Regina Spektor is out with another album, her first in four years, and the indie queen is in fine form with an album up to her usual standards: deeply thoughtful and emotional, a bit experimental, but all the while still playful, quirky, and melodic.

It’s no secret that Spektor’s complex Jewish identity (her family left the Soviet Union when she was a child) informs her work; this is often overt, from songs exploring Biblical themes (like the beautiful “Samson“), to moments like her cover of “Eli, Eli.” This new album is less explicit in its influences, but they’re no less present.

For starters, it’s entitled Remember Us To Life.

If that title sounds familiar to Jewish listeners, it’s because it’s a refrain during the High Holy Days (“Zochreinu L’Chaim” in Hebrew), when we await God’s annual judgment of each individual, and express both hope and fear for the coming year. Similarly, Spektor’s new album, released immediately before the High Holy Days began this year, struggles with ideas of justice, mortality, and the harsh passage of time.

At moments, the album seems to evoke “Unetanneh Tokef,” the part of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur liturgy in which worshippers question who will die in the coming year, and by what methods (Leonard Cohen took this on directly in his song “Who By Fire“).  In “Tornadoland,” for example, Spektor looks death in the face, one’s end as a classic act of God. The song’s refrain is: “Everybody’s time has come/It’s everybody’s moment, except yours.” The holidays that make us face our individual mortality in a huge group often bring up thoughts of not only your demise, but that of everyone around you.

In other cases, Spektor uses this time of year to express not an immediate anxiety, but an ongoing melancholy about the years slipping by in several songs, such as “The Visit,” which could be read from the perspective of an elderly woman looking back on her life.

Every Jew, regardless of their personal belief, has considered on the High Holy Days the unfairness of praying for a favorable fate (i.e. not dying) based on the year’s previous performance, as well as present repentance. If only the wicked or unrepentant died in the ensuing year, the world we live in would look far different. Spektor seems to express this in “The Trapper and the Furrier,” where she explores the world’s injustices, summing up: “What a strange, strange world we live in/Where the good are damned and the wicked forgiven.”

While these songs are largely metaphor,”Sellers of Flowers” is more literally autobiographical, in which Spektor summons a memory of walking with her father through a Soviet marketplace, and notes that the flowers alive despite the cold are still doomed (If not “Who By Fire,” then a sort of “who by ice”).

In a recent conversation with NPR about her new album (and on becoming a mother!), Spektor said:

“To explore Judaism for the first time — it was really hushed in the Soviet Union and I knew I was Jewish, but we didn’t get to celebrate any of the holidays really, or know anything about our culture.”

While this album is universal in its themes, its timing and title are reminiscent of the heritage Spektor reclaimed in the United States. She recently remarked to Reddit how the album’s release date is a happy coincidence, and how yes, its name came to her during a Yom Kippur service.

“I think that people’s culture and heritage are such a great part of who they are,” she wrote, “They of course come through art.”

Remember Us To Life shows she has the capacity to both love and fear the High Holy Days with ambivalence.  As we already knew, she caught on Jewish culture just fine.

Finally, the deluxe edition of this album includes a song titled “New Year.” While the lyrics do reference a midnight countdown and Times Square, signs of a Gregorian event, for an album released in the early fall, what other new year could she be referring to than 5777?

Images via Wikimedia

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One of our favorite musicians, Regina Spektor, is a officially a mom. The Russian-born singer-songwriter opened up about parenthood on her Facebook page earlier today, describing her son as “super CUTE!!!” The short missive was written in her typically effusive, fun style, and signed “mama regi & papa jack.” (Spektor’s husband is musician Jack Dishel, who performs under the moniker Only Son.) There was no mention of the baby’s name or date of birth.

Spektor was nominated for a Grammy Award earlier this year for “You’ve Got Time,” the catchy Orange is the New Black theme song, but didn’t attend the awards ceremony because she was too pregnant to fly.

Mazal tov to the new parents!

Related: Regina Spektor Opens Up About Life in the Former Soviet Union

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A sach mentshen zehen, nor vainik fun zai farshtai’en: Many people see things but few understand them.

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21—FEBRUARY 20):

Ruled by wild and erratic Uranus, Aquarians are associated with inspiration and originality. Your symbol, the water-bearer, is a bit misleading—you’re not, in fact, a water sign, but rather an air sign. But unlike fellow air signs Libra and Gemini, Aquarius is a fixed sign, meaning you possess the intellectual acumen and curiosity of the others but aren’t nearly as mercurial.

