Tall, dreamy, and possessing a sultry voice and serious guitar chops, John Mayer has been a pop culture force since he exploded on the scene with his quintuple-platinum 2001 debut album Room For Squares (who can forget the singalong chorus of “Why Georgia?”).
Since then, he’s managed to concoct perfect grooves, chart-topping hits, a global legion of swooning female fans — and abject jealousy and FOMO in male fans (we kid… a little).
Mayer, who boasts seven Grammys (including Song of the Year for the fan favorite, “Daughters”), heads to Houston next year for his just-announced “Sob Rock” Tour, in support of his new Sob Rock album — his eighth studio work and first solo release since 2017.
He’ll play Toyota Center on April 23, 2022; tickets go on sale Friday, July 23 at online at the Toyota Center site. The tour kicks off Thursday, February 17, in Albany, New York.
Local fans who can’t get enough can also catch the singer/songwriter in Austin on April 20 at the Moody Center, and in Dallas on April 24 at American Airlines Center.
Fans can look forward to a slew of hits from his triple-platinum Heavier Things (2003), double-platinum Battle Studies (2009), and gold Born and Raised (2012). He may also tease tunes from his group Dead & Company, in which he sings and plays lead guitar. Mayer and the band have played to more than 3.4 million fans in major stadiums.
Expect to see much of Mayer as he makes the publicity rounds (he’ll be on the Today show on July 20); his first single from the new album — “Last Train Home” — has just dropped.
And expect screams, selfies, and more when the dashing Mayer hits the Bayou City.
John Turturro in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.
John Turturro is one of those people who embodies the term “character actor” the best. With over 120 credits in his nearly 50-year career, Turturro has rarely been the star of any of his projects. Instead, filmmakers have mostly used his unique face, New York accent, and inimitable acting style to help support the lead actors, a role for which Turturro seems well-suited.
Now 69, Turturro is taking the reins in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, playing Harry, a long-in-the-tooth thief who still has skills but not as many opportunities. The plucking of wallets isn’t as lucrative in the mostly-cashless modern society, and Harry has little use for smartphones since he doesn’t know how to use them. However, a rare opportunity presents itself when he happens upon Dylan (Will Price), a young man who seems to be as oblivious as he is rich.
After a clever robbery of Dylan’s vintage car, though, Harry discovers he might be in over his head, especially when he finds a card-shaped USB drive. It's the contents of the drive that soon puts Harry and anyone around him in danger, including his wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave), who’s suffering from unresponsive wakefulness syndrome; Ben (Steve Buscemi), who helps Harry sell stolen items; and even his estranged daughter Kelly (Tatiana Maslany).
Written and directed by Noah Segan, the film is a low-key thriller made to emulate the tempo of Harry’s life. While one of the plot points puts a degree of urgency into his actions, for the most part Harry is someone for whom slow and steady always wins the race. He is someone who has developed relationships over decades, including with NYPD Detective Warren (Giancarlo Esposito), and it’s those bonds that help him make it through each day.
Even though Harry is a criminal, the film treats him as an overall good guy, especially through the way he takes care of Rosie and the generosity he displays with his (stolen) money. Almost no one has a bad thing to say about him, and so Segan comes up with a couple of ways to give him more depth. His one scene with Kelly does the trick, providing a glimpse into a lesser man who clearly existed at one time.
One of the pleasures of the film for longtime movie fans are the reunions Turturro has with Buscemi (his co-star in The Big Lebowski) and Esposito (his co-star in Do the Right Thing). All three could be all-stars on a team of character actors, with each having made big impressions in all sorts of roles over the past 40 years. Seeing them back together again as very different characters from when they last collaborated underscores the level of talent each of them has.
Turturro ably carries the load in the lead role, but given his acting style and the type of role he’s called to play, his performance is far from showy. The same goes for Buscemi and Esposito, who are there to give great support to the classic supporting actor. When someone does go over-the-top, as Price does in most of his scenes, it stands out in a bad way. Maslany scores a lot of points in her brief appearance.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is a quiet film with big rewards despite its small ambitions. The beauty of the story lies in its small details, both character-related and not. Turturro rarely disappoints when he’s not the lead actor, and he demonstrates that he’s equally capable of making a movie great when he’s out front.
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The Only Living Pickpocket in New York opens in theaters on October 30.
