Discover
Diamond, the Bee Gees, Jon Bon Jovi,
Jimmy Bufffet, Carly Simon, Glen
Frey, Don Henley, Bob Seger, Hall &
Oates, Mary Chapin-Carpenter,
Warren Zevon and Tracy Chapman.
Glaub is one of the most respected
studio musicians in rock 'n' roll. "I bring
dependability, play for the music not
myself, and that comes our in the song,"
he says, explaining why he is in demand.
He is also one of the biggest
mentshes in the business.
And it's not easy being a mentsh
when you grow up hearing horror
stories of Ravensbruck and
Mauthausen, especially when they
come from your mother.
A Hungarian-speaking Czech, his
mother, Edith, was working as a nanny
in Budapest when Hitler's troops swept
through Hungary in 1944. His father,
from the same Czech village as his
mother, spent the war in a series of
slave labor camps in the Ukraine.
Glaub's parents were reunited after the
war and immigrated to the United States
in 1949. (His father, Zoltan, paid their
way by helping to paint the ship.)
While his parents were eventually able
to speak of their Holocaust experiences
and regain a sense of humor and an
upbeat outlook on life, the specter of
the Holocaust hung over their home.
"In second grade my paintings were
not of sunshiny days. All mine were of
planes dropping bombs on people and
the planes had swastikas on them,"
Glaub recalls.
"I can't say that [being a child of
Holocaust survivors] hasn't been filled
with a lot of negativity. I have to con-
stantly fight to overcome that. Hearing
throughout your whole life about the
genocide that happened doesn't give
you a positive outlook on the world."
Nonetheless, he says, "My perspective
on life is of extreme thankfulness for all
I have and all that has come my way.
,,
Reclaiming His Name
Singer-songwriter Dan Bern wrestles
with the horror of the Holocaust more
often and more directly than any other
contemporary songwriter.
In a new song, "God Said No" from
his 2001 album New American
Language, Bern asks God to send him
back in time to Berlin to take out
Hitler. "I will stalk him/I will bring
him down," the Iowa native sings.
In the song "Hannibal" from his
1996 album clog boy van, Bern takes on
Holocaust deniers: "Hitler never hurt a
soul/I read it in a book/That I just fin-
ished up this morning/I was happy and
I just couldn't wait to tell the good
news/To all of my dead uncles."
In an as yet unrecorded song called
"Lithuania" that Bern performs in
concert, he sings:
"These are my ghosts: Uncle
Emmanuel, Uncle Eli, Aunt Mia, and
my grandparents Jenny and Tobias,
none of whom I've ever met/I saw
some letters once that they wrote my
Dad in Palestine in 1940 — not too
long before they were all shot. ,,
In June of 1999, several years after
his father's death, Bern visited
Skuodos, his father's birthplace in
Lithuania, to make peace with the
family ghosts.
His Ether Julian Bern, born Yehuda
Bernstein, and one brother, Leon, were
the only two members of a family of
seven to survive the Nazi invasion of
Lithuania in
1941. They
had left the
country in
1939 after
Hitler's pact
with the Soviet
dictator Stalin.
Yehuda
eventually
Dan Bern: Making
made it to
peace with his past.
Palestine,
while Leon
joined partisans in the forests of
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
(Bern's mother, Marianne, was a
German Jew who made it to England
in 1939 via the Kindertransport, the
train that was allowed to leave
Germany for England carrying thou-
sands of Jewish children.)
Bern, along with an Israeli cousin,
arrived in Skuodas searching for a part
of his past he never knew, and a part
of his father's past he wanted to better
understand.
"I went back to make peace with my
past, to face it and look at it," Bern
says. A result of the trip was the recla-
mation of his family name.
'A woman we met in Skuodas knew
the name Bernstein, and from that
moment I felt I was Bernstein (pro-
nounced Bern-stine)."
Upon returning home, singer-song-
writer Dan Bern simply began refer-
ring to himself as Bernstein. It
strengthened his identity and connec-
tion to his family.
"Now," he declares, "when I say
`Bernstein,' I feel something every
time." ❑
Scott Bernarde is a Delray Beach,
Fla.-based journalist. He just finished
writing "Stars of David: Rock 'n' Roll's
Jewish Stories."
Unusual
Hand-Crafted
Works
April 19, 20, 21, 2002
Novi Expo Center
Novi, MI
••• 350 fine artists and craft designers
Craft demonstrations Entertainment
Specialty foods All indoors Free parking
Free shopping bags
Get discount admission coupons at:
your local Farmer Jack, on the web at
WWW. S ugarloafCrafts.com ,
or call 800-210-9900
Sugarloaf
Fa •
Fri. - Sun. 10-6
Located in the NW suburbs of Detroit, MI
Daily Admission $6
Under 12 & Parking Free
Buy crafts online at
www.CraftsOnline.com
Directions: Located on 1-96 northwest of
Detroit- at Exit 162. Go south on Novi Rcad.
Turn right onto Expo Center Drive.
1-kfteltywN
Obsetwg trrratrir
13e Yrizif .01;ezizet ors - the ._11/a/zIC
Monday, April 15, 2002
$69 per person that includes:
``,.
(
Seven course menu, pairing of four French wines
& French champagne, tax & gratuity inclusive.
S-3y Refoutaithiz- C94
,%/i0e/faa? ...
Our New Spring Menu
• Sauteed Crispy Walleye in a herb Pinenut crust
• Sweet Potato Gnocchi' • Beef Tournedos with Morals
• Pan Seared Eastern Sea Scallops, Shrimp and Maine Lobster"provencar
10790 Highland Rd. (M-59)
between Elizabeth Lake
Teggerdine • 248-698-8823
Open Mond.w-Satn•dav for Dinner Only Resemttions Recommended.
4/5
2002
69