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Contents 28

DECEMBER ~ 2011

INTERVIEW Michel Hazanavicius I 28 With The Artist, the director re-creates what making a movie was like during Hollywood’s Golden Age, the silent film era.

FOOD & WINE

ETCETERA

Chateauneuf-du-Pape I 38 Chabaa I 39 Joseph Ambler Inn I 40

L.A. Times Sunday Crossword I 36

DAVE BARRY Away in a Mangy Strip Club I 42

FEATURES American Medicis I 30

Michel Hazanavicius.

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The True Self vs. The False Self I 46

The art of Occupy Wall Street.

MUSIC

DEPARTMENTS

Jazz Library I 50 Benny Carter

On Broadway I 7 Learning to See I 8 here. Not there. I 10 Exhibitions I 12

STAGE Follies I 14 Regional Theater I 16

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FILM Reel News I 18 The Debt Mysteries of Lisbon Midnight in Paris The Help Cinematters: The Descendants I 20 Keresman on Film: J. Edgar I 22

GOING OUT CALENDAR I 63

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The Revolution Will Be Beautiful I 32

ART

DAY/WEEKEND TRIP I 51

Hanukah and Mom I 44

ABOUT LIFE

Eugene Robinson I 5 E.J. Dionne Jr. I 5 Lexicrockery I 56

Harper’s FINDINGS I 51

ESSAY

The legacy of the Kress Brothers.

POLITICS & OPINION

Harper’s INDEX I 48

Classical Notebook I 52 Alexandre Tharaud Angela Gheorghiu Simon Rattle Singer / Songwriter I 54 Billy Joel Ben Folds Ingrid Gerdes Duke Robillard Merle Haggard

Shailene Woodley and George Clooney.

Keresman on Disc I 56 P.G. Six Lydia Loveless Jonathan Sternberg Gavin Bryars Dr. Michael White Nick’s Picks I 58 Gilad Hekselman Wayman Tisdale Jake Saslow Bob James/Keiko Matsui Opus 5 Oscar Peterson

Bad Movie: Bad Teacher I 24

Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover 4

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Film Roundup I 26 Corman’s World Young Goethe in Love My Week with Marilyn Lads & Jockeys

THE LAST WORD I 60 Mormon temple design Occupy Philadelphia Collaboration in the theater Drug rehab and cuts

ON THE COVER: Angela Gheorghiu, the defining diva of this

century. Peter Gistelinck’s review of Homage to Maria Callas begins on page 52.

opinion

Republican obstinance doomed the supercommittee

Occupy our consciences

EUGENE ROBINSON

E.J. DIONNE JR

NO, THE SUN DIDN’T rise in the west this morning. No, Republicans on the congressional supercommittee didn’t offer meaningful concessions on raising new tax revenue. And no, “both sides” are not equally responsible for the failure to compromise.

As usual, the two parties began with vastly different ideas of what it means to negotiate. Democrats envisioned meeting somewhere in the middle, while Republicans anticipated not moving an inch. This isn’t just my spin, it’s a matter of public record: Before the 12-member supercommittee ever met, House Speaker John Boehner warned that they had better not agree to any new tax revenue.

Think about this for a minute. The whole point of the subcommittee exercise was to begin reducing the ballooning national debt, now more than $15 trillion. Closing such a big gap with spending cuts is possible only in the parallel universe inhabited by GOP ideologues, a place where the laws of arithmetic do not apply.

Here in the real world—where tax receipts as a percentage of gross domestic product are lower than they’ve been since 1950—it’s ridiculous to think of solving the long-term debt problem without substantial new revenue. Yet the position taken by Republicans in Congress is that tax rates can go only down, never up.

To uphold this absolutist principle, they have gone so far as to threaten to send the U.S. Treasury into default.

That is basically where the subcommittee talks stood—Democrats ready to give and take, Republicans willing only to take—until the eleventh hour, when Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) presented to his supercolleagues a proposal for tax reform that some

EVERYONE ON THE LEFT side of American politics, from the near end to the far end, has advice for Occupy Wall Street. I’m no exception. But it’s useful to acknowledge first that this movement has accomplished things that the more established left didn’t.

The problems of growing economic inequality and abuses by the masters of the financial world have been in the background for years. Many progressives longed to make them central political questions.

Occupy realized that the old approaches hadn’t worked. So it provided the media with a committed group of activists to cover, a good story line and excellent pictures. Paradoxically, its unconventional approach fit nicely with current media conventions. And its indifference to immediate political concerns gave the movement a freedom of action that others on the left did not have.

The breakup of some of Occupy’s encampments signals a new phase for the movement. This does not have to mean its end. On the contrary, it is an opportunity.

Let’s first dispense with a kind of narcissism that exists among Americans who lived through the 1960s and insist on seeing Occupy as nothing more than a rerun of the battles over Vietnam, Richard Nixon and the counterculture.

This frame is convenient to conservatives who hope to drive a wedge between working-class voters and the occupiers, much as Nixon brilliantly played construction workers against privileged hippies. That’s the theme of an outrageous advertisement assailing Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren by Crossroads GPS, the

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5 / OPINION / OCCUPY OUR CONSCIENCES

icon

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

commentators hailed as a breakthrough. It was, in fact, nothing of the sort.

Toomey’s plan would have actually cut tax rates, including for the wealthy, with a promise to raise them again if that’s what was needed to boost tax revenue by $250 billion over the next decade.

Puh-leeze.

While $250 billion sounds like a lot, it’s much less impressive when compared with the supercommittee’s overall goal of reducing the debt by $1.2 trillion. This would still mean four dollars in spending cuts for every one dollar of new revenue.

And Toomey’s number is a drop in the bucket when you look at the $15 trillion debt—or even the $4 trillion in debt reduction that most analysts believe would really make a difference. With so little new revenue, we would need to make draconian cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that would radically alter the social contract in this country.

Toomey’s proposal on taxes is a breakthrough only if we’re grading on a curve—giving Republicans extra credit for moving an inch, simply because they’ve been so adamant about not moving at all.

Democrats, meanwhile, get accused of being intransigent for drawing a line after having moved many, many miles.

It’s useful to remember that not all Republicans are so stubborn. Many realize that a balanced approach of spending cuts and tax increases will be needed to address the debt problem—and that these adjustments shouldn’t be made too abruptly, given the fragility of the economic recovery. But anyone who speaks these truths out loud is branded a heretic in Republican circles, where tax cuts are not a matter of policy but of faith.

The deal that established the supercommittee specified that if the superlegislators failed to reach agreement, $1.2 trillion in budget cuts would automatically take place at the beginning of 2013. Is this really better, from the progressive point of view, than some sort of lopsided “compromise” incorporating the Toomey revenue, which would reduce the dollar amount of budget-slashing needed to attain the $1.2 trillion goal?

Yes, no deal is almost certainly better than a bad deal. The automatic cuts will be painful, but they don’t touch entitlements— and thus don’t preempt the serious discussion we need to have about making sure that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are sustainable.

Instead, the Pentagon bears the brunt of the sword-of-Damocles cuts. Already, Republicans are beginning to howl that we need to find some way to avoid damaging our national security. The solution is clear: If we want a military that projects U.S. power around the globe, we need to pay for it.

Maybe Republicans will acknowledge that American greatness doesn’t come free. That’s the breakthrough we need. ■ 6

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group associated with Karl Rove. It accuses Warren, a Democrat, of siding with occupiers who “attack police, do drugs and trash public parks.”

Notice that this is an effort to bury the movement’s apt criticisms of the financial system beneath a pile of stereotypes.

The Massachusetts Republican Party is reinforcing the message with regular “Occupy Wall Street Incident Reports” about anything bad that happens at demonstrations around the country.

They run under a logo casting Warren as the “Matriarch of Mayhem,” in honor of her statement that she had created “much of the intellectual foundation” for the new movement.

To her credit, Warren has not backed off her support for the movement’s core ideas or goals. She has, however, emphasized that the demonstrators should obey the law.

That is good advice—as a general matter and as a political matter. If the occupiers need to battle right-wing efforts to turn them into Abbie Hoffmans and Jerry Rubins (whom many occupiers have never heard of), they also need to resist a lefty sort of nostalgia.

It’s not the ’60s anymore. The protests of that era were rooted in affluence. Too often in those years, the left cut itself off from the concerns of the white working class and disdained its values. That’s the history the right wants to revive. In fact, the Occupy demonstrations are precisely about the concerns of Americans who have been sidelined economically. This is why polls show broad support for Occupy’s objectives of greater economic equality and more financial accountability.

Thus the question going forward: Will the Occupy movement play into the hands of its enemies by living up to the stereotypes they are trying to create? Or will it instead move to a phase that builds on its success?

Ongoing violent demonstrations will simply not help the cause, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s lessons on nonviolence are useful here. This movement is about something much bigger than “occupying” a particular space. Occupations proved to be a shrewd tactic. They are not a cause or an end in themselves.

Focusing on holding a piece of public land simply makes the movement a hostage to the decisions of local officials, some of whom will inevitably be hostile to its purposes.

More important, the movement should remind itself of its greatest innovation, its slogan: “We are the 99 percent.” This is an affirmation that it is trying to speak for nearly everybody. Its tactics should live up to this aspiration by building support among the vast number of Americans who will never show up at the encampments. It should also want to help political figures such as Warren, who understood far earlier than most the costs of inequality and of the abuses of financial power. The last thing this movement should want to do is create fodder for the ads and e-mails propagated by Warren’s foes.

The occupations have done their work. Now it’s time to occupy the majority. ■

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

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

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

ADVERTISING 800-354-8776

Fine Arts Editors Edward Higgins

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

Mark Keresman Bob Perkins Tom Wilk Theater Critic David Schultz Food Editor Robert Gordon Wine Editor Patricia Savoie

Contributing A.D. Amorosi Writers Robert Beck

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

PO Box 120 • New Hope, PA 18938 (800) 354-8776 Fax (215) 862-9845 ICON is published twelve times per year. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor, editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. Subscriptions are available for $40 (shipping & handling). Copyright 2011 by Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

a thousand words

STORY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

On Broadway I DIDN’T PLAN ON painting outside when packing for New York this time and my cold weather gear was at home. But I had a few hours to spare so I made do with a couple of sweaters and headed out into the surprisingly chilly October morning—one of those that taps you on the shoulder reminding you to enjoy it while you can. I’m always delighted the first time I see my breath in the fall. It sends my mind scuffing through large piles of leaves, exposing ghosts of autumns past. A time when the smell of fall burning took over from charcoal grills, and the sweep of rakes maintained the seasonal rhythms as we moved from the chop of hoes and spades to the scrape of the snow shovel; a cadence I much prefer to the shrill intrusion of leaf blowers.

Trailing my cart of supplies up the sunny side of Broadway toward Amsterdam, I stopped to buy coffee and a bagel from a street vendor. It was seven-thirty and already the light was striking the top third of the Ansonia in the distance. It would move rapidly down the buildings over the next two hours and I needed to quickly find a place to set up.

There is an island at the 71st Street intersection, a small square with a horseshoe of benches that was perfect. Traffic and pedestrians streamed around me but I had the small patch of concrete to myself. The sun continued its angular path, poking fingers of light between buildings and down cross streets, suddenly illuminating patches of avenue and façade, then snatching them back again. The scene was different every time I looked up from the painting and I struggled to establish a consistent pattern of light and shadow.

“That’s really nice!” The words came from behind me. I turned to see a man no taller than five-five, dressed most colorfully in what he had either been given or found that week. He sported a lime green plastic cartoon backpack over a yellow vest from which a number of water bottles and found objects hung by strings. His ensemble included a blue scarf, large white sneakers, and a number of sweaters. Layers, just like me. White hair stuck out from the earflaps of his red and orange striped knit cap and gray stubble surrounded a pink face with uncommonly wide eyes. Even without instruments he could have passed for a one-man band.

Robert Beck maintains a gallery and academy in Lambertville, NJ. robert@robertbeck.net

“Thanks,” I said, ever appreciative of a complement.

“I could be doing that,” the man beamed, “but I’m allergic to paint.” I nodded. He pulled on the strings and bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly excited to have chanced upon a colleague, and a sitting duck at that. I resumed painting.

“Not that kind of paint, house paint,” he said, ending the statement with a shrill whistling noise from his nose.

His eyes glistened and a big grin stole his face. “The chemicals make me crazy!” I smiled back, hoping it disguised my thoughts of van Gogh eating his colors. It’s a fine line that separates all of us. He let out another whistle.

My new friend sat down on one of the benches and continued his monologue. “It’s the radiation. Radiation.

Radiation!” A bus stopped close to my right with a blast of air brakes. The driver blipped his horn and gave me a thumbs-up. I touched the brim of my hat with a brush.

Van Gogh began to flesh-out his thesis in earnest: “Neutrons, neutrons, neutrons. Electrons, electrons.” I

glanced back. He was now joined by a boy and girl who also appeared to be wearing everything they owned. The young couple shared a doughnut and sipped from one cup of coffee. I caught a whiff of pot.

A street-sweeping truck zoomed past in a nasty gray cloud, taking cursory lunges at the curb indentations, going too fast to be effective, casting the cups, wrappers and grime up onto the sidewalk. A few minutes later three men in orange vests came along and pushed the trash back into the street with brooms.

I had lost my shadows and was painting more from recollection than what was in front of me. I dropped a brush. My fingers were cold.

Van Gogh appeared at my side again and gave me a spirited “have a nice day!” The steam from his words hung in the space between us. He turned and danced off waving his hand over his head, trailed closely by the young couple, not quite blending in with the crowd walking on the sunny side of Broadway. ■

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art

ED HIGGINS

Learning to See AUTUMN IS THE SEASON of lost summer memories and the most appropriate symbol of the nostalgia makes up a small but sympathetic show of large scale photography at the Michener Art Museum. Learning To See: Photographs by Nancy Hellebrand comprises 11 large scale manipulated photographs of bare tree branches against an impersonal sky. The show runs through February 26.

Hellebrand, an accomplished artist, has exhibited worldwide and currently runs her own studio in Sarasota, Florida. The digital photographs exhibited here, however, appear to be from this area. She was born in Philadelphia and her mother, Janet Fleisher to whom she had dedicated this show, for 30 years ran the Fleisher Art Gallery in Center City. Janet Fleisher was interested in a wide range of topics and sold art that ranged in price from a few dollars to many thousands of dollars. She was interested in Reiki healing, macrobiotic food, meditation, and yoga.

Interestingly enough, the Fleisher Gallery specialized in the work of self-taught artists. And although Hellebrand has had a solid and traditional photographic education and experience, she is now “teaching” herself to make art with new tools.

She started with street photography, passionate about social justice as only the young can be and she shot images in the tradition of Walker Evans, CartierBresson, and Robert Frank. “Single images and straight photography no longer call me, so now I use my computer to combine images and build new relationships from what I photograph,” she says.

She has gone, as it were, from human nature to Mother Nature and finds “trees, rocks, clouds, and streams as raw material with which to create something new.”

In this current show the tree branches create all kinds of lacy patterns mixed in with strong lines in all directions. And if they don’t, Hellebrand overlays the image with another and another to achieve the statement she wants to make. Some are lightly colored, others not. The results appear as intricate Japanese prints in which the spaces between the branches is as important as the lines themselves. She admits that what she is intending to portray might not even be visible; however, she is sure that it’s real and that it’s there. None of the photographs are titled.

Edward Higgins is a member of The Association Internationale Des Critiques d’Art. 8

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Hellebrand has had tremendous success along the way. She is the first American and the first living woman to have a photography show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Her work has been exhibited in the Tate Britain, the National Gallery of American Art in Washington, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the International Center for Photography in New York. Her pictures are in the permanent collection of a number of universities and prominent museums.

What then to make of the scenes of manipulated nature? If nothing else the images are modern abstractions and don’t necessarily need to have “a meaning.” They are what they are and the viewers find what they need—and, certainly, there is a strong strain of nostalgia, perhaps a longing for things past. As the show is dedicated to her mother who passed away last year, it might not be presumptuous to connect the images with mourning.

Hellebrand took a year off from photography and explored meditation, tai chi and the fire arts of China and Japan. After that her progress could be said to be self-taught.

It is perhaps not coincidental that the Michener Art Museum is directed by Bruce Katsiff, himself a master photographer. He says of Hellebrand’s work, “Using multiple images carefully cropped and selected, she asks us not to see trees but to feel and taste the experience of nature….These images are not of any single place or individual object, they are instead an artist’s construction of experience, of feeling, of impressions, or emotions and of life.” Katsiff announced his resignation in September to spend more time on his own art. He currently has a show of his work at the Monsoon Gallery in Bethlehem.

The show is accompanied by a slim, handsome catalogue with all 11 images reproduced. ■ DECEMBER 2011

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art

BURT WASSERMAN

Tim Portlock, Sunrise, 2011. Ink jet print, 54” x 72” Courtesy of the artist

here. Not there.

FREQUENTLY, YOU HEAR SOMEONE say, “New York City is the creative center of the contemporary American art world.” Like many other broad generalizations, this is sheer nonsense.

Admittedly, the gallery scene and the big-time art auctions in Gotham do make the old town on the Hudson the site of the country’s commercial art capital. The deals generated in that venue provide a platform for analyzing sales trends and determining marketplace reputations as the data is factored into the ever ongoing process of aesthetic commodities trading.

On the other hand, the true center of the art world is located wherever some serious people are at work bringing art into being. This notion comes clearly into focus when you visit the current exhibition titled here. It is set up in the Hamilton Building of the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in center-city Philadelphia and is set to run through December 31, 2011.

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

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exhibitions

Red Barn Door.

Bridge Renovation, 30 x 40

Moments de Curiosité Red Filter Gallery 74 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ Hours: Thurs-Sunday afternoons December 1-January 22 Opening reception 12/3, 3-5 Kisa Kavass was born in Adelaide, South Australia and raised there until age five when her parents brought her to America with them to begin a new life. They traveled throughout both the United States and Europe before settling down in Tennessee where Kisa eventually attended Vanderbilt University to study Art History.

For fifteen years, Kisa has been operating her own portrait studio in a small historical town outside of Nashville specializing in black and white photography. She follows her process from inception of ideas to immaculate printing with her own darkroom studio. Her passion and attention to fine art shows through in the unique glowing quality of her prints. She believes all types of artwork are inter-related and has taught classes in bookmaking, oil hand tinting and alternative Polaroid film processes.

The work selected for Moments de Curiosité translates the views of childhood curiosity into photographs: from structures that possess their own history to glittering, morphing shafts of natural light, viewers are invited to become creative participants.

Kavass’s work has been juried by noted photographers such as Kim Weston, Susan Burnstine, and Jack Spencer. The work has been selected for recognition in shows around the country, and featured in Shots magazine.

John Andrulis‘s Retrospective show continues at the Upstairs Gallery II.

Light SFA Gallery 10 Bridge St., Suite 7, Frenchtown, NJ 908-268-1700 www.sfagallery.com Through December 31 Frenchtown’s newest gallery opens with plein air oil paintings by John Schmidtberger, completed in the immediate vicinity of the gallery. Schmidtberger’s obsession is with light, the subtle variations and shifts in color which occur depending on the time of day, weather, seasons and location. His loose, expressive brushstrokes conjure up vivid, sometimes stark landscapes and cityscapes that radiate energy.

Storefronts, bridges and houses are vehicles for describing the nuanced late afternoon light that dominates many of these canvases. Some are traditional compositions, tightly cropped, while others focus on overlooked areas like the empty spaces between buildings, or reflections on a windowpane competing for attention with the view inside.

Schmidtberger earned an MFA from U of Penn. His work has been exhibited at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Prince Street Gallery in NYC, Elan Fine Arts in Rockland, ME, Camden Falls Gallery in Camden, ME, Trimbur-Henry Gallery in Doylestown and The Quiet Life Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. Other artists represented at the Gallery include Corinne Lalin and Ellen Sapienza, both from Upper Black Eddy, PA; Jon Rischawy from Kingwood, NJ; and Kerstin Engman from Liberty, Maine.

River Valley, Late Fall, 20 x 24

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Chuck Zovko: New Works The Snow Goose Gallery 470 Main Street Bethlehem, PA 610-974-9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com Through December 10, 2011 T- F 10-5:30, Th 10-8, Sat. 10-5, Sun. 11-4 “Just starting out in photography, late in the summer of 1979, I found myself assisting on a job in Califormia. I extended my stay to drive the Highway One from L.A. to San Francisco. I stopped at Point Lobos just outside of Carmel to sightsee and take photographs. New to the medium, I looked like the amateur that I was, shooting everything at eye level. A jolly old bearded man walking a trail spotted me and proceeded to strike up a conversation. He suggested I consider taking photographs at other angles than just eye level. I bent down, looked through the viewfinder, and instantly appreciated his insight. He smiled and went on his way. I never gave it a second thought. Then, in December of 1979, while in a doctor’s office, I picked up a tattered copy of the September 3 issue of Time magazine. That old man’s picture was on the cover. It was Ansel Adams I had been talking to. I was too green to even know it.

So started my love affair with the central California coast. I try to go back at least once a year and spend time visually reflecting on its beauty. Sometimes I even take photographs.

The images in this exhibit are either taken during my sojourns back, or were inspired by the creative recharging I get from that route of the Pacific Coast Highway between Big Sur and the Carmel Highlands.”

Clearing Sunset.

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footlights

B

BY TURNS HAUNTING AND wistful, Follies, a memory play filled with resonant melodies and unforgettable lyrics by Stephen Sondheim is certainly one of his best works. Follies originally opened in 1971, and it stood out among the pack immediately because of its complex score, muti-layered characterizations, and refusal to wrap things up with neatly tied bows. The denial of a sunny fade out rattled traditional theatergoers deeply; but the honest truth and raw energy of this work hit home for the open-minded, and it has become an iconic work for Sondheim.

Follies is a ghost story at heart. The musical begins at the end of an era in the Weisman Theater circa 1971, a decaying theater that is about to be demolished in favor of a parking lot. A group of aging former Weisman chorus girls from the 1920s up to the ‘70s attend a party to wave farewell to the past, and reunite with their comrades with decidedly mixed results. Mr. Weisman says 14

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DAVID SCHULTZ

that the night is “a final chance to glamorize the old days, stumble through a song or two and lie about ourselves a little.”

