Brett and Eric

[00:00:00]Brett: [00:00:00] Hello rabbi.

[00:00:02]Eric: [00:00:02] Hello, Brett.

[00:00:03]Brett: [00:00:03] So big life news for you. You just had a baby

[00:00:07]Eric: [00:00:07] I did. Well, my wife did, but yes, uh, nine weeks ago.

[00:00:12] Brett: [00:00:12] nine weeks that I don’t understand child development. What, what stage is nine weeks?

[00:00:18]Eric: [00:00:18] I, we’re not sure if he’s starting to talk yet when he’s going to college

[00:00:22] Brett: [00:00:22] I don’t, I don’t know how this works.

[00:00:24] Eric: [00:00:24] Yes. So nine weeks still, unfortunately, a pooping in his pants. Um, but starting to smile and that’s a recent development and an adorable recent development, um, starting to discover his limbs a little more and a little bit more control, but still sometimes punches us when we’re holding him.

[00:00:42] Hopefully not purposefully.

[00:00:44]Brett: [00:00:44] my little brother had a thing about punching people in the nose. He gave me bloody noses.

[00:00:49] Eric: [00:00:49] Ooh, well, you know, nine weeks, they’re not strong enough to do that, even if they wanted to, but, uh,

[00:00:55] Brett: [00:00:55] he kept doing it well into his, his toddler years.

[00:00:58]Eric: [00:00:58] it was twenties.

[00:00:59][00:01:00] Brett: [00:00:59] He’s a pacifist now. Um, yeah. Well, congratulations.

[00:01:05] Eric: [00:01:05] Thank you.

[00:01:06] Brett: [00:01:06] Um, so I basically want to split today’s interview up into three parts, uh, which we, we discussed in the pre show, but, uh, stuff relating to your work stuff, relating to your music, which I’m super interested in. And then a little bit of tech talks. So if that all sounds good to you,

[00:01:26]Eric: [00:01:26] Triumph for it. I love it.

[00:01:28] Brett: [00:01:28] I, you may have noticed we’re living in a pandemic right now.

[00:01:31] Um, Unprecedented times, and you are a leader of a congregation. So tell me a little bit about how things have changed for you.

[00:01:41]Eric: [00:01:41] Well, in some ways, um, the, everything has changed and, and, um, you know, if it wasn’t for the internet zoom in particular, um, I think a lot of us would not be able to do some of the things we’re doing. So, you know, one of the. The things that [00:02:00] so sure. I think in any religious organization, certainly, um, you know, is proximity.

[00:02:06] You, you get together to worship when someone has a wedding you gathered to celebrate, you gathered a mourn, um, you know, our regular, weekly Shabbat prayer services when people come together and we share food after the service and, and kind of what we call the, the own egg, which is the schmooze time following the service.

[00:02:24] Yeah. And, um, like most congregations, at least in my denomination of reform Judaism, our building is closed. I’ve been. As a slight aside, I’ve been very keen to say that our building is closed. We are not closed as the community is open, but the building is closed and why not being able to visit people, especially, um, you know, people who are in the hospital, not necessarily for COVID, but just, you know, getting scheduled operations or sick, um, or we’re really.

[00:02:57] Hurts me is we have a few [00:03:00] homebound congregants, you know, people who are elderly, um, that live by themselves summit and nursing homes. Some not, and I cannot visit them. Um, and you know, for those, with hearing issues, I can’t call them. And so things like that have been difficult. Um, You know, if anyone here is part of a worship community, I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience of, um, you know, services on zoom or whatever platform.

[00:03:27]Um, it is something and thank God for it. Um, but it is not the same as, you know, being, being in the same place. Um, and being able to kind of gauge reactions and play off of one another and, and feeling the energy of the room, so to speak. Um, you know, there’s a reason I think in Judaism, why. We have, um, there’s, there’s a rule that says, whenever you do a formal prayer service, you need at least 10 people, traditional Judaism.

[00:03:55] It’s 10 men, uh, in our version, it’s 10 Jewish adults, which means men [00:04:00] or women over the age of 13. And. You know, th that physical cool again, proximity means something, it changes the caliber of the service. And so I have missed that. I know my congregants have missed that. And then just kind of you don’t normally, when I prepare for services, I’m thinking about the tour portion.

[00:04:18] I’m thinking about what I want to say in my sermon. Um, I’m thinking about what sort of participation and readings I want to have now, in addition to that, I have to think about, okay, does everyone have the zoom link? Does everyone know how to use zoom or are the videos that the people sent me in the right orientation, portrait or landscape, like all of these kinds of things that I have to do and any, any, I mean, and this is not, of course unique to, um, to worship leaders.

[00:04:46] I mean, all sorts of jobs have been having to kind of reinvent themselves, but it is an added layer of complexity for sure.

[00:04:54] Brett: [00:04:54] so have you. I mean, you’ve adapted to, [00:05:00] to, uh, the requirements of the pandemic. Have there been any innovations that new things that you’re able to do or that you figured out how to do that have actually been, uh, perhaps maybe not better, but, uh, new and beneficial.

[00:05:18] Eric: [00:05:18] Oh, my gosh. Abs. Absolutely. And so I’ll give a personal example is my son’s baby naming. So, you know, we, we did our son’s baby naming over zoom. And of course, you know, in a normal I’m putting air quotes in. I hope everyone can see them in a normal time. A baby naming is done typically at the family’s house and you invite friends and family.

[00:05:38] And in our case, our plan was to invite our entire congregation and kind of do something in the backyard. Um, and then there’s again, food afterwards because we’re Jewish. We eat. Uh, but in this case, so this part was not the positive, but what happened and was people were able to, to join from all, not only all over the country, but I have a cousin living in [00:06:00] Guam that was on it.

[00:06:01] And so people that would not have been able to participate or watch the baby naming normally work. And that’s been true for our weekly Shabbat services. We actually have a bar mitzvah this week where family members will be coming on from all across the country. I’ve actually had a few congregants say to me, you know, when we do go back to something, you know, I don’t want to, I don’t like to say back to normal because I don’t know.

[00:06:27] You know, even if God willing there is a vaccine and everyone is completely safe. Okay. I think this still may change how. Congregations do, do things, you know, um, and again, not just kind of allegations and I’ve had a few people say to me, you know, I, I like the zoom service, like, you know, people who are more introverted, for example, like being on without the pressure of being social for, you know, for example, Holden.

[00:06:53] And so there are some, um, I, you know, I don’t know if you’d call it a blessing or, you know, the silver lining, but there [00:07:00] definitely are some facets of this, uh, that we never would have thought of. If we were just gathering in the sanctuary all the time.

