He\’s interviewed Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis, Annette Bening, Snoop Dogg, Ron Howard, even President Clinton. Cameron Diaz flirted with him outrageously at the Directors Guild Awards.
Why do most people want to believe that a successful career in show business happens by luck? Maybe it\’s because for people who haven\’t made it, that\’s a good explanation or excuse.
One of the reasons, perhaps the reason, Bette Midler has been a very big star for a very long time is her enormous gift to let us in on who she is, and that includes being Jewish, with no apologies.
If God uttered words to create the universe, it\’s not surprising that two L.A. artists are using the Hebrew alphabet as inspiration for their own work.
On Nov. 15, the Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale, along with other Los Angeles choral groups, left for a European trip that included performances in Prague and, most notably, Nuremberg, where the chorale participated, on Nov. 25 and 26, in performances of Leonard Bernstein\’s \”Symphony No. 3, Kaddish,\” in a concert hall built on the site of the famous Nazi Nuremberg rallies of the 1930s.
When her first liturgical tune popped into Debbie Friedman\’s head almost 30 years ago, she had no clue that she would become the queen of contemporary American Jewish music.
On the eve of the new year, there\’s plenty to see in the arts around town.
\”Hoffman showed me that a short Jewish guy with a big nose could prosper and even be seen as a leading man,\” said David Paymer.
In his new CD, \”Garden of Yidn\” (Naxos World), violinist and music historian Yale Strom, who will be in concert in Los Angeles next week, offers tunes going back as far as the early 19th century, giving the listener not only a superior musical experience but some fascinating historical sketches of Jews in the Yiddish- and Ladino-speaking world.
