Elijah is coming to town

Posted on February 17, 2009 by pgold

You better watch out…

Now that the football season is over our minds and hearts can turn to that spring pastime that we call

PASSOVER!

Believe it or not, there are only 49 shopping days until Passover! And just to be sure that you are aware, the grocery stores have begun putting in their Passover food section (at least in NJ). Of course we still have Purim coming and most people have hardly given any thought to Passover, but it’s here and they want you to buy.

Not that we have not already begun thinking about it. For those who read my blog last year, the three moms (Marsha and two friends) have already made preliminary plans to do the Seders together again, and that puts us at about 23 people each night already.

So as we begin the season of Passover purchasing I will leave you with this youtube video.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP4nNBVOA-g]

Posted in family, Judaism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Beatles Covers Part 2

Posted on February 13, 2009 by pgold

First off, when talking about instrumental covers of The Beatles, I accidentally left off some great work by Booker T and the MGs. Their wonderful disco sounds really made great instrumental versions of some songs, especially Eleanor Rigby (which shows off amazing use of the wah wah pedal).

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of covers of Beatles songs, and it would be impossible to list them all in one place. I took some time over the past few days to listen to some that I have and found a few that I don’t, and came up with this list of 42 examples (in alphabetical order by artist). Some will surprise you. Some are good, some are not so good and some are great, but I think they all deserve notice. Some of the artists covered multiple Beatles songs and I only noting one or two. With a few of exceptions, I am leaving off songs from the movie Across the Universe. I have written about this movie in previous blog posts, and I find all the covers exceptional. The two that are in this list are the most exceptional of the movie. One final note, some of these covers are recorded and some were live performances. All the live performances can be found in youtube so I have included them here.

I will comment on a few at the end.

  1. Aerosmith – Come Together
  2. Bananarama – Help!
  3. Bon Jovi – Here Comes the Sun
  4. Bono – I am the Walrus
  5. James Brown – Something
  6. Jim Carrey – I am the Walrus
  7. Ray Charles – Let It Be
  8. George Michael – The Long and Winding Road
  9. Judy Collins – In My Life
  10. Phil Collins – Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
  11. Sheryl Crow – Mother Nature’s Son
  12. Dave Matthews – In My Life
  13. John Denven – Mother Nature’s Son
  14. Electric Light Orchestra – Day Tripper
  15. John Farnham – I feel Fine
  16. Alison Kraus – I will
  17. Emmylou Harris – For No One
  18. Emmylou Harris – Here, There and Everywhere
  19. Eddie Izzard – Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
  20. Michael Jackson – Come Together
  21. The Jam – And Your Bird Can Sing
  22. Elton John – Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
  23. Kansas (with the London Symphony Orchestra) – Eleanor Rigby
  24. Cyndi Lauper – Strawberry Fields
  25. Aimee Mann & Michael Penn – Two of Us
  26. Sarah McLachlan – Blackbird
  27. Bette Middler – In My Life
  28. Alanis Morissette – Norwegian Wood
  29. Alanis Morissette – Dear Prudence
  30. Ozzy Osborne – In My Life
  31. Tom Petty – I Need You
  32. Elvis Presley – Lady Madonna
  33. Billy Preston – Get Back
  34. Otis Redding – Day Tripper
  35. The Rolling Stones – I Wanna Be Your Man
  36. Sting – A Day in the Life
  37. Toto – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  38. U2 – Norwegian Wood
  39. Whitesnake – Day Tripper
  40. Paul Westerberg – Nowhere Man
  41. Carol Woods – Let It Be
  42. Yes – Every Little Thing

Some of the ones I like are obvious, but some really surprise me. Like for example Bananarama’s version of Help! This British girl groups had mile success in the US in the late 80’s particularly their remake of the 70s hit Venus. They recorded Help! together with the British comics French & Saunders and Kathy Burke to raise money for comic relief. The record hit #3 on the British Charts. I cannot tell you why I like this version; perhaps it is due to the homage to the Beatles in the comic video of just my love of girl groups in general.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJY7KW_YAac]

Bono is one of the most successful artists in history and he was recruited to be in the movie Across the Universe. In the movie he play a character called Dr. Robert, loosely based on Ken Kesey. Bono was wonderful in the role, ad-libbing much of his way through his part. He got to sing two songs for the movie, and his I Am the Walrus is amazing.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqcpmbuE7Q]

George Michael has also had an amazing career (despite being part of Wham!) I loved his appearance on the tv show Eli Stone. He performed The Long and Winding Road in concert.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT28LeoxmmI]

