone structure of the church into a series of flat planes vibrating with each other. All of these scenes come alive on the retina of your eye. Other impressive items in the show deal with variations 10

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of the 20th century hail the arrival of a new age. For the art historian, the participation by Matisse in the Fauve movement crystalized the fact that a new period had dawned in the history of Western civilization. But, in a broader sense, his efforts as a painter, parallel the accomplishments of such farseeing scientists and engineers of the period as Freud, Curie, Edison, Daimler, Ford, Bell and the Wright Brothers. For the connoisseur, the ultimate significance of a painting by Matisse is the sheer intensity of his expressive integrity. He accomplished this by investing a composition with a profound sense of freshly minted craftsman-like thoroughness. Over and over again, he would deal with what attracted his attention. No matter what the subject, he always sought to strip away the banal, excessive and superficial appearance of people, places and things in order to get to their true, interior core being. In the process, he would transform his perceptions into a new composite, painted on a flat surface with an uncompromised life and a reality of feeling, true to its own unique character. Invariably, what may appear at first to be absurdly simple, was actually arrived at by slow, inventive and complex processes of distillation—which is not at all the same thing as merely being simple. However, as it always must be with painting, you have to see the actual canvases with your own eyes in order to know what they are actually about and how they function. Only then can the full meaning of his reduction to minimal terms, with all of its mystery and subtlety, become entirely clear, self-evident and understandable. Ultimately, he achieved extraordinary states of grace, equilibrium and refinement. The French writer, Louis Aragon, once said, “Young men have only dreams, old men only memories.” Between these polar opposites, binding them together, there is the art of Henri Matisse. The exhibition currently mounted at the Met, appears to confirm this claim. ■ based on different models who posed for him at various stages of his career. Notable among these works are portraits of one of his favorites named Laurette. Another exceptional figure study is the picture of his studio assistant, Lydia Delectorskya, titled “The Large Blue Dress.” It is on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The woman, painted in primary colors of red, yellow and blue, is surrounded by a stark black perimeter. She dominates the overall space, emerging from the enclosing form with impressive force. The billowing shapes of her dress emphasize the model’s presence while the contrast of bright and dark colors generates an exciting sense of drama. With awesome daring, the paintings from the early years

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Henri Matisse (French, 1869 – 1954), Notre Dame, 1914. Oil on canvas, 58 x 37 1/8 inches. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, and the Henry Ittleson, A. Conger Goodyear, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sinclair Funds, and the Anna Erickson Levene Bequest given in memory of her husband,m Dr. Phoebus Aaron Theodor Levene, 1975. ©2012 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Dr. Burton Wasserman is a professor emeritus of Art at Rowan University, and a serious artist of long standing. Dr. Wasserman’s program Art From Near and Far is on WWFM in Central and Northern New Jersey and Bucks County and WGLS in S. Jersey.

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Henri Matisse (French, 1869 – 1954), Young Sailor II, 1906. Oil on canvas, 39 7/8 x 32 5/8 inches. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection (1999.363.41). ©2012 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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Painting by Eric Rhinehart.

Lyrical Artists’ Gallery 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-4588 www.lambertvillearts.com Friday–Sunday 11 AM–6 PM February 8–March 3 Reception 2/9, 4–7 PM Unidentified Lakota artist, Untitled (Lakota Star Quilt with Purple Flowers), cotton, 84 1⁄2 x 69 1⁄2.

Creating: Quilts of the Lakota Arthur Ross Gallery / University of Pennsylvania 220 S. 34th Street, Philadelphia 215-898-2083 www.upenn.edu/ARG Weekdays 10:00am – 5:00pm; Weekends 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm Closed Mondays. February 8 – April 7, 2013

Over twenty eye-dazzling 20th and 21st century quilts from the Pine Ridge Heritage Center and Indian Reservation in South Dakota will be exhibited. This will be the first time most of these quilts will be exhibited publically and published. Mary Bordeaux, a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, will co-curate this exhibition with the Arthur Ross Gallery. “Making items for family and the community is a large part of the Lakota’s way of life” notes Bordeaux. In addition, 19th-century Lakota artifacts, such as moccasins, a cradleboard, and parfleche boxes, will be lent by the Penn Museum to provide a context for Native sewing traditions prior to the introduction of quilting at Pine Ridge. Saturday, Feb. 9, 11:00 am: Artist Talk with Lakota quilter Janyce Trask. Friday, Feb. 22, 7:30 pm: World Premier Reading of Miracle Play by Sheldon Wolf.

A very special group show featuring artwork by the Gallery’s 18 house artists, celebrating poetry and song through fine art. For this show each of the artists will offer pieces accompanied by inspiration they received from a poem or song. Visitors will find a variety of genres from classical to contemporary in several different media, including painting, photography, and sculpture. Participating artists: Beatrice Bork, Gail Bracegirdle, Jennifer Cadoff, Paul Grecian, Richard Harrington, Charlie Katzenbach, Joe Kazimierczyk, Norine Kevolic, Alan Klawans, Patricia Lange, Alla Podolsky, Eric Rhinehart, Carol Sanzalone, Doug Sardo, Michael Schweigart, John Treichler, Charles David Viera and Andrew Werth.

Work by Jennifer Cadoff.

Unidentified Lakota artist, Untitled (Pink with Headdress Lakota Star Quilt), cotton, 85 x 75 3⁄4.

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Work by Paul Grecian.

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Dress by Miyuki Nishizawa, photography by Yoshiko Yamamoto, model: Shinko Konishi. Part of Lollipop, Gutai Influences

LOLLIPOP: Gutai Influences FUSE Art Infrastructure Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 31 North Fifth Street Allentown, PA www.allentownfuse.org February 10 – March 2, 2013 A group of twenty-five artists traveling from Osaka, Japan, to Allentown, Pennsylvania, will take part in LOLLIPOP: Gutai Influences, organized by FUSE Art Infrastructure. For three weeks, members of the artist group AU (Art Unidentified), led by internationally renowned Miyuki Nishizawa, will live in Allentown and create work at Cigar Factory Studios, hold workshops at area colleges and universities, present work at private galleries, and hold public performances and exhibitions throughout the Lehigh Valley, beginning with a public meet-and-greet at the Allentown Art Museum on February 10. The group’s visit to Allentown coincides with the opening of an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Splendid Playground (February 15–May 8, 2013), which explores the Gutai movement of Japan as one of the most important international avant-garde movements of the 1950s and ’60s. Shozo Shimamoto, mentor and friend to many of the LOLLIPOP artists, is a prominent figure in the historic Guggenheim show. He is one of the leaders and cofounders of Gutai (which means “embodiment”) and founder and president of the three-hundred-member artists’ group AU (Art Unidentified). For more information and a complete schedule of LOLLIPOP events, go to www.allentownfuse.org

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cinematters

PETE CROATTO

Chase Williamson.

John Dies at the End

FOR THE PAST MONTH, the buzz surrounding Oscar nominations has turned movies into a big plate of vegetables that we have to eat. This year’s big nominees—Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty—all have purpose: the grandeur of American history, love (or a dance contest) conquers all, current events come alive. It almost makes me feel guilty for enjoying The Avengers or 21 Jump Street as much as I did. This solemn façade never holds for too long. Ironically, the first two months of the year are also when studios display their damaged goods in the hopes that someone might take them. OK, we got Marlon Wayans! He’s stale, but your kid might like him! Yo, who wants Gangster Squad! Gosling and Stone aren’t quite ripe for a mob movie, but they’ll blossom! As a movie fan, every year I go through the same routine: the giddy anticipation of November and December gives way to the grim desperation of January and February. Occasionally, one of these new misfit toys will do more than provide relief from the suffocating fumes of prestige or remind us that Cedric the Entertainer is still alive. Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End, opening in Philadelphia this month after playing On Demand, possesses an intoxicat16

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ing, raggedy energy. You’re not sure where Coscarelli is taking you, but we don’t mind. The ride is the movie. John Dies at the End, based on the book by David Wong, has a center. A young man named Dave (Chase Williamson) talks to a newspaper reporter (Paul Giamatti) about his abilities to cross time and dimensions, thanks to being injected with a black substance called “Soy Sauce.” Dave and his similarly affected buddy John (Rob Mayes) battle all sorts of paranormal problems--like demons made out of meat, for example. They have made powerful enemies. That happens when you can slow down time and hear other people’s thoughts, I guess. Coscarelli, probably best known for Phantasm (as well as its three sequels) and Bubba Ho-Tep, has made a career out of going beyond campy first impressions. Despite its content—horror at a funeral home; Elvis Presley and JFK battling a mummy—those two movies possessed a goofy self-awareness to go with their sensitivity. Coscarelli brings that same fun to John Dies at the End. Unlike M. Night Shaymalan or the Wachowski siblings, he can express intellectual curiosity without the pretension. Dave and John’s issues— which include attacking moustaches, giant insects, and (why

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not?) world destruction—aren’t treated solely as an excuse to comment on the constraints of time or to offer insight into expanding our horizons. For the two friends, it’s an inconvenience. OK, so distressed citizens from the future consider them a savior. They’ll get right back to them after shooting hoops. That Giamatti, perhaps America’s finest actor, is involved here isn’t accidental. Smart actors—and rabid movie fans— already know that it doesn’t matter if a movie is a blockbuster or a character study or a romantic comedy. Good movies are good movies and serious movies aren’t necessarily good movies. The Academy Awards has turned forgetting those facts into a yearly tradition, which is how Les Misérables and Life of Pi become the year’s best. Movies like John Dies at the End exist to make sure we don’t fall into that trap. [R] ■ A senior critic at Filmcritic.com from 2002 to 2007, Pete Croatto also reviews movies for The Weekender. His essays, reviews, and features have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Publishers Weekly, TCNJ Magazine, Deadspin, and The Star-Ledger. You can read more on his blog, whatpeteswatching.blogspot.com.

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keresman on film

Russell Crowe, Barry Pepper and Mark Wahberg.

MARK KERESMAN

Broken City

ROKEN CITY, THE LATEST film from director Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents, From Hell) is a throwback to films of the 1950s and ‘60s in that it’s a drama, with very little in the way of comedy or action/violence. It’s about intrigue(s), about what happens when some powerful and/or damaged people are in a situation that they are trying their best to control or navigate. Examples from back-when: Some Came Running (1958), Harper (1966, a detective story but it fits here), and what Broken City most recalls, The Detective (1968). Broken City is the story of disgraced ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg), who was forced to quit the NYPD after being accused of wrongfully killing a suspect, turned private investigator. He is hired by Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe, playing against type) to learn who is messing ‘round with his wife Cathleen (Catharine Zeta-Jones)—further complication: A Mayoral election nears, with idealistic young rich handsome (think of a Kennedy) candidate named, if you can believe it, Valliant (Barry Pepper). Naturally, Hostetler—imagine a cross between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney—wants to win because…gosh darn it, he thinks he’s the best man for 18

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the job, and he cares [ahem] for NYC. Like all ex-cops and most private detectives in the movies, Taggart has got troubles—his clients don’t pay him, he’s a recovering alcoholic, and his lovely girlfriend (Natalie Martinez) is a fledgling actress to whom he’s not exactly Mr. Supportive—fact is, he seems unable to handle the attention she gets. (Stop me if you’ve heard this in a movie before: “I’ve seen the way he looks at you…”) He’s an unpretentious, down-to-earth guy but just a hair away from being a jerk. (Cripes, can’t we see well-adjusted cops and private dicks anyplace else besides Barney Miller and Rockford Files reruns? He goes to work for the Mayor, finding and photographing a gent hanging out with wifey…and whaddaya know, said gent ends up dead after the Mayor sees the pics. Does Taggart feel set-up, manipulated, have a crisis of conscience, and start drinking again? What do you think? While almost everything about Broken City feels/seems a bit predictable, it works as a drama about financial and political power and what some folks will do to keep it, regardless of whom their actions hurt. It’s about secrets that can destroy lives, and about the intersection (or thin line) between “legitimate” business and political practices and physical thuggery. It seems odd, yet interesting, to see the usually

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physical/macho Crowe playing a speak-somewhat-softly-butwields-a-powerful-truncheon character. Crowe’s Hostetler walks a line between being a debonair charmer and a smarmy SOB—in other words, Mitt Ro…aw, forget it. ZetaJones is under-used but she’s good as the unhappy trophywife, balancing great sadness and flinty tenacity. Wahlberg is good but he’s not given much of a character to work with. He’s tough but emotionally frail, he’s earthy, occasionally sardonic, he’s good Joe from the neighborhood with a stubborn sense of justice…he’s basically every NYC cop you’ve ever seen in the movies. Jeffrey Wright plays the mostly honestbut-political police commissioner that’s Taggart’s link to the NYPD, one of the few characters with any ambiguity. Martinez is beautiful and is good at looking hurt, but her actor-pals (despised by Tag, natch) are strictly from central casting. In general, the dialogue and direction is okay, but nothing special. Broken City, in the end, is a good-but-not-great movie, the kind of fare that usually gets released in January. (But compared to Gangster Squad, it’s Oscar material). ■ In addition to ICON, Mark Keresman is a contributing writer for SF Weekly, East Bay Express, Pittsburgh City Paper, Paste, Jazz Review, downBeat, and the Manhattan Resident.

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bad movie

MARK KERESMAN

Gangster Squad

FIRST, A LITTLE HISTORICAL context: In Los Angeles in the 1940s (maybe earlier), the LAPD had a unique, somewhat unsophisticated but rather effective method of discouraging the organized criminal fraternities of the East Coast and Midwest from expanding their operations to the City of Angels. Visiting gangsters would be met and “braced” by members of the LAPD, acting well beneath the radar—“braced” being old slang for beating the crap out of them, then advising them in no uncertain terms to grab the next train outta-town posthaste. These enterprising but extralegal members of the LAPD were known as “the hat squad” and their exploits were illustrated in the neo-noir films LA Confidential (1997) and Mulholland Falls (1996) and even referred to (in passing) in the 1960s TV cop show Dragnet. As Hollywood’s general attitude is “never leave well-enough alone,” there is a new film based on these intrepid hat-men: Gangster Squad. LA did have its own “mob scene”—gents such as Jack Dragna and Mickey Cohen had the lock on gambling, prostitution, etc. Cohen, here played by Sean Penn, is shown as basically LA’s “godfather,” but with none of Don Coleone’s gentle veneer. Penn’s Cohen is a brutal, vicious thug, one that has much of the LAPD under his thumb, except for (of course) One Honest, Straight Arrow Cop Who Refuses to Play Ball, here played by Josh Brolin. A high-ranking LAPD of20

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ficial, played by Nick Nolte (who was a Hat Guy in Mulholland Falls), recruits Brolin to take down Cohen by any means necessary. Brolin gathers other maverick lawmen, including Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, and Ryan Gosling, all brave hat-wearers. Gosling’s good-hearted though slightly sleazy cop falls in love with Cohen’s girlfriend Grace (Emma Stone), muddling things up (naturally). The good: The film captures the post-World War II sights and sound of LA, with plenty of the era’s swingin,’ suave, and jumpin’ tunes. The bad: While I generally like Penn, his Mickey Cohen is bloody awful. Penn overacts to the point where it seemed like he was trying out to be This Week’s Special Guest Villain on the ‘60s Batman TV show. Not only does he not look like Cohen (the real Cohen looked like Elmer Fudd), but Penn “acts” to the point where it seems like he’s going to burst a blood vessel in his head. Brolin is good as the Driven, Fearless Cop, but both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone come off as little kids. For no reason except maybe to extend the running time, there was repeated usage of slow-motion during the shootouts, which were otherwise nothing special. Another thing: If someone was shooting at me, I’d HIDE BEHIND something BIG, like a car, instead of walking ahead on the sidewalk, as did Jack Dragna (an underused Jon Polito), or, uh, standing

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in the open, as some characters do herein. The dialogue is fairly lame, abounding in clichés (along the lines of: “We’ve got to take the city back from the criminal scum”), occasionally sounding like it was lifted from old (that is, pre-1950s) gangster movies. Brolin’s wife implores her noble hubby not to get killed: “The war is over. Stop fighting.” Dick Tracy maintains more dramatic tension than does Gangster Squad. Plus there’s a character, a good guy, with a happy home and family life—he may have well worn a “I’m going to die first” sign/tag on his hat. (Like the character “Deadmeat” in the Top Gun parody Hot Shots.) In fact, some of GS evokes the ‘30s gangster film parody Johnny Dangerously, only not as funny. Imagine Boardwalk Empire drained of wit and class, Bugsy bereft of good acting, and Johnny Dangerously with the laughs removed and you’ll have Gangster Squad. If you, Dear Reader, want to see How It’s Done Right, rent: LA Confidential, White Heat (1949), the original Scarface (1932), Force of Evil (1948), The Big Heat (1953, starring an incredibly young and sadistic Lee Marvin, directed by Fritz Lang), True Confessions (1981, starring De Niro and Robert Duvall) and Mulholland Falls, which stars four of the then-toughest white guys on the planet as The Hats: Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, and Chris Penn. ■

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reel news

REVIEWS OF RECENTLY RELEASED DVDS BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER

Ben Affleck, in a scene from Argo.

