http://www.jweekly.com en Copyright 2010 2010-02-04T19:04:38+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41235/my-encounter-with-people-who-hold-signs-that-read-god-hates-jews http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41235/my-encounter-with-people-who-hold-signs-that-read-god-hates-jews#When:19:04:38Z by stacey palevsky | Last week, a crowd gathered outside of my office building to gawk and shout at -- and be shocked by -- the posse of Midwesterners holding signs that said "God hates fags" and "Jews killed Jesus." Ah, Westboro Baptist Church. These are the people from Fred Phelps' Topeka, Kan. church who think they're doing God's work by protesting at soldiers' funerals and shouting hate speech about gays, Jews, blacks — anyone who doesn't look like they grew up on a white bread shelf at a Fareway market. They're so crazy but they think they're totally sane, and this makes them appear even more crazy! They really believe that the hateful words they shout at crowds and print on signs are words divined from God. (Even though they're classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.) Anyway, I decided to approach one of the young women protesting in front of our offices last week. She (I later found out it was the church founder's granddaughter Megan) told me they all work full-time jobs "so that we can do this around the country." While in the Bay Area, they visited day schools, synagogues, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Stanford Hillel. It's almost laughable that they've dedicated so much time and money to traveling around the country holding such inflammatory signs that insult so many Americans and human brings in general. In speaking with Megan, I was surprised by how normal she appears, until you listen closely to what she's saying and realize she's out of her head. Oh my. What. Are. They. Thinking. blogs 2010-02-04T19:04:38+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41221/monotonix-frontman-breaks-a-leg http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41221/monotonix-frontman-breaks-a-leg#When:20:34:02Z by emily savage |   Seems the spectacular sonic maelstrom that is Monotonix hit a bit of a snag last week. The Israeli metal punkers were doing their usual schtick during a Jan. 27 show in West Palm Beach, Florida — jumping off equipment, hanging from the ceilings, inciting riots — when lead singer Ami Shalev broke his leg. According to the band’s Myspace page "We never stopped a show in 700 shows, but yesterday it seemed like we should. " Later adding that once Shalev arrived at the hospital,"the doctor showed up asking for autographs, nurses kept coming in and out of the room with Monotonix show videos playing on their ipods.”Readers with a keen memory may recall my interview with the crazed Israeli frontman a few years back — during said interview Shalev explained his lyric writing process via telephone from Israel: “’I write about the basic things in life, daily situations, relationships ... because I don't speak good English,’ Shalev explains in a thick Israeli accent. ‘With our kind of music, it's easier to sing in English — with English you speak from the mouth and with Hebrew you speak from the back of your throat.’He lets out a loud "Ha!" followed by an "Uh!" to demonstrate his point, making guttural noises not unlike his singing style. “Ah, the consummate performer — get well soon Ami! blogs 2010-02-01T20:34:02+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41220/shlomo-spins-the-hip-hop-beats http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41220/shlomo-spins-the-hip-hop-beats#When:18:47:50Z by emily savage | San Francisco-based hip-hop producer Henry Laufer (aka "Shlomo") may be the youngest, coolest Jewish performer this side of Oakland. The 19-year old self-described "tall, lanky, jewy-lookin  dude from LA proper" released his album of avant-garde beats Shlomoshun Deluxe this past month and he'll spin at two shows this coming week. Check out his mixes and plotz plotz beat beats here: Feb. 2  at 2925 16th Street, S.F. (in the Mission)Free show! and Feb. 6 at Mighty, 119 Utah St., S.FWith Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, and Jogger $12 For those interested in more on Shlomo, SF Weekly recently featured the barely-legal hip hop Heeb in a music story a few months back: "Shlomo gives S.F. a taste of L.A.'s abstract beat scene" blogs 2010-02-01T18:47:50+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41148/cantor-urges-help-for-haiti-through-song http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41148/cantor-urges-help-for-haiti-through-song#When:17:26:17Z by emily savage |   Cantor Shimon Craimer has joined the worldwide effort to assist the people of Haiti following the country's devastating earthquake earlier the month. The UK-born vocalist released "Bring Them Peace" on his website www.shimoncraimer.com. Visitors to the site can download the song for free, but are urged to donate to Haiti when doing so. Craimer, who currently works at the Riverdale Jewish Center in Riverdale, N.Y., recently spoke to the Jpost about the song: "I felt that I had a song that would touch people's hearts...after being moved by what is happening in Haiti, I released 'Bring Them Peace' ... to encourage people to donate to the charities that are doing such amazing work over there." blogs 