JUNE 2017 by ICON Magazine

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 3

JUNE

ICON

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

INTERVIEW

Filling the hunger since 1992

QUEEN CHITA | 20 Chita Rivera, the grand lady of Broadway, refuses to stay still

1-800-354-8776 • 215-862-9558

www.icondv.com ADVERTISING 800-354-8776

FEATURE A VERY HIP HAPPENING | 22 Vision/Sound explores Allentown’s ’70s–’80s alternative arts boom

FILM

ART 5 | 6 |

Down the Middle

Chuck

Manifesto

filipiakr@comcast.net

FILM ROUNDUP

PRODUCTION

Alien: Covenant Hunter’s Prayer Journey Through French Cinema Risk

Jersey Shore Artists’ Gallery

EXHIBITIONS II Irving Penn: Centennial Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thomas Mann Trajectory Heart Project Downtown Allentown

EXHIBITIONS III White-Line Color Woodcuts Allentown Art Museum

Theater

The List

Agenda

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Wynton Kelly Trio and Wes Montgomery Bohemian Trio Van Morrison Sarah Shook & The Disarmers Big Star

SINGER / SONGWRITER Katy Moffatt Chip Taylor David Childers Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Nina Massara

| |

Peter Croatto / petecroatto@yahoo.com James P. Delpino / JDelpino@aol.com

Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com

R. Kurt Osenlund / rkurtosenlund@gmail.com

37 42

Jack Byer / jackbyer@verizon.net

George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com

POP

Robert Beck / robert@robertbeck.net

MUSIC

Mix it Up

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

DOCUMENTARY

ENTERTAINMENT

ON THE COVER: Chita Rivera. Page 20.

FOREIGN

JAZZ LIBRARY Gene Harris

FOODIE FILE 12

Nick Bewsey / nickbewsey@gmail.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

A. D. Amorosi / divaland@aol.com

Where We Are: 1900–1960 Whitney Museum of American Art

Susan O’Neill

The Sense of an Ending A United Kingdom Get Out

David Lynch: The Art Life

Sculpture 2017 New Hope Arts

Richard DeCosta

REEL NEWS

L’Avenir

Louise Lawler Now The Museum of Modern Art

Raina Filipiak / Advertising

Re-Imagined: Christopher Kennedy The Studio Gallery

8 |

EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna

EXHIBITIONS I Historic House Tour and Architectural & Design Exhibition Sites in Allentown, PA

PUBLISHER

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

HARPER’S FINDINGS & INDEX L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD

Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com Bob Perkins / bjazz5@aol.com

Keith Uhlich / KeithUhlich@gmail.com Tom Wilk / tomwilk@rocketmail.com

PO Box 120 • New Hope 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). ©2017 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

ESSAY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

art

down the middle I’VE READ A LOT of comments on painting by critics and curators. Sometimes it’s not hard to tell they’re guessing, so artists take note: writing about your work is not just an exercise in storytelling—it’s self-defense. I painted a kid’s baseball game at Ely Park the other night that was really challengin—the kind of subject a painter glances at, quickly runs through the reasons why it’s not a good idea, and moves on to something else. It was clear even before I set up that this would be a fistfight. Why would I choose to vex myself with a problem subject when I could be down by the river painting the pretty girls in their broad-brimmed hats and parasols; enjoying wine, throaty laughter, knowing glances, and radiant smiles? Because I was asked to do it. The painting would be a fundraising item for the group that supports the athletic field—a good thing in Lambertville—so I decided to paint the game. I know from experience that to auction a painting successfully the subject has to be one that two guests at the event are interested in. So, baseball at the park it was. My first question was: when are the games played? Time, weather, and light are the gods that rule plein air painters, and they are uncompromising. The painting would have to be done early in the season in order to dry in time for the event, which means a lighting problem. The games start at 6:15 and that time of year it gets dark around 7:00–7:30. I would be starting in daylight and finishing under the lights. I got to the field about 5:00 and walked around to get a feel for vantage points while nobody was there. The money image would be from behind the plate looking out past the ump, catcher, and batter, to-

ward the fielders and the back fence with the advertising signs, but there was a large green tarp on the backstop blocking any view. Moving along the fence from that point all the sightlines were blocked by the dugouts. The position I chose, nearly to third base, allowed me to describe the group at the plate and some field architecture. The fence would give me protection since I wouldn’t be paying attention to the game. It’s what I had. I set up and started a quick drawing. My initial blocking was a lot of guesswork. The brightest area when I started— the sky—would become the darkest. The grounds, which were dimming in the evening light, would take on a sudden brightness when the lights were turned on well into the game. The sun is directional but lights flood the field, leaving few shadows. The poles were too high for the lights

to be in the composition so I would have to suggest their location when describing the illumination. Try to get close and fix it toward the end. A Tuesday night game in Lambertville didn’t disappoint. There were people plopped in lawn chairs, calling to the batters that they had good eyes (when they did). Coaches loudly barked critiques so everybody knew what the 12-year-old on second had done wrong. Girls with cell phones ran behind the bleachers screaming “Oh My God..” That small boy who was me in the outfield chewed on his glove laces, not remotely in the game. Kids wandered over to see what I was up to and tell me I was doing a good job. Adults kept their distance. All the heads turned at the dink of the bat. The highlight for me was the rocket foul ball that hit the chain link fence inch-

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

es from my ear. I was concentrating on getting the dab of highlight just right and the WHAM instantly created another baseline in the tree. The angular base paths form a strong compositional pull to the left in the painting, offsetting the mass on the right side of the picture plane. (Experts love the phrase ‘picture plane.’ It arrives in a designer suit.) All of the recognizable figures face the throw in anticipation. And that white, round shape silhouetted against the dark patch on the left…that might be the pitched ball, yes? Then there is that boy in the dugout, the one hanging from the backstop. He was my gift for painting from life. His was a timeless, kid-draped-on-the-fence gesture held for just a couple of minutes. It had summer evening kid’s game written all over it, so I took it. It’s what I came for. n

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 5

EXHIBITIONS I

Essence

Re-Imagined Christopher Kennedy, photographic artist The Studio Gallery 19 W Mechanic St., New Hope 215-738-1005 thestudionewhope.com June 3 – June 31 Opening reception 6/3, 6 – 9

35th Annual Historic House Tour and Architectural & Design Exhibition Sites featured located in Allentown, PA June 25, 11–4 Westpark-ca.org Tour ten properties, from a majestic meticulously-restored mansion to a spectacularly-renovated 1912 townhouse. Architectural styles range from a turn-of-the-century Victorian to a 1930s Neoclassical Revival. Whether you are a lover of antiques or a fan of the latest in home fashion, you'll find something to inspire you on this year's tour. Music and refreshments will be provided at various locations. Free parking at the Masonic Temple, 16th and Linden streets. On-street non-metered parking is also available. A description of each property and a tour map is provided on the day of the tour. Please wear soft-soled shoes that will not damage floors or rugs. Tickets and info., visit westpark-ca.org

Re-Imagined comprises two series. “Inherited” refers to the startling but badly damaged negatives I discovered of a beautiful girl. That girl happened to be my distant cousin, one of New York’s top models in the 1970s. I met her when I was a young teen in England and was instantly smitten. I stayed with her in NYC in 1973, which included the life-changing trip to New Hope. She wasn’t in the market for a hippy British relative, but that didn’t stop me from being around her and the high fashion world. The ’60s era negatives were discovered a few years ago while sifting through her mom’s possessions, hence the title, “Inherited.” What a treasure. Embracing their damage as part of their charm I worked extensively on a select few, colorizing and combining them with Photo Luminism elements. The resulting images are an homage to her, my first teenage crush. “Trees Revered” is an ongoing personal series. In it I re-imagine some of the beautiful local trees that are easily overlooked in the rush of modern life. I uproot and transplant them into magical Photo Luminism landscapes created using entirely natural light and colors—the perfect backdrop to feature their majesty.

Hair Sparkle

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Bill Jersey, Last Light

Jersey Shore Paintings by Bill Jersey and Maxine Shore Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-4588 lambertvillearts.com Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun 11–6 June 8–July 2 / Opening reception 6/10 5–8 For over 60 years, Bill Jersey has gained honors as a pre-eminent maker of television documentaries. His major awards include two Peabodys, two national Emmys, two Academy Award nominations and a gold medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from the National Arts Club in New York city. Since moving to Lambertville his major focus has been on his oil paintings. Multiple awards have come to him from Phillips Mill, Artsbridge, New Hope Arts and other curated venues Maxine Shore, whose oil paintings can be found in many personal and institutional collections, has exhibited her work throughout the U.S. The winner of numerous awards, she creates work that is suffused with color and light to capture the memory of a special place and time. She is inspired by the clear, strong light of the West and Southwest. She favors mountains and bodies of water with organic shapes and a spectrum of colors. Closer to home paints landscapes with a soft, diffuse light. Her painting of Cinque Terre, which depicted a town in Italy she visited last year, was featured in The New York Times.

Maxine Shore, Island Beach State Park

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 7

EXHIBITIONS II

Pablo Picasso (1957), Irving Penn

Louise Lawler, Pollyanna (adjusted to fit), distorted for the times.

Irving Penn: Centennial Metropolitan Museum of Art The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue, NYC 212-535-7710 metmuseum.org Through July 30

On location in New Orleans

A major retrospective of the photographs of Irving Penn to mark the centennial of the artist’s birth. Over the course of his nearly 70-year career, Irving Penn (1917–2009) mastered a pared-down aesthetic of studio photography that is distinguished for its meticulous attention to composition, nuance, detail, and printmaking. Irving Penn: Centennial is the most comprehensive exhibition of the great American photographer’s work to date and will include both masterpieces and hitherto unknown prints from all his major series.

Mouth, for L’Oréal (1986), Irving Penn

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

Thomas Mann Trajectory Heart Project Hosted by Penn State Lehigh Valley Downtown Allentown 610-285-5261 Lehighvalley.psu.edu/gallery Through July 31, 2017 The Trajectory Heart Project is an invention of internationally recognized artist/designer Thomas Mann, and has been conducted all over the world. He brings it to the Lehigh Valley for the month of July 2017. This community event brings a sculpture maker space, exhibition and workshops to downtown Allentown where Mann will execute and guide the creation of his iconic Trajectory Heart sculpture. The final work will be transported around the Lehigh Valley and photographed in various sites as a way to interact with the sculpture and the community. Workshops and exhibits: July 21, 22, Design for Survival, Entrepreneurial Thinking and Tactics for Artists; July 14, 15, Found Object Sandwich; July 20, Lunch and learn lecture Artist as Artrepreneur; Jewelry exhibit and trunk show, ReFind Gallery on 7th Street; Sculpture exhibit, Pop-up Gallery on Hamilton Street.

On location in Tasmania

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Louise Lawler: Why Pictures Now The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53 Street, NYC moma.org Through July 30 Why Pictures Now, the first New York museum survey of the work of American artist Louise Lawler, is an exploration of her creative output, which has inspired fellow artists and cultural thinkers alike for the past four decades. The exhibition consists of a sequence of mural-scale, “adjusted to fit” images set in dynamic relation to non-linear groupings of photographs—of collectors’ homes, auction houses, and museum installations—distinctive of Lawler’s conceptual exercises. Additionally, a deceptively empty space presents black-and-white tracings of Lawler’s photographs that have been printed on vinyl and mounted directly to the wall. The defiant, utterly quizzical sound piece Birdcalls (1972/81), for which the artist turned the names of well-known male artists into birdlike squawks and twitters, will be installed in the Museum’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. In foregrounding her work’s relationship to the economies of collaboration and exchange, Lawler shifts focus from the individual picture to the broader history of art. Her careful attention to artistic contexts, modes of presentation, and viewers’ receptions generates witty, affective situations that contribute to institutional transformation. Among the most intriguing aspects of Lawler’s working process is her continuous re-presentation, reframing, or restaging in the present, a strategy through which she revisits her own images by transferring them to different formats—from photographs to paperweights, tracings, and works she calls “adjusted to fit” (images stretched or expanded to fit the location of their display).

EXHIBITIONS III

Mare McClellan, Song for Source Margaret Judith Nelson (American, 1884-1963), Untitled (The Japanese Print), ca. 1930, white-line woodcut. Collection of John Rossetti. SaraNoa Mark, Water from Water, Carved paper bathed in Sedona soil, 22” x 19” x 1.5” (framed), 2017

White-Line Color Woodcuts Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 31 North Fifth Street, Allentown, PA 610-432-4333 allentownartmuseum.org Through August 6, 2017 The white-line color woodcut was an early 20th century innovation that allowed artists to print multiple colors from a single carved woodblock. Originating with the Provincetown Printers in Massachusetts, the technique offered simplicity of execution as well as a painterly result. Featuring beautiful examples of white-line woodcuts ranging in subject, style, and complexity, this installation, along with a display of Arts and Crafts decorative arts, complements the harmonious ideals of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Little Library, on permanent view at the Museum.

