Archive for the 'Music/Literature/Movies/TV' Category

Schickele Shtick

dd June 17th, 2007

Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach

Last night, my wife and I drove to Owings Mills, MD for dinner with friends and then a concert by Mr. Peter Schickele and company. We originally thought this affair was in Olney, MD which still seems like the other end of the world from N. VA. However, upon a closer examination of the email invite yesterday, I discovered this was in Owings Mills. A quick Google mapping revealed that Olney is right around the corner compared to Owings Mills! But, like good musical troopers, we marched on. My wife reminded me during my grumbling about the long drive (about 90 minutes) that we once drove 4 hours to hear Peter Yarrow and daughter along with Doug Mishkin. (True, but they were good I thought). Anyway, for a more thorough introduction to Peter Schickele ( aka P.D.Q. Bach) you can read my spouse’s post. Here’s my take on the evening:

  1. Mr. Schickele has some good shtick. Think Victor Borge from South Dakota. In fact, I think Peter has borrowed quite liberally from Victor.
  2. Mr. Schickele’s humor is better than his music.
  3. I managed to stay awake - I refer you to this post - longer than my wife despite her penchant for this kind of “Bachian” music. However, interestingly, she zzz’d off during the opening song parodies, which I found mildly amusing, and awakened during the music only and interminable string quartet - why I have no idea. I, on the other hand, did not doze off until the string quartet. Another small victory, no?
  4. After the lonnnnnng intermission, and buoyed by my little nap, I ( and my wife) managed to stay awake for the more modern song parodies, rounds and the rousing finale - Songs from Shakespeare.

In any case, we had a nice dinner and conversation with friends and at least I can say I saw Peter Schickele - whoopee!

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My Poetry Thursday Poem - what the H___?

dd April 12th, 2007

A little while ago, Pauline once again reminded me of this great poetry site. Last Friday’s “challenge” was to create a poem using a line left by someone else on the Poetry Thursday site. I thought that sounded like a cool idea and great fun. So, I moseyed over there, figured out how it works and found my line: “Trapped in the frame of an old photograph” by Sara which became my short poem:

CALLING TO ME

Grandpa, oh how I wish I had known you.

Instead, you stare out at me with kind eyes,

Trapped in the frame of an old photograph.

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Jewish Soul Music

dd April 1st, 2007

Last night, we enjoyed a spiritual hootenanny. Debbie Friedman gave a benefit concert for our youth group at Temple Micah and we were lucky enough to be in the audience of almost 400 people. I’ve heard and sung Debbie’s music for many years, but this is the first time I’ve seen her and her band in person.

For those of you totally unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, Debbie was in the avant-garde of those young Reform Jewish musicians who brought their love of folk music to Jewish liturgy in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Debbie has composed so many great songs - including L’chi Lach (you shall be a blessing), Oseh Shalom (a prayer for peace) and the best healing song on the planet - MI SHEBEIRACH. She has written hundreds of wonderful songs so I’m just scratching the surface here. You can listen to a clip of Oseh Shalom performed live at Carnegie Hall (1996):

Joined by our very own folk troubadour, Doug Mishkin, she also performed great pieces like “If we only have love” by Jacques Brel. And, her band was smokin’. The Temple was jumpin’ and everyone sang and clapped along to the music. It was a musical, communal high.

P.S. And for a taste of Jewish Soul Food (at least for Passover) , check this out.

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Who knew - I Really Can Sing

dd March 11th, 2007

My “singing career” began as a 13 year old when I became a Bar Mitzvah. I took piano at the time (a career cut mercifully short after 2 years of little practice and many missed lessons due to “illness” aka “I can’t go - I haven’t practiced”). So, I could play the trope (the musical notation which corresponds to the Torah readings) on the piano and taught myself my part that way. I was a bit of an innovator — at least in my class in 1960 — as I was the only one to ask our instructor, the assistant cantor, to please write out the music for me so I could play it at home. (Today, kids use cd’s or iPods to learn their part). I was amazed when he just took a piece of paper and wrote out the piano music on the spot.

Anyway, I studied diligently and practiced like crazy, in stark contrast to my short lived piano experience. Fear is a great motivator and the thought of screwing up before my entire family, friends and the congregation put a good deal of trepidation into little David. The big day came and it went flawlessly. Once, I started singing, I don’t recall being even a bit nervous. Afterwards, the cantor strongly suggested to my father that I should join the youth choir since I had a terrific voice. I beamed inside.

But, soon after that, my voice changed. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I did not understand what octave made sense. So, I just assumed I could not really sing anymore - my recently discovered singing talent had suddenly vaporized. And, crazy as this sounds, this mindset stuck with me for the next 40 some years. Although, my wife occasionally would tell me that I had a nice singing voice, I wasn’t even sure I could carry a tune.

Then, fate and a little arm-twisting intervened. Our Temple choir was having an open house and my wife, a choir member, cajoled me into attending, despite my protests that I couldn’t sing anymore. The choir seemed pretty low key and our choir director is a great guy and a great musician, so after the open house, I agreed to come to a rehearsal.

