Meltdown Time...Wolfman Wolverine Spins Light Poi!

We didn't let a little Wolfman's Brother meltdown get us down this past Saturday night.  Fall Tour is upon us and with The Nunever in town and for his first visit ever meeting Eddie, we purchased the webcast for the Saturday night show.  There is no finer melava malka that I can imagine.

I love that the Hampton Coliseum, where the 1st three shows of the tour took place, is known colloquially as "The Mothership."  Because here we were, in our own house, me being totally the mama and in our own mothership (i.e. our unfinished basement).  I have never seen a show at The Mothership, and I look forward to when my brother in law visits (that would be Reba's husband, who I once referred to as Fluffhead here but I don't think Reba liked that so I will just call him Pesach as that is his Jewish name) he will be bringing me his hard drive so I can copy a show that the Dead did in this same venue in 1989 which many people hold in high regard.  (shoulda woulda coulda that was my senior year of high school why didn't I go down to Hampton then and see this seminal under-the-radar show not even performed by The Grateful Dead but a band that billed themselves as Formerly the Warlocks but everyone knew they were the Dead!?!?  Regret vent of the day complete)

Until then, enjoy a sample from our evening on Saturday night.  It's tough to get through the Wolfman Brother's kvetching, but wait till you see the Wolfman  himself, a total wook and awesome poi spinner.  That kid's gonna shine on Shakedown one day.  And when that day comes, I will kvell like only a heimish hippy chick mama can.

Rachie, I Got a Feelin' We Ain't in Kansas Anymore

This lovely catalog arrived at my Philadelphia suburb door today.  More than a year out of New York City living, and I have never seen Stanley and Saul Zabar looking so geshmak.

From the cover of the Zabars catalog

With all of the stories today of the post-Sandy hard times people are having getting around via mass transit (what?  you're riding around in a Lincoln Town Car?  Escalade?  fuhgetaboutit), I admit I am glad to live in relative ease on the Main Line.  I told my own sister, Reba, just to stay home and don't even consider her 4 hour commute (yes, one-way) from Brooklyn to the Bronx for her pre-grad school course at Lehman College today.

Still, I miss The Big Apple tremendously, and the arrival of this piece of mail from the iconic New York food store brought a huge smile to my face.  I can almost smell the freshly-sliced Jarlsberg.

Favorite Birthday YouTube Video: Altered Images

It is my friend Seth's 40th birthday today, and I just posted my favorite thing to post on friends' Facebook profiles when it is their birthday.  It jazzes up the typical "Happy Birthday."  I mean, c'mon, that is so unoriginal.

FYI, Sixteen Candles was one.of.my.favorite.movies.growing.up.

My sister Reba and I can go on ad nauseum with the quotes.  Naturally, I longed for a Jake Ryan in my life.  Never did happen.  But Stango is way better.


 

Finding the Good Stuff in Lake Placid While on Break from Andover (or Hotchkiss)

My sister, Reba, is confused as to what type of blog this is.

It is a me blog.

And a big part of me is seeking out the good stuff.

I am posting stuff here that I like and hopefully it will all make sense.

We have spent a day in Lake Placid the past couple of years en route to our Adirondack Mountain vacation.  I love the ADKs, having gone to summer camp there.

On Mirror Lake Drive, the main drag in Lake Placid, you are sure to find touristy shops and restaurants.  I believe I found the best one of all, and even on the outside of the store which is called "ADK Outlet" you will not know the goodness unless you go inside.

photo courtesy of the ADK outlet's Facebook page

Awesome oversized patch from ADK Outlet, 2472 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid, NY  12946

There is nothing touristy-cheesy about the ADK Outlet.

Last summer we finally met the proprietor of ADK Outlet.  His name is Tom Dalton.  He played guitar in the store with my children.  He currently has no web site but produces a lot of preppy-inspired reproductions.  Rugbies, felt college banners, vintage-looking college shirts for Syracuse, Michigan and other popular schools.  He himself exudes the prep-school boy ski bum image, though he is well past the school years and is from Upstate New York.  You feel like he is Ralph Lauren (nee Lifshitz)'s long-lost brother. He is doing preppy for cheaper.

Tom lives in China half of the year where his quality goods are produced.  Last summer I purchased some jersey-knit knee-length skirts that I have not found anywhere else.  The quality is is superb.  He embroiders the skirts right on-site.  For those frum readers among you, these are the best comfy "sweatshirt" A-line skirts you will ever find.  They are elastic waist with drawstrings.  They are really the perfect skirt I have been looking for years for.  Colors include:  cobalt blue, black, hunter green, gray.  I sniff a business idea.  Not.

