Knockin' on heaven's door

With album titles such as "Love thinketh no Evil," "From Strength to Strength" and "Gematria," Peter Himmelman makes no secret of his strong Jewish faith. While perhaps not a household name, the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter has earned a following of loyal fans across America, in addition to a 2002 Emmy nomination in the "Outstanding Music and Lyrics" category. He's produced 11 solo albums, including two for children, and has written the scores for several American television shows and feature films. All this while raising four children and maintaining a strictly Orthodox lifestyle.

Though most of his songs have no overt references to Judaism, at his Club Tzora performance last week it was clear that there is little in Himmelman's emotional or spiritual life that he wouldn't bare to an audience. But when it comes to his family, the respected musician is intensely private. And no wonder: His father-in-law is Bob Dylan.

"Rolling Stone wanted me to do a spread with wedding-style pictures," Himmelman told Anglo File of the period just after he got engaged to Maria, who was adopted by Dylan when she was three years old. "But I wanted to make a life for myself, not become a cartoon. So I turned them down. They were pretty pissed. Who turns down Rolling Stone?"

Himmelman, 44, was writing and playing his own music before seventh grade. In high school, he played guitar with R & B musicians in North Minneapolis and did a stint with a Trinidadian reggae and calypso band. Meanwhile, he wrote comedy sketches for a local TV show and formed the New Wave quintet Sussman Lawrence with his friends; the group produced two independent albums in the early 1980's.

After his father died in 1984, Himmelman's musical direction changed and he went solo. His first three albums, This Father's Day (1986), Gematria (1987) and Synesthesia (1989) were produced by Island Records while Himmelman was simultaneously exploring Judaism and, in his words, "becoming Jewishy."

"I was living in Crown Heights [New York] and came in through Chabad," he said in an interview this week, "so I still have those leanings. I got a lot of inspiration from Chabad."

During the concert at Club Tzora, he told the audience that when he came to Israel for the first time "my mom thought it was because my father had died a few years before. My brother said `ah, Israel is a haven for people who couldn't make it in the real world.' Now he's, like, in Tzfat [Safed]."

When Himmelman was first set up with Maria, he needed to do some serious thinking, he recalls. "If you had to make a list of the pros and cons, [her father being Bob Dylan] would probably have gone on the negative side. I was starting out; I had two records. I didn't want to make it seem like I was cheeseballing."

But once he finally established contact with her, their relationship moved along quickly. "I saw her and bam I was in love," Himmelman recalls. "I called her every day after that, except Shabbat and festivals. It was a very auspicious time. It had a lot of passion."

Meanwhile, Himmelman's career continued to grow. He produced four albums with Epic Records - "From Strength to Strength" (1991), "Flown This Acid World" (1993), "Skin" (1994) and "Stage Diving" (1996) - before returning to Island Records in the late 1990's. His 1998 work "Love Thinketh No Evil" was followed by two albums for children, "My Best Friend is a Salamander" (1997) and "My Fabulous Plum" (2000) while he was also writing scores for the popular American television show "Judging Amy." Last April he released yet another album, this time for adults, titled "Unstoppable Forces."

People magazine once commented that Himmelman "eludes stardom." Many blame this on his Sabbath observance; he turned down, for example, three offers to appear on the Tonight Show because they conflicted with the Sabbath or Jewish holidays (he accepted the fourth invitation, for an appearance on Thanksgiving). Himmelman himself attributes his lack of superstardom to an unwillingness to travel for months at a time while his family stays behind in L.A. But for a little while, he wondered whether he might have gone farther professionally without the burden of a legendary father-in-law.

"It was challenging for many years," he says, "especially when I wasn't making a lot of money, [asking] whether they're questioning if I'm as good as Bob. I said to my shrink once: `How'd you like to be married to Sigmund Freud's daughter, and have everything measured through that prism?'"

Himmelman will perform on July 17 at Barbie in Kfar Sava, and on July 19 at Jerusalem's Yellow Submarine.

	Peter Himmelman: "I said to my shrink once: `How'd you like to be married to Sigmund Freud's daughter, and have everything measured through that prism?'"
	Photo by: Encho Gosh / BauBau