Culture
Thursday, September 21, 2017
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>>> arts@montclairlocal.news
Human nature wears bright colors
Philemona
Williamson’s
work starts
conversations
by GWEN OREL
orel@montclairlocal.news
Bright colors, questing looks,
symbolic imagery and whimsy
inhabit the work of Philemona
Williamson.
Many of her pieces have the
bright attraction of children’s
book illustrations, with the added
value of layers of symbolism and
depth.
The Montclair artist’s bold
paintings and sculptures not only
attract the viewer’s attention,
they also are designed to invite
viewers to consider their own
lives.
Williamson’s show, “Meta-
phorical Narratives,” opened last
week at the Montclair Art Mu-
seum and runs through the first
week of January.
It includes 20 paintings, made
from 1988 onward, and is the art-
ist’s first solo exhibit at the muse-
um.
Born in 1951, Williamson is
originally from New York City.
She lives in Montclair and works
in a studio in East Orange.
Her work explores personal
history, often using symbolism
and metaphor.
The show is presented in tan-
dem with another show, “Charles
E. Burchfield: Weather Event.”
[Montclair Local will cover the
exhibit in a future article].
Where Burchfield’s work ex-
plores his view of physical na-
ture, Williamson’s work delves
into the mystery and wonder of
human nature. “The complex-
ity of human nature, spiritual
growth, and yearning” are all
Williamson’s subject, said MAM
Director Lora Urbanelli at a press
preview with the artist last week.
WHAT IS MY IDENTITY?
Not usually a sculptor, Wil-
liamson’s exhibit begins in the
MAM rotunda, with a site-specif-
ic installation of four large Topsy
Turvy dolls.
The dolls are inspired by an
actual antique doll, displayed in
a glass case. A Topsy Turvy doll is
made of cloth. It is two-headed,
white on one end and black on
the other. The doll in the case has
no clothes on, but traditionally a
doll would have a skirt that could
flip to show one head or the other,
so that the doll could be black or
white.
Williamson said the antique
doll was given to her when her
daughter was born.
Scholars are not sure who
played with these reversible
19th-century dolls, slaves or
white children. Possibly, slaves
played with black ones that
flipped over to be white when the
overseer wasn’t looking. Possi-
bly, white children wanted a for-
bidden “maid doll.” At least one
scholar suggests the name of the
character “Topsy” in “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin” may have come from the
dolls.
Whatever their history, a
two-headed, double-raced doll is
undeniably rather creepy.
Williamson fills the corners of
the rotunda with oversize dolls.
They look at Victorian sculpture,
William Couper’s marble “Crown
for the Victor,” 1896, in the rotun-
da’s center.
The sculpture is female, and
the dolls aren’t, Williamson said.
To her, the dolls ask, “What is my
identity?” Her own children are
biracial — Williamson is married
to a Jewish man — and she grew
up in a the house of a white family,
where her father was chauffeur.
The dolls allude to the colors
of flesh, kind of: one is black and
white, like the original; another is
pink and brown, a third, gold and
black; a fourth, brown and beige.
They are titled, respectively, “Top-
“In the Studio” hangs in the Laurie Art Staircase at the Montclair Art Museum.
sy Turvy Charcoal,” “Topsy Turvy
Blush,” “Topsy Turvy Ochre” and
“Topsy Turvy Terra-Cotta.”
“They embody humanity,”
Williamson said.
Curator Gail Stavitsky said
that Williamson “revitalizes folk
art.” Stavitsky added that “The
contemporary statement the
dolls make is relevant to the art-
ist’s paintings as well.”
RECURRING EMOTIONS
AND SEMI-TRUTHS
Williamson’s contempo-
rary statements are both per-
sonal, what Williamson called
“semi-autobiographical,” and
larger.
An example of the semi-au-
tobiographical,
“Shore Road,”
painted in 1989,
shows a young
black girl fall-
ing out of a car,
while the driv-
er reaches out a
hand. PHILEMONA
Wi lli a mso n WILLIAMSON
tumbled out of a car when she
was little, possibly from leaning
on the door as it went around a
bend, she said. The painting cap-
tures that moment of wondering
if she would get back in the car.
While not everyone has a
memory of falling out of a car
and wondering if they will get
back in, that feeling of fear and
wonder is relatable.
Often paintings reflect emo-
tions that recur to her. The two
white girls in the back seat, who
represent the daughters of the
family her father worked for,
weren’t really there at the time.
The daughters of the house have
remained family friends, she
said.
“A Must See for the Entire
Family,” painted in 1988, con-
nects to Williamson’s husband.
Because he is white and Jewish
