Spoken word artist wows at ‘Inside the Activists’ Studio’

I was mesmerized.

In front of me stood a young guy, mid-20s, who appeared comfortable in his own skin. I was mesmerized the moment he opened his mouth to share his poetry with the audience at "Inside the Activists' Studio," Feb. 21 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

The poet: Josh Healey. He grew up in a rough neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in a Jewish family that had Shabbat…

Famed NY Review of Books cartoonist dies at 83

David Levine, the Jewish cartoonist who gave the New York Review of Books its biting, compelling and often unflattering illustrations, died yesterday in New York. He was 83.

Over the years, Levine made nearly 4,000 drawings for the Review of Books. Among his most famous images:

President Lyndon Johnson showing off the scar from his gallbladder operation that was in the shape of the boundaries of Vietnam; Henry Kissinger having sex…

Fashionable and good for the planet!

This weekend I strut my stuff on the catwalk. I've got to bask in the glow of such an endeavor -- considering I'm barely 5'2", it's unlikely that I'll be a runway model on a different occasion.

The fashion show was organized by American Jewish World Service, Progressive Jewish Alliance and JCCSF's The Hub as part of its second annual Rags to Righteousness, an event that seeks to expose the injustices of sweatshop labor and highlight the…

What’s going on here, Taylor Swift?

TMZ asks "What the heil was Taylor Swift thinking?" - and no, that's not a typo. The 19-year-old blonde singer was photographed last weekend at Katy Perry's birthday party in West Hollywood (which was apparently a graffiti party, since everyone's wearing white and looks like crap) with her arm around a dude wearing a white polo shirt with a giant red swastika painted on it. Celebrity-blogosphere pandemonium ensues. Is this girl-next-door really a…

Comix Friday: This weekend in S.F. - the Alternative Press Expo!

It's finally here - APE weekend is upon us!

APE, aka the Alternative Press Expo, is a fantastic San Francisco comic convention dedicated to alternative and self-published comix and independent publishers. For an alterna-comix fiend like me, this is literally heaven (it's like a larger version of S.F. Zinefest). The con is run by Comic-Con International, which also puts on S.F.'s WonderCon and the renowned Comic-Con in San Diego.

Comix Friday: Thumbs up for Crumb’s ‘Genesis’

This week's Jewish Daily Forward has a rave review of R. Crumb's "The Book of Genesis," making me all the more excited for its release next week! It sounds fantastic! Bookforum also has a thumbs-up review.

As a reminder, Crumb will be speaking at the JCCSF at 8 p.m. Oct. 31. Tickets are $30-$50 and seriously, they're going fast (there are only like 10 seats left or something), so if you haven't bought yours…

Comix Friday: Back and better than ever (maybe)

I'm back, y'all! After taking a much-needed (but probably overly long) hiatus from Comix Friday, I am most definitely back, and I've got lots to share, including an interview I did back in August (!). But that will have to wait for a bit, because I'm still taking baby steps back into the j. blogging pool.

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It's a little ways off, but for you comix-loving locals, I just got word that the…

An Interview with Lalo Schifrin

The Great Argentine-Jewish musician Lalo Schifrin was able to offer a moment from his busy schedule to J! for an interview. Schifrin has played with the DIzzy Gillespie big band and composed over 60 jazz and orchestral compositions and 100 soundtracks including Bullit, Enter the Dragon, Mission Impossible and Cool Hand Luke. He has won four Grammy Awards and earned Six Oscar nominations. His music career spans over a half-century, with a prolific output of Jazz, Classical,  and Soundtrack…

Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos

  This past week nonprofit Jewish-musical-gem-finding juggernaut The Idelsohn Society re-released Juan Calle and His Latin Lantzmen's 1961 Jewish-Latin mambo album "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos."  And the album will be performed in its entirety at Lincoln Center this Sunday, Aug. 23. The one-shot concert is free, so if you happen to be in the NYC area, I'd highly suggest stopping by. I however will be relegated to listening to the…

‘District 9’ draws scary comparisons

DISCLAIMER: If you haven't seen "District 9" yet you probably shouldn't read the article I'm about to link here. I think it may be better to go in with a fresh mind and draw your own conclusions.

I, like most San Franciscans, had been seeing the ominous "For Humans Only" signs on bus stops for months — though I hadn't really thought too much about what that meant. Turns out, the signs were promotions…