Sally Durant Plummer (Bernadette Peters) and Phyllis Rogers Stone (Jan Maxwell), two former chorus line friends, attend the proceedings with their respective husbands in tow, Buddy Plummer (Danny Burstein) and Benjamin Stone (Ron Raines). Each spouse is unhappy with their other half, and this evening they all converge to confront fading memories of half-forgotten truths, lies, love and loss. Spectacularly costumed by Gregg Barnes, one by one the girls descend the spiral staircase and assemble for their last curtain call. The clearly defined characters of Sally and Phyllis are shown through Mr. Sondheim’s world-weary score as they struggle with their past, their age and their uncertain future.

The evocative lighting by Natsha Katz and faded set design by Derek McLane add to its impact. Director Eric

Shaeffer gives the cast an intimate space in which to shine. Ms. Peters shows an unusual depth of feeling—despair mixed with hope and weary resignation. Ms. Maxwell’s glamorous, deeply resentful wife is also essayed with enormous skill as she accentuates the inner pain she has been hiding. The leading men have less showy moments except for Mr. Burstein’s intense rendition of “The Right Girl” and Mr. Raines’s haunting mental meltdown as he sings “Live, Laugh, Love.” The classic torch song “Losing My Mind,” sung by Ms. Peters with Stephen Sondheim’s heartbreaking lyrics, is the evening’s emotional highlight and shows why this glorious musical has few rivals. ■ Marquis Theatre, 46th St., NYC. Through January 22.

David Schultz is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.

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regional theater

EDITED BY DAVID SCHULTZ

The King and I Thru 1/8

This Is The Week That Is Thru 12/31 Now its its sixth year, This Is The Week That Is takes on local and national politics with satirical wit, a song or two, and an ever-changing script to bring the American people the truth behind the headlines. The 2012 presidential race is already underway, L-R: Reuben Mitchell, Dave Jadico, Don Montrey, Aimé Kelly, Scott and the inherent Greer, Susan Riley Stevens, Tabitha Allen. Photo: Mark Garvin. mayhem and insane juicy news of the last few weeks alone are fodder for this entertaining troupe of comic actors. This show changes almost nightly as the new stories of the day dictates. Written by the TITWTI ensemble. Directed by Jennifer Childs. 1812 Productions, @ Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Street, Phila. (215) 592-9560. $20-$36. 1812productions.org

The King and I is the classic story of the British governess brought into the court of Siam to tutor the King’s many children.

Once within the splendor of the Royal Palace, Anna and the King grow to understand one another and learn about each other’s cultures. This unique love story is told with a glorious score. Based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Magaret Landon, The King and I originally opened on Broadway in 1951 and ran for 1,246 performances. Mel Sagrado Maghuyop (Miss Saigon) essays the title role. Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street, Phila. (215) 574-3550. $10-$95. walnutstreettheatre.org

The Whipping Man Thru 12/18

A Christmas Carol 12/2-12/18

A Jewish Confederate soldier returns to his home, reuniting with his family’s former slaves.

Amidst the rubble from the Civil War, these three men gather to create order, honor their shared faith and celebrate newfound freedom on Passover. This potent tale resonates and gathers emotional steam to show just how universal we all are in times of extreme situations. Acclaimed actors Johnnie Hobbs, Jr. and James Ijames and Cody Nickell are featured in this universal story of legacy and redemption. Written by Matthew Lopez.

Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2nd Street, Phila. (215) 922-1122. $20-$45. ardentheatre.org

Everyone’s favorite holiday show returns to the Civic Theatre for its 22nd annual production. Tens of thousands of people have come to catch the spirit of the season as Charles Dickens’s legendary characters come to life on Civic’s stage. This timeless show has the potential to engage each viewer with such sentiments as compassion, gratitude, selflessness, and acceptance. Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 North 19th Street, Allentown, PA. (610) 432-8943 $12-$26. civictheatre.com

Amanda and Elyot, once a glamorous and tempestuous couple, haven’t seen each other since their divorce five years ago. When they meet by chance on a hotel balcony, their passion reignites—even though they are on their honeymoons with other people.

Sophisticated, sexy, and sparkling, Private Lives is a screwball romantic comedy from the golden age of Hollywood. Written by Noel Coward. Lantern Theater Company, 10th & Ludlow Streets, Phila. (215) 829-0395. $10-$56. lanterntheater.org ■

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He was a talented actor, playwright and composer who delighted audiences with Private Lives and Blithe Spirit. She was a celebrated actress. Together , Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence formed a remarkable team. Their friendship became part of show business history. This madcap chamber piece exposes a glittering evening with the two of these percolating peeps. They take delight in mischief, wit, and trade backstage stories and song. Written by Sheridan Morley. Walnut Street Theatre @ Independence Studio on 3, @ 825 Walnut Street, Phila. (215) 574-3550. $30. WalnutStreetTheatre.org Christmas City Follies XII 12/1-12/18

Private Lives 12/8-12/31

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Noel and Gertie Thru 12/31

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It’s not Christmas in the Christmas City without a night at the Follies. This everpopular annual vaudevillian holiday show features live music, whimsical characters, and old-timey razzle-dazzle. In a season dedicated to wonder and joy, this Touchstone original will get you there...even if you are kicking and screaming along the way. This unusual take on the holiday season is a sweet, irreverent, and uniquely Bethlehem evening of winter merriment. Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA. (610) 867-1689. $15-$25. touchstone.org ■

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reel news

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

The Debt (2011) ★★★★ Cast: Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Marton Csokas Genre: Thriller Rated R some violence and language.

Running time 113 minutes.

In English, German, Ukrainian with subtitles.

In 1966, three young Mossad agents cross into East Germany to capture a Nazi war criminal who conducted barbaric concentration camp medical experiments. Their success makes them lifelong heroes in Israel.

The plot bounces between the spy-thriller capture in East Germany (with Chastain, Worthington, Csokas) Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson. and the psychological thriller thirty years later. Tingling suspense and unexpected plot twists infuse the action of each period. Now, after thirty years of haunted memories, their lives begin to unravel as hidden truths about the mission emerge and the debts of deception come due, with compound interest.

Mysteries of Lisbon (2011) ★★★★ Cast: Adriano Luz, Maria Joao Bastos, Ricardo Pereira Genre: Drama Based on the novel by Camilo Castelo Branco.

No MPAA rating.

Running time 272 minutes.

Awards: Golden Globe Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress In Portuguese, French, English, with English subtitles.

Originally a miniseries with six one-hour episodes, this flamboyant tale of aristocracy and deception in 19th-century Portugal is epic in every sense of the word. Like plunging down an avalanche slope, the story begins with a bastard boy in an orphanage asking about his mother. Hang on as stories within stories create a labyrinth of betrayal, revenge, romance, and identities fabricated. As the decades pass, duels are fought, secrets revealed, and the tangled web of society’s dark underbelly strangles its victims like a hangman’s noose. Portrayed with lavish costumes, palatial settings, and moody landscapes, this melodrama takes four and one-half, often confusing but always captivating, hours to unfold.

Midnight in Paris ★★★★ Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams Genre: Comedy Written and directed by Woody Allen.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking.

Running time 94 minutes.

Remember the old question about who, dead or alive, you would like to have lunch with? Woody Allen mines the idea to the max when hapless scriptwriter Gil (Wilson) gets fed up with his wife’s (McAdams) uppity socializing while vacationing in Paris. He strikes out at midnight to wander the glistening streets of Paris. In fairy tales, fantasies 18

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Alison Pill and Tom Hiddleston. Photo by Roger Arpajou.

come true—every night Gil finds himself transported to a party with the iconic American writers of another era whom he idolizes. They found inspiration in Paris and made literary history, instead he’s just trying to avoid the stuffed-shirt crowd. The interplay of witty conversation, clever elusions, and gossip-column glimpses into the lives of the famous give Gil a new perspective on life in the present. For Allen, it’s golden opportunity to spin his classic blend of angst and comedy.

The Help (2011) ★★★★ Cast: Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer Genre: Drama Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett.

Rated PG-13.

Running time 146 minutes.

Awards: Hollywood Film Festival: Best Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Ensemble Cast.

In 1963, everyone—black, white, male, female—had “a place” and dared not step outside the boundaries, especially in Jim Crow Mississippi. Skeeter (Stone), a freespirited daughter of high-society, comes home from college with an altered perception of race relations. She sees her family nanny and her friends’ maids with new eyes.

As a journalist, with a degree to prove it, she wants to tell the story behind the story of her best and longest friends, the AfricanAmericans who’ve served white families all their lives. No one wants the repercussions that would come from truthfully telling how they feel about their overbearing employers, but, of course, they finally agree. Though Allison Janney and Emma Stone. racism is heartless, painful and dehumanizing, the feel-good story stays light with stereotypical characters, situations, and results that triumph. Vindication comes with a mix of revenge, comedy, and redemption. ■

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The Descendants ALEXANDER PAYNE PREFERS A lasting impression to an immediate impact. At the surface, The Descendants, his first movie in seven years, is about a harried father coping with two rambunctious daughters and a comatose wife.

That’s like calling Payne’s glorious Sideways a buddy-buddy comedy about wine. What lies beneath is glorious.

Attorney Matt King (George Clooney) calls Hawaii home, but notes that living in paradise does not make him immune to life. His adventurous wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), lies in a coma after a boating accident, a tragic development in an unraveling marriage. When she wakes up, Matt vows to talk things out with her. In the meantime, Matt is thrown into the unsavory role of primary caregiver. “I’m the back-up parent; the understudy,” he tells us. It shows. His younger daughter, Scottie (Amara Miller) is a belligerent handful, and Matt’s attempts to control her are half-hearted.

There’s also work-related chaos. He’s orchestrating a lucrative deal: selling 25,000 acres of pristine island property in the family’s trust, which will make Matt and his cousins very rich. Then, everything changes. The doctor tells Matt that Elizabeth has no chance at living a normal life, a condition that legally requires taking her off life support. Ever the paragon of parental resolve, Matt picks up his older, brattier daughter, Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), from boarding school to help him inform friends and family.

Alex, sullen and resentful at the sudden attention from her neglectful father, has no desire to do anything for her mother. Matt tells Alex to grow up. That’s when Alex drops the bombshell: Elizabeth was seeing another man.

At this point, Payne’s restraint becomes a glorious asset. Matt is determined to discover who slept with Elizabeth, a situation that any other director would portray as a race against time or some other domestic vengeance nonsense. It’s clear that Matt needs closure right now. By not wasting time on the obvious, Payne provides the little details that make The Descendants such a lush film.

Payne, along with co-screenwriters Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, dares us to pay attention. Matt remarks that all the women in his life are determined to make him miserable, but what has he done to prevent that? Teachers and parents recognize Scottie’s lack of respect, but not Matt, who lets her toss deck chairs into the pool. Alex’s selfloathing—no one gave her credit for getting good grades or even saw her in the school play—highlights how 20

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oblivious both parents are. Also, Elizabeth and Matt clearly weren’t a match. Early on, Matt comments that he hasn’t ridden a surfboard in 15 years. What’s prominently displayed in their backyard? Surfboards. Matt’s father-in-law (Robert Forster) chastises Matt for being cheap with Elizabeth. What’s most telling in those scenes is that Matt never corrects him.

Matt facilitates the pre-ordained. The King family has always been taken care of, so of course the land should be sold. Before taking the girls and Alex’s dopey friend (Nick Krause) on a luxurious search for Elizabeth’s paramour, Nick was content as the understudy, even though Elizabeth clearly wasn’t mother-of-the-year material. When Alex observes that she’s becoming her mother, it’s uttered with the solemnity of a cancer diagnosis. Matt’s quest isn’t about resolution. It’s about saving himself and his family.

Clooney’s excellent performance is worthy of Matt’s emotional journey. For years, the star has eschewed empty blockbusters for movies (e.g., Up in the Air, The Ides of March) that were so busy peddling important messages that they obscured his best qualities. Without a world-saving agenda to support in The Descendants, we remember that Clooney is the new Jack Nicholson, a leading man who can adjust his charisma for the situation. (Nicholson did just that, playing a pathetic, adrift retiree in Payne’s About Schmidt.) Matt is flawed in many respects, but we always like him. That has everything to do with Clooney, whose performance adjusts to Payne’s subtle shifts. In a supporting cast of able veterans (Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, a surprisingly good Matthew Lillard), the 20-year-old Woodley shines. As a crazy scheme develops faces and complications, she, like the movie, matures in front of our eyes.

Little things add up, both in life and in The Descendants, which by the end has accumulated the emotional resonance and complexity of a great novel. Payne has made a grand, emotional masterpiece from tiny strokes.

So many dramas scream and strain to be heard. Rare is the movie that can satiate the soul by ending with couch-bound characters eating ice cream in front of the television. By mastering the art of what not to say, Payne has become one of America’s most essential filmmakers. [R] n

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

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keresman on film

MARK KERESMAN

Jeffrey Donovan and Leonardo DiCaprio.

J. Edgar ONE OF THE MOST famous and controversial public figures in 20th century history was and remains J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hoover’s reign (out)lasted nine Presidencies and in part revolutionized law enforcement’s investigative capacities—but he also abused the FBI’s powers by using his authority to leverage pressure on (or possibly blackmail) persons he considered to be “threats” to the American way of life or his personal power. Hoover was once one of the most powerful men in America, but J. Edgar portrays him as an arch-conservative, shallow glory-hound that was deep-down miserable because of his domineering mother, his paranoia, his (probable) closeted homosexuality, and the possibility he knew was feared rather than liked by, oh, nearly everybody. (J. Edgar never married and was almost constantly in the company of FBI Deputy Director Clyde Tolson.) This biopic neither “celebrates” nor is it a total hatchet-job—it’s a warts-and-nearly-all portrait of a troubled, complex character that was both hero and villain.

J. Edgar is portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in a manner that evokes Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote and Nathan Lane taking on the Zero Mostel role in the mostly lame remake of The Producers—which is to say, he virtually disappeared into the 22

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role. This isn’t Leonardo DiCaprio as a pretty-boy—he virtually becomes this character that’s so square he could sleep in a Kleenex box. Hoover was devoted to the concept of an efficient federal crime-fighting organization, to his second-banana (and possible lover) Clyde Tolson, and himself—DiCaprio conveys this by sight as well as sound, by mannerisms as well as dialogue. He’s likable when he (as Hoover) insists on painstaking scientific methods to analyze evidence and organizes a national database of information on criminals, and he’s unlikable when he uses FBI resources to discredit or manipulate anyone he considers a threat to the USA and him (not necessarily in that order))—further, he was known to “embellish” his anti-crime exploits more than a little. You didn’t have to be a leader of the Civil Rights movement (Martin Luther King), you could just be someone that disagreed with him. Naomi Watts also is nigh unrecognizable as Helen Gandy, Hoover’s devotedunto-death personal secretary/assistant. Judi Dench is perfect-as-can-be as a stiff, sour, matronly, insufferably “proper” Mom-from-Hell. (The closest J. Edgar gets to baring his soul possibly to anyone is when he admits to his mother that he doesn’t “like dancing with women,” to which his mother tells him that she’d rather “have a dead son than a son that was a ‘daffodil.’” Charming.)

Armie Hammer—the great-grandson of Occidental Petroleum tycoon Armand Hammer, who himself ran afoul of Hoover—plays Tolson with the modest understatement that gay men must have had to “cultivate” to “blend into” straight society. Hammer beautifully puts across the ambiguity of his relationship with Hoover, which mixed the personal and the professional—it’s

clear that Tolson has deep feelings for his boss yet must also defer to him (mostly) in both respects. Both men, but especially Hoover, are torn between what is in their hearts and living the way society “expects” them to live.

(Hoover passionlessly “considers” marrying a Hollywood star, but is much more passionate about attending—and betting on—horse races.)

Of course, historians (amateur and pro) are going to bicker endlessly about the was-Hoover-gay-or-not question. There is some “evidence” floating around, some of it from (naturally) questionable sources. One primo rumor is the reason Hoover hesitated to pursue the activities of La Cosa Nostra (he publically said there was “no Mafia,” but reluctantly ate his words later on, after the Apalachin Meeting fiasco) because one of The Guys (possibly Meyer Lansky or Frank Costello) had a photograph of J. Edgar in a sexually “compromising” position.

One of the best things about J. Edgar is it leaves that issue somewhat “ambiguous”—it was obvious there were deep feelings between these two men, but it doesn’t touch on (no pun intended) whether this “affair” was “consummated.” In some ways, one could make the argument against the gay love angle for the simple reason the emotionally constipated Hoover’s one true love affair was with himself.

One thing that I wish the movie had touched on was the accusation(s) that J. Edgar was a rabid racist. Was he out to get Martin Luther King because he hated AfricanAmericans or purely because he perceived MLK as a “seditious” influence? No hint. But director Clint Eastwood captured the assorted time-periods well and subtly, with both visuals and music.

One thing that did suck about this movie was the makeup job on the older Tolson—sometimes he looked like a wax figure that got too close to a flame, other times like Gumby. Eastwood’s direction is unfussy and no-nonsense, but it could’ve used [mild sarcasm alert] some fuss and nonsense. While not whitewashing Hoover, the movie as a whole is almost too “proper” and reverent. While never boring, it comes off a little bloodless—it could’ve used some moments like the serrated, electrically-charged Jimmy Hoffa vs. Robert Kennedy clash-scenes in the underrated biopic Hoffa. The Nixon character looked more like Dan Ackroyd than he did Nixon. Not a great movie, just a good one.

[PS: The “Apalachin meeting” referred to above was a November 1957 meeting of approximately 100 wiseguys from the United States, Canada, and Italy held in Apalachin, NY. It was “raided” by local and state gendarmes (about half the attendees were detained) and in effect made the Mob “public.”] n In addition to ICON, Mark Keresman is a contributing writer for SF Weekly, East Bay Express, Pittsburgh City Paper, Paste, Jazz Review, downBeat, and the Manhattan Resident.

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bad movie

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MARK KERESMAN

IT’S NOT JUST ANY day one sees a movie of enormous propaganda value, the kind that can be a tool to maybe change the way people think about a culture. Unfortunately, the culture is Western culture, the movie is Bad Teacher, and the propaganda aspect is that it can be used by the enemies of free societies (Al-Qaeda, Tea Partiers, Scientologists) to exemplify just how shallow, morally bankrupt, and bereft of creative entertainment value Western society is.

Cameron Diaz is Elizabeth Halsey, who is such a manipulative, superficial, crass, insensitive, thieving, bong-sucking gold-digger that Lindsay Lohan would be embarrassed to be seen with her. The plot of Bad Teacher, such as it is, finds Halsey given the gate by her rich boyfriend—that means she has to continue teaching junior high school…which sucks (for her students), because she’s one of those skate-by-with-minimum-effort workers. Halsey’s ultimate goal of returning to work is to make enough money for a breast augmentation, which she feels will give her the “edge” to land a rich suitor. Obviously, We duh Audience are going to have an emotional and/or comedic investment is seeing her succeed or fail. The principal and her fellow teachers are a motley collection of stereotypical nerds, dweebs, and Dudley Dorights right out of central casting. So, compared to this panorama of Mayberry expatriates, and recognizing the social Darwinism of the audience, we’re supposed to “root for” Halsey because she’s…well, because she’s played by Cameron Diaz!

Okay, LAST TIME (until I feel the need to use it again): To all Hollyweird Producers and Screenwriters that spend their winters in eastern Pennsylvania—If you’re going to present one or more unlikable central characters in a movie, TRY to make them INTERESTING in some manner, alright? At least make her a likable rogue like Sgt. Bilko or Alexander Mundy (It Takes a Thief), or self-absorbed but spunky and oblivious like Jenna from 30 Rock. [Small spoiler alert, as if you care] Unlike Henry Hill in Goodfellas, who sees his Mob career go down the toilet and has to make a deal with the Godfather to survive, Halsey/Diaz gets away scott free-ly with several ruthless scams to advance her agenda! She frames a fellow teacher for a crime! She’s mean to her students! But not in any kind of bizarre, surreal 30 Rock/True Blood/Three Stooges fashion…

7th grade girl: “My mother baked these cookies for you.”

[Halsey takes a bite of one, spits it out on her desk] Halsey, look of disgust on face: “These cookies suck.”

Yuk, yuk.

She calls an overweight boy “Chubs” before she lands a basketball in his face for getting a question wrong. Later on, Halsey gets invited to a student’s family’s home for Christmas dinner, after which (like a true sociopath responding to someone’s kindness) she steals a glass figurine from their fireplace’s mantle. Our heroine.

Remember Colonel Hans Landa, the deviously cunning, merciless “Jew Hunter” from Inglorious Basterds, played wonderfully by Christoph Waltz? Ms. Halsey could be his girlfriend/love interest…after, of course, Aldo Raine gave him that gratis cosmetic surgery, for maximum cruelty’s effect. (Hey, don’t look at me that way…he was a pretty bad character.)

This might be defensible—the characters in The Usual Suspects were a lot worse (weren’t they?)—provided this movie was at all funny. The screenplay…aw, never mind that, the jokes are on the level of those 1980s goofball/gross-out comedies such as Weekend at Porky’s (I’m scrunching them together for maximum cruelty’s effect). If you’re a mean-spirited middle-schooler that’s discovered the dubious glories of foul language and want to see a once-hot-but-fading actress play a shallow creep, you’ll have the time of your life. (Diaz is still pretty, but unless she gets into a BIG hit soon, we’re going to see her “starring” on the small screen in a few years.)

But we can’t have a “bad” character be the star of the story, can we? Especially if she’s a teacher, right? We have to see some change of heart or beginnings of redemption, and we do. (She shows concern for her students.) But it seems not only farfetched (after the personality we’ve seen), but utterly phony. It’d be more plausible for Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes saying at the end of one of his kill-the-British-actors-one-byone movies, “Maybe gruesomely murdering people I don’t like isn’t the way to go— perhaps I’ll volunteer my services at a hospital burn unit.” ■

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film roundup Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (Dir: Alex Stapleton). Despite having the refined, gentle bearing of your favorite English professor, Corman insists that inside he’s an “inferno,” which explains his nearly 70-year career producing and directing hundreds of cheap, campy flicks like The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and The Raven.

