JDub Records

See ya’ later, Hanukkah!

The Hanukkah videos continue this week with a rendition of ”Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” by Girls In Trouble.

Girls In Trouble’s debut CD is available in the JDub store.

Yesterday, JDub, The Sway Machinery and Girls in Trouble all got some great mentions in The New York Times’ T Magazine blog.  You can check that entire article, “Not Your Bubby’s Hanukkah Music”, out HERE.  Full text is also included after the jump.

“Alicia Jo Rabins’s tender version of the “other” dreidel song “Sivivon Sov Sov Sov” should be a Hanukkah standard. Her plucked violin and gorgeous voice could be a Jewish “Silent Night.” “The great thing is that even Hanukkah songs are in minor keys,” says Rabins, “which makes it easy to cover them with a creepy twist.” Rabins also plays in the great klezmer punk band Golem and has her own project, Girls in Trouble, which chronicles women in the Old Testament.”

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Amid Thousands of Santa’s, Hanukkah Harry stood proud!

Jesse from The Wailing Wall recorded this cover of “Remember Me (When The Candle Lights Are Gleaming)” for Hanukkah. (Get it? Candles and Hanukkah) The song has also been recorded by Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan among others.

Sure you’ve heard “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” before, but have you ever heard it played on the saw? Jesse from The Wailing Wall brings a new twist to this traditional tune.

This week all purchases from the JDub store come with a free download of The Wailing Wall’s debut LP.

The DeLeon CD and T-shirt are on sale in the JDub store.

Today, The New Yorker features several pieces of Hanukkah-centric micro-fiction from writer Yoni Brenner.  You can check those out HERE.  I’ve featured my favorite below.  Highbrow holiday, indeed!

“RINGO’S WISH

“What’s the matter, Ringo?” John said, handing him a handkerchief.

Ringo blew his nose. “It’s already the fourth night of Hanukkah,” he sniffled, “and I haven’t got a single present.”

“Well, that won’t do,” John said, and he set off to tell the rest of the Beatles.

“A present?” Paul said. “Well, I suppose I could give him this banana.”

“A present?” George said. “I suppose I could give him this zipper.”

Then John took a Mason jar and filled it with dirt. “My present is dirt,” John said.

That night, the Beatles threw a tremendous Hanukkah party in Ringo’s honor. Ringo was overwhelmed. He had never imagined that Hanukkah could be so fun, or so rewarding—especially since he had learned of its existence only that morning.

Incidentally, it was around this time that the Beatles were doing a lot of drugs.”

Vol. 1 Brooklyn tipped me off to the Huffington Post’s list of “7 Books To Give For Hanukkah” — which is disappointing, at best.  Of course, a book is a perfectly respectable holiday gift, but HuffPost sure does suggest some strange options.  Francine Prose’s book about Anne Frank?  No thanks!  Just because I am Jewish does not mean I want to spend every holiday reliving the most grave and horrifying ordeal my family ever lived through.  Check it out for yourself, but this Hanukkah, I think I’ll stick with asking for socks…

If you’re in Israel on Hanukkah week, you’re most welcome to check out this massive hip hop show, taking place at the Barzilay club in Tel Aviv, Tuesday December 15th, starting 10pm. Performers include yours truly, as well as Lukatch, Vulkan, Produx, System Ali and many more.

See ya!