Return of Your Errant Blogger

Ok, so even by my typically lackluster standards it's been a long dry spell since my last post. No good excuse other than holidays, wedding planning, and a trip to Panama (more on that later) over the last two-and-a-half months. But here is some of the work I've done over the last couple of months; belated year-end lists and such will follow in the next post.

I won't link to every pick and blurb I scrawled for the Citypaper, but I reviewed Wes Anderson's lavishly detailed Fantastic Mr. Fox, Clint Eastwood's South African sports biopic Invictus, Richard Linklater's Efron-meets-Orson flick Me and Orson Welles, Jim Cameron's 3-D behemoth Avatar, Pedro Almodovar's film-and-Penelope-Cruz-obsessed Broken Embraces, Terry Gilliam's return to chaotic form The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Jeff Bridges as a weathered country crroner in Crazy Heart; and covered I-House's fascinating Archive Fever program, the Festival of New Trumpet Music's first excursion outside of NYC, the expansive Medical Film Symposium, and Slought Foundation's stunning exhibition of morbidity, Strictly Death.

In the Metro, I interviewed Herb Alpert and The Simpsons biographer John Ortved in November; covered the revamped West Philly spot Marbar, the end of an era that is the final show from Rich Wexler's Sherman Arts, and the unnatural history photos of Richard Barnes' Animal Logic in January (December issues are posted in a format that makes linking impossible, and you're not missing much anyway).

And in the Daily News, I wrote about two local exhibits examining Alice in Wonderland; Orrin Evans' newly-founded Captain Black Big Band, in residency at Chris' Jazz Cafe; and the 22nd annual Conference of the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Metro, October

This month: A piece untangling the snarled saga of the 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Festival; and a look at the Rosenbach's Hand-On Tours of Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula.

Citypaper, October

Oct. 1: Soundadvice blurbs for singer Gretchen Parlato (there's a JazzTimes feature forthcoming on her as well) and for the final edition of the SciFi Philly series; and a review of Paris.

Oct. 8: Soundadvice blurbs for Orrin Evans' Tarbaby and Han Bennink's new Third Man Trio, and a pick for Cuong Vu's mind-blowing electric quartet.

Oct. 15: A review of Spike Jonze's somber rethinking of Where the Wild Things Are; a review of Chris Rock's doc Good Hair, playing in the Philly Film Fest; a book review, of R. Crumb's illustrated version of Genesis (the Biblical version, not the prog-rock-turned-schmaltz-pop band); and Soundadvice blurbs for Phantom Limb with trumpeter Nate Wooley and Arturo Stable at the Painted Bride.

Oct. 22: A feature on Malcolm McLaren, whose series of "musical portraits", Shallow 1-21, is on exhibit at PAFA; reviews of Chris Rock's Good Hair (expanded from the Film Fest version) and the ad-world doc Art & Copy; and Soundadvice blurbs for Ben Goldberg's supergroup quartet Go Home and Dave Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, preforming Don Cherry.

Oct. 29: A short piece on the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.

Metro, September

This month: An interview with The Books, a look at the Rosenbach's Where the Wild Things Are exhibit; a piece on Melvin Van Peebles' new graphic novel; and a peek into the Michener Museum's wonderful Jim Henson exhibit.

Citypaper, September

For the remainder of the month:
Sept. 10: A review of the German terrorist biopic The Baader-Meinhof Complex.
Sept. 17: For the Fall Guide, a feature on the Design Center at Philadelphia University's nifty Lace in Translation exhibit; the annual (but smaller than ever!) CP Fall Jazz Calendar; a Soundadvice blurb for Philly-born saxophonist Seth Meicht and his Big Sound Ensemble, at UArts; a film pick for I-House's Guy Maddin retrospective and an arts pick for the "Dance With Camera" exhibit at ICA; and finally, a review of Diablo Cody's Juno-horror Jennifer's Body.
Sept. 24: A well-deserved CP Choice Award for Peregrine Arts' visionary Hidden City festival; a Books pick for Howard Dean's health care prescription; and a review of the gimmicky eco-doc No Impact Man.

Metro, August

Just three stories this month: an interview with author Richie Unterberger about his exhaustively researched Day-By-Day account of the Velvet Underground; a piece on drummer/DJ duo Fraction Theory's debut at the Philly Folk Fest; and a peek inside the Art Museum's detailed exhibit tracing the history of Marcel Duchamp's final masterpiece, Etant donnes.

Citypaper, June-July

Citypaper assignments have, for the most part, remained light over the past month and a half. But they included:

Jun. 18: A Soundadvice blurb for Jim Black's stunning show with AlasNoAxis at the Art Alliance.

Jun. 25: A review of the turgid Dali/Lorca/Bunuel biopic Little Ashes.

July 2: A review of the Save-the-Fish doc The End of the Line and a Soundadvice for vocalist Magos Herrera at the Art Museum.

