I was acquainted with Candye Kane and her body of work in my previous life.
I saw her play the piano with her breasts at the World Pornography Conference in 1998.
She was one tough act to follow.
She too has beaten a path to Torah and enlightenment.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports:
Although Kane was raised in a nonreligious home, spirituality has always been a part of her life, she said.
“My parents were Bohemian hippies,” she said. “My childhood was quite turbulent, and so to escape the lunacy of my household, I used to go to church with the Mormon family down the street.”
Although Kane’s singing was encouraged at church talent nights, she was excommunicated at age 16, when she became pregnant with her first son.
Kane converted to reform Judaism five years ago.
“I’ve always been a seeker of religious peace or spirituality, (but) Judaism spoke to me on several levels as an adult, because of, No. 1, tikkun olam, which means ‘repairing the world.’ ”
Kane said she also incorporates aspects of Buddhism into her life.
“I really had a sense – especially after fighting cancer – of the importance of being in the moment, and of kind of letting go of the outcome and letting the universe provide for me what the universe is going to provide.”
As an artist who once wrote a song titled “The Lord Was a Woman,” Kane said she was impressed that her rabbi was open to the possibility that God could be female.
“That was just a huge turning point for me in my spiritual quest.”
Although the musical is largely adult-themed, the first two performances, Thursday and Friday, will be slightly toned down, so parents can choose to bring their high-school-age teens.
