ICON Magazine by ICON Magazine

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

contents

JUNE ~ 2012

INTERVIEWS THE HUMAN EQUIVALENT OF A TSUNAMI IN MUSICAL WATERS I 24

Nico Muhly draws on 16th and 17th century composers for inspiration, as well as modern master, Philip Glass, with whom he works.

CARICATURELAND IS NOT A STOP ON MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL’S JOURNEY I 28 Salvatore Pinto, Crowded Beach Scene, c. 1940

Arguably one of Hollywood’s quirkiest actresses, Gyllenhaal consciously chooses challenging roles that play against type.

VICTOR’S VICTORY I 30 Victor Stabin, artist, educator and nimble word omnivore—or lissome logophile— who eats dictionaries for breakfast, lunch and midnight snack.

OPINION

Richard Wharton, Nicole Vicius, Christopher Denham.

Eugene Robinson | 5 Lexicrockery | 49 The Last Word | 58

WINE Madeira | 38

Jim Delpino | 39

Cinematters | 14 The Intouchables Nico Muhly. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Keresman on Film | 16 Sound of My Voice Bad Movie | 18 One for the Money Reel News | 20 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows; Into the Abyss; The Artist; Hell and Back Again

Film Roundup | 22 What to Expect When You’re Expecting; The Avengers; Hysteria; Where Do We Go Now?

Kathy Kosins.

Jazz Library | 54 Stan Getz

Dave Barry | 40

STAGE

ETCETERA

Regional Theater | 44

Day Trip | 55

reasons to be pretty; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; H.M.S. Pinafore; Animal Crackers; Hairspray; King John;

FILM

Bill Evans; Brandon Wright; Ulysses Owens, Jr.; Florian Hoefner;

COLUMNS City Beat | 5

Nick’s Picks | 52

Harper’s Findings | 55 L.A. Times Crossword | 56

A Dybbuk; The Tempest; Sweeney

Harper’s Index | 57

Todd; Doubt: A Parable; Harold & the

Calendar | 59

Purple Crayon; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Footlights | 45 Once

MUSIC Classical Notebook | 46 HJ Lim Singer / Songwriter | 48 Carole King; World Party; Ian Tyson; Janis Joplin; Etta Britt. Keresman on Disc | 50 Willie Nelson; The Best of Ripsaw Records Volume 2; Raoul Björkenheim

FOOD Maggie Gyllenhaal.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

/ Bill Laswell / Morgan Ågren; Frank

In Riva | 35

Wright; Marzette Watts; Elton Dean’s

Francisco’s on the River | 36

Ninesense.

ON THE COVER: Artist Victor Stabin. Page 30.

opinion

city beat

EDITED BY THOM NIICKELS

ThomNickels1@aol.com

Why Bain questions matter EUGENE ROBINSON WHO ARE THE DASTARDLY enemies of free enterprise who decided to make an issue of Mitt Romney’s tenure at the private-equity firm Bain Capital? Er, those would be his fellow Republicans. Listen to what Newt Gingrich said in January: “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” Or what Rick Perry said that same month: “There is something inherently wrong when getting rich off failure and sticking it to someone else is how you do your business. I happen to think that that is indefensible.” When Democrats say things like that, they’re accused of being Bolsheviks who want to destroy capitalism. But even in the context of the GOP primary battle, where “moderate” was the ultimate epithet, Romney’s actions at Bain were seen as raisA trader enters an order by a post that sells JP ing a legitimate and imMorgan Chase stock on the floor of the New portant question: York Stock Exchange Photo: Reuters. Shouldn’t free markets serve the American people, rather than the other way around? President Obama is right to raise this issue now. I wish he had done so during the debate on financial regulatory reform—only now is he posing the kind of fundamental questions that needed to be asked—but better late than never. In his defense, a tough reelection campaign does tend to focus the mind.

NOT LONG AGO WHEN you wanted to “make friends” with a neighbor in a CC high rise you had to put a mash note under their door or break the “custody of the eyes” rule in elevators. The Friends of the Avenue of the Arts has a solution to this: wine and pizza soirees in the lobbies of apartment buildings. As an organization of CC residents and businesses committed to making the Avenue of the Arts a boulevard of dreams, Friends hosted a party in the lobby of the Arts Condo building on Locust Street recently… in the mix, CFO Timothy J. Moir talked about June’s Art on the Avenue preview (June 20, 5:30-8:00PM) at the University of the Arts’ Dorrance Hamilton Hall, where CC high rise neighbors will learn about the city’s many arts organizations. RSVP to FriendsRSVP@gmail.com. … .Decades ago, bad hair poet Ezra Pound wondered, “What makes money make money?” May I suggest the United States Mint? Touring the Mint might be seen by some as on a par with visiting the Liberty Bell (Tourist 101), or standing with those folks from Omaha while waiting to walk through Independence Hall. But how many Philadelphians know that the Mint has been closed since January for renovations? The grand opening planned for sometime this summer (Bilderberg Group not invited!) promises “new” hands-on interactions, updated exhibits and videos, but no free money. Warning: this Orwellian Age being what it is, the Mint wants visitors to know that “members of the general public wishing to tour the facility may be subject to search by the U.S. Mint police.” (Note: pepper spray = peppermint cops) Overexposure is not Tanaholic: Ven and Vaida Gallery at18 South 3rd Street has been in City Beat a lot lately, yet Philly artist Tara Robertson’s photography show (June 1 to July 1), Our Alphabet!, is a compilation of over 50 framed photographs designed to help “LGBTQ people use their voice to put their stories and message out there for the world to see in a non-confrontational way.” (Any guesses as to the next letter added to LGBTQ?)…. Also on the V&V vine: just when you thought you heard the last of Butch Cordora, he’s back like the Lockness Monster with a new project called “HOT and Busted,” a series of 20 authentic mug shots of handsome young criminals Cordora says he got from police websites and mug shots (along with descriptions of their crimes) after “a very, very close friend” went to jail last year for two DUIs inside of six months. About the July 6 thru September 2 show, Cordora says: “Drawn on these youthful faces are the vernal stresses of their arrest and the realization that their (alleged) transgressions may potentially ruin their future…” Hollywood screen tests don’t get any better than this… Addresses of the incarcerated will not be provided.

tree, but give your love to Philly’s largest riverfront green space, Bartram’s Gardens. BG was green before the color became au courant. Once home to botanist John Bartram, the National Historic Landmark hosted 39,000 visitors last year… this spring, a new green, nursery and farm was unveiled on the venerable estate. Summertime visitors will now be able to borrow binoculars for bird watching (no voyeurism, thank you) as well as watercolors for painting. Educated tour guides will tell you what’s what. For a detailed look at this Philadelphia treasure, go to www.bartramsgarden.org. The James Joyce of children’s authors, Rosenbach supporter and trustee, Maurice Sendak, died last month. The Museum’s special tribute to Sendak, From Pen to Publisher (June 24 to July 15), will follow the lifeline of three of the artist’s books. Sendak’s death gives new meaning to this year’s Bloomsday, Saturday, June 16, when the 2000 block of Delancey Street shuts down for a seven-hour public reading of Joyce’s Ulysses, where Molly Bloom’s “…And yes I said yes I will Yes,” never changes…. What’s in a name change? The Fairmount Park Art Association is now the Association for Public Art (aPA). Originally named and founded in 1872 to “enhance Fairmont Park with sculpture,” the new name sums up the organization’s wider urban mission of supporting public art everywhere in Philadelphia. aPA’s Laura Griffith spilled the beans about the change at last month’s Preservation Alliance Awards. aPA’s inaugural exhibit will include 24 robotic searchlights along a half-mile section of the Parkway, enough to create grand 3-D light sculptures (but no UFOs) called Open Air (sans Terry Gross). Look for this in September. Graffiti speaks (not on my wall you don’t): Glochester City, New Jersey-born artist (and fedorawearing) John Baccile, a University of the Arts grad, is out promoting his new exhibition, “Signs and Wonders: Graffiti That Speaks” at Café Twelve on S. 12th Street in June. Baccile, a private pilot who once photographed the Eagles cheerleader tryouts while on the ground, has a site at http://barefootphotography.deviantart.com. Baccile’s only deviancy is that he’s a good artist. Meet me at the POP-UP boutique and I’ll show you Brian Campbell (see the Mural Arts Muralmorphosis animation on YouTube) one of the cofounders of P.A.D, or Philadelphia Art & Design along with designer Kevin McLaughlin and Kim Alsbrooks, a painter of miniature oils on found objects. Art is everywhere, so save those recyclables. ■

Never place your affection on a green growin’ JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

icon

5 / OPINION / WHY BAIN QUESTIONS MATTER

There’s nothing inherently wrong with private equity, which plays an important role in the economy. And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with wealth; those who risk their capital in privateequity ventures should be rewarded when those deals pay off. No one begrudges Romney his offshore investment accounts, his mansions or his wife’s Cadillacs.

Mitt Romney.

But as Romney himself acknowledges, free markets need rules and regulations in order to function. Some kinds of dealings are prohibited or even criminalized—insider trading, for example, because of the way it benefits a select few at the expense of other investors. It is reasonable to ask whether some highly leveraged buyout deals, of the kind that Bain and other private-equity firms often con-

The intersection of art, entertainment, culture, opinion and mad genius duct, should fall into the same thumb-on-the-scale category as insider trading. Suppose a company is failing and appears beyond rescue. Suppose a private-equity firm buys the company with borrowed money, burdens it with more debt, and then spends the next few years firing workers, selling assets, eliminating pension plans—all while collecting handsome “management fees.” Then the company fails anyway, as it was fated to do. What higher economic purpose has been served? Why is this not what Perry memorably called “vulture capitalism”? The discussion we should be having goes far beyond the relatively small world of private equity. Look at the mounting losses at the nation’s largest and supposedly best-run bank, JPMorgan Chase—at least $2 billion and perhaps much more. The transactions that produced the losses are numbingly complex, but essentially they involved betting both ways on the direction of various economic and business indicators. The idea was to balance the bets so that if the bank’s predictions were right it would make a lot of money; if the predictions were wrong, it would lose money, but not so much. The bank got on a winning streak, so it made bigger and bigger bets. Then the bank’s luck turned, and Chairman Jamie Dimon discovered that the betting positions were unbalanced—instead of losing a little money, the bank was set up to lose a lot. Sharp-eyed traders at hedge funds noticed what was happening and jumped in to take advantage of a big spender on the skids. That’s a classic Las Vegas story, but why should it be a Wall Street story? Should a bank whose deposits are federally insured—a bank big enough to crash the financial system—be standing at a craps table in the middle of the night yelling, “Baby needs a new pair of shoes”? This is what Rick Santorum said in March: “I heard Governor Romney here called me an economic lightweight because I wasn’t a Wall Street financier like he was. Do you really believe this country wants to elect a Wall Street financier as the president of the United States? Do you think that’s the kind of experience we need? Someone who’s going to take and look after, as he did, his friends on Wall Street and bail them out at the expense of Main Street America?” Good question. I’d like to hear Romney’s answer. ■

alliteration of the month

Filling the hunger since 1992 1-800-354-8776 • voice: 215-862-9558 fax: 215-862-9845

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

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

ADVERTISING 800-354-8776

City Beat Editor Thom Nickels Fine Arts Editors Edward Higgins

Burton Wasserman Classical Music Editor Peter H. Gistelinck Music Editors Nick Bewsey

Mark Keresman Bob Perkins Tom Wilk Theater Critic David Schultz Food Editor Robert Gordon Wine Editor Patricia Savoie Contributing Writers A.D. Amorosi

Robert Beck Jack Byer Ralph Collier Peter Croatto James P. Delpino Sally Friedman Geoff Gehman George Oxford Miller Thom Nickels R. Kurt Osenlund Victor Stabin

PO Box 120 • New Hope, PA 18938 (800) 354-8776 Fax (215) 862-9845

is for fanfare for feloid fig faun Fanfare, n. The sounding of trumpets. For, prep. With reference to or in regard to. Feloid, adj. Having the characteristics of the cat family. Fig faun, n. A mythical creature, represented as living in desert places and eating figs. Victor’s work can be seen at his gallery and Flow restaurant in Jim Thorpe, PA or VictorStabin.com and at the Allentown Art Museum 6/3 - 9/9.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

ICON is published twelve times per year. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor, editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. Subscriptions are available for $40 (shipping & handling). Copyright 2012 by Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

a thousand words

RAISI N G

STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

I’VE ALWAYS LIKED THE concept of barn raising, and have for a long time wanted to create a large studio painting of one. But there was a problem I couldn’t get past. When you think about a barn raising, you think Amish. It so perfectly symbolizes their philosophy of selflessly helping restore another person in a time of misfortune that it’s difficult to separate the people from the event. I wanted to advance the idea of working together without losing it in a cliché tableau of buggies and beards. The beauty of art is in not having to know your destination before you start. Art is in the choices and discoveries you make along the way. I decided my first step would be to try and paint a barn-raising live and see how the path unfolded. I started by calling a newspaper in Lancaster. The person I talked to said they didn’t have an Amish news desk or anyone who knows what happens in that community but Robert Beck maintains a gallery and Academy in Lambertville, NJ. You can view his work at www.robertbeck.net.

they could give me someone else to call. That was the response I got as I went from person to person, eventually talking with a woman who explained that she had no contacts within the “Plain People” but she had a name for me. I was getting closer; the language was changing. In a few minutes I was talking to a man with a Pennsylvania Dutch accent in a company that supplies everything required to build a barn in a hurry. Tell him what you need—structure size, number and type of livestock, whatever—and they have the hardware on the wagons in no time. I described what I was trying to do, the concept of the large painting, and my wish to paint live at a barn raising. I asked if the Amish people would mind, knowing they don’t approve of photography. He thought it would be fine; in fact, he shared my view of the event and understood why I wanted to paint it. He also pointed out that barn raisings were unscheduled, and completed before anyone outside would hear about it. Then he told me of another sight he loves. After the barn is built, a long train of wagons comes up the road loaded with the

stuff you need to stock it. The tools, the hay, the buckets, everything. The hair went up on my arms. Now I had two powerful painting ideas, neither of which I knew how to present. The passage of time is an issue that I deal with in all of my paintings. When I work live my subject never remains the way it was when I started, and my studio images are created with the understanding that my subject is not static or frozen, but rather a thin slice of a the complex transition of past into future. The idea of utilizing a timeline came naturally. It’s an old idea that solved a number of problems. I abandoned the thought of painting live and started on the studio piece instead. The timeline in my painting, Raising, moves in a curved sweep from left to right. The wagons coming over the hill begin with one horse, then more, before the first automobile is introduced. Even the barn and the workers are from different ages as it is constructed. The foreground was added midway through the painting to create depth. The family, with the father rolling up his

sleeve (time to work) and the mother pointing (this is the way) occurred to me shortly after that. The boy running into the six by eight-foot painting was my age at that point in time. He is also the visual entry into the image. Your eye travels to the barn’s peak then begins the counter-clockwise loop. There is more than a little reference to Tom Benton and Grant Wood. The timeline begins in the upper left with one man, one plow, and ends in the upper right with a line of modern harvesters. I didn’t toy with imagining the future—that always looks sadly naïve in retrospect—but I placed a man and woman planning for it as close to tomorrow as I could get. Yes, I included Amish people, but there are those of other races and beliefs. The image evolved as I painted, with both content and concept expanding organically over two weeks. The timeline freed the painting from its Amish confines, and what began as the simple notion, “Barn raising is a good idea,” became through those choices and discoveries, “Barn-raising is a good idea for all time.” ■ JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

art

ED HIGGINS

ESURRECTING A PHILADELPHIA FAMILY’S artistic background, while also paying homage to the newly opened Barnes Foundation on the Franklin Parkway, the Woodmere Art Museum has provided a marvelous glimpse at a segment of American art thoroughly influenced by European modernism in its current exhibition, Salvatore Pinto: A Retrospective Celebrating the Barnes Legacy. This fascinating show, which also includes work by his two brothers, Angelo and Biagio, runs through July 15. The Pintos are another in a long list of local art families such as Wyeth, Peale, Calder, and Sartain. Arguably the best known artist today in the family is Jody Pinto, she of the Fingerspan bridge high above the Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park.. Salvatore was born in Casel Velino, a small coastal village outside of Salerno, Italy, in 1905; his brother Angelo in 1908. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1909 with his parents. Throughout his life, Salvatore had a great connection with the seashore and bathing crowds. They appear in much of his art and he later owned a beach house in Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island. Salvatore attended the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, now known at the University of the Arts, from 1921 to 1925 and went to the Barnes in 1927. In 1928, Barnes purchased a Salvatore Pinto and that sparked his career as he was among the first American painters to enter the collection. By that time the three brothers were all artists and travelled with Barnes to Europe. Barnes wanted them to be influenced by European modernism and thus transform the art being produced in the United States. This was a pivotal time in American art. The 1913 Armory art show in New York exhibited for the first time a huge selection of European modern art and the American efforts were more or less ignored. Barnes, with the counsel of his classmate at Central High school, William Glackens, later a member of the Ashcan school of realistic painting, began to collect the new art. He championed this art and in 1923 showed it off to his hometown audience with an exhibition at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to over-

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

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

whelming disapproval from experts and the general public. Glackens was later to be called the American Renoir and, possibly as a result, there are more than 60 Renoirs in the Barnes. Barnes took the Pintos to France to study with Matisse whose greatest works hang now in Philadelphia. Matisse spent some time with the young men and recommended they visit northern Africa. Barnes complied and bankrolled the trip. They made it as far as Corsica where they were arrested as spies. Matisse intervened and they continued on. Even before they went to Europe Salvatore and the others already had a fine sense of color and, because of their earlier training, were excellent craftsmen in a number of media. Many of Salvatore’s crowd scenes remind one of Reginald Marsh’s urban scenes and many of the forms were outlined in black tending to enclose the color. All of them at one time or another taught at the Barnes. Angelo, father of Jody Pinto, worked there for 57 years. Salvatore worked for the WPA project during the Depression. For a time the brothers operated a photography studio in New York doing color work for Life and Look magazines. The Woodmere exhibition shows the work of all three in a number of media. The prints and drawings by Salvatore are precisely done and show off the basic training. In works painted after Europe—he made at least three trips there— his colors attained greater freedom and his forms were less dramatically defined. It is tempting to glibly trace the influences in his work. Some forms replicate the cut paper forms Matisse used and, even in his Jersey Shore scenes, the people seem more European than American. The anglers depicted working off a Jersey shore pier—no matter their ethnic background—would gladden the heart of any saltwater fisherman. Nevertheless, the eccentric Barnes proclaimed the works a success, “even when the picture is turned upside down.” The exhibition does include one work called “Woman on the Beach” that could easily be viewed from any number of angles. In addition to beach scenes Salvatore and his brothers were interested in performers in dance, theater and athletics, and during their time in New York designed ballet sets. Salvatore’s figures tended to be full figured with strong legs and thick thighs. This exhibition provides the depth that a skimming of the Barnes does not. ■ Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA (215) 247-0476. www.woodmereartmuseum.org

Salvatore P

Salvatore Pinto (1905-1966). Beach Scene. 40 x 50 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Salvatore Pinto.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

art

“You don’t need a consumer protection agency….Right?” 1977 Pen and ink on duotone paper, 14 x 11. Collection of the artist

“The Trojan Elephant.” Pen and ink on paper, finished in Photoshop, 14 x 11. Collection of the artist

BURT WASSERMAN

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF an editorial cartoon is to provoke thoughtful responsiveness by the readership of the publication in which the cartoon appears. In addition, the regular presence of a cartoonist’s work helps attract an audience that can make the periodical successful in the marketplace. For more than four decades, editorial cartoons by Tony Auth have served both aims for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He doesn’t feel his cartoons should just be amusing. Instead, he says he has sought to make images, “To stir, inform and inflame,” readers of the newspaper. By doing so, his cartoons have fulfilled a mission begun journalistically and locally in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin, before the United States of America came into existence. In the process of implementing this goal, Auth, a winner of many distinguished awards for his work, has consistently been one of the most brilliant and widely admired critical gadflies of the Delaware Valley region. Jules Feiffer, the well-known humorist has said of Auth, “His perspective is that of a bemused and often angry comic historian. Irony, never a favorite form with Americans, is his meat and potatoes. He is not smug, and though he can be mean, he is never meanspirited. Auth is a moralist and an optimist. His drawings make a difference in how we view the world. Often, his cartoons tell us more than many columns of newsprint do, in a way that people recall long after other viewpoints have faded.” Another well respected journalist of this area, Chris Satullo, formerly with the Inquirer and currently, the Executive Director of News and Civic Dialog at WHYY radio, when referring to Auth, has observed, “From Watergate to Whitewater, he’s been unsparing on presidents who violated the public trust. From citizens band radio to Survivor, his drawings have commented with dry wit on the fads and fancies of American culture.” A retrospective exhibition of Auth’s creative oeuvre is on view in the James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine St., next to the Bucks County Public Library, in Doylestown, PA. Besides editorial cartoons, the show also offers diversified examples of his accomplishments as a serious painter and a selection of his award-winning children’s book illustrations. Graphically, Auth’s cartoons consist of

line and tones of gray and black. Each panel is designed to express ideas and feelings in a consistently recognizable style, typically about war, peace, taxes and partisan politics. Generally, the shapes he invents reflect various prevailing ideas and institutions. For example, he employs a round, dumpy looking, somewhat elephantine tea pot to symbolize the “tea party wing” of today’s Republican political organization. The image conveys a spirit of weight and volume while it also suggests a touch of humor. Other examples of specific issues Auth has dealt with include the embarrassing and legal football problems at Penn State, the protracted hostilities in Afghanistan, the contrast of necessary legislative goals between President Obama and his opponents in the federal congress and the war between Wall St. and Main St. In all of these areas, Auth has brought a decidedly original approach to his personal brand of drawing. Though it is aimed to reach a mass audience, his distinctively modern style manifests a measure of spontaneity and even intimacy in the communication that takes place between himself and those who follow him on the printed page. At its best, a truly effective editorial cartoon becomes glued to a viewer’s memory. If it can be easily and quickly forgotten, it’s not likely to be much of a significant achievement. Sadly, too many of the offerings one sees from day to day, reflect the willingness of cartoonists to be easily satisfied with a first draft. They fail to really slave over an idea because they are willing to call it quits far too soon. What they should do instead is try to make their panel for a given date as compact, caustic and incisive as their wits and hand can bring to ultimate realization. As his many sharply pointed graphics demonstrate, Auth’s capacity for exercising keen judgment in the language of vision has not been readily equaled by many other practitioners in the field. To see his work from dozens of years of effort is to have the use of a very special lens for observing touchingly individual insights into much of the foolishness that the human condition regularly imposes on a wide spectrum of American society. The closing date of the exhibition is September 23, 2012. ■

TONY AUTH

“In View of Inflation, Unemployment, Interest Rates…”, 1982. Pen and ink on duotone paper, 14 x 11. Collection of the artist

Dr. Burton Wasserman is a professor emeritus of Art at Rowan University, and a serious artist of long standing. Dr. Wasserman’s program Art From Near and Far can be heard on WWFM in Central and Northern New Jersey and Bucks County and WGLS in South Jersey. 10

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

exhibitions

Bayside Dock (detail).

