Summer Roundup

It's been a very eventful summer, to say the least. Little GuitarGirl is all growed up with one daughter on staff at Camp Shalom and the other one moving up the ranks and now ensconced at Camp Solelim. With autumn in the wings, Miriam is set to go off to Israel for the year and Yona starts high school.

My mother's memoir is getting ready to be published, and I'm busily working away at the one-woman show based on her life in Siberia, as well as transcribing Dad's oral history. It's premature, but I've picked out the appropriate props for Mum's show. They include: her first kitchenette set (circa 1954); a modest writing desk; and the chair she bought from Suzette's dad's furniture store the year she separated from Dad and lived at 12 Rockford Road in Willowdale. Those are the remnants of her life in Toronto that I've stored away in a little cubby in Englewood, NJ. I've also picked the music, including much vintage Polish and Russian stuff from the military and movies of the WWII era. I've also included Hollywood favourites of hers.

We went to Israel for a couple of weeks on what was to have been a productive business-meets-pleasure trip, but which became my struggle with a very nasty stomach virus. There was much of that going around Jerusalem, where we were headquartered. That knocked the wind out of my sails for around 10 days. I mostly slept, ate dry rye toast and drank tea.

When my energy level somewhat returned, I convinced Marty that we needed to go to the desert, away from the intensity and noisy continuum of Jerusalem. I wanted to look out and see magnificent sandy dunes, Sodom apple trees, crevices where the flash floods rage in winter, flocks of goats along the side of the road, and the Dead Sea in the background. I wanted to hear the sound of God, unencumbered. I wanted to feel the breeze that comes at 5.30 p.m. when the night air starts to blanket everything and forgive the baked ground its crusty summer blister.

We researched and found a bed and breakfast in Arad called Beit Ahuva. Since that was my Hebrew name, I thought it was worth a try -- if only to go down to the desert and consort with the locals and forget the noise and the congestion of the city. And all the English that dilutes the Middle Eastern experience. We were not disappointed. In fact, we were embraced by Yoel, the proprietor, who invited us to a barbecue he was having for a few friends at home that evening. We decided it would be easier if our new friends called us by our Hebrew names, so Ahuva and Moshe it was. In Yoel's crowd there are three people named Moshe, so it got more interesting as the beer and booze flowed, and as the platters of food came out. I even found a fellow Siedlecki in the crowd, who happened to be the daughter of a woman from Siedlec who married someone named Siedlecki. We immediately became fast friends.

I had been off meat for a good while by then, but the smell was irresistible. The Moshe who was called Mussa (Arabic for Moshe, despite the fact that like me, he is a Polish Jew with Lodz roots) was grilling away a mixture of beautiful cuts of tenderloin, chicken and some other fresh-cut and marinated meats. All things being equal in the Holy Land, the meat was neither kosher nor hallal, NOR shall I tell you from which Levantine brother this meat was purchased. This is how it is in the desert. There are no TV cameras here, showing you hordes of angry religionists gargling to God while threatening death and destruction to their enemies (that's about an hour away from here, which is considered pretty darned far). Everyone here is friendly; everyone has a gun. But these things are never discussed. What's more of interest these days are the upcoming Israeli elections, the new plant that got approval in a very hush-hush manner, the new mall that is supposed to be happening. You can get a villa overlooking the desert here for $125,000. Or a lot for much less. They are not eager to bring the masses from the city down here. That's just a lot of talk.

Back in Jerualem, after this wonderful getaway, we made some progress catching up with work, rescheduling meetings and seeing people we had been trying to see. There was nothing on TV: My football team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, was off. But then I got word of a Betar Jerusalem v. Wisla Krakow game that sounded interesting. I felt a low-level excitement. There was a buzz in the air about this match. We hit a local sports bar in a trendy neighbourhood of Jerusalem where the sound was turned up as the first game, at Teddy Stadium (just up the road) was taking place.

The bar went quiet. We shouted at the TV. We were tense. We were quiet, and then we shouted at the TV some more. At half-time, Jerusalem was down and it looked like the Krakow team would take the game.

But surprise of surprises when the next morning the paper came, heralding a Betar Jerusalem victory over the Polish team. The city of Jerusalem sprung to life. The game had stimulated great discussion. What was our fascination with this game? It seemed to affect the Eastern European Jews more, but the Sephardic Jews were also empathetic.

We would have a few days to play "Monday morning quarterback" and figure out what went right, what went wrong, and how "we" were going to prepare for Game Two, which was to be played at week's end in Krakow. Fans bought their tickets and made their way to Poland. The team was delayed due to a mechanical, and arrived to Poland exhausted. The management took a trip to Auschwitz to pay respect to Holocaust victims. There was a murmuring about the anti-Semitic nature of the Poles, and particularly of the Polish fans.

Game Two was the elimination round for a face-off against Barcelona. I was torn. I didn't really know where my loyalty lay. Was I going to be faithful to Poland, or to Israel? Could I be objective?

I joke about the nature of football, calling it "a man soap opera." But in fact that's just a front for how I really feel. It's about gaining power in the international arena for a fleeting moment -- to feel almighty and to represent your people, to lift their spirits, no matter how powerless governments and armies make them feel.

According to Wikipedia:

Two Jerusalemites, David Horn and Shmuel Kirschstein, decided in 1936 to form a local football team. David Horn was the local chief of Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist (liberal nationalist) Party, a pre-statehood Zionist movement. To this day Beitar fans are generally identified with that movement's successor party, the Likud or other right-wing groups. The leaders of the youth federation saw this as a project to produce a football club with Beitar's self-defined qualities of Hadar (self-respect) and Hod (glory). The earliest squad was composed entirely of Beitar youth members, including a future government minister, Chaim Corfu. They played initially at the "banana field" close to Beitar youth group's "nest."

Beitar's association with the Revisionist Party quickly brought them into conflict with the British authorities of that time, as well as the fans of Hapoel Jerusalem, a team connected with the Jewish socialist Israel Workers Party (Mapai) in the years 1939-48. Most Beitar players were also secretly members of the Revisionist-affiliated National Military Organization (Irgun Zva'i Leumi) or Freedom Fighters of Israel (Lehi), two groups in open rebellion against Britain's control over Palestine. In the 1940s the British arrested most of the group's players, exiling them to Eritrea and Kenya along with many Irgun and Lehi leaders. Part of their defiance (which also included legendary prison escapes) was the forming of the Beitar Eritrea side that included Micah Aharoni, Corfu, and the goalkeeper Moshe Baruch. In 1948 the British Mandate ended and the interned players were repatriated to the new State of Israel.

As for Wisla Krakow, Wiki says:

The history of Wisła started during the fall of 1906, when (probably in October) Dr. Tadeusz Konczyński organised the Krakow Błonia, the first football tournament in the city. He also founded four teams (among them one came from the Second Real School) and football uniforms which came to him from England. The school's team (also called Szkolnikowski's team) was given light blue shirts with a black bowl on their chests, which was divided by a blue belt. This is why they were called "The Blues". Their first captain, and also the person to coin the name "Wisła" was Józef Szkolnikowski - goalkeeper. Prof. Tadeusz Łopuszański was the club's first chairman.

