ICON Magazine by ICON Magazine

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

contents

AUGUST ~ 2012

INTERVIEW TALE OF THE DELIGHTFULLY ARCANE I 26 For a time in the ‘80s, there was but one place where ambient electronic soundscapes, softly spun African polyrhythm, the wail of troubadour folk and the aged earthen melodies of Eastern Europe merged: Dead Can Dance.

FEATURES WHY THE NEWSROOM IS NECESSARY I 28 Rodin Museum, renovated exterior, 2011. Photograph courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard.

HBO’s new Aaron Sorkin drama may be idealist and transparently liberal, but it’s the kind of media mirror our junk-food society needs.

DINNER WITH DICKENS I 30 But for the fact that he missed an audition in Covent Garden due to illness, Charles Dickens might have become an actor instead of an author. Gerald Dickens, his great, great grandson—and an actor—sat down to talk about his famous ancestor while performing in Kilkenny, Ireland.

OPINION

COLUMNS

A Tragedy We Will Not Try to Avert | 5

City Beat | 5

Lexicrockery | 58

Jim Delpino | 39

ART

Sally Friedman | 40

Restoration | 7

STAGE

A Funky New Chest for the Barnes | 8

Regional Theater | 44

ETCETERA

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

Lords of Time | 10

Much Ado About Nothing;

Exhibitions | 12

Say Goodnight Gracie; State Fair;

Harper’s Index | 57

Quodlibetical Moments | 13

Cymbeline; Runaway Broadway;

Calendar | 59

FILM Cinematters | 16 Ruby Sparks

J.J. Johnson

Day Trip | 55

Alliteration of the Month | 6

The Rodin Resurrection | 14

Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy on HBO’s The Newsroom.

Jazz Library | 54

Keresman on Film | 18 Moonrise Kingdom Bad Movie | 20 Prometheus Reel News | 22 A Separation; The Hunter; Nostalgia for the Light; Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax Film Roundup | 24 The Queen of Versailles; 360; Goats; Killer Joe

Roger Ricker; Quince Productions Footlights | 45 Empire

MUSIC Classical Notebook | 46 Simon Rattle Singer / Songwriter | 48 Don Williams; The Nighthawks; The Blasters; The English Beat; Mary Chapin Carpenter Keresman on Disc | 50 Mark Stewart; The Corner Laughers; The Ripe; Swans; Cornelius Dufallo;

FOOD

Icebreaker/B.J. Cole; Janel and Anthony

Il Tartufo | 35 Brian’s | 36

WINE Hard Apple Cider | 38

Nick’s Picks | 52 Michael Pedicin; Steve Davis; Sebastian Noelle; Pat Metheny; Marcus Miller

Gerald Dickens and his sister Nicky Flynn.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

ON THE COVER: Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920, Redheaded Girl in Evening Dress (Jeune fille rousse en robe de soir), 1918. Oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 28 3/4 in. Page 8.

opinion

city beat

EDITED BY THOM NIICKELS

ThomNickels1@aol.com

A tragedy we will not try to avert EUGENE ROBINSON WILL WE EVEN PRETEND to do anything to prevent the next mass shooting by a crazed loner? I doubt it. We’ll just add Aurora to the growing list—Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson—and wait for the inevitable. When that next atrocity comes, we’ll tell each other we’re shocked and stunned, knowing full well we should be neither. We’ll probe the assailant’s life in search of a motive, knowing full well we won’t find one that makes any sense. We’ll comfort the survivors and the victims’ families and assure them their suffering will not be in vain. Meanwhile, somewhere out there, another disturbed young man will be purchasing an assault rifle and making unspeakable plans. I can only conclude that we, as a society, have decided this state of affairs is acceptable, that the occasional murderous rampage is the price we pay for . . . for what? For freedom? For the Second Amendment? For campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association? Forgive me if I sound cynical. I’m afraid I am. Five years ago, I arrived on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, just hours after student Seung Hui Cho’s murderous rampage left 33 dead, including himself. I Grieving parents outside the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. will never forget what it felt like—the stunned disbelief, the white-hot anger, the unbearable sadness of so many young lives being extinguished for no reason, no higher purpose. No purpose at all. I was there as a journalist, so I interviewed witnesses and survivors, took notes, wrote

WE NEARLY SPILLED OUR beer when it was announced that Muhammad Ali will be the recipient of Philadelphia’s 2012 Liberty Medal. Back in the day, Ali’s name was so inflammatory men would crush beer cans and punch ceiling fans at the mention of it. Ali’s selection just goes to show that a future Liberty Medal may be given to the organizers of Occupy Wall Street. Ali’s noble stand against the Vietnam War (in which he refused to serve) almost landed him a five-year prison term, but thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that did not happen. While Philadelphia officials expect Ali’s wife Yolanda to accept the award, at the time of the announcement the city had not yet received confirmation. Will Yolanda show up, or will this be a case of expecting the unexpected when it comes to the three-time World Heavyweight Championship boxer? Winning his first world championship title in 1964, Ali went on to shock many fans with his condemnation of racial integration (thanks to the Nation of Islam) and then homosexuality (Ali went into an antigay rage in 1977 at his Deerlake, Pennsylvania training camp during an Andy Warhol photo shoot). Our fears are probably unfounded, but we’d hate to think that by award ceremony time, Ali and company may have already gone on record as ideologically opposing the Gold Star “service award” industry, $100,000 in free money notwithstanding. Save our Sites (SOS), a preservation group that would like someday like to be as famous as the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, hosted its Annual Spring Tour through Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties with local author Harry Kyriakodis and SOS president, John Dowlin. The thirty or so participants toured three Eastern churches, one of them the William Strickland-designed Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox church, where a work in progress—a gorgeous, half-built thirty-foot high hand-carved iconostasis—cast a mesmerizing spell. At St. Michael the Archangel church nearby, Jewish SOS members loved the Bronx-born “rabbinical ways” of Father Vincent Saverino, who managed to mastermind a rather lengthy Q & A from preservation issues to how Orthodox priests “do it” in terms of marriage and children, while Roman Catholic priests struggle (and fail) when it comes to celibacy. Philadelphia-based filmmaker Andrew Repasky McElhinney is busy filming Christmas Dreams in the city’s Fishtown section. The director of A Chronicle of Corpses (2000), called a “highbrow period film,” Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye (2003), and Animal Husbandry (2008) has indicated that Christmas Dreams “puts a modern twist on a few holiday favorites.” Behind the scenes “extra” work is always time consuming. While I once played an ambulance attendant on the filmed-in-Philly Hack TV series, I’ve never seen a cast as large as Christmas Dreams. There were more children on the set than at an Al Alberts Showcase reunion. Most of the kids looked like they had stepped out of dozens of Hollywood auditions: Hallmark-card cute, and so well groomed you can almost imagine their parents in the background yelling, “Be a star! Be a star!” I played a wealthy cocktail party attendee holding a champagne flute filled with ginger ale and had to mimic faux conversations, handshakes, and kisses on the cheek as my fellow extras, like PAFA’s Kevin Richards and former TLA’er Ray Duval imagined they were attending the party of the year. When you are a director in charge of a cast this big it’s like being a mayor of a small town, and the normally relaxed and low key McElhinney at one point had to thunder out (bullhorn in hand) a “Ladies and gentlemen, be quiet!” at the entire extra ensemble not long before our scene was filmed. That request, of course, worked like a charm: our scene was shot in two takes, not bad especially when you have children in small tuxedos and flowing dresses dancing around like the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey and Afghanistan. Last year the participant-base was not very diverse at Philly’s first annual Vendy Awards (the crowning of the city’s best food truck). The event was held at the Piazza in Northern Liberties where there were more fedoras and plaid shirts than regular people. Let’s hope that this year’s 39th and Market Street University City location may bring in some new fashion trends.

> AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

6 5

5 / OPINION / A TRAGEDY WE WILL NOT TRY TO AVERT

icon 5 / CITY BEAT

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

Filling the hunger since 1992 columns. But I was hardly an objective observer because I’m a father who has sent two sons off to college. And to the movies. At [the] prayer vigil in Aurora, Colo., speakers took pains not to mention the name of the assailant who shot dead 12 people at the premiere of the new Batman film. President Obama, too, deliberately failed to mention the killer’s name in his remarks. It was appropriate to keep the focus on the victims rather than the monster. But James Eagan Holmes does have a name—and an all-too-familiar story. An intense young man becomes unmoored, obsessed, unhinged, somehow divorced from reality. Those who notice the change have no authority to do anything. He assembles a high-powered arsenal obviously meant not for sport but for killing. Almost before the last shell casing clatters to the ground, the fruitless debate begins: Do we focus on the man or the gun? Clearly, there are two issues involved in these mass killings. The more difficult one has to do with mental health. We know that young adulthood is a volatile time for men in general. We know that symptoms of a number of serious mental disorders, such as paranoid schizophrenia, typically appear between the teens and the mid-30s. We know that the mobility that characterizes modern life can foster a sense of rootlessness, perhaps a sense of alienation. We also know that parents and other loved ones are often powerless to intervene—if, indeed, they even become aware of a potential problem. There is no simple way to identify the handful of individuals who are quietly spinning out of control, unseen behind closed doors. We should make society more caring; we should be more connected with one another. But this does not constitute a legislative agenda. The simple issue is access to weapons and explosives. Among the three guns that Holmes allegedly brought into the movie theater was a Smith & Wesson assault rifle with an oversize, 100-round magazine. This weapon jammed, according to police, leaving Holmes with a shotgun and a pistol. Had the assault rifle worked properly, the toll surely would have been much higher. An unstable person can walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon designed for deadly combat. No meaningful questions asked. Have a nice day, Mr. Joker. This is crazy. Minimal gun control—such as prohibiting assault weapons—wouldn’t eliminate these massacres, but it would prevent some and mitigate others. Lives would be saved. Congress should pass an assault weapons ban this morning and the president should sign it tonight. Right. Dream on. Instead, we’ll argue endlessly about whether we should focus on the man or the gun, and the effect will be to focus on neither. The next James Holmes is out there, so is his instrument of murder, and we will do nothing to keep them apart. ■

alliteration of the month

QFest, Philadelphia’s 18-year-old gay and lesbian international film festival, has always been a high point of midsummer. In years past, when the festival was smaller, opening receptions were held at the Society Hill Hotel in Old City. The scope and breadth of things changed and opening nights were moved to the Bell Atlantic building or, as is the case this year, to Table 31 at The Comcast Center. A few years ago, a famous television news reporter attended the Bell Atlantic event. This year we looked for Anderson Cooper, but instead found Terracino’s delightful film, Elliot Loves, 17 years in the making, which didn’t quite attract a full house at the Ritz East, but which did offer the audience plenty of beautiful characters, or tough guys who like to kiss other guys. The festival’s 2012 film offerings fixated less on young gay men or women coming out or in love, in effect killing Christopher Hitchens’ line (read Hitch-22) that “homosexuality is only for the young.” At the official Rodin Museum opening we sampled miniature medallion French toast and quiche wafers, but then found that we couldn’t leave the renovated space until long after the party was over. PMA director Timothy Rub opened the ceremonies and curator Joseph J. Rishel let it hang out with this bomb: “This place used to be disgusting.” Meaning, of course, under-utilized and falling apart. But not anymore. Our inability to walk away from the pop up café near the reflecting pool was shared by many. The Rodin needs to think about opening a warm weather café near the pool so that all Philadelphians will stay glued to the spot. ■

VICTOR STABIN

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

hedonistic helix Hedonistic, adj. Devoted to pleasure-seeking. Helix, n. A spiral, either lying in a single plane or, especially, moving around a cone, cylinder, etc., as the thread of a screw .

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 through 9/9.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 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

STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

estoration

THE RIVER HAS ALWAYS been an integral part of life—a place to get food and water, a means of transportation, and a source of power. In colonial times, a person traveling between New York and Philadelphia on the York Road would cross the Delaware River just above the rapids at a town called Coryell’s Ferry. The confluence with Ingham Creek at the same location provided additional power for a mill, Hope Mill, which after suffering a fire and being rebuilt was renamed the New Hope Mill. A bridge replaced the ferry and the town took the name of the mill, which happened a lot back in those days. You called places by what you found there. The Delaware Canal was built beside the river and ran right through the town, bringing shipping traffic between upstate Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. A river lock allowed barges to cross to the canal on the Jersey side so goods could be sent through Trenton all the way to New York. New Hope was a happening place. In time the canal was replaced by rail, the mill went fallow and the town’s role in commerce diminished. But its location and scenic beauty provided the basis for a new life as a prominent center for the arts. It became the home for generations of painters, writers, composers and playwrights. The mill was rebuilt as The Bucks County Playhouse in 1939 and became nationally famous as a springboard for new plays and future stars.

Robert Beck is a painter and writer who lives in Bucks County. His fall exhibition, Home Again, opens October 20 at the Gallery of Robert Beck in Lambertville. View his work at www.robertbeck.net

The list of Playhouse alumni is astonishing: Moss Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Edward Everett Horton, George C. Scott, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (who had their first production together at the Playhouse), Robert Redford. The list goes on. Many famous Broadway plays such as Barefoot in the Park, Harvey, and Give ‘Em Hell Harry were launched in New Hope, and they showcased West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? When the Playhouse went into decline and finally closed its doors, it was a big loss on many levels. It’s not easy to rescue a historic treasure, especially a large one like a ship or a building. The deeper you get into reality, the larger looms the problem of how much it’s going to cost. Everyone wants to save the playhouse, nobody wants it to become condos or a McBadburger’s, and there’s no money. Turning the Playhouse into something else would be a constant reminder of what isn’t anymore. Taking it down would be a stake in the heart. The news that a very generous couple created a foundation to restore the playhouse, a notable Broadway producer signed on as producing director, the building was going to be restored and equity performances were again going to be presented in New Hope seemed beyond possible. But in a matter of months we were attending the ribbon-cutting before the first performance. It was an extraordinary effort by capable and committed people. I was looking at the names taped to the backs of the chairs arranged for the ceremony when I landed on one that read Eli Wallach. Glancing up, I saw him enter the crowd waving his cane over his head, wife on his arm, ninety-seven and excited to be coming to the show. There is a term, presque vu, the sensation of being on the brink of an epiphany—the feeling that something is on the tip of your tongue. In the back of my mind I heard something fall into place. It happened again when the son of Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle mentioned being presented as an infant to the audience at the Playhouse, as is theater tradition. I realized that at that moment I’d become part of the grand history of the Bucks County Playhouse, instead of just reading about it. The restoration of the Playhouse is remarkable, honoring a rich heritage and focused on the future. And the production I saw was stunning, full of power and polish. During the intermission I found myself thinking about the actors who came to New Hope and took the Bucks County Playhouse stage over those glorious 70 years. I could imagine Walter Matthau, Grace Kelly and Liza Minnelli standing on the back deck on a summer night, looking out at the lights of Lambertville reflected in the water, wondering—as we all do when watching the river—where tomorrow will find us. n AUGUST 2012

ICON

art

GEOFF GEHMAN

Funky

New Chest

for the Barnes Foundation’s

Funky

Old Treasure

FOR NINE DECADES THE BARNES Foundation has been awing and annoying art aficionados of all stripes. Nowhere else are so many superior and not-so-superior paintings by so many masters—Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau, Soutine— stacked with so many exAfter three hours of touring the new traordinary and ordinary Barnes three times, I was feeling bombed decorations: Pennsylvania out. Weary feet, aching neck, foggy German chests and Gerbrain—you name it, I had it. In my deliri- man hinges, African masks and Spanish shrines— um a strap hinge was starting to look like none of which have wall laa gutter bracket. Hell, even the Renoirs bels. Exhilarating and exhausting, the collection seemed, well, rosier. was assembled and arranged by Dr. Albert C. Barnes (1871-1952), the radical eye-disinfectant mogul who arranged works by color rather than chronology, form rather than format, to create new ways of not only seeing but living. The great debate will be greater now that the Barnes collection has moved from its original 87-year-old house on a residential street in the Pennsylvania suburb of Merion to a new strikingly sculptural home on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia’s art artery. The five-mile move was engineered by the foundation’s trustees, who insisted the organization couldn’t survive with Merion’s severe restrictions (public hours three days a week, limit of 1,200-odd weekly visitors, reservations made 30 days in advance). They convinced a Montgomery County judge to amend Albert Barnes’s indenture of trust, which decreed that his collection had to remain in its first location forever. Supporters call the move a sane solution. The Barnes, they insist, can thrive with major changes (public hours six days a week, no cap on weekly visitors, day-of reservations) in a major city in a neighborhood with major tourist attractions (the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Franklin Institute). Opponents call the move a heretical heist. Albert Barnes, they insist, would curse the heavens knowing that his collection is now housed in his hometown of Philadelphia, which he hated for its provincial, nasty art critics. This

Geoff Gehman covered the original home of the Barnes Foundation collection as an arts writer for The Morning Call in Allentown. He is the author of The Kingdom of the Kid, a memoir of growing up in the middle-class, long-lost Hamptons that will be published in 2013 by SUNY Press. He can be reached at geoffgehman@verizon.net.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French, 1864–1901, A Montrouge–Rosa La Rouge, 1886–1887. Oil on canvas, 28 3/8 x 19 1/8 in.

art

LORDS of TIME

This stone carving of the Maize God, 725 CE, created during the Maya Classic Period, the artistic zenith of Maya civilization. Object on loan from Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. Photo: Alexandra Fleischman for Penn Museum.

â&#x2013;

ICON

â&#x2013;

AUGUST 2012

THE ORIGINAL MAYA CIVILIZATION is generally understood to have existed centuries ago in Central America. From archeological remains, we know they built cities with tall pyramid-like structures made of stone that were situated in dense jungle regions. They also developed a very sophisticated approach to numbers, produced a useful writing system, invented a calendar, created beautiful pottery, religiously significant carvings and elaborate, faith-based ceremonies. Scattered remnants of that ancient society are still found today in southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Apparently, the thriving state of the original Maya world collapsed between 850 and 900 of the Current Era. It then became an assortment of dispersed people without a formally organized, ongoing central core. Later, what had once been a singular ethnic strain drifted completely apart when invaders from Spain arrived and took control of the geographic area. These European arrivals continued to dominate the region for several centuries thereafter.

From the wall of Guatemalan supernatural masks, 1940-2000 CE. Masks were made of wood, paint, leather and metal, worn in dances and processions and used to represent specific historical characters from the Spanish Conquest. Photo: Steve Minicola.

BURT WASSERMAN

All of these facts come into vivid focus in an exhibition currently on view in the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology at 32nd and South Sts., across from Franklin Field in center-city Philadelphia. Titled Maya, 2012 Lords of Time, it is scheduled to remain there until January 13, 2013. Aside from the fascination of contemporary scholarship with the remains that have been found to date, there is also a belief held by some individuals who think that according to the old Maya calendar, our world is due to end this year, 2012. By comparison, other experts in the field are convinced that new cycles of existence will begin in December and the world as we know it today will not entirely disappear. The notion, that the end of the planet is near at hand, is given some support by a series of video images placed at the opening portion of the exhibition. To be sure, this idea is quite provocative. Because it is, it makes for a stimulating inducement not to miss seeing the exhibition in its entirety. Beyond the issue of the end-of-the-world, the display offers an interested visitor a superb close-up on over 150 specimens found at Copan in modern day Honduras where an authenticated site of ancient Maya culture once flourished. The entire exhibition is soundly presented with valuable informative texts, legible labeling and excellent background data. Accompanying diagrams and photographs fill out the exhibition with meaningful substance in depth. An especially interesting concept, offering helpful insight into one of the important themes of the show, is the idea that various authority figures who lived long ago in the time of the classic Maya presence, used the calendar to assert their power. Specifically, they presented themselves as a living reality, sanctioned by hallowed gods. whose pronouncements were to be respected and obeyed. All of this comes through in artistic forms that were given shape and a sense of permanence in carved stone. Those in charge also exercised a striking power of expression by using color with sensitivity and restraint. Unfortunately, much of their productive resources ceased to function when the Spanish Conquistadors took control of their lands and their culture. Clearly, the spears they held in their hands were no match for the destructive power of gunpowder and firearms used by the Europeans. Besides offering visitors an exhilarating journey back to the time of the Maya, the Penn Museum also provides exposure to an exceptional accumulation of artworks and artifacts from various historic periods and geographic locations all over the earth. Celebrating the existence of the human family wherever it has flourished, the Museum extends opportunities to become acquainted with societies that have transformed, or have come and gone, in such areas of the globe as the Arctic, Africa, Asia, Europe, Pacific Oceana and both North and South America. For children and adults of all ages, the Museum provides adventures in discovery able to promote deep understanding of humankind’s grand cross cultural heritage. And if you’ve been there before, a return visit will make it possible to see and enjoy what you may have missed earlier. n

Right: Censer Lid with Royal Figure Holding Flint. Ceramic, ca 695 CE, Honduras, Copan. This figure, holding a wrapped flint blade in his right hand, represents a king of the Copan dynasty. His headdress is topped with Central Mexican year symbols, while his beaded shoulder cape carries symbols of flowing precious liquid. His identity is unknown, yet iconography suggests that he may be a 6th Century King. The censer lids are on loan from the Instituto Hondureño de Antropologia e Historia of the Republic of Honduras. Photo: Alexandra Fleischman for Penn Museum.

