First Disc Reviews of the New Year

In the mail... Baruch Levine's latest, "V'zakeini Legadel Banim", Ari Goldwag's "Flippin' In", and Avraham Fried's "Bein Kach U'bein Kach" ...a pair of discs by Sam Glaser and one from Lee Feldman.

Sam Glaser - Presence
I first discovered Sam Glaser's music when a friend whose father worked in Jewish education handed me a compilation cassette promoting a number of Jewish artists. I can't recall all of the artists on the compilation, but if I remember correctly, in addition to Sam's song, "Hineni," it included music by Safam, Craig Taubman, and Doug Cotler, among others. Shortly afterwards, I was given Sam's album, Hineni, which I liked a lot. It had a hip contemporary sound with slick LA-style production, something that, at the time, wasn't that common in Jewish music. Think adult contemporary pop with Jewish soul. That was about fifteen years ago. A dozen CDs later, Sam Glaser is still creating polished contemporary Jewish music.

Presence features fifteen of Glaser's original songs arranged in his signature style. Blending Hebrew lyrics from liturgy with his own English translations and original lyrics, Glaser creates a smooth mix of original Jewish pop, melding his polished vocals and layered keyboards with well-played backup playing by his band and glossy studio production technique. From opener "Ma Ashiv" to the pop-funk of "Presence" and "Sheyibane" to the contemplative sounds of "Boi V'shalom" this album is tasteful Jewish pop music. Incidentally, "Boi V'shalom," was recently nominated for best Jewish song of 2006 by Just Plain Folks.

The CD is available from Sam's website.

Sam Glaser & RebbeSoul - Nigun: Voice of the Soul
This project is a collaboration between Sam Glaser and guitarist Bruce Burger aka RebbeSoul. It's got nineteen tracks of nigunim. Most of these are original compositions by Glaser, with one by RebbeSoul and five covers. The covers are of a Breslover Tune, "Im Ata Ma'amin", a Modzitzer melody often called "Adam Harishon's Nigun", Carlebach's 'Mizmor L'David", and two Lubavitch melodies, Rabbi Feitel Levin's "Rosh Chodesh Kislev" march and the "Alter Rebbe's Nigun".

With no lyrics, other than yai dai's etc, these songs reflect the influences of nigunim past, but have a distinctly American-Jewish flavor. The musical sensibility is world-beat and draws from a nice range of influences. Glaser and Burger are well-matched for this outing. There are some guest musicians as well with Reuben Berci's accordion adding some especially nice color to the opening track,"Aliyah", a fun reggae-tinged number. The Carlebach tune, "Mizmor L'David", was arranged by the Moshav Band, who also contribute guitars and dumbek to the Middle-Eastern flavored track.

Guest vocalists include Dov Rosenblatt, Gershon Veroba, and Yehuda Solomon.

This CD is also available from Sam's website.

Lee Feldman - I've Forgotten Everything

This is not Jewish music per se, but Lee Feldman is a nice Jewish boy who sent me his latest CD.

I've Forgotten Everything is an eclectic CD that blends nice piano-based arrangements with Lee Feldman's Rhorsach-like lyrics. They're as deep as you want them to be. Blending irony and wit, seasoning with tasteful piano improvisations and grooves, Feldman and his band --a tight group-- sing and play sensitive songs about uncomfortable situations. Tin Pan Alley on Prozac.

You can buy Lee's CD's here.

Shana Tova wishes...

... from the Nasrallah orchestra and singers!

Peeps This!

Psachya writes:

Just finished my season, & thought I'd pass on a couple more "peeps" (don't blame me, you started this up again) -

- The Hurry-Up-and-Slow-Down Rabbi - this is the mesader kidushin who arrives 45 minutes late, brings the wrong ksubah, takes forever to get the right documents signed, & keeps the guests waiting by the smorg for TWO & A HALF HOURS, leaving guests to mill around long after all the food is gone, with the band scrambling to dig up ancient boring-smorg-music. Then, about 20 seconds after the badeken, he's screaming at the bandleader, "Why aren't you guys set up by the chupa yet? We'll miss shkiah!!!" We run into the chupa room, set up feverishly, only to wait another 20 minutes for the ceremony to start. Meanwhile, the rabbi is telling anyone who will listen that if they miss sunset, it's all the band's fault. (True story - only a slight exaggeration.)

- The "Holy Neshomele" - a variant on some previous peeps. This is the guy who comes up to you at any point during the dancing (and occasionally during benching) and yells, "C'mon! Play "yay-di-di-da-ay yay-di-di-da-ay!" (the now-ubiquitous Neshomele Nigun). He inevitably assumes you don't know the tune, so he has to yell it loudly into your ear. He is then mortally offended if a) you don't immediately launch into it, or b) you don't play it for at least a half-hour straight, in every conceivable tempo, or lack thereof. (I'm waiting patiently for this particular trend to run its course...)

- The Matisyahu Fan. Related to the Blue Fringe Fan, the Beyond Eden Fan, the Moshav Band Fan, the Chaim Dovid Fan, the Yosef Karduner Fan, and the Aharon Razel Fan. No knock on any of these guys - just don't expect the average Jewish club-date band to duplicate their sound or automatically know their entire repertoire. (Maybe that says more about us than about them...)

- The Ambassador. This guy (or gal) says, "The groom (or bride) wants you to start a dance set RIGHT NOW!!" This, 30 seconds after the bride (or groom) personally came up to the band and informed us that their feet hurt and they want some nice quiet dinner music for a while.

I've got some more too.

The "Renegotiator". The "Renegotiator often, although not always, works for a tzedaka organization. After the gig, they'll try to get the musicians -- who may just be playing the gig for an office and have no idea of the price charged -- to reduce the fee and/or donate a portion of their earnings back to the organization. This doesn't happen too often, but it's quite uncomfortable when it does. Especially when the band/musician is already playing at a discounted rate.

The "But It Cost Less Last Time Guy". This is the person who calls you for a gig and insists that you charged them much less last time. Even though you have the contract and cancelled check from the last time around.

Note, sometimes the "Renegotiator" attempts the "but it cost less last time" manuever too.

From the mailbag...

Ron Benvenisti writes:

I am pleased to announce the formation of a new program for Lakewood Community residents which will be tailored to the needs of the OrthodoxJewish children and adults. Please see: lakewoodmusic.blogspot.com for more information.

E. writes:

now i know why we are so messed up!

The entertainers have the "leading poyskim" worrying so much about how to compose the latest diatribe in CD copying they missed many years of deceit in Kashrus. Priorities, people! (and dont tell me the priority is keeping people from transgeressing and not as all the claimants have written, protecting the poor singers' parnasah.)

Daniel Greenwood responds to the Jewish hip-hop video we posted a few days ago.

Dont know.My 1st impression is not very good music.I can understand if the Artist does it and there is Artistic merit in it,well that's cool.I heard Ta Shma and I was impressed 'cause it sounds good.The 1st rule is are you copying someone else?If so you are not being yourself.Music is music.I like it when it's good!I like it more when it's creative and original.

PT writes:

I don’t know if any of your readers said this yet, but this “rental agreement” looks very similar to an abbreviated version of the End User’s License Agreements that we all click “I agree” to without reading whenever we install a piece of software. It’s very common and pretty meaningless.

9/20/06 Link Dump

MO Chassid on English lyrics.

Here's some Jewschool commentary on the recent Oyhoo fest. Here's more.

In related news, Y-Love offers a classy apology.

Circus Tent writes about Andy Statman on NPR

Check out track two for some timely music from Ethan Leifer. Music of the Night Season.

Kesher Talk has been posting Teshuva contemplations with an mp3 of a Jewish song related to the theme.

Darn! We missed this eBay auction for Anti-Jewish Sheet Music.

Mo C guest posts at DovBear on copying music.

Jewschool discovers the skeleton in Miri Ben-Ari's closet. (It's a Shelly Lang production.)

CD Rental Education

Here's an education alternative to the CD rental nonsense approach. It's an educational video from Sameach Music.

From The Mailbag...

Anya writes:

Ok, so here's the thing - there is this video on YouTube:

Jewish Hip Hop Strikes Again

--shot in Jerusalem, guy in Yeshiva rapping about consciousness and whatnot - I want to know what people think? Do people buy frum guys in the hip hop world or do they just chalk it up to a Matisyahu wannabe? Kind of a social experiment. Can you help me out, perhaps post on your blog or send it around to others?

Dave Kerner writes:

Hi, this is David, from kernersongs.com. I hope all is well with you. I see my good friend and band-mate Zal has weighed in on the 'roots of Jewish rock'.

This email is to mention two events that JCRC is cosponsoring - the Jewszapalooza concert this Sunday at Riverside Park - oyhoo.com - and the National Solidarity Rally for Israel on Wed., Sept 20, 12 noon at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th and 2nd Avenue) .

Blue Fringe is scheduled to perform at Wednesday's rally.

If you'd like to let your readers know, that would be great.

Mordy writes:

i don't know if this interests you, but i'm trying to start a Fight Club style debate about the 10 best jewish albums ever. it's up on my personal blog: mcatzilut.livejournal.com

A reader writes:

Rental schmental. Wald put out a CD?

