Shortwave | whisky rabbi on shtetl

Start off 2010 on a spiritual note with Geoff Berner, the Whisky Rabbi. Berner preaches about sex, drinking, religion, love, and the working class. He also wrote the “official” anthem for the 2010 Olympics. “I want to make original klezmer music that’s drunk, dirty, political and passionate.” So says the Vancouverite who has played with and been compared to Billy Bragg.

On the second half of the show Shtetl talks with Harry Gulkin the fascinating 82 year-old producer of the classic Montreal film Lies My Father Told Me. The movie is the only Canadian one ever to win a Golden Globe for best foreign film.

No small feat having been up against a Bergman film! The story takes place in 1920’s Montreal where we get a touching glimpse at the relationship between Davey, a young boy, and his grandfather, an Orthodox Jew who makes his living collecting and selling junk out of his horse-drawn cart. For it’s 35th birthday the film is being released for the first time ever on DVD and screens at the Segal Center’s Cinema Space on January 26th & 27th. Definitely an important and moving piece of Montreal history.

Thanks for tuning in!