Matt's Blog

Bush jokes at holding Cinco de Mayo party on 4th - Yahoo! News

2005-05-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

Bush jokes at holding Cinco de Mayo party on 4th - Yahoo! News

How did a man who can't read a calendar manage to get himself elected President? How can we trust a man who can't read a calendar to be President? As they said on Koffee-Tãlk, 'I am getting all farklempt, discuss amongst yourselves.'

The New York Times > Technology > Technology Special > Form & Function: As Cellphones Bulk Up, How Much Is Too Much?

2005-05-05T13:01:00.001-04:00

The New York Times > Technology > Technology Special > Form & Function: As Cellphones Bulk Up, How Much Is Too Much?: "In surveys of cellphone users, respondents say there are three things they always take with them when they leave home: wallet, keys and cellphone. A recent survey conducted for BBDO Worldwide, the advertising agency, found that 75 percent of cellphone owners in the United States kept their phones turned on and within reach 16 or more hours a day. And when asked if they had ever answered their mobile phones during sex, 15 percent said yes. Go figure."

Only in my twisted mind would I wonder if in countries where people are heavy text messengers, what the percent of people who text message while having sex?

Lets not even begin to start about the Jewish mothers who complain when the children don't pick up the phone. When you call them back, should you tell them that the reason you didn't pick up the phone was the you were in the middle of the act that has the opportunity to bring them a grandchild. What is the good jewish mother going to say;
"That wasn't a good reason for you not to pick up, you could have been dying and in need of a bowl of chicken soup. You were in bed, during the day none the less! Pick up the phone when I call you."

2005-05-05T13:01:00.000-04:00

Reading Jewish

2004-11-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > On the Avowed Left Coast, a Feeling of Being Left Out

I will leave my personal politics off this blog, and only comment on other subjects. Which means that I can comment on the quote of Wilder Schmaltz that ran in this article in the NYTimes.

"Given the gravity of things, there was really only one thing that Wilder Schmaltz, a 25-year-old Portland artist who had refused to remove the anti-Bush button from his lapel, felt he could do. He called a friend and headed straight to the Red and Black Cafe, an all-organic, wheat-free, vegetarian coffee and food shop, which is run as a collective and is a popular hangout of the Socialist Party USA's candidate for president, Walt Brown.

"I figured that in this place we wouldn't run the risk of being around any cheering Republicans," Mr. Schmaltz said.

Upon entering the cafe, Mr. Schmaltz, who is Jewish, grabbed off the cafe's bookshelf "A Beggar in Jerusalem," by Elie Wiesel, and read it glumly over a bowl of vegetarian chili. "Something Jewish will do me good right now," he said."

Why does one need a reason to read Jewish? And why does it matter that Mr. Schmaltz is Jewish . (And with a name like Schmaltz, why is that even a question.

I mean, what could be more Jewish than Schmaltz. (Schmaltz, for those of you would don't know is rendered chicken fat. Normally kept on the stove in a pot with onions and garlic. Think of it as the Eastern European Jewish equilivant to Lard in the Southern United States.) I wonder if because Schmaltz is such an obscure word if that means that one isn't teased that much about it growing up?

The Chronicle: My Own Private Library

2004-10-27T13:02:00.000-04:00

I think I may have this man's disease [which I believe is both a good thing, and in my family hereditary.] Now if I could only limit myself to one medium instead of two I might be better off. Currently I collect both sound recordings and printed words. My small space of America is over filling with books, magazines, CD's, and LP's. My collections are always growing at a faster rate then I am able to consume them, either by reading them or listening to them. Then there are the times when for weeks on end my collection doesn't grow at all, and I think that there is something wrong with me. Which there isn't at all, because in these weeks I have been productive in going through some of my piles of materials and cutting them down to size.

So I look at my piles of books and recordings, and think you know I could have a ton of more floor space if I put in more shelves. So I figure out what I need and start getting it. But living in a city and carrying things home on the subway has its disadvantages. You see the best places to acquire new books, CDs, LPs, etc. are near these same stores where I am getting the new shelving supplies. So can you guess what gets picked up?...

And another article for the chronicle to add, am I headed towards this path? And if I am not, how can I be? The Chronicle: In Praise of Eccentric Professors

The Observer | Magazine | Richard Dreyfuss

2004-10-21T01:10:00.000-04:00

There is something about the way that Jews interview, I can say what it is. I don't think of Richard Dreyfuss as a comedian, but he can still tell some good 'jokes.' Think Myron Cohen.

It is a shame that Richard Dreyfuss has retired from film, he has the right hair cut to play Myron Cohen. Not that a hair cut should dictate the parts that actors get.

The West Wing + Yiddish Theater

2004-10-21T01:03:00.000-04:00

The West Wing and Yiddish Theater is not something that one expects to hear in the same sentence, let alone hear a joke about Yiddish Theater on The West Wing. But yet, in the season opening episode, "NSF Thurmont" (Episode 2T5001), Leo (John Spencer) makes a crack about how you need something, and a bunch of raised eyebrows and we can start a Yiddish Theater troupe. I will try to head back the to TIVO and figure out what the first thing was, though the 'raised eyebrows' I think where the key.

