HOMEGROWN HOUR - New Music!

Tonight on THE HOMEGROWN HOUR we've got some tasty treats for you!

Steve Levine has been working hard behind the scenes with our friends at JERUSALEM JAMS - and we've got a few tracks from that project (which you'll be hearing much more about very soon) including a song from Noah Solomon and C Lanzbom of Soul Farm titled "Let It All Unwind" (sounds like a good idea, right?)

We'll also hear Y-Love singing "Move On" - another Jerusalem Jams project - boy, the music coming out of this project is awesome!

We've got a track from Noah Lublin called "Nation of Priests" and a special piece from Shoshanna Harrari and Tamar Attias called "Mimkomcha" (Shlomo's Niggun).

We'll also hear some FUN music - Jim Costello's "Shook It In The Sukka" and "Dance Your Tuchas Off" is sure to get you rockin' ... Also we have music from Susan Salidor's "Songs In The Key of Chai" - "What is Peace to You?" and "I've Got Peace in my Fingers." Both Jim Costello and Susan Salidor write songs for children, but hey - we've all got a little inner child within who might want to know how to shake it in the Sukka & have peace in their fingers, right?

We're replaying Paul Robert Thomas' works from "The Lyricist" just because it's so darn pretty, and we'll give Kyra Simone another chance to serve us a "Cup of Coffee."

Topping off our Homegrown Hour - Jerusalem's truly Yerushalmi Home Boy, Dani Meir Maman - sometimes called "the Breslav Jimi Hendrix" - with 3 original tunes (in English!) featuring his signature blazing guitar work. You don't get more homegrown than Dani, although he plays all over the World he calls the Musarra Neighborhood of Jerusalem home and you can hear the wailing of electric guitars coming from his home day and night (except, of course, for Shabbos!)

So much great music, so little time - but enjoy what we've rolled up for you - and don't forget you can send us your MP3 files if you want to share your own Homegrown Music - send them to: radiofreenachlaot@gmail.com - we want to sample your wares!

Festivus For The Rest of Us

OK, it's High Noon in Jerusalem, and I just can't let go of Janis right now - so I think the only cure for what ails the little piece of my heart that hurts thinking about her will be to listen to the full-length audio of the film "FESTIVAL EXPRESS."

If you've never seen the movie, you need to see it TODAY. But if you can't see it today, you can listen to it - all 146 minutes of it! - starting at 12N Jerusalem Time - you won't have wasted your day, not at all!


Wikipedia says:

Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about a 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of the world's biggest rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.^[1][2] The film combines live footage shot during the 1970 concerts, as well as footage aboard the train itself, interspersed with present-day interviews with tour participants sharing their often humorous recollections of the events.
The film was produced by Gavin Poolman (son of the original 1970 film shoot's producer, Willem Poolman) together with John Trapman, and directed by double Grammy Award-winner Bob Smeaton (The Beatles Anthology), with music produced by Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin), and features original footage shot in 1970 by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Peter Biziou (Mississippi Burning, Pink Floyd: The Wall, The Truman Show). The original 1970 footage was filmed by director Frank Cvitanovich. A DVD release followed the film's 2003 theatrical run.

Festival Express was unique among rock festivals - rather than being held in one location, it was staged in three - Canadian cities Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary during the summer of 1970. Montreal was initially to have been the fourth city, but this concert was canceled as the date would have coincided with St. Jean Baptiste Day, and the city felt it couldn't provide adequate security. The idea was that rather than flying in to each city, the musicians would travel by chartered Canadian National Railways train, with the hope of fostering an atmosphere of musical creativity and closeness between the performers. The train rides between cities ultimately became a combination of non-stop jam sessions and partying, fueled by excess alcohol. Among the most memorable scenes depicting these informal jam sessions is a drunken jam featuring The Band's Rick Danko, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, and Janis Joplin.
As the festival was taking place, there was a movement amongst North American youth centering on the notion that rock concerts should be free. As at Woodstock, many kids showed up with no intention of paying the $14 admission. Despite the financial hardship this caused promoters Ken Walker and Thor Eaton, the train continued on, providing a rich environment in which the traveling bands could jam and interact.