Ron Benvinisti writes:

The "creativity" of our monopolistic Jewish Music distributors never ceases to amaze me. It is invariably confined to the domain of their wallets and bank accounts. It's unfortunate and probably tragic, by this and other dubious practices, that the artist's creativity and inspiration suffers. I don't think for a minute that they are trying to protect the artists (I have heard too many stories from the artist's perspective about how contracts and commitments are honored). This is a great example of the creative rationalizations some in our community come up with to usurp the rights and finances of others. I, for one, am glad to see that many of the really "creative" ones eventually wind up behind bars. To me, this is a World Class manifestation of Chilul Hashem, that is most likely indicative of a massive ice formation just below.

Next time I buy a CD from one these outfits, I will leave the following with the cashier:

I, __________ am purchasing this CD under the conditions that the distributor make publicly available any and all records pertaining to production and sales including amounts and percentages paid to subcontractors, artists and other personnel (including relatives, friends and charitable organizations) as well as copies of the contractual agreements regarding them.

If said documentation is not provided within 10 days of this purchase, as per the Federal Office of Information Act then the entire cost of this purchase will be refunded in cash to the purchaser within 30 days of the original purchase.

(If someone wants to do the official looking Hebrew "psak" version, Kol HaKavod")

E. writes

There's a very simple solution to this whole business.

Tell the Jewish entertainers to quit kranking out albums that only have one or two songs even worth listening to, much less paying for with 8 to 12 additional tracks that are just there to fill space. Tell them to forego that unnecessary expense, and release singles or EP's or whatever you want to call them that only have 1 or 2 tracks on them. Perhaps then people will pay for the one or two songs that you have them shelling out the entire $17.50 for in the first place.

Another point of many: It is silly to assume that many "hundreds of thousands" of dollars are being lost by people transferring multuiple song files who ordinarily would never be able to afford the many albums from which they derived in the first place.

"An Anonymous Jewish Music Insider" writes:

I told a few people about this rental thing in Shul on Shabbos and they laughed at me. They thought I was making a joke. This is not the right way to deal with it. They right way to deal with it is to educate people that stealing is wrong. We have to respect the laws of this country and the law says you are NOT ALLOWED to burn a copy for someone who has not paid the artists/producer for it. People have to be reminded that this is the law and the truth is that the copyright holder does indeed have the power to take people who copy to court just like the RIAA did and still is doing today.

The answer is NOT going to come through playing silly word games. A person who is going to copy is going to copy whether its a "rental" or a "sale", this isn't going to change anything it is only insulting to the consumers of Jewish Music.

The industry must impress upon people that sales numbers are much lower than the public might assume and if 10 kids in 20 Yeshiva's copy the newest (insert artists here) CD, that is a loss of 200 unsold CD's. Maybe people think the artists are all rich and they can take the financial hit. I can tell you that isn't true. But let's just for a moment pretend it is true. What you may not realize is that there are other people who rely on these CD's to sell in order to make a Parnasah. There are composers, arrangers, mixers, individual musicians who provide the music, adult choir members. The Judaica stores and sales people who stock the stores. The companies which duplicate the CD's, the men who deliver them to the stores, the graphic artists that designs the CD's, the printers who print the CD booklets and posters that are hung. The Jewish newspapers which rely on advertising dollars from the artists/producers of these CD's and so on and so on and so on.

Every copy which is made unlawfully hurts every single person involved in this process and although one person by himself with his friend may not think they are impacting the big picture. Just remember there might be 100 more people like you who are thinking the same exact thing. It all adds up in the end. I would just hope that people would try use some common sense when it comes to this matter and do the right thing.

David writes:

As long as you brought up the concept of "Dina D'malchusa", let me point out that according to the New York State law, children under 14 years old must wear helmets while riding bicycles or skating (http://www.helmets.org/mandator.htm).

I cannot comprehend the number of kids from observant families I see zipping around on their bikes, without helmets. Aside from the statistics that clearly indicate that if their kids are wearing helmets they're much safer in the event of an accident, its the law. And let's not forget that you can't enjoy Jewish music unless you have a functioning brain.

Finally, the music industry insider whose email we posted in our last post responds with a few points:

1) it is not a scheme or silly it is an attempts to do what ever is necessary to save this industry. all the other warnings didn't work. i agree it is a shame but what shall we do?

2) its not aimed at the sellers they are beyond help its aimed the people buying trying to tell them in any way possible that it is wrong.

3) when people steal from u u dont worry about being condescending or insulting u do whatever u can to save your self yes it is a desperate situation

4) its not fake it was composed by experts on halacha in conjunction with leading poskim it takes away the supposed heter from those people who rely on rabonim who feel that if one buys it it is theirs and they dont care about dina demalchusa

5) it is with daas it is on the outside cover

We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one. We obviously have very different perspectives on this.

I’m convinced of the following:

1) Insulting all music buyers because some act inappropriately is counterproductive.
2) This scheme makes the entire JM industry look bad.
3) This is not halachikly or legally binding. The note on the outside cover is meaningless, even if you can assume that the buyer read and understood it.
4) This approach will not accomplish anything.

I do agree that there's a problem and I think that education is a part of the solution. But, that education needs to be based on mainstream law and halacha, not a “chap”. Do you really think that “all poskim” (who apparently can’t agree on anything else) will agree that this “rental” has halachik validity?

The other part of the solution has to involve the industry adapting to the reality of downloading by making individual tracks available from a reliable source at a reasonable price. I suggest signing with iTunes.

One final point. Those taking the lead on educating the public about “intellectual property rights” need to have clean hands. For example, if artists with a history of borrowing other musicians songs without permission or attribution, or a record label with a history of dishonest business practices become the public face of the industry on this issue, people will respond cynically.

I think it would be helpful if the industry would support a PR campaign to increase public awareness of the damage done by illegal copying/downloading, but this isn’t the way to do it.

More CD Rental Mishegas

J. forwards a link to a Yiddish Hyde Park discussion of the subject.

A music industry insider writes:

here's the story about copying CDs
b"h most people don't copy and its enough that we right copyright or duplication is not permitted
unfortunately
Hundreds of thousands of dollars a year is lost in this business because people copy download etc because they say they bought it and they can do what they want with it
they even have some "rabonim" to rely on
in case u didn't know we ( the business) recently busted (stopped not arrested) a guy selling a hard drive full of songs about 5000 songs for $50
there are many others doing this we are working to stop this but we cant stop them if people continue to buy from them
so this rental agreement is basically a last resort to try to stop those people that still do it believing its ok lehalacha
your quote The standard "All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws." works fine.is unfortunately incorrect
kesiva vechasima tova

Downloading/illegal distribution of music is wrong and needs to be addressed, but the music industry isn't served by schemes that make it look bad. This rental agreement is silly and is bad for our image. Does anyone honestly think that someone who is selling a hard drive full of copyrighted material will stop because of this rental agreement?

It also insults the vast majority of honest purchasers. Does the industry really want to do that? Even when we address issues of piracy, we have to do it in a way that isn’t condescending or insulting to our listeners’ intelligence. One recent CD release included a video message against illegal duplication that, although it may not been intentional, was widely viewed as condescending. Is this really the way to go?

Finally, I can't see a rationale for this scheme that doesn't either explicitly or implicitly say that Orthodox Jews as a community don't respect copyright law. IMO, this implication is a profound chillul Hashem.

The writer asserts that this is a "last resort" to get people who believe its "OK lehalacha" to stop doing this, but also mentions that there are "rabonim" who permit it. If these people's rabbis say its ok to distribute pirated music, how would a fake rental mitigate the problem? Aren't those rabbis likely to reject the rental on clear halachik grounds? Although those rabbis are wrong on the downloading, they'd be right with regard to this rental.

I'd be surprised if any posek would uphold a "rental" made without the "da'as" of the purchaser. In a letter to the industry posted on the above linked Hyde Park forum, Mendy Wald writes of an education campaign about this concept and asks the industry to support it financially.

Here’s Wald’s missive:



Dear Friend 

As we all know, the Jewish music business has been plagued with unauthorized copies. Many are copying & file 
swapping etc. Especially lately, with the advent of MP3, where its very easy to transfer many songs in split seconds 

Our livelihoods are at stake. I have been pondering how to tackle this for a very long time, & I'm sure everybody else 
was also thinking, how to stop this robbery of our livelihoods 

By the way, I just heard today, that there is a yungerman in Lakewood that transfers songs to IPOD for FREE. When 
asked why, he said that Reb Dovid Cohen says its muttar. Whoever can do something about that, should do so 
ASAP. Perhaps Reb Eli Cohen can help 

Also, I was asked many times by customers that called Mostly Music, if they are allowed to transfer songs to their 
friends IPODS. Many people really dont think that there is anything wrong with it. Thats why its so much more 
important to counteract on this issue 

I recently came across a Sefer by the title of Emek Hamishpat Volume 4 "Zechuyot Yotzrim" its a 500 page Sefer 
detailing all the Shitos concerning copying. Anyway, there is a Nusach in that Sefer, that, according to the Mechaber 
of that Sefer, Harav Yakov Avrohom Cohen, will prohibit copying according to ALL of the Rabbanim. [By the way, he 
will be in New York in the next couple of days. If you want to contact him for any reason, I will get you his cell 
number] I translated the nusach into English, so that we have it in both Loshon Hakodesh & English. Basically, its a 
rental 
agreement, not a sale 

A product can be rented with any restrictions that the renter [in this case, the artists, or copyright holders] wants the 
rental terms to be. Read the agreement & you will understand 

see this link 
http://www.shirulo.com/articals/art452/art452.asp 

I think that its very important to get as many artists as possible to be part of this "Rental only" situation. On the new 
CD's , we should have the Agreement in full on the inside, & on the back of the CD, a WARNING: This product is not 
for sale. You can only rent this product as per the rental terms. Ask your store for a copy, or online at 
www.mostlymusic.com/?????? 

