Arts & Entertainment

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All Shook Up

Elvis Presley did not consider himself
Jewish, though some sources trace his
ancestry back to his Jewish maternal
great-great-grandmother, and Elvis' moth-
er Gladys did acknowledge her Jewish
roots in an unbroken maternal line to the
future superstar. But the rock 'n' roll leg-
end had strong links with the Jewish com-
munity in Memphis, where he grew up.
According to Max
Wallace and Jonathan
Goldstein, the
authors of Schmelvis:
In Search Of Elvis
Presley's Jewish Roots,
Elvis and his family
resided in a Jewish
area of Memphis;
as a teenager, Elvis
Elvis Presley
resided downstairs
from a local rabbi and his wife. He became
their "Shabbos goy," visiting them every
Saturday morning to turn on lights and
do other jobs they were prohibited from

doing. "We never told
charity event, benefit-
him we called him
ing Ypsilanti Meals on
a Shabbos goy," the
Wheels, features the
rabbi's widow told
best professional Elvis
the authors. "Usually,
tribute artists in North
you give a small tip
America, as well as
to the gentile who
Beatles, Tom Jones, Roy
Gail Zimmerman
does this for you, but
Orbison and Buddy
Arts Editor
Elvis would never
Holly tribute artists.
accept any money; he
The family-friendly
said it was his pleasur'
event also includes a children's play area,
The Presley family shared Friday dinner kid carnival games, face painting, clowns,
with the couple once a month, and Elvis
magic acts, stilt walkers, kid karaoke,
was a big fan of challah and matzah-ball
animal exhibits, crafts, food, a classic car
soup, the rabbi's wife added. Once he
show and more. Tickets: $15 on Friday and
became rich and famous, Elvis donated
$20 on Saturday; seniors 65 and older, $10
money to Jewish causes throughout his
on Friday, $15 on Saturday; children under
career, on one occasion giving a check for
12 are free. Information: (734) 480-3974,
$150,000 (the equivalent of $1 million
ext. 2, or www.mielvisfest.org .
today) to the Memphis Hebrew Academy.
Commemorating the 31st anniversary
Communicator
of the passing of the King of Rock 'n' Roll,
Extraordinaire
the ninth annual Michigan Elvisfest takes
place 5 p.m.-midnight Friday and noon-
midnight Saturday, July 11-12, at Shady
Jewish psychic medium Rebecca Rosen,
Riverside Park, Depot Town, Ypsilanti. The who began her rise to national fame dur-

ing her stint in Detroit at the beginning
of the decade, returns again to visit her
fans — new and old — in the metro area
as part of a multi-city tour in which she'll
demonstrate her psychic ability to connect
to the other side.
Rosen will conduct audience readings,
in which she'll read as many people as
possible, 7-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday,
July 17-18, at the William Costick
Activities Center, Shannon Room, 28600
11 Mile Road, in Farmington Hills.
Advance tickets: $40, through noon July
18, at rebeccarosen.com ; $50 at the door.
A portion of the proceeds from Thursday's
event will benefit breast cancer research,
and a portion of the proceeds from
Friday's session will benefit Camp Casey,
a nonprofit organization helping kids con-
quer cancer "one neigh at a time'
Rosen also will conduct her Spirit
Seminar Series, in which participants will
learn to "tune in" to themselves, 1-4 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, July 19-20. For more
information, go to rebeccarosen.com .

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.

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Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

All - Star Song

2008 is the 100th anniversary of the
famous song "Take Me Out to the
Ball Game." Often called the "sec-
. and national anthem," it ranks third
1/ behind "The Star Spangled Banner"
(1111
and "Happy Birthday" as the song
most recognized by Americans. The
Songwriters Hall of Fame just gave
"Take Me" its Towering Song Award,
and Major League
Baseball ran a
contest to select
a fan to sing the
song during this
year's All-Star
Game on July 15.

Albert Von
Tilzer (born
Albert Gumm), from a Jewish family
of five brothers all involved in the
music business, wrote the song's
music. The song's lyrics are by Jack
Norworth, the son of an Episcopal
choirmaster. The song was first sung
by Norworth's wife, the popular
vaudeville star Nora Bayes, born
Leonora Goldberg.
For a new, illustrated history of
the song and its place in popular
culture, see Baseball's Greatest Hit:

B12

July 10 2008

The Story of Take Me Out to the
Ball Game (Hal Leonard; $29.95), an
authorized tie-in book to the anniver-
sary celebration.

Music Notes

Bette Midler

and Sophie Van
Hasel berg

Film Openings

Opening Friday, July 11, are Hellboy
The Golden Army and Meet Dave.
In Hellboy II, a sequel to 2004's
Hellboy, Ron Perlman (TV's Beauty
and the Beast), 58, stars as the title
character, a do-gooder demon who
endeavors to save
the world from
destruction. Co-
starring, as she did
in the original, is
Detroit-area native
Selma Blair, 36, as
a woman with psy-
chokinetic
powers.
Ron Perlman
In Meet Dave,
Eddie Murphy plays Dave, a human-
shaped spaceship controlled by little
aliens, as well as the ship's captain,
who pilots the spaceship along
with his crew from inside the ship's
head. Murphy endangers his mission
by falling in love with an Earthling
played by Elizabeth Banks, 34. Brian
Robbins, 44, a former child actor
(Eric in Head of the Class) who has
created several hit TV shows, includ-
ing Smallville, directs.

Bette Midler, 62, finally has a photo
of her 1984 wedding to her first
- and current - hubby, Martin Van
Haselberg; the couple wed in a Las
Vegas chapel before an Elvis imper-
sonator. The man who ran the cha-
pel just closed it and finally mailed
Midler her pictures. Midler said, "We
were so shocked."
Van Haselberg, a performance art-
ist, was born in Argentina to German
parents who were political refugees
from Nazism (also, Martin's mother
was half-Jewish). Midler and Van
Haselberg's only child, Sophie, 21, a
recent Yale University graduate, is
the spitting image of her mother.
The name Keith Reid may not be
familiar to most, but almost every
baby boomer has sung along to his
lyrics. Reid, 61, a British Jew and a
member of Procol Harum, wrote the
lyrics to every Procol Harum song,
including the monster '60s hit "A
Whiter Shade of Pale."

Reid, a leading producer, has just
put finishing touches on a new CD,
Common Threads, which will be
released next month. It features
many veteran rock singers interpret-
ing Reid's songs, including Manfred
Mann (born Manfred Lubowitz in
South Africa), 67.

TV Trivia
Chris Noth (Sex and the City's Mr.

Big), a vocal supporter of Israel who
visited there in 2004, has decided
to leave his role as Detective Mike
Logan on Law and Order: Criminal
Intent. Replacing him is Jeff
Goldblum (who
also played a police
detective on the
short-lived 2007
series Raines), 55.
Episodes will first
appear on USA and
then will be rerun on
NBC.
Jeff Goldblum
Debuting 10 p.m.
Thursday, July 17, on Comedy Central
is Reality Bites Back, an eight-week
series hosted by Michael Ian Black
in which 10 comedians are pitted
against one another in episodic paro-
dies of the popular network reality
shows. E