Search Results for: hanukkah in santa monica

It's the last night of Hanukkah. Let's spend it in Santa Monica with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. This may be my favorite rendition of Tom Lehrer's song…and if you're sad it's over, just go to YouTube and do a search. You'll be amazed how many people have made videos of this tune.  Now that it's public domain, expect a lot more…

It's the next-to-last night of this. Here's Michael Feinstein. Join him in the second chorus if you're so inclined…

And this one's from Lea Kalisch with Rabbi T on the guitar…

This version is by Sam Broverman and I think it's from a CD called A Jewish Boy's Christmas. He tampered with the lyrics a bit and even plunges into Yiddish…

This is the N.J. Cantors Assembly Ensemble performing the same song I'm posting all this week, this time in Scotch Plains, New Jersey…

Here's that song again as performed in Ohio by Quire Cleveland…

This is the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles…

And since I'm posting a Christmas video every night leading up to Christmas, I think it's only fair to post a Hanukkah video every night of Hanukkah…so prepare yourself for eight different renditions of the most popular Hanukkah song — that Public Domain Classic, Tom Lehrer's "I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica." We start with Mr. Lehrer's own recording of it…

And I'll also throw in my new favorite Hanukkah song which is not public domain. In fact, I don't know if they even got permission to parody the hit song on which it's based. This is the Jewish a cappella group known as The Maccabeats…

Interested in a latke recipe? I'll give you a choice. Here is Alton Brown's, which unlike all others I've ever seen doesn't use flour or matzo meal but instead calls for instant mashed potatoes. What would an Alton Brown recipe be without at least one ingredient or kitchen tool that no other human being ever thought of using before?

My mother's latkes — which of course were the best in the world — were made using a slight variation on Jenny Grossinger's recipe. Ms. Grossinger was to Jewish cooking what Antonius Stradivarius was to making violins. Here is that recipe and remember that the most important thing is to make sure you get as much water as possible out before you put them into the frying pan. Mr. Stradivarius did the same thing with his fiddles.

I spent most of last evening out in Santa Monica not celebrating Hanukkah but at a store called The Hundreds. It's misnamed: "Thousands" is more like it. They were having a party to celebrate a new line of Garfield goodies (mainly t-shirts, skateboards and original Garfield-themed works of art) and the place was packed. The photos over on this page make it look crowded but they're nowhere near as peopled as it got there. I wish it had only been that crowded. Those pics are from early in the proceedings. By around 9 PM, folks were jammed in there like Bubbie's Pickles in a jar. Gregg Berger (the voice of Odie) and I took to texting one another on our cellphones when we had to communicate about something. We were about six yards apart but between us were three hundred people so for me to go over to Gregg or for him to get to me was physically impossible. And outside, there was a line-to-get-in that stretched to Davenport, Iowa.

Inside, there were masses talking and drinking and eating lasagna and many of them, though not as many as wanted to, got to meet Jim Davis and get something signed. I kept getting dragged into photo ops and introduced to musicians and actors I probably should have known…but I'm not all that up on the current crop and it was way too noisy in there. So what would happen is that someone would introduce me to a person who was obviously a huge celeb to some and they'd say, "Mark, I want you to meet Rzlfrz Grekswxdd!" I couldn't make out the name but suddenly, there I'd be trying to have a conversation with someone who was apparently so famous that I felt I couldn't say, "Who are you again?" (The only one I knew for sure was Ashlee Simpson.) At one point, straining to be heard by one gent who was apparently a rock musician of some note, I gave up and just muttered something in double-talk jibberish. I think I said, "Krelmfine on the frizzit and voiner freem" and since he couldn't understand me either, he yelled back, "For sure, my man."

Much of the voice cast from the cartoon show was present…at least, the ones who were able to fight their way through the wall of humanity with a machete. I'm still kinda amazed I got out. Jim Davis and his wonderful wife/partner Jill stayed way longer than they'd intended. Matter of fact, they stayed way longer than I did but the line of folks who wanted Jim's signature was endless so long after I got the heck outta there, he was still there trying to disappoint as few of them as would be necessary. For all I know, he's still there.