Richard Butler and the Psychedelic Furs are back on tour, sounding as fresh as ever (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Best Buy Theater
1515 Broadway at 44th St.
Sunday, October 21, $40, 8:00
www.thepsychedelicfurs.com
www.bestbuytheater.com
capitol theatre slideshow
The last time we saw the Psychedelic Furs (way back when), singer and cofounder Richard Butler spent the entire show sitting in a chair, his legs crossed, elegantly smoking a cigarette. At the time, we all thought he was the coolest dude on the planet. The current version of Butler is still pretty cool, but it is also infused with an innate charm and even a playful goofiness, demonstrating sheer joy in leading the group through a fab set of memorable hits that somehow come off sounding fresh despite their vintage. Formed in 1977 by Butler and his brother, bassist Tim Butler, the Furs defined the postpunk ’80s British sound with a string of successful albums (Talk Talk Talk, Forever Now, Mirror Moves) that spawned such great singles as “Love My Way,” “Heartbreak Beat,” “Heaven,” and their breakthrough, “Pretty in Pink,” all of which showed up Saturday night at the recently renovated Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. Richard twirled, jumped, knelt in front of the drum kit, held his arms out in welcoming gestures, and marched back and forth across the front of the stage, greeting his adoring audience and posing in still-elegant ways, a perpetual, infectious smile on his face. The Furs might not have released a record since 1991 — the Butlers did take a ten-year hiatus, forming Love Spit Love — but they managed to not make the ninety-minute show feel retro. In fact, they are even performing a new song, “Little Miss World,” so hopefully more are to follow. The current lineup also features Richard Good on guitar, Mars Williams on saxophone, Amanda Kramer on keyboard, and Paul Garisto on drums, bringing to life such other favorite tunes as “Run and Run,” “Mr. Jones,” LSL’s “Believe,” and the political “President Gas,” in which Butler stuck out his right hand in a fascist salute and sang, “Don’t cry / Don’t do anything / No lies / back in the government / No tears / Party time is here again / President Gas is up for president.” The Psychedelic Furs will be at the Best Buy Theater tonight in Times Square, with Leeds’ the Chevin and the Lemonheads opening up.
“Your eminence, I am not happy,” Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) tells the cardinal (Tito Masini) halfway through Federico Fellini’s self-reflexive masterpiece 8½. “Why should you be happy?” the cardinal responds. “That is not your task in life. Who said we were put on this earth to be happy?” Well, film makes people happy, and it’s because of works such as 8½, which will be screening October 19 as part of the Rubin Museum Cabaret Cinema series “Happiness is . . .” and will be introduced by Mexican-born, New York-based cartoonist Felipe Galindo. Fellini’s Oscar-winning eighth-and-a-half movie is a sensational self-examination of film and fame, a hysterically funny, surreal story of a famous Italian auteur who finds his life and career in need of a major overhaul. Mastroianni is magnificent as Guido Anselmi, a man in a personal and professional crisis who has gone to a healing spa for some much-needed relaxation, but he doesn’t get any as he is continually harassed by producers, screenwriters, would-be actresses, and various other oddball hangers-on. He also has to deal both with his mistress, Carla (Sandra Milo), who is quite a handful, as well as his wife, Luisa (Anouk Aimée), who is losing patience with his lies. Trapped in a strange world of his own creation, Guido has dreams where he flies over claustrophobic traffic and makes out with his dead mother, and his next film involves a spaceship; it doesn’t take a psychiatrist to figure out the many inner demons that are haunting him. Marvelously shot by Gianni Di Venanzo in black-and-white, scored with a vast sense of humor by Nino Rota, and featuring some of the most amazing hats ever seen on film — costume designer Piero Gherardi won an Oscar for all the great dresses and chapeaux — 8½ is an endlessly fascinating and wildly entertaining exploration of the creative process and the bizarre world of filmmaking itself. And after seeing 8½, you’ll appreciate Woody Allen’s 1980 homage, Stardust Memories, a whole lot more. “Happiness is . . .” continues through December 28 with such other Allen favorites as Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers, Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, and George Cukor’s Camille, held in conjunction with the larger Rubin Museum program “
Yoga has come a long way, baby, as shown in the award-winning documentary Yogawoman. Unfortunately, however, this eighty-four-minute look at the transition of the art and practice of yoga from a male-exclusive method of finding inner peace to a woman-dominated community is a self-congratulatory infomercial that basically preaches to the converted. Dryly narrated by yoga enthusiast Annette Bening, who sounds like she had something better to do, Yogawoman is a family affair, written and directed by Kate McIntyre Clere (A Hard Place, Gaining Ground) and her sister Saraswati Clere and produced and photographed by Kate’s husband, Michael McIntyre. The film portrays the yoga world — indeed, it’s an international affair, visiting Japan, Australia, India, Germany, Kenya, and the UK in addition to various cities in the US (primarily New York and San Francisco) — as a tight-knit collection of women who use yoga not only for physical exercise and easing the mind but to play a key role in the overall life cycle, having positive effects on menstruation, sexuality, pregnancy, eating habits, the aging process, and battling cancer. Among the parade of talking heads who speak while sitting in front of the same blue background are Seane Corn, Angela Farmer, Cyndi Lee, Tari Prinster, and Patricia Walden, superstars in the field who sing the praises of the ever-growing discipline, but it all comes off as New Agey and self-important. There’s no doubt that yoga is beneficial and empowering in so many ways, but Yogawoman sells it like it’s a magic elixir that will cure all of your — and this troubled world’s — ills. Yogawoman opens October 19 at the Angelika; the filmmakers and various women who appear in the movie will participate in Q&A sessions following the screenings at 7:00 on Friday and Saturday and 3:00 on Sunday.