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. AUGUST 2012

ICON

exhibitions

Alluring Pendant by Cynthia K. Prediger, Cynthia K Jewelry. Sterling Silver roller-printed, forged, with glass beads and textured copper.

Fine Crafts at the Winery Bucks County Guild of Craftsmen New Hope Winery, 6123 Route 202, New Hope, PA www.bucksguild.org/Winery2012 Sat., Aug. 25, 10-5; Sun., Aug. 26, 11-5 The Guild has assembled a talented group of more than 20 members for the show, which will focus on handcrafted jewelry, functional and decorative woodturnings, pottery, weavings, and other works including fused glass and contemporary furnishings. The original works of our featured craftsmen have been juried for excellence in craftsmanship, resolved design, and unique style. There will be a wine-tasting bar with food available during the show.

Twin Dragons by Paula Lewis, Designs by Lara. A copper square with multiple layers of transparent and translucent enamel & a rectangle layered with translucent and transparent enamels over a pair of red maple leaves.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

San Francisco Area Fighter, 30 x 40, oil on canvas.

Fearless. Fighters’ Portraits by Elise Dodeles The Quiet Life Gallery 17 South Main Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-0880 www.quietlifegallery.com Wednesday-Sunday 11 am-5 pm August 10-September 30, 2012 Opening Reception 8/11, 3:00 pm This August and September local artist Elise Dodeles will be exhibiting her paintings at The Quiet Life gallery in Lambertville. For this exhibition, Dodeles has continued to focus her attention on photographs found in libraries and archives. Specifically, she has used as inspiration an album of 1½ x 2½ inch photos of mostly anonymous San Francisco area boxers from the Olympic Club, taken during the years 1910-1930, which she discovered in the Rare Books Department of Princeton University where she works part time. The artist says of her work: In previous paintings, I juxtaposed images found in photographs and illustrations to create compositions that addressed issues of class, race, gender, and power. However, I wanted to stop forcing content into my work and was searching for imagery strong enough to allow me to concentrate on the act of painting itself to provide the content. The Olympic Club photograph album displayed the beauty of these men’s faces, with their lives etched upon them, and was the perfect vehicle for me to accomplish my goal of letting my painting technique echo the content that already existed. With these portrait paintings I am determined to continue to express what unites each of us: that is, to highlight and make tangible our human vulnerability when faced with life's sufferings and despair, and occasionally, its triumphs.

Ryan Schingeck Metropolitan Fine Art Routes 202 and 263 Suite 8B (opposite Penn’s Purchase), Lahaska, PA 267-544-0882 www.themetfa.com Ryan was always told he had more of a wild, chaotic, free style to his drawings that were unique and cool to look at. Using this method in college, Ryan began producing wire sculptures that were told to resemble props out of a Tim Burton movie. Although not specifically inspired by such films, he enjoyed creating original, messy, and somewhat ‘nightmarish’ structures that can be interpreted in many different ways. Currently, Ryan is studying 3D animation with many of the industry’s bests from Pixar, Dreamworks, and Blue Sky studios. He lives his life completely in the moment, enjoys adventure and trying new things. In the future he hopes to travel the country sharing his artwork and experimenting with different sizes and arrangements. Ryan doesn’t always have a clear idea or meaning behind each piece he starts, usually that develops over time. Typically, he begins each piece with a rough idea referring to a shape or object that he was inspired by. He likes to look at all objects in a different perspective. Upon beginning, each piece usually starts off more organic and will later transform into abstract, which may present a whole variety of new ideas. He is a very spiritual person. Having gone through moments of his life where he believed he was in his own living nightmare, he has come a long way. He likes to incorporate many elements that may resemble dream-like qualities in the sense that he believes every living moment is much like a 100% controlled dream.

VICTOR STABIN’S UNAUTHORIZED

NPR CAUTIONARY TALES

Quodlibetical moments

&^%$#%*$#@ING !@#$%^ UGLY LOACH

Larry LaTête is busy. Larry LaTête is always busy. Having the most important cultural radio show in the world’s fastest moving cultural hub—that many perceive as the most important radio station on the planet— sometimes doesn’t give the best of them the time to wake up and smell the coffee or, in Larry’s case, look the fish in the freakin’ eyes. In his defense, Larry just went from a lifetime of coke-bottle glasses to perfect coming-andgoing, Lasik-corrected corneas. Just the weight of his old glasses alone would be reason enough to not want to lift his head up from the prepared text. Here’s the thing: For 25 plus years, five days a week, two hours a show, Larry packs it in, sometimes as many as eight interviews per. Every author, filmmaker, actor, artist (whatever the hell 20 million things go under that “artist” title), chef, best friend with a pet project, musician, anybody who can afford a PR agent, and even grammarians want a shot at a spot. Being an inveterate logophile living the Logotopian Dream, he is actually responsible in his own very real way for cultural shifts affecting language. Larry never had any doubts about deserving his own personal grammarian. In fact, he’s spoken to one on the air every third Wednesday of the month for the last decade. Handsome as the day is long, Larry also had an interview style made for radio. Before he got his eyeballs shaved he couldn’t get close enough to his written questions, so he never looked up, living in fear of losing his place. He never had the luxury of drifting away from prepared text. But today was different. Today was the first day he could see! Today he could see like he never could see before. One eyeball was shaved for distance and one eyeball was shaved for reading. A balanced pair if ever there was one. People say the human brain is designed to do one thing at a time. Larry thought, “What the hell do they know. I’m smart. I might even have two brains! And now I can read a book with one eye and read the eye chart all the way at the other end of the room with the other. Simulfuckintaneously.”

[Intro music begins to waft in…] Ella Fitzgerald singing Three Little Words means it’s the third Wednesday of the month. Lucky everyone! It’s that time again—it’s Larry’s “House Grammarian on Parade.” Larry runs to the mic just in time to formally notify all those who haven’t been listening for the past decade of the long list of wordy books published by his guest, then continues the boilerplate intro with the all-too-familiar description of how today’s show—like every other third Wednesday show—is dedicated to language and all of its various manifestations. “So, Ms. Grammarian,” Larry says, “what do you have for us today.” At this point, something extraordinary happened during Larry’s reading of the question. He swung his distance eyeball at Ms. Grammarian and noticed SHE WAS A FISH. A scumsucking ugly loach, to be exact, in a freakin’ fishbowl. Really. “Well, Larry,” said Ms. Grammarian, “today we’ll start with ‘nonplussed’ and continue by discussing whether plussed is even a word, and if it isn’t a word why not, and since we want to exhaust the topic, we’ll be dipping into our old friend, the OED, and see what it has to say, so on and as well.” There she was, Larry saw, a fish, incessantly chatting away about nonplussed versus plussed. Really. “Wait a second,” Larry thought, “I, Larry the Venerable, am interviewing—said interview being broadcast everyfuckingwhere—as I for the first time realize that for the last decade I’ve been talking to a freakin’ fish. Is this really happening to me while I’m on the air. Really? Me?” Lucky for Larry he really did have two brains—one he could continue the interview with and the other he could talk to himself about losing his mind with. The sun rises. Larry smells coffee being made as he wakes up to the not-too-distant, honey-coated voice of NPR’s Quodlibetical Quahog broadcasting from the fishbowl. Today’s discussion is about The New England Journal of Medicine’s two-part lifestyle report on the plusses and minuses of lasik eye surgery in connection with the Journal’s continuing discussion of Ambien-driven somnambulant binging, the leading cause of dyspepsiainduced hallucinations. Larry gets up not knowing if he wants to rub his eyes or rub his belly and goes to pee. ■

Story and illustration by Victor Stabin. All of Victor Stabin’s characters can be found on victorstabin.com and in his ABC book, Daedle Doodle. AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

art

ED HIGGINS

the Rodin resurrection

R Rodin Museum, historic interior. Photograph courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Gates of Hell, Modeled 1880-1917; cast 1926-28 . Auguste Rodin, Cast by the founder Alexis Rudier, Paris. Bronze, 20 feet 10 3/4 inches x 13 feet 2 inches x 33 3/8 inches (636.9 x 401.3 x 84.8 cm) Rodin Museum, Bequest of Jules E. Mastbaum, 1929

ICON

AUGUST 2012

THE RODIN MUSEUM, THE 83-year old aging gem on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, has been given an extreme makeover that took three years and restores the Beaux Arts museum to the prominence it deserves. Magnifique! The building and its contents were given to Philadelphia in 1929 by Jules E. Mastbaum, a movie theater owner, who assembled a group of Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) work that equals or surpasses any in the world. It was Mastbaum, in fact, who had one of the master’s great works, The Gates of Hell, cast in bronze for the Paris home of Rodin’s work. The current restoration includes the interior as well as the exterior. The gardens surrounding the building were originally designed by landscape architect Jacques Gerber, who also conceived the overall design of the Parkway itself. Today, the gardens are a delight of a formal French chateaux layout with grand entrance, a reflecting pool, and symmetrical paths leading to the main building. At the same time that noted Philadelphia architect Paul Phillipe Cret was building the Barnes residence in Lower Merion, he was working on Mastbaum’s dream on the Parkway. (A hometown boy, Louis Kahn, was then studying with Cret and assisting on the Museum. He proposed to his wife inside the completed structure.) The Barnes Foundation is now located cheek by jowl with the Rodin Museum. Comparisons are odious. The current boxy modern building does show the art to great effect, but it doesn’t have the panache of Cret’s Beaux Arts style. The matter of light has been solved by the restoration of the Rodin’s interior. The skylight over the Main Gallery has been cleaned with the result that light flooding into the space complements the statuary and the rest of the interior restoration. Auguste Rodin is most often compared to Michelangelo and, as one wag, noted, they both greatly admired Michelangelo’s work. However, Rodin kept the form human. Michelangelo aimed for the ideal and the high spiritual level of man. Rodin knew man came from the dirt and to dirt he would return. Michelangelo, the Mannerist, turned out highly polished forms whose salvation was never in doubt. Rodin’s work often looks unfinished—or perhaps he felt it was God who had left man unfinished. By the time Mastbaum discovered Rodin in 1924, the artist was deceased and his estate left to France. Mastbaum, in addition to The Gates of Hell, had a number of pieces cast. With the Philadelphia restoration, the Paris version is far less attractive for visitors. Many of the great works in the Museum have been cleaned and reinstalled. Perhaps the most famous piece is The Thinker, which faces onto the Parkway. (In Paris, The Thinker faces toward the center of the garden offering his behind to the public. Quell French!) The front of the Museum has The Gates of Hell, around to the right is Burghers of Calais. The tribute to the leading citizens of Calais refers to an incident in 1347 during the Hundred Years War with England. After a year-long siege, the city was starved into surrender. Edward III demanded six leading citizens as hostages, presumably to be executed. The Burghers volunteered and, though they were later set free, their courage lives on. The Gates of Hell were inspired by Dante’s Inferno and it ruminates on the fate of humanity condemned to Hell. The large doors also include an earlier version of The Thinker. Among the pieces on display is The Kiss, a replica of the Rodin original, The Age of Bronze, and a small version of a monument to Victor Hugo. The collection contains not only bronzes, but marble, terracotta, and plaster pieces. Mastbaum married a member of the Lit family whose wealth came from the well-known Lit Brothers department store. The cast iron building at Market between 7th and 8th Streets is not a department store any longer, but it is still one of the most attractive buildings in Center City. Mastbaum had a number of business ventures, but is best remembered as the owner of the Stanley movie theater chain, the largest in the country at that time. His dedication to Rodin was such that he even paid to have Rodin’s home and studio in Meudon restored. The stone Meudon Gate serves as an entrance into the garden and reflecting pool. As befits any contemporary museum, the Rodin has a small shop, public programs, an audio tour, but unlike many others it has several sitting arrangements and a study table with books on Rodin available. n Edward Higgins is a member of The Association Internationale Des Critiques d’Art.

t t

AUGUST 2012

ICON

cinematters

PETE CROATTO

Ruby Sparks

LIKE LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, Ruby Sparks, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ long awaited follow-up to their 2006 critical and commercial hit, infuses a bouncy, inherently madcap idea with human frailty. Ruby Sparks lacks the unbridled everyman appeal of Little Miss Sunshine—some may find their follow-up too hip—but it’s a welcome tweak to the filmmakers’ early formula, one where intelligence and entertainment happily coexist. Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) is a young novelist whose career has stalled since he became a literary sensation at age 19. More great things were expected. Ten years later, the world, including Calvin’s publisher, waits. Inspiration has not arrived even though the writer sequesters himself with a typewriter in an oppressively white, minimalist home. A woman may help. The two people Calvin sees regularly, his macho brother, Harry (Chris Messina), and his tolerant therapist (Elliott Gould), suggest as much. The latter offers an approach Calvin can appreciate. Calvin bought a dog as a way to meet people, so the therapist asks him to write about how someone else sees the pet. The exercise works exceptionally well. Calvin dreams of a girl—who previously appeared as a sun-drenched silhouette—approaching him and his dog. A conversation ensues. Details emerge. When Calvin awakens, he starts writing about this bedtime woman—her life, her passions, everything. He even gives her a name: Ruby Sparks. The pages pile higher, and Calvin can’t tear himself away. It’s a masterpiece. Harry isn’t so sure. “Where is this going?” he asks after reading the draft. We find out the next morning, when a stunned Calvin finds Ruby making eggs in the kitchen. After a trip outside to confirm that the tights-wearing ingénue (Zoe Kazan, Dano’s real-life girlfriend) is indeed real, the young man is blissful. In creating his dream girl, he has solved two problems. And the best part is, Calvin can control her. Type a line and Ruby can be happy, sad, or speak fluent French.

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.

Zoe Kazan and Paul Dano.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

keresman on film

Moonrise Kingdom

MARK KERESMAN

ONE OF THE MOST popular movie themes is first love and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of anyone involved. It’s bittersweet and loaded with comedy=tragedy + time moments to which nearly everyone can, to some degree, relate. Also, if it’s time- or era-specific, there is that extra added dimension of “period” look and feel. Something for darn near everyone! Of course, sometimes these movies can be cloying and phony—fortunately, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is one of the good ones.

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.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

bad movie ASK ANY SCIENCE FICTION fan/devotee/nerd and s/he’ll tell you THE MOST anticipated film this year is Prometheus. (The next Batman movie doesn’t count for it is not, strictly speaking “science fiction.”) Directed by Ridley Scott—who directed the bomb-when-released, now-classic science fiction cult film Bladerunner (1982)— Prometheus is rumored to be at least in part a “prequel” to the series of Alien movies. Naturally, expectations are/were running high…and while the resulting movie is nice to look at, it is nice-to-look-at crap. Despite the director and big budget, it is not unlike one of those B-movies from the 1950s you might’ve seen as a youth on Monster Chiller Horror Theater on Saturday night. Writer Harlan Ellison has written lots of science fiction and fantasy. In an essay he opined that in terms of scientific accuracy it’s not absolutely necessary that [I paraphrase but it’s close] everything be right but that it seems right. After all, there is a

MARK KERESMAN

nately, everything—for one (major) thing, the scientists in this movie have got to be the most moronic, poorest excuses for learned humans in the history of science fiction movies. [possible/slight spoilers ahead] These aren’t true characters, just devices to advance the plot. Examples aplenty: No one with half a brain is going to TAKE OFF THE HELMET of their spacesuit to breathe the “air.” Yes, the instruments and scans say that it’s better than Earth’s air, but what about quantities unknown to our science? If you find something that looks “important” you schlep it back to your spaceship to examine it, but the Strange New Thing is going to go into quarentine first. Cripes, you couldn’t take a kitten from the US to the UK without the poor lil’ thing going into quarantine for several weeks or a couple of months, and these clowns play dissect-the-frog on alien biological remains while NOT WEARING HAZMAT SUITS or something like them?!?

stumbles upon a small, python-like creature on the planet and this person approaches it like it’s a stray puppy?!? The characters are for the most part 1.5-dimensional stereotypes: We’ve got the no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth captain—he’s even got a concertina (a miniature accordion), just like the captains of wind-driven ships of the 18th century. (Shiver me timbers and bite me crank, matey.) Charlize Theron embarrasses herself as the corporate drone in charge of this expedition—she dresses like Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his comedic counterpart Doctor Evil (the diabolical masterminds in the James Bond and Austin Powers movies respectively) and stands rigidly erect at all times. She’s in full icy bitch mode—nothing wrong with that except that’s pretty much the extent of her “character.” We’ve got the Driven Scientists Seeking the Answers to the Mysteries of Human Existence; the coward; a tricky android (robot in human form and appearance) performing ac-

It gets worse: “Hey, look! Some creepy goop! Wonder what it is? I guess I’ll touch it and find out!” The crew of the spacecraft has been in suspended animation for the years it’s been travelling through space—when they are “thawed-out” we find some of the crew people acting like extras in some action movie (tuff-guy slouching, wearing hoodies in outer space!) and they don’t know each other. WRONG. We’re told more than once this trek across the stars is a trillion dollar project—for something this big you’d need a bunch of professionals that are able to function as a team and not act like they’re in a high school production of Reservoir Dogs. We see geologists that don’t study rocks and minerals. We see a crew member have emergency surgery and minutes later said crew member is running around the ship. I realize surgery will have improved by leaps ‘n’ bounds in the future, but come on! She’s covered in blood and NO ONE in the crew says, “Hey Sparky, what the hell happened to you? Why duh blood everywhere?” Someone

tions that, ultimately, make little or no sense, and Guy Pearce as Ye Olde Shriveled Company Patriarch, wearing SO much latex make-up that he’s unrecognizable and looks a bit like a wax figurine that got too close to an open flame. Why not simply get an elderly actor to play an elderly guy instead of a not-nearlythat-old guy playing…never mind, makes too much sense. Visually, Prometheus is impressive. But impressive visuals do not compensate for wooden acting, mediocre dialogue, and “science” that insults any intelligent being with scientific understanding beyond the sixth grade. What makes it truly offensive is: a) the level of talent and money it took to breed this turkey and b) its philosophical pretensions—it dares to broach the question of Where Does We Come From in a half-assed manner. But I did learn something from this movie: If something really massive is falling in my direction, I now know to run in its shadow(!) as opposed to running, you know, diagonally or something. ■

Prometheus

point in entertainment where one uses some suspension of disbelief. It is possible to enjoy TV shows like the CSI franchise while knowing in one’s heart of heart of hearts that police scientists generally do not function as plainclothes police personnel. But—and especially in science fiction (note the “science” part)—there has to be some basis in both fact and common sense or it falls apart like a house of cards, and may as well be a Yogi Bear cartoon. Regarding movies and TV shows made, say, pre-1965, it was easier to give obvious scientific boners a pass…example: Many viewers gave the low-budget special effects in The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits (just to name two classic series) a pass because the stories were so good. If we were truly entertained (and maybe occasionally enlightened a little), we didn’t care so much that the “monster” looked like a giant celery stalk wearing a sombrero or a road-cone with lobster claws that talked like David Niven. What does all this have to do with Prometheus? Unfortu-

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

y -

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

reel news A Separation (2012) ★★★★ Cast: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sarina Farhadi Genre: Drama Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material. Running time 123 minutes. In Farsi (Persian) with English subtitles.

