I Arts & Entertainment Ke P Into Gershw:s Pianist Jeffrey Siegel is DSO's guest soloist at Meadow Brook Music Festival concert. Suzanne Chessler Special to the Jewish News p ianist Jeffrey Siegel and Detroit Symphony Orchestra conduc- tor Leonard Slatkin have teamed many times to perform an all-Gershwin program, but they have not brought the concert to the Meadow Brook Music Festival until now. "Gershwin Galore," which features piano solos and orchestral works, takes the stage 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 26, when selections will be reprised from earlier concerts and recordings showcas- ing the talents of the Leonard Slatkin two men. conducts the DSO. Siegel will play Rhapsody in Blue and Second Rhapsody. Slatkin will conduct Porgy and Bess and Lullaby for Strings. "The program is very touching for me because it includes the Second Rhapsody, which is a wonderful work that is little known and very rarely played': says Siegel, 66, known for his Keyboard Conversations programs that begin with explanations of the music he will perform. "The piece has the same vibrant rhythms and wonderful tunes that Rhapsody in Blue has. "What's particularly touching for me is that Leonard Slatkin and I recorded these with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra almost 35 years ago, and they still are avail- able and selling well." Siegel, who presented his Keyboard Conversations three times annually over four years at the Detroit Institute of Arts, knows what he would discuss about the rhapsodies if they were part of his solo piano presentations — the Gershwin style, the American sounds, the syncopated rhythms and the blues) , harmonies. "The whole purpose for me in talking about a piece of music prior to the perfor- mance is that it makes the listening experi- ence more involving': says Siegel, whose Keyboard Conversations are ongoing in 20 American cities. "The listener feels on the inside track:' The idea for the formal conversations came about after informal talks with people Siegel met during parties follow- ing concerts. Those new to the classics or unschooled in the background of the music just heard asked for ways to make the pieces more accessible. Among Siegel's recordings is a series of four CDs of Keyboard Conversations: Mozart and Friends, The Power and Passion of Beethoven, The Romanticism of the Russian Soul and The Romance of the Piano. Siegel, who started appearing with the Detroit Symphony in the 1960s under the direction of Six-ten Ehrling, began tak- ing piano seriously when he was 15. The instrumentalist, whose father had been a bass player with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, won the opportunity to play a solo concerto with the orchestra after par- ticipating in a statewide competition. Jeffrey Siegel: Gershwin's Second Rhapsody "has the same vibrant rhythms and wonderful tunes that Rhapsody in Blue has." "There was something about that par- ticular moment in my life that made me feel at least I have to try," he recalls. "I felt that if I was not making music, I would be like a duck out of water. "Then came more study and audition- ing. The career, such as I have had over the past 50 years, has been one of steady growth, a step-by-step ascension?' Siegel, who studied with Rosina Lhevinne at the Juilliard School in New Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News Dylan Lyrics Lyrics to the song "Little Buddy," handwritten in 1957 by Bob Dylan, now 68, sold for $12,500 at a Christie's auction held last month. Dylan wrote out the lyr- ics while attending Camp Herzl in Wisconsin under his birth name: Robert Zimmerman. In the form of a poem, the lyrics were published in the camp's newspa- per. The paper's edi- tor recently decided to auction them off to help the camp's Bob Dylan building fund. She got the permission of Dylan's niece and nephew, who work for the camp – and Dylan's OK as well. While the auc- tioned lyrics are in Dylan's hand, the song was actually written by the late country singer Hank Snow. C8 July 23 2009 Film Notes The indie romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer opens Friday, July 24. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 3rd Rock from the Sun), 28, as a hopeless romantic who falls in love with a young woman (Zooey Deschanel) Joseph who doesn't believe in Gordon-Levitt lasting love. 500 Days features two songs by Regina Spektor, 29, the Russian Jewish jazz/pop sensation. Spektor is interviewed in the new issue of JVibe, a magazine for Jewish teens and young adults. She says about being Jewish: "Growing up, I only learned about Judaism after my family came to America [in 1989].... I think today I'm still trying to figure out my place in all of it – I've loved learn- ing the Torah and Talmud.... I haven't found a stationary spot, like, 'This what I believe.' I do know that I really love my tribe and lots of its traditions, especially holidays like Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Those are holidays where I can't be on tour – I need to be home with my family and friends sharing the tradition." Over At HBO The new HBO comedy series Hung stars Thomas Jane (real-life husband of actress Patricia Arquette) as Ray Drecker, a Detroit-area high-school history teacher and basketball coach down on his luck. (Some scenes are filmed here.) In the first episode, we learn that Ray's ex-wife (Anne Heche) left him for a rich doctor. Ray is living in a modest house with his two teens, but it burns down. Ray has no insurance so he camps in his backyard while his kids move in with his ex-wife. Desperate for rebuilding money, he decides to utilize his "asset" – he is very well-endowed – servicing female clients. I know this sounds a bit sordid, but the show is very funny and cleverly writ- ten (the "asset" is never revealed on screen). Episodes air 10 p.m. Sundays. Hung is created and written by the husband-wife team of Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches), 41, and Colette Burson, 35. In a recent interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Lipkin discussed his Jewish background. He was 10 years old when his family left Moscow. The Jewish sponsoring agency settled his family in Baton Rouge, La., where his father, a chemical engineer, found work. Like Regina Spektor's family, Lipkin's family was not able to practice Judaism in Russia. In Louisiana, Lipkin's family joined a Reform synagogue and, at his request, he was circumcised. The new season of HBO's Entourage, airing 10:30 p.m. Sundays, features two very attractive Jewish semi-regulars: Emmanuelle Chriqui and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Chriqui returns as Sloan, the on-and-off girlfriend of talent manager Eric (Kevin Connolly); Sigler plays herself – and the improbable girlfriend of Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), the "go-fer" for movie star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier). Emmanuelle Chriqui Contact Nate Bloom at middleoftheroadl®aol. coal.