Jewish History & Culture
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The Genesis of Early Dylan
When it comes to Bob Dylan, I think it’s fair to say that I’m a fan of long standing — my wife still teases me about the time, shortly after we’d moved to Los Angeles, when in her car, radio on, she was surprised to hear me as a call-in contestant to KSCA’s “Lyrically Speaking” […]
KCRW gives us 'The Business'
In an underground office on the campus of Santa Monica College, Claude Brodesser-Akner is working with his producer, Matt Holzman, and associate producer, Darby Maloney, to describe the current status of the Oscar broadcast — and work in a pun. Finally, Brodesser-Akner says, with some satisfaction, “The Oscars are mired.” Welcome to the world of […]
LACMA gets Contemporary
In February, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will unveil the first phase of its renovation and expansion, including the opening of a new building devoted to contemporary art — the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (that’s Broad as in Eli and Edythe Broad, our local Medicis) or, as the acronymists at LACMA have dubbed […]
Dreaming of a blue future (Roger Director)
Let me state, for the record, that I know nothing about sports. I don’t watch them; I don’t follow them. My parents didn’t. I never did as a kid. I don’t now with my family. Occasionally in the finals of a season, a few names flutter into my consciousness and then, just as quickly, disappear. […]
Picturing LA (Julius Shulman)
Julius Shulman, the still much-in-demand architectural photographer, famous for his photos of Modernist homes, turned 97 a few weeks ago, and the partying has been pretty much nonstop — which is the way Shulman likes it. […]
Michael Chabon's Amazing (Jewish) Adventures
On the occasion of the first annual “Celebration of Jewish Books” at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, the Jewish Journal asked me to engage Michael Chabon in a (brief) conversation about the Jewish flavor of his work. Herewith the results: Novelist Michael Chabon has an agent, Steven Barclay, who handles his speaking engagements […]
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