Judy Collins is perhaps one of the greatest living American folk singers. Her voice is extraordinarily beautiful and she recorded a wonderful version of In My Life (forgive the cheesy video)

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNGKxGed314]

John Denver had, I believe, one of the best male singing voices in our times. Yes, he was basically a county singer and I loathe country music, but he crossed over to the pop charts so many times, you can easily call him a pop singer. He did a number of different Beatles tunes, but when I heard him sing Mother Nature’s Son, I decided that the song was really meant for him to sing.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZ3Ign–9w]

Alison Krauss is also a country singer and a fiddler. She has the record for the most grammy awards for a female singer and 3rd over all. This is a beautiful version of I Will.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVF9tyYqb8]

Cyndi Lauper has always been a favorite of mine. Her wonderful work in her early career earned her 5 hit songs from one album (a first at that time), and she has an amazing voice and makes consistently beautiful music. This video is from a tribute to John Lennon that was performed at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPtj0Ifyzyc]

Aimee Mann & Michael Penn recorded Two of Us for the movie I am Sam. I think that this is my second favorite Beatles Cover (next to Joe Cockers With a Little Help from my Friends). The song, written by Paul, was about his time with Linda, but if you listen to the lyrics it could be about any couple (perhaps really about he and John).

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBgVJMuSh-I]

Alanis Morissette is an amazing singer. She recorded Norwegian Wood which is one of my favorite Beatles songs. The song is perhaps about a Lesbian encounter that leads to nothing and perhaps it is best sung by a woman.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeiPiG9rQ-s]

Billy Preston is the only artist who got billing alongside the Beatles on any recording. On the single for Get Back the artists are listed as The Beatles with Billy Preston. He also played the Hammond Organ for much of the Get Back sessions (what later became the album Let It Be). Years later he appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the horrible movie that is loosely based on the album of the same name. He appeared as Sgt. Pepper and his song in the movie, Get Back, is perhaps the only good song in the film.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3l9dF2UNw]

Lastly Carol Woods was cast as a gospel singer in the Movie Across the Universe to sing Let It Be. The first time I heard this version of the song (before I saw the movie) I was stunned. I mean is it possible for one artist to cover a song better than the original singers? I don’t know the answer, but this Let It Be is about the best I have ever heard. The song was made to be a gospel piece and the scene in the movie is perhaps the most moving of the film.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4bib4PBqGA]

Well, thank you for indulging me in the fun exercise. I hope everyone enjoys!

Posted in Music, The Beatles | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Facebook

Posted on February 10, 2009 by pgold

Facebook has become a major part of my daily routine and it has brought me in contact with many people from my USY days. It’s been a lot of fun. One interesting thing has been these facebook memes that are spreading (whether they are really memes at all is for a different discussion). They are little notes that are being passed from person to person and you have to answer a bunch of questions and then send to friends and they answer the same questions, etc.

One of the more recent of these memes that I have done was called coverama. You had to pick a half dozen of your favorite cover songs. I, of course made mine into a Beatles edition, and it got me thinking about covers of Beatles songs. Now you might remember that I have written here in the past on covers, and I have stated that in general I do not like covers, but listening to a lot of Beatles covers over the past few days has changed my opinion a little. I still don’t really like the idea of covers, but there are some good ones out there, and so for the next few days I am bringing back song of the day and focusing on Beatles Covers.

Today I want to focus on instrumental covers. There are a host of possibilities out there as many symphony orchestras have recorded Beatles songs (first and foremost the London Symphony Orchestra) but I want to feature a few from outside the symphonies.

Perhaps the best I have heard is Jeff Beck’s version of A Day in the Life. Jeff Beck was the second guitarist of the Yardbirds, replacing Eric Clapton when he left. Together with Clapton and Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck completes perhaps the greatest trio of British guitarists (all who played with the Yardbirds). Today he records almost exclusively instrumental pieces. When Sir George Martin, the famous producer of most of the Beatles work, did a “farewell” album of Beatles Songs, he recruited Beck. That album is called In My Life. This song is also prominently featured in the movie Across the Universe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuhnEcSm5sU]

The other two recordings are also from that album by Martin. First is a beautiful rendition of Because by the amazing violinist Vanessa Mae (there is some choral in this) and the other is an arrangement by John Williams of Here Comes the Sun (he also conducted this as well).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ8ULNQWnUE]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHWWofdS9m8]

Enjoy!

