Re: Klezmer in corporate hands?

[Elliott <enr01...>]

I apologize for the word "many" It is almost an oxymoron to use that word for 
anything Jewish in New Orleans. We are a very small minority and the 
Lubuvitchers are an even smaller minmority of the Jews. Nevertheless, according 
to some people here we run and own everything.
If you want to see something unrepresentative of the Jewish community here go 
to our web site:

http://www.why-not.com/krewe_du_jieux/

If you have any interest in Israeli-Jewish dancing you might try my other site.

http://members.aol.com/katbkay/dance1.htm


Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky wrote:

> Elliot,
>
> I don't know what you mean by "many" since I live 10 long blocks from 770 
> Eastern Parkway.   Here we have "many" Lubavitchers.   New Orleans probably 
> has as many shlikhim as are necessary.
>
> I commented about the Lubavitcher Rebbe because I thought that that was an 
> unfair statement, despite the fact that I will never forgive him for telling 
> all his followers to keep a picture of him in every room, hence this 
> deification of him in the last 20 years.   I also don't think that there are 
> "many" Kach members in Israel.   They just make a lot of noise, now that they 
> have learned mass media tactics.   As far as I know, most of the Kach people 
> are out in the West Bank.  There are all types in Mea Shearim, including Kach 
> supporters and those that feel Arafat is their friend (a curse sits on my 
> lips for them, but I won't say it), but that still says nothing about 
> Lubavitch.   As you yourself attest what I have been writing here, many of 
> them fought against Duke when he ran.   Well, the bad news is that we are 
> soon all going to have to fight him all over again, now that he is thinking 
> of running for Livingston's empty seat.    A glik hot undz getrofn!   As far 
> as I am concerned,
> it's fierce war against all Republicans in the year 2,000.   I expect all of 
> you to join us in this fight.  No joke.
>
> I wrote this early this morning Ari and am just sending it off now, since my 
> mail just came in naturally.   Promise to get off the bandstand.
>
> Reyzl
>
> ----------
> From:  Elliott[SMTP:enr01 (at) gnofn(dot)org]
> Sent:  Thursday, December 31, 1998 8:49 PM
> To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
> Subject:  Re: Klezmer in corporate hands?
>
> Note from elliott--
> Please don't be taken a back. Many Lubuvitchers live here in the New Orleans 
> area in David Duke territory. I know many who worked against him last time he 
> ran. And I'll bet there are Many Jews in Israel,especially in Mea Shearim,  
> who would vote for a David Duke type if he opposed the State of Israel.
>         elllllll
>
> Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky wrote:
>
> > >I was quite taken aback by this statement, particularly since
> > >this would leave Lubavitchers the option to vote for any candidate of the
> > >American Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan.
> >
> > But Jeff, he didn't have to mention this issue because the chance of a 
> > candidate of the American Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan running in Crown 
> > Heights would be virtually nil, so why are you holding this against him?  
> > That the Lubavitcher rebbe would have been against the Klan and Nazi party 
> > are all givens.  I even remember when he spoke out against them in the 70's 
> > and early 80's.  I guess only the Lubavitchers in David Duke, Trent Lott, 
> > and Jesse Helmes country needed to ask about the Klan and Nazi Party - a 
> > very small percentage.
> >
> > Reyzl
> >
> > ----------
> > From:  JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com[SMTP:JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com]
> > Sent:  Thursday, December 31, 1998 3:52 AM
> > To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
> > Subject:  Klezmer in corporate hands?
> >
> > Ingemar Johansson wrote:
> >
> > > Dear list-members,
> > >
> > > An American friend of mine sent me this, apalled, angered and distressed 
> > > by
> > > recent developments in the US. The reason why I forward this bitter
> > > statement to the list is that he included some words about Jewish Music.
> > >
> > > > US remains the country with more people held in jail than any police
> > > > state in the world. The criminalization of Black and Latino youth
> > > > continues unabated. The death penalty has become an acceptable
> > > > "liberal" position. There is an escalating war on immigrants, with 
> > > > raids,
> > > > concentration camps, and militarized borders. The actual ability of 
> > > > women
> > > > to obtain abortion is methodically stripped away through gangster 
> > > > action,