[00:07:07] Brett: [00:07:07] Yeah, so I don’t know anything about church, but I do know that with my girlfriends yoga classes, doing them over zoom is obviously a very different experience, but it’s. It’s close enough to, socializing that a lot of people have been really into it. And I can totally see a hybrid and moving forward, like if there’s a time that we can all get back into the studio, probably having a laptop running in that front center spot instead of a mat would kind of make sense because there are a lot of people that have found out, you know, what, I’m more likely to go to yoga.

[00:07:50] If I don’t have to go anywhere.

[00:07:51]Eric: [00:07:51] Right. And I don’t have to sweat in front of people or drive or, yeah, it’s actually, I was.

[00:07:57] Brett: [00:07:57] mute anytime I want to.

[00:07:59] Eric: [00:07:59] That’s [00:08:00] right. I had joke brewing in my head about, you know, it wouldn’t be a stretch to, for your girlfriend to do that. Yeah. Uh, that, by the way, yeah. Yeah. That’s the same humor I use on the pulpit with the same reactions, by the way.

[00:08:13] I think it was David Sparks who recently wrote in his book either it was in his blog or his newsletter that, you know, if, if you. Consider an average commute of 30 minutes a day. And you’re not commuting now again, hopefully this will not last a year, but if you add up all that time, that one would normally be in the car, it’s like six weeks worth of time or something.

[00:08:33] And so, you know, I feel like in some ways it’s easier to be productive.

[00:08:40]Brett: [00:08:40] welcome to my world.

[00:08:42] Eric: [00:08:42] Yeah, that’s right.

[00:08:43]Brett: [00:08:43] Okay. So I have a question about, Jewish sermons. I grew up. I grew up in the, in the, uh, Baptist slash evangelical free version of Christianity. And I’m very familiar with those [00:09:00] sermons, but I’ve never heard a Jewish sermon. Do you know if you were to try to quantify or qualify the differences, how would you say a Jewish sermon differs from, uh, an evangelical Christian sermon?

[00:09:16] Eric: [00:09:16] What my, my first response is because we’re on zoom, Brett. You’re more than welcome to come onto our service.

[00:09:21]Brett: [00:09:21] My curiosity is endless. I might be willing to do

[00:09:25] Eric: [00:09:25] I know that’s one of the things I love about you. Um, You know, I having not heard a tremendous amount of evangelical sermons and with, of course, the caveat that, you know, every rabbi is different, let alone every kind of denominational and every denomination and theological bent. I think one difference is especially true.

[00:09:47] Um, for me personally, and I think reformed Judaism is, and this is may sound counterintuitive at first, is that. We are not necessarily as tied to the [00:10:00] text. And the reason that that’s counterintuitive is because, um, in Judaism every week corresponds to a specific Torah portion. Um, so the Torah is the, what we call the five books of Moses.

[00:10:13] Christians would call the first five books of the old Testament Genesis through Deuteronomy.

[00:10:17] Brett: [00:10:17] numbers and Deuteronomy.

[00:10:19] Eric: [00:10:19] Perfect. You could pass fourth grade Hebrew school. Um, And each week is devoted to a few chapters and they mostly go in order. So, um, you know, we start with Genesis around October at a holiday called SIM Torah, which literally means the happiness of Torah.

[00:10:38] And then we end the Torah also on that Hallot holiday and there’s a symbolism of ending. And then beginning again. But needless to say every week has its own portion. And of course every portion has its own unique stories or laws or rituals. So in some ways it’s very tied to the text. Um, but in reformed Judaism, one of the things that I know I do and my colleagues do is we will [00:11:00] very often take something that’s happening.

[00:11:03] So, you know, recently coronavirus racism, you know, immigration, perhaps gun control and not necessarily political, but things that are pertinent in people’s minds and kind of use the Torah portion as a buttress or as a foundation for, kind of, an analysis or an expos a of this, that theme.

[00:11:27] And so it’s not necessarily about the tour portion per se. Although sometimes I do give those kinds of sermons where, you know, I’ll talk about how, you know, everyone knows, or most people will be familiar with Adam and Eve eight from the fruit of the garden. And then Adam knew Adam was naked in the garden, and God said, said, Adam, where are you?

[00:11:47] And Adam says, here I am. And so there’s this whole, what we call exit Jesus about. Why would God ask, where are you if God is omnipotent and knows exactly where Adam is. So that’s the kind of like delving [00:12:00] into the text sermon. And I sometimes give those a but more often than not it’s, you know, what does this speak to our current reality?

[00:12:09] How has this Torah portion of relevant to today, and I’m not suggesting that evangelical sermons don’t do that. but yeah, it’s certainly a priority me, for me. The other thing, cause I realized I didn’t really answer your question. I think this might is I don’t often and certainly my colleagues and you know, there’s certainly a, what do you call it?

[00:12:31] A self selection here. But when I give a sermon, even if it’s a political sermon and I’m kind of angry or hot under the collar, which is not my bent politically stuff is not like kind of my go to, but occasionally I think it’s both important and necessary is even when I do that, I am not Elling my congregants to necessarily do anything.

[00:12:52] I might suggest something. I might say that Jewish laws. Tell says this or that, but there’s no, like [00:13:00] if you don’t do this, you are, you know, going to whatever the Jewish equivalent of hell is or something like that. So that might be a big difference.

[00:13:08] Brett: [00:13:08] Okay. So just to clarify, I guess, What you describe as basically that’s the formula for an evangelical sermon as well to, uh, to take a bit of scripture and interpret it in the context of modern day. And they take a lot of liberties with the interpretation. and I don’t know if it’s easier to, to interpret and contextualize old Testament or new Testament, but they definitely take the most Liberty with the old Testament.

[00:13:37] Uh, deciding what things mean. And like Judaism has a, uh, what’s the big book other than the Torah.

[00:13:46]Eric: [00:13:46] So we, we use the word, the Bible, but in Hebrew it’s Tunnah, which is an acronym. For Torah, uh, Nivi IEM, which are the profits and then , which are which writings. And so all of [00:14:00] those put together is mostly what Christians will consider the old Testament. There’s some, um, order differences in some of the books, but it’s basically, so, you know, things like Psalms Esther, laminations, all of those are part of our Bible, but the Torah, which is a subset of the Bible is the most important.

[00:14:18] Brett: [00:14:18] but there’s a, there’s like an encyclopedia that is hundreds of years of writing by

[00:14:25] Eric: [00:14:25] The Talmud

[00:14:25] Brett: [00:14:25] Talmid that’s it? Um, I feel like you guys have a more, um, kind of, uh, academic approach to interpreting, and I know that the Talmud is, uh, it’s liquid, right? Like it’s fluid. It’s added to and

[00:14:44] Eric: [00:14:44] It not anymore, but in a, in a metaphorical way. Yes.

[00:14:48] Brett: [00:14:48] Okay.