“What are you - a tenor or a bass?”, he asked. I hadn’t the slightest idea, but then blurted out. “I’m not really sure. Tenor I guess”, probably thinking back to my Bar Mitzvah days. So, I became a tenor for the next year, struggling to learn the high parts but still enjoying the experience. But, never did I volunteer for a solo - heaven forbid. Finally, the realization came upon me that it was much easier for me to sing the bass range and switched to the bass section. What a relief - this is where I finally belonged. For so long, in my own mind, I was still the 13 year old singer. Now, I discover I’m a bass. Choir was so much more pleasant and a lot easier.

Then, 2 years ago, in recognition of my volunteer web-master service, I was asked to sing the Kiddush prayer at the High Holy Day of Rosh Hashanah. My first reaction was, “I’m not sure I can do this - especially in front of 1200 people”. But, I hesitatingly agreed. Well, reminiscent of my Bar Mitzvah days, I studied that piece like crazy. I knew it backwards and forwards. When the time came - unfortunately at the very end of the 2 hour service - I was a bit nervous as I walked up to the front. But, once I began singing, it was deja vu. Not nervous at all, despite unexpected microphone problems. And, I nailed it.

Since then, I now volunteer when our choir occasionally doles out Yism’chu solos during a Bar Mitzvah service. And, recently I volunteered to be one of the chanters for our Purim service. I love these experiences. And, I love the fact that I have rediscovered my voice that had laid dormant for 42 years. Who knew?

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The New “American Dreams”

dd March 2nd, 2007

This is for fans of the wonderful albeit under-appreciated “American Dreams” TV show from a few seasons ago. My wife and I were devoted fans. But, despite rave reviews from the critics, it was cancelled after three seasons of poor ratings. Too intelligent for the average American viewer — that’s my guess.

Well, not to fear. An equally good program has recently emerged to take its place. It’s “Friday Night Lights”, inspired by the movie and book of the same name.

This show is ostensibly about the exaggerated importance of the high school football team in a small Texas town. But, that’s really just the jumping off point. It’s really not about football at all, just like American Dreams was not about American Bandstand. It’s about “real” people grappling with real world issues, e.g. racism, infidelity, teen sex and STD.

The football games are at most a backdrop. Some episodes don’t even include football. For example, in recent weeks the Coach has dealt with a player on steroids, a 15-year-old daughter contemplating sleeping with the team’s quarterback, and a racist comment by an assistant.

In that episode, the team was upset by a comment made to the media by the team’s longtime assistant coach, in which he posited that black players have “a natural gift for running the ball,” because they’re “fearless, dangerous, like junkyard dogs.”

It’s really a story about subtle racism in America, and it was treated sensitively, exploring many dimensions — some expected some unexpected. As reviewed in fridaynightlights http://fridaynightlights.tv:

All of this sophistication unfolds in a red state. Dillon is Middle America but without the condescension that the phrase implies; the mayor is a lesbian, for instance, and Garrity who cares way too much about the Panthers, is terrified that his cheerleader daughter, Lyla (Minka Kelly), is going to go off with Street, the paralyzed quarterback.

This extraordinary drama lets us peek inside the lives and the minds of people who aren’t any different than we are, who are struggling with the mundane and major problems of real life. And it’s done with such subtlety, surprising wit and grace, that at the end of every hour, I devoutly wish it wasn’t over.

The acting is terrific and dialogue seems very real.

Given how good this show is and that I really like it, it follows that it has poor ratings and is in jeopardy of cancellation. So, catch it quickly while you still can. Now, I have 2 shows (24 is the other one) to watch at least for a little while.

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A Poem About Time

dd February 2nd, 2007

Yehuda Amichai, 1924 - 2000

I don’t know much about poetry, not usually my favorite style of literature.  But, I’m beginning to appreciate it more as I get older.  And, I do know that Yehuda Amichai is one of the world’s all time greats.  Here’s one of my favorites:

A Man Doesn’t Have Time

A man doesn’t have time
to have time for everything.
He doesn’t have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
was wrong about that.

A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.

And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to set in order and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.

A man doesn’t have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.

And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn’t learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.

He will die as figs die in autumn,
shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there’s time for everything.

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iTunes for Folkies - Where Are You?

dd February 1st, 2007

Mike Seeger and Utah Phillips, ‘05 Vancouver Folk Music Festival

The iTunes store is great.  It houses the biggest selection of online music anywhere on the planet.  But, mostly not my kind of music.  It’s really hard to find folk music on iTunes, except for the real mainstream stuff.  So, here are the the options:

  • buy the whole CD somewhere.  This sucks when you just want a track or two;
  • record off the radio (LOL figuring out in advance when they’re going to play something you like);
  • do something illegal like the kids do. But even if the illegality doesn’t bother you, you probably can’t find the music anyway since the peer to peer sharing services like LimeWire or BitTorrent don’t have much folk stuff either.

So, how about this idea.  Why don’t radio stations like WUMB or internet only folk music stations that play folk music put a little “buy this song” button next to each tune in their play list archives.  Let the stations divvy up the proceeds - 50% to artist; 50% to the radio station.  Sounds like a win-win deal to me.

