ICON Magazine

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

Since 1992 215-862-9558 icondv.com

PUBLISHER & EDITOR

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

ADVERTISING

Raina Filipiak filipiakr@comcast.net

PRODUCTION

Paul Rosen

Joanne Smythe

Margaret M. O’Connor

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

A.D. Amorosi

Ricardo Barros

Robert Beck

Pete Croatto

Geoff Gehman

Fredricka Maister

David Stoller

Keith Uhlich PO Box

215-862-9558

IReproduction 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. ©2022 Primetime Publishing Co., Inc.

Sting and Shaggy. Photo by Jenny Nelson/Stereogum

FURNISHMENT

I MOVED OUT OFthe house in 1970, when I was twenty. On the day I was leaving, my father took me aside and told me it was traditional to give something to your child to help them get a good start; then he proceeded to give me advice. My father’s side of the family was German and had that way of looking at things. I admit I was hoping for more. Dad was born in 1910, and his counseling had a prewar feel. “A penny saved,” sort of thing. I got to take a few pieces of furniture that had been in my bedroom since I was a boy. My mother was already

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Robert Beck is a painter, writer, lecturer and ex-radio host. His paintings have been featured in more than seventy juried and thirty solo gallery shows, and three solo museum exhibitions. His column has appeared monthly in ICON Magazine since 2005. www.robertbeck.net

STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

exhibitions

The Early Years 1974-1981

50th Season Celebration Exhibition

New Arts Program

173 West Main Street, Kutztown, PA 610-683-6440 newartprogram.org

Through December 10. Fri.-Sun. 10-1 and by appt. 7 days a week

Opening Reception, Friday, Sep. 15, 6–9.

This exhibition is the first of a three-part final exhibition series celebrating the history of the New Arts Program (NAP). Exhibited works are from featured artists in the NAP collection. For entire list of artists in residence during the 1974-1981 period, visit newartsprogram.org Exhibition funded in part through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the generosity of local businesses.

Glenn Harrington: Recent Paintings

Silverman Gallery

Buckingham Green, 4920 York Rd., Holicong 215-794-4300 Silvermangallery.com

September 30–October 29

Opening Receptions 9/30, 5–8 & 10/8, 1–4 Wed.-Sat. 11-6, Sun. 11-4 and by appt.

The Delaware River Valley and its residents continue to inspire the works of nationally acclaimed artist, Glenn Harrington. His beach paintings offer another perspective on the figure in landscape, one that will be familiar to those who know Glenn’s work.

Glenn is presently at work on a portrait of Tiger Woods for the World Golf Hall of Fame. His inductee portrait of golfer Larry Nelson was unveiled in May at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament. Browse Glenn’s new collection at silvermangallery.com

Art on the Farm

AOY Art Center

949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley PA Sunday aoyarts.org

September 24, 10–4

Art on the Farm is an exquisite outdoor art market. This event showcasing 40 talented artisans features paintings and sculptures. Visitors will have the opportunity to buy directly from the creators.

There will be live music performances throughout the day, and an assortment of food trucks offering a wide range of food. Please leave your pets at home as they will not be permitted at the event.

For more information and updates, please visit aoyarts.org.

Vaishali Pundir, where I would rather be.

Laura Beard, Budgie Club

Robert Ashley, Untitled print (detail), 25 of 25, 1980

Steve Poleskie, Kutztown Sky Series (detail). 1978

Steve Poleskie, Kutztown Sky Series (detail), 30 x 22. 1978

Clouds Over Solebury, 8x10

Dark Hollow, 24x20, olb

Below The Surface

The young Americans, Dazzled by the purity of form and color, Flocked to Paris.

‘Speak, that I might see’—they asked ‘Look—and look again’—they were told, There, below the surface, Color and shape, line and texture, Geometry and light;

Ah, the wonders of modernity’s mirrored lens:

A peach pit whorled into wildness. The explosive sting of nettles in their innocence. The blinking orbs of the night sky.

All is … push and pull, Order and chaos, Urge and contraction.

Look Again Think Again Change Your Mind

the art of poetry

Lloyd “Bill” Ney (1893-1965), painter, sculptor, and muralist, was one of the pioneers of American modernism and a fixture in New Hope’s progressive art scene. Born in Friedensburg, Pennsylvania, he pursued art studies at several institutions, most notably the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), before serving in World War 1. After the war, he made repeated visits to Paris, where he met and was deeply influenced by the likes of Pascin, Picasso, Frieseke, and Kandinsky before settling in New Hope in 1925. His home, known as The Towpath House, became the center of a thriving artists’ community; in 1930, Ney became famous for being turned down by the 1930 annual Phillips’ Mill Exhibition, in response to

which he staged a rival, “modern” exhibition the day before The Phillips’ Mill opening.

The painting featured here, the subject of my poem “Beneath The Surface,” is a favorite of mine, which I purchased nearly 30 years ago from Gretchen, Ney’s daughter, who insisted that it was her father’s greatest work and deserved a featured spot in MOMA. That was perhaps a bit too fanciful, but I was dazzled by it on first impression, and I am still, particularly in his mix of color, form, and textured surfaces. It beautifully represents Ney’s exploration of nonobjective painting, in which the artist is searching for, in Ney’s words, “that inner order of truth, beauty, and reality.” n

David Stoller has had a career spanning law, private equity, and entrepreneurial leadership. He was a partner and co-head of Milbank Tweed and led various companies in law, insurance, live entertainment, and the visual arts. David is an active art collector and founder of River Arts Press, which published a collection of his poetry, Finding My Feet

EXCEPTIONALISM / FIRE ISLAND FERRY

It is easy to place ourselves at the center of the universe. Everything seems to revolve around us and our concerns of the moment. But rarely are we the key players in the final seconds of some championship match, and no earthly game is truly of consequence to the universe. Placing our personal values at a universal center relegates other people’s concerns to the horizon, where they are smaller and matter less. This breeds exceptionalism.