On the older CD's, there should be a sticker with a similar message 

We should also put up posters in all the streets & in all of the Jewish papers, about this new approach. I think that it 
definitely will help to stop this problem. Even if it doesnt help all the way, it will nonetheless help in some way 

If you have any suggestions, I'll be glad to implement them. We are also going to need some money to get the 
message out. I am willing to help get this thing out to the street, but i also need your help. Let me know, how much 
you want to contribute. I've already spoken to some newspapers about getting some free space to advertise & they 
agreed 

- Here is the language for the posters & ads - 

No More Sales 

The owners Jewish music & movies & computer programs are having a major problem. It is called file swapping or 
copying - that is when someone emails or copies a song or file & gives it to a friend. Hundreds of thousands of 
dollars are lost every year due to these unauthorized copies. We, the owners of these produts, make our parnassah 
from these CD's, tapes, programs etc. Our livelihood is suffering in a very distinct manner 

There are many who found Heteirim [Loopholes] to allow them to copy. First of all, according to most poskim copying 
is not allowed at all. Harav Moshe Feinstein, Minchas Yitzchok, Harav Eliyashuv, Harav Wozner, Harav Fishel 
Hershkowitz & many more [See the attached letters, see also the Sefer Emek 
Hamishpat Vol. 4-Zchuyot Yotzrim - 500 pages] have ruled that copying is assur [forbidden] 

Would you eat meat that according to most poskim is assur? Then, why would you want to play with Lo Sigzol? 

We spoke to Rabbinical authorities about the copying problem & they came up with a nusach [agreement] to 
which ALL Rabbinical authorities agree - it is a rental agreement- not a sale. This agreement allows the renter to 
specify exactly what type of usage will be allowed by the renters. 

This is going to be the ONLY way that we will distribute our music, movies & computer programs in the future

If the public is made aware of this rental concept, it might make some difference from a halachik perspective for buyers who are aware of it and accept the terms at the time of purchase, but if we're going to invest money and energy to educate people, why not educate instead about the illegality of downloading, the financial harm to the artists and producers, and the concept of supporting artists work by buying their music and attending their shows? Why invest all that effort to educate about a dubious rental concept instead?

There is a body of law related to music rights. There is a halachik concept that recognizes those rights. It's called "Dina D'malchusa." I'd suggest an education campaign around this topic instead. Of course, it would mean that the industry would have to acknowledge that the law and halacha do occasionally allow for copying/sharing music, something they’ve been misrepresenting. For example, it is clearly permissible for a purchaser to make a copy of a CD to play in their car, a right protected under US law, yet the industry likes to pretend that this is also impermissible. There are other scenarios as well that are likely permitted i.e. sharing mixtapes with friends.

(As a side benefit, encouraging the community to respect dina d’malchusa will have positive impact in other areas as well. It might even have a direct impact on the number of “heimishe” doing time in Otisville!)

Although the e-mailer above pegs the damage to the industry at "hundreds of thousands of dollars", it's unclear what the extent of the damage is. The only thing that's certain is that the J-music industry doesn't know either. To my knowledge, there has been no research into how widespread it is or what the losses to the JM industry are. Even the secular industry has no idea of their losses.

To take the example mentioned above, someone selling a hard drive with 5000 songs is clearly infringing. However, assuming an average of 10 songs per CD, are we really going to assert that all (any?) of the buyers would otherwise have purchased all 500 CD's? Clearly there is a loss of some sort of CD sales, but its hard to determine precisely what that damage is.

And, although this isn't a justification, there is sometimes a positive benefit to the industry when some people discover artists through downloading/file sharing and then go out and buy their recordings and attend their concerts. Many secular bands offer free downloads for precisely this reason. It helps drive sales.

In short, an education campaign is a good idea, but it needs to be based around the law, not legal fictions that won’t hold up in court or beit din.

Additionally, the industry needs to arrive at the same realization the secular music industry has reached. Music downloading is here to stay. People have iPods and other mp3 players and want to listen to Jewish music on them. The best solution is for the JM industry to make their music easily available online for legitimate download. If they provide a simple, reliable way for people to download the tracks they’d like for a reasonable fee, then most people will pay for them. See Apple’s iTunes for exhibit A.

There are a few “heimish” download options available, but judging by comments posted by users on the Yahoo JM board over the past year, they are not consistently reliable. From the artists’ perspective, there are also potential reliability issues with regard to “heimishe” accounting for downloaded music.

I’d suggest a paradigm shift. Instead of attempting to keep it all in-house with proprietary copy protection schemes, players, and the like, JM distributors should reach an agreement with iTunes to distribute their music. The benefits far outweigh the negatives of doing it themselves. Apple's iTunes store sells copy protected tracks for $.99 per song. At that price, I believe most would pay rather than download. The artists and producers would be protected by having an external third-party handling the accounting.

Finally, an astute reader points out that if Aderet chooses to pursue this rental idea as a matter of policy, it leaves a great marketing opportunity for Sameach. Here’s the marketing slogan. “Sameach: when you buy music from us; its yours!”

CD Rental: Foolish or Insulting?

A reader sends in the "rental agreement" included with Mendy Wald's latest CD. Apparently, Wald's distributor, Aderet, is trying to portray the purchase of the CD as a rental instead of a sale subject to the terms listed. This seems dubious on both legal and Halachik grounds, especially, since it's unlikely that most purchasers will be aware of the terms at the time of purchase. And, the terms explicitly violate the Fair Use provisions of US copyright law.

Here are the terms, which are included in the CD's liner notes.


Here's the outside of the CD case:


The problem of illegal downloading/duplication of Jewish music (or any music for that matter) is real. I regularly post PSA's discouraging illegal downloading. It's wrong and people shouldn't do it.

However, I suspect that this rental approach will not help and ultimately makes frum people look foolish. The notion that you have to have some sort of "chap" to get people to behave properly has implications that make religious Jews look bad.

Here's how this can be viewed:

1) The sellers concede that unauthorized duplication is permitted and that's why they have to resort to "renting" this product. This implies that the distributor and the community are dishonest and don't respect copyright laws.

2) The sellers know that unauthorized duplication is illegal. However, they do not feel that religious Jews will obey the law against stealing intellectual property. They do think that can be tricked into obeying the law through the use of a rental agreement. Why this should work is left unexplained. This implies that the community is dishonest and stupid. It implies that people would steal outright, but can be tricked into not doing so because they'd be afraid to break a rental agreement; one without any enforceability or teeth.

3) It makes frum Jews look like they won't obey laws unless they're explicitly phrased in halachik terminology. This makes the community look dishonest, devious, and disrespectful of US law.

The standard "All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws." works fine.

The "rental agreement" is a cute idea to put on a Purim album as a gag, but not much else.

Comments, anyone?

Girls' Night On Tonight

Tonight is Girls' Night On!

For women only! 8 PM @ Makor. 35 W. 67th Street Admission is $10. Additional details at the above link. This edition is part of the 2006 Oyhoo Festival. Go see what happens when Jewish women rock Makor!

It's also a great opportunity to pick up a copy of their recent CD release, "Girls' Night On! Live at Makor".

9/8/06 Link Dump

Hey, we made Hirhurim again!

Search for Emes is "Misirlou-blogging".

Here's a handy guide to Jazz jam session etiquette, "Jazz Jam Sessions: A First-Timer's Guide".

Fun Comment Spam at Steven I.'s.

Here's a famous country singer's music video. It's called "Missing Rib." Check it out.

From the mailbag...

Gary Levitt forwards a press release and link to the website for his simcha band, the Pardes Band.

"Lizard one" writes:

This song sounds familiar its from a cartoon called castle in the sky. I would appreciate If anyone who recognizes it could tell me who "borrowed" it. Thanks a bunch!

Marisa Wetzel forwards a link to "One Rapper Who Can't Seem To Blend In", a Forward article on Jewish rapper Y-Love.

Zal Schreiber writes:

Who is Jay Bee anyway???

Whatevr...."Jay Bee writes: Please write something about Mickey Lee Lane, a Far Rockaway/5Towns native, the brother of R Yitzchock Schreiber *& Bernie Schreiber, who is one of the unsung heros of rock n roll. He scored a regional top 10 hit in the mid 60's with The Shaggy Dog. He is is in the madrega of a Chuck Berry or Gene Pitney but never reached the fame or money that they have. When The Rabbis Sons, with Boruch Chait formed in 1967 Mickey put together their sound. Let's hear something about him. In France & Germany they go ga ga over him like they do most old American rock acts.

What about Zal?"

Well, this is Zal.

Firstly, I noticed Ruby Harris' article...and Mickey commented to me when he caught the jiist of Ruby's claiming the FIRST Jewish Rock influence to be the DYB even before we knew of the article....

It would haave been safer to say that DYB was ONE of the first to inculcate Jewish Rock...NOT the first...but that wouldn't have had the same impact, the exclusive-ness, so to speak.

