2009 in Review

Better late than never, right? Here, for those into lists:

Top 10 Jazz CDs

1. Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)

2. Vijay Iyer, Historicity (ACT)

3. Steve Lehman Octet, Travail, Transformation and Flow (Pi)

4. Abdullah Ibrahim, Senzo (Sunnyside)

5. David Binney, Third Occasion (Mythology)

6. Henry Threadgill Zooid, This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi)

7. Tarbaby, s/t

8. Fly, Sky and Country (ECM)

9. The Monterey Quartet, Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival)

10. Darius Jones Trio, Man'ish Boy (AUM Fidelity)

For details, my Citypaper piece is here.

Top Ten Films

1. 35 Shots of Rum

2. The Hurt Locker

3. Revanche

4. Still Walking

5. Fantastic Mr. Fox

6. Summer Hours

7. Hunger

8. Lorna’s Silence

9. Tokyo Sonata

10. Up

The Citypaper piece is here.

I'm hesitant to make a decade-spanning list (and won't, in the case of music), but with the caveat of a deeply-flawed memory, here's a list of top films for the Aughts:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Mulholland Dr.
3. In the Mood For Love
4. What Time Is It There?
5. Syndromes and a Century
6. Cache
7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
8. Pan's Labyrinth
9. Grizzly Man
10. Shaun of the Dead

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.

Invasion of the Body Slammers: Citypaper, Nov. 12

This week's cover story is my long-in-gestation piece about the South Philly indie pro wrestling scene. Spent a lot of time over the past few months at the old ECW Arena, and will be back a few times in the coming weeks, especially for the crowning of the first Dragon Gate USA champion!

Also in this busy week's paper, a feature review of Lee Daniel's histrionic and histrionically-named Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (despite what the cover would have you believe, however, I wouldn't say it "lives up to the hype" - I actively disliked much if not most of it, but ended up giving it a B+ because it does live up to what it sets out to do. This is why letter-grading is reductive and silly, folks); a short review of the would-be art-world satire (Untitled); a music pick for Peter Apfelbaum's New York Hieroglyphics at the Painted Bride; and Soundadvice blurbs for Chris' Israeli Jazz Festival and for sax minimalist John Butcher at the Powel House.

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.

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.

Citypaper, September 3

"Do the voice!"

It's Live Arts/Fringe time, and in this week's issue I took a look at all of the shows in this year's fest that deal with social networking. I'm checking out quite a few shows in the next two weeks, and will try to blog them here.

Also this week, an interview with none other than Bobcat Goldthwait.

Citypaper, August

Aug. 6: The month kicked off with my cover story on drummer Justin Faulkner, already gigging with Branford Marsalis at the age of 18. The kid promises to be a monster, and is a good way towards getting there already. Also in this issue, a music pick on guitarists Ryan Meagher and Matt Davis, an arts pick on Winterthur's Faces of a New Nation exhibit, and a review of the Asperger's romance Adam.

Aug. 13: A review of the alien-apartheid actioner District 9.

Aug. 20: A review of Sophie Barthes' Being Paul Giamatti comedy Cold Souls, an arts pick for Woodmere Art Museum's Total Abstraction show, a music pick for Father Figures at Gojjo, and a Soundadvice blurb for Cuban-born drummer Francisco Mela.

Aug. 27: Nada.

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.

Toshi TV

Was interviewed this week for the CW Philly's evening news for a piece on Toshi Makihara's YouTube Solo365 Project, which I wrote about in a cover story for Citypaper earlier this year. Video is on the CBS3 site now.

Citypaper, May 7

This week: a review of JJ Abrams' new Star Trek reboot, music picks for OffOnOff at Johnny Brenda's and Burnt Sugar at the North Star, and an arts pick for Martina Plag's puppet-theater piece Crane's Promise.

Citypaper, April 30

Just a pair of film reviews this week: one for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's unsettling turn towards family melodrama, Tokyo Sonata, and the second for the Michael Caine-redeemed cloyer Is Anybody There?

Citypaper, April 23

Two film reviews this week: the tender side of Spinal Tap revealed in Sacha Gervasi's doc Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and Joe Wright makes the intimate epic, in the treacliest of fashion, in The Soloist.

Citypaper, April 16

This week, a review of In a Dream, Jeremiah Zagar's remarkable doc about his artist father Isaiah; picks for the newly retooled Make a Rising, aggro local noise-punks Snowstorm, and Ab Baars' Trio with Ken Vandermark; and a short feature on Invented (un)Realities, the new show curated by Vox Populi Gallery at the Gershman Y.

Citypaper, April 9

The first of what promises to be many light weeks following the recent redesign/budget slashorama: an arts pick for Zornitsa Stoyanova's Here[begin] Dance Co., a review of Observe and Report, and a blurb for vibist Kevin Norton's Counterpoint trio.

Citypaper, April 2

Film Fest/Cinefest/Whateverpalooza week two brings a scant three reviews: American Violet, The Burning Plain, and Sita Sings the Blues. Plus, regular reviews of Greg Mottola's Adventureland and the dreary '50s sci-fi pastiche Alien Trespass, and Soundadvice blurbs for guitarist Julian Lage and the Blue Note 7.

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.

Citypaper, March 19

This week: Reviews of Knowing, I Love You, Man and The Great Buck Howard; a pick for Bowerbird's "Guitar Heroes II" show with David Daniell, Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, and Andy Giles; and a Soundadvice blurb for Ars Nova's third Julius Hemphill Composer Portrait.

Citypaper, March 12

This week: A preview of I-House's wonderful upcoming retrospective on filmmaker, painter, composer, and philanthropist Jerome Hill and reviews of Wayne Kramer's Crossing Over and the wholly unnecessary remake of Last House on the Left. Then there's Soundadvice blurbs for German trio Grid Mesh at Gojjo and NYC's Ensemble Pamplemousse on a Bowerbird bill, and a Naked City feature about Chris' Jazz Cafe's R&B/funk/jazz happy hour, Sunset Sessions.

Citypaper, March 5

Scored the cover of this week's Music Issue, with a piece on local percussion acrobat Toshi Makihara.