Seeing as it took nearly a decade after his death from AIDS in the early 90s for the
Arthur Russell renaissance to start, that a dreamy, melancholic film portrait of the man took the better part of this year to move from the film festival circuit to movie theatres seems like a short wait indeed.
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, the debut effort from filmmaker Matt Wolf, screens this week at IFC Center, and one hopes that it can hang around beyond that one-week window. The film is less bio-pic and more an impressionistic drift study of the man who floated between downtown's avant-garde, rock, and disco scenes in the late 70s and early 80s, beholden to none, save the musical world swirling inside his own head. There's a dearth of actual footage to draw on, but Wolf is canny enough to expertly make do with what he has. That the film de-emphasizes the platinum-standard of Russell's disco singles is a small point to haggle, as this brief glimpse at this enigmatic man will no doubt spur greater appreciations of the man.
@ IFC Center 323 Sixth Avenue through October 7. Check website for showtimes.
Composer George Flynn, who chaired Musicianship Studies and Composition at DePaul University for 25 years, has just released his latest album on Southport Records--the sixth recording of his rigorous music for the imprint since 2000. The three pieces on American City were all written between 1995 and '98, while he was still a faculty member at the school, the result of a decision to compose new works for each of the three major student ensembles--chorus/chamber choir, orchestra, and wind ensemble. 
