In the summer of 1995, I was approached by the fine folks at Texas Folklife Resources to field a klezmer band for their first annual "Culture Bash" Festival here in Austin, TX . I'm always up for a challenge, and besides, for about a year before that, I had been threatening folks I know, that I had a mind to field my own Yid team.  All idle talk up to this point, but here was an excuse to knuckle down and actually do it. 

I had the makings of a band already sussed out: I'd been playing around town with my good friends violinist/guitarist Erik Hokkanen and Mike Maddux, under the sobriquet of "The Mad Cat Syndicate" (which was really a sub-group of the the Mad Cat Trio, WHICH was a side project of the Bad Livers, but I'm getting ahead.)  For this gig, I also called upon my old pal Mike Stinnett, late reedman of the famed Little Jack Melody and his Young Turks, to come down from Denton, TX and blow clarinet. (For many years, I have been surreptitiously sending him Dave Tarras tune's on cassette, praying they'd make an impression. Evidently they did, and he leapt at the gig with the determination of a man possessed.) 

Erik Hokkanen has been a musical compatriot and friend of mine for many years. We played together many times under his name and along with my musical partner Danny Barnes in the Mad Cat Trio. Suffice it to say he's my brother, in the truest meaning of the term. So, Erik loved Rachel's voice and asked her to contribute to his Earth Swing release. She subsequently appeared with him as featured vocalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival of 1995.  As you can see, we all felt like like a big extended family. 

I came up with a mission statement: "Destination, fun." We called it Rubinchik's Orkestyr; Rubinchik being the closest English spelling of my family's original name, and Orkestyr and transliterated spelling of the Romy name for "orchestra" (it's usually spelled Orkestar.) We wrangled a weekday residency at a cool local Coffee shop (Flipnotics' Coffeespace,) and set down a "no amplification" policy. That meant we weren't going to compete with anyone for attention; folks who showed up would hear us playing, quite literally, in the corner of the room. Subsequently, we've developed a neighborly and polite audience who show up to hear musicians having fun, rather than a pleasant backdrop for their conversation. I promised the gang not to play the traditional Bnai Mitzvot that klezmer bands are known for doing, (*see note below). We'd play for tips Wednesday nights, and still do (that is, when Bad Livers weren't on the road.) Somewhere along the way, Bean Town's Jake Zuckerman showed up and started playing guitar. The more the merrier! 

The fates dealt us a wild card when Erik announced he'd have to leave us, and take off for a change a scenery in Colorado. I really didn't know what to do. It was only just something to do for the love of it, and I had never made any big plans for this little bunch. I was seriously thinking of just ditching the whole thing and chalking it up as a cool ride, now departed. 

But something really strange happened. This nice gal, Lisa Schneider, who had been coming to our shows reminded me again that she played the fiddle, and that she'd love to play with us sometime. She really dug this music and that she had her own band that specialized in Hungarian music, but would love any opportunity to get into our repertoire. Frankly, it didn't ring a bell with me 'till Erik told me had had to split. I told her to suit up for the next Wednesday night session. 

About that same time, I got word that may old pal Mike Stinnett was relocating with his family to Austin, finally. We actually had a rehearsal the Tuesday night before, with 2 new hands on-board and a batch of new tunes as well. Lisa had a seemingly unlimited wealth of tunes she's been carrying around in her head, and Mike learned Naftule Brandwein numbers un-prompted and taught 'em to me. It was really inspiring to have a bunch of folks who were as jazzed with playing this music as I was. Lisa became so inspired by the material, she headed off to attend Living Traditions famed "KlezKamp '97," studying one-on- one with some of the great modern klez masters. (I even scraped the dough to attend myself at the last minute.  Lessons learned: Study your modes, work the bow on the bass you dolt, and we've got a long way to go if we ever want this outfit to run with the big dogs. I must have made a favorable impression, as I'm now a member of the staff.) 

