Beyond the Pale

Is LA Ready for its Dose of ?Law & Order?

Following last year’s cancellation of the original New York version of the series after a venerable 20-year run — a record matched in drama only by the classic Western “Gunsmoke” — a new spawn will appear this fall: “Law & Order: Los Angeles.” While some may dismiss this latest iteration of Dick Wolf’s [...]

The Passions of a Nobel Laureate

Given that I haven’t been posting much lately, I thought perhaps I would fill the gap by publishing an interview I did for Andy Warhol’s Interview back in the early 1980s with Isaac Bashevis Singer, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. As I recall he was prickly but quite game — [...]

What We Say When We Talk about Mel Gibson

The recent news that Mel Gibson is no longer a client of William Morris Endeavor should come as no surprise. Many news and entertainment programs, including NBC’s “Today Show,” pegged the delisting to Gibson’s recent domestic assault allegations and tabloid leak of surreptitious tapes of racist rants he allegedly made, all arising from his custody [...]

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/ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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, [...]

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