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Jack Cohen, the Jukebox, and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll

JL;DR SUMMARY In "Jack Cohen, the Jukebox, and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll," Carl Kurlander explores the untold story of his grandfather, Jack Cohen, an innovative Jewish businessman who played a pivotal role in the evolution of American music culture. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Music IndustryClevelandHarry BelafonteFrank SinatraRock 'N' RollRacial IntegrationJack CohenJukeboxJewish BusinessmenCarl Kurlander

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"My grandfathers real name was Jack Povelski. He was born in 1904 in New York City to Jewish immigrants Sam and Yetta, who, like millions of Jews, had fled persecution in Eastern Europe."
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
"Sam got a job in the garment district, but after he crossed a picket line and his life was threatened, he moved the family to Cleveland and changed their name to Cohen."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"My Aunt Barbara told me how she was left as a baby with an aunt so her parents could go to L.A. with Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey."
This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 78619
Cairo Source ID 50
Retrieved 2026-03-27 05:30:50 UTC
Curated 2026-03-27 08:30:48 UTC