His shop is decorated beautifully with a plethora of vintage collegiate memorabilia including felt pennants, sporting equipment, and Adirondack hiking gear.  If someone blindfolded you and brought you into his store, you would think it was Ralph Lauren.  

This all reminds me that I have never heard "Prep School Hippie" and there isn't even a YouTube since Phish no longer plays it, but here are the lyrics:

Prep school hippie

Or hip school preppie

I can't decide

Should I spend my adolescent days wearing tie dyes or Vuarnets

I can't decide

Big ten kegger at the frat

Or watching Jerry shake his fat

Prep school hippie

Or hip school preppie

I can't decide

I can't wait till I'm 21

Doesn't this give you the hankering to get back to Oak Bluffs?

Bat Mitzvah Necklaces

My sister is a phenomonal jewelry designer using semi-precious stones.   These would make great Bat Mitzvah necklaces.  Contact here here at her Etsy store.

Jazzed about Saucony and How to Properly Pronounce that Awesome Sneaker Company Name

These are the Saucony Grid Lightspeed gym shoes which I purchased yesterday at DSW.   Alas, a quick Google search just now doesn't reveal this most awesome color combo anywhere on the Internet.  Just goes to show ya, the Internet isn't the end all be all.

I recently blogged about Nike, and I think they're a great company.  I initially bought, at DSW, a pair of their pretty well-known shoes from their "Free" line, which look similar to the pair above.

I got sucked in to following the herd (since all the cool kids at the gym wear Frees, I wanted a pair, too and also their ad that I linked to in the recent blog entry where talked a bit about Nike, I am confident will agree it is a great advertisement) and not trusting my instinct.  I was a product of being marketed at!

Over the years I have had numerous pairs of Saucony Jazz.  Black, red, navy, green and yellow, etc.  They are, without a doubt, the most comfortable but cool (some can say hipster, that is fine with me) fun sneaker out there.

Anyway, I got home, put on the Nikes and They.Didn't.Feel.Comfortable.

Saucony always, always, always did right by me, so I persuaded DSW to let me use a $5 birthday coupon which I didn't even have with me but didn't use this year.

Oh, and how to pronounce?

SOCK-A-KNEE

My family's link to the Joyva folks

My paternal grandparents, Martha and Al, ran a business called Almar Paper and Twine in Brooklyn and then later out of Island Park, NY from the mid '40s until 1972.  Growing up and visiting them in Long Beach in my own youth from the late 70s until his passing in the 90s, my Grandpa Al loved telling me what claimed was the story of how the company came to be called Joyva.

But first, some background.




this image belongs to Joyva and I am putting it here simply for some cultural context.




Grandpa Al grew up with the Radutzky brothers in Brooklyn.  As boys, they played handball and stickball.  When I spoke with my father today to ask how my Grandpa came to barter with them, he said simply,  "they were boyhood friends."  It doesn't get much more clear as that.

Almar supplied Joyva with kraft paper, gum tape, boxes, and other various packing supplies.  In exchange, the Radutzkys told Grandpa Al to take what he'd like:  Halva, sesame candies, and, large 50 gallon bags of popcorn produced for wholesale distribution.   At the beginning of my parents' marriage, my mother recalls  seeing the signature round cylinders of halva in her in-laws fridge in Long Beach

Grandpa Al claimed that the name Joyva came from the heavyness of that huge block of halva.  When lifting it, the Radutzkys would say, "Oy-vey" and repeat it over and over until it morphed into Joyva.  I mean, who in their right mind would buy a candy whose brand was Oy-vey?  Saychel, (intellect, in Yiddish) they had!

Me with Grandma Martha and Grandpa Al, Proprietors of Almar Paper & Twine, Spring 1973

As I was a Journalism student at  Brandeis University at the time, I was skeptical about the truth of this story.  I had a tremendous thirst for consumer knowledge at that time and was in the habit of writing letters of both praise and criticism to companies whose products I used.  I interned in consumer reporting, opened the mail for Joan Hamburg at WOR Radio and covered various consumer stories for Susan Wornick at WCVB-TV in Boston.   I wrote a letter to Joyva requesting clarification.