He’s perhaps more famous for his films serving as a training ground for actors and directors such as Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, and even Jack Nicholson, who says the filmmaker was his “lifeblood” during the lean years before Easy Rider. In this heartfelt, enlightening gem, Stapleton traces Corman’s unconventional success and his enduring influence. The movie benefits immensely from the warm, funny anecdotes of his numerous collaborators—Pam Grier says her willingness to perform stunts kept her employed; Martin Scorsese credits directing Corman’s Boxcar Bertha in helping him film Mean Streets— which also trace Corman’s rise and fall in the movie industry. Even better, Corman, now 85, is exceedingly likable, a man more concerned about producing the TV movie Dinoshark than his impact on the American movie landscape. Not just a wonderful tribute, but one of 2011’s best documentaries. ★★★★ [R] Young Goethe in Love (Philipp Stölzl). Starring: Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu, Volker Bruch, Burghart Klaussner. It’s widely acknowledged that Charlotte Buff inspired the lovelorn Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write his landmark 1774 novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. Stölzl’s charming, original work provides

the background behind the literary misery. In 1772, 23-year-old Goethe (Fehling) is a fledgling poet and writer whose buffoonish behavior and lack of direction enrages his father (Klaussner), who sends him to Frankfurt for a more appropriate (and thankless) legal job. There, Goethe meets and falls in love with the witty, wild-haired Buff (Stein), whose family’s struggles make marrying for love nearly impossible. That condition sets 26

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

the stage for a most uncomfortable and dangerous love triangle. Spirited performances and a lively pace aid an entertaining affair that earns points for showing the rough side of romance. Many costume dramas coast on prestige or submerge their conflicts in courtly passion. Young Goethe in Love doesn’t steer away from meatier, relevant subjects. ★★★1/2 [NR] My Week with Marilyn (Dir: Simon Curtis). Starring: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, Dougray Scott, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Derek Jacobi. In 1956 Marilyn Monroe (Williams) flew to England to film The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier (Branagh), a union of future legends that was fraught with difficulty. Intimidated and in constant need of reassurance, Monroe maintained a sycophantic entourage and exhausted the patience of new husband Arthur Miller (Scott). Olivier, though a fan of Monroe’s attributes, was exasperated by her fragility and leisurely pace. Third assistant director Colin Clark (Redmayne), a wide-eyed 23-year-old working on his first film, got thrown into the middle of this hoopla when Monroe took a shine to him…and destroyed his professional veneer. Adaptation of Clark’s memoir works because of Williams, who aside from her physical resemblance, nails Monroe’s neurotic vulnerability: the adulation both revives and destroys her. Unfortunately, the movie lacks the star’s poise. It’s too dark to be a frothy coming-of-age story. And it’s too glossy—the film has the Weinstein brothers’ prestige-y fingerprints all over—to pass muster as a character study, which would have made Williams’s excellent performance all the more absorbing. Pleasant and polished, My Week with Marilyn’s lack of bite turns it into another piece of baby boomer-friendly nostalgia. ★★ [R] Lads & Jockeys (Dir: Benjamin Marquet). Documentary profiles three teenage boys who attend a boarding school for jockeys in Chantilly, France, a village near Paris. When not attending classes or ogling female classmates, the students are immersed in horse racing, which includes learning everything from cleaning stalls to controlling the horse’s speed and temperament. Marquet employs a hands-off approach here, capturing the kids during their daily lives and showing the hard work and drudgery required in getting these graceful animals ready. There’s no narration and no formal interviews, unless you count black and white news footage. For a while the absence of canned answers is a blessing, until you realize that Lads & Jockeys is shapelessly edited. The footage presented doesn’t tell a story or provide much insight into the students, their instructors, or anything else. Aside from the last 20 minutes, the movie sort of sits there, when it could portray the intoxicating fear that is being young and away from home. ★★ [NR] ■

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interview

A.D. AMOROSI

How films were told before sound.

With The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius re-creates the Golden Age of Hollywood.

THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON—AND by extension the cinematic award nominating season of the Oscars and the Golden Globes—the very best of its movies come laced with an old world sensibility. Film’s past—its technologies, genres and styles—are being touched upon in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist. When it comes to the colorful emotive 3-D children’s film Hugo, it hardly seems the case (though 3-D certainly had its start in the 40s) that the past has much to do the proceedings. Other than it being set in the 30s, in a Paris train station where the young orphan “Hugo Cabret” (Asa Butterfield) takes a shine to a persnickety toy seller (Ben Kingsley)

Director Michel Hazanavicius.

while a dastardly station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) attempts to rustle him into an orphanage. Yet, Hugo is based on a true story in that the torn down toy seller (who has a connection to the film’s informational device—an old timey automaton) is Georges Méliès, a pioneer in pre-cinema cinema. A Trip to the Moon, a famous 1902 Méliès short, was cheaply duplicated by his rival, Thomas Edison, so that Méliès could make no money from his discoveries.

Bitter, Méliès became a toy seller until Hollywood rediscovered his inventiveness in the early 30s before his passing in 1938. As is the case with the Lumière brothers, there would be no cinema without Méliès’s innovations and clever art work.

If A.D. Amorosi isn’t found writing features for ICON, the Philadelphia Inquirer, acting as a columnist for Philadelphia City Paper (amongst other writings appearing on NBC-TV’s The 10! Show, and editing at Blurt magazine), he’s probably running his greyhound or trying on snug fitting suits.

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The Artist goes a step further. The new French blackand-white silent film (lensed in Hollywood) is about the Hollywood silent film era, which means it is about America and its dream merchants, for sure. But it’s far more intimate than that despite its varied sweeping scores and Busby Berkley-worthy sets. It’s a love letter to the art form which America turned into an industry. It’s a love letter to American brashness, boldness, bigness and confidence. It’s a love letter to the very idea of an industry that allowed swashbuckling men with wry mustaches and confident smiles to remain silent until the talkies came in, and it could allow quietude no longer. For some, the silence was golden and sound was devastating. When, in its first scene, carefree top-of-the-heap movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is being tortured by his captors, the title card comes up “Speak!”— an alarm goes off. Soon that will become a mantra, then a dictate, then a curse to those who were unconfident that their fans would still love them if they spoke. Like Valentin, who goes through the melodrama’s paces with vigor, then torture, then resolve, then the brightest of ideas. Bring in a comfortably chummy co-star and live-in buddy in the guise of a lovable Jack Russell terrier, an unspoken love and dedication from a nobody admirer, Peppy Miller (played by Bérénice Bejo), who becomes Valentin’s biggest rival (other than his own ego, fear and reluctance) exaggeratedly mugging faces (especially that of a studio boss played by John Goodman), Age of Hollywood espirit (and decoration) and a denounment that involves, as it always does in the world of pre-50s realism, a tap dance, and you have in The Artist what is probably this year’s Academy Award-winning favorite.

At the very least, The Artist is an American audience favorite according to what its director/writer Hazanavicius has witnessed. “The strength of the responses has been overwhelming,” says Hazanavicius. “You can’t expect that—or, rather, that is not something I expect.”

Hazanavicius goes on to say that the first time he screened it in the United States was during the Telluride Film Festival of 2011. Yes, people were laughing loudly.

But for a culture that doesn’t take to uproarious laughter (unless it is Jerry Lewis) Hazanavicius was in a panic. “I was afraid at that moment at that level of laughter. That is not something the French do unless it is hilarious. I could not tell if the audience was enjoying the movie or laughing at the movie. Finally, I could tell that the Telluride audience was delighted. Here, in the United States, people express their pleasure much more than in France. People from many countries are enjoying the movie but it is special here. We are telling your story and you people are touched by that, I think.” Hazanavicius goes on to say that there’s something very special in the manner in which The Artist speaks to we-the-people.

“It’s an American story with American characters. Maybe because it was made by a French director it’s more touching for American audiences.”

Audiences everywhere know Hazanavicius for his

Berenice Bejo.

camp action suspense driven films (and French hits) OSS 117, Lost in Rio and OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (both starring Dujardin and Bejo) the sorts of films that “Valentin” might’ve played if came up in the Bond ‘60s. Hazanavicius, a sort of formalist of period filmmaking, wanted to make a silent film, one where the expressiveness of the faces pushed the story forward. The highly stylized and immediately charming Artist has that in spades. For Hazanavicius, the format came first. “It was just something I wanted to do.” Then he tried to figure out what sort of story would work best for his silver halides and faster frames per second. “What would thematically serve the silent medium?” he asks. “I thought the love story and especially the melodrama. The format moves you to be poetic in a way, yet to be melodramatic. I also wanted to put funny things in it.”

Hazanavicius managed to be authentic without aping the silent film form. He filmed in Hollywood’s old back lots. He sped up the frames per second so everyone seemed to move faster. Ludovic Bource, Hazanavicius’s composer of choice for the last twelve years, created a richly varied and period evocative score. “Old Hollywood films and classical music had to become his second languages. I asked a lot of him. He had to immerse himself in the spirit of that kind of music from that era, like Franz Waxman and Elmer Bernstein in particular. He’s not a classical composer so he had to study hard and when he did it, then had to follow the track of the story, the emotional track.

He had to understand every turning point.”

Hazanavicius did something simple when it came to filming. He succumbed to the

period entirely. He laughs as he says that when most directors try to re-create they merely think about the period but don’t bother trying to shoot it as they did then. “For instance, you can’t shoot a character and action from the 1930s with a Steadicam because that didn’t exist then. I can’t work like that. I tried to work with the old devices, the way shots were framed then.” Though already well versed in the era, Hazanavicius, too, had to immerse himself in the silent film lexicon. “American films mostly, especially during the last five years of the silents like Murnau’s Sunrise and King Vidor’s The Crowd and anything from Max Sennett’s studio.” Other influences were films from John Ford, Singin’ in the Rain, Citizen Kane (which you can sense in The Artist’s hazy light and shadows), Sunset Boulevard, known for its theme of new stars vs. stars from the past and the notion of “they had faces then” that blow throughout The Artist like warm familiar breezes. Those faces then had to be spot on when casting for silence—in particular Valentin who goes from winkingly Douglas Fairbanks-like to subtly fearful. As both leads had starred in Hazanavicius’s previous works (Bejo is the director’s life partner with whom he’s fathered children), he had them in mind before the film started to roll and had written the screenplay around. “I had to think of them as actors and human beings and their faces made into fantasy,” says Hazanavicius of Bejo and Dujardin. “Everybody else though, their faces had to say something before they spoke. Expressive actors. I could not work with poker faces.”

There’s not a poker face in the Hazanavicius deck.

There’s nothing but aces in The Artist. ■ DECEMBER 2011

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feature AMERICAN MEDICIS The Legacy of the Kress Brothers FIFTY YEARS AGO THE Allentown Art Museum received a gift of 51 early European paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, founded by a variety-store mogul and major art collector who considered Allentown his adopted hometown. Since then the Kress Collection has been one of the Museum’s permanent attractions, along with a library-sanctuary designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Some Kresses have even become Museum magnets; among them is an oil of a grinning young fisherman painted by a follower of Frans Hals, a 17th-century master of blurry brushstrokes.

Fifty years later the Allentown Museum of the Lehigh Valley is celebrating its Kress legacy with a kind of joint birthday party. Shared Treasure, which opened in October and ends in January, combines a downstairs permanent exhibit of 40 Kress works owned by the Museum with an upstairs temporary exhibit of 30 works owned by 25 American institutions with Kress collections. For the next month and a half visitors can view a bold Tintoretto portrait of an armored Venetian commander, a florid Tiepolo picture of a love goddess and her fans that once crowned the door of a Venetian palace, and enough madonnas, saints and Christ children to decorate a small chapel.

Shared Treasure was organized by Brooks Joyner, the Allentown Museum’s president/CEO, a Baltimore native who grew up in Kress galleries at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He avoided the normal curatorial procedure of picking pieces himself, instead inviting the heads of the 25 Kress beneficiaries to choose one of their favorite Kresses. The result is a splashy sampling of subjects and styles that helps christen the Museum’s recent restoration and expansion. Designed by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, the prominent Philadelphia architectural firm, the $15.4 million project features a new atrium-style entrance and a new atrium-style gallery for sculptures of Hindu deities.

Shared Treasure salutes Sam Kress (1863-1955) and his benefactor brother, Rush (1877-1963), an unusual cultural tag team born in Cherryville, Pa., a hamlet nine miles north of Allentown. In 1896 Sam, a former quarry worker and teacher, opened the first S.H. Kress & Co. nickel-and-dime store in Memphis. Led by Sam and Rush, the Kress chain grew to 264 locations, selling thousands of items in architecturally distinctive buildings, 50 of which were Art Deco landmarks. The most lavish store, a seven-story marble structure on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street in Manhattan, featured sculptural Mayan impressions of gloves, padlocks and other goods. It was located 40-odd blocks from Sam’s penthouse palazzo, which had a ceiling from a 17th-century Venice ballroom.

Sam was both canny and uncanny. He survived an epidemic of World War I diseases by living for a year and a half in a hospital. He survived stock-market disasters by selling Kress stock in 1929, before the Wall Street crash, then buying Kress stock in 1931.

In 1927 he began funneling five-and-dime profits into the purchase of Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings, inspired by the vaunted collection of an Italian count.

Two years later he launched a namesake foundation to sponsor a traveling show of 50 works from his collection. The organization’s lofty mission was to “promote the moral, physical, and mental well-being and progress of the human races.”

Geoff Gehman has covered the Allentown Art Museum’s Kress Collection as an arts writer for The Morning Call. He is the author of three books, including The Kingdom of the Kid, a memoir of growing up in the middle-class, long-lost Hamptons. He can be reached at geoffgehman@verizon.net.

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In the ‘30s Sam made the Depression less depressing by giving works to museums across the U.S., spreading the common wealth to communities that made him wealthy.

In 1941 he helped jump-start the National Gallery of Art by donating nearly 400 pieces, most of them Italian, a fair share by such heroes as Bellini and Bernini. Over the next 20 years he and Rush gave the National Gallery nearly 1,400 more works by the likes of Durer and Watteau.

Both brothers saved considerable money by buying paintings by Old Masters and Old Master-followers in the ‘30s and ‘40s, when Fragonard, Grunewald and their ilk were largely out of favor. And both men relied considerably on tips from familial females. One of Sam’s art advisors was Dora Kilvert, his significant other for 50 years.

One of Rush’s art advisors was his wife, Virginia. Their daughter, Jocelyn, an independent curator, said in a 2007 interview that it was her mother who convinced her father to buy a Titian portrait of Duke Ranuccio Farnese, bastard child of Pope Paul III. “My father didn’t want to buy that,” said Kress, who died in 2008, “because he was such a Calvinist.”

Rush expanded the Kress Collection into France, Germany and Spain. He took control of the Kress Foundation and Kress stores in 1945 after Sam suffered a massive stroke. After Sam died in 1955, Rush moved his family into his brother’s baronial apartment at 1020 Fifth Ave., across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the ‘50s and ‘60s Rush extended the Kress Foundation’s generosity, donating 776 works by the likes of Giotto and Goya to 18 regional American museums. Each institution had to promise to treat its gift with passion and proper care. And each had to have in its city a Kress & Co. 5 & 10 & 25 store.

The Allentown Art Museum received an unusually large, unusually fine assortment of oils for unusually personal reasons. Rush shared Sam’s affection for their native Lehigh Valley; indeed, the Kress Foundation donated a painting to a church in their birthplace of Cherryville. They also shared a friendship with William Butz, a Museum founder and figurehead. In the late 1930s Butz began lobbying Sam to bring Kress paintings to Allentown, asking specifically for his favorites in Sam’s penthouse palazzo.

In 1960-61 Rush rewarded the persistence Bush, then the Museum’s president, by donating to Allentown some of these favorites, including a rousingly rough Frans Halesque portrait of a pug-nosed kid fisherman. It was the promise of a Kress legacy, in fact, that persuaded Butz and other Museum leaders to move the institution’s headquarters from a house by Allentown’s rose garden to its current location in a former Presbyterian church.

Shared Treasure continues this stimulating sense of kinship. The downstairs show is a mostly chronological, thematic arrangement of scenes reverent (a gilded, peaceful Crucifixion) and irreverent (a drunken Dutch party). The upstairs show is a mostly non-chronological, non-thematic arrangement of scenes irreverent (the court of Juno, the goddess of love) and reverent (a heroically harrowing Crucifixion lent by Jonathan Kress, Rush’s son). The latter exhibit was organized by Brooks Joyner, the Museum’s president/CEO, to simulate the mix-and-match arrangements in Sam Kress’s penthouse palazzo, which had an imported 18th-century bedroom and library.

Both shows are united by a sibling pairing that’s positively Kressian. For decades the Museum’s Kress Gallery has featured Annibale Carracci’s 16th-century “The Bean Eater,” a disarmingly charming oil of an amusingly ugly man startled from eating in mid-spoon. Until Jan. 15 the painting shares the Museum with a mascot from an Oklahoma institution: an elegantly earthy 16th-century oil by Carracci’s brother, Agostino, of a well-dressed gentleman staring, slightly stunned, with searchlight eyes. The Carracci brothers started an art academy in their native Bologna, where they encouraged students to paint extraordinary portraits of ordinary people. Simply put, they were the Italian Baroque cousins of the brothers Kress. ■ “Shared Treasure: The Legacy of Samuel H. Kress” continues through Jan. 15 at the Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. 5th St., between Linden and Hamilton streets, Allentown. 610-432-4333. www.allentownartmuseum.org.

Opposite page: Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Pordenone, Italian, (1483–1539), St. Christopher, after 1516. Oil on canvas. Samuel H. Kress Study Collection, 62.152 Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana.

This page top: Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater, French, (1695–1736), Fête Champêtre, about 1730, Oil on canvas. Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1946.7.19. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. This page bottom: Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde, Dutch, (1638–1698), The Fish Market and Grote Kerk at Haarlem, about 1675–1680, Oil on wood. Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, GL 1960.17.69. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina DECEMBER 2011

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feature The Revolution Will be Beautiful:

The Art of Occupy Wall Street

THE OCCUPY WALL STREET movement may be fewer than three months old, but thousands of stories have already emerged from it, stories that range from the epic to the intimate. There’s the story of the protesters’ Oct. 14 victory over Mayor Bloomberg and Brookfield Office Properties, who postponed the scheduled “cleaning” of Zuccotti Park, an initiative many assumed was a ruse to dismantle the Occupy hub. Then there’s the story of Tim Borst, a part-time office worker from Manhattan’s Upper West Side who simply stopped by Zuccotti in early November to hop on a stationary bicycle and “help run the site’s generator for a while.” There’s the story of UC Davis police pepper-spraying a group of peaceful protesters, leading to a swift, “Shame on you!” retaliation from hundreds of horrified students, and a national outcry that’s fanned the movement’s fire.

And then there’s the story of freelance journalist and former Soundprint host Lisa Simeone, who was fired by NPR on Oct. 20 for her involvement in Occupy D.C. Tucked amidst these tales of triumph, defiance, and disgrace is a subset of stories that haven’t grabbed many headlines, but rather helped to humanize the individuals who’ve taken it upon themselves to join a mob, a collective force, that ostensibly isn’t about art, but commerce. One wonders where there’s even room for artistic and cultural enrichment in a massive political demonstration. Surely the rebels of the French Revolution weren’t eyeing Da Vincis and reading Homer, right? Weren’t they too busy with their pitchforks and guillotines? But as it seems to be with any allotment of people, and any major statement-making initiative, art has bled its way into Occupy Wall Street’s very veins, and branched out to play a major role in its voice and vitality.

On Nov. 15, New York Police finally did clear out Zuccotti, pushing through human chains, removing tents, and arresting at least 140 protesters in the process (protesters have since been permitted to return; however, no one may pitch tents or sleep on the ground). But by that time, the spirit of a subculture had already grown unstoppable, manifesting itself in nourishing creative channels that started at a central nest, but were wholly designed to fly. One development that caught a lot of eyes was the formation of the People’s Library, a give/take/keep/return collection of books and periodicals, which spoke to the movement’s championing of information exchange, and sought no exclusivity in terms of patronage. Zachary Loeb, a librarian from Queens who volunteered at the People’s Library tent right up until Zuccotti’s sweep, said the library, like the movement, began organically, and out of need.

“We feed people’s minds,” Loeb said at the Zuccotti site. “What does the food station bring to the picture? You need food to keep your body going and you need information and enrichment to keep your mind going.”

Loeb, who claimed to donate his time because “democracy requires the role of the people and needs to be about more than picking between two corporate candidates,” was logging 40 hours per week at the Zuccotti library, coming to the Lower Manhattan site on weekends and after work. He noted that the collection grew right along with the variety of donators, as books from private sources came in with whole boxes from authors, lefty publishers, and even right-wing foundations, one of which offered a mess of books on economics. Volumes on politics and history also found their way to the tent, as did scads of paperback fiction and classic literature. But even if an Occupier is

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

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spending 24 hours per day at his encampment, isn’t burying his face in a book counterproductive to his cause? Wouldn’t his time be better spent helping to formulate the movement’s next march? Or helping to hew those central objectives that’ve prompted criticism since Occupy’s inception? According to Loeb, the answer is no.

“I don’t think that looking in a book and reading is escapism,” Loeb said. “You’re actively engaging in something that’s probably quite helpful. History matters. Fiction matters. The stories we tell matter. They reflect who we are as a people and always have. In World War II, the powers that be wanted to cut the budget for the Ministry of Culture in Britain, and Winston Churchill came forward, saying, ‘Then, what are we fighting for?’ Aren’t we fighting for the arts? The arts programming we offer at my library is extremely popular among students because those programs have been cut in their schools. I believe arts and culture are extremely important.”

The notion of art being worth fighting for, or, more specifically, worth traveling for, is one that surely isn’t lost on Joshua Boulet, a freelance brush and ink artist from Dallas who came to New York to be a part of Occupy Wall Street so he could “capture a moment in time” and “try to spread love through art.” Setting up his easel at the corner of Zuccotti, Boulet completed four stark landscapes before the park’s clearing, capturing the space’s new topography of tents and revolutionaries.

One painting depicted one of many morning “mic checks,” with sculptor Mark di Suvero’s red, abstract, and now iconic Joie de Vivre in the background. Another caught the rhythmic, animated vigor of the camp’s drum circle. Boulet, who camped at Zuccotti for eight days before moving in with a friend, said he “knew this was history and wanted to document it,” an on-site inclination that’s informed a large chunk of his body of work. Taking a cue from the library, he named his work “people’s art,” and began selling prints at the camp, with all proceeds going directly to the cause. He said he plans to find a home for the paintings in a New York gallery.

