Dalia Shusterman

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Dalia Shusterman | image = | image_size = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Dalia Garih Shusterman | native_name = | native_name_lang = | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | origin = Crown Heights, New York | death_date = | death_place = | genre = Alternative rock | occupation = Drummer | instrument = Drums, vocals | years_active = | label = Priapus, Burnt Hair | associated_acts = New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, Blood 'N' Grits, Casa Samba, Cirque de Ville, Michigan Impossible, 7 Mile Ford, Timo Ellis, Hopewell, Bulletproof Stockings, The New Moon All Stars Party Band | website = }} {{Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)|Other notable figures}} '''Dalia Garih Shusterman''' is a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the bands Hopewell, Bulletproof Stockings, and the New Moon All Stars Party Band.

== Biography == === Early life === Dalia Shusterman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to a French Modern Orthodox Jewish family. She grew up in Potomac, Maryland.<ref name="Times of Israel" /> She played piano as a child, but discovered her talent for drums at an Earth First New Year's Eve party when she was 16, after playing the hired band's hand drums while they were on break and getting a positive response from the people in attendance. Inspired by this, she soon started busking in Washington, and then after hitchhiking across the country, in New Orleans.<ref name="Times of Israel" /> The street playing there got her access to several local stages, Mardi Gras parades, and even onstage at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.<ref name="Times of Israel">{{cite web|title=Ladies (and not gentlemen): The Bulletproof Stockings!|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/girls-just-want-to-have-fun/|publisher=Times of Israel|accessdate=April 9, 2013|author=Ghert-Zand, Renee|date=October 2012}}</ref>

Shusterman briefly attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied philosophy and literature. While still an undergraduate, a friend convinced her to play a full-on drum kit in the opening act for the band Boss Hog.<ref name="Times of Israel" />

=== Hopewell === {{Main|Hopewell (band)}} In 1993, Shusterman and bassist Jason "Whip" Merrit joined brothers Jason and Justin Russo of Mercury Rev to form the psychedelic rock band Hopewell. The group recorded a series of 7" singles before releasing their 1998 debut album ''Contact'' on Burnt Hair Records. The record was promoted by a small string of shows until the band went on hiatus, during which time the Russos toured with Mercury Rev and Merrit recorded a solo album, ''Song Song''.<ref name="Hopewell AMG">{{cite web|title=Hopewell|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hopewell-mn0000218158|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=April 9, 2013|author=Nicholls, Dale}}</ref>

The band regrouped in 1999 to record their second album, ''The Curved Glass'', which was released in October 2000 by Priapus Records. The album received critical acclaim and was promoted by a performance at the English Reading and Leeds Festivals, as well as an extensive European tour.<ref name="Hopewell AMG" />

=== Return to Judaism and retirement === In September 2001, Shusterman, while in Manhattan, received a flyer for a Sukkot event in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and decided to attend. Her experience there motivated her to join Chabad, marry a young Hasidic rabbi she had met at the event, and quit Hopewell. She subsequently moved with her new husband to Los Angeles, where their four sons were born.<ref name="Times of Israel" />

=== Bulletproof Stockings === {{Main|Bulletproof Stockings}} After her husband's death in the spring of 2011, Shusterman and her children moved back to New York. There, a friend introduced her to Perl Wolfe, a singer-songwriter and fellow Lubavitcher, and the two formed the all-female Hasidic alternative rock group Bulletproof Stockings in December of that year.<ref name="Times of Israel" /><ref name="JChron">{{cite web|title=Indie band Bulletproof Stockings refreshingly original|url=http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/19814790/article-Indie-band-Bulletproof-Stockings-refreshingly-original|publisher=The Jewish Chronicle|accessdate=March 31, 2013|author=Tabachnick, Toby|date=August 2012|archive-date=February 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217081339/http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/19814790/article-Indie-band-Bulletproof-Stockings-refreshingly-original|url-status=dead}}</ref> The group released their debut EP, ''Down to the Top'', on April 1, 2012. The quartet Bulletproof Stockings (Wolfe, Shusterman, Elisheva Maister, and Dana Pestun) toured throughout New York and Los Angeles<ref name="JChron" /> with plans to expand their lineup and release a full-length album.<ref name="Times of Israel" />

On April 8, 2016, Shusterman announced that Bulletproof Stockings had disbanded and that the four band members were heading off to individual music pursuits.

=== New Moon All Stars Party Band === In 2017, Shusterman and former Bulletproof Stockings bandmate Dana Pestun debuted a new Hasidic all-female jazz/klezmer/cabaret group, The New Moon All Stars Party Band.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Buhre|first=Maea Lenei|date=2017-10-03|title=A New Brooklyn Band Rocks For a Select Group of Fans|url=http://brooklynink.org/2017/10/03/55975-a-new-brooklyn-band-rocks-for-a-select-group-of-fans/|access-date=2020-09-21|website=The Brooklyn Ink|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2017-10-22|title=HevriaCast Episode 21: Dalia Shusterman Returns|url=https://hevria.com/hevria/hevriacast-dalia-shusterman-returns/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024174844/http://hevria.com:80/hevria/hevriacast-dalia-shusterman-returns/ |archive-date=2017-10-24 |access-date=2020-09-21|website=Hevria|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Discography == === With Hopewell === * ''Contact'' (1998, Burnt Hair) * ''The Curved Glass'' (2000, Priapus)

=== With Bulletproof Stockings === * ''Down to the Top'' EP (2012) * ''Homeland Call Stomp'' (2015)

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shusterman, Dalia}} Category:Living people Category:Hasidic music Category:American alternative rock drummers Category:American women drummers Category:American Orthodox Jews Category:American people of French-Jewish descent Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Musicians from Montreal Category:Purchase College alumni Category:Jewish rock musicians Category:Jewish jazz musicians Category:Baalei teshuva Category:Orthodox Jewish women musicians Category:Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim Category:20th-century American drummers Category:20th-century American women musicians Category:21st-century American women musicians Category:21st-century American drummers Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Drummers from Maryland