Q:The business of acting in television and film is not equal to all who have an interest in it. I’ve noticed in LA there being a huge focus on networking, social media presence and finding some form of nepotism to help you. In your experience, how much of the work of an actor is based around just being really well at playing the “social game”?
We’re in a time now where the benefits and deficits to social media are glaring. When there is substance behind the communications, its effectiveness is a blessing. But when empty propaganda is put out to the masses, it is soulless.
I think an actor can get lots of attention on social media- I suppose almost anyone can. But as your question implies, this has very little to do with the artform. In fact, they are two totally different careers entirely: one is marketing, one is interpreting characters for the stage and screen.
In the first chapter of Stanislavski’s AN ACTOR PREPARES, the foundation for all American acting techniques, he talks about discipline. He tells a story of an actor being late for rehearsal, and how disruptive that is to the collective energy of the cast. I often point out to the actors that I work with, that discipline is the first point of discussion for a reason.
You already know that as an actor, you need to discipline yourself to read scripts, to practice acting them, to train your voice, stay in physical shape- these parts of your discipline are essential. But there is also a spiritual and mental discipline, and that is what we exercise to stay focused on the work.
Your job is to stay connected to what is truly interesting to you. You can feel in your body when you are passionate about a project you’re working on. Just like an athlete, you get connected to the moment you’re in. If you think about how people are going to talk about your game, or even winning the game, while you’re playing, you’re not in flow and you’re going to fumble. Your job is to find the love of a script or project or character, and to find a way to bring it to life. Then do it again and again and again. Spend your time and your concentration on that, and you will get better and better. And then you’ll have something inspired to share, if you choose to share it. Don’t share for sharing sake, do it from your heart. If you want to bring your agent a gift, great! If you want to post about something you’re working on, great! But that is not the concentration. The concentration is the work itself.
There is only one you. When you truly connect to what inspires you and turns you on from within, there is power in that. Trust your voice, and only use it when it is connected to what truly motivates you.
As far as nepotism, it exists in every field. It’s not fair that some actors get jobs because of it when others don’t. But there’s nothing you can do about that, so use your discipline to focus on what you can do which is make art with the talent that you and only you alone possess. And do it every day. And you will keep getting better. So when you have an opportunity you will be ready, and when you create an opportunity it will be inspired.
Keep your eye on the ball. That is the discipline that will connect you to your work most beneficially, and the discipline you must continue to hone. Connect to what you are truly passionate about, despite the noise outside of you. That kind of passion, when it’s truly routed in craft, becomes naturally contagious.
“The actor, no less than the soldier, must be subject to iron discipline”- Stanislavski
“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” -Martha Graham
Please send your specific questions about the art of acting to staytuned@gmail.com and Kymberly will respond to a different question each week! There are no invalid questions, as long as they pertain to your craft and life as an actor.
Kymberly Harris is an actor’s director. She specializes in character-driven stories, whether the genre is drama, comedy, thriller, or action. Her extensive experience as a method acting coach to professional actors of all ages has led actors to seek her out to direct them towards their best performances in film, television, and theatre projects.
Khalil Jabarin, a Palestinian man, was sentenced to life in prison on July 21 for the stabbing death of Israeli American Ari Fuld, and the attempted killing of three other people in September 2018.
The Judea Military Court in the West Bank also ruled that Jabarin, who was 17 at the time of Fuld’s killing, has to pay Fuld’s family NIS 1.25 million ($368,125.)
Maurice Hirsch, the Fuld family attorney, argued that the court should have handed down multiple life sentences to Jabarin because he had intended to kill others. He also argued that the compensatory amount should have been larger.
“The court completely ignored the fact that the PA [Palestinian Authority] is going to pay the terrorist over NIS 5 million for murdering Ari,” Hirsch said. “By awarding damages of only NIS 1.25 million, the court sent a clear message — terror pays.”
However, Fuld’s widow, Miriam, said she believed the sentence was appropriate.
“I felt that the judges heard us and then got to know the man that Ari was,” she said in a statement.
Jabarin stabbed Fuld, 45, multiple times in the back and at a supermarket near the Gush Etzion Junction. Fuld then pursued Jabarin and shot him before he could injure anyone else.
“What if” is the classic starting point for speculative fiction. What if Nazi Germany had conquered Great Britain in 1940? That’s the premise of Len Deighton’s “SS-GB.” What if Germany and Japan had defeated the United States and divided up North America between them? Philip K. Dick imagined the scenario in “The Man in the High Castle.” And even a literary luminary like Philip Roth wondered what America would have looked like with Charles Lindbergh in the White House in “The Plot Against America.” One measure of the appeal of the what-if genre is that all three novels have now been turned into miniseries.
