ICON

2

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

3

MAY

6

ICON

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS 20 | ORRIN EVANS The Philly pianist/composer’s Captain Black Big Band make very dangerous, theatrical music.

22 | TIMOTHY SHOWALTER

Michael Kessler, Raisers.

Baum School of Art.

Philadelphia’s Strand of Oaks’ Timothy Showalter finds solace...finally.

8

MORE FILM

ART Oscar Florianus Bluemner, Moon Radiance.

Michener Art Museum.

5|

ESSAY Just Because

6|

EXHIBITIONS

18 |

Arctic Everybody Knows Apollo 11 Vice

34th Annual Art Auction

20

The Baum School of Art

The Loper Tradition: Paintings by Edward Loper Sr. & Edward Loper Jr.

REEL NEWS

24 |

DOCUMENTARY / FOREIGN Ask Dr. Ruth

Delaware Art Museum

Arts Alive!

Downtown Quakertown, PA 8| Orrin Evans. Photo: John Abbott.

22

24

Echo Lake Collaborative: A Twenty Year Retrospective

FOODIE FILE 26 |

MUSIC

The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art

28 | JAZZ LIBRARY

Percy Heath 30 | JAZZ/ ROCK/CLASSICAL/ALT Dave Stryker Ehud Asherie Trio The Mekons Shank–Hagedorn Duo Markus Burger/BobMagnusson and Peter Erskine

Cedar Crest College 10 |

STAGE

12 |

NIGHTLIFE

32 | POP

FILM 14 |

16 |

ON THE COVER: Edward Loper Jr, Reading Terminal.

Delaware Art Museum. Page 6.

4

Beyond Record Store Day

CINEMATTERS The Chaperone FILM ROUNDUP Dragged Across Concrete Long Day’s Journey Into Night Our Time Under the Silver Lake

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

215-862-9558 icondv.com facebook.com/icondv PRESIDENT Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com EDITORIAL Editor / trina@icondv.com Raina Filipiak / Advertising filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION Richard DeCosta Susan Danforth Rita Kaplan INTERNS Joey Fonseca Lee McCorsky A. D. Amorosi

New Hope Arts Center

Mayfair

Since 1992

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Michener Art Museum

Timothy Showalter.

Photo: CJ Foeckler.

Hungry for Hemp

The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, nightlife and mad genius.

ETCETERA 36 |

HARPER’S FINDINGS

36 |

HARPER’S INDEX

38 |

L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD

39 |

AGENDA

Robert Beck Jack Byer Peter Croatto Geoff Gehman Mark Keresman George Miller R. Kurt Osenlund Bob Perkins Keith Uhlich Subscription: $40 (12 issues) PO Box 120 • New Hope 18938 215-862-9558 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. ©2019 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

i

ART ESSAY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

JUST BECAUSE

I RARELY PAINT PORTRAITS. I try to do one of myself every year or two, but I need a personal connection to take on somebody else. That might seem odd when you consider I wanted to be a portrait artist early in my career. When I attended the Academy of Fine Arts, I developed a thoughtful reverence for perception and description in painting which went beyond what is typically required from a well-painted portrait. Plus, the genre was confining. I followed other paths instead.

That revelation was much like how as a child I wanted to become a minister, only later to understand that my spiritual beliefs had nothing to do with gods, and everything to do with how all of us are connected, and the consequences of looking at your own interests at the expense of another. Many times in my life I’ve discovered that things weren’t as I thought, so I pulled up stakes and headed in a new direction.

I never developed the imitative brushwork and color skills of a good portrait painter. It is an exacting and demanding specialty, and I admire those who do it well. I’m a describer and a storyteller. My visual language is nuanced. I learned that my sensibility could be employed to approach any subject I choose to paint, without the sturm and drang that comes with commissions to paint people.

Nobody is wild about images of themselves—at least nobody I want to spend time with—and the person commissioning the painting often has criteria it has to meet or a specific vision of how it should look. People sometimes ask me to do a painting with every detail of the picture mapped out precisely. I give them somebody else’s phone number.

I have to know the person, like the person, and have absolute say over the image. As you might imagine that doesn’t endear me to many clients. Between my not wanting to do it and the clients not wanting me to do it either, I have reached a place of peaceful equilibrium.

Which brings me to Pop Heath. It was his son, Bob Jr., that first came up with painting Pop, and I latched on to the idea immediately. You know Pop Heath: eighty-eight years old; had the Exxon-Mobil service station before his son took over; makes videos of the high school sports events, edits them and gives copies to the kids—thousands of them a year; a devout man who volunteers in prisons; plows driveways; always out there making a positive difference in a quiet way; never heard him curse; quick with a chuckle. Everyone loves Pop. A lot of my work lately has focused on finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

I purposely look for subjects that don’t have slam-dunk visual content and use them as a vehicle to describe what I learn from getting to know them. Pop Heath was perfect, as if he was plucked from some mythological heartland. After a while you almost forget what he looks like, and think of him as who he is and the principles he represents.

I wanted to present him in a way that allowed the viewer to see a couple of layers past the surface without using overt symbols. Many portraits come with prepackaged allegories, such as the puffed-up guy in a suit, a charming young girl at the piano, or the weighty judge in her chambers. I wanted to bring a sense forward using the subject’s countenance and bearing alone, and present an image that offers reassurance rather than soliciting admiration for the sitter (or the artist). A painting of an honest man—one that kids will look at and see a regular guy who cares about them looking back.

Artists are always looking for the truth in their subjects, and that was what attracted me to this portrait. I wanted to do a painting that celebrates not the champion, the wealthy, or the powerful, but the good person. Not what someone has, but what he is made of.

Winners and losers are a vulgar construct. There is no morality in possessions.

The feeling of fulfillment you get from respecting and helping others—one we’ve been wrongly taught comes from beating other guys and making gobs of money— is reward in itself. There is great power in the ability to influence a young life.

Maybe seeing a painted portrait that celebrates a good man can plant a seed in kids, one that encourages a view of connectedness and consequences not presented by the latest HBO Series. I think Pop Heath would be okay with that. n ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

5

EXHIBITIONS

Walter Emerson Baum, Winter Scene, oil, 31.5” x 39.5”

34th Annual Art Auction The Baum School of Art 510 W. Linden St., Allentown, PA 610-433-0032 Baumschool.org May 18, 2019 Silent Auction: 5:30 – 7:30 Live Auction begins at 8:00 Auction preview, May 16, 6 – 8 The Baum School of Art’s 34th Annual Art Auction will feature over 300 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and other media, in both the silent and live auctions led by Boris Wainio. Free admission.

Optional buffet dinner; $50 in advance, $60 at door.

The live auction is comprised of over 100 works of art by local and regional artists, including Walter Emerson Baum, the school’s founder. Also featured this year are works by other highly collectible artists such as John Berninger, Raymond Gallucci, Antonio Martino, Hans Moller, and William Weldon Swallow, to name a few.

Reading Terminal, late 1990s. Edward Loper, Jr. (born 1934) Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 x 31 7/8 in. Collection of the artist. © Edward Loper, Jr.

The Loper Tradition: Paintings by Edward Loper Sr. and Edward Loper Jr. Delaware Art Museum 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 302-571-9590 delart.org Through August 4, 2019 Edward Loper, Sr. is one of Delaware’s most celebrated artists, having lived in the state and taught generations of local artists. His son was equally prolific, taught at the Christina Cultural Arts Center, and participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Their styles are distinct for their approach to form and color, and modernist traditions. This is the first museum exhibition to showcase the paintings of these two important artists together. Assembled from the collections of the Delaware Art Museum, other public institutions, local corporations, and private individuals, the exhibition celebrates the Loper tradition and its continued impact on the region.

The exhibition is organized by the Delaware Art Museum. Research for this exhibition has been undertaken by Dr. Leslie Wingard through the support of the Alfred Appel, Jr. Curatorial Fellowship.

Conrad Roland, Toucan, ink wash, 12” x 10” 6

2nd and Market (Early Morning), 2016. Edward Loper, Jr. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. Collection of the artist. © Edward Loper, Jr.

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

Arts Alive!

Downtown Quakertown, PA May 18, 10 – 4 (Rain date, 5/19) 215-536-2273 Quakertownalive.com Sights, sounds, and tastes come alive at Upper Bucks county’s premier fine art & craft show. Artisans, local businesses, and community organizations will be along Broad Street to delight and entertain visitors. A wide variety of artisans will be showcased at this year’s event: handcrafted jewelry, pottery, and decorative home items, as well as fine art will be available. Enjoy free trolley rides, children’s activities, a food court, wine-tasting, authors corner, and all-day live entertainment on two stages. This is a fun day for the entire family.

Quakertown Alive! is grateful to the sponsors who make Arts Alive! possible: QNB Bank, St. Luke’s, Hospital, Raymour & Flanigan Quakertown, New Vitae Wellness and Recovery, Sands Auto Group, PA Council on the Arts, and a grant from the Erwin J. & Gertrude K. Neusch Fund from the Upper Bucks Community Foundation. Presented by Quakertown Alive!

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

7

EXHIBITIONS

Michael Sandy Photography Thomas Chambers, Storm Tossed Frigate, Oil on canvas

The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art Michener Art Museum 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA 215-340-9800 Michenerartmuseum.org June 1-September 8, 2019 Vessel by Bud Hohlfeld, Binh Pho, Derek Weidman, John H. Williams

Echo Lake Collaborative: A Twenty Year Retrospective New Hope Arts Center 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA 215-862-9606 Newhopearts.org echolakecollaborative.org Friday, Sat. & Sun. noon – 5:00 through June 16 May 18 – June 16 Reception, June 1, 5 – 8, Gallery Talk, Mark Sfirri, 6:15 The show features collaborative works in a variety of materials by artists of Bucks County, students and faculty of Bucks County Community College, and renowned artists from around the world.

The Echo Lake Collaborative, which began in a Bucks County backyard in 1999, and subsequently moved to the BCCC campus, is modeled on the simple idea of creative people working together to make objects of art. The retrospective exhibition is admission-free and features a reception and presentation by Mark Sfirri, a founding member.

Bottles by Michael Hosaluk, Betty Scarpino, Mark Sfirri 8

Mayfair Cedar Crest College, 100 College Drive, Allentown 800-360-1222 Cedarcrest.edu/mayfair May 24 – 26 Friday 4:00 – 10:00 Saturday & Sunday noon-10:00

The moon—its face, color, and enduring myth— threads through the tapestry of American landscape painting, holding timeless allure for artists everywhere. The Michener Art Museum presents a stunning exhibition devoted to the allure of the moon for American painters, whose art has reflected the fascination with this celestial body. It is the first major museum examination of the moon as it relates to the story of the American nocturne, from the early 1820s through the late 1960s.