I remember playing at the Hineni Festival at Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum way before the beginnings of DYB, and Mickey's Jewish Bluish of about the same time, and their rocking Tain Shabbat with full fuzz guitar, and a bit of Tijuana Brass thrown in for good measure.

Secondly, and I hate to cause an uproar here, especially considering my guitar playing and focus, but is Jewish Rock really a good thing? Has it made us any more hailig??? Mind you, I had enough of much of the Jewish recordings of the 70s with the overabundance of circus like, brass oriented backdrops....but there still was some real nice stuff mixed in between. But it wasn't rock.

Mickey virtually got the Jewish acts into the studios in those days...the Rabbis Sons, Ohr Chodosh (which was the first album
played bass on since Mickey couldn't make it to that session), Bat Kol, David Nulman...etc...and he played on possibly dozens of the Jewish albums until the influx of musicians from Israel and then Russia eased him out of the top seat.... I played on about a dozen albums from Ruach Revival, Chavrei Chesed, Ohr Hakesef Singers, Yidid, etc....

Mickey had his own studio for awhile...recording his friend (and everybodies') Shlomo Carlebach. Chavrei Chesed recorded their second album there (it was never released. We recorded it in '75...and it was far rockier than anyting Jewish before or even after then...but with taste...Maybe someday it will be released if we can finish it up-properly)....

For one to claim to be the first, well, it needs to be researxhed out and put into perspective.Mickey has a great deal of that living through the history...the Rabbis Sons on the Alan Burke show...his playing for the Presidents....his top 40 song nationwide (top 10 in Mexico, Australia, and even number 1 in Salt Lake City).

Mickey was flown to England back in '97 to co-headline a Rockabilly festival at Hemsby 18, Great Yarnouth, on the easternmost part of the UK, on the North Sea.

He is still musically active, a member of the Holy Beggar's Band (doing Carlebach, of course) and the Honorable Mentchen (my band...I play with the Holy Beggars as well)...and is looking forward to releasing some of the recordings from his archives when we can get it together in the proper fashion.

I worked at Atalantic Studios doing mastering in their CD department for about 16 years, and mastered and mixed the last Emes (II) album. I have my own home studio, and just mastered a klezmer album, soon to be released....

For a very brief discography of albums I've worked on, type in my full name at AllMusic.com in the artist's box.(Zal Schreiber)

A Kiseeva vChaseema Tova to everyone!!!

PS. I played with the Stanley Miller Band ( a wedding band)for a dozen years, co-producing theirr 3 albums. Our second album, was "American Simcha" and it was half instrumental, and the rest had english lyrics with Jewish themes....at times, it was quite rocky...mid to later 70s if my memory serves me well.

John Baker contributes another peep:

How about the "relative of famous musicians"? Being me, that is.

Dad was a trumpet player (long since retired), played in the Chicago Symphony in the 1940s, and taught at High School of Music and Art from 1966-1989. So if a trumpet player is old enough, I ask where he went to high school.

Dad's uncle Shlomke Beckerman was a major klezmer clarinetist in the 1920s, contemporary with Dave Tarras, Naftule Brandwein, and that crowd. Shlomke's son Sidney has taught a lot of the klezmer revivalists, whether directly (Margot Leverett) or at KlezKamp. Shlomke, along with my grandfather Harry Beckerman, were heirs to the family klezmer tradition in Ukraine/Volhynia.

Ron Benvenisti responds to an old post from a few years back:

I have a couple of MP3's of Rock B'Simcha that I posted on my website for those who may be interested:

I was given the original live tracks to mix (a nightmare of a job surrounded in anonymity):

"Yosi Be Good" (Ode to Yosi Piamenta)

http://soundassets.com/RBS%20JBG.mp3

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" (Goin' To Shul)

http://soundassets.com/RBS%20JJF.mp3

"Born To Be Frum"

http://soundassets.com/RBS%20BTBF.mp3

Fund-Raising Concert Done Right!

Saw an ad for this upcoming concert and think it's worth highlighting.

Here's the info:

A CONCERT FOR ISRAEL

A SPECIAL EVENING OF MUSIC
WITH DAVID BROZA
and
YOUNG MUSICIANS FROM ISRAEL’S KESHET EILON MUSIC CENTER AND THE THURNAUER SCHOOL OF MUSIC AT THE JCC ON THE PALISADES

in support of the Israel Emergency Campaign (IEC)
and
our special partnership with Nahariya

Monday, September 18, 2006
8:00 PM

Bergen Performing Arts Center
30 North Van Brunt Street
Englewood, NJ

All proceeds will go directly to the Israel Emergency Campaign of UJA NNJ.
Tickets are offered at no cost for IEC donors and must be reserved in advance.
No IEC funds will be used to produce this event.

Here's the important part again:

No IEC funds will be used to produce this event.

Kudos to the organizers! I'd love to see other Tzedakah organizations following this example.

Post-Labor Day link Dump

Circus tent comments on a recent album in Poof! You're "Chassidish!" Via THE LIFE-OF-RUBIN BLOG.

Since so many simcha bands have used Europe's "Final Countdown" as a fanfare, here's a killer cover of the song. Don't thank me, I'm a giver!

Here's Music Scored by Bubble Gum on a Train Platform.

Some More Peeps for Ya'll

Here are some more peeps from recent gigs...

1) The Shy Dance Motivator
The Shy Dance Motivator works for one of the big agencies and we've run into him at several recent Bar Mitzvahs. Unlike the other typical motivators, he doesn't really interact much with the guests, getting them into the music, and involving them in the dancing. Rather, he cruises the dance floor, dancing Yo-Ya and the like by by himself without any interaction with the guests. Eventually, one of the guests, usually great-aunt Sadie, realizes he's a hired gun, and proceeds to monopolize him for the rest of the set. Other motivators would extricate themselves politely after a few minutes and move on, but not shy guy. Sure, he'll join in when his fellow motivators organize a line dance, but shy guy will never be the one to start it.

2) The Joan Rivers Impersonator
Because every Oscar-themed Bar Mitzvah needs a drag Joan Rivers impersonator. We've only seen this once, but a conversation with the photographer informs that he gets around. Oy!

3) The Rent-A-Yenta
Seen this a few times. This one never comes off well. Save your $$$! Tip the band instead.

4) The Optimist
The optimist comes in various forms depending on the type of affair you're at. At a yeshivish simcha, he's the guy who walks into the small wedding hall where a band has hired a sound company running a massively overpowered (for the room) system, including speakers on hoists, subwoofers, a fully mic'ed drum set, and a Marshall stack for the guitarist, and thinks that he'll be able to have any conversation that evening anywhere in the building.

At a chassidish affair, he's the guy who came on time for the chupa and has scheduled a business appointment for half an hour after the time the chupa was called for.

At a secular Bar Mitzvah, he's the guy who comes over as the band is cranking up the disco set and segueing into Boogie Oogie Oogie to ask if they can play Unforgettable next. Not gonna happen.

5)
The Blog in Dm reader
Hi, S!

6) The Shill
The Shill is the guy who recommended the band to the baalei simcha for this event. He takes pride in his recommendation, and spends the evening wandering the venue, pointing out the band to people, soliciting comments from various guests, and taking the credit when they compliment the band. Not to be confused with a booking agent, the Shill works for free, and genuinely enjoys sharing "his" discovery with others.

7) The "Wait Til the Last Minute" Client.
He/she is the person who comes over at Sunday's gig to ask if you might be available for an affair on Tuesday night... his/her wedding. It's as if the live music jogged his/her mind and helped them realize that they might want to get some o' that live music for their own affair.

Ron Benevisti adds another:

I'd like to add:

"The Prodigy"

...who is, was with the Miami Boys Choir, Yeshivah Boys Choir, etc., who is a friend or relative of the family. In all fairness
these guys can be pretty good, as opposed to the typical "Srully Reverb" type.

In particular I want to mention Menachem Klein, who is proving himself as a great songwriter and keyboard artist (recently featured on "Aneinu Hashem") and Shimmy Erenthal of Lakewood who is just thirteen - a real showman and MC.

These guys are a pleasure.

In club-date science class, we learned that for every prodigy, there is an equal and opposite "un-prodigy".

A Nakht In Gan Eden the Hollywood Bowl.

Over at Cross-Currents, Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstien blogs his night at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic.

Here's a bit:

It was really the Hollywood Bowl, and the LA Philharmonic. I don’t do that too often either (the last time was seven or eight years earlier), but a member of my Derech Hashem shiur had been graciously prodding me for the better part of a year to join him and his wife at their box. Given that my wife majored in music back in the old days and we don’t get opportunities like this too often, I gave in.

The weather was picture perfect, and the seats better than that. The box was literally right in front of the stage (which did mean that all we could see were the strings), valets carried our take-out dinners from the car and set them on a table bedecked with white linen and a rose. An MBD concert this wasn’t.

Now that I mention it, MBD helped me with the guilt. I kept fretting about what the neighbors would think if they learned that I was at the Bowl. After the music started, though, the sheer beauty, elegance, and sensibility of the music (all Brahms and Prokofiev) just dwarfed the pop-star wannabe supposedly Jewish music I’ve had to listen to for years as the kids grew up. Push come to shove, I probably did much less damage to my soul listening to that performance than the mind-numbing stuff I’ve been subjected to on long family trips in the car.