The American flag is a potent symbol for people who consider themselves to be Americans. It serves as a rallying point. It calls us to be our better selves. In reinforcing bonds within our broad demographic, we must remember that the flag belongs to all of us. We are all Americans. Our strength is that we have each other. n

Ricardo Barros’ works are in the permanent collections of eleven museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is the author of Facing Sculpture: A Portfolio of Portraits, Sculpture and Related Ideas

the list

VALLEY —

Lafayette College’s Williams Center for the Arts is a mother-and-father ship for cultural, cosmic envelope ripping. Opened in 1983, the strikingly angular, cat’s-cradle building with the strikingly compact, livingroom-friendly hall has launched everything from an extraterrestrialchamber opera scored by Philip Glass to a King Lear acted by five English Shakespeareans to Trisha Brown’s dancers making merry with Robert Rauschenberg’s abstract expressionist backdrops. Season No. 40

CITY

With writers and film and television actors out for the count and still on strike at August’s end, it’s a great bet that beyond the backlogged catalog of stuff due out between now and Christmas, live and staged entertainment is going to be your go-to for a minute. And that’s great. We could all use a break from conventional Marvel crime fighters to create our own, personal, brand of superheroes.

Philly Fringe Festival/Cannonball/Late Night Snacks & The Icebox Project Space: though September 30, venues across the city. One of

opens Sept. 8 with a typically adventurous crossover from Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, a funk-to-klezmer ensemble led by a drummer loved by Billboard magazine. Next up is a rare local appearance by Martha Graham Dance Company members, who on Sept. 12 will rework Graham’s 1952 work “Canticle for Innocent Comedians” with music from jazz pianist Jason Moran, who curated the first exhibition at the new Louis Armstrong Center in Queens. Long a jazz mecca, the Williams will present an Oct. 12 concert featuring saxophonist Branford Marsalis and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, once the building’s longtime experimental resident, and a Feb. 4 return by brother trumpeter Wynton Marsalis with his Lincoln Center Orchestra. Every event wraps with a bonus: a reception in the lobby, a brick-floored, atrium-like joint. williamscenter.lafayette.edu (317 Hamilton St., Easton; 610-330-5009)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

Geoff Gehman is a former arts writer for The Morning Call in Allentown and the author of five books, including Planet Mom: Keeping an Aging Parent from Aging, The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the LongLost Hamptons, and Fast Women and Slow Horses: The (mis)Adventures of a Bar, Betting and Barbecue Man (with William Mayberry) He lives in Bethlehem. geoffgehman@verizon.net

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

A.D. Amorosi is a Los Angeles Press Club National Art and Entertainment Journalism award-winning journalist and national public radio host and producer (WPPM.org’s Theater in the Round) married to a garden-to-table cooking instructor + award-winning gardener, Reese, and father to dogdaughter Tia.

GEOFF GEHMAN

— A.D. AMOROSI

Williams Center for the Arts.

A tree when no moon shines. The Icebox Project Space Thru 9/19.

ANIMA The Icebox Project Space. Thru 9/16.

ANIMA, The Icebox Project Space. Thru 9/16. Falling Up. The Icebox Project Space.Thru 9/14.

film roundup

Oppenheimer (Dir. Christopher Nolan). Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey, Jr. Directed, as per usual, with a bludgeon, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour biopic careens wildly through the tortured life of the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). It’s impressive, in a way, that Nolan and his collaborators give such momentum to story that’s mainly about scientists and politicians arguing with each other in classrooms and offices. Though at a certain point even the ceaseless forward movement becomes monotonous. What remains are some of the best sequences Nolan has ever helmed (the Trinity test done as a sound-delayed shock-and-awe horror show) colliding with some of the worst (any

Keith Uhlich is a NY-based writer published at Slant Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Time Out New York, and ICON. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. His personal website is (All (Parentheses)), accessible at keithuhlich.substack.com.

scene featuring Florence Pugh as Oppenheimer’s suicidal mistress is an unintentional hoot). More rewarding is the first great performance in what feels like decades by Robert Downey, Jr. as Oppenheimer’s nemesis Lewis Strauss, a Washington insider whose Faustian intentions come to the fore as the film goes on. Downey blows up the screen here in ways no two colliding neutrons and atoms ever could. [R] HH1/2

Barbie (Dir. Greta Gerwig). Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera. By the time you read this, Greta Gerwig’s eye-poppingly colorful confection, which brings the ubiquitous Mattel doll to life, will have probably grossed another billion dollars. It’s a huge hit, and you can see why, given that even at its most didactic Barbie prizes

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Cilian Murphy as Oppenheimer

BOOMBASTIC and BEYOND

Shaggy and his upcoming One Fine Day Fest with Sting

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, THEartist known as Shaggy (born Orville Richard Burrell)—one of Kingston, Jamaica’s best-loved, topselling, and most-honored reggae singers, and songwriters—is more than a little responsible for the success of dancehall in America with his Grammy-winning efforts (Best Reggae Album with Boombastic in 1996 and 44/876 with Sting in 2019). Along with making dancehall famous beyond Jamaica, Shaggy is credited for opening borders to reggaeton and other ethno-genre-blurring Latino-laced music. Before Shaggy’s Boombastic, music was black, white, and brown. With the top pop success of that album’s bone-rattling beats and buoyant optimism, radio, streaming, and record charts suddenly got a lot more rainbow flavored, continuing into the present day with new Shaggy music such as his single “Mood” featuring soca—literally the '(So)ul of (Ca)lypso]—artist Kes, as well as his new soca-inspired EP, “In the

“We were in Norway and decided to rent a boat—a bunch of us. Sting is swimming in all that cold ass water. I’m Jamaican. I’m not doing that. He’s got the stereo on, and I put on some Sinatra and begin singing along with Frank. Sting poked his head out of the water and was amazed at what he heard. I’ve sung Sinatra stuff since I was a kid.”

Mood.” Then there is his just-released reggae pop-hop single with DJ Cassidy and Rayvon “If You Like Pina Coladas,” a fun, quirky interpretation of Rupert Holmes’ 1979 “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).” With Shaggy’s success in remaking reggae and dancehall in his image, it’s no surprise that he and Sting became friends and collaborators.

The British-born Sting started his career with The Police and the inclusion of reggae, ska, and dancehall musicality within their punkish rhythms. And while Sting has mostly eschewed Jamaican flavors for the entirety of his solo career, 2019’s 44/876 not only put him in touch with his roots, it became his first top-10 album since Sacred Love (2003) and Shaggy’s first since Hot Shot (2000). With success a great breeding ground for further collaboration, why shouldn’t Shaggy and Sting celebrate their friendship with headlining the One Fine Day Festival at The Mann in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 9.

