Expert: Erronoeous Fisherman - 7/26/2000

Question
how did beck get his band together when he first started? oh and i thought i heard this somewhere that beck is jewish...not that it has to do with anything i was just wondering...

Answer
Hey Ashley,

I'm not sure what you mean by "first started."  He didn't start with the regular full-band setup until the Odelay tour.  Before that he stole people from this place and that (the bassist from the Presidents of the United States of America was in the line-up for awhile) or just went with a pretty stripped down show (guitar, harmonica stuff, with maybe a backup tape machine to play samples and loops or whathaveyou).  When he played Top of the Pops in England when "Loser" first came out, he just had a bunch of old men go on stage with him and pretend to play instruments while a machine did everything.  
Go to http://www.beck.com/tour and click on players for an outline of their careers and, in some instances, how they hooked up with Beck (let me know if you can't do this and I will send you the text for your perusal).
As far as Beck being Jewish, you heard correctly.  He's a Jew of northern European ancestry, apparently, but I don't believe he is a practitioner of Judaism.  As a matter of fact, if you listen to "Little Drum Machine Boy" on the Just Say Noel compilation, you can hear a Hebrew prayer being played backwards.  Apparently, this is strongly forbidden, and I'd imagine doubly so for a practicing Jew.
But just admit it Ashley, you have a Jew fetish.

 Keith
mindaphid@aol.com