The $30 Hit

Jewish maternal disappointment may never have been quite so dramatic – nor quite so public – as that of Anna Secunda, mother of composer Shalom Secunda, circa 1937. According to one article, she fasted and prayed for her son who had sold the rights to his song, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," for a mere $30.

And honestly, we might fast, too, were we in Mrs. Secunda’s shoes. The tune quickly became the world’s best-known Yiddish theater song. Performed and recorded by The Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Judy Garland and Bette Midler, it was the only Yiddish song that was ever quite such a crossover hit.

A 1938 article in the Camden Courier-Post recounts a conversation between Secunda and his bootblack, who was whistling the wildly popular song as he shone. "I guess the guy who wrote that must be making plenty of dough," Secunda reportedly commented. "Not him," said the bootblack. "That dope sold his song for 30 bucks."

Despite the insults and the parental distress, Secunda himself didn't harp on the lost royalties. As he told the New York Times, "It bothered everyone else more than it bothered me. I've been more interested in my symphonic music."

Ringo the Jew?

Most every Jewish kid who grew up in 1960s America looked up to Ringo Starr. He was one of us, the Jewish Beatle, the one who had been bar mitzvahed.

There was just one glitch: Ringo hadn’t been bar mitzvahed. Because Ringo isn’t Jewish.

But the myth of Ringo-as-Jew was so pervasive that in 1964, in the early days of Beatlemania, Ringo received death threats from anti-Semites before playing a concert in Montreal. He played with a bodyguard sitting beside him and genuinely feared he might be shot. Both he and George Harrison talked about the incident in the Beatles Anthology, the authorized biography published by the surviving Beatles in 2000. "Some people decided to make an example of me, as an English Jew," Ringo said. "The one major fault is I'm not Jewish."

The anthology should have put the Ringo rumors to sleep, but a quick jaunt around the web shows just how persistent the myth remains. A prominent White Power site has also clarified the question for its Jew-hating constituents—but we’re going to refrain from linking to that one.

Still, Ringo does have one indisputable Jewish connection – his wife, actress Barbara Bach, nee Goldbach.

Holiday Blues? Teammate Can Help!

Are you kicking off December with fists clenched in balls of impotent Christmas rage, exasperated by the emptiness of vulgar consumerism, feeling trapped by encroaching tinsel ghettos of forced holiday cheerfulness? Or perhaps you are just experiencing a baseline malaise or anxiety that happens to many of us who are otherwise functional outside of this time-crunched, emotionally draining, financially worrisome time of year.

The holidays can be really rough. Sometimes you just need someone to write an awesome song that perfectly describes a melancholy holiday sentiment and then make a hilarious yet heart-shredding video for that song starring their pets (Maya the Dog and Cheddar the Cat), which shows us all how simple and profound our shared humanity is while simultaneously demonstrating that cat paws can't answer calls on an iPhone for shit.

Teammate, the bi-coastal musical lovechild of Scott Simons (Los Angeles) and Dani Buncher (Pittsburgh) is an excellent band year round, but this video for the song, "I Won't Be Home For Chanukah" places them them solidly in my pantheon of "Holiday Music That Almost Makes Me Look Forward to the Holidays.

You know. Like, Wham's "Last Christmas," Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas," RUN DMC's "Christmas In Hollis, Queens," The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," or "O, Holy Night" by any number of older dudes.

I implore you to watch "I Won't Be Home For Chanukah" at least once a day for the rest of the year. If you're already happy, it will expand your sense that all is well in the world. And if your heart feels two sizes too small, Teammate provides some warm cider for your winter-weary soul.

Hanukkah Lovin'

Still can't get enough of Chanukah music? Hanukkah Lovin' from Michelle Citrine is one of the most original Hanukkah songs ever to come out. If Norah Jones and Bing Crosby hung out at Stan Getz' house for Chanukah...this is kinda what it would sound like.