What I received in response to my letter was a very wonderful, friendly phone call from the senior Radutzky family member who was running the business at the time.  I do not have the original letter nor his response (my mistake for not being a better archivist)  No, he didn't know my Grandpa, didn't recall the family name or business name at all, and no, the company wasn't called Joyva for the reasons I had been told.  (This is not surprising).  The Joyva name camed from a blend of two names of family members (again, I am forgetting what those names were...perhaps Joy and Valeria?  No, surely it was something else.)

Mr. Radutzky was fully entertained by my letter and very appreciative that I reached out.  And the swag.  Oh the swag.  Not only did I get ring jells, but sesame candies, marshmallow twists, and more.  What a mentsch this man is, let me tell you!

You would think the story is over, but it is fully alive and has taken on a new chapter.

While at the Phish shows a couple of weeks ago (when will I move past it?  Oh no, I will never move past Phish, the best in the music business!), I had a full day in the city alone.  Sans children.  Just me, myself and I.  Naturally, Economy Candy was on my list of places to hit up, in addition to lunch at B & H Dairy and Vegetarian Restaurant located at 127 2nd Avenue (if you have been reading carefully in the last week or so you can see why it was meant to be that I attended that restaurant...the location address of 127 being a very special number for me).

Here is the excellent split pea soup I ate:

I lamented how there exists no longer the most amazing Peppermint Park, which was an ice cream parlor with various locations in Manhattan, including one in front of Madison Square Garden where a Chase Bank currently is located.  It is there, before Rangers games, where we would get Joyva ring jells and other candies.

And Gem Spa's prices for ring jells, according to my sister Reba Magdelene, were up to 35 cents a piece!  I hoofed it down to Economy Candy to get my beloved candy (which I tried pushing on PurpleGirl, since they were "purplish" in the middle.  Instead, I picked up a bag of razzles for her since she was looking for a New Year's outfit that day with a lot of dazzle), which ended up costing an average of .18 cents a piece. 
Earlier in the day I was chatting with my jeweler (Stango is buying me a gorgeous ring for our 10th anniversary which just passed) who told me that she is an owner of an Economy Candy t-shirt.  I questioned where she might wear said shirt, and she couldn't quite give an answer.

Somewhere along the way, I wondered if anyone would wear a Joyva t-shirt.  To my knowledge, they don't exist.  Reba said it would be a tight market.  I would only do it with permission, after all, they do own the Trademark design.  I even mentioned a Joyva t shirt idea to Jerry at Economy, and even though he was so busy with the Xmas week crowd, all he had to say a full shrug off of my idea, "but I have an Economy Candy t-shirt."  Like, why would *anyone* want to buy a Joyva shirt?


Because of the iconic image of the Turkish Man With a Moustache!   Everyone but everyone knows this image.  Iconic for us Jews (and non Jews, too, I would imagine, but really for the Jews, us small numbers we are and yet for whatever reason, call it saychel if you want, we manage time and again to churn out the big time).

But, actually, I am not looking to make a Joyva t-shirt. 
Which leads me to putting on my list of things to do:  contact Joyva with my proposal which I have not revealed here because I am not putting out my proprietary ideas on the Internet, despite only having 5 followers and therefore I should think no one is going to see this, and yet I still like to keep my ideas close to the vest.

(note to self:  this is QUITE the good timing...

Talk to us about hosting 100 Years of Joyva!



The NY Food Museum celebrates a century of Brooklyn’s own halvah and candy manufacturer, still family-owned and run after four generations. See giant pillows of sesame honey crunch, perfect oh’s of chocolate coated jellies, and the magical ways of tahini! Tell us your candy stories.


212-966-0191
e: nyfoodmuse@gmail.com )


Might I put in yet another plug for Jade, which is that on 12/31 she was wearing her Turkish hamsa evil eye (which is fully from the Jewish tradition) which looks like this:

you can purchase this at http://www.lakshmicircle.com.au/

Connected on yet another level to the Turkish segula for me that exists in this Joyva story, as I have a business idea that stems from this, and I hope that this will give me the hizuk to see it through


Anyway, I hope you liked my Oy vey story. Big shout out to Elmont, NY where Beth David Cemetery is located along with Grandpa Al and Grandma Martha buried there with about half of New York's grandparents and ancestors.




Is it strange that I recently shared a shabbat dinner table with a Gutterman? (he is dating my sister-in-law's cousin). No, it isn't a strange design because everything happens for a reason..

