{"id":10058,"date":"2012-08-01T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=10058"},"modified":"2013-07-04T09:34:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T13:34:52","slug":"whats-up-hankus-netsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/01\/whats-up-hankus-netsky\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT’S UP, HANKUS NETSKY?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I see<\/strong><\/span> Hankus Netsky, the leader of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, every couple years.<\/p>\n

He never remembers my name.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t hold that against him.\u00a0 His best greeting is \u201cHow is your Mickey Katz project coming?\u201d\u00a0 (Yiddishe Cup is at times a Mickey Katz cover band<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m flattered.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 Hankus remembers something about me.<\/p>\n

How many musicians does Netsky<\/a> see in a week?\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 He teaches at the New England Conservatory, leads a well-known klezmer band, does music projects at the Yiddish Book Center, and plays in a world music group.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m<\/em> Netsky to some people.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know these people but they know me. For example, Oberlin and Cleveland State students attend Yiddishe Cup gigs, looking for term-paper material, and I don\u2019t remember who they are when they call me three months later.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Hankus Netsky<\/p><\/div>\n

I wonder <\/strong><\/span>who says to Netsky:\u00a0 \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t remember your name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody says that to Netsky.\u00a0 Obama doesn’t, Romney doesn’t, Perlman doesn’t.\u00a0 Sapoznik <\/a>doesn’t.<\/p>\n

Netsky, the Great One . . .<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Footnotes:
\n1. Hankus Netsky’s wife is Clara Netsky.\u00a0 Say that.\u00a0 (Don Friedman, Yiddishe Cup’s drummer, concocted this pun.)<\/small><\/p>\n

2. Ring Lardner Jr. said a well-known person will not remember you unless you’ve been introduced at least five times.\u00a0 (This Lardner Jr. factoid courtesy of\u00a0 Mark Schilling<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

3. Hankus Netsky is a great guy.\u00a0 One of the nicest, smartest, most considerate guys on the klezmer scene.\u00a0 Seriously.<\/p>\n

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

Qu\u00e9 pasa, Harvey Pekar? <\/small>Vos machst du<\/small>, Michael Wex? . . .<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

M\u00c1S ACCLAIM <\/big><\/big><\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Harvey Pekar\u2019s<\/strong><\/span> reputation took off on December 31, 1979, when he got a rave<\/a> in the national press — The Village Voice<\/em> — for the first time. But he wasn\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n

He told me in 1980, \u201cMovies, interviews — it all falls through. Maybe I\u2019m bowed — my back is short. I\u2019ve got to become more famous. If you\u2019re not a doctor in this town [Cleveland], you\u2019re stuck. The comic-book thing has picked up some, but it doesn\u2019t mean anything in this town. I\u2019d love a groupie to screw, listen to records with, and leave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Harvey\u2019s woe-is-me schtick was no schtick; he was<\/em> down and out. Even after he became famous — after the movie American Splendor<\/em> — he kvetched a lot: he had money worries, he said; his family scene was precarious; his health was tenuous; and his toilet handle jiggled. Harvey was the guy with the perpetual toothache who thought happiness was not having a toothache. He never ran out of material.<\/p>\n

After <\/strong><\/span>American<\/strong><\/span> Splendor<\/em>, the movie, Harvey sat on his porch, and fans from all over the world stopped by. He met interesting people without going out.<\/p>\n

I went with a foreign fan to Harvey\u2019s porch. The fan and Harvey BS\u2019d for an hour, mostly about Harvey\u2019s upcoming projects.<\/p>\n

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

Michael Wex<\/strong><\/span> was on Fresh Air<\/em>, Terry Gross\u2019s radio show, one time. Pekar was on Terry Gross twice.<\/p>\n

\"\"Wex<\/a> was on the show for his book Born to Kvetch<\/em>. When Wex\u2019s second book, Just Say Nu<\/em>, came out, he tried to get on again, but didn\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n

Wex wrote on his website: \u201cI don\u2019t want a niche, I want an empire!\u201d Funny — and true. In the arts, the more fame the better until you need bodyguards.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I was<\/span><\/strong> standing in the prescription pick-up line at CVS with fellow AKs. The man behind me said, \u201cSaul Ludwig, here. You played my daughter\u2019s wedding. Not only that but we also saw you at Chautauqua.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember you,\u201d I said. \u201cYour daughter is Amy Shulman. I ran into her at a gig in Buffalo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShu<\/em>man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Give me a break, Saul.\u00a0 Do you know how many weddings I play? Shuman, Shul<\/em>man, abi gezunt<\/em>. I can’t even go to CVS anymore.<\/p>\n

—
\nJoke, Saul, joke.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

—<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mickey Katz<\/p><\/div>\n

I wrote this article<\/a>, “Mickele: Mickey Katz Lives,” for the Cleveland Jewish News<\/em>, 7\/27\/12.\u00a0 More than you want to know about Mickey Katz, probably.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yiddshe Cup performs a tribute to Mickey Katz 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 9, at Cain Park, Alma Theater, Cleveland Hts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tix:<\/span> www.cainpark.com<\/a>, 216-371-3000, or 800-745-3000<\/span>.<\/p>\n

$20-22 advance. $23-25 day of show. Discount for seniors and students.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I see Hankus Netsky, the leader of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, every couple years. He never remembers my name. I don\u2019t hold that against him.\u00a0 His best greeting is \u201cHow is your Mickey Katz project coming?\u201d\u00a0 (Yiddishe Cup is at times a Mickey Katz cover band.) I\u2019m flattered.\u00a0 Hankus remembers something about me. How many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klezmer","category-pekar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10058"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15274,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058\/revisions\/15274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}