Tune in Saturday September 27th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

As of this writing, “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery,” is unrated on both RottenTomatoes and Metacritic, there’s just not enough data. So the question arises, has anybody seen it?

Oh, the documentary has gotten reviews. Then again, even Sarah McLachlan herself pulled out of performing at the premiere in protest against ABC/Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

But I don’t think that’s the issue.

I think part of the issue is Hulu doesn’t have the traction or gravitas of Netflix or HBO, but also…it’s an indication of today’s era, where everything is niche and nothing is that big. But when Lilith Fair toured the continent, it was peopled by household name stars who had hits all over MTV. You may not have liked their music, but you knew it!

And you knew what these women looked like.

In retrospect, Lilith Fair was a last hurrah for the pre-internet era, even though at that point the internet was burgeoning, albeit on dialup. I went to the initial show with a woman I met on the internet, at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank in 1996, it was a test run. Ron Fierstein, the manager of Suzanne Vega, who was on the bill, hipped me and got me tickets. It was a “tryout.” I didn’t get it, because a hit is a hit, and Sarah McLachlan had had some, as had Susanne Vega, and Paula Cole was bubbling up, isn’t that enough?

OF COURSE IT WAS!

The following year was the first full-blown tour, and then it continued for a few years and then it was over, this film says because Sarah McLachlan was burned out. I buy that, after all it was her tour.

At the end of the film, Brandi Carlile is on stage at the Gorge, and she says it’s Sarah McLachlan’s house, and then she brings Sarah out, and I got goosebumps. I guess that’s the power of a star, that’s the power of music.

One other high point I must mention is when the Indigo Girls and the assembled multitude do “Closer to Fine” and drop out for the chorus and then the audience sings it, loudly. This was not a thing in the nineties, although it’s de rigueur today.

Today…

The funny thing is the script has flipped, you’ve got men complaining the charts are dominated by women. In some cases, like Sabrina Carpenter, evidencing the sexuality that men used to trade on, that they used to own.

But that’s today, and Lilith Fair was yesterday.

There’s an overarching theme here, about the little engine that could, a lineup of women, could they sell tickets. Then there’s the bonding and safety of women. And I can understand all those elements, but I went for the MUSIC!

The second time I went to Lilith it was at the Rose Bowl, and the second stage was outside the stadium. I remember going out there to hear Billie Myers do “Kiss the Rain,” and K’s Choice perform “Not an Addict,” and then when the song broke, there was this bass thump and then a vocal that pierced the atmosphere, reached all the way outside the stadium and grabbed me, it was Sinéad O’Connor performing “I Am Stretched on Your Grave.” I ran, literally RAN through the tunnel to see and hear Sinéad, who evidenced a power that most males never achieve.

She’s gone now. And her later years were turbulent, but here we still have the young Sinéad, who supposedly ruined her career by ripping up a photo of the Pope on SNL. But all these years later, you see Sinéad in the film, you hear her talked about, and you realize she was brave, a trailblazer who inspired other women.

The film starts with Sarah talking about her sheltered upbringing. Ultimately learning how to stand up for herself and say no when necessary via Lilith.

And she was not the only one who had a learning experience, one performer informed another.

Joan Osborne is told not to talk about Planned Parenthood from the stage in Texas, and then she wears a shirt emblazoned with the logo of the organization. She was anything but meek.

But, Paula, Shawn and Sarah are forced to do a medley at the Grammys as opposed to each getting a solo slot, even though they were all nominated and the male nominees got to play alone. It made me think of Ken Ehrlich and his “Grammy moments.” I don’t think Ken even thought of sexism, but the three women…they debated refusing to perform. They ultimately took the stage, but they’re still thinking about it.

And the endless backlash, the endless jokes. We live in a different era now, where internet hate is rampant, but this film is a great demonstration that you should never listen to the feedback, that people are out to get you, they make fun of you because they’re jealous, don’t adjust.

