[Dixielandjazz] Re Chicago bashing

[Elazar Brandt]

Yeah, what he said!

And, sorry Bill and Jim for mixing up your names in my last post. In my own defense, I wrote the post after midnight after coming
home from a 6 hour job entertaining a couple hundred kids at a Purim party. So I plead temporary insanity--not for my opinions about
Chicago, but for getting the names mixed up.

On the lighter side (well, if you can see the humor in any of this), today is THE day for working entertainers in Israel, and my job
was managing entertainment for almost 400 children from families who have lost members in terror attacks. You may hear of the
sponsoring organization -- One Family -- in your travels. The adults are not allowed to listen to music during the first year of
mourning. (I don't know if I could live with that practice, so I'm praying that no one close to me dies during my lifetime. But I
think there is a loophole for people who make a living with music -- something about you can play it but you can't listen...  I'll
have to ask my rabbi sometime.)

So this was not primarily a music gig. My crew and I did thousands of balloons, and had dozens of musical instruments of all kinds
for people to try out. I played some banjo accompanying the juggler during his act.

On the eve of America's war with Iraq, which is likely to become Israel's war too, when our government had given instructions to
prepare our sealed rooms and carry our gas masks with us, these dear people, along with I'd say much of our unusual little country,
opted to celebrate our most upbeat annual festival. Two whole families came from the US to celebrate Bar Mitzvahs with this group on
this day, to share their joy with us and to show their support in a tangible way. The speeches of the bar mitzvah boys were very
moving, and I don't think anybody wrote for them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go figure out how to play a tuba while wearing my gas mask, in case of bio-chemical or nuclear
attack. I'll let you know if I succeed.

Elazar
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Jerry Gordon [mailto:jerrygordon at juno.com]
  Sent: Wednesday, 19 March, 2003 06:25
  To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re Chicago bashing


  My wife and I enjoyed the movie very much. Perhaps the music doesn't meet the standards of some on this list, but we weren't
applying that test. We enjoyed the music, the dancing, the acting, the humor, the clever sets and the overall entertainment value.
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