July 9: Things pick up here for QFest, the newly-renamed Gay & Lesbian Film Fest. I did a feature on parenthood-themed film in this year's fest, a Q&A with Fruit Fly writer/director/composer HP Mendoza, and reviews of six films: Drool, the aforementioned Fruit Fly, It Came From Kuchar, Limbo, Pornography, and Prodigal Sons, a much better batch then I usually end up with for this fest. There was also a feature on the Arthur Ross' Gallery exhibit of early sketches of West Philly, and a short preview of Edgar Bateman and Julian Pressley, dueting at Moonstone.

July 16: Just a preview of Buzz Aldrin's appearance at the Free Library, promoting his new autobiography, Magnificent Desolation.

July 23: A preview of I-House's Arthur Lipsett retrospective, a review of Afghan Star, a preview of Empire of Illusion essayist Chris Hedges' appearance at the Free Library, and a pick for the tenth-anniversary reissue CD release show for the Ari Hoenig/Tim Motzer quartet Jazzheads.

July 30: Two reviews this week, for the Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler hit Funny People, and the could-be-Apatow-premised don't-call-it-mumblecore comedy Humpday.

Citypaper, May-June

Economic woes show in the scant work happening in the papers these days, so mainly film reviews over the past month: Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control, Atom Egoyan's Adoration, Terminator: Salvation, Sam Raimi's disappointing Drag Me To Hell, Stephan Elliott's Noel Coward adaptation Easy Virtue, and the Dave Eggers/Vendela Vida-penned Away We Go (which I was slightly too kind to; B- max, creeping downward the more I think about it).

Only other pieces have been picks for Philly singer Venissa Santi, writer Mark Kurlansky, and vocalist Kendra Shank.

Citypaper, March 26

Film Fest opening week, which this year brings 11 reviews: Able, Before the Fall, Eldorado, The King of Ping Pong, Goodbye Solo, Not Quite Hollywood, Number One With a Bullet, Wages of Spin, Art of the Devil 3, Left Bank, and Love, Soccer and Other Catastrophes.

Also this week, a feature on jazz cellist Erik Friedlander and his Broken Arm Trio, a pick for the exceedingly XPN-friendly Bad Plus +1, with vocalist Wendy Lewis; a Soundadvice blurb for ex-Wall of Voodoo frontman and all-around strange guy Stan Ridgway, and an arts pick for New Yorker reporter Steve Coll and his book The Bin Ladens.

Metro, December 08-January 09

Rounding the new year corner at Metro:

A piece on Penn's exhibit of alum Steven Rothman's comic book collection; Exhumed Films' double feature of Killer Santa flicks; my interview with former Inky columnist Steve Lopez, whose book The Soloist is this year's One Book, One Philadelphia selection and soon to be a film; a profile of the Daedalus Quartet; a look at the Art Museum's exhibit of Japanese Crafts; a preview of Orrin Evans' DVD shoot at Chris'; a review of the ICA's three new exhibits, including the work of Anthony Campuzano; an overview of I-House's Frank and Eleanor Perry film retrospective; and a preview of Chamber Music Now!'s risque show "Love Machines and Shameless Hussies."

Citypaper, December 08-January 09

Bridging the holidays and into the new year, my pieces for the Citypaper included:

Dec. 18: A review, expanded from last year's Gay and Lesbian film fest, of the homo-Shakespeare farce Were the World Mine; a pick for Ari Hoenig's electric Oscillations Quartet; and a Soundadvice blurb for Tony Malaby's Cello Trio.

Dec. 25: A review of the inexplicably Oscar-reaping Kate Winslet Nazi-sex flick The Reader and my annual list of the year's top ten jazz CDs.

Jan. 1: To ring in Two-Double Zed-Nine: A list, with no explanations and all in all pretty unsatisfying, of the lackluster year's top ten films. If I get around to posting a year-end recap post, I'll probably have an amended list.

Jan. 8: A preview of the Jewish Film Fest's weekend of French fare, a Just Do It for George McGovern's chat about Abe Lincoln at the Constitution Center, and a Soundadvice blurb for the first installment of Ars Nova Workshop's Composer Portrait of Julius Hemphill.

Jan. 15: The annual Spring Jazz Calendar, and reviews of Defiance and Bride Wars.

Jan. 22: A feature on the Schuylkill Center's Ephemerality exhibit; a pick for Billy Childs and the Ying Quartet at Montgomery County Community College and a Soundadvice blurb for the Sten Sandell Trio; a review of the lackluster Brendan Fraser kid's adventure Inkheart; and a Now See This for Kafka Imagining America, a talk by translator Mark Harman.

Jan. 29: A feature on the duo of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Swedish sax extremist Mats Gustafsson, a pick for the trio of Lotte Anker, Sylvie Courvoisier and Ikue Mori, and a Soundadvice blurb for saxophonist Glenn White; and a review of the lethargic gay indie Ciao.

Metro, November 17-21

This week, two interviews with fellow journalists: NY Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff, promoting his new book The Jazz Ear via a live interview with pianist Orrin Evans, and New Yorker classical critic Alex Ross, interviewing John Adams at the Free Library. And a preview of I-House's 3-movie FilmChile series.

November 3-7

In the Metro: An interview with Arie Kaplan, author of From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books.

