Saturday, June 24, 2006
By Charles Honey
Press Religion Editor
GRAND RAPIDS -- When Stan Lynch went on tour, the former drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers brought something essential besides drumsticks: a menorah.
Lynch lit candles during Hanukkah to observe his Jewish faith while rocking out on hits such as "American Girl."
That impressed Scott Benarde, who interviewed Lynch and other Jewish musicians for his book, "Stars of David: Rock and Roll's Jewish Stories."
"I thought, 'If this guy can do that far away from home all by himself, then the rest of us ought to be able to do something more than light the candles and open the presents,' " said Benarde, who speaks Sunday at Schuler Books &Music.
It's one of many accounts in Benarde's 2003 book of how Judaism influenced musicians from Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and Janis Ian to producer Don Was and legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
A former pop-music newspaper critic, Benarde interviewed more than 100 musicians about what Judaism means to them and their art.
"Judaism is very important to many of these people and has formed their lives," said Benarde, 53, an East Lansing native who now lives in Florida. "It makes them who they are and makes the music sound the way it does."
Benarde recalls a 1986 backstage encounter with David Lee Roth, former singer for rock group Van Halen. Benarde told Roth he had brought a friend as a bar mitzvah present.
"(Roth) jumped off his seat and said, 'I started learning how to sing when I was studying for my bar mitzvah!' The inference was Judaism meant something to him."
It also meant something to the two Jewish members of the rock group Phish, which often sang a popular Jewish prayer in concert.
Gone are the days in which performers, or their parents, changed their names to skirt anti-Semitism, Benarde said. Today's performers, such as Hasidic reggae star Matisyahu, embrace their faith, he said.
"If he isn't giving people license to be proud of their Jewish background, I don't know what will," Benarde said.
Send e-mail to the author: choney@grpress.com