Our calendar’s been a bit screwy, as has our server as of late, so I’ve been lax in stocking the calendar with upcoming events. We’re actually moving to a new server on Tuesday so once that’s all up and running, hopefully my work will be uninhibited. In any event, here’s what’s going on:
Tonight at 9PM at Matchless Bar (557 Manhattan Ave/Driggs, Williamsburg), is Hasid Meets Hipster, a musical mifgash between “trendy Brooklyn”‘s divergent cultural communities. This week’s installment features Rachel Lipson, Purple Organ, Yoku Kikuchi, the Wowz and Turner Cody.
This week at Hebrew U is the 14th Annual World Congress of Jewish Studies, in which “The latest innovations in the world of Jewish Studies will be presented in 5 fascinating days with more than a thousand lectures of the leading researches from Israel and from the world.” For more information, click here.
This weekend is the annual Queer Shabbaton in Amsterdam. “During this weekend we will focus on spirituality, history, politics and creativity. By means of workshops and discussions led by international authorities in various fields, we will interpret the rich and diverse traditions in which our ‘identities’ are rooted. Through close reading, we will discover and formulate discourses within Jewish tradition and history that enable us to question normalized presumptions about gender, sexuality and identity. How Jewish are these concepts of criticism, change and gender-play? Through these alternative discourses within Jewish tradition, we will also try to formulate a specific queer Jewish consciousness.” Guest speakers include Rabbi Elisa Klapheck, Zeek editor and Nehirim founder Jay Michaelson, Lawrence Schimmel, and Daniel Boyarin among others. For more info click here.
August 21st brings us the Yidstock festival, a full day of Orthodox-friendly Jewish rock, featuring Soul Farm, The Moshav Band, Yossi Piamenta, and, as you all know, my personal favorites, Blue Fringe and Beyond Eden. Order tickets online from Ticketweb.
The Burning Man festival is just under a month off, and “the Jewish burners” are rarin’ for the resurrection of The Black Rock City JCC — a Jewish encampment which offers Shabbat services and meals, and Jewish learning opportunities to Burning Man’s reluctantly-Jewish pagan hoardes. For more info about the encampment, or to get involved, join the Jewish Burners group on Yahoo.
August 29, Mimaamakim returns to J-town for an evening of English poetry and short fiction at T’mol Shilshom. Co-sponsored by Corner Prophets. More details coming soon.