Big Deal, Small Price. Ma A Little Bit Klezmer, Y'All? Knoxville's Tennessee Schmaltz, performing at The Ark on Sunday, adds a touch of country to a traditional Jewish musical form. zel Toy! Whatever. the occasion - wedding, bar mitzvah, anniversary, or holiday - we have a great deal for you! For our low BounceBack• Weekend rate of just $69 per night, we'll give your visiting guests a spacious room, complimentary $ 69 * PER ROOM PER NIGHT continental breakfast each morning, and fresh baked cookies each evening. For reservations, call your professional travel agent, 1-800-HILTONS, or the Hilton Inn Southfield at 248-357-1100. PRESENT THIS AD UPON CHECK-IN FOR $10 OFF Hilton Inn Southfield 26000 American Dr., Southfield, MI 48034 248-357-1100 Iwww.hilton.com I Kids 18 and under stay free in their parents' or grandparents' room. *Offer valid every day of the week now through 12/30/98. 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It's a gala gig that band members are thrilled about. Ken Brown, an attorney with Lockheed Martin Systems in Knoxville who plays alto and soprano sax, can't wait to play a particular piece for the first time before a live audience. The song "starts with the 'Orange Blossom Special,' a classic bluegrass fiddle tune that is blatantly fast," explains Brown. After that, "we segue into little [frag- ments] from `Hava Nagila' and `Tzena, Tzena.' We klezmerize the - Tennessee Waltz." The band was the brainchild of flutist Judy Megibow, who attended KlezCamp for a couple years in the Catskills, where klezmer bands and musicians gather every summer to trade songs and tips. "She's always loved that music," Brown says of Megibow, who works full time as the Russian resettlement coordinator for the Knoxville Jewish Federation. "She figured, 'why not try to put together a klezmer band in Knoxville?' So she did." Megibow tried to find Jewish musicians who played traditional klezmer instruments — without a ton of success at first. Knoxville's Jewish population is small — a Reform temple has about 200 fami- lies, and the sole Conservative shul has nearly 270, says Brown. The city has no Orthodox synagogue, and those who keep kosher drive to Atlanta to buy kosher meat. But Megibow persevered. Joining her and Brown are violinist Aaron Feldman, a Knoxville lawyer; Rob Heller, a professor in the department of communications at the University of Tennessee, on clarinet and washtub bass; Manny Herz, an architect in Oak Ridge, Tenn., who plays keyboard; and Israeli-born Danny Shapira, a nuclear physicist who plays accordion. Megibow also plays the piccolo. The clarinet and alto and soprano saxophones add an Appalachian hint to the music, says Brown. Those instruments "did not even exist when klezmer music was being developed in the 19th century. [But] soprano sax sounds especially appropriate because it has a nasal, sexy oboe sound. It's not the typical klezmer sound. But then, we're not your typical klezmer band." The original idea was just to play for fun, adds Brown. And the group did just that for a year and a half, beginning in 1995. But when Tennessee Schmaltz started playing local gigs, the Jewish community actively started booking the band. Schmaltz played a concert for Jerusalem's 3,000th anniversary and has performed at weddings and b'nai mitzvah celebrations. Huntington Woods resident Dale Rubin, special events coordinator for Federation's centennial celebration, became a fan of Tennessee Schmaltz when she lived in Knoxville. "I saw them at a couple of bar mitzvahs," she recalled. "Tennessee has never seen anything like them." Three years into what is becoming a wildly successful hobby, "people