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ICON 12

LOW CUT CONNIE

SINCE 1992, the arts have been integral to our mission—and to our lives in large and small measures. We too often don’t realize their importance. The arts can influence cultures. The arts can change politics. The arts can give comfort in dark times. The arts can change lives. The arts, the economy, and ICON, as well as well as mom and pop businesses and Fortune 500 companies, are subject to the vicissitudes of life and fortune. We’re all together now in this time of historic insecurity. ICON has supported the arts since 1992, through good times and bad. We think of ourselves as their partners, their cheerleaders. We haven’t skipped an issue in nearly 30 years, so if you can’t find ICON one month, if we skip an issue here and there, be assured we’re just resting until the arts—and all of us—are healthy and confident again.

ESSAYS 5|

Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner (left) and Needles Jones (right). Photo: Bob Sweeney

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contents 14 |

ON THE COVER:

Raina Filipiak / Advertising filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION Richard DeCosta

NEW BOOKS

Rita Kaplan

A. D. Amorosi

by Bob Beck

The Law of Innocence

Tombstone Tourist

GUIDE TO THE ARTS

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A Promised Land

Peter Croatto

Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things

Geoff Gehman

with a Black Man

FILM ROUNDUP Bill & Ted Face the Music I’m Thinking of Ending Things Lovers Rock Nomadland

91st Phillip’s Mill Juried Show

Silverman Gallery

Jack Byer

Uncomfortable Conversations

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Robert Beck

Is This Anything?

Jacques Pépin: Quick & Simple

Allentown Art Museum

44th PMA Craft Show

EDITORIAL Editor / trina@icondv.com

Group Effort

The Snow Goose Gallery

Katharine Krieg Ghost Pumpkin and Tapestry (detail) 16” x 20”

PRESIDENT Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Artists of Yardley

215-862-9558 icondv.com facebook.com/icondv

Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now

EXHIBITIONS 6|

Since 1992

Accidentally Wes Anderson

A THOUSAND WORDS

by Fredricka Maister

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

ETCETERA 22 |

HARPER’S FINDINGS

22 |

HARPER’S INDEX

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THE WASHINGTON POST SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Mark Keresman George Miller Susan Van Dongen Keith Uhlich

Subscription: $40 (12 issues) PO Box 120 • New Hope 18938 215-862-9558 ICON is published twelve times per year. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor, editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. ©2020 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

a thousand words

STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

Group Effort

I AIM FOR PEOPLE to feel a mood or environment when they encounter my paintings, but I wanted this one to shove them around a bit. I was trying to create visceral tension with the mass of waves and the vulnerable position of the lobstermen. It’s an uneasy situation, and you should sense that right away when looking at it. If my feelings aren’t in a painting, then it’s not successful, and I’m not happy, but I want the scene I’m depicting to be accurate as well. I’m a painter, not a fisherman or sailor. I haven’t been out on a lobster boat in swells this big, but I can imagine it. I once got tossed around pretty scarily when deepsea fishing, so I know the puke and prayers part of it. I remember looking up at waves taller than the boat I was in and desperately wishing I was back in bed. This scene came from that place in my stomach. I can check with somebody who knows about technical elements, but the important source is gut memory. The sea calls the shots and is accountable to no one. Even when calm, it’s in charge. The lobstermen keep a sharp eye out for a change in the wind, the color of the water, and the behavior of the waves, because things can unravel quickly. If these swells were kicking up around me, I’d be running for cover as soon and fast as possible. I didn’t bother including the boat in the painting, instead focusing on what happens inside the viewer when contemplating the sea’s threat. There is no shelter. You hear the clock ticking. Other artists have well accomplished what I was trying to do here. I’m not Winslow Homer or Joaquin Sorolla, but we share a world and interests. They have helped by showing me what is possible. I knew I had my painting when I felt that cold sweat on the

back of my neck. A title can inform the viewer’s perspective, and one usually emerges while I’m working. That menacing water is at the core of the narrative, but I didn’t know how lobstermen would describe it. I thought “Rising Sea” would be a good title, but I wasn’t sure if that was a legitimate term. I called my friend Sune (pronounced SOO-nuh, like tuna) at the Jonesport Shipyard in Maine. Sune said that the rough sea is sometimes referred to as “makin’ up.” I’m sure he’s right, but that doesn’t work as well as I’d like for a title. It sounds great out of the mouth a Mainer, but north of Philadelphia, it looks like a doo-wop song. I put some pressure on him. “Rising Sea could be a good term for it, couldn’t it?” Sune didn’t give in. He said he’d stop by the Liars’ Table the next afternoon and see what the experts had to say. I liked that idea. Somewhere along the Atlantic coast this side of Canada, a bunch of lobstermen fresh back from tending their traps off of Great Wass and the Bay of Fundy would temporarily stop their bullshitting down at Moosebec Variety long enough to consider the best way to describe the story my painting tells. I’d love to be a fly on that napkin dispenser. While Sune was canvassing the locals, I showed the

painting to Amy Lent, the Director of the Maine Maritime Museum. She happened to be heading out to the Maine Lobsterman’s Association meeting that evening and said she’d ask around. Amy sent me some interesting takes on the title, but again, none were quite right. For example: “Five and Ten, Northeast,” is a good marine weather report, but it reads with a touch of a dollar store. Everything had its problem. You didn’t think art was this complicated, did you? My friend Maryvelma Smith O’Neil, who lives in Geneva, sent me a poem written by Kurdish poet Sherko Bekus, called Stormtide. The tide said to the fisherman There are many reasons why my waves are in a rage The most important is that I am for the freedom of the fish and against the net The poem was a wonderful companion to my painting. For a while, I considered Against the Traps as a title but later settled on Stormtide. Because the tide is time, and there’s none to waste in this image. n

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exhibitions

Larry Rivers (American, 1923–2002), “Black Revue” from the series Boston Massacre, 1970, screen print, offset lithograph, and collage, Gift of William A. Graham IV, 1979. (1979.55.8)

Judy Lalingo, Cardinal Memory, acrylic on panel

What do Artists Do in Quarantine? A Celebration of New Works by Gallery Artists The Snow Goose Gallery 470 Main St. Bethlehem, PA 610- 974- 9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com

Prints and Protest, 1960-1970 Allentown Art Museum 31 North Fifth St., Allentown, PA Allentownartmuseum.org 610-432-4333 October 18, 2020-January 24, 2021 Prints and Protest, 1960–1970 presents powerful works on paper that illustrate how artists responded to such upheavals as the Civil Rights and antiwar movements. In his 1970 series Boston Massacre, for example, Larry Rivers used Pop Art strategies such as borrowing images and text from everyday life to make a political statement Bruce Carter created his Wounded Knee series to revisit that mass killing in the wake of the 1968 incident at My Lai. Artist and nun Corita Kent embraced love as an activist action.