Loony's prediction and Wedding Shtick with some Phish Shtick

At our shabbes lunch table yesterday, our guests brought up the subject of predictions.  They spoke of all the talk in the air regarding various doomsday theories, that people are talking about the stars and planets aligning, and of one individual who was "nutty and weird" but able to predict occurances on specific dates.

I decided to speak up.

No, things aren't doomed, things are going to bloom!

I decided to throw out the number about which I have recently blogged:  127.

So, I thought, how could I get a date out of 127?  So, I did it like this (in the American date system):  1/27.  I said "January 27th!"  And the guests somewhat got freaked out, "no, please not then, that is our son's bar mitzvah!"

Still, I got the date right on the mark.  And I was saying that my number would point towards a good thing, not a doomsday thing.  But perhaps there was miscommunication.

So I then reworked the date.  How about 12/7.  Something significant will happen on that date.

And this leads me to my Phish prediction.

Let me preface this by stating I never very much got into the statistics element of the Phish scene.  In my newbie years I glanced at various different charts, but I often viewed this hobby more of a guy thing, sort of like how a Fantasy sports afficianado would be interested in statistics.

And here is where my reliance on a combination of actual life experience, gematria (Jewish numerology), being open, and intuition gets me to the date of December 7, 2012.

This date on the Jewish calendar is a Friday.   Nope, my prediction won't happen on a Friday night.  So, in way, you might say, ok, Loony, you are wrong.

Here is where gematria, which is Jewish numerology, comes into the scene.

Just add the number one to that date and you get to December 8, 2012.

That date is my prediction for when Phish will play a gig in the State of Israel.

Perhaps I should end there, but I would like to take this opportunity to offer some background and why I think they will play in Israel.

You should know about the "Stango-Loony Affair," which is Stango's reference to our courtship and marriage, and still applies to this day.

We were married on the 1st night of Chanukah on December 9, 2001.  This holiday is also called the Festival of Lights.  It occurs during the darkest period of the year and each night with each additional candle, greater light is brought into the world.  That we were married on the first night is significant.  I also learned recently that I was born on the day before Chanukah (24 Kislev 5733), which ties into our connection to the light.

This year December 8th is the first night of Chanukah (which as stated above is my Jewish anniversary).

It will our 11th anniversary.

Remember, there is an extra 1 from 127 to 128  (12/7, or December 7th , and 12/8, December 8th)?

Phish is not my religion.  Judaism is.  I am what Stango calls an "ultra unorthodox" Jew.  For all intents and purposes, though, I am pretty well connected to practicing and living traditional Judaism.  I observe shabbat, eat kosher food, and follow laws of Jewish family purity just to start.  I also love the band Phish.  I admire their "remarkable musicianship" which is how Jon Pareles described their talent in last week's NY Times Sunday Arts section.

They are the it band when it comes to rock-n-roll.  Among others, I have seen The Who, The Stones, Robert Plant, and Billy Joel.  Phish is light years ahead.  You just can 't compare.  I happen to really like the jamband vibe.  I recognize that not everyone does.  I feel that Phish plays music amazingly.  I like that they are under the radar, and not highly played on the radio.  They are fun and upbeat.  The music is great.

I recognize communal experience that people love to experience when going to shows, myself included.  I have never met any of the band members, but the symbiotic relationship between them and their fans is quite evident when you observe the scene at a live show.

Back to the gematria, I bring your attention, once again, to the School House Rock tune "Three is a Magic Number."






Here is my original discussion on why I connect to this song.

Ok, so keep in mind that 12/8 is my 11th anniversary.
And it is 1 more than a favorite number 127.
So, go to :46 seconds of the above-listed YouTube.
You will see the Roman numeral for 3 , which is III
And who in the band is a III?   (Trey)
And III is Roman numerals, and in Israel there is a Roman-built amphitheater

Last year, friends of mine who also like Phish went to Israel for a family trip.  I viewed their photos online.  At that point the seed was planted that Phish should play in Israel, and what better place than Caesarea.

More gematria:

Add up 1+2+7, you get 10.
Add that answer, 1+0 you get one.  And that one leads you back to the extra one that got us there in the first place.  And you need that 1 to add to 127 to get to 128 which is the target date I am predicting.  Judasim is based on a One source (and not  a trinity as referred to in the School House Rock song).
Now, take the word "one" and translate it into Hebrew,
you get the word "echad"
take the numeric value of the alef, chet, and daled

alef      1
Chet:  8
Daled:  4

add those up and you get 13.

