AUGUST 2016

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august

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

INTERVIEWS

Filling the hunger since 1992

ALEX GIBNEY | 18

The acclaimed filmmaker investigates a computer virus developed for cyber warfare

STEVEN TYLER | 20

6

22

Life, Animated

18

Filmmaker Alex Gibney.

MUSIC

5 | Workshop 6 | Dark Humor

29 | POP MUSIC Songs of Protest 2016

8 | ART SHORTS Near and Far at Gross McLeaf Gallery ISEA: 25th Annual Juried Exhibition at The Crayola Gallery Carol Sanzalone & Joe Kazimierczyk at Artists’ Gallery

30 | TRADITIONAL JAZZ DeJohnette/Coltrane/Garrison Matt Baker Cyrus Chestnut Warren Wolf Louis Heriveaux

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

ADVERTISING 800-354-8776 EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna Raina Filipiak / Advertising filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION Designer Richard DeCosta

THEATER

32 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Hugh & Katy Moffatt Kate & Anna McGarrigle Jonah Tolchin Aaron Neville Ivas John

12 | CITY THEATER

ABOUT LIFE

Robert Beck / robert@robertbeck.net

12 | VALLEY THEATER

33 | By Chance or by Choice

Nick Bewsey / nickbewsey@gmail.com

ENTERTAINMENT

FOODIE FILE

Jack Byer / jackbyer@verizon.net

14 | THE LIST

34 | Richard Sandoval’s Aqimero and Garrett Welch

Peter Croatto / petecroatto@yahoo.com

HARPER’S

Edward Higgins / ehiggins2581@gmail.com

36 | Findings 36 | Index 16 | CINEMATTERS Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net

ETCETERA

George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com

22 | KERESMAN ON FILM Life, Animated

38 | L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD

Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com

39 | AGENDA

R. Kurt Osenlund / rkurtosenlund@gmail.com

10 | EXHIBITIONS Artsbridge Summer Arts Festival Bethlehem House Gallery Summer Show 2016

Lori Crawford, The Sista Descending the Staircase, 2003. Color digital painting, 19 × 13 in.

University Museums, University of Delaware, Paul R. Jones Collection. Image © Lori Crawford

www.icondv.com PUBLISHER

The ever-young singer’s jovial, run-on-sentences, messy linguistic twists, incomplete thoughts and sexed-up, psychobabble have been his braggadocio-laced, silly, slimy, stock in trade since the earliest days of his tangy, Boston-based, rock n’ roll band Aerosmith ART

1-800-354-8776 • 215-862-9558

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FILM

Assistant Designer Kaitlyn Reed-Baker CONTRIBUTING WRITERS A. D. Amorosi / divaland@aol.com

James P. Delpino / JDelpino@aol.com

Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com

24 | BAD MOVIE Triple 9

Bob Perkins / bjazz5@aol.com

26 | FILM ROUNDUP Café Society Equity Kate Plays Christine Little Men

Burton Wasserman

Keith Uhlich / KeithUhlich@gmail.com

Tom Wilk / tomwilk@rocketmail.com

PO Box 120 • New Hope 18938 (800) 354-8776 Fax (215) 862-9845

MUSIC

ICON is published twelve times per year. Repro-

27 | JAZZ LIBRARY The Hit-Makers: Composers & Arrangers 28 | KERESMAN ON DISC Kandace Springs Ken Peplowski Cannonball Adderley Quintet The Beau Brummels Rob Ickes/Trey Hensley

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duction 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). ©2015 Prime Time Publishing Co., Inc.

ON THE COVER: Steven Tyler. Page 20.

ART ESSAY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

Workshop I’M UP IN MAINE about to teach a plein air painting workshop. It’s part of promoting my solo exhibition at the Maine Maritime Museum in September, but I take it as seriously as any other class or lecture I do.

Workshops come in different flavors. Some include Italian villas with a staff to do the cooking and cleaning.

Some are days spent in languid cultural recreation. Some, like mine, are boot camp. What do you mean you’re tired? Tell it to your mother when you get back home.

I admit to having an attitude about this. I’m acutely aware that many people have helped me along the way by teaching me to be a better artist and providing opportunities, and I believe there is an obligation for all artists to bring others along. I willingly give up time when I could be painting in order to pay back in kind. I’ve got experience and know-how, I’m good at getting ideas across, and I’m going to throw a ton at you, so listen up.

I’m not here for my health.

I’m going to ask them to do things that make them uncomfortable, in a challenging way: paint with one color, or a severely limited palette; describe the subject in detail—value and color—before touching the brush; paint the space between things. I want them to think about what they are doing.

It’s not uncommon for participants to arrive expecting to do what they’ve always done and improve by mere proximity to the teacher. That’s not going to happen here. They are going to stretch. This will frustrate the hell out of some, but it’s similar to the stages of grief.

They go through denial, rationalization, argument/negotiation, a fair amount of wailing, then get on with the program. Or retreat.

Making matters worse for them, I’ll be lurking, waiting for teachable moments. Bad habits abound. Many students rely on fate rather than critical thinking, a product of the myth that art is just about letting it flow. React subjectively? Yes. Rely on your senses? Yes. But don’t stop analyzing your work.

Robert Beck’s work can be seen at www.robertbeck.net.

Too often a student will place a stroke that’s really good and it surprises him —and he will continue to touch the canvas again and again with his brush without picking up any more paint, as if the motion, not the application, caused the wonderful accident. The magic happened once, maybe it will happen again. But it doesn’t; it destroys what is already there. I once watched a student do this repetitive touching more than a dozen times before I intervened. I will explain to him that each stroke comes with four questions. What is needed in the image? What do I put on the brush to make that happen? With what calligraphy do I apply the stroke? And the most important: did it work? Why not? That’s the kind of deliberation required from beginning to end.

I don’t expect to see immediate improvement when I teach a workshop. Painting students usually need to both hear something and see it come off their brush. They can listen to me describe some technique or principle, even watch me demonstrate it, but it isn’t until they see it happen in their own painting by their own hand that it becomes theirs. Conversely, if they do something fabulous by accident, it’s not until they hear it explained that it becomes part of their repertoire. All of us have lost a wonderful passage because we didn’t know what it was made of, why it worked, or how to get it back. I have students tell me years later things they got out of my classes, and it’s almost never something they saw me do in a demonstration; rather it’s something I said that clicked down the road.

I’m happiest when someone goes on to develop a style and voice totally different from mine. I’m not trying to get them to paint like me. I’m exposing them to practices that will help them find out what things matter to them, and encourage them to express that in their own language.

That’s what we will be doing on the coast of Maine in a few days, but the students don’t know it. They will stand in front of me half listening as I begin the class, itching to get to work, already looking around for that perfect subject that will provide a great painting. I like that enthusiasm. It’s what will support them through the hard times, until they discover that their subject is themselves. 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 A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 5

ARt

Taboos & Stereotypes IN THE TURBULENT 1960s, when the civil rights struggle was at its height, African-American students across the country demanded to see themselves represented in the academic curriculum of universities. In 1968, after a two-day sit-in by students at the University of Delaware’s Black Student Union, a conversation began which resulted in a Department of Black American Studies the next year. In 2001 Paul R. Jones made a gift to the University of a collection which encompasses outstanding examples of African American art.

Now a small, but targeted exhibition at Delaware Art Museum explores race, culture, humor and history in Dark Humor: African-American Art from the University Museums, University of Delaware. The exhibition runs through September 25 and is comprised of 19 paintings, prints, and objects by 18 artists who focused on the black experience and the reactions to it. The artists represented include Camille Billops, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Willie Birch, and Peter Williams.

The term “dark humor” was coined by the surrealist icon Andre Breton in 1935 to designate comedy that often made people squirm because it touched on subjects considered to be taboo. In a sort of double-entendre, African American artists are using subversive humor to explore racial stereotypes and expectations. “Since the early 20th century, black artists have frequently been called to ‘represent’ in racial terms—to produce reverent, positive images of blackness in order to counteract the experience of slavery and racism,” says Curator Tiffany Barber. “By using dark humor, present-day black artists shake off this call. By employing satire, visual puns, farce, absurdity, kitsch, and the bizarre, the artists included in the exhibition upend social and aesthetic conventions.”

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Peter Williams, a professor at the University of Delaware, assembled a collection of racist memorabilia over the years that he uses in his work. When he was young, Williams was a passenger in a car whose driver intentionally plunged over a cliff; the incident subsequently cost him his leg. His art is thus autobiographical in that it is born from his own experiences of race and physical vulnerability. It reflects vulnerability in a chaotic world, and is both compassionate and terrifying.

Williams said, “My process has always been experimental with regard to content and traditional form. I seem to love color and am currently in a rather strong comical phase—the color, its details are important to the structure or form of this work for me.”

Barkley L. Hendricks was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. It is said that, “…

His unique work resides at the nexus of American realism and post-modernism, a space somewhere between portraitists Chuck Close and Alex Katz and pioneering black conceptualists David Hammons and Adrian Piper. He is best known for his stunning, life-sized portraits of people of color from the urban northeast.” His work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Brooklyn Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among others. n Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE. delart.org

OPPOSITE PAGE: Barkley L. Hendricks (born 1945), Sacrifice of the Watermelon Virgin or Shirt Off Her Back, 1987. Color offset lithograph, 21 5/8 × 30 in. Lent by University Museums, University of Delaware, Paul R. Jones Collection, A Gift of the Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA. Image © Barkley L. Hendricks. Courtesy of the Artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York THIS PAGE: Michael Ray Charles (born 1967), 24-7, 1995. Color screen print, 46 × 30 inches. University Museums, University of Delaware, Gift of Danny Simmons, Image © Michael Ray Charles

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Art Shorts CURATED BY ED HIGGINS

Near and Far at Gross McLeaf Gallery This summer, Gross McCleaf Gallery, 127 S. 16th St., Philadelphia, will be celebrating landscape painting with “Near and Far,” a diverse show of over thirty artists’ interpretations of the outdoors. The show will run through August 31.

Philadelphia’s artistic community will be well represented through a variety of pieces in different mediums

25th Annual Juried Exhibition will be on view at The Crayola Gallery (in the Banana Factory), 25 West Third St., Bethlehem through August 17. The show attracts nationally known artists from across the country.

Juror Antonio Masi explains: “To paraphrase the French artist Georges Braque, who was at the forefront of the revolutionary art movement of cubism, when asked, ‘What is Abstract Art?’ His reply was ‘abstract art is what the mind sees but the eye doesn’t.’ The paintings have a wide range of approaches in the handling of the tools, mediums and surfaces. The rich surface textures, the strong emotional expressiveness, and the unique incorporation of everyday items all contribute to making this a very exciting exhibition.”

Among the artists are Sue Parman, an anthropologist/university professor who writes poetry, plays, and

tional realism. His painting is a natural extension of his exploration of the countryside and nature’s beauty. He ventures beyond his usual haunts in this show, as he paints scenes from hiking trips ranging from the Delaware Water Gap to the Catskills to the Adirondack Mountains. A resident of New Jersey, Kazimierczyk lives near Neshanic Station and is primarily self-taught. A land-

Dale O. Roberts, Urban Gold, encaustic on panel, 39 x 43 in.

and styles. The exhibit demonstrates that one can experience the landscape by immersing oneself in it, by observing it from afar, and even by using representation as a departure point. The artist’s vista may be grand or intimate; elevated or earthly, cultivated or untamed, populated or deserted. The show features works in watercolor, oil, and acrylic paints, and showcase cityscapes, vast expanses, and even secret gardens.

Among the artists in the show is Dale Roberts, a Waterville, NY, native who studied at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and the Rochester Institute of Technology. “The work I am currently engaged in is a continued refinement of a visual dialogue with life,” Roberts says. “Changing relationships of light, air, and color, specific to season and time of day are the foundational structures underpinning my work. A yearning to see and interpret more clearly and truthfully defining qualities intrinsic to each subject has become my obsession. The interactive process of painting itself, with its history, both personal and universal is the backdrop and the lens that places each new effort in context.”

ISEA: 25th Annual Juried Exhibition at The Crayola Gallery The International Society of Experimental Artists:

Kimberly Grace Gill, Still Silent, Still Missing, acrylic, pastel & collage. Gracie Award Winner, Best of Show.

narrative fiction. Born in Connecticut, raised in Iowa and New Mexico, she now lives in Oregon; Michigan artist, Kimberly Grace Gill, who describes “A Girl with Dreams”: “As a portrait artist, I choose inspiring subjects who honor the millions of girls around the world who are deprived of an education. Using chalk and pastel on chalkboard seemed to me the best way to represent the idea of learning”; and Dashuai Sun who was born in Inner Mongolia, China in 1963. At age six he began to learn painting from his father. In 1996, he immigrated to the United States with his wife. He has won many national awards and exhibits frequently.

Carol Sanzalone & Joe Kazimierczyk at Artists’ Gallery The paintings of special places, which have been inspirational to the work of Joe Kazimierczyk and Carol Sanzalone, will be featured in “Inspired Places” at the Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge St, Lambertville, from August 4 to September 5. Both artists have been exhibiting at the Artists’ Gallery for more than ten years.

