Re: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics

[Rachel Heckert <heckertkrs...>]

As a doggedly not-yet-ex Clevelander (after only fifteen years in New
York) I was exhilarated to hear that there is still plenty going on
Jewishly in Cleveland outside of Orthodox circles.  Just the fact that
the Klezmatics were in town at all warms my heart, and gives me something
to add to the twice or thrice daily threats I make to move back.

In a more serious vein, don't worry about the Plain Dealer not carrying
anything about a Jewish concert - I recollect that they considered
anything Jewish to be so profoundly ethnic that only a Jewish paper
should be interested in carrying it.  Getting a young audience can partly
hinge on letting kids have a concert that is *theirs* - i.e. aimed
specifically at them.  The Generation Gap may not have been invented in
Cleveland (although I'm not so sure about that) but it sure is definitely
a major operating factor now.   "Those Old Fogies are just trying to get
us to Settle Down and pay our synagogue dues like Good (dull) Citizens."

I was a fringe member of d.a. levy's old group, and I'm sure he would
have had some trenchant and accurate assessment of the situation - but
unfortunately it wouldn't have been printable in polite company.

Keep up the good work!!

Rachel Heckert

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