The exhibition features more than 50 works of art, highlighting key painters who depicted the moon, from the early 19th-century masterpieces of Thomas Cole, father of the Hudson River School, who embraced a longing Romanticism that the moon symbolized, to late works by Norman Rockwell, represented by his depictions of a long-held yearning finally fulfilled–America’s lunar landing in 1969. All of the works in the exhibition underscore how the Romantic idea of the moon held an inexorable pull for artists and was central to its depiction of landscape. The exhibition, featuring loans from museums and private collections throughout the U.S., coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

The annual celebration of the arts will feature artists, craft vendors, musical performances, a wide variety of food options and Franki’s Fun Zone for Kids. Admission and parking are free.

The indoor and outdoor Artist & Craft Market will be back and bigger than ever. It will feature dozens of artists showcasing their pottery, sculpture, painting, photography, and other mediums. Festivalgoers will also enjoy live performances from bands, including The Large Flowerheads, Philly Funk Authority and Rubix Cube. Come hungry, as there will be a variety of food options, and beer and wine for visitors over 21.

Xavier J. Barille, 42nd Street Nocturne, Oil

Chavanne’s Jewelry

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

9

STAGE VALLEY

CITY

Pippin. A medieval prince searches for meaning through art, religion, murder and love, guided and goaded by the charismatic king of a performing troupe. Choreographer Bob Fosse, currently profiled in the limited TV series Fosse/Verdon, polished his legend with a number that glorifies violence with canes, top hats and jazzy steps. The musical made Broadway history in 2013 when Patina Miller joined Ben Vereen as the only female and male to win a Tony for the same character (the Leading Player). (Act I Productions, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, May 1-4) desales.edu/TheatreManager/1/tmEvent/tmEvent817.html Trifles. A staple of feminist anthologies and women’s studies programs, this 1916 black comedy revolves around two women who outsmart their husbands while investigating a man allegedly strangled by his spouse. Author Susan Glaspell (18761948) was inspired by a murder trial she covered as a reporter. Anything but a trifle, Trifles became a 1961 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and a 2010 chamber opera, (Buck Hall, Lafayette College, 219 N. 3rd St., Easton, May 2-3) theater.lafayette.edu/trifles Fun Home. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel alternates between three life phases in this ground-breaking musical based on her graphic memoir about growing up lesbian in a family funeral business run by her mercurial, troubled father, who bossed her around, had sex with underage boys and killed himself by stepping in front of a moving truck. Composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist Lisa Kron were the first women winners of the original-score Tony Award. Bechdel’s engaging, enraging comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” helped her earn a MacArthur fellowship. (Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 N. 19th St., May 3-4, 9-12, 16-19) civictheatre.com The Madness of George III. Broadcast live from the Nottingham Playhouse, Alan Bennett’s quick-witted, saber-toothed play follows a lunatic monarch and political chess games in the English court. George is played by Mark Gatiss, who played banker Tycho Nestoris in Game of Thrones. Playing Dr. Willis is Adrian Scarborough, who played another character in the 1994 movie version of Madness. (Buck Hall, Lafayette College, 219 N. 3rd St., Easton, May 5) williamscenter.lafayette.edu/national-theatre-live-the-madness-of-george-iii Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice made their bones with this rainbow musical tapestry about the Genesis hero who rises from a slave to a tycoon’s right-hand man to the Elvis-like Pharaoh’s mighty dream interpreter to a Christ-style forgiver of his brothers’ sins. (Pennsylvania Playhouse, 390 Illick’s Mill Rd., Bethlehem, May 31-June 2, June 7-9, 14-16) paplayhouse.org/season-2019 In the Heights. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Tony-winning musical is a catchy, captivating tale of friendship, mentorship, romance, rivalry and dreams canceled and compromised. Key components include a bodega, a lottery and a blackout in Washington Heights, Miranda’s hometown hood. (Lipkin Theater, Northampton Community College, 3835 Green Pond Rd., Bethlehem, June 5-9, 12-16) facebook.com/pg/nccsummertheatre Crazy for You. Gershwin songs drive this Tony-winning musical orbiting around a banking heir who tries to save a foreclosed Wild West theater and win the love of a saloon keeper by staging a follies revue while pretending to be the Broadway impresario he wants to impress. (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, June 12-16, 18-23, 25-30) pashakespeare.org n — GEOFF GEHMAN 10

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

A Hard Time. Just because it is a pared down production doesn’t mean it isn’t rich with complexities. Directed by Pig Iron co-founder Dan Rothenberg, three of the company’s more recent members (Jess Conda, Jenn Kidwell, and Mel Krodman) test the limits of what is funny, and when, in this devised theater production. Through May 12, Pig Iron Theatre Company at FringeArts, pigiron.org 12 Chairs. John O’Hara’s play and director Carly Bodnar’s 12 Chairs has nothing to do with Mel Brooks’ 12 Chairs which had everything to do with the 1928 Russian novel by Ilf and Petrov. These chairs are taken by a mother and daughter and their family after a funeral, all played by Philadelphia actresses Amanda Schoonover and Marcia Ferguson. Juniper Productions’ plays bounce from distilleries and restaurants to hotels and museums, so its location is often as much a party of the story as the on-stage drama. Through May 12, Juniper Productions at Buttonwood Studios, juniper.agency/home Boycott Esther. Playwright Emily Acker, director Maura Krause, and actress Alison Ormsby, look at the fast pace of the #metoo movement with a look at Hollywood workplace sexual misconduct and the reaches (or impossibility?) of forgiveness.

Through May 17, Azuka Theatre at the Drake, azukatheatre.org.

Among the Dead. Because Theatre Exile’s South Philly space is not quite ready, artistic director Deborah Block brings playwright Hansol Jung’s comedy-drama to Old City’s Christ Church Neighborhood House. The time-traveling story finds a young Korean American woman returning to her ancestral home to collect her dead father’s ashes, a Korean “comfort woman,” a young American soldier in the jungles of Myanmar, and a Jesus who shows up in many humorous guises. May 2 – 26, Theatre Exile at Christ Church Neighborhood House, theatreexile.org.

Polly Mope. Dry, witty comedian-actress Molly Pope takes on questions of mental health and coping with a candid, frankly funny one-woman musical conceived during her time as Kimmel Center Theater Residency artist in June 2017 with collaborator Matt Aument. She’s a hoot, and the show resonates with poignancy and stark realties. May 9 – 11, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, An Evening With Rachel Camp. Barrymore Award-winning actress Rachel Camp—best known in her hometown for her appearances in Once on this Island and In the Woods—goes it alone with a set of cabaret shows that focus often on her autobiographical journey. May 9 – 12 at Theatre Horizon, theatrehorizon.org.

Café Puttanesca. A coy and clever musical that is homegrown: Philly friends and collaborators Terrence J. Nolen and Michael Ogborn wrote this fast, furious, and uniquely funny tale about prostitutes in post-war Amsterdam, singing songs and telling jokes. What’s not to love? May 14 – June 9, Act II Playhouse, act2.org.

A Number. Master British playwright Caryl Churchill presents a take on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman with twists involving human cloning and identical triplets grilling their father over his past indiscretions. Stirring, controversial stuff, this. May 15 – June 9, People’s Light, peopleslight.org.

Something Like A War. With music and lyrics by Jake Blouch and book by Jesse Bernstein, the tale of a Tennessee city in the hours after the Civil War is told through a genial game of baseball and the sounds of gentle bluegrass and folk.

The new musical was commissioned with the help of The Independence Foundation’s New Theatre Works Initiative. May 17 – 19, 11th Hour Theatre Company, 11thhourtheatrecompany.org. n — A.D. AMOROSI

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

11

MAY NIGHTLIFE CURATED BY A.D. AMOROSI

4 KANDI BURRESS

11 GRIZ

The soulful, one-time singer and songwriter for 90’s pop hop sensations Xscape was reborn in the 21st

Coming out of Detroit, this DJ/artist made a name and unique space for himself within EDM by fusing electronic music with good old fashioned funky live saxophone for a murky, yet contagious new found dancefloor find. Plus, he’s bringing his usual outdoor festival only eclat to the intimate stages on N. Broad.

The Met Philadelphia, themetphilly.com

17 RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

Aggressive Latin acoustic music starts and ends with this hard strumming, plucking pair. Franklin Music Hall,

Again. Citizens Bank Park, mlb.com/phillies/ballpark 26 SONGS & STORIES:

An Evening with Art Alexakis of Everclear, Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne, Max Collins of Eve 6, John Wozniak of Marcy Playground. Each man was part of the post-grunge serious pop part of the 90s, and have lived long enough to be lucid and have great tales to tell. Keswick Theatre, keswicktheatre.com

11 SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY

A veteran of the Asbury Park rock and soul scene—that made him best buds with Bruce Springsteen and Little Ste-

26 THE WHO

bowerypresents.com/greaterphilly/shows/franklin-music-hall

Century as a saucy solo act, a Real Housewife of Atlanta, an actress, a sex toy entrepreneur and all-things under her Kandi Koated banner. Her upcoming tour is titled, Welcome to the Dungeon 2019. Uh oh.

Franklin Music Hall, bowerypresents.com/greaterphilly/shows/franklin-music-hall

25 BILLY JOEL

Again. With strings.

Citizens Bank Park, mlb.com/phillies/ballpark 28/29 BOBBY MCFERRIN

18 ME AT THE LIVING ROOM

A.D. Amorosi will be talking about all things musical at Ardmore’s most intimate space. Yes, it is true. Talking about music is like dancing about architecture, so maybe I’ll just do the latter. The Living Room, thelivingroomat35east.com

One of jazz’s least understood vocalists, McFerrin continues to find new ways and rhythms within the human

5 SANTIGOLD

Raised in Philadelphia as Santi White, the avant-garde songstress was far in front of hip hop’s fascination with all things future forward. What can she

18 BETHLEHEM & SAD PATRICK

vie Van Zandt, the latter who wrote and produced all of Southside’s first albums—Johnny is still a formidable powerhouse whose best vocal stylings would make Van Morrison seem tame. Sugarhouse Casino, sugarhousecasino.com 12 BEN PLATT

do, for this her 10th anniversary tour, as an encore? Stay tuned.

The Fillmore Philadelphia, thefillmorephilly.com 10 INSTANT SMILE & THE BLESSED MUTHAS

Two former members of the slap and tickling swingabilly Delco Nightmare jumped out of a bad dream, got married, and started making noir garage pop under the aptly titled band name Instant Smiles that sounds like a mix of The Doors and The Go-Gos. Seriously. facebook.com/TheTuskPhilly 12

When this huckle-buck music making couple aren’t busking at farmers’ markets in the area, they’re recording some of the funkiest folkiest sweet soul sounds. And hitting up folk music’s Philly home on Ridge Ave. Philly Folk Song Society, pfs.org 19 BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT & DANA GOULD: THE SHOW WITH TWO HEADS

14 JOSH RITTEr

Two of the 80s most weirdly expressionistic stand-up comedians (to say nothing of Goldthwait’s having written and directed Shakes the Clown and its first scene of him having carnal relations with Florence Henderson) join forces for a back-and-forth free-for-all. Underground Arts, undergroundarts.org

Like butter. Keswick Theatre, keswicktheatre.com

21 AMERICAN FOOTBALL

The out, Tony winning vocal centerpiece of Pacek + Paul’s gorgeous, sad Dear Evan Hansen musical is on his own with a new folksy, soulful solo record, Sing to Me Instead.

