The New SteveSilver.net

FRANK AND THE JEWS: The

FRANK AND THE JEWS: The other day I had the pleasure of interviewing, for a story in The Blueprint, one of the truly unique all-around characters in New York, Aaron Braunstein. Braunstein is the host of "Wise Guys, Black Guys, and Rabbis," a weekly radio show on both Sporting News Radio and his website, NYShockjock.com, and his careers in addition to talk show host have included boxing promoter, racecar driver, and synagogue vice president. Braunstein's recent guests have ranged from Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) to Muhammad Ali to John Leguizamo to Don King, and he also scored the first interview nationwide with wrestling's Stone Cold Steve Austin after Austin's arrest last year.
Remember last summer's Hebrew University terrorist bombing that killed 15 people, including two Americans? You may recall that the cafeteria where the bombing took place was named for Frank Sinatra. Braunstein shared that, as he learned from friend and recent radio guest Frank Sinatra, Jr., Francis Albert Sr. was invited to perform in Jerusalem in 1950 by then-Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, and from then until the end of his life this Italian from Hoboken remained a staunch supporter of the Jewish state, despite his various well-publicized political shifts. Later he made a donation to Hebrew U., resulting in the Frank Sinatra cafeteria.
Braunstein, for what it's worth, is a staunch Republican, but has endorsed Joseph Lieberman for president.