Went on the night of the 25th to a performance with several Jewish groups at the Knitting Factory.
The headliners were “What I Like About Jew”, a duo who perform goofy comic songs on Jewish themes. “2 pubic hairs and a 3 piece suit/Today I am a man” was one chorus. One of their pieces is the gleefully offensive Hannukah with Monica.
The best musician was Matisyahu a Hassidic Reggae/Dub performer who re-appropriates the Reggae references to Zion and the messiah. Cindy Cohn played sweet folk guitar with sharp-tongued lyrics “who do I need to fuck to get laid around here.” Todd Barron did excellent deadpan standup comedy.
It was very enjoyable — lots of native New York life forms.
Then I got food poisoning from the post-performance dinner, and spent most of the day with barely enough energy to get up. Hopefully will feel better to enjoy more of the trip.
I have intermittent wireless connectivity from the Verizon phonebooth hotspot catty-corner from my host’s apartment; if you need to reach me, call my cellphone.