Which is the age of Bar mitzvah when most American Jew culminate their Jewish education and, unfortunately, miss out on the opportunity to learn about the richness of our heritage.  Don't think standard Hebrew school curriculum includes a unit on gematria.

And there are a lot of those kind of dudes at shows.

There is a famous quotation, "If you will it, it is no dream."

I don't think I am far fetched at all.

When/If Phish plays on the first night of Chanukah such immense light will be distributed there (with the assistance of Chris Kuroda), on a night when in Jewish history light is so powerful and was representative of the saving on the Jewish people from persecution by the Syrian-Greek army.   Stango and I would make every effort to be there, since we take very seriously the implications of getting married on that night.  And since this is a huge dream of mine, that Phish should play in Israel.

Stango dressed up as The Man in the Red Suit at our wedding 1st night of Hanukah  

In a real combination of playfulness and reality and awareness that there is something larger than me working here, I write in complete earnest that this should happen.

Oh, you wanted more wedding photos?
Here ya go!

Stango's got the grooves!
Stango is King of our Wedding, as all Jewish men are at their weddings.  And the brides are the Queens.  It is a beautiful sight to behold, the traditional Jewish wedding.  Learning about it is what inspired me to want to know more about traditional Judaism during college.

After our  chuppah wedding ceremony.  We both broke a glass.  Yep,  Ultra UnOrthodox.

And just 18 months ago, the Ultimate Wedding  Phish Shtick (Reba and Phluffhead/P. Zitty also had a traditional Jewish wedding which many pholks there never saw) with the Nunever in a handmade by Loony frock (I had no clue that people were doing this or that the Phish organization was selling stuff like this), me in Reba's old tour days Care Bears dress that was collecting dust in the attic, and Reba herself being completely entertained, as she well should be at her own wedding.  What a life-long memory!  ~~~Yay yay yay~~~

Lately I have been listening to "New Speedyway Boogie," by the Grateful Dead for which I have Bob Lefsetz to thank for pointing out.    (I think his music analysis is top-notch).

This was very much an under-the-radar song for the Dead, and yet the lyrics ring true in relationship to Phish playing in Israel.

"One way or another, this darkness got to give."

Oh, by the by.  This Uno card was "randomly" in a junk pile in our house this weekend (I have been in a huge organize/clean-up phase).  After the NYE show, PurpleGirl tried pawning off a mini Uno card with the number 8 on it; she was arguing how great it was because it represented infinity.  She's onto something.

Because everything is Uno.


n.b.:  added 1/9/11  I feel compelled to add that when all of these thoughts were happening was last week it was the weekly Torah portion of Vayechi.   I can't go into a full analysis right now, that is what Stango is good for, but in a nutshell:  Jacob (Stango's namesake, actually, no this isn't a joke!) blesses each of his twelve sons which become the 12 tribes, he dies and is brought to the Holy Land, buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. His son Joseph also dies in Egypt [yes, they both died in Egypt...keep the Dead in Egypt and bring the living fish (the Jewish people) to the Holy Land] but isn't buried in Israel until much later.

Mr. T...I certainly don't pity da fool

Of course I loved "The A Team" growing up in the 1980s, but I am not talking about that Mr. T.

Over the NYE run of shows, this holiday magnet card landed in my hands from a member of the Whole Phamily, Ms. A.  This is her son, let's call him Mr. (or, really, since he is a young boy, Master) T.

Thank you for this lovely message.  The dancing stars, the cute boy with the long hair (my very own Wolfman used to also have long hair), the purple.  Ms. A has known the original PurpleGirl for years and years.

However Reba and I were just having a discussion about how the classic "Happy Hannukah" has devolved into the more generic Happy Holidays.  There was a discussion on Kveller  regarding the sending of cards by Jews at this time of year rather than at Rosh Hashana, which is the more traditional time to send cards.

For Stango and I personally, we have made it a custom to follow the Jewish calendar and send out a card with a phamily photo in September.

By saying Happy Holidays, there is a watering-down of the message.

Trust me, Ms. A, I am not blaming you, it is just a sign of our culture.  Even my alma mater (for Junior year abroad), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, sent out an end-of-year solicitation with the words "happy holidays" in the subject line. I was pretty appalled that an overtly Jewish institution would be so generic, but Stango justified it by stating they didn't want to offend anyone (particularly their big donors).