Marc Schimsky, The Wanderer, acrylics and mixed media

9th Annual Juried Show Artists of Yardley Art Center 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley October 24–November 15. Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12–5 Due to Covid-19, like many art organizations, we rescheduled this show rather than cancel. In-person Gallery time and in-person Opening ⁄ Awards Presentation on Friday Oct. 23 at 7:00. An online gallery will augment the visibility and sales of the artwork, with a 3D Virtual Gallery allowing the viewer to see the art in relation to other artwork and get a sense of size. In another special feature, Juror Jennifer Hansen Rolli has narrated her reasons for selecting key pieces as part of an online guided tour. The online and 3D gallery will not be available until the Opening Night, October 23 at 6:00.

Following the lockdown due to the pandemic, we are celebrating new works by some of our artists: Paul Eaton (UK), Richard William Haynes (NJ), Bradley Hendershot (PA), Katharine Krieg (PA), Judy Lalingo (MD), Linda Rossin (NJ), Mary Serfass (PA), Sherri Trial (PA), Alexander Volkov (NJ), Sue Wall (NY), Marion Winter (Australia), and Chuck Zovko (PA). Meet the artists on Sunday afternoons throughout the show. Please see our website or call for Meet the Artist dates.

Chuck Zovko, View from Rocky Point, photograph

Corita Kent (American, 1918–1986), but, there is only one thing that has power, 1967, screen print. Gift of Paul K. Kania, 2019. (2019.9.2) 6

Dorothy Hoeschen, Shadows & Light, acrylic on watercolor board

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Bradley Hendershot, Aerial, watercolor

Guide to the Arts Theater DeSales University/Act 1 Productions As You Like It By William Shakespeare Directed by Matt Pfeiffer Music by Alex Bechtel A pre-recorded, live 2020 production Sat., October 10 & Sun., October 11 Forced into exile to the Forest of Arden, witty Rosalind disguises herself as a boy, only to meet up with her newfound beau, Orlando. In the guise of a boy, Rosalind attempts to teach the forlorn Orlando how to woo his “Rosalind” in this enchanting romantic comedy that explores the aspects of true love. One of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, newly explored in this inventive, filmed production. Ages 6+ / Price per viewer $10 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA desales.edu/act1, 610-282-3192

Art The 44th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show Oline Event, November 6-8 Premier online presentation and sale of contemporary American craft includes 130 of the best craft artists in the United States, including basketry, ceramics, fiber decorative and wearable, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper and wood. Virtual preview November 5. Pmacraftshow.org Bethlehem House Gallery 2020 Summer Show through October 10 Holiday Show, October 23-January 9 459 Main St., Bethlehem, PA Wed.-Thurs. 11-7, Fri. & Sat. 12-9, Sun. 12-5 610-419-6262 Bethlehemhousegallery.com. . Silverman Gallery New work by Glenn Harrington Oct. 2 through Nov. 1, 2020 Glenn works from his lovely Pipersville studio, in an idyllic country setting in Upper Bucks County. His luminous landscapes are classically painted and often contain a favorite person or stand of sycamore trees. Known for his critically acclaimed portraits and figurative work, he has painted for galleries and publications around the world for nearly 40 years. He has consistently won awards from the Oil Painters of America, Art Renewal Center, and the International Guild of Realism. 4920 York Rd., Holicong, PA Silvermangallery.com, 215-794-4300

Gallery On Fourth Connecting Artists & Collectors. The work of national, regional, and local artists in a fresh, diverse program of solo and group exhibitions. 401 Northampton St., Easton, PA 610-905-4627 GalleryOnFourth.org Wed. & Th 12-7; Fri. & Sat. 12-9; Sun. 12-5; and by appointment. Mercer Museum WE’RE OPEN! 200 Years of Bucks County Art Through December 31, 2020 The exhibit features paintings by Charles Willson Peale, Edward Hicks, Martin Johnson Heade, Thomas Hicks, Thomas Otter, William Lathrop and Daniel Garber, as well as Jonathan and William Trego, Edward Trego, Samuel DuBois, Robert Street, Samuel Moon, and many others. Cocktails by the Castle, Oct. 10, 5-8pm. 84 South Pine St., Doylestown, PA Mercermuseum.org, 215-345-0210 Allentown Art Museum WE’RE OPEN! Evolution of the Spiritual: Europe to America Through January 3, 2021 Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection paired with highlights from the Allentown Art Museum’s famed Kress Collection, this exhibition explores connections between European and American art and tracks the development and evolution of an image and its cultural significance over time. The installation includes Marsden Hartley’s striking painting Blessing the Melon (The Indians Bring the Harvest to Christian Mary for Her Blessing), on view for a limited time from the Philadelphia Museum of Art collection. 31 North Fifth Street, Allentown, PA 610-432-4333, allentownartmuseum.org New Hope Arts Center WE’RE OPEN! Music to My Eyes Through October 31, 2020 Open, and featuring more than 40 music inspired images created by visual artists from Philadelphia and New York, Music To My Eyes is accompanied by a series of virtual performances by permission of regional and national performing artists who have graciously provided content for us to screen during the exhibition. 2 Stockton Ave, 2nd floor, New Hope, PA newhopearts.org, 215.862.9606 Phillips’ Mill Art Show 91st Online Juried Art Exhibition The Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition has outlasted snowstorms, floods, a world war and

many other challenges. In that sense, this year is no different. Undaunted by COVID-19, the Art Committee is diligently at work making plans to once again mount the most prestigious show in an area renowned for its art. This year we have gone online. We will showcase the talents of our artists for art lovers everywhere, and share the thoughts and work processes of our artists. phillipsmill.org/juried-art-show The Snow Goose Gallery What Do Artists Do in Quarantine? Nov. 8 through Dec. 20, 2020 A celebration of new works by gallery artists: Paul Eaton, Richard William Haynes, Bradley Hendershot, Katharine Krieg, Judy Lalingo, Linda Rossin, Mary Serfass, Sherri Trial, Alexander Volkov, Sue Wall, Marion Winter, Chuck Zovko 470 Main Street Bethlehem, Pennsylvania thesnowgoosegallery.com 610-974-9099

