Re: Celtic shmeltic

[the Cheshire Cat <alanacat...>]

Velvele,

Ya know, if you take every bad review to heart, you're going to be a very
aggravated person - even the best artists have gotten bad reviews. Don't
argue, just ignore it. Or even better, a lot of artists simply don't read
reviews, leaving their friends to bring them the good ones, so that they
don't have to ever see the bad ones and feel bad about it. Take my advice,
it'll keep you from an ulcer.

Now, as to Perlman, Ari's right, what he's doing is fiddling around with
klezmer players - but he is a classical violinist. As a result, I've found
that he doesn't really add anything to the performances of the klezmers,
except to  lend his name and so get them publicity that they wouldn't
otherwise have had. Now, don't get me wrong, that's a valuable thing for
him to do, but it's not klezmer. He's a wonderful musician, but he isn't
immersed in the same tradition as the klezmorim are- this isn't a
criticism. Cantorial music is a different style, too, and is subject to
it's own standards, as is classical. I found that Perlman's presence on
the CD and the stage (I've seen them live and have the CDs) didn't
detract, but that he wasn't familiar enough with the musical style to
really improvise well enough to join in the music fully.

Alana Suskin


On Fri, 21 Nov 1997, Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky wrote:

> ARI:
> You write that Perlman is close to but not quite playing klez.
> Would you be kind enough to tell us  your criteria for what constitutes
> ( and what does not constitute ) "klez"? I have read your previous 
> narrow, subjective, self-serving and tsemisht  comments and would be
> curious to see if you've grown.  Your reviews have been for the most
> part inaccurate, flawed and,  therefore irrelevant. 
>  In the future, it would behoove you , as moderator of this list to
> restrain  from raping one artist's album with shameless plugs for your
> "friend" and EMPLOYER, as you did in reviewing  my  CD,
> "Transmigrations",  which continues to garner excellent and over-the-top
> reviews in the Jewish press (Washington Jewish Week), the mainstream
> press (Berkshire Eagle) and the music press (Dirty Linen).
> 
> I am still annoyed with you for saying that there "are no strong people
> on this album ("Transmigrations").  You owe the widows of Benzion Witler
> (Shifra Lerer) and Max Perlman (Menorah Zahav), the son of Bernardo
> Feuer 
> (Cantor Feuer of Palm Beach, Fla.) as well as the families, friends and
> fans of the late  HaRav Abraham Isaac Kook, Shmerke Kaczerginski,
> Abraham Brudno, Abraham Eliyohu Kaplan and Mordkhe Gebirtig AN APOLOGY. 
> As you do to the very-much-alive Manfred Lemm and Samson Kemelmakher.
> 
> My backup band, The Lonesome Brothers, and myself have over a century of
> collective musical experience in dives, joints, dancehalls and other
> venues.  Not knowing any of us, where do you get the khutspa to say
> "there are no strong people on this album"? ( By the looks of you, I
> would venture to say  that my female back-up vocalists could kick your 
> ass. Individually).  Was your rape of my album some  pathetic posturing
> to attempt to  tell the world that you have a big one, Ari?  By putting
> down several dead artists of whom you know nothing about?  Your
> ignorance of Shmerke Kaczerginski, a major Jewish poet and PARTISAN is
> chilling, given that some people may actually take you seriously.   When
> your lie and misrepresentation  was exposed to you, you countered with a
> fig-leafing, "I can see how some people could have interpreted..." 
> Bull.  What you said was, "There are no songs on this album by partisans
> of the Holocaust...", a line  which you did, I admit, remove, only to
> throw a retaliatory  tantrum by inserting the word "victim" in your
> review as many times as it could fit.
> 
> I find your general comments are often tinged with hostility,  disdain
> and insults.  We all have some idea where that is coming from.
> It would have been too much for you to show "Transmigrations" the
> respect one would give to a blues album, for instance.  In a world where
> the Yiddish artist is already  marginalized and ghetto-ized, thank 
> you,  Ari for reminding us that   music (to you and unfortunately, many 
> others) is  a COMMODITY and a COMPETITION. 
> The next artist you  callously put down, as you have Friedman, Strom and
> myself may react  not  only with words.  Think about it. 
> (If Debbie Friedman is "whitebread", I suppose you, Ari, are a "hearty
> rye")?
> 
>  Thank you everyone who bought "Transmigrations" and sent me your 
> comments.  They were all very heart-warming and encouraging. The first
> pressing is all but SOULED  OUT;  TARA still has several copies,
> though).  The new edition will include songwriter bios so as to minimize
> future false and  ridiculous comments by self-styled "critics".
> 
> Git shabes ,
> Wolf Krakowski ( a.k.a"Marlboro Man")
> 

Yallah bye,
Alana Suskin