Not even ten paces from Boulet sat Marsha Spencer and Karen Hofmann, two crafty middle-aged knitters who chose to direct their talents into helping the protesters remain comfortable. Spencer, who hails from Hell’s Kitchen, said she was able to knit and donate more than 50 items (hats, scarves, etc.) within the 47 days she was present at the park before its Nov. 15 sweep. Unemployed, Spencer had been sitting home for over a year with nothing to do but knit. She said knitting at Zuccotti proved far more rewarding, and gave her a lot more than anything she gave to anyone else. A mother and grandmother, she said she came for her five grandchildren.

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33 / FEATURE / THE REVOLUTION WILL BE BEAUTIFUL

“I want things to change in this country,” she said. “It’s getting difficult for lower-income people to get into college, and when they come out, there’s no guarantee they’re going to get jobs.”

Also in the realm of apparel was—and remains—the Screen Printing Guild, a less independent entity at least somewhat sanctioned by what little command seems to exist within the movement. Positioned along an outside edge of Zuccotti, the station for the guild saw people like David Yap of the East Village volunteering to give protesters and visitors a wearable piece of Occupy Wall Street, using ink and silkscreens to screen print Occupy logos onto T-shirts. Passersby could have the shirts off their backs emblazoned with the art of the rebellion, or opt for one of the “sustainably made” tees the guild had on hand, preferably offering a suggested donation that would be funneled into central funding.

“Some people give $2, some people give $20,” said Yap, who never touched a silkscreen before coming to the encampment two weeks after Occupy’s kick-off. “We’re one of the highest-grossing working groups. But it’s important for people to see that none of it is for profit. We’re no souvenir shop. That changes people’s assumptions about profiteering, just as printing on their shirts can change their views about consumptive behavior.”

Yap said it’s equally important to “disseminate” the movement’s imagery, both locally and globally. He said the logos that wind up on shirts and other surfaces—the repurposed “Black Power” fist, the “Corporations are Not People” dollar-sign smiley, the flagship image of the dancer atop the Wall Street bull—are determined daily by the volunteer who takes screen printing duties, and the logos regularly rotate, funneling more and more iconography into the public’s possession and, by extension, its consciousness.

The nomadic spread of images, information, and creative effort is what Occupy Wall Street thrives on, and it’s the aim of all the artistic happenings the movement has inspired. People are intended to walk away with books from the People’s Library (which has now gone mobile), and they’ll be intended to view and absorb Joshua Boulet’s art in its eventual gallery. Occupiers are intended to proudly wear the knitted accessories from Marsha Spencer, just as supporters are intended to don and project the logos of the revolution. One of the better vehicles for Occupy’s message has been The Occupied Wall Street Journal, a legit and privately printed publication that speaks from within the movement and aims to counteract any misrepresentation from outside media sources.

Following three installments that were laid out in typical newspaper fashion, the fourth issue was released in early November as a “poster folio,” a stunning collection of 17-by21.5-inch posters, designed by an array of contributing artists and included for the chief purpose of being distributed.

“This collection is the first of many,” reads the issue’s editor’s letter. “It was inspired by the thousands of messages written on cardboard and spread throughout [the movement]. Money talks too much. It’s time to start spreading our voices and listening to each other instead. The revolution will not be branded, but it will be beautiful. It will be loud and colorful and plastered to every wall on every street, above every table where friends make new friends as they laugh, and they plan, and they cry, and they share.”

The issue invites readers to submit their own work, offering an email address (occuprint@gmail.com) and a website (www.occuprint.org), where designs can be sent and posted, joining images that include riffs on the famous Guy Fawkes mask, striking collages empowering The 99 Percent, and works defending minorities like Hispanics and Native Americans. The establishment of so much take-away material is a testament to Occupy’s viral impact, and emblematic of the fact that it needn’t a home base to continue as a cultural and sociopolitical force. Writing for The New York Times, media columnist David Carr, in an article addressing the seemingly unanswerable question of “What’s next for the movement?” affirms that it was inevitable for Occupy to become more of an idea than a place, and though it isn’t as likely to “keep its hold on the media imagination” without a home base, the round-the-clock Zuccotti encampment “wasn’t much ado about not much.” It was a birth, and as is mentioned in the Occupied Wall Street Journal’s new issue, objects like the posters are seeds to be planted. The mark has been made. The brushstrokes have left color. And whatever the future of the movement, in all its abstract objectives, the goal of unignorable, widespread presence has surely been achieved.

As Zachary Loeb said, when asked by a People’s Library patron if books need to be returned, “Take it, keep it, give it to your friends. Let our library live on in your library.” ■ 34

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The Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle WITHOUT ASPIRATIONS

By Ed Sessa Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

1 7 10 13 19 20 22 23 25 26 27 29 30 33 34 35 36 38 40 42 43 46 49 50 51 52 53 54 57 58 60 61 62 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 76 77 79 80 85 86 87 88 90 36

ACROSS Suncatchers Lobster __ diavolo Zoo employee Sugar bowl location Assertive retort Run amok “Honey, __”: Shania Twain hit Wink?

Cube automaker In toto Garden with soothing plants?

Rxʼs Slasher film setting: Abbr.

Sturgeon yield It.ʼs there Dutch city near Arnhem Put a second layer on Ugandan despot “The Wrestler” actress Place to dream Components of a last call?

Almost boiling, as milk Got up Rocker Rose Showy bloomers Charitable offering Tantrum Decorates with Charmin, briefly Inventor Howe Papal court Good, in Grenoble Stimulate What youʼll see in a cornfield?

Californiaʼs __ Valley Childʼs plaything More than annoyed Greek fabulist Pulitzer poet Lowell Raucous bird call Kilted kinfolk Conceals Eagles, on scoreboards Milky white gems Sonnet parts Snigglerʼs skill?

“Defence of Fort McHenry” poet Pricey timepiece Tweed nemesis Teed off Corp. big shots ■

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93 401(k) relative 94 Slo-mo replay subjects 95 Like 20 Questions questions 96 Shekels 97 Meditation training method?

102 Confused state 105 Mollycoddle 106 How Popeye treats Olive?

109 Maroon 110 Soon to be at 111 Local academic community resenter, perhaps 112 Part of a circle 113 Musical syllable 114 Blast 115 Paintball sounds

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21 24 28 31 32 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 44 45 46 47 48

DOWN SimCity, for one Cultivated Overrun Cioppino and gumbo Light lover Arty NYC locale Grub Florida baseballer Soul, to Zola Colorado resort French Toaster Sticks maker Largest of the Canaries Hint Muslim dignitary “Is that a fact” “Tough noogies!”

Chicago mayor Rahm __ Coiled plant support Exam for jrs.

Light source: Abbr.

Lady of La Mancha __ de mer Enter surreptitiously Mealtime pleasure Historic Icelandic work Years in Cuba Scrip writers Phone message Nocturnal predator Golf ball material Bony-plated forager Forecast word Low bow Happy as a lark?

Mortgage provision

51 Cortese of “Jersey Shore” 52 Coach Parseghian 53 What trees may keep you from seeing?

54 Hemingway title setting 55 Argentine icons 56 Way up or down 59 Slangy road reversal 60 Itʼs placed 61 Asthmatic 63 Online commerce 64 Solverʼs smudge 65 Little League game arrival 66 Gave a heads-up 72 Square cereal 73 Suffragist Carrie 75 Slice at a party 76 Start to pour?

77 Diagonally 78 R relatives 79 Big blasts 80 Old TV tubes 81 Glandular secretion 82 Adaptable 83 China starter 84 Funny Bill, familiarly 89 Butcherʼs cut 90 Gentlemenʼs home?

91 Ilsaʼs request to Sam 92 Dos

94 Xerography material 95 “Son of Frankenstein” role 96 Rumble in the jungle?

98 “__ la vie!”

99 Entire: Pref.

100 One who may eat her words?

101 March Madness org.

103 Pepper & Preston: Abbr.

104 Resting upon 107 Tractor-trailer 108 Biological marker Answer in next month’s issue.

Answer to November’s puzzle, DO OR DYE SITUATION

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first sip

PATRICIA SAVOIE

Revisiting

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

HOTEL Modern Cuisine h Classic Comfort

food & wine

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

CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE (LITERALLY “the new castle of the Pope”) is a French wine region (AOC) in the Southern Rhone valley. As I wrote a few years ago in this column, in the 1300s, Pope Jean XXII chose the area for his summer residence, among the grapevines and the stones. But for centuries, the fact that wine was made there was a well-kept secret. By the 18th century, however, Chateauneuf had gained a reputation for its wines.

In 1929, the wine was officially recognized and granted the appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Wines from CdP, as it is known, is perhaps the best example of Southern Rhone wine. With up to 18 grape types—it used to be 13—allowed (some of them white), they can be complex.

There are only a handful of wines that use 13 varieties. Chateau de Beaucastel and Domaine de Nalys are two of them, while Domaine Les Escondudes and Chateau Rayas use only one: Grenache. Most winemakers include four or five types, and Grenache usually predominates followed by Syrah and Mourvedre (GSM). Less than 10% of wine produced is white. Most CdPs are not aged in new oak, but rather in large, pre-used oak barrels, cement vats or stainless steel tanks. That means there is less tannin, and they are usually softer, making the wines very approachable at an early age, though, some can age for decades.

These wines are true reflections of the place (terroir). There are four primary soils: Garrigue, Clay/Sandstone, Galets (the large round rocks) and Loess/Molasse (sandstone). Garrigue The galets absorb heat during the day and release it back during the night, keeping the vines warm. They also hold moisture so that the soil does not dry out from the hot sun and the incessant cold, dry Mistral winds that sweep down from the north through the Rhône Valley and to the Mediterranean.

The blackberry and black cherry fruit aromas and tastes, strong hints of garrigue (low shrub bushes, such as aromatic lavender, thyme and rosemary), spice and

earthy complexity make them intriguing, opulent and sensuous -- and great food companions. CdPs pair well with red meat, roasts such as leg of lamb, venison, grilled meats, game, duck with olives, and hard or soft cheeses.

Some recommended CdPs tasted recently: Domaine Pierre-Henri Morel 2008 - (80% Grenache w/ Syrah & Mourvedre) Deep blackberry and currant notes with overlays of spice and garrigue. Mineral notes. ($18) Domaine de la Celestiere Cotes du Rhone 2009 - (GSM) Floral and citrus with notes of cherry and spice. ($18) Domaine Les Escondudes 2009 - (100% Old Vine Grenache) 2009 was a lush year. Lots of dark fruit and spicy berries.

Rich and balanced. ($26) Domaine Pierre Usseglio 2008 - (80% Grenache w/Syrah, Cinsault, Mouvrvedre) Spice and pepper notes with a plumy/fig base. Black cherry and licorice. ($24) Domaine de Nalys 2009 – (13 grape varieties) Black plum and spice notes. Soft tannins. ($32) Chapoutier La Bernardine 2008 – (GSM) A big wine.

Fig, black currants, licorice over strong tannins. Tar softened by lavender. ($40) Jas de Bressy 2007 - (75% Grenache, w/Syrah, Mourvedre) Nice herb and lavender and a bit of tar.

Black fruits over soft tannins. ($43) Domaine de la Mordoree “La Reine des Bois” 2008 or 2009 - (80% Grenache w/ Mourvedre, Syrah, Cournoise, Vacaresse) The Grenache vines are 100-years old. Concentrated aromas and tastes. Garrigue elements. ($60) Domaine du Vieux Telegraph “La Crau” 2008 – (65% Grenache w/ Mourvedre, Syrah, other) One of the best known and loved CdPs. Red berries, cherry, anise, earth and spices, and those lovely hits of lavender and resin. ($50-70) n

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

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other points in the U.S. and finally to Manayunk—a path that resulted in a host of happy Chabaa regulars who enjoy their weekly fix of Crazy Noodles. ■ Chabaa Thai Bistro, 4371 Main Street, Philadelphia. 215-483-1979. www.chabaathai.com. Lunch Tuesday-Thursday 12-3; Monday-Thursday 5-9:30 PM, Friday 5-10, Saturday 12-10 PM, Sunday 12-9:30 PM

food & wine

“WHERE YA HEADED?” THE parking lot attendant barked. “To Moon’s place,” I answered. “Ah, Moon’s! That’s the best,” the guy shot back. No hesitation. “Great menu. Y’never go wrong going there. Ever had her Crazy Noodles? Gotta have ‘em at least once a week.”

Crazy Noodles are a treat—a poster-child for the soulfulness so rife in Moon Krapugthong’s cooking. But what sticks out even more is her savvy in adding bright, spicy accents. Toss in a diligent, true-blue kitchen staff focused on consistency and attention to detail and Chabaa’s hold on the locals is no mystery. But Moon’s renown has scaled the town’s iconic “wall” known and feared by cyclists the world over. Her culinary skills are even known in the Big Apple. Earlier this year, NYC’s prestigious James Beard Institute honored Moon, inviting her into its hallowed halls as guest chef. She wowed them all. I had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a re-creation at Chabaa of the multi-course meal she served at the Beard House. It was a stellar meal—a highlight and high of my personal culinary year 2011.

Chabaa is a multi-level eatery draped with flowing fabrics, dominated by smooth geometric shapes and captivating kitsch. The ambiance—so beguiling for enjoying terrific Pad Thai while chilling with friends—stitches Chabaa into the fabric of this charming reinvented neighborhood.

The menu splits into nine categories: Appetizers, Soup, Salads, Main Courses, Moon Recommends, Pad Thai Specials, Rice & Noodles, Sides, and Desserts. The menu’s reach falls well within the kitchen’s grasp. Each creation is vetted and tweaked before earning a slot. Once on the menu, a dish often becomes difficult to remove. The regulars won’t stand for it. Consequently Crazy Noodles are not the sole Chabaa staple. A number of other dishes enjoy the status. Thus the familiarity of Satay Chicken on Bamboo Skewers, Crepe Pad Thai, and Mango Shrimp breeds contentment, not contempt.

Not surprisingly, there are a number of vegetarian choices. Soft-centered with a crispy-but-just-short-of-crunchy skin, Fried Tofu ($5) is paired with sweet-and-sour sauce, beneath crushed peanuts. Tom Yum is classic Thai hot-and-sour soup mined with galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaf—a wake-up call for the tastebuds. For fans of less fiery fare, Chabaa’s Mild Soup fills the bill: broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, baby corn, and chicken share a tureen with tender vegetable dumplings.

Notwithstanding an extensive list of veggie dishes, most of the choices are meatbased. The Satay Chicken is marinated in coconut milk and Thai spices, then gently grilled and served with creamy peanut sauce and chilled cucumber salad. The Panang Special—tender beef, slow-cooked in panang curry, harbors a subtle lime undercurrent and snow peas lend snap. At $22, the dish scores high on the quality/ price index. Pad Ob Woon Sean (Baked Shrimp or Soft Tofu with Cellophane Noodles) corrals cellophane noodles, ginger, and Napa cabbage in a clay pot with Thai herbs in an oyster sauce. Duck Breast in Massaman Curry, a frequent special, is a personal favorite. Chabaa’s Massaman curry, lively and perky, gives depth to the duck. Purple potatoes and sweet yellow onions add color. (For the fearful of the fiery, hot dishes are notated on the menu with a red pepper.)

The driving force behind this popular little palace of Thai Pad and other Thai delights is Moon Krapugthong—one of Manayunk’s most beloved citizens. Smiling and demure, Moon is the ideal hostess. Her staff mimics her art of accommodation and welcome. Moon was born in Thailand. She grew up in Bangkok, nurturing a love and appreciation of the artful spicing and brilliant accents that define her country’s gastronomy. Her love of cooking compelled her to forsake other career directions that her Economics degree, MBA and (almost) MFA degrees might have led to. Her meanderings in gathering those degrees led her from Bangkok to Chicago and

ROBERT GORDON

Please send comments and suggestions to r.gordon33@verizon.net

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dining

ROBERT GORDON

Joseph Ambler Inn

food & wine

IN 1880, THE LITTLE TOWN of Montgomeryville missed its chance for notoriety. That’s the year Montgomeryville’s most celebrated native son, General Winfield Scott Hancock, lost the U.S. Presidential election to the ill-fated winner, James Garfield. Hancock was a bona fide national star. His celebrity owed to his military feats. He won highly publicized victories in the Mexican War and Civil War. However, he lost his Presidential bid by a tiny popular margin. That was the trend at the time. In the previous election, the winning candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, garnered fewer popular votes than his opponent (and loser) Samuel Tilden. The 1880s were times that tried men’s souls, as did the times according to Thomas Paine

one century before. Times at all times try souls.

Hancock’s fame faded. Although he’s memorialized in statues in Washington DC, Gettysburg, Fairmount Park and the eponymous Hancock Square in NYC, few residents of modernday Montgomeryville know Hancock’s exalted role in their country’s patrimony.

Someone who does know is Rich Allman, the personable, visionary proprietor of the Joseph Ambler Inn. Since Rich opened the Joseph Ambler Inn in 1983 as a B&B, he has passionately and methodically transformed his gorgeous 12-acre tract into a unique, privately held preserve of history salvaged.

When Rich bought the estate, only a farmhouse, a barn, and a cottage stood on the plot. The farmhouse and barn trace back to the 18th century. The Corybeck cottage, a bright, Please send comments and suggestions to r.gordon33@verizon.net 40

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airy edifice was erected in 1929. Rich’s first act was to convert the farmhouse into a handsome B&B. Not long thereafter, he had the barn transformed into a lovely fine-dining space. And not long thereafter that, he had the cottage converted into guest rooms. Rich Allman didn’t stop there. Today, two other stunning examples of colonial Pennsylvania-fieldstone architecture call Allman’s property their home. In 1997, when Rich got wind of a demolition order issued for the Thomas Wilson House, which is located about a mile from the Joseph Ambler Inn, he leaped into action. Allman arranged for the Wilson house, which was built in the late 18th century, to be placed on a flatbed truck and transported at one or two MPH to the Joseph Ambler Inn estate. In similarly dramatic fashion, he saved the John Roberts House in 2003, moving it two miles to his property.

Both relocations are paeans to the complicated logistics of pulling something like that off. Both merited and received a ton of media attention. Allman’s vision not only preserved a key part of the region’s dwindling trove of patrimony, but also beautified the historical complex he has assembled at the Joseph Ambler Inn. But the Joseph Ambler Inn is not exclusively about history.

Far from it. Dining here, in and of itself, is destination-worthy. I have dined here frequently over the past few decades. I would contend that, under current Executive Chef Todd Blackney, the cuisine is better than ever.

Right off the bat, I have to mention the $35, three-Course Prix Fixe Dinner offered during the week. It’s one of the region’s most attractive deals. Each item also resides on the regular menu. There’s no skimping in serving size and there’s no lessening in the care and fussiness the kitchen showers on all its dishes.

The regular menu is best described as American contemporary. Chef Blackney is a stickler for detail. He gives legitimacy to Joseph Ambler Inn’s fine-dining tag. From the outset,

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dave barry Away in a Mangy Strip Club HERE IN FLORIDA (OFFICIAL State Motto: “I voted for WHOM??”), we do not have what you would call a typical Christmas season.

For one thing, it never snows, at least not in Miami. Down here, we don’t sing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” We sing, “I’m dreaming of a Christmas that is not so hot and humid that I need a coat hanger to un-bunch my underwear.” Actually, it’s a good thing we don’t get snow: People down here already have enough trouble driving.

For example, we have an inordinate number of accidents caused by people driving into buildings. And these are not buildings that have been carelessly left in the roadway: These are buildings carefully placed off to the side. Yet people drive into them! I suspect that somewhere in the official Florida driver’s manual there’s a picture of a building with the words: “If you see one of these, aim straight for it!”

So if we ever had snow, it would be horrible. There would be cars on roofs, cars in the palm trees, cars in the Gulf Stream. The only safe place for a pedestrian to stand would be on an actual highway.

Since I’ve lived here, we did have one cold Christmas—cold for us, anyway—when the temperature briefly fell into the 30s. But snow did not fall from the sky. What fell from the sky was: lizards. Really. I went outside on Christmas morning, and lying on my

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lawn, looking stunned, were at least a dozen bright-green lizards that had fallen out of the trees. These were not small lizards. These things were the size of cocker spaniels, and they had TEETH. That is not a normal Christmas-morning sight. There is no Christmas carol that goes: Good King Wenceslas looked out On the feast of Stephen Saw big green lizards all about So he said, “I’m leavin’!”

Nevertheless, even in Miami, we do have our Christmas traditions.

Traditions are an important part of Christmas. For example, when I was a boy, my mom and I had a wonderful tradition that went on for nearly ten years, called: The Fruitcake Slam. I am not making this tradition up. Every year, some people we knew thoughtfully sent us a fruitcake that was approximately the same density as the Hoover Dam. And every year, my mom—who was, take my word for it, the funniest person who ever lived—would declare, in her brightest June Cleaver voice: “Look, Davey!”

(She called me Davey.) “The fruitcake has arrived!”

And I’d say: “Hurrah! I hope we don’t accidentally leave it in the kitchen doorway, like last year!” Then I’d open the kitchen door and place the fruitcake on the sill.

“UH-oh!” my mom would say. “It’s getting drafty! I had best close the kitchen door!” And she’d give the door a mighty slam. Usually the first slam would barely dent the fruitcake, so my mom would give it a few more, the two of us cackling like maniacs. This is still one of my fondest Christmas memories.

Anyway, here in South Florida I have a new tradition, called: Try to Find a Christmas Tree That Was Actually Alive Within the Past Five Years. This is very difficult. Christmas trees are grown up north, and as the tree shipments travel south, all the good trees get taken along the way. By the time the trucks reach Miami, all that’s left are these brown, scrawny things that appear to be members of the tumbleweed family.

And even those quickly get snapped up. By the week before Christmas, trees are scarce. Last year, on Dec. 23, my wife and I were driving around, desperately looking for a place that still had trees, when we spotted a guy selling some out of a pickup truck in a parking lot. This was not just any parking lot: This was, I swear, the parking lot of a strip club.

