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R VOLUME 15, ISSUE 1
AUGUST 29, 2013
Shangri La comes to Nasher Duke heiress’s home and lifetime collection, pg. 4
Manbites Dog Theater Durham company promises exciting season, pg. 6
Superchunk I Hate Music album review, pg. 3
TIM STREET-PORTER/DDFIA
ess recess editor’ s recess rec note ss recess r
R recess editors We’re with the band....
The Chronicle
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2 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013
One afternoon this past July, I found myself sitting in the grass of Union Park, devouring a vegan Philly cheesesteak and squinting through sweaty sunglasses at a faroff stage. It was the end of my trip to Chicago and the beginning of my first Pitchfork Music Festival. I was with a group of friends who were far more experienced music festival attendees than I was, but I felt excited for what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We determined which acts we would see together and for which acts we would split up, making devastating choices when two beloved shows coincided on the schedule. While anxiously awaiting Björk’s stunning performance, we mingled with the strangers around us in the crowd. One of our new associates, Jack, was tall, broad and bearded—somewhat reminiscent of Andy Dwyer from “Parks and Recreation.” He wordlessly alternated between handing out Addams Family trading cards and spraying the surrounding radius with a refreshing water mist. His two companions, a couple, were more talkative. One claimed to have danced with Miley Cyrus
Lauren Feilich................................................................ sleater-kinney 2: still sleaterin’ Jamie Kessler............................................................................................ fate’s baby MC Bousquette....................................................................................... fleetwood mc Megan Rise................................................................................. first state worst state Kathy Zhou.................................................................................................... ghreems
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Eliza Bray............................................................................................... smash mouth Minshu Deng............................................................................................ this place is
DUKE PERFORMANCES
at a club, which was dubious but sufficiently amusing; the other was deeply captivated by my friend’s chest hair. All of them friendly, all of them independently memorable, the people we met were salient to my days at the festival. At Mikal Cronin’s set, uncharacteristic mosh pits developed during each song as an inevitable response to the infectious drums and guitar. Dust mixed with the humidity, leaving every member of the audience glistening with a thin layer of mud and the sweat of others. High schoolers were shoved against me by the force of the crowd; I caught a glimpse of their euphoric grins before they charged back against the wall of dancing limbs. When one guy lost his footing and fell, the surrounding crowd was quick and deliberate in their efforts to restore him to the mosh pit. Water bottles were regularly opened and passed along the audience to ensure communal hydration. There was an ambience of camaraderie, a sense that we were all there for the music, you know, like, one love, man. And it was truly enjoyable, perhaps the best part of my summer—the feeling of shared experience. A little over a year ago, I found myself sitting in the grass of the East Campus quad, shifting uncomfortably in what I thought was college attire and trying desperately to remember the names and faces of the members of my FAC group. It was o-week and I felt like I was one icebreaker away from breaking myself. Look! Look around at the people standing in
cliques! Everyone had already immediately formed their lifelong college friendships, and I was certainly damned to eternal silence in a sea of bodies spelling a new class year that I had yet to internalize since high school graduation. I did eventually find myself in comfortable and happy social situations, but not until after some digging. The good friends, the ones who “got me,” were largely found after I began to pursue my interests on campus. My friends were writing about the Nasher for Recess. They were hanging out in the WXDU lounge, picking albums to review for the library. They were dancing shamelessly at parties in the Coffeehouse. That’s not to say that I didn’t meet a whole bunch of meaningful friends by chance, whether in my dorm or at Marketplace brunch or through eavesdropped bus conversations. And I’m not trying to recruit for The Chronicle or the radio station (or at least, not right now, in this place, in this economy). I only wish to bring some sort of reassurance to you new students who have yet to feel the kind of profound comfort required for a conversation that carries itself into 6 a.m. Do what you actually like to do, and it is reasonably likely that the people who also like to do those things will be cool and interesting to you. — Lauren Feilich
NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
IN DURHAM, AT DUKE, THE WORLD, JUST OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR.
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ABOVE: Iranian (Isfahan), Lunette (detail), 1938-39. Stonepaste: monochrome-glazed, assembled as a mosaic; 11¼ x 22 ¾ x 3½ inches (28.6 x 57.8 x 8.9 cm). © 2011 Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Photo by David Franzen.
Doris Duke’s Shangri La ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, AND ISLAMIC ART An intimate look at Doris Duke and her Honolulu estate, Shangri La. The exhibition features selections from the Islamic art collection amassed by this stylish American heiress and philanthropist.