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

opens with Ali (Pitts) returning home from prison and reuniting with his family. Once again life is good, God is great—a balance that life seems to abhor. When Ali’s wife

Emotional dilemmas lead to moral dilemmas, which lead to legal dilemmas and damned if you do, damned if you

ward, searching for secrets buried in time. In the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on the planet, both search side by side… for something that no longer exists. Astronomers focus on light emitted billions of years ago. Archeologists find mummies and 2,000-year-old petroglyphs that provide a glimpse into a forgotten human past. Also in this austere but starkly dramatic setting, families scour the arid landscape searching for remains of family members who were among the thousands that disappeared during Pinochet’s brutal régime. Like stargazers analyzing dim bursts of light, they are sustained by flashes of memory of their loved ones. This beautifully rendered philosophical study explores the continuity of time and life from past to present and the search for meaning on both a cosmic and personal scale.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (2012) ★★★ Voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White Genre: Animated children’s story Based on the book by Dr. Seuss. Rated PG Running time 1 hour 34 minutes.

Shahab Hosseini.

don’t situations. A middle-class Iranian couple wants to move abroad so their daughter can get a better education, but in good conscience, the husband can’t leave his father who has advanced Alzheimer’s. In desperation, the wife separates and gets her own apartment. The husband hires a caregiver for his father who of necessity ties the old man to the bed. Heated disputes end up in court. Deeply empathetic characters portray complex emotions as they try find their way out of situations that have no solutions. This haunting drama set in modern day Iran focuses on human feelings that transcend religion and culture and forces us to accept that at times we all encounter problems that can’t be solved or sidestepped.

The Hunter (2012) ★★★ Cast: Rafi Pitts, Mitra Hajjar, Ali Nicksaulat Genre: Drama Unrated with mature thematic material. Running time 92 minutes. In Farsi (Persian) with English subtitles. In this parable about modern Iran, a senseless act of violence drives a man beyond his breaking point. The story

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. 22

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

and daughter are killed in crossfire between police and insurgents, he seeks revenge on the police from a sniper’s position. If authorities can kill the innocent and uninvolved, why shouldn’t he? Soon the hunted becomes the hunter, but Ali can’t evade his captors any more than he can escape the unjust accidents that all too often define our lives. The story builds slowly with minimal dialogue, very little explaining, no overt political commentary, then races to the end with a few plot twists to add to the suspense. As in A Separation, this film explores the difficulties of living with wrongs that can’t be righted and unintended injustices with no one to blame.

Nostalgia for the Light (2010) ★★★★ Genre: Documentary Directed by Patricio Guzmán Unrated, no objectionable content. Running time 1 hour 30 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles. Astronomer. Archeologist. One looks upward and tries to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. One looks down-

Corporations exist to make as much money as possible, even to the extreme of destroying the earth and the quality of life as we know it. A heavy theme for a rhyming children’s book, yet after 41 years, Dr. Seuss’s enduring tale still touches the hearts of young and old alike. Hollywood doesn’t often exhibit a lot of creative genius at adapting the work of a creative genius to the screen but this attempt comes close. A love interest and a few peppy songs expand the plot to feature-film length without losing the soul, or the trademark lyrics, of the story. Knowing that trees once existed, the new character Ted sets out to find a tree to impress his girlfriend Audrey. He encounters the villain Once-Ler, who decimated the forest, and the Lorax, a forest spirit who tells Ted the tragic story of paradise lost. ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

film roundup

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

The Queen of Versailles (Dir: Lauren Greenfield). Florida’s Jackie and David Siegel were determined to build their gaudy version of paradise: a 90,000 square foot mansion modeled after Versailles. (Their current house is a paltry 26,000 square feet.) Among the features in America’s largest house: ten kitchens, a ballroom, and a baseball field, which is totally practical since it doubles as a parking lot. Then the stock market took its awful tumble, decimating David’s time-share empire and causing the family to make sacrifices. “They might actually have to go to college,” says an exasperated Jackie of her kids’ suddenly not-so rosy fu-

in the pool house. As Ellis flourishes socially and academically in New England—and reunites with his estranged, straight-laced dad (Burrell)—life in Tucson fades away. The emotionally needy Wendy takes up with a douchey mooch (Kirk) while Goat Man remains strangely incommunicado, mostly because shipping pot through the U.S. mail is too risky. The large number of subplots plus the lack of a compelling central conflict prevent this coming-of-age tale from gaining momentum. Just when we’re covering territory we like, Neil, an acting and dialogue coach making his directorial debut, sends us somewhere else.

Jackie and David Siegel.

David Duchovny.

tures. Greenfield lets her subjects speak for themselves, and she gets material better fit for a Christopher Guest feature. Jackie, now economical, loads multiple carts during a Christmas shopping run at Wal-Mart. The Siegels’ nanny is overjoyed to move into the kids’ old playhouse. David’s solution is to work until he’s 150—and he’s serious. In this stellar, sober effort, Greenfield avoids turning high-maintenance Jackie and gruff workaholic David—whose marriage strains under the pressure—into caricatures. They’re just hopelessly adrift, the result of countless years of distancing themselves from a reality they never planned on encountering. [PG] ★★★

The problem is, I don’t think he knows the final destination. Mark Jude Poirer adapted the screenplay from his novel. [R] ★★

360 (Dir: Fernando Meirelles). Starring: Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, Ben Foster, Gabriela Marcinkova, Juliano Cazarré, Maria Flor, Dinara Drukarova, Jamel Debbouze. A gigantic international cast participates in this philosophical think piece on connections and life paths written by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen). Law and Weisz are unhappily married in London. She’s having an affair with a hunky photographer (Cazarré), whose fed-up girlfriend (Flor) returns to Brazil. On her way home, she meets a recently released prisoner (Foster) and an older gentleman (Hopkins) on a fruitless search for his missing daughter. Hopkins’ character, now in Phoenix, then attends an AA meeting with a young married woman (Drukarova), who loves her boss (Debbouze), a morally conflicted Muslim dentist. And that doesn’t include the subplots involving the gangster’s bodyguard, a clueless prostitute, and her bookish sister. Morgan and Meirelles (City of God) encounter the two issues that befall many ensemble films: abruptly ended storylines and characters of inconsistent quality. What’s frustrating with 360 is that the gaudy architecture dilutes the power of the film’s message. Form doesn’t follow function. Excellent performances—especially Foster and Hopkins—occasionally cut through the condescension. [R] ★★ Goats (Dir: Christopher Neil). Starring: Graham Phillips, David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Ty Burrell, Keri Russell, Justin Kirk, Dakota Johnson, Anthony Anderson. Fifteen going on 30, Ellis (Phillips, TV’s The Good Wife) heads east to an elite boarding school, leaving behind two unusual, emotionally stunted guardians: his narcissistic New Agey mom, Wendy (Farmiga), and Goat Man (Duchovny), a mellow goat herder and botanist who permanently resides

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Killer Joe (Dir: William Friedkin). Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon. In debt to the wrong people, Texas dirtbag Chris (Hirsch) hatches a plan to make amends. The beneficiary of his mother’s $50,000 life insurance policy is his little sister, Dottie (Temple). Kill mom, whom no one will miss, and everybody gets a share, including Chris’s moron father (Church) and shrewish stepmother (Gershon). To perform the act, the cash-strapped Chris hires crooked Dallas detective Joe Cooper (McConaughey), who takes the child-like Dottie as a “retainer” for his services. And things Thomas Haden Church. get complicated (and delightfully weirder) in this atmospheric, really dark comedy featuring a stunning, coiled spring performance from McConaughey, who has spent a good portion of 2012 reminding us that his charisma has value beyond intolerable romantic comedies. Directed with gothic flair by Friedkin (The French Connection), this white trash film noir masterpiece doesn’t have a lick of pretension. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts wrote the script, which is based on his off-Broadway play. [NC-17] ★★★1/2 ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

interview Tale of the delightfully arcane DEAD CAN DANCE REUNITE FOR A NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

FOR A TIME IN the ‘80s, there was but one place where ambient electronic soundscapes, softly spun African polyrhythm, the wail of troubadour folk and the aged earthen melodies of Eastern Europe merged: Dead Can Dance. Their crepuscular allworld sound may currently, at its worst, be heard in restaurants and hotels as a nouvelle brand of un-merry Muzak and executed by nameless copycats. Only Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard can claim earnestness along with innovation and soulful execution. “There are some rather good musicians who have taken up our lead and carried on with similar sounds,” says Perry. “Thankfully, though, you can’t blame us for anything less than stellar.” Gratefully and gracefully in 2012, both Perry and Gerrard have reassembled for music similarly themed and equally inventive to that of their past: Dead Can Dance’s first new album in sixteen years, Anastasis. Though there are other members who were once part of the Australian ensemble, it was and is instrumentalists/composers/singers Gerrard and Perry that made Dead Can Dance rumble humbly, yet with a majesty befitting their regal mien. The range of tones both ancient (the Middle Ages and the Renaissance) and technologically modern made it so that “The horrible reality of theirs was not an aesthetic based merely on revivalism consciousness is being or outreach into Medieval church song, though every alive,” says Gerrard. “The one of their albums’ grandly hollow and holy sounds seem to have been recorded in the largest of temples. puzzle to solve is how to Instead, their spider web production, intimate yet sweeping arrangements, and eerily reverent yet graceful find joy as we live.” retinue of noises has the vibe of cathedrals made of stone and steel. Add to this the pair’s tales of longing and loss, of Gerrard’s wordless woe and joy, of Perry’s ritualism and sensuality, sung in glass-breaking highs and somber grumbling lows and the portrait of Dead Can Dance is complete. Whether it’s their whirlwind recorded start of 1984—Dead Can Dance, the aptly named Garden of the Arcane Delights EP, the pair’s songwriting for fellow aged-music futurists, This Mortal Coil—or their last album before a prolonged split, Spiritchaser (1996), their aesthetic was as steady and ageless as it was ingeniously cutting edge and joined at the hip. Anastasis picks up this thread thrillingly. “When Brendan started to deliver sketches to me, they woke up and reignited the very essence of what had brought us together in the first place,” says Gerrard when asked about the goals and challenges set up for Anastasis to maintain the Dead Can Dance brand. After Dead Can Dance’s 1999 split and before its too-brief 2005 reunion tour, there was certainly a slew of bold solo efforts from each partner (they were once romantically linked). Famously, Gerrard composed and recorded the soundtracks to Michael Mann films Heat and The Insider as well as Gladiator and Mission: Impossible II with Hans Zimmer. Perry made sonorous solo albums in 1999 (Eye of the Hunter) and 2010 (Ark). Even in their time away from Dead Can Dance, each heard the other’s voice in their own ragingly individual solo work. “There are most certainly specific songs that I wrote solely for my voice only to hear Lisa’s voice creeping in,” says Perry with a quiet laugh. “Brendan is a teacher,” says Lisa. “To deny his influence in my work would be an artistic crime.” 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. 26

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Though his solo output offers a necessary autonomy apart from community (“it’s about what you crave when you crave it”), reassembling Dead Can Dance for recording and touring purposes wasn’t difficult. There’s muscle memory to working with someone he’s known since his teens. “There is a methodology that we always had and we pretty much stick to that,” says Perry. “I created a template of melody and arrangement and we go from there. That type of foundation is crucial when we’re working on material together. The lyrics and emotion of each of the songs, whether they’re her words or mine, get their own consideration.” When I joke with Perry about whether or not there is any of The Marching Girls (his pre-Dead Can Dance band) left in him, he chuckles. “The punk in me you mean?” asks Perry with a snicker. “Not really, yet I do hope that I never lost or lose that independent spirit.” The same question is posed to Gerrard about her punk-ish past and her pre-1982 ensemble Microfilm. She answers sweetly. “You can take a boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” The idea of Dead Can Dance’s past continues when discussing its present. Perry doesn’t over romanticize their past or its catalog. While he wishes that the classics of their past could’ve have been recorded with the technology of the present, I believe that it’s the whirr of dirty analog studio sound that gives early spacey Dead Can Dance albums like Spleen, Ideal and The Serpent’s Egg a needed grit, an earthen quality. Perry is also unafraid to re-think those older songs in a live setting to suit an improvisational largesse. “We try to rearrange the old songs when we do them, to breathe different life into them.” All DCD decisions and dialogues maintained in the present come with a fair amount of simplicity. It’s not as if Perry or Gerrard have to yell across seas or leap over misty mountains. Perry says that the pair always kept in contact. “We have a friendship that revolves around collaboration and without it. New music isn’t a rare idea for us. We thought about doing an album when we got together for that last tour, but just never got around to it. And, honestly, that missing link left a genuine emptiness in me. The process felt incomplete. So we kept talking with [the idea of] recording new music at the forefront, trying to make sure each of us found a window of opportunity—that we should get back together to record anew.” His lyrics for songs on Anastasis such as “Children of the Sun” and “Amnesia” are, as usual, more literal (albeit allegorical) and more directly emotional than his partner. Gerrard, on new tunes such as “Anabasis” and “Kiko” traffics in mantra or glissandostrung wordlessness. “I’m a counterpoint to Lisa, I believe in the vocal and lyrical department,” says Perry whose Jim Morrison-like voice and poetry gives his end of the Dead Can Dance spectrum a Doors-like glimmer. “The challenge is always to take what you hear internally, pluck what you hear from the air and make it real,” says Perry. “To manifest those ideas in the physical, in the material world in order to share it with other people in harmony.” Gerrard’s vision of the past and her present is readily comparable to Perry’s view. Though she sees her lyrical/non-lyrical mindset in more visual terms than Perry (“Dust and shadows, really”) the wonder of their songs of lost beauty, regret and sorrow, inspiration and nobility, of the everlasting human goal of attaining a meaningful existence lingers. “The horrible reality of consciousness is being alive,” says Gerrard. “The puzzle to solve is how to find joy as we live.” She has a vision of working as a soloist versus acting in tandem with Dead Can Dance beyond raging individualism and solace. “There are differences in the dynamic of both connections, because one is to do with the fabric of the heart and the other is to do with solving the puzzle of the other.” Mention the question of any difficulty in reassembling to reconsider the old and record new material and Gerrard is pragmatic

A.D. AMOROSI

and spirited. “In order to walk toward something that has been, it is important to walk toward it with humility and reverence.” She credits Perry with taking on the lion’s share of the Dead Can Dance decisions, whether it comes to re-mastering their catalog, configuring box sets and setting the tone, time and tenor of their reunion. Not to sound too saccharine, but I wanted to know if there was some instinct between them, something innate where one knows to contact each other or what the other is thinking. Or is that too romantic a notion? “No more romantic than two children falling in love,” she says. When it comes to thinking about the pair’s past, Gerrard seemingly finds no real difference between the then and the now of Dead Can Dance, save for one brief break. “The only time you see the past is when that continuum is broken. There was definitely a period of lamentation when we were unsure of how to get back. But we got back.”

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry.

Yet for a band, even one as tightly knit and wound as Dead Can Dance had been, sixteen years is a long time between cocktails. Do they ever feel as if they’re starting over, that Anastasis represents a new band or simply just another chapter in what the pair mean to each other and their fans? “We’re not totally reinventing ourselves with each album, nothing Bowie-like there,” laughs Perry. “There’s an emotional core to the songwriting that’s recognizable between us that centers itself lyrically around romance and philosophy. That is what motivates us. I hear the production in my head, every particular sound and no particular sound. That’s the real struggle and, therefore, the joy of innovation.” For Gerrard, it’s something simpler, something ephemeral in the manner of how she looks at the sixteen years that have passed since their last album and Anastasis. “People don't age….you just get to know them better.” ■ Dead Can Dance play on Sunday August 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center on the Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia. Information and tickets: www.kimmelcenter.org AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

interview Why The Newsroom is Necessary

HBO’S NEW AARON SORKIN DRAMA MAY BE IDEALIST AND TRANSPARENTLY LIBERAL, BUT IT’S THE KIND OF MEDIA MIRROR OUR JUNK-FOOD SOCIETY NEEDS.

HE MAGIC OF HBO’S new broadcast journalism drama The Newsroom can be found in the last act of each episode, when Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), anchor of the fictitious primetime show News Night, culls the last hour’s research together for a riveting live report, rife with anger and conviction and his own firm, informed opinions. It’s the kind of TV news you just don’t see these days, at least not outside of pundit crosstalk or entertainment-minded parodies, which, right or left, aren’t generally regarded as bona fide journalism. There was a time, though, when television anchors could keenly navigate issues with their own moral Perhaps inevitably, the compasses, and dare to be just and unpopuHBO series opts for a lar without breaking romanticized approach, the industry’s code of ethics (the example and takes idealistic The Newsroom invokes liberties that rekindle a is Edward R. Murrow’s famed assault on Joe longed-for past and McCarthy, a historic milestone for CBS). aspire to an even more The news today is safe, longed-for future. filtered, ad-driven, and celeb-infused, an arena in which infotainment and gossip share common ground with accounts of global troubles. Created, produced, and often written by Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom aims to be the mirror held up in front of modern news trends, and McAvoy, a volatile, prickly veteran who votes Republican but speaks Democrat, is the middle finger through which the show’s madas-hell voice is set loose. Perhaps inevitably, the HBO series opts for a romanticized approach, and takes idealistic liberties that rekindle a longed-for past and aspire to an even more longed-for future. For proper digestion, such aspects need to be taken with a grain of salt. From the opening credits, soaringly scored by favored HBO composer Thomas Newman, to the closing exchanges of Episode Four, “I’ll Try to Fix You,” which sees McAvoy and company bask in contrived integrity and moral superiority, it’s easy to cut down The Newsroom for being pompous and twee. Often, the show presents its fictional program, the brainchild of McAvoy’s executive-producer ex, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), as the sole, unimpeachable source of truth, its competitors more concerned with being first than being accurate, and its crackerjack team

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

miraculously blessed with keener instincts than everyone else in the business. If not for the show’s turbulent fervor, one might expect a fact-checker to chirp “Gee, golly!” at the adoring camera. Additionally, Sorkin’s trademark verbosity has never been so affected, as The Newsroom

Writer/producer Aaron Sorkin.

brims with pinball-machine dialogue that makes every character preternaturally witty, not to mention inexhaustible. At once containing the erudition of Sorkin’s stage history and the ingratiation of indie hipster speak, the lingo can feel like a self-satisfied barrage of pretense, and, to boot, it’s rarely as smoothly integrated as that of the writer’s The West Wing or The Social Network. More than ever, Sorkin’s audience is reminded that people don’t really talk like this. People don’t spout off break-

neck witticisms on whims, and they aren’t regularly armed with the cute barbs kept on hand by McAvoy, who declares such things as, “I only seem liberal because I believe hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not gay marriage.” Zing! But this is all part of the skewed and decidedly radical reality The Newsroom puts on screen. Even McAvoy is painted as a convenient, unifying anomaly—a Republican who spends his nights spitting venom at Tea Partiers and the GOP’s most notorious so the liberal left doesn’t have to. The show within the show vows to only be interested in facts, but there’s no mistaking the political stances of News Night or The Newsroom, both of which might be subtitled, Everything You Always Wanted to Say About Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Michelle Bachmann But Were Too Afraid to Voice Publicly. One of the greatest strengths of The Newsroom’s writing is its incorporation of recent, real-life events, which shape each episode and hopefully offer a promise of longevity. As of this writing, the series has shaped its hours around the BP oil spill, immigration in Arizona, Sarah Palin, Tea Party congressmen, Times Square bomb threats, Obama’s 2010 trip to India, and the attack on Gabrielle Giffords. The format presents an interesting dichotomy, one that’s caused many to grumble around the water cooler come Monday: here’s a show that plays like wishful fantasy, yet tethers itself to the authenticity of yesterday’s headlines. What gives? One might say Sorkin’s creation is rolled-out revisionist history, wherein he systematically opens closed cases and grants them the unapologetic reportage he thinks they deserved. The conceit is flimsily justified by characters like McHale, who insists that News Night covers stories “that are important, placed in proper context, and do not have bias toward fairness, which showcases both sides of a story that only has one.” In other words, news and newsworthiness are unflaggingly dictated by this show’s news men and women, who have the liberty of presenting a convincing slant as fact because they are, as McAvoy smugly announces, “the media elite.” Whether you consider Sorkin a cheer-worthy Democratic hero or a vexingly biased preacher who isn’t fool-

R. Kurt Osenlund is the managing editor of The House Next Door, the official blog of Slant Magazine. He is also the film critic for South Philly Review, and a contributing writer for ICON, Slant, Cineaste, Fandor and The Film Experience. He compiles his work and posts other goodies at his blog, www.yourmoviebuddy.blogspot.com, and can be reached via email at rkurtosenlund@gmail.com.

