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Saturday, November 6 Wannabe Hollywood writers take over the L.A. Convention Center this weekend for Screenwriting Expo 3, a seminar offering panels, advice from experts, story-pitch meetings with managers and executives from studios, production companies and agencies and a writing tournament. Speakers of note include Jerry Lewis, Robert Evans, Ivan Reitman, Richard Donner and screenwriters William Goldman, Aaron Sorkin and Paul Attanasio. Nov. 5-7. $59.95 (for three days). Figueroa Street at 11th Street, Los Angeles. (800) 727-6978 or Sunday, November 7 Music makes people come together. Today, Christian, Jewish and Catholic clergy gather for the second annual Interfaith Symposium of Music. Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, Jewish Music Commission of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese sponsor the afternoon workshop on the role of Psalms in the three faiths, which is followed by a dinner and free concert of Psalms drawn from Gregorian chant through contemporary compositions. 3 p.m. $45 (symposium and kosher dairy dinner). (818) 623-1000. Monday, November 8 Author Elaine Bernstein Partnow has compiled the words of eloquent Jewish women from Judy Blume to Golda Meir in her new book, “The Quotable Jewish Woman,” just in time for Jewish Book Month. Today, she signs the anthology, which also contains brief biographies, at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. 7 p.m. 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 449-5320. Tuesday, November 9 More literary diversions. The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles presents “Christiane Kohl: The Maiden and the Jew” this evening, as she reads from and discusses her newly translated “Der Jude und das Madchen.” The story tells of the tragic fate of Jewish businessman Leo Katzenberger in 1940s Nuremberg who befriends and helps his German friend’s daughter, Irene Scheffler (portrayed by Judy Garland in the film “Judgment at Nuremberg”). 7 p.m. 5750 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles. (323) 525-3388. Wednesday, November 10 JA modern take on classical music comes to on Royce Hall this evening as UCLA Live! presents the fruit of New York’s Bang on a Can All-Stars collaborative efforts with celebrated composer Philip Glass. The All-Stars give Glass’ 1960s works “Music in 5ths” and “Music in Similar Motion” a spankin’ new treatment, and works by David Lang, Michael Gordon and Louis Andriessen round out the concert. 8 p.m. $15-$45. Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood. (310) 825-2101. Thursday, November 11 Those whose fever for “The Passion” will not wane, take it to Hermosa tonight. Gallery C’s art exhibition and artist lecture, “Art Is God: Take This Bread” is presented by guest curator Eve Wood, who discusses the interfaith group show of works created in response to Christian mythology and the hooplah surrounding Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” 7 p.m. 1225 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach. (310) 798-0102. Friday, November 12 The Derby leaves swing behind tonight in favor of Israeli-bred American-influenced good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. The group is the Mother’s Anger but more accurately, it’s a two-man band made up of a guy named Jimi Nostalgia and another who goes simply by Stitch. They conclude their national tour with some West Coast dates – including tonight’s only L.A. show. 21+ 6 p.m. (swing classes) 8:30 p.m. (live music). 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 663-8979. People’s History of Jewish U.S. “There’s so much more to American Jewish history than Hollywood or the Lower East Side,” author Susan Goldman Rubin said. Her lavishly illustrated “L’Chaim! To Jewish Life in America: Celebrating from 1654 Until Today” treks well beyond union and movie turf. Readers will meet figures such as Haym Salomon, who was dubbed the “Financier of the [American] Revolution”; Confederate soldiers who foraged for Passover food in West Virginia; and “six-gun artist” Jim Levy, who survived 16 shootouts before he was killed in the Old West. “Did you know that three Alaskan mountains are named for Jewish pioneers?” Goldman Rubin said. If her breezily written “L’Chaim” unveils characters worthy of a Jewish “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” the author’s background is more traditional. Her Odessa-born father survived a pogrom and arrived here on the last ship to disembark before World War I. “I just ate up his stories,” she said. Goldman Rubin (“Searching for Anne Frank”) was hungry to learn about more diverse Jewish Americans when her publisher approached her about “L’Chaim” in 2001. Her meticulously researched book traces history though personal odysseys of miners, peddlers, politicians and philanthropists both famous and obscure. For example, chapters on pioneer Jews describe clothier Levi Strauss as well as a rural North Dakota mother who made her own candles to celebrate Chanukah. “I wanted to celebrate how Jews held onto tradition, how we fit in and made contributions to this country,” the author said. Goldman Rubin will speak Nov. 10 at the sixth annual Jewish Book Festival: A Celebration of Jewish Book Month, sponsored by the Jewish Federation serving the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, (626) 967-3656. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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