★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

Argo (2012) ★★★★1/2 Cast: Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman Genre: Thriller, drama Based on recently declassified documents. Rated R for language and some violence. Awards: Oscar nomination Best Picture. Washington, with its long, ongoing history of farces and failures, actually salvaged one government fiasco that had already plummeted over the cliff. In 1953, the CIA masterminded a coup d’état in Iran that deposed the elected government and installed Shah Mohammad Reza. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution overthrew the dictatorial Shah. Islamist militants stormed the U. S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostage, but six others fled to the Canadian embassy. How to rescue the secret escapees? The CIA called in the masters of illusion—Hollywood. Yeah, for real. The collusion cooked up a fake sci-fi thriller called “Argo” to be filmed in Iran. A CIA agent, Tony Mendez (Affleck) set out for a site inspection that would pose the hostages as the fake movie crew, and then everybody would return home safely. Like a sports movie, we know the conclusion but the rollercoaster ride creates one of the top nail-biting thrillers of the year. The Sessions (2012) ★★★★ Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy Genre: Drama, comedy Based on the autobiographical writings of Mark O’Brien. Rated R for nudity, sexual situations, and terminology. Awards: Oscar nomination Best Supporting Actress (Hunt)

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Childhood polio left Mark O’Brian (Hawkes) paralyzed in an iron lung, but his body still has normal feelings. He experiences the world for a few hours each day on his back on a gurney. Life offers the 38-year-old virgin little opportunity for intimacy, none for sex. Since he can’t just roll down to the local bar and hope to get lucky, he goes clinical and hires Cheryl (Hunt), a sex surrogate, for six sessions of “therapy.” Director Ben Lewin, himself a polio survivor, treats the subject with the respect the serious condition deserves while O’Brian’s flippant, at times comic, attitude defies self-pity. The two actors plumb deep into the personalities and emotions of troubled characters trying to see a little light in lives submerged in darkness. They discover that compassion, love, and a zest for life can thrive despite an iron lung. Looper (2012) ★★★★ Cast: Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Genre: Sci-fi thriller Rated R for strong violence, language, sexuality, nudity Though time travel presents paradoxes, this story, like life, manages to overcome the improbable. In the year 2044, Young Joe (Levitt) plays a mob hit man, but with a twist. He assassinates people the crime syndicate sends back from the future. As part of the deal, he will eventually target his older self (Willis) and close the loop, but since the victims are always hooded, he won’t know which one it is. Surprise, Old Joe returns without his hood, and for a good reason. Young Joe recognizes his thirty-year-older self and the two decide to sort things out at a nearby diner. Turns out another assassin, the Rainmaker, killed Old Joe’s wife. To save his true love, he re-

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turned to eliminate the child Rainmaker. If life in one time dimension is complex, it’s boggling in two. Existential and ethical dilemmas about love and family, compassion and redemption drive this dialogue-character intense thriller straight into the Twilight Zone. A Late Quartet (2012) ★★★ Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken Genre: Drama Rated R for language and some sexuality. After 25 years of performing around the world, the members of the famous Fugue String Quartet face a crisis. The cellist and team father figure, Peter Mitchell (Walken) announces the next performance, Beethoven’s Opus 131, will be his last. He’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. The announcement fractures the veneer of unity that holds the ensemble together. Tensions swell, emotions erupt, and ego issues threaten to rip the group’s professional and personal lives to shreds. Walken aces his off-stereotypic character as a deeply caring musician and the others capture the dynamics of a close-knit group becoming unraveled. Some critics called the movie a soap opera, others lauded it as an adult, character-driven drama that focuses on the behind-the-scenes world of professional music. Regardless, the ensemble actors create their own pitch-perfect music to accompany the Beethoven soundtrack. ■

George Miller is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and believes that travel is a product of the heart, not the itinerary. See his webmagazine at www.travelsdujour.com.

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film roundup

PETE CROATTO

Jessica Chastain as Maya in Zero Dark Thirty.

★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

WITH THE ACADEMY AWARDS set for February 24—and the early part of the year being a less-than-fruitful period for new releases—I thought your time would be better spent examining four Best Picture nominees that escaped ICON’s watch last year. Zero Dark Thirty (Dir: Kathryn Bigelow). Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini, Chris Pratt, Joel Edgerton. Bigelow’s previous effort, The Hurt Locker, was a sturdy, macho character study. Timing turned Bigelow’s Oscar-winning effort into something bigger than it was. In 2009, the only movies coming out about the George W. Bushsponsored Middle East stupidity were finger-pointing documentaries. What’s ironic is that Zero Dark Thirty feels timeless even though it retells (courtesy of first-hand accounts) relatively recent history: the search for and killing of Osama bin Laden. What distinguishes Zero Dark Thirty is how Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal reveal the emotions behind the cold strategy. Maya (Chastain) is the young CIA operative whose search for the elusive warlord consumes her, and Chastain’s restrained, painfully human performance— you can hear her soul snap, crack, and rebuild—makes us care beyond patriotic obligation. Behind the covert details and technology, people determined this mission’s success: people who made mistakes, who hesitated, and who cared. Fortunately, there was one person who cared more than anyone else. Zero Dark Thirty—nuanced, fast-paced, and brilliant—is about what it costs to become a hero. [R] ★★★★★ Les Miserables (Dir: Tom Hooper). Starring: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter. How to begin to describe my rage for this epic adaptation of the beloved Broad-

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way musical? You cannot cast non-singers for a movie where practically every line is sung. That hobbles Les Mis, especially whenever Crowe—who sounds like he has a terrible chest cold—opens his yap. Even though every song spells out the characters’ torment, Hooper doesn’t adjust the bigness of the musical for the big screen. Instead, he amplifies the emotions to comic levels. Characters sing in the rain or get smushed to one side of the screen to emphasize the loneliness they’re already warbling about. We get close-ups of teary-eyed revolutionaries. And everybody sings in the same trembling, weepy voice, giving the movie a stifling hangdog conformity that is only broken when Carter and Cohen do their soft-aroundthe-edges nutjob act. The story, focusing on the June Rebellion and the inescapability of the past, keeps you involved and Hathaway delivers the only moments that don’t seem wrapped in the gauze of big-budget splash. But one thought kept entering my mind while watching Les Miserables: It would have been terrific if no one had attempted a damn note. [PG-13] ★★ Lincoln (Dir: Steven Spielberg). Starring: Daniel DayLewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Gloria Reuben. Day-Lewis’ portrayal of the 16th president has received lots of attention, as it should. It’s a beautiful performance that paints Lincoln as a human being, not as an on-deck legend. But it’s not the only reason to watch Spielberg’s sweeping historical near-masterpiece. Tony Kushner’s script isn’t just beautifully written, it’s a gorgeous model of economy: a brief segment of Lincoln’s tumultuous presidency—the race to pass the 13th Amendment and end the Civil War on his terms—gives us a full view into the man’s professional greatness and personal tumult. Day-Lewis’ immense power tends to override films, turning costars into

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props. (For further proof watch There Will Be Blood.) Understatement, thankfully, defines this performance and he acts against a roster of steely pros. Field, whose trademark weepiness somehow got her an Oscar nod, is fine as Mary Todd Lincoln. But we treasure the scenes featuring Jones’ tart-tongued Thaddeus Stevens and Strathairn’s impassioned, dignified William Seward. Spader, excellent as a roguish vote wrangler hired by Lincoln, brings welcome levity. The only thing keeping Lincoln from classic status is Spielberg’s unfortunate tendency to end his movies like the deathbed scenes in soap operas. [PG-13] ★★★★ Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dir: Benh Zeitlin). Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry. The token “hey, we care about small films, too!” nomination. In the bucolic grittiness of the Louisiana bayou, a little girl named Hushpuppy (Wallis) views the universe as a series of interconnected pieces: if one piece falls, so does everything else. With a storm coming and her drunk, quick-to-anger father (Henry) getting sicker and more obstinate, our heroine has to handle the great unraveling by herself. Zeitlin does a very nice job framing the story as a blunt Cajun fairy tale, and he coaxes a compelling performance from Best Actress nominee Wallis, who was five years old when she auditioned. What keeps Beasts of the Southern Wild from being little more than an indie curiosity is that Zeitlin keeps us at arm’s length, opting to highlight symbolism and cultural identity over personal conflict. (The best scenes are between Wallis and Henry, whose relationship lacks the sweet rudder of an adult female.) Too frequently Hushpuppy isn’t a character but an instrument to express those larger issues. But there is enough here that’s worth your time, and it’s miles better than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, last year’s shrill kids-are-people-too nominee. [PG-13] ★★★ ■

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exclusive interview

Take Eight Jazz pianist and quartet-leader Eric Mintel is a rare octuple threat

ERIC MINTEL IS TAKING liberties with “Take Five,” the jazz anthem minted by the late Dave Brubeck, his hero and friend. The pianist stretches the sublimely bopping classic with a classical sweep, a flamenco flourish, a chop-sticking swatch of “Tom’s Diner,” Suzanne Vega’s bohemian chant. By the time he finishes surfing the tune with his three quartet comrades, “Take Five” has become “Hang Ten.” This inspired improvisation highlighted a recent concert at the Sellersville Theater featuring Mintel, saxophonist Nelson Hill, drummer Dave Mohn and bassist Jack Hegyi. The gig was a hemi-powered sleigh ride of swing and stride, a snappy “Little Drummer Boy” with a youth choir and a “Linus and Lucy” with a Cuban accent. Everything was ribboned by Mintel’s ribboning originals from the quartet’s newest record Just Around the Corner. Corner is Mintel’s 10th CD and a cornerstone of his 20th anniversary as a rare octuple threat: band leader, pianist, composer, arranger, producer, booking agent, manager and publicist. He’s kept his quartet and his career alive and thriving by playing standards in all sorts of venues; sacred works—his own, Brubeck’s and Duke Ellington’s— with choirs, and two holiday shows at the White House for We were standing in line waiting for Brubeck-digging presidents. Mintel grew up in Upper the president, surrounded by Secret Black Eddy with a jeweler father who refurbished pianos. At age Service agents. I gave President Clinseven he was taking liberties ton a copy of a CD of ours with with Chopin and TV cartoon themes. At 15 he was serenading Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo.” And Clinton fashion shows in a lingerie shop. At 45 he’s got a knack for unlooked at it and said: “You know, knotting knotty rhythms, writing Dave told me I was the only elected hummable melodies and jazzing up jazz. official who could sing the bridge to During a recent interview from the Morrisville home he ‘Blue Rondo.’” shares with his ten-year-old daughter, Mintel discussed everything from the pressures of leading a quartet to the pleasures of being one of Brubeck’s main men. You were 14 when you fell under the spell of Brubeck’s recordings of “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk.” Why did they lay you flat? Well, at that point I was listening to many different musicians: Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, a lot of ’50s and ’60s groups. And then I found this old 45 record in my parents’ collection with this guy on the cover wearing a brown suit and hornrimmed glasses, with his hair slicked back. And it’s “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo”; I found out later it was a 45 that DJs played. I heard those elastic, magnetic rhythms and that atmospheric, adventurous sound and I just knew that’s what I wanted to play. In fact, I recorded the 45 onto a cassette and played with it over and over and over until I got those tunes down. Man, I just wore out that tape. I still have that 45. It’s still on the piano. Maybe I should bronze it or turn it into a gold record [laughs]. 26

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In 1998 you requested and received an invitation to play at the Clinton White House. In 2011 you requested and received a similar gig at the Obama White House. Where did you get the chutzpah, the cojones? [In 1998] I was watching something about the White House on TV and I thought maybe I’ll call to see if they have programs for musicians around the world; perhaps I could perform for troops overseas. So I called the White House and was told I needed to talk to the social secretary. After our conversation I sent a CD and some loose press clippings that weren’t even in a folder. A week later I got the invitation to play a Christmas program. I remember we were taken to something called the Diplomatic Room. We were standing in line waiting for the president, surrounded by Secret Service agents. I gave President Clinton a copy of a CD of ours with Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo.” And Clinton looked at it and said: “You know, Dave told me I was the only elected official who could sing the bridge to ‘Blue Rondo.’” [laughs] [In 2011] my girlfriend said: Why don’t you try the White House again? At first I thought: Nah, it was just a one-time deal. But I still had the White House number in my phone. So I called and asked about a performance and, again, a week later I was invited to play a holiday concert. I was talking about Brubeck with President Obama and he said. “I love Dave. He played the first jazz concert I heard with my dad as a kid.’” That’s why Dave is my hero—he cuts across everything: race, religion, politics. He’s everything that jazz should be. You know, I tried to get another White House date with the Bush administration. But I heard nothing but crickets [laughs]. You’re starting your 20th year as head honcho of a jazz quartet— which is like 40 years in the real world. A 20-year anniversary is a perfect time for reflection, so here goes nothing: What have you learned to do and not to do? Boy, that’s such a loaded question. What I’ve learned not to do is burn bridges, especially with promoters and venue managers. What I’ve learned to do is to listen and to have respect—for my players and my audience and the listening public. I’ve also learned that you have to be constantly working, whether you’re in the studio or teaching or on the road. You have to keep a good work ethic because it’s always been an uphill battle to make jazz a popular art form. I’ve also learned to be more relaxed. For a long time I worried about promotion and image—that enough people would be at the concert, and that it would come off okay. I don’t really wrestle with that much anymore. I’m enjoying myself more. You’ve paid some crazy dues as a quartet leader—like driving nine hours to a gig in Buffalo only to find no audience. What are some of the other risks and rewards of being head honcho? It’s a lot of pressure to keep the band working, to keep mouths fed. Being the leader I’ve got to not only take care of my life, I’ve got to take care of the lives of three other guys. Sometimes I’ve come home with the players making more money than I did, with no money in my pocket. I’ve been looking for booking agents and managers over the years; believe you me, it would be a welcome load off my shoulders. But, then, one of the reasons we’re

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GEOFF GEHMAN

Eric Mintel.

working so much is that promoters and venue managers like the fact that they only have to work with me. Let’s face it, this is a music that requires patience and fortitude and longevity. I’ve lost players because they had other missions; they just had to move on. Some musicians have gotten along well onstage, but not so well offstage— and I can’t stand lack of harmony. The key is surrounding yourself with great players who are also great people. These guys—Dave, Jack, Nelson—are fantastic. We’re on the same page —musically, emotionally, spiritually. We’re like a band of brothers.

A good example of our chemistry is “Tom’s Diner.” I had been thinking about it for years until one day we were performing “Take Five” during a gig. We were shifting between key centers and “Tom’s Diner” just popped into my head and my hands. It definitely adds some tension and release, some dramatic flair, some nice teasing. Now I notice that Nelson will play a little piece of it in other tunes and people will think it’s a whole other number. I guess it’s become our signature riff, our calling card.

Can you think of a truly memorable audience reaction that significantly changed one of your shows? Actually, that happens a lot. It happens during a really intense improvisation, when I start really, really wailing on the piano, trying to convey the energy that I’m getting back from the audience. For instance, there’s this part in “Take Five,” after the “Tom’s Diner” section, where I make the

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exclusive interview

SYNERGY in HORROR The master of mashed up genres and an actor’s actor work together on a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep.

AUL GIAMATTI, THE ACTOR’S actor, loves variety. Don Coscarelli, the horror maestro behind Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep, has never been content to just throw gore on the wall and see what sticks. These two men, who abhor the obvious, were meant to be together. Giamatti has a supporting role in and is an executive producer for Coscarelli’s latest, John Dies at the End, a delightfully trippy, time-skipping adventure [review on page 16]. Two things stand out about the film, opening February 8th in Philadelphia. First, Giamatti doesn’t go beyond his assignment. And that’s why he’s invaluable here and elsewhere: He can cooperate for a film’s greater good as well as lead the band. Second, Coscarelli shifts from shock to laughs to insight without losing momentum or creating annoyance. In separate interviews last month, Giamatti and Coscarelli talked about John Dies at the End, working together, and their careers. Giamatti is first.

I don’t know how to predict what you’re doing next. Since the summer, you’ve been punched in the face by a monkey (Rock of Ages), appeared in a Don DeLillo adaptation (Cosmopolis), and now a movie from the man behind Phantasm. How would you define your career path at this point? Oh, an unholy mess. I’m glad to hear you say it, that’s exactly how I like it. I don’t know where I’m going to go next; I don’t know what I’m going to do next. I do know what I’m going to do next, but I don’t like to have a plan. I like to do as many different kinds of things as I can. I just feel like it keeps me interested. It keeps me young. I feel like it’s kind of my job to go far afield and find different kinds of things to do. It seems like John Dies at the End ties into that. Yeah, sure. I enjoy movies like this. I enjoy kind of genre things like this and haven’t gotten much of a chance to do something like this. And I particularly enjoy Don’s movies, so yeah, this is something out of left field, but part of something that I’d been looking to do—a bit more fitting with the no plan thing. I know that you and Don had wanted to do a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, but that fell through. How did the two of you first meet? I was working in Prague on a movie called The Illusionist and I became aware that a guy that I liked named Eli Roth [the director of Cabin Fever and Hostel] was also working there. You’re in Prague, why not hang out together with the other people making another movie? I got together with him, and he was talking about Don. I had always liked Don’s movies—I had recently seen Bubba Ho-Tep, I was very enthusiastic about it. And he said, Paul Giamatti and Don Coscarelli on the set of John Dies at the End.

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PETE CROATTO

Paul Giamatti.

“Well, I know him.” And he kind of got us together when I was in LA the next time. Don and I went out and had a meal and he started talking about the sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep that he wanted to do. We became friends and tried to work on that, but it was Eli Roth that got us together. I remember first seeing you as a screen actor in Private Parts, which blows my mind. It will be sixteen years old this year. Wow, wow…

Did you ever think that part would be a springboard to a remarkably varied career? No, no. I loved doing that movie. That was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had making a movie. I was doing stage acting, and I figured that’s what I would do, which would be great. And I did not figure that that movie would particularly lead to much else at all. I guess it sort of did. I just started following the movie stuff that came along, and ended up doing more movie stuff than stage stuff.

