Screens: Nicolas

after the initial gig Almost Dead—commonly referred to as JRAD by fans—started getting offers to play more shows. The group has since shared stages with Lesh, Weir, and John Mayer, and sold out venues like Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.

With every member pursuing other musical projects, Russo says JRAD will always be a part-time band, but with three decades worth of songs in the Grateful Dead repertoire, the group can continue playing to gether, on a limited basis, indefi nitely.

“As we kept getting to know the material, we started to really enjoy it, because we realized we could do whatever we want within those walls,” Russo says. “It’s become this joyful thing, because we’re able to interpret a cherished songbook in our way.”

Currently on its fi rst tour since pandemic restrictions eased, JRAD will play a three-night run at Lockn’ Farm in Arrington from Friday through Sunday. The shows are taking place at the same site that hosted the large-scale Lockn’ festival between 2013 and 2019, with acts including Tom Petty, The Allman Brothers Band, Zac Brown, and Phish.

The festival organizers have adjusted their format, using the scenic property to host a series of downsized “mini fests” with onsite camping for three consecutive weekend events in August.

Following JRAD’s three-night stand, upand-coming jam act Goose will host the

“We love the songs— the lyrics and the melodies—but we look forward to ripping them apart every single night.” JOE RUSSO

multi-band Fred the Festival from August 20-22, featuring Dawes, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Dr. Dog. Then Tedeschi Trucks Band will take the Lockn’ stage from August 27-29, leading an event that includes opening sets from The Marcus King Band, Lettuce, and Jon Batiste.

“This is a fi rst step towards turning it into a multi-event venue,” says Lockn’ co-founder Peter Shapiro of the 387-acre site just off Route 29. “We’ve developed this land into a place that can be used for more than one weekend a summer. With COVID, it makes sense to evolve into something a little smaller. The big festival was great for seven years, but now we’d like to have more bands from different genres come and host their own weekends with music and camping.”

Russo and his bandmates will use their weekend to stretch beyond the catalog of the Dead. The group has a total of nine sets scheduled throughout the three days, two of them billed as “JRAD Plays Other Sh*t.” Russo says there are also plans to collaborate with the other acts on the bill: The Slip and John Medeski and Billy Martin of experimental funk act Medeski Martin & Wood.

“We’re all going to come together and improvise in the woods,” Russo says. “That’s the crux of all these acts, creating in the moment, and that’s what I’m most excited about.”

Swine time

Pig searches for meaning

ALTITUDE FILMS

At its core, Pig, which stars Nicolas Cage, is a fi lm about a man who is looking for his pig.

By Deirdre Crimmins

arts@c-ville.com

Sometimes the beauty of a fi lm lies in its simplicity. When character development and atmosphere are allowed to be front and center, the strength of cinema as an art comes into focus. With a few missteps, Pig is a beautiful example of earnest fi lmmaking.

In short, the fi lm, written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, is about a man looking for his pig. But it’s no ordinary pig that Rob (Nicolas Cage) is searching for. This is a truffl e-hunting pig named Apple, who earns Rob his income and sustains him as a gruff loner in the wilderness outside Portland, Oregon.

Rob has occasional visits from truffl e buyer and bourgeois annoyance Amir (Alex Wolff), and their relationship is symbiotic but tense. And when a pair of meth addicts steal Apple during a violent late-night ambush, Rob turns to Amir for both a ride to the city, which Rob left 15 years ago, and help fi nding his beloved pig.

As the fi lm follows Rob and Amir on their amateur sleuthing expedition, a depth and tenderness develops between the pair. Amir’s grating exterior begins to crumble, and while he never entirely pours his soul out to the bearded forager, he becomes more honest with himself.

Rob, on the other hand, does not change. He doesn’t need to. This is not a story about Rob discovering himself, like it is for Amir. We learn how Rob, once a legendary chef, became a mushroom-hunting hermit, and what he left behind, but Pig goes off track when we see Rob doing things that do not fall in line with his character or with the world he currently lives in. In one scene, the movie dips into a hyper-violent urban underbelly that feels dishonest for the characters, and it’s hard to swallow.

Pig also has an uneven assessment of fi ne-dining and chefs’ egos. The culinary focus is no surprise, given that a truffl e pig and the truffl e trade are at the core of the story, but it does seem to be of two minds when it comes to the state of the celebrity chef.

In one scene, Rob literally sticks his thumb into an over-the-top fancy meal and takes the chef to task for being full of himself. Not much later, the camera lingers over every drip of sauce and potato slice of a meal prepared with a similar degree of pretension. The setting has changed and the circumstances are different, but one meal is offensive and the other delectable—and we are never told the difference.

Pig

R, 92 minutes Violet Crown Cinema

Cage deserves praise for his understated performance, but Wolff is the one who does the emotional heavy lifting. While the plot is focused on Rob’s mission to fi nd his pig, every moving shift lies with Amir, who goes from sleazy to sympathetic. All in all, Pig is a strange, heartbreaking, sometimes funny art-house winner that moves us with its message of love and loss.