(Arts t's — BETS Gail Zimmerman Arts Editor Glass Act - On his weekly NPR program This American Life, Ira Glass has breathed new life into radio, finding drama, poignancy and humor in everyday places. He began working in public radio when he was 19 and has worked on nearly every NPR news show in all sorts of productionjobs. This American Life went on the air in 1995. Writers and performers are invited • to contribute to the pro- Ira Glass gram's weekly theme ; doc- . umenting everyday life in • this country. When asked about his own American life compared to the J.D. Salinger fictional family ofGlass children, the broadcaster said: "We're Jews, my family, and Jews break down into two distinct subcultures: book Jews and money Jews. We were money JeWs. Growing up in suburban Baltimore, I didn't know many real book Jews, not in the New York City Frame)/ and Zooey sense of it. That's part of what was so thrilling about the Salinger books, the idea of people who read stuff, and it means so much to them." Glass, 46, brings his observations to a Michigan audience when he appears in an evening of recollections 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $20-$37. (248) 645-6666. Rock Around Wondering how the rock band Aerosmith got its name? Credit Jewish band member a product of a middle- class home in the Bronx who has said he had a tough time with the anti-Semitic bullies in his predominately Italian high school. Kramer. moved to. Boston in 1969 to study music and soon met up with his old friend Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and the other guys in the band. The 55-year-old drummer joins his band mates as Aerosmith rocks the Palace of Auburn Hills in support of its latest CD, Rockin' the Joint (Live at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas), 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15. Opening for Aerosmith is Lenny Kravitz, whose set will feature his trade- mark combination of funk and rock 'n' roll backed by his 10-piece band. The 41-year-old Kravitz was born Leonard Albert Kravitz, named after his Joey Kramer, uncle who died in service in Korea. He is the son of Jewish Hollywood produc- er Sy Kravitz and the late Bahamian Joey Kramer American actress Roxie Roker, who played neighbor Helen Willis on The Jeffersons. Kravitz married actress Lisa Bonet, daughter of a Jewish mother and African-American father; they are now divorced. In the last decade, Kravitz seems to have embraced Christianity; a recent CD is titled Baptism. Tickets for the concert are $59.50-$125. (248) 645-6666. Also appearing in town this weekend is 1960s folk-rock-pop icon Donovan (born Phillip Leitch), celebrating 'the 40th 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 appreciatecibut cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change. saw NateBloom Special to the Jewish News `Tis The Time ... For a flood of "holiday season" movies looking to lure in the holiday crowds and to be eligible for a 2005 Oscar nomination by opening just before the year's end. Still playing in theaters is Ice Harvest, .directed by Harold Ramis. It's a gritty tale with some humor about a mob lawyer (John Cusack) and a strip club owner (Billy Bob Thornton) who rob mil- lions from a Mafia don. Ramis told an inter- viewer that there's a moral undertone to Ice Harvest. Cusack and Thotnton's characters, he said, had 'lawfully' followed the American Harold Ramis materialistic dream — 4:1) 46 December 8 • 2005 qr; that didn't satisfy their souls became a top geisha in the — and now they thought that early post-war period. being outlaws would some- Golden's mother is the how satisfy. The film implies sister of Arthur 0. that a satisfactory life is Sulzberger Sr., who found in avenues other than retired as publisher of the these. New York Times in 1992. Ramis has long been inter- - (Golden's first cousin, cur- Jake Gyllenhaal ested in moral choices, but has rent Times publisher Arthur been a secular Jew. However, 0. Sulzberger Jr., was raised the director says he incorporated into in his mother's Episcopal faith). Ice Harvest a new personal interest in Opening in Detroit on Friday, Dec. Jewish moral teachings: "This does not 16, is Brokeback Mountain. mean Kabbalah, and I'm not turning Jake Gyllenhaal and. Heath Ledger Orthodox. It's ... an investigation of what co-star in the film as two young cow- answers or questions Judaism poses as boyi, circa 1961, who have a gay rela- an explanation to why we live, how we tionship. The film follows them over live and what's the point of all of the next 20 years as they marry women and attempt to suppress their love. Advance reviews are good for what is Geishas & Gay Cowboys described as a rather conventional love- story, despite the gay angle. Critics say Opening in Detroit on Friday, Dec. 23, Ledger gives a great performance, and is Memoirs of a Geisha. Geisha is based on Arthur Golden's he's more likely to get an Oscar nomi- nation than Gyllenhaal. huge-selling novel about the life of a poor Japanese girl who eventually Going Ape Director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) brings us the second remake of King Kong Opening Wednesday, Dec. . 14, Kong stars Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, Adrien Brody Jack Black and Naomi Watts. Brody told Jon Stewart that he agreed to be in Kong because he liked to mix up his roles and that Kong was a lot "lighter" than The Pianist. He added that unlike The Pianist, he didn't have to starve himself to be in Kong and be constantly reminded about man's inhu- manity to man. (Sounds reasonable to me. Especially since Kong had the big bonus for Brody of doing love scenes with Watts.)