Now comes Cy Stein with “Rocket’s Red Glare: A WWII Era Alternative History Novel” (Abeel Street Press), a deeply informed and wildly inventive re-imagining of America during the Second World War. Like Roth, he puts Lindbergh in the White House as the successful candidate in the 1940 presidential election, an event that prefigures our own benighted times: “America is for Americans only!” is Lindbergh’s rallying cry. And when he welcomes the German ambassador, the Lone Eagle boasts that he has read “Mein Kampf.”
“Connected a lot of dots for me,” he says. “Especially about the Jews.”
But that’s only the beginning of Stein’s terrifying retelling of history. When England seeks military assistance from the United States, all that is offered is “Joseph P. Kennedy’s advice that all was lost.” Germany wins the Battle of Britain in Stein’s retelling, and both Churchill and the royal family flee to Canada. The Duke of Wales, restored to the throne, welcomes the victorious Wehrmacht as the head of a collaborationist government. Goering assures Hitler that the Soviet Union will fall next because “we have substantial support in America now,” including Lindbergh himself, whom he describes as an anti-Semite who “respects the vitality of National Socialism.”
Stein is a distinguished physician and scientist, but his ardor for historical fiction is plainly in evidence in “Rocket’s Red Glare.” Indeed, his previous novel, “The Medicus Codex,” featured a physician at large in ancient Rome, and he is equally adept at telling a tale set in the more recent past.
A young John F. Kennedy shows up to serve as the secret liaison between President Lindbergh and J. Edgar Hoover.
He introduces us to Sid Peskin, a young man whose New York childhood resembles the author’s own. “No matter how many games they lost, he never lost faith in his Dodgers” — the Brooklyn Dodgers, of course. His other passion is physics and math, which he studies at City College, “the Harvard of the proletariat.” Suddenly, the reader is shown an ominous sight on the streets of New York City — “three young men, all wearing brown shirts and swastika armbands,” who assault a Black student with their wooden clubs. The slouching beast of fascism has shown up on the streets of New York.
The cast of real-life characters that appears in “Rocket’s Red Glare” is startling. We encounter J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller, among others, all of whom are clues to one strand of the twisted plot. So it’s no coincidence that Sid runs into Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the college cafeteria, and when Julius boasts openly about the Stalinist revolution that he aspires to see, Ethel admonishes him in a moment of dark and almost comic irony: “Julius, keep quiet, there are spies.”
Sometimes Stein recruits a thoroughly unexpected historical figure and assigns him a role in the story that will resonate for the reader in the here and now. A young John F. Kennedy shows up to serve as the secret liaison between President Lindbergh and J. Edgar Hoover. Gangster Louie “Lepke” Buchalter and visionary physicist Leo Szilard are odd bedfellows in the resistance to an American version of authoritarian rule. And Fred Trump, the father of our current president, shows up as the mayor of New York City, no less ambitious or offensive as his son. “I hate the Hebes because I know that under no circumstances will any of ’em listen to a goddam thing I have to say,” the elder Trump grumbles — and that’s the least abusive thing he has to say about the Jews.
With pots boiling on all burners, “Rocket’s Red Glare” is an authentic page-turner. It’s a potent blend of speculative fiction, political thriller and spy novel, and it’s not without a romantic subplot, too. (Sid’s girlfriend, Julia, wonders out loud “what happens when a Jewish guy kisses outside the faith.”) As ugly things begin to happen on the streets of New York, Stein also shows us the machinations that go on behind closed doors, both in the White House and among those who are struggling to spare America from the community spread of anti-Semitism.
Stein manages to bring the furious plot to a satisfying resolution, although it would be unfair to the reader to disclose the surprises that are in store. He even succeeds in casting an oblique glance at the man who actually is the president of the United States. Perhaps the best way to put it is that no one who has read “The Plot Against America” will ever guess how “Rocket’s Red Glare” ends.
Like E.L. Doctorow’s “Ragtime,” Stein fills his book with real people and then puts them in unexpected roles in service of the story he tells. Given the dire circumstances that Stein evokes, the biggest surprise in “Rocket’s Red Glare” is how much fun it is to read. We just can’t wait to find out how it will all end, not only for the imaginary Sid and Julia, but for Fred Trump, too.
Jonathan Kirsch, author and attorney, is the book editor of the Jewish Journal.
(JTA) — The Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha congregation in Pittsburgh has taken more steps toward rebuilding.
The synagogue has hired a consultant to create a plan and one to come up with a fundraising campaign to pay for renovating the site of the October 2018 attack that left 11 worshippers dead, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reported.
“We have a desire to make something new – we’re not erasing anything but we need to look forward,” Barb Feige, the congregation’s executive director, told the newspaper. “This is about renewal and remembrance and reflection.”
The consultants’ fees will be covered by grants for rebuilding.
In October 2019, one year after the shooting, the congregation said it would rebuild and return to the building.
The congregation has not returned to the site since the attack. Two congregations that rented space in the Tree of Life building, Congregation Dor Hadash and New Light Congregation, were taken in by area synagogues and decided to remain in their new locations.
