Beat Down

Thursday was the first yahrzeit of Jewdar’s father. For those who are unfamiliar with Jewish mourning customs (and you should remain unfamiliar, God willing), you can’t listen to music for the year after the death. So there Jewdar is, sitting in the barbershop, reading The Village Voice (that’s a paper that was relevant when mommies and daddies were little, but that still has NYC music listings and Nat Hentoff), and thinking "Wouldn’t it be great if The English Beat were playing a show?" And lo and behold, there, in the listings for The Fillmore, was the English Beat on February 29. We rushed to the calendar, and checked: FRIDAY NIGHT (that’s right, we went with all capitals, so you know we aren’t playing around).

Now this was an extraordinary emotional rollercoaster–there we are in mourning, then our emotions soar with the prospect of seeing one of our favorite bands ever, then back down again. Now, even Jewdar is not so egomaniacal as to imagine that Beat frontman Dave Wakeling has a personal animus towards us, which leaves us with the inescapable conclusion that he chose to play in the most Jewy city in the world on a Friday night, with the sole intention of sticking it to the Jews. And if you think this is absurd, that it’s just a random coincidence, consider this: Not only is it a Friday night, it’s February 29th. Not only has he been planning this, but he’s been planning this for four years. I’d like to think all those 2 Tone era paeans to racial harmony were more than just a marketing scheme, but right now, Dave, the ball is in your court.

What do you think?