High Holidays, Jane's Addiction
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
29
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs, woo, Cubs...
-Ronnie Woo Woo (see Picture 1), who according to www.RonnieWooWoo.com has a record of over 6 hours of continuous wooing on 8/5/99 in Schaumburg, IL
I woke up on Saturday with a real decision to make. In the fall, I wear my red Wisconsin football shirt. Every Saturday that UW plays, I don't even have to think - I take my shirt out of the hamper (unless Julie got a chance to wash it during the week) and grab my beat-up white(ish) "W" hat. It is my outfit. I bought the shirt at freshman orientation and have worn it for every football game since. It is beginning to grow some small holes in the collar, which shows how many battles we've been through together. I love this shirt.
But this morning, this Saturday, I had a real dilemma. You see, I had to represent the Cubbies as well. I have been (un)fortunate enough to not have my Badgers play at the same time as the Cub.
01. Ronnie Woo Woo
I suppose the Cubs have played on the same day as the Badgers but usually, the Cubs are so far out of it, it doesn't even matter and therefore, it's not even a worry - I wear my Wisconsin shirt and my "W" hat. But this morning was unusual. In the end, I felt the right thing to do was to go with my true team - Wisconsin - and wear the shirt but compromise a bit by substituting the "W" hat for my Cubs hat. I felt comfortable with my decision.Wisconsin won but the Cubs lost. Luckily, the Cubs won Sunday night and we're on to the League Championship. I'll tell you a bit more about Saturday night later but I will say, although they didn't win, I was thrilled to get to watch my first baseball game of the year on Saturday night. I went to that local sports bar. They had all the TVs upstairs turned to the baseball games and the place was packed with vacationing Americans. It seemed like everyone there was rooting for the Cubs. Singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" with Coach Ditka was awesome. We had a nice "Lets Go Cubs" chant going. The rally caps were fashionable. Everyone went nuts were Sosa connected on the last pitch of the night as it seemed like Sosa had just tied the game with a homerun (judging by Smoltz's reaction, I think he though Sosa got it all as well). As we all know, it was deep but not deep enough. In the end, it worked out just fine for the Cubs.
Anyways, I am pretty psyched about the Cubs but in a way, I'm not too surprised. Of course they will go on to win the World Series for the first time since 1908 since I'm not there to experience it. I'm sure the Badgers will be in the National Championship soon as well. Oh well, as I've said many times, moving abroad has its advantages and its disadvantages. And I still wouldn't trade it for the world.
Here is what else is doing...
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JEWISH HIGH HOLIDAYS
ROSH HASHANA - DAY 1
Julie and I decided that we didn't want to spend Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur at Chabad like we did for Passover. We had asked around a bit and almost everybody suggested we go to the Liberal Synagogue. We weren't really sure what "liberal" meant but as long as it wasn't so liberal that they would be roasting a pig over an open flame on YomK, I figured it would have to be better than Chabad.
Julie had called earlier in the week to find out the deal. They told her that if we didn't become members we could show up and take whatever seats are left, but there probably won't be any seats left. We have found that people will often tell you what they want to tell you, even if they have no clue what they are talking about. So while there was a good chance the place would be full and we wouldn't have seats, there was just as good a chance that the place would be empty.
Tickets are not sold individually, only through temple membership. In order to become a member, you have to pay 3% of your salary (the percentage increases as your salary increases) and you must supply paycheck stubs and bank statements as proof. Obviously, this is not for me. So despite the warning that no seats would be available, we got on our bikes (we're Dutch, how else would we get to temple...drive?) and pedaled about 15 minutes to the shul.
We arrived around 9:45, parked our bikes at the bike rack that was provided by the temple (and almost full already), and headed towards the door.
I greeted the man at the door with one of the few Dutch phrases I know "Goede Morgen (Good Morning)" and attempted to pass. I firmly believe that in life, if you act like you know what you are doing and where you are going, most people will assume you belong and leave you alone (case in point, my assignment in Amsterdam). Bucking the norm, the man stopped us. He asked for our tickets. We told him that we were instructed to show up and take whatever seats were available (although we were also told there would be none - this part we left out but I like reminding you all that there would probably not be any seats).
