Hanukkah is a time when many Jewish artists and organizations have events, presumably because people will attend. That includes Jewish punk bands and klezmer groups with a punk edge. This year’s Hanukkah shows included veteran acts in New York City and Oakland, a debuting band in Chicago, and a somewhere-in-between band in Seattle. For those who couldn’t make it to any of those cities, punk Hanukkah songs could be heard over the radio and/or internet from stations based in San Francisco…
Monthly Archives:
December 2018
Yiddish New York Punk Showcase
Posted on December 26, 2018When it comes to music, the weeklong Yiddish New York festival doesn’t only have top-notch klezmer. On Saturday night, there was a late-night Yiddish New York Punk Showcase on the Lower East Side. “Yiddish music and punk rock go together in this neighborhood,” explained Rozele, the lead singer of Koyt Far Dayn Fardakht, from the stage. It was my first time seeing the queer/trans Yiddish punk band Koyt Far Dayn Fardakht. In case you don’t speak Yiddish, their name translates to…
Hilarious Jewish Punk Stories from The Hard Times
Posted on December 9, 2018The Hard Times is a punk version of The Onion. The fake news stories are often hilarious and relatable. On Thursday, for the third time in the last year, The Hard Times featured a Jewish punk story. Considering that the timing aligned with Hanukkah this year, Rosh Hashanah this year, and Hanukkah last year, The Hard Times apparently made deliberate decisions to run Jewish content around Jewish holidays. I say, job well done and keep it up! Here’s an overview of all three. Jewish…