Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kurt Wagner to Israel
Brian Chase, right, keeps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs kosher.
But a couple treats are in store for the discriminating indie rock fan – upcoming shows by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and by Lambchop front man Kurt Wagner.
The arty New York rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will open up for Depeche Mode at the year’s most anticipated concert, slated to take place on May 10th at Ramat Gan stadium. It’s just too bad we’ll have to spend hundreds of shekels for the mediocre Mode when the real quality music will come from the opening act.
The edgy pop trio, led by striking vocalist Karen O, has released two acclaimed albums full of punky, urban grittiness – 2003′s Fever to Tell and 2006′s Show Your Bones. The band’s next album, It’s Blitz, is scheduled to be released in April. And the band even has an Israel connection.
Jewish drummer Brian Chase has been part of the klezmer fusion band The Sway Machinery, taking over the drums from Israeli percussionist Tomer Tzur, who started the band with the Balkan Beat Box’s Jeremiah Lockwood. Both Chase and Tzur appear on the band’s 2008 EP on JDUB Records, which takes lyrics from the Rosh Hashana service and reconfigures them in a startlingly new musical landscape. in what The Village Voice has called a most “joyful synthesis.”
Maybe Karen’s last name is really Karen Oy?
And, to warm us up for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, we don’t have to wait until May for a show by Kurt Wagner, the enigmatic frontman for Nasvhille-based alternative country band Lambchop, who will be making his Israel debut at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv on April 6.
The sprawling music of Lambchop, described by the All Music Guide as “arguably the most consistently brilliant and unique American group to emerge during the 1990s,” is shaped by Wagner’s quirky songwriting and droll delivery. Originally focusing on traditional country, the band grew to encompass soul, jazz and avant-garde noise.
Wagner will be performing solo at the Barby, and even though he’s not well known among the mainstream, there’s enough discerning Israeli indie rock fans to insure a packed audience.
Nostalgia Sunday – Joseph Bau’s studio
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
Tel Aviv, like many cities that are cultural centers, houses many small gems, collections of artwork which are part of modern Israel’s history and should be preserved. Intending to do a write-up on the work of painter, graphic artist, animator, author, poet and publisher Joseph Bau (1920-2002), I logged into the Joseph Bau webiste only to discover that the studio where Bau worked for 40 years may close due to financial difficulties.
The modest studio-cum-museum includes paintings by Bau, commercial advertisements, and corporate logos, including those of “Eskimo Lemon” popsicles, Shekem (the IDF equivalent of the PX), and Israeli movies including: “Kazablan”, “Salah Shabati” and others.
Bau’s remarkable story – some of which was dramatized in the film Schindler’s List – began in Poland. He was a student at the University for Plastic Arts in Krakow when World War II broke out and Jews were sent to Nazi concentration camps. During his internment at the Plashow Concentration camp, Bau fell in love with another inmate, Rebecca. They secretly married when Bau smuggled himself into the women’s camp – their love story inspired a scene in the film.
Bau never lost hope or a sense of humor and it was art that saved his life. At Plashow, and then Gross-Rosen, he worked as a draftsman, lettered signs in Gothic type while secretly forging documents and identity papers. According to his online biography, he saved 400 lives in the process. Bau was later transferred to to Oscar Schindler’s camp where he stayed till the end of the war. Bau then returned to Krakow to complete his university studies and work as a newspaper graphic artists and illustrator.
In 1950 Bau immigrated to Israel with his wife and oldest daughter. According to his biography, “He was recruited to a secret unit of the intelligence corps that dealt with technical covert operations that utilized his talent for art and graphics. Later he was transferred, together with other Intelligence corps personnel to a similar unit that was formed and worked as part of the intelligence community belonging to the Prime Minister’s office. Joseph never spoke of these activities.” One may assume however, that his talent as a forger was also not overlooked.
In 1956 Bau opened his studio in Tel Aviv, where he painted, worked in commercial art (including designing the famous Amisragas logo) and animation, as well as authoring and illustrating a number of humorous books – even one about his experiences during the Holocaust.
Bau’s daughters, Hadasa and Clila, want to continue keeping this special little museum alive to commemorate their father’s life, artistic achievements, and his contribution to the State of Israel. They have started a petition requesting the city of Tel Aviv provide support.
Should we lower the Bar (Rafaeli) already?
Yes, of course I think Bar Rafaeli is totally hot and think that it’s quite awesome that she made the cover of Sport’s Illustrated but I’ve been feeling that I can’t turn a corner in the interweb without coming across another a mention of apparently Israel’s greatest invention since drip irrigation and it’s getting quite old. Bar is going to save Israel from a water crisis. Bar ate at these three Tel Aviv restaurants (I’ve eaten at all three as well). Bar wins a Women’s World Style Award. Bar appears on Ellen Degeneres. Bar’s body appears on the fuselage of a 737 jet. Bar eats a hamburger (this is news apparently). Bar shuts down the New York Stock Exchange. And my personal favorite, Leo (that kid from Growing Pains) must convert to Judaism in order to marry Bar.
There is one bright moment and that is David Letterman’s interview with her. The man loves interviewing hot models. Good times.
Wall designs
Back in October, when I thought I’d be carrying my twin boys to term, I embarked on a nesting project to set up their room, turning what is our ‘sealed room’ a.k.a guestroom into the boys’ room. For an Ashkenazi Jew who doesn’t buy baby items before they arrive, lest we bring the evil eye to rest upon us, that meant taking the chance of having the room painted and emptying out parts of the closet.
I clearly wasn’t going to be creating a nursery, but I did want to have a baby-like atmosphere in there. So with a pleasing apple green shade on the walls, I started looking for some other kind of wall decoration and found Studio Luka, an Israeli design firm that creates surface graphics for decorating walls and furniture. They were selling their tubes of decals at Harmony, a lovely Jerusalem home furnishings store (Rechov Hasoreg, downtown), but their entire selection is also available on-line (prices listed in dollars).
What’s great about the Luka designs is that they’re smart, sharp and not your typical baby look, although they do offer trains, planes and flowers, just from a more modern, clean perspective. Btw, you can also use Luka decals in older kids’ and grownup bedrooms, as well as any other living space. You can also get the decals in an array of colors, another helpful detail. The one problem is in the actual application, because the decals are often too sticky — and can take paint off the wall — or not sticky enough. Once they’re up, however, they look great.
And I think the boys are starting to look at the sheep on their wall.
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