ICON September 2013 by ICON Magazine

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SEPTEMBER ~ 2013

Filling the hunger since 1992

1-800-354-8776 • 215-862-9558

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS CHRIS HEDGES | 22 A New York Times war correspondent for 15 years, author and prize-winning journalist, Chris Hedges is one of the strongest cultural critics of our time, warning that our society is being overrun by “ruthless totalitarian capitalism.”

ANTHONY JESELNIK | 24 A former standup comedian and writer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Anthony Jeselnik’s onstage persona is built around a style of comedy based on misanthropy, arrogance and sheer dickness.

City Beat | 5 Backstage | 5 About Life | 40 Sally Friedman | 41

KERESMAN ON DISC | 30 Paul Bley Trio; Roosevelt Sykes; Vince Gill & Paul Franklin; Barrence Whitfield and the Savages; Darden Smith

A THOUSAND WORDS

JAZZ LIBRARY | 32 Oscar Brown Jr.

COLUMNS

Learning Curve | 7

NICK’S PICKS | 33 Christian McBride Trio John Scofield

ART The Poker Game | 8 Lester Glass | 11

Jimmy Lueders, Portrait of Armand Mednick.

FOOD

EXHIBITIONS | 10 A Mano Galleries Bret Cavanaugh Furniture The Quiet Life Gallery

La Calaca Feliz | 34 Frenchtown Inn | 36

WINE Frolic, Carouse, Revel | 38

FILM

ETCETERA

CINEMATTERS | 12 Lee Daniels’ The Butler

L.A. Times Crossword | 42 Agenda | 43

KERESMAN ON FILM | 14 In A World… BAD MOVIE | 16 Elysium Terence Howard and Oprah Winfrey in a scene from Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

REEL NEWS | 18 No; Into the Fog The Place Beyond the Pines Chasing Ice

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Assistant to the Publisher

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com Raina Filipiak filipiakr@comcast.net

ADVERTISING 800-354-8776 Entertainment Editor Bruce H. Klauber / drumalive@aol.com City Beat Editor Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com Fine Arts Editors Edward Higgins Burton Wasserman Classical Music Editor Peter H. Gistelinck Music Editors Nick Bewsey Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com Bob Perkins Tom Wilk Food Editor Robert Gordon / rgordon33@verizon.net Wine Editor Patricia Savoie Contributing Writers A. D. Amorosi Robert Beck Jack Byer Peter Croatto James P. Delpino Sally Friedman Geoff Gehman Mark Keresman George Oxford Miller R. Kurt Osenlund T. J. Reese

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).

THE JAZZ SCENE | 27

War correspondent and author Chris Hedges.

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

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

MUSIC SINGER / SONGWRITER | 28 Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Doc Watson; Sara Hickman; Ian Tyson; Kara Grainger

fax: 215-862-9845

www.icondv.com

IT / Audio Consultant Andy Kahn

FILM ROUNDUP | 20 Morning; Una Noche Short Term I Give It a Year

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

ON THE COVER: Comedy Central star of The Jeselnik Offensive, Anthony Jeselnik. Pg. 24

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city beat

THOM NIICKELS

ThomNickels1@aol.com

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Jane Golden rode with us through the streets of North Philly, Germantown, Northern Liberties and Fishtown to see new work by the Mural Arts Project. After presenting us with two MAP books, Philly Painting, and Peace is a Haiku Song, Jane joined us in a van driven by Cari Feiler Bender, President of Relief Communications. Cari, who drove us to the 20-plus murals on the list, maneuvered city traffic, stoplights and traffic jams with PPD patrol car-like confidence. We headed up N. College Ave. to view the Arise and Reclaim mural then zigzagged to the Henry Ossawa Tanner: Letters of Influence mural, circled and doubled back to visit Cancer Support for Life on 22nd Street before averting another traffic jam (and two kids on tricycles) near the Moving Toward Greatness mural on the William B. Kelly School. Stepping up her pace, Cari passed stalled Septa buses and made a wide arc around jaywalkers while breezing down Cecil B. Moore Avenue, then Diamond Street and finally onto Broad and Christian where we were face-to-face with mural Grover Washington, Jr. With saxophones on our mind, we hit Broad and York and paid homage to the Horace Pippin mural before heading to the tour’s mother lode, the Philly Painting Project, the multi-block stretch of painted buildings on Germantown Avenue. Regrouping at the Garden of Eden Regained mural near 7th and Dauphin, we headed for The Jewel Box mural (a Babette’s Feast for the eyes) near Howard and Berks Streets. During the tour, Jane asked us what we thought about the latest push to have her run for mayor. “It’s a flattering proposal, Jane,” we offered, “but being mayor is not who Jane Golden is. Politics is ugly, and being mayor would force you to become somebody you’re not: a rat. Art is pure, art is good, whereas City Hall is a Machiavellian hornets’ nest.” Jane gave our comments a high-five, then went on to mention an invitation she received to repaint a mural she personally created years ago in Los Angeles. Though practically a girl when she applied the final LA masterstroke, she was not too shy to knock on Jane Fonda’s door and ask if she’d be willing to speak at the mural’s dedication. An excited Fonda responded, “Of course I will. I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve been watching you paint the mural from the very beginning!” GUNS IN AMERICA Though we are hardly fans of the American gun culture, this does mean that we would turn down an invitation to a picnic-barbecue-rock music gun raffle just outside of Lancaster. Surrounded by hundreds of revelers, tents and a large trailer dispensing free draft beer, we mingled with the crowds on a large grassy field bordered by tall trees on an overcast Saturday afternoon and listened to a band belt out Eagles’ tunes as people drank, danced, and bought scores of raffle tickets for expensive prizes. We talked with Betsy, on her tenth beer, who told us about her abusive ex-husband and the seven people who live in her head. We observed women over 60 in mullets or long bleached-blond hair; cyclists with long beards and tattoos; farmer types with pints of bourbon sticking out of their back pockets, and suburban observer types. We met Dan, a young Amish farmer, whose blond “bowl” haircut stuck out like a beacon of light. Dan seemed to have many friends among the locals. He was on his sixth beer when we worked up the nerve to ask him about the suds. “Isn’t beer a no-no for Amish?” Smiling benignly, Dan said, “Beer is okay as long as the Elders don’t find out, but if they do, the punishment isn’t much worse than a slap on the wrist.” Dan’s brother, whose head wasn’t shaped like a bowl, downed his brews and said that he left the church some time ago, but that he was not shunned. “All Amish do not shun,” he said. “My family does not shun. We’re close. Don’t believe half of what you see on Breaking Amish.” As gun raffles go, trying to spot a gun was difficult. We don’t know what we expected to see, but it was certainly more than just one (unloaded) raffle gun being carried about as a display item. If you had visited the event not knowing what kind it was, you would have walked away thinking it was a reunion of locals. While making our exit, we spotted Betsy at the free indoor clubhouse bar, on her twentieth beer, still happy as a clam. “You know,” she confessed, “I don’t even like guns. In fact, I hate guns, but I just love comin’ here!”

backstage

BRUCE KLAUBER

drumalive@aol.com

A PRINCE OF A COMEBACK Philadelphia’s Prince Music Theater, the subject of much reporting here since it emerged from bankruptcy last year, is finding its booking legs and has announced an impressive 2013-2014 season. The fine print, however, indicates that none of the Prince’s 200 attractions scheduled thus far are being produced in house. The last production Prince produced was It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, in 2008, the same year the theater faced sheriff ’s sale. No matter. What they’ve got is good, and among the more unique shows coming up are Evil Dead: The Musical 4D which runs through October 20, a Harry Potterthemed revue called Potted Potter that plays from December 10 to January 5. Making the space even more special is their 146-seat, jewel box upstairs space that will be utilized for a cabaret series. Performers include Barbara Cook October 2 to 5, Patti LuPone November 20 to 23, and Steve Tyrell February 5 to 8. Our sources also report that, as you read this, new furniture, seats, sound and lighting systems are being installed. And by the end of the year, the theater will undergo a name change. Producer/director Harold Prince wants his name taken off the building. For details about the Prince Music Theater, visit PrinceMusicTheater.org. THEATER BY THE SEA One of the city’s more under-used theatrical facilities is the 500-seat theater within the Independence Seaport Museum, next to the Hyatt Hotel on the waterfront. It is no longer under-used, thanks to veteran Philadelphia producer and former nightclub owner Phillip Roger Roy (anyone remember Roy’s club, Grendel’s Lair and his infamous show, Let My People Come?) and partner Dana Matthow. The pair has taken a five-year lease on what will now be called The Penns Landing Playhouse, and the first production will be You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! Previews begin September 18, with the official opening night on October 2. For information, visit PLPlayhouse.com. BLANK-A-DOODLE-DOO The always progressive and sometimes controversial theater company, Theatre (their spelling) Exile, has announced its 2013-2014 season. Opening October 17 and running through November 10 is something called Cock, which the producers describe—in no uncertain terms, by the way—as “an explanation of how definitively society identifies individuals by one’s sexuality and the toll that can take on one’s human psyche.” And don’t you forget it! For information on all this company’s challenging productions, visit TheatreExile.org. ART IS ALIVE FOR ANOTHER YEAR More encouraging news for the Philadelphia world of the arts: Arts Alive, the grant-making program that has been helping cultural organizations expand, will be extended for another year, courtesy of PNC bank. The initial agreement with PNC specified that $1 million in grants would be given for a five-year period, ending this year. Because the program has “spurred significant growth” within the arts community, says PNC Regional President Bill Mills, PNC will contribute for at least another 12 months. MUSIC ON MAGIC MOUNTAIN St. John Terrell’s Lambertville Music Circus was an important part of the regional and national entertainment landscape from 1949 to 1971. Terrell pioneered the concept of “entertainment under a tent,” copied by dozens throughout the country. In addition to the musical theater presented, the Circus presented just about every major star in music, whether pop, jazz, rock or otherwise. I recently screened a documentary film about the Circus, produced by Lambertville residents Paul Kaye and Gary P. Cohen, and their project is a charming, entertaining, informative and well-researched film titled Music on Magic Mountain. Cohen and Kaye are now in the midst of readying the project for entry in various festivals, as well as

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

Bruce Klauber is a published author/biographer, producer of DVDs for Warner Bros., CD producer for Fresh Sound Records, and a working jazz drummer. He graduated from Temple University and holds an Honorary Doctorate from Combs College of Music.

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FINIS We ran into architect Al Holm and his wife Nancy at the 2013 Retirement Exhibit at Old City’s Artists’ House Gallery. Owner Lorraine Riesenbach, who oversaw more than 200 AHG exhibits, was calling it quits after 20 years of showing the work of emerging Philly artists. Riesenbach, of course, made headlines years ago when she started classes at the Moore College of Art at age 52. After that she became a full time student at PAFA, a brave move considering that most of the student body probably thought of her as Grandma Moses. Among the hundreds of guests was PAFA grand dame (and teacher since 1966) Elizabeth Osborne, whose work has been called “monumental, hallucinatory landscapes,” and “one of the most innovative and daring Philadelphia-based artists of the last 40 years.” In a back room, where the hors d’oeuvres were as plentiful as they were in the front room, we bumped into Leah Stein, who started to tell us about her dance company when the crowd swelled to Wildwood boardwalk proportions, and separated us for good. EARTH, WIND AND FIRE We were invited to artist Diane Burko and husband Richard Ryan’s home and studio on South Juniper Street for a dinner of glacial proportions. The couple’s house is pure Architectural Digest, perhaps one of the grandest spaces in Center City. The ascendant structure of it very much suits Burko’s work: landscapes depicting glaciers, waterfalls and canyons that often illustrate the effects of climate change. “I love the earth and watching it change,” Burko told a reporter during her Locks Gallery 2010 show, Politics of Snow, where she documented climate change on the Grinnell Glacier from 1938 onward. Burko travels the world—the high Arctic and Antarctica—and prefers photographing glaciers from the air, which usually means she’s hanging out of airplanes or dangling precariously over cliffs, resulting in time-lapse glacier portraits in which weather change deteriorations can be clearly seen. Ironically, the closer these glaciers get to climate change death, the more beautiful and colorful they become. As for husband Richard’s multi-course dinner, it was the polar opposite of a glacial meltdown. We liked it when Diane explained how she had once given a dinner party for writer Edmund White after the publication of his biography, Genet. Of course, we are very glad the dinner party was for White and not a 1980s fete for Genet, because had it been for Genet it would have meant a lot of stolen silverware. EARTH, WIND AND WINE Our summer vacation had us flying out to western Colorado for a stay at Mesa Winds Farms & Winery, near Hotchkiss, where we were greeted by Wink, originally from New England. Tall and perpetually sunburned, Wink is part of the Valley Organic Growers Association of sustainable agriculture in western Colorado. These farms are numerous, with names like Peace & Plenty Farm, Redlands Mesa Grange, West Elk Hop Farm, and Aloha Organic Fruit. Many of them attract people like Wink and his wife Max, educated émigrés from the east coast attracted by the state’s vibrant community of farms. Max, who could easily play Isak Dinesen in a new film version of Out of Africa, gathered us on the patio as Wink prepared a wine tasting. Colorado is relatively new to the winery racket but the western slopes have more than their fair share of pop-up wineries. Going to a wine tasting has become a local sport. During the drive to Mesa Farms, for instance, we passed signs inviting travelers to come in for sips. Many of these small wineries have names like Delicious Orchards, Lilliputian or Terror Creek Winery and were located along the most perilous roads that skirt along the edges of steep cliffs without the benefit of guardrails. In Colorado, if you’re stupid enough to drive drunk on a winding mountain road, the inevitable crash off a cliff is your own dumb luck. The dead of night silence at Mesa Winds Farms can be disconcerting, especially to noiseconditioned easterners. At 2:00 a.m. we heard a dirge-like wail that seemed to be a mix of coyote, hyena and human baby sounds. The auditory oddity forced us to turn on the bedroom light (and keep it on), then head to the bathroom window where we attempted to find the source. The pitch blackness, however, revealed nothing. Instead, our eyes were drawn to the sky, a dead ringer for Van Gogh’s Starry Night. OPPOSED TO THE PROPOSED When it comes to tall buildings, some things in Philadelphia never change. At a Center City Residents Association (CCRA) meeting recently, many Fitler Square residents lined up to oppose Carl Dranoff ’s proposed 21-story One Riverside Project along the Schuylkill River. “Out of place,” “out of scale,” “Too tall,” many said, reminding us of the canned reactions and empty cliché responses we heard in 1986 when developer Willard Rouse attempted to break the city’s building height limit. The fact is, stodgy Philadelphians of a certain ilk have always opposed tall buildings. Philadelphia's buildings are still too short and squat, and its skyline fades in comparison to many other cities. What annoys us the most is the fact that Dranoff ’s project is nowhere near Fitler Square but actually sits on the waterfront, meaning it’s very much in place and totally in scale. ■

