Last night the popular Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and full-throttled non-believer Christopher Hitchens debated the existence of God before a packed audience at the Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall. Both have recent books to help make their case: God Is Not Great and The Portable Atheist by Hitchens, The Broken American Male: And How to Fix Him and Shalom in the Home by Boteach. It was a spirited and contentious talk to say the least and we have the video to prove it. In the clip above, Boteach offers his image of God while Hitchens is convinced that God is man-made. Neil Gillman, Jewish philosophy professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, was the admirable moderator.

Early blog reviews are in at FishbowlNY and What Would Phoebe Do.

Update: Read the follow up email exchange between Boteach and Hitchens.

Update #2: Watch the FULL VERSION of the video.

Upcoming: State of Anti-Semitism Lecture with Noah Feldman: The U.S. and the Middle East—Where Do We Go From Here? and more lectures of Jewish Interest

The blogger from Brazilophile had high praise for Yamandú Costa’s performance at this past Sunday’s Brazilian Guitar Marathon:

A few years ago, at the Modern Sound, a CD by an unknown guitarist named Yamandú Costa was on display. I donned the headphones and was amazed by what I heard on track one, “Bejeiro” ("wizard") by Ernesto Nazareth. Nested in a volcanic flow of harmonic and rhythmic flourishes (which apparently come without effort to this very young guitarist) is a melodic and tonal sense so athletically exercised and acutely focused that the music simmers, soars, teases, sings, and, occasionally, roars.

Last night in New York I had the pleasure of catching the virtuoso live, performing Brejeiro and two other pieces, at the 92nd Street Y. And catching him walking by afterwards, I thanked him and said that he is the Brejeiro.

If you find yourself in the same hemisphere as Mr. Costa, do yourself a favor. Catch a show.

We posted a video of a Costa performance in case you were unlucky enough to be in another hemisphere Sunday. But we’ve got yet more guitar greatness lined up for this weekend, as part of the 92nd Street Y Guitar Institute: Uruguayan master Álvaro Pierri. Here’s some vintage footage of Pierri performing Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba’s Sonatina, 1st Mov.

[Álvaro Pierri: 2/2/08]