Thomas Friedman, Bruce Feiler and More
Author Talks at the MJCCA, January – April
From January 15 – April 23, 2017, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA), will present five author talks and book events.
A Page from the Book Festival of the MJCCA brings a prestigious array of authors to the Atlanta community throughout the year. Expanding on the success of the annual November Book Festival of the MJCCA, A Page from the Book Festivalevents allow the MJCCA to continue fostering a love of reading and enabling interaction with sought-after favorite authors.
Speaker Lineup:
Ø Sunday, January 15, 2017, 7:30 pm
Dr. Michael J. Breus, The Power of When: Discover Your Chronotype – And the Best Time to Eat Lunch, Ask for a Raise, Have Sex…
Learn the best time to do everything–from drinking your coffee to having sex to going for a run–according to your body’s chronotype. In his new book, The Power of When, former Atlantan (Riverwood High School/UGA graduate), and clinical psychologist Dr. Michael J. Breus details new research that proves there is a right time to do just about everything, based on our biology and hormones. He presents a groundbreaking new program for getting back in sync with your natural rhythm by making minor changes to your daily routine. Breus is known nationally as “The Sleep Doctor” and has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show more than 30 times.
This event will be held at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody).
Fee: Member $10; Community $15
Ø Wednesday, February 1, 7:30 pm
Thomas L. Friedman, Thank You for Being Late
Thank You for Being Late is a field guide to the 21st century, written by one of its most celebrated observers, Thomas L. Friedman. Here, Friedman discusses? the tectonic movements that are reshaping the world today and explains how to get the most out of them and cushion their worst impacts. You will never look at the world the same way again after you read this book. How you understand the news, the work you do, the education your kids need, the investments your employer has to make, and the moral and geopolitical choices our country has to navigate will all be refashioned by Friedman’s original analysis.
This event will be held at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody).
Fee: Member $18; Community $24
Ø Thursday, March 9, 7:30 pm
Author Ruthie Ellenson and JFGA’s CEO Eric Robbins – IN CONVERSATION ABOUT Why Be Jewish?
In Partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (JFGA), the community is invited to be a part of a compelling conversation with New York Times bestselling author Ruthie Ellenson (The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt) and JFGA’s CEO Eric Robbins about philanthropist Edgar M. Bronfman’s Why Be Jewish? A Testament, which was published just weeks before Bronfman’s death in December 2013. Ellenson and Robbins will discuss the 12 tenants Bronfman’s identifies as having shaped his leadership in the Jewish community for more than 25 years, which include a reverence for Jewish tradition, a dedication to social action, a pledge to engage in both Jewish and secular studies, a commitment to ethical business conduct, and the importance of effective leadership.
This event will be held at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (1440 Spring Street NW, Atlanta).
Free and open to the community with RSVP.
Ø Thursday, March 30, 7:30 pm
Bruce Feiler, The First Love Story: Adam, Eve, and Us
From the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible and Abraham comes a revelatory journey across four continents and 4,000 years, exploring how Adam and Eve introduced the idea of love into the world, and how they continue to shape our deepest feelings about relationships. In this fresh retelling of their story, New York Times columnist and PBS host Bruce Feiler travels from the Garden of Eden in Iraq to the Sistine Chapel in Rome, from John Milton’s London to Mae West’s Hollywood, discovering how Adam and Eve should be hailed as exemplars of a long-term, healthy relationship.
This event will be held at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody).
Fee: Member $10; Community $15
Ø Sunday, April 23, 7:30 pm
Tilar J. Mazzeo, Irena’s Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto (Ms. Mazzeo is the featured Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day Speaker)
From Tilar J. Mazzeo, the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow Clicquot, comes an extraordinary and gripping account of Irena Sendler—the “female Oskar Schindler”—who took staggering risks to save 2,500 children from death and deportation in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Granted access to the Warsaw ghetto as public health specialist, she made dangerous trips through the city’s sewers, hid children in coffins, snuck them under overcoats at checkpoints, and slipped them through secret passages in abandoned buildings. Irene’s Children is a truly heroic tale of survival, resilience, and redemption.
This event will be held at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody).
Fee: Member $10; Community $15
Contact Information / Purchase Tickets
Ø Purchase Tickets: Call the MJCCA Box Office at 678.812.4005, or visit www.atlantajcc.org/bookfestival.