Two organizations, Chatham University and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, have expressed interest in using space in the renovated building.
No funds donated to help the victims recover from the shooting will be used for the rebuilding campaign unless they were designated for it, Feige told the newspaper.
Six thousand, seven hundred and forty four miles. That’s the distance between Israel and the East Coast of America. Together, the two countries are home to 90% of Jews around the globe. But while in Israel Jewish identity is obvious to almost everyone, in America, things are a bit different. As the years progress, some young Jewish Americans feel more and more detached from their Jewish identity. Some are only half Jewish, or quarter Jewish. Some don’t even know about their Jewish roots. The fear is that within a few generations, not much will be left of the American Jewish non-religious community.
To deal with this possibility, Birthright was established in 1999 to bring young Jews from all around the world to Israel to understand their roots, get to know the country and hopefully, fall in love with it. To date, more than 750,000 people have participated in a Birthright trip. Seventy-five percent of them are American and Canadian.
But now, with the coronavirus, the future of the operation is being put to the test. So what does the future hold for Birthright? And did the project achieve any actual results?
To answer these questions, we have Gidi Mark on the show today. Gidi is the CEO of Taglit-Birthright and has been since 2008. He began his career as a diplomat, and served Israel in many embassies, including Istanbul, Bonn and New York. We’re happy to be joined by Gidi Mark to discuss Birthright, American Jewry and much more.
The California legislature is currently reviewing a bill proposed by Senator Susan Rubio (#SB1141) to expand the definition of “domestic violence” to include “coercive control” in Family Code, not the Criminal Code. Set to be heard in the Assembly on July 30, it will now be heard Aug. 12.
It’s about time.
What is “coercive control”? How is it different than “domestic violence” as defined in our laws? Why is it especially relevant to the scourge of “get abuse,” where Jewish men and some women refuse to grant a Jewish divorce in order to extort or control the lives of their estranged spouses?
The term was delineated by Dr. Evan Stark in his book “Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life”(2007). He concluded from his extensive research that domestic violence laws have not been effective in preventing or predicting violence against women. Paradoxically, the focus on discrete instances of physical assault masks the underlying pattern of tactics calculated to subordinate the will of the victim to the abuser, with or without physical assaults.
Coercive control shifts the model of domestic violence from a crime of assault to a calculated pattern of intimidation, isolation from all social supports, deprivation of basic necessities, control of the victim’s movements and control of finances. The conduct of coercive control is more akin to hostage-taking or kidnapping — a form of domestic terror within an intimate partner relationship. Yet, the victim has no legal redress until an act of serious violence is inflicted. The controller engages in psychological and coercive methods to instill fear and total obedience in the victims. These tactics serve to severely compromise the victim’s capacity for independent, self-interested decision-making that is vital to escape and to effectively resist the abuse.
Coercive control legislation has been enacted as a separate crime in France (2010), the UK (2015), Wales, Ireland and Scotland (2019). In the U.S., New York was the first to introduce a bill to criminalize coercive control (2018). In January 2020, in a landmark case in the UK, the Crown assumed the prosecution of a man who manipulated the granting of a get for years, as part of a pattern of coercive control. Facing criminal charges, he granted the get on the eve of trial.
As a former senior prosecutor in the Domestic Violence Bureau in New York, and as an advocate on behalf of victims of get abuse for more than 30 years, I have witnessed the insidious effects of coercive control in the lives of victims and their children. Get abuse is one form of coercive control. Without a get, a woman can never remarry or even date. Not only does the get abuser completely dominate the divorce process through coercive bargaining tactics, but the threat of never receiving the get severely compromises the victim’s ability to rebuild her or his life. The get abuser isolates the estranged and trapped spouse from social intercourse; compromises her or his future economic growth, as the victim will not be able to benefit from a second income that remarriage may afford; and generally, deprives the victim of the autonomy, liberty and personhood protected by the U.S. Constitution and international human rights conventions, which includes the right to marry.
As a former senior prosecutor in the Domestic Violence Bureau in New York, and as an advocate on behalf of victims of get abuse for more than 30 years, I have witnessed the insidious effects of coercive control in the lives of victims and their children.
Agreat obstacle in educating attorneys and judges about the conduct of“get abuse” is that it is rooted in a religious practice. It is not the withholding of the get per se that is abusive, but rather, the misuse of the power differential by the abuser to extort or wield control over the victim. A law defining coercive control would provide a secular language to describe the devastating tactics used by the get abuser. One need not know anything about religion to consider the following statements as evidence of coercive control:
“If you ever leave me, I will make sure that you go to your grave as an “Agunah”; (a woman unable to remarry; literally “chained” to a dead marriage).
“Unless I get custody on my terms, you will never receive your get.”
“I will only give you a get if you forego all property and financial support.”
Of course, the court cannot order anyone to grant a Jewish divorce, but it can recognize the misuse of a power differential to coercively control the victim as a factor in obtaining a restraining order, or determining custody and spousal support.
