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Jews With Soul

Musicians throwback to Motown

by
Marc Tracy
November 17, 2010

Probably worth pointing out that many of the cool kids in last weekend’s Times Magazine feature about white kids in L.A. who do soul music are … y’know … “white middle-class Jewish guy[s]” like Mayer Hawthorne (real name: Andrew Mayer Cohen) and Eli (Paperboy) Reed (real name: Eli Husock).

Pretty cool. And even cooler when you see Paperboy Reed bust out “Come and Get It.” And even cooler when you remember that some of the best Motown songs were written by a woman from Brooklyn named Carole King (real name: Carol Klein).

Can a Nerd Have Soul? [NYT Magazine]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.