WUMB - are you listening?

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Is ‘24′ Harmful?

dd January 29th, 2007

As I blogged about recently, I’m a “24″ addict. But, a piece in today’s Examiner, of all places, made me think about the story line’s effects on the American Muslim community. This year’s story focuses on Islamic terrorists who have already launched a nuclear suitcase bomb in L.A. with plans to blow up four more. Looking2live has already pointed out her discomfort with this in a comment on my post.

The image of Muslims in this country is already pretty poor and innocent, patriotic Muslim citizens suffer from it. Doesn’t “24″ reinforce these negative stereotypes for the non-discriminating non- Muslim Americans amongst us?

As the Examiner reported today,

Sohail Mohammed (pictured here), a New Jersey immigration lawyer … watched the episode depicting the nuclear attack. ‘I was shocked,’ he said. ‘Somewhere, some lunatic out there watching this will do something to an innocent American Muslim because he believes what he saw on TV.’

Now, it is true that one of the show’s good guys this year is a Muslim former terrorist who has seen the error of his ways. But, is this enough to counter the rest of the storyline? I doubt it.

And, this issue goes beyond our borders. America is already viewed with great suspicion in the Muslim world. “24″ isn’t helping.

Jews are painfully aware of how slippery a slope this type of negative stereotyping can be. As a Jew, I try to be vigilant about protecting the rights of other minorities. But, as a “24″ watcher, am I part of the problem?

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Side by Side Star in Our Very First House Concert!

dd January 21st, 2007

“It’s a pleasure to know you” - a great song and my sentiment for a wonderful evening last night.  We held our very first Diskin house concert last night featuring the superb duo, Side by Side - Doris Justis and Sean McGee.  41 people crammed into “chez Diskin” (apologies to Dick Cerri) and were treated to a magnificent evening of food, fellowship but most of all MUSIC.  By all accounts, the evening was a smashing success!

Here’s how it happened

Almost exactly one year ago at the World Folk Music Association Annual Concert, we bid on a house concert by “Side by Side” and, lo and behold, we won!!  But, we seemed to always be too busy or couldn’t come up with the right weekend for almost a year.  Finally, I decided enough is enough - let’s do it. So, I called Doris and said, “You probably forgot who I am but…” to which Doris quickly responded “Oh, wait, you’re the guy who bid on us for a concert.  We’d love to do it”.  I knew instantly that this was going to be terrific.  Then, serendipity took over.  I suggested we do this on Jan. 20, which was originally the date for this year’s WFMA concert, but since it had just been rescheduled until March 24, Doris and Sean were free that evening.

The Evening

So, we decided to make our “prize winning” brisket and ask everyone to bring a salad, dessert, or drinks.  We had a fabulous dinner followed by the first set of music.  Dessert and set 2 followed.  It all worked out great, although I had a tough time pulling Sean away from the brisket to get him up “on stage”.

Doris and Sean are great musicians - Sean plays a mean 12 string - and have a wonderful natural sound with great harmonies.   Their 2 sets featured tons of songs from their many albums (oops CDs), ranging from John Denver to Bill Danoff.  My personal favorites:

  • From a Distance (Julie Gold) - one of the best folk songs ever written
  • Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt) - if you don’t know about Townes, you need to
  • Runaway (Del Shanon) - not exactly a folk song, but what great fun to sing along with this oldie
  • Death in Venice (David Buskin) - tons of fun
  • One for the Road (Doris Justis) - Doris’s wonderful own composition
  • Potter’s Wheel (Bill Danoff) - another one of the best folks songs ever written
  • St. Judy’s Comet (Paul Simon)
  • Tradewinds (John Denver)

In addition to being great performers, Doris and Sean are also just really nice people.  Barbara and I are already planning House Concert Two.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, I urge everyone to catch Side by Side in performance and/or buy their CD’s.  You won’t be disappointed.  (Read another review).  Slides below:

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Why Aren’t You Hooked on “24″?

dd January 19th, 2007

True confessions - I’m a “24″ junkie. Completely and devotedly addicted. I can’t wait for my adrenaline rush of non-stop heart pounding excitement and suspense with each new episode. Now, that the season has started and my withdrawal is over, I can’t wait for the new rush each Monday when I get to watch my “tivo’d” new episode.

Honestly, is there anything on TV that keeps your undivided interest like “24″? It’s James Bond on steroids! And, what else mirrors the real world as well even if imperfectly? For example, is the show’s second black president a precursor of the real thing?

So, I’m wondering why I’m having so much trouble hooking my wife. Now, admittedly, she gets sucked in to very few TV programs. “Dallas” and “American Dreams” come to mind. But, come on, “24″ beats the pants off these, doesn’t it? So, I’m asking myself:

  • Is it a male-female thing?
  • Is it an anti-violence thing?
  • Is it a “I don’t want to see problems that are too close to the real world - e.g. terrorists” thing?
  • Am I missing something?

It would be a lot more fun if I could have a partner to watch with me. Guess, Jack, Chloe and I will just have to try harder.

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