Shaggy spoke from his home in Miami about all Fine Days and things Sting, Boombastic, soca, and beyond.

A.D. Amorosi: You didn’t need to break into the mainstream when you dropped Boombastic in 1995. What do you recall about the confidence you had in releasing that album?

Shaggy: I had made a hit with “Oh, Carolina” before Boombastic It wasn’t as popular in the United States as in Great Britain and everywhere else, where it went to Number One, but it was still Top 40. That was impactful, the first time that dancehall had gone that high in the charts. When it came time to record “Boombastic,” reggae still wasn’t so popular, so we wound up putting a Marvin Gaye song on it [a Sting/Shaggy Remix with a sample of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let Get It On”] to get in on the radio. Radio just didn’t play reggae then—it was out of format. Virgin Records was really smart back then—they bought ads for that song and the album on the radio. You’d hear the track, and you heard the ad. Very clever. That helped an already contagious song stick in people’s minds. We became pivotal with that album.

A.D. Amorosi: Do you think that Boombastic opening the doors to Jamaican music beyond reggae and dancehall in 1995 also expanded the ears and palate of pop listeners looking for something different? Reggaeton and artists such as Daddy Yankee and Ivy Queen’s days on the charts were right around the corner in 1995.

Shaggy: You are very in sync. A lot of this has been lost on the generations in between and who the impactful artists are. Sean Paul and I were the most impactful reggae artists at that time, and there would be no Sean Paul without a Shaggy—and he has said this. Carl Miller at VP Records named it reggaeton and produced some pivotal records such as “Tu Bum Bum.” I hung out with many of these guys before this massive multi-billion-dollar industry with Big Bunny. In those days, we hung out and listened to each other’s records. Back then, none of the I Heart stations would play reggae, so you learned to work ten times harder with ten times less sleep to get a shot.

A.D. Amorosi: So, let’s move forward to the present day. socaisn’t dancehall, and dancehall isn’t soca, yet you’re making a smash with the “Mood” single and the “In the Mood” EP with Kes, a socasensation. What led you to soca’s door?

Shaggy: I’ve dabbled in this for years, and songs such as “Toro,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Photo courtesy of Ranch Entertainment.

film classics

Summertime (1955, David Lean, United Kingdom/United States)

Ah, Venice! What better location for an American spinster played by Katharine Hepburn to bask in the sun and be romanced by Rossano Brazzi’s seductive antiques shop owner. Director David Lean adapts the Arthur Laurents play The Time of the Cuckoo with an eye to both macro and micro spectacles. The city itself, with its copious canals and secretive back alleys, is its own universe and Hepburn is the prime celestial body in the vast firmament, her face often captured in rapturously reactive close-ups. Swoons are induced early and often, culminating in a sensuous embrace beneath fireworks. Reality sets in when Brazzi confesses to being married, which only hastens the recognition that this idyll abroad was always going to be fleeting. As in his great

Brief Encounter, a farewell by train figures into the story; guaranteed Hepburn’s metronomic wave of her arm—a goodbye gesture for the ages—will sear itself into your psyche. (Streaming on Max.)

Starman (1984, John Carpenter, United States)

Known primarily for his lean, mean horror flicks, director John Carpenter went for the tear ducts instead with this romantic road movie about an alien (Jeff Bridges) who assumes the human form of the husband of a mourning widow (Karen Allen). Soon pursued by government

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi in Summertime

BY A.D. AMOROSI

The Liveliest Live Music Bar

New Hope’s Legendary John & Peter’s

Local author Amy Yates Wuelfing goes Drinkin’ & Smokin’, Rockin’ & Rollin’

WHEN TEMPLE UNIVERSITY GRADturned-author Amy Yates Wuelfing collected stories and interviews about the beloved Trenton, NJ dive City Gardens for 2014’s No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes, she made a lane for herself as an oral traditionalist and principal documentarian of indigenous scenes, niche, but never to be forgotten.

City Gardens may not have been as celebrated or photographed as Max’s Kansas City in New York City or the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Still, its existence was crucial in making a way into the punk business—for national acts and upper New Jersey locals— while bringing the city much-needed limelight beyond its “Trenton Makes, the World Takes” motto. No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes, then, became a different motto—one that sounded the call for all of the top tier qualifications that made Trenton and City Gardens a worthwhile, unique, and necessary stop along the rock and roll railroad. When I finished reading Yates Wuelfing’s City Garden’s tome, the first thing I thought was how I wished I had bothered to write it. The second thing I thought was what nearly lost local scene she was going to document next.

Look no further than Still Drinkin’ & Smokin’, Rockin’ & Rollin’: An Oral History of New Hope’s John & Peter’s. Written by Yates Wuelfing, co-authors Joan Arkuszewski and Loren Hunt, along with several contributions from area poet Dylan Tindell, Still Drinkin’ & Smokin’, Rockin’ & Rollin’s fuzzy focus is New Hope’s legendary-est, dive-iest, live rock, roll, jam and folkie bar John & Peter’s.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Open since 1972 as part of the art hang that was (is) New Hope, PA’s main drag (not originally as a bar as they had no liquor license at first and would not allow any of the bands it booked to use live drums when playing on its tiny stage), John & Peter’s quickly became one of the East Coast’s most notable hole in the walls for musical acts with a stoner vibe and a knack for traditionalist sounds. That eventually meant everyone from folk goddesses Odetta and Mary Chapin Carpenter to blues bosses George Thorogood and Clarence Gatemouth Brown played J&P. Oddly (literally) enough, that also meant the decidedly non-traditional likes of New Hope’s favorite sons, Dean and Gene Ween—the genuinely and awesomely weird Ween—having made John & Peter’s their home away from home mere blocks away from where they recorded music on a regular basis. Add in an equally mixed-up crowd for over 50 years, and you’ve got quite a story.

It is that mix of institutional mythology and folkloric mirth that makes Still Drinkin’ & Smokin’, Rockin’ & Rollin’: An Oral History of New Hope’s John & Peter’s, a worthy vessel.

