I’d Rather Play and Sing

Back in 1978, Suki and I were counselors in Camp Agudah of Toronto, and at the same time we were working with Mordechai Ben David on the V’chol Ma’aminim album (yeah, we were pretty young to be producing an album). We had worked out an arrangement that he would come to Toronto and sing for the camp, and in exchange, Suki would accompany him as a one-man band in Cutlers Bungalow Colony. We were already using “V’chol Ma’aminim” as a marching song before MBD arrived, so when he came to camp, everyone already knew the song.

Dedi once did a concert at Camp Ma-Na-Vu, which took place in the camp gym with the stage right in the center of the gym floor. There was a basketball randomly lying around on the stage, and between songs, Dedi walked over, picked up the ball, and asked the campers if they thought he could sink a half-court shot. The camp responded with, “no way”, “not a chance,” but that didn’t deter him. Dedi casually gripped the ball, and swish — he sank it right into the center of the hoop! The camp went wild, and even Dedi was shocked — what did this Israeli guy even know about basketball?

The first year Suki was a counselor at Camp Agudah of Toronto in 1977 was the first time he had ever been to camp, as either a camper or a counselor. He didn’t know too much about baseball or basketball, but when it came to music, he was at the top of his game. Many regular activities ended up turning into musical events — all of a sudden, there was musical chairs, musical Bingo, musical races, and the list goes on. Suki was one of the first in the industry to play the synthesizer, which had a whole array of sound effects. He was counselor to the oldest bunk, who didn’t appreciate being woken up, but one day, he woke his bunk with loud cracks of thunder from his synthesizer. The boys jumped out of bed and put on their raincoats to make a run for the shul in the storm, but once they got outside, they were greeted by a beautiful, sunny day, without a cloud in sight.

Shloimy Dachs was just nine years old when he was given the main solo for the color war Grand Sing at Camp Torah Vodaas. But when it was time for him to perform the high part of the song, he completely blanked out and couldn’t remember it. Not knowing what to do, he began singing the high part of a completely different song. His team won — the judges told him it was pure genius putting those two particular songs together.