I have been wondering this lately because I in fact suffer immensely during the three weeks. The three weeks are the single most amazing time of the year for concerts and I like many of my fellow music junkies cringe as we look at all the concerts we are missing. I wonder if other folks go through the same terror that I go through every year as the concerts of the summer are announced and I daven with loads of kavannah so that they do not fall out during the three weeks. They always do, which has led me to write a post listing all the concerts I am missing that I would definitely go to, this list does not include all the open mic nights, local coffee shop jazz jams, free music in the parks and county fairs that may have some great shows as well.
KC and the Sunshine Band– disco and funk at its best
Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake– my two favorite Ska bands. Last time I saw Less Than Jake was at the Warped tour in Buffalo 7 years ago. I have seen Reel Big Fish twice, the last time being several years back in Toronto.
Symphony X– hard to find these shows outside of Finland
New Riders of The Purple Sage
Ben Folds
Catch 22– multiple tour dates, all on shabbos or in the three weeks
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
INXS– seriously man, why me
Kansas– well they have been around for 30 years so we know they will be coming back.
String Cheese Incident– they either play dates you cant make it or at ridiculously over priced festivals.
Robert Cary Band
Ani Difranco– Seen her perform once for free at a July 4th celebration, as a man I am afraid to see her alone for fear of man hating lesbians.
David Grisman Quartet– he’s Jewish I think
George Clinton and Parliament– missing the funk eh.
Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival– this is the biggest bummer of the summer.
Alison Krauss
I am curious to hear from you if you suffer during the three weeks as much as I do? My buddy related a story the other day of how he missed VH when they were touring in 1998 for Balance- personally my favorite VH album because of its obscurity, missing VH is what I call suffering.
Not taking haircuts and buying new clothes is fine with my raggedy self, not swimming during the 9 days always sucks when I happen to be on my kayak, but the lack of meat and all the other laws is no big deal.
Frum Satire: The Rantings of A Frum Yid With A Warped Perspective 
Ben
-06002007-07-05T13:44:18-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:44:18 -0600 5, 206
You call that suffering?
Marli
-06002007-07-05T14:16:03-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:16:03 -0600 5, 206
Both Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake played at Princeton about two months ago — it was pretty good (and would have been about 1-2 hours away from you).
I agree that putting away the music is probably the toughest, because whereever I go, somebody is playing music. Granted, it’s not always good music, but all the same, it might be someone blasting it at top volume at their 4th of July party, or through an open door of a store, a ringtone, or somebody’s boombox at the beach. I even walked into Hillel at UCLA today to find a quiet place to study and somebody had the radio on.
tzivo nishta
-06002007-07-05T14:29:35-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:29:35 -0600 5, 206
Its Jethro Tull month on Planet Rock radio. Aaargh!!
Steg (dos iz nit der šteg)
-06002007-07-05T14:46:37-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:46:37 -0600 5, 206
don’t expect sympathy from people who are actually in aveilut.
anonym00kie
-06002007-07-05T14:52:00-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:52:00 -0600 5, 206
i’d love to see ani difranco!!
and for all the commenters out there.. past and present.. let’s keep this in context, i dont think he is comparing missing a concert to a serious tragedy. keep your evil eyes far away 🙂
who?what?
-06002007-07-05T15:06:01-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:06:01 -0600 5, 206
anonymookie, as usual I am fond of your comments. Steg, my heart goes out to you.
After a number of years of whining about the lack of music I have finally discovered that there are amazing shiurim on tape/cd/ online that I would not necessarily take the time to listen to at other times, so I have learned some generally awesome Torah as of late. (Yes, some argue that you can’t learn Torah digitally, you can only pick up facts, because Torah is FIRE. Fine, then I’ve picked up a number of useful facts.)
Also – a lot of the music you listed I have the pleasure of missing in GENERAL because I found that it was bashing holes in my soul when I listened to it on a regular basis. *sigh*, Less than Jake.
Even the Moustache Song is out.
I do have one sad story that I would like to share.