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So, there was no master plan: “OK, I’ll transfer from stage to screen”? No, no. In fact, I’m going to do a play [Hamlet at the Yale Repertory Theater] again in a few weeks and I haven’t done a play in eight years or something like that. I was kind

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Jemimah Kirke, Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet.

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Girls Just Want to Have it All Millenial angst, body image, and the controversial phenomenon of Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls. 30

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R. KURT OSENLUND

BY THE TIME GIRLS reached the second episode of its first season, the energy was palpable: This deglammed, New York-set HBO series had the phenomenon potential of Sex and the City, albeit for a generation far removed from Carrie Bradshaw’s demographic. Developed by Lena Dunham, the 25-year-old multihyphenate who arrived on the scene with her 2010 indie Tiny Furniture, the show is not about shoe splurges, but living off one’s parents; not about fashionable, civilized sex, but coital circumstances of the most awkward, and, in effect, realistic, kind. As media figures go, Dunham is, in many ways, the self-professed queen of post-hipster, Obama-era Millenials. Her Girls character, Hannah, a maturity-challenged writer and self-involved avatar of Dunham, famously declared that she may be “the voice of [her] generation...or, at least, the voice of a generation.” Regarding Dunham, such a notion is surely up for debate, but what this writer/director/producer/actress has certainly done is tapped into the zeitgeist, in a way very few media makers seem capable. One of the surest signs of death for a modern comedy or youth-oriented drama is the strained attempt to

The complex balance of Hannah’s interior and exterior influencers work to make her one of the most interesting characters on television, a woman many viewers can scream at and identify with in equal measure, no doubt seeing merits and mistakes of their own.

be current, with emoticon dialogue and technological flourishes instantly dating or suffocating the material. In Girls, such details are evenly woven into the narrative fabric, which, despite definite stylization, seems to fly, very smoothly, by the seat of its skinny jeans, as if it were documenting the youth culture that’s unfolding, right now, just outside your door. The show is a treatise on the life of the college grad with nowhere to apply her skills; a commentary on an era of young adults stuck in quarter-life neutral; an unshowy exploration of the age of social media; and, though not exclusively, a perusal of the modern female experience, sprinkled across four archetypes who register as fresh. The classic beauty, with boy problems and decent prospects, is Marnie (Allison Williams), Hannah’s former roommate who, at the start of the just-launched second season, finds herself on shaky ground both socially and professionally. The overgrown tween, who’s still reeling from her mid-20s loss of virginity, is Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), a just-right caricature of today’s squawker of “LOLs” and “WTFs.” The wild card, who’s appropriately of exotic descent, is brash Brit Jessa (Jemima Kirke), this series’ closest link to Sex and the City’s randy Samantha Jones. Guiding the pack, Hannah is as much antiheroine as she is likable leading lady, written and played by Dun-

ham as someone with, arguably, more flaws than virtues. As astute as she may be when it comes to turning a phrase, Hannah is a young woman with ample apparent delusions, be they false hopes for an internship’s outcome, or STD fears that lead to an HPV diagnosis (which she later parlays for use as an emotional crutch). Much has been written about Hannah’s stance as an embodiment of the existential angst of today’s 20-somethings, many of whom emerged from privilege into a world illequipped to give them what they’d been raised to think they deserve. The complex balance of Hannah’s interior and exterior influencers works to make her one of the most interesting characters on television, a woman many viewers can scream at and identify with in equal measure, no doubt seeing merits and mistakes of their own.

ince its debut, Girls has come under fire for a number of things, including the considerable privilege from which its stars and creator hail. The show has yielded criticisms against its thematic validity, since it’s a story about struggling girls starring girls who presumably haven’t struggled. To begin with, Dunham is the daughter of successful pop artist Carroll Dunham and New York photographer Laurie Simmons, both of whom have enjoyed fruitful careers. Williams, meanwhile, is a Yale grad and the daughter of Brian Williams, the world-famous anchor of NBC Nightly News. Mamet’s father is none other than David Mamet, filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright extraordinaire, and her mother is stage star and Oscar nominee Lindsay Crouse. As for Kirke, she’s the daughter of Simon Kirke, the former drummer for Bad Company, and Lorraine Kirke, owner of an exclusive New York boutique that supplied many outfits for Sex and the City. It’s easy to raise an eyebrow at the stars’ family histories, and use them to feed a juicy angle for a cutting opinion piece, but savvy audiences shouldn’t let it affect the way they view the show. In rare cases, like that of Tom Cruise, artists cross an invisible line that renders their art transparent, irrevocably devalued by their offscreen exploits. But Dunham and company certainly haven’t crossed that line, and while their backgrounds may have helped them get Girls off the ground (along with some help from executive producer Judd Apatow), they’ve not yet interfered with the show’s largely keen perspective. After all, people don’t attack Angelica Huston’s work because she’s part of the Huston dynasty. The women on the show can exist as characters divorced from their portrayers’ lives, and those who disagree have likely already jumped to personal conclusions about the series. As a brand and entity, though, Dunham has launched to a level of fame far beyond that of her comeW W W. FA C E B O O K .C O M / I C O N D V

ly co-stars, and endured scrutiny that’s strictly her burden to carry. For instance, the first season of Girls was critically skewered as a whitewashed entertainment, all but devoid of characters of color. In her defense, Dunham insisted that she’d created an entertainment reflective of what she knows, and an attempt to include, say, a black gal pal, may well have come off as insincere. It’s a perfectly sound justification, as Dunham can’t help where she comes from, and, in a rather clear reparative effort, she kicks off season two with Hannah dating a black man (one might accuse the move as being simple appeasement, but it works in the context of the story). Furthermore, Dunham recently made headlines for a Random House book contract that many felt brought her character into question. A whopping deal for any author, let alone a first-timer, Duham commanded $3.5 million for her inaugural essay collection, currently titled Not That Kind of a Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned. The lofty sum may well have been a good investment for Random House, as Dunham has surely proven to have an established fan base, but Dunham took on some charges of arrogance, specifically from Gawker.com, which published questionable excerpts from Dunham’s 66-page proposal (Dunham later demanded that the excerpts be removed). More than anything, Dunham has drawn attention for her show’s sexuality, and for her shameless parading of her not-quite-slim nude body. Undeniably alarming, Hannah’s sex life is indeed one of the show’s standout elements, as Dunham has no qualms placing herself in strange, and very revealing, scenarios, from demeaning acts to unexpected anal sex, much of it at the demand of Hannah’s eccentric beau, Adam (Adam Driver). In The New York Post, Linda Stasi reviewed season two and called Dunham a “serial exhibitionist,” and made several references to the actress’s “blobby body.” Such off-color language isn’t quite what Dunham deserves, no matter how much she may welcome it. Part of what’s refreshing about Girls is the audacity with which Dunham puts herself out there, exposing herself in every way possible. However ironically vainglorious, the stripped-bare approach is, among other things, a call to arms for the especially curvaceous, who suddenly have a heroine with more veracity than, say, Brooke Elliot on Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva. It’s just one more way that Girls is redefining contemporary entertainment, taking the pulse of the populace and then enhancing it with its own beat. Whatever qualms certain critics may have with Dunham (who just collected two Golden Globes for her daring series), the media maker is delivering an output that feels true, and a persona undeterred by those who can’t handle that truth. n R. Kurt Osenlund is the managing editor of The House Next Door, the official blog of Slant Magazine. He is also the film critic for South Philly Review, and a contributing writer for ICON, Slant, Cineaste, Fandor and The Film Experience. He compiles his work at www.yourmoviebuddy.blogspot.com. Email: rkurtosenlund@gmail.com.

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A. D. AMOROSI

BACK IN THE MAD hazy days of the early 70s—forty years ago to be somewhat exacting—the enigma inside of a riddle rolled in the avant-garde and topped by a briskly quirky musical and lyrical esprit de corps known as The Residents started life. With a sound and a performance art vision somewhat familiar to fans of Frank Zappa, Harry Partch and Sun Ra, several anonymous youths moved to San Mateo, California from Shreveport, LA, and began creating pop-oriented (but just barely) noise-scapes with eerily echofilled vocals while dressed in cheap costumes that resembled old-school British mummers (not the Philadelphia brand in gilt and golden slippers), cheaply crooked masks and other tacky costumed frippery. Because no one would release their music, the bold group of bald-faced gents formed a representative body (the Cryptic Corporation), a record label (Ralph) and, based on a rejection letter from Warner Bros. (addressed “for the attention of residents”), a band name with a ring of incognito about it and started to drop seven-inch singles

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(“Santa Dog”) and the controversial Beatles-look-alike became The Residents. “To my knowledge, there was no original name, which is why it was so easy for them to latch onto the words hastily scribbled onto a mailing label,” says Homer Flynn. “I do know that they had played around with a few things like The New Beatles, The Universe and the Greasy Weasels, but nothing stuck until ‘The Residents’ dropped in their laps.” Flynn, along with Jay Clem, John Kennedy and Hardy W. Fox would never exactly cop to being The Residents; insisting instead that they were their management and sundry representatives of The Residents’ cause. “We identify ourselves as managers, babysitters, handlers or more precisely, as The Residents’ official business interface,” says Flynn who specializes in the band’s graphics, photography and image manipulation. Yet, 40 years later, Flynn and Fox still do the talking for the still-unnamed and unnamable band members with Clem and Kennedy having left The Residents-ial fold before the 1980s only to replaced by different but equally audacious members of its so-called management, such as Randy Rose. On February 11, The Residents will celebrate their fourth decade with a Wonder of Weird show at World Café Live. Once there, fans will get information about the limited-edition Ultimate Box Set (UBS) that, starting on Christmas Day of 2012 (at www.residents.com), went on sale for $100,000. That’s 563 songs plus video and digital media packaged in a 28-cubic-foot refrigerator with releases spanning the group’s entire career. That’s 100 different products including 40 vinyl LPs, 50 CDs, dozens of singles, EPs, DVDs, and CD-roms plus other releases each in its original first pressing with a signature eyeball-with-top-hat mask thrown in for good measure. “The UBS is an idea that’s been floating around for several years,” claims Flynn. “It was inspired by a conversation with a Residents’ fan who suggested that the group create the ultimate box set, although the idea at that time was more of a nicely decorated breadbox size set and not nearly as grandiose as a refrigerator containing an eyeball mask. The idea bounced around for a while but no one could figure out how to do it in a way that fully exploited the contents and the work involved in creating it, until the 40th anniversary came along, giving the UBS a great platform.” There were a couple of inquiries, but no has come up with a deposit, so there haven’t been any sales so far. But don’t think that you can’t be the first to own the box or, the most iconic of their images, the Flynn-designed eyeball.

If A.D. Amorosi can’t be found writing features for ICON, the Philadelphia Inquirer, doing Icepacks and Icecubes (amongst other stories) for Philadelphia City Paper, he’s probably hitting restaurants like Stephen Starr’s or running his greyhound.

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27 / INTERVIEW / ERIC MINTEL

piano sound almost like a Spanish guitar. You build up the intensity and the audience suddenly starts clapping. They’ve been with you since the beginning note, but then it’s completely different because that’s the moment when the energy level is as one. When that happens, it’s like an explosion. What essentials did you pick up from Mr. Brubeck? Did he give you tips about keeping your integrity intact, no matter what? After all, this was a man who in the 1950s canceled quartet concerts after club owners demanded he replace Eugene Wright, his black bassist. Dave definitely taught me how to live better not only as a musician but as a person. For instance, there was a situation where somebody wanted us to play without our sax player, to save money. And I said: “Oh man, I can’t do that.” If we’re going to do a tribute to Dave Brubeck, no way can we do it as a trio. Because that horn was such an integral part of the Brubeck sound. I mean, it’s a matter of respect. Another thing that I learned from Dave is how jazz can really affect someone’s life positively. I’ve always tried to be an energy player, to get people away from their problems for a few hours with music that’s beautiful and even mesmerizing. I like to think we’re making jazz more accessible and popular. I’ve noticed a lot of college kids getting into what we’re playing. There have been so many situations where people have come up to us and said, “You know, I

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never really liked jazz before.” It’s fun to hear that we’ve helped them start their jazz collection. What dream projects do you have that are reasonable—i.e., not pie-in-the-sky? What do you need to do to make your career livelier and your chops meatier? I want to do another solo piano CD; I’ve written a whole slew of new pieces. I want to have more classical-and-jazz combinations; that way, you’re introducing another audience to jazz. And as much as I love Dave Brubeck, I want to get away from doing his music all the time. For years I was pigeonholed as a Dave Brubeck clone. Now, that’s not a bad label. But my playing is a lot different than Dave’s, and so is my composing. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve been performing a lot more originals than standards the last two years; that’s why the new record has only one piece I didn’t write [“Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s ninth symphony]. The last two years it seems the originals have been speaking to more people, on the airlines and satellite radio. In fact, I received an email from someone who told me that Silent Night, my solo piano Christmas record, had been played on Christmas Eve on SiriusXM Radio. And that’s a CD I did 12 years ago. It’s natural to contemplate your heroes right after they’ve died. After Brubeck passed in De-

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cember, did your life with him pass before your eyes and ears? Boy, there were a lot of mixed emotions there. I thought about the first time I met Dave in 1990, backstage at the Keswick Theatre [in Glenside]. The liner notes he wrote for our CDs. The Christmas cards with a little hand-written piece of music for me. All those letters of encouragement. I’ll never forget what Dave told me: You’re doing it the right way, Eric. You’re building from the ground up—the next gig, the next album, the next event. That’s what will give you the staying power. Dave was all about freedom and equality and he said I played his music better than he played it. It’s an honor to know I was one of his main men. n The Eric Mintel Quartet will play at 9 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Lafayette Bar, 15 N. 4th St. (by Northampton Street), Easton; 610-252-0711; www.lafayettebarjazz.com, and at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Deerhead Inn, Route 611, Delaware Water Gap; 570-424-2000; www.deerheadinn.com. www.ericmintelquartet.com Geoff Gehman is the author of The Kingdom of the Kid, a memoir of growing up in the middle-class, long-lost Hamptons that will be published in July by SUNY Press. geoffgehman@verizon.net.

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

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dining

ROBERT GORDON

was formerly Rt. 22. On your visit, be sure to tour the “22 Wall” next to the bar, where a portion of the 22 connection is catalogued. As for “Maxim,” that’s the name of Josh and his wife Elizabeth’s child. I’m delighted with its cosmopolitan hours. You can eat till 10:30 PM and midnight on weekends. South of the Big Apple—Philly included—late-night dining is sorely lacking. n

Maxim’s 22

Maxim’s 22, 322 Northampton Street, Easton PA 18042 (610) 252-2622 maxims22.com EARLIER THIS CENTURY, JOSH Palmer's Sette Luna—along with eateries like Ocean and River Grille—transformed Easton into a legitimate foodie destination. Sette Luna re-creates the ambiance and delectable fare of the bona fide Old World Italian trattoria. So, a few years back, when Josh told me he was itchy to open another Easton eatery to evoke the sights, sounds, and smells of the archetypal French brasserie, I eagerly awaited its arrival. Maxim’s 22 has arrived. Every cubic inch captivates: From zinc bar to handsome antiquecopy cappuccino maker to whirring Casablanca fans suspended from decorative tin ceilings to beehive-tiled and woodplanked floors. And within this beguiling Gallic diorama, Chef de cuisine Bradley Blocker coaxes delectable nuance out of French brasserie classics. Combine Blocker’s rustic, yet elegant fare with a roster of international artisanal beers and a cellar full of moderately priced wines, cloak it in ambiance that artfully mimics the Parisian brasserie and, voilà! Easton boasts another destination eatery. The fare abounds with meticulous Gallic re-creations like a boatload of Mussels in buttery garlicky white wine sauce stocked with huge lardon chunks and Roquefort cheese—dynamite for dipping. A mound of escargots mingled with mushrooms is topped with spring mix in a golden bath of butter-garlic. A Marrow Bones appetizer plates a trio of huge beef bones. A grove of parsley crests the marrow, its bite serving to cut the richness of the marrow. The marrow appetizer costs $10, and, unlike any other marrow dish I’ve seen, could suffice as a meal. Menu prices are strikingly low given the overall dining experience. To be sure, there are some elevated prices on the menu—most notably among dry-aged beef selections. Côte du Bœuf runs $65—but that’s for two. The steakhouse chains that glut Philly routinely price entrées for one in that elevated range. Brasserie touches boost the dining experience. A basketful of sliced baguette, raisin-walnut bread, and rosemary-infused bread are delicious, and the unsalted butter scores on taste and authenticity. Rich, delicious potato and leek soup is made from roasted duck and chicken stock sans cream. The Cassoulet, a de rigeur French brasserie standard, matches any I’ve had. The $20 price is marvelously low. Duck confit, pork belly, and smoky hunks of saucisse fire the ensemble with Provençal spark. Salmon Filet is crusted with Dijon mustard and served with lentil salad. A recent salmon special paired salmon in horseradish crème with purple fingerling potatoes and braised kale sprouts. Maxim’s Burger gives a classy facelift to the American classic by slathering the ground meat with silky foie gras. Mushroom duxelles, raclette cheese, and sweet caramelized onions layer additional pizzazz. My only disappointment on the menu is something that isn’t there— there’s no Croque Monsieur. Perhaps its absence owes to a technicality. It’s not a burger and doesn’t qualify for a menu section titled: “Salads & Burgers Menu,” although another delectable non-burger is: Tuna Niçoise served with haricots verts and fingerling potatoes. Maxim’s 22 also boasts a raw bar with fresh oysters from the East and West Coast, mussels, crabs, littleneck clams, shrimp, and salmon and tuna tartare. Prices are low and the rawbar fare washes down well with 22 available draught beers. The number 22 is a ubiquitous theme, because 22 has popped up through several generations of the Palmer family. Josh’s grandfather and dad both wore jersey #22 on their high school football teams. There are an inordinate number of birthdays on the 22nd—ditto for anniversaries. The number of apartments in the grand building that houses Maxim’s 22 is…22. The building’s address is 322. Northampton Street runs in front of the building. It

You can see photos of Maxim’s 22 on Robert Gordon’s Facebook page. Please send your comments to Robert Gordon at robertgordononline.com.

