Arts & Life

Best Bets

Rock On

For Slash, helping put together the band Velvet
Revolver in 2002 was a good way to re-ignite his
love for the blues-tinged brand of hard rock that
helped the dark-haired guitarist achieve worldwide
fame as a founding member of Guns N' Roses in
the 1980s.
For Slash — born Saul Hudson to a British
Jewish father and an African-American mother (the
musician once played in a benefit concert for L.A.'s
Jewish federation) — the seeds for Velvet Revolver
were planted not by the demise of Snakepit, his
post-Guns N' Roses band, but by the several years
he spent working with American music icon Ray
Charles, who died last June at the age of 73.
"I worked with him until he died," Slash told
Copley News Service about Charles. "It was like
[when I played with] Les Paul — someone you're so
in awe of — and he was so everything you could
ever want one of
your heroes to be."
The guitarist
contributed to the
soundtrack album
for the Oscar-win-
ning 2004 film
Ray. He also con-
tributed to the
2002 album Ray

Charles Sings for
America and to the
posthumously
released Genius
Loves Company,
which won eight
Grammy Awards in
February.
Revolver —
along with Slash, Scott Weiland on vocals (Stone
Temple Pilots), guitarist Dave Kushner (Wasted
Youth), and bassist Doug McKagan and drummer
Matt Sorum (both of Guns N' Roses) constitute the
band — won a Grammy Award this year for Best

Celebrity Jews

NATE BLOOM

Special to the Jewish News

Lemons To Lemonade

Actress ANNABELLE GURWITCH is best known
as the former host of cable station TBS's Dinner
and a Movie. However, she has many well-reviewed
theater roles under her belt, as well, and so it came
as a shock to her when WOODY ALLEN, long her
hero, fired her from a 2002 stage production of a
play of his.
Devastated, Gunvitch shared her anger with a
pre-Passover gathering at her rabbi's home. These

Hard Rock Performance.
Velvet Revolver brings "The Electric
Wonderland Show," with special guest
Hoostabank, to the Palace of Auburn
Hills 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30. The
co-leader of the California-bred
Hoostabank, Dan Estrin, is Jewish; he
was nominated for a Grammy this year
for Song of the Year, for co-writing "The
Reason."
Tickets are $39.50. (248) 645-6666.

The Right Notes

vation of the archaeological and cultural
legacy of Armenia; its academic board
includes scholars from the United States,
Europe, Israel and Armenia.
Tickets for the concert are $35
adults/$15 students. Tickets to the after-
glow are an additional $40 each (of
which $30 is a tax-deductible contribu-
GAIL ZIMMERMAN
tion). Tickets may be purchased in
Arts Editor
advance by sending a check to Project
Discovery!, 340 Lakewood Dr.,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304. For more information,
call (248) 593-6565.

East German-born pianist Jutta Czapski performs
on concert stages throughout the world. She made
her home in the Detroit area in 1984, when her
husband, Gunther Herbig, became the music direc-
tor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Czapski will per-
form a benefit con-
cert for Project
Discovery! 7:30
p.m. Saturday,
May 7., at the
Birmingham
Unitarian Church
in Bloomfield
Hills. The program
will include selec-
tions from Bach's
French Suite, five
miniatures from
East German com-
poser Siegfried
Matthus, a Mozart
piano sonata and
Chopin's Piano
Sonata No. 3. An
afterglow, including an opportunity to meet the
artist and her husband, will follow at the Bloomfield
Hills home of Dr. Stanley and Rita Levy.
Project Discovery! is an independent, nonprofit
organization dedicated to the discovery and preser-

folks cheered her up by telling her how they got
fired from some job. Pretty soon, Gurwitch real-
ized that almost everybody, including her celeb
friends, had a tale of being
fired.
Her husband, comedy writer
JEFF KAHN, confessed that
he was fired from the same
Chicago deli as actor Andy
Dick; neither could memorize
the sandwich selection.
Gurwitch has turned these
tales into a stage play, Fired.
Tales ofJobs Gone Bad, which
has run in the last year to
acclaim in Los Angeles and
Annabelle Gurwitch New York.

Multi-Talented

In the wake of 9-11, Lydia/Gateway Records
recorded Josh White Jr. per-
forming two of his father's
patriotic and civil rights
classics — "The House I
Live In" and "Free and
Equal Blues" — for the
2002 compilation release

Celebrate America.
Concurrently, White Jr.
— the son of Josh White
Sr., the first black artist to
give a White House com-
mand performance, perform Josh White Jr.
in previously segregated
hotels, earn a million-selling record ("One
Meatball") and make a solo concert tour of America
— was the first artist asked (and allowed) to sing at
New York's hallowed Ground Zero site.
Folk, blues, pop, jazz — veteran Detroit per-
former Josh White Jr., does it all, most notably in
the legendary concerts that involve his audiences.
Lucky listeners can experience Josh White Jr.'s
magic in a cabaret concert 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May
5, at Temple Israel. The program is partially funded
by the Liner Concert Fund; there is a $10 charge. For
reservations and information, call (248) 661-5700. ❑

Also in the past year, Gurwitch has become an
NPR commentator, and many NPR stations will
broadcast Fired later this year. On top of this, a
Fired documentary is in production.
You can contribute your story of getting fired,
and Gurwitch just might use it. Just go to
www.firedbyannabellegurwitch.com .

Fressing

When Do We Eat? is the title of a film that promises
to be something special.
Director/writer SALVADOR LITVAK assembled
a stellar cast of Jewish actors to appear in his come-
dy/drama about a pretty secular Jewish family that
undergoes a night of personal discovery during
their seder.

FYI: For Arts and Life related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to:
Gail Zimmerman, JN Out & About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com Notice must be received
at least three weeks before the scheduled event. Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.