7 years ago I discovered Goldfinger and they quickly became my favorite band (less than Jake being a close second at the time). I waited and waited and waited but they NEVER went on tour anywhere near me. I considered driving 7 hours to Georgia just for a concert, which would then eat up MORE of my sparse and hard earned cash. I did the math. I couldn’t afford it. And then, finally, my dream came true…they were coming to MY SCHOOL to do a FREE CONCERT! I was thrilled out of my mind. But, yup, you guessed it. Double whammy, it was on a FRIDAY NIGHT during s’firah. I NEVER made it to a concert. And these days I wouldn’t go.
My comfort is “l’fum tza’ara agra.”
who?what?
-06002007-07-05T15:11:54-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:11:54 -0600 5, 206
Oh, and Steg, one more comment for you on here (since your blog is just NOT user friendly, I cannot figure out how to comment or I just don’t want to take the time )
With your smicha conundrum, I would recommend finding a kollel in Israel that you like that also offers Smicha. Because the focus will be on the information less than on the test, so your learning will be qualitatively better. I would also imagine that such a program would have more flexibility in terms of focus than a straight-up smicha program.
Look into it. I’m a girl, so I don’t know, its just a suspicion from my end.
Steg (dos iz nit der šteg)
-06002007-07-05T15:26:20-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:26:20 -0600 5, 206
who?what?:
are you sketching? people actually claim that you can’t learn Torah digitally?!
thanks for the suggestion about Israel; unfortunately, i’m not quite able to leave New York right now.
and about commenting, i just changed the template slightly so that people’ll know where to click
FRANK
-06002007-07-05T15:31:13-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:31:13 -0600 5, 206
Do you think it might be mutar if KC & The Sunshine Band performed accpella? That would like sort of a mezoineas bagel. I’m sure you could find numerous ways of fooling GOD
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-05T15:42:17-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:42:17 -0600 5, 206
I like many fellow music addicts I know take the cop-out approach of listening to non-live music. I do also rock the torah tapes although after trying out numerous different types I still go back to the stuff from theshumz.com and cannot stand all the other “famous” rabbis shmuzem on tape.
Goldfinger rocks by the way, and if I would have known I probably would have made the trip to see LTJ and RBF in Princeton- unfortunately I usually find out about tours from pollstar, the local alternative papers and jam base. I am not so up to date until summer. During the winter I usually stick to local shows and predominantly jazz for some reason. My first big concert of this year was a couple weeks ago and that was Bela Fleck and Chik Corea
Shaindy
-06002007-07-05T16:43:01-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:43:01 -0600 5, 206
1998?? Didn’t Balance come out in 95? By 1998 VH was already way past Balance blowing a tour with DLR and then getting that other guy whose name noone can remember.
Guy
-06002007-07-05T17:58:33-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:58:33 -0600 5, 206
Gary Cherone the old lead singer from Extreme. They put out that one decent song that was on the sound track of twister.
Shaindy
-06002007-07-05T18:00:40-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:00:40 -0600 5, 206
No, that song from twister had sammy singing on it.
Who?What?
-06002007-07-05T18:01:55-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:01:55 -0600 5, 206
Sketching…new term in my world. Um, yeah, there’s a whole explanation for it that is actually pretty logical, and I find personally that there is some truth in it. If you actually care about details I can hook you up on the info but if not I won’t bore you with the…that’s redundant so I’m not even gonna say it.
Who?What?
-06002007-07-05T18:03:49-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:03:49 -0600 5, 206
Writing in pairs today, do any of us really FEEL the lack of beit hamikdash? Like on a regular daily sort of basis? Its really hard to maintain that conciousness of lack. Any ideas for how to do it?
Someone recommended saying al naharot bavel, what else?
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-05T18:08:08-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:08:08 -0600 5, 206
Shaindel its so nice to have you back commenting. Nothing like some good music to bring us together. I was thinking of doing music week on frum satire. You know I can talk about my love for guys in makeup and fishnets singing cheesey songs about fast cars and hot women. Or maybe I can go into a tribute of the person I owe all my music roots to for getting me into 80s metal and prog rock.
anotherfrumguy
-06002007-07-05T23:37:09-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:37:09 -0600 5, 206
I thought noone cared about VH since… 1988?
