'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
The Folk Process 2007 III
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Judaica: "Folk" or "Children's" or "Classical"
Jewish music goes through the folk process as well, as my people mix and match with the various cultures of the world. In The Folk Process I and The Folk Process II I reviewed newer releases updating various traditions. Here are three recent albums from very different perspectives, all shining light on aspects of Judaism.
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah by The Klezmatics is an odd duck. Guthrie himself was as nomadic as an Ashkenazi Jew, eventually marrying and settling down n New York City, where he was exposed to Coney Island's Jewish community through his mother-in-law, Aliza Greenblatt, a Yiddish poet. By this time in his life, Guthrie was famous but starting to show signs of huntington's Chorea, the disease that eventually killed him. He wrote the lyrics to several songs (credited to 1949) which were lost for many years, until his daughter Nora Guthrie discovered them in 1998 and asked the Klezmatics to write new music.
Woody Guthrie didn't get it. The songs in Happy Joyous Hanukkah owe more to his Okie folk background than any Jewish tradition. He spells "Hanuka" many different ways, which is fine for a non-English word, and never quite seems to understand the holiday except through Christian eyes. The klezmer music is good and the album is fun, but never rises above a series of minor songs written by an important historical figure. An example of the miss is the first song, "Honeyky Hanuka":
It's Honeyky Hanukah, shaky my hand,No. The Hanukkah candles are very specifically not to be used for illumination. They are a commemoration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. Guthrie is misapplying Christian concepts of light to The Festival of Lights.
My candles are burning all over this land,
To light the dark road for the man passing by,
It's Honeyky Hanukah time.
Still, the lyrics are catchy and the music is bouncy. "Happy Joyous Hanuka" is a catchy counting song (going up to nine, alas). "Hanuka Bell" captures the Yiddish experience of immigrants to New York City in the early part of the 20th century, surviving and thriving in a new world, telling the children, "don't be sad no more" Not a Hanuka message, but good klezmer blues. "The Many and the Few" is a gospel dirge, music by Guthrie, telling the historical story of Hanukkah. He gets it mostly right, though it sounds more like an Irish ballad than traditional Hebrew tune. There are a few instrumentals, nice dance tunes, and the CD ends with another song with music as well as lyrics by Guthrie. "Hanuka Dance" is an example of Guthrie at his best as a folk singer entertaining children. It's a slow, sad, swirling dance, a catchy tune and you can almost see the parents kvell while watching their children:
Tippy tap toe! Happy Hanukah!
Round you go! My little latke!
On your toes! Happy Hanuka!
And around and around you go!
Clap your hands! Happy Hanuka!
Clap clap hands! My little shtroodler!
On your toes! Happy Hanuka!
And around and around you go!
The Klezmatics try very hard, but they can't bring Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah into Jewish canon. The CD is more for collectors of Guthrie's work than it is for those wanting good holiday songs. Still, even mediocre Woody Guthrie is better than most folk, and a few of the songs apply to the holiday and the Klezmatics are good as always. I'm not going to give it a blanket recommendation, and it will always be associated with novelty holiday songs more than religious holiday songs, but it's a worthy effort to capture a bit of history and some of the songs are iPw.
Songs From the Hebrew Scriptures
Why Not Sea Monsters? feels a little like Veggie Tales done right; if you're going to have kids music from a religious perspective, be up front about it. The CD comes with a booklet of "lyrics & chords" which includes the Biblical verse that keys off each song. The lyrics are whimsical enough for the kids while sticking close enough to scripture for the rabbis among us.
From Daniel 6:22, "My God sent his angel and hut the lion's mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him, and also before you." comes the song "Here, Kitty, Kitty"
Here kitty kittyA song children will understand and adults will appreciate.
Won't you come kitty kitty
I am not afraid no I am not afraid
And you'd hear him sing
Here kitty kitty
Won't you come kitty kitty do
'cause the Lord is with me and the Lord is with you
Similarly, Genesis 12-13, "Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak' but he said, 'O my Lord, please send someone else.'" slips into "Moses Thought It Odd":
Moses saw God in a burning bushJews are more about questions than answers, and the song hits all the right notes. Light rock with a tinge of calypso, the music adds to the air of wonder and confusion that characterizes Moses at this point in his spiritual journey.
