Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

THE REVOLUTION

by Bert Stratton

I told my dad I couldn’t do pre-med because of The Revolution. How could I do eight years, minimum, of science during a revolution? My dad, surprisingly, did not think I was nuts. This was 1969, and he believed a revolution was coming too.

In Ann Arbor, the Jesse James Gang splintered from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The gedolim of the gang – Diana Oughton, Bill Ayers and Jim Mellen — wore hiking boots, wire rims, and were Hollywood handsome. They were several years older than me. The Jesse James Gang met in a U. building and encouraged us to take it to the streets.

Some protestors threw rocks through store windows and carried NLF flags. An acquaintance, John Gettel, threw a rock through the Ann Arbor Bank. A couple years later I saw him on a street corner in Cleveland, passing out leaflets for Lyndon LeRouche. John had moved to Cleveland to mingle with the working class. I honked, said hi, and drove off. I was on my way to my job managing apartments.

Dux Wirtanen, a Finnish-American student from the UP, got his jaw broken in a fight outside Hill Auditorium. I don’t remember why. Afterward, he drank through a straw for weeks.

I went to Cobo Hall to protest George Wallace. The funny thing was George Wallace was a good speaker. In 1968 the Michigan Daily endorsed Humphrey. Some of my friends thought the Daily should endorse Eldridge Cleaver (Peace and Freedom Party).

george c wallace

George Wallace

The Revolution petered out in late 1970, after Kent State. Youth-craziness and youth fashion shifted toward ecology — back to the land, communes, and brown rice.

I blame my flame-out in organic chemistry on The Revolution.

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4 comments

1 Ken Goldberg { 05.30.18 at 11:10 am }

All a lot like Syracuse U. and environs. Never exactly thought as a “revolution,” though, and I went on to grad school #1.

2 MARC Adler { 05.30.18 at 2:15 pm }

Power to the people, mon. Boston University was pretty
active in 1969. I remember seeing people throw rocks
through bank buildings windows. There were always a few
on the edge.

3 Mark Schilling { 05.31.18 at 11:28 am }

I was with Gettel when he threw the rock. A plainclothes cop (?) grabbed him but he got away. Exciting times. I don’t remember Dux getting his jaw busted, but I do remember him getting busted for stealing beer. Thank G-d I didn’t go with him on that run. Power to the people.

4 Dave Rowe { 06.01.18 at 11:14 am }

Wonder how this crowd would’ve dealt with Trump.

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