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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Tim Riley
‘THE MENU’ RATED R
The foodie culture has been satirized in many ways for its pretentious stylish presentation of fine dining, from the artistry of the food on the plates to the modern chic of the restaurant itself.
“The Menu” is taking the concept of haute cuisine to an insane level over the period of a five course (or it is six or more?), where the farm-to-table meal looks more like modern art than an edible experience.
The setting is a temple of exquisite gastronomy called Hawthorn, where the wealthy, celebrities and affected fools fork over $1,250 per patron to savor the changing menu of Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) who runs the joint like a cult leader.
Save for one person, nobody has arrived at the island restaurant not on purpose. The arrogant Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) considers himself an aficionado of the culinary arts but he’s more the buffoon.
Tyler’s date is Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a last-minute substitute for this excursion. From the start, she’s skeptical about the whole evening, and it turns out for very good reason.
As an unnamed movie star, John Leguizamo finds his acting career is fading and hopes instead to host a travel food show, and his assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero) is desperate to quit and get away from him.
A trio of obnoxious tech guys (Arturo Castro, Rob Yang and Mark St. Cyr) work for Doug Varick, owner of the Hawthorn, which gives them an added sense of dubious privilege.
Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer), an arrogant food critic with an overly inflated ego, has a history with Chef Slowik, and she’s joined by her editor (Paul Adelstein), a spineless yes man.
Reed Birney and Judith Light play a wealthy older couple who have been regulars at Hawthorn but over the course of the meal unsettling secrets are revealed about the husband.
Chef Slowik may be at the top of his game, but he’s come to loathe his elite customers, and himself, for being corrupted by them, and his disgust and contempt are a toxic brew for an evening that turns deadly.
The actors are the best thing on “The Menu” as they deal with the shocking surprises that put them on edge. Oddly interesting, the whole affair is a mysterious thriller mixed
with satire and strong violence.
‘DOLLY PARTON’S MOUNTAIN MAGIC CHRISTMAS’ ON TV
Fans of Dolly Parton are almost certain to love NBC’s most highly anticipated television event of the holiday season in the new original movie “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.”
The moniker GOAT usually applies to a sports superstar, someone like Tom Brady, but you could say the same goes for Dolly as the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter with a multitude of awards and number one songs on the Billboard country charts.
Don’t worry about missing the premiere on the network because Dolly’s special will stream on Peacock, and apparently there will be an encore on NBC on Dec. 21 at 8 p.m.
While there are numerous songs that capture the spirit of Christmas and the importance of gathering with family during the holidays, Dolly gets to shine with her iconic songs “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You.”
There are a few things to be learned during this two-hour film. Such as, Jimmy Fallon may host his own eponymous late night talk show on NBC, but who knew that he was also a singer?
In a duet with Dolly for the song “It’s Almost Too Early for Christmas,” Fallon wears a black leather sequined jacket as the pair dance with backup singers in a scene that looks like a 1950’s diner.
Keep in mind that “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas,” which has opening scenes at Dollywood, is a movie musical about the making of a network TV special, with all of the frenetic backstage angst of a dress rehearsal.
Speaking of production anguish, Tom Everett Scott’s show producer Sam Haskell frets that they are behind schedule for their live performance, and things only gets worse when the choreographer leaves for a job with the Radio City Rockettes.
Throughout the movie’s production numbers and rehearsal chaos, Dolly finds herself taking a private journey into her past, guided by the mysterious appearances of her personal Wise Mountain Men.
Through the sparkle of magic dust, Willie Nelson tells Dolly to think of him as a wise old mountain man full of wisdom. Her response is to tell him that he is “full of it.”
When Dolly says that Willie Nelson taught her to remember that we’ll always be the kids we once were at Christmas, Billy Ray Cyrus shares his wisdom that who you are with in the present is what really makes it Christmas.
When the time comes for the special to air, a renewed and inspired Dolly goes rogue and shows the world that the real magic of Christmas lies in the hearts of the children and that Christmas is about the people we share it with.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Ukiah Symphony
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Center Theater on the Mendocino College Campus in Ukiah.