On view August 29 - December 29, 2013 2001 Campus Drive | Durham, NC 27705 | 919-684-5135 | nasher.duke.edu/shangrila
The Chronicle
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FILM
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
BLUE JASMINE Perdido Productions Directed By Woody Allen
by Jamie Kessler THE CHRONICLE
Woody Allen’s presence was keenly felt in the Bernie Madoff-inspired film “Blue Jasmine.” The music, cinematography and tone are exactly what audiences have come to recognize from this iconic writer/director. However, while his character-driven films usually either move me to tears or to laughter, “Blue Jasmine” left something to be desired. The movie focuses on Jasmine (Cate Blanchett), the ex-wife of ponzi-scheming Hal (Alec Baldwin). The story is told nonlinearly, jumping back and forth between the past and present. The present details Jasmine’s struggle to rebuild her life after her fraudulent husband’s arrest and subsequent suicide, and the past chronicles the steady decline of her marriage to the wealthy and powerful Hal. Intermixed is the relationship between Jasmine and her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). Although the audience gets to know all these characters rather well, it doesn’t take a film expert to see that there’s not a single half-strong or -decent female character in sight. This movie is a woman’s story, yet you never root for the female protagonist or her sister. You never come to like or respect Jasmine’s friends
or Jasmine herself. This was not some innovative anti-hero tactic at play— this movie was just the story of a weak woman. And while there are likely many weak women out there in the world, and it was perhaps inventive of Allen to let that type of person carry a movie, he chose not to add a single decent female player. Instead, he emphasized all these women’s failings by pairing them with much stronger, more likable men. Normally, I applaud Allen’s ability to create real people through his writing and directing. It’s why his movies hit home with audiences. But by having only actively flawed female characters (who, by the way, fail to grow during the 98-minute film), the authenticity suffered. Whether or not intended by the filmmaker, there seemed to be an agenda, which weakens the strongest part of Woody Allen films. However, the premise is worthy of recognition. Money movies have time and time again told the story of the rich and powerful men who tackle Wall Street by any means necessary, but Allen chose to look at the woman beside him and then the women beside her. Unfortunately, all of these women were terrible people, making “Blue Jasmine” not terrible, but not terribly good either.
FILM
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER Follow Through Productions Directed By Lee Daniels
by Anna Koelsch THE CHRONICLE
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” starring Forest Whitaker in the title role, tells a story of race in America and culminates with (spoiler!) the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Through the experiences of one man and his family, “The Butler” provides a quality, albeit rushed, two-hour history refresher about how the societal status of African Americans has changed. Although the content tried to be moving, it was far from a tearjerker. Hyper-stylized voiceovers popped up throughout the film and jolted me away from what was actually going on. Grainy 1950s-era shots of the White House were spliced in between clear HD footage of actors, and the predominantly all-star cast, including James Marsden as John F. Kennedy and Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower, distract from what should have been a compelling story.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
MUSIC SUPERCHUNK I Hate Music Merge Records
by Yunyi Li THE CHRONICLE
Superchunk has come a long way since “Slack Motherf---er.” The band’s guitarist and singer Mac McCaughan and bassist Laura Ballance founded the now Durham-based independent record label Merge Records in 1989. Since its founding, Merge has become integral to the cultural history of the Triangle music scene. Although Merge is now home to some of the most wellknown and critically acclaimed acts in indie rock, including The Mountain Goats, Neutral Milk Hotel and Arcade Fire, the label first released modest pressings of 7”s and cassettes out of a small rented house in Chapel Hill. Since the mid-1990s, various independent labels, unable to sustain themselves economically, have either gone out of business or have been forced to develop partnerships with major labels (such as Matador Records, and Atlantic Records as well as Sub Pop and Warner Music Group). Merge, however, has managed to preserve a communityminded, artist-friendly ethos both because of and despite their success. This success is owed to Merge’s dedication to its musicians and patrons, as well as its consistency in offering the public some of the most important, innovative, and gratifying records of the last twenty years; this includes seven out of Superchunk’s ten full-length releases (their first three were initially released through Matador). Their latest record, “I Hate Music,” carries on their distinct manner of anthemic, heartfelt power pop. And although it does not venture into new musical territories, “I Hate Music” retains a refreshing and sometimes childlike energy that rings both impressive and rather unusual for a group that’s been around for over twenty years. “Staying Home,” for example, clocks in at just 1:15 minutes. Its