In the film, musician Kenny Gradney, who performed with Delaney & Bonnie, commented on the atmosphere during the tour: "It was better than Woodstock, as great as Woodstock was."
The traveling show highlighted several points in the transitioning effects of music in the post-idealism of the late 60s, as large groups of protesters allegedly incited riots in order to get into the shows for free, and the promoters attempted to bring a traveling festival to a host of cities. Even the intervention of various Canadian police forces couldn't reconcile the resulting chaos.
While the promoters took a major financial hit, the tour was still a success, featuring now legendary performances by the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin, and Buddy Guy, among others. The Dead were just transforming their sound from dense, jammed psychedelia to the country/folk harmonies of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty; The Band's performance showed them at the very pinnacle of the their powers; and for Joplin, this would turn out to be one of her last performances, as she died approximately two months later.

Take Another Little Piece of Our Hearts ....

October 4th, 1970 was the day Janis Joplin, age 27, left this World.

How could it be Janis' 40th Yartzeit? And yet it is. We're playing Janis music this morning on Radio Free Nachlaot, but truthfully, it's more than a little bittersweet.

Jerry Garcia wrote "Birdsong" with Janis in mind. "All I know that something like a bird within her sang / All I know she sang a little while and then moved on / Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain..."

We shudder to think of what another 40 years of booze, cigarettes and bad rock-star behavior would have done to her. Janis died when she was only 27 years old and gevaldt, she was already becoming ravaged from the effects of that lifestyle. Like PigPen. Like Morrison (who didn't show the ravages of self-abuse on the outside, but certainly it came out through his insides). Like so many we've loved and lost, they're a long time gone already.

Dear, dear, dear beloved friends and fans, how do we deal with these hard-to-deal-with realities? So much light, so much darkness, so much talent, so much waste ... and so much music left behind. WE'RE the survivors, let's learn the lessons for ourselves and keep what's good and leave the rest to time, memory and the kindness of HaShem, Whose mercies are new every morning ... Great is His Faithfulness!

MAYA IN THE MORNING - Helping Us Through The Post Yom Tov Blues!

Our Special Guest DJ MAYA YAKOBOV is in the House! Every Tuesday 9am - 11am Jerusalem Time, Maya is all about waking you up and getting you going with the best of the best rockin' music from a whole new point of view! This morning Maya will be featuring music from a much funnier source - WEIRD AL YANKOVIC, perhaps you didn't know what a musical genius he is but - you'll find out! Tune in NOW to listen to Maya - and don't forget you can also listen to Radio Free Nachalot on iTunes Radio under the "International/World" Category - any way you listen is good, just don't forget to join us!

When I Get That Feeling I Need Some Musical Healing...

We've got the sickness, which means we've also got the cure. Whatever it is that ails you (or me) - killer virus? Flu? Fever, coughing, stomach pains? Headaches, bodyaches, general achy breaky heart?

So much hurt out there, so little attention paid to the root causes. Whatever is the dis-ease - the "dis" that disrupts the "ease" in which we were meant to live - there is a cure that is both spiritual, emotional and physical. All the potions, oils, tinctures, topical and internal treatments in the World won't be more than a temporary band-aid unless we fix what's really broken - and friends, it all starts with your heart. Not just the beating organ within your chest (although that's VERY important too) but your energetic heart - is it clogged with grief? Are your spiritual arteries constricted with hurts, disappointments, betrayals and disillusionment? Are you all broken on the inside and just patching up what's showing on the outside just to keep going?

Well, well, well, you can never tell.

One thing we do know for sure - when we get that feeling, we need musical healing. Now, more than ever. It's Monday - we're back on our "regular" (ha) seder/order of things - and yet everything is new. Everything you are going to hear on Radio Free Nachlaot today and in days, weeks, months to come is from our hearts to yours - let's open them together and fix what's broken, together.

