A Concert in Carolina

Peter Rafelson – The Southern Weekly

Does the economy have you singing the blues? Well, that’s not very Jewish, at least, according to 8th Day (a Jewish rock band out of Los Angeles) who claim, “If you think good, it’ll be good.”

That perhaps, was the message at their rock show in South Carolina. Rabbi Heshy Epstein, the show’s host and director of Chabad in Columbia, says this is the first Jewish-Chasidic rock show in South Carolina history. “It was inspiring and uplifting for the crowd,” he said.

The musical presentation titled “A Musical Journey from the Shtetl of LA!” is the brainchild of the Marcus brothers, Shmuel and Bentzy, the children of Chabad Shluchim Rabbi Yitzchak and Ita Marcus, and the grandchildren of immigrants. The brothers formed 8th Day in 2005 and have since sold over 10,000 self published albums. 8th Day now tell their unique and inspiring story through rock and roll.

“The youngsters were loving it and so were the adults, that’s the nice thing about 8th day, they appeal to a broad audience.” says Randy Taube of Backline Concepts. “They are proud to be Jewish, proud to rock out in Yiddish if they have to, I personally loved the show.”

I soon took note that Taube was not alone, as I stood behind several newly converted fans as they awaited a personal autograph.

The band according to their “MySpace” (MySpace.com/sm8thday) says that Shmuel Marcus is lead vocals, Bentzy Marcus vocals and guitar, Rosy drums, Shaya Lieberman / Dana Decker Bass, Leo Chelyapov Sax.

South Carolina was 8th Day’s last stop on a mini east coast tour after having flown into New York to film an upcoming music video. The tour included Downtown Philly and a private Brooklyn show.

The band is now back in Los Angeles, but at least one inspired Jew in South Carolina will be humming a new tune for the next few days. And like the CD says, “Please do not play on Shabbat.”

I’ll have to wait until Sunday before I crank the tunes up again.