These were not choice trees. Each one had maybe five remaining needles, which was also the number of teeth possessed by the guy who was selling them. But at that point, we were glad to get anything. We picked out a tree, paid for it, and stood there for a moment, basking in our success. It was just getting dark, and the temperature was about 85 degrees. Our Christmas tree’s naked branches were bathed in the bright pink glow given off by the sign above us that said, simply, ADULT ENTERTAINMENT. It was a special moment, a Christmas-in-Miami moment. And at that moment—call me sentimental, if you want—I felt a very special kind of feeling. It was my underwear bunching up. ■

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essay

SALLY FRIEDMAN

HANUKAH IS A DIFFICULT holiday for me. It’s not that I don’t love its warmth and celebration of freedom—this is for a deeply personal reason. Back in 2006, the first night of Hanukah fell on a Friday, the eve of the Jewish Sabbath. It was a strangely mild day for mid-December, with morning temperatures that were almost balmy.

My world, on that December day, was a one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia where my mother was in the terminal stages of lymphoma, hovering between life and death. She had lived a glorious life for 96 years— but that final one was severely compromised by the unwelcome return of this marauder that had first arrived two decades before. It was back.

Just weeks earlier, her wonderful oncologist—the gentle, sweet man who had seen Mom through so many crises—had said the words we didn’t want to hear. No more treatment— no more gifts from modern medicine’s arsenal. It was time for final reckonings.

Mom was the first to speak.

“So that’s it,” she said, with a resignation and acceptance that made my heart lurch.

Yes, that was it.

From then on, the “new normal” involved soft-spoken hospice angels who came and went, the steady hum of the oxygen tank that ran day and night, and the arsenal of palliative drugs that had turned Mom’s cheery bedroom with its sunny yellow décor into a dispensary.

My sister and I kept the vigil. So did my gallant husband, the man my mother had loved and spoiled. “Should we come?” my daughters asked the night before this endless day. And I told them that yes, they should.

On that Friday, Mom had not spoken a word. Her eyes had never once fluttered open. Her body had seemed to burrow into itself. One hospice nurse had told us that it wouldn’t be long now. Nobody needed clarification on what that “it” meant.

So we waited. The clock in the kitchen ticked away, yet the hours and minutes never seemed to budge. The morning passed. The afternoon was waning. And just as dusk was settling on the city, I knew I had to get out, if only to breathe the city’s compromised air. I remember slipping into my mother’s navy jacket with the sassy gold buttons because in my haste, and in the morning’s strange warmth, I hadn’t even brought my own.

My husband came with me.

And without a word, the two of started walking with the crowds streaming out of their offices and laboratories, restaurants and shops. How could they know that among them was a woman waiting for her mother to die?

Twenty minutes later, we were back at the apartment, and in Mom’s bedroom. My daughters were by their grandmother’s high-tech hospital bed. We took turns holding my mother’s tiny hand, now invaded by a network of veins. When it was my turn, I felt my mother’s hand surrender to something. I held it for a few more moments, then knew what.

As the sun set on the first night of Hanukah that year, our mother’s light was extinguished.

There were tears. There were sighs. There also was a strange sense of peace.

And then our daughters disappeared into the living room and came back with the Hanukah menorah, the candleholder that my mother had lit for so many years that the candle wax had created its own free-form sculpture overlaid on the brass.

We swept away all the medications, all the paraphernalia of her final illness, and put the menorah on her dresser.

And on that first night of Hanukah in the Hebrew year 5767, we lit that first candle, and sang the blessings. We lit the Sabbath candles, too. And there we stood huddled together, with my mother nearby. It was time to say goodbye—and thank you. We did.

And then, as the lights of the city blazed on in the distance, we sang the words of the ancient “Rock of Ages,” written centuries ago. The first stanza thanks God for deliverance from oppressors.

But that night, as my mother left us, those words took on new meaning: “You, amid the raging foes, Were our sheltering tower...”

And she was. ■

Hanukah and Mom

Sally Friedman has been “living out loud” for over three decades. In addition to ICON, she contributes to the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, AARP Magazine and other national and regional publications. She is the mother of three fierce daughters, grandmother of seven exceptional grandchildren and the wife of retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Victor Friedman.

Email: PINEGANDER@aol.com.

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about life

JAMES P. DELPINO

EACH OF US IS so unique that no two people have ever had the exact same experiences in life. But even though we are each unique, we’re connected to each other in a very fundamental and profound way—being human. Each of us has an essential nature or “self ” that reacts and responds to life in a very basic way. This essential nature or “true self ” is what experiences life directly. It is not encumbered by external forces. When we peel back all the layers of society’s influences—gender, religion, race—what is left is what is essential and true. It is the answer to the Zen koan: “What was your face before you were born.” It is also the meaning of being yourself.

In the course of life, the true self is sacrificed in favor of the false self in order to win approval, acceptance and love. Because we’re social beings, the false self is a construct based on the overwhelming need to feel a sense of belonging and connection with others. Parents, family, community, schools, religions and society as a whole are a powerful combination of factors that shape the sense of being accepted and loveable.

These various factors introduce enormous pressure and force upon each of us to act in certain ways, at certain times and in certain places for the purposes of acceptance and love. The false self is continually shaped and organized to act as though what is being said and done is actually who each person really is. However, how we act or speak is not necessarily who we are.

When we speak and behave in ways that are different from who we really are there is an internal fragmentation between the true and false selves. This fragmentation (or split between the two selves) creates inner conflict. Much of what we experience as internal conflict is really the struggle between what is essential in us and what is expected from us by outside factors that shape us in the world.

Approval-seeking behavior becomes an addiction for some of us. The overwhelming desire to be liked often creates the conditions for making decisions based on being liked rather than what is good or positive.

Wanting to be liked widens the gap between the two selves. For many, this ever widening gap causes him or her to lose touch with what is essential.

Having opposing feelings on the same issue is one example of how the split is com-

monly experienced. Another example is lack of clarity or difficulty in making decisions.

We all learn as children to suppress certain urges and feelings. In some families, feelings are rarely or never discussed. Suppressed feelings become repressed feelings over time. Repressed feelings remain out of our awareness, even though they very much influence day-to-day decisions. Repressed feelings are a sure sign that the false self is at work denying something essential in order to gain acceptance and approval. Peer pressure is one example of how this denial works: teenagers engaging in high risk behaviors to look cool or adults spending beyond their means to appear materially successful. Creating an image that is favorable to others is the underlying motive.

Behaviors and speech we find difficult or offensive in others may well reflect a series of influences that supported and encouraged rebelliousness. In some families it’s acceptable and rewarded to question and provoke others. In other families it may be considered unacceptable to ever challenge authority. It may be more important to feel or be right in favor of getting along with others.

It’s difficult to avoid the trap of getting attention from others. Attention needs are so powerful that they change their words and actions to receive attention for the false self.

This further reinforces the strength of the false self, and takes us away from our true nature.

A sense of emptiness often comes from the false self. Substance and fulfillment are properties of the true self. When someone feels empty or disconnected or extensively worried about the thoughts of others, it’s because the false self is driving those incessant wishes to be liked and loved. The true self does not pander to the need for approval and attention. When the true self is in charge one does not seek external approval because it is not needed. Many of the individuals we most respect and admire have gone beyond the norm because they believed in something deeper and higher in life. The great ones, often against what was commonly believed or accepted in their own time. The most admired people have motives beyond self-interest and were willing to sacrifice the approval of others for a greater cause or vision. These spirits are admired for transcending the everyday expectations of those around them.

The best moments in life are not forced efforts of the approval-seeking false self, but rather the flow of competence through awareness which transcends the smaller urges inside of us. ■

The True Self vs. the False Self

Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 30 years.

Email jdelpino@aol.com (215) 364-0139.

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<

10 / ART / HERE. NOT THERE.

The examples on view demonstrate how the locale where an expressive image was structured along with other significant considerations involved in the creative process, enters into the total sense of place that ultimately affects an artist’s productivity. By displaying artworks from six different geographic regions, the exhibition seeks to show how place, whether it be plainly overt or curiously covert, affects the look and feel of what the artist has to offer.

In some instances, the impact of place touches on details that are site-bound. Other examples are more cerebral, or in the current parlance of the art world, conceptual. Six geographic areas were selected for the sake of comparison. They are Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Phoenix/Scottsdale and Raleigh/Durham.

Taking into account either the geographical locus or the emotional-intellectual complex of the artist or both, allows a spectator to interact meaningfully with the content of the various selections on display.

Visitors should not confuse the intent of the exhibition with the expectations of the mid-1930s school of American Regionalism. Its premise, as enunciated by such painters as Thomas Hart Benson, demanded that if artists wanted to be taken seriously, it was incumbent upon them to only focus on images that interpreted their own immediate back-yard in a highly literal manner.

Instead of such a narrowly provincial outlook, the here. show places premium on a broader context for projecting significant expressive content.

“The Oven Sky” by Jennifer Levonian of Philadelphia is a surrealistic comic-book style picture. To the right, there is a long-haired figure of a woman screaming with emotional intensity. She is situated in front of a chainlink fenced-in property containing a patriotic garden ornament and several barnyard creatures along with some pink plastic flamingoes that have their legs stuck in the ground. The overall scene has an oddly hallucinated character that attaches itself to your memory, remaining there long after you have turned away to examine other works in the show.

An example by the Detroit artist, Scott Hocking offers a puzzling arrangement of a snow covered stretch of ground in which mushroom-shaped, pored concrete columns are each topped with a blank-screened television set. The composition has a startling appearance, mysteriously laced with provocative wonderment and an eerie feeling of suspended effort. Raising more questions than it answers, the picture dares the onlooker’s imagination to think of some appropriate narrative in order to provide the design with something to say that might lend meaningful insight into the artwork at hand.

The net effect of seeing the exhibition may be a feeling that you have participated in an adventure made up of equal parts of selectivity and abandon. There is also something bewitching and strangely primitive about several of the pieces on view. One might say, “They provide grist for the nerve-naked grind- stone of a spectator’s interior senses.” Perhaps only a person with the ability to deal with the far-out and the off-beat will be able to weather the challenge. Those who are faint of heart about hanging free in mid-air may find the show hard to take. The comforting presence of some aesthetic gravity is often absent. However, the opportunity to interact with forms that are bold and daring provides its own reward. ■ 48

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HARPER’S M

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INDEX

Facts compiled by the editors of Harper’s Magazine

Number of the 100 highest-paid American CEOs who earned more than their employers paid in taxes last year: 25 Date on which the Lake Erie Correctional Institution became the first U.S. state prison sold to a private company: 8/31/2011 Amount the Corrections Corporation of America paid the State of Ohio for the prison: $72,700,000 Percentage of U.S. Postal Service expenses that go to labor costs: 89 Of FedEx and UPS expenses, respectively: 41, 48 Percentage of Americans who disapprove of a deficit-reduction plan with no tax increases: 60 Amount of the 2009 stimulus package that the federal government has yet to spend: $127,000,000,000 Estimated annual cost to the U.S. economy of worker “disengagement”: $400,000,000,000 Estimated annual cost of rust and other corrosion to the Defense Department each year: $23,000,000,000 Estimated percentage of Americans aged 17 to 24 who are ineligible to join the military: 75 Respective rank of obesity, drug and alcohol problems, and low “aptitude” among the most common reasons for ineligibility: 1, 2, 3 Date on which WikiLeaks announced “pre-litigation action” against the Guardian newspaper for leaking information: 9/1/2011 Number of chopsticks made each day by Georgia Chopsticks in Americus, Georgia, for use in China: 2,100,000 Percentage increase in the number of Chinese students applying to U.S. graduate schools this year: 21 Portion of unemployed people in the United States who are covered by primary unemployment insurance: 1/4 Percentage change since 2001 in applications for Social Security disability benefits: +50 Number of Americans currently receiving them: 13,600,000 Year by which the program will be unable to pay benefits, according to congressional estimates: 2018 Chances that a U.S. corporation is considering ending health benefits when federal insurance exchanges begin: 3 in 10 Percentage of all oxycodone sold to doctors in the U.S. last year that went to Florida: 89 Date on which Florida began requiring potential welfare recipients to pass a drug test before receiving:benefits: 7/1/2011 Percentage who have failed the test: 2.5 Estimated amount this will save the state over the next year in denied benefits: $98,000 Amount that Rick Perry has received in federal farm subsidies: $72,687 Number of the top 50 donors to Perry’s gubernatorial campaigns who received an appointment to a state post: 22 Percentage increase in the sales of luxury goods within the United States in the past year: 7.3 Number of “designer vagina” operations paid for by the British National Health Service last year: 2,000 Percentage of women seeking the procedure who were deemed to have “normal” genitalia in a 2010 study: 100 Minutes of television that the average British dog watches each day: 50 Number of times the average British man will fall in love, according to an August study: 3 Number of times the average British woman will: 1 Percentage change in the gap between the wages of U.S. men and women since 1998: +9 Amount by which a typical good-looking U.S. worker will out-earn a typical ugly one over a lifetime: $230,000 Estimated amount that discrimination against the ugly costs America each year: $20,000,000,000 Percentage of cell phone owners who admit they have pretended to be on the phone to avoid talking to someone in person: 13 Percentage of female scientists who say they have fewer children than they wanted because of their careers: 45 Percentage of male scientists who do: 25 Date on which Joe Walsh (R., Ill.) said Washington can’t put “one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids”: 7/13/2011 Amount that Walsh currently owes in back child support: $98,422 Last year in which the U.S. government did not “do everything wrong,” according to Ron Paul: 1987 (or possibly 1988)

Index Sources 1 Institute for Policy Studies (Washington); 2,3 Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (Columbus); 4 U.S. Postal Service; 5 FedEx (Memphis)/United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (Atlanta); 6 CNN/ORC International (Washington); 7 Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Washington); 8 Gallup Consulting (Washington); 9 LMI Government Consulting (McLean, Va.); 10,11 U.S. Department of Defense; 12 WikiLeaks; 13 Georgia Chopsticks, LLC (Americus); 14 Council of Graduate Schools (Washington); 15 Harper’s research; 16–18 U.S. Social Security Administration; 19 Towers Watson (N.Y.C.); 20 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; 21–23 Florida Department of Children and Families (Tallahassee); 24 Environmental Working Group (Washington); 25 Texans for Public Justice (Austin); 26 MasterCard Advisors (N.Y.C.); 27,28 British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (London); 29 Digital UK (London); 30,31 72 Point (London); 32 Harper’s research; 33,34 Daniel Hamermesh, The University of Texas at Austin; 35 Pew Internet and American Life Project (Washington); 36,37 Elaine Howard Ecklund, Rice University (Houston); 38 Office of Representative Joe Walsh (Washington); 39 Coladarci and Coladarci (Chicago); 40 Harper’s research.

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY PHILHARMONIC: NUTCRACKER & WINTER FUN CONCERT. Dec. 9, 8pm, & Dec. 10, 3pm. The LU Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Eugene Albulescu present a selection of festive works featuring Tchaikovsky’s classic Nutcracker Suite and contemporary New Zealand composer Jenny McLeod’s The Emperor and the Nightingale. $18; children 5-17, $5. www.zoellnerartscenter.org 33ND ANNUAL LIVE BETHLEHEM CHRISTMAS PAGEANT Dec. 10-11: 2pm. Bethlehem Rose Garden Band Shell, off Eighth Avenue. Singing, narration, actors and live animals come together in this reenactment. Free, goodwill offerings accepted. Info: 610-865-0274 AN OLD-FASHIONED MORAVIAN CHRISTMAS. Dec. 1-3, 8 & 10, 2pm, Central Moravian Church, Main and Church Streets. Sights, sounds and traditions as you listen and sing along to Christmas favorites and Moravian traditional hymns. $20. 610-332-3378 www.christmascity.org BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM CHRISTMAS CONCERT Dec. 11, 4pm, First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, 2344 Center St. This concert conjures up all the

magic and mystery of the Nativity, featuring Part 3 of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Charpentier’s Midnight Mass for Christmas and Poulenc’s Motets for the Season of Christmas. $30, $40, $10 students. www.bach.org. 610-866-4382.

BETHLEHEM BY NIGHT BUS TOUR Thurs-Sun through Dec. 23: Tours depart from Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center at 505 Main St. A guide in period dress takes you back in time on a 45-50 minute tour of the Christmas City. $12, adults, $6 ages 6-12, Ages 5 and under free. 610-332-3378. 610-691-6055. www.historicbethlehem.org BREAKFAST WITH ST. NICHOLAS Dec. 10 & 17, 9am. Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 645 E. First St. Kids and their families are invited to enjoy a fun-filled morning featuring jolly, old St. Nicholas. A delicious hot breakfast, photo with St. Nick, admission to Christkindlmarkt, goodie bag, arts & crafts $14.95 ages 11 and older; $11.95 ages 2-10; $6.95 under age 2. 610-332-3378. www.artsquest.org/ckm CENTRAL MORAVIAN CHURCH PUTZ Through Dec. 23. Thurs.-Sat., 10am-8pm; Sun., 1-8 pm; Dec. 2630, 10am-8pm; Dec. 31, 1-10:30pm

Central Moravian Church Christian Education Building, 40 W. Church St. Free, goodwill offerings accepted.

Info: 610-866-5661. www.centralmoravianchurch.org New Location!

CHRISTKINDLMARKT BETHLEHEM Dec. 1-4, 8-11 and 15-18: Thurs.Sat, 11am-8pm, and Sun, 11am6pm. PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 645 E. First St. ArtsQuest’s popular holiday marketplace returns for its 19th year! Recognized by Travel and Leisure Magazine as one of the top holiday markets in the world. Aisles of exquisite handmade works by the nation’s finest artisans, the heartwarming sounds of live Christmas music, delicious food and more.

CHRISTMAS CITY FOLLIES XII Dec. 1-18, Thurs-Sat, 8pm, and Sun, 2pm. 321 E. 4th St. Touchstone Theatre’s annual vaudevillian holiday show features live music, whimsical characters and old-time razzle-dazzle wrapped into a sweet, irreverent and uniquely Bethlehem evening of winter merriment. $25, $15 for students & seniors. Every Thursday is PayWhat-You-Will at the Door. 610867-1689. www.touchstone.org CHRISTMAS CITY STROLL Through Dec. 23. Tours depart from Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center at

505 Main St. This active, 50-minute walking tour, led by a guide in period dress, leads you through Bethlehem's charming historic district. $12, adult, $6 ages 6-12. Free 5 and under. 610-332-3378. www.artsquest.org. Info: 610-691-6055. www.historicbethlehem.org CHRISTMAS CITY VILLAGE Through Dec. 18. This German-inspired outdoor Weihnachtsmarkt features traditional food, fine crafters and live holiday music. Free admission. Info: 610-751-4979 DOORS & WINDOWS OF BETHLEHEM. Through Dec. 24. Self-guided tour of all the shops and restaurants’ decorated doors and windows in the two downtowns of Bethlehem. Vote for your favorite door at www.doorsofbethlehem.com and have a chance to win $1,000 shopping spree. Info: 610-751-4979 EAST HILLS MORAVIAN CHURCH CHRISTMAS PUTZ Through Dec. 23.

Fri., 6-8pm, and Sat.-Sun., 3-8pm East Hills Moravian Church, 1830 Butztown Rd. Free, goodwill offerings accepted. Info: 610-868-6481, www.easthillsmc.org GERMAN AND ENGLISH ADVENT SINGSTUNDE Dec. 6, 7pm, Central Moravian Church Old Chapel, off

Heckewelder Place and Church Street. Sing your favorite Advent hymns in English and German. Presented by Dr. Paul Peucker of the Moravian Archives and sponsored by the Moravian Music Foundation and Central Moravian Church. Free. Info: 610-866-5661. www.centralmorvianchurch.org LIVE ADVENT CALENDAR Dec. 1-23: 5pm, Goundie House, 501 Main St. Each day promptly at 5pm, the Goundie House Door on Main Street opens and a surprise for the crowd comes out of the door! A performance, goodies, discounts— the possibilities are endless. Come to Main Street to find out what each night brings! Free. 610-751-4979 MEN’S SHOPPING NIGHT IN BETHLEHEM’S TWO DOWNTOWNS Dec. 17, 5-9pm. During this event, the stores and restaurants of Bethlehem’s Historic District and SouthSide offer discounts on merchandise, free gift wrapping, refreshments and drinks (beer and scotch are on the menu at several locations), as well as personal shoppers offering advice for men. Info: 610-751-4979 MAKE YOUR OWN GINGERBREAD HOUSE FOR AGES 8-12 Dec. 17, 9:30-11:30am The Banana Factory, 25 W. Third St. Come ready

to create a candy-covered tradition!

Just bring your creativity and holiday spirit! Cost/Registration: $25, 610332-3378, www.artsquest.org “THE NUTCRACKER” Dec. 17-18: 2pm. Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Ave. Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley students/dancers and professional guest artists, under the direction of Artistic Director Karen Kroninger Knerr, bring this timeless holiday classic to life. Guest artists Jennie Somogyi and Ask la Cour from New York City Ballet will be dancing the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Tickets: 610-7582787. Info: 610-865-0353 www.bglv.org. Tea party & cocktail party, immediately following the Saturday performance. $15 for adults and children..

SCENIC HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE RIDES Thursdays-Saturdays, through Dec. 23 (Closed Dec. 24-25): 410pm, every 20 minutes. Dec. 2630: 4-10pm every 20 minutes Rides depart from outside Central Moravian Church on Main Street Please Note: There are no rides from 7-7:20pm for driver’s break. Tickets: $50. 610-332-3378, Artsquest.org.

Info: 610-691-6055. www.historicbethlehem.org

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jazz library

BENNY CARTER

BOB PERKINS

WHEN I WROTE ABOUT Mel Torme, I mentioned that the multi-talented entertainer may have been greater than the sum of his parts. Well, this piece is also about such an entertainer. Benny Carter was nicknamed “The King” by other jazz royalty, who bowed in his presence.

Bennett Lester Carter entered the world in Harlem, New York, August 8, 1907. He chose his parents well, as he was born into a musical family. He was the youngest of three children. His mother and older sister played piano. His mother gave him his first lessons on the instrument. He later took a year of lesson from a private tutor, and by age 15 he was playing in Harlem night spots. .

Just prior to his 20th birthday, he bought a trumpet and found he couldn’t play it like a neighborhood friend who was in Duke Ellington’s band, so he traded it in for an alto saxophone, which he quickly mastered. The saxophone allowed him to begin sharing the stage with musicians the caliber of Sidney Bechet, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and Duke Ellington.

Carter formed his own group in 1928, and a few years later joined Fletcher Henderson’s band and became its chief arranger.