The Met Philadelphia, themetphilly.com

14 ROYAL TRUX

Every scuzz-blues crust punk’s favorite couple hit the boards together after getting addictive together, splitting and sobering up, rejoining, then recording 2019’s White Stuff.

Union Transfer, utphilly.com

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

Captain Jacks/Joan of Arc eerie hardcore punk fire-starter—guitaristbassist and singer Mike Kinsella—continues the rage (with more sage) and trumpet player Steve Lamos, for what might be this country’s hottest hardest rock band. Union Transfer, utphilly.com

voice. Plus, he only lives down the road so getting to the gig is fast.

World Café Live, worldcafelive.com 29 L7

If Motley Crue ever had a female equivalent, it was L7, the balls-to-thewall all girl lewd crude rock team from Los Angeles. After taking a break of over a decade, they’re back with new anti-Trump songs and anti-love sentiments. Union Transfer, utphilly.com 30 SAMMUS

Sweet new neo-soul’s newest songstress hits up Center City’s Milkboy for fun, funk and spiritual profit.

Milkboy Center City, milkboyphilly.com n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

13

CINEMATTERS PETE CROATTO

Louise Brooks with Hugh Huntley in A Social Celebrity (1926).

Haley Lu Richardson in The Chaperone.

THE CHAPERONE MARKS A bittersweet point in the Haley Lu Richardson ascendency. The star of Columbus and Support the Girls is not long for this type of small, sweet movie. I don’t doubt she’ll be wonderful, but she won’t belong to the movie fans who crave discovery. When you’re young and possess Richardson’s unaffected charisma, you quickly belong to the public, which means you’re soon wearing a cape.

On the surface, The Chaperone is an intriguing choice for the 24-year-old Richardson, who plays future silent film star Louise Brooks. The chaperone is Norma Carlisle (Elizabeth McGovern), who escorts Brooks on an important trip to New York. McGovern was once in Richardson’s position. Before she turned 21, McGovern had already been nominated for an Oscar. That context gives their scenes a magnetic intimacy. Norma has settled into a life she’s starting to question. Louise is the waifish ingénue everyone loves—for now. I kept looking for signs that McGovern was bestowing career advice to Richardson.

Misguided interpretations aside, The Chaperone is a charming film about second chances. McGovern, who served as producer, is the clear lead. (The director and screenwriter are fellow Downton Abbey alums.) Norma fits her like a pair of bedroom slippers.

The character is by turns naïve, brave, and charming as she becomes the star in her own life. McGovern

doesn’t miss a step.

Norma gets her assignment by chance in 1922. She and Louise belong to Kansas City’s upper crust, the kind of folks who join the Ku Klux Klan so that society stays decent. Norma is the wife of a lawyer. Louise’s mother is a talented pianist. During a Brooks motherdaughter recital, Norma overhears Mrs. Brooks saying that Louise needs a chaperone for a few weeks in New York City. Norma jumps at the chance. The frosty chemistry with her husband (Campbell Scott) doesn’t just provide clues, it nearly solves the mystery. “I do what I like,” she tells him of her intention. “I think I have that right.”

As expected by her upbringing, Louise carries a touch of snob, chiding Norma for reading The Age of Innocence on the train ride. Louise has an aura beyond her talent as a dancer, which is bringing her to New York. She’s 16 going on 30, confident and witty and completely unafraid to exhibit those qualities in front of her male admirers. The beauty of Richardson’s performance lies in subtlety. Her expressions—a tilted eyebrow, a smirk, the knowing cadence she sprinkles on a line—do more than any canned dialogue. She carries herself with an intoxicating sophistication. But Norma is not a wide-eyed wet blanket grateful to inhale Louise’s youth. She’s traveling for a couple of very good reasons, which unfurl in a series of flashbacks

14

The Chaperone

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

from her childhood and from the recent past. Both restrain her like the corset she wears.

Michael Engler, a veteran TV director, favors a palette of soft, springtime colors. It’s a soothing May sunbeam of a film, a haven of spotless soda fountains and kindly strangers who provide more than a warm gesture. Adding to the charm is Engler and Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellows, working from Laura Moriarty’s novel, don’t turn the two ladies into adversaries or indulge in Odd Couple contrivances. Louise views Kansas City as a prison from the life she deserves; New York can accommodate her momentum.

For Norma, Kansas City is home, but she needs to make some repairs before she feels comfortable. No one is right or wrong. They’re trying to live life on their terms, a process that takes years. Louise is too young to realize that, but she does know Norma is an ally. That’s a start.

There are times Engler gets in the actors’ way. He veers toward the obvious—a crucial scene gets tarnished by a clumsy conclusion that thrashes against the expert, restrained acting done by McGovern and Blythe Danner. But Engler loves Louise and Norma.

He basks in their everyday triumphs. It’s a reminder that we should extend Richardson the same courtesy.

She can’t be a prisoner of our expectations. No one should. [NR] n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

15

FILM ROUNDUP

Under the Silver Lake.

KEITH UHLICH

Dragged Across Concrete (Dir. S. Craig Zahler).

Starring: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles.

The languorous pleasures of writer-director S. Craig Zahler’s previous films (Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99, assured slow-burners both) are near-nonexistent in this repellent cops-gone-bad thriller. Flagrant racism is chief among the demerits: The Caucasian characters (Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as old-school boys in blue pulling a heist to make ends meet) are photographed in supple golden hues—white supremacy viewed autumnally, romantically. By contrast, all non-whites, particularly co-lead Tory Kittles as an African-American ex-con trying to better his family via one last bit of thievery, are portrayed like red-haloed emissaries from hell, coming to steal money, jobs and societal stature from all light-skinned keepers of the flame. Zahler has a steady, often inspired compositional eye. But his ideological viewpoint, arguably complex in the prior two features, has here become sickeningly simplistic. [R] H1/2 Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Dir. Bi Gan). Starring: Tang Wei, Huang Jue, Sylvia Chang. There’s a compellingly ruminative quality to the first half of this sleepy drama from Chinese writer-director Bi Gan (Kaili Blues). A doleful man (Huang Jue) takes an achronological journey into his past, recalling both the death of a friend and a lost love (Tang Wei).

Midway through, he steps into a movie theater, where he puts on a pair of 3-D glasses. Suddenly the 16

film we’re watching gains an added dimension and the camera traces the protagonist’s journey through a shadowy dreamscape, all of it photographed in an unbroken, hour-long take. Sad to say the stereoscopic effects are a squint-inducing eyesore and the single-shot aesthetic an indulgent, muscles-flexing gimmick more than anything else. Rather than draw us in, Bi keeps us at a stiff distance. The story’s overarching sense of regret is thus rendered in the shallowest terms. [N/R] HHH Our Time (Dir. Carlos Reygadas). Starring: Natalia López, Phil Burgers, Carlos Reygadas. A family affair, so to speak. Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas (Post Tenebras Lux) writes, directs and stars, alongside his wife Natalia López, in this pensive, frequently surreal drama about a marriage unraveling. Juan (Reygadas) and Esther (López) run a country ranch where a “Gringo” named Phil (Phil Burgers) somewhat comes between them—somewhat, because the couple is in a long-term open relationship that this particular third-party just happens to upend. Why, exactly? Reygadas prefers to live with the question as opposed to concretely answering it (and that includes muddying, as he’s done in promotional interviews, any autobiographical parallels). Love and lust are mysteries that can’t be untangled. And neither can Reygadas’ style, which has an uncanny ability— particularly via the expansive, blurry-edged CinemaScope photography—to feel at once grounded and unmoored. There are scenes here you won’t likely

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

shake, such as an unearthly visit to a Mexico City opera house, or a drug- and drink-fueled party that culminates in an phantasmagorical appearance by a gender-bending Tijuana-based street performer named El Muertho. Wedded bliss is put through the wringer, which leads characters and viewers both to a different sort of revelatory ecstasy. [N/R] HHHH1/2 Under the Silver Lake (Dir. David Robert Mitchell).

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace. Rejoice all of you clamoring for the millennial answer to The Big Lebowski. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) tells the narcotized, noirish tale of L.A. stoner Sam (Andrew Garfield, oozing odious charm), whose horny lethargy gets him into trouble after he meets comely neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough). After an abortive one-night stand, Sarah vanishes and Sam spends the rest of this wonky, digressive film trying to figure out what happened to her. It has something to do with an underground comic book artist, disappearing dogs, a maybe-murdered billionaire, an underground network of tunnels, a homeless guy dressed like the Burger King mascot, and the first edition of Nintendo Power magazine. Or maybe…not? The plot isn’t the point so much as it is Sam’s anger and aimlessness.

He’s a horrible person who spends two-and-a-half hours guided by his hedonistic cravings, learning absolutely nothing of value. It’s The Odyssey without purpose, and a genius comedy about all-consuming apathy. [R] HHHH1/2 n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

17

REEL NEWS DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER

Arctic

Everybody Knows

Arctic (Dir. Joe Penna). Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir.

As a survival saga, put this life-affirming epic of a lone-man stranded in a frozen wasteland near the top of the list. The plot is straightforward: Overgård (Mikkelesen) must survive indefinitely in a hostile landscape of freezing temperatures, howling winds, hunt-andgather food. His only refuge is his wrecked plane and his only hope is that he’ll eventually be rescued. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen carries the odyssey with his rakishly rugged endurance and iron will as he carves out a simple daily routine that we know only delays the inevitable. But that routine shows us everything we need to know about the determined man he is, and compellingly demonstrates how the human spirit can persevere against overwhelming odds. We step in Overgård’s shoes and walk on his frozen toes as he refuses to give up.

Then an unexpected tragedy catapults the story into an unforeseen and even more life-threatening direction. A helicopter flies over, but instead of rescuing him, it crashes. Ironically, Overgård himself becomes the rescuer of the only survivor, the pilot’s wife (Smáradóttir), who’s in a coma. The only way to save her is to drag her on a sled on a suicide journey to a distant station indicated on his map. Once again, it’s man against nature, but now with the odds for survival even higher. The stark, majestic but deadly beauty of the Arctic surrounds Overgård, and Mikkelsen gives him the charismatic determination to battle it with every thought and every step, and to pull us along through every challenge. In English and Danish with English subtitles [PG-13] HHHH

Everybody Knows (Dir. Asghar Farhadi.) Starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz. The old adage is that we should learn from history, but as this story powerfully illustrates, our personal history is alive and inescapable and as much a part of our present as the air we breath.

As village teens, Paco (Bardem) worked in Laura’s (Cruz) family vineyard and the pair were acknowledged lovers.

They eventually parted and Laura married a wealthy older man and moved to Argentina. Paco married and bought the vineyard. As the story begins, Laura and her teen daughter and young son return to Spain for her sister’s wedding.

