Seth Rogovoy, a contributing editor at the Forward, is the author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet (Scribner) and Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison (Oxford University Press).
Seth Rogovoy
By Seth Rogovoy
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Culture 10 songs for President Biden — an inauguration Spotify playlist
Every presidential inauguration – heck, every major public event – deserves a custom-made playlist. In putting one together for the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the United States on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at noon, it was tempting to make a list of songs not unlike those you would play at a wedding –…
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Culture Was Elvis Presley actually the Jewish Elvis?
It is no secret that Elvis Presley had various Jewish affinities and connections throughout his life. As a teenager, for example, he lived downstairs from an Orthodox Jewish family for whom he would switch on lights on Saturdays. The so-called Memphis Mafia — his running gang of friends, helpers, and hangers-on — had a handful…
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Culture Is there anything Jewish about Taylor Swift’s new album? Actually, yes.
In this lockdown year, Taylor Swift decided once and for all to shed her upbeat, country-pop-electronic-dance queen musical approach in favor of a sound more befitting trying times. To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, she wanted it darker. To help her along with her stylistic transition, Swift engaged the services of producer, songwriter, and musician Aaron Dessner,…
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Culture The secret Jewish history of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra was a staunch supporter of Israel and wore a mezuzah.
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Culture Remembering the time John Lennon sang ‘Hava Nagilah’
Had he not been gunned down on Dec. 8, 1980 by a deranged “fan” lying in wait for him outside of his Upper West Side residence in Manhattan, John Lennon may well have been a well-preserved 80 years old right now, still happily married to Yoko Ono and living in the Dakota. The ostensible founder…
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Culture Your Jewish guide to the Grammy nominations
Music is not like baseball. With the latter, you choose a favorite team and stick with it through its ups and downs over the years. (Believe me, as a lifelong, beleaguered fan of the New York Met, I know of what I speak.) With the former, however, if the diverse and all-encompassing Grammy Award nominations…
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Culture How Leonard Cohen’s messianic childhood prepared him for a sort of priesthood
Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years. by Michael Posner Simon & Schuster, 496 pages, $30 We already know that rock poet Leonard Cohen was a profoundly Jewish songwriter and a deeply spiritual man. But a new oral biography, “Leonard Cohen — Untold Stories: The Early Years” (Simon & Schuster), by Michael Posner, recounts in…
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Culture The secret Jewish history of Elvis Costello
The first words Elvis Costello sings on his new album, “Hey Clockface” (Concord Records), are “I got no religion, I got no philosophy.” While the 66-year-old self-described “lapsed Catholic” might not adhere to any doctrine or creed, he has — like his father before him — enjoyed a storied career collaborating with Jewish artists. And…
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