Why is<\/strong><\/span> the<\/strong><\/span> Klezmer Hall of Fame — aka The Challah Fame — in Cleveland? Here’s why: Do you remember Bob Malaga, the lawyer who brought the Davis Cup to Cleveland in 1964?\u00a0 Bob Malaga — aka Mr. Tennis — pulled off that Forest Hills-to-Cleveland heist almost single-handedly.<\/p>\n Mr. Guy<\/strong><\/span> wrote record reviews for his college paper, the Michigan Daily<\/em>, about Muddy Waters, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mott the Hoople, and The Up.\u00a0 He also wrote about Buddy Guy (no relation).\u00a0 Mr. Guy had insights. For instance, he disliked Detroit rock and roll because it was simplistic and too loud. Guy lambasted John Lennon\u2019s \u201cFree John Sinclair\u201d concert at the Michigan basketball arena in 1971.\u00a0 Face it, Allen Ginsberg\u2019s harmonium was not <\/em>music.<\/p>\n John Sinclair and his friends at the White Panther Party were not happy with Guy\u2019s review. Those potheads were fuming. What did they want?<\/p>\n Not the truth.<\/p>\n Guy left<\/strong><\/span> Ann Arbor in a hurry, returning to his hometown, Cleveland, to open a nightclub.\u00a0 Cleveland was perfectly situated on the nightclub circuit, halfway between Chicago and New York.\u00a0 Guy booked quality acts into his club, which he operated out of the basement of a shul<\/em> on Taylor Road. Guy told the temple gadolim<\/em> (big shots) he was running a Jewish music coffeehouse, and they were ecstatic.\u00a0 The rent was free.<\/p>\n Guy rocked the gatkes <\/em>(underwear) off the shul<\/em> — Taylor Road Synagogue (TRS) — which was empty even back then.\u00a0 The shul <\/em>let Guy use the main sanctuary too.\u00a0 \u201cUse the sanctuary but keep it Jewish!\u201d the TRS <\/em>president said.<\/p>\n Guy booked the Electric Prunes, Steve Miller and Quicksilver.\u00a0 All Jewish acts, according to Guy. Underground radio DJs bellowed, \u201cGo see Steve Miller tonight at TRS!\u201d<\/p>\n TRS’<\/strong><\/span> sanctuary<\/strong><\/span> was packed.\u00a0 So Guy said to himself, \u201cI\u2019m in a shul<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m making money.\u00a0 Why not go for some authentic Jewish <\/em>music?\u201d\u00a0 Guy locked onto klezmer.\u00a0 Dave Tarras\u00a0 sold out TRS, as did Mickey Katz<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened, Guy rode the Rock Hall’s PR coattails and opened The Challah Fame.<\/p>\n Tarras statue (L) w\/ a Challah Fame maintenance man<\/p><\/div>\n Guy displayed his personal memorabilia: a Corky & Lenny\u2019s T-shirt, Park Synagogue refrigerator magnet and a saxophone reed signed by Hankus Netsky of the Klezmer Conservatory Band<\/a> — \u201cLove ya!\u00a0 Hankus.”\u00a0 Guy also had a flyer from Lethbridge, Alberta, 1966: Beatnik Coffeehouse Tonight \/ Tim Hortons \/ Michael Wex<\/a>.<\/small><\/span>\u00a0 Guy had violinist Steven Greenman\u2019s<\/a> fourth grade report card (redacted).<\/p>\n Are you<\/strong><\/span> interested in this stuff?<\/p>\n Apparently you are.\u00a0 You’ve read this far.<\/p>\n The Challah Fame keeps irregular hours. Please call ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is KlezFiction. The complete KlezFiction series is here. Why is the Klezmer Hall of Fame — aka The Challah Fame — in Cleveland? Here’s why: Do you remember Bob Malaga, the lawyer who brought the Davis Cup to Cleveland in 1964?\u00a0 Bob Malaga — aka Mr. Tennis — pulled off that Forest Hills-to-Cleveland heist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klezfiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15636"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17069,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15636\/revisions\/17069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/challah-fame-204x300.jpg\" "\\"challah")
<\/a>The Challah Fame story is a similar saga, but about another Cleveland monomaniac: Klezmer Guy, aka Mr. Guy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tarras-2-280x300.jpg\" "\\"tarras")
<\/a>