And, as everybody knows, the same old chemistry still smolders in their Spanish hearts. Laura also discovers that the same complex familial relationships and whispered reputations still dominate the social life of the village. At the grand wedding reception, pent-up emotions, past grievances, and revealed secrets surface, but it’s all small talk compared to the allegations and suspicions that blaze up when Laura’s teen daughter is kidnapped. An investigation starts and soon everyone is a suspect. Like a pageturning thriller, each scene exposes more revelations and plot twists. It’s a small town and everybody knows everything about everyone, yet many guard deeply hidden secrets and shames. One by one Farhadi mines through each character’s soul until he reaches either bedrock or quicksand. (In Spanish with English subtitles.) [R] HHHH

18

Apollo 11 (Dir. Todd Douglas Miller.)

Featuring NASA astronauts and personnel. What! you say, another moon-landing documentary? Technically yes, but emotionally an emphatic NO! This you-

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

Apollo 11

are-there film isn’t about retelling historical facts, it’s about the overwhelming psychological impact of witnessing one of the greatest moments in human history. For that flash in time, every human eye focused on the heavens with a worldwide spirit of unity, hope, and pride, and temporarily forgot the differences that bitterly divide peoples and nations. It was a life-defining moment that illustrated what human will, even with limited technology, can accomplish, but more powerfully, it offered a rare intimation of how wonderous a unified world could be. Unlike traditional documentaries, Apollo 11 eschews voice-over narration, canned interviews, and historical news clips. The story is told in present tense and relies heavily on found footage of IMAX-quality, 65-mm film originally intended for commercial release but archived when the project was abandoned. Like time travel, it catapults us back to the final moments of the analogue age when engineers (all males in white shirts and narrow ties) relied on slide rules to calculate orbital trajectories, when multitudes of keypunch operators (all females in long skirts) pounded out analog programing cards, and when spacecraft computers were little more than electronic calculators. Yet amazingly, with this “primitive” technology the nation put a man on the moon and the population unreservedly believed in science and trusted it to solve the world’s problems. The contrast with today’s technology and skeptical attitudes is palpable. Though technology connects the planet, we’re more politically and culturally distant than Neil Armstrong was when he made “one giant leap for mankind.” [NR] HHHH

Vice

Vice (Dir. Adam McKay.) Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell. In 1964, a Wyoming lineman who had flunked out of Yale was sobering up in a jail cell when his fiancée told him to shape up or ship out. Looking back on history, the world would be very different if the drunken Dick Cheney (Bale) had not shaped up. But he promised Lynne (Adams) and the coming decades unfurled like soiled carpet.

McKay’s unorthodox biopic/black comedy/morality play follows Cheney’s ascent through the sordid world of politics from the drunk tank to a heartbeat away from the presidency, with his scheming, powerhouse wife always just behind the curtain. It could be one of the most inspiring success stories in American… or not. Starting in 1969 with a congressional internship, then a staff position with Donald Rumsfield (Carell), Cheney leapfrogged to White House assistant and chief of staff for Gerald Ford. Then, as a six-term Wyoming congressman, he voted against creation of the Department of Education, Head Start, Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and economic sanctions against South Africa for apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela. He may have danced on the wrong side of history, but his ruthless ambition endeared him to Republican leadership.

In the 1990s, George H. W. Bush appointed him secretary of defense and George W. Bush (Rockwell) chose him for vice president, where he became the mastermind for the Iraq invasion and proponent of torture and black site rendition. Christian Bale’s performance magically captures the depth of the antihero as his unbridled power trip turns fame into infamy. [R] HHHH

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

19

ORRIN EVANS 20

INTERVIEW A.D. AMOROSI

Captain Black Big Band THE PHILLY PIANIST/COMPOSER’S

MAKE VERY DANGEROUS, THEATRICAL MUSIC

ORRIN EVANS IS JUST barely in the front door of his house, home from his European tour as part of The Bad Plus—the math-jazz trio whose membership he befriended, then joined in 2017—when the challenging Philadelphia-based pianist bolts out of the door again. On his birthday, no less.

This is no drudgery, however. This is a life in jazz, one controlled and shaped by Evans and his wife (Dawn Warren Evans, his manager and an occasional vocalist), wherein the cool and ruggedly athletic, yet delicately nuanced, emotional and intricately introspective player and composer is either hitting the boards with his self-named outfit, or additional Evans bands such as Tarbaby and Captain Black Big Band when he’s not Bad Plus-ing. On playing with The Bad Plus compared to his role as leader in his own various ensembles, Evans said, “the interaction [with all of my collaborators] is solid, and those relationships are ones I’ve built for a long time. If anything, it’s made me—in a business sense—hustle during the time I have off from Bad Plus, to make sure my other bands are still working. It’s made my hustle with those ensembles of mine more directed and precise, to have a more direct approach.” And, in David Mamet’s ABC, to “always be closing,” active and present.

After having played and recorded new live trio sessions (with additional guitarist-guest-pal Kurt Rosenwnkle) at Chris’ Jazz Café for an upcoming album this autumn—as always on his soon-to-expand 18-year-old Imani Records label—Evans will soon turn toward his unpredictably explosive, large-scale Captain Black Big Band and music from its recently released new album, Presence.

Now a smaller grouping of musicians (from 17 to 9), Evans jokes/not jokes that its shrinkage has nothing to do with either Captain Black’s looseness or tightness. “We were tight, very tight, although you can always get tighter. No, man, it was about not being able to fit on the bandstand comfortably at so many gigs. I felt scrunched at the piano. Several of my horn guys had to stand before the stage. That ain’t right.”

So the smaller, sturdier, rawer and no-less dramatic Captain Black Big Band will have its way through PA when CPBB play Chris’, again, for a lengthy, broken-up residency from June 13 into July, with a June trip to the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival in the middle of said Philly residency. The idea of a residency—whether at Chris’ in Philly or Smoke in NYC where Evans can often be found—is crucial to his existence and comfort levels.

“I don’t know if it’s the venues per se, but it is the convenience of playing a venue such as theirs repeatedly over a continuous period of time. We started playing Chris’ at the beginning of Captain Black, and that helped develop our sound.

Then we did a year at South, and sonically there was a change. Same with Smoke. It’s just the advantage of something steady.

Residencies such as that afford me the luxury of consistency and keeping the band working . Some people may say—not me—that there is a more relaxed energy to playing Philly clubs because you don’t have the anxiety of playing in New York.”

Going back, however, to my dramatic comment and its theatrical context reminds me of something I had nearly put aside. The hard-bop acolyte once told me about how all players who work with him must be members of his extended family, people he’d like to break bread with. The word has long gone around about Evans: If you’re not his friend, you’re not his collaborator. “That’s exactly it,” he laughed, then readily acknowledging the hugeness of the Captain Black Big Band, his longtime friendship with The Bad Plus’ membership, and his constant endeavors with Philly cats such as Rosenwinkle and Philly bassist Christian McBride. “I have to play with cats I have a bond with—spiritually, personally...something.”

Then there are the bonds of blood.

“When The Cosby Show came out, I remembered that’s how I grew up,” says Evans, who went to Settlement Music School and Martin Luther King High School. “Except my folks and their friends weren’t lawyers and doctors. They were artists. We always had people reciting in my house, discussions about books, or mini-concerts where people got up, played, and sang.”

His uncle is sax great Ellsworth Gooding, his mother is local opera singer Frances Juanita Gooding Evans, and his father

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

>

34

Photo: John Abbott.

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

21

INTERVIEW A.D. AMOROSI

NO STRANDS LEFT TO FRAY Philadelphia’s Strand of Oaks’ Timothy Showalter finds solace...finally.

DRIVING THROUGH SANTA FE, New Mexico, while on tour for his newest album, Eraserland, Strand of Oaks’ Timothy Showalter sounds spiritually reborn, as if dealing with depression and his time in the business and art of making Springsteen-ish heartland rock—now with metal and punk edginess, to go with the in-your-face frank lyrics—is paying off emotionally. And emotionally is the way this Philly native works; his bruised, fragile, yet resilient calling card shows its hand more deeply with each Strand of Oaks album—Pope Killdragon (2010), Showalter’s breakthrough mission statement, Heal (2014), and Hard Love (2017).

As he winds his way through America’s belly to re-

That’s funny. I think that comes from “the character” that is Strand of Oaks. I’ve gotten in trouble for being too deep into that character. I have a tough time. I love talking and connecting with people, but if I didn’t have to—well, frankly I like being alone, or being with just my wife.

Is that a hint?

No, no. [laughs] It’s just that it’s been dangerous in the past. And the whole idea of how this record was made was that I didn’t have anything to do with the way it was put together. It was through the help and love of others. Typically, I have everything planned out. Not this time. I just didn’t have

the album. An afterthought. I had been staying in Wildwood for three weeks, with no visitors, until my wife and my in-laws came by, and then I had to decrazy-fy the condo. I had been up all night, in a wild and creative state. In the midst of cleaning, this mad rush of straightening up, I wrote “Weird Ways,” in what was probably 15 minutes. That, in and of itself, is its own mini-record.

I get that My Morning Jacket is involved and that they pushed you to get to the album. How was the momentum built—like them saying “Timothy, you have to do this?”

There may be another story to this that people

WHAT I AM MADE TO DO, WHAT MY DNA IS ALIGNED TO DO, IS MAKING RECORDS AND PLAYING MUSIC. AT THE SAME TIME, IT’S THE LEAST HEALTHY THING AT TIMES FOR A SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE MIND. WHAT ATTRACTS ME THE MOST IS MOST DETRIMENTAL AND DANGEROUS TO MY MENTAL WELL-BEING, AS THERE IS NO END AND NO BEGINNING—NO CLOCKING OUT. turn to Philadelphia for a homecoming gig on May 10 at Union Transfer, the songwriting vocalist and guitarist opened up—brutal, revelatory honesty is his signature in person and on the page—regarding all that has happened to and around him since Hard Love.

How is being on the road and the way positive reaction to Eraserland affecting you?

It’s up and down in my life, but ever since the process of making Eraserland and getting the band behind it together, it just feels like this is the most content I’ve ever been in my musical career. It’s all a very natural feeling. I’m also happy and proud of the people around me, as this is the first time that I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by a community of musicians—people who have really lifted me up.

That’s interesting as I’ve always thought of you as this lone wolf character—rarely connected to anyone, except for your influences such as Springsteen. It’s cool to see and hear you comfortable in a group dynamic.

22

that fire burning. It was everyone else around me who did it, got me up and out, and got the record together. From my wife to the guys from My Morning Jacket and Jason Isbell who played, and my producer, Kevin. They didn’t have to be there, they wanted to be there, as we care about each other.

So, Eraserland started in a sad place, but didn’t stay there.

Yes. That’s the small, short story of the album.

The full story is how much love was put into it by others, how it was created, and that it even exists.

This album is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given in my life.

