3 Readings! 3 Boroughs! 3 Band T-Shirts!

Punk Rock Hora: Adventures in Jew-Punk Land officially came out this past week, and in the past month, I’ve done three readings in three NYC boroughs—while wearing three different band T-shirts!

January 6: Word Up Community Bookshop (Washington Heights, Manhattan)

I focused on punk rock hora stories from Punk Rock Hora. I read between-chapter interludes about Yidcore, Schmekel, Golem, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Damn Dirty Commies, and Gefilte F*ck and excerpts from Chapter 1 about Yidcore and Golem.

The headliner was folk musician Dan Rauchwerk, who was celebrating his debut solo album, We Are More Than What We Leave Behind. Also on the bill were Dan’s sister, Autumn Rauchwerk, who read poetry, and Jordan Kutzik and Rachel Field Kutzik, who are launching a Yiddish children’s publishing company. Kinder-Loshn Publications.

I wore a Moshiach Oi! T-shirt.

January 5: Gravesend Library (Gravesend, Brooklyn)

Dan Rauchwerk and I had a double-header weekend in far-flung NYC neighborhoods! We largely had similar sets compared to today’s event. Because I had a little more time, I read a second Schmekel interlude and added a Jews from the Valley interlude. I also did a Q&A.

I wore a Shondes T-shirt.

December 6: The Shillelagh Tavern (Astoria, Queens)

As part of Wandering Jews of Astoria’s A Channukah Bush Grows in Astoria: A Jewish Storytelling Show, I read from Chapter 1 of Punk Rock Hora, recounting when I saw Jewdriver play on the first night of Hanukkah in San Francisco in 2006. As I blogged about last week, Jewdriver are still playing Hanukkah shows all these years later!

I wore a Jewdriver T-shirt.