As for backstage… It looked like summer camp, made you want to be involved.

As for the set-up… They do a good job of delineating the players and showing them at work. Terry McBride as the manager, Marty Diamond as the agent and Dan Fraser as the road manager. I’ve seen a lot of rock docs, but this is the best when it comes to conception and execution, what a heavy lift it is. You’ve got an idea, will promoters buy it? And then you go out on the road and as smooth as it may appear on stage, hellzapoppin’ off it, unanticipated problems are rampant.

Every day there’s a press conference, where idiots ask inane questions. Maybe rock critics had cred in the sixties and seventies, but that was gone even before the internet.

Meaning if you’re an act you must listen to your inner tuning fork, because most other people just don’t know, don’t kowtow to them.

So I think everybody watching “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery” will take something different from it. Some the female angle, some the gay angle, some the business angle…but for me it comes down to the music, writing a good song is the hardest part of the enterprise. And then reaching people with it comes next. Very few have the talent, very few.

And as the movie was winding down, I wondered if they’d mention the failure of the 2010 revival of Lilith Fair. Stunningly, they did. They said singer/songwriters were over, but if you ask me the problem then was time had passed and Sarah was just not that hot anymore, and you need a hook, you need a headliner.

Today?

If you’re a star of Sarah’s caliber you play arenas, you may even be able to play stadiums. But the funny thing is most of the public, outside of the attendees, may be familiar with your name at most, as for your music…they may not even be able to name one song.

The film may be about female breakthrough, standing up to an entrenched male society, disproving conventional wisdom, but I must say what hit me most was these were all big stars, and they may even still be around, plying the boards, but their hit eras are over. None of them are having hits today. Did they all just lose the muse? Or maybe the perspective should be like above, today no one has the ubiquitous hits of yore. But for me, it showed cycles. After all, this was nearly thirty years ago. THIRTY YEARS! A lot transpires in thirty years. New acts come along. With the same hunger of the old ones, maybe even inspired by the old ones.

So, have we made progress? There’s the #MeToo movement, but there are still men who pooh-pooh music made by women, who think they and the male acts can do it better. The truth is they’re just insecure. Unlike so many of the men, the women on the Lilith bill did not depend upon production, studio wizardry, they could sing and play their songs and…

I was watching thinking if this were the old days and this film was licensed to MTV it would be played ad infinitum, and become a cultural institution, bedrock. But today? Everything comes and goes, marked by lovers and styles of clothes. Yes, Joni had it right.

Will your jaw drop watching “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery”?

It’s not that kind of film. But I got an e-mail from a woman saying she shed a tear and I didn’t wholly get it until the end, when Sarah took the stage with Brandi at the Gorge.

You know if you need to see this movie.

Will it influence younger generations? Who knows how and why things spread today.

But one thing is for sure, when you wipe away the business and social elements Lilith was peopled with talented stars, whose music drove audiences to them, both men and women.

That’s the message for me. Not that women are doing it for themselves, but that women are EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS MEN!

And these women proved it.

“King of Them All – The Story of King Records”: https://www.pbs.org/show/king-of-them-all-the-story-of-king-records/

I could watch this sh*t all day long. I love to learn, and I learned a lot watching this documentary.

From the very first time I met him, in a crowd at the Troubadour, Seymour Stein talked about Syd Nathan. And seemingly every time we were together after that he always circled back to Syd, working for him over the summer…AND I HAD NO IDEA WHO SYD NATHAN WAS!

Never mind basing his record company out of Cincinnati.

I knew King Records, because it was James Brown’s record company, but the fact that the label was run by Syd Nathan?

Seymour assumed I knew. Because he was older than me.

But there was no internet back then.

And now there’s so much history since then. And to tell you the truth, the pre-Beatle era is fading away, even Elvis Presley merch sales are declining, because the audience is dying off!

But we did have “The Twist” 45 at home.