Hot Fun in the Summertime SFA Gallery 10 Bridge Street, Suite 7, Frenchtown, NJ 08825 908-268-1700 sfagallery.com | johnspaintings.com Through June 30 TransFICTION Paintings by Rosemary Castiglioni Twenty-Two Gallery 236 So. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA 215-772-1911 twenty-twogallery.com Wed-Sun 12-6 & by appointment June 8 - July 8, 2012 Opening Reception Friday, 6/8, 6 – 9 “These paintings are a result of a tension to surpass a mere visual notation. What I find fascinating is not only the form and the color of objects but also the quieter nuances of their elemental aspects. Their story is revealed in this way. Appearances that evoke a need to preserve a moment become a kind of transitional reality, ie., the real and the not real.” — Rosemary Castiglioni

Frenchtown’s newest gallery opens the summer season with oil paintings set in Upper Bucks County, Hunterdon County, and Mid-Coast Maine. Swimmers in lakes and pools, sailing and swimming floats, Victorian cottages, and river towns are subjects for John Schmidtberger, who paints en plein air style. Schmidtberger’s precise yet expressive brushwork has a distinct rhythmic quality. The resulting canvases are vivid, poetic, and radiate energy. He is interested in the tactile aspect of painting as well as keen observation and composing. Key influences include postwar painters like Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper, Alice Neel, and Marsden Hartley. Schmidtberger studied with painter Neil Welliver, sculptor Robert Engman, and printmaker Hitoshi Nakazato, earning an MFA from UPenn. His work has been exhibited at the James A. Michener Museum, The Prince Street Gallery in NY, Elan Fine Arts and Camden Falls Gallery (Maine), Trimbur-Henry Gallery and The Quiet Life Gallery in Lambertville, NJ.

Becca on the Diving Board, oil on panel, 22” x 24”

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

25th Annual Pottery Festival Stahl’s Preservation Society 6826 Corning Road, Zionsville, PA (610) 965-5019 stahlspottery.com June 16, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Admission: $3; children under 18 free The Summer Pottery Festival includes tours of the potting sheds and kiln, thirty-two potters displaying and selling traditional and contemporary pottery, pottery demonstrations, hands-on potting opportunities, and an exhibit of historic Stahl’s pottery. Baked goods and a light lunch will also be available. The site is a significant example of a rural arts and crafts revival pottery and features the round, beehive, wood-fired kiln, that was built in 1933 and survives to the present day. Take a tour of the Thomas and Alice Stahl House Museum and enjoy the exhibit of historic Stahl’s pottery and artifacts. As a further celebration of the 25th anniversary, we are planning a festive evening gala on Friday, June 15 from 6-9 pm. Potters participating in the festival will be selling their wares at the gala, allowing a sneak peek and pre-festival purchases. A silent auction and the Rob Stoneback Brass Quartet will make the night complete. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, a chocolate fountain and wine as you browse the 160-foot tent that houses the potters and their wares. Tours through the historic pottery and the Alice and Thomas Stahl House Museum Exhibit will be available as well. $25/pp. Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society was formed in 1987 to acquire and preserve the historic Stahl’s Pottery site, equipment, tools, and redware pieces. All proceeds from the Festival are used for the preservation of the Pottery.

VICTOR STABIN’S UNAUTHORIZED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NPR CAUTIONARY TALES What happens when hybrid creatures living in surreal environments go through their daily routines with the radio on.

THE HORSE’S MOUTH by Marshall Arisman

EOHIPPUS IS THE ANCIENT ancestor to the zebra, although zebras deny that this ugly creature was their great, great grandfather. “His head is too big, his brain is too small, he has soft, small teeth, and his toenails need clipping,” they say. His perpetual toothy smile is the result of hoof and mouth disease that he suffered in childhood. Scientists call him Eohippus, but he answers to the name Smiley. Because of his size and bad temperament he finds endless amusement in making the other animals feel small and weak. He steps on their tails, spits tobacco juice in their eyes and jabs them with his toes. He is a bully and a boor. At school, Smiley was the first young equid to have the idea of sawing through the legs of his teacher’s chair. He sprinkled itching powder into the jockstraps of the football team and stretched Saran Wrap over the toilets in the locker room. In the cafeteria he poured salt into the sugar bowls and hot sauce into the ketchup. The principal of the school, a wise old owl, suggested that joining the Boy Scouts might redirect Smiley’s actions into a more positive direction. In the Scouts he was taught strip poker, shooting craps and how to ignite farts by striking flints together. One night, while left in charge of the Scout cabin, Smiley threw unopened cans of spaghetti into the fireplace and waited for the explosions—which were spectacular—and, incidentally, completely trashed the cabin. Smiley was arrested and sentenced to one year in juvenile prison. While in prison he began receiving love letters from Mary, a dental hygienist who fell in love with his toothy smile on Facebook. Mary was an Epizoon, a beautiful bird with a great body. Not wanting to ruffle her feathers, Smiley graciously accepted the portable radio that arrived in the mail along with dental floss and an electric toothbrush. Every evening, while flossing, he tuned into NPR’s MarketEohippus, n. The oldest known horse-like animal. platz. The show’s host is a clam named Sly Fastball. Epizoon, n. An animal that lives on the surface of another animal, Good news or bad news, whether parasitically or commensally. everybody loves to get it Commensally, adv. Characterized by eating at the same table or from Sly (when you look up living together for mutual benefit. “quodlibetical” in the dictionary you see Sly’s happygo-lucky face). Sly announced that Bernie Madoff had been arrested! Right then and there Smiley decided that he could channel his aggressive, brutish behavior into the stock market…where it would be appreciated. One year later Smiley trotted out of the pen a changed horse. Mary, of course, was waiting. Now inseparable, Smiley runs a hedge fund for the Boy Scouts and Mary has started a distance learning program, via radio, to become an Oral Surgeon. Still the practical joker, Smiley is fond of saying “My lovely bird Mary never gets off my back—she rides me about everything.” ■

THE PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS of Marshall Arisman have been widely exhibited both internationally and nationally, and his work may be seen in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, the New York Historical Society and the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, the Guang Dong Museum of Art, Telfair Museum of Art, as well as many private and corporate collections. His illustrations have appeared on the covers of Time, U.S. News and World Report, The Nation, The Progressive, The New York Times Book Review. His editorial work has appeared in every national publication including Esquire, Rolling Stone, Playboy, The New York Times Op-Ed page, The Village Voice and Business Week. His original graphic essay Heaven Departed, explores the emotional and spiritual impact of nuclear war on society. The essay was published in book form by Vision Publishers (Tokyo, 1988). Among his other books are The Cat Who Invented Bebop (winner of the bronze medal by ForeWard magazine Book of the Year Award) published by Creative Editions. He has co-authored four books with Steven Heller: The Education of an Illustrator, Inside the Business of Illustration, Teaching Illustration and Marketing Illustration (all published by Allworth Press). Arisman was the first American invited to exhibit in mainland China in 1999. The exhibition Sacred Monkeys, appeared at the Guang Dong Museum of Art. He is the subject of a full-length documentary film directed by Tony Silver titled Facing the Audience, The Arts of Marshall Arisman. The film received the Creative Achievement Award from the 2002 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Arisman joined the faculty at the School of Visual Arts in 1965. In 1968 he was appointed chair of the Journalistic art department and in 1970 became co-chair, with Richard Wilde, of the newly formed Media department. In 1984 Arisman created a Master of Fine Arts degree program under the title Illustration as Visual Journalism. Two years later the name was changed Illustration as Visual Essay. He is currently the chair and faculty member of the department.. He has received two honorary Doctorate degrees from Maryland Institute College of Art and Cincinnati Academy of Art. Among his other awards are Distinguished Educator awards from the School Art League of New York, Society of Illustrators, National Association of School of Art and Design and American Artist. www.marshallrisman.com. marisman@sva.edu

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

cinematters

PETE CROATTO

The Intouchables

ARVEY AND BOB WEINSTEIN reenergized independent film in the late 1980s and 1990s at their old haunt, Miramax, bringing edgy, entertaining goodies like sex, lies, and videotape [sic] and Pulp Fiction to the masses. If the Miramax logo appeared before a movie, you were in for something funky. Then, in 1998, Miramax released the terrific costume comedy-drama Shakespeare in Love. It made a ton of money, won seven Oscars, and completely changed the movie moguls’ game plan. There are some exceptions, but what the brothers now distribute at the Weinstein Company could be described as prestigious schmaltz. It’s geared toward Oscar votes and family outings. Sometimes the approach works (The King’s Speech). Sometimes it doesn’t (My Week with Marilyn, Bully). When the TWC logo appears, I usually know what to expect. It’s like eating at a chain restaurant. Remember, McDonald’s is overseas, too. TWC has imported the viva life comedy-drama The Intouchables, a commercial and critical smash in France, stateside. It’s life affirming and endearing in such a predictable, unoriginal way that those qualities are practically manufactured. I can’t decide if writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano are lazy or savvy. Senegal native Driss (Omar Sy) returns to the rough side of Paris after six months in prison. To stay on the good side of bureaucracy, he goes on job interviews. One takes him to the nice side of town, where wealthy, white quadriplegic Philippe (Francois Cluzet) needs a new caretaker. Fed up waiting with a hoard of well-dressed, somber-faced applicants, Driss barges into the interview room. When asked for references, Driss responds with Kool and the Gang and Earth Wind & Fire. He sexually harasses Philippe’s comely assistant (Audrey Fleurot) and shows no regard for his potential employer’s condition. “Don’t get up,” Driss says as he leaves the office, assured that his government papers will be signed the next morning. Driss returns to find he’s gotten the job. The young 14

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

man is skeptical—Philippe is tough to please, the work is challenging—but he needs housing, and the accommodations are palatial. And that sexy assistant is around. Driss is a terrible caretaker, but he responds to Philippe with emotions beyond pity or reverence, barriers others erect because of Philippe’s financial and physical conditions. Driss comments that a piece of pricey modern art looks like a nosebleed; he denies Philippe’s request for sweets by saying, “No handy, no candy.” He can tell Philippe that his spoiled daughter treats the staff poorly and that six months of poetry to his longtime, flirtatious pen pal is enough. When Driss looks out for Philippe’s best interests, it’s not just a line in a cover letter. Inspired by a true story, The Intouchables flourishes when Driss brings his real world bluntness to Philippe’s well-funded, isolated world. There’s a beautiful scene where Driss takes Philippe out after-hours. The two swap stories in a café, and you see the men letting their guards down, testing the waters of a friendship. Nakache and Toledano prefer to explore more placid bodies of water. As the movie progresses, Sy devours more screen time. Driss is clearly the actor’s star-making turn, and with a good reason: Even with a language barrier, Sy is a rapid-fire charmer. But the mugging obscures how Philippe affects Driss, portraying the friendship as working in one direction. Good friendships don’t work that way. With that issue unresolved, the movie happily becomes another fish out of water tale, like Trading Places or The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: a rich man’s life gets turned upside

down by streetwise smart aleck who cuts through all the pomp and circumstance. This classical music is from a coffee commercial! German opera is so lame! Now let’s put on “Boogie Wonderland” and get this party moving. These scenes are funny when Eddie Murphy is infiltrating Philadelphia’s upper crust, but in The Intouchables they are out of place, even insulting. The filmmakers don’t know how to deal with Driss or Philippe beyond labels. Driss’s family problems are handled with the urgency of a Caribbean honeymoon. Philippe doesn’t do much but complain: about his dead wife, his boring family, Driss’s unfortunate replacement. He has that miserable teenage daughter he barely acknowledges. Nakache and Toledano flood the screen with activities—paragliding, a sing-a-long to September, a trim that turns Philippe’s beard into a Hitler moustache—that we almost believe the film portrays an unusual, lovely friendship. It’s not about these men, but using them to provide the illusion of substance. The Intouchables is really a soft-focus infomercial about living life to the fullest. No wonder the Weinstein brothers got their hands on it. [R] ■

A senior critic at Filmcritic.com from 2002 to 2007, Pete Croatto also reviews movies for The Weekender. His essays, reviews, and feature writing have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Publishers Weekly, TCNJ Magazine, Deadspin, and The Star-Ledger. You can read more on his blog, whatpeteswatching.blogspot.com.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

keresman on film

THE ONLY CULT OF which I’d ever want to be a member is the Blue Oyster Cult, but that’s just me. Others, however, look for things to which they feel they “belong” and can alleviate or even eliminate life’s many burdens and complexities, asiden of coursen from the assorted major “accepted” religions. (But then, one person’s religion—or cause—is another’s cult, but we shan’t go there much.) Some cults are looked upon as scams preying on the gullible and/or needy, some as well-intentioned but basically harmless (if someone wants to subsist on clam juice and apple sauce to be closer to God, more power to ‘em), still others with dread—after the mass suicides (with help) of the Hale–Bopp people and the Jonestown crowd, why wouldn’t they be? It’s the latter type of cult that concerns two aspiring documentary filmmakers, Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius). They’ve passed themselves off as prospective members of an unnamed organization, led by Maggie (Brit Marling, Another Earth), a 20-something-looking lass that claims to be from the future (2054). Maggie says there are nasty times ahead and she wants to prepare select folks to deal with it…or something. Her ambitions are (purposely?) vague—she wants to “help” a (small?) number of people to achieve their hidden “potential” and be “ready”— the quotation marks are to indicate that the General We have heard this rot before, from purveyors of EST, Scientology, and assorted other organized you/we/us be-all-you-can-be hooey. But this movie is a mystery for the viewer as well as our infiltrating filmmakers—nothing is spelled out, which is both good and not-so-good.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

MARK KERESMAN

Via flashback, we are shown the couple’s motivation for their video exposé—Peter’s mother died of cancer that might’ve been treatable had she not been a believer in nontraditional (here called “New Age”) medicine; Lorna was a child of privilege with a past of substance abuse, the treatment of which was seen (by her) as “replacing one addiction with another.” So they’ve both reasons for exposing a (possibly dangerous) cult. Both are taken through a high-security gauntlet (clothing, phones, etc. are taken and they are given hospital-like gowns to wear) to a very plain basement where they (and maybe four or five other recruits) are led to meet…Maggie. She’s swathed in white clothing, breathes with the aid of an oxygen tank, and speaks in vaguely wisesounding aphorisms, such as: “Every life is death, and most deaths are suicides. Some are just more gradual than others.” (Deep.) She’s one part kindly Earth Mother, one part gentle hippie Seeker that’s found THE WAY, one part get-in-touchwith-your-inner-bossypants/brat therapist, and one part sternnun disciplinarian. Maggie is (almost) the right combination of Timothy Leary (with apples and worms instead of LSD) and a very young Kim Basinger with a soupçon of Ann Coulter. In other words, “insightful” bullshit served up with a benevolent, comely feminine visage and a touch of becauseI-say-so/listen-to-me-or-you’re-screwed urgency. She claims to be from the future, with no idea how she woke up in our present—we viewers are shown flashbacks, but as we’ve learned from The Usual Suspects, you can’t always trust your narrator. Is she a fraud, or insane, or [gasp] for real? She’s also the conventionally best-looking woman in the cast…did

I mention Marling also co-wrote the script and co-produced? [slight spoilers ahead] We never learn…or do we? Is Peter falling under Maggie’s influence or is he just acting “in character”? We are shown a couple of other characters that seem to have potential to impact our story in a big way, but don’t, really. One cult member takes Lorna to a make-shift shooting range— which would lead our heroes and We duh Audience that all is not peaceable in Maggie’s kingdom…then it’s dropped, not mentioned again. Peter says and does stuff that is, intrinsically, stupid…really stupid. So does Lorna—she’s approached by an agent of the Justice Department…but does she ask to see any ID? Noooo. Creepy atmosphere is one thing (which there is in abundance) and ambiguity (which I don’t mind— some of the best Twilight Zone episodes don’t spell out everything) is another, but much of this movie feels like the result of bad editing or the scriptwriters wrote themselves into a corner. Sound of My Voice ends up recalling some of the more confounding episodes of Tales From the Darkside and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and where, after the conclusion you sit/lie there and say to yourself or your companion(s), “That’s IT?!? That’s the ending?” We’re shown more red herrings than a Friday fish market and (apart from Marling) some rather flat acting. Sound of My Voice is a decent set-up with no real payoff. ■ In addition to ICON, Mark Keresman is a contributing writer for SF Weekly, East Bay Express, Pittsburgh City Paper, Paste, Jazz Review, downBeat, and the Manhattan Resident.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

bad movie

Ryan Michelle Bathe, Sherri Shepherd and Katherine Heigl. Photo: Ron Batzdorff.

MARK KERESMAN

FIRST OFF, I’VE NOT read any of the Stephanie Plum books written by Janet Evanovich so I can’t and won’t compare how the movie compares with the novellas. Former “it girl” Katherine Heigl portrays a working class New Jersey lass that becomes a bounty hunter because it pays better than non-employment. So we have a combination underdog and fish-out-of-water story for Ms. Heigl to sink her thespian teeth into. As much as I would like to, this is not going to be a cheery hatchet-job on the formerly-popular Kath H, as she’s not the worst thing about One for the Money. Heigl’s Plum, who lives with her adorably wacky, stereotypically “ethnic” family in the Jersey ‘burbs (excuse me, “‘boibs”) is on the trail of rogue cop Morelli (Jason O’Mara, who looks Italian like Karl Rove looks Italian) with whom she shared some ruptured romantic history. So, if you’re seeking adorable bickering between frenemies/ex-lovers, you came to the right place…it’s Moonstruck meets Moonlighting! Old-school H’wood icon Debbie Reynolds plays Stephanie’s grandmother that accidentally blows away the turkey on the dinner table with Plum’s gun—nothing like a domestic firearm incident to set a humorous tone, huh? Not to be politically correct, but when Larry Fine, Jerry Lewis, and Lucille Ball did this kind of stunt 50-some years ago, it was funny. Nowadays, not so much…jeez, she could’ve put

ICON

JUNE 2012

somebody’s eye out. Anyway, plenty of adventures and misadventures ensue: Gun-range practice, awkward violence, sleazy characters right out of central casting, French fries with ketchup, comedy that well might pass muster on the

One fo r the Mo ney A thin line separates Katherine Heigl from her career… old or new Charlie’s Angels series. Sample funny dialog follows… Stephanie’s voice-over description of her bounty hunter mentor “Ranger” (what, no “Rocko” or “Frenchie”?): “He’s like the statue of David by Michelangelo, if you dipped him in caramel and strapped some heat.” [“heat” = a slang term for “gun”]

“Luckily, Mooch’s car wasn’t too hard to follow—it was pretty flashy…and yellow.” [Obviously a nod to the hardboiled literature of Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, and/or Dashiell Hammett.] Morelli to Stephanie: “We’re ancient history. Like the pyramids, baby!” (He frequently calls her “cupcake” too. I’ve seen some hardboiled types in fiction in my time, but he’s the toughest, most scornful mo-fo I’ve seen since The Man Called Flintstone [1966].) The main problem with One for the Money is the script. Heigl is actually not bad as the heroine—she’s got that plucky tenacity that movie heroines are supposed to have. (All that was missing was some guy saying, “Ya know, kid, you got spunk!”) However, her “tuff Joisey gurl” accent comes and goes so frequently it becomes a source of unintentional humor. The dialogue feels like it was written by someone whose experiences with tough people and nasty situations was earned by watching Hawaii Five-0 and Baretta reruns. Strangely enough, if this movie had a better script and Heigl didn’t sink her appeal by being such an entitled bitch in interviews, One for the Money might have been the birth of a film franchise instead of its death. As it is, it’s just another nail in the figurative coffin of her film career. n

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

reel news Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) ★★★★ Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris Genre: Action Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material. Running time 129 minutes. Forget the ballrooms and butlers in this Victorian costume drama. Instead, expect more of the bombastic fight, chase, and mass destruction scenes crafted so imaginatively in the first episode. Miffed that Dr. Watson (Law) is getting married, Holmes (Downey, Jr.) joins the blissful couple on their honeymoon to Switzerland. Along the way they encounter the evil

REVIEWS OF RECENTLY RELEASED DVDS BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

The Artist (2011) ★★★★★ Cast: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman Genre: Silent, Romance Director: Michel Hazanavicius Rated PG-13 Running time 100 minutes. Awards: 5 Oscars, Best Picture, Actor, Director, Original Score, Costumes; 3 Golden Globes, Best Comedy or Musical, Actor, Original Score; Screen Actors Guild, Best Actor; Cannes, Best Actor. If you missed The Artist in the theaters, rent it now. If you saw it, enjoy it again. Even though it’s silent (except for the soundtrack) and black-and-white, this 1927 romance im-

Jean Dujardin as George Valentin and Berenice Bejo.

