Ian Lander and Cheese play Barrytown

Later on Upstairs at Mennu's, Ian Lander and Cheese play Steely Dan's Barrytown.


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Shalev Mami Sings Belle & Sebastian

Today, on a very special Upstairs At Mennu's, Shalev Mami sings Belle & Sebastian.

International Jet Set III: Recap

Jet Set III made Jet Set I look like Jet Set II.

Evidence:

International Jet Set III

This Saturday night, March 27, I will be doing a Jet Set at the Cosa Nostra. Party starts at 10:00PM and should run through about 2:00AM. There's no cover charge and the drinks aren't all that pricey.

I'll be spinning tunes off my latest mixes, and previewing stuff from the next one. You can expect to hear stuff from Iceland, Sweden, Japan, Eastern Europe, Eastern Pennsylvania, Israel and other happening places around the world.

Cosa Nostra: Nachalat Binyamin 10, Tel Aviv
March 27, 2010 10:00PM-2:00AM
I'll be the guy with the headphones.

42

This year I made two mixes to celebrate my birthday. I gave away a few copies during Purim, which fell out on my actual birthday. But since I celebrate my birthday until March 3, I figured these mixes are just under the wire.

Turn Up The Decibels

All the tracks in this mix are from 2009. The picture is from my last gig as a professional DJ. It was actually a very nice affair at the Mutter Museum. I like the cufflinks in the picture. They were a gift from my father.

• 1-WhoMadeWho-Keep Me in My Plane: The video for this song is great.
  
• 2-Passion Pit-The Reeling: I have an ongoing battle in my mind against the people who work in marketing. If I'm turned onto a cool track and it shows up in a commercial, I win. If there's a cool song that I've never heard of in a commercial, they win. I usually win. Whether it's Royksopp in a Geico ad, M. Ward in a Budweiser commerical or Nick Drake plugging VWs, I usually win. I was recently caught out by a cell phone ad. The campaign had a song by Passion Pit called Sleepyhead. It's a great track,and I recall hearing it and thinking, "What is this?" But for this mix, I've chosen an even better song by Passion Pit, one that is untainted by the evil of marketing.
• 3-Persian Radio-The Khaaaakh: This clip is from Family Guy. In the episode, Stewie says, I wish I hadn't stayed up all night listening to Persian Radio. At the end of the clip, the guy really sells the חחחחח.
• 4-Datarock-Give It Up: The last verse of this track says it all. "We'll hook you up to an enema/Oh oh oh oh/And don't stop till you get enough."
• 5-The Gossip-Your Mangled Heart: Lesbian riot grrl Beth Ditto screams with a heartfelt passion for unrequited love. "I don't want the world/I only want what I deserve."
• 6-Kinny-Enough Said: More unrequited love in this track. Even though it came out this year, it sounds like classic Motown.
  
• 7-Neon Indian-Deadbeat Summer: This past New Year's Eve, I was at home with acute bronchitis. I didn't go out to any parties, and stayed home instead and did shots of cough syrup. Whenever this track turned up in my playlist, with all it's sloppy and off-key notes, I would get up and do a little jig.
  
• 8-YACHT-Psychic City: Another good video. I enjoy the water drop loop and the fun lyrics.
  
• 9-Jordaan Mason & The Horse Museum-Avalanches: Aquarium Drunkard does a much better job of explaining this one.
• 10-Marissa Nadler-River Of Dirt: This song has a haunting sound to it. Wish I had put this song in its place.
  
• 11-St. Vincent-The Strangers: More spooky sounds.
• 12-Animal Collective-My Girls
• 13-Espers-Trollslända: This whole album is a trip. Very chill. Mellow.
• 14-Múm-Sing Along: This is almost a pop song from múm. Normally, these Icelandish artists make clicky loopy sounding stuff.
• 15-Deep Cuts From The Cheeze-I'm In Charge: This is my friend Cheeze. He's actually a muppet.
• 16-Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse-Revenge: It's actually Flaming Lips and somehow, David Lynch is involved.
• 17-Songs-Clouds
• 18-Girls-Lauren Marie: This one didn't fit on the disc version.
  
