Heeb

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HBO’s Schmatta: Rags To Riches To Rags starts off a nostalgic dream: clean-cut men in hats, hard-working immigrants at sewing machines, dames in sharp outfits strutting down cobblestone streets to Cole Porter music. Yet this tale

In early 2002, the Anti-Defamation League called Heeb Magazine “offensive, counterproductive and infantile“—mind you, this was before an issue of the magazine had even gone to press. During that period—and in early 2004 when the ADL condemned our “Crimes of

The rediscovery of a long-forgotten artist is, by now, a well-worn narrative, but there is something vital and new about Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before, directed by Kieran Evans.

To be sure, the film would never have been made were it not for a new

Last night, at around 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, you may have noticed a giant sucking sound. That would have been the sound of Fox’s new animated show, Sit Down, Shut Up, sucking.

Created by Arrested Development honcho Mitchell Hurwitz, and featuring

By Nadine Levyfield

During hair metal’s heyday, Canadian band Anvil played for packed crowds all over the world. Today, Anvil frontman Lips, aka, Steve Kudlow, drives a delivery van for Choice Children’s Catering along the snowy streets of Toronto.

Dr. Suzy’s Porn & Purim—DVD Bacchanal opens with a shot of the title character, Dr. Suzy, standing in the backroom of a nightclub, decked out in what looks like a pirate hat and a sparkling, blue bikini. In one hand, she holds a live snake, in the other she

To be sure, The Watchmen is not the Jewiest of films (but since this is Jewdar, the Comedian is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who also plays the dead deforeskinned dreamboat, Judah Botwin, in Weeds), but we took a rare break from our hawklike supervision of all

Those of you who have read our current issue know that we’ve been waiting very eagerly for Joss Whedon’s latest television universe, Dollhouse. The show, which premiered Friday, stars Eliza Dushku as Echo, a member of an underground group whose personalities

by Jed Oelbaum

Ernesto Guevara, doctor, Jedi freedom fighter, popular T-shirt design and the subject of Steven Soderbergh’s fawning four and a half hour Che, was executed in Bolivia, already beaten down by the rigors of his failed insurgency, still high off

Most everyone remembers Scottie Schwartz in A Christmas Story and his whole tongue-stuck-to-the-frozen-telephone-pole-routine. Most everyone remembers Macauley Culkin in Home Alone uttering the proverbial punchline: “Keep the change you filthy animal.” But you

Filling a very unique niche, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has made quite a name for himself, advising self-helpers and listeners of Sirius XM’s Oprah & Friends Channel (Gail’s personal sounding board), in need of that extra pinch of salt in their chicken soup for

There is that old adage about blues having a baby and naming it “rock n’ roll.” If that baby was conceived in the South, it was born and raised in Chicago at Chess Records, headed by Polish- Jewish immigrants Leonard and Philip Chess.

The story of the label

Courtesy of “The Pearl”

If you want to watch a 20-minute hip-hoppy short film that finds itself somewhere between John Cameron Mitchell’s first (and completely nelly) attempt at making Hedwig and the Angry Inch that tips its glittery hat to Michael Jackson,

Here’s what’s currently in rotation on the jewkbox here at Heeb HQ:

Deerhunter

Microcastles/Weird Era cont.

Kranky Records

Deerhunter (pictured above) combines the sounds of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Pavement and wrap them into a neat, little

Political poetry is back. And Matthew Zapruder and Joshua Beckman’s State of the Union: 50 Political Poems (Wave Books) is proof positive. Like Homer and the lyricists of old, the diverse group of poets here retell history with their own rhetorical flare.

By Oliver Noble

Just in time for the Halloween, Hustler’s porn homage to The Munsters, This Ain’t the Munsters, aims for groin-area rigamortis, but the ratio of peanut butter cups to candy corn in this bag of treats is unfortunately way off.

I don’t

Chances are you still haven’t seen Jonathan Demme’s masterful Rachel Getting Married because it’s in limited release. Worth the $12.50 though—it’s the type of wedding story that takes you through every grueling moment of a couple’s impending nuptuals

The week-long CMJ Music Marathon just came to an end, as did my panic to squeeze into it as many shows as possible. I saw about 20, trekking from one end of Manhattan to the other (talk about a great schlep). Here are a few I thought were most noteworthy:

Here are a few of our favorite recent releases:

Crystal Stilts

Alight of Night

(Slumberland Records)

Imagine Joy Division covering The Ronettes or The Smiths going lo-fi. Crystal Stilts (pictured) have found themselves are all over the blogosphere the last few

By Sabrina Jaszi

Years ago, we singled out Matt Wolf as a fledgling talent at NYU’s film school and elevated him as the first ever member of the Heeb 100. Now, at the tender age of 26, Wolf’s feature directorial debut—a documentary about the intriguing

In his new book From Krakow to Krypton, Arie Kaplan, like wily Odysseus, skillfully navigates between the Scylla and Charybdis of writing about Jews and comic books (and now that we’ve made a reference to the classics—even if we read the classic comic

By Naomi Harris

On Wednesday night, notorious lounge singer Tony Clifton returned to the stage with the Katrina Kiss My Ass Orchestra at New York’s BB Kings on 42nd Street. In case you don’t know, Clifton originated as the late comedian Andy Kaufman’s

by Sabrina Jaszi 

It’s common enough for Hollywood films to totter precariously on the dubious virtues of a single big star, stellar special effects or a behind-the-scenes genius, often with mediocre results. But though Steve Coogan carries most of the

By Julia Young 

Z-Rock (IFCTV’s new series airing Sunday) follows ZO2, a real-life Brooklyn band that starts playing children’s birthday parties for cash. Unfortunately, ZO2 spends half the time of the part-improvised comedy sheepishly looking to the