All posts tagged as: Jeremiah Lockwood
Jeremiah Lockwood for The Forward
The Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood recounted his trip to Mali for Festival Au Desert to The Forward this morning. You can check out that awesome article HERE.
“Ag Mohamed invited me into a Tuareg tent, where men were singing together in call and response. He nudged me into the circle, and we clapped and sang along. Two little girls were accompanying the group with drums, under the watchful eye of their mother, who was coaching their playing. Everyone was laughing and applauding each other’s creativity with raucous catcalls. In my mind’s eye, I saw the needlepoint on my grandparents’ wall, and I could hear the singing of zemiros, or Jewish hymns, and the sound of nigunim, wordless melodies, with my grandfather and my cousins at my grandfather’s tish. I looked around the faces in the tent and saw the kindness born of mutual respect. And I was grateful because I had been blessed to fulfill a verse of scripture: “Behold how good it is to sit in the unity of brotherhood.””
HIDDEN MELODIES REVEALED in SAN FRANCISCO
On the second night of Rosh Hashanah the line stretched down the block and around the corner with hundreds of people eager to enter San Francisco’s most famous synagogue, Temple Emanu-El. But this crowd didn’t need to purchase high priced tickets and wasn’t there for a traditional Rosh Hashanah service, in fact, for most people in line, this would be the only time they stepped foot in a Jewish space during the entire holiday. Read More »
Hidden no more
Last Thursday night, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, The Sway Machinery rang in 5770 one night early with the wildest and most exuberant experience a Los Angeles Temple (and crowd) has ever experienced. Over a year in the making, Hidden Melodies Revealed was unlike any Jewish or cultural event ever held in the City of Angeles - from the diversity of the crowd, which included septuagenarians with walkers, tattooed hipsters, Israelis, and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 - to the location - the Historic Piness Auditorium at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Eastside campus, soon to undergo mass renovations including takeover of the full city block, to the music - a reimagining of the Jewish New Year with afrobeat, blues, and stories of frightened cantors hiding in cellars. We had plenty of adventure behind the scenes as well, with last minute beer runs to BevMo and Trader Joe’s (Thanks @bruin!), abuse of our secret service ear pieces, and sushi runs in Little Tokyo followed by poser time on the roof of The Standard. All in all a good time.
Between the event here and 2 nights later in San Francisco, both of which required JDub to bring in sound, lights, generators, caterers, and huge security guards, on top of our normal team of event producers, publicists, marketers, and sponsors - this was one of our largest productions to date. With 1,000 moving pieces, I have to give huge props to JDub’s own MC Tater Tot for holding it down and leading the team, and JCUB for having his back at all times. And of course to our funder, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and our sponsors, Myspace Music, Reboot/10Q (jump on that!), Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Tablet Mag, and The Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. Click the pics for the full set.
A Sweet New Year
In lieu of a roundup, I’ve decided to leave you with this video (via MyJewishLearning) of The Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood doing a rousing rendition of “Hineni”. Otherwise, have a very happy holiday, and we’ll see you all next week!
PS. In San Francisco? Go see The Sway Machinery’s Hidden Melodies Revealed TOMORROW night at Temple Emanu-El!
The Many New Years of Jeremiah Lockwood
Jeremiah Lockwood, of The Sway Machinery, has a post over at Jewcy where he takes the reader through 4 vibrant vignettes related to the upcoming New Year. I have included one below! Check out the rest HERE.
2. Like every Jewish boy, I was born out of a rupture in history, at a special moment when the past had been either intentionally discarded or else appropriated by weak-minded, self-appointed guardians. Those who broke with the past completely sought a new world of order and beauty in the cultural achievements of Western Europe. Those who clung to elements of the old ways lacked the breadth of spirit needed to re-imagine their history flourishing in a new world. As I grew, I was consumed by sorrow and rage because I perceived that there was a vacuum in my world where once there had been a spherical wholeness of culture and spirit. I heard ghosts speaking to me from out of the emptiness and I clung to them and invited them to enter into me.
Above is a video of Jeremiah discussing Cantorial music for MyJewishLearning. What can I say? The man really loves Rosh Hashanah!