Such legislation also may deter coercive controlling behavior in traditional Muslim communities, where the consent of the husband is required for divorce, or religious Catholics where annulment requires the cooperation of both spouses.
Definitions are powerful tools; they describe reality. We need to urge our respective senators and assembly members to support a law that defines coercive control as a form of domestic violence. This is especially urgent with the rise of domestic violence cases during this COVID-19 pandemic. Without such a law “get abuse,” as a form of coercive control, has no legal name or redress.
Find out who your assembly member and senator are, and place calls to their offices. Just say that you support the bill on coercive control. Do it before Aug. 12.
Correction: This story originally stated the landmark UK hearing took place in 2010.
UPDATE July 27: This story was updated to include the recent hearing date. Originally July 30, it has been pushed to Aug. 12.
Esther Macner is the president and founder of Get Jewish Divorce Justice. For more information email info@getjewishdivorce.org
I spent July 19 listening to what was billed as “A Virtual Town Hall Discussion on Central Issues Facing the Jewish Community in 2020,” sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).
I doubt whether many of my fellow dyed-in-the-wool Democrats listened, which was probably just as well because their blood pressure would have skyrocketed. What depressed me most was the realization that Jewish Republicans and Democrats in this country don’t just differ in their political views, they live in different worlds.
They don’t just have differing views on economic or foreign policies, they are convinced that their opponents are basically evil, devoid of intelligence and bound to destroy America as we know it.
Granted, political rhetoric has been heated in this country since the days of George Washington, but I somehow thought that among Jews trying to persuade other Jews to come over to their political side, there would be some concessions that the views of the other side were not entirely sponsored by the devil.
I presume — more in sorrow than in anger — that if the discussion had been sponsored by the Democratic Jewish Committee, I would have heard the same arguments, but with a 180-degree thrust.
Given all that, I still thought that as a minority within a minority — and given the subdued title of the event — the Jewish Republicans might seek possible converts through friendly persuasion rather than smashing the other side’s idols. The chasm between the two parties is personified by — who else? — President Donald Trump. To the Republicans, and according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump is the modern-day Cyrus the Great, the ancient Persian monarch who freed the Jewish captives in Babylon and returned them to their homeland.
To the Democrats, he is an archvillain, without a single redeeming feature: a weak, corrupt man who would be better off in a mental rehab institution than the White House.
The RJC assembled a formidable quartet for the July 19 online event, consisting of former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), radio personality Mark Levin and RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks, who served as moderator.
As Hollywood knows, every hero must have an antagonist who is a villain, that role fell first to former President Barack Obama.
The event’s slogan, repeated endlessly by each pundit, was “President Trump is the greatest friend Israel ever had in the White House” (forget Harry what’s-his-name, who midwifed Israel’s birth in 1948).
In addition, Haley noted, Trump had been right on every issue, from controlling the coronavirus to standing up to China and to dealing with riots in American cities.
During a pre-recorded Q&A session, a woman from Houston worried that some of her Jewish friends were put off by Trump’s tough talk, brusque behavior and reportedly bad behavior toward women. In response, Haley and others noted that the president may be tough “but he is dealing with tough issues … look what he has done for the economy, jobs, families and small business …. Biden may have a nicer way of talking, but in the end, who is going to give us a better country and who recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital?”
Along similar lines, Coleman said he initially was anti-Trump, but in the end, we should judge the president for what he has done for the economy, for families and for small business.
Since, as Hollywood knows, every hero must have an antagonist who is a villain, that role fell first to former President Barack Obama, then the Democratic Party and finally former Vice President Joe Biden. Noting that some had wrongly accused Trump of harboring anti-Semitic feelings, Brooks labeled Trump America’s “first Jewish president,” while Levin said that an anti-Israel attitude could be found in only one party: the Democratic Party.
Auburn University men’s basketball Coach Bruce Pearl asked in the Q&A session what the U.S. government’s position on Israel should be. Levin responded that Judea and Samaria were the original historical home of the Jewish people. He concluded by asking Pearl if Pearl would advocate returning the Louisiana Purchase to France.
Few hobbies are more pandemic-proof or recession-proof than reading. Whether you prefer hardcovers or e-books, you can read just about anywhere. Many of us are still home-based, and below are 25 recommendations for those seeking some new titles for their reading lists.
As released in April, Jewish author Michelle Cameron has penned an interesting piece of historical fiction via “Beyond The Ghetto Gates.” After living in Israel for more than a decade, Cameron became fascinated by a significant, little-known period in Jewish history: Napoleon’s emancipation of Jews from Italian ghettos, which caused unprecedented social upheaval (and cultural transformation) as Jewish and Catholic neighbors intersected for the first time.
