If you went to any of the 2011 Boston Jewish Music Festival evnts, please take our survey by clicking here.
And while I am still in recovery mode, allow me to share some of the most personally meaningful moments for me as the organizer of this extravaganza. They’re in no particular order.
1. Having a Berklee Performance Center usher who I guess was a 19 year old Berklee student come up to me after the Divine Sparks concert and say, “I’ve heard this music all my life but this is the first time I actually listened to it. Thanks for allowing me to get in touch with my roots.”
2. Getting a handwritten, hand drawn thank you note from a 7 year old klezmer fan who was given free tickets to the Pincus and the Pig program. Trust me, I know first hand, about the financial hardships many in our community are facing.
3. Seeing people, young and old, dancing in the aisles at Yemen Blues.
4. Having an 85 year old life of the party grab my wife at the incredible Roberto Rodriguez Cuban Jewish Purim Party, take her up to the dance floor, saying, “Come on. We’ve got to get this started!” And then having people dance the night away.
5. Having someone from Boylston come up to me and say, “Thanks for bringing an event to Westborough. It is so hard for some of us to get to Boston.”
6. Watching the two youngest members of the Workmen’s Circle Choir sing their hearts out at the incredibly moving commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire program.
7. Hearing how beautiful and successful each of the Kabbalat Shabbat programs were and having rabbis approach Jim and I saying how much they want to be a part of it next year.
8. Seeing an old roommate of mine from 30 years ago at the Kol B’Seder concert. She and her husband drove 2 hours to be there because that was the music that shaped her Jewish summer camp experiences. It was that kind of night.
9. Hanging out in Chinatown with Frank London and some of the other musicians until 3:30 in the morning. Haven’t done that in a LONG time.
10. Seeing how important the Festival is becoming to so many people.
We’ll be adding more posts and video as we recover. Thanks to all who came to the Festival events (we had over 6000 participants this year!). Thanks for your support and encouragement.
Please take the survey linked above.
This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation? Publish your own post here. MORE