Matisyahu Hanukkah Song and Music Video

An uplifting pop gem arriving just in time for the holiday, "Miracle," produced by Dr. Luke protégé Kool Kojak (Flo Rida, Katy Perry, Ke$ha), is drenched in a joyful spirit and features chiming synths, bouncing beats and an irresistible chorus. Matisyahu says, "There are so many Christmas songs out there. I wanted to give the Jewish kids something to be proud of. We've got Adam Sandler's song, which is hilarious, but I wanted to try to get across some of the depth and spirituality inherent in the holiday in a fun, celebratory song. My boy Kojak was in town so at the last minute we went into the studio in the spirit of miracles and underdogs and this is what we came up with. Happy Hannukah!"

Get into the Hanukkah Mood With the Maccabeats

It's almost Hanukkah.  For your listening pleasure, there's nothing to get you in the mood like the Maccabeats "Candlelight."  Enjoy!

A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff

With her band Girls in Trouble, fiddler and singer/songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins wrote haunting songs about Biblical women. In her new project Rabins tackles a figure of a different kind: Ponzi-scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff.

A one-woman show about a man who ruined fortunes, bankrupted charitable organizations and whose actions seem to have driven people to suicide? Sounds odd, but Rabins's "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff" is a surprisingly sensitive and moving musical essay, and it just debuted in Madoff's hometown of New York City.

Extensively researched, "A Kaddish" includes songs from the perspectives of Madoff's wife, lawyer, and victims, as well as Rabins’s own attempts to spiritually and practically grapple with what happened. In "The Quant" Rabins tries to make sense of Madoff's reasoning: "I understand these things in a way most people can't/Futures contracts. Split strike conversions/I'm a quant. I can do the math. Most people can't." At the centerpiece is a moving rendition of the Mourner’s Kaddish, which doesn't only speak for Madoff's victims. In a way, it's speaking for the demise of Madoff himself, and of our trust in the financial system.

Clips from the show aren’t yet online, but you can listen to Rabins’s songs here, and check back for updates.

Gay Avek

Matt Honig, a documentarian from outside Washington, D.C., is making a movie that traces the history of Judaism, political change–and punk rock. Punk is a lifestyle that’s mostly tied to music, and it espouses a do-it-yourself culture. This makes for loud and fuzzy self-produced albums, and also music that expresses self-empowerment and the idea that–socially, politically, or otherwise–you can do anything.

Honig is only 17 years old, but he already has a few laurels as a filmmaker–he created a homemade animated film depicting the popular band Alkaline Trio, and the band released it as an official music video. Now, filming on Honig’s documentary (titled Tikkun Olam: The Relationship Between Judaism and Punk Rock) is underway. Honig and his collaborators are trying to finance it themselves, and to that end, they have released an mp3 compilation and a CD featuring some of their favorite bands. In honor of the punk-rock in-your-face attitude, the CD is entitled Gay Avek–that’s Yiddish for “go away.”

The 19 songs on Gay Avek highlight some unexpected crossovers between punk culture, folk culture, and activism. The CD includes great folk-singing activists such as Woody Guthrie and Leonard Cohen, who have strong Jewish ties.

Download it for only $5, or you can listen to the whole thing free. Or for $3 more, they’ll send you an actual CD in the mail, with some great cover art featuring a stenciled rendition of Emma Goldman. More than a testament to the radicality of Judaism’s past, it’s also a great sign that Judaism in the future–and the Jews of tomorrow–will continue the proud legacy of fighting the powers that be.

Silver Jews Ride into the Sunset

These days, writer and musician David Berman is getting more mileage out of his bizarre New Yorker-like cartoons than he is from Silver Jews, the band he used to lead.

The Silver Jews--for which Berman was once singer, songwriter, and lead guitarist--were a veritable force in the alternative rock scene of the 1990s. Silver Jews featured a rotating cast of musicians that included members of much more famous bands. As the band grew in popularity, their sound changed from a fuzzy indie-rock vibe to that of a more refined country band. And, as more people asked him about the band’s name, Berman was forced to confront what had once been a spur-of-the-moment joke. Ironically, that name eventually encouraged Berman's interest in his own Judaism. He began studying Torah every day and, on a trip to Israel, immersed himself in religious life.

Although Berman and co. aren't currently touring, the new album Early Times collects 14 previously-uncollected songs from the band's first days. Some of these songs, like "Secret Knowledge of Back Roads" and "I Love the Rights" are unpolished and brash. Coming after half a dozen Silver Jews albums, this new one feels disorienting and funny--kind of like looking at naked baby pictures of one’s grown-up friends. But it's also unexpectedly cool, seeing a band that turned out great, and knowing that it didn't always sound quite as seamless.

Dona, Dona - The Mystical Meaning

There is an old Jewish folk song called Dona Dona that I learned as a child in summer camp and it calls to me now. Is it just nostalgia or is there a deeper message? First let's review the words, and then look beneath the surface to find the hidden treasure of meaning.

On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye
High above him flies the swallow
Winging swiftly thru the sky.


Refrain:

How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night

Dona dona, dona etc.
"Stop complaining," said the farmer
"Who told you a calf to be?
Why don't you have wings to fly with
Like the swallow so proud and free?"

Refrain:

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered
Never knowing the reason why
But whoever treasures freedom
Like the swallow must learn to fly.

Refrain:

At first glance, this song seems like a lighthearted, somewhat sentimental dialogue between a farmer and his calf on the way to the slaughterhouse. The calf is sad because he is going to die and the swallow is flying overhead, indifferent to the calf's plight. The farmer rebukes the calf, criticizing him for being one and goading him into growing wings like the swallow, as if he could. The song concludes with a wry observation about the helplessness of calves and how easy it is to end their short lives. The final line, however, does give a hint that this song is not talking about a calf and a swallow, but about freedom. Many folk singers have sung this song, from Yiddish sopranos to klezmer bands to Joan Baez who sang it in English. They all find in it a universal message about the victims of oppression and the desire for political freedom. But there a deeper message in this song that points towards spiritual liberation.

Continue reading.

Life (and Music) after Death

Is listening to music a religious experience?

The autobiographical book Automatic: Girls, Death, and R.E.M., by Matthue Roth--who you might also know as the founder of Jewniverse--is about music, but it's also about friendship.

Growing up Jewish in working-class Philadelphia, Matthue became friends with Patrick, a Catholic kid. Both were social outcasts, bad dressers, and targets for bullies. Patrick had neurofibromatosis, a degenerative skin disease. Matthue was a nerd, hanging out in libraries and at his synagogue, praying with men 80 years older than him. But both boys found solace in R.E.M., a band of misfits and "geek rockers."

The two are on wildly different paths in life--Patrick plays guitar for a band that gets minorly famous; Roth becomes an Orthodox Jew. But the two share an unlikely friendship that perseveres until Patrick's sudden death.

The short book (it's about 50 pages) takes its title from the R.E.M. album Automatic for the People. The structure of the book is also based on this album, with 12 chapters, one for each track. But you don't need to like R.E.M., or even to know who they are, to appreciate this tribute. The book is available as an Amazon download, or you can click here to order a hand-bound edition that Roth designed himself.

Psalms for the Perplexed

As the lead singer of the Israeli band Teapacks, Kobi Oz was a wild, adrenalized vaudevillian. Most famously, in 2007, he scandalized the Eurovision music competition with a song about Iran's nuclear capabilities called "Push the Button." But Oz's new solo CD Mizmorey Nivuchim ("Psalms for the Perplexed") is surprisingly low-key--dominated by acoustic guitars, soft drums, and a string section.

