Yo La Tengo began their beloved holiday season tradition again this year. The band kicked off their annual run of Hanukkah shows on December 14, a staple since the 2000s. The shows coincide with the eight nights of Hanukkah, which began at sundown that Sunday. Sold-out shows are scheduled for the entire week ending on December 21.
The shows feature different guest musicians and comedians, along with a mix CD. This year, Yo La Tengo is using their shows to benefit Housing Justice For All. The New York-based coalition is made up of more than 80 organizations representing tenants and the unhoused.
During the second show on December 15, the band took a moment to honor filmmaker Rob Reiner. He and his wife, Michele, were found killed in their home on December 14, with details still emerging. Yo La Tengo performed “Gimme Some Money” from Reiner’s 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, in tribute to the director.
Just before that, they performed the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin”. Ira Kaplan then addressed the crowd to introduce the next song. “As if that wasn’t ragged enough, this will be the most ragged one of all,” he said, per Rolling Stone.
Kaplan continued, “Because we’re gonna salute a Jewish songwriter we were not expecting to be saluting this Hanukkah, and we certainly weren’t expecting to be memorializing him. So we’re gonna try to do a song and see how this goes.”
Yo La Tengo’s Tribute to Rob Reiner Joins An Outpouring of Grief for the Director
Many of Rob Reiner’s friends and contemporaries have shared their shock and grief after news broke of his and his wife’s tragic death. People he worked with over his long and storied career have paid tribute. But also, people who were inspired by his work have publicly given their condolences and tributes to the Reiners.
Most notably, Harry Shearer, co-writer-director-star of This Is Spinal Tap, shared his emotions following the news. “Rob was a friend and collaborator through much of my life,” he wrote in a post shared to Instagram. “He was funny, he was smart, he was a mensch. When he came to see the comedy act I was in, and, later, the musical comedy I had co-written, his laugh was uproarious and audible around the block.”
Jerry Seinfeld also paid tribute to Reiner. He shared that the filmmaker was a huge part of what made Seinfeld a successful series. “Our show would have never happened without him,” he wrote on Instagram. “He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation.”
The Reiners’ Death Shocked the Entertainment World
Jerry Seinfeld also noted that Rob and Michele Reiner married right at the beginning of Seinfeld. The two met during the production of When Harry Met Sally in the mid-80s. Michele was responsible for changing the ending of the film, which had Harry and Sally getting married. Originally, the main characters were supposed to meet again after several years, and then part ways once more.
“I had been married for ten years. I’d been single for ten years, and I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody. And that gave birth to When Harry Met Sally,” Reiner said in 2024. “I met my wife Michele, who I’ve been married to now 35 years. I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending.”
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