Review: Shlock Rock

[by Shiela Steinman Wallace]

If you take an eclectic selection of rock songs in many different styles, including many golden oldies, mix in a giant dollop of Yiddishkeit and Jewish pride, add a pair of nationally known musicians and a pair of local stars, and infuse that mixture with a lot of energy and a bit of self-promotion, you have the Shlock Rock concert that took place at Congregation Anshei Sfard on Saturday evening, November 13.

Although the audience was small, it was very enthusiastic. The younger children spent most of the evening in energetic dancing, often trying to outdo each other. The teenagers and young adults often sang along and occasionally joined the dancing. And everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, was moving with the music and smiling broadly.

Lenny Solomon, the mastermind behind the clever lyrics, and his percussionist drew from a repertoire of more than 400 songs. They were joined on stage by two fine Louisville performers, Gary Falk on sax and James Schweickart on guitar. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn the quartet had been playing together for years. Both Falk and Schweickart are masters of their art and blended in perfectly, often adding showy solos to spice things up.

While concert-goers purchased tickets for this concert, the performance also doubled as a bar mitzvah party for Sam Golding. Solomon included a section of songs from Sam’s play list, and even had the 13-year-old come on stage to sing along with him on one song.

Kudos to Anshei Sfard and the Golding family for bringing Shlock Rock to Louisville.

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