Inspired by parallels to her personal journey of balancing deep heritage roots with secular sensibilities, Cameron’s novel explores this unique era from a powerful woman’s perspective. In this gripping historical fiction, Napoleon’s release of the Jews from Ancona’s ghettos unleashes a whirlwind of progressivism alongside brutal backlash. As two very different cultures collide, Mirelle, a Jewish woman, and Francesca, a devout Catholic, must navigate duty, desire, love, and the power of their own choices. Exploring the pull of assimilation, preserving religious tradition, and women’s empowerment, Cameron offers an evocative exploration of individuality, tradition, prejudices, and a rapidly-changing world — both in the past and present.
Are you an artist, band or any sort of creative looking to land reviews and interviews in your favorite publication and/or social media outlet? Then this book is for you, as having a publicist or getting signed to a large record deal isn’t the only way to earn media coverage in major outlets.
Within this book, seasoned music publicist Bob Bradley of Bradley Public Relations offers his insight into the world of music PR and explains how artists can handle their own media campaigns. Drawing inspiration from his hundreds of campaigns for major label, independent and celebrity musicians, Bradley takes the reader through a step-by-step process that helps musicians take the wheel on their own PR efforts.
Bradley has been one of my favorite artist representatives to work with in recent years. An artist himself, he truly “gets it” when it comes to working with other creatives, always applying to proper amount of pressure to his pitches.
“The Gefilte Manifesto” is more than a cookbook. It is simultaneously a call to action and a reclamation of time-honored techniques and ingredients. In turn,authors Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz are on a mission to reclaim and revolutionize Ashkenazi cuisine. Combining the inventive spirit of a new generation and respect for their culinary tradition, they present more than a hundred recipes pulled deep from the kitchens of Eastern Europe and the diaspora community of North America. Their recipes highlight the best of Ashkenazi home and storefront cuisine, tapping into the enduring Jewish values of resourcefulness and seasonality.
Alpern and Yoskowitz, beyond working together on this book, are part of the YIVO Institute For Jewish Research’s one-of-a-kind seven-week educational course, “A Seat At The Table: A Journey Into Jewish Food.” Other participants within this course include Michael W. Twitty (“The Cooking Gene”), Alice Feiring (“The Dirty Wine Guide”), Mitchell Davis (James Beard Foundation), Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper (Russ & Daughters), Jake Dell (Katz’s Delicatessen), and Leah Koenig (“The Jewish Cookbook”).
Carla Capalbo is an award-winning food, wine and travel writer and photographer. Born in New York City, she was brought up in Paris and London, and has been based in Italy for over 20 years. Her regional Italian books on artisan food and wine makers, chefs and restaurants have earned her praise from everyone who has used them to travel with.
Capalbo’s “Tasting Georgia” is the first food, wine and travel book about this wonderful country in the Caucasus Mountains. It includes 70 easy and delicious recipes and lots of beautiful photographs of people, places and food. It was the winner of “Best Food Book” at the 2017 UK Gourmand International Cookbook Awards and a Guild of Food Writers “Food and Travel Award” in 2018.
Produced in partnership with the nonprofit organization kindness.org, “Be Kind” emboldens you to try an act of kindness every week for a year, benefiting others and yourself while deepening connections in your community big and small. Each of the 52 weeks of kindness includes a dose of inspiration, a fascinating statistic, a fact about kindness that has been researched by Kindlab, the research arm of kindness.org – as co-founded by co-authors Jaclyn Lindsey and Melissa Burmester – and a suggestion for an act of kindness to do.
Thanks to Eat Like A Woman’s nutrition bars — as connected to author/entrepreneur Staness Jonekos’ Amazon best-selling book of the same name — you can indulge in decadent flavors such as Chocolate Brownie LOVE, Coconut Almond BOOST, Cherry & Nut CALM and Peanut Butter & Ancient Grains ENERGY bars with far less guilt. You will fuel your body with plant-based protein and fiber, with zero soy, no dairy, no eggs, and no sugar alcohols.
To date, Eat Like A Woman has donated thousands of nutrition bars to hospitals to support our COVID-19 medical heroes with daily nutrition, as well as food banks to help families during these difficult economic times.
Sylvie Beljanski is an author, speaker, international health advocate and leader in preventative medicine. In 2018, Ms. Beljanski opened the doors to Maison Beljanski, a new building in the heart of Manhattan, and dedicated to the legacy of her father, Dr. Beljanski. The second floor, home of The Beljanski Foundation, also serves as a site for hosting numerous conferences on different aspects of health and wellness.
Ms. Beljanski is a sought-after speaker at health and wellness conferences globally, where she has educated thousands of people about the importance of detoxification as a defense against harmful toxins that can cause serious disease and infections. She recommends The Beljanski Approach, as explained within the pages of “Winning The War On Cancer.”
Within the pages of “The 24-Hour Soup Kitchen,” veteran journalist and local philanthropist Stephen Henderson details his fantastically-interesting experiences working at soup kitchens from Delhi, India to New York City. 100 percent of the book’s proceeds are being donated to Food Bank for New York City. Thus, you have a feel-good book that is always doing good.