Today’s kids have no idea what it was like, the phenomenon. It was a dance everybody could do, AND THEY DID! Little kids, everybody was twisting. The twist was on TV. But I had no idea that Chubby Checker did not do the original version, that it was done by Hank Ballard.

Then there’s “Good Rocking Tonight,” which Roy Brown offered to Wynonie Harris for fifty bucks, and when turned down ended up recording it himself. But when the record got a little traction, Wynonie covered it and…

At this point, most connoisseurs consider Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88” to be the first rock and roll record. For a long time conventional wisdom said it was Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” but that myth has been busted, just like Abner Doubleday inventing baseball. But “Rocket 88” is 1951. “Good Rocking Tonight” was 1947! You hear it in this doc and it screams rock and roll. Wynonie was magic, he was a star, you can feel it over half a century later.

But Syd started out with hillbilly music. Which faded away when the local radio station stopped paying live musicians and they all moved to Nashville. But race records, soul records, BLACK MUSIC, continued to sell.

At this late date, people point to Motown as the breakthrough Black music label, it even has its own museum in Detroit, King Records has been nearly forgotten.

Not that I knew much to begin with. I can distantly remember Bobby Rydell and Fabian, and the novelty records of the early sixties, but when it comes to the forties and fifties? My mind is a blank slate. But hearing the songs in this doc…there were a lot of great ones back then, and it’s all part of a giant continuum, an evolution, the sound keeps changing, up through today.

So this doc is premiering on PBS on October 10th, you can see it on your local station or via the app. And PBS tends not to get a lot of popular music respect, it’s not where edgy lives, but it lives here.

So if you watch this at home will you get the same feeling I did?

I mean almost nothing can maintain my interest these days. There’s always something better, never mind the greats of yore. I have no time for most things. And I pulled up this doc just to get a taste, I’m running on empty, I had no interest or desire to watch the entire thing, but I couldn’t turn it off. Because it was a window into the way it once was. The fifties… I lived through them, they feel like a dark age, but they come alive in this film.

And James Brown’s evolution into funk…

I don’t need to recite every element, there are many more high points in this documentary. Will you be bowled over, absolutely gobsmacked? No. Consider it a journey to another era. That had vitality, but has been mostly lost to the sands of time.

And unlike so many of the modern music documentaries, Syd Nathan is dead! Therefore he didn’t have a hand in the film’s production, his buddies were not building a monument to him at the same time pussyfooting around the facts, unwilling to offend anyone.

So it’s not the usual hagiography.

But it’s not too negative either.

Then again, Syd and James Brown fought a lot. And Syd was wrong more than once, as one person says in the film, he couldn’t hear a hit.

But Syd was nobody from nowhere who got into the music business by accident. He was paid a debt in jukebox records. And when they sold like hotcakes at the electronics/photography store he worked at, he opened a record shop. And that evolved into a record company. This was the way it used to be, you didn’t see acts on MTV, rich and famous musicians were not parading in the media, you didn’t go to music business college, those who worked behind the scenes in the business…they fell into it.

And eventually, like tech, the business blew up, after the Beatles. But Syd Nathan had been working in music since the forties, just another business man. He was a wild card, as most of the original entrepreneurs were.

Watching this documentary is like going to a museum, one of my favorite pastimes. Drives my girlfriend crazy how I have to read each and every card, every explanation. But that’s what turns me on.

Will everybody be turned on by this movie?

No, it’s not “Jaws.”

But for a certain subset of people, like me, it’s a MUST-SEE!

From: Joseph A. Ondris

Re: Jimmy Kimmel Last Night

You are the  MOST biased person I know and an old out  of touch old geezer that you

How’s  California going … I can’t think of a place destroyed outright by policy more then your sh*thole

Sad but true

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Re: Jimmy Kimmel Last Night

Bob.  You’ve been saying for ages that musicians need to stand for something again.