Ever since DLR left they’ve been pointless anyway.
More to the point, I can only say the three weeks bothered me back when I played in a band and suddenly we couldnt touch our instruments for 3 weeks.
Also back in my more frum days when I refused to listen to music. Comedy CD’s are only funny so many times, even Mitch Hedburg, Robin Williams and Zach Galafinakis.
moshe
-06002007-07-06T02:20:26-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:20:26 -0600 5, 206
its hard to say i suffered during the three weeks considering i won 2000 bucks in 4 nights of poker last summer but i get the point we’re all in lala land with our usual comforts take them away and u may realize the bais hamikdash was comfort the jews once may have taken for granted and then it was gone and the suffering ensued so hey its a great time to reflect on how much we hate each other and how we can return to the true comforts of life
favorite concerts:
disturbed 2006 won free tickets and an autographed guitar
van halen 2004
avenged sevenfold 2005
seven mary 3 2001
and hesh if you havent heard of dragonforce, stradivarius, or kamelot i strongly reccomend them
Ben-Yehudah
-06002007-07-06T02:27:55-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:27:55 -0600 5, 206
B”H You Ashkishagim LOVE to suffer, don’t you? Are you like humrah-addicts, or what?
See Mishnah Torah, Hil. Ta’aniyoth 5:6. There aren’t any 3 wks. OK, so you all want to hold Rema. I understand. But, don’t forget, he came late to the Halachic party.
I say, go to the concerts, not the Shabbath ones, of course.
rebelwithacause
-06002007-07-06T03:06:32-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:06:32 -0600 5, 206
What can I say to the humrah addicts? You are hooked on humrahs like some people are hooked on crack. I totally agree with Ben Yehudah.
p.s. Frank sounds like a guy who lives in my town, he and his wife claim to be uberultrasuperduperorthodox and they fress at local treif restaurant. Gotta love those fakeadox.
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-06T06:16:21-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:16:21 -0600 5, 206
Fakeadox eh… maybe I’ll have to use that one. I guess I just hold like everyone else- you know the lazy Jews who dont actually “know” halacha and just follow the white beard and black hat bandwagon. I think most people are like this. Or maybe halacha is one big gray area and we all just do whatever someone else does.
So why dont we hold of the Rema- maybe its because Jewish music SUCKS and everyone neds a break sometime- considering there are all these theories why you really cant listen to non-Jewish music- you know the whole bit about how someone puts their heart and soul into music and therefore we dont want to connect with the heart and soul of a non -Jew.
What about cars- dont the most likely non-Jewish engineers put their energies into designing cars.
Nowadays I would say 90% of the music is crap anyway. It is just some artist who won a contest and has a good voice. The music itself is always the same poppy sound and mostly crap.
AF
-06002007-07-06T10:18:51-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:18:51 -0600 5, 206
“What about cars- dont the most likely non-Jewish engineers put their energies into designing cars.”
Yeah, but you don’t unite your intellect with a car, even if you take it apart and marvel at the engineering. Music and literature are pure expression of someone’s soul, and you connect with them through it. I don’t think somebody who writes a cookbook puts their soul into the writing, though.
Steg (dos iz nit der šteg)
-06002007-07-06T10:29:10-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:29:10 -0600 5, 206
who?what?:
sure, hook me up with the info… gotta be interesting.
Jo-el
-06002007-07-06T14:44:30-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:44:30 -0600 5, 206
Allison Kraus? Ani difranco? Do you like Madonna also? Usually the only males at these shows are either guys being dragged by their girlfriends/wives or homosexuals?