In September 1907 "The Reds" (Jenkner's team) merged with Wisła, and soon after "The Pinks" did the same. That is when Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła officially began. The Blue shirts were changed to red, but the black trousers remained. When the first uniforms arrived from Berlin, two light blue stars were present on the shirts. It was decided that only one would remain, though its colour would be changed to white. This is how "The White Star" became the recognized symbol of the club. From that time on the club had its ups and downs, winning national championships and gaining European qualification. The club was also relegated on three occasions to the second division.

The fateful day came when the two teams met in Krakow. I watched the match. I knew from the instant Betar took the field that they were not equipped to deal with this very focused, very professional team on their home turf. At the end, the pundits said, "I told you so" and the headlines would read, "Habayta (homeward)" in the papers.

It was hard to watch that game and not think about the dual loyalty - how some people may want Jerusalem to beat Poland because it's about Jews against their former neighbours. On the other hand, it was clear that this was football - plain and simple. And that Wisla Krakow was going to win and face Barcelona no matter what, because that's what was on their minds. The Israelis seemed distracted and beaten down by the end of the first half. The overwhelming sound of the Wisla Krakow fans was deafening, even from all these miles away.

The Israeli commentators did their job with great resignation in their voices, but they were intent to note that there was nothing anti-Semitic about the behaviour of the fans, the Polish news stories, etc. This was purely about the best athletic team. And Krakow was it. And the Brozek brothers are truly amazing athletes that deserve our respect and praise. Period.

My gut was that I would now root for Krakow to overtake Barcelona. Which I did.

Nothing left to do but get ready for September.

Scrabble enthusiast Maurice DeCanio, 66, of Bergenfield

Saturday, June 21, 2008

BY JAY LEVIN

Bergen Record Staff Writer

Qat. Xu. Vug. Twa. Nidi. Khi. Qaid. Zebu. Oot. Zerk. 

Photo caption: Maurice DeCanio of Bergenfield with his grandson Anthony Marco. A friend called him "one of the great gentlemen of Scrabble."

They look like typos, but they were things of beauty to Maurice DeCanio.

The Bergenfield wordsmith and retired automobile upholsterer, who died June 13, enjoyed Scrabble for much of his 66 years.

He played frequently and proficiently. He mastered the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. He knew that the anagrams for his first and last names are URAEMIC and CODEINA. And he shared his passion for the venerable crossword game with others in the National Scrabble Association's Club 251.

Maurice, known for his warm smile and neatly trimmed goatee, was "one of the great gentlemen of Scrabble," said club member Paul Mistrette of Little Falls.

As director of Club 251, which meets Thursday evenings at the Rodda Community Center in Teaneck, Maurice kept the matches moving, paired players according to skill level, adjudicated word challenges and patiently gave advice to novices, such as, "Don't squander that blank! Don't waste that S!"

And if there was an even number of people on a club night, Maurice would pull up a chair and play.

"Maurice was never less than gracious to everyone, from nervous newcomers to the old timers," said club veteran Marian Calabro of Hasbrouck Heights. "And Scrabble is a hobby that can attract - how can I put this? - some odd people."

Lynda Kraar of Teaneck joined Club 251 seven years ago. She learned the words and board strategy. And before venturing onto the tournament circuit, she asked Maurice to critique her play.

"I'd sit with him and play a game, and he'd tell me how I could've played it differently," Kraar said.

"Maurice was really happy to see how I progressed. All the ladies in the club are afraid to play me now."

No one was happier than Maurice when Kraar broke 500 for the first time.

It didn't matter to Maurice that he was Kraar's opponent that game.

But that was the great thing about Maurice: There was nothing cutthroat about him.

How does a person become a Scrabble maven?

Maurice DeCanio wasn't into book learning at Teaneck High School, said his wife, Joyce, but he did play Scrabble as a kid and was a lifelong reader.

Give him a novel, and he'd devour it in two days.

He just loved words.

A 40-year resident of Bergenfield, Maurice worked as a lithographer and then owned a couple of bars before settling into automobile upholstery.

A clue to his trade: His everyday Scrabble board is set in a turntable of blue imitation leather.

Maurice kicked his hobby up a few notches when the Teaneck Scrabble club was formed 20 years ago.

Like all serious players, he studied laminated lists of anagrams and bizarre two-, three- and four-letter words. He kept the lists "all over the house - the bedroom, the kitchen, the living room," said his daughter Lauren Marco, a special education teacher at Hackensack High School.

Marco said she used to play Scrabble with her dad - "until he got too good."

Maurice also squared off against unseen opponents.

"He played online every day," Joyce DeCanio said. "He got the program that allowed him to play people from all over the world - in Fiji, in Australia … "

Maurice's official Scrabble rating, based on his performance at sanctioned tournaments, was 1556, just below expert level. Putting 1556 into perspective, the world's top player is rated 1978; beginners clock in at, say, 600.

On June 12, a Scrabble night, Maurice ran the club as usual, got home at 11 o'clock and went to bed.

He died in his sleep of a heart attack.

"That was the last thing Maurice did - attend a Scrabble club meeting," said Joyce DeCanio, mourning a husband who appreciated good food, good wine, good company - and good tiles. "I hope he got to play."

Thank you, New York!

What a fabulous feeling to be playing to a full house at Symphony Space. It was a thrill. See you there again next year!

Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus
brings Yiddish song to Symphony Space


NEW YORK CITY -- After years of packing smaller houses around the city, the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus will make its debut at NYC’s 700-seat Peter Norton Symphony Space for its 86th Annual Spring Concert on Sunday, June 1, at 4 pm.

Peter Norton Symphony Space, which has already signed up the JPPC for 2009, will enable a much larger crowd to hear the Chorus' century-long repertoire of rare and popular Yiddish music, directed by composer/conductor Binyumen Schaechter.

And yes, there is a new wave of people from all walks of life, ages, and religions who are becoming enthusiasts of this 1,000-year-old “mame-loshn (Yiddish for mother tongue) ” spoken by Eastern European Jews, and the music that helps keep it alive.

Founded in 1922, the all-volunteer JPPC boasts members ranging in age from 20s to 80s and has made guest appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Shea Stadium, Ground Zero, the Museum of the City of New York and, most recently, at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The Chorus’ membership includes students, grandparents, Canadians, Israelis, a Brit, gays and straights, all of varying levels of Jewish observance. Some people speak Yiddish, such as the adult children of Holocaust survivors and late Yiddish poets and thinkers. Some speak no Yiddish at all, but love the music. Conductor and Manhattanite Binyumen Schaechter is himself the progeny of the illustrious late Yiddish linguist Mordkhe Schaechter.

There are lawyers, retirees, recent college grads, and veteran journalists from The New York Times and the Financial Times. There is even the gifted soprano whose jaw-dropping rendition of "A Brivele Der Mamen" could rip your heart out, and who spends her life devoted to Yiddish culture and music. Not Jewish.


This unlikely army of Yiddish singers gathers once a week at the social hall of an Upper West Side senior residence to rehearse its dynamic repertoire -- no less diverse and interesting than the singers – from exciting oratorios and comic operettas to labor anthems, beloved folksongs, and popular tunes.

