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News 6- Reviews
Of Note ... New On CD
Ronnie Earl's guitar sound is a
smooth blend of all the best of blues
and soul. Booker T. and the MGs,
Albert Collins, Thelonious Monk:
They all can be found in one form or
another on The Colour of Love, the lat-
est release by Ronnie Earl and the
Broadcasters.
Yet Earl's blend is wholly his own,
in part due to the long road he's taken
to find it. Born Ronnie Horvath in
Queens, N.Y., Earl was 20 years old
before he picked up a guitar. "I saw
Muddy Waters perform and I knew
what I wanted to do with the rest of
my life," says Earl: "Guitar and blues."
While teaching special education by
day, he immersed himself in music by
night, backing such names as Otis
Rush, Big Mama Thornton and Big
Walter Horton. In 1979, Earl became
lead guitarist for Roomful of Blues,
with whom he stayed for eight years
before going solo.
Twelve albums and a kicked drug
habit later, Earl's The Colour of Love is
his first release on the esteemed Verve
label. It is an amalgam of blues, jazz,
rock, R & B and soul. On the liner
notes for the album, Earl thanks "my
higher power for keeping me alive."
He says, "The fact that I've been
clean and sober for 8 1/2 years is due
to a 12-step program and God."
Earl, 44, now prays every day. "I
practice [Judaism] in my own way. I
lead a more spiritual life now, since
I'm sober."
The son of Holocaust survivors,
Earl looks to the past for inspiration,
as well as the future. Both his mother
and father are from Hungary: His
father survived a concentration camp;
his mother, the ghetto. "I think it's
affected me in a musical way," ways
Earl. "Because we were persecuted, it
somehow translates into the blues."
It also translated into 'Anne's
Dream," a track on The Colour of Love
Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
appear 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21.
$17. Magic Bag, 22920
Woodward, Ferndale. Call (248)
544-3030.
9/19
1997
96
Photo by Stephen Stickler
Ronnie Earl
"Highway to Heaven," on New
Hampshire Avenue in Montgomery
County, Md., where almost three
dozen congregations of various faiths
worship in their temples, mosques,
synagogues and churches.
Upcoming stories include the reali-
ties of bioethics; the persecution of
Christians around the world and how
Jews are leading the fight against it;
the connection between spirituality
and healing; what it means to be
Jewish; and the debate over school
vouchers for private and Catholic
schools.
The executive producer of the pro-
gram is Gerry Solomon, whose 30
years of experience in broadcast jour-
nalism include stints as managing edi-
tor at ABC's "Good Morning
America" and as executive producer of
NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Sunday
Today" programs. Series producer is
Peabody Award winner Ricki Green, a
former executive producer of
"Washington Week In Review."
Bob Abernethy, most recently
Photo by Pau l Colliton
0E3\
2.ice
which is dedicated to Anne Frank.
Shimmering and soulful, "Anne's
Dream" is a personal eulogy. "I want-
ed to bring attention to the fact that I
am Jewish and had people in the
Holocaust.
"I wanted people to know."
— Lynne Konstantin
TV Watch
A first-of-its-kind weekly news pro-
gram on religion and ethics is coming
to public television this Sunday.
"Religion and Ethics Newsweekly," set
to air 12:30 p.m. Sept. 21 on Channel
WTVS-56, will provide coverage of
the top stories of the week relating to
religion and ethics, as well as religious
and ethical perspectives on domestic
and foreign events and the arts. The
show is being produced by WNET in
New York.
Scheduled segments for Sunday's
show include an interview with
Muslim-American leader W.D.
Mohammed on the changing face of
the Muslim community; a report on
the portrayal of Catholic clergy in
America; and a drive down the
Bob Abernethy
NBC's Moscow correspondent, will
serve as host and executive editor of
the series. Herbert Kaplow, a longtime
correspondent at ABC News and
NBC News, is the senior broadcast
consultant.
Serving on an advisory board of 25
journalists, academics and religious
leaders are Ari Goldman, professor at
the Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism; author Blu
Greenburg; and Rabbi A. James
Rudin, the national director of interre-
ligious affairs for the American Jewish
Committee.
— Gail Zimmerman
Between The Pages
Mix together a bit of Hollywood glitz
and glamour, a bit of Halachah
(Jewish law) and a bit of mystery and
what do you get? The Serpent's Tooth
(Wm. Morrow & Co., $24.50),
another volume in the Peter Decker-
Rina Lazarus book series author Faye
Kellerman has made so popular.
The Serpents' Tooth begins with a
mass murder in an upscale Los
Angeles restaurant followed by what
appears to be the immediate suicide of
the perpetrator, a young man wearing
a green jacket.
But when Lt. Peter Decker. an
Orthodox Jew,
is called in to
investigate the
slaughter, he
almost immedi-
ately realizes
that things aren't
what they
appear to be.
His suspicions
.5ezpent s
are further
ooth
engaged when
he is pulled off
the investigation
by his captain. He senses that "the
powers that be and money" are behind
this call, but there is little he can do
and few he can talk to about it. There
is always his friend and co-worker,
Marge, and his wife, Rina, but even
they cannot soothe Decker's frustra-
tion.
As Decker's inability to wait it out
mounts, he gets help from unexpected
old and new friends as he sets out to
solve the mystery.
The Serpent's Tooth is a satisfying
tale, retaining much of the flavor of
Kellerman's first book in the Decker-
Lazarus series, The Ritual Bath.
Although this is the 10th book in the
series, The Serpent's Tooth has a fresh
new feel about it (not an easy task).
Old characters are revisited and new
ones are introduced.
In fact, if you are a fan of the series,
reading this one is like attending a
family reunion. If you haven't read any
of the Decker-Lazarus series, this is an
excellent one to start with.
MIT
Kanfifin
.7-
— Reviewed by Beverly E Mindlin of
the Cleveland Jewish News