	San Diego Jewish World 'There's a Jewish story everywhere'

                              Today's Postings

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego, California: "Jumping rooftops over the streets of Pop"

Joe Naiman in Lakeside, California: "How MLB Jews performed in 2007"

Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: "Malashock Dance presents Let’s Duet, a studio series, at the Dance Place"

Michelle Rizzi in Coronado, California: "Ghosts, hiding places, U.S. Presidents: Growing up at the Hotel del Coronado"

                              The week in Review
                           (click on dates to see back issues)

Saturday, October 13

Ellen B. Graber in Palatine, Illinois: "Never again: Why I signed the petition to remove JewWatch from the Google list."

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Temple Solel bar mitzvah student wins big on TV's Jeopardy show"

Joel Moskowitz, MD and Arlene Moskowitz, JD in La Jolla: "A genetic detective story to be told at San Diego Jewish Book Fair"

Friday, October 12

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Movie poses question when a Jew should stay or leave a country"

Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: "Gentle art of Jewish persuasion."

Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: "Excellent occasions to daven mincha"

Photo Stories

Gevatron in San Diego..... Photos from Eyal Dagan

All Together, Grandma .... License Plate Photos from Melanie Rubin

Thursday, October 11

Carol Davis in Costa Mesa, California: "Shipwrecked! An Entertainment lives up to description in its name"

Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: "Amcor anti-Semitic slur angers community" ... "Hilaly still teaching in Lakemba" ... "New Zealand welcomes Israel's envoy"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Local foundation funds research, counsels patients on fighting prostate cancer"

Joe Naiman in Arcadia, California: "Other actresses can have Broadway; Abrams prefers to work at the track"

Larry Zeiger in San Diego: "Hey, Jude chases Lucy in the sky with diamonds across the universe"

Wednesday, October 10

Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem: "Creating facts on the ground in a new battle for Jerusalem"

Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles: "Begin legacy stirs memories as L.A. crowd marks 30th anniversary of Egypt-Israel peace process"

Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: "Better editing would have benefited the memoir Hilda"

Tuesday, October 9

Aaron Demsky in Ramat Gan, Israel: "Biblical names, popular in America, fraught with meaning"

Charles Gadda in New York: "Is Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit biased toward the Christian narrative?"

Gail Feinstein Forman in San Diego: "A Farewell to Marcel Marceau"

Sherry Berlin in San Diego: "Children's book author and illustrator Lori Mitchell will attend Book Fair's Family Day

Cristal Ghitman in San Diego: "Hillel sandwich' helped former Mexican Catholic realize she could become a Jew"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Foxman's book will prove valuable for American and Mideast historians"

David Meir-Levi in San Jose, California: "Hate crime suspected in torching of succah at San Jose State"

Archive of Previous Issues

Hotel del Coronado photos

Ghosts, hiding places, U.S. Presidents: Growing up at the Hotel del Coronado

By Michelle Rizzi

CORONADO, California— There are many things to see at the Victorian-era Hotel del Coronado: The beach where Marilyn Monroe made ‘Some Like It Hot’ with Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis; ballrooms where two sets of U.S. and Mexican presidents dined together and where Californians met a future king of England, and even a guest room that is said to be haunted.

But, if you grew up as the son of the hotel’s owner, you also could find some of the best places in the world to play hide and seek. “Because of the hotel’s architecture, there were so many stairs, lefts and rights, that a kid could hide in,” Robert Lawrence recalled. “It would take hours to be found!”

Today a successful real estate developer, Robert Lawrence gained a unique perspective on that line of work after the Hotel del Coronado was purchased by his father, M. Larry Lawrence.

His father was a real estate and insurance broker when he asked members of the Alessio family in 1963 whether they were interested in selling the old hotel. For brokering the deal, Larry Lawrence received 10 percent ownership in the hotel, a percentage that over the years he was able to build into controlling interest.

