FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010 BOOKWORLD Romance and adventure among paleontologists BY CAROLYN SEE Back in the days of Louis
L’Amour, when somanymen still faithfully read Field and Stream magazine, thereusedtobeaterrif- icboys’writernamedCommander Edward Ellsberg, who wrote sto- riesaboutgrouchybut tendermen who participated in themost dan- gerous adventures. (His deep-sea divers were sometimes afflicted withthe bends—their entire bod- ies pushed up by mistake into their helmets, becoming nothing but bloody goo). But no matter what dangers Ellsberg’s Heroes confronted, they usually stayed awayasmuchaspossiblefromtwo particular snares: war and wom- en.
Homer Hickam’s new novel,
“The Dinosaur Hunter,” includes womenamonghis characters,and sometimes a cowboy slips into a camping tent with one of them, but that stuff ismostly a sideline. In the great tradition of L’Amour
and Ellsberg, this is a guy’s book, and it’s mainly about digging up dinosaurs. The author came upon his material honestly. “My intro- duction to dinosaur hunting came through [filmdirector]JoeJohn- ston,” he writes. “Joe toldme he was heading to Montana to work in the field with Dr. John (Jack) Horner, the fa- mous paleontologist who is the technical consultant for all of the Jurassic Park movies. This soundedlikeanad- venture, so it took me less than a second to ask, ‘Can I go, too?’ Big mistake. I tend to get carried away by adven- tures and, sure enough, that’swhathappened.” Hickamand his colleagues dug
THE DINOSAUR HUNTER Homer Hickam Thomas Dunne 311 pp. $25.99
as Hickam tells it, he loved every minute of the time he spent in Montana’s “glorious badlands,” and particularly loved the hours he spent in the Hell Creek Bar, a “grand wateringhole” located close to the dig. His tone is lively, gregari- ous, the words of an old-fashioned, man- nerly gent. And it’s this endearing tone that carries over into his fictional counter- part in this novel, an ex-cop named Mike Wire, whose earlier career was cut short byarainofhostilebul- lets. Mike has re- grouped and found himself a new life on a
in a place called Garfield County, full of “ranchers, farmers, cow- girls, and cowboys.” They made some important discoveries, and,
Montana ranch, where he works as topcowboy andsolehiredhand for a dour, widowed ranch-lady, Jeanette,who treats himlike dirt, which is too bad, because he loves her. (It’s actually convenient for
everyone, though, because as long as she scorns him, he can’t go to bedwithher.) As the novel begins, Mike and
Jeanette are living the Montana ranching life. Rain, sleet, thunder and lightning put on a big show, and the two of themoccupy them- selvesperforming aC-sectionona sorely afflicted cow. Along with these difficulties, it seems that or- dinaryMontana life ismade up of skirmishes with the Bureau of Land Management, neighbors telling each other to get off their property, and preparations for the labor-intensive Fourth of July fes- tivities, which in this case feature several heartfelt fistfights and a couple ofmurders. But after Mike and Jeanette
meet up with a paleontologist named Pick, the book is pretty much given over to themechanics of dinosaur hunting: how these enormous and awesome fossils are first discovered, thencarefully unearthed, then either sent to a prestigious museum for further
study or sold to a shady character
intheblackmarket.Theprocessof unearthing involves digging for days, then wrapping the bones in plaster casts, aluminum foil or paper towels. As the sun sets, they fix dinner
at the campsite and drink prodi- giousamountsofg&ts (the tonic is good for keeping malaria under control). The paleontologists and their enthusiastic helpers pass their evenings telling stories and singing old songs. At this particu- lar dig, which involves a suspi- cious scientist froma nonexistent university, an asinine jerk from the Bureau of Land Management and narrow-minded Jeanette (whom Mike refers to as “the queen of the prairie”), themotiva- tionsareeitheralust forprofitora yearning to further the cause of science. No one knows whether money
or sciencewillwininthisunseem- ly scramble for a spectacular setof oldbones.But theauthorprovides us with a multiple-choice display
ofequallyspectacularvillainswho come along to gumuptheworks. But thereal funis readingabout
peopleengaginginphysicalactivi- ty in an old-timey man’s world. Wouldn’t it be fun to be crouching under THE sun, brushing dirt off of 65-million-year-old bones, waiting for tonight’s round of gin? Yes, there’s very littlemushy love- stuff here. The bulk of the action consists of getting bones into trucksandbonesoutof trucksand intoning,with quietmenace, “Get off my property!” Since no one is sure aboutwhat property belongs to whom, these threats become another wholesome plot thicken- er. AndMike does finally spend a couple of nights in a tent with somebody. “The Dinosaur Hunter” is not
profound, by any means, but it’s fun, andif youdon’t already live in Montana, it’s aperfect escape.
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Bill T. Jones troupe to merge with Dance Theater Workshop BY SARAH KAUFMAN When choreographer Bill T.
Jones picks up his Kennedy Cen- ter Honor on Sunday, he will be receiving it not just as the long- time director of the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company and the Tony Award-winning chore- ographer of “Fela!” and “Spring Awakening.” Jones, it was an- nounced Thursday, is now also the executive artistic director of a new organization, New York Live Arts, dedicated to producing and presenting dance and other per- formance art. But there’s a catch: The merger
of Jones’s company and Dance Theater Workshop must be ap- proved next month by the New York State attorney general. “We have no reason to believe it wouldn’t be approved,” said An- drea Sholler, DTW’s executive di- rector. The move rescuesDTW, a long-
time presenter of emerging and independent artists, from its $2.9 million debt. Jones’s company will pay off most of that, with the promise of more than $3 million in cash or pledges. In return, Jones gets a home for his compa- ny. The troupe, founded in 1982, has had to rent rehearsal space around the city, but after the merger it will move into the building DTW owns at 219 W. 19th St. inChelsea. It will perform in the 200-seat theater there ev- ery other year. DTW has a long and storied
history in the New York perform- ing arts world. It was there in 1983 that Whoopi Goldberg was discovered by Mike Nichols, who moved her standup routine to Broadway. That Broadway link may be continued through
“Can we build bridges from the NewYork dance-theater tradition— Broadway—and this outpost of the avant- garde?” —Bill T. Jones
Jones’s oversight of the new enti- ty, where he says he will be “the lead thought-artist,” a moniker that he acknowledged “sounds a bit Orwellian.” Jones described his role as steering the organiza- tion in new directions. “Can we build bridges from the New York dance-theater tradition—Broad- way — and this outpost of the avant-garde?” he asked. “There are probably people
who come into DTWwho do very peculiar things that are way off the radar of people who go to a Broadway show,” Jones said. “But their works are entertaining and energized. Why can’t we find a broader audience for those peo- ple?. . . . It’s not, ‘Oh, God, he’s going to turn DTW into Broad- way.’ But I do think there’s an unexplored resource in the down- town dance scene that could add new blood to popular theater culture. And I do want the new entity to be more populist.” His views are in keeping with
JENNIFER S. ALTMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
‘THOUGHT-ARTIST’: With the merger of his company and the storied Dance TheaterWorkshop, choreographer Bill T. Jones will be the executive artistic director ofNewYork Live Arts.
where Jones’s own career has headed, with his Broadway suc- cesses. And that success is exactly what DTW’s leaders are hoping
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will rub off on the new organiza- tion. “We need a star,” Sholler said.
“We need someone to help draw attention to what we do.” She says she is hoping Jones will bring in audiences and funders who “are much stronger than what we could haveonour own.” Inamove planned more than a year ago, Sholler will be leaving the organi- zation. Jean Davidson, executive director of Jones’s company, will be the new entity’s executive di- rector. DTW Artistic Director Carla Peterson will keep her posi- tion, although the differences be- tween her role and Jones’s are being worked out. Arts activists have been watch-
ing the deal with interest, as many organizations debate how to cut costs and raise their profile in tough economic times. Kenne- dy Center PresidentMichael Kai- ser says that New York Live Arts’ dual mission — to present artists and to produce art, through Jones’s works—can offer “a great deal of programming flexibility,” similar towhat theNational Sym- phony Orchestra and the Su- zanne Farrell Ballet offer him. “We have something to ex-
press, and it’s distinctive, and no one else has it.” Kaiser says he was “very mini-
mally involved” with the merger, telling the groups in recent con- versations that “you have to be really clear on budgetary issues, particularly in a bad year. What happens when you have a bad year,what do you cut?”He said he is “very optimistic” about the deal. “I think together, well man-
aged, they could do something very novel. I’mlooking forward to seeing what they come up with.”
kaufmans@washpost.com
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