He thought it odd, that he saw God
In a burning bush, in a burning bush
Remove your shoes, you're on holy landing
Moses did, but he had no understanding
Of why that shrub was so demanding
Most of the songs are in the country folk style, suitable for kids and done well enough for their parents. Other themes handled include "Make That Two" about Noah's ark and "Why Not a Spark?" about God asking questions and deciding to create the world in six days and rest on the seventh.
Why Not Sea Monsters? takes passages from the Hebrew scriptures, which are also the basis of Christian and Muslim scritpure, and the songs appeal across religious lines. There is a second one, Songs from the New Testament which I haven't heard but is probably in the same vein. Recommended, especially for parents of younger kids who want to teach them a little Bible while they're bouncing to the songs. Not so much iPw as worthy of playing in a car during a long trip so everyone can sing along.
A Klezmer "Nutcracker" for Chanukah
The Golden Dreydl is by longtime friend Ellen Kushner and music by the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra. Kushner tells an original story of a child celebrating Chanukah with a great klezmer background. Shirim recorded klezmer arrangements of The Nutcracker earlier, and this is further delving into The Nutcracker music as inspired by Kushner's story.
One continuous story of Sarah is divided into 17 tracks. The search for the Golden Dreydl takes her riding camels and underground with demons and to mountains with a fool and... well, I don't want to give it away. I don't know if it would make a ballet like the Tchaikovsky, but works well as an audio tale.
Unlike Woody Guthrie, Ellen Kushner has a firm grasp of Judaism and the traditions of Chanukah. Like Why Not Sea Monsters?, she spins a story that works for children as well as adults. if you're interested in audio book style readings with good music in the background, or if you want to add another holiday CD to your collection, The Golden Dreydl is recommended.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Froma Harrop: Bringing Them Back to the Great Plains (creators.com)
HOLDREGE, Neb. - Betty Sayers and her sister Nancy Herhahn left this rural area the moment they could. "Nancy and I were told that if you want to be successful, you leave your small town," Sayers recalls. Other young people followed that advice, causing populations in the rural Great Plains to shrink. A sense of doom spread.
Richard Roeper : Let's face it: Legal drinking age is a farce (suntimes.com)
If you allow your 15-year-old to drink the occasional glass of wine at the dinner table, does that make you a criminally bad parent -- or a European?
Stevie Nicks: Rock follies (arts.independent.co.uk)
Stevie Nicks, the singer-songwriter and other-worldly star of Fleetwood Mac, is one of pop's great survivors. Now 59, she talks to Andrew Gumbel about her music, her famously turbulent love-life and the importance of not doing heroin.
Marijke Rowland: What becomes a legend most? For Tony Bennett, more awards (popmatters.com)
Being called a living legend pretty much cements your place in history. But even the icons don't mind being given a reminder now and then.
Leslie Camhi: Infrared Sex Scenes from Japanese Photog Kohei Yoshiyuki (villagevoice.com)
For a few years in the 1970s, Yoshiyuki (born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1946) prowled the parks of Tokyo, using infrared film to photograph people having furtive sex outdoors at night, and lustful hordes of men intent on watching them.
Aaron Hillis: John Landis talks about his subject, Don Rickles, and some other putz (villagevoice.com)
A very important Florida judge who was apparently a pompous ass came backstage, and said, "Mr. Rickles, why don't you come have lunch and play golf tomorrow?" Joan would've said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I have a prior family engagement and I can't get out of it, but thank you." But Don said, "Listen: One, I'm leaving town. Two, you're a putz. You're loud, obnoxious, incredibly boring, and I wouldn't play golf with you because I don't live here and you couldn't fix a ticket. No." All he did was tell him the truth.
Kera Bolonik: Does Sarah Silverman Suck? (TheNation.com. Posted on AlterNet.org)
Is she funny or raunchy? Genuinely mean, or just commenting on American ignorance?