I fully understand that we all have phine phine phriends, many of whom don't celebrate Hanukkah and therefore why would I wish them a happy hanukkah?  Yet, on the flipside, pretty much everyone out there wishes everyone a "Merry Xmas."

Isn't that a double standard?

Time to step up to the plate as proud, educated and identified Jews!  You, Reba, are clearly one of them.  And how nice it was of you to order a Shabbes dinner for Phluffhead's dad who is currently hospitalized.  Can you pass on a refuah shlaima to him from Stango and me?

Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton

Like many kids raised in the '80s, Reading Rainbow, the award-winning PBS show that encouraged children to read by mixing in great music, child book-readers, and funky animation, was a staple. More so for my sister, Reba, who was born in 1980, since this show began its run in 1983, and ran through 2006, but I enjoyed particularly the opening sequence. The song, sung so beautifully by an awesome soulful female vocalist, is ingrained in my memory forever.


 

 thank you www.retrojunk.com for allowing me to post that YouTube. You get full credit for posting that on YouTube. It belongs fully to you. But all ideas going forward regarding why I am blogging about Reading Rainbow are mine.

 Further to Mr. Burton:  He is great, and yet I must admit I still have never seen Roots, which also made him famous. And I digress.

 Back to Reading Rainbow. What does this have to do with the WholePhamily? The first two nights of Phish's NYE run at MSG last week, December 28 and 29th 2011, I happened to visit one of my favorite tables as of late, the Waterwheel Foundation. Gotta give it to those guys for recognizing the value and need for such an organization within their larger for-profit venture.

 I love seeing what products are there. Last summer I saw a fantastic photo from their NYE show at MSG in 1995 when all of the huge white balls came down. I joked with the seller that it was all "about the visuals" (thank you Stango for feeding me those verbal ideas and so humorously, too). He laughed. But the price...$600 or so...I mean, for me personally I am not into Phish memoirbilia, though it was lovely to invoke that real experience I had (Mik the Fish and I sat directly behind the stage I think in section 69 and those huge balls all came rolling back towards us, it was really a sight to see).

 Back to last Thursday... I saw a phantastic sticker that said "Read the Book" with a rainbow underneath it. Clearly, if you didn't know much about Phishisms, you wouldn't get it. When I mentioned this to Stango he had no idea what the reference was. But if you have the cultural background, you know that it is a direct reference to LeVar Burton's Reading Rainbow, and you felt happy because it created a link between a happy childhood memory and the HPB

 aka the Helping Phriendly Book.

 At this moment I have Lizard's in my brain. Go figure  (hamayvin yavin...translated:  if you get it, you get it, more literally it means, "those who understand will understand"  If I could only say that about the 613, the taryag, then I would be getting somewhere.  Which reminds me of how much I LOVE seeing a Phish show at MSG and through the show glancing up about the stage at the Horowitz jersey...613.  Stango or Nunever said that this was likely done on purpose...I mean, it ***is*** New York, after all!  But at a Phish show, well...kal v'chomer, dude!!!).   I won't make you go searching...613 refers to the number of commandments in the Torah.  And taryag is the numerical equivalent...so when people refer to the 613 mitzvot, they will often say, "the taryag mitzvot."


 

Because everything happens for a reason, it is apropos that the particular link that I chose comes from a show that I believe I was at (I only doubt this because I am too lazy to see if they were in Amherst on 10/24/10 for just that one night or two)...by the way, what a terrific venue. Nunever, Stango and I truly had a lovely time at the show. Thanks Nunever for a smooth ride up to Northampton in your beemer station wagon which you know I love driving.

 Back to Gamehenge, it is a made up story, which I know indeed was a document written for a college paper (thesis, right?), but it is rooted in great truths (something like being a good person and always looking towards the light).

Speaking of truth, a big shout out to Brandeis University whose motto is "Truth, Even Unto its Innermost Parts."  As a Brandeisian, I can safely offer up a thank you to Louis B himself (pronounced Looey...again, hamayvin yavin) for being a Supreme Court Justice in the first place so the Jewish community could have a person after which to name a university.  And a phine university it is.  With most excellent research phacilities and phaculty.

