Re: Where are you from?

[MaxwellSt <MaxwellSt...>]

It's hard to separate my bio from my band's--"Max" will always be my first 
child.

I am Lori Lippitz, wife of Marc Chinitz and mother of Kayla Renee, 3 y.o.  We 
live in Skokie, Illinois.  I grew up in Evanston, was an anti-war 
guitar-playing folkie in the 1970's, and attended the U. of Michigan where I 
received a double major (Russian and English Liturature), and then the U. of 
Chicago, attempting to get a degree in Slavic Languages and Literature.  
Fortunately, I am not good at things that are not the right career choices, 
and I left academia to work for the Reform Movement as an director of liberal 
student activities on Midwest college campuses.  (The Reform Movement put 
some effort into doing outreach to its college students who often drop out 
when they find Hillel is not an extension of NFTY).  I also began to serve as 
a cantorial soloist in the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston.

During this time (early 1980's), I continued playing music on the 
side--American, Russian and Yiddish folk music.  My sister introduced me to 
some musicians who wanted to start a klezmer band and I began to research 
music for them, but I soon decided to start my own band when my style and 
vision clashed with theirs.  I was primarily influenced at that point by the 
Klezmorim, and was looking for a saucy, big-band style of klezmer music based 
on the early American recordings.  My other concept was to reintegrate 
klezmer music and traditional Jewish dances back into local simkhas, and 
eventually did spearhead what appears to be a permanent interest in the 
klezmer bar mitzvah/wedding in the Chicago Jewish community.  

The band commenced on a mixture of hometown performances and occassional 
tours, producing a CD every six years or so (the first recording was an LP, 
actually).  In 1990, the musical direction was taken over by violinist Alex 
Koffman, who used his classical and Jewish music experience to polish the 
band into a professional ensemble.

The current band feels like it could be called Maxwell Street: The Next 
Generation.  Some of us (the original members) are now in our 40's and 50's, 
and we have attended band member funerals in the past few years.  But there 
are also new players in their 20's joining the crew, which bodes well for 
those of us who no longer aspire to four-gig weekends.   As for me, I gave up 
my pulpit after ten years in order to have shabbat meals at home with my new 
family, and have also cut back on gigs in order to do deskwork for the band 
and concentrate on touring and recording.  From both my kids (MAX and Kayla) 
I shep much nachis.

(Keep up the good work, Ari!  How would we do this without you?)

Lori Lippitz (Chinitz)
Skokie, IL