I would think the key to starting a Yiddish Theater troupe would be Yiddish, but I guess raised eyebrows are more important. (When I think of raised eyebrows I think of a Marx Brother, but they weren't Yiddish speakers.)

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Online censor says no to the Horniman

2004-10-18T13:39:00.000-04:00

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Online censor says no to the Horniman

This really is too funny, I saw this first on ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News and just had to repost it. I won't even try to write something pithy about the subject, I will just let your read it for yourself.

Gastronomica | The Egg Cream Racket

2004-10-13T17:04:00.000-04:00

Gastronomica | The Egg Cream Racket

What scholars will write about on there road to tenure. To think, that this type of work can even sustain its own semi-scholarly publication. Nothing like an article that makes you thirsty, time to go get an Egg Cream.

Supertitles

2004-10-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

baltimoresun.com - Audiences hang on opera's every word

This article is wonderful in describing the issues that designers of supertitles have. (And even the technological issues). It is a good read for people who want to know how these things work, and why you shouldn't be scared of foreign language productions that have them, both as the cast and the audience. They are so much better than any headphone based systems, as they keep the cast in the center of the attention of the audience.

In Search of American Jewish Culture I

2004-10-05T23:37:00.000-04:00

Amazon.com: Books: In Search of American Jewish Culture (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture and Life) by Stephen J. WHitfield

So, I started reading this book tonight. I was troubled by his use of cultural references that may date the book, and make it harder for readers down the road to read. Some of the cultural references are ok, like "America's most effective dissident who would speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963." (No name of this person given, and this leads to a problem in the index, this reference to him isn't indexed while another one is.)

The cultural reference that gets me more is "Hart Schaffner and Marx." Though it is cited why does it have to be repeatedly used to refer to three Jewish Authors of the 20th Century. (This is the literary partnership of Roth, Bellow, and Malamud.) Notice that these writters write in English, and that the great American Yiddish writters are not included. And why limit this to just these three, where does someone like Potok fall? [Potok must be too Jewish, he doesn't even make the index. Though the book tries not to be complete, and as much has been written about American Jewish Writters doesn't dwell on the subject.

Jewish Guys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

2004-06-09T23:11:00.000-04:00

Has anyone else noticed that all the 'out' Jewish guys so far on Queer Eye have been married. This just seems very odd to me. Can't we see a single jewish guy on the show.

Steroids Scandal Rocks New York Philharmonic

2004-06-02T22:55:00.000-04:00

This tickled my funny bone, especially about the concertmaster getting traded for an entire flute section and a violist to be named later.

Anyone else notice that there is something about all of the last names in the article?

The Yiddishist

2004-05-30T11:23:00.000-04:00

The Yiddishist

Check out this blog, in the first 4 posts, I am mentioned in two of them. I must have fan club that I didn't know about before. Well, I knew about it, but I didn't realize how deeply I had penetrated some parts of the community.

As you may notice I am in the process of updating my blog. A new links section should be posted in the next couple of weeks, but if you go to the above link, you can figure out what my current project that is keeping me very busy is.

24 hours in a day

2004-05-26T19:21:00.000-04:00

Why can't there be more than 24 hours in a day. There just isn't enough time to get everything done. You start something, but then things with deadlines that are closer push it off to the side, and the next thing you know the thing that you started first still hasn't been finished, let alone looked at in days. Why can't there be more than 24 hours in a day, at least for the next week.

MSNBC - Bathroom break disrupts baseball game

2004-05-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

MSNBC - Bathroom break disrupts baseball game

Why wasn't this covered on Baseball tonight. Even if there aren't any pictures it is still a good laugh.

The New York Times > Magazine > The Multilevel Marketing of the President

2004-04-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

The New York Times > Magazine > The Multilevel Marketing of the President

Was I the only one troubled by the free labor aspect of this? It is one thing to have volunteers and they give what they can, it is another thing to put these types of demands on them. I like that they compare what they are asking for to what union groups do, but they forget that those labor groups are part of PACs and some of the people get paid.

In the end I guess that I should be glad that I don't live in a battle ground state.

Ode to gefilte

2004-04-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Ode to gefilte

Ah, now this is a fish I can agree with. Not that their are many fishes that I don't agree with. I like my fish sweet and with horseradish. Currently I have been getting the frozen kind that you cook, much better than the jar. Though if one needs to get the jar, I like the jelly over the liquid. Just plop the jelly on some good challah, and eat. The liquid isn't so good as a soup. And if in a restaurant and they have the stuffed gefilte fish (the true meaning of the word in yiddish is stuffed.). White fish stuffed with chopped fish, now there is a meal.

Cubs's Win, but game was umped ugly

2004-04-16T18:49:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! Sports - MLB - Box Score

C.B. Bucknor needs to be looked at by the head of the national league umpires. Wait, can some one knock the sense into the idiot who closed that office. I like inter-league play, but I can't stand inter-leauge umpires. The Cincinnati manager Dave Miley was ejected for arguing balls and strikes, and he was right. The pitch was a ball. Then in the 7th Dusty Baker was ejected for arguing lineup position after a double switch. How can an ump mess up a double switch?

