Filed under: jewish, youtube | Tags: addicted to love, amanda lear, bisc1, bollywood, burning man, ciccone youth, hava nagila, hitler, janis ian, jimmy page, kim gordon, michel polnareff, raymond scott, robert palmer
Hitler plans burning man.
Kim Gordon of Ciccone Youth performs Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” at a Macy’s video booth.
Seu Jorge, “Rebel Rebel”
Amanda Lear, “These Boots Are Made for Walking”
A Bollywood version of “Hava Nagila.”
The Raymond Scott Fascination Machine, soothing sounds for baby.
Bisc1 performs “Yours or Mine” at Southpaw.
Michel Polnareff, “La poupée qui fait non.” Apparently, Jimmy Page is playing guitar on this 1966 recording. (Also see his 40th anniversary version— the man had a vision, a white-goggled one, but my introduction to this song was actually elsewhere, in English by a band called the Birds.)
KETC segment on Janis Ian.
Filed under: records, wfmu record fair | Tags: haggadah, hitler, maxwell house, muhammed, passover, pesach, shirley cohen
*** catch hebrew school live! april 14, 2009 in brooklyn. details here.
Passover Music Box, Shirley R. Cohen (1951)
Hebrew School celebrates its second Passover (can you believe it?) this weekend. Following on the heels of my Purim post, I’ve got more of Shirley Cohen’s oeuvre. This is another find from my excursion to last fall’s WFMU record fair. It’s a scratchy 78, with takeoffs on renditions of the “traditional” Passover songs of American Ashkenazic Jewry. Once again, apart from the decorative sleeve (why do children’s illustrations from half a century ago look so eerie?) and the thick, leaden beauty of the format, there isn’t much substantive here in terms of music, good or bad. Apart from what I’ve previously discussed as the presumptive marketing notion behind these records, there’s not much thinking outside of the music box here.
There were, however, some bizarre and melancholy moments when I slowed the record down from 78 to 45 rpm:
According to the diasporic Ashkenazic traditions, Passover’s first and second seders occur on the 19th and the 20th this year. Because of a strange conjunction in the lunar and solar calendars, the night of the second seder also has several other significances. On the 20th, while we’re munching on matza and getting charoset stuck in our teeth, the birthdays of Hitler and the Prophet Muhammed are also being celebrated. Among marijuana enthusiasts, the day is celebrated as “4/20,” often with communal gatherings of smokers in northern California, Vancouver, etc. Unfortunately for these revellers, cannabis has been declared by rabbis as unfit for the holiday.
Lest we forget… Let this puzzling PSA spoof serve as a reminder of how the enslaved become enslavers themselves, or just plain bigots. I’m not sure if that’s in the Maxwell House Hagaddah.
Last year’s Passover with Abbie Hoffman.
Having trouble getting a clean break when splitting the matza for the afikomen? Let this Japanese instructional video light your way.
Hebrew School 