By ALAN SMASON
Phil Melancon has mounted a number of successful original shows in which he also celebrated the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin. His prowess on the keyboards is legendary and he follows in true New Orleans fashion to other irreverent live performers...
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By BILL MOTCHAN, Special to the CCJN
When Mark Samuels was nearing his 13th birthday, he was playing music while preparing for his bar mitzvah at what was then called the Conservative Congregation of New Orleans. Today it is known as Shir Chadash or “New Song” and that may be...
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By ALAN SMASON
M. S. Rau Antiques, the renowned Royal Street dealer of rare art works and antiquities, is holding a special 250th birthday for their favorite Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte, the legendary soldier and conqueror who became emperor of France and nearly made it to New Orleans before his eventual...
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By DEAN M. SHAPIRO, Special to the CCJN
As he sat down to begin this interview, Daniel Sherman asked, “Okay, so what do I need to know about New Orleans?”
When told that, first and foremost, he needs to become a Saints fan, his response was, “Well, that shouldn’t be...
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By ALAN SMASON, Special to JTA
(JTA) – GLEN JEAN, West Virginia (Crescent City Jewish News via JTA) — A Reform rabbi from Maryland led the Faith and Beliefs program at the World Scout Jamboree, the first such event held in the United States since 1967.
For the past two...
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By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN
Religious figures have always provided integral and necessary counseling at World Scouting Jamborees. Rabbis, rectors, priests, pastors, and imams representing all of the major established religions have dispersed spiritual guidance and pastoral support for the thousands of Scouts who make the journey from...
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By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN
When the heat and humidity seem at about their worst in July, it’s a sure bet that the Tales of the Cocktail spirits events will bring a refreshing opportunity to sample and sip a variety of potent potables in air conditioned comfort at...
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By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Following a protracted legal fight, the family of Irma Klein last year finally got Dutch restitution officials to recognize that the Nazi occupation forced Klein to sell her Wassily Kandinsky painting to this city’s municipal Stedelijk Museum for a fraction of its worth.
That was in 1940,...
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By ALAN SMASON, Theatre Critic, WYES-TV (“Steppin’ Out“)
For its second full production of their season, Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane (SLT) chose “She Loves Me,” a show that could arguably be considered among the most stealthily Jewish shows in the modern Broadway lexicon. Based on “Parfumerie,” a 1937 play...
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By ALAN SMASON
Hurricane Barry made landfall as expected near Intracoastal City, LA early Saturday morning, July 13, the first hurricane to hit Louisiana since Issac in 2012 and the first July hurricane since Cindy in 2005. The slow-moving storm jogged towards the west, sparing the New Orleans metropolitan area...
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