Philip Roth?s boyhood house is ugly. It?s a three-story home in the Newark, N.J., neighborhood of Weequahic, just a couple of blocks from the local high school. The siding on the upper stories is a greenish yellow. Unlit Christmas lights are strung between the bars on the lower- story windows. A hefty iron gate covers…
Today is Philip Roth’s 80th birthday, and the literary hounds are on the scent. Here’s what’s going on: Roth’s hometown of Newark N.J. is celebrating with a photo exhibit at the New York Public Library, a bus tour, and an invite-only talk by Roth himself at the Newark Museum. There is a two day conference…
Before the Beatles “loved us do” and the Rolling Stones searched for “Satisfaction,” there was Neil Sedaka. A Jewish heartthrob from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, he was one of the legendary Brill Building composers, along with collaborators Howard Greenfield and Carol King — also his former girlfriend, and namesake for the hit song “Oh Carol” (1959)….
Dear Sarah at 20, Right now you are embarking on your 20s, a moment that Hollywood tries to sell to young women as carefree and glamorous. But as our culture has increasingly acknowledged over time, your 20s are actually confusing and difficult. Having officially survived them, I am writing you a guide to the expected…
A kosher community kitchen in Sydney celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday by preparing hundreds of meals for the needy. Our Big Kitchen, an initiative of Brooklyn-born Rabbi Dovid Slavin and his wife Laya, hosted more than 100 volunteers Wednesday night, including a government senator, the local mayor and representatives of both major political parties. “Mandela’s…
We were remiss in not wishing Leonard Cohen a happy birthday yesterday, but the 77-year-old Montreal poet, novelist and singer-songwriter has other consolations. On October 11, Legacy Recordings will re-release 17 discs of Cohen’s back catalogue as a box set, including all of his studio albums and a few live ones, as well. The “Complete…
Seventy does not mean old or young. As Bob Dylan says in Floater: The old men ’round here, sometimes they get On bad terms with the younger men But old, young, age don’t carry weight It doesn’t matter in the end In the imagination of the Jewish sages of Late Antiquity, 70 means quality, not…
Bob Dylan turns 70 on May 24. So what? Well, for one, let’s see you continue to perform two-hour concerts 100 nights a year, as you’ve been doing practically nonstop for the past quarter-century or so, all over the world, keeping things new and fresh, while the music industry around you falls apart; your body…
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