‘Idol’ contest on tap at Israel event
Silicon Valley residents and visitors can catch a live performance of “Jewish American Idol” during the “Silicon Valley Celebrates Israel” festival May 3 at the Addison-Penzak JCC’s Levy Family Campus, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos.
The Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) event will include folk dancing, a shuk (shopping bazaar), speakers and food vendors. Local singers will compete in the fifth annual “Jewish American Idol” contest along with a “Mensch Chef” Israeli cooking competition. The contests will feature celebrity judges and cash prizes for the winners.
The festival will take place from 12:30 to 4 p.m., with an Israeli dance party from 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call (408) 358-3033 or visit www.jvalley.org.
Jewish mambo artist to perform at CJM
Irving Fields, who recorded the 1950s mambo album “Bagels and Bongos” with the Irving Fields Trio, is going to be making his San Francisco debut at age 95.
Fields will one of two headliners performing next week at the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s Jews on Vinyl Revue. Sharing top billing will be Korean-American singer Johnny Yune, who is slated to perform songs from his 1975 album “Ose Shalom,” which features songs in Hebrew and Yiddish. Also on hand will be songwriter-producer DJ Sabbo from the Israeli hip-hop group Soulico.
The event is part of the museum’s Jews on Vinyl exhibition, on display through June 9 and based on the book “And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost.”
The Jews on Vinyl Revue begins at ARt8 p.m. Thursday, April 30, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street, S.F. $12 general, $8 for museum members, or $25 including a young adults cocktail party 6 to 8 p.m. For Information and tickets, call (415) 655-7881 or visit www.thecjm.org