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About

Music Makers

Three Jewish stars on the folk-music scene
will appear on three consecutive days at
Michigan's venerable folk-music venue,
the Ark in Ann Arbor.
First up, at 8 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 6, is
Iowa-born singer-
songwriter Dan Bern.
He's been described
as "a modern musical
Lenny Bruce" for his
amusing, politically
charged lyrics and
been likened to Bob
Dylan for his musi-
cal pipes. His sixth
and just-released
long-playing album,
Breathe, is some-
thing new for Bern: a
group of songs about
renewal. Its cast of
characters are burned
Dick Siegel
out and beaten down
by life but somehow find the strength and
courage to beat back at the world. Tickets
are $16.
Next up is Ann Arbor-based Dick Siegel,
who returns to the Ark 8 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 7, with his annual hometown "When
the Sumac is on Fire" fall concert. A
singer-composer whose style ranges from

jump blues and
Buddy Holly-style
pop to folk balladry
and new-folk lyri-
cism, he'll offer up
favorites like "What
Would Brando Do?"
and "Fighting for
King George" and be
backed by his band,
the Brandos, featurin g electric guitar vir-
tuoso Brian Delaney. Tickets are $15.
Finally, taking the stage at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 8, at the
Ark is veteran social
activist-songwriter-
author-speaker Si
Kahn, who performs
in the tradition of
Phil Ochs. A com-
munity organizer and
civil rights activist
since his days with
Si Kahn
the Student Non-
Violent Coordinating
Committee in the
1960s, Kahn didn't
start performing
until 1979, at age 35.
The son of a rabbi, he
usually accompanies
himself on a steel-
string acoustic guitar.
Ben Kweller
Tickets are $15. (734)

761-1451.
Up for a little '60s-
type pop? Catch Jewish
alt rocker Ben Kweller,
25, as he makes an
appearance Wednesday,
Oct. 11, at St. Andrew's
Hall in Detroit.
Formerly the frontman
for teen grunge band
Radish, Kweller grew up in Texas. On his
newly released album, the self-titled Ben
Kweller, he plays all the instruments. "I
think I may have written my best song
while I was in the studio," says Kweller on
an Internet posting. "It's called 'Thirteen':
It's very personal and almost hard for
me to listen to." Among its lyrics: "We
questioned religions/ Gave bread to the
pigeons." Doors at 7 p.m.; show at 8 p.m.
$20. (248) 645-6666.

Gourmet To Go

Debuting Saturday, Oct. 7, on public televi-
sion stations (check your local listings)
is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, a 20-
episode series of half-hour programs that
will travel across the globe to the world's
must-visit food destinations: Italy, Brazil,
Peru, China, Australia and the United
States, to name just a few.
Gourmet magazine editor Ruth
Reichl, who is Jewish and a University of

Michigan graduate, and a supporting staff
of Gourmet's food editors will introduce
viewers to cutting-edge food trends, exotic
ingredients and in-the-know food play-
ers on an international level and then
go inside the magazine's test kitchens to
show the audience how they can bring this
diverse culinary landscape into their own
homes.
Reichl, the author of three books of
memoirs — Tender at the Bone: Growing
Up at the Table; Comfort Me with Apples:
More Adventures at the Table; and Garlic
and Sapphires: The
Secret Life of a Critic
in Disguise — was the
restaurant critic for
the New York Times
before assuming the
editorship of Gourmet
Ruth Reich!
in 1999.

Picture Safarz

A few years ago, Burton Farbman, a
Franklin resident and chairman of the
Southfield-based, full-service real estate
organization the Farbman Group, intro-
duced the art of photography to Detroit
high school students, meeting with them
on a weekly basis to assist them in devel-
oping their own photographic skills. In
addition, his collection of photographs

FYI: For Arts 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

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Tube Talk

30 Rock, debuting 8 p.m. Wednesday,
Oct.11, and starring Tina Fey
'74,00;
(Saturday Night Live) and Alec
Baldwin, is an NBC comedy about the
backstage scenes of a fictional TV
sketch-comedy program. SNL veteran
Rachel Dratch was slated to be a 30
Rock regular. However,
her role has been reduced
to playing different char-
acters in a number of
episodes.
The NBC comedy
Twenty Good Years pre-
mieres right after 30
Rock, at 8:30 p.m. Top
Rachel Dratch
comic actors Jeffrey
Tambor, 62, and John Lithgow, 61,
star as two old friends who are very

40

October 5 2006

different, but they agree they only
have "20 good years left" and should
start living life to the fullest. Tambor,
by the way, learned his craft at
Wayne State University.
Meanwhile, Alicia Silverstone, who
turned 30 on Oct. 4, has just agreed
to join the cast of the NBC mid-sea-
son replacement series The Singles
Table.

detective John Murich (who is played
by Jewish actor Richard Belzer). The
episode airs 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct.10,
on NBC.
Sara Gilbert (Roseanne) has landed
a recurring role on the new CBS
comedy The Class. She makes her
first appearance on the show 8 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 9.
•

Guest Shots

Sen. George Allen Jr. of Virginia, a
self-identified Christian conservative,
has finally "confessed" that his moth-
er was born and raised a Jew. Allen
didn't handle this matter deftly, and
he has a track record of public gaffes
that includes upsetting African-
Americans by displaying Confederate
symbols.
I figure that next he'll announce he
is "embracing his heritage" by hang-
ing a picture in his office of Judah P.

Jerry Lewis, 80, makes a rare TV
guest appearance on Law and Order:
Special Victims
Unit. Lewis plays a
disheveled homeless
man who is arrested
as a suspect in a
murder case. It
turns out the home-
less man is the
Jerry Lewis
uncle of SVU Jewish

Political Notes

Benjamin, a Jew who served as sec-
retary of state in the Confederacy.
In any case, it, looks like next year
there'll be enough Jewish male sena-
tors for a traditional 10-man minyan.
Not counting Allen,
there currently
are nine Jewish
male senators and
two Jewish female
senators. Two Jews,
Bernie Sanders of
Vermont (a heavy
Judah P.
favorite) and Ben
Benjamin
Cardin of Maryland
(a moderate favorite), are running for
open seats, and Joe Lieberman is the
only Jewish incumbent in a tough re-
election fight.
Showing her political stripes is
Oscar-nominated actress Felicity
Huffman, the co-star of TV's
Desperate Housewives. Huffman, who