and she is black, the painting’s
representation of a novelty act
connects to her feeling of being
a novelty as a biracial couple. Her
husband owned a banner from a
circus side show with “A Must See
for the Entire Family” written on
it, which inspired the painting.
A signature element appears
in this painting: a shoe half off a
subject. Shoes or slippers falling
off, Williamson said, often show
someone “not really ready to
move on.”
That’s the case for her 1995
work “Curiosity’s Path,” depict-
ing two children running, fling-
ing themselves sideways to board
a school bus, over water and
shoals. That painting connects
to the artist’s life in Montclair:
there’s a nostalgia in remember-
ing her child’s first day of school,
how welcoming the principal was
— her child literally jumped into
the principal’s arms, she recalled.
That experience led William-
son to reflect on the different ex-
periences of a child taking a bus
to school in Montclair and a child
taking a bus where he or she isn’t
wanted. The gender and race of
the two figures are indetermi-
Page B-5
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ART
NEIL GRABOWSKY/FOR MONTCLAIR LOCAL
Metaphorical
Narratives
Through Jan. 7, 2018
An audio tour is available.
“A Conversation with Philemona
Williamson,” Thursday, Nov. 9,
7:30 p.m.
Family Day, Nov. 12, 1-4 p.m.
“Master Class: Philemona
Williamson,” Saturday, Nov. 18,
10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Montclair Art Museum
3 South Mountain Ave.
montclairartmuseum.org
nate, which leads back to the art-
ist’s use of painting to question
identity. IMAGES COURTESY OF PHILEMONA WILLIAMSON
It’s that kind of impression “Curiosity’s Path,” 1995. Oil on linen.
and symbolism that led to the Courtesy of the artist and the June Kelly Gallery, New York.
show’s title, “Metaphorical Nar-
ratives,” Stavitsky said.
For Williamson, her paintings
are “starting a conversation with
the viewer.”
But it would be a mistake to
think she always begins with sto-
ry and theme: color and composi-
tion drive her equally. “Eventual
Autumn,” painted in 2003, start-
ed with the color orange.
“I felt I needed intense au-
tumn,” Williamson said. In the
painting, two young people clasp
hands, against an orange back-
ground. Leaves fall around them.
The children are standing on baby
dolls, with grasshopper-like fig-
ures at their feet. The children are
thinking about “adulthood, child-
hood,” Williamson said. “Where
am I in this world of leaves, this
orange place?”
DRAWING BACK THE
CURTAIN
One of the ways Williamson
holds a conversation with the
viewer in the show at MAM is by
revealing her process.
In some of her later paint-
ings, she allows drawings to show
through, so the viewer sees out-
lines of figures in more than one “Eventual Autumn,” 2003. Oil on linen.
place. In “Limbs,” 2016, William- Courtesy of the artist and the June Kelly Gallery, New York.
son’s largest piece to date, the
head of a figure is drawn in two are ethnic dolls, one missing a
places. head; a child’s bathing suit, and a
“I love drawing,” Williamson child’s black negligee.
said. “Why not show my draw- The sexy negligee made for a
ing?” small child amused Williamson.
Showing the lines pulls back “When I was teaching a class, a
the curtain on her process, she parent-child class, a little boy
explained. “A Crooked Line” — went home and made an all-black
which, like “Limbs,” was begun in painting,” she said. The mother
New Orleans when she was artist was worried the child was de-
in residence at the Joan Mitchell pressed.
Center — shows one figure with She told the mother to ask the
three legs. child to tell her about the paint-
Another way that Williamson ing. “That’s mommy in her black
invites the spectator into her pro- nightgown, I love it so,” he said.
cess is with the large site-specific She laughed and said color doesn’t
work, “In the Studio,” a compos- always represent the obvious.
ite photograph printed on poplin The little black nightgown in
that hangs on the wall in the Lau- the collage reminds Williamson
rie Art Staircase. of that story.
Peter Jacobs Photography cre- The things that make up the
ated the photograph of the hang- collage take her to another place, “Topsy Turvy Ochre,” 2017
ing. Though the hanging is much she said. “They evoke memories.” Fabric and embroidery thread.
larger than the studio wall itself, Evoking memories, consider- Collection of Philemona Williamson
the collage of hanging items “rec- ingthe truth of memory, mean-
reates the feeling in my studio,” ing and narrative: that’s how her hopes her show will affect the
she said. Among the items hang- studio wall affects her. viewer.
ing on the wall in the photograph And that’s how Williamson
 Page B-6 Culture Thursday, September 21, 2017

OPERA REVIEW

‘La Cenerentola’ brings real magic

PHOTOS ADAM ANIK/FOR MONTCLAIR LOCAL

Cinderella (Cornelia Lotito) has such joy in her heart she forgives her cruel stepsisters and stepfather.

Eleanor Rose of Glen Ridge, 4, already an opera lover, according to her

mother, watches Cornelia Lotito as Cinderella with rapt attention.

‘La Cenerentola’ (‘Cinderella’)

By Gioachino Rossini
Presented by Opera Theatre
of Montclair
Friday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 23, 4 p.m.
The United Way auditorium
60 South Fullerton Ave.
operamontclair.org
973-202-7849
Cody Muller plays the movie director and the prince’s
tutor (and amateur magician) Alidoro in The Opera The-
The royal carriage to take Cinderella to the ball Cinderel- atre of Montclair production of Rossini’s ‘La Cenerentola,’

GET FIT AND STAY FIT

la arrives, with horses prancing in time. (Cinderella).

Opera Theatre of Montclair does it again

by GWEN OREL
orel@montclairlocal.news
Note: All cast members refer to the
Saturday night casts. As is the norm
in opera, there are two casts who al-
ternate performances.
There are big smiles in the au-
dience during the Opera Theatre
of Montclair production of Ros-
sini’s “La Cenerentola” (“Cinder-
Introductory 30 Minute Session ella”).
Yes, there’s a happy ending
It’s the sheer silly during the orchestral overture,
so it’s really two overtures at
fun of what OTM once. Joyce Korotkin’s set design
includes a clever antique film
has done that camera prop, and plants that
puts joy in the air come on to signify “castle” just
as they did in old movies.
like the aroma Alidoro (a posturing, smirk-
of something ing, utterly delightful Müller,
whose booming bass shocks
wonderful baking. coming from his slender frame)
takes out a tape measure for Ce-
lovely to see homemade baked
nerentola before whisking her
away in his carriage.

JUST $30
coming. And it’s a happy story. goods at intermission, and juice “I didn’t expect that,” someone
But it’s the sheer silly fun of boxes for the children. Everything in the audience said quietly.
(new clients only) what OTM has done that puts joy speaks of a production presented David Gillam’s costumes in-
Limited Time Offer! So Hurry and Call Today! in the air like the aroma of some- with love and care. You’ll have cluded flapper headbands and ar-
thing wonderful baking. more sheer fun here than at the gyle vests.
Also Fall Special 3 Private Lessons for $180.00 It’s impossible not to smile Met — for one thing, the cast are The supertitles are projected in
(new clients only) as the pure sounds of the sing- often right in front of you, ham- a scroll design on the wall.
ers wash over you, after they hit ming it up and delivering those At one point, Clorinda, played
“Physical Fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”
– JOSEPH PILATES
the high ceilings of the United exquisite notes. Hearing an oper- by Riker-Norrie, sings an aria of
Way auditorium; or not to feel atic voice come from a person a self-pity, then breaks into a tap
Madkat Pilates is an award winning studio featuring the classical the excitement as the 20-piece foot away makes the gift so much dance. This is the first time that
Pilates Method developed by innovator Joseph Pilates. Located orchestra tunes up, then keeps more apparent than when it’s Riker-Norrie, OTM’s founder
in Glen Ridge, the studio specializes in custom workouts for
sweet, rhythmic pace, thanks to high up on a faraway stage. It’s a and general director, has cast her-
all bodies, all ages, and all levels of fitness!
the sure conducting of Fernando thrill. self since the company’s first full
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Rossini’s fairy tale here is more
a masquerade than a story of mag-
production in 2015. We hope she
won’t make us wait so long again:
855 Bloomfield Ave. Glen Ridge tions inventively put in place by ic (there are, in fact, no fairies): the her face is perfect for silent mov-
Stage Director Nicolas Tamagna. prince (Alexey Kukharskiy) sends ie makeup and mugging, and her
And then there is the charm of his valet Dandini (Gustavo Mo- voice soars with purity and preci-
the 20 or so small children sitting rales), disguised as the prince, to sion. As Don Magnifico, Matting-
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We know he’s the “fake prince”
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ter, many with harmony. writer, so there is no pumpkin There’s also Alidoro, at the top
Congratulations to United Way nor mice, and the slipper here is a of Act II, who blows bubbles on
for making its theater available to matching bracelet. the children in the audience, and
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Thursday, September 21, 2017 Culture Page B-7

BOOKS

Carrying on, writing young

Dorothea Benton Frank’s ‘Same
Excerpt: ‘Same Beach, Next Year’
Beach, Next Year’ loves life by Dorothea Benton Frank

by GWEN OREL
orel@montclairlocal.news
Dorothea Benton Frank,
known as Dottie, has a five dol-
lar bill for you.
The best-selling author is not
above a little incentive (“bribe”
is such an ugly word) to get read-
ers to come to her appearance
at Watchung Booksellers next
week to talk about her newest
novel, “Same Beach, Next Year.”
Offering an incentive is a trick
Frank learned when she was
teaching CCD (Confraternity of
Christine Doctrine) at Immac-
ulate Conception in Montclair,
and the children just wouldn’t
memorize prayers.
“I tried every way. I tried,”
Frank said. Finally she wrote the
prayers on the blackboard and
told the children she would give
$1 for every one they could say
correctly.
“Inflation being what it is. . .”
Frank said with a laugh.
She spoke from her home in
Sullivan’s Island, South Car-
olina, where she had gone to
check hurricane damage. The
property had received 18 inches
of water, salt water that would
kill the yard, leaving muck and
mosquitos, and ruining a fence,
but “what are you going to do?”
Frank said. The damage is noth-
ing compared to what happened
in Florida: “We carry on.”
“We carry on” is a motto for
many of the best-selling au-
thor’s characters as well.
In “Same Beach, Next Year,”
Frank’s 18th novel, published in
May, two couples form a friend-
ship, at times uneasy, that spans
more than 20 years.
Eliza isn’t thrilled when her
husband, Adam, meets up with
COURTESY WILLIAM MORROW
Dorothea Benton Frank writes,
mostly in Montclair, about Sullivan’s
Island.
Dorothea Benton
Frank
Discusses “Same Beach, Next
Year,” book tour, life events,
new work
Wednesday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m.
Watchung Booksellers
54 Fairfield St.
watchungbooksellers.com
cret of big distribution. It was
before ‘Orphan Train’ came out.’
“I said, you’ve got to write a
book everybody wants to read.
She told me the story of ‘Orphan
Train.’ I began laughing. This is
going be huge! She was telling
a story that had never been told
before. It’s what we all should be
trying to do. It’s how I find sto-
ries too.”
When she describes a new
book to an editor and the edi-
tor interrupts her with “oh God,
I love that,” in the middle of a
Ted, my father-in-law, whose arms were filled with wrapped pres-
ents, was not alone. He was with a woman, a very large woman,
who had to be at least ten years older than him if not twenty. She
was towering over a grinning Ted, wearing a black mink coat to the
ground, high heels that could produce altitude sickness, and enough
makeup to scare the hell out of Estée Lauder. Somehow, weirdly, it
all worked on her just fine. But the boys had never seen the likes of
such a glamazon, so they looked at each other and dropped their
jaws dramatically.
“Holy crap!” Max said.
“Double crap!” Luke said.
Adam quickly covered Max’s mouth with his hand while extend-
ing his other one to his father to take the packages.
“Dad! Merry Christmas!” Adam said. “Hi!” he said to the aged-out exotic dancer from
a gentleman’s club somewhere in the sticks. “I’m Adam.”
“Hey! Merry Christmas, y’all!” she said in a smoky voice that suggested a lifetime of
dedication to tobacco products.
I quickly added another setting to the table.
“Are you a movie star?” Luke asked with eyes as large as dinner plates.
“No, darling,” said the guest politely. “But I seem like one, don’t I?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Luke said, completely entranced.
Things were suddenly confusing due to the dizzying effect of the guest’s red dress
trimmed in red sequins. Adam, who appeared to be temporarily catatonic, could no
doubt see himself reflected in the heavy gloss of her ginormous red lips.
I knew I had to swing into action and transform this very startling moment into just
another day at the Stanley house, or else old Hot Lips was going to feel very bad about
crashing with Pop. But all I could think, in 100 percent agreement with my boys, was holy
whopping shit! For what it was worth, it was obvious to me that Pop was in high spirits
and that Pop’s guest had not grown the hair she was wearing.
What the hell, Ted? I thought. What the hell are you up to?
“Y’all? Say hello to Miss Clarabeth!” Ted said, grinning from ear to ear like a schoolboy.
Hellooooo, Miss Clarabeth! Adam and I thought simultaneously, looking at each other,
hardly able to maintain a straight face.
“Hello!” I said, adding, “Merry Christmas!”
Clarabeth said, “Thank you! Merry Christmas to y’all too! I love your wreath! It’s fabu-
lous! Gump’s?”
Gump’s? In San Francisco? Was she kidding?
I (USA )
OM B A R