In a vanilla world where everyone is scared to be cancelled. Who would have thought that it would be a late night tv host in a suit that was more punk rock than most bands out there

Jason Perry

Producer / Writer / Other Stuff

https://www.jasonperry.london/

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From: Patrick V. Cook

Re: Jimmy Kimmel Last Night

I reject this notion of “right wing.” I think it’s the right WAY, and liberals are trying to f*ck it all up because they think f*ckin stuff up is progress – which is morally and intellectually false.

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Subject: What people don’t get about late-night TV

Nexstar is shooting itself in the foot, because exerting such control over local stations will just hasten the decline of network television, which would make Nexstar increasingly irrelevant. I saw a graph posted online that showed how much the audience for late-night TV shows has declined over the years, with the comment “This explains it all. No one likes these late-night comics.”

 

Except he also didn’t post a graphic showing streaming stats. Kimmel has an average of 1.77 million viewers a night on network TV, but he has 20,000,000 subscribers on YouTube and his show segments invariably pull in 3+ million views. Some of his segments go viral and get over 10 million views. So, late-night TV *viewing* may be dying. But late-night TV *content* is thriving more than ever.

Craig Anderton

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Re: Jimmy Kimmel Comes Back

Over the weekend we cancelled our Disney subscription in protest of its treatment of Jimmy Kimmel.

At the same time, our family could only wonder why Disney did not stand firm with Kimmel against Trump.  Wasn’t this the company that taught us to stand up against the ignorant and intolerant (Belle against Gaston), the deceitful (Simba against Scar), the vain (Snow White against the Evil Queen), the cruel (1001 Dalmatians against Cuella de Vil) and the power hungry (Prince Ali against Jafar).

Disney knows how to write this script.

Reinstating Kimmel is a good start.

And I hope this story ends with the renewal of our subscription- and many others.

I’ll be watching Tuesday night.

P. V. Nunes

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Re: Jimmy Kimmel Last Night

If I get my medical advice from an x-junkie like Bobby-Jr ~ I think I would prefer a man like Keith Richard’s a person with more medical experience ~

R Singer

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Re: Kimmel Comes Back

You are so right about what happened at MCA/Universal and at Warner.  I worked at MCA/Universal for 25 years, including when Doug Morris came on board, and while we had already acquired Geffen Records under Al Teller, the “music men” in Doug’s C-suite (many of them Warner execs that we had poached) took us to the stratosphere with the purchase of Polygram.  While they obviously knew how to identify musical talent, they also knew how to identify and maintain executive talent that appreciated the intersection of business and creativity.  Lucian’s team has mostly continued that tradition, but taking a company from last place to first is a much heavier lift than defending your crown.

By the time I got to Warner as Chief Data Officer, the culture was one in which executives from other industries (film, advertising, tech) were brought in to shake things up without any “feel” for the history of the business or the uniqueness of music as a consumer product.  I will not deny that balancing the old and the new is a supremely difficult feat, but Universal’s success and Warner’s “long, slow decline” is fundamentally a result of getting the balance right vs. pushing too far to one side.

Regards

Vinnie Freda

Former EVP of UMG

Former CDO of WMG

Owner of Record Research Inc.

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Re: Men In America

Toward the end of the MeToo movement I remember turning to my wife and saying, “America can continue to label white males as pieces of sh*t for so long before they are going to push back.” It wasn’t an indictment of the movement. People like Weinstein are human garbage and needed to be dealt with. But the left took it too far. For the last two decades or so, the LGBTQ movement has made a lot of progress. Much of the messaging during this time was that everyone should be allowed to freely express who they are. They shouldn’t feel that they have to suppress how they feel to please others. Spot on correct, totally agree. While this was going on, there was definitely a mood change toward alpha males. Much of their behavior was labeled gross or toxic. They became the villain. And the messaging was very clear that alpha males needed to change who they were, resist and control their natural urges and control their behavior. In the case of the MeToo movement a broader net was cast and all males were basically told to sit down, shut up and listen.

