Twisted Social Satire meets Avant-Semitic Post-Punk

Eli Valley vs the Sway Machinery in the Temple of Self Hatred

AN EVENING OF NEW JEWISH CULTURE AT JOE’S PUB

The Foundation for Jewish Culture and The Forward present “Eli Valley vs the Sway Machinery in the Temple of Self Hatred” with special guests Girls In Trouble previewing their new CD, a reading from the winner of the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers and other guests and surprises. The event will be held on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7PM at Joe’s Pub.

Eli Valley, maker of mind-bending comics, teams up with Jeremiah Lockwood and The Sway Machinery, makers of mind-bending melodies, for an evening of neurotic superheroes, paranoid turtles, memories, music and mayhem.  Valley’s work has brought back a marauding sensibility to The Forward, the landmark Jewish newspaper formed in 1897 as a bulwark of secular Jewish culture in America.  The Sway Machinery has reinvented and reinvigorated cantorial melodies for a post-punk age.  Together, they play off each other like a rabbi and cantor of a synagogue on the other side of sanity.  Watch them mix and mash styles, share personal stories and narrate comics to a live, avant-semitic soundtrack, bringing a kinetic new spin to contemporary Jewish culture.

Girls in Trouble is the songwriting debut of multi-instrumentalist Alicia Jo Rabins, who performs all vocals, guitar parts and string sections for the album. Alicia marries her classical training and folk-punk sensitivity to her penchant for Jewish literature, mysticism and history. The result: pop hooks grounded in experimentation, subtle musicianship and a taste for ruminative lyrics.

Established in 1999 and supported through a generous grant from the Samuel Goldberg & Sons Foundation, the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers is among the very first of its kind to highlight new works by contemporary writers exploring Jewish themes.

The prize spotlights promising new talent, and is awarded to an American fiction writer for a first or second full-length work that was published in the previous calendar year.  The award includes a prize of $2,500, as well as a one-week residency at Ledig House International Writers Colony in New York’s Hudson Valley. Past winners include Anya Ulinich, Lara Vapnyar, Gary Shteyngart, Peter Orner and Nathan Englander.

Eli Valley vs the Sway Machinery in the Temple of Self Hatred performs Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7PM at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC. Tickets are $15 and are available online at joespub.com, by phone at 212-967-7555 or in person at The Public Theater Box Office (425 Lafayette Street) Tues-Sat from 1:00pm to 7:30pm; Sun + Mon from 1:00pm to 6:00pm

ABOUT ELI VALLEY

Eli Valley’s art has been called “ferociously repugnant” by Commentary.  His comics have appeared in The Forward, Haaretz, Gawker and Jewcy, and new work appears monthly in The Forward.  Eli is also the author of The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe, and he is currently finishing his first novel.  His website is www.EVComics.com.

ABOUT JEREMIAH LOCKWOOD

Son of composer Larry Lockwood and the grandson of the legendary Cantor Jacob Konigsberg, Jeremiah Lockwood began his musical career playing on the streets of Manhattan. He soon struck up a relationship with Piedmont Blues master Carolina Slim, with whom he still performs. Jeremiah and Carolina Slim have appeared together in Avery Fisher Hall, the New School Blues Festival, and have been profiled in The New York Times Magazine and TimeOut NY. Jeremiah has worked for years as the front man for The Sway Machinery, a blues/world beat/Chazzanus ensemble that is currently revamping its sound and taking New York by storm with the help of friends from the Antibalas horn section. In the past years, Jeremiah has also been appearing with J-Dub recording artists Balkan Beat Box. Jeremiah’s blues-oriented solo album, American Primitive, was released by Vee-Ron Records/Red Eye Distribution in April 2006. Jeremiah Lockwood lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Shasta and their sons Moses Lion and Jacob Ulysses.