“John & Peter’s is a truly remarkable and cherished establishment,” Yates Wuelfing tells Icon. “It embodies the essence of what

the oral historical lineage of No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes, and Hard Times Magazine: An Anthology of ‘80s Punk & Hardcore with what she said was hundreds of hours of interviews and archival research. Along with capturing worthwhile data—live music 365 days a year, more than 48,000 musicians playing for 640,000 guests since the first performance took place in 1972—Yates Wuelfing

many people seek in a bar experience: a sense of history, a connection to local culture, and an authentic and welcoming atmosphere. In an age where many establishments are owned by corporations and can lack personality, John & Peter’s stands out as an authentic and genuine place with a strong sense of identity. It’s important to me that it’s preserved.”

Preservation is particularly needed in the present day when you consider how New Hope—an East Coast Esalen with its connection to playwrights Moss Hart and George S. Kauffman, as well as a harbinger of hippie culturalism, the crafts movement, LGBTQ avatars, and motorcycle enthusiasts, an inclusivity put forth by J&P’s chill founder John Larsen—is currently the locus of much gentrification and future-forward real estate speculation. The original John & Peter’s managed to get a leg up on posterity and the preservation of “the integrity of the bar” by selling its space five years ago to several of the club’s most dedicated employees and keeping the burgers as topnotch as its entertainment is low down and freshly funky.

Yates Wuelfing’s Still Drinkin’ & Smokin', Rockin’ & Rollin’ follows

and her fellow authors and poet capture a feeling, a point of pride that has existed for New Hope’s locals since the top of the 1970s, combined with a real and generous sense of communal belonging.

“It’s the idea of one man starting a coffee shop that became a beacon for artists in every medium,” said Amy Yates Wuelfing. “One person can make a difference to an entire community, and this, even more than the music, is what makes this such a rich and textured story.” n

“In an age where many establishments are owned by corporations and can lack personality, John & Peter’s stands out as an authentic and genuine place with a strong sense of identity. It’s important to me that it’s preserved.”

—Amy Yates Wuelfing

John Larson, Guy Heller and Peter Price.

Dean and Gene Ween at John & Peter's April, 2000.

CITY / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

North America’s longest-running Fringe theater festivals of commissioned and curated events—along with its local independent festival of DIY stage artists—has forever been run by Nick Stuccio and has long had a postshow party in Late Nights Snacks (hosted and booked by Jarbeaux). For the last three years, however, Stuccio and Philly Fringe have incorporated the Cannonball circus-inspired hub as part of its activities, with 2023’s iteration becoming its largest ever celebration of live, physical art on the edge. cannonballfestival.org, and fringearts.com

With all talk shows relieved from televised duty due to the double-troubling twin writingacting strikes, talky HBO personalities such

brings his dry British-ness, his even dryer Anglo-critiques and condescending manner to The Met Philadelphia on Saturday September 17. As long as he doesn’t stick on one topic too long, Oliver is a master. And speaking of Brits off-topic, way off topic, everyone's favorite absurdist, Eddie Izzard, works the stages of the Miller Theatre on the Kimmel Cultural Campus for their “The Remix” showcase September 14 and 15. The goal if for Izzard to look at past tours, from “The Ambassadors” in 1993 to “Wunderbar" in 2019, and remix them for the present. This could be fascinating or it could be a mess.

With NBC’s Saturday Night Live writers and performers on strike, people got to eat. To that end, Philadelphia’s getting a double dose of SNL in two separate venues on the same day: Sunday, September 10. While SNL’s best Trump ever, James Austin Johnson, hits the stage of Punch Line Philadelphia with fellow

If you give a damn about the fact that Opera Philadelphia’s longtime president, doyen, fire-starter, agent of change David B. Devan is stepping down into retirement (cutting budgets, staff and struggles to win audiences in a

as John Oliver and Bill Maher must take to the road. And while we just missed Maher's Philly area dates (there’s always Las Vegas), multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-winner John Oliver

Answer to NEW SCHOOL

Saturday Night comic Andrew Dismukes in tow, performance art maven-turned-sketch giant Sarah Sherman clowns around at Underground Arts.

If you are truly fleet on your feet (or have a car), you can also spend September 10 with another set of equally adventurous artists of the avant-garde musical and spoken word sort at South Broad Street’s Solar Myth. Local guitarist Tim Motzer and poet Ursula Rucker will open for the Impulse label debut of electro-magnetic vocalist-instrumentalist Moor Mother’s Philly free jazz-based ensemble, Irreversible Entanglements. This night is big and free (not without cost, just open, man).

post-pandemic setting), make sure you get to every production of Festival O23 from September 21 to October 1, and its Netflix-like list of differently timed, long and short, old school and futuristic opera events.

While there is never a wrong time to celebrate the genius of the late, great Stephen Sondheim, this autumn seems like a particularly fine—and full—moment to do so. Along with yet another great staging of his Merrily We Roll Along musical planned for Hudson Theatre’s Broadway stage beginning September 19 (starring Daniel Radcliffe, Philadelphia’s Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez as the show’s central trio), and the final full work of Sondheim’s life, Here We Are (directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello and starring Bobby Cannavale, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos) at NYC’s The Shed’s Griffin Theater debuting September 28 and officially opening October 22 for a limited engagement of 15 weeks, Philadelphia’s home to all things Sondheim, the Arden Theatre, stages his too rarely staged Assassins starting September 21, with a Murderer’s Row of Philly actors and vocalists. n

John Oliver. Courtesy of Christ's College Cambridge alumni.

James Austin Johnson.

David B. Deven.

FURNISHMENT / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

planning new curtains for what would now be her sewing room. They waved goodbye, and I was on my own.

My environment has always been important to how I feel and function, and I began to accumulate grown-up furniture immediately. I enjoyed looking through estate sale barns and stores run by people with an eye for interesting, quality pieces I could afford, and building a new way to see myself. I have always preferred wood furniture and gravitate toward 19th and early 20th century design. Not fussy stuff; nice and simple. I still have a lovely Queen Anne sideboard I bought and refinished half a century ago, and much of my surroundings speak Prairie and Arts & Crafts.