Robert Downey, Jr., Noomi Rapace and Jude Law.

mastermind Professor Moriarty (Harris). First they must survive the encounter, then neutralize his nefarious scheme to plunge Europe into all-out war fueled by his munitions factories. In a dramatic switch in character, Noomi Rapace, the gothic anti-hero of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, plays a gypsy fortune teller. The save-civilization-as-we-know-it plot has all the thrills and intrigue of James Bond, or Captain Kirk, at their best.

Into the Abyss (2011) ★★★★ Genre: Documentary Directed by Werner Herzog Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material and some disturbing images. Running time 106 minutes. Werner Herzog famously explores the theme of humans against nature. In this investigation of two murderers, he focuses on humans against humanity. In 2001, two men in the small east Texas town of Conroe kill three people while jacking a car. The jury gave Jason Burkett 40 to life and Michael Perry the death penalty. Herzog interview both inmates, the victims’ families, police investigators, and prison officials, including the chaplain and the executioner who eight days later strapped Perry to the death gurney. Herzog openly admits he’s opposed to capital punishment, but this isn’t overtly an issue expose. Instead, Herzog explores the raging tsunami triggered by the tragic event and the abyss it plunges everyone it touches into.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

mortalizes every quality the human heart wants in a Hollywood feel-good movie. With talkies revolutionizing the movies, silent screen idol George Valentin (Dujardin) is following the buggy whip into oblivion. While his career and marriage, not to mention his swashbuckling ego, crash and burn, a young dancer, Peppy Miller (Bejo), whom he helped get started, rockets to stardom. True to fairy-tail expectations, love finds a way. Dujardin captures the heart and soul of the silent era with nuanced acting that telegraphs his every feeling, something that non-stop chase scenes and computer-generated special effects invariably miss.

Hell and Back Again (2012) ★★★★ Cast: Nathan Harris Genre: Documentary Director: Danfung Dennis Awards: Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize; Nominated Oscar Best Documentary. Debuted on PBS “Independent Lens” Memorial Day, 2012. In 2009, photojournalist Danfung Dennis joined a company of Marines from the Eighth Regiment deployed in the escalated offensive to push the Taliban from southern Afghanistan. During a village-to-village sweep, a sniper bullet fractures the hip and leg of Sergeant Nathan Harris. He survives and is shipped back to his home and wife in North Carolina. Dennis follows him, gains his family’s trust, and continues filming the new battles Harris must wage to survive. The story poignantly toggles between the realities of the two equally brutal battlefields and the hardships Harris and his family face as he tries to cope day to day and eventually to reinvent himself. ■ George Miller is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and believes that travel is a product of the heart, not the itinerary. See his webmagazine at www.travelsdujour.com.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

film roundup THE SUMMER MOVIE SEASON is now in full swing, so let’s review two of May’s biggest releases before we get into more familiar territory. What to Expect When You’re Expecting (Dir: Kirk Jones). Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Chace Crawford, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Brooklyn Decker, Matthew Morrison, Rodrigo Santoro, Ben Falcone. Exists thanks to brand recognition. Instead of an action figure or a board game, that omnipresent pregnancy guide becomes a platform for unpleasant, argumentative couples reenacting every half-funny anecdote about being knocked up. Santoro and Lopez’s international adoption is beset by their employment and emotional challenges. Celebrity trainer Diaz and her TV dance partner/boyfriend (Morrison) find their egos interfering. Two young street chefs (Kendrick, Crawford) have their chemistry disrupted by a surprise announcement. And a rough nine months have baby expert Banks and her dentist husband (Falcone) envious of his competitive father (Quaid) and much younger, glamorously pregnant wife (Decker). The male characters are either emasculated or brow beaten; the female characters are either smarty-pants or hormone-imbalanced caricatures. All that, and vomit jokes! That’s not the worst part. By eagerly referencing current trends—YouTube, Twitter, food trucks, tablets—What to Expect... shows that it only cares about connecting with the audience in the shallowest way possible. Forget about creating identifiable characters, funny lines, or any kind of lasting entertainment, how about a Facebook joke? This soulless romantic comedy will be irrelevant soon but terrible forever. [PG-13] ★

PETE CROATTO Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

stems from his desire to outdo brother Thor (Hemsworth). Those little accents contribute to the best pure action blockbuster since 2009’s Star Trek, an agenda-less, fun-filled summer romp that never deflates your brain. [PG-13] ★★★★ And now back to the fare to which you’ve grown accustomed: Hysteria (Dir: Tanya Wexler). Starring: Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones. Practicing medicine is far from a scientific process in 1880s London, a condition that frustrates jobless young doctor Mortimer Granville (Dancy). His fortune improves when he’s hired to assist Dr. Dalrymple (Pryce) whose hands-on treatment of hysteria—more a catch-call for an array of ailments than a disorder—has women coming from all over for a “stimulating” remedy. Mortimer’s great success is threatened by his boss’s feisty, independent-minded daughter (Gyllenhaal) and from severely cramped hands. The latter opens the door for a most pleasurable invention: the electric vibrator.

The Avengers (Dir: Joss Whedon). Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg. There’s a good reason why so many people have already seen this. When the evil Loki (Hiddleston) makes his way to Earth and takes off with the powerful, glowing Tesseract, global war is imminent. The international shadow agency S.H.I.E.L.D.

Rupert Everett as Edmund St. John-Smythe. Photo by Ricardo Vaz.

Based on a true story, Wexler’s cheeky effort benefits from spirited performances (Everett, as Mortimer’s benefactor, is a hoot) and the decision to proceed as a romantic comedy, not as an overheated sex farce: Sex and Ye Old City. Slight, but smart and bouncy. Would have been better if Dancy and Gyllenhaal’s rapport wasn’t so tepid. (For more on the film, please read my profile of Gyllenhaal in this month’s issue.) [R]★★★

Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans. Photo: Zade Rosenthal.

responds by assembling a superhero task force that includes Iron Man (Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Johansson), The Hulk (Ruffalo), and Captain America (Evans). Whedon doesn’t use the story as another post-September 11th commentary or rely solely on flashy special effects, which have reached the so-what? phase. He infuses sly humor into the plot—The Hulk, who’s usually just a rage machine, becomes comic relief—and creates meaty conflicts between the characters. Iron Man’s technological, me-first attitude and Captain America’s classical approach to heroism leads to a clash; Loki’s desire for world domination partially 22

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Where Do We Go Now? (Dir: Nadine Labaki) Starring: Nadine Labaki, Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Julien Farhat, Yvonne Maalouf, Layla Hakim. In a small desert village forgotten by time and visited far too frequently by death, Christians and Muslims co-exist—barely. Just the mention of an inter-faith conflict on the communal television could get tempers flaring. When the village church’s cross is broken by accident, a feud brews, forcing the women to take creative measures in steering their men away from potentially fatal decisions. Labaki’s award-winning effort employs musical numbers, sitcom-like goofiness (baked goods laced with hashish; Russian showgirls as distractions), and chest-pounding pathos. Its off-kilter approach and heartfelt, clear-eyed pleas for tolerance keep us involved, though it’s with mixed results. Too often, the stylistic diversions feel like an attention-grabbing ploy, not part of Labaki’s directorial vision. But you have to be a robot not to appreciate a film with this much heart. Believe it or not, Labaki’s appealing ensemble consists mostly of amateurs. In Arabic and Russian, with English subtitles. [PG-13] ★★★ ■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

interview

A. D. AMOROSI

The Human Equivalent of a Tsunami in Musical Waters

EFORE NICO MUHLY BRINGS his Dark Sisters to The Opera Company of Philadelphia there is a lot to know about the composer/keyboardist to say nothing of his and opera’s connection to this city. The 31-year-old Vermont native is the wunderkind music composer of choral, ballet, orchestral and chamber works with nods to Anglican church music, modern classicists such as Philip Glass (with whom he worked) and pop’s most unique vocalists—Bjork, Antony Hegarty and the members of Grizzly Bear—with whom Muhly has collaborated. After having composed choral works such as The Sweets of Evening (2006) and I Drink the Air Before Me (2009), film scores for The Reader (2008) and the Martin Scorseseproduced Margaret of 2011, percussive pieces Time after Time (2003) and a slew of small ensemble works such as Stride (2005), the truly prolific Muhly’s entry into opera is a small slice of cake. With all that at his furious command, one can’t help but wonder if there is a compositional divide or mindset that occurs when the fast-talking (and certainly faster composing) Muhly writes for shorter, blunter works as opposed to his more epic designs. “I guess, compositionally, it’s all the same process, doing something as appropriate for the situation as you can,” says Muhly. “Writing something for the stage, you know you have to keep your eye on the idea that what you’re writing is theater—has dramatic movement— and has to carry the weight of story ideas and characters at all times. At least that’s the governing principle of writing something operatic as opposed to pure music where you just sit and listen.”

> 24

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

24 / INTERVIEW / NICO MUHLY

Listening is something that Nico, an only child, did while he was at home as a youngster in Vermont with his father, a documentary filmmaker and his mother, a painter. Certainly, there was subtly cinematic breadth and graphed-out picturesque designs in his mind. Muhly is sure of that real sense of the value in making art while growing up around people always concerned with tempo and pace (more than specific albums, Muhly remembers growing up in his parent’s music room, a dark space lined with vinyls of Purcell and Miles Davis, two notable favorites). Most definitively, though, Muhly points toward the inspiration of Philip Glass, not just as a composer whose glacial, emotional, maximal minimalism has influenced his richest work, but as a businessman and strong business model. “One of the things I gathered from Phil was how to be a collaborator and how and when to throw things out,” says Muhly with a laugh. “To be willing to discard things that aren’t working. As composers, we’re taught that all of our ideas are good and that you develop each and every thing. In a collaborative context you have to learn and learn quickly if and when you find something that isn’t working toward suit-

lines anymore. We’ve adopted more of a ‘do it yourself ’ approach. Plus, people have a much better attitude about crossing genres and modern music than they used to.” One thing that Muhly eschews is the rampant conceptualism of his contemporaries where their inspiration (as noted in interview and program dissertations) winds up more interesting than the music itself. It’s grant-speak. “My motto for how a composer should work and be is ‘It’s music that I like the best, the music that I have the most emotional connection to.’ This music tends to come from church and state employees in between 1495 and 1750. I think this notion of inspiration is a romantic invention. Bach didn’t have inspiration. He was on the clock. What you had then was craft—craft and situation. That’s really all there was to it. The choir was coming to practice in twenty minutes, [so] you had to finish the motet. There wasn’t an option. Inspiration is a 19th century invention.” Nico Muhly’s two full operas in one year—the murder mystery police drama of Two Boys with a libretto by Craig Lucas and the tale of polygamy that is Dark Sisters penned by librettist Stephen Karam—certainly points to such commissioning work ethics. “People asked me to do it. That’s how opera works. It’s scary. You have to be asked to do it because there has to be structure—too frightening and costly to do

for two hours.” Muhly’s interest in polygamist states of being stems from the fact that he was born in the same town as Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. When Colorado City was besieged with tales of polygamist community cover-ups, Muhly was inspired to take on a tale of a fundamentalist Mormon sect, with five mothers struggling to follow the precepts of their husband, the Prophet. “When I I spoke to Gotham’s Neal Goren he said that with the chamber opera the best thing that I could do is keep the orchestra small and the stage filled with young women as they were the predominant young members of his ensemble,” he says. “A bunch of young women on one stage with one man sounds like a polygamist family. Most polygamist communities that you find have to have more women than men or else it doesn’t work. Every man has to have at least three wives or else you have a problem. That’s why they invent excuses for boys to be kicked out of the community, either for sedition or heresy. They have to maintain that balance. There are whole generations of lost boys that are left out of their towns.” What makes Dark Sisters roar is the engine of a patriarchal society truly ruled by women, the first wife in particular. The first wife has command while the men worry about hov-

The world of ballet is kind of unknowable for me; even though I’ve written four or five of the things, I still never quite know how to navigate the intense etiquette in that community. For instance, on first night, everybody’s meant to take a bow — lighting designers, costumers, composers, everybody. So you end up with all these gorgeous bodies onstage and then a bunch of us lumps, trying to figure out how not to fall into the orchestra pit. — Nico Muhly ing the project’s goal. You have to just lose it, lose what doesn’t work. I not only saw Phil do this [laughs], I saw him do this with great pleasure, with no anxiety or ego entering into it—his own things included.” Muhly learned, too, a little bit of practically applied business and artistic modeling from Glass, as the legendary composer employs his own people and pays musicians who play for him directly, unlike those who wait for grants and commissions to come through. “Phil makes himself a part of a community who makes music and gets paid for it as opposed to composers who wait for money to come through their benefactors,” he says. Muhly isn’t completely ready for such autonomy…yet (“Phil’s built up that model over 40 years of time”), but is trying to work up a modified version of the Glass plan by having a small bunch of people he collaborates with regularly. “There’s a sense about us that I owe them music and they owe me performances of the same,”he says. “So there’s an ecosystem at work.” That ecosystem is constantly churning out material, from solo albums to compositional displays in various contexts, in a classical genre that values the less-is-more ideal. There have always been rules among the classicists about such output. Simply put, Muhly loves to be busy and the Internet offers a million opportunities for him to have “fun” within. “Besides, long before I was born there was–still is—a palpable anxiety about those inside the academy as opposed to those outside of it. Yet my generation has grown up not caring about those

ICON

JUNE 2012

Kevin Burdette sings the role of The Prophet, husband to five wives sung by (L-R) Eve Gigliotti, Margaret Lattimore, Jennifer Zetlan, Jennifer Check, and Caitlin Lynch, in the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s upcoming production of Dark Sisters, a new opera with music by Nico Muhly and text by Stephen Karam. New York World Premiere, November 2011. Photo credit: Richard Termine.

without a home. ‘I’m going to write an opera and see who wants it.’ No!” Muhly jokes about how Rufus Wainwright’s opera, Prima Donna, which had a bit of a floating home and how frightening that must have been to the pop singer. “That said, the last nine minutes of that show is one of the most beautiful sounds ever.” Muhlly’s two commissions—Two Boys from the Met and Dark Sisters from the Gotham Chamber Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia—came at the same time and with built-in structures, but not immediately with directors or authors. Karam, in particular, came quickly as Muhly had read his work, seen his plays and the author lived mere blocks from Muhly without either realizing they were neighbors. “He lives ten minutes away. We met and talked about polygamy

ering over the whole of the domestic situation and negotiating their households. “Now that’s drama,” laughs Muhly. “Luckily, I’m pretty confident that I can write music that sits well with the voice and that I can write more than a pretty melody. I can move a story forward. I have to. And I have to be able to step away—because my weird concern is that Dark Sisters has to be born with these women. It has to be about them and not me. It has to be their story.” n If A.D. Amorosi can’t be found writing features for ICON, the Philadelphia Inquirer, doing Icepacks and Icecubes (amongst other stories) for Philadelphia City Paper or appearing on NBC-TV’s The 10! Show, he’s probably hitting restaurants like Stephen Starr’s or running his greyhound.

JUNE 2012

ICON

interview

CARICATURELAND is Not a Stop on Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Journey

PETE CROATTO

Y INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE Gyllenhaal starts in New Haven, Connecticut. It’s not part of the great actress’ biography…yet. When I visited this cultured college town in mid-April, Parker Posey was performing in a play. The promotional poster for The Realistic Joneses at the Yale Repertory Theatre made no reference to Posey’s mid-1990s reign as an art house darling, a critic’s choice, a Film Comment subscriber’s sex symbol. Gyllenhaal, 34, has resided in these categories since she blew the doors down in 2002’s Secretary, a dark comedy where Gyllenhaal’s meek former mental patient blossoms under the sadomasochistic hand of her boss (James Spader). It was a jaw-dropping performance, and she soon proved her mettle in a wide variety of roles: a cosmopolitan coed in Mona Lisa Smile (stealing the movie from established names like Julia Roberts and Kirsten Dunst), a scheming chanteuse in Don Roos’s Happy Endings, and Will Ferrell’s reluctant, tattooed paramour in the overlooked Stranger Than Fiction. She brought electricity to each performance, never coasting on her willowy good looks or batting her eyes toward magazine covers. Gyllenhaal just acted her ass off. And it got her places. Her casting as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, replacing Katie Holmes, was proof that “Think about the actresses who you think are Hollywood sometimes gets things right. good,” she says. “So many of them play strong, Since co-starring in that 2008 box office behesexual, interesting characters and all of us are moth, Gyllenhaal’s roles, while solid, haven’t been like, ‘I’ll do that one!’” as full-bodied, as explosive. She received an Academy Award nomination for safely escorting Jeff Bridges to his own Oscar in Crazy Heart, essentially an update of Tender Mercies. She starred in the sequel to Nanny McPhee, a fact I still can’t wrap my head around. Yes, she was a delight as a crunchy space cadet mom in Away We Go, Sam Mendes’s hipster road comedy. But Maya Rudolph was the one tagging along with John Krasinski. Should I be concerned? I don’t want one of my favorite actresses to battle Posey for work on the New England theater scene. yllenhaal’s newest movie, Hysteria (opening June 1st in Philadelphia), centers on the 1880s invention of the electric vibrator. Gyllenhaal is appealing as Hugh Dancy’s forward-thinking love interest in this cheeky, fun romantic comedy, but the role would be considered a challenge for Meg Ryan circa 1993. Not someone whom film historian Leonard Maltin called “one of her generation’s finest actresses.” Tanya Wexler, Hysteria’s director, describes Gyllenhaal as an actress women love, the anti-Jennifer Love Hewitt. “For me, every time I see Maggie on screen, I just go, ‘I get her, I connect with her,’” she says. “I feel like she’s a much prettier version of me…Maggie has this way with grace and style and brilliance and beauty that she can also embody that feeling of passion.” She was Wexler’s dream choice for Charlotte, whom she envisioned as a young Katharine Hepburn. “I think that’s what Maggie is and what Maggie does,” Wexler adds. “She’s so strong as an actress,” says Dancy, who was surprised that Gyllenhaal (unnecessarily) maintained an impeccable English accent off camera. Gyllenhaal was turned on—no pun intended—to Hysteria through Crazy Heart producer Judy Cairo.

> 28

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

interview

GEOFF GEHMAN

Victor’s Victory SKYLER STABIN SPENT APPROXIMATELY one week in her third year putting “acorn” before “Daddy,” “TV” and other words where nuts don’t usually fall. Her skill at growing trees of modifiers greatly amused her father Victor, a hyper-imaginative artist and dictionary lover who squirrels away scores of words almost too fantastic to exist. He decided to animate Skyler’s ABCs by creating an alliterative ABC book starting, naturally enough, with “A is for Anti-Gravity Acorn.” What began as an entertaining exercise for Skyler and her younger sister, Arielle, is now an alphabetarium and an industry. Stabin’s recently published Daedal Doodle: A Word Book for Word Lovers Who Like to Look at Pictures (58 pp., $24.99, www.victorstabin.com) features 26 letters that manage to be animal, mineral, vegetable and architectural fable. Each character comes with a surreal illustration that doubles as a visual narrative. “Apperceptive Achatina,” for example, is accompanied by a drawing of a giant African snail staring into a mirror, conscious of its consciousness. ICON readers have sampled some of these letters in Stabin’s “Alliteration of the Month” series. They’ve sampled some of these narratives in “NPR Unauthorized Cautionary Tales,” a serial of crazy yarns about Stabin’s crazy creatures written by his equally hyper-imaginative friends. For the next three months and change everyone can sample Stabin’s cosmic brain in an exhibit of his sketches, drawings and word lists for Daedal Doodle at the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley. Raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn and Jamaica Estates, Queens, Stabin, 58, works in a 150-year-old former wire-factory building in Jim Thorpe that he and his wife, writer Joan Morykin, restored into an arts complex and a restaurant called Flow, where farm to table specialties are served in a dining room with a view of a stream. During a recent three-hour interview in his warehouse-like studio he revealed the many selves that he siphoned into Daedal Doodle, the many personalities braided as tightly as steel cables made on the premises for the Brooklyn Bridge. The graphic illustrator who created a super-powered comic-strip cover for KISS’s 1980 Unmasked album. The educator who this fall will lecture on his illuminated alliterative ABC book at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The nimble word omnivore, or lissome logophile, who eats dictionaries for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack. The cancer survivor who tries to treat every day as his kids’ birthdays, remembering he was once diagnosed as sterile. The emotional ecologist who paints his children guided by, and guiding, endangered turtles. The inventive philosopher who internalized what his late inventor-philosopher father said when his son asked him about his 38th-birthday present: “Vic, every day I’m alive it’s your birthday.” He was right; he died five months later.

