Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

A SHORT KLEZMER BIOGRAPHY

by Bert Stratton

The book Dave Tarras: The King of Klezmer is 37 pages. Big pages: 8 ½” X 14″. Tarras played clarinet in the Catskills and brought his wife to the “mountains.” He owned a house in Brooklyn. He wore a suit a lot. He was very talented. Here are two representative sentences from the book: 1) “’I admired my grandfather and loved to spend some time in the mountains [with him],’ said Marc Tarras, grandson and doctor.”  2) “Dave was a very funny guy and had a great sense of humor.”

tarras bio book

Naftule Brandwein — another great klezmer clarinetist — drank heavily, hung around mobsters, and supposedly almost electrocuted himself with a lightbulb-festooned suit. I think a bio of Brandwein would be longer than 37 pages.

—

Check out the Schmotown Revue next Wednesday (7-9 p.m, June 3) at Gigi’s on Fairmount, Cleveland Heights. Outdoors if the weather is good; indoors if raining. Soul music and klezmer.

Alan Douglass (L), Bert Stratton and Tamar Gray

Alan Douglass (L), Bert Stratton and Tamar Gray

6 comments

1 Ted { 05.27.15 at 10:43 am }

Nice guys don’t write history, or something like that? I heard Ty Cobb has an interesting biography.

2 Bill Jones { 05.27.15 at 11:15 am }

Was it self-published by family? Seems like you alone could write far more about Tarras and that would be his musical side along. Great to be reminded of Tarras. Thanks, Bert.

3 Ken Goldberg { 05.27.15 at 11:36 am }

Oh Master of the Sentence Chop….

4 Mark Schilling { 05.27.15 at 3:17 pm }

Your autobio — this blog — will undoubtedly be the longest of any Klezmer musician in history. Or am I missing something?

5 Dave Rowe { 06.03.15 at 6:24 am }

Here’s hoping the Schmotown gig goes (went) well – wonder how feasible a Klezmer “Man of Constant Sorrow”
would be

6 Bert Stratton { 06.03.15 at 8:39 am }

To Dave Rowe:

We’ve done a parody of that tune called “A Man of Constant Blessings.” No joke.

Leave a Comment