CIVIL WAR ARTICLES
For Levine, Irish music a civil pastime
By CLETUS McBRIDE
IRISH AMERICAN STAFF
|
|
Dr. Levine enjoys playing with the 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers String Band
|
There are numerous re-enactment organizations in the tri-state area, including the Washington's Crossing Re-enactors Society, various Civil War outfits, and more.
What makes one local re-enactment "band" unique - The 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers String Band, and the members specialize in Irish music of the Civil War era.
And, what is even more unique about the men who comprise the group is that, while a sizable portion are indeed of Irish stock, the group's mouthpiece and on of its guitarists is Dr. Robert Levine, a successful dentist with offices in the Einstein Medical in Northeast Philadelphia who is Jewish.
So, what's a nice young Jewish guy doing with a bunch of Irishmen?
"This band is truly an interesting hobby because there are all types of people involved," said Levine. "And that includes all religions and nationalities. Being Jewish, I can relate to the Irish. There are a lot of parallelisms in our histories. The Jews from Germany, for instance, went through much of the same hardship as the Irish."
Indeed, Philadelphia City Councilman-at-large James Kenny echoed that very notion at a recent Philadelphia press conference in connection with the Irish Memorial to we installed in Philadelphia in a few years. Kenny likened many German Jews' forced expulsion during persecutions like the Holocaust to the wave of Irish immigrants into the U.S. during the Irish Famine/American Civil War period.
The thrust of the 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers String Band, Levine said, is to recognize the Civil War soldiers and to preserve battlefields.
"In a nutshell, our efforts are to recognize the Irish soldiers, obviously of the 69th Pennsylvania, and their efforts in saving the Union.
"Saving battlefields will have to be a privately funded operation," he said. "The government gives a little here and a little there, but is is not high on the list of priorities."
With Volume II of their Civil War Song Book just hitting the racks and a CD in the embryonic stage, the martial musicians will be able to continue to fund their collective passions: keeping Civil War battlefields out of the developers, preserving Civil War gravesites, and supplying tombstones when they are able.
"In this group we have a bunch of guys who really want to recognize the Irish in the Civil War. For instance, at Gettysburg the Irish demonstrated valor on the battlefield by tending to each other rather than capturing any battle flags just to get a medal of honor. We were too busy, with a 50 percent loss of men, helping each other.:
"Saving the union was the impetus at that point in the war," he said.
The famous painting, "The Rock of Erin", commemorates the battle and will serve as the lead song on the band's upcoming CD which will be titled "The Rock of Erin," as well.
A lot can rest in a name and there may be a cosmic connections to the song, considering that, according to Levine, "Brian Rock, from Belfast, put the music to the words that George Levens wrote."
The group operates on three tiers: the music committee headed by Levine, the preservation committee headed by Levens, who serves as first sergeant in the regiment, and the men from the regiment who track down Civil War graves and important sites. They do appreciate information supplied by anyone who may know of obscure Civil War gravesites.
As far as key personnel in the regiment, among others, Levine in particular appreciates the dedication of Jon Kopich and John Greaves for their efforts.
"They are always there," he said. Others, members and non-members alike, such as Don Ernsberger and Ed Wandell, are responsible for finding the most obscure battlefields, some barely reachable and buried in underbrush.
"Don tracks down the precise location of a battle," he said, "it's amazing."
Levine, 44, has been fascinated with the Civil War since about the fifth grade. Later, aside from dentistry and his family, it became a prime focus in his life.
"My first trip to Gettysburg got me hooked," he said.
Like many who involve themselves in historical re-enactment groups, Levine feels almost as if he had lived in the Civil War era. He took up the guitar only five years ago after being drawn to the music during re-enactment encampments in which the group participates throughout the year.
"I used to sit around the campfire with the guys and sing along sometime faking it!" he said.
Five years is not a long time, but a lot of musical ground has been covered since the group jelled. The book and the CD will be available at are Barnes & Noble Bookstores and the band performs regularly in those venues. A recent appearance at the newest Barnes & Noble in Montgomeryville, PA was particularly gratifying.
"We were well-received by the management and we sold a bunch of songbooks," Levine said. "People actually were just handing us money and asking us to put in towards battlefield preservation."
The band appears regularly at the Sunmey Tavern in Upper Gwynedd and will make the rounds of the Barnes & Noble stores when the CD in is complete.
Levine will also teach a course in American Jewry and the Civil War at Holy Family College in the fall.
"During the second half of the semester," he said, "we'll bring the band into the classroom. The band and the students have a lot of fun with it."
The band is also slated to perform during events in Bristol Borough in June when the replica Irish famine ship, the Jeanie Johnson, arrives here.
To donate funds for battlefield preservation and to order 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers String Band CD and songbook, call Dr. Levine at (215) 677-8686.
**(To receive a copy of this article in its complete form, please Email: info@drlevineimplantsperio.com and include the article title)
|