The most bizarre casting was Oprah as Gloria Gaines, the protagonist’s wife. Oprah’s acting was very poor, and even worse, her Oprah-ness distracted me from what should have been a dynamic portrait of an African American wife. Instead of processing Gloria’s warning to her son about questioning white men because of what had just happened to Emmett Till, I was thinking about how weird it was that Oprah was portraying anyone but herself. At the end of the film, the camera showed a summer barbecue for supporters of Barack Obama and then panned to a misshapen Oprah wearing a substantial amount of makeup intended to make her look extremely elderly. I burst out in laughter because the makeup made her look more like Horace Slughorn from Harry Potter, which probably was not the intended reaction. For the purposes of this film, though, it is clearly understood why Oprah was cast—she is easily one of the most successful African-Americans in the United States. It carries a great deal of meaning to watch Oprah portray a “normal” woman carving out her
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
simple refrain begs listeners to yelp along and its unrestrained guitar feels like a throwback to basement punk shows and the early days of Superchunk and Merge. The rest of the album is equally infectious, though it hints at a motif of death and loss throughout, despite its instrumental enthusiasm. The album title is taken from the track “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo,” and its vigor and meditative yet playful lyrics layered over Superchunk’s signature boisterous guitars make it one of the standout tunes of the record: “I hate music—what is it worth?/Can’t bring anyone back to this earth/Or fill in the space between all of the notes/ But I got nothing else so I guess here we go.” “FOH” is another highlight and, like “Jackie Mittoo,” seems to mourn but refuses to mope: “We get reports, we struggle forth/Maybe the windows never close/Maybe if we wear your clothes/Maybe we can keep going/How’s everything at the front of the house?” Superchunk’s lyrics and themes have become more pensive since their 1990 self-titled debut, and this shift is especially salient in I Hate Music. Superchunk played their third date on their current tour—excluding an intimate surprise show at the Pinhook—at Cat’s Cradle on August 24th, performing with a new bassist, Jason Narducy. (Ballance’s hearing problems make it difficult for her to tour and play live.) The band opened with “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo” to an eager and committed crowd clearly already familiar with the new album. Superchunk also performed “Low F” from “I Hate Music” for the first time live, as well as a cover of labelmates The Magnetic Fields’s “100,000 Fireflies” during a second encore. Although the band members are now in their mid-forties and their songs have matured along with them, they’ve still got a sense of their old teenage gumption—and this is obvious both live and on the record.
place during the more tumultuous times of recent. I have a love-hate relationship with all-star casts in general. It makes sense why they are so popular: they bring in the big bucks, and they generally increase a film’s probability of winning flashy honors and awards (which bring in more money). It’s also fun to see Mariah Carey as a grown man’s mother (even though they look nothing alike) and Oprah as his wife. All-star casts, however, fall flat when it comes to the telling of the actual story. Instead of obtaining any understanding of race in America, I spent the majority of the film thinking about how funny it was that Severus Snape (Alan Rickman’s Ronald Reagan) was holding hands with Jane Fonda, who played Nancy Reagan, or wondering who in their right mind thought it would be an okay idea to cast John Cusack as Richard Nixon, but I digress. “The Butler” is a heartwarming film, but ultimately I felt too distracted by the clumsy acting and the questionable casting in order to pay adequate attention to its storyline.
The Chronicle
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New Doris Duke exhibition bring
TIM STREET-PORTER/DORIS DUKE FOUNDATION FOR ISLAMIC ART
The Playhouse of Doris Duke’s Shangri La estate along the shores near Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
by Kathy Zhou THE CHRONICLE
TIM STREET-PORTER/DDFIA
This photograph, Syrian Room, is the first work visitors will see of the Nasher’s new exhibition.
