Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Pl.
Wednesday, April 17, $7-$12, 7:00
646-437-4202
www.mjhnyc.org
www.russanddaughters.com
For nearly one hundred years, Russ & Daughters has been serving delectable appetizing on the Lower East Side, specializing in salt-cured herring and salmon and other fishy Eastern European delights. Stryzow-born Polish mushroom carrier Joel Russ opened the original shop on Orchard St. in 1914, moving to 179 Houston St. in 1920, where it’s been ever since. The business changed its name from J. Russ National Appetizing Store in 1920 to Russ & Daughters in 1933, and it is still run by the family, currently owned by fourth-generationers Niki Russ Federman and former chemical engineer Josh Russ Tupper. Besides caviar, smoked fish, various herrings, and multiple salads and spreads, Russ & Daughters also makes amazing sandwiches, such as the Shtetl, the Meshugge, the Boychick, the Mensch, and the Yum Kippered; our personal favorite is the Super Heebster, made with whitefish, baked salmon salad, horseradish dill cream cheese, and wasabi flying fish roe on a bagel, washed down with beet and lemon shrub. On Wednesday, April 17, third-generation owner and former lawyer Mark Russ Federman will be at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, celebrating the publication of his book, Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Herring Built (Schocken, March 2013, $25.95), discussing the history of Russ & Daughters with Saveur senior editor Gabriella Gershenson, followed by a light reception. “Ninety-nine years in business is something to be proud of,” Federman writes in the introduction. “It’s actually 106 years, if you start counting in 1907, the year Grandpa Russ arrived in this country and filled his first pushcart with herring on Hester Street on the Lower East Side. But why quibble?” When it comes to Russ & Daughters, indeed, why quibble?
Marten Persiel’s award-winning This Ain’t California begins with a section entitled “The Legend,” slyly pointing out from the start that what we’re about to see is the stuff of myth, not necessarily the straightforward documentary many have taken it for. Using real archival footage, re-created scenes, animation, and contemporary Super-8 footage posing as archival, Persiel, cinematographer Felix Leiberg, and editor Maxine Gödecke tell the story of Denis “Panik” Paracek, a 1980s skateboarding legend who has just been killed in Afghanistan. His old friends reunite to pay tribute to him, sharing tales of his remarkable skill, his fearlessness, and his ability to attract the opposite sex. While doing so, they paint a fascinating picture of East and West Germany in a decade that ended with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. “For him, skating was a liberation,” one friend says, getting to the heart of the film, which is about freedom, both on an individual and global scale. Persiel also speaks with a former member of the secret service, who describes keeping a close eye on the underground skateboard culture and attempting to use the participants for propaganda during the Cold War. The film is intimate and playful, serious and involving, even if it’s all not necessarily true. This Ain’t California won the Dialogue en Perspective prize at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, but the key word there is “perspective,” because as it turns out, the character of Panik is played by actor Kai Hillebrandt, and Panik might just be a complete fantasy created by Persiel. Most of the other characters are portrayed by actors as well. However, Persiel does an outstanding job re-creating the importance of the underground skater culture during a perilous time in East and West Germany, as a group of punks fought the power the only way they knew how. This Ain’t California is having its U.S. theatrical premiere at the Maysles Cinema April 12-18 at 7:30, with Persiel taking part in a Skype Q&A following a special Saturday afternoon 4:00 matinee.
