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JULY 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
HEMISPHERES
:
Have you
always been a comic book fan?
ANTHONYBOURDAIN:
Yeah,
I was a collector of Marvels
from very early on, when I was
a kid. As I got more serious, I
expanded my collection to ’50s
ECs, even some “golden age” stuff.
Then I got into the San Francisco
undergrounds.
HEMI
:
Howdid you se le onVertigo,
DC’s edgy, sophisticated imprint, for
your book?
AB:
What we were
not
looking to do was
just crank out a graphic novel. Both Joel
[Rose, the book’s co-writer] and I are serious
about this stuff, and we were looking for a
pre y lavish production. We’d hoped that
Vertigo would do the right thing, and boy,
did they ever.
HEMI
:
Did you have a clear idea of howyou
wanted
Get Jiro!
to look?
AB:
I wanted it to be very detailed and
the food preparation to be realistic … and I
wanted it to be really, really violent.
HEMI
:
One of the main villains, a militant
locavorewho commands a horde of devoted
hippies, comes across as a caricature
of chef Alice Waters. Intentional?
AB:
I was just thinking of an earth
mother, a close-to-the-soil type.
I doubt very much that Alice
Waters feeds anybody to pigs.
HEMI
:
Still, between her and
her rival master chef/crime
lord, it seems a bit like you’re
skewering the restaurant
industry and its obsessions
with local ingredients and profit.
AB:
It’s an adventure story. It’s quirky,
satirical entertainment … and I’man equally
lampoonable part of the world that we’re
depicting. I benefit from it, I’mpart of it, I’m
implicated in it.
HEMI
:
But you’ve voiced your criticisms of
it more than most.
AB:
Perhaps. But I think it’s not a serious
indictment.
HEMI
:
Speaking of indictments, the pro-
tagonist has some pretty strong feelings
about date-nut bread. Do you as well?
AB:
Nah, I’mOKwith date-nut bread. Actu-
ally, I like date-nut bread. My mom used to
make it.
july 3
The Kinks at the BBC
:
Yes, you
could
settle for the two-CD collection of
the seminal British pop band’s live
performances at the BBC, but if
you’re a fan you’ll be powerless in the
face of the collector’s edition. You
get five CDs charting The Kinks’ rise
from relative obscurity to super-
stardom, a comprehensive book
and a DVD of unreleased concert
performances and live dates from
shows like “Top of the Pops.” It is, you
might say, a veritable preservation
society unto itself.
OUT NOW
▼
Handwritten
, The Gaslight Anthem:
Many blue-collar bands with heart-
felt lyrics and a certain swagger have
been dubbed heirs to Springsteen,
but who’s actually had The Boss
jump onstage with them at a gig and
play one of
their
songs? The Gaslight
Anthem, that’s who, a Jersey-based
pop-punk outfit with their hearts on
their rolled-up sleeves.
JULY 24
Home Again
, Michael Kiwanuka:
This 24-year-old soul singer, dubbed
by some as a cross between Bill
Withers and Otis Redding, has been
generating enormous buzz in the
U.K. He releases his full-length debut
this month, backed by an extensive
stateside tour.
JULY 31
NEWYORKCITY
Macy’s 4th of
July Fireworks
LENGTH:
25 minutes
SIZE:
More than
45,000 individual
fireworks (that’s
1,800 shells per
minute, if you’re
counting)
HOUSTON
FreedomOver Texas
With Fireworks
LENGTH:
17 minutes
SIZE:
More than
4,000 individual
fireworks (including
a set of custom-
made seashells)
PHILADELPHIA
WawaWelcome
America
LENGTH:
15 minutes
SIZE:
More than
7,000 individual
fireworks
SANFRANCISCO
Fourth of July
Celebration at
Pier 39
LENGTH:
25 minutes
SIZE:
An estimated
4,500 individual
fireworks
Spin Cycle
Three newmusic releases
worth checking out
culture
||
THEMONTHAHEAD
Knife Skills
Anthony Bourdain can now add “comic book writer” to his ever-
expanding collection of hats.
Get Jiro!
, a send-up of food culture in
the guise of a graphic novel, features a ronin sushi chef in a dystopian
world where “all desire is based on access to chefs.” We recently gained
access to the “No Reservations” host to nerd out on comics for a while.
Sparks Fly
America’s long-
running love affair
with fireworks comes
to a crescendo on
Independence Day
.
Here then, a few stats on
some of the top shows.