I’m not at ALL defending rape or sexual assualt, that is not what I am getting at. But, the left simultaneously wanted to empower the LQBTQ community and tell them, “Be who you are,” while also telling alpha males to change or resist who they are.

And then along comes Trump who tells them, “I can solve all your problems. It’s the woke culture. It’s women. It’s immigrants. It’s people of color. It’s DEI. I’ll wipe it all out and make your lives better.” And to an unstable mind that likely hasn’t even begun to deal with any of their childhood trauma, this makes sense.

Neil Johnson

P.S. Re: Jimmy Kimmel: Put simply, Trump and his supporters just aren’t smart. What’s worse, and more embarrassing, is how insecure he is. If he/they had treated Kimmel as a non issue, people like me wouldn’t have known what was said. But his ego couldn’t let it go and Kimmel is (even if it’s temporary) more popular than ever. Trump touts himself as some self aggrandized businessman. He’s an idiot. All he’s done is promote Kimmel’s brand. He is such a child and it’s exhausting waking up everyday wondering, “What’s this fool going to do now?”

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Re: Men In America

You have probably listened to Galloway and the Mooch podcast. Lost Boys. The say exactly what you did here. I told my wife and other women the ideas and they got very defensive. My wife said “men don’t know what it’s like worrying all your life about rape”. That really shocked me. So I’ve asked numerous women if they have lived like that. Literally every one of them said absolutely.

I found that stunning.

On the podcast Scott said if a woman is in a situation in public where she is afraid she should ask a man to escort her to her car because men are physically stronger and can be the deterrent. Women I spoke to responded to that by saying you don’t know if the guy you ask is the one who will harm you.

Its pretty obvious we in America have created a society where over decades, systematically, common  people have gotten poorer.

To counteract that,we created programs to assist. Snap, medicaid being the biggest. Instead of increasing wages, 1099 work is more rampant and employers don’t have to pay because the government fills in the gaps. Men without a college education fill these positions and have found the message on the right compelling.

Now we are at a pretty much unsustainable level.

As one of the other readers you posted in a mailbag said, and I’m paraphrasing, “late stage capitalism is finally here”.

Marty Walsh

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Re: Men In America

Well described Bob. I think about this a lot because I have five sons including grown and also 2 y/o and 5 y/o. The only part missing from your write up is how the pandemic isolated boys in their teens more so which has compounded many of the problems of going from boy to man in the age you describe. Keep sharing your observations on this topic. Thanks

John Roberts

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Re: Men In America

A thoughtful piece, sir. I always appreciate your insight.

I wonder if the Oasis juggernaut speaks to this issue. So many of my friends and their kids have reached out to me about what it all means. They don’t remember being that fond of the band nor are they that into their music. Yet, they find themselves drawn to the whole spectacle in a way they can’t explain.

Oasis is a mediocre musical group, but they are unabashedly rock and roll. Drunk, irreverent and unapologetic. All attitude.  Piss and vinegar. They are testosterone unleashed and on full display.

Rock and roll at its core is simply testosterone in audible form. All attitude, sex and swagger. Sweaty men with hairy chests and bulges in their pants screaming about girls and good times. We had our choices of leaders back in the day: Plant, Daltrey, Ozzy, Roth, Axl and hundreds of others. Rock and roll: all balls, blood and sweat.

Somewhere along the way, that all disappeared and gave us the sensitive sad boy pop of Mayer, Sheeran, Styles, et al.  Good music, but just….missing something.  Something human and primal.

It is against this backdrop that makes the raw masculinity and brashness of Oasis so striking.  We haven’t had that spirit here since….1995(?).  What can a poor boy do?

Phil Pritchett

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As a suburban left-leaning semi-libertarian, I’ve noticed that same attitude when we play gigs in the bright red rural areas of central NY. We still have our fans that have followed us for several decades, but back in the days of “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother” and “Long Haired Country Boy”, they were just good old boys doing what their tribe has been doing for generations. They might have mocked the college bros and downtown dudes, but they didn’t hate them. Of course, that was before politics permeated every corner of our existence. Now those same people fly Trump flags and wear MAGA hats and hate the libs. But if they know you, you’re still a friend, and they’ll have your back when the chips are down.

