Metro
Setting The
Mood
Auto show DJ job brings former
Detroit musician back home.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
p
aige Erlich is happy to be back
in Michigan, and she's throwing
a party.
Well, it's not exactly her party, but one
showing off the Mini Cooper at the North
American International Auto Show at
Cobo Center in Detroit. The show ended
Sunday.
Billed as "the next big thing in small:'
the Mini Cooper is hip, stylish and sporty
— a good fit for Erlich, one of two DJs
spinning records and CDs for the crowd
checking out the car line and playing the
games at the Mini Cooper exhibit.
"We want to keep the crowd in a good
mood and moving:' Erlich says.
Erlich, 36, moved to Germany three
years ago to become an electronic music
artist. She says she loves Europe, but there
is no place like home.
"It took leaving Detroit to understand
what having a home means:' she says,
explaining she was regularly homesick.
"It was kind of a 'now or never' kind
of thing, kind of like a dare she says of
her decision to forego her job at West
Bloomfield-based Star Trax, where her
brother, Craig Erlich, is CEO, rent out her
house in Royal Oak and head across the
Atlantic.
"I had a successful, fun job; but I had
to give it a try:' Erlich says of her move to
Berlin, considered "the capital for elec-
tronic musicians!' Though Detroit has
been home to a major electronic music
festival since 2000, she says we've got
nothing on Berlin, where thousands of
aspiring electronic musicians flock to
make it on the scene.
Since September 2004, Erlich has been
working the biggest auto shows in the
world, the "A' shows, as she describes
them. The job takes her to Geneva,
Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo and, of course,
Detroit. But most of time, as "Missy
a's‘,
Paige Erlich, who is returning home to Detroit after three years in Berlin, kept the
music going at the Mini Cooper exhibit at the North American International Auto
Show at Cobo Hall.
Motion"— she says her electro-techno-
house style is emotional — she has been
writing, performing, producing and
releasing music and starting her own
label, A Little to the Left Recordings.
Back home, she's working on an album,
waiting for her tenants to move out and
enjoying being back in the U.S.
"I find myself going to Meijer at 11 at
night, just because I can: Erlich says, not-
ing that in Berlin and much of Europe,
stores are closed on Sundays, items are
expensive and customer service lags.
"I always knew my move was tempo-
rary," she says. "I've met so many people
from so many countries and different
walks of life, and people would kill for the
life I left behind here. I couldn't appreciate
things here until I knew life some other
way." fl
Fighting Hate
U-M Chabad House aims to deter criminal acts.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
Ann Arbor
A
fter being struck by both van-
dals and thieves in the last year,
the Ann Arbor Chabad House
has turned to the community for help in
funding a video surveillance system.
"We need financial help in securing
the Chabad House as soon as possible
wrote Rabbi Alter Goldstein in a fundrais-
ing letter. "Several laptop computers from
the dorm area, and coats and cell phones
from the lobby have been stolen. One
Friday night last year, while 70 University
of Michigan students were enjoying the
Shabbat meal, we were alerted of a 'visi-
tor' in our building. He was successful in
escaping!'
16
January 25 • 2007
No one was caught following
and dreidels to the students!'
the destruction of the Chabad's
The rabbi was told by Ann
20-year-old outdoor menorah
Arbor police that "one effective
two years ago. A 15-foot-tall,
way to ensure the security of the
heavy steel replacement was
building and the synagogue [it
cemented into the ground and
houses] is to install a video sur-
reinforced with locks to keep it
veillance system!'
in place.
"It will serve as a deterrent,
Rabbi Goldstein
The Chabad House has insti-
secure the building, and in the
tuted a "locked-door policy and
case of a crime, will provide
we have taken measures to monitor all
police with a tool to catch the assailants:'
activities taking place within the building
Rabbi Goldstein said.
by sealing the entrances;' Rabbi Goldstein
There is no evidence to suggest the
said.
crimes may be related to unsolved corn-
"However, these steps have proven
puter and cash thefts that took place in
inadequate. On Dec 17, an unknown per-
six West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills
son entered the building and stole cash
synagogues and institutions in October
donations from several tzedakah boxes.
and November.
These boxes were in place as part of our
"To suggest a connection would be a
Chanukah fundraising efforts and our
stretch:' said Lt. Carl Fuhs of the West
campaign to distribute menorahs, candles
Bloomfield Police Department. "We do
not believe there is any organized group
or ring primarily targeting synagogues.
Rather, these thefts are probably just
crimes of opportunity where the thief
takes advantage of the trusting nature of
the synagogue.
"Thefts of laptops, cell phones, coats,
etc., are very common in all establish-
ments — not just synagogues. Despite a
relaxed security environment, in general,
houses of worship are actually much more
crime-free than almost any other business
establishment!" ri
To make a donation toward the pur-
chase of video surveillance equip-
ment at the Ann Arbor Chabad
House, send a check to Chabad
Security Fund, 715 Hill St., Ann
Arbor, MI 48104.