I Arts & Entertainment
Idol Chatter
"My dream is to visit Israel, go to the Dead
Sea, tour the Western Wall and other holy
sites;' American Idol judge Paula Abdul
recently told Israel Tourist Minister Isaac
Herzog as he toured the West Coast pro-
moting tourism to Israel.
As reported on Ynet, the meeting
between Abdul and Herzog, which took
place on the American Idol stage, was an
emotional one. "Not many people know,
but both my parents are Jewish," she told
Herzog. "I am very excited about telling
you this;' she said. "My father is a Syrian
Jew whose family immigrated to Brazil.
My mother is Canadian with Jewish roots.
My dream is to come to Israel for a real
holiday."
Abdul will do just that — when she
travels to Israel during Chanukah as
Herzog's guest. The tourist minister sug-
gested finding a "nice Jewish match" for
Abdul. "He has to be a nice boy; I don't
mind if he doesn't have much money, as
long as my parents are happy:' she replied.
Sans Paula, the top 10 finalists from
the seventh season of American Idol —
including winner David Cook and runner-
up David Archuleta — perform live 7 p.m.
About
vaila
Thursday. July 24,
at Joe Louis Arena.
Tickets are $39.50,
$54.50 and $68.50.
(248) 645-6666 or
ticketmaster. com .
home; a tribute to
Jewish film director
Stanley Donen, 84,
who will participate in
question-and-answer
sessions after the
Gail Zimmerman
screenings of his films,
Arts Editor
including Singin' in the
T.C. Film
Rain; free movies at the
Festival
outdoor cinema in the Open Space Park
on Grand Traverse Bay; and a scheduled
This year's Traverse City Film Festival runs appearance by Madonna presenting her
July 29-Aug. 3 in six venues around the Up new film, I Am Because We Are, a docu-
North resort town — including the newly
mentary about the African country of
renovated and reopened historic State
Malawi that also features Bishop
Theatre.
Desmond Tutu, President Bill
"The festival has become a beacon of
Clinton and Jewish author/
hope for the Grand Traverse region;' said
activist and Detroit native
festival founder and president Michael
Jeffrey Sachs.
Moore, the Academy Award-winning
Those who join the Friends of
documentary filmmaker. "It's nothing
the Traverse City Film Festival
short of thrilling to see the response from
get first crack at tickets. For
tens of thousands of people eager to see a
more information, go to www.
great movie, and this year we have dozens
traversecityfilmfest.com .
of them."
Highlights of the fourth annual festival
On Their Toes
include an appearance by Phil Donahue
with his first feature documentary film,
Body of War, about the journey of a
One hundred and seventy-two
wounded American soldier returning
young dancers from around
the world (including 26 from Michigan)
descended upon Detroit this summer for
the four-week American Ballet Theatre
Summer Intensive, a partnership between
the Detroit Opera House, Wayne State
University and American Ballet Theatre.
Detroit is one of only five cities nationwide
to host the program.
Following weeks of intense training, the
students will present two performances
to the public on the stage of the Detroit
Opera House at 1 and 4 p.m. Friday, July
18. Dance enthusiasts will get a glimpse at
up-and-coming, high-level dancers, many
of whom will go on
to perform profes-
sionally in years to
come.
Tickets are $15
for adults and $10
for children under
the age of 15 and
are available at the
door prior to the
performance.
Members of the
ABT Summer
Intensive
rehearse.
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.
WS
Nate Bloom
Ors
I
Special to the Jewish News
Gong Away
Comedy Central is reviving The Gong
Show, an icon of '70s television. The
original program, an amateur talent
contest with a satirical bent, was
created and hosted by Chuck Barris,
now 79.
A new version of
the show, The Gong
Show with Dave
Attell, debuting 10
p.m. Thursday, July
17, is produced by
Adam Sandler and
hosted by comedian
Dave Attell
Dave Attell, 43.
Attell and Sandier
became friends when they lived in
the same college dorm back in the
mid-'80s.
The new version, like the old, will
have good and bad acts (who might
be gonged). Attell says, "Stars will be
made, and feelings will be hurt."
Appearing as judges on the pre-
miere episode are Triumph, the Comic
dio July 17 • 2008
Insult Dog (a hand-puppet voiced by
comedian Robert Smigel) and Steve
Schrippa, who played Bobby Bacala
on The Sopranos. Schrippa's mother
is Jewish, but he was raised in his
father's Catholic faith.
Movie Premieres
Opening Friday, July 18, are Space
Chimps and The Dark Knight.
Chimps is an animated comedy
about the antics of astronaut chimps.
Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live),
29, is the voice of
Ham III, the lead
character.
In the film, Ham III
and two other chimp
astronauts land on
a planet ruled by a
tyrant and have to
Andy Samberg figure out how to
overthrow the bad
guy and get back to Earth.
The Dark Knight is another Batman
adventure, starring Christian Bale as
the comic-book hero created by the
late Bob Kane. The Batman movie
franchise was revived in 2005 when
Batman Returns, starring Bale, was
released to good reviews and great
box office.
The new film co-stars the late
Heath Ledger, in his last screen
appearance, as the
Joker, Batman's
nemesis. Maggie
Gyllenhaal, 30,
appears as Rebecca
Dawes, an assistant
district attorney
who is romanti-
cally involved
Maggie
with Batman. The
Gyllenhaal
movie's original
story was co-written by former
Michigander David S. Goyer.
I
Mistaken Identity?
In the new book Girls Like Us, a triple
bio of Simon, Joni Mitchell and Carole
King, author Sheila Weller writes that
Carly's father, Richard Simon, the co-
founder of Simon and Schuster, was
the son of wealthy German Jewish
parents "so assimilated that they
were almost anti-Semitic." (Richard,
like Carly, was raised without reli-
gion.)
As for Carly's
mother, she was
the daughter of
a non-Jewish
German father and
a Spanish-born
Catholic mother.
Carly Simon
Weller writes that
Carly's grandmother,
Chibie, believed that "African" fea-
tures (darker skin with curly hair) in
the family dated back to the Islamic
Moors who ruled parts of Spain until
1492.
Weller adds, "Carly enthusiastically
believes Chibie's assertion about her
lineage."
It's almost ludicrous that Carly
Simon calls herself "part-black"
based on a family tale of five-cen-
tury-old Moorish ancestry (the Moors,
by the way, were mostly of Arab
blood). Yet, she is now described as
"part-black" all over the Internet, and
Wikipedia, the Web encyclopedia, lists
Simon as an "African-American
singer."