Juanita Smith (American, 1866-1959), Blue Heron at Dawn, ca. 1930, white-line woodcut. Collection of John Rossetti.

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

Sculpture 2017 New Hope Arts 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, PA 215-862-9606 Newhopeart.org Fri., Sat., Sun, Noon–5 pm June 10–July 15 Opening reception with awards, 6/10, 5–8 The 16th juried exhibition of contemporary work, is New Hope Arts’ banner exhibition. Featuring over 70 dimensional works from 50 exhibitors in a wide variety of media, New Hope Arts showcases the sculptural heritage of Bucks County and the region with this much anticipated and enthusiastically received presentation for artists and viewers alike. Jurors Louise Feder, Assistant Curator of the Michener Museum of Art, and Yvonne Love, Assistant Professor of Art at Pennsylvania State University, selected an exceptionally diverse and entertaining array of objects, wall art and free-standing forms.

Winifred Weiss, Glimmering Girl

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Herman Trunk, Jr., (1894‑1963). Mount Vernon, 1932. Oil on canvas, 34 1-4 × 46 1-16in. The Herman Trunk, Jr. Foundation.

Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900–1960 Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 212-570-3600 whitney.org Through December 31, 2017 Focusing on works made from 1900 to 1960, Where We Are traces how artists have approached the relationships, institutions, and activities that shape our lives. Drawn entirely from the Whitney’s holdings, the exhibition is organized around five themes: family and community, work, home, the spiritual, and the nation. During the six decades covered here, the United States experienced war and peace, economic collapse and recovery, and social discord and progress. American artists responded in complex and diverse ways, and a central aim of the exhibition is to honor each artist’s efforts to create her or his own vision of American life. The artists and their works suggest that our sense of self is composed of our responsibilities, places, and beliefs. Where We Are, as well as each of its sections, is titled after a phrase in W. H. Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939.” Auden, who was raised in England, wrote the poem in New York shortly after his immigration to the United States.

Charles Sheeler, River Rouge Plant, 1932. Oil and pencil on canvas, 20 3/8 × 24 5/16in.Whitney Museum of American Art; Purchase 32.43

A FOODIE FILE

Chef Michael Solomonov. Photo: The New York Times

A.D. AMOROSI

IX IT UP

AS JUNE IS THE transitional month between spring and summer menus and season shifting events, I thought it apropos to offer a cool blend of what’s hot in the city and the suburbs.

Chef Jonathan Waxman, Great Chefs Event. Photo ©Reese Amorosi

THE SUBURBS START HERE Suburban Restaurant and Beer Garden just opened in Exton, PA, and, like another famous beer garden that just re-opened for the season—Michael Schulson’s Historic Philly’s Independence Beer Garden on 6th Street—is a chef-driven locale. Suburban’s main man is Chef Eric Yost, who grew up in Chester County, worked as a Sous Chef at the Gables in Chadds Ford, became a chef/partner at White Dog Café, and opened Wyebrook Farm, most of which dealt in farm-to-table fare. With that, Suburban is a forward-fresh, fine dining establishment masquerading as a beer garden with one particular space within its arched wood set up, The Farmer’s Room, which strictly highlights a refined, sustainably-focused menu (think charred carrots, local duck breast, Pastured Egg, Sockeye Salmon, Steel Head Roe), complemented by a selection of craft cocktails (e.g. Barrel Aged Negroni of Manatawny Odd Fellows Gin, Campari, Sweet Vermouth) and wine. Something “suburban” never seemed quite so sweet as this place. STAY FREE The Independence Beer Garden also just opened its doors at the end of May (April’s cold snap screwed up an earlier pop) with all the outdoor games (bocce, ring toss, horse shoes, ping pong) of its past to go with its familiar menu items (the most succulent spit-roasted lamb in the city) and new nosh-ables such as crispy pickle chips and franks in a puffed pastry blanked.

Stephen Starr at The Continental. Photo ©A.D. Amorosi

Chef Marc Vetri and writer Rick Nichol.. Photo ©A.D. Amorosi

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

MORE PONG I’ll have more to write about this soon, but to celebrate the upcoming arrival of SPIN Philadelphia (the local division of the international ping pong social club) there will be a VIP night of ping pong, music, and breathtaking 360° views of the city at One Liberty Observation Deck on June 12. Along with celebrating little rubber balls and high-in-the-sky vistas, SPIN’s Executive Director of Food & Beverage Ed Porter will be on hand to prepare surprise menu items. AND THE WINNERS (FINALLY) PLEASE Despite Philly’s reputation for adventurous entrepreneurs and avatars of future forward fine dining, this city’s culinary chieftains were mostly shut out, repeatedly, by the award giving (not nominated, we got those aplenty) James Beard committee for excellence. Finally, however, the James Beard Foundation – which held its annual awards Gala in Chicago – found three Philadelphians n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

taking home awards: Michael Solomonov received an Outstanding Chef medal for his restaurant Zahav; Stephen Starr of STARR Restaurants received Outstanding Restaurateur; and Greg Vernick of Vernick Food & Drink received Best Chef – Mid Atlantic region. When the three arrived home, they were celebrated by Mayo Jim Kenney at a City Hall ceremony. Huzzah. GREAT CHEFS THINK ALIKE No charity pleases me more than the Vetri Community Partnership and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s (now 12th) Annual Great Chefs Event where top chefs and mixologists from around the world make their finest new dishes for anyone willing to donate big to sample and sup. Last year’s event raised over $800,000, and on June 20 another nearly 1,300 Philly foodies will gather at the Urban Outfitters, Inc.’s corporate campus in the Navy Yard (and After Party at Lo Spiedo for chefs, sponsors and VIP ticketholders) to dine with Beard Award-winners Solomonov, Vernick and Starr, along with a handful of Great Chef regulars such as The Chew’s Michael Symon, The Greenhouse tavern’s Jonathon Sawyer, Barbuto’s Jonathan Waman, Top Chef-winner Kevin Sbraga and more. Then, there are the virgin Vetri Great Chefs: the renowned Hugh Acheson of 5 & 10 in Athens, GA; Frank Castronovo & Frank Falcinetti of Frankies Spuntino & Prime Meats in Brooklyn; Derek Dammann of Maison Publique in Montreal, QC; Evan Funke of Felix in LA; Sara Jenkins of Nina June in Rockport, ME; and Ryan Poli of The Catbird Seat in Nashville. Returning chefs include Paul Kahan of Blackbird, Avec, The Publican and Big Star in Chicago; Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter in NYC; and Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, MD. Tickets: vetricommunity.org or AlexsLemonade.org. SYMON SAYS Michael Symon, the Cleveland native Iron Chef and Food Network regular just opened his first Jersey Shore restaurant at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Angeline. Named after his mother and reflective of as much her cooking style (and dishes) as his own (“simplicity, honest, always”) the Part Italian, Greek and Eastern European (“both my parents are Sicilian”), Symon’s Angeline mixes the red sauce American-Italian style of his upbringing with the Sicilian notes of the motherland and the region his family is from. “If we’re doing a staple like Chicken Parm, we’re doing it with free-range chickens. When it comes to Sicilian specialties… it’s a swordfish with a sauce that consists of capers, toasted pine nuts, anchovies, fresh mint, oranges and lemon and raisins plumped in Marsala—a beautiful, sweet, salty, acidic, chunky salsa that goes across a piece of wood-fired fish. That’s what makes Angeline a love letter to my mother.” n

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 13

theater VALLEY

CITY

Blood Brothers. Willy Russell’s folk opera follows the twisting, tumultuous paths of Eddie and Mickey, fraternal twins who are separated at birth, raised in wealthy and poor families, swear a blood oath after meeting at age eight, become a council leader and a criminal, and are tragically divided by Mickey’s affair with Eddie’s wife, the siblings’ longtime friend. The West End production ran for a stunning 24 years. The international cast album features Petula Clark as the twins’ cleaning-lady mother and halfbrothers David and Shaun Cassidy as Mickey and Eddie. The LP was narrated by Russell, a former folk singer and women’s hairdresser whose popular plays Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine became popular movies. (Pennsylvania Playhouse, June 2-3, 9-11, 15-18)

Gypsy. Often cited as the greatest American musical, this rollicking bio epic is loosely based on the life of famous striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee. It’s at the Arden stage (till June 18) with all of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics intact, including classics like “Everything’s Coming up Roses.” Five-time Barrymore Award-winner Mary Martello plays Gypsy’s mother, the tyrannical Mama Rose, who will stop at nothing to ensure that her kids succeed in show business. The Arden should resurrect other forgotten but equally famous musicals like Richard Rodgers’ famous 1943 Broadway hit, Oklahoma.

John & Jen. Northampton Community College launches its first summer season with Andrew Lippa’s musical biography of the roller-coaster relationship between a protective older sister, her brother and her nephew. Ties are strengthened and shattered by domestic violence, war, war protests, the battle between dependence and independence, cemetery visits and role playing during a talk show. (June 15-18) Hair. Freak flags fly high in this outrageously exuberant musical time capsule/time machine of late ’60s passions. Claude and his tribe members sing, dance and rap about war, pollution, drugs, astrology, prejudice and the candy-coated pleasures of white and black boys. The show, which debuted 50 years ago, soars with “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine” and other flower-power anthems. (Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, June 14-July 2) Evita. The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival opens season No. 26 with this sensational musical chronicling the meteoric rise of Eva Peron from would-be actress to Argentina’s first lady, women’s rights advocate, shunned world leader, ambitious idealist and celebrity martyr. The title role is played by Dee Roscioli, best known as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked, and a star in the festival’s Sweeney Todd and Fiddler on the Roof. Juan Peron is played by Paulo Szot, a Metropolitan Opera regular who won a 2008 Tony Award as Emile de Becque in South Pacific. (June 14-July 2) The Hound of the Baskervilles. Three actors perform 16 roles in this free-wheeling, rib-poking adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 novel in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate skullduggery on a family estate allegedly cursed by a supernatural beast. Novel touches include using a frame to play a gallery of ancestors and scolding Tweeting spectators. Adaptors Steven Canny and John Nicholson respectively run BBC Radio’s comedy division and Peepolykus, a crazy comic company. (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, June 21-July 16) “Disaster.” Northampton Community College’s second summer offering spoofs ’70s disaster films through a floating casino/disco hit by earthquake, tidal wave and nearly disastrous characters, including a nun addicted to gambling. The soundtrack is jammed with such ’60s-’70s jukebox hits as the Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye,” Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” and Blue Suede’s “Hooked on a Feeling.” (June 28-30, July 1-2, July 5-9).

Uncle Vanya. When it comes to Russian plays, Philadelphia’s usual answer is…Chekhov. Hedgerow Theater did Uncle Vanya in February 2107, and the Lantern Theater did its own version of The Seagull in 2010. Chekov’s Seagull came up again in EgoPo Classic Theater’s amazing February production. Uncle Vanya is the story of a celebrated professor’s complicated family. Quintessence Theater Group (215-987-4450). Till June 18. BalletX. Three innovative works—Schachmatt, In Between the Passing and The Last Glass—opened BalletX’s Spring Series 2017. In Schachmatt (Cayetano Soto, choreographer), a delightful but all too short French-themed segment danced to “J’attendrai” by Rina Ketty, set the stage for a dynamite Peter Gunn theme by Jack Constanzo. The less than enthralling “Cuban Mambo” segment by Perez Prado (we wanted more French numbers) nevertheless kept my eyes glued to dancers Megan Dickinson and Gary W. Jeter II. Often when dancers express states of joy and suffering there’s not much of a need for an accompanying narrative, but sometimes only words can bring the abstract into focus. This was evident in segment two, the world premiere of In Between the Passing (Tommie-Waheed Evans) which played into an athletic sensibility while exploring expressions of time and mortality. Symphony No. 3 Op. 36 by Henryk Gorecki had this writer making up his own internal narrative to go with the dancers’ footprints. The Last Glass (Matthew Neenan) had me hoping for costume changes—bicycle pants, yellow flowered vests with polka dot ties or even a procession of umbrellas and red balloons to break the monotony of the sackcloth-like dancer’s tunic. The White Devil. When John Webster’s play premiered on a dreary, cold winter night in London in 1612 there was no standing ovation. The London audience was less than thrilled and Webster’s work, including The Duchess of Malfi, faded into obscurity until the 1920s. The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective production at the Broad Street Ministry was a genuine theatrical implosion. Webster is Shakespeare unhinged. Murder, betrayal, more murder, random stabbings, a fencing match and poisoned helmets, not to mention a penitent home for whores and a liturgical fashion show showcased the corruption of the male-dominated English Court. Act I was a tangled mass of confusion as the play’s 101 subplots slowly came into focus, but Act II was as invigorating as the classic B film, Faster Pussycat. Kill Kill. Charlotte Northeast (Vittoria/Conjuror) is a natural in any Elizabethan setting, Dan Hodge (Flamineo) is a one-man SNL, David Pica (Lodovico/Marcello) was almost too comfortable with the diabolical, while the forceful J.J. Van Name (Cornelia) dominated the stage with her classic authoritativeness. Damon Bonetti’s direction showed artistic verve, although I do wish that the trend of women (Lexie Braverman as Giovanni) playing the part of boys would come to an end.

