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					Also this issue: Disappearing Act How the Vanishing Peoples of the Earth materialized in Philadelphia. -Patrick Rapa suitespot -Peter Burwasser on Classical Spork in the Road Two vagabond electronic artists are tuning out and moving on. -A.D. Amorosi Palomar -Brian Howard From Autumn to Ashes -Andrew Parks Unsilent Night -A.D. Amorosi Reviews -Patrick Rapa, Paul Burress and A.D. Amorosi Beat Box -Ain� Ardron-Doley

December 19-25, 2002

musicpicks

KlezKamp

by Mary Armstrong

According to Hankus Netsky, KlezKamp is readily comparable to both Camelot and Brigadoon. (And Netsky should know, he was one of the camp's original instructors back in 1985.) Camelot because of the ideal way that KlezKamp lets you live in a completely Yiddish culture -- music, theater, dance -- for a week. Brigadoon because this oasis appears once a year for a few days and then it is gone. Netsky, who these days plays with Klezmer Conservatory Band, recalls that as a kid Jewish culture revolved around the synagogue, all about piety, leaving everyday flesh and blood out. "KlezKamp represents the carnival side of Jewish culture, sometimes a fight, sometimes risque, always a lot of fun." Netsky reminds us that in the villages there were always gentiles playing in the Jewish bands. "It has always been very much about sharing this music with everyone, emphasizing its universality." In Europe, he notes, its partying/improv side has been welcomed, where young players feel they've been given back their version of the blues. Call or e-mail to see if space for your particular instrument is still available. If not, consider attending the public performances in the evening to get a foretaste for next year. Netsky will also be part of what he terms the Jewish Museum's "alternative to eating Chinese and a movie: Being Jewish at Christmas." He invites families to come out and see how folks had fun 100 years ago -- Jewish music, puppetry and more. "No Gameboys allowed!"

KlezKamp, Sun.-Fri., Dec. 22-27, Cherry Hill Hilton, Route 70 and Cuthbert Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J., 212-532-8202, www.klezkamp.org.

"Being Jewish at Christmas," Wed., Dec. 25, 11 a.m.-4 p.m, $4, National Museum of American Jewish History, 55 N. Fifth St., 215-923-3811, www.nmajh.org.