Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Thoughts on Chagall’s ‘White Crucifixion’

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –This past Shabbat at Temple Beth Shalom we had a most remarkable discussion on the famous Russian painter, Marc Chagall, as we discussed his various paintings of Jesus’s crucifixion. A panel consisting of Dr. David Strom, Dr. Tzvi Sax, and myself explored the history of several of […]

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Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Fans of this famed singer are threatening to boycott him should he perform at Trump’s inauguration

Andrea Bocelli is rumored to sing at Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, and not all of his fans are happy about it. Though Bocelli has neither confirmed nor denied the reports that he will perform a duet with “America’s Got Talent” singer Jackie Evancho at the event, some of his fans have started a “Boycott

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Verdict upheld for elderly French couple who hid Picasso works in garage

A French court on Friday upheld the two-year suspended sentences of Pablo Picasso’s former electrician and his wife, who kept 271 of his artworks stashed in their garage for almost 40 years. Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle were convicted last year of possessing stolen goods and for hiding the works from Picasso’s heirs.

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

In praise of Mona Golabek, author and performer

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Several years ago I read The Pianist of Willesden Lane written by Mona Golabek about the experiences of her mother, Lisa Jura, first in Vienna and then in London. She had been sent there at the age of fourteen in the framework of the Kindertransport, the undertaking that

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

ADL protests rapper Lupe Fiasco’s lyrics

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned anti-Semitic lyrics in a newly released song by popular rapper Lupe Fiasco. In the song, “N.E.R.D.,” Fiasco rhymes about, “Artists getting robbed for their publishing by dirty Jewish execs who think that it’s alms from the covenant.” In response to a tweet from DJ

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Remembering Esma Redžepova, the Romany queen of song

Esma Redžepova, the prominent and versatile Roma singer dubbed the “Romany music queen,” has died at the age of 73, hospital sources and her family said Sunday. The singer from Macedonia was one of the first vocalists in the Balkans to sing in the Romany language. She performed in some of the world’s greatest music

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Absentee Nobel laureate Dylan honoured to join literary “giants”

Stockholm (dpa) – Rock legend Bob Dylan said he had never considered winning the Nobel Literature award and was “honoured” to join “giants of literature” like Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Mann in a speech read on his behalf Saturday at the Nobel banquet. “If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Colombian Nobel Prize winner says a “ray of hope” for Syria, Sudan

Santos collects Nobel Prize in Oslo for deal with FARC Quotes anti-war song by Bob Dylan, 2016 literature winner Hopes Colombian deal can inspire peace talks elsewhere Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said an accord to end a 52-year civil war with Marxist rebels was a “ray of hope” for solving conflicts from Syria to

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International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Founding father of British prog rock Greg Lake dies

London (dpa) – British guitarist Greg Lake, who is counted among the founding fathers of progressive rock, has died at the age of 69. Lake, who gained fame as the frontman of King Crimson and rock supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, succumbed to cancer after a long struggle

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Absentee Dylan has written thank-you speech for Nobel banquet

Stockholm (dpa) – Although rock legend Bob Dylan, the 2016 Nobel Literature Laureate, will not attend the upcoming award ceremony his words will ring out there, organizers said Monday. US singer Patti Smith was to perform Dylan’s song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” at Saturday’s award ceremony in Stockholm’s Concert Hall, the Nobel Foundation said.

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Mavis Staples, James Taylor, The Eagles, Al Pacino at a bittersweet Kennedy Center Honors 2016

WASHINGTON — Rocker Glenn Frey died before he could accept a Kennedy Center Honors award last year, but his Eagles bandmates and four other artists were feted Sunday at a bittersweet edition of the glitzy annual gala, the last of the Obama administration. Actor-director Al Pacino, singer-songwriter James Taylor, singer Mavis Staples and pianist Martha

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA