Donald Trump might Make Punk Great Again, but in America, it was traumatized, and defiant, Jews who made it By Steven Lee Beeber It’s 3 a.m. in The Blue Room and the audience is sweaty with joy. The Modern Lovers’ high-strung leader, Jonathan Richman, has just left the stage, his Nice-Jewish-Boy songs about being “in […]

The street performer ‘El Maestro’ grew up in a small town and is not Jewish, but spends his days entertaining tourists with traditional klezmer songs he learned on the Internet; ‘a small summary of all of life’ By ROBBIE WHELAN On most days, weather permitting, Juan “El Maestro” Pérez packs up his clarinet and his accordion […]

The great actor, singer, and humanitarian Theo Bikel was a foremost champion for Yiddish and in particular for the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language (CIYCL) from its inception.  He generously lent his talents for ciycl’s benefit whenever he was asked and his presence lent a special gravitas to the many ciycl events that […]

For a supposedly dead or dying language, Yiddish is not going down without a fight. In fact, we’re in the midst of a rich and creative revival such that the language and its culture hasn’t seen in decades. Yiddish Studies programs are cropping up at the unlikeliest of colleges and universities across the United States. […]

Listeners Uncover Details About Mysterious Muse Behind ‘The Brothers Nazaroff’ As a result of Jon Kalish’s piece last Saturday on the obscure Yiddish musician known as Prince Nazaroff, a relative and a genealogist have stepped forward to provide more details about the man.  Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Last Saturday, we heard a story about […]