arts & Life
All
Fired
Up!
This year's JCC
Stephen Gottlieb
Music Festival
includes a family
campfire, a concert
by Arlo Guthrie and
an evening of jazz.
I
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
ack in the good old days
— say, about 1.5 million
years ago — there was
nothing like sitting with the in-laws
at a campfire and enjoying some
fresh antelope.
The meal fare has changed (yes,
charred antelope bones found in
South Africa prove that campfires
have been around for more than 1
million years), but campfires con-
tinue to be a terrific way to spend
time with family and friends.
That's why the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's Stephen Gottlieb Music
Festival will host its first-ever Lag
b'Omer family campfire this year.
The program is one of seven events
in the festival, which opens April 27
and includes a folk music legend,
the popular Cantors Concert, a jazz
great and much more.
Sallyjo Levine is a longtime
member of the Festival board and
chair of the Lag b'Omer campfire.
The event ($3 a person; $8 a fam-
ily), will be a bring-your-dad and
-grandfather, -cousins, -best friend,
Editor's
Picks
VIVA LA TANGO
In Tango Jam! Argentine
tango dancers join a concert
of the traditional and "nuevo"
tangos of Argentine composer
Astor Piazzola, performed by
Classical Jam, a collaborative
chamber music ensemble.
Cabaret seating, cash bar and
complimentary desserts are
available. 8 p.m. Friday, May
1, at the Music Box at the
Max M. Fisher Music Center,
Detroit. $15-$30. (248) 855-
6070; chambermusicdetroit.
org .
58 April 23 • 2015
"come-with-your-grandma or
mom kind of thing, a get-together
for families:' Levine says.
Jewish educator and musician
Lisa Soble Siegmann will lead
songs, and families can create
a craft from Shalom Street and
snack on s'mores (sorry, no roasted
antelope) prepared by the staff of
Center Day Camps.
The program will be held at
Camp Ruth, in the wooded area
just behind the JCC in West
Bloomfield and, Levine says, "It's
going to be a fun night"
But first, step back to the 1960s,
when Jewish singers like Bob
Dylan, Carole King and Phil Ochs
used music not only to entertain
but also to make a statement. How
and why these men and women
became such prominent spokes-
men for change will be part of the
opening event of this year's Festival,
when professor Howard Lupovitch
will speak on "Like a Rolling Stone:
Jews and the '60s Folk Music
Revival" at 7:30 p.m. Monday,
April 27, at the Berman Center for
the Performing Arts ($12 for JCC
members; $15 for non-members).
Festival favorite Elaine Serling,
an ASCAP winner and recipient
of the Jewish Women of the Arts
Award for original educational
music, is a singer, educator and
songwriter whose performances
include American Songbook and
Broadway and Yiddish favorites.
Serling will star in Memories at
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, at the
Berman ($10 for JCC members and
seniors; $15 for non-members),
and in a free concert at 1 p.m.
Thursday, April 30, at the JCC in
Oak Park
For actor Nat Wolff, "Jazz is
smooth and cool. Jazz is rage. Jazz
flows like water. Jazz never seems
to begin or end. Jazz isn't methodi-
cal, but jazz isn't messy either. Jazz
is a conversation, a give and take.
Jazz is the connection and commu-
nication between musicians. Jazz is
abandon:'
Come enjoy an evening of aban-
don when the Festival presents
Dave Bennett and Cliff Monear in
A Genuine Clarinet Phenomenon at
7 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the
JCC in Oak Park ($6 in advance; $8
at the door; to purchase, call Rosa
Chessler at 248-432-5612).
One of the most famous songs
Detroit in its first full U.S.
tour since 1991. Featuring
songwriter, singer and gui-
tarist Paul Westerberg, the
Replacements will play at
the Fillmore Detroit, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 3. $36.50-$95.
Livenation.com .
jewishwindsor.org ) runs April
27-30 and presents 10 films
from 10 countries in genres
from comedy to Holocaust.
The following week, head to
Flint for the Karen Schneider
FILM FESTS
"I'M IN LOVE"
Replacements fans, rejoice:
The band, one of the best
of the 1980s, heads to
Two Jewish film festivals are
coming up soon: The 13th
Annual Ruth and Bernard
Friedman Windsor Jewish
Film Festival (519-973-1772;
Jewish Film Festival of Flint
(810-234-1695; flintarts.org ),
which runs May 3-7 and fea-
tures five films that chal-
lenge conventional per-
spectives. A highlight of
both festivals is Reshef
Levi's Israeli crime-com-
edy Hunting Elephants,
starring Patrick Stewart
as the granduncle of a
12-year-old Israeli boy.
MESHUGGAH-WHO?
The Little Sisters of Hoboken
are taking a cruise to the
Holy Land - board with them
as they band together with
of the 1960s began with two bags
of trash. How garbage kept him
from serving in Vietnam became
Arlo Guthrie's 18-minute song/
monologue "Alice's Restaurant
Massacree," which also inspired
a film. After many years of sing-
ing the piece, Guthrie said he was
ready to retire it; appropriately
enough, fans protested his decision.
So Guthrie (who was raised
Jewish before converting to
Catholicism; his maternal grand-
mother was renowned Yiddish
poet Aliza Greenblatt) agreed to
sing the number in its entirety
once every 10 years, including as
part of his Alice's Restaurant 50th
Anniversary Tour, which Guthrie
will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday,
April 30, at the Berman ($75 for
the lower bowl; $65 upper bowl).
The final event in this year's
Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival
will feature the Michigan Board
of Cantors in Off the Bimah at
7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the
Berman. Tickets are $35 for JCC
members; $45 for non-members.
To purchase tickets, call (248)
661-1900, come to the Berman or
go to theberman.org.
❑
PHOTO BY RICK SMITH
Tevye from Fiddler on the
Roof to save the cruise ship's
variety show in Meshuggah-
Nuns. Created by Michigan
native Dan Goggin and star-
ring Cindy Williams and Eddie
Mekka (Shirley and Carmine
from Laverne & Shirley), the
musical plays through May 17
at the Meadow Brook Theatre,
Rochester. $26-$41. 248-377-
3300; ticketmaster.com .
❑