R. KURT OSENLUND

ing anyone is, in a sense, beside the point. Though he fills The Newsroom with positions like the need for Tea Partiers to wear warning labels, the overarching virtue of the series is an overall call for media reform. It just happens to be projected through a rosy liberal lens. The Newsroom is necessary because there is nowhere near enough media skewering media itself, and acknowledging the undeniable fact that money, not quality, is driving what we consume. Of course, this has always been partially true, but never before have the bottom line and the bottom dollar held more influence over a finished product, be it a magazine, a web site, or an evening news show. Focus is increasingly placed on speed and popularity, and programming is determined by analytics and ratings trackers, who report back to high-ranking honchos, who, in turn, police content accordingly. The result? A

vicious cycle of fast-food media, which sees major news producers in bed with advertisers, and scraps intellectual fare for a few dozen Kardashian copycats. It’s impossible for the public to eat its cultural vegetables when the option isn’t even on the menu anymore. When the SEO-driven sensationalism of outlets like The Huffington Post is held up as the industry standard, consumers are reduced to spoiled children, getting only what they want instead of what they need. It’s the willful and facilitated dumbing-down of society. So, yes, we need The Newsroom and more works like it, if only to call the culture out on its bullshit. People can go ahead and chide Sorkin for his personal politics and utopian take on journalism, but they ought to also commend him for his commentary, which is sorely lacking in a vast business hellbent on eating its own tail. Scoff at the loquacious love

spats between producer Jim Harper (John Gallagher Jr.) and associate producer Maggie Jordan (Alison Pill), but revel in network division president Charlie Skinner’s (Sam Waterston) resonant disputes with parent-company CEO Leona Lansing (Jane Fonda), who threatens to fire McAvoy if he keeps shining negative light on her Tea Party supporters. Roll your eyes at on-the-nose running gags like a galumphing Bigfoot metaphor, but savor such bits as when McAvoy tells a smear-happy gossip columnist that her kind of reporting is worse than the product slung by a heroin dealer. Let The Newsroom be extremist. This is an extremist time. The mirror the show holds up may border on that of a funhouse, but one needn’t squint hard to see the picture clearly. “I’m on a mission to civilize,” McAvoy says. “Progress is slow, but I’m in it for the long haul.” Let’s hope so. ■

Stars of The Newsroom, Sam Waterson (seated center), Jeff Daniels (third from right) and Emily Mortimer (second from right).

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

feature EARLY THIS YEAR I had a brush with literary history. I had dinner with Gerald Dickens, the great, great grandson of the famous author, Charles Dickens who was born in Portsmouth, England in 1812 and whose 200th anniversary occurred on February 7, 2012. Dickens was the first true literary superstar, his books became instant classics and he was the foremost writer and public celebrity of the 19th century. Gerald was in my hometown, Kilkenny in Ireland, to perform his one-man show, A Christmas Carol, in Kyteler’s Inn. I met Gerald Dickens through his sister, Nicky Dickens-Flynn, whom I have known for twenty years and who joined us for dinner. Nicky owns and runs Kyteler’s Inn, once home to the infamous witch, Dame Alice Kyteler (but that’s another story). That Nicky is a great, great granddaughter of Charles Dickens is perhaps one of my town’s best kept secrets. “I tend not to talk about it,” she casually remarks. “I put up the family tree once, showing my connection to Dickens, but people thought I was joking”. I ask Nicky and Gerald what they might say to their illustrious ancestor if they could meet him face to face. Nicky, ever low-key about her relationship to the great author, says she’d probably say nothing and would more than likely be dumbstruck in the presence of the great man. Gerald, actor and performer that he is, reckons he would ask Dickens how he prepared for the powerful readings he gave throughout Britain, Ireland and the United States; readings, especially in America, that frequently left audiences “shrieking and weeping and fainting and mobbing him.” There was no shrieking or weeping or fainting at Gerald Dickens’s performance of A Christmas Carol in Kyteler’s Inn, but the man was superb. Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Mrs. Cratchit, Tiny Tim— Gerald, using an array of accents, gestures and facial expressions, brought each character vividly to life on stage. With just an

Dinner with armchair, walking-stick, top hat and stool for props he brought us through the streets of London, the offices of Scrooge & Marley, the Cratchit kitchen, the local cemetery and numerous other locations. Gerald has been performing the works of his great, great grandfather for several decades. When I ask him if there is a particular performance that stands out, he tells me that, like many actors, he tends to remember the notso-successful performances more. But as he ponders my question he remembers a show in Boston, in the very hall that Charles Dickens himself performed in, that proved particularly emotional for him. Gerald Dickens is not at all unlike his great, great grandfather in looks and physique, especially on stage when decked out in waistcoat and top hat.

with Dickens Nicky readily confesses that she doesn’t look at all like her famous ancestor, not least because she doesn’t have a beard. Nicky and Gerald are descended from Henry Dickens, the eighth child of Charles and Catherine’s family of ten children. “Just think Henry VIII,” Gerald says. Henry was not literary but became a top lawyer in London and was knighted in 1922. He tells me about a character his great grandfather Henry had sentenced in court. The rogue in question was unimpressed by the long sentence he received, and knowing that the judge’s father, Charles Dickens, had a soft spot for society’s rejects, said, “Your Lordship, I have read some of your father’s work and he would never be so hard on me,” “My good man,” replied His Lordship, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, “You will now have time to read ALL of my father’s works.” In school Nicky was expected to know all about her famous ancestor which resulted in her turning to any author other than Dickens.

GERRY MORAN CHARLES DICKENS ILLUSTRATION BY VICTOR STABIN

She didn’t study any of his books for exams and ended up reading an array of novels by Thomas Hardy and some German authors. As a child, Charles Dickens had a performance personality and could tap-dance and sing; he also loved acting and the theater and Gerald tells me that we might never have had the wonderful stories and novels but for the fact that Charles missed an audition for a London theater group because he was sick. Indeed, as an adult Dickens suffered from terrible head colds, a condition not helped, perhaps, by his restless energy that frequently found him walking the streets of London in the middle of the night, for hours at a time. As for their favorite Dickens book and character—Nicky opts for A Christmas Carol and Tiny Tim while Gerald gives the nod to Great Expectations and tends to prefer the villains, in particular Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop. As an aside, Gerald mentions a little known work of Dickens, The Life of Our Lord, a simplified version of the life of Christ, written in 1846, for reading aloud to his children. Dickens never wanted it published and his wish was honored by Gerald’s great, grandfather, Sir Henry fielding Dickens, the last surviving child of the family. Henry, however, freed his heirs to do with it as they saw fit and in 1934 it appeared in numerous newspapers and a hardback edition. Charles Dickens died suddenly at his home on June 9, 1870, aged 58, while writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He is buried in Westminster Abbey in London where Gerald, his great, great grandson, attended a wreath-laying ceremony on the 200th anniversary of his birth. n Gerry Moran is from Kilkenny, the “Medieval capital” of Ireland; a former school headmaster, he is now a freelance writer. He hopes, one day, to secure a three figure advance for his novel (which he may one day write). Meanwhile Gerry can be heard reciting his humorous verse in Cleere’s Bar in his native Kilkenny every Monday night.

8 / ART / BARNES FOUNDATION

view is documented in the 2009 documentary The Art of the Steal, where the point is made that transporting the Barnes collection to Philadelphia makes about as much sense as hauling the Statue of Liberty to Times Square. Both sides agree that the new and old Barnes buildings are radically different organisms. The Merion headquarters is a Beaux-Arts limestone mansion. The Philadelphia headquarters is a translucent cube thrusting between walls of limestone. Designed by architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, it’s universes away from its next-door neighbor, the Beaux-

Paul Cézanne, Still Life (Nature morte), 1892–1894. Oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 3/8 in.

Arts Rodin Museum, which was designed by Paul Phillipe Cret, architect of the original Barnes home. The collection itself, however, looks pretty much the same. All of the 4,323 objects are placed the same way in the same 92 “ensembles,” just as Albert Barnes intended. Picasso’s painting, Young Woman Holding a Cigarette, still hovers over an 18th-century slant-top desk of tulip poplar; a steeplecock still crowns Renoir’s Promenade like a weathervane. What’s more, the 23 galleries are the same size and shape. The first room remains 18 feet high, tall enough for Cezanne’s massive The Card Players and Seurat’s massive Models to share a wall peacefully. The ceiling remains vaulted, which makes the space still resemble a residential chapel. Even better, the works work better. Thanks to a computer system that controls and mixes natural and artificial lights, the visual mustiness of the old galleries has been replaced by a subtle warmth. This almost subliminal glow brightens my favorite dark paintings: Soutine’s portrait of a woman sitting in an armchair, bent fingers pressed to a face mimicking a spooky clown mask; Van Gogh’s unusually dusky portrait of a naked woman with hairy armpits, reclining on a bed that shimmers like a fabric waterfall. Improved light doesn’t improve my disdain for most of the 181 Renoirs, a record number for an art institution. To me, these scenes of mothers with children, naked female bathers and leisure lovers are, at best, beautifully empty and, at worst, cloyingly rosy. And I’m still not swayed by Matisse’s The Dance, which Albert Barnes commissioned to undulate through three lunettes. To me, it’s just a cartoon of synchronized swimmers without water. The collection continues to drain body and brain. It’s taxing to scan an average of 150 works per room; grazing a half-dozen schools, styles and centuries on one wall; constantly having to read the laminated gallery guides to identify 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos and scores of anonymously made objects. Thankfully, the new Barnes has much more space for relaxing and refreshing. There are atrium-lit hallways and study rooms, a lounge and a terminal-sized lobby, the Barnes’s first restaurant and first coffee bar. Outdoors, the new Barnes isn’t nearly as relaxing and refreshing as the original Barnes. The Merion campus is a 12-acre arboretum with redwood and monkey-puzzle trees, more than a dozen varieties of magnolia and 200 brands of lilacs. Still used as a horticulture lab,

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

it’s graceful, elegant and chronically inspiring. The 4.5-acre Philadelphia campus, designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin, is divided into a public park with gravel paths and a table fountain, shaded by pre-existing London plane trees, and an esplanade of Japanese maples with a reflecting pool. It’s pleasantly engaging, like the grounds of a memorial in Washington, D.C. The best addition at the new Barnes is a special exhibit gallery, an exponential improvement on the old Barnes’s orientation room. The first show here is devoted to Albert

Paul Gauguin, French, 1848–1903, Mr. Loulou (Louis Le Ray), 1890. Oil on canvas, 21 3/4 x 18 1/4 in.

Barnes’s remarkably quirky, feisty system of political aesthetics. You can read that he bought a bunch of Soutine paintings partly because they harmonized with his Cezannes and Van Goghs, that he wrote provocative essay questions to illuminate his factory workers (i.e., “Do all human beings have instincts and how do we account for them?”), that he kept rearranging objects around Renoir’s Before the Bath until he created a sort of salon-school-shrine. There is nothing in the special exhibit, however, that can explain some of Dr. Barnes’ perverse decisions. Why would he strain necks by hanging paintings nine feet above the floor? Why would he strain nerves by pairing a mini-altar featuring a painting of Christ’s entombment with a French tavern scene? Still, this perversity produces some fun, funky rituals. This was my sixth visit to the Barnes collection and for the fifth straight time I made a half-dozen fertile discoveries. In

58 AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

S WA N

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

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

dining

ROBERT GORDON

IL TARTUFO IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE NOT to notice the tables topped with a long wooden serving tray crammed with antipasto on our first trip to Il Tartufo. I scoured the menu for the item. Not finding it, I asked Lidia, Il Tartufo’s manager, to point it out. She chuckled, “It’s actually not on the menu. It’s popular. People who come here a lot just ask for it.” Il Tartufo’s antipasto tray is uncontestably one of the finest of the antipasto genre: smoked salmon, capers, lip-smackingly good Mozzarella with a pool of marinara sauce, a heap of garbanzo beans topped with lemon slices, daintily breaded artichokes, and lightly breaded calamari— comprising a delectable and healthy five for forking on a lazy Manayunk day. Il Tartufo is situated in the heart of Manayunk’s restaurant quarter. Moon Krapugthong’s superb Chabaa Thai, Bruce Cooper’s iconic Jake’s, and Cooper’s Brick Oven Wine Bar are only a hop, skip and a jump down Il Tartufo’s side of Main Street and Hikaru is across the street. What Il Tartufo’s brings to the table in this tiny foodie ‘hood is homey, house-made Italian fare. Most dishes on the menu are prepared well and consistently. You’ll also find some all-star dishes—like the not-onthe-menu antipasto tray. Chef Alberto Del Bello calls his cuisine Roman-Jewish-Italian, or as he describes it: “It’s Renaissance cuisine. When they presented food to Caesar it was Roman-Jewish food.” The timeline connecting Caesar to the Renaissance is questionable, but certainly not the cooking. There are some delightful dishes to be had at Il Tartufo, dishes with the kind of spark and freshness that keep foodies coming back. The meal starts with crusty Italian bread and dipping sauce with herbs spices. Carciofi Alla Giuda, another favorite of regulars does indeed trace its roots back to the Jewish population in Rome in Caesar’s heyday. Artichokes are lightly breaded, pan fried in olive oil, and topped with homemade tomato basil and garlic vinaigrette. The menu itself is not structured into the classic Italian antipasto/primi piatti/segondi piatti silos, but each of the classic courses is amply represented. Among the pastas, or primi piatti, Fettuccine Cinghiale is lean, spicy strips of wild boar in a tangle of homemade tender fettuccine swathed in light marinara sauce. Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi brings light gnocchi pillows made with ricotta cheese. Four classic Italian cheeses—Gorgonzola, ricotta, Parmesan, and mascarpone—melt into a soulful ensemble. Il Tartufo’s gnocchi is one of the better gnocchi I’ve had in recent memory. Truffles add finesse to Scallopine Il Tartufo—slices of veal in light, lively brandy cream sauce with julienned carrot, sliced zucchini and a square of polenta cake. Brown sauce enlivens Pollo Rothschild, which is comprised of boneless chunks of chicken with mushrooms, zinged with garlic and rosemary. Grill-kissed, ruby-red centered tuna is served in a light brown jus and complemented with carrot slices and green strips of zucchini. A huge, dark brown round of Portabello mushroom sits alongside the tuna. The color is tantalizing, harmonized and vibrant, as is the taste. I don’t generally point out desserts. But on a nice Manayunk evening, Il Tartufo’s zabaglione is hard to beat. House made with egg yolks, sugar, Marsala wine, this custard is notably light and smooth. Like a good trattoria, cappuccino is frothy and hearty. By the way, for those used to paying with plastic, Il Tartufo accepts only cash—a restriction that doesn’t seem to cramp the style of a food-focused crowd that doesn’t even need a menu to know what they want. n Il Tartufo, 4341 Main Street, Philadelphia PA (215) 482-1999. Daily 11a.m.-11p.m. BYOB, Cash Only AUGUST 2012

ICON

dining

ROBERT GORDON

Brian’s I’VE BEEN REVIEWING BRIAN Held since his days at Juliana Rose in Richboro. In his latest venture, Brian’s at Lambertville, the talented chef seems freer to explore and expand the skills that earned him a rare and coveted three bells from Craig Laban at Rouget in Newtown. Rouget now belongs to the ages. Location and the economy worked against it. No matter. Brian Held seems better situated in Lambertville. as the long line of bottle-toting foodies queued up outside attests. The décor breathes style with minimalist strokes. The white walls and ceilings recall the understated class of Matt Levin’s long-departed Moonlight in New Hope but they certainly don’t mimic Moonlight. Moonlight was about chic and

glitz. Brian’s is a laid back, almost idealized BYOB. A large open kitchen accents the bistro bona fides. Mirrors in gilded frames hang on the long side of the dining room. The facing wall holds a blackboard triptych. One board lists the appetizers, another the entrées and the third, the desserts available on any given evening at the almost unbelievable prix-fixe of $30, which is offered from Tuesday to Thursday. Such remarkable deals are nothing new for a Brian Held restaurant. Brian savored the opportunity to set up shop in Lambertville, a longtime artsy, foodie haven where diners eagerly explore new ideas and styles. He moved into Chef Matt Cain’s former Number 9 restaurant on tiny Kline’s Court. Brian’s is a departure from Number 9’s whose abbreviated menu was aimed at repeat diners seeking familiarity and consistency. Brian Held’s style is more aggressive. His menu changes and grows. He explores. And judging from the response and the full house, he has already conquered the Lambertville scene. Of course, he enjoys the loyalty and patronage of longtime fans from Juliana Rose and Rouget as well. But any discussion about Brian’s in Lambertville needs to begin with prix-fixe—a rarity in our region these days, thanks to some sad, sorry, and uninteresting prix-fixe menus that soured many on the genre. That’s not the scene at Brian’s. His prix fixe offers finely crafted choices. On a given evening, you can choose between four or five appetizers like Spinach and Sheep Milk Ravioli with Lemon and Pine 36

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Nuts or Organic Greens and Warm Goat Cheese with Balsamic Vinaigrette. Typical entrée choices include Braised Beef à la mode with horseradish, Monkfish with Ratatouille Risotto, Pan-Fried Cod with aïoli, and Rainbow Trout. Low price hooks up with panache—an elusive pairing that most prix fixe menus lack. What’s more, execution lives up to promise here. French and Italian techniques and touches elevate the dishes. Sweetbreads Milanese are light, almost ethereal. A canopy of arugula leaves glistens under citrusy dressing with capers for more bite in this balanced recipe. Bisque tastes of the earthy undercurrent of oyster and shiitake mushrooms. Stewed apple slices arch over Boudin Blanc stretched out over a bed of red cabbage. Boudin blanc, white chicken and pork sausage made without blood, is plump and scrumptious. Apples and red cabbage give sweet counterbalance to the spicy sausage, which is sided with a salad of mixed lettuce and warm goat cheese. Among the regular menu pastas, Pappardelle Bolognaise is hearty traditional peasant fare. Ground meat in red tomato sauce clads broad flat pasta ribbons that are crowned with a dusting of Parmesan cheese. Fazzoletti lays down a bed for mussel shells in muscular sauce redolent of saffron and garnished with braised leeks. Roquefort cheese buttresses Monkfish in Wild Mushroom Risotto paired with risotto loaded with wild mushrooms. Trout, pan-seared in butter, whole sage leaves and pine nuts, work with mashed potatoes, snow peas, carrots and asparagus for a winning recipe. Scrumptious sautéed Duck Breast is served on couscous with snowpeas and carrots for snap and crunch (however, the cherry sauce could have had more zip). One comment on my Facebook photos of Brian’s that I received from a French ex-pat said of Bananas Foster: “OMG, tooooo American.” But, OMG it’s so good! This version is an artful gear-down from the gooey excesses I recall from its heyday a few decadent decades ago. Moderation rules in a recipe that would make New Orleans’s Brennan’s, the inventor of the dessert, proud. The sauce is delicious, without being ridiculously gloppy, and does not make the ride home uncomfortable. Or guilt-ridden. Chocolate Torte with a soft, chewy interior topped with rich house-made banana ice cream is another fine meal-ender. Tasty pizzas have already become a town favorite. Woodfiring gives them a delicate smoky undertone. You have your choice of several well-spiced, lively toppings. It’s a pleasure, but no surprise, to see Brian Held succeeding in another milieu and another venue. His technique and instinct connect with diners everywhere he’s ever set up shop—but his fit with Lambertville seems ideal. The Brian’s sign on Kline’s Court will hang there a long, long time. ■ Brian’s, 9 Kline’s Court, Lambertville, NJ (609) 460-4148. Dinner Tuesday-Saturday 5:30-9; Sunday 5-8; Breakfast Sunday 9-2; Closed Monday. www.brianslambertville.com Email: r.gordon33@verizon.net

