An apology to NYC-area bloggers: Sorry I didn't think to announce last night's Ruby Harris CD-release party

Okay, so maybe the crowd at the Carlebach Shul wasn't as big as it would have been if we hadn't been in the middle of a snowstorm--Ruby joked that this sort of weather is considered quite moderate in Chicago--but inside, we were having a grand old time listening (and--you know me--dancing in the back of the room) first to Oneg Shemesh accompany himself on the guitar, then to Ruby Harris on the violin or guitar. There was a small band--western-style drum set, keyboard, middle-eastern hand-held drums--but it certainly got bigger as Ruby kept calling folks in the audience to come up and join him. One fellow came equipped with clarinet, another with guitar and some kind of rattle. Rudy seemed to know every musician who walked in the door. The final jam, to M. Shur's "Hafachta," an old Diaspora Yeshiva Band classic, was just awesome.

One of the Jewish blogosphere's physician/musicians, Mark/PT--there are two, at last count, if we include former simcha-circuit keyboard players--has been known to claim that musicians are poor judges of music. Well, that's debatable, but, if last night's show was any indication, musicians are terrific judges of other musicians. So tell me, Mark, is every musician friend of yours a musical genius? :)