Somewhere along the way he taught himself the art of arranging. Over the next several years he led his own small units and arranged for other bands.

His sax work had not gone unnoticed, and toward the mid-1930s he and Johnny Hodges were considered the top alto saxophonists in jazz. And Carter had not given up on the trumpet—rather, he rediscovered it and became almost as fluid on it as he’d become on the saxophone.

He left the U.S. for Paris in 1935 to join the Willie Lewis band. He later resided in London where he took on an arranging job at the BBC. In 1937 he led an interracial and international jazz band at a Dutch resort—the first successful band of its kind in the history of jazz. Before heading back home a year later, Carter spent time in Scandinavia making music with Coleman Hawkins, Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, and a host of other American and European jazz musicians.

Carter led a succession of large and small bands upon his return to the U.S., employing sidemen like Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Miles Davis.

Buddy Rich and Gerald Wilson, to name a few.

In the early 1940s Hollywood called and he began to arrange scores for films. His work was heard in The Gangs All Here, Stormy Weather, Thousands Cheer, an American In Paris, The Guns of Navarone, The View From Pompey’s Head and The Gene Krupa Story. His television work included M Squad, Ironside, The Name of the Game and It Takes a Thief. He was one of the first black musicians to break into the lucrative field of film scoring.

Louis Armstrong hailed Carter’s all-around musical artistry with the unconservative observation: “You got Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and my man the Earl of Hines, right? Well, Benny’s right up there with all them cats. Everybody that knows who he is calls him ‘King.’ He is a king.”

When his film and television work was completed, Carter continued to travel, record with fellow instrumentalists, arrange for large and small bands, and arrange for top vocalists like Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Lou Rawls and others. He was also a visiting professor at Princeton, and received an honorary doctorate from that institution, as well as from Harvard and other schools of higher learning. Lifetime achievement awards, other citations, and a star on the prestigious Walk of Fame also came his way.

Through all the honors and accolades, the ever-humble Carter once observed, “My most precious possession is time. I’ve still got too much work to do to spend even one minute talking about myself.”

Included in his voluminous discography is the CD Sketches on Standards on the Past Perfect label. It represents Carter’s work on the alto sax quite well.

The multi-talented Benny Carter lived a full life—and a good life. He was one of the few jazz musicians to live in a house on a hill in Hollywood. “The King,” passed away July 12, 2003 at the age of 95. ■ Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00pm and Sunday, 11:00am to 3pm.

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By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi

A compendium of research facts WISCONSIN WAS EXPECTING A full harvest of bears, giant king crabs had invaded the Antarctic Abyss, and snakes continued to bite large numbers of Africans. Hyenas can count to three, dolphins may understand death, and honeybees were found capable of pessimism; scientists who impersonated badgers by violently shaking the bees’ hives further proposed that today’s bees may be particularly pessimistic because of pesticides, and hoped in future to elicit happiness from bees. Thirty percent of U.S. honeybees were found to have died last winter. Honeybees had brought new viruses from Mississippi to California via South Dakota, and a new species of solitary bee was discovered in Florida.

The Asian bee-eating hornet had invaded Western Europe. In Scotland, researchers were attempting to decipher the language of bees. “Whether this is just bee noise,” admitted the neuroscientist leading the study, “we don’t know.”

Ecologists were surprised to find Scottish bumblebees ascending to hilltops in search of females. “In between drinking,” said the principal researcher, “they go looking for mates.” South London was found to be rife with stag beetles.

AN AMATEUR BOTANIST IN Brazil co-described a new species of strychnine that buries its own seeds. “This is my first botanical publication in a peer-reviewed journal,” said Alex Popovkin. “Hopefully, there will be more to follow. I had since early adolescence felt attraction to plants.” Spring break was blamed for the spike in March conceptions among Ontarian teenagers, and alcohol consumption was found to make no difference for a quarter of American rapists. Koi herpes was widespread among Michigan’s common carp, as was vulvar pain among its women. Ten percent of women dislike performing oral sex on men. Treatment by magnetotherapy may help stroke victims overcome their inability to swallow. Transcranial magnetic stimulation inhibits the ability to lie. The brains of older humans are cluttered with irrelevant information.

MEN TEND TO GAIN weight after divorce, whereas women tend to gain weight following marriage. Women who shoot themselves are less likely than men to aim for their heads. Fetuses learn to differentiate touch from pain when they are between thirty-five and thirty-seven weeks old. Scottish authorities declined to launch a formal investigation into the possibility of sea eagles’ carrying off small children. Britain’s January babies are more likely to grow up to be debt collectors, and those born in the spring are prone to anorexia. Irish twins whose birth weights differ by 18 percent or more are at greater risk of bowel disorders. Ireland was the only country with substantial demand for the donor sperm of redheads. Racism among white home-plate umpires causes minority pitchers to pitch conservatively and thereby to earn lower salaries. White umpires do not, however, display racist favoritism toward catchers. Gay AfricanAmerican men were being made anxious by prejudice and harassment. Delusive overconfidence may be beneficial in the long run, and the sunk-cost effect was contributing to Americans’ renewed enthusiasm for the Iraq war. “People,” explained one of the study’s authors, “are notoriously bad at making assessments on when it’s time to stop.” At a health spa in China, an eel swam up a man’s penis.

day/weekend trip

DAN HUGOS

Lively December program at the Mauch Chunk Opera House IT’S BY FAR THE biggest December in many years at Jim Thorpe’s Mauch Chunk Opera House. And there’s something for everyone.

It’s Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams on Friday, December 2, for the first Christmas-themed show of the year. First appearing in Jim Thorpe way back in 2004, GMSCD have become big favorites here in town, with their great rock n’ roll (Tom Petty and Bob Dylan performing Pink Floyd—with the scent of incense in the air—comes to mind) and their uplifting, steadfastly positive outlook (not to mention the great coffee they sell at the merch table!).

On both December 3rd and 10th, Jim Thorpe playwright Joe Hiatt features his adaptation of A Christmas Carol in 11 AM and 1 PM showings. The Dickens classic is re-imagined by Mr. Hiatt, celebrating Scrooge and Marley along with other classic elements of this tale, and placing them in Coal Country, USA. Philadelphia’s bawdy and hilarious Peek-A-Boo Revue completes the weekend with some more holiday season cheer on Saturday, December 3. An ensemble capable of almost anything onstage, the neo-burlesque troupe has performed for a wide-range of audiences over the years, and been attached to many high-profile events, festivals and causes.

The Friday, December 9 Four Celtic Voices show is a spellbinding journey of large ensemble numbers and solo performances. Each of the performers’ talents is individually showcased in her own spotlighted performance of songs touring Ireland and Celtic Lands via alluring centuriesold music for the entire family.

Lehigh Valley bluesman Craig Thatcher assembles a host of A-list musicians from around Carbon County and the Lehigh Valley on Saturday, December 10, capping the weekend with A Rockin’ Christmas, a show that has become a popular and much-anticipated Christmas season favorite in Jim Thorpe. Seasonal classics and surprises characterize this popular show led by Mr. Thatcher, a longtime Lehigh Valley guitarist and teacher whose various projects have developed a broad and enthusiastic following here in Carbon County, PA. The Opera House presents a complete performance of all three sections of Handel’s oratorio, Messiah, on Saturday, December 17 by Carbon County’s Bach and Handel Chorale. Randall Douglas Perry, founder, artistic director and conductor will lead the 38-voice Jim Thorpe-based chorale, which includes four world-renowned soloists and 19-member Festival Orchestra in the performance.

We end a great 2011 by sending it off with a lights-out performance by the Tartan Terrors, the renowned Celtic Comedy group that over the years has become a huge favorite here in Jim Thorpe. We can think of no better way to wrap up a great year!

Tickets to all Opera House shows are available online or by calling the box office 570-325-0249. You can also visit SoundCheck Records in downtown Jim Thorpe (across the street from the Inn at Jim Thorpe) or call them any time for tickets at 570-325-4009. ■ DECEMBER 2011

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classical notebook J.S Bach: Keyboard Concertos ★★★1/2 Alexandre Tharaud Les Violons du Roy Bernard Labadie Virgin Classics Alexandre Tharaud follows his album of Scarlatti sonatas with another fusion of modern and historically informed performance styles. Joining him in this new collection of Bach keyboard concertos is the dynamic period-instrument ensemble Les Violons du Roy, under its director Bernard Labadie.

Born in Paris, Alexandre Tharaud discovered the music scene through his father, a director and singer of operettas which were put on in theaters in Northern

Paris at age 14 and won the first prize when he was 17 years old. He mastered the piano with Theodor Paraskivesco and he sought and received additional advice from Claude Helffer, Leon Fleisher and Nikita Magaloff. In 1987, he won the International Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona and one year later also the Senigallia Competition in Italy. In 1989, he received 2nd prize at the Munich International Competition. Since then his career has developed quickly in Europe as well as in North America and Japan.

Alexandre Tharaud leads the current generation of pianists both reclaiming Baroque keyboard music from harpsichordists and integrating historically informed principles into their playing. However, one may ask if those historical principles can be performed on a con-

Les Violons du Roy.

Alexandre Tharaud.

France where his family spent many weekends. At the initiative of his parents, Alexandre started his piano studies at age 5, and he entered the Conservatory of the Paris 14th district where he met Carmen Taccon-Devena, a student of Marguerite Long who became his teacher.

He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de

Peter H. Gistelinck is the Executive Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Prior to joining the Orchestra, he was the Director of Sales and Marketing and Co-Artistic Director for the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and Flemish Radio Choir in Belgium. Mr. Gistelinck is a member of the Kimmel Center Resident Advisory Committee, The Recording Academy, American Film Institute, Musical Fund Society, Philadelphia Arts and Business Council, International Academy of Jazz and International Society for the Performing Arts.

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temporary piano, in this case a Yamaha Concert Grand. It is just an awkward ear experience to hear a contemporary piano combined with a period-instrument ensemble and how hard I’ve tried, it’s really difficult to absorb and acknowledge the combination. Why not just have recorded the whole project on period instruments or on modern instruments? Why not have listened to one the wonderful recordings of Jos Van Immerseel and Anima Eterna, more specifically with regard to their concept of recording on period instruments? I want to leave it at that as Alexandre Tharaud is indeed a wonderful pianist, one of the best of his generation, and this recording is a jewel—but could have been easily a real diamond if more attention was paid to how to choose or not choose a combination of period and modern instruments.

The program comprises four concertos for solo keyboard (1052, 1054, 1056, and 1058) and also the concerto for four pianos, BWV 1065, in which—thanks to multitrack recording technology—Tharaud plays all four solo parts. A bonus item is an arrangement of an arrangement: Tharaud and Labadie have adapted Bach’s tran-

scription for keyboard of an Adagio written by the Venetian Alessandro Marcello (1669-1747). Tharaud describes it as “a combination of Bach’s solo version and of Marcello’s version for oboe and orchestra—with me playing the oboe line.”

At the end of the day this is a very beautiful recording with an amazing pianist accompanied by a wonderful ensemble. If you’re not a period instrument purist, this recording is definitely for you.

Homage to Maria Callas ★★★★ Angela Gheorghiu Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Marco Armilliato EMI Classics Homage to Maria Callas is a collection of beloved French and Italian operatic masterpieces performed by Angela Gheorghiu, the defining diva of this century. The program is inspired by the career and recordings of Maria Callas, the greatest diva of the last century. The arias are shared favorites of both Callas and Gheorghiu, and Angela’s new recording demonstrates once again her extraordinary vocal and emotional range.

Angela Gheorghiu said recently, “Callas was original in everything she did; she was a phenomenon. In every performance she gave her all. She was the most wonderful painter and you can always hear exactly the right color in her voice. Just hearing her sound, you understand all the power or fragility of her emotions. That’s a rare talent and a great gift.” Gheorghiu continued, “EMI was her record label and it’s mine, too. It feels like a family.”

Recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios in London and in New York, the repertoire of Gheorghiu’s first studio recital in six years—during which time she recorded several complete operas, including a multiaward-winning Madama Butterfly—shows her versatility in lyric, spinto and mezzo roles—with each she feels a strong emotional connection. These include Mimi (La Bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Imogene (Il Pirata), Adriana (Adriana Lecouvreur, an opera which Gheorghiu added to her repertoire in 2010 to great critical acclaim), Maddalena (Andrea Chénier), Nedda (Pagliacci), Wally (La Wally), Medea, Chimène (Le Cid) and Delilah (Samson et Delilah). The new album also includes two arias from the opera that launched her career: La Traviata by Verdi (New York Magazine wrote that “Her lady of the camellias is a worthy successor to Garbo and Callas.”)

Here she sings Violetta’s closing scene from Act I, in which the heroine wonders whether it is worth sacrificing her precious freedom to take young Alfredo as a lover. “It was very important for me to have this aria here. I’ve sung the role a lot on stage, but I haven’t ever recorded it in the studio,” she said.

Angela Gheorghiu was born in Romania. In 1992, she made her international debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, followed the same year by debuts at the

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

Metropolitan Opera and the Wiener Staatsoper. Since then, she has graced the stages of the world’s opera houses and concert halls, excelling both vocally and dramatically. Today, at the height of her career—and looking as glamorous as ever—she is widely recognized by critics and opera lovers as one of the great sopranos of all time.

In 1998, Gheorghiu signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics.

Ms. Gheorghiu has collaborated with Sir Georg Solti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado and Antonio Pappano, among others. Her performances as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine and Mimi in La Bohème with the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera have been released on DVD. Gheorghiu’s discography and videography have received wide

Following the release of the complete Brahms symphonies (“Altogether a marvelous achievement,” The Daily Telegraph), Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker have performed and recorded a program of orchestral works by Arnold Schoenberg, who was a great admirer of Brahms.

Rattle made his conducting debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1987, in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. In 1999, Rattle was appointed as successor to Claudio Abbado as the orchestra’s principal conductor. Since his appointment, Rattle has reorganised the Berlin Philharmoniker into a foundation, meaning its activities are more under the control of the members rather than politicians. He has also ensured that orchestra members’ wages have increased quite dra-

Angela Gheorghiu.

critical acclaim and many prestigious awards in the UK, France, Belgium, German, Italy, and the United States.

After Angela Gheorghiu’s July 2011, performances as Tosca with Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel at The Royal Opera House under the baton of Antonio Pappano, The Independent wrote, “Gheorghiu, like Tosca, is a born diva.” The Guardian added, “Her bloodcurdling outburst at the realization that [Mario] is dead, not merely pretending, reminded us why this Romanian diva draws the crowds.” This production will be screened in cinemas around the world in the autumn.

Angela Gheorghiu’s 2011-2012 season includes performances in Faust at London’s Royal Opera House, La Bohème at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Nationaltheater, Munich and La Scala, Milan, a concert performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at New York’s Carnegie Hall and song recitals in Tokyo, Essen, Washington, D.C. and Paris.

An album that is not to be missed by the Opera, Callas and Gheorghiu lover.

Schoenberg ★★★★ Berliner Philharmoniker Simon Rattle EMI Classics

Simon Rattle.

matically, after falling over the previous few years. He gave his first concert as principal conductor on September 7, 2002, leading performances of Thomas Adès’s Asyla and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, performances which received rave reviews from the press worldwide and were recorded for CD and DVD released by EMI. Early collaborative projects in the Berlin community with Rattle and the Berlin Philharmoniker involved a choreographed performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a film project with Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Blood on the Floor. Rattle was originally contracted to lead the orchestra through 2012, but in April 2008 the musicians voted to extend his contract as chief conductor for an additional ten years past the next season, to 2018.

In the three contrasting works on this latest Berliner Philharmoniker recording, the spirits of Modernism, Romanticism and Classicism are invoked by Arnold Schoen-

berg, a revolutionary whose aesthetic roots lay firmly in tradition. Sir Simon Rattle, who first established his international reputation with masterpieces of the 20th century, explores these musical cross-currents with the Berliner Philharmoniker, long supreme in Austro-German repertoire. The repertoire, recorded in concert at Berlin’s Philharmonie in late October/early November 2009, consists of Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Accompanying Music to a Film) and the full orchestra version of the Chamber Symphony No. 1.

Immediately after the recent performances/recordings, Sir Simon and the Orchestra set off on a coast-to-coast U.S. tour performing the Brahms symphonies and this Schoenberg program at New York’s Carnegie Hall and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Ann Arbor.

Schoenberg said that he had arranged Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 for orchestra in 1937 for several reasons: “1) I like this piece; 2) It is seldom played; 3) It is always played badly, because the better the pianist, the louder he plays and you hear nothing from the strings. I wanted once to hear everything, and this I achieved.” He also stated that he intended to write his orchestration strictly in the style of Brahms, going no further than Brahms would have gone “if he had lived today.”

Mark Swed, in The Los Angeles Times, said of the LA performance, “When [Schoenberg] made the version in 1937, he had recently moved from Berlin to Los Angeles and was clearly entranced by the resplendent light of his new home. He garbs the quartet in garish instrumental colors … Rattle emphasized everything in the most polystylistic way possible. A horn solo in the solo movement had a raw jazzy quality; a clarinet solo in the Gypsy-inspired last movement was klezmer-like. A xylophone clattered, a bass drum thumped. But within this ruckus was also ravishing ensemble playing and, from Rattle, the inspiration not only for great characterization but also for momentum.”

Allan Kozinn in The New York Times wrote of the Carnegie Hall performance, “It can be hard to banish the original sound and texture from your inner ear, however convincing the new interpretation may sound. But it can be worth the effort, as Mr. Rattle and his musicians demonstrated in a vital, shapely account that found levels of drama in Schoenberg’s magnification that a performance of the chamber version could not possibly equal.” Simon Rattle previously recorded this work with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1985 A great recording for obvious reasons; this amazing composer from the second Viennese school combined with one the best orchestras in the world under the baton of one of the most knowledgeable and musical conductors. Who wants more? ■

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singer /songwriter Billy Joel ★★★★ Piano Man - Legacy Edition Columbia/Legacy Billy Joel’s Piano Man album served as his national breakthrough in the mid-1970s while the title track gave him a nickname that continues to this day. The reissue of the LP includes a second CD of an April 1972 concert that offers a snapshot of a budding artist. The show, which aired on WMMR-FM, was recorded before a small audience at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Working with a three-piece band, Joel, then 22, delivered an energized performance that won him fans in the region, even before he signed with Columbia Records.

The live version of “Captain Jack,” his sketch of suburban teenage angst, still packs a punch as Joel and his band stretch it out to nearly seven minutes. The concert features a blistering rendition of “Everybody Loves You Now” from his 1971 debut album “Cold Spring Harbor” and early versions of “Travelin’ Prayer” and “The Ballad of Billy The Kid,” which would become highlights of the Piano Man album.

Billy Joel.

Joel’s concert also features three original songs (“Long Long Time” “Josephine” and “Rosalinda”) that have never been featured on CD before.

Ben Folds ★★★1/2 The Best Imitation of Myself Legacy Recordings Music has poured out of Ben Folds the past 20 years and the pianist/singer/songwriter documents his career to date with The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective.

The three-CD, 61-songs collection is an entertaining anthology of his artistic journey.

Folds, who selected the songs for the compilation, has a theme for each CD—career overview, live recordings and rarities. Folds brings a witty melodicism and often dry sense of humor to such tracks as “Brick” and “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” The songs feature collaborations with such performers as Regina Spektor (“You Don’t Know Me”) and Rufus Wainwright (an unexpected cover of Wham’s “Careless Whisper”) and with writer Nick Hornby, who penned the lyrics for “From Above.”

Folds digs deep for some rarities—a 1991 demo of “Best Initiation of Myself ” and a wistful version of Steely Dan’s “Barrytown” for the film Me, Myself and Irene. The album ends with “Stumble Home Winter Blues,” one of three new songs recorded with

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

the Ben Folds Five. The music continues online as buyers of the box set can gain access to an additional five tracks for free.

Ingrid Gerdes ★★★ Shed Self-Released A love of soul music is at the heart of Shed, the second solo album from Ingrid Gerdes. The Boston-based singer/songwriter, a graduate of the Berklee School of

Ingrid Gerdes.

Music, has a powerful voice that works well in multiple genres. “Your Boyfriend” is a sultry slice of Latin-tinged pop with tango overtones that sets the mood for the album.

“Better Off ” recalls the heyday of Motown and Stax Records as warns a would-be suitor: “Get acquainted with the back of this door ‘cause your never coming through.”

“Can’t Take Anymore” adapts a more contemporary sound with its synthesizer base as a delivers a rejection to a lover. Gerdes slows down the pace on “Other Woman,” with an easygoing feel that recalls a Dusty Springfield ballad of the late 1960s. On “His Game,” Gerdes shows a bluesier side, while “Your Presence” starts with a piano-and-vocal arrangement that gains intensity as the rest of the band kicks in to bring the song home.

Duke Robillard ★★★ Low Down and Tore Up Stony Plain Records Duke Robillard gets back to basics with Low Down and Tore Up. The CD features 14 energetic and heartfelt version of blues songs that helped provide Robillard’s musical education before he launched his career with Roomful of Blues in the 1960s. Working with his trio of acoustic bassist Brad Hallen, drummer Mark Teixeira and pianist Bruce Bears and augmented by saxophonist Sax Gordon and keyboardist Matt McCabe, Robillard leads his band through a variety of blues styles.

“Quicksand,” one of two songs by Memphis Slim, is an upbeat opener, highlighting Robillard’s nimble guitar work. “West End Blues” is an easygoing glide through one of John Lee Hooker’s lesser-known songs with Robillard and Gordon trading licks. Robil-

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lard and band shift easily from the laid-back instrumental “Blues After Houes” to the frisky double entendre of “Let Me Play With Your Poodle.” Robillard gives his band members a turn in the spotlight. Teixeira takes the lead vocal on “Overboard” while McCabe and Gordon generate sparks on Elmore James’ “Tool Bag Boogie.”

Merle Haggard ★★★ Working in Tennessee Vanguard If country music had a Mount Rushmore, Merle Haggard would be a strong candidate for inclusion. At 74, he’s still recording and touring and Working in Tennessee, his new album, shows Haggard is not going gentle into that good night.

The CD’s 11 tracks include nine songs written or cowritten by Haggard and revisit themes he’s touched on

a Merle Haggard.

throughout his career. “Under the Bridge,” with its depiction of homelessness, was inspired by current economic conditions. “Truck Driver’s Blues” is a lament for the open road and the sacrifices the job requires. “Too Much Boogie Woogie” could serve as Haggard’s musical state of the union (“There’s too much boogie woogie and not enough Ernest Tubb”) as he pays tribute to the singers who inspired him.