> > > > parental consent, waiting periods, and the denial of government funding.
> > > There
> > > > is no foreign military venture of the Bush-Reagan years to which Clinton
> > > has
> > > > not wholeheartedly subscribed. The openly racist, misogynist, homophobic
> > > > and murderous Christian-fundamentalist demands for "family values" and
> > > > preparation for Armageddon continue to fester in growing organized
> > > > networks. The censorship of music and culture has passed directly into
> > > > corporate hands. This goes for rebel culture and odd music, too - like
> > > Jazz
> > > > and Klezmer, both of which you're very fond, I know.
> > >
> > > Any comments?
> > >
> > > Ingemar J.
> >
> > Ingemar:
> >
> > Of course this depends on your political point of view.  In general, I agree
> > whole-heartedly (more about "censorship" below), except for the hyperbole
> > about concentration camps (as far as I know there haven't been any of those 
> > in
> > the US since the Japanese-American internment camps in WWII).  I have been
> > involved in the struggle to free death row political prisoner Mumia 
> > Abu-Jamal
> > for over a decade now (long before the liberals got on the bandwagon), and
> > views on the death penalty keep moving to the right.  And it's not just the
> > fundamentalist Christians.  For example, New York's Cardinal John O'Connor
> > threatened to excommunicate former New York governor Mario Cuomo because he
> > supported the right to abortion.  The Catholic Church is opposed to capital
> > punishment too, but you never hear the good Cardinal threaten to 
> > excommunicate
> > any of his flock who support the death penalty.  And to continue, it's not
> > just the Christians.  A number of years ago, the late Lubavitcher rebbe was
> > asked by his followers for guidance on which political candidates to vote 
> > for.
> > He answered that Lubavitchers were free to vote for any candidate who met 3
> > criteria:  1) opposing abortion rights, 2) opposing gay rights, 3) opposing
> > pornography.  I was quite taken aback by this statement, particularly since
> > this would leave Lubavitchers the option to vote for any candidate of the
> > American Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan.
> >
> > As for "censorship," this is a tricky question in the US, for cultural 
> > control
> > of the arts is more economic than legal, which is what I understand the term
> > "censorship" to be.  Many of the more alternative forms of music in the US
> > relied upon government support through the 60's and 70's.  That support has
> > almost entirely dried up.  Those types of music which are commercially 
> > viable
> > outside that support have continued.  Example:  New York's World Music
> > Institute began as part of the new music/world music series at The 
> > Alternative
> > Museum.  It grew and flourished with funding from the National Endowment for
> > the Arts (NEA), state agencies, etc.  It grew to be too big for the
> > Alternative Museum, and they created the World Music Institute, which now 
> > has
> > a multi-million dollar budget and is much less dependent on government 
> > funding
> > (which it still does receive).  The Alternative Museum continued with a
> > primarily new music series, one which I ran for a season, and my wife for 2.
> > There used to be dozens of similar artist-run and artist programmed series
> > like that, ones in which to a greater or lesser extent musicians were
> > guaranteed a decent fee.  However, in the 80's, with the furor over
> > Mapplethorpe and other controversial artists, the NEA cut off funding to 
> > many
> > of the more cutting edge institutions, and other government agencies 
> > followed
> > suit.  Today, the Alternative Museum no longer has a music program, and 
> > there
> > are only a handful of artist-run alternative music spaces left in New York
> > City.  So the scene has become much more driven by "cut of the door" type 
> > club
> > gigs, especially ones where you have to deal with scummy club owners like 
> > the
> > folks at the Knitting Factory.  Luckily for klezmer, it now seems to have
> > reached a critical mass where it is supported by enough of an audience to be
> > commercially viable.  And the straight-laced jazz of the Wynton Marsalis
> > school certainly has plenty of corporate backing these days.  So is this
> > censorship?  Perhaps not.  But when my friend and mentor Leroy Jenkins, one 
> > of
> > the greatest living composers in the US (IMHO), someone who has played in 
> > most
> > of the main jazz clubs in the world, and has also had an opera performed at
> > the New York City Opera, calls me up and complains about how tough things 
> > are
> > these days, I figure if it's not censorship, it might as well be.
> >
> > Jeffrey Schanzer