34 | SEPTEMBER 10 • 2020 

It’s very much 
a culture, 
and I think 
I’m a good 
representative 
of that.

— REBECCA GOLDBERG

continued from page 32

the electronic music communi-
ty “devastating.
” 
“Obviously, we want this 
[virus] to go away, and every-
one needs to do their part to 
make sure that we’
re back safe, 
so it’
s OK that everything’
s on 
hold,
” she said. “But it’
s pretty 
devastating.
” 
Though many DJs have 
turned to live-streaming on 
various internet platforms and 
phone apps, Goldberg acknowl-
edges, “I don’
t think any of us 
got into this to play for a cam-
era.
” She personally feels weird 
being the “visual focus.
” 
Though she doesn’
t know 
what the future will look like for 
her beloved music community, 
“Detroit’
s always been able to 
adapt,
” she said.
Quarantine hasn’
t been all 
bad, though. 
“It was like forced down-
time that I might not make for 
myself otherwise to do more 
administrative things,
” she 
shared. “Like doing my taxes on 
time and updating my website.
” 
Seeing it as a metaphor 
for the circumstances that 
first birthed techno, she said, 
“You have to be in a [tough] 
situation, more or less, to get 
inspired to do new and inno-
vative things. Even designing 
or producing music related to 

the experience you’
re going 
through. It’
s all a reflection of 
that.
” 
In addition to music, 
Goldberg is a digital graphic 
designer. Inspired by vintage 
propaganda, travel and gig 
posters, as well as typography 
and pop art, her bold designs 
have been printed on posters, 
postcards, stickers, apparel … 
and now face masks.
Something of a premonition, 
Goldberg’
s most recent album, 
Synthetic World, was complet-
ed before COVID-19. “It’
s so 
reflective of everything that 
happened, culturally,
” she said. 
“Everyone’
s online and plugged 
in on social media. It ended up 
being the best way for every-
one to stay in touch with each 
other during this crazy global 
catastrophe. I’
ve got this record 
about the world being synthetic, 
or not totally organic, [while] 
we’
re relying on this technology 
to stay connected as humans.
”
Though she is anxious to 
travel and play music out in 
public again, Goldberg admits 
she is happy to enjoy the rest 
of her summer with less stress 
than usual. 

Rebecca Goldberg’
s music and 
designs are available on her website 
www.rebecca-goldberg.com.

UNITED PHOTO WORKS

Rebecca
Goldberg

Arts&Life

music

KARATE KID BAD GUY IS 
REALLY A GOOD GUY AND 
TWO GOOD MOVIES
Chemical Hearts is an original 
Amazon film that’
s now stream-
ing. Austin Abrams, 23, co-stars 
as Henry, a sensitive young man 
who meets Grace (Lili Reinhart), 
when they are selected to co-edit 
their high school paper. Grace is 
smart, beautiful and, for quite a 
while, hard to figure out. I won’
t 
spoil it for you by saying more. 
But this film is much smarter 
than almost all teen dramas. It 
got good reviews from most, if 
not all, respected critics. 
Abrams, a very cute guy, grew 
up in Sarasota, Fla., the child of 
two doctors. He’
s had recurring 
roles on The Walking Dead and 
Euphoria. Veteran actor Bruce 
Altman, 65, a practicing Jew, 
has a smallish role as Henry’
s 
father. He makes the most of 
his screen time. You’
ll probably 
recognize him from scores of TV 
guest shots.
Cobra Kai, a sort of reboot 
of The Karate Kid movies, got 
little attention when the first 
two seasons streamed on the 
little-watched Youtube Red chan-
nel. However, it got huge viewing 
numbers when Netflix started 
streaming the first two seasons 
on Aug. 28. (A third season will 
appear “sometime” on Netflix). 
The original film opened with 
teen Daniel (Ralph Macchio) 
being bullied by high school 
classmates who study karate 
at Cobra Kai, an “evil” karate 
school run by the nasty John 
Kreese (Martin Kove, 74). Daniel 
responds by studying karate with 
a Japanese American expert. 
In the film’
s climactic scene, 
Daniel faces Johnny, Cobra Kai’
s 
top student, in a match and 
defeats him. The reboot is set in 

the present. Johnny re-founds 
Cobra Kai, but he runs it more 
humanely than Kreese did, and 
Daniel runs a school based on his 
mentor’
s teachings. 
Reprising their film roles are 
Macchio, Randee Heller, 73 (she 
played/plays Daniel’
s mother), 
and Kove. Kove is not like Kreese. 
He travels the country giving 
anti-bullying lectures. In 2017, he 
told a rabbi that he tries to be as 
observant as he can and that his 
two children (twin boy and girl) 
were b’
nai mitzvah. 
I just saw The Boy Downstairs, 
a 2017 film I liked a great deal. 
I am amazed that this very 
good film, that got mostly good 
reviews, only played film festivals 
(including a few Jewish ones). 
The good news is that you can 
watch it on Hulu Plus, or for free 
on YouTube (with some ads).
As the film opens, Diana (Zosia 
Mamet, 32) is just back in 
Brooklyn after three years abroad 
and discovers that her ex-boy-
friend, Ben (Matthew Shear, 36), 
is renting the apartment below 
the one she’
s just rented. Most 
of the film is about their re-meet, 
and possibly getting back togeth-
er. Their romance and breakup 
are told in short flashbacks, 
including one in which Ben takes 
Diana to his family’
s Chanukah 
celebration (it’
s left unclear if 
Diana is Jewish, too). Boy is 
much lighter than Chemical 
Hearts, but equally smartly 
written and directed (the writer/
director is Sophie Brooks, 35ish, 
an English Jew). 

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

Martin Kove

WIKIPEDIA