E
his high school flame, Eve, at the sentence, Frank knows “That’s
D E’ C OL

C
N I A OF

I
condo where they are spending where the story should start.
PAG
ER E
EMI

D | COM ANT
summer vacation. But as Adam, That’s what it’s about. When the N PR

N
ICA
Eliza, Eve and her husband, editor’s eyes light up.” AME
R
OONR O C H
C

E
Carl, meet up each year, rela-
tionships meander, marriages SOMETHING OLD, K A R I N ME R

transform, and friends change
into something like family.
As always, the details of
Frank’s Lowcountry are sum-
mery and seductive: cocktails,
swimsuits, fishing, and food
(Eliza is a gourmet chef).
SOMETHING NEW,
SOMETHING OLD
A chunk of the new book
takes place in Corfu.
Frank has not been there,
though she has been to Greece.
“I often write about things I want
to learn about,” she said. “I want-
ed a small beach town. In some
ways it’s like Sullivan’s Island.
Everybody knows everybody.”
The character Eliza is the
child of a Greek immigrant.
In this book, as she has for
a while (she thinks 10 years),
Frank named characters af-
ter real people who’ve donated
money to a charity. She once
worked as a volunteer fundrais-
er, and the new book’s charac-
ters are named for people who
supported Abby’s Friends, a
nonprofit that works to end Type
1 diabetes, and Frank’s alma ma-
ter, Christ our King-Stella Maris
Grammar School.
Most of the time, the named
characters are nice, but every
now and then she likes to play
with opposites: a retired librar-
ian’s name was represented by
a young nanny carrying on with
the father in a family. “If I make
’em bad, I make ’em really bad,”
Frank said.
But while she loves to hear
from readers, she doesn’t work
V
SOMETHING YOUNG
When “Same Beach, Next THE
Year” begins, the main charac-
ters are in their 30s. When it
ends, they are nearly 60. This is
the first book where the narra-
E S P E ARE
tive covers so much time.
L IAM . SHAK OC T. 1
The characters are young at
the beginning on purpose, Frank
BY W I L 19 –
said. EPT S
“We never really change. My
daughter just had a baby. I’m a
grandmother.”And inside, she
Engage!
feels 37. “The worst thing this These events are free and open to the public.
society does is take everybody Shakespeare in the Ghetto, the Ghetto in Shakespeare
over 50 and usher them to the
side, especially women,” Frank Sept. 24 @ 1:30 p.m.
said. With Shaul Bassi of Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy.
“I like to write about women
who are older and still very via- Venice as a Metaphor for the World
ble. “ Sept. 26 @ 6:30 p.m.
Adam, Eliza, Eve and Carl
Teresa Fiore, Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies
“still fool with each other and
at Montclair State, leads a discussion with Alessandro Cassin,
tease each other and carry on
Centro Primo Levi, and Karin Coonrod.
like teenagers. It’s kind of won-
derful.”
Community Conversation
Frank began writing to earn
money after her mother’s death. September 30
Writing a book to make A post-performance discussion with director Karin Coonrod.
money? “I was not even smart
enough to know you’re not sup-
posed to do that,” she said with a
laugh.
She didn’t grow up in a writ-
ing family, but she always knew
she could tell stories: “Being an
Irish brat from the Island, I was
a natural-born liar.”Her first
novel was published in the late
1990s.
She likes to write about “the
power of place. When you’re
from a place where you have
time to think you become con-
nected to that place. I’m very All Seats