Music Bach Choir Virtual Bach at Noon Concerts: October 13 & November 10. Enjoy pre-taped concerts by featured soloists and members of The Bach Festival Orchestra, from Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem. Introductions provided by conductor and artistic director, Greg Funfgeld. Presented on You Tube channel and facebook.com/BethlehemBach Bach.org, 610-866-4382

Dance DeSales University/Act 1 Productions Emerging Choreographers Concert Artistic Director Angela Sigley Grossman A pre-recorded, live 2020 production Sat., October 24 & Sun., October 25 The dance season opens with the choreographic expressions of our talented dance majors. This exciting virtual concert celebrates the beauty of human movement with a select group of student choreographers premiering a program of new works. Please join us as we share these filmed world premieres from the intimate Schubert Theatre. Ages 6+ Price per viewer $10 2755 Station Avenue Center Valley, PA 18034 desales.edu/act1, 610-282-3192

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exhibitions

Tom Chesar, Easy Times Kit’s Cat, oil on linen, 11” x 14”

91st Annual Phillips’ Mill Juried Art Show Honoring Artist Louis Russomanno Online Only Show phillipsmill.org/Juried-Art-Show Through November 1 The organizers of this show made the decision to pivot and change direction at the beginning of the virus lock-down, and co-chairpeople Tim Lovrinic and Laura Womack, along with their committee, have worked tirelessly to get the word out that the show would go on, be judged totally online by a panel of jurists, and open to the public for exhibit and sale beginning Sept. 26. They could not disappoint the hundreds of followers who look forward to this annual fund-raising event nor the many artists who live within a 25-mile radius of the historic mill whose work is entered into this prestigious competition. Art lovers worldwide can continue to enjoy the opportunity to view the work and discover what a wealth of talent resides within the New Hope area. Visit phillipsmill.org to view the show.

Kay King, Mother’s Day III 8

Glenn Harrington

Artist: Kate Dannenberg

44th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show Online event November 6-8, 2020, 10-6 Virtual Preview November 5, 4pm-8pm 215-684-7930 pmacraftshow.org

Silverman Gallery of Impressionist Art 4920 York Rd. (Rt. 202) in the Buckingham Green Shopping Center silvermangallery.com October 3 through November 1

View and purchase online from the artists, unique works of craft and design in clay, wood, metal, fiber and glass. Enjoy early access to the show on November 5 with the Virtual Preview. Subscribe to the preview and experience a First Look at the artists and their work. Your contribution will support educational programs, exhibitions, curatorial equipment, facility improvements, and internships of The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Admission is free Nov. 6-8, optional donation of $10.

Running October 3 through November 1, 2020, the work of Glenn Harrington is once again breathtaking to behold. This award-winning artist has put together a selection of paintings in an exhibition not to be missed. Known for his combining of portraiture and landscapes, Harrington focused on people, animals and his favorite places in and around Bucks County. He takes in the world around him, carefully studies it and translates its magic to the viewer. Meet the artist October 4, from 1-5 pm and the following weekend on Saturday, October 10, from 2-6 pm. Additional times are also available by appointment. Gallery hours are 11-6 Wed.-Sun.

Artist: Chen Dwo Wen

Shag Bark Birch, oil on linen, 8” x 8”

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film roundup

KEITH UHLICH

I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

Bill & Ted Face the Music (Dir. Dean Parisot). Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine. San Dimas, California’s own Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) are married dads and musical has-beens whose fortunes never materialized. Now time is getting unstuck in the most bogus of ways (like Jesustorn-from-the-Last-Supper/Babe-Ruth-rippedfrom-the-ballfield kind of serious) and they have barely an hour to write the prophesied song that will unite all of humanity. So our heroes hop in the ol’ time traveling phone booth to try stealing the tune from their older selves, while their 24-year-old slacker daughters, Thea and Billie (Samara Weaving and Brigette LundyPaine, both awesome), cobble together a bodacious band featuring Louis Armstrong, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jimi Hendrix, Kid Cudi, and others. Goofiness is prevalent throughout, and the film’s cock-eyed optimism (a real balm, as it proves) never once wavers. If even a suicidal cyborg can find a reason to rock out, why can’t we do the same? [PG-13] HHHH I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Dir. Charlie Kaufman). Starring: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis. Charlie Kaufman is still in a miserable mood about life, the universe and everything. But the writer-director’s latest dive into the despondent deep end is a much more varied and multifaceted effort than you might expect from the man behind the torture that was Synecdoche, New 10

York. An often loose adaptation of Iain Reid’s 2016 novel, ITOET seems to be about a woman (Jessie Buckley) readying to break up with her boyfriend (Jesse Plemons), but only after she meets his folks (David Thewlis and Toni Collette). In truth, and without giving too much away, it’s more a meta-study of the creative process and how so many of us never realize the artistic impulses we keep hidden from the world at large. The referents and influences are wide — everything from Samuel Beckett and Guy Debord to Pauline Kael and Billy Crystal (circa Forget Paris, no less). Yet Kaufman makes something vital, poignant, and blackly funny out of it all. [R] HHHH Lovers Rock (Dir. Steve McQueen). Starring: Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Micheal Ward, Shaniqua Okwok. Lovers Rock is one of five “films” directed by Steve McQueen for his upcoming Amazon anthology series Small Axe, which tells stories, often based in fact and spanning several decades, about Britain’s West Indian Black community. The 1980s-set Lovers Rock is the only installment that doesn’t feature a real-life figure, though the event around which it revolves — an all-night house party — was typical for a class of people banned from nightclubs that catered exclusively to a White clientele. A pair of alternately flirty and feuding lovers-to-be, Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) and Franklyn (Micheal Ward), are the ostensible protagonists. And there are hints of the racial and sexual violence that McQueen tends

