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Archive: November, 2011
The gentlemen of High Hearts play a remarkably authentic style of old-fashioned, bluegrass folk. Complete with acoustic guitar, vocal harmonies, fiddle, mandolin and bass, this ain't your backyard hootenanny, solo-trading throwdown music. This is straight-up, storytime around the campfire folk. Their CD, Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist is eight tracks with names like "Gypsy Girl," "No Moon" and "Boneyard Train," which all sound exactly like you'd think they'd sound. And that ain't a bad thing, especially if you're into woodsy, occasionally gypsy-esque singer-songwriting with two- and three-way harmonies.
Standout track "Gypsy Girl" is an intimidating plea to a young lady who will soon be old and gray. "Crickets" is a short, up-tempo ditty with rustic lines like "With a pair of blues and worn-out shoes/You lost your poker face" and "We don't have to talk, the crickets are just fine." "Boneyard Train" — as you can imagine — is about a one-way ticket, no turning back. If there's a recurring theme on the album, it's that life is short, so make sure to drink whiskey and enjoy taking risks while you have the chance. This is probably not a terrible mantra to live by, considering the Yellowstone caldera, global warming and pending collapse of the dollar and euro. So what better way to distract yourself from the pre-apocalypse than taking in a folksy music show at the Tritone this Sunday night.
Sun., Nov. 6, 8 p.m., free, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, tritonebar.com.
View gallery"Philly," Dave from Chromeo said, "Let's get pregnant." That's the impression Mayer Hawthorne and Chromeo left you with. In the studio, they've established themselves as beloved, nerdy, indie funk and soul conoisseurs. But on stage? Smooth cats just trying to churn out some babymakers.
Dressed in suits and fedoras, both acts were on their grown man, as they say. Nevertheless, it didn't amount to a babymaking music type of affair despite efforts. One, because both acts have two many fancy-free diddies for that. Two, it was Halloween and most of the crowd was wearing costumes, ready for holiday fun. Standing next to a guy dressed as Harry Potter doesn't really put one in the mood. But it does make for a hopping dance party with everyone throwing their glow sticks. Brava, gentlemen. How we make this happen again for Halloween next year?
Each week, Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald puts together a rundown of book-centric events that’ll keep you “lit” like a winter furnace all week long.
[Tuesday]
➤ Write Your Own Epitaph Day
Many renowned men and women have made their last breath count by recording their own epitaphs. And, 
depending on the individual, these famous last words have ranged from hopeful and devastating to flat-out hilarious. For H.G. Wells, "Goddamn you all: I told you so," fit nicely. Given Charles Bukowski’s notorious honesty, “Don’t Try,” seems to suffice. And satirist Dorothy Parker (pictured) stayed polite until the end with “Excuse my Dust.” On National Write Your Own Epitaph Day, start practicing on your own epitaph before it's too late. And remember, “don’t try” too hard. All day, free, in a dark room with leftover Halloween spider webs.
[Wednesday]
➤ Behind Kitchen Doors
It looks like famed food critic Anthony Bourdain was just playing hard-to-get in 2007 when he told Philadelphia Weekly, “Honestly, I’ve never even bothered with Philly.” It seems to me it's a two-horse town: Starr and Perrier." Joined by 10 Arts’ Eric Ripert, he's giving Philly another stab at this discussion about what they've seen, heard and tasted behind closed kitchen doors. 7:30 p.m. $45-$55, Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.
[Thursday]
➤ “We tell ourselves stories in order to live…”
Her mastery of literary journalism has never been up for debate. In the ’60s and ’70s, Didion’s was the voice of honest and often cynical representation of the controversial political and social issues across the nation. Her accomplishments in this genre have remained unmatched for decades. Practicing blatant and honest description of other people’s experiences seems to have prepared Didion to reveal her own. In her most recent novel, Blue Nights, Didion seeks to understand her late daughter’s suffering and her personal battle with aging and mortality. Like all public lectures by Didion, this is not to be missed. 7:30 p.m., $15 or free simulcast, Free Library, 1901 Vine St., 215-686-5322, freelibrary.org.
Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Go for the win!
EAGLES STOMP DALLAS 34-7
On Halloweekend, the Eagles treated fans to exactly what they wanted — a huge 34-7 win over the 
loathed Dallas Cowboys, allowing coach Andy Reid, who has never lost the game following the bye week, to extend his post-bye record to an unprecedented 13-0.
Mike Vick had a nearly flawless game, completing three-quarters of his throws for 279 yards and two scores — one to Jeremy Maclin to open up scoring on the first drive of the contest and another to tight end Brent Celek in the second. Celek had his best outing of the season, leading the team with seven catches for 94 yards and that touchdown.
