Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 1, 2014

11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 1, 2014

Jeff’s Book Picks By Jeff Brown

SEAN’S SHAMELESS REVIEWS: 

WARPAINT: Canvas is Alluring


By Sean Kayden

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, 
and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at 
War by A. J. Baime 

A dramatic, intimate narrative of how Ford 
Motor Company went from making automobiles 
to producing the airplanes that would mean the 
difference between winning and losing World War 
II.In 1941, as Hitler’s threat loomed ever larger, 
President Roosevelt realized he needed weaponry 
to fight the Nazis—most important, airplanes—
and he needed them fast. So he turned to Detroit 
and the auto industry for help.The Arsenal tells 
the incredible story of how Detroit answered the 
call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured 
son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 
50,000 airplanes, made an outrageous claim: Ford 
Motor Company would erect a plant that could 
yield a “bomber an hour.” Critics scoffed: Ford 
didn’t make planes; they made simple, affordable 
cars. But bucking his father’s resistance, Edsel 
charged ahead. Ford would apply assembly-line 
production to the American military’s largest, 
fastest, most destructive bomber; they would 
build a plant vast in size and ambition on a plot 
of farmland and call it Willow Run; they would 
bring in tens of thousands of workers from 
across the country, transforming Detroit, almost 
overnight, from Motor City to the “great arsenal 
of democracy.” And eventually they would help 
the Allies win the war.Drawing on exhaustive 
research from the Ford Archives, the National 
Archives, and the FDR Library, A. J. Baime has 
crafted an enthralling, character-driven narrative 
of American innovation that has never been fully 
told, leaving readers with a vivid new portrait of 
America—and Detroit—during the war.

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women 
Undercover in the Civil War by Karen 
Abbott 

Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most 
fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil 
War: the stories of four courageous women, a 
socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow 
who were spies. After shooting a Union soldier in 
her front hall, Belle Boyd became a courier and 
spy for the Confederate army, using her charms 
to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut 
off her hair and assumed the identity of a man 
to enlist as a Union private. The beautiful widow, 
Rose Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful 
Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the 
Confederacy, and used her young daughter to 
send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth 
Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid 
behind her proper Southern manners as she 
orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right 
under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives. 
Using a wealth of primary source material and 
interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott 
weaves the adventures of these four heroines 
With a cast including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel 
Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective 
Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd 
Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III,the book 
draws you into the war as these daring women 
lived it. Contains 39 black & photos and 3 maps. 

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in 
a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink 

Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink’s landmark 
investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans 
hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina – and her 
suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and 
justice. In the tradition of the best investigative 
journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink 
reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical 
Center and draws the reader into the lives of 
those who struggled mightily to survive and to 
maintain life amid chaos. After Katrina struck 
and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and 
the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose 
to designate certain patients last for rescue. 
Months later, several health professionals faced 
criminal allegations that they deliberately 
injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten 
their deaths. Five Days , the culmination of six 
years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what 
happened in those days, bringing the reader 
into a hospital fighting for its life and into a 
conversation about the most terrifying form of 
health care rationing. Fink exposes the hidden 
dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how 
ill-prepared we are in America for the impact 
of large-scale disasters—and how we can do 
better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start 
to finish, Five Days radically transforms your 
understanding of human nature in crisis


Los Angeles all female 
psychedelic rock band, 
Warpaint, will return to 
headline the Echoplex 
on November 7th. The 
band is participating in 
the Red Bull Sound Select Presents: 30 Days in 
LA music event. For the month of November, 
60 artists will be performing in 30 different 
venues. These shows are exclusive to Red Bull 
Sound Select members, where you can sign up 
for free in the abovementioned link. 

In January of this year, the band released 
their highly anticipated sophomore self-titled 
album with much applause. The group’s debut 
record, The Fool was a harrowing, often-
reserved, darkly covered indie pop venture. 
Emily Kokal’s ethereal vocals exceedingly 
shined over fuzzy baselines and languorous 
tempos. For a debut effort, Warpaint clearly 
demonstrated a lot of promise with a genre-
scattering record. It was enough to capture a 
collective following while making it all seem 
so effortless. Nearly four years later, we’re 
here with a new record that shares some 
haunting similarities to the first record, but 
with a higher production level. They signed 
up seasoned producer Flood (U2) after their 
deep excursion into Joshua Tree to write their 
follow-up album. There’s more emphasis on 
snyths and ambiance as opposed to the tightly 
constructed and much restrained previous 
effort. The band has unmistakably acquired 
valuable experience between the two records.

It’s abundantly apparent that Warpaint has 
emerged, grown, and found new perspectives 
on the world. Atmospheric, dreamy, and 
ominously lyrical, no track sounds alike on 
the eponymous 12-track endeavor. Normally 
an opening act, Warpaint moved up the ranks 
fairly quickly over the years to now become 
the main attraction.

The band will be playing close to home in Echo 
Park, CA at the renowned hipster venue the 
Echoplex. Commonly known as, “below The 
Echo,” the Echoplex is owned and functioned 
by the same people involved with sister venue, 
The Echo. Over the years, the Echoplex has 
hosted a slew of big and small acts. The venue 
is known for showcasing emerging indie and 
alternative bands, many of which go onto 
opening up for more mainstream bands or 
even become larger acts themselves. With 
a capacity of 700, the venue can get a little 
crammed, but that’s all a part of the cultural 
experience over in the Silverlake area. 

Kokal’s alluring vocals, Theresa Wayman’s 
layered guitar riffs, Jenny Lee Lindberg’s 
enthralling, mellifluous bass work, and Stella 
Mozgawa’s subtle but potent drumbeats will 
hypnotize the sold out crowd. Warpaint 
doesn’t send smoke signals of a loud boisterous 
tribe but rather wave the flag of a delicate, 
mesmerizing unconventional band. No matter 
which songs from either album Warpaint 
dominantly plays, the anticipated and 
intimate show should be utterly worthwhile 
and stimulating on so many levels. 

Warpaint performs at the Echoplex on 
November 7th with support from Avid Dancer 
and Son of Stan. 


On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse


THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND

Presented by La Canada Presbyterian Church

 –“The Real Inspector Hound,” a Tom Stoppard 
play that spoofs the whodunits of Agatha Christie, 
will be presented for five performances beginning 
this Friday evening by the La Canada Presbyterian 
Church Drama Ministry.

 Directed by Justin S. Fisher, the family-
friendly comedy presents the clichéd plot of a 
secluded English country manor house, ominous 
radio reports of a criminal on the loose, visitors 
behaving suspiciously, a relative with a shady past 
and an unidentified dead body.

 It will be staged in the church’s Worship Arts 
Center at 8 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, 
Nov. 8, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 
9. There will be two performances the following 
weekend, at 8 p.m. on Nov. 14 and 15.

 Written in the early 1960s and constructed as a 
play within a play, the story involves two theater 
critics, Moon and Birdfoot, who are preparing to 
review the latest mystery. Can they stay on the 
sidelines as the plot unfolds?

 Fisher invites the community to enjoy some 
hilarious live theater – with the challenge of trying 
to figure out whodunit!

 Admission is $15, and two-for-one tickets are 
available for students, seniors, veterans and YMCA 
members. La Canada Presbyterian Church is 
located at 626 Foothill Blvd. For more information 
about this latest offering in the church’s Ovations 
Arts Series, visit ovations@lacanadapc.org or call 
(818) 790-6708, ext. 251.