If one listens to Eraserland chronologically—go from “Weird Ways” at its start to “Forever Chords” at its end, you find the full spectrum of feelings, from down to up.

You’re exactly right. There is an arc, and within that arc—those bookends—it’s just like life, something with a lot of roller coasters. What’s funniest is that “Weird Ways” was the last song that I wrote for

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

won’t tell me due to my sensitivity, but it’s one of two scenarios: My wife let people know—sent up some kind of SOS flare about me having issues and her being worried; Or Carl from My Morning Jacket just casually reached out to me to collaborate. I told him I had trouble writing songs, or that I wanted to make a record and not tour for a while. I don’t involve Carl with my personal issues—we’re not those friends. But within six hours he took the lead, contacted the studio and got other members of MMJ together to work with me. Those guys all dropped what they were doing—one of them also plays in Roger Waters’ band—and decided to do this record with me. This wasn’t a board meeting between label suits. My label had no idea. Everyone around me just set the dates, and, it was all news to us after it was ready. What I react to is purpose. Even if it’s washing the dishes, that’s a purpose, finishing a task.

>

34

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

23

FOREIGN / DOCUMENTARY PETE CROATTO

Ask Dr. Ruth EVERYTHING ABOUT DR. RUTH Westheimer slaps you in the face: the teddy bear stature, the absurd German accent, the frank sex advice. We know her as a caricature—an easy impression for every office comedian and family reunion half-wit—but we don’t know her. Nearly 40 years after she became a celebrity, Westheimer is still a persona or a gimmick.

Ask Dr. Ruth gives us something often missing in the construction and maintenance of celebrities: a pause. Ryan White’s lovely documentary is a profile of Westheimer as a human being, and it’s fascinating.

Westheimer didn’t just wake up one day and become Dr. Ruth. There were a million tiny steps that took her to that point, and that story is more inspiring and interesting than the resulting phenomenon.

It starts with a childhood of profound isolation.

Born in Germany in June 1928, Westheimer’s youth coincides with the rise of Hitler. At ten years old, her parents sneak her off to a children’s house in Switzerland, where she also watches the younger kids. The headmistress tells the new arrivals they are here because their parents don’t love them. Ruth’s parents faithfully write her letters and poems until they abruptly stop. She doesn’t forget her father’s advice: 24

You must learn. But she’s not allowed to attend high school, so she enlists a male resident to covertly pass along what he’s learned that day. Time passes. She survives a bombing and almost loses her legs, convalescing in a bookshelf with the aid of a dreamy male nurse. Her transferred knowledge gets her into the Sorbonne, Teachers College, and Cornell. She earns her doctorate at age 42, finds the love of her life after three marriages, and gets a New York City radio show on the graveyard shift in 1980.

In telling these stories, Westheimer is as matterof-fact and steady as if she’s talking about penis size with Howard Stern. There were two options: move on or wallow in victimhood. So she moved on, and has not stopped. Westheimer is teaching at two colleges and lecturing. She wrote three books released in 2018, including Roller Coaster Grandma, a comic book version of her life. When White asks her why she’s still publishing, she declines to answer. “What a stupid question,” she says in that thick, chirpy accent. Her longtime publicist wants to retire except for one problem: Ruth won’t.

Westheimer’s indefatigable attitude would have persisted if she were just another 90-year-old grand-

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

mother. The public simply bought what she offered—herself. The things that make Dr. Ruth “Dr. Ruth” don’t wilt away from the TV camera. She doesn’t kiss and tell. She doesn’t offer her political beliefs or declare that she’s a feminist, though her daughter and granddaughter say that’s exactly what she is. It’s how she hugs the workers in her apartment building in Washington Heights, NY, where she’s lived for decades. It’s how she keeps asking people—at her own birthday party—if they’ve eaten yet. She’s tickled by everything: snow in the summertime during a trip to Europe; a recent write-up of her in The New York Times. She doesn’t walk as much as bolt, as if she can’t afford to miss a single thing.

The good doctor’s fame came from a confluence of circumstances. Many will remember Westheimer for bringing sex out of the shadows, allowing people not to be burdened by their self-perceived deficiencies. The people close to Westheimer will remember her in another wonderful way. That we see that side is another gift Westheimer has given us, and a testament to the life she continues to live. You keep moving to create the life you want, the one you nearly missed out on having. [NR] n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

25

H

FOODIE FILE A.D. AMOROSI

ungry for Hemp YES, PENNSYLVANIA LEGALIZED MEDICAL marijuana back in 2016. Yes, recreational use remains out of reach in PA as of 2019, although a soon-to-beraised bill by two Philadelphia-area senators to legalize recreational weed (Daylin Leach and Sharif Street claim their bill would also expunge low-level pot possession convictions and push tax revenue to education). Yes, the Farm Bill of 2018, that Mitch McConnell heralded and President Trump signed, cleared the way for industrial hemp, and legalizing the crop (related to marijuana but has no psychoactive effect) at the federal level. All this makes hemp a worthy, legal, money-making growth crop whether it is raised as fiber, (for building materials, clothing, rope) or harvested for its cannabidiol, or CBD, which has long had its health benefits hailed and honored.

“Health is my first concern,” says Philadelphia rapper and longtime marijuana advocate Asher Roth. “I understand smoking weed recreationally. I also get that it’s not for everybody. The Wiz Kalifahs of the world maybe ‘smoke weed and everything gets better.’ That’s not necessarily the case. Mine is more a conversation about alternatives, especially in light of the opioid crisis and rise of Big Pharma.” He credits the people at the Philadelphia area Carefarmacy.com with enlightening the world about the cannabis plant, hemp, CBDs and their medicinal purpose.

This is true, also, of some area chefs and cocktailers in the Philly area who are making CBDs a recommended part of any diet.

Old City’s newest Latin restaurant-bar, Ardiente, features $2.00 CBD add-ins for all food and drinks, including its weekend brunch (have the pork belly Benedict with black truffle and shallots). Philly’s Fuel, health-food restaurant mini-chain hosts a “Dream”

26

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

CBD edibles and beyond.

collection of CBD-infused smoothies in three flavors—two vegan (Berry and Green), and Orange Dream, which can be regular or vegan. More CBD-infused food and drinks are on its way at Fuel, as well.

Libertine in Midtown Village has a mean, mellow “CBD Cocktail” that is always a must-have when it appears on its menu (if not, grab a “Charlie Sheen,” which features Silver Tequila, orange liqueur, muddled Jalapenos, pineapple and the secret ingredient, Tiger’s Blood). Old City’s bottler/cocktailer Art in the Age often holds CBD-infusion drink-making classes.

Then there are the CBD cafés in Philly, such as West Chester’s Roots Café which offers everything from CBD honey tastings and five-course CBD dinners, to the off-South Street boite, Hip Hemp Café, where all lolliops and baked goods are made inhouse. When she’s not preparing THC-free French vanilla coconut cakes (50 mg CBD) or cinnamon buns (Cannabons, 50mg CBD), and working on her next project with Hip Hemp Café owner George Martorano—a full-time CBD bakery/kitchen at Juniper and South—Cynthia Carroll discusses the benefits to her own health that CBD brings while tending to those in need by easing ailments with Hip Hemp Café’s products.

Martarano—the longest-serving, first-time, nonviolent offender in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, given life in prison, spending 32 years in stir without parole—knows his weed. He can’t touch or be near marajuana or anything THC, but CBD is his kingdom.

“I use it all, taste it all, and stay by every bit and bite of it,” he said. “I drink hemp-infused coffee every night, and sleep like a baby.”

“I have a medical marijuana card, but cannot smoke THC cannabis without mixing CBD in it, because there’s too much of a psychotropic effect otherwise,” Carroll said. Many forms of CBD consumption are available, including tinctures, oils and prerolls—all of which can aid in pain management, offer calming properties, help reduce anxiety, increase focus and energy, as well as uplift a user’s state of mind—but none are as yummy as Hip Hemp Café’s offerings. “That’s the whole thing; I have to make each of these items totally delicious for those who might still be skeptical of the benefits of CBD. There are folks who still think it’s “Reefer Madness,” and that CBD will get you high. It won’t.”

Here, any high you get at Hip Hemp Cafe is a sugar high. Any rush you get is chocolate’s usual sensual sensation. Everything else, is cake. n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

27

JAZZ LIBRARY BOB PERKINS

PERCY HEATH I RECKON I’VE ACQUIRED a few bragging points in my decades in the media, and one of them is to have been a neighbor of the world-renowned jazz musicians, the Heath Brothers; Percy, Jimmy, and Albert. To my knowledge there have been only a few trios of world-renowned jazz music siblings—the Heath Brothers, the Jones Brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin), and the Montgomery Brothers (Wes, Monk, and Buddy).It’s not ironic that due to human mortality, only two out of the nine names mentioned (Jimmy and Albert Heath) are still around, in body. This piece is about the third and eldest Heath sibling, Percy.

I don’t remember much about Percy or Jimmy when I was growing up, even though the Heath Family lived a few doors down the block in South Philly. Percy and Jimmy were a bit older than I. Albert (“Tootie”) was my contemporary.

Albert’s association with the drum kit came later. I do recall hearing Jimmy introducing neighbors to his chosen instrument, the saxophone, but I don’t remember Percy taking to the bass fiddle.

What I do recall about him was the time he returned to the neighborhood on furlough from the Army Air Force, after being drafted in 1944. He came back as a second lieutenant, and as a member of the celebrated, high-flying corps of WW11 African-American soldiers, dubbed the Tuskegee Airmen. It was upon his release from the military a year later, that Percy began to study the bass at Philadelphia’s famed Granoff School of Music—the same school that a few years later nurtured the budding talents of John Coltrane and a host of up-and-coming local jazz musicians. Percy must have been a quick study because as the 1940s drew to a close, he and Jimmy moved to New York and were playing professionally; their first major gig was with Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet.

I first heard my one-time neighbor’s name mentioned on the radio around 1950, when a DJ introduced a song by the Stan Getz Quartet, and give the names of the group’s members, and one of the members was Percy Heath. I don’t remember if I jumped up and down, or started pumping my fist in the air, because a hometown guy was making music with Stan Getz, a jazz giant, and had his name mentioned on the air.

It was in 1952 that Percy became a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, one of the most respected and longest running small bands in the history of modern jazz. The MJQ, comprised of John Lewis on piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Connie Kaye on drums, and Percy on bass, remained together without a break in personnel for 22 years. But after disbanding got together again in 1980, and from time to time concertized until 1997 when they threw in the towel for good.

I broke into radio in 1964 and as I began my career in the media as a DJ, I played the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and that of the Heath Brothers, who formed their unit when the MJQ broke up.

I had seen Jimmy and Albert over the years, but not Percy for almost 40 years. We finally reunited when I was asked to emcee a concert at the Philadelphia Academy of Music; Dave Brubeck and Sons were featured, along with the Modern Jazz Quartet. It was great to see Percy again after so many years. We had a nice chat backstage before the concert. He asked me about my sister Frances, for whom he’d had big eyes, but had failed to speak up. (Hmm…if he had confessed, I might have had the great bassist as a brother-in-law.)

