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An online guide to events, night life and entertainment
TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010
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cancellations of some high-profile tours (see: Christina Aguilera), many groups are braving the slow ticket sales to create soundtracks for our summer nights. Here are a few of the big artists coming to the area in the next week.
FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS
Although Valli most likely can’t hit the high notes of his younger days, $25 for a lawn seat at Wolf Trap is a small price to pay to see a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. Thursday at 8 p.m. Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna.
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Concert season isn’t sizzling, but these bands are cooking S
o far, it doesn’t look like live concerts are having the comeback year many expected. But despite
703-255-1868. 877-965-3872. www.
wolftrap.org. $25-$45.
311 AND THE OFFSPRING This combination of bands on the
Unity Tour 2010 looks to be a crowd pleaser. The double-headliner happens annually, with Snoop Dogg and the Roots joining 311 in previous years. The Offspring should be a welcome choice for rock fans. Friday at 6:30 p.m. Jiffy Lube Live,
7800 Cellar Door Dr., Bristow. 703-754-6400.
www.jiffylubelive.com. $37-$52.
NATALIE MERCHANT Since leaving 10,000 Maniacs for a solo career, this singer-songwriter’s
CHRIS PIZZELLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON TOUR:Tyson Ritter and All- American Rejects, coming July 20.
music has been heard not only on the radio but also on movie soundtracks. Expect songs from her latest album, “Leave Your Sleep,” about her experiences as a mother. Sunday at 8 p.m. Music Center at
Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. 301-581-5100. www.
strathmore.org. $55.
VANS WARPED TOUR This tour has become a staple of summer concerts. Each year, the lineup heavy with punk-rock mixes popular and lesser-known groups. This year, look for 3OH!H, Sum 41, Dropkick Murphys and the All-American Rejects. July 20 at 11 a.m. Merriweather Post
Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia. 410-715-5550. 877-435-9849.
www.merriweathermusic.com. $32.75-$40.
IRON MAIDEN Frequently ranked among the greatest hard-rock bands, Iron Maiden is taking to the stage for its Final Frontier 2010 North American Tour. The tour precedes the release of the group’s new album, “The Final Frontier,” which is set to hit stores in mid-August. July 20 at 7:30 p.m. Jiffy Lube Live,
7800 Cellar Door Dr., Bristow. 703-754-6400.
www.jiffylubelive.com. $31-$91.
— Kristen Boghosian PLANNING AN EVENT WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ? TELL U S . SEND LISTINGS INFORMA TION TO EVENTS@WASHINGTONP OST.COM
BOOK WORLD
Hardscrabble lives, a curious death in Upstate New York
“The work Audie loves best, come to by Robert Goolrick
n the acknowledgments at the end of his fine new novel, “Kings of the Earth,” Jon Clinch says, “In literature as in life, we have a duty to see that noth- ing important should ever be lost.” This is the kind of fiction we should be read- ing. “Kings of the Earth” is eloquent and moving, written with precision and clar- ity to stave off loss — the loss of history, of art, of humanity. True feeling seems to be out of fashion in contemporary fic- tion, and fiction is the poorer for it. Disaffection and irony may be the tenor of the times, but too much of it can leave you feeling estranged and lonely. Then along comes Clinch, and we feel that we are once again safe at home, in the hands of a master. As he did in his wildly ac- claimed first novel, “Finn,” a reinvention of Huck’s story from the point of view of his bigoted, drunken father, Clinch here takes on a famil- iar story — in this case, a real one. But he turns it inside out and gives it new life andmeaning. In 1990, outside a small town in Up-
I
life. The clouds clear and he switches off the flashlight and keeps going. The creaking grows louder the nearer he gets. A half a hundred voices raised in the night and crying out. The earth turns and the sun shines somewhere and the temperatures shift and the wind comes up and these things — these creatures, for what else are they but created — these creatures cry out in their half a hundred voices.”