  
  
  

Clip The Card

This mix went through about four major revisions, but I'm pretty happy with where it is now. I recommend listening to it while drinking red wine, flying overseas, or both. Many of the sounds are international, or specifically Israeli or Scandahoovian.

• 1-Dan Mangan-Robots
• 2-Gustav and The Seasick Sailors-Sadie Says
• 3-Kurt Vile-Blackberry Song: I saw Kurt Vile at Johnny Brendas and recorded some great video of the show. After the concert, I asked him if he minds if I post it to YouTube. He said he would mind. So, I didn't post it. I recommend seeing him. He's very talented.
• 4-Oi Va Voi-Every Time: Starts off mellow, and then it takes a sharp turn to Eastern Europe. My nephew got a preview copy of this mix and tweeted that he was listening to it on the way to a doctor.
  
• 5-Sally Shapiro-Time To Let Go: Although the name of the band sounds like someone who might have been on one of my Birthright trips, these are Swedes.
• 6-Onili-Omizu: She's coming to Silk City in Philadelphia on March 23, 2010. I'm going to be in Tel Aviv at the time so I'll have to miss it. I would highly recommend going to the show. Great artist in a great venue. And at $6 it's a bargain. I would bring three friends with me.
  
• 7-Santogold-Lights Out
• 8-m83-We Own The Sky
• 9-Buscemi-Nothing To Worry About
• 10-Spylab-Celluloid Hypnotic
• 11-The Karminksy Experience-Departures: If you listen really closely, about 12 seconds into the track, right before it kicks, you can hear Thomas say, "Here's Adam. Going to clip the card." I sampled it from this video. From that moment on, the mix rolls out into a coma-inducing mellow vibe. I used my Klippekort as the album art.
• 12-The Flaming Lips-The Impulse
• 13-Koop-Beyond the son: I'm not sure what Earl Zinger is blathering on and on about on this track. Frankly, I don't care. But I really like the sound of his voice.
• 14-Metropolin-Malachim (Angels)
  

Best Videos of 2009

I spend a lot of time listening to a college station from Tel Aviv called Kol HaCampus. Recently, they posted their best of 2009 list, along with YouTube videos for a lot of the artists. I've gone through their list and here are my 20 favorite videos. I recommend connecting your computer to a projector and amplifier and watching these videos in full-screen mode.

• 1 - St. Vincent - Actor Out of Work. A powerful song with an even more powerful video.
  
• 2 - Who Made Who - Keep Me In My Plane. This one is my favorite.
• 3 - Röyksopp - Happy Up Here. Fun and light. I like the Space Invaders.
• 4 - Matt & Kim - Lessons Learned. I've seen this in Times Square, like, a million times.
• 5 - Shantel - Citizen of Planet Paprika. Here's what Parliament might have been if George Clinton was born in Eastern Europe. Or wherever Shantel comes from.
• 6 - Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses.
  
• 7 - Datarock - Give It Up. I saw them this year at South By Southwest. Here's the video.
• 8 - Passion Pit - The Reeling. These folks must have listened to a lot of 80s music.
  
• 9 - Yacht - Psychic City. I think they're trying to make a statement about religion.
  
• 10 - Kinny - Enough Said. Her retro sound with the retro look and feel of the video make a great combination.
  
• 11 - Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt. Haunting vocals.
  
• 12 - Ian Brown - Stellify. Reminds me of Fleetwood Mac - Tusk. In a good way.
  
• 13 - Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks. This is from Veckatimest, which is one of my favorite albums of the year. I even put a track from it on my ill-concieved Corn Forks mix.
  
• 14 - múm - Sing Along. For fans of long Iclelandic Winters.
  
• 15 - The Flaming Lips - I Can Be A Frog. I was a fan of this track before I saw the video.
• 16 - Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind. This is from the third Kings of Convenience album, Declaration of Dependence. Pitchfork didn't like it because it is too much like their other albums. I like it for that very same reason. What would be great, though, would be another Versus based on this album.
• 17 - Eels - The Look You Give That Guy. Lucky dog.
  
• 18 - Broadcast & The Focus Group - #1: Witch Cults. Trippy.
  
• 19 - Califone - Funeral Singers. Supermellow.
• 20 - Andrew Bird - Anonanimal. Very cool video.
  

The Happiest People On Earth

This past weekend I went to Denmark to visit with my old roommate, Thomas Schack von Brockdorff. I learned a number of lessons during the trip. First of all, Thomas no longer goes by SvB, and hasn't for the past decade. His current last name contains an Æ one of the three letters (Æ, Ø, and Å) that Danish has, and English doesn't. Perhaps that's why I had a hard time finding him.

Thomas and I were roommates in 1988-89 in Jerusalem. You may wonder, why a non-Jewish Dane was living in Jerusalem? Thomas went to Israel in 1987 together with some of his high school buddies to volunteer at a kibbutz. Thomas eventually left the kibbutz and found a job at Cowboy Fudge, located in the back of Happening on Ben Yehudah Street. My girlfriend at the time was the manager of the fudge stand, and in one fell swoop, Thomas found a job and a place to live. Things didn't work out with my girlfriend, and the weekend she moved out, in late November 1988, I went AWOL from the army with two of my friends, Phil and Freddie Fresh. The next twelve days became "Freedom Fest," a time when our little group would grow closer and wilder, and our apartment became known as The Swamp.

Recently, Oprah called the Danes "The Happiest People on Earth." I wanted to find out if this was true, so I took every opportunity to ask Danes if they agreed. In this clip, I get answers from Thomas, his old friends who came to Israel with him in 1987, strangers in night clubs, and Thomas' girlfriend Chrissilda. (Look for the segment where the Danish goyim break into song with "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem.")


Clipping the card:

When using the public transportation system in Denmark, one of the most economical ways to go is to get at 10 ride klippekort, or cut card. When entering a station, you put your clip card into a machine that stamps the time and cuts off a piece of the card itself. The card can be used for transfers within two hours of clipping. By the end of the weekend, I was an expert in clipping the card.



Quick Summary of the Vacation:

• A good schvitz.
  
• Live jazz at La Fontaine.
• Frequent visits to Christiania. Bevar Christiania!
  
• Glass Candy at Vega.
• Drank lots of Tuborg Julebryg, and that's before I saw the commercial which predates the beer.
  

What I leaned on the trip:

• The Danish eat danishes, but they call it wienerbrød, which means Viennese Bread.
  
• Danes don't dress up for Halloween, but kids do for Fastelavn, which, like other Carnival celebrations, falls out closer to Purim. During this holiday, kids play slå katten af tønden, which means "beating the cat out of the barrel." Although today it's more of a piñata-style game, it began with a real black cat beaten out of a suspended barrel.
• When you share your wisdom with someone, it's called, sharing the golden nuggets. At least that's what Christian Brøns told me as he wrote down some of my classic one-liners.
• Hi in Danish means, "hi." Like the word shalom in Hebrew, it's used for hello and goodbye.

At the end of a long Swampy weekend, both Thomas and I were wiped out. After 20 years, nothing has changed.

Thomas in 2009:

Thomas in 1989:

Hi hi, Danmark, tak for alt det sjove.

Here's all the pictures:

I Love Music

City Hall

Taken with the spy camera.