So at a typical gig at a country bar, people dance, clap, cheer the solos, hug us and get us high on the breaks, and buy our CDs (don’t underestimate that market, these are the people who actually still own CD players). They take videos and post them online along with comments about how the band was on fire last night. It’s big fun, all the way. But when I bring out friends from suburbia, the business world, or the country club, they roll their eyes and say “wow, rough crowd.” And that happens even if I warned them to wear jeans and leave the khakis and polo shirts at home, so it’s not like they’re getting the side eye from the locals. They’re just too uptight to relax, suspend their judgments, and have a good time. And I’ll mock that myself, because it’s the exact problem you’re talking about. If they want to wallow in their success, they can do that, and they can afford to, so good for them. I prefer to wallow in humanity, in all its glorious forms.

Best regards,

C Darryl Mattison

Utica NY

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From: Hope Dlugozima

Re: Men In America

you’re getting at this good truths here, Bob (and I write this as the mom of two kids in their mid-20s). but its not just guys in the trades…my college grad/successful son is fully in the Vance/Kirk camp and articulates the same feelings that you write of.  and this is spot-on.

Men are different from women, don’t try to turn them into metrosexuals and don’t pooh-pooh all their behavior. Everybody wants to keep men in a box.

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Re: Men In America

Totally agree with your closing point re the “problem here”. Harris was no different than Gore and Kerry. The only thing I remember from her closing campaign speech was a big shoutout to the LGBTQ community, a move with no other impact than enraging and getting out the vote for MAGA. She had the LGBTQ vote in the bag. Should have gone on Rogan, too. And, like Hillary and Kerry, she had the chops to viciously smack down Trump in a debate (see Senate hearings with Kavanaugh), but she just shook her head instead. That’s Dem SOP. I still believe that if Kerry had turned to Dubya, pointed at him, and said, “Don’t you EVER question my combat service to this country when you have done NOTHING”, he would have won. Ditto if Hillary had stopped when Trump stalked around the stage, turned, pointed a Trump’s lectern, and said, “What do you think you are doing? Get back to your place,” she would have closed it. These things are authentic and create huge energy. And respect. But here we are. Harris shook her head and defended Biden while Walz collapsed in front of coach boy when America reached a crossroads…and then chose Trump.

Robert Bond

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From: Coliln Dutton

Re: Men In America

Thanks Bob,
Great insights once again.

I’ve thought about this issue for a while now and I think the focus that has been put on girls over the last two or three decades has left boys without that same or equal attention.  Not that girls didn’t deserve it but it almost seems like boys have been punished for wretched behavior they/we have sometimes displayed previously.  Now we have marginalized boys growing into marginalized men who have less wits but the same amount of testosterone. This is and has always been a bad combination.  We need men to be smart so the chances of there being at least one smart voice in the room is increased.  Some of those rooms are bereft of anyone with a sense of reason which is how revolutions start.

As for getting these men back into the game?  I think we ask them for help. Business 101 tells us to ask someone for a favor to win their trust and this ask might also give them a purpose. How this is done is above my pay grade but I feel like this is the direction the world needs to move in to win back the bro’s.

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Re: Men In America

My question is, when do you become a man? Your first drink? First f*ck? First deer you kill? At least in the US (and the West in general), we lack defined rituals of manhood. I think this causes men to act out more- you’re never sure you are really a man, so you feel you have to prove it over and over.

Riffing on your points – maybe people feel that having a lot of power and money does make you a man, so those without either always feel insecure, and those with both never have enough.

Being a man these days is a treacherous path lined with landmines. Yes, I know being a woman isn’t exactly a picnic, but to your point, that doesn’t mean we ignore the problems men have.