Twelveness. George Gershwin contemplates music, politics and freedom with fellow composer and tennis partner Arnold Schoenberg, a refugee from Nazi Germany who settled in California, thanks largely to Gershwin’s efforts. The two spar over their very different concepts of melody, rhythm and harmony while joined at the dinner table by Gershwin’s girlfriend, Ginger Rogers, the singing, dancing star. Playwright Charlie Barnett plays in the band Chaise Lounge and composed for the TV series Weeds and Archer. (Crowded Kitchen Players, June 8-18, Charles Brown Ice House, Bethlehem) n

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. Pelkey, a 14-year-old gay teen is the victim of a hate crime. He wore rainbow sneakers, was a makeup artist and advised women four times his age how to dress. Written and performed by James Lecesne and directed by Tony Speciale, at times the script has a contrived “activist” feel as if co-produced by the Human Rights Campaign. There are also moments when it veers off course as if a dramaturge advised Lecesne to “stop talking about the boy so much.” Lecesne’s immense talent makes this theater experience worthwhile. He’s mesmerizing to watch and the 70 minutes go fast. (Philadelphia Theatre Company until June 4) n

— GEOFF GEHMAN

— THOM NICKELS

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 15

the list

CURATED BY A.D. AMOROSI

JUNE

3 THE 10TH ANNUAL ROOTS PICNIC Pharrell Williams, Lil Wayne and Solange might be the big name guests, but audiences are flocking to F-Pier for this annual family gathering with your big hip hop cousins. Plus The Roots original keyboardist, Scott Storch, joins in on the laughs. (Festival Pier)

Garland’s most recent work such as 14 Steps to Harlem. (Word Café Live)

10 JEFFREY GAINES One of folky Philadelphia’s most enigmatic presences doesn’t make enough new music. Encourage him. (Steelstacks, Bethlehem)

4 BEATRICE ARTHUR: ASTRAL DAME

13 LAKE STREET DIVE

Performance artist Jason B. Schmidt (who played the Bea Arthur role in Thank You For Being a Friend: The Musical) takes Maude into space and its many final, existential frontiers. Unless I’m just making too much out of this. (Rotunda)

The goofy, jazz, folky harmonists (think Lambert Hendricks & Ross meet Simon & Garfun-

18 VINCE GILL

24 JAMAALADEEN TACUMA + BILAL

The sound of downhome country guitar picking comes home to roost when Gill is in town. (Keswick Theater)

Two Philadelphians—one the king of avantgarde, harmolodic jazz, the other a prince of neo-soul turned weird and bluesy—join forces for a commissioned work on the 1960s revolution in American black music. (African History Museum)

19 BARENAKED LADIES Canadia’s most humorously sarcastic ensemble also happens to be that country’s tightest

24 TOTAL PACKAGE TOUR: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK WITH PAULA ABDUL AND BOYZ II MEN The trend toward loving nostalgic 90s pop continues with its most fun harmonists. And Paula Abdul, too. (Wells Fargo Center)

24 JACK PETRUZELLI 5 NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS musical gathering. (Steelstacks, Bethlehem)

The most important (that’s right) essayist of human heartache and psychic detritus brings

21 ROBERT GLASPER ENSEMBLE

his mad ensemble on the road for the deeply sad Skeleton Tree album. (Electric Factory)

7 MARY TIMONY PLAYS HELIUM Ex-Hex/Wild Flag singer and guitarist Timony started her career as a rrriottt ggirrl in Helium and Helium got its real start making its

kle) do their swing thing in Bethlehem. (Steelstacks, Bethlehem)

The jazz piano maestro is the closest thing that the genre has to a Miles Davis at this point—a restlessly adventurous soul. (Steelstacks, Bethlehem)

16 AARON NEVILLE

22 JOHN LEGEND WITH GALLANT

This soulful son of New Orleans sings like an angel and looks like a great big stevedore. (Steelstacks, Bethlehem)

Philadelphia’s own John Stephens has had a banner two years, acting in and producing La La Land, winning an Oscar for singing and writing the theme song to the Martin Luther King biopic and having ids with Chrissy Tiegen. Time to go to work. (BB&T)

18 RELACHE/HEATH ALLEN/JOHN JARBOE COMMISSION BEARDED BALLERINA Philadelphia’s long running emotional new music ensemble co-wrote this commissioned piece with local jazz-bo Heath Allen and will have it performed with Bearded Ladies boss man John Jarboe at, of all places, the Mutter Museum. (Mutter Museum)

23 DIANA KRALL Her new album “Turn Up the Quiet” returns

Multi-instrumentalist Petrizzuli plays with The Fab Faux, Patti Smith, Joan Osborne, Ian Hunter and Rufus Wainwright, so the fact that he’s released his first-ever, self-named

solo EP is a big deal. A bigger deal still is that he’s showing off his wares in the newish Victor Vault venue of the old RCA Record Company on the South White Horse Pike in Berlin, NJ. (Vault at Victor HQ)

25 IMELDA MAY May’s smoky new torch song-filled album Life Love Flesh Blood actually comes in clear

18 U2 For the 30th anniversary of their majestic, band-defining The Joshua Tree, U2 play a the sauntering singer and pianist to the classics of Tin Pan Alley. (Academy of Music) records in Philly with producer Adam Lazus so this is big. (Boot & Saddle)

24 TOTO

8 GARLAND JEFFERIES Lou Reed once called Jeffries “the most important’ songwriter working in NYC.” It’s a shame Reed didn’t live long enough to hear

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

warm and intimate set in a ball park. (Citizens Bank Park) n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Maybe you aren’t fond of smooth noodling rockers such as “Africa” and “Rosanna” and that’s understood. These funky LA session cats backed up Boz Scaggs on Silk Degrees. Respect that. (State Theatre, Easton)

smoked specked vinyl—that’s how smoky it is. (Union Transit) n

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 17

MARK KERESMAN

film

Chuck SPORTS MOVIES ARE OFTEN predictable—the rise and fall (and sometimes rise again) of an athlete, and how his/her success affects family and friends. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be enjoyed despite the familiarity of the unofficial formula. Chuck is one such movie— Liev Schreiber stars (and co-wrote the screenplay) as Chuck Wepner, a New Jersey boxer who was the real-life inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky. Wepner went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali (no easy feat), making him something of a legend in ’70s boxing circles. Chuck is so set in the 1970s it may as well be a film from the ’70s—sepia-toned cinematography, colors so flat as to be almost drab, and lots of exacting period detail (clothing, cars, facial hair, and pop music). In terms of the look of the movie, Chuck seems inspired by the Martin Scorsese films of the period. The direction and storytelling is straightforward—present day, flashback to the story from the beginning and then to present day. Schreiber is excellent as the titular hero—a likeable, earthy blue-collar Jersey guy one minute, a fame-addled dickhead the next. Chuck oozes bravado and confidence 18

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

but deep down seems insecure—the way he keeps going on about how Rocky is really “about him” goes from humorous to pathetic. Ron Perlman is great as the tenacious, gruff manager/trainer Al Braverman, though he does lay on the “Hey, I’m really Jewish.” act a bit thick, i.e., boychick, bubbuleh. Elizabeth Moss and Naomi Watts play Chuck’s long-suffering wife Phyllis and girlfriend/second wife-to-be Linda, respectively. Moss is especially good at conveying love-pushed-to-the-limits by Chuck’s philandering and irresponsibility. Watts disappears so thoroughly into her role this writer did not recognize her. Michael Rappaport plays Chuck’s estranged brother John; he shines as a seasoned adult, not the young wise-guy he often portrays. His bad feelings toward Chuck is palpable. The way John is conflicted upon a visit from Chuck rings true—it’s an uneasy mix of “What the hell are you doing here?” and “Do you want to stay for dinner?” Chuck doesn’t add anything to the Classic Boxing Movie sphere (including Requiem for a Heavyweight, Raging Bull, Rocky) but it overlooks some of the tropes

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

of boxing movies—there are no lengthy, physically-demanding just-do-it training sequences. But we get to see the obligatory “partying hard” scenes—disco dancing, snorting coke, dalliances with bimbos—and the increasing disillusionment of his wife and daughter. Chuck also narrates his story and it’s done with the right touch of wry, slightly grim self-awareness. It’s nothing a veteran moviegoer hasn’t seen before but Chuck presents the rise/fall/redemption story with such panache that it’s hard to fault it. A fact worth mentioning (although this movie doesn’t)—Forbes magazine wrote, “Wepner had originally sued the Rambo and Demolition Man star [Stallone] for $15 million, claiming Stallone improperly used his name ‘to promote the Rocky movies and related products for commercial purposes without consent and without compensation.’” Stallone and Wepner settled for an undisclosed sum. Incidentally, if you want to see a really great boxing movie, see Fat City (1972), starring Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, and Candy Clark, directed by John Huston, who was a former boxer. n

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 19

queen chita

Chita Rivera and cast members inthe Broadway production of The Visit. Photo: Thom Kaine

O 20

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

A. D. AMOROSI

INTErview

ON THE MORNING I speak with Chita Rivera—the singing, dancing grand dame of the Broadway stage— she’s running between a highly personal tribute to Leonard Bernstein in Manhattan during the day, and the opening of her newest vocal showcase at the Café Carlyle that night. That sort of activity defines a dynamo, at any age, let alone the woman who created the roles of Anita in Bernstein’s West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie (in Philly yet, see below), Velma Kelly in Chicago, and the Spider Woman in Kiss of the Spider Woman. She’s been a theater pro since 1953, worked with choreographers Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, Michael Kidd, and Peter Gennaro, has recorded jazz and standards albums, and on June 3 appears as the guest of Broadway Up Close host Seth Rudetsky at the Merriam Theatre. I caught up with her in the Carlyle Hotel where she nearly had to use a bathroom phone and the one in her parlor wasn’t operating properly. “I’m awfully glad that I don’t have to talk to you from the bathroom,” she said.

separate the two gangs and their interpretations of what they wanted to say through choreography. In a broader sense—even now—what do you bring from a dancer’s perspective into how you vocalize? A: I think dancers have another dimension. Because you dance and sing those words, you have to find the melody. Dancers, though, are more seriously connected to the air around them. We constantly think of flying, so f we have a song to sing, all the better. We want to extend that flight even further into the universe. Do you hear the words or the music first? Words, because you’re there to tell a story. Even if you’re dancing a ballet you’re interpreting the story with your body. Tell a story first and the melody will just enhance everything.

I WAS JUST WATCHING A THING ON TELEVISION ABOUT KIDS PLAYING FOOTBALL AND HOW IT MAKES

I’ve done a lot of things, but that would’ve been epic. [Laughing hard.] Oh my goodness gracious.

