Meet the talented Corey Rieman as Urban Dor sits down with him to discuss his personal journey into music and Jewish community engagement.
Urban Dor: Tell us about what you like about the Greater Hartford Jewish community and when did you first hear about Urban Dor?
Corey: After October 7, I have been volunteering my time to do sound at a lot of rallies and Jewish events in the area. One of the rabbis overheard me talking about how I wanted to find some Jewish friends since I hadn’t had many since after high school. This was the perfect combination, it’s not like I’m not trying to find a nice Jewish girl to spend the rest of my life with as well.
Urban Dor: Your music is incredible and you have a huge following on social media - we see over 16,000 followers on Facebook alone - what inspired you to start a band and what has been your favorite venue to play at so far?
Corey: From the beginning, I was a fan of music, and at some point really around my bar mitzvah, it hit me that maybe I wanna be on the other side of the stage. Listening and watching music wasn’t getting the fun that I wanted anymore.
I remember seeing a video of Bruce Springsteen and saying that’s what I wanna do, and then I heard the Beatles set up and that’s what I wanna do, and then I heard Neil Young play guitar and I said that’s what I wanna do again. It’s hard to see such engaging music early on without having the urge to want to start making it yourself.
Urban Dor: How does your Judaism connect with your musical talents and interests? Tell us about your volunteer work, teaching music, and other ways you are involved with the Jewish community.
Corey: Anyone who knows me knows that I am an adamant Jew I’ll even get annoying about it sometimes, but frankly, I don’t care. I think from the core, Judaism is so enriched by music. We teach the history of our people through trope, in the worst times we’ve gathered through, tragedy in song, in the greatest moments of miracles, we sang in songs, and as much as people play with the anti-Semitic trope that the Jews, run, entertainment, not for nothing we’ve been very good at it. I know that when I taught music for at a Hebrew school, everyone found it funny when I would tell them that Jewish people wrote the great Christmas songs. I know that Jewish wisdom and stories get sprinkled into my lyric choices. Sometimes, including a song from my band debut album called Just Like Samson. I’ve gone through a lot in the last few months. I hadn’t belong to an actual congregation for many years and then I found myself spiritually barhopping because I was doing volunteer work with different organizations. Through that I’ve had the great experience of getting to be with all the different branches of the Jewish tree. I taught at a reform synagogue, I grew up in a conservative synagogue, and through connections, like Urban Dor, I’ve gotten to meet members of the modern orthodox community. I’ve found great acceptance in a nice home in the Chabad movement, and it’s gotten me to be more outwardly Jewish than I have ever been in the past, and that’s coming from someone who was never shy about it. There’s a place in Judaism for everybody, and getting to meet everybody with every different idea is fun. The thing that is the most important is knowing that we’ve got to stick together if we want to be here, and Urban Dor is an opportunity to do that.
Urban Dor: Urban Dor members have attended your music events - we were told you play a lot of instruments - which ones do you play?
Corey: I have a very short attention span, and unfortunately, that’s followed me on to learning many different instruments and getting on stage to play them all. During a typical dilemma show, you will see me, singing, playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica, even occasionally putting on the bass guitar and even hopping behind the drums. On top of that I own a recording studio, where I record music and produce it for myself and others.
Urban Dor: When will you be performing next? How can people follow you on social media?
Corey: The best way to find out all the places I’m playing and when I’m playing them is on my band's website - The Dilemma Band. That’s also the place where you can find links to all of my social media, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, bio, photos, link store streaming services, everything. You also can definitely catch me at at the next Urban Dor event. Also, I'm a NJB looking for an NJG who wouldn’t mind seeing the country with a touring rock and roll musician who has a stable income by day as a publishing salesman with a good credit score… but maybe I’m pushing it!
Interested in being our next local young Jewish professional spotlight?
Email Urban Dor at shalom@urbandor.org.