Dave Richards

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Re: Men In America

Wow. What a take! I applaud you for putting yourself out there with this! I couldn’t agree with you more. I have noticed the chilling effect in my life and career. I am a road crew guy, a true roadie I smoke, I drink, I occasionally do drugs, I’m a veteran of two wars, I’m loud. I have been foes from gigs because I was too male. True story – was doing lighting for a drag tour, I don’t care what it is – I’m there for a check, and a nice one at that. I truly thought it was interesting and funny, some of the performers were hysterical and nice people.  However, when I quite vocally asked a gay cast mate to stop touching me inappropriately or I would knock him out I was fired. I asked nicely the 1st time and laughed it off, the second time I was firm and said “listen that’s not me,  please don’t touch me” – no avail. 3rd time on the bus after getting done with a load out was accosted again I said to the man you touch me again Ill knock your teeth in.

I went to production and they laughed at me and literally told me to stop being homophobic. I said calmly, as I am a big guy, “imagine if I was a woman and made this claim”. Crickets.

after the episode I was fired for homophobic behavior – and slandered until I sent the videos I had taken to my rather large production company and mentioned the words I will be retaining counsel to sue for sexual harassment. That seemed to catch someone’s eye, and was placed on another tour immediately. The point I’m making is that there are rules for

They/Them but not for thee. It’s disgusting how men are immediately looked as the problem until they are needed to fight wars and lift heavy truss and lights. I am not a right wing blowhard or a super liberal but Jesus Christ can I live a little? You’re so right in what you’re saying Bob. The left doesn’t want to listen to anyone except themselves- and that’s a circle jerk! Hell I’m a republican (or what used to be one) and I am begging the left to give me anyone else!!!

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Re: Rosh Hashanah

I guess not all Rosh Hashhannas are for celebrating. This is the equivalent of a new year’s following a really bad year.

I’m from Panama, artist and jew. This week we’re hosting Premios Juventud, which are very big Latin Grammy-like event that has never been hosted outside the US.

Because i am in cinema, musical theatre and music i get to be in the front line of the “avant-garde” way of thinking, which includes a very superficial form of “Free Palestine” while in Costa Rica a synagoge was vandalized last week. Coming from an orthodox community, here in Panama in the holidays everybody’s walking down the street in groups.

It’s overwhelming to feel fear for those who are visibly jewish in the streets, to be thankful latin music industry hasn’t eaten the free palestine agenda and at the same time being constantly attacked by the cinema/musical theatre scene because i’m jewish and zionist… like you said, you can separate the terms but i truly truly doubt you could ever separate the difference in people’s mind.

By reading you, i feel the pain but less alone… i guess as in many moments in history, jews had to feel like that, a hybrid between come what may and we’re not alone.

Shanna Tova, stay safe and keep being.

Arian S. Abadi
www.arianabadi.com

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From many

Re; Kimmel Comes Back

“Even Michael Eisner backed Disney.”

 

I’m sure everyone has told you that Eisner backed Kimmel and blasted Carr…

(Note: My mistake. My excuse is I was writing quickly to deadline and I missed it. Sorry!)

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Re: Rosh Hashanah

I remember learning about the Holocaust when I was a youngster in school many years ago and having an overwhelming thought that I could never shake— BUT HOW COULD PEOPLE HAVE POSSIBLY LET THAT HAPPEN?! How was it even possible for people to be so complacent for such a horrific genocide to occur?

And yet, here we are…

Thanks always for your writing, Bob.

