James Blood Ulmer's music isequal parts blues, free jazz, funk and a lot of other things. He's a ferocious guitarist whose playing is tinted with shades of JimiHendrix, Sonny Sharrock, Gary Lucas and Son House, but his work is verystrongly his own.

Ulmer has collaborated with Ornette Coleman, Vernon Reid,Bill Laswell, Art Blakey, Rashied Ali and countless others in his long andvaried career. There's no other guitarist quite like him.

Ulmer recently spoke with Seven Days by phone from his home in NewYork City, in advance of his concert at the Flynn. The conversation beganwith a consideration of the best route to take when driving from New York Cityto Burlington.

Seven Days: There areso many different traditions winding through your music: blues, jazz, funk,soul, gospel. How do you define yourself, musically speaking? Does it evenmatter?

James Blood Ulmer: What I’m trying to be, what I’ll hopefully be, is … a change in music. I came up with a guitarstyle that was a totally different change, that sounds different from theregular sound of the guitar. … I’m always trying to make a difference, tryingto upgrade. Well, not upgrade, but change. I’m a guy who always wanted to takemy guitar at high noon and play it at a Baptist church on Sunday … I’d like to play my guitar for the Baptist folks and have them notthrow me out the door.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 2013: VPR clarifies that it is unable to test mugs from 2002 and older, and that is why it recommends owners of those mugs discontinue use.

Also, the issue with the 2005 mug is, in fact, lead detected in the ceramic, not in the design printed on it. It was the only mug out of 34 tested that did not meet FDA requirements.

News that has the word "lead" in it is usually bad news. But Vermont Public Radio's announcement today about "Mug-gate" was mostly good. Of all the artist-designed mugs VPR recently has had tested for the presence of the heavy metal, all but one passed with flying colors, i.e., met FDA regulations.

However, if you're a donor who's been drinking your coffee from the 2005 artist mug pictured here, well, you are advised to stop. Especially if you're a young child or pregnant woman. Better to turn that mug into a planter or pen holder.

In fact, VPR suggests donors not drink from any cup made in 2002 or earlier, just to be on the safe side.

The 2005 mug's artwork by Chris Varricchione is not to blame; neither is the Chinese manufacturer of the white ceramic cup. Rather, it's the Pennsylvania vendor that imprinted the art on the glazed mug. 

To its credit, VPR has stayed in front of this story since another mug was in question in late September (see our previous post about the lead discovery here). Today's press announcement noted that VPR has purchased the mugs from China but used various American vendors to ink the designs. 

The station is now reconsidering its tradition of gifting artist mugs to donors in fundraising campaigns. Says today's announcement:  ..."members of the VPR staff have started to examine a future reboot of the program, including domestic sourcing of mugs and the continued use of organic-based inks."

Added Brendan Kinney, vice president of development and marketing, “We have learned much over the last month as we navigated this complicated issue. We appreciate the feedback that we’ve received from our listeners and are working diligently to maintain their trust and loyalty.”

Image of mug courtesy of VPR.

Like live theater? Seth Jarvis has got a "play group" for you! The Burlington actor and playwright hasn't been sitting on his thumbs since his former employer, the late, great Waterfront Video, closed in May. (That's Jarvis, left, with Chris LaPointe at the store.) He's gotten married, for one thing. And for another, he's cooked up a monthly theater event called Playmakers.

Consisting of a directed reading and up to three "cold readings by local writers," Playmakers launches at 7:30 tonight, November 4 — "by the nature of bookings it will always be on a Monday," Jarvis says — at the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington.

"I'm hoping once we begin, people will come forward and join in," he says. And by people he means "new playwrights, and actors and directors who've wanted to try their hand at writing."

War is serious business — and so is war-themed science fiction. Your mind may be leaping to the movie version of Starship Troopers. But the genre doesn't have to be, writes Andrew Liptak, all about "bug hunts and unabashed jingoism."

You may know Liptak as the local guy behind Geek Mountain State. The holder of an MA in military history from Norwich University, he's written about science fiction for Kirkus Reviews, io9 and other publications. Now he's coediting an anthology of military SF called War Stories, which its Kickstarter page describes thus:

It's a look at the people ordered into impossible situations, asked to do the unthinkable, and those unable to escape from hell. It's stories of courage under fire, and about the difficulties in making decisions that we normally would never make. It's about what happens when the shooting stops, and before any trigger is ever pulled.

In other words, the kinds of issues that real soldiers face — in SF settings.

This week in movies you missed: Elaborate tiny doll abodes are just so adorable. But wait, what's that blood spatter doing on the wall? Why are all the inhabitants of this miniature home ... dead?

What You Missed

In the 1930s, a Chicago heiress named Frances Glessner Lee began creating a series of intricate miniatures. This was no idle rich lady's hobby — it was a key step in the development of forensic science.

Lee, a Sherlock Holmes fan with a passion for criminal justice, crafted the 18 Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death as a teaching tool for homicide investigators. Each diorama presents an ambiguous death (or deaths) and is designed to test the observer's ability to follow clues methodically to a deduction. The Maryland Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore, where the Nutshell Studies now reside, still uses them to educate officers.