JDub Records

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with Nextbook Inc.!  Over the past year, we pulled off some crazy new events with Tablet Magazine and Nextbook Press, such as Milk & Honey in LA and the Barney Ross release party at Gleason’s Gym.  Thanks to YOU (!) these parties were some of the best and most unique all year and so beyond spreading the good news, we wanted to say thanks again.  Despite these tough economic times, we are focused on the road ahead; this partnership will bring you more ways to connect to music, culture, content, and each other in 2010.

We’d also like to thank our dedicated staff, board, and advisors, and especially call out Alana, Morty, and Jonathan at Nextbook for their belief in our approach.  We are very excited to work alongside their team.  The official press release is below…back to the lab.  Happy Hanukkah!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nextbook Inc., the non-profit umbrella organization responsible for Tablet Magazine and Nextbook Press, today announced a strategic partnership with JDub.  JDub will create and manage marketing and communication strategies and public programs to expand the impact of Tablet Magazine and the offerings from Nextbook Press.

“JDub knows the audience for creative Jewish products and how to deliver to them,” says Alana Newhouse, the Creative Director of Nextbook and Editor-In-Chief of Tablet. “In the past year we co-presented a handful of events together that attracted a truly vibrant, new audience. Their track record speaks for itself.”

“We are constantly seeking partnership and collaboration with like-minded organizations,” adds Aaron Bisman, JDub’s Chief Executive Officer.  “Like JDub’s music and events, Nextbook Inc. creates content and experiences without barriers to entry where people can find their community and interact with it on their own terms. We are very excited to work with these great and growing Jewish brands.”

On January 27^th, Nextbook Press will present readings from David Lehman’s new book A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs alongside a unique musical performance by Hal Willner featuring Rufus Wainwright, Bill Frisell, and Van Dyke Parks at Lincoln Center in New York City.

About Nextbook:

Nextbook Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas. It runs both Nextbook Press, a series of books on Jewish themes published by Schocken, and the newly launched Tablet Magazine, an online magazine about Jewish life. Inspired by the hunger for books on Jewish subjects written in a lively, intelligent, and popular manner, Nextbook Press brings together writers of the first rank with people, ideas and events from the Jewish past, such as Elie Weisel’s Rashi and Robert Pinsky’s The Life of David.  Established in June 2009 as a flagship project of Nextbook Inc., Tablet Magazine has become the “new go-to source for Jewish arts and culture news” according to The New York Times.

http://www.tabletmag.com
http://www.nextbookpress.com

Winter brings metal to mind.  We’re a little bit angry, it’s cold, Sweden is also cold, and filled with black metal goth kids who have impeccable manners and delicious chocolates - you get my train of thought.    Anyhoozle, last year we told you about The Schleps - who crushed it in 37 seconds flat with their hardcore version of Maoz Tzur.  And now, in the spirit of a loud and heavy Hanukkah, we have Gods of Fire with Hanukkah Gone Metal.  It’s skews toward The Darkness/hair-bandism, but the iMovie-made video is fine tribute to a monster we helped create (sorry!).  Thanks for the shtick tip Metal Jew.

So, we may be drinking a little bit of orange juice in our champagne this AM and smiling a little bigger, because we are thrilled to announce our adoption of Jewcy.com and welcome their staff and advisors into our organization!!

The official press release is below, but from all of us at JDub, I wanted to say thanks to all of YOU for supporting our artists, events, and crazy endeavors over the past nearly 7 years.  This marks a significant milestone for JDub, that we’re sure will bring more fun to the table, but we don’t take that lightly (cue champagne flute disappearing; smile turns to a focused expression).  We’re firm believers in the transformative powers of music, culture, and inclusive environments, and you have  proven us correct in those assumptions and pushed us to new heights within our mission and vision.  The result is an expanded definition of community - fluid, meaningful, complex, self-defined, relevant, proud, diverse, cool, and real.  It is our sincere hope that Jewcy, along with our ’round-the-clock investment in artistry will keep that definition malleable.

We’d also like to thank our dedicated staff, board, and advisors, and especially call out Jon Steingart and Jenny Wiener for their visionary leadership in the creation of Jewcy, Tahl Raz for his editorial expertise and creative passion, and Michael Tive and Craig Leinoff for leading us to this new opportunity and shaping it into a reality.  We are very excited to continue the important work they began alongside Jewcy Editor Lilit Marcus!  Back to the orange juice…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JDUB ANNOUNCES ADOPTION OF JEWCY.COM

JDub, the non-profit dedicated to innovative Jewish music, community, and cross-cultural dialogue today announced its adoption of Jewcy.com. Jewcy is a premiere online media outlet devoted to presenting a spectrum of young Jewish discussion on the topics of today.

Jewcy.com launched in 2006 as a for-profit online media outlet and initially made waves with a line of edgy Jewish t-shirts sold on the site. Jewcy maintains 120,000+ unique visitors per month, making it one of the highest trafficked amongst Jewish sites written by and for 18-35 year old Jews and their culturally aware peers.

