Howard Stern looks like the boss he is in a recent photo shoot for a Billboard Magazine Q&A. Sporting his signature sunglasses and a tamed mane, The 60-year-old king of radio is preparing to publicly celebrate his 60th birthday with a star-studded birthday bash set to air live on SiriusXM on Jan. 31

“The Howard Stern Show” debuted in 1986 on K-rock WXRK, where he entertained, criticized, and consistently stirred the pot for almost 20 years before landing a deal with satellite radio in 2004.  Stern has also signed on for his third year as judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.

Ahead of his birthday celebration, Stern sat down with Billboard for a Q&A where he touched upon his lengthy career, the future of broadcast news, and what’s in store for Stern come 2014.

Some of my favorite highlights from the interview, below.

On being a trailblazer for satellite radio:

“A lot of my fellow broadcasters were so angry with me when I left terrestrial radio. They were like, “Don’t talk about him.” But I said, “Guys, there are more jobs for us. If satellite takes off, the Internet takes off, we’re in the driver’s seat—content is king!” I knew if satellite could be developed, it would be a great tool for all broadcasters.”

On his fame and success:

“Who could’ve imagined? I swear to God on a stack of bibles, when I first got into radio, I was this guy just trying to make a living for $250 a week. That was my goal. I never thought I’d ever have any money. I just wanted to do a really wild show.

It was such a slow process, and I’m a big believer in a slow process. If I had an intern who wanted to be on-air, I’d tell them to not work for me anymore, stop, go out, find a small market, and do that, none of this big-market thing. It’s getting harder and harder to do that in terrestrial radio, but if you’re able to go out and get an audience . . . see the ratings come back, see where you fucked up and see where you did it right. All of that is the testing ground for what you’re going to be doing.”

On staying true to radio:

“I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I still look back and say, “I fucked that up.” You’ve got to care. It would be very easy not to care, but it was never for me to get into radio for the money—it’s because I really cared about it, the medium. I thought I could be my funniest, my best on the radio, not anywhere else.

Years ago, I was sitting with Rupert Murdoch. I was at [WXRK] and it was when Fox was getting rid of Joan Rivers’ TV talk show. Rupert asked if I wanted to take over that late-night slot. And I was thinking, “Not really,” because radio is so fucking great. Radio seemed like security to me. TV seemed like a tricky game where they bail on you in one second.”

Read the rest of the interview here.

(Photo by Getty)

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Guess what, ladies and gentlemen. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is taken. He won’t release his girlfriend’s name (a smart move), but the Don Jon writer, director, and star told Howard Stern that he was very much in a relationship, but that he doesn’t like to talk about it because the unnamed dame is not in show business and his private details can interfere with his acting—it checks out.

He also had some words about monogamy, CNN reports.

“I think that I could partner up with somebody — I don’t know who that somebody is — I could partner up with a woman and commit to, like, ‘OK, we’re going to raise a family, and that’s this project that we’re going to stick to for 20-something years.’ During that time, if (monogamy) was part of it, and it made sense, I could be sexually monogamous,” the actor said.

Good luck on your future endeavors, Gordon-Levitt. They say that child rearing is one tough “project.”

(Photo by Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)

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My sister and I walk into a restaurant. We sit down, look over the menu, and there it is—my personal sin, the bacon burger. The photo glistens temptingly and I surrender to it. I place my order and my sister gives me the ultimate ‘You bad, bad Jew’ expression. I know that I’m lucky to get away with just a frown from her, as it typically is accompanied by a verbal reminder that we are Jewish and shouldn’t ever eat bacon as a result. After her distaste is properly displayed, clear of conscience, my sister orders herself a plate of popcorn shrimp.

Soon the taste of my delicious bacon burger simmers in my mouth. In my mind, though, the little long-bearded, kippah-wearing angel sits solemnly on one shoulder shaking his head back and forth, while a miniature Howard Stern, in twisted rabbinical form, says on the opposite shoulder: ‘Come on! What’s the big deal? Baco-Jewish pride, man!’

My sister munches down her equally non-kosher meal not only free from self-critique or conflict, but with the knowledge that it’s highly unlikely that a random kosher squad will be patrolling what she eats. For some odd reason, it seems that, were we both to be trayf terrorists, the kosher squad would see her as only packing a hand grenade, while I’m holding the atomic bacon bomb.