[00:14:49] Eric: [00:14:49] In that, in that there is, there are still discussions happening today over what does this page of Tom would mean? What w how do we live this law today and [00:15:00] that sort of questioning.

[00:15:01] Brett: [00:15:01] yeah. So I guess what I’m saying is I feel like your sermons are the same. Yeah, I don’t mean to use formula in a derogatory sentence, but it’s kind of the same composition, uh, but probably a different way of interpreting

[00:15:17]Eric: [00:15:17] Yeah, you, I think you might’ve said that first of all, much shorter than I did in much as well, because in truth is, um, It’s probably not the format. That’s different as much as the, you know, the underlying theology and philosophy of beliefs. Um, and you know, reform Judaism in contrast to evangelical Christianity is very flexible.

[00:15:44] There, there are very few things, if any, I mean, they’d have to be illegal, like according to, uh, you know, are secular laws illegal. There’s nothing that a congregate or I can or can’t do that would, you know, cause them to be quote unquote kicked [00:16:00] out or, you know, be labeled a bad Jew or something like that.

[00:16:03] Something like that. Um, you know, there, there are certainly ways to be more committed and ways to be more active. Um, but reform Judaism’s, um, prime motto, uh, is choice through knowledge, um, both for good and bad. I mean, there’s definitely a critique to that as well, but the, the idea is that each reformed you has both the right and responsibility for him or herself to decide.

[00:16:31] What they are going to follow and buy also what they’re not going to follow. And so there’s no fire and brimstone, th that would be my answer. There’s very little fire and brimstone in my sermons.

[00:16:43] Brett: [00:16:43] sure. And so in, in the Baptist church, there is a lot of firearm, brimstone, a lot of black and white. This will send you to hell this won’t, um, in the evangelical free church. In my experience, it’s a lot more of the guy won’t be [00:17:00] mad. He’ll just be disappointed. Kind of like guilting you into

[00:17:03] Eric: [00:17:03] like a parent. Oh, that’s the worst.

[00:17:05]Brett: [00:17:05] Um, just, uh, strongly suggesting things without outright. Although, I mean, there are things like they get very firearm brimstone over hot button topics like abortion. Um, And to some extent, homosexuality, that they, they do take a very strong stand on

[00:17:25] Eric: [00:17:25] And by the way, if I’m being, you know, I think it’s important to be intellectually honest. I mean, reform Judaism takes a very strong stance, certainly on homosexuality. It just happens to be the opposite stance. But it is a strong stance. So, and so that’s where I revise my state. You know, of that, you know, the, the, the format of what we talk about is probably the same.

[00:17:46] It’s just the actual content. That’s different.

[00:17:49]Brett: [00:17:49] All right. Well that answers some questions for me. I may have to attend a sermon just to see what what’s it called? You go to synagogue.

[00:17:58] Eric: [00:17:58] Yes. Go to synagogue, [00:18:00] Shabbat service, temple.

[00:18:01] Brett: [00:18:01] Yeah. I might have to show up just to find out what’s going on.

[00:18:05]Eric: [00:18:05] Please do

[00:18:06] Brett: [00:18:06] An atheist in your midst.

[00:18:08]Eric: [00:18:08] Oh, by the way. And I think you and I have talked offline about this is, um, it’s again, counterintuitive, possibly, but there are many Jews and many active, knowledgeable Jews who. Consider themselves atheist and, you know, and thought deeply about it. lots of people, and I know you also have thought deeply about it cause you and I have talked about this.

[00:18:33]you know, I, I find that sometimes people call themselves atheist and they’re just, and haven’t necessarily. Done research on what that means or the history of God or the history of eighth is atheism and or doubts and that sort of thing. And, you know, Judaism is interesting in that. I don’t think the Venn diagram of Jews and God believers, or God fearers [00:19:00] would be a Jewish way to put it.

[00:19:02] Like the, all of God. The fear of God is an important concept in Judaism. Um, It’s more about all than fear. Um, those are not a one to one ratio. That one can be absolutely committed to Judaism without necessarily believing in God,

[00:19:19]Brett: [00:19:19] right. That is,

[00:19:21] Eric: [00:19:21] by the way. I’m not trying to convert you. I just want to be very clear.

[00:19:24]Brett: [00:19:24] if I were, if I were going to convert to anything, uh, based on what I do know, Judaism sounds like a, a decent fit for my sensibilities. Um, all right. So I want to talk about music now.

[00:19:39]Eric: [00:19:39] There’s also a good Venn diagram intersection of those two, also Judaism and music, but, uh, yeah.

[00:19:46] Brett: [00:19:46] specifically want to talk about klezmer where there is a strong intersection. Um, T can you define what klezmer music is?

[00:19:56]Eric: [00:19:56] Oh, I wish, uh, our bass player, Dan was here [00:20:00] with me. So klezmer music is, uh, for those of you who are musical it’s in a minor key, or lots of it is in a minor key. It’s very similar to music. That’s classified sometimes as gypsy music, um, Lots of it is incredibly danceable, but, uh, there are also klezmer tunes that are more soulful and slow.

[00:20:23] Um, you know, it, it’s sometimes called Jewish music and our bass player. Who’s the founder of our band, Dan Horwitz, um, once talked about how it, it combines the joy and the sadness of life at the same time. And, and that is a fundamentally Jewish concept. Um, and so, uh, you know, I mean, a lot of people, if they’ve ever been to a Jewish wedding or bar or bat mitzvah might know, you know, having a Gila and that is crazy, but, um, that would be like saying, um, gosh, I can’t think of an example.

[00:20:58] I mean, it’s kind [00:21:00] of like go to stereotypical example, but it’s a large body of music with a lot of variety. A lot of it is hard to play, especially because it’s fast and there’s a lot of unison things. And so for us, we have nine people in our band. And so if I’m playing, you know, me, the clarinet is the violinist.

[00:21:19] Um, and maybe the guitarist are playing the same complex melody line. Um, and, and so it has that, that piece to it also.

[00:21:28] Brett: [00:21:28] alright. So your band is klezmer, local 42, right.

[00:21:32] Eric: [00:21:32] Yes.

[00:21:33] Brett: [00:21:33] And how many people did you say were in it?

[00:21:35] Eric: [00:21:35] I believe there are nine, we’re always changing, but I think there’s not

[00:21:39] Brett: [00:21:39] And what do you play?

[00:21:41] Eric: [00:21:41] a saxophone and a little bit of, uh, vocals. I mean, we all do vocals. Um, but saxophone

[00:21:48] Brett: [00:21:48] So how many instruments do you play,

[00:21:50]Eric: [00:21:50] well play or play well, cause those are very

[00:21:53] Brett: [00:21:53] play? What, what do you, what do you, what, what, what can you find your way around? Done?