Joe Kazimierczyk works with oils in a style of tradi-

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Carol Sanzalone, Garden Color Patterns

scape painter working in a style of traditional realism, many of his smaller works are done on location, while his larger works are usually painted in the studio from his studies, photographs and memories.

Carol Sanzalone is currently painting in watercolor and acrylic. Water media provides her the ability to enliven a subject with washes of transparent color, much like natural light throughout the day and seasons. “Color and texture are fascinating properties of everyday images and are the focus of my paintings,” she says. “Working in watercolor and acrylic on paper and canvas allows the use of transparent washes of color in the same way that natural light washes color on a subject in different environments, seasons and lighting conditions.” A graduate of Douglass College and Tyler School of Art, she has exhibited her work in many solo, group and juried shows. n

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EXHIBITIONS

Jessica Ling, Lotus.

The Artsbridge Summer Arts Festival Corner of Stockton & Bridge Sts., New Hope, PA Artsbridgeonline.com Sat. & Sun., 1-5 pm August 4-28 | Opening reception August 4, 7-9 pm To celebrate its 23rd Annual Art Show, Artsbridge decided to spread its wings with a number of fun activities during the month of August. “Our Juried Show has been a great tradition that everyone looks forward to, but we felt we needed to do more for our members and the local community this year,” noted Jeff Charlesworth, the organization’s president.

The Festival will be centered around the New Hope Arts Center and will include a plein air painting competition, an art swap, a number of demonstrations of painting and photography techniques, a movie night, an evening with Lambertville’s Bill Jersey, a New Hope sculpture tour and other pop-up events.

Reception and awards ceremony on Thursday evening, Aug. 4 at 7 pm.

Rodney Miller, Cave of Dreams

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Rigo Peralta, Aradia.

Summer Show 2016 Bethlehem House Gallery 459 Main Street, Bethlehem PA 610-419-6262 bethlehemhousegallery.com Through October 8 Closing reception 10/8 from 6-9 pm The Summer Show features new work from Darrell George, Bob Hakun, Ward Van Haute, Rigo Peralta, Marta Whistler, and international guest artist, Hazem Akil.

Hazem Akil of Aleppo, Syria, focuses on abstract subjects and has had more than 30 exhibitions in areas including Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Germany, and the United States.

Darrell George: “I don’t want total control of the medium just enough to get a three-dimensional message across on a two dimensional surface.“ Bob Hakun: “I collect and arrange old items that show the brutal beauty produced by the breakingdown of all things back into what they came from.”

Rigo Peralta: “Through richly charged, rhythmic compositions and a palette steeped in the vibrant colors of my Dominican homeland, I blend diverse cultural references, symbolic imagery, mythology, and organic, mechanical, and abstract forms.”

Ward Van Haute: “I am a multi-disciplined artist creating works focusing on the human form in a whimsical setting that reflect my cheerful engagement with the world.”

Marta Whistler: “My paintings feature bold color use combined with striking manipulation of surface texture and a powerful feeling of movement in my Abstract, Figurative, Symbolic and Sculpture art works.”

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THEATER VALLEY

CITY

The Taming of the Shrew. This memorably misogynistic comedy pits two women and four men in a war of wits and wills. The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival quadrupled the stakes by adding memorably entertaining elements of slapstick and music hall, circus and rodeo. Ian Merrill Peakes gave Petruchio the slick swagger of a film actor playing a cowboy, a gigolo, a mobster and a hoofer. He was well matched by Eleanor Handley’s Katherina, who exhibited the feline prowling and clawing of her Maggie in the festival’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Their vividly brutal wrestling match deserved a pay-perview telecast. Director Matt Pfeiffer, an actor himself, made sure every sidekick starred.

As Grumio, Petruchio’s bumbling aide-de-camp, Eric Hissom was a marvelously kinetic clown inspired by Falstaff and Oscar Madison. Brandon J. Pierce invested Lucentio, the No. 2 lover, with noble flair; Dan Hodge invested Tranio, who does most of Lucentio’s wooing, with rowdy cunning. Alex J. Bechtel was a delightfully befuddled Hortensio; as music director, he led a merry band of radical minstrels, some of whom treated an upright piano with hilariously ludicrous rudeness.

Time is on Our Side. Playwright R. Eric Thomas of Philadelphia’s William Way Community Center is well schooled in local homosexual history. His play skillfully directed by Jarrod Markman, puts much of that history into play in this swift moving story about podcasters Claudia (Brandi Burgess) and Curtis (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) who do an XPN-style radio show focusing on gay issues. Brandi, the show’s megamouth (she likes to cut Curtis off in mid-sentence) discovers her grandmother’s diary with its lesbian references. Curtis is eager to read the diary on air but Brandi protests, citing discretionary issues. Curtis insists on outing the diary so that listeners can hear the story of how Claudia’s grandmother’s marriage was a front that allowed the couple to operate secretly as homosexuals. The play’s many references to historic Philly gay bars and personalities, such as Mary the Hat, is a trip down memory lane. Thomas can be forgiven his few highlighted references to his employer, although the actual dates of the diary, the late ‘60s and ‘70s, seem a bit too recent to be perceived as archival or historic.

In the Heights. The Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre festival made its bones in the 1980s with splendid stagings of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, which showcase patter songs with speedily splicing rhymes. It’s only natural that a troupe exceptional at Victorian hip hop exceled at In the Heights, a captivating Latin-flavored hip hop musical set in Manhattan’s Washington Heights section, creator LinManuel Miranda’s hometown hood. Director James Peck choreographed a pin-wheeling carnival with enough heart to knock out and turn on the lights. Gabe Martinez rapped rapturously and acted soulfully as Usnavi, a kind bodega owner whose store is trashed during a blackout. His radiant suffering over the sudden death of a neighborhood saint helped trigger 20 seconds of audience silence, a startling theatrical eternity. Tiffany Byrd played Vanessa, Usnavi’s ambitious girlfriend, with willowy sass suiting her basketball player/model body. Bree Ogaldez and Jakeim Hart were touching and torching as starcrossed lovers and creamy pop crooners. Lightning bolts of energy were supplied by a terrific ensemble of dancers who bobbed, dodged, twisted, twirled, raised the roof and lowered the boom.

Julius Caesar. The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival production unfolded on a nakedly white set, a boldly blank canvas for an anatomy of political bloodletting. Alas, the only other daring choice was Keith Hamilton Cobb, whose massive size and booming voice made Caesar unusually, rightfully colossal. Built like a linebacker, he was a formidable foe during the unusually punchy assassination scene. Spencer Plachy’s Marc Antony was a magnetic blend of canny politician and uncanny spin doctor. Greg Wood (Cassius) and Henry Woronicz (Brutus) sweated dread while analyzing the anarchy they wrought. Christopher Patrick Mullen enlivened Casca with his customary quirky humor. Director Patrick Mulcahy intensified the subtle power of Antony’s mob-swaying address by turning it into a sort of smart fireside chat. He also diminished the drama of key speeches by letting non-speaking actors imitate statues.

Hamlet. Allentown Shakespeare in the Park will present the brilliantly plotted, endlessly intriguing revenge play at Daddona Lake and Terrace park, which has a stage of grass, a backstage of trees and tiers of grass for picnickers. Expect the unexpected from the troupe’s ninth annual outdoor gift; last year’s “Comedy of Errors” featured one actor playing the twin masters and one actor playing the twin servants, a double dose of comic mayhem. (Aug. 11-13) n

BalletX’s Summer Series 2016 showcased the choreography of Matthew Neenan and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. These world premiere dance pieces were savvy techno-lighting, projection spectacles and created the illusion of multi-dimensional space into which dancers appear and disappear. Neenan’s piece, Identity Without Attribute, had definite Kraftwerk influences: the repetitious electronic music transformed the dancers into robots. While the Bolero-like repetition of this stuck in the vortex beat was delightful for a few minutes, it soon became a fixed chaotic state without variation, leading ultimately to boredom, much like watching paint dry. While the beauty and agility of BalletX dancers cannot be denied, Identity did not deserve the standing ovation that it received. The second dance, Ochoa’s Bonzi, was much better. This whimsical narrative with dancing doors (and knocking on doors) recalled the films of Federico Fellini and the best of Cirque du Soleil. Here was BalletX at its best, the story of a salesman (dancer Edgar Anido) who sells something that nobody wants. What happens when Anido is drawn behind the doors he’s knocking on is narrative dance at the highest level.

Roseburg. Founding Artistic Director of New City Stage Company Ginger Dayle says the play is really an ongoing political conversation about gun control, “whether you’re pro- or anti-restricting these weapons.” Written by Dayle and the Voices for a New City Ensemble, Roseburg is one play written by committee that works. This compelling yet overlong narrative presents two case scenarios, the events leading up to Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination and a 2015 school shooting in Oregon by Christopher Harper-Mercer, played to the creepy hilt by Jackie DiFerdinado who takes us inside the Asberger’s-tortured teen as he thrashes about in psychological pain while telling his mom, Laurel Harper (Kayla Tarpley), that cockroaches are attacking him in his bedroom. Russ Widdall as RFK gets the Boston accent right even as he recites long passages from Senator Kennedy’s early speeches in support of gun control. Widdall also illuminates RFK’s bumbling side, or his goofy tendency to find any excuse—“I have to watch the kids”—in order to evade his serious-as-stone, nitpicking speechwriter, Richard N. Goodwin (Joshua Tewell), who’s always chasing him down with script changes. RFK bodyguard Rosey Grier (Andre M. Evers) adds a biracial element to this innovative production in which both arguments of the gun control debate are presented intelligently and fairly. “We recently rewrote our mission to focus on political theater and that refers to more than just political figures but the politics of everyday life,” Dayle has said of her work.

2nd Annual Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival at the U of Arts’ Ira Brind School of Theater Arts presents plays like Molly’s Hammer by Tammy Ryan, about a Pittsburgh housewife who stood alongside Daniel and Philip Berrigan in King of Prussia when the group, known as Plowshares 8, took hammers to the nosecones of nuclear weapons.

Then there’s Simone by Amanda Coffin, about intellectual, existentialist philosopher, Simone Beauvoir, who saw nothing existentially wrong about procuring young female lovers for her partner, Jean Paul Sartre. n

— Geoff Gehman

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— Thom Nickels

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The List AUGUST CURATED BY A. D.V AMOROSI

4 ERYKAH BADU

12 TODRICK HALL: STRAIGHT OUTTA OZ

Odd soul goddess Badu hasn’t had an album of her own since 2010’s New Amerykah Part 2, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been recording.

Along with her sizzling version of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and vocals found on the Robert Glasper/Miles Davis project Everything’s Beautiful, Badu has dropped a handful of stirring mixtapes that are a righteous roadmap to where she’s been in the last six years. (Union Transfer)

Surrender Dorothy indeed. Broadway actor and American Idol finalist Hall puts his glittery spin on

20 THE JULIE RUIN (KATHLEEN HANNA & KATHI WILCOX OF BIKINI KILL)

26 KEITH URBAN WITH BRETT ELDREDGE AND MAREN MORRIS

If femme punk fury had a writing, singing figurehead, it would be Kathleen Hanna whose every

Nicole Kidman’s guitar-playing, American Idol-judg-

5 PITBULL, PRINCE ROYCE & FARRUKO Three global superstar rappers and singer-songwriters on the Latin continuum tip roll into this sleepy burg. (Allentown’s PPL Center)

6 KESHA If you aren’t aware of what’s gone on with pop princess Kesha in the last year (other than losing the $ in her name) you haven’t been reading the news. Along with making claims of sexual harassment against her one-time producer Kesha is being held hostage from making new music due to contractual obligations. How judges refuse to void a contract due to such allegations is absurd.

Still, Kesha continues singing in a live setting, which works for us all. (Harrahs)

8 JULIETTE LEWIS Far too many actors make music and muck it up (then again, far too many musicians try acting, and that’s no joy). Lewis, luckily walks it like she

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with new songs to make it his own. (Keswick Theatre, Glenside)

13 MAD DECENT PARTY W/DIPLO & BAAUER

move is more ferocious and righteous than her last. (Union Transfer)

Several multi-hyphenate producers gather for rude boy, dancehall hip hop fun. (Festival Pier)

21 AN EVENING WITH WEEN

13 JIMMY BUFFETT & THE CORAL REEFER BAND / G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE The Atlantic City Beach series has a winner in the cool breezes and cold beverages of country. Boozy twang singer Buffet and dobro hip hop Philly boys G Love. (AC Beach)

14 X It’s foolish to say that this is a reunion of L.A.’s roots-punk’s greatest band because, with the exception of a brief fissure in the 90s and guitarist Billy Zoom’s recent illness (now back and better), Exene, John Doe and DJ Bonebrake have rarely been apart. Heck, Bonebrake is even playing drums for Doe’s current solo album tour that ceases when X start playing in August. (Underground Arts)

Like Guns N’ Roses, the weird hopes of New Hope—Dean and Gene Ween—said there’d be no playing together in this lifetime (OK, one of them said that). So here they are, live in the flesh, doing rhythmically askew, melodic pop songs about cheese, fishing and obsessive sex. (Festival Pier)

ing husband tours behind his new country pop escapade Ripcord. Worth the hype. (BB&T Pavilion)

26 JA RULE + ASHANTI He's gruff, she's sweet. He's sour, she's sultry. These 90s hip hop/R&B pop hit makers come together for the first time in decades. (Electric Factory)

27 RAFIYA She lived in Congo, Benin, Senegal, Guinea, Barbados and Ivory Coast. Her experiences across the

21 DRAKE: SUMMER SIXTEEN TOUR W/FUTURE The summer’s reigning album charts champ with Views does the mellow jittery hip hop thing gor-

19 BLACK SABBATH Ozzy Osbourne promises that this go-round with his longtime mates in Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, is their big finale; shame, as talks it, and crafts balls-to-the-wall metallic punk.

