Matthew Kassel
By Matthew Kassel
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News Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Debut Novel Is Extremely Jewish
In mid-June, Allison Benedikt, the executive editor of Slate, was attending a book reading to celebrate Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, “Fleishman Is in Trouble.” Since its publication, the book, which tells the story of a messy divorce on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has hit the New York Times bestseller list and received glowing reviews for…
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News Jordan Peterson’s Starting A ‘Free Speech Hub’ — And Extremists Are Intrigued
Last month, the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson announced that he would be launching a new social media hub called Thinkspot. Peterson described the site, which he has said will go live in August, as a kind of “anti-censorship platform” that will operate as an alternative to crowdfunding services like Patreon and other outlets including YouTube…
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News Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin Is Still On Twitter Despite Ban — And Now We Know Where
The reclusive neo-Nazi blogger Andrew Anglin was banned from Twitter in 2015, but that hasn’t kept him off the site. Anglin is still operating anonymously on the social media platform through at least one fake account he uses to promote content from The Daily Stormer, the anti-Semitic hate site he founded in 2013, according to…
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Food Why America’s Strange Love For Starbucks Will Be Key To Howard Schultz’s Political Success
When Howard Schultz hinted earlier this month at the possibility that he might run for president, the idea that another billionaire with no government experience would have his eye on the Oval Office was met with a barrage of sarcastic comments on social media. “There are already several dark horse candidates for ’20,” David Axelrod,…
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Culture If Bono Were a Cantor
A few weeks ago, I sat through my first Friday night service at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The cantor, Daniel Singer, led the congregation through an hour’s worth of song and prayer, accompanied, to my surprise, by a quaint rock group. At one point, he sang the Psalm Shir…
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The Schmooze Latin Rhythms for Tired Feet
On Friday afternoon I walked from my home in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn to 34th Street in Manhattan. From there I caught a train uptown to Symphony Space to see Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, with assorted guests, blend Latin rhythms with Jewish melodies. My feet ached when I got to…
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The Schmooze Fred Hersch Focuses at the Vanguard
Inside the Village Vanguard in Manhattan’s West Village, photographs of legendary jazz musicians line the dark-green walls. Stage left, above a portrait of a stolid John Coltrane, hangs a shot of the pianist Fred Hersch playing a song, his eyes closed, an intense yet peaceful aura about him. Hersch, 56, is relatively young to have…
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The Schmooze Big Bands Are Back, Baby!
Big bands have been making some of the most interesting and pleasurable music in jazz today. If you haven’t heard of them already, these groups are worth your attention: John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band and Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra. There is also a new big…
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