Naches and nachos, Jerry Ragovoy

[Eva Broman <evbr4965...>]

Hi everyone,

For a Gentile like myself, this list is surely a treasure trove of information 
on everything Jewish, and not only Jewish music! The naches/nachos discussion 
reminded me of a post submitted to a list devoted to vintage soul music, where 
I am a longstanding member. Anyway, the post refers to the legendary producer 
Jerry "Rags" Ragovoy, who recently hooked up with his old protege from the 
sixties, the blues/soul singer Howard Tate. Howard Tate had been lost to the 
world for decades, when a list member accidently came across him and passed on 
the news to Ragovoy that he was alive and still in glorious voice. "Rags" 
happily agreed to produce his new CD (which is to be released soon). The reason 
why I post about this wildly off-topic event is that during the rehearsals for 
a Howard Tate live performance, Ragovoy made the following comment, reported by 
list member Phil:


> I was sitting next to him (wow) and commented that it was
> sort of like seeing your children or grandchildren all grown up, to which
> he smiled and said "it's naches, you know what that is?"... to which I said
> yes!
> ["Naches" is Yiddish for a joyous blessing, more or less]

Another list member felt to the need to make the following clarification:

Phil, 

Ever the showman - you leave us wanting more. I anxiously await the
rest of the story on Howard Tate's performance. 

However, you gotta realize that the ethnically challenged on the list
will still not quite get the Yiddish reference, and probably don't
realize that Yiddish has become common currency slang for anyone who
lives within a 50 mile radius of N.Y. City, regardless of national,
racial, or ethnic origins. To avoid any possible problems, it may help
to point out that the pronounciation is like "KNOCK-US," pronounced like
you're clearing your throat. Knowing this will prevent list members
visiting N.Y. from the UK or Ireland (or Alabama) using the expression
in a restaurant, and ending up with a plate of tortilla chips with a
bunch of Cheez-Whiz and hot peppers on top. 

Chris Warren
 
End of quote....

Jerry Ragovoy worked with many great soul artists, such as Garnett Mimms and 
Lorraine Ellison, but he is probably most well-known through the covers that 
Janis Joplin made of his songs, such as "Cry Baby". Here's his bio, if anyone 
is interested:

 http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=1927174035&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b

Of course, the Jewish involvement in the R&B and soul record industry is a 
fascinating chapter in the history of American music-I would say that the 
presence of Jewish record label owners (the Chess Brothers, Art Rupe at 
Specialty, Jerry Wexler at Atlantic to name the most prominent), song writers, 
producers, musicians, promoters, DJ's etc. is massive, in what is commonly 
regarded as an African-American musical genre. 

All the best, Eva