<\/p>\n
A handful of klezmer musicians <\/strong><\/span>have PhDs <\/strong>and do klezmer-related research.\u00a0 Hankus Netsky<\/a>, Walter Zev Feldman<\/a>, Joel Rubin<\/a>, Jeffrey Wollock<\/a>, and probably a few others I’m not aware of.<\/p>\n These men have put in time at the library as well as in the practice studio.\u00a0 Some speak Yiddish and other foreign languages.\u00a0 They know\u00a0 obscure facts.\u00a0 For instance, there was a close link between klezmer musicians and barbers, “considered one of the lower [professions] among the Jews . . . The barber was considered slightly below the server — the professional baker at weddings — and equal to the midwife.”\u00a0 (Walter Zev Feldman, “Klezmer Musicians of Galicia,” Polin, Studies in Polish Jewry<\/em>, Vol. 16, 2003)<\/p>\n These klez researchers often interview old people.\u00a0 Hankus Netsky — he is so good at interviewing old people he should run a nursing home.\u00a0 His PhD thesis was on the culture of old-school, 20th-century Philadelphia Jewish wedding musicians.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Netsky and the other PhDs are now kind of old themselves.\u00a0 Fifties and up.\u00a0 (Hankus is The Sage.)<\/p>\n For my <\/em>research (non-academic), <\/strong><\/span>I focused on these new klez docs and their peers.\u00a0 I bought recordings from nearly every klezmer band at the end of the 20th century.\u00a0 I have CDs and tapes from Di Gojim<\/a>, a Dutch goy<\/em> band; Aufwind<\/a>, a kraut klez band; and even the Alaska Klezmer Band<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then I gave up. Too much product.\u00a0 Every Beryl, Meryl and Shmeryl klezmer band was putting out recordings.\u00a0 Yiddishe Cup — four CDs from them alone.<\/p>\n However, I did keep up with klezmer literature.\u00a0 Real easy.\u00a0 Not much product.\u00a0 There hasn’t been a book on klezmer in at least eight years. The book-buying market spoke and said “No market.”<\/p>\n Here, for example, are some manuscripts looking for publishers:<\/p>\n Call Me Henry . . . No, Hank<\/em>.\u00a0 An in-depth look at American Jewish identity by Henry “Hank” Sapoznik<\/a>, a klezmer and old time banjo player.<\/p>\n 100 Jewish Music Insults<\/em><\/strong><\/span> by Pete Sokolow<\/a>, pianist.\u00a0 Putdowns that really work. Culled from the first 10 minutes of a five-hour interview with Sokolow.\u00a0 Try these the next time you’re at a klezmer jam session:<\/p>\n 1. What’s your phone number? Junior congregation needs a clarinetist. Where Klezmer Meets Corn<\/em>, a memoir by “Klezmer Guy,” about a klez band’s one-night stands (concerts primarily) in the Midwest.\u00a0 Some senior sex.<\/p>\n My Tsimbl is in Tune,<\/em> a mystery by Pete Rushefsky<\/a>, tsimblist<\/em>.<\/p>\n Tattoo Jews<\/em> by Mark Rubin<\/a>,<\/strong><\/span> bass player.\u00a0 A true-life account of large drawn-on Texas Jews taking on Los Tigres del Norte for bar mitzvah share in Ciudad Juarez.<\/p>\n Where’s Mincha, Helmut?<\/em> funded by the German National Tourist Board’s “Deutschland\u00a0\u2665 Jews” initiative.\u00a0 Subtitled “A Jewish Musician’s Guide to Germany.”\u00a0 By Joel Ruben with Rita Ottens<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 [Mincha<\/em> is the afternoon service.]<\/p>\n Friends of Molly<\/em>.\u00a0 A steamy romance about a chick minyan — <\/em>Friends of Molly — that reconnoiters annually at a Catskill hotel sauna.\u00a0 By Eve Sicular<\/a>, bandleader of the Isle of Klezbos<\/a>.\u00a0 [A minyan is 10 Jews.]<\/p>\n
\n2. You’re slicker than butter on matzo, but there’s no salt.
\n3. Tighten your neck strap.\u00a0 Tight<\/em>er.
\n4. You couldn’t find freygish <\/em>with a GPS.\u00a0 [Freygish<\/em> is a mode.]
\n5. I make desk lamps. Let me see your clarinet.<\/p>\n