Larry Lawrence initially considered developing the land around the hotel and eventually demolishing the structure because “the only livable rooms in the hotel were the ones on the first two floors,” Robert recalled. However, he changed his mind. “My father believed that the hotel could be made into a financial success,” so he refurbished the hotel to its original style and doubled the number of rooms to 700. “Every ten years, my father would reassess his business plan by setting new goals.”

The family that came to be identified with Coronado’s most famous landmark actually lived in neighboring San Diego, where as their fortunes grew they also became known as philanthropists, whose projects included financing for the construction of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.

“As a kid, I would take the ferry across the bay to Coronado and go with my father to work,” Robert recalled. “He would have his ‘work hat’ on when we would get there.”

At age 12, Robert undertook his first job at the hotel: he started working as a summer counselor at a camp run by a competitive diver named George, who performed high dive demonstrations for the guests.

In his teen years, Robert worked as a pool valet, parking valet, bookkeeper, gardener, and an assistant in the maintenance department. “When I was about 16, I was working as a parking valet. I had to bring up a stick shift car, and didn’t know how to drive it,” he recalled. “While backing out the lot, I accidentally hit another car and dented it. I pulled the car back into the spot and asked another valet to help. There was a big fuss over the dent and I denied doing it. They knew I did it, but they couldn’t fire the owner’s son!” Robert laughed.

“My favorite job was gardening. The hotel used to have big lawns and I would try to mow them all in one day. The other gardeners knew it was impossible. It was.” To this day, Robert credits his job in the hotel’s maintenance department for making him “very handy—for a Jewish guy!”

Even after Robert was married, the hotel played a role in his life. “When I was studying for the bar exam, my friend and I would escape from our wives and study in a room… a room that probably was never rented. It overlooked the garbage cans. And there were these flies! I remember staring at them for hours!”

Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, 1959 movie filmed at the Del

In February, 1987, when the Del had its 100th anniversary party, the hotel celebrated by hosting a celebrity tennis tournament. “I remember I had to play doubles with an actor. I wasn’t very good, and the actor was. I missed every shot. It was embarrassing because he was so competitive,” Robert recalled.

“The party, however, was fun. The cast of Some Like it Hot, which was filmed at the Del, attended.”

He also met other famous people at the Del including U.S. Presidents

Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In 1981, Reagan hosted Mexico’s President Jose Lopez Portillo at a luncheon in the Coronet Room. Eleven years earlier in the larger Crown Room, Nixon had a state dinner with Mexico’s President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.

The Crown Room

It was in the same Crown Room, with its famous all-wood ceiling where, in 1920, the Prince of Wales had been feted at a community dinner. Sixteen years later he became King Edward VIII, but abdicated his throne to marry Wallis Simpson, who previously had lived in Coronado as the wife of a Navy officer. They lived out their lives as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The story was cultivated that they met at the Hotel del Coronado dinner, but historians have cast doubt on that. The cottage in which Wallis Simpson lived subsequently was moved to the grounds of the Hotel del Coronado, where it is another tourist attraction.

In that Robert’s father was active in the Democratic party, serving as the party’s Southern California chairman, Democratic presidents also visited, including Bill Clinton, who came several times.

But what about the hotel’s infamous ghost, Kate Morgan, who either killed herself or was murdered by her husband, in the 1890s?

“It exists,” Robert said point blank. He recalled that guests would report strange things and the housekeeping crew would see the chair in the room rocking. When he was a kid, he said, “the hotel was really creepy.”

In 1996, Robert’s father died. “Certainly my most difficult memory was my father’s funeral service, which was held at the Del in the Crown room. Employees who had worked with my dad carried his casket from the Crown Room through the courtyard. There wasn’t one employee who didn’t like {my father}.”

Although Robert tried to keep the hotel in the family, eventually the property was sold to the Travelers Group.

Rizzi, a student at San Diego Jewish Academy, is an intern for San Diego Jewish World.

Ausmus        Feldman       Graber        Green         Hirsch          Kinsler


Lieberthal    Marquis        Newhan     Schoeneweis   Stern             Youkilis

Jewish Sports
How MLB Jews performed in 2007

By Joe Naiman

LAKESIDE, California—Twelve Jewish baseball players saw action in at least one major league game during the 2007 regular season. They combined for 50 home runs, 228 runs batted in, and 46 stolen bases, and the five Jewish pitchers totaled 20 wins, three saves, and 286 strikeouts in 452 2/3 innings pitched.

Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox is now participating
in the playoffs, but during the regular season he appeared
in 145 games and compiled a batting average of .288 consisting
of 152 hits in 528 at-bats. He also drove in 83 runs while
scoring 85 times. His extra-base hits consisted of 35 doubles,
two triples, and 16 home runs. Youkilis stole four bases,
and he was also among the most successful - or least
successful - batters who got on base by being hit by a pitch,
as he was plunked 15 times.

Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers played in 130 of his team's
games. Kinsler batted .263, or 127 for 483, and scored 96
runs while driving in 61. He had 22 doubles, two triples,
and 20 home runs. On the basepaths he stole 23 bags in
25 attempts.

Shawn Green's 2007 season with the New York Mets saw the
Jewish star participate in 130 games at Shea Stadium and
on the road. He averaged exactly one hit per game,
banging out 130 hits in 446 at-bats for a .291 average.
Green doubled 30 times, hit one triple, and belted ten
home runs. Green drove in 46 runs while scoring on 62
occasions. Green also stole 11 bases during the season.

Houston Astros catcher Brad Ausmus became one of the few
players who primarily play the backstop position to steal
at least 100 bases over his career. Ausmus swiped six
bags in 2007, bringing his lifetime total to 101. In
117 games he batted .235, compiling 82 hits in 349 at-bats.
Twenty-two of those hits - 16 doubles, three triples,
and three home runs - were for extra bases. Ausmus
scored 38 runs while driving in 25.

Mets infielder David Newhan split time between the majors
and the Mets' top minor league affiliate, and during his
56 games with the Mets he batted .203, garnering 15 hits
over 74 at-bats. He scored four runs while driving in six
and had one double, one triple, and one home run. He also
stole two bases while in the majors.

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Lieberthal played in
38 games and batted .234, or 18 for 77. Two doubles
comprised his only extra-base hits for the season, and
he scored six runs while driving in one.

The Baltimore Orioles gave Adam Stern two appearances in
the outfield before sending him to the minors, although
Stern did not come to the plate in either of those April games.

It may or may not be true that without tradition baseball
is as stable as a fiddler on the roof, but the National
League's tradition of letting pitchers bat allowed the
Jewish major leaguers to reach 50 home runs for 2007.
Jason Marquis, one of two starting pitchers among the five
Jews on the mound during 2007, belted a homer during
the season. Marquis' ten hits also included three doubles,
and in conjunction with 72 at-bats his hits gave him a
.139 batting average. Marquis also scored nine runs and
drove in four, and he was successful on four sacrifice
bunts.

The other starting pitcher, Jason Hirsh of the Colorado Rockies, added two runs batted in to the cumulative total. Hirsh had three hits in 31 at-bats for a batting average of 0.97, and he contributed two sacrifice bunts.

On the mound Marquis reached the career 1,000 innings pitched threshold, as his 191 2/3 innings during 2007 brought his total to 1,102. Marquis started 33 times for the Chicago
Cubs and relieved once during the season. He had one
complete game and one shutout, and he compiled a won-loss
record of 12-9. His earned run average for 2007 was 4.60,
and he struck out 109 batters while allowing 190 hits and
76 walks.

Before a broken fibula caused by being hit on the right leg by a line drive shelved Hirsh for the season, he started 19 games and accumulated 112 1/3 innings pitched. He finished 2007 with a 5-7 won-loss record and a 4.81 earned run average. Hirsh had one complete game among his 19 outings and he struck out 75 opposing batters while giving up 48 walks and 103 hits.

Scott Schoeneweis appeared in 70 outings for the New York
Mets, all in relief. In 59 innings he struck out 41 batters.
He had an 0-2 record with two saves and an earned run average of 5.03. Schoeneweis allowed 62 hits and 28 walks during the season.

John Grabow appeared in relief during all 63 of his outings
for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 51 2/3 innings he fanned 42
batters while allowing only 19 walks and 56 hits. Grabow
had three wins, two losses, and one save, and he finished the
season with a 4.53 earned run average.

Scott Feldman threw during 29 relief appearances for the
Texas Rangers and compiled a 1-2 record with a 5.77 earned
run average. In 39 innings pitched he struck out 19 while
allowing 44 hits and 32 walks.

Pitcher Craig Breslow spent time on the major league
roster of the Boston Red Sox but did not pitch in the
majors during 2007.

Dance~The Jewish C~o~n~n~e~c~t~i~o~n
by Sheila Orysiek

Malashock Dance presents Let’s Duet, a studio series, at the Dance Place

SAN DIEGO—As a precursor to the performance in early November of a set of fourteen duets, six were chosen for view in a studio setting October 13. Such a milieu presents challenges - no stage, theater lighting, costumes or distance - but the gain is the opportunity to view close at hand, within a matter of inches, the dancers and the dance. The casual atmosphere lends itself to a greater connection between the artists and the audience.

Malashock

John Malashock, founder, choreographer and artistic director, encouraged questions, participation and interchange. The obstacle of distance between performer and audience in a traditional theater setting is missing - the immediacy of contact is almost physical rather than merely visual.

It’s an opportunity to experience dance up close and personal as well as ask those questions or share an opinion that one seldom has an opportunity to indulge.

In a large studio in San Diego’s wonderful venue for studying and creating dance, the company hosted this intimate experience; the audience seated around the edges of the room, bright work-a-day lights overhead, dancers in plain black practice clothes, no stage makeup and all taped music. Creating magic, taking the viewer away from the ordinary world is a challenge in such a setting, but the talented and obviously committed dancers easily took us into their world, speaking through movement as a composer speaks through sound.

Near Reaches, danced to an adagio composition of Hesperion XX, based on a 15th century Sephardic folk melody was danced by Greg Lane and Jillian Chu. One is immediately struck by Malashock’s use of the hands. In ballet where hand follows arm, Malashock overturns this by having the arms follow the hands - down into the fingers - each segment carefully placed and utilized. The piece is aptly named; the dancers reached out, not toward infinity, but toward something attainable.

Near Reaches

What “that” is - is left for each viewer to decide. The dancers almost never lose contact with one another; it is a contained work.

By contrast, Control, with Michael Mizerany and Christine Marshall (music: Laurent Peligand from the sound track Wings of Desire) was much more percussive and more obviously athletic. It is a study in which one dancer controls both speed and direction. However, the second dancer is complicit - when she has the opportunity to escape, she doesn’t. An artistic comment on life as it, unfortunately, all too often happens.

Sam Mitchell, Lara Segura, and Christine Marshall, a trio rather than a duet, danced not as three, but as different sets of two - duets within a trio. Broad Waters, choral music by Henryk Gorecki, was the inverse of the previous piece of male control over the female. Here the two women control the man, but the control is nurturing, supportive of a man who has obviously suffered some spiritual, physical, emotional calamity. Within the supportive quality of women’s interaction with the man, is their effort to control the other woman’s contact with him. It’s a study in human interaction which even when positive, all too often has a darker undersea.

Silver and Gold captured my attention with the music of Bizet’s Pearl Fishers; the tenor’s exquisite solo, in this recording without the voice - played by cellist Matthew Barley. Malashock described this as a study of the different time spans within a relationship, now moving together, now moving apart both spatially and emotionally. This piece covered more physical space, had more eye contact between the dancers - and therefore conveyed a greater connectivity. Though I see this music as lending itself to much more legato dance, Malashock broke up the legato sections with percussive action. The legato/adagio sections truly sang along with Bizet. Michael Mizerany and Christine Marshall were exemplary in this work - they wore it like a beloved glove.

Fathom Nature was introduced by Malashock as “out of the human realm” - not relating as a human relationship. It is a well crafted piece using music by Israeli composer Ariel Blumenthal with dancers Greg Lane and Sadie Weinberg. This dance invited the viewer to invent whatever meaning - or none - that one wishes. I rather enjoyed it simply for itself.