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

first sip

PATRICIA SAVOIE

HARD APPLE CIDER

S WA N

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

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

CIDER IS AN IDEAL summer drink, falling between beer and wine. It is served cold, is lightly sparkling and has from 5%-8% alcohol. It tastes of crisp apple. There are two types of cider: sweet, which is non-alcoholic, and hard. We are interested here in the hard variety, which is generally sold in beer-like bottles or cans, while sweet is most often sold in jugs. It is said that the word “cider” comes from the Hebrew “shekhar,” meaning strong drink. It moved into Latin as “sicera,” and it eventually became the French “sidre,” which refers specifically to an apple drink. The US is the second largest apple producer after China. And Washington is the largest apple producer, followed by New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania. We grow about 100 varieties of apples. However, most “eating apples” are not suitable for making cider. There are special varieties grown for cider production. Two of the most famous cider apples came from Essex County, NJ in the 1700s: the Campfield and the Harrison apples. And Thomas Jefferson grew Hewe’s cider apples in his orchards in the early 1700s. While hard cider was a favorite drink of the Founding Fathers, it disappeared after Prohibition. Apples became symbols of health and cider soon meant apple juice. But within the past twenty to thirty years, interest in hard cider has grown, and artisanal producers have begun producing it from newly reclaimed heirloom cider apple varieties. In 1903, a UK research group classified cider apples according to four flavor categories. Much like wine, key components are acidity and tannins. Apples high in acidity and tannin—called Bittersharps—produce a cider with “bite” or bitter notes which comes from the tannins. Sweets are low in tannins and acidity, producing a soft, sweeter cider. Sharps are high in acidity and low in tannin, and Bittersweets are low in acidity and high in tannins. Most ciders are blends of two or more of the types. Cider apples also need high levels of sugar to ensure fermentation. As with wine, different styles of cider go with different foods. The drier types with summer BBQ, burgers, the sweeter varieties with spicy foods, Mexican dishes, salads, fried chicken. Unfortunately, most liquor stores or supermarkets (depending on where you live) don’t carry a wide selection of ciders. So, you are unlikely to find the small production Washington State brands here in the east. Even ciders from NY’s Hudson Valley are most often sold only at the farm. What you will find are a mix of imported ciders—usually from the UK—and selections from some of the larg-

er US producers, like Woodchuck and Crispin. And many restaurants and bars now carry ciders. Here are some recommendations. These ciders range in price from $1.50-7.00 per bottle, with the higher prices for the 22-ounce bottles. Located in NY’s Hudson Valley, Warwick Valley Winery produces Doc’s Drafts (Apple, Pear and Raspberry flavors). It is an excellent cider with crisp, fresh effervescence. In addition, Applewood Orchards & Winery made Dave’s Stone Fence Cider, which is crisp with honey notes. But they are replacing the brand with a new Naked Flock label. The “Original” will be the same as Dave’s, and there are two new ciders that are beng introduced in August— “Draft,” made with Trappist Ale Yeast with a touch of Organic Maple syrup and “Pumpkin,” fermented with locally grown pumpkins. Every November, Applewood stages the NY Hard Cider Experience. This year it is November 3 and 4 from12-5 pm. It will feature three new Ciders under their new Naked Flock Label. The JK’s Scrumpy Hard Cider “Farmhouse Orchard Gate Gold” from Michigan is made from organically grown apples and is one of the better ones sampled. “Scrumpy” is a style of cider made in SW England. It is unfiltered so has a cloudy appearance. It is dry but with sweet fruit and a true apple taste. Harpoon Cider from Boston is well-made. They use mainly Macintosh apples, and it is fruity yet crisp with a bit of tartness. Farnham Hills in NH grows a number of the traditional cider apples, and they produce a traditional, bitter, strong cider. Perhaps closest to what the forefathers were tippling. Crispin has breweries in both MN and CA. It is a high quality cider made unfiltered and meant to be served over ice. They make a light, floral cider in several flavors, such as maple and honey. A well-known and widely available cider from VT is Woodchuck. It is made in a range of flavors. The Amber Draft has notes of baking spices. Among the British imports, Blackthorn Cider is medium dry with a nice bite. Strongbow is soft and fruity with a yeasty aftertaste. It is widely available. Woodpecker Cider, made from bittersweet apples, is semi-dry and fruity but crisp. It is slightly sparkling. Magner’s, from Ireland, also is widely available here. They use 17 different apples. They also make a pear cider. ■

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

about life

JAMES P. DELPINO

SELF-ESTEEM IS AN INSIDE JOB

ost people would agree that having positive self-esteem is better than having no or low self-esteem. Many folks try to change their behaviors or thinking in attempts to improve their self-esteem. There are books, videos and programs geared to promoting positive self-esteem. In fact, helping to create self-esteem is a big business in America. So why then is self-esteem so elusive and hard to develop? There are several theories about building, attaining and maintaining self-esteem. One theory espouses actions and accomplishments as key building blocks for feeling good about the self. Another theory insists that changing how we think or process the world lies at the base of low self-esteem. And still another encourages a mix of both of these approaches. Looking at what prevents positive self-esteem may be a way of highlighting what not to do in promoting healthy self-esteem. Here are some things people with low or poor self-esteem do and think. Identifying and reducing these tendencies are worthy goals. Engage in frequent negative self-talk. Make sure your inner dialogue remains focused negatively and repeat and/or maintain this internal state until it becomes the integrated and automated inner mode of being. Try to frequently question yourself. Don’t trust your gut feelings or intuitions. Immerse yourself in fears of making a mistake with whatever you decide, especially in difficult or painful situations. Remind yourself of your failures. Develop the ability to obsess over the things you have failed to achieve. Surround yourself with people who do not believe in you. Negative reinforcement from others will keep your esteem low. Surround yourself with people who are generally negative and pessimistic. Negativity is easy and it takes no talent to be negative, so finding a pessimist is quite easy. Pessimism, like a cold, can be easy to catch. Surround yourself with people who have low self-esteem. It’s like the old saying, “misery loves company.” Surround yourself with people who do not appreciate you. Feeling unappreciated is a powerful way to undermine your sense of being validated. Surround yourself with people who take advantage of you. When you are being taken Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 30 years. jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.

advantage of it helps to decrease your sense of self-worth or feeling valued for who you are. Say “I’m sorry” often, even when you know something is not your fault. Apologizing lets predatory folks know you are an easy mark. Most people become annoyed when someone apologizes too frequently for things they have not done wrong. Try very, very hard to control the actions of other people in your life, especially those you care most about. When people don’t do as you wish, make sure to take it personally and blame yourself. Consider taking this as proof that you, your thoughts and your feelings are not important to the people you care most about. Try very, very hard to control the thoughts of others. Convincing people to think like you do or to think about you in a certain way is usually a futile enterprise. Despite your best efforts, people are going to think what they think about you based on their own way of processing and understanding the world. Place your opinion of yourself entirely in the hands of other people. If you have surrounded yourself with an assortment of negative people who don’t believe in, appreciate or question you, your opinion of yourself will surely stay low. The excessive use of drugs and alcohol can exacerbate, accelerate and profoundly decrease self-esteem. If the use of drugs and/or alcohol negatively affects your relationships and/or your work do not seek out the help that is readily available to you. Do things that push people who are good for you away. Try to be insensitive and unreliable, for these are hurtful things to most people and generally make others feel that you don’t care about them. Consider lying, rage and being harshly judgmental as better than average ways to discourage people from wanting to be with you. Become more and more self-critical. Practice will improve your ability to increase your self-criticism to ever new lows. The more often we do or think something, the more likely we are to continue to repeat it. Push away and/or sabotage love when it comes your way. Love has unique powers to increase humans’ general sense of well-being. Going from the heights of love to having your heart dashed on the rocks of despair will surely keep your self-esteem low. One way to sabotage a good relationship is to be overly dramatic and negative, as these two things in particular have a way of throwing water on the flames of love. Keep subscribing to the cultural myth that if you are hard on yourself that somehow it will make you a better person. It won’t. This list is by no means exhaustive. Doing just a few, or doing some of them sometimes, or just being pretty good at one of them can land you in low Self-Esteemville. There are countless ways to prevent positive self-esteem and there are also countless ways to be happy. n

AUGUST 2012

ICON

Whoopee! Winner of the

ICON

sally friedman

monthly drawing for

DINNER FOR 2: SCOTT DORNBLASER 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

Whoopee! Winner of the

ICON monthly drawing for

DINNER FOR 2: SUSAN WHITE 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 40

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Hot Sweaty Love

e arrives home dripping with sweat. I greet him with a slight wave—all I can muster. We both sigh. “I have it on high-fan,” is the only comment I make, and we both know that the “it” in question is the air conditioner. It is, alas, our total focus, the hum that is the sound track of our summer love. Yet the house still feels like a swamp. It’s as if we’ve been living on the set of that Humphrey Bogart classic, The African Queen, but without the glorious sense of adventure. Yes, things have been sizzling—but I don’t mean in the romantic sense. I hate hot weather. Always have. Always will. My husband, slightly less affected than I am by long strings of hothazy-humid days, suffers more silently. Heat makes me cranky, then downright nasty. So I talk about it a lot. “Have you ever seen such humidity?” I’ll ask total strangers in parking lots as I move with measured, mincing steps. Anything more energetic is too taxing when the heat engulfs and disables. “When will it cool down?” I mutter to the mailman, the supermarket checker, the librarian. I instantly bond with those who respond with the same intensity I feel. In an inspired moment, I decide I’ll start create a website for heat-haters, tracking just how awful it gets. But instead, I collapse on the den sofa and surrender to a dish of mocha fudge ice cream (not the low-fat kind) again. I torture myself by listening to the meteorologists who gleefully report not just the temperature, but exactly how hot it feels on our skin. You can even check it hour by hour on websites. During the most dreadful days of clammy heat, I find myself avoiding the outdoors entirely, and scampering from one air conditioned place to the next. Well, maybe not exactly scampering. More like carefully placing one foot in front of the other to avoid any needless exertion.

Cooking? Not on your life. In recent weeks, we have survived on meals like tuna on stale bagels, cottage cheese sandwiches and, on one memorable night, peaches and cookies. When it’s been too hot to read, too hot to talk and definitely too hot to exercise, our battles have been waged around the living room thermostat. I sidle over to it at the crack of dawn on these blistering days, and plunge the dial down to the lowest temperature it will register. My reasonable husband gently slides it up a notch or two. And the wars begin. It does disturb me that two presumably enlightened people, living in a troubled world, would devote quite so much time and energy to precisely how low is too low to set the thermostat. It definitely makes me feel guilty that I’d rather discuss the weather forecast in exquisite detail than a wonderful book or movie or idea. But frankly, ideas are far too taxing when the mere effort of breathing in and out takes all the concentration I can muster. I automatically resent people who had the wisdom—and incredible luck—to be far away. I refuse to listen to their tales of needing to wear sweaters at night on Cape Cod, or shivering in Oregon. And the next person who tells me that down at the shore, it was so breezy that the kids couldn’t brave the ocean…well, never mind what I’d like to say. There are, of course, solutions to all this. One is just to shut up and ignore it. Just not my style. Another is to do all those things the experts suggest: stay indoors, drink lots of water, avoid exertion, eat lightly. But being sensible is boring. And there’s my way: constant lamenting, complaining, whining, checking precisely how high the temperature will soar and then talking endlessly about it. But I keep reminding myself that in the not too distant future, the hot flash of summer will be over. And then a different, time-honored litany can be heard at our house. It goes something like this: “Boy, it’s cold! It’s freezing! Don’t touch that thermostat. Of course I want it set that high…” And the grand finale? “Can’t wait for summer.” ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

18 / KERESMAN ON FILM / MOONRISE KINGDOM

Writer and director Wes Anderson can be considered a King of Quirk when it comes to the comedy/drama genre: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox are just some of the titles on his resume. While I like Quirky, some Artistes substitute Quirk for substance or genuine characterization. (He’s a bank robber that plays jazz trombone! He’s a crime boss that dresses tastefully and quotes Jean-Paul Sartre! Etc!) Anderson does not succumb here—Moonrise Kingdom is loaded with quirky types but more in a way that recalls The Andy Griffith Show (minus the sweetness, and sadness added). Most of the folks and situations Anderson introduces will likely stick with you for a bit. The scoop: On a New England island town in 1965, two young lovers—tweeners, too old to be “little kids” but not yet teens—decide to split their respective scenes. Sam (Jared Gilman) is at summer camp— he’s a nerd and roundly disliked, plus he’s a foster-kid whose foster parents don’t like him. Suzy (Kara Heyward) has what these days we’d call “anger issues”—a classmate pisses her off and Suzy wails away (physically) at her. Also, her homelife is not exactly rosy—mom (Frances McDormand) sometimes addresses her brood with a bullhorn and is having an affair with local gendarme Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) of which dad (Bill Murray) is unaware. Suzy and Sam are in love and decide to run away together—she “borrows” her brother’s portable record player, brings some books and her kitten; he’s practical, bringing his scouting skills to the fore. The adults in our piece (minus Sam’s foster-folks, natch) notice the kids missing and search the island to find them before a nasty storm hits land. The Scout Master (Edward Norton) is something of a Dudley Doright, but not in an over-thetop way—Anderson and the film don’t make him out to be a jerk or a dweeb while showing him to have that big-fish-in-a-small-pond, small-town intensity. In other words, he doesn’t become a Barney Fife or Dale Gribble. The Scout Master mobilizes his troops—most of whom seem to be glad to be rid of Sam, btw—to search the island. The Captain, of course, leads the adults in the search. Our young lovers have the adventures they need and deserve in their quest for A Way Out. This is GOOD—very good. The kids act like kids, not little adults, all the while taking everyFrances McDormand, Bill Murray and Edward Norton. thing so seriously the way kids do. There are moments of nascent sexuality but it’s shown in a purposely awkward, understated, non-sexploitational way. It was great to see Willis actually acting again, instead of grimacing and mugging his way through—his police officer is a little melancholy and frustrated, something of an Everyman, and the film doesn’t hold him up to ridicule. Bill Murray is great as the somewhat dweeb-y father—while he plays dad with that Bill Murray style he’s clearly not playing the usually sardonic/bemused Bill Murray. Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Harvey Keitel have small but fine, move-the-plot-along roles. Almost everyone gets to “shine” in a way—some are indeed “quirky,” true, but they’re not (much) overplayed. (Heck, I almost expected Floyd the Slow-Talking Barber to show up.) These felt like, dare I say, real people. The humor is mostly understated but there were indeed some laugh-out-loud moments. Bob Balaban turns up as a quaint (as you knew he would be) Occasional Narrator. The only odd “off ” aspect about Moonrise Kingdom is the way it portrays the period—it’s supposed to be 1965 but seems more like ’55. There are a few Hank Williams songs featured, but as much as I love Hank Senior I’m old enough, alas, to recall that he wasn’t a major component of the mid-60s soundtrack. Where was Motown, the British Invasion, the middle-ofthe-road singers such as Dean Martin, Jack Jones, and Vikki Carr? (The latter three were the type of music my parents liked and, reluctantly, I liked some of it, too.) Cripes, I grew up in Pittsburgh and got a wide musical education via AM radio. Further, did they still use telephone switchboard operators then? One nice touch: Suzy brought along a record by French pop singer Françoise Hardy, whose heyday was the ‘60s (though she’s still active today). Moonrise Kingdom was one of those rare movies that charmed the pants of cynicism off me. Alert: do stay through the end credits. ■ 42

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

16 / CINEMATTERS / RUBY SPARKS

Harry’s question turns out to be oddly prophetic. Written by the 28-year-old Kazan, already a veteran playwright, Ruby Sparks doesn’t look at the relationship dynamics between reality and fantasy. And with the exception of Calvin’s frantic search for confirmation of Ruby’s existence, the movie isn’t particularly zany. Ruby Sparks spends its time dissecting the myth that finding the perfect mate solves every problem. Calvin is lonely, and with good reason: He is a moody, petulant brat who wants the relationship on his terms. After months together, Calvin finally introduces Ruby to his mother (Annette Bening) and lover (Antonio Banderas), a warm couple whose crunchy, free-spirited lifestyle the preppy and reserved Calvin abhors. Ruby loves the laughter and camaraderie. He spends time alone with a book, a world he can control. Predictably, Ruby and Calvin’s relationship grows static. Instead of taking a good, long look at himself Calvin unearths his manuscript and edits Ruby down to size. Kazan and the directors never lose sight that hyperbole is at the heart of all this. When Ruby has the gall to ask Calvin to spend one night a week at her place, his keystrokes turn the girl into a needy

Paul Dano.

mess (“I miss you right now!”). Making her happy sounds easy in theory until she has the disposition of a morning show host on uppers. These moves don’t feel cheap or easy because the film doesn’t cram itself into a genre. Its energy comes from Kazan, Dayton, and Faris’ refusal to indulge our expectations. You anticipate an outside threat: a hunky competitor or an angry and incredulous rival. None emerge. Calvin’s oblivious fidelity to his sterile, bland world is the threat, and poor Ruby can’t understand why she has to live there. Kazan recently said that she didn’t write the script, based on the Pygmalion myth, for an acting gig. I believe her. Ruby is a reflection of Calvin’s issues more than a star-making performance, which makes me a bigger fan of Kazan (The Exploding Girl, Me and Orson Welles). She cares about the integrity of the film more than establishing a brand. Regardless, her performance reminds you of the smart, sexy girl in English lit—the one who loved bands and movies you never heard of—whom you never had the balls to approach. Dano’s work is more important. He grows more obnoxious as Ruby grows tired of every writer’s life cliché. But we never lose our patience with him. The guy is just clueless. Calvin must learn that you have to love yourself before you love someone else. Ruby Sparks’ creativity and ingenuity makes it entertaining; that it’s a magical reality check makes the film meaningful. [R] ■

If you can afford the price of a daily cappuccino, you can afford to advertise.

NO EXCUSES.

ICON 1-800-354-8776 AUGUST 2012

ICON

regional theater Much Ado About Nothing Through 8/5 Much Ado offers a tale of two courtships: Beatrice and Benedick elevate the art of the quarrel in their duel of glittering wordplay, while Claudio and Hero are instantly smitten with one another. However, the scheming and envious Don John vows to ruin Claudio and Hero’s happiness. Comical officers challenge dastardly villains, honor and desire collide— and a story filled with laughter and love unfolds. Thom Weaver has designed the Sicilian island setting where the play takes place, along with designing the lights. Directed by James J. Christy. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley PA. (610) 282-3192. $34-$55. Much Ado About Nothing 8/10-8/26 By sheer coincidence Mauckingbird Theatre Company is also mounting an unusual interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy this month. This bold version posits a gay twist to this comedy of errors. Contrasting the romantic entanglements of the young and spontaneous Claudio and Hero (Griffin Back and Cameron Slusser), with the bantering rivalry of Beatrice and Benedick (Sean Thompson and Matt Tallman), Mauckingbird produces a timely exploration of marriage, jealousy, love and honor through the eyes of gay men. Mauckingbird Theatre, Off-Broad Street Theater, @ First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street, Philadelphia PA. (215) 923-8909. $15-$25.

EDITED BY DAVID SCHULTZ

don stage. The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater’s Classical Acting Academy. 2111 Sansom Street, Philadelphia PA. Tickets are FREE (maximum of four per person per day). Tickets are NOT available via phone or internet. Subject to availability. Runaway Broadway 8/16-8/26 The Broadway hits come fast and furious with a special tribute to Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim. Herman is best known for shows like Hello Dolly, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles. Sondheim is the winner of more Tony Awards than any other composer for such musicals as A Little Night Music, Follies, Pacific Overtures, Sweeny Todd, and Into The Woods. Featuring Jenny Eisenhower, Laura Giknis, Melissa Joy Hart, Chris Roach, Anette Michelle Saunders and Keith Spencer. Bristol Riverside Theater, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol PA. (215) 785-0100. $35. Roger Ricker in Concert: Super Songs of the ‘70s 8/15 ONE NIGHT ONLY Super Songs of the ‘70s is an upbeat, memorable evening with Ricker singing hits by Elton John, The Carpenters, Ringo Starr, and more...plus several Broadway songs from the groovy bell-bottom era. The Media Theatre, 104 East State Street, Media PA. (610) 891-0100.