As a flagship program of JDub’s 501(c)(3) non-profit, JDub’s management team will guide Jewcy to new business opportunities. Day-to-day operations will be overseen by JDub’s Chief Operating Officer, Jacob Harris, and Jewcy’s Editor, Lilit Marcus, who has kept the site alive and updated on a volunteer basis for the past 8 months, will officially join the staff of JDub.

The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles has committed funding to Jewcy, and Repair The World, a new national non-profit created by several of the country’s largest Jewish foundations and dedicated to creating a Jewish social service movement has signed on as a strategic content partner

“Jewcy is an amazing brand,” says Harris. “We’ve been fans of the site since it began and are very excited to leverage the natural overlap and keep Jewcy thriving and growing. Jewcy’s content is similar to our music catalogue in that it proudly presents very diverse Jewish thoughts, ideas, challenges and struggles in a quality and relevant fashion.”

“In these difficult economic times, we are constantly seeking partnership and collaboration with likeminded organizations,” adds Aaron Bisman, JDub’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are creating spaces and experiences without barriers to entry where young people can find their community and interact with it on their own terms, be it through music, blogging, events, or social media. We hope JDub’s adoption of Jewcy can serve as a model for increased efficiency and allow focus to remain where it belongs - on culture, conversation, and real community.”

Jewcy will continue to expand the definition of community through the further integration of their user blog platform and a complete site redesign in 2010. The site already has over 1,000 user bloggers who have the ability to write their own posts, which often fuel conversations and get featured editorial placement.

WWW.JEWCY.COM

Clare Burson - Baby Boy

In case you missed her last Joe’s Pub show, Six Points Fellow Clare Burson will be back in the neighborhood again to play her breathtakingly beautiful brand of folk-pop.  She is performing tomorrow night at Joe’s Pub in NYC.  It’s obviously going to be great, but make sure to get there by 7PM, because the last time Clare played this venue it sold out early!

Friday, 10/2 - Clare Burson @ Joe’s Pub

$15 / Tickets / 7PM

You can pretty much tag this video with any Sisyphean metaphor, but boy oh boy is he cuddly!!!  Similarly, we still LOVE the music, and continue our attempt to roll over and magically do some back flips this week with a highly satisfying Soulico CD pre-order for only $5.99. Get it before we come to our senses.

When I was little, Yom Kippur scared the hell out of me.  Who shall live?  Who shall die?  The book of life, communal guilt for wrongdoings, etc. etc. - HEAVY SHIT. During my maybe-I’ll-be-a-poet phase in high school, I noticed that my father read the NY Times Obituaries daily, and circa 1998 he began the occasional snail mail package of truly remarkable obits that I maybe (definitely) missed via my own subscription.  He treated them like mini-biographies always noting what he had learned on a Post-it.  A few years ago, one of the packages and Yom Kippur coincided and ever since I’ve taken note of the remarkable few or unremarkable many that pass away during the closing of the book season.  With a nod to Dad and utter confusion toward the universe here they are…no matter what you believe.  Feel free to add…

William Safire - Pulitzer Prize winner and speechwriter for Nixon.

Lucy Vodden - inspired the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”.

Edward Gelsthorpe - ever used roll-on deodorant or had a cocktail with cranberry juice?  This guy made that happen.

Wilma Cozart Fine - a pioneer among female music producers.

Don Fisher - thanks for the Mom jeans and the pocketed t-shirt - the founder of GAP.

157 dead in Guinea

P.S. Your music is alive, well, and inspiring others.

I’ve seen a few (too many) shows and I can promise that Ethiopian/Israeli duo Axum know how to get the party started. Seriously, when they played at the Grand Performances outdoor amphitheatre in LA, I sweat like Iggy Pop circa 1977. Gross? Maybe…but fun and good news if you live in DC or NYC because they’ll be joining Soulico on their US tour dates next week. My best/only advice is to buy some *sparkly* dancing shoes, txt your friends, and get your tix!

Tue. Sept. 8th - DC @ DC 9 (tickets available at the door)
Wed. Sept. 9th - NYC @ Bowery Ballroom (advance tickets available here)
(P.S. NYC is a benefit for New Israel Fund - great cause, crazy party!)

Boys becoming men, men becoming wolves!

Check out the battle for tents in Englewood, NJ. Moammar Gadhafi vs. East Hill Synagogue vs. New Jersey. Hilarious. Take it from someone who had their Bar Mitzvah in a tent: your guests want air conditioning. Oh what’s that you say? You can pump air conditioning into the tent? Oh that’s nice (for the environment).

According to The Wall Street Journal: “ENGLEWOOD, N.J. — This green, unassuming New York City suburb has a couple of problems involving tents.

One concerns Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Many people here believe Libya’s leader plans to put up a tent in Englewood during his trip to the United Nations in September. They don’t like that.

The second problem concerns East Hill Synagogue. It puts up tents for bar mitzvahs. Some people in Englewood don’t like that, either.

“I was hoping the community had put this behind it,” Mayor Michael Wildes says of the bar-mitzvah-tent battle — “until the head of a nation decided to pitch his own tent in Englewood.” Read More »