2010-01-27T17:26:17+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41147/maori-or-israeli-same-diff-says-one-kiwi http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41147/maori-or-israeli-same-diff-says-one-kiwi#When:00:02:46Z by rachel leibold | The New Zealand Herald (and about a bazillion other news orgs) reports that New Zealand tour operator Discovery Heritage Group has been banned from the port of Tauranga, in the North Island's Bay of Plenty region, for hiring Israelis and Europeans to pose as Maori (New Zealand's indigenous Polynesian population) and take photos and perform for tourists. To make matters worse, Terina Puriri, the (Maori) director of Discovery Heritage Group, was quoted as saying that she had to do it because "some of our Maori are too lazy to get out of bed." The group has been banned from the port, which Ms. Puriri blamed on Tauranga not "[wanting] culture on their port."  Ooookay… In any event, at least the Israelis tried hard to act Maori - wearing Maori dress, learning Maori customs and some of the language (Te Reo), and performing haka (the traditional Maori dance best known to the rest of the world as the beginning to any All Blacks rugby match). blogs 2010-01-27T00:02:46+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41078/an-atheist-feminist-siddur-yep http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41078/an-atheist-feminist-siddur-yep#When:20:18:30Z by stacey palevsky | A professor at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles has composed an atheist-feminist siddur - seriously. The Jewish Daily Forward chronicles his creative, spiritual and translational process in a great feature story this week. Tzemah Yoreh is a bible scholar and former IDF soldier who grew up in Toronto and Israel with Talmud scholars for parents. The siddur, tentatively titled "Liturgical Experiments: A Siddur for the Skeptical" is only available in Hebrew thus far. Yoreh intends to translate the siddur into English soon, at which point it will be the first siddur of its kind. My favorite quote from the article: "If you define [prayer] as communication between humans and a deity, I think that’s a very narrow conception. I think prayer is communal and private expression of hopes, fears, an appreciation of aesthetic beauty, good attributes. But that has nothing to do with God.” Read the story here, and check Yoreh's personal Web site here. blogs 2010-01-20T20:18:30+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41077/grammys-favorite-jews http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41077/grammys-favorite-jews#When:17:25:03Z by emily savage | It is that special time of year for the music industry again – The Grammy Awards. The mainstream music event takes place this year on Jan. 31 on CBS. And what do you know; there are plenty of Yids nominated for the 52nd annual awards. Below is a (possibly incomplete) list of the Grammy’s favorite Jewy musicians: 1. MGMT (1/2 the band is Jewish) nominated for Best New Artist  & Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for their song “Kids”2. Daryl Hall & John Oates (Hall converted) nominated for  Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for “Sara Smile” off Live At The Troubadour. 3. Herb Alpert nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for “Besame Mucho” off Anything Goes – Live4. Bob Dylan nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for Beyond Here Lies Nothin' off Together Through Life and for Best Americana Album5. Lamb of God (note: this one is a bit iffy, but as far as I can tell the Adler brothers in the band are of Jewish origin) nominated for Best Metal Performance for “Set to Fail” off Wrath 6. Megadeth (singer Dave Mustaine’s mother is Jewish) nominated for Best Metal Performance for “Head Crusher” off Endgame. 7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (drummer Brian Chase is Jewish) nominated for Best Alternative Music Album for It’s Blitz!8. Beastie Boys for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group for “Too Many Rappers”9. The Lonely Island (pictured above) for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “I’m on a Boat” off Incredibad10. Carrie Fisher nominated for “Best Spoken Word Album” for Wishful Drinking11. Spinal Tap (Harry Shearer is Jewish) for “Best Comedy Album” for Back From the Dead12. Oren Lavie for Best Short Form Music Video for “Her Morning Elegance”   (A still from Israeli musician Oren Lavie’s excellent music video) *Please note, dear readers, this is not a scientific list – it is based on my own knowledge and research. If I missed some nominated Jews (which I undoubtedly did) please feel free to let me know! blogs 2010-01-20T17:25:03+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41007/vampire-weekends-ezra-koenig-reps-jewish-roots http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41007/vampire-weekends-ezra-koenig-reps-jewish-roots#When:17:18:31Z by emily savage |   Vampire Weekend is having a moment. The band recently appeared on MTV’s “Unplugged” surrounded by drippy candles and a plunky string section and the adorable rockers performed live on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brian on Monday. It make sense — the buzzy Afropop indie rockers just released their new album Contra yesterday to early high praise from the blogosphere and beyond. Their sophomore