Power, one of the most respected indie rockers over the last 15 years, was scheduled to perform for the first time in Israel on Sunday night at Reading 3 in Tel Aviv. However, on Thursday, the singer, whose real name is Chan Marshall, posted a message on her Facebook account expressing a change of heart.

“Due to much confusion in my soul, playing for my Israeli fans w/such unrest between Israel and Palestine I can’t play, as I feel sick in my spirit. XX,” she wrote.
She also tweeted: “Music is healing and it is not humane if all cannot have the choice, the right, to attend,” apparently referring to Palestinians who would not be able to travel to Tel Aviv to see the show. The announcement came after Power had tweeted earlier in the week asking her fans to “find a show in Ramallah… for the people of Palestine”.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Does Cat Power actually think there are Palestinians in Ramallah – or anywhere else – who would come out to see her in concert? Even Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen realized that there’s not enough of an audience for Western music among our neighbors, and they found other ways to show their solidarity for the plight of the innocent members of Palestinian society affected by the situation, whether you believe it’s caused by Israel or by their own leadership. McCartney visited a Palestinian music school and Cohen donated the proceeds from his concert to a fund for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

With a little thought, Cat Power could have come up with something to ease her pained conscience. Ironically, as a friend pointed out on Facebook, the night before her decision to cancel, she performed in Turkey, the same day that Turkish troops killed 13 Kurdish rebels who have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast since 1984.

I guess Elton John wasn’t right when he defiantly roared from the stage at Ramat Gan Stadium in 2010 that musicians “don’t cherry pick our conscience” over where to perform. Cat Power seems to do it just fine.

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That’s the case anyway with the current TV ad campaign by cable provider HOT, which is promoting its ‘on-demand’ epidsodes of the popular spy-comedy show ‘Asfur’ by offering a free Samsung Galaxy tablet as enticement for prospective customers to sign up for the on-demand package.

In the ad, a bored Mossad agent stationed in Iran, apparently to monitor Iran’s nuclear development, meets up with three characters from the show who are also clandestinely in the country dressed as women. Sitting in a café, the agent shows off the Samsung Galaxy, explaining that he used his downtime to use the on-demand option to watch episodes of ‘Asfur.’

At the end of the clip, one of the three Asfur accidentally pushes an application on the tablet over the frantic efforts of the agent, and a nuclear reactor is detonated in the background.

Typical Israeli sophomoric, whistling in the dark, hilarious humor. But evidently neither Iran nor Samsung are seeing the levity in it. According to a report in The Jerusalem Post sourcing Iran’s Press TV, Arsalan Fat’hipour, who heads the Iranian parliament’s energy committee, said over the weekend that Tehran was considering imposing a complete ban on buying all Samsung products. And, of course, they’ll probably aim their first operational nuke at the HOT corporate offices.

Meanwhile Samsung issued a statement saying, “Samsung Electronics is aware of a recent news report in Iranian media regarding an advertisement aired by HOT cable network of Israel. This advertisement was produced by HOT cable network without Samsung’s knowledge or participation… As a member of the global community, Samsung is committed to demonstrating respect for all people and cultures around the globe.”

The question is, how did Iran know that HOT was even airing the ads? Do they have spy here who subscribes to the company’s ‘Three-in-one” cable/Internet/phone service? If so, I hope they’re just as frustrated as the rest of us at having ‘You, Me & Dupree’ screening a million times a month on its movie channels. But I also hope he doesn’t have an itchy trigger finger.

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Kishkashta and Shpitzik - separated at birth?

On one side we have Kishkashta, the thorny singing star of Israeli Educational TV’s children’s broadcasts for over 30 years. And on the other side is Shpitzkik, the spiky sabra mascot designed for the Israel Olympic Committee and the team of athletes headed to the Olympics this year.

IET has filed a motion with the Tel Aviv District Court to prevent the IOC from using Shpitzik because they say the two mutant sabras are too similar in appearance.

This case is actually being covered, and while not as urgent as the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, it is causing nail biting and nervousness among cartoon plant life around the country.

According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, Kishkashta made his first TV appearances in the 1970s, as part of the children’s show Ma Pit’om! (“What on Earth!”), and became known for his deep, somewhat lugubrious voice and signature song “They call me Kishkashta.”

In December, the IOC chose Shpitzik, a jaunty cactus clad in Israel’s official Olympic strip, as the mascot that will accompany the Israeli delegation to the London 2012 Olympic Games later this year.

The case is in court now, and our wise judicial sages will undoubtedly and down a just ruling. Sabras everywhere are bristling waiting for the answer. But in my mind, you can’t beat Kishkashta’s talent.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Some of the silliest examples: Talitakumi in front of Jerusalem’s HaMashbir LeZarchan, a strangely out of place wall-and-clock structure intended to replicate the front of a girl’s school that was razed to make room for the department store. The gate leading to Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv was thrown up by sentimental, well-meaning people in recognition of the original structure, demolished to make way for the Kolbo Shalom. And does anybody know that the Gan HaIr mall and residential complex was named for the municipal zoological garden that once stood there?

