The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Michael Chabon’s story of a schmuck of a policeman trying to solve the murder of the latest Messiah is brilliant on any number of levels.  First off, the story is set in Sitka, Alaska-where a few million Jews escaped the European Holocaust where about 2 million Jews where killed by the Nazis.  Over the years they have come to think of the place as their own, but now, America wants the land back and wants to kick the Jews out. We are told the details of the past fifty years or so as through the eyes and mouth of Meyer…

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Lift that barge, tote that bail

My dear sainted mother was a big fan of musicals of all forms and sizes. As a result I grew up watching TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Broadway Musicals (Show Boat / Annie Get Your Gun / Kiss Me Kate / Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) and so and so forth. I also got to see such turkeys as The Little Prince and Paint Your Wagon. The last new musical I watched and really loved was Victor/Victoria and that was twenty-five years ago. I might have liked All That Jazz, if they had hired someone who could sing or act…

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