It was a day in the sun for the kid from South Phill—standing on the stage of one of the world’s most famous houses of music, introducing Dave Brubeck, the former leaders of one of the greatest quartets in the history of jazz, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, another one of the storied small groups in jazz. When I started to introduce members of the MJQ and got to Percy, the house stood up and cheered in recognition.

Percy only recorded one album under his name, but he built a very successful career and became a legend as a supporter of whoever was smart enough to have him as a bassist in their band.

Percy Heath died of bone cancer, August 28, 2005, at age 81. n

Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1.

Listen to Bob Mon. through Thurs. night from 6–9 and Sunday 9–1.

28

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

29

JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT MARK KERESMAN

Dave Stryker HHH1/2 Eight Track III Strikezone Ah, nostalgia—it’s a double-edged sword, cutting our way into a past that holds real-gone delights or events best left in the dustbin of history, or even both. Very young readers might not know that in the 1970s there was a method of music reproduction, the eight-track tape. It was clunky, funky (not always in the best way) and would play indefinitely until you removed it. Many vehicles were outfitted with eighttrack players, so many people had music of their portable choice at their fingertips (long before downloads and streaming). Omaha-spawned jazz

guitarist Dave Stryker continues his series of albums tipping his hipster hat to that semi-sweet time. Tunes include those of Steely Dan (“Pretzel Logic”), Stevie Wonder (“Too High”), The Temptations (“Papa Was a Rolling Stone”), and other bonbons of the time, rendered in the easygoing yet insistent groove that is the soul jazz sound, in the vein of Stanley Turrentine and Jack McDuff (with whom Stryker played). He plays gorgeously plump notes evoking George Benson (known as a soul jazz stylist before pop success) and the master, Wes Montgomery, always melodious and swingin.’ He’s backed by the BBQ-sauce-rich organ of Jared Gold and the ringing vibes of Stefon Harris. Be aware—this is not a platter of cheesy nostalgia. These gents invest themselves in these shades of Then. The Carpenters’ wonderfully cheery, schmaltzy “We’ve Only Just Begun” is recast as an elegant, slightly dirge-y blues oozing passionate devotion (or regret, depending on one’s mindset). “This Guy’s in Love With You” is done with Friday night dress-for-success swagger, Stryker’s solo a thoughtfully droll delight. Stryker and company respect these tunes, preserving and channeling melody and emotional content. 1970s diehards, fans of meat-and30

potatoes jazz, and groove-heads—you’ve got common ground here. (9 tracks, 53 min.) strikezonerecords.com Ehud Asherie Trio HHH Wild Man Blues Capri Ehud Asherie is a young-ish (b. 1979) Israeliborn, USA-residing jazz pianist with definite leanings to old school jazz—think the early bebop era (194548) and the preceding Swing and hot jazz (1925-32) eras. He’s fond of the Great American Songbook

standards and plays in a bright, mercurially engaging, easygoing manner. He plays lots of notes but never clutters up the songs, respecting and loving the durable and classy tunes he plays. Bassist Peter Washington and drummer Rodney Green provide solid supportive swing throughout. Asherie shines on the near-ballad take on “Parker’s Mood,” wringing a delicious late-night blues feeling out of it and into your heart. “Autumn Nocturne” is virtually the definition of a classic romantic ballad, starry-eyed division.

The only thing holding Wild Man Blues back is it’s a little too easygoing/placid at times. Errol Garner, Nat King Cole and George Shearing, to name three mainstream pianists this writer digs very much, had something extra going on beneath their seemingly mellow surfaces. (Garner, in fact, played on some of Charlie Parker’s early recordings, when bebop was considered by some to be anti-jazz.) Asherie has got it goin’ on to be sure, class and technique to spare, but it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that zing. (8 tracks, 47 min.) caprirecords.com

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

Shank–Hagedorn Duo HHHHH At Home and Abroad Innova Say “classical music” to many people and mind’seye images might include a massive orchestra in a concert hall, a guy in a tuxedo, or lady in a gown going solo, often playing the music of dead white (usually European) guys. No, pilgrim—while that stereotype exists there are many other platforms for notated musical performances. Take Shank–Hagedorn Duo: Leslie Shank, violin & viola and Joseph Hagedorn, acoustic guitar. Shank has performed with the Seattle Symphony and the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia; Hagedorn is a member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet and Shank’s husband. They perform compositions by mostly living composers and composers attuned to music outside the classical spectrum. David Lang’s “Gift” uses the language of the melancholy of sitting alone on a hillside in Spain or Berlin or West Virginia, the viola crying the lonesome blues. David Hahn’s “W is for Weasel” has some of the structure and drama of mainstream classical music (that’s to say, comparable to Brahms and Beethoven on the Euro side and Aaron Copeland on the USA side). The Duo engage in crisp dialogue here, lapsing into a version of “Pop Goes the Weasel” that imagines the ominousness of Bugs Bunny squaring off against Vlad Putin. Ian Krause’s “Music in Four Sharps” has the duo joined by a few string players—this is a beautiful evocation of the elegant, melancholic tunefulness of Elizabethan music (example: Simon & Garfunkel’s “Parsley, Sage, etc.” and hints at Glass/Reich minimalism, the latter played in an utterly folk-like back porch manner). Throughout, but especially here, Shank’s string work is as achingly soulful as any singing by Aretha Franklin, and poetic and witty as anything by Dylan. Most of this album is music that gets right to the heart but doesn’t bypass the mind. For aficionados and novices both. (17 tracks, 76 minutes) innova.mu The Mekons HHHH1/2 Deserted Bloodshot These Mekons are from the UK (though some of them reside in the USA). They emerged from the same scene that birthed The Clash and many other similarly rebellious combos. Unlike some of their contemporaries, in the ’80s The Mekons reached into the past, absorbed inspiration from American country music and similar Americana for their sociopolitically-laced gumbo. Since, their oeuvre has touched on reggae, world music, and, yes, good old rock & roll (The Band was a substantial influence) delivered with cheery fatalism touched by hope in those gusto-loaded co-ed vocals. Deserted, the Mekons’ first album in eight years, was written and recorded in Joshua Tree National Park and it features a certain sunbaked ambiance. They remain tuneful, yet the guitars ooze fuzziness ‘n’ feedback

(think Neil Young), and bits of their songs shimmer like desert mirages. These aren’t the kind of songs that grab you right off the bat, but insinuate themselves with repeated listenings.

“Weimar Vending Machine” comes on like a cross between Young’s “Down by the River” and The Doors’ “The End” (with a vocal reference to The Doors’ cover of Weil/Brecht’s “Alabama Song”). The folky fiddledriven “Andromeda” has a cozy/boozy, down-at-thepub quality recalling those first four great Rod Stewart albums (when he was a singer of songs, not a jetsetter). While not containing the punch of Mekons rock & roll, Deserted chronicles a band pensive yet potently creative. (9 tracks, 43 min.) bloodshotrecords.co n Photo: Ricky Malpas.

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

31

POP A.D. AMOROSI

BEYOND Record Store Day THE OTHER DAY I spoke to Wayne Coyne about his live Record Store Day experience at Brooklyn’s Rough Trade shop regarding his Flaming Lips’ new album, The King’s Mouth. Though due out shortly on standard black vinyl, streaming services and CD, the expansive and emotional King’s Mouth happened to debut as a special RSD edition in gold vinyl with an opulent display. Maybe it wasn’t a human skull full of jelly or one of the totems that Coyne has designed for his Lips output, but it was special. “Record stores are these intimate havens usually, where you could quietly shop and investigate covers and liner notes,” he said.

“Then you get Record Store Day where thousands of people line up down the block to shop for unique items. It’s scary that something so intimate could become so riotous. I think I kind of love it.”

While April’s Record Store Day came and went, its finest pieces—so limited in their runs—can still be found in vinyl stores for regular prices, and online as fresh rarities.

BOB DYLAN, Blood on the Tracks—Original New York Test Pressing (7,500 copies) If you need only one RSD totem, this blank, bootleglooking LP is it. Dylan obsessives have long thirsted after the entirety of Dylan’s NYC and Minnesota sessions for his 1974 divorce album, and this record (featuring even more of the acetate mixes left off 2018’s Blood box) features long lost eerie organ elements never before witnessed on any alternate version of “Idiot Wind,” as well as an unusually spidery “Shelter from the Storm,” and a deliriously sketchy “Simple Twist of Fate.” Sigh.

TODD RUNDGREN, The Complete U.S. Bearsville & Warner Bros. Singles (4,500 copies) This genre-jumping son of Upper Darby is returning to his stomping grounds at The Fillmore Philly for two dates in May to celebrate the release of his one-pageeach chapter autobiography, The Individualist. But honestly, fans of the Runt/Wizard/True Star, hunger for this top-tier collection of his greatest Op-to-Pop single moments, whether it’s the R&B stuff or the oddball prog/psych noise.

PINK FLOYD, A Saucerful of Secrets (mono) (6,500 copies) Another tie-in to a local show—Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets gig at The Met—this is the second of Floyd’s mono RSD offerings following 2018’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This album’s poignancy comes from its being so transitional: Roger Waters took over, then-new guitarist David Gilmour plays, as does the departing psychedelic genius Syd Barrett. Dynamic and rich in a way that Piper was darkly foreboding, the mono mix gives its more disparate 32

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

elements (and there’s plenty) focus and punch.

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS, Purse (3,000 copies) An after-dinner snack after the long decadent meal that was Costello’s songwriting leftovers from working with Burt Bacharach (and then some) that formed 2018’s Look Now, this RSD EP features newly recorded or re-recorded tracks he wrote with Bacharach, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. The Dylan collab is a canard as it is merely Costello’s part of the T Bone Burnett project of “Basement Tapes”-era lyrics.

The rest, “The Lovers That Never Were,” finds EC in a deep funk (wherein McCartney’s was somehow happy, and of course, hearing Cash come alive through Elvis’ auspices is just delightful, even if the track is slight).

VARIOUS ARTISTS, Woodstock Mono PA Version SLY & THE FAMILY STONE, Woodstock, Sunday August 17, 1969 As the 50th anniversary of America’s first most beloved outdoor festivals (with Beychella coming up a close second), the first of these packages features an alternate set of mixes from various previously unreleased sound sources (all in the same order they occurred on the original Woodstock film soundtrack. OK, that’s a fun exercise and one that comes off as happily muddy as the festival itself. If you want something muskier, funkier, feminine and frank, with raw funk-rock energy, go no further than the singled-out showcase of Prince-before-Prince-was-Prince, Sly Stone and his righteously soulful family.

