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.