Last week I was in Dallas for work for a week so did not send out a letter. I’ll also be leaving for Hawaii on Saturday for nearly two weeks so I don’t intend to send out my regular newsletter till early November! However, I may host some Halloween festivities. Stay tuned!

This week I’ll be rock climbing at the Riverside CRG at 7pm Tuesday, with free guest pass to first responder. Then, at 10:30pm Tuesday I’m seeing Freelance at the Blue Note, with free ticket to first responder (but 20$ minimum at venue). Finally, Wednesday at 6:15 I’m seeing Israel Palestine on Swedish TV at the Film Forum, with discounted ticket for first responder.

Freelance is a six player collective with experience playing alongside the likes of Bilal and Esperanza Spalding. The group consists of drums, bass, keys, guitar, sax, and vocals. I know nothing about them but I keep getting these free Tuesday 10:30pm Blue Note tickets and I’ve been enjoying the shows so far! The club doesn’t have many people in it and the music has so far been excellent. It’s a different vibe from the larger jazz outings I organize. The set should finish before midnight.

For his film Israel Palestine on Swedish TV, director Göran Hugo Olsson recognized that there is no definitive chronicle of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, so he built a four hour documentary covering 30 years of the conflict as shown on Swedish TV. This includes war reporting on the 1967 Six Day and 1973 Yom Kippur Wars, human interest stories, and interviews with political leaders and intellectuals. I think using that lens is a fascinating way of approaching documenting the conflict. This film also lets me continue exploring my increasing interest in documentaries, AND is another example of Scandinavian film for me to engage with. The film should finish around 10pm, including a 15 minute intermission.

Before I went to Dallas, I had a four movie week, only two of which were part of the newsletter! I saw Roads of Fire, One Battle After Another, Grave of the Fireflies, and a 70mm print of Lawerence of Arabia. Everything was wonderful, but I’m going to only talk about Roads of Fire because that’s the only one I summarized in the last newsletter head of time.

Roads of Fire was an incredible documentary on the migrant crisis and its impacts on New York, following migrants after arrival in New York from both personal and institutional perspectives, as well as accompanying migrants leaving South America on their journey north to the United States. Going in I would have admitted that I knew very little about the realities of that journey, nor really understood the kind of community support New Yorkers have tried to provide for those who make it here. However, this was a classic case of learning a little more serving to highlight the extent to which I didn’t understand how much I didn’t know. It was absolutely fascinating (and horrifying) seeing migrants purchasing passage to the Darien gap from cartels while hearing one who had made it to the city recount the horrors she’d experienced there. I also learned so much more about the underlying reasons why one would want to leave their home and undertake such an incredible journey. It was an absolutely incredible experience, one that really makes me think about how I want to engage with the world and how I can better support those in need. I felt incredibly lucky not only to be in the privileged position I am, but also to be able to bear witness and even help. I highly recommend people see this film, and in general see this flavor of independent documentary.

As a brief aside, the power of bearing witness is something that’s come up several times recently, first with Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, which I saw a few weeks ago outside of this newsletter, and now with Roads of Fire. I imagine it’ll be something that emerges from Israel Palestine on Swedish TV as well. Something I need to think more about!