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commercial release. A limited number of advance copies of the DVD are available via their Facebook Page: Facebook.com/MagicOnMusicMountain. KEEP ON ROCKIN’ IN ARDMORE For more than three decades, the Ardmore night spot, Brownie’s 23 East, a.k.a. the 23 East Cabaret, presented the finest in national and local rock, pop. blues and folk. Everyone from Buddy Guy to Dave Matthews worked there. There are new plans for this space, to be called The Ardmore Music Hall, and those plans include modifying the capacity from 600 to 250, improving the stage, seating, offering craft beers, etc. Right now, the new and improved venue is set to open on November 8 with veteran blues/rocker Johnny Winter. Details: ArdmoreMusicHall.com. THERE SHE GOES Despite waiting by the phone, we have not yet heard from Bert Parks or Bess Myerson. But don’t worry. The Miss America staff has informed that the 2013 pageant, returning to Atlantic City for the first time in years, will take place on September 15 at Boardwalk Hall, which we used to know and sometimes love as Convention Hall. In a recent Philadelphia Inquirer cover story co-authored by Suzette Parmley, concerns were voiced about just how Atlantic City might or might not be depicted during the live, ABC pageant telecast on September 15. In other words, what if those pesky television cameras show some of the city’s more undesirable locations, much like they did during the infamous 1964 Democratic convention held there? In any case, those who believe in such contests can purchase tickets to the main event and/or the several evenings of preliminary competitions by logging on to MissAmerica.org. Another Atlantic City institution, the one-time “Showplace of the National” known as the Steel Pier, has been standing in the same spot since it opened in 1898. Once host to thrill rides, big bands, first-run movies, stars of stage, screen and television and of course, that oddity known as The Diving Horse, the Pier lost much of its luster when casino gaming was legalized—just across the way at Resorts International—on May 26, 1978. Yes, I was there that day. Mainly used as a mini-amusement park since then and under various owners, including Donald Trump, the Pier was purchased by the Catanoso family two years ago. The Catanosos leased the venue for 20 years and bought it from Trump for the bargain price of $4.25 million, just before it went on the auction block. This historic site is now in the process of being updated, renovated and generally done over as an entertainment complex, complete with rides, restaurants, shops and the like. Keep up to date on the progress by visiting SteelPier.com. PAY TO LOSE In Pennsylvania, there’s a hotel/casino that you don’t hear much about, and that’s the Valley Forge Casino Resort, the state’s smallest gaming hall. One of the reasons for their lack of visibility, say their spokespeople, was confusion. As a “Category 3” casino, visitors have to spend $10—on anything within the resort—before they’re allowed to gamble. Potential gaming customers were confused and generally not thrilled about the policy of, shall we say, having to pay for the privilege of probably losing money. But things are looking up with the institution of some new marketing ideas, including a membership/player’s card combo, better signage, clarification of the rules on their website, and stationing employees at the front door who explain things to perplexed patrons. It’s paying off. Gambling revenue was up 43 percent in May from last year’s figures. MR. B IS BACK Famed singer/bandleader Billy Eckstine was a ground breaker in many ways. Not only was he this country’s first Black-American “romantic singing idol,” his big band of the 1940s was an incubator for modern jazz. His band, at one time or another, featured players like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. By 1950, he was the most popular singer in the country, and he influenced many singers who came after him. Still, in many ways, life was a struggle for the man nicknamed “Mr. B,” and all this is chronicled in the upcoming book, The Music and Life of Billy Eckstine, written by noted jazz journalist Gary Ginell and published by Hal Leonard. Street date is September 24. MAKING BOOK ON THE PUNKSTERS The famed punk/skinhead/slam dancing nightspot in Trenton, City Gardens, is the subject of a new book written by Bucks County’s Amy Yates and Drexel Hill’s Steven DiLodovico. The authors report that they have interviewed hundreds of individuals associated with the sometimes infamous spot, including a bartender who made it big on television years later, Jon Stewart. No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spike: An Oral History of the Legendary City Gardens, should be completed by the end of the year. For a preview, look for the two posted excerpts on the literary site, The Rumpus, at TheRumpus.net. ■

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a thousand words

STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

LEARNING THE THOUGHT OF DOING a semicircular painting was on my mind for a long time. That is until two of my much better art-educated friends, on separate occasions, continued our conversations using the term “demilune” as if that was the word I had used in the first place. I maintain a profound respect for higher learning and those who exercise it so I took the cue and upgraded my vocabulary accordingly. Demilune it is. The shape of a painting is a factor in forming an initial impression. You (should) learn in art class that horizontal is placid and vertical is more solemn and dignified. Landscapes with happy cows and babbling brooks fit comfortably into lateral shapes while formal portraits have a distinguished feeling when composed upright. It’s not a hard rule, rather a device that can aid description and add or detract from a statement. Shape is an important consideration when planning a composition. I have painted a lot of square images in the past few years. I’m not sure what the academic line is on the square, but in my mind it is a window through which the viewer can observe the image without being influenced by the proportions of its boundaries. It’s tempting to say the square is more like how we really see, but that’s not the case. We see things spherically. Hold that thought for another essay. Many images have been painted in a round format and there is no reason why they can’t be star-shaped, trapezoidal or amorphous. But when your attention is drawn by the

Curve

painting’s shape, less of it is devoted to the content. That is dramatically true of the demilune; the shape is the first thing you notice. I knew that in order to be successful I would need an image that was best presented in that format. It’s not the easiest configuration to deal with. I first tried a demilune a couple of years ago. I composed a scene of a farm family in the yard between their house and barn, sitting at the picnic table as night closed in. The mother was clearing dishes and the children were listening to their grandfather tell a story. Their faces were illuminated by soft light from a lantern on the table. The night sky filled the dome behind them. I couldn’t make it work. My second attempt was this image of a dancer, Cynthia Harvey. I was already exploring the subject when I realized that it might work with the curved top. The shape could be used to amplify the leap with the arc echoing the trajectory of the arabesque. It enhances the content. Because the idea was an experiment—a six-foot wide one at that—I painted it on a length of canvas stapled to the wall in my studio. Once it was done and I decided it was a keeper I needed to either mount it on a custom-built stretcher or glue it to a rigid panel cut in the proper shape. I chose the latter. There is something else an artist has to consider when creating non-rectilinear compositions: he has to frame it. There are shortcut approaches but doing a quality frame for this shape required a craftsman with an artistic eye. I asked W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V

Ed Murphy, an award-winning sculptor and woodworker, to make the half-moon…oops, demilune frame for me. Ed constructed the support panel out of MDF with bracing on the back, which included a hanging system, and he helped me adhere the canvas to it. We designed the frame profile over a beer in his shop. One of my life’s pleasures is working with people who know what I need, understand the issues involved, and produce things better than I imagined. Designing with Ed is a treat. The next step was to have his wife, Susie Sanchez Murphy, a decorative painter with a great eye, create a rich faux woodgrain and white gold leaf finish on the frame to complement the image. Getting all this right required a lot of talent and more time than it took to do the painting, but it was worth it. The frame looks fabulous. Not too heavy, not too light, not too loud. It is the perfect, dignified and supportive presentation. Seeing how much the curve brings to the painting has me thinking about mating unconventional shapes and content. I’ll have to look at that farm scene again, maybe with a whole new presentation in mind. ■

Robert Beck’s fall exhibition, Witness, opens October 19 at the Gallery of Robert Beck, Lambertvile, NJ. For information visit www.robertbeck.net

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IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING World War II, the art world capital shifted to New York and a certain style called Abstract Expressionism. Those artists arriving in Philadelphia were aware of the movement and many even brushed shoulders with it, but by and large they found homes, studios and teaching positions that allowed them to find their own way. From this tradition came a return to figurative art and a poker game with more or less the same players that has lasted some 50 years. The Woodmere Art Museum is showing a glimpse into that world with The Poker Game and Its Circle through October 26. The show is built around a Larry Day painting of the original members of the game which began in 1963. The game began after the group met to visit and talk art at Day’s studio/garage. Day’s “The Poker Game” includes Armand Mednick, David Pease, Sidney Goodman (1936-2013), Dennis Leon (1933-98), Jimmy Lueders (1927-94), and Massino Pierucci. Goodman did not play as the game caused too much stress. Mednick is the only one living in this area; Pierucci, a sculptor lives in Italy. Obviously, players dropped in and out of the game which was played for nickels and dimes on the first Sunday of the month. Included in “the circle” of the game and on display are Ruth Fine (Larry Day’s wife), Doris Staffel, Chorkow Hollander, Chick Phillips, Jamie Wyper, Ellen Goodman (Sidney Goodman’s wife), Bob Parsky, Mitzi Melnicoff, Han Parson, and others. Most of the women did not play—apparently because they won too much money. The show belongs to Day and his figurative work. Lueders’ figurative work is also shown and they share many similarities. These are large-scale paintings with huge blocks of saturated color and excellent draftsmanship in a sort of pre-comic book style. The figures are solid with little movement and seem frozen in posture. They appear to be a prediction of the type of group portraits for which Alex Katz would become famous. Lueders often did single portraits and used his friends as models. He was a cheerful man with expert tastes in food, flowers and the opera. In addition to his own work, Lueders taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He died in his West Mount Airy studio. Day, a native of South Philadelphia, taught at the University of the Arts for 35 years. Lorenzo del Giorno, as he was known then, moved to Melrose Park when he was 12 and lived there until his death. He was married to Ruth Fine, also an artist, and was one of the artists who associated with the Abstract Expressionists in New York. He was a consummate drawer and many of his pencil sketches are also on view. Dennis Leon, born in London, was also a teacher at the University of the Arts and served as the art critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer for many years. He was the first art critic to enter the Barnes Foundation after a court case opened its doors in 1961. Mednick, who was born in Belgium and studied at Tyler School of Art, taught ceramics at the Oak Lane Day School in Blue Bell for 50 years. Some of Mednick’s ceramics were used as props in the works of Lueders. Sidney Goodman, like Day, was born in Philadelphia and studied and taught at the University of the Arts. His strong figurative work is well respected, and during the ‘90s he was honored with a solo retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. While figurative, the art was not realistic and had streaks of mysticism and surrealism. He is probably the best known of the poker players. The exhibition began when Mednick mentioned to Woodmere director William Valerio that the 50th anniversary of the poker game was coming up. Being that Woodmere owned “The Poker Game,” might that not be a reason to mount a show? The idea was immediately accepted and, along the way, the publicity generated unearthed another fine portrait by Day that was eventually donated to the Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a handsome online catalog and there will be a special program on September 28 at 3:00 pm when Ruth Fine will discuss her husband’s work. She has recently retired as a curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. ■

The Poker Game

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

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EDWARD HIGGINS

Larry Day, Poker Game.

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Bret Cavanaugh New Work Modern Design 13 Race St., Frenchtown NJ 609-851-5605 bretcavanaugh.com Saturday-Sunday 10:00-5:00

All Out, oil on canvas, 36” X 48”(detail)

Daniel Watts Discovered, Uncovered New Work The Quiet Life Gallery 17 South Main Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-0880 quietlifegallery.com Open Wednesday - Sunday September 13 - October 27 Opening Reception 9/14, 3-6pm Daniel Watts’ paintings were born out of a desire to uncover what he does not see but would like to see. Watts works out of his studio in Bethlehem, PA. He studied and graduated from Kutztown University with a BFA degree in Painting and Sculpture. Many of his paintings have been commissioned work. Such pieces have been installed in both private and corporate environments. His paintings continue to be commissioned by designers, collectors and architects. Watts is a prolific artist, having produced more than 400 paintings. He exhibits and sells work in both the United States and Europe, with a majority of the work being collected and purchased on the East Coast of the U.S. Many of his paintings can be seen on his website, www.danielwattsfineart.com The artist will be present during the Opening Reception to discuss his work: How does he do it? What does it do? What does it point to?

Michael Stephens Jewelry A Mano Galleries 128 So. Main St., New Hope, PA 215-862-5122 42 No. Union St., Lambertville, NJ 609-397-0063 AManogalleries.com Open daily 10–6; Saturdays 10–9 Michael Stephens is a jewelry/art designer and creator working primarily with found objects and re-purposed /up-cycled materials. Each piece is an instinctive creation that continually evolves as each component is placed in juxtaposition to the other components and a new shape is formed. Michael Stephens has been the recipient of many awards, including: 1st Place Jewelry, Carnival on the Mile, Miami; Best of Show-Jewelry, Woodlands Art Festival, TX; 1st Place Jewelry, Lewiston Art Festival, NY; Best of Show, New Hope Art Festival, PA; 1st Place Jewelry, River Arts Festival, TN; 2nd Place Jewelry, South Miami Art Festival, FL. Stephens was featured in The Best of the Best American Artists, published in 2012, and Best of American Jewelry Jewelers, Vol. II, published in 2011. Don’t miss the 20th Annual New Hope Arts and Crafts Festival, taking place this year outdoors at the high school September 28 and 29. For information, visit www.NewHopeArtsandCraftsFestival.com

First Breath, oil on canvas, 36” X 48” (detail)

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Bret Cavanaugh is as unique as his work. At age seven, he struck an interest in design by carving blocks of balsa wood his mother would bring home for him from the local craft shop, JB Klines in Lambertville, NJ. Growing up, the Delaware River has provided endless inspiration for Bret throughout his creative journey. Exploring the serene terrain and discovering distinctive materials gave him his vision for design. Bret acquired a broad set of skills by apprenticing with talented individuals with a variety of interests throughout the country. After attending culinary school, he continued to refine his abilities as a craftsman and modern designer. Bret is now focusing on woodcarving and furniture making, with an emphasis on unique materials and streamlined design. This fall, new pieces of hollowware and furniture created using unique materials found throughout the Delaware Valley will be featured.

art

BURTON WASSERMAN

HE PAINTINGS OF LESTER Glass are highly personal interpretations of places and faces he has observed here at home in the American Northeast and on travels to distant places. His oeuvre makes it very evident that neither photography, TV nor digital imagery have entirely replaced all the ways that brushes and color can still be used successfully for purposes of visual representation and artistic expression. A superb cross-section of his artworks may soon be seen in a striking solo exhibition inside the art gallery on the second floor of Connelly Center, on the campus of Villanova University. In addition, the public is invited to meet the artist in person at a reception set to take place on Friday, September 6, 2013 between 5 and 7 p.m. There is no charge for this event. The exhibition will then remain in place until the closing date, October 3, 2013. The entire installation is an homage to nature’s largesse of spirit in equipping people with the ability to see and enjoy everything out there awaiting their discovery. This tribute has been rendered with a variety of materials including oils, watercolor and acrylic media. While Glass pursues a descriptive idiom, he never allows it to become obvious. Instead, he transforms his subjects into profoundly expressive images with a semblance of form and an expressive character never seen before. In short, they take on a sense of life with a uniqueness of style entirely their own. Rare visions in color and mood, they become the basis of extraordinary experiences unlike anything else one may have ever encountered earlier. As such, they attract and hold a spectator’s attention at length. A major part of the transformative process is the introduction of a rare spatial presence that no other painter I know brings to his or her work in quite the same way. It’s this very special ingredient that is as much a distinguishing element of his art as one person’s fingerprints are different from those of everyone else in the world. The unmistakable touch he brings to his pictures lends a remarkable distinctiveness to an immediately recognizable style. Once you’ve seen a selection by Glass, you would never confuse it with an artwork by someone else. Such imaginativeness of creative interpretation is something you just don’t run across all that often. When you do, it provides a jolt of refreshment to your nerve endings. It demonstrates why contact with exceptional works of art manage to affect your whole sense of being alive. Magically, as it were, they

At the Beach, Cape Cod, MA

LES T E R GLASS

have the power to touch internal levels of awareness, deep inside the center of your being. A native of New York City and a retired architect, Glass has focused a considerable amount of attention on sights experienced within that venue. However, apart from other painters, like Edward Hopper, whose pictures often dwell on the night, Glass is rather partial to the hours of daylight. His special feeling for constructed building masses, is especially uncanny. In a fascinatingly consistent fashion, he also gives vivid expression to the play of light on the shapes and surfaces of solid volumes in landscape space. This is particularly evident in his treatment of monumental rock formations in the great American West. The colors of these huge earth forms have been handled with acute precision and refined sensitivity. Simultaneously, he also actuates a unique perception of broad distance in scenes of faraway places. While many of these vistas embody a view of vast openness, they also glow with a dramatic translation of light and dark areas in juxtaposition with each other. No amount of words can hope to adequately describe this. Instead, you have to see them with your own eyes to properly appreciate what Glass has brought into being as riveting notes of intensity and tone, given voice with paint. Mysteriously, the entire group of pictures projects an outlook that transcends the appearance of specific locales. Instead, the various images combine in the mind’s eye to W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V

become a unified state of infinite existence, ever in process of change. Past and present take shape as an endlessly evolving continuity. While a single canvas may illuminate a momentary state of being, it doesn’t really stand still. Instead, it reveals a rapidly passing instant in an infinitely larger, ongoing dynamic. Clearly, these arrangements of aesthetic form are neither trivial picture postcard views, nor calendar illustrations intended to appeal to popular taste. In fact, they reveal stages of transition in a larger timescape. One can only marvel at the way Glass is able to merge glimpses of different geographic settings, assorted bunches of flowers and close-ups of people, with such painterly finesse. As art exhibitions go, this is a thinking man’s reflectionat-large about the reality that surrounds us all. It has been unified with infinite grace in visual terms true to their essential character as passionately poetic metaphor. Without question, it’s an installation that gives its audience much to see. And, while it never presumes to pontificate, it also offers a great deal to feel, ponder and wonder about. ■

Dr. Burton Wasserman is a professor emeritus of Art at Rowan University, and a serious artist of long standing. His program, Art From Near and Far, is on WWFM in NJ and Bucks County and WGLS in South Jersey.