In its June concert, the JPPC will spotlight the songs of the "Father of Yiddish Theatre," Abraham Goldfaden, who is famous for his lullaby "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen" / "Raisins and Almonds." It will also perform Wolf Younin and Maurice Rauch's rarely heard folk oratorio,"Fun Viglid biz Ziglid" / "From Lullaby to Song of Victory," tracing the lives of two Jewish children before and after the Holocaust. English translations will be provided.



"Two seasons ago, the JPPC’s selling point had been Sholom Aleichem and I.L. Peretz, whose names themselves sold tickets," explains Schaechter, referring to two of the most renowned and best-loved Yiddish authors of the past century.

Last year, the Chorus featured works by beloved Yiddish composers Mordecai Gebirtig and Mark Warshawsky, who are not exactly household names, Schaechter says. "But as soon as you mentioned ‘Afn Pripetshik’ or ‘Es Brent’, the crowds came running.”

This year, two of the top Yiddish hits, “Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen” and “Afn Pripetshik,” will round out the JPPC’s spring concert, which will also feature lesser-known but equally spellbinding material into which Schaechter has breathed new life.

The JPPC will perform at Peter Norton Symphony Space on Sunday, June 1, at 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 and $15. Symphony Space is located on New York City's Upper West Side, at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. To buy tickets, visit either www.thejppc.org or www.symphonyspace.org, or call the Symphony Space box office at 212-864-5400.


All about Binyumen Schaechter

Binyumen “Ben” Schaechter is an award-winning composer of musicals, revue songs and cabaret songs which have been performed in theatres and cabarets everywhere. Represented off-Broadway by his musical Double Identity, and in four revues: Naked Boys Singing (now nine years running in New York; also performed throughout five continents, with a film version released on DVD last year); Pets! (published, Dramatic Publishing); That’s Life! (Outer Critics Circle nomination); and Too Jewish? (with Avi Hoffman), for which he was also the Musical Director and on-stage pianist/back-up singer (nominated, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards). Too Jewish? was also seen on PBS TV stations across the nation last year. Other musicals include: The Wild Swans (ASCAP's Bernice Cohen Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre; Eugene O'Neill National Music Theatre Conference) and Dinner at Eight (2001 BMI Foundation's Jerry Bock Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre).

Ben’s music has been sung by Nancy Dussault, Tovah Feldshuh and Andrea Marcovicci; featured on PBS, ABC and NBC; and recorded on nine CDs, including five original cast albums and IT HELPS TO SING ABOUT IT, all songs with Ben Schaechter’s music. He is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman-Engel-Musical Theater Workshop, and a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.

Now in his "bar mitzvah" 13th year of musical direction with the JPPC, Schaechter’s arrangement of “Borukh Ate,” and original composition , “Ba Di Taykhn Fun Bovl”, will be performed during the June 1st concert.


The skinny on this year's concert’s composers

Jacob Schaefer, founder and "patron saint" of the [formerly Communist] Yiddish Choral movement. Born 1888. Celebrating his 120th anniversary with compositions and arrangements including: “Tsigayner-lidm Nishka,” “Tsum zig” two very different songs by the same name of “Viglid,” “Kirchn-glokn,” “Komunarn-lid” and “Dunay.”

Abraham Goldfaden, father of the Yiddish theater. Died 1908. Commemorating 100 years since his passing with “Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen,” and medley of “Tsu Dayn Geburtstog,” “Flaker Fayer [melody of “Haynt iz Purim”],” “Drey Zikh,” “Di Milekhl [melody of later "Drey zikh du dreydele"],” and “Gekimen Iz Di Tsayt.” The chorus will be singing the medley in the dialect of Goldfaden and the Yiddish theatre, known as "Voliner Yidish."

Wolf Younin, known Yiddish author and teacher. Born 1908. Celebrating 100 years since his birth with “Fun Viglid Biz Ziglid.”

Mark Zuckerman, great a cappella arranger of Yiddish choral music. The JPPC has sung many arrangements of his through the years, including “Dolye Mayne,” “Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern,” “Vilne,” “In Kamf,” “Mayn Rue-Plats,” and others. Born 1948. Celebrating 60 years since his birth with his composition “Mir Zaynen Do Tsu Zingen” and arrangement of “Amerike di Prekhtike.”

Marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish State of Israel, the Chorus will also perform two Hebrew compositions sung in Yiddish for years, including “Ba Di Taykhn Fun Bovl (By the Rivers of Babylon/ Al Naharot Bavel)” and “Af A Bergl (Galil Melody / Alei Giva Sham Ba'Galil).”

From the GuitarGirl industrial kitchens high atop Teaneck, NJ....


THE POPOVERS OF OUR AFFLICTION

My mom's recipe...delicious when warm and will keep for days in a zip-lock bag. You can double/triple up the recipe to make lots for company.

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup matza meal
3 eggs

Bring oil/water/sugar/salt to a boil in a pot on the stove. Remove and add matza, stirring thoroughly. Let mixture cool. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Once the mixture has cooled, add one egg at a time, stirring through until thickened.

Spoon directly onto cookie sheet or put 1-2 tbsp. per bagel in a muffin pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes. They are done when nice and brown, and they should be hollow and airy inside.

Suggestion: Serve warm with a teaspoon of strawberry jam inside the popovers.


THE SPONGE CAKE OF OUR AFFLICTION

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Small bowl for frothing the egg whiltes
Larger bowl for yolks and cake mixture (you will be folding the whites into this bowl)
10-inch tube spring-form

7 eggs
1.5 cups sugar, sifted
1.5 tsp. grated lemon (or orange) rind
1.5 tbs. lemon (or orange) juice
3/4 cup potato starch
dash of salt (not more than 1/8 of a tsp)

1. Separate six of the eggs. Beat the whites with a dash of salt until frothy and nearly stiff. It should make a nice peak.

2. Beat the yolks plus the 7th egg until frothy and creamy yellow. Gradually add sugar, juice and rind. Then gradually add the potato starch and be sure to froth it through the mixture.

3. Fold the whites into the mixture gently.

4. Place in ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) about 55 minutes or until cake springs back when touched gently with fingers. Invert pan IMMEDIATELY and cool thoroughly before removing cake.

Six degrees of musical separation



Our house in Teaneck, NJ, was built in 1922, and for a significant part of its life it was a church. It is on the historic registry in town, and one can find information about it at our local library. Every so often someone will stop by and tell us that they spent their early childhood in our basement, which was once a daycare centre, or that they recall the years that our house was a church, or that they remember the lovely family from whom we purchased the house.

One summer evening, about a year ago, a lithe, beautiful woman with a long, silver ponytail and a very attractive younger woman with two tots appeared at my door. The elder woman said that she grew up in our house in the days when it housed the church. I invited her inside and wanted to hear everything. We had always had a lot of questions and very few answers. She would open up the walls for us and let them speak their volumes.

As she entered our den, she sighed, "This was the organ room," and, pointing to the TV, "Yep, that's where the organ was."

She saw not the packed bookshelves that adorn the room, my thousands of record albums or my wool stash behind the reupholstered chair that Dad had once rescued from the trash in Toronto. She saw her childhood. It was the first time in at least 40 years since she had been in the house.


In the year that has passed since that encounter, we have learned a lot about each other. She is a talented artist who makes and exhibits dolls from her base in Maine, and she is the mother-in-law of a Russian operatic singer who is appearing this week at Weill Auditorium in New York City.