I think both teams should have played the game under protest. This ump, needs to be looked at. If some catchers are having problems with pop-ups and the Hockey style masks, why are umps being allowed to wear them. They are fine for Hockey where you don't need to look up, but in baseball you need a much wider feel of view.

The Joel Files - Mover Shaker International

2004-04-15T01:13:00.000-04:00

The Joel Files - Mover Shaker International

They showed this documentary on WNET tonight in NYC. It is a very weird documentary, with sections that seem to have been cut that are part of the back-story of how it got made. It was very odd, but non the less a good documentary, it opened more questions that it had answers for. But what troubled me was the music that they chose to accompany it, mostly the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.

I have nothing against the symphonies of Mahler, I happen to be a large fan of them. But are they the right music to use when telling the story of the loss of a business by one family and the gain of it by another during World War II and how the respective families look back on it now.

Rain

2004-04-14T00:26:00.000-04:00

Today it rained, and rained, and then rained some more. Some rain is good; hours of rain, not so good. Forecast for the rest of the week, rain till thursday. Hopefully the weekend will be nice. I need to be up on my bike and riding. It's not fair, baseball season has started and the weather is still not cooperating.

Baseball as Chess game.

2004-04-10T00:10:00.000-04:00

The long and the short of it. 15 innings, the long of it. The short of it after 4 hours and 35 or so minutes, the cubs win 2 to 1. It was a lot of free baseball, and a hard fought pitchers duel.

A second quote

2004-04-06T21:41:00.000-04:00

Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia: "Here you can find your Trader Joe's grocery stores, where all the cashiers look as if they are on loan from Amnesty International and all the snack food is especially designed for kids who come home from school screaming, ''Mom, I want a snack that will prevent colorectal cancer!"

Need I say more?

Crunchy Suburbs

2004-04-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia: From the NYTimes Sunday Magazine.

"These are places with meat-free food co-ops, pottery galleries, sandal shops (because people with progressive politics have a strange penchant for toe exhibitionism)."

This line along with a couple of other in the story cracked me up. Now, I have a passionate hatred for suburban life, though maybe if I had grown up in a place with or near a crunchy suburb I wouldn't have such a hatred for suburbs. In the mean time though, I will just laugh.

Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars

2004-03-21T16:44:00.000-05:00

I had a chance to see the Klezmer Brass All-Stars last night at Mehanata; Balkan Cultural Club. Nice second floor bar in China town. It was a party for the movie Divan. The place was a bit small for everyone who wanted to dance. All in all it was a fun time. They had a DJ afterward, and normally I can't stand DJ's. But he was spinning so cool Balkan tunes, and even some Jewish shit. The Balkan Brass Band version of Hava Negila was really good. And there is nothing like a bunch of Yidn dancing the hora in a really tight circle and singing. I wonder what the normal people where thinking?

The weird thing was they had a TV at the bar that was showing some French show that to quote a friend was showing lots of teykhesls (pl. for Tuchas). It fit in really well with the band talking and their repertoire of drinking tunes.

Jackie Mason thinks I look Irish and not Jewish.

2004-03-14T17:17:00.000-05:00

Go out for brunch to see the pianist Irving Fields and I get insulted by Jackie Mason. What more could one want out of life. Some people might complain that Jackie Mason insulted them, it made my day. Everyone should get insulted by such a master equal opportunity insult tosser. If I talked to the man and he didn't insult me I would have thought something was wrong.

(I wonder if he would have thought I looked Jewish if he had seen the yiddish newspaper in my pocket.)

Schmendrick:

2004-02-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Does not a Jew kvetch when you talk to him? Does not a Jew tell a joke if you give him the chance?
-Jewspeare
Merchant of Lvov; act III

Don't Worry

2004-02-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

Ah, pitchers and catchers are reporting, which can only mean one thing; that the weather will be getting warmer. For those who are worried that this is turning into a blog about baseball don't worry. I read a number of sports web pages baseball sections and blogs about my favorite team, and I don't feel the need to re-hash what I read, so this blog will not spend too much time on that subject.

Most blogs have a list of links on the side, and I am giving that though, so you can see what read.

addictions

2004-02-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

There are many things that are addictive. Hi-speed wireless is one of them. So is Baseball tonight on ESPN, can they bring back the organ? Nothing like having a long weekend, and no hi-speed. Though I was able to get a lot of reading of some books in. Books, those are those products made from trees that can be read in a power outage (provided one has a light source, such as the sun). So the high speed internet is back, and the new issue of Heeb is here. (Yes, I have complete set, and I am not selling it yet.)

2004-02-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

Last nights concert at the Museum of Jewish Heritage; A Living (I respectfully leave off the rest of the name) presented a wonderful concert of neo-hasidic and hasidic music. Which of the two acts was the hasidic act and which one was the neo-hasidic act is up for debate. They both could be neo-hasidic, but as Jews, I doubt we could come to an agreement on that.