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to explore — sometimes trenchantly, at other times glibly — in most of his other efforts, the rest of Small Axe surely included. But Lovers Rock is more about intoxicating mood and vibe, qualities amplified by two transcendent dance scenes scored, respectively, to Janet Kay’s “Silly Games” and The Revolutionaries’ “Kunta Kinte.” [N/R] HHH1/2 Nomadland (Dir. Chloé Zhao). Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn. Writerdirector Chloé Zhao (The Rider) helmed this trifling adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book about older U.S. van-dwellers living itinerant lives in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. It has all the neo-neorealist touches of Zhao’s prior work, save for the award-winning movie star at its center. Frances McDormand plays Fern, who criss-crosses the American West in 2012-2013, occasionally picking up shifts at highway restaurant chains and an Amazon warehouse to make ends meet. In scene after scene, she shares space with actual nomads who convincingly play variations on themselves, though never to the point that McDormand’s celebrity is dimmed. This proves to be the movie’s undoing: Fern isn’t part of the naturalistic tapestry so much as a dressed-down distraction from it. And you never forget, despite the actress’s evident talent, that she has choices most everyone else onscreen does not. Add to this the film’s gently apolitical tone, clearly contrived so as not to widely offend, and you have an American fable most facile. [R] HH

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interview

A.D. AMOROSI

They Only Come Out at Night

A WARM, SWEETLY-SCENTED breeze through a green grassy park in the center of South Philadelphia on a bright and sunny autumn morning would hardly seem like the proper setting for two punkish denizens of the night. Then again, any collaboration between young lounge-pianist-turned-rock-n’-roller Adam Weiner (Low Cut Connie) and darkly comic, longtime performance artist, drag queen Ira Abromovitz (Needles Jones) usually defies convention. Their latest teaming on the duskily cinematic video for Low Cut Connie’s “Private Lives,” the title track of Weiner’s upcoming album, proves that their union—whenever that occurs—continues to be an empathetic one, a meeting of the (after midnight) minds. Even as we sit and talk in a still-dewy Hawthorne Park during a September morning, masked and socially distanced, it feels like being in an afterhours bar whenever I’m with these two. A little history lesson is necessary before marching forward.

Once Weiner moved from a solo act under the name Ladyfingers into becoming the band that is Low Cut Connie in 2010, his music and lyrics grew more soulful and deeply rocking with each LP. His albums, Get Out the Lotion (2011), Call Me Sylvia (2012), Hi Honey (2015), and the back-to-back release of Dirty Pictures (Part 1) and Dirty Pictures (Part 2) in 2017 and 2018, each turned romantic emotion into an upbeat party. With all that, Low Cut Connie won a reputation as the sweatiest, hardest working party band, and fans such as Robert Christgau, Elton John, Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, and Howard Stern. But, a funny thing happened on Weiner’s way to 2020. His band splintered, he grew more ruminative, and he decided to take the party indoor and insular with a still-rocking but more intimately character-driven set of narratives the likes of which make up “Private Lives.” Affected, too, by being unable to tour due to the raging pandemic, Weiner brought the big touring back home, alone, to South Philly, 12

Romancing the dark with beloved Philadelphians Adam Weiner’s and Needles Jones

where he now runs a twice-weekly, live streaming showcase, Tough Cookies, from his living room. There, Weiner soulfully and loudly plays piano, sings in his underwear, and interviews some of rock and pop’s greats such as Michael Nesmith, Dion, and Chuck Prophet. And for this live web display, Weiner has won even more fans and friends (check it out at 6 pm EST on Facebook and Instagram (@lowcutconnie) every Thursday and Saturday). “I don’t think that I’m doing anything new,” said Weiner, behind a pandemic kerchief. “I do think that I keep digging deeper each year, each tour and each album, and use rock n’ roll’s palate more broadly.” Needles Jones has always played his/her hand as a more unsympathetic, angry, pre-punk personae, one who — from the start — refused to play into early drag’s, more notably saccharine, beauty-driven tropes. Needles wasn’t playacting as Bette Davis and Judy Garland. Instead, whether channeling Lydia Lunch, Courtney Love, Nico, or pulling hardcore information from his/her own life as a one-time junkie (he got that monicker during a gig at NYC’s Pyramid Club with a needle still in his arm from shooting up backstage) Jones portrayed more antiseptic characters. Needles’ daringly unsentimental and unromantic notions of drag were an antecedent to the drag of present day where such new punkish roles are exaggerated examinations of the self. Along with doing a one-woman solo show as the nihilistic German chanteuse Nico, Needles Jones has been renowned for singing scabrous, self-penned electronic tunes such as “Angst,” “Speeding Through the Red Lights of Life,” and the devil-may-care “I Don’t Give a Fuck.” A stroke slurred his/her speech and slowed his activity as a performing artist — to say nothing of Covid-19 — but nothing short of nuclear warfare could stop Needles Jones. “I am not academically inclined,” said Jones, pulling down his leopard-spotted mask. “I just AM. I operate organically. Always did.”

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How did they meet? Yours truly, this intrepid author introduced them, then reintroduced them, when running his late-night party (the Monday Night Club) at inelegant watering holes such as Bar Noir, the Trocadero’s tattered upstairs space The Balcony, and National Mechanics. Jones was my host-ess. Weiner did his Ladyfingers solo bit with us on several occasions, that is until he brought Dan Finnemore (from Birmingham, U.K.) into the fold. Debuting their then-new Low Cut Connie as part of our cover band tribute to Iggy Pop, Jones and Finnemore got to talking, only to find out that Needles had slept with a good half of a famed British boy pop act from Dan’s hometown. No need to get everyone sued or in trouble here. If Needles said he slept with someone, he probably did. Hands shook, and Needles and Weiner became fans of each other’s work, but from a distance. Fast forward to the time of Revolution Rock (2017), Low Cut Connie’s NSFW video planned for a shoot at the Trocadero, and Weiner recalled Needles’ give-no-fucks spirit of abandon. Adam Weiner: I called you up [A.D.], and asked for Needles’ number because I had an idea. I heard he wasn’t performing any longer as Needles at that point due to the stroke and his encephalitis. But, I invited him to come out to the show, the video shoot, yet, only if he came as Needles — put on the wig — and just ... BE. A.D. Amorosi: That was appropriate at the Troc as that place represented the heart of burlesque heritage and legacy and Needles — and you, Adam — also represent the carrying on of that tradition, of that room, perhaps with a more modernist twist. Needles Jones: When Adam called me, I took him at his word that he wanted me, sincerely, to just be there. When we connected, and I got in front of people, memories did flood back. Re-