Green lamps dangle from a ceiling framed by ornate carvings. The tirelessly detailed patterns, eclectic and timeless, continue along the walls, arched windows and crevices. The colors, some rustic and some pastel, rise in contrast to the floor with its shiny off-whiteness and large geometric designs. Oil lamps, water pipes and perfume bottles tastefully adorn tables and shelves. Golden Arabic calligraphy panels the walls above, and the photograph (seen left) is taken in such a way that you feel as if, with a single step, you could enter into the “Syrian Room.” Tim Street-Porter’s large and backlit photograph welcomes viewers into the Nasher’s newest exhibition opening Thursday, August 29: Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art. Doris Duke is somewhat shrouded in mystery. She’s consistently hailed as an American heiress and philanthropist, yet she never kept any journals for modern scholarly reference. She was a private person—private enough that rumor and scandal, even now, manage to work their
way into the mainstream’s perception of her. In the same way, Islamic art, despite its deep tradition and history, is a sort of vague novelty to the Western canon. This will be the first major opportunity for the Nasher to expose its audiences to Islamic art. Shangri La is Doris Duke’s mansion, commissioned and envisioned entirely by the heiress. The massive property is simple— even austere—on the outside, but the interior flourishes with Islamic art, furniture, jewelry and architectural elements curated by Duke herself. “It was her living space,” said Mary Samouelian, former Doris Duke collection archivist. “She interacted with the objects and she lived in those spaces. It was probably her favorite home; it was hers, designed and built from the ground up.” Duke lived in New York City right beside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is speculated her love for art originated. For her honeymoon in 1935, Duke traveled across the world and fell in love with the Taj Mahal. Already attracted to art and architecture, she was inspired by what she dis-
The Chronicle
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013 | 5
gs Islamic art to Nasher Museum covered. Her second trip in 1938 was to the Middle East. Flying over in a propeller plane and shipping over a car, she embarked throughout several countries over the course of six weeks with one goal: to furnish and decorate Shangri La. “It’s important to think about this as [works of art] that Doris Duke owned and cared for,” said Katie Adkins, coordinating curator for the exhibition. “She embraced Islamic architecture and that went into the whole idea of the house and how she would set the work up. When doing a show about an art collector like Duke, it always gets at the fact that someone lived with, someone loved and someone chose this art.” What distinguishes this exhibition is that it is inseparable from its context; the house and the art are symbiotic. Groupings and rooms were used to create the essence of a home and also an educational platform for Islamic art. Each space serves a purpose. Documents and works of art, whether from the Rare
Manuscript Library or the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, are methodically spaced throughout. Visitors will see elegant vases and hardy bureaus alongside a small model of the property and old architectural sketches. One particularly iconic portrait is that of Doris Duke in a fashionable, Islamic-style dress (displayed alongside the photograph) as she looks on fiercely. The final room of the exhibition features a grouping of contemporary artwork. These include “There is Nothing Like Him,” ink and gold on Turkish ahar paper in talik script, and the massive “Heart Axe,” a sheer sheet of polyethylene with thousands of tiny cutouts to compose a design similar to those on the walls of Shangri La. It seems obvious that an exhibition with works compiled by the only daughter of James B. Duke would be on display at Duke University. What is less apparent, however, is what this exhibition reveals about Doris Duke—the side that is rarely
TIM STREET-PORTER/DDFIA
This bathroom in the Mughal Suite at Shangri La was envisioned completely by Doris Duke.
TIM STREET-PORTER/DDFIA
These works are part of the new collection featured at the Nasher. Left, Woman With Cat, Iranian, late 18th century. Top right, Jhabbedar, a pair of ear ornaments, Indian, 19th century. Bottom right, Rosewater Sprinkler, Indian, 18th to 19th century.
portrayed by the media or by posthumous biographies, much of which focuses on distorted and often inaccurate accounts of her life and its associated scandals. “Enough time had passed where people really needed to understand who the real Doris Duke was,” said Samouelian. Duke’s collection and her home, then, are the venues by which viewers can discover what Duke was really like as a person. “[Duke] spent her time with artists and people from all walks of life,” continued Samouelian. “She was very interested in and accepting of other cultures. In the same way, she was not an elitist about art. There is a huge range of art that might have caught her eye.” The greatest legacy left behind by Doris Duke and Shangri La extends beyond the collection. In the 1965 version of her will, she stated that she wanted Shangri La to become a place of study for Islamic art and culture. Her vision came true: every year, artists and scholars have the opportunity for residency in Shangri La, and the estate is now open for public visitation. This exhibition furthers what she had envisioned, presenting the chance to discover Islamic art and understand the culture behind it. “The hope is for others to also develop a love for Islamic art,” said Adkins. “This exhibition gives [viewers] the opportunity to see these works and think about what it’s like to have an art collection, what it’d be like to live with these works in particular and what that means.” Doris Duke’s Shangri La opens at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University on Aug. 29 and runs until Dec. 29. For more information and associated events, visit http://nasher.