Posted in Music, The Beatles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Difficulties

Posted on February 9, 2009 by pgold

This is going to be a very down blog entry. I usually like to write something upbeat, but it’s my blog, and I can write what I want.

It seems to us many days that Avi is not getting any better. We have been through many different medications and therapies and so far nothing seems to work. We have been working with a state run agency for a while now called Youth Case Management, and finally, after 3 worthless case managers, we seem to have found someone who knows what they are doing and is not going to leave for a better job in a few weeks (one case manager was with us for around a month and told us after speaking with him once or twice, “oh yeah, I’m leaving next week.)

So Nicole, our case manager, came to meet with Marsha at home (the only one who did this) and got to see a full blown episode from Avi. She went with Marsha and Avi to UBHC (University Behavioral Health Center) but they wont admit Avi as he is not suicidal or homicidal (thank God). Then I spoke with her on the phone the next day and she would like to see a full Psychiatric eval of Avi (we have never really had a comprehensive one done) and a Neuro-Developmental eval as well. She is thinking that there are signs of Autism spectrum disorder in Avi and perhaps the entire diagnosis (ADHD)  is wrong. If this is the case, everything we have done for Avi over the past year has been a total mistake and we will have to start from scratch.

I guess I really hope that we did have it wrong. I don’t want to know that we wasted a year and that we have to start all over again, but if we have a better idea as to what is wrong with Avi, then we will have a better chance of helping him. So hopefully we will get these done over the next month or so and if we are lucky we will have better news then.

I guess I can end on a happy note. Noam won 2nd place in our Cub Scout pack pinewood derby (photo to come soon!)

Posted in ADHD, Avi, Noam | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Life on Mars

Posted on January 29, 2009 by pgold

My friend wrekehavoc has been doing a whole month of blog posts on great 70s music. It’s been a lot of fun reading her posts and I definitely recommend a look.

Now that one of my favorite shows, Life On Mars, is back I get to hear some great 70s music. One of the great things is that they strive to find music that would have been on the radio. Back in the 70s (unlike today) you also got to hear more obscure songs as well as the big hits.

There were four songs on last night’s episode, starting with the big hit No Time from The Guess Who. The Guess Who is a very interesting band. They are a Canadian group and the first Canadian group to get into the top 5 on the US charts (including their number one hit a few months later, American Woman). The Guess Who was a very typical band of the early 70s and their music is like much of the early 70s rock music that we all know and love. I think the most interesting thing about the band is that the name may have been an attempt to keep the names of the band secret and make people think that it was a group of very well known singers and help sell the records.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqeSUAlI5uI]

The second song was Legs by Darondo (somewhat obscure song)

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nldkWoW9UXU]

Third was Whisky in the Jar by Thin Lizzy. This Irish folk song from the 17th Century was given a nice rock spin by this Irish heavy Metal group.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TehFZ38kt6o]

Finally the show ended with My Maria by B.W. Stevenson. This great love ballad became a bit hit for Country singer Stevenson in 1973.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjnY5cDUgp8&fmt=18]

Enjoy!

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

15 Minute “Homemade” Pasta Sauce

Posted on January 26, 2009 by pgold

On the way home from work today I was told that Avi wanted pasta and meatballs for dinner. It was not exactly on my radar for dinner, but why not. Defrosting the ground beef is not too hard, and add a jar of pasta sauce and you are done. The problem is that being on Weight Watchers, pasta sauce is quite a no-no. So here is what I came up with.

15 Minute Homemade Pasta Sauce

1 lb ground beef
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 medium onion diced
4 garlic gloves crushed
2 Tbs Italian seasoning

Brown the beef and chop up in a pan with no oil. As the beef cooks down there will be enough fat to cook the meat.
Just before the beef is about done add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 mintues.
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium heat for at least 5 minutes (10 minutes optimum)

Makes about 10 servings

Serve over pasta.

For any WW people out there each serving is 4 points. Add one cup of cooked whole wheat pasta, a nice large salad with non-fat dressing and you have a very nice 7 point dinner.

Posted in Cooking | 1 Comment

Here Comes the Sun

Posted on January 22, 2009 by pgold

I don’t hide the fact that I am a Democrat and that I supported Barack Obama from the moment he was the front runner in the Democratic primaries. There are many reasons why I am a Democrat and I am not going to bore anyone with that list here. I do, however, want to make note of a few things (and perhaps some of my reasons for being a Democrat will show through).