Are you makpid on Kol isha? If you aren’t makpid on that go to a concert during the dri vochin and kill two birds with one stone.
notsofrummie
-06002007-07-06T14:51:10-06:00312007b-06:00Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:51:10 -0600 5, 206
I like your list of bands over there.. Very impressed your into Allison kraus , she has a great voice and very talented but not many frum ppl can admit their into that kinda music. Dont listen t00-cool joel for makin fun of you for liking her. Speaking about missing concerts, the new Pornographers had a free show at Battery Park on July 4th – bummer, eh?
ari kinsberg
-06002007-07-08T15:23:16-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:23:16 -0600 5, 206
about ten years my friend got us tickets to a pink floyd show. we had to cancel it after looking at the calendar.
ari kinsberg
-06002007-07-08T15:26:55-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:26:55 -0600 5, 206
WHO?WHAT?
“Someone recommended saying al naharot bavel, what else?”
it is a very moving poem, especially the concluding call for brutal vengeance. but it is about the destruction in general, not the bet hamikdash.
ari kinsberg
-06002007-07-08T15:33:02-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:33:02 -0600 5, 206
WHO?WHAT?
“Someone recommended saying al naharot bavel, what else?”
be stringent about following the takkanot established zekher le-hurban. don’t listen to music all year.
fearandloathinginlakewood
-06002007-07-08T19:23:44-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:23:44 -0600 5, 206
White Stripes Playing MSG Tisha Baav!
No heter For that one…
And Siren Festival is on Shabbos during 3 weeks.
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-08T21:33:17-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:33:17 -0600 5, 206
Now you know what I am talking about and wanted to see in the comments. Everyone has their list of shoes that they had to miss because of the three weeks or sphiras haomer
Aliza
-06002007-07-08T21:38:08-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:38:08 -0600 5, 206
I don’t really feel much, cuz I’m not missing out on anything yet. But when those 9 days come up…
For now I love being Sephardi 😀
In all seriousness, though, even not listening to music for the 9 days totally bothers me. And that’s just 9 days! I can’t possibly imagine 3 weeks without my music. I would go insane, I assure you.
Yeah, so that’s all I would feel. I don’t feel anything when it comes to the lack of the Beit HaMikdash. Sure I think it sucks, but I don’t know what I’m missing so how can it bother me, you know?
That’s pretty sad, though. But whatever, I hope one day I’ll be on a level where I care more about the suffering during the 9 days and on Tisha B’Av than I do about not being able to listen to my music. Until then, meh.
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-08T21:45:25-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:45:25 -0600 5, 206
Where have you been Aliza you have some of the best comments. Just got to rub your music and kitnyot in our faces eh.
I wonder we will be able to use ethanol cars on pesach?
In response to Jo-El, I am definitely not makpid on kol isha. Like all of my fellow Jews I pick and choose. Since I really dont like many women artists and rarely see them live it isnt such a big deal. Check out this post for more explanations- https://frumsatire.wordpress.com/2007/06/16/are-you-frum-if-you-do-not-keep-negia-the-follow-up-post/
Aliza
-06002007-07-08T23:19:27-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 08 Jul 2007 23:19:27 -0600 5, 206
You missed me, eh?
:p
I didn’t have internet the last week of July and then I’ve been kinda avoiding blogs up until Saturday night/Sunday. And now here I am – marvelous!
Loving the posts lately, keep it up!
jana
-06002007-07-09T09:55:40-06:00312007b-06:00Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:55:40 -0600 5, 206
so i’m sefardi which should mean i have an easy time of it, but my dad is all into being ashkenazi (besides for davening) so no music… the worst is in my car, it has a tiny engine (some motorbikes have bigger engines) and so it makes a lot of noise and music helps drown it out… talk shows just dont have the same effect.
Aliza – wat about shavua shechalba? this year we’re lucky, only 3 days… cant you listen to music until then? we can shower and eat meat and everything else until then…
Aliza
-06002007-07-09T10:58:43-06:00312007b-06:00Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:58:43 -0600 5, 206
Jana, I’m still learning, actually, so I have no idea what shavua shechalba is.
Help me out?