I’ve been a customer of James Curran’s furniture store in Rosemont, NJ, for decades. James and I go back to when I first moved to the New Hope-Lambertville community, even before my studio and his shop were side-by-side on North Union Street. I met him and his wife, Susan, in the mid-’90s. He knows a lot about furniture.

James imports English antiques, going to the UK to select the pieces. Did I tell you my mother’s side was English? James and the guys are very good at repairs, and many collectors and high-end businesses use them to put things in good condition. I have acquired quite a bit from him over the years, recently purchasing a rug, a tall Biedermeier glass-door cabinet, a desk, and two chairs for my new studio in Manhattan.

The furniture ranges from formal to unusual, and there are always interesting, affordable things to ponder. I’ve been lusting after a large, decorated piece that came from a circus, but I have no place for it. The shop is just ten minutes from New Hope through beautiful countryside, and people make it a regular part of an afternoon ride.

I have a direct link to the turn of the century ethos. Much of my grandparent’s furniture and wares were from that period and before, and I was around it a lot. Made by hand, to last. I still use my father’s wood-handled tools. I don’t care for Victorian ornamentation, preferring the geometric relationships that came later.

It’s not just the wood that attracts me. I enjoy the language of curves and proportion. The spirits of the trees and the craftspeople. In some cases, the ingenuity; in others, the beauty of the grain and how it was used. Elegance in design. The company of ghosts.

It was fun to paint in the furniture store’s visually busy environment. I certainly had many views to choose from, and although this is just a portion of the shop—maybe a quarter—I felt it was the best description. I was concerned that the Union Jack on the back wall (which came from a Liverpool steamship line) would dominate the image. I placed the flag off-center and overlapped it with one of the interior walls so it didn’t read as a floating rectangle with an X in it.

The painting panel is 12x18” (rather than my standard 12x16” road size) to accommodate the lateral subject. I was describing a building full of furniture—the mass of it, not each cabinet, clock, and chair. The painting isn’t just what the place looks like; It’s an orchestration of voices. The room has a clean, organized-but-random feel to it. The perspective is tricky, and the pieces not square to the walls must be drawn skewed. That’s done by eye, and if I get them wrong, they will look tipped, or the floor will appear sloped. A little of that is okay. It pulls at your attention, like every encounter.

My goal was to depict the atmosphere and express some of the anticipation and fun I have every time I visit. People familiar with the shop will notice James at his desk. That’s fun. n

pleasure over agitprop (or should that be agitpop?). Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are perfectly cast as Barbie and Ken, residents of the pink- and pastel-smothered Barbieland (a fantasy world populated by Barbies and Kens of every creed and color), which is thrown into crisis when our statuesque heroine is suddenly consumed by existential fears of discord and death. Our imperfect human world is to blame, so off Barbie and tagalong Ken go to modern-day Los Angeles to attempt to right the balance. Along the way, Gerwig and her collaborators lean hard into the post-MeToo, you-go-girl feminism of the moment, something sure to date badly. Gerwig is on surer footing with the project’s screwball romanticism, which feels timeless because it sees all the characters onscreen (whether flesh-and-blood or anthropomorphized doll) as equally ridiculous and, regardless, all worthy of love. [PG-13] HHH

Command Z (Dir. Steven Soderbergh). Starring: Michael Cera, Roy Wood Jr., JJ Maley. While you weren’t looking, director Steven Soderbergh went and made a sci-fi satire in secret, premiering it as an eightepisode miniseries (though it’s basically a 96-minute feature broken into 8- to 21-minute chunks) on his personal website. The gist is that, in a postapocalyptic America, a trio of low-level workers, played by Roy Wood Jr., JJ Maley and Chloe Radcliffe, are tasked by the sentient hologram of a dead tech billionaire (Michael Cera) with changing the past to better the future. 2023 is the year identified as an inflection point, and each “episode” concerns one of the three employees doing a Being John Malkovich on some unsuspecting soul, with the assistance of a souped-up washing machine and the theme song from the Diana Ross vehicle Mahogany (it all makes “sense” in context). The intent is to alter enough peoples’ behavior so that climate doom and other catastrophes are averted. Sounds heavy, but Command Z is much more of an engagingly wacky lark that uses hit-or-miss humor to provocatively address a number of present-tense concerns. [N/R] HHH1/2

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part I (Dir. Christopher McQuarrie). Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny.

Xenu’s favorite son returns as unstoppable secret agent Ethan Hunt in the first of a two-part extravaganza. The onscreen villain is a sentient AI with delusions of grandeur, while the offscreen enemy is “Barbenheimer,” the pop-cultural double feature that cut significantly into this bloated blockbuster’s box office take. Tom Cruise defying death just isn’t bringing them in like last year’s Top Gun sequel, and it must be admitted, there is a bit of been-there-done-this-over-and-over-again to

Dead Reckoning, Part I, even if the stuntwork (particularly during a minicar chase through Rome) is aces and returning character Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), unseen since the first film way back in ‘96, makes for a delightful bureaucratic foil. Acrobatic assassin Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) shows up for a spell, mainly to pass the torch to sassy pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell), while Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames slip easily back into their roles as bug-eyed comic relief and stentorian computer guy. This remains Cruise’s show through and through, another of his vehicles for ascendance to that great Scientological realm that we mere mortals will never enter. Though there is pleasure to be had, it must be admitted, watching him delusionally maim himself for our entertainment. [PG-13] HH1/2 n

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Barbie

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part I

SHAGGY / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

Toro,” which was massive. Plus, in Jamaica, socaand calypso is part of our heritage, our DNA. My grandmother was a huge Sparrow fan, and the Dragonaires. This was Caribbean music. But it was looked at as seasonal music—Carnival time. I wanted to step back and make socanon-seasonal. Why do you have to wait for Carnival season to feel good?

A.D. Amorosi: Every day is Christmas Day. Shaggy: Right. These are feel-good songs. This is a feel-good, festive record. Why pigeonhole these songs based on traditions? I want that socamood all the time. The pandemic gave me pause and time and reason to write a festive song such as “Mood” with socaand calypso influence. We started working on this record really hard, and then we went through VP Records, which is home to some of the finest Caribbean music on the planet—they have history. And now we’re getting all these ads on the radio, and it’s all happening organically. Once you hear this record, anytime you hear it, you’re in the mood.