She must; there’s a still-untitled documentary coming that’s alllllll about that. (Union Transfer)

21 VALLEY VIVALDI, CONCERT IV Delightful summer concert of intimate chamber music performed by Sinfonia principal instrumentalists. (Wesley Church, Bethlehem)

9 KINDRED & THE FAMILY SOUL The neo-soul ensemble’s name goes far beyond the pairing of marrieds Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon, a team that extends to the duo’s six children, all of whom appear in still-running Walmart commercials.

Their anthemic, jazzy hits such as “Far Away,” “Stars,” and “House of Love,” are touched by romance, honesty, and kindness, as is their most recent album, A Couple Friends. (World Café Live)

10 RAEKWON & GHOSTFACE KILLAH Two of the lords of the Wu-Tang Clan refuse to wait around while its main man and producer RZA makes solo records and directs films. (TLA)

11 THE GO-GO’S FAREWELL TOUR This is a weird finale for the Los Angelino earlypunk-gone-pop outfit as, well, it’s not as if they’ve been around much at all since the 1980s. (Fillmore)

geously, with or without his equally sonorous rapping cohort, Future. (Wells Fargo Center)

25 AL DI MEOLA Di Meola calls this his Elegant Gypsy meets Romantic Warrior: Electric Tour and if anybody’s got that right, it is the Spanish-guitar jamming gui-

globe have become the underlying “heartbeat” that is her music. (SteelStacks, Bethlehem)

31 FLUME W/BASENJI & KENTON SLASH DEMON Young, mellow nu-disco Australian electro pop sensation Flume (mom calls him Harley Streten) finally released his debut album, Skin. (Electric Factory)

31 CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM Two of modern psychedelic and prog pop's best known entities gather for a mirthful new album,

the last tour and album (13) was nearly as powerful as the material of old. Maybe, they’re lying like Ween. (See 8/21) (BB&T Pavilion)

20 PROPHETS OF RAGE - MAKE AMERICA RAGE AGAIN TOUR WITH AWOLNATION Superstar anarchist ensemble Prophets of Rage doesn’t have new songs to consider, but with members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill led by wordsmith Chuck D, protest music never sounded angrier. (BB&T Pavilion)

tarist best known for his work as one-quarter of Chick Corea’s fusion jazz classic, Return to Forever.

(Keswick Theatre)

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Monolith of Phobos, wherein the pair's exaggerated eccentricities cancel each other out. (Fillmore) n

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FILM CINEMATTERS

Norman Lear, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner

REVIEW BY PETE CROATTO

I

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

I AM RELUCTANT TO call Norman Lear young at heart, an expression that always summons the bright colors and phony smiles of attractive seniors in pharmaceutical commercials. But it fits. When the 93-year-old is ushered in for his first interview, he’s singing a chipper version of “My Blue Heaven.” His face looks like a light bulb before it hits full warmth.

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, which profiles the man behind TV series such as All in the Family, Maude, and The Jeffersons, serves as an instruction manual for life without causing resentment.

Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady cover some of Lear’s TV legacy—during the zenith of his success, six of the top ten shows on television were his—but you can read about that on the Internet. The directors devote more time to exploring the mind-set of a man who touched generations. “Come on, you raised me,” Jon Stewart tells Lear before the latter’s appearance on The Daily Show. Lena Dunham, practically a zygote, gushes when she meets Lear.

The film’s best moments capture Lear with his guard down: playing charades with his family, kibitzing (and singing) with friends Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner; tearing up seeing his creation Archie Bunker talk lovingly about his relationship with his father. Lear was a child when his was arrested, and his mother shipped him off to uncles before his grandparents claimed him. The goal, Lear says, was to be a good provider and he kept at it— from taking photos at Coney Island to after he revolutionized a medium.

Life has been “wondrous,” though Lear had every reason to curdle. We all do. Life is

hard. As you get older, the incentives to curl up increase. But if you keep learning—Lear started therapy in his eighties—the horizon expands. Age is not a death sentence—or a reason to lower the bar. “I’m sometimes applauded for walking across the room,” says Lear. Translation: I’m not done yet.

As Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, says, Lear is the youngest person he knows. He is so engaging that you forgive the film’s incompleteness.

I’m not sure if Ewing and Grady avoided material in Lear’s memoir—which I have not read—but some narrative threads are left dangling: the fate of his first wife, Frances; his patriotism (the measured ideal, not the Donald Trump standard); his lack of success when he returned to television after his self-imposed hiatus. And the constant presence of a kid Lear—a too on-the-nose reference to the subject’s child-like way of viewing the world—is a stylistic flourish that reminded me of the overheated theater scenes in Salinger, which is not a movie worth emulating, even accidentally. With Lear as the subject, and being so willing to catalog 93 years of emotions, the film stays true even as it threatens to descend into integrity-induced glossiness. He talks about everything: fighting in World War II and not caring about the damage he inflicted; his horror over hearing Father Coughlin denigrating the Jews; learning that only he is responsible for his happiness.

A tenet of journalism is to let your subjects talk. Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You lets the man do plenty of that. Near the end, a glorious thought occurred to me: “What’s next for Norman Lear?” We’re still vital. We still count. Go be the best version of you. [NR] n

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interview GEOFF GEHMAN

Embedded in the

WORM’S WORLD

Acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney investigates a computer virus developed for cyber warfare

ALEX GIBNEY’S FILM PHILOSOPHY fits on a bumper sticker: Rudder Against Authority. In his documentaries he’s ruddered against corrupt Enron executives and CIA torturers, a cheating champion cyclist (Lance Armstrong) and the nefarious subjects of a radical journalist (Hunter S. Thompson). Catching Hell, which he directed for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, is a forensically fair analysis of a Chicago Cubs fan vilified for interfering with a foul ball in a pivotal playoff game, the baseball equivalent of Abraham Zapruder’s endlessly dissected silent horror movie of JFK’s murder Zero Days, Gibney’s latest documentary, involves a quest to break the code of silence cloaking a self-operating computer virus that disabled an Iranian nuclear reactor at peak productivity. Stonewalled by intelligence directors around the world, Gibney finds a deep-throated muse in a National Security Agency official who confirms the common secret that the U.S. and Israel developed Stuxnet for Operation Olympic Games, the first known case of offensive cyber warfare. Guided by journalists and security-response detectives, Gibney examines a digital device that could cripple everything from transportation systems to water-treatment plants, a real virtual weapon that could have been dreamed up by a James Bond villain.

Zero Days is one of nine 2016-2017 projects planned

by Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, named for the 62-yearold Manhattan native’s mission to solve complex human puzzles. Menu items range from a portrait of Lord Buckley, the fabled jazz hipster, to a mini-series on cooking as an elemental ritual. Below, in a conversation from a California hotel, Gibney discusses his admiration for curious characters outside his comfort zone, including Stuxnet, and his late father Frank Gibney, a prominent journalist who ruddered against authority on three continents.

ter evolved out of our need for visual storytelling and our protection.

“Stuxnet is a brilliant piece of malware. It’s extraordinary that it thinks on its own when it attacks, that it’s capable of sending false messages to the people in charge of it. The problem becomes in terms of its usage, in the precedents set, in the unintended consequences.”

Zero Days is sort of a real-life equivalent of novels by the likes of Michael Crichton, John le Carre and even Stephen King. Did you have a fictional model for its style and attack?

We actually had a clip of Dr. Strangelove for a while.

We took it out because it didn’t seem to make sense as the style and context evolved. At the beginning we decided the [Stuxnet] code had to be a character. The charac18 n I C O N n a u g u s t 2 0 1 6 n W W W . I C O N D V . C O M n W W W . f a C e b O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

Every documentary film-—every creative project, for that matter—has a defining time when blurry matters suddenly snap into focus, allowing the creators to shift into high gear. Was the defining time for Zero Days when you convinced that NSA insider to become your Stuxnet deep throat?

The NSA turning point came rather late in the game.

After we secured the cooperation of NSA people, we needed to learn a lot more to have a better conversation with those folks who are really knowledgeable about Stuxnet. That’s when we knew we could really put some hop on the ball. Once I did the long interview with [Symantec security-response technologists] Eric [Chien] and Liam [O’Murchu], it became a detective movie. I knew we had our thriller once they became our citizen detectives.

What did you do to convince your NSA sources to confirm that the U.S. had indeed developed and used Stuxnet?

A: Part of it was the research we had done. That made [NSA insiders] interested in the idea that we could get the story right; they had a lot of interest that the story was told properly. Another motivation is that there are a lot of people inside the NSA who are really pissed off at the way that everything is overclassified, the type of over-secrecy.

Who did you need to get on the record but couldn’t?

I tried to interview [NSA Director] Keith Alexander.

And I really wanted to interview one of the key people in the Iranian nuclear program who survived an assassination attempt. On the other hand, we went all over the world to get footage of the Iranian nuclear reactor that was really hard to obtain.

What do you think of Stuxnet? Do you have a grudging admiration for the sheer deviousness of malware that can wait 13 days to disable centrifuges at their peak of productivity?

My admiration is not grudging: Stuxnet is a brilliant

piece of malware. It’s extraordinary that it thinks on its own when it attacks, that it’s capable of sending false messages to the people in charge of it. The problem becomes in terms of its usage, in the precedents set, in the unintended consequences. It makes me think of what [nuclear physicist] Enrico Fermi said about the atomic bomb: “It’s perfect physics.”

Yes, it’s perfect, but it also contains a lot of destructive power. And then you get into the territory of law and security and morality. A lot of people don’t share my point of view—[former NSA Director] Michael Hayden, for example.

That curiosity definitely burns the lens in Catching Hell, your documentary about the brouhaha over Steve Bartman, the Cubs fan cursed by Cubs fans for tampering with a foul ball in a 2003 playoff game, thereby prolonging the team’s epic World Series drought. Hell, I never knew baseball could be so forensic.

We broke down [Bartman’s catch] beat by beat by beat by seat by seat by seat. [Catching Hell] was like the Zapruder film of baseball.

You’re also venturing out of your comfort zone into your curiosity zone in the Cooked mini-series that you’re creating with journalist/activist Michael Pollan, a leading guru of sustainable food.

I was fascinated by Michael’s idea that we’re the animal who cooks, and that we can take more control over our diet and take back the control of corporations that seem to want to cook for us. It’s very different territory for me, again. As my wife will tell you, my abilities as a cook are severely limited.

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

I’m always fascinated by mentors and their proteges. What tips did you pick up from your father, Frank, who was an authority on political affairs in America, the Soviet Union and the Pacific Theater?

He inspires me by his example. He maintained to the very end of his life an incredible curiosity about the world; he continued to stretch the boundaries of his knowledge with his inexorable curiosity. That curiosity has rubbed off on me.

Sometimes I think I have the curiosity of Tom Swift [hero of scores of sci-fi novels aimed at young males].

You’re the busiest documentarian around, with nearly 60 projects on your burners over nearly 30 years. Ah, but what are your hobbies; what do you do for fun?

Tennis and puzzles. I recently discovered these great wood puzzles that are really fun to put together and really relaxing. And I go to the movies.

Can you envision turning your hobbies into documentaries?

Some of the top players on the tennis tour are worth exploring in a film. [John] McEnroe [retired star/star analyst] has always been intriguing; I just need to find the right angle.

Can you imagine NSA leaders turning their job into a hobby by watching Zero Days over pizza and beer?

I’m sure they will. Although they will probably watch it in a “skiff ” [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility].

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it; otherwise, they’d be sworn to secrecy. n Geoff Gehman is the author of the worm-free memoir “The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the Long-Lost Hamptons” (SUNY Press). Zero Days is available through iTunes, Amazon Video and On Demand.

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interview A. D. AMOROSI

STEVEN TYLER TALKS GOBBLEDYGOOK

TYLER’S BRAND OF JIVING, jovial, run-on-sentences, messy linguistic twists, incomplete thoughts and sexed-up, psychobabble have been his braggadocio-laced, silly, slimy, stock in trade since the earliest days of his tangy, Boston-based, rock n’ roll band Aerosmith. To go with that caffeinated, chatterboxing, there’s been a voice—a howl, a scream—that’s radiated all that Tyler is thinking, and rolled into a primal vocal heave—one of pre-punk’s gutsiest tones. Combine that with the stoicism of chunky funky lead guitarist Joe Perry and their longtime pals/Beantown brothers-in-arms, and you have a sleazy metallic sound that has stayed Tyler’s course

Fantastic.