[00:21:56] Eric: [00:21:56] Yeah, so a saxophone [00:22:00] keyboard guitar, and a little bit of blues harmonica.

[00:22:04] Brett: [00:22:04] Wow. Alright. Does to saxophone, Trent, like I played Viola. Uh, I started on cello. I played Viola. Uh, in chamber orchestra and I can find my way around any of the orchestral string instruments. Um, and I also play guitar, which means I could find my way around a base, even if I’m not the best at it. Um, just saxophone.

[00:22:29] Do those skills translate to other instruments?

[00:22:32] Eric: [00:22:32] I mean only in the sense of kind of understanding music theory and things like that. The fingerings of saxophone are similar to flute and clarinet, and I’m actually. Embarrassingly. One of the only people I know who plays the saxophone that doesn’t know how to play a flute or clarinet.

[00:22:48] Brett: [00:22:48] all right.

[00:22:49] Eric: [00:22:49] Um, but I have an electronic wind instrument in iwi.

[00:22:53] It’s called that. Um, I played it in the band once, um, where, you know, it’s [00:23:00] basically a mini capable synth. And so you it’s saxophone fingerings, but you can get other sounds out of it. And so I’ve used it to have a mute trumpet solo in a song I’ve used it to make a clarinet sound. Um, but 99% of the time I’m playing my Alto sax from high school,

[00:23:17]Brett: [00:23:17] Cool. So I found a klezmer, a local 42 is on Spotify and I had a really good time listening

[00:23:24] Eric: [00:23:24] Apple music. Also, if I can put it into the

[00:23:26] Brett: [00:23:26] Yeah, for sure. I, uh, I, I have always had an affinity for that particular sound. And for me, it’s, it’s manifested more in like a punk gypsy or gypsy punk, like Gogol bordello

[00:23:41] Eric: [00:23:41] I was just going to ask you to go, go bordello. Yeah.

[00:23:43] Brett: [00:23:43] love it. I love it. And I like, I’ve never gotten to see Gogol bordello alive.

[00:23:49] Eric: [00:23:49] Oh, that’s if you can, it is a must.

[00:23:51]Brett: [00:23:51] I don’t go out for live shows much anymore, but I would go out for that one. I would go

[00:23:56] Eric: [00:23:56] a lot of, we’re a lot of masks.

[00:23:58] Brett: [00:23:58] go out to see your band too. [00:24:00] I think

[00:24:00] Eric: [00:24:00] I would love that we actually, so last August, it’s almost a year ago now we recorded our second album and it’s ready to be put out, but we want to do, or we wanted to do a live kind of album release. Um, but that looked like it may not happen. And it may just release on Spotify and Apple music.

[00:24:18] We’re still trying to figure that out.

[00:24:19]Brett: [00:24:19] Is a lot of klezmer in three, four waltz style.

[00:24:24]Eric: [00:24:24] Um, some of it, but I wouldn’t say a lot of it. There’s a lot. That’s four, four. And then sometimes what happens again, you know, for people who are musical, there’s a lot of double time at halftime. And so the temple will stay the same, but you’ll, you’ll either speed it up or slow it down. Um, yeah. And I, and I think our first album, a fear of a Yiddish planet, um, it gives a good sentence.

[00:24:49]Of klezmer music. We also have songs in there that are not klezmer. We recorded a few. Um, we have a very kind of international band, which, which I love. And so I think we have [00:25:00] five different languages represented on our, on our record, if I’m not mistaken. Um, and, uh, The, the other thing, this is more about our band than klezmer is, um, kind of taking the themes of what we love about music, which is, you know, collaboration and friendship and, and molding them, um, with Jewish ideas.

[00:25:23] And by the way, in our nine person band, I think three of us are Jewish. So this is not a Jewish band, but it is Jewish music, which is, which is interesting.

[00:25:33] Brett: [00:25:33] Yeah, that is, um, what, uh, on a, on a. One of your bands, albums. What’s the ratio of standards to originals.

[00:25:42]Eric: [00:25:42] I think it’s. Uh, I mean, it’s probably about half, you know, I, I know we delved into the copyright issue and so we, you know, anything standard is obviously public domain. Um, but we do have a good number of originals and those, some of those tend to be ms. Again, it’s just [00:26:00] about us. Not necessarily klezmer music is about who we are.

[00:26:04] And so we have a song called Hebrew school, which is not klezmer at all. It’s kind of a, I don’t know what. I described it on it’s on the record, which anyone can stream it. It’s just a funny,

[00:26:15] Brett: [00:26:15] that song before we got on

[00:26:16] Eric: [00:26:16] yeah. A funny song about Hebrew school that anyone who ever went to Hebrew school or church, or, you know, something akin to that I think can, can appreciate, um, there’s also a pirate song done in the style of klezmer.

[00:26:31] Um, there’s a French song. That’s almost like a lullaby. So, you know, w our band is incredibly musically, gifted myself, not withstanding. I am probably one of the weaker musicians in our band. We have some incredibly talented people in it. And, um, you know, just speaking personally for a second, it, for me that.

[00:26:55] Not only, I mean, anyone who’s in a band, of course it adds to your life and it’s a passion and you’re [00:27:00] learning, but it’s a great counterpoint for me of, you know, kind of being on the bimah delivering a sermon, requires one kind of energy and, um, you know, mindset. Whereas being on stage dancing, like a crazy person and playing these songs is another one, but they’re both part and parcel of the same thing for me.

[00:27:20]Brett: [00:27:20] A spirituality of sorts.

[00:27:23] Eric: [00:27:23] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:27:24] Brett: [00:27:24] Yeah. Cool. Do you listen to much poker or I shouldn’t. Let me ask that again. Cause I know you don’t regularly listen to poker, but have you listened to much poker?

[00:27:33] Eric: [00:27:33] I have, but sadly the first image in my mind was weird Al Yankovic, but no, I have not listened. Um, although I, I it’s fine. I mean, um, I, I wouldn’t say I’m a kind of sore, but you know, if it was on, I mean, I would tap my foot and kind of shake my head back and forth.

[00:27:51] Brett: [00:27:51] Yeah, I see parallels between Poka and klezmer. Um, like I grew up in, uh, Minnesota [00:28:00] and Michigan mostly. And, uh, in Minnesota here, there is, uh, a fairly vibrant polka scene. And I’ve been to square dances and had a surprisingly good time at square dances with

[00:28:13] Eric: [00:28:13] Oh, I love square dances. Yeah. So fun.

[00:28:17] Brett: [00:28:17] I did not expect to enjoy it.

[00:28:19] I have, my parents had one for their, uh, their, their anniversary. I think it was there. I don’t even know. I would be embarrassed to guess wrong how many years it was, but, um, but they, my mom really wanted to have a square dance cause that’s how they met and yeah, I had a really good time.

