{"id":22234,"date":"2014-12-24T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=22234"},"modified":"2015-01-01T11:39:17","modified_gmt":"2015-01-01T16:39:17","slug":"klezkamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/24\/klezkamp\/","title":{"rendered":"KLEZKAMP"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

KlezKamp shuts down this month after 30 annual get-togethers. This post\u00a0looks at KlezKamp 1990.\u00a0 KlezKamp was a huge positive influence on many musicians.
\n<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

Sid Beckerman<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>was a living legend of klez clarinet. I followed him around KlezKamp<\/a> — the\u00a0 annual music conference in the Catskills.<\/p>\n

Sid talked to me!\u00a0 Big deal?\u00a0 Yes, it was.\u00a0 Sid was paid staff, and I was a payer, as in student\/customer\/fawner, and paid staff was on a higher plane, hard to corner.\u00a0 They had a lot of demands on their time.<\/p>\n

\"Sid<\/a>

Sid Beckerman, 1998<\/p><\/div>\n

Sid had no ego, according to Washington clarinetist Rodney Brooks<\/a>, another student.\u00a0 \u201cSid was never a star,\u201d Rodney explained.\u00a0 Sid was \u201cdiscovered\u201d by klez revivalists, and made his first record at 70.\u00a0 (He died at 88 in 2007.)<\/p>\n

Sid had<\/strong><\/span> a handwritten tune-book called \u201cthe sheets,\u201d as in “sheet music.”\u00a0 Sid\u2019s guardian of \u201cthe sheets\u201d was pianist Pete Sokolow<\/a> (b. 1940), who had transcribed the tunes for Sid.<\/p>\n

The most popular tune in the collection was \u201cSB7,\u201d which meant \u201cSid Beckerman tune #7.”\u00a0 Dave Tarras<\/a> had originally recorded it as \u201cDi Zilberne Chasene\u201d (The Silver Wedding).\u00a0 Yiddishe Cup recorded it as \u201c40A.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>

Pete Sokolow, 2007<\/p><\/div>\n

At KlezKamp I developed a strategy for getting the sheets from Pete Sokolow.\u00a0 First, I gave Pete a xerox of an obscure 1938 magazine article about \u201cBay Mir Bistu Sheyn,\u201d hoping to get in Pete\u2019s good graces. Sokolow, stuffing the magazine article in his pocket, said, \u201cThe sheets<\/em>?\u00a0 What sheets?\u00a0 I\u2019m so busy now.\u00a0 I\u2019m working up an arrangement for fifteen people.\u00a0 What did Sid say?\u201d<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t<\/strong><\/span> asked Sid.\u00a0 So I went to Sid and offered him $20 for the sheets.\u00a0 Sid said, \u201cFor what?\u00a0 What<\/em> transcriptions?\u201d<\/p>\n

Funny, all the clarinetists from D.C. knew the SB tunes. So I badgered Rodney, the dean of D.C. clarinetists, some more. \u00a0I hocked<\/em> him.\u00a0 He finally admitted he had the sheets.\u00a0 \u201cYou can xerox them,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBut don\u2019t say you got them from me.\u00a0 Somebody might take umbrage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, 1991, the sheets came out as the Klezmer Plus! Folio<\/a> b<\/em>y Tara Publications.\u00a0 Everybody could buy them.\u00a0 Sokolow and Sid were just protecting their investments.<\/p>\n

—
\nThe above post is a rerun.\u00a0 A version ran\u00a0as “The Sheets,” 10\/7\/09. \u00a0 Also, please check out the first comment (recycled from ’09) by Steven Greenman<\/a>, about Sid Beckerman.
\n<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

—
\nSIDE B<\/big><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

OK, you want to read something new . . .<\/small><\/i><\/p>\n

I NEED A BEER!<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/p>\n

I yelled<\/strong><\/span> at my wife today. Nothing new there. She forgot to buy milk.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> I need a Bud. My neighbor — a guy from Germany — says Bud is the best beer in America.<\/p>\n

I drink<\/strong><\/span> too much, I know that. Anymore, I’m surprised my wife puts up with me. My kids left. They won\u2019t even talk to me.<\/p>\n

I know I should cut back. I’d like to get down to a case a week. I had a friend who drank himself to death at 42. He put away a case a day — 24 brewskis. That\u2019s ridiculous even by my standards. Four beers a day is what I’m shooting for.<\/p>\n

I need a beer!<\/p>\n

—
\nThis is a fake profile.<\/em><\/small>
\n—
\nYiddishe Cup plays First Night Akron (Ohio)<\/a> New Year’s Eve, 9:30 p.m. John S. Knight Convention Center. Booze-free event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did somebody say free booze?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KlezKamp shuts down this month after 30 annual get-togethers. This post\u00a0looks at KlezKamp 1990.\u00a0 KlezKamp was a huge positive influence on many musicians. Sid Beckerman was a living legend of klez clarinet. I followed him around KlezKamp — the\u00a0 annual music conference in the Catskills. Sid talked to me!\u00a0 Big deal?\u00a0 Yes, it was.\u00a0 Sid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fake-profiles","category-klezmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22234","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=22234"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22312,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22234\/revisions\/22312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}