The man wanted to know who we spoke to. Did we have a name? Calmly, we told him we called the office (de kantoor) and were instructed to just show up. This is when I began to have flashbacks of my experience with the airport security guard on our way to Switzerland a few months back. The questions were flying so quickly and from every direction. "Who are you? Where you from? Why are you here?" We explained our situation and showed him our residency permits. After checking Julie's handbag and asking me to remove my trench coat, he let us pass. We were about to make our way through the door when he asked one more question which I though was the strangest one - "Are you Jewish?" What did he think, we were conducting an experiment?
Anyways, we cleared the door which was really just a gate that separated the street from the front courtyard. We crossed the courtyard and made our way to another door. I told the man guarding this door that we were told we could use the seats at the back of the room (although the place would be packed and we probably wouldn't have any seats). He escorted us into the coatroom where we hung our coats, grabbed a Machzor (holiday prayer book), and entered the synagogue.
It was pretty full but as we suspected, there were plenty of seats. The first thing I thought was it looked like it could've been a temple in any US city. It was very nice but looked just like home. As we looked around, there were lots of yentas waving to one another and people approached each other much like they do at services in the US. People greet those they haven't seen since last year at RoshH services. As is customary, they would give a kiss on the left cheek, then right cheek, then left again. Afterwards, they returned to their seats. Again, this could've been any temple.
The next thing I noticed as I scanned the room was the huge picture of Anne Frank on the left sidewall. I am not sure since I never asked but I think this was her temple. In the neighborhood, there is a school called the Anne Frank Montessori School. Yes, Montessori is the method of teaching that is employed by the day care center Julie is volunteering at now but Anne Frank apparently went to a Montessori school so we are assuming it was the one we passed and she probably went to the temple we were at as well.
The melodies were all familiar and the service was very traditional. The service was missing most of the things I dislike about US high holiday services - namely the choir clothed in white church gowns who sing arrangements of prayers so that the congregants don't have to pray for themselves, English readings full of "he/she" and other non-gender words, and rabbis strutting around with guitars. If this is your temple, I mean no offense, this is not what I want in a service but I'm glad you enjoy it at yours. One of the nice things about Judaism is it allows all of these to be practiced and no one is ever considered more Jewish than the other (unless you are Orthodox in which case you don't want to get me started on them).
As the service continued, I felt really at ease. I began to realize that one of the reasons we felt so comfortable was because there were kids everywhere. This made the room feel very friendly and as if I was surrounded by my own family. The kids are all so cute. Every kid is blonde. It's unbelievable. Even the Jews are blonde. But as Julie had mentioned in an earlier T-Pod, kids are expected to act like kids. For this reason, they are not shuttled off to a Hebrew school-run service/babysitter so that the adults can attend to business - that is when they're not gossiping about what they heard and talking about what so and so is wearing.
Kids are expected to be kids so when they make a little noise, nobody goes crazy. When they drop their book or play with a toy, nobody goes crazy. When they want to wander the aisles, nobody goes crazy. Because of this, it seemed like the kids were much better behaved. They are used to being with the adults so when they are with the adults, they act appropriately. If they were always thrown into daycare instead of temple, they will never learn how to act in temple. I know, this is what the books say and it's much easier when you don't have kids to say "I'm never gonna..." but in this case, it seems to have worked with the Dutch kids. Plus, I do think it adds a really nice feeling to the service. And, they're so damn cute...and blonde!
Julie and I both participated in the service, enjoyed the sight of the kids, and felt very comfortable. It's obvious, but still strange, to see all the spaces in the Machzor where there would be English translation that there was Dutch. It was weird to see "Hoor O Isreal, de Heer is je God, de Heer is Een."