Things were looking up. I got a gig as Music Supervisor for Richard Linklater's new flick, The Newton Boys, and Bad Livers suspended touring until Danny finished the soundtrack score, which left more time around the house. But O' Fortuna spun the wheel of fate again and sent Mike S. away from us, back to Denton and a standard of living that our once little town of Austin can unfortunately no longer provide. 

Very strangely, a fella who'd been showing up at our gigs came up to me the very next gig and asked to sit in on a few tunes. What does he play? Clarinet.  Recent North Carolina transplant Ben Saffer honks and squeaks well enough on the fly to earn himself a book of the tunes. On the weekends, or when fate and circumstances allow, Mike S. makes the arduous 500 mile round trip to fill out our reed section, playing most of the clarinets (Eb, Bb, and Bb bass) as well as the archaic C-Melody saxophone and the Romanian tarogato (the latter of which he picked up in a trade with a Romny musician, on our recent trip to France, in exchange for his vintage alto saxophone...but I'll let him tell that story.)

1999 started with our longtime accordionist and all-around great musical companion Mike Maddux announcing his intent to leave our group and concentrate on his first musical passion, the dance music of the Colombian Vallenato. Local Balkan music expert and International dance accompanist Don Weeda signed on as our full time accordionist. While we are sad to see Mike take off, we are thrilled to work with Don and utilize his many years of experience in performing Eastern European folk music's.

First off, Rachel is no longer singing with us. She and I broke off our personal relationship last fall, with the hopes that we would be able to continue our professional association. But sadly, that just hasn't been the case. I am very sad to lose her irreplaceable contribution to our music, on many levels. It was for her that I started this group and without her, I've seriously reconsidered bothering playing this music at all. She'll be departing for the Continent to continue her studies beginning this fall, and should she decide to resume performing publicly, we'll be sure to point you her way.

Secondly, our fiddler Lisa has resigned as well. It is sometimes difficult to explain why people must make changes in their life, but change is certainly inevitable.  Lisa is focusing on different aspects of her life, looming largest the recent purchase of a new home with her longtime companion.  She was not our first violinist, but she was undoubtedly our finest. We will certainly miss playing with such a gifted and talented musician. 

Most importantly, we are recommitted to making music together. 
(Being in a band is a lot like a marriage in many ways, only you're married to several partners and there's very, very  little sex.) 
Over coffee and bagels oneTuesday evening,Don, Ben and myself sat around the table and asked ourselves if we had compatible visions of what we wanted to achieve, musically and personally. My original intentions for this group were now pretty well made moot without Rachel, and I wasn't having much fun lately.  What we all figured out rather quickly was that the joy we feel playing this music together far outweighed any personality differences or conflicts we might have had, and that the endeavor of creating music was in and of itself it's own reward, worthy of continuing. (I had actually called the meeting to announce my breaking up the band, but the boys wouldn't let me.) 

In a sense, however, we have broken up the band. A new name is in order to reflect the changes, maybe even new musicians who share our commitment to fun as well, (including Cantor Neil Blumofe, who you'll see perform with us more often in future.) Who knows what the future may bring, but we're looking forward to whatever comes down the pike.

What the future holds is anyone's guess. We've gone and released our own CD, entitled Flipnotics Freilachs, (which you should get.) Plus, we had such a terrific time with our new friends in Langon, France, that a return trip is in the works (to possibly coincide with the recording of another CD.) The TFR folks have included us on their available roster for '99/'00, as well, which may take us on concerts around the state with any luck. Despite my best efforts, we've already attained a level of success I never imagined. 

Mark Rubin
Austin TX
9/10/01
 
 

*A word about Bnai Mitzvot: 

From day one, I promised the gang that we wouldn't be doing any weddings, Bar/Bas Mitzvahs, etc... Why might you ask? How can there be such a thing? A Jewish band that doesn't play bnai mitzvot; it's unheard of. 

Okay, so I'm lightening up on the weddings, now that we work in conjunction with the fabulous Khazan from Agudas Achim, Neil Blumofe. 

If after reading this little disclaimer, you still think you must have the Orkestyr at your function, you are more than welcome to contact me via email.