Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 5:18:18 PM

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Having to get up earlier than usual on a Sunday (tomorrow) builds up a big THIRST for tonight!

(Our alarm system has an error that can't be diagnosed remotely, and the system isn't behaving right to clear it or bypass it)

Under a service contract, but still have to be awake for the tech.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 5:35:10 PM

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buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 6:26:21 PM

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The Trump-haters are truly unhinged.  I heard several crazies today at my synagogue; one talking about how Michael Bloomberg is poised to jump into the Democrat candidate race when Biden falters sufficiently, one talking about how terrible it is that "half the country likes him, and they have guns, so they are a threat to our democracy."

The last one I just couldn't take, so I butted into the conversation and said, "If you think half the country is a so-called threat to democracy, it is YOU, not they, who is the threat."

10/12/2019 6:32:50 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

And that's when the fight started....

Good for you.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:37:44 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

So, looking for another shul now?/

Where I went, there was no discussion of politics during the High Holy Days. There are, however, a good number of conservatives there.

Yom Kippur was a bit of a mess, as the rabbi couldn't get heat for the tent (I was comfortable) so had some services indoors (where I had to take off my jacket to keep from passing out.

During Yom Kippur, had a very interesting conversation with G-d; either things stay just where I can handle or get a lot worse.

I know why, but can't go back in time. And I don't know whether there were any other alternatives years ago.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:39:09 PM

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Where is everyone? Where do all the bloggers go on Saturday Night?

Jukebox

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:42:15 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 6:

Jukebox link

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 6:43:39 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 5:
I've been looking for another shul for some time.  The problem is that the alternatives are either subsidiaries run by the rabbi's offspring, or other Chabad offshoots---except for the breakaway "modern Orthodox" shul that is even more SJW (and also not an easy walk).  There's a not-bad synagogue a half-hour-plus walk away, in a dicy neighborhood, but...it's a half-hour walk away, in a dicy neighborhood.

I have less and less good to say about Chabad, but that's something for another day.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:44:08 PM

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buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 6:44:19 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 7:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++!

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:45:09 PM

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In #9 Kosh's Shadow said: This jukebox probably makes me raaaaacist

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:48:03 PM

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buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 6:52:24 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 11:

I am certain---albeit without any proof---that the original lyrics to "Puttin' on the Ritz" began with "Have you seen the jigaboos/up on Lenox Avenue?"  instead of of "Have you seen the well-to-do/up on Lenox Avenue?", as the former makes sense in context of the original lyrics, which poke fun at the blacks putting on the dog on Thursday evenings, the traditional domestics' day off, while the latter does not really make sense in the context of the original lyrics.

Berlin, of course, rewrote his lyrics on an ongoing basis.

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 6:54:24 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 12:

I note you have the original clip of Harry Richman doing "Puttin' on the Ritz."  I think they cleaned it up for the movie, just as they cleaned up "enword" in "Old Man River" and substituted "darkies."

Richman, by the way, was famously homosexual even in his heyday.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:56:40 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 13:
I agree. You should teach a course in the music of the era.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 6:59:51 PM

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For anyone near Wustah, Ma. who wants to catch up with Buzz on his knowledge of Big Bands:

This eight-week course introduces how big bands function, along with an examination of how the ensemble sound has grown and changed throughout the last century. We’ll demystify the concepts and terminology and help you to listen better to this extraordinarily rich field of music. We will, of course, focus heavily on the Swing Era of 1935 through 1950, but also follow the unique sounds that belong to the prehistory of big bands in the hands of Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others, and the continuing adaptation of big band sounds into modern times—highlighting Sun Ra, the Vanguard Orchestra, and several standout groups here in New England.

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 7:02:19 PM

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In #15 Kosh's Shadow said: You should teach a course in the music of the era.

If I did that, I'd be lynched, and/or doxxed like you wouldn't believe.  

Last Spring, I tried to discuss the concept of keeping the integrity of a work, both in and out of copyright, with my students.  I mentioned the excision, not only of blackface numbers, but of actual black numbers from films still under copyright when they were broadcast on TV in the late 60s, the 70s, and even into the 80s.  A "woke" student of mine took offense at my defending the necessity of seeing things in their entire context, and, had I not decided to pre-emptively bring this incident to the attention of my administrators myself, I might well have been summarily fired.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 7:05:44 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 17:

We are losing our history

A big landmark in Boston is Faneuil Hall. Fanueil was a slave trader, among other things.