Aquarius is also the sign of contradictions. Before the discovery of Uranus in 1781, Saturn was your ruler, representing order and conformity. Uranus, with its unusual rotation and orbit, rules rebellion, risk, and individuality. The planet is associated with invention and innovation, as well as a latent ability to perceive the future—which is what it means to be at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

Aquarians are patient, intuitive, devoted, and dependable, yet drawn to the unconventional. Your clear-headed determination and knack for reason make you an excellent reformer. But your detachment from your emotions and dispassionate approach to relationships—as well as your keen memory for detail—often cause you to hold grudges. Your understanding of human nature runs the risk of being purely intellectual. Feh!

The new moon in your sign on February 9 favors innovation, exploration of the unknown, and experimentation. With Saturn in retrograde from February 18 until July 8, consider reexamining any outmoded ways of thinking and dealing with unfinished business—you can do so much more than you thought possible. The love planet Venus is in your sign until February 25th, so expect the thrills of freedom and independence. You might not find your beshert in time for Valentine’s Day, but some trial and error may be enough to awaken those dormant romantic impulses.

Famous Aquarius Jews: Gertrude Stein, Martin Buber, Michael Bloomberg, Neil Diamond, Paul Newman, Seth Green, Louis Zukofsky, Carole King, Philip Glass, Felix Mendelssohn, Jack Benny, Stella Adler, Paul Auster, Jonathan Lethem, Art Spiegelman, Betty Friedan, Darren Aronofsky, Judy Blume, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jerry Springer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Pauly Shore, Regina Spektor, Zosia Mamet

PISCES (FEBRUARY 21-MARCH 20): Things may get worse before they get better—Aider es kumt di nechomeh, ken oisgaien di neshomeh. Mars and Mercury move into your sign in February, making compassion and dreaming the order of the day. Pisces can be gluttons for punishment, but if you stand up for yourself without equivocating, the people you need most will rush to your side in solidarity.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 20): It seems like the universe is conspiring to put all of your plans on the back burner. During February your ruling planet Mars will be transiting through Pisces, the planet of compassion and empathy, which doesn’t exactly jive well with your typical warrior stance. However, ven men darf hoben moiach, helft nit kain koiach—when brains are needed, brawn won’t help.

TAURUS (APRIL 21-MAY 20): You may be feeling cautious in romantic pursuits for fear of rejection, making your prospects appear stalled and limited. But reality is more of a give-and-take than you realized. Before you can experience mekheye, you’ll need do some serious assessment about what you really want out of love.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): While you’ve been trying to focus on your career, mental Mercury’s move into Pisces on February 5 ignites your fantasies and dreams. Practicality may seem boring—if not hazardous—but rather than voglen (wander around aimlessly), be honest with yourself and others about what’s going on in that head of yours.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 20): Cosmic energies are insisting that you broaden your horizons. So ease up and let yourself go—your sanctimonious tendencies often push others away. An epiphanic moment may be in store for you, transforming the way you view your place in the universe.  

LEO (JULY 21-AUGUST 20): Although it seems like everything is working against you right now, this trial by fire could be a blessing in disguise. While domestic matters may take center stage, you’ll be strengthened by the realization that you’re a light that won’t go out. You’re the richtiker chaifetz (the real McCoy), you feisty felines—just hang in there and the method to this madness will eventually reveal itself.

VIRGO (AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 20): As charming as you can be, you’re often guilty of haken a chainik (talking for the sake of talking). The only way to get close to people is to interact with mutual regard and empathy. Try listening for a change and the rest will follow.

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 20): A wise man once said, “the world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Since Libra is the sign of balance, you would do well to find a way to mediate between thinking and feeling. After all, heaven and hell can both be had in this world—ganaiden un gehenem ken men baideh hoben oif der velt.

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 20): You’ve been oysgemutshet (worked to death, tired out) for far too long. Don’t hate the player, hate the game: examine the source of your frustration. The truth has many faces—der emess hot a sach ponimer—and admitting that the past just isn’t through with you will help you make the changes you need for a brighter future.