At some point, though, we have to ask ourselves: Where did this outstanding anti-pork prejudice come from? Yeah, okay, it’s not kosher. But if you ask a lot of Jews today what other animals aren’t kosher, many will draw a blank.

But let’s be honest. Most of us don’t aren’t inundated with seedy back-alley images of that filthy, contaminating, $15-a-pound lobster. We don’t hear about the average Jewish parent keeping careful watch that the $90-an-ounce Siberian sturgeon caviar doesn’t get its little unscaled fishhooks inside their kids, leading them off the properly beaten kosher path.

But you eat one little slice of bacon, and boom—you’ve gone over to the dark side.

As strange as this may sound, I opted to eat bacon for health reasons. I am epileptic and, as such, I largely use the doctor-recommended ketogenic diet to maintain my body’s welfare. Of all the foods in the ketogenic diet, the one that I have found quieted petit mal seizures second best of all was bacon. Therefore, not only do I recommend giving bacon a shot, despite being a Jew, I’d even go so far as to recommend it despite being a rabbinical student.

And anyway, why are pigs so much more unclean than other non-kosher animals? Because pigs, unlike the vulture, the bat, and the weasel, decided to try and trick us. At least that’s the consensus rabbinical ruling on the subject. Technically, kosher law necessitates a cleft hoof and a chewing of cud. With most non-kosher animals, this is a fairly easy thing to assess. Just like the saying goes that you can tell everything you need to know about a person by their shoes, you can typically take a glance at the animal’s feet and know whether or not it’s kosher.

Except in the instance of the pesky pig. It’s the only animal that has a split hoof but does not chew its cud. Therefore, the pig alone has the ability to mislead the less-knowledgeable Jew into making a dinner out of it.

And what is cud chewing, incidentally? It’s the practice of vomiting food up and eating it a second time. Kosher animals, like the cow, prefer to enjoy their meals two times, not just one. This, the pig does not do. A strange fact, but it is due to spew that cows and their kosher brethren have come out spotless, while the primmer pig has become the poster child of uncleanliness in Judaism.

So what are the effects of the pig being the ultimate bad guy? Well, for one, when there’s one big bad guy, we tend to focus less on other offenders. Because of this, more Jews eat shrimp and caviar without moral quibbles, while pointing a finger at the so-called Baco-Jews. It winds up not only being a hypocritical situation, but one that has, to many, stifled true understanding of kashrut law. Were the pig not seen as so over-the-top horrible, perhaps more Jews who want to keep kosher would know to pass on shrimp, too.

Another result of vilifying the swine is that those condemning it may have actually added to its allure. In the days of prohibition, outlawing alcohol only made the public drink more. These days there are Baco-Jew stuffed animals, bumper stickers, posters, greeting cards, mouse pads, hats, and just about every other kind of available merchandise. I’ve seen T-shirts with slogans reading, “Jews for Bacon! Reform Now!” and “Citizens for Kosher Bacon!” For many, especially young people, it has become an American Jewish obsession—the love that once dared not speak its name, but now shouts it pretty loudly.

So, if we want the next generation to follow kosher law, what might be some steps we can take to better encourage that? First, knock the pig down from its unfair and shameful pedestal. We should teach that all unkosher animals are equally unkosher. The Shrimp Jew should not be allowed to mock the Baco Jew and get away with it, because so long as one is treated as a misdemeanor and the other a felony, the Jewish kitchen courtroom loses a large degree of credibility.

Let’s take the might and mystery away from bacon. Maybe it tastes good; maybe it doesn’t. But it shouldn’t be used as the symbolic embodiment of Jews Gone Wild.

Previously on Jewcy: Why Are Jews So Obsessed With Bacon?
Kosher Salt: I Don’t Eat Pork
Why I Gave Up God But Still Keep Kosher

***

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Capricorn (Dec. 21–Jan 20): Krich nit tsu hoich, vestu nit darfen falen: Don’t climb too high and you won’t have to fall.


Hebrews named Capricorn “the slain kid,” which refers to the blood of the lamb sacrificed during the Passover story, saving firstborns from slaughter. Capricorn was also known as Azazel, the scapegoat from Leviticus.



Capricorn, a cardinal earth sign, shows a great deal of initiative: you want to control your environment rather than have it control you. Although you are earth-bound, you are more concerned with your own state of mind—which is largely ambitious, but also idealistic to the point of neurotic—than with the outside world.  

