From Staff to Member

By Rachel Calvert with Eric Bressler

I first got to know Rachel Calvert as a fine musician when she played violin with me in the Shabbat Ruach Ensemble a few years ago. In Fall 2020 I was blessed to work with her extensively as we created and began publishing Tapestry. This year she finished her job in Bet Shalom's office, so it's time to look back on her experiences and learn what's next for her as a congregant.

Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Rachel. You and your family are long-time Bet Shalom Members. Please tell us about your family and your history at Bet Shalom.

 My parents, Deb and Valdo Calvert, met in Santa Barbara, California, where I was born. My mom’s family is a classic Ashkenazi story. My great grandparents left Eastern Europe, fleeing persecution and war, and immigrated to Canada and the New York City. My mom’s family are full of east-coast academics. My dad’s side of the family is a classic John Steinbeck story – my great grandparents on this side were Oakies who fled poverty and the dust bowl to seek a better life in California, where they became ranch hands and wildland firefighters. We all know the stereotype of the Jewish-American Princess; I’m inventing and embodying a new archetype – the Jewish-American Cowgirl. My family moved to Minnesota in 2006 after living in rural communities in Indiana and Michigan for most of my childhood. I had never experienced a real Jewish community, so we were very excited to learn that our new home was two blocks away from a beautiful synagogue – Bet Shalom. Before we moved, my mother, Deb Calvert (who has knocked on many of your doors while running for Minnetonka City Council) drove my brother and me an hour away once a week to the nearest synagogue for Hebrew tutoring. Big change for us! I had my Bat Mitzvah at Bet Shalom that year, and continued Religious School through post-confirmation. I even stayed connected through college. I emailed Rabbi Cohen while writing a paper on Gertrude Stein poetry, remembering a sermon he gave that was relevant to my research!

You've worked at Bet Shalom in a couple of roles over the past few years. What were your jobs and responsibilities?

In my mid-twenties, I learned about an opening in the office at Bet Shalom. I was delighted to accept the job and return to the congregational community I grew up with. In the last five years I’ve worked in the Religious School teacher as both a teacher and administrative staff, worked in the main office, assisted the clergy, and ultimately worked closely with Steve Barberio as Operations Manager. In this position, I had a number of duties including overseeing congregational communications (like emails, website, and mailings), organizing, scheduling, and coordinating Bet Shalom events, guiding prospective members through membership, and just generally keeping Bet Shalom organized and welcoming. Now I am very happy to continue my involvement in the Bet Shalom community as a member.

You did a fantastic job getting Tapestry up and running while working with Steve Barberio and me, especially since it was all remote work at that time. What was that like, the good, bad and ugly?

The Good: It was so fun to learn more about other congregants – their backgrounds, interests, talents, and more. I also had to quickly learn how to use two different website platforms to publish the articles, so learning those skills has been beneficial to me in the long run.

The Bad: The first website platform we used was difficult – editing was clunky, and a lot of tedious trial and error was needed to make things look right. There is a lot going on every day at Bet Shalom, so finding the time to edit everything while balancing all my other priorities was challenging. It was also tricky to address everyone’s needs and concerns – yours, Steve’s, other staff and clergy, congregants sending feedback, web designers, graphic designers, etc. Ultimately, I think we did a good job creating a new publication that celebrates our community while keeping everyone happy!

The Ugly:  I struggled with remote work during the height of the pandemic. I lived with roommates at the time, including a student teacher who needed the dining room table to do his work and teach classes.  I had to hide in my room all day and sit on my floor or bed to do work – I didn’t have a table or desk to work on, and it was very uncomfortable. That said, I was grateful to be employed and have an option to safely work from home – many of my friends were not so lucky!

And now you've moved on to... 

Doing administrative work at Wilkus Architects in Hopkins. Of course I miss working at Bet Shalom, but this new job is a better fit for my life right now. I have learned a lot about construction…I will never look at tiling and lighting in a restaurant the same way again!

I've always admired your fiddle playing and improvising since you played in the Shabbat Ruach Ensemble a bit. But your band, Barbaro, has taken you up to new heights! What's it like to be a touring musician?

Touring is incredibly challenging, especially while working a full time job. I wish I could say that I feel like a rock star, and that traveling all around the country is a barrel of fun – but actually it's demanding and exhausting! Typically on the road I get up early to work, then I perform at the venue, and then if it’s not too late, I stay up and do more work. I don’t have much downtime or opportunities to explore the cities I visit. There's little to no privacy, and I'm usually half crazed from lack of rest. I miss my friends, family, and partner a lot when I’m on the road. I feel I am constantly letting down my friends and family, because I am often not available to hang out, attend weddings, celebrate birthdays, baby showers, etc. 

I also have a recently diagnosed chronic illness that makes travel especially difficult. I was performing and working through months of chronic pain and exhaustion. While I am now on a great symptom management plan, traveling is still hard.  Opportunities to exercise, eat appropriate food, and rest are hard to come by on the road.

So why do I do this? I love the music! I believe in my band’s artistic project, and creating this beautiful music with my bandmates is the greatest accomplishment of my life thus far. In the independent music industry, artists generally rely on touring and performances for income, so it’s a sacrifice I make for the band to do things like studio recordings. Touring is also how labels, booking agents, and other music biz people can measure how successful you are – to get their attention, you need ticket sales! So remember to support your favorite independent musicians by buying tickets and physical merchandise! My biggest advice to musicians starting out is… make sure you have family with tons of money and connections to the industry. Nepotism makes it wayyy easier, and you can skip all the steps I had to take! I'm not financially ready to just be a touring musician.

Barbaro does have an upcoming tour that I am rather excited about. We will be travelling to Bulgaria, Turkey, and Qatar for 21 days as part of the State Department’s American Musicians Abroad program. I don’t plan on working during this trip, so it will be a great opportunity for me to see what a longer tour without a day job feels like, and if that might be something I want to do more of.

The most fun part (for me) of being a professional musician is writing/arranging new music and recording. We recently worked with Brian Joseph, an incredible producer and engineer to record a new album. He’s a genius! I am so proud of our new music, and we had a blast getting creative and experimental in the studio. We likely won’t release this album until summer or fall next year, but I’m already so excited to share it with our listeners!

What's next for you?

I need to decide whether to commit to music full time or to move on and focus on a different career – doing both is not sustainable. If I decide to pull back on music, it certainly will still be a big part of my life, but would be more of a hobby than a priority. But I have a narrow window to try and “make it” – I need to work as hard as I can to let this band grow so that I don’t have any regrets later. I’m looking forward to settling down and starting a family in a few years, so for now I owe it to myself and my band to see what we can do! My partner and family are really supportive, and I am grateful that they have my back no matter what I do.  I’ve learned in the last few years that life is short and I can’t take anything for granted – so I need to do what I love while I can! 

I’m also interested in working on a solo project. I’ve become comfortable enough with my performances and creativity that I’d like to write and front some of my own music. I’ll keep you posted!