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Grammy Winner
The album "Genius Loves Company,"
featuring the late Ray Charles with other
recording artists, took the lion's share of
Grammy Awards this year, and Joel
Moss, a born and bred Detroiter, shared
in two of those awards.
The 58-year-old from Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., won a Grammy for
album of the year, and the Elton John
duet, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest
Word," in the best engineered recording
(non-classical) category
He previously won Grammys in 1998
and 2000 for best traditional gospel
album for albums he produced and
recorded with Cissy Houston, Whitney's
mom.
Moss started out as a
folk singer, singing at
Congregation Beth
Aaron, across Wyoming
Avenue from Mumford
High School in
Detroit.
"I sort of caught the
bug and never looked
back," he said. "
Moss has been in the
music business as an
Moss
engineer for 40 years,
and has worked with
the likes of Tony Bennett and Harry
Connick Jr.
What made Ray Charles special was
— Harry IGrsbaum,
staff writer
Labor Leader Remembered
Howard M. Friedman,
being "watered down"
distinguished law pro-
by government.
fessor at the University
He will use the
of Toledo, will speak
Chanukah postage
about "The Chanukah
stamp and President
Stamp, 9-11 and the
Bush's attempt to
First Amendment's
define "true Islam" fol-
Protection of Religion"
lowing the attacks on
at 7:30 p.m. March 10
the Twin Towers to
at the Max M. Fisher
suggest how religion
Federation Building in
can be redefined subtly
Bloomfield Township.
by government to reli-
The program is being
gion's disadvantage.
presented in celebration
The program is free
Professor Friedman
of the 350th anniver-
and open to the pub-
sary of American
lic. Light refreshments
Jewish life by the Cohn-Haddow
will be served. Reservations are
Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne
required by Tuesday, March 8, by
State University, the Anti-Defamation calling the Cohn-Haddow Center for
League-Michigan Region and the
Judaic Studies at (313) 577-2679;
Jewish Community Council.
Anti-Defamation League at (248)
Professor Friedman will examine
646-2440; or the Jewish Community
how the First Amendment was
Council, (248) 642-5393, Ext. 0.
designed not only to shield govern-
ment from sectarian religious influ-
— Keri Guten Cohen,
ences but also to protect religion from
story development editor
An exhibition featuring the life and serv-
ice of nationally recognized Detroit
labor leader Bernard J. Firestone will be
on display through the end of the year
at Wayne State University's Walter P.
Reuther Library.
Firestone, known as one of Detroit's
foremost social activists, was an advocate
for people facing oppression and injus-
tice. His 40-year career with the
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile
Workers Union and his legal back-
ground helped him develop his under-
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Which ethnic group in America more than dou-
bled its support for Republican presidential candi-
dates over the last four elections?
— Goldfein
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things I've ever been a part of"
What's changed in the music business
in 40 years?
The size, he said.
"It used to be a much smaller busi-
ness," said Moss. "The people who rose
to the top usually rose to the top on
their talents, not on the talents of the
people selling who they are.
"Now the music business has become
very corporate. People who don't know
anything about music are in charge.
Some things that shouldn't be consid-
ered in the same breath as Ray Charles
and Tony Bennett are up there in high-
est echelon of what is considered the
best of the music business these days."
First Amendment Lecture
(....
2/24
2005
his body of work. "He was
an amazing artist," said
Moss, who runs Managra
Music, a sound engineering
company. "He broke a lot
of barriers and created a lot
of music."
Ray's duet with Elton
John turned out to be the
last thing that Ray did in
the recording studio, Moss
said. "He was very frail,
and at many points along
the way, we didn't think he
was going to make it to the
session. When he found
the energy to sing the duet,
there wasn't a dry eye in the entire stu-
dio.
"It was one of the most emotional
standing of everyday human struggles.
An alumnus of WSU, Firestone pro-
vided years of service to dozens of phil-
anthropic organizations as well as work-
ers' rights, educational reform and
humanitarian causes. He was murdered
on Sept. 6, 1989, by a disgruntled
retiree.
Hours of the Woodcock Gallery are 9
a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more
information, call (313) 577-8377.
— Keri Guten Cohen,
stogy development editor
Making The Connection
Dr. Leonid Smilovitsky of the
Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research
Center at Tel Aviv University is writ-
ing a book about Turow, one of the
oldest towns in Belarus. Many resi-
dents of Turow immigrated to Detroit.
These immigrants formed the Turower
Aid Society in 1910.
The book will focus Turov Jews in
the 19th and 20th centuries and give
examples of friendship and coopera-
tion between Jews and Belarusians.
If anyone locally has information
that would help Dr. Smilovitsky, you
can reach him by email at
smilov@zahay.netil or by phone at
his office in Israel at (972)-3-
6409799.
— Keri Guten Cohen,
story development editor
Quotables
Do You Remember?
"There is at the moment a very nasty smell of
anti-Semitism around. Each of these issues or
items on its own is not particularly important, but
I can't remember a time since the end of the war
when there has been so much of this muck
around."
February 1965
— Labor peer Lord Grevil e fanner, a Jew, about
increasing anti-Jewish prejudice in British politics,
which is in step with findings of the Community
Security Trust, the British body that monitors threats
to British Jewry. The Trust logged 532 anti-Semitic
incidents last year, a 42 percent increase from 2003,
according to JTA
A prominent Brookline, Mass., woman will give
Brandeis University in Waltham the second
largest collection in the world of Albert
Schweitzer's memorabilia.
The collection of Mrs. Julian Roberts contains
one of the few known sets of bronze sculptures.
There is also an original stone bust sculptured in
1952 by Fritz Behn of Munich, a copper plate of
an etchinat, of Dr. Schweitzer and an iron bas-
relief.
— Sy Manello, editorial assistant