Adam Blander
By Adam Blander
-
The Schmooze Chabad Hits the Streets for Facebook Votes and Cash
A few weeks ago, while walking past the fountain at Lincoln Center, a young Lubavitch teenager approached me with a laptop in his hands. He asked if I had a second to vote for his school on the Kohl’s Cares for Kids Internet contest, in which the department store chain is giving away a total…
-
The Schmooze Orthodox Record Executive Gunned Down in Liquor Store
Yoseph Robinson, a 34-year-old Jamaican-born hip-hop artist and record executive who converted to Orthodox Judaism, was shot to death yesterday at a kosher liquor store in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. According to eyewitness accounts, Robinson, who was on duty as a store clerk at the time, was fatally shot in the chest and arms…
-
The Schmooze This Klezmer Kills Fascists
“The politics these days are the worst I’ve ever seen,” lamented Robert Kaplan of the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring. He was introducing The Klezmatics before they hit the stage at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park Bandshell on August 3 for the second show in the Music For a Better World series, which culminates on August 15 with…
-
The Schmooze Why Will Gorillaz Play in Syria, But Not in Israel?
Earlier this spring Gorillaz, a British “virtual” rock sensation headed by Blur front-man Damon Albarn, canceled a show at Tel Aviv’s Pic.nic festival, along with British dance punk outfit Klaxons and American alt-rock pioneers The Pixies. Albarn never explicitly stated the reason for the cancellation, but it was widely speculated that the decision was linked…
-
The Schmooze NBA Star Heads to Israel
While Jewish New York Knicks fans may wonder if signing NBA superstar Amare Stoudemire was worth the $100 million price tag, as well as the loss of all-star center and all-around mentsch David Lee, they can at least take comfort in the fact that the 6-foot-10-inch power forward has taken an interest in Judaism. Stoudemire,…
-
The Schmooze More Cuban Than Klezmer
Unlike many practitioners of Jewish music, percussionist and composer Roberto Rodriguez doesn’t view Jewishness as a simple war chest of traditions and musical idioms to draw from. Instead, Rodriguez’s Cuban-Jewish All Stars project is a more strict interpretation of what a particular moment in Jewish history must have sounded like. The era is pre-revolutionary Cuba,…
-
The Schmooze For Malian Musicians, ‘Simplicity is Freedom’
Eclecticism is a virtue too often touted by musicians and critics. Reviews and press releases formulaically repeat the cliché that “artist x blends elements of genre y with style z.” While this may be relevant to the archivists amongst us, such statements really say very little about the quality or authenticity of the music in…
Most Popular
- 1
News Scoop: Internal Project Esther documents describe conspiracy of Jewish ‘masterminds’ seeking to dismantle Western values
- 2
Opinion We’re watching Israel self-destruct — at the hands of its own leaders and citizens
- 3
Opinion Why I resigned as chairman of Amnesty Israel
- 4
Culture In ‘Wicked,’ the power of propaganda takes center stage
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish ace Max Fried signs record-breaking contract with the New York Yankees
-
Film & TV An inspiring documentary shows the power of Black-Jewish unity
-
Fast Forward Vandals graffiti San Francisco Hillel with slogan evoking ancient battle between Muslims and Jews
-
News How a Jewish neighborhood in liberal Los Angeles became a stronghold for Trump
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism