Buy a Tribe

Charlie Sheen & John Galliano: When the going gets tough, blame a Jew.

2011-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

Charlie Sheen, young, dumb, and strung out. The world is changing. Revolution is in the air and autocratic despots, once thought untouchable and invincible, are being kindly asked to step down (at gunpoint). Bahrain, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Yemen-- the gang's out en masse and they're ready to create change. And, to be honest, it's about time. The Muslim community, long thought to have no

jdeal: Groupon for the Jews

2011-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A marketing model that offers product discounts in the redhot "daily deals" space to like-minded groups of buyers would seem a natural fit for ethnic minority spin-offs. It's no secret that Jewish Americans have considerable buying power. So, we weren't shocked to hear about the appearance of jdeal, the self-proclaimed "site that offers seriously surprising

The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: The Secret History of Punk

2011-01-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

When I was in college I met a fellow Jewish student who had a theory that sounded slightly ridiculous at the time. His theory was that many Jewish Americans were only connected to their Jewish heritage because of guilt over the Holocaust. Anxiety over pain and suffering fueled their Jewish observance, he suggested. I wrote this view off out-of-hand, but I was soon led to the work of Saul Bellow

Joanna Angel: Jewish American Pornstar Princess

2010-12-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

Joanna Angel: Porntrepreneur Joanna Angel hardly lives up to the stereotype of a Jewish American Princess. For that matter, she doesn't really resemble others in her chosen vocation either: porn. Ms. Angel has become the crown princess of what has been called "punk porn," which is essentially women covered in tattoos and piercings having sex on camera for your enjoyment. But, what is perhaps

The Aftermath: Mid-Term Wrap-Up

2010-12-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

A little late for a mid-term election wrap-up? Think again. As the New York Times reported last week, the last remaining House race concluded only Wednesday. And the loser was... a Jew. Randy Altschuler conceded eastern Long Island's First Congressional District seat to Timothy H. Bishop, concluding (finally) the 2010 midterm congressional elections. Back in August we discussed Obama's

Alex Skolnick of Testament: Guitarist, Jew, Metalhead, Mensch.

2010-12-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

Alex Skolnick with Testament(c) 2008 TomCouture.com Alex Skolnick is a guitar God. The man shreds. Whether handling axe-duties in "big four" thrash-metal band, Testament (Metalica is one of the others), achieving a degree in improvisational jazz at the New School in New York City, or supporting a notable cast of the world's best musicians, Alex Skolnick has done it all in the music world. And,

Jewish Jingle Season

2010-11-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Holiday time is upon us, folks. And while some of my more Grinch-like coreligionists like to gripe about the incessant Christmas music that will soon be wafting through dentist office waiting rooms and elevators, I prefer to revel in what I like to call "Jewish Jingle Season." As Amir Efrati pointed out in The Forward last year, there's no time like Christmas to hear some good old Jewish music:

Jewish Women Love Mad Men

2010-11-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Rachel Menken, Jewish paramour of Don Draper Mad Men, that paean to 1960's WASP advertising industry culture, is an incredible television program. Part of the show’s excellence lies in how it challenges the audience on a weekly basis to reassess what a short-form TV program can be. Marital fidelity, substance abuse, femininity and sexuality, and interpersonal relationships are explored in

NBA Preseason Report: Shaq, Howard, and Amar'e Showing Love

2010-10-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Consider this a belated Rosh Hashanah post. With 5770 behind us (and duly inspired by Ross' Amar'e Stoudemire post from earlier this year), I thought I'd do a wrap-up of basketball-related Jewishness, with a view toward the coming season. Before we begin, though, a word on the Stoudemire debate. Ross was skeptical of Amar'e's embrace of Judaism (heck; I think we all were). Was Amar'e really

Ozzy too Drunk to Rock The Holy Land

2010-10-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

In what is the possibly the most earnest explanation of a rockstar's behavior that we've ever heard, Ozzy Osbourne, claimed he had never played live in Israel because he was simply too inebriated to do so. Billboard Magazine, the journal of record for a dying industry, reported that the "Prince of Darkness" was not a political despot, but rather just battling addiction and meant no offense to

Lovely Lady Bumps: Jennifer Aniston Channels Barbra Streisand

2010-09-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

Aniston / Streisand Last week, when I asked to leave work early so I could observe the beginning of Rosh Hashana, I was told for what seems the millionth time in my life: “Wow, you don’t look Jewish”. I assume this was not in reference to my wavy dark hair, dark eyes, or voluptuously endowed figure which are just a few of the stereotypical physical attributes of the Jewess that I do in fact

Baseball as Religion: SF Giants and a Night at the Ball Park

2010-09-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves free schwag! Last night I went to AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of the San Francisco Giants (the baseball team, not the football Giants) for "Jewish Heritage Night." A Tuesday night game against the Colorado Rockies was designated a niche marketing event for around 500 Jewish attendees ranging in age from tweens to octogenarians, though most fans in the specified section

Obama's Numbers Among US Jews Plummet from 'Rock Solid' to Merely 'Overwhelming'

2010-08-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

The first President-Hosted Passover Seder In his recent book, Why Are Jews Liberals?, "neo-Con" Norman Podhoretz discusses the difficulty any candidate faces in winning the American Presidency without the support of American Jews. And as a conservative Jew, Podhoretz predictably laments the long Jewish tradition of Democratic voting, which is in his eyes another example of the storied American

Fortune's Fool: Music, Mayhem, and an Industry in Turmoil

2010-08-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Edgar Bronfman Jr.: The Visionary? I recently read Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis by Fred Goodman. The book chronicles Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s dalliances in the entertainment industry, and other less interesting endeavors. Bronfman, as has been extremely well chronicled, transformed his grandfather's liquor and oil empire (yes, oil), Seagrams, into an

Amar'e Stoudemire is Jewish and You Can Too!