DJ Deck and Bicycle

Spying on the Monkeys

Today I became a member of the Philadelphia Zoo. As zoos go, I guess it's alright. I hadn't anticipated how packed it would be, and how many small children would be in costume. So, it was a little crowded. Also, I went to the zoo today in order to observe the golden lion tamarins. After having a conversation with a zoo employee dressed as Super Mario, I learned that, the golden lion tamarins weren't available to hang with the guests. Instead I got stuck looking at the pied tamarins. The pied tamarin is a hideous beast, with a glare that is disturbing. A big momma walking near the pied tamarin cage at first told her daughter to look at the monkey, but after giving it a good look, changed her mind and said, "Yo, that monkey's crazy." A good friend of mine has suggested that, even though he's a member of the gorilla society, the only way to deal with the pied tamarin is with fire. And lots of it. In fact, the native population of humans made their best attempt to exterminate this freakish species. But the Philadelphia Zoo is taking the lead in helping this hideous creature survive.

The most confounding thing is that I couldn't find my camera today. I figured it was with my hoodie, since I couldn't find that either. So as I rode my bike to the zoo, I stopped at a drugstore and picked up smallest cheapest digital camera I could find. I doesn't really have a viewfinder or screen or anything, so there was a lot of guesswork. I didn't take many pictures in the zoo, because I felt creepy, being an adult male, alone, and surrounded by families and small children in halloween costumes. I did manage to get one picture of the Bolivian titi monkeys. It's not that great a pic, but if you know titi monkeys, you will have no problem identifying them in the photo.

On the way home, I decided to walk my bicycle along the banks of the Schuylkill while listening to Gil Scott-Heron's Pieces of a Man. Every once and I while I would attempt to take pictures of things. As I was finishing one of these picture taking attempts, a man noticed my tiny camera and asked if I was a spy. I assured him that I was not, and that he wouldn't be able to prove it anyways.

Corn Forks Version 0.8

I was having a tech problem with this mix. After discussing the issue with some of my geekier friends, I've resolved the tech problem.

I'm having a problem with the mix itself. It was created for the drive to and from the shore this summer. Now the leaves are starting to change colors, and I feel differently about the mix.

So, after a long delay, here's your preview of Corn Forks.
Download the mix as a zipped folder with MP3s.
Download the mix as one big WMA file.
See the playlist with links to videos of the songs.

Feedback and comments are appreciated.

A Happy Yom Kippur on Twitter

Yom Kippur was trending on Twitter this year. Trending means that it's one of the most common terms being used on Twitter at that moment. It's interesting to see what people were tweeting about. There were a ton of tweets about either having the day off of school or not having it off. The same applies to work. It also seems a lot of people had extra time on their hands since the commute was so much easier without all the Jews going to work. Then there were people saying "happy yom kippur," others saying, "it's solemn, not happy," and yet others saying, "get over it."

Here's My Top Ten Yom Kippur Tweets for 5770:

• 10 - Ground Rules

@HowardKurtz

A rabbi says atoning for Yom Kippur on Twitter & Facebook doesn't work. Gosh darn it. http://tinyurl.com/y9gf3e6

• 9 - Half Jewish

@russpalmer:

waaaait...I just realized, if it's Yom Kippur, and I'm semi-jewish..I'm not supposed to work..which means I can leave the office
(It launched a discussion of being half-Jewish on his page: are you half-circumcized?)

• 8 - Not Even Half

@jmarrapodi

Yom Kippur. Jewish day for repentance & thoughts of atomement. I am remembering my at-one-ment with God thru the Messiah, Jesus.

• 7 - I Am My Own Jewish Friend

@swarheit

Called a colleague today, totally forgetting he's Jewish and today is Yom Kippur. What makes it really bad is *I'm* Jewish. Oops.

• 6 - Twitter Is Better Than Hebrew School

@igby0315

Thanks twitter for reminding me I need to call my grandparents... it's Yom Kippur. I already missed Rosh Hashanah... oops.

• 5 - No Clue About Yom Kippur or Jews

@SnowKingKC

Happy Yom Kippur to all my Jewish buddies out there. Take it easy on the Menishevitz. That could lead to one nasty hangover.

