From the mailbag...

Reb Moshe comments on this topic:

Very interesting blog. No time to comment right now.

Question:
What year did Reb Shlomo compose Mkimi?

The reason I am asking is because I have a tape of the niggun being sung at a farbrengen. It's possible that there is away to track down the year.. but I'd have to research it.

On the tape you can hear the Rebbe himself singing almost the entire time. This unusual even at the earlier farbrengens.

Although Shlomo was a dear student of the Rebbe, I find it difficult they would adopt his Mkimi and sing it without words at a farbrengen.

The implication is absurd. Shlomo composed that melody.

Bert Stratton of the Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band emails:

1. "To Kugel," a New Verb

Yiddishe Cup recently Kugel-ed the owner of The Ark, the acoustic music club in Ann Arbor, Mich. One of Yiddishe Cup's biggest fan, Lea Grossman, delivered a homemade noodle kugel to The Ark's headquarters. The Ark's owner was startled . . . What, did he expect brisket with that?

Lea really wants to sing with the band again, like she did at Yiddishe Cup's prior Ark appearance.

File this one under "Jewish Forklore, 21st Century."

The band will be heading this way in April:

Heads-up, New Yorkers: Yiddishe Cup plays Brooklyn next year. When our lead singer heard about the gig, he asked, "You mean Brooklyn, Ohio?" (Brooklyn is a suburb of Cleveland.) No, the real Brooklyn, singer man! The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, April 23. More on that later.

Sibelius co-founder Ben Finn emails:

I liked your review of Sibelius vs Finale on your blog recently. Your observations are spot on!

P.S. We've just announced Sibelius 4 (hot on the heels of Finale 2006) - you may like it.

I'm looking forward to trying it out. It's scheduled to ship the first week of August, and I'll try to post a review after I've spent some time with the program.