Mash dem! Moshihist-mon, I... Word from: Jake

The word has it that when Mashiah arrives and establishes the broiling godliness, psychoanalytic freedom, uninhibited marxism, free love, etc., Tisha B'Av will become a holiday. And the three weeks preceeding it, a massive continuous feast. Full of wild anticipation, I've been hitting up some very festive musical events this past week.

On Wednesday, I saw the Bolshoy Ballet, doing Bright Stream, witty mise en abyme about a dance troop that comes to perform at a god-forsaken "kolhoz" (collective farm, Soviet precussor to kibbutz). Kolhoz tractorist falls in love with a ballerina and abandons his cow-milking girlfriend Zina. Zina quickly learns a few moves from the ballerina and proves the ingrate that she is not only a first-class worker, but also superb graceful dancer, worthy of any tractorist's love. The best part was Bolshoy's mimicking of the peasants who dance most awkwardly. Prof Lee back in YU always warned me about the 'imitation fallacy', parodying somebody and then falling into the pit of the same imperfection (i.e. writing a parody of a cliche poem that's full of the same dumb cliches...). These guys were so above any imitation fallacy, it was mind-blowing - and edifying, too.

Last night I went to see the great Jamaican roots-reggae band, Israel Vibration. In the small world of genre's appreciators, they're as legendary as Marley's Wailers. And as old: both of the lead singers are on crutches. So, as you can imagine, the vibe was quite laid-back (even as far as reggae goes) but so juicy and nourishing that blissful trance was upon all. The trademark falsetto voices didn't falter one bit; Skelley and Wiss swayed and swung on their crutches. One of their anthem tunes goes:

or whether you're a Bobo
or whether you're an Orthodox
or whether you're a Binghi Natty Dread
or whether you're a twelve tribe of Israel
we all gonna sing the same song...

You know which line I was cheering at the most (Emcee: "All of de Orthodox people on da house..." Three of us in the corner: "yeee!!")

Skankin' shabbos vibes all!