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cinematters

Forest Whitaker in Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

PETE CROATTO

Lee Daniels’ The Butler MAKING A CROWD-PLEASING HISTORICAL film isn’t that hard. Making a good one is damn near impossible because it’s so tempting (and easy) to cater to the lowest common denominator. Just show stock footage that reminds us of more challenging times, making sure to reveal the sentimental spot in that historical briar patch. This is usually done by having a character comment about “how those days were so, so tough.” And highlight the fashion and music of the good old days, because nostalgia is the cement that holds the rickety structure together. Lee Daniels’ The Butler, based on a 2008 Washington Post profile, never chokes us with its historical swoop—interactions with presidents, various social movements, and oh so many hairdos. Daniels and screenwriter Danny Strong are more concerned with telling a good story about a father and son divided—and later reunited—by history. Growing up on a Georgia cotton farm in the 1920s, Cecil Gaines saw his father shot to death by a white man. Young Cecil’s reward was that he was taught to be a “house nigger” or butler, a skill he took to a fancy hotel in Washington, D.C. and ultimately to the White House, where, according to the movie, he served presidents Eisenhower through Reagan. Along the way, Cecil achieved a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, complete with a wife (Oprah Winfrey) and kids, which was miles away from the cotton fields. In 1957, this is a dream life for most, especially African-Americans. Times are changing. Older son Louis (David Oyelowo) looks at the world differently. As a butler, Cecil is taught that “the room should feel empty when you’re in it.” Louis is tired of living life as an invisible man, forced to stay on one side of the line. He leaves for college in Tennessee fully intending to fight the power. Years pass. Cecil (played in his adult years by Forest Whitaker) continues to serve in the White House while Louis looks to forge a new identity, taking up the cause of the Freedom Riders, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Father and son grow further apart, even though each is making progress. Cecil is there for the Voting Rights Act; Louis holds vigil at Woolworth’s lunch counter and faces the unforgiving blast of fire hoses. Louis thinks he knows everything, dismissing his father’s job—one that gives a black man dignity in a world where it’s hard to come by—as the career of an Uncle Tom. The young man expresses his views from a distance and without context, not realizing that Cecil’s hard work

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has allowed him the ability to protest. And Cecil, committed to a lifestyle of being neither seen nor heard, doesn’t realize that the acts of kids like Louis are why presidents are passing legislation to make things equal. There is no Forest Gump-like gimmickry. Remove the high-profile presidential cameos from Lee Daniels’ The Butler and you still have a searing family drama. I never thought I’d say this about Daniels, a director whose best-known work is either exploitative (The Paperboy) or an urban poor burlesque (Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire) but he’s finally learned to hold back. Instead of trafficking in schlock, he builds his scenes, taking the time to draw out characters in living rooms and front porches. The conversations feel real, not like historical footnotes. We always return to two men making their way in an unforgiving world: one by working twice as hard for half the pay, and the other by any means necessary. The performances are lived-in, realistic, and keep you involved. Whitaker plays the lead role as a kind man navigating constant hurt, not as an observer to change. Terrence Howard is all oily charm as Cecil’s tomcatting neighbor, and it’s so nice to see Cuba Gooding Jr. find his swagger. Winfrey sheds her entitled air to play a woman whose increasing distance from her husband and her son cause her to drift into booze and questionable decisions. Her unraveling is treated as part of a family’s evolving history. Sometimes things are good, sometimes things turn bad. If we stick together, it’ll all be just fine. I think that’s why people have already flocked to see Lee Daniels’ The Butler. We need a reminder that we’re living our lives the right way, that what happened in the past led us to better times. People want their souls fed, and Daniels and Strong have offered a heaping plate of comfort food, a lovely, lyrical film that focuses on people, not pomp. ■

Pete Croatto also reviews movies for The Weekender (Scranton, PA) and blogs about pop culture daily at EntertainmenTell.com. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Grantland, Philadelphia, Publishers Weekly, New Jersey Monthly, MAD, and The Christian Science Monitor. You can reach him at petecroatto@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter, @PeteCroatto.

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keresman on film

Lake Bell. Photo: Seamus Tierney.

MARK KERESMAN

In A World… In a world…where portly pill-head pundits call media moguls “fat,” where musical quality is directly inverse to the number of back-up dancers on any given stage, and shredded cheese food product doesn’t melt no matter what you do, there will emerge…a heroine.

THINK OF THIS, PILGRIMS: The so-dramatic, frequently ominous voice-overs during movie previews, trailers, and TV/radio commercials are almost always that of men. Try to think of a movie promotion-thingy on which you’ve heard a woman’s voice. That’s one of the slices of reality that In A World addresses. Co-produced, written and directed by and starring Lake Bell—a voice actress (Robot Chicken) and whole-person actress (What Happens In Vegas, TV’s The Practice and Boston Legal)—it’s the story of Carol, a voice coach to assorted actresses and just plain folks, who wants to follow in the footprints/voiceprints of her distinctively-voiced father, who’s made a career of making movies sound like they are worth seeing. Naturally—again, another plot point you could probably see coming down Fifth Avenue—dad tries to discourage her, and not without (some) good reason: The world of Hollywood voice-overs is basically a boys’ club. In A World… is to a great degree one of those feisty/spunky/plucky gal swims against the tides of prevailing currents on her way to Success and/or Happiness. What makes it more than that are the touches of satire Bell peppers throughout the film. Like The Player, For Your Consideration, and the vastly underrated The Big Picture, Bell shows us some of the egomaniacal, absurd, and avaricious sides of Hollywood in its assorted echelons. We see a trailer

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for a forthcoming film that is obviously a derivative piece of shit. Eve Longoria shows up as herself—Carol has to teach her how to speak in a Cockney accent for a film role. Her father (Fred Melamed) and main competitor/rising voice-star Gustav (Ken Marino) are somewhat vain, borderline-obnoxious/Type A/full of themselves type-o’-guys. The dialogue is witty and snappy, the characters feel real (Bell is good at capturing/portraying “awkwardness”), it moves along at a good clip, and Bell herself is a joy to watch. She is an actress that is (this is the “guy” side of me talking) so darn cute, but she’s much more than that—she has genuine charisma, she and her character are likeable without being over-the-top about it. Bell does not play her as a downtrodden “victim” of a male-dominated field, and while she’s energetic and animated, she doesn’t do “perky” or skate by on her cuteness, sexiness (which is downplayed) or quirkiness, either in the confines of the story nor to us. She sidesteps the stereotypes of “driven” and “ditsy but loveable.” Plus, Bell is actually very good with accents and modulating her voice. What keeps World from being a 9-on-a-scale-of-10 is its excessive subplots and the sit-com-like ways Bell plays them out. Nearly all the movie’s male characters are either jerks (horndog or egotistical varieties, mostly) or dweebs, no middle ground at all. Carol’s friends might as well be subtitled “that wacky crew with their zany (hipster) antics.” Carol’s

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sister Dani (Michaela Watkins) and Moe (Rod Corddry) have a troubled marriage; Carol’s co-worker and sound engineer Louis (Demetri Martin), who encourages her ambitions, has an unrequited crush on her, and her father’s girlfriend is moving in with him, a seeming airhead that’s close to her age. Do all these situations work out well in the end? What do you think? That said, In A World… is a very enjoyable movie. Without any retro/nostalgic affectations, it evokes not only the “look out, world, I’m gonna make it” genre but the battle of the sexes with a touch of screwball-romance as well. Bell also gets point for peopling the cast (in supporting roles) with folks that look like regular people: Corddry, Tig Notaro, and Nick Offerman, to name a few, and Geena Davis makes a brief appearance playing against type. This is going to sound like press-kit hyperbole, but shucks it’s true: Lake Bell is a talent to watch, and I hope she has better luck than another young multi-tasking quiz-kid that went by the name of Orson Welles. ■

In addition to ICON, Mark Keresman is a contributing writer for SF Weekly, East Bay Express, Pittsburgh City Paper, Paste, Jazz Review, downBeat, and the Manhattan Resident.

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Matt Damon. Photo: Kimberley French-TriStar Pictures.

MARK KERESMAN

SCIENCE FICTION CAN BE, by its very nature, political, especially in the genre known as “dystopian future.” While some science fiction stories imagine a world like The Jetsons, other science fiction stories show us possible worlds more akin to George Orwell’s 1984, but not as cheerful. As in this world, future worlds—the dystopian ones, anyway—will have class distinctions, the Haves vs. the Have-Nots. One such movie is (admit it, you saw this coming) Elysium. The story: The year is 2154. The wealthy live on an idyllic space station, Elysium, while the rest, the wretched refuse, live on Earth, a planet that’s become a virtual slum. A high-ranking Elysian big cheese, Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster, channeling Blofeld/Dr. Evil), employs brutal South African mercenary (is there any other kind?) Kruger to prevent (with extreme prejudice) the illegal “immigrants” (poor Earthers) attempting to reach Elysium and use its advanced Med-Pods to heal their abject selves. Max De Costa (Matt Damon) is an ex-convict toiling on Earth in the factories run by the evil Elites. He connects with an old pal, Frey (Alice Braga) whose daughter has leukemia. An industrial accident exposes Max to enough radiation to make reading novels a futile pursuit, and then a smuggler makes Max an offer he can’t refuse: Pull off a big score for me, and I’ll get you a date with a Med-Pod. As he’s dying anyway, Max has nothing

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to lose. He gets to be a Six Million Dollar Man variant (price adjusted for inflation), implanted with bionic hardware to make him a formidable SOB indeed. So Bionic Max has many encounters with the Elite’s forces in order to…blah blah blah. What’s wrong with this? For one thing, in some ways this movie in the inverse of Atlas Shrugged, Part 2, Ayn Rand’s wet dream novel and movie of a future America…and it makes about as much sense as hers, too. In Rand’s “future,” the wealthy and creative are the put-upon class, and a giveeverything-away-for-free government (I think it’s called socialism, I dunno) wants to give the fruits of their labor to the lazy, do-nothing/contribute-nothing scum that is most of America. Elysium has a reversal: The Rich, White Evil people live on this space station, whereas the Noble Ethnic Poor live in what’s essentially a Third World world. Get it? The world “is” Mexico and Elysium “is” the USA. Naturally, nearly everyone on Elysium is of the J. Remington Bastard stripe— we can’t have these crumbs littering up our Med-Pods! In both movies, good/bad are essayed in such simple, black and white terms that it becomes…annoying. I get it, there is a massive disparity in our world in terms of the Haves and Have-Nots…but not everyone who’s downtrodden is noble, nor is every moneyed person a vicious prick. There are,

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after all, “shades of gray” (and I don’t mean that book). The movie is loaded with—what’s the expression I’m looking for…oh yeah: 1.5-dimensional characters; Bad People=to the right of Richard Nixon with the same moral code; Good People=dirty, unkempt, but pure of heart. There are some huge plot holes. Delacourt gets an evil CEO to create a computer program to make herself president, then she’ll give “preferred treatment” to corporate interests. (Like that would ever happen in real life.) Anyway, if CEO has access to this kind of technology, why couldn’t he use it to make himself president. This is supposed to be the “future,” but computers still have keyboards, doors are opened with key cards and people still use cathode ray tubes for viewing? What’s protecting the citizens of Elysium from exposure to radiation—solar flares, cosmic rays? If “immigrants” from Earth are nigh upon Elysium, why not shoot rockets at them from the space station itself instead of calling a guy on Earth to do so? (To introduce a character, maybe? I think a teacher/prof of mine called that “lazy writing.”) Can Stinger missiles make it to outer space? And what’s with Foster’s weird accent? Why does she dress like Blofeld/Doctor Evil and Charlize Theron’s character in Prometheus? This is basically another dumb kick-ass action movie with (weak) science fiction pretentions. ■

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reel news

REVIEWS OF RECENTLY RELEASED DVDS BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER ★=SKIP IT; ★★=MEDIOCRE; ★★★=GOOD; ★★★★=EXCELLENT; ★★★★★=CLASSIC

Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines.

No (2013) ★★★★ Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Antonia Zegers Genre: Drama Awards: Oscar nomination Best Foreign Language Movie. In 1973, a CIA-instigated coup in Chile installed General Augusto Pinochet as president for life. The U.S. supported the business-friendly dictator even though he committed unspeakable atrocities and thousands of opponents disappeared. By 1988, world opinion forced Pinochet to call a national vote to either keep him in power for eight more years (vote YES) or allow a general election for a new president (vote NO). Each side was allowed 15 minutes of TV time every night for a month before the election. Naturally, the NO supporters wanted a negative campaign exposing the brutal atrocities. The YES side focused on stability and financial success. The NO coalition hired René Saavedra (Bernal), a brash young ad executive who was the master of hype in Mexico. The true-life drama centers around the struggle for democratic régime change in a totalitarian state, but the heart of the story examines the forces that drive political elections. Emotions trump reason and a good sound bite is more important than a fact. The jingle, Chile, Happiness is Coming, became the positive force of hope that empowered people to flock to the polls and vote YES for change. Sound familiar? Into the Fog ★★★★ Cast: Vladimir Svirski, Vlad Abashin Unrated In Russian with English subtitles.

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In the familiar TV scenario, the cops bring in a thug who refuses to talk, so they threaten to put the word on the street that he’s an informer—damned if you do, damned if you don’t. In this WWII piece set in occupied Russia, Sushenya (Svirski), an innocent (or not) villager, gets caught up in a Nazi sweep. All are hanged but him. Naturally, the resistance thinks he’s a collaborator and decides to kill him. Two partisans drag him into the woods for the execution, one conflicted, the other determined. Then the Germans ambush them. Suddenly, Sushenya is the only hope for the surviving soldier. This character study set in the stunning, stark landscape of Latvia, explores moral dilemmas with no right or wrong solutions, only life stumbling through a fog in search of meaning. The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) ★★★★ Cast: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta Genre: Drama Rated R. Luke (Gosling), takes full advantage of his role in a traveling carnival’s motorcycle show, especially with women enamored by his tattooed, bad-boy persona. But he gets a surprise when the show returns to Schenectady and he meets Romina (Mendes), his hook-up from the previous year. The baby in her arms is his son. Luke embraces fatherhood and wants to be a proper provider. Motorcycle stunts won’t bring in the cash, but robbing banks will. After the heist, Luke flees on his cycle with officer Avery Cross (Cooper) in high-speed pursuit. So begins part two of a three-act, two-generational epic. Cross has political ambitions that a little grease won’t hurt and man-

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ages to move up in the police department. Then jump 15 years to the teenaged sons of Cross and Luke for the finale. The story struggles with divergent plot lines and universal themes, but in the end (after 2.5 hours) delivers a satisfying saga about how the tangles of life never get unraveled. Chasing Ice (2012) ★★★★ Genre: Documentary Rated PG-13. In 2005, National Geographic assigned environmental photographer James Balog to document the condition of glaciers and sea ice in the Arctic. Balog installed three dozen time-lapse cameras in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and Montana that compressed years of change into minutes of stunning video. The Extreme Ice Survey dramatically reveals what everyone who lives north of the Arctic Circle sees every day and government reports conclude every year: Arctic ice is melting at an alarming, unprecedented rate. Words are rational but the breathtaking photography brings the reality to the emotional, OMG level. If astronauts in the Space Station discovered their environmental systems were imploding, they would stop everything and make every sacrifice necessary to correct the situation. Balog’s hauntingly beautiful horror story suggests that we are in the same situation. ■ George Miller is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and believes that travel is a product of the heart, not the itinerary. See his webmagazine at www.travelsdujour.com.

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film roundup

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

Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall in I Give it a Year.