That’s his thing.

with enthusiasm as he had just finished the record and sent its masters to Big Machine (the 21st Century country label to Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts) the night before this interview. “So we’re good to go. We’re launched. It’s like summertime here in Nashville and it’s just perfect launch-thealbum weather.”

Tyler is good like that—always the huckster, always up-selling. He is absolutely giddy and anxious to see the looks on old school Aerosmith fans’ faces when he and his large-scale, huckle-bucking ensemble kicks into the new Nashville-ian take on his usual band’s classic hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” let alone the

“BRAD WHITFORD WROTE…’LAST CHILD’—WHATEVER HE PUT INTO [IT] THAT’S HIS MOMENT. HE CAN TAKE THAT AND THAT’S HIS FOREVER. ‘DREAM ON,’ THOUGH, IS MINE FOREVER… I TRUSTED MY INTUITION THAT WHEN IT GOES, [SINGS …DREAM ON], WHEN THAT PART CAME AND I WENT, OH SHIT, I CAN’T DO THAT ON A RECORD. IT SOUNDS SO STUPID AND GOOFY. BUT I TOOK A CHANCE AND JUST DID IT.” well since 1970, one whose only (major) change came with the inclusion of slicker producers and pop hit-oriented co-songwriters on platinum-plus albums such as Permanent Vacation and Pump.

For a guy known for being a horn dog, 46 years with the same group of musicians making (basically) the same sound that it started with must be more monotonous than it is a swell show of monogamy.

Hence, We’re All Somebody from Somewhere and “Out on a Limb”—Tyler’s first ever solo album and solo tour complete with a brave new sound, that of Nashville country, where Tyler now lives—since his music career’s start, and one that brings him to Philadelphia on September 7 at the Tower Theatre.

“Just for the record, Aerosmith always had a little country in them,” starts Tyler, as he begins to sing the earliest part of “Cryin’” the Boston band’s hillbilly-ish 1993 single: There was a time/When I was brokenhearted/Love wasn’t much of a friend of mine The inflection of “Cryin’” certainly has an undeniable twang to it, and the one-time American Idol judge and current Skittles pitchman is off to the races. “But this solo album is my trip, the thing I’m doing now,” he says, nearly tripping over his tongue

newer solo songs. “This ‘Janie’s’ a little bit darker than the other version but it’s countrified,” he says, acknowledging new songs such as “Only Heaven” and “We’re All Somebody from Somewhere” that should have the same effect on its audience. “Look, I didn’t know what was going to happen when Aerosmith first made it. But I did notice the looks on people’s faces when they kind of liked it. And I’m just looking forward to that again…I managed to put together 15, 16 songs that are…it just came out much better than I ever expected. “ Tyler compares that musical-mining, alchemical process to panning for gold. “After you get little particles and then after a year you put it all together and you got a big bowl of it. It just feels like that right now. And the music is good and it’s—I mean, the vibe here in Nashville is ridiculous.”

Tyler does one turnaround and mentions that he’s equally and deeply into seeing his usual fleet of faces—Aerosmith fans—as he’ll be touring South America with that crew in October, and November.

“I love Aerosmith, but this [his solo thing] is a real hoot. I’ve never done a solo anything and I kind of got jealous that the other guys in the band did.”

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Mainly that means Joe Perry, the metal-god guitarist who has had several solo Project albums and, is currently jamming with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp in the Hollywood Vampires. After this interview, Tyler said that Aerosmith would probably quit after its 2017 world tour. Perry, as usual, says that that is not the case. In a world gone mad, it is great and safe knowing that the Tyler-Perry union is as happily cranky as ever. That’s their thing.

When I ask about his moments of truth as a songwriter, both with his old band and his solo schtick, he asks if I’m taping this and begins a happy rant. “Well, I think with Aerosmith, Joe Perry, wrote all these great licks; Brad Whitford wrote “…take me back to a south Tallahassee” and “…Home sweet home.” “Last Child”—whatever he put into “Last Child,” that’s his moment. He can take that and that’s his forever. “Dream On,” though, is mine forever… I trusted my intuition that when it goes, [sings … dream on], when that part came and I went, oh shit, I can’t do that on a record. It sounds so stupid and goofy. But I took a chance and just did it.”

Writing a solo record and going off with other people Tyler didn’t know, “…go to their house, drink coffee, bullshit for two hours and then get down to the nitty gritty,” was a bit different, coming up with “new melodies and new things.” Tyler goes on to say that the ladybugs in Nashville would come out “flying all around us” and we needed this one line, “It’s like trying to squeeze a drop of rain out of the sun”; it’s moments like that, when you finish a lyric. ‘I’m My Own Worst Enemy,’ for instance, that are just fantastic. And when it’s pieced together in a tapestry—in a quilt of a song, of a beginning, a middle—you repeat the beginning at the end with a recapitulation and you fine tune the melody line.”

Tyler is generous though, discussing the beauty of collaboration versus the sweet solitude of writing alone, “Whether in Nashville or in Boston, nothing is really a solo anything,” he says. “Steven Tyler out on a limb, sure, but I’m really nothing without that band and I’m nothing without Aerosmith and I’m nothing without my sobriety and I’m nothing without a lot of things. So this whole damn thing is a ‘we’ thing. But I love your question, those moments, man, when they hit, they hit hard.” n

“Whether in Nashville or in Boston, nothing is really a solo anything,” he says. “Steven Tyler out on a limb, sure, but I’m really nothing without that band and I’m nothing without Aerosmith and I’m nothing without my sobriety and I’m nothing without a lot of things.”

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FILM KERESMAN ON FILM REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN

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Life, Animated

PREPARE TO BE UPLIFTED. Yes, I actually wrote that. But Life, Animated is not a feel good-type movie like The Blind Side or Patch Adams. It’s a documentary, albeit one with some artistic stretches (depending on one’s perspective), about how a lad to a major degree overcame autism to become a mostly independent adult. There are no miracles, yet some miraculous things happen; it doesn’t have a “happy ending” but the ending will likely make even the most hard-hearted of us get the warm n’ fuzzies.

At age three, Owen Suskind’s growth takes a harsh turn—his speech becomes unintelligible and his motor skills aren’t what they should be. A specialist tells his parents Owen is autistic—and his parents wonder if they are ever going to “get their son back.”

Yet at some point, Owen verbally connects with his father by way of dialogue he memorizes from watching animated Disney films—The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Bambi, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and so on. The language of Disney becomes the common language by which Owen’s family and teachers can communicate with each other. (As luck would have it, Owen’s older brother is named Walter—or Walt, for short. Walt, as in Walt Disney. Yup.) Life, Animated is a documentary with a twist—while there are many clips from Disney classics, there are animated segments that are dark hued, as if to provide stark contrast to the colorful Disney. The animations reflect or parallel Owen’s fantasies and struggles—and just as nearly everyone’s fantasies, they’re based upon/spun-off of reality. Unlike some documentaries, this film doesn’t offer-up Owen’s life to viewers’ scruti-

ny, but in large part we get to see chunks of his day-to-day life from his point of view: a job interview; baking cookies with his girlfriend; leading a film club of autistic peers; and his deep, agonizing frustration when his girlfriend breaks up with him. Some docs are outsiders looking in, and there’s nothing wrong with that—but this one takes us inside, looking out.

The movie alternates between Owen’s obstacles and successes, and his mother, father, and brother’s reflections on them. It uses clips from Disney movies to illustrate the dangers, life-lessons, romances, and dramas of life—at least as far as Owen can see and apply them to his life. While the movie naturally tugs at the heartstrings—it presents an unflinching look at how autism affects this family—it’s never obvious about it.

Director Roger Ross Williams doesn’t linger on any one moment (whether a success or a setback) too long, almost as if he’s determined not to impose emotionally impactful moments or wring them for all they’re worth. While there were times this writer felt for Owen, at no point did I feel pity for him—in fact, Life, Animated presents something rare, not just in film but in this crazy world: empathy.

The pacing is a bit slow in spots, but that’s not a deal-breaker. The ending is somewhat open-ended, and for this subject, that’s the way it should be. The film’s original animation is darkly beautiful in an Edward Gorey fashion, worthy of Tim Burton. Life, Animated is a film about film, and how it can build true bridges between people in even the most unlikely circumstances. n

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RIVERFEST

September 4, 12–6PM Frenchtown, NJ celebrates life along the river. Paper boat races, wildlife show, environmental exhibits, more. Shops will have entertainment & sales. Live music. BBQ.

Visit Frenchtownnj.org.

DON’T MISS IT

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bad movie REVIEW BY MARK KERESMAN

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Triple 9

NE MIGHT THINK A movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Gal Godot, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, and Kate Winslet would be good, right? But in this case one would be wrong. Triple 9 is a perfect example of a movie with a good cast and mostly good direction that was sunk by a crappy script, and the product is a third-rate knock-off of Heat. Heat.

Triple 9 begins as a heist film (one of my favorite genres), but the twist is the thieves are (mostly) police officers. This gives them an edge as they know all about police procedures. The score: A safety deposit box inside a bank—which goes thrillingly well. The plot thickens: All of the crew aren’t doing this purely for profit motive—one of their children is in the clutches of the Russian mob, here helmed by Irina (Kate Winslet). (It doesn’t really matter which one, as no one is really given any personality to speak of—virtually everyone is a cypher or stereotype.) Then to the characters’ surprise (but likely to no one in the audience) the Russians pull a fast one—this lot have, ahem, just one more job to do. They have to rob a Homeland Security building—something inside (the MacGuffin—a plot device, in other words) can be used as a bargaining chip to secure the release of a Russian mob boss from prison (presumably in Russia). This mob boss is the cherished love of Irina, local mob mistress. The title is police lingo for an officer killed in the line of duty—the dirty ones will kill a police officer and while the police hunt for the killer, they can have more “room” to pull off their big and difficult score.

Most of the actors give good performances, despite they aren’t really given much to work with. Characters are presented, but the connections between them are muddy

and under-developed and, except for the guy whose son is kidnapped, no motivations are even hinted at. Virtually no one in this movie is remotely likeable in any way— which isn’t a problem if they’re presented in a manner that renders them interesting.

The people populating Goodfellas and Glengarry Glen Ross are unpleasant…but they are fascinating. No one here is remotely interesting. Nearly everyone is macho, surly, unshaven, and obsessed with the f-word—with the possible exception of Woody Harrelson’s droll, somewhat honest but hooked-on-illegal-drugs cop. It’s difficult to care what happens to any of these characters. Speaking of muddy, this is another one of those sepia-toned, under-lit movies where you can barely see what’s going on, which is exacerbated by jiggly camera work.

The dialogue is awful, bogged down in cop-movie clichés. One young cop says to another, “I want to make a difference,” to which a seasoned cop replies, “Haw! You’re not going to make a difference! Just come home from your shift alive!” One cop-thief says to another, “You’d better get your shit together!” Harrelson in squad room: “Anyone get the feeling something BIG is gonna go down?” The dialogue in TV’s Starsky & Hutch was better. Winslet plays Irina as cold and calculating (surprise) with a Boris and Natasha Russian accent that comes and goes.

Worst of all, Triple 9 is extremely tedious. There are lots of violent shoot-outs in the movie, but most of them have little or nothing to do with the main plot. All the carnage (and there’s much) begins to feel like padding within a movie that has underwritten characters, and over-cooked, vague sub-plots. Simply put, these three 9’s don’t add up to anything worthwhile, unless you enjoy cardboard characters getting shot at or blown up. n

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ICEPACK A.D. AMOROSI ON THE NEWS, NIGHTLIFE AND BITCHINESS BEATS

Plain and simple, Philly doesn’t get the wealth of film and television location shoots it once did—and not so long ago, too. The run of famed cinema classics from Rocky to Creed, from The Sixth Sense to whatever became of M. Shyamalan’s career, hosting the likes of Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Bruce Willis; for now, that’s shot. Pennsylvania’s taxcredit program, which commenced in 2007, has remained at $60 million—zip in comparison with other states who have upped-the-ante (and monies) on tax credits for filmmakers looking to save money on location shoots for already pricey productions. Film companies and producers rely on tax credits to reduce their state income tax budget as well. To stay competitive, Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the five-county Greater Philadelphia Film Office, has stated more than once that $60 million won’t cut it, that it needs to be, at the very least, $100 million. Yet recently-implanted Pennsylvania Governor Wolf won’t pass his state’s budget, let alone make additions to the film incentive pot and Philly and Pittsburgh (primarily) keep losing new films and television programs such as an upcoming Josh Brolin—which, quite frankly, who cares; he’s so much less appealing after dumping Diane Lane.

There is some hope though. A recent shoot with FX Television’s locally-grown Rob McElhenney and his always ardent It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crew (Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson) always like to run through town with the cast and gather handfuls of location shots—last time the Italian Market, this season Old City. And on August 12, Sony Pictures will release Haverford, PA native actress/producer Sarah Megan Thomas’s newest film, Equity—her first was 2012’s Backwards—shot in and around Philadelphia throughout the summer of 2015 and crafted with director Meera Menon and actress/fellow producer Alysia Reiner. In the film, which premiered in July at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center, Philly is meant to stand in for Manhattan’s Wall Street with its lead actresses doing the corporate ladder investment banker, controversial tech IPO shuffle. Let’s have more of these, please.