“Loud and Proud” is an inspirational collection of speeches from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies that have changed our world, and the conversation. A sister volume to “So Here I Am: Speeches By Great Women To Empower & Inspire,” this seminal collection places the loud and proud voices of the vibrant LGBTQ+ community center stage. Experienced public speaker and Creative Director for Google’s Creative Lab Sydney Tea Uglow introduces each speech with a concise bio of the remarkable person who delivered it. Voices included are Harvey Milk, Wanda Sykes, Sally Ride, Lady Gaga, Lana Wachowski, Jason Collins and Laverne Cox.
Chef Lei Shishak is the founder of Sugar Blossom Bake Shop in San Clemente, California and the author of “Beach House Baking,” as heralded by USA Today as “one of the top 10 cookbooks of summer 2014.” In “Beach House Dinners,” Shishak shares over 80 recipes, many of which unique takes on staples and favorites. Recipes include a Summer Tomato Soup with Three Cheese Panini, Lemon Garlic Chicken, Hearts of Palm Salad, and a Salmon Burger.
Another great title from White Lion Publishing, this title takes a look into top-tier novelists who are perhaps overdue for some extra recognition. Simply put, “cult writers” come in all shapes and guises. Some gain instant fame, others instant notoriety, and more still remain anonymous until a chance change in fashion sees their work propelled into the limelight. Refreshingly, author Ian Haydn Smith is also the author of “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” and is the editor of BFI Filmmakers Magazine and Curzon Magazine.
Edmonton, Canada-based Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta. His interdisciplinary research on topics like stem cells, genetics, research ethics, the public representations of science, and health policy issues has allowed him to publish over 350 academic articles. In turn, perhaps unsurprisingly, he has won numerous academic and writing awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Trudeau Foundation, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
The author of two national bestsellers – “The Cure For Everything: Untangling Rhe Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness & Happiness” and “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture & Science Clash” – Caulfield’s latest book is the forthcoming “Relax, Dammit!” Expect an entertaining and practical guide to getting through the day with less stress and better health.
StaJe is a musical artist turned author who is now sharing his knowledge and journey through his star-studded path to Lalaland with the release of his first book “5 Easy Steps to Success In Music,” which ranked as a “#1 New Release” on Amazon. The 20-page page-turner is free and claims to have the “secret sauce” to achieving self-made music stardom. This nifty easy-to-read handbook is short, sweet and gives the inside scoop tailored to short attention spans of current day. The book will help artists put together a better body of work and content to propel their careers, with super simple steps, over a short amount of time.
In my humble opinion, Guided By Voices is a simultaneously underrated and massively-influential rock band. But opinions about the popularity and acclaim of GBV aside, few rock bands have put out as many studio albums as Robert Pollard and crew. In turn, even a diehard fan of Guided By Voices may not know some great works from the band’s catalog. “Zeppelin Over Dayton” offers an honest and thorough assessment of the full GBV discography, thanks to author Jeff Gomez. Ideal for both long-time fans and newbie’s alike.
Beginning in 1939 prewar Prague, “While The Music Played” focuses on the story of young Max Mueller, a curious bright romantic — a budding musician, piano tuner, and nascent journalist. Mueller is on the cusp of adolescence when the Nazi influence invades Prague’s tolerant spirit with alarming speed as he struggles to understand the changing world around him. When his father, noted German conductor Viktor Mueller, is conscripted into the German army and finds himself increasingly promoting the Nazi message, Viktor’s best friend, noted Czech composer Hans Krása, protests the occupation in every way he can.
Ultimately, “While The Music Played” is a lyrical, absorbing, and heartbreaking story of love and courage from the widely revered and best-selling author Nathaniel Lande.
“Magic Mail” is a 31-day interactive book and magic trick by celebrity magician Joshua Jay. It is a mailbox made to be set on the reader’s nightstand, and every night the parent and the kid(s) will open the box to discover a new postcard teaching them about a new location. The reader will mark that day’s location on the included map. On day 31, the reader writes back to Joshua Jay about where THEY live, and there will be a fun Instagram component where Jay will post the cards he has received from happy readers. In turn, you have a perfect gift for someone who craves quality time and loves learning with the kid(s), magic, travel, geography and culture.
Madden’s book spans the time when his beloved wife of 54 years, Angela — who was born and raised in the small fishing village of Giovinazzo, near Bari — passes away, leaving him heartbroken, depressed and sleepless in Boca Raton, Florida. Then the 78-year-old public relations executive finds himself adrift in choppy, lonely seas, unable to navigate to shore without the help of his first mate. After grieving deeply, he realized he shouldn’t continue to sit idly in his oceanfront condo and watch as life sailed by, as it was time for a change for life to start anew.