Morning (Dir: Leland Orser). Starring: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leland Orser, Laura Linney, Elliott Gould, Kyle Chandler, Jason Ritter, Gina Morelli. A married couple (real-life husband and wife Orser and Tripplehorn) can’t cope with the death of their young son. Over the course of several days away from each other their lives unravel. He reverts to the behavior of a child, playing with toy trains and eating Spaghetti-Os. She walks around like an anesthetized soul in a Swedish film, alternately zoning out or lashing out at those who try to comfort her. Orser, who also wrote and directed, has a good story and a knack for telling it through images. (The opening shots of the house—eerily quiet and unsettling—set the tone.) It’s a shame that Morning doesn’t have a narrative base to support its two main characters, so Orser and Tripplehorn (who is, to put it nicely, over her head here) come across as wailing theatrically instead of expressing their characters’ anguish. The way Morning is constructed we care more about the supporting characters than the leading one. Another crippling issue: a crucial plot point will make you wish Orser had used that as the script’s thrust. [R] ★★ Una Noche (Dir: Lucy Mulloy). Starring: Dariel Arrechaga, Anailín de la Rúa de la Torre, Javier Núñez Florián. Best friends Raul (Arrechaga) and Elio (Florián) long to leave the sweltering despair of Havana, where, according to Raul, all you can do is “sweat and fuck.” Salvation lies in Miami, 90 miles across the ocean, and in a barge constructed from wooden planks, inner tubes, and a prayer. Mulloy paints

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modern-day Havana as a pitiless pit of poverty and decadence, so you know exactly why the boys want to leave. But that doesn’t mean they should. Elio is in love with unaware ladies’ man Raul, who believes his long-estranged father will be thrilled to reunite. And Elio’s clingy twin sister (de la Rúa de la Torre) wants in because she cannot bear to be away from her brother. So many movies tell immigration stories that serve as triumphs of the human spirit. Mulloy shows that the desire to leave can be fueled by delusions. Just because the mission is noble and right, there’s no guarantee the participants will succeed. You are invested in Una Noche because its characters never stop battling against their fate. Filmed on location in Havana on 35 mm film. Inspired by a true story. [NR] ★★★1/2 Short Term 12 (Dir: Destin Cretton). Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Keith Stanfield. Quickwitted and no-nonsense, Grace (Larson) effectively supervises a halfway house for troubled youths. Her personal life is a different story. She’s in a serious relationship with her coworker, Mason (The Newsroom’s Gallagher Jr.), who clearly loves her. That’s not enough. Grace’s unfortunate past prevents her from opening up, while a recent development forces her further inward. Throw in the arrival of a new charge (Dever), who reminds Grace too much of her own troubled childhood, and Grace’s carefully constructed equilibrium threatens to shatter. Larson (21 Jump Street, The Spectacular Now) is fantastic in a star-making turn—she is

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dramatically compelling while remaining fragile and humansized—but she’s surrounded by fantastic performances, including Stanfield as an 18-year-old resident who is afraid to leave the only loving environment he’s ever known. Directed and written with assurance and heart by Cretton, this might be one of 2013’s best films when all is said and done. [R] ★★★★ I Give It a Year (Dir: Dan Mazer). Starring: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng. Business executive Nat (Byrne) and novelist Josh (Spall) had a whirlwind courtship. Now closing in on a year of marriage, the two cannot stand each other. And more appealing options have emerged. Nat is enchanted with her client (Simon Baker), a rich American who is also handsome and intelligent. Josh, for reasons never made entirely clear, gravitates toward his ex-girlfriend (Faris). Everyone knows who should end up with whom, but director-writer Mazer’s idea of originality is to overstuff his frantic affair with “inappropriate” humor. So we have to endure Faris getting tangled in a threesome, stuffy parents viewing risqué honeymoon photos, and a marriage therapist shouting at her husband David Mamet style. This bombardment can’t hide a glaring omission: Mazer, a longtime collaborator with Sacha Baron Cohen, forgets that a romantic comedy— even a spoof of one—must feature people we actually have some affection for. Even the wonderful Byrne can’t help much this time around. [R] ★★ ■

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JACK BYER

POWER

TO THE

PEOPLE

An award-winning journalist, columnist for Truthdig.com and The Nation, and author of several bestselling books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges is a harsh critic of liberals who have strayed from the foundation of their philosophy and mainstream media who sells out to powerful interests.

MY IMPRESSION OF CHRIS Hedges, after reading most of his work and talking to a few people who had been with him on social occasions, was of a man who is driven by righteous indignation—a pugnacious moralist with no tolerance for small talk. One friend who sat next to him at Hedges’ own birthday party warned that the man had no interest in even saying “Hello” or “Thanks for

“War and conflict have marked most of my adult life. I began covering insurgencies in El Salvador, where I spent five years, then went on to Guatemala and Nicaragua and Colombia, through the first intifada in the West Bank and Gaza, the civil war in the Sudan and Yemen, the uprisings in Algeria and the Punjab, the fall of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the Gulf War, the Kurdish rebellion in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, the war in Bosnia, and finally to Kosovo. I have been in ambushes on desolate stretches of road in Central America, shot at in the marshes of southern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police, deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by Iraqi Republican Guard, strafed by Russian Migs-2IS in Bosnia, fired upon by Serb snipers, and shelled for days in Sarajevo.”

Chris Hedges War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning coming” or “How’s the family?” When not on message— for Hedges, there was apparently nothing important to be said. Indeed, when I contacted Hedges to request the interview, he stipulated that I read at least one of his books. (I read them all.) Then, the interview was to be for only a half-hour—in a crowded coffee shop, not in his home. I scouted out a quieter location and the day came. I—the potential uninformed fool who might waste his time; he—the begrudging interviewee who would simply dispense what he had already written in his ten books, countless articles, and television interviews sat down together. The anticipated battle, however, turned out to be a mutually respectful, even congenial conversation that ended with my meeting his wife and son, and journeyed past the appointed half-hour.

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You seem like an angry guy. Certainly there’s a lot of anger in your books. Do you think you’ve at times let anger and disillusionment undermine your analysis? Led to overstatements, to overly harsh judgments? Well, it depends who you’re speaking on behalf of. If you’re talking about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and you have spent months of your life, as I have, in places like Gaza, no statement you make would ever be angry enough for parents who had lost a child, for children who had lost parents. I view my role as a writer as giving a voice or amplifying the voice of those whose voices we don’t hear. Voices that are inherently very angry. Certainly for the mainstream, those kind of statements become overly emotional, but for the underclass they’re thrilling because finally someone has stood up to validate their own suffering and their own anger. I’m primarily concerned with the reaction of the underclass. Not with the powerful. I don’t write for the powerful. I write against the powerful. You’ve quoted St. Augustine: “Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope in your books. You’ve said, “We stand at the verge of one of the bleakest periods in human history, when the bright lights of civilizations will blink out and we will descend for decades, if not centuries, into barbarity.” Haven’t we passed through periods of injustice and threats to our survival before? Of course, civilizations have collapsed in the past, but you had somewhere you could move to, new areas to exploit. This time around, we’re going to bring the whole planet down with us. It seems inevitable now that that will happen. The earth’s resources are finite and we are destroying the ecosystem at a rate that exceeds even the most pessimistic predictions of climate scientists. We have very little time left. And yet we’re doing nothing because corporate power is exploiting the last vestiges of oil, gas, mineral, and fish stocks, including in the Arctic. There are no forces within the formal mechanisms of power that are willing to halt the attack by the fossil fuel industry. The consequences for the planet and the human species are catastrophic. You insist that the corporate power elite is no longer concerned with aspirations of ordinary Americans. Appeals to their better natures or attempts to influence the levers of power won’t work. But isn’t this a false dilem-

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ma? Politicians have to deal with voter blocs and they’re ultimately forced to make concessions to heal the widening rifts that a reform movement causes in their electoral base. Pressure can only come from stepping outside the system. I supported Ralph Nader because that’s precisely what Ralph Nader wanted to do. And that is how you got the New Deal. You had the Progressive party; even the Communist party. You had all sorts of populist movements and radical entities that created the social reforms created by traditional liberals like Henry Wallace and Roosevelt. I think it’s arguable that those reforms would not have been put in place unless you had those movements. Now you don’t have those movements. We have no counterweight against corporate power. You say that even the Supreme Court is a wholly owned corporate subsidiary. Am I naive then to trust Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Breyer? Well, they’ve done nothing to curb unfettered corporate power. I don’t really care how nice they look or how sweet they talk. I care about what the court decides. At this point the court is not a bulwark against the predatory nature of corporations. You’ve said that America is a consumer fraud. We believe that if we dig deep enough within ourselves and we focus on happiness and we work hard, we can have what we want. The facts just belie that. Most of us are trapped in whatever economic status we’re in, especially if you’re poor. That’s what I mean by a kind of consumer fraud. I get the impression that you think that institutions are always inherently demonic, including the church. But how does one live without them, if that is even possible. Power corrupts, but it seems impossible to live in a society where some people don’t have power over others. Listen, institutions nurtured and formed me, from the church to school to the university to The New York Times. Yet one must always accept that inevitably there will come a moment when you will have to clash with that institution in order to defend a particular moral

While Jack Byer brings to interviews and reviews an extensive background in the Arts, he also brings the soul of a romantic who loves to dance and is seldom seen without his signature Basque beret.

stance that you find it necessary to take. If you let the institution silence you, then you’re finished. Those individuals who have successfully carried out what I would call the moral life have always had a very contentious relationship with the institutions that they have been in. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t operate at moments within that institution. I know you don’t like labels, but if you were pushed, how would you identify yourself politically? I would say Christian anarchist in understanding that power is always the problem. In order to take a moral stance, one must be in permanent alienation from power. The more you make concessions to those who serve privilege and power, the more you diminish the capacity for justice and truth. So the role of the rebel is always outside the power system. No matter who has power, power is the problem You have a Masters in Divinity from Harvard. In your break from the powerful and claustrophobic embrace of the church, you found that you traded one god for another. What god did you turn to when you turned from the institutional church? Most people create gods in their own image, including the institutional church. So by turning my back on the institutional church, I had to confront the face of god itself as not embodied within any human institution, including the church. So for me, it was really an acceptance of mystery, of the unknowable, of that insecurity that is a fundamental component of faith. If I want to define god, which is a human concept of course, it is that power of life in the face of death. Fighting for that force is worthwhile, even if all the empirical evidence around us shows that we’re not succeeding. That for me is faith. Two of the most important people in your life have been your dad and Reverend Coleman Brown, the chaplain at Colgate University. You dedicate one of your books to them: “For My Father, Reverend Thomas Hedges, who taught me that compassion was the highest virtue, and for the Reverend Coleman Brown, who has never let me forget it.” Yet in another context, you write that even the best parents have an oppressive power that must be broken. Was this true in your relationship with these two men? Probably less with my father than with Coleman, who was such an overpowering intellect—especially intimidating to a young student. If one is going to think on one’s own, one has to on a certain level challenge that intellect at certain moments. I think that any figure that has that kind of power over you—even if it’s a power to shape you for the good—has within that relationship an element of oppression. You believe that we all stand in need of self-correction. You say that human virtue is always ambiguous. How does that apply to you? It’s the difference between taking a firm moral stance on an issue and declaring yourself to be moral. That’s not the same thing. I’m very unambiguous about challenging, for instance, corporate domination and corporate exploitation because I see it in theological terms as systems of death quite literally. So that is a kind of fierce and defined statement. But I never would say that I myself have achieved any sort of laudable morality. So it’s the distinction between the cause that you stand by and the person that you are. Any action, even a moral action, is tainted by self-interest. I think it’s Kant who says that no action is truly moral unless no one knows, if no one sees it. So in biblical terms, it’s the sin of pride, arrogance, intolerance, hubris—all of which I have and most human beings have. You always must be conscious of that, especially if you’re making strong moral statements.

Co-authors of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012), journalist Chris Hedges (R) and cartoonist Joe Sacco (L).

I’ve heard your next book is on rebellion, how it works and its consequences. You were very influential in the Occupy Wall Street protest, do I have that right? I had very close contact with the Direct Action committee, which at some points were staying in my house in Princeton. I went to General Assemblies. But I always spoke about the movement in the third person for two reasons. I was giving so many interviews that I didn’t want to appear as a spokesperson. It wasn’t my creation in any way. I also wanted to be free to critique the movement as I did.

human narratives. The very personal stories you’ve told. Did you ever consider writing a memoir? I have infused elements of my own life into my books already, and I’m very suspicious of the memoir. I haven’t thought about doing it. There are so many facets and strands to human existence, yet we tend to focus on a particular strand, like career, to define ourselves. If we’re self-reflective, we all wonder whether those personas are not completely false. The truth about who we are is finally mysterious, even to ourselves.

Your manifesto “No Excuses left. It’s Now or Never” in “Occupation Newsletter #1” is a “call to arms” for the movement. It’s filled with a stark series of either/or choices: rebel or slave, master or serf, good or bad. Frankly, it seemed contrary to your belief that human actions combine within them the moral and the immoral. I didn’t in any way want to endow the Occupy movement with an absolute morality, and yet it was a recognition that this movement was the vehicle by which we could begin to express opposition to what was being done to us. It had structural problems. The Occupy movement was a kind of umbrella group for all sorts of different organizations with different agendas. It was very open that way. But it was saying, look it’s time to get up, it’s time to get out, it’s time to do something because we don’t have the luxury of waiting.

But to live a life that has any kind of moral validity means asking the tough questions, especially the tough questions about yourself. You’re absolutely right. The nature of your life is defined by the questions you ask—and the questions you don’t ask. What are the human consequences of commodity trading for the poor in Africa? Probably a question that commodity traders are not asking on the floor of Goldman Sachs. Otherwise, they wouldn’t work there.

You stood up against the “black bloc,” a militant anarchist group within OWS which advocated violence. That’s right. All opposition has to be for me non-violent, although I’m not finally a pacifist. If we are to build a non-violent movement it has to be now because we don’t have any time left. You’ve led a rich, varied, passionate life. Some of the most memorable sections of your work have been the W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V

How is the work you are writing now similar or different from what you’ve done? Do you feel any need to change your strategy? No. Whether my writing has had a broad societal impact is doubtful. When you make this kind of critique, you operate on the margins of society. You have numbers—I don’t know how much those mean—but War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning sold 300,000 copies. Probably more. The last book, Days of Destruction/Days of Revolt was on The New York Times best seller list, so you certainly know you’re reaching an audience. But the impact you have is often individual— those individual cases where people have read what I’ve written and been moved by it or changed by it. Those cases keep you going as a writer because you know you’re touching someone. ■

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exclusive interview

A. D. AMOROSI

Going inside the mind of comedy’s boldest thinkers has become a pastime of late. The Writers Room on IFC, Jerry Seinfeld’s dot.com interview site, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and director David Steinberg’s interview program, Inside Comedy, are but a few shows to reveal the schematics of how laughter is induced. At present, one of comedy’s brightest, boldest, and darkest minds is Anthony Jeselnik, a Pittsburgh native who left Steel City, not necessarily to perform stand-up comedy, but rather write it, along with the longer form Great American Novel of legend. Jeselnik didn’t have the patience for novel writing, and instead focused on writing jobs for a late night television host. One in particular stood out: the similarly aged Jimmy Fallon, who was then on the verge of getting his postJay Leno program. Amazingly, for a guy who had ziltch on his resume, Jeselnik got the job only to wind up hating the job. The problem: he wasn’t getting to be Anthony Jeselnik. So he continued to hone his stand-up with a persona that was arrogantly quick-witted, villainously mean-spirited, and nearly sociopathic—a perfect skill set for the Comedy Central Network’s Celebrity Roasts where Jeselnik came, not only to write, but perform. From there—along with stand-up specials and network-sponsored recordings Caligula and Shakespeare—he got his own weekly show, The Jeselnik Offensive, and the rest is comedy gold history with its second season soon to wrap before heading into its third. Despite all that, Jeselnik is not known for giving many interviews. When I had an opportunity to snag him, in preparation of a tour that will bring him to Philadelphia’s Merriam Theater, September 14, a question and answer session seemed like the best forum. The fact that you wrote early on is well documented, but the stand-up thing—were you at all unconvinced of your prowess? I really wanted to be a writer at first. I wasn’t much of a performer as a kid. I joked around, acted out a little bit, but that was it. To me, writing was the thing, it was fun to create in that manner. Performing just seemed to be doing the same thing over and over again. Of course, I had the typical idea of penning the Great American Novel, but in reality my dream job was writing jokes for a late night comedy show. The pool that most networks pick from is a stand-up or sketch pool where they can see and hear what you’re doing. Exactly, a place where you can hone your jokes. Having

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

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people read your jokes just wasn’t enough, so I got into stand-up just so that I could be considered for my writing skills. I was going to do stand-up until I got that dream job and then I wasn’t going to do it again.