While Capricornis generally thought of to be ruled by the goat, you are actually ruled by a goat-fish (a goat with a fish tail!). Although your goat side is always climbing toward the top of the mountain, you also take refuge in the waters of consciousness (this is associated with the Greek god Pan, who took refuge in a river by turning his lower half into a fish). Finding a balance between caution and passion allows you to flip the script on those who have you pinned one way or the other.  If you lean toward the goat-side, try to handle others—and yourself!—with kid gloves. 



There are three different levels of Capricorn:  practical, earthly and sensual, and confused by depth of desires—why you may often fail to express your true feelings, concealing them under your practicality and work ethic. Striving to be industrious and persevering, calm and diligent and determined, your concern with status makes you almost puritanical in your discipline. Largely conservative, you are the consummate professional—shveyr arbiter (hard worker)—not exposing your feelings, and patiently waiting for the results of your hard work and ambitions. 



The New Moon in your sign on January 11 gives an opportunity to put something in motion—perhaps one of your long-awaited ambitions will come to fruition if you put your nose to the grindstone. Mercury also shifts into your sign on December 31, where it will stay until January 18. You can really get into your pragmatic thinking and express your true self. With Mars in Aquarius starting December 25, take more initiative in a leadership role. Venus in Sagittarius, meanwhile, gives you a chance to really take a look at your love life, giving you more freedom to solidify your true self and what you want out of love.  


Famous Capricorn Jews: J.D. Salinger, Jason Segel, Bebe Neuwirth, Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, Simon Wiesenthal, Howard Stern, Shari Lewis, Andy Kaufman, Helena Rubenstein, Heidi Fleiss, Phil Spector, Harry Shearer, Soupy Sales, Diane Von Furstenberg, Vidal Sassoon, Laura Schlessinger, Susan Sontag, Stan Lee, Isaac Asimov (unknown, but celebrated on Jan.2)



AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 20): You may be dreaming of a better reality, but try to relax and let the fates do their thing. Vos vet zein, vet zein: what will be, will be! While you Aquarians tend to be emotionally detached, you can harness these cosmic energies to give yourself over to something greater than yourself.  

PISCES (FEBRUARY 21-MARCH 20): You’ve been selling yourself short for far too long, and your neshama may be a bit worse for wear. Forces are at work to get you the recognition you deserve, and perhaps a much-needed boost in your finances. Sweet Pisces often want to help others—but before you do that, you must help yourself. 
 
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 20): With your ruling planet Mars in innovative and philanthropic Aquarius, you may find yourself spending time with new people and in situations that call for your special brand of bravado. If you can look at your life from the outside, you’ll see that you can deal with your ongoing issues while giving attention to the rest of the world.

TAURUS (APRIL 21- MAY 20): Life keeps teaching you the lesson that time can alter everything: di tseit ken alts ibermachen. As much as you’ve been burning both ends of the candle for what seems like ages, you must continue to assert yourself. Doing what’s right for you, rather than what others think is the right thing for you, gives you the courage of your convictions.

GEMINI (MAY 21- JUNE 20): Kolboynik (rascally know-it-all) Geminis have a knack for finding convenient excuses and explanations for everything. With your ruling planet moving into Capricorn around January 8, you may become more focused on money matters, favoring independence and practicality over flights of fancy.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 20): With the full moon in your sign on December 28, you will be more inclined to pay attention to details that may have previously gone unnoticed. Because this particular full moon has some stressful energies attached to it, you may feel even more like secluding yourself in your shell. If you can find a way to make your home cozy while getting yourself out into the world, you may be in for a surprise or two.

LEO (JULY 21-AUGUST 20): Ven nit di shein, volt kain shoten nit geven: If not for the light, there would be no shadow. Leos have the potential to light up a room with your good vibes, and the upcoming full moon energy is perfect for empathizing with others. Understanding other people and what they’re all about can help you relate to yourself with more clarity of purpose.

VIRGO (AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 20): Be good to yourselves this month, dear Virgos. You may hold dear to your balobotishe (respectable, well-mannered) reputation, but embracing your creativity and individuality does not mean letting go of your cred. Your ruling planet Venus will be in Sagittarius for the first part of the new year, giving you the freedom to explore what makes you truly healthy, wealthy and wise.

