Philip Eil
By Philip Eil
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Culture Opening a Treasure Trove of Kafka Trivia
Is That Kafka? 99 Finds By Reiner Stach Translate from the German by Kurt Beals New Directions, 352 pages, $27.95 In October of 1917, Franz Kafka received a letter: “Dear sir, You have made me unhappy,” it began. “I bought your ‘Metamorphosis’ and gave it to my cousin. But she doesn’t know how to make…
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Culture How a Rabbi’s Granddaughter Became the Host of Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman went viral the day before I interviewed her. It happened after she visited the CNN show “Reliable Sources” to talk about the media’s role in Donald Trump’s ascent. During her conversation with the show’s host, Brian Stelter, Goodman, the longtime co-anchor of the daily news broadcast “Democracy Now!” pointed out how, on a…
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Culture Willie Nelson, Itzhak Perlman and the 8 Greatest Gershwin Covers Ever
The Manhattan skyline appears on the cover of the new album, “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin.” But the sounds come straight from the dry, dusty Southwest. Think slide guitars, harmonicas, and Nelson’s gritty-sweet voice floating like campfire smoke. You never get the sense that the singer is trying too hard as he growls and croons…
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Music The Life and Timeline of George Wein
1925: George Theodore Wein is born on October 3 in Lynn, Massachusetts. 1930s: Wein grows up in the heavily Jewish suburb of Newton, where, as he would later write, “the children… were spared the discrimination that had plagued earlier generations.” But this didn’t necessarily mean his family was particularly observant. He remembers seeing his father,…
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Music George Wein Remembers Newport — 50 Years After Bob Dylan Went Electric
George Wein, co-founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, once wrote, “If there was ever an average middle-class, Jewish-American kid… I was it.” But the life that followed Wein’s childhood in the Boston suburbs has been anything but commonplace. Consider a few facts: As a teenager who hungrily sought out live jazz, Wein sometimes brought musicians…
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Culture Say Hello to the Internet’s Biggest Jewish Stars
The Internet has its own awards show (The Webby Awards). It has its own political issues (net neutrality), its own currency (Bitcoin), and its own push-of-a-button sad trombone (sadtrombone.com). The Internet has its own — well, just about anything. So it’s only natural, then, that the Internet would have a flock of talented, resourceful, sometimes-controversial…
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Culture A Short History of The Viral Jewniverse
“The Hannukah Song,” 1994 Adam Sandler first performed his now-ubiquitous anti-alienation anthem on the “Saturday Night Live” sketch, “Weekend Update,” in 1994, a full decade before YouTube’s 2006 launch. But the song is one of those pre-Internet cultural objects given new life in cyberspace. Count up the views on various versions online and the total…
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Culture Richard Kind and the Marching Band That Woudn’t Leave Him Alone
When the 17-minute film “What Cheer?” appears on Short of the Week on June 17, it will mark more of a victory lap than a debut. The film has already shown at more than 25 festivals, and taken home an armful of awards, including “Best of New York” at the 2014 NY Shorts Fest. It…
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Opinion I’m a rabbi in Columbus. Here’s my answer to the neo-Nazis
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