Jazz trio The Song Project (not to be confused with John Zorn’s The Song Project) recently was at the Velvet Note in Alpharetta playing music from the band’s latest CD “Cinema Paradiso,” as well as original tunes and their arrangements of compositions by Horace Silver, Monk, Bird, Prez, Dizzy and Charlie Hayden.
Mark Rapp, who has a master’s degree in jazz and studied with Ellis Marsalis, played trumpet and flugelhorn, and brought some non-traditional sounds to the music. He used a sound pedal that made some tunes swirl and echo like waves of wind and blew through a square-like pipe resembling a flat cowbell that he called a didgeridoo, which sometimes sounded like throat singing or a rumbling ocean. One tune swerved into a rock-and-roll stroll with Chris Burroughs on drums and Derek Lee Bronston playing something that reminded me of Hendrix. TSP has played at Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note and the Fillmore Jazz Festival.
Listen to their music here: http://www.thesongproject.net/.
On Jan. 7 & 8, at 8 p.m., MJCCA Arts + Culture presents “An Acoustic Evening with Matisyahu.” Matisyahu, the Grammy-nominated rapper with the top hits “One Day” and “King Without a Crown,” returns to Atlanta with a blended genre of music incorporating reggae, beat-boxing, alternative rock and inspirational messages. The Jan. 7 concert will be held at the Morris & Rae Frank Theatre at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody). The Jan. 8 concert will be held at City Winery in Ponce City Market (650 North Avenue, Atlanta).
About Matishayu:
When Matisyahu first started touring to packed clubs more than eleven years ago, it was prior to the release of Live at Stubbs, the now Gold record, and prior to that record’s single “King without a Crown” reaching No. 1 on the alternative rock radio charts. His performances were a raw expression of his spirituality at that time.
Now, years later, fans who have seen Matisyahu before are saying that they have never seen him like this. What makes this music so engaging and unmatched, is that Matisyahu; a vocalist with no other instrument at his disposal, is an integral creative part in the improvisation. During the most recent Fall 2015 tour, video and audio posts of Matisyahu music inspired a steady stream of comments and inquiries asking, “What album is this song on?” But, it’s not on any album. Matisyahu’s songs are of that moment and that moment only. And these moments have the ability to connect the many different kinds of Matisyahu fans.
Matisyahu spoke about his transformation. “The last decade of my life has been immersed in my spirituality, and I really took that as far as I could take it. I’ve started to find other things resonating…”
Matisyahu Ticket Prices / Contact Info:
MJCCA Concert, 1/7/17: MJCCA Member: $45 – $100; Community: $65 – $100
City Winery Concert, 1/8/17: MJCCA Member: $45 – $100; Community: $50 – $100
Special VIP Pricing: $100 (includes premium seating, post-show meet & greet, photo/autograph)
Purchase Tickets: 678.812.4002, or visit www.atlantajcc.org/boxoffice.
An agent to Shep Gordon, an agent to some of the biggest names in entertainment, will be speaking to Kenny Leon, Broadway director and founder and artistic director of True Colors Theatre Company
In the course of his legendary career as a manager, agent, and producer, Shep Gordon has worked with, Alice Cooper, Bette Davis, Raquel Welch, Groucho Marx, Blondie, Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone, Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the “celebrity chef,” and has worked with NoBU, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others, including his holiness the Dalai Lama.
In his memoir, “They Call Me Supermensch,” Gordon recalls his life from his humble beginnings as a “shy, no self-esteem, Jewish nebbisher kid with no ambition” in Oceanside, Long Island, to his unexpected rise as one of the most influential and respected personalities in show business, revered for his kindness, charisma—and fondness for a good time.
Ticket holders are invited to screen the documentary, “Supermensch,” free of charge before the Shep Gordon program. Film begins at 6:30 p.m. and the talk begins at 8 p.m. in the Morris & Rae Frank Theatre. Film Screening Only: $5. Tickets and info on other authors can be found at Book Festival of the MJCCA.
Kenny Loggins will play some of his classic hits and discuss his four-decade-long career as one of America’s most iconic rock stars, and his latest project – a bestselling children’s book based on his hit song, “Footloose.”
Loggins, who has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards, co-wrote the book The Unimaginable Life: Lessons Learned on the Path of Love. His songs have been hits over the last four decades, including “This Is It,” “I’m Alright,” “Footloose,” and “Danger Zone.” He was one-half of the duo Loggins and Messina (with Jim Messina) in the 1970s, and the pair had numerous singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with songs like “Your Mama Don’t Dance” and “Thinking of You.”