“I owe my fascination with the dictionary and my love of words in general to an experience with an ex-girlfriend I like to call The Mean Girl. I was 26 and we were riding the subway. I asked her for the definition of as many as three words on a particular page I was reading. She made a charmless holier-than-thou comment about my lack of vocabulary, delivered in a dismissive way. She had unique psychic skills; half the impact of the comment was communicated with a roll of her eyes. Man, she really ripped me a new one. I was deracinated.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Now, I never thought I was stupid when it came to vocabulary. I just thought I was a dyslexic who focused on his art. I took this dictionary that my father had bought, put it on a shelf in my studio, and habitually referred to it. I still have it; it’s over there. [Walks to a lectern and opens Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged, Second Edition]. It was published in 1958—the year you [aka the interviewer, i.e., me] were born. I retreated into the dictionary for safety and empowerment. When working (like most artists I know ), I listen to various national and local talk stations on the radio— WNYC, NPR and WBAI. Every time I heard a word on the radio I didn’t quite know I looked it up and wrote it down in my vocabulary book (one of those black and white school notebooks). Or I looked up and learned a word I didn’t know while I was reading. My goal was 300 common words people use but don’t know really what they mean. I realized that working 300 words seamlessly into your conversation, you can seem like the smartest person in the room. At about the same time I started reading the dictionary I remember reading in a book of American idioms that the average person uses about a 240-word vocabulary—a shockingly low number. The problem I had with using my newly found vocabulary power was wondering when I was being understood, because most people don’t want to ask the definition of an unfamiliar word. I was once at a party having a conversation with someone and asked him what a particular

30 / INTERVIEW / VICTOR STABIN

word meant. With faux politeness he asked if English was my second language. I would pay to remember the word I asked—the guy was an asshole. You know, certain things are thrown at you and they become assets. Some people think they’re counter-intuitive, but to you they’re noble. So I have to thank The Mean Girl, even though she was one of the meanest people I’ve ever had the misfortune, and fortune, to have known. To this day it seems I thrive on criticism.

Gravity Acorn,’ for example, I heard some music playing in my head; I heard Lord Buckley. Sometimes I choose three words. Sometimes there are five words because they’re so good you have to go with the flow. People kept telling me: You know, these characters are so intriguing, you should make stories for them. And that’s how the ‘NPR Unauthorized Cautionary Tales’ series began. Drawing on my personal habits, the creatures in the stories go through their day, somehow interacting with the info

coming out of the radio. I wrote the first three stories and showed them to Trina, the ICON Czarina. Andy Lanset from WNYC wrote a story and Marshall Arisman wrote this month’s piece. My goal is to write at least 18 of the 26 tales. The story in the June issue, written by Arisman, revolves around Eohippus’s Epizoon. It involves exploding cans of spaghetti and Bernie Madoff. The protagonist weaves a path of mayhem wherever he goes and becomes a stockbroker, so it has a happy ending.

The story in the June issue [for instance] involves exploding cans of

spaghetti and Bernie Madoff. The protagonist weaves a path of mayhem wherever he goes and becomes a stockbroker, so it has a happy ending.

get my words from pretty much anywhere and everywhere—not just the dictionary. Some just come out of the ether. Take ‘acorn.’ I think Skyler was obsessed with the word ‘acorn’ because she was obsessed with acorns for a week or so. At the time that’s what she saw when she looked down on the ground—I mean, when you’re three you’re height-challenged and acorns are easy to see, right? I was listening to Charlie Rose’s interview show and one of his guests said: ‘Oh, that would be just a mere simulacrum.’ And I thought to myself: Oh, how pompous. That said, I wound up using it in the ABC book. I made it part of ‘Seraphim’s Simulacrum.’ The seraphim is for my kids, because they’re my little angels. A lot of people say my artwork reminds them of the artwork of Dr. Seuss, M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali. I don’t really know Dr. Seuss, but I know the other guys very, very well. Let’s just say I slept with Dali and Escher. That Dali snores and his mustache tickles me. Or Escher snores and his mustache tickles me. Another influence is Lord Buckley [1906-1960; extremely popular scat-singing poet; extremely influential cool-cat aristocrat]. He always spoke with a distinctive beat [clicks fingers]. So I thought of words that seemed cool, that Lord Buckley would have enjoyed saying. Like ‘Eohippus’s Epizoon.’ Or ‘Bifoliated Bonito.’ Words that are just obtuse enough to be hip, especially when said with Buckley’s metering. The alliteration isn’t as important as the beat. When I started creating the book, I really didn’t think of alliteration. I thought the narrative was going to come out of two rhyming, cool-sounding words. When I came up with ‘Anti-

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

ome of the words I use turn out to have lives of their own, lives far beyond my control. Take ‘gubbins,’ for instance. It’s an English word that means ‘gadget,’ or ‘gizmo.’ Or so I thought until some English guy walks into the gallery here and sees the word and tells me: ‘You’re not using it right. It really means a feckless idiot.’ Same with ‘nimrod.’ You would think it means ‘knucklehead,’ but it really means ‘hunter.’ Go figure. I live in mortal fear of people asking me for definitions of really difficult words. I’d be terrified if somebody asked: ‘What does xenium mean?’ or ‘What does nucivorous mean?’ (Words from my book, no less.) I’d better watch out. I may be stalked by word guys the way I was stalked by KISS fans at KISS conventions. [We move from Stabin’s studio to his next-door gallery complex. First stop is a room of illuminated alliterative alphabet letters conceived by students at Panther Valley High School in Lansford, Pa. Taught by Stabin and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the project has fanciful entries ranging from ‘Dawdling Dik-dik’ to ‘Incontinent Impala.’] The idea is letting kids know how easy it is to come up with ideas if they use words. Reading the dictionary seeds the imagination—words will become pictures. Like the butterfly wing that created a storm. One of my role models is [artist] Chuck Close, who is comfortable with being out The Fairer Hand. on a limb, with his work not fitting into any recognizable mold. Being out on a limb is a derstand mortality, that when I’m gone, the paintings are little lonely for a while, but once you connect to the other theirs. branches, you connect for good. When I was an illustrator, I You know, I had a health ordeal when I was 44. I learned always wanted something I could stick with, and to. I had a tumor the size of an orange next to my heart. I was [We visit a room of sketches, drawings and word lists for given a 50 percent of living. I had two years of chemo and Daedal Doodle. It’s a kind of command center for Stabin’s steroids. During that time I developed anemia and brain fog. space-shuttle brain]. I was told that I could never have kids. Then, after all the Here’s the first drawing I did for the book [‘Zooid Zeppelin Zygote’]. I doodled it on the back of a children’s menu treatments, my first wife left me. I met Joan five days later, asked her to marry me four months after that, and then in a sports bar at the Chelsea Piers [in Manhattan]. At the learned she was pregnant when I thought I was sterile. time I was showing Jim Thorpe friends around New York After I got over my ordeal I started doing my own work. and all they wanted to do was watch the Super Bowl. Ever since the kids were born, they’ve been the focus of my I’m a doodler like my father. He would doodle gear art because nothing has moved me as much as they do. trains and osmotic pressure devices on napkins. Here’s one Nothing is more real than they are. of his inventions [Points to his dad’s circa 1972 ‘Osmometer My kids are animating my life. Yet to them it’s pretty #3’]. Looks like something out of ‘Flash Gordon,’ doesn’t it? much standard operating procedure. You know, I said to How does my art fit into my legacy? Well, my kids do them: ‘Your daddy is going to be on the cover of ICON.’ not want me to sell any of the paintings with them in them. And they’re in the throes of a sugar rush and all they want They want to keep the paintings for themselves. They un-

to do is get high on sweets. So all they could say is: ‘I want candy!’” ■ Daedal Doodle: An Extraordinary Journey Through the Alphabet, drawings by Victor Stabin, June 3-September 9, Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. 5th Street (between Linden and Hamilton streets), Allentown. 610-432-4333, www.allentownartmuseum.org.

Geoff Gehman is a former arts writer for The Morning Call in Allentown and the spiritual bastard child of Charles Addams, Edward Gorey and other illustrators who pricked life with nonsensical common sense. He is the author of The Kingdom of the Kid, a memoir of growing up in the middleclass, long-lost Hamptons. He can be reached at geoffgehman@verizon.net. JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

S WA N

HOTEL Modern Cuisine h Classic Comfort

food & wine

Corner of Swan & Main Lambertville, NJ 609-397-3552

b t h b O t t s S v t

C f F c w m

d i

e a p f w m m r b s a

ICON

JUNE 2012

dining

Broccoli Misti.

doors pops up immediately on the website. The table dominates the main dining room and seats about 20 people. Intriguing echoes of halcyon industrialism are articulated into the décor: There’s an eye-catching wiry architectural mural of the Falls Bridge; old desk lamps on a wooden platform suspended from above function as funky lighting fixtures; an antique weight scale, a chalkboard on the back wall and prominent gray overhead ducts and gray beams mimic the Mitterand Center’s integration of functional elements into the décor; photos of world-class cyclists surround the bar, channeling one of the neighborhood’s biggest activities; and on the deck, a pair of old bicycles, strung festively with dozens of white Christmas lights lend a cool air to a decorative railing that rims the deck. Send comments and suggestions to r.gordon33@verizon.net

IN RIVA Inside, an open kitchen hums with activity. The kitchen parallels the communal table and holds down one back corner of the large room which, without walls, manages to divide the interior space into distinct areas. Cozy banquettes stretch out in one zone, the communal table in another, while long-legged barstools dominate the barroom. The ambiance is trendy and accommodating—a fit for Cavaliere’s menu that affords common ground for both traditional and trendy.

Salumi and Formaggi menu sections harbor some nice choices. Prosciutto di Parma comes plated with sweet onions, which are tasty but surprisingly difficult to cut, for one of In Riva’s rare misfires. Mustard-chianti layers assertive tang on the prosciutto. Wild Boar Cacciatorini is spunky and bold. The Formagi selections feature some appealing milk and sheep selections, most notably tasty Quadrello di Buffalo. The Vasi section is unusual on area menus. Vasi means vessel. It’s related to the French and English-by-incorporation word, “vase.” Essentially, it refers to “toppings” for bruschetta. You dip into the “vasi” and spread the contents on rustic Italian bread. Four different vasis are served in hinge-topped glass containers chock full of bright ingredients. Blue crab, baby fennel leaves, roasted red and yellow peppers and arugula give gusto to Pepperonata. The peppers are stewed for more than four hours. The process makes them tender without sacrificing sweetness. A more earthy vasi, Cannelini Bean Aïoli, pleases with sultry strains of smoked pepper, arugula, and Sicilian tuna. The design itself of the menu echoes In Riva’s industrial-age theme. The menu is printed on an attractive, elongated single-sheet broadside. Dishes are listed in stylized bilateral symmetry. The quartet of Vasi dishes on the left side of the sheet is mirrored and balanced by four Insalate choices on the right. Beets and Fennel is the boldest of the salads. Its main ingredients are enlivened with the brace of grapefruit, moderated in turn with sweet sherry vinaigrette.

The Insalata Section contains one of the sprightliest takes on Caprese Salad I’ve run across. The pristine taste of enriched Buffalo Mozzarella plays well with the sweetness of baby tomatoes, which are skinned and marinated and emerge extraordinarily succulent. Arugula stands in for basil, the classic Caprese ingredient. The arugula mixes a sneaky tingle into the sweetness of the marinated baby tomatoes. The menu’s greatest appeal is the Antipasto and Pizzas. Cavaliere jazzes up some antipasti standbys and makes them memorable little treats. Panelle are chickpea fritters tossed with mint, parsley, and piquillo (peppers). Calamari is very tender owing to Cavaliere’s painstaking preparation. Charred octopus is another dish I can’t resist. The wood stove gives the octopus subtle smoky tang that pairs deliciously with arugula loaded with diced black olives and diced potatoes. Add the pool of puckery lemon dressing and the dish ranks among the finer in its genre. Agrodulce Pork Ribs also benefit from the wood-fired stove. The ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender. The housemade marinade permeates the meat without diminishing its impact. Long thin strips of apple spread over the ribs along with an avalanche of pistachios that further enhance the taste spectrum. Crispy Pork Belly gains its distinction from apricot mustard that simultaneously cuts and brightens the fatty richness of the meat. Glazed Beef Cheeks sparked with golden raisin gremolata and Carciofi Fritti (fried artichokes) with lemon yogurt won’t disappoint. Cavaliere’s working of pizza crust separates his pizza from the pack. His crusts are characterized by a marvelously soft center and a crispy outer ring. Spicy Ham is rife with heat, which is not moderated for the meek. Pickled green jalapeños ignite the ham while sweet San Marzano tomatoes supply the sweetness. Broccoli Misti unites rapini (broccoli raab) with ricotta cheese and scamorza (a cow’s milk cheese similar to Mozzarella) braced with crispy garlic. Eggplant and Fennel, Wild Mushroom, and Sausage and Peppers are some additional toppings. You might choose to end—or begin—your visit with one of several moderately priced, relatively unique cocktails like The Dinale, a libation of muddled cucumber with basil and sparkling wine. The Gimondi tames elderflower, pomegranate and Jim Beam into mixological logic. The bar is snazzy and homey. Besides catchy cocktails, it’s stocked with plenty of imported and native beers that pair with everything on the menu, with the same panache that Cavaliere has paired industrial-age Philadelphia with Old World Naples. ■ In Riva, 4116 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia PA 19129 (215) 438-4848. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 5-10 PM, Friday, Saturday 5-11 PM, Sunday 5-10 PM; Closed Monday. www.inriva.com

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

food & wine

AT IN RIVA, CHEF Arthur Cavaliere finds commonality between Naples and his native Philadelphia. Paying homage to late 20th century Naples, the fabled birthplace of pizza, he turns out outstanding Neapolitan pizza from the wood burning stove. However, his updates on dishes like Charred Octopus, Panelle, Glazed Beef Cheeks, and others pique the menu with contemporary pop as well. I don’t suspect too much time to pass before In Riva becomes an anointed stop for the hip urban set that huffs and puffs along the Schuylkill’s east river pedestrian trail. The sight of In Riva’s vivacious crowd animating its deck should prove irresistible to libation- and sustenance-seekers. Arthur Cavaliere, building owner Mark Sherman, and Cavaliere’s family have handsomely transformed this space, formerly occupied by two other restaurants: Verge and Franco’s Trattoria. In Riva’s sparse-spiffy design links artistically to the era of the Industrial Revolution. Website visitors will catch that flavor immediately. A photo of the rugged, mammoth communal table that was cobbled from old barn

ROBERT GORDON

dining

ROBERT GORDON

food & wine

Francisco’s on the River EACH EVENING, AN ENCHANTING little nook along the Delaware River serves as a soothing backdrop for legions of wine-toting regulars at Francisco’s on the River. Mother Nature gently swallows this little eatery up into her bosom. When I’m relaxing inside Francisco’s woody interior, I’m consciously aware of the ethereal boost the view out the window-rimmed, window-partitioned interior insinuates into the dining experience. Francisco’s On the River sits across the ride from the wide expanse of the Delaware River, not far north of the spot where George Washington’s army made its wintry 1776 crossing. Airy, open, and tranquil, the setting is a delight for BYOB dining. But Francisco’s most effective calling card is the homespun, soulful Italian cooking turned out by Chef-Owner Francisco Argueta. Time was when quality frittered out the farther south you ventured out of the New Hope hub. That’s changing. With Chef Alan Heckman’s retooling of Washington Crossing, Eban Copple’s updating at the Yardley Inn, and the Plescha brothers’ molecular tinkerings at Yardley’s Charcoal, the number of quality destinations south of New Hope is growing. And owing to Chef Francisco Argueta’s rustic-yet-elegant interpretation of Italian favorites, Francisco’s On the River might just be the flagship of this re-energizing southern armada. Francisco’s menu is more fish-focused than most in the region. It’s also the area where the chef shows the most skill. The menu’s strength runs a bit contrarian to current trends. Francisco’s menu is not crafted on small plates. The pasta and entrée sections have the most pop. No, I’m not discounting or downplaying a fine roster of Appetizers. I’m simply saying that the entrées are the menu standouts.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Among the apps, Whole Wheat Garlic Bread is a wellbalanced recipe with crispiness and crunch. The bread is covered with garlicky butter without being oozingly saturated. In Capesante al Brandy, a quartet of sea scallops in a pond of reddish-pink lobster cream sauce gives a well-calibrated dulcet finish to the plump scallops. Typical of Francisco’s cooking style, the sauce is neither overly exotic nor overly contrived. But it is tasty, and the flavors are identifiable and unmuddled. Jumbo crumbles of goat cheese form a cap on Roasted Pepper & Goat Cheese Salad that’s dressed in light balsamic vinaigrette. In Fennel & Gorgonzola Salad, plum tomatoes mix with thinly sliced fennel and finely chopped romaine with walnuts and pecans. In Crabmeat Salad, jumbo lump crabmeat is served over a green bed of chopped spinach and arugula. But the best dishes reside in the Pastas and Special Plates. Creamy Gorgonzola teams with filet in Filet Pasta alla Bolognese. I was impressed at how powerfully the tender pink-centered chunks of filet keep their integrity without getting dissolved or lost in a cheesy overstatement. At $19, Farfalle con Salsiccia e Aglio, is worth every penny with sweet Italian sausage sautéed with plum tomatoes and served on bowtie pasta that’s studded with olives and capers. In Linguine al Fruti di Mare Fradiavolo, mussels ring a large slice of fresh fish atop a bed of linguine that’s loaded with shrimp, scallops, and clams. The fish is sautéed in olive oil, garlic and crushed red peppers and finished with white wine and a splash of red sauce. No particular ingredient blares out, but all harmonize to perfection. At $21, Chicken Porcini is a house favorite. Boneless chicken breast is sautéed in olive oil with garlic, shallots

and porcini mushrooms. The chicken is finished with white wine and enough cream to keep each forkful moist. But the pièce de résistance on the menu is Butterfish with Sautéed spinach. Far and away, this was the best butterfish I’ve tasted: spinach glistening with a white-wine-and-lemon dressing prop up a hefty filet-sized chunk of fish with mashed potatoes. The butterfish, coated in pistachios, is brown on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside. The fish has such a rare texture, we questioned if it was indeed butterfish. What is unquestionable is the taste. Delicious. True to its trattoria roots, Francisco’s serves hearty cappuccino and some house-made desserts for after-dinner treats. Francisco Argueta also owns and operates Florentino’s on State Street in Newtown, an upscale establishment that offers similarly worked Italian dishes. Nestled in the heart of Newtown’s comely historical strip, Florentino’s offers a different take on the dining experience than Francisco’s on the River, a different ambiance. Particularly when summer blankets the Delaware Valley, few settings compare with Francisco’s. With a loaf of Francisco’s whole wheat garlic bread, a jug of Riserva Chianti, and, well, an order of scrumptious Pistachio-Encrusted Butterfish, this gorgeous Washington Crossing site is indeed paradise. ■ Francisco’s on the River, 1251 River Rd., Washington Crossing, PA 18977 (215) 321-8789. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 5-9; Friday, Saturday 5-10; Sunday 4-9; Closed Monday. franciscosontheriver.com

Email: r.gordon33@verizon.net

food & wine

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

first sip

PATRICIA SAVOIE

food & wine

Madeira MADEIRA IS A PORTUGUESE island about 350 miles off the coast of Morocco. It is also the name of the best known group of wines made on the Island. The way Madeira wine is made evolved over decades. The wine is fortified with distilled spirits, and it is put in a hot room (estufagem) to cook, where temperatures are slowly raised to about 114F, for six months. So, the main difference between Madeira and other wine is that it is heated. During the 18th century, many of the ships that took on casks of the wine sailed through the tropics. The impact of the high temperatures on the wine was found to make the wine last longer and resulted in a mellowness that consumers liked. The estufagem is a practical substitute for travel through the tropics. By the mid-1600s, Madeira was a wellestablished alcoholic drink in the American Colonies. It was used to toast the July 4, 1776 Declaration Independence and the Inauguration of George Washington as President in 1789. Washington is reported to have drunk a pint of Madeira a day with dinner. The battleship USS Constitution was christened with a bottle of Madeira in 1797. The five grapes that produce Madeira are: Tinta Negra Mole (most Madeiras are made from this red grape), while the white Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey are less prolific, but make wines with greater structure and complexity. They are used to make the older wines aged in oak casks. Madeiras age very well, and some are 150 years old. After opening, the wine can easily last up to six months. The grape variety indicated on the label does not only show the grape that the wine was made from, but also indicates a certain taste. If one of the grapes is mentioned on the label, the contents must be at least 85% of that variety. The Tinta Negra Mole grape is not mentioned on the label, but can range from dry to sweet. Madeiras run about 20% alcohol, so are generally not now served with a meal. Sercial is dry and light, but has a strong aroma and a very high level of acidity. Young Sercials may have a range of citrus aromas such as orange and lemon, but as the wine matures this can shift to nutty. The high level of acidity makes Sercial almost undrinkable until well aged. Verhelho is a bit sweeter than Sercial, but is dry in the aftertaste. It is the Madeira typically served with turtle soup. The nose has dried fruits and honey that are also evident on the palate, and sometimes a little coffee and chocolate, too.

