Arts & Entertainment

About

Fourth Festival

Now in its 20th year, Comerica Cityfest
2008, formerly known as Comerica
Tastefest, transforms Detroit's New Center
area into an expanded Independence Day
celebration with a high-octane festival
— featuring music on four stages, food,
an outdoor shopping bazaar, an indoor
art gallery and more — on West Grand
Boulevard between Cass and Third ave-
nues from July 2-6. Hours are 11:30 a.m.-
11 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 11:30-8
p.m. Sunday.
Funk legends George Clinton &

Tally Hall plays Comerica Cityfest on

July 3.

via

Birmingham Bloomfield
Parliament-
Art Center on July 3.
Funkadelic (5:30
The event — with cre-
p.m. Sunday), hip-
ate-and-take art proj-
hop veterans De
ects
for all ages, a chuck
La Soul (8:30 p.m.
wagon
supper, a petting
Wednesday) and
Gail Zimmerman
zoo
and
live music by
popular indie-rock-
Arts Editor
Twistin
Tarantulas
ers Broken Social
— will be capped off by
Scene (8:30 p.m.
the city of Birmingham's annual fireworks
Friday) highlight the lineup of musical
at 10 p.m. at the adjacent Lincoln Hills
performances, along with Ann Arbor's
Golf Course, followed by munchies and
Tally Hall (7:30 p.m. Thursday), recently
family-friendly videos.
signed by Atlantic Records.
The BBAC, located at 1516 S.
Family Day, on July 5, features emerging
Cranbrook, in Birmingham, opens at 7
songbirds and pop sister duo Aly and AJ
p.m. to artBlast ticket holders; there will
(2 p.m. Saturday).
be free parking at Groves and Seaholm
The festival is going green this year by
banning Styrofoam and promoting the use high schools with complimentary SMART
shuttle service.
of environmentally friendly options.
Tickets are $125 for a family of four
Admission is free. "Taste" tickets are
(two adults and up two children), $50 for
$7 for 11 tickets. For a complete schedule
an adult and $30 for seniors and children
of activities and more information, visit
under 16. Patron tickets are $300 (two
www.comericacityfest.com or call (313)
adults and up to two children) and include
872-0188.
on-site parking, complimentary drink
tickets and a souvenir artBlast lawn blan-
Family Blast
ket.
Proceeds from the event benefit educa-
Get ready for artBLAST, a summer
tional and community programming at
arts celebration that takes place at the

the BBAC. For tickets, call (248) 644-0866
or go to www.BBArtCenter.org.

Film Foray

'

As part of its summer season, the Detroit
Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of
Arts presents the documentary Girls Rock!
7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4
p.m. Sunday, June 27-29.
Directed by Arne Johnson and Shane
King, the film takes a look at the Rock 'n
Roll Camp for Girls, a place where 8-18-
year-olds come from all over the country
to learn rock — forming bands, writing
songs and building community in one
week as they prepare for a final perfor-
mance for more than 700 people.
The filmmakers were inspired to under-
take their project after hearing a talk by
Jewish Sleater-Kinney guitarist-singer
Carrie Brownstein, who spoke about how
inspiring the camp was.
Brownstein is among the indie-rock
"chicks" who lead the girls in lessons of
empowerment, from self-defense to anger
management.
Tickets are $6.50-$7.50. (313) 833-4005
or wwwtickets.dia.org .

❑

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: Gall 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.

WS

Nate Bloom

Imo

Special to the Jewish News

The serious illness of actor Paul
Newman and the recent death of
comedian Harvey Korman made me
think that we are seeing the passing
CO of the generation that reached adult-
hood just before or during World War
II. Nonetheless, quite a few famous
Jewish-American entertainment
figures and journalists are still with
us at 80-years-plus. Here's a par-
tial list of famous
Jewish elders who I
hope will be around
awhile longer:

CV

()

Marty Allen,
Ed Ames, Bea
Arthur, Lauren
Bacall, Gene Barry,
Shelley
Berman,
Charlotte Rae
Tom Bosley, Mel
Brooks, Sid Caesar, Robert Clary,
Tony Curtis, Hal David, Peter Falk,
Fyvush Finkel, Shecky Greene,
Monty Hall, Jack Kluqman, Norman
Lear, Tom Lehrer, Jerry Lewis,
Edwin Newman, Paul Newman,
Charlotte Rae, Carl Reiner, Don
Rickles, Mort Sahl, Soupy Sales,

B8

June 26 • 2008

Neil Simon, Larry Storch, Jerry
Stiller, Abe Viqoda and Judge
Joseph Wapner.
The over-90s include Kirk Douglas,
Tony Martin, Mitch Miller, Studs
Terkel, Mike Wallace and Eli Wallach.
My pal songwriter Ervin Drake is
among the 80-plus, and he wrote
what could be the theme song for
this group: It Was a Very Good Year."

Politics Watch

Appearing again in current election
news items is Cameron Kerry, 57,
the brother of Sen. John Kerry and a
member of the executive committee
of the National Jewish Democratic
Council. Cam, who is John's politi-
cal confidant, converted to Judaism
in 1983, shortly before he wed his
Jewish wife, Oak Park native Kathy

Weinman.
In an April Op-Ed piece he wrote,
Cam had the following to say in
support of Barack Obama's presi-
dential bid: "In 2004, introducing
Bill Clinton at Temple B`nai Torah in
Boca Raton, I alluded to how he had
bid goodbye to Yitzhak Rabin with
the words shalom chaver – 'goodbye
friend.' I greeted the former presi-

dent with the same
words to recognize
someone whose
friendship to Israel
and to Jewish peo-
446
ple and values has
transcended ethnic
Cameron Kerry or religious bounds.
Barack Obama has
shown that in the same sense he,
too, is a chaver."
In 2004, Cam said he was
"stunned" when a Boston Globe
researcher uncovered that his pater-
nal grandparents were Czech Jews
who hid their Jewish origins after
coming to America. They told every-
one they were Catholics and prac-
ticed that faith.

Visiting Israel

Kristen Davis, who played Charlotte,
a convert to Judaism, in Sex and the
City, visited Jerusalem's Old City
last week to promote Israel's Ahava
cosmetics line.
The Jerusalem Post reports that
Davis told a news conference she
admires Israeli women's natural qual-
ity, love of fashion and "being com-
fortable in their own skins." But she

refused to answer questions about
politics or about whether she really
likes Jewish men.
In the past, however, Davis had
very public romances with Jewish
actors Liev Schreiber and Jeff

Goldblum.
Jean Sarkozy, 21, the son of
French President Nicholas Sarkozy,
has just become engaged to his
high-school sweetheart, Jessica
Sebaoun-Darty, an heiress whose
Jewish family controls one of the
largest consumer electronics compa-
nies in France.
The younger Sarkozy, who has just
begun his own political career, is so
good-looking that he has become
a teen sex symbol. The European
Jewish Press Web site reports that
the couple visited Israel earlier this
month to "learn more about Jewish
culture."
Nicholas Sarkozy, a practicing
Catholic, has one Jewish grandpar-
ent: His maternal grandfather was a
Greek Jewish doctor who settled in
France. ❑

Contact Nate Bloom at
Middleoftheroad@aoLcom.