Opening was the sounds of Shekhina and Kol Isha. Lead by Frank London (Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave, Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, to name a few) it featured downtown guitarist Marc Ribot and keyboardist and thermin player Rob Schwimmer (The Zmiros Project, Simon & Garfunkel) as the names that the non-jewish music listening audience would know. Kol Isha is a group of women singers who sing mostly what would be considered men's material. (Most of the hasidic repertiore is men's material, so anytime women sing, especially in public.) And they are good, find someone to bring them to your city, or atleast go out and order the sound track to Divan that they can be heard on.

Yossi Piamenta was great, nice and raw. Both when he came out and played with Shekhina and traded amazing licks with Marc Ribot and with his band. They played a nice mix of tunes, but it is a shame that many of them are from the first Piamenta Brothers albums of Jewish Music, "A Medley of Oriental and Chassidic Songs" which to my knowledge has never been reissued on CD. In a way it wouldn't translate well to CD being just two tracks. But its raw fire power makes it worth tracking down a copy to hear.

Newest Klezmershack review, that I have very modestly written.

2004-02-02T20:49:00.000-05:00

Series Review: Milken Archive, by Matt Temkin

For those of you who may be interested, and even those who might not be, here is my latest review for the Klezmershack.

Lip-Synching Gets Real

2004-02-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

Lip-Synching Gets Real

I have noticed this for years, and it is a shame, because many of my favorite albums are live recordings. But I wonder if many of the people that I have pointed it out to over the years will believe me now.

My big question is if Broadway Musicals, which are performed 8 times a week can have live music, singing, and dancing, why can't "rock" shows that are performed 3 or 4 times a week have the same standard? And if performers aren't up to those standards should we re-think the type of performers that we (the music industry) plucks out. Their are plenty of people than can do it, (and don't need the pitch correction, and have the "right" bodies) why can they get the record contracts.

Billy May, 87, Musical Arranger With Sinatra, Is Dead

2004-01-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

Billy May, 87, Musical Arranger With Sinatra, Is Dead

Always a sad day when great musicians pass away.

Atlanta

2004-01-17T16:12:00.000-05:00

Sitting in my hotel during a block of off hours and what do I do, flipping through the mostly Tunner Stations (this is Atlanta), and what do I do. Spot on of my favorite movies and turn it on, I don't know why, I have it on DVD back in NYC (When Harry Met Sally).

We did have a good Spinal Tap moment when we got to the Hotel. They did have us down for the right number of rooms, but they had the wrong check in date. Makes it fun, no one was video taping it though for the documentary. (A documentary about a Yiddish Theater troupe on the road would make a good movie if some one wants to make it.)

Doing a "Michael Alpert"

2004-01-12T18:34:00.000-05:00

definition of doing a 'Michael Alpert,' flying into ones home city, only to fly out of town within a couple of days for another gig.

A home city is the place where one stores extra gear and clothing for multiple seasons. This is in most cases also the location where one has there main mailing address.

(Yes, this weekend, I both created the definition and did a 'Michael Alpert'.)

kalt

2004-01-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

Es iz zayer kalt. For the yiddish impaired, it is very cold. Other than than being back in NYC is good after a couple of weeks of life on the road. But this is short lived, as Wednesday I hit the road again to go down with the Folksbiene Theater company for Yiddish Theater in Atlanta. Many people ask me, 'why would they want Yiddish Theater in Atlanta?' To which I respond, that is why I am going, to set up and run the English Supertitles.

KlezKamp and Beyond

2004-01-02T22:32:00.000-05:00

Ah, the fun of getting a KlezKamp Kold. It came with the wonderful thing known as KlezKamp voice. You have to come to KlezKamp though to find out about it.

I was told it was because of the case of an inflamed Klezmer. But the source is not to be fully trusted outside of the confined areas of KlezKamp. She may be hip, but only within a small confined area (alright we will give her the far upper west side of Manhattan too.)

Time to get back to enjoying traveling and enjoying family in the midwest.

The Hebrew Hammer

2003-12-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

The Hebrew Hammer

If they are showing this film in your area, which it should be, you have to go see it. Nothing like a Jewploitation film to celebrate Hanukah.

You get to see tons of shots in my neighborhood, including one at the end of my street.

Angels in America

2003-12-09T01:02:00.000-05:00

So I took some hours out of my busy life to watch the first part of 'Angles' tonight. It is worth the three hours. (Well for me almost four with the times I had to pause it to make dinner.) If the film went to movie theaters it would be hard for it to not be the best picture. Every dollar that HBO shows up on the film, the special effects are great. They only add to the story, they don't overpower it.

The first annual Jewsweek gift guide

2003-12-05T19:23:00.000-05:00

The first annual Jewsweek gift guide

Let's see. I have number 5 (most of you should buy a copy), and I am thinking about buying number 16. Over all it is a good laugh.

This week has been very busy, and now it gets a topping of snow.

