I'm yet another denizen of Skokie, IL - but my story is rather short. I have lived here all my life (the past 18 years), and plan on attending Northwestern University in the fall (yes, I am provinicial!). I'm absolutely meshugah about Klezmer and have been playing saxophone and singing in Lori Lippitz's Junior Maxwell Street Klezmer Band for the past seven years. I have also played in numerous simcha bands. So anytime anyone passes through this area, feel free stop by and we can jam...chag samayach to everyone!
Peace,
Rachel Weiss
bluejew (at) hotmail(dot)com
>From: MaxwellSt (at) aol(dot)com
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant
>Subject: Re: Where are you from?
>Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 22:43:20 EST
>
>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