I'm not sure why I'm often compelled to post a piece of avant Judaica just before heading out of town on a road trip. I'm pretty sure it's not a one-way exodus, but I guess you never really know. Anyway, here are San Francisco's Secret Chiefs 3 rocking up a tune from John Zorn's Masada songbook. Having visions of a tallis draped across the rental sedan. A good way to get pulled over.
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm scrambling for some Judaica to rock pre-Yom Kippur. Last year's fasting jam may have been more mood appropriate, but who doesn't love some good klezmer, especially when it's mixed with a noisier jazz spirit. I'm note sure if these guys are still around, but I was way into them in college. Zorn and his gang called the stuff Radical Jewish Culture, and I still like that idea. Of course, this was before I knew anything about the trad klezmer canon. I have a habit of always learning these things in reverse.
As you may have noticed from my dutiful workaday Songblague postings, I haven't had much of a summer vacation. It's OK. Work sets you free. Oh wait, that came out real wrong. Anyway, I'm not really looking at a ramp-up in leisure time. But the Dees are heading out on the road for a 2-show tour culminating in a minor league baseball stadium gig in Lexington, Kentucky (the other gig being a retirement home, and it won't be our first trip there).
Every time I try to think about the music I'll be hearing in Israel, I end up putting on something made by Jews in America. This track goes back to the fertile downtown improv scene of a few years back, now scattered around the city, and probably several others. A diaspora by any other name.
