Super group jams in Jerusalem

February 4, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Politics, Pop Culture, Religion, Travel, tv 

Pat Boone the day after his jam session

The combination of Jerusalem, tourism, politics and music can make for some interesting combinations.

Imagine being a guest at the luxury David Citadel Hotel and coming back after a long day of touring around. In the lobby, you hear some strains of music and clapping coming from the grand ballroom downstairs, so you head on down to check it out.

Opening the doors, you, indeed, see some musicians gathered having a grand old time playing some early rock & roll, some blues and some country to an appreciative crowd of 150 or so American guests of the hotel.

Only on closer inspection do you realize that among the players are:

1- Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on bass
2- Legendary ’50s and beyond entertainer Pat Boone on vocals
3 – FOX News Jerusalem correspondent Mike Tobin on guitar.

Well, this lineup really did get together this week – Huckabee has been here with two busloads of mostly Christian American supporters, among them Boone, and his wife and granddaughter. Tobin, who regularly plays in a local band with standout guitarist Bradley Fish, asked his FOX colleague Huckabee, who’s an accomplished bassist, if he wanted to sit in with them. And Huckabee upped the ante by inviting Tobin and Fish to the hotel to jam with him and with Boone, who’s sold millions of records and was Elvis Presely’s nice guy alter ego in the 1950s.

“How could I pass up the opportunity to play with Pat Boone?” asked Tobin, recounting the evening to me.

The result was an eclectic session featuring impromptu renditions of “Ain’t That A Shame” (a hit for both Fats Domino and Boone), Roger Miller’s “King of the Road,” and a stirring rendition of the “Theme to Exodus, lyrics which were written in the early 1960s by Boone.

According to witnesses, many of the Christian supporters of Israel in the room were left with teary eyes. Boone called the song the “second Jewish national anthem” after Hatikva, and apparently, from the crowd’s reaction, he may be right.

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From paradise to a parking lot to a high rise

February 3, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, design, Environment, General, Israeliness 

The gates are closed at the Mahane Yehuda parking lot.

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…” then they tore up the parking lot and put up a high rise.

I’m not sure if Joni Mitchell meant that for the continuation of her lyrics to “Big Yellow Taxi” but it seems to be the modus operandi in Jerusalem, at least for the parking lot next to the Mahane Yehuda fruit and vegetable shuk.

The huge area, on the corner of the capital’s Jaffa Road and Shmuel Hanavi St. has been the one saving grace of going downtown in recent years – it’s the only outside, spacious parking lot around and has serviced the shuk shoppers as well as anyone else brave enough to dare to tread downtown during the construction of the light rail tracks.

So imagine my surprise today, when walking past it, I noticed that the lot was closed, the exits gated off, the pavement boasting huge holes in it, and one of those gigantor signs announcing yet another luxury high rise to be built on the premises.

Just what we need in Jerusalem – less convenient parking and more outrageously priced apartments that will be bought by foreigners who will leave them empty 50 weeks a year. Way to go, city hall. And Joni, if you want to do a new version of “Big Yellow Taxi,” you can use my idea without credit.

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Homeward bound

February 2, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Travel 

Well, my niece Elisheva is finally back from her six months of post-army travel, the last four of which were in South America. We’re all breathing a sigh of relief that she’s back, safe and sound, even though she was in pretty steady touch through Facebook, Skype and all the other usual communication methods of the 21st century.

Still, it was great to finally set eyes on her today, and witness the changes in this now better-traveled twentysomething. I wouldn’t have necessarily pegged her for the adventurous type prior to her trip, but after hearing the tales of her treks and trips through South America, it’s obvious that the bug has bitten our Shev-Shev, and she’ll be heading off again to North America, Central America and god knows where else before she buckles down for some university studies.

For now, though, I’m enjoying the small, but pertinent details of her travel lifestyle. The small stud in her nose, her browned skin, her habit of saying Salut instead of Labriut or God bless you, when someone sneezes. That’s clearly courtesy of her travel friends, which included Israelis, Germans and Belgians. And they’re all threatening to come to Israel in the near future, so we may get to meet Carl, Hans and the other members of the crew.

Finally, and maybe surprisingly, she’s been settling back into Israeli life pretty easily, greeting friends and family who are coming ’round to see her, and enjoying the simple pleasures of home life, from a full fridge to hot water whenever you shower. Shev shev, we’re very happy to have you home, for as long as that lasts.

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Fit for a King (David)

February 1, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Food, General, Politics, Travel 

We’re used to heads of state coming to Jerusalem, with the flags of the visitor’s country unfurled throughout the city, and their motorcades causing traffic jams wherever they go.