At the suggestion of a friend, Madden dove headfirst back into the dating pool, except this time, it wasn’t just a pool — it was a raging dating ocean called the Internet. From whirlwind romances to digital breakups, he experienced everything Internet dating has to offer. Ultimately, “Love Boat” 78 explores how Madden’s huge heart, racing libido and irreverent humor helped him cope with loss and ultimately sail into the sunset once again in love after meeting his Brazilian wife — with Italian roots — not on the Internet, but in a sports bar called Duffy’s.
Legendary record company promotion man/author Dave Morrell still just thinks of himself as the luckiest fan alive. Growing up in Kearny, New Jersey in the early 1970s, he amassed a collection of Beatles memorabilia so unique that when John Lennon heard about it, he promptly asked to meet the teen. Thanks to a tip from a friend, Morrell landed a job as the Assistant Stock Boy in the eight-track tape department at the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic warehouse distribution center in New Jersey and began his journey from mega-fan to promo man, as told in Volumes 1 and 2 of “The Morrell Archives.”
“Run-Out Groove” tells the stories behind Morrell’s hits and stiffs through a series of demeaning, demoralizing rumpdog-led conference calls. Moments of joy offset the madness, including memories of the aforementioned Lennon, The Plasmatics, Duran Duran, Bonnie Raitt, Iron Maiden, Cyndi Lauper, and Michael Jackson. A fun read indeed.
Noted award-winning children’s book author and philanthropist Zane Carson Carruth recently received the Certificate of Excellence from Story Monsters – the top literary resource for teachers and librarians alike – for her second book on the inception of the tooth fairy, “The Adventures of Abella and Her Magic Wand.” The certificate was awarded to children’s picture books in the fiction category, ages three to eight with eye-catching illustrations by Surajit Kunal. Carruth’s third book, “The Legend Begins,” is slated for release in the fall of 2020.
Nancy Wolfson-Moche, CHHC, RYT, is the founder of the wonderfully-named company “you are because you eat.” She coaches, blogs, crafts curricula and recipes, teaches health, wellness, culinary arts and culinary medicine to students of all ages. Beyond that, Wolfson-Moche presents eating as a sacred practice, creating edible art, symbolic meals and menus infused with meaning and ritual. She also happens to be a certified practitioner of macrobiotics, yoga and Torah yoga.
“Vegetables For Breakfast From A To Z” is a guide to introducing vegetables to the breakfast table in a fun, approachable way for both kids and adults. The author draws on her years of experience as a cooking teacher via her company, making vegetables for breakfast accessible and delicious for home cooks.
A Raleigh, North Carolina-based roots-rock band, Jack The Radio has shared the stage with the likes of The Avett Brothers, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Cold War Kids, George Thorogood, Rayland Baxter, and American Aquarium. The band’s music has been featured in countless commercial, film, and TV projects including “Modern Family,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Graceland” and “Beverly Hills 90210.”
This month the group released a new album called “Creatures.” In conjunction with the “Creatures” album, a companion comic book called “Jack The Radio: Creatures Anthology” has also been released. The idea of the comic book was born from frontman George Hage’s passion for art and design. He has not only created artwork for Jack The Radio but has also done work for Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), American Aquarium, and festivals such as Hopscotch Music Festival and IBMA’s World of Bluegrass among others. The collection of cosmic-country-fried sci-fi short stories catalogs the adventures of the ever-resilient character, Jack tTe Radio, and includes comics and pinups from 30+ professional artists from around the world.
“George Harrison On George Harrison” is an authoritative, chronologically-arranged anthology of the former Beatle’s most revealing and illuminating interviews, personal correspondence, and writings, spanning the years 1961 to 1997. Though known as “the Quiet Beatle,” Harrison was arguably the most thoughtful and certainly the most outspoken of the famous four. This compendium of his words and ideas proves that point repeatedly, revealing his passion for music, his focus on spirituality, and his responsibility as a celebrity, with a sense of deep commitment and humor as well.
The same “Musicians In Their Own Words” series from Chicago Review Press also includes titles related to Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.
With over 50 million albums sold in over 50 years as a band, few artists have had the longevity or success of British metal pioneers Judas Priest. With rock classics like “Breaking The Law,” “Living After Midnight” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” in its repertoire, Judas Priest has managed to be one of the few groups of its genre that pumped out radio-friendly gems. And still all these years later, the Priest is playing arena-sized venues and headlining major festivals around the world.
But there’s lots more to the Judas Priest story than commercial success, and frontman Rob Halford tells more in his forthcoming autobiography “Confess.” Halford opens up about his decision to come out about his sexuality in 1990s, yet that is only a small part of his overall story. Essential reading for any fan of hard rock.
