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Friday June 6, 2008

From dusk to DAWN: All-night festival features music, film, comedy and more

by greg m. schwartz
staff writer

Those interested in the grand opening of the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s new building are advised to get out their dancing shoes and to stock up on energy drinks. The DAWN ’08 cultural arts festival that celebrates the opening on Saturday, June 7 will start at

8 p.m. and last until the sunrise is witnessed from a nearby yacht club.

The museum has teamed with Reboot, a nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring Jewish culture and traditions, to put a new spin on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which marks the day the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai and has historically been honored with dusk-to-dawn Torah study sessions.

DAWN began in 2004 — as a modern twist to give the young adult Jewish community a chance to swap the bleary-eyed all-nighters for a celebration of music, dance, multimedia art and off-beat religious discussions.

“It’s a chance to reinterpret a holiday and make it relevant to a newer generation,” says DAWN co-organizer Anne Cook. “So we wanted to provide a newer event … We’re really trying to plug into all kinds of disciplines and engage people in different ways.”

Cook and her DAWN co-organizers (the event is sponsored by the Jim Joseph Foundation and others) have pulled out all the stops in an effort to make this year’s DAWN the biggest and best one yet. This includes live music and DJs, film premieres, comedy acts, contemporary speakers on Jewish issues and the opportunity to explore the museum’s new exhibitions before the building opens to the public the next morning.

Musical headliner Dengue Fever is a Cambodian psychedelic pop-rock band based in Los Angeles that has been a rising force on the indie rock scene over the past few years. The band has two Jewish members, brothers Zac Holtzman (guitar) and Ethan Holtzman (keyboards).

“We’re going to have a Cambodian psychedelic band play this Jewish holiday, how perfect,” says DAWN co-organizer and Reboot San Francisco chair David Katznelson, who also noted that Dengue Fever played a Chanukah party in December and will be playing a couple of Jewish songs learned specifically for the DAWN event.

Also scheduled to perform is bassist Yossi Fine, a well-known producer in the Israeli music industry. Fine’s most recent album, “Live in Jerusalem,” was recorded while on tour last year in Israel. “He’s made a living making amazing music that combines Israeli music with Western influences,” says Katznelson.

Another featured event is a conversation with acclaimed writer Jonathan Safran Foer, author of best-selling books “Everything is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”

“‘Everything is Illuminated’ really touched a generation,” says Katznelson of the book that was made into a movie directed by Liev Schrieber. “We thought he’d be a great person to talk about writing a book and how people re-interpret it.”

The other headlining event is a screening of the classic 1926 Jewish silent film “Benya Krik,” featuring a live score composed specifically for DAWN. The score will be performed by a collection of local musicians including the Rondo Brothers, Greg Ashley from Gris Gris and members of Comets on Fire. “It’s an indie supergroup of people really inspired by the movie,” says Cook.

One of DAWN’s most unique moments will be the midnight ritual I-Vow-Now, marking the tradition where the sky opens up on the night of Revelation, offering an opportunity for personal renewal of vows with the Divine. Live music, spoken word and video projection will be combined in an effort to attract all attendees to participate in taking or renewing personal vows in honor of Shavuot and inaugurating a new sacred space at the museum.

Another unique attraction will be (Re)velation, a multimedia installation that re-imagines the experience of standing at Mount Sinai, where participants can edit or alter the text of the original 613 commandments. “Anyone who comes can give their version of a commandment and then it will be rebroadcast throughout the evening,” Cook says.

Other attractions include the West Coast premiere of “Sons of Sakhnin United,” a documentary about the first Arab soccer team to become champions of Israel, and a discussion following the film with producer Michael Cohen; a reading with Adam Mansbach, author of “Angry Black White Boy” and “The End of the Jews”; a “Stump the Rabbi” booth; and open-space discussions of Jewish issues and history with Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe from Congregation Emanu-El, Rabbi Micah Hyman from Congregation Beth Sholom and Sarah Leiber Church, program director of Progressive Jewish Alliance.

DAWN ‘08 will conclude at dawn with observance of the sunrise at the Mariposa Hunters Point Yacht Club, a prime viewing spot just a short walk from the museum, with a discussion of the entire event’s meaning and the role of ritual in modern life.

“The whole point … is we want to have things going on concurrently — there’s a film room, comedy sketches in another room … the Rhona and Beverly comedy team giving tours, rooms with just discussions,” says Katznelson of DAWN’s diverse offerings.

“What we really want to do is make it so that even if you’re just wandering around you’re going to bump into something amazing … with all these different kinds of artistic talents exploring issues of Jewish experience.”

DAWN ’08 begins 8 p.m. Saturday, June 7 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., S.F. Museum doors close at 3 a.m., after which festivities move to Mariposa Hunter’s Point Yacht Club in S.F. Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 at the door.

For more information on the event, visit www.dawn2008.org or www.thecjm.org.

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