Needles Jones. Photo: Bob Oriani

Adam Weiner. Photo: Bob Oriani

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new books Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Koval Voracious, 368 pages October 20, 2020 A visual adventure of Wes Anderson proportions, authorized by the legendary filmmaker himself: stunning photographs of real-life places that seem plucked from the just-so world of his films, presented with fascinating human stories behind each façade. Accidentally Wes Anderson began as a personal travel bucket list, a catalog of visually striking and historically unique destinations that capture the imagined worlds of Wes Anderson. Now, inspired by a community of more than one million Adventurers, Accidentally Wes Anderson tells the stories behind more than 200 of the most beautiful, idiosyncratic, and interesting places on Earth. This book, authorized by Wes Anderson himself, travels to every continent and into your own backyard to identify quirky landmarks and undiscovered gems: places you may have passed by, some you always wanted to explore, and many you never knew existed. Fueled by a vision for distinctive design, stunning photography, and unexpected narratives, Accidentally Wes Anderson is a passport to inspiration and adventure. Perfect for modern travelers and fans of Wes Anderson's distinctive aesthetic, this is an invitation to look at your world through a different lens. Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now by Evan Osnos Scribner, 192 pages October 27, 2020 A concise, brilliant, and trenchant examination of Democratic Nominee Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s lifelong quest for the presidency by National Book Award winner Evan Osnos, adapted from nearly a decade of his reporting for The New Yorker. Former vice president Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been called both the luckiest man and the unluckiest — fortunate to have sustained a fiftyyear political career that reached the White House, but also marked by deep personal losses and disappointments that he has suffered. Yet even as Biden’s life has been shaped by drama, it has also been powered by a willingness, 14

rare at the top ranks of politics, to confront his shortcomings, errors, and reversals of fortune. As he says, “Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.” His trials have forged in him a deep empathy for others in hardship—an essential quality as he addresses Americans in the nation’s most dire hour in decades. Blending upclose journalism and broader context, Evan Osnos, who won the National Book Award in 2014, draws on his work for The New Yorker to capture the characters and meaning of an extraordinary presidential election. It is based on lengthy interviews with Biden and on revealing conversations with more than a hundred others, including President Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and a range of progressive activists, advisers, opponents, and Biden family members. The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly Little, Brown and Company, 432 pages November 10, 2020 Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller must defend himself against murder charges in the heartstopping new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. On the night he celebrates a big win, defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a former client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is immediately charged with murder but can’t post the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge. Mickey elects to represent himself and is forced to mount his defense from his jail cell in the Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles. All the while he needs to look over his shoulder — as an officer of the court he is an instant target, and he makes few

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friends when he reveals a corruption plot within the jail. But the bigger plot is the one against him. Haller knows he’s been framed, whether by a new enemy or an old one. As his trusted team, including his half-brother, Harry Bosch, investigates, Haller must use all his skills in the courtroom to counter the damning evidence against him. Even if he can obtain a not-guilty verdict, Mickey understands that it won’t be enough. In order to be truly exonerated, he must find out who really committed the murder and why. That is the law of innocence. In his highest stakes case yet, the Lincoln Lawyer fights for his life and proves again why he is “a worthy colleague of Atticus Finch... in the front of the pack in the legal thriller game” (Los Angeles Times). Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld Simon & Schuster, 480 pages October 6, 2020 The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy. Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub Catch a Rising Star as a twenty-one-year-old college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas, the big yellow legal pad, I kept it in one of those old school accordion folders,” Seinfeld writes. “So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.” For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiv-

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14 NEW BOOKS

new books

ing art of writing stand-up comedy. A Promised Land by Barack Obama Crown, 768 pages November 17, 2020 In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency — a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective — the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible. Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant Flatiron Books, 304 pages November 24, 2020 Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant started the podcast Stuff You Should Know back in 2008 be16

cause they were curious ― curious about the world around them, curious about what they might have missed in their formal educations, and curious to dig deeper on stuff they thought they understood. As it turns out, they aren't the only curious ones. They’ve since amassed a rabid fan base, making Stuff You Should Know one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Armed with their inquisitive natures and a passion for sharing, they uncover the weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected elements of a wide variety of topics. The pair have now taken their near-boundless “whys” and “hows” from your earbuds to the pages of a book for the first time ― featuring a completely new array of subjects that they’ve long wondered about and wanted to explore. Each chapter is further embellished with snappy visual material to allow for rabbit-hole tangents and digressions ― including charts, illustrations, sidebars, and footnotes. Follow along as the two dig into the underlying stories of everything from the origin of Murphy beds, to the history of facial hair, to the psychology of being lost. Have you ever wondered about the world around you, and wished to see the magic in everyday things? Come get curious with Stuff You Should Know. With Josh and Chuck as your guide, there’s something interesting about everything (…except maybe jackhammers). Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple by Jacques Pépin Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 384 pages October 6, 2020 250 of master chef Jacques Pépin's classic and timeless recipes for unexpectedly polished and satisfying meals with minimal prep and cleanup You don't need a kitchen brigade, decadeshoned skills, or expensive ingredients to cook and eat like master chef Jacques Pépin. Just like the rest of us, he doesn't always have as much time or energy as he'd like to put together a satisfying meal. So, he came up with Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple, 250 recipes for surprisingly achievable, impressive fare. Covering homemade

