The Hub At JCCSF Presents Six Events Starting 1/22/09

The Hub at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) will present six cutting-edge events in the first half of 2009, including plays, another great Purim party, and musical extravaganzas. Consisting of Jewish adults in their 20s and 30s (and friends), The Hub offers groundbreaking music, innovative films, literary events, DJs, dance parties and more, at choice venues around the city.

To kick off the New Year, The Hub presents Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz at the Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida Street in San Francisco, Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 22- 24 at 8 pm, and Sunday, January, 25 at 2 pm. Inspired by Nordic and Yiddish folktales, Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz pushes the boundaries of theatrical expression to explore one man's search for home - and the ways in which individual choices leave an indelible impression on history. Fabrik uses hand-and-rod puppets, masks and original music created and performed by New York City's Wakka Wakka Productions to tell the story of Moritz Rabinowitz, a Polish Jew who immigrated to Norway at the turn of the century in order to escape pogroms and persecution.

In March, The Hub presents Slavic Soul Party! at the annual Purim Masquerade Party. Brash and strong, Slavic Soul Party! is a fiery Balkan brass band with hip-grinding American grooves that has "developed a reputation for delivering a great time" (The New York Times). DJs, dancers and, of course, hamentaschen (Purim pastry) will keep the party going all night long. Free drink tickets are offered to the first 100 guests. Purim Masquerade takes place at Mighty, 119 Utah Street, San Francisco on Saturday, March 7 at 9 pm. JCCSF Members and all presale tickets are $8, and $12 at the door.

Klezmer Punk Cabaret meets American Gothic when The Hub presents the CD Release Party for Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird with Beatboxer Yuri Lane at Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street on Thursday, March 26 at 9 pm. The Painted Bird concocts a mixture of Klezmer, radical Yiddish song, political cabaret and punk folk. Fronted by brooding singer-songwriter Daniel Kahn, the group releases its second disc Partisans & Parasites, a set of Yiddish-tinged songs haunted by the subterranean worlds of Nick Cave, Will Oldham and Kurt Weill.

Yuri Lane, a virtuoso beatboxer and actor who is pioneering the art of Beatbox Theater, opens the show. The event is presented in partnership with The 24th Annual Jewish Music Festival.

On Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 pm, The Hub presents author Neal Pollack in conversation with Dan Wolf at the Amnesia Bar, 853 Valencia Street in San Francisco. Pollack has authored four books, including Alternadad, a wryly honest chronicle of his early days as a parent. He has also written for The New York Times Magazine,GQ, Details, Salon and Nerve.com. His music career has been less heralded: he plays with The Neal Pollack Invasion and recorded the album "Never Mind The Pollacks." The event is free, but reservations are required.

On Wednesday, April 22, The Hub moves to Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore Street, San Francisco to present Third World Love, an Israeli Jazz quartet that organically blends African, Middle Eastern and rock music. Led by Avishai Cohen (trumpet) with Yonatan Avishai (piano), Omer Avital (bass) and Daniel Freedman (drums), Third World Love will offer a concert featuring tracks from the album Sketch of Tel Aviv commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of Tel Aviv. "This band is killer. The songs on Sketch of Tel Aviv are timeless." - The New York Times

Back to the Traveling Jewish Theatre space in June, when The Hub presents a workshop production of Stateless by Dan Wolf and Tommy Shepherd, directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang. A hip hop theatrical collaboration, Stateless explores the problems of racism within the Jewish-American and African-American experience. Inspired by a true story, the work weaves German and Jewish history with contemporary hip hop music, beat-box vocal rhythms and vaudeville to uncover the lost state of the new American identity. This workshop production features the gyspy klezmer music of One Ring Zero as they re-invent and re-imagine the music and vaudeville performance styles made popular by playwright Dan Wolf's ancestors. The workshop will be presented Thursday through Saturday, June 4 - 6 at 8 pm. This marks the next collaboration from the team that brought you the smash hit Angry Black White Boy at Intersection for the Arts.
"Stateless brings a fresh intelligence and rousing energy to the theme of insider-outsider identities and internal exile." - SF Bay Guardian

The Hub Calendar of Events

Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz
Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida Street, San Francisco
Thurs. - Sat. (Jan 22, 23 & 24) at 8 pm/Sun. Jan 25 at 2
Tkts: $18 - $22

PURIM MASQUERADE
With Slavic Soul Party!
Mighty, 119 Utah Street
Sat., March 7 at 9 pm
Tkts: $8 & $12

Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird
CD Release Party
With Beatboxer Yuri Lane
Rickshaw Stop , 155 Fell Street, San Francisco
Thurs., March 26 at 9 pm
Tkts: $12 & $14

NEAL POLLACK In Conversation with Dan Wolf
Amnesia Bar, 853 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Thurs., April 2 at 7:30 pm.
FREE; RSVP Required at 415.292.1233

Third World Love
Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore Street
Wed., April 22 at 9 & 11 pm
Tkts: $12, $14 & $18
Presented in partnership with Israel Center/Tzavta.

Stateless (Workshop Production)
Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida Street, San Francisco
Thurs - Sat. June 4, 5 & 6 at 8 pm
Tkts: $8 - $12

Box Office: 415/292-1233 or www.jccsf.org/arts

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