GUIDE 4-09 Gather 'Round Enjoy new sounds and sights right at home with our suggestions for your listening and watching pleasure. Suzanne Chessler f Special to the Jewish News H ome entertainment in the form of CDs and DVDs turn into warming, pensive and even welcoming gifts for a diversity of family members and friends. Best of all, gifts of CDs/DVDs can be shared with loved ones. Here, a few suggestions for your ears and eyes. EASY LISTENING Violinist Joshua Bell might not feel exactly at home in Metro Detroit, but his Jewish mother would. The former Shirley Levine, a Motor City native, visited the area with her son and introduced him to Detroit Symphony Orchestra con- certs long before he earned star billing and stepped on stage with its musicians. The sense of home is important to the violinist, who created a musical salon in his own and invites great music-mak- ing friends to join him in their favorite melodies, classic and contemporary. Joshua Belk At Home With Friends (Sony; $11.99) is his new recording that includes easy listening selections with many artists, such as Jewish pianists Marvin Hamlisch ("I'll Take Manhattan") and Lee Musiker ("My Funny Valentine" fea- turing Kristin Chenoweth on vocals). "Since music is at the very heart of who I am, it's also very naturally the focus of my home Bell says. "That's why, when I decided to redesign my place in New York City ... one of my priori- ties was to include a performance space where I could spend time with friends and make music." The recording makes it very comfort- able for home-based hosts to invite oth- ers for sound interludes featuring Bell with Chris Botti playing "I Loves You Porgy:' Josh Groban performing "Cinema Paradiso" and Regina Spektor presenting "Left Hand Song" among the 16 tracks. FAMILY FUN Another Jewish mother, Mama Doni, likes to make music and add fun into the mix. Her latest venture, Chanukah Fever (Mama Doni Productions; $15), offers new beats and lyrics for the holiday. "Lake Man;' "The Funky Gold Menorah:' "Eight" and "La Vida Dreidel" are among the "13 Macca-beats" for the whole family. "I wanted to sing funky Jewish songs with the kids, but couldn't find the kind I envisioned so I thought I'd try to write them myself;' says Doni Zasloff Thomas, a music teacher, songwriter and lead singer in the Mama Doni Band. "The next thing I knew, I was filling notebook after notebook with music! I felt inside that I was creating a new kind of music that would ... celebrate all the great and fun aspects of Jewish culture Mama Doni, who holds a degree in educational theater from New York University, won the 2008 Simcha Award for inspir- ing joy through music at the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. In Chanukah Fever, the sounds move through reggae, rock, disco, Latin and what the enter- tainer calls "Jewgrass." The album — fol- lowing recording projects that include I Love Herring, I Love Chanukah! and I Love Purim! — encourages families and their guests to sing right along at home. INDIE JEWISH Alicia Jo Rabins goes way beyond moth- erhood as she explores women in the Bible through her CD Girls in Trouble (JDub Records; $11.98). The singer-composer-violin- ist-guitarist brings her interpreta- tions to the lives and experiences described in the original text "Where You Go" tells the story of the close relationship shared by Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. "Snow" ponders the troubles faced by Miriam, the exiled sister of Moses. s ; "Mountain" looks at `' the fate of a daughter ,(\, marked for sacrifice. Recorded with an indie folk feel and three additional musicians, Girls in Trouble reflects Rabins' two years studying ancient texts in Jerusalem and becoming familiar with Hebrew and Aramaic. Her spiritual journey followed American studies in music and poetry and performances with touring bands. Rabins' 10-track goal was to introduce songs written as if from the points of view of women she found interesting and elusive, some not even identified by name. Bringing musical variety to the original selections are Aaron Hartman on upright bass, Tim Monaghan on drums and Jascha Hoffman on keyboards. Rabins, who arranged and performed all the string parts as well as guitar and vocal harmonies, hopes listeners will be left thinking about people whose stories have been carried along throughout the centuries. CLASSIC REVISITED The Diary of Anne Frank, the most widely read nonfiction work after the Bible, can be viewed as a full-length movie or in segments first shown as a BBC miniseries in the United Kingdom. Well Go USA recently released both versions ($19.98 film, $24.98 series) star- ring Ellie Kendrick in the title role and lain Glen as her father. The production crew represents these versions as the most historically accurate adaptations of the teen's memoir, which is recounted in an authentic reconstruc- tion of the house where the family — mother, father and two daughters — hid from the Nazis for more than two years. The story begins on Anne's 13th birth- day in Amsterdam, shortly before the Franks go into hiding with another family and an unrelated man. The worsening conditions are chronicled, as betrayal and capture become their destiny. While the drama is rooted in history, filmmakers intend that Anne become a universal 011 - _ - GG42 November 26 • 2009 All symbol of the oppressed facing violence and tyranny. Among the DVD's bonus features is a new interview with Buddy Elias, Anne Frank's cousin. ri Gather 'Round on page GG44q - • .