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staples and every course, with tips for kitchen tools and equipment, pantry staples, and techniques to simplify and improve every dish you make, this foundational, classic collection is essential for every busy home cook who refuses to eat poorly. Dine on the Braised Short Ribs in Red Wine Sauce that Jacques is proud to serve, prepared in under an hour. Or, for healthier fare, Suprêmes of Chicken with Paprika comes together in under thirty minutes. Originally published as The Short-Cut Cook, this revised edition is a testament to Jacques' timeless food and advice, and now includes beautiful photographs. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho Flatiron Books, 256 pages November 10, 2020 “You cannot fix a problem you do not know you have.” So begins Emmanuel Acho in his essential guide to the truths Americans need to know to address the systemic racism that has recently electrified protests in all fifty states. “There is a fix,” Acho says. “But in order to access it, we’re going to have to have some uncomfortable conversations.” In Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, Acho takes on all the questions, large and small, insensitive and taboo, many white Americans are afraid to as — yet which all Americans need the answers to, now more than ever. With the same open-hearted generosity that has made his video series a phenomenon, Acho explains the vital core of such fraught concepts as white privilege, cultural appropriation, and “reverse racism.” In his own words, he provides a space of compassion and understanding in a discussion that can lack both. He asks only for the reader’s curiosity―but along the way, he will galvanize all of us to join the antiracist fight. n

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12 | LOW CUT CONNIE

member, encephalitis causes memory to be fleeting.

and a leopard skin dress: that’s another side of life.

A.D. Amorosi: Needles does not perform in “Revolution Rock,” but is very much a star with these intense, stark flashes in black and white, shaking his wig in time to the music. Adam Weiner: Ater the shoot at the Troc, we all went to the Holiday Inn around the corner for an after-party, where Needles — you got up to some no good. Needles Jones: I have no memory of bad behavior. A.D. Amorosi: That’s convenient. Needles Jones: I do recall being annoyed by overweight girls lounging on a bed, and some

A.D. Amorosi: It is a moment, too, that is quickly slipping away. People and places are so boring now. Nocturnal life doesn’t have the same theatricality or gravitas it did, say, 20 or 30 years ago. Adam Weiner: The time that Needles came up in, culturally, is no longer around. What was once subversive is mainstream now. The people who were there — who knocked down doors — we should show them off, parade them around. A.D. Amorosi: Needles, how do you feel about being the last bastion of the blank gener-

personal, insular, detailed, and story-oriented than your past albums. Adam Weiner: The new songs are all minimovies, character studies of people I observed while on the road. I have a little more of an agenda with these songs in terms of casting an eye on people that nobody is paying attention to. For instance, there is a song called “Quiet Time,” about people in an old age home. Here, two older people are in love, but one’s room gets moved from the other and in a separate wing so that they no longer see each other. We don’t notice things like that. We’re too busy with young people on Instagram. Everybody has these interior lives that we just don’t see or pay attention to.

I try to do something with my performances, my videos, and my music. It’s visceral. It shakes people up. It’s not for everybody. When I go out on stage, I want to wake

people up, shake

them up a little, and make them feel something in their hearts. twinks trying to engage me left me silently clenching my fist and biting my tongue. One of the results of the stroke is that sarcasm and bitchiness doesn’t work with slurring. Adam Weiner: The story doesn’t end there. Everybody wanted to know about Needles. That feeling continued when we were getting together the new music for 2020 and the new video. I began thinking of another very local song we had recorded and filmed, “Boozeaphilia,” about the down-and-dirty people and places of this town. I wanted to make a sequel to that. A.D. Amorosi: That that song happened to be a favorite of President Obama’s, enough so to put it on his public playlist, is still pretty funny. Adam Weiner: For the new song and video, “Private Lives,” I wanted to create a story, a real narrative, about people who truly live as themselves but only at night, who come alive in the shadows. Needles is one of what I call “night people,” like in the Lee Dorsey song. This is about how people present themselves during the day — and have very separate night selves how they live, their subculture. A.D. Amorosi: Needles is the perfect example of that, and has been his entire adult life, whether in Alphabet City, New York, or Philly. Needles Jones: Look, my female icon was Nico. Not Barbara Streisand. Adam Weiner: To see Needles transform on film, from being somewhat straight-laced with combed-back hair, a tie, and schoolboy glasses to full-on big red lipstick, a haggard blonde wig, 18

ation, the ones who last kicked out the jams? Needles Jones: Memory is subversive. A.D. Amorosi: So how do you define the empathy behind your collaboration or relationship. Adam Weiner: We text very silly, very stupid Jewish jokes to each other. We both have a very Jewish sense of humor, a very dark Jewish sense of humor, and a bad attitude about the world. Needles Jones: We definitely share sarcastic Jewish humor, the sort of stuff that makes your eyes roll back in your head. Lots of kvetching. A.D. Amorosi: How do you define what you each do, in terms that may be similar? Adam Weiner: I try to do something with my performances, my videos, and my music. It’s visceral. It shakes people up. It’s not for everybody. When I go out on stage, I want to wake people up, shake them up a little, and make them feel something in their hearts. Needles Jones: Besides heartburn. Adam Weiner: The ability to have comedy and punk and rock and roll and soul in the same package is something I got from Needles’ generation of performers. Needles Jones: We both have similar perspectives of that reality. It’s an organic collaboration. But, I created my own lane. A.D. Amorosi: Adam, how does all that feed into the new album, Private Lives? It is more

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A.D. Amorosi: You pay attention. Adam Weiner: There are enough artists out there now writing about beautiful people or young love or fashion or things we see and hear on television and the radio. I’m trying to focus my music and videos on people on the fringes of society. A.D. Amorosi: So how do each of you think you’ve revolutionized the base that you came from? Adam, I would say that you brought old fashioned rock and roll back to relevance with genuine sweat and created unironic vividly personal portraits of real life. Adam Weiner: I don’t think what I'm doing is anything new. I do think that I keep digging deeper. When I first started this band, people thought it was just a party band – they would say that in a very dismissive way. Well, what’s wrong with a party? Wouldn’t you like to have some fun? Some unbridled humor and sex? Now, I have tried to keep that all, but expand – be more literate, make the fun wiser and wilder. A.D. Amorosi: And Needles? I always said you made drag into something unsentimental, distanced, and less romantic than the generation of drag doyennes you came. Your drag was more punk rock than punk rock. Needles Jones: People have explained to me what my work is, but I don’t have a manifesto that exemplifies that. Again, my female icon was Nico, not Streisand. I am revolutionary because I instigate. n

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voices

This page is for you. We welcome submissions of essays, short stories, an excerpt from your book, and opinion pieces. Professional writers, experts, and amateurs are all invited to contribute. Send an email with the subject line VOICES to trina@icondv.com. Include your name, address, and phone number. If your piece is chosen to be published we’ll let you know and only print your name.