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 21–DECEMBER 20): Freud interpreted the dual nature of Sagittarius as the ego’s way of navigating the warring id and superego. For fiery Sagittarians, it is often oder gor oder gornit (all or nothing). Rather than force something that just wasn’t meant to be, try to rise above the shtuss and learn to love the dueling sides of yourself.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 21–JANUARY 20): With your ruling planet Saturn in retrograde from February 18 to July 8 and planets moving out of your sign, you may feel a particular sense of loss and confusion. For now, focus on your health—mental, spiritual, physical—rather than gesunte tzores. Gather your strength, for soon you’ll regain equilibrium.

What’s Your Sign?
Capricorn, the Cardinal Earth Sign
Sagittarius, the Adventurous Archer
Stinging Scorpio
Lovely, Lawful Libra
Virgo, the Anxious Maiden
Leo, King of the Jungle

(Art by Margarita Korol)

***

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The post Jewcy Horoscopes: Aquarius, Sign of Contradictions (Jan. 21—Feb. 20) appeared first on Jewcy.

Next Saturday, hundreds of people will gather at an art and music festival at the New York Aquarium and the adjacent beach to celebrate the creative post-Soviet immigrants of Brighton Beach, New York City, and beyond. ArtOnBrighton 2012, the second annual manifestation of its kind in New York’s Little Odessa, celebrates the post-Soviet Jewish identity that has been largely unexcavated by its members, partly because of the traumatic goings on that the refugees suffered, and partly because of the absence of a tangible community among post-Soviet Jews. And despite the painful tragedy surrounding roots, the artists of this festival encourage the embracing of reality, giving credit to warriors where credit is due, and looking optimistically at the future of the freshly forming community. After more than 20 years of repatriation, there is much strength to be drawn from the shared cultural history that uniquely sets this tribe apart within the American and American Jewish communities.

Let’s look at this a la Estelle Getty. Picture it, Soviet Union, 1980s: You are a parent immigrating from the Soviet Union with your family, maybe already in America if you were lucky enough to make the paper-thin window in the 70s, maybe finally making the trek after waiting several years as refuseniks waiting for clearance to leave while living under severe persecution in a Kafkaesque purgatory, maybe laying low as cooperating citizens of the state until the gates opened during Perestroika. You envision a future without restrictions on your most personal freedoms, a joining of your private and public personas, and most importantly, a tabula rasa for your children. They will not know this hell you escaped, they will know freedom and opportunity that allows the individual being to just breathe already. When your children ask, “What was it like before America?” you answer, “Why do you need to know? You are American now.” But what if you were able to heal through profound communal catharsis, acknowledging victimization and transcending it stronger than ever as individuals and as a community?

That’s exactly what happened unexpectedly this April when over 250 people congregated for the 130th anniversary of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which helped hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews make the courageous escape as refugees. The celebration manifested as a launch party for HIAS @130, a book containing thirty stories and one poem capturing the personal immigration accounts submitted through the organization’s myStory online forum that echo the untold experiences of emigres. It was a reunion between strangers, many hearing their own tales of refuge for the first time, but from the mouths of others. It was the first time for many to shed light on the dark past in a community environment. They cried, they laughed, they got to know themselves through others. Indeed, it was apparent that the gold-chained FOB stereotype was a bad fit, not quite describing the entrepreneurial strides and American successes of the demographic’s members since the trek.

HEALING THROUGH THE ARTS

Regina Spektor, who headlined that event, and left the former Soviet Union with her family during Perestroika, said in an interview a couple of days ago on NPR’s Fresh Air, On Growing Up A ‘Soviet Kid’, “My mind is so overwhelmed by these giant things and has been since I was a kid that sometimes I just have a hard time not feeling so guilty for how, how easy we have it.” Deconstructing the complex identity with many unconscious layers is nearly impossible through prose—though it can be done: Jewcy favorite Alina Simone, who authored You Must Go and Win, a book of essays revealing much about her family’s life in Kharkov, Ukraine, also doubles as a songstress, doing her thing next Saturday at the Aquarium.

ArtOnBrighton 2012’s Master of Ceremonies, Kira Soltanovich, a compatriot of Jay Leno and Joan Rivers who has been a staple on the comedy scene for over a decade, was born in the former Soviet Union and raised by immigrant parents in San Francisco. “There are about four-trillion Jewish comedians in the world,” she estimates roughly, “But guess what? There are only a handful of post-Soviet Jewish comedians. I’m talking born in the USSR and now standing on stage and making people laugh. I can name maybe five. There’s something really special about being in such a unique group.”