So there is a big stink on whether to change the name. A Black artist came up with the idea of a sculpture of a slave auction outside, to give context and an explanation. May people, woke and non-woke, liked the idea. (I did - it added information)

The NAACP hated it, and the artist retracted the idea.

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 7:08:29 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 16:

BTW, Kosh, since the prayer for rain---or is it dew?---comes up during Sukkot, take a listen to the song "Snow" from Berlin's film "White Christmas." 

I've probably mentioned this before, but the song "Snow" is done on the model/format of the prayers for dew and for rain---merely using another form of precipitation.  And, of course, in the film the stars get up to Vermont and find...no snow, but in the end of the film their "prayer" earlier in the film is answered.  It's a fascinating example of the insertion of Hebrew liturgy into American popular culture---and in a Christmas film, yet.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 7:18:28 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 19:
Jukebox

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 7:27:36 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 20:

I mentioned this song to several friends, who should have been familiar with it, and who were gobsmacked at the idea that Cohen had used the prayer in the song.  They didn't realize it.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 7:34:01 PM

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In #21 buzzsawmonkey said: I mentioned this song to several friends, who should have been familiar with it, and who were gobsmacked at the idea that Cohen had used the prayer in the song.  They didn't realize it.

All I can say is they weren't really familiar with the prayer. If they had any idea, the connection is obvious.

Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 7:34:34 PM

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In #22 Kosh's Shadow said: All I can say is they weren't really familiar with the prayer. If they had any idea, the connection is obvious.

They may have prayed it many times, but never realized what it said

revobob 10/12/2019 8:11:47 PM

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In #23 Kosh's Shadow said: They may have prayed it many times, but never realized what it said

Happens a lot with Catholics and I'm sure with islamics. Anyone with a formal liturgy, I suppose. (Us fundamentalists make up our prayers on the fly, so this never happens to us!)

revobob 10/12/2019 8:19:23 PM

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In #8 buzzsawmonkey said: I have less and less good to say about Chabad, but that's something for another day.

As a Gentile, I would be interested (another time- it's bedtime now) to see what you have to say about this. My very superficial observations lead me to think that Chabad is perhaps a bit like modern Christian fundamentalism, paying less attention to form and more to understood content, more inclined to proselytize than other forms of Judaism.

revobob 10/12/2019 8:19:53 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 10/12/2019 8:33:31 PM

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Reply to revobob in 25:

Chabad prosletyzes Jews to be more observant, but they do not do so with other religions.

buzzsawmonkey 10/12/2019 9:05:28 PM

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In #27 Kosh's Shadow said: Chabad prosletyzes Jews to be more observant, but they do not do so with other religions.

Well, yes...and no.

I've seen my Chabad-run synagogue rent itself out to otherwise-nonobservant Jews for Bar Mitzvahs, where there were people who were using cell phones to photograph the proceedings---on Shabbos.  The money for the rental trumped the strictures of observance, which dictate that there should be no photography, and no electronic devices, being used on premises on the Sabbath.

I've seen the Chabadniks putting the pressure on someone nonobservant to put on tefillin, but there's no followup to that---no way that the proselytizers go from that first put-on-tefillin coercion to something that might actually lead somewhere. 

I've seen the Chabadniks push "Tanya," the kaballistic/metaphysical musings of the Chabad rebbes, over teaching actual Torah, or Talmud, or even Maimonides' Mishneh Torah.

I've seen a clear demarcation among the Chabadniks between those who are born into Chabad, those who become major Chabad converts, and those who are merely the people who attend/support a Chabad synagogue.

I've seen the Chabadniks play the nonobservant to basically pay the Chabadniks to be "proxy Jews" for them---to get the nonobservant to donate as a form of "indulgence," along the lines of, "Well, I may not be observant, but I can assuage my guilt over that by paying to support those who are willing to be."

My Orthodox cousin has on more than one occasion said that Chabad is "the religion closest to Judaism," meaning that while they appear to be Jews, they are actually one step removed despite their appearance.

Occasional Reader 10/12/2019 9:34:07 PM

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I’m gonna git you, Sukkot!

/perennial pun