2010-08-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to be crass, but are you kidding me? The Knicks' newest star, Amar'e Stoudemire, moves to New York from Phoenix and employs the most contrived PR campaign seen in some time. According to Haaretz and The Jersusalem Post Stoudemire has recently revealed himself to be a a Jew, or "Hebrew" as he refers to himself now that he is a member of The Tribe. The proof? Simple: his mother

Baseball: The Grand Old Reflection of America

2010-07-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Kevin Youkilis: Take that Mel Gibson! Everyone likes baseball. Say what you will about the game's pace or its pomp and circumstance relative to other major sports, but baseball is universally cherished. Baseball is widely considered the quintessential American sport, analogous to American culture as a whole. As evident by the bevy of classic works of

Jews, Non-Jews Enthuse Over Local Dude's Brews

2010-07-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

BuyATribe recently sat down with Shmaltz Brewing Company founder Jeremy Cowan. As local beer lovers know, Shmaltz makes He’Brew kosher craft beer, a refreshment mainstay at Jewish events, and – if you’re lucky – on tap at your local bar. Launched as a Hanukah experiment in 1996, Shmaltz now offers over a dozen distinct brews under two brands, and its beers are available at more than 1,500 retail

Eric Grossman of K's Choice Discusses Israel

2010-07-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

This post appeared on Buy A Tribe on July 4th, discussing the reaction of bands like The Pixies and Elvis Costello to the Israeli Flotilla raid off the coast of Gaza in May. In it, I gave kudos to the bassist of Belgian rockers, K's Choice, for speaking out against what he feels are misguided displays of political grandstanding by Elvis and others.To be sure, Buy A Tribe aims to take a somewhat

RE: Drake: Swagger You Can Bring Home to Mom

2010-07-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

While I'm loathe to give bad music any more press than it already gets, I've nonetheless been thinking about Ross' recent post on Drake and his Jewish identity. The jury is still out as to whether Drake’s embrace of his Judaism is “the best marketing move by any Jewish artist in the past 20 years,” as Ross suggests in his post. For all we know he could be enjoying his current success in spite

Drake: Swagger You Can Bring Home to Mom

2010-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Christian music artists have built a cottage industry of their own within popular music: It essentially mirrors the mainstream recording industry, but within a religious framework. Entire companies are built around promoting Christianity through an image that has more in common aesthetically with MTV than a traditional house of worship. Tooth & Nail Records-- which brought the world P.O.D, MxPx

RE: The Secret of Our Success

2010-07-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Independence Day saw me poolside surrounded by some of my closest Latino and Jewish buddies. So naturally I started thinking about Ross' recent post on the ethnic makeup of the US National Soccer Team. I had just returned to the US from a two-month trip to South America. On no less than three occasions I found myself having to defend the US national soccer team against a common charge: That

Elvis Costello Cancels Israeli Tour, Few Artists Protest

2010-07-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am aware this article about Elvis Costello and The Pixies canceling their Israeli tour dates in the wake of the Floatila incident in May is old news, but there are three remarkable points regarding this incident which I believe have gone unacknowledged in the interim. 1) Elvis Costello is not too bright. He claims, in his explanation for the cancellation of the concerts, which were to have

The Secret of Our Success: Ethnic Demographic Shifts in U.S. Soccer

2010-06-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

While America anguishes over the loss by our World Cup representatives this past Saturday, and Landon Donovan transforms into a superstar over night, it's probably not too soon to ask how the team got so far. Before the Cup, national pundits-- eager to seem cosmopolitan and knowledgeable-- chastised Americans for excluding ourselves from the international conversation known as soccer. Let's face

A Seriously Challenging Marketing Campaign

2010-06-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Jews can be paranoid. It's no secret. We are especially anxious about how our collective brand is viewed. There is a strong worry among our people that when Bernie Madoff steals billions of dollars that Israel's reputation (i.e. brand) will suffer as a result. There's probably some loose truth to this, but it's hard to measure. As one of the interchangeable Coen Brothers states:

Glee: Hava Nagila Meets Don't Stop Believing

2010-06-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

I confess, my girlfriend has gotten me hooked on the Fox Television show, Glee. Say what you will but I too enjoy seeing Kristen Chenoweth bop around to the lip sync'd tunes of Lady Gaga. The show is infectious, partly because of the music, but also because it's very well written. The characters are engaging and emotive, and Jane Lynch deserves some sort of "Queen Narcissist Gym Teacher" Oscar