9/1/06 Link Dump

Today, Peter Salzman posted a link to his Kabbalah Blues website on theYahoo JM Group. Since it's not likely to get any attention there, we're posting the link here.

The Jerusalem Post reviews Ari Boiangiu's album. Coincidentally, we just listened to the whole album for the first time this week. It's a real, heartfelt album and worth checking out if you like honest Jewish rock.

The translation of one of the song titles in the review is erroneous. " Ma Gadlu" is translated as "What Grew". And in an Israeli paper, no less.

HAYOM is critiquing a new Avraham Fried new song.

In the Forward, "How 'Fiddler' Became Folklore".

Mrs. Yosef Karduner is selling original artwork.

Ths title says it all: "RIAA copyright education contradictory".

Wonder if the video says anything about mechira b'tnai or not playing recordings on shabbos.

Incoming Peeps

Continuing our series, here are some more "peeps"!

Ron Benvenisiti writes:

Great stuff, you can't make this up....

Let me add...

The Keyboard Wizard

This happened to me on a couple of occasions doing one-man-band gigs. A young "bochur" comes over and stands very close to my left side, intently viewing my left hand and making disapproving faces. Then, with a thoroughly disgusted look on his face he tries to get my attention by practically yelling, "You are playing it wrong, it's just these two notes here and these two notes here, there's no black notes in this song, look..." then he vigorously stabs his hand in the direction of my keyboard and tries to play it "correctly". I gently elbow his solar plexus. I suppose those are the right chords for the "musical idiot" fingering used in conjunction with the transpose everything to C key on his "Casio". What could I say if his Momma
likes it?

The Sound Engineer

He usually appears in one of two forms. He suddenly appears at your mixer or powered speakers and starts to turn the knobs up totally screwing with the volume, eq, or whatever his inquiring fingers grab hold of. He's an expert with the powered speakers contour buttons and volume knob, which of course are situated 50 feet away from you.

Sometimes he shows up with "Srully Reverb" or "The Famous Singer" who is a friend of the family (who brings his own mike and also sometimes brings his own "Keyboard Wizard").

He checks out your whole sound system and starts to plug in the singer's mike and make adjustments. Too bad he starts to plug in the mike into the XLR on one of your keyboard channels. You correctly re-insert the mic into an available channel and he freaks out. "I know what I'm doing". He then tests the mike and can't figure out why the sound is so low. (He doesn't
adjust the gain trim to the mikes requirement). He pushes up every fader on the board and then loudly proclaims that "Your speaker's blown", despite the fact you can now hear my keyboards in Canada. I try to get him away from my mixer but the singer is now in "prima-donna" mode looking at his watch and nudging "The Sound Engineer". I offer a brand new Shure SM-58 mike and cable right out of the original boxes and insert it into the correct channel, adjust the trim and faders, add the expected reverb and still nothing. So now I'm baffled! Everything else works great. This is a brand new mike and cable, my trusty Mackie Mixer. I plug it into another channel. Nada. My keyboards are fine. I start to think this is min hashamayim on these guys because no matter what I do no mike will work for this guy. Naturally the people at the affair are getting frustrated, and it all seems to be my fault, of course. Really, at this point I am baffled. I launch into one of the singer's famous tunes that everyone's waiting for and he starts to sing, but without the mike and reverb, it's just not the same. After the chorus (or in Yeshivah language, the "high part"), there is a signature instrumental section that is pretty involved to play, but I play it and the crowd loves it, as they hum along. The "Keyboard Wizard" looks at me in astonishment and screams, "That's not the way we do it live, we don't do the intro horns and instrumental parts", you're screwing him up". I picture him with the Casio manual looking up how to play dominant chords with two fingers. So now I look like I totally sandbagged "Mr. Famous Singer" which is of course not true. After finishing and striking my rig I notice that the "Break Switch" on my mixer is engaged. This is the switch that globally turns off all the mikes during breaks or when "The Sound Engineer" adjusts your volume on those speakers 50 feet away or when "Srully Reverb" stands right in front of your speaker causing intense feedback and freezes like a deer in headlights.

"The Sound Engineer" pressed it as he stabbed his stubby fingers all over my mixer. I cleaned the mixer with antibacterial spray.

E. writes:

The guy with the mp3 player and chord to plug into the system for that new track that the chosson wants because all his friends love it but the band hasn't heard of ... yet

From the mailbag...

"Shira" writes:

I did a wedding where a local Rav married off his daughter. When the badchan called up about 8 mispalelim for a mitzva tantz, they had me play the Godfather theme, as they all lined up and kissed the rav's hand one by one.

Jay Bee writes:

Please write something about Mickey Lee Lane, a Far Rockaway/5Towns native, the brother of R Yitzchock Schreiber *& Bernie Schreiber, who is one of the unsung heros of rock n roll. He scored a regional top 10 hit in the mid 60's with The Shaggy Dog. He is is in the madrega of a Chuck Berry or Gene Pitney but never reached the fame or money that they have. When The Rabbis Sons, with Boruch Chait formed in 1967 Mickey put together their sound. Let's hear something about him. In France & Germany they go ga ga over him like they do most old American rock acts.

What about Zal?

Daniel Greenwood writes:

My name is ........(Daniel Greenwood).I have a CD distributed by Galpaz In Israel as well I am working on a CD with Scott Hill.He is a very creative and original Artist who's songs fit into the "World Fusion" genre.He has had his music played on TV ,Movies,Avertisement etc.He calls me JJ Hendrix due to his thinking highly of my playing JJ=Jewish Jimi).He produced an album for Jezz Woddroffe one of the former keyboardests for Black Sabbath.Jezz in turn produced Robert Plant of Led Zeppilin's first solo album He is Jewish,mother side only and does'nt know the Jewish Music scene.Any how I am currently Producing and Arranging an Album for Dovi Small.You can hear two of our songs at Dovi's site www.artistlaunch.com/dovismall .We will soon IMH be selling online at Jtunes (www.jtunes.com ) as well Sruly Meyers of Sameach Podcasts will be playing the songs.You can hear Scott Hill's music at www.artistlaunch.com/scotthill
He is the most listened to Artist at Artistlaunch ,12,000 plays in a month.My music can be heard at www.artistlaunch.com/da300 Songs that mention Scott Hill on my site are songs that will be IMH on our CD.If you like if you d'ont mind doing a review on My Music,da300 my music with Dovi Small and or My music Scott Hill.All can be herad at the above addresses.You could also if you desire link to the above sites.All The Best

da300 aka JJ Hendrix aka Daniel Greenwood

Ruby Harris forwards an article he wrote:

The Inventors of Jewish Rock,
one of the first modern Klezmer bands,
Innovators at the turning point in the history of Jewish music,
The band that started it all,

The Diaspora Yeshiva Band


By Ruby Harris,
Original member on Violin, Mandolin, Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals

Jewish music history can be divided into two periods: BD and AD, which stands for Before and After the Diaspora Yeshiva Band. The music before us was so different than the music after us. So many innovations and musical arrangements used daily in the Jewish music world are direct products of the influence of this band at the turning point. Most of your favorite music today is somehow a derivative of the DYB, the band that started it all. Several of today’s hottest acts are actually either composed of members of the original DYB or their children, and of course countless students, followers, and fans.

But it wasn’t always so...

If Rock n’ Roll was born in the 50s, and the 60s saw it be fruitful and multiply, then the 70s saw an interesting phenomenon when some of these musicians began to find that old time religion, and in the Holy Land of Israel in particular some of them gathered in a very musical and spiritual place on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and formed a band that was called “The Diaspora Yeshiva Band”. From approximately 1976 to 1986 3 things occurred: 1) they became one of the most popular bands in Jewish music. 2) The Jewish music before this time was about to go through what can only be described as the same basic transformation that the world of popular music went through with the Beatles, and 3) The old Jewish/Yiddish music was re-discovered and became amalgamated with new worlds of music. Innovations, emulations, and revelations were suddenly overtaking the Jewish world, and the DYB can be viewed as either credited with or guilty of manifesting this transformation. Today of course, most Jewish music has some rock sounds incorporated within, but back then it was unheard of, and such a thing bordered on the taboo.

Almost parallel to the first Rock’n Roll stars and their society, the union of Rock with Jews didn’t come so smoothly, it was a rocky road at first, particularly in the years roughly from 1973-1982. Jewish music didn’t catch up with the rest of the world so fast. I remember one time we were doing a concert at the Jerusalem Theater and after the show someone comes up to us and emotionally expressed his disapproval of the Holy words being fused with rock sounds (Elvis and Ray Charles got the same reaction).
Also in that early gestation period, there was the sensation that the DYB caused at the Chassidic Song Festival. We won first place 2 years in a row, thus causing the voting committee to re-write the rules so that we don’t take over...
The great Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was also a victim, in those years and even earlier, of the old problem of being an innovator: the public simply was not ready. But we’re in good company-Mozart, Benny Goodman, and Bob Dylan also met with resistance until the world came around. We played many concerts with Shlomo.

