tick...tick..tick....

The plethora of help I'm getting putting KK together gives me time to catch up on playing my Bacon professional 5 string banjo which just came back from the shop. (Wow! What a difference....!) AND preparing for my class with Sherry Mayrent on the new Living Traditions Online Digital Sound Archives. I've been ploughing through Sherry's mind numbing catalog of some 3,000 78s she's collected (more since the catalog was made) and choosing some weird, rare and just plain amazing recordings for the class. Current faves: Joseph Feldman's 1925 "Fun Schlechte Chaverim Tsum Electric Chair" (From Bad Friends to...you know where.), Anna Hoffman's ribald 1923 "Froyen Nacht in a Terkishe Bath" ("Ladies Night you know where....), an extremely rare 1901 Kol Nidre by pioneeering recording cantor Selmar Cerini and a bunch of really kicking Belf klezmer discs. And about 30 more.
I do have to get some fretted instrument playing in. I still have to restring my '39 Epiphone New Yorker archtop guitar in anticipation of the Ray Musiker CD we're recording at KlezKamp this year. (Haven't played it since Pete and I disbanded Klezmer Plus! nearly five years ago...) Pete tells me his meeting with Ray on repertoire was really exciting and he even coaxed out a tango Ray hasn't played in decades in addition to some wonderful tunes made famous by his older and late brother Sammy.

Who can wait?

Update from KlezKamp Central

Things are moving fast and furious here at the Living Traditions office, deep in the basement of the Workmen's Circle building, as we head towards KlezKamp at the end of the month. We may not have windows, light or fresh air but we do have a lot of enthusiasm for what looks to be a terrific KlezKamp.

First things first: It is not too late to sign up for KlezKamp! We still have space and hope that you will join us at the Hudson Valley Resort from December 24-29 for KlezKamp 22. Don't forget that we also have a wonderful children's program, so bring your kids and grandkids (kids- bring your parents and grandparents!) and experience our intergenerational Yiddish Folk Arts Program together. There are links to the important KlezKamp information on the left-hand side of this page. Call us at the office (212) 532-8202 or write us at info@livingtraditions.org if you have any questions or need additional information.

Those of us planning this event can easily become אױסגעקלעזקעמפּט (oysgeklezkempt = KlezKamped-out) during these final weeks leading up to the event. (I've likened it to planning a destination wedding (with classes) for 500-- and everyone is the mother of the bride.) But it is all well worth it to bring our wonderful KlezKamp community together for the 22nd straight year. Please join us.

We hope to see you at KlezKamp!

Klez Kamp Epes Center: New This Year

This will be an exciting year at the Epes Center. We will have many new items on the shelves. A partial list:

German Goldenshteyn/ A Living Tradition (CD): This is the CD that was recorded in an unused bedroom at last year's Kamp and has become a phenomenon. It has become all the more important because we lost our wonderful friend German to a heart attack in June. The music is astounding, like nothing you've ever heard. It has made the Grammy nominating list in 3 categories.

German Goldenshteyn Repertoire (Book): Cookie Segelstein amd Alex Kantorovich have labored long and hard to have the book of German's music ready for this year's Kamp. Proceeds from the sale of the book and CD go to German's family.

Zvee Scooler/Der Grammeister (CD): Another new release from Living Traditions, this is a compilation of the Yiddish theater's great actor featuring radio performances, poetry and even commercials.

Klezmer Music/A Social History (Book) : The long awaited paperback edition of Henry Sapoznik's seminal work is finally available, this time with an included music CD.

As in recent years, we will also be offering CDs of the evening concerts the day after they happen.

Putting the Zhurnal to bed

I've just about finished work on the KlezKamp Zhurnal, our annual magazine that features articles about Yiddish culture, Living Traditions, our faculty, and this year, for the first time, a crostic puzzle created especially for KlezKamp. Editing the Zhurnal is one of my favorite responsibilities in my role as KlezKamp editor, archivist, and house grammarian.

Just to whet your appetite, here's the table of contents:

• A Tribute to German Goldenshteyn, z"l
• Digital KlezKamp (about a new Living Traditions online music database)
• Hasidic Creativity on Cassette, by Miriam Isaacs (in English and Yiddish, for those practising reading Yiddish)
  
• Hasidic Klezmer in Israel, by Henry Sapoznik
• Our Other Talented Faculty (a look at visual artwork by our crafts and children's faculty)
• My Uncle Zvee, by Isaiah Sheffer (about Zvee Scooler and the new Living Traditions CD of his rhyming radio commentaries)
• Meet the Scholarship Students
• The KlezKamp Crostic, by Rick Winston

It's been great fun putting this together. I was honored to be able to do something to commemmorate my friend, the late German Goldenshteyn, of blessed memory (a picture of us together, with Yitskhok Niborski on the left, is above). In addition, all the articles and features are lively and informative--and I got to do the crostic before almost anybody else (although it was LT Associate Director and puzzle maven Sabina Brukner who took it out for its first spin). But my favorite item of all is the scholarship students.

The scholarship program is now in its second year. Dan Peck, KlezKamp's Operations Manager, sorts through a stack of applications from dozens of interesting, involved young people, all of whom have terrifically compelling reasons for wanting to attend Kamp. From these he must choose only two to whom Living Traditions can offer complete scholarships, a program funded by generous supporters such as yourself. For the second year in a row, the scholarship students are incredibly inspiring. I find their insights and reasons for working with Yiddish culture moving. Here's a small taste of this year's recipients:

Polish student Alicja Głuszek, a PhD candidate who lists Abraham Joshua Heschel as one of her main influences and works as a staff member of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków; and
Dina Gidon, an organic chemist from St. Petersburg, Russia, who has switched studies to become a collector of Yiddish folklore, particularly in Ukraine.

Add to these amazing accomplishments the fact that they are both under 25, and I'm sure you'll be as floored as I was. I can't wait to meet these two first-time Kampers when we get to Kerhonkson. You can read more about these two young Yiddishists in the Zhurnal (it'll be in your package when you get to Kamp).

If you want to learn more about the KlezKamp scholarship fund, call Sabina in the office; we would love to extend this program to be able to bring more of these inspiring young people to Kamp, to join with the KlezKamp community in our collective learning, and to make our hemshekh more complete.