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 20): Libras sometimes get a bad rap for being a Jack-of-all trades, master of none (Fil meloches, vainik broches). This month, you may be feeling insecure about your indecision, and tendency to flit from one interest to another. Deep feelings may be heading your way, and holding on to a something stable may help you to decide what is most important to you. 


SCORPIO (OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 20): To you secretive Scorpios, information is power, and power is maintained by keeping that information to yourself. Who do you think you’re fooling? Listening to your heart will give you a sense of what you really want out of life, love and career.  You can be true to yourself without giving the rest of us shpilkes. 


SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 21–Dec. 20): If you feel your confidence has been given a once over from all of the planets traveling through your sign in the past month, keep in mind that you fire signs have a lot your corner to ensure you remain true to your echt (authentic) self. You’ve got a lot of room to maneuver, and if anyone gives you a hard time for your freedom-urges, they probably weren’t worth having around to begin with.

What’s Your Sign?
Sagittarius, the Adventurous Archer (Nov. 21 – Dec. 20)
Stinging Scorpio (October 21-November 20)
Lovely, Lawful Libra (September 21-October 20)
Virgo, the Anxious Maiden (August 21-September 20)
Leo, King of the Jungle (July 21 – August 20)

(Art by Margarita Korol)

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• Late Beastie Boy Adam “MCA” Yauch’s will states his image and art can’t be used for advertising.

• Katz’s Deli is the manliest sandwich shop in the United States, apparently.

• For his 65th birthday next year, Billy Crystal is writing a memoir about aging. We’d totally see the movie that it will inevitably be turned into

• Would you pay $20,000 for a one-hour photo shoot with Howard Stern? It’s for charity…

• Celebrate Dustin Hoffman’s 75th birthday (yesterday) with these laid back pictures of the actor.

• At her Moscow concert, Madonna wore a black ski mask and had the words Pussy Riot written on her back in support of the imprisoned Russian punk bank:

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• The difference between NPR Fresh Air host Terry Gross and Howard Stern? Gross doesn’t ask about penis size during interviews.

• The new New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief goes to the Jerusalem Film Festival.

• Jewish porn star James Deen lost his virginity at summer camp.

• Don’t try going into these Jewish-owned Williamsburg businesses immodestly dressed.

• Gina Gershon hopes her new movie, Killer Joe, will make audiences forget about Showgirls.

• Glee’s Lea Michele talks the show’s next season at the Teen Choice Awards.

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• Can director Etan Cohen trick Bill Murray into signing on for Ghostbusters 3?

• We’re a little upset that Tom Cruise was only a footnote in Amy Levin’s analysis of the five tropes that plague media coverage of religion.

• Zomg, Scarlett Johansson gets paid more per movie than Angelina Jolie.

• Watch Howard Stern and Howie Mandel duke it out on America’s Got Talent over contestant Big Barry.

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The kippah-clad 13-year-old, who’s been dubbed the “Jewish Justin Bieber” (both presumably say the Shema), won praise from the judges, with Howard Stern saying he was gifted and Howie Mandel calling his performance unexpected.

Neither Stern, Mandel, or Sharon Osbourne (half Jewish!) commented on Pinchot’s Tribe membership, but hopefully that stuff happens during the Vegas round. No word on whether Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, has reached out to the budding performer yet.

Here’s Pinchot at home, performing an awesome medley that includes Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me:”

(h/t ZNovetsky)

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• Bar Refaeli’s new Mossad thriller, currently filming, is being called a “Zionist conspiracy” by relatives of the Hamas chief whose assassination inspired the film’s plot.

• The New York Jewish Week’s ‘36 Under 36’ list is out, and Mark Zuckerberg is not on it.

• John Cleese will be in a new film from Israeli director Reshef Levi.

• Howard Stern made a seven-year-old cry on America’s Got Talent:

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• A photograph of Mayim Bialik breastfeeding her three-year-old son made it onto the ‘despicable’ end of New York magazine’s approval matrix.

• Robert Caro, whose much-publicized biography on Lyndon Johnson has taken nearly 40 years to write, met his wife at a Hillel mixer in New Jersey.

• Howard Stern steals the show as the new judge on NBC reality show America’s Got Talent.

• Maya Rudolph does a pretty good Nicki Minaj impression.

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