First I want to say that although in the end I was very much against everything that Bush said and did, I was not totally in that camp. Clearly when he was running against Al Gore back in 2000 I supported Gore, however, I had more of a wait and see policy. It was very obvious that Bush was and still is a major supporter of Israel and for that I will be forever thankful. I think that due to Bush our Country will, for the foreseeable future, be a very pro Israel country. It was not until the Iraq war that I became totally dissatisfied with the Bush administration. I did give him the benefit of the doubt at first, and I really wish that the Republican right would extend the same courtesy to Obama. Everything I read from the right has been so anti Obama it actually pains me to read it at times.

If you look at Rush Limbaugh’s web site, the top headlines read “Obama Executive Orders put Politics over National Security” and “I want Obama’s Policies to Fail”. And even worse “Greg Craig, Our 44th President.” Obama has spent 2 full working days in office and this is what they have to say. Why can’t they wait and see what things are going to be like before they criticize. Of course I understand that someone like Limbaugh is partly entertainment and that the ultra left may have spouted off similarly when Bush won office. But truth be told, are we better off now than we were 8 years ago when Bush became President? I think the answer is an obvious no, and I would love to hear the reasons why someone would answer yes. Let’s wait and see what happens over the next year. When Bill Clinton became president, things were not in the best of shape, but after eight years in the White House, our country was doing the best it had been in many years.

So to my Republican friends, take a deep breath and wait and see.

Second, I am very excited about Obama’s first executive order, issued on his first full day in office. It spells out an ethics pledge that any new governmental appointee will need to sign. You can read it here.

And third, as to the closing of secret overseas prisons and Guantanamo Bay I am also happy about this. Obama said this afternoon “Our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” to combat terrorism. Where I hear this I am reminded about what Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1775 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

So in honor of the first days of the Obama administration….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUS49XSN6Zs]

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1 week of Weight Watchers

Posted on January 14, 2009 by pgold

So today marks the last day in my first week of Weight Watchers. It has not been too difficult. I have stuck to the plan mostly every day. The hard part of course is on Shabbat when this week we ate at friends houses both for dinner and lunch.

For those not in the know, Weight Watchers works on a point system. You get a certain amount of points a day and each food item has a point value. Doing the online version of WW makes this easy as they have many brand names in their database as well as generic items. You also get an extra 35 points for the week that can be spread out however you want. You don’t have to use them, but for Shabbat it makes things easier. I decided that on Shabbat I would basically not count points. I tried to be reasonable with my eating and food choices, and at the end of the day, I just marked down the extra 35 points. My normal daily allotment is 33 points.

I am pretty sure I have already lost some weight as my pants are now looser. On WW you only weigh yourself once a week and for me that will be tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will have good news to report.

Last night, after a particularly difficult evening with the kids, Marsha and I had not eaten dinner and we were in the mood for soup. I googled 10 minute soup and came up with a few ideas. Here is a recipe that I adapted from one I found (originally from Women’s Day Magazine).

10 Minute Tuscan Tomato Soup

  1. 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
  2. 1 7 oz jar of roasted red peppers (about 2 peppers)
  3. 1 15 oz can of cannellini beans
  4. 1 clove garlic
  5. 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  6. 1 Tbs consommé powder prepared with 2 cups of water
  7. Salt and pepper to taste
  8. ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Rinse beans well and place the first five ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.
Pour into saucepan and mix in the prepared consommé.
Heat on medium high heat for about 5 minutes until soup is almost boiling.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with 1 Tbs of cheese on top.

This came out great! Don’t leave out the cheese as it gives a real creaminess that the soup needs.

Enjoy!

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Jews on TV

Posted on January 13, 2009 by pgold

It’s no surprise that I like Television. In fact, I may like it too much. I watch way too much TV, either from our DVR with my wife or I watch a lot on my computer going to and from work on the train. I noticed a long time ago, as did many others, that the depiction of Jews in Television is not exactly what we are like in the real world. There have been a number of books written on this subject and I do not want to get into a scholarly discussion.

I have actually noticed a decline in the number of Jewish characters on TV these days. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is good because it give us a chance to stop seeing the false depiction of the Jew on Television. It is a bad thing, because it is important for our younger coreligionists to see positive role models on tv who are Jewish.

Of all of the shows I watch regularly (and irregularly) I can come up with six shows that depict Jews, and in each case it is different from the rest. One is a situation comedy (which in the past most Jewish characters were to be found) and the rest dramas.

