The Arts

Jazz from Israel and elsewhere captivates

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO–Mesmerizing strums of the oud opened the first number, a Kurdish melody, in a program at SDSU’s Smith Recital Hall entitled: Desert Caravan: New Jazz from Israel and Beyond. This concert, arranged by SDSU Judaic Studies Scholar-In-Residence, Yale Strom, featured, in addition to his band, Hot Pstromi, the prize-winning Israeli musician, Amos

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Music therapy for those with brain disorders

Musicophilia, Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks, Published by Picador, 2008 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The author, who has written several books about various aspects of psychology, among them The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Awakenings, has extensive experience of working with individuals who have

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Bill O’Reilly to leave Fox News with $25 million

Fox News’ former star personality, Bill O’Reilly, will leave the network with the equivalent of one year’s salary — or $25 million, according to two people familiar with the settlement terms. Parent company 21st Century Fox on Wednesday fired O’Reilly, 67, after investigators retained by the company began reviewing allegations of sexual harassment and payouts

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Oprah Winfrey helps ‘Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ come alive on HBO

One day, circa 2000, Rebecca Skloot was riding in a car with Deborah Lacks, whose late mother, Henrietta, had posthumously and unwittingly contributed to some of the most important medical research of the 20th century. At the time, Skloot was a scrappy but barely published young journalist, and it would take a decade for her

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Movie review: ‘The Promise’ has real relevance

In the years around World War I, Turkey’s Ottoman government committed genocide against 1.5 million Christian minority Armenians, setting an example for Hitler to follow similar lines to exterminate European Jews. It’s a tragedy rarely observed in feature films but too important to ignore. It receives a powerful, overdue accounting in “The Promise,” a historical

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International, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Tucker Carlson Replaces Bill O’Reilly At Fox News

After Bill O’Reilly’s ouster from Fox News on Wednesday, host Tucker Carlson is all set to take the 8 p.m. slot on the channel, starting Monday, the channel said. The decision came soon after 21st Century Fox announced that O’Reilly would not return to the network amid sexual harassment allegations. Carlson began hosting the show

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

A new generation learns The Partisan Song

By Tali Feinberg Reprinted from the Cape Jewish Chronicle CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Every year on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities sing the song Zog Nit Keynmol (‘We are Still Here’), known as the Partisan Song. However, the Yiddish lyrics and decline of survivors means that the song is being lost to

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International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Poor editing undercuts Israeli cuisine film

In Search of Israeli Cuisine, a film by Roger Sherman, Menemsha Films, 2016; opening April 21 at Landmark’s Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Ave, San Diego. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Good reporting can be sabotaged by haphazard editing, and that, sadly, is what happened to this film in which host Michael Solomonov, owner of

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

How Did Gov. Cuomo Make $783,000 In Royalties From A Book That Sold Only 3,200 Copies?

Fox News Channel parent News Corporation may be wrapped up in the sexual harassment accusations surrounding host Bill O’Reilly, but the company is facing another long-running scandal involving what appear to be exuberant payments to a Democrat. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose memoir was published by the News Corp.-owned HarperCollins in 2014, saw his

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USA

Foreign Ministry hits Japan’s use of Mein Kampf

Fascism and militarism “must be held thoroughly accountable and eradicated” and Japan must educate its young people with “the right view of history”, a Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. The comment came after reports that the Japanese Cabinet approved using what it described as “helpful and appropriate” content from Adolf Hitler’s infamous book, Mein

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International

Embattled anchor Bill O’Reilly’s future at Fox News looks uncertain

The future of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly appears increasingly uncertain amid growing signs that the embattled TV star is losing support from his bosses at 21st Century Fox. O’Reilly, 67, has been on a planned vacation since last Wednesday and said on his top-rated prime-time program, “The O’Reilly Factor,” that he would be back

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Egyptian author gives voice to homosexuals in taboo-breaking novel

Mohammed Abdel-Nabi’s novel on homosexuality is one of six works competing for the Arab world’s top literary prize on April 25. Even though same-sex relations remain taboo in his home country, the author tells dpa that Egyptian society is becoming receptive to discussion on issues long regarded as off-limits. Cairo (dpa) – For the second

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International