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Bual (the English name for the Portuguese Boal) is fuller, darker and sweeter. Bual is a good start for those having their first experience with Madeira wine. It is medium sweet but not cloying, very aromatic with some acidity balancing the sweetness. The nose has richness and aromas of sugar and the palate may have additional caramel and coffee aromas, as well as dried fruits like orange peel or apricot. Malmsey is perhaps the best-known Madeira. The English name Malmsey is used for the white Malvasia grape. Malmsey is full bodied and rich and makes a great companion to (or as) dessert. You may have heard of “Rainwater” Madeira. It is a blend of wines and is lighter in color and taste. It is said to have originated when a shipment to Savannah, GA, got diluted as a heavy rain hit the casks that were standing on the beach. The recipient liked the lighter taste and ordered more. There is also a type of Madeira known as “cooking Madeira” which is made from lower quality wine. It is usually flavored with salt and pepper to prevent its sale as Madeira wine Here are some recommended Madeiras, tasted at a recent Wine Media Guild lunch in New York City. The name is that of the producer: Rare Wine Co. Charleston Sercial non vintage: A very approachable, starter Madeira ($47). 1988 Barbeito Sercial: A bit of quince in the bouquet ($90). 1978 Barbeito Sercial: More quince. Exotic. If I had to pick only one to purchase to lay down, it would be this one ($125). 1910 Barbeito Sercial: Fresh, woodsy, nutty notes. Complex ($350). 1994 D’Oliveira Verdelho: Light and easy to drink ($80). 1973 D’Oliveira Verdelho: A lovely, nutty aftertaste ($120). 1912 D’Oliveira Verdelho: A beauty. Woodsy with truffle notes ($395). 1977 Blandy/The Madeira Wine Company Bual: Full bodied and smooth ($135-170). 1968 Blandy/The Madeira Wine Company Bual: Nice woodsy notes ($150200). 1920 Blandy/The Madeira Wine Company Bual: Not for the faint of heart. Woods and mushroom notes. High acidity as is common in older bottles ($600-700). ■

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

about life

JAMES P. DELPINO

Dial Up the Good Sex RECALLING AND PRACTICING THE fine art of seduction is an understanding that the brain is the largest sex organ. How we view, perceive and think about sex has a lot to do with our basic experience of sex. Taking your time and getting to know your partner beforehand is one of the better ways to look for and develop the abilities that lead to great sex. Some couples who have been together for a year or more often benefit from a “sex vacation” to re-engage the process of seduction and enhance what they already share. A better connection outside of the bedroom leads to a better connection in the bedroom and, of course, better sex. Here are several steps to take your sex life from mundane and mediocre to a series of fantastic encounters. 1. Build a bridge from connection toward intimacy. Freud wrote that intimacy was “...being close with relatively little or no defensiveness.” Intimacy then is being able to flow heart to heart, mind to mind, soul to soul without blaming, projecting or withdrawing. This ability is developed by practice and the pace of growth can be swift if you and your partner are open minded. When people experience an intimate connection they’re more likely to be better partners in all kinds of ways. Defensiveness kills intimacy—they are meant to defend against closeness and are triggered by fears. Choosing closeness over fear can be difficult at first. The key is to not let the fears paralyze you. Fears can be overcome one little step at a time by slowing down the pace. 2. Create a better and more complete database in your head by acquiring knowledge about sex. In this day and age there’s so much information available about every aspect of sex, that not knowing what is out there—and what is out there that is appealing to you—is just plain unacceptable. Remember that avoiding the subject is a way of being defensive or afraid. Since the brain is the largest sex organ, it makes sense that information will help the brain develop further in the arena of sex and sexuality. There are books, websites, classes and sex coaches to help you with developing your brain for great sex. 3. Confidence is the number one aphrodisiac according to studies both here and abroad. But confidence is not the same as cockiness, which is not attractive and most often leads to seeking conquest instead of great sex. Confidence is a self-assuredness that you and your partner will “get there.” Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 30 years. jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.

Having a positive belief that the process will unfold and the experiences will become better over time creates hope and positivity. The brain will start to repeat these ideas and begin to think more positively about future sexual experiences. Keep negativity and criticism out of the bedroom. Directed at someone who is vulnerable only serves to raise defenses. Don’t teach your partner to expect to be attacked or judged in the bedroom. When you’re confident with someone you can help build their confidence as well. 4. Developing technique is the hands-on way to great sex. Probably the single most important thing people want is someone who is a great kisser. The easiest way to achieve this is to ask your partner, using the intimate connection you have developed, what makes for a great kiss—then do it. Information on many techniques is available and practicing them can lead to fun and surprising delights. Having a range of abilities keeps things from becoming stale. In her book, The Happy Hooker, Xaviera Holland wrote that you should “…have a mouth like ten fingers and ten fingers like a mouth.” There are exercises and stretches aplenty that can improve finger, tongue and mouth strength and dexterity. The are even exercises for the genitalia to improve muscle tone and enhance performance. 5. Becoming a fantastic sexual communicator helps open and keep open the floodgates between partners. Sexual communication is verbal and non-verbal. It’s a good idea to be able to talk about what you’d like to do before you do it. If you’re unable to talk about it beforehand it might mean that you and your partner are not ready to do a particular thing. Having an intimate connection creates the opportunity to have positive communications with each other. Non-verbal communications are more difficult at first and easier as time goes forward. This is where intuition and sensing the messages your partner’s body is sending you comes in. When in doubt it’s always okay to ask, “Do you like it like this?” It’s also always okay to say, “slower,” “faster,” “a little to the left,” etc. When there is no defensiveness these are positive communications leading to great sex. Defensive communication can ruin the moment and many other moments still to come. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes a good mentor, teacher, coach or therapist can assist in helping to remove barriers from unresolved issues that stand in the way of great sex. ■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

dave barry

Weight Until Dark I RECENTLY HAD A terrifying experience. It was exactly like a scene from a horror movie, when the actors find themselves in a house that is obviously possessed by Evil, with doors slamming by themselves and blood dripping from the ceiling, but the actors are such morons that they stay in the house anyway. “With these older homes,” they tell each other, “you’re going to have a certain amount of ceiling blood.” And then of course something horrible happens to them, such as being sucked down to Hell by the Demon Toilet, and as the last of their body parts disappears in a counterclockwise direction, you, the movie viewer, chew your popcorn and think, “They deserved it.” That’s what I used to think, too, until I had this terrifying experience. We were on vacation, staying in a strange house. Night was falling. I went down to the kitchen. It looked like a normal kitchen, with normal, harmless appliances, until suddenly FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP the violins (this house had a string section) were playing music from the shower scene in “Psycho,” and we saw the most horrifying sight you can see in a kitchen: A digital scale. I don’t know how it got there. No sane human would put a scale in the kitchen. Maybe it crawled there from the bathroom, seeking the company of other appliances. But whatever the reason, there it was, and instead of sprinting out of the house right then, I foolishly stayed. Every time I went into the kitchen, I could feel the scale watching me. Soon it was sending me messages via scale telepathy. “Before you eat a third ‘low-fat’ blueberry muffin the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head,” it would say, “Why don’t you step on me? What’s the worst that can happen?” I have not stepped on a scale in years. We don’t have a scale in our home, because scientific studies have shown that scales attract gravity, a leading cause of falling down. So for a week I ignored the scale. But finally one afternoon, while enjoying a light pre-meal meal, I decided, what the heck, I’ll just step on this thing and FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP When I saw the number on the scale, I was forced to face a shocking, but unmistakable, fact: The scale was defective. Through some kind of digital error, it was giving me the weight of a completely different person, apparently Shaquille O’Neal. Or his car. But eventually I came to accept the truth: I am overweight. This is not my fault. My body, without consulting me, has been converting the food I eat into fat, as opposed to something I can actually use, such as toothpaste. The problem with human bodies is that they’re based on a design that is eons old. Our bodies believe that any day now, we’ll have another Ice Age, and there won’t be any more food, so they need to store up lots of fat. So while our brains are in the 21st Century, wanting desperately to lose weight, forcing us to eat salads and engage in bizarre cult activities such as “Pilates,” our bodies are back in 12,000 B.C., thinking: “I made 6 more ounces of fat today! Bring on the glaciers!” It would be great if we could explain to our bodies that times have changed, and they no longer need to make so much fat. Recently, medical researchers tried to accomplish this by having a group of overweight people eat calendars clearly indicating that the current year is 2003. Their bodies turned these into fat. So I have accepted that, if I want to lose weight, I’ll have to bite the bullet (the bullet is fat-free) and take action. I’ve already begun a rigorous regimen of watching TV infomercials in which models with perfect bodies work out using comically cheeseball exercise contraptions that Fold for Easy Storage and clearly have nothing to do with how the models look. But merely watching infomercials will not get you into shape. For that, you need to take real action, which is why I also purchased an issue of Men’s Fitness magazine. It’s full of pictures of men whose “abs” bulge out like subcutaneous chipmunk platoons. It also has articles on weight loss, quoting leading medical experts who all agree that the ONLY proven way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Ha ha! Those wacky medical experts! Always with their jokes! But the magazine itself was delicious. n 40

ICON

JUNE 2012

ICON

Whoopee! Whoopee! Winner of the

Winner of the

ICON

monthly drawing for

DINNER FOR 2:

PATRICK SMITH

BRUCE APPLEGATE

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

Glorious Food

Then write your full name and send to

trina@icondv.com

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

trina@icondv.com

28 / INTERVIEW / MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL

“She said, ‘This a great script and it happens to be about the invention of the vibrator, which happened to take place in 1880s London.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it did?’ I was definitely curious to see what the story was or why a movie should be made about it. And the script itself, I thought, was excellent. Really, really smart. Really well-crafted.” Plus, there was room to play Charlotte her way. “I don’t think this movie is served by an historically accurate depiction of the woman at that time,” Gyllenhaal explains. “[Charlotte’s] politics are very simple, basically that women should be able to go to college and hold a job. Because it wasn’t a realistic period drama about suffragettes, the point is that she should be like from another planet. She should be as shocking as possible in the constraints of the time, and I thought that would be fun.” Charlotte may not resemble Gyllenhaal’s trademark incendiary work, but it’s a strong, eloquent role in a quality movie. “There are so few good movies being made these days, there really are, but when there’s a good one everyone wants to do it,” she says. “Think about the actresses who you think are good: So many of them play strong, sexual, interesting characters and all of us are like, ‘I’ll do that one!’” Gyllenhaal says there are a few contemporaries whom she admires and respects. She doesn’t identify those actresses nor the women “who don’t seem like actors to me, who seem like something else.” The work among this skilled secret society gets divided pretty evenly. “Like, OK, that one she’s going to do and this one I’m going to do. And you go through different phases of being more wanted or less wanted, but I find it goes up and down based on things that are somewhat out of your control.” OK, but how do you go from Secretary to Crazy Heart and Nanny McPhee Returns in under ten years? “In some ways, it has to do with being young, doing Sherrybaby in five weeks and falling asleep in my clothes every night; being 25 and just thinking that is the coolest thing I can do,” Gyllenhaal says. “And I love that movie and I love that performance. I didn’t have a pleasurable time making it, but it was a great experience for me. But, for example, the character in Crazy Heart I feel like could have been a friend of mine. There’s a different kind of subtlety. She’s definitely a gentler character than either of the characters in Secretary or Sherrybaby, maybe more grown-up, more subtle, requires a different kind of listening to hear her. “I’m in my thirties now, it’s a different world, what’s appealing and what speaks to me,” she says. In the case of Nanny McPhee Returns, the script was, in Gyllenhaal’s words, “phenomenally good.” She cried while reading it on the New York City subway. Plus, she couldn’t turn down working with Emma Thompson. “It wasn’t that I went, ‘Let me do some lighter fare.’ It was more that I thought, ‘This is such a great script, such a fun, wild woman, and Emma’s there every day.’ It depends, project to project.” In the case of Away We Go, Mendes, who had directed her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, and brother Jake in Jarhead, called Gyllenhaal out of the blue with a small part. She liked what she read and filmed her scenes in three days. Gyllenhaal says family life—she and Sarsgaard welcomed their second child, Gloria Ray, in April—doesn’t affect the roles she chooses. She would do something gritty “but I do think it’s not worth it to take my family to Romania to do something that’s OK, whereas maybe if I had no kids I’d go, ‘OK, I can do something like this.’” Even if that hypothetical Romaniabased role became her signature performance, considerations linger. “I would have to put [my older daughter] in school or take a tutor. You have to send your kid to first grade.” Getting older means that theater, another passion, is tougher to do. “It’s hard with one child, and I imagine even harder with two, to do theater because you never get to put your kid to bed,” says Gyllenhaal, who has starred in productions such as Uncle Vanya and Closer. “In fact, my favorite experiences in theater have been with my husband, and that makes it even more difficult because then neither of you are there to put your child to bed so it’s a huge sacrifice.” It’s all about how a project “works with my life and my husband’s life and my husband’s career. But I think both of us want to support each other to do things that are really great.” She’s “kind of attached” to a couple of plays. She and Sarsgaard are looking at collaborations. There’s a reunion with Secretary director Steven Shainberg for something that promises to be “wild.” And Gyllenhaal will be part of a wonderful ensemble cast for HBO’s adaptation of The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen’s epic novel of family dysfunction. In September, she’ll play “a total firecracker” who, along with Viola Davis (a terrific actress), takes on the Pittsburgh public school system in the unabashedly commercial Won’t Back Down. A couple of months ago that last role might have concerned me. What happened to the Maggie Gyllenhaal I knew? But that’s silly. She couldn’t spend 20 years being intense, unless she wanted to join Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Caricatureland. She hasn’t traded credibility for popular appeal or developed the impenetrable shell of a bankable persona. The hardcore days of her youth are gone, but Gyllenhaal remains a performer with no pretensions and boundless curiosity. Those qualities, I’m pretty sure, don’t lead to semi-obscurity in New Haven. ■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

regional theater

EDITED BY DAVID SCHULTZ

reasons to be pretty Through 6/24

Street, Quakertown, PA (610) 395-7176. www.barliebwallace.com

A hopelessly romantic drama about the hopelessness of romance, reasons to be pretty [sic] is the final installment (following The Shape of Things and Fat Pig) in Neil LaBute’s critically acclaimed trilogy focusing on America’s obsession with physical appearance. When an off-handed remark disrupts the lives of two young couples, they confront self-deceit, treachery and their own willingness to change. reasons to be pretty has the razor-sharp wit and insight you expect from playwright LaBute, but with an extraordinary new twist—hope. Philadelphia Theatre Company @ The Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Broad & Lombard Streets, Phila. (215) 985-0420. PhilaTheatreCo.org

Hairspray 6/13-7/1

King John 7/25-8/5

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 7/19-8/5 Maggie “the Cat” still burns hot for her ex-football star husband, but Brick only has eyes for the bottom of a whiskey bottle. When Big Daddy returns home from a cancer clinic thinking he’s got a clean bill of health, his family swarms for a slice of the inheritance pie. In Tennessee Williams’ explosive Pulitzer Prize winner, the emotional shockwaves intensify as truths are finally told. Perhaps the crowning achievement of one of America’s greatest playwrights. Mature content. PG14. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034 On the Campus of DeSales University. For more information: (610) 282-WILL. (610) 282-3192. H.M.S. Pinafore 7/11-7/29

Animal Crackers 6/8-23 Mrs. Rittenhouse will spare no expense to throw the season’s grandest party in her attempt to capture the crown as queen of Long Island society matrons. She invites the habitues of New York’s gossip columns to celebrate the return of noted African explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spalding. Rittenhouse and everyone else quickly learn that Spalding is a different kind of guest of honor than they could ever have imagined, bringing along with him chaos, ribaldry, and ruin. Priceless art is stolen, women are run to ground, and unholy comedy, song, and dance are unleashed like hungry dogs upon the unsuspecting guests. Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. McCoole’s Arts and Events Place, 10 South Main ■

ICON

Extreme Shakespeare: A play rehearsed the way Shakespeare’s company would have. Actors arrive with their lines learned, rehearse on their own, wear what they can find, and open in a matter of days. No director, no designers. Just great actors, a dynamic play, and pure adrenaline, spontaneity and creativity. Boundless ambition, corruption, and greed plague a usurping King and his country. As King John navigates a landscape of murder and intrigue, he is challenged from all sides. England struggles to unite under a single, legitimate ruler in a play full of unpredictable twists and turns. Recommended for ages 10+. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034 On the Campus of DeSales University. For more information: (610) 282-WILL. (610) 282-3192. A Dybbuk Through 6/17

Gilbert & Sullivan's crowd-pleasing romantic comedy sets sail this summer! The captain's daughter is in love with a common sailor, but her father has a more sophisticated suitor in mind. Will true love prevail? G&S's first big hit, Pinafore is full of hijinks and silliness, as well as the duo's trademark wit, satire, and tunefulness. Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College. Allentown PA. (484) 664-3333. $20-$38.

It’s 1962. Beehive hairdos are in, rock ‘n’ roll is young, and Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on the Corny Collins Show. Plump and proud, Tracy wins a role on the program, then uses her newfound fame as a platform to rally support for integration. This giddy, silly show has a been popular ever since it hit Broadway. Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College. Allentown PA. (484) 664-3333. $20-$38.

■

JUNE 2012

Tony Kushner brings poetic flare and rich humanity to his version of the greatest Jewish play ever written. This story of love, ghosts, and faith is set in a 19th century Polish village where a wedding celebration is interrupted by a supernatural presence. This Pulitzer and Academy Award winner’s powerful words, matched with EgoPo’s magical staging, makes this an unusual summer treatise on the meaning of the universe. Adapted by Tony Kushner. Translated from S. Ansky, by Joachim Neugroschel. Directed by Lane Savadove. EgoPo Classic Theater, @ The Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, Phila. (800) 595-4TIX www.egopo.org The Tempest 6/20-7/15 Banished from his dukedom by his usurping brother, Prospero lords over an enchanted isle where he tutors his cherished daughter Miranda and conjures spirits of the air and monsters of the earth. Prospero raises a tempest that shipwrecks his enemies on the island. When Miranda unexpectedly falls in love with one of the castaways, Prospero is reawakened to the better angels of his nature. Shakespeare’s last play, and his final testament to the redeeming power of

love. An enchanting, ageless spectacle. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034 On the Campus of DeSales University. For more information: (610) 282-WILL. (610) 282-3192. Sweeney Todd 6/13-7/01 A Tony Award-winning masterpiece by Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd is a sophisticated and uncompromising musical thriller. An unjustly exiled barber returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and abducted his young wife. Sweeney’s thirst for blood inspires Mrs. Lovett, the resourceful proprietor of the pie shop downstairs, who nurses secrets of her own. Mature content. PG14. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034 On the Campus of DeSales University. For more information: (610) 282-WILL.