• 4 - Noticing the Divine Hand

@Blazey

i think god may be punishing me for going to work on yom kippur. "oh you want to work on the holiday? Fine, work all 24 hours then."

• 3 - Wishing On A Weinstein

@jonnymilba

TBS is playing the banned-by-Fox Jewish episode of Family Guy. On Yom Kippur. Huh. #badtiming

• 2 - Where Do YOU Go To Shul?

@Malkah

Tweeted about my breasts in a synagogue and gained a handful of pornbots and a @TinyJesus. I *might* be doing Yom Kippur wrong.

• 1 - Just As Fast

@79protons

It's ok to eat Burger King on Yom Kippur because it's "Fast food"

I Went Out And Achieved Anyways!

I forgot to bring my camera to Lebowski Fest. There were so many Dudes, Walters, Maudes, and Jesuses with a few Jackie Treehorns and nihilists added in for good measure. There were a pair of guys dressed as Lennin, John and V.I.

And I got no pics.

I asked my #1 to take a single picture with me standing near Adrienne the Waitress dressed as Maude the Valkyrie.

She wants to go on Birthright...

Jury Dude

I'm serving on a jury. Don't roll your eyes. Don't think that I'm some kind of sucker. I'm not.

"Couldn't you get out of it?"

Why would I want to get out of it? Why do you think it's something to get out of?

Check out my post about it on Alef (The NEXT Conversation): click here.

For all the gravitas of this situation, I keep thinking about a routine from an old Jewish comedy album. It's called The Jury. (right click to download track)

Summer Mix Making Process: Corn Forks (Version 0.8)

I've been driving back and forth from Philly to the shore this month. I'm about halfway through the month, and it seems that a playlist has begun to emerge. It's named after the compostable flatware we stock in the shore house.

My mix making technology is acting up, otherwise this mix would be online as a mix. Instead, this mix is online as links.

Corn Forks (Version 0.8)

1-Elizabeth And The Catapult-Taller Children
2-Paperwork-Stars
3-God Lives Underwater-From Your Mouth
4-MGMT-Time to Pretend
5-The Ting Tings-Great DJ
6-Chromeo-Tenderoni
7-Hot Chip-Ready For The Floor
8-Vampire Weekend-A-Punk
9-Ratatat-Wildcat
10-Laze and Carnival-Girls Talk
11-Grizzly Bear-Southern Point
12-The Kingsbury Manx-These Three Things
13-Fila Brazilia-President Chimp Toe
14-Koop-glvmd
15-Telepopmusik-Brighton Beach
16-The Pictish Trail-Winter Home Disco
17-My Latest Novel-Pretty In A Panic

Red Things On My Head

Just got some new headphones in anticipation of my summer jet setting. I feel like I might be wearing too much red on my head.

In the lens on the left, you can see my hand holding up the camera. In the right lens you can see Bread Street.

Last night I met a person who told me that, because of online pictures, he "quit the internet." I suppose he's going back to attaching notes to pigeon's legs, sending smoke signals and maybe using a fax machine.

Bicycle Ride Along The Schuylkill River

I took a long bicycle ride to Conshohocken. On the way back, I stopped for a break at the Manayunk Brewery. The first video here is leaving the brewery while a live band covered Jimi Hendrix "Little Wing." The rest of the videos were taken while riding my bicycle. It's like the opening to "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," only slower.

Israel Day At Penn's Landing

Israel day featured most major Jewish organizations in Philly, and a live concert by Rami Kleinstein.

Black Landlord LIve

Above are video clips of Black Landlord live in May 2009. I saw them twice this week, and could see them a third time tonight. I recommend seeing them live. You can check their tour schedule here.

Their new album, "Addicted to Distraction" is out. You can buy it at AKA Music on 27 N Second St Philadelphia, PA 19106. AKA music is a record store. You can walk in there and hand them cash and they will give you a CD. Of course you can also buy it online.