[00:28:34] Eric: [00:28:34] Oh, that’s so cool. I, I, I always wanted to be kind of one of the callers. I think that’s just so fun.

[00:28:40] Brett: [00:28:40] What are, what, what are the standard, uh, dances for klezmer music?

[00:28:44]Eric: [00:28:44] So w there’s a, there’s a term called freakish, which is not a, um, it’s not a song, but it’s when you take a couple of songs and you either play them in the same key or in relative keys. And so you go one [00:29:00] after another. And so again, comparing to what people know of Hava, Nagila, that dance was called a Hora.

[00:29:05]When you kind of just are in a circle and I mean it’s and necessarily hugely coordinated, but, you know, just for neck movement and things like that. So we’ll take five or six songs, put them together with, with some, maybe some jump fills in between, and you could have like a 30 minute webinar call, a free gift set, and that’s super popular during a wedding.

[00:29:26] That’s what my wife and I did during our wedding. Um, and you could put standard songs in there. You could, you know, do your own thing. You could. Kind of sing lie, lie lies. As long as the music kind of fits. Um, I one of the songs that is certainly cut. It’s the first song I learned with the band. I think it’s one of the songs we play at every concert we have partially because we only know like 20 songs, but also, um, it is very popular.

[00:29:53] A Durer, hazer Bulger. I want to say it’s true. One of our first album, it’s either one or two. Um, and [00:30:00] that really is, is a good. Overview of klezmer music, fast frenetic, danceable, um, a milliliter line. That’s a little bit complex with a few people playing at once some solos. Um, you’ll hear that kind of minor key.

[00:30:17] Um, there is something there’s a scale. Uh, I don’t know if it’s called the gypsy scale or, you know, it’s, I always forget those, you know, like, um, liggers you probably know these as a guitar mixed collodion and all those scales. There is one specific to our kind of music. I want to say it as a raised sixth, but don’t quote me on that along with the minor third, definitely the minor third.

[00:30:40] Um, and, uh, yeah, I, I, I’m not sure if that answers your question.

[00:30:46]Brett: [00:30:46] Yeah, it does. Um, all right. So onto part, the third, which is tech, so I know you’re a big Apple guy.

[00:30:55]Eric: [00:30:55] Yes.

[00:30:56] Brett: [00:30:56] Would you say, uh, for your work in your [00:31:00] music, you’re more of a Mac or an iOS guy, or is it about equal.

[00:31:04]Eric: [00:31:04] Um, I’m probably more of a Mac guy. Um, But I have a lot of apps on my iPad, um, to make music with and that I can connect keyboards to and microphones. And I haven’t, well, I haven’t used any of it the last nine weeks, but, um, but I imagine that I will use the iPad stuff more simply because it’s portable. If I have, you know, 20 minutes here or there, I can noodle around, make a keyboard riff and record it.

[00:31:37] Whereas. Kind of my studio downstairs, where we’re recording from, that was kind of more of a, you know, I need a few hours of quiet. I need the lights just right. The air conditioning, whereas, you know, the iPad, I can just kind of pick it up and do it

[00:31:51] Brett: [00:31:51] Yeah. What about for, uh, preparing sermons? Is that mostly on your Mac?

[00:31:55]Eric: [00:31:55] now. That’s what I mean, mostly iPad or my Mac book. So, [00:32:00] you know, being portable sitting well, w the way I would use to do it is I would sit in a coffee shop and write, or in my office, um, But yeah, that’s mostly portable,

[00:32:08] Brett: [00:32:08] what apps do you use to write?

[00:32:10]Eric: [00:32:10] uh, changes all the time. So, uh, my new workflow that I’ve been touring with is, um, writing sermons.

[00:32:19] The actual writing is in Ulysses. And then, um, I will export from Ulysses to my, um, My blog, my webpage, and then I’ll move it from once it’s published, I will move it from Ulysses into a workspace of drafts that is tagged as kind of a sermon archived workspace. So if I want to look up a sermon, I wrote, I delivered five years ago, you know, I can do that fairly easily

[00:32:48]

[00:32:48] but, but drafts is unbelievable. I’ve started using, um, to go down a real geeky rabbit hole. Um, And I know I talked to you about this. I, um, I’ve been listening to automators at [00:33:00] another David Sparks podcast, along with Rosemary orchard or charter or orchard. Yeah. Um, and then it is, it is you, Oh, I never thought of that.

[00:33:10] Rose orchard. That’s good. Yeah. Um, and I threw kind of a bunch of digging you. Using OmniFocus I discovered on this, a video she made that is incorrect, incredibly easy to watch and understand doing something that I think is relatively complex, which is, you know, for those of us in work or any situation where we have a project that’s repeated.

[00:33:35]It w I can basically create an OmniFocus project now where I say, okay, so I’ll give a specific example. I’m not sorry to be morbid, but when someone dies, for example, I want to contact the family a week after they’ve experienced the death 30 days after they’ve experienced the death. And then 11 months after, because around a year, there’s a, there’s a following ceremony called an unveiling.

[00:33:59] And so [00:34:00] I now in, in drafts, Could make a template project and then using this screw, this script that Rosemary has easily, I could, I could. And you, the link to this video bread, if you want for the show notes, um, you know, I put it in that’s and then I export it from draft to Omni focus. And then depending on what kind of smart.

[00:34:23] I don’t know if they’re called smart tags. There’s probably a term for this, but it’ll ask me then, you know, get name of family member and I’ll put the name and, and it’ll say, get knee, get date of death. Right. Because that’s in kind of its own tag also. And then it will autopopulate for, you know, all those things I want to do.

[00:34:42] And so not only does it save me time. Um, but it also makes sure that, you know, I’m contacting people when they, when they should be contacted. Um, and things like that have just been amazing, really helpful. And I’ve been kind of a, does the second time this week that I’ve talked about that particular workflow, [00:35:00] because Hey, like any clergy member in particular, who does these kinds of repeated things that are multi-step processes can, can use this.

[00:35:08]Brett: [00:35:08] All right. I’ll add Omni focus to our show notes too. Um, so you talked a lot about, or you said you do a lot with the iOS in music. What are some of your favorite apps there?

[00:35:21]Eric: [00:35:21] So, um, for guitar there’s so many and, um, w one that’s a little more unique that I’ve been playing with a little bit. It’s called a Roxanne, R O. X S Y N T H Roxanne. Um, I believe the publisher is fierce in VR syn. They make a bunch of good apps, but what this does in particular, And if I am screwing up the name and spelling, I’ll have that, I’ll get that link to you too, Brett.

[00:35:49] Um, it basically turns your guitar into a synthesizer. And so there are many phenomenal, um, and you and I have talked about this Brett, uh, [00:36:00] apps that basically serve as, um, You know, stop pedals and amp simulators. This is not that this is, it turns your guitar signal into a synthesizer where, you know, you can play with sine waves and oscillators.