The most unsung of all are the movie houses, most of them shuttered for decades, fall deeper and deeper into disrepair until they are destroyed to make room for malls, tall buildings and parking lots. No one remembers Tel Aviv’s majestic Mugrabi Cinema or Jerusalem’s historic Edison.

Nonetheless, a small victory was achieved a little over a week ago when high-rise developers were forced to change a plan to tear down Bay Yam’s historic Savion Cinema. The victory belongs to a local activist group of Bat Yam residents, artists and the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites who objected to the demolition and proposed a synthesis of old and new structures.

In its heyday, Bat Yam boasted six movie houses. The Savion Cinema was built in 1957 and — in line with the global trend – closed in the 1980s. “However it remained an architectural icon because of its facade which was characterized by a weave of concrete block units,” states The Marker.

Icon or not, the building was in bad shape. Its most recent tenant: a dollar store in what was once the movie-house’s lobby.

According to The Marker, the design for a 25-story tower by architect Ilan Pivko, will be modified in accordance with preservation plan for the building. The building — a luxury residence and prestigious office space — is a flagship project for the Bat Yam municipality which wants to develop the run-down neighborhoods adjacent to Jaffa. The preservation plan calls for the street-facing facade to remain intact.

One look at Pivko’s work and its clear that adapting his design to the new guidelines goes against his post-modernist grain. He does not favor keeping the facade as is and suggests a modular solution instead. “One can reconstruct, dismantle or in some other way create an interior element within the structure.” How Pivko handles this challenge remains to be seen… he has done this sort of thing before… but if he wanted to do it with the Savion, he would have worked it into the original design…

Hmmm… one gets the feeling that this issue isn’t over just yet.

Whether or not the Savion Cinema facade remains on the street level or whether, in the end, Pivko’s lobby will simply feature a bold construction of recycled concrete filigree, the real significance of the decision is a precedent set in curbing real estate developers’ ability to destroy old structures without recognizing their historic value. Hopefully, that means recognition not just in the form of an incidental plaque, statue or clock, but as part of the planning, putting real thought into paying homage to what came before.

The Savion Cinema photos were taken by architect Sharon Raz who is a one-man documentary powerhouse with a particular interest in Israel’s old cinemas. See his Disappearing Architecture and Disappearing Cinemas sites as well as his Natush blog for more photos and information.

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Check out his shoe calendar, via the UK Calendar Club, with a 2012 wall calendar that features 12 Kobi Levi shoe designs.

He also recently collaborated with Image Comics’ Vescell storyline, integrating his shoe designs for one of the characters, Machi, a fairy protector.

Keep on spreading the word. Or the shoes.

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Tel Aviv's Waze makes the list

The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail has named Tel Aviv one of the world’s most creative cities. Tel Aviv shared the honors with London Sydney, Stockholm and Shanghai. The article itself is a whopping 21 pages; Israel takes up the first four.

The “award,” if you can call it that,” was bestowed on Israel by the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto. The institute ranks cities but what it calls “The Three T’s” – technology, talent and tolerance.

The article focuses on several Israeli startups which have either raised a lot of money or been sold for even larger amounts. The authors (there are five of them) pointed to PicApp and PicScout, which sold for a combined $20 million to Indian and American buyers, respectively; cellular company Provigent which was snapped up by U.S. chip maker Broadcom for $313 million; and Snaptu which Google bought for $70 million.

Companies on the list that have raised significant funding include Face.com (over $5.5 million) which makes face recognition technology that is used by more than 30,000 developers, and Waze, which we covered in-depth in Israel21c. Waze was singled out for both the amount raised ($67 million) and number of users (8 million in 45 countries).

Waze makes a free crowd-sourced GPS navigator app for mobile devices; the company claims it is used by one out of every three Israeli drivers. Waze made headlines overseas this past summer when it was used to provide real-time traffic information during the Los Angeles area’s super-hyped “Carmegeddon” (a driving apocalypse precipitated by the weekend shut down of the city’s major freeway).

Why is Tel Aviv so creative when it comes to startups? The authors cite Israel’s mandatory military service and the resulting informal atmosphere. Says starup CDO Neal Naimer from Woojer, “In Israel, personal relationships aren’t all that relevant to business. Israelis will do business with you within five seconds of meeting you. In fact, there’s virtually no small talk at meetings. Nothing. Zero. They’re very direct.”

Read our coverage on Waze here.

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The new guy

And, like Fischer, Levin also speaks Hebrew, not however, as well as Fischer; not yet, that is.

What Teva is known for...

