Update: Boycott of Metallica results in lower prices

March 4, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture 

It almost reminds me of those halycon activism days of the ’60s and ’70s. 26-year-old business and management student Tomer Mussman has proven that the little guy can stand up to the ‘Man’ and make him back down on unreasonable demands.

As reported on Israelity yesterday, a growing contingent of Metallica fans were joining a Facebook page that Mussman had launched over the weekend calling for a boycott of the band’s May 22nd show at Ramat Gan Stadium over what they claimed were inflated ticket prices.

Well, it turns out that the groundswell of support for the boycott (the Facebook page had garnered 6,000 members and a dozen or so articles on music Web sites) got the attention of the band and the promoter of the show Gad Oron.

On Wednesday, Oron and Mussman had a pow-wow, and when the smoke cleared, guess what? The prices of tickets for the standing room field – where most Metallica fans want to experience the show – had been lowered significantly.

Standing space that had cost NIS 1,200 will now be sold for NIS 990, while the tickets that originally cost NIS 900 and NIS 600 for the back and middle sections respectively, will be going for NIS 490. That’s almost 50% being lopped off the price of some tickets, demonstrating the huge profit margins that had been in the works.

“We would like to personally thank Metallica and their management for directly helping us with reaching our goal and reducing the prices,” said Mussman on Wednesday night following the announcement of the new prices.

Mussman, who told me that he’s been a fan of Metallica’s for 15 years and saw them in Rishon Lezion in 1999, explained that the campaign wasn’t against the band.

“We want the show to go on – what we want is the price to be lowered,” he said earlier Wednesday before the meeting with Oron. “What bothers us is that they’re raising the price because they can – the promotor is taking advantage of the fact that Metallica fans have been waiting 11 years for them to return here.”

By Wednesday night, however, Mussman, along with the other fan/activists were elated.

“After a four-day campaign, tens of news items about us worldwide, over 6,000 supporters and numerous media interviews we can say that we did it!” wrote Mussman on the Facebook page. “We won!”

And so did the little guy everywhere.

***

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Sitting down for Metallica

March 3, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture 

The thing with concerts in Israel by international superstars, is that if there’s not a call for the artist to cancel the show by the pro-Palestinian lobby, then we have to start our own boycott efforts.

The case in question here is the upcoming show, announced last week, by veteran hard rock legends Metallica, who will be making their third appearance in our Mediterranean haven on May 22 at Ramat Gan Stadium.

The calls for a boycott of the show, however, aren’t emerging from any anti-Israel sentiment, like they have previously for Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Elton John and Carlos Santana, among others. They’re coming from fans of the band who are outraged that tickets for the concert are well beyond the means of the average metalhead.

The vast ground area in the stadium is being divided into three ‘standing room’ sections – tickets in the far back “Bronze” area will cost NIS 600 (about $170). The “Silver” area will cost NIS 900 ($260) and the “Gold” area, the closest to the stage, will cost NIS 1200 ($350).

There will be less expensive tickets available for seats in the stands, which will go from NIS 300-600 ($80-170) – but as the protestors are claiming, who wants to go to a Metallical show and sit off on the side in the stands?

According to the fans, who have started their own Facebook page in an attempt to pressure promotor Marcel Avraham to lower the prices of the field tickets, the prices are way out of line with the cost of tickets to Metallica’s other shows on their spring European tour.

So far, the Facebook page has garnered over 3,000 members, and has made a splash on a number of international metal Web sites. Will the boycott effort work, or are there enough Metallica fans in Israel who will pay any price to see their heroes to thwart the calls to stay home? Stay tuned.

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No place for old folks

March 2, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: health, Holidays, Life, Music 

This Purim, I began to feel my age. Not the Megillah reading – you can appreciate that no matter how old you are (especially if you’re hard of hearing…helps drown out the din of the groggers). No, it was the party afterward.

Every year, my wife and I go dancing at the massive Boogie Purim Party at Jerusalem’s Binyamei Hauma. Boogie is a twice-monthly free form, world music dance extravaganza held at the ICCC in the capital’s German Colony. It’s notable for its eclectic mix of music from around the world. In any given set, the DJ is likely to verve from Motown to Egyptian pop to psychedelic Israeli trance.

The crowd is equally non-conformist, with all ages grooving to the alternative beat, whirling around without any whiff of the performance anxiety one might have at a trendy Tel Aviv disco.

On Purim, Boogie attracts several thousand revelers from all over the country and books well-known world music bands. This year, the evening’s highlight was the Madboojah Project, a ethnic electronic ensemble formed by Shlomi Avratz and Udi Ben Knaan, the latter of whom is a member of the popular “Sheva” group. The band’s trademark tune, with bagpipe and didgeridoo, sounds a little like a Scottish brogue hopped up on Ecstasy and laced with Hebrew rap.

Unfortunately, Madboojah wasn’t scheduled to perform until 2:00 AM, a time when I’m usually well into a much demanded round of REM sleep. But still, it was Boogie. And it was Purim.

Maybe if we could convince some friends to join us, we could justify the late hour, I thought. Renee was game, but her husband’s back had gone out. Other friends were concerned about waking up in time for the next morning’s second Megillah reading. Party poopers.

The thing is, I still feel like a teenager inside. My body may be pushing 50, but I see no reason to act any older than 16 (although my teenager daughter will emphatically insist that I was never 16 like her).

In the end, we nixed going out dancing this year and instead nestled in front of the TV and watched a double-header of the Israeli series Srugim (no spoilers, but Nati is still a pig). As for Madboojah – I’m sure they’ll be back in town, playing a local club sometime soon. Maybe even at a reasonable hour for us old fogies who still like to boogie.

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Art lovers rejoice

March 1, 2010 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, General, Profiles, Travel 

Almost since I moved to Ma’aleh Adumim around 16 years ago, work on the Moshe Castel Museum has been going in sporadically.

Touted as the city’s first art museum, it was going to put Ma’aleh Adumim on the map as far as having something cultural to offer visitors and tourists.

Castel, who died in 1991 at age 82, was a prolific painter whose works can be found hanging in the Knesset, Beit Hanassi and the Binyanei Hauma convention center.

After he died, his widow Bilhah moved from Tel Aviv to Ma’aleh Adumim. Evidently, she said that her husband had been inspired by the desert views and that he had expressed the wish that his paintings would one day hang in a museum overlooking the desert.

Well, finally, after a dozen years of stop and start building activity, the museum, housing 100 of Castel’s works, was officially opened at the end of the month.

It’s located on a residential street in the city and indeed, it boasts a magnificent view of the landscape of the region. Bilhah built an attached home for herself next to the museum and evidently integrally involved in many aspects of the site.

Details on visiting hours can be found here. The museum will be open to the public, groups and schools from this month and includes a cafe and gift shop. If visiting me wasn’t enough of a reason, here’s another to journey the five miles from Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim.

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