PRINCE, The Versace Experience: Prelude 2 Gold (Cassette) That reminds me: before kicking off The Gold Experience, Prince issued The Versace Experience: Prelude 2 Gold as a gift to attendees of the designer’s collection at Fashion Week in Paris during the summer of 1995. The cassette featured remixed versions of “P. Control,” “Gold,” and “Eye Hate U,” as well as tracks from The New Power Generation and Prince’s jazz-fusion project Madhouse. Going for a cassette for all this fussy pop funk and molten lava fusion shows a label’s dedication, not only to holy vinyl geek-out precision, but to an artist’s vision. That’s what Record Store Day is all about—even if it is for a cassette. n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

33

<

20 | ORRIN EVANS

was Don Evans, an educator, theater director, and epic playwright who died in 2003. The elder Evans staged plays such as August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and wrote poignant, pointed theater works that included Mahalia, the spoof of middle-class black family life, One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show, the bawdy It’s Showdown Time (a contemporary version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew) and, quite famously, a pair of dynamic, one-act plays, Orrin and Sugar-Mouth Sam Don’t Dance No More.

I had not brought this up to the pianist for years, though we had first discussed his father and this scion-named play at the top of the 21st century. In the bullet-shot-brief play of the same name, an upper-class black family’s life is turned upside down when their bitter oldest son, Orrin, a lonely drug pusher, and street-wise junkie, came home hard, wet, and too wrung out to dry.

“Like literature, theater was always always a major part of our life as a family, and we saw a lot of it—his [Don Evans] included—but we didn’t always talk about it since...well, that was his job, whether writing it or teaching it,” said Evans, almost as if he was comparing his father to a forensic detective or a bad beat cop. “It’s not always something you bring home to the dinner table, you know? And Orrin? That wasn’t me, never, ever me. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder, Hey Dad, what’s up with that?” He said it with a hearty laugh, while leaving the question wide open to conjecture.

That’s probably the thing that makes Orrin Evans’ jazz so endearing, athletic, and challenging: there is no easy answer. There is no closed door or single, final ending. n

34

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

<

22 | TIMOTHY SHOWALTER

That’s what makes you act and react.

Yes, that’s how I get onboard. I had no songs [written] before I found out they booked a studio. Within a day I went from feeling lost and untethered to having a purpose, having something on the schedule to work toward.

I might not feel comfortable asking you this question had we not held long, probing, and in-depth interviews going back to 2010. You are a deep feeling person who is affected by lousy comments on your work. You’re capable of great highs and hard lows. Do you ever wonder if maybe this process—call it music, call it art, call it expression—is too much for you? Maybe something less challenging?

This is a concern that I have a lot in my life. What I am made to do, what my DNA is aligned to do, is making records and playing music. At the same time, it’s the least healthy thing at times for a slightly unstable mind. What attracts me the most is most detrimental and dangerous to my mental well-being, as there is no end and no beginning—no clocking out. I did construction when I was younger, and felt good at the end of the day because you could see what I had accomplished—the end goal.

My wife asked me what I might do if I didn’t make music. I did teach, but I think I’d like to be a park ranger at Valley Forge. I love history, and I love to talk to people, and I could give tours. I don’t know how it happened that Strand of Oaks got so connected to my psychology, my mental well-being. On Eraserland, I think I got better at writing those songs, without being those songs. I could purge myself of those emotions, good and bad—but I need to realize that once I do, those feelings could be gone forever. n

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

35

harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

Carp were dying of herpes in Babylon. Peste des petits ruminants struck a lamb-fattening unit in Israel. Salmonellosis outbreaks were blamed on Crisp & Delicious chicken nuggets in Canada, on pet hedgehogs in the United States, and on Spanish powdered milk in France. The Namibian government warned of diarrheal shellfish poisoning, and the New Zealand government warned of paralytic shellfish poisoning. Zaire Ebola virus was diagnosed in greater longfingered bats in Liberia. A Wyoming house cat was diagnosed with plague. Anthrax was suspected in the death of an elephant calf in India and in the deaths of at least forty-five hippos in Malawi. Humans and cattle in the Mayotte archipelago came down with Rift Valley fever, and Brazilian pigs contracted Seneca Valley virus. Japanese officials began slaughtering 6,600 hogs in Toyota City in an attempt to contain classical swine fever, and Denmark planned to fence its border with Germany to guard against boars infected with African swine fever. Karnatakan monkeys were found dead from Kyasanur Forest disease, and rope squirrels were suspected of spreading monkeypox in the Central African Republic. A late potato blight struck Nigeria’s Plateau State, Stewart’s wilt was afflicting Slovenian corn, Xylella wilt was found in French lavender in a Portuguese zoo, and a mystery bacterium was wilting black pepper on South Indian plantations. An MRSA outbreak originated at a massage parlor in Kuala Lumpur. Keralan sanitation workers were beset with scrub typhus, and murine typhus had infiltrated Los Angeles City Hall.

Percentage change since 1975 in the portion of Americans who hold hunting licenses: −38 Number of states that allow roadkill to be salvaged for food: 31 No. of the 20 least prosperous US congressional districts that are represented by Republicans: 16 Of the 20 most prosperous districts that are represented by Democrats: 20 Percentage of statewide elections in the Deep South won by Republicans since 2008: 97 Number of new Confederate statues that have been constructed on public grounds since 2015: 1 Percentage of Southern white Americans who say the country must “protect and preserve its white European heritage”: 30 Of Southern black Americans who do: 28 Rank of Arabic among France’s most spoken languages: 2 Percentage of French students who study Arabic in secondary school: 0.2 Net loss of foreign-language programs at US colleges and universities from 2009 to 2013: 1 From 2013 to 2016: 651 % increase from 2012–17 in the no. of US college graduates who major in computer science: 51 In the number of students who earn PhDs in computer science: 17 Portion of 2017 computer science PhDs who pursued work in industry rather than academia: 2/3 Factor by which graduate students are more likely to experience depression or anxiety than the general population: 6 Percentage of Indians with graduate educations who are unemployed: 16 Of Indians who are illiterate: 2 Percentage change in the value of the US market in adult fiction books from 2013 to 2017: −16 In children’s and young-adult fiction books: +11 Factor by which Facebook users over 65 are more likely to share stories from fake news sites than users between 18 and 29: 7 Percentage of US adult Facebook users who are unaware the company categorizes them according to their interests: 74 Of users who feel their assigned categories do not accurately describe them: 27 Percentage of Americans born before 1946 who know someone who identifies with gender-neutral pronouns: 7 Of Americans born after 1996: 35 Number of minutes by which the average American man has more leisure time each day than the average woman: 33 Percentage of this extra time that men spend watching television: 65 Percentage of Americans who said global warming was personally important to them in the spring of 2018: 63 In the fall of 2018: 72 % of US adults in 1978 who said that the country’s levels of consumption were “immoral”: 65 Who say so today: 46 Chance that an American CEO expected global economic growth to slow last year: 1 in 50 That a CEO expects global economic growth to slow this year: 3 in 10 Average age of an American with at least $25 million in 2014: 58 In 2018: 47 Percentage of US adults who say they would rather talk about their own death than money: 57 Percentage of Americans aged 18 to 34 who say they’d like to live forever: 24 Of Americans over 55: 13 Factor by which the rate of asteroids hitting Earth has increased over the past 290 million years: 3

9

British military personnel who served in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province were found to have come down with Q fever. Fake news during the 2016 presidential election was shared by 18.1 percent of Republican Facebook users and 3.5 percent of Democratic Facebook users, and 15 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats feel it would be best if most members of the other party “just died.” Republicans live longer than Democrats. In religious countries, people buried in piously decorated graves tend to have lived longer. When ancient Romans were wealthier, their health was poorer. The surrogate-born female children of gay male couples are particularly well-adjusted. New research described the parenting behaviors of the male smooth guardian frog. A mate was found for Romeo, who has lived alone in a Bolivian aquarium for ten years and was thought to be the last of the Sehuencas water frogs. A small snake found in the stomach of a larger snake in Chiapas in 1976 was determined to be a new species that has never been found outside the snake that ate it.

9

Waves everywhere are getting stronger. A Scottish lab created a rogue wave. Antarctica is losing six times more ice annually than it was forty years ago, and Greenland was found to be melting four times as fast as it was in 2003. Tens of thousands of starving guillemots were washing up in the Netherlands. Scientists warned that humans should not create octopus farms. British fish wholesalers are selling the wrong sharks. A fermented beluga whale flipper was blamed for the death of a man in Nome, Alaska. Speakers of Farsi and Lao are unusually precise at describing taste, whereas speakers of Umpila outperformed all other languages’ speakers in their identification of smell. People have better working memory if, in their native language, meanings remain, until the end of the sentence, unclear.

“Harper’s Findings” is a registered trademark 36

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

“Harper’s Index” is a registered trademark.

SOURCES: 1 National Shooting Sports Foundation (Newtown, Conn.)/US Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.); 2 PETA (Norfolk, Va.); 3,4 Brookings Institution (Washington); 5 Smart Politics (Minneapolis); 6 Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, Ala.); 7,8 Scott Huffmon, Winthrop University (Rock Hill, S.C.); 9 Embassy of France in the United States (Washington); 10 French Ministry of National Education (Paris); 11,12 Modern Language Association (NYC); 13,14 US Department of Education; 15 Computing Research Association (Washington); 16 Lindsay Bira, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; 17,18 Amit Basole, Azim Premji University (Bengaluru, India); 19,20 Association of American Publishers (Washington); 21 Andrew Guess, Princeton University (N.J.); 22−25 Pew Research Center (Washington); 26,27 US Bureau of Labor Statistics; 28,29 Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (New Haven, Conn.); 30 Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.); 31 YouGov (NYC); 32,33 PricewaterhouseCoopers (NYC); 34,35 Spectrem Group (Lake Forest, Ill.); 36 Age Wave (Emeryville, Calif.); 37,38 YouGov; 39 Sara Mazrouei, University of Toronto.

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

37

The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

YOUTH GROUP

By Gail Grabowsky

ACROSS 1 8 14 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 46 50 51 52 53 54 57 60 62 66 67

Informal demand for propriety Choice bit Group with similar interests “I always lie,” e.g.

Illinois city west of Chicago Filled, folded fare Warning during a snowstorm Wyndham-owned chain Seashore raptor Watch readout abbr.

Discontinuation phrase Quote qualifier Last stroke, usually Octane booster Disc golf starting points German title Geological stretch Goose egg Wild way to go NYC tourist attraction Slim predatory swimmer High naval rank Doesn’t need Jazz singer Jones Physicist’s study “Chopped” utensil On-call volunteer, perhaps Reported story See 17-Down Source of a draft A third of nove One who can’t put down the phone?

71 Vichy vacation time 72 Studio apartment accommodation 74 Crafts website 75 Indian brew 77 “The Blues Brothers” fashion accessories 80 Made a fast stop?

