BEAT THE RUSH!

WE ARE NOW

ACCEPTING ORDERS

Their Cup
Runnette Over

FOR

ROSH HASHANNA

DINNERS MD A LA CARTE

AND
YOM KIPPER BREAK•THE•FAST

Making their first appearance in Detroit,
the Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band
mixes music and laughter.

Only Kosker
Products Used In
Preparation of Food

(248) 855.9463

Fax: (248) 626-8468

32418 NORTHWESTERN HWY.
Between Middlebelt & 14 Mile Rd.

CID

********* * ************

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Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful
atmosphere of casual elegance

BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER

41

OPEN 7 DAYS: MON.- SAT. 7 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. SUN. 8 0.m.- 9 p.m.
West Bloomfield Plaza • 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • 248-851-0313

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Not good with any other offer Expires December 31. 2000
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Valid Anytime • Dine in Only

6745 ORCHARD LAKE RD.

Across from Americana West

(248) 737-7242

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10„;ri./.‘

Michigan's Hottest Group

Mel Ball

and Colours

Voted /1 1 Best Band by

Crain's

Detroit
Business Magazine

9/1
2000

80

Special to The Jewish News

111

THE GALLERY RESTAURANT

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ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

(248) 851-1992

embers of the Yiddishe
Cup Klezmer Band
liked Al Jolson's classic
"My Yiddishe Mama"
well enough. But they decided it
needed a little something extra —
say, a bit of the theme from "The
Patty Duke Show.
And maybe some 1950s doo-wop,
too.
Mix it all together and now you've
got a great song.
Or check out the band's version of
"That's Amore," where you won't
hear about the moon hitting your eye
like a big pizza pie, but you can learn
all about a guy named Morris, whose
eyes "shine just like Manischewitz
wine." (Incidentally, while "That's
Amore" is best known as a big hit for
crooner Dean Martin, it was written
by klezmer legend Mickey Katz; the
Yiddishe Cup band has kept the tune
but written new lyrics).
The Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band,
a Cleveland-based group that wants
you to have a lot of fun during its
concert, will perform 3 p.m. Sunday
Sept. 10, at Temple Emanu-El. The
free event is sponsored by the Oak
Park Jewish Community Center, and
you can expect some traditional
klezmer music and some not-so-tra-
ditional klezmer music, along with
many, many jokes.
And don't sit in the front row if
you don't want to dance. In addition
to performing music, the Yiddishe
Cup includes a schtikmeister whose
job is to get audience members out

of their chairs and into action:
"This is not some sort of high-class
classical/jazz concert," bandleader Bert
Stratton says. "We want people to be
moved by the music, and either dance
or watch people dance. And we put a
lot of humor into the music; we want
people to laugh."
Stratton, a 1973 graduate of the
University of Michigan, with a degree
in English, began his professional life
as a journalist (often writing about
music). He wanted to be an author,
but decided to move on after 16 years
of trying, unsuccessfully, to publish a
novel. Then he took over managing
the family's real-estate business.
Finally, he became a musician.
"Actually, I hadn't heard klezmer
music until I was 30," he says. "I'd
heard some Mickey Katz, and I knew
what the word Ilezmer' meant [liter-
ally, "musical instrument"; it's a
Yiddish version of the Hebrew words
klay, "instruments of," and zemer,
song"]. But I didn't really know
what the music was."
Then he chanced to hear a
klezmer band perform, and he was
hooked.
Of course, it rook awhile to get
his own group together. "Do you
play klezmer music and would you
like to join my band?" it's not
exactly the "kind of thing you can
just ask your neighbor," Stratton
explains.
By 1988, Stratton, who plays clar-
inet and saxophone, had found his
men: a mandolin player named Irwin
Weinberger, a professional musician; a
keyboardist named Alan Douglass,
■ ,vho had been part of another klezmer

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