In “Culture Warlords,” author Talia Lavin uncovers the hidden places online where extremists – incels, white nationalists, etc. – hang out, and goes undercover to infiltrate and expose them. Ultimately, she turns the lens of anti-Semitism, racism, and white power back on itself in an attempt to dismantle and quash the online hate movement’s schisms, recruiting tactics, and the threat it represents to the 2020 election and beyond. Shocking, provocative and humorous in equal measure, and with a take-no-prisoners attitude, the book explores some of the vilest subcultures on the Web, and how they’re doing their best to break into the mainstream.
Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated writer who credits include “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The New Yorker” and the Oscars. Her best-selling memoir “No One Will Tell You This But Me” is her literary debut and is currently slated to be an upcoming feature film. Written in the unique voice of Bess’s beloved late grandmother Bobby, the book is a “matrilineal love story” beginning with her great-grandmother’s escape from the pogroms in Belarus (alone as a child), her grandmother’s rise from poverty to American-dream-globetrotting, Kalb’s mom’s graduating high school early to join the first class of women at Brown University, and ending with Bess’s path to comedy and TV writing. It includes a great anecdote about a “seder kit” her parents have surprise FedEx-ed her.
“Hollywood Park: A Memoir” is the critically-lauded debut book by Mikel Jollett, frontman for The Airborne Toxic Event. It debutsedat #8 on the New York Times Best Seller List, while the band’s companion album by the same name landed at #4 on the Billboard Alternative Chart and #6 on the magazine’s Rock Chart.
The memoir tells the story of Jolett’s traumatic early life. It begins with a four-year-old Mikel and his brother, Tony, being spirited out of the notorious and violent Santa Monica, California cult, Synanon, by their mother. Jollett’s life to that point was one with no parents, and no idea of them, as the cult leaders kept children from their families. On the run from Synanon with their damaged and dangerously narcissistic mom, Jollett and his brother embarked on a harrowing journey that eventually led them to Salem, Oregon, where they lived in poverty. It was his father (a former Chico State Penitentiary inmate, who Jollett didn’t really know until he was seven) who recognized that young Mikel had special gifts and urged him not to be like any of the other Jollett men, but to aspire to something bigger and better. This put him on a path to getting a scholarship from Stanford (he graduated with honors) and to starting the Airborne Toxic Event which became an immediate sensation the moment they released their first single, “Sometime Around Midnight.”
(JTA) — Gabe Kapler, in his first season as San Francisco Giants manager, took a knee during the National Anthem before the start of an exhibition game.
Kapler, 44, who is Jewish and a former coach for Team Israel, was joined by several of his players on Monday night before facing the Oakland Athletics. The Giants won, 6-2.
He told the team earlier in the day that he planned to kneel and the Giants organization would support any player that made the same decision, ESPN reported.
“I told them that I wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we’ve handled racism in our country,” Kapler told ESPN. “I wanted to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with our clear systemic racism in our country, and I wanted them to know that they got to make their own decisions, and we would respect and support those decisions. I wanted them to feel safe in speaking up,”
Kapler has been a public backer of Black Lives Matter, including posts supportive of the movement on Instagram. He is the first Major League manager to kneel during the National Anthem.
He comes to the Giants after managing the Philadelphia Phillies for two seasons.
Along with coaching the Israel team competing for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Kapler visited Israel in 2017 and toured with the national team, The Jerusalem Post reported. Kapler has a Star of David tattooed on his right calf and “Never Again” tattooed on his left calf.
BY EVAN B. STONE During COVID-19, what can you do to highlight the changes and needs in our country and communities? Brian Bowen Smith got into his car to drive across America and document this unique time.
Reese Witherspoon was an early supporter of Brian Bowen Smith‘s series of socially-distanced portraits of diverse people across America during the COVID-19 quarantine. He has been traveling throughout our country in his 1958 Ford f100 taking thought-provoking and awe-inspiring photographs. Not only are these photos an incredible snapshot of this moment in our history but he is also donating all proceeds of the book he has created, Drivebys, to Feeding America!
From Brian Bowen Smith: “We have traveled over 11,000 miles documenting the “sign of our times” raising funds for @feedingamerica
“What started out as taking a drive to snap a few photos, in my old girl “Pearl…” a classic 1958 Ford F100, has grown into a multi-faceted cross-country project of a lifetime. The journey implements the new-normal of Social Distancing while documenting the soul of American culture during the Covid-19 World Pandemic. At a time when a mandated quarantine plagues our beautiful country, this project encompasses the raw essence of the human condition, our sentimental traditions…and at its core, the heart of our people…from sea to shining sea.”
“Emotions are high, as everyone I have met throughout this journey has touched my heart. We have traveled 11,000 miles and documenting the “sign of our times” while doubling as a vehicle to raise funds for Feeding America.”
“Everyone I spoke to seemed to be in the same boat. They are scared and frustrated,” Smith said. “Most just want to get back to their normal life.”
“It definitely changed the way that I look at life now,” Smith said. “Who knows, maybe the world can be a better place when this is all over. Then again…maybe not. But I sure hope so.”