After about an hour and a half, the torah service was over, the shofar had been blown, and it appeared to be time for the sermon. Not knowing Dutch, we decided that this would be the time for us to exit. Before leaving, I stopped to say hello to a colleague who had invited us over to his house a week earlier to share Shabbath dinner with his wife and 2 kids. They are British and the kids are so cute. They were so excited to have visitors, the younger one, a 3-year-old boy named Judah pooped his pants because he didn't want to have to leave the room. At first, I think Julie thought it was me. Cute kid, don't worry, it happens to the best of us...
So we left temple, grabbed our bikes, and rode home. It was a very lovely experience (this is part of the influence of having all these Brits around, this is one of my new favorite words...I think it makes me sound smarter..."lovely", "brilliant", "cheers").
Julie adds: I like these British sayings, "bugger off" and "for fucks sake".
ROSH HASHANA - DAY 2
I had planned on going to temple the 2nd day of RoshH but I was feeling really ill so I stayed in bed most of the day. When I did leave the bed, I was on the couch. I was kinda upset because I was planning on going to the Portuguese Synagogue.
Those of you who have been to Amsterdam have probably seen this. If you haven't, you should take a look. It is awesome. It is in the center of town and is where the Spanish Jews established their communities when they fled during the Inquisition (I know, it's the Portugese Temple, not the Spanish Temple but there's more to it...this is the abridged history). It is a huge square building with a pulpit in the center. The building is lit by candlelight and is apparently a gorgeous sight during night services. It is a bit more religious than the Liberal Temple, with women sitting upstairs, separate from the men, so we didn't go the first day but since Julie doesn't go to temple the 2nd day, I figured I could go and not feel bad about her sitting in the balcony by herself. But since I wasn't feeling well, I'll let you know about it next year.
If you're interested in seeing it and getting a more complete history of the community, go to http://www.esnoga.com/
YOM KIPPUR
It was raining and since I would be fasting all day, we decided not to ride our bikes to the Liberal Temple. We took the tram. The ride was about 30 minutes. After we exited the tram, we hid under our umbrellas and pushed our way toward the temple. This time, there was nobody at the door. No security at all. What had happened? Are terrorists afraid of the rain? I was a bit surprised, especially given Israel's controversial response to the bomb attach in Haifa a day before.
So we entered the temple and the place was near empty. What was going on? At first we thought maybe the Dutch Jews decided to skip services because of the rain. Then we thought, given the Netherlands is such a secular country, they don't take vacation days for holidays. Julie quickly pointed out that given their liberal sick-day policy, they could've claimed "stress leave" for a day. It just didn't make sense. And worst of all, no cute kids.
After about 40 minutes, we looked around again and somehow, the place was packed. It just seemed to happen out of nowhere. Again, it was a nice service. We ended up sitting next to Laurence, the Brit from work, and his family for a bit before leaving at the start of the Dutch sermon again.
We came home and both took a nap. I must have been tired because the next thing I knew, Julie was waking me up and inviting me downstairs to break the fast. She didn't fast (she never does) but I did. I guess it's pretty easy to do when you sleep through the whole day. She had a really nice spread of fresh veggies and humus and made mac and cheese from scratch. It was yummy!
JANE'S ADDICTION
Saturday night, dressed in my red Wisconsin f-ball shirt and wearing my Cubs hat, I met a fellow American, Larry, and his brother Sean. Larry is from Milwaukee and has been in Amsterdam with his wife and 2 kids for the last 6 years. His bro Sean just arrived in town with his fiancée of 4 days. We met for a few beers at the sports bar before heading to the Paradiso, a 1500-person former church which has been converted into a music venue. It is the same place where I saw Phish in 1997. This night, we were seeing Jane's Addiction.
We got to the venue and wiggled our way to the front of the line that had formed outside the doors. Larry had requested that we head over when the doors opened as he is "vertically challenged, especially here in Holland". When we got in the theater, Larry and Sean immediately ran up the steps to the closed doors of the balcony. The strategy at the time was to get some seats in the front row of the balcony. I had another idea. I walked into the main floor and took a look around. The place was empty so I proposed to go right to the stage and grab our spots 1 person back.
While 1 or 2 of us marked our territory, the other(s) took care of beer runs and snuck a few moments upstairs in the small room where Liz Phair was performing for about 75 people. I looked in for a bit and she was cool. Although that wasn't the purpose of the night so I didn't spend too much time there.
