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October 2 – 8, 2008

The Epoch TimesWES LAFORTUNE

By JOE BENDELSpecial to The Epoch Times

Carla Bley’s new album “Appearing Nightly” consists largely of festival commis-sions which, though modern, are informed and deliberately suggestive of the 1950s big band jazz era.

The opening track, “Greasy Gravy,” for instance, has hints of a Count Basie vibe, particularly in Bley’s use of the trombone sec-tion. At times tagged with a reputation for playing "arranger's pi-ano," Bley fits nicely into the Basie mold—supportive and swinging, but stylisti-cally econom-ical in her own solos.

The fol-lowing “Aw-ful Coffee” came out of the same culi-nary themed festival commis-sion that produced “Gravy.” For one passage of this somewhat more caffeinated track, Bley throws in quotes from jazz standards “Salt Peanuts,” “You’re the Cream in My Coffee,” “Watermelon Man,” “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” “Hey Pete Let’s Eat More Meat,” and “Tea for Two.”

The food theme seems to come naturally to Bley, who penned six different composi-tions about bananas for last year’s release with her “Lost Chords” group and Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu.

The heart of the album is the track “Appearing Nightly at the Black Orchid,” a 25-minute suite commis-sioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival, named after a Monterey lounge Bley gigged at early in her career. Its movements allude to ele-

ments of the nightly jazz gig: “40 On / 20 Off,” “Second Round,” “What Would You Like to Hear,” and “Last Call.”

Introduced with an elegant piano prelude from Bley, “40 On” then segues into a fine example of Steve Swal-low’s melodic approach to the electric bass, as the band slowly swells up underneath him. The brass comes out swinging in “Second Round,”

particularly featured trombon-ist Gary Valente.

“Like to Hear” is more subdued. Muted horns wail plaintively and Bley takes a brief but meditative solo, before the bands comes in

building up toward the hard charging finale, “Last Call.”

Rounding out the pro-gram with one standard, “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You,” and “Someone to Watch,” an original that germinated from the seed of a Gershwin tune, “Nightly” is most defi-nitely a swinging affair. Bley has assembled a first-rate band and her originals have a vigor that is refreshing. For some reason, her music seems to have a reputation for being less accessible than it really is, but “Nightly” ought to be warmly received by both jazz modernists and big band fans.

Joe Bendel blogs on jazz and cultural issues at www.jbspins.blogspot.com, and co-ordinated the Jazz Founda-tion of America's instrument donation campaign for musi-cians displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

WIPERS: Greg Kinnear in a scene from “Flash of Genius,” a film about the creator of the intermittent windshield wiper, who waged a 30-year conflict with the automobile makers over his invention. UNivERSAL PicTURES

Greg Kinnear in ‘Flash of Genius’TORONTO (Reuters)—"Flash of Genius"

may not be the sexiest film to debut this fall, but its true tale of the inventor of intermittent wind-shield wipers poses a timely question of values and ethics in the current economic crisis.

If a major, profit-oriented corporation offered you millions of dollars for your inven-tion, but declined to give you credit for the idea, would you take the money and run?

"Flash of Genius," which premiered at the Toronto film festival earlier this month and hits theaters on Friday, tells of university profes-sor Robert Kearns, who fought the Detroit automakers that he claimed tried to steal his invention.

Kearns, portrayed by Greg Kinnear in the film, paid dearly for his legal battle. His wife left him, and he was separated from his six kids. He lost his job and was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. Kearns died in 2005.

He never gave up over some 12 years, which in many movies would make Kearns a hero, but his stubborn mind-set in the face of losing everything important in his life also makes him unlikable at times.

Kinnear and writer/director Marc Abraham

found his dual nature interesting to study in the film.

"To me, I've never been someone who thinks black and white in life, I've never found that to be true," Abraham said.

"And it's very, very, very rare that moments come with such clarity that you're right and eve-rybody else is wrong."

Kinnear agreed. "We live in a world of com-promise [but] every popular game show is about take the frickin' money,'" he said.

Wiped Out?In 1963, Kearns dreamed up the idea for the

intermittent wipers in his basement—inspired by the simple ability of a blinking eye—that would swipe away water in a light rain instead of the heavy downpours for which wipers were made.

For years, automakers worked with him to perfect the machine, but then abandoned him to pursue the idea on their own, sparking the decades-long saga covered in the film.

Kearns is offered money—at one time, $30 million by the Ford Motor Co.—to sign away the rights to his invention, but he would not get

credit. He decides, instead, that values of truth and honesty are worth fighting for.

Even though Kearns can seem irrationally obsessed as he loses his grip on his life and loved ones, the filmmakers nevertheless grew fond of the character.

"I've always found myself wanting the best for him. I wanted him to find satisfaction," Kinnear said.

Abraham said he tried to shop his script around Hollywood for years, but none of the major studios would back him until Universal Pictures came forward.

"You tell studios you're going to make a movie about a guy who invented the intermit-tent windshield wiper—not a lot of bites," Kin-near said.

Indeed, money is often considered to have greater sex appeal in the movies. What film fan will forget Gordon Gekko's famous "greed is good" speech from 1987's "Wall Street"?

But in fall 2008, with the financial markets reeling in bank failures and the U.S. govern-ment considering a taxpayer bailout plan, it just may be that truth and justice will win the day at theater box offices for "Flash of Genius."

Jazz Album Review: Carla Bley—

‘Appearing Nightly’

WATT/ EcM REcORdS

B6 Science

Weakening Solar Winds

By DaNE CrOCkErEpoch Times Staff

“The time will come when the universe will shake. It will break piece by piece, country by country, religion by religion. Husband and wife will break into two. The children will escape, blowing like the wind. They will scatter to hide in the woods on islands like frightened deer hunted by evil men. The world as we know it will change beyond recognition.”

The Betrayal opens with the reading of this 5,000-year-old Laotian prophecy. Based on a true story, the documentary follows Thavisouk Phrasavath (Thavi), the eldest of eleven siblings, who together with their mother are forced to flee Laos for the hardship of an immigrant life in crime-ridden New York City in the 1980s.

During the Vietnam War, the com-munist Northern Vietnamese Army used Laos as a staging area and a supply route for its attacks against the South. This made Laos the location of a se-cret American air war, and much of the country was ravaged by the bombing.

One of the Laotians recruited by the U.S. to fight the communist forces and direct the air campaign was Thavi’s father. When the Americans eventually left Vietnam and the communist Pathet Lao took over Laos, Thavi’s father was

sent to a labor camp for a “re-education seminar.” His family members were now considered traitors.

The fear and hardship that was life under communist rule resulted in a tragic scenario in which Thavi’s mother

was forced to leave behind two of her daughters, one 16 and one just three, when they had one fleeting chance to flee

the country.Ending up in New York City, the fam-

ily struggled to hold onto their structure and unity in a society that was fast losing its own values.

One of the most interesting aspects of “The Betrayal” is that it was shot over the course of 23 years and managed to capture on film many spontaneous and personal moments in the family’s life, including when Thavi’s father miracu-lously called them many years after they had left Laos.

In an interview with Alternate Film Guide, the film’s co-director Ellen Kuras (the other director was Thavi) describes how this was achieved.

“I actually had another life going on concurrently with my career as a cinema-tographer in the film world; I was hang-ing out in Brooklyn with Thavi during every moment I had while not shooting other films.”

With 23 years of footage, what emerged was not an overly dramatic piece but a personal and very poetic film. For instance, we learn much about Thavi’s mother from the shots that linger on her face that show her pain and firm resolve.

While watching The Betrayal, one feels deeply the hardship the family went through and the tragedy wrought by war on ordinary people.

REFUGEE: The documentary “The Betrayal” follows Thavisouk Phrasavath (Thavi), his siblings, and mother who are forced to flee Laos for the hardship of an immigrant life in crime-ridden New York City in the 1980s. PANdiNLAO FiLMS

‘The Betrayal’ Depicts Laos Family Saga Over 23 Years