A.D. Amorosi: Not talking about Sting yet. What do you look for in collaborators, the partners you bring into tracks you lead?

Shaggy: One, I’m always looking for people whose voices and musicianship complement me, who sound great alongside me. The other thing is more important—that they’re there for it. They’re grinding as hard as I am to make the song happen, to work the record. I’ve had people, big names, who come in, love me, sound great when we do the record, whose names and voices I’ve stripped off the track because they didn’t want to work the project. When Sting and I do something, we perform the records together. Sean Paul is the same thing—the effort he puts in is tremendous, even little regional radio showcases and concerts. Everybody wants to show up at the big events. Sean Paul will show up at the tiny pirate stations and for small publications. Sting, too—he’s working 14-hour days with you doing publicity.

A.D. Amorosi: How does the Sting thing happen, this ongoing collaboration up to the One Fine Day fest?

Shaggy: We were both fans of each other’s music. Plus, my A&R guy is his A&R guy. Mark is a music man, handles Lady Gaga, and plays many instruments. They knew what type of music I make, and Sting and Mark came to a session that turned out to be more fun than work.

Next thing you know, I had the brother I never had nor knew I needed. [laughs] 44/876 was borne out of that good feeling.

A.D. Amorosi: What is this reggae Sinatra project that you and Sting created, the Com Fly Wid Mi album?

Shaggy: Sometimes, if we’re playing together, we take a day off and plan something. We were in Norway and decided to rent a boat—a bunch of us. Sting is swimming in all that cold ass water. I’m Jamaican. I’m not doing that. He’s got the stereo on, and I put on some Sinatra and begin singing along with Frank. Sting poked his head out of the water and was amazed at what he heard. But I have always sung Sinatra stuff since I was a kid. Sinatra and I have similar ranges, and Sting heard that we were both bass-baritone tenors. This is crazy. Sting said we should do something with that. Two years pass after the pandemic. Sting is doing this thing in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace for his residency, starts playing some chords from a Sinatra record, and I join in. Let’s do this. Next thing you know, he showed up at my house in Miami earlier this year, and we just knocked it out.

Within one week of getting rhythms down, we had the basic tracks done. I Flew to Kingston, Jamaica, to finish the horns and work with many oldschool reggae session cats from like Peter Tosh records. Then back to Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, where Sinatra recorded. This is a very well produced record. Most reggae records are two chords. Sinatra is six and seven movements, bro. The trick is to make it all sound cool but not corny, and to do that; you have to balance the right amount of jazz with the right amount of reggae. We’re great at doing that, creating great balance.

A.D. Amorosi: Creating great balance is a big part of creating and curating the One Fine Day fest, yes?

Shaggy: That’s exactly right. These are artists that we think—likeminded artists—who you can’t put easily into boxes. On paper, this festival would look weird to those who like simple categorization. But stand up in front of us, Sting and I, when we do our show? Then add in people like Thundercat and the rest of these artists. Oh my God. After Sting and I won our Grammy, we realized that other listeners might like to try having no boundaries, to vibe to a festival showcase with no boundaries. And Sting and I intend to have fun the whole time during One Fine Day, just as you will. n

Photo: Rich Gastwirt-Grateful Web 2018

VALLEY / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Muses in the Vineyard was a vibrant, vital forum for Patty Larkin, the Nields and scores of other women singer-songwriters, held in 20122016 at the harmoniously named Four Sisters Winery in New Jersey’s rural Warren County. Similar sisterly vibes will radiate from Muses at the Ice House, a new biannual spinoff co-produced by Godfrey Daniels, the ecumenical listening room. Leading off the 45-minute sets is Payton Renee, a Kutztown University student who plays all sorts of Valley venues, including the Musikfest Café. Loretta Hagen won a composing contest sponsored by a New Jersey folk fest. Sloan Wainwright is an acclaimed music teacher, a member of the acclaimed Wainwright-McGarrigle-Roche tribe, and a singer so powerful, nephew Rufus Wainwright calls her “The Voice.” Meghan Cary authored the anthem Sing Louder and the book Sing Louder: Stories Behind the Songs; she also helped seed the Actor’s Shakespeare Company. And Godfrey’s regular Anne Hills is renowned for a lustrous soprano, lyrical lyrics and the lovely production of albums by the late singer-songwriter Michael Smith, a muse to many musicians. (Sept. 9, Charles A. Brown Ice House, Sand Island, 56 River St., Bethlehem; 610-867-2390; godfreydaniels.org)

The New Arts Program is entering its 50th and final year as a creativity crucible. The Kutztown organization has hosted a holy host of prominent musicians (Steve Reich), composers (John Cage), choreographers (Meredith Monk) and visual artists (Sam Gilliam), many before they became prominent (Keith Haring). It’s become prominent, and pre-eminent, for offering a slew of installations, residencies, consultations and TV interviews moderated by James Carroll, an active founder with his retired wife, Joanne. NAP is celebrating its major legacy with major exhibits covering 1974-1981 (Sept. 15-Dec. 10), 1982-1999 (Jan. 12-March 24) and 2000-2023 (April 12-June 23). A Jan. 13-March 12 display of James Carroll’s new works ices an exceptional cake. (173 W. Main St., Kutztown; 610-683-6440; newartsprogram.org)

Fruiting up tiramisu with lemon and blueberry is novel. Circling tiramisu with a fort of lady fingers is ingenious. This ingenious novelty was dreamed up by a student chef at Hampton Winds, a superlative restaurant doubling as Northampton Community College’s culinaryarts lab. A diverse menu flexes with creative highbrow dishes (gnocchi

with home-made ricotta and crab), finger foods (tacos) and amusing tricks (a one-bite corned-beef sandwich with carrot mustard). Zesty food tastes better in a casually elegant room with picture windows framing a pleasant courtyard. Gourmet without gourmet prices, haute cui-

sine without haughtiness, Hampton Winds is an oasis for digesting fine, fun dining. (Hartzell Hall, 3835 Green Pond Rd., Bethlehem; 610-8614549; northampton.edu; $40 for three-course dinner; $45 for four courses)

I love June and Paul Schlueter even though they hate garlic, which I love. My friends are forever despite ordering manicotti and parmigiana without garlic, an act most cooks consider crazy or criminal. So I can say with absolute certainty that Paul and June will not attend the Easton Garlic Fest, an annual smorgasbord with fumes potent enough to invade their home on College Hill. Downtown streets will be jam packed with people sampling a traffic jam of garlicky products: chowder, mus-

sels, egg rolls, burritos, vinegar, cider, chocolate truffles. Extra sensory overload will be provided by a contest of “dangerous” desserts and a cook-off between the mayors of Easton, Phillipsburg and Allentown, each aided by a ringer chef. Easton’s fest will never challenge the fest in Gilroy, Calif., garlic’s ground zero. Still, it’s a cool culinary cousin to the bacon feasts at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, where you can chase a bacon-wrapped hot dog with a pork parfait. (Oct. 7-8, Centre Square and surrounding area; 484-903-3078; eastongarlicfest.com) n

Patty Larkin.

