The Arts in Philadelphia: Duchamp, Murals, and the Three Stooges

The national papers are shining a light on several worthwhile Philadelphia exhibits this weekend. In the Personal Journal section on Friday, The Wall Street Journal profiles the "Love Letter" project by Stephen Powers, a series of 50 rooftop and street-level murals created by Powers and 40 other painters along an El route in West Philadelphia (guided tours will soon be available). And in the Weekend Arts section on Friday, The New York Times highlights a number of area exhibits, including Powers' murals; "Etant Donnes," an exhibition of the works of early 20th century avant-garde artist Marcel Duchamp; the "hardy, low-budget, do-it-yourself, do-it-for-love creativeness" of Fluxspace and the Fabric Workshop; and, in the "only in Philadelphia category," the Stoogeum, the world's only museum dedicated to the memory and achievements of Moe, Larry and Curly, located in Ambler (about 10 minutes north of Chestnut Hill). The Times writer finds it to be "impressively designed," and the experience inspired him to return to his Stooges DVDs and reflect again on the trio as emblematic of 20th century immigrant culture.
If you ever find yourself driving down South Street in Philadelphia, look for the historic marker indicating where Stooge Larry Fine (ne Louis Feinberg) was born. The creator of the Stoogeum "married the granddaughter of Larry's brother," the Times reports.

On Demand Alert: Passing Strange The Movie

In spring 2008, Ann and I caught the Broadway production of "Passing Strange," an "autobiographical fiction" musical starring Stew (that's all, just "Stew") and co-authored by Heidi Rosenwald. Stew's story -- of a young African-American searching for meaning in Europe during the Seventies, and living off of checks from his middle-class mother from the Compton neighborhood in Los Angeles -- was interesting to someone who was a somewhat less privileged contemporary of his (me)... but the telling -- with Stew fronting a terrific rock band that held center-stage through the entire performance -- was something special. The original Broadway production only lasted for 165 performances, but fortunately filmmaker Spike Lee was so taken with it that he captured the work on film. "Passing Strange The Movie" debuted at the IFC Center theater in New York on August 21st, and on Wednesday August 26 it will be available on-demand on cable systems across America. Someone described "Passing Strange" as "The Rock Musical for Rock Musical Haters" -- if you're one of those, tune in. It's great music, it's organic to the play, and the production is captivating. Based on the clips on the movie's website, Spike Lee has very effectively captured what we so thoroughly enjoyed in the theater.

Sachal Vasandani: New Voice in Jazz

Young jazz vocalist Sachal Vasandani made the first stop on the pre-release tour for his second CD, We Move, at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia on Friday. A helpful Arts Boston article tells me that he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1999 and worked as an investment banker before going full-time in the jazz biz. ArtsBoston nicely describes his voice as "deep-brewed" (but so did the Detroit JazzStage website, so credit to whomever came up with it first). I hear stylistic traces of Harry Connick, Jr. and Jamie Cullum, and some reaching back to Chet Baker and Jon Hendricks. He does some fine cover versions (a particularly swinging effort on Thelonious Monk's "Man, That Was A Dream") but emphasizes his original compositions, which are uneven. Among the better of his self-penned numbers is the title tune of his new CD, but even his lesser compositions were strengthened by his terrific backing trio: Jeb Patton on piano, Josh Ginsberg on bass, and Quincy Davis on drums. (Detroit transplant Dean Moore offered up a great alto sax solo on the Monk composition.)

Vasandani's opening set list at Chris' included: That Old Black Magic, There's A Small Hotel (Latin funk), Please Mr. Ogilvy, Medley: Royal Eyes, There Are Such Things, My Dear, Man That Was A Dream, We Move, No More.

Vasandani has a nice stage presence and a gentle but persistent sell (making sure to hawk his CD and collect e-mail addresses which he promises to treat with respect). He clearly loves his work and I think he'll continue to grow.

Warming Up for The Leeds: Pianist Shih-Wei Huang

Last Thursday night, Ann and I hosted a recital by the young Taiwanese pianist Shih-Wei Huang at our home for about 30 friends. Shih-Wei is a May 2009 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied under two of the Institute's most esteemed faculty, Claude Frank and Eleanor Sokoloff. She will be a graduate student at the Yale School of Music beginning in September.

Shih-Wei is on her way to compete in the 16th Leeds International Pianoforte Competition ("the Leeds"), a triennial showdown that begins in the Yorkshire town next week. In this recital, she performed several pieces that she intends to play as she advances to later rounds against 68 other competitors from around the globe, including Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata, Chopin's Sonata Op. 58, and a truly exciting piano transcription of Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka adapted by the composer at the request of Artur Rubenstein. While Rubenstein performed the work live, he never recorded it (though one version of the story I heard at our reception was that he in fact recorded it several times but never released it because he was not satisfied with his performances). On piano, Petrushka is a very demanding work that Shih-Wei performed with power and grace.

I know that everyone who joined us wishes Shih-Wei all success at the Leeds. Several rounds of the competition can be heard on the BBC, and I will try to listen in on the Web.