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Gail Zimmerman
Arts Editor
Unusual Journey
Gabriel Weinreich's book contains child-
hood reminiscences about the cultured
U-M Physics Professor Emeritus Gabriel
world of pre-war Eastern European Jewry,
Weinreich's "Jewishness" is integral to his
as well as of the family into which he was
life as a Christian, he explains in his new
born and whose legacy he cherishes.
memoir, Confessions of a Jewish Priest: From
"A radical conversion did indeed take
Secular Jewish War Refugee to
place in my life beginning
Physicist and Episcopal Priest
about 30 years ago," he writes
('on les stuns of
(Pilgrim Press; $25).
in the book's prologue, "but it
d JCV+.
Priest was not from Judaism to
Weinreich, the retired rector of
Saint Stephen's Episcopal
Christianity. Rather, it was
Church in Hamburg, Mich.,
from being not religious to
prays in his most personal
being religious; that is, from
moments by silently reciting
thinking that the universe can
the 23rd Psalm in Yiddish.
be understood purely rational-
Weinreich, a secular Jew
ly to thinking that this is not
who was born in Poland and
so." He maintains that his ordi-
moved to the U.S. as a young
nation to the Episcopal priest-
adolescent during World War
hood "did nothing to diminish
II, narrowly escaped the
his sense of Jewishness."
Holocaust. His book chronicles his journey,
Professor Weinreich reads from and signs
as he becomes an American, twice-hus-
copies of his book 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26,
band, father and an award-winning scien-
at Shaman Drum Book Shop, 315 S. State
tist. Sharing his insights on science and
St., in Ann Arbor. Free. (734) 662-7407.
music, he also writes about his subsequent
journey toward Christianity and ordination
to the Episcopal priesthood.
Weinreich's father was Max Weinreich,
Jewish musician David Bromberg was
the renowned Yiddish scholar and founder
born in Philadelphia in 1945. He grew
of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
up in Tarrytown, N. Y., inspired by Pete
Guitar Virtuoso
Seeger, the Weavers and other folk musi- and early '90s, mostly as a solo artist.
cians of the era.
He preferring to spend time with his
A student of the guitar since the age
family and to buy and sell violins.
of 13, Bromberg enrolled at Columbia
Bromberg and his family have now
University after high school, intent on
settled in Wilmington, Del., where he
becoming a musicologist. But drawn to
opened a retail violin shop in that city's
the burgeoning coffeehouse folk music
downtown Market Street area. He's also
scene in Greenwich Village in the mid-
resumed some touring. Said the New
'60s, he soon left school for a perform-
York Times: Bromberg "has such control
ing career.
of his audience that he can, at one
Noticed by musicians like Bob Dylan,
moment, hold it in his hand with a ten-
Ringo Starr, the Reverend Gary
der, loving yet funny
Davis, Torn Paxton and Chubby
anecdotal song, and
Checker, Bromberg went on to play
then set it off romping
as a backup artist o _ n more than
and stomping with a
100 albums.
raucous bit of raunch.
In the 1970s, he displayed his
He is electrifying."
exceptional guitar picking and sty-
Fans can hear
listic range on four classic solo
Bromberg 8 p.m.
albums, and his live shows became
Thursday, Feb. 2, at the
events where, depending on his col-
Ark in Ann Arbor, when
laborators, anything from Texas
Day id Bromberg
he appears with the
swing to Cajun fiddle, bluegrass,
David Bromberg
blues and classical music could be
Quartet: bassist Butch
heard.
Amiot, multi-instrumentalist Mitch
In 1980, Bromberg dissolved his band
Corbin and mandolinist-violinist Jeff
and moved to Chicago, where four years
Wisor. Tickets are $30. (734) 761-1451
later he graduated from the Kenneth
or www.theark.org .
Warren School of Violin Making. He
toured only occasionally in the late '80s
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.
have played and sang with one other
and with various bands. Petra
glop Nate Bloom
Haden, a violinist, and Rachel
I Special to the Jewish News
Haden, a bassist, are probably best
it
known for being in That Dog, a popu-
Maze' Toy
lar 1990s progres*-
Celeb magazine In Touch says
sive rock group.
actor and musician Jack
The sisters are
Black, 36, recently became
the daughters of
engaged to animator/cellist
famous jazz bassist
Tanya Haden, 34. The King
Charlie Haden,
Kong star sealed the deal with
who isn't Jewish,
a Kong-sized $220,000
and a Jewish
engagement ring. Obviously,
Jack Black and
mother.
Black has banked some gelt
Tanya Haden
In a .1999 inter-
since his bar mitzvah.
view, Petra
Tanya Haden is one of a set of non-
described herself as "Jewish" and told a
identical triplet musical sisters who
poignant story about meeting an old
GI -
113)
50
January 26 a 2006
Jewish woman on a bus.
The woman was agitated and sad
looking as she boarded the bus and sat
near Petra. She turned to Petra, said
she was Russian Jewish and asked if
Petra was Jewish.
Petra replied that her mother's fami-
ly was Jewish and originally from
Russia. The woman still looked sad, so
Petra sang the woman a Yiddish lullaby
that Petra's maternal grandfather, a
mandolin player, had taught her.
The woman, Petra said, was so
happy by the end of the song that she
was crying. Singing the song, Petra
added,"took a lot of guts for me. -
People were staring at me like I was
nuts:'
Golden Globes Notes
Despite a flood of Golden Globes red-
carpet coverage, Joan Rivers remains
the best commentator. She banters in
an actually witty way with the celebs.
Almost all the rest, including Joan's
daughter, Melissa, are boring inter-
changeable generic hosts.
Not boring, but
increasingly bizarre, is
the use of gay men to
provide "bitchy" com-
ments on the stars.
(Joan, of course, is
"grandfathered in" as a
straight "Catty" com-
mentator.)
Two Jewish gay guys Isaac Mizrahi