Great Performances . Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" | PBS

2003-11-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

Great Performances . Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" | PBS
So I watched Oklahoma! off the TIVO today, and is it just me or was their a little two much Bob Fosse in the second half of the dream sequence? (When they are dancing with the chairs, the original choreography was by Agnes De Mille. The show is from 1943, and this version is choreographed by Susan Stroman.)
Otherwise I like this production, the sets were great, as were the performances.

busy, busy, busy

2003-11-17T23:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry about not having posted lately. I have been very very busy. Life should settle down down around the first of the year. But hopefully I will be able to post some stuff before than.

Welcome to the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre!

2003-10-26T23:46:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre!

Go the Di Nekst-dorike. Very funny comedy, and I have just a little bit of an interest in the success of the show. I was the designer of the super-titles. And now that the show is open, and has had a couple of performances, maybe I can get some sleep.

Apple Store - SoHo

2003-10-16T13:41:00.000-04:00

Apple Store - SoHo

Cool place to watch the iTunes Music Store keynote. Place was packed, at-least a 150 people if not more. And whole bunches of people busy enjoying the wireless access. Check out the updates to the ITunes Music Store, still missing full liner notes. But the new features are cool. I won't give the away here. Just take a look.

heartbreak

2003-10-15T23:56:00.000-04:00

The past two games have been horrible. And then for the MVP to be given to Pudge, it should have gone to Beckett. He was the one who turned the series around and killed the Cubs. Well, life goes on. And as Cubs fans we get to say, wait till next year.

NLCS Game 2

2003-10-09T00:13:00.000-04:00

Seemed to be a great game, but I couldn't see it. For some strange reason on FX in New York City on DirectTV I couldn't see the game. Was a bummer, but the Cubs won.

Game 1 NLCS

2003-10-08T00:27:00.000-04:00

Man, a loss in eleven innings hurts. Man, you score 8 runs and you think you should win. Hopefully the Cubs can keep the offense up and win the four games they need.

Cubs Win!!!!

2003-10-05T22:57:00.000-04:00

Next up Florida. Four more wins to change the second set of numbers. Or as some say 3 down 8 to go to win it all. This makes the fast much easier.

I think Kerry Wood is the MVP of the series. Great pitching staff, and the hitters came through when they needed to. We can wait for Sammy's first home run of the player offs.

Next up is rushing home after class on tuesday to catch the next game.

ESPN Zone - NewYork

2003-10-05T11:56:00.000-04:00

ESPN Zone - newyork

Watched the Cubs game last night at the ESPNZone in Times Square. Nice place to watch a game, but oy what a heart breaker. Just thirty feet to the left or right and that ball would have been in the bleachers. What can you do. Hopefully they can pull it out in Atlanta tonight.

ESPN.com - MLB - Chicago's 'Loveable Losers' become winners

2003-09-27T22:53:00.000-04:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Chicago's 'Loveable Losers' become winners

The Lakeview Baseball Club sign now reads Eamus Catuli 005895. Need I say anything else. The sign used to read 145895. (numbers are in two digit units (don't ask what would happen if the two right digits are allowed to roll over) last division championship / last world series appearance / last world series victory.) Eamus Catuli translates roughly as Go Cubs.

Waiting for the Messiah of Eastern Parkway

2003-09-22T19:20:00.000-04:00

Waiting for the Messiah of Eastern Parkway (This past weekends NYTimes Sunday Magazine)

This seems to be a fairly even, though a bit short story. Their seems to be enough for it to be the cover story of the sunday magazine (if not a whole shelf of books.)

FORWARD : The Rabbi Plays One on TV

2003-09-20T12:59:00.000-04:00

FORWARD : Forward Living; The Rabbi Plays One on TV

Check out the last paragraph, I can understand Jason Alexander, Larry King, Arthur Miller, and Theodore Bikel. But Mary Hart, man my Yid Tracker really missed her. Then again I also missed the native Yiddish speaker on ESPN who hosts Around the Horn.

Playing Mona Lisa

2003-09-10T18:40:00.000-04:00

I watched "Playing Mona Lisa" on HBO this morning.
A) Don't watch the movie.
B) It is a funny Jewish movie.
C) See A.

It is about a piano player graduating from Music Conservatory, and the trials and tribulations that life leads her on. The only good thing going for it though is that the family is Jewish.

Other than that, my internet at home is not working. (Thanks Verizon).

iPod + Classes

2003-09-04T21:03:00.000-04:00

So, I joined the iPod generation today. Nothing like being able to walk around with your digital music collection. Slowly but Shirley my vinyl collection is also going to be finding its way over. This will make the hour trip to school much easier. (I could use the Mini-Disc player, but it was always to time consuming to impute the titles of tunes, I can't stand listening to something and not know what it is.) Now if only the iPod offered Yiddish as one of its languages, that would be a great way to work on my Yiddish skills.

Classes started this week, and so far so well. Today I tried to do my homework for Research Methods, but I can't access the proxy serve yet, it takes three weeks for e-mail address to be given out to new students which you need to have to sign in to the proxy server. (Which may still also be done from the power outage last month.) So tomorrow I will either make to the trip their or to the Lincoln Center Library so I can read an article in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and compare it to the entry for the same topic [composition] in the Harvard Dictionary of Music (which I have a copy sitting on my shelf, the 29 volumes of the Grove, even if I did have the money to get, I don't have a place to put them [though if I had the money to get them one would think I would have the money to buy a bookshelf to put them on.])