Doubt: A Parable 6/8-6/17 Award-Winning drama set in a Bronx Catholic school during the 1960s. A deeply principled nun suspects a popular new priest of improper conduct. Her allegations could destroy lives. What do you do when you are not sure? This masterful work blurs the edges of reason with doubt, and leaves the viewers with their own independent conclusions as to what exactly happened behind closed doors. Written by John Patrick Shanley. Pennsylvania Playhouse, IIIicks Mill Road, Bethlehem PA. (610) 865-6665. $19-$22. Harold & the Purple Crayon 6/20-7/28 The beloved children’s book springs to life, in this spectacular adaptation by Enchantment Theatre Company. Follow Harold's adventures as he creates the world around him with his trusty purple crayon, exploring oceans, braving dragons, and finding friendship. Enchantment's kid-friendly adaptation tells the story through movement, narration, and imagination, with unique magically animated scenery! Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College. Allentown PA. (484) 664-3333. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Through 8/4 Inner beauty triumphs in this engaging adaptation of the Brothers Grimm classic. The world’s most delightful dwarfs welcome Snow White and help the prince vanquish the vengeful queen. Mirror, mirror on the wall—meet the cast and have a ball! Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034 On the Campus of DeSales University. For more information: (610) 282-WILL. (610) 282-3192. ■

footlights

DAVID SCHULTZ

Once A BREATH OF FRESH air is blowing through the Bernard Jacobs Theatre on Broadway this season. Having to sit through yet again another film–to-theater adaptation filled me with dread. This current theater season is littered with a few howlers: Ghost and Leap of Faith come immediately to mind. The lack of originality, paired with the safety of the tried and true to get the tourists in their seats with pandering familiarity before the show even begins is becoming particularly wearying. Going to see another show of similar ilk gave me no great pleasure. To my immense surprise and pleasure, as this production unfurled it gave me more than a faint glimmer of hope. Once is an adaptation of a rarely seen independent Irish film. Its claim to fame is that it won an Oscar for best song, “Falling Slowly.” The film did have some die-hard fans that were passionate about it, but it was a mere blip on the radar for most moviegoers. This intimate chamber musical opened downtown at the New York Theater Workshop last winter, and the buzz started to build. The availability of a Broadway house opened up and the move uptown happened rather quickly. Having not seen the piece downtown (or the film) I really didn’t know what to expect. I just didn’t want to sit through another dreadful, saccharine-sweet love story. Well, the musical totally floored me on many levels. Once tells the sweet-sad love story of Guy, a moody Dubliner (Steve Kazee), and Girl, an uprooted Czech (Cristin Milioti), who meet in Ireland. Guy is a despondent musician— he’s ready to hang up his guitar and wallow in self-pity over the loss of his mojo and lover— who has moved to America. He meets a quirky young woman (Girl) who finds in him a kindred spirit. She discovers that Guy repairs Hoover vacuum cleaners on the side, and lives with his father above their repair shop. In a cute meeting, Girl decides that she needs him to repair her vacuum cleaner. She states in her thick accent, “It cannot suck.” She really just wants to get close to him and is very curious about his songwriting talent and the reason he is so despondent and on the cusp of ending his musical career. The rest of the musical details in layered sensitivity the evolution of their relationship. Girl introduces Guy to her mother and her intimate gaggle of Czech friends that also are fledgling musicians. Every member of the ensemble sings and plays musical instruments; they are external manifestations of their unique personalities. Once is a bold variation on the romantic theme and an existential take on relationships—what we really are looking for when we find them. Finding our soul mate and what we do when it happens is an undercurrent that runs throughout the work. The perfect dovetailing of the lead characters’ interior lives is revealing and refreshing; both are frozen in their inability to move ahead in life. That they both have unfinished business to take care of in their personal lives hinders the present moment. The physical attraction is palpable for both of them, but they hold back for different reasons. The typical preconceptions one brings to this work are skewed, and the tentative reaching for a happy conclusion is futile. The plaintive soul-searching that these characters exhibit is a rare thing to experience in a theater. Once is helped along immeasurably with a superb musical score written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The music is an amalgamation of indie-rock and a sort of Eastern European expressiveness. As each song begins it becomes a part of the organic whole. This musical, more than most, seems to just open in emotional waves, as each performer sings what they can barely express in words. The large, single set, a semi-circular bar, is a perfect setting for the performers, as is the evocative lighting by Natasha Katz. Most of the performers are visible onstage at all times— they seat themselves on the sidelines and watch the action unfold. Ms. Milioti and Mr. Kazee play Girl and Guy with perfectly calibrated emotion. The chemistry between them is perfect. Her cheerful outward demeanor belies an inner aching sadness, and his sultry, dark looks cover a sensual longing. Bravo to Once for being bold and different. It shows that a musical can take a more rarely traveled path. Once gave me hope again for what I thought was lost forever. ■

Cristin Milloti and Steve Kazee. Photo: Joan Marcus.

David Schultz is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

classical notebook HJ Lim ★★★★ Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas EMI Classics www.emiclassicsus.com I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN waiting a while for the release of this mega project and it was not until May 22 that this huge album became available, only on iTunes for now while the individual physical albums will be released over the next coming years. And last week, HJ Lim made her U.S. debut at New York’s fashionable Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village where this young pianist presented her whole Beethoven project. Since then, the main music critics had to say the following about her: “A physically exuberant player, Ms. Lim tossed back her long, untied hair during more tumultuous moments and played with expressive commitment and colorful nuance throughout ...Ms. Lim’s intellectual analysis and emotional engagement resulted in fresh, vigorous interpretations.“ —The New York Times reviewing HJ playing Beethoven in concert “In her hands, Beethoven has moved from VHS to Blu Ray in a heartbeat. Everything is dangerously invigorating, strikingly original. This is the kind of album that will save the classical recording industry.“ — The Telegraph The release of the debut album from 25-year-old Korean pianist HJ Lim is an ambitious traversal of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, grouped into eight distinct themes which HJ has chosen and explained in her in-depth and thoughtful liner notes. In order to support this extraordinary young talent, her record company has released the entire album—99 tracks and 9 hours of music!— for only $9.99, exclusively on the U.S. iTunes Music Store and that's where I got the music from, listening to it again for at least the third time while writing this review... Who can refuse this deal? When asked why she chose to record all 30 Beethoven sonatas at such a young age, HJ responded: “Nothing in life is guaranteed, there’s no certainty that I’ll be here in five, ten years—even tomorrow! When you feel as passionately about something as I feel about these works, you have to go ahead and do it.“ She has already performed complete Beethoven sonatas cycles over eight days each in France, Germany and Japan, and her powerful performances have been captivating both traditional and new audiences. Her earnest and ardent Peter H. Gistelinck is the Executive Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Prior to joining the Orchestra, he was the Director of Sales and Marketing and Co-Artistic Director for the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and Flemish Radio Choir in Belgium. Mr. Gistelinck is a member of the Kimmel Center Resident Advisory Committee, The Recording Academy, American Film Institute, Musical Fund Society, Philadelphia Arts and Business Council, International Academy of Jazz and International Society for the Performing Arts. 46

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

PETER H. GISTELINCK Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

desire to share the power and beauty she finds inherent in this music was so evident to a recent New York Times writer, who noted that HJ had both “plenty of original ideas and the technique to carry them out.” And rightfully so; HJ Lim plays these Beethoven sonatas in her own very energetic and definitely organic way while respecting the intentions of Beethoven. One may have the discussion if this is a mature interpretation— and I am sure it may become the main subject of this wonderful release. However, it is clear that HJ Lim is only 25 and I am sure if she would record this whole project again in another 25 years we may indeed hear a completely different, probably more mature, interpretation. But is that not the beauty of recordings? You just have to know that when purchasing the albums, you’ll hear the playing of a young, upcoming and powerful pianist who definitely plays as the music comes without putting forth too much effort—rightfully so, in my view—in over-analyzed musicological research. The only downside, and that’s probably only for my ears, though, is that the recording lacks a bit of medium sound toward the brightness of the upper register, while the levels of the lower register remain well balanced. This may be due to the fact that HJ Lim made this recording on one of the most high-end Yamaha pianos; however, it is still not a Steinway or Bosendorfer. Lim’s thoughtful and unique approach to this immense undertaking further defines itself in her organization of the sonatas into eight separate volumes, each with a different theme: Heroic Ideals, The Eternal Feminine—Youth, Aspects of an Inflexible Personality, Nature, Extremes in Collision, Resignation and Action, Eternal Feminine—Maturity, and Destiny. Says Lim: “To perform Beethoven’s sonatas is not just to interpret music, but also an attempt to understand the multi-faceted psychology of a human being,“ and her extraordinarily in-depth and thoughtful liner notes, which break down her reasoning behind the themes and the groupings of sonatas, make it clear that she has reflected at length about each of these 30 works. (HJ chose not to record the Op. 49 1&2 sonatas, citing Beethoven’s own wish that they not be published.) HJ (short for Hyun-Jung) Lim left her native South Korea at age 12, moving by herself to France to study piano. Three years later, she became the youngest person to earn a Diplôme d’Études Musicales Complètes (Normandy). She subsequently graduated with a First Prize and Highest Distinction from the Conservatoire National de Rouen and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 2007, she was awarded First Prize by unanimous decision at the FLAME Competition in Paris. HJ currently lives in Switzerland.

Philadelphia will soon have the opportunity to come, listen and discover the talent of HJ Lim, as she will be the guest artist of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia’s 2013-2014 season opening concerts. She will be performing Mendelssohn's famous and fabulous first piano concerto. Another 15 months of waiting to hear this performance though—so for now enjoy this wonderful Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas collection. More information on HJ Lim, including video clips, can be found on www.hjlim.com. ■ Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 1: Heroic Ideals • Sonata No.26 in Eb Opus 81a “Les Adieux” • Sonata No.11 in Bb Opus 22 • Sonata No.29 in Bb Opus 106 “Hammerklavier” Volume 2: The Eternal Feminine—Youth • Sonata No.4 in Eb Opus 7 • Sonata No.9 in E Opus 14 No.1 • Sonata No.10 in G Opus 14 No.2 • Sonata No.13 in Eb Opus 27 No.1 • Sonata No.14 in C# minor Opus 27 No.2 “Moonlight” Volume 3: Aspects of an Inflexible Personality • Sonata No.1 in F minor Opus 2 No.1 • Sonata No.2 in A Opus 2 No.2 • Sonata No.3 in C Opus 2 No.3 Volume 4: Nature • Sonata No.25 in G Opus 79 • Sonata No.15 in D Opus 28 “Pastoral” • Sonata No.22 in F Opus 54 • Sonata No.21 in C Opus 53 “Waldstein” Volume 5: Extremes in Collision • Sonata No.5 in C minor Opus 10 No.1 • Sonata No.6 in F Opus 10 No.2 • Sonata No.7 in D Opus 10 No.3 Volume 6: Resignation and Action • Sonata No.16 in G Opus 31 No.1 • Sonata No.17 in D minor Opus 31 No.2 “Tempest • Sonata No.18 in Eb Opus 31 No.3 • Sonata No.28 in A Opus 101 Volume 7: Eternal Feminine—Maturity • Sonata No.24 in F# Opus 78 “Für Therese” • Sonata No.27 in E minor Opus 90 • Sonata No.30 in E Opus 109 • Sonata No.31 in Ab Opus 110 Volume 8: Destiny • Sonata No.8 in C minor Opus 13 “Pathetique” • Sonata No.12 in Ab Opus 26 • Sonata No.23 in F minor Opus 57 “Appassionata” • Sonata No.32 in C minor Opus 111

HJ Lim. Ph

HJ Lim. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Davis Public Relations. JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

singer /songwriter Carole King ★★★1/2 The Legendary Demos Hear Music/Concord Music Group

icon

Released in conjunction with her bestselling memoir A Natural Woman, The Legendary Demos serves as a musical journey through Carole King’s illustrious past and a companion piece to the book. The CD’s 13 tracks trace her evolution as a songwriter, penning hits for Bobby Vee (the early ‘60s pop of “Take Good Care of My Baby”) and James Taylor (the singer/songwriter classic “You’ve Got a Friend”). King would record the songs, which would be pitched to other artists in hopes of having them recorded. King demonstrated her versatility in crafting hits for The Monkees (“Pleasant Valley Sunday,” her take on suburban conformity) and Aretha Franklin (“A Natural Woman,” a classic soul ballad). King’s early version of her songs are basic, built mainly around her vocals and piano work, but stand on their own. They show her to be a natural performer who would achieve commercial and critical success with the release of Tapestry, her groundbreaking solo album of the early 1970s. The Legendary Demos shines a light on an overlooked part of her career.

1-800-354-8776 World Party ★★★1/2 Arkeology Seaview Records To mark World Party’s 25th anniversary, Karl Wallinger wanted to celebrate the occasion in a big way. The result is Arkeology, a five-CD, 70-song box set of previously unreleased performances. It’s an entertaining trip through Wallinger’s archives that sees him offering a mix of studio and concert recordings, along with demos and early versions of songs. As a child of the ‘60s, Wallinger has drawn inspiration from the top acts of the decade. He re-creates the Beatles’ “Fixing a Hole” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun” alongside Bob Dylan’s “Sweetheart Like You” and a live version of “Like a Rolling Stone.” It’s akin to a religious scholar poring over sacred text. Wallinger has taken what he’s learned and turned into his own art. A live recording of “Way Down Now” recalls the sonic crunch of the Rolling Stones. On a stripped-down version of “Sweet Soul Dream,” recorded at a radio station, violinist David Duffy gives the song a wistful, Irish feel. Wallinger explores other genres, from the country/folk of “Where Are You Going When You Go?” to the rhythm and blues vibe of “Everybody Dance Now.” He makes Arkeology a musical excavation worth the time and money.

Ian Tyson ★★★ Raven Singer Stony Plain Records As a member of Ian and Sylvia, Ian Tyson was in the forefront of the folk music boom of the early 1960s and ventured into country/rock with Great Speckled Bird in the late 1960s. As a solo artist, he offers a blend of the two. At 78, Tyson isn’t slowing down with the release of Raven Singer, his first solo album of new songs in four years. After injuring his voice in a 2006 concert, he now sings in a gravelly tone that at times recalls Steve Forbert, but Tyson remains a first-rate storyteller. “Charles Goodnight’s Grave,” a tribute to the Texan credited with inventing the chuck wagon, was inspired by Tyson’s ongoing life as a rancher in his native Canada. “Saddle Bronc Girl” is a salute to a Western cowgirl set to a sprightly beat. “Back to Baja” and “Rio Colorado” are musical travelogues celebrating natural wonders and open spaces. The instrumental “The Yellow Dress” puts the spotlight on Tyson’s band and concludes the album on an uplifting note. tomwilk@rocketmail.com 48

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Ian Tyson.

LEXICROCKERY by Robert Gordon TOM WILK Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

Janis Joplin ★★★1/2 The Pearl Sessions Columbia/Legacy

Etta Britt ★★★1/2 Out of the Shadows Wrinkled Records

Pearl (1971), the final studio album by Janis Joplin, was an overwhelming posthumous success with sales of eight million copies worldwide. The Pearl Sessions offers a detailed look at the album with a second CD of alternate takes and studio discussions showing Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band crafting the songs.

After years as a backing vocalist for other artists including Marty Stuart and Billy Joe Shaver, Etta Britt steps into the spotlight for her first solo album, the aptly titled Out of the Shadows. Britt, the wife of session guitarist Bob Britt, who produced her

Catholischism: Schism in the Catholic sect between the 90% of Catholics who practice birth control and the 10% who crusade to deprive the others. Villainaires: Growing class of villainbillionaires whose influence and wealth is proliferating thanks to the Citizens United ruling. Snobiversity: Universities in Santorumland. Dodgitation: Pause in a response to cogitate how to dodge a direct question. ApoPlessy: Xenophobic, racist apoplexy expressed by “real Americans” at any legislation they perceive as distancing America from its Plessy-V-Ferguson, separate-but-equal “strengths.” Massafewslips: Refers to a few slips Romney made as moderate Massachusetts Governor about health care, abortion, and gay marriage that conflict with his current, revamped, albeit deeply held, values. Grovernor; A governor who abdicates his duties to puppet-master Grover Nordquist. Nordquistador: Grover Nordquist’s modern conquistadors bent on claiming North America for the rich. Fleeality: The state of fleeing from reality; as in, “The fleeality of my record as Governor clearly shows...” Bainnglorious: Gain for Bain; or equivalently, unemployment for American workers

Janis Joplin portrait by Francesco Scavullo.

With Pearl, Joplin expanded her range with the bittersweet country/folk of “Me and Bobby McGee,” making Kris Kristofferson’s song her own. “Mercedes Benz,” which Joplin sings a cappella, is a humorous plea for divine intervention to acquire the automobile of her dreams. “Move Over,” which Joplin wrote, shows her in more familiar territory, delivering an uptempo slice of the blues. “Get It While You Can,” recorded ten days before her death, proved to be prophetic, while “A Woman Left Lonely,” written for her by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, shows her vulnerable side. The bonus tracks include a bare-bones demo of “Me and Bobby McGee,” featuring just her voice and acoustic guitar, and live versions of “Tell Mama” and “Half Moon” that show her energetic side as a performer.

Etta Britt.

CD, displays a bluesy wail on “Dog Wants In,” a philosophical tale of romantic discord. She rides a rhythm-and-blues groove on “High,” recalling the early ‘70s hits of Al Green. Britt and the McCrary Sisters add a gospel flavor to songwriter Harlan Howard’s country classic “The Chokin’ Kind.” Delbert McClinton joins Britt for some musical fireworks on the horn-powered “Leap of Faith,” an earlier hit for McClinton as a solo artist. “Quiet House,” one of four songs written or co-written by Britt, was inspired by her role as a mother whose daughters have grown up and move away. It’s a tender song about changing roles in a family and shows Britt’s depth as a songwriter and performer. ■

Two-Facedbook: Renouncing citizenship by billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in order to avoid paying taxes to the country whose infrastructure served to incubate and enable his wealth-making. Congregress: Describes the direction the 112th Congress is taking; a Congress that regresses rather than progresses. Skindigenous: Sole test of many Americans to reclassify indigenous, i.e. “real Americans” as white only.

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

keresman on disc Willie Nelson ★★★1/2 Heroes Legacy

some of these folks living in the past? Perhaps…but their respective approaches aren’t driven by corny nostalgia but rather by inspiration to make classic styles their own, undiluted by commercial considerations. To put it another way: This platter is a PARTY, guaranteed to enliven nearly any soiree. part-records.de / ripsawrecords.com

Willie Nelson is one of those virtually beyond-category performers—some people that hate country music dig Willie Nelson. (Miles Davis named a composition for him and notorious jazz snob Wynton Marsalis has twice collaborated with Nelson.) After many years, Nelson has returned to the Sony/Columbia fold via their Legacy imprint. The result is seemingly typical Nelson—a set drawing upon standards and contemporary songs and a few Nelson originals, performed with a laidback, practiced band and a few guest stars. (Nelson is fairly unique among songwriters—he doesn’t record everything he writes nor does he write everything he records.) It’s not the best Nelson on the market but by gum, there are some gems here. There’s the spunky western swing (country/jazz fusion) of “Home in San Antone”; “Come On Up To the House,” an earnest gospel-styled Tom Waits tune, and the classic honky tonk of “This Cold War With You,” sung with Nelson’s old boss Ray Price. Nelson’s sincere, wise, weather-beaten voice is fine as it’s ever been. The downsides: Too many non-essential guests (Sheryl Crow remains Bonnie Raitt Lite; Snoop Dogg can’t really sing, Nelson’s son Lukas’s voice so resembles his pop’s that it sounds like dueling Nelsons) and some indisputably corny songs (one imploring John Wayne to come back from the dead and fix this crazy world with his two-fisted insight). Still, second-tier Nelson beats 72% of what’s out there—not essential Nelson but pretty good nonetheless. legacyrecordings.com

Various Artists ★★★★ The Best of Ripsaw Records Volume 2 Part Long before there was a national “awareness” of roots music, there were labels such as Ripsaw chronicling rockabilly, country, bluegrass, R&B, and what-not in the KY/MD/VA/DC area. The German label Part (what IS it with Germans and Japanese, bless ‘em, and their appreciation of American culture?) collects 20 assorted Ripsaw songs spanning (approximately) 1981-2010. Highlights include Billy Hancock and Tex Rubinowitz, ace rockabilly cats that keep the stylistic torch of pre-1960 Elvis Presley burning brightly. Chris Isaak fans should hear the sparkling “I Like Your Style Baby” by Roy Kyle & Nite Life (from 1991!) and torch ‘n’ twang queen Marti Brom is like unto a gene-splice of Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, and Wanda Jackson…or, imagine a salaciously rockin’ kd lang. Are

shemp@hotmail.com

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

Raoul Björkenheim/Bill Laswell/Morgan Ågren ★★★★1/2 Blixt Cuneiform Every so often some of “us” (we know who we is) need a catharsis to jolt us out of our glum stasis modern life. This is what the doc ordered, all right—it’s beautifully brutal and scintillatingly snarling, an arctic blast of synapse-cleaning, focused, furious racket with some

Raoul Björkenheim, Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren.

capricious serenity here n’ there. The players: An American-raised Finnish guitarist; a jack-ofall-trades American bassist/producer, and a Swedish prog-rock/jazz fusion drummer so good Frank Zappa asked him to join him for a Swedish tour, respectively. Björkenheim has a feverish, bittersweet tone with some judicious sustain (evoking John McLaughlin and late-period Jimi Hendrix); Ågren rumbles and rages with subtle flair, and Laswell’s lithe, rubbery throb is the glue holding it together. Blixt is a zone where jazz erudition, punk/metal aggression, and intuitive free improvisation come together with the harmoniousness of a honey badger honeymoon. cuneiform.com

Frank Wright ★★★1/2 Blues for Albert Ayler ESP-Disk Marzette Watts ★★★ Marzette Watts and Company ESP-Disk ESP-Disk was a NYC-based independent label that in its short existence (1964-1974) released platters few if any of the major labels would consider touching: readings by Timothy Leary and William S. Burroughs, avant-garde jazz by Albert Ayler and Pharaoh Sanders, underground rock by the Fugs and Pearls Before Swine, etc. In ‘05 the label was revived by its

MARK KERESMAN Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

founder, Bernard Stollman, and old and new product hit the shelves. Multi-reeds player Marzette Watts (1938-1998) and tenor saxophonist Frank Wright (1935-1990) were never close to the big time, are barely known outside of free jazz circles—

Wright’s set was recorded in 1974 and is a different pizza entirely (previously unreleased, for one thing). Wright is a bit more conversant with “melody” in a conventional sense and his high-energy “out” playing had strong undercurrents from blues, R&B, and gospel—riveting. He’s accompanied by Rashied Ali (Coltrane’s drummer toward the end) and James “Blood” Ulmer, whose blues-infused subtle squall makes a nice contrast to the colossal roaring of Wright and Ali. For those less conversant with “noisy” jazz, Blues for Albert Ayler is the better bet, while Marzette Watts and Company is a must for hardcore fans of ‘60s firebrand sounds. espdisk.com

Elton Dean’s Ninesense ★★★★ The 100 Club Concert 1979 Reel Recordings Now that Brit jazz alto saxophonist Elton Dean is no longer with us, these archival-type

Frank Wright.

but both made powerful music standing the test of time. Neither of their albums are “easy” to listen to, even by my copiously warped standards—but for certain tastes and certain moods, both are worth (and command) attention. Company is a blow-out, a free-form blitz guaranteed to induce seizures in Tea Partiers and Kenny G fans. Melody and harmony are for the most part beside-the-point—the whip-smart playing of drummer J.C. Moses, who had an extensive background in more straight-ahead jazz, is the cosmic glue holding this session together. A major reason to celebrate this disc’s return to the marketplace is the sublimely raucous guitar of Sonny Sharrock, perhaps the first player to apply Coltrane/Ayler levels of “free” to electric six-strings. Company is a trip full of fury and haunting, anguished wails.

Elton Dean Quintet, Rome, 1980.

releases become all the more valuable. (Historical note: When he picked a new handle, pop pianist Reginald Dwight took Dean’s first name and British blues singer “Long” John Baldry’s first name as a surname—the rest is history, of a sort.) Dean and pianist Keith Tippett (heard herein) were among those occupying a grey area wherein the zones of adventuresome UK rock and UK jazz overlapped—Dean was a longtime member of the seminal Soft Machine (fusion from the rock side of the fence) and Tippett played with King Crimson (and KC’s Rob Fripp produced some of KT’s albums). Thumbnail sketch: 100 Club is freebop, swinging hard bop with merrily searing, snarling solos and some overtones of South African township music in the ensemble playing. Where much American free jazz of the period could be characterized as “angry” and its European counterpart “cerebral,” these UK lads found a nifty (anti-) comfort zone—thoughtful ensemble work (hints of Gil Evans) and a racket that conveyed catharsis and joy. While the recording quality is a little rough, Tippett’s piano sometimes sounding as if coming from next door (this was 1979, when life was cheap and analog), the ragged glory of the performances (occasionally evoking Chas Mingus, Carla Bley, and McCoy Tyner) compensates. In the words of Curly Howard, “Swing it!” reelrecordings.org ■

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

Anne A

nick’s picks Bill Evans ★★★★1/2 Live At Art D’Lugoff ’s Top Of The Gate Resonance Records Resonance Records, founded by producer and audio engineer George Klabin, is dedicated to preserving jazz and discovering the genre’s rising stars, and has been releasing quality music at a steady pace since 2008. This independent label is meticulous with all details of their releases from the recording and mix to the graphics and packaging. On the preservation front, Klabin has rewarded music fans with treasures from his own collection, dusting off rare tapes and giving them a digital rinse; previously releasing unheard material from Freddie Hubbard (Pinnacle: Live From Keystone Corner) and earlier this year, the first known recordings by guitarist Wes Montgomery (Echoes Of Indiana Avenue). Pianist Bill Evans is among the most well-represented jazz artists in the marketplace with dozens of domestic and import recordings available. The latest gem from Resonance Records is a never-before-released two-set gig from Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, recorded on October 23, 1968 in Greenwich Village at Top Of The Gate, a

Bill Evans.

room upstairs from The Village Gate used for additional bookings to accommodate the robust jazz scene that existed back in the day. Astonishingly, when Evans played the two sets documented here, Thelonious Monk and Charles Lloyd were sharing a double bill downstairs. Thanks to the then 22-year-old Klabin’s decision to mike each member of the trio, the recorded sound on this 2-CD set is warm and vivid, perhaps one of the best of Bill Evans’s live recordings. Wisely, the new mix and digital restoration maintains the natural analog sound of the performances, thanks to Klabin and co-restorer Fran Gala’s ears, giving the trio’s performance the contemporary sonic kiss they deserve. For audio purists, a limited edition 3-LP 180-gram vinyl box set will also be released. The set list varies distinctively: “Emily,” Yesterdays,” and “’Round Midnight,” are played at each set and never the same way twice; elsewhere we get swooning renditions of “Gone Nick Bewsey has been writing about jazz for ICON since 2004. A member of The Jazz Journalists Association, he blogs about jazz and entertainment at www.jazzinspace.blogspot.com. Twitter: @countingbeats 52

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

With The Wind,” Alfie,” In A Sentimental Mood” and a gorgeous “Here’s That Rainy Day,” among others. The only Evans original, “Turn Out The Stars,” is played at the end of the first set. None of the tunes goes much past the seven-minute mark proving that Evans was a master of concision, saying more with his solos and letting his trio carry the rest. There’s a stunning version of “Someday My Prince Will Come” during the second set with Evans’s full bore style in the house, whisking through notes as fast as he can swing, with Eddie Gomez as the ideal foil, both complementing Evans and soloing in counterpoint. Throughout both sets, the band is spirited and by turns, relaxed and intense. The sound of the audience is peripheral, but relatively unobtrusive (they get a little noisy during “Mother Of Earl.”) Live At Art D’Lugoff ’s Top Of The Gate may be the best historical jazz release of the year and a sure-fire purchase if you’re even remotely a fan of Evans and his magical trio. (Disc one: 9 tracks; 49:12 minutes/Disc two: 8 tracks; 40:50 minutes) Brandon Wright ★★★★ Journeyman Posi-tone Records Sounding particularly polished at the age of 30, saxophonist Brandon Wright brings along three colleagues that he plays with in the Mingus Big Band—pianist David Kikoski, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Donald Edwards—for Journeyman, his second solo album that demonstrates his keen affinity for post-bebop swing, loosey-goosey funk jazz (“Walk Of Shame”) along with unexpected covers of Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” and Oasis’s “Wonderwall,” two soaring tracks flush with glistening tenor solos and the straight up soulfulness of pianist Kikoski. Wright’s sound is velvety, lush and smooth on the ballads like “Illusions of Light,” and “The Nearness Of You,” while pleasingly lively through the changes on “Big Bully,” a speedy tune that puts the quartet on fastforward. For the retro-sounding “Choices,” Edwards supplies the backbeat and Kikoski Brandon Wright. switches to Fender Rhodes as Wright deftly funnels his ideas into a sonic language of welcome riffs and happy improvisation. Wright is a state of the art horn player who squares a traditional sound (think saxophonist Scott Hamilton) with a modern spirit of discovery and Journeyman is full of exceptional moments. (10 tracks; 61:09 minutes) Ulysses Owens, Jr. ★★★★ Unanimous Criss Cross Jazz Sometimes when a group gets together, like this one under the leadership of 28-yearold drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., the intent isn’t about playing the most complex or challenging compositions. On Unanimous, an apt and righteous album title, Owens’s concept “was to hire a group who are tops on their instruments in jazz, and give them music that

NICK BEWSEY Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

isn’t difficult.” His band is both illustrious (Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Christian McBride on the bass) and wide open to this idea (alto sax player Jaleel Shaw, pianist Christian Sands and trombonist Michael Dease.) Stocked with sleek, soulful originals (“Beardom X,” McBride’s “Cute and Sixy”) and vintage favorites like Wayne Shorter’s “E.S.P.” and Lee Morgan’s rollin’ “Party Time,” Owens lets his band mates do their thing—Payton has a withering good solo ala Woody Shaw on the original lead tune “Good And Terrible” and rising star Christian Sands solos mightily on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma.” “Prototype,” a tune by Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000), pops up as a moody highlight halfway through, adding to the eclecticism of the project. Owens switches to trio mode for the last three tracks, letting Sands and McBride deploy some affecting solos and exchanges on “Cherokee” and the splendid “You Make Me Feel So Young.” Overall, the music on Unanimous sounds and feels good, qualities that guarantee repeat listening. Owens is a marvelous drummer with the wisdom to keep the music flowing—he’s got no time for extended headrattling solos here—and it’s a credit to his reputation that he’s got friends like Payton, McBride and the others on board, making his debut a spirited and welcome hang. (9 tracks; 69:45 minutes)

Kathy Kosins ★★★★ To The Ladies Of Cool Resonance Records It’s tough to dispute the discographies that turned Ella, Billie and Sarah into the reigning queens of jazz, but that has never discounted the contributions of many others, including Chris Connor, Anita O’Day, June Christy and Julie London. Count vocalist Kathy Kosins among their fans since her fifth recording, the terrific To The Ladies Of Cool, salutes their music and enduring legacies on an album of seldom heard standards and bubbly tunes en-

Florian Hoefner ★★★★ Songs Without Words OA2 Records Currently based in New York, the German pianist Florian Hoefner launches his stateside debut, Songs Without Words, a sturdy, involving recording of original tunes that showcases Hoefner’s lyrical style and impressive band mates. Mike Ruby on tenor and soprano saxophones, bassist Sam Anning and Peter Kronreif on drums (each of them are deserving wider recognition as their reps rise) have a tight sound as if they’ve performed as a unit for many years. The pianist’s cohesive tunes emphasize their elegant strengths on a welcome set of tunes that puts committed interplay ahead of a star turn. The fullness of Hoefner’s compositions can be traced to the cool austerity of European jazz paired with the adventurous nature of the Brad Mehldau/Joshua Redman collaborations. The shifting rhythm of “Uncertain Times” and pop-like bounce that underscores “Behind The Sun” further highlight the group’s Florian Hoefner Group. sense of musical brotherhood. There’s a hint of Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father” on “Songs From the Past,” where Hoefner’s emphatic melodic motif conjures Silver’s licks and pronounced swing, with saxophonist Ruby a particular asset. This is a strong, promising quartet headed by a pianist you’ll want to hear more from. (8 tracks; 55:58 minutes)

Kathy Kosins.

riched by the arrangements of pianist Tamir Hendelman whose sterling accompaniment can’t be overstated. With Kosins on top, he leads a fleet band that includes trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, bassists Kevin Axt and Paul Keller, guitarist Graham Dechter, Steve Wilkerson on reeds and percussionist Bob Leatherbarrow. Ladies is a class act with a strong point of view, thanks to Kosins’s dedication to the source material—she fastidiously combed through not just CD reissues but loads of obscure material made for radio broadcasts and such to find the perfect mix of tunes. As a singer, her voice is pure pleasure, flecked with warmth and a golden hue that swings to the Oscar Peterson pitch of “Learnin’ The Blues” and the easy-going beat under “All I Need Is You.” “Free and Easy” has that George Shearing vibe going on, as does “Lullaby In Rhythm,” a finger-poppin’ highlight that’s lifted by Kosins’s wordless bebop vocals and succinct band solos. Under the soft lilt of a bossa nova beat, Kosins illuminates the album’s closer, “Where Are You” by taking a lyric like “where is the happy ending” and infusing it with equal parts longing and confident independence. But swing is the thing on Ladies Of Cool, and the remarkable spin on these chestnuts is something you can raise a glass to. (10 tracks; 50:32 minutes) ■ JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

jazz library

BOB PERKINS

Stan GETZ

I FIRST HEARD OF Stan Getz while in my early teens. The news came to me via a poster nailed to a utility poll in my South Philly neighborhood. In those days, attaching posters to wooden poles provided a means of cheap advertisement for movie theaters and other entertainment venues. Even today, in some neighborhoods, the practice is ongoing. The poster told of a saxophonist named Stan Getz, appearing at Reynold’s Hall, an entertainment palace in North Philadelphia. A year or so later, I found out more about Getz from a local radio DJ named Oscar Treadwell, who hosted a jazz show and played Getz’s recordings quite often I liked Getz’s cool, beautiful sound on the tenor horn, and the way he made it almost sing the lyrics to the ballads he played. When he joined the Woody Herman band and took the solo on the band’s recording of “Early Autumn” in 1947, his super cool rendition brought him the attention of jazz fans, and to those with just a passing knowledge of the music. The solo—albeit very short—still ranks as one of the great solo pieces in the history of modern jazz; and as a radio DJ, I play it today, some 65 years after the fact. Getz, eventually left the Herman Band and from 1950 on, led his own small groups. I remember what I believe was his first quartet, which was comprised of pianist Al Haig, bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Roy Haynes. Haynes is the surviving member of the band—and at age 87 is still active. From those early days, Getz went on to become a well-known name in jazz and, later, a legend. Getz was born in Philadelphia. His parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1903, from Kiev in Ukraine. The family moved to New York City when Stan was very young. He was an A student and played several instruments before his father bought him a saxophone at age 13. The horn became an extension of the teenager and he practiced on it sometimes eight hours a day. He made the All-City High School Orchestra of New York, and thus earned free tutoring from a member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Wanting to jump into music full-time, Getz dropped out of school, and at age 16 joined trombonist Jack Teagarden’s band and, because he was only 16, became Teagarden’s ward. Next came gigs with Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, which led to his tenure with Woody Herman. Getz lived in Scandinavia in the mid-1950s. He returned to the States in the early 1960s, and became a central figure in the bossa nova movement. His recordings of “Jazz Samba,” “One Note Samba,” “Desifinado,.” and “The Girl from Ipanema,” the latter, recorded with the husband and wife team of Joao and Astrid Gilberto, won him a number of honors. What fame he had not already garnered, came as a result of his involvement with the bossa nova craze, which for several years ran parallel in popularity to rock and R&B in the U.S. Over the next quarter-century, Getz remained productive; worked for an number of record labels and remained in demand on stage and in the recording studio. He was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in the mid-1980s. In 1988, he entered academia and taught as an artist in residence at Stanford University. Getz married a couple of times and fathered five children. He had frequent bouts with drugs and, according to some associates, had multiple personalities. Asked if he got along well with Getz, friend and fellow-saxophonist Zoot Sims, responded “Which one?” Whatever shortcomings he may have had, great musicianship certainly wasn’t one of them. He could hold his own with the best in knock-down, drag-out musicians’ cutting sessions—and had few peers when it came to interpreting love songs by the great tune-smiths. Getz practiced heart massage when playing ballads. Stan Getz, whose real name was Stan Geyetzky, died in Malabu, California on June 6, 1991. He was 64. He recorded some magnificent albums in his time, among them, Sweet Rain, with pianist Chick Corea, and a beauty with trombonist J.J. Johnson, At the Opera House. Another was with Oscar Peterson, which simply bears the names of the two storied jazzmen. ■

Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00pm and Sunday, 11:00am to 3pm. 54

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

HARPER’S M

FINDINGS By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi

day trip

DAN HUGOS

Mauch Chunk Opera House Re-Design

A compendium of research facts

IN SCOTLAND, DONALD TRUMP was attempting to stop the wind harvest, there was disagreement over whether the rare pine marten would drive the rare capercaillie to re-extinction, an English egg thief was sentenced to his fourth prison term and banned from entering the country during nesting season, fewer birds of prey were being poisoned, scientists confirmed the uniqueness of northern prongwort, young otters were discovered in a post office and a seafood restaurant, and the Edinburgh Zoo suspended its penguin parade. An extinct crocodile was named for Rudyard Kipling. Ecologists captured a new species of spiny-

THE MAUCH CHUNK OPERA House in Jim Thorpe has been undergoing some significant changes lately, with the two lobbies and gallery space adjacent to the seating area being completely remodeled. When the job is finished the two front rows of seating will also be moveable, for shows where many like to stand. Color and interior consultant Nancy Zeigler of Jim Thorpe was brought in to coordinate the changes. She chose warm paint colors and wallpaper materials to accomplish a nearly complete makeover, satisfying the need for a more comfortable space for relaxing and hanging out before and during shows. Essentially unchanged since the early 1980s, these areas were in fairly dire need of change, though a lot of other changes had to precede them: a new roof, seating, carpet, backstage, building electrical, lighting, exterior painting, and so on. These have now been

scaled venomous sea snake in the Gulf of Carpentaria but were unable to investigate it further because they feared being killed by box jellyfish, bull sharks, and saltwater crocodiles. A Dutch ecologist found that 99 percent of the Hydrobia ulvae snails he fed to mallards died within five hours. Researchers found twice the coefficient of friction between an inclined ramp and an alert albino corn snake as between the ramp and an albino corn snake who had been drugged unconscious. Engineers involved in the project used their data to build Scalybot 2, and a Navyfunded team unveiled a hydrogen-powered version of its biomimetic Robojelly. AN ALASKAN BROWN BEAR was reported to have scratched its face with barnacled rocks, making it the first bear seen using tools since 1972, when a Svalbardian polar bear is alleged to have clubbed a seal in the head with a block of ice. The wounds of black bears were found to heal during hibernation, and fruit flies were found to drink alcohol in response to sexual failure and to the presence of wasps growing inside them. Scientists described a leaf-eating moth, Antispila oinophylla, that was destroying Italian vineyards and that prefers cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and muscat. Scientists gained a better understanding of why lily of the valley appeals to human sperm. The fear-inducing Schreckstoff emitted by injured fish was identified as sugarlike fragments that activate other fish’s crypt cells. Mathematicians disrupted the Lévy flight of bumblebees using artificial spiders. The Bruce effect was documented among wild gelada monkeys, and the European Space Agency’s Goce satellite mapped the Moho Boundary. Weightlessness was found to squish the eyeballs of astronauts. Engineers created a laser unprinter. JAPANESE WOMEN ARE QUICKER to detect the presence of a snake after they ovulate. Exhausted police officers are half as likely as unexhausted counterparts to identify fake burglars in a lineup. Fewer American children were injuring themselves on stairs. Babies who are fed on demand do better on the SAT. Growing older and fatter does not make Americans and Britons unhappy. Venus’s rotation continued to slow. The Midwest suffered a rare outbreak of night tornadoes and a decline in ovenbirds due to earthworms. Methuselina, the oldest ewe in the world, died in a fall from a cliff. China and Nepal continued to disagree over the height of Mount Everest. Doctors arrested the growth of the world’s tallest man. Men were not, as previously believed, going extinct. Rich people are likelier to steal candy from children. ■

completed, and so the visual comfort and enjoyment of customers are being dealt with in order to enjoy the unique listening experiences the Opera House offers. Laurie Holland has been managing the painting and wallpaper. “I’ve lived in the area most of my life,” she says. “This is probably the biggest single change, from the point of view of the customer, that I’ve ever seen here at the Opera House. It’s so sumptuous!” June heralds an ambitious schedule of performance at the Opera House, starting with a Band tribute show, and then eight shows later, concluding with The Cast of Beatlemania on June 30. More information is at www.MauchChunkOperaHouse.com, or by calling the box office at (570) 325-0249. “This might not be quite as big an ongoing project as I handled at the Inn at Jim Thorpe,” Zeigler observes. “But the changes are equally as profound, and the feel of the Opera House has completely changed.” Jim Thorpe is just 30 minutes from Allentown/Bethlehem and an easy hour-and-fifteenminute drive from Philly on the Northeast Extension. Even New York City is barely two hours way. Now offering beer and wine, the Opera House was looking for a completely new way to redefine the experience of seeing a show there. The objective was to emphasize the relaxed feel of the place and indeed the whole town of Jim Thorpe. In fact, the Opera House offers the Performance Card, which entitles you to discounts at restaurants all over town, all within an easy walk of the Opera House. This encourages customers to make a day of it in town, and experience the changes for themselves. ■ JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

The Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle LETTER OF INTRODUCTION By Gail Grabowski Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Tip off 5 Symbols of thinness 10 Name of four Holy Roman emperors 14 Cost for classified info 19 Rod on a rig 20 Tennyson work 21 Club for a chip 22 Back biter? 23 “Let’s leave __ that” 24 Olive Oyl’s creator 25 Penitent period 26 Univ. VIPs 27 Packrat’s moving need? 29 Scan on a bulb? 31 How Hawaiian shirts are worn 32 Wears a long face 33 Cartoon dog 34 Multi-vol. references 35 Bungles 36 Like Handel’s music 40 Big, in Variety 43 Stretched to the max 44 Holiday landing site 45 Writer Santha Rama __ 46 Stripper’s scrapbook item? 51 Gullible sort 52 Annapolis inst. 54 It might consist of sandbags 55 Cry of exasperation 56 Not neg. 57 Uncompromising words 59 Jackie’s predecessor 61 Spicy cuisine 64 Self-titled 1990s band album 65 Topnotch Carnival vessel? 69 Choreographer de Mille 72 Plays (with) 74 Handrail post 75 On the up-and-up 77 Consumer protection org. 79 Tavern turmoil 81 Half a ’50s comedy couple 83 __ bene 84 Per 86 Spot for digital greeting displays? 90 Weather report staple 91 Like many rewards 93 Mysterious character 94 Acts as a shill for, say 96 Sheer 97 “All done” 99 Darth’s daughter

56 ■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

101 Poetic preposition 102 They may need breaking in 103 Scholar’s pursuit, briefly 106 Moisture-resistant pullover? 110 Touchscreen device with a strap? 112 Nocturnal disturbance 113 Bop on the bean 114 Rivera of Broadway’s “West Side Story” 115 Hamlet, for one 116 Go easy? 117 Court cover-up 118 Comfy-cozy 119 City north of Pittsburgh 120 Works on a muffler 121 Legal postponement 122 Impressionists 123 Mail-routing abbr.

