‘Tis the week before Christmas and we’re all hunkered down by the radiator, space heater or samovar trying to get through the Great Winter Chill. And it’s just the time to drag those creaky bones over to Shank Hall, where there will be much dancing and making of merry (perhaps someone will make Mary, too, but let’s not get into that). Two of Milwaukee’s dance-iest bands will be sharing an evening that’s certain to generate some heat. Paul Cebar is here with his new five-musician take on funk ‘n’ soul, which he calls The Tomorrow Sound. And De La Buena brings its twirlin’, hip-swingin’ brand of deep salsa along. There’s nothing like the sight of a couple doing the mambo in Ugg boots and down vests.
For a different kind of warmth, put your dancing shoes aside and bring your ears t
o Musical Offering Ltd.’s Christmas program, featuring the father and son team of Johann Sebastian and Carl Philippe Emanuel Bach. Joan Parsley holds her concerts “salon style,” so you don’t have to worry about being in a drafty church or needing a binoculars to see the violinist. Being at a Musical Offering concert is just like being in someone’s living room. In fact, you sometimes are in someone’s living room. Parsley’s group plays their 17th- and 18th-century music on 17th- and 18th-century instruments (or copies), so all you need for a complete trip back in time is a corset or some breeches.
There’s more musical warmth to be had when Milwaukee musician and producer Joe Puerta, the heart and soul of the ‘70s-‘80s prog-pop band, Ambrosia, 
headlines a Turner Hall concert of Christmas music. Two years ago, Puerta had a palpable hit with “I’m Comin Home for Christmas.” Since then, he’s formed a band (called Maji) and an entire album around the song. Puerta will perform Christmas Dreams in its entirety, as well as a set of music featuring guest stars such as Paul Cebar, Robyn Pluer, Victor DeLorenzo and John Sieger.
For theater lovers, there are a lot of choices around town. But only one theater offers you the chance to see three plays in one night. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival features a one-act play from three area high school students, who have arrived there via an area-wide competition. There must be something about the water in Menomonee Falls these days, because four of the six winning plays (three winners and three honorable mentions) come from Menomonee Falls High School.
Grown-up Movie Watch: Oscar contenders and critical favorites continue to open here in the mad, pre-Oscar rush. We’ll have to wait until January for Mickey Rourke’s star turn in The Wrestler; Ari Folman’s animated war story set in 1980s Lebanon, Waltz for Bashir; and the celebrated French drama, The Class. But three notable films will hit the screens on Christmas Day: John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his award-winning play, Doubt; Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s post-Titanic reunion, The Reader; and I’ve Loved You So Long, Philippe Claudel’s drama that features a terrific performance by Kristen Scott Thomas.
Ashes of Time Redux: But don’t overlook Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai’s early foray into the martial arts saga. First released in 1992, the film has been reedited, reprinted and rescored (its music features cellist Yo-Yo Ma), and the result is a thing of beauty.
That’s not surprising from a filmmaker like Wong. He is our great cinematic sensualist. With his long-time cinematographer-collaborator Christopher Doyle, he infuses this classic wuxia (martial arts saga) with color, movement and texture. The shadows of a woven, egg-shaped birdcage dance on the contours of a face, the throat of a horse is gripped by two feminine hands, the flesh rippling, landscapes burst with color like a fauve painting, and a saber battle is slowed and abstracted into blurred forms and shadows.
As for the story itself—well, good luck. Wong obviously has the Westerns of Sergio Leone and John Ford in mind here, but he evokes their surfaces instead of honoring their sense of story. There are jilted lovers and snarling contract assassins, stories of revenge and romantic regret. As inspiration, Wong took the four-volume novel, The Eagle Shooting Heroes, by Louis Cha. But rather than condense the story, constructed a kind of prequel, a creation myth that charts the origins of the Lord of the East (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and Lord of the West (Leslie Cheung). It’s more a collection of vignettes than a fully realized narrative. But they are beautifully constructed snapshots that are definitely worth seeing on the big screen.
Ashes of Time Redux runs from Dec. 19-24 at the Oriental Theatre.