But it is in the slow accumu-
KINGS OF THE EARTH
By Jon Clinch Random House. 393 pp. $26
lation of details that the novel dazzles. Nothing goes unno- ticed; nothing is lost. From the whirligig carvings of an illiter- ate man to a string of frozen fish flopping back to life on a farmhouse floor, to the unex- pectedly literate ramblings of a mother dying of cancer, to the glow of a cigarette smoked at night in a hayloft, or the sly observation that part of the price to be paid for being a successful drug dealer is that you always have to drive one mile per hour below the speed limit, Clinch catches it all. Per-
state New York, William Ward, one of four reclusive brothers who lived an an- tiquarian life on a rundown farm, died in the bed he shared with his brothers in their filthy one-room farmhouse. His brother Delbert was eventually accused of strangling him in his sleep and put on trial for murder. The case pitted big-city lawyers and high-tech criminal pathol- ogy against small-town pride and priva- cy in a riveting way. Delbert was even- tually acquitted because his confession had been coerced after hours of intense interrogation without the presence of a lawyer. The case became the subject of an
award-winning 1992 documentary, “Brother’s Keeper,” which showed how squalid life can become and still miracu- lously be sustainable. Clinch tells this tale from the shifting viewpoints of all the major characters. These are honest, unsophisticated, uniquely American voices, from the three Proctor brothers — innocent, feral and shy — to their neighbors, the arresting officer and the brothers’ drug-dealing nephew. Their speech is not lyrical, but it has an hon- esty that becomes poetic, even Whitman- esque:
ceptibility is a kind of attentiveness, Baudelaire said, and few writers have paid attention the way Clinch does. In using the real-life story of these brothers, Clinch is not appropriating; he is using the skeletal structure of the known to build the body of the complex and yearning American character. It is a lonely character, formed by bleak sur- roundings and poverty and loss and drunkenness. But it is also filled with a kind of decency that is almost holy in its simplicity, its striving to keep what is from ever being lost. In Clinch country, no grave goes unattended, no honor to the living or dead is ever abandoned. To say that this novel brings others to mind is not to denigrate it. It recalls the finest work of John Gardner, and Bruce Chatwin’s “On the Black Hill,” another exploration of the bonds between broth- ers that go unspoken but never unexam- ined. “Kings of the Earth” becomes a story that is not told but lived, a cry from the heart of the heart of the country, in William Gass’s phrase, unsentimental but deeply felt, unschooled but never less than lucid. Never mawkish, Clinch’s voice never fails to elucidate and, finally, to forgive, even as it mourns.
bookworld@washpost.com
Goolrick’s most recent novel is “The Reliable Wife.”
It is in the slow accumulation of details that the novel dazzles.
WILLIAM B. PLOWMAN/BRAVO ONSTAGE: Kathy Griffin spoke, and posed, at a protest of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in Washington in March. Off the ‘D-List’ — and that’s the problem tv previewfrom C1
dom Plaza. She is bossed around by staffers at the Human Rights Cam- paign, who are seen here doing what they do best, which is attempting to mi- cromanage the gay rights movement. “The HRC has been fighting for gay rights since I was calling gay bingo at Hamburger Mary’s,” Griffin quips, on her way to accept an ally award at one of the group’s many fundraising banquets. If you can’t tell so far, the results of
her Washington trip fall short on the funny stuff, which isn’t surprising, since the show has wobbled for a couple of seasons. “My Life on the D-List” now ironically suffers from Griffin’s success on TV and the concert stage, to which her Emmy awards and best-selling memoir attest. The series seems more stagey than ever, as she pretends that fame still eludes her, which is a constant non-complaint she takes to fellow bold- face names — from Bette Midler to Levi Johnston — who, in turn, pretend to sympathize. Even her octogenarian mother, Maggie, has been commodified into this routine, having just released her own memoir (“Tip It!,” referring to the way she drains a box of wine). So that’s the story and Griffin’s shtickin’ to it. At HRC’s Rhode Island Avenue NW headquarters, Griffin is run through talking points on the DADT debate. Ev- ery time she tries to crack a joke, her Washington handlers pretend to glower at her. Accompanied by HRC head Joe Solmonese to Frank’s office, Griffin tells the congressman that “I need [DADT]
The episode pokes along, proving once again the dreary effects that Washington can have on reality TV.
to be repealed by Thursday, because I’m leaving Friday” and if it’s not, “that’s a bitter pill to swallow.” “My guess, Kathy, is it’s not the only pill you’ve swallowed this week,” the Massachusetts congressman replies. The air in the room goes staler than nor- mal. “It’s obvious I’m bombing [with
Frank],” Griffin says later. “He doesn’t know when ‘American Idol’ is on? He doesn’t care about Liza Minnelli? How is this guy even gay?” In the car, Griffin tells a Roll Call col- umnist that she’s on her way to “meet with a big queen named James Cly- burn.” The next day, when Roll Call comes out, the dourpusses at HRC are none too pleased with that quote and ask her to call Clyburn’s office and apol- ogize. It’s all theater and the episode pokes
along, proving once again the dreary ef- fects that Washington can have on real- ity TV. Moreover, Griffin’s constant jokes about her ardent fan base, “the gays” (as she calls them), start to wear thin. She thinks references to Cher, Li- za, bathhouse sex and lesbian golf are
Daughter has cold feet, so her mom is trying to warm them ASK AMY
Dear Amy: My daughter is 23 years old and has
been dating the same boy for six years. They recently became engaged and are planning to get married next spring. My daughter now says she doesn’t think she wants to get married. She has told me she still loves him but doesn’t feel attracted to him anymore. Every time I bring up her wedding she gets angry and says she does not want to get married. I think she’s self-centered and selfish. My husband and I have spoiled her. I’ve put down a lot of deposits to pay for the wedding. The guy she is with is really a nice person and would make a great husband.
