Bruce Springstein: Greatest Bar Mitzvah Bandleader of All Time

According to Max Weinberg... the whole interview is at The Arty Semite.

And yes, I know how he spells his name.

Rewriting 'Hatikvah'

Over at the Forward, Philologos wants to rewrite 'Hatikvah'. The commentors don't agree.

Pesach is coming!

Over at On the Main Line: "What Passover sounded like 370 years ago - sung today."

More from the "Shabbat Songs Project"

Here is Lecha Dodi!

Downloading Accurate Sheet Music

I was asked to sing a wedding song by a fairly well-known chassidic singer at an upcoming wedding. The tune is not one that is typically played at weddings. I downloaded the chart from the artist's website and, surprise (not really) the chart is wrong. Is it unreasonable to expect that an artist make sure the sheet music on his site is accurate?

#NoseJobGate

Over at Teruah:  #NoseJobGate - The Groggers and Plastic Surgery Disasters

Shirei Shabbos Project!

Yeah!

In Time For St. Pattys....

Darth Vader Playing the Bagpipes While Riding a Unicycle

The Groggers Make Some Nose!

ABC News reports: "Miami Plastic Surgeon Under Investigation After Commissioning 'Jewcan Sam' Music Video to Encourage Nose Jobs"

3/13/12 Link Dump - Tasteless edition

I warned you... The Making of TRIGGER's "FART EXPANSION" Pack - YouTube


Jello Biafra on Al Jazeera: Caught in the crossfire: Should musicians boycott Israel?


One has to wonder if anyone reads JM PR before publishing it. The most recent example here: New CD: Pesach in Yerushalayim with Chilik Frank

Over at the Arty Semite, it's Monday Music: Rap for Rabbis

Finally, E. emails a link to yet another story about non-profit JM producers Oorah: Children's Charity Loses Millions on Real Estate  What a chilul Hashem!

Purim Headlines 2012

Once again, it's time for some Purim news headlines you're not likely to see anywhere else this year.

The Groggers Hired To Perform At The Siyum HaShas

MBD Retires

Avraham Fried To Release Collection Of American Standards

Airmont Shul To Open Franchises Worldwide

Frum Dub-Step Artist Tops Electronica Charts

Rabbi Nosson Slifkin Appointed To Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah

Frum Child Molestor Reported To Police By Rabbi

Frum Song With Intelligent Non-Cheesy English Lyrics A Pop Sensation In Brooklyn

Maccabeats Tapped To Sing Backup On New Eminem Album

NYC HASC/Ohel Concerts Announced: Lineup Will Not Include Lipa, Shwekey, Avraham Fried, or Eighth Day

New Deborah Feldman Book "ReOrthodox" On NY Times Best-Seller List.

Rabbi Avremel Schorr Launches Chain Of Internet Cafés

Most Talented Contestant Wins "A Jewish Star" Competition

New Wedding Takanos Limit Chupa Processions To Choson and Kalla Only

Mormons Posthumously Convert Golem of Prague - Jewish Community Outraged

Breitbart.com Launches Three New Websites: Big Lakewood, Big Satmar, and Big Skver

Novominsker Rebbe Joins Facebook

Shmuley Boteach Apologizes; Withdraws "Kosher Jesus" Book

Lakewood Rabbis Ban Chavrusah Tumult; Urge Bochurim To "Just Grow Up Already"

Jewish Week Wins Communal Praise For Exposé On MO Abusive Rabbi

Rabbis Ban Boys Choirs On Tznius Grounds - Sounds Too Much Like Kol Isha

A Better Approach To Fighting Unauthorized Copying

TLJNNews. com reports on Yoely Liebowitz's latest effort in "Chasidic Comedian, Looking to Shed New Light in the World of Music and Entertainment CD’s."

Some Purim Music for Y'all

Courtesy of Bnai Jeshurun. Get in the zone! Purim is coming!

NAMM Oddities 2012

Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2012 is up! Love this stuff!

Bobover Wedding Videos

Over at the Forward Sisterhood blog... "Serenading the Bobov Bride."

A Nice Chassidish Wedding Clip

Oh my!

YouTube Copyright Issues

Here's an interesting piece at Consumerist... "Is YouTube's Content ID System Leading To False Copyright Claims?"

Not A Gibson Update!

It's been months... still no charges and no resolution.

Rapping about Seinfeld!

...over at My Jewish Learning.

Marc Shapiro on Kol Isha

Marc Shapiro on Artscroll misrepresentations and Kol Isha...

Here's a taste:

Eccl. 2:8 states: .עשיתי לי שרים ושרות

What does this mean? The simple explanation is that the author, traditionally Solomon, is telling us about all the wonderful things he amassed with which to enjoy himself, and among them are “men singers and women singers.” Artscroll translates the passage as “I provided myself with various musical instruments.” Now this might be an apologetic translation, but if so, it is not Artscroll that is to be too criticized, but the Talmud, Gittin 68a, since according to Rashi this is how the Talmud explains the words.[11] Artscroll is obviously within its rights to adopt this understanding, even if one assumes that this explanation is not in accord with the simple sense of the verse.

The problem comes with the next passage in the Artscroll commentary which states: “Rav Yosef Kara, Alshich, Metzudas Zion and others translate ‘singers.’” I will get to Kara and Alshich shortly, but let’s begin with Metzudat Tziyon, since this is easiest for most people to access as it appears in the Mikraot Gedolot. He writes as follows:

שרים: משוררים זכרים. ושרות: משוררות נקבות

So now I ask my fair-minded readers: Is Artscroll’s statement that Metzudat Tziyon translates שרים ושרות as “singers” accurate? I think the answer is clearly “no”. Metzudat Tziyon translates the words in question as “male singers and female singers,” and yet—don’t tell me you are surprised—in Artscroll this morphs into “singers”. Why would Artscroll fudge the translation? The answer is obvious. They don’t want people to think that Solomon would have listened to women singing.

Read the whole thing! Fascinating stuff.