Arts & Entertainment
Abo u t
Taste Of Summer
After 24 albums, it's not always easy
to develop new material, says Jay
Beckenstein, the Jewish leader-saxophon-
ist-producer of this year's Wrapped In a
Dream, a coolly textured jazz-fusion col-
lection by jazz pio-
neers Spyro Gyra.
"We usually try
to veer away from
what we did on our
previous record.
But we also try to
embrace anything
that explores new
ground — in any
Spyro Gyra
way we can."
Selections from
Wrapped in a Dream, the last album
to be recorded at Beckenstein's own
BearTracks Studio in upstate New York —
he recently sold the state-of-the-art studio
he converted in 1981 from a turn-of-the-
O
century farmhouse — will be performed
5:30 p.m. Sunday, July 2, in a concert
that is part of the 18th annual Comerica
Michigan Tastefest.
The street festival, featuring food, free
music, specialty shopping and all-ages
family fun, runs 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Friday-
Monday
and 11:30
a.m.-8 p.m.
Tuesday,
June 30-July
4, outdoors
along West
Grand
Boulevard
between
Woodward
Avenue and the Lodge Freeway in Detroit.
Nearly 60 national and local music acts
will appear on four stages. In addition to
Spyro Gyra, headliners on the Motorcity
Casino Main Stage include 2006 Grammy
winner Common, 1960s pop star Eric
Burdon and the Animals, former leader
of the Kinks Ray Davies, Southern garage
rockers Kings of Leon, Vancouver indie
rockers the New Pornographers, punk-pop
band the All-American Rejects and alter-
native singer-songwriter Cat Power & the
Memphis Rhythm Band.
Tastefest tickets used to purchase food
and beverages from more than three-
dozen food establishments run $10 for
six tickets (taste-sized portions are priced
from two-five tickets, sampler-sized por-
tions from six-10 tickets and meals from
11-13 tickets).
For more information and a complete
schedule of events, call (313) 872-0188 or
go to www.comericatastefest.com .
Patriotic
Celebration
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's
"Salute to America" concerts at Greenfield
Village, now in their 14th year, celebrate
Independence Day with a spectacular fire-
works display and the music of America
— rousing marches, works by American
composers and the "Armed Forces Salute"
— surrounded by one of the United
States' greatest history attractions. They
take place Friday-Monday, June 30-July 3.
Each performance will conclude with
the largest fireworks display in the event's
history, and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
finale will feature four authentic Hotchkiss
cannons from 1876.
Greenfield Village entrance gates open
at 6 p.m. The Greenfield Village and
Trio and Quartet accompanied by Rob
Bourassa will perform a half-hour prelude
concert at 7:30 p.m., followed by the DSO
concert led by Conductor Thomas Wilkins
at 8:30 p.m.
Before the DSO concert, audience mem-
bers can partake in a variety of "yester-
year" activities, participate in a pie-eating
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.
_ews
personal errands for her
and otherwise treats
Sachs in a demean-
Fashion Wars
- ing way. We learn that
Lauren Weisberger's best-selling
Sachs is determined to
2003 novel, The Devil Wears Prada,
stick out a year with
has been turned into a movie of the
Priestly – because then Lauren
same name. It opens Friday, June 30,
she will be able to snare Weisberger
in area theaters.
a great job with a top
Prada is loosely based on
literary journal.
Weisberger's life. The 29-year-old
We also learn that the haughty
author, a practicing Jew, grew up
Priestly, who is played by Meryl Streep,
in a Conservative Jewish home and
was born Miriam Princhek – to a large,
attended Cornell University. Right after poor, English, Orthodox Jewish family
graduation, she became an assistant
– and, to quote Weisberger, trans-
to Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue
formed herself from a "Jewish peasant
and a fashion powerhouse.
to secular socialite."
In the novel and the film, the
Weisberger denies that Priestly is
heroine, Andrea Sachs, is a small-
directly modeled after Wintour, who
town Jewish girl and an Ivy League
is not Jewish and is not considered a
grad. She lands a job as an assistant
monster by most fashion observers.
to Miranda Priestly, a top fashion edi-
In another departure from real life,
Sachs is played by Anne Hathaway, a
tor. Priestly makes Sachs run trivial
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
40
June 29 2006
beautiful Catholic actress who
looks "very Jewish." Weisberger,
herself, looks like a pretty blonde
WASP.
Prada is directed by David
Frankel, who is best known for
his first film, Miami Rhapsody
(1995). It starred Sarah Jessica
Parker as a young Jewish woman
whose parents are both having affairs.
This Woody Allen-like comedy
got mixed reviews, and Frankel has
mostly directed quality TV productions
since. (David's father, Max Frankel,
was a top New York Times editor-col-
umnist until his retirement.)
Most Powerful
Forbes magazine recently came out
with its list of the "Celebrity 100" – the
entertainment personalities who are
the biggest machers in terms of earn-
ings and "sizzle."
The Jews on the list, followed by
their rankings, are: Steven Spielberg
(6); Howard Stern (7); Jerry Seinfeld
(23); producer and former Detroiter
Jerry Bruckheimer (42); Neil
Diamond (47); Adam Sandler (57);
Scarlett Johansson (61); Matthew
Broderick, as a duo entry with Nathan
Lane, (92); Mel Brooks
(93); and director Mike
Nichols, as a duo entry
with Monty Python vet-
eran Eric Idle (99).
A few notes: Stern
earned $300 million
last year as his sal-
ary/bonus for switch-
Howard Stern
ing to satellite radio;
Jerry Seinfeld still
pulls in $100 million a year from his
Seinfeld show rights; Diamond's lat-
est CD was a best-seller, and his most
recent live tour outdrew younger acts