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ROBERT GORDON

Positano Coast MOVIN’ ON UP TO the East Side. A few years ago, Aldo Lamberti did just that. He set up shop upstairs at 2nd & Walnut—an attractive cobblestoned axis in Old City that’s close to the action yet tucked-away sanely from the hubbub of the historic district. Lamberti is a tri-state restaurant magnate, who owns and operates dining establishments like the swank Caffe Aldo Lamberti in Cherry Hill and Lamberti’s Cucina in Wilmington among others. The 2nd & Walnut site is noteworthy in Philly dining patrimony. It was here that Steve Poses, a 1970s/’80s pioneering giant of Philly’s culinary awakening ran City Bites, a trumpeted emporium of contemporary art and casual food that fizzled. Aldo’s debut here was bumpy, too. He opened as Pasta Blitz, which soon closed. He followed with Lamberti’s Cucina, which he ended up closing, too. Lamberti reassessed at that point. He enlisted Florentine architect, Pietro Del Vaglio, who created a hip, insouciant décor that mirrors the sparkling white and blue hues of a glimmering coastal town like Positano Coast. Hence the name. Alabaster pillars clad in hand-painted Italian tiles and aqua-colored walls are bathed in a blue hue. White seats on chairs hover like whitecaps above deep blue floor tiles. Two huge photomurals of the Positano Coast almost seem like windows. Big picture windows run along an entire wall in the main dining room. In the barroom, white linens billow over the chic prominently white décor below. Positano Coast bills itself as a restaurant, crudo and wine bar. It hits the mark on all counts. The wine bar is roomy and attractive. Wines are available by the bottle or quartino. They’re also available by the glass—a 5-ounce pour that’s usually very generous. The moderately priced wine list includes Italian, French, German, South American, and Californian vintages. Crudo is delicate and delicious. Black Sea Bass benefits from celery root purée and snappy snow peas, but it’s the tang of pickled radish that plumbs the depth of the bass. Butternut squash purée, shallots vinaigrette, and lemon zest form an ambrosial cast for tender hiramasa. Aldo’s Harvest gathers Kumamoto and Blue Point Oysters, Shrimp cocktail, Clams on the Half-Shell, Snow Crab claws, and Seafood Salad. The restaurant menu encourages grazing. There are four menu sections: Let’s Start, On the Side, Pasta/ Risotto; and Let’s Go On. Each section averages a dozen or so different selections. Antipasto Italiano is a combo of Buffalo Mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, Eggplant Caponata, Grilled Artichokes and other goodies. The addictive smoky essence in Grilled Octopus makes it one of the best octopus or calamari dishes in the city. Diver Scallops complemented by Granny Smith Apple Purée come with a zesty French Radish Salad. Capellini and Clams, Paccheri Amatriciana (Rigatoni, Roma Tomatoes, Onions, and Pancetta), Vegetable Ravioli with Pine Nuts and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, are a few examples of reliably tasty and wonderfully priced pastas. Each of these dishes can be ordered for either $9 or $16. Dishes are consistently good and low-priced, which accounts for Positano Coast’s popularity among the pre- and posttheater set at the Ritz Five across the street. The highest-priced item on the menu is $23 for Roasted Rack of Lamb, served on Parmigiana-enriched white and black faro amped with leeks, which makes it one of only three dishes higher than $20. Beef Tenderloin, at $21, is a sultry indulgence pan-seared with cipollini onions. Broccoli and olives bring earthy balance and contrast to the puckery Limoncello sauce in Scottish Salmon Limoncello—a tasty, clever composition. When weather cooperates, you can dine or graze in three different alfresco areas: the Sopra Lounge, a second-floor patio, and a dog-and-smoker-friendly sidewalk café. Positano Coast is not a buckle-up sortie into the cutting edge, nor does it seek to be. There are some standout dishes, but reliability and consistency rule. Excellent service and chic ambiance make Positano Coast a splendid place to graze, chill, and relax—an eatery attuned to the nonchalance of its namesake. ■ Positano Coast, 212 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19106 (215) 238-0977 www.positanocoast.net. You can see photos of Positano Coast on Robert Gordon’s Facebook page. Please send your comments to Robert Gordon at robertgordononline.com.

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PATRICIA SAVOIE

In Search of the “Original” Riesling

took over from his father as winemaker in 2007. One day they will be much better known, but now, the wines are a real value.

THE RIESLING GRAPE IS one of the “noble” grapes, in company with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Syrah and a few others. Basically, that means it is widely grown and has strong consumer appeal. Alsace in France, Washington State and the Finger Lakes in the U.S., the Niagara Peninsula in Canada, the Eden and Clare Valleys in Australia, Austria and New Zealand all have significant acres of Riesling. But all these acres don’t compare with the Riesling that Germany has planted, where Riesling plantings represent about 60% of total world plantings. Germany has always been the standard for Riesling. I spent a week there in the fall of 2012 (as a guest of Wines of Germany) visiting some of the best estates and tasting their latest Rieslings. One estate owner and winemaker, Friedrich Groebe, called German Riesling Mosel Valley. the “original” Riesling. It is the most common grape variety in Germany, with over 56,000 acres planted. Some of the best regions are the Rheingau and the Mosel, but fine examples also come from the Pfalz and Rheinhessen. German wines can be confusing for a couple of reasons: First, German wine names can be painfully long and complex. They are generally combinations of a town and a growing region. The use of Gothic script also makes reading the label a challenge. Some German producers have begun to label their export wines in English and are creating simpler labels. Second, it is often impossible to tell how sweet or dry the wine is based on the label. German Riesling sweetness can be inferred from the labels, but only to some extent. The word trocken on a label means “dry;” halbtrocken means “medium dry.” Now, some of the younger wine makers are starting to put sweetness indicators on the back labels of their wines. Riesling wines can commonly be described as having strong minerality and pronounced acidity. Many of the plots are on the dramatically inclined, rocky sides of mountains. And most producers have very small plantings. For example, the famous Hermannshohle vineyard in the Nahe is only 20 acres but has 12 different owners, whose vines are interspersed with one another. Riesling loves food. It can do “subtle”—like poached fish or shellfish—or “tough.” Most spicy foods are tamed by it. Asian foods are classically paired with Riesling, but it works work well with Mexican food, too. Again, its often subtle

sweetness balanced by tart acidity makes it perfect with food. Here are highlights of the wines I tasted in Germany. Most of the wines shown are available in the U.S.

Patricia Savoie is a wine and culinary travel writer. Email: WordsOnWine@gmail.com

Weingut Jakob Schneider – The younger Jakob is 30 and

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Neiderhauser Hermannshohle Magnus trocken 2011 – Again, this is one of the top Riesling vineyards. Plum, citrus and nuts. Some wet stone, herbs and mineral notes. Mouth filling. ($29) Weingut Schmitges – The Family of Andreas Schmitges has been making wine in Erden for 250 years. Their top vineyard is Erdener Treppchen. Standout wines include:

Weingut C.H. Berres – The family has been growing and making Riesling since 1510. Markus Berres is the 21st generation, having taken over winemaking from his father in 2006 for the nine-acre estate. He has done a lot of updating of the winery and of packaging, including adding screw caps for all of the bottles. Impulse Riesling Qba – Soft, dry, luscious. ($16) Urziger Wurzgarten Kabinett 2011 – A classic Riesling. White flower and spice in the nose. Light with fine acidity. ($20) Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese 2011 – Fuller body with some sweetness, but perfect acidity balance. ($23) Weingut Groebe – The winery is now totally organic. The Groebe family has been producing wine for 500 years. Says Friedrich Groebe, “The small size of the estate allows me to make wines I like—I don’t have to be concerned with what is popular, what the press is talking about.” Riesling Aulerde Westhofen GG 2011 – This wine comes from a single Rheinhessen vineyard with vines over 50 years old. The wine is brilliantly clear. Dry with a touch of white flower in the nose and some lime, green apple and mineral in the mouth. Crisp acidity. A lovely wine. ($17-20)

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Grauschiefer (Grey Slate) Riesling trocken 2011 – From vineyards of grey slate soil. Dry with notes of apple, pineapple and lime. ($12) Riesling Kabinett vom roten Schiefer 2011 – Citrus and mineral on the nose, with flavors of apple, pear and citrus. Subtle sweetness with crisp acidity and great balance. ($18) Riesling Spätlese Erdener Treppchen 2011 – Crisp with strong slate aromas. Flavors of apple, some spice. ($27) Weingut Dr. Loosen – Dr. Loosen is one of the best known of Riesling producers. Vines averaging over 50 years and low yields give the wines distinctive character. Blue Slate Kabinett 2011 – Peach, green apple and citrus fruits, with floral and slate notes. ($19) Erdener Treppchen Kabinett 2011—Ripe lemon fruit enhanced by the crisp acidity and a hint of ginger. ($26) Villa Wolf Dry Riesling 2011 – Peach and mineral notes. The slight sweetness is countered by the very crisp acidity. ($12) Weingut Hermann Dönnhoff – Cornelius Dönnhoff is making many different Rieslings and wines. His philosophy that “Every vineyard has its own type of talent for a certain type of wine” drives the production on this 200-year-old estate. Tonschiefer Trocken 2011 – Complex, with minerals and flavors of green apple, grapefruit, lemon. ($20) Norheim Dellchen 2011 trocken – Lots of fruit. ($45) Fritz Haag – Another of Germany’s top producers. Olivier Haag is producing Intense wines. Estate Riesling Kabinett 2011 trocken – Peach and spice. Intense. ($19) Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett 2011 – Melon notes with some tropical fruit. Nicely dry. ($18) n

Whoopee! about life

JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS,MLSP,LCSW,BCD

Winner of the

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DINNER FOR 2: HAPPY PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. They don't think and process the world the way less happy people do. Studies indicate that happy people, besides enjoying life more, tend to live longer and get less incidence of cancer, strokes and heart attacks. These days every doctor prescribes reducing stress, because stress is the enemy of health and happiness. Happy people spend less time thinking about the things that induce stress, and when they do, they process it to

solve problems and issues as opposed to feeling helplessly caught up in them. Happy people, in general, take advantage of what is known as a positive explanatory style. When life presents stressors they find a way to process or explain them in a positive context. A good example of this is getting a flat tire. A less happy person will see the downside and dwell on the negative, saying to themselves things like, “This always happens to me” or “The only luck I have is bad.” This kind of thinking increases stress and a sense that the world or events are against them. Thinking in a negative fashion gives rise to feelings that are negative—and negative feelings promote negative thoughts. Negative cognitions feed into a sense of alienation and victimization. Positive thinking brings hope to the forefront and helps to promote the sense that challenges can be handled differently than being held in the psychological prison of Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 30 years. jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.

victimization. Happy people tend to promote the view that worries and anxieties can be approached, reduced and overcome with a positive internal approach. Humans are the only species that will plant a seed in the spring and wait to harvest the plants in the fall. Pyramids and cathedrals that took 200 years to build, were built by people who believed in their completion. Humans have the ability to view the future as better than the present. Depressed people, by contrast, generally see the future as dim or worse than the present. Happy people are less likely to compare themselves with others. It’s always possible to find someone richer, thinner, more famous or more wellliked. Comparisons that rein-

force a “less than” mentality only serve to deplete hope and optimism. The world can be perceived in all sorts of ways. Ascribing negative meanings to people and events in life is a hurtful perception that leads to beliefs. Beliefs are not founded in facts so much as how people perceive themselves and their relation to the world. When happy people face negative thoughts or feelings, they often ask a central question: Is this true? While occasional self-doubt is normal, it’s important not to become mired in it and paralyzed by it. Unhappy people tend to ruminate more about what hasn’t gone well. They tend to hold onto grievances, failures and regrets. Happy people look to forgive themselves and others and view failures as learning experiences. Growing from negative experiences turns what would be a failure to an unhappy person into experiences that have improved the self of a happy person. Self-doubt reduces a person’s sense of intrinsic value. Knowing that self-doubt is an illusion of the mind frees the happy person to see things very differently.

Happy people tend not to personalize the words and actions of others. Many of the words and actions of others have to do with their own struggles and perceptions of the world. Others can project and ascribe meaning and motives that are the results of their own unresolved issues. Projections are always a distortion and the happy person will often ask the important question yet again:Is this true? Happy people are not imprisoned by the projections and perceptions of others, while unhappy people are more likely to spend countless hours and make great efforts trying to control what others think of them. Learning to process the words and actions of others as their own struggles in life frees a person to feel compassion for and develop a deeper understanding of others. The thoughts and projections of others are more often a reflection of their own pain as opposed to the truth of things in a given situation. Happy people have ways of seeing the world and themselves in the context of gratefulness. They appreciate the good fortunes and small blessings of everyday life. Being grateful about what one has is a better road to happiness than longing for things that they don’t have. Being more accepting of themselves and life in general, happy people are more content with their circumstances. External circumstances do not define happy people so much as the internal sense of gratitude does. Happy people also know how to take their attention away from the negative view of life by focusing on the people around them. Being kind and exuding warmth and generosity to others adds to a sense of fulfillment in life. Helping to lift others increases their sense of meaning and purpose. Even in the most humble manifestations of giving to others there is a boost for the happy person who feels they have made a difference in another’s day. All the great spiritual teachers have emphasized compassion for others because they understood that decreasing the suffering of others also increases their own happiness. Happy people seem to understand that, like plants orient to the sun, people tend to orient themselves toward those who emanate happiness and compassion. n

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KATHY STALLER You can win, too. Here’s how: Send an email with the subject line

Glorious Food Write YOUR FULL NAME and send to

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Whoopee! Winner of the

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Glorious Food Write YOUR FULL NAME and send to

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29 / INTERVIEW / PAUL GIAMATTI AND DON COSCARELLI

of shocked to realize it’s been that long that I haven’t done a play. I never intended not to be doing theater. If I had any plan, it was that I was going to do theater and subsidize a theater career by doing whatever TV or movie stuff I could do. And then it just changed into something else. What is it about the stage that you love? Everything about it is so different. It’s kind of a clichéd thing to say, but stage is the actor’s medium. You’re in control of it. The live audience and the audience’s reaction. And the physical space of it, there’s something I actually really miss: the freedom to think around in that space and act with your whole body, not sort of just your head for the most part. I miss it. It’s really fun. It’s kind of joyous in a way. Films can be totally great. It’s hard to describe [the theater]. It’s just a different thing. How are you going to squeeze that performance in? You’re promoting this film, and looking at your IMDB page, it looks like you have half a dozen projects that are upcoming or in pre-production. Do you like being this busy? Not really, it’s too busy. I’m a little too scattered right now…A lot of those things I think are probably done. I have something to do in Texas and then I’m going to do the play. [Laughs] I’m a bit more lazy than it would appear to be.