The Secret History of The Sway Machinery
The talented Tatiana McCabe proudly presents the stupendous, prodigious, marvelous and monumental SECRET HISTORY OF THE SWAY MACHINERY.
Zaydee turns 80
I spent all weekend with the extended fam for a cousin’s bar mitzvah celebration, which culminated with an 80th birthday party for my Zaydee (poo poo poo). Zaydee is a man of humble means, whose resume reads janitor, milk truck driver, and chazzan. Can’t say who would have won a cantor-battle between him and Jeremiah Lockwood’s grandfather. During davening, a pretty standard revue of centuries-old Shabbat prayer melodies, Zaydee angrily turned to us and asked, “Who chose these tunes? It sounds like an Irish wake!” That stood alone as a pretty good zinger. But then he threw in this bold claim: supposedly, he and Bubbie stayed up ’til five in the morning with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach the night that the singin’ rabbi composed his melody for Ein Keloheinu
. That might sound outlandish, except that Zaydee has a knack for backing up his stories with remarkable minutiae–in this case, a location: a club on 41st Street that was supposedly a well-known venue for Jewish and Israeli musicians. Anyone know the name of this place?
We love you, Zaydee. Keep those stories coming ’til 120 
The Sway Machinery on WBAI
Jeremiah Lockwood on WBAI’s Beyond the Pale
Last week the lovely Abraham Velez welcomed Jeremiah Lockwood of The Sway Machinery into the WBAI studio to inaugurate Beyond the Pale On the Waterfront movie download ’s new music feature. It’s a lengthy clip, with Jeremiah and Abe discussing Cantorial singing, Jeremiah’s music and a slew of other great topics. Plenty of live music, too!
HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!
JDub is happy to announce the release of Balkan Beat Box - Nu Made (Remixes) on cd and vinyl as well as The Sway Machinery - Hidden Melodies Revealed Into the Sun also on cd and vinyl.
Balkan Beat Box - Nu Made (Remixes)
Balkan Beat Box’s first remix album, a dynamic take on their wildly successful catalogue.
Buy it on iTunes
/ Buy it from JDub / Buy it from Amazon
Adir Adirim (Nickodemus Remix)
Red Bula (Mahala Rai Banda Vs. BBB)
The Sway Machinery - Hidden Melodies Revealed
Haunting notes of Cantorial-influenced vocals over the energetic, celebratory rhythms of afro-pop, hard-hitting drums and the blues. Buy it on iTunes / Buy it from JDub / Buy it from Amazon
Tell it all to me
Pippi Longstocking divx
Anim Zemiros
So Much New Music to Buy, Where to Start!!
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are excited for the new releases dropping this week; Clay Aiken, Leonard Cohen, Diana Krall, Keith Urban and much more unenjoyable bellowing. What’s really good is the insane amount of releases and pre-orders coming from JDub Records, the very blog you are reading right now. See below for some must have records this month.
Balkan Beat Box - Nu Made (Remixes) Myspace
Dance-floor ready remix album with stand out remixes from Nickodemus, Soulico, Dub Gabriel & more. Available on CD ($7.99) and LP ($11.99) Also, BBB’s dynamic 2nd album, Nu Med is now available on vinyl. Grab it for only $9.99
Balkan Beat Box - Adir Adirim (Nickodemus Remix)
The Sway Machinery - Hidden Melodies Revealed Myspace
Indie supergroup featuring members of BBB, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Antibalas and Arcade Fire. Available on CD ($7.99), LP ($9.99) and the CD+LP combo ($17.99) All pre-orders come with free button and poster!
The Sway Machinery - Tell it all to me
SoCalled - The SoCalled Seder Myspace
Mini hip-hop symphony using break-beats and Jewish samples to re-create Passover Seder. Special Low Passover price of $6.99 or buy 2 for $12 or go for the gold and scoop up the Afikomen Prize Pack which includes the Seder, SoCalled - Ghettoblaster and Golem Citizen Boris for only $17.99
SoCalled - Who Knows One
The Wailing Wall - 7″ Myspace
Grab this limited release yellow 7″ from very recent JDub signing, The Wailing Wall. Freak-folk at its best led by musical mastermind Jesse Rifkin and his traveling band of musicians. Only $5 for the 7”
The Wailing Wall - For my Baby Brother