arts & entertainment
Tune
Ho
Get ready to be bewitched and uplifted - and to swing to the sounds
of the Motor City - at the JCC's Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
M
ikey Pauker wakes up on a
beach, surrounded by the
velvety-blue sky of a sunrise.
The waves themselves seem to be rous-
ing from sleep, too, rocking back and
forth their swish-swish-swish — a kind
of early-morning lullaby.
Then Pauker jumps up and calls out,
and the day begins. He's singing "Hinei
Mah Tov (Eeoohh!)" on a YouTube video
— with friends, under a blue-and-white
umbrella, in the studio, in front of skate-
boarders and graffiti-colored walls.
Soon, he will be singing at the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's Stephen Gottlieb Music
Festival.
Pauker joins a diverse collection of
performers, including Tovah Feldshuh,
Ethan Daniel Davidson, Fifty Amp Fuse,
Diwon, Josh Goldberg, the Michigan
Board of Cantors and Elaine Serling at
this year's festival, to be held May 9-19
at the Berman Center for the Performing
Arts, the JCC in West Bloomfield and
the JCC in Oak Park.
"As a relative newcomer to the com-
mittee, I'm excited about how we all
worked so well together in coming up
with an amazing lineup of talent," says
music festival co-chair Frank Hoffman.
"I'm looking forward to all of the
shows, but I guess the ones that excite
me the most are Patron Night, when
our own local celebrity, Ethan Daniel
Davidson, will be the performer, and the
very next night (a fabulous way to con-
clude a wonderful Mother's Day celebra-
tion), with Witches of Lublin, a staged
radio show, which I have the privilege
and honor of introducing."
"Like we do every year, the JCC
Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival has
worked hard to bring in amazing tal-
ent from around the Jewish world
to Detroit:' says fellow co-chair Jack
Zaientz.
"It's hard to pick a favorite, but this
year I think I'm most excited about two
shows: the Witches of Lublin musical
radio drama, starring Broadway star
Tovah Feldshuh with internationally
known klezmer musician Yale Strom,
and Mikey Pauker and Diwon's Jewish
rock/hip-hop concert. Both programs
have been developing devoted followings
around the country but will be mak-
ing their Detroit debut at the Stephen
Gottlieb Music Festival."
A native of Los Angeles, Pauker writes
and performs music that is distinctly
Jewish but also fresh and very different.
He has performed with Matisyahu and
Idan Raichel, the Stone Foxes and Trevor
Hill, and just returned from a year-long
work tour that included a four-month
stay in Israel. Pauker says his "pas-
sionate connection to ancient text runs
through [my] veins and feeds [my] abil-
ity to compose music inspired by mysti-
cism and divine experiences."
Pauker views his concerts as "channel-
ing the Divine. My music was given to
me as a gift; the words and music came
to me from our Creator. I am authenti-
cally delivering inspiration through
experiential methods, and my technol-
ogy is through music and story."
In Detroit, Pauker will star in concert
with Diwon, a DJ, producer, songwriter
and CEO of Bancs, an independent
hip-hop and dance record label (Pauker
describes Diwon as "an incredible
beat-smith, really fusing world beat
with electronic music"), and Josh
Goldberg, who has worked with Melissa
Manchester and Lamont Dozier and
who, Pauker says "has an incredible tal-
ent in songwriting."
Pauker, Diwon and Goldberg will per-
form at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
— an upbeat and spiritual evening that
finishes a day that begins with a jump.
At 1 p.m. May 19, the Berman stage
welcomes Marc Rossio, who also per-
forms as "The Marvelous Toy" (inspired
by a Tom Paxton song about a toy that
"went 'zip' when it moved and 'bop'
when it stopped and 'whirr' when it
stood still").
Rossio says his performance "is
filled with high energy, interaction and
humor. It's important to remember that
when performing for any audience,
you include all participants."
His concert, he says, is "for the whole
mishpachah! When I would take my
children to events, the whole focus was
on the children. I learned that siblings
and parents needed to be involved.
It's about the family time together —
whether singing, dancing or just interac-
tion with your children."
Rossio, who lives in Gahanna, Ohio, is
a graduate of Ohio State University and
was raised in a "happy, loving Jewish
Tune In! on page 51
See related story on page 46.
iii Music Festival
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• Schedule
Thursday, May 9: 1 p.m.
Elaine Serling in Music, Memories and
More
Oak Park JCC
No charge; reservations required
Thursday, May 9: 7:30 p.m.
Michigan Board of Cantors in Made in the
Motor City
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
JCC members: $31/nonmembers: $41
Mikey Pauker: "Channeling the
Divine."
Saturday, May 11: 8:30 p.m.
Ethan Daniel Davidson
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
JCC members: $31/nonmembers: $41
Sunday, May 12: 7 p.m.
Tovah Feldshuh in Witches of Lublin, fol-
lowed by the Voices of Klezmer with Yale
Strom and Hot Pstromi
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
JCC members: $31/nonmembers: $41
Josh Goldberg
Thursday, May 14: 1 p.m.
Elaine Serling in Music, Memories and
More
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
No charge; reservations required
Saturday, May 18: 8:30 p.m.
Fifty Amp Fuse in Rock of Ages: The
Jewish Side of Pop Music, hosted by Gary
Graff
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
JCC members: $26/nonmembers: $31
Diwon
Sunday, May 19: 1 p.m.
Family concert with Marc Rossio, aka "The
Marvelous Toy"
JCC West Bloomfield
Individual tickets: $4/family: $12
Sunday, May 19: 7 p.m.
Mikey Pauker and Diwon, with Josh
Goldberg
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
All tickets: $15
Elaine Serling sings Music,
Memories and More
To purchase tickets and make
reservations:
Visit the Berman box office, 6600
W. Maple Road, in West Bloomfield; call
(248) 661-1900; or go to theberman.org .
May 2 • 2013
45