Here's how The New York Times described his Tuesday performance, which is being repeated tonight:


French Ingredients, Russian Dressing


The baritone Anton Belov accompanied by Steven Blier in “Obsession à la Russe” at Weill Hall.
Photograph by Erin Baiano for The New York Times

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

April 17, 2008

The mutual attraction between France and Russia, which began in the 18th century when Peter the Great’s daughter the Empress Elizabeth became fascinated with all things French, was a marriage of opposites: musically, the weighty, mournful Russian sound often contrasted with French transparency and spirit. But a program called “Obsession à la Russe,” presented by the New York Festival of Song at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday and enlivened by the witty commentary of the able accompanist Steven Blier, challenged some of those musical stereotypes. When planning the event, Mr. Blier said, he noted how Russian the French composers could sound — “in their own diaphanous way” — and vice versa.

The first half of the concert, titled “Russia Looks West,” featured songs by Russian composers set to French poetry, beginning with Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s “Au Bal,” a Gallic-flavored parlor piece sung by the young tenor Nicholas Phan. Anton Belov, a baritone with a rich, mellifluous voice, sang two of Tchaikovsky’s “Six French Songs” and “April! A Festive Day in Spring,” an unusually cheery rarity by the teenage Rachmaninoff. Dina Kuznetsova, a soprano with an attractive, bright voice, performed selections including the passionate “Music” by Sergei Taneyev, a student of Tchaikovsky. Ms. Kuznetsova and Mr. Phan combined for three “Vocalises” by Prokofiev, one of a number of Russian artists, including Diaghilev and Stravinsky, who lived in Paris.

The Franco-Russian traffic went both ways. Berlioz, Saint-Saëns and Debussy visited Russia, and many French composers were influenced by their Slavic colleagues. In the second half of the program, “Russia Comes West,” Ms. Kuznetsova sang Stravinsky’s delicate “Two Poems of Konstantin Bal’mont” and Satie’s “Daphénéo,” from a set of three songs dedicated to Stravinsky.
Mr. Phan, whose emotional palette seemed limited, performed songs by Poulenc (the first, “Le Portrait,” an example of the composer sounding like Stravinsky, Mr. Blier said) and Ravel’s “Sainte,” whose chords evoke the Orthodox Church.

The highlight of the evening was Mr. Belov’s powerful renditions of signature songs of the bass Fyodor Chaliapin, another Russian who lived in Paris, including “Trepak” from Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death” and the title character’s aria from Rachmaninoff’s “Aleko.” In “Nochen’ka,” a melancholy folk melody, Mr. Belov sounded particularly fine, singing with urgency and soulful pathos.

The program is repeated Thursday night at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall; (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org.

Separated at Birth?

Something in these two pictures is the same. Can you figure out what it is? I'd love to hear from you when you figure it out. Bonus points if you hit on the the special thing that ties three subjects from these two pictures together.

While you're thinking on that, I would like to give a shout out to Martin Scorsese on his inspirational and electrifying documentary/concert film Shine a Light.

Ain't nothing wrong with vintage, baby.

It was the first time ever that I was able to distinguish the sound of specific equipment onstage -- guitar pickups, amps -- to actually close my eyes and know exactly what I was hearing. After following his record of music documentary making I have a hunch that this was Scorsese's executive creative call.

I don't care what kind of pickups one uses, how jumbo your jumbo frets are, or how kick-ass your groove tubes are: Most of the time you get on the stage and everything turns to mud. A hollow stage, the shape and material of the room, the placement of the equipment, screaming people -- there is nothing that will not contribute to the mud. Sometimes you get so lost in the mix that you just stand there, trying to hear your own amp.

In that case the only solution is to turn it up loud and play it through two amps. Not a bad thing: It actually makes you play more tastefully.

I feel like I've spent my career trying to find my "voice" in a club setting without simply twiddling the volume knob on the guitar and the amp. I learned from Danny Marks a long time ago a simple formula: bass at 3, treble at 7, and reverb never more than 3 (volume is a personal taste-slash-pain-threshhold thing).

To that I add a little analogue echo for the appropriate slap-back and boost the volume into just this side of overdrive for the straight-ahead rockers, some chorus for the ballads, and a super-clean Steve Cropper chunka-chunka sound for the R&B with a mid-speed echo for the reggae and ska whukka-whukka stuff. I have a couple of wah pedals that I dust off for that purpose, too. Great fun. That's mostly for the Fender Telecaster, but also applies to the more diva-ish Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville with the Bigsby arm that does not like temperature or humidity changes.

But...once you start singing as well as playing, you get distracted by your need to look out into the audience and get into party mode, play Musical Director, and sing on key. Add a big crowd of friendly music lovers and you can forget about it. Mud.

So how nice was it to have an advocate for clean, distinct sound that was so clear I thought I was in my basement, just me and my own equipment, responding to each other's voices. I actually feel guilty for not paying that much attention onstage.

Thank you for your sensitivity, Martin Scorsese. And thanks for understanding and demonstrating how important these things are to the musicians. At the end of the day, it is the listener who is the beneficiary.

So....have you figured out the answer to my quiz yet?

!!! HaPpY PuRiM !!!

I did it! I finally came out of the closet!!!

YOUR NEIGHBORS
Mother of two gets high school degree
Recent graduate, 48-year-old Lynda Kraar, is the valedictorian of her class.

Teaneck Suburbanite , March 5, 2008

Mom proves it’s never too late to earn a GED

48-year-old Lynda Kraar decides to pursue her high school diploma

By Pilar Aragon
Correspondent


For those approaching the half-century mark, a mid-life crisis may be looming. But that doesn’t mean you should be turning in your family’s SUV for a Porsche or seeking Oprah’s latest makeover. It might just mean that it’s time to go back to school like Lynda Kraar, of Teaneck, did to get her GED.

“To those who say your hair is gray, you’ve had your best years, your race is run, make room for the new ones, I say, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” said Kraar, [quoting poet Dylan Thomas].

At the age of 48, Kraar has set her sights on getting an associate degree in fine arts for music at Bergen Community College (BCC) after getting her GED this past February 14, the day of her father’s birthday and almost five months after his death.

Nowadays, working on class assignments is a task she shares with her two teenage daughters, Yona, 14, and Miriam, 18.

“She’s a fantastic role model,” says Kraar’s oldest daughter who is a high school senior.

When asked about watching her mom give her valedictorian speech as she received her high school diploma at BCC, she responded, “It was inspirational to see our mom up there.”

“The family was very supportive,” said Marty Kraar, Kraar’s husband of 11 years. “She’ll never have to look back and say, 'I wish I had', because she did.”

Kraar’s high school education ended in the late 1970s when there was a teachers’ strike in her hometown of Toronto, in Canada. The teachers went back, but Kraar never did.

Unlike her parents who were Holocaust survivors from Poland with minimal education – her father was illiterate and her mother’s formal education ended when the Nazis forced Jewish children out of the schools – Kraar has had many opportunities including a career as a musician, journalist, music teacher and a non-profit professional specializing in communications and fundraising. Kraar and her husband recently launched a new business in Fort Lee, Kraar Associates, a consulting firm for the non-profit sector.