The real treat of Mizmorey is a website with interviews, translations, and videos that explain the puns, language, and background of each song. Some songs are playful--"Prayer of the Secular" and "Zalman" question the piety of both religious and non-religious Jews--while the poignant "Elohay" ("My God") mixes recordings of Oz's grandfather singing traditional Yemenite songs with Kobi's own lyrics.

Still, Oz hasn't lost his ironic sensibility and snarky wit. And thanks to the Mizmorey website, we English-speakers can get the jokes, too.

The Black Bar Mitzvah

Rick Ross’ Mixtape ‘The Black Bar Mitzvah’ Gets Release Date & (Ridiculous) Cover Art

 

Rick Ross on Wednesday (October 3) made a surprise announcement to all his Twitter fans: he’ll be releasing the free mixtape The Black Bar Mitzvah on October 8 via DatPiff. In the process, he revealed the iconic-for-its-absurdity cover artwork. Yes, that’s a fur-clad Rozay superimposed on the Star of David. Does it signify a conversion? An inside joke with Drake? We don’t know, nor do we care; we’re just glad it exists.

The Bawse has been busy this year. In addition to brawling at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, he released the mixtape Rich Forever in January, then the Maybach Music Group compilation Self Made Vol. 2 in June and his #1 album God Forgives, I Don’t in July. Ross will also tour with his MMG cohorts beginning in November. Perhaps they’ll break out “Hava Nagila.”

The Jewish Dictators Who Invented Punk Rock

1977 was the year punk rock — lead by its (mostly) Jewish standard bearers, the Ramones — exploded out of New York’s Lower East Side. But a full year before the Ramones urged us to “eat Kosher salami,” another group was bragging that they “knocked ‘em dead in Dallas…they didn’t know we were Jews.” That group was the Dictators, and they didn’t just embody the wise-guy attitude that would define punk — they invented it.

Lead by the Star of David-wearing “Handsome Dick Manitoba” (born Richard Blum) and guitar genius Ross “The Boss” Funicello (born Ross Friedman), the Dictators were faster, louder, and funnier than anything else happening at the time. But mainstream success eluded them. After landing a slot opening for megastars KISS, the Dictators were kicked off the tour for daring to speak Yiddish to Israeli-born KISS frontman Gene Simmons.

Nearly 40 years after the release of their first album, the Dictators continue to reunite from time to time to remind people where punk rock came from, and where it can still go.

Kol Nidrei - Listen

The intense emotion and spiritual energy that can be generated by a Yom Kippur eve Kol Nidrei service is demonstrated by the story of the German Jewish philosopher, Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929). Rosenzweig grew up like many European Jews of his generation: his home was nominally Jewish and his religious education minimal. As a young man, he decided to convert to Christianity, as many of his contemporaries had done. He further decided that he must become a Christian not as "a pagan" but "as a Jew," i.e., not by rejecting his Jewish origin but by re-enacting what he saw as the culmination of Judaism in Christianity.

On Yom Kippur in 1913, he attended Kol Nidrei Services at a small orthodox synagogue in Berlin. Something dramatic happened to Rosenzweig that evening; while he never discussed the experience, he was clearly transformed by it. Not long after Yom Kippur, Rosenzweig wrote to a friend, "After prolonged, and I believe thorough, self-examination, I have reversed my decision. It no longer seems necessary to me, and therefore being what I am, no longer possible. I will remain a Jew."

The evening service on the Eve of Yom Kippur is preceded by the chanting of Kol Nidrei ("All vows"), a formal annulment of vows. The worshipers proclaim that all personal vows and oaths made between themselves and God during the year that not have not been fulfilled should be considered null and void. In Jewish tradition, the nullification of vows can only be performed a religious court, which always consists of at least three judges and is convened only on weekdays. The recitation of Kol Nidrei is therefore begun before sunset; two distinguished congregants, holding Torah scrolls, stand next to the Cantor in order to constitute a court.

Continue reading and also listen to clips of Kol Nidrei from different traditions.