Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
Tonight we’re going to see The Schmekels at Southpaw here in Brooklyn for an evening of “Hanuka Rock”. The Schmekels are “100% Trans Jews” and although what they play isn’t really klezmer, they certainly seem to have a sense of humor — “schmekel” means “small penis” in Yiddish.
So if you’re around & this is your kind of thing, feel free to say hi if you see us there.
The band’s name is Schmekel and they play klezmer-core punk. Oh yes. If they’re playing any gigs while I’m in NYC I will be at one.
The music itself merges traditional klezmer scales and rhythms with the aggressive energy of early gay punk bands like Pansy Division.
If the musical satirist Tom Lehrer were to write a hard-core anthem about sex reassignment surgery, with a driving guitar lick, a “Hava Nagila” breakdown and a keyboard line lifted from Super Mario Brothers, it might approximate the Schmekel sound.
Schmekel means “little penis” in Yiddish. And people wonder why I like hanging out with trans guys.
I got to see John Clayton & his son Gerald Clayton perform this past weekend at Lawrence, and although there’s precious little of him on Playlist, there is this video, which gives you a little idea.
I know, I’m being corrupted, & my punk rock credibility is going to fly out the window any day now. Still, this shit’s GOOD. I’ve always wanted to know more jazz, since my dad was a fan, & it’s good to be in a place where being entirely ignorant doesn’t make you feel silly. Ah, educational atmospheres!
It’s been 8 years to the day since Elliott Smith died, so a special musical offering. I love his stuff, and wish he’d hung around to create more of this gorgeous music.
I wish I had seen him live, too.
They’re otherwise famous for the video of “A Million Ways” but I had their “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” come up on Pandora the other day, and so went hunting for it, which is when I discovered their lovely cover of “Antmusic” — which is a song I never expected to like a cover of, so props to them.
so bad i can’t think straight /
so bad all my bones shake /
so bad i can’t breathe.
Anyone else remember Human Sexual Response or this song “Cool Jerk”? Nifty video I’d never seen before, too:
(You may remember their song “Jackie Onassis” instead.)
Have a lovely weekend. If you can, do try to make it to an Occupy Your Local City: Saturday the 15th should be a remarkable day all over the country. (I’ll be in Madison.)
i love it i love it i love it.
Keith Mina Caputo of Life of Agony is transitioning, and she just released this difficult, amazing song. It may be triggery for just hard to watch for some, as a few people on our message boards have pointed out.
Compelling, I think.
How can you not love a band that came up with “another Kodak whore, winking” and “see the red light rinsing another shutter slut wincing”? I know, I know, slut-shaming is bad, but I still love the sound of those lyrics. The song is more critical of the objectification of women in fashion than anything else.
& The AFOS song is kind of lovely in an awful, precious New Wave sort of way, no?
