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Friday March 7, 2008

Celebrities

by nate bloom

More dancing with the Jews

Three of the 12 celebrities who will appear on the next round of the hit ABC series “Dancing with the Stars” are Jewish: actor Steve Guttenberg (“Police Academy”); actress Marissa Jaret Winokur , who won a Tony playing the lead role in the original Broadway musical version of “Hairspray;” and Marlee Matlin , the Oscar-winning deaf actress now on “The L Word” on Showtime. Expect Matlin’s ability to dance without hearing the music to attract a lot of comment. (The series starts 8 p.m. March 17.)

Former “Beverly Hills 90210” co-star Ian Ziering, 43, competed on “Dancing with the Stars” last year, and his appearance helped rekindle a little public interest in the actor. No doubt this led to his job as the host of the new Lifetime cable show “Your Mama Don’t Dance.” The show’s gimmick is that 10 pro dancers, five of each gender, will dance with either their real-life father or mother. (The show started Feb. 29; new shows appear Fridays at 9 p.m.)

Music notes

If you’ve seen the ubiquitous ad for Apple computer’s MacBook Air, you’ve also heard “New Soul,” the catchy tune that plays with the ad. The singer and co-composer is Yael Naim , 30, who was born in France to Tunisian Jewish parents. She grew up in Israel and served in the Israeli Defense Forces. She moved to France in 2001 to pursue a music career, but her first CD sold poorly. Her new eponymously-titled CD, which includes songs in English, French and Hebrew, has gone high on the French charts and will be released in America this month. “New Soul,” meanwhile, is among the most downloaded songs on iTunes and can also be heard on her MySpace page.

Ellen Page and Michael Cera sing the song “Anyone Else But You” in the last scene of the hit movie “Juno.” The movie’s soundtrack has topped the Billboard charts and given a big career boost to Adam Green and Kimya Dawson, the co-writers of “Anyone Else.”

Green and Dawson formed the core of the band the Moldy Peaches, which had only modest success and went on hiatus in 2004. Green has a new solo CD coming out this month, timed to take advantage of his new fame. He told Rolling Stone magazine, “People say I’m the Jewish Kurt Cobain, but I’m really the Woody Allen of music.”

“All I Want Is You,” which is featured in the opening credits of “Juno,” was penned by songwriter Barry Louis Polisar , who specializes in children’s music. Polisar recently wrote and adapted a Passover Haggadah. Called “Telling the Story: A Passover Haggadah,” it is being sold in stores and can also be obtained as a free download on his Web site, www.barrylou.com.

Got Milk?

“Milk,” a feature film about the life of Harvey Milk , the San Francisco supervisor who was the first openly gay official elected in America, is just about done filming in San Francisco. Sean Penn , whose father was Jewish, plays the title role.

Palo Alto native James Franco , whose mother is Jewish, plays Milk’s lover, Scott Smith. Victor Garber (“Alias”), who is openly gay in real life, plays Mayor George Moscone, who was murdered along with Milk by former Supervisor Dan White. Josh Brolin, stepson of the very gay-friendly Barbra Streisand , plays White.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver , a political ally of Milk and Moscone, appears in the film twice. An actress plays Silver in the movie, while Silver has a small but credited role in the film as Thelma, a grandmotherly volunteer who works in Milk’s campaign headquarters. The film is expected to open this November.

Columnist Nate Bloom , an Oaklander, can be reached at middleoftheroad1@aol.com.

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