in a writer’s group, and won’t
show her manuscript even to
her editor before it’s done.
“Writers don’t really help one
another,” she said, before offer-
ing an anecdote suggesting the
opposite.
Some years ago, she was
having breakfast at Toast with
Montclair author Christina Bak-
er Kline. “She asked me the se-
20
connected to the Southeast.”
The night sky there, she said, $
is unbelievable. There is no am-
bient light across the water,
and “you cannot believe what
you see. The whole swirl of the
Milky Way.
973-655-5112 | peakperfs.org
“When I’m here, I can see my- Alexander Kasser Theater
self on the beach, with my cous- Andrea Brugnera as Shylock. Photo: Andrea Messana.
ins, and hear the ocean roaring
in my ears.”
Page B-8 Culture Thursday, September 21, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017 Culture Page B-9

CULTURE IN BRIEF Still, small sound Musical sounds

FamilyFest and Oktoberfest
to be held this Saturday
Montclair Center BID and FamilyFest will also take
the Pig & Prince Restaurant place in Montclair Center
will present Oktoberfest on on Saturday, Sept. 23, from
Saturday, Sept. 23, from noon noon to 4 p.m. in Crane
to 8 p.m. at Lackawanna Plaza Park, at Glenridge and
in Montclair. Greenwood avenues. The free
There will be more than a family-friendly event includes
dozen local and traditional Montclair Center merchants, a
Oktoberfest-style craft beers, scavenger hunt, face painting,
gourmet food vendors and games and craft vendors.
live music all day long on The Pig & Prince gas-
the Montclair Center Stage. tro-lounge is headed by Chef
Admission is free. Michael Carrino. For more
Music at the Oktoberfest information, visit pigand-
will include the indie/surf prince.com.
sounds of Nylund, the rock/ The Montclair Center BID
ska/soul of the Defending is directly responsible for
Champions, alt-indie Wyland the music performances,
and the rock and roll of the beautification projects includ-
Watchung Mountain Riders. ing plants and decorations,
Gourmet food vendors will banners, way-finding signage
be selling barbecue, pizza and and maintenance throughout
more. the district.
ADAM ANIK/FOR MONTCLAIR LOCAL

Ben Wilson art on exhibit at MSU Mendel Leaf, 8, peruses the basket of shofars, one of
the items for sale in the Chabad of Montclair booth
COURTESY LORI AND CHRIS BORGEN