As she remembers of her household,

Even though we were in America I think it was very, very Soviet. Sure, I was only two years old when we arrived in America, so I didn’t have much personal Communistic experience to draw from, but that didn’t stop my parents from reminding me every day what they had to go through back in Russia. They also constantly reminded me what they had to go through to bid farewell to the motherland and journey over to the States in the mid 1970’s. The propaganda was so thick back then, my parents were told they would never be accepted anywhere else outside of Russia, so they might as well just stay there along with all the other Jews that were desperate to leave. I feel like I’ve carried this history with me throughout my entire childhood. I don’t know why, but it really stuck with me and resonates in my stand up as well.

COJECO (The Council of Jewish Emigre Community Organizations), an umbrella nonprofit over thirty-something New York City alliances and the producer of ArtOnBrighton, is dismantling the silence that disjoints the post-Soviet Jewish community: it puts power and resources in the hands of its artists. I, for one, am coming on board at a marketing capacity with the goal of rebranding the post-Soviet Jewish identity after working with the organization as one of about 20 fellows in their Blueprint Fellowship, which funnels UJA and Genesis Foundation funds to creative community and art projects of young innovators that expand understanding of what it means to be us. So who are we?

We are rooted in our past stories, worldly in our interests, recontextualized in the American landscape, hybrid and unlike any breed the former Soviet states and America have seen before, sexy in our playfulness with the je-ne-sais-quoi aura assigned to us by others, and outside-the-box in what we bring to the table in professional, community, and social settings. The resourceful and adaptable nature that our families’ immigrant experiences have bred in us might elicit a favorite adjective of RuPaul: we are fierce.

AND IT’S NOT AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB

One of ArtOnBrighton 2012’s acts, the fire-breathing, sword-swallowing Lady Aye, says of her family, which originally made their way to the States during waves in the late 1800s up until just after WWII, “Our connection to our Ukrainian past is interestingly tenuous, but ever present. My grandparents dropped their names as they left and didn’t look back with any nostalgia, but it was also a part of who they were. It made a definite impression, so I think my generation is curious and chases down those origins.”

Headlining performer Y-Love is also not a post-Soviet Jew, yet his experience as a gay, black hip-hop artist who converted to Orthodox Judaism has many relatable points. Like in my essay for Tablet on what post-Soviet Jewish child immigrants could learn from Kanye West, Y-Love’s multifaceted voice holds a few lessons of its own. In Erika Davis’ interview with Yitz for Jewcy in May, he envisioned an ideal Jewish community thusly: “Everyone would respect each other’s traditions, beliefs, and orientations. Only when we recognize that people deserve to exist on their own terms will we get there.” But what does it take to embrace a complex identity that the larger community is to accept? I posed this question to Yitz over the phone, and as he sees it, “We are all finite beings trying to connect to an infinite.” He feels there is no such thing as the American Jew, rejecting the theory of a melting pot in describing any multicultural community. And while he’s normalized in the Hasidic community in many ways, he also naturally distinguishes himself through his own experience as a Jew of Color, which in turn enhances the greater community. It is this pursuit of personal potential spiritually, socially, and creatively that is each individual’s right and responsibility.

And for outsiders to be confronted by the real thing does critical work in diminishing false stereotypes that are rarely as efficiently dismantled outside of the arts. Says Kira, “I’m amazed at how little people know about the old Soviet culture. There are pockets of this country that think Soviets are Boris & Natasha from the Bullwinkle cartoon series. No joke! I like being about to get up on stage and make fun of immigrants and also do some educating about what it was really like to wait in line for food.”

Indeed, the artists have it, and their sharing brings catharsis and healing. In Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, he orients the birth of hip-hop in the 1970s as something that tackled social malaise in the community in ways government programs could not and would not touch. When slumlords set fires to buildings to make a buck over and over while politicians argued that it was the residents in poverty who were to blame for their own victimization, ignoring that the Bronx was burning due to systematic neglect did nothing to extinguish the fires. Ignoring that we are post-Soviet Jews with a shared tumultuous past is to tacitly remain stagnant in the victim role. Owning it and moving on, to use the hip-hop colloquial, is about keeping it real, and as Jeff argues, it’s also about keeping it right. America is vibrantly multicultural, and the post-Soviet Jewish identity is an important color we must use on our canvases in painting the American landscape.

