Mixed Media

News Reviews.

Druckman was 5, attempted
to make aliyah to Israel in the
'50s but returned to Detroit,
where Druckman was con-
ceived (during the Detroit
riots, he says). Druckman's
mother still lives in the area;
his father is deceased.
Druckman's musical style
mixes Chris Isaak with Bob
Dylan and a touch of Lyle
Lovett for a punk-folk
melody.
"It's hard to put into
words," says Druckman, "but
what you're hearing comes
out of the experience of a
suburban Jewish boy, believe
it or not."

OF NOTE ...
NEW ON CD

You wouldn't guess from the
lyrics on Adam Druckman's
debut CD, deserve you, that he's
a nice Jewish boy from Fern-
dale. The 30-year-old musician
sings about Mary, Jesus, the
Apostles and X-mas.
On the other hand, he opens
his debut album with some
chanting by the cantor present
at his parents' wedding.
Contradiction defines Druck-
man. By day a computer analyst
for Chrysler, he produced
deserve you on the Detroit-based
indie label Turnabout Records.
"I've always been able to work
both sides of the fence — like
this record, I was the one who
engineered it and did all of the
recording," says Druckman,
who's also mixed CDs for oth-
ers.
He stands staunchly by his
Judaism, while defending the
CD's tracks with Christian ref-
erences.
"Some of the directions I
take with the lyrics make it kind
of interesting, maybe even sort
of thought-provoking ... There's
a lot of people working in this idiom
who are Jewish and write using more
mainstream Christian imagery, but it's
not for a religious reason," says
Druckman.
Listen to Bob Dylan, and you'll
find the same, says the composer/per-
former, who was largely inspired by
the solo stuff of the late John Lennon.
"I make a conscious effort to have
everything I write be real personal.
John Lennon, especially after the Beat-
les, was writing stuff that was so clear-
ly about him; if you listen to it, you
think he's almost making a confession-
al.
'And that's the connection to the
Christian imagery — there's a big tra-
dition in Christianity of the confes-
sional; that was a really good tool I
could use with some of these songs.
"Jews have a different kind of angst;
we tend to internalize it more."
Growing up in Southfield, Druck-

3/20
1998

88

— Lynne Meredith Cohn

Adam Druckman will per-
form his songs at a CD
release party for deserve you
at 9:30 p.m. Saturday,
March 21, at Gypsy Cafe,
214 N. Fourth Ave., Ann
Arbor. (313) 994-3940.

Adam Druckman: A study in
contradictions.

Photo by Riva Sayegh

man started playing
violin at age 8 but
rebelled shortly there-
after and picked up a
guitar.
While at South-
field-Lathrup High, he
played with the band
Emerald Sky, then
attended Michigan
State University and
later played with the
now-defunct punk
quartet Strange Bed-
fellows.
"I want my music
to be more honest
than the people who
usually write stuff ...
so honest that it's sur-
prising," he says.
The CD cover is plastered with a
photo of Druckman's parents kissing.
The couple, who later divorced when

pserv.4, 2 ,37()tt

CURTAIN CALL

When playwright Ari Roth's drama
Goodnight Irene was produced last sea-

Leo McNamara and Tracy Komarmy
star in the premiere of Ari Roth's "Lift
In Refusal."

son at the Performance Network in
Ann Arbor, he was teaching at the
University of Michigan.
This year, while Life In Refusal pre-
miers on the same stage, Roth is pur-
suing a new career as artistic director
of Theater J, the production division
of the D.C. Jewish Community Cen-
ter in the nation's capital.
Lift In Refusal, based on actual
experiences Roth had 10 years ago
during a family trip through the
Soviet Union, runs March 20-April
12.
"I found myself drawn to the
refuseniks," said Roth, whose play fol-
lows an American filmmaker trying to _
help a Russian Jewish refusenik emi-
grate and rejoin his family. The play is
directed by Nada Rakic, a former
writer and director for both TV Sara-
jevo and Radio Sarajevo.
Roth is returning to Ann Arbor
for the preview performances and
talkbacks March 20-22. He also is
caught up with establishing his artis-
tic imprint on Theater J and teach-
ing advanced playwriting at New
York University, commuting between
cities.
"More and more playwrights are
realizing that if new plays are going to
remain viable, we're going to have to
do more than just sit around and write