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 28 29 30 32 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 47 48

Watch from behind Praise highly South American plain Release Served Lofty standards 1964 Mary Wells hit Mideast airline 35mm camera type Massage option Takes care of dinner, say Stage awards In the know about Hurriers they’re not Rectangular game pieces Thrash Pricing word Formerly, formerly Make __: employ Deletions Filled (with) Good word The way it goes Dull, ringing sound Profit from a swab? Man of Milano “House” actor UCLA athlete Mirage, maybe Silly-looking steak? “Naughty!” New addition Cards with pics ’90s U.S. Poet Laureate __ Dove

49 50 53 58 59 60 62 63 66 67 68 70 71 73 76 77 78

Sri Lankan language Parade concern “This comes __ surprise” Needing salt, perhaps Asked for milk, in a way Yard filler “Yeah, right!” Fightin’ Dental restoration Poet’s adverb Put one’s feet up Trouble big-time High-fives, e.g. Nasty campaigner Knot Loud thuds Letters often seen under antlers 80 Neutral tone 81 Beachgoer’s shield from an offshore breeze 82 GPS reading 85 Ringo Starr predecessor 87 Golf course hazard 88 Couple’s pronoun 89 “Luck of the Draw” vocalist 92 They may be idle 95 Hardly encouraging words 97 Hoops gp. 98 Game played with sticks 99 Hang around 100 Think pieces

102 Supercilious type 103 Heyday 104 Illusory display 105 “Zip your lip!” 106 Display aid 107 Lying atop 108 __ B’rith

109 Passé TV attachments 110 Hit hard 111 “Paula’s Home Cooking” host 114 Half a dance Answer in next month’s issue.

Answer to May’s puzzle, H-Hour

HARPER’S M

INDEX Facts compiled by the editors of Harper’s Magazine

Number of Americans who renounced their citizenship in 2011 : 1,781 Rank of this number among the highest on record : 2 Cost to become a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis : $250,000 Minimum number of U.S. citizens who have disclosed offshore accounts under IRS amnesty programs since 2009 : 33,000 Percentage of its profits that GE paid in federal taxes in the past decade : 2.3 Percentage of the income gains in the first year of the recovery that went to 1 percent of U.S. earners : 93 Maximum decibels at which the cabin crew may whisper in the “Upper Class Dream Suite” on Virgin Atlantic flights : 30 Number of hours Dream Suite crew members must spend with a “whispering coach” : 6 Percentage of lawyers and fast-food workers, respectively, who say their jobs may make the world worse : 3.6, 42.3 Factor by which fleas that fed on Jurassic dinosaurs were larger than today’s common house flea : 10 Number of insect fragments allowed by the FDA in a standard jar of peanut butter : 153 Number of rodent hairs : 5 Percentage of doctors who admit to having lied to a patient within the past year : 11 Percentage increase since 2006 in the number of people going to emergency rooms for routine dental problems : 16 Portion of all wealth in the United States that is controlled by people over the age of forty-two : 9/10 Percentage of African countries in which the median age is twenty or younger : 75 Number of countries in which births are unnaturally male-biased : 23 Portion of the world’s population that lives in those countries : 4/10 Amount of a USAID grant to create a Pakistani version of Sesame Street : $10,000,001 Amount by which the median U.S. newlywed white wife and Asian husband outearns the median newlywed white couple : $11,800 By which they outearn the median newlywed Hispanic couple : $36,222 Average cost of an American wedding : $25,631 Percentage increase last year in the amount Americans spent on full-service wedding planners : 40 Amount Mazda will give to the NEA for every child who gets a parent to take a test-drive : $25 Portion of black American households that have no assets other than a car : 1/4 Number of discrimination complaints received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2011 : 99,947 Rank of that number among the highest in the agency’s history : 1 Total advertising revenue of the U.S. newspaper industry in 2011 : $23,900,000,000 Of Google : $36,500,000,000 Estimated percentage of orders submitted by high-frequency stock traders that are canceled : 95 Portion of American consumers currently being targeted by third-party debt collectors : 1/7 Percentage of Detroit homicides in 2011 that were ruled “justifiable” : 10 Amount the average U.S. worker spends annually on coffee : $1,092 Estimated decrease in metric tons of cocaine consumed in the United States each year between 1998 and 2008 : 102 Amount a Barcelona non-profit is paying the Catalonian village of Rasquera to lease land for marijuana growing : $1,719,171 Estimated percentage of the village’s population that will be employed by the growers : 30 Portion of Sudan’s oil exports bought by China last year : 2/3 Date on which a Slovakian government agency opened online voting to name a bridge over the Morava River : 2/21/2012 Percentage of voters who sought to name the bridge after Chuck Norris : 75 Number of babies born in Alberta, Canada, last year who were given the name “Unique” : 2

Index Sources 1,2 Andrew Mitchel LLC (Essex, Conn.); 3 St. Kitts & Nevis Citizenship-by-Investment Unit (Basseterre); 4 U.S. Treasury; 5 Citizens for Tax Justice (Washington); 6 Emmanuel Saez, University of California, Berkeley; 7,8 Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. (Norwalk, Conn.); 9 PayScale (Seattle); 10 Michael Engel, The University of Kansas (Lawrence); 11,12 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (White Oak, Md.); 13 Mongan Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston); 14 Pew Center on the States (Washington); 15 Pew Research Center (Washington); 16 Population Reference Bureau (Washington); 17,18 United Nations Population Fund (N.Y.C.)/Harper’s research; 19 USAID/Pakistan (Islamabad); 20,21 Pew Research Center (Washington); 22,23 The Wedding Report (Tucson); 24 Mazda (Washington); 25 Pew Social & Demographic Trends (Washington); 26,27 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; 28 Newspaper Association of America (Arlington, Va.); 29 Google (Mountain View, Calif.); 30 Tabb Group (Westborough, Mass.); 31 Federal Reserve Bank of New York (N.Y.C.); 32 City of Detroit Police Department; 33 Accounting Principals (N.Y.C.); 34 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Brussels); 35,36 ABCDA (Barcelona); 37 U.S. Energy Information Administration; 38,39 Harper’s research; 40 Service Alberta (Edmonton).

JUNE 2012

■

ICON

■

the last word RARELY, IF EVER, DOES the design of a new prison get the attention of the architectural community. What usually happens is that old, abandoned prisons get noticed but for quite different reasons. Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison, for instance, was built in 1896 and designed by an architectural firm, Wilson Brothers & Company, whose name sounds more like a shoe manufacturer than a reputable architect on the order of, say, John Haviland, who designed Eastern State Penitentiary. In general, architects of note seem to rarely design prisons, almost as if they find the whole process counter-inspirational. The Holmesburg design copied the layout of Eastern State Penitentiary, especially the way the lighting of individual prison cells came through sun slits in each cell roof. Holmesburg’s fieldstone walls have a foreboding and medieval look, and the prison’s spoke and wheel design radi-

ates outward Eastern State style, a kind of mandala or stone sun radiating not light but rays of appalling conditions, like abuse and torture. Holmesburg, of course, was a prison steeped in scandal, going back to 1922 when The Evening Public Ledger called it “the worst prison in the United States.” This summing up practically duplicates Charles Dickens’s comments on ESP when he toured it in 1842. The small and otherwise quaint town of Holmesburg took a particularly hard beating from Philadelphia when it was selected as the dumping ground for incarcerated undesirables. Up the street from Holmesburg Prison is the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. Two buildings in such close proximity give a good portion of the town the look of a barbed wire camp. This is no Neiman Marcus strip mall. No doubt the people of Holmesburg never wanted their town to be a force field for medical testing in the 1950s, when University of Penn dermatologist Albert Kligman, got the green light to test radioactive isotopes on unsuspecting convicts, or when the CIA did their part when they tested 58

■

ICON

■

JUNE 2012

THOM NICKELS

ThomNickels1@aol.com

psychotropic drugs on prisoners. Prisons designed today may not have the look of ESP, but what happens when architect-designers start acting like sociologists? How do you build a chic prison that would make prisoners feel better about themselves than those poor souls in Holmesburg? Is it possible to design something that would make everyone wish they were incarcerated there? Two students from the Penn School of Design, Andreas Tjeldflaat and Greg Knobloch, set about doing just this. Their goal was to design an alternative to traditional prisons in the United States. Called the 499.Summit – Skytropolis, the final design of this new urban penitentiary includes three towers in the shape of an arch, with each arch symbolizing incarceration, transformation, and integration. Static is something the design is not. The circulatory feel of the proposed structure is an illusion because it is really something akin to frozen treachery on the verge of unfreezing and lashing out, a sort of pit bull Cyclops or a robotic cop straight out of George Orwell’s Ministry of Love (1984). It is clearly evident that the architects have never known or visited someone in prison. The implied mission statement of the design is that it would reduce recidivism because of the symbolic flow of the “healing” of the building’s circulatory parts (symbolizing transformation and integration) that resemble monstrous human appendages. Skytropolis is nothing but an academic exercise in dark satire. Where has anyone read that exterior spaces can work interior changes in the lives of prisoners? Buildings may soothe, comfort and provide a sense of aesthetic pleasure, but to say that they can change internal physiognomy is delusional. If anything, this towering, cold design does little to produce feelings of peace and happiness, especially the all-seeing eye lens screen at the top, which ought to have a flashing neon sign reading: A college example of spectacle over substance. IN SHERWOOD ANDERSON’S SHORT STORY collection, Winesburg, Ohio, there’s a story called “Hands” that speaks to a certain mood in the nation today. That crisis is called extreme Predator Spotting. Can you spot a predator? In Anderson’s story the main character is not really a predator; he’s someone who has been mistaken as a predator because as a school teacher he had been a little too free with his hands. A lonely man of quiet power, school teacher Adolph Meyer would think nothing of caressing the shoulders or the tussled hair of his male students in order to give them encouragement. Sexual abuse was not on this man’s mind, but one day one of the students, plagued by a forbidden fantasy, accuses Meyer of using his hands for other things. Without benefit of a trial or hearing, the townspeople beat and attempt to hang Meyer, forcing him to move to another town and change his name. In a nation (and world) heavily tarnished by child sex abuse, it is understandable if Predator Spotting (PS) has gotten out of hand. After all, look at Jerry Sandusky: athletic coach, all American family man, and churchgoer. When the Penn State crises erupted students and residents there were shocked that a respected pillar of the community—a married heterosexual man—was being branded as a pedophile.

That shock expressed itself in countless interviews with students and residents trying to make sense out of the accusations, and attempting to piece together the allegations with the man they thought they knew. Once a pillar of the community, Sandusky didn’t fit the stereotype, but the Penn State folks, if they’d been up on the subject, would have realized that the classic predator is not “detectable” at all: there’s no Oscar Wilde flamboyance, no lavender perfume. While it’s a good thing that real cases of child sex abuse continue to be prosecuted, has the attention given to this issue over the last ten years now led to an era of overcompensation? Are we entering a fever pitch era where “any cost” could mean a kind of Orwellian overreach? Consider a recent suspension of a Delaware County Catholic school principal after a “safe environment” training course was implemented in the school. The trainer no doubt went into St. Madeline-St. Rose parish school with good intentions. The mission was to elaborate on appropriate boundaries between students and teachers. In some presentations like this, one can easily imagine a trainer asking the students to review in their mind what they have experienced from teachers that made them feel uncomfortable. One can visualize this as a test question that students feel obligated to answer. “Reach!” the trainer may have said, “Can you tell me if any boundaries were broken? Think! Think!” According to news reports, a few kids raised their hands and pinpointed the principal. They complained that “he did things to make them feel uncomfortable.” The Predator Spotting Alarm then went off. A private huddle among administrators followed, and then the kids are brought into a room and questioned. A female student said that the principal put the manufacturer’s tag back in her shirt. A male student said that the principal put a wet finger in his ear. Other male students complained that the principal entered the restroom when they were there. As a result of these accusations, the principal was put on leave while police and the DA investigated the charges, which in the end were dismissed. Meanwhile, the professional reputation of the principal lies in ruins. He may be transferred to another school, but wherever he goes there will be a cloud of suspicion over his head. Administrators won’t hire him for another school because of his controversial background. Supporters of high velocity PS will say that this is a small price to pay for the thousands of children who continue to be abused nationwide. That’s an easy thing to say when it’s not your reputation or future on the line. My eight years in a Catholic grammar school and four years in a public high school entailed many encounters with teachers who made me feel uncomfortable. The nuns, for instance thought nothing of walking into the boys room when they felt that the boys were in there too long. Looking back, I was ear lobe-pinched, ruler-slapped, and made to clap erasers, and these were the comfortable experiences. ■

calendar ART EXHIBITS Thru 6/17 John Schmidtberger: Observations. The Quiet Life Gallery, 17 So. Main St., Lambertville, NJ. Open Wed.- Sun. 609-397-0880. quietlifegallery.com Thru 6/17 The Art of the Miniature, Invitational Exhibition of Fine Art Miniatures from Around the World. The Snow Goose Gallery, 470 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. www.thesnowgoosegallery.com. 610-974-9099 THRU 6/30 A Torn Continent Revisited, photography by Pierrot Man of Madagascar. Dakota Ridge Gallery, 9 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA. Fri-Sun 11-5. dakotaridgegallery.com. THRU 6/30 New works by landscape impressionists. Rich Timmons Studio & Gallery, 3795 Rte. 202, Doylestown. 267-247-5867. 3795gallery.com THRU 6/30 Hot Fun in the Summertime: John Schmidtberger. An exhibition featuring oil paintings set in Upper Bucks & Hunterdon Counties, and Mid-Coast Maine. SFA Gallery, 10 Bridge St., Suite 7, Frenchtown, NJ 08825. 908-268-1700, www.sfagallery.com, www.johnspainting.com THRU 7/1 Keith Sharp: Fabrications. Artist’s reception, 6/10, 1-4pm. 3rd Street Gallery, 58 N. 2nd St., Phila. Wed.Sun. 12-5 and by appointment. 215625-0993. 3rdstreetgallery.com THRU 7/1 Embracing Zen, an exhibit of meditative art and poetry by NicholasKirsten Honshin. Designs for Tranquility, 41 Bridge St., Frenchtown, NJ. 908-996-9990 www.designsfortranquility.com THRU 7/1 “Terra Emotta,” Chip Forelli, “Alternative Views,” and Soho Photo Gallery group show. “Monochrome Winter” in Upstairs Gallery II. Red Filter Gallery, Thurs.- Sun. 12- 5, 74 Bridge St, Lambertville, NJ. 347244-9758. redfiltergallery.com THRU 7/15 Salvatore Pinto: A Retrospective Celebrating the Barnes Legacy. [See review on page 8] Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA woodmereartmuseum.org

THRU 7/15 Haunting Narratives. Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA woodmereartmuseum.org

area. Patricia Hutton Galleries, 47 W. State St., Doylestown, PA. 215-3481728. PatriciaHuttonGalleries.com

THRU 8/10 Offering of the Angels. Treasures from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA. 215-340-9800. michenerartmuseum.org

6/1-8/5 Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, King John, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, on the Center Valley campus of DeSales University. 610-282WILL; www.pashakespeare.org

THRU 8/31 Kardon Gallery, Doylestown’s newest art gallery, showcasing paintings by Si Lewen. 139 So. Main St., Doylestown, PA. Wed.-Sat. 10-6, Sun. 12-6, and by appt. 215-4894287. www.kardongallery.com 6/1-6/30 New works by landscape impressionists, Roger Dale Brown & Beverly Ford Evans. Rich Timmons Studio & Gallery, 3795 Rte. 202, Doylestown, PA. 267-247-5867. www.3795gallery.com. 6/2-10/21 To Stir, Inform, and Inflame: The Art of Tony Auth. [See Review on page 10.] Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA. 215-340-9800. michenerartmuseum.org 6/3-9/9 Victor Stabin—Daedal Doodle: An Extraordinary Journey through the Alphabet. [See interview with Victor Stabin on page 30.] Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 N., 5th. St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. allentownartmuseum.org 6/3-9/9 At the Edge, Art of the Fantastic. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 N., 5th. St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. allentownartmuseum.org 6/6-7/6 The Lehigh Art Alliance 77th Annual Spring juried Exhibition. Opening Reception: June 6, 6-8 pm; Awards at 7 pm. The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden Street, Allentown, PA www.baumschool.org 6/8-7/8 TransFICTION. Paintings by Rosemary Castiglioni. Twenty-Two Gallery, 236 So. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA. 215-772-1911. twenty-twogallery.com 6/22-9/2 Summer Vacation. Paintings of Coastal New England by artists from New England and the Bucks County

THEATER

6/13-7/1 Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA, 18034. On the Campus of DeSales University. 610-282-WILL. pashakespeare.org 6/13-7/29 Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, Hairspray, HMS Pinafore, and Harold and the Purple Crayon. Muhlenberg College Studio Theatre, Trexler Pavillion for Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. 484664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt DINNER & MUSIC Saturday nights: Sette Luna Restaurant, 219 Ferry St., Easton, PA. 610253-8888. setteluna.com

6/16:

6/22: 6/28: 6/29: 7/1: 7/5: 7/6: 7/7:

7/12: 7/13:

7/14: 7/20:

7/24: 7/28: 7/30: 7/31: 8/16: 8/17:

Kazin Classic Albums Live - The Doors - “LA Woman” and Greatest Hits Sonny Landreth Moe Moe Collective Soul Rubix Kube - 80's Party! John Mayall The Craig Thatcher / Mike Dugan Allman Brothers Band Tribute Little River Band Stand Up Comedy Double Feature: Robert Kelly and Pete Correale Philadelphia Funk Authority Soundtrack Comes Alive Great White Caps / Point Break Conor Oberst with Dawes Here Come the Mummies Happy Together Tour 2012 Pat Metheny Unity Band Galactic Joan Osborne (Acoustic)

MUSIKFEST SANDS STEEL STAGE (PNC Plaza at SteelStacks) 610-332-1300. Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/sandssteelstage Ticket required.

CONCERTS 8/3: Some organizations perform in various locations. If no address is listed, check the website for location of performance. 6/10 & 7/8 Valley Vivaldi, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. 7:30. Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA. 610-434-7811. www.PASinfonia.org 6/14 Trace Adkins, 8pm.. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. $72/$65. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999 state. statetheatre.org ARTSQUEST CENTER AT STEELSTACKS (Musikfest Café) 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. artsquest.org 6/3: 6/6: 6/7: 6/8: 6/10: 6/13: 6/15:

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk Tommy Emmanuel Dickey Betts & Great Southern Edwin McCain Lindsey Buckingham Bruce Hornsby/Noisemakers ENCORE Hosted By The Bang Group's David Parker And Jeff

8/4: 8/5: 8/6: 8/7: 8/8:

8/9: 8/10: 8/11: 8/12:

Young the Giant with special guests Portugal. The Man Sublime with Rome MGMT with Atlas Sound Joe Cocker and Huey Lewis and the News Goo Goo Dolls The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue featuring Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs Jane’s Addiction An Evening with Sheryl Crow Daughtry Boston

MUSIKFEST AMERICAPLATZ AT LEVITT PAVILION STAGE 610-332-1300. Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/free FREE, no ticket required. 8/3: 8/3: 8/4: 8/4: 8/4: 8/5: 8/5: 8/5: 8/6:

Butterjive Doug Hawk Proposition The Pine Hollows The StereoFidelics Trouble City All Stars Running Late The Four Walls Revolution, I Love You Scott Pine and the Conifers

8/6: 8/7: 8/7: 8/8: 8/9: 8/9: 8/9: 8/10: 8/10: 8/11: 8/11: 8/11:

MiZ Andrew Portz Band Tavern Tan Kill the Broadcast Four the Day Dan Mills The Young Werewolves Lunic XVSK They Were Only Satellites Just Married Kalob Griffin Band

MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE One of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters, built in 1881. 14 West Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA 570-325-0249. mauchchunkoperahouse.com 6/8: 6/9: 6/15: 6/16: 6/22: 6/23: 6/29: 6/30: 7/7: 7/12: 7/20: 7/21: 7/26: 7/27: 7/28:

Cabinet Craig Thatcher’s Salute to the Fillmore Paul Thorn Band Peek-A-Boo Revue Leon Redbone The Felice Brothers US Rails with the Sterling Koch Band The Cast of Beatlemania Sierra Hull and Highway 111 Red Horse: Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky Dancin’ Machine: A retro party The Persuasions Solas Hot Buttered Rum U2Nation EVENTS

6/1-6/3 81st Annual Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show, 18th and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia. RittenhouseSquareArt.org. 6/15 Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society 25th Annual Summer Pottery Festival GALA, 6-9pm.Silent auction, live music, hors d’oeuvres, and wine. 6826 Corning Rd., Zionsville, PA. 610-965- 5019. stahlspottery.com 6/16 Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society Presents its 25th Annual Summer Pottery Festival, 9am-4pm. Pottery, demonstrations. 6826 Corning Rd., Zionsville, PA. 610-965-5019. stahlspottery.com 7/6-15 New Hope Film Festival. newhopefilmfest.blogspot.com

JUNE 2012

ICON