Tombstone Tourist By Fredricka Maister

“I HAD THE TIME of my life in Père Lachaise Cemetery,” I told everyone when I returned from Paris. Even in the telling I could feel the rush of adrenaline I experienced during my five-hour stroll through the 110-acre funeral park on the eastern edge of Paris. Like a good tourist, during my short stay in Paris at the end of a two-week trip through Brittany and Normandy, I made sure to visit two museums I’d never explored: La Musée Marmottan Monet and Musée D’Orsay. I was awed by Claude Monet’s waterlily murals in the Marmottan’s basement, especially since I had seen the waterlilies the day before in the artist’s garden in Giverny. And how could I not be impressed by D’Orsay with its Beaux-Arts railway station setting, extensive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, and sweeping views of the Seine and rooftops of Paris? But odd as it may seem, Père Lachaise Cemetery was the highlight of my trip or, as we Francophiles say, “la pièce de resistance.” At the top of my bucket list for years, Père Lachaise did not disappoint. Not only is it the final resting place of The Doors’ Jim Morrison but celebrated luminaries of particular interest to me such as Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Molière, Chopin Pissaro, Modigliani, Marcel Marceau, and countless others. Even the unpredictable French weather cooperated during my visit, the ominous skies waiting to open up just as I was about to leave. Père Lachaise was like a city within a city with winding, cobble-stoned, tree-lined “avenues,” ”boulevards,” “chemins,” and even a roundabout. Street signs marked the “divisions” in this non-denominational cemetery with 70,000 tombstones and mausoleums of the wellknown, lesser-known and unknown. Monuments ran the gamut from simple and unadorned to ornate and ostentatious. Even with the cemetery map provided by the administration office listing the “mostsearched-for burial places,” navigating Père Lachaise felt like a treasure hunt based on luck and chance encounters. Near the main entrance, I was pleasantly shocked to stumble upon my first famous person. Etched on a tombstone were the words “Ici Repose Colette.” I had discovered the writer 20

Colette. She didn’t appear on the map. I found Marcel Marceau thanks to an American tourist on her third visit to the cemetery

William Young Georges Rodenbach, a Belgian novelist buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, has a tomb showing someone coming out of the grave with a rose in his hand. Rodenbach's most famous work was over the death of his wife.

within a week. I had seen the world-renowned mime perform decades ago at New York’s Carnegie Hall. “He’s to the right of the chapel up the hill,” she told me. Since Marceau’s tomb bore a Star of David to identify him as a Jew, I solemnly, mime-like, placed a small stone on his grave, as is customary in Jewish tradition. That act made me feel connected to him as a Jew and as an admiring fan who had stopped by to honor his life and remember him in death. I accidentally discovered Edith Piaf when I noticed a few people congregated around a grave that simply said, “Famille Gassion-Piaf.” Engraved on the side was “Madame Lamboukas (the surname of her last husband) dite Edith Piaf (1915-1963).” A long-stemmed red rose lay on top. I could just see and hear Piaf soulfully crooning her signature song, “La Vie en Rose.” I later found Yves Montand, Piaf’s protégé and legendary actor of French cinema, buried alongside his wife, the actress Simone Signoret, in a

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nondescript double grave. In addition to the outside, above-ground monuments were the multi-story columbarium with its endless rows of niches holding the cremains of thousands, including Max Ernst, Isadora Duncan, Max Ophuls, and Maria Callas. I searched for Richard Wright to no avail; I kept getting lost among the niches. Even as I descended alone into the dimly lit underground stories of the columbarium, I wasn’t fearful or spooked; on the contrary, I felt comforted by the silent community of dead souls who had opted to be cremated. I took a rest break on the columbarium steps with its view of the fully-functioning crematorium. The irony of watching smoke billow from a crematorium’s chimneys on European soil was not lost on me. As a descendant of the millions of Jews sent to the ovens in the Holocaust, I sat in quiet reflection. I did not want to dwell on the Holocaust; I wanted to hold onto my adventure roaming the cemetery in search of elusive celebrities. However, when I followed the circular driveway leading to the exit, I entered a section with huge, towering monuments commemorating war veterans, resistance fighters, the 147 insurgents shot during the uprising of the Paris Commune in 1871, and yes, the deportees sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz, BergenBelsen, Buchenwald, and Dachau. It seemed only fitting to remember and pay homage to the nameless defenders and the defenseless who had no graves to visit. By then, it had started to drizzle. As I made my way to the exit, a headstone suddenly jumped out at me — Gertrude Stein! I stopped dead in my tracks. The drizzle became torrential, but I didn’t care. I put up my umbrella and stared at the surprisingly austere grave, covered with small stones. Her life partner, Alice B. Toklas, was on the other side of the headstone. Colette at the beginning and Gertrude Stein at the end — two female literary giants had bookended my visit to “the city of the dead.” As a female writer, could I have asked for more? Floating euphorically, I walked through the gates of Père Lachaise back into the hustle and bustle of Paris. n

PÃ¨re Lachaise Cemetery. Photo: Joe Cornish

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harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

Neuropsychologists developed a shorter IQ test for children with shorter attention spans. The depression-prone are less attracted to the political right. The nocturnal heart rate of young men can be predicted by their female partners’ daytime feelings of intimacy or annoyance. Men who pose for photos with cats are seen as less datable. Men can rate the facial attractiveness of women without paying attention, but women cannot do the same for men; gay men find the faces of purportedly fertile women and men more attractive; adolescents and adults both rate the faces of children younger than 4.6 years old as more appealing than those of older children; and body odors associated with fear quicken the visual processing of others’ facial expressions of fear. Beak covering and nape-feather ruffling indicate calmness in sulfur-crested cockatoos. Repetitive negative thinking was associated with an increased risk of dementia, and self-harm in female adolescents may prevent suicide. Psychopaths recommend harsher punishments for homicides, whether accidental or motivated by profit, but exhibit relatively low concern about killing in general. Online murder-for-hire advertisements seek to convey professionalism yet tend not to provide references up front.