Vocally, Haggard projects a relaxed amiability. His versions of “Cocaine Blues” and “Jackson” honor the memory of Johnny Cash, who recorded both tunes. Haggard adopts a rueful tone for “Cocaine Blues,” a nice contrast to Cash’s defiance. On “Workin’ Man Blues,” revisits his 1969 hit with Willie Nelson on vocals and guitar. It’s an inspired pairing of two lions in winter who aren’t ready for retirement. ■ DECEMBER 2011

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LEXICROCKERY

by Robert Gordon Frig n’ Frack: The conjoined team of government and big energy that unites to make sure that big energy has the right to friggin’ frack wherever and whenever obscene profits dictate.

Scamnesia: Condition afflicting Newt Gingrich; specifically a conscious loss of memory concerning a fee of $1.6 million that Freddie Mac paid to tap Gingrich’s singular “historian” insight.

B-Leaguered: The beleaguered state of the Republican Party owing to their slate of “B” League candidates.

Cutality: The staged “cute” act Rick Perry turns on after a few drinks that’s targeted to mask the brutality of his philosophy in matters like executions, capital punishment, prisoner interrogation, waging wars, naming hunting lodges, engaging wildlife, etc.

Drillusional: The drill-baby-drill crowd’s ideological folly that deregulating so Big Energy can drill in fragile ecosystems is the answer to our energy woes (allowing drilling will increase energy supply by 2% … ten years from now).

Praytentious: Pretentious display of over-the-top religiosity by those who pay religion little mind when not in campaign mode.

Plannednesia : Herman Cain’s strategy of forgetting serial episodes of sexual harassment..

Malarkeyologist: “Ark”eologists-cumarcheologists who search for a millennia-old wooden ship cited in a parable-filled book compiled twoand-a-half millennia ago.

Cybersensitive: getting your feelings hurt because someone unfriends you.

Screwgle: Search engine specifically for Gentleman’s Clubs.

Prosperitree: Economic model mimicking an atrociously designed tree where all nourishment flows to the top .1% to the detriment of all the saps stuck at the bottom.

keresman on disc P.G. Six ★★★★1/2 Starry Mind Drag City The older I get, the older-sounding some new music gets…puzzled? Me, too—P.G. Six is the combo of singer/guitarist/songwriter Patrick Gubler, born, I understand, in 1969. But Starry Mind sounds, stylistically, as if it could’ve been recorded 1968-1972—it’s got skittering, spidery, smoldering electric guitar leads (evoking Richard Thompson and Jerry Garcia); plaintive male/female tandem vocals (Jefferson Airplane, Sandy- & Ian-era Fairport Convention, Neil Young & Emmylou Harris), vividly imaginative writing (with plenty of minor keys) that, like the Band and Jethro Tull sounds as if the songs could’ve been writ last month or in British/Irish Elizabethan times, and a solid sense of dynamics (when to go dreamy, then Crazy Horse cathartic, dreamy again). How do these young people do it? Rainy day, dream away. dragcity.com Lydia Loveless ★★★★ Indestructible Machine Bloodshot Country music and rock & roll have a long and contentious relationship—one exemplifies tradition (at least it used to) and sentiment, the other routinely defies both. The two mingle and coalesce and the results can be, well, the Eagles; else-wise it can be fiery, as with Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, and Ohio lass Lydia Loveless (her true name, yep).

Machine is her debut for Bloodshot, and it’s a firecracker that keeps on cracking. She’s got a gutsy voice reminiscent of Loretta Lynn and Neko Case, and her band mixes urgent, somewhat Stones/Replacements-ish rock (with occasional chiming guitar) and lean honky tonk twang. Imagine a female counterpart to Steve Earle or Waylon Jennings, and get her rhythm when you get the blues—she can shake the barroom but also get under your skin (i.e., she got heart). bloodshotrecords.com Jonathan Sternberg/Stravinsky/Tchaikovsky ★★★1/2 The Sternberg Collection Volume 1 Pierian If you want to see whence came the stereotype for the bushy-headed (think a very grey Art Garfunkle) classical orchestra conductor, scope the ‘net for pics of Jonathan Sternberg (b. 1919, NY). This gent is awash in local color—Sternberg taught at Temple University, lectured at Chestnut Hill College, and was Director of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia 2004-2008. This Collection Vol. 1, however, was recorded in Switzerland in 1954 but went unreleased ‘til now—it seems Igor Stravinsky was to conduct a performance of his Violin Concerto but bowed out at the last minute (illness). Sternberg was asked to sub, and despite being completely unfamiliar with the piece, did so (now that’s punk rock!) but no one told the sound crew, who went and recorded it anyway as if Iggy himself was waving the baton. Sternberg was, however, hep to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique), which gets a stirring reading. The (much) more modern, quirky Violin Concerto gets a jagged, playful account (Peter Rybar, soloist), and it’s easy to see how Stravinsky greatly influenced Frank Zappa and many film and jazz composers. The recording quality is decent but in “loud” moments there is the barest distortion. Classical devotees are in for a treat, baby. naxos.com Igor Stravinsky. shemp@hotmail.com

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

Gavin Bryars ★★★★1/2 Piano Concerto (The Solway Canal) Naxos Gavin Bryars is a cornerstone of British classical minimalism, one that influenced the young Brian Eno, who returned the favor by later releasing an album of Bryars’s music on his own Obscure label (now defunct). Bryars is (analogy time) perhaps the UK counterpart to American John Adams—both emerged from the minimalist camp and display more “traditional” classical influences. (Adams can suggest Copland and even Mozart.) This set is three pieces, two for solo piano and a concerto for piano, orchestra and chorus. “After Handel’s Vesper” evokes, of course, Handel and baroque solemnity. “Ramble On Cortona” finds pianist Ralph van Raat treating the keyboard as if each little hammer were hitting a tiny bell—inspired by 13th century music, it’s a trip to an ascetic but welcoming monastery. The Concerto features a Bach/Vivaldi-esque chorus seemingly going “against” the melodious, deliberate flow of the piano and orchestra. The result is spartanly beautiful, like watching a fog-bank envelope a neighborhood or a sunset at a chilly beach. The piano solo is dreamy yet uncompromising—it is somberly exquisite, drawing you in and commanding attention without being nerve-wracking (as opposed to some Yannitype Muzak). As economies crumble and “stars” tweet idiocy, this music is truly needed to put heads to right. naxos.com Dr. Michael White ★★★★ Adventures in New Orleans Jazz Part 1 Basin Street

Gavin Bryars.

Anyone thinking New Orleans (or “N’awlins” if you want to look vaguely “hip”) jazz is all commercial and/or sentimental booshwah should listen to clarinetist Dr. Michael White (not to be confused with the jazz violinist). White is well-versed in the 1920s sounds of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong and continues on in that tradition. But he’s no reactionary throwback/purist—just listen to his luscious version of Bob Marley’s “One Love,” with its bebop-tinged trombone solo. The sultry opener “West African Strut” un-academically explores the transcontinental roots of jazz—you’ll practically think you’re in Mr. Rick’s gin-joint after-hours in Casablanca. His version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is TOO COOL. White plays clarinet with a blues-hearty, fluid, full-bodied, and slyly lissome approach. Adventures is le jazz partie waiting to happen. basinstreetrecords.com ■ Dr. Michael White.

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nick’s picks Gilad Hekselman ★★★★1/2 Hearts Wide Open Chant du Monde Records The prologue and epilogue of Hearts Wide Open may be dusted with carefree whistling, but in between the guitarist Gilad Hekselman arrays eight seriously great originals that gracefully expand the horizons of jazz guitar with melodious rock and folk influences. His phrasing has a satisfying fullness while his solos have a way of connecting deeply.

Songs like “Hazelnut Eyes” and “The Bucket Kicker” match the guitarist with bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore and the musical effect is that of a larger band where Hekselman’s silky arrangements and orderly runs are skillfully underscored by nimble bass notes and percussive Gilad Hekselman, Joe Martin & Marcus Gilmore rhythms. Other tracks add saxophonist Mark Turner to the mix, most effectively on “One More Song,” a whirling folk-inspired narrative with a melodic hook that the saxophonist turns over and over on the chorus. Drummer Gilmore invokes the usual awe with his profound timekeeping. His fills and dexterous sense of swing is starkly evident on “Brooze,” a slow blues with a lazy gait and a hot center that’s set afire by Hekselman’s electrifying solo. Somewhat unusual for a jazz record, the guitarist makes room for a power ballad called “Understanding” that heaves under a sturdy backbeat and emotive melody that signifies the guitarist’s cool confidence. An Israeli native and New Yorker since 2004, Hekselman successfully plumbs the zeitgeist of his peers, striking a perfect balance on “Hearts Wide Open” between accessibility and the improvised go-anywhere storytelling that is progressive jazz. (10 tracks; 60:14 minutes) Wayman Tisdale ★★★★ The Wayman Tisdale Story (CD/DVD) Rendezvous Records “If you want to stand out, go to where the ground is fertile and where there are not many flowers.” That’s the home-brewed wisdom that Wayman Tisdale’s father passed on to his son and exactly what Tisdale did, first as a record-breaking college athlete, Olympic gold medalist and 12-year career player in the NBA—then later, beginning in 1997, as an accomplished and beloved smooth jazz musician. Fittingly, The Wayman Tisdale Story celebrates his life in two ways. A 13-track retrospective culls the most infectious tunes from Tisdale’s eight R&B-based jazz albums featuring collaborations with keyboardist George Duke, saxophonist Dave Koz and, surprisingly, country star Toby Keith. Though it’s a fine sampler and includes an unreleased cut with Jeff Lorber, “Slam Dunk,” these Tisdale albums can be heartily recommended in full—Way Up (2006), Rebound (2008) and his last recording, The Fonk Record (2010), a delirious smorgasbord of Prince-like funk and hard-partying beats.

There’s also an affecting documentary that comes alive whenever Tisdale is on Nick Bewsey has been writing about jazz for ICON since 2004. A member of The Jazz Journalists Association, he blogs about jazz and entertainment at www.jazzinspace.blogspot.com. Twitter: @countingbeats 58

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screen. He was musically gifted from childhood, perhaps a prodigy, who taught himself to play bass guitar and turn it into a successful lead instrument. Fellow bassist Marcus Miller reveals that Tisdale was left-handed and, because bass guitars were designed for right-handed players, Tisdale simply turned his around and learned to play chords and phrases upside down.

Written and directed with affection by Brian Schodorf and with testimonials from peers like Michael Jordan, the film profiles a man whose shining smile and positive attitude instilled good feelings to those around him.

Wayman Tisdale passed away on May 15, 2009 at the age of 44 after a Wayman Tisdale. two-year battle with bone cancer. Remembering his friend, Koz says that Tisdale was always “driving the party bus and [being around him] was one great hang.”

Thankfully, the sizzle that is Tisdale’s music will live on and if you listen—and you should—be sure to turn it up. Way up. (CD: 13 tracks; 56:43 minutes/DVD: 66 minutes; 16:9 aspect ratio, 2-channel stereo) Jake Saslow ★★★★ Crosby Street 14th Street Records Saxophonist Jake Saslow does a terrific job on his debut album, Crosby Street, which sounds like the work of a confident veteran. He has a relaxed sound, tuneful yet conversational and the recording spotlights a leader with an extraordinarily empathetic band. And Saslow gives these musicians plenty of space to bring his compositions to life. The group includes guitarist Mike Moreno whose fragrant solos provide smooth grooves (“Early Riser”) and jangly punctuation (“Lucky 13”). Pianist Fabian Almazan also impresses with harmonic invention (“Taiga Forest”) and a gift for clustering notes that bloom with understated beauty. The saxophonist has a radio-ready cover in Horace Silver’s “Lonely Woman” that pares the band to a dazzling trio with bassist Joe Martin and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. Saslow doesn’t play loud, never showboats by reaching for the high notes or confuses proficiency with theatrics, which in the end defines his playing as grounded and self-assured. Saslow’s also a persuasive balladeer, closing the album Jake Saslow. with “Until Next Time,” a heartfelt track that begins with Trane-like licks over a gentle groove and carries you out under a blanket of swing courtesy of Martin’s walking bass, Gilmore’s sleek beats and Moreno’s gorgeous licks. (7 tracks; 52:07 minutes)

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

Bob James/Keiko Matsui ★★★1/2 Altair & Vega (CD/DVD) eOne Music Contempo jazz pianists Bob James and Keiko Matsui team up for an unexpected, highly personal project called Altair & Vega, a one-piano / four-hands date which plays up James’s affection for mixing classical motifs with softly funky melodies and Matsui’s flair for new age inflected tunes. The compositional duties are evenly divided with James carrying the title tune and “Divertimento,” the latter brushed with a playful Gershwin-like veneer. The concept works surprisingly well as each artist balances and complements each other’s playing style. Matsui’s musical career has mostly seemed in-

and you-are-there acoustics are stunningly realized.

The lead track, “Think Of Me,” is adorned with the crystalline sound of David Kikoski’s Fender Rhodes piano, and introduces a precision frontline to reckon with—trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, a pair touched by both tradition and modern jazz idioms. Bassist Boris Kozlov and Donald Edwards on drums provide potent assistance to round out this sleek quartet. Free wheeling yet rock steady, the band drills down on their all-original compositions like Kikoski’s “Baker’s Dozen,” an swaggering cut with a catchy hook that swings Crusaders-style and cuts deep with Sipiagin’s razor sharp solo. When they make room for a ballad, they cover a bossa nova tune by Toninho Horta highlighted by Blake’s stirring phrases while blowing over the lilting rhythm. Equality reigns supreme with this quartet as each brings a tune to the date but Kikoski, a lyrical pianist with a solid career of his own, gives these tunes a welcome rush and backbone, especially on “Nostalgia In Time” and the rambunctious groove of “Sokol.”

Overall, this is a group that pushes music not boundaries, and while the smart liner notes by Josef Woodard allude to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’s mid-60s group as inspiration, Opus 5 is a confident outfit with plenty to say on its own.

(7 tracks; 62:37 minutes) Oscar Peterson ★★★★1/2 Unmistakable Sony Masterworks/Zenph

Bob James and Keiko Matsui.

spired by James’s work of the last fifteen years—good-humored electronic codas and sparkling keyboard flourishes are a James staple. That’s mostly stripped out here and what’s left are strong performances, notably on “The Forever Variations,” which takes a Matsui original as its source and gives James room to layer in some keenly rendered solos.

The accompanying DVD documents their “4 Hands” piano gig at the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild in Pittsburgh on Valentine’s Day in 2010. The music brings us live (and livelier) versions of the studio mix and adds a Matsui solo (“Trees”) as well as a James solo (the Ray Noble standard, “The Touch Of Your Lips”) that proves he remains an ace pianist who frustratingly withholds that side of his ability too frequently. Overall, the date is relaxed, well performed and impresses with the duo’s technique and obvious fondness for one another’s talent. Doubtless, some listeners will pine for a bass bump or drum lick but the music stands all by itself. (CD: 7 tracks; 47:46 minutes/DVD: 45 minutes; 4:3 aspect ratio, 2-channel PCM) Opus 5 ★★★★ Introducing Opus 5 Criss Cross Jazz Ad hoc collectives, the best of which are made up of like-minded jazz musicians who, when the flow is true, can produce some mighty sweet sounds and winning interplay. Opus 5 proves to be this capable on ntroducing Opus 5, a debut dipped in souljazz for the Dutch-based Criss Craft label. As is customary for this label, the sonic flavor

Pianist Oscar Peterson was a formidable leader, a masterful soloist and stride pianist in whatever group configuration he chose, whether by himself or fronting an orchestra. Legendary may be a word that’s tossed around freely, but it genuinely applied to OP. Unmistakable has a unique distinction of being subjected to the Zenph re-mastering process.

Combining algorithms with audio alchemy, Zenph Re-Performance took original audio recordings—solo recordings that Peterson made in the mid-‘80s in his home studio—and turned them back into live performances through software that re-creates the DNA of Peterson’s playing style in all its permutations (dynamic range, his physical imprint on the keys, his pedaling).

Oscar Peterson.

Unmistakable is a clever title, and the music is undeniably in the upper tier of the pianist’s body of work with glorious ruminations on “Body and Soul,” “In A Sentimental Mood,” “Con Alma” and a medley of Duke Ellington tunes. The set of eight tunes is played twice, once in a two-channel stereo format and then repeated in sequence as a binaural stereo version, designed for listening on the best cans you have as the “ultimate headphone experience.” The recording is brilliant as if OP is playing in front of you, but that’s the idea and it’s awesome. (16 tracks; 78 minutes) n DECEMBER 2011

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the last word MORMON TEMPLE DESIGN When it comes to church or temple architecture, Mormons have it all over Catholics and mega-church Protestants, whose modern churches frequently overemphasize cold, hard lines and utility.

The proposed Mormon temple at 18th and Vine Streets near the Philadelphia Parkway won’t be a utilitarian warehouse. The design is one of many temple designs currently in use throughout the Mormon world. The Philadelphia temple will be the Church’s

Architect’s rendering of the proposed Mormon Temple in Philadelphia.

77th and it will have two spires, one hosting an image of the Angel Moroni, the angel who, according to Mormon belief, appeared to Mormon founder Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York, sometime after Smith asked God which church he should join.

The angel directed Smith to dig in a certain spot where he would find golden plates containing a new scripture. The translated plates became the Book of Mormon, also the name of the current Broadway hit.

The Philadelphia temple spires will reach over 200 feet in height, providing an impressive point of reference in a skyscape filled with crosses and steeples. The 68,000 square foot building will house a visitors’ center, a family history center, a financial service office for LDS communicants and an employment services office. Renderings of the proposed structure show an eclectic mix of Greek classicism and federalist 18th and 19th century styles, the antithesis of the work of current architectural legends Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid.

Journalist Thom Nickels’s books include Philadelphia Architecture, Tropic of Libra, and Out in History. His novel SPORE will be released in early 2010. He is the recipient of the 2005 Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Architecture Journalism Award. thomnickels.blogspot. com

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The Philadelphia design is one of the more basic temple templates, chosen from a wide range of styles in use throughout the world. The two-spire temple is, in fact, one of the more recognizable Mormon temple styles and will blend harmoniously with the Parkway’s neoclassical structures.

Other Mormon Temple styles, such as the so-called Bountiful, Front Tier, Native American Grecian or even the ultra-Disneyland-conjuring six-spire temple in San Diego, have become impressive city landmarks. One of the reasons why Mormon temples become instant landmarks is because they are commonly built in isolated but high visibility sections of the city, such as near freeways. While the Center City location doesn’t afford quite the isolation of a freeway ramp, the temple’s Parkway presence will have a landmark feel nevertheless. The signature capstone, of course, will be the towering gilded fiberglass Angel Moroni, trumpet in hand, which promises to compete with the cross atop the Catholic Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. This juxtaposition promises to be as theologically jarring as the mix of minarets and crosses now popping up all over Western Europe.

Like Islam, Orthodox Judaism or Eastern Orthodoxy, Mormons don’t want to fit in as just another denomination. The design of Mormon temples tends to reflect this view.

One will always find traditional elements in Temple design; a Mormon Temple will always be recognizable as a Mormon Temple despite occasional forays into modernism.

Mormons, in fact, seem to have a sense that too far a stretch into modernism might threaten a reinterpretation of the faith. Can a religion be altered through architecture? If it can be done through its liturgical celebrations, bricks and mortar may prove to be a powerful influence.

The temple in Mexico City, for instance, is still recognizable as “Mormon” underneath its modern Mayan design, a far cry from, say, the multi-million dollar Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, which seems to twist post-Conciliar Catholicism into a discombobulated box wreck, an appropriate symbol perhaps for a Church in crisis.

Critics say that the Philadelphia Temple design contains elements of the confectionary, as if buildings built today must never hearken back to another age. Hidden City Philadelphia, for instance, found nothing attractive about the structure. “No one wants to discuss the appalling design of the 70 million dollar temple—if we ignore it, it just might disappear, folks seem to say—but it points up real tension in the decision about the role of new buildings. Should they blend in or boldly pronounce the values of our day?”

But what are the values of our day? Hidden City’s criticism seems to suggest that religions update their values as the culture “progresses.” After all, in a world where Yoga instructors, dog parks and weekly therapist appointments are king, how can there be anything of value in a big, gilded fiberglass angel?

The temple architect, B. Jeffrey Stebar of Perkins + Will, an Atlanta firm, is also a Mormon bishop in the Jonesboro Georgia Stake. The firm is generally noted for its Prairie-style modernism, except of course when it comes to the design of temples.

Mormon temples historically have had a heavy granite look, a carryover from the days of anti-Mormon prejudice when temples, such as the one in Nauvoo, Ill., were burned to the ground in 1848 shortly after being abandoned by Mormons heading west to Salt Lake City. Mormon Temples, according to Paul Anderson, a curator of a show on Mormon architecture at BYU, “aim for a delicate harmony between the Church’s desire to appear reassuringly Christian, while at the same time proudly advertising its separation from Catholic and Protestant dogma.”

Salt Lake City’s Mormon Temple, perhaps the most famous in the world, was finished in 1893 (it was designed by Brigham Young’s brother-in-law). A little known fact is that before its completion Church leaders made sure that it was astrologically aligned.

Earlier temple designs also contain symbols you’re unlikely to find in modern temples.

Besides the absence of crosses, older temple models are filled with Masonic handshakes, moon phases, suns, Big Dipper Constellations, and Inverted Pentagrams. Critics of Mormonism love to point out that such symbols are proof that the religion is from ‘the dark side,’ but sometimes, as has often been said, a symbol is just a symbol.

THOM NICKELS

OCCUPY PHILADELPHIA When I first visited the Occupy Philadelphia City Hall site, what struck me was the similarity to protest gatherings in the ‘60s and ‘70s. When I was a conscientious objector doing alternate service in a Boston hospital during the Vietnam War, frequent peace rallies, teach-ins and speeches in Harvard Yard became a staple of life. During the Vietnam War Moratorium in 1969, for instance, physicians, nurses and employees of Tufts-New England Medical Center sponsored a draft card burning. The hospital’s sponsorship of this radical act barely raised an eyebrow then. Today it would be unthinkable for a large metropolitan hospital to sponsor such a rally, but in those days many were convinced that the country was on the brink of a second revolution.