On the independent Philly-filmed, locally-lensed tip, an intimate group of South Philadelphia-raised actors, writers and producers have started shooting a family comedy, Turkey’s Done, and have brought in Saturday Night Live alum and former Philadelphian Cheri Oteri as its star.

While Philly’s film world is a bit slow at the moment, its publishing world is heating up. Pennsauken Township, NJ’s Donnelly Distribution just purchased Broad Street Media, publisher of Philadelphia Weekly, South Philly Review and the Northeast Times (along with additional magazines) with an idea to expand their coverage of news, especially where the Weekly is concerned. To do all this, Broad Street Media has brought in Don Russell, a one-time Philadelphia Daily News reporter and beer columnist, beloved under the nom de plume Joe Sixpack.

Having long extolled the virtues of Mach 22, soul-metal crooner Lamont Caldwell’s dirtrocking ensemble with a family heritage including the sons of Cinderella, the quartet is finally getting some long overdue respect AND some necessary work to do. Out of the blue, the metal band got a call from Live Nation to open for Guns N’ Roses for that ‘90s troop’s Citizen Bank Park’s sold out show in the sweltering sun of July. Now, juiced up by that summer’s opportunity, the still-young band is in the studio, writing and recording its sophomore album, which hopefully will be finished before the end of 2016. n W W W . F A 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 A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 25

FILM roundup CURRENT FILMS REVIEWED BY KEITH UHLICH

Little Men

Café Society (Dir. Woody Allen). Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell. This year’s Woody Allen joint is a pleasurable and diverting 1930s-set story about a Bronx native, Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), who heads west to Hollywood to take a job with his agent-to-the-stars uncle, Phil (Steve Carell). While there, Bobby falls in love with Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), Phil’s secretary and lover. Complications, of course, ensue. Jokes about period-specific stars like Adolphe Menjou and Barbara Stanwyck abound, as do several pitch-black ruminations on religion, fate and Jewish identity—most of them delivered, hilariously, by Jeannie Berlin as Bobby’s morbid mother. Appealing as Eisenberg and Stewart are, their courtship feels half-sketched and pro forma—in other words, par for the course with lateWoody projects. However, Allen does seem energized working with the great cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who gives the digitally captured imagery a distinctively saturated and glowing sheen.

[PG-13] HHH1/2

Equity (Dir. Meera Menon). Starring: Anna Gunn, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner.

Wall Street culture (and the movies made about it) tends to be bro-centric, so it’s nice to see the ladies get a chance to shine in this sleek financial industry thriller directed by Meera Menon and scripted by Amy Fox. Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn stars as Naomi Bishop, a thick-skinned investment banker navigating an inherently sexist milieu while overseeing several careermaking, or -breaking, transactions. Her latest deal earns the scrutiny of former friend turned government agent Samantha (Alysia Reiner), and the ladder-climbing machinations of company underling Erin (Sarah Megan Thomas). It’s fun watching these she-wolves of Wall Street undermine each other, and all of the actresses work hard to raise their characters above catty, careerist stereotypes. But the film’s ultimate observations about the soulessness of American capitalism, and the gender disparity fostered within it, are rather rote.

These performers, and their efforts, deserve a stronger vehicle. [R] HHH

Kate Plays Christine (Dir. Robert Greene). Documentary. The latest film from writer-director Robert Greene is classified as a documentary, though like his prior effort, 2014’s Actress, it’s actually a canny and provocative blend of fictional and non-fictional elements. Kate Lyn Sheil stars as a version of herself—a performer researching Sarasota, FL reporter Christine Chubbuck, who shot herself on-air in 1974, and who Sheil is preparing to play. Greene interweaves scenes from this prospective biopic and interviews with the “actors,” like Christine’s oblivious mother or her gruff station manager. And he follows Sheil around as she delves into the legends that have sprung up around Chubbuck’s suicide. (A lengthy interlude in a gun shop is especially potent thematically.) But the fourth-wall-breaking finale, in which Sheil reluctantly re-enacts Chubbuck’s suicide, cheapens most of what comes before. It belongs in one of Michael Haneke’s condescending j’accuse’s, not in a movie that is otherwise as multilayered and stimulating as this. [N/R] HH1/2

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Little Men (Dir. Ira Sachs). Starring: Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri, Greg Kinnear. Though it doesn’t quite attain the emotional heights of his wonderful Love Is Strange (2014), co-writer-director Ira Sachs’s Little Men is still a gently devastating piece of work. His film is basically a subtle love story between two adolescent New York boys—brash Tony (Michael Barbieri) and introverted Jake (Theo Taplitz)—who make a pact to stop speaking after their parents get into a real-estate dispute. A simple premise, within which Sachs and his screenplay collaborator, Mauricio Zacharias, explore how teenagers discover their sense of self (and each other) and grapple with a sexuality that they often lack the words—or maturity—to adequately define. Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz are superb as the two adolescent boys, and they’re more-than-ably supported by an adult cast that includes Greg Kinnear as Jake’s failed-actor father and Paulina Garcia as Tony’s defiant mother. [PG] HHHH n

MUSIC JAZZ LIBRARY

BY BOB PERKINS

THE HIT-MAKERS Composers & Arrangers

I SUPPOSE THAT FAVORITES come about by way of consistency. If someone, or something repeatedly strikes your fancy, you may take a liking to them or it. I not only love jazz and standard popular music, but for the major

Bobby Darin, Billy May and Johnny Mercer.

part of my fifty-one years in radio I’ve had the privilege of hosting programs in which such music is played. From time to time I try to remember to mention the names of those who compose and arrange the two genres of music I play. If not for the arrangers—who can give listeners countless variations on the same theme—even the greatest of compositions would struggle to become standards.

Well before I got into radio I was a Stan Kenton fan. I thought his music was adventurous and challenging to my ears. Much of Kenton’s music—even many of the ballad selections sung by June Christy—were actually the work of his chief arranger, Pete Rugollo. After spending a few years in the 1950s with Kenton, Rugollo moved on to become music director at Capitol and Mercury records. His sound became more commercial as he supported a number of top-notch vocalists who were also associated with the label.

When Quincy Jones led a jazz orchestra and was composing and arranging for his own band and others, all he had to do was let it be known through the grapevine that he was about to go into the studio to record and was looking for sidemen. Upon getting the word, sidemen would

beat a path to his door. Quincy later became a revered arranger and producer of lighter, more popular forms of music, and became a wealthy man because of the switch.

Marty Paich had much to do with the early success of Mel Torme and a host of other singers in the 1950s and ‘60s, when vocalists held sway in the standard-pop culture.

If you could sing fairly well, by the time Paich called in a number of well-known instrumentalists, and built orchestration around you, you sounded great!

Billy May (1916–2002), whose versatility and consistency I’ve long admired, also had the magic touch whether arranging for instrumentalists or vocalists. He was first of all a fine trumpet player, and got off on the right foot as an arranger with Charlie Barnet’s band in the late 1930s, when he reworked Ray Noble’s gem, “Cherokee.” May would take a great composition and with his arrangement, make it a standard more quickly than it might have been if he’d not refashioned it. He later arranged for the Glenn Miller band, and was staff arranger for NBC and Capitol Records where he conducted for some of their top vocalists, while also leading his own studio band.

I began to notice May’s work when he arranged for Nancy Wilson—and especially on the album Lush Life. He also arranged albums for Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Darrin, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. He really came to international attention when he arranged for and backed Frank Sinatra on the landmark album, Come Fly With Me. May and Sinatra also blended talents on the Grammy Awardwinning Come Dance With Me album, and later he and Sinatra recorded a couple of other albums with “Fly” titles.

Along with Milton Raskin, Billy May wrote the theme song for one of the early TV cop dramas, Naked City. He also penned the theme songs for TV’s Mod Squad, and Emergency. For films, he scored Johnny Cool, Tony Rome and Sergeants Three.

May was not a jazz musician, nor were his arrangements about modern jazz—but they were tasty and swung. He just seemed to be a cool guy. He did record an album on which he revealed he knew something about modern jazz arranging; it’s an album in which his band plays mostly jazz standards. The CD is called Billy May’s Big Fat Brass. Billy was a rotund fellow…and there’s no doubt, there’s a double-meaning in the title. n Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Mon-Thurs 6–9; Sun 9–1.

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Music KERESMAN ON DISC REVIEWED BY MARK KERESMAN

Kandace Springs HHH1/2 Soul Eyes Blue Note The lady’s from Nashville but don’t think “country” (not that there’s anything wrong with that)—Springs’ debut ablum somewhat evokes chanteuses of the 1970s

whose works drew upon jazz, R&B/soul, folk, and whatever: Roberta Flack, Phoebe Snow, Rickie Lee Jones, and Minnie Ripperton. Springs sings with a silky, sometimes husky alto voice with just a touch of girlish wonder to it that’s gradually being supplanted by the getting of wisdom, with an occasional gospel-y flourish. The production (by Larry Klein, who’s helmed platters by Joni Mitchell, Melody Gardot, and Steely Dan’s Walter Becker) is lean and jazz-flavored (with trumpeter Terrence Blanchard guesting twice) and Springs sings with a relaxed naturalness—at no point does she try to “dazzle” with vocal gymnastics or emotional histrionics. High points include a gospel-flavored version of War’s “The World is a Ghetto” and the dreamy, limpid, and aching “Fall Guy.” Soul Eyes has a comforting vibe, ideal after a rough day (or night). (11 songs, 43 min.) bluenote.com Ken Peplowski HHHHH Enrapture Capri It’s not often a semi-jaded critical-type gets to hear a near-perfect album. Not because it’s breaking new ground and scaling dizzying heights, but it’s got that little bit of something romantic types call “the magic.” Jazz tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski helms a quartet featuring protean drum ace Matt Wilson on ten well-chosen tunes from assorted sources and renders them in a manner that is eloquent, classy, soulful, and even a tad edgy. Show tunes and the American Songbook are represented by “I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” (Noel Coward) and “Cheer Up Charlie”; great jazz compositions “Willow Tree” (Fats Waller) and the

Monk-ish title tune (Herbie Nichols), and “Flaming Sword” (Duke Ellington), and the newer pop traditions by “O(h) My Love” (John Lennon). Peplowski plays with plenty of old-school charm (Scott Hamilton and big-toned, slightly breathy tenor legends Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, and Lucky Thompson) with contemporary vigor, and his clarinet is warm and so poignant it almost hurts to listen. Wilson may be the most exciting American jazz drummer on the scene today (let me have this hyperbole), playing with the flair of the best, most versatile drummers (think Shelly Manne, Billy Higgins) and the oomph of a great rocker (think Keith Moon, Charlie Watts). Pianist Ehud Asherle plays poetically and sparingly on par with George Cables and Hank Jones but even more influences from the prebop eras (namely swing & stride styles). Martin Wind plays a solid bass. Thank these fellows if/when you get the chance. (10 tracks, 54 min.) caprirecords.com Cannonball Adderley Quintet HHHHH Music, You All Real Gone Music The innovative glory years of fusion—before creativity was supplanted by excess and same-y-ness—were 19681975. The commingling of jazz, rock, and funk produced

lots of memorable music, but there were performers who took from it without ever wholly “going fusion.” Among them was Cannonball Adderley, that master of the bluesdrenched alto sax. You All, recorded live in 1971 and originally released in ’76, gets its CD issue here—and it’s quite a set. The Adderley sound—earthy, hard-swinging hard bop—is essentially intact but charged judiciously with aspects of fusion: George Duke’s funky, crackling electric piano, Roy McCurdy’s slamming, strutting drumming, Mike Deasy’s sizzling, sometimes psychedelic guitar, Ernie Watts’ robust tenor sax, and some hefty chunks of old-school funk. (Fyi: Duke and Watts worked extensively with Frank

