Dr. Hillel Finestone, the Pain Detective, is determined to make you feel better (photo by Pat McGrath for the Ottawa Citizen)
Kips Bay Library
446 Third Ave. at East 31st St.
Thursday, October 13, free, 5:00
212-683-2520
www.paindetective.net
www.nypl.org
A gregarious, amiable sort, Dr. Hillel Finestone just wants to make you feel better, and he’s determined to stop at nothing to achieve that goal. The Canadian physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and researcher recently moved to New York City, and he will introduce himself to the community on October 13 at 5:00 when he talks about his most recent book, The Pain Detective: Every Ache Tells A Story (Praeger Press, September 2009, $44.95), at the Kips Bay branch of the New York Public Library. “The patient and doctor may have to retrieve clues and key bits of information to create a whole diagnostic picture,” he writes in the book’s introduction. “It’s like a detective trying to crack a murder or arson case. It may require sifting through the dust, ashes, and remains of the physical body and the social and psychological mind; uncovering clues that can lead to a life of less pain, of greater fulfillment. Detectives don’t solve every case they take on, and I certainly can’t help every person who consults me. But I sure as hell try to.” In such chapters as “Musculoskeletal Pain, Stress, Wound Healing, and Mind-Body Relationships: A New Perspective,” “Elbow Grease,” “Children of the Bottle: Alcohol and Other Pain Risk Factors,” “Clenched Fists: Posttraumatic Stress and Fear,” and “Wrapping Up: Pain, Disability, Society, and the Individual,” Dr. Finestone gets to the root of the problem, offering relief for those aches and pains you thought would never go away, both mental and physical. “I hope that these stories will inspire some to take charge of their health and pain issues,” he explains in the book. “Everyone knows that is not easy to do. But it is worth it and it can be done.”
In his hysterical 2001 black comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, eclectic indie auteur Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox) created one of the kings of dysfunctional film families. Directly inspired by J. D. Salinger’s Glass clan (Franny and Zooey, Raise High the Roof Beam), the Tenenbaums of New York City have more than their fair share of distress. After being kicked out of the house for being a lousy father and husband, Royal (Gene Hackman) returns, claiming he is dying of stomach cancer. His wife, noted archaeologist Etheline (Anjelica Huston), is now seeing her accountant, the straitlaced Henry Sherman (Danny Glover). Finance wiz Chas (Ben Stiller) is having difficulty getting over his wife’s death in a plane crash, becoming absurdly overprotective of his two young sons’ (Grant Rosenmeyer and Jonah Meyerson) safety. Tennis prodigy Richie (Luke Wilson) is recovering from a very public breakdown and soon has to admit to himself that he is madly in love with his adopted playwright sister, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is married to strange neurologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) and having an affair with longtime family friend and Western novelist Eli Cash (cowriter Owen Wilson). Narrated by Alec Baldwin, The Royal Tenenbaums completed an impressive opening hat trick from Anderson, who had previously made Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998). The marvelously funny flick — which had its premiere at the 2001 New York Film Festival — is having a special tenth-anniversary screening October 13 at the forty-ninth annual New York Film Festival, followed by a discussion with the cast and crew, including Anderson and many of the stars. Additional tickets have just been released, but you better act fast if you want to see this unique event.
When they were junior high school students in South Central Los Angeles in 1979, Angelo Moore and Norwood Fisher formed the core of Fishbone, what would soon become one of the most exciting live bands on the planet. Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson document the band’s rise and fall — and rise and fall, and rise and fall, etc. — in the stirring Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. Using archival footage, old and new interviews, and playful animation, Metzler and Anderson follow the group — Moore and Fisher along with fellow founding members Chris Dowd, Walter “Dirty Walt” Kibby II, and Kendall Jones — through its many personal and financial struggles as it tries to deal with such socioeconomic issues as racism, violence, and the anti-liberal bias taking hold of the nation in Ronald Reagan’s 1980s. Fishbone held nothing back on such albums as In Your Face (1986), Truth and Soul (1988), The Reality of My Surroundings (1991), Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe (1993), and Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge (1996), mixing in pop, punk, funk, ska, reggae, R&B, soul, jazz, and hardcore, prancing about the stage without shirts, diving into the crowd, and always speaking their mind, and they hold nothing back in Everyday Sunshine as well. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne, the film really picks up speed when it delves into the Rodney King beating and the mysterious circumstances involving Jones’s religious transformation and the band’s attempt at an intervention. The decidedly unusual tale also features an impressive lineup of talking heads offering their views on the history of Fishbone, including Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Perry Farrell from Jane’s Addiction, fIREHOSE’s Mike Watt, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal, the Roots’ ?uestlove, Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, Parliament-Funkadelic’s George Clinton, Primus’s Les Clayool, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Circle Jerk Keith Morris, Ice-T, and, perhaps most informatively, Columbia Records executive David Kahne, who lends fascinating insight into what made Fishbone great — and what kept them from greater success. While you definitely don’t have to know a thing about Fishbone to enjoy this very intimate documentary, longtime fans should eat it up. Everyday Sunshine has its New York theatrical premiere October 7-13 at the reRun Gastropub Theater in Brooklyn in conjunction with the release of Fishbone’s latest release, the seven-track EP Crazy Glue (DC-Jam, October 11, 2011). Metzler, Anderson, Moore, and Fisher will appear in person at many of this weekend’s screenings, at least one of which will also include a live performance.