Despite her professional accomplishments, Kraar felt unfulfilled because she lacked formal education. After her husband became the executive vice president of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, she was surrounded by professionals who had multiple degrees.

“I was living deep in the closet and feeling very inadequate surrounded by people who had built their academic careers into fortresses of knowledge,” Kraar said. “I was afraid I would be found out.”

After Kraar’s mother died in 2005 and her father was placed in a nursing home, she decided it was time for her to reclaim her life and to do things she always wanted to do such as go back to school.

Most of the students in Kraar’s GED class were immigrants who never had the opportunity to finish their high school education, but were seeking to better themselves.

“She was an inspiration to everyone,” said Liz Murakhovsky, Kraar’s instructor. “Lynda was very open and honest about her needs and educational goals.”

Kraar’s next goal includes having her mother’s wartime memoir published in Canada later this year.

Photo Caption: Working on class assignments is a task Lynda Kraar, 48, shares with her two teenage daughters, Yona, 14, and Miriam, 18. Kraar is valedictorian of her Bergen Community College class, earning her GED this past Feb. 14. (Pilar Aragon photo)

Hi all,

As of Saturday,
the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus
and our CD
Zingt! - A Celebration Of Yiddish Choral Music
is on CD Baby
and mentioned first as a new listing!

Check us out!

Tell your friends and relatives about the listing!

Ask them to buy the CD!

If they have it already,
have them go to the site and add a favorable comment,
a rave review!

And you do the same!

http://www.cdbaby.com
and click on new arrivals/world/yiddish.

Or click on http://cdbaby.com/cd/jppchorus

At the bottom of the screen there
is a place for comments.

The CD is also featured in two different places in
our STYLE/GENRE GALLERIES:

http://cdbaby.com/style/460
and
http://cdbaby.com/style/169

Let the world know about our Chorus and our CD!

Deal or no deal?


Deal.

He brought the Delta blues to players,
audiences here

By Daniel Rubin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Jerry Ricks, 67, a Philadelphia-born guitarist whose expert finger-picking was a direct link to the Delta blues, died Monday in a clinic in Croatia.

His death was announced by the Croatian Music Union, according to an Associated Press report. He had been living in the Balkan nation since early summer.

In August, Mr. Ricks went to a hospital, complaining of headaches and dizziness. Doctors determined that he had a brain tumor. He underwent repeated surgeries for removal of the nonmalignant growth and for a subsequent infection, his partner of 17 years, Nancy Klein, told The Inquirer in October. At the time, he was making a slow but steady recovery.

Mr. Ricks learned to play guitar from some of the greats as they came through Philadelphia clubs in the 1960s: Josh White, Mississippi John Hurt, Brownie McGhee, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Skip James. He in turn taught an authentic style of country blues to legions of guitar students in Philadelphia.

"Jerry was not just a wonderful musician - and he was a terrific guitarist - but he was basically a folklorist and a scholar," said the folk singer Mike Miller. "He just became involved in the history of the music and the people who made it."

Over the years, Mr. Ricks moved in and out of Philadelphia to find work, living in the Mississippi Delta, the Jersey Shore and most recently the Croatian coast.

When he recorded, he went by "Philadelphia" Jerry Ricks to distinguish himself from another musician.

Friends of Mr. Ricks' gathered in October to raise money for his medical expenses. The show, which included performances by Shemekia Copeland, David Bromberg and many friends from the Philadelphia folk revival, brought in more than $10,000, organizers said.

"A lot of people at the benefit said they took their first guitar lessons with Jerry," said the folk singer Saul Brody. "There was quite a range - blues bands, many of whom had studied with Jerry and felt he was one of their original influences, and folkies like myself, who were part of that scene and felt a lot of affection for him."

In a 2000 interview with The Inquirer, Mr. Ricks said of his music: "I never tried to walk in my mentors' footsteps. And nobody ever asked me to carry on their legacy after they were gone. I just had an honest relationship with these people and their music, and I followed my nose around."

Lynda's "Jersey-Fresh" Latke Recipe

It started when Pearl informed me that she was accepting my invite to our impromptu First Night latke celebration, which has become a part of our life here in Teaneck. 

Before I continue, I want to point out that in this picture I am standing with Sarah, proprietor of Le Sabon (locations in Manhattan and Teaneck), who gave me this adorable Koogle apron. She joined Pearl and me and our tribes for the gathering.

Having clarified all this, let's continue:

Around noon on the first day of Chanuka (which I always forget) I invite the neighbours. It separates the men from the boys in the sense that not everyone is as spontaneous as those of us who show up to the house. We had a pretty decent crowd last night, and there was lots of laughter, music, mass consumption and some imbibement.

Okay, so back to Pearl. She can't eat wheat. So sometime in the recent past I made a special batch of latkes for her that had no flour in them. I made two kinds -- sweet potato, and also the standard 2-cent plain variety. Hers had the taste and consistency of a really nice, homey hash brown. 

This year we decided to forego the flour and only make latkes from local Jersey farm-fresh produce. And voila, the Jersey latke for you to try at home:

Ingredients:

5 lb. bag of white or yellow potatoes

3 lb bag of yellow onions

2 tsps. iodized salt per batch

12 eggs

1 bottle of olive oil (preferably extra virgin, and the greener the better)

Three or four large bowls

One roll of paper towels

Spatula and/or kitchen forceps

Instructions:

Turn on NPR and put on your rubber gloves. Lay a large dish towel on the floor in front of your stove. You MUST wear shoes that cover your toes, and do not wear drapey clothes as the spattering oil is a real fire hazard. No joke.

Get out your old grater and one large bowl.

In the sink, fill a second large bowl with warm water, and plop in around 5 lb. of potatoes.

When you are certain they are nice and clean, start grating everything, including the skins. Make sure to turn your potatoes so that the skin gets grated and does not stick to the potato. Five pounds will fit nicely into a large bowl. Optional: dump the grated potatoes into a colander and let it drain in the sink to get the potato juice out. 

Peel three or four onions and slice them in half. Dice into tiny pieces and place in a bowl.

Get out your favourite iron frying pan. Throw out your teflon...did you know that the fumes of your burning teflon pan can kill your canaries and even make you sick? Pour in the olive oil and watch the heat level (I recommend medium high) since this is a heavier oil than the generic crap they've been passing off as vegetable oil down at the supermarket. 

In a separate bowl, take two handfuls of potato gratings and a small handful of onions. Break two eggs into the mess and mix. Cup your hand and throw in enough salt to taste - between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. Do not fear the salt shaker -- that Weight Watchers frozen entree you had today at lunch had at least three times as much salt. When it's all mixed together and a bit wet, take a tablespoon and drop the batter into the hot oil.

Brown both sides well until crispy. Be careful of the spatter. That is why I suggest draining the potatoes. It helps keep spatter to a minimum, but you cannot be careful enough.

Meantime you will take a large plate and cover it with two sheets of paper towels. After you take your latkes out of the pan, you will lay them down on the paper towels just to pat them dry a bit. Make sure to change the towels when they get too greasy and soggy. Serve as they come out. There's nothing worse than a lukewarm or cold latke.

Latkes are best enjoyed with sour cream or that delicious home-made apple sauce that you had prepared earlier in the day. Do I need to tell you how to do that, too? I'll save that for another time.

Tzim gezint! Bon appetite!