[00:36:15] Um, and it’s just really fun. Um, and you get to crazy sounds out of it. That’s in some ways, some, nothing like a guitar. Um, if you do want a great guitar SIM, I really like tone stack. Um, that might be by the same company, actually. I think it is. Almost positive that it is. Um, so those are some fun ones. And then, um, keyboard ones there, gosh, there’s too many.

[00:36:40] There’s too many to mention there they’re just so much, many phenomenal and affordable. Some are less than $10 for these apps that you could sync weeks into and still not kind of, you know, get everything, everything out of it.

[00:36:55]Brett: [00:36:55] Yeah, for sure. Um, I have so many cent apps that [00:37:00] I’ve never made. Great use of, uh, as far as working into like my logic pro workflow. Cause I’ve never audio kit makes some great stuff that I’ve never really hooked into my keyboard to actually play. Are not on the iPad to actually use as a software instrument.

[00:37:21] And that I’ve I’ve yet to do. Have you accomplished that?

[00:37:25]Eric: [00:37:25] Well, I’m not sure if this is what you mean, but I’ll use, so I use Ableton live, which is similar to logic. I’ve never used logic. And part of me is sad about that, but it’s like, I mean, you know what, learning these things are like, it’s a whole language. And so once you’re in one, you’re kind of in it, um, where I’ll have my, so my iPad has an audio interface that connects to my computer.

[00:37:47] So if I want to. Record something. If I want to record an iPad app into Ableton live, I can do that. Um, so the iPad will record the middy and then my main [00:38:00] computer Ableton live we’ll record it as audio.

[00:38:02] Brett: [00:38:02] you have it hooked into a mini keyboard. What is this, uh, interface you’re using?

[00:38:07]Eric: [00:38:07] Um, so I have a, uh, PreSonus or, uh, Scarlet, uh, my, my real, when I say real, the one that, um, Goes from my iMac is the

[00:38:19]Yeah. It’s generation two. It’s actually the one I think I wanted to sell you bread. Um, cause th there’s a third generation of it now. Um, and then my, my, or, sorry, my iPad uses a complete audio six that I’ve had, I think for about 10 years now, which does the job just fine. And so

[00:38:37] Brett: [00:38:37] a C? Yeah, that’s what I

[00:38:40] Eric: [00:38:40] Made by native instruments. And then, so I can plug some XLRs in there and it has a middy port in there also. And so that goes out into a mixer that then feeds into my main interface, which goes into the computer.

[00:38:56] Brett: [00:38:56] what kind of mixer do you have?

[00:38:58]Eric: [00:38:58] I have. So I, [00:39:00] my main one is a Yamaha. I have to stand up and look at the model number M G 16.

[00:39:06] Brett: [00:39:06] All right. I assume that has 16 channels.

[00:39:09]Eric: [00:39:09] It does, but they’re not all the same. So some of them are, some of them are mano. Only some of them are designed more for, um, for an instrument input as opposed to a microphone input. But, uh, yeah. Yeah. And I like it cause it has different zones and there’s a lot of flexibility with routing.

[00:39:29] Brett: [00:39:29] do you do any recording for the band?

[00:39:31]Eric: [00:39:31] I don’t, which makes me sad. I mean, so, you know, what I joke about is it’s less of a studio and more of like a lab. I call it a music lab because I mean, I do have some microphones and pop filters, but it’s much more easily used for people playing electronic instruments.

[00:39:51] Brett: [00:39:51] Sure

[00:39:52] Eric: [00:39:52] So, you know, if I have a few keyboard wrists over, I have a chaos pad, uh, you know what that is?

[00:39:58]Yeah,

[00:39:58] Brett: [00:39:58] Way back, way back [00:40:00] from the nineties. I know what a

[00:40:01] Eric: [00:40:01] I know. And they still haven’t updated them either because they’re good enough or because cork has moved on. But, um, and I do have a bunch of guitars that I could make up to amps, but that’s, that’s not my skill set, you know? Like where do you put the microphones next to the amps? That sort of thing.

[00:40:17] Whereas, I mean, that’s what makes middy so easy is it’s just like, there’s no signal loss. It goes into your computer.

[00:40:22]Brett: [00:40:22] Yeah, I haven’t done miking for years. It was not a skill I ever got really good at. I knew how to like off center a Mike on an amp, but not how to actually tune it, to get the best sound out of it.

[00:40:35] Eric: [00:40:35] And it takes so long. I mean, I, I am not as anyone who knows me will tell you I am not the most patient person in the world. And when we recorded our second album, I kind of forgot. Um, have you ever been in a studio, Brett, like recording something?

[00:40:51] Brett: [00:40:51] Oh, yes.

[00:40:52] Eric: [00:40:52] It’s just like you’re sitting there for two hours before you even play a note because you know,

[00:40:58] Brett: [00:40:58] that made studio time bearable [00:41:00] for me when I was in bands was heroin.

[00:41:02]Eric: [00:41:02] that is

[00:41:03] Brett: [00:41:03] I am not a person cause we would be in there for up to 48 hours. And I’m not a person who can sit and wait or even, even if I’m actively participating, doing the same thing for more than an hour, it gets boring for me. I have ADHD. I get bored easily. Yes. Studios can be horrible for me.

[00:41:23] Eric: [00:41:23] Yeah. I mean, it’s a good thing. Our band mostly likes each other. Cause we were nine people kind of grouped up in this, in this basement. Um, But yeah. You know, I just had this feeling. I having not done it before, it was just like, Oh, we’re just going to play our songs. But, you know, I should know better both as someone who does some recording and just kind of, you know, you want to record the best version of yourself.

[00:41:44] And when someone misses a note, which when there’s nine people, the odds of that are just more and more.

[00:41:50] Brett: [00:41:50] When, when, when a band like klezmer, local 42 records, uh, how much multi tracking do you do and how much do you play together?

[00:41:58]Eric: [00:41:58] It’s [00:42:00] mostly all together, actually. Um, I mean, part of it is just who we are as a band and you know, we’re not gonna, we’re not gonna pay for the kind of studio time or engineer or anything like that. It’s also not who we are. You know, I I’ve joked with the band before that, what we lack in kind of, um, You know, the perfectionist tight timing and everything we make up for in, in fun and energy.

[00:42:25] That’s not to say by the way that we don’t have timing. I mean, but when you hear our album, I mean, you can hear that it’s not perfectly on the click track, every single note. Um, but, uh, what, what is multi-track is sometimes the drums vocals and then certainly harmony vocals. So like that song Hebrew school that you listened to, that was multi-track a little bit, um, But the, but most parts is just we’ll play through the whole song.

