Tunes With A Twist

Performers offer a Jewish take on contemporary
music in two free concerts at Temple Israel.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

T

emple Israel is a:iout to
send out some mixed mes-
sages. First will be reli-
gious themes mixed with
jazz. Next will be religious themes
mixed with rock 'n' roll.
Pianist Jon Simon, in a June 24 con-
cert, brings jazz styling to traditional,
folk, stage and film melodies associat-
ed with Jewish subjects. Lenny
Solomon and his Shlock Rock band,
in a June 28 concert, bring Jewish
lyrics to rock hits. Both performances
are offered free to the community.
"I like to go on a jour - .), through
Jewish musical heritage — Yiddish
theater, Br Jadway show tunes,
Hollywood melodies and Israeli
songs," says Simon.
The pianist has made eight recordings
and has appeared at a variety of venues,
including the Merkin Recital Hall in

New York, Hill Auditorium in Ann
Arbor and the Blues Alley Ja7.7 Club in
Washington, D.C. "I love sharing music
in any setting. It's all a great joy."
The range of Simon's performances
can go from a boogie-woogie version
of "Zum Gali Gali" to an elaborate
medley from Fiddler on the Roof His
latest recording, Shabbatjazz, follows
religious and secular projects, such as
Hanukkah and All That Jazz and
Beatles on Ivory.
Simon, 46, once Conservative and
now Reconstructionist, studied piano
with William Bolcom at the
University of Michigan, where he
earned a bachelor's degree in industrial
engineering. He went on to get a mas-
ter's in business administration from
Harvard and operates an on-line con-
sulting firm.
"The business puts bread on the
table, and the music puts wine on the
table," explains Simon, who does 24-36
concerts a year. "It's a good balance.

"

Solid Beat

After 35 years, Dave Getz is still drumming with
Big. Brother and the Holding Company.

sw.r.

6/15
2001

76

DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News

performer in a phone interview just prior
to his Detroit appearance.

hen the legendary Janis
Joplin turned to look at
her drum i er at the
1967 Monterrey Pop
Festival that launched her career, she
gazed into the eyes of Dave Getz.
He's been keeping the beat for Big
Brother and the Holding Company
since 1966 and, when Joplin joined
the group, rock history was made.
On June 17, Getz will return to
Detroit with the band as part of the
Spirit of '67 Tour at DTE Energy Music
Theatre. The tour also features Iron
Butterfly and Jefferson Starship, and is a
retro event featuring the classic rock of
those heady (pun intended) times.
Now an accomplished visual artist liv-
ing in Fairfax, Calif, Getz is still rocking
at age 61.
The Jewish News caught up with the

JN: What was the impact of the
summer of '67 on today's music?
DG: Things were established in the con-
sciousness of '67 that remain in bands
today. Maybe 95 percent of today's
bands couldn't play without drawing
from things that were established back
then. There was so much seminal music,
and the elements of what a rock baud is
came from that time.
There have been changes in style r,
and lots of refinement, but while
the technical ante has certainly
been raised over the years, the
heart of the music hasn't changed.

JN: What do you miss the
most from those times?
DG: Being 26 ... but I wouldn't
trade places. I'm quite happy
with where I am today.

Pianist Jon Simon: Bringing jazz styling
to traditional, folk, stage and film
melodies associated with Jewish subjects.

Simon, who's been playing the piano
since first grade and composing almost
as long, has two strong ties to
Michigan. His mother, Elaine
Rothman Simon, and his wife, Karen
King Simon, are from the area.
Just like his parents, the upstate
New York-bred pianist and his wife,
now living near Washington, D.C.,
met in Ann Arbor.
"Sometimes when people do things

from the heart, it really does work out,"
Simon says about his performance
experiences that resulted in his being
voted one of Moment magazine's "Top
10 Jewish Instrumental Performers."
Solomon, too, performs from the
heart as he sings and plays keyboard.
He wants his audiences to feel good
about religion.
"We do parodies, such as turning
`Old Time Rock 'n' Roll' into 'Old
Time Torah Scroll' and Billy Joel's 'We
Didn't Start the Fire' into 'We've Got a
Strong Desire,' expressing 5,000 years
of Jewish history in 42 lines," explains
Solomon, who also has come up with
some original pieces.
"Our message is that you can incor-
porate Jewish life into your life and
have fun doing it."
Solomon, who is Orthodox and
moved- his family from New York to
Israel, started the band in 1985 and
has been at the helm with the release
of 20 tapes and CDs, including Bring
Back That Shabbos Feeling and Sgt.
Shlocker's Magical History Tour.
The musicians have changed over
the years and even change in tour cities
with the use of local talent. Sometimes,
they bring in a rapper, Etan G.
At Temple Israel, the band will
include area instrumentalists Jake

JN: When you think of Janis with the DG: Of course. It's part of my whole
experience. I grew up in a very Jewish
band, what song or performance
area in Brooklyn in the '40s. Most of
comes to mind?
my friends were Jewish and we lis-
DG: In 1998, Janis Joplin and Big
tened a lot to the Alan Freed radio
Brother and the Holding Company
Live at Winter/and '68 was released. It is show, and we all went to his first
"Moondog" show when it played at
the closest you can get to capturing Big
the Brooklyn Paramount.
Brother and Janis at their best moment.
But, as Jews, we felt outside the main-
There is better stuff out there for indi-
stream culture. The Second World War
vidual performances of songs, but noth-
ing that puts them together any better in and the Holocaust were both very
recent and real. Both of my grandmoth-
one show. We did the Winterland con-
ers spoke Yiddish, not
cert during the time we were in
the studio constructing Cheap
Left to right, much English.
I was in a band when I
Thrills. Janis was at her peak. It
original band
was a great show.
members Peter was 15, and we played the
Albin, Sam Andrew Jewish resorts in the
JN: Has being Jewish affected
and Dave Getz: Catskills. I gave up music
your relationship to music
"I remember being and went to art school
and art?
driven through Oak when I realized I didn't
Park," recalls Getz. want to be a klezmer
[musician].
I didn't play again until
I was drawn back in by
what was , happening in
San Francisco. I realized
that you could be a musi-
cian and be an artist.
In the '60s, rock took
on some spiritual content.
I could relate to it, being
a Jew. Anyway, the rock