Of course, it’s a fairly major deal to become the chief executive of Teva, which has become one of the world’s largest drugmakers. But nice to know they also require their chief to be a local.

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When I write for a publication that’s new to me, or new in general, it helps turn up the volume on my subject matter. I have to be the ultimate arbiter on the subject at hand, making sure my new readers and editors will understand the piece, and be able to read between the lines, particularly if it’s about something Israeli that may not be known to this particular audience. I’m thinking about this because I just read through the premiere issue of JLiving, a new Jewish living magazine out of Los Angeles, which just launched.

I wrote about the top six Israeli resorts for the issue, as well as a piece about a creative entrepreneurial partnership, StudioVE, out of Tel Aviv. Neither piece broke any new news; I’m sure most of you reading either one of them will think, “Yeah, I’ve read about this before.” And perhaps you have, particularly from the resorts piece.

But because I was writing about it for a new magazine, one with readers who don’t necessarily regularly read about Israel, it made me look at people and places a little differently, with an eye as to how these places and people look and sound to those who don’t know them well, or have never come across them before.

So have a look, although it is a little annoying to read through the magazine widget. But it’s flashy and fun, and very California. And hey, it’s good to have some Sabra stuff in there.

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Will Tel Aviv bars become the next university lecture hall?

According to Ha’aretz, the series of lectures on everything from quantum physics and linguistics to space and high tech is the initiative of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, which is looking for ways to broaden their student base.

“”We were thinking about how to get to the general public, who might find science lectures interesting but just doesn’t know it. If we arrived at where they were, they might listen,” Weizmann Institute spokesman Yivsam Azgad told Haaretz. Especially if there’s some really good dark beer on tap, he might have added.

At first, the idea was met with skepticism by the hip, Tel Aviv night club establishment.

“Bar owners were reluctant to give away their establishment on Thursday nights. There were those who told me ‘you don’t know bars in Tel Aviv, they’re loud, people drink and make out, how would the lecturer feel?’”

Only that it turned out that the skeptics were in the minority, with the project now taking place in 40 bars, including some of the biggest and most successful in the city, with another 50-venue project in the works.

Some offshoots to the project include “User Interface on a Beer,” a series of lectures taking place in bars and geared at programmers and Internet professionals. Another is Wize, which hosts bar lectures on a weekly basis. The upshot is that the science geeks and the beautiful night lifers are finding out they’re often one and the same. And, if nothing else, there are surely some very original pick up lines coming out of the lectures. Did you hear the one about the wave function who couldn’t walk straight?

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The Forever 21 youth oriented international fashion chain has spent the past few months getting ready to break into the Israeli market with a two-story flagship store in Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall.

But the veteran clothiers – strategically going up against H&M here in Israel – never anticipated the reaction the opening of the store would prompt from the apparently fashion-starved young Israeli public. According to Ynet, some 4,000 people have been showing up each day since the store opened last week, leaving huge piles of clothes and beverage cans scattered around the store.

The clothes racks were in utter disorder. It was difficult to find a single stand with the same item in different sizes, as one would expect to find in any organized fashion chain, apart from several racks that were out of the shoppers’ reach.

Customers were seen trying on clothes outside the fitting rooms and throwing them on the floor in complete mess… Many of the items, like bras, were sold out on the very first day and the entire store appeared to be out of control.

“It looks like the scene of a terror attack, Heaven forbid,” one of the customers said to a saleswoman. The latter responded, “More like a war.”

Another customer mumbled, “It looks like a second-hand store, a market.” The saleswoman replied, “You’re right.”

I guess they’ve never been to the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv where protocol is a dirty word, or for that matter, to Filene’s Basement in Boston.

When I lived there, you were taking your life into your hands by venturing to the discounted bottom floor of the clothing store in downtown Boston. Women would be slugging it out over hand bags, and trying on blouses and dresses in the middle of the aisles. The goings on at Forever 21, detailed in the Ynet story, seem positively tame by comparison

“There was a woman who wanted to take a bracelet off a stand and just ripped it. People are stepping on the clothes. It was organized in the morning, I swear.”

“We’re really trying, but the customers are storming the store and leaving clothes on the floor. We no longer know what belongs where. I’m really sorry.”

A representative from the chain took the onslaught in stride, explaining that they’ve learned that Israelis are the world leaders in the number of items bought at the chain: All over the world the average is two to three items per person, while in Israel it’s seven and a half items per person.

“Now it’s clear why we experienced this mess. A girl who wants to buy seven items has to try on 20. As there is no available fitting room, she tries it on outside, creating a mess.”

The short-term solution is to bring in more sales help, especially from Japan, where similar behavior took place at Forever 21 stores. However, as a store rep said, “In Japan the stores were stormed too, but they are organized people and put everything back in place neatly. The Israelis aren’t as organized.”

Welcome to Tel Aviv, Forever 21.

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