And, now, Don Coscarelli. As a director, are you more attracted to the visual aspects of the story or the emotional? Because in watching Bubba Ho-Tep and John Dies at the End and even Phantasm, there’s a bit of a yin and yang. Well, I like ‘em both. To me, there’s nothing like a movie that can capture you emotionally and, at the same time, a beautifully composed and designed shot. I come from a photography background and I just revel in that kind of stuff. I don’t know if I can pick one or the other. I like to shoot for both if I can. I don’t want call them horror movies, because it seems almost like a disservice to what you’re trying to do. One thing I’ve noticed during the process of this publicity it’s like retrospectively revisiting my career. It’s interesting that you bring this up because I look back at the movies and I think what I started in Phantasm and continued in Bubba and now into John is to really explore mashing up genres if you will. Phantasm was on many levels a horror film, but it was also a science fiction film, it was also a fantasy Don Coscarelli on the set of Pantasm. film, and it was also a comedy and it was also an action film. It had a lot of different things going on. And then I think about Bubba Ho-Tep in a very similar situation. We ostensibly had a movie about a mummy who is 4,000 years old at an old folks home, but the focus of the story [was] this drama— this story of dying with dignity—of these two old geezers. But at the same time it talks a lot about how we as a culture treat our elderly. It worked on a lot of levels, and I think John does the same thing. It’s very funny and it’s memorably graphic but there’s this philosophical side to it that caught me off guard. It really does. Some of the elements were in David Wong’s book. He had some monologues by some of these different characters, and I really tried to have them preserved in the movie because it was talking about some really deep subjects. In the context of this movie…I think we make that work. When I saw that Paul Giamatti was in your movie, my curiosity was piqued. Did you have any reservations working with him? How did it go? It went beautifully because the guy, in my mind, is one of the greatest actors working on the planet. To have him in a modest-budget horror film, or whatever we’ll call it—a mash-up—is a gift. To top it all off, he’s a decent and funny guy and a huge genre fan in his own right, so that part of it was great. And working with him was a total dream. The other great part about him is that, by nature, we used some lesserknown actors to play our two leads, especially Chase Williamson [who plays Dave, the film’s hero]. He had just gotten out of college, he had been in, like, one YouTube project video and his absolute first acting job of any sort, he’s on the first day of shooting with me and filming eight pages of dialogue with Paul Giamatti. Paul led him through it and made it happen. Some of the best acting in the movie is those two guys in the Chinese restaurant. ■ 42

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32 / INTERVIEW / THE RESIDENTS

Originally, The Residents felt that they needed to have a new faceless image (or a face other than theirs) for each new project. With this in mind, they gave Flynn the job of coming up with a new disguise for the release of Eskimo, the band’s 1979 self-invented ethno-music-ography filled with haunting icy ambiance and poetic tales of indigenous peoples teased and taunted by Western commercialism. “Their original idea was a silver globe, not unlike a giant Christmas ornament,” says Flynn, to start. “With that in mind, I went to LA and met with several costume fabricators and was told this wouldn’t work—the people inside couldn’t breathe, the material would fog up, etc. So we rethought it and came up with eyeballs. The top hats initially were to complement the tuxedos which, in a time of hippy slovenliness, were deemed as classy and were also easy to rent. Once again, there was no thought of the eyeball becoming an icon, it was just the costume for Eskimo, but it proved to be so popular, it was hard to get away from.”

hile a mean Southern cackle once filled their vexing sonic landscapes, many morbid and aggressive catcalls and speaking-in-tongues soliloquies have followed. “Personally, I don’t think The Residents’ music or work has lost its Southern roots,” states Flynn in response to my like-minded question. “While they don’t especially create any blues or roots-type music, they love finding reasons to play with the clichés of the Southern mindset and create Southern characters and situations to go with it.” Mention to Flynn another first on the newest Residents album, the inclusion of Spanish language vocals and bilingualism on 2012’s Coochie Break and he tells a story-sidebar that involves a character named “Carlos.” There was a long-time interest in the group to do something swamp-like in its overall mood and feeling. “And one of The Residents is a big Dr. John fan, mostly of the Night Tripper period. It is the idea of periods—the noise-collage pop of its pre-1980 best and albums such as Not Available, Third Reich Rock n’ Roll and Duck Stab; the retro-electronic composer series of the 80s where the band took on John Philip Sousa, James Brown and Hank Williams; the cranky rock operas such as The Mole Show and Wormwood to say nothing of the once-reclusive band’s ban on live performances that have opened The Residents to true cult celebrity. “My personal favorites are more scattered throughout the 40 years rather than focused in a single era,” notes Flynn pointing toward a list that includes Not Available, God in 3 Persons, Freak Show, Demons Dance Alone and Tweedles, “all at or near the top.” Then there is the fact that between 2008 and the present, The Residents have been exceedingly prolific in terms of releasing albums and recorded projects—nine so far, not including the Ultimate Box Set. “It’s hard to say why the past few years have been prolific,” starts Flynn before going into this humorous rant. “One of the things I noticed with my parents, and my father in particular, was that as he got older, his energy may have fallen off, but his focus became greater. Perhaps this is the answer—as they have aged, the distractions of life have had less impact on The Residents, while the challenges and joy found in their work is still there.” For all the freakishness and folderol, fans of The Residents know what the band—whomever it might comprise—means to them. There’s mayhem and invention afoot, good taste and bad taste. What do The Residents feel that they have contributed to the modern music continuum? Perhaps plenty. Perhaps nothing. “It’s difficult for me to say what The Residents have done for music,” says Flynn. “Certainly, in a capitalistic culture, their lack of commercial success would point to little if any impact, but for me, in an era dominated by the shortsighted and superficial, The Residents have served as an inspiration for those whose dreams and goals lie outside the mainstream. I think it’s important for people to know that success and more importantly, fun, can be found in small, singular and curious ways.” ■ See www.worldcafelive.com for additional show details and prices.

sally friedman

The

Real real stuff

SO HERE IT IS again, Valentine’s season. And here we are, presumably all wildly romantic lovers who have perfect lives and relationships, just like in those magazine ads. We’re all thin, fit and deliriously happy. Perhaps, in the spirit of the season, your lover will whisk you off to Paris, or send dozens of roses on a whim. Of course, something is wrong with this picture…and those of us in real, honest-to-goodness relationships know it. The longer we’ve been in those relationships the better we understand what it really takes to define love. And it’s not giddy whirls around a ballroom floor while you’re Love means putting up with the cold wearing something slinky and black, and he’s looking sensational in his tuxedo besores, the cold feet, the cold house cause he has those washboard abs. that never seems to heat evenly, and My own definition of love plays out very differently. the chill in the air when it’s trash day It has to do with how true lovers unand nobody remembered to put those derstand that life is tough, even mean, and that it also can get tedious and scary. cans at the curb. Those are the times when you need somebody to say “Everything’s going to be O.K.,” not necessarily because he really believes it, but because he knows it will somehow make you feel better. Love means putting up with the cold sores, the cold feet, the cold house that never seems to heat evenly, and the chill in the air when it’s trash day and nobody remembered to put those cans at the curb. If you’ve been with somebody long enough, and you’ve been lucky enough, you’ll understand that nobody gives you any guarantees, and that there will be rough sailing some of the time—maybe even a lot of the time. Kids frustrate us, bosses anger us, neighbors are sometimes noisy, cars break down, appliances fail. There’s not always perfect harmony about why he keeps putting off the promised garage clean-up, and why you still leave your sweater hanging over the arm of the kitchen chair in that way that drives him crazy. You unfortunately threw out the last bank statement thinking it was just an

empty envelope. He accidentally broke your great-grandmother’s wine glass pulling it out of the dishwasher where it shouldn’t have been in the first place. The mood is not mellow. These are the universals. So forget those couples who seem as perfect as those in the magazine ads. Don’t believe it. When you’re not looking, they’re not always smiling either. They, too, worry about bills, the bad news from the plumber, the squabbles with kids, and the huge one, health. They, too, have to do battle with insurance companies, car mechanics and the guy who lets his dog run loose on their lawn. They, too, have to sweat out the results of the high-tech medical tests that don’t necessarily bring good news. But if you’re very lucky in this world—if you’ve found a life companion who actually worries when it’s raining hard and you’re out on the road, or who understands when you’re in a funk and tries to cheer you up, even if it’s with a corny joke—count yourself among the very fortunate. There’s been grace in your life if you’ve had somebody to hold you close when you lost someone you loved, and couldn’t stop crying. Sure, its almost Valentine’s Day. And let me assure you that my husband and I are not going to be in some chic club, nor are we going to be off on some Caribbean island drinking pina coladas. More likely, we’ll be doing a two-step around the kitchen as he cuts the tomatoes for the salad and I pull the meatloaf out of the oven. Later, it’ll be Alex Trebeck, Jeopardy, and dozing off before Nightline. But boy, does that sound terrific in a world in which what really counts is love. The steady, sheltering kind. The kind that endures and offers a safe haven. And in this Valentine’s Day season, I really hope you have that. n Sally Friedman contributes to the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, AARP Magazine and other national and regional publications. She is the mother of three fierce daughters, grandmother of seven exceptional grandchildren and the wife of retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Victor Friedman. Email: PINEGANDER@aol.com.

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regional theater

EDITED BY DAVID SCHULTZ

A Delicate Balance Through 2/17 Agnes and Tobias’ precarious suburban lives are shaken when they find themselves facing unexpected houseguests— who plan to stay indefinitely. Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of

“Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Stand by Me,” “Spanish Harlem.” Smoky Joe’s Café transforms classic pop music into compelling musical theater and each song is a trip down the corridors of American culture. State Theatre, 453 Northampton Street, Easton, PA. 1-800-999-STATE statetheatre.org

Assassin Through 2/10 Inspired by true events, this taut drama opens thirty years after a brutal on-field hit left a professional football player paralyzed for life. Now, his on-field attacker, “the As-

Silent Night 2/8-2/17 Silent Night recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On World War I’s Western Front, weapons are laid down when

Brian Anthony Wilson and Dwayne A. Thomas.

John Glover and Kathleen Chalfant. Photo credit: Peter C. Cook

Virginia Woolf), one of American theater’s most influential writers, wrote this scorching masterpiece, which won him his first of three Pulitzer Prizes. With this production, Edward Albee continues his long collaboration with McCarter’s Artistic Director, Emily Mann, in this stylish, bold, and profoundly touching social comedy. A superb cast (Kathleen Chalfant, Francesca Faridany, Penny Fuller, John Glover, Roberta Maxwell, James A. Stephens), dazzling precise dialogue, couched in layers of subtle menace will be nirvana for the serious theatergoer. McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, NJ. (609) 258-2787. $20-$65. mccarter.org

Romeo & Juliet 2/14 Russia's internationally acclaimed State Ballet of Russia brings the world’s most beloved ballet, Romeo & Juliet to life for one day only. The ballet is set to the romantic and powerful score by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by Mikhail Lavrovsky, a former principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet. The company of distinguished dancers has showcased the unparalleled art of Russian ballet to countries around the world. A more romantic and powerful work would be hard to find on Valentine’s Day. State Theatre, 453 Northampton Street, Easton, PA. 1-800-999-STATE. Smoky Joe’s Café 2/8 Smokey Joe’s Café is a compelling rock ‘n’ roll musical revue that encompasses the timeless songs of the inventors of this music genre, Leiber and Stoller. Featuring nearly 40 of the greatest songs ever recorded including, “On Broadway,” 44

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Shots are fired as the French and Scottish soldiers fail miserably in their attempt to storm a German bunker.

Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they come together to share Christmas and bury their dead in a moving dramatic work that features soaring, lyrical melodies and a stellar cast of stars. Silent Night is highly anticipated in this region, and is the East Coast Premiere. This critically-acclaimed opera from American composer Kevin Puts with a libretto by Mark Campbell, earned Puts the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Sung in English, German, French, Italian and Latin with English translations. Academy of Music, Broad & Locust Street, Philadelphia PA. (215) 893-1018. operaphila.org Urinetown 2/22-3/2 Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Urinetown is an irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny. A terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has crippled a Gotham-like industrial city. In a mad attempt to regulate water consumption, the government has outlawed the use of public toilets. Praised for reinvigorating the very notion of what a musical could be, Urinetown catapults the musical form into the new millennium with its outrageous perspective, wickedly modern wit and sustained ability to produce gales of unbridled laughter. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University. Diamond Theater. 420 East Packer Ave, Bethlehem PA. (610) 758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org

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sassin,” is battling diabetes and alcoholism, and seeking a televised mea culpa with his victim. But, what begins as a careful cat-and-mouse game between the retired football star and the now-quadriplegic’s lawyer quickly evolves into a volatile evening of stinging accusations and startling confessions. Written by David Robson. Directed by Seth Reichgott. InterAct Theatre Company. 2030 Sansom Street, Phila. (215) 568-8079. interacttheatre.org Balanchine/ Wheeldon/ Tharp 2/7-2/10 George Balanchine’s “Square Dance” is a favorite of many dancers. Score by Vivaldi and Corelli. Christopher Wheeldon’s compelling and intimate “After the Rain,” a Company premiere, showcases inventive partnering and heartfelt emotion. The first section features three couples. The second, is a pas de deux. Set to the music of Arvo Part. Twlya Tharp anchors this program with the quirky and fun “Push Comes to Shove.” This piece in her trademark theatrical style, moves to a score by Haydn and Joseph Lamb. Pennsylvania Ballet, The Merriam Theater, Broad & Locust Street, Phila. (215) 893-1999. paballet.org Bartholomew Fair 2/21-2/24 Ben Johnson’s 1614 play is a noisy, exuberant slice of Jacobean life. Depicting a day in the 17th-century life of the Fair, which took place every August from 1133 to 1855, the play pits Puritan excesses against the cruder vices and pleasures of the Fair’s underclass—the thieves, swindlers, prostitutes, and pimps who thrived there. The clash is violent, but it’s also burlesque, and the manners of the gentry are revealed to be only skin deep; they, too, succumb to the temptations of the Fair. Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew Street, Allentown PA. (484) 664-3333. muhlenberg.edu ■

footlights

DAVID SCHULTZ

Ellen Burstyn (background), Maggie Grace, Sebastian Stan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

IT’S RATHER HARD TO believe this work in a minor key by playwright William Inge caused such a stir way back in 1953. What might have seemed shocking and titillating way back then now comes off as sweet and more than a little quaint. The naturalism of this work, the shock of a highly sexualized man from the other side of the tracks—“with no shame,” as one character tartly describes him—must have been seen as a warning to all the good girls in the American Heartland: Stay true to your roots, marry within your ranks and settle for what the neighbors and family expect. So maybe it was a tad risqué 60 years ago. I am almost convincing myself of this as I write this review. The plot is simple and can be described in a few short lines. Madge Owens (Maggie Grace), a gorgeous young woman, is bored with her life and seems to be sleepwalking into a dreary engagement with the rich boy in town, Alan Seymour (Ben Rappaport), who loves her unconditionally. Madge’s mother, Flo (Mare Winningham), wants her to get her ducks in order and get married to this “good boy” and settle down before she becomes an old maid. Madge is unsure of all that life and her mother, and the town as a whole, has presumably set up for her—a bland copy of her elders’ like-minded-marriage. For Madge, heartache, repression, and longing to get out of town—the sound of the distant train

that exits this dusty Kansas town—is a wistful dream that always seems just out of reach. The folks that live in town only reinforce the desire to get away from her stifled life in this dead end town. Rosemary Sydney (Elizabeth Marvel), a mousy middle-aged schoolteacher and her reticent beau, Howard Bevans (Reed Birney), are perfect examples of the innate sadness in the town. Howard is more than leery about settling down with Rosemary and fighting every inch along the way. Rosemary is more than ready, and tired of her old maid status. Inge has this sleepy town practically crawling with an assortment of old maids of every age with sexual desires percolating just beneath their tight, prim, lady-like exteriors. Enter Hal Carter (Sebastian Stan), a sexually provocative drifter with an Adonislike build and an ego to match and the entire town is turned upside down. This box-car-hopping, rough-around-the-edges hunk is making the town’s women swoon, and the men folk fume. Even Mrs. Helen Potts (Ellen Burstyn), a spinster, is tempting him with homemade pies and encouraging him to take his shirt off—so she can wash it for him. (Oh, my goodness.) For most of the two-hour running time Hal is indeed shirtless, or in the process of taking his shirt off. That these two beauties, Madge and Hal, are drawn to each other is not surprising. Each sees in the other their own beauty—not unW W W. FA C E B O O K .C O M / I C O N D V

like Narcissus looking upon himself in a pool’s reflection—is a given, too. Director Sam Gold does have a bit of fun with this rather dated paper-thin material. Some of the humor he pulls out is arch and runs counter to the intent of the author, no doubt, but audiences today are much more sophisticated, so in some ways it works. The play takes place in the backyard of Flo Owens and her elder neighbor, Helen Potts, over two days—Labor Day, early morning and then later in the day just before sunset. Act Three follows early next morning, after the picnic. Mr. Inge makes you work overtime and posits the eagerly awaited picnic off-stage. But enough fireworks happen between these characters that watching the picnic unfurl would be anticlimactic. The fun is in seeing the rather modern architecture of the clash of wills, people caught in a web of emotional stasis, and the strangely entrancing dance of desire brought to the edge of the stage. The subtle final moments of this play envelope the stage with a sense of cosmic resolution. ■ Picnic, American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, New York. Through February 24, 2013

David Schultz is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.

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nick’s picks Terri Lyne Carrington ★★★★1/2 Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue Concord Jazz Emboldened by her 2011 Grammy winning The Mosaic Project, a slick, contemporary jazz and funk recording that featured a who’s who of all-female singers and musicians, bandleader and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington strikes hot and cool with the equally confident

and Robin Eubanks on horns, along with a remarkable spot by Clark Terry who contributes trumpet and his signature mumble speak growl on “Fleurette Africain.” This finely honed group tags pop grooves and straight-ahead swing, underscored by an innate funkiness that refreshes Ellington’s tunes. Carrington admits to the daunting nature of revisiting this album in her the liner notes, but she does so with respect and a spirit of discovery that would make Ellington proud. The trio clicks on a groove laden swinger “Wig Wise” a tune that snaps with an off kilter melody that’s voiced beautifully through Clayton’s playing. Carrington drives “Backward Country Boy Blues” and “Very Special” with effusive beats while encouraging ripe solos from McBride who devours the Ellington/Carrington narrative, projecting a visceral feel from his bass that’s also rooted in a deep appreciation of Mingus. “Switch Blade” is a multifaceted blues that Carrington embellishes with an exotic coda that guitarist Nir Felder infuses with tabla-like sounds. Equally appealing are three modernistic originals—two by Carrington and one by Clayton. The experience concludes with “Rem Blues,” incorporating an Ellington poem passionately intoned by Shea Rose and spoken word by Herbie Hancock who channels Ellington’s own declarations—“Freedom of expression! The same people who like jazz are those who like creative things, whether they understand them or not.” Maybe it’s because its scope and band is tightly focused because Money Jungle is Carrington’s best record, and its banner cry is shaped by the drummer’s self-assurance as much as her astounding rhythm team that’s in sync with the material and grooves. (11 tracks; 61 minutes) Jackie Ryan ★★★★ Listen Here Open Art

Terri Lyne Carrington.

Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue, a reimagining of the classic Duke Ellington trio album from 1963 that featured Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Released 50 years ago this year, Ellington’s album remains a masterwork, a brilliant album of blues and durable tunes as only Ellington could write. Fast forward to Carrington’s concept, which updates the original with renewed motivation—a provocative and artful protestation of the pervasive financial corruption that lingers in American society, expressed through well chosen and organically placed sound clips from the likes of Martin Luther King, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama who famously calls out “the irresponsibility and recklessness that got us into this mess in the first place.” Carrington’s Money Jungle trio dazzles with two formidable musicians, bassist Christian McBride and pianist Gerald Clayton, and slots in guest turns by singer Lizz Wright, Tia Fuller

Nick Bewsey has been writing about jazz for ICON since 2004. A member of The Jazz Journalists Association, he blogs about jazz and entertainment at www.jazzinspace.blogspot.com. Twitter: @countingbeats

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The primacy of Jackie Ryan’s affecting singing style is showcased to near perfection on Listen Here, an ebullient date with bassist/arranger John Clayton and a host of top-flight musicians (pianist Gerald Clayton, drummer Obed Calvaire, guitarist Graham Dechter and the horns of Ricky Woodard and Gilbert Castellanos) who frame the beguiling Ms. Ryan with warm musical precision. Ryan embraces an unusual mix of tunes (standards, jazz/pop tunes by Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg, an atypical Spanish song) that bring out the best of her deep, sultry voice. There’s a positive trend in jazz these days to embrace originality, particularly with vocalists of a certain age, yet Ryan is quite the pro and so comfortable with her playlist (and her band) that she gives these songs more purpose and reflection. Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw It Away” is a standard that’s been firmly adopted by many jazz performers now, but Ryan’s reading captures its melancholy spirit better than most. I especially love the breezy “How Little We Know” that’s augmented by Clayton’s glittering accompaniment. And the upbeat “Rip Van Winkle” has a catchy melody that shows off Ryan’s effervescent pipes with a delightful panache. Throughout, Listen Here maintains an elevated mood with wide swathes of syncopated swing that mesh splendidly with Ryan’s demeanor. Listen Here is reminiscent of the great recordings from Concord Records in the ‘80s by Rosemary Clooney, Gene Harris and Scott Hamilton that Ryan, Clayton and Woodard, respectively, conjure up, and it gives listeners much to savor of the indelible Ryan and her band throughout its engaging playlist. (14 tracks; 58:04 minutes) Patricia Barber ★★★★1/2 Smash Concord Jazz There’s no doubting the iconoclast badge that the singular artist/singer/composer/pianist Patricia Barber proudly wears. A Chicago native whose first two albums made her an international jazz star, Barber straddles musical styles as well as her own inventive song forms to create Smash, a genre-busting album of astonishing creativity. Her original songs vibrate with sophistication and keen truth – “Scream/ when Sunday/ finally comes/ and God/ isn’t there…the soldier/ has his gun/ and the war/ isn’t where/ we thought it would be.” She leads a superior band (guitarist John Kregor, bassist Larry Kohut, drummer Jon Deitemyer) and accompanies herself on piano—her intro on the instrumental ”Bashful” is eloquent and haunting until the tune is carried away on a rhythmic wave and catches fire. And like her previous

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NICK BEWSEY ★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

sound incorporates varying degrees of world music rhythms, veiling a cover of “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” with a kinetic Latin feel and assigns an unexpected backbeat to Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” the other standard tucked in among the album’s fine originals. (10 tracks; 66:13 minutes) Cliff Hines ★★★1/2 Wanderlust Self-produced An ambitious, unwieldy but favorable musical endeavor, Wanderlust aims high for visionary and sonic vistas that guitarist/composer Cliff Hines often reaches. Sleekly modernistic, the album is fused with electro-acoustic touches that flow with genuine wonderment. Hines favors fuzz tones, feedback, electronic pulses and ethereal vocals on “Brothers,”

Patricia Barber.

recordings, Smash has audiophile cachet thanks to being recorded and mixed by engineer Jim Anderson, Barber’s equal partner in sound. These songs are urgent (“Code Cool,”) dreamy (“Romanesque”) and sweetly enthralling (“Spring Song,”) while a tune like “Redshift” has echoes under its bossa nova beat of a brainier Michael Frank’s tune. Smash is Barber’s debut recording with Concord Jazz following her many years on the Blue Note label, and it’s a captivating sonic and emotional experience. Barber’s work effectively aims for a transcendent experience as vital as anything being currently produced in the alt-rock, and her embrace of pop and rock melts seamlessly into her one-of-a-kind jazz language. Smash is resoundingly adult, intelligent and best of all, musically absorbing. (12 tracks; 53:16 minutes) Manhattan Vibes ★★★1/2 Blue November Emarel Music Blue November is the kind of “under the radar” recording that’s always fun to discover. Formed and led by vibraphonist Christos Rafalides, the group includes former child prodigy, pianist Sergio Salvatore, bassist Mike Pope and drummer Vince Cherico. This modern jazz quartet embraces a contemporary instrumental playing style that’s infectious and groove based. Blue November is an entertaining date with plenty of robust interplay and attractive compositions—it’s tuneful and melodically engaging. Beautifully recorded, the group’s

Cliff Hines and band members.

the solid lead tune that sets the stage for the composer’s musical worldview, one that’s unlimited by genre or boundaries—Hines is such a musical shape shifter that it can be hard to keep up with the vision. A New Orleans resident and educator, Hines creates plenty of adventurous passages and aural textures that inflate tunes like “Dresden” and “Tehran” with mysterious import. Chief collaborators include vocalist Sasha Masakowski whose inflection and manner is suggestive of Esperanza Spalding, while Andrew McGowan on Rhodes and piano, Jasen Weaver on bass and Paul Thibodeaux on drums round out the core band. Guest spots go to some of NOLA’s hottest talents including Khris Royal, Kent Jordan and Bill Summers who handles percussion duties on the title track. The strongest cut, “Aetherea,” is richly evocative of the Crescent City with a boss solo by trombonist Michael Watson and second line rhythm. Hines has a fearless quality, incorporating disparate instruments (sitar, slide guitar, shortwave radio) into a cohesive jazz-fed language. The album concludes with a bravura statement, a 12+ minute retro-styled track called “The Path Of Arjuna” that’s cinematic in scope and pleasingly spacey in tone. www.cdbaby.com (12 tracks; 58:06 minutes) ■

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singer / songwriter Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison ★★★★ Cheater’s Game Premium Records Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have maintained successful solo careers in country music while raising a family as husband and wife. With Cheater’s Game, their first CD as a duo, they have assembled an album that plays to their musical strengths. Cheater’s Game, which features seven new songs by Robison, serves as a concept album of sorts about the vari-

TOM WILK ★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

shows recorded in 2010 and 2012, showcases the natural fire that Coryell and his band bring to the music in a concert setting. “In the Room with Jimi” kicks off the album in a lively fashion with a Hendrixesque song inspired by a childhood encounter with the legendary guitarist. Coryell mixes in original songs (“I Can’t Give You Up” and “The Blues is Taking Its Place”) and also acknowledges his musical influences. He stretches out instrumentally on Lowell Fulson’s “Love Her With a Feeling” and pays tribute to Marvin Gaye with a heartfelt reading of “What’s Going On.” The DVD, filmed at a British Columbia music festival in 2010, features little overlap with just three songs of the same songs included on the CD. Highlights include Coryell’s “Calling from Another Phone” and a version of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me.”

“It Tears Me Up,” Penn creates a template of longing and heartbreak that Percy Sledge would turn into a hit single. “The Puppet,” co-written by Penn and Spooner Oldham, would become a Top 10 hit for James and Bobby Purify as would “I’m Your Puppet” in 1966. Overall, The Fame Recordings is a revelation, an alternate history of ‘60s soul. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble ★★★1/2 Texas Flood Epic/Legacy Texas Flood, the debut album by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, served as the calling card for the Texas guitarist, heralding the arrival of a bright, new talent in 1983. For the 30th anniversary of its release, Epic has reis-

The Slide Brothers ★★★★ Robert Randolph Presents The Slide Brothers Concord Records

Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis. Photo: Cody Hamilton.

ous states of a relationship. The title track is an unflinching look at temptations and unfaithfulness. “I can fake it for awhile/till I fall apart in style,” Willis ruefully sings. Dave Alvin’s “Border Radio” is reworked in a samba arrangement and presents a tale of a woman using the power of music to reconnect with an estranged lover. At the opposite extreme, their open-hearted rendition of Robert Earl Keen’s “No Kinda Dancer” show the role music plays in bringing people together. Robison’s originals capture the ups and down of married life in “Dreamin’” and “Waterfall.” “Lifeline” sums up the feelings that any romantic partner can feel: “Send me a lifeline, a little bit of rope/In the deep dark brine I need a little bit of hope.” Murali Coryell ★★★ Live! Shake-It-Sugar Records Music is the family business for Murali Coryell, the son of jazz/rock fusion guitarist Larry Coryell. The younger Coryell, who also plays guitar, has carved a musical path that’s distinct from his father, with an emphasis on blues and rock. Live!, a combination CD/DVD drawn from separate tomwilk@rocketmail.com 48

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Robert Randolph has brought the tradition of sacred steel guitar from the church into popular culture with a series of successful albums over the past dozen years. The Slide Brothers—Calvin Cooke, Chuck Campbell, Darick Campbell and Aubrey Ghent—serve up an electrifying blend of secular and spiritual songs on their debut CD. A smoking rendition of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” builds upon the slide guitar lines laid down by Duane Allman in 1970, a symbolic passing of the torch. “It Hurts Me Too” and “The Sky is Crying,” two blues classics associated with Elmore James, fit easily into the gospel tradition. “Wade in the Water,” a traditional spiritual, receives a straight-up instrumental workout featuring a sizzling guitar exchange. The call-and-response vocals of “Catch That Train” help the song build up a head of steam. Cooke’s “Help Me Make It Through” is derived from the gospel tradition, while George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” receives a soulful reading with Ghent and Jimmy Carter of the Blind Boys of Alabama sharing lead vocals. Dan Penn ★★★★ The Fame Recordings Ace As a songwriter, Dan Penn was one of the architects of soul music in the 1960s. The Alabama native had his songs recorded by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke and James Carr, to name just a few. Penn made demonstration recordings of his songs to serve as a guide for the singers who recorded his work. The release of The Fame Recordings reveals just how potent a performer Penn was in his 20s. Recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in the mid-1960s, only one of the 24 performances has been previously released. As a white teenager in the 1950s who was heavily influenced by such singers as Ray Charles and Bobby “Blue” Bland, Penn brought a black sensibility to his singing. “Keep on Talking” recalls the work of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions. “I’m Living Good” has echoes of the best of Sam Cooke’s soul-flavored pop work. On “Uptight Good Woman,” Penn adopts the preaching style of Joe Tex. With

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Stevie Ray flanked by Double Trouble, Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon. Photo: Don Hunstein.

sued the album with bonus material and a second CD of a 1983 concert. Vaughan brings a robust approach to the blues and rock he grew up on, creating a sound that was unmistakably his. Originals, such as the energetic “Love Struck Baby” and “Pride and Joy” mesh nicely alongside versions of Howlin’ Wolf ’s “Tell Me” and Buddy Guy’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb. Vaughan steps to the forefront with four instrumentals, showing off a command of his instrument on “Rude Mood” and a cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Testify.” On “Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place in Town),” a bonus song, Vaughan slows down the pace to create a noir-like mood that plays out for more than seven minutes. For the second CD, taken from a concert recorded at Ripley’s Music Hall in Philadelphia in October 1983, Vaughan and his rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton run through a sampling of Texas Flood songs. They also play tribute to Jimi Hendrix with fiery versions of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and a medley of “Little Wing/Third Stone from the Sun.” ■

jazz library

BOB PERKINS

CHET

BAKER

Chet Baker after a Los Angeles recording session,1953.

THE STORY OF JAZZ musician Chet Baker is an interesting one. Baker, like so many other jazz musicians was on a self-destructive path for many years until his errant ways caught up with him and his life ended tragically. But Baker, unlike many other jazz musicians, had something extra going for him. He not only played a lyrical trumpet and flugel horn, but the jazz critics and writers were on his side, as were a growing number of fans, and he was winning a number of jazz polls, beating out the likes of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. He also had a light, airy, come-hither singing voice, combined with great looks—and could have made his way into films. Some writers likened him to actor James Dean, who also had dark, good looks and was said to have a quiet vulnerability and aloofness about him. So, a mystique was built around Baker, which made him even more newsworthy to scribes. With all this going for him, he didn’t appear to be struggling to make a living like many other jazz musicians who may have had reason to live on the edge and push their luck with drink and drugs. But, even those close to Baker said he threw it all away by continuing his engagement with drugs. Baker alluded to this in an interview in the latter days of his career, when he said, “When I look at those early photographs taken of me by William Claxton and Bob Willoughby, shots of me recording for Pacific Jazz back in the early ‘50s...I did look modern, looked good, should’ve been a movie star… a handsome guy. I suppose some people think I blew it.” Chet Baker was born December 23, 1929 in Yale, Oklahoma. His father was a professional guitar player. Baker sang in a church choir at an early age. His father later gifted him with a trumpet. He received some instruction on the instrument while in high school, and at 16 quit school, joined the army and was stationed in Germany where he played in an army band. W W W. FA C E B O O K .C O M / I C O N D V

Following military service, he entered El Camino College in Los Angeles, studying theory and harmony. He dropped out after a year, and, perhaps still looking for his place in life, reenlisted in the army in 1950, and again played in an army band. While stationed in San Francisco he played at the jazz clubs Bop City and Blackhawk. When he departed the army this time, he was ready to become a professional musician. Baker’s first gigs as a pro were with Vido Musso and Stan Getz. A major break came in 1951 when he played with Charlie Parker in a series of jobs on the West Coast. Baker said of Parker, “He was very protective, like an elder brother, even fatherly. He kept on warning me against drugs...said I shouldn’t become like him.” A year later, Baker joined Gerry Mulligan’s quartet, and both became internationally known with their contrapuntal recordings. Their duet on “My Funny Valentine,” became the centerpiece of their success. Mulligan also had his problem with drugs and was arrested, which broke up the group after a milestone year. Baker continued to play, formed his own groups and occasionally made vocal albums. Hollywood beckoned and Baker made one film, Hell’s Horizons, in 1956. He declined the offer of a studio contract, preferring to make music his life’s work. Baker and drugs became acquainted in the early ‘50s, and he ran afoul of the law in West Germany and the UK. He also served prison time in Italy and the U.S. because of his habit. He was badly beaten in San Francisco in 1968, while allegedly attempting to buy drugs. His front teeth were knocked out. When fitted for dentures, he had to work on adjusting his embouchure before he resumed playing.

rom 1978 until his death in 1988, Baker played for the most part in Europe. His facial features changed markedly as he grew older, making him look much older than his years. The physical abuse attributed to drugs, had evidently taken their toll. In the early morning hours of May 13, 1988, Baker’s body was found on the ground, below his second story room at the Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam. He had apparently died from injuries sustained in a fall from a window. His death was ruled an accident, but drugs were discovered in his room, and an autopsy discovered heroin in his body. A plaque outside the hotel was placed as a memorial. Chesney Henry “Chet” Baker was 58. His remains were returned to the U.S., and interred at a cemetery in Ingelwood, California. There is a documentary in his honor, titled Let’s Get Lost, and a book of photography by William Claxton, titled Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker. There are also several biographies charting his life and times. His personal problems aside, Chet Baker left a fine legacy as a jazz musician, along with a good number of awards and citations, and a plentiful discography. n Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Mon-Thurs. 6 to 9pm & Sunday, 11–3pm.

