Author Archive

Bell Rings it in….

Violinist Joshua Bell. Photo by Timothy White

Recently I sat down with violinist Joshua Bell to talk about being a classical music performer in the 21st century and a star in the age of iPods and auto-tuned performances. Bell, who will perform July 15 at the Hollywood Bowl, talked about how technology can enhance the concert [...]

“Sons of Tucson”: A Cult Hit in the Making?

“Sons of Tucson” is a clever and subversive new sitcom about three sons who’ve fled to Tucson, Ariz., because their father was imprisoned for financial fraud. They then go on to recruit a ne’er-do-well, played by Taylor Labine (of “Reaper” fame), to pose as their father for school and other official purposes. The show is [...]

Arshile Gorky, a Kindred Spirit

TOMMYWOOD
NOMINATED
FOR TWO
LA PRESS CLUB
AWARDS!
For Entertainment Reviews/ Criticism Column — For an essay on “Holocaust Movies: Winners & Losers”
http://tommywood.com/2009/02/holocaust-movies-winners-losers.html
and
For Entertainment News or Feature for my profile on Ricky Jay,
“Extraordinary Oddities” http://www.jewishjournal.com/holiday_preview/article/ricky_jay_offers_a_rogues_gallery_of_eccentric_entertainers_in_new_show_200/
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ARSHILE GORKY,
A KINDRED SPIRIT

“Self-Portrait,” 1937, oil on canvas, 55 x 23 7/8 in.
Private Collection, on long-term loan to the
National Gallery of Art, Washington. [...]

Bagels, Bongos and Josh Kun

If  USC professor Josh Kun had his way, the Jewish people might not be known as “the People of the Book” but rather “the People of the Record.”

“Bagels and Bongos,” Irving Fields Trio, Decca, 1959 Courtesy of Josh Kun and Roger Bennett
“Jews on Vinyl,” curated by Kun and Roger Bennett, of the Charles and Andrea [...]

Q & A with MEL BROOKS

JewishJournal.com exclusive audio:
Interview with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks sings
Mel Brooks is on a hot streak: He was just a Kennedy Center Honoree (along with Dave Brubeck, Robert De Niro, Grace Bumbry and Bruce Springsteen); 20th Century Fox just released “The Mel Brooks Collection” in Blu-ray - a nine-DVD set that includes “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and [...]

RETHINKING KASZTNER

“Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis,” a new documentary, portrays filmmaker Gaylen Ross’ attempt to understand why Reszo (Rudolf) Kasztner, a Hungarian Jewish leader who saved more than 1,600 people in war-time Budapest - more than Oskar Schindler - on the so-called Kasztner train, remains so controversial to this day.
In the course of [...]

Silver Judaica is Sign of the Times

“How’s it going?”
As a tough year ended and a new decade began, it seemed a fair question. While The New York Times has looked to bowling alley attendance as a gauge of our nation’s condition, I turned to Jonathan Greenstein and his recent auction of silver Jewish ritual art, or Judaica, to determine the health, [...]

Lessons from the not-so-distant past: How photos of the civil rights movement can inspire us today

History often seems to take place on a stage distant from our own experience - yet the exhibition “Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968,” which opened at the Skirball on Nov. 19, reminds us that even our recent past can deliver a strong message for our times.
“Road to Freedom” is a [...]

Shadows of the Sun

When the German forces surrendered to the Allies in May 1945, World War II in Europe ended. However, for the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, the trauma of what they endured wasn’t over. For many, the effects lingered on in ways large and small, noticeable and not, often in ways their families came to know.
Rita [...]

The Kraft of Movie Music

“If there’s music in a movie,” said Robert Kraft, president of Fox Music, “whether on screen, or underscore, or someone is playing guitar in a scene, I’m involved.”
That includes the decisions concerning music at every level.
“How it’s paid for, is it creatively appropriate to the film, is it legal, is it focused on selling more [...]