NOW PLAYING AT THE GEM THEATRE
Ai*
All evening shows
Girls In Trouble
Music reflects the darker side
of women in the Bible.
Now playing - April 25
Featuring more than 30
pop hits from the '50s and '60s!
Mr. Sandman," "It's My Party"
"Stupid Cupid" and many more!
irresistibp „
-
"Defttfree
*Saturday not included
... and two hilarious comedies in the Century at the Gem!
Emily Savage
These hilarious
shows alternate
weeks through
May 23 in the
Century Theatre at
the Gem Theatre!
Jewish News Weekly (No. Calif.)
W
hen vocalist-fiddler
Alicia Jo Rabins crafts
a new song, she pours
over ancient texts in the Torah and
Midrash and seeks out the forgotten
women — the women who dealt with
sinister and tragic events that are
rarely discussed in modern dialogues.
Rabins says she tries to get inside
their skin, inhabit them and then write
new music from their perspectives.
"I love how dark the stories are,
because they make me feel better
about the darkness I see around me
and in me:' Rabins says. "That is such
a huge part of being human — the
struggles and mistakes and missteps
and misunderstandings."
It was Rabins' professor at the
Jewish Theological Seminary in New
York who convinced her to turn her
interest in both violin and women
of the Bible into her master's thesis.
The resulting song cycle is now her
current folksy indie pop outfit, Girls
in Trouble.
On April 6, Rabins' chamber-folk
quartet will make its Detroit-area
debut at Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck;
backing Rabins (vocals, violin, acous-
tic guitar) will be her husband, Aaron
Hartman (upright bass); Elaina
Morgan (guitar, glockenspiel, vocals);
and Jonathan Vincent (accordion).
It was a TV special detailing a
method of teaching children through
music that led Rabins' mother to
hand her a tiny violin at the age of 3.
Rabins has been writing music and
poetry since her middle-school days
in Towson, Md., where she grew up
and had her bat mitzvah. In 1998, she
began her undergraduate studies at
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a
progressive yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Upon returning to the States,
Rabins picked up klezmer fiddling
after she happened upon a record by
violinist Alicia Svigals and nabbed
lessons with her. Rabins moved
to Brooklyn, N.Y., joined spastic
klezmer-punk act Golem and began
studying for her master's in Jewish
women's studies at JTS. It was there
that her interests in Judaism, music
Alicia Jo Rabins: While Girls in
Trouble lyrics are heavily influenced
by Judaism, the music itself has a
secular indie-pop aesthetic.
and poetry finally converged.
Rabins delved into the lives of
lesser-known women of the Bible,
wrote poetry that turned into lyrics
and played fiddle as her own musical
accompaniment.
"So many people don't know these
stories:' Rabins says. "I think they are
meant to show us something about
ourselves and what we are capable of
in both good ways and bad ways, but
not as some pat morality story."
Some of the women Rabins
explores in song include Tamar, who
seduced her father-in-law, Judah, and
Serakh Bat Asher, who never died,
according to the Midrash. Rabins also
was taken by the tale of Bat Yiftach,
whose warrior father offered her as a
sacrifice.
Rabins also includes pieces on
some better-known women in the
Torah, but focuses on the seedier
background details that often are
overlooked.
"A lot of people know about Miriam
singing at the Red Sea, and feminists
love to claim that moment — as they
should:' Rabins says. "But a few chap-
ters later she's struck with leprosy and
exiled from the camp. So that's what
my song is about"
❑
Girls in Trouble is scheduled
to perform Tuesday, April 6, at
Cafe 1923, 2287 Holbrook St., in
Hamtramck. Doors at 6:30 p.m.,
7 p.m. start. $3-$7. (313) 319-
8766; www.cafe1923.com .
313•963•9800
www.gemtheatre,com
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iN
Marc, 25 2010
59