YOU COME OUT OF YOURSELF. I THINK EVERY CHILD NEEDS THAT SORT OF FOCUS; FIND A PASSION AND

How was the Bernstein tribute? It was many things; most of all, it was a joy seeing his name on the outside of a building as it should be, in that great building. I can remember meeting him for the first time 60 years ago when he taught me my music for Anita. To be included in the tribute… I was really honored. Do you remember the first comment that Bernstein made about your voice, your demeanor as an actesss? Gosh, no. I could lie and say something pithy. I do remember that he was absolutely astounded that I had the audacity, at a singing audition with the rest of the creative team, to sing “My Man’s Gone Now” from Porgy & Bess. His face lit up. For a baritone and dancer to sing that song…well…. He thought it was amusing and courageous. It was written for a soprano—well, you’re nothing if not audacious. Do you know how your interactions as a singer connect with and /or fit with those of your work as a dancer? Is there a correlation? Absolutely. First of all, say in the case of West Side Story, it was created by the genius of Lenny and Jerry [Herman], that choreography. You just place your person in there. Then you get a third dimension; his, Jerry’s, and mine. It all happens in that room, especially something like “America” and anything that the Sharks did which all came from Peter Genaro. [Jets choreography was by the masterful Jerome Robbins.] Jerry was smart enough to

I thank my mom and teachers. I had one who told me “just stay in your lane. Focus straight ahead.” I ran track to keep focused. I kept my eye on my work and the actors and directors and choreographers that surrounded me. I was protected by my work and by my classes. It’s your savior. I was just watching a thing on television about kids playing football and how it makes you come out of yourself. I think every child needs that sort of focus; find a passion and focus. It grows and continues to grow. Look at me—I’m still growing and I love it. When you go through your set list, do you look at what a song means generationally? What’s your song selection process? You have to keep yourself open to things you might not even know exist. You have exquisite musicians around you. I have Terence McNally and John Kander and Fred Ebbs’ voices in my head. I read a review this morning of my show that told me something—it picked on me singing Jacques Brel and he reminded me that Brel’s songs are so political. The world is going around, spinning in a tizzy. Now when I sing that song, I’ll have another level through which I’ll sing it. That’s what is exciting about live theater.

FOCUS. IT GROWS AND CONTINUES TO GROW. LOOK AT ME—I’M STILL GROWING AND I LOVE IT.

Your dad was a Latin jazz saxophonist, yes? What do you think you got from him? Well, he was Latin and he was a jazz saxophonist. [Laughs.] He played with the Army band, along with other big bands. I got something from him and my mother; she had the grace of an angel. She was very musical, too. We danced all the time during our childhood. She could see through the physicality—riding bicycles, climbing trees, reaching for pears on those trees. When the music turned on, and it was always on, how we interacted with that and danced. She was smart enough to channel that energy and focus it on the ballet. That image with the pears is really beautiful. We had a gorgeous pear tree out back, and I climbed it all the time. Shook those pears down—a real part of our lives, that tree. I haven’t talked about that pear tree in ages. A very nice memory.. Do you believe that coming up in the industry— stage, film, television—you faced any sexism, misogyny, racism? You worked with some notorious Lotharios such as Fosse. So many women, and women of color, face down predatory men today. Not at all. Never a problem. But I was so focused and

Regarding your plans for Philly, what is your relationship with Rudetsky? Well, he played with me in Spider Woman and we became fast friends. He’s an extraordinary piano player, he adores the theater, has the most amazing sense of humor and a freedom about himself that’s contagious. He and I just sit and talk with deeper insight now than how it felt singing a song for the first time. His energy is inspiring. I get his humor. We laugh at each other a lot. Are you a religious or spiritual person, and does it drift into your work? I am both, and it does. Everything is connected. The rules of life are the same of art—honesty, purity, sincerity, sharing yourself. You’ve come to Philadelphia quite a lot over the years, haven’t you? Oh yes, Philly was always the great tryout town. Any new material you wanted to do, it went in during the Philly run. When we tried out Bye Bye Birdie there we put in “Spanish Rose.” Maybe even messed around with All That Jazz when we tried out Chicago at the Forrest. All the while we used to hang out at this restaurant, the Harvey House. Their hot fudge sundaes were so good I don’t know how I didn’t get fat. Philly was fantastic. We used to come to Philly and be amazed at how polite and nice everyone was. You’re all so charming. n

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 21

GEOFF GEHMAN

feature

a very

Hip Happening BOOM

'Vision/Sound' Explores Allentown's '70s-'80s Alternative-Arts ONCE UPON A TIME, from the late 1970s to the late ‘80s, downtown Allentown was a beehive of alternative arts, a counter-culture crucible, a very happy happening. Rockers punked up a hotel ballroom built during the Jazz Age. Musical and theatrical improvisers made adventurous sounds and sights at two Chinese-menu venues. Co-stars of hit TV shows, former and future,

MARK KLEE—A GLEEFULLY EERIE AMATEUR PALEONTOLOGIST AND SEMI-PROFESSIONAL CONSPIRATOR—INFECTED A CHRISTMAS CAROL WITH LINES FROM SOYLENT GREEN, RECAST

THE

ODD

COUPLE

WITH

DI-

NOSAURS, AND TRIGGERED A MILD MUNICIPAL PANIC BY DECLARING THAT BABY DINOSAURS WERE FROLICKING IN ALLENTOWN’S WATER SYSTEM. starred in new plays in a converted church. An avantgarde guitarist/guru turned his loft into ground zero for his paintings of cows melted by a nuclear-reactor disaster. Lisa Baas and Cheryl Haughney promoted this blooming, booming scene as programmers for WMUH 91.7 FM, an around-the-dial community radio station at Muhlenberg College that broadcast everything from electronica to Pennsylvania Dutch folk. The longtime friends revisit Allentown’s hip heyday in Vision/Sound, an unusually present retrospective running from June 14 to August 2 at four locations. Baas, an acupuncturist, co-curated exhibits of vintage and recent objects ranging from geometric, space-age sculptures to electric, kinetic portraits painted during marathon sessions. Haughney, a real-estate agent, supervised a dizzying display of WMUH memorabilia: arrestingly anarchic posters; songs by 16 popular bands; on-air raps by 24 popular programmers; promos by such celebrities as Kate Bush, who enjoyed listening to “the difficult listening station.” Vision/Sound is a fun, funky homage to a funky, fun DIY tribe. “We ate, breathed and lived this stuff,” says Haughney in a café under the long-closed Americus Hotel, a ’20s Mediterranean monument with an ornate ballroom blitzkrieged by the Ramones in 1979. “It’s pretty remarkable what we did with little to no budget, just

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

people power. We were really a demimonde.” Allentown’s counter-culture movement really began with the 1977 opening of a loft run by Greg Weaver, a theatrical painter, theatrical philosopher and very theatrical impresario. He played industrialstrength rock on a homemade guitar in his band Los Dominos, presented a free-wheeling version of Don Quixote, and exhibited his charmingly disarming paintings of cows disfigured by the Three Mile Island meltdown. A sort of male Gertrude Stein, he moved people like chess pieces, sometimes gathering them in a circle to confess secrets. One of his mantras was “Don’t blame, and don’t be lame”; it would have made a great tattoo or graffiti slogan. Weaver closed his salon/support center in 1980, unable to pay an exorbitantly hiked rent. His cutting-edge mission was sharpened by Barbara Barkan, a founder of the Allentown Arts Commission with the bold, raspy voice and the bold, mothering personality of Lainie Kazan. In 1982 she opened the AIlentown Arts Center, a Chinese-menu joint for Soviet animated films and an improvisational jazz opera starring a rake and a spade. One of the center’s centerpieces was the fourth installment of And That’s How the Rent Gets Paid, created by Allentown native Jeff Weiss, an Off-Off Broadway legend for his semi-autobiographical serial play about an unemployed actor who will do just about anything to drug, and drag, the wolf from the den. Weiss led a gymnastic cast of 19 actors—some from New York, most from the Lehigh Valley—in a mesmerizing three-hour mash-up of sadistic Sondheim cabaret, Pennsylvania Dutch vaudeville and farcical Disney fable. The Allentown Arts Center folded in 1986, a casualty of low funds and poor management. Its avant-garde goals were expanded by another Chinese-menu cultural center a block away. Open Space Gallery was the home of the Theatre Outlet, which staged demanding plays by Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams, and improvco., which presented such free-music titans as Sun Ra, the cosmic keyboardist-composer. The biggest, busiest downtown anchor was the Pennsylvania Stage Company, launched in 1979 in a former church. The Valley’s first professional regional company alternated tried-and-true comedies like The Philadelphia Story and classic dramas like The Crucible with new musicals like Song of Myself, in which Walt Whitman sang his love for America and men. By

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

the late 1980s Pennsylvania Stage was drawing seasonal audiences of 60,000, many attracted by world premieres with stars past and future. A new romantic comedy featured Georgia Engel, Ted Baxter’s giggling girlfriend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. A new musical featured Bebe Neuwirth two years before TV viewers knew her name as Judith, the humorously humorless psychiatrist on Cheers. Downtown theater was staged uptown, too. In 1986 WMUH began broadcasting monologues by Mark Klee, a gleefully eerie amateur paleontologist and semi-professional conspirator. “Mr. Mark” infected A Christmas Carol with lines from Soylent Green, recast The Odd Couple with dinosaurs, and triggered a mild municipal panic by declaring that baby dinosaurs were frolicking in Allentown’s water system. Like Greg Weaver, he was a cornucopia of characters, blending Dr. Demento’s shrewd exaggerations with Mark Twain’s sneaky satire. Klee’s “unbearable parables” were woven seamlessly into WMUH’s free-form fabric. The station tuned Valley listeners into regionally unfamiliar idioms (ska, ambient); stretched senses with envelope-ripping, enveloping shows (Buried Alive, Radio Vegetable or Mineral), and forged a familial bond with a rainbow coalition of listeners. Cheryl Haughney relished agreeably disagreeable calls from strangers she received as on-air host Sally Sattelite, misspelling courtesy of an autograph from Timothy Leary, the psychedelic psychologist. “They would tell me: ‘I don’t really like what you just played, but I’m really happy you gave me the chance to decide.’” It was through WMUH that Lisa Baas discovered and reveled in Allentown’s alternative-arts explosion. She believes it was a smaller, lower-key version of the fabled counter-culture movement in downtown Manhattan, where she attended punk gigs at CBGB’s, scanned the subway chalk drawings of Kutztown native Keith Haring, and hung out with Fred Frith, the master multi-instrumental improviser who recorded a WMUH promo in the living room of Gary Hassay, the free-music saxophonist who co-founded improvco. “The scene was rich with talent as good as what I had seen in NYC,” she says. “It was fun, creative and accessible. Anyone could be involved if they wanted to be.” Baas and Haughney recreated this feisty independence in Vision/Sound with the aid of fellow ’80s DIYers. The catalog was designed by Haughney’s husband John

Lotte, a graphic artist who created many of WMUH’s roughly magnetic posters. Ancient radio-show cassettes were digitalized in the Center Valley studio of Dan McKinney, a student programmer at WMUH, a member of the Original Sins and a house pianist at T’s Tavern, a WMUH hangout. Scott Sherk, a retired art professor at Muhlenberg College and a sound sculptor, created the soundtrack of band songs and programmer raps accessible via QR Code and SoundCloud. Ron “Ronnie Rock” Sabol organized a concert featuring his old group, the Trendsetters. A thriving counter-culture scene vanished a generation ago from downtown Allentown. Today’s Center City is a thriving enterprise zone for new offices, restaurants and apartments keyed to the PPL Center, a hockey arena/entertainment emporium opened in 2014 in the shadows of Greg Weaver’s Loft. The counter-culture spirit remains in such enterprises as WDIY 88.1 FM, launched in 1995 by Haughney and other WMUH leaders as the Valley’s first National Public Radio affiliate. The spirit lingers in Vision/Sound, which doubles as a call for accessible, affordable arts spaces in downtown Allentown and a tribute to the people who made Center City the bull’s eye of adventurous creativity. The memorial list is topped by Weaver, Barbara Barkan and Mark Klee, all of whom died in their 40s, painfully and sadly. Haughney has a favorite memory of Weaver creating his own scene during the 1981 edition of Celebration, a former street arts festival in downtown Allentown. She happened on him standing in a storefront, playing a small plastic guitar fit for a five-year-old, a punk pied piper making a friendly racket. n Vision/Sound schedule Exhibition of 1980s works by 12 artists, June 14-Aug. 2, Martin Art Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, 484-664-3467, muhlenberg.edu; opening reception 5-7 p.m. June 14 Exhibition of recent works by nine of the 12 artists, July 13-Aug. 2, Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., Allentown; 610-433-0032, baumschool.org Concert featuring the Trendsetters with special guests, 8 p.m. July 15, The Alternative Gallery, 707 N. 4th St., Allentown; 610-462-3282, thealternativegallery.com Panel discussion, 5-6 p.m. July 20, Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 N. 5th St.; 610-432-4333, allentownartmuseum.org; followed by 6-8 p.m. reception in the Baum School Geoff Gehman covered the ’80s alternative-arts boom in downtown Allentown for The Globe-Times and The Morning Call.

