Don McLean, famous for his song American Pie has a song called Dreidel. It doesn't have much to do with Chanukah. The chorus goes "I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel."

When my friend Binyamin from the radio station heard it, he told me the connection is that Don McLean lived on a kibbutz in Israel. He said he met a journalist who had met Don McLean.

So I went on the internet and spent a long time both on Google and on Dogpile looking it up, both in Hebrew and in English. I found very little except for these two excerpts from the official Don McLean web site.

"Don McLean played his first professional gig in 1962 at an Israeli coffee house in Manhattan."

Fans interview Don McLean:

Janet: "I love your song 'Sea Man'. I would love to know where you got the idea from."
Don: "The song is actually a true story of a man who lived by the sea in Heifer, Israel. It’s all true and everything in the song is what he told me about his life. He even lives in a house shaped like a fish."

So maybe one day I will interview this journalist or I will interview Don McLean and learn more. Until then, enjoy this video clip of Don McLean singing Dreidel.

In my new series I hope to divulge some of the more unusual and funky Chanukah songs I have discovered over the years.

Adam Goren is a Jewish American performer who has released many solo albums under the name Atom and his Package. Goren plays guitar, sings and backs himself up with a drum machine and synthesizer. With fast buzzing guitars, the music sounds like punk rock but the vocals and attitude makes him closer to Weird Al Yankovic or They Might Be Giants. Most of the songs are quirky and silly.

On his 1999 album he has a sing-songy track called What We Do On Christmas. I present the lyrics here as a public service.

What We Do on Christmas
Atom and His Package
1999 No Idea Records

You know those right wing crazy people talk about how there’s a Jewish conspiracy and how the Jews run the media and they have all the money and they pretty much dominate the world. No? Well, I’ve heard of it, and you know, well that would pretty much leave one day of the year when no one else is around to have a whole day of planning of world domination. That’s Christmas. Merry Christmas buddies.

It’s Christmas Eve and you know why I’m hardly sleeping
There are no presents waiting for me on the floor
It’s the one day of the year when I use what my super Jewish powers are for
Introduced to the network at my bar mitzvah
Got my code ring number its 16761
While your sitting around the tree in that knock off menorah
Your idol, we want justice is done

Princess Di
We killed her
El Nino we made it
Reggie White is stupid
Billy Joel lets trade him

Let the neo-Nazis know that we’re part of the conspiracy
If we’re as strong as they think you’d think they’d be nicer to me
You’re still mad about what happened to your pal Jesus
Well if he didn’t die for your sins you’d be going to hell with the rest of us

Wouldn’t you like to know
What we do
What we do
What we do
On Christmas

You think we’re sitting polishing our horns
Or making soup with the blood of Christian born
You think I’m being rude
We’re at a movie eating Chinese food

This is the disclaimer.
My name is Adam.
I’m a Jewish boy.
I’m very neurotic that people are going to get mad at me.
I like Jews.
I like Christian people.
There should be no problem.
It’s not that funny.

---

Atom's other Jewish oriented song is called The Palestinians are Not the Same as the Rebel Alliance. It blasts American liberals that blindly defend anti-Israel terrorist groups because they think its trendy.  

In the liner notes he says that "surely there are some people who blindly defend the Israeli side as well, but these are not the people who I come into contact with at shows... It’s disturbing how they trivialize things to Star Wars-esque proportions."

I present the lyrics, slightly edited, as a public service.

The Palestinians Are Not the Same as the Rebel Alliance
Atom and His Package
2003 Hopeless Records

You're so Leftist
You're so pro-peace
You hate the death penalty
But love it in the Middle East
Don't know the facts
Just catch phrase words
No different than the Nazi boneheads
The other side just got to you first

Critical thinking
No thanks not at all
Admit it you just like posters
Of men with machine guns up on your wall

Makes you feel good
Makes you feel right
Simplified complexity
It's easy to cheer when it's black and white

I'm impressed that you're so bad
I'm impressed with your defiance (Hello, I am sarcastic)
You do know the Palestinians are not the same thing
As the Rebel Alliance

Say stupid things like
"The United States is the only terrorist nation"
Ha ha nice education
Add inane hip arguments
When it comes your turn
All the while weakening and invalidating
Legit concerns

Supposed to be critical
Supposed to be cynical
Blind loyalty
Dumb jocky political

For more info you can visit his web site at http://www.atomandhispackage.com. Coming up in my future blogs I will discuss more crazy Chanukah oriented songs by Yerachmiel Zeigler, Damon and Naomi,  Subliminal, Don McLean and more. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me at bbresky@israelnationalradio.com

Movie Review
Ushpizin
2004 Picturehouse
www.ushpizin.com

A poor husband and wife want nothing more but to have a nice Sukkot holiday with the traditional holy guests, or Ushpizin in Hebrew, so they can show their hospitality just like Abraham and Sarah in the Bible. What they get instead are escaped convicts.

Ushpizin mixes light drama and light comedy. The movie was filmed on location in Jerusalem and stars real life husband and wife Shuli and Michal Bat-Sheva Rand who live in Jerusalem.

There are strong themes of religious versus secular Israelis but in general, this is an enjoyable movie with many humorous scenes. In the end, which is happy, the religious are still religious and the secular are still secular and that's depicted as OK.

I saw this in the theater in Jerusalem and the audience laughed out loud during several scenes. The wife's reacting to the surprise donation of a large sum of money is charming as well as when the husband takes the escaped convicts to the yeshiva with him. The message of the movie is one of faith and the power of prayer. It seems to be enjoyed by a broad audience. The film won the 2004 Israeli Film Academy best actor award.

Here's an interview I did with Adi Ran, the singer who's music is featuredfeatued on the Ushpizin soundtrack with photos.

Here's a clip from the movie.

Here's the music video from Ata Kadosh by Adi Ran with clips from the movie.

 

Aaron Dugan, Matisyahu's guitarist is on a small tour here in Israel. At his show last night in Jerusalem, he brought along Matisyahu as a surprisesuprise guest. Somehow, without any advertising, word got around. An hour before the show, the place was already packed, with as many people outside the small club as inside. 

The Grammy nominated, Billboard chart topping Jewish singer performed music from Shattered, his new upcoming short album as well as hits like Jerusalem and King Without a Crown.

I got some photos, videos an interview with Aaron Dugan, who has his own unique jazz style. They two met at the New School, an elite jazz and music college in New York. Another fellow student and friend of theirs was Israeli jazz musician Daniel Zamir.

The scene outside Avram, a new club next to the shuk on Jaffa street was like a festival. I saw Aaron Razel, Yerachmiel Zeigler and dozens of other local musicians hanging around outside. One guy said he has just come from kaparot and still had some stains on his pants to prove it.

Stay tuned for more audio and video from the scene. In the meantime, check out Aaron Dugan's web site or catch him Thursday after Yom Kippur at Levontin 7 in Tel Aviv. Also, check out my old interview with Matisyahu here.

On Yom Kippur we read from the Talmud tractate Yoma, the section dealing with Yom Kippur in the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Chapter 3 mentions Hogros ben Levi, one of the Levites in charge of music in the Holy Temple:

"Hogros b. Levi - We have learned in a Boraitha: When he had to render his voice melodious, he placed his thumb in his mouth, and the index in his mustache. When all his fellow-priests heard his voice, they bent to the ground (from ecstasy)." Other translations state that he put his thumb under his tongue to create a most beautiful melody.  

For more information visit:
* http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Talmud/yomatoc.html
* http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t03/yom08.htm