I’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…
Jewish Highlights of Bad Religion’s New Book, Plus Some Disappointments
Posted on August 30, 2020I spoke extensively about Bad Religion in my 2016 book Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk. I worked hard to give a complete picture considering that Brett Gurewitz—their guitarist, cofounder, and cosongwriter—had “not spoken of his Jewish background frequently” and “declined to be interviewed for this book through a publicist.” I looked forward to Bad Religion’s brand-new authorized biography, Do What You Want, as a fan, and I read it with a careful eye as to what I might…
Air Guitar Limericks
Posted on July 28, 2020In Air to the Throne: A Poetry Chapbook about Air Guitar, I included poems I’ve written about air guitar since 2014. I considered including my limericks but didn’t. Here for the first time are seven limericks about air guitar—plus one about air accordion! There’s even a brand-new limerick about Smiley Rod, who won the US Air Guitar Online Championships this weekend. The Day of the AGWC 2015 Focus on today? Ev’ry reason Otherwise, air guitar fan treason But then season’s dead I can’t…
Guest Post from Oi McVey: 5 Most Bad*ss Jewish Characters in Movies
Posted on June 6, 2020This is a guest post from Andrew “Oi McVey” Schulman, singer of the “angry Jew punk” band Damn Dirty Commies. Oi McVey identifies the five most bada*ss Jewish characters in movies, plus three honorable mention candidates. I explored “tough Jews” as an attribute of Jewish punks in Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, so it’s fascinating to see examples from the film world. Guest posts do not necessarily represent the views of this blog or its blogger. 1. Magneto, X-Men First…
Jump for Joy: Newly Rediscovered Electric Simcha
Posted on May 3, 2020Electric Simcha put out four releases, ranging from one to three songs, in 2010. That short-lived catalog was enough for me to declare in Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk that in their “sound and overall approach, Electric Simcha might have been the best effort to seamlessly pull off a musically skilled, decidedly punk take on a form of traditional Jewish music.” The Philadelphia quartet was together for about two years and took a hardcore/punk approach to Hasidic simcha music. Since…
The Gangsta Rabbi: 10 Years Leukemia, 5 Years Terminal, Still Here
Posted on April 23, 2020Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman’s days might have seemed numbered. In 2016, he talked about his battle with cancer in an interview featured on this blog. In 2018, he started hospice care. In 2019, he ominously posed next to his grave following his wife’s passing. But in 2020, that photo is an album cover, because the King of Jewish Punk is still making music. The prolific Lieberman is hard at work on his 76th album, The Noise Militia. He explained that on his “final and ongoing album,” he “creates…