He became an executive headhunter.<\/p>\n
“I’ll Miss the Bliss.” Somebody should write that tune.<\/p>\n
My musical bliss happens most often when I hear a new instrument with Yiddishe Cup — like when Steve Ostrow<\/a> first played trombone with us; or Walt Mahovlich <\/a>added accordion; or Gerald Ross<\/a>, Hawaiian guitar; or Shawn Fink<\/a> sang “Joe and Paul.”<\/p>\n Or when I had Donato’s pizza with pineapple.<\/p>\n Selker didn’t like<\/strong><\/span> arguing with band mates.\u00a0 Who does? Luckily I haven’t had that many arguments.\u00a0 The worst was when a musician told me to get lost, or words to that effect, when I wanted him to commit to additional Yiddishe Cup rehearsals.<\/p>\n Professional musicians — guys who do only<\/em> music — get very annoyed if they perceive the bandleader is trying to own them.\u00a0 (\u201cOwn” is a sideman’s word.\u00a0 Bandleaders say “hire.”)<\/p>\n Career musicians demand their independence and right to follow the dollar.\u00a0 The bandleader can only request first call, which means the sideman has to check with the bandleader before taking a gig with band number two.\u00a0 That sometimes gets tricky.\u00a0 For instance, when Yiddishe Cup’s first call is a nursing home and the sideman’s second call is the Ancona (Italy) Jewish festival.<\/p>\n Selker quit too early.\u00a0 He could have played Ancona and other exotic festivals; the Kleveland Klezmorim were one of the first klez revival, klez-fusion bands.\u00a0 Selker slept at Frank London’s New York apartment, which in klezmer terms is equal to the Lincoln bedroom.\u00a0 (London is a founder of the Klezmatics<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Kleveland Klezmorim, 1985<\/p><\/div>\n Another guest at London’s <\/strong><\/span>apartment was Yiddishe Cup’s keyboardist, Alan Douglass, an original member of the Kleveland Klezmorim.\u00a0 Alan slept at London’s when the Kleveland Klezmorim played Carnegie Hall . . . Carnegie Hall Cinema.\u00a0 The Kleveland Klezmorim accompanied silent Laurel and Hardy shorts in New York in 1985.<\/p>\n (A former Yiddishe Cup drummer played the Hollywood Bowl . . . parking lot.\u00a0 Yiddishe Cup played Severance Hall I took private lessons from Selker in 1987, which was a hassle because Selker was so footloose back then: It’s spring, Bert.\u00a0 I need to reschedule. I’m going for a walk in the Metroparks<\/em>. <\/em>I had arranged for babysitting for my kids. (Selker eventually had three boys and settled down big-time.)<\/p>\n Greg “I’ll Miss the Bliss” Selker . . .<\/p>\n At Yiddishe Cup concerts our first several years, I often thanked Selker from the bandstand.\u00a0 He told me to give it up. It was hard.\u00a0 No Selker, no Yiddishe Cup.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Alan Douglass <\/strong><\/span>sent <\/strong><\/span>me an email a year ago containing “cool ancient [klezmer] history,” as he called it.<\/p>\n Alan said the Kleveland Klezmorim drove all night from Cleveland to New York for the Carnegie Hall gig, winding up in a filthy New Jersey hotel. “Beer bottles on the window sills inside<\/em> the room,” Alan said.<\/p>\n The band reconnoitered the next day on the steps of the Museum of Modern Art.\u00a0 “We played on the sidewalk,” Alan said. “Greg got a comeuppance from a local marimbist playing down the street.\u00a0 She was a Philharmonic percussionist and a monster — barely five feet.”<\/p>\n The band played three shows on Saturday and four on Sunday at the Carnegie Hall Cinema.\u00a0 “I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired,” Alan said.\u00a0 “We drove back home on Monday. I made $50.” When the Kleveland Klezmorim disbanded in 1990, bandleader Greg Selker said, “I’ll miss the bliss but not the arguing with bookers and musicians.” He became an executive headhunter. “I’ll Miss the Bliss.” Somebody should write that tune. My musical bliss happens most often when I hear a new instrument with Yiddishe Cup — like when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klezmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000","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=2000"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8707,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000\/revisions\/8707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kleveland](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/kk-small-phto2.jpg\" "\\"kk-small-phto2\\"")
<\/a>
\n. . . lobby.)<\/p>\n
\n—-<\/span>
\nYiddishe Cup is in Motown this Sat. night, Sept. 4.\u00a0 Temple Israel<\/a>, W. Bloomfield, Mich.\u00a0 8:30 p.m.\u00a0 Free.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"