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Zappa). Toss in a rough-hewn blues vocal by Nat Adderley, some searing Cannonball, some free flourishes, and plenty of invigorating joie de vive, and you have a winner that is very much of its time yet transcends it. (8 tracks, 50 min.) realgonemusic.com The Beau Brummels HHHHH Triangle / Bradley’s Barn Real Gone Music Unless you are devoted fan of 1960s rock, The Beau Brummels are today largely forgotten by the rock mainstream…which is a damn shame, as they released some music on a par with their contemporaries The Byrds, Beach Boys, and Beatles. Like Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, guitarist Ron Elliott crafted subtly and exquisitely lovely melodies and singer Sal Valentino had a distinctively plaintive and sometimes haunting voice. Triangle, released in 1967, featured some assistance from Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks, makes a nice companion piece to Pet Sounds and the melancholy baroque pop of The Left Banke. Bradley’s Barn, from ’68, was recorded in Nashville and an early attempt to bridge intricate rock melodicism with soft country twang (no big deal today, but revolutionary then). What Wilco, Steve Earle, The Decemberists, and Belle & Sebastian have done lately, the BBs did back then—listen. (22 songs, 61 min.) realgonemusic.com Rob Ickes/Trey Hensley HHHH1/2 The Country Blues Compass The title of this set is bit misleading—it is not, in fact, an album of country blues, that subgenre of blues that is acoustic and of rural origins (examples: Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee, Rev. Gary Davis). This is a slab of traditional country music, but the accent is (in vary degrees) on the ways blues has impacted country music—listen to the gospel-tinged “May You Never Be Alone,” originally by Hank Williams Sr. There are a couple of rockin’ blues tunes that get the country treatment, such as Sonny Boy Williamson’s “One Way Out” (made famous by The Allman Brothers) and Ray Charles’ “Leave My Woman Alone,” the latter adding a bit of bluegrass for spice. There are wonderful adaptations of songs by iconic rockers Elton John (“Ballad of a Well-Known Gun”) and The Grateful Dead (“Friend of the Devil”). There are (terse) hot licks aplenty, enough to tantalize roots music fans of all stripes, and the vocalizing exudes that undiluted country-hick howl/yowl. Dig also “Biscuits and Gravy,” charged up with a bit of Western swing. Fans of the Dead, Alison Krauss, Yonder Mountain String Band, Donna the Buffalo, Asleep at the Wheel, Dwight Yoakam, and, of course, The Band: Belly up to the bar, y’all, and load up on this platter. (11 songs, 50 min.) compassrecords.com n

t

Music POP MUSIC A. D. AMOROSI

Songs of Protest 2016 or War, what is it good for…uhhh…say it again THE OTHER NIGHT I was watching a craggy Bob Dylan wearing a cowboy outfit racing through a melodically unrecognizable, but still stinging version of 1963’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”—the quintessential protest song. As he quietly spat How many times must the cannonballs fly/Before they’re forever banned? and the currently pertinent How many deaths will it take ‘till he knows/that too many people have died?, I thought about the things troubling us now. There is the fear, loathing and distrust of Lady Clinton and The Donald, as well as the unnecessary slaughter of innocent black men and police officers, to say nothing of how children and homeless are mishandled; weighty stuff for sure, especially at a time when most listeners have the (aesthetic) attention span of a fingernail.

There are, however, artists who insist on commanding your attention, making their disgust known and their music matter. Here then are my favorites of the modern protest age.

Miquel—”How Many” One of R&B’s creamiest sensations has always seemed to have something on his mind beyond sex and clothes as

Lauryn Hill—“Black Rage” You’ll have to search YouTube to find this thorny track because the one-time Fugee does this at her live concerts.

tate mogul once sued for violating the Fair Housing Act. The trio quickly and hilariously updated the frank folkie, updated its hate, and came up with a new rager whose sentiments—I suppose Old Man Trump knows/Just how much/Racial Hate/He stirred up in the blood pot of human hearts—leave little question about who the threesome won’t vote for in November.

Marvin Gaye—“What’s Going On” Re-released this month in two packages to celebrate its 45th anniversary, any way that you can get modern pop’s first true protest song is worth the trip: a “What’s Going On” 10-inch vinyl EP with the original single and a new duet featuring BJ The Chicago Kid, as well as a sevenLP box set, 1971-1981 (with the equally politicized Trouble

It’s worth the Googling, as the haltingly melodic vocalist uses the sing-songy tune of “My Favorite Things” to intone, Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens/Black human packages tied up in strings/Black rage can come from all these kings of things. Harsh stuff.

Ryan Harvey, Ani Difranco, Tom Morello “Old Man Trump” The prickly guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and two post-modernist folkies discovered a previously unrecorded Woody Guthrie song—“Old Man Trump”—that the late legend meant for Donald’s father Fred, a real esMan LP). What’s Going On—the album—found the smash-selling Gaye railing against Motown’s wishes and moving from being a smooth singing, suit-wearing lover man to a jeans-and-beard donning, socially conscious writer and singer at war with war, the trashing of the ecology, and angry at the state of love that found men hurting women and brother killing brother. As it was in 1971, What’s Going On is dreamily soulful and deeply prosaic.

his lyrics have an often troubled, existential feel to them— as if he’s ready to break down for no known reason. On the raw, emotional “How Many,” however—a quick, starkly soulful track recorded just days after the shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile—the singer-writer makes his feelings clear when he croons, I’m tired of human lives turned into hashtags and prayer hands/I’m tired of watching murderers get off.

Ani Difranco

Victoria Monet and Ariana Grande—“Better Days” It’s surprising that flaccid, glossy pop goddess Grande would get into the angry protest mix. Yet her ragged sadness about the state of American affairs—vague as it is—is potent and effective, especially when they sing, Baby there’s a war right outside our window/Don’t you hear the people fighting for their lives? n W W W . F A 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 A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 n I C O N n 29

Music TRADITIONAL JAZZ REVIEWED BY NICK BEWSEY

Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane Matthew Garrison HHHHH In Movement ECM Flush with superb sonic grooves, In Movement is an ear-opening foray into the dynamic interplay of three top-flight musicians. Drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and bassist Matthew Garrison, recording here for the first time, braid a legendary past with a bold, pro-

Matt Baker HHHH1/2 Almost Blue JazzElm Music Former Aussie native Matt Baker is a star in the making. Now happily rooted in New York, his piano chops and warm, friendly voice refresh the new and older standards on Almost Blue, a welcoming recording that despite being his fifth as a leader reintroduces Baker as a suave, charming crooner backed by a winning ensemble of jazz all-stars. Baker’s deft and lyrical touch on the keys is what matters here and he tangibly evokes the melodic sophistication of Oscar Peterson, his friend and mentor. You can feel his irre-

performer, Wolf blends an effusive style that lights up original tracks like the funky “Soul Sister” and gives a post-bop swagger to the long-form “Four Stars From Heaven.” There are melodic pleasures (“King Of Two Fives”), an innovative Stevie Wonder cover and a chill remake of “Montara,” a tune originally written and performed by Bobby Hutcherson. Wolf is part of McBride’s Inside Straight band and the bassist’s stewardship of this project provides Wolf with a diverse and intense repertoire of tunes along with a sterling band of A-listers that brings the art of the vibes to life. (11 tracks; 68 minutes) Louis Heriveaux HHHH Triadic Episode Hot Shoe Records The jazz pianist Louis Heriveaux, an expressive Atlanta-based musician with a standing nightly trio gig at Houston’s on Peachtree in Buckhead, is flying under the

Warren Wolf HHHH Convergence Mack Avenue) Vibraphonist Warren Wolf is portrayed as a jazz superhero on the cover of his third Mack Avenue release, Convergence, and I would agree that this all-star

Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette, Matthew Garrison.

Photo: Peter Gannushkin/ECM Records

gressive future—Coltrane and Garrison are the sons of John and Jimmy, respectively.

Their electronic experimentation with sound and rhythmic texture gives tracks like “The Two Jimmys” and EWF’s “Serpentine Fire” an infusion of buzzy ambience. Coltrane’s energetic improv on the vibrating title track snakes through an aural landcape of heavy beats, electric bass and heady, synthesized loops.

Fifty years earlier, drummer DeJohnette sat in with John Coltrane and Jimmy Garrison, and that certainly gives this date a particular historical perspective, but the music is less about communication between generations as it is about seizing the present as a collective. Even at its most expressionistic—John Coltrane’s civil rights era hymn “Alabama” and the Miles Davis/Bill Evans standard “Blue In Green” flow with subtle synthesized flourishes— the listening experience is satisfyingly modern. (8 tracks; 53 minutes)

Cyrus Chestnut HHH1/2 Natural Essence HighNote It’s the undiluted swing that boosts the dramatic stylings of contemporary piano giant Cyrus Chestnut. Natural Essence finds him collaborating with bassist Buster Williams (Art Blakey, Betty Carter) and drummer Lenny White (Return To Forever), which lends a solid rhythmic foundation to Chestnut’s natural grace. Tunes like “My Romance” and “It Could Happen To You” unfold with soulful twists and turns, anchored by bright tempos and inventive harmonic excursions. The music not only feels good (a rousing version of Joe Henderson’s “Mamacita” kick-starts the record) but it feeds the soul as well with tunes like“Faith Amongst The Unknown,” with churning beats and bass interlocked with Chestnut’s percussive, church-inflected groove.

(9 tracks; 63 minutes)

pressible joy as he romps through instrumentals like “A Beautiful Friendship,” artfully trading phrases with big-toned saxophonist Joel Frahm.

Though he’s been singing for twenty years, Baker is a committed jazz pianist, underscoring the swinging “I’ll Be Seeing You” with gorgeous vamps and a lush, poetic solo. The album’s touching highlight is “Theme From The Apartment,” a lovely tune where the band locks into a vibe that’s traditional, yet still makes it sound fresh with contemporary panache. Almost Blue features notable accompaniment by bassist Luques Curtis, drummer Obed Calvaire and guitarist Lage Lund, especially effective on “The End Of A Love Affair.” (14 tracks; 72 minutes)

record—Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, Jeff “Tain” Watts—produced by and featuring bassist Christian McBride is a tour-deforce of modern jazz. A finely calibrated

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radar so low that it would be easy to miss hearing his delightful debut disc. On Triadic Episode, Heriveaux squeezes as many bluesy chords and funky riffs out of 88 keys as he can in a fervent style reminiscent of McCoy Tyner. He has the finesse of the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, a mentor of sorts, coaxing sturdy melodies out of his sparkling originals and displaying impeccable taste on standards like “Body And Soul.” Supported by ace bassist Curtis Lundy and the rock solid drummer Terreon Gully, the pianist brings effortless swing to a hip, accessible program of tunes both known and unexpected. Available through cdbaby.com (11 tracks; 49 minutes) n

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Music SINGER/SONGWRITER REVIEWED BY TOM WILK

Hugh & Katy Moffatt HHHH Now and Then SOHL Records Hugh and Katy Moffatt have had parallel careers as songwriters and performers since the 1970s. The Moffatts, brother and sister, have teamed up on Now and Then, just their second album as a duo and the first since Dance Me Outside in 1992.

Now and Then features the Moffatts performing a cross-section of songs in a stripped-down setting while putting their own stamp on them. “Ashes of Love,” a hit for Johnnie and Jack, receives a folk treatment that emphasizes the romantic loss.

“Sin City,” written by Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons, is an artful blend of voices and acoustic guitars that gives the song an intimate, living-room feel.,Other performances display their versatility. Katy brings a gospel fervor to the Rev. Gary Davis’ “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.” On “Do Right Woman,” originally a hit for Aretha Franklin, Katy and Hugh turn the soul music standard into a country plea with the help of steel guitarist Chris Scruggs. “Singin’ the Blues,” a hit for both Guy Mitchell and Marty Robbins, shows the Moffatts equally at home on up-tempo material. Hugh, whose songs have been recorded by Dolly Parton and Jerry Lee Lewis, contributes “Every Now and Then,” a song that finds a couple looking back on their ups and downs. “Vaya Con Dios,” a No. 1 hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford, show the duo’s skills as interpreters. (11 songs, 35 minutes) Kate and Anna McGarrigle HHHH Pronto Monto Omnivore Recordings Kate McGarrigle’s death from cancer at age 60 in 2010 ended the longtime musical partnership she enjoyed with her sister Anna. Over the years, some of their music has slipped through the cracks. Released in 1978, Pronto Monto, the duo’s third studio album, has received its overdue release on CD and provides listeners with the chance to hear their special harmonies.

“Oh My Heart,” written by Anna and her husband Dane Lanken, delivers a vi-

brant affirmation of love. “Side of Fries,” co-written by Kate, features the sisters’ joyful blend of voices with a horn arrangement by Howard Johnson that recalls the music of New Orleans. The title track, a play on the French expression for “take your coat” (prends ton manteau)

sung in that language, shows the sisters’ penchant for eclecticism. The free-spirited “NA CL” is a charming romantic song built around the interaction of sodium and chloride to create salt. Anna’s “Bundle of Sorrow, Bundle of Joy” serves as an ambivalent look at motherhood, both its joys and uncertainties.

Anna’s “Dead Weight” is a caustic kissoff song to a lover. “You’re a dead weight/And I can’t wait to see the back of you,” she observes. Kate’s exuberant version of “Tryin’ to Get to You” is fueled by her expressive piano and the sisters’ gospel-style harmonies. In any language, Pronto Monto is a musical delight and a candidate for one of the top reissues of 2016. (12 songs, 39 minutes) Jonah Tolchin HHH1/2 Thousand Mile Night Yep Roc Records Sometimes an artist can be prescient in writing a song. That’s the case with the stately “Beauty in the Ugliest of Days,” the opening track of Jonah Tolchin’s Thousand Mile Night CD. “Have courage in your heart to ride with the waves,” he sings almost mournfully. “It’s up to you to see the beauty in the ugliest of days.” Written months before the recent wave of shootings in June and July, Tolchin urges listeners to search for the good among the grim times. On the album, the Princeton native shows his growth as a songwriter

and vocalist with a mix of blues, folk, gospel and rock.