Emet = truth

Oh, and a hearty mazal tov upon the recent appointment of the school's new president, Frederick Lawrence, and a baruch dayan emet to the family of Evelyn Handler, the school's 5th president who was niftar in a fatal car crash.  See, President Handler, despite the fact that you succeded in getting the Hebrew letters that spell emet off of the school's crest in the 1980's (they were later reinstated.  I mean, c'mon, even Yale has Hebrew on its crest.  It is a classic language!), as Jews we still respect our tradition when you are gone and include that word when acknowledging your passing into the next world (is it olam haba when you die?  I do not have the answer to that, but I think not.  Not until moshiach comes.  Oh, right, yes I forget, t'chiat hamaytim.  So, indeed, yes Mrs. Handler you are simply in another place right now.  Who knows, maybe you are kvelling over me right now because I am the only person who has chosen to include you in her blog  And what a blog this is, all the cool kids who drink yummy juicy beverages and Kool-Aid like to read this.  But in Loony's case, it is actually the real Kool-Aid (which I won't drink any more due to food coloring.  Actually, that isn't so true.  I would still drink it.  Just as a special occassion type thing), but not the Timothy Leary type.

Back to the song Lizards, "The trick was to surrender to the flow" always gets a big cheer, but in real life I would say to go with the flow, and just always go with it.  That is what the original PurpleGirl encouraged me to do (I say original because you have many women at shows who like to wear purple, which I think is so terrific, but there is only one and one and only original PurpleGirl at Phish shows.

And she is my very, very , very, very, very, very good phriend.  Yep, we go wayyyyyyyy back.  This is true!

 Though I do give a big shout out to Mik the Fish for schooling me in the wonders of The Color Purple.

(not to be confused with the film that Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg star in)

By the time Saturday night rolled around and Stango came to that show, I wanted him to come with me to the Waterwheel table, and lo and behold, no stickers left (I was so willing and ready to purchase one for the Odyssey). They were donated by someone to Waterwheel and were being sold for $5. Great, awesome, but ya know what, I didn't need that anyway.

The WholePhamily's stuff isn't being donated to Waterwheel, sorry folks.  But (shameless shameless plug here...) we can trade our swag for laminates  (yes, a girl can dream, right?  As if!  I mean, that is the type of thing for very important people type stuff and who am I if not l'il Loony)  for me, Nunever, Stango, Reba and Phluffhead (since they are so central to the WholePhamily despite the fact that Reba thinks I am totally off my rocker for talking on and on about the ganse mishpucha at shows.  Actually Stango does, too.  And Nunever.  ok, ok, yeah, this is all going way too far.  Truth be told, I uttered not *once* about this concept during the NYE run, since I really don't want to get into anyone's faces and I know everyone is there just to have a real good time.  But for all intents and purposes, that is my real family at the shows.  Even though Nunever and I aren't blood, we are like brother/sister.  And not like I call Reba and Phluffhead that in real life, and anyone who knows about the Stango-Loony affair knows that when Stango was only Stango it wasn't really a good thing, yet.)

But, as I determined in the middle of the night last night  (indeed, I am writing this on less than 2 hours sleep last night, and I realize of course that I am sacrificing my family's needs right now by blogging and not doing the stuff I need to get done, now *that* isn't good, is it?), I would really be super satisfied if my laminate was numbered 127, as that is a very special number to me very near and dear to my heart.  I know this is a really tall order so if I am being totally high maintenance right now, I will tone it down a few notches.  Okay, okay, it really doesn't have to have that number.  But wouldn't that be fun?!

Oooh, which reminds me, did you see me wearing my purple fleece "fun hat" at the show the other night?  What a score that was from Amsterdam in 2002 (my 30th birthday/1 year anniversary trip with Stango, and boy, what a trip that was!  Life changing in certain ways.  That's where we met the Ninja Rebbe.  But about him another time...)

Next time you're in Syracuse, go visit 127 Fayette Boulevard.  You will start to begin to understand some of the connections.  (just remind me that it has to do with sarah imeinu)  As well as my own mother Soroh Gittel herself [hi mom!  Don't you have mah jongg today, or is that on Tuesdays?  I can't really remember your schedule, sorry! ]

I decided last night that when I get together the swag for the WholePhamily, I will be keeping it close to my own ganse mishpucha (though Reba has stated she doesn't wear shirts to a show as a crew, and I agree this is not really my style either; I was never one to want to draw attention to myself), because I must admit,  it is a pretty darn good idea.

If you are a Phishhead.
And you are a phamily person.
Who likes to say phantastic and outrageous..
And the Phliers. (ok, ok, I know it is Fliers)
And is philosophical.
And phriendly.
and phirst and phoremost,
   an honest and decent human being who wants to do good, be good, follow the derech ha tov  (the good path), and be modest while being clear about her point.