In addition to his string of successful recordings, Kenny became the first major rock star to dedicate himself to recording music for children and families. His album Return to Pooh Corner remains the best-selling children’s album of the last 20 years.
Mara Davis will host the conversation with Loggins Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8:15 p.m. at the MJCCA in Dunwoody. The book festival at the Marcus Jewish Community Center runs through Nov. 20.
Six-Week Contemporary Dance and Physical Theatre Festival Featuring Israeli and Local Artists Oct. 5-Nov. 19
CORE, the award-winning contemporary
dance organization based in Decatur, Ga. and Houston, Texas, is collaborating with 7
Stages Theatre, Emory University Dance Program/Candler Concert Series, Rialto
Center for the Arts at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University to
present EXPOSED, a six-week festival of richly-layered, boundary-blurring contemporary
dance and physical theatre from Israel. Performances featuring Israeli and local artists,
workshops and classes will be offered throughout metro Atlanta from October through
mid-November. A complete schedule can be found at www.exposedfestivalatl.com.
The Israeli artists scheduled to participate include:
Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor Dance Projects
Yossi Berg & Oded Graf Dance Theatre
Anat Grigorio Dance Projects
Hillel Kogan
Ofir Nahari
Ella Ben-Aharon
Ido Tadmor
Vertigo Dance Company
Billed as “a comedy” by writer and director Grant McGowen, “Girls Life” brings few laughs. However, there’s hope as the cast and director of the show that I saw changes on Oct. 13, so things could improve.
The premise of the play appears to be that grown women act like college coeds. The play opens with three women –aged approximately 31 years old– smoking pot and getting drunk in an apartment that is shared by two of the women–Catey (Jordan Demers) and Janie (Christie Vozniak). The three talk about getting shit-faced and getting laid. Scene. Janie is in a man’s bedroom, demanding he have sex with her, but he won’t do it. She goes in a rage, yelling and screaming at him to f* her now. What we see is a lot of “acting,” a lot of “ouch” screaming, but there’s no “pinch” behind it all. Turns out this manic Janie is an obstetrician, living with another woman in a sparsely furnished apartment, getting wasted, cavorting with a 20-something busboy/waiter, Alex (Pedro Ferreira) and then going to work to deliver babies. So she’s an obstetrician making a six-figure salary living with a scattered-brain woman who is not quite sure which gender she prefers, in what appears to be a tiny tenement. Not only is that hard to buy, we learn there is more history to Janie’s relationship with this man, and based on that history, it’s surprising that she would even be with him. Maybe a college “girl” would, but a 31-year-old doctor? It’s far from plausible.
Catey, who has a boyfriend, is seeing a woman on the side, Liza (Alexa Staudt). Supposedly these two are passionate about each other, but their kissing didn’t seem the least bit passionate.
The best scene is the one in the above video, between Diana (Jackie Costello) and Jack (Omer Mughal), two people really relating to one another. It’s simple, without manufactured drama, but there’s plenty of drama there in those moments, and the dialog feels real. These two characters are believable, and the best acting of the show happens between them.
After Oct. 8, “Girls Life” will run with a new cast up until Oct. 23 under the direction of Michelle Pokopac at Pinch N’ Ouch.
The cast for Oct. 13-23: Rylee Bunton, Brian Ashton Smith, Candace Kitchens, Alex Frazier, Mala Bhattacharya, Alyx Libby. Direction will be by Michelle Pokopac.
Stephanie Lloyd, Aaron Strand, Jessica de Maria
A hot, sexy, creative rendition of “The Threepanny Opera” is playing at 7 Stages. Gangster Macheath is two-timing his wives, Polly(Stephanie Lloyd) and Lucy (Jessica De Maria) and cheating on them both. Polly’s parents, Mr. JJ Peachum (Kevin Stillwell) and Mrs. Peachum (Don Finney) who for a cut of their wages train beggars to beg, attempts to have Macheath arrested. A look at gangsters, whores and beggars in England in the early 1900s. Great music (including the classic song “Mack the Knife”), with wonderful singing by Lloyd and De Maria and acting by Kevin Stillwell and Lloyd.
Written by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill, directed by Michael Haverty and Bryan Mercer, “The Threepenny Opera” runs through Sept. 25 at 7 Stages.
Cast: Aaron Strand, Adam Lowe, Dorothy V. Bell-Polk, Nicolette Emanuelle, Jed Drummond, Tad Cameron, Meg Harkins, Shannon Murphy, Evan Hynes, Claire Christie.
