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Weekend Butler: Don’t-miss NYC art show (Pierre Bonnard). Meet me on Saturday night (Josh Ritter). Lin-Manuel Miranda raps (at the White House). Wisdom from Smarties. A one-skillet recipe.
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Published: May 18, 2023
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Weekend
PIERRE BONNARD: DON’T MISS THIS
I wrote a play about Matisse and knew Bonnard was his friend, but in the mental ranking that art-lovers are prone to, I didn’t consider Bonnard as Matisse’s equal, not nearly. I’ve now visited this rare show of 22 Bonnard paintings three times, and I may go again before it closes at the Acquavella Gallery on May 26. (May 26! The days dwindle down!) It turns out Matisse was Bonnard’s great admirer. (The photo above is one good reason why.) Why is Bonnard often overlooked? In large part because his wife was hermetic and he was dedicated to her — you can see, in the paintings of dining room tables, how often he paints her — and his style was consistent for decades, thus not “news.” Acquavella is at 18 East 79th Street. Special hours for this show: Monday to Friday 10 to 5:30, Saturday 10 to 6.
JOSH RITTER AT THE BEACON SATURDAY NIGHT: MEET-UP FOR A DRINK?
This is Josh Ritter’s first full-band show in 3 years, and he’s pouring three years of energy into it. Friends saw him at the Ryman in Nashville last weekend, and they said he actually bounced during “Homecoming.” Watch a live performance. In the last minute, you will see something like ecstasy. (Yeah, you’ll have what he’s having.) Josh is at the Beacon in NYC this Saturday. If you’ll be there, mail me at HeadButlerNYC@AOL.com, and I’ll respond with our seat numbers; maybe we can meet for a drink at intermission or after. (As if you need more incentive!) Tickets via Ticketmaster. To quote a lovely Josh song,“Let’s see where the night takes us, let’s see where the night goes….”
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA RAPS — AT THE WHITE HOUSE
And the audience saw what the world would love later. Watch.
WISDOM
Gertrude Stein, to Ernest Hemingway. “Remarks are not literature.”
Garry Kasparov: “If you give would-be fascists all your microphones and megaphones, they don’t need guns to take over.”
William Butler Yeats: “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
Vince Lombardi: “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
WEEKEND POEM
“Failing And Flying,” by Jack Gilbert
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It’s the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.
WEEKEND COOKING
Vegetarian Skillet Chili
If you keep canned beans, tomatoes, onion and garlic in your pantry, you can make this dish on any weeknight without having to shop. The pickled onions aren’t strictly necessary, but they are simple to make and add a welcome tangy contrast to the beans. Pickled peppers are a fine substitute. If you have a bell pepper or jalapeño or two, chop them up and sauté them with the onions. And if you want to be fancy, grate the zest off the lime before juicing for the pickles, and stir it into the sour cream.
Yield: 4 servings
For the Pickled Onions
1 Lime
1 red onion or shallot, thinly sliced
Large pinch of kosher salt
Small pinch of granulated sugar
For the chili
Olive or grapeseed oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, or to taste, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano, plus more to taste
2 15-ounce cans beans, drained
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with their juices
Kosher salt
Fresh cilantro, diced avocado and sour cream, for garnish (optional)
To make the pickled onions: Squeeze lime juice into a bowl, and add onion, salt and sugar. Let rest while you make the chili.
Prepare the chili: Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add the oil. When hot, add onion and sauté until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder and oregano and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Add beans and tomatoes and a few large pinches of salt and let simmer until the tomatoes break down, about 20 minutes.
Taste and add more salt, chili powder and/or oregano to taste. Serve with the pickled onions and any of the garnishes you like.
MARVIN
Weekend Butler is late because Marvin, our daughter’s young, beautiful cat, died suddenly this morning. As we grieved, I thought of the Dylan Thomas line, “After the first death, there is no other.”