Below: Jessica Lenard (1950-2016), Theolonius Monk’s Funeral, 1982, mixed media, 50” x 66.” Courtesy of the artist’s estate. Top right: Ted Ormai, Red Arch, 1983, neon, sand, painted wood, 16” x 36” x 10.” Collection of artist, courtesy of Ellen Geist. Shown at Allentown Art Center (1984), Allentown Art Museum (1989). Bottom right: John Lotte, WMUH-FM community radio event at Egads (poster), 1982, photocopy, 14” x 8.” Courtesy of the artist.

d -

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 23

PETE CROATTO

film

Manifesto

SUSPECT ANY SUPPORTERS of Manifesto will be difficult to tolerate. They’ll cite directorwriter Julian Rosefeldt’s effort as an art piece, a commentary, or anything else to obscure the inconvenient fact that his movie isolates and even insults the people it should embrace. The irreplaceable Cate Blanchett portrays 13 different characters, most of them familiar sights: grieving widow, professionally pretty newscaster, doting schoolteacher, mousy and devout housewife. The settings are familiar, as are the camera movements. Everything is normal until Blanchett opens her mouth, and the words from artists’ manifestos come a-tumbling. The concept is interesting: a look at the poetry and passion buried underneath the mundane. We hold on because Blanchett is an unerring, instinctive talent. We hope she takes the scene in a different direction, or that Rosefeldt will veer toward a clearing, rewarding us for our concentration. Neither happens. Rosefeldt, a visual artist, takes this one idea and works on it like Ali on a speed bag. If you’re making a movie illu24

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

minating the philosophical nooks and crannies of art, any other way would work, though initially it is fun to see Blanchett don wigs or filthy hobo rags to inhabit another character. But it’s ultimately pointless, because nothing is achieved beyond endless artistic deadpan. Poor Blanchett becomes a spokesperson for a message that grows increasingly incomprehensible. (Looking at my notepad, you would have thought I’d spent the evening being yelled at by an eloquent, but sociopathic modern art scholar.) Rosefeldt’s aversion to clarity is as pointless as it is elitist. There is no entry point. There is no attempt to make these lofty ideas universal the way fellow artist Miranda July has done in her brief filmmaking career. Not only do you feel dumb for missing the point, you are punished for trying to understand. I don’t blame Blanchett, who must have leapt at the challenge to play an array of characters. (After 20 years of cgreat performances, Saint Cate has carte blanche.) I blame Rosefeldt. He expects Blanchett to give life to a timeless debate—what is art?—on her own and in 95 min-

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

utes and in a severely limited format. That question, unsurprisingly, remains unanswered. We’re too distracted by Blanchett’s immersive talents—that’s some Russian accent; man, she nailed the improvisational steadiness of a TV news reporter—that the message gets lost. And Rosefeldt’s lecture-based dialogue prevents Blanchett from plumbing the depths of each character. Instead, she becomes the overbearing teacher who dresses up like Abraham Lincoln to get his class to care about the Civil War. One scene—and one scene only—from Manifesto would have served as an effective parodic diversion. But a whole movie of this interminable artistic exercise? Oh boy. You get a towering Russian nesting doll of pretension surrounded by a velvet, jewel-encrusted rope, guarded by the iciest hostess from the world’s toniest restaurant. Just because his film’s content has an intellectual slant, Rosefeldt thinks he can bypass the unsexy elements that take viewers into the world onscreen. Then again, he is too busy being clever to make a point, let alone extend an invitation. [NR] n

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 25

KEITH UHLICH

Director Bertrand Tavernier, Journey Through French Cinema

film roundup

Alien: Covenant (Dir. Ridley Scott). Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup. We’ve seen all this before…for the most part. Ridley Scott’s second prequel, after 2012’s woeful Prometheus, in the long-running Alien series is effectively a remake of his terrific 1979 original. But the execution is irritatingly old hat, with a larger cast (an annoying, Sigourney Weaver-aping Katherine Waterston among them) reduced to playing meat for the otherworldly menaces, which include a toothy, digitally-augmented creature known as a neomorph. (H.R. Giger is surely rolling in his grave at how his iconic, phallocentric Alien designs have been desecrated.) Fortunately the best part of Prometheus, Michael Fassbender, returns in a dual role as the vaguely gay android David, and his more macho upgrade Walter. Their increasingly discordant tête-àtêtes (one of them revolving around a homoerotic music lesson that includes the line “I’ll do the fingering”) are provocative and inspired in ways that only point up the rest of the film’s indifferent approach. [R] HH

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

Hunter’s Prayer (Dir. Jonathan Mostow). Starring: Sam Worthington, Martin Compston, Odeya Rush. Once upon a time, director Jonathan Mostow made a scrappy revenge flick called Breakdown (1997), in which Kurt Russell goes after the redneck truckers who kidnapped his wife. It was so much better than its B-movie origins, a masterpiece of tension and social comment. All of Mostow’s subsequent work has, sadly, been diminishing returns, as shown by this thriller starring Sam Worthington as a reluctant, drug-addicted assassin and Odeya Rush as the prey he comes to regard as a surrogate daughter. A few well-staged chases aside, this is mostly excitement-free, and it even has the gall to restage one of Breakdown’s tensest moments (involving a child brandishing a weapon), to much lesser effect. [R] HH Journey Through French Cinema (Dir. Bertrand Tavernier). Documentary. The Gallic filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier has plenty to say about the movies that inspired him in his always-compelling,

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

three-hour-plus documentary. Casual moviegoers will recognize big names like Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir and JeanPierre Melville (under whom Tavernier apprenticed), seasoned cinephiles more unsung talents like Henri Verneuil and Edmond T. Gréville. Tavernier’s triumph is his equalizing tone, which makes each of these artists, and the work under discussion, continually accessible and of interest. He’s not out to provide unfailing expertise, so much as invitingly personal analysis; you leave with his ideas buzzing in your head and a curiosity to learn more. If the film has a flaw it’s in its abrupt ending, which halts the thoughtful flow much too bluntly. A final title card says there is a companion documentary to come, with more artists under examination, but despite that, this movie would have been better served with something a little more akin to a summing up. [N/R] HHH1/2 Risk (Dir. Laura Poitras). Documentary. Academy Award-winning documentarian Laura Poitras follows up her Edward

Snowden portrait Citizenfour with a much more complicated look at a political crusader. Before the lens this time is Julian Assange, the egocentric, shockwhite-haired founder of WikiLeaks, who has proven himself a thorn in the side of many a world government. Shot over several years, the film has, more often than not, unrestricted access to Assange and his inner circle, though as time passes, Poitras’ relationship with her subject gets more and more complicated, professionally and personally. This is a revised version of a different cut that premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, so as to take into account WikiLeaks and Assange’s role in the election of Donald Trump to the United States presidency, as well as Poitras’s own ejection from the brain trust of a man whom she clearly thought she would be celebrating. More than just a compelling portrait of our current fraught moment in history, Risk is also a fascinating document of Poitras as a noble person coming to terms with the often-muddy gray areas of a seemingly righteous cause. [N/R] HHHH n

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 27

DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER

reel news

A United Kingdom

The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending (2017) HHHH Cast: Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter Drama, PG-13 Well into his 70s, Tony Webster’s (Broadbent) life orbits around his tiny classic-camera shop in London, his mundane daily routine, and his ex-wife Margaret (Walker) and grown daughter. Then out of the blue he receives a letter from the recently-deceased mother of his college girlfriend Veronica (Rampling). She bequeaths him the journal she kept from that painful and long-forgotten period. One problem–Veronica has the diary. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to reclaim life experiences that slip away as memories fade or become distorted. Yet, in some cases, forgotten memories are a blessing. By contacting Veronica, Tony must revisit the guilt and regrets for the pivotal event that framed relationships for the rest of his life. With consummate acting, this late-in-life drama focuses on the truth that even it you can forget the past, you can’t escape the consequences. A United Kingdom (2016) HHHH Cast: Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo Drama, PG-13 In 1947 one marriage created an international uproar and pitted the power of two nations against the star-crossed couple. While studying law in London, Crown Prince Seretse Khama (Oyeowo) of the British protectorate Buchuanaland married Ruth Williams (Pike), a white secretary. Interracial marriage defied British cultural, religious, and political con28

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

ventions, as well as African tribal taboos and traditions. The king’s wife was the symbolic mother and protector of the tribes, but a woman from the white oppressors could never gain their trust. As institutional racism intensified into white-hot rage and bigotry, Britain tried to exile the prince from his homeland. Even his own people tried to force him to relinquish his position as king. But Seretse would not be denied his kingdom, his wife, or his dreams. In 1966, he was elected the first president of the newly independent nation of Botswana, and served until his death in 1980. Get Out (2017) HHH Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener Mystery, Horror, R This is the kind of story where you instinctively know to beware the overly friendly smile and hug. But Chris (Kaluuya), a black photographer, shrugs it off when he goes to meet the parents of his white girlfriend Rose (Williams). As the weekend visit progresses, the odd behavior of their two black staff, and racial innuendos by the parents and Rose and her brother subtly signal an approaching storm. Then Chris lets Rose’s mother (Keener) hypnotize him to help him stop smoking. Bad move. The slow pace sets the scene to spring the trap Chris must escape. The appeal of horror movies is said to be the expression of widespread fears in the consciousness of society. The horrors of denied and concealed racism, this time expressed by faux liberal family that values blacks in general but not individually, is a metaphor that resonates loudly with today’s Black Lives Matter generation. n

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 29

MARK KERESMAN

foreign

MARK KERESMAN

DOC

L’Avenir (Things to Come)

David Lynch: The Art Life

EVER HAVE A PERIOD in your life when nearly every-old-thing turned to merde about the same time? That’s what happens herein to Nathalie (the lovely and talented Isabelle Huppert), a high school philosophy teacher. Nathalie’s teacher-husband Heinz (Andre Marcon) tells her he is leaving their marriage to embark upon a new relationship with, what else, a younger woman; Nathalie also wrote a textbook and the publishing house wants to make it look spiffy for today’s happening marketplace, which sickens her, and the mental health of her widowed mother (Edith Scob, Eyes Without a Face) is rapidly deteriorating. All this, as the young people say, is a major drag. Fortunately, Nathalie faces this with aplomb…too much so, as a matter of fact, for this movie’s good. Nathalie does not seem to ever get seriously bummed out over her collective situation. When Heinz breaks it to her that’s he’s leaving, he tells her with all the gravity of ordering takeout food and she reacts in kind. Further, Nathalie goes to a movie where not only does a guy come on to her (very) aggressively and follows her out of the theater—while most people would be screaming “WTF.” or “gendarmes.” she tells him she’s not feeling it. The only time she seems to be acutely emotionally engaged is [slight spoiler] when she holds her crying grandchild and when she lets herself cry while cuddling her late mom’s cat. In some ways, Things seems like a parody of French films—the pacing is somewhere to the south of glacial and really not much happens (honest) but it looks great while not happening. The cinematography of the French countryside is lovely—and there are several shots of Nathalie enjoying it. No one ever raises his/her voice. She spends time in the country with one of her former students and his friends—there is a bit of will theyor-won’t they sexual tension that leads to naught, possibly because of their differences during a philosophical discussion. If you thrill to people talking philosophy, you are indeed in luck—Nathalie (and her seemingly-possible-lover) drops many quotes of the stuff. The vaguely happy (and peculiarly somewhat reactionary) ending just…transpires, almost as if the filmmakers were running low on film stock. [Rated PG-13] n

IT’S NOT WHAT LYNCH doesn’t say; it’s way he doesn’t say it Filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway) is an enigma wrapped in a Norman Rockwell painting. The Art Life is a documentary of sorts, but as with some documentaries, we get no closer to the subject than we were before. This film focuses solely on Lynch himself—no others are interviewed. Lynch chats to the camera in his home studio wherein he makes visual art—paintings and sculptures, sometimes in the company of a small child. Daughter, granddaughter? It’s never mentioned. Lynch paints, sculpts, smokes cigarettes, reminisces about his ostensibly Ozzie and Harriet-like early life, and paints and smokes yet more. He spins anecdotes that you might think are building up to something and then don’t. We get to see old photographs of Lynch as a child, a teen, and a young fellow, along with a few still shots of his family. At one point Lynch brings up a slice of life and then decides not to share it—why not simply leave that out of the final cut? I get it, Lynch is notoriously private and shy of the media—so why do the filmmakers begin and end with the subject himself? Why not interview friends, or actors and editors he’s worked with? It seems as if directors Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergaard-Holm are so captivated with being in the presence of the man that they almost let him call the shots. Most of the film is watching Lynch do his thing in his studio while saying in voiceover things like, “This town was a nice place to live,” and his father was “a research scientist, meaning he was looking into things.” Wow. Just as things start to get interesting—Lynch transitions from the canvas and moldables to movies, or rather to be more precise, motion pictures, then turns to Eraserhead, the movie that arguably engendered the Legend of Lynch and…it kind of ends. Aside from excerpts of some “art films” he made as a young fellow, nothing is shown or discussed of his career as a writer, director, and producer of movies. Nothing about current relationships or his conservative (at least at one time they were) politics. The cherry on this vague sundae is that it’s paced so leisurely as to be dull. Next to Lynch, Andy Warhol seems as animated as Don Rickles. (Not Rated) n