Northampton Community College’s culinary-arts lab

agents (Charles Martin Smith plays the science nerd whose loyalties to country waver in the face of the fugitives’ burgeoning feelings for each other), the pair go on a journey from Wisconsin to Arizona, where the visitor from another world hopes to connect with the ship that will carry him home. Familiar plot, no? Though this work-forhire riff on Spielberg’s E.T. cultivates an amorous, very adult regret that is entirely its own, and plays to Carpenter’s strengths as an unpretentious craftsman. His singular artistry tends to arise from his get-the-job-done approach to filmmaking, and it’s wonderful to see him apply that talent to a work so unabashedly tenderhearted. (Streaming on MUBI.)

Funny Games (1997, Michael Haneke, Austria)

Austrian provocateur Michael Haneke thrives on confronting his audience, and his 1997 feature about a father, mother and son tortured by two youthful psychotics is among his most in-your-face. Dread is infused even in the relatively calm early scenes of the Schober family (Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe and Stefan Clapczynski) arriving at their lakeside vacation home; a blast of John Zorn noise rock is the only direct indication that danger lies ahead. Then the white-gloved, preppily dressed Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering) arrive and engage their victims in an increasingly sadistic series of “games.” Occasionally, Paul will break the fourth wall to explicitly call us, the

viewers, out on our bloodlust. Subtle it’s not. Effective it most certainly is, particularly in the film’s most retributively violent moment when Haneke does something that causes any vengeful cheers to stick in the throat. Let’s call this an anti-classic. You’ll feel dirty watching it, but invigoratingly so. (Streaming on Criterion Channel.)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985, Tim Burton, United States)

“I know you are, but what am I?!” Do honor to the man, Paul Reubens (RIP), behind peerless man-child Pee-wee Herman by watching (or rewatching) his first cinematic foray, which is also the feature debut of director Tim Burton. It’s an inspired pairing, Burton’s gothically tinged creepiness meshing perfectly with Reubens/Pee-wee’s vocally and physically high-pitched goofiness. The story proves a simple skeleton (Pee-wee goes on a cross-America journey to reclaim his stolen bike) on which to hang a tonally delirious series of setpieces. There’s a blood-curdling encounter with ghostly trucker Large Marge, an endearingly bizarre musical number in a biker bar set to The Champs’ “Tequila,” and an escalating climactic chase scene involving everyone from heavy metal rockers Twisted Sister to Godzilla and Santa Claus. Pee-wee’s abrasive innocence (a nails on a chalkboard kind of guy who you incongruously want to keep company with) somehow helps to make sense of the crazy world in which he and we live. (Streaming on AppleTV.) n

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

harper’s FINDINGS

The rate of society’s moral decline is perceived similarly by both the young and the old, whereas moral decline measured through cooperation games shows steady improvement since the Fifties. Many human biases are the product of a small number of metabiases. Loneliness is idiosyncratic, solitary animals seem not to exhibit selfawareness, and workers who frequently interact with artificial intelligence have higher rates of insomnia and after-work drinking. Human hand scent is highly predictive of biological sex, and scientists in Japan identified the pheromone that calms rats’ fear. Pressure and temperature tests revealed that some larger dog breeds thought by veterinarians to be highly sensitive to pain are at most only moderately sensitive. Dementia in elderly dogs may be indicated by a slow gait, positive cultural beliefs about aging ameliorate mild cognitive impairment in the old, and Japanese centenarians have highly diverse gut viromes. Old men become more susceptible to cancer as they lose their Y chromosomes.

INDEX

No. of years by which the median American’s age has increased since 1980: 9 % decrease since 2000 in the average global fertility rate: 15

% of Americans 65 and older who believe their life advice should be compiled into a book: 41

Portion of Americans 65 and older who have used a dating app: 1/4 Who use social media every day: 2/3

% by which people who are lonely are at greater risk of premature death: 60

% by which Europeans report less engagement at work than Americans: 62 By which Europeans report less stress than Americans: 26

% of American adults who claim they have no secrets: 11

Factor by which those 65 and older are more likely than those under 30 to claim this: 3

Portion of Gen Z-ers who support the government installation of surveillance cameras in households to prevent crime: 3/10

% change since 1995 in support for the FBI among Republicans: −65

Among Democrats: +40

Portion of first-time U.S. gun buyers during the pandemic who were women: 1/2

Who were people of color: 1/2

Minimum number of children newly exposed to guns at home since the start of the pandemic: 3,000,000

Rural Zambian infants utter more protophones around man-made objects than around natural ones both before and after the onset of canonical babbling. A woman without somatosensation was found to process sensory metaphors linguistically. Female bonobos’ ability to choose their mates, as well as their gregariousness and relative unlikeliness to affiliate with low-status males, diminishes male bonobos’ reproductive success as compared with that of chimpanzees. Large male Bornean orangutans can grumble and chomp at the same time, and female Sumatran orangutans can combine kiss-squeaks with rolling calls. Apex predators in Washington State are driving mesopredators into human-inhabited areas, where they are killed by humans. Deforestation encourages male Virginia hellbenders to eat their entire brood before they hatch. Matte iridescence camouflages beetles better than glossy iridescence. Placental mammals coexisted with dinosaurs. Both pregnant gray whales and lactating gray whales who feed off the Oregon Coast consume up to 21 million plastic microparticles per day. A species of octopus discovered in Okinawa in 2005 was found to experience wakeful brain activity during sleep, and animals can feel joy.

