A Big Fan of Fran
Direct and decisive, Fran Lebowitz (author of Metropolitan Life; Social Studies; writer for Interview and Mademoiselle magazines) has offered up her observations and opinions about life, and life in New York, since the 1970s. In Martin Scorsese’s 2021 seven-part Netflix docs-series, “Pretend It’s a City,” Lebowitz goes from putting her perspective down on pen and paper (literally, as she doesn’t own a computer, a cell phone, or an electronic tablet) to conversing across a table with Scorsese about Times Square, public transportation, her lifelong passion, and strict reverence, for books, and much more. And in doing so, Lebowitz delivers something epiphanic in nearly every 30-minute episode (her thoughts on the basketball legend, Michael Jordan springs to mind, for starters).
When the end credits appear, there’s a desire for more Fran; likely Scorsese felt the same way, squeezing in one more sharp sentiment from the woman of the half-hour during the credits. Wishing for a sequel, Mr. Scorsese, “Pretend It’s Still a City.”
Food. Comfort.: Chef Vivian Howard is Somewhere South
Way more than a chef talking to a camera, showing how to make baked this or roasted that (not to say that format doesn’t drip with positive aspects), PBS’ “Somewhere South” takes the traditional cooking show out of the kitchen, and out on the road. The chef, Vivian Howard, from the Emmy-, Peabody- and James-Beard-award-winning PBS documentary series, “A Chef’s Life” is the culinary tour guide. With each episode, Howard highlights a staple ingredient or item found in traditional Southern cooking, and travels to different places, whether it’s near her home in Kinston, North Carolina or to a neighboring Southern state, to see how that featured item or a similar variation is used by other chefs and home cooks.
The series is at its most fascinating when the ingredient transcends cultural background, for example, in Episode Four’s “What a Pickle,” Howard goes from learning how to make Puerto Rican escabeche in Lexington, Kentucky, to meeting the Durham, North Carolina chef, Michael Lee (and his Korean family) to get a lesson in how to make kimchi; Episode Five’s “It’s a Greens Thing” has her heading to Cary, North Carolina to make saag paneer with an Indian family that has Kenyan ties. (Turns out, Cary has one of the biggest Indian Asian communities in the Southeast.)
“Somewhere South” exudes quiet (southern) comfort, and the delightful Howard is a hug personified. With her refined drawl, luminous smile and charming spirit, Howard shines in her genuine gratitude for being invited into people’s homes to cook with them, to hear their stories, to raise a glass as to how beautiful it is that food not just connects but unifies.
Here’s a taste of “Somewhere South”:
Kacey Musgraves: The Woman of the “Golden Hour”
If you didn’t see Kacey Musgraves as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” check it out. She performed two songs from Golden Hour: the country/disco, “High Horse” and the smooth “Slow Burn.” The unconventional marriage of country and disco on “Horse” works nicely (as it does on Kylie Minogue’s Golden), with its references to John Wayne and “giddy up/giddy up,” paired with a prominent bass line, congas, high-hat cymbal, and a sparkling saddle as mirror ball. With “Horse,” it appears as if Musgraves is stepping a bit out of her comfort zone, but then again standing on the “SNL” stage may turn the volume up on the nerves. Nonetheless, the creative departure is most welcome, and “Horse” is immediately catchy. She settles into the song and the performance, even towards the end serving a bit of ‘70s Cher, when Musgraves flicks her long black hair off each shoulder.
But more importantly, it’s Musgraves’ crystal voice that shines, especially on “Slow Burn,” her return to the familiar: acoustic guitar in hands; taking her “Slow Burn” time, revealing lyrics that keep to a traditional country sensibility, but with a modern take, something for which she is known (“Texas is hot/I can be cold/Grandma cried when I pierced my nose”). Its sound is tender, its pacing is beautiful, and the sweet spot is revealed in the second verse when the band comes in: drums kick; bass rolls; steel guitar slides.
The Swedes of San Francisco: Fab Car Ad for the Volvo XC40
Feature a sweet-looking, compact SUV moving through a photogenic San Francisco, and the impassioned sound of the song, “Aqualung” by the Swedish singer, Miss Li, and you’ve got a lifestyle ad that makes you want to find the nearest Volvo dealer. Audio and visual pairings throughout the ad are inspired, especially as the XC40 turns to greet you. Other highlights: the sleekest Thor-hammer blinkers, yes, blinkers; the XC40 gliding up and over the slightest grade along Sansome Street at Pine; rolling into the “city sunset” along Montgomery Street. It’s a visceral ad that sends the heart racing.
New “Twin Peaks” Trailer is Damn Fine
Showtime just released a new trailer for its continuation of the David Lynch-Mark Frost television series, “Twin Peaks.” Groundbreaking for its unique characters and (often horrific) storylines set in a small logging town in the Pacific Northwest, the ‘90s pop-culture phenomenon advanced TV to a cinematic level. The actress Madchen Amick (now on “Riverdale”), who played/plays the waitress, Shelly Johnson on the series, recently commented for “Entertainment Weekly” that the show “…slowed the pace down, literally slowed television’s pace down.” The trailer scrolls clever copy, in the show’s signature brown and green font, over an ominous rumble in the background, to highlight the series’ legacy as one of the most original, culturally significant works of the last thirty years. The trailer’s closing scene has a spine-tingling tone, one of the many things for which the show was renowned.