(I’m a BT and I go to a Beis Yakov sem and nobody bothered teaching me anything Sephardi. I have to find out when I go to friends for Shabbat and stuff. I like bugging their parents by asking tons and tons of questions.)
anonym00kie
-06002007-07-09T11:33:47-06:00312007b-06:00Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:33:47 -0600 5, 206
different sfardim have different customs. we keep the 3 weeks like ashkis for most things.. depends where youre from
jana
-06002007-07-09T12:10:11-06:00312007b-06:00Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:10:11 -0600 5, 206
ya anonymookie, moroco sucks!
aliza – shavua shechalba is the week that tisha b’av falls therefore the most sad time so we only do all the mourning stuff during that week. sometimes it sucks and tisha b’av falls on a sunday so you cant shower for the whole week before but then you can get it on a monday and then you just miss one day… its great. and asking questions is the only way to learn. you can come to my house, my dad gets all into answering questions and then we dont argue… its great
Harry Potter fan
-06002007-07-10T11:15:40-06:00312007b-06:00Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:15:40 -0600 5, 206
Lets not forget the new Harry Potter movie that I cant see the premier of tonight because of the 3 weeks!!!!
jennthejewess
-06002007-07-10T14:31:43-06:00312007b-06:00Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:31:43 -0600 5, 206
Can someone explain to me why you cant go to movies during the 3 weeks?
anonym00kie
-06002007-07-10T16:14:07-06:00312007b-06:00Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:14:07 -0600 5, 206
i think most of these questions about music and movies.. is about the ‘spirit’of the law. maybe its not technically assur to listen to recorded music or go see a movie, but poeple take it upon themselves to try and feel the mood of the three weeks. personally it just feels like its the least i can do so i actually feel that the three weeks are even happening
moshe
-06002007-07-10T23:58:03-06:00312007b-06:00Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:58:03 -0600 5, 206
i saw transformers recently really really took me back to the 80’s
jenn i think the idea behind movies is that its a social outing for the sake of entertainment much like going to a concert
Frum Hiker
-06002007-07-11T07:51:48-06:00312007b-06:00Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:51:48 -0600 5, 206
Who the hell socializes at the movies. When I go I sit in the movie and watch, I dont know what you do.
I always why people went out with friends to the movies if they arent going to talk anyway. Though the last time I was at the theater about a year ago I noticed some folks texting during the film.
jennthejewess
-06002007-07-11T10:18:45-06:00312007b-06:00Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:18:45 -0600 5, 206
OK so its the same as going out to eat with a group of friends or going to the beach or a BBQ with groups of ppl and socializing
mike d
-06002007-07-12T23:40:12-06:00312007b-06:00Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:40:12 -0600 5, 206
Band of Horses play a free show at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn during the 3 weeks! So pissed off. At least I get to see TV on the Radio and Ted Leo and The Thermals for free there in late July and mid-August. But damn, I would have rather seen Band of Horses!!!WHYYYYYY
fearandloathinginlakewood
-06002007-07-15T16:35:05-06:00312007b-06:00Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:35:05 -0600 5, 206
mike d
scored tickets to your namesake in McCarren Pool for early Aug. should be fun
Shiphra
-06002007-07-25T15:17:38-06:00312007b-06:00Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:17:38 -0600 5, 206
I think maybe the Three Weeks are a blessing in disguise. It’s saving my ears — I’m noticing that I don’t have to crank the volume up as much as I did a few weeks ago.
kraz
-06002008-05-08T01:14:39-06:00312008b-06:00Thu, 08 May 2008 01:14:39 -0600 5, 206
About 2 minutes ago I almost bought Springsteen tickets for my whole family – till I realized it was the 3 weeks – Duh!! man that hurts – we are coming in from Israel and are only around for 2 weeks – it would have been amazing to teach my kids the greatness of the BOSS
fripster11206
-06002008-07-21T20:42:18-06:00312008b-06:00Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:42:18 -0600 5, 206
This is the only thread with frum ppl and McCarren Park pool. I’m looking for others who plan to hit the pool this summer, 2008. Movies, concerts, plays (Ophelia), etc. Is this you? Are you this Britney Spears accessory. maybe ?
See rear, left of photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weissfoto/2666757062/#DiscussPhoto