From Nightclub to Congregation (and Back Again): Part 2

Born in Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, singer Charlene Brooks, the daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, developed an early love for music listening to Broadway and Barbara Streisand. After attending Loyola University of Chicago she “cut her teeth” at the jazz and cabaret nightclubs of Rush St. and has since performed in a variety of musical genres at events ranging from The Taste of Chicago to State and County Fairs, besides also working as a stage actress and wedding singer.

After moving to Skokie she began singing Jewish liturgical music at Congregation Bene Shalom (4435 W. Oakton), a temple specializing in services for the deaf and hearing impaired, where she had to learn both Hebrew and sign language. She also frequently sings at funerals, performing both liturgical songs and the often-odd requests of family members.

This spring Brooks, who describes music as “my job, my hobby, my therapy, and who I am,” has two musical variety shows at the Skokie Theater (7924 N. Lincoln Ave.): a second iteration of her retrospective show “Confessions of a Cabaret Cantor,” this Saturday, as well as a comic reflection on her parents entitled, “Life Stinks and Other Things My Mother Taught Me,” on April 2nd. Tickets for both shows are $20 dollars in advance and $25 at the door.        

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Skokie Patch: What’s it like singing for a congregation that specializes in services for the deaf and hearing impaired?

Charlene Brooks: Most of the people are hearing, but we have a signing choir there that is supposed to interpret according the emotion that I’m giving. They’re supposed to interpret not just the words but the sense of what I’m saying, that’s the idea. The deaf and the hard of hearing have been very supportive. They’ll come out to my shows even if I’m only able to sign one song. It’s been a very wonderful experience learning all of this.

SP: I was told that you originally wanted to title this current show “The Funeral Singer,” why was that?

CB: At the temple when someone passes away the rabbi leads the service and I sing liturgy at the service and at the cemetery. And though funerals are never funny, death is never funny, but the people are hysterical. The things they do, the things they say, and the songs they ask me to sing! I’ve gotten “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” two or three times. Different songs from Grease . . . It’s hard to find any song from Grease that isn’t laded with sex! Sometimes I have to change the lyrics to make it palatable [for a funeral], and I have to take a lot of liberties. But I’d have to say Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is my biggest request. People want a funeral singer to play the person’s favorite song.

I’m incorporating these experiences and stories, all of them true, into my show. The family dynamics, they don’t end at the funeral. One of my main things in life is to find humor wherever I can, and when you go to a lot of funerals you need that.

In the beginning I though “I can’t do this, it’s too hard.” It took me a few years for my perspective on funerals to change because at the beginning I was taking them all personally, but you can’t.

SP: You used to be a stage actress as well, how do you incorporate those experiences into your shows?

CB: This new show is kind of like an all-encompassing thing, everything I’ve played in the stages of my life, music from the theater, country, rock. I used to work at Victory Gardens Theater (2433 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago), but I never sang, even in the musicals I never sang! I was playing things like murderers and hookers, which I was good at. The only thing I wasn’t particularly good at was playing the ingénue.

I like working with an audience as much as I like working with musicians. My son, Zach Clinkman, is playing bass with me on a couple of songs. And that’s very cool because he’s off in a rock band doing his own thing called Dr. Kevorkian and the Volunteers, which I love.

SP: And you’re returning there for a different show at the Skokie Theater in April, correct?

CB: Yeah, it’s called “Life Stinks and Other Things My Mother Taught Me,” and it’s going on April 2nd. It’s all direct quotes stolen from my mother, my father and their friends. Like I said, they were all survivors and their take on life was so twisted that I found it all extremely funny when I was growing up. My mother is the funniest woman I know, but she has no sense of humor, none. I just started writing this all down, their quotes, their direct quotes and it ended up being very entertaining. That show’s not about me, it’s about them. And a lot of people who had similar backgrounds excited and grateful that I could do that.

Editor's note: If you missed part 1, you can read it here.