Klezmer? The old Hebrew-Yiddish word had not yet even begun to be re-discovered and re-used yet, and we were continuously toggling with what to call our new genre: Yiddish Jazz? Chassidic Rock? Country & Eastern Music, Rhythm & Jews, Jewgrass, who knows? We took an old Jewish wedding standard, added a rhythm section, a hot clarinet, a seething guitar solo, a devil-went-down-to-Georgia-type fiddle breakdown, and some extended Kabalistic jams and it wasn’t long before the listening public took notice that that old Jewish music wasn’t so out of date after all. I remember a phone call and a visit from David Grey, one of the members of the new-genre group “The Klezmorim”, who came to my home in Jerusalem for an interview, plus, an early wedding involved sitting-in for some tunes at the old legendary New York restaurant Lou G. Seigles with Hankus Netsky and Don Byron of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, both bands being the first of the new “klezmer” bands in those pre-natal years. At a concert in Philadelphia, our opening act was the newly formed Kapelye with Henry Sapoznik. An early meeting with Andy Statman also found him asking me all about Jewish music as well as Jewish philosophy, quite some time before he “returned” to the fold. I convinced him to check out some Breslov music, and a few years later we found ourselves on stage together at a sold-out concert at the Metropolitan Opera House. He had quite a beard by then...

While Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and Jefferson Airplane were taking old English & Irish nigguns (folk melodies) and suffusing them with the blues, we were doing the same thing in this post-Woodstock world with Jewish standards Dreydle dreydle, Dayenu, and Chasen Kala Mazal Tov. Plus, as with our favorite beloved Anglo/American rock heroes, we were writing and performing our own originals, one of which can almost be called the Official Anthem of the Baal Tshuva (returnee) Movement, “Malchutcha”. We had some fun, oy vey, doing a Hendrixian Hatikva, the Shma ala Doors (hey, the mezuza goes on the Doors!), a David Melech Squaredance, a liturgical Beatles medley, endless Grateful Dead-style jams on Ketzad Merakdim, or Gesher Tzar Meod per Santana, and so on. Another funny thing, at first, as antique ‘78’ records of Bill Monroe, Howlin’ Wolf and Jellyroll Morton started catching our interest among the Jolson, Cantor, and Sophie Tuckers in our grandfather’s attic, we started paying attention to the funny green-labeled Yiddish ones too, that revealed a virtually hidden and buried world of dusty stars like Naftulie Brandwine, V. Belf, Dave Tarras, Abe Schwartz and Aaron Lebedeff, now looked at as the patriarchs of Klezmer recordings.

The Torah predicted that in the days before the Moshiach, there would be a return of the exiles, a great influx of converts, and a movement of returnees to Judaism. I’m happy to say I was there at the beginning of that movement, and the DYB provided the soundtrack. We traveled around the world playing for a remarkable cross section of the people that range from the roots to the fruits of the movement: Holocaust survivors, Israeli soldiers, Yeshiva students, Hebrew school children, Chassidic dynasties, Kibbutz & Moshav celebrations, and a thirsty generation searching for the answer.
Every Saturday night we gave a now-legendary concert called “King David’s Melave Malka” post-Shabbat celebration at his actual tomb on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, a central Biblical historic site. Once, Broadway star Pearl Baily and her husband jazz legend Louie Belson were on a pilgrimage to this site and the nearby ‘Last Supper’ room, and she just happened to be at King David’s Tomb during my wedding, and she came in and sang “Hello Dolly” to the newlywed couple. People come up to me all the time recalling those concerts and how special they were, and so many of today’s musicians tell me things like “when we first saw you guys, we decided that, hey, we could do that too!” I even recently met a mother of ten who confessed that she was about to leave Judaism altogether when at a last ditch effort she came to one of our shows and she stayed in the fold, got married, and the rest is her-story.

Before the 6 Day War, Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Goldstein started the Diaspora Yeshiva which was the first Baal Tshuva Yeshiva. The location was Mt. Zion where King David is buried (down below in ancient catacombs). When David was a young shepherd from his home town of Bethlehem just south of Jerusalem, he used to take his sheep and graze them, and where would he go? A prophet and spiritual master of the highest caliber, he naturally was attracted to the center of the universe, the Temple Mount where his son Solomon was later to build the Holy Temple. He took his Harp and composed the most famous music in history, the Psalms as he, in symbolic parallel to G-d watching over his people, shepherded his sheep daily between his home and Mt. Moriah, the Temple Mount, the place where his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had their prophetic revelations and grazed their flocks.
His music, which is soaked into the architecture and the very earth of this location, drew people like us to David’s Holy Mt. Zion, which is the neighboring mountain to the Temple Mount. We played and sang and expressed the hope of the returning of Jerusalem, and the simcha (joy) of Torah learning. The mystical possibilities were incalculably inspiring. The music wasn’t so bad at first either, and it kept getting better, and with a few savvy people and some smart moves, we got some sound equipment and started recording, and we actually managed to not only lay down some extremely original material, but also expressed the lofty spiritual feeling of the moment.

From 1973 to 1976 can be called the early period, with many changes in personnel ranging from a few guys jamming to a big band, at which point in June of 1977 the actual “DYB” was formed and solidified, with the original 6 members being: Avraham Rosenblum on guitar, Ben Zion Solomon on fiddle and banjo, Simcha Abramson on Saxaphone and Clarinet, Ruby Harris (this writer) on Violin, Mandolin, Guitar, and Harmonica, Adam Wexler on Bass, and Gedalia Goldstein on Drums. Before and after this, many great and illustrious people came and went, such as Rabbi Moshe Shur, Chaim David, Rabbi Shimon Green, Menachem Herman, Beryl and Ted Glazer, Rabbi Yosil Rosenzweig, Yochanan Lederman, and Rabbi Tzvi Miller. We played in a 2000 year old building resembling the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Getting electricity into these Byzantine and Crusader edifices was no small endeavor. The acoustics were amazing, though.
Our history of performances is incomparable: Wartime shows for troops from Sinai to Lebanon, concerts and events for such public figures as Menachem Begin, Yitzchak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and many other VIPs and statesmen, parties and banquets with Isaac Stern, Shlomo Carlebach, Abba Eban, President Herzog, (and later President Clinton & Mayors Giulianni and Daley), an early MTV video performance and interview featured in the Bob Dylan tour with Tom Petty, and ultimately, concerts at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Opera House. Somehow, Lynard Skynard’s drummer Artemis Pyle even played with us and donated his awesome drum set to the yeshiva!

The band broke up in the mid 80s and the members have all gone off in different directions, most notably: BZ Solomon does extensive recording and performances worldwide, Rabbi Shur is an executive with the Hillel Organization and also records and performs, Rabbi Green is the head of a Seminary in Jerusalem, Avraham Rosenblum keeps the Diaspora flame burning with his new band, Chaim David has become a Jewish music superstar, and I perform and record extensively in an eclectic range of styles from Jewish Rock and Klezmer to Blues, Jazz and Country, including other notable relationships, such as a series of recordings with members of the original Sun Records rhythm section, who’ve made history as players in the bands of Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. Adam Wexler is a member of Reva L’Sheva, one of today’s finest Jewish rock groups, and finally, Simcha, Gedalia, Beryl, Ted, and Menachem have all advanced to the higher original goals of scholarship, spiritual mastery, and various lofty musical projects and endeavors.

But most charmingly, is the fact that many of the children of the original members of the DYB are among today’s hottest stars, as members of Soulfarm, Moshav Band, and oodles of other contemporary projects ranging from some of New York’s top wedding bands to fine art music recordings. Occasionally several of the guys get together for projects, such as 2 recent DYB reunion shows on Long Island and at the Catskills Homowack Hotel, and there are some real tasty dishes simmering in the musical kitchen. If you’re looking for the original members to perform these days, they all do so, emphasizing their newer compositions and styles, but most of the guys are still happy to give you the old tunes if you really bug ‘em. Keep listening!
-----------------------
Ruby Harris is an original member of the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, and since the close of that primordial period in the history of Jewish Rock, Ruby has been seen opening for Ray Charles, Marshall Tucker Band, and Little Feat, and he’s performed with Peter Yarrow, Mordechai Ben David, Buddy Miles, Avraham Fried, Pinetop Perkins, and members Jefferson Airplane, Klezmatics and Grateful Dead. He lives in West Rogers Park, Chicago and presently performs in concert, on recordings, and at someone-you-know’s wedding. His website is www.rubyharrismusic.com where, along with www.jewishjukebox.com and www.cdbaby.com, his latest CD “For Heaven’s Sake” is available, as is his CD “Almost Home”, featuring Pine Top Perkins and Sugar Blue. For recordings of any of the artists mentioned, see your local Jewish music store or look them up on line.
-------------------------
This article is the exclusive (copyright 2006) property of Ruby Harris www.rubyharrismusic.com

8/28/06 Link Dump

Meet the The Hotel Pianist, a blog by a pianist with a gig in an NYC hotel.

Israelity blogs about "Chez Bar Mitzvah."

Chaim Witz rocks!

Yitz is blogging on Reb Shraga Feivel - A Seething Musical Spirit. If memory serves, I read that the Rebbe referenced near the end of the post is the Kotzker.

Gavriel Fiske writes about Jewish wedding bands in Israel for the Jerusalem Post.

This article's title says it all: "Pro-Nasrallah song popular in W. Bank".

Lazer Beams writes about Avraham Abitbul's new album. We mentioned some of his earlier albums here.

Ari Goldwag has released a CD titled Flippin' In. Several readers have emailed to ask my opinion on the album in light of discussions on other blogs about it where it's been criticized.