Labor Day

2003-08-31T20:55:00.000-04:00

Ah, the day of organized labor, and as a member of organized labor I enjoy the day off. Sorry for the lack of updates, my computer has been having some indigestion, but I think it is better now. After the AFL-CIO day of rest school will begin, so until then I will give you a flash back to the month of August.

I have traveled back and forth to Chicago, and up to the great frozen north of Kanada for KlezKanada. Luckily this time of year it isn't always cold. The kamp itself was great, but I was a little disappointed that they changed the chulent recipe. It no longer had egg shells in every-bite, not that I would wish it on anybody.

I now have three DVD's. "Fiddler on the Roof," "When Harry Met Sally," and "Mr. Saturday Night." Now if only watching all these love stories would help my own love life.

Power Outage

2003-08-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

I assume that you have heard of the power outage that struck the east cost of North America on Thursday July 14th. It took place in the middle of the 5th inning of the cubs game against Houston. (they were up 4 to nothing at the time, and went on to win (Holy Cow) 7 to 1.) And just 23 hours or so later the power came back. You never now how much you miss power until you don't have it. Other than that as I write this the cubs are winning.

I am headed next week up to klezkanada so I don't know if their will be a post before then or not.

meyn tog

2003-07-27T23:48:00.000-04:00

Today I was on Lee Avenue in South Williamsburg and picked up the New Piamenta Brothers Album, "Sason V'Simcha 'A Piamenta Wedding.'" The album is pretty good, in my mind still not up to the level of "A Medley of Oriental & Chassidic Songs" from 1982, but close. Presenting 46 tunes over the course of 2 discs it covers much of the standard material that would be played at a Wedding.

Yossi's guitar shredding is good, but their aren't enough of the Hendrix/Terry Kath guitar solos for me. When they do happen they are great. And it is cool to listen to the album to hear who the different influences are.

And for those of you wondering, the Klezmer track is only one tune, and it is Reb Duvidl (it also goes by a number of other names), and for many years was the generic "Jewish" tune in America before Hava Nagila took its place.

2003-07-20T17:04:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. The YIVO summer Yiddish Program has been keeping me very busy, but it is worth every second of the day that I spend going to classes and studying. Now if only the Cubs can get back in the race all will be good.

The Hasidic Rebel had a great posting on Thursday July 17th about Hasidic Music. I have to completely agree with him that the classic, recordings from 1950 to the mid 1970's, are much more interesting musical than modern Hasidic recordings. For some reason though, which I have yet to be able to figure out why, the hasidic music scene skipped the 1960's Beat sound, and went right towards Disco and 'Rock Ballad' styles.

More later, back to Yiddish Language and Culture.

2003-06-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

Sex and the City

Yesterday was my last day in the sound archives for the next month. I am taking some time off to do the YIVO summer institute to improve my Yiddish. The interesting music that I heard was a recording by Abe Schwartz from 1923 on the Strong Label. The version of the Russian Sher, a Russian Sher. The other side was a nice little Fun Der Chupe Tantz that I have never heard before. One of those nice little tunes that needs to come back into the standard playlists. Hopefully someone, or three will come into the sound archive to learn it.

On other notes, the Klezmatics will be appearing on an upcoming episode of the HBO show Sex and the City. Don't worry I won't give the reason that they will be on the show away, it is up for you to find a place to watch it if you don't get HBO.

2003-06-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

Question
Your boss is out of the country, your bosses boss stops in to talk with you. Your working in the database set up for you. They have lots of questions, which you try to explain. You didn't set up the database, and their are things that you would have done differently. But it does follow standards for the type of medium, sound recordings, that you are working in. Many of the problems that they had are the ones that you deal with on a regular basis. How do you deal with it?

Here is the main issue. Sound recordings are treated like books. Each track is equal to a chapter in a book. In a book it is not a big deal to search by keywords, and not be able to search by individual chapter titles. In sound recordings being able to search by by song titles while still looking at full recordings is important. Though it is still not a perfect solution, you will still miss things. EX. Ikh bin a Rothchild by Sholom Alekheim, by searching for Rothchild you will bring up all the examples of the short story in Yidish, and of any Yidish productions of "Fiddler on the Roof," but not the English version of "Fiddler on the Roof." Ikh bin a Rothchild is If I were a richman in Yidish.

While not an elegant solution my boss did come up with one with the software that he has. Using the older version of a database program, which at that point was still flat file and not relational, and having the records look the same as standard library records of sound files, one can search by track. It isn't user friendly but it does get the job done.

I sure hope that they don't switch to the proprietary library software that they are moving the rest of the institution to. It will go from being hard to find what you want to nearly impossible. What they need to do is give us the type of funding, that all institutions neglect to do, to full catalog our collections. Upgrading the software would help, but at some point you need to catalog it fully. This is an institution where the main catalog is still on note cards. Their are reasons, but technology is at the point where it can move to computers.

