Sunday, October 30, 2011

Paul - The Jewish Beatle

Time for Adam Sandler to update his Hannukah Song.... Welcome, Paul!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Dissing Lipa

Tzig doesn't like Hoshana Raba by the Airmonter. Personally, ich hub hanueh gehat at a recent wedding I attended, where Lipa was called up for a kibud as Rav of the Airmont Shul. He's walking a challenging line, methinks, but largely succeeding, and there are sure to be some growing pains. I, for one, am pulling for him to pull it off. Of course, wrt the guy plugging his own forthcoming release, by wrapping his esrog in a promotional sticker... oy!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Three Keyboards = 35 Piece Orchestra

More union doings... this time in Kentucky. The interesting part of the article to me is this:
For September’s production of “Carmen,” the opera hired the musicians directly through their union at the rates called for in the musicians’ old agreement with the orchestra.

But in news release Sunday, opera officials said that arrangement was too expensive and cannot be repeated for “Figaro.”

Opera officials have said it cost $91,895 to hire the musicians for “Carmen,” when it would have cost $58,340 under the opera’s normal arrangement with the orchestra.

Make Some Noise!

The Groggers new video...

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Post Chag Link Dump

Alexander Gelfand writes "Jews Try To Ban Offensive Music" for the Forward. He links to my series on Rabbi Ephraim Luft's book.

A bit late, here's Matthue Roth's "She-mix-ni Atzeret." Still worth noting, if only for Drake's beverage.

Occupy Wall Street Kol Nidre chazzan Avi Fox-Rosen on "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Chazzanus."

Finally, given the popularity of the "shreds" videos. I suppose it was inevitable that someone would make a "Singolda shreds" clip.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Alte Heim Old Brooklyn

Andy Statman's got a new album out. Check this!

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Carmine D'Amico RIP

Psachya writes:
I just found out that Carmine D'Amico passed away this past Sunday Oct. 2nd, from cancer. Carmine has been out of the JM scene for a while, but he was a formidable presence on the scene during the '90's and early 2000's. He appeared on countless Jewish recordings, and performed at hundreds of Jewish weddings. He was incredibly talented, and didn't have to "put on a show" to showcase his talents. I spent a bit of time with him, both at weddings and in the Homowack Hotel's show band. I learned a lot from him simply by "trying to keep up," and he had some great stories from a lifetime of being a very active musician. He left a definite mark on our music, and his presence will be missed. My prayers are with his family.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

5/5/11 Link Dump

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Shlock Rock this year, Lenny Solomon has written 25 new song parodies which you can pre-order here.

Lipa Schmeltzer has released a video urging people to sign a petition in support of Sholom Rubashkin.

An Omaha-based rabbi blogs about "Scarborough Fair" the melody his chazzan uses on Yom Kippur for "B'yom Din." The notion that it might originally be a Jewish melody is simply wrong.

MBD releases his "final" album. Again.

At the J-Post, a writeup of Eli Dali's Jewish heavy metal project "Metal Prayer".

‫אוי גוועלד‬‎

I'm belatedly posting Metal Jew: "A few belated thoughts on the death of JDub"

Here it is... "The Truth About the Groggers."

Monday, October 03, 2011

Exhibit A...

... for why the folks doing job prep need to be able to read sheet music.(Also, why people producing lead sheets for wedding bands should learn about music notation conventions.)
I was given this chart for a wedding I led for one of the "offices". It was to be played at the chupa as the little kids walked down. The Russian conservatory trained trumpet player as well as the the sax player were both unable to read it in real time. So, I had to carry the melody for 'em. #justbecauseitplaysbackrightonyourcomputerdoesn'tmeanit'swrittenoutproperly.