An Australian in Paris: “…That Sweet City Woman”
Kylie Minogue’s cover of the Bee Gee’s classic, “Night Fever” (from Saturday Night Fever) utilizes her upper upper-register, in order to capture Barry Gibb’s distinctive vocal style. In the live performances below, Kylie showcases her authentic, live-vocal capacity, even amid a backing track for (background-vocal) effect. When Kylie sings, “Makin’ it mine,” she’s makin’ it hers.
The staging, styling and choreography is nothing short of chic, paying homage to Parisian glam-pop-disco in the ‘70s, while the two female dancers sport voluminous hair and seductive moves of the period. Kylie joins the dance party at “I got fire in my mind/I get higher in my walking,” and can’t help near the end to do a funky four-step.
Timeless from “Time Life”
An infomercial can easily pull you in, especially when it’s one of those 30-minute “Time Life” music collections honoring the “Soul of the ‘70s.” The format, with its montage of short performance clips, mostly from vintage “Soul Train” episodes, just works to keep the attention after that initial allure—and of course most of the credit goes to isolating those catchy sound bites from some of the best R & B, soul, funk and disco productions. One in particular stood out: “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again” by the band, L.T.D., fronted by Jeffrey Osborne. The singer’s distinct vocal clarity on top of a tight horn section, a pre-chorus popping bass chord, guitar scratch, tambourine, and soulfully angelic female backing vocalists are the ageless components.
Thirty-Minute Heals: PBS Chronicles “A Chef’s Life”
PBS’ “A Chef’s Life” features the chef, Vivian Howard as she, her husband Ben Knight, and young twins plant roots (back) in Howard’s home state of North Carolina, an area to where Howard said she’d never return.
Howard and Knight met in New York, where they embraced city life and metropolitan kitchens. Yellow tractors have now replaced yellow cabs; strolling along rows of earth-covered potatoes the new concrete sidewalks. Their professional passion still exists regardless of zip code, in the form of the popular restaurant, “Chef & the Farmer.”
On this Emmy- and Peabody- and James-Beard-award-winning documentary series, Howard at times reveals an insightful vulnerability, as the camera captures the complexity of transition, not in the moving from city A to small town B, but in her quest to remain an active chef, amid growing public recognition and all the responsibilities that come with. At the heart of “A Chef’s Life” is not just a woman’s return home, but a rediscovery of that home with (even more) respectful pride.
Feeling Solo: Destiny’s Child: “Independent Women Part 1”
What kismet—an apt word—that Destiny’s Child got their lineup finalized down to a trio and soon ended up contributing a song to the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack. Whether it’s a group of singers or private detectives, there’s nothing like the power of three, once you get the three members locked down. For the group, it was Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and newest member Michelle Williams; for the film revamp of the classic TV series, it was “Lucy Liu, with my girl Drew, Cameron D…” That’s Drew as in Barrymore, D as in Diaz. Another example of this kismet collaboration: Just as the singing group seemed to struggle with who was in and who was out, the late ‘70s/early ‘80s TV series seemed to struggle as well with who was staying and who wasn’t. The show saw Farrah Fawcett leave after one season, and eventually Kate Jackson. Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts all graced the couches of the Townsend Agency, with Jaclyn Smith—let’s be honest, the “Beyoncé” of the group—staying for the entire run.
With the TV series and the film version stressing the importance of female capability and independence (and at the same time, the benefits of camaraderie, regardless of what form the trio takes), it was a no-brainer that the title of the Destiny’s Child contribution would be “Independent Women Part I.” Full of catchy, sing-along hooks, it’s a confident ode to self-sufficiency, which has Beyoncé in the verses asking one rhetorical “Question:” after another to her male counterpart, reminding him that “I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings/Only ring your celly when I’m feelin’ lonely/When it’s all over, please get up and leave.”
And while there’s nothing wrong with pride, the ladies walk a fine line, yet are careful never to lapse into arrogance. Beyoncé, being the competent writer that she is, knows to never alienate the listener, but inspire, ensuring “I depend on me” is uttered frequently. In the second verse, she further clarifies: “If you’re gonna brag/Just make sure it’s your money that you front/Depend on no one else to give you what you want.”
After this second verse and chorus, note the familiar melody line in the bridge. Think of the verses on Blondie’s “Rapture,” for example: “Toe to toe/Dancing very close/Body breathing/Almost comatose.” “Independent Women Part I”: “Child of destiny/Independent beauty…” And finally, Question: Tell me that this infectious track shouldn’t be applauded for adding the line, “All the mamas who profit dollas”?