Bert Stratton a.k.a. Klezmer Guy, who leads local klezmer band Yiddishe Cup, has started a blog to offer his random thoughts on the vicissitudes of the musical life and his other life as the owner of rental properties.
In his blog, he reflects on such things as his childhood clarinet — a Selmet Signet X — and the music teacher who ate salami, playing weddings, collecting rent and negotiating band contracts. His slice-of-life observations show his background as a writer and his sharp sense of humor.
Stratton has promised to update the blog every day between now and June 28, the day the group will be unveiling its new CD, Klezmer Guy (their first since 2004’s Meshugeneh Mambo) at the annual Workmen’s Circle Yiddish Concert in the Park at Cain Park’s Evans Amphitheater at 7 p.m. The concert is free.
It’s an opportunity for Clevelanders to see the 20-year-old, six-man ensemble, which normally plays a steady schedule of weddings, bar mitzvahs, synagogues and arts/world-music cultural events with its pastiche of klezmer, Israeli music, early 20th-century American pop and Yiddish show tunes, and comedic Borscht Belt schtick. —Anastasia Pantsios