effort comes two short years after the band's revered and jeered self-titled debut record. Music site Pitchfork.com gave the new album a 8.6 out of 10 and wrote: "It's like they've spent the past two years building a bionic version of the band-- not only brighter and tighter, but weirder. The group nurtures its eccentricities and the result is a record full of them: Ezra's stretchy, dynamic voice; Rostam's fussy but colorful arrangements, packed with lots of orchestral confetti; and a sound that spans an increasingly multicultural array of genres, from American synth-pop to reggae, ska, calypso and Afro-pop."They are indeed critics’ darlings, but the band has also suffered backlash in the past for their apparent upper-crust upbringing (loafers-wearing, Columbia University-attending “white boys”). (Jewish) lead vocalist Ezra Koenig acknowledged these claims in an interview with the Guardian last week: He didn't go to New York's prestigious Columbia University because his family is wealthy. Quite the contrary: "My dad grew up in a working-class Jewish neighborhood, and I got a scholarship from my dad's union to go to college. I went there to get an education, not as an extension of privilege." He also took the band's "whiteness" to task, reminding everyone that "the two main writers in the band are Jewish and Persian, which is a pretty broad definition of 'whiteness.'"While the Brooklyn-based singer only occasionally discusses his Jewish background in interviews, in last month’s Spin magazine he alluded to it in a pictorial tour of his apartment, which included an old Zabar’s mug: “[Food shop] Zabar's is a lasting symbol of oldschool New York Jewish culture. I was born about 20 blocks away on the Upper West Side, but my parents quickly decamped for the suburbs. Now their kids are back in the city. Classic story.” blogs 2010-01-13T17:18:31+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41006/fools-gold-guitarist-doubles-as-foreign-born-player http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/41006/fools-gold-guitarist-doubles-as-foreign-born-player#When:19:31:52Z by emily savage | So remember that super fun Los Angeles-based Afropop band I wrote about a few months back that sang in Hebrew and filmed lavish poolside music videos? No? A quick reminder: Fool’s Gold. Turns out, the Jewish guitarist from that band (Lewis Pesacov) does double duty as stringed genius behind another excellent LA band — Foreign Born. I can’t help but wonder if the band name is a reference to Pesacov’s early childhood in Israel? Can’t say for sure, but I’m choosing to believe my own assumption, natch. The band, which formed in 2003, includes Pesacov, frontman Matt Popieluch, Garrett Ray (also of Fool’s Gold) and Ariel Rechtshaid on drums and bass, respectively. The lo-fi shoegazers have toured with the likes of Rogue Wave and Cold War Kids — and released the album Person to Person (Secretly Canadian Records) in 2009. Foreign Born will hit the road again in February with Free Energy, and make a stop in San Francisco on Feb. 24 at the Rickshaw Stop. blogs 2010-01-08T19:31:52+00:00 http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/40950/j.-goes-to-the-crunchies http://www.jewishsf.com/article/full/40950/j.-goes-to-the-crunchies#When:17:37:17Z by rachel leibold | The Crunchies are almost upon us - and j. (namely, me) will be there to witness them. The Crunchie Awards - sponsored by TechCrunch, GigaOm and VentureBeat and recognizing "compelling startups, Internet and technology innovations" - will be given out in a festive ceremony at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco this Friday night. Why am I going?  Well, it's a night to fete some of Silicon Valley's hippest and brightest, and you wouldn't believe (okay, maybe you would believe) how many of them are Jewish. The scene at last year's Crunchies (photo courtesy of nandorfejer) The Crunchies feature awards ranging from best Internet application to best VC firm to CEO of the Year. Some of the nominees you've heard of - Facebook, Twitter, Google Wave - and many you probably haven't (Brizzly? Animoto?). Think of it as a big Silicon Valley group hug! This year's Jewish noms include: -Yossi Vardi for best angel (for those not fluent in VC-speak, an angel investor is a wealthy individual who invests heavily in a startup). Vardi is Israeli and was the first investor in ICQ, one of the first instant messaging programs, which was founded by the Israeli company Mirabilis and later purchased by AOL. He has numerous awards and accomplishments to his name, including Israel's Prime Minister Award. -Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of Yelp, for Founder of the Year. Yelp is also up for best Internet application. -Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype, for CEO of the Year. -Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, for CEO of the Year. Salesforce is also up for best enterprise (Chatter). -Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media, for CEO of the Year. -Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, for CEO of the Year. Zynga is also up for best social app (Farmville) and best overall startup or product of 2009. At least four of the six CEO of the Year noms are Jewish - an interesting achievement. Who will win? We'll find out Friday night at the Crunchies! blogs 2010-01-07T17:37:17+00:00