6 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013
The Chronicle
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Manbites Dog Theater prepares for upcoming season by Thomas Kavanaugh THE CHRONICLE
Durham drama kicks into high gear at Manbites Dog Theater this fall with a fresh set of offbeat productions. The frenzy begins in October with a love triangle cagefight-of-the-sexes and ends with the acclaimed Strange Beauty Film Festival in June. Fitting with its mission to produce only regional premieres that challenge audiences and experiment with form, Manbites Dog will offer a diverse, cutting-edge selection for its 2013-2014 season. Manbites Dog will produce four shows this year, performed downtown on Foster Street. The company will also curate five presentations from guest groups as part of its Other Voices series. In addition, Manbites Dog will introduce new performance programming to fill the “dark nights”—times when the theater is unused—with shows by Durham-based artists. The so-called Dark Matter miniseries has yet to be detailed, but Jeff Storer, Manbites Dog Artistic Director and Duke professor, described a diverse selection of local talent, including staged readings of new plays and music across genres. The core Manbites Dog lineup opens with a raunchy romance by British playwright Mark Bartlett, entitled “Cock.” Emma D. Miller (‘12) and Phil Watson (‘14) both star in the four-person cast. Storer tackles Bartlett’s lewd farce— opening October 3—in a manner fitting with the Manbites Dog tradition of experimentation. Storer’s minimalist vision, which uses no set, props, costumes or even miming, exemplifies what he calls Manbites Dog’s “variations on real-
ism.” The entire theater space is rearranged to mimic a cockfight arena, with audience seating in a square surrounding a red showdown ring. “I’ve never seen a show that’s stripped so bare,” noted Watson. “The play is just actors’ bodies, that’s all.” Following Storer’s show, Manbites Dog takes a dramatic turn with “The Best of Enemies,” a stage adaptation of the book by Osha Gray Davidson. The play follows the true story of the relationship between Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis during the desegregation of North Carolina schools in the 1970s. Atwater—a civil rights activist—forms an unlikely friendship with Ellis, a KKK leader. Manbites Dog will host a benefit performance for Atwater on opening night. UNC artist-inresidence Joseph Megel directs. “Part of Manbites Dog’s mission is a commitment to political theater,” said Storer. “‘The Best of Enemies’ fits.” Nevertheless, the season circles back to the comedic; Manbites Dog’s final production is “Spirits to Enforce” by the Chicago playwright Mickle Maher. The play follows a group of superheroes in their daring mission to raise funds—via telethon—for a production of “The Tempest.” Mainstage shows are just one side of the theater’s seasonal output. The Manbites Dog space will host a variety of guest groups: the Other Voices series kicks off with “Measure Back,” an Iliadinspired theatrical investigation into the horrors of war, by director Christopher McElroen and actor T. Ryder Smith. In January, the well-loved 2012 brainchild of Chaunesti Webb gets an encore: “I Love My Hair When It’s Good: & Then Again When It Looks Defiant
And Impressive” will rerun at the Foster Street space. Webb’s mixed media work chronicles two young African American girls as they struggle with identity, as told through their relationships with their hair and heritage. Brooklyn-based theater company Hoi Polloi unveils “Republic” in February, the product of a two-year campus residency. Co-sponsored by Duke Performances, the work draws from the utopian ideas embedded in “The Republic,” Plato’s dialogue on justice and the city-state. The play series finishes with a bang. Just before the Strange Beauty Film Festival in June, Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern will perform a new work by playwright-in-residence Monica Byrne entitled “Tarantino’s Yellow Speedo.” The name comes from the conspicuous raiment of Byrne’s fictional Olympic hero, Arturo Tarantino, and the play is set in the notoriously sex-crazed Olympic Village. Tarantino’s mythical golden garment symbolizes the oft overlooked
“shadow negotiations” among nations during the Olympic Games. Byrne’s faux-legendary diver—who mysteriously disappeared—was no gold medalist. His real mission? Geopolitical. As Tarantino remarked, “I have come to abolish the nation-state.” Jay O’Berski, Assistant Professor to the Practice of Theater Studies, will direct “Tarantino’s Yellow Speedo” next spring. In O’Berski’s words, Byrne’s play is “both sex comedy and political thriller.” One play is left unannounced in Manbites Dog’s series. Storer explained that the selection committee is still deliberating. When asked what hole could possibly be left unfilled in Manbites Dog’s already eclectic collection, Storer answered, “We are looking for something small and intimate. We want to take the core tenant of realism and expand from there.” For more information, visit http://manbitesdogtheater.org/.
ALAN DEHMER/MANBITES DOG
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