Regina Spektor Smiles In Tel Aviv

March 12, 2007 - 4:00 PM by Karin Kloosterman

Regina Spektor smiled at me. I swear. Me and my Moze were waiting outside the
Barby Club in Tel Aviv for Spektor’s Sunday night concert. Israelis
were sucking on cigarettes before the show. Uncharacteristically,
they (we) obeyed Regina’s request that the audience not smoke.
Standing next to a wall, time slowed and she passed by and looked at
me. I smiled, she smiled. And the rest of the world around us didn’t
even notice her grey hoodie as she walked by with the opening act
Only Son to the backstage.

Her show was phenomenal. Those tracks of hers that I couldn’t get
into finally made sense. She sang the audiences’ favorite hits with
believable emotion and tension. She made me cry with happiness and
sadness when she performed “Samson” and I loved her even more when
she thanked us Israelis for making her feel like home.

“It is dreamlike for me to be here tonight,” she said, telling us
that her first and last trip to Israel 10 years ago was the reason
she started singing.

If you Google her name, you will see that the Russian-born Jewish
pianist, signer/songwriter is stealing hearts around the globe. She
didn’t only steal mine, I learned, but my boyfriends too:

“That Regina, she’s good,” said Moze, pretty much speechless … “I
would like to, you know, invite her for a coffee or something. Just
to chat. [pause] With you.”

“Yeah right.”

“No really… she seems interesting.”

“Anyway,” I said, “She’d probably be more interested in being my
friend. She did, after all, smile right at me.”

“What. At you?” Moze uttered in disbelief. “She looked straight into
my eyes and smiled at me!”

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