Dan Epstein is the Forward’s contributing music critic. His books include Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76.
Dan EpsteinContributing Music Critic
By Dan Epstein
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Film & TV Neil Diamond’s blackface scene might be the most embarrassing moment in Jewish cinema history
On October 6th 1927, the original film production of “The Jazz Singer” made its world premiere at the Warners’ Theatre in midtown Manhattan. (I know, I know — seems like just yesterday, right?) Though difficult to sit through these days, even without the segments where Al Jolson appears in blackface, “The Jazz Singer” nevertheless continues…
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Culture The 12 greatest Jewish feats in baseball playoff history
Ah, October — when Jewish holidays, fall colors, Halloween and the baseball postseason combine to make for a particularly festive time of the year. Of course, when we think of Jewish baseball heroics in October, we immediately (and understandably) think of Sandy Koufax. But while the “Left Arm of God” certainly ranks high on any…
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Culture Was this the greatest album ever made by a Jewish (or any) rock ‘n’ roll star?
Of the many memorable moments in Apple TV+’s eight-part documentary “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” there’s a particular segment in Episode 3 (“Changes”) that may be my favorite. On a drab-looking British TV chat show from 1971, adult pundits and teen guests argue over whether there should be sex education in UK schools…
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Culture It was the best of Streisand, it was the worst of Streisand
The idea of “outtakes” — songs recorded by an artist during sessions for an album, but which for whatever reason don’t make the final running order — has fascinated me ever since I dropped 15 bucks on “Still On the Edge,” a bootleg collection of Bruce Springsteen demos and studio outtakes, back in the early…
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Culture The Marx Brothers movie that matters right now
It’s August 14, 1971. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” by the Bee Gees is enjoying its second of four straight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, “Klute” is the number one film at the U.S. box office, and tonight St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson will hurl the first and only no-hitter of…
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Culture Top 50 cover versions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ ranked!
The definitive top 50 rankings of Leonard Cohen’s 'Hallelujah' cover versions
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Culture No, Paul Simon is not a ‘historical footnote.’ And no, it doesn’t really matter.
And no, this is not an aggrieved defense of a Boomer icon either
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Culture How the gods of hair metal worshipped the Borscht Belt hustle
Nöthin’ But a Good Time. By Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock St. Martin’s Press, $29, 560 pages It was during the first few weeks of 1984 that I suddenly realized David Lee Roth was Jewish. I’d been a Van Halen fan for nearly five years at that point, yet had somehow never considered the possibility…
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In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish ווי ייִדישע לשונות האָבן געהאָלפֿן איבערגעבן וויסן צו די ייִדישע מאַסןHow Judeo-languages helped transmit knowledge to the Jewish masses
נאָך דעם ווי מע האָט איבערגעזעצט די לשון־קודשדיקע משלים פֿון בן־סירא אויף ייִדיש איז דער ספֿר געוואָרן שטאַרק פּאָפּולער.
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