I've highlighted Ari's past PR as an example of honesty in JM PR here, here, and here. Ari has a history of honestly representing his music and I know that being honest in his PR is important to him. It's OK not to like the music, but I'd not challenge his honesty. If he describes it as soulful, than he really feels it is. Critique the music, or the lyrics, but in this case I don't see criticizing his description of the music as soulful. You or I may not find those musicians, or that style to be soulful, but others do. "Al ta'am vareach..."

Mitzvah Tanz Blogging

Last Night's Mitzvah Tanz Medley was an all-time classic medley. The traditional "Eishes Chayil"/"Borei Olam" segueing into "Can't Fight This Feeling" by R.E.O. Speedwagon.

The only less traditional segue I can recall having played on a gig (this one was as a sideman - it was NOT my band) was going from "Brickhouse" into Shir Hama'alos. It doesn't exactly work.

For those not familiar with the Mitzvah Tanz ritual, here's a nice video clip by flimmaker Menachem Daum. It's of the late Bobover Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Shlomo Halberstaam dancing the Mitzvah Tanz.

Here's a Mitzvah Tantz Blooper Video. For those who don't know, he's dancing with his eyes shut.

It's Time For Some More Peeps in Da Hood!

A while back, we ran a series of charachter sketches of "Peeps in Da Hood" that we run into on the simcha circuit. The concept struck a chord, and readers contributed many others. The links to those posts and the peeps described therein are appended to the end of this post.

After some recent gigs, it's become clear that it's time to bring the series back, so here are a few more to get things started.

1) The Business Card Kids. The business card kids hang out in front of the band with the sole goal of snatching as many business cards as possible while they think the bandleader isn't looking. Not to be confused with the kids who ask for cards, or the "watchers", a group of chassidic kids who spend the entire gig glued to the floor directly in front of the band.

2) Just call him "Srully Reverb". "Srully Reverb" is the chassidic singer independently hired by the client to sing at their affair. He shows up with a cheapie Ibanez or Zoom reverb pedal which he much prefers over the band's effects rack. After all, the band's effects rack won't add enough noise and signal distortion to his sound. He uses tons of delay/verb and if he has any specific EQ preferences, they will be towards making his tone more annoying.

"Srully" usually does a bad Lipa or Michoel Shnitzler impersonation all night long. He'll sing all of the latest stuff, and the fact that the crowd doesn't seem to know any of it won't faze him in the slightest. A consumate pro with a good sense of propriety and politics, "Srully Reverb" won't let a simple thing like the bride's request for him to stop get in the way of his singing "Usid" or "Rabosei Mir Vellen Bentchen".

3) The Harmony Singer. He comes along with "Srully Reverb". It's often a package deal, only he works for free. As a team these guys are even better than when "Srully" is performing on his own. Their idea of a great time is to repeat a similiar vocal shtick over and over until it's coming out everyone's ears. If they like the way they've just embellished the B section of Lma'aloh, then there's absolutly no reason not to stay on the B part, repeating it the exact same way 30 or 40 times in a row.

The emailbag is now open...

Here are the previous posts and some of the peeps they introduced:

Blog in Dm: Peeps from Da Hood - The NY Simcha Scene

1) The Carlebach Purist
2) The rude Yeshiva Bachur
3) The drunk Yeshiva Bachur
4) The spaced-out bandleader
5) The pompous Rosh Yeshiva
6) The dance Nazi

Blog in Dm: Reader email re: Peeps in Da Hood

The Rosh Yeshiva's Chamberlain.

Blog in Dm: More Reader Email - Peeps In Da Hood

1) The Accountant
2) The Program Director
3) The Dave Berg Character
4) Mostly Music's Favorite Customer
5) Hora Lovers vs. Hora Haters

Blog in Dm: Yet More On Peeps In Da Hood

Blog in Dm: Still More Peeps In Da Hood

1) Volume Boy
2) Guitar Face

Blog in Dm: More Peeps!

The Air Traffic Controller:

Blog in Dm: The Peeps Keep Coming

1) The Mapquest Specialist
2) The Lulav Shaker

Blog in Dm: Email from a "Peep"

The "jump/signal the final note at the end of a set" guy.

Blog in Dm: The Peeps Keep On Coming

The Hand Shaker
The Yomim Director
The Keitzad Guy
The Inquiring Kids

Blog in Dm: The Peeps Are Out In Force!

"Yoidi and Ben Bag Bag boys"
The "professional singer who insists that the chosson 'wants me to sing'"
The "gimme free stuff kids"
The grumpy grandfather of the bride

If I Forget This Interview...

MO Chassid and A Simple Jew send a link to an Avraham Rosenblum interview on Israel National Radio. (Scroll down for link.)

they Asked For What???

Rabbi Josh Yuter is blogging Weird Wedding Songs.

Niche Marketing - Hora-free Jewish Music

From this past week's Hamodia...



Coming soon, their album "Mostly Freilachs!"

Wedding Observer

Ger Tsedek posts his "Observations on Jewish engagements and weddings." Here's a taste:

I am amazed how, in the middle of the dozen-or-so staple Jewish wedding-party songs I usually hear at the beginning of the dancing, after the ḥattan and kallah come have back out, there is one particular song that every band plays that is way out of place. Can you guess which one? Makes you crave a vegemite sandwich, it does.

Haredi Triumphalism in Perth - Updated

Recently, a 19 year-old Yeshiva student, was tragically killed in a freak accident in Perth, Australia, where he was participating in the SEED program.

.... was drowned after being swept to sea in Perth, where he was on a visit teaching Torah. He was standing on rocks on the shore, well above the waves, when an unusually large wave from the heavy seas (estimated at 10 meters high) knocked him into the waters. The seas remained rough with many waves of up to six meters, which hampered rescue efforts.

The SEED program is well-known, but for those who aren't familiar with it, here's a description from the above linked article.

The SEED program in which ..... was participating is a very demanding effort. The bochurim who participate spend months preparing Torah material to give over to the various members of the community with whom they learn during the period they spend there. The material is from a wide range of sources and includes Chumash, Mishnah, Gemora, as well as halochoh, hashkofoh and general Jewish knowledge. On the program they are busy from early in the morning -- learning with people before they go to work -- until late at night. In the middle of the day, during the business lunch hour, many go to offices to give classes and to learn individually with interested people. They also spend time during the day working with children. Shabbos and weekends are also utilized to allow families to participate in kiruv-related activities.

His death is a huge loss for the entire Jewish community. By all accounts, he was a talented young man with a bright future ahead of him. May the family be comfortod "b'soch sha'ar aveili tziyon v'yerusholayim".

This week the Yated Ne'eman and Hamodia newspapers both published an article, which was also published in the Five Town Jewish Times. The article was written by Richard Altabe, the principal of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway. (Interestingly, Yaated doesn't credit the author.)

The article eloquently expresses the loss we've suffered. It's a beautifully written piece, that truly pays tribute to a special soul.

However, one part of the article seemed not to fit with the tone of the rest of the essay. It's a part in which Mr. Altabe is clearly relying on others descriptions of a community, and the image of the community he represents doesn't match with the reality.

Here's the offending paragraph:

“Since the arrival of Jews in Perth in 1892, never had there been a program that had such impact on this city, which was isolated from the Torah world both physically and spiritually. To call this a kiddush Hashem would be a major understatement. Since our arrival in Perth last year, the impact has been overwhelming. Perth has grown from a midbar of Torah, to a city that’s opening its first proper yeshiva next month. Over the course of two weeks, over 40 shiurim and classes were given by the four bachurim and two yungerleit.

Is it just me, or is this extremely condescending to the Perth community? The SEED program does great work, but there is absolutely no reason for a SEED representative to denigrate a community, even in the past tense.

Reading the Altabe article, one would get the impression that there was no serious Judaism --and certainly no succesful Jewish education or kiruv-- in Perth prior to the SEED program's first visit last summer. SEED arrived to "show the way" and after only two summers of SEED the community has grown to the point of opening a "proper yeshiva". This is simply untrue and ignores the Perth community's dedication to Jewish education and the many outreach efforts others (whose kippot apparently aren't the right color) have put in over many years. I do not claim to know the extent of all of these efforts, but I am familiar with a few.

The Carmel school in Perth has a diverse student body, but strives to give over a positive Jewish education and message. I'd compare it favorably with many Jewish Day schools across the US.

In addition to the community's support of Carmel, Yeshiva University ran a program to Australia called Counterpoint Australia. The team spent much of the summer in Melbourne running Jewish awareness programming for a school there, but for many years, they also spent ten days or so in Perth, running a five day long retreat for the High School, as well as teaching in the school and within the community. The team always included a musician, and I and many other well-known Jewish musicians, participated in the program over the years. The preparation for the program could be described identically to the description of the SEED program.

The bochurim [men and women] who participate spend months preparing Torah material to give over to the various members of the community with whom they learn during the period they spend there. The material is from a wide range of sources and includes Chumash, Mishnah, Gemora, as well as halochoh, hashkofoh and general Jewish knowledge.

Many of the Counterpoint Team participants over the years have gone on to become "names" in Jewish education and kiruv.

The Perth community, and especially the Carmel School, gave enormous support to this program, and invested a lot of money in it. Flying a team of 10 from Melbourne to Perth, renting a campsite for a week, organizing and arranging the logistics, etc. required a huge commitment, and the community was very supportive.

In addition to the Counterpoint program, which ran for years, there have been Israeli shlichim who have donated years of their lives to come run Jewish studies programs in the Carmel school on shlichut. These frum Mizhrachim have had a huge impact on their students' Jewish education and their commitment and dedication, made at tremendous personal sacrifice, ought not be ignored. It's not easy to leave your country, friends, and relatives to go teach for five years in a foreign country. You also wouldn't know it from the article, but Perth students have attended post-graduate yeshivot like Gush in Israel and RIETS in America. Much of the credit should go to their families and teachers.

I believe that Orot Mitziyon, a religous Zionist program from Israel, ran programming in Perth and the community was supportive of their efforts as well.

One of the leaders of the Counterpoint team over the years, Rabbi M. Rothchild, went back to Perth for a few years to teach Torah. He also started a summer kollel that brought young men and women from the YU community out to Perth to teach and inspire.

In short, over the years, there have been many Jewish education and outreach efforts in Perth and the Perth community has demonstrated a commitment to supporting the teaching of Torah, both financially and through personal participation, that long predates SEED's involvement with the community. There is always room for more Torah, and different approaches and hashkafos may reach different people. SEED does great work, but a little bit of perspective and humility seems to be in order.

UPDATED 8/24/06

Richard Altabe writes:

Please do not rush to judgement on the comments of Duvi Safier. He was the student organizer of the Perth group from the 5 towns and he remained at the site of the tragedy for three days while authorities searched for ....'s body. I believe that Duvi wanted to emphasize the remarkable work that his friend and the group had done this year in Perth and in no way did he intend to denigrate this wonderful community. He intended to demonstrate the greatness of his friend, not to denigrate the people of Perth or the other groups that may have served the community in the past.

Duvi has been through the emotional trauma of witnessing the death of his friend, having to inform the boy's parents and working for over a week behind the scenes to make sure that his friend was given proper kavod hameis. Let's not rush to cast aspersions on anyone. We must strive to see the good in everyone.

If I erred in not properly considering the feelings of the Perth community by not editing Duvi's statement, then I apologize sincerely. Perhaps I should have been more sensitive of the potential hurt that others may feel.

It was not my intent to attack Duvi personally and I apologize if my post gives that impression. The purpose of my post is not to cast aspersions against any individual, but rather to respond to an atitude often reflected in the charedi newspapers in which the article appeared by addressing a specific case where I have personal knowledge of past history. Had this not fit in with a pattern I've seen time and again, I'd have never addressed it. I can only imagine how difficult this has been for Duvi and I wish him much hatzlocha in the future.

Updated 9/1/06

Out of sensitivity to those who may be "Googling" the niftar's name, I have edited this post to remove his name. This contretemps does not involve him.

Cease Fire Link Dump...

As they were bookmarked...


Tired of too much talk on the podcasts you dowload? Check out the Red Hot Tribute to John Cage: Silent Podcast

Ben Jacobson reviews Heedoosh.

The Chassan posts that the Homowack is closing. It was sold and has reopened as the Spring Mountain Resort.

This eBay auction ended with no takers. Someone is trying to get rid of his comped CD's.

Here are some videos of the Biala Rebbe singing Sabbath hymns.

The Rootless Cosmopolitan links to a Nextbook review. Ouch!

This Google search is too good to let pass. We're the number one hit to the query.

Here's background on the Katyusha song.

Avid has purchased Sibelius.

Here's Yo, Yenta! on American Idol's "underground" category.

Kesher Talk posts Basya Shechter's arrangement of "Eicha."

Here's DovBear:

What does it say about Orthodoxy, in 2005, that we no longer treasure nor produce men who write like angels? Just listen to the opening verse of the first poem, in its original Hebrew: Libi b'mizrach v'anochi b'sof ma'arav. Do you hear the word-music? Yet, in our day Shiny Shoe Music passes for brilliance.

Ben Jacobson writes about Neshama Carlebach performances in the Jerusalem Post:

Carlebach then finishes off the tour with no one on stage but her own band, a microphone in hand and a bun in the oven at Rehovot's Mofet Hall.

Classy.

Eliyahu from Simply Tsfat was in Lebanon during the war and we've got the pic to prove it.

You know you've made it when people use your blog name to help promote their album. (It's posted here too.) Only problem is, we didn't write that review. Twas one of the other J-music blogs.

The Jewish Week writes about OySongs.com.

Psycho Toddler asks his mom "Should I stay or should I go? " (Shouldn'ta written that. Now I have to get that dang song out of my head!)

Here's a first-hand report on the world's most expensive Bat Mitzvah written by one of the videographers.

Here's Naomi Chana on nigunim.

ASJ posts on Jewish Heavy Metal and "Good" Jewish Music.

Shira writes "Musical license,"* or the case of the misplaced comma--A different way of listening to words.

Cleaning Out Da Mailbag...

Allen writes:

wow ! Ron's got an interesting working method there. the results are not exactly of the highest artistic merit though. not garbage , but not awesome by a long shot. its nice that the texts he yield something that sounds like music but its possible to get music by organizing the NYTimes. Are we to think that the source insures artistic merit . to my ears its somewhat random, though modally consistent. I guess it would track with the texts though, but I doubt it will supplant nusach or trope. talk about music by the pound. so now Ron can use a sidur and fill the world with music copywritten by Ron. a nice parnasa angle if he can sell it. sort of alleviates the need for musical inspiration.

Dave Cirilli writes:

Just announced this week, three of New York's leading Jewish non-profit groups -- The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, JDub Records and Avoda Arts -- began accepting applications for a new artist development program called The Six Points Fellowship (http://www.sixpointsfellowship.org/ ). Initiated by funding of $1,000,000 from the UJA-Federation of New York’s Commission on Jewish Identity & Renewal – the largest grant UJA has ever awarded to an arts organization – the fellowship will provide twelve New York-based artists (in music, performing arts and visual arts) up to $45,000 per-year for living expenses and project-related support for a period of two years.

The application process runs through August 31, 2006. Please let me know if you would like more information.

Sruly at Sameach Music forwards a link to download the Voices for Israel anthem, "Chazak Amenu".

J. forwards a link to a Ha'aetz article.

Eliyahu Fink writes:

500 hits in a few hrs

what do you say?

can u blog

ef

On 7/19/06, The Finks wrote:
> hey there
>
> nice blog
>
> post this video up and give some commentary
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb6AyovKwMk
>
> thanks
>

Elliot forwards a link to an article 'bout Acharit Hayamim.

Anon writes:

you on vacation? My week doesnt go right without a dose of Blog in Dm,

Psachya writes:

Re "Neighborhood Bully" - I was studying in Israel when Dylan's "Infidels" album was released. I remember being amused that Radio Jordan kept playing that song. I think that the Jordanian DJ thought Dylan was actually calling Israel a neighborhood bully, as opposed to a "neighborhood bully". BTW, unquestionably the best song ever written about the Mideast situation.

Ron Benevisti writes:

Since I am a musician who makes his living composing, arranging, recording and playing music I am allowed to do so at this time although I don't play live even for non-Jews during the three weeks.

Also... Rabbi Moshe Feinstein permitted listening to classical music as background music. Along the lines of this leniency, one may listen to sad music, and religious or Hasidic type music. In addition, soothing music is permitted.

So to me, if I were driving a Merkava or flying a Cobra or Apache or an F-16 pounding Hezbollah, I would like to be listening to this...

http://soundassets.com/Exodus1.mp3

I quickly put it together this Motzei Shabbos and will polish it up some more....

Chazak V'Amatz

Jewish Music writes:

hi,

check out this site http://pinchos.googlepages.com

it has imitations of many singers some of them are very good.

J. writes:

Et lischok is a very powerful and important tool, wield it wisely. You have a responsibility to your readers, (myself included).
There is enough bad going on in the world right now, stop allowing yourself to be affected by it in a negative way.
I don't know how many readers you have and it may seem trivial to you, but quite a few of us enjoy your writing.
So snap out of it, please.

Thanks for the kind words.

Yael writes:

Dear Blogger,

I'm writing to you from Katifund in the hope that you will help us get our message out there. Regardless of how you felt about disengagement from Gaza last year, we would like to get message out there that we still care about the refugees from Gush Katif. Please help us get the message of "last year divided, this year united." Please post about the million click campaign on your blog or link to us.
http://katifund.sinaimovies.com/index.php
We appreciate your help.
Yael,
Katifund.

Abe Deutsch writes:

Gingis Khan Moskau. Their Moskau song also seems to have been plagiarized and used in a jewish song.

Alexander Feldman writes from Brazil:

I am a brazilian jewish, born by 1955 in Niteroi city (close to Rio de Janeiro city). When I was a teen-ager, my grandmother travelled to the USA, to see her long time no-seen brother. When she returned, brought a full bag of yiddish music LP vinyls. One of them was from Tikva Records: "Marty Levytt - Party Memories". I have it until today.

The remarkable fact is that there is NO street address, no PO Box, nothing that allow anyone to contact the label's office (there should be one, of course!). At that time, I payed no attention to this. But now, trying to find more Tikva recordings, I noticed the problem.

Did you find any new information about? If so, please let me know.

If anyone has any info, let me know and I'll pass it on.

American Chayal reviewed

Ben Jacobson reviews "American Chayal" for the Jerusalem Post.

A Song For The Media

Junk Yard Blog sings of Lebanon war media coverage.