That show was really a goal. Jimmy was hip and young, closer to my age. Besides, I felt for Fallon, coming off the Conan O’Brien thing with Jay Leno. It was a tumultuous time getting that show going. It seemed attractive to me.

Did you even like stand-up comedy or comedians? You sound as if it was repellent. I wasn’t a road guy. I didn’t really get what comedians did or who they were. I knew the geniuses, but most of the guys that were out there as I was starting just seemed like the stereotypical loud, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing type, yukking it up. Tell you the truth, it wasn’t until I hit upon my style now, that I got it, that I began to really enjoy it.

It’s hard getting these writing jobs. You usually have to be a friend of someone. If they hire someone, they hire a pal. I had to separate myself from the pack for a special quality. I didn’t have experience or a resume, so I played up the smart ass. The good thing was, once the show did start, they needed a whole staff—and diversity—fast. They wanted stand-ups and I had just taped a half-hour special for Comedy Central Presents. Things were going well and I had some heat on me. I was the first monologue writer that the Fallon people hired.

You needed someplace where you could go further and Comedy Central is the perfect employer for that. I don’t even think of them as bosses because I’ve been with them for so long. We go back. I came up through their system—the half-hour Presents, Premium Blend, the album, another album, then they had me writing for the roasts as well as appearing on them. That was a big deal for me, that and my own series. They’ve been good to me. Comedy Central wants to bring comics along. I’m invested in them because they’re invested in me. They don’t give me notes. They want my work to act as is. They don’t know how I do what I do better than me.

The good feelings you had about getting that gig didn’t last long. How good was it when it was good, and how bad was it when it was lousy?

Were you a fan of the Dean Martin Friars Roast growing up? Absolutely. Before I ever wanted to be a writer or a

What writers influenced you? Vonegut, definitely. And Bret Easton Ellis was a huge inspiration. I loved the immorality of him, the coldness. There was such intelligence to Ellis’ work, I gravitated toward that.

and after midnight-y. They became all-day affairs. With that, you’re trying to build a universal audience. You can only go so far.

These darker things bring up a harder laugh it seems. The absurdity and the harshness can be so awful, yet here’s this thing that makes you giggle.

It’s cathartic—as if we’re entering another world together. Did you ever go forward with that novel you wanted to pen? I thought I’d have a controversial best seller written and published while I was still in college like Ellis, and live this great literary life. But that was a longer road than I expected. You actually have to live, to say nothing of the damned actual writing. Right. I had a lot to experience, let alone learn. Once I left college, writing that novel didn’t have such urgency or importance to me. The idea of just sitting in my room, banging a typewriter, and hanging out by myself held no appeal. I didn’t want to spend all that time writing the great novel that no one would probably want to read anyway. So, the more proactive way to express myself wound up being stand-up comedy. At least I could get out here and meet people and be sociable while I was creating. Nothing humiliates you more than bombing or having a bad set. That means you want to go in and do it right from the start. That was the goal. Early on, did you have the sort of sinister persona you have now? Maybe a little bit, a rough estimation of it probably. A lot of my persona came from me hiding my own nervousness. You’re so worried about being nervous and bad, I way overcompensated. I figured that since these people in the audience didn’t know who I was, if I just acted as if I was the best, they might buy it. A lot of times it worked. Who doesn’t love a smart ass? The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon thing happened pretty fast from before its first season.

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It was easy in one way, and really tough in another. Jimmy was a great boss. The staff was incredible. Everything was wonderful. But I was frustrated on a day-to-day basis, depending on what jokes they did and didn’t use. Some days none of my jokes got in. Other days, they used the wrong jokes in my estimation, ones chosen over the ones that were more to my liking. I kept asking myself “why was I there?” I knew I could do the job but my real voice was so different and specific, and they didn’t always want to use that voice. And they were right to not always want it, but that was frustrating to me. So you left a great job. Yeah. I needed to get through that the best way I knew how. That experience left me a better writer and a better performer. I was right to do what I did. I held out for a year, and then I said to them that I’d like to leave. They understood, gave me their blessings, told me to go be Anthony Jelsenik and that was that. I started touring and never stopped. Do you think that late night has become too mainstream? Kimmel, Fallon, Chelsea Handler—there’s no real edge. I would agree totally. Some hosts, some shows are edgier than others. If I write for Sarah Silverman—and I’ve written for her—if I like the joke, she likes the joke. You just know a person’s taste. With Fallon, that wasn’t always the case. He might laugh at a joke, but was it always right for him? No. The problem—in relation to what you asked—is that there are no more late night shows. They’re all 24-hour shows that you can see anytime, what with On Demand, YouTube, and on-line web availability. It became this thing where late night talk shows weren’t just something weird

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comic, I wanted to do a roast. It seemed like the most fun ever—a bunch of guys throwing insults with the guys getting insulted coming up with better lines. These are specific jokes that you couldn’t do anywhere else; being mean but being so funny that it didn’t matter how hard you were on anyone. The thing that makes you brilliant is that you bring the audience along with you rather than just repel them and leave them cold. It’s a very convivial, conversational way of maintaining the meanness. How did you develop that? It was pretty organic. Comics use stage time to develop things. A big part of this for me is that I have such fun with the jokes, that the audience has a great time with the jokes. They respect that I’m not talking down to them. I don’t do what I think makes them laugh, I do what makes me laugh and we’re all in on the joke. These darker things bring up a harder laugh it seems. The absurdity and the harshness can be so awful, yet here’s this thing that makes you giggle. It’s cathartic—as if we’re entering another world together. Being mean and funny sounds like “The Jeselnik Offensive.” Ever think you cross a line? Is there a line? No, there’s never a line. People get offended, maybe they get upset but they get over it quickly. In fact, if I had a line, I would try to cross it. That would be the trick, to cross over something in such a funny way that it doesn’t seem crossed. The joke must be good enough, though. If you’re going to go dark and heavy, make it good. That’s the risk I take. Sometimes I miss, but I don’t mind failing. it only means I‘ll get better and stronger. I’d rather try and fail than stay away from a taboo. The idea is to make the taboo accessible. ■

the jazz scene MORE HONORS FOR BP WRTI broadcaster, ICON columnist and area legend, Bob Perkins has done as much or more for jazz than any player. Since 1988, first on WHYY Radio and then on WRTI, the man we know as “BP with the GM” has been getting the music out—and has also helped make many converts along the way—with his encyclopedic knowledge of America’s only original art form and his singular delivery. The music may be great, but without someone to get it out there, it’s not worth much. In addition to playing the music, Perkins has generously and continuously opened his mic and heart to those in the jazz community who have an upcoming event or something to say. And through the years, he has rarely said no to Bob Perkins. an organization or artist asking him to host to concert. The man born Robert Ellis Perkins was recently honored by the Association of Black Journalists with a Lifetime Achievement Award. And in January, the Somers Point Jazz Society will recognize BP’s many and lasting contributions, celebrating his 50 years in the media, and what he claims—which we do not believe—will be his 80th birthday. There is also, at long last, talk of a book about the life and times of BP. The staff of ICON and I congratulate this most deserving individual. ALL SIDES OF LARRY Tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna is a natural resource when it comes to consistent, effortless, refreshing and inventive swing. All of these qualities are in evidence on his superb new CD, From All Sides, featuring the crème de la crème of area players, plus guest vocalist Joanna Pascale. (Not enough folks in this area know that the wonderful Pascale has been performing for years on most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays within Loews Hotel in center city.) There’s a new side of the leader presented herein as well, which is McKenna’s wonderful ability as a composer. We’re not surprised. Copies of the CD are available directly from Larry. For info on how to order, contact him directly at LJMcKenna@comcast.net. And in a long overdue development for this distinguished artist, Larry McKenna is going global. After a September 14 gig at The Café in Bethlehem with guitarist Peter Smyser and singer Patti Sakdiponephong, McKenna heads to the Limerick Jazz Festival in Ireland with area vibist Tony Miceli. ON THE RECORD WITH DESMOND Mary Ellen Desmond is one of the finest singers in this region or any region. She sings songs the way they are supposed to be sung, devoid of histrionics, clichés or licks, with crystal-clear tone, pure intonation, an innately subtle sense

BRUCE KLAUBER

of altering the melodic, rhythmic or harmonic structure just enough to make the point—all performed with a sunny optimism that makes jazz singing what it should be, at least some of the time: happy music. Desmond learned early on that by and large, the song should speak for itself. Though she’s been busy on the scene for years, she has not recorded. That situation is in the process of being rectified, and Desmond, like many others these days, is using the IndieGoGo.com fundraising website to raise sufficient capital to produce and release a CD she’s calling Comfort and Joy. The CD is a collection of seasonal favorites Mary Ellen Desmond. and an outgrowth of the program she’s been performing annually at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany in Philadelphia. Indiegogo.com/projects/mary-ellen-desmond-comfort-joy-cd. NO JOSHING Trumpeter, bandleader and educator Josh Lawrence is another Philadelphia artist seemingly always on the scene, at jams, in concert here and in New York—recently at Garage Restaurant and Café in NYC with drummer Michael De Castro and bassist Leon Boykins—and in the recording studio. On the recording front, the trumpeter—who has often sounded, to these ears, like a modern-day Lee Morgan—always has a lot going on, including an upcoming CD called One Night in Atlanta. www.JoshLawrenceJazz.com. BRIDGE TO CLARIFICATION The principals of Jazz Bridge report some changes in their new season’s Neighborhood Concert Series since last month. Arch Street Friends will no longer be the venue for center city concerts. This year, city concerts will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut Street. And the first perfomer—and host at the Willingboro Library—is not Edgardo Cintron, but saxophonist Tommy Gryce, who will perform on October 17. Opening the Jazz Bridge season in Collingswood is the multi-faceted Denis DeBlasio, who performs October 3. www.JazzBridge.org. And one of Jazz Bridge’s favorite artists, trumpeter Fred Adams, best known for his 30-year tenure with Sun Ra, will be appearing with his own group, the Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble at Kelsey’s in Atlantic City on September 14. www.KelseyandKims.com STILL HEARING SHEARING Pianist George Shearing, who died in 2011, was one of the most popular performers in jazz and among the very few who managed to appeal to a general public who, by and large, could have cared less about jazz until they heard him. W W W. FA C E B O O K . C O M / I C O N D V

One of the ways he did this was through his innovative quintet, which combined the leader’s orchestral “block chords” technique borrowed, by his own admission, from Milt Buckner, then topped with the unison voicings of guitar and vibraphone. The group was mellow, melodic and atmospheric. Though the Quintet members through the years included some of the very best players in jazz—from vibist Gary Burton to guitarist/harmonica player Jean “Toots” Thielemans— listing to it today, two words would immediately come to mind: cocktail music. But it worked, as it virtually defined the genre. No telling how many martinis Shearing must have sold through his music. The leader and all the original members of the late 1940s/early ‘50s quintets have long left us, so imagine the surprise when we received notice saying that “The Original George Shearing Quintet” was reuniting for a tour. Turns out this was an error made by one of the agencies booking the band, actually billed as a “Tribute to George Shearing” and being led by one of the finest vibraphonists in music today, Charlie Shoemake. Shoemake is an underrated player who has been around longer than most people realize and his connection to Shearing is direct. He played vibes with Shearing from 1966 to 1973—and during that time, sidemen included the likes of Philadelphia guitarist Pat Martino and the legendary Joe Pass—so if there is anyone who can pull this off, it’s Shoemake. It should be noted that the many “real” Shearing groups worked often in the Greater Delaware Valley area, often at the Red Hill Inn and were featured frequently on the airwaves by broadcasters like Sid Mark and Bob Perkins. And in 2012, the Temple University School of Music sponsored a multi-media Shearing “Commemorative Concert” under the leadership of Temple guitar performance major David Sanders. We understand there are already dates booked for the new group. THE DRUMMER MAN’S NUMBER ONE FAN You likely will not be reading the obituary of Bea Creskoff, who recently passed away two weeks before her 93rd birthday, in any of the jazz journals. But Bea will be remembered by all those who knew and loved drummer Gene Krupa, in that she was the co-founder, beginning in the early 1940s, of the Gene Krupa Fan Club. At one point, the club must have had around 100,000 members worldwide. To join, you paid 15 cents and received an “official Gene Krupa button” signifying membership. Bea Creskoff and her colleagues got to know Gene and his wife, Ethel, very, very well, and must have attended thousands of Krupa shows through the years. Krupa thought so highly of Bea that he shared thousands of personal photos and other mementos with her. Bea Creskoff was a friend and reached out—and unselfishly shared a good deal of this material and loads of wonderful stories—when word got out about the publication of World of Gene Krupa: That Legendary Drummin’ Man (Pathfinder Publishing of California). That book could not have been written without the input of Beatrice Rosaline Creskoff, who passed away on July 22, 2013. Keep swingin’ Bea. ■ Be part of The Jazz Scene. Send items to drumalive@aol.com.

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singer / songwriter Preservation Hall Jazz Band ★★★1/2 That’s It! Legacy Recordings After releasing a 4-CD box set to mark their golden anniversary last year, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band looked for a special way to kick off the next 50 years. The result is That’s It!, the first album with original material in the group’s history. The 11-song CD shows the band’s talents extend to songwriting with a lively collection of material that encompasses rhythm & blues, gospel, swing, as well as jazz. The propulsive title track starts the CD with a jolt of musical energy as the rhythm section kicks it into overdrive. “Dear Lord (Give Me The Strength),” an uplifting spiritual composed by Ben Jaffe, is a showcase for the horn section, highlighted by trumpeter Mark Brand. “Sugar Plum: is a sweet blend of rhythm and melody that shows the cohesiveness of the eight-member band. “Rattlin’ Bones” is a funky ievocation of New Orleans and its tradition of burying the dead above the ground. “I Think I Love You,” featuring CD co-producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket on backing vocals, details the shifting perspectives of romance between a couple. That’s It! shows an established band can adapt to new challenges.

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

mentation in preparing the musical background with producer Jim Jacobsen. The result is a vibrant ten-song collection and proves the benefits of taking risks. The title track is a whirling slice of guitar-driven guitar and percussion-layered pop that shows her optimistic side in encouraging listeners to step out of their comfort zone. “Tasty Sweet,” the opening song, features a seductive melody in describing a romantic come-on. “Trouble With Boxes” is a warning to avoid categorization and recalls the work of Suzanne Vega. Boxes also can be a reference to a final resting place when Hickman sings: “The trouble with

real-life rodeo champion and trail rider, respectively, a reflection of his longtime interest in Cowboy culture. “Elko Blues – The Roan Mare” is a shuffle with a loping beat that’s rooted in the West. “Little High Plains Town” examines the collision of tradition versus progress as change ultimately wins out. Tyson blends country and folk in his music and has continued to challenge himself. “Yellowhead to Yellowstone” recalls a miniature symphony with its changes in musical movements. Tyson’s version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” is wistful and stripped down with just a guitar and bass, a fitting conclusion for this collection. Kara Grainger ★★★1/2 Shiver & Sigh Eclecto Groove Records A native of Australia, Kara Grainger draws inspiration from the blues of America. On Shiver & Sigh, her third solo album, the guitarist and singer/songwriter also incorporates elements of rhythm and blues and soul music in the mix.