The program includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Sextet in E-flat Major” featuring soloists John Lounsbery and Randy Masselink, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s work “Hiob” (Job) featuring vocal soloists, and G.F. Handel’s (arranged by W. A. Mozart) piece “Hallelujah!” from “Messiah.”
Concert goers will also hear Margaret Bonds’ “The Ballad of the Brown King: A Christmas Cantata” with the Mendocino College Choir and vocal soloists Aléxa Anderson, Melinda Martinez Becker, Sidney Ragland and Bradley Kynard.
Margaret Bonds was one of the first African-American female composers to gain recognition in the United States and “The Ballad of the Brown King” is one of many collaborative projects she completed with Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes.
Phillip Lenberg is conductor of the Ukiah Symphony Orchestra and Janice Hawthorne Timm is Director for the Mendocino College Choirs.
An hour before each concert, visitors can attend a pre-concert talk. Following Saturday’s evening program, attendees can sip Gowan’s cider and enjoy treats at an after hours reception.
Visit https://www.ukiahsymphony.org to purchase tickets and find more information.
The Ukiah Symphony Orchestra is a community-based orchestra located in the city of Ukiah, composed of musicians from Ukiah and the surrounding communities.
Founded in 1979, they have been providing continuous, regular seasons of orchestra music for Ukiah and the surrounding communities for more than 40 years.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Weekly rehearsals began in September and take place on Sundays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Soper-Reese Theatre.
The Lake County Community & Youth Orchestra, or LCCYO, is a multi-generational performance-based group for musicians from middle school age to adults.
All players from Lake County and the surrounding areas with intermediate to advanced musical instrument experience are invited to join the orchestra.
In addition to being a group with experienced players, this is the perfect opportunity for young musicians just starting out, players wanting to improve their skills on a second instrument, or adults looking to re-familiarize themselves with an instrument they may not have played for years.
The LCCYO is currently recruiting for all orchestral instruments and calling for string players (violin, viola, cello, double bass), wind players (brass and woodwinds), and rhythm section/ percussionists (drums, timpani, piano, bass).
This Lake County-based group is open to musicians from the surrounding counties as well. Ridesharing is available and highly recommended for those traveling to rehearsals and performances from outside the county.
Whether you are a seasoned musician or have not performed with a group for a while, all are welcome to come explore music in a safe and supportive environment.
The LCCYO performs at least four times a year. In addition to an exclusive LCCYO spring concert, the group opens for the Lake County Symphony at their November “Classics” concert, the December “Christmas Celebration” and the ever-popular “Pops” concert in May.
This season, the Lake County Community & Youth Orchestra is directed by Dr. Camm Linden who is semi-retired from the film industry after working as a freelance composer/arranger and rehearsal conductor for various movie sound stages.
She plays multiple instruments in the Lake County Symphony; Linden played a Haydn piano concerto last season, sits regularly in the trumpet section, and has also been seen playing horn and percussion.
For more information about the community orchestra, please visit www.lccyo.org.
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- Written by: Kwame Dawes
I must admit that I leave “In Patient” still wondering, “Is she alright?”
I suspect that Erin Evans knows this, and what she wants to say is that this moment of humor, a distraction from the thing that is feared — a husband checking his wife’s heartbeat with a stethoscope — may, in the end, be far less important than the quirky observation.
Perhaps he is listening for the sound of a child’s pulse, perhaps he’s testing a new stethoscope, perhaps they are just playing “doctor,” perhaps, perhaps.
In Patient
By Erin Evans
My husband holds the cold stethoscope to my chest—
his brown eyes averted, he listens carefully,
like someone taking directions on the phone
on how to save another life.
My heart is a room full of dispatchers
waiting for those strange-hour, desperate calls,
trained to keep you on the line while help arrives.
But what he says, smiling up at me,
after he’s listened awhile is,
“I think I can hear the ocean.”
And I know he must be right—
that what he hears is some small part
of the 95% of water on earth
yet to be explored,
that there is still no word for life
that doesn’t sound like the hush of the ocean.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2022 by Erin Evans, “In Patient” from Nimrod International Journal. Volume 65. Number 2, Spring/Summer, 2022. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.