81 Like some folklore 82 “David Copperfield” girl 85 Student leader?

86 Founding Father found in a bar?

90 Debate focal point 93 Senior’s highlight 94 Eligibility factor 95 Big bucks, briefly 96 Aloha shirt go-with 97 Truck maker with a bulldog logo 98 Casual Friday adjective 102 Common login component 106 Eliot title hero 38

107 108 109 110 111 113 118 119 120 121 122 123

Disappoint, with “down” Arranged, as a deal Put the kibosh on Brad’s role in “Inglourious Basterds” Hat of Ecuadorian origin, oddly Shelter mission She outwitted a witch Puget Sound city Like candy canes Not easily ruffled Angled Poor Yelp rating

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 24 29 31 32 33 34 35 37 38 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 54 55

Most fitting King’s first published novel Daze Cathedral section Ending with fluorConspired Calls for Big D hoops pro Tokyo : hai :: Paris : __ Commuting options: Abbr.

With less delay Weasley family owl Clapton classic County fair fare “Just think ... ” Held another session Instrument with a flared 60Across Headed up Weather-sensitive hr.

EPA-banned pesticide since 1972 Danish seaport Bear with a too-hard bed Storm relief org.

Region in the Eurasian Steppe Nam lead-in “Enchanted” film title girl Coconut sources Road warning Coconut Grove setting Jack Reacher creator Lee __ Stroked tool Russo of “The Intern” Fruity soda Development areas Farther down Compressed video format Celebrity chef Bobby Apple.com array

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

56 58 59 60 61 63 64 65 68 69 70 73 76 78 79 80 82 83 84 86 87 88 89 91 92 97 98 99

Resort near Snowbird Planning session product Fairly large, sumwise Louisville Sluggers, e.g.

Golf’s “Big Easy” Ernie Aquarium favorite Subs aren’t on it Sounds of thunder Far from relaxed Matter of fact “So that’s it!” __ Mawr College Pose in fancy clothes, say Abutting Sch. with a Phoenix campus Wild way to run Former “Fashion Emergency” host Severely harm 19-y’ar-old comics character Seaweed wrap purveyors Hammer-throw trajectories Gave up, as arms “A Death in the Family” author It’s a bad sign Broad-leafed maritime plant Doc Look after 2009 Tony-winner “Billy __ the Musical”

100 Site of Arizona’s Red Rock State Park 101 Type that can’t stay off the grass?

103 Ready to explode 104 Mild oaths 105 Kidney-related 106 Co-star of Betty, Rue and Estelle 110 Case workers: Abbr.

111 Some movie ratings 112 “All bets __ off” 114 Swiffer product 115 Soul, to Sartre 116 Youth found in this puzzle’s seven longest answers 117 Author of macabre tales Answer to April’s puzzle, I CANDY

AGENDA ARTIST’S STUDIO TOUR 5/3, 5/4, 5/5 The Hunterdon Art Tour (THAT): 3rd Annual selfguided driving tour of artists’ open studios in Hunterdon County, NJ. Meet the artists and see their work 10 AM-6 PM, Sat. and Sun. The kick-off exhibit and party is Friday, 5/3, 7-9 PM at the Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ. Reception and group exhibit on Saturday 6:308:30 PM at Whittemore CCC, Oldwick, NJ. The tour and its events are free. For info & map, go to Thehunterdonarttour.com EXHIBITS

THRU 5/5 Two Artists, Two Visions: Andy DiPietro & Norine Kevolic. New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA. Newhopearts.org THRU 5/18 Muhlenberg College Thesis Exhibition. Muhlenberg College, Baker Center for the Arts, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. Muhlenberg.edu/gallery THRU 5/26 Between the Lines. Works by Jonathan Mandell and Rhonda Garland. Silverman Gallery, Bucks County Impressionist Art. In Buckingham Green, Rte. 202, just north of PA 413, Holicong, PA. 215-7944300. Silvermangallery.com THRU 5/29 Liz Whitney Quisgard. Imaginary Architecture. Muhlenberg College, Baker Center for the Arts, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. Muhlenberg.edu/gallery THRU 6/15 The 2019 Spring Show. Closing reception 6/15, 6-9 pm. Bethlehem House Gallery, 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-419-6262.

BethlehemHouseGallery.com 5/5-6/9 The Art of the Miniature XXVll, featuring more than 90 national and international artists, and nearly 500 works of art. Opening reception 5/5, 1-5pm. The Snow Goose Gallery, 470 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-974-9099.

Thesnowgoosegallery.com

5/18-6/16 Echo Lake Collaborative, A TwentyYear Retrospective. New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA. Newhopearts.org, Echolakecollaborative.org 6/1-6/29 Best Laid Plans, an exhibition of paintings & mixed media by Marc Schimsky. Opening reception 6/8, 6-9pm. “A” Space Gallery, 37 W. Bridge St., New Hope, PA. Corner of Stockton Ave. & Bridge St. Marcschimsky.com 6/1-9/8 The Color of the Moon, Lunar Painting in American Art. The James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA. 215-3409800. Michenerartmuseum.org FESTSIVALS/AUCTIONS

5/3 Benefit exhibition and party for The Hunterdon Art Tour (THAT), 7pm-9pm. Hunterdon Art Museum, 7 Lower Center St., Clinton, NJ. TheHunterdonArtTour.com 5/11-5/12 Bethlehem Fine Art & Craft Show.

5/11, 10-5; 5/12, 1-5. Over eighty regional, national and local artists.

Historic Main St., Bethlehem, PA. Bfac-lv.org 5/16 The Baum School of Art. Auction Preview Night, 6-8. 510 Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-433-0032.

Baumschool.org 5/18 The Baum School of Art 34th Annual Art Auction. Silent Auction begins 5:30, Live Auction begins 8:00.

Auctions are free to attend. 510 Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-4330032. Baumschool.org 5/18 Arts Alive! Arts and craft event.

Rain-date 5/19.10-4, Downtown Quakertown, PA. 215-536-2273.

Quakertownalive.com 5/24-5/26 Mayfair Festival of the Arts. Fun for the entire family, art, food and performance. Cedar Crest College, 100 College Dr., Allentown, PA. 610-606-4666.

Cedarcrest.edu/Mayfair 6/11-6/15 SouthSide Film Festival. Documentaries, shorts, features, animation, and experimental films. 1,413 films

from 47 states and 101 countries.

Independent film from around the world in Bethlehem, PA. SSFF.org 6/15 Art-in-the-Park 2019. 10am-5pm.

Fine art and crafts by 70+ artists from Lehigh Valley and surrounding states. Live music from Allentown Band, food and drink. West Park Civic Association. Westparkcivic.org THEATER

5/18 The 14th Annual Young Playwrights’ Festival. Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem, PA. 610867-1689. Touchstone.org 5/23 Freddy Awards. The State Theatre Center for the Arts. Stream live at wfmz.com, 7:00. Freddyawards.org MUSIC

5/4 An Evening with Gordon Thomas Ward. Original songs, storytelling. 1867 Sanctuary Arts and Culture Center, 101 Scotch Rd., Ewing, NJ. 609-392-6409.

1867sanctuary.org 5/10, 11, 17, 18 112th Bethlehem Bach Festival. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, 440 Heckewelder Place, Bethlehem, PA. Tickets & schedule, 610-866-4382, ext. 115/110 or Bach.org.

5/12 Jerry Rife's Rhythm Kings. Hymns and Spirituals (Jazz arrangements).

1867 Sanctuary Arts and Culture Center, 101 Scotch Rd., Ewing, NJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org 5/19 Sharim v’Sharot. 19th Anniversary Spring Choral Concert, “Rossi, Solomon & Kindred Spirits.” 1867 Sanctuary Arts and Culture Center, 101 Scotch Rd., Ewing, NJ. 609-392-6409. 1867sanctuary.org 5/19 Organ Birthday Recital #4. Robert McCormick, organist. Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727.

Nativitycathedral.org 6/9 Patti LuPone. Don’t Monkey with Broadway. Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA. Kimmelcenter.org

6/21 Boz Scaggs, Out of the Blues Tour.

7:30 PM, State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610252-3132. Statetheatre.org 6/29 Concert Under the Stars. Celebrate America’s Birthday with us.

Gates open at 6:00. Riverside Symphonia, Tinicum Park on River Rd., Erwinna, PA. 609-397-7300.

Riversidesymphonia.org MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem 610-332-1300 Artsquest.org

MAY 3 Frontiers-The Ultimate Journey Tribute Band 4 Live at the Filmore-The World’s Greatest Tribute to the Allman Brothers 16 Amish Outlaws benefit concert for FOLDS of HONOR 31 Troubadours-The Music of Carole King and James Taylor JUNE 1 Damn the Torpedoes-A Tribute to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 7 A Solo Acoustic Evening with Richard Marx 12 Al Di Meola

DINO’S BACKSTAGE 287 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside.

Restaurant • Bar • Cabaret 215-884-2000 Dinosbackstage.com MAY 3-4 Dierdre Finnegan, I Can Cook Too.

KESWICK THEATRE 291 N Keswick Ave, Glenside.

215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com MAY 4 Marshall Tucker Band 10 Temptations & Four Tops 11 Kip Moore 12 Freddie Jackson 14 Josh Ritter & Royal City Band 16 Kristina Kuzmic 17 The Fab Faux 18 The ELO Experience Strange Magic 19 Damien Escobar 23 Yann Tiersen 25 Nathan Carter 29 Apocalyptica 30 Toots and the Maytals JUNE 1 Doo Wop Volume 5 2 MattyB / The Haschak Sisters 6 Robby Krieger Band

DINNER THEATER

THRU 6/29 Murder Mystery Dinner Theater: The Golden Girls. Peddler’s Village, routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215-794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com Every Thurs.-Sat., Dinner and a Show at SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA. 5-10:00. Table service and valet parking. SteelStacks.org Dine in the Celebrity Room at Dino’s Backstage and enjoy the show. 287 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside, PA. 215-884-2000.

Dinosbackstage.com CAMPS

6/24-6/29 Summer Video Institute, DeSales University, Summer Arts Camp.

Summer fun with college credits.

2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-1100, ext. 1683.

Desales.edu/svi 7/22-8/2 Summer Dance Intensive, DeSales University, Summer Arts Camp.

Summer fun with college credits.

2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-1100, ext. 1719.

Desales.edu/sdi EVENTS

5/4 39th Annual Historic Easton House Tour, 10-4. Tour beautiful historic homes & public places. An annual fundraiser for the Easton Main Street Initiative: A subsidiary of GEDP. EastonHouseTour.com. facebook.com/eastonhousetour 5/11-5/21 Pridefest. New Hope Celebrates.

NHC Pride Week observance of Stonewall 50th. New Hope, PA & Lambertville, NJ. Newhopecelebrates.com.

5/4-5/20 NHC Best Cocktail Contest 5/11 PrideFest Flag Opening Ceremony 5/15 Fact Bingo 5/18 Pride Parade & Fair 5/19 Pride T-dances townwide 6/14 Flag Day Parade, 6:30-9:00. Downtown Clinton, NJ. visitclintonnj.com 5/18 & 5/19 Strawberry Festival. Peddler’s Village, rtes. 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215-794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com

ICON | MAY 2019 | ICONDV.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/ICONDV

39