Almost 45 years later, the country may indeed be closer to that revolution.

The Occupy Wall Street phenomenon, which has become an international movement, targets corporate destruction of the economy and financial abuses by banks and

when it came to the power of the corporate media. Some had never even heard of the film, Orwell Rolls in His Grave, which addresses this issue.

Two young male Occupiers challenged me on this issue. “We get coverage all the time,” one said. “We are all over the world. It’s huge!” Yes it is huge, but what you’re getting is media coverage based on the oddity of the encampment, a kind of “Let’s see what the freaks are up to today” rather than a serious examination of the issues being raised.

The average American who walked through City Hall last month probably didn’t stop to read the literature on the many tables there, but instead fixated on the deteriorating condition of the tents, how the occupiers were dressed, or even the smell of certain individuals. In the minds of most passersby this was enough to dismiss the entire movement as illegitimate. Making snap judgments based on appearances is an American pastime.

“The spoiled brats who make up the bulk of these whiners show what this so-called movement is all about,” one Philly.com reader commented. “A jobs fair to these lazy slobs is like a cross to a vampire,” said another.

The middle class did this to Vietnam War protestors in the 1970s, calling them dirty long haired bums and dismissing their protests until the implosion of The Pentagon Papers brought the illegality of that war to a head. Overnight the tables turned; grandmothers everywhere confessed: “The hippies were right all along!”

In every political group there are extremists who obfuscate primary issues with satellite baggage.

At City Hall I heard soapbox talks on vegan lifestyles and how everyone should give up the killing of animals; pleas for the formation of a new political party (no mention was made of the need for a Constitutional Convention, however). There were also plenty of Trotskyite socialists walking around addressing one another as “comrade” and praising the works of Karl Marx. One Trotskyite even dressed in a fur hat and faux Soviet uniform while others stuck to wearing armbands over long trench coats. Perhaps it was all an October-Halloween thing, but then again maybe the “dress up” Trotskyites were suffering from some kind of post-adolescent stress disorder.Despite this costuming faux pas, Occupy Philadelphia deserves every Philadelphian’s support.

DEVISED WORK: COLLABORATION IN THE THEATER Keeping it clean, a man sweeps the plaza next to City Hall at the Occupy Philadelphia encampment.

other financial institutions. Many of the protestors in the United States call for the dissolution of the Fed, that non-governmental agency posing as a governmental agency, whose job it is to distribute huge amounts of fiat currency to banks (at zero cost) who then lend that cash to the public at huge rates of interest.

Abolishing the Fed is a fine goal if only because U.S. money, which is no longer backed by the gold standard, currently runs the risk of becoming as worthless as German currency in the 1920s Weimar Republic. At that time, an unchecked Germany kept adding zeros to its currency until the fiat bills had no value whatsoever.

Is the message of Occupy Philadelphia getting out?

Marty Moss-Coane featured two Occupy Philadelphia participants on her radio show, Radio Times, last month. Unfortunately, the show’s guests spoke in gross generalities and were a far cry from the articulate voices of most people living at the site. “Things are bad and they have to change; we have to do something” was the main refrain of the two guests. Perhaps, when all is said and done, it was the seductive sound of one guest’s Valley Girl accent that got her invited on the show.

This begs the question: what about the corporate media?

Unchecked media consolidation works to snuff out or not report news pertinent to a vital democracy. Significant stories that should be given top coverage are given little or no coverage when one or two news sources control everything.

During my visits to City Hall, I found that few occupiers had a sense of urgency

Writing a successful play is no easy task. When I was asked to write a play for a friend several years ago, I had no idea the project would take me into the dizzying orbit of “devised” or collaborative work. Until then, the idea of writing a play was pretty much a solitary endeavor, like novelist Thomas Wolfe writing on legal pads in longhand, or Jean-Paul Sartre making notes for No Exit while sitting alone in the Café Flores.

The play eventually took on a life of its own, involving not only the necessary addition of a dramaturge but editorial input from a long list of characters. In the end, it was much like a play written by committee.

A visit to Philadelphia’s Adrienne Theater this summer exposed me to the subject of “devised” work. “Devised work” in the theater is the latest avant-garde infection. I use the word infection because devised work’s general philosophy is to establish creative teams of people involved in the writing of a play, from stage lighting directors, actors, directors, director’s assistants or anybody else who feels that they have something valuable to contribute. The collective consciousness in these creative teams is all about creating the best play possible.

A noteworthy champion of “devised” work is David Dower, Associate Artistic Director at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. At a panel discussion recently, Mr. Dower proclaimed, “The future of theater will be made by devised work,” and that “the days of one writer sitting alone in a room, submitting the play to the theater,” are over.

Good-bye Eugene O’Neill, Samuel Beckett, and Jean Genet; hello creative teams a la Hollywood screenwriting board rooms.

Arena Theater, for instance, has a new “devised” policy of only accepting plays from

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playwrights with whom they “engage”— meaning, if you are a playwright outside you don’t stand much of a chance.

Michele Volansky of Philadelphia’s PlayPenn wrote about Mr. Dower recently in PlayPenn’s newsletter and voiced a “wait and see” view about devised work, giving it the benefit of the doubt while also wondering about some of its more radical expressions, like the supernova avant garde play without a written text.

“Nothing remains that I can access,” Ms. Volansky posits about textless plays.

“Pig Iron and New Paradise Laboratories in Philadelphia have social relevance, but none of them exist outside the memory and personal experience of those who witnessed them personally.”

“For a play to endure,” she adds, “you have to have a text.”

Cutting edge!

DRUG REHAB AND CUTS Septa’s 15 trolley, which I ride almost every day from my house in Fishtown, becomes at various times what some people call the Methadone Express. Users en route to two major methadone clinics along Girard Avenue often nod off in their seats and scream rather than talk when having conversations with friends. Many have a glazed look in their eyes, recalling Wolf Rilla’s 1960 film, Village of the Damned.

Withdrawal from methadone can be more difficult than withdrawal from heroin. That’s why when methadone clinics put patients on a withdrawal program they usually drop the intake by about 5 mg. per visit until the patient is down to nothing. After treatment there are still problems because most patients experience withdrawal symptoms and have difficulty sleeping. This situation often becomes so intolerable that most go back to methadone or street drugs.

Suboxone, or the “rich man’s methadone,” is no panacea either, because in order for it to work an addict must keep taking it. It also causes no permanent changes in a user’s brain, so relapses are common.

These vicious cycles prove that heroin is the most devastating drug on the planet.

Without a desire to change, an addict will never be cured of his/her addiction.

Heroin, for most addicts, is a lifetime sentence. This is true whether one stays on the drug or opts to transition to methadone or Suboxone. A near-lifetime of maintenance is still required. Maintaining sobriety for an addict then becomes much like a career endeavor, often replacing vocational or professional goals.

One tragedy of Philadelphia’s immense heroin problem is its impact on the city’s homeless population.

Addicts today are able to spend 30 days in rehab (at the state’s expense) where they go through extensive rehabilitative programs. Residents are able to eat three meals a day. While there are currently sensible limits on how often an addict on public welfare can use free rehab facilities, the future looks dim for poor people opting to get clean for the first time.

With the barrage of federal and state cutbacks happening at every level, the time is approaching when all 30-day free rehabs will be a thing of the past. The logic behind these cuts, aside from obvious cost cutting factors, is the fact that politicians are beginning to take aim at how addicts use free government rehab as a means to get clean in order to get a bigger high once rehab is over.

Cycling out and entering another free rehab after more drug use has become a sort of urban dance for addicts who can never get clean.

Future government cuts would eliminate rehab for people on welfare, increasing the number of addicts with no place to go.

There are recovery houses, of course, but these places are often merely money making operations. Recovery house are post-rehab community living arrangements with house managers and established rules for residents. They are not drug rehabilitative facilities per se, but protected environments that prepare an addict for reentry into the real world.

Some houses are as liberal as 1960s San Francisco communes, where members come and go at whim and are rarely tested or searched for drugs. These houses are in the business of “recovery” only to make money. Addicts are evicted for non-payment of rent while injurious behavior related to their recovery may be overlooked.

There are good recovery houses, of course, where participants sign in and out and where drug tests are administered, but houses like this are not the norm.

Despite the proliferation of new restaurants, bars and art galleries in Fishtown—there was even a laudatory article about the neighborhood in The New York Times a couple of years back—its reputation as a drug capital is still well deserved.

Neighbors may balk about the problem, and businesses may chase away panhandlers who beg for drug money, but the daily tidal wash up of used needles still manages to make a Jackson Pollack mess in nearly every local shopping center and Dunkin Donuts parking lot. ■

40 / JOSEPH AMBLER INN

when a breadbasket of steaming hot bread accompanied by olive hummus arrives, to the finale, no details are downplayed. On one recent visit, the chef had prepared an exquisite amuse-bouche of scallops dusted with espresso and cocoa.

A savory cream spiked with espresso and hazelnut was ladled over tender scallop discs. Sprinkled on top were tiny chunks of toasted hazelnuts that gave textural counterpoint to the tender scallops.

Seared Tender Beef Medallions atop crispy Parmesan-caked crustini are garnished with luscious foie gras and flavored with port wine glaze. Blackened Yellow Fin Tuna is plated as seven, seared ruby-red tender slices with crisped, darkened edges. Three pieces of noriwrapped vegetable sushi is served with the tuna, accompanied by pickled ginger and soy wasabi. In the Roasted Beet Salad, hefty chunks of golden beets ring a green bed of leafy spinach studded with focaccia croutons and topped with cherry tomatoes and clumps of velvety Feta cheese. Sweet, complex balsamic glaze ups the zest.

Spinach, roasted Cipollini Onions, and sun-dried tomatoes stuff into the rainbow trout on a bed of herb basmati rice. The taste delivers fully on the visual promise. Pan-roasted Chilean Sea Bass lies next to white risotto with English peas mixed in with lump crabmeat.

There are a number of other laudable dishes, not the least of which is an Inn-favorite, Pan-Roasted Rack of Lamb. But the coup de grâce is the Prime Hatfield Pork Porterhouse, which I order medium. The resulting texture is exquisite.

House-made desserts are $8. Sweet Potato Custard topped with brittles of caramel is one of the finest desserts within recent memory. Chocolate Roulade with Raspberry Filling balances delicacy with full-bodied flavor. Honey-Roasted Pear Tarte, made with finesse, is fruity and sweet.

Joseph Ambler Inn has as long string of Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for its fairly priced, extensive wine list.

They’ve earned that distinction every year since 1995. That’s a long history of excellence, but not surprising. At Joseph Ambler Inn, history rules. ■ Joseph Ambler Inn, 1005 Horsham Rd, North Wales, PA. 215-361-5924. www.josephamblerinn.com. Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 AM-2:30 PM; Lite Fare Luncheon Saturday, Sunday Noon-4 PM [served in the JPUB, No Reservations Necessary; Dinner MondaySaturday 5-10 PM, Sunday 5-9 PM

going out calendar ART EXHIBITS THRU 12/10 Max Victor Alper, Persona. Color C-print photographs. Soft Machine Gallery, 725 No. 15th St., Allentown, PA. 484-838-4252. softmachinegallery.com THRU 12/10 Chuck Zovko, New Works. The Snow Goose Gallery, 470 Main St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-974-9099. thesnowgoosegallery.com THRU 12/17 Moments: Shooting the Pulitzer. Pulitzer Prize- winning AP photographs. Tues-Fri 1-5; Sat 12-5. Lafayette College, Grossman Gallery, Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. http://galleries.lafayette.edu THRU 12/17 Works in Wood, 11th Annual New Hope Arts Exhibition, featuring 30 artists. New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org THRU 12/18 Maria Martinez-Canás, photography. Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 11-5; Thurs 11-8; Sat & Sun 12-5. Lafayette College, Williams Center Gallery, Easton, PA. 610-330-5361. http://galleries.lafayette.edu THRU 12/31 here. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 215-972-7600 pafa.org THRU 12/31 John Schmidtberger/LIGHT, Inaugural Exhibition. SFA Gallery, Thurs-Sun, 11-5. 10 Bridge St., Suite 7, Frenchtown, NJ, 08825.

908-268-1700. www.sfagallery.com THRU 12/31 Quilt Art. James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown. 215-340-9800. michenerartmuseum.org THRU 12/31 Serenity in Surrealism, internationally known artist, Evgeni Gordiets. Designs for Tranquility, 41 Bridge St., Frenchtown, NJ. 908-996-9990. designsfortranquility.com THRU 1/15 Shared Treasure: The Legacy of Samuel H. Kress. Allentown Art Museum of Lehigh Valley, 31 N., 5th. St., Allentown, PA. 610-4324333. allentownartmuseum.org THRU 1/15 Midwinter Passage, paintings by Roger Smith & Amy Ely O’Carroll. The Quiet Life Gallery, 17 S. Main St., Lambertville. WedSun www.quietlifegallery. 609-397-0880 THRU 1/29/12 Masterpieces by Andrew Wyeth from the Collections. Brandywine River Museum, Rte. 1, Chadds Ford. 610-388-2700. brandywinemuseum.org THRU 4/1/2012 The Painterly Voice: Bucks County’s Fertile Ground. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St, Doylestown, PA. 215-340-9800. michenerartmuseum.org

12/1-1/22 Kisa Kavass, Moments de Curiosite.John Andrulis’ Retrospective continues Upstairs Gallery 11. Red Filter Gallery, 74 Bridge St., Lambertville. Thurs–Sun 12-5. 347-244-9758. www.redfiltergallery.com.

Broad St., Phila. 215-895-1999. www.kimmelcenter.org.

12/3-12/23 Annual Small Paintings Exhibit. Special hours, Dec. 3, 10-8 and Dec. 4, 12-4. Travis Gallery, 6089 Lower York Rd. (Rt. 202), New Hope, PA, 18938. Wed- Sat, 10-5.

215-794-3903. www.travisgallery.com

Tuesdays: Music & poetry, dance performances, storytellers & buffet. $30 includes tax and gratuity. Hamilton’s Grill Room, 8 Coryell Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-4343. hamiltonsgrillroom.com

12/3-1/15 Myles Cavanaugh: Places and Times to Remember. One-person exhibition. Opening reception 12/3, 6-9; Special Sunday hours December 4, 12-4pm. 12/10 gallery conversation with the artist. Silverman Gallery, Bucks County Impressionist Art, Buckingham Green, Route 202, Holicong, PA. 215-7944300. thesilvermangallery.com.

12/9-1/8 East of the Sun: paintings by Jean Plough. Opening reception 12/9, 6-9pm.

Twenty-Two Gallery, 236 So. 22nd St., Phila.

215-772-1911. www.twenty-twogallery.com

CALL TO ARTISTS GoggleWorks 2012 Juried Show, Vanity Fare: an offering of Art, Fashion and Creativity. Grand Prize: solo show in GoggleWorks’ Cohen Gallery. Cash prizes: first, second, and third place. Entry deadline: Jan. 13, 2012.

Prospectus: www.goggleworks.org/Exhibitions/. GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St., Reading, PA, 19601. 610374-4600. www.goggleworks.org

THEATER THRU 12/11 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Act 1, DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, Main Stage, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-282-3192 or visit www.desales.edu/act1 THRU 12/30 The Golden Girls, a murder mystery. Fri & Sat 7:15pm, $51.95/perons, includes dinner, show, tax & gratuity. Peddler’s Pub, Cock’ N Bull Restaurant, Rt. 263 & Street Rd., Lahaska, PA. 215-794-4051. peddlersvillage.com 12/1-12/18 Christmas City Follies X11, Homegrown Vaudevillian Holiday Hijinx. Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th St., Bethlehem, PA. 610 867 1689, touchstone@touchstone.org 12/8 Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, 7:30pm. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999state, or order online www.statetheatre.org 1/15 Guest artists, Rioult Dance Fables, 3pm, family-friendly. Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. 610-758-2787. www.zoellnerartscenter.org 1/6-8: Shen Yun. Chinese dance and orchestral compositions. Merriam Theater, 250 So.

DINNER & MUSIC

Saturday nights: Sette Luna Restaurant, 219 Ferry St., Easton, PA. 610-253-8888. setteluna.com

CONCERTS Some organizations perform in various locations. If no address is listed, check the website for location of performance.

12/3 Happy Holidays! Family Concert for children up to age nine, their families and friends, 10 & 11:30am. Music Together Community Room, Pennington-Hopewell Rd. (Rte 654), Hopewell, NJ. Presented by Music Together teachers and Sotto Voce, Voices’ chamber chorus. Family pass, $25, adults, $10, children $8; under 2, free. Tickets: www.musictogetherprinceton.com. 609-924-7801.

12/4 Satori Chamber Ensemble. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. 610435-1641. stjohnsallentown.org 12/10 & 12/11 Christmas Concerts, presented by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Sat., 8pm, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown and Sun., 4pm, First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. 610866-4382. www.bach.org 12/13 Festival of Lights and Carols, 7:30pm. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. www.stjohnsallentown.org, 61- 435-1641 12/15 John Tesh, Big Band Christmas, 8pm. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132, 1-800-999-state, or order online www.statetheatre.org 12/18 & 19 Mozart / Mendelssohn. Dirk Brossé, conductor; John David Smith, horn. Leopold Mozart: “Toy Symphony”: Cassation in G major for orchestra and toys; Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495; Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, “Italian.” Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Perfforming Arts, Broad Street, Phila. 215-893-1709. www.chamberorchestra.org.

12/17 “ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY" Holiday Concert by VOICES Chorale at Trinity Episcopal Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540. Featuring Christmas music from England, Scotland and Wales, 4:30 & 8:00 pm.

Gen. Adm. $25; Children / Students with ID $10; Family Pass $55; Party of six $100; NJ

Pass Holders: 25% discount. Advance sale: $5 off Gen. Admission & Family Pass tickets!

Tickets: www.VOICESChorale.org, 609-6379383, and at the door.

12/18 “ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY" Holiday Concert by VOICES Chorale at Anchor Presbyterian Church. 980 Durham Road (Rte 413), Wrightstown, PA 18940 (with silent auction), featuring Christmas music from England, Scotland and Wales, 3:00pm. Gen. Adm. $25; Children / Students with ID $10; Family Pass $55; Party of six $100. Advance sale: $5 off on Gen. Admission & Family Pass tickets! Tickets: www.VOICESChorale.org , 609-637-9383 and at the door.

12/25 Organ Noels, 3:00pm. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. www.stjohnsallentown.org, 610-435-1641

THRU 12/17 Pennsylvania’s Christmas City, Bethlehem, PA. Tree lighting ceremony, Christmas City Village, Live Advent Calendar. For schedule: downtownbethlehemassociation.com or bethlehempa.org. To reserve holiday tours, 610-691-6055.

1THRU 12/18 (check schedule) Christkindlmarkt. Bethlehem, Thurs-Sat. 118, Sun 11- 6. Top Holiday market in the world showcasing handmade works by nation’s finest artisans, live music, food & more.

PNC Plaza at SteelStacks Campus, 645 E. First St., Bethlehem, PA. THRU 12/23 Holiday Gallery and Sale. Fine arts & crafts by local artists. The Baum School of Art, 510 W. Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-433-0032. baumschool.org THRU 1/1 Gingerbread house competition & display. A visual delight, the entries are displayed throughout the holiday season in the Village Gazebo. Enjoy the festive lights as you shop at Peddler’s Village, Lahaska, PA. www.peddlersvillage.com

ARTSQUEST CENTER AT STEELSTACKS (Musicfest Café) 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300. artsquest.org 12/2: David Bromberg 12/7: David Parker And The Bang Group's Holiday Classic Nut/Cracked 12/9: Wilson Phillips Holiday Show 12/10: Harry Chapin - A Holiday Celebration In Song 12/14: John Pizzarelli 12/15: Hanging with the Dan Band 12/17: Sarah Ayers & Friends 12/30: Jimmy and the Parrots 12/31: Talking Heads Tribute/Great White Caps 1/5: Mickey Hart Band 1/6: Little Feat 1/12: Carbon Leaf 1/13: Chris Smither with Ellis Paul 1/14: Everclear 1/17-22: Tony & Tina’s Wedding

MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE One of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters, built in 1881. 14 West Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA 570-325-0249. mauchchunkoperahouse.com 12/2: Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus Christmas Show 12/3: The Peek-A-Boo Revue Holiday Spectacular 12/4: Free Range Folk 12/9: Four Celtic Voices 12/10: Craig Thatcher and Friends Rockin’ Christmas Show 12/10: A Christmas Carol 12/17: Messiah/Bach and Handel Chorale 12/30: The Tartan Terrors 1/14: Kashmir: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Show 1/21: Hamell On Trial 1/27: Last Friday Stand Up Comedy Event

EVENTS

12/2 Cree LeFavour. Book signing event, featuring local cookbook author, 6-9. Modern Love, 23 Race St., Frenchtown, NJ. 908-9963387. shopmodernlove.com 12/2, 3, 4 Sherry Tinsman, Metalsmith. Trunk show.

A Mano Galleries, 128 So. Main St., New Hope (215-862-5122) and 42 No. Union St., Lambertville (609-397-0063). www.amanogalleries.com 12/3- 12/24 Handmade Holidays, presented by some things looming. Give unique & made in the USA, handmade gifts this holiday. Opening rec., 12/3, 1-4pm, Fridays: Wine & Cheese, 3-5pm. 526 Washington St., Reading, PA. www.somethingslooming.com. Public parking garage off of Washington St. 12/9 Alex Cohen: Lecture/Workshop. Stretching and preparing canvas; build and prepare your painting surface. Hands-on evening. 6-9pm.

609-397-5679. www.robertbeckacademy.com 12/10 Bjorn Glass holiday party, 6pm. Come celebrate and find great gift ideas to bring color and light to this festive season. Refreshments will be served. 12 North Union St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-397-0833. www.bjornglass.com 12/15 Candle Light Night, 6-9.30pm, Clinton, NJ. Late- night shopping with in-store refreshments and holiday specials. Horse and carriage rides throughout the historic district. www.clintonguild.com 12/17-24 FREE parking in Lambertville, NJ, little city, big Holiday shopping! www.lambertville.org 12/18 Santa on Main Street, 1-2pm, Clinton, NJ. www.clintonguild.com

DECEMBER 2011

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