As a researcher I ask that you don't use proprietary systems that are only used for library cataloging. On one hand you are putting all our eggs in that one software companies basket. This is something that you are doing in any case, so you might as well use something that is used in lots of applications, because that software has a better chance of being supported long term. Two, I don't want to be limited to how I can manipulate my data like it is books. I want multi level searching where I can exclude data. I also want to be able to save my searches and sorts so that I can revisit them and continue to manipulate them.

I wish that I could tell you about some of the music that I listened to today at work, but the recordings that I wanted to listen to were listed in the catalog as being missing. And they were. It is a shame, even though they didn't have a complete set, they had the most complete set listed that I had ever seen. 8 out of the 10 sides. I have only heard 4. The 2 sides they did, I have heard.

2003-06-09T20:26:00.000-04:00

More YIVO Gems
While working in the sound archives I like to listen to different recordings. Todays selections were mixed as always. Here are some of the ones that stuck with me;

Chassidico Fever - When I saw the cover I had to take a listen. Remember in "Mr. Saturday Night" when Buddy Young Jr. is showing his apartment to Annie, he shows her a record of DiscoJew. The cover looked like that, except for it was three guys in beards and payes with fur hats on. It was ok, nothing special.

Fiddler on the Roof Goes Latin - I wish I could remember the name of the band leader, it was not a bad record, I like it. They are great tunes, and most of the Jewish-Latin projects that I have listened to work.

Last but not least I put on a recorded where the first side was by the Barton Brothers. You remember them from the Yiddish Radio Project, they are the guys that had the hit with "Joe and Paul's." What Henry didn't tell you is that their is a second side to that record, it goes on for like 7 and a half minutes. This record had three or four nice skits. One of them was memorable, it was a "jewish" version of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. One of the other cuts was this latin ditty that went all the place, not two verses went together. One of them had to do something with the cup sizes of womens' bras. Their stuff is just not up to the level that Mickey Katz material is.

Well, I should be back in the vault latter this week, and at that point another report of YIVO Gems will come out.

2003-06-05T14:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of Updates
Between the high-speed access at my place going down, and working on the Folksbiene Gala that was held last night at the 92nd Street Y. For those of you who were at the Folksbiene Gala, wow.

How about Ian Finkel, man was it fun to watch him play. Along with his brother Elliot and their father Fyvush they proved to be one of the great acts in an all star studded cast. The chops of the two brothers have to be seen to be believed, Elliot's piano playing is just amazing. Admittedly they are large guys, but to see someone who can play both extreme octaves at the same time, and then move back fast to the middle octaves are amazing. It was a shame that the cigar that graced Ian mouth for the reh.
during the day didn't stay for the evening show. But at least he kept up with the loud cave man auditory accompaniment / conducting during the show.

Other acts of note where the staged version of Ghetto Tango, Claire Barry, Lisa Fishman, and the film put together by Josh Waletsky. It was great to see 900+ people come together to celebrate an evening of Yiddish Theatre. The stories that Fyvush, Mike Burstyn, Claire Barry, and Alan King told about their time spent in the Yiddish Theatre of old were great.

And as the producer of the slide show accompaniment it was great to actually see pictures of people that I had only seen names of before. It was also great to get the opportunity to see so many great theater ads, and posters.

2003-05-24T12:51:00.000-04:00

Sound Archive Find
The other day while cataloging LP's in the YIVO sound archives I came across this amazing find. Two acetate on aluminum radio transcription discs from 1960. 1960! and they where labeled as disc to disc transfers from NBC radio. One would think that by 1960 NBC would have switched to using tape for their transcription recordings. If you didn't listen to the Yiddish Radio Project , radio transcription recordings are made for FCC, and advertisers to prove what was recorded. Most radio transcriptions discs are 16'', but these were only 14''. They run at speeds from a slow as 9 rpm to as fast as 78 rpm. These ran at 33 1/3 rpm, and that meant that they could be played back on any turntable. One last detail of note, disc one had sides 1 and 3, and disc 2 sides 2 and 4. This meant that if you had two turntables you could play this program back in order to be able play the program back for airplay.

So what was this great find? It was a copy of the "Eternal Light" a program on NBC that was overseen by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). This episode was from April of 1960 and told the story of how the YIVO archive in Vilna made its way to New York where it is to this day. It is really an amazing story. And after spending some time listening to it while I was cataloging I can say that their isn't much radio or TV that is like it today.

Even though it was a dramatic recreation of events, the level of detail that they went to isn't found much today. On radio you can listen to NPR, but for the visual details you have to turn to programs like Real Sports and On the Record on HBO. PBS is good, but for some reason the Newshour just doesn't do the say thing for me.

It is a shame that people don't spend the time to hear or tell the complete stories anymore. One could say it is great that we have all these media options, but as viewers we have to make sure that we as exposing ourself to great programming.

And on this last note, I am a huge fan of Baseball Tonight . But the change to most shows being a half hour this year doesn't do it for me. I miss the organ to much, and the old Going, Going, Gone was so much better to be able to use to keep track of who on your fantasy team was hitting the long ball. At lest the didn't mess at all with the web gems.

