chanaleh | 2012 Chanukah recap (Reply)

Well, I really meant for this to be a beginning-of-Chanukah roundup, including the Chanukah song sheet that I created last year and finally posted online for communal convenience and enjoyment... but it's been a busy week, and suddenly here it is, the waning moments of the holiday. So it's a little too late for this year, but hey, there's always next year. I even had some folks over on Monday night, but forgot to print fresh copies of the song sheets, so we hardly sang anything at all! Oh well. It was still a good holiday.

In other singing news, my synagogue choir had its big December concert last night, and it went well. In fact, the director of the Yidisher Filharmonisher Folkskhor/Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus (the other group performing in the concert) came up and introduced himself to me afterwards, and then emailed me today to try to recruit me into the chorus. Gosh. :-D

There were a handful of holiday-themed videos this Chanukah which I think were worth sharing. Unfortunately, this year brought nothing really as memorable as the YU Maccabeats' 2010 "Candlelight" (which defined "viral" with over 8 million views to date), Eric Schwartz's Hanukkah Hey Ya, or even my Top 8 selections from last year ( LJ | DW ).

Six13 - Haneirot Halalu
"We invited our friends and fans from all over the world to join us in song, to help us celebrate the Festival of Lights and wish everyone a Happy Chanukah. We really love the results and we hope you do too!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0K9M6lCeZw

Apparently the set of Maccabeats who made "Candlelight" have all graduated, but four of them have reincarnated themselves as a group called Stand Four, and their initial public offering is attempting to leverage the catchiness of "Some Nights" by Fun (now at 47 million views):
StandFour - Eight Nights - Hanukkah Mashup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAbTDHblxFM

See also:
Shirat Machar Hanukkah - Eight Nights the Miracle of Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOeZWffc9KQ

See also also a video I made for Ramaz a couple weeks ago using the same song, which was actually the first I had heard of it, because my colleague who commissioned the video suggested it, so for once I feel like I got to see the trend coming:
What Does Ramaz Stand For?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMkdac72hI8

... Conversely, we got a new original song from YU's actual current Maccabeats:
The Maccabeats - Shine - Hanukkah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfieP6H47lc

And this last one isn't strictly a Chanukah theme, but it is sort of about giving: The long-awaited sequel to 2003's The Hebrew Hammer is finally underway, and they need OUR help to make it happen! Suffice it to say, I already contributed. ;-) (N.B.: Among other goals, they're trying to raise enough funds to "cast a name actor" as Hitler. But I have a fantasy of getting

justom into the running.

firstfrost, do you still have those morphman photos??)
Crowdfunding trailer: The Hebrew Hammer VS Hitler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SPSwxF4o3E

Chag sameach [motherf**kers]!

P.S. And in non-singing news, I had also meant to note that if anyone out there was still working on puzzling out a holiday gift for me, I take great joy in curating my Amazon Wish List throughout the year and I encourage use of it as a resource whenever appropriate. ;-) Which isn't to discourage anyone from prioritizing small local shopping, but, y'know.