Doc Watson ★★★★ The Definitive Doc Watson Sugar Hill Records Doc Watson’s death at age 89 in May 2012 silenced one of the premier acoustic guitarists in American roots music for more than half a century. The Definitive Doc Watson, a two-CD, 34-song anthology presents a first-rate overview of his work between 1962 and 2005. Watson, who went blind before his first birthday, started out as an electric guitarist but found his niche when he went acoustic. Performances of the traditional folk song “The House Carpenter” and “The Wagoner’s Lad,” both recorded in the early ‘60s, show his finger-picking skills on guitar and banjo, respectively. A skillful interpreter, Watson was at home singing the songs of W.C. Handy (“St. Louis Blues”) and Jimmie Rodgers (“Anniversary Blue Yodel”) in a warm, conversational voice. On the latter, he displays a talent for yodeling. The compilation’s songs are presented in the order they were recorded and features collaborations with son Merle on the upbeat “Southbound” and guitarist Bryan Sutton on the instrumental “Whiskey Before Breakfast.” The Definitive Doc Watson works well as both an introduction for new listeners and as a reminder of his prodigious talents for longtime fans. Sara Hickman ★★★ Shine Kirtland Records After 20 years of making albums, Sara Hickman opted to make some changes when entering the studio to record Shine. She began with simple poems and used sonic experitomwilk@rocketmail.com 28

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Sara Hickman.

wood is the praying outside/The trouble with wood is the body inside.” Occasionally, the experimentation goes awry, such as the overdone arrangement on “Cocky Friend.” In the end, Hickman’s songs speak to the heart and mind. “You Are Not Alone,” written for a gay friend, is a timely song in the ongoing debate on gay marriage. Ian Tyson ★★★1/2 All The Good ‘Uns Vol. 2 Stony Plain As he nears his 80th birthday in September, the legendary Ian Tyson looks back with All The Good ‘Uns Vol. 2, a generous selection of 19 songs from five albums recorded between 1999 and 2012. A Canadian native and rancher whose work has influenced such artists as Neil Young and Tom Russell, Tyson draws inspiration from the open land and the people who worked it. “Jerry Ambler” and “Bob Fudge” are tributes to a

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Kara Grainger.

On “Lost in You,” one of five songs she had a hand in writing, she conjures up an Al Green vibe with a soulful romantic ballad. Grainger makes the connection to Memphis soul music more direct with a smoldering version of “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” co-written by Al Jackson Jr., the late drummer for Booker T & The MGs. Grainger, who handles all the lead and slide guitar playing on the CD, invites comparisons to Bonnie Raitt but manages to follow her own artistic path as a musician and singer. She shows her strength as a vocalist on the defiant “No Way You Can Hurt Me Now,” and a tender reading of Robert Johnson’s “Come On in My Kitchen.” Versions of Mike Zito’s “Holding Out For Love” and Wayne Perkins’ “Overdue for the Blues” allow Grainger to display a sense of resilience and mark her as an artist to watch. ■

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keresman on disc Paul Bley Trio ★★★★★ Closer (50th Anniversary Remastered Edition) ESP-Disk A case could be made that 1960s jazz piano “belonged” to the late great Bill Evans. True, he wasn’t as explosive or outwardly revolutionary as Cecil Taylor or McCoy Tyner, but his rhapsodic lyricism and the magnificent interplay of his trios were/are second to none. While pianist Paul Bley was affiliated with the avant-garde in the ‘60s, he built upon Evans, taking that lyricism and imbuing it with a unique

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

this is guaranteed to chase away your personal blues. blindpigrecords.com Vince Gill & Paul Franklin ★★★1/2 Bakersfield MCA Nashville As most scholars know, country music is in trouble. Much of what gets played on the radio is lame rock with a fiddle or watered-down power pop with some twang-glaze. Vince Gill, former member of Pure Prairie League and coun-

hipsters thought was nearly extinct, a raw, unpolished gem those (Rolling) Stones should have made after Exile On Main Street, or if the Sonics (perhaps the greatest protopunk band of the 1960s) had been fronted by Hawkins or the Wolf. The sax honks and wails (think Clarence Clemons and Jr. Walker), the guitar is saw-toothed, drums pound like cops at the front door—Dig is the kind of sonic assault that ‘50s clergy said would lead America’s youth to strong drink, miscegenation, “grass cigarettes,” and ultimately Brimstone City. “I’m Sad About It” and “Show Me Baby” scorch like James Brown in his prime, “Hangman’s Token” roars like the original Animals. bloodshotrecords.com Darden Smith ★★★1/2 Love Calling Compass Does the world need another earnest singer-songwriter with his heart on his/her sleeve? Jeez, there’s so many…but if they’re as retiring, comforting, and melodious as Darden Smith, I think the Collective We can squeeze one more. Smith was inspired by such iconic songsters as fellow Texans Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, so with role models like that, right..? (I detect some Van Morrison influence, too, but

Vince Gill. Paul Bley. Photo: Didier Misson.

sense of space and taking it a bit further out. But unlike some of Bley’s “out” brethren, he retained a sense of the lyrical, abstract though it might get. Closer is a trio session from 1965 with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Barry Altschul and it’s a treasure—ten concise (total time: just under 30 minutes), brainy, and swinging tracks with performances aces high, group interplay the equal of Evans’ best trios, laying the groundwork for what Keith Jarrett and Fred Hersch would do decades later (and today). Fans of acoustic jazz 88s: This is essential. espdisk.com Roosevelt Sykes ★★★★ The Original Honeydripper Blind Pig Roosevelt Sykes (1906-1983) was, to coin a phrase, one of the granddaddies of blues piano, from the time when blues performers would play at sawmill camps as much as they’d play gin mills. Sykes played in the rollicking, rolling boogie-woogie style that would become one of the cornerstones in electric blues and rock and roll. In his playing one can hear the roots of key-crackers such as Ray Charles, Otis Spann, Dr. John, Marcia Ball, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and the standards “The Night Time is the Right Time” and “Driving Wheel” emanated from him. This set captures Sykes solo in an Ann Arbor club in 1977 and if you’ve ever embraced roots-y styles (especially by the aforementioned players),

shemp@hotmail.com

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try chart-topper (in the ‘90s; of late he’s been performing bluegrass) and steel guitarist Paul Franklin (Q: Who’s worked w/ Reba McEntire, Sting, and Megadeth? A: Him.) do something about it. The result is Bakersfield, a “tribute” to the hard-twangin’ no-nonsense school of country named for that California town. Its most famous avatars: Merle Haggard and Buck Owens—hallmarks: heartfelt crooning (without sanding-off the hillbilly edges), a beat that’s either a cool shuffle (with a wee touch of swing) or hard, almost-rockin’ snap, and plenty of sharp, terse guitar licks. This album practically explodes with that style—and while some of it has a cozy vibe (“Together Again” could melt the hardest heart) it’s not an exercise in nostalgia. Like a rock band eager to trim the fat and embrace the lean ‘n’ mean verities of bygone eras, Bakersfield shows how timeless and vital that style is. (Listen to the latest platter by Son Volt while you’re at it.) Compared to the cheese-food product on the airwaves, Bakersfield is as radical as the early albums by the Clash and Ramones—take it to the bank, pilgrim. Barrence Whitfield and the Savages ★★★★ Dig Thy Savage Soul Bloodshot Sometimes an album comes so outta-left-field you’ve got to admire it…and it’s even better if the platter delivers the goods, too. Barrence Whitfield (real name: Barry White, though not that guy) is a throwback to gritty rhythm and blues shouters Little Richard and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and blues cats such as Howlin’ Wolf, and he obviously doesn’t care about appealing to the trendy types. So much the better—dig Thy… is the kind of raw raunch and roll us aging

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it’s more musical than lyrical or vocal.) Smith learned how to keep it simple and tell an involving story, and he’s got a smooth, mellow voice to carry it off. Musically, Love Calling is a mix of folk and country not unlike what Clark and Rosanne Cash have been doing the past few years. The only downside is this set is a bit too consistently even-tempered…but if you’re at what you hope is the end of an especially hard day, Calling makes for a consoling, reassuring companion. compassrecords.com ■

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Whoopee! jazz library

Winner of the

ICON

BOB PERKINS

OSCAR BROWN JR.

monthly drawing for

DINNER FOR 2:

SOMETIMES, VERY TALENTED PEOPLE make their mark in whatever field they’ve chosen…but some folks don’t receive all of the accolades that should have been accorded them. It all depends…but on what, is up for grabs, or highly subjective. Take a fellow named Oscar Brown, Jr., a very gifted entertainer, who was at once a singer, songwriter, poet, actor, playwright, and

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

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Oscar Brown Jr.

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civil rights activist. All of these involvements granted him some public recognition, but before he departed this Earth, much of what he had to offer was left on the cutting-room floor, so to speak. On quite a number of occasions, I’d seen and heard him take to a stage or a floor, and draw on his collective talents, experiences and magnetic personality to hold an audience spellbound by just—talking. I suppose this would also have also made him an excellent raconteur. Oscar Brown, Jr., was born in Chicago on October 10, 1926. His father was a successful attorney and real estate broker. After completing high school, Oscar didn’t display much interest in following in his father’s line of work, but did attend the University of Wisconsin and Lincoln University, but didn’t earn a degree.

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He completed service in the military and began to write songs and think seriously about making music his life’s work, after gospel diva Mahalia Jackson recorded a song he’d written. He later collaborated with drummer/bandleader Max Roach on a recording of “We Insist,” which celebrated the black freedom movement in the U.S. Columbia Records signed him, and the first record under his own name was released in 1960, titled Sin and Soul. The LP became very significant in jazz because Oscar had penned words to instrumentals that were fast becoming jazz standards, like “Dat Dere,” “Work Song,” and “Afro Blue.” Oscar’s lyrics-to-jazz songs started a trend, and a few years later, the inventive Jon Hendricks authored words to, Mongo Santa Maria’s “Yeh, Yeh,” and John Coltrane’s “Naima,” and Bob Dorough composed words to Mel Tormé’s “Comin’ Home Baby.” But it was Oscar who started jazz’s “words-toinstrumentals” movement. Oscar’s most outstanding lyrics were those he applied to Miles Davis’ “All Blues.” Although Oscar continued under contract to Columbia for two more albums, an ultimate change in the company’s upper-level management proved unsupportive of his work, because the albums didn’t register as well financially as Sin and Soul. Columbia didn’t know whether to package Oscar as a middle-of-the-road easy listening commodity, or a jazz artist. He solved the confusion when given a free hand to include much of his own work in his fourth album for the label. But, surprisingly, word came down from the top that his contract would not be renewed. Oscar went on to write almost a dozen stage productions, none of which captured the fancy of the general public, but many were applauded by a number of those in the entertainment industry, mainly Steve Allen and Dave Garroway. Allen produced a syndicated TV show in 1962 titled Jazz Scene USA, and he chose Brown to host the show, which featured a new musical guest each week. Although his plays failed to catch on, Oscar had enough talent to make a living working nightclubs and concert halls. He fathered seven children, three of whom became entertainers. He married singer Jean Pace, who sometimes worked with him in his stage productions. During his life, he seemed to be in the middle of a talent pool, either through his immediate family or by marriage—his wife Jean is the sister of Judy pace, a beautiful actress of the 1960s and ‘70s who was married to actor Don Mitchell of the Ironside TV series, and later wed to baseball’s Curt Flood. Judy Pace’s daughter, Julia Pace Mitchell, is a successful writer and actress, often seen on TV soap operas. So, Oscar was her uncle by marriage. It probably didn’t hurt anyone of the aforementioned entertainment figures to have this Oscar in the family. As to why he wasn’t more famous and his work more appreciated…perhaps his plays and right-down-front afro-centric lyrics and social commentaries were just too rich for some, and over the heads of others. Maybe he was just ahead of his time, perhaps too good at telling it like it was, and as he thought it should be, for his own good. But to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, which tells of a man suffering continuous adversities, “He was cool, throughout.” Oscar Brown, Jr., passed away May 29, 2005 in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He was 79. ■

Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Mon-Thurs. 6 to 9pm & Sun., 9am–1pm.

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nick’s picks

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

Christian McBride Trio ★★★★1/2 Out Here Mack Avenue Out Here is a seriously entertaining and musically affecting trio record from monster bassist Christian McBride that also serves as an splendid introduction to two of the best up and coming players in jazz, pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. The Philadelphia-born McBride, whose solo career launched in 1995 with Getting’ To It (Verve,) has sideman credits on over 300 recordings in addition to ten of his own as leader, but this is his first trio recording. Now fully acknowledged as a jazz standard bearer, an astonishing feat for the

stand—you can hardly believe the sound of maturity in his playing. Sands is on subtle fire throughout much of Out Here, with an expressive playing style that’s particularly rewarding on the McBride ballad, “I’ll Guess I’ll Have To Forget” previously recorded by the bassist on Sci-Fi (Verve, 2000.) At 30, Ulysses Owen, Jr. is a prodigious talent as well, building a portfolio of jazz releases as a producer (singer Jeremiah Abiah, trumpeter Mike Cottone) as well as a leader. His recent album, Unanimous (Criss Cross, 2012) is a state-of-the-art example of modern jazz that’s as tight as it is memorable. He’s also a member of McBride’s Big Band outfit, obviously at ease on his kit whatever the group. McBride’s talent spotting is reminiscent of artists like Art Blakey and more recently, Chick Corea (who McBride also plays with) and vibist Gary Burton, two veterans that populate their bands with exceptionally gifted younger players. That freshness is evident throughout Out Here. In case anyone forgets that McBride’s musical background is rooted in R&B, the record closes with the finger-popping “Who’s Making Love”—soul music, says McBride. The tune is a ripe slice of jazz-infused funk with more ounce to its bounce, courtesy of the bassist’s killer riffs and grizzly vocals, Sand’s fleet-fingered grooves and a ferocious Owens backbeat. This album is a sublime winner that rides a wave of swing and impressive musicianship, surely distinguished by McBride and his pair of aces, pianist Sands and drummer Owens. (9 tracks; 65 minutes) John Scofield ★★★★1/2 Überjam Deux Decca/Emarcy

Christian McBride Trio. Photo: Chi Modu.

41-year-old, McBride has adroitly exploited his encyclopedic knowledge of music to find success as a bandleader, mentor, composer and producer. If a jazz record can be composed of hits, then Out Here is full of them thanks to its robust arrangements and earthy sonics. You could drop any of these tunes on radio or your iPod and easily get caught up in seductive originals like “Ham Hocks and Cabbage,” a tight blues tune written by McBride and Sands. It’s an eight-minute tour de force of swing and evocative interplay that flows with an Oscar Peterson vibe. For more adventurous listeners, the prime pick is the trio’s inventive rendition of “My Favorite Things,” which tips its hat to the experimentation that John Coltrane brought to his iconic version, with McBride providing sparks through juxtaposed time signatures and juicy solos to turn your expectations upside down. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with the 24-year-old Sands when he gigged with bassist Ben Williams’ Sound Effect band in New York earlier this year. The pianist is versed in many jazz and pop styles and counts Jason Moran and Dr. Billy Taylor as former teachers. He’s currently studying with pianist Vijay Iyer. He hooked up with McBride for the leader’s Inside Straight band, which was his first big break, and despite coming across as a well-mannered young adult influenced as much by rap and hip-hop, his jazz chops are blazing on the bandNick 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

The proficient fusion master and boss guitarist John Scofield has been perfecting his brand of jazz rock and fusion for more than 40 years, beginning with his early association with Miles Davis who Scofield credits for keeping his sound both current and accessible. “I’ve been interested in combining jazz with other rhythmic forms since I became involved in music. I was spurred on in this direction by my collaboration with Miles Davis among others,” says the guitarist in the press notes. “The music on Überjam Deux is one of the styles I feel most comfortable with. If I were to tag a “concept” for the band, it would be exploring different forms of groove music.” Far more than reconvening a band charged with making a sequel to their first Grammy-nominated Überjam (2002,) John Scofield. Scofield embraces the music he’s compelled to play by enlisting the impeccable rhythm guitarist and composer Avi Bortnick and former Average White Band drummer Adam Deitch to once again supply the riffs and the beats, respectively. It’s a top-notch effort that distills West African dance grooves (“Camelus” and “Snake Dance”) spacey electro riffs (“Boogie Stupid”) and dazzling, improvised R&B funk (“Cracked Ice”). Assisted by fellow groove engineers John Medeski on organ, Wurlitzer and Mellotron, bassist Andy Hess and alternating drummer Louis Cato, Scofield amps up his groove-oriented style that was once best represented once by A Go Go (Verve, 1998) and again on Bump (2000.) But Scofield has surpassed himself with this recording, thanks chiefly to Bortnick who supplies killer samples and buzzy currents of sound on which Scofield hangs his innovative solos. This adult, feel-good party album comes to an end too soon with an uplifting take on The Main Ingredients’ 1974 hit “Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely.” As Überjam Deux makes clear, Scofield creates compelling contemporary jazz just as well as his younger acolytes, and he and his band righteously celebrate all music that is good and funky with a set list that’s rich with twitchy grooves mixed with infectious rhythms that are danceable and lots of fun. (11 tracks; 61 minutes) ■

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dining

ROBERT GORDON

LA CALACA FELIZ “THIS PLACE SERVES SOME serious food” one pleasantly surprised Princeton reader wrote to me. On my recommendation, she had gone to La Calaca Feliz. Prior to her visit, she tenuously quipped, “Doesn’t sound foodie-ish.” Afterward, she wrote, “Thanks! It’s a foodie haven.”