The Star Spangles from NY opened. They were ok. But then the place got full. Our 2nd row center seats remained 2nd row but the area became very cramped. Jane's Addiction took the stage and rocked. They played for about 90 minutes. They were awesome. Eventually, Larry's seat became about 7th row but I stayed strong. It was a great show.
Here are a few things that made this an unbelievable show:
*** At one point, I was having a real tough time hearing Perry Farrell's lyrics over the accents screaming the words behind me. I cupped my hand around my ear to try to create a barrier between my ear and the voices behind me. Being in the 2nd row, Perry saw this and turned his vocals up. He then looked at me and raised his eyebrow as if to say "cool?" I gave him a big thumbs up! Very cool move!
*** At one point, Perry grabbed a seat on the speakers that lined the stage and sang for everyone. Again, being in the 2nd row, I was able to lean over and place something on the speaker next to where he was sitting. Knowing that he is Jewish (and pretty religious on top of that), I wrote on the back of my business card "L'Shana Tova" (Happy New Year in Hebrew). He read the card and mouthed "thank you". Again, pretty cool. After the song, he picked up the card and put it in his pocket. Maybe I'll get an email from him. Who knows, maybe he'll be reading my T-Pods soon.
*** Perry had brought out a bottle of Jagermeister. He took a few swigs before handing it to the audience.
*** Dave Navarro kicked ass on the guitar. At one point, he decided he would dive face first into the crowd. The problem, the crowd wasn't expecting it. He hit the floor guitar first. Nobody was really sure what had happened and even Perry ran over to check up on his band mate. Dave got up and continued his solo from the crowd. Following the song, he got back on stage, took the mike to make a joke about that being the best seat in the house, and continued to rock throughout the night. By the end of the evening, he had a huge scratch and red mark on his right side where his guitar jammed into his stomach.
*** The music was amazing. They played 3 or 4 songs off their new CD (including "Just Because"), which is pretty good, and a bunch from the older discs. Nothing from Pornos for Pyros but they did all their more popular songs (opened with "Stop", played "Been Caught Stealin'", played "Mountain Song" and closed with "Jane Says" with Stephen Perkins on steel drum). The amazing thing is you could see (and hear) Perry smiling during every song. They all seemed to be having a brilliant time (I wrote "brilliant" on purpose).
*** Tix cost E25 but apparently they were going for over E200 apiece on Ebay. We spoke to a few people who came in from Ireland for the event.
This was the second time I had seen them and while they were great in Chicago, it just doesn't compare to this experience. I will say seeing anyone in this type of environment will make anyone amazing - even someone as bad as Phil Collins. The sound is not phenomenal but the intimacy and gorgeous décor of the theater make you forget about its faults. However, Jane's has an ability to make a small venue feel even smaller through their constant interaction with the audience. A few times during the show, they made me forget about the other 1499 people. If they continue with a small venue tour, make sure you pick up some tix. And when the guys from Say Hi to your Mom make it to Amsterdam, the Paradiso is the only place to play.
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That's about it for now. The weather is beginning to turn so I'm sure we'll begin to see a few more museums and movies now. We went to see 'American Wedding' (the chocolate scene was disgusting!) the other night. 'Seabiscuit' just made it here so I'm sure we'll see that one of these days.
We had a nice visit with Sasha but as far as we know, we are done with visitors until next summer. We just bought tix to see the finals of women's team gymnastics at the Olympics next summer with our friends from Chicago Mitch and Robin. USA USA USA! We plan on seeing a few other events but we'll see how things play out. We're pretty psyched but if any of you have ever been to Greece and can make some recommendations (especially when it comes to the islands) shoot me an email.
We leave for Spain next Wed. It should be amazing. I just hope Joey doesn't screw up our 5-0 fantasy f-ball team while I am away. GO DUTCHBOY!
Other than that, nothing really doing. Hope all is well wherever you are and LET'S GO CUBS! GO BADGERS too!
Speak to you all soon.
-Stephen
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