2003-05-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

2003-05-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

Lag B'omer
Tuesday was Lag B'omer, so I went out to Boro Park to see if I could find any interesting things happening. I was hoping to finds some live bands, but I wasn't able to. What I did find was a so Chabad children's rallies. One was in Boro Park, the other one was in Flatbush. Flatbush isn't as religious as Boro Park and is made up of more immigrants so there was a different tone at each one.

But even though I wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for it was still a good way to spend an afternoon and learn where things are in a different neighborhood in Brooklyn.

2003-05-16T12:46:00.000-04:00

Playing with Vinyl
This morning I was cataloging some of the recent Vinyl I have gotten in, along with some material that had been sitting around that need to be cataloged. I came across and interesting discovery. I had purchased a record and cookbook set last year on Ebay; Music & Food of Jewish Peoples. The cookbook is "The Art of Jewish Cooking" by Jennie Grossinger (yes, of the Grossinger hotel.) And it must have been a popular cookbook, it was on its 22nd printing.

But back to the record which was more interesting to me. The title was Jewish Wedding Dances - Horas - Shers - Waltzes, by the Joseph Korda Players. I had never heard of Joseph Korda, so I typed the record into the database and then cleaned and played it. From the moment the needle touched the Vinyl I knew that I already owned a copy of the album. But the other copy sure didn't say Joseph Korda on it. It was easy to tell, the clarinetist was Dave Tarras. The album was one of the albums that Dave made with Murry Leher but I couldn't remember which one. So I went to write an e-mail to someone about it. But while I was doing that I decided to look up the couple of albums that Dave and Murry did together and see if something clicked. Well it sure did, it lined up right on with "Freilach For Weddings, Bar Mitzvah and Other Celebrations - Vol.1" on the Request label (SRLP 10102 for those that are interested). They didn't even change the track order, or any names of the tunes.

You never know what you are going to stumble across when you aren't looking for it.

2003-05-15T18:06:00.000-04:00

Wow what a Cubs Game
If you continue to read my blog on a regular basis you find out that I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan. And I my say, wow what a game. Finally won by a Corey Patterson homerun in the top of 17th with 2 outs. Nothing like seeing a pitchers dual that goes 17 innings. The Cubs pitchers struck out 24, including all three batters that Todd Wellemeyer saw for the save in his first major league appearance.
The cubs now hold a 2.5 game lead over Houston, and a four game lead over St. Louis who they are now headed to play in a four game set. This should be a fun one, and hopefully I will be able to watch at least one of the three games that I will be able to watch in NY. (That is if Fox has the cubs game, if they don't they I have to try to catch at least one of two.)

2003-05-15T14:37:00.000-04:00

FCC Ownership Rule Changes
In a democracy it is important for our voices to be heard. While signing petitions might not help, it can't hurt. The FCC is voting the first week of June to change the ownership rules as to how many stations can be owned in one media market to a single entity. While it appears that the FCC vote is headed to change the rules, we still need to make our voices heard to our elected representatives in Congress.

Hopefully these rules won't be changed, and then we can go after some of the vertical media companies that are stifling the voice of artists have free speech. If you are going to pull my music off your airwaves, pull it because it doesn't fit your playlist anymore, not because of something that I say.

STAND AND BE COUNTED, HERE:

http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/

http://www.commoncause.org/action/petition.cfm

ARTICLES FOR MORE INFO:

common cause

Future of Music

2003-05-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Allergies
So where do Allergies go for a bite after a show? I wish I knew I would send my allergies there to get a bite to eat instead of being in my Hearts and Bones.

Ok, enough of that reference. I wanted to talk about another album that has been getting a lot of play time recently but that will have to wait until my head clear up a bit. So in the meantime check out the Hasidic Rebel . I happen to live in the same neighborhood by name, but not in the same zip code. But even in this neighborhood one zip code can cover a couple of different worlds.

And one last word of thought for the evening; something I said the other night, "Artists in America are treated like third class citizens in a single class society."

2003-05-14T19:04:00.000-04:00

So, why did I decide to start a Blog:
a) Everyone else is doing it.
b) It felt like the thing to do. I don't have a steady job that comes with a built in financial rewards. I have the free time, and I appear to have things that I want to say. This week I have managed to create a huge controversy on a mailing list that I am apart of. So this can be another forum for the three people who are interested in hearing what I have to say.

I will try not to keep this focused on any one topic, but will try to talk about a little bit of everything. From my general interests I have a feeling that Jewish Culture will be the focus of this blog. This venue is as good as any other to talk about what I am listening to and thinking about.

Now is as good as any time to start. I have been listening to the new Klezmatics record, Rise Up! Sheyt Oyf! a lot these past couple of days. I have been listening to it since last summer, but now that it is finally out I don't feel as bad about listening to it. And having the linernotes is such a joy.

Speaking of linernotes, I have played around with the iTunes music store a bit, but haven't purchased anything yet. To me at this point it is the linernote thing. Your not going to look at them all the time, but you never know when you are going to want to look at them. I will admit that the artwork isn't a good as days of vinyl but at least for long text sections you don't have to hunt around for the insert inside the jacket that is always getting lost. I have more to say on iTunes, but it will have to wait.