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Comments (0) By Tara Jepsen Wednesday, Jan 26 2011

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From the continuously inspired programming we’ve grown to love from the museum with the big glass cube comes an evening thrilling in its implications and specificity. “Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations” is the current exhibit, which explores the inspiration black musicians took from Jewish language and history, particularly between 1930 and 1960. San Francisco’s own crooner icon is on deck tonight in a related event, “A Johnny Mathis Homecoming,” to discuss his career in music, and perhaps reflect on the song that inspired the entire show, a recording he did of “Kol Nidre,” the Aramaic prayer associated with the start of Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. David Katznelson, who founded the Idelsohn Society with three others, has devoted himself to Jewish cultural preservation through the examination of historical music. He found a 7-inch record of Mathis’ “Kol Nidre” while dumpster diving and was thus inspired to curate this show. You last saw the Idelsohn Society's innovative programming at last year’s “Jews on Vinyl,” which collected Jewish recordings between 1940 and 1980. Please note Mr. Mathis plans to speak, not to sing.
Thu., Feb. 3, 7 p.m., 2011