The title track, the tale of a road trip, starts out slowly but picks up speed like a car on an interstate highway. Tolchin offers details of the expedition that are like a short story set to music: “Bowling Green coffee burning on the insides/Motel waitress looks good from the left side.” On “Song About Home, he reflects about his New Jersey roots and Clover Lane, the street where he grew up in Princeton.

“Unless You Got Faith” features Tolchin in preacher mode. “You can’t love in this world unless you got faith,” he proclaims in a style that recalls the late soul man Solomon Burke. Tolchin wraps up with a solo acoustic version of Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,” an acknowledgment of his blues influences.

Jonah Tolchin and Tall Tall Trees perform at World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, on Aug. 5.

Visit philly.worldcafelive.com (10 songs, 35 minutes) Aaron Neville HHH1/2 Apache Tell It Records/Kobalt Label Services Aaron Neville has been known for his soulful singing voice with such hits as “Tell It Like It Is” and “Don’t Know Much,” his Grammy-winning duet with Linda Ronstadt. He has largely relied on others to supply his songs. With Apache, Neville ventures into composing and acquits himself nicely on an album which he helped to write ten of the songs. As a songwriter, he ventures into social commentary on “Ain’t Gonna Judge You” and “Make Your Momma Cry.” The former

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urges people not to rush to judgment, while the latter is a warning to youth and lyrically recalls Marvin Gaye’s songs on his What’s Going On album.

Love songs remain a vital part of Neville’s repertoire. “Sarah Ann,” a tribute to his wife, features his sweet falsetto on the choruses and coda, while “Orchid in the Storm” serves an open-hearted declaration of his feelings toward her. Neville goes from amorous to religious on “Heaven,” a song that demonstrates he could have had a career as a gospel singer.

Neville pays tribute to his New Orleans roots with “Stompin Ground,” a funky celebration of his hometown that recalls his work with the Neville Brothers. On “Fragile World,” Neville wraps up the album with a recitation on the state of the world over some choice New Orleans-style rhythms.

(11 songs, 49 minutes) Ivas John HHH1/2 Good Days a Comin Right Side Up Records Ivas John brings the past and present together with Good Days a Comin, which mixes eight originals with a handful of cover songs that highlight his musical influences. The son of Lithuanian immigrants and a Chicago native, John opts for an acoustic presentation of his folk/country songs.

“Goin’ Back to Arkansas” starts off the album with a crisp, uncluttered arrangement that spotlights the interplay between his guitar and the fiddle work of Robert Bowlin. Vocally, John recalls David Bromberg on “Roll Mississippi,” a song of the river influenced by his current hometown of Cape Girardeau, Mo. “Keep Your Train Movin’” is an easygoing blues that has echoes of Hank Williams’ lyricism. “Sunday Morning Blues,” a solo guitar instrumental, could be the flip side of that revelry.

A cover of Merle Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon,” a song on the life of a miner and its pitfalls, finds John tipping his cap to a past master. On “Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound,” John puts a country spin on Tom Paxton’s folk classic. (12 songs, 42 minutes) n

about life

BY JAMES P. DELPINO, MSS,MLSP,LCSW,BCD

By Chance or by Choice WE COME INTO THIS world laden, burdened, and fortunate with circumstances ruled by chance. We have no control over who our parents are. Our country of origin, ethnicity and economic conditions are not governed by our choices. It appears as though chance favors some more than others. Although chance may determine our early surroundings and conditions it need not determine the shape and trajectory of our entire lives. We are fortunate to live in a country where the choices available to us are greater than almost anywhere else in the world. Having such plentiful choices also allows us to choose poorly for ourselves and those around us. What we do with what we have been dealt by chance is what makes all the difference in determining the course and direction of our lives. We can become better or worse by the kinds of choices we make on a daily basis. Sometimes the smallest of choices can make a big difference over time. Sometimes our poor choices can lead us to the kind of wisdom and insight that become the opportunity to grow and deepen. Sometimes repeated poor choices diminish what we could have become.

Our choices often beget unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative. When we’re young we have the

best chance to test ourselves by choosing things, thoughts and people, and assess the results of those choices. Of course we hope that learning from success and failure teach us which roads are best to choose.

Some of us learn better and quicker than others; one reason we do learn better is that we find comfort, joy and/or support for positive choices. One reason we don’t learn better is that some choices become habits. Because our brains have a property known as “brain grooving,” it’s easy for any of us to keep repeating certain choices because they become automatic settings in our brains.

Brain grooving explains why habits of all sorts are so difficult to break. There’s evidence to suggest that creating a new habit can take as little as thirty days. The requirement is that we must consciously override whatever urges we have to the contrary and choose the same thing for a period of thirty days.

Making better choices can improve the way we think, feel, behave and experience the world in general. Because we’re much more likely to repeat than to change, repeated good choices lead to repeated good results.

Unfortunately, the converse is also true. Every day we make hundreds of choices; most of these choices are automatic and therefore unexamined. The first step to improving our ability to choose more wisely is to become more conscious of the choices—especially the automatic ones-—we make daily. One technique is to sit down, take out a piece of paper and write down as many of the choices we will be required to make on that day. Remember that even the smallest of choices can have major consequences. Writing things down is helpful because it takes us out of undisciplined thinking about life and replaces it with a process of thoughtful examination. This is the practical meaning of Socrates’ famous line, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Since we have little or no control over chance, wishing that things could be different is futile and leads to frustration and despair. Whether we believe in one life or many lives, or whether we’re religious, agnostic or atheist, good choices are the key to success, happiness and fulfillment. If we’re objective we’ll see some choices have had more value and bear repeating than other choices.

When our choices are automatic we’re not truly free.

True freedom comes from within. The deepest recesses of our selves deserve a conscious awareness that brings success and joy into our lives. n

Jim Delpino is a psychotherapist in private practice for over 36 years. jdelpino@aol.com Phone: (215) 364-0139.

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foodie file A. D. AMOROSI

taking chances Richard Sandoval’s Aqimero and Chef Garrett Welch THE RECENTLY RENOVATED RITZCARLTON would be just another stately old Philly bank building/hotel with a glorious oculus and more chandeliers than Liberace’s boudoir if not for the addition of

The lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia.

Aqimero is his stagey, theatrical hot spot.

“We’re a chef-driven company,” says Welch, flashing the smile that won him the top spot on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games. “This is a new concept and a new brand. Let’s see what magic we can pull out of our hats.” Though

Chef Garrett Welch. ©Reese Amorosi 2016

the sensual Aqimero and its unique blend of Latin and Japanese cuisine, all done up in a haze of hickory wood smoke.

White marble, glimmering glass touches and subtle washes of sea blue—all are chef/owner Richard Sandoval’s tip to seafood—by LW Design of Dubai (Coscia Moos Architecture was the local architect responsible for the glass partitions, light fixtures and interior furniture) make Aqimero a shimmery seaside dream. Only the rough yet elegant mix of Mexican and Japanese sea fare, smoked and raw bar-ed (along with its dense menu of meats) brings Aqimero down to earth—like beach dune campfire earth, the vibe Sandoval and his star Chef du Cuisine Garrett Welch conceived for their urban getaway.

Cooking behind glass so you can watch the chef at the wood-fired oven and his elevated Brazilian “spit,” Welch—of Cuban and Irish decent—is Sandoval’s star and

Pescado Zarandeado. Photo ©Reese Amorosi 2016

Aqimero’s homepage uses “Latin American” in regard to its menu items, there is a cool Japanese influence to much of the restaurant’s taste sensations—from its selection of sushi and raw fish items to its Yuzu Custard dessert (Yuzu is a citrus fruit of Japanese origin).

A specialty Mezcal bar in the center of the enlarged room (Aqimero is different than its predecessor in that it is expanded throughout the entire lobby) triples as a raw bar, ceviche (the ahi tuna with pork rinds is deliriously good) and sushi center, where diners can grab rolls of New England lobster, foie gras and barbecued eel to kobe beef. Though briny juicy raw

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clams and oysters can be found here, Virginia oysters wood grilled to perfection with dabs of corn pudding and pickled red onion—that’s in the dining theater, before the glass-encased chef center. After a round of homemade pita with spicy tomato jam and ricotta spread, table-sharing spreads such as the smoked swordfish dip and pickled jalapeños or the spicy crab guacamole—or both—are fluffy yet filling necessities. The lobster tacos with thinly sliced avocado and cilantro, or the grilled Spanish octopus with black olive caramel and lemon-oregano vinaigrette are musts in the appetizer department.

Dinner, however, is where the lead chef from Mandarin Oriental in Miami really shines. Though the Coldwater Ahi Tuna is sweet, the Pescado Zarandeado for two— a beach-style, whole roasted snapper with lemongrass Mojito, plantains, jicame and avocado—was flavorful and righteous.

“Latin culture’s seafood intrigues me,” says Welch. The way he does it will intrigue you too.

Our Latin beachy experience ended with the Chocolate Sphere (chocolate cremeux, mandarin, brownie crumbles, bourbon ice cream), Yuzo Custard (matcha purée, almond daquoise, pulque sorbet), and Shiruko (mexican style beignets, candied walnut, jasmine-guava tea)—every one tasting as opulent as Aqimero looked. This one’s a winner. n

S WA N

HOTEL MODERN CUISINE h CLASSIC COMFORT Corner of Swan & Main Lambertville, NJ 609-397-3552

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HARPER’S findings

index

mericans experiencing a medical emergency in public receive assistance from bystanders 4.2 percent of the time if they are white and 1.8 percent of the time if they are black, and income inequality has been growing among the elderly. Mexican doctors reported diphallia in a dead 83-year-old man free of other malformations. Finnish researchers found erogenous zones more expansive during partnered sex than during masturbation. Women in the United States who move to areas of higher socioeconomic status buy shoes whose heel heights conform to local norms; those who move to areas of lower socioeconomic status retain their previous heel preference. If a white Frenchwoman’s face is beautiful, a white Frenchman needs fewer neurons to encode it. Cookiecutter sharks were confirmed to be taking bites out of living whales. A male black-horned tree cricket restricted to a diet of Gala apples and water will consume his own spermatophore after a failed mating attempt. The greater the racial pride of H.I.V.-negative formerly incarcerated AfricanAmerican Los Angeles men who have sex with both men and women, the more likely they are to use condoms with men, but not with women. Doctors studying young men who have sex with men concluded that “a successful rectal microbicide product may need to be presented in a range of viscosities to attract a broad client base.” The brains of Crohn’s disease sufferers are highly active in anticipating rectal discomfort. Transient contraction–evoked afferent bursts may be how we know when to urinate.

Percentage of young Iraqis who regard the United States as their enemy: 93 Rank of the United States among countries that Arabs aged 18 to 24 regard as the best in which to live: 2 Rank of the United Arab Emirates: 1 Percentage of young Arab adults who believe that the Arab world is better off since the Arab Spring: 36 Number of arson attacks committed against refugee shelters in Germany this year: 44 Portion of European countries that have laws prohibiting women from wearing certain religious attire: 2/5 Of Middle Eastern and No. African countries with laws requiring women to wear certain religious attire: 1/5 Minimum number of undercover morality police deployed in Iran to monitor un-Islamic dress: 7,000 Number of stolen weapons returned to the Israel Defense Forces during an amnesty period this year: 457 Number of rounds of ammunition: 1,347,744 Portion of people who believe that businesses bear as much responsibility as governments do for “positive social change”: 2/3 Percentage of online-advertising spending that goes to either Facebook or Google: 85 Amount a Swiss firm charges parents for names designed to maximize their child’s future success: $28,800 Number of U.S. babies born prematurely each year due to air pollution: 16,000 Annual economic cost of U.S. traffic congestion: $160,000,000,000 Portion of U.S. workers who commute alone in a car: 3/4 Percentage of the Great Barrier Reef that was bleached this year because of ocean warming: 93 Tons of invasive carp that the Australian government plans to eradicate by giving them herpes: 1,137,000 Number of people killed in a 2010 explosion at a West Virginia mine operated by Massey Energy: 29 Number of years in prison the company’s CEO was sentenced this year for violating mine-safety laws: 1 Minimum number of environmental advocates murdered in Latin America since 2009: 496 Number of Attawapiskat First Nation tribe members in Canada who attempted suicide on a single day in April: 11 Total number of members in the tribe: 3,544 Number of U.S. states without laws prohibiting “revenge porn”: 19 Portion of American males who were under 13 when they were first exposed to pornography: 1/2 Portion of men seeking help for erectile dysfunction who are under 40 years old: 1/4 Percentage of newly diagnosed H.I.V. cases in the United States that are in patients over 50 years old: 17 Average life expectancy, in years, of a U.S. man in the top 1 percent of income: 87 In the bottom 1 percent: 73 Factor by which a white public-school student is more likely than a black student to be labeled “gifted”: 2.4 Percentage by which a “cool” 13-year-old is more likely than other teens to have future substance-abuse problems: 45 Percentage of U.S. college grades that were A’s in 1960: 16 In 2015: 45 Amount one Colorado county spent in January to arm school security with assault rifles: $12,000 Amount UC Davis paid to remove online mentions of a campus police officer who pepper-sprayed students: $175,000 Value of a federal grant to Cleveland for riot gear ahead of the Republican National Convention: $50,000 Portion of Californians in right-wing American Independent Party who say they have no party affiliation: 3/4 Number of times Donald Trump said a variant of the word “win” in an Albany campaign speech: 30 Percentage of U.S. voters who think that presidential primaries effectively determine the best-qualified nominees: 35

A

An increase in the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in newly sedentary human communities may have led to the social bias for monogamy. The first human to be buried with a personal ornament was an infant who was interred with seashells in KwaZulu-Natal’s Border Cave 74,000 years ago. Subjective experience may have arisen during the Cambrian, in insects. Dinosaurs were in decline for 50 million years before the Chicxulub impact. A set of thirty-eight genes was correlated with the age at which a person first has sex. Tennessee doctors suggested a neuropathic etiology to red scrotum syndrome. Among young children forced to sing onstage and watch their performance played back in front of the audience, those with parents suffering from lifetime social anxiety disorder blushed more. An eleven-year-old girl with mild intellectual disability experienced psychosis after swimming with dolphins. The bedside presence of a parent reduces the opioid-withdrawal symptoms of newborns. Giving children a two-minute warning before taking away their screens makes tantrums worse. Aquilonifer spinosus was found to have towed its juvenile offspring behind it on tethers.