Minimum amount the U.S. government spent funding anti–Hugo Chávez rock songs while he led Venezuela: $22,970 Rank of 2019 among years with the highest worldwide spending on nuclear weapons: 1 Percentage by which the United States spent more than the second-highest spender: 70 Number of Nat’l Guard members on active duty in the United States on June 1, 2020: 66,700 On active duty abroad on the same day: 28,300 Minimum number of cities in which the Department of Homeland Security has used aerial surveillance at protests this year: 15 Minimum hours of surveillance footage that it has logged: 270 Number of police departments in the 20 largest U.S. cities whose use-of-force policies meet UN human-rights standards: 0 Total value of surplus military equipment distributed to U.S. police departments under the Trump Administration: $964,962,803 Of bayonets: $19,761 Of “extreme cold-weather parkas” distributed to the LAPD: $27,161 Min. number of police killings since 2010 when restrained victims said they couldn’t breathe: 32 Number of those incidents that resulted in criminal charges against the officers: 5 Number of those cases in which charges were not eventually dropped: 2 Percentage of time on duty that U.S. police officers devote to violent crime: 4 To noncriminal complaints: 35 Number of leading U.S. state health officials who have resigned, retired, or been fired during the COVID-19 pandemic: 34 Number of Covid19-related academic studies that have been retracted since the outbreak: 22 Estimated months of education progress, on average, expected to be lost by K−12 students who began remote learning this year: 7 % of U.S. rural school districts that did not require any instruction after schools closed: 53 Percentage of city-dwelling Americans who have considered moving somewhere less dense since the pandemic began: 39 Portion of Americans aged 18 to 29 who have moved because of the coronavirus: 1/10 Increase since Feb. in number of American Jews who have applied to emigrate to Israel: 64% Chance that a Canadian sees the United States as “unfriendly” or “an enemy”: 1 in 5 Estimated amount that the United States will lose this year in tourism revenue: $550,000,000,000 That the United States will lose even if all Americans’ tourist dollars are spent domestically: $52,000,000,000 That China will gain if its tourist dollars are spent domestically: $238,000,000,000 Amount per traveler by which Japan plans on subsidizing domestic vacations as part of economic recovery efforts: $187 Amount a tourist to Iceland can pay to skip a mandated COVID-19 quarantine: $65 Minimum number of U.S. climate-change infrastructure projects that have been delayed or canceled because of COVID-19: 13 Portion of Europeans aged 16 to 29 who think authoritarian states are better equipped to handle climate change than democracies: 1/2 Portion of people in democracies who believe their governments are not democratic: 2/5 Percentage of transgender Americans who don’t have the identification required to vote: 42 Percentage of registered Democrats who believe voting by mail increases the risk of fraud: 21 Of registered Republicans: 69 Average number of times per day that Donald Trump tweeted in 2017: 7 In 2020: 32 Percentage of Americans who want Trump to tweet more frequently: 3 Rank of May 29–June 4 among weeks researchers determined the “saddest” on Twitter: 1 Minimum number of seafarers who have been stranded offshore since pandemic lockdown measures began: 200,000

n Convalescent plasma helps Syrian hamsters fight SARS-CoV-2. Plastic surgeons suggested that Botox could reduce the expression of negative emotions by masked faces. The presence of a professional sports team increases a city’s seasonal flu deaths. A psycholinguistic analysis of posts on Twitter and Weibo during COVID19 lockdowns found that residents of Lombardy grew increasingly focused on leisure and residents of Wuhan grew increasingly focused on religion. Recent toilet-paper hoarding was more prevalent among Americans than Europeans and more prevalent among the old than the young. Gerontologists cautioned that it would be difficult to predict individual Holocaust survivors’ trauma or resilience in response to the pandemic, which was expected to strengthen the market for laboratory mouse-suffocation chambers. Researchers proposed replacing the paradigm of extinction with that of evanescence. Climate change was expected to drive American lobsters to seek deeper waters, beavers to colonize new parts of Canada, and wolf spiders in the high Arctic to produce a second annual brood. Humboldt penguins who nest in the open have more pollutant metabolites in their blood than do penguins who nest in guano-rich burrows. The tiger snakes of Perth have heavy metals in their livers. Satellite imagery captured ecosystem damage from fog loss, and aerial photography confirmed the existence of Roman military camps revealed by the 2018 Welsh drought. A young woman in a Vilnius plague pit was found to have been coinfected with yaws. A man buried at Newgrange passage tomb was found to be the product of first-degree incest, indicating that he was a member of the elite.

n Scientists trained subjects to exercise control over a single neuron, linked the hippocampus to regret, and concluded that humans smell in stereo. Straight Slovakians assume that a woman in high heels will inspire more intense mate-guarding. Women who receive continuous rather than interrupted sutures for perineal repair after vaginal delivery report higher sexual levels of arousal and orgasmic function. Pinkness predicts aggression in flamingos. Chimpanzees have a bone in their hearts. n 22

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SOURCES: 1 Timothy Gill, University of North Carolina Wilmington; 2,3 International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Geneva); 4,5 National Guard Bureau (Arlington, Va.); 6,7 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 8 Claudia Flores, University of Chicago Law School; 9–11 Law Enforcement Support Office (Battle Creek, Mich.); 12–14 USA Today (McLean, Va.); 15,16 AH Datalytics (New Orleans); 17 Kaiser Health News (San Francisco); 18 Retraction Watch (NYC); 19 McKinsey & Company (NYC); 20 Travis Pillow, University of Washington Bothell; 21 The Harris Poll (Chicago); 22 Pew Research Center (Washington); 23 Nefesh B’Nefesh (Jerusalem); 24 YouGov (NYC); 25 U.S. Travel Association (Washington); 26,27 Bernstein Research (London); 28 Japan Tourism Agency (Tokyo); 29 Icelandic Ministry of Health (Reykjavík); 30 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; 31 Timothy Garton Ash, University of Oxford (England); 32 Dalia Research (Berlin); 33 The Williams Institute (Los Angeles); 34,35 YouGov; 36,37 Trump Twitter Archive (Boston); 38 YouGov; 39 Chris Danforth, University of Vermont (Burlington); 40 International Chamber of Shipping (London).

SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

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