The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Author Uses Online Anti-Semitism Survey as Research for Book
Anti-Semitism: Hot or Not? The questions don’t exactly read that way, but a new online survey about anti-Jewish attitudes will provide the raw material for a forthcoming book by a fiery young Jewish journalist. According to Canada’s Jewish Tribune, 24-year-old, New York-based Daniel Vahab is hoping at least 500 people complete his survey. Vahab spent…
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Tiki Barber Calls Himself a ‘Reverse Anne Frank’
Talk about a strange analogy. Football pro-turned-TV-star-turned-football-pro-hopeful Tiki Barber is catching a lot of heat for a comment he made to a Sports Illustrated reporter in which he compared himself to Anne Frank. The New York Post’s headline reads, “Tiki comparing self with Anne Frank just despicable”, and the Daily News declared, “Tiki Barber, trying…
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NYC’s Warm Weather Concert Sounds
As temperatures climb, some New Yorkers gather their families and head for the countryside, while others remain en ville to seek similar experiences in concerts redolent of Yiddishkeit. One such is a May 26 recital at The Austrian Cultural Forum in which Austrian soprano Ursula Langmayr performs a selection of Gustav Mahler’s outdoors-inspired songs, accompanied…
The Latest
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Getting Out of the Roman Bath: Poetry by Susan Comninos
This week we’re pleased to feature a poem by Susan Comninos, “Rome Visits When I’m in the Bath.” The poem is a bit of a maze. On the surface there’s the juxtaposition of Jewish and Christian identities, but then more layers begin to emerge. Do the two identities refer to different modes of inspiration, to…
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New Beginning in Brandenburg for Composer Joseph Achron
The virtually forgotten Lithuanian-Jewish composer Joseph Achron (1886-1943) is getting a premiere this weekend in the German city of Brandenburg an der Havel. As part of their season-long exploration of music suppressed by the Third Reich, the Brandenburg Symphoniker, conducted by Robin Engelen, will present the first German performance of Achron’s third violin concerto (and…
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Welcoming the Apocalypse at the Jerusalem Philosophy Festival
Two days before the world was to end, as calculated by engineer and prophet Harold Camping, seemed as good a time as any to find answers to eternal questions about human life and meaning. Thus I joined “What’s on your Mind? ” an “International Philosophy Festival” in Jerusalem that ran from May 18 to May 20…
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Out and About: Gary Shteyngart Wins Wodehouse Prize; Sol LeWitt at City Hall
Flavorwire previews an exhibit of sculptures by Sol LeWitt, on view in New York at City Hall Park. Gary Shteyngart has won the Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction, the first American to ever receive the honor. In Bob Dylan birthday news this week, singer-songwriter Nikki Jean performs one of his unfinished songs, while newly released…
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Ladies’ Night at the O.K. Corral
From left: Carol Linnea Johnson, Stephanie Palumbo and Anastasia Barzee in ‘I Married Wyatt Earp.’ Photo by Gerry Goodstein. Wyatt Earp is buried in a Jewish cemetery outside of San Francisco. Who knew? The hero of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was married to a naughty-but-nice Jewish girl. Born in Brooklyn to German-Jewish émigrés…
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Books The Never Ending Book
On Monday, C. Alexander London wrote about being an accidental adventurer. His blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog series. For more information on the series, please visit: By the far the question I am asked most often by…
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Israeli Stuntman Topples David Blaine’s Pole-Standing Record
While Benjamin Netanyahu was delivering a fiery speech to Congress, another Israeli challenged the U.S. by just standing there — and succeeded spectacularly. Stuntman Hezi Dean balanced atop a pole in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square for 35 consecutive hours, toppling magician David Blaine’s record. “It was very hard. I want to tell you only one…
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House of Blues
Crossposted from Haaretz In the salad days of the state, the Histadrut labor federation was active in all aspects of Zionist worker’s needs, from housing to health to leisure and culture. Included in the union’s activities were projects aimed to advance the education and vocational training of women. In 1962, the Working Women’s Council (today’s…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
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Opinion 80 years after Germany surrendered, we’re still learning the real lessons of World War II
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News How a Holocaust denier turned antisemitism into a cryptocoin
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Fast Forward Dozens of arrests reported as NYPD removes pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Columbia library
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Fast Forward Temple suspends second student involved in ‘F— the Jews’ sign
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