Season's Greetings!

Thanks to Paysach Olson for sending this to me. It was too good not to share!

“If you don’t take an interest in politics,
politics will take an interest in you."

Trumped by Traffic Jams

By Georgy Bovt

St. Petersburg Times

Issue #1328 (94), Friday, November 30, 2007

None of my friends knows what to do about the upcoming State Duma elections. Some think that it would be wrong to vote for United Russia since it has turned the campaign into a Soviet-style farce. Others understand that the ruling party’s platform is vague, but they believe that the policies of other parties are even worse. Almost all of my friends who previously voted for Yabloko or the Union of Right Forces are now disappointed by those parties’ leaders and consider them to be marginalized or outright clowns. Some want to vote for Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party, either because they are entertained by his scandalous statements or simply because they want to avoid voting for United Russia. Many die-hard anti-Communists are even planning to vote for the Communist Party as a protest vote against United Russia. Still others are planning to deface their ballots or tear them up.

Many people are sick of the elections, perhaps even nauseous. And these are not the people who are typically apolitical in other countries — the poorest and least educated segment of society. In Russia, political indifference is widespread and even fashionable among wealthy people as well as the so-called middle class.

During my call-in radio show, I often wonder whether it makes sense to talk with callers about the elections and politics in general. They find politics boring no matter how it is presented. I have reached the conclusion that they don’t want to hear anything at all except updates on traffic jams.

I think that the sociological phenomenon of Russia’s voting patterns is worth studying because it overturns many assumptions. For example, according to various surveys, about 60 percent of voters believe that the Duma elections will not be conducted fairly, but about the same percentage of people nevertheless plan to vote — despite knowing almost nothing about the platforms of the major parties. Voters don’t know what Putin’s Plan is, nor do they want to find out more about it. As expected, few people found the campaign’s televised political debates interesting.

Even though it has been 15 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it would seem that Russians don’t react negatively to modern-day versions of Soviet propaganda. Nobody gets upset when local authorities round people up to participate in pro-government meetings or when students — usually known for their love of freedom and independence — attend mass rallies to avoid getting bad grades from their professors.

It is as if the last 15 years have had no impact whatsoever on the country. The old Soviet mentality is alive and well, and people are returning to their former ways. They believe this is what constitutes the much longed-for “stability” that the authorities constantly claim has arrived. They refuse to see the connection between the fact that they spend hours stuck in horrendous traffic jams and their complete indifference to the political process and elections.

These traffic jams and the vast problems of everyday life all stem from the fact that Russia is badly managed and that governmental institutions do not function properly.

Yet, Russians are unable to acknowledge their own responsibility for the country’s poor governance — that governmental institutions are substandard because the people themselves allow them to be so bad. To make matters worse, many Russians take pride in their lack of interest in politics. Perhaps there is some truth to the much-quoted saying that every nation deserves the type of government that it has.

There is another expression that is pertinent to this issue: “If you don’t take an interest in politics, politics will take an interest in you.” It was true back then and it is true today.

Georgy Bovt is a political analyst and hosts a radio program on City FM.

Finally...A Time For Celebration!

Pictures and video tells all!

Yona's bat mitzvah was a joyous occasion. Everyone had a great time. It was a very green affair, with local produce supplied by Abma Farm, and a small half-peck bag of apples on each table in lieu of flowers. One of our guests took the apples home, made applesauce for her father who was in hospital, and reported to us that he ate and enjoyed. Now, that's something you just cannot do with flowers!

We're trying to get the magnificent slideshow that was created by Marty up and running. I'll post again when it's ready to go.

Meantime, Marty is moving on in his life and congratulations are due to my very talented husband for an incredible decade at the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. I really don't know who else could have pulled off the feat that he managed, nor does anyone else know how he did it.

Check out this vid, produced by Walter Schlomann of Salt and Pepper Media:



The Good-Lord-Willing, there will be many more happy occasions to celebrate!

Love,
Lynda
xoxoxo

I am proud to be a Dorky Nerd Queen. This is what my kids have been saying about me for years. So I took the test. No surprises here.

The following event is before Yona's Bat Mitzvah weekend extravaganza, but I'm singing in this show and wanna see you. Come say hi and lemme hear your voice!
Lynda


You are invited to the

Second Annual All-Star
New York Yiddish Singalong

Starring:

Robert Abelson, Michael Alpert, Phyllis Berk, Joanne Borts, Caroline Chanin,
Adrienne Cooper, Ron Eliran, Michael Fox, Rebecca Garfein, Sarah Gordon,
The Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus, The New Yiddish Chorale,
Binyumen Schaechter, Reyna & Temma Schaechter ("Di Shekhter-tekhter"),
Basya Schechter, Elizabeth Schwartz, Lorin Sklamberg, Jeff Warschauer

Accompanied by an all-star Klezmer ensemble, including
Margot Leverett, Joey Weisenberg and Jake Shulman

Musical Director - Zalmen Mlotek
Emcee - Corey Breier
Producer - Moishe Rosenfeld

Thursday, October 25, 2007, 7:30 PM
at Congregation Rodeph Sholom
7 West 83rd Street, New York City

Come sing your heart out - in Mame-loshn!

General admission:
$18 Advance Purchase; $20 Day of the Event.
VIP seating (with a post-concert reception):
$50 Advance Purchase; $60 Day of the Event.
Group discounts - (10 or more purchased in advance) - 15%

For tickets and information:
www.oyhoo.com
212-608-0555 or 212-683-7816

Dear Friends, I'm posting some news from Clay Eals. He interviewed me about my musical mentor, the late, legendary Steve Goodman. Here's a bulletin he sent out which is worth being seen by all you nice people, too. You can help support the legacy of Steve's music by purchasing Clay's book. Details below.

Love,
Lynda
xoxoxo

Steve Goodman:
Facing the Music



by Clay Eals



(To contact me, please don't hit "reply" to this message. Instead, use this link: <clay@clayeals.com>. If you hit "reply," your message will go to my webmaster, not me.)

Gang:Check out several exciting new developments this fall relating to my Steve Goodman biography:"Facing the Music" reaches YouTubeTraveling banjoist and singer/songwriter Rik Palieri, based in Burlington, Vermont, interviewed me for 30 minutes about "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music" on Aug. 23 for Lake Champlain Access Television. Courtesy of producer (and singer/songwriter) Rebecca Padula, the interview is now easily accessible worldwide at YouTube.com. For easy instructions on how to see the interview, visit my site at <http://www.clayeals.com/>, click on the reviews tab and scroll down. Rik did a great job with the interview, and I'm grateful to him and Rebecca for giving it such prominence.

XM Satellite Radio features Goodman tribute

Four times this month, XM Satellite Radio subscribers will be able to hear the tracks on the tribute CD that accompanies "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music." The 90-minute program, including track intros that I recorded Aug. 15 at XM in Washington, D.C., will air (all times Eastern) at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16; 3 a.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20; and 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 22. For easy instructions on how to subscribe at a special "friends and family" discount, visit my site at <http://www.clayeals.com/> and click on the schedule tab.