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

s t

A.d. AMorosi

MUSIC POP

Death Becomes You As I file June’s Pop column, Soundgarden/Audioslave/Temple of the Dog singer Chris Cornell has just passed from an apparent suicide (still not believable, but this info is better left to a forensic coroner) leaving a

deeply un-repairable hole in the modern music landscape. Closer to the sudden death of Prince than that of 2016’s Bowie/Cohen finale, Cornell—a man possessed of a savagely powerful, multi-octave vocal range, a ruminative lyrical ability and a restless musicality—pushed forward the proposition of what “rock” at its most passionate and noisy could be beyond his initial roots as a grunge avatar. He proved as much by turning 2016’s one-off reunion of Temple of the Dog (whose Philly date began the tour) into something holy, honorable and powerful, rather than a run-of-the-mill gathering of bored, broke former bandmates. Many dead artists are missed for the past. Cornell will be missed for what was still left to come.

of the same name (an independent, X-rated flick that was required viewing according to the Black Panthers movement), the soundtrack was crafted and performed by a then-unknown Earth, Wind & Fire with the poet Van Peebles as a mesmerizingly weird, new (yet oddly traditional in the blues and gospel sense) show of Black empowerment, sexuality and political force. Though it’s difficult plucking single songs form the long, noisy, rambling sonic narrative, birth-of-Blaxploitation tracks such as the dirty “Mojo Woman” and the gurgling “The Man Tries Running His Usual Game But Sweetback’s Jones Is So Strong He Wastes The Hounds (Yeah. Yeah. And Besides That Will Be Coming Back Takin Names & Collecting Dues)” stand out for their chunky, funky heft and, in the words of critic Jeff Weiss, alchemize “Malcolm X, Iceberg Slim and Soul on Ice with Huey Newton, Gil-Scott Heron and the French New Wave” all-at-once. Whether you listen as part of the film’s jarring, non-linear display or on its own in sparkling, digital sound, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is still a freaky deaky funkadelic experience beyond compare.

Complex Required New listening: Gorillaz—Humanz Thinking of the jumbled Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song as a template and an influence, Damon Albarn’s literal cartoon crew (this time, co-starring Vince Staples, Danny Brown, Kelela, De La Soul, Noel Gallagher, Grace Jones and Pusha T and, in a Stax throwback, Mavis Staples) employ the Gorillaz’ now-usual mash-up blend of ragga-rock, dub, electronica, dancehall, spunky punkfunk and hip hop for a sad eyed, gloomy lyrical look at

Stacks of Stax and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song This month begins the celebration of the 60th (.) anniversary of the legendary Southern soul giant, Memphis’ Stax, a label defined by the grittiest of sounds and its integration within the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. Released now by Concord Music Group and Rhino Entertainment are not only rough-hewn rarities and riveting hit collections from the label’s finest artists such as Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, The Staple Singers, Carla Thomas and more, but specific genre defining albums such as Isaac Hayes’ epic orchestral Shaft soundtrack. These are classics, no doubt. Then there is the singularly magnetic, still bizarre mix of call-and-response chants, muddy funky avant-garde soul, jazz and frank sexuality that is Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Revolutionary upon its initial 1971 release and in accordance with Van Peebles’ self-written and directed film

the post- (or during?) Trump-ian Apocalypse. For all that is Humanz’s soul-sonic morose messiness (that’s a compliment), one track that sticks out is the melancholy “Busted and Blue,” one where Albarn—the hollow voice behind Blur—seems to be crooning a final love song to the ghosts in the machine. n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 31

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

BOB PERKINS

jazz library

GENEHARRIS

THE JAZZ TRIO KNOWN as the Three Sounds had a very good run in the late 1950s and well into the following decade. I recall the group’s LPs being played with frequency on WHAT-FM, which at the time was Philadelphia’s jazz music station—playing jazz music 24 hours a day. These were the prime years of jazz in Philadelphia, years when record companies, jazz venues, and a good number of radio stations around the country formed a triumvirate that supported jazz. This was the air in which the music of the Three Sounds flourished. The trio landed a contract with Blue Note label in 1958, and its original members remained intact for nine years. The mainspring of the trio was pianist Gene Harris, the leader of the Three Sounds and later leader of his own small and large ensembles. Gene Harris was born September 1, 1933, in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He started piano lessons at age six and was soon playing professionally. Like any youngster, he also engaged in other boyhood pursuits like playing sports, but he held fast to his music studies while performing in and around Benton Harbor. Shortly after he completed high school Harris joined the Army, where he served three years. After military service he played in a number of bands throughout the South and Midwest. Following several years of such touring, he settled in South Bend, Indians, where he renewed a friendship with drummer Bill Dowdy, whom he knew from their earlier days in Benton Harbor. They agreed to form a band called the Four Sounds, using piano, bass, drums and saxophone. For whatever reasons, the horn didn’t work out, so the members decided to leave it out, and thus the Three Sounds was born, with Harris at the piano, Bill Dowdy on drums, and Andrew Simpkins on bass. The trio signed with Blue Note on the recommendation of Horace Silver, a very popular Blue Note artist. The group’s popularity began to grow as it toured with Miles Davis, Kenny Burrell and other major artists. It wasn’t long before the Sounds began to record and appear as a headliner, and that’s when their popularity really kicked in. The Three Sounds began to connect with audiences—mainly due to a straight-ahead jazz approach liberally infused with the bluesy, funky, soulful sound of Gene Harris at the piano. It was jazz all right, but it was the kind of jazz many true jazz and near-jazz enthusiasts clamored for—the kind of jazz one could swing a dance

partner to. The group’s critics said their music was too predictable and always sounded the same, but defenders found their sound infectious, pleasing to the ear and essential to the movement of their head, body and feet. Bill Dowdy left the group in the latter 1960s, but the trio’s fan appeal continued even through a record label change. The trio officially disbanded toward the late

The Three Sounds with Andrew Simpkins, Gene Harris and Bill Dowdy in 1958. Photo: Francis Wolff.

1970s, and Harris turned to solo work, later forming large and small bands under his own name. He settled in Boise, Idaho, and was semi-retired for a few years before bassist Ray Brown coaxed him back into action full time in the early ’80s. Harris ultimately signed with Concord and recorded 18 albums for the label. Ill health overtook him in the late ’90s, and he passed away at age 67 just before receiving a kidney transplant from his daughter. Recordings by the Three Sounds were once hard to come by, but there are still more than a few of their CDs to be found. And Harris’s CDs on Concord are still plentiful. One of my favorites is Ballad Essentials. Harris owned a sound all his own, and be it ballad or up-tempo, once you became familiar with the sound you’d know who the pianist was. Harris’ wife confirmed this in a book she wrote about her husband’s life from childhood until his passing in January of 2000. The book is titled, Elegant Soul. The telling sentence by Janie Harris reads, “Gene always was able to make the piano stand up and talk.” n 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, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 33

MARK KERESMAN

music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Wynton Kelly Trio/Wes Montgomery

HHHH1/2

Smokin’ in Seattle Resonance One of the most popular and influential jazz guitarists ever is Wes Montgomery—electric six-stringers such as George Benson and Pat Metheny tip their hepcat hats to him. Benson, especially, is something of an heir to the Montgomery mantle. Smokin’… is a previously unreleased live set recorded in Seattle 1966 and it’s a real honey. Be warned, however: Montgomery co-leads on only half the selections herein—the rest is the Wynton Kelly Trio with Jimmy Cobb, 2/5 of Miles Davis’ ’50 quintet. For those unfamiliar, Kelly is a buoyant, hard-swinging bebop pianist with a heavily blues-tinged and sparklingly lyrical touch and Cobb swings (effortlessly) like there’s no tomorrow. Montgomery is a model of class and crisp, impressive technique. He’s even more impressive here than on his studio recordings, as he tended to cut-loose a bit more live while maintaining a lean, economical approach. (Plus some of his later albums tended to be a bit more commercial.) Brisk, bright (splendidly recorded), and accessible (yet uncompromising), Smokin’ in Seattle is straight-ahead meatand-potatoes jazz that’ll have you coming back for seconds and thirds. Great liner notes too, including an essay from Metheny himself. (10 tracks, 54 min.) resonancerecords.com Bohemian Trio HHHH Okonkolo Innova Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Two Cubans and a French-American walk into a recording studio…and presto, la vie Bohemian. This Trio consists of Cuban expats Orlando Alonso, piano; Yosvany Terry, sax and percussion, and Yves Dharamraj, cello, and they absolutely blur the “lines/distinctions” between classical music and jazz, between what’s notated and what’s improvised. “Impromptu No. 1 – for Gershwin” evokes the decidedly American melodicism and melancholy of The Big G with overtones of the European concert hall music such as Ravel (whose

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

“Piano Trio in A Minor” is performed herein)—there is a beautiful balance of wellthought, immaculately poised execution and limber, relaxed exposition. “Bohemia,” written by saxophonist Terry has rolling rhythms as one might hear in Rachmaninoff and Dvorak and the softcaramel-center inimitability of a slightly sultry-toned jazz sax soloist. What’s extra nice is this Trio never seems as if they’re performing a shotgun wedding or pastiche of genres and approaches, especially considering this set consists of compositions by Andre Previn (himself no stranger

to playing both sides of the jazz and classical boulevards) and Argentine jazz-er Pedro Giradao. More niceness: These are engaging, emotive, and lively compositions, as opposed to ivory tower “art.” If you can thrive upon Duke Ellington and Astor Piazzolla, Claude Debussy and Buena Vista Social Club, Benny Goodman and Bela Bartok (Goodman played & recorded Bartok, fyi), you really ought to hear this. (8 tracks, 61 min.) innova.mu Van Morrison HHHH The Authorized Bang Collection Legacy Recordings Van Morrison got our attention with Irish blues/R&B-rockers Them in the 1960s and became a legend via his stellar 1970s recordings for Warner Brothers label, but in between he recorded for the Bang label. It was at this juncture that Van the Man had his first solo Top 10 hit “Brown Eyed Girl” and the seeds were sown for the style in which he’d later become better known: A folky, poetic storytellers’ songwriting style and a blues/soul-belter’s vocal style with jazz-infused phrasing. There’s a residual bit of the raucous, raspy approach of Them, but more of the era’s Brill Building style, a vibrant mix of NYC R&B (think Ben n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

E. King, The Rascals) and gospel-hinted pop (think the early rockin’ sides by Neil Diamond) and Van’s pushing that as far as it can go with That Voice, that sounds feral and sophisticated simultaneously. This three-CD set collects all his Bang output,

including plenty of alternate and studio rehearsal versions AND a whole disc of contractual obligation recordings. The latter is about 30 very short bits of Van singing “twist and shout, oh baby, yeah, yeah, twist and shout”-type tunes—seriously, that is almost ALL the lyrics to that song. Yes, Dear Reader, this is one for devotees of Van the Man—he’s full of swagger, urgency, and youthful piss-and-vinegar attitude with true greatness on the road ahead. This is page two of the map of Van’s journey, from Route 66 to Eternity. (63 tracks, 183 min.) legacyrecordings.com Sarah Shook & The Disarmers HHH1/2 Sidelong Bloodshot North Carolina’s Sarah Shook & The Disarmers play a variant of country music rooted more in the rougher styles of Texas and Bakersfield honky tonks than the smoother sounds of Nashville (then or now). Shook has a deep drawl evoking Hank Williams, Sr. and June Carter Cash—a tiny bit flat at times, but that’s more than made up by her visceral sincerity. The instrumentation is guitars (including lap steel), bass, and drums, and it’s got that round-about-midnight grit to it, avoiding slickness without being haphazard or sloppy. This album is a good companion for those nights when you’re down to your last 20 bucks before payday and you just KNOW your ex is with that certain somebody new. (12 tracks, min.) bloodshotrecords.com

Big Star HHHHH Thank You Friends: Big Star Third Live… and More Concord Music Group While The Velvet Underground (featuring Lou Reed) did not sell lots of records in its heyday, oy, were they ever influential, impacting a couple or so generations of singers and players. As were Big Star (featuring Alex Chilton), a Memphis band whose first two albums virtually leapt into the bargain bins but have now achieved legend status. What Big Star did at the time (1972-74) was very unfashionable—they eschewed mainstream rock wankery (15-minute drum solos, albums about faeries and mystics) for tightly-constructed three-minute songs drawing from the bittersweet melodicism of the mid-1960s Beatles,

