By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — In 1979 pop singer Nick Lowe put out a single that became a classic: “Cruel to be Kind”: Oh I can’t take another heartache Though you say you’re my friend, I’m at my wit’s end You say your love is bonafide, but that don’t coincide With the things
What Torah teaches about being cruel to be kind Read More »
Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts“There’s no bum like a ‘pretty good artist’ and I think you’re ‘pretty good.’” –Johnny Green’s father By Eric George Tauber LA JOLLA, California –The 2017 San Diego Jewish Film Festival has come and gone. With eighty different screenings at five venues –with filmmakers traveling from as far as Hungary and Israel- and selling more
The ‘Body and Soul’ of American jazz Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAYevgeny Kutik’s family fled the USSR’s institutionalized anti-Semitism with a suitcase of sheet music when he was 5. Now he tours the free world with a century-old violin By Matt Lebovic BOSTON — As a 5-year old refugee from the former Soviet Union, Yevgeny Kutik came to the United States with music in his veins.
‘Refugee’ violinist blends Russian-Jewish roots with modern tones Read More »
International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USAThe history of music is rich with sounds spurred by suffering. During the Holocaust, songs of defiance and belief helped captive Jews confront and temporarily alleviate their misery. Now, a long-lost recording from 1946 is providing a poignant new soundtrack for understanding life in the Nazi concentration camps and Jewish ghettos. Just after World War
Newly Found Songs from the Holocaust Still Haunt Read More »
Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−While Michael Flynn frantically tried to destroy his DVD of From Russia with Love, the San Diego Jewish Film Festival is entertaining audiences day and night at a variety of venues in the city through February 19th. I had the honor to introduce The Last Laugh, a documentary about comedians and
Theme Song for ‘The Last Laugh’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — A large audience welcomed the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO), under the direction of David Amos, for the January 31 concert at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. The program featured two audience favorites, Beethoven’s Symphony #5 and the Liszt’s Piano Concerto #2, with Pianist Peter Vinograde. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, with its
Beethoven, Liszt were two TICO audience favorites Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO– The soft, rippling notes of the flute, entwined with the clarinet, sang forth with ease and authenticity as the PKF-Prague Philharmonia, under the direction of its French conductor, Emmanuel Villaume, began Smetena’s The Moldau at the La Jolla Music Society-sponsored concert January 25. Shimmering strings entered, overlaying the flow of notes
Orchestra from Prague delights San Diegans Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego CountyBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — ‘He who tires of London has tired of life,’ wrote Samuel Johnson, and I dare say he had a point. Even in the dead of winter, when the bone-chilling cold really does chill every inch of bone in your body, the place has its pleasures provided you are suitably
Culture and weather in London, Paris, Jerusalem Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and FoodHAIFA, Israel (Press Release) — Do you ever dream of becoming the next Picasso? A new study at the University of Haifa comparing art and social science students has found that visually creative students evaluate their sleep as of lower quality. “Visually creative people reported disturbed sleep leading to difficulties in daytime functioning,” explains doctorate
Artists, writers may have different sleep patterns Read More »
Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & EducationButch Trucks, the longtime drummer for the Allman Brothers Band, has died at age 69. Rolling Stone confirmed the news with Trucks’ booking manager after reports of his death began to circulate on Facebook and Twitter. Trucks was one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band and played with the group since its
“Nothing is perfect in Nature. Nature is perfect imperfection.” -PI Tchaikovsky By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO–When Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky listened to birdsong, he noticed that they were just a little less than perfect, but these imperfections made them more beautiful. And so he threw some “wrong” notes into his arpeggios, making them more natural
Closeted composer suffered in Czarist Russia Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — In The Great Tchaikowsky, Hershey Felder’s latest piece, which is breaking sales records at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego, Felder does Tikun Olam, working to repair the world, by sensitizing us to the suffering of the gay Russian composer and casting a light on the persecution of the
Hershey Felder brings to life composer Piotr Tchaikowsky Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastAfter harsh backlash and much buildup, singer Jackie Evancho — who is a mere 16 years old — was finally given the chance to perform the national anthem at Donald J. Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States. The Friday performance was a beautiful and graceful rendition. Evancho did not miss a
Jackie Evancho Stuns with National Anthem Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA
Story by Donald H. Harrison; photos by Sky M. Masori SAN DIEGO – LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya has solved one of Balboa Park’s greatest problems: how to see as much as possible in an hour or so. With 18 museums of varying size and subject matter to tempt them, San Diegans know that it takes
LEGO exhibit like visiting several museums at once Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA