Paul - The Jewish Beatle

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

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!

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...

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.

Alte Heim Old Brooklyn

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

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.

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."

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.

Shana Tova!

And the winner (by a landslide) of this holiday's Maccabeats/Fountainheads holiday video competition is.... Shana Tova!

Off the Cuff...

Confidential to the well-meaning friends of the new couple... Bringing handcuffs out on the dance floor to chain the couple together might seem like a good idea. However, if you're going to do this, you might want to get real cuffs, not the cheap ones from the dodgy store downtown. That is, unless you want to take the groom out of the first dance for five minutes while you desperately try to unlock the cuffs, which have closed too tightly, and are cutting off circulation. Just saying...

Union Do's

There's a nice little exchange in the current Local 802 union newsletter "Allegro". It really speaks for itself about union values and respect for members hard-earned $.

An investment in chairs? My eyes nearly popped out when I just read in the July/August Allegro that the Executive Board has voted, nearly unanimously, to spend $1,169 each for 20 new chairs for the board room. Am I reading this right? Are we really about to spend more than twenty-three thousand dollars for new chairs for the board? Please tell me there is a decimal point missing somewhere. Scott Robinson

Recording Vice President John O’Connor replies: I am sympathetic to Scott’s point of view. If I were looking at this without background, I would probably have the same first reaction. However, there was a consensus among the board that it was time to get new chairs. Our old chairs had lasted more than 20 years but were at the end of their lives. When we began pricing well-crafted, American-made chairs, we quickly got a lesson in the retail market value of such an item – and it was eye-opening. In the end, a majority of my fellow officers and I did indeed vote to purchase 20 new chairs at $1,169 each. And this price, believe it or not, was a bargain. We consider the chairs to be a capital investment, one that will last for decades. In fact, the new chairs have improved the Executive Board room so much that it was like redecorating the entire room. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that this room is where many of our most important negotiations and meetings take place.

The attempt to claim it as a bargain is hysterical.

New Pitom Single - Ki Anu Amecha

Aish Gets Burned!

So Aish Hatorah released a viral Rosh Hashana video. Quite a few bloggers are not fans. See Tzig's "Rushishono's In the House", Dov Bear's "Another Aish video insults our intelligence", and Chakira's "hear deep in with your mouth".

No Sidelocks

Check out this Interview With Basya Schechter at Unpious.com.

Justice vs. Gibson

Something is clearly wrong at the Justice department.

I'm betting on the guitar players.

Kickstarter Patronizing

Here's an interesting article on Jewish artists using Kickstarter.

MBD: Theologian

Life in Israel posts a video of Mordechai Ben David Explaining Murders of Leiby And Baba Elazar". So glad he cleared that up!

A Ban Clarification

We didn't ban this concert... we banned all mixed-seating concerts!

From the mailbag...

Christian Dawid writes:

We have the rare chance to make CD recordings with Arkady Gendler this fall. Many of you know Arkady, one of the greatest living treasures of Yiddish song and language, and today in fact one of the last links to pre-war Yiddish culture and tradition.

Over the past ten years, Arkady has written a number of amazingly beautiful new songs. Most of them have not been recorded yet, some have never been performed in public. It is Arkady's wish to still see his original work published, accessible to everyone - he is proudly approaching his 90th birthday this fall.

Several of his songs are dedicated to the places and festivals Arkady visited during the last years, invited to Yiddish and klezmer
festivals. He wrote songs about Kiev, Vienna, Weimar, his home Zaporozhye and the Dniepr Klezmer Cruise. A new song about his hometown Soroca, "Fargest nit Soroke", was never performed in concert, as was "Khaves Tekhter", a song dedicated to his late wife.

Many of us agree that Arkady's own work should be documented now! It would be a wonderful gift to Arkady when we can realize the very first recordings of most of his original songs, and do it in an artistically careful way. A wonderful (and quite prominent) international group of friends, artists and scholars is dedicated to this project already.

But yes, we do need funding urgently! Only the community of Arkady's friends can make this project possible.

If you can help us with a small (or bigger!) pledge, and spread the word to extend Arkady's network in the Jewish cultural world, it would be a very valuable contribution to the realization of this project. And there are many rewards: for a $10 pledge you already receive the recording of a joke, told in Yiddish by Arkady!

Please learn more about the project and support us at Arkady Gendler: An Artistic Documentation by Christian Dawid — Kickstarter


With best wishes from Arkady, who says to "greet everybody who remembers me"
Sincerely, Christian Dawid