"We started fast," said Vick after the game. "That was our mindset. We wanted to set the tempo. We didn't want to let up."
However good the passing numbers were, the real star of the game was running back LeSean McCoy. McCoy (pictured), who is rapidly rising to elite status, rushed for an eye-popping 185 yards and two touchdowns. The rushing total was McCoy’s career high as he shouldered the load in running down the clock once the gigantic lead was established.
While the Eagles racked up 495 total yards and held the ball for 42:09, the defense also had its best showing of the year, as they held Tony Romo and the Cowboys offense to only seven points. The swarming Eagles defense finally looked like it had clicked, as they harassed the Dallas quarterback throughout the game, sacking him four times and forcing an interception to Nnamdi Asomugha. Romo was visibly flustered, and save for a lucky 70-yard toss in fourth, was vastly ineffective.
Friday night Medeski Martin & Wood got just about everyone in the Electric Factory shuffling their feet, shaking their hips and showing them how to groove in on a Halloween weekend. They played three sets, the first of which included just the three and song selections made by fans via their Facebook wall in the days prior to the show. “End of the World Party,” from 2004’s album of the same name, featuring Wood upright bass bowing, was the relatively short first set’s standout. Short because the real show was yet to follow.
Antibalas, a.k.a. Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, who opened the show, joined MMW for the second set. But they didn’t begin until MMW and Antibalas (a combined 15 people) selected their favorite of the carved pumpkins at the front of the stage, which were brought for a contest to meet the bands after the show. With Antibalas, there were 15 people on stage and not one of them could have looked like he was having more fun than they already were. Really, there were smiles and dance moves throughout those on stage equal to those in the crowd. The arrangement was put together for just three shows this Halloween weekend, which Martin called, the “trilogy of terror.” Even when Medeski, who seemed to be the least afraid to get noisy and atonal with his solos, the giant band stayed together. Antibalas’ lead trumpet player, Jordan McLean dedicated a song to the Occupy movement and the protests in Egypt. “That’s why we’re here,” he said. The encore set included a raucous protest tune with Antibalas saxophonist Stuart Bogie leading “Indictment,” and calling everyone to withdraw all their money from banks and put it in a credit union by Nov. 5.
She was hunted in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, possessed in Zombieland and raped in North Country. Yet sharing the big screen with superstars like Jesse Eisenberg, Nicholas Cage and Seth Rogen (in Pineapple Express, for which she received the 2008 Young Hollywood Award) isn’t daunting for Amber Heard. The Friday Night Lights actress has created quite the name for herself, even co-producing a horror-mystery And Soon the Darkness. Now she’s swimming naked in the ocean as Chenault, a sexy socialite stuck in a materialistic world. She stars opposite Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, a film based on Hunter S. Thompson’s novel about journalist Paul Kemp. And next year, Heard will star in Syrup, a film about young people viciously clawing their way through the corporate world.
City Paper: How did you prepare for the role of Chenault?
Amber Heard: I did a lot of research on what was going on at that time, what Hunter S. Thompson was living through, and how those around him affected him. There’s a wonderful biography on him that I read, which was very helpful. I’ve also been a Thompson fan for a long time. I’ve read the book before and loved it. So with all of that, I came into the movie as prepared — and yet as open — as I could to be.
CP: What drew you to your character?
AH: I decided to audition for Chenault because it was a project that I believed in, a message that I supported, a novel that I loved, written by an artist I immensely respected, going to be a movie directed by a director I loved, to play opposite one of the best actors alive, and to be in a beautiful place like Puerto Rico. I did it for every reason. And it didn’t hurt that my character gave me room to build as an artist a real character. I always struggle to find three-dimensional roles for women who are just beautiful or sexy and nothing else. The opportunity to really be able to make something out of a blank canvas was interesting. My character appears — at surface level — to be the archetype for the ’50-’60s trophy fiancée. She’s very much a member of this elite class who came to Puerto Rico and saw the beautiful beach and just saw money. She and Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart) are very much a part of this system but are also imprisoned by it. She’s in a gilded cage. She’s a commodity that men like Sanderson seek to own. On the surface, she’s the icon of the American Dream, like the Corvette, yet there’s much more to her. She is flawed and slightly broken and troubled on the inside, but also fiercely intelligent and independent and rebellious. In many ways, she’s the opposite of what she looks.
CP: Do you think Chenault is the embodiment of American Dream because people like Sanderson ascribe that to her, or do they worship her because she was already like that?
AH: I think it’s both, one feeds into the other, it’s a cycle. People like Sanderson aren’t forcing any other characters to be one way or another. I believe that Chenault came from a wealthy dad and is expected to marry a wealthy man. The problem is that that lifestyle doesn’t make her happy as we meet her, and in her rebellious nature she learns that there’s a whole lot more to life.
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