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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Ludwik Hirszfeld: Great Medical Researcher in the Warsaw Ghetto
Readers do not expect witnesses to historical tragedy to be supremely intelligent, producing gimlet-eyed conclusions about executioners and victims. Yet Ludwik Hirszfeld, a Polish Jewish microbiologist and serologist (expert in blood serum) who died in 1954, did just that in a book issued last August to no fanfare from University of Rochester Press. “Ludwik Hirszfeld:…
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Friday Film: Lou Reed’s ‘Red Sheep’
For those accustomed to seeing Lou Reed as the snarling badass of the New York music scene, his first directorial effort, “Red Shirley,” will come as something of a shock. Far from touching on the trademark obsessions of his Velvet Underground days — sadomasochism and drugs, to be precise — the film is a loving,…
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‘The Beatles of Palestine’ Give First Homeland Performance
Crossposted from Haaretz For decades the music band Al-asheqeen has provided a soundtrack to life in the Palestinian territories; their songs are heard at weddings, funerals, and in daily living. The band, which was created in Damascus by Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon, has become a symbol of national heritage and a…
The Latest
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Books ‘Catcher in the Rye’ Sequel Banned in U.S.
A phony. That’s what the estate of J.D. Salinger is calling Frederik Colting, the Swedish novelist who’s created a sequel to Salinger’s beloved 1951 magnum opus, “Catcher in the Rye.” The BBC reports that Colting’s “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,” which depicts “Catcher” protagonist Holden Caulfield as a haunted septuagenarian, has been banned…
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‘Going to the Movies’
Each Thursday, The Arty Semite features excerpts and reviews of the best contemporary Jewish poetry. This week, Rodger Kamenetz introduces “Going to the Movies” by Andrei Codrescu. This piece originally appeared on March 2, 2001, as part of the Forward’s Psalm 151 series. It is being published here online for the first time. Mr. Codrescu…
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From IDF Lieutenant to Producing the Golden Globes
Orly Adelson’s employees do not salute her when they report for work in the morning. “I would like that, but they won’t,” she said, laughing at the thought. Adelson is president of dick clark productions, the company that produces shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Shaq Vs.,” the Academy of Country Music…
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Out and About: Pearl Buck’s Jewish Novel; Robert Moses, the Musical
Get ready for the Robert Moses musical. Find out what the New York Times best sellers were the week you were born (or any week, really). HEEB talks to Eve Annenberg, whose film “Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish” (discussed in the Forward here) will screen on January 16 at the New York Jewish Film Festival….
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Striking the Right Note
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree I’ve been meaning for quite some time now to write about the Judaica Sound Archives, an online treasure trove of American Jewry’s musicological patrimony, but I couldn’t quite find the right note to strike. In the wake of the sudden and untimely passing of Debbie Friedman, whose musical contributions…
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Golden Globes Arbiter of Seats Is an Israeli Journalist
Jews don’t run Hollywood, but it turns out an Israeli controls the Golden Globes — much to the dissatisfaction of some inside the entertainment industry. Judith Solomon, a writer for Israeli magazine Women’s World, has earned a long list of Hollywood enemies as the person responsible for seating at the pre-Oscars award ceremony. A new…
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Leon Kirchner, a Sometimes-Grumpy, Permanently Inspired Composer
Contemporary American composers have few able defenders, and once out of sight, composers are often forgotten, so it is good to have a biographical tribute, out in November, from University of Rochester Press to Leon Kirchner, who died in 2009 at age 90. “Leon Kirchner: Composer, Performer, & Teacher” by Robert Riggs recounts the life…
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Bob Marley’s Son Rohan Teams Up With Hasidic Rapper
If you don’t see the parallels between dreadlocks and traditional Jewish side curls, it might be because you haven’t spent enough time with one of Bob Marley’s sons. “There’s a link between rastas and peyot,” says DeScribe, a Hasidic musician who has been collaborating with Rohan Marley, the sixth of Bob’s 11 children. “They grow…
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