In the Harmony concert, Aug. 25, a mini fashion show

The George Segal Gallery the artist’s estate given to the at the Crane Park Market this past Sunday. The 2017 featured designs by Maria Linietsky, in orange. With
at Montclair State University university by the Ben and Jewish High Holidays begin at sundown yesterday. her are, from left, Sydney Dunkel and Maggie Borgen.
is presenting a retrospective Evelyn Wilson Foundation.
exhibition of works by an Wilson was part of the
American original, the painter group of New York City artists
Ben Wilson (1913-2001), that found homes and refuge
through Nov. 4.
The show traces the
in New Jersey, such as George
Segal, Will Barnet, Wolf
New things to do, and join something too
progression of Wilson’s work Kahn, Max Ernst, and Man Those lazy, crazy, hazy days They make the most
from politically charged social Ray. https://benwilsonamer- of summer came to an end all Local fabulous kimchi, tofu and
realism in the 1930s and 1940s,
when he was a WPA artist in
icanartist.org/exhibition/ .
The George Segal Gallery is at
too soon, with early autumn
on the horizon. Don’t despair, Voices BBQ cauliflower and will leave
off toppings of beef on their
New York City, to layered, Montclair State University, in there are so many new and fun amazing gargantuan Cholander
Robin Woods
geometric abstraction. The the same building as the Red things to do around town. Fries or mac and cheese. This is
exhibition includes a core Hawk Parking Deck, 1 Normal I suggest that you take a special menu tweak for those
selection of paintings from Ave. something off your Bucket List, Housing Committee, Arts who request more vegetarian
such as getting a tattoo. Yes, I Advisory Committee, Animal options. I appreciate the special
Looking for a few local experts am seriously
thinking about
Welfare Advisory Committee
and more. Find the link for the
dietary accommodations, but
carnivores report that Korean
Local Voices is still staffing an expert in? Pitch us! Send getting one application form at column’s BBQ Ribs, BBQ Chicken and
its roster of columnists. If a writing sample, and your rea- soon, with my end. Texas BCS Rice Bowl are
you’re an expert in books/lit- sons for expertise, to culture@ multi-tattooed How about signing up for the amazing. My dining compan-
erature, gardening or anything montclairlocal.news. There is son or friends Isabelle Allende Book Club? ion said that the two brisket
with kids, we’d especially love a stipend. And don’t forget we along for It’s at Montclair Public Library and bulgogi tacos were the best
to hear from you. Once we are also welcome one-off essays festive moral main branch, 50 South Ful- that she’s ever eaten.
staffed, Local Voice columnists on subjects people in town can ROBIN support. Two lerton Ave. , in the Isabel Rose Their Chonut 2.1 (100 per-
will write one column every relate to. We want to hear your WOODS local places Café. Each month, the book cent Ridiculousness) sandwich
two months. Got a topic you’re local voice! come highly recommended, club will discuss one of her is legendary: Smoked brisket,
each with talented tattoo books leading up to her author smoked kimchi, Fatboy BCS,
Local actor stars in one-man show artists, satisfied customers,
and hygienic practices. The
event in November. Admission
to the book club is free and
cheese, bacon, scallions on a
glazed doughnut; served on
Montclair actor Clark Scott Because of the interactive first is Jinx Proof Tattoos and the books can be borrowed Fridays and Saturdays only so
Carmichael stars in “Every nature of the show, only 50 Body Piercing, 7 Midland from MPL. There will be two you can digest it all by Monday.
Brilliant Thing,” a one-man seats per night will be sold. Ave. Call 973-783-9633 for discussion groups meeting It could be the first thing I try
show by Duncan Macmillan, Performed in the round, more information or to book a at the same time, due to the if I ever give up vegetarianism
with Jonny Donahoe, at “Every Brilliant Thing” consultation. popularity of this author. or lose my mind. Let me know
Dreamcatcher Repertory debuted in London and I’ll go if you go. I decided on Allende’s books are full of if you’ve eaten that, please!
Theatre in Summit, from traveled to Off-Broadway in a small robin on the inside of history and colorful characters. Kimchi Smoke House II is open
Thursday, Sept. 21, through 2016. This is its New Jersey my left wrist. As much as I love September’s book is “The House Wednesday through Sunday,
Sunday, Oct. 8. premiere. Described by the full sleeve tattoos, I don’t think of the Spirits.” For October, and you can order online for
The show is interactive and producers as “sincere but I’m brave enough yet. read “My Invented Country,” pickup, have it delivered via
somewhat improvisational, not sentimental,” the show The second is Powerhouse and for November it’s “In The Uber, get takeout or eat in.
using the audience to “play deals with mental illness and Tattoo Company, 545 Bloom- Middle of Winter.” Stop by the 973-744-3900. Not fast food or
the other roles” in the story of its impact on a family, using field Ave. You can call them at library for more information cheap, but it was well worth the
a child, growing into a man, humor and theatricality. 973-744-8788. Both are open about registration. money. Live a little!
trying to cheer up a suicidal Dreamcatcher Repertory seven days a week, so there’s no Go to a restaurant that you Keep on feeding your
mother. Among the things Theatre is at the Oaks Center, excuse not to go. wouldn’t ordinarily try. For me, fantasies, your mind, spirit
that would make anyone 120 Morris Ave. , Summit. Too radical for you? Vol- it was Kimchi Smoke House II, and body. I’ll keep exploring
happy: Kung Fu movies, and, For more information visit unteer for a township Board, at 345 Bloomfield Ave. It’s a Montclair and finding more
according to the website show dreamcatcherrep.org, or call Commission or Advisory Korean barbecue joint, usually interesting and fun places to
description, “laughing so hard 908-514-0654. Committee. You can stop at not the appropriate place for go.
you shoot milk out your nose.” the Township Clerk’s office, this vegetarian. I was happily In this column:
Montclair Municipal Building, surprised by the menu options, • montclairnjusa.org/dmdoc-
205 Claremont Ave. , first although the owner does uments/volunteer_app.pdf
floor, and choose something remind us that it’s meat-cen- • montclairlibrary.org/
MONTCLAIR that piques your interest or tric Korean fare. However, I join-the-discussion-before-

Local
lights your fire: Civil Rights was able to find some luscious the-author-visit/
Objectively Informing, Sparking Dialogue, and Building Community
Commission, Landlord Tenant things to eat. • kimchismoke.com/

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