{"id":2079,"date":"2010-09-15T08:34:10","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T12:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2012-03-26T18:09:05","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T22:09:05","slug":"location-location-loca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/15\/location-location-loca\/","title":{"rendered":"LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCA. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

1. PITTSBURGH<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pittsburgh is where terrific walk-on musicians play with Yiddishe Cup.\u00a0 We had a Duquesne University guitar teacher, Kenny Karsh<\/a>, sit in at wedding.\u00a0 How many jazz musicians know “Yossel, Yossel” and “<\/em>Chusen Kale Mazel Tov”?\u00a0 He did.<\/p>\n

At another Pittsburgh gig, the bride’s uncle sang.\u00a0 He requested the key of Ab.\u00a0 Nobody but a pro asks for Ab.\u00a0 He sang “Unchained Melody,” a slow song, even though the bride had emailed “NO SLOW SONGS.” \u00a0But what could she do, the singer was her uncle.\u00a0 He was a hit.\u00a0 (Brides don’t know what they want.)\u00a0 He was in a Chicago society band.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh’s JCC has an outdoor clock with Hebrew letters on it.\u00a0 Pittsburghers rebuilt their JCC in Squirrel Hill, where it had previously been.\u00a0 In Cleveland, no Jewish institution would rebuild in the same place.\u00a0 Twenty-five years and out.\u00a0 That’s the rule in Cleveland.\u00a0 Move it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Pittsburgh<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/small><\/strong>

Pittsburgh JCC<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/small><\/p>\n

When the Cleveland Heights JCC<\/strong><\/span> moved to Beachwood in 1985, my dad, Toby, bought a plaque for the new cloakroom. The plaque, which was no bigger than a business envelope, cost several thousand dollars.<\/p>\n

Nobody noticed the plaque.<\/p>\n

Several years later, the Beachwood JCC expanded, and Toby’s cloakroom was in the heart of the action, right next to the new auditorium.<\/p>\n

My dad could always pick property.<\/p>\n

Except in New Mexico.\u00a0 That was out of Toby’s wheelhouse.\u00a0 Toby foundered whenever he left Ohio. He bought a piece of land near Albuquerque that went nowhere.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Lot<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/small><\/strong>

Lot for sale. Rio Rancho, New Mexico<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n

He also did a deal <\/strong><\/span>on a shopping strip center in Sunrise, Fla., and lost money because he wouldn’t — or didn’t know how to — play ball with the crooked city administrators.<\/p>\n

A relative, Lefty, sold my father the New Mexico land in 1965.\u00a0 Lefty was a Jew with a tattoo.\u00a0 Lefty lost a lot of money for a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Toby didn’t hold the deal against Lefty. \u00a0The land is still there. It’s not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

I saw Lefty at gigs over the years.\u00a0 He didn’t go by Lefty any more.\u00a0 He got into basement waterproofing business and made a lot of money.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Forget the Land of Enchantment . . .<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh. \u00a0 Pittsburgh is Yiddishe Cup’s San Francisco — hilly, terrific neighborhoods, great museums and a lot of culture.\u00a0 “I Left My Heart in Pittsburgh.”\u00a0 Write it.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

2. BOLLYWOOD<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Something important happens at weddings, unlike at bar mitzvah parties, where you’re just attending a family reunion. Pass the family reunion T-shirts.<\/p>\n

The ultimate low-stress gig: a 50th wedding anniversary party.\u00a0 Play whatever you want. Everybody is glad to be there, period.<\/p>\n

For weddings, the bandleader sometimes gets mounds of emails and communiqu\u00e9s beforehand.\u00a0 The bride doesn’t want the band to play anything slow, nothing from Broadway, and she wants to hear her Bollywood MP3s at break.\u00a0 Also, don’t announce the newlyweds’ names, but if you must, say “Jen and Zach.”<\/p>\n

“I’m NOT taking his last name!!” the bride emails.<\/p>\n

Not every bride is<\/strong><\/span> hands-on, though.\u00a0 Some say, “We know Yiddishe Cup has done this many, many times.\u00a0 You know what works.\u00a0 We trust you.”\u00a0 These are the best brides.<\/p>\n

Here’s what works: skipping the Bollywood music, strolling table-to-table, varying the musical styles and inviting guests to sit in with the band.\u00a0 Toasts work too — in chunks.\u00a0 No more than three toasts in a row.<\/p>\n

And having the wedding in Pittsburgh.\u00a0 Preferably at the downtown Westin.\u00a0 The staff there feeds Yiddishe Cup before<\/em> the guests.\u00a0 Maybe because we’re important out-of-town musicians.
\n—-<\/span>
\nYiddishe Cup plays 7 p.m. Wed., Sept 29,\u00a0 Fairmount Temple, and\u00a0 7:15 p.m. Thurs, Sept. 30<\/span>, Park Synagogue, for Simchat Torah.\u00a0 Cleveland.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh is where terrific walk-on musicians play with Yiddishe Cup.\u00a0 We had a Duquesne University guitar teacher, Kenny Karsh, sit in at wedding.\u00a0 How many jazz musicians know “Yossel, Yossel” and “Chusen Kale Mazel Tov”?\u00a0 He did. At another Pittsburgh gig, the bride’s uncle sang.\u00a0 He requested the key of Ab.\u00a0 Nobody but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-the-road","category-toby-stratton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","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=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8824,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions\/8824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}