But what about the hotels where they stay and the accomodations and special needs required to host VIPs during their visits here?
With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his huge entourage enroute to Israel on Monday, The Jerusalem Post focused on what the King David Hotel – the traditional resting hole for heads of state – is doing to prepare for the visit.

The King David’s Old World lobby is full of photos and signatures of the leaders and celebrities who have stayed there over the years, and in recent time, the person in charge of making sure they’re comfortable and pampered in their hours spent at the hotel has been Sheldon Ritz, the deputy general manager.

We’ve share a couple meals together over the years at mutual friends, and Sheldon, originally from England, is a charming, calm fellow. But all bets are off when he’s preparing for a state visit.

The Italian delegation has booked 200 rooms for their two-and-a-half day stay, and Ritz told the Post that he has had ‘thousands’ of phone calls between the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office in Rome, as well as the Israel Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in Jerusalem to make sure everything is set up as required.

The biggest headache for Ritz and his staff is blocking off the rooms, so that the ministers are in one section, the journalists in another, security people in another and other members of the entourage in yet another.

“It’s like trying to seat people at a wedding,” said Ritz. “There are a lot of things to take into consideration.

Among Berlusconi’s likes and dislikes that Ritz has to worry about? he dislikes goats cheese and sheep cheese. He doesn’t eat animal fats, he doesn’t want perfumed flowers in his room and he likes his bed to be made French style – meaning that the covers are tucked in at the base.

The King David will also host a state dinner for Berlusconi, which will feature entrecote steak and lamb cutlets with four seasons pepper sauce.

While the Italian premier hasn’t asked for any special exercise equipment to be at his disposal, he can always partake of the hotel’s one outdoor tennis court. I played there on Friday, and can attest that it’s in tiptop shape.

It would be interesting to find out if Berlusconi, who’s just as well known for his prediliction for beautiful women as he his for his diplomatic achievements, has requested the company of any Israeli beauties. However that’s the precise reason so many important people stay at the King David – it’s far too discreet to disclose anything like that.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Sypholux redux

February 1, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Food, General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture 

I don’t like fizzy drinks myself but some of my best friends do. It was to fulfill such desires that I almost bought a soda-maker the other day. Almost but didn’t, partly because soda-makers have become something of a rarity but mainly because the home-soda-water-maker market in Israel has been monopolized by one company. Which is how is pretty much always been except that the cartel now completely held by the Gazoz company (of the Soda Club group) was once held by Sypholux.

It may sound like a disease to be treated with antibiotics, in fact Sypholux was once the brand that launched a thousand wedding gifts, an ubiquitous appliance in any upstanding middle-class Israeli household. Before Sypholux, to get your weekly or daily fix of fizzy water you had to trudge down to the makolet, the corner grocery store, lugging empty blue or green glass siphon bottles which were then refilled and lugged home. Such bottle are now part of any good nostalgia writer’s knick-knack collection (see above left).

And then came the 60s when Sypholux set members of the household free from their yes-deposit-yes-return drudgery. Made of metal instead of glass, the Sypholux came in two parts (left), a shiny metal-encased glass bottle and a red plastic nozzle with a metal handle and housing for the special little red rubber coated cartridges filled with compressed CO2. To make soda, all you had to do was fill the bottle with water and screw a cartridege into place, where upon it would release a “zetz” of gas into the bottle. And hey-presto, you had seltzer!

No longer were glass bottles lugged to the corner store. Instead, you brought in your battery of cartridges to be replaced, so you could run right back home and whip up some more soda.

The Sypholux most commonly came in silver tone, but Sypholux Industries, Ltd. also came out with other models in gold-tone and metallic colors. The factory was so much a part of the Tel AViv landscape for 30 years, and Sypholux so much a part of Israeli kitchenware, it seemed impossible that they would fade from view. But they did.

In the early-90s, competitors such as Soda Club came on the scene with newer technologies and updated designs. Sypholux also fell victim to bottled brand-name soft drinks that didn’t take any work to prepare and promised you nothing but fun in the sun, sex and good times if you drank them. (I know it sounds crazy but can you believe it — people actually fell for this line of advertising!). In 2000, the company stopped manufacturing cartridges.

Today, the Gazoz soda-maker has coopted the tiny do-it-yourself-soda market by cutting deals with mineral water companies, water filter companies and supermarkets. The Sypholux factory has been abandoned — there is a very cool series of photos by photographer Eli Brody on Flickr documenting the structure’s current condition — and Sypholux memorabilia is being sold on Ebay and in flea markets. The marvelous Safta Flickr stream has an entire series devoted to Sypholuxania, including brochures, cartridge boxes and warning lables — definitely worth checking out.

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