Buy a piece of ‘Her Morning Elegance’

January 26, 2010 - 8:20 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, Business, design, General, Music, Pop Culture 

They may not be as prestigious as the Oscars, but the Grammy Awards are coming up next week – and wouldn’t you know it, there are Israelis up for an award.

Israeli singer-songwriter Oren Lavie’s smash YouTube video for his song “Her Morning Elegance” was nominated in the category “Best Short Form Music Video” along with clips by Depeche Mode, Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas.

The video – produced by Tel Aviv-based husband and wife animation team of Yuval and Merav Nathan, and photographed by Tel Aviv lensman Eyal Landesman – chronicles the fantastic dream of a sleeping woman without ever leaving her bedroom, using her mattress as the canvas of the dream and her bed frame as the dolly of her journey. The 2,321 photos are strung together in seamless manner which gives the impression that the women is actually moving

The video became a pop phenomena, garnering 10 million views on YoutTube and being discussed, featured and analyzed in blogs, magazines and TV shows worldwide, screened at the Cannes Lion festival – the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase, LA film festival, and the SXSW showcase, among others. The culmination of the acclaim came in December when it received the Grammy nomination.

In honor of the nomination and the awards show, which is scheduled for January 31st, Landesman and Lavie are hosting an exhibit of some of the still photography from the video at a Los Angeles gallery and selling the original shots.

“We’ve printed only one copy of each still photograph on a high quality photo paper, and by doing so created only one ‘physical’ sequence of the entire video,” Landesman told me.

“People will be able to break the motion of the video and freeze the moment that they would like to own. Once they buy that photograph, it will be darkened in the sequence and they will become the only owners of that split second. These are the originals, and they’ll come signed and with a number. Once they’re sold, we won’t have it anymore, it’s gone.”

The team plans on exhibiting more of the original photography during the year at exhibitions in New York and Tel Aviv. If “Her Morning Elegance” wins the Grammy next Wednesday, it will certainly boost the price.

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Pope fever grabs Israel

May 10, 2009 - 2:05 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Religion 

The pope arrives in Israel tomorrow, and to put it bluntly, the whole country’s gone pope crazy. Or to be more accurate, all the authorities have gone pope crazy.

Pope Benedict XIV on route to Israel

Pope Benedict XIV on route to Israel

We’ve got conferences, briefings and meetings; press trips to see the places the pope will visit, media tours to explore the Christian holy sites, even an expedition to examine Jerusalem’s ancient olive groves in the Garden of Gethsemane. Well, they do date back centuries.

There’s pope stamps, a new pope website (translated into nine languages and including live footage of his pilgrimage), and pope memorabilia. The Technion is even presenting him with a bible the size of a pinhead, as a welcome present.

The country’s leaders are laying out their welcome mats, from the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, to Stas Misezhnikov, the Tourism Minister, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, the Mayor of Jerusalem, and the Mayor of Nazareth. Everyone is getting in on the action.

At Ben Gurion airport they’re taking the welcome mat seriously, and doing a trial run today of rolling out the red carpet in preparation for Pope Benedict XVI ‘s landing there tomorrow. He’s expected in at 11.15am, with an entourage of 40 and a press corps of 70.

Pope Benedict’s schedule is exhausting. He’ll visit 23 sites across the country in just five days. Every minute appears to be accounted for as Israel’s leaders scramble for photo opportunities in what – apart from this visit – has admittedly been a pretty bad year PR wise.

While all this fuss may be passing the average Israeli by – most people here seem more interested in tonight’s Depeche Mode concert, while kids are piling up their bonfires for Lag Ba’Omer – Jerusalemites at least will be only too aware of the visit, as major congestion is expected there on Monday and Tuesday with all the main roads closed in the capital.

I won’t be rushing out to join the cheering crowds, but I’d still like to say welcome from Israelity, and wish the pope a pleasant stay.
If you get tired of the crowds, give us a call.

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Israeli fans of Yeah Yeah Yeahs get active

March 30, 2009 - 2:29 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Blogging, General, Music, Pop Culture 

yeah2We’ve already reported that fiesty art rockers The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have signed on to open the big outdoor show of the season – the May 10th Depeche Mode show at Ramat Gan Stadium.

However, some of the band’s fans in Israel are not too happy at the prospect of having to pay Depeche Mode prices – NIS 400 ($100) and more – to see a short opening set. And undoubtedly, the multitudes of Depeche Mode fans aren’t going to be too receptive to anyone taking up the time before their favorites come on stage, especially since the band’s show is so anticipated following their cancellation in 2006.

So some enterprising Yeah x3 fans have started an online petition requesting that the band perform an additional show while they’re here.

“The band has been confirmed by sources to be in Israel for three days, so there is time for a concert, but we have to convince the promoters that there is a demand. This is an amazing live band, so let’s make it happen,” cajoled one fan.

Another fan, Jason Silberman, who’s prodding his friends to sign the petition, explained his reasons.

“I am a big fan of the band, and would love them to be able to play their own full-length show here, at a smaller venue and at a more reasonable price. If they are already here, and there is enough people to fill up a venue like the Barby in Tel Aviv, or maybe a Jerusalem venue like Yellow Submarine or The Lab, for a second show, then it’s a nice opportunity,” he said.

So far, the petition has hundreds of signatures. The question is, will the Yeah x3 say ‘yes’?

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kurt Wagner to Israel

March 2, 2009 - 9:05 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Music, Pop Culture 

Brian Chase, right, keeps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs kosher.

Brian Chase, right, keeps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs kosher.

Usually, Israeli audiences get past their prime 1970s and ’80s rockers from the US and the UK in for concerts, and this economy-challenged winter, even that has dried up for the most part.

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.

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