Byrds, and Kinks, mixing that with wry ‘70s crunch. You’ve maybe heard one Big Star song a lot—namely, the theme for That ‘70s Show, though performed by Cheap Trick. In any event, this two-CD, one-DVD set chronicles acolytes including members of REM, The Posies, The dBs, Young Fresh Fellows, Wilco, and Yo La Tengo, plus Robyn Hitchcock, Mitch Easter, The Kronos Quartet, and only surviving Big Star member Jody Stephens paying loving homage by presenting most of the combo’s catalog live, including their swan song, Sister Lovers, the closest American album counterpart to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and [Syd] Barrett. Without trying to “sound just like” the band, everyone plays faithful yet inspired versions. Like the best tribute projects, the participants evoke the spirit of Big Star—poignant, rowdy, tender, roguish, achingly vulnerable, and, above all, memorably melodic. (CDs: 27 tracks, 91 min.) concordmusicgroup.com n

w w w. fa c e b o o k . c o m / i c o n d v

n w w w . i c o n d v. c o m

n JUne 2017

icon

n 35

toM Wilk

music SINGER / SONGWRITER Katy Moffatt HHHH Where The Heart Is Centerfire Music After releasing Now and Then, a duo album with her brother, Hugh, in 2016, Katy Moffatt has returned with Where The Heart Is, her first solo CD in nine years. It’s an album that plays to her strengths as a songwriter and interpretive vocalist

of other artists’ songs. Moffatt and co-producers David Wilkie and Butch Hause opt for a primarily acoustic folk/country sound that keeps the focus on her vocals. “I Know,” written by Hugh Moffatt, is a song of self-discovery, exploration and doubt and includes references to biblical figures. “I know where I’ve been,” she sings, “but I don’t know where I’m bound.” She also turns in a quietly powerful version of “Genevieve,” Mickey Newbury’s tale of romantic loss and explores the flip side of love’s emotions with Jeff Rymes’ “I’m Too Old to Fall in Love” with the rest of the sentence being “with anyone else but you.” Moffatt combines her skills as a songwriter with her interest in history on “Marina,” a tale of Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife. The joyous “Seabiscuit,” serves as a rousing account of the championship race horse that became a symbol of hope to many during the Depression. “Wyatt and Josie,” performed as a duet with Wilkie, tells the story of Wyatt Earp and his fourth wife. “We were only searching for the next frontier,” Moffatt sings as she provides a woman’s view of the West. Moffatt makes a welcome return with Where The Heart Is. (12 songs, 52 minutes)

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

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

Chip Taylor HHH A Song I Can Live With Train Wreck Records As a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the author of such hits as “Wild Thing,” “Angel of the Morning” and “I Can’t Let Go,” Chip Taylor has nothing left to prove. At 77, he’s still refining his craft with A Song I Can Live With. With its reflections of life, aging and mortality, the album recalls late-career offerings by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. Taylor bridges the gap between youth and old age on “Little Angel Wings” with a weathered voice that suggests a hard-earned wisdom. Taylor’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics are matched to simple melodies built around his acoustic guitar and the keyboards of Goran Grini. The title track is a song about the mysteries of the creative process that’s enhanced by Greg Leisz’s pedal steel guitar, while “Joan Joan Joan” serves as a tribute to his wife. On many songs, Taylor uses a mix of singing and spoken word interludes. “New York in Between” looks back at the city that influenced him, while “Los Alamitos Story” starts with an anecdote about cable television and builds from there. With A Song I Can Live With, Taylor shows his wellspring of songs hasn’t run dry. (12 songs, 46 minutes) David Childers HHH1/2 Run Skeleton Run Ramseur Records The music of David Childers can’t be confined to one category. On the title track, he combines rock and country with a rockabilly attitude to sing like a hellhound is on his trail, to borrow a phrase from blues legend Robert Johnson. A North Carolina resident, Childers recruited Don Dixon to serve as producer and he helps to give the album a rich, rootsy sound. The country-edged “Greasy Dollar” shows Childers’ empathy for the working class. “I’ve got to go and earn my greasy dollar,” he sings with a hint of fatalism, “so I can keep on working till I die.” “Collar and Bell,” featuring Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers on banjo and backing vocals, has the feel of a Johnny Cash Sun n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Records track with its bouncy rhythm and stripped-down instrumentation. The bittersweet “Ghostland” spotlights Childers’ ability as a balladeer as he attempts to come to grips with the past. Childers demonstrates the depth of his songwriting with “Thanks to All (Long Ago)” a tongue-in-cheek commentary on those who hindered more than helped in his life. The Dylanesque album closer, “Goodbye to Growing Old,” serves as a parting of ways with a lover but could also serve as Childers’ way of addressing his intentions as a musician. “I’ll get on with the game/I ain’t about to fold,” he sings with an eye on the future. (12 songs, 37 minutes)

“California Desert Blues,” written and recorded by Lane Hardin in 1935, is an inspired choice as he adopts a softer vocal style that suits the song’s yearning qualities. The brothers team up again vocally for “Kansas City Blues,” a high-spirited rendition of a Jim Jackson song from 1927 about putting a bad romance in the past. (4 songs, 16 minutes)

Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin HHH1/2 Hard Travelin’ Yep Roc After a successful collaboration on two albums—the Grammy-nominated Common Ground in 2014 and Lost Time a year later—brothers Dave and Phil Alvin

Nina Massara HHH Watch Me CSP Records The influence of American music has spread around the world. Nina Massara, who was raised in Denmark by an American father and Danish mother, shows the durability of the music with Watch Me, her debut U.S. album. “You can’t hold me down,” she confidently proclaims on the horn-powered title track, which evokes the feel of late ’60s/early ’70s soul music. “Big Easy” serves as a celebration of New Orleans and the city’s enduring appeal. Recorded in Austin, Texas, and Denmark,

return with Hard Travelin’. The EP finds them putting a fresh spin on a mix of songs that helped inspire them to form the roots-rock band The Blasters in 1979. The title track finds them transforming Woody Guthrie’s acoustic folk song into a dynamic electric blues with the Alvins trading verses. Brother Phil takes the lead vocal on “Mean Ole Frisco,” written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and shows his skill as a blues interpreter. Dave Alvin, a native of California, has explored life in the Golden State through his own songs over the decades. The somewhat obscure

the album features Massara tackling songs co-written by Morten Wittrock and Ray Weaver. As a vocalist, she recalls such stylists as Victoria Williams and Rhiannon Giddens. Massara has an intimate voice that she uses well on “Impossible to Resist,” a playful duet with Colin Brooks, a former member of the Band of Heathens. She’s equally at home with the rhythm and blues of “Crazy” and the jazz-tinged “Full Grown Woman.” (9 songs, 30 minutes) n

harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

White women assume racists are also sexist, while black and Latino men assume sexists are also racist. Republicans who are overweight blame their habits, while overweight Democrats blame their genes. Americans’ meat-eating was found to be highly ideological, and the degree of a person’s “carnistic domination” tends to predict not only rightwing authoritarianism but also the odds of exhibiting benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, and symbolic racism. Students who wear a police uniform display biased attention toward images of people wearing hoodies. Psychiatrists hoped to assist “in the coping of agents of Law with the contradictory demands posed on them in an age in which God is dead, the father was murdered and the king was beheaded.” A negotiation experiment at the Wharton School of Business found that male participants became more aggressive and less chivalrous toward women following the election of Donald Trump. A study of pigtail macaques indicates that it takes very little to impose a new regime on a primate society. Frogs and toads can still see colors when humans can see nothing at all. Male Siamese fighting fish, who usually lead with their right eyes when aggressing, favor their left eyes if they are on Prozac.

Number of U.S. states that include cursive writing in their educational standards: 24 Portion of U.S. college freshmen who are required to write papers longer than 11 pages: 1/4 Who spend an average of less than five hours a week on assigned reading: 1/2 Number of books that a VA. judge assigned to 5 teens for defacing a historic black schoolhouse: 35 Factor by which the number of U.S. anti-Muslim hate groups has increased this year: 3 Americans who believe that people who commit violence in the name of Islam are “really Muslim”: 2/5 Who believe that people who commit violence in the name of Christianity are “really Christian”: 1/5 Est. number of Rohingya Muslim refugees that Bangladesh plans to relocate to a remote island: 32,000 Average number of months each year that the island is submerged underwater: 2.5 Number of immigrants Canada has rejected since 2013 for having disabilities: 330 Percentage of asylum seekers Japan accepted last year: 0.26 Number of Irula tribesmen Florida hired from India in February to hunt invasive Burmese pythons: 2 Number of pythons they helped capture: 33 Percentage decline since 1970 in the portion of U.S. homicides in which charges are filed: 28 Number of the 100 highest-paid city employees in Boston last year who were members of the police department: 98 Factor by which the director of the Australian postal service earned more in 2016 than the prime minister: 11 Net loss the service reported in 2015: $167,000,000 Estimated minimum combined net worth of Donald Trump’s Cabinet members and advisers: $61,380,600,000 Number of countries whose GDP is lower than that figure: 114 Number of African nations that have used internet blackouts since 2015 to control dissent: 12 Portion of U.S. transgender adults who’ve refrained from eating/ drinking to avoid the bathroom: 1/3 Average percentage change in suicide rates among gay and bisexual teens after their states legalized same-sex marriage: –14 Percentage increase last year in the number of Afghan children killed or wounded by explosive remnants of war: 65 Percentage change since 2005 in the volume of the global arms trade: +44 Portion of U.S. senators who had military experience in 1975: 4/5 Today: 1/5 Rank of Russia among the United States’ greatest national enemies, according to Democrats: 2 According to Republicans: 18 Number of “New York Times” articles labeled “fake news” by a Russian Foreign Ministry website in the month after its launch: 2 Portion of Americans who believe “The Onion” is a credible news source: 1/5 Total estimated value of free media coverage Donald Trump received in February: $681,531,302 That the next fifty most frequently mentioned public figures received: $625,643,071 Estimated ratio of time Trump spent in intel briefings to golfing during his presidency’s first month: 1:4

Internet trolls cannot be changed. Swiss and Austrian psychologists isolated the brain activity that distinguishes laughing with from laughing at. Americans find the voluntarily childless to be morally outrageous. Regular, correct performance of Muslim prayers can improve low-back pain. Indian psychiatrists debunked a man’s claim to have gotten high via consensual cobra bite to the lips by interviewing the man’s snake charmer. A six-year-old Moroccan girl who presented with difficulty in breathing was found to have a leech living in her throat. Delta waves were recorded in the brain of a Canadian man ten minutes after he died. A 77-year-old Italian man cries without emotion when he rubs together, or imagines rubbing together, his right thumb and index finger. The coincidence of goosebumps and crying in spectators of moving film scenes indicates peak physiological arousal. In all the contiguous U.S. states, the food associated with watching TV or movies is pizza, except Mississippi, where it is ice cream, and Wyoming, where it is cookies.

9 Scientists figured out why frizzy-haired people are more likely to hear the spooky noises preceding a meteor impact. The comet Chury was observed to contain sand dunes sculpted by a sunset wind. Platinum levels in Greenlandic ice suggest the Clovis people were wiped out by a meteor. Judean jars confirm that Earth’s magnetic field is fluctuating, not weakening. The Defense Department continued attempting to climate-change proof its assets. Archaeologists theorized that the newly unearthed jade pendant of a Mayan king was interred to placate the wind god as civilization collapsed. In a Boston suburb, 20 turkeys slowly circled a dead cat. Bolivia declared a state of emergency over a plague of locusts. Biologists recorded the first instance of virgin birth in a shark who wasn’t a virgin. Scientists concluded a review of 20 years of undrogued drifters in the subtropical gyres’ garbage patches, released a detailed map of the Pacific Blob showing surface water temperatures up to 10º F above normal, and guessed that a white hairy blob washed ashore in the Philippines was a whale. By measuring artificial sweetener levels in swimming pools, Canadian scientists deduced significant concentrations of urine.

SOURCES: 1 Harper’s research; 2,3 National Survey of Student Engagement (Bloomington, Ind.); 4 Loudoun County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney (Leesburg, Va.); 5 Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, Ala.); 6,7 Public Religion Research Institute (Washington); 8 Embassy of Bangladesh (Washington); 9 Noakhali Coastal Forest Division (Dhaka, Bangladesh); 10 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (Ottawa); 11 Immigration Bureau of Japan (Tokyo); 12,13 Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida (Gainesville); 14 Federal Bureau of Investigation (Alexandria, Va.); 15 Mayor’s Office (Boston); 16 Australian Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications; 17 Australia Post (Melbourne); 18 Hedge Clippers (Baltimore); 19 The World Bank (Washington); 20 Freedom House (N.Y.C.); 21 National Center for Transgender Equality (Washington); 22 Julia Raifman, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore); 23 United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Kabul); 24 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Solna, Sweden); 25,26 Pew Research Center (Washington); 27,28 YouGov (N.Y.C.); 29 Harper’s research; 30 Morning Consult (Washington); 31,32 mediaQuant, Inc. (Portland, Ore.)

