If you're visible... (in the contemporary religious publications) Word from: Jake

"If you are visible you have a chance to become more visible," - yes, slight Heideggerian overtones... but seriously, who's the moron producing such profundities? I've talked with the PW correspondent for at least a half-hour, and of all the things I said she had to pick this one quote. Oh, gevalt. For that reason, I was tempted not to mention this article at all, but it talks about a few really interesting publications on art and religion: Tiferet, Parabola, Image, Rock and Sling. I've never seen them before! Very exciting.

Speaking about publications, Guilt and Pleasure is looking really good. I haven't seen the print copy, but it seems like all of the articles are available on the web, as well. Lots of good stuff, including the works of Wayne Koestenbaum and Lara Vapnyar - go CUNY Graduate Center! This is the first edition of G&P, let's hope they will grow and flourish, and keep away from camp. We need more intelligent, tasteful publication... less Heeb!

Lastly, Woody Allen is in the latest New Yorker with Thus Ate Zarathustra. Not hilarious, but pretty funny, a-la:

The existential catastrophe for Schopenhauer was not so much eating as munching.

or

Spinoza, on the other hand, dined sparingly because he believed that God existed in everything and it's intimidating to wolf down a knish if you think you're ladling mustard onto the First Cause of All Things.

Didn't he once have a story with diet-book spin off on the "Notes From the Underground"?

Frantic Turtle & Sway Machinery Word from: Jake

The New Jewish Avant-Garde Collective

Sway Machinery
with Antibalas horn section
ashkenazi punk-blues

Frantic Turtle
jazz poetry garage

Sun Jun 25th, 8.15pm
Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia Street; A, B, C, and D trains to West 4th or 1 to Sheridan Sq.)

$8 + 1 drink

http://www.myspace.com/franticturtle
http://www.myspace.com/swaymachinery

Notorious Slammers To Wed This Sunday Word from: Jake

Do you know these two slammers?



Mordy and Charlotte, two long-time members of the Mima'amakim family are getting married this Sunday. Mazal Tov!

You might be able to see these rockstars at our next show in September kicking it with classic jams like this one here -

WHY I ROLL UP MY BEARD
Mordechai Shinefield

I rolled up my beard for world peace,
my contribution to compromise.
I rolled it up to strike a blow against fascists, or fundamentalist regimes.

I rolled up my beard for self-constrained anarchy.
I rolled it up to cut off blood circulation,
to reveal my Adam's Apple.
To make it easier to talk,
To talk without people wondering how old I am,
To look my age, or at least not ten years older than I am.

I rolled up my beard because my Mashpia told me to comb it,
and I didn't have a comb.
I rolled up my beard because my mother said to trim it,
and I didn't have scissors.

I rolled up my beard to impress a girl.
Not one in specific,
but the general idea of one,
should she come my way.

I rolled up my beard to make people notice,
to make people notice that they no longer notice my long beard.
I rolled up my beard because beard rhymed with feared and with weird,
and I didn't want to be weird.

I rolled up my beard because I thought people were watching,
but then I realized that there was no connection.
That I was weird with it rolled up or down.
I was weird wearing black pants and a white shirt and a black hat in a color world.
I was weird studying Gemara in a language that nobody spoke,
and I was weird because I cried at Farbringins, even though I had nothing to drink.

But I still kept my beard rolled up,
Because though the Tanya tells me that my mind should control my heart,
My heart stills moves my lips to speak,
my legs to run,
my arms to hold,

my ears to hear,
my hand to write.

So I still roll up my beard,
because it gives me something to write about,
something to read about,
something to be personal about,
something to feel saddened about.

Because though bachurim complain when they feel depressed,
When my heart is heavy,
and my soul is numb,
and I am afraid that I am in the wrong Yeshiva,
learning the wrong things,
I know that I am alive.

So I roll up my beard,
To remind myself,
That I am not yet perfect,
but I am still alive.



Bless up!!!

Bridge & Tunnel (The Immigrant Slam) Word from: Jake

Even the most avant-garde, experimental, post-gotham-hawthorne and what-have-you folks secretly like Broadway. Every so often they lock the doors, turn off the phone, and put on the Rent soundtrack (eewww), or Chicago, or maybe even Mama Mia, though hopefully not the latter. The problem with Broadway is the mass appeal: as Oscar Wilde said, "everything popular is wrong." Mass appeal necessitates cheesiness - that is, the overused, cliched numbers performed with tearful zest. To make it on Broadway, you need to have a certain amount of that mass appeal: it's like getting a required GRE score.

That said, I loved Sarah Jones' Bridge and Tunnel. The show is about an NYC poetry reading that brings together a crazy bunch of immigrant poets - Pakistani Mohammad Ali, Chinese Mrs. Ling, Jamaican Gladys, Boris from you know where, Lorraine from the pre-war Poland, etc. You'd think, here's the perfect ground for cultural generalizations; but the performances are so good that the hints of cheesiness recede into the background. Sarah Jones who plays all of the characters - it's a one-woman show - had many years of schooling at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and she has certainly seen some of the most random characters who come to the readings (it's like a chabad house but left-wing and poetry-centered.) And man, she can parody them. Not going to speak confidently of all characterizations, but having attended a few slams I'll attest that the portrayal is hilariously accurate. Lorraine, the Jewish lady from Long Island, originally Poland-Lithuania, is fantastic. A total bubaleh, as the picture above attests. And Boris is excellent: "What, I don't have any stories. I was a Jew, in Russia - you want more stories than that?" And then "he" reads something in Russian, I believe from Pushkin, with a really solid pronunciation. I generally can't stand the feebly low attempts at the portrayal of the (incomprehensible, darkly introspective, comic-cosmic) Russian soul, but this was not bad at all. On the whole, a very inspiring work; and the idea of making slam poetry into a play... what a tempting concept! By the way, after Sarah won the "special award" Tony the show was extended into August.