Roger Ebert: I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (No rating; 3 stars)
Every 15 or 20 times out of the gate, a Second City sketch will end, not on a punch line, but on a moment of quiet insight and sympathy. "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With," a virtual reunion of Second City actors, is a comedy made from such moments. It is a minor movie, but a big-time minor movie, if you see what I mean. It celebrates its modesty, it becomes our friend, we're surprisingly touched by it even though it doesn't rock us. If there is such a thing as a must-see three-star movie, here it is.
Commentoon: Justice Thomas (womensenews.org)
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cool.
My computer is making a new 'funny' noise - I hate when that happens.
Ready For Criticism
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen's new album "Magic" marks his return to the pop sound that propelled him to mega-stardom in the 1980s, but the hook-laden melodies mask lyrics portraying an America of despair and hopelessness.
Springsteen says he is prepared for criticism from those who may take the lyrics on his latest album "Magic" as unpatriotic for speaking out against the Iraq war and resident George W. Bush in war time.
Rolling Stone Executive Editor Joe Levy said those lyrics are unlikely to hurt concert ticket or album sales.
However, Levy said Springsteen will likely be grist for the mill among conservative republican radio and talk show hosts hatemongers who will likely rail against the record and its message.
Bruce Springsteen
Darfur Documentary
Mia Farrow
When most of the world looked away during the massacre of almost a million people in Rwanda in 1994, the United Nations vowed "never again."
That's why humanitarians, including American actress Mia Farrow, were stunned when, a decade later, the first genocide of the 21st century got underway in Darfur, and again the world - and more significantly, the United Nations - did next to nothing to stop it.
A new documentary by longtime CBC producer Neil Docherty, "Darfur: On Our Watch," is a disturbing look not just at the tragedy of Darfur but the utter failure of the UN, once again, to do anything meaningful to stop genocide. This time it's in an arid region of western Sudan, tense with tribal rivalries.
"The United Nations has been reduced to pandering and begging for the UN peacekeeping force because there is no precedent for the UN to enter a country without the consent of the government," Farrow, a tireless Darfur activist, says during the gripping documentary airing Thursday on CBC-TV.
Mia Farrow
Hip-Hop Honors
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is usually quick to brag and boast, but even he felt humbled as he was honored for his rap achievements at VH1's fourth annual Hip Hop Honors.
The gangsta rapper was lauded along with Missy Elliott, the '80s rap trio Whoudini, A Tribe Called Quest, music executive Andre Harrell and producer Teddy Riley for creating the "New Jack Swing" sound, and Fab Five Freddy and Charlie Ahern for the groundbreaking movie "Wildstyle." The event airs on VH1 beginning Monday.
Bow Wow, who performed onstage with Snoop when he was just a child, rapped with him again at the ceremony, while Busta Rhymes, Common and Lupe Fiasco performed Tribe's "Scenario."
Other stars on hand included LL Cool J, Ne-Yo, Chris Rock and host Tracy Morgan.
Snoop Dogg
Quickie Vegas Wedding News
Anderson - Salomon
Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon married Saturday evening between the former "Baywatch" star's performances on the Las Vegas Strip, according to published reports.
Anderson, 40, wore a white denim Valentino dress, according to a report on People magazine's Web site.
The vows were squeezed in between the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows of "Hans Klok's The Beauty of Magic" at Planet Hollywood resort, casino spokeswoman Amy Sadowsky said. Anderson is starring as a magician's assistant.
Anderson - Salomon
Museum Damaged
Claude Monet
Intruders entered the Orsay Museum early Sunday and punched a hole in a renowned work by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, the French culture minister said. She described the damage as an attack on "our memory, our patrimony."
A surveillance camera caught a group entering the museum, which houses a major collection of Impressionist art on the Left Bank of the French capital along the Seine River.
An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging an invaluable painting, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," an aide to Culture Minister Christine Albanel said by telephone.
The break-in occurred during Paris' annual all-night festival which brings thousands of people into the streets for concerts and exhibits.
