Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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The Schmooze In Israel, Not So Many Gay Days?
Since horrific headlines are often all that is seen in the English language media about the LGBT civil rights movement in Israel, on June 8, the JCC in Manhattan will offer a valuable corrective. The 2009 Israeli documentary “Gay Days,” directed by Yair Qedar, will be presented by two festivals — The JCC’s 6th Annual…
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The Schmooze Warm Sounds of Summer CD Roundup
As summer approaches with its memories of squalling kiddie camp performances, a dollop of sung sarcasm may seem timely. Fortunately, “The Tom Lehrer Collection” CD/DVD set now appears from Shout! Factory, featuring the veteran mathematician and song satirist in compositions like “I’m spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica.” For more serious listening, Hänssler Classic has just…
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The Schmooze Minsky and Machover at the World Science Festival
The much-hyped World Science Festival kicks off June 2 at Lincoln Center, and it’s still not too late to snap up a “Titanium Package,” which includes “tickets for 20 guests to VIP Reception, Performance (with exceptional seating), and Gala Reception” for the modest sum of only $100,000. Yes, $100,000, to see some Broadway-style performers, like…
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The Schmooze Henry Kissinger, Mozart and Second Drafts
In a memoir of his late parents Mr. and Mrs. William F. Buckley, “Losing Mum and Pup,” newly out in paperback from Twelve Publishers, Christopher Buckley quotes from the funeral oration given by Henry Kissinger at his father’s 2008 service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In it, Kissinger states that the elder Buckley “wrote as Mozart…
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The Schmooze The Overachieving Family Canetti
In some Jewish families, the least admirable member may be the one who wins a Nobel Prize. This is one conclusion to be drawn from the recent publication by Other Press of “Dearest Georg: Love, Literature, and Power in Dark Times; The Letters of Elias, Veza, and Georges Canetti, 1933-1948.” The Bulgarian-born Sephardic Jewish author…
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The Schmooze Adolf Busch: A Righteous Musician Among the Nations
Next month, Toccata Press publishes “Adolf Busch: The Life of an Honest Musician” by Tully Potter, and for once a biography’s title under-hypes its subject. Recent CD reprints from Music & Arts, along with exemplary EMI recordings of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn show the violinist and composer to be a great musician indeed. Busch’s…
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The Schmooze French Jewish Director Jean-Pierre Mocky Mocks On
The French Jewish film director Jean-Pierre Mocky exemplifies the bitterness at the heart of many highly original comedic talents. Delightful comic actors from Bourvil to Michel Serrault enjoyed long, if quirky, professional associations with Mocky, whose career as an actor and director has been as stormy as the best of his films. Born Jean-Paul Adam…
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The Schmooze Patrick Modiano: Writing and Rewriting Recent Jewish History
On June 9, French novelist Patrick Modiano will receive a prestigious literary prize from the Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca, previously given to Jean Anouilh, Jorge Luis Borges, and Milan Kundera. Modiano, born in 1945, is the son of Albert Modiano, an Italian Jew with roots in Salonica, who survived the war as a…
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