Thanks to Mary Sue Twohy at XM for the visibility (XM's The Village has 1 million subscribers), and to Buddy Mondlock and Mike Lindauer, for the initial suggestion."Go, Cubs, Go" into the post-seasonThe Chicago Cubs have won the National League's Central Division and soon will play in the NL Division Series. If they win that series, they will advance to the League Championship Series. If they win that, they will advance to the World Series, something that has not occurred -- as Steve Goodman's "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" reminds us -- since 1945. Countless Cubs fans are riding high on Goodman's "Go, Cubs, Go," which was played at the close of every Cubs victory at Wrigley Field this season.

To read a great Chicago Tribune column about the song by Eric Zorn, visit my site at <http://www.clayeals.com/> and click on the reviews tab.Other great press about the Goodman bioEddie Huffman did a long and insightful essay on the book, focusing on Goodman's "Banana Republics," in the St. Croix Source. SingOut! and Harp magazines and the online Green Man Review also have weighed in. And the two-week online conversation about the book on The WELL last month went great.

To see all of these pieces, including The WELL transcript, visit my site at <http://www.clayeals.com/> and click on the reviews tab.Back to Chicago in November!Lake Forest College, which Steve Goodman attended in 1967-68, is hosting me for a program of reading and music at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, Thanksgiving week. The event will be held in the LFC Chapel, north of Chicago. Musicians will include Fast & Cheap (a faculty band), Harry Waller, Jim Polaski and Norm Siegel. LFC professor Rand Smith also has invited me to speak that afternoon in his class, "Roots Music in American Society."I also look forward to a reading/music event on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, and to radio interviews on WELY, Ely Minnesota, and WUSB, Stony Brook, New York.

For details, visit my site at <http://www.clayeals.com/> and click on the schedule tab.Many thanks once again to everyone who is helping to get the Steve Goodman biography into readers' hands, including my conscientious webmaster, Valerie Magee, and her son, Doug.



Clay Eals1728 California Ave. S.W. #301Seattle, WA 98116-1958(206) 935-7515 (home)(206) 484-8008 (cell)ceals@comcast.nethttp://www.clayeals.com/

A remote shiva visit:

More about our beloved Dad, Father in Law

and Zaidy

We visited Dad just before the kids went off to camp. It was a great time, and he was so lively and beautiful to be with. Here's one snippet of Dad singing "Kinder Yor'n" and you can find the rest of the snippets at http://www.youtube.com/guitargirl4scrabble.

Mir and Yon listening to their Zaidy, summer, 2006

My dad's updated funeral information

The funeral of Abraham Moshe Szedlecki, son of Daniel Szedlecki
Feb. 14 1914 - Sept. 15 2007


DATE Sunday, Sept. 16
TIME 1 p.m.
PLACE Beth Radom Section, Mount Sinai cemetery (Wilson Avenue just east of Keele Street)

The graveside funeral will be officiated by Rabbi Steven Schoenfeld of Beth Radom synagogue, which was our family's shul since my parents first came to Canada in 1953.

Immediately following the funeral, shiva will be held at Terrace Gardens (Bathurst Street, immediately south of the 401), which is where Dad lived out his final year. Mincha/maariv will be conducted at 7.30.

We will be sitting shiva at our home in New Jersey beginning Monday and concluding the following Friday morning. The shiva house in NJ will be open from 2 pm and we will have a mincha/maariv minyan at the house.

Abraham Szedlecki, z"l
Feb. 14, 1914 - Sept. 15, 2007


My father, Abraham Szedlecki, died peacefully today -- Saturday, Sept. 15, at 3.05 a.m. - of complications due to pneumonia. He was 93 years old. We are in the midst of funeral arrangements and are trying to book an 11 a.m. graveside funeral this Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Beth Radom section of the Mount Sinai cemetery on Wilson Avenue just east of Keele St. The funeral home is Steeles Memorial Chapel, and details will be hopefully be posted late Saturday night at www.steelesmemorialchapel.com.

Sincerely,
Lynda Kraar

Love in the Time of Christiane Amanpour

After a thankfully uneventful flight home to the metro NYC area from Tel Aviv, I am writing. I might as well -- I've been up since 4 a.m. and am now updated on all the football scores from Europe and the Middle East.


Of course, I'm still kvelling over this...

...but I have been advised by those who truly love me and care about me that it's best to get over it, move on and start concentrating on things like Yona's bat mitzva, our new business and office space, the start of a new school year and our immense social and family obligations.

But before I get too distracted by being focused, here's a word or two about what else you might have missed if you were not in Israel this summer, or if, like me, you were napping on the plane.

I missed what was apparently the jihad that Christiane Amanpour has unleashed via her CNN series on religion. It would be surprising if any level-headed Moslem or Jew were grateful that at least their side was fairly depicted in a most balanced way. Thankfully there was no plain evidence in view of anything that had been created for the CNN screen.

Has Beckham made an impact, Stateside? Can anyone tell me? I'm really in the dark on this one.

Israel is insanely loyal to its football, as evidenced by a public service commercial on TV, which shows a fervent couch potato ignoring the whole family and shooshing everyone who strays in front of his treasured team on the little screen. Finally, it's his wife who pays the ultimate price when he swats her to the floor for tresspassing on his match, in front of all his kids. "If you have a problem, get help," the ad cautions. The drama surrounding players, coaches, leagues and violent donnybrooks in the stands is fueled further by the occasional outburst of anti-semitism in the stands of other countries between the Israeli fans and the other team loyalists. In other words, we Jews have attained our equality, at least in the football arena.

I confess -- I am a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan. My dream match would be:

Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Widzew Lodz.

And since I know that a Teaneck v. Toronto game is not likely anytime soon, that would be the closest thing to my two alter egos duking it out on the field.

All this random and very luxuriant rumination was made possible thanks to my eight-hour nap on the plane. And that was made possible thanks to the fabulous company of my friend Marissa James in Jerusalem. She is in Jerusalem for a year on a cantorial study program at the Jewish Theological Seminary. We sang together in the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus this past June. I could rave about her forever, but while I was peacefully snoozing at 38,000 feet, Marissa blogged about our day together. I could not say it any better. So here's her entry.

http://novemberling.com/blog1/

Back to laundry and unpacking..................

Lynda
xoxoxo

UPDATE!!

Bragging rights:
I did it! I won first place in the Tel Aviv Open Scrabble tournament!

Check out the tourney details here or here, if you prefer: http://www.scrabble.org.il/tournaments.htm. Tee hee!

Love,

Lynda

I love you, Yona, but......

The Camp Shalom Visitors Day was more like the Camp Massad Reunion Day for us old farts! Thanks for a great day, honey. It was really great to see you before our big trip abroad. I miss you and love you. And yes, people with two digits in their age CAN have a facebook!

xoxoxox
mum-zed and the MartMan

TWO SHOWS SOLD OUT!
A Sheinem Dank, New York City!

What a spectacular day for singers and audience alike!

Binyumen Schaechter is the kind of musical director with whom any serious musician would relish an opportunity to work. It is my pleasure and privilege to be part of this magnificent chorus.

We not only sing these songs - we truly experience them. Based on the reception we got, I think we get our point across. It is a humbling experience to be standing side by side with such splendid, talented singers. May we go mi'chayl l'chayl together! Ooooh-mayn!