SECOND ANNUAL GAYFEST [Quince Productions has four plays running in repertory, eight one-night stands and three staged readings from 8/3-9/1 at Plays and Players, 3rd floor Skinner Studio, 1714 Delancey Place, Phila. (215) 627-1088. Tickets: www.quinceproductions.com]

Say Goodnight Gracie 8/3-8/5 This one-man tour-de-force features actor Alan Safier in the guise of one of the world’s funniest centenarians, the one and only George Burns. In this poignant piece, George is in limbo between this world and the next, unable to join his beloved wife and partner Gracie Allen until he gives the command performance of his lifetime for God. He looks back upon his impoverished youth on the lower East Side of New York, his Vaudeville days, the momentous time he met Gracie, their chemistry, their perfect timing, marriage, and subsequent vault to fame in vaudeville, movies, radio and television. Spanning over ninety years of American entertainment history, Say Goodnight Gracie is a multimedia presentation with vintage photographs and video clips from film and television performances. Written by Rupert Holmes. Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol PA. (215) 785-0100. $35.

Mike and Seth 8/14-9/1 Two lifelong friends—one straight, one gay—share a room at the Ritz-Carlton the night before Mike (the straight one) is getting married, while a Texas ice storm rages outside. A haunting, funny, sexy, and lyrical play full of longing, sadness, humor, hope, and beauty. Written especially for the festival by playwright Daniel Talbott, author of last year’s hit Slipping. Contains adult language and nudity, and is not suitable for audience members under 18. The Crumple Zone 8/9-9/1 It’s Christmas weekend on Staten Island, and three gay roommates are having some problems: Terry drinks way too much, and can’t get an acting job OR a date; Alex is carrying on with Buck while Alex’s lover Matt is on tour. As surprise visitors appear, the laughs multiply in Buddy Thomas’ dark comedy of gay life and relationships. The New York Times said, “The kind of domestic comedy that might have been written by Neil Simon if he were gay and 40 years younger.”

State Fair Through 8/12

The Well of Horniness 8/8-9/1

This classic musical by Rogers and Hammerstein is set against the colorful backdrop of an American heartland tradition. It follows the Frake family as they leave the routine of the farm for three days of adventure at the annual Iowa State Fair. Mom and Pop have their hearts set on blue ribbons while daughter and son find romance and heartbreak on the midway. Pennsylvania Playhouse, IIIicks Mill Road, Bethlehem PA. (610) 865-6665. $19-$22.

This is Holly Hughes’ “dyke noir” classic, brought back in a performance not seen in a decade. This wild romp, follows a “lady dick” as she sets out to solve a murder with way too many suspects: is it the about-to-be-married lady who’s discovering/re-discovering the joys of women? The hard-bitten hat check girl? The sleazy lounge performer? Solutions take second place to laughs in this zany girl-friendly farce.

Cymbeline 8/1-8/19

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later 8/7-9/1

Cymbeline plunges audiences into a world of political machinations, misogyny, thwarted love, jealous wagers, and princes lost at birth. Add an evil queen, a slick politician, and a headless corpse, and we are on a rollercoaster journey. Shakespeare brought to this play all the wisdom and artistry he learned over the course of three breathless decades on the Lon-

Tectonic Theatre Project’s follow-up to their powerful docudrama about the Matthew Shepard murder. Returning to Laramie, Wyoming ten years after the murder, they interview a wide variety of people (including the murderers). Written by Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber. ■

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

footlights

DAVID SCHULTZ

THE SPIEGELWORLD TENT IS back in town, this time set down right in the heart of Times Square. Spiegelworld first appeared in Manhattan in the summer of 2006. This sordid and slightly seedy show—but, oh, so European—was a perfect fit in the South Street Seaport area. The 440-seat Belgian venue featured in-the-round seating arrangements, rococo wood paneling, mirrors covering the inner tent walls, stained glass windows, and plush velvet seating booths. A popular art form in the early 20th century, spiegeltents were frequently used as music and dance halls, and comprised a wide variety of cabaret, variety and burlesque acts. The shows that ran in the

the unique talents of the foreign-born athletic performers are truly dazzling. The evening starts off with a scantily-clad young woman (Elena Lev), who steps into a clear bubble that floats high above the audience. She then contorts her body into wild pretzel-like positions and performs balletic moves with hoops, all with a trance-like stare. The acts go by quickly in an intermission-free 90 minutes. One of the best performances was by Roma Hervida and Sven Rauhe, a skating duo who swirl around the tiny stage at insane speeds. He throws gravity in reverse and, tethered to a mere leather strap around his neck, has her flying above the first few rows. They calmly smile during all

South Street Seaport years had vaguely mysterious names: “Absinthe,” “La Vie,” “Desir.” The five-year run at the Seaport had two shows running concurrently that were perfect bookends—one being a more athletic, muscular circus-type of show (without any nets!), and the other a more raunchy sort of “Late Night Lounge” performance art piece (these frequently involved having members of the audience join the performers onstage and get involved in often hilarious, embarrassing, compromised positions). Each one had its own flavor and appeal. This new show, Empire, tries to encompass a bit of both at the same time, but the naughty bits feel forced and oft-times fall flat, possibly because of the heavily populated tourist trade in the Times Square area. There is a more restrained and tentative vibe from the audience members that this uptown work seems to engender. Not that it’s right or wrong, but there is definitely a more polite, restrained reaction to the proceedings. The claustrophobic atmosphere within the tent actually works in this show’s favor, and

this, obviously enjoying the thrill themselves. My favorite moment of the evening, hands down, is a 14-minute, Zen-like performance piece, “Sandornbalance & Spinning Top on Drift Wood.” An eerie man called Rigolo creates magic in the ultimate balancing act. A large clump of driftwood litters the stage. Rigolo picks the limbs up one by one and slowly creates an Alexander Calder-like mobile with increasing dexterity. With unerring skill, he renders the audience still with rapt attention as he precisely lays them in increasingly complex designs to create an almost dinosaur-looking creature that floats high above the seats. All told, this roundelay of body-defying contortions, gorgeous bodies and a sense of “Oh-my-god-how-do-they-do-that?” is a sheer delight, no matter how you slice it. It may not have the same risqué undercurrent or rough edges of previous years, but it nonetheless is an eye-popping divertissement that will get under your skin. ■

Empire

Playing at the Spiegelworld Tent @ 265 West 45th Street. Running through September 2, 2012. $59-$89. David Schultz is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

classical notebook

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 Berliner Philharmoniker Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor Released on EMI Classics www.emiclassics.com www.simon-rattle.com ★★★★★

Sir Simon Rattle. Photo: Sebastien Grébille.

IN THIS RIVETING NEW recording, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No 9, including the world premiere of the latest scholarly revision of the fourth movement that the composer left unfinished at his death. Sir Simon and the Orchestra unveiled the new version at the Berlin’s Philharmonie in early February 2012 and at New York’s Carnegie Hall the same month. “It was fascinating to hear this monumental symphony performed in [its new] final movement. After a quizzical opening and a strong statement of the main theme there are stretches of fitful counterpoint, brass chorales and ruminative passages that take you by surprise. Overall the music pulses a hard-wrought insistence that crests with a hallelujah coda,” wrote The New York Times. On October 11, 1896, the day he died, Bruckner was still desperately trying to finish the final movement of his ninth symphony. He had completed and orchestrated onethird of the movement and sketched the layout for the entire finale. Unfortunately, for scholars attempting to construct the remaining two-thirds of the movement, many of the manuscript pages were subsequently stolen by autograph hunters. Some of these pages have resurfaced in recent years and several attempts have been made to complete the last movement, including four prior versions by the current musicological team of Nicola Samale, Giuseppe Mazzuca, John Phillips and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

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

Mr. Cohrs said, “From a fresh re-examination of the manuscripts it was possible to find some convincing new solutions, binding the music even better together.” With the benefit of 25 years of scholarship, this latest version is arguably the most comprehensive realization of Bruckner’s sketches. John Phillips adds, “The finale is no musical curiosity, but an integral part of the work as its composer intended. Just as Beethoven designed his last symphony around its chorale finale, Bruckner designed the Ninth around this huge, ultimately triumphant movement, synthesizing sonata form, fugue and chorale. For the devoutly Catholic Bruckner, the symphony was to be his ‘homage to Divine Majesty.’ The Adagio, his ‘Farewell to Life,’ traces as a gradual process of dissolution that leads us, spellbound, into the borrowed from earlier in the work. And it is with this ‘Hallelujah’ theme—the first entry of the trumpets in the Adagio—which the Ninth can so justly and so gloriously now conclude.” In an interview for the Berlin Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall, Sir Simon expressed his faith in the newly assembled four-movement version and begged audiences to be receptive to the new material. “There’s a kind of myth that there are only sketches left of the last movement. In fact, there was really an emerging full score, complete almost to the end,” Rattle said, adding that Bruckner was writing in his most radical, forward-looking style in the Ninth, especially in the finale. According to Gramophone, to help listeners understand just how “complete” the finale actually was at the time of Bruckner’s death, Rattle compared the composer to an architect designing a cathedral. Indeed, Bruckner had the rather unique composition method of deciding how long his movements should be and then putting all the bars on the manuscript, numbered and with phrase lengths, even before writing the first note. “So actually, even when there are some empty pages, we know exactly how many bars there were and what kind of phrases there were,” concluded Rattle, explaining how much of the manuscript evidence was strewn

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.

throughout various collections. He also said that had the composer lived another two months, the finale would have been complete. For music lovers who discount the validity of any fourth movement to the Symphony No 9, there is much to enjoy in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s performance of the first three movements. “Mr. Rattle and the Berlin players deftly balanced elements of Schubertian structure and Wagnerian turmoil in the mysterious first movement. The brutal power of the scherzo’s main theme was chilling, with the orchestra pummeling the dense, thick, dissonance-tinged chords. And Mr. Rattle laid out the threads of chromatic counterpoint in an organic, glowing and, when appropriate, gnashing account of the Adagio,” wrote The New York Times. For those with the intellectual curiosity to hear how accomplished Bruckner scholars have most recently realized the unfinished movement, it is performed here by the world-renowned team of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker, reason enough for me to give this whole project the highest five-star rating, standing for a real classic and a must-have in your CD collection. For 15 years a regular guest conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle became its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director in September 2002. As well as fulfilling a taxing concert schedule in Berlin, the partnership tours extensively, and has garnered many awards for its recordings and pioneering educational work. Concert programs over a broad spectrum, from Bach and Rameau to figures such as Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and Brahms, to contemporary composers such as Ades, Berio, Boulez, Grisey, Gubaidulina, Lindberg and Turnage. Rattle has made countless recordings and has received numerous prestigious awards. CD recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker include Bruckner’s Symphony No 4, Holst’s The Planets, together with Colin Matthew’s recently-composed “Pluto,” and the world premiere recordings of further “asteroids” by Saariaho, Pintscher, Turnage and Dean; Shostakovich’s Symphony 1 and Symphony 14; Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme suite; Debussy’s La Mer; Dvorak’s tone poems; Schubert’s Symphony No 9; Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms; Carl Orff ’s Carmina Burana; the Nielsen Clarinet and Flute concertos; Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique; and Brahms’ Requiem which won Best Choral Recording at the 2008 Gramophone Awards. The most recent releases are Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, a critically-acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Symphony No 2, as well as a recording of several of Schoenberg’s Orchestral Works which was reviewed in an earlier ICON issue. ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

singer /songwriter Don Williams ★★★1/2 And So It Goes Sugar Hill Records

The Nighthawks ★★★ Damn Good Time Severn Records

F. Scott Fitzgerald once observed there are no second acts in American lives. Singer Don Williams is showing there is life after retirement. About half a dozen years after calling

For 40 years, the Nighthawks have been serving up their brand of blues-based roots music in bars and clubs across the United States and Europe. That road work is reflected in

icon 1-800-354-8776

Don Williams.

it quits in the music business, he has emerged with And So It Goes, a collection of ten songs that indicate his considerable vocal skills remain intact. Williams’ self-assurance as a singer is evident throughout, from the optimistic opener, “Better Than Today,” to the take-it-as-comes title track, one of two songs Williams had a hand in writing. “I Just Came Here For The Music” has the feel of a classic country song as Williams is joined by Allison Krauss for a duet that deftly captures the feeling of new love. “What If It Worked Like That” is an uptempo rumination on making the world a better place. Williams and producer Garth Fundis keep their approach simple, natural and direct. It’s a combination that led to critical and commercial success and induction of Williams into the Country Music Hall of Fame and, at 73, shows he made the right decision to come out of retirement.

tomwilk@rocketmail.com 48

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

The Nighthawks.

Damn Good Time, the band’s latest studio album. The dozen songs are an eclectic mix of original material and songs from artists who have influenced the band. A bluesy version of “Too Much,” a 1950s hit for Elvis Presley, allows the four-piece band to get down in the groove. “Let’s Work Together” is a reminder that Wilbert Harrison’s classic applies to all levels of human relationships. “Minimum Wage,” co-written by drummer Mark Stutso, is a love song cleverly written around the economic term. Think of it as supply and demand on the most basic level. “Bring Your Sister,” written by bassist Johnny Castle, and the title track, which features Stutso and Castle as co-writers, are a pair of good-time numbers that should blossom in concert. “Night Work’ is a celebration of the musician’s life and the lure of power and music. It’s a theme song for the Nighthawks for countless other bands who make their living between sunset and sunrise.

TOM WILK Ratings: ★=skip it; ★★=mediocre; ★★★=good; ★★★★=excellent; ★★★★★=classic

The Blasters ★★★1/2 Fun on Saturday Night Rip Cat Records In 1980, the Blasters released their debut album American Music. Thirty-two years later, it’s a fitting description for Fun on Saturday Night, their new studio CD, as it successfully hopscotches through varies genres of roots music. Vocalist Phil Alvin, lead guitarist Keith Wyatt, bassist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman demonstrate their command of blues, country, soul and rock and throw in some surprises over the album’s dozen selections. The hard-charging “Well Oh Well” jump-starts the album with a slice of ‘50s-style rock ‘n’ roll. Alvin and guest vocalist Exene Cervenka of X team for a spirited duet on “Jackson,” a ‘60s country hit for Johnny and June Carter Cash. On “Love Me with a Feeling” and “Please

Later,” later covered by Pete Townshend and Pearl Jam, would become one of their best-known songs in the United States. In addition to the group’s three studio albums (I Just Can’t Stop It, Wha’ppen? and Special Beat Service), the box set contains two bonus discs. One CD collects extended and dub version of 15 songs, while the other CD features three British radio shows and an excerpt from a 1982 concert that show shows the group’s talents in live performance. Mary Chapin Carpenter ★★★1/2 Ashes and Roses Zoe/Rounder After undergoing a pulmonary embolism, a divorce and the death of her father in recent years, Mary Chapin Carpenter turned to music as a way to express her feelings and sort out her emotions. The result is Ashes and Roses, a dozen songs that serve as a catharsis.

The Blasters. Photo: Gary Leonard.

Please Please,” the Blasters pay tribute to bluesman Magic Sam and soul legend James Brown, respectively. “Breath of My Love,” an Alvin original, is a doo-wop inspired tale of a love affair gone horribly wrong. The band revisits Dave Alvin’s “Marie Marie” from their first album. Recast as “Maria Maria” and performed as a acoustic waltz sung in Spanish, this version is a new direction for the band and shows Phil Alvin’s vocal versatility. The English Beat ★★★★ The Complete Beat Go Feet Records/Shout! Factory

Mary Chapin Carpenter.

As a band, the English Beat had a recording career that lasted about four years. Still, the group managed packed plenty of quality music into that time period as heard on The Complete Beat, a five-CD box set. Formed in 1978 by Dave Wakeling and Andy Cox during a time of political and musical upheaval in Great Britain, the band incorporated ska, reggae and rhythm and blues into their the sounds. An uptempo remake of “Tears of a Clown,” the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles hit, launched their career, becoming a Top Five single in the United Kingdom. The biracial sextet—made of up three whites and three blacks—had a knack for dancefloor grooves (“Too Nice to Talk To” and “Ranking Full Stop”) alongside politically-oriented material (“Stand Down Margaret” and “Get a Job”). The musically propulsive “Save It For

“What To Keep and What To Throw Away” and “Another Home” are candid reflections on starting a new life after a marital breakup. They show her eye for details and ability to capture the emotion of the moment. “Fading Away” and “Learning The World” are a pair of songs about dealing with loss and the ensuing grief that allow the Princeton native to bare her soul. Other songs offer a hint of optimism. “Transcendental Reunion” uses the metaphor of airplane travel to make a fresh start. “Soul Companion,” a duet with James Taylor, offers a sonic balm bruises heart and mind. Musically, she continues to blend folk, country and pop in primarily an acoustic setting, working on a smaller canvas that her country hits of the ‘90s. “Ashes and Roses” is as album that requires the listener’s attention but yields rewards for those who do so. ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

keresman on disc Mark Stewart ★★★★ The Politics of Envy Future Noise Music

The Corner Laughers ★★★★ Poppy Seeds MLM

Musician/singer Mark Stewart is one of those guys that’d likely say “I told you so” to historians and pundits, as his career has been dedicated to ranting about the shaky foundations of capitalism upon which Western Civ is built. (Stewart’s second album is entitled As the Ve-

The Ripe ★★★1/2 Into Your Ears Get Hip Once upon a time there were plenty of bands on Top 40 radio (the 1960s) with distinctive, impeccable, confection-sweet harmonies—The Association, Fifth Dimension, Searchers, Cowsills, Fortunes, and others whose vocal blendings were as powerful (and more eloquent) as most guitar solos. These bands may’ve been third-tier (Beatles and Four Seasons held the top spots) but their sound(s) were great and their influence shines still. The SF Bay Area coed combo Corner Laughers embody that sound without falling into idealized nostalgia. Those Beatles are an influence, too—note the “Honey Pie”/Lady Madonna-esque “Twice the

The Corner Laughers. Mark Stewart. Photo: Chiara Meattelli / Dominic Lee.

neer of Democracy Starts to Fade…from 1985. Do the math.) The Politics of Envy is about exactly that—and greed, vanity, mass media, and consumerist (Do we really need a handheld computer that makes pancakes?) and corporatist (“Health care? That’s Commie talk!”) concepts. Stewart fashioned a sleek, pulsing, almost hellish soundtrack that mixes funk, dub reggae, industrial buzz and clangor, and seething electronic pop—you can almost imagine Al Pacino as John Milton as manager of Depravity’s Disco, cackling “It’s my time now” as bodies writhe in…agony?…ecstasy? Stewart’s music doesn’t soothe or numb—it aims to incite with a chilly, anguished passion. Among the supporting cast are author/filmmaker Kenneth Anger, reggae pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry, members of Primal Scream, and punk icons Richard Hell and the Raincoats’ Gina Birch. It’s distressingly fun, like Lenny Bruce with a beat. futurenoisemusic.com / facebook.com/markstewartmusic

shemp@hotmail.com

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Luck.” “Transamerica Pyramid” is a San Francisco mini-travelogue with killer Beach Boys circa 1970 harmonies—a big smile waiting to happen, this is. Whilst their lyrics have a cheerily sarcastic edge, musically it’s perky and vivacious, with bits of Phil Spector density, Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks lushness, and leisurely Sunday early afternoon sunshine. cornerlaughers.com Also in the middle ‘60s, a style was a-borning that would reach fruition in the ‘70s—Pete Townsend referred what his band The Who did as “power pop,” a union of sweet, magnetic tune-age and impulsive rockin’ crunch. Texas trio The Ripe learned well from the Who, Kinks, and their Mod contemporaries—their methodology is plaintive vocals; brittle, chiming guitar, and impatient rhythms. It’s the juxtaposition of these aspects that gives The Ripe its distinctive allure—that and a tantalizing sense of restraint. While the Laughers have a mini-symphonic methodology, Ripe leave space(s) between the vocals and instruments, knowing what’s left out is as important as what’s in the mix. As the ‘60s Brits took American blues & pop and put their own spin on it, The Ripe take the Brits’ R&B-descended clang and nimble Mod finery, strip it down and rebuild it with American leanness. Cool. gethip.com