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 37

The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

PRODUCT EXPANSION ACROSS

By JIim Holland

1 Icy coating 5 Heroine in the “Divergent” films 9 Route shower 12 Castro, for one 17 Unlike spring chickens? 18 __-car 20 One-of-a-kind 21 Bud in Baja 22 Automaker’s expansion into music? 25 Tijuana restaurant staples 26 Work out 27 “SNL” parody Baba __ 28 Behavioral oddity 30 Fore relative? 31 “Are you __ out?” 33 Dizzy’s jazz 36 Story line 38 __ port 41 Antitoxin 43 Lamb by another name 44 Observed 45 Candy company’s expansion into exercise equipment? 49 Studio amendment 52 Run 53 Supermodel Sastre 54 Self-satisfied 56 “Family” actress Thompson 57 Like some twins 61 Final financials 63 __-de-France 64 It may quash dreams of a musical career 68 Ed’s title 69 Air-escape sound 72 Drink container company’s expansion into bakery products? 75 Montevideo Mrs. 76 “Tough.” 78 Rouse to action 79 Co. that merged into Verizon 80 Like car carburetors, for the most part 82 Victimized by bad spelling? 87 They often have quotas 88 Stella __ cookies 90 Singer Horne 91 Emphatic type: Abbr. 93 Shelley’s Muse 95 Jewelry company’s expansion into fishing for delicacies? 100 Figure (out) 102 Latin trio part 38

n ICON

n JUNE 2017

103 Older Obama daughter 104 Turf 105 “Route 66” co-star 107 Saint Kitts’ island partner 109 Agree to, in a way 110 Mil. address 111 Classical start 113 Draft category 115 Med. diagnostic procedure 120 Shell lining 122 Cleaning products company’s expansion into arena seating? 126 Comic book artist 127 Bits 128 Jeer 129 Cosmo competitor 130 Sends a fly flying 131 Be in a red state? 132 Place 133 Political group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 23 24 29 32 34 35 37 38 39 40 42 46 47 48

DOWN

Fan sounds “__ You Babe”: 1965 #1 hit Actress Suvari What goes around Work newbie Clergy abode Forbes competitor Pack away Farm sound Gothic novel pioneer Radcliffe Unrelenting annoyance One usually crouching Thurman of film Writing implement company’s expansion into jewelry? Selling spot in Sparta Went snooping Many an Omani Held to account “__ Called Wanda” Stereotypical pocket protector wearers Part of TGIF Repeat annoyingly Louvre displays Ancient Syrian trade center Piece maker Broadcast format: Abbr. __-employed __ Rabbit Sea cow Blue map area Museum pieces Respond to defamation, say

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

50 Milk container 51 Iraq’s main port 55 One of two zygote producers 58 Word before wave or pool 59 Slurred in pronunciation 60 T. __ 62 High grounds 65 Kook 66 Anaphylaxis treatment 67 NATO, for one 69 Target, for one 70 Grave 71 Kitchen supplies company’s expansion into security? 73 __ Peninsula 74 Metric wts. 77 Second-easternmost U.S. state capital 81 Wee one 83 Rooms in a casa 84 Beatle Paul’s title 85 Nice summers 86 Ballpark rallying cry based on a 1950s hit 89 “How silly __.” 90 Bodega patron 92 Trip provider 94 Corkscrews, essentially 96 Party gifts 97 Food 98 Move periodically

n W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

99 __ button 101 Byron’s “before” 105 Frenzied 106 Bucky Beaver’s toothpaste 108 Racy message 112 Prefix with -pus 114 Down with, in Dunkirk 116 “The Purple People Eater” singer Wooley

117 Holding area 118 Woody’s boy 119 Brief time pd. 121 U.S. Army rank qualifier 123 Prosecutor’s field 124 Tribute in verse 125 Him, to Henri

Answer to May’s puzzle, HAIKU

agenda FINE ART thrU 6/11 the Art of the Miniature, the 25th invitational exhibition of fine art miniatures from around the world. the snow goose gallery, 470 Main st., bethlehem, pA. 610-974-9099. thesnowgoosegallery.com thrU 6/11 the silverman gallery of bucks county impressionist art proudly presents: glenn harrington: paintings from the river valley. located in buckingham green, 4920 york road, route 202, holicong, pA 215-794-4300 silvermangallery.com thrU 11/2 designing for the loom: drawings by William geskes. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

lehigh valley. event includes makerspace, exhibition and workshops. downtown Allentown, pA. 610-2855261. for full schedule of events visit lehighvalley.psu.edu/gallery. 6/17 Allentown’s West park civic Association presents the 43rd annual Art-inthe-park. featuring original works of fine art and crafts by 70+ artists. Join us in the West park for a celebration of the diverse branches of the arts. 10am-5pm (rain or shine),16th & turner st., Allentown, pA. Westparkca.org/artinthepark

THEATER PENNSYLVANIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: THE PROFESSIONAL

THEATRE AT DESALES UNIVERSITY

2755 station Avenue, center valley, pA 610-282-Will, pashakespeare.org 6/2-8/5 the ice princess, schubert theatre 6/14-7/2 evita, Main stage 6/21-7/16 the hound of the baskervilles, shubert theatre 7/12-8/6 the three Musketeers, Main stage 7/20-8/6 As you like it, Main stage 7/26-8/5 shakespeare for kids, Main stage 7/26-8/6 troilus and cressida, schubert theatre

484-664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt

7/9 valley vivaldi, pennsylvania sinfonia or6/28-7/29 chestra’s series of chamber music. A Wild. A world-premiere circus produc- summer tradition, sunday evenings at tion for all ages, created by the Atlas 7:30 pm. christ lutheran church, 1245 circus company. Muhlenberg college W. hamilton st., Allentown. theatre & dance, Muhlenberg college, 610-434-7811. pAsinfonia.org 2400 chew st., Allentown, pA. 484-664-3333. Muhlenberg.edu/smt 7/13-7/16 black potatoe. the 21st Annual inde7/12 & 7/13 pendent Music festival. the red Mill Mamma Mia. 7:30 pM, state theatre, Museum, clinton, nJ. for tickets and 453 northampton st., easton, pA. 610- schedule, blackpotatoe.com 252-3132. statetheatre.org 7/31 CONCERTS dee roscioli. Main stage, pennsylvania shakespeare festival, the professional 6/2 theatre at desales University. 2755 the organ Works of J.s. bach, prostation Avenue, center valley, pA. 610gram 18, organist stephen Williams. 282-Will. pashakespeare.org 8:00 pM, cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 founders Way, bethlehem st., bethlehem, pA. 610-865-0727. 610-332-1300 Artsquest.org nativitycathedral.org

lotus land – An American rUsh tribute 6/9 the royal scam – A tribute to steely dan – riverJazz pres. by concannon Miller 6/10 food truck border brawl pres. by provident bank 6/11 6/10 Jeffrey gaines 6/10-7/15 valley vivaldi, pennsylvania sinfonia or- 6/10 comedian brian posehn sculpture 2017, 16th juried exhibition chestra’s series of chamber music. A 6/12 val kilmer live presents: of contemporary work. over 70 disummer tradition, sunday evenings at cineMA tWAin mensional works from 50 exhibitors in 7:30 pm. christ lutheran church, 1245 J6/13 Wxpn welcomes a wide variety of media. new hope W. hamilton st., Allentown, pA. Meet lake street dive Arts, 2 stockton Ave., new hope, pA. 6/3-8/27 deadly housewives Murder Mystery the musicians at the post-concert re6/16 Aaron neville – riverJazz pres. 215-862-9606. newhopearts.org dinner theater debuts June 3. saturceptions. 610-434-7811. pAsinfonia.org by concannon Miller days at 7 p.m. & sundays at 4 p.m. 6/19 barenaked ladies - yuengling 6/14-8/2 book a sunday brunch & Mystery 6/16 summer concert series vision/sound: Allentown's 80s Art Matinee package. peddler’s village, lathe organ Works of J.s. bach, pro6/21 robert glasper experiment – scene revisited. look back on Allengram 19, organist stephen Williams. riverJazz pres. by concannon town, pA's cultural and airwaves revo- haska, pA. reservations required, 2158:00 pM, cathedral Arts, cathedral Miller lution, with a focus on the years 1978 794-4051. peddlersvillage.com church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte 6/23 ted vigil’s John denver tribute -88. reception 6/14, 5-7. exhibition co6/13-6/17 st., bethlehem, pA. 610-865-0727. 6/27 dirty heads & soJA – yuengling incides with shows at various area in14th Annual southside film festival nativitycathedral.org summer concert series stitutions. Martin Art gallery, Muhlen6/29 splintered sunlight recreates berg college campus, 2400 W. chew celebrates independent film with documentaries, shorts, features, animation 6/17 6/24 tower theatre, Upper darby, pA street, Allentown pA. tues.-sat., noonand experimental in various locations Music of friends. satori’s intimate per- 7/1 Missio 8pm. 484-664-3467. Muhlenberg.edu. in bethlehem, pA. free children’s film formance followed by a light luncheon. 7/6 splintered sunlight recreates series, 6/15-6/17. presented by south- 11am-12:30pm, home of Janet & Mal6/28/85 hershey park stadium, 6/25-9/3 com gross, Allentown, pA. Arts Alive. hershey, pA A collecting spirit: gifts of paul kania. side film institute, 26 east third st., lvartscouncil.org Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th bethlehem, pA. 610-882-4300. southsidefilmfestival.com MUSIC FESTIVALS st., Allentown, pA. 610-432-4333. Al6/26 6/10 lentownArtMuseum.org 6/14-7/2 Mike eldred: the tenor Moments. Main blues, brews & barbecue. five stages of stage, pennsylvania shakespeare festi- music featuring international artist, the FINE ARTS / CRAFTS EVENTS hair. 50th anniversary of broadway’s tribute to the far-out, freewheeling val, the professional theatre at depeterson brothers and many more 1960s. Muhlenberg college theatre & sales University. 2755 station Avenue, bands. fantastic bbQ and three beer thrU 7/31 dance, Muhlenberg college, 2400 center valley, pA. 610-282-Will. tents. 12–10pm. downtown Allentown, thomas Mann trajectory heart projpashakespeare.org 600–800 blocks of hamilton st.. ect lehigh valley, hosted by penn state chew st., Allentown, pA. 5/31-2/4/2018 revolutionizing design: progressive home decorating at the turn of the century. Allentown Art Museum, 31 north 5th st., Allentown, pA. 610-4324333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

6/4 cathedral choir’s 3rd Annual spring concert, 4pm. cathedral Arts, cathedral church of the nativity, 321 Wyandotte st., bethlehem, pA. 610-8650727. nativitycathedral.org

6/2

W W W. fa C E b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

downtownallentown.com

ART FESTIVAL

6/17 Art-in-the-park, presented by Allentown’s West park civic Association. fine art and crafts by 70+ juried artists. two and three-dimensional work will include jewelry, ceramics, weaving, glass, painting, sculpture and drawing. 10-5 (rain or shine), 16th & turner streets, Allentown, pA. Westpark-ca.org/artinthepark

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

6/25 West park historic house tour, presented by West park civic Association. ten properties ranging in architectural style, featured in Allentown, pA. for tickets and additional information visit Westpark-ca.org.

EVENTS

6/1 & 6/22 village food trucks, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. food trucks, Wine/beer/spirits garden, live entertainment, family fun. peddler’s village, lahaska. peddlersvillage.com 6/10 tour de france Wine strolls. your host for the strolls is Mike conti of vintage imports. taste 17 wines from all regions of france. reservations are required. peddler’s village, lahaska, pA. visit peddlersvillage.com

CAMP

6/19-6/24 desales University summer Arts camps, summer video institute, professional training in digital filmmaking for ages 13 & up. 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-282-1100, ext. 1683. desales.edu/svi 6/19-8/11 the baum school of Art, 1 & 2 week Art camps for ages 5-17 and the fashion Academy for ages 9-17. 510 W. linden st., Allentown, pA. 610-4330032. baumschool.org 7/10-7/21 desales University summer Arts camps, summer theatre institute, professional theatre training for grades 4 through high school & up . 2755 station Ave., center valley, pA. 610-2821100, ext. 1683. desales.edu/sti

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

n JUNE 2017

ICON

n 39