Published in the Times of Israel, June 2020:

Local folk singer pens ode to female astronomer

Sandy Cash combines her scientific and songwriting skills, earning recognition from fans around the globe

by Jessica Steinberg

See the original article here.

See the video of “More Than Meets the Eye” here:

As a folk singer, songwriter, science writer and sometime actor, veteran American immigrant Sandy Cash often brings all her worlds together, but one of her most recent songs offered a particular stellar connection.

The song, “More than Meets the Eye,” tells the story of Jewish astrophysicist Vera Rubin, who overcame anti-female bias to become one of the world’s most influential astronomers.

“During her lifetime, Vera won every prize in the book — including one from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where I work,” said Cash.

Cash, a science writer at the Weizmann Institute, was inspired to write the tune about Rubin when she went to interview an institute astronomer about his efforts to detect dark matter.

“He said that Vera Rubin was the one to look at the sky and see that something was missing and that something else was holding stars together,” said Cash.

Rubin’s story was one of perseverance and dedication; she consistently fought against sexism in order to continue her studies and research, ultimately making major discoveries in the world of astronomy.

Cash made the song the title track to her latest album of the same name.

It’s a song that tells Rubin’s story, as well as translating the complex concepts into something that people can understand, a particular knack of Cash’s as a songwriter and science writer.

“I look for science topics that have human drama,” said Cash, “then it reaches peoples’ hearts.”

Cash then sent the song to folk singer Christine Lavin, a favorite performer for Cash and a role model as well, for Lavin’s lyrics and style have long inspired Cash as a folk singer.

The email that Cash sent wasn’t a blind stab in the dark, however.

Cash has listened and sung Lavin’s songs for years, ever since her first folk club performance in 1986 in Tel Aviv, when she sang one of Lavin’s songs.

But she also spent some time with Lavin a few years ago when the singer came to Israel to perform at the Jacob’s Ladder winter festival.

At the end of the weekend, the festival organizer asked Cash to put Lavin up for the night, before she went to the airport the next day.

The two jammed together in Cash’s living room, bonding over their joint interests in music and popular science.

A few years later, when Cash wrote the Vera song, she thought of Lavin, a fellow popular lover of science who has also written about astrophysics.

“I knew that this was up her alley,” said Cash.

She was right. Lavin decided to help Cash make a video, and sent the song around as well.

“When a singer/songwriter like Sandy Cash puts her talents to work shining a spotlight on someone deserving like Vera Rubin, the ripple effect is very positive and ripples for a very long time,” wrote Christine Lavin in an email to The Times of Israel. “I’m sure years from now some budding scientist will remember it as one of the reasons why he or she got interested in Astronomy in the first place.”

Lavin has her own lifelong love of astrophysics, recounted in several songs of her own (consider “Planet X”), and beloved by scientists such as famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The famed folk singer said that Cash’s music “was so good” and the subject — women in science — so important, that Lavin had to help put the song into visual terms, in other words, the video.

Cash said she couldn’t be more thankful.

“The video keeps people engaged as if it were a performance,” said Cash. “It’s so much harder these days when we don’t have performances; it’s just hard to know if you’re reaching people.”

There was more. Another scientist at the Weizmann Institute heard the song and told Cash that, serendipitously, the most advanced telescope observatory in the world was just renamed the Vera Rubin Observatory.

Cash sent her song to the observatory and a few weeks later received an email from Zan Rubin, Vera Rubin’s grandson.

“Songs just travel,” she said. “The song business has changed, we don’t sell songs anymore and you can’t have concerts so my goal is to get my songs into as many hands as possible.

As a musical-theater-loving American who moved to Israel in her mid-20s, my mind is a cultural time-capsule – full of the song-and-dance extravaganzas that made headlines back when I was a student. This nostalgic mindset isn’t mine alone – it also characterizes Israel’s many English-language theater groups, who regularly choose to mount productions of shows that rose to popularity 30, 40, and even 50 years ago.

This year, J-Town Productions – a studio theater that performs out of the Jerusalem AACI – has decided to get modern, and present one of the most celebrated musicals (so far) of the  twenty-first century: Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s “Next To Normal”.

I am proud to be part of this, and invite you all to mark your calendars for the opening night on October twenty first. The show runs until November seventh.

Here’s a video from one of our recent rehearsals, featuring Evan Kent (in the role of Dan), Tal Schwerd (in the role of Natalie), and myself:

In “Next to Normal” I play Diana Goodman, a woman struggling with mental illness and its treatment.

If this doesn’t sound like a toe-tapping subject, you’re right… “Next to Normal” is a musical drama with a a rock-opera sensibility, complex characters, and a grab-you-by-the-throat story to tell.  But in the grand tradition of Broadway, “Next to Normal” is also a redemptive story of the power of love.  Because when things get really crazy, being “close enough to normal to get by” can be the biggest victory of all.

“Next to Normal” was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize – one of only eight musicals ever to do so.  It also won three Tony awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley, who created the role of Diana Goodman – the part I am now taking on.

I must admit, being cast as Diana is the fulfillment of a dream – the part has been on my “bucket list” of MAD (Middle Aged Diva) roles for quite some time now.  Moreover, the part pushes me out of my comfort zone, to the very edge of my vocal and dramatic abilities. But I “hold it all together” – as the show’s opening song puts it – with the help of a stellar cast and a great directorial team.

“Next to Normal” is a small show – the cast consists of just six actors – but it has had a huge impact on the kinds of stories that can be presented in a musical theater setting. I am thrilled to have the chance to live inside that story for ten whole performances between October 21st and November 7th. Don’t miss it. Book tickets by calling the AACI office at 02-566-1181 or visit www.aaci.org.il.

All the details are in the poster below.  Click on the image to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

The “Times of Israel” recently picked up a song from “Voices From the Other Side” as a “top op” (op/ed) to share with their readers. This song is a dark satire about the State of Israel’s ongoing struggle with Western public opinion. Audio and video at the link:

Song of Zion

The struggle goes on. Today (December 29th, 2013), four katushya rockets were fired into Northern Israel from Lebanon. Last week, a couple of other rockets were launched at us from Gaza in the south. Also last week, a bomb placed on a bus (we haven’t had one of those for a while, thank Gd) miraculously missed its target because an alert driver — who saw the suspicious package — ferried his passengers off onto the sidewalk before the thing exploded, blowing out windows and mangling the bus frame. And in the good news department, a policeman stabbed in the back in east Jerusalem woke up… it looks like he’s going to be fine.

Didn’t hear about any of these attacks? No matter. You’ll hear plenty of reports when Israel responds.

When Norm Mast, co-host of The Back Porch radio show broadcasting out of Indiana, named my new disc one of the best of 2012, I thought I couldn’t be more pleased.  But I am. He just wrote to tell me WHY.  And I quote…

Hi Sandy,

Al Kniola forwarded your email to me re: our pick of Voices as one of our Best of 2012 selections. You asked why or what made this CD stand out for me?

For starters when I receive a CD from a new name I am always curious to hear what the music is about. You did not disappoint me with Voices! The clarity of the recording, the simple yet honest songs drew me into a closer listening mode, From the very start with the story of Gilad’s Guitar, followed by the gripping story in Banks of Freedom, to Freeze Frame Truth, and then some humor with Free Food Bar ( those of us with children know this all too well!). Numbers….Learning as we Go, the Journey and finally the Bridesmaid Dress song all add up to a presentation that few songwriter/ performers have the ability to pull off. You’ve done that rather well I must say! Music like yours makes me realize what an extreme privilege I have to share the music with my radio audience! You make my ‘job’ fun and exciting!

– Norm Mast