This morning we're listening to the healing, loving sounds of The Jerry Garcia Band (Warner Theater, Washington 3/18/78) and then we'll have our friend Benzion Eliyahu Lehrer live in-studio with us for a journey through the Hebrew Calendar - we're in-between Parshas Bereshis and Parshas Noach, cusping on Rosh Chodesh marCheshvan, and Benzion has a tale to tell!

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day - musical and otherwise - and check our Facebook Fan Page (If you haven't "Liked" us yet - what are you waiting for?)

We're going to keep playing music and creating original programming, bringing you Torah, and doing it all with love, love, love - for HaShem, for our families and friends and community, for people far and wide who we've never met but whose lives we've touched (and who have touched our lives) by this crazy, wonderful, wild science project called Radio Free Nachlaot - because whatever the sickness is, love is the cure - and to whatever degree you feel not-quite-right ... let us be part of your healing as you are part of ours. We'll all get better and better, together.

"If you get confused, listen to the music play!"

And here are some of the things you'll be able to listen to today on Radio Free Nachlaot:

1pm: Holly Shere's "Wild Earth Shebrew"
1:30pm: Music from Oneg Shemesh
2pm: Music from the Kirtan Rabbi
3pm: Rav Avraham Sutton on the Baal Shem Tov
4:30pm: Music from Eyal Golan
5pm: Repeat of today's class with Benzion Eliyahu Lehrer
6:30pm: Music from Sasha Rose "Creation Song"
7:45pm: Music from Sanjay Mishra & Jerry Garcia
8:25pm: Judy Collins "Paradise" (2010)
9:10pm: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Damn the Torpedoes" (1979)
9:50pm: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Greatest Hits (totally worth listening to, will cure almost any ailment right away just from the pure smooth joy of it!)
11pm: The Black Mountain Boys (Jerry Garcia BEFORE The Grateful Dead) 3/7/64

So listen, Mr. D.J, Keep those records playin....

So, you wonder what the overnight - overmorning playlist is going to be?

Right after we finish exploring Neil Young, and Nils Lofgren exploring Neil Young, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with Bruce Springsteen and Nils Lofgren exploring whatever they were exploring at the Bridge Concert we will hear:

1:00 AM 'ish - all times are 'ish -- The Grateful Dead, 9/20/74 - Paris, France

4:00 - The Grateful Dead the next night, 9/21/74 - Paris, France

6:30 - Paul McCartney - Live from NYC

8:30 - James Taylor and Joni Mitchell - Live from London

9:45 - Carole King and James Taylor live from the Troubador - 2010

10:50 - Carole King and Carly Simon - Live

and then there'll be more, including:

the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Quicksilver Messenger Service, 7 walker, the Dixie Dreggs, a
"Shot of Shlomo" - Shlomo Carlebach (around 4:30), Yonder Mountain String Band, Widespread Panic, Van Morrison's "No Guru, No Teacher, No Method" album, and sometime after 8:00, Lorelai and Steve - Sunday Night Live....

and then you ask? - well more music, of course!!!!

Good Shabbos, Good Shabbos!

It's already Shabbos? Again? - Yes, and it's Shabbos Bereishis. "In the Beginning..."

And so, we begin, and we begin, and we begin again. Shlomo teaches that we know "in the beginning" G-d created the world. Shlomo asks, "What, G-d made bagels and lox, and then created the world?" What we need to know is that Bereishis means - B(eis) - Reishis - 2 beginnings - that nature was created with "the beginning" - the ability to begin and begin again, built in. In the cycle of the seasons, years, and Torah Readings, It's the portion of Bereishis - the time to read about The Beginning. Maybe this is a special time for beginnings, "what do we know?" All I know is that I bless you and you should bless me back that we should always be able to begin again!

Now, after shabbos, refresh your media players, so we can begin again!!!!

until then, Good Shabbos, Good Shabbos!