[00:42:51] We’ll decide if we like it or not. And, um, if not, we’ll record it again. Sometimes we’ll record too. Even if we did like it. Um, but the other issue is for [00:43:00] woodwind players, myself and the clarinetist. Um, you know, we can’t yeah. Played for that long because my mouth just feels like, I feel like Georgia or beings when he was like, you know, when he gets shocked and I’m fair to medicine, he said, he just like, his mouth is all slacked out and he can’t move.

[00:43:15] Like, that’s what it’s like after playing for a while. So, you know, we don’t want to do a million takes.

[00:43:21] Brett: [00:43:21] have you ever watched, uh, an interview with, uh, Billie Eilish on her recording process with her brother?

[00:43:27]Eric: [00:43:27] No, but I think I read something about this. Um, if you can send me a link or I’ll remind myself to, to read that

[00:43:35] Brett: [00:43:35] Yeah, well, I’ll find a, I watched a really good interview, uh, but her, uh, the, the vocals on bad guy, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that song,

[00:43:45] Eric: [00:43:45] I’ve heard the album, I don’t know the songs by name, but I mean, I’m, they’re, they’re incredible.

[00:43:50] Brett: [00:43:50] she layers, uh, like at least five. Layers of vocals all perfectly sinked. So it almost [00:44:00] sounds like one weird effected voice. It’s it’s pretty cool. But if you’ve spent time in his studio, you’ll, you’ll, you’ll relate to the feeling of sitting and it’s just her and her brother in his room. Basically they recorded that entire album when we fall asleep, uh, just on like a Mac and.

[00:44:22] In a bedroom it’s um, I’m a big fan.

[00:44:25]Eric: [00:44:25] and then I look at all this stuff, I own all my plugins and it’s like, what? Wow. There really is something to be said for talent.

[00:44:34]Brett: [00:44:34] Alright. So that brings us to the top three picks. Uh, as I’ve mentioned on the last couple of episodes, I. I burnt out coming up with three of my own. Every time I’ll throw one in here and there where it seems appropriate, but this is going to be about you and your top three picks. So what’s your first pick.

[00:44:53]Eric: [00:44:53] So, uh, not particularly, um, I feel like a lot of people are talking about this, but, um, I [00:45:00] went for a walk with my son, Erin. Um, my wife was working and it was my day off. And so we went to the park, um, the botanical gardens here in Athens, Georgia, which are absolutely beautiful. And there were very few people around.

[00:45:13] Um, and I was walking, uh, listening to the new Taylor Swift yeah. Record. And it was just this really nice kind of introspective, somewhat bittersweet, you know, I’m looking at my son. Yeah. And I’m thinking about, you know, what it means to have him in my life and then listening to this album that in some ways is about loss and heartbreak and kind of necessity algebra to a certain degree.

[00:45:36] And there was just this kind of beautiful, um, It was just a really interesting feeling I had and I’ve, and I’m really, really digging that, that album. Um, you know, and, uh, I think someone else said this, it might’ve been, um, uh, Federico for TG that it doesn’t sound like an album that was produced in a home studio.

[00:45:55]You know, that just kind of shadow dropped because of Corona. I mean, it’s [00:46:00] professionally done. The, the instrumentations are sparse, but, but it fits the music.

[00:46:05]

[00:46:05] I, one of her quotes, I may use an a, in one of my high holiday sermons. Um, I was walking with Erin in the crib and she’s saying this line and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. And then I just plugged it in drafts. So I’d remember, remember to put it in my, uh, Sur on, so that’s one.

[00:46:23] Brett: [00:46:23] wait, what, what was the quote?

[00:46:25] Eric: [00:46:25] Oh, but if I say it, then, you know what, if congregants listen to it. I, I.

[00:46:30] Brett: [00:46:30] this isn’t coming out until a couple weeks after we record. So you’ve got time.

[00:46:34] Eric: [00:46:34] Uh, uh, mostly kidding it. I’m gonna probably get the exact quote wrong. I’ll have to look it up on Apple lyrics, but, um, it’s something like the best films of all time have not been made. And, um, without, you know, I know religion was our first topic, but, um, in the high holidays, what’s that?

[00:46:54] Brett: [00:46:54] moved on.

[00:46:55] Eric: [00:46:55] Yeah. Circle back.

[00:46:57]Um, There’s this [00:47:00] very, um, fundamental idea during the holidays of returning. Um, like when we return the tourist to the Ark, we say, turn us, uh, God, you know, return us to days like in the past. And there’s this interesting thing about we’re moving on to new parts of ourselves, but we also asked to be returned.

[00:47:18] And so this idea of, you know, the best films of all time have not been made, it’s this idea that the future. Not only will be different than the past and certainly in light of Corona. So, you know, it’s not that we’re going to get back to normal. We could actually get back to a better normal. And so the best parts of ourselves are still waiting to be discovered.

[00:47:37] They’re not in the past.

[00:47:39] Brett: [00:47:39] All right. Nice. All right. What’s number two.

[00:47:42]Eric: [00:47:42] Number two is Duolingo.

[00:47:45]Brett: [00:47:45] Yes.

[00:47:46] Eric: [00:47:46] Not a new app by any stretch of the imagination. But, um, especially after my son’s been born, I’m a fan of things that make me feel productive that I can do in 10 or 15 minutes. And so, um, you know, about a year and a [00:48:00] half ago, I was, uh, so Duolingo is a language learning app. I think they have every language available, including Klingon.

[00:48:06] I am not studying cling on, although it would be fun. Um, And uh, about a year and a half ago, I, I started doing Spanish. I got on a good streak. And then just, and, uh, I don’t know about a month ago. Uh, I decided I want it to start it up again and here or there, you know, 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there. I’m trying to do at least between three and five lessons a day and it’s working.

[00:48:29] Um, you know, I guess I could say that I I’m hungry now. So, um, but, but that’s one of my pigs because I like things that, um, you know, I like learning new skills. I think learning a new language helps us think in different ways also. And so, and it’s fun, you know, it’s kind of a gamified experience. So, so that’s, that’s number two.

[00:48:49] Brett: [00:48:49] I sat down with a, we’ll say almost legal copy of Rosetta, um, a few years back and tried to learn German [00:49:00] and, uh, failed. I failed at that, but I am curious about learning more languages. I

[00:49:05] Eric: [00:49:05] Did you do it on a computer or on, on mobile.

[00:49:08] Brett: [00:49:08] This was, this was prior to the invention of the iPhone.

[00:49:12] Eric: [00:49:12] Oh, okay. So

[00:49:13] Brett: [00:49:13] when I say a few years, a decade or so, um, but yeah, I don’t know, on a, on a computer.

[00:49:20]It, yeah, like I got, I got a little ways into it, but not enough that I was actually able to put together my own sentences at which point I lost interest and was left with just some basic conjugation of common words. But, um, foster oven, my nail turn false grandma.

