Super Bowl LI goes kosher in Cedarhurst

When Lady Gaga enters NRG Stadium in Houston for the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5, she’s likely to be showing way too much and using language that could turn your bubbe’s cheeks red. But for football-loving frum Jews, there’s a choice.

It will be the fourth Super Bowl during which Jewish radio superstar Nachum Segal will play mashgiach, hosting a Kosher Halftime Show on the Nachum Segal Network (NSN).

And for Super Bowl LI (that’s 51 in Roman numeralsst — or maybe LI stands for Long Island), Segal’s bringing the show home, to the Courtside Grill in Cedarhurst, where the headliner will be Cedarhurst resident Aryeh Kunstler.

“The location is befitting a Super Bowl type celebration — a sports bar,  very exciting and welcoming for a Jewish music environment,” Segal said.

The show will be taped before a live audience at 9 pm on motzei Shabbos Jan. 28. Everyone is welcome, Segal said, but since space is limited it would be best to come early — and hungry.

Kunstler, a hot ticket on the Jewish music scene, recently arranged and sang 130 songs featured on the new NCSY iPhone Bencher App.

“The idea is that you can listen to the app during the week and learn the songs, then introduce them at the Shabbos table,” he said. “It’s mostly me, my guitar, and a bunch of overdubs of my voice. There are 40 hours of studio time in those 130 songs, and we have another 15 or 20 to add. I’ll be adding more popular tunes.”

Segal, who’s “always looking for someone innovative and somewhat different among Jewish artists,” said he’s found a winner in Kunstler. “He’s very popular, especially among young people,” he said.

Kunstler said his three or four number set is not yet final but would be a combination of his own original music and some popular songs.

“I’ve had a relationship with Nachum Segal for years — I love being on his show.”

The Jewish Star asked Kunstler which team he was rooting for, but he wouldn’t bite.

“I’m really more of a hockey fan,” he said.

Last year’s Kosher Halftime Show was taped at the Doghouse in Teaneck, which Courtside Grill co-owner Joey Hoenig said “is a great place — I’ve been there many times.”

Courtside Grill, at 602 Central Ave, “was designed as a sports restaurant that also has a bar, it’s more spacious that the Doghouse,” Hoenig said. “I think they are looking for something new and fresh that everyone is talking about.”

Segal said reaction to his Kosher Halftime Shows has been “only positive” and that “people appreciate the message.”

The broadcast can first be heard during the Super Bowl, and thereafter at anytime on NSN’s digital channels.

Last month, Segal pulled the plug on terrestrial radio and his programming can now be heard only on the NSN app, at NachumSegalNetwork.com, or by phone on a “listen line” that remains popular with some older listeners.

The switch to all-digital “surpassed all of our expections,” he said. “We are being lauded for [moving] people to a platform that’s very easy to hear and which will get better and grow.”