Arts & Entertainment
SPICY JAMBALAYA
Back for its third year, the JAMbalaya Street Festival
comes to downtown Pontiac 4 p.m.-midnight Friday,
11 a.m.-midnight Saturday and 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday, June 24-26, with a spicy lineup of food from
17 local eateries, concerts, a carnival, arts and crafts
and the return of the NBA Rhythm 'n Rims Tour, an
interactive two-acre basketball showcase featuring NBA
talent from the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock.
Admission is free to hear national and local music
groups, including the Average White Band, Koko
Taylor and her Blues Machine and Jagged Edge, as
well as Impact Seven; Saoco and Zydecrunch. The
only ticketed concert ($22.50) is the Isley Brothers,
who kick off the festival 7:30 p.m. Friday on the newly
refurbished Phoenix Center Stage.
"We had a great event last year and pretty amazing
attendance," says festival promoter Jonathan Witz
about the 250,000 people who attended in 2004.
Proceeds from food and beverage sales will benefit sev-
eral local charities.
For additional information about activities at this
year's event, visit www.pontiacfestivals.com
ALL THAT JAZZ
The lawn of the Southfield Civic Center will once
again be the site of the V98.7 Smooth Jazzfest, a three-
day festival featuring top local and national contempo-
rary jazz recording artists and taking place 4:30-11
p.m. Friday, 2-11 p.m. Saturday and 2-10 p.m.
Sunday, June 24-26.
Friday's performers include Thornetta Davis; Gene
Dunlap; Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci; and
Jazz Attack featuring Rick Braun, Peter White,
Jonathan Butler and Richard Elliot.
Saturday's lineup features Marissa Rose; Blackman
and Arnold; Tim Bowman; Nestor Torres;
Yellowjackets; and David Sanborn.
Celebrity Jews
NATE BLOOM
Special to the Jewish News
`Soprano' Notes
The fifth season of the hit HBO series The Sopranos is
now out on DVD and features two Jewish actors not
previously seen on the show.
Veteran actress POLLY BERGEN, 75, has a juicy
role as the former mistress of Tony Soprano's late
father. Bergen converted to Judaism before marrying a
Jewish man in the 1950s. Although the 20-year mar-
riage ended in divorce, the actress has said she still
"remains Jewish."
Young actor WILL JANOWITZ plays Finn
DeTrolio, the boyfriend of Meadow Soprano (played
by Jewish actress JAMIE LYNN DISCALA — for-
merly Sigler). Meanwhile, Discala has just been cast in
6/23
2005
38
Best Bets
On Sunday, the festival hosts David Lee
contemporaries, the Art Gallery of Windsor
and the Edge featuring Deb Alane; Joyce
presents an exhibition from June 25-Oct.
Cooling Alexander Zonjic and Friends with
30 titled "A Screen of Trees: Looking
special guest Kevin Whalum; Kirk
Through the Landscape."
Whalum; and Norman Brown's Summer
Questioning the romantic notion of
Storm 2005 starring Peabo Bryson, Brenda
Canada that has been encouraged by many
Russell and Everette Harp.
artists and scholars, the selected works from
GAIL ZININIERNIAN
Ticket prices are $20 in advance/$30 at
1910-1950 portray a more balanced view of
Arts Editor
the door for Friday performances; $35 in
life in the first half of 20th-century Canada
advance/$45 at the door for Saturday and
by revealing the absence or presence of spe-
Sunday performances. Food and beverages will be
cific economic, social and cultural realities as seen in
available from local vendors.
painting. Themes include industrialization, life in large
For further information and tickets, call (248) 796-
Canadian cities, modern technology, the Depression
2120 or charge by phone at (248) 645-6666.
and the world at war.
Tours and other activities take place noon-3 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, June 25-26.
CANADA, OH CANADA
For more information, call (519) 977-0013 or go to
wwvv. agw. ca.
In 1920, a group of Canadian artists — billing
themselves as the Group of Seven — put on their first
exhibit. The artists included J.E.H. MacDonald,
LAUGH ALONG
Franklin Carmichael, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer,
A week of laughter is in the works in the upcoming
Lawren S. Harris, Frederick Varley and A.Y. Jackson.
week as three well-known comedians visit Detroit-area
During the 1920s, the group established itself as
venues. •
uniquely Canadian in style. Its members are historical-
Political humorist Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real
ly recognized as the first group of European descent to
Time
with Bill Maher and former host of Politically
capture the feel of the Arctic on canvas, and their
Incorrect
which aired on Comedy Central and then
paintings of
ABC, performs 8 p.m. Friday, June 24, at the State
uninhabited
Theatre in Detroit. $27.50-$45. (248) 645-6666.
wilderness have
Funnyman Cedric "The Entertainer," now a busy
become icons of
comic actor in Hollywood ( The Honeymooners and
Canadian iden-
Madagascar are now in theaters) brings his comedic
tity. The
stylings
to Detroit's Fox Theatre 8 p.m. Saturday, June
Toronto-based
25.
$35-$65.
(248) 433-1515.
collective dis-
Comedian and actor Howie Mandel, whose latest
banded in
project is the Bravo Network's Hidden Howie: The
1932.
Private Life of a Public Nuisance, a behind-the-scenes
Focusing on
,
look at his life, takes the stage 7:30 p.m. Thursday,
the Group of
Lawren Harris (1885-1970): A Side
June 30, at DTE Energy Music Theatre. $35.50 pavil-
Seven and their
Street 1919-1920, oil on canvas.
ion/$10 lawn. (248) 645-6666. ❑
the film Homie Spumoni, as the "Jewish princess girl-
friend" of a guy (Scrubs'Donald Faison) raised as a
Caucasian Italian-American who discovers he's
African-American when his birth parents appear.
Since Faison is unmistakably black, the film's prem-
ise appears to be as ludicrous, say, as a movie about
Scrubs Jewish star ZACH BRAFF being raised by
Chinese-American parents, only to realize that he isn't
Chinese when his Jewish birth parents appear.
Rockin' Maidels
A leading rock critic recently wrote: "[At their Los
Angeles show], Sleater-Kinney staked its claim for the
best trio title with a blistering, nearly 90-minute set.
Since the release of its self-tided debut a decade ago,
the Portland, Ore.-based female trio has earned critical
accolades for its punk-infused indie rock. With the
recent release of its new CD, The Woods, inspired
largely by the band's stint opening for Pearl Jam,
Sleater-Kinney has grown up, stretched out and
learned to rock
out like never
before."
You can catch
the two-thirds
Jewish act
(drummer
JANET WEISS
and guitarist
Sleater-Kinney: Two-thirds Jewish
CARRIE
BROWNSTEIN) on Late Show with David
Letterman on Monday, June 27th.
Summer Sedgwick
Summer is when the cable networks premier many
new shows. An interesting one is the TNT series The
Closer, starring KYRA SEDGWICK, which began on
June 13.
Sedgwick plays a former CIA profiler who's made
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 retumed. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.