Though using five dancers, Gypsy’s Wife, was really a duet of two set before a background of three. It is a dance of sensuality emanating principally from the marvelously seductive eyes of the “wife” - dancer, Lara Segura. It’s no wonder the gypsy can’t resist. Though she is slender, her portrayal was voluptuous. This work is a case of two parts - three dancers behind two dancers - that come together for a satisfying whole.

In the discussion at the conclusion of the performance, Malashock spoke of how his choreography is very much influenced by the dancers upon whom he creates. As successive dancers take over the roles, the shape of the dance changes; as the proportions of the dancers sculpt space differently. He also mentioned several times that he particularly enjoys exploring the possibilities of duets - two bodies defining space as one entity - but also splitting it as well as solidifying it. Malashock welcomed the dancers to participate in the discussion lending their particular insights as the actual participants in the dance. They spoke of eye contact but also peripheral vision - almost intuitive knowledge of where the others are in space.

The dancers are Michael Mizerany, Lara Segura, Christine Marshall, Gina Artino, Jillian Chu. Musical coordinator is Leonard Cohen.

It is at once obvious that the company is well trained and cohesive. The more senior members exhibit the artistry which only comes with time and overlays the physical demands. A good company capitalizes on that asset and it becomes instructive for the newer members. More than a group memory - it’s a group archive of artistic possibilities and lends depth to vision.

Malashock Dance is celebrating its twentieth year with a performance of Let’s Duet in November and the full length Stay the Hand, in late March and early April. This full length work was seen in its early conceptual stages and reviewed for San Diego Jewish World:

____________________
The Jewish Citizen
by Donald H. Harrison

Jumping rooftops over the streets of Pop

Martin Storrow: Matches, Drawstring Records, Inc, 2007.

SAN DIEGO—Martin Storrow writes intellectual songs—ballads—with lyrics that address existential questions. The UCSD graduate has been touring coffee houses and other small venues around the country trying to popularize these songs, and now he has released a CD, Matches with 11 of them. He accompanies himself on a guitar.

The songs are all about the lyrics—which may disqualify them as candidates for popularity. I’m not sure any of them have melodies that people, other than devoted fans, will find themselves humming. Nor am I certain that any of them would be terrific to dance to.

An article in the current issue of the San Diego Jewish Journal reports that Storrow as a young teenager once considered becoming a rabbi. He so identified with Judaism that he took to wearing a kippah in public school, notwithstanding the teasing he received from his classmates.

Eventually, he took the kippah off, but the Judaism inside his head stayed there. Some of the existential questions of the Bible found companionship with more modern questions about angst, ennui and loneliness. A theme running through his lyrics is that love, friendship, and reaching out to others can give meaning to life. The words never are intoned, but I hear some Jewish undertext: Tzedakah, gemilat khesed. I also hear the voices of existentialists like Sartre, Camus, who instructed that although the world may be absurd; our plans, hopes, schemes also are absurd. Nevertheless, we must make a commitment.

The CD’s liner notes wrap the lyrics around a photo of Storrow, with a guitar on his back, seemingly leaping tall buildings, an interesting metaphor for someone trying to popularize a song genre intended for people who like to think. I’ll cite a few examples of Storrow’s lyrics, reproducing

.

Storrow’s stanza-less poetry with his punctuation.

From “Matches,” the title song: “come out with me, free your inhibition I’ll take you to a clearing—we can see the sky We don’t need their roads to pave our intuition We don’t need their airplanes to make us high”

From “Beginning of Again,” the very title sounding like a Zen riddle: “Why is that we’re so surprised When all we talk about is change? Tears will fall away Salt will turn to stone Future turns to past Time will take you home” I like that a Lot.

From “Monsters:” “I learned from somewhere that reality can change We just don’t understand that everything’s a game There’s no such thing as sane and I’m glad that we’re not there”

level than those on the commercial street. But his rooftop pathway is also lined with some deep chasms.