The pandemic has curtailed Purim celebrations this year, so I’m taking this opportunity to remember the five Jewish punk artists I saw at three different Purim shows in Downtown Manhattan during the 2010s! 2010: CAN!!CAN, the Shondes, and Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman The Shondes headlined a Punk Purim show organized by JDub Records, a nonprofit Jewish record label that was a big deal at the time. One second into this video for “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” I can be seen…
The Tu B’Shvat Disorder!
Posted on January 27, 2021Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for the Trees, is an opportunity to embrace veganism and environmentalism. I’ve enjoyed many Tu B’Shvat celebrations through the years, as recently as last night. The highlight was in 2008, when instead of a seder (which means “order”), I hosted the Tu B’Shvat Disorder! How punk is that? How pun is that? During my freshman year of college, I went to Chabad House one seemingly random Friday night and was delighted to find 44 types…
Should Music Lovers Pay for Livestreams during the Pandemic?
Posted on January 5, 2021In September, I blogged about live music in the age of the pandemic, particularly the first six months. I want to revisit one element: my evolving views on paying for virtual concerts. When New Found Glory announced their first livestream in June, I was “ready and willing” to pay the $9.99 admission. When I encountered a $3.95 service fee, I stopped in my tracks. The fee seemed excessive for what was only a livestream, and out of principle, I didn’t want to pay…
Menorahs and Dreidels for Shiragirl, NOFX, and New Found Glory
Posted on December 18, 2020Shira of Shiragirl, Eric Melvin of NOFX, and Jordan Pundik and Ian Grushka of New Found Glory acknowledge their Jewishness from time to time, but they don’t put it front and center to the extent that bands like Yidcore and Golem do. In a year when in-person Hanukkah events couldn’t happen, it was gratifying to see their celebrations of Hanukkah online! Shira has hosted Gritty Rocks Live streams during the pandemic, and Tuesday’s was a holiday special. Click here to watch the full…
B’yachad: Debut Jewish Children’s Album from Shira & Friends
Posted on December 1, 2020Shira & Friends released their debut Jewish children’s album, B’yachad, today. It’s the brainchild of lead singer, band leader, and songwriter Shira Kobren, who works as the music manager for the Family Engagement Department at Central Synagogue in New York. The predominantly pop-rock album combines different musical influences and offers kid-friendly approaches to holidays and other Jewish concepts. Seven of the eleven songs deal with Jewish holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Tu B’Shvat, Passover, Purim, and Shabbat. “Make Some Noise!” is an expression…
Happy Hanukkah!
Posted on November 29, 2020I’ve written about Hanukkah a lot over the past decade and a half. From Jewish punk to vegan food, here are some highlights all in one place! In 2018, I blogged about coast-to-coast Hanukkah concerts and airplay for Jewish punk bands, including Golem, Jewdriver, Shtumer Aleph, and the Debaucherauntes. In addition, I wrote about all the Golem Hanukkah concerts I’d been to through the years for Hevria: At this year’s Hanukkah show, Golem opened with their “anthem,” “Odessa.” A spirited hora broke out during…
Video Premiere: The Shondes’ “Wrong Kind”
Posted on November 27, 2020I’m excited to premiere the video for the Shondes‘ “Wrong Kind,” off their 2016 album, Brighton! The song’s “F*ck that noise!” sing-along has been a feature of live shows in recent years, and the video has an awesome zine aesthetic. Louisa Solomon, the Shondes’ singer and bassist, reflected on how when she was growing up, she felt she “was ‘too much’ of one thing or another.” She hoped that by discussing it in this song, “others would connect with the feeling of…
Golem On-Screen
Posted on November 21, 2020Since my first Golem concert in 2006, 2020 is the first year I haven’t seen them live. Livestreams are all the rage during the pandemic, as I discussed in my last blog post, and Golem had their first on Sunday at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. If I can’t see Golem in person, a rockin’ livestream with good sound quality is the next best thing. After asking around on Twitter, I won’t add the livestream to my list of every…
Live Music in the Age of the Pandemic
Posted on September 26, 2020March 17 was my last day in the office for months, and St. Patrick’s Day also featured my first concert of the pandemic era. The Dropkick Murphys played a full show without an audience. Playing air banjo along to “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” in my kitchen, I felt like everything was going to be OK—even for just a moment—and that was a powerful feeling. But in the months that followed, getting a full band together in one location was infeasible. In April…
The Enduring Impact of My Two 2017 High Holidays Articles
Posted on September 18, 2020The two Jewish punk articles I wrote for the High Holidays in 2017 keep getting inscribed in the Book of Life! The wire service JTA published “Punk Bands Prove Shofar Isn’t Just for the High Holidays,” which ran in numerous newspapers in the US, Canada, and Israel. On Monday, The Wisdom Daily cited the examples in my article to show that “the shofar can be heard in rock ‘n’ roll recordings, and these may have virtually nothing to do with the Jewish…