Overfed fetuses become plump adolescents, fetuses whose mothers are active become fit adults, and stronger sucklers become fatter at four months. The number of chubs sold per day positively correlates with the frequency with which deli slicers are cleaned. A thin and incompetent dura may be to blame for frontotemporal brain sagging syndrome. Contact lenses change the microbiome of the eye such that it resembles skin.

Stem cells were successfully transplanted from a man’s skin to his eye. Researchers synthesized a bacterium whose genome consists of 473 genes, the fewest in any free-living organism. Chinese engineers created a necklace that listens to what you eat. Worldwide, consumption of fruits and vegetables; rising GDP; and higher temperatures, wind speeds, and atmospheric visibility were all correlated with happiness. The Large Hadron Collider, which can be used as a rain meter, was shut down by a weasel, who was later identified as a marten and died. The largest python ever captured laid a single egg, went “quiet,” and died. n

Sources: 1–4 ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller (N.Y.C.); 5 German Federal Ministry of the Interior (Berlin); 6,7 Pew Research Center (Washington); 8 Human Rights Watch (N.Y.C.); 9,10 Israel Defense Forces (TelAviv); 11 Market Probe International(N.Y.C.); 12 Morgan Stanley (N.Y.C.); 13 Erfolgswelle (Bern, Switzerland); 14 Leonardo Trasande, New York University; 15 Texas A&M Transportation Institute (College Station); 16 Susan Shaheen, University of California, Berkeley; 17 Terry Hughes, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia); 18 Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (Canberra); 19 Raleigh County Commission (Beckley, W.Va.); 20 U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston); 21 Global Witness (London); 22,23 Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (Quebec City); 24 Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (Miami); 25 Chyng Sun, New York University; 26 Andrea Salonia, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Milan); 27 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta); 28,29 Health Inequality Project (Cambridge, Mass.); 30 American Educational Research Association (Washington); 31 Joseph Allen, University of Virginia (Charlottesville); 32,33 Stuart Rojstaczer (Palo Alto, Calif.); 34 Douglas County School District (Castle Rock, Colo.); 35 University of California, Davis; 36 City of Cleveland; 37 Tulchin Research (San Francisco)/SmithJohnson Research (Sacramento, Calif.); 38 Harper’s research; 39 Pew Research Center.

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ART NOUVEAU

By Jake Braun Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Pandora’s boxful 6 One going over the wall 13 Contemporary electronic music genre 19 Soup legume 21 Hematite or magnetite 22 Borneo sultanate 23 Prefer not to serve the drinks?

25 Melanin-deficient individual 26 What fits all, in ads 27 Prefix with ware 28 Pulled up a chair 30 “__ it!”

31 Aleppo’s land: Abbr.

32 Diane who played Flo in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” 34 Big name in game shows 37 Throat dangler 39 Apt wear when drinking gin cocktails?

42 Suggest 45 Highway through Whitehorse 48 Opposite of hence 49 Intro to economics?

50 Olympus competitor 51 Lover of Beauty 52 One on the run 54 ’50s foe of Dwight 56 Crew member 57 Pres. on a dime 58 Special area for booting up again?

61 Sound during cutting 62 Glue, say 65 Lost by design 66 It’s sold in yards 68 Scrapes and bruises, in totspeak 70 Rural skyline features 72 Falls for many lovers?

75 Eggnog topping 77 Doctrinal offshoots 79 Screenwriter Nora 80 Dillon of “Wayward Pines” 82 Garb for the Scottish seaside?

85 Old young king 86 It’s sold in yards 87 Schoolyard retort 88 Third __ 89 Many of its pieces are lost during play 91 Not likely to give up the hammock 93 Healed 96 __ Aviv 97 “Roots” writer

98 99 102 104 105 106 109 111 113 115 117 119 123 124 125 126 127 128

Old Toyota iPad owners’ gatherings?

Puts away cargo Noodle variety Quite a Poisonous slitherer Antlered male __ volente Bars on a deli package Penalty for forgetfulness, perhaps Intolerant of Lewd weasel relative? “... if you know what’s good for you!”

Watch Sure winner Pretend to be Prepares Vito Corleone’s eldest

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 24 29 33 35 36 38 39 40 41 43

St. __ fire Promising, as mine walls __ circle Classic Fords Hissing 6-Across, for one Where Utah’s minor league Owlz play French friend’s address Like boring speeches, so it seems French king Spigoted vessel Photo lab items Network for hoops fans Blue text, often Significant anniversary Group that controls film cartoons?

Greek known for paradoxes Utah national park __ Wolf, “Fiddler on the Roof ” butcher Bureaucratic tangle Civic duty, perhaps?

Compilation One of early Hollywood’s “Big Five” Church official Aptly named fruit Live __: Taco Bell slogan Bridge positions Done with Popular berry

44 45 46 47 53 55 58 59 60 61 63 64 67 69 71 73 74 76 78 80 81 83 84 87 89 90 92 94 95 100 101 103

Rain delay rollout BBC sitcom Caused Patterns for moving supplies?

County counterpart Insomniac’s prescription Four-sided figures Rent again Like some garages [I’m frustrated!]

Border on Portable bed Conviction, to a cop Pea pod, e.g.

Layers Waken Pacing, maybe Prepare for a road trip “M*A*S*H” actor David Ogden __ Coats for brolly carriers Baseball family name Military subdivision Considering everything Pair Serengeti speedsters Owns Easily damaged “Ticket to the Moon” gp.

Appeared for the first time Ancient scrolls Mosque leaders Paper borders

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106 “Flow gently, sweet __!”: Burns 107 Escort 108 Cent 109 Browse the mall 110 Poi base 112 Scent 114 Area with moorings 116 Sock ending

118 Govt. subject of James Bamford’s “The Puzzle Palace” 120 “When Will __ Loved?”: 1975 hit 121 Botswana neighbor: Abbr.

122 Arles article

Answer to July’s puzzle, VOLUMIZING

Agenda CALL FOR ENTRIES AOY Art Center 7th Annual Photography Show - Juried. Sept. 9 – October 2, 2106. Cash Prizes Awarded. Juror: Barbara Warren. Deadline for Entries, August 26, 2016. The theme for the show is “Levitation” and is open to all artists 18 and older. All work must be the artist’s original creations, completed within the last two years and must not have been exhibited in past Artists of Yardley events.

Please see www.artistsofyardley.org for the prospectus and to submit online at Entrythingy.

All submissions are digital. The Opening Reception will be held at the AOY Art Center on Patterson Farm, 949 Mirror Lake Road in Yardley, PA, September 9, 5 – 9pm.

Philadelphia Sketch Club 2016 Absolutely Abstract Exhibition Entry Deadline: Sun., August 14, Midnight. Exhibition Dates: September 2 - 24, 2016. Works Eligible: This is an open, juried show. The Jurors will select works for exhibition & award prizes.

Submissions: You can submit up to 5 works.

Any 2-dimensional abstract, totally non-representational works in any media including watercolor, oil, gouache, casein, acrylics, inks, prints, photography (totally abstract), graphite, etching, charcoal, pastel, collage, pencil, mixed media, and others. Maximum accepted works: 2, and must be offered for sale during the exhibition. Maximum size 44 x 44, inc. frame. Work must be framed, wired, ready for hanging. No clip frames.

FINE ART THRU 8/14 Duality. Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, Delaware. 302-571-9590. delart.org THRU 9/3 American Summer. Silverman Gallery, Bucks County Impressionist Art, Buckingham Green, Rte. 202, 4920 York Rd., Holicong. 215-7944300. Silvermangallery.com THRU 9/5 Dark Humor: African American Art from the University Museums, University of Delaware.

Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, Delaware. 302-571-9590. delart.org THRU 9/18 Edward Koren: The Capricious Line. Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, Delaware. 302-571-9590. delart.org

THRU 10/8 Summer Show. Closing reception 10/8, 6 – 9.

Artwork of Darrell George, Bob Hakun, Rigo Peralta, Ward Van Haute, and Marta Whistler.

Also featuring Hazem Akil of Aleppo, Syria.

Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery, 459 Main St., Bethlehem. 610-419-6262.

BethlehemHouseGallery.com THRU 10/23 Andó Hiroshige, Views of Japan. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North 5 th St., Allentown. 610432-4333.

AllentownArtMuseum.org THRU 10/23 Charles & Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Couple of an Age. Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton St., Princeton, NJ. Wed.-Sun., 10AM-4PM. 609-924-8144. Morven.org 8/4-8/28 Artsbridge Members’ Art Show at the New Hope Arts Center in New Hope. Paintings, watercolors, works on paper, mixed media, photography and sculpture. Sat. & Sun., 1 – 5.

Opening reception: 8/4, 7 – 9.

ArtsbridgeOnline.com 8/4-8/28 Artsbridge Summer Arts Festival at the New Hope Arts Center in New Hope. Special art events throughout August include an art exhibition, plein air paint-out, demonstrations, a movie night, sculpture tours and more.

ArtsbridgeOnline.com 8/13 & 8/14 Fine Art Summer Studio CLEARANCE. Artists of Yardley, 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley. artistsofyardley.org 8/31-10/15 Photo and Video installation by Deborah Jack: The water between us remembers, so we carry this history on our skin... long for a sea-bath and hope the salt will heal what ails us. Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown.

Muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/gallery ART FESTIVAL 9/24 -9/25 New Hope Arts & Crafts Festival features over 175 juried exhibitors, live music and food court.

Free admission, rain or shine. Sat., 10 – 6 PM, Sun., 10 – 5. New Hope-Solebury High School, 180 W. Bridge St., New Hope. NewHopeArtsandCrafts.com DINNER & MUSIC

THRU 10/2 Our Strength Is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North 5th St., Allentown. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

Thurs.-Sat., Dinner and show at SteelStacks, Bethlehem. 5-10, table service and valet parking. artsquest.org

THRU 10/2 Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art. Allentown Art Museum, 31 North 5th St., Allentown. 610-432-4333.

AllentownArtMuseum.org

CONCERTS 8/21 Valley Vivaldi, presented by Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Biber, Locatelli, Sammartini and solos for violin, recorder, oboe and

cello. Wesley Church, 2540 Center St., Bethlehem. 610-434-7811. PASinfonia.org 9/9 The Complete Organ Works of J. S. Bach, Part 1, organist Stephen Williams. 8 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem.

610-865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org 9/18 Vince Gill, one of the most popular and most recorded singers of the past quarter-century.

State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. Statetheatre.org 9/23 The Complete Organ Works of J.S. Bach, Part 1, organist Stephen Williams. 8 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem. 610-865-0727.

Nativitycathedral.org 10/8 Zoellner Arts Center celebrates its 20th Anniversary with superstar Vanessa Williams on Oct. 8. And don’t miss The Illusionists, 42nd Street, Cirque Eloize, jazz phenom Joey Alexander, Rhythmic Circus. 420 E. Packer Ave, Bethlehem. 610-758-2787. zoellnerartscenter.org MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem 610-332-1300.

Full schedule: Artsquest.org 5-14 Musikfest (500+ free performances) 5 X Ambassadors with special guests Rachel Platten & Jukebox the Ghost 6 Run-DMC 7 Dierks Bentley 8 Swift Technique presents a Tribute to Prince w/Band From Mars (David Bowie Tribute) 9 Boston 10 Don Henley 11 BUSH & Chevelle 12 Sabrina Carpenter 13 Lady Antebellum 14 The Avett Brothers with special guest Langhorne Slim 19 Spice Wurld Comedy Tour with Sasheer Zamata & Nicole Byer 21 An Evening with David Crosby 24 The Hooters EVENT 9/4 Riverfest. Frenchtown, NJ celebrates life along the river. Paper boat river races, a wildlife show, and environmental exhibits are just a few of the events that will be taking place. Shops will be featuring entertainment, events and sales. Noon6 PM. Frenchtownnj.org.

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