ArtOnBrighton 2012 is going down September 8, 2012 at the New York Aquarium with food, beverages, art, music, and comedy, followed by a DJ-spun dance party on the adjacent beach. Get your tickets in advance for $10, $15 at the door.

Editor’s note: Today is Margarita’s last day at Jewcy. Since starting in June 2010, she has been nothing short of exceptional in her various roles at Tablet Magazine, Nextbook Press, and Jewcy. While we will miss Margarita’s inspired vision, urban pop flair, and super-human work ethic, we couldn’t be more proud of her as she follows her passions and makes good by her refusenik roots.

Art, as always, by Margarita Korol.

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Our girl Regina Spektor did a great interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air about emigrating to the United States from the former Soviet Union, and taking her first trip back to Russia this summer. Spektor is delightfully articulate and thoughtful, sharing her method of writing as well as some of her tougher memories from the old country.

Gross refers to Spektor as a muscular piano player, which Spektor admits is not always preferred in classical music. “Sometimes the way that I need to play the instrument, it gets so loud that the strings reverberate in a certain way,” she explains, adding that she’s had run-ins with piano tuners who think otherwise. “They get kind of argumentative with me, and they’re like, ‘you’re not supposed to play this loud.’ I tell them I have to play how I play.”

Listen to the full interview here, and Spektor’s new album, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, here.

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• Things got a little weird yesterday on Twitter when the woman operating the @Sweden handle—as part of the country’s nobly intentioned experiment to let a different citizen tweet/represent the country each week—started asking why some people hate Jews. We’d refer her to Henry Blodget, but she seems nice, if terribly naive.

• In honor of Pride Month, the IDF posted a photo on Facebook of two male soldiers holding hands, claiming they were a gay couple. The photo attracted a great deal of attention (of all types) but has since been revealed as staged. Only one of the soldiers is gay, and both serve in the office of the military spokesman who posted the photo.

• Andy Samberg hopes that his new British TV show Cuckoo will “cement the special relationship between our two great countries.” We just want more digital shorts.

• In her new music video for “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas),” Regina Spektor puts toast on her face, sings to animatronic caterpillars, and sets things on fire. We think she’s wonderful.

The post Daily Jewce: James Deen, a Swedish Twitter Snafu, IDF Gay Pride, and More appeared first on Jewcy.

• While playing soccer with Arab and Jewish children, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tore a tendon in his left leg.

• Mazel Tov to actor David Arquette, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall while visiting Jerusalem for an episode of his show Mile High.

• The wonderfully profane Joan Rivers told NPR, “For five hundred dollars, I’ll write for Hitler.”

• Regina Spektor loves Eminem, draws inspiration from J.D. Salinger and Janusz Korczak.

• Woody Allen’s latest film, To Rome with Love, which he also stars in, will open the 29th Jerusalem Film Festival next month.

The post Daily Jewce: Bibi’s Bum Leg, Woody Goes to Jerusalem, and More appeared first on Jewcy.

From the Times profile:

Spektor had been attending Orthodox yeshivas since the family immigrated: first, Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, and then the Frisch School, in Paramus, N.J. The summer before her junior year, her piano studies on the wane (“By the end of Frisch, I was already doing a lot less with Sonia. It sort of just trailed off”), Spektor went to Israel with Marsha and other Jewish kids. There, she earned a reputation for making up songs while on hikes. When she returned, Marsha transferred from their yeshiva to high school in Fair Lawn, N.J. Spektor was alone and miserable. Into that void, her new friends from the Israel trip sent cassettes: Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos. Spektor composed her first songs, making bedroom boombox tapes for friends.

NPR is streaming the entire album (out May 29), and we strongly recommend a listen.

(Photo credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

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• Study for your bar mitzvah while looking at eBay/reading The Awl/whatever you do on the internet.

• A suspected Nazi death camp guard dies before trial.

• We always just figured George W. Bush’s favorite book was The Bible and God wrote that, but guess not.  It was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest adviser who did that.

• Regina Spektor on the big screen and the small one.

• New York Magazine talks to Jonathan Safran Foer about his new book, Tree of Codes.

• The late Norman Mailer’s wife, Norris Church Mailer, has passed away.

The post Morning Jewce: Bar Mitzvahs On The World Wide Web, A Nazi Gets Off Easy, Bush’s Favorite Book, Regina Spektor On The Screen And More appeared first on Jewcy.