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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Hasidic Tales and Post-Apartheid Politics
Earlier this week, I began my coverage of the New York International Fringe Festival by introducing the solo performances of three young women grappling with their faith. With the second week came more solo shows, but this time the performances were about larger stories, and involved more characters than just the individual actors. Taking in…
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Brooklyn Yeshiva Plays Big Brother
At Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel, an all-boys yeshiva in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, everything — food, behavior, clothing — must be kosher. If school officials get their way, they’ll soon be adding one more thing to that list: at-home Internet browsing. “We are following the dictates of our [rabbis] — that as human beings, we…
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Swastika Crop Circle Trampled Into German Cornfield
They may be illegal in Germany, but that didn’t stop an alleged group of neo-Nazis from creating a swastika crop circle the size of a tennis court in a cornfield in Aßling, Bavaria. As the British tabloid the Daily Mail reported yesterday, authorities believe the perpetrators trampled the ground to create the shape — so…
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The Jewish Underworld in Song
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Forverts associate editor Itzik Gottesman writes about “Din Toyre,” a song that deals with the question of Justice, in both the mundane and cosmic senses. The performance was “recorded by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman in the Bronx, 1980s. The singer was a neighbor, M. Bauman, from either Lodz or…
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A Star Is Born at KlezKanada
Each year the KlezKanada Summer Institute, held for a week in August in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal, reveals new surprises. This time around choreographer Steven Weintraub introduced a masquerade ball, so couples were dancing “Pas Despans” along with their bulgars and freilichs. Eight virtuoso musicians from The Other Europeans project, which examines Jewish…
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Aviv Geffen To Open For U2 in Greece
A former bad boy of Israeli rock is set to perform his first concert pro Bono. Aviv Geffen, one of Israel’s top-selling musicians, will open for the Irish megastar band U2 at its September 3 show in Greece, singing for an audience of up to 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium, in Athens. The performance marks…
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One Woman Shows on the Fringe
To the delight, thrill or perhaps chagrin of theatergoers in the Tri-State Area, on August 13 the annual New York International Fringe Festival rolled into town. Using 18 venues scattered below 14th Street, nearly 200 productions are being mounted in three short weeks, showcasing the newest of the new on the Off-Off Broadway circuit. The…
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‘Arab Labor’ in the Academy
Crossposted from Haaretz The University of Haifa will host a seminar next week on the Channel 2 hit sitcom “Arab Labor.” The series, now in its second season, is highly controversial in Israel’s Arab community and has engendered criticism in the mainstream Israeli press over its treatment of delicate issues of discrimination, religion and coexistence….
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A "Ground Zero Mosque" Protest Jingle
Trade Martin — a country singer who will surely go from obscurity to notoriety and back to obscurity before you can say “publicity stunt” — did something that is either too offensive to be hilarious or too hilarious to be offensive, depending on where you stand: He recorded a completely serious ditty called, ever-so-subtly, “We’ve…
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Jewish Art for the New Millennium: ‘3 Alicias 3’
After much anticipation, the moment is almost upon us. Tomorrow night the Forward will present an evening of music and poetry in collaboration with the Sixth Street Synagogue, featuring no less than three Alicias: Alicia Svigals, Alicia Ostriker and Alicia Jo Rabins. The event will feature an eclectic mix of genres, mediums and generations. Each…
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Farewell to Roy Pinney, the Most Interesting Jew in New York
Calling anyone the most interesting Jew in New York is hyperbolic, we know, but Roy Pinney was pretty close. In fact, forget most interesting Jew — most interesting person is more like it. Pinney, who passed away on August 9 at the age of 98, was a photographer, war correspondent and devoted herpetologist. The son…
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