a gu ide to s imc ha hs Tuesday - Friday 10am-6pm Saturday 10am-4pm 248.851.3325 loily_ella@yahoo.com West Bloomfield Plaza 6706 Orchard Lake Road Between 14 & 15 Mile Roads Must-Have Bridal Accessories Bridal Consultations Available Spring into Lolly Ella to support a great cause and shop for the season's must haves AI Saturday, April 7, 2007 10:00am - 4:00pm Free Gift With $35.00 Purchase* *while supplies last 4ftf! ,711 Lolly Ella will be donating a percentage of sales to Leukemia, Research, Life, Inc. LKL Raising money to cure childhood cancer through Ezu=n research at Children's Hospital of Michigan. GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS! 12 celebrate! 2007 Noveaute The Wedding Singers from page 10 I certainly appreciate the priority of family more," she says. "Jewish weddings have helped motivate me to instill tradition in my own family." Leslye Sklar D'Ascenzo, another of many local wedding singers, turned entertainment into a family business, the Sunset Boulevard Band. A former member of a Congregation Shaarey Zedek choral group, she works with her husband, Larry D'Ascenzo, who converted to Judaism. "What we do at a Jewish wedding depends on how observant the family is," says the singer, 49, who also is the business manager for Sunset Boulevard. "I get to know every couple and what they like. Usually a cantor sings at the ceremony, but I have done that as well." D'Ascenzo started singing when she was 12 and worked with private teach- ers. After earning a bachelor's degree in vocal performance at the University of Michigan and going on for a master's in Arizona, she worked with the Michigan Opera Theatre, dinner-theater companies and local bands before moving on to Sunset Boulevard. The song list for her group includes a Jewish section as well as selections for other ethnic groups. "The songs 'Celebration' and 'We Are Family' are always popular," she says. "I also like to do Christina Aguilera's 'Ain't No Other Man." Neal Haber, leader of the People's Choice band, has been entertaining at Jewish weddings since the 1960s, when he started out in New York. He can remember a time when Jewish wedding entertainers were mostly Jewish, but now, even with his own group, there is a wide mix of backgrounds. "People have been looking for more variety in entertainment at Jewish wed- dings, and the singers represent that," he says. "It seems that people of differ- ent ethnic groups associate more and are among the guests. "We are asked to do a wide gamut of music to please both the people planning the wedding and the ones who are invited, and we have looked for singers who can take that on. Some of the people now entertaining at Jewish weddings were part of the club scene that used to be large." Jesse Palter, who recently entered that club scene, occasionally entertains with her jazz band at weddings. Just entering her 20s, she can perform tradi- tional songs as well as her specialties. "I love staying true to my roots," says Palter, who sang in the Temple Israel choir and served as a junior cantor. "I love all kinds of beautiful music." The music has to please both the hosts and the guests.