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keresman on disc

MARK KERESMAN ★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

Ulrich Gumpert & Günter Baby Sommer ★★★★★ La Paloma Intakt

Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ ★★★★1/2 Songs About Cars, Space and the Ramones New Records

It just shows to go you that you shouldn’t stereotype the creative sort—take Ulrich Gumpert and Günter Baby Sommer, pianist and drummer respectively, both Germans and both identified with jazz’s avant-garde wing. Yet La Paloma is a session of duets wherein Gumpert calls to mind 20th century piano aces Willie “The Lion” Smith, Fats Waller, and Thelonious Monk, the latter when he was playing revival (evangelical) meetings (he did as a

It must really suck to have the “right sound” at the wrong time—ask Drivin’ n’ Cryin,’ for instance. Formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986, DnC were the kind of band whose members drew inspiration from ZZ Top and the Ramones, from Bad Company and George Jones. While a popular live act, they couldn’t be more out of step with the times—too old-school (or normal-ish) and musically “accomplished” (or not sloppy) for the punk/new wave audience but played too fast, lean, and mean for the mainstream. (Also ask: Charlie Pickett & the Eggs, the Long Ryders, and Willie Nile. But I digress.) But they persevere—Songs About is a

Drivin’ n’ Cryin.’ Photo: Scott Munn.

six-song mini-album/maxi-single where they pay subtle “tribute” to the fast, snappy, and catchy pop-melody-charged rock & roll of several yesteryears: Ramones, Beach Boys, the Who. “Hot Wheels” is a slightly tongue-in-cheek but wildly earnest song about adolescent attraction, replete with tight, surging harmonies and guitars (with a touch of jangle). “Acceleration” is a song about driving too darn fast—dangerous, yes, but who among us hasn’t push the pedal to the metal when no gendarmes were around. If Tom Petty gave Jeff Lynne the slip and partied with the Damned or the Plimsouls (two combos that helped make r&r fun again back-when), this wee platter might be the result—it reminds me of my youthful days when excitement was measured by 45 RPM records (remember those?). drivinncryin.com The Monochrome Set ★★★1/2 Strange Boutique Water Ulrich Gumpert and Günter Baby Sommer.

teenager). Sommer is somewhat subdued, alternating the restless yet driven swing of Gene Krupa and the Impressionism of Paul Motian. Then UG tosses you a curveball, teasing your ear with the spare prudence of Paul Bley, with Sommer roaring just as minimally, his drumbeats rumbling like far-off thunder. La Paloma combines elemental, tuneful bluesy-ness with genial avant elasticity. Fans of key-crackers Ellington, Monk, Brubeck, Dick Hyman, Keith Jarrett…get this posthaste. intaktrec.ch

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Is it really a reissue if it was never released in the USA when it was new? The question haunts this writer…still, the world must be told. The Monochrome Set was an English band of the post-punk era (roughly 1979-1984), that magical time when bands could embrace the DIY (Do It Yourself) aesthetic and yet grow beyond the “simple” constraints of punk rock. The Monochrome Set were perhaps the ultimate smarty-pants band, full of dismissive, often withering wit—if in a better world Noel Coward had a rock band circa 1980, he might’ve been the guiding light of this lot. Released that year (but only available in the US as an import), Strange Boutique is replete with droll wordplay (sample song titles: “The Lighter Side of Dating,” “Love Goes Down the Drain,” “Martians Go Home”) and suave, somewhat precious vocalizing that makes Bryan Ferry sound like James Brown by comparison, and tunes

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that tango more than rock. But by gum, this Boutique is endearingly entertaining, just as lunch with Truman Capote would be. So embrace your inner Gore Vidal or Christopher Hitchens, plant your tongue firmly in cheek, and dip your heppest big toe into the arty pop of the Monochrome Set. runtshop.com Kris Kristofferson ★★★★ Feeling Mortal KK Records Bobby Bare ★★★★1/2 Darker Than Light Plowboy If Hank Williams Sr. was the “hillbilly Shakespeare”—as legend calls him—then Kris Kristofferson is…F. Scott Fitzgerald? Rod Serling? Anyway, in the 1960s Kristofferson was the bard of what’s known as progressive country, that sub-genre that sought to strip away the sentimental jive of Nashville and infused country with both lyrical sophistication and ambi-

approach is predominantly acoustic, with Kris’ weary but mostly-undaunted stray-cat yowl/growl leading the listener through…life, gosh darn it, where glory and heartbreak exist side-by-side and intermingle. kriskristofferson.com Bare revisits the traditional folk that we now call Americana, songs such as “House of the Rising Sun,” “Banks of the Ohio,” “Farewell Angelina,” and “Tom Dooley,” songs of dissipation, murder, and bittersweet/frustrated love—along with pizza, the things that truly make life worth living. Bare transforms U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found…” into an old-school lament. His voice is not only “intact” but sounds great, an amalgam of Merle Haggard semi-croon and Gordon Lightfoot/Woody Guthrie wise storyteller. Musically, it’s old-school no-frills country with faint folk-rock undertones (Vince Gill and Alejandro Escovedo appear herein)—it’s got the crackle and fizz of a just-opened bottle of ginger ale with a shot of singlemalt whiskey. plowboyrecords.com Juju/Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara ★★★★ In Trance Real World What happens when open-ended Anglo-American rock meets the entrancing sounds of West Africa? This platter, In Trance, that’s what. Juju “is” electric guitarist Justin Adams— whose resume includes work with Robert Plant, Sinead O’Connor, and Jah Wobble—and Juldeh Camara, who plays an African variant on the fiddle, the ritti, and a Western-style bassand-drum team. The tracks are lengthy rhythm/groove-oriented jams, but unlike must AngloAmerican rock, there are no tedious, show-off-y solos, but deep, sinuous West African grooves (that sound rather blues-based, which they are), terse solos, and wailing, melismatic vocals. If Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker—or the Grateful Dead in their 1960s bluesier modes—had been raised in western and/or parts of northern Africa, they might well have made music much like In Trance. This set is a magnificent bridge between near-psychedelic rock and modern but tradition-based African styles—turn on your transcontinental lovelight and trip-out to this, boys and girls. realworldrecords.com Don Cherry ★★★1/2 Organic Music Society Caprice/Naxos

Kris Kristofferson and friend.

guity and elements from rock and folk music. In the early ‘60s, long before the “outlaw” phenomenon, Bobby Bare—both a songwriter and an ace interpreter—virtually blazed his own path through Nashville by blurring the lines between folk, folk-rock, honky tonk, and (smoother) mainstream country modes. Each gent has been absent from the recording scene for years, and each breaks the silence in fine style. Feeling Mortal is aptly titled—most of the songs are introspective as only someone that’s been ‘round the block many times can be, unflinching yet sidestepping maudlin selfpity. Don Was provides the sympathetic, bare-bones production in which Kristofferson thrives, and it stands with Rick Rubin’s back-to-basics work with Johnny Cash. The overall

The late jazz trumpeter Don Cherry was something of a renaissance man. As a member of Ornette Coleman’s quartet he “shattered” and re-launched jazz, ushering in the avant-garde era in the late 1950s; he was among the wave of players to combine assorted musics from ‘round the globe with jazz long before it became trendy, and played with and influDon Cherry. enced a multiplicity of musicians (Steve Hillage, Lou Reed, classical composer K. Penderecki). In the late ‘60s & early ‘70s, Cherry lived in Sweden and worked with players from divergent backgrounds, including Swedish jazz drummer Bengt Berger, Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz, and Brazilian percussion wizard Nana Vasconcelos. If it’s Cherry the jazz trumpeter you seek, you may be disappointed—Organic, recorded in the early ‘70s (and its first time on CD), is Cherry the musical alchemist, melding folk strains from assorted cultures with jazz improvisation in a hippie-ish-ly inclusive, flexible-form but user-friendly manner. (While much free/out jazz from the ‘60s and ‘70s was full of fury, Cherry’s variant usually conveyed joy and wonder.) Alternately stimulating and contemplative, Organic Music Society presents a utopian, playful, and creative vision, one with virtually no limits. naxos.com ■

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

FLORIDATION By John Lampkin Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 5 11 16 19 20 21 23 24 26 28 29 30 32 34 36 37 39 42 43 47 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 57 58 60 63 64 65 67 71 73 74 75 78 79 81 82 84 86 87 88 89 91 93 94

Drift, as smoke Macbeth’s hallucination Pearly entrance? Pedicure place That girl, in Quebec Plaza Hotel girl Performer with a whip Poker, e.g. Jaw-dropping reaction to butterflies? Bellyacher Auth. unknown Within reach Birthday tiara, e.g. Mike who married Liz Taylor Gets out of shape? Legal deg. Backwash creators Bi- halved Uncommon Salutation to an out-of-shape friend? Animals Beat it Like some beans Tripoli’s country Outrageous ice cream concoctions? Mobile phone site?: Abbr. Neuter, as a horse __ Na Na Research foundation, often Barrel cleaner Like pitfalls George who plays Stokes on “CSI” Dough hoarder Masters of the felt-tipped pen? Hunter’s trick Israel’s Netanyahu, familiarly It helps dough rise Climbers’ spikes Officer’s ornament Future father’s sch.? Flower bed wetter Ex halved Bulletproof linen fiber? Scrub the mission What’s needed for the job Scrap for Rover Going on, to Holmes Cowering caterpillar? Unspecified degrees Boffo abbr. Happiness

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“The Good Wife” fig. Some crash programs 1957 war movie title river Hoi polloi “I Have __”: 1963 speech Costly Aquamarine Cuban tortilla king? Macbeth’s burial isle Nuclear family? Faddish Some state-spanning rds. Postal motto word Big name in vacuums Accent In __: actually

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 22 25 27 31 33 35 38 40 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 50 52 53 55

Prepares for shampooing Throw for __ Botany major’s hurdles? Work for the small screen Table God of Islam Big wheel in delis “Beat it, ya varmint!” This, to Juanita Pre-splashdown stage Pancreas, for one End Horned __ Carmaker Ferrari Power plant output Harbor suspicion Get behind, as enemy lines Met acquisition Insect preserver Aussie hoppers Lang. of Israel Belch in “Twelfth Night” __ citizenship Common quality? 95-Across’s org. Pokes Structural opening? __ Lama Beat it Like Abner — but not really Season 1 judge on “The X Factor” Betrothed Folk tale rubber? Affectionate Thresher grain Dawn Animal named from a Greek word

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meaning “tribe of hairy women” Shot contents Prove otherwise Pesters persistently Big name in coffeemakers Made to suit Bankrupt energy giant Turkeys no one knows about? Late retirement time River of Flanders Bellyaches Central part WWII Treasury offering Especially fond of Where you might experience hard knocks? Arrow’s path Take a gander Canterbury quaff Cologne quaff Raided the fridge Parts of darts Hard or soft ending Doodle on the guitar Advance __-Croatian Beat in the kitchen Birdbrained Comes across Criticizes harshly

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104 Depressions 106 Love, to Luis 107 “We Need a Little Christmas” musical 109 Partner of Rodgers 111 Mollify

112 Source of support 113 “Football Night in America” network 114 Part of KJV: Abbr. Answer in next month’s issue.

Answer to January’s puzzle, MISSING PIECE

HARPER’S M

INDEX Facts compiled by the editors of Harper’s Magazine

Number of signatures a petition posted on whitehouse.gov must obtain within thirty days to “require a response” : 25,000 Number a petition calling for Texas to secede from the Union obtained within a week of being posted last November : 100,000 Amount set aside for states to aid homeowners in a 2012 government settlement with mortgage lenders : $2,500,000,000 Portion of that amount the states plan to use for other purposes : 2/5 Increase since 2009 in the number of people over the age of 55 who are working : 3,710,000 Ratio of U.S. farmers age 65 and older to those under the age of 35 : 7:1 Rank of “attire” among the leading reasons “millennials” are unsuccessful in job interviews : 1 Rank of their posting inappropriate pictures on social media : 2 Percentage of the population of Valencia, Spain, that is currently unemployed : 28 Price of a weeklong prostitution training course offered there since May : $127 Percentage of public U.S. colleges and universities whose tuition has increased by more than half in the past five years : 15 Portion of its campuses the University of Phoenix plans to “phase out” beginning this year : 1/2 Average salary earned by a full-time-employed male college graduate one year after graduation : $42,918 By a full-time-employed female graduate : $35,296 Percentage of U.S. girls who are Girl Scouts : 8 Of female senators who are : 70 Percentage of characters shown on televison in the United States who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual : 4.4 Cost of a pair of “all-American” blue jeans designed by Glenn Beck : $129.99 Rank of Philadelphia among U.S. cities with the most per capita purchases of sweatpants and sweatshirts : 1 Percentage of Canadians who believe in global warming : 98 Of Americans who do : 70 Of Republicans : 48 Percentage of Republicans who believe in demonic possession : 68 Minimum number of grave sites photographed to build a grave-finding app for visitors to Arlington National Cemetery : 260,000 Average number of days a U.S. veteran waits for a response to a claim filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs : 260 Percentage increase in Chicago homicides last year : 18 Amount in health-care spending on shooting victims that local officials hope to recoup through a new firearms tax : $600,000 Estimated value of marijuana plants found growing on a single lot on Chicago’s South Side last October : $5,443,000 Percentage by which the drug- and alcohol-test failure rates for Amtrak workers are higher than the industry average : 51 Square footage of a proposed $35 million animal-holding center to be built at JFK International Airport : 172,165 Minimum number of Red Bull–sponsored athletes who have died in parachuting, paragliding, and skydiving stunts : 5 Minutes the average U.S. worker must work to pay for 12 ounces of beer : 3.3 The average Indian worker : 36 Number of Steak ’N Shake restaurants set to open in the United Arab Emirates over the next five years : 40 Estimated tons of meat eaten annually in China : 88,000,000 Minimum number of Chinese government agencies whose mission includes containing social unrest : 40 Value of bribes reported through Bribr, a Russian anticorruption app released last September : $1,577,127 Estimated minimum cost to make and market Peter Jackson’s film-trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit : $1,000,000,000 Amount New Zealand’s tourism board has spent to promote the nation as “100 percent Middle-earth” : $8,200,000 Index Sources 1,2 The White House; 3,4 Enterprise Community Partners (Washington); 5 Bureau of Labor Statistics; 6 U.S. Department of Agriculture; 7,8 Adecco Staffing (N.Y.C.); 9 Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Madrid); 10 Conselleria de Justicia y Bienestar Social (Valencia, Spain); 11 Jennifer Ma, College Board (N.Y.C.); 12 The University of Phoenix; 13,14 American Association of University Women (Washington); 15,16 Michelle Tompkins, Girl Scouts of the United States of America (N.Y.C.); 17 GLAAD (Los Angeles); 18 Music Today (Charlottesville, Va.); 19 John Fetto, Experian Marketing Services (N.Y.C.); 20 IPAC-CO2 Research (Regina, Sask.); 21 Yale Project on Climate Change Communication (New Haven, Conn.); 22 Pew Research Center (Washington); 23 Public Policy Polling (Raleigh, N.C.); 24 Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.); 25 Center for Investigative Reporting (Berkeley); 26 Chicago Police Department; 27 Cook County President’s Office (Chicago); 28 Chicago Police Department; 29 Amtrak Office of Inspector General (Washington); 30 Racebrook Capital (N.Y.C.); 31 Harper’s research; 32,33 UBS Equity Research (N.Y.C.); 34 Steak ’N Shake (Indianapolis); 35 U.S. Department of Agriculture; 36 Congressional Research Service; 37 Harper’s research; 38 Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter (Los Angeles); 39 Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (Wellington, New Zealand). W W W. FA C E B O O K .C O M / I C O N D V

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Style) it will inspire a sense of security for residents, even if “old people” are stereotyped as being beyond sexual desire. When we last visited Cathedral Village (everyone has an old aunt) we noticed a randy crooner pacing the dining room ISO an opposite sex date. The staff, immune to the fellow’s carousing, got us wondering if they’d exhibit the same nonchalance with an LGBT resident. We’d certainly like to think so. Still, it’s good to see a building named in honor of John Anderson—a gay City Councilman during a time when there was no future for “out” politicians in Philly. Anderson, who died of complications from AIDS in 1983, was not out, so he could never tell then Mayor Frank Rizzo to cool it when the latter had the PPD round up gay men near the construction site. We call this ironic, because if anyone had told the arresting officers then that in the future there’d be a gay and lesbian senior home on this very spot, they probably would have had two handcuffs slapped on them instead of one. The death of disco was one the saddest things ever to befall modern culture, if only because dancing in public since then has never been the same. (Ellen DeGeneres’ rap style dances to Kanye West tunes make us think of cartoons). The opening of the Ten Six Club (1709 Walnut Street), site of the old Walnut Room, which closed its doors this New Year’s Eve, promises to bring back the instant dance party with what new owners Beckham and Daspasquale call 1960s British mod meets 80s and 90s dance club music complete with beaded draperies topped with a pink, gold and black color décor. Serendipitously timed with the release of David Bowie’s new album, The Next Day, The Ten Six Club proves that everything old is new again, even, perhaps, the return of ten-inch platform shoes. This brings us to the terrible melee at 2nd and Chestnut Streets in the wee hours of January 13th when a crowd of beer-fueled yahoos began kicking and punching a white car and a man lying in the street. Old City used to be a nice place, but today (at least on the weekends) it can turn into a magnet for crime, violence, and unsolved murders. We weren’t looking to get mugged or beaten, however, when we took Septa from Society Hill Towers to Alexey Kats’ Architect Salon & Gallery, former home of AxD Gallery, to see John Baccile’s new photography show. Baccile, only 24, works part time at UPS and does his artwork on the side. We noted him last year when he had his first solo exhibit, Signs and Wonders, at Café Twelve. At the Architect Salon we enjoyed watching Baccile walk around photographing the crowd as his mother, Barbara, told us, “John works very hard. In many ways, he is unique, and it is great to know that at age 24, he doesn’t have a single tattoo.” We like it when people, especially artists, go their own way. What’s a Sunday in the city without joint art openings at the Sketch and Plastic Clubs? The big show was the Sketch Club’s Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial Works on Paper Exhibition where Philly watercolor artist Noel Miles, former Art Director for the Philadelphia Daily News and Action News, won the 2013 John Geizel Watercolor Award. (Watch for an exhibition of Miles’ watercolors at Drexel University in 2014). We helped Miles celebrate his day with fluff omlette specials at Center City’s unpretentious Midtown restaurant, a place we love because the waitresses there call you “hon,” and because it is one of the favorite eateries of Philly actor Frank X. Taking the down elevator into the murky world of city politics can be like doing the Tango with Dante, but here’s what we came up with: former City Law Department attorney Mark Zecca is running for the Office of City Controller in the May 13, 2013 Democratic Primary. With the scores of audit questions concerning City Controller Alan Butkovitz’s handling of the city’s finances, a Zecca candidacy feels good. We worked with Zecca years ago when Las Vegas Casino magnet Steve Wynn tried to buy the Maxfield Parrish Dream Garden mural in the Curtis Building in order to ship it to one of his Vegas casinos. Zecca impressed us then with his approachability. With Zecca there seems to be a real “there” there. Other news: Head over to the Lantern Theater (10th and Ludlow Streets) if you want to see mother/daughter angst at its height. In Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane (through February 10), Mary Martello, winner of five Barrymore Awards, plays Meg Folan, the 70-year-old mother of spinster-to-be, Maureen Folan, played by Abington Friends School teacher, Megan Bellwoar. In this story of a mother and daughter living together in the green fields of Ireland, there’s more twisted synergy than broken Irish brogue. n 54