Claude Monet
Sued Over B.I.G. Music Rights
Sean "Diddy" Combs
A former associate of Sean "Diddy" Combs has filed a lawsuit from prison against the hip-hop mogul, claiming Combs owes him more than $19 million for music by the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.
James Sabatino, a former consultant for Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment Inc., said he flew B.I.G. to Miami in 1994 to perform a show and record some music. The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, recorded about 17 minutes of vocals, and the session was also captured on about 90 minutes of video footage.
It was understood that both belonged to Sabatino because he paid for the rapper's travel expenses and studio time, although a contract was never signed, according to the lawsuit.
Combs said the reason for the delay was that Los Angeles police had named Sabatino a person of interest in the rapper's death. Sabatino and Notorious B.I.G. were scheduled to meet the night of the killing, but Sabatino never showed up.
Sean "Diddy" Combs
Netflix Spokesmodel
Dana Carvey
When Dana Carvey was approached to host an online celebration of popular movies, the comedian couldn't resist adding a few flourishes.
Working in what he describes as a "miniature TV studio" set up in a spare bedroom of his Northern California home, Carvey taped comic riffs on films including "True Lies" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and "The Exorcist."
"Down in Front with Dana Carvey," which plays online Friday and Saturday at movie rental service Netflix.com, gives Carvey the chance to show off the impersonation chops he displayed on "Saturday Night Live" and indulge his love of movies.
Dana Carvey
Solved In 10.88 Seconds
Rubik's Cube
A 16-year-old took the top prize at the Rubik's Cube world championship Sunday, solving the puzzle five times in an average of 12.46 seconds.
But the fastest single attempt was a cool 10.88 seconds, just off the world record of 9.86 seconds.
Yu Nakajima of Japan won the main event for twisting the classic 3x3 cube - which has nine colored tiles on each on its six sides - into the winning position, where all like-colored tiles are on the same face.
Andrew Kang of the United States, who came in second for the main event, set the best time for a single attempt at the championship. The world record has been held by Thibaut Jacquinot of France since May.
Rubik's Cube
Joining Idaho Hall of Fame
Larry Craig
Sen. Larry Craig has been chosen for induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame, despite his well-publicized arrest and guilty plea in an airport sex sting, officials said.
The nonprofit Idaho Hall of Fame Association picked Craig in March, months before he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after a Minneapolis airport police officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men's restroom, the organization's board chairman said.
Some Republicans say the honor is inappropriate now. Kootenai County Republican precinct committeeman Phil Thompson said Idaho Hall of Fame officials should consider at least postponing the induction.
"Maybe in 10 or 15 years we can think of this hall of fame stuff. Now is not the time," he said. "It's a sad day to be a Republican."
Larry Craig
Bought By MSGOP
Newsvine
MSGOP.com has acquired social news media site Newsvine, which bridges the gap between traditional and new media.
Newsvine displays news from news organizations, which is placed and added to by the Newsvine community.
Mike Davidson, who co-founded Newsvine in March 2006, said the site's mission has never been to displace mainstream media but instead create a social ecosystem around the news.
Newsvine
Weekend Box Office
'The Game Plan'
Ben Stiller and the Farrelly brothers' "The Heartbreak Kid" pulled in a modest $14 million during opening weekend, coming in at No. 2 behind "The Game Plan," which remained the top flick for the second-straight weekend with $16.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Overall revenues were down for the third-straight weekend, with the top-12 movies taking in a meager $65.7 million, off 35 percent from the same weekend last year.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Game Plan," $16.3 million.
2. "The Heartbreak Kid," $14 million.
3. "The Kingdom," $9.3 million.
4. "Resident Evil: Extinction," $4.3 million.
5. "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising," $3.7 million.
6. "Good Luck Chuck," $3.5 million.
7. "Feel the Noise," $3.4 million.
8. "3:10 to Yuma," $3 million.
9. "The Brave One," $2.3 million.
10. "Mr. Woodcock," $2 million.
'The Game Plan'
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