[00:49:38]Eric: [00:49:38] I mean, that sounded good.

[00:49:39] Brett: [00:49:39] It did. It means what did my parents go wrong?

[00:49:42] And the only what did my parents do wrong? And the only reason I know that phrase is cause I had a tee shirt with that on it in high school. Oh, well, um,

[00:49:51] Eric: [00:49:51] that.

[00:49:52] Brett: [00:49:52] I will learn, I will learn another language someday. Uh, dual lingo actually sounds like a good solution because my attention span [00:50:00] is not good for hour long lessons.

[00:50:03] Eric: [00:50:03] Right. And you know, it’s, I do pay for the yearly subscription just because I am, I feel like if I paid for it, I’ll actually use it more. But the free app has all of the features, just occasionally there’s an ad. And it’s not like the obnoxious apps that make you watch like a 30 minute video or anything.

[00:50:20] It’s just like a little ad that pops up kind of interstitials.

[00:50:24] Brett: [00:50:24] Cool. I can live with that. I can also, I, if I use something I pay for it. That’s it’s I don’t know if it’s a, uh, an ethic of mine, but I just prefer, it’s not a matter of hating ads. It’s a matter of choosing to support things that

[00:50:41] Eric: [00:50:41] Yeah, that’s a positive way to put it. And as a developer, I’m sure you can appreciate that distinction. Also.

[00:50:46] Brett: [00:50:46] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right. Number three.

[00:50:49]Eric: [00:50:49] Number three is a, is a iPhone or iOS game I’ve been playing. Um, it’s called like slide it’s part of a Apple arcade. Um, so, you know, if you’re an [00:51:00] Apple or I feel like I’m like, uh, Phil Schiller before he took his new job, but you know, advertising all of these Apple things. Um, although I’m upset with Apple right now, because if it’s beef with Microsoft and the X cloud gaming, but that’s a whole nother show.

[00:51:14] Um, so life slide is, it’s kind of one of these like Zen, like games where you fly this paper airplane around the music is really nice. It’s. Sounds delicious, um, with a pair of headphones and again, you could play it in five minute chunks and there’s all these is, and the stages are meant to correspond to the stages of life.

[00:51:37] And so there’s this very kind of loosely, um, a loose metaphor about, um, the creation of life or the, you know, being born all the way to death and, and the graphics change in some ways to represent those different motifs. There is some challenge involved in that you’re the Plains of a health bar and you.

[00:51:59] Uh, [00:52:00] gather these gems, which would let you upgrade the planes. Um, and you do kind of quote, unquote die and you have to start a stage over. Um, but there’s also this, I think it’s literally called Zen mode where you just fly through these beautiful graphics and you know, the sound of the plane when you catch the air.

[00:52:16] Is this really kind of, I think it’s called AMS are, do you know what I’m talking about? Breath. The sounds, yeah.

[00:52:23] Brett: [00:52:23] remember what it stands for. Or what

[00:52:24] Eric: [00:52:24] Yeah, my wife and I were talking about this the other day. My wife’s a therapist. And so we were talking it. So it has those kind of relaxing sounds to it. And again, it can be played in very small chunks.

[00:52:36]Brett: [00:52:36] I could get into that. I keep going back to threes. Like it hurts me. It’s like, I’ll play it at an Apple arcade game and I’ll either beat it or get bored with it. And then end up playing threes and it’s like still after all these years, it’s my go to game and it, it, it, aye. Aye. It’s me angry with myself that I can’t move on and find

[00:52:58] Eric: [00:52:58] for not trying new things or.

[00:53:00] [00:53:00] Brett: [00:53:00] Yeah. Like my top score is like 158,000 now.

[00:53:04] Eric: [00:53:04] that’s my thing with threes is, I mean, it’s a B it’s an incredible game. And like, for so many reasons that have been talked about before, but like once I get a particularly high score, I don’t want to play again because

[00:53:17] Brett: [00:53:17] I do. I just always, it’s an obsession for me. Oh,

[00:53:21] Eric: [00:53:21] I saw letterbox had a recent app. You and I used to play that a

[00:53:24] Brett: [00:53:24] I still play that with my girlfriend almost daily

[00:53:28] Eric: [00:53:28] Okay.

[00:53:28] Brett: [00:53:28] or

[00:53:28] Eric: [00:53:28] we’ll get back to that.

[00:53:30] Brett: [00:53:30] w wait.

[00:53:31]Eric: [00:53:31] Oh yeah. Let her, let her press, let her box. This up movie is a movie collection app that yes,

[00:53:37] Brett: [00:53:37] right. Yes. I really enjoy a game of letterpress for me. A turn takes like max two minutes because I just pick a word and go, uh, I I’ve discovered recently that it takes her like 20 minutes to find exactly

[00:53:54] Eric: [00:53:54] I would like the optimal.

[00:53:55] Brett: [00:53:55] Yeah. Like she puts way more effort into it than I do. So now I [00:54:00] understand why I’ll play a term real quick and then won’t get a response for a day because for her it’s like a time investment. Cause she sits and tries to like, she’ll find a word and then be like, no, I really want to use it. Is that why? So I have to start over and I just, I can’t imagine the patients that goes into that.

[00:54:18] Eric: [00:54:18] right. Yeah. I would play it more like you or I do play it more like you.

[00:54:22]Brett: [00:54:22] I’m okay with losing. I just like playing words. Um, all right, well, thank you, Eric.

[00:54:29] Eric: [00:54:29] Thank you. Always be talking with you.

[00:54:31] Brett: [00:54:31] you’ll have to, uh, I don’t even know what day, uh, uh, synagogue is on temple. What did you go to temple?

[00:54:40]Eric: [00:54:40] Well, so the services are Friday evenings for Shabbat. So Friday after sunset is when Shabbat starts.

[00:54:47]Brett: [00:54:47] Okay. Send me a, send me a zoom link.

[00:54:49]Eric: [00:54:49] I will, I would love to,

[00:54:51] Brett: [00:54:51] turn my video off and show up just to

[00:54:53] Eric: [00:54:53] you don’t have to turn your video off

[00:54:55]Brett: [00:54:55] Um, yeah, we’ll

[00:54:57] Eric: [00:54:57] as long as you’re not wearing anything [00:55:00] offensive.

[00:55:00] Brett: [00:55:00] I don’t wear offensive things. No. Yeah. Cool. Alright. Um, And, uh, send me a bunch of links for the show notes. And I would also, at some point it’s already happened for anyone listening, but I would like to cut in a little bit of klezmer, local 42, so people know what we’re talking about.

[00:55:20] And, uh, so you get to pick a song and, and w we’ll put it in, in post. All right. Thanks again.

[00:55:28]Eric: [00:55:28] Thank you, Brett. Stay healthy.