Owners Tim Spinner and Brian Sirhal opened La Calaca Feliz (translation: the Happy Skeleton) in mid-January, 2012, a year or so after their Cantina Feliz soared to success in Fort Washington in the premises once occupied by Alison Barshak’s ill-fated Alison Two. Word of Spinner’s Mexican-influenced cuisine hasn’t had sufficient soak time to penetrate much beyond Philly’s frontiers. Give it time. But Philly foodies got the word. The place has already earned three Bells from Craig Laban. My Princeton friend rhapsodized about some of the fare, like Roasted Bone Marrow served meltingly soft in a long, thick longitudinally-halved bone. The richness of the marrow is tamed with vinaigrette swollen with truffles and huitlacoche—the Mexican corn smut with woodsy mushroom taste. Carrots and radishes add counterbalancing crunch. Asparagus Tlayuda is a balanced merging of green and white asparagus, poblano, jalapeño, requeson, queso mixto, manchego bechamel with a fried egg cap served on firm flatbread that doesn’t wilt under the topping. Grapefruit infuses pungent accent to Jicama Salad composed with wafers of jicama, diced avocado, cucumber radish, red onion enlivened with a pumpkin seed purée. Crispy Cauliflower Taco harmonizes nopales, guajillo salsa, and guacamole with pickled pepper salsa. Mushroom Taco corrals wild mushrooms and green asparagus, splashed with lemon vinaigrette. Shrimp, golden-browned on the grill, is served on a sweet corn tamal with spicy black beans. The interplay of tart mustard greens and sweet pickled onions tingles the tastebuds. Carnitas Taco orchestrates a batch of diverse flavors and textures. Salsa roja tempers an ensemble where onions and cilantro infuse sweet and pungent swales into tender shredded pork and avocado chunks. Accompaniments like Sweet Plantain, golden browned and topped with crema, and Broccoli Rabe with Mexican BBQ sauce, unleash the flavor in Antojitos, Ensaladas, Tacos and Enchiladas, or Entradas (Entrées). Among the desserts, Tres Leches served with mango and kiwi stands out. The bar serves a number of margarita specialty drinks and specialty cocktails as well as red and white Sangria amped on orange liqueur. Several tequilas and reasonably priced Tequila Flights are available, as are several imported cervezas. And yes, as the name suggests, a festive feeling does hold sway, but at no sacrifice to class and food-focus. Well-spaced, lacquered wooden tables sided by slatback chairs fill the highceilinged main dining room. Brightly colored murals of calacas, flowers and South-of-the-border cultural icons fill the walls. The Fairmount Avenue entrance opens into a bustling barroom, and there’s a pequeña courtyard on the side for outdoor dining. But what stands out here is the fare, which is guaranteed to put meat on any calaca, and make any foodie foodie feliz. La Calaca Feliz, 2321 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia (215) 787-9930 www.lacalacafeliz.com ■ Please send comments or suggestions to r.gordon33@verizon.net

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

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dining

ROBERT GORDON

FRENCHTOWN INN THE CLASSICAL SOUND TRACK fits with the homey, historic surroundings and meticulously fussed-over French cuisine at the Frenchtown Inn. The misperception of rigid formality in any venue specializing in French cuisine intimidates some diners. Just ask Georges Perrier, Philadelphia’s démodé icon. But insouciance and détente rule at this picturesque Inn and its surrounding terroir. Frenchtown is less trodden than New Hope-Lambertville. The eclectic, diverse Frenchtown dining scene rolls to the tune of the town’s casual rhythm. But only Frenchtown’s eponymous Inn offers classically inspired French cuisine—a niche that completes this riparian escape’s dining scene. Chef-Owner Andrew Tomko has mastered a seamless contemporary blend of classic French techniques that highlights a palette of flavors harvested locally with a lineup of international ingredients. Tomko’s take on Wild Mushroom Soup is a delicate reboot of the classic. The texture is velvety and smooth. The mushrooms lay an earthy base, absent any trace of murkiness. Salads are intelligently composed and presented appetizingly. Four are available as either small plates ($6-$8.50) or entrées. The Warmed Goat Cheese salad, a nod to an Alsatian archetype, pairs warmed cheese with munchy apple beignets, roasted garlic, and smoked bacon in spring mix drizzled with walnut balsamic vinaigrette. There’s a heaping cheese plate appetizer ($14.95) that you might consider for your final course. Huntsman cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, and buttery Manchego team as a savory trio accompanied with grapes and olives. Among the appetizers, the charcuterie plate is the pièce de résistance. Wedges of country and poultry patés and mounds of silky liver mousse come accompanied with dulcet onion chutney, and Alsatian choucroute. Decorative, delicious dots of Cumberland Sauce and mustard sauce rim the plate. A sail-shaped waffle crisp sails above the charcuterie to cap off an enticing presentation. Quail teams with Roasted Slice Magret Duck Breast for a tasty entrée. Air-dried cherries in red wine jus add pungency to each forkful. A sculpted mound of creamy whipped potatoes and asparagus stalks snuggle against the duck. The Seafood Medley plates generous chunks of lobster meat, a quartet of jumbo shrimp, and huge sea scallops in sherry cream sauce. Submerged in basil infused beurre blanc sauce, pan seared Chilean sea bass levitates over ratatouille with zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, and shallots. Fried rice with kernels of fresh corn and freshly diced shallot enhance pan seared Skate wing in lemon caper butter sauce. Save room for dessert, like a $7 Blondie—a warm walnut chocolate chip cake topped with chocolate chips and drizzled with chocolate caramel sauce, or an $8 Peach Sabayon whose sauce is spiked with peach schnapps, a perky update on the traditional Marsala sauce. The extensive wine list is moderately priced in an eatery that underscores why French cuisine is the only cuisine recognized as a World Heritage Cuisine. As the French say, “Les temps changent. Les gouts restent.” Times change. Good taste stays. Indeed it does at the Frenchtown Inn. ■ Frenchtown Inn, 7 Bridge St., Frenchtown, NJ (908) 996-3300 www.frenchtowninn.com Email comments and suggestions to r.gordon33@verizon.net

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first sip

PATRICIA SAVOIE

FROLIC, CAROUSE, REVEL The hotel at the end of the Boardwalk REVEL HOTEL, THE NEWEST kid on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, has had its difficulties this past year. Filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy resulted from the the management misreading the typical AC customer. They have even taken advertisements (“Gamblers Wanted”) apologizing for having lost focus on gamblers and casino games—which, of course, drive the machine of Atlantic City. Revel opened in March of 2012. A year later, it was $1.5 billion in debt, with the lowest casino revenues in town. Hopefully, new interim CEO, Jeff Hartmann, who has a lot of experience with gaming companies, can turn it around. Revel has a lot of things to recommend it in addition to gaming. It is elegantly modern, and its views from the east end of the Boardwalk are dramatic. It has a full spa (including a hammam and a Himalayan-salt grotto), an indooroutdoor pool and several entertainment venues. And restaurants. Revel attracted three great chefs to open signature restaurants: Alain Alegretti, Jose Garces and Larry Forgione. All of their sizable places take advantage of the dramatic ocean views. I spent a couple of days at Revel, grazing my way through menus and wine lists. Here are some comments. AMADA: Jose Garces has cloned his Philadelphia Spanish eatery here quite successfully. He also runs VilAmerican Cut. lage Whiskey, Distrito Cantina (out of an indoor taco truck) and even the Yuboka Noodle bar. At this Andalusian spot, tapas are spot on. Try the lamb meatballs, the scrambled egg, shrimp and mushroom on toast and the clams and chorizo. Among main dishes, the lobster paella, though a splurge at $75, is outstanding. The wine list, under direction of Beverage Manager Scott Clayton, has offerings from several regions of Spain: from the West are Albarinos, Godellos and Mencias; from the East/Northeast come Viogniers and Garnachas and Monastrells; from Rioja, Viura and a nice collection of red Riojas. There are innovative cocktails like the Matador (ginger, Bourbon, Elderflower). Sangrias come in both white and red. There are seven well-chosen Sherries (try the Hidalgo Palo Cortado for a treat). There also is a “Reserve” wine list of 80 or so older vintages for the asking. Chef Garces is a stickler for ingredients, and he grows much of the produce for his local restaurants at Luna Farm, his 40-acre, sustainable- agriculture farm in Bucks County. AZURE BY ALLEGRETTI: Hailing from Nice in Provence, Chef Alain Allegretti brings French and Italian coastal cuisine to the coast of the Atlantic. Azure is a sprawling seafood restaurant, where diners can

watch the chefs at work in the open kitchen. Chef Allegretti offers some excellent choices, utilizing seasonal ingredients sourced from local waters and farms. Provencale Fish Soup with classic rouille, croutons and Gruyere cheese; whole toasted fish priced by the pound; hand-made pastas; fine seared scallops. There are also non-sea choices, such as a fillet mignon, free range chicken and rack of lamb. An outstanding duck confit with lovely crisp skin, smoky baked clams, seafood risotto and red snapper a la plancha were all excellent. Sommelier Gordana Kostovski did pairings for each dish. The 2011 Sancerre Reverdy had good offsetting acidity to balance many of the rich dishes. The 2011 “Olsen” Rose from Gramercy Cellars stood up to meat dishes. And a Spanish 2011 Godello from Sabrego was a lovely version of this heritage grape. The list is nicely chosen, and has a number of bottles under $70. There’s a good selection of Champagnes and sparkling wines to celebrate your jackpots. AMERICAN CUT: Chef Marc Forgione is well known for his creativity with American foods. Here he has done a new take on the steakhouse. His ocean-front eatery has both a meat and seafood bar. Wagyu strip steak carpaccio or tuna sashimi are tasty. Both wet-aged and dryaged prime steak can be had, including a tender filet and Porterhouse. If you’ve done well at the Casino, you might order Chef Forgione’s version of surf and turf: chili lobster and an aged tomahawk rib-eye chop ($175 for two). The menu also offers lamb chops, planked salmon and the signature Chicken Under-A-Brick. Wine selections complement the meat focus. MUSSEL BAR & GRILLE: A bit down-wallet (which can be good if you’ve been lingering on the Casino floor) is this seafood eatery from Chef Robert Wiedmaier. True to its name, the bar top is embedded with mussel shells. The edible mussels come in many guises— steamed in Sauvignon Blanc and roasted garlic, tomato, garlic, capers and basil, and even in a spicy green curry. Pommes frites with three mayos are a must. Then, there are the tartes flambées (Belgian gourmet pizzas), as well as salads, and steaks. Burgers, including a Kobe beef patty, are excellent. It’s all about beer, here. Wiedmaier has 150 on the menu, with 75 from his native Belgium, including Antigoon, which is brewed exclusively for him. There’s also an excellent selection of wines. A great addition is the Bloody Mary Bar, where you can add your own fixin’s to a tomato juice/vodka base. ■

Patricia Savoie is a wine and culinary travel writer. She can be reached at WordsOnWine@gmail.com

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sally friedman THE DOMESTIC WARS THERE WE STAND, MY husband and I, two presumably mature, rational people, planted on either side of the kitchen dishwasher. We are not smiling. The issue at hand is the precise way that the dinner dishes should be placed in that appliance, a discussion that is decidedly not new in this kitchen. My husband believes that dishes need to be washed—one might even say “sanitized”—before they ever reach the dishwasher’s racks. I, on the other hand, insist that dishwashers actually clean dishes and silverware better when they are not antiseptically clean. This is serious business. Just as serious as how, precisely, to arrange the dishes. Vic is precise; I’m more scattershot. And in the domestic disagreements of our household, this one has considerable standing as an eternal flashpoint. Yes, we should know better. We should certainly recognize, in a very long marriage, that this dishwasher debate has grown stale and pointless. But around and around we go. And I suspect that we’re not alone when it comes to such domestic discussion. I married a minimalist. Who knew that the adornment I cherish, perhaps to excess, would be unappreciated. Who knew that such “clutter”—his word, not mine—would be a problem. The man I married on a steamy summer day just a week after I took my last college final was a man who had already furnished a bachelor apartment in Early Salvation Army. He brought that collection into our union, and that’s when the fun began. We both knew we couldn’t live with a chartreuse couch with sagging springs in the living room of our little Cape Cod house. Ditto for the his rickety kitchen table and bridge chairs. So off we went to the marketplace. I instantly gravitated to pale, puffy, lavish velvets; his instinct was sleek, contemporary brown leather. And there we would linger, as couples all around us happily finished their sofa shopping and went off for coffee and donuts while we stood, frozen in debate. Our ultimate compromise: a vaguely traditional wide-wale corduroy in a subtle but not somber mossy green. It was like Columbus discovering America to learn that we could actually buy a sofa together. But a long shadow has loomed over our domestic tranquility. Change. I relish it. He resists it. If it were up to my husband, we would have the exact same arrangement as the day our burly movers set up our furniture during each of our several moves. I, on the other hand, could happily spend months, maybe even years, arranging, rearranging, discarding, adding, repositioning and generally mixing it up in every room. I also love adornment. I love a wild mix of textures and colors. Raspberries, deep blues, vivid patterns. But I married a man who cleaves to dark grays and occasional navys in his personal wardrobe choices. Flamboyant he is not. So we’ve settled for cocoas and soft yellows. But my favorite space is an upstairs playroom for visiting grandchildren that’s painted a spunky turquoise. My victory. Some of our most spirited arguments are about my penchant for bringing home orphaned objects from oddball places, and promptly changing our interior landscape to accommodate them. “That is NOT going into the living room,” he’ll say in tones not dulcet about a lamp that even I admit is hideous, but still delightfully funky. “Just try it for three days,” I implore, “and you’ll learn to love it.” I win a few, I lose a few. I love our coffee table jammed with curiosities—a vase that might be Etruscan were it not from Target, a collection of old, smoked glass ornaments rescued from a rummage sale, and perhaps an objet d’art of uncertain lineage, let alone purpose. He loves an expanse of open space on that table—a clear, uncluttered vista. And that coffee table surface remains a war zone. Can this marriage survive? It has, for more than five decades. Like so many other aspects of holy matrimony, we operate on large doses of tolerance. And to prove it, let’s just say that I lost the battle on why there’s a hideous black recliner in our den. And he lost the battle over a piece of abstract art in our living room that he insists looks like something done by a chimpanzee. Like that old Latin adage goes, “de gustibus non est disputandum.” There’s just no accounting for taste. ■ Sally Friedman contributes to the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, AARP Magazine and other national and regional publications. She is the mother of three fierce daughters, grandmother of seven exceptional grandchildren and the wife of retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Victor Friedman. Email: PINEGANDER@aol.com. 40