I think she wants her life to be a fairy
tale, but I tell her that marriage is hard work. My husband and I have been happily married for 30 years, but we had to work through lots of bumps. I know she will be happy with him, but
Dear Amy: A friend of mine attended a theme
cocktail party my husband and I hosted. He must have enjoyed it, because he asked us to bartend for a party to
she says she wants to wait! She is a very beautiful girl, and I think this goes to her head. Please give me the words to say to her.
Concerned Mom
Here are the words to say: “Honey, if you don’t want to get married, you shouldn’t get married. Putting down a deposit on a wedding hall is the worst reason in the world to get married. “This is your life, and even if I think
your fiance would make a great husband, I’m not marrying him. If you decide to cancel your wedding, we’ll figure out how you can repay me for the deposits.”
celebrate his parents’ 50th anniversary. We were touched and said of course!
He offered to pay us, but that seemed ridiculous: It sounded like a fun thing to do for a friend (we’re not actually bartenders!), and we don’t need the money.
Then he asked if we’d also be willing to pass appetizers at the party. This seemed odd, but we agreed. Over the course of the evening, his mother issued orders for me to clear off and put away the food and all the dishes; collect dirty dishes and glasses; fill the dishwasher; cut the cake; make coffee, etc. At no point did she thank me — or even ask if I wanted anything to eat or drink. Amy, I was stunned. My friend checked in on me a few times, saying I looked “stressed.” When we left, I told him that I had not signed up to be the kitchen help. He apologized, saying that his parents
had taken over the event. This seemed an extremely lame defense for an adult. Should I just chalk this up to a life lesson, or should I give my friend and/or his parents a piece of my mind?
Not a Server
It sounds as if you’ve already given your friend a piece of your mind. He apologized and then blamed someone else. He needs to send you and your husband a huge basket of goodies and a thank-you note. Don’t expect it. You should chalk this up to a lesson learned, move on and never sign on for this sort of duty again.
Dear Amy: My friend “Stacy’s” mother is in the last
stages of a terminal disease. Stacy recently received a phone call from her mother’s cousin. She informed Stacy that
she was going to be doing some cooking, and she wondered what she might prepare and freeze to serve at the reception after the funeral. Stacy’s mother is still living! Stacy was
taken aback and instead suggested some other ways in which the cousin could be helpful.
While the cousin’s heart was in the
right place, is this a bit much? Wondering Friend
Yes, this is a bit much. In fact, this might actually sink to the level of being more than a bit much. It sounds as if “Stacy” handled this situation very well.
Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribune. com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
© 2010 by the Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Media Services
still hilarious and fresh. (And why wouldn’t she? Everywhere she goes, it seems there are gays and lesbians ready to cackle at her routines.) At the rally, Griffin is approached by
Dan Choi, a gay Army officer and radi- cal opponent to DADT, who asks her if he can come up onstage with her. Once there, he takes the microphone and im- plores the crowd to walk with him a few blocks to the White House. “I am in uniform, I am still fighting, I am still speaking out, I am still serving, and I am still gay,” Choi declares. “Will you all here join me? Kathy will you go with me?” he asks Griffin, whose face freezes in PR horror. Griffin answers yes, but she means no. She chooses to stay behind and de- liver the crowd a text message she says has just been sent from Cher, which she dangles before everyone like it’s gay cat- nip. Choi marches over to the White House, where he and another soldier handcuff themselves to the Pennsylva- nia Avenue fence and are promptly ar- rested. “Imagine if I had gone,” Griffin says.
“Two soldiers who have served bravely in silence and one potty-mouthed co- median? It would have looked ridicu- lous.”
What? Kathy Griffin is suddenly
afraid to look ridiculous?
stueverh@washpost.com
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (one hour) airs at 10 p.m. Tuesday on Bravo.
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