The comedy is called “The Big Bang Theory“. I happen to think this is one of the funniest shows on television right now and highly recommend it to anyone (especially since there are very few good comedies out there today). The story revolves around two roommates who are both Physicists at a university. One is a child prodigy who has not understanding of the world and the other is a guy who had to come by his accomplishments by really working at it. A pretty girl moves in across the hall and that is where the situation comes from. Surprisingly it is neither of the main characters who are Jewish, but one of their friends. The character of Howard Wolowitz (play beautifully by Simon Helberg who is Jewish) is shown as a 20 something engineer who still lives at home with his mother and cannot get a date. How stereotypical! Truth be told, I have yet to meet anyone like this in real life, and I would imagine that there were more non-Jewish men in their 20s living at home with their mothers than there are Jewish men.

First two drama with Characters who look and sound Jewish but we have not been told if they are or not. In “House” we have Doctor Taub, played by Peter Jacobson (Jewish) who is on Dr. House’s team. As viewers we are pretty sure he is Jewish but there is no proof of this. This is a common thing I have found. We have Jewish Characters and they don’t want to deal with this. I am not sure why they make the character Jewish, but sometimes when a character is around for a while they get to dealing with this. The other one, in the show “Life” (which was created by someone in the grade above me when I was at Solomon Schechter) is the character of Ted Early played by Adam Arkin (Jewish). We think he might be Jewish only because Adam Arkin is Jewish, but you never know.

The next show is a show I fell in love with after just one episode. It is called “Being Erica” and unfortunately you cannot see it on American TV. It is a Canadian show (and by the way they are producing some very good television) and you can download or watch it on the net. The main character, Erica Strange, has spent her life making many mistakes and has many regrets. An odd therapist allows her to go back in time to correct these mistakes and there of course is a lesson at the end of the show. Now I had no clue during the first episode that Erica was Jewish until late in the show, her parents show up at her apartment. Her dad has a tee shirt that says I’m with Moses and he is wearing a small suede kippah on his head. WOW. A Jewish character who perhaps is going to be shown as really Jewish. I am waiting to see. BTW, there was a show called “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” starring Sharon Gless in 1992. Ron Rifkin played her boss and the character was a Shomer Shabbat Jew and on one episode Rosie goes to his home for Shabbat Dinner.

Which brings me to “Brothers and Sisters” starring Sally Field. The show is about the Walker family, a wealthy family where the mom is Jewish and the father (who dies in the first episode) is not. The entire family here is technically Jewish. The only time is ever came into play was one episode where they did the famous Hanukkah Christmas dilemma. I hate that! The worst offending show that ever did this was the otherwise good “Thirtysomething“.

Finally the one shining light on TV today and it took five seasons to get there. Numb3rs is a show about an FBI agent and his Math genius brother who helps him solve crimes, stars not one, not two, but three Jewish actors in the top three roles. Rob Morrow (who also played a great Jewish character in “Northern Exposure“) stars as the FBI agent Don Epps, David Krumholtz as his brother and Judd Hirsh as their father. They did not cover up from the start that they were Jewish, but it was obvious that they had no connection to their religion. In the last few episodes, Don (Rob Morrow) has decided to learn more about his Jewishness by meeting regularly with a Rabbi and going to Synagogue. We’ll see where that goes.

OK, for a guy who promised not to write a dissertation, I sure did a bad job. Sorry for the length, but it has been on my mind.

Enjoy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Honors

Posted on January 9, 2009 by pgold

Yesterday, Avi brought home a perfect report again from school which put him at ten days in a row and he goes on honors. I know that I have mentioned here before, but they break up his school day into ten periods. He can get anywhere from zero to two points for each period. If he has 16 or above for the day the following day will be a green day and if he has 15 or less the following day is a red day. Five green days in a row gets him a pick out of a prize barrel (deck of cards, matchbox car, etc.). 10 days in a row gets honors (I think that for honors it has to be 10 perfect days in a row).

I often speak about the troubles we are having with Avi and the difficulties at home. We often lose sight of the accomplishments that he does achieve. While we may have a long way to go with his home behavior, as far as school in concerned he has moved leaps and bounds from where he was when he was at Schechter last year.

I am very proud of Avi for getting on honors.

Now having nothing to do with Avi or ADHD, I came across this great clip from the movie Hellboy 2. If you are unfamiliar with the character, he is a demon from the underworld that was raised by humans and fights for humanity against the paranormal. It is a comic book and 2 major movies. Anyway, as you might guess he is a no holds barred and rough a macho kind of guy.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAzCPIuUu-s]

Posted in ADHD, Avi | Tagged , , | Leave a comment