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ed, by the way, as a singer. For more info on other Keswick shows, visit www.KeswickTheatre.com Where You Find It In the “jazz is where you find it” department, it wouldn’t seem like Philadelphia jazz and a record company in Barcelona, Spain, would have anything in common. But they do, in the form of Fresh Sound Records, a unique organization dedicated to reissuing the great jazz recordings, many more than obscure, from the 1950s and early 1960s. Fresh Sound has just released CDs from two of this area’s most talented and tragic players: Lem Winchester, a Wilmington-born police officer turned jazz vibist, had a bright future and made some great records, including one with an early edition of the Ramsey Lewis Trio. In January of 1961, at the age of 32, he was fooling around with a gun, which accidentally discharged and killed him. Fresh Sound’s Winchester CDs comprise virtually everything the vibist ever recorded. All of them are worth owning. Also just released are two, once very rare efforts from guitarist Billy Bean, a Philadelphian who got his start with the band of saxophonist Charlie Ventura. Those who heard him live or on record believe he was one of the finest jazz guitarists who ever lived. Sadly, Bean, who passed away last year at the age of 79, was beset with substance problems and, reports say, he hadn’t played publicly in more than 30 years. Visit www.FreshSoundRecords.com for information on these and other titles. The national Sullivan’s Steakhouse chain, with locations in Wilmington and King of Prussia, is also a place not often thought of when it comes to jazz. However, locally and nationally, Sullivan’s has been booking, much like Philadelphia’s Prime Rib, the best in area jazz talent six nights per week, usually in the piano/bass format and sometimes in the bass/piano/drums setting. Pianist and jazz educator Don Glanden, who has long booked Sullivan’s in Wilmington—and King of Prussia in its early days—has let us know that “it’s been fantastic to be able to hire hundreds of musicians through the years.” Some of these players include Maestro Glanden himself, pianists Jason Long, Paul Pelusi and Luke O’Reilly, bassist Bruce Kaminsky, and in Sullivan’s Wilmington lineup, Australian saxophonist Angela Davis. Gambling casinos and jazz have had an off and on relationship through the decades. Time was, you could hear plenty of it in Vegas and Atlantic City from artists like Buddy Greco, Miss Dakota Staton, Vido Musso, Jack Sheldon, Red Norvo and dozens of other local and national acts. Continuing that tradition in Philadelphia at the Sugar House Casino every Thursday night is popular singer Eddie Bruce, backed by an incomparable trio of pianist Tom Adams, bassist Andy Lalais, and drummer Grant MacAvoy. Eddie is bringing in some jazzy guests as well, including recent visitors like singer Jeannie Brooks and tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna. The Sunday night jam sessions at Philadelphia’s LaRose, in the Germantown section of the city, is nothing new, but many fans and players are discovering it for the first time. Led and organized by jazz drum great Rob Henderson, these sessions are, without fail, swinging, fun, entertaining, a great place to wail, and a marvelous locale to hear some truly advanced and mature young talent from the jazz schools of University of the Arts, Temple, etc. There is a future for jazz and plenty of it can be heard at LaRose. For more information, visit www.LaRoseJazzClub.com For all the news and listings of jazz in the Greater Delaware Valley, nationally and internationally, visit Michael Ricci’s all-inclusive and essential site, www.AllAboutJazz.com Bookings Contrary to some published reports, the book publishing industry is doing better than ever. Certainly, modes of distribution have changed, but there’s more entertainment and music stuff being published by major houses than ever before. Everyone from Tippi Hedren, Elizabeth Montgomery and Barbara Eden, to Diane Keaton, Mae Murray and Lew Ayres have bios or autobios on the market. Musically, the best ones out there—in one opinion—include Tony Bennett’s upbeat but surprisingly honest “Life is a Gift: The Zen of Bennett,” (HarperCollins); an incredible bio of legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart, titled “A Ship Without a Sail” and written by Gary Mamorstein (Simon and Shuster); “Shall We Play That One Together?: The Life and Art of Jazz Piano Legend Marian McPartland” (St. Martin’s Press) a biography written by Paul De Barros; and memoirs by guitarist John Pizzarelli, “World on a String” (Wiley). The Pizzarelli book has several chapters that cover his close association with the Sinatras, Senior and Junior. You read it here: Those chapters are among the finest and most touching things ever written about Mr. S. and Frank, Jr. The perils of being published by a smaller house, no matter how famous the celebrity is or was, is that the work may be a good one, but because of minuscule promo budgets, not enough people get to hear about it. Singer Patti Page, who left us on January 1st, was a better singer than her hit novelty records indicated, and word is that the book she wrote in 2009, “This is My Song: A Memoir” (Kathdan Books/Skip Press) was impressive. It can be ordered from the web site of the late singing rage, www.MissPattiPage.com Backstage On Stage PHILADELPHIA ARTISTS COLLECTIVE. It started out simply. South Philadelphian Krista Apple, fiancé Dan Hodge and colleague Damon Bonetti had an interest in theater—Apple saw theater as a way of conquering her shyness—and decided to, as they used to say in the movies, “put on a show.” What began with one play in 2007 morphed into a few, and with the addition of several more colleagues, became the Philadelphia Artists Collective. The focus of the Collective, according to Apple, is to bring “rarely produced classical works to Philly.” In conjunction with their worthy mission, look for a production of what’s considered to be a lesser known play by Shakespeare, “Timon of Athens,” scheduled to open in April. For further information about this critically acclaimed theater group, tickets, its resident artists and apprentice programs, visit www.philartistscollective.org Please join me backstage by submitting your items to DrumAlive@aol.com n W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V

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agenda CALL TO ARTISTS March 8, 2013- Delaware Valley Art League Jury for St. David’s Art Festival Exhibition- Up to 3 paintings may be submitted for 1 entry fee of $25 from 10 AM. to 1 PM. All work must be 20” x 30" or smaller. Open to all members. New membership applications will be accepted until 1 PM when the jury doors are closed. Paoli Presbyterian Church, 225 South Valley Rd, Paoli, PA 19301 February 8, 2013 10AM-1PM for jurying at Paoli Presbyterian Church, 225 S. Valley Rd, Paoli, PA. Delaware Valley Art League Spring Show at Radnor. March 2- May 4, 2013. Delivery March 2, Pick Up May 4. Juror is Ron Coppola, artist- illustrator. One painting per artist. Fee: $10 member. Memberships available. February 8, 2013 10AM-1PM for jurying at Paoli Presbyterian Church, 225 S. Valley Rd, Paoli, PA 19301- Delaware Valley Art League Spring Show at Valley Forge March 9- May 11, 2013. Delivery March 9, Pick Up May 11. Juror is T. Mark Cole, working artist and graduate of PAFA. Two paintings per artist. Fee: $10 member. Memberships available.

Art presents New Work. 32 Coryell St., Lambertville, NJ. 855-582-1882, 267-614-8059, markpullenfineart.biz THRU 3/2 Delaware Valley Art League. Winter Juried Show at Penn Medicine at Radnor, 250 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA 19087 delawarevalleyartleague.com THRU 3/3 Works for the New Year, photographs by Wederich and Old. Wabi-Sabi, by Bruce MacDougall continues in Upstairs Gallery II. Red Filter Gallery, 74 Bridge St, Lambertville, NJ. 347-244-9758. www.redfiltergallery.com

THRU 3/31 Making Magic: Beauty in Word and Image. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown. michenerartmuseum.org THRU 4/7 The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad St., Philadelphia. PAFA.org

THRU 2/10 New Hope New Media, Exhibition and Lecture. Featuring the work of nine artists. New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope PA. 215-862-9606. www.newhopearts.org

THRU 3/3 "Works for the New Year", photographs by Wederich/Old, "Wabi-Sabi", by Bruce MacDougall continues in Upstairs Gallery II. RED FILTER GALLERY, 74 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ. Thur.-Sun.12-5. 347/2449758, inquire@redfiltergallery.com,http://redfiltergallery.com

THRU 2/24 In My View: Selected work by Florence Moonan and William Hogan. Gallery talk 2/10, 24pm. Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Cadwalader Park, off Parkside Ave., Trenton, NJ 609-989-1191. ellarslie.org

THRU 2/10 New Hope New Media, Exhibition and Lecture. Featuring the work of nine artists. New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope PA. 215-862-9606, for more information www.newhopearts.org

THRU 2/27 ACOR’s Annual Reading School District Black History Month Exhibit. Open daily 11 am7pm. Schmidt Gallery, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St. Reading, PA. 610-374-4600. www.goggleworks.org

THRU 3/16 Man’s Mind: Thomas Mann Sculptural Objects. The Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley, 2908 Saucon Valley Rd., Center Valley, PA. 610-285-5261

THRU 2/28 Kardon Gallery presents a two-generation exhibit with work from grandfather Si Lewen and grandson Damon Kardon. 139 South Main Street, Doylestown, PA Wed.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 12-5, and by appt. 215-489-4287. www.kardongallery.com. THRU 2/28 Mark Pullen Fine Art presents New Work. 32 Coryell St., Lambertville, NJ. 855-582-1882, 267-614-8059, markpullenfineart.biz THRU 2/28 "Flowers for your Valentine - Still Life by Frank Arcuri, Dot Bunn, Theresa Pergal, Sam Vokey, and Janine Dunn Wade. Patricia Hutton Galleries, 47 West State St., Doylestown, PA. 215348-1728, www.PatriciaHuttonGalleries.com THRU 2/28 New gallery in Lambertville, Mark Pullen Fine

2/9-6/1 State of the Art: Illustration 100 Years After Howard Pyle. Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE. 302-571-9590. delart.org 2/10 Japanese artist Miyuki Nishizawa, will lead a troupe of Osaka-based artists influenced by the avant-garde Gutai movement around the Museum, interacting with visitors as they go, 1:30-3pm. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North 5th St, Allentown, PA. www.allentownfuse.org www.allentownartmuseum.org

DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA, 18034. 610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1 2/21-2/24 Bartholomew Fair, by Ben Jonson. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, Allentown, PA. 484664-3333, Muhlenberg.edu/dance 3/2 Burlesque to Broadway, A Celebration of the Icons from Burlesque, Broadway and Beyond. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. www.statetheatre.org

DINNER & MUSIC THRU 3/3 Philadelphia/Tri-State Artists Equity, juried exhibition by regional professional association for fine artists. Open daily 11am-7pm. Cohen Gallery, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St. Reading, PA. 610-374-4600, www.goggleworks.org

ART EXHIBITS THRU 2/10 Pennsylvania, Theo Anderson’s photographs ask us to stop and see the landscape we inhabit. Williams Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA. 610-330-5361, http://galleries.lafayette.edu

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2/8-4/7 Creating: Quilts of the Lakota. Arthur Ross Gallery, UPenn, 220 S. 34th St., Phila. 215898-2083. upenn.edu/ARG 2/8-3/3 Lyrical: an Exhibit Celebrating Poem and Song Through Fine Art. Features all 18 House Artists. Reception 2/9, 4-7pm. Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-4588. Fri-Sun 11-6. lambertvillearts.com 2/8-3/9 Greta Brubaker and Adam MacHose, Black and White Photographs. Reception 2/21, 4:306pm. Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. http://galleries.lafayette.edu 2/8-3/3 Volume: paintings by Kenneth Schutz. Reception 2/8, 6-9pm. Twenty-Two Gallery, 236 S. 22nd St., Phila. 215-772-1911.

2/12 Join the spectacle along 7th Street as Japanese performance artists entertain and engage the community during improvised art “happenings.” 3-5pm, 500 & 600 Blocks of 7th Street, Allentown, PA. www.allentownfuse.org 2/15-3/29 A Visit to My House, a 30-year retrospective of paintings and prints by Curlee Raven Holton. Williams Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. galleries.lafayette.edu

Saturday nights: Sette Luna Restaurant, 219 Ferry St., Easton, PA. 610-253-8888. setteluna.com Thursday nights: John Beacher’s Community Stage, 8-12pm, Community Stage sign ups, 9pm: Solo act, 8-9pm. Karla’s, 5 W. Mechanic St., New Hope. 215-862-2612. karlasnewhope.com

DANCE 2/15-4/21 Morris Blackburn. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Alumni Sales Gallery, Broad St., Phila. pafa.edu/alumnigallery 2/20-3/15 Edgar S. Baum: For the Love of Painting, David E. Rodale Gallery. Reception Feb. 20, 6-8pm. The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-433-0032. baumschool.org 2/22 Opening reception for Lollipop: Shimamoto Meme, exhibit of work created in-residence by Miyuki Nishizawa and the artist group AU (Art Unidentified) from Osaka, Japan. 5-7pm, Cigar Factory Gallery, 707 North 4th St., Allentown, PA. www.allentownfuse.org 2/23 Stage, a collaborative piece between Pina Bausch trained dancer Aya Iida of Osaka, Japan, and visual artist Gregory Coates. 5-7pm, Soft Machine Gallery, 101 Ridge Ave., Allentown, PA. www.allentownfuse.org

2/7-2/9 Master Choreographers, New works by renowned choreographers. Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, Allentown, PA. 484664-3333, Muhlenberg.edu/dance 2/10 MotionHouse, Britain’s premiere dance troupe amazes with stunning choreography, aerial tricks and watery visuals. Zoellner Arts Center, 7pm. Lehigh University, Bethlehem. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org

READINGS Panoply Books Reading Series 2013: Poet and Dryden Ensemble oboist, Jane McKinley reads from her award-winning poetry collection, Vanitas, along with new work. Panoply Books, 46 N. Union St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-1145. www.panoplybooks.com

CONCERTS 2/23-3/23 Continuum: Master & Emerging Arts Exhibition, at New Hope Arts. Opening reception Feb. 23, 6-8 pm, Members’ Reception at 5 pm. 2 Stockton Ave. New Hope, PA. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org, 2/25-3/17 The Art of Costume Design, featuring the work of acclaimed theater and dance costume designers. Opening reception 2/26, 5-6:00pm. Muhlenberg College, Baker Center for the Arts, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484-6643333. muhlenberg.edu/dance

Some organizations perform in various locations. If no address is listed, check the website for location of performance. 2/10 The Lyric Consort, “Songs and Poetry of Love for Valentine’s Day,” 4pm. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. 5th St., Allentown. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org 2/12 The Andy Kahn Trio. Redwood, 340 South St., Phila. 215-238-1512.

3/2-5/4 Delaware Valley Art League Juried Spring Show at Penn Medicine at Radnor, 250 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA

3/1 Vienna String Trio, 8:00pm. Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College, W. Church & Main Streets, Bethlehem, PA. lvartsboxoffice.org www.cmsob.org

THEATER

3/2 Sinfonia Birthday Bash, Celebrating our 30th Season. Handel, Mozart, Ravel, Wolf. Guest soloist, harpist Frances Duffy. 7:30pm, Penn-

2/20-3/3 Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Act 1,

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sylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA. 610-434-7811. www.PASinfonia.org, www.LVArtsBoxOffice.org 3/3-4 Leshnoff / Mendelssohn. Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad St., Phila. 215893-1709. chamberorchestra.org 3/8 Beethoven Orchestra Bonn. Zoellner Arts Center, 8pm. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. 610-758-2787. www.zoellnerartscenter.org 3/10 Mendelssohn’s Elijah. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Bach Festival Orchestra, Greg Funfgeld, artistic director & conductor, 4pm. First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA. 888-743-3100. Bach.org 4/7 Fall of the Berlin Wall. Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Conductor Laureate. Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. 215-893-1709. chamberorchestra.org ARTSQUEST CENTER AT STEELSTACKS (Musikfest Café) 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. artsquest.org 2/3-10 2/11 2/14 2/16 2/21

Tony & Tina’s Wedding Citizen Cope-VIP Tour Package Valentine’s Day with Bev Conklin Patrizio Buanne A Toast to Hope: Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley's Eighth Annual Signature Event & Silent Auction 3/5 The Saw Doctors 3/7-10 Finnegan’s Farewell 3/12 The Irish Rovers 3/13 Dr. John & The Lower 911: For fans of The Neville Brothers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Levon Helm, The Band 3/15 The Irish Comedy Tour 3/20-23 SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody 3/30 Rick Braun MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE One of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters, built in 1881. 14 West Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA. 570-325-0249. mauchchunkoperahouse.com 2/8 Vagabond Opera 2/9 Valentease 2/15-16 Tusk: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute 2/17 The Allentown Band 2/22 The Last Of The Boomers with Comedian Jimmy Carroll 2/23 Jeanne Jolly Band 3/2 The Glimmer Twins – Rolling Stones Tribute 3/8 Enter The Haggis: St. Patty’s Parade Weekend Kick-Off Performance 3/9 Wishbone Ash 3/15 The Tartan Terrors 3/16 Splintered Sunlight 3/17 Manhattan Lyric Opera: Rodgers to Romberg to Webber 3/22 R. Carlos Nakai & Peter Kater

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