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about life

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

THE JOYS OF EFFORT THERE IS A ZEN saying that roughly translates to “ Life is difficult at best.” Simple yet profound is this truth of existence. For those who do accept this part of reality, life is filled with vain wishes for it to be easy, or at least easier. Everyone struggles with friends, family, money and the like. The wish to have an easy life is a childlike fantasy that is more often disappointed than fulfilled. There will always be worry, sickness, death and, of course, taxes. While these challenges are universal and come as part and parcel of being human, they do not define the entire scope of human existence. Struggling with desires for surcrease from pain and longing is different than accepting the truth and moving to a higher place in that struggle. Everyone can do “hard,” and even derive great benefits from it. At some point in time, “hard” and “difficult” became undesirable words. This kind of thinking is more harmful than helpful. Often, avoidance of what is hard and difficult makes suffering worse. Engaging the challenges in life is how good character is developed. While success is a fine reward for sustained efforts, great souls have often risen higher after their failures because what was hard or difficult did not disengage them from life, but rather motivated them forward to solve the issues with which they struggled. Many efforts, even when they end in failure, are noble unto themselves because they capture the essence of the human spirit striving to overcome obstacles both inward and outward. Consider the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe as an example of transcending old architectural concepts and achieving greater heights with more stability and adding more light by replacing the massive walls with windows. These were very difficult edifices to construct, yet 800 years later they are inspirational marvels. Built with primitive hand tools, these buildings stand as a monument to the positive effects of sustained effort. There is a certain joy attached to effort in the healthy, functional person. Parents often send the message early to their children that life should be about happiness—without telling them there is much happiness to found in focus and hard work. When a person has no work, he or she often loses the sense of dignity that comes from working. People are not “what they do,” but rather “who they are.” While “who they are” is often developed further, deeper and higher by “what they do.” Trading off the fantasy of an easy life for a sense of mastery and accomplishment is a better choice. Better is harder—but it is better. Many of the great works of art, music and literature have come about because of someone’s choice to pursue and focus efforts in a certain direction. Piano masterpieces came to be because of countless hours of self-discipline and practice. These sustained efforts are always a matter of choice. To choose each day to actively pursue a path leading to a higher level of skill and craft illustrates how freedom and creativity are born from discipline. Choosing a hard path forces each person to dig down deeply into themselves to become more dedicated and resourceful in pursuit of a dream or goal. Without these positive choices, people stumble aimlessly through life, searching but never finding that which captivates and enriches them and those around them. Recent neurological findings illustrate that the brain grows new synapses (neurological pathways physically wired into the brain) over the entire course of life. Synapses are formed by presenting problems for the brain to solve. If the brain is not fed problems to struggle with and overcome, fewer or no synapses are formed. One way to demonstrate this concept is to consider two friends who have never played chess before. Imagine these friends then decide to play chess every day for a year. At the end of that year they will have become much better players. They will each be able to form more complex strategies, as well as anticipate the strategic moves of their opponent. This is because all the while the brain has been forming new synapses designed to more effectively handle the challenges encountered in trying to master chess. Human neurology is a testament to how evolutionary design directs humans to seek out and improve knowledge superior to that which has gone before. Medical advancements that reduce suffering, prolong life and add to the quality of life reflects the conscious choice by thousands of individuals to study science and technology and sustain those efforts over time in the direction of research and problem solving. Collectively, these advancements have doubled life expectancy over the last 2,000 years. With a computer, the entirety of human knowledge is available through a device that can be held in one hand. A few decades ago, this would have been considered science fiction. Even though human brains have and will continue to advance in their abilities to shape the world, there will always remain those who find that great efforts are not worth the bother. For those individuals, the joy of effort remains unknown. ■ Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 33 years. jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

WHAT WAS IN IS NOW OUT By Marti Duguay-Carpenter Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

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ACROSS Brinker on skates Public display High mountain Popular small plane “Yeah, right” Absorb the hit, financially Gamboling spot Tizzy Patiently do tough tile work? One thing editors look for Woodcutters’ tools Latte option One before dix “Would __ to you?” Lofty capital France’s westernmost city Like most plumbing 1984 Vardon Trophy winner Calvin Where streets meet Corker Displeasure over a split? Jacques ou Pierre Player in 24 All-Star games Spanish folk hero Significant times Stats often in APBs Copywriters’ awards __ Tin Tin “Yummy!” Traveler’s stop Cookout site Flat figure Rice-__ Big toe, often? “I don’t give __!” Good things Spread generously Puzzle solver’s smudges Blasts from the past 7, on old phones Not slouching MIT part: Abbr. Rake WWII marine attacker Disney chairman during the Lucasfilm acquisition Prefix with meter Fight over a washing machine? Memory Muse Cave Pulls in Oranges and lemons Thick 1 for H and 2 for He, e.g. Since, in a nostalgic song

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Prefix with Japanese Request to pull over, maybe Gather around New Orleans cuisine Campaign oratory? “The Naked Ape” author Desmond Syst. for talking without speaking More than like “This can’t be happening!” Approval __ Moines Daydreaming, with “out” Many a student’s need

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DOWN Weather forecast number Magical opening Light gas Hitting the books Oceanfront invigorator “Pretty please?” Boarding hr. determinants Point of writing? Bastille Day saison 1953 A.L. MVP Nikon competitor Garden feature Largest OH airport Fervent Type-A concern Belligerent headliner? Spongy toy brand MGM motto word Letter-shaped track Italian who pulled a lot of strings Out of the country Partner of Martin Didn’t come unglued Snore, maybe Developer of the one-named “Jeopardy!” contestant Watson Poetry Out Loud contest co-creator: Abbr. 86,400 seconds Pennsylvania’s resort area, with “the” EMT’s training “Let’s talk outside” Baseball VIPs Flashy accessories Surprises in bottles Manning of the NFL Vishnu worshiper Tears up Indian nobles

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Bag Signs of fullness, briefly Popular tablet MBA subject Pacific salmon Roman moon deity

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Prince William’s alma mater Nashville awards gp. Winter setting at Mt. Snow Whirling toon Response on the stand Answer in next month’s issue.

Answer to August’s puzzle, MOCK TIME

agenda CALL TO ARTISTS DELAWARE VALLEY ART LEAGUE: DVAL Juried Members Art Exhibition. Oct. 20, 2013- Nov. 23, 2013. Wayne Art Center. Opening Reception: Oct. 20, 3-5pm Winter Show Nov. 2, 2013 - Feb. 1, 2014. The new permanent venue at Bryn Mawr Medical Arts Pavilion, 130 South Bryn Mawr Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA Artist of the Month Series Tredyffrin Township Bldg, 1100 DuPortail Rd, Berwyn, PA. Mon-Fri 8-4:30. To be considered, contact Monique KendikianSarkessian at monique.kendikian.sarkessianfineart@hotmail.com. Must be a member of Delaware Valley Art League. DVAL, founded in 1947, is a non-profit association of professional artists that exists to promote interest in the fine arts within the community & to advance the skill and creativity of its membership. For information: delawarevalleyartleague.com Portfolio submissions requested for consideration to participate in a new event in downtown Bethlehem this September. ArtINplace, an event that offers a window into the process of developing fine art by giving viewers the opportunity to see a work in development. Merchants design vignettes from which the artist will draw their inspiration for an original artwork. ArtINplace, Sat. Sept. 14,12-5:30. Submissions to atelierdualis.com/search/art or erin@atelierdualis.com. Artist studios available, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St., Reading, PA. Juried studios include rent, heat, air-conditioning, light , security, parking and trash. To learn more, www.goggleworks.org/for-aboutartists/studio-artist-application/ or 610-3744600, x103.

1728. www.PatriciaHuttonGalleries.com 9/12-11/3 RED FILTER GALLERY. "The Hudson River Inspiration," Joseph Squillante. "Legends of Summer," Bruce Murray, Sr. exhibition continues in Gallery II. 74 Bridge Street, Lambertville NJ 08530. Thur.-Sun. 12-5. 347-244-9758. redfiltergallery.com 9/14 artINplace features artists working in local businesses from 12 to 5:30. Attendees can view the creative process as artists create original masterpieces live. The event culminates with a cocktail reception and exhibition of the artwork. atelierdualis.com 9/18 -10/19 Rob Evans, Mystery & Metaphor. Opening Reception: 9/18, 6-8pm. The David E. Rodale & Rodale Family Galleries, The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden Street, Allentown, PA. baumschool.org 10/5 Stahl’s Pottery Preservation Society presents its 6th Annual Autumn Pottery Festival, 9:004:00. Work for sale by 25 contemporary potters, pottery site tours, demonstrations, refreshments & baked goods. 6826 Corning Rd., Zionsville, PA. For directions and information, www.stahlspottery.org. 610-965-5019. 10/5-10/6 Arts Festival Reading, 10am-5pm. Over 90 Juried Artists, featuring high-quality juried artists & craftsmen, hot glass demos, performing arts, music and food. GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St., Reading, PA. artsfestivalreading.org THEATER

ART EXHIBITS THRU 9/28 Edge vs. Line, A Group Show. Grossman Gallery. Williams Visual Arts Building, Lafayette Art Galleries, 243 North Third St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. galleries.lafayette.edu THRU 9/30 New Work. Schmidtberger Fine Art, 10 Bridge St., Suite 7, Frenchtown, NJ. 908-268-1700. www.sfagallery.com

9/17 Jane Comfort & Company. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University. 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. Free event parking attached to center. zoellnerartscenter.org. 610-758-2787 10/2-10/13 Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, directed by Anne Lewis. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, Main Stage, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192. desales.edu/act1 DINNER & MUSIC

THRU 9/30 Summer Social Art Show: work of David Hahn, Kay King, Richard Lennox, Jan Keith Lipes, Jim Lukens, Nancy Shill, Jas Szygiel and Trisha Vergis. Small to large pieces ranging in style from traditional to abstract. Trisha Vergis Gallery. Laceworks Complex, 287 S. Main St., suite 11, Lambertville, NJ. Trishavergisgallery.com. 609-460-4710 9/3-10/27 Crease, Fold and Bend. An exhibition of innovative and imaginative uses of origami by artists, mathematicians, industrial designers, scientists, and engineers. Williams Center Gallery, Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette Art Galleries, 243 North Third St., Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. http;//galleries.lafayette.edu 9/7-10/6 Landscapes. Work of Dot Bunn, Barbara Sesta, and Dean Thomas. Patricia Hutton Galleries, 47 West State St., Doylestown, PA. 215-348-

Saturday nights: Sette Luna Restaurant, 219 Ferry St., Easton, PA. 610-253-8888. setteluna.com Thursday nights: DeAnna’s Restaurant & Bar, 54 N. Franklin St., Lambertville, NJ. Live music and raw bar. 609-397-8957. deannasrestaurant.com. Every Thurs.-Sat., Dinner and a Show at SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA. 5-10:00pm. Table service and valet parking. Information, menus and upcoming events visit artsquest.org CONCERTS Some organizations perform in various locations. If no address is listed, check website for location of performance. Thru 10/31 Every Tuesday, The Noon-Ten Concerts, 12:10

PM. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. Suggested $5 donation. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org 9/13 The Queen Extravaganza. Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem. 610-297-7400. Sandseventcenter.com 9/14 Russel Brand. Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem. 610-297-7400. Sandseventcenter.com 9/14 Aaron Neville. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University. 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. Free event parking attached to center. zoellnerartscenter.org. 610-758-2787 9/26 The Beach Boys. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. 1-800-999-STATE. statetheatre.org 9/28 Jeff Foxworthy. Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem. 610-297-7400. Sandseventcenter.com 9/28 “It’s Instrumental” with violin soloist Mary Ogletree. Music by Telemann, Handel, Locatelli, and Suk. Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA. 610-434-7811 LVArtsBoxOffice.org 9/30 Daryl Hall & John OatesSands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem. 610-297-7400. Sandseventcenter.com 10/9 Celtic ThunderSands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem. 610-297-7400. Sandseventcenter.com 10/12 2013 Bach Choir Gala: Fisk Family Fugues. The family trio consisting of world-renowned classical guitarists, Eliot Fisk and Zaira Meneses, and 12-year old accomplished pianist, Raquel Fisk, perform Bach, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Spanish and Latin repertoire. Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA. bach.org

9/11 9/14 9/16 9/20 9/26 9/27 10/3 10/9 10/13

EVENTS

Gaelic Storm Billy Bauer Band with Kalob Griffin Band Bethlehem Charity Event Auction SteelStacks Stunner Ball Mickey Hart Band Tracy Morgan Billy Bragg Vienna Teng Trio Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze

THRU 9/30 Karla’s. Join us every Monday for Locals Night. 5pm-10pm, 3 course dinner $12-$19. 5 West Mechanic St., New Hope, PA. 215-862-2612. Karlasnewhope.com

GODFREY DANIELS Original live music listening room since 1976 Free music jams every Tue. and Wed. evening. 7 E Fourth St, Bethlehem 610-867-2390 godfreydaniels.org 9/6

9/7 9/13 9/14 9/15 9/19 with 9/20 9/21 9/26 9/29

First Friday Series featuring Jason Hahn, Ansel Barnum, and Mance Robinson Cary Cooper Band – from Texas Michael Jerling with Tony Markellis Steve Guyger with Mike Mettalia and Midnight Shift Open Mike Gram Parsons 40th Anniv. Tribute Jack Murray and Maria Woodford TBA The Three Jakes (reunion tour!) Glengarry Bhoys (duo) Celtic Classic Preview Open Mike

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 9/6 9/7 9/13 9/14 9/20 9/21 9/26 9/27 9/28 10/4 10/5 10/6 10/10 10/11 10/12 10/13

Solas Mary Fahl of October Project David Wax Museum John Denver Tribute by Ted Vigil and Steve Weisberg Dancin’ Machine Splintered Sunlight Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers Bill Kirchen and Texicali The Soft Parade Simon & Garfunkel Retrospective Jeffrey Gaines Band Swearingen & Kelli The Steepwater Band Eaglemania Cast of Beatlemania Ain’t in It For My Health The Levon Helm Film Childhood’s End Robben Ford Band The Badlees

9/21 Panoply Books Reading Series: D. Nurkse, 6PM. D. Nurkse is the author of ten books of poetry, including A Night in Brooklyn, The Border Kingdom, Burnt Island, and The Fall. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, among many others. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. He has taught poetry at Rikers Island and served on the board of Amnesty International-USA. Panoply Books, 46 N. Union St., Lambertville, NJ Free. 609-397-1145

READINGS

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n W W W. I C O N D V . C O M

THRU 10/12 Lehigh Valley Arts Council, Benefit Bus Trip to Grounds for Sculpture on 10/12. LVArtsCouncil.org 9/7 Bethlehem Vegfest. The Vegan & Sustainable Living Event of the Year, 11am-6pm. Bethlehem, PA. Bringing together vegan natural food providers, top national speakers, chefs and more. Bethlehem-vegfest.org

9/21 Rice’s Market is holding its “3rd Wow! I Painted That“ event. Join a local artist in a class and become the next Rembrandt, 9:30 am. Afterward, stay and shop Rice’s for great prices on all of your Back to School needs. 6326 Greenhill Rd., New Hope, PA. rices.com. 215-297-5993

11/1 The Phantom of the Opera, Michael Britt, organ accompaniment. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. Suggested $5 donation. 610-435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org

Project Blue Album: Weezer Tribute MewithoutYou Doug Benson

THRU 9/30 Therapeutic Thursday. Every Thursday from 5-7pm enjoy Apollo’s version of “happy hour.” Stop in and enjoy a signature martini of the week for $7, and $5 glasses of chosen wines and tasty appetizers at the bar. Apollo Grill, 85 West Broad St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-9600. apollogrill.com

9/20 Ladies Night Out. Wine tasting by Chaddsford Winery, informal modeling by Signatures by Karen Thompson, VIP goodie bags, raffles, and more. RSVP required, $20 per person. Peddler’s Village, shop #20 Street Rd., Lahaska, PA. 215-794-9655. Chaddsford.com

10/19 10/24 10/25

9/5 9/6 9/7

THRU 9/30 Treat Yourself Tuesday. Every Tuesday night at the bar and in the dining room, Apollo offers an additional menu. The menu includes a variety of appetizers, and martinis for $7.! Apollo Grill, 85 West Broad St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-9600. apollogrill.com

9/14 Artisan Series, 2-4pm. Join us as we offer Chaddsford Wines paired with Macarons, provided by Moussey Moose Chocolates & DK Cakes of Quakertown. Chaddsford Winery, Peddler’s Village, shop #20 Street Rd., Lahaska, PA. 215-794-9655. Chaddsford.com

10/13 Peabody Trio. Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, Baker Theatre, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA. lvartsboxoffice.org or cmsob.org

ARTSQUEST CENTER AT STEELSTACKS MUSIKFEST CAFÉ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. artsquest.org

THRU 9/30 Experience history aboard Coryell's Ferry Historic Boat Rides located along the banks of The Delaware River in New Hope, PA. coryellsferry.com

10/19 Autumn Alive. Downtown Quakertown, 10am4pm. Pet Parade, kids activities, live entertainment, craft beer tasting, cupcake contest. Rain date 10/26. 215-536-2273. quakertownalive.com n

SEPTEMBER 2013

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