Portion of Americans who apologize for something out of their control at least once a day: 1/4

% those who attend religious services weekly are more likely to do so: 72

Estimated percentage decrease this year in U.S. sales of engagement rings: 9 Of wedding dresses: 4

% of physicians & surgeons who marry partners with the same profession: 19

Of lawyers who do: 13

Of janitors: 8

Portion of firefighters who are married to registered nurses: 1/10

Min. no. of Americans who donate their bodies to science each year: 11,045

% of Americans who die in a manner that allows for organ donation: 0.3

% by which women are more likely than men to be organ donors: 22

By which Republicans are more likely than Democrats: 24

% of advocacy groups that receive funding from pharmaceutical companies: 83

Portion of patient advocacy groups that have a pharmaceutical executive on their board: 1/3

Date on which the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the production and sale of lab-grown poultry: 6/21/23

No. of other countries that have approved the sale of lab-grown meat: 1

Est. value of the lab-grown meat industry in the United States: $247,000,000

% by which full-service restaurants are operating with fewer hourly employees than in 2019: 7

The degassing of Aleutian–Alaska Arc volcanoes releases roughly half the organic carbon collected on the seafloor as the Pacific plate returns to the mantle. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft successfully altered the orbit of Dimorphos, its target asteroid. Planetary scientists created a map of Venus’s 85,000 volcanoes. Laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma quadruple mass spectrometry can predict volcanic behavior. The production of lambda particles by semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering was observed. Groundwater extraction between 1993 and 2010 tilted Earth’s axis by 80 centimeters. The length of Earth’s day was 19.5 hours for more than a billion years. The radius of a proton varies depending on whether its charge or its mass is being measured. Previously unanalyzed papers belonging to Leonardo da Vinci modeled the gravitational constant with 97 percent accuracy. The Victorian grassland earless dragon was rediscovered.

% of consumers who say they are frustrated by the lack of staff: 42

% of Americans who are comfortable with AI helping restaurants take orders: 60 With AI writing scripts for movies or TV shows: 45

Writing news articles: 34

% change in net income at the largest U.S. entertainment companies since 2013: −89

SOURCES: 1 U.S. Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.); 2 Max Roser, Our World in Data (Oxford, England); 3–5 Comfort Keepers (Irvine, Calif.); 6 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Washington); 7,8 Gallup (Washington); 9,10 YouGov (NYC); 11 Cato Institute (Washington); 12,13 Bill McInturff, Public Opinion Strategies (Alexandria, Va.); 14–16 Matthew Miller, Northeastern University (Boston); 17,18 YouGov; 19,20 The Wedding Report (Tucson, Ariz.); 21–24 The Washington Post; 25 Joy Y. Balta, Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego); 26 Donate Life America (Richmond, Va.); 27,28 YouGov; 29,30 Matthew McCoy, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia); 31 Food Safety and Inspection Service (Washington); 32 Good Food Institute (Washington); 33 Grand View Research (San Francisco); 34 GuestXM (Dallas); 35 Lisa W. Miller and Associates (Dallas); 36–38 Ipsos (NYC); 39 Bloomberg (NYC).

1

NEW SCHOOL

BY EVAN BIRNHOLZ

84 Really moving

88 “Buh-bye, dahling!”

90 Egg cells at a country estate? (going fromone school in PA ...)

93 Meat eaten while intoning like monks? (... to another school in PA)

97 Three, in Frankfurt 100 Island setting of Jamaica Kincaid’s book “Annie John” 102 Strip poker site?

103 Notification that the “Purple Rain” rocker is performing right now? (going from a school in New Jersey ...)

112 Mets’ home, once

113 With 119 Across, one changing schools ... and what you must do between seven pairs of schools in this puzzle

119 See 113 Across

123 Practice as one might in the shower

124 Age of many a senior 125 Lapses

126 “Above all ___ ...”

127 Operating room tools

128 Scorch slightly

DOWN

1 Campaign manager

2 1989 cult film that features the game show “Wheel of Fish”

3 Revolutionary chairman

4 Bobby of the Bruins

5 Meteorological device

6 “Raw” waste that can cause water pollution

7 “Yeah, right!”

8 Unrefined mine metal

21 Lugged around

26 “Silo” series author Howey

28 Egyptian jewelry symbol

30 Log or blog unit

31 Expo pitch

33 Disney deer whose name starts

80 Across

34 ___-on sentence

35 Villains with lightsabers

36 Heads of firms, briefly

38 They may have bike lanes

40 “Stigmata” actress Long

43 Mountain voyage, e.g.

45 Genesis preposition

46 ___-F (“find” on a PC)

49 Billboard or placard

50 Paige who played Grizabella in the original production of “Cats”

51 Narrative device that addresses prior events

52 Poodle, schnoodle, etc.

53 Like a 53 Across when being fed

54 Grande with many hits

55 Pandemonium

57 Common beer order

58 Take letters?

59 Its teeth get into hair

60 Clinical research activity

62 Trouble over trivialities

65 “One by One” musician

66 Clump of dirt

68 Czech-German river

69 Web connection initials

71 ___ Daei, Iranian soccer player who once held the men’s record for international goals scored

74 Polo of “Good Trouble”

75 Decimated sea

77 Like Black Forest cake

78 1940s supercomputer, or actor Michael backward

82 “___ luck!”

85 Think ahead

86 Judas Priest bassist Hill

87 Spoil, with “on”

89 Picky to a great degree

90 First word of VP

91 Pep in your step

92 “A long time ___ ...”

93 Gearhead’s interests

94 “Nice to see you!”

95 Br- and Cl-, e.g.

96 Painter of many Argenteuil landscapes

97 TV host who wrote “Relationship Rescue”

98 Matures in a grove

99 Madden quite a bit

101 Drivers’ reversals

103 Entourage

104 Actor Rob or Will

105 He says “A hit, a very palpable hit” during a duel in “Hamlet”

107 Thumbs-up replies

114 Ottoman leader

115 Golden Knights’ org.

116 Auto lubricant letters

117 Sum for a service

118 Slippery swimmer

120 Prefix with pod or sect

121 Mantel vase

122 Pet in a park, perhaps Solution on page 24