Talk about verbosity!

So, here's what I have to say to you, Title 17 of the United States Code: Phishheads have disregard for you in the lot scene/popular culture element of seeing shows. (I really didn't want to have to elaborate here, but to clarify, we are referring to Copyright law.)  And that is all good because without that we wouldn't have a forum where the ideas can flow freely and disburse throughout the world.

 But not Loony. My idea I will be carrying out asap and I will own it and wear it proudly.  But maybe just around town.  Or, even better, if we can lobby Stango and the Nunever to go to Mountain Jam, that would be the place to debut the shirt in public.  Cuz me really has been jonesin' to get a karma wash!  That looks fun and good for the kinderlach, too!

Heady lot shirts

All you Phishheads know that a certain segment of the culture at shows is the creative t-shirts that people wear.  A mocking reclamation of corporate America, the shirts often display common brand images that have been morphed into insider song references.  Like Art Spiegelman's Wacky Packages created for Topps Bubble Gum, they are meant to be humorous and fun.  The difference is that Wacky Packages were mainstream as well as very dark.  You  could go into any place where they already were selling baseball cards (in my case, it was Cedar Heights Variety store...I still remember that blended smell of tobacco and gum and walking on a hardwood floor) and get Wacky Packages.  Shirts aren't generally sold in any commercial venue.  And Wacky Packages were warped and weird...dare I say they were wacky.  Phish lot shirts are more fun, light, and happy, happy happy.  

Unless you look carefully, you probably don't even realize that a Phish t shirt is different than the original.  Sure, it is in clear violation of Title 17 of the United States Code, but who the heck really cares?  The big corporations have bigger phish to phfry than to go after those folks who created the "YEM" t-shirt that looks like the IBM logo.  But, you still won't be able to see it or buy it online because we be smart pholks and know that would be pretty darn silly to post online!

It is all in good fun and happiness, and chances are that those YEM shirt wearers are big fans of International Business Machines, or more likely their own fathers worked for big blue and enabled them to have a nice house in Larchmont which enabled them to get into a good school which enabled them to be enabled and enabled and enabled and fall into listening to Phish (because most likely they were a huge computer nerd or stats guy or sports fan who by their very nature are stats guys) which led them to love You Enjoy Myself (because of course when you are in Florence and visit the Uffizi you are happy to know you know this song...or the flipside could be that you , and this would be my own personal experience, had visited the Uffizi during college and had no clue about this song at that time, and only later did you learn the song and come to appreciate its funniness).

I must admit that a very fun past time of mine over the years has been to observe all the variety of shirts out there.  I am not alone in this game...my brother in law told me of an awesome shirt riffing on the Re/Max logo which has the familiar hot air balloon with the word Reba in it.  Only a phan would get that.  (Reba is a Phish song)

This is not unique to Phish:  The Grateful Dead also had its own t-shirt culture.  My very own husband, Stango, had a shirt based on the song "Cosmic Charlie" which featured Snoopy and Charlie Brown.  After viewing its stained pits and holes, I decided that it was worth a shot on selling on ebay, and somewhere around 2002 I sold it to a person in Japan for somewhere around $75.  Yes, for a stained-pit t-shirt.

That's right, the women are smarter

We have talked about Rosh Chodesh once so far on this blog.  What we didn't mention there was the reason for why women were given the holiday of the Jewish New Moon as a gift of their own.  The Jews were getting antsy and had the shpilkas.  Familiar story?  We are so anxious and nervous and chatty and just don't know how to wait and listen.  See Woody Allen for more on that.  Anyway, yeah so we just couldn't wait any more when Moses was up on Mount Sinai getting the holy words of the Torah from God.  Believe it or not, but the story goes that they decide to build an edifice of their own.  Forget you, God, essentially is what they were saying, and they built the Golden Calf.  All the gold they had was thrown in to the bubbling pot.  They danced and sang around their very own creation.  Better than waiting, right?

Umm...wait a second, throw in your precious jewelry?  To build an idol?  A God-like symbol?

No, no, said the women.  We will not part with our adornments!  What foolish women would do such a thing?  Not us Jewesses.  No way!  We keep our jewels, God or not.

So the women kept their gold and their mirrors.  They had patience.  They knew that God would eventually deliver.  Just take a deep breath and rely on your intuition.  And, indeed, Moses eventually appears with the written words.  The women are gifted the holiday of the New Moon.