In the Citypaper: A feature on the First Person Festival's Complaint Choir; an interview with Bruce Campbell on his new film My Name is Bruce; a feature on the Music & Mentorship program's fundraising salute to drummer Mickey Roker; a pick for drummer/bandleader Bobby Sanabria; and another for I-House's Contemporary Voices show, featuring the duets of David Grubbs/Susan Howe and Alan Licht/Aki Onda.

Metro Catch-Up

Metro subjects over the past few months have included: Robyn Hitchcock, Judas Priest's K.K. Downing, a Julie Andrews interview that unfortunately isn't online, the New Pornographers, Tommy Chong, Squeeze's Chris Difford, Kinky Friedman, Ben Folds bringing his orchestral act to the Mann, Motorhead's Mikkey Dee, Keith Jarrett in the inaugural edition of Metro's new weekly Guide to Arts & Culture, Chuck Palahniuk, in town promoting the film version of Choke, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, PMA's Thomas Chambers exhibit, Dennis Quaid, in Philly promoting The Express, and Danzig's 20th anniversary tour.

Citypaper, July 10

This week: Three meager reviews for week one of the 14th annual Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival: Between Something and Nothing, the latest, less-insufferable-than-usual Todd Verow effort; Four Windows, a too-opaque-for-its-own-good German psychodrama; and the too-lackluster-for-a-hyphenate-description Bollywood romancer When Kiran Met Karen. Plus, a review of the Brendan Fraser IN 3-D!!! action flick Journey To the Center of the Earth, a pick for Israeli folkie Noa Babayof and a Soundadvice blurb for Cape Verdean singer/guitarist Tcheka, and an artspick for David Maraniss, author of the politics-as-sport Rome 1960.

Citypaper, June 26

This week: A feature on the first annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, happening this weekend in NoLibs; a review of the Matthew Broderick/Brittany Snow semi-comedy Finding Amanda; a Soundadvice blurb for the Brubeck Brothers at Chris' Jazz Cafe; and a pick for historian Robert Schlesinger, author of the recent history of presidential speechwriters, White House Ghosts, appearing at the National Constitution Center.

Daily News, May 26-30

This week: an interview with ex-Philadelphian Benjamin Wallace, author of the wine and Jefferson-related (and therefore, specifically targeted to me) new book The Billionaire's Vinegar; and a pick for local vocalist Joanna Pascale.

Citypaper, March 20

In this week's CP: a review of Gus Van Sant's study of skater neurosis, Paranoid Park, and a short review of Ira Sachs' belated expose of '50s hypocrisy, Married Life; for the Book Quarterly, a brief review (scroll down) of Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement; a pick for Russian dada-rock group Auktyon, and Soundadvice mentions for the Fonda/Stevens Group, James Fei Alto Quartet, and Brother Ali.

Massive Post-Vacation Citypaper Update

Ok, so we were on vacation for most of the latter part of July, and then got back and I was really hectic with work, and am still kinda really hectic with work, and I'm naturally lazy about this blog, but if I don't update now it's never getting updated. So, here goes, Citypapers from July 19 through today:

July 19: Arts lead on a joint appearance by authors Louis Bayard and Matthew Pearl, both of whom wrote recent mysteries involving EA Poe; a review of Cashback; and 4 reviews from week two of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival: Kenneth Anger doc Anger Me, Doris Wishman's posthumously-release Each Time I Kill; Duncan Roy's AIDS-era retread of The Picture of Dorian Gray; and the Philly-made 2 Minutes Later, a rerun from the Philly Film Fest.

July 26: Just a feature review, expanded from one I wrote for the Film Fest, of Lars Von Trier's Boss of It All.

August 2: A music feature on Negativland, in town with their It's All In Your Head FM live radio show; a pick for the circus/Balkan/rock/jazz double-shot of Ara Anderson's Iron & teh Albatross and Brian Carpenter's Beat Circus; a Soundadvice mention for the inaugural Man vs. Machine show featuring This Ambitious Orchestra; a review for the Andy Samberg snoozer Hot Rod and another for the slightly funnier State-related The Ten.

August 9: An Arts pick for the Secret Cinema-presented film/book event Riot On Sunset Strip, screening the film which inspired the book of the same name by Dominic Priore, who was on hand to discuss; a music pick for Deviled Leggs, the Bowerbird experimental dance party; a combo review for the fantasies Stardust and Labyrinth; and a sidebar for the Tower Gallery's Art of the Short program.

August 16: An Arts feature on Brian Coleman's book release for Check the Technique, his book of liner notes for 36 hip-hop albums; a One Track Mind for Finnish monster-rockers Lordi's "Bringing Back the Balls To Rock"; and a review of the retooled, patchwork Nicole Kidman remake The Invasion.

August 23: An arts feature on so-called political prisoner Tom Manning and a show of his work at The Rotunda; a music feature on Marc Zajack's experimental (and - mostly - cassette-only) Deep Fried Tapes label; a review of Mr. Bean's Holiday (ugh), and another for Illegal Tender (ugh, except for Wanda De Jesus blowin' guys away).