The shpilkes of punk

“The shpilkes, the nervous energy of punk, is Jewish,” Mr. Steven Lee Beeber argued in his 2006 book “Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s,” subtitled “A Secret History of Jewish Punk.” “Punk reflects the whole Jewish history of oppression and uncertainty, flight and wandering, belonging and not belonging, always being divided, being in and out, good and bad, part and apart.”

I love that quote, here lifted from here. Especially that sense of "belonging an not belonging.. part and apart." I've never come across that so well put.

Sylvain Sylvain: A Mizrahi Jew, Joins Moz defying the boycott

A neat article about Sylvain Sylvain. From Z-Word, The New York Dolls are backing up Morrissey for his PACBI-defying gig in Tel Aviv.

The last time Sylvain Sylvain was in the Middle East, he was being expelled from his Egyptian home because he was a Jew.

Previously Sylvain Mizrahi, the 59-year-old guitarist for the legendary New York Dolls was born in Cairo to a prominent Jewish family.

"My daddy had a great job at the National Bank of Egypt. But in the mid-'50s, they fired him, then they confiscated all our belongings and kicked us out," Sylvain told The Jerusalem Post during a conversation ahead of a Dolls' show last week in Italy.