Three decades into their career, the Klezmatics released the album Apikorsim (Heretics) in November. In Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, I noted: The Klezmatics was also the first klezmer band to explicitly incorporate punk sensibilities into some of its music, albeit not as a defining quality that applied to all songs and not as a punk rock band. From the get-go, the Klezmatics looked to create “a new klezmer with a punk attitude,” as one album’s liner notes put…
Sam Miller of Yidwise and Jewish Music Underground
Posted on February 25, 2017In the Introduction of Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, I talked about how Jewish punk fit into a larger context of overtly Jewish music in the 21st century. Over the last decade and a half, the way that people have viewed the context of Jewish music across genres has evolved. I was intrigued this past August when Sam Miller, a college student in LA, launched a blog called Yidwise. He wrote on the site, “Yidwise looks at ALL Jewish…
The King of Jewish Punk: Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman
Posted on February 4, 2017In January (while he was in a medically induced coma, no less), the unstoppable Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman released The King of Jewish Punk. It’s his milestone 30th album (#68 if you include his 38 cassette recordings). He figures that he’s been calling himself the King of Jewish Punk for about a decade, and if no one has challenged the term by now, it’s accepted. The album’s overtly Jewish content includes “Jewish Boy in the Mosh-Pit,” “Punk Rock Chanukah,” and “Exiled to the…
Guest Post: From Punk Rocker to Rabbi
Posted on January 29, 2017The following guest post is by Rabbi Patrick. Rabbi Patrick is in Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk in Chapter 3, as the front man of CAN!!CAN, and Chapter 6, as the executive director of PunkTorah. Here he explains how lessons from being a touring punk rocker helped him as a rabbi. Living in a Dodge conversion van was great preparation for being a rabbi. Seriously. Mind you, I had no interest in being clergy at the time. I was the…
10-Year Anniversary: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s
Posted on January 6, 2017In October 2006, Steven Lee Beeber’s The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk was published. While both that book and Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk featured the Ramones and the Dictators, Beeber included original interviews with key people involved with both bands. He also painted a much more comprehensive picture of the 1970s New York proto-punk/punk scene as well as other important figures, with chapters on Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, Richard Hell, Suicide, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Chris…
Nederlandsch-Israëlietisch: Tracing a Sliver of Family History in Rotterdam, Holland
Posted on January 1, 2017In 1921, my great-grandparents were emigrating from Russia to the United States. On April 1, when the ship was docked in Rotterdam, Holland, my maternal grandfather, Max Schwartz, was born. On April 8, he had his bris in Rotterdam. Twenty-three days after he was born, they reached the U.S. He wasn’t a Dutch citizen, he never identified as Dutch, and he never had any desire to return. He’s the only one of my grandparents not born in the U.S., even…
New Memoir by Jason Diamond of Fear of a Blue Planet, Shabbos Bloody Shabbos
Posted on December 27, 2016Jason Diamond could’ve come up in Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk much more than he did. The book discusses his bands Fear of a Blue Planet (in which he screamed “Kish mir in tuchas!”) and Shabbos Bloody Shabbos (which “kind of” had one practice). One could be forgiven for reading the book and not remembering his name. There’s so much more to him. I first interviewed him for my former blog, heebnvegan, via e-mail in 2009. The following…
Jew Cocks Declare “WAR! (On Christmas)”
Posted on December 23, 2016Warning: Sometimes punk rock can be offensive and shouldn’t be taken at face value! I learned about the Jew Cocks too late to include the outrageous LA punk rock band in Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, but I blogged about them in January. This week the Jew Cocks released the new song “WAR! (On Christmas),” in which Jew Cocks singer Todd repeated, “I’m waging a war on Christmas!” In a joint statement, Todd and Mike from the Jew Cocks explained…
Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Most Jewish Cookbook Yet
Posted on November 23, 2016Isa celebrates Passover and Hanukkah, as shown in The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook Photos: Vanessa Rees In Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, I discussed how Isa Chandra Moskowitz integrated her Jewish and punk identities into her vegan cooking projects. Her ninth cookbook, The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook, came out last week and featured more overtly Jewish recipes and references than any of her other cookbooks! The book’s holiday focus begot three chapters on Jewish holidays: Passover, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur,…
Blankies, Dreidels, Punk & Friendship: Speaking to 8th-to-10th Graders at the Toledo Jewish Book Festival
Posted on November 7, 2016Yesterday I spoke at the Toledo Jewish Book Festival in Ohio. My session was meant for 8th-to-10th graders, as part of an event geared toward four different grade/age brackets between kindergarten and 10th grade. The program was billed as “Blankies, Dreidels, Punk & Friendship,” incorporating the themes of the four different “children’s books.” Of course, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk is not a children’s book. It’s a scholarly book aimed at an adult audience, with parts that are inappropriate for children. I…