Melissa Marchese

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Re: Rosh Hashanah

Thoughtful and pretty much on target. As a Jew living in Canada our government has stood with France, Great Britain and too many others giving legitimacy to a Palestinian State, brilliant. If you go back historically just a few hundred years ago there was no Palestine no or any tribe or people called Palestinians. Thank the Brits for their wisdom when they took over the region after WW1 and then walked away after WW2 leaving the region to its own devices. Back to modern times and talking about our culture and constantly being under a microscope and always waiting for the next pogrom or Kristallnacht. I have long been involved with Human Rights and a strong supporter of our people. I am getting tired and frustrated at the constant hate and battle we go through. In fact due to the recent response I received from a so-called non Jewish friend to something I reposted that summed up what we have been through as a people over the millenia through to today I have decided to no longer talk politics or religion and keep it simple sports and music from hereon in. The response was full of venom and hate directed at what he described the criminal and disgusting state of Israel. In addition he insisted that if any members of the IDF immigrated to Canada they should be arrested by the Canadian government and tried for war crimes. Oh he went on and on and I asked him if we should do the same to any members of Hamas, Hezbollah who made their way to Canada, never got a response, just more blowback about Israel. I know you have visited on a number of occasions. Bob we have idiots, MAGA and non-thinkers up here. Nobody ever said it easy being a Jew wherever you live. I too out of habit attend services online. My temple of choice is the Central Synagogue in Manhattan. Interesting Rabbi and everbody on the bima could or maybe has sung on some broadway production, great voices. From a Jew in Canada to one in the US Shana Tovah.

David Stein

Ottawa

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From: Khila Khani

Re: Rosh Hashanah

Yes, there are risks to attending any building where people gather. I can’t say I’m very religious, but I’m fiercely cultural and proud of my heritage. My synagogue is quite a special little reform synagogue that began in the 70’s, built by a community of people generally have stuck around, people I have known my whole life. This little synagogue is struggling, just like every other house of worship and every congregant has felt that greater distance from religious institutions but….this year, I noticed something about Rosh Hashana services were different.

 

This year, the sanctuary was filled with levity, laughter and incredible music. It’s like we all stepped into a space and time that allowed us to take a pause with one another in a real communal way, and without the distractions of life.

Each year, I’m honored to contribute my talents and have served as our synagogue’s shofar blower (he wasn’t that great a driver), for over 10 years. During the first round, I thought I was supposed to begin playing notes and lifted my shofar up to my lips too soon, but quickly realized the error and returned to my original position. The movement seemed to generate a huge roar of laughter from the congregants and made me feel less anxious about the notes that followed.

When sounding the shofar, there are a total of 4 rounds of shofar blasts. The last round, typically consists of the same set of notes as the 3 rounds before, but the last note, the g’dola, is the meant to be played the longest. I can typically last around 30-50 seconds, but the Rabbi changed things up on me this year. Instead of playing all the notes first and then the g’dola at the end, after we clinked horns, and then he decides to ONLY play the last note. Not knowing this, I don’t prep m6 breathing properly for the long blast, but do it anyway. As I’m playing the note, I feel the air completely escape my body, and continue repeating in my head…”don’t pass out, don’t pass out, don’t pass out….” I manage to keep it together and actually outlast the Rabbi, but only by a second or two. After I finish, I slightly stumble backwards, but nobody really notices. They embrace the errors, they appreciate having this time together, but really all they see is how much joy this service has brought to the community.

And finally, Bob, wishing you a very Happy New Year. May you be inscribed in the book of life. This note’s for you!

Lots of love,

Khila

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Re: Rosh Hashanah

Bob, I really appreciate your letters.  It (you) were recommended years ago by my sons’ music manager in NYC, Peter Casperson, as a must read.

My boys, formerly the Abrams Brothers, now the Abrams. They’re heading to Israel next week to play a festival at Kfar Blum.

The festival, Jacob’s Ladder, is a mix of expat Americans, Brits, Canadians and Israelis. My boys have played the festival many times since 2007. And though they’re now young men, I still tag along. We love the country and the people. So, thanks again for your letters.

Kind regards,

Brian Abrams

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From: Paul Lohr

Subject: RE: Falling

Bob,   I am sorry to read about your fall.  My wife read that most accidents happen within 10 miles of your home.  So we moved.

Sincerely,

Paul