The Chronoklepts are at it again. These notorious times thieves stole all of yesterday and a great deal of today. Why didn’t I blog yesterday? Why am I not writing until 2:48 PM today when I still have to go shopping? The Chronoklepts. I need a Chronoklept warning system and an effective weapon to use against them.
It’s Tuesday and I will now write what I can remember about Sunday even though that’s now ancient history. Is that the day I helped out building the Great Pyramid of Khufu? No that was a little before then. Digging into my memory things are becoming clearer. On Sunday afternoon I saw a streaming show by Jean Rohe and Sunday evening I saw the Klezmatics at Symphony Space presented by the World Music Institute. I have seen the Klezmatics about a dozen times, but it was always at festivals and dances. I think this is the first time I’ve seen them at an indoor seated concert. This was a Chanukah show centered on their album Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah. Don’t insist on consistency spelling the holiday, I spell it my way, The Klezmatics spell it as in the title, and Woody spelled it Hanuka on the songs. Woody wasn’t Jewish so be easy on him. He wrote Chanukah songs because his wife and children were. I bet somewhere somebody is complaining about his cultural appropriation. I think turnabout is fair play, Jews wrote many of the greatest Christmas songs. Musicians rarely worry about appropriation; they hear something they like they incorporate it. Cross-fertilization enriches art.
They didn’t just do Woody’s songs; they also did songs from the usual repertoire. They did some cultural appropriation themselves as they did an extended jazz improve highlighting each of the soloists. Jazz and klezmer have always had an affiliation. The member of the Klezmatics I know personally is Lisa Gutkin who I met when she was with the Celtic band Whirligig. I have also seen her as a solo singer/songwriter in the Greenwich Village folk tradition. I discovered that I now know another member of the band, Richie Barshay from the Brooklyn folk community. I have seen Jean Rohe play at his house. He’s now the Klezmatics’ drummer. During the jazz improv he had a solo where he was the only one on the stage. I didn’t recognize him; I was too busy watching his hands move. Later when I had to peer around Matt Darriau, the woodwind player, I spotted Richie. I love the small folk world. Kevin seems to recognize someone in the band every time we see a show together.
The Klezmatics are one of those bands that make me happy by reaching directly into the pleasure center of my brain. Celtic bands often affect me like that. As I’ve seen Lisa in two bands like that how could I not love her? They do more than give me unthinking pleasure, they also give me intellectual pleasure. They appeal to the Bach part of my brain. Often no two musicians will be playing the same thing. You have to follow the dance the parts weave around each other. There were sing-alongs and the audience enthusiastically participated even while masked. The venue checked everyone’s vaccine status with the excelsior app along with ID. They policed the masks though one person not far from me had his mask down below his mouth, everyone else was properly covered. With my KN95 I felt safe. I was tested so felt I was keeping others safe.
It’s easy for me to get to Symphony Space, too easy. I was able to time it, so I got there exactly on time. I did the same thing for Richard Thompson. I prefer to have more time to get settled. I should have planned on eating dinner in the area. My actual plan was to eat at home but then the Chronoklepts made sure that didn’t happen.
The Chronoklepts did their job yesterday, I have no idea where the time went. I didn’t blog or take a walk. I did do a lot of prep for Gord’s Gold and recorded the show late last night. I’m now preparing for next week’s show, the Holiday Show, and the top albums of the year show. I’m listening to Susan Werner’s Gospel Truth as I write this. That was prompted by a teenage singer/songwriter, Aspen Jacobsen, sending me a song that would pair well with a song off that album. My first thought was (Why Is Your) Heaven So Small, but I wanted to make sure another song might not work better. I sometimes take programming Gord’s Gold to seriously.
As I was bad about blogging and walking, I made cooked myself a proper dinner, jalapeño sausages with mashed potatoes. I haven’t made mashed in ages. I have not been buying half & half or Yukon Gold potatoes. I bought them both so I could do the monster mash. I’m the monster. Now I have to force myself out of my house for my walk and to buy eggs. Do I do the Donut Walk™ or walk to Aldi. I’ll decide that after posting this.
Wise Madness 