Dan Epstein is the Forward’s contributing music critic. His books include Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76.
Dan EpsteinContributing Music Critic
By Dan Epstein
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Culture How ‘Jaws’ started out as a movie and became a pop culture phenomenon
Editor’s Note: The director Steven Spielberg turns 75 on Dec. 18. To mark that momentous occasion, the Forward is running a series of essays reassessing his films. It’s the last weekend of August 1975, and my friends and I are excitedly flopping into our seats at the State Theater in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. We’ve…
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Culture How Neil Diamond wrote his best song and worst album — and why it’s all Lenny Bruce’s fault
“Stones,” Neil Diamond’s seventh studio album, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Nov. 5. It was a pretty big success in its day, reaching #11 on the Billboard 200, selling over 500,000 copies, and containing two Top 20 hits — one of which, “I Am… I Said,” may be the greatest song Diamond ever wrote. And…
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Culture The 10 most terrifying (Jewish) songs for Halloween
Due to Halloween’s pagan origins, Rabbinic law prohibits the Jewish celebration of the popular autumn holiday, which might explain why there’s usually a notable scarcity of “slutty rabbi” costumes at your typical All Hallows’ Eve bacchanal. But the dark allure of haunted houses, jack-o’-lanterns and (let’s be honest here) candy corn is often too powerful…
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Culture They were the most important band of the 80s — even if they broke up a decade before
When I think of the 1980s, I think of The Velvet Underground. Sure, the band itself had ceased to exist in any meaningful way back in August 1970, when Lou Reed walked out and went home to Long Island following a legendary stand at Max’s Kansas City. And sure, there was little to no evidence…
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Film & TV Neil Diamond’s blackface scene might be the most embarrassing moment in Jewish cinema history
On October 6th 1927, the original film production of “The Jazz Singer” made its world premiere at the Warners’ Theatre in midtown Manhattan. (I know, I know — seems like just yesterday, right?) Though difficult to sit through these days, even without the segments where Al Jolson appears in blackface, “The Jazz Singer” nevertheless continues…
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Culture The 12 greatest Jewish feats in baseball playoff history
Ah, October — when Jewish holidays, fall colors, Halloween and the baseball postseason combine to make for a particularly festive time of the year. Of course, when we think of Jewish baseball heroics in October, we immediately (and understandably) think of Sandy Koufax. But while the “Left Arm of God” certainly ranks high on any…
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Culture Was this the greatest album ever made by a Jewish (or any) rock ‘n’ roll star?
Of the many memorable moments in Apple TV+’s eight-part documentary “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” there’s a particular segment in Episode 3 (“Changes”) that may be my favorite. On a drab-looking British TV chat show from 1971, adult pundits and teen guests argue over whether there should be sex education in UK schools…
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Culture It was the best of Streisand, it was the worst of Streisand
The idea of “outtakes” — songs recorded by an artist during sessions for an album, but which for whatever reason don’t make the final running order — has fascinated me ever since I dropped 15 bucks on “Still On the Edge,” a bootleg collection of Bruce Springsteen demos and studio outtakes, back in the early…
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