Highlight personal moment: We are posing for a group shot which will be taken on the count of three. Someone from our group calls out with a heavy Litvak accent, "Eints, Tzvei, Drei! (one, two three!)" and my darling daughter Miriam the Poylisher instantly shakes her head from side to side and retorts, "Aynts, Tzvay, Dray!" Big shout out to mo' peeps from Lodz!

Big thank you to those of you who helped make this concert such a success. And if you could not make it, I would have loved for you to be there, so I'm providing for you a highlight, "Hey Tzigalekh," by Mordecai Gebirtig (1877-1942), featuring a breath-taking solo by soprano Judith Bro. More clips to come on YouTube.

xoxoxo
moi

Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus sings Songs of Mark Warshawsky and Mordecai Gebirtig

Binyumen Schaechter, Conductor

NEW YORK CITY -- I am thrilled to have the great honour of participating in a presentation of choral arrangements of famous and lesser-known songs by the great Yiddish songwriters Mark Warshawsky and Mordecai Gebirtig. This is a Yiddish program with English translations.

Here is a picture of Mordecai Gebirtig. I could not find a pic of Mark Warshawsky (1840-1907). But I am providing you links to info about both composers.

When: Sunday, June 10th, for two shows: 2:00; and 4:30
Where: Hebrew Union College, 1 West 4th St. (b/w. Broadway & Mercer St.), New York, NY
Adults: $15; Seniors (65 and up) and students,
with ID: $10

PHOTO ID required, all adults age 18

For more information: http://www.thejppc.org/

This is probably the best online Yiddish radio station I've ever heard.

I believe our show is sold out by now, but if you make it down to the venue, please come by and say hi!

Peerie Willie Johnson: The Guitar World Loses a Master

(Pictured, from left: Tom Anderson, fiddle, and Peerie Willie Johnson)

Yesterday I received an email from a banjo player in the Shetland Isles named Gary Peterson who informed me that "Peerie" ("little") Willie Johnson had passed away at the ripe age of 86. I did not know Gary; nor had I seen wee Willie in many a year, but I had listed him high up as one of my influences on myspace and that is how Gary found me to tell me the news.

I wrote back to Gary [slightly edited]:

I am deeply saddened to hear of Willie's passing. Was he ever a huge influence on my guitar playing and also as a very decent human being.

When I was a 17 year old pip at the Mariposa Folk Festival in my hometown of Toronto, back in the late 1970s, it was Willie who tolerated me and actually welcomed me sitting at the hem of his garment, listening to him and absorbing everything I saw.

He taught me the concept of passing and melodic chords. He showed me some neat inside chords and I clearly remember him teaching me the very cool passing chords that I use on songs like Lady Be Good: "Put your fingers here on this fret...mute that string with the inside of your hand...now run that chord down four frets, strumming each as you go...you can thumb over if it's easier..." and so on. We talked about Les Paul and Django Reinhardt. Willie was one of the first grown ups (if not THE only grown up at the time!) to take my passion for the guitar seriously.

I spent three delicious days with him, hanging around and watching, watching, watching. I never heard on recordings what I heard him play in our precious moments together and I will treasure that memory forever.

Today I find myself with teenage guitar students and I only hope that they feel I take them as seriously as Willie took me.

Having recounted for you my personal memoir of Willie, I urge you to read the obituary and learn something wonderful and life affirming about this wee giant; about how to lighten up, kick back and enjoy what precious time we have here on earth. And also the life-altering impact that your words and deeds might have on a young person many years hence.

xooxox
Lynda

__________________________________________

Peerie Willie Johnson
Influential folk guitarist of Shetland

Sunday Independent
Published: 29 May 2007
William Henry Johnson, guitarist: born 10 December 1920; married 1953 Ethel Johnson (deceased); died Lerwick, Shetland 22 May 2007.

Peerie Willie Johnson was a self-taught master guitarist, revered for his skill as an accompanist and as an influence on generations of musicians in his native Shetland and beyond. He was known for his unique "dum chuck" rhythmic playing style, which fused elements of jazz and western swing with Shetland's traditional folk idiom. In 2005 the Shetland Arts Trust celebrated his achievement with the inauguration of the "Peerie Willie Guitar Festival".

Nicknamed "Peerie" (Shetland dialect for "small") because of his height, Willie Johnson grew up on the remote, windswept island of Yell, one of the most northerly and sparsely populated of the Shetland islands. During a childhood illness that kept him housebound for months, he developed a love of jazz and western swing while listening to American forces short-wave radio. Fascinated by the complex chords of the jazz guitarist Eddie Lang, he began to figure them out on a ukulele that his mother had bought him. When the limitations of the instrument later became apparent, he progressed to guitar, joining his first local band at the age of 14.

In 1936 - by which time he had also fallen under the influence of the music of Django Rheinhardt - a chance encounter in a music shop led to him joining the Islesburgh Dance Band, led by the fiddler Dr Tom Anderson, whom he would accompany on and off throughout much of the latter's life. He and Anderson also formed another group, in 1938, called the New Players Dance Band with the piano/organ player Billy Kaye, but they disbanded when Kaye and Johnson were called up in 1940.

While stationed in Sullom Voe on mainland Shetland, Johnson played with an RAF band, thus meeting many British jazz musicians. After the Second World War, he moved to London and briefly made a living playing with a number of his wartime contacts, though he was hampered by his inability to read music. He soon returned to Shetland, settling in Lerwick and marrying Ethel Johnson (no relation) in 1953.

He lived off odd jobs and the income his true vocation brought him on occasional tours with other musicians. His collaborations with Anderson resumed, and in 1958 he travelled to London with the Shetland fiddler Willie Hunter for a performance at the Royal Festival Hall. That same trip, he and Hunter stunned the staff at Abbey Road Studios by recording both sides of a joint LP (never released) for the BBC in a morning's work, polishing off a bottle of whisky between them in the process. "The second half of the album is much better than the first," Johnson observed.

Hunter and Johnson also performed regularly together at the Edinburgh Festival between 1973 and 1980. A modest man who underestimated his own abilities, Johnson never made a solo album, recording only as an accompanist to others, such as Anderson, the pianist Violet Tulloch and the fiddler Aly Bain, who he joined on tour with the Boys of the Lough in the US in 1978/9.

Johnson's distinctive playing can be heard on Scottish Violin Music (1963), Shetland Folk Fiddling Vol 2 (1978), Cathal McConnell's 1978 solo début On Lough Erne's Shore, and Aly Bain's First Album (1984), which contains Johnson' best known piece, an interpretation of the tune "Margaret's Waltz". Johnson also appeared on Silver Bow - Fiddle Music of Shetland (1995).

In 1988, Aly Bain began hosting Down Home, a Channel 4 series on which Johnson regularly featured. Johnson and Hunter later made several appearances on Norwegian television and radio.

Johnson's playing style is widely credited with influencing not just his contemporaries, but also a number of younger musicians including the Wrigley Sisters, from Orkney, and the jazz guitarist Martin Taylor. In 2005, Taylor travelled to Shetland to make a BBC radio documentary about Johnson. He recalls him thus:

I don't think I've ever met another musician who was so full of music. It's almost as if he was more than a musician. Every atom in his body was music, and his enthusiasm was quite amazing. If he was in the Lounge [his local bar] and someone started to play, he just picked up whatever instrument was there, whatever just came to hand, he was just so natural.

Jon Lusk