Obama Smokes: Should You? How to Quit!

You must admit, the guys at mad magazine certainly know how to get a point across. People were complaining that in truth Obama has big ears and could have been made to look more like Alfred E Newman. The picture depicts how the President may succumb to his admitted addiction of cancer sticks when the stress sets in. Which begs the question: should President Obama fall prey to lung cancer, are we ready to deal with the possibility of President Joe Biden? But I digress....Smoking is a real bad idea and certainly costs a small fortune to keep up the smelly addiction. The economy is forcing people to seriously consider giving it up once and for all. The question becomes what's the best way to toss out the black lung habit? There is of course the nicotine patch, nicotine gum (kosher?) hypnosis and going cold turkey. Lately there have been some interesting developments in the fight for quitting the tobacco devil: low level laser therapy , Electronic Cigarette and the pill although there is talk about the neuropsychiatric side effects. What quitting techniques have worked for you?

New Jewish Music Sample: Baruch Abittan

Via Sameach Music:

Baruch Abittan is most known from his stunning HASC perforance at HASC 15. Baruch began his singing career at age nine and has been featured on CD's such as Abie Rotenberg's Journey's IV and Lev V'nefesh, as well as Andy Friedman's "Portraits of Soul", Mendy Wald, Nachum Stark and Shloime Dachs MASK trubite.

Baruch has also performed in many concerts since then. Baruch is now releasing his debut CD. A project he has worked on with Josh Koperwas, a talented musician and friend. They have produced a new sound which will appeal to all audiences. This CD will be distributed by Sameach Music and will be in stores next week.

Here is a 5 minute sampler from Baruch's debut CD. "Me'amek", produced by Avi Tal.

New Jewish Music Release: Yossi Piamenta & Aryeh Kunstler: Free Sample

Dancing Bear Orchestra Presents a brand new Single featuring Aryeh Kunstler & Yossi Piamenta. The CD is being released to benefit the ONE ISRAEL FUND. For more information on O.I.F. please visit their website at http://www.oneisraelfund.org .

Interesting to point out: this album is being distributed by, MRM Music based out of Monroe, NY(whose website is still under construction) and will be in stores Wednesday or Thursday next week. Cover Design is Sruly Meyer of Designs by Sruly and I think he did a bang up job here.

New Jewish Music Release: Featuring Fried, Abie, Dov Levine

Here is a short clip of the new Single featuring Abie Rotenberg, Avraham Fried and Dov Levine, also featuring Shloime Kaufman and Aaron Gates in choir vocals. The proceeds of this single will go to benefit the Haazinu Organization. This Single will be available in the next 1-2 weeks. Haazinu provides services for hearing-impaired children. Haazinu services include Referrals l Parent Support Group l Tutoring/Mentoring Program | Computer Therapy Program l School Programs| Counseling & Financial Programs www.haazinu.org


Enjoy!

New Jewish Music Review: Six 13 Acapella:Free Sampler

If you enjoy A capella and even if you don't six 13's latest release, Yesh Chadash is certain to catch your attention. This album stays very true to the A capella venue and takes albums like Bitachon to the next level. As opposed to other A capella albums you may have heard that use samples of voice, six 13 uses real true vocals to put forth it's musical ideas and I believe most of the songs are original compositions. The recording quality of this album is some of the best I've heard in the Jewish music scene. The first song, Hodu really grabs your attention with it's feel good major key and light background vocals and I found myself enjoying it right away. The second song, Matovu brings more of a rock edge to it, again another winner. The ingenuity of these chord progressions and vocal arrangement explains why Mike Boxer is a real genius with choir and vocal production. Skipping around a bit here: Track 6 is what I call the "parody track "where group performs a medley of contemporary pop songs and it's certainly entertaining. Track 8 features their take on the famous wedding song: Shiru La memelch (Yeedle) which is certain to get you up and dancing. Needless to say I found this album very enjoyable and it proves that A capella can be great to listen to all year round. You can't go wrong with this album and certainly six 13 has taken Jewish A capella to a whole new level. Enjoy the sampler below!

To Blog or Not To Blog...

Well it's been a while and lots of things are happening. Lately I've been in a bit of blog slump and perhaps my mind is elsewhere. I'm currently working on a big move that I'm not going to get into much until I get there. Needles to say I've been consumed with the difficulties of the economy and selling my home. Big changes are coming and I don't mean the Obama Presidency. The fact that I was able to sell my home in the current economic climate is nothing short of a miracle. I look forward to giving you more blogging news and entertainment in the future but right now there seems to be more pressing matters.

Son Of Hamas Leader: Speaking Out Against Hamas!

Fox News has an excellent piece on Hamas, featuring the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of it's most influential leaders. He explains that Hamas does not want peace and he states regarding the idea that there ever can be:"There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water?" said Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the group's founding members."The Hamas leadership, including my father, they're responsible; they're responsible for all the violence that happened from the organization. I know they describe it as reaction to Israeli aggression, but still, they are part of it and they had to make decisions in those operations against Israel (for) which there was the killing of many civilians." Needles to say he is seeking asylum.