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

Swans ★★★★ The Burning World Water What’s good about feeling “bad”? There’s much music beloved by many that few could call “cheerful”—among these Nick Drake, The Doors, Leonard Cohen, Nico, Joy Division, and, yes, Swans. Main-man Michael Gira’s lyrics makes the aforementioned seem like the Broadway musical Oklahoma by comparison—to quote Uncle Charlie from Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, “The world’s a Hell.” Sample song title: “(She’s A) Universal Emptiness.” The music accompanying Gira’s desolate vision consisted of deliberate, monolithic beats and brutally grinding, dissonant guitars— until 1989’s The Burning World. Produced by Bill Laswell, World (long out of print) brought forth a new melodicism, anticipating the comparably less abrasive, Jarboe and Michael Gira. still uncompromising approach Gira would embrace with postSwans band Angels of Light. Gira sings with a deep, dark croon (evoking Cohen) and his foil Jarboe has an achingly lovely soprano evoking Judy Collins and Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard [see interview on page 26]. Musically, it’s angst-ridden folk-rock evoking Cohen, and the darker sides of early Simon & Garfunkel and Jefferson Airplane, but with North African overtones—in fact there are references to Tangier, Morocco-dwelling writer Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky). Attention Traffic fans: Herein is a BEAUTIFUL version of “Can’t Find My Way Home.” This Burning World is one of uncanny loveliness—note the ironically infectious closer “God Damn the Sun.” runtshop.com/water

All Mankind, a documentary about the moon landing using NASA footage. With Eno’s approval, South Korean composer Jun Lee scored Apollo for “regular” instruments (the classical chamber group Icebreaker: keyboards, guitar, strings, assorted winds, percussion) and pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole (as the astronauts took country music into space). The results might be light on conventional melodies but possess a lush, dreamlike beauty that’s lent a spirited quality due to, well, regular instruments instead of electronic ones. It be beautiful, a true space odyssey. cantaloupemusic.com Janel and Anthony ★★★1/2 Where Is Home Cuneiform Long ago when the world was young and burgers were less than a dollar—in the 1960s and ‘70s—there were musicians filed under “folk” but were truly beyond category. Folks (oops) such as John Fahey, Sandy Bull, and Robbie Basho played acoustic guitars, but were

Cornelius Dufallo ★★★1/2 Journaling Innova Icebreaker/B.J. Cole ★★★★ Brian Eno’s Apollo Cantaloupe Here are two “offspring” of minimalism, wherein the creation of music is based in the repetition, layering, and overlapping of sounds. It all sounds the same, until you really listen. Violinist Cornelius Dufallo (of the NY-based string quartet ETHEL) has the spotlight, performing solo or with electronics that allow him to play “along” with himself. There’s virtuosic drama (Huang Ruo’s “Four Fragments,” evoking Bartok), a mini-symphony of overlapping violin phrases (his own “Violin Loop V”), and straight romanticism (Kenji Bunch’s simply elegant “Until Next Time,” which Tchaikovsky himself might’ve liked were he undead). Violin enthusiasts: Search, and enjoy. innova.mu In 1983, musician/producer Brian Eno, with input from his brother Roger and guitarist/producer Daniel Lanois, released Apollo, an album of ethereal electronic music inspired by the NASA Apollo mission. This music was later used by filmmaker Al Reinert’s For

Anthony Pirog and Janel Leppin.

as likely to draw upon Indian raga and Scott Joplin as Blind Willie McTell for inspiration. These guys achieved “legendhood” but not popularity. Nowadays, We the People have matured and maybe Janel and Anthony have a chance to impress the bejeezus out of you. A DC-area duo, Janel Leppin (cello, electronics) and Anthony Pirog (guitar, electronics) combine downy ambience, jazz-flavored excursions, high-lonesome Americana, and cinematic twang (think Ennio Morricone’s music for assorted spaghetti Westerns). Pirog’s six-strings have the gentle/genteel, free-ranging surreal feel of Bill Frisell and a bit of the tension/sustain of Robert Fripp; Leppin has a deeply woody, supple tone. Sometimes “mood” takes precedence over “melody” (not that there’s anything wrong w/ that) but then there’s the deep classic(al) melancholy of “Where Will We Go.” Music to get lost within, a duo to watch. vcuneiformrecords.com ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

nick’s picks Michael Pedicin ★★★1/2 Live At The Loft Jazz Hut Records

and “Longview” and straight-up post bop on the rhythm-fueled title track. Apart from the superior sonics (something you can count on with every Posi-tone release), the elegant stylings of pianist Willis and sax player DiRubbo, longtime collaborators with Davis, sharpen

The Loft is a cozy 60-seat performance space upstairs from the Sandi Point Bistro in Southern New Jersey where tenor saxophonist Michael Pedicin recorded his eleventh project, Live At The Loft, a lucid collection of songs associated with John Coltrane and played with deep affection by the leader. This intimate set brings out the best in Pedicin who says, “I feel better playing live than in the studio. You’re in your element and in the moment.” He captures many fine moments on Live with interesting arrangements and robust rhythmic invention, performed by a band of like-minded musicians deserving wider recognition—gifted guitarist Johnnie Valentino, solid bassist Andy Lalasis, drummer Bob Schomo and pianist Jim Ridl. Pedicin is a Philadelphia native whose 40-year career has included tours with Dave Brubeck and Pat Martino—his love affair with Coltrane is indisputable as it informs his sound and style of playing, but Pedicin is no sound-alike and his tone moves from smooth to creamy on the kick-off tune, “Theme For Ernie,” as well as an enticing Latinized version of “Like Sonny.” There’s a novel down-tempo approach to “Impressions” and the divine swing of Joey Calderazzo’s “Midnight Voyage,” an original tune first performed by Michael Brecker, another Pedicin hero. A lovely ballad, “I Want To Talk About Michael Pedicin. You” precedes the album’s closer and best tune, a handsome and modern reading of “Africa” that sums up Pedicin and his band’s intent to honor Coltrane their way and have a blast while doing so. (8 tracks; 57:31 minutes) Steve Davis ★★★★ Gettin’ It Done Posi-tone Records

Steve Davis.

One of the jazz albums that I revisit occasionally is Portrait in Sound (2000, Concord Records) by trombonist Steve Davis. It’s an enjoyable album that also features Brad Mehldau and it introduced me to Davis’ engaging charts and appealing modern sound. Luckily for jazz fans, Davis has maintained an active career, putting out one great recording after another and Gettin’ It Done—his 16th solo album—swings hard in a most gratifying way. Davis assembles a killer rhythm section comprised of pianist Larry Willis, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Billy Williams —a New York power trio that frames the leader’s sleek compositions with snap and vigor. For the front line, alto saxophonist Mike Dirubbo and trumpeter Josh Bruneau bring chops galore to the date, but the star of the show is clearly Davis whose effervescent personality on the trombone shines through every tune. Opening with a sunlit version of John Coltrane’s “Village Blues,” a regal jazz standard that tells you a lot about the faith that trombonist Steve Davis places in his band. Their interplay brings slippery grooves and a nice bass line to “The Beacon,” Blue Note-infused beats to tunes like “Steppin’ Easy” 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

■

AUGUST 2012

these sparkling arrangements. Without a doubt, Gettin’ It Done finds Davis at his most potent; it’s an album full of creative and aural pleasures and likely ranks as Davis’ best work. (8 tracks; 57:12 minutes) Sebastian Noelle ★★★1/2 Koan Fresh Sound New Talent Koan is the sophomore effort by German-born guitarist Sebastian Noelle, a musician firmly established on the New York jazz scene who’s also a member of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society big band and a number of other distinguished NYC-based bands. A natural talent, Noelle drops eleven original tracks that are compelling and heartfelt with tunes firmly set within a modern, post-bop context, which gives Noelle a platform for enticing musical exploration. The guitarist brings together the remarkable saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist Thomson Kneeland, drummer Tony Moreno and adds pianist George Colligan on four tunes. Colligan is the kind of heavy hitter more players should add to their recordings. Witness his solos on “Wanderlust” and “Loophole” and you get a sense that he’s a VIP addition to any project.

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

Emboldened by his band and saxophonist Stillman in particular, Noelle excels at creating tight, synchronized conversations (the sweet natured “All I Need To Know”) and attractive melodies (“Lily’s Pirouettes”). There’s also something to be said for the energetic title tune, a noble track brimming with superb interplay and a groovy bass line along with Noelle’s slithery solo and Stillman’s evocative voicings. Noelle’s style combines the agile modernism of Kurt Rosenwinkel with the graceful flow of storytelling that Pat Metheny perfected, yet Noelle’s compositions soar on their own inner light and he acquits himself with poise and smart moves throughout Koan. (11 tracks; 60:21 minutes)

Marcus Miller ★★★1/2 Renaissance Concord Jazz A long time ago I would go to hear bassist Marcus Miller play at Seventh Avenue South, a Village jazz club owned by the Brecker Brothers, and at that time jazz fusion was super hot and Miller helped feed the fire. He was one of the coolest players on the scene and in a way,

Pat Metheny ★★★★ Unity Band Nonesuch It’s been a long 30 years since guitarist Pat Metheny has recorded with a saxophonist (Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman on ECM’s 80/81). He returns to the format on Unity Band, with a transcendent quartet of top musicians. It says a lot that Chris Potter is the saxophonist that inspired Metheny to revisit a band featuring a tenor/guitar combination. Unity Band continues Metheny’s brilliant strategy of assembling contrasting players that click as a whole. Here, it’s a jazz trinity of movers and shakers—Potter on sax and bass clarinet, in-the-

Marcus Miller.

Pat Metheny Unity Band with Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez und Ben Williams.

pocket bassist Ben Williams and Antonio Sanchez on drums—that brings Metheny’s dramatic compositions to life, like the pumping “Come And See” and blustery, hyped-up energy of “Breakdealer.” Most tunes on Unity are hard to resist and multiple listening reveals layers of dazzling musical intricacies. Metheny’s best tunes wear their romanticism on their sleeve, and “New Year” finds that trait in full bloom with the leader gracefully playing nylon string guitar, while “Come And See” gives us a groove-based track that swells with typical Metheny beauty. Part of Metheny’s appeal (he’s won 19 Grammy® Awards) is his fearless creativity to produce new sounds and sonic textures. Unity Band shines in this regard. The album is masterly programmed and sustained—ballads brush up against jubilant riffs and, whether Metheny is playing electric, acoustic, synths or his steampunky bit of mechanical wizardry called Orchestrionics on “Signals,” this dense and rewarding endeavor preserves the guitarist’s unmistakable sound with a fresh band that continuously slingshots the album to remarkable highs. (9 tracks; 65:49 minutes)

he still is. His career has flourished, enabling him to add songwriter, bandleader and producer-extraordinaire to his business card. Not only did Miller re-shape and define Miles Davis in his late period (Tutu, Amandla), his collaborations with David Sanborn and Luther Vandross made each of them superstars in their respective jazz and pop fields. Miller’s production work and guest appearances on many albums is often categorized as smooth jazz, yet his personal work encompasses more genuine jazz and authentic turns from both veteran musicians and up-and-comers. Renaissance finds him mixing it up with frontline trumpeters Sean Jones and Maurice Brown, alto sax player Alex Han, drummer Louis Cato, guitarist Adam Agati and the awardwinning pianist Kris Bowers, along with guest vocals from Dr. John, Ruben Blades and Gretchen Parlato. This is hard-core soul jazz, as deep as it is funky, with a heavy dose of Miller-kissed covers like Janelle Monae’s infectious “Tightrope” and the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There.” The tastiest bass and deepest grooves are found on the title track, a superb jazz-fusion cut ripe with thick rhythms as well as a pounding, head-bobbing take of WAR’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness.” The band is locked in tight on the riff heavy “Mr. Clean,” a track delightfully full of grade-A beats. The album’s highlight is Miller’s clever “Cee-Tee-Eye,” a thumping tribute to the CTI label and a grand, musical salute complete with shivery horn solos ala Freddie Hubbard and Grover Washington, and a Fender Rhodes turn by Bowers who conjures up an ersatz Bob James solo from back in the day—it’s as if he time traveled decades before he was born to learn it. (13 tracks; 70 minutes) ■

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

jazz library

BOB PERKINS

HE COULD PLAY THE trombone as pretty as you please, but the wonder was how he could make the slide trombone rip off so many notes on up-tempo songs. No one had displayed such pace, dexterity and fluidity on the instrument. Only the valve trombone players were supposed to be able to do this stuff, but even they couldn’t keep up with him in knock-down, drag-out jam sessions. Somewhere along the line J.J. Johnson was dubbed “The Charlie Parker of the Trombone.” Titled so, because he could execute on his chosen instrument as Parker had on the alto saxophone.. Johnson was one of the first to play so-called bebop on the trombone. When Dizzy Gillespie heard him, he said, “Man, I’ve always known the trombone could be played different, and that somebody’d catch on one of these days. Man, you’re elected.” But Johnson served a long apprenticeship before being hailed as a jazz innovator. Johnson was born on January 2, 1924, in Indianapolis, Indiana, He took piano at an early age, but switched to trombone in his early teens. A few years later, he launched his professional career, playing in a number of big bands, most notably that of Benny Carter, where he began in 1942 and where he remained for three years. A one-year stint with Count Basie’s Band followed, and after that another year with the band of Illinois Jacquet. While touring with Jacquet, Johnson decided to form his own group. The personnel changed over time, but some of his sidemen included Max Roach, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. Johnson also got the chance to play with Charlie Parker in a 1947 Parker recording session. In 1951, Johnson toured military camps in Japan and Korea. Upon his return to the states, work was slow and he took a day job as a blueprint inspector at the Sperry-Rand Corporation. In 1954, Savoy Records contacted Johnson about the possibility of setting up a combo with fellow trombonist Kai Winding. The two men had different styles, but both said yes to the offer. The blending of the horns proved to be just right, and the group J&K was born. The association lasted two years and did much for their careers. The parting was by mutual consent and amicable. The duo reunited again in 1958 for an overseas tour, and after that a few more meetings for recording sessions. The early 1980s would be the last time for a friendly locking of horns, as Johnson and Winding toured Japan for a series of jazz festivals. Winding passed away in 1983, shortly after the tour. During the mid-1960s, work lagged for many jazz musicians, as much of the recording industry turned to more R&B, soul, and rock. A talk with Quincy Jones convinced Johnson to move from New York to Hollywood and seek work writing for film and television. The move resulted in Johnson writing for films like The Top of the Heap, Cleopatra Jones, and Across 110th Street. For television, he wrote for Starsky and Hutch, Mike Hammer and The Six Million Dollar Man. During this period, Johnson made few personal appearances and recorded very little. But he still felt, given his abilities as a top musician, arranger and composer, he should have received more “quality” work in Hollywood. Johnson had quit performing on a couple occasions because of the way jazz musicians—and especially African-American musicians—were treated by the recording industry and now he had the same bone to pick with Hollywood. Following his stay on the West Coast, Johnson returned to recording and fronting small groups. In 1988, while on tour in Japan, his wife Vivian suffered a stroke. Johnson quit working completely and cared for his wife until her death in 1991. Upon his return to work, he dedicated an album to her. Over the next five years, he married again, recorded several more albums and began to accept club J.J. Johnson with Hank Mobley in the background, photographed in 1955 at Johnson’s quintet session in Hackensack, NJ. and concert offers. He also received several Grammy nominations during this period. Johnson retired from performing in 1996, preferring to stay at home in Indianapolis, composing and arranging music on his computer. Johnson won a number of Down Beat “Trombonist of the Year” awards, and in 1995 was voted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame. Steve Turre, one of the modern-day trombonists influenced by Johnson, said: “All of us wouldn’t be playing the way we’re playing today, if it wasn’t for what [Johnson] did.” (A couple of Johnson CD suggestions for your music library: At the Opera House with Stan Getz, and We’ll be Together Again with Joe Pass.) He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the latter 1990s, and on February 4, 2001, James Louis Johnson—for whatever reason or reasons—took his life with a handgun. He was 77. ■

J.J.

JOHNSON

Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Mon.–Thurs. night from 6 to 9pm and Sunday, 11–3pm. 54

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

HARPER’S M

FINDINGS

day trip Jim Thorpe Jumps in August

By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi

A compendium of research facts

RESEARCHERS IDENTIFIED GENES RESPONSIBLE for the smallness of pygmies, congenital spleenlessness, the blond hair of Melanesians, a 2.6-point increase in IQ (if both parents are carriers), and the similarities between the luminescent bellies of smalleye pygmy sharks and those of velvet-belly lantern sharks. A chemist unveiled sharkrepellent fish hooks whose rare-earth coatings irritate the ampullae of Lorenzini. An excited beauty baryon was observed for the first time, and Oklahoma scientists were uncertain whether bacon with a green sheen is unhealthful. Vanilla yogurt gives mice glossier coats and larger testicles. Zoologists mapped the syntax of the rock hyrax. The orangutan contains multiples of Alu. Scientists who found silicone breast-implant failure rates to be as high as sixteen times the previously suspected levels proposed widespread explanting. Entomologists comparing Brazilian and Thai zombie-ant graveyards determined that an unknown fungus was thwarting the spread of the ant-zombifying fungus. A Government Accountability Office study deemed ineffective a Pentagon study on the efficacy of Pentagon studies.

DAN HUGOS

IF YOU ENJOY TAKING in the occasional show, but tend to avoid the Lehigh Valley crowds associated with MusikFest, then give Jim Thorpe a close look. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a plane ride away, only 35-45 minutes from Allentown/Bethlehem and a surprisingly easy hour and fifteen from Philadelphia. Because there’s a lot going on. On August 10th the legendary Suzanne Vega visits the Mauch Chunk Opera House, with Tracy Grammer coming along to showcase her own vocal chops. Cowboy Junkies come in on Friday, August 17—a highlight combination of great acoustics, and proximity to the performance of one of Canada’s great bands. We personally look forward to hearing Margo Timmins sing at the Opera House.

ANXIETY WAS FOUND TO speed the progression of cancer in hairless mice, to improve humans’ sense of smell, and to be alleviated by alcohol in zebrafish who have been living alone. Runner’s high was documented in dogs, as was a reduction in distrust toward atheists among pious Canadians who are reminded of the Vancouver police. Injury to the right parietal lobe was correlated with a feeling of closeness to God. Brain freeze was traced to the anterior cerebral artery. Psychologists proposed that people who see others’ auras may be confused synaesthetes. Similes activate the medial frontal gyrus whereas metaphors predominantly activate the right inferior frontal gyrus in the brains of Japanese. Temporal poles and the anterior rostral prefrontal cortex are smaller in psychopaths. German doctors published a study in PAIN that found needle pricks hurt less when the patient looks the other way. Scientists identified the dopamine receptors responsible for forgetting. AMERICAN CHILDREN WERE EATING more batteries. A study found the mouth to be the bodily region most often injured by toddlers who fall while using sippy cups; less than 1 percent of 45,398 bottle-, pacifier-, and sippy-cup-related emergency-room admissions over the past two decades involved injuries to the groin. A Florida scientist definitively identified the G-spot of an eighty-three-year-old corpse. Frida Kahlo’s infertility was diagnosed, and scientists explained why breast milk does not turn breasts to bone. A mother hen’s screeching was found to wake chicks unhatched in their eggs. As part of a study of infants’ emergent sleep trajectories (SIESTA), it was discovered that depressed mothers are more likely to pointlessly wake their babies in the night. In Sri Lanka a hen gave birth to a live eggless chick and then died. White babies begin around the age of nine months to have trouble telling black people apart. Robin fathers take better care of chicks that come from bluer eggs. Crows recognize the voices of individual birds of other species. Ravens remember past relationships. Two drunk Welshmen stole a fairy penguin, Turkish authorities exonerated a bee-eater suspected of spying for Israel, Peru experienced a rash of unexplained deaths among pelicans and boobies, and the great tits of Wytham Woods were forming mobs to help defend one another. “It could be that they join because their own nest might also be at risk,” said the study’s lead author. “Or they may be playing tit-for-tat.”

Cowboy Junkies.

The remarkable Jeffrey Gaines takes the stage the next night. One of the most powerful vocalists to perform here, Gaianes is a singer-songwriter talent with an especially soulful voice and message. Then we switch gears on August 24th with the New Orleans-based sound of the Michael Kaeshammer Trio for a mere $17. If you’re done with MusikFest and are still yearning for some live music, then visit the Opera House for the Ryan Montbleau Band on August 25th. Their eclectic mix of soul, jazz and downright heartfelt lyrics has one foot planted in folk and Americana and the other planted in soul, creating an original hybrid of music that feels fresh and retro at the same time. Some advance notice is in order for the September 8th appearance of guitarist Larry Coryell (the 11th House and innumerable solo recordings), bassist Victor Bailey (formerly of Weather Report and various stars ranging from Billy Cobham to Madonna), and drummer Lenny White (perhaps most widely-known for his work on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew). Give yourself some time before the show. Restaurants like The Broadway Grille, Moya, Bear Appetit, Crave at 66, Mollie Maguires, and Flow are all within a short walk of the Opera House. Park your car and be done with it until it’s time to head back home. If you’re spending the night in town, check out the stately Inn at Jim Thorpe right downtown, with its remodeled rooms and spacious suites. Jim Thorpe is also a bed-and-breakfast kind of destination, with many unique establishments right in town or just a few minutes removed from town. Everything you need to know can be found on www.JimThorpe.org, including the town’s just-released Visitors Guide. ■ AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

The Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle DOUBLE OVERTIME This puzzle’s subject was “born” in 1912. By Elizabeth C. Gorski Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

1 6 11 19 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 34 37 40 41 42 43 44 48 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 58 61 63 64 67 69 71 72 75 76 78 80 82 84 88 89 90 93 95 96 97 98

ACROSS Madison Ave. figure DEA employees Convert into an anesthetic Much of Egypt Hawaiian welcome “I like your invention!” *Like Disneyland, vis-à-vis theme parks *Perform efficiently Rd. atlas listings Dessert cart array Friars Club main courses? Tokyo-based electronics giant Dancer Falana Crochet loop “Take a shot at it” Meal Amy Winehouse’s reaction to rehab, in the song British Invasion drummer Baker with the breakout album “Rapture” Oft-quoted Yogi Unwanted tabloid fame *Tryst venue Mad as __ hen Berry touted as a superfood Old Russian ruler “WKRP” costar with Gary, Gordon, Howard et al. __ Island: NY/NJ landmark Hearty partner Current designation DNA shape “May It Be” singer __ Wolf: Disney comics kid “They’ll Do It Every Time” cartoonist Jimmy *Bit of campaign nastiness Green course Drop the ball First-year law student Wreck Job particular Letters to creditors? Central Florida city They may stay till closing time Four-ring-logo company “The lady __ protest ...”: “Hamlet” Lake __, Blue Nile source *Get-rich-quick buy Oscar winner’s words Nebraska’s largest city Physicist Bohr Twix or Trix, e.g. “Permission granted”

56 ■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

100 101 103 104 105 106 109 110 113 116 120 121 122 123 124 125

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 24 29 31 32 33 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 43 45 46 47 49 54 57

“Juno and the Paycock” playwright Boil Caterpillar rival Some faux outerwear Routine Ahab’s kingdom Confirmation, e.g. __TV: Court TV, since 2008 *Writer’s bottom line? *1978 Commodores hit Joined the Navy Rob of “90210” St. Francis’s birthplace Six-pack units Score notations Prop for Monet DOWN Deadly snakes Blowgun missile P-like letters Enjoy, with “up” Offer Afternoon breaks “American Gladiators” co-host Laila Mythical bird Patio bagful Tavern Nog basics Traffic sound *Absolutely perfect Shogun stronghold Score slow-up: Abbr. “Remind me” Not as many ’50s TV adventurer __ Derringer Leaning Vote for Like some 20th-century music Indirect and creative, as thinking White House entrance Memo starter Stick in a scull Dickens baddie Heep Lose control Baseball’s Slaughter Pocket bread Light on Broadway Oktoberfest purchase College QB, often Barn baby Sylvester’s “Rocky” co-star Triangular sign Honorary legal deg. K-12 Bit of 48-Across talk

59 Other, in Oaxaca 60 The Bengals of the Big Sky Conf. 62 Widow in “Peer Gynt” 64 Alpine heroine 65 Forster’s “__ With a View” 66 “Honestly ...” 67 Flier 68 In “Wicked,” say 70 Trees favored by giraffes 73 *“Zilch” 74 Online greeting 76 Ancient public walkway 77 SFO setting 79 Brief 81 Fancy-schmancy 83 Emperor after Galba 85 Luau instruments 86 Take-out order? 87 Wee 90 Lesser-of-evils situation 91 “A Book of Verses underneath the Bough” poet 92 Bump up 94 Slangy turndown 99 Seesaw 100 “I’m __ here!” 101 They may be blown or cracked 102 Low-budget lead-in 104 In good shape 107 British submachine gun

108 109 110 111 112 114 115

Wine list heading Supreme leader? Speaker of Cooperstown It’s romantic to give one Condo expense: Abbr. __ Maria: liqueur Presidential policy

support gp. 117 There are two of them in each starred ans. 118 Worked (up) 119 Flight safety org. Answer in next month’s issue.

Answer to July’s puzzle, GOT MILK?

HARPER’S M

INDEX Facts compiled by the editors of Harper’s Magazine

Number of people other than President Obama with the name Hussein to have entered the White House since 2010: 37 With the name Barack: 1 Percentage of independent political spending on television advertising in the past year that came from anonymous donors: 91 Number of families receiving federal cash assistance for every 100 families with children living in poverty in 1996: 68 In 2010: 27 Percentage of students from families making more than $100,000 annually who attended a community college last year: 22 Number of college graduates currently working as astronomers, physicists, chemists, mathematicians, or Web developers: 216,000 As waiters or bartenders: 216,000 Number of the 30 occupations with the largest projected job growth over the next decade that require a college degree: 4 Number of articles retracted from scientific journals in 2000: 3 In 2009: 180 Number of dolphins found dead in the Gulf of Mexico since BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill: 496 Factor by which the rate of dolphin death during this period exceeds the average: 4 Estimated number of bats killed by white-nose syndrome since 2006: 1,000,000 Minimum amount the loss of bats will cost U.S. farmers in pest-control this year: $3,700,000,000 Minimum amount Georgia has lost in fruit and vegetable sales since the passage of a 2011 anti-immigration law: $75,000,000 Ratio of Mexican immigrants entering the United States to those returning to Mexico between 2005 and 2010: 1:1 Portion of Mexican labor migrants leaving the United States in that period who said they would not return: 1/5 Number of native-born Italians living in Manhattan’s Little Italy, according to the 2010 Census: 0 Of native-born Chinese: 3,127 Number of the 100 largest U.S. cities that have female mayors: 12 Percentage of New York City suicides that are subway-related: 7 Percentage of American households made up of just one person in 1950: 9.3 Today: 27 Estimated minimum number of North Koreans living in secret government gulags: 150,000 Minimum number of Palestinians being preemptively detained without trial by the Israeli government: 308 Portion of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who have bank accounts: 1/5 Of Iraqis who do: 1/10 Months after South Sudan became a nation that Sudan’s parliament declared it an “enemy”: 9 Estimated length in seconds of the sentence Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani served for contempt in April: 37 Length in days of the sentence Russian blogger Alexei Navalny served for leading an opposition rally last year: 15 Percentage of Russians who say they do not use the Internet: 45 Number of workdays it would take the average American to read the privacy policy of every website he or she visits each year: 30 Number of companies listed on the NASDAQ in 1999 that had “.com” in their names: 120 That do today: 17 Factor by which a religious website is more likely than a pornographic site to infect a computer with malware: 3 Rank of the current U.S. teen pregnancy rate among the lowest on record: 1 Estimated portion of sexually explicit text messages that are sent to the wrong number: 1/10 Amount the NEA allocated this year for a Henry David Thoreau–themed video game: $40,000

Index Sources 1,2 Harper’s research; 3 Wesleyan Media Project (Middletown, Conn.); 4,5 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington); 6 Sallie Mae (Washington); 7–9 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 10,11 Journal of Medical Ethics (London); 12,13 National Wildlife Federation (Reston, Va.); 14,15 Gary McCracken, University of Tennessee (Knoxville); 16 Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, University of Georgia (Athens); 17,18 Pew Hispanic Center (Washington); 19,20 U.S. Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.); 21 Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J.); 22 New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; 23,24 U.S. Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.); 25 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (Washington); 26 B’Tselem (Jerusalem); 27,28 The World Bank (Washington); 29 Harper’s research; 30 Harper’s research; 31 Golos Association (Moscow); 32 Levada-Center (Moscow); 33 Lorrie Faith Cranor, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh); 34,35 NASDAQ OMX (Rockville, Md.)/Harper’s research; 36 Connect PR (Provo, Utah); 37 National Center for Health Statistics (Hydesville, Md.); 38 Recombu (London); 39 Game Innovation Lab, University of Southern California (Los Angeles).

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■

LEXICROCKERY

33 / ART / BARNES FOUNDATION

by Robert Gordon

Laschivalrous: lascivious guy posing as a Galahad Catechasm: in the Catholic catechism, under birth-control dogma, the chasm between the professed and the practiced Acrockalyptic: apocalyptic prophecies that turn out to be a crock. Mittness Protection Program: tax structure that guarantees tax-law exploiters a life of luxury under the radar The Coax Others: Koch Brothers Super Pac Contesty: testy reaction of candidates whose positions are being contested. Nillionaire: those who have nothing; the opposite end of the spectrum from the billionaires Pedaglobberry: laying it on in thick globs while speaking down to people Hangry: hungry, angry people Trickle-drown: economic mechanism where the super-rich deluge those less fortunate with their riches (Note: theory only; the reality is, it’s imaginary and impossible) Contemptorary: contempt for the present as you rhapsodize about a manufactured, mythical past Hedge-a-moany: husband moaning over weekends spent trimming hedges because his wife exercises hegemony in domestic matters. Escapegloats: wall-street criminals who escape prosecution, gloat over huge bonuses, and are scapegoats for nothing. Serfing: big business campaign to transform the Internet into a cash register for big business and make internet users their serfs Deaficit: deficit caused by a Congress that is deaf to any deficit-reduction measures that involve cuts in military spending or taxing the rich.

■

ICON

■

AUGUST 2012

Room 8, for example, I noticed for the first time that a comb-like iron ice chipper improbably imitates the pruned apple trees in Pissarro’s painting Garden in Full Sunlight. I also noticed a handful of splendid small works for the first time. My new pick hit is a reverse painting on glass by Angelo Pinto, one of Albert Barnes’s proteges, of a cat leaning on a bathtub in a bombed-out setting. Finished during World War II, it’s a cheery, cheeky cousin of blackly funny existential fantasies by de Chirico, a more celebrated Barnes protege. After three hours of touring the new Barnes three times, I was feeling bombed out. Weary feet, aching neck, foggy brain— you name it, I had it. In my delirium a strap hinge was starting to look like a gutter bracket. Hell, even the Renoirs seemed, well, rosier. I immediately felt better when I entered Room 22, which I suddenly remembered was my sanctuary. I was stimulated by the magnetic matching of African masks with Picasso’s cubistic African-mask portraits. I was soothed by Toulouse-Lautrec’s sublimely soulful profile of a stormy red-haired woman. So different than his rollicking posters of cabaret dancers, the painting is a dead ringer for a portrait of Helga, Andrew Wyeth’s famous secret model. The Room 22 visit was enhanced by a pleasant conversation with Barnes senior registrar Nancy Leeman, who was moonlighting that day as a tour guide for press previewers like me. At one point she pointed to her own favorite in the collection: Bonnard’s painting of a well-dressed woman having tea with her well-behaved dog. The scene thrilled Albert Barnes, who adored his own dog so much, he signed letters rejecting visits to his collection with Fidele’s name. The companions were united even in death, perishing together in a car crash. And then Leeman delivered the clincher: Wouldn’t the Bonnard make a great gift card, a terrific birthday greeting for humans and dogs? Her marvelous suggestion sealed my deal with the new Barnes. Yes, the collection is more of a tourist attraction in Philadelphia. Sure, it’s less of a special destination on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. But a jarring assortment somehow deserves a jarring building. Sometimes funky treasure needs a funkier chest. ■ Barnes Foundation, 20th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Open every day but Tuesday. Admission: $18, adults; $15, visitors 65 or older; $10, visitors 17 or younger and full-time students with valid ID; free, members. Advance reservations strongly recommended; order timed tickets at 866-849-7056, www.barnesfoundation.org. General information: 215-278-7000.

calendar CALL TO ARTISTS

Accepting applications for Arts Festival Reading, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St., Reading, PA. Quality craftsmanship in traditional and contemporary styles. Accepting artists until full, space limited. For application, artsfestivalreading.org or call 610-374-4600, ext.104 ART EXHIBITS THRU 8/4 Panoply Books celebrates a Rosen Anniversary. Exhibit and sale of photographs in which most are hand printed and signed by Jack Rosen. Opening is July 14, enjoy wine, hors d’ ouvres, and live music. Visit photographer’s website, www.jackrosenphotos.com. Panoply Books, 46 N. Union St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-3971145, www.panoplybooks.com. THRU 8/5 Terri Amig. The Quiet Life Gallery, 17 So. Main St., Lambertville, NJ. www.quietlifegallery.com THRU 8/12 Offering of the Angels. Treasures from the Uffizi Gallery. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown.michenerartmuseum.org THRU 8/31 Netherfield Fine Art features works by artist Jessie Krause. 11 East Bridge St., New Hope, PA. 215-862-4500. Netherfieldfineart.com THRU 8/31 Kardon Gallery. Exhibiting paintings by Si Lewen. 139 S. Main St., Doylestown, PA 215-489-4287. www.kardongallery.com THRU 9/2 Summer Vacation. Paintings of Coastal New England by artists from New England & Bucks County. Patricia Hutton Galleries, 47 W. State St., Doylestown. 215-348-1728. PatriciaHuttonGalleries.com THRU 9/9 Victor Stabin—Daedal Doodle: An Extraordinary Journey through the Alphabet.Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 N., 5th. St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. allentownartmuseum.org THRU 9/9 At the Edge, Art of the Fantastic. Allentown Art Museum, 31 N., 5th. St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. allentownartmuseum.org THRU 9/9 Interlude, paintings by Melissa M.

Bryant. Twenty-Two Gallery, 236 So. 22nd St., Phila. 215-772-1911. twenty-twogallery.com THRU 9/30 Alex Kanevsky/Doris Staffel. Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue, Phila. (215) 2470476. woodmereartmuseum.org 8/25-8/26 Bucks County Guild of Craftsmen presents Fine Crafts at the WineryBucks Chapter Show, New Hope Winery, 6123 Lower York Rd., New Hope. bucksguild.org. 215-968-3414. 8/10-9/30 Elise Dodeles: Fearless. Fighters’ portraits using inspiration from photos of San Francisco area boxers from the Olympic Club taken 1910-1930. The Quiet Life Gallery, 17 So. Main St., Lambertville. 609-397-0880. quietlifegallery.com 8/11 & 8/12 Metropolitan Fine Art Trunk Show at the Peach Festival, 11am - 6pm, exclusive one of a kind pieces available. Peach Festival 10am - 6pm, free admission and parking. Across from Penn’s Purchase Outlets, 5860 Lower York Rd. Suite 8B Lahaska, PA. 267-544-0882. themetfa.com 8/15-9/7 The Baum School of Art Faculty Exhibition, opening reception, 8/15, 68pm. The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., Allentown, PA 18101. baumschool.org

MUSIC Some organizations perform in various locations. If no address is listed, check the website for location of performance. 8/19 Valley Vivaldi, final summer concert of Baroque chamber music. Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, 7:30 pm. Wesley Church, 2540 Center St., Bethlehem, PA (1 mile S. of Rts. 22 & 512.) 610-434-7811. PASinfonia.org 9/14 Escher String Quartet with Benjamin Hochman, piano: 8pm. Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College, W. Church & Main St., Historic Bethlehem, PA. Tickets available at door or at www.lvartsboxoffice.org. Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem. cmsob.org 10/20 GALA! Save the date. An evening with Katharine McPhee. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University. 610758-2787. gala2012@lehigh.edu ARTSQUEST CENTER AT STEELSTACKS (Musikfest Café) 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. artsquest.org 8/16: 8/17: 8/19: 8/23: 8/31: 9/6:

8/25-8/26 Bucks County Guild of Craftsmen presents Fine Crafts at the WineryBucks Chapter Show, New Hope Winery, 6123 Lower York Rd., New Hope, PA. 215-968-3414. bucksguild.org 8/31-9/9 Savor New Hope Exhibition: 8th Celebration of the Culinary Arts & Artists of the Region featuring over 20 restaurants. Exhibition reception, Sept. 7, 5-8. Gala, Sept. 9, 5-8 pm. New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA. 215-862-9606, newhopearts.org. For tickets and information, info@newhopearts.org DINNER & MUSIC Saturday nights: Sette Luna Restaurant, 219 Ferry St., Easton, PA. 610253-8888. setteluna.com Thursday nights: John Beacher’s Community Stage, 8-12pm, Community Stage sign ups, 9pm: Solo act, 8-9pm. Karla’s, 5 W. Mechanic St., New Hope. 215-862-2612. karlasnewhope.com

9/12: 9/18: 9/20:

9/23: 9/28: 10/3: 10/10: 10/14: 10/18: 10/31:

Galactic Joan Osborne (Acoustic) Justin Townes Earle Taj Mahal Salsa Night with Hector Rosado Y Su Orchestra Artist Fund Benefit Concert A Salute to the Rolling Stones Ramin Karimloo - Songs of the Human Heart Kathy Mattea The Robert Cray Band and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Levitt Pavilion Benefit Concert) John Waite / John Parr / Tommy Tutone Patton Oswalt Leftover Salmon Jars of Clay Los Lonely Boys The Smithereens Keb’ Mo’

8/11: 8/12: 8/12:

MUSIKFEST SANDS STEEL STAGE (PNC Plaza at SteelStacks) 610-332-1300. Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/sandssteelstage Ticket required. 8/3: 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 TD BANK COMMUNITY STAGE ON AIR PRODUCTS TOWN SQUARE SteelStacks Campus Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/venues FREE, no ticket required. 8/3: 8/3: 8/4: 8/4: 8/4: 8/5: 8/5: 8/5: 8/6: 8/6: 8/7: 8/7: 8/8: 8/9: 8/9: 8/9: 8/10: 8/10: 8/11: 8/11: 8/11:

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 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

MUSIKFEST AETNA AMERICAPLATZ AT LEVITT PAVILION STEELSTACKS SteelStacks Campus 610-332-1300. Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/venues FREE, no ticket required.

PNC SERIES AT THE MUSIKFEST CAFE PRESENTED BY YUENGLING ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks Campus 610-332-1300. Bethlehem, PA www.musikfest.org/venues FREE, no ticket required

8/3:

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

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

Eric Mintel Quartet Sarah Ayers Band Valerie Vigoda Avi Wisnia The Large Flowerheads Mike Dugan & Blues Mission

Sarah King & the Smoke Rings Lucky 7 The Difference

The Royal Southern Brotherhood Sena Ehrhardt The Burrows Forward Motion The Blues Brotherhood Draw the Line Homemade Jamz

8/7: 8/7: 8/8: 8/8: 8/9: 8/9: 8/10: 8/10: 8/11: 8/11: 8/12: 8/12:

2U The Difference B-Street March Fourth Marching Band Tusk The Killdares Live Wire The Chris Beard Band Chris Watson Band The Aardvarks Eric Steckel Craig Thatcher 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 8/10: 8/17: 8/18: 8/24: 8/25: 9/1: 9/2: 9/8: 9/15: 9/22: 9/27:

9/29: 10/5: 10/6: 10/12: 10/13: 10/14:

10/19:

Suzanne Vega with Tracy Grammer. An Evening with Cowboy Junkies Jeffrey Gaines Michael Kaeshammer Trio Ryan Montbleau Band with Special Guest XVSK Childhood’s End - A Tribute to Pink Floyd The Allentown Band CBW - Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey and Lenny White Real Diamond - The Tribute to Neil Diamond Enter the Haggis The Fishtank Ensemble (Gypsy Jazz, Siberian anthems, Flamenco) The John Denver Tribute Pianist Dr. George Fiore The Battlefield Band Donna The Buffalo Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband Manhattan Lyric Opera Rodgers to Romberg to Webber An Evening with Jonathan Edwards and Michael Martin Murphey

EVENTS 9/2 Frenchtown Riverfest, Goes to the Dogs! Pet portraits, doggie kissing booth, store specials, in-store events, amazing restaurants, local musicians & the famous pet show… & more! Frenchtown, NJ